Whittaker Ramblings

Sunday School

2012-01-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Tim and I had the fun privilege of teaching our sons' nursery Sunday school class. Since I happened to bring my camera, I couldn't resist snapping a couple of photos of my boys.

Elijah saw that his Daddy put a crayon behind his ear and desperately wanted to put his crayon there too.

Beniah has become very proud of his artwork and was so excited to show his picture to my parents who were visiting us for the weekend.

What Elijah Was Doing At 10 PM

2012-01-29T23:16:00.000-08:00

Looking over the arm of the couch at toys that had been dropped.

Enjoying family photos

Contemplating about how weird it is to feel your teeth with your tongue.

Being generally cute.

Finally, after having a very busy late night (considering bedtime is 8 pm), Elijah went to sleep. I now know that even if Elijah has had a very long weekend and is very tired, he should never be allowed to nap until 5:45 pm.

Pacifier Patch

2012-01-24T21:40:00.000-08:00

Checkstand 18 at our local Walmart is the place to buy cigarettes and other nicotine products (not that I buy any, but it's kind of hard not to notice the huge case behind the checker). One of the products is the nicotine patch which got me thinking about addictions and weaning oneself away from harmful chemicals that also smell and taste bad (again, I haven't actually kissed a smoker but I hear it's gross). I've been wondering what kind of market there is for pacifier patches. We've started to wean Elijah from his pacifier and it is more difficult than I imagined it would be. He now gets to have it when he is napping or asleep for the night. However, Elijah is a little sneak. Yesterday, our niece and nephews were over and Elijah dug through Samwise's carseat to find his pacifier. I was in the other room and heard vigorous sucking sounds. When I went to checkout the noise, I saw Elijah sucking as hard as he could on the pacifier. I could almost hear him say, "Oh how I've missed you! Oh no Mama's here! Don't go! Don't go!"

I think that an intervention just might need to be in store for us.

Finally, Snow!

2012-01-23T22:41:00.000-08:00

We finally got some snow! I know, I am almost a week late on the announcement, but hey I get an A for effort, right? Last Wednesday, we got 4 inches of snow to play in. Schools were closed and not many people ventured out (at least from what I saw on our street). Although the Olympians and Seattlites north of us can snicker at our measly amount of snow, we had a blast and Beniah is satisfied with the winter weather.

Beniah when he realized that it had snowed while he slept.

Beniah's snowmonster with a beret of course!

Beniah wanted to have snow bowling. The clumps of snow are the pins.

Elijah's first look at snow.

He wasn't to thrilled with how cold it is.

You can't play in the snow without having hot cocoa afterwards.

Some of our garden friends.

Even our cat, Mongkut, enjoyed the snow.

Snow!

2012-01-17T21:34:00.000-08:00

Pacific Northwest snow system, I don't like you. You taunt my son with your flurries and slush.

But you never stick around. I have stopped telling Beniah whenever it starts to snow because he gets so disappointed when it all melts away. Tonight, you have started snowing again after my boys are in bed.

Please stick around until tomorrow morning so Beniah can enjoy throwing a snowball even if it's small and mostly mud.

Morphing

2012-01-16T23:21:00.000-08:00

Today, we took our boys out to finally get Elijah's haircut. After a bit of a wait, we were able to set up Elijah's booster chair and get prepped for his first haircut.

Elijah did fairly well considering this was a new and scary experience.

The first cut was his earlock that never fell out when he was a little baby.

Yes, I did keep it.

"But, I don't want to lose my hair!"

Suckers make everything better!

Elijah lost it towards the end though when I had to hold his face still while the beautician trimmed up the sides and back of his head.

Finally, the torture... I mean haircut is over and my baby has suddenly morphed into a little boy.

Cookie cutter brothers.

Sicky Sunday

2012-01-15T15:02:00.000-08:00

Today, we stayed home from church, slept in, and have yet to get out of our pjs all because of this cold that the boys have. At one point this morning, Beniah wanted to get onto the computer to type on his Word document and Elijah was very upset until I realized that he wanted to be at the table like his big brother.

This is the first time he has colored and seemed to really enjoy it until I took the crayon away because he kept trying to eat it.

