June 2009 Becky

Cammie turned 3 on June 21! She had a party at Monkey Joe's, with lunch, cake & presents at Nana & Papa's house on Monday. We all had a great time. Thanks to friends and family for her awesome gifts! Andy & I have had as much fun as she has playing with them (with her, of course :)! We got her a Dora scooter that she has been asking for for months. Shhh! Don't tell Cammie, because we haven't given it to her yet!! We've been so busy every day and we wanted to give it to her together, plus she's been so happy playing with her other new things that it just hasn't seemed like the right time!

Cammie is now fully potty-trained!! A battle I never thought would end and I am really enjoying being past that. Uh-oh, wait, as I write this, I see Andy changing her sheets...she just wet her bed :( Ok, so daytime potty-trained so far.

She says some really funny things now that her vocabulary is increasing! Today our dog Luke had an accident in the basement and she put her hand on his head and said, "Luke, its your responsibility to clean up your mess!" Ha! I wish!

We took the kids to the neighborhood pool for the first time this year. Devon is totally fearless! Cammie is pretty close, too. We definitely have two water lovers!

Days are busy and challenging, but also fun and rewarding. Andy & I are about to celebrate 10 years on June 26. Life is good!

Busy Days Becky

Toddlers are busy beings! They move from one event to the next all day. To explain what we've done in a day to Andy when he gets home is pretty comical. I was so thankful for the beautiful warm days we had and a friend to go to the playgrounds with that has a daughter just a little older than Cammie. I love Shelley Lake Playground! As you can see, Devon loves the slides! He is now 16 months old, walking, running, climbing, teething and getting quite the personality!Cammie is now 2 years, 8 months old. She is like a little teenager. She likes to get rub on tattoos and get her nails painted, but she runs away from me when I pull out the hairbrush. Pottytraining has been such a frustrating journey for us and we will be glad to be past that stage! Thankfully God gives good with the bad, so we really enjoy some other parts of this stage like her sweet singing and giggling and just some of the things she says that make us laugh.
Its hard to keep either of them still long enough for a picture. This is a perfect example of what its like. Life with a 1 and a 2 year old is very challenging, very rewarding and entertaining!

Thanksgiving food notes Andy

Because I'll forget by next year, I wanted to capture a few of the things I did to the turkey that worked really well.

The Turkey:

I thawed it a day early so that I could marinate overnight. My marinade injection was:

• Olive oil
• Worcestershire sauce
• Finely chopped basil
• Finely chopped cilantro
• Salt
• Pepper

The Gravy:

I pureed some of the veggies I roasted with the turkey (carrots, celery, garlic, onion) in a food processor (I don't like chunky gravy). I stirred this in with the drippings before adding the flour slurry (how's that for culinary-babble?). I might have added too many carrots, cause the gravy was kinda orange, but REALLY good, and it didn't need a whole lot of help to thicken.

The Leftovers:

It was kinda cold after T-day this year, so I was feeling like soup. I had a couple cups of turkey drippings left, and a bunch of chicken stock. A quick trip to the pantry, and here's what happened:

• Great Northern Beans
• Triple Succotash (tomato, corn, butter beans)
• Sliced carrots
• Chopped turkey leftovers
• turkey drippings (skim off the fat... unless you want it to stick on the way down)
• chicken broth
• cheese tortellini
  

You should probably make sure everything is done before adding the tortellini so that they don't fall apart while everything else cooks.

All in all, it was a really good meal, It was a kind of pot-luck event, and everything was yummy! Thanks to all who came and shared your Thanksgiving with us. We are really thankful for our friends and family!

It's Been A Long Time! Becky

So since we haven't posted since August, you can tell how busy we've been. We now have a 1 year old and a 2 year old if that gives you an idea! Devon turned one on November 7. You can see how much he enjoyed digging in to his first piece of cake! He loves playing with his new Little People and trucks he got for his birthday! He has a very comical personality! These two are great entertainment for us! Cammie loves to dress up and help in the kitchen. She has just gotten in to watching Blues Clues and Thomas the Train reruns on the "Sprout on Demand" channel and she sings all the time. I love to hear her sing her songs about Jesus. Sometimes I get all teary-eyed. I guess you can say Cammie & Devon have the typical sibling relationship. Sometimes I feel like I play referee all day as I hear "No, Devon!" and see them pushing eachother around. Other times, they are playing so sweet together and one gives the other a hug and I just enjoy watching the moment and trying to capture it in my memory. Nap time is now over, so I must go. I do thank God for little breaks to restore my own energy!