Easter Lowdown

Since the end of March is rapidly approaching, I figured I better hurry and share the details of our Easter before I look up and the Fourth of July is upon us.

We began the day with a family-friendly Easter church service by the lake. Although quite enjoyable, Isaac was disappointed at the end because A. He did not get to ride on a boat (he has become convinced that Tobe needs to build our family a boat) B. He did not get to swim in the lake(Despite the fact that temperatures dropped while we were outside and he was practically under my coat at the end of the service in feeble attempts to stay warm). C. Neither the Easter Bunny nor Santa Claus were in attendance.

After E's morning nap, we set out to take some Easter pictures. Our original plan was to hit the local botanical gardens for some shots with their tulips, but I decided winter coats would simply not work with the purple/green clothing theme we had going. Instead we ventured out to the local convention mega-hotel and had quite the lovely time. However we were unable to sneak into the fancy Champagne brunch being offered for $40 per person.

Upon arriving home, we were stunned to find such lovely things on our fireplace hearth

(By the way, E. has the fancy Pottery Barn Easter basket only because someone was selling them cheap on Ebay pre-personalized. They had some random names to choose from...Leonard, anyone?....but also had "Evelyn." Obviously I was the only bidder. They had an "Isaak" but it had a "K" rather than a "C". Besides, Isaac wanted to stick with the lion basket.)

Obviously, Evelyn was beyond thrilled with Easter. She is on the sickly side these past few days, so not very much excites her.
However a new thing to love on makes her super happy
Yes, this is a foam hat made to look like a strawberry. I call it her Easter bonnet and she loves to wear it.
After lunch and naps, we set out to hunt eggs.

Evelyn's eggs were filled with Cheerios. Here she holds out her basket in hopes of getting something better..

Hope everyone had a marvelous Easter Day!

Just a Preview

Easter Quotes

On this glorious Easter day, here are a few Isaac quotes from the past 24 hours:

1. Last night, after a nice family dinner we took a walk around our local town shopping area. Isaac was running down the sidewalk and then tripped. He jumped up and said, "Oh, my run was just too fast!'

2. A few days ago when I was putting Isaac down for his nap, he instructed me to go to the store while he was sleeping and buy Little Einstein cereal. Obviously that request was not met for several reasons. However yesterday while out grocery shopping I did scoop up some "My Friends Tigger and Pooh" cereal. I know, shame on me. Anyway, this morning I surprised Isaac with it. He exclaimed, "This is what I always wanted!"

and finally....

3. This morning as he was getting loaded into the car for church, Isaac boldly proclaimed, "I know the Easter Bunny will be at church today." He also was talking a lot about Santa Claus this morning, which leads me to believe we have a lot more explaining to do regarding holidays.

Easter pictures to come either later tonight or tomorrow...until then, Happy Easter!

An Open Letter of Apology

Dear New Parents visiting our Neighborhood Park Yesterday,

First, let me congratulate you on your beautiful three month old daughter. I am sure she is quite lovely, but the 3.5 second glimpse I was able to catch of her when not chasing my own children only told me she was wearing pink socks. They were nice.

Allow me to apologize for the fact that all the pictures of your baby's first trip to the park will also include my son. Apparently he was quite excited to have someone else to share his new found discovery of a pine cone with other than his own Mommy. Years from now when you look back on little Susie's first ride on the swing or trip down the slide and see a smiling, blue-eyed boy in the corner of all your pictures, please know that he was well-intended in his apparent endeavors to ruin every family photo taken yesterday. His name is "Isaac" if you care to simply write him into your daughter's baby book.

Also know that if you are blessed with more children, you will likely allow number two (or three or four...) to sit in the wood chips and dig to her heart's content. You will not panic when she decides to sample her surroundings, just calmly rake the wood chip from her mouth while continuing on with your conversation (I know witnessing this was a bit horrific to you at the time yesterday). If you are truly blessed to have children close together, you will simply look at the oldest with a confused expression when he too decides to eat a wood chip simply because his younger sister did (fortunately, he chewed his up).

