Extreme Makeover, Beavercreek Edition

This summer we saw this singer (Kellie Pickler).

We saw part of her concert with these friends.
We saw her sing right out front of this house.
This house is where we had earlier in the week met this TV star, DeeDee (who loved Snug).
So tonight we are very excited, because "our" edition of Extreme Makeover airs on ABC!
And please please, just as we were doing the day we first went to see the house, pray for Stellan. Here is a picture I sent to his mommy for his photo gallery. We wrote his name on a notecard and had the picture taken against a volunteer's back. He has a very serious surgery scheduled for Tuesday.

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

If you have ever been to Olive Garden and had their Chicken Gnocchi soup (and liked it), you may want to try this recipe! It isn't the exact same of course, but we love it nonetheless. In the spirit of all things Italian carb-y I will share this recipe with you. I shared yesterday that our menu was a little tilted towards the pasta/carb part of the food pyramid...I will work on that next week. For now, please try this recipe!



(If you have an ALDI near you, that is a great place to get gnocchi right now. They have them only a few times a year, for a great price. If not, you can get them in the pasta/Italian isle at the grocery)



Now, if I was Ethan, Zach, and Emma's mommy, I'd have a picture of all the steps I took to make the soup. I'm not that good, but check out her blog each Monday because she always has nice recipes! I don't even know where I got this recipe, I think I searched "Olive Garden Gnocchi Soup" online awhile back and got it. I doubt a waiter from The Garden just gave it to me :o)

Please excuse the fact that the pot is half gone...I was eating and decided it was so delicious I had to share!

"Olive Garden" Chicken Gnocchi Soup

4 diced chicken breasts
4c. Chicken stock/broth
2c. Half & Half
1/2 c. finely chopped celery
1 or 2 garlic cloves (depends on how much you like garlic?)
1/2 c. finely chopped carrot
1/2 c. finely chopped onion
1 c. fresh spinach, finely chopped
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
16 oz. gnocchi

1. Saute chicken and garlic in olive oil, and when just cooked add onion, celery, carrot. Saute until tender

2. Transfer to a pot and add chicken stock, half & half, and seasonings. Heat to a boil.

3. Add gnocchi and boil 4 minutes. Turn down and simmer 10 more minutes

4. Add spinach and simmer until well wilted (if at this point it seems very thing, you can heat to boiling and add 1 Tbs of cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbs of water...probably not necessary)

5. Serve hot with a nice salad and bread sticks, maybe some candle light :o)

Serves 6

Let me know if you tried it and if you liked it!

A Sign

We have a sign! Baby J Monkey Man* will sign "more" when he wants something...not just more of it, but in general if he wants it. This is HUGE seems how we've been showing him the sign for "more" and "please", "eat" and "no" since he turned one. He also sees signs for many other things. He knows what they mean too. If I sign "eat" he runs straight for the high chair and jumps around trying to climb up into it (one of the only things he can't get into yet.) If I sign "sleep" he runs away from his bedroom.

We finally got him to sign after 45 minutes of an ice cream temper tantrum. He wanted it, and he wanted it bad. We would give him a bite if he even touched his hands together a little bit. After finding out that kicking your feet and yelling wasn't going anywhere, he began to clap when he wanted another bite. Hey, we'll take clapping :o) So that is his improvised sign for "more*" is clapping. Now he walks around the kitchen clapping and opening his mouth. Very cute :o)

I am so very proud of him!!! He now says "ought oh", shakes his head "no", and signs "more". he was saying his own version of "look" but that has stopped for the time being. So many many things for one little guy to learn.

In the picture above he was eating lasagna...a mommy sized helping of it in fact. I must be craving carbs with this pregnancy because when #1 looked at the menu for the week it was almost all pasta dishes. He cracked up. I think it is partly due to the fact that Aldi has all of its Italian things on big sale in Oct/Nov and has special things (ravioli) that it doesn't normally stock. Or I'm craving carbs. :o) Still feeling just fine, not showing, and not gaining any weight. I'm 16 weeks today. I'm very tired quite a bit, but that is about it. I kinda wish the boys' pregnancies had been this easy. I can deal with tired :o)

Well, I've used enough smiley faces for 3 posts today...we're just having a good day here I think.

*We've decided to call him Monkey Man online. We call him "the monkey" quite a bit IRL. He CLIMBS on everything and is quite daring. He also makes a remarkably monkey like sound when he is excited or agitated. On top of all that, he has some adorable sock monkey toys that he very much enjoys...so Monkey Man it is :o) Have I ever mentioned his INTENSE love of bananas? This is in NO way related to evolution, I promise!

*The sign for "more" is touching the fingertips together with the hands shaped kinda like "o"s.

I ♥ New Diapers

These are the three WAHM* diapers I bought off of E-Bay a few months(?) ago. I think this must be the actual picture on their site as that is not my carpet. As you can see, they have snaps in the front to snap down to fit a much smaller baby. But notice (especially those of you who CD and use pockets/AIOs*) that the snaps on the tabs are super close together, right on the ends, and have no "female" snap on the tabs if you need to overlap. These diapers are cut generously, and even on now 22 lb 4 oz Baby J Monkey Man, he has them snapped to meet in the middle.

SO, yesterday (or was it the day before???) I sewed snaps off of an old Haute diaper that was leaking like a sieve into these. You can see it isn't beautiful, but MAN do they work great! This is what the inside tabs look like now.