Why Elijah Didn't Get a Haircut

2012-01-13T17:09:00.000-08:00

I'd like to think that the beautician that we would have gone to would say, "Thank you for keeping your sick child at home!" had she known our original plan for today.

A Haircut is Pastdue When...

2012-01-11T21:45:00.000-08:00

You could be mistaken for Justin Bieber

Photo Credit

You look like you could be a member of the Beatles.

Photo credit

What members of the Beatles thought when Yoko Ono got involved with John Lennon.

Albert Einstein could be your twin.

Photo taken by Arthur Sasse in 1951

I have told myself that we will cut Elijah's hair on Friday. Until then, I am going to enjoy the baby curls ...

... and his cute, little earlocks. We joke that they are a throwback to my one drop of Jewish blood.

Tummy Rehab - Week 1

2012-01-10T22:57:00.000-08:00

Ever since I had Beniah, I have been getting questions asking me when I am due. At first, I was really bothered and even offended by it until I took an honest look at my belly and admitted that yes I still look pregnant. Well to be fair, I look like I have an average pregnant belly. Anybody who has seen the way I carry my babies and compares it to my belly now says, "Wow you are so tiny!"

Three weeks before Elijah was born.

Day one of the Tummy Rehab

Big difference, but there is still a pooch!

Vanity aside, there are also other problems that I have been experiencing mostly low back pain. Some days it is intense. I was brushing this off as side effects of having huge babies and carrying so far out, until I read a pamphlet that I picked up at a local pregnancy boutique. It was information on a medical condition called Diastasis Recti. Basically, it is when your transverse abdomen muscles (your girdle muscles) are weakened (surprise, surprise with how big I carried) and are no longer able to hold your insides in (and everybody say, "Eww!").

I am now starting physical therapy to correct this and have decided to submit my thoughts and struggles or victories of this correction process to all of you who are still reading this.
I guess first things first. Here is my waist measurement (which is a visual indicator as to whether or not this is working for me).

Go ahead ladies, measure your waist and compare our measurements. It should boost your self esteem by a few notches.

I also got measured to see how much of a diastasis I have. The upper portion of my abdomen has a 5.5 finger wide spread, the middle portion (over the belly button) is at 6 fingers wide, and the bottom portion is 5.5 fingers wide. Unfortunately for me, it should take approximately a year to completely close my diastasis.

And now we will see over the next few weeks how much the Tupler Technique works for my tummy.

Here is another link for any of you who are curious about Diastasis.

A Week of Christmas Fun - Day 16 Merry Newmas!

2012-01-09T23:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, you did read that right. It is Day 16 in our week of Christmas. The flu had hit us pretty hard and we weren't able to celebrate the Whittaker family Christmas (Newmas) until January 7th. With all of the excitement of us being together with family, I failed to photograph the gift exchange. So, you must be satisfied with the measly amount of photo-journaling that I did that day.

Stockings are always so fun!


Binoculars!


Tim was desperately trying to figure out his stocking stuffer gift.

Matt and Joann trying to figure out our 'stocking stuffer' that we gave them.


It's the Hulk fists AKA marital dispute resolvers

For the first time, we had a kids table for the cheese fondue. Beniah had so much fun chattering with his cousins.

Peek -a- boo! I see you.

Donny and Beniah sporting their face shirts from Auntie Jo

Elijah was showing off his standing up in the middle of the room skills.

How to Party Like A One Year Old

2012-01-09T22:45:00.000-08:00

In order to have a wonderful first birthday, there are some very important steps you must take.

1. Go over to your cousins house and watch the older kids play the Wii

2. Invite said cousins and their parents over for a chicken noodle soup dinner.

3. Skype with your Grandpa and Grandma Luse who couldn't make it to the party because they had colds.

4. Gather cousins around you making sure that Grandpa and Grandma have a good view.

5. Look at the cake in wonder as everyone sings "Happy Birthday".

6. Look at the ridiculously small piece of cake in disgust.

7. Taste it.

8. Decide that it isn't so bad.

9. Open some presents.

10. Attempt to share the toys.

Happy 1st Birthday Elijah!

