I watch all the cooking shows...Martha Stewart, Emeril, Rachel Ray, & Top Chef(reality TV, yeah right like thats gonna teach me how to cook!)...and drool over the tasty creations they seem to whip out magically without breaking a sweat or dirtying a pot! Like most mothers, I try to come with exotic alternatives to everyday hum-drums like mac and cheese, chicken nuggets and spaghetti. Unfortunately, most of the time as I browse through my most recent Martha Stewart magazine (or even Kraft foods if I'm being totally honest) I am either lacking in ingredients on hand or money to purchase the missing item in question. Cue IMPROVISATION! I am most positive their was probably more then one famous chef that said the true test of a great cook was the ability to improve! Change a recipe into a tasty morsel all your own!! Oh wait...that voice could very well just be my husband praising me for the latest, less then desirable "creation" most recently executed! Yet, most of the time I find myself in this very position. Case in point, I'm making chicken empanada's. It calls for 2 ingredients I don't have. A staple to the dish...salsa...which actually I do have but the kind we normal buy was out of stock during the last Walmart excursion so I opted for a pineapple chipolte kind that had my husbands eyebrows up in disgust before even tasting it. The second missing ingredient is green pepper. Sigh, which we did have, but probably it ended up on one of my many salads taken to work, to avoid the ever boring and pathetic "just lettuce" salad. Let the creative juices start flowing....the scene has definitely been set of course. Charlotte and I both in aprons (hers an old white dish towel) and mine a slightly stained striped eyesore, never the less looking very chic and fashionable in the kitchen, sane pearls on either of us ( sorry Julia). The dough is made with slightly more flour then called for thanks to Charlotte, its just so much fun to play with. Beth is making a masterpiece of her own called "A La Mess" in the highchair with avocado and pancake. Oh why do the healthiest foods have to be the messiest ones! A little bluesy music in the background, our attempt to culture and breed a love for classical music in our children (a little like brainwashing i suppose), drowned out by Charlotte and I arguing over whether goldfish count as a main food group and if she can have them for dinner! "But mom! they are my faborit!" Sigh...go ahead then honey....just don't tell your dad! :) As I sit pondering in front of the pantry with a look on my face like its a work of art from the masterpiece gallery, glass of wine in hand ( I wonder if all the greats cooked with wine..?? surely they do...), I realize that my best choicest for substitutes are a can of cherry pie filling (its red like salsa) and can of garbanzo beans (kind of vegetable). Hmmmm...After much deliberation, a couple big swigs, and multiple interruptions by the ravenous 10 month old in the highchair who yells for every bite, I decided to test the waters with the "new" salsa and add an onion that had me feeling a little like Laura Ingalls as I scrounged it up in the depths of the pantry. Eureka! Not black or yucky I might add either, a pretty good find! Filling made and cooling on the stove, dough rolled out and cut into less then the perfect 7 in rounds the recipe calls for I come up like 4 rounds short even after doubling the recipe for dough!!! How does that always happen? Unfortunately the guilty eater inside me tells me its my scewed portion size that always gets the best of me. Maybe thats why all the greats are still so skinny!! Giada De Laurentiis and her good hair are always staring me down at target, I imagine, mocking my slummed sweatsuit appearance. Empanada's in the oven, we will probably not eat until 10pm, but all in all, as I survey the war zone that has become my kitchen I realize at the end of the day its not always about the food you are cooking in the kitchen. My girls and I just spent 3 hours (yes Martha, I realize it doesn't take that long to make an empanda) of quality time in the kitchen together and I know these days will not last forever. So here's to making it work! Cheers to modifying life and food! Plus...I don't think I'm doing all that bad if I can not burn the food, give my baby a bath in the sink and eat before 10pm! :) I also have the extra perk of having a built in clean up for my floors, our dog Nina. So as I open yet another bottle of wine and turn out the light of the kitchen, here's to another great success, no matter how you look at it! :) and.... Happy Anniversary honey! 5 years and I love you more then the day I met you. Muah!

Look Ma! I'm 6 months!

