Patience

Occasionally the girls in my Sunday school class get together at someone's house during the week to eat and meet. I enjoy these intimate gatherings thoroughly because I always feel refreshed after leaving and of course the food! Everyone knows that southern girls can cook! Last night we met and were asked to choose one of the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) that we feel like we bear, want, or need to work on. I didn't really feel like I rocked out at bearing any of the fruits so I chose one that I felt I really needed to work on, patience. Being a farmer's wife, mother of two small children, and a teacher I thought that patience was a good start especially with school peering its ugly head around the corner. I greatly prefer when God instantly gratifies my prayers, rather than make me wait, but He doesn't always work that way. I'm always looking for a quick fix, but Philippians 1:6 says that God will be faithful to complete the good works He began in us. That implies there's going to be some "in the meantime" when we're all less than perfect and less than easy to love. This is where patience comes in. When I am getting impatient I try to think about all the prayers that God has answered for me and remind myself that they just weren't answered overnight.

Later that night I felt my patience was being tested. Thank God we were out of milk so that gave me the opportunity to take a drive to chill before I got the chance to bite someone's head off. Since everyone in my house is walking around with their head still attached, it must have helped. I am also thankful that I have husband whose fuse is a lot longer than mine, because I know that sometimes I'm not the easiest person to live with. I realize that that this patience-thing may take some time to develop, but I'm going to graciously endure the process. I just hope it doesn't take too long because there are a lot of other fruits that need my attention.

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Yesterday, I came across this cake recipe on the Pioneer Woman website and couldn't resist making it. It was absolutely AMAZING! It tasted as good as it looks. The first two photos are from her website and the last one is mine. Not as pretty, but I'm quite sure just as tasty. I also made another recipe from her site, Bowtie Lasagna. Not going to post that link because I wasn't very impressed, but Wilson did say "I like this mush you cooked for us Mom!". I think that was a compliment, but maybe he was just buttering me up for a piece of cake. Try it if you like, but I'm not recommending it. Ben rated the cake an 8 3/4 which I think is crap! I just think he was trying to prove himself right because earlier in the day when I was making it and describing it to him, he said "I bet it isn't going to be as good as you think." (If I knew how to make the little face with the tongue sticking out with the keyboard I would have posted it right here at him) I will admit I did say that I would have liked it better without so much icing, but other than that it was a 9 3/4 at worst. And BTW, he ate two pieces last night which doesn't coincide with his 8 3/4 rating. Now I just have to decide who to share it with so we don't eat the whole thing ourselves.
http://http//thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/strawberry-shortcakecake/

Hoping Ben will see this photo and be motivated to get my good camera fixed or better yet buy me a new one.

Corn Harvest, Sunflowers, and Figs

Corn harvest is in full swing on the farm. Saturday I took Davis and Wilson to ride the tractor with their daddy. I packed them a picnic basket to take so they could eat lunch on the tractor with him. Riding out to the field, Davis was so excited he said, "This is going to be the best day ever mom!" And of course Wilson (aka Repeater Rabbit) says, "Yeah Mom, the best day ever!"

The boys made sure to dress up in their work clothes...boots, jeans, and a hat. I snapped a picture of the little workers and their daddy before jumping on the tractor.

Here is a picture of them eating their pb&js on the tractor.

Wilson got caught sleeping on the job.

Leaving the corn field, we passed by the sunflowers and I couldn't resist jumping out and taking a few shots of them playing in the sunflower field. They also helped me pick a few to put in a vase at home.

Sunday afternoon, we drove to Lake Providence with my mom to visit my Granny and to help her pick some figs to can.

Unfortunately, the tree had been picked over and our harvest wasn't as bountiful as we had hoped, but they had a good time anyway.

Here's Wilson showing off our harvest! Even though we weren't able to find many figs, I did manage to bring home three jars of Granny's strawberry fig jam.

Old Friends

Me, Paige, and Harper

Cowboy Coleman with spurs and all...Paige said all he watches is westerns which I think is too cute.