2012-01-05T21:13:00.000-08:00

A year ago today, I was holding you, my precious newborn son, in my arms.

You were so tiny, yet such a chunk!

I love your beautiful blue eyes.

I love your precocious smile.

I love your charming personality.

I love that you are learning new things and are proud of your accomplishments.

You have brought so much joy and laughter to our home.

Happy birthday, my dear sweet Elijah boy.

A Week of Christmas Fun - Days 7 & 8 New Years Eve and Day

2012-01-05T16:01:00.000-08:00

For the past few years, the Whittaker family has been celebrating Newmas (Christmas Day on New Years Eve or Day). This year we rang in the new year by staring Death in the face! Ok, not really, but it sure felt like it. One by one, we all succumb to a horribly strong stomach flu. The only ones left standing were Marie (my mother in law), Kim (sister in law), and Matt (brother in law).

Beniah was the first one in our family down with the bug. The chair is to keep baby brother from smacking him in the tummy.


The cute, little stinker himself.

Next, Elijah and I came down with it.

Tim stayed up to care for Elijah while I was sick.

My view from my sick bed/couch on Sunday evening.

A Week of Christmas Fun - Day 7 Our Christmas Celebration

2012-01-05T15:42:00.000-08:00

Now before any of you panic because you realized that you missed three days of gripping Christmas activities and photos, rest assured, there was nothing happening other than traveling home (day 4), and prepping for our own celebration (days 5 & 6). On our Christmas morning we began our celebration by sitting down and enjoying a delicious breakfast of Hungarian coffee cake followed by the reading of the Christmas story. Well, I should say it was more of a paraphrased narrative since Beniah is 3 and his mind has a hard time grasping phrases such as, "In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed."

"Look! It's a big doughnut!"

I have to say that the way Tim narrated the story brought tears to my eyes as he talked about how much God loved His Son which caused me to think about this deep Father's love that God had for Jesus. Yet He sent Jesus down to this earth for the purpose of conquering sin and death so that I can stand before God holy and blameless. It astounds me at times probably not as often as it should.

Bam! You've been accidentally rabbit trailed. Back to our celebration.

"An Angry Bird!"

When there isn't scotch tape, masking tape works.

Tim opening his gift from the boys.

It's books that Beniah picked out because one has an owl and the other is yellow.

Beniah telling Elijah how to take the sheet off.

A rocking horse!

And for Beniah, a play kitchen made by Mama & Daddy

The day held more playtime

and was concluded by homemade Chinese dinner and family Wii.

And we had a very merry Christmas indeed!

A Week of Christmas Fun - Day 3 Christmas Day

2012-01-03T22:20:00.000-08:00

For as long as I can remember, my family has always celebrated Christmas Eve by eating special finger foods and watching A Christmas Carol. With adding husbands, jobs, and children under the age of four to the mix, our tradition morphed into eating the finger foods and watching Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer on Christmas evening.

Risky business, anyone?

Well, what do you know? Elijah isn't crying when Uncle Ravi is holding him!

What family gathering isn't complete without Tim juggling some toy or another?

My contribution to the snack table was the Snowman Cheeseball which I adapted from Betty Crocker's website. I didn't want to follow the recipe because I am slightly scared of pesto since I have never had it before and I couldn't find any while I was grocery shopping at a busy store with two boys the week before Christmas.

Here is my adaptation of the recipe.

Snowman Cheeseball

Ingredients
3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded Pepperjack Cheese
1 cup grated Parmesean Cheese
Garlic Powder to taste
Onion Powder to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 container (4 ounces) whipped cream cheese, softened
Snowman Decorations, if desired (I used vegetables that I swiped from the veggie tray)
Assorted crackers, if desired

Directions

Mix 3 packages cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, Pepperjack Cheese, and Parmesean cheese; Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
Cover cheese mixture and refrigerate about 4 hours or until firm enough to shape. Shape each cheese mixture into ball. Wrap each ball, label and freeze.
About 12 hours before serving, remove balls from freezer. Thaw in wrappers in refrigerator.
Arrange balls on serving plate with smaller ball on top for head of snowman. Toothpicks hold the cheeseballs together the best. Frost snowman with whipped cream cheese before serving. Decorate as desired. Serve with crackers. Store covered in refrigerator

The cheeseballs were good, but needed some more kick to it. Maybe I should have actually measured out the spices. If any of you try this out, let me know what you did differently, so that I can find that perfect kick.