And here is an outer view. With the new snap on the outside, the diapers can overlap and fit a much smaller baby...tried it on a Cabbage Patch Preemie doll :o) One old diaper fixed all three of these.

As for the Thirsties cover that I converted into a pocket...well, here is a picture of I think a Thirsites AIO* in orange. Mine looks very much like this now, but it has a thin blue thread line along the top. I'd love to take a nice picture for you, but that diaper was used today, and I mean used. No one wants to see that.

Along with those new developments, I also got my gRefills and gCloth inserts in the mail today! YEAH! This month we put some diaper money in the budget and did two things. First I went to our kids second hand shop that sells used cloth diapers. Once Upon A Child won't, but this place does. A little farther to drive, but not much. Anyway, I had picked up some newborn inserts and two newborn covers (5-10 lbs) along with this little gPant. They cost $29.99 for two, and unless I know I L O V E something, I'm not shelling out that kind of money on them, especially when they don't come with any inserts. I picked this orange one up for $3.50 and ordered the inserts and biodegradable flushable inserts from Kelly's Closet. I highly recommend this company for buying cloth. They are reliable, quick, and have competitive pricing.

I needed more cloth inserts anyway, and these are Hemp, the very best in my opinion. When the new baby is born, Baby J will still presumably be in diapers and they will both need inserts for their diapers. The disposable flushable/biodegradable inserts are a trial run. Wasn't thrilled with the price, but if they work ok, they will replace us buying disposables for church etc. They can be thrown away like a disposable and stick a new one in the little gPant. We'll see!


*WAHM Work At Home Mom made things

*AIO All In One diapers (no stuffing inserts in, just all one thing...kinda hard to get dry in my opinion)

...But I Didn't...(and lots about cloth diapering)

I was going to take a picture and show you all the applesauce I canned (the night before our Realtor was coming, cause that was smart and sticky), but I didn't.

I was going to take a picture and show you the FOR SALE sign in our front yard that went up today. But I didn't.

I was going to take a picture of the old diaper that died on me and how I had it resurrect four others. But I didn't.

Sorry.


I did get apples at 50 cents/lb this week at Aldi and I managed to can several quarts of applesauce. My original goal (since I don't put sugar in it, some do have cinnamon) was to get it canned for the new baby. Then I realized half way through that he/she won't even be eating solids till next year at this time, and we never ever start with fruits. Oops. I'm pretty sure I'll be canning again next fall. At that point I started adding cinnamon. Good Christmas presents for the neighbors (if we still live here).

If we don't live here at Christmas I can give it to new neighbors. Then they too can know that I am quirky and still can stuff. People think I am crazy to can. I love it! I'll ease them into the whole using environmentally safe cleaners, cloth diapers, and recycling. Too much crazy at once and I'll have no new friends.

Our realtor also came today, and she really like what we have done with the place. Well, us and everyone who has helped us (thanks!). It is officially on the market, and a photographer will be here later this week to take pictures. I probably won't be sharing those online though because of privacy issues. Perhaps (don't hold your breath) I will take some of my own! It was such a relief to have her walk in and be happy with it. I am very convinced as a sales person that you do a better job selling something if you like the product, no matter what your commission.

Ok, about the cloth diaper episode, I REALLY should have taken pictures because I am thrilled with the results. I was not thrilled with the process as Baby J (who REALLY needs a new online name here soon) was less than helpful, but more than curious.

One of my Haute diapers (not endorsing that particular website, just had lots of info.) that I had gotten second hand was leaking like crazy. When I turned it inside out, I realized that the PUL was missing in many places, and sparse in others. None of the other diapers I bought used at the same time has that problem, so I'm not sure what happened. No matter, it had a nice long life. I mean it was worn 3-4 times a week for probably 6 months at my house alone (not sure how long with the previous owner). What disposable can say that?

I really didn't want to throw it away, and I wasn't sure how to recycle it. I bought 3 WAHM diapers off of E-Bay a few weeks ago, and was less than thrilled with them. They work "ok" for Baby J, and I was just glad to throw 3 more pockets* into our rotation. They were also really cheap. With those three in rotation, we only use flats/covers about two times a week. The only problem with these diapers is that the snaps were not in the right place. Although they could be snapped down to fit a 2-4 month old on up, around Baby J is the smallest they'd go. Not gonna work for Baby #3.

I carefully used a thread puller and took out the fleece "pocket" part of the diaper and then even more carefully cut off all the snaps with as much material around each as I could. I then sewed the snaps from the old diaper into the other 3 where I wanted them. Presto! My diapers are MUCH more functional.

I still had the fleece insides, and hated to get rid of that either. Because we are not using flats/covers very often I have about 3 Thirsties covers that are not getting used. I sewed the fleece pocket into my orange cover and PRESTO! I have another pocket diaper! YEAH! So in the process of losing one, I gained one and fixed three. Yeah!


*pocket diapers are so very very like disposables, they are so easy. It is very hard to go back to folding and using a Snappi/cover once you have a few in your stash. Pocket diapers get "stuffed" with inserts (fleece, hemp, whatever) and then just snap on. EASY :o) However, when we first started cloth diapering, all we could afford was simple flats, covers, and snappis. That is the cheapest way to start off unless you have money saved up or are registering for them. As we budget them in, we pick up a few here and there. We maybe spend $15-$20 a month on diapers (many months we spend nothing), and they will be used again on our next baby. Nice, huh?