Sweet little Harper

Yesterday I got to see my old college friend Paige. Paige and I roomed together at LSU and we were also bridesmaids in each other's weddings. She was one of my two favorite roommates. I'm not going to name the other one because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I will say it wasn't the New Orleans stripper I lived with for two weeks my freshman year at LSU who had piercings in unbloggable body parts. Let this be a lesson to high school graduates....DON'T GO POTLUCK ON THE FRESHMAN ROOMIE! Talk about culture shock coming from St. Joseph, LA! Anyway I ran into Paige at a Kelly's Kids show in Natchez that I helped my friend Kylie with. She has two beautiful children Coleman 4 and Harper 10 months. I haven't seen Coleman since his first birthday and this was the first time I have seen the baby which is really sad because we only live an hour away. So unfortunately, our friendship recently has resulted in the exchange of the annual Christmas card (which she said she didn't get but I know I sent it to her). My goal before the end of the summer is to get our boys together to play because I know they would have so much fun playing cowboys together and also to do a better job of keeping in touch.

Toy Story

This is our playroom. Earlier this year I cleaned out this room ,which was functioning as our computer/exercise/ junk room, so the boys could have a playroom. Previously the toys invaded our living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc. It was not uncommon to find a superhero sleeping in our bed or a dinosaur hiding in one of Ben's boots waiting to chew his foot off. The last straw was the day I stepped on an army helicopter and cut my foot open. So now the toys are limited to this room, but as you can see you can't even walk in it. I know the moment I clean them up they will be right back where they were. Still I find myself fussing at them for bringing and leaving the toys outside of the playroom. This is a battle I'm afraid I will never win, for I am extremely outnumbered by the toys.

Sunday Ben and I took the boys to see the new Toy Story 3 movie. If you haven't seen it Andy is about to leave for college and his mom is forcing him to either donate his old toys or box them up to store in the attic. She stands in his empty room thinking back to the days Andy was a little boy playing on his floor with Buzz, Woody, and the gang. It not only made me cry but reminded me that my days of superheros, dinosaurs,cowboys,and pirates taking over my home are numbered. I've decided from now on that I'm not only going to tolerate it, but I'm going to enjoy it because unfortunately this too shall pass. One day that will be me standing in Davis and Wilson's empty rooms wishing for the days when they were on their floor playing Batman and Robin. So when you stop by to visit please watch your step and understand that this is our mess and we love it!

Lake Livin'

Here are just a few photos from our weekend.

Ben and Wilson riding the Mambo

Wilson, Kylie, and Vance

Davis, Ben, and Mary Clark riding the Mambo

Davis and Mary Clark

Me and Davis

Wilsie Boo

Davis

Having lunch at Nettervilles Landing. Davis took this picture.

Davis made me take a picture of him doing this.

Silly Boys

Uncle Scott stopped by on his Harley

Why Having A Toddler Is Like Being At A Frat Party

This was too funny not to share. I can relate to all of these.

http://www.suburbansnapshots.com/2010/06/10-reasons-having-toddler-is-like-being.html

Little Fish

I am so proud of my boys. They both began the summer taking swim lessons and have come so far. Wilson was traumatized by being made to go under water and ended up being a swim school dropout. The nerve of the swim teacher to expect her students to actually stick their heads under water! He wouldn't even get back in the water after that. He has come from sitting by the pool to sitting on the steps of the pool to what you see in the video. We are still trying to get him in the lake. Davis is starting to swim like a little fish. He gets more confident and daring every time we go to the pool. This weekend I'm going to try to get them both to tube behind the boat with me. I'll let you know how that goes. By the way, I hate my voice on the video!

Almost Perfect Pesto

my pesto

Last night for dinner I made Balsamic Garlic chicken and Bowties with Pesto, Feta, and Cherry Tomatoes. The chicken was outstanding and so easy! I made my own pesto, which I was really excited about, because it has been something I've always wanted to do and I was able to use large amounts of the basil we have growing in our garden.