The lone snowman watched as his friends were slowly eaten.

A Week of Christmas Fun - Day 2 Christmas Eve

2012-01-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

Finally, after the rush of Christmas celebrations, dead camera batteries, and sickness galore, I am now able to sit down and recount our Christmas celebration this year. On Christmas Eve morning, the Kumars came over bright and early for a Christmas breakfast and to exchange gifts.

Janasa loved 'helping' in the kitchen.


Waiting to open presents.

"Wow! Cars 2 pajamas!"

Elijah's first Christmas gift.

"And a firetruck!"

Janasa got a kittycat!


Janasa modeling her twirly skirt.

Why play with the toys when the packaging is so much better?

After all that excitement, we were worn out!

But, we still had the Christmas Eve service to attend. Ravi and Evie were invited to sing a Christmas carol in Ravi's native language, Tamil. Jeshu asked Beniah if he wanted to go on stage and sing with him.

Beniah: "What do we do now, Jeshu?"

Jeshu: "I don't know."

Beniah: "How about we dance?"

Jeshu: "Hmm. Now what?"

Jeshu: "How about we squat?"

Beniah: "That's so funny!"

Beniah: "Oh look a drum!"

And so ended Ravi and Evie's song. I am desperately hoping that the church video taped this because the boys were hilarious and totally upstaged my sister and brother in law.

The boys waiting patiently for the pastor to call the kids onto the stage to get the promised a candy cane treat

Christmas Eve ended wonderfully with a sugar hyped up little boy and a tired mama and daddy.

For Unto Us...

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.

You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.

For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

~ Isaiah 9:2-7

Photo done by the fabulous Joann Renee Photography

Have a very merry Christmas!

A Week of Christmas Fun - Day 1

2011-12-24T23:35:00.000-08:00

For the past three years, my and Tim's families have been celebrating Christmas a week apart. So, our Christmas celebration usually lasts a week long. This year, we our celebration starts on the 23rd and lasts until January 1st. Now, I won't promise to blog about every day's celebration, but I will try my heartiest to include you all in our Christmas festivities.

Yesterday, we drove down to my parents house in Southern Oregon. It took us 4 and a half hours to get there because of all of the stops we had to make, but it was such a fun ride. Both boys were either happily playing or sleeping for most of the trip which made this Mama and Daddy so happy since we were actually able to talk for most of the trip.

The excitement began when we were at Grandpa and Grandma's house and cousins came to play, dinner was eaten, and a birthday cake for Jesus was brought out. This last part kind of confused Beniah because as he put it, "Jesus not here. Where Jesus?" He was very happy to blow out the candle and eat the cake.

Afterwards, we all drove to a local park, climbed into the back of my Dad's truck, and drove through the Festival of Lights. The boys immensely enjoyed this experience.

Elijah kept pointing and quietly saying, "Ights!" Beniah kept pointing out various light displays and was very excited to see a horse drawn wagon full of passengers. While I admit that some of the displays were pretty cool (who wouldn't want to drive under a lava archway?), there were some that were ... interesting.

What light show isn't complete without misspelled hotdog stands, nine year old commemorative display, alligators attacking some monkeys, a nativity scene that includes a menorah, a representation of the doom of the dinosaurs, and a very creepy snowman?

My all time favorites were the Santa Claus lights, especially the one were Santa is abducted by some aliens.

Happy Birthday

2011-12-24T22:44:00.000-08:00

I may be five days late in posting this, but Happy birthday to my wonderful husband and best friend.

I love your goofiness.

I love watching you playing with our boys.

I love your imagination even if it means that I must make you a Pumpkin Spiced Latte Pie for your birthday.

Happy birthday, Tim Dear!

