Wisdom from my walk

• 2 1/4 flour – 1/2 half white & 1/2 whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup oats
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
•  6 oz cinnamon applesauce
• 6 oz cup lite(sugar free – made w/ splenda) french applie pie yogurt
• 1/2  cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 box instant vanilla pudding mix (sugar free preferred)
• 1 cup shredded zucchini (optional)
• 1 cup shredded carrots(optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)

these are currently baking, I just wanted to have the recipe w/out writing it down…I’ll let you know how they are.  they smell delicious and the batter was yummy so that’s a good sign.   I didn’t use zucchini or carrots because I had none on hand, but I was making blueberry muffins for breakfast tomorrow and realized that was a good thing to take to a family who we’ve been helping this past week.  Everyone has been bringing meals to them but I’m not sure if anyone has taken breakfast foods to them and we’re going to help them out tomorrow night so I thought I’d go ahead and make enough muffins to take there for them too.   last week I took a smaller version of Caleb’s birthday cake from the extra batter I had and everyone has been raving about it since so I am planning on making more of that tomorrow.  I made the batter up today and it’s better if it sits in the fridge for a bit so tomorrow afternoon I’m baking that to take w/ us too.  we did dinner for them last week, so now I’m going to take muffins and another cookie cake.   Wow the muffins smell delicious!!  mmmmmm!!

My baby turns 7 today!!  He spent Friday night through today at his grandparents so we spent the morning at church for me to deal w/ moms group leadership meetings.   After lunch we met Caleb, his grandparents and cousin at Kings Island.   Caleb, Laura and Dean rode the extreme sky flier, I cant believe my little boy can be so brave.  On the sidelines Bo kept yelling for daddy to be careful.   after the few hours of excitement and walking around we all came home exhausted; so the kids crashed pretty quickly.    I could be all emotional about his b-day but I’m too tired to right now!!   Less than two weeks til the beginning of another school year.  busy busy few weeks ahead for me.   Should be fun….

pics and videos of the sky flying up on Flickr.

So…we scheduled Caleb’s party at the community pool where we are members.   It was cheap and awesome!!  Being that it was a Friday night and school sports started again the pool was empty!  We hadnt rented it out though you can during off hours.  But since it was normal hours all we had to pay was for those who werent pool members to be guests, which was $3 per child and $4 per swimming adult.  So it was a great deal and it was empty  due the day and time so it was as if we had rented it out.  The weather was awesome as well.  So we had a really great time, at least I know I did!   I’m thinking we will have a swim party for him there every year now, that’s how cool it was.   Lots of pics up on Flickr.

Tonight was a big night for Bo as well.  He decided he’d jump off the diving board w/out the lifeguard spotting him as he did in swim class.   Of course I was busy and didnt know Daddy approved of this, usually Bo is only allowed to jump off the board when the life guard is in the deep end w/ the safety float just in case since Bo hasnt been able to swim to the side by himself, well until this week!!   So at some point during the party I saw Bo jump off and swim to the side w/out help and couldnt believe it.  So I grabbed the camera and hoped he’d do it again, silly me!!  the time I saw him do it wasnt the first time, he’d been doing it over and over again.  He’s been jumping off in the 3 foot side of the pool and swimming out to us pretty far but I didnt know he was that confident yet and it’s so exciting.  he’s not even 4!!  the boy may be speech delayed but he sure makes up for it with his physical skills.    we know he’s going to be the star athlete of all the three boys.   my boys are getting so big!!

I’ve made giant cookies for Caleb’s b/day before, ok once for him and once for someone else.   But this is what we hope to do this year!!  His party is on Friday, I am thinking I’ll be making the cookies tomorrow to allow time for needing to bake more if needed on Friday.   Just hoping I’m feeling better soon so I can enjoy it and the party!!  Dean did end up coming home early and I slept from 2pm- 5:40 when I got up to make dinner since Dean had taken the kids swimming.   He’s off at a meeting now so I’m cleaning up dinner and then we’re taking a walk w/ the dog.

I tried to call in to work sick today, you know for my SAHM job.  Dean came in while I was sleeping around 9 and said his boss had called and said he needed to come in, there are some VIP’s in today or something so I got up and took Dean to work then took the boys to a free movie at the movie theater then went shopping for Caleb’s birthday party this Friday.   I am worn out and in pain.  I didnt wear my brace yesterday on my foot while walking around the zoo for hours and today it really hurts.   Not to mention my back hurts and my stomach and well….blah! I am grouchy today and it’s raining out so I cant even send the kids outside to play.    I am mad at Dean for having to work but in reality I’m just mad I dont have the ability to call in sick or take time off from this 24-7 job I have.  It’s selfish yes I know, but I feel crappy and all I want is to lay in bed today!   is that too much to ask??

found us in some pics about the hannah montana thing:

you can see my big butt here! ( i sooo need to get back to curves!) photo #80

Laura is in there somewhere (photo 82)

bottom right you can see me taking a drink w/ the stroller in front of me!  w/ proof Zeke was w/ me! (photo 84)

Today we went to the zoo and got to enjoy the new “feed the giraffe” exhibit.  I really enjoyed it and so did Caleb.  Zeke wanted to feed them but was too scared and I ended up doing it for him.   We took my friend’s son who turns 2 years old next week, so I had the double stroller w/ he and Zeke in it and Bo and Caleb.  The day went very smoothly considering!  we are all tired though!

In the mail today we got the results of Bo’s speech evaluation.  He was tested at 3 years 7 months, and his overall age equivalent based on his auditory comprehension and expressive commuincation was 3 years 4 months, so he’s just a few months behind in those areas.   the most significant results were these:  ” Boaz’s demonstrated a reduced phonemic inventory resulting in decreased intelligibility.   A formal assessment revealed a standard score o 83, percentil rank of 12, and age equivalent of 2 years, 3 months.   His speech was clinically judged to be intelligible 75% in single word productions and 60% during connected speech.”   So basically, he’s younger in this area than Zeke’s current age, which is not surpising as Zeke speaks perfectly clear for his age, amazingly so even for his current ear infections and need for a second set of ear tubes.    is this enough of a delay for him to qualify for the preschool we want him to go to for free, I’m not sure yet, but please pray it does!!

we’re going school supply shopping tonight, Caleb goes back on August 20th!   sooo soon, and I was hoping we’d hear from the school about Bo by now but havent so I need to make some calls tomorrow about that.