Just catching up with some cuteness. 

A rare moment of playing nicely together.  Maybe there will be more soon…

Josiah sharing a pacifier with Boz the Bear before bed.

Analise creating her Valentine sucker flowers.  She worked so hard!  I cut them out, and she colored a bit, and wrote an "A" on them. 
She pushed the sucker through the flower, and I finished the her name and taped a leaf on the sucker-stem.

My Valentine rose.  Josiah and Brian picked it out. 

I’m on a roll 🙂  Enjoy a few glimpses of our lovely day at the race.  The kids first, because they’re cuter:)

My little monkey was determined to scale the most challenging part of the playground. 
See him in the background of the photo below, too, making his way up.  Crazy boy.

Kim and her daughter, Anna, led Analise down the high, fast, curvy slide.  They all spent the most time here.

Anna wanted to ride with Josiah in our double stroller.  Josiah was busy ringing the bell at the finish. 
Every time any racer would come by (and everyone did 5 laps) the kids would all stop playing and yell, "Go Daddy!"  It was so cute. 

The Tria Market-Two Men & A Truck (fruit jerseys) congregating at the start.  They were quite a presence.

Brian and Mike Olheiser in the break coming around to start the 2nd lap.  The BMC rider is just behind Brian.

Yep, it starts early! Today was Brian’s first early season "race". It’s only a training race, with minimal prize money, and everyone is training through these 3 Sunday races. But it’s still a great test for the legs and gives you a glimpse into who’s ready to dive into the season.

And Brian came out on top! He was in an early break with another elite Alabama rider, Mike Olheiser, who just finished racing the Tour of the Bahamas and the Tour of Belize. He’s also a former 2-time Master’s National Champ and finished 2nd in the Master’s World Time Trial Championships last year. He’s a Big Dog 🙂 There was also a pro from North Carolina who rode for BMC in the break. The three of them worked hard, and it came down to a sprint finish. Brian played things just right and came out on top! What a sweet start to the year! And we’re $25 richer (well, minus the $15 entry fee and the gas… so maybe $5 richer, haha).

Analise, Josiah and I enjoyed a cool spring day on a GREAT playground with the family of one of Brian’s teammates. Their kids are almost exactly the same age as ours, so we had a fun time together. Kim and I are even planning a birthday party for all 4 of them. We may even travel to some races together, which will make juggling the kids much more enjoyable.

Maybe I’ll even come back later with some photos. Hope everyone else has had a lovely weekend!

My kids usually eat Eggo waffles for breakfast (I console myself by buying the Nutrigrain blueberry version, so it’s somewhat healthy).  But we struggle to get breakfast eaten completely before being pulled away by the fun things the day holds. 

So today, Analise was whining that she was hungry at around 10am.  "I"m so hungry, Mommy.  I’m not growing!" she cried.  (Isn’t your heart tugged?  Poor girl.)  I pointed out that half her waffle was still sitting on the plate in the kitchen, and that was the only option. 

"It’s too cold!"  I popped it in the microwave for 10 seconds and handed it to her.  Whoops… too long. 

"It’s too hot!" (Is this reminding you of any fairy tales?)  I told her to wait just a minute and it would be just right.  She found a distraction playing in the den somehow, and the whining ceased, amazingly. 

A couple minutes later, Josiah walked in, munching on her waffle.  Of course, more tears. I just can’t win. 

Brian and I have been looking forward to Valentine’s Day for weeks.  We had decided that we were going to use some gift cards we’d been given to us for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.  I’ll give you all the extravagant details, though I’m almost embarrased to admit how much we spent.  We’d gotten $150 in gift cards (!!!!).  Of course, at first glance, Brian and I imagined how nice it would be to get 3 nice dinners out.  Ha!  Then we came to our senses and realized that we’d better not hope for that, but we were still planning on 2 dinners.  Well.  Friends of ours were excited to share their wonderful dinner experiences and filled us in on the prices.  We decided we could get 1.5 dinners, without all the trimmings and probably pay something ourselves for the second meal or we could get one really nice meal, no holds barred.  We chose the latter 🙂 

Our waiter was excited that this was our first experience dining there.  He proudly told us that though everything was delicious, we really needed to have steak to appreciate it fully.  That was fine, as Brian had been dreaming of his steak for weeks.  The waiter told us that the beef was in the top 2% in the nation (in what category, I’m not sure…um, like they’ve been through the ACT or SAT ranking system?).  Midwestern, corn-fed, hand cut, aged in house… whatever all that means.  I wasn’t really sure I was going to be able to appreciate such a good steak.  But I shouldn’t have worried… it really was excellent. 