Photo credit due to the fabulous Joann Renee Photography

Pumpkin Spiced Latte Pie - adapted from Diana Rattray, about.com Guide

Ingredients

1/4 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup strong brewed pumpkin pie flavored coffee
1 cup milk
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter
1 baked pastry shell, 9-inch
1 recipe meringue (below)

Preparation:

To make Pumpkin Pie flavored coffee: Mix 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice for every cup of water with coffee grounds. Brew coffee in your favorite method.

To make pie: In a medium saucepan, combine flour, salt, and sugar; add coffee and milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Stir mixture into beaten egg yolks then return to the saucepan. Cook 2 minutes longer. Add butter; cool. Pour into pastry shell and top with meringue. Bake as directed for meringue (below).
Meringue Topping

2 egg whites
4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat egg whites until frothy; gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla or other flavoring. Spoon onto pie, spreading to crust edge to seal filling in. Bake at 325° for 15 to 18 minutes, until nicely browned.

The pie was delicious, but didn't set up quite right. Any suggestions?

Joy!

2011-12-01T20:03:00.000-08:00

But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You. ~Psalm 5:11

For as long as I can remember, I have loved the word joy. Maybe it's because I grew up hearing my parents say to me, "We named you Heather Joy because Heather means Joyful Spirit and we wanted you to have a double blessing of Joy." Maybe it's because the word conjures up images, sounds, smells, memories that I delight in. Whatever the reason, I love the word Joy. Christmas time always seems a bit brighter when I see Joy decorations and hear people sing Joy to the World. In spite of my love for this word, I do find it hard to be joyful when the trials of life, the dirty dishes, the diapers, the boys squabbling over toys (Yes, 10 month-olds do squabble!), the lay offs. I just need to remember to have joy, to take delight in what I have been given. My boys are so helpful in their little ways to be joyful.

Last Christmas, I received framed letters that spelled out Joy. This was the first Christmas decoration that Beniah wanted to be hung out. As I was working on hanging the frames, Beniah was working on coloring his own joy drawing. It might take some imagination, but you can kind of see his attempt at copying the swirls and curly-cues of the letters.

Every time I go for flour, I am always finding some toy put in the drawer by Elijah. I love opening the flour drawer. This was today's toy.

What brings you joy?
Family Wii night.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T22:20:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all my dear family and friends (who are probably the only ones who read this blog). This year was the Whittaker year for Thanksgiving, so we bundled our boys up in the car and drove north. Beniah went napless today and did amazingly well. There were a couple of times that tears were about to erupt, but were quickly subdued after we told him to "control his crankies". Now before you give us rounds of applause for our magnificent parenting, you should know that his cousins distracted him by calling for him to play with them. Playing with a big 5 year old boy is so much better then crying over a car that was being played with by his younger, girl cousin.

Beniah loves to play pianos. I think music lessons are in store for us.

The Ipad was the hit of the night.

I was so proud of how well Beniah climbed the ladder to get onto the loft, but was also a little bit sad on how quickly he is growing up.

Elijah was his sweet self and was doted on and cooed over well enough to make this Mama's heart swell a little. I can't help but be happy when people tell me that my children are beautiful.

As with every Thanksgiving, there is a lot of food! This year, I was designated to bring the sweet potatoes for thirty people. After scouring my favorite food website, I found a recipe that was divine! Unfortunately, when I had the website switch the number of servings from 12 to 30, it failed to mention that one serving was for a lumberjack who had just worked a 14 hour shift and had only eaten top ramen for the past 3 days. I ended up with two 9x13 pans and four 8x8 pans worth of sweet potatoes. Thankfully, everybody enjoyed it and is (at least I am ) excited for the leftovers.

Cinnamon Apple Sweet Potato

Ingredients

3 sweet potatoes
3 yams
6 large apples - peeled, cored and sliced
1 bag cranberries (around 1 to 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup white sugar *Note: I am going to try cutting down the sugar by a 1/4 cup next time to see if it comes out a little less sweet.
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon butter

Directions

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Peel and cut sweet potatoes, yams, and apples into chunks. Mix the sweet potatoes, yams, cranberries, and apples into a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Meanwhile, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a saucepan. Stir in the water and butter and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook and stir until thickened and no longer cloudy, 5 to 10 minutes. It will turn into what I imagine a gelatinous blob looks like before it attacks you, but don't worry it won't. Pour over the sweet potatoes.
Bake in the preheated oven until the apples are very tender and the sweet potatoes are golden on top, about 1 hour.