Best of luck in parenting your new bundle of joy. The weather is predicted to be nice again today so perhaps you can re-do your park photo shoot minus my children.

Sincerely,

A Fellow Parent

Searching the Hollows of My Mind

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.



I have stared at this little white box on Blogger now for quite the while, hoping to stir the creative juices inside of me.



Apparently those creative juices are on Spring Break this week, so I give you a few random thoughts/occurrences until something with more substance surfaces.

• Evelyn is featured on the front page of our local newspaper. The paper snapped her picture at "Breakfast with the Easter Bunny" last weekend and we have been eagerly awaiting her debut in newsprint. It is not the greatest picture, but still something fun to put in her baby book (which I should really update considering the last time I opened it was for the nurses at the hospital to put her footprints in it...)


• Evelyn began saying "Isaac" constantly yesterday, which helped minimize the breakfast conversation from Tuesday. When she says it, she says, "IIIIIIIIIII-sic." Can't imagine where she could have possibly learned to make every word have at least two syllables.


(What, you don't keep a large Little Tikes dump truck on your hearth as decoration?)

• Yesterday Isaac sported a shirt with a flaming guitar that read, "Motown". It made me laugh every time I saw him round the corner in that shirt. Tobe purchased this article of clothing during a business trip to Columbus, Ohio while I was still pregnant with Isaac. It has been tucked away in Isaac's closet until he was finally big enough to wear it.
  
• While making a diaper run with the children yesterday, a fellow shopper inquired as to what Isaac's shirt said. I proudly exclaimed, "Motown" and was greeted with a blank stare. For some unknown reason, I felt compelled to explain Motown to this man, who continued to look at me with an odd stare. Seriously, where are my social skills these days?


• Last week at our Thursday playtime I spotted a fellow Mommy who I thought I knew from my ACU days. Later that evening, Tobe and I poured over our college yearbooks until I found her picture (and became slightly depressed over the fact college is long gone), certain this was the girl I had spied at playtime. I even emailed Alison to let her know I had spotted this girl. Yesterday at playtime, the girl was there again. Right before I said, "Didn't you go to ACU?" she said to me, "I think I know you from (I was about to interrupt with "ACU?") such and such...." Turns out she is not a fellow wildcat, but I actually know her from another mommy thing. I was caught so off-guard from this twist words simply escaped my mind. And I was left wondering yet again where my social skills have disappeared to and if I will ever possibly find them again.


• Due to a preschooler who took a longer-than-usual nap on Wednesday, Evelyn and I were able to catch a few minutes of Oprah. Miley Cyrus was her guest (AKA Hannah Montana...who apparently is quite the sensation for girls age 5-13). A lot of the discussion was based on how grounded this fifteen year old is despite the fact that her childhood is being spent in the limelight. After commercial break, out comes dad Billy Ray Cyrus (yes, that Billy Ray) to gush over the talents of his daughter. It was then that he said the most frightening thing a parent can ever say, "I just want to be her friend." Please, Billy Ray, don't be her friend...be her parent. Let the other 15 year old girls be her friend.


• Watching the little girls go crazy (and the moms weep, which just mystified me) over Hannah Montana made me a bit glad we are still in this innocent phase of childhood:

Happy Good Friday!

These Are the Days....

Yesterday, as most people in my area were contemplating building an ark in case the rain never stopped, I decided the best possible thing to do was load up my children and head to the mall playground.

Two factors encouraged this slightly delusional thinking:

1. The play date had been planned in advance...prior to the rain...and it was with Alison, Morgan, and Madeline. We will drive just about anywhere to hang with those three.

2. The conversation at my breakfast table that morning sounded something like this:

Evelyn: "Dada, Dada, Dada, Dada, Dada, Dada....."

Isaac: "Daddy is not here, Babyevin. Daddy is at work. My name is Isaac. My name is not Daddy."

This conversation lasted a solid ten minutes, thus making the idea of potentially having to row my car down the local highways in search of real adult interaction seem quite reasonable.