I always have Ben rate my food on a 1 to 10 scale. The chicken was rated a 9.5... I think it was a 10, but Ben argues that chicken can never be a 10. He says "lobster is a 10, a good filet is a 10." "You can't compare chicken to lobster" I tell him, "you have to compare chicken to chicken". He won't budge, but I know deep down my chicken was a 10. The pasta was given a solid 9. I can live with that because it was more than I would have rated it. All three boys liked it better than me. I guess I had higher expectations. I'm not giving up though, I know there are bigger and better things out there waiting for my pesto.

Balsamic Garlic Chicken

4 (6 oz) skinless boneless chicken breasts

1 t salt

1 t pepper

2 T butter

1 T veg oil

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 T fresh lemon juice

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 1/2 t honey

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Melt butter with oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add chicken and cook 6 to 7 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken and keep warm. Add chicken broth and next 4 ingredients to skillet and cook 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet. Serve chicken with sauce.

Batty Weekend!

Last weekend we stayed at the lake. I spent most of the weekend painting our bathroom, I had had about enough of the wild animal border and leopard shower curtain that I could stand. Friday night the boys spent the night with Billy and we went out to dinner with friends in Natchez at High Cotton. It was a Chef's table menu so we weren't able to choose our meal. For our first appetizer we were served figs wrapped in proscuitto topped with blue cheese and balsamic vinegar, our second appetizer (after we were seated) were crab cakes with Remoulade sauce ( which were amazing and I don't like seafood). Next we were served a BLT salad with a lemon vinegarette. For our entree we had swordfish, cream cheese mashed potatoes, and snap peas. I ate about three bites of the swordfish, but just couldn't get passed the semi-rawness in the center. And for dessert we had chocolate souffle with fresh whip cream. I was extremely excited about dessert from the moment I saw it on the menu. It turns out that chocolate souffle doesn't taste any better than a box cake mix. Talk about highly disappointed!!! I make brownies better than that souffle. Anyway, it turned out to be a fun night. After dinner we walked across the street to Biscuits and Blues and listened to Maggie Brown play while enjoying what I do believe will be my last Abita Strawberry beer for the year. On our way home we were stopped by an cop in Vidalia, which thankfully had bigger fish to fry so we didn't get a ticket. We then stop at Walmart to buy a very important morning necessity....coffee. Ben walks in to get coffee and comes out with a six pack of beer. Later down the road, I start looking for the coffee in the bag of beer and it is nowhere to be found. Talk about ticked! Apparently he had more important things on his mind....drinking beer, and left the coffee in the Walmart.

Saturday was just a relaxing day on the lake. Ben and I were able to sleep late and then rode around in search of coffee and to check how much it didn't rain before picking the boys up at Pop Pops, where they had been up and at em since 6 o'clock eating Pop Pop out of house and home. That afternoon Ben BBq'd ribs and took the boys fishing.

Sunday morning the boys went fishing again. Davis found a bat hooked on by its wing which was funny in itself but his reaction was even funnier "Hmm, I caught a bat". Just very nonchalant, nothing crazy or strange at all about finding a live bat hooked to your fishing pole. Ben was able to loosen the bat from the hook and we watched it fly over to the neighbors porch. Later, while they were fishing after taking a couple fish from their hooks, Ben sticks himself with the hook. Knowing that bats are a carrier of rabies, he decides to catch the bat to have it tested. After successfully catching the bat with a net and taping it up in a cricket bucket it later dies. Monday, Ben takes the bat to the LSU Vet School to be tested for rabies and finally yesterday he received the results that it was negative. So... Thank you Jesus! No foaming at the mouth for Ben!

Title

It took me a while to finally do this. I have been wanting to start a blog for a while....not that anyone will ever read it, but here it is. The title came from a poster I used to have hanging in my room growing up . I know Ben is going to make fun of me because he always used to tease me about it when were dating in high school. Bring it on, Buddy! My first choice was Bits of Whit but it was already taken. I think this is more original and describes me to a T.