My next holidayish baking will be individual pecan pies. I had a piece of pecan pie for dessert and am now all about pecan pie.

640,800 Minutes!

2011-11-19T22:05:00.000-08:00

Six hundred forty thousand
eight hundred minutes
Six hundred forty thousand
moments so dear
Six hundred forty thousand
eight hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year and two months since my last post?

In welcoming Elijah John
Elijah John 9lbs 2 oz. 19" long 15" head

and watching him grow way to fast.
Elijah at 10 months. 30.5" long 26 lbs

Six hundred forty thousand
eight hundred minutes
Six hundred forty thousand
meals to plan
Six hundred forty thousand
eight hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year and two months since my last post?

In watching Beniah grow from toddler
Beniah - almost 2
to little boy who wants to do it himself.
Beniah (almost 3) as Sully from Monsters Inc.

Six hundred forty thousand
eight hundred minutes
Six hundred forty thousand
owies to kiss
Six hundred forty thousand
eight hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year and two months since my last post?

In celebrating five years of marriage
to my very best friend
Family photo shoot - April 2011

Six hundred forty thousand
eight hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year and two months since my last post?

How about Love
how about love
how about love
measure in love
seasons of love
seasons of love

Dedicated to my Aunt Nancy who told me that I need to get back into blogging and to my friend Charissa, who promised to follow my blog if I started it up again.
Adapted from Rent - Seasons of Love

A Trip to Astoria.

2010-08-31T14:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, the temperature was supposed to reach over 100 degrees, so Tim and I decided that a trip to the coast would be just the thing to do. We packed up our car with a days worth of supplies and headed out to Astoria.

Along the way we drove right by a train, which caused Beniah to shout out "Tain!Tain!"

Once in Astoria, we decided to ride on the Astoria Riverfront Trolley.

The lady in the front window was very helpful with helping entertain Beniah.

Beniah fell asleep on our way to Warrenton.

The Perter Iredale.

Beniah was not happy with the beach this time. He only wanted to be carried and he would try to steer us away from the water with his legs if we got to close to it.

From there we traveled down to Seaside for dinner and to walk along the boardwalk. Beniah was much happier with this idea.

Looking at the river with Daddy.

We stopped by the arcade and let Beniah play with the Wack-A-Shark game. He loved being allowed to hit something with a gigantic mallet.

On the way back to the car, Beniah decided to sit down in the middle of the sidewalk and try to throw the pebbles in the cement.

Homemade Strawberry Jam

2010-08-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

This past July, we went on a family excursion to our local farmers market in search of fresh strawberries to make honey sweetened strawberry jam. The recipe is a little tart, but if you are wanting to cut down on the amount of sugar that your family consumes, this one is pretty good.

Beniah eating the foam that was skimmed off the top, just like his mama did when she was a little girl.

No Sugar Needed Strawberry Jam
(Makes 3 pints of jam)

4 cups hulled and crushed strawberries (about 4 lbs)
1 cup Unsweetened White Grape or Apple juice (100% juice only. I suggest using the bottled juices so you know that the juice isn't too watered down)
1 No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin (1.75oz pkg)
Optional Additional Sugar (0-3 cups Sugar or 3/4 - 1 cup honey. I used 1/2 cup honey and it turned out fine)

To cook the jam:
Combine fruit and juice in a 6-8 quart sauce pan. Gradually stir in pectin making sure that there aren't any clumps. Bring to a rolling boil that can not be stirred down while you are stirring constantly. Add sugar or honey if desired. Bring to a rolling boil again. Boiling hard for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim off the foam. Pour jam into clean, warm glass pint jars.

To Can the jam:
Once you have 7 jars of jam prepared, clean off tops of jars and place canning lids and rings on top. Place in a water bath canner and bring to a gentle steady boil and process for 10 minutes. Take the lid of and let jars stand for 5 minutes. Remove the jars from the canner and place it up right on a clean towel. Do not disturb for 24 hours. Wipe clean jars down and remove rings. Label jars and store in a cool dark place for up to a year.