My sister, Anna, will be proud to hear I had a cosmopolitan based on a friend’s recommendation, though I have to say that I should have had a nice simple glass of wine, as the hard liqueur was a bit too strong for me.  Brian and I shared the chopped salad, which was very good.  I had the petite filet and he had the filet, topped with sauteed peppers.  He was so impressed with his.  I enjoyed mine, too.  It was one of the first steaks I’ve ever eaten that I didn’t need A-1 or worchestershire sauce.  Just salt, pepper, butter, and parsley.  Mmm… butter makes everything delicious.  They bring the steaks out on sizzling platters, 500 degrees!  So the steak is still cooking right in front of you.  We shared a baked potato and creamed spinach.  Everything is a la carte, and the steaks were $30 and $35 each.  (The Porterhouse for Two was $80 for 40 oz!)  The sides are huge, though, so we had plenty of food and some to bring home.  Then Brian enjoyed a Cafe Royale coffee liqueur drink, which was very tasty.  And though I loved the steak, our warm apple tart with ice cream and caramel sauce was amazing, beautiful and HUGE. 

So all that, along with the tax and a generous tip took care of our gift card.  It was definitely worth it, though.  Quite a fun and delicious meal.  I’m not one to spend $$$ on food, and there’s no way we would have spent that much on our own.  But the gift card was a real treat and a wonderful way to celebrate Valentine’s Day together. 

Not much happening in the Toone house.  We’ve just been busy trying to get healthy.  Analise’s cold is nearly gone, except for the runny nose.  Poor Josiah, though.  He came down with it fast and furious last week, coughing, dripping, eyes, watering, fevers.  We struggled through the weekend with moments of happiness and playtime, but many more moments of grumpiness, whining and tears.  The nights were rough, as he was feverish and restless, and he ended up sleeping on me on the couch for several stretches.  He’d wake up crying at night, and when I went in to him, he’d hand me his pacifier and say, "All done.  All done, mama."  I guessed correctly that he had an ear infection, actually 2 of them 🙁  We’re usually into the doctor’s pretty early on with EI’s, but this time, we didn’t see the doctor until Monday afternoon, probably 2 days after he came down with them. 

Because we didn’t see the doctor until late in the day, he only got one dose of antibiotics before bedtime, so it was another long night after the tylenol wore off at 2am.  I hope – *fingers crossed* – that tonight will be a night of better sleep.  Speaking of that, I should be headed to bed 🙂

Funny sidenote:  On the Fox evening news tonight, the anchor is talking to the political reporter about the evening’s primary results, etc.  He says, "Obama’s in Wisconsin tonight.  What’s up with that?  Why Wisconsin?"  I had to chuckle.  I could hear someone from Wisconsin saying, "Hilary Clinton’s in Alabam?  Why Alabama?  Who cares?"  Don’t worry, Wisconsin friends… I can see what he’d go to Wisconsin!  Your vote counts as much as ours does!

Oh yes, Valentine’s Day is coming up.  I’m going to make a delicious looking recipe for our Life Group tomorrow night: Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding. I think Analise and I may dip some strawberries.  Brian and I have an extravagant Valentine’s dinner at Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse, thanks to a generous gift certificate from a friend.  We may even catch a movie!  Or we may come home and try to get a good night’s sleep, which could be just as exciting 🙂

Things are pretty quiet around here.  Well, except for the nasty line of storms that moved through the South last night.  They pretty much missed us, though all the local channels were in full severe weather coverage when we got up at 6:30 due to tornado warnings south of us. 

Analise has a terrible cough and cold, so we may be headed to the doctor today.  She’s been coughing all night long, coming to our bed to snuggle.  Of course, Josiah’s sleeping pretty darn well.  It seems I just have no "sleep luck".  If one’s sleeping well, the other isn’t.  Blah. 