The last time Alison and I visited this particular mall together, we only had one child between the two of us and that child was just a mere little speck of a baby chillin' in Alison's tummy. We likely discussed all things baby on that particular outing, spending no less than an hour "oohing" over every stitch of bedding at Pottery Barn Kids, and looking longingly at the mommies pushing sweet bundles of joy around in strollers.

This trip there were four kids between the two of us, making the adults quickly outnumbered by the children. I do not believe one single conversation was completed. Pottery Barn was passed by in a blur (we did manage to gaze longingly at a white couch knowing it was not in either of our futures for at least 15 years) as we tried to wrangle the preschoolers who insisted on walking (holding hands) ever so slowly and push the babies were in strollers (although Evelyn would quite have preferred crawling after the big kids). The table at lunch was a hodgepodge of sippy cups, french fries, baby food containers, napkins, toys, and chicken nuggets. There wasn't an elegant plate of chicken salad and fruit to be found, nor any tall cold glasses of sweet iced tea.

Although these dates can be hectic and I feared we might have to swim home after the date, such outings are always fun. There will come a day...much too quickly...when Isaac isn't so keen on running up to "Miss A-son" and giving her a giant hug and Morgan does not ever-so-sweetly try to convince me to let her ride the carousal despite the fact her mother told her "no." They certainly won't want to hold hands proudly as the walk through the food court in a few years. Too soon Isaac would like choose death over being caught anywhere near a mall with five females he is related/fake related to and all the girls will likely want Alison and I to stay a minimum of 30 feet behind them at all times (expect at the cash register).

Sigh.

***

Every evening after supper our family of four hangs out together in the living room for some quality family time until bath time arrives. Tonight we were goofing around and Isaac looked at my leg. Quite seriously he said, "Oh, Mommy, you have cimmamon (cinnamon) on your leg." I attempted to explain freckles but he became distracted by something more interesting than another boring lesson from Mom.

***

In an attempt to entertain Isaac (who was antsy as a bug) this morning while I cleaned, I filled up our kitchen sink with water and bubbles, gave him an assortment of measuring cups, and let him be. The child played in that water for over an hour and was reluctant to see his precious bubbles drain down the sink. I highly suggest this activity, yet recommend it on a day you are planning on mopping anyway. Although it proved to be quite the engaging activity, it was a huge mess to clean up afterwards.

***

The other night I went in to check on Isaac before I retired for the evening. I entered his room, gave my eyes a chance to focus, and then approached his bed. Not seeing him initially (the child sleeps with a small army of pillows, blankets, and animals), I began gently patting around the bed to find his little body. Nothing. Before allowing myself to panic over a potential kidnapping situation, I turned the light on low (another reason everyone should have a dimmer switch on their kid's lights!) and this is what I found:

He was sound asleep on his floor. He never woke up while I took the picture or placed him back in his bed. Silly boy.

"Save the Phillips" Seal of Approval

Time for another "Save the Phillips Seal of Approval"......

This past fall I made a commitment to do a devotional time everyday with Isaac (and eventually with Evelyn). I felt like it was something that would really help set the tone and focus of our day. Since then every morning at 9am, while sister sleeps, he and I crawl up into the famous (or infamous, I suppose) "rock-rock" chair and have our time together with God.

We discuss the ins and outs of the Bible (basic concept of what it is...no deep theological discussions occurring quite yet), read the daily selection from the One Year Book of Devotionals for Preschoolers, read a bible story, and then close in prayer.

One never quite realizes the extreme death and destruction dealt with in the "typical" bible stories shared with children until the time comes to share such stories with your own child. It is a struggle to express the stories of our God's greatness and not worry your two year old will dwell on such facts as a fish swallowing a man, lions used as punishment, water covering the earth and drowning quite a few folks, and a mother forced to hide her baby on a river to prevent his death. Tough subject matters, these "kiddie" bible stories.

