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.

I did actually complete the unfinished bow project of a few days ago…

The ones I finished the other evening were the blue (center bottom) and the pink/white (bottom right), both on clips.  Today I made the little pink/white/purple hair ties in the center from the leftovers.  I’m still learning how to fold an actual bow, so the pink/purple on the left look a bit flat.  But I made those and the pink/purple folded clips on the top right in the fall, along with the curly orange halloween clips. 

I think I’ve got the curly bows figured out, which are my favorite.  But I need to practice on the loopy bows.  I’ll keep you posted…    If anyone would like some, just let me know!  I’ve got lots of ribbon!

Comfort food, pure and simple. Someone brought this to a church dinner a couple weeks ago, and I was stunned at how delicious something so not-pretty could be. YUM. We had it last night for dinner, and it was super easy and just as tasty as I’d remembered. It’s straight from the Kraft Foods magazine (sign up for the free magazine, if you haven’t already! YUM… one of my favorite pieces of mail!).

Easy Shepherd’s Pie

It’s obvious what I am afraid of running out of when I’m at the store…

Yes, that’s 9 cans of cream of mushroom soup.  Anyone in the mood for green bean casserole?  You bring the beans…

Today is starting out really well.  I love it when the week starts off on a good foot!

• Brian’s back after 4 days away for a cycling team training camp.
• We more than survived the time on our own… I think we did great! 
• Josiah was only up once last night.
• He’s happily running around entertaining himself with a brand-new toothbrush.  He’s mostly using it to brush his hair. 
• Analise let me put her hair in braids today, and she looks super cute.  She’s doing handstands and forward rolls on the floor.  (She started gymnastics 2 weeks ago, instead of ballet for this session.)
• I just pulled a batch of these amazing Golden Chocolate Chip Muffins out of the oven.  YUM!  I’m just waiting for Brian’s dad to swing by with another gallon of milk so we can enjoy them later with our friends.
• Analise’s little friend, Jacob, and his mom, Melissa, and baby James are coming over in less than an hour to play.
• I think we’ve all finally shaken the cold we’ve passed around for the last 10 days.

Enjoy these shots of my cuties!

I’m trying to make Friday night dinner pizza every week.  Makes my meal-planning easy, and I’ve got lots of pizza variations to try.  Homemade pizza is so easy and tasty!  This is a recipe I haven’t tried yet, but I’m adding to my list!  If it stays in my recipe box, I might call it "Pizza Upside Down Pie".

Kraft Pizza Pulls