Note: Do not double or triple the recipe to save time. The jam will not set up and will be wasted.

What Tim and Beniah Did Today

2010-08-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

Tim was asked by his Dad to help with the cutting down of 2 obnoxious tree limbs, so Beniah and I went out to watch the cutting procedure. He was so excited that he didn't want to wait for me to find his shoes and grabbed the 1st pair of shoes he found and put them on.

He was very fascinated by the whole ordeal and was upset that I wouldn't allow him to climb the tree after his grandpa. Once the tree limb was down, Tim pulled on the work gloves to start chopping up the limb into firewood pieces. Beniah looked at me and said, "Goves!" So we went inside in search of some gloves for him (and to change into tennis shoes for the both of us).

Beniah was so proud of his gloves and the fact that he was able to help his Daddy haul wood.

1st Good Look at Baby #2

2010-06-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

Today I had my 12 week ultrasound to determine if the baby has any birth defects. We are all in the clear on that account. We received a cd of the visit which thrilled me because now I don't have to take the time to scan in the pictures to the computer! The baby was so active that the technician had a difficult time measuring the baby. At one point he had to turn the examining table at such an angle that I felt like I was going to fall off or slide right out of my pants. Neither of which happened thankfully.

Baby #2

When Tim asked what the thing coming out of the baby's nose was, the technician said, "That's a booger." It's actually a hand curled up and pressing against it's nose.

Kris and Nick's Wedding

2010-06-23T09:25:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we drove down to Eugene to attend Tim's aunt's wedding. Even though Beniah didn't get a nap that day, we had a great time. I realized that I didn't take any photos of the wedding party, only of Beniah.

Beniah and Donny kept trying to blow out the candles before the wedding. I believe that they actually got one out. (I have to admit that this amazing photo was done by my sister in law, Joann)

During the reception, Beniah was entertained by taking pictures with the disposable camera that was on the table. Unfortunately, Kris and Nick will have around 4 pictures of Beniah's vest.

Waiting for our food to arrive.

After shoving a huge chunk of melon in his mouth.

On the way home, Beniah started getting really excited when we were passing under some bridges because Tim called them tunnels. Beniah kept saying, "More tunna! More tunna!"

1st Professional Haircut

2010-06-21T20:30:00.000-07:00

I was putting off cutting Beniah's hair for as long as possible because he is going to be a ring bearer in my sister in law's wedding this August and I want it to still look good. However, this last Friday, I was noticing how mulletish Beniah's hair was getting. It would have passed as a good look 20 years ago, but definitely not now. Tim and I took him to Great Clips and a wonderful lady named Jessica took us back to start the process.

Beniah got decked out in a fun cape and then picked out a sucker (also known as a distraction). The sucker proved to be a very valuable asset to the hair cutting experience.

Before:

Once Beniah realized that his locks were going to be cut off, he burst into tears. Well, maybe it was because the scissors scared him. He was really cute while he was wailing, but we didn't take any pictures of it because it took both of us to console him and remind him of his sucker.

The cutting process.

Finished (with extra cheese)!

A Spontaneous Trip to the Bonneville Dam

2010-06-10T18:54:00.001-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, Tim and I decided to go on a spontaneous trip to the Bonneville Dam (well, as spontaneous as you can get with a 1 & 1/2 year old). Beniah had a wonderful time and looking at all of the painted fish on the sidewalk. He just had to touch all of the fish even if that meant trying to run in the middle of a group of people to touch it.

Beniah and Tim looking for more painted fish.

Beniah was a little disturbed by the size of the sturgeon in the pond.

Beniah and Tim growling at the stuffed bear. I would love to see the reactions of the people seeing the security footage of a grown man growling at a display case.

Of course, Beniah had to count the metal fish before we left for home. "On. Two. Fee. Nine."

Mama's Little Helper

2010-06-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of weeks, I have been letting Beniah help me with some of my baking. He really enjoys the process of dumping ingredients into the bowl and helping Mama stir by singing,
"Round and around and around we go!
Round and around and around we go!
Round and around and around we go!
Round we go-o-o!"
I remember my mom singing this to my sister and I when we helped her stir food.