This is where I have come to rely on the Read Aloud Bible Stories by Ella K. Lindvall. There are four volumes in this series which tell in good detail some important stories of the Bible. The language is simple, the violence is toned down a bit, and the message of God shines through. I highly recommending scooping these up to add to your personal library. There are other books we use as well, but these are Isaac's favorite by far.

If you don't already, I encourage you to carve out a small piece of time to share God's word with your child each day. Some days we only have about 5-10 minutes for our devotional, other days we have thirty. We choose to do ours in the morning because I only have about three brain cells left at bedtime. There are also days when Isaac's two year old attitude comes out in full force and he does not want to be a part of devotional time. Despite these occasional days of resistance, I make Devotional time a requirement, just like other things in our day (eating, sleeping, brushing teeth) are requirements. He can obey and come to devotional or he can go to time-out (and then come to devotional when he is through there). This might sound harsh to some, but it works for us. He always comes and his attitude changes within 3.6 seconds of climbing into the rock-rock chair (another aspect of being two).

Evelyn and I also share a devotional time each morning before her morning nap. We practice hugging and rocking her baby doll (I feel very strongly about encouraging nurturing habits very early on in girls), read a book, read a poem about God, say a one-two sentence prayer, and then off to bed. This is quite the short devotional, but I hope it is establishing a pattern.

Saturday at lunch I could tell Isaac had paid attention to our devotional that morning, which had been about the Crucifixion of Christ and discussions of the cross. At lunch that day, he was making intentional straight lines on the table with his spoon while Evelyn fussed next to him in her highchair, impatient to be fed (She has started signing "Bottle" now, along with more, which doesn't seem to help the impatience).

He quite calmly looked at her and said, "Please don't cry at my cross, BabyEvin. It is the cross."

There you go, another Seal of Approval given to the Read Aloud Bible Stories and daily devotional time with your kids.

Breakfast with the Bunny

Spring is almost upon us, bringing with it Easter.

All I can say is that I hope Easter gets here soon because once again we are in the midst of a toddler calender crisis. By crisis, I mean that Isaac is aware that a holiday is approaching but his two year old mind can't quite grasp that tricky concept of time.

Repeatedly during the day, usually at the most unusual of times (for instance, through the bathroom door), I hear a sweet little voice ask, "Is it Easter day yet?" And then comes the ever-popular request to count down the days on Mommy's calender as to when it will actually be Easter.

Easter is another one of those holidays where the secular and the religious combine, making it quite complicated when explaining the details to children. Isaac knows Easter involves candy, a bunny, an egg hunt, and a cross....not exactly the true meaning we want him gleaning. I have decided that next year we are going to distinguish between the two more appropriately, designating all egg hunting and Bunny visiting as a part of welcoming in the lovely season of Spring and keeping Easter with its appropriate focus on the Resurrection. Because I really fear if we do not show a clear distinction between the two that Isaac will come to believe the Easter Bunny to have been present somewhere around the empty tomb.

Welcoming of Spring for our family means the annual event of eating breakfast with the Easter bunny. Isaac has been almost unable to contain all excitement about this event. He exited his room quite giddy Saturday morning and proclaimed, "My Bunny is going to be so excited to see me today!" Saturday we loaded up in the car, dressed in our "nice" clothes, and ate eggs and biscuits with Mr. and Mrs. Bunny. Both kids loved every minute. Evelyn would crane her neck to get glimpses of the bunnies while she ate. After breakfast, the kids enjoyed a lovely (read: calm) egg hunt. After one last hug with Bunny, we headed out and enjoyed the remainder of our Saturday.

Here are a few pictures from our breakfast:

Hair Woes

I get many random visitors to this blog in search of help or comfort in regards to their baby's hair. Many Google searches such as "infant hair falling out in patches," "widow's peak on my baby", or "Help my baby's hair is ugly!"(seriously, a true search phrase!) lead people to savethephillipsfamily lots of days.

For those of you who may have stumbled across this little blog in search of help with your precious bundle of joy's hair....well, good luck. I doubt you are going to find the answers you need here. (But feel free to stay!)

