My Jazzy

I thought of you with love today but that is nothing new
I thought of you yesterday and the days before that too
I think of you in silence - I often speak your name
All I have of you are memories and your picture in a frame
Your memory is my keepsake with which I will never part
God has you in his keeping, I have you in my heart -

That is the poem that I started my eulogy with this week for my best friend, my sister.

I will be taking some time away from blog writing to focus on my family and myself. I have met some very wonderful people while writing on here and plan to be back soon, I just need some quiet time giving my kids lots of hugs.

Shake, Rattle and

Buttered Roll!!!!

For my cooking blog I made some good old cornbread in a cast iron skillet so I took the opportunity to make some homemade butter to go along with it.

And the boys had a great time helping me.

First we poured some heavy whipping cream into an old, cleaned and dried pimento jar and added a pinch of salt. Then it was shake, shake, shake....

and shake, shake, shake....

(NO, the little guy is not suffering some baby version of "Herpes Simplex Something", nor is that the biggest "cold sore" in history, he fell face first on the concrete and put his tooth through his lip the other day and it is still swollen, bruised and painful (but one good outcome is that he his having a heck of a time with his pacifier, oh well!).

First the cream will thicken slightly, then turn more into the thickness of whipped cream and then a ball will form, a beautiful ball of butter...just pour off the "butter milk" that separates and enjoy!

We like to throw ours in the fridge for a while to firm up a little more.

See it melting beautifully on the slice of cornbread?!?!

The big guy asked if we could make butter every night for dinner. Of course I said no BUT it would be a nice thing to do for the holidays and it is such a simple thing for them to do together and practice taking turns.

P.S. Make sure you watch the little ones, they got a little over zealous with their shaking and the big guy hit himself in the head with the jar!

Help, My Son's Pant Are On Fire!!!!

It seems as though my big guy started a new hobby but unfortunately his new pastime has also made him the recipient of a new nickname,

PINNOCHIO

Unfortunately, within the last week or so I have personally caught my son telling numerous "fibs". They started with "I have to go to the bathroom" and then using that time to rummage through closets and bedrooms without supervision, then came along the random "little brother did it" even when he was not in the room and now we are up to "Mommy said I can have ice cream now, etc".

At first it was once a day and now the frequency is at least 5 a day. It makes me sad to think he could be so devious and scheming - in my eyes he is still my innocent baby. I just thought older kids do this to test boundaries but not 4.5 year olds.

Is this common?!?! When does it usually start? What advice do you have?

Due to his PDD-NOS he has a hard time understanding social cues or social standards and although we have had many talks about not telling the truth and he has had many of his toys taken away, he still continues on...

I need to help him find his inner Jiminy Cricket!!!!!

I am on my upstairs to go through our Davey and Goliath boxed set to see if there is an episode on the subject (yes, my father bought him the boxed set), will be renting Pinnochio today and going to the library or bookstore because I think there is a Berenstein Bear book but do any of you have any suggestions???

PLEASE HELP!

Flat Stanley Project

The big guy and I are so excited to be participating in a "Flat Stanley Project" based on the love-able, adventurous character from Jeff Brown's books, that is being hosted by Gabby at The Work of Childhood.

If you are not familiar with Flat Stanley, Stanley Lambchop was a boy who was flattened by a bulletin board. He soon finds out it can be fun to be flat and travel the world by mail having many adventures along the way.


So here is a picture of our big guy and his Flat Stanley, who will be travelling the "world" ready for some real fun adventures. In turn, we will be "hosting" other Flat Stanley's as they travel the world and end up in our mailbox and promise to handle them with care and truly show them a good time with lots of activities and fun planned.


Notice the "pocket pants" ?!?! My son is a big fan of cargo pants and asked that his Stanley have a pair... so I obliged by drawing them on.


Although my son needed some reassurance that he would be safe, we eagerly mailed our "Stanley" to his first visit in Tennessee. How exciting!!! Can't wait to see what he gets to see and do while he is there.

Since the big guy (and our little one for that matter) is a huge fan of mail, I am sure he will be checking our mailbox daily.

In the mean time, since school is starting for us next week, along with soccer and karate, I think we will suspend our postings for Tot School and use THIS wonderful opportunity for learning.

I will search tonight for a perfect map of the United States and show my son where we live and work with his little brother on learning our address since the big guy already knows that. Then when we get our first "Stanley" to babysit I will show them where he/she came from and plan our lesson from there.

Thanks again Gabby, we are so excited to participate!

Happy Labor Day Weekend

and End of Summer!!!

Sorry if you have checked in lately and have not found anything new posted especially for Tot School, Preschool Corner, Wordless Wednesday or CVS Challenge. The last few weeks of summer have been getting the best of me along with some health issues so I am wiped out!

We are still having fun and learning lots of new things, I have just run out of time to write about them. Hopefully next week when the big guy starts school again, I will have some more free time.

I have been cooking a lot and trying lots of new Pioneer Woman recipes for my other blog which you can read here . \

and the boys are very excited to start their Flat Stanley project which I will be writing about real soon!!!!