Where does time go? Is it the same place unmatched socks go... or extra hair ties... or my bobby pins that seem to disappear as fast as I can buy them! In the black hole abyss of days, and things, gone by. Sigh... my baby is 6 months old. Wasn't it just yesterday that Charlie and I were walking around the Galleria mall in Dallas, while I was trying to keep a happy face on... pretty sure the lady in Williams Sonoma thought I was going to drop Beth right there! My only regret... we didn't make it as far as Tiffany's. Surely I could have gotten a diamond out of pity right?! Probably not :) 6 months ago we welcomed a beautiful new baby girl into our family. A baby girl that seemed from the moment I laid eyes on her, that she had always been a part of our family. Like in the beginning creating moments of our family God had already made a space for Bethany Noel and she fit in it like a glove that December 7th day 2010. Since then we have once again been astounded by the amount of joy a little bundle of pink can bring us in a short 6 months time. My heart is overwhelmed with a flood of grateful emotions when I think of how much our life is blessed by our 2 beautiful daughters.

Our Bethie is sitting up on her own now, rolling all over the place and army crawling herself to find all sorts of things she shouldn't get into! She is almost crawling actually!!! She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth before faceplanting into the carpet and squirming on her tummy like a little seal! She continues to be the happiest baby on earth! And after a hard couple of transition months seems to be settling in to life in Nebraska just fine. She always has someone to entertain her at Grandma and Grandpa's house and is never lacking a pair of arms to hold her! Unless she is sleeping or nursing she is... pretty much happy all the time! Her eyes squint up like half moons when she smiles and unlike her sister who's eyebrows were consistently furrowed,  Beth's are mostly raised in curiosity and happy greeting to anyone who is front of her! She has a love affair with her toes and takes every diaper change as an opportunity to explore and suck on them!!! We have started solids but just barely. Keeping in form with her older sister she is not too interested in the bananas, pears, peaches, peas, avocado or blueberries that we have tried to give her!! Maybe it has to do with the fact that she has only 2 teeth. Oh well. Weighing in at 19lbs and 8 oz at her last pediatrician appointment and in the 97th percentile for height, weight and head circumference she is definitely not hurting for calories! :) Bethany has also taken to to babbling. And as much as I hate to admit it. It sounds a lot like da-da-da instead of ma-ma-ma. Grrr...About the only bad habit Beth has developed, and I am certain that secretly Charlotte taught this to her, is that when we get in the car, consistently every, single time...she poops! And not just a little smelly diaper... but a huge blow out-leak all over have to change my outfit and hers poop!!! They are horrible! And like clock work. I have now resigned myself to not putting her in the outfit I intend for her to wear until we arrive at our destination. Otherwise...it gets pooped on. But as with anything either one of my girls could ever do... it doesn't matter, I love them unconditionally with all my heart just the same. 

There's those sweet little squinty eyes!

Her curious face!

How sweet are those cheeks...really...how sweet!!!! I wanna kiss them!!!

She loves pickles! But she comes by it honestly :)

Proof that she is a stinker and likes to poopie in her careseat!!!! Note the poopy diaper in the background.

Yummy peaches daddy!!

I'm a big girl!! sitting up all by myself!

Again... the cheeks.. how can you not wanna kiss them!

Hi Momma!!!

The beautiful carseat cover that she consistently soils on a regular basis :)

I like toys. And am much happier on the floor now that I don't have to be laying down!

When I'm not sitting I love standing. Especially with my daddy!

Rubert Turns 3!!