Although Evelyn is a sweet little thing and one of the prettiest babies in history (Obviously, I am not biased), she has hair issues. I am her mother so it is within my right to say such things. Bless her sweet heart.

Her is a picture of her hair woes

She has a widow's peak, but the top part of her hair has been growing faster than that at the "peak", thus creating this sad hairstyle. Although a bow perks it up a bit, it still was not masking the stringy hair woes of Miss Evelyn.

Yesterday morning after a family breakfast of pancakes, I became inspired to trim her hair. Mind you I am not one to cut my hair, my husband's hair, nor my children's hair. I believe such things needs to be left to the trained hands of professionals considering I have a difficult time cutting a piece of paper in half. Channeling my inner hairstylist, I made a few snips with the sewing scissors.

Here is the finished look:

Not bad....and should last us until time to take her for her first salon visit.

***

Today I could not find Evelyn as we were heading out the door for MOPS. I checked the dishwasher (where I had found her earlier, sitting on the open door! This whole "climbing" business is new to me! Fortunately I was right in the kitchen with her before she decided to take a tumble off the edge.)...not there. I checked her room and this is what I found:

Nothing says "Welcome Spring!" like a sweet little girl playing with her animals in her yellow sundress.

Happy Friday!

It's in the Bag!

Because I have two mobile children living under the roof of casa de phillips, I often find random objects in the most unusual of locations. It is not uncommon to find my facial moisturizer in the living room (a favorite of E.'s), a lost measuring spoon laying alone on the laundry room floor, and 12 sippy cups placed strategically around the house on any given day. Such misplaced items fail to surprise me anymore. Rather than ponder how my travel alarm clock wound up in the plant in the kitchen, I simply take the item (or send the two year old off with the item) back to its designated location.


Apparently the sales girl at our local Old Navy is not quite as familiar with this misplaced object phenomenon as I am. E. and I were spending some quality girl time this morning shopping for pants while big brother was busy being educated at the local preschool. As I stepped up to the counter at Old Navy to make my purchase, I began digging deep into the depths of my diaper bag for the trusty wallet.


It was then that I noticed what I apparently had been lugging around this morning, along with diapers and Cheerios....


A bright orange can of Pledge.


I was unable to keep said can of dusting spray concealed from the sales associate, who managed to merely raise an eyebrow at the questionable contents of my bag.


I laughed anxiously and said something about "those silly kids", grabbed my bag, and made a quick getaway. While racing out to the car, I was wondering when and how one of my precious children had managed to A. get the Pledge out of the very high place where it is stored and B. Put it in the diaper bag, which is also kept out of their reach.


It was then that I had a memory of my own self grabbing up those last-minute items off the washing machine (keys, sippy cup, sunglasses, cell phone) while heading out the door with Evelyn twenty minutes earlier. I vaguely remember the Pledge can sitting with those other items (I do some serious kid-free cleaning on Wednesday mornings while E naps and Isaac is at school). Apparently my subconscious thought that Pledge was the final thing I needed to round out the contents of my diaper bag.

***

This little boy was so terribly excited about hunting eggs at his school's Easter party today, he decided to wake-up at 5:30am.



Apparently the excitement (AKA sugar high) is lingering, because he is still awake an hour after his bedtime.

10 Months...

This little girl turned 10 months old today. I keep telling her to slow down with all this "growing up business" but she seems to be completely ignoring me.

In honor of her 10 month birthday (monthday?), she said her brother's name for the very first time this morning. **

I guess she had enough of not being able to respond to the loud commands of, "BabyEvin-come-herrrrrrrrrreeeee!" issued repeatedly during the course of the day.


(**She repeated me saying "Isaac". Fortunately she did not mimic my tone, which was slightly exasperated due to the fact the boy was crawling through mud at the time.)

The Boy...He is all Ours!

There is very little speculation as to whether or not Isaac was switched at birth by some freak hospital staff negligence. The fact that he is the spitting image of his Daddy...right down to the crooked pinkies...verifies this point.

