Thirsty Thursday ....creamy summer dream smoothie

1/2 a mango chopped & frozen
1 heaping handful strawberries (frozen)
1 banana sliced & frozen
2 Activia peach yogurts

Place all ingredients & blend until smooth...if too thick add a splash of apple juice to the blender.

Friday Family Faves...Butternut Squash-Carrot Soup

Ingredients:
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4c diced onion
1 butternut squash
1 c. peeled & sliced carrots (~5 large carrots)
2 chicken bullion cubes
3 c. water
Light sour cream (optional)


Using potato peeler, peel your butternut squash, clean out seeds, and roughly chop (larger pieces will prolong cooking time), Set aside.  Peel & slice 1 cup carrots and set aside.

In large pot, sautee onion & garlic in olive oil on medium heat for ~2 min, stirring occasionally.  Add squash, carrots, chicken bullion cubes, and water.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Drop heat & simmer until squash & carrots are tender.  Pour or laddle into food processor or blender and puree until smooth.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream.  Enjoy it chilled in the summer, and serve hot in the fall and winter.

Celebrating Fatherhood

We kicked off Father's Day Weekend with....DATE NIGHT!!!!  We were so grateful that our friends offered to watch both our kiddos so we could spend some quality time together.  Justin decided he just wanted a low-key night at home, so after a nice quiet dinner at Arnie's we hit up a local redbox and watched a movie on our couch...just the 2 of us.  It was wonderful!  Sunday, we made Justin breakfast in bed....bacon waffles with a side of...well, bacon :)  The perfect Dad breakfast.  Justin then opened gifts and we headed to church.  That night I made him a homemade strawberry pie with our fresh picked strawberries and Justin used his new Weber grill fish basket that Ethan got him for Father's day, to grill us some delicious lemon dill (from our herb garden) grilled fish.  Then we had our traditional Family Home Evening that included family puzzle time and strawberry pie.  We followed that up with some "steamroller daddy", "ride the daddy horse", and "climbing the daddy hill"...well Ethan did anyway, while Claire and I just laughed at their silliness.  What better way to spend Father's Day, than being silly with your kids.  We topped the night off with family snuggles while watching Harry Potter in Mom and Dad's room per Ethan's request ("Snuggle, watch Harry Potter" is what he says.  So sweet.  Don't worry we skip the scarier parts).  All and all, a great way to celebrate what an amazing Father Justin is.  I amazed daily at his ability to work so hard on so little sleep, without complaint, and still manage to spend quality time with his family...especially silly playtime with Ethan.  I am so grateful for him, everyday.  I'm grateful that he puts his family first, I'm grateful that he's willing to sacrifice "nice things" so I can be at home raising our children, I am grateful for what an amazing Father he is...I know Justin truly understand the divine, eternal calling of Fatherhood!   XoxoXoxo

"We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith."

~Neil L. Andersen 

Bacon Waffles with a side of bacon for breakfast in bed...I made them with  wheat flour and canola oil at least :)

Opening presents...Justin's only half awake & can't really see yet, but he really did like his gifts :)

Ethan enjoying the Father's Day card he picked out for Daddy.

Getting Ethan ready for church.

Claire, helping out in her Johnny Jump up

Ethan "helping" Mommy make Daddy's strawberry pie.

Justin using his new fish basket from Ethan and his new  grill tool holder from Claire.

Family Snuggles, watching Harry Potter.

Friday Family Faves...BBQ Chicken Pizza

We love to make our own Pizza at the Peterson's.  It's one of those activities that gets the entire family involved, especially the kiddos.  Here is one of our favorite pizzas to make and eat....BBQ Chicken Pizza.

The Dough

    We love to make our own dough, but you can choose to buy your dough, or crust, or make it from scratch.  I use this Bread Machine Pizza Dough recipe I found on "Allrecipes.com" 

7/8 c warm water

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp white sugar

3/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 c flour

2tsp active dry yeast

Add ingredients to bread machine, in order suggested by manufacturer.  Set to dough cycle.  When finished, spread dough over greased pan (sometimes we'll thrown a little cornmeal down before putting the dough on the pan).  After topping with favorite sauce and toppings back 15-20 min in 400 degree oven.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1.  Cook 5-6 thawed chicken tenderloins in a skillet that has been drizzled with olive oil.  Add 1 tbsp minced garlic.   Cook thoroughly.  After cooling slightly, cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.