I think most mother's would agree that the birthday's of their children trump their own birthdays. It could be our human nature in denial of the fact that we are indeed getting older. Or it could be that we are all young at heart still, and secretly we want the huge to-do with all the streamers, balloons, and cake frills for our birthday's. Even though when asked we continue to give the same mundane response of "oh, its ok we can just have homemade cupcakes or something small...no big deal." Now, Charlotte's birthday was in no way close to the gorgeous creations that you find at The TomKat studio but I like to think that in my own crude way I created an enjoyable day all about 3 year old partying style! The day started like most days have since we have uprooted and came to the Midwest, with Bethany providing an extremely early wake up call. Somewhere between Texas and Nebraska she came up with the idea that waking up early was the thing to do. Horrible habit that we are trying (unsuccessfully) to break. After rubbing the sandpaper out of our eyes, Charlie and I got up and made french toast for the entire family! FYI for all you homeschool questioners... reason to homeschool #54: Every morning can be like Sunday morning, with french toast, bacon, eggs, whip cream, and fruit medley! So take your stale 'nola bar and chew on that for a while! :) Of course when Charlotte got up she ( having the mind like a steel trap syndrome that most 3 year olds have) took one look around and after hearing the birthday well wishes wanted to know where her balloons were! Sidenote: if you have been reading my feeble attempt at blogging you will remember that back in March I was the lucky recipient of a very cool Hello Kitty balloon for my birthday, compliments of Charlotte. Not sure how I was gonna talk my way out of the "where's my balloons" big blue-eyed look from my eldest, it was Ga-Ga to the rescue when she pulled out some blow-em-up yourself balloons which, because you have to do it yourself were so much cooler! Note: I am not a heartless mother. I did order an extravagant balloon bouquet for her to be ready Sunday for her official birthday party, lots of princesses and sparkly things involved. Looking to trump the hello Kitty balloon since they didn't have one to match the previous one. So avoiding the first birthday crisis of the day the french toast making commenced. Charlotte got a very special stack...

It's a french toast birthday cake!

Complete with 3 candles and whip cream!  Yummy!

She wasn't sure about it I guess and assumed her usual discriminating stance.

In the end guilty pleasure won out and she ate it! Charlotte has a weak spot for anything covered in whip cream! I may have to try it on broccoli!!

For her birthday present Charlotte got a house. We figured since we are homeless in Nebraska the least we could do was to give our 3 year old a place of her own! She loved it!!

Complete with her own phone. I think she is talking to her friend Savannah at the moment. They are planning a long distance play date! :)

 After getting our daily sugar rush we packed a lunch for later and headed out to watch Esther dance at a local community center. It was the preschool carnival for some end of the year fun and when we walked up and saw all the games and booths set up Charlotte said, "Look Mama!  All for my happy birthday!" And I, being the shrewd mother that I am, took the opportunity to go along with her wonderfully self-centered naive brain and said, "yup baby, mommy and daddy got you carnival for your bday party!" Pleased as punch and brainwashed yet again into thinking her parents are the best people in the entire world, we had a great time at the carnival and then at the zoo later on that day. 

Miss Hollywood is ready for the dance recital to start!

At the carnival you could explore a real police car...unfortunately Charlie was detained a bit longer then the rest of us :)

Baby elephant at the zoo! Now only if it were real!

Charlotte refused to look at me for a picture but I persuaded her to smell the flower.

I might of bribed her with a sucker at one point for a decent photo :)

Off roading with daddy. What better place to view the world then your daddy's shoulders. :)

It's not a birthday without cake! So of course we had to stop at Jones Bros. cupcakes for chocolate cake!

Charlotte of course eats her cupcakes the only way you can. Icing first!!

Another year gone by and my Charlotte Ruth is another year older. She is talking about all her surroundings and asking "why?" to everything! She loves music and dancing. She loves reading books and coloring with markers. She snuggles with daddy every night before she goes to bed and almost every morning with mommy in bed before we start the day. She is the apple of her baby sister's eye and makes us laugh with her little girl commentary every day! When she touches your face and turns your head to look at you and says, "your so sweet!" it melts your heart and reminds you of how fast life passes. We are enjoying the good stuff. We love you Charlotte Ruth! Don't ever change Rubert!

My Daddy's a Doctor!!