Today, something slipped from his little two year old mouth that indeed told us he is 100% ours.

Isaac is currently enrolled in a sports class that meets each week. The idea behind the class is to introduce students to a new sport each week. The class is designed for toddlers so obviously not a lot of actual "game play" occurs. The teacher (affectionately called "Coach") is just happy if everyone stays in the circle for five minutes. Before today, Isaac has learned football and shuffleboard (seriously....perhaps in preparation for retirement?).

Today was an Easter themed class (because nothing says "Resurrection of Christ" quite like sports class) where several games were played with plastic eggs. Coach passed out the speckled plastic eggs and then asked what color each student had.

Isaac eagerly replied, "My egg has cinnamon (cim-a-mon) on it!"

And....She Speaks

This afternoon, our family of four ventured out to our new neighborhood park to check out the renovations. As we entered the park, Isaac enthusiastically and loudly greeted the other two families by yelling, "Hello, Eh-ber-body! It is us!"

Evelyn is not too far behind in the talking department as you will see in the following video...

Here are my two boys after building Daddy and Son snowpeople

Second Verse...Same as the First!

Love this picture? I am thinking this should be the photo for the next card sent from casa de phillips because it completely sums up who we are right now. Evelyn has somehow lost her shoes and is fighting aggressively to get away. Isaac is upset and in need of some affirmation. My hair inexplicably has a mind of its own. We could just photoshop a picture of Tobe into this nice little portrait and send a lovely Easter greeting out from our family of four.

Despite the fact that I have sworn at least seven times by now that I am not going to take my children to get their pictures professionally made....today I loaded them up to get their pictures professionally made. It is if I suffer from picture amnesia and think that suddenly this experience will be joyful and my children will resemble the happy, cooperative kids in the print ads I receive in the mail.

The three of us marched ourselves right into the studio, decked out in our Spring finest, regardless of the two inches of snow still on the ground. The session was not too tragic, considering Isaac refused to enter the studio and Evelyn had decided to skip her morning nap. Knowing that bribery might be needed with my oldest child, I had come prepared with a bag of marshmallows to entice sitting for a few shots. Sit for a few shots he did and managed to give the most pained expression in the majority of them. Sigh. I am sure someday I will look back on all these pictures and smile at a little boy who hated having his picture taken. (Unless he is still pulling these tricks when Senior Portrait time rolls around).

In more random, disjointed news Evelyn went for her nine month well-visit this week (despite the fact she turns 10 months old in a few days). As we suspected, the girl is off the charts in height. Drum roll please....she is 31 inches long. 31 inches! No wonder we seemed to have skipped right to size 12-18 months clothing. She also weighs in at a healthy 20.1 pounds. The doctor commented on how babies that usually weight 20 pounds before the age of one tend to look chubby, yet Evelyn is quite the skinny girl. I guess all those 31 inches help distribute the 20 pounds. Isaac was 18 months old before he weighed 20 pounds, so this is a whole new world to me.

A lot of people usually inquire as to how old Evelyn is and then comment on how big she is for her age. This has set the wheels in my head in motion. I don't want the comment, "Oh, you are so tall!" to become a burden for Evelyn if she does indeed remain tall. I want this to be something she embraces and puts (a reasonable amount of) pride in. I pray many things for my children, one of those being that they find early on a healthy sense of confidence in who they are, flaws and qualities alike.

In sad news, this also means sweet E. has technically outgrown the Baby Bjorn. Not sure how we are going to safely navigate the park anymore. Any suggestions about this from more seasoned mommies are greatly welcomed!

***

Our snow is quickly fading into murky puddles of water. I am working up the desire to download our own snow pictures from the camera, edit them, and post them on the blog. I have greatly enjoyed reading every one's tale of a snow day in March!

Huh?

This time yesterday I was wearing short sleeves and pushing my children in their stroller on a nice Spring walk.

Today we already have a good inch + of snow on the ground and it isn't letting up anytime soon. Tobe is home early from work and Isaac and I are about to venture outside to build a snowman.

