Food

I would love for my kids to come home from school everyday and smell this wonderful aroma coming from the kitchen and know that they are going to have an amazing meal for dinner. However, I can honestly say that I am not the world's greatest cook! I have a few staple meals that are fine, but nothing spectacular - this is an area I really want to improve in.

I think of my Mom and my Grandma, who had large families, and I know they did most everything from scratch (though I'm not quite sure when they had time to do it)! Not only is time a challenge for me, but creativity is a challenge too. Putting menus together with great foods that compliment each other is hard for me.

I suppose that's the age we live in, fast food and prepackaged meals have spoiled us - we actually don't have to make anything. But that's not what I want my kids to remember. I want them to actually miss home cooked meals when they're away at college. Don't get me wrong, I do cook, quite often actually, I just want to learn more and put more of an effort into it. My boys aren't picky and they eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, so being that they're pretty good eaters - I'd like to expand our variety at mealtime.

Also, Mike has Celiac Sphrue, which means he's allergic to gluten (wheat, oats, barley, and rye), so this changes most regular cooking habits, seeing that gluten is in almost everything. I can't buy regular pastas, breads, crackers, cookies, flour, etc., we do a lot of shopping at specialty health food stores. I have conquered the gluten-free baking for the most part, we've come across some great mixes for cakes, cookies, pancakes, muffins, breads, etc. It does help that Mike's mom and sister have the same allergy, so we do help each other out. I just haven't gotten as creative in making meals with a wide range of foods. So, if anyone out there is familiar with celiac and can help me, I'd LOVE to hear from you!

I now have a subscription to Taste of Home, a great cooking magazine, and have found some wonderful recipes. However, if any of you have yummy meal ideas (gluten-free or not - I can modify most stuff) please let me know!

Questions...

Connor, who is 4, is probably the most inquisitive child I've ever met. He has to know everything from "What is it?" to "How's that made?" to "Why is it made like that?"! A lot of times I find myself at a loss for answers, sometimes his questions are things that I've never actually thought about before! His curiousity amazes us and it's a quality I hope he never loses.

I let Connor stay up a little later tonight and watch a movie with me, and I can honestly say that I didn't hear a word, except the 1300 questions he asked about the movie. Finally, towards the end, I just starting laughing, he would be in the middle of asking something and stop to ask an even better question! I just love him...and his questions!

Golf Carts

We have a golf cart. For those of you who aren't familiar with where we live, it's an awesome little city south of Atlanta that has about 100 miles of cart paths. The paths are mostly hidden within the trees, they wind in and out of neighborhoods and take you anywhere you want to go - shopping, restaurants, grocery stores, parks, the lake, the library - you name it...
Not only does it save on gas (because most golf carts are electric), but it's fun and convenient - my kids actually don't mind running errands with me!
Our cart is pretty simple, but some people have theirs customized with matching paint, seat covers and rain jackets, and suped up with big tires and rims. We do have seats belts in ours, which isn't standard, but I think it's really necessary if you have small children. The paths are very curvy and, though you don't go too fast, it would be easy for a kid to fall out and get hurt.
If you drive by the high school in the middle of the day, you will actually see more golf carts than cars - it's amazing.
We've only lived here for about a year, and only got our golf cart this past May, but we have so enjoyed it. This area is very wooded, so it's not uncommon to see deer by the paths or a fox running through the trees. So that's a really big perk, to watch the excitement on our boys faces when they see a bunny hopping by the cart path or a baby deer grazing in our back yard.
I think our favorite place to go is the lake. We've found this little clearing beside an inlet where the ducks like to sleep. We go there and the boys collect shells, feed the ducks, and play in the water (which is only 1 foot deep for about 15 feet out).
I almost feel like we're on vacation sometimes, like we really don't live in this awesome place - we are so very blessed to be where we are and are thrilled that our kids get to grow up here!