Beniah's all time favorite part of cooking was licking the peanut butter off of the spoon.

Our masterpiece, Chocolate Peanut butter bundt cake.

Beniah had fun putting the cheese strips onto the pepper jack macaroni and cheese.

Beniah also got to help his Daddy make wonderful chocolate peanut butter brownies.

Roadtrip Conversations

2010-05-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, I had another companion in the backseat of my car. My almost 3 year old nephew, Donny, was coming home with me and Beniah to spend the rest of the day with us. On the way home, I was entertained with Donny's musings. Here are some Donny quotes.

At seeing a lot of cars on the road: "Cars, cars, cars! This is ridiculous!"
At seeing a stop sign: "Turn right at octagogagone."
After being stopped in a long line at a stoplight: "Go...Go....Go pink car, go!"

He had me laughing most of the trip home and wishing that I recorded the drive so that his mama could hear all of his comments.

The Excitement of Life.

2010-05-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

I have been remiss on keeping you all up to date for the past couple of months. This is partially due to Tim using the computer so much because he uses it to study for his 2nd actuary exam, but mostly this is due to the busyness of motherhood and spending my time with other activities. Lately, I have taken up quilting and am working on my son's baby blanket. I have made a few blankets for my friends and sister's babies, but haven't done one for my own son until now. Here is the 1st block on his quilt. I will post the finished product at a later date (i.e. when I finally finish the project).

Beniah is definitely growing and changing everyday. He seems to do the small things that brighten up my day (like giving me a foxglove flower off of his grandma's plant).

Beniah enjoys reading his books and says, "Amen" when the book is at the end.

Beniah loves to play with the light switch in our front room.

Our cat is not safe anywhere now that Beniah is a toddler.

The fastest way to light up Beniah's eyes is to bring out his cars and the fabric with the streets on it.

The most exciting news to come to our house is as follows:

I am hoping that history will repeat itself and Tim will pass next Thursday's actuary test since I passed my pregnancy test.

Flowering

2010-04-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

This past week, my husband built me a flower box so that I could plant some flowers that I received for my birthday.

Pansies.

Ever since I was a little girl, there has always been some heather planted at the place I have lived (except for Corvallis). So, when I saw some heather for sale, I immediately bought it.

Pi Day!

2010-03-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

For most people, today is like any other day (other than having the time change), but to us math nerds (or those married to them) this day is something special. Today is Pi day. For those of you who don't know Pi's number is 3.14. To celebrate, I decided to make a Chocolate Mint Cream Pie. It was delicious. In spirit of this wondrous occasion, I am giving you all the recipe. I do have to admit that I received the original recipe from my sister in law and I just added the mint dark chocolate.

Chocolate Mint Cream Pie

1 Baked and Cooled 9" Pie Crust
3/4 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
2 cups Whole Milk
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
1 Tbsp Butter
1 bar Mint Dark Chocolate, chopped into pieces
Whipped Cream for garnish
Chocolate shavings for garnish

In medium saucepan mix sugar, flour, and salt. Stir in 1 cup milk and mix until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Stir until smooth and thickened, about 2 minutes, then remove from heat.

Beat eggs with the remaining milk. Temper the egg mixture with a small amount of the slightly cooled milk mixture, then blend this into the larger saucepan with the cooling milk mixture.

Return saucepan to the heat and bring to a boil again, stirring constantly. Lower heat and simmer until mixture thickens a bit more, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Once thoroughly mixed stir in mint dark chocolate pieces. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixed throughout. Top with whipped topping.

Happy Pi day!

New Dining Companion

2010-03-11T15:36:00.000-08:00

Last night we decided to try sitting Beniah up at the table to eat dinner with us. He has been doing well with the fork, but we were concerned that he would dump all of his food, including his plate, onto the floor. Thankfully, he did very well and ate his meal like a big boy.

Flying Lessons

2010-03-10T23:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, the UPS driver dropped off our new coffee maker. I have been planning on changing the ordinary coffee maker box into an airplane for Beniah ever since we ordered the coffee maker. Today, I took advantage of Beniah's nap time and whipped out my scissors, packing tape, and a little Elmer's