As we left playtime today, sleet was coming down in buckets from the sky. One mom innocently asked, "Is that hail?".

Welcome to Texas.

Last Minute Meal

For whatever reason, I have become a fan of The Biggest Loser this season on NBC. Perhaps it is because Sammie from Days of Our Lives is hosting and I feel like I have grown up with her or perhaps the couple concept caught my eye....whatever it is, I enjoy watching bits and pieces of this program on Tuesday nights.

I especially love the "Last Chance Workout" because people are going crazy on the treadmills while Bob is yelling "Last Chance Workout!!!!" I really need someone to yell that to me some mornings at the gym.

A few days ago I raised the question, asking what you keep on hand to make those last minute meals on crazy days. We all have those days where it seems like 5:30pm has hit and nothing is on the table. It is almost as if Trainer Bob is standing in the kitchen yelling, "Last Minute Meal!!". The pressure can knock a mom right out of her trendy non-athletic tennis shoes.

Anyway, there were lots of great ideas in the comments section. Be sure to check those out here.

Here are my top five staple items I keep on hand to make one of those last minute meals.

You have to keep something up your sleeve to serve as a "Last Minute Meal" when someone this cool is dining at your table. (Check back later for a picture...blogger is being difficult)

Keeping these five staple items on hand allows any mother to prepare a fast and tasty meal, even on the craziest of days, and prevents that last minute decision to hit the drive-thru for dinner.

1. Instant Pancake Mix
Breakfast for supper is typically met with much enthusiasm because it seems out of the ordinary. Pancake mix usually only requires tap water to be added, but can be enhanced with the addition of milk and eggs. Sprinkle on some unusual ingredients, such as chocolate chips, blueberries, or chopped nuts, while the cakes are sizzling away on the griddle. The end result will be gourmet pancakes that will please every family member.

2. Instant Pizza Crust Mix
Follow the package directions on how to make pizza crust (again, it only needs tap water!), then roll the dough out into a rectangle. Search the refrigerator for potential fillings such as deli ham and cheese, pepperoni and bell pepper, or cooked chicken and barbeque sauce. Place the filling down the center of the rectangle, fold the sides of the dough up over the filling, and bake according to package directions. Hearty dinner pockets are on the table in less than twenty minutes!

3. Russet Potatoes
Potatoes are great to keep on hand because they tend to have a semi-long shelf life when stored in a cool, dark place. Use a fork to punch a few holes in the potato and microwave on high for 5-7 minutes or until tender to the touch. Once cooked, sliced the potato down the middle and fill with any leftovers lurking in the fridge. Baked potatoes topped with chili or vegetables and cheese are always a crowd pleaser. Extra time? Pop the filled potatoes into a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes to create an elegant twice-baked potato.

4. Frozen Waffles
Frozen waffles can make ordinary lunch meat and cheese extraordinary. Toast waffles according to package directions, then use them to make sandwiches out of whatever sandwich ingredients are on hand (this works with peanut butter and jelly as well as lunch meats). Coat in a bit of beaten egg and then cook in a pre-heated skillet with a tablespoon of butter for about a minute on each side. Dust with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and serve.

5. Frozen Chicken Tenders
Most precooked frozen chicken pieces can be heated in the microwave. Cook according to packaged directions. Add some noodles, spaghetti sauce, and mozzarella cheese to create Chicken Parmesan. Slice the chicken into small pieces and place in a tortilla along with salsa and shredded cheese to make chicken tacos. Combine the cooked chicken with a prepackaged salad and some nuts to create a tasty Pecan Chicken Salad. Frozen chicken tenders provide limitless opportunities to create fast and tasty meals.

Having a kitchen stocked with a few staple items that can be used to create a quick, filling dinner is a trick every mom needs up her sleeve. When served on the fancy dishes typically reserved for special occasions, these fast and creative meals will reap tons of praise from appreciative, well-fed family members.