Brian’s been working tons on school and a map website he’s developing.  We enjoyed a quiet weekend, very much needed.  The Super Bowl was a non-event, since the Packers weren’t playing, but I did really enjoy seeing the Giants pull out the big last minute upset.  Made the Packers’ loss seem a bit more tolerable. 

We also had a friend of Brian’s from UC-Davis come through that evening with his wife, Tim & Emily Williams.  They’re with a missions organization called Frontiers, and it was fun to meet them and hear how God is leading them in their new marriage and work.  Emily spent 7 of her growing up years in Iraq, and because of that, she speaks Kurdish.  She’s working on the translation of the Bible into Kurdish.  It’s crazy to imagine that in spite of all we hear about the Kurdish people in the news from Iraq that they don’t have access to the Word of God in their own language. 

That’s about all that’s going on with us.  Hope everyone’s having a good week!

Well, the day started off with a bang.  It seems J’s diaper wasn’t on well last night.  Fellow parents are cringing, knowing what that means.  Yes, it fell off, and yes, it was a Large Mess inside his footy pj’s this morning.  Whew!  He needed a quick washing off in the tub, but I didn’t do my usual toweling set-up on the counter.  Instead, I lifted him out to the floor, reaching up to grab the towel.  Quick little bugger tried to run off, and slipped on the bathroom tile, cracking his bottom lip open. 

Poor boy.  I felt terrible.  He sucked on a frozen teething ring for a few minutes, and I though it would be no big deal.   It got bigger as the day wore on and looked worse and worse… you know, thanks to munching on crackers, tomatoes, other nicely salted and acidic snacks that he demanded. By naptime, he popped his pacifier in his mouth, sucked for a sec, and started wailing and threw it at me.   He grabbed his little lip and cried and cried.  He sobbed for half an hour as I was trying to get Analise to nap, finally collapsing for an hour. 

At dinner, he didn’t want much to eat,and he kept grabbing his lip, saying "Occh".  I put some Oragel on it, hoping it’d make it feel numb enough to use his pacifier, and sure enough, he put it right in his mouth, rolled over, and I haven’t heard a peep from him. Poor tired boy. The pharmacist said I could use it as often as I needed tonight, and hopefully, the swelling will be down and it will have healed a bit overnight.  I’m sure this isn’t the last fat lip we’ll deal with!

I have to share how cute he’s been lately.  He’s full of words, and he’s working so hard to communicate with us.  One funny thing is that you’ll never believe is that he recognizes the Great Sphinx in an "Where in the World is Elmo?" book.  The first time we opened the book, he pointed right at it and said, "Sfix!"  I couldn’t believe it, but he has seen it on a Little Einsteins episode that the kids have watched several times.

I just pulled the wooden train set back out, and he’s been busy playing with it. He’ll come running up to me with a piece of track, saying "Boke, mama", tugging me in to fix it.      His favorite word lately is "hippo", with an emphasis on the HIP.  So cute.  And he’s still figuring out what to call Analise.  But he called Abigail, our babysitter, "A-bagel" yesterday.  I love hearing him talk!  I’m sure we’ve got plenty of toddler issues on the horizon, but I do love this stage of watching him learn so quickly.  He’s becoming such a little boy, it’s amazing!

I’d better sign off to get some sleep, in case he decides he can’t sleep because of his fat lip tonight… ‘Later!

Thanks to my sister, Anna, for this wonderful creation.  Hers is better than mine, but this was super quick and DELICIOUS with some Tastefully Simple Bountiful Beer Bread.  YUM!

Tortellini Soup

• 1 package tortellini (I used Buitoni whole wheat cheese, found in the refrigerated section)
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 box chicken broth
• 1 bag of frozen mixed veggies
• 1 can creamed corn
• 1 T dried minced onion (you could also use half an onion, sauteed in olive oil)
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp Trader Joe’s 21 Salute Seasoning (or any good seasoning blend)

Toss it all in the pot, bring to a boil for 5-10 minutes, simmer for 20 minutes to an hour.  Serve topped with parmesan cheese and a good chunk of bread.