Mommy's Potpourri

I feel like this thought process goes through my head at around 11:30 every single morning: "Ugh, is it lunch time already? Didn't we just have breakfast? Can't we just have more breakfast for lunch?"  As a food allergy mom (milk, egg, peanut, treenut, fish, shellfish, and soy-sensitive) lunch is the toughest meal of the day for me. I feel like I can never quite come up with enough lunch-y things that are safe for the boys. So today, I really sat down and thought about it. And once I thought about it, I realized we had more lunch 'recipes' (if you can call them that) than I had realized. Here are some of our go-to lunches: I'll start with what we had today, because I am SO EXCITED I finally discovered a yummy way to make chicken nuggets! *Baked chicken nuggets : I made a honey-mustard mixture, dipped cut up chicken breasts in it, then coated them with panko bread crumbs seasoned with Mrs. Dash (I love that woman...wherever she is.) Bake at 350 u...

Today, naptime = party-time. Today, I don't care enough to stop it. Today, I just close the door and let them play.  Today, I am exhausted in every way. Today, I need a nap probably more than any other day this week. Today, I will not get one. Today, there is paint on the walls and laundry everywhere, clean and dirty. Today I have to wash our comforter and pillows that our oldest son threw-up all over in the middle of the night last night. Today he is feeling fine. Today I am trying to remain thankful through the exhaustion. And as I write this, this line came on from one of my favorite Shane & Shane songs:  "Revive me, revive me not for me but for Your name." Today, I am thankful that God is God.

As the new year is upon us once again, I find myself craving ... rest. Just a year of breathing and settling and adjusting to the blessings God has so graciously given. This is what I am hoping and praying for. Here is a snapshot of the last 5 years.  2008 - Got engaged, married, and moved from PA to MA (that all happened in the last month and a half of the year... haha) 2009 - got pregnant and gave birth to Anthony, moved to Woonsocket 2010 - Became members of Grace Harbor Church, got pregnant with Luke, moved to Providence 2011 - gave birth to Lukie 2012 - got pregnant with Ethan 2013 - gave birth to Ethan, bought a house and moved Busy, right? I am not bold enough to declare my own plans as set in stone, but it would certainly be wonderful to have a year of growing in to our life. :)

     The Johnson family is in the midst of another transition! We bought a house, and move in in just a few days. Let me just say, the whole "buying a house" thing is really really not a very relaxing experience. But it is over now, so thank God.      Really, I thank God. He has definitely used the process to show me that I am not just impatient when it has to do with my children, but that I am just basically an impatient person. Those of you who know me are probably thinking, 'WOW. Are you just figuring this out?' Well, yes. Yes I am. Haha. It has been an interesting roller-coaster ride that I never want to go on ever again. :)      So what is the house like? Right now it is 3 bedrooms, and there is a nice dry basement that has potential to be finished sometime in the future.  It is cozy. People will probably think we are crazy because our culture's standards for a family of 5 is waaaay above what we think (know) we act...

     Oh boy. Just got some crazy news from the pediatrician. We finally got Luke tested (blood) for food allergies. I don't know what has taken us so long to do this. His older brother has a slew of food allergies, (eggs, peanuts, treenuts, fish, shellfish) all of which would cause a potentially fatal anaphylactic reaction. Our plan of management has been strict avoidance. Nothing with those allergens enter the house.      This has worked well for us. Luke has not reacted to anything ever, so we assumed he either: A- was allergic to eggs, peanuts, treenuts, fish or shellfish, or B- had no food allergies. Because of other factors usually present in food allergic kids, (eczema and asthma) not being present in Lukie, I actually let myself begin to believe he had no food allergies. Oh, hello Denial! How you doin'?       Well, we finally got around to getting an actual blood test done and the results are a little confus...

     Last week, to celebrate the official start of Autumn we took a little nature walk at a nearby park. I just love this park because there is so much space, that I don't worry about the kids running too far ahead of me.   My little Luke especially loves that I am not constantly asking him to 'wait' or 'come back'. He is ever the explorer.        Our mission was to observe nature in the beginning of Autumn, and collect things we find on the ground.       We had a really fun time exploring. Anthony spotted some lilypads, but to his mild disappointment, no frogs. We saw a squirrel in a tree making a really weird noise that I had no idea squirrels were even capable of making. We came to the conclusion that he may have been sick, or singing us a song. Lukie made friends with a couple of ducks. We observed the very dark gray skies, and predicted that it would begin raining some...

     Oh man. I cannot believe I have passed these by in the store so many times. They are kind of strange looking and always caught my eye, but I had no idea what to do with them. Do you peel them? Do you cook them? Do you slice them and put them on a sandwich? I didn't know, and to be honest I was intimidated by these little green guys. One day when they were on sale, I got brave and scooped some up. Then I went home and googled : How do you cook a tomatillo?  Image from Wikipedia        I was relieved to find that they are used primarily in Mexican cuisine (I used my superb knowledge of the Spanish language to deduce as much while in the store).   This was good news for me because Mexican food is usually very allergen friendly, and not too difficult for me -admittedly a culinary novice, to make.        The first recipe I made was salsa with roasted tomatillos, onion, and garlic. Very similar to the ...