2.  Spread prepared pizza dough on greased pizza pan.  Top with 1/4 c. Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce and spread evenly.  If you prefer more sauce, then don't be shy.

3.  Top with chicken

4.  Cover with 1 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese (use more or less depending on your preferences).  Sometimes we'll use Italian blend cheese or a mix of the two...if we're feeling really crazy, we'll even use cheddar cheese.

5.  Bake according to your crust.  If you use the previous bread machine crust, then it's 15-20 minutes on 400 degrees.

Life or Something Like it

Ethan...

We finally got Ethan his big boy bedding.  He loves it...now he's excited to go to bed because he wants to lay in his "Thomas Bed"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ethan put these sandal feet on his Potato-head and said "Look!  It's Jesus!"  Justin and I burst into laughter.  Funny what kids pick up on....no one ever told Ethan that Jesus wore sandals.  But, our family home evenings this year are centered around pictures of Jesus to make the lessons age-appropriate, so we'll show him a picture of the Savior and tell him a story about that picture, apparently he's started noticing every picture he's wearing sandals.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having a backyard picnic

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The son of a friend of ours decided he wanted Ethan to have his old bike!  So they walked it over to the house the other day.  Ethan LOVES it!  We let him ride it in the house, neighborhood, and just to get the mail.  He's finally figuring out how to peddle by himself...such a big boy!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Claire... 

Her 5 month photo

Hanging out in Ethan's bed 

Hanging with Zeddie

Eating cereal for dinner...I turned to help Ethan with his dinner, when I turned back she had grabbed her spoon and was feeding herself!

We start them early in this house :)

The Results

Ethan's MRI results showed the spot on his nose is actually a cyst.  We'll be meeting with a surgeon as recommended by the dermatologist to discuss a possible surgery.  Obviously we don't want Ethan to have a surgery if it is unnecessary, so right now we're in the process of gathering more information and lots of prayer....as my step-sister would say "praying for wisdom and discernment".  Since the Dermatolgist had her PA call us with the results and not herself (telling us it's a cyst and they're scheduling us an appointment with the surgeon with little to no explanaition of what that actually means), we're still a little confused on necessasity of a suregry.  Extra prayers are definitely appreciated!

 

Conversations with a Toddler

This week we had Wesley over a couple times, he's almost 4.  All of a sudden I hear Ethan squealing like he's scared and I say, "Ethan what's wrong?" to which Wesley replies,

"Ethan I just want a hug.  I'm scaring you because I just want a hug"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Picked Ethan up from his Sunday Nursery class and as we're leaving the room he sees a picture of a Temple on the wall.

"Look Mommy a Temple"
"Yes Ethan that is a Temple"
"I want to go there"
"Yes Ethan someday, you'll go to the Temple"
He pauses, and I reflect on what a sweet moment we just had, then he says...

"Looks like Wesley's house"
"You think it looks like Wesley's House?" While Wesley just moved into a beautiful new home, it's exterior  looks nothing like the Temple :)
Ethan, "Yeah"
Me, "Well, Ok."  So kuddos to you Melissa (Wesley's Mom).  If my son is equating your house with the Temple...you must be doing something right in there!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ethan has recently taken an interest in superheros even though we don't actually watch any of the shows.  Some of the superheros he says look scary so I'll tell him yeah but he's a good guy.  Now when ever he sees a scary-looking superhero, even if it is a bad guy, he'll say, "He's scary but he's a good guy".  Well the other day, with Claire sitting on my lap, Ethan brings over his stuffed dog for us to play with.  Claire, in her grabbing phase, reaches out and grabs the paw of the stuffed dog.  Ethan immediately pulls the dog away and says "THAT'S MINE!" (Yep, it has begun:)