Snow Day 2008

Despite the fact that the calender read "March 3rd" yesterday and my pear trees are beginning to bloom, we were greeted by snow late last night here at casa de phillips.


Just last week I was lamenting over the fact that Isaac likely would not see a snowfall this winter and perhaps never would due to that pesky global warming (which I just typed as "warmal globing" and could not figure out why that sounded strange for the past five minutes)....then we were blessed with a beautiful, small snowfall. I contemplated waking Isaac up around 9:30pm so he could see our winter wonderland, but then decided nothing is crueler than to be woken from a deep sleep under a warm quilt and thrust into 30 degree weather.

I saved mentioning the snow until Isaac woke this morning and simply opened the front door for him to see all the beautiful white (which was already beginning to melt at 7am). His response was priceless...those big blue eyes lit up and he said, "Oh, Mommy, snow! I make a snowball right now!" and then proceeded to charge out the door in his pajamas. After a quick wardrobe changing and bundling up, we were out playing in the rapidly melting snow by 7:15am. Because Evelyn does not even like the feel of grass, I figured she would not be too keen on snow. Therefore she enjoyed our outdoor time from the comfort of the Bjorn (which she is about to outgrow...then what will I do??).

Here are a few shots from our "snow day". Those of you from up North please do not laugh at our measly inch of powder.

The joy Isaac felt when he discovered he could actually eat snow was immeasurable. Fortunately he does not realize that one can make ice cream from snow or I would have had to make an emergency run to Tom Thumb for condensed milk and rock salt.Evelyn unsure as to why we are outside so early in the morning when it is so cold.
Notice our pal "Raffes" tucked safely inside Isaac's coat pocket....according to Isaac, "Raffes needs to play snow right now!"

The Life and Times of Isaac

The boy just walked out of his bedroom (40 minutes after we put him down for the night and despite the 7 o'clock rule that is normally adhered to), tossed me a quick glance as I stood in my room with an obviously confused look on my face, and nonchalantly said, "I just have to go to the pot*y."

Seriously, where does he come up with this stuff?

Lately he has really been struggling with bossing people around, telling us to do a variety of things "right now." That does not go over so well here at casa de phillips. We have had many conversations about being respectful and about who is the Mommy and who is the child. The bossiness carries over to his interactions with baby sister, whom he enthusiastically tells "No Sir, that is not for you Baby Evelyn" about ten times a minute. Again we have the conversation about how his job is to worry about Isaac only and leave Evelyn to me. Today he told me randomly, "Mommy, just worry about Mommy." Despite the fact that he was precariously toeing the line of disrespect, I could not contain my giggle.

He picked up the phone today and began earnestly punching buttons. I inquired as to who he was calling, to which he replied, "Ms. A-son."

The conversation went like this:

"Hello, Ms. A-son. It's me, Isaac. Hello. I have a new band aid. Hello (obviously he has gotten the greeting part down). Yes, Ms. A-son. Bye-Bye, Ms. A-son. See you later."

Speaking of band-aids, Isaac normally wears one everyday on his wrist. Don't ask...it is something that started months ago and it keeps the hair combing/ teeth brushing experience drama-free. I figure I can drop $2.75 every few weeks for a new box of band aids to keep this area of our life calm. Anyway, Isaac has been sporting two band-aids (one on each wrist) for over a week now. I inquired the other day as to when he was planning on removing these band aids. He replied, "When I am three months (he gets confused with months and years)." At least he has a plan and I can start saving my $2.75.

(*By the way, I am still looking for great last minute dinner solutions...feel free to share any ideas! I have loved the ones shared so far!)

Questioning the Internets

Quick question, dear readers.....

What is the one thing that you keep on hand (either in your pantry or fridge) in order to throw together a last minute meal?

Any thought/ideas would be appreciated and I will share something tasty later this week!

Until then, is it even possible to believe that these two have been at each other all weekend? This morning at breakfast Isaac informed Evelyn that "the fence is closed, Stay Away!" Huh? He also said she was "interrupting"....guess he learned that word from personal experience.