Wednesday night entertainment

A busy Wednesday, Garrett's sudden stomach virus that mimicked appendicitis*, and the threat of traffic on a long drive almost kept up from going.

But then we would have missed this:

The American Idol star came to Houston (well, Beaumont, but it was worth the drive and the stop at the scary grocery store for chocolate donuts and Advil) and my awesome friend, Kim, had tickets. Okay but seriously, Kim has crazy connections and when she calls and says,

"do you want to go see David Archuleta"

she really means it.

That's us, in a photo op

ON ARCHULETA'S TOUR BUS.

Me, Kim, David, and his back up singer, Kendra.

I know. You SO want to be me. Or really you want to be Kim, so you can stand next to him. Seriously, what a fun night. We were like teenagers- squeeling the whole way home. Then we turned back into Moms.

Thanks to our men who made it work for us to go, sick kids and all. Thanks to Kendra for getting us up close, and thanks to Kim for taking me along!

*Garrett's doing much better. He perked up and the pain subsided shortly before we decided not to cancel our plans. The nurse is pretty sure it's a virus that's going around school that causes sharp abdominal pain. It should go away on it's own soon.

February in Texas

It has it's perks.

he's up

TONIGHT!

Go Kai!

look who's a big 3 year old now

We're all so in love with this girl.

Happy Chocolate Day

It's all about the food.

Chocolate Berry Crepes

1 1/2 cups flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups milk

2 Tbsp melted butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1. Mix first 4 ingredients in bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients with electric mixer until smooth.

2. Lightly butter small 6 inch skillet and heat over medium heat until bubbly.

3. For each crepe, pour 1/8-1/4 cup batter into skillet. Immediately rotate skillet until thin layer of batter covers bottom. Cook until lightly brown. Run spatula around edge until loose. Flip crepe and cook other side until light brown. Repeat for remaining batter.

4. Spread whipped cream down the middle of the crepe. Fill with raspberries and/or chopped strawberries. Roll, and top with melted chocolate or chocolate berry sauce*, powdered sugar, and of course, more berries.

~~~

Chocolate Berry Sauce

semi sweet ( or mik chocolate, if that's more your thing) baking chocolate or chocolate chips

raspberries and/or strawberries, pureed

milk

sugar to taste

Mix all ingredients in saucepan (eyeball all of it) and gently heat until melted and smooth.

the catch

One of my 2009 resolutions is to catch up.

Catch up on sleep, catch up on reading, catch up on cleaning, catch up on scrapbooks, catch up on home videos, and catch up on various other organization projects and craft.

And as much as I'd like to get my blog caught up on all that has already transpired in 2009, I can't. I'm throwing the last few things in our suitcase, searching for the missing snow hat, and running out the door to catch a plane. Ethan and I are taking a trip to see my sister and Carter. We are so excited. Ethan's been counting down for weeks.

Then I'll come home and catch up.

forgetting to remember

I'm not sure how this is going to actually sound outloud (so to speak) but I was visiting with some dear new friends last night. They asked me about Brazil and it brought up a lot of tender feelings that I've been thinking about recently. Although it's a world away from us now, it really wasn't all that long ago when I was thinking about things like this and experiences like this.

And I had really strong feelings about things like this.

And I said I'd never forget.

Then I came "home". To a house. With a lot more space. With a lot more yard. In a comfortable neighborhood. With a lot of things to do. And less time to think about so much of what I learned in another place and time.

So I start to forget. And it makes me angry.

Angry when I get wrapped up in my new little world. Angry when I complain. Angry when I get lazy. Angry when I get complacent. Angry when I find myself comparing my house and my "things" to the beautiful homes around me.

Despite the current state of the economy, Americans had a lot. Even Americans who don't have a lot, have...well, a lot.

I never want to forget. I never want my kids to forget.

sleepless nights

I'm going to file this little picture away and bring it out in 20 or so years when my little Lydia is a mom and calls me in tears after staying up all night trying to get her newborn baby to sleep.

And we'll laugh.

We'll laugh over the hard night she had as an almost 3 year old trying to get her baby to sleep.

For our own amusement, Matt and I kept peeking in at her. It was quiet. Each time we assumed she'd finally fallen asleep, but she was busy-- reading books to baby, wispering soothing words, rocking.

Finally at 10:30, I caught her laying down with Baby on her chest, fighting to keep her eyes open, and softly patting Baby's back while they both drifted off to sleep. It was so true to life that I couldn't help but laugh...then grab the camera.

This baby thing is a full time job for her. It's adorable, and a little obnoxious sometimes too. They go everywhere with us, and she gets really worried if she has to leave them in the car, because they will be scared without her. I've been known to call Monkey on the phone and ask if he'd babysit because we accidentally left the babies at home. My favorite is when she bounces them to get them to stop crying. I still haven't gotten it on video.

I hope she always loves being a mom this much.

American Idol

I couldn't get the video to upload, and I'm too tired to figure it out so you'll just have visit my sisters here or here for it. It's totally worth the extra click to their blogs to see it. How many times in your life do you get to say that you know someone who's

going to Hollywood!

Yay Kai!

today is a big day

it's back.