Me, "Ethan it's okay, She's not going to take your toy away, She's just a baby."
Ethan, "So Claire's a Good Guy?"
Me, "Yes, Ethan Claire's a good guy"

A Spoonful of Sugar

  Ethan was born with a "spot" smack dab in the center of the bridge of his nose.  We always called it a "hole" because it just looked like an oversized pore.  We've asked our Pediatrician about it since the very first apppoinment Ethan had as a newborn, and she said it was fine and would probably turn into a mole.  Well, at Ethan's 2.5 year Well-Check appointment this Pediatrician decided it was time to have the spot looked at.  She referred us to a dermatologist where we learned that in fact it was truly a hole on his nose that didn't close properly in the womb.  The concern was how far did this hole actually go...was it just a superficial hole in his skin or deeper.  The doctor said the hole can actually go as deep as his brain so they needed to schedule an MRI to find out what we were dealing with.  Yesterday was the MRI and Ethan was amazing as usual.  The day started by having to wake Ethan up at 6am to eat breakfast.  He would need to be sedated for his 1:00 MRI so he would have to fast starting at 7am that day...not fun with a 2.5 year old.  He did great fasting and didn't even ask to eat or drink until right before they sedated him.  At the hopsital they took us to Radiolgy Pediatric Sedation where they had Thomas the Train toys and Toy Story toys waiting in Ethan's Room.  They began by putting numbing solution on his right arm where they would be placing the IV.  They covered the solution with a clear bandage that got all "crinkley" so we decided it looked like Spiderman's Webs and he could pretend to shoot webs just like Spiderman.  The topical solution takes 20 minutes to take affect so, naturally, we just played toys with Ethan until that time.  The nurses said they would have someone from Childlife come down at that time to play with Ethan while the IV was put in and the anesthesia administered, which I thought, "hmmm, seems kind of unnecessary since we play and can play with our son".  But I found out later, that apparently the nurses rarely see the parents playing with their children :(.  After the 20 minutes the Childlife Specialist came down and immediately said, interrupting our playtime, "I hear you guys are already having a goodtime in here....You probably don't even need us :)".  They gave Ethan an ipad to do Thomas Puzzles on to distract him from the IV being put in and he didn't even notice....give that boy a puzzle and he's dead to the world, so focused.  The rest of the day went really well and he was finally awake, but groggy, by 3pm.  Once he was able to feed himself some crackers and drink, they allowed us to leave, letting Ethan ride out of the hosptital in a little red wagon (which he loved and when the nurse stopped at the door he asked her to turn around and go the other way so he could keep riding in it).  We made it a special day for Ethan by taking him to eat at Red Robin next and letting him order whatever he wanted...which was chicken fingers, fries, and chocolate milk :)  We should know the results of test by Monday.

We thought we should also tell you that the hightlight of the day for us, besides everything going well for Ethan, was at the end of the day when Mommy was waiting with the nurse and kids (Ethan still in his wagon) for Daddy to pull the car up to the door. 

The Nurse said, "Do you have anymore children?" 

I told her no, just these 2 but we're planning on having more when these 2 are in school. 

The Nurse responded with, "Oh, do you homeschool or will you?".  I told her probably not, that I would love to but Justin isn't really fond of the idea, but who knows, we have a few years to decided. 

She then said.....
   "Well, you'd be really good at it.  It was really nice watching you (me & justin) play with your kids.  We don't really see that here unfortunately.  It was really nice to see."  I actually started tearing up...partly because it was a long emotional day, but partly because that was the best compliment I think I've ever received.  So after blaming the tearing up on allergies or something to that effect, I told her THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Parenthood is challenging, emotionally and physically, and for someone to notice the effort Justin and I make to put our family first and try to raise, guide, teach, and play with our children; and even take the time to say, hey you're doing a good job, meant more to me than that nurse probably even realized.  Man, I'm tearing up just typing it again!  It was a great way to end the day.      

Hanging in the Waiting Room

Playing in his room with his "Spiderman Web Arm"

Recovering

Wagon Ride...he's annoyed I made the nurse stop pulling the wagon so I could take a pic