There are moments that you anticipate your whole life. And while some years ago I vowed to myself to stop anticipating and live in the moment, the perpetual dreamer inside of me can not help but constantly look towards what is to come. I have learned though to keep dreaming while living in the moment...most of the time. One of those once in a lifetime moments that will be etched in your brain forever down to every last detail happened at 10am on April 16th. My crazy, fun-loving, always joking husband Charlie that on more then one occasion in our dating years appeared in a singlet and superman cape, loves a good Nerf gun war, and has a bad habit of drawing on people's faces with markers (washable of course), became...Dr. Charles J. Holcomb, DC. Thank the good Lord in heaven, we made it. Five years, 2 kids, 1 apartment, 1 house, 2 dogs, best friends, many trials and lots of good memories later, we all finally made it through chiropractic school and Charlie graduated! Proud doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about how hard my husband has worked to get through these past years. Its been the fastest and the slowest time of my whole life. I wouldn't wanna do it again, but I would never give up our time in Texas for anything! To celebrate this monumental occasion the festivities started out with a banquet dinner for graduates and spouses. 

Of course we went! An excuse to dress up and wear heels, plus we got free drinks and a meal. :) It was like a wedding only shorter and without the dancing :) Charlie won the superlative of "most likely to run a practice purely by treating family only!" Typical.

  The next day we all got to have fun as one big happy family at the Family BBQ event! This proved to be the highlight of the graduation festivities for all. It was held at Texas Indoor Party Place and had a great variety of food, games, bounce houses, and beer kegs :) Unfortunately as I expected Charlotte would not have anything to do with the bounce houses. She has a fear of them, originating from a rather unhappy experience with one at the pumpkin patch a year ago. Sigh...some kids are afraid of the dark and my kid's scared of bounce houses.

The graduate wanted to watch some cartoons before we got going. :) Looney toons apparently bore Beth.

Charlie was in charge of picking up the kegs for the BBQ. A 15 passenger van with 5 kids and 6 kegs of beer...sounds like a party to me!

Yummy BBQ food!

Celesta and Savannah joined us for the day! It made it that much more fun!

The 2 trouble makers :)

They both looked thrilled don't they.

Sigh...charlotte I'm over here baby...

The beginning of the end....

Dad and Charlie getting ready to SUMO!!!!!

Grandpa Becker sumo wrestler! It has a nice ring to it!

Daddy Sumo

Play nice boys...

Grandpa might have gotten body slammed once or twice ;) but who's counting :)

Ready and....

SUMO!!!!!!!!

Charlotte was impressed with the sumo wrestling as you can see. This was as close to a "bounce house" she would get!

One of the most hilarious things during the day was Savannah and Charlotte dominating one of the pool tables all day!

Hahahahah!!! Savannah barely could see over the table's edge!

Charlie would take the balls out of the table and the little girls would put the in the pockets and watch them roll down! Over and over!

Munkin Rubert!

Daddy and Charlotte!

Bethie hung out with Nana while mommy beat daddy at a race thru the bounce house obstacle course.

Paul and Esther had to get in on the Sumo wrestling!!!

Esther mad woman SUMO wrestler!!!

She was ready to pummel Paul!

Paul was having technical difficulties getting into his suit. I think he was scared of being beat by Essie.

The stage where it all happened!

More stage!

The pomp and circumstance musicians :)

Beth was great through the whole thing. She chewed on the carmex and slept the rest of the time! She didn't know what the fuss was about thought, daddy has been adjusting her since birth!

This is right after we saw Charlie walk out to take his seat! Of course she isn't looking at the camera but 5 minutes into the graduation and Charlotte is still happy.

10 minutes into the graduation...life is good as long as you always have your pretzels with you ;)

Melissa, one of my best friends in the world.

Dr. & Mrs. Charles Holcomb

Yes I will accept this on behalf of my daddy!

Dr. Holcomb and Dr. Holcomb. Oh my gosh its like looking in a mirror 30 years from now...Yikes.

The graduation would not have been complete without Charlie's second wife there. :)

Your in-laws are proud of you honey!

We did it!!!

Daddy was never proper enough in his get-up that he couldn't have a tickle-me moment with his Rubert.

Finally a pretty picture pose!!!

And graduation dinner at Pulido's! Home of the best margarita's in the Fort Worth area!!!

After grandpa had partaken in "some" of the graduation margarita's!

Beth is trying out her new teeth on Grandpa's finger! Ouch!

It was a grand occasion and a great weekend. It is the beginning of the end, the start of a new chapter of the Holcomb family's life. It's gonna be a crazy ride but don't worry girls :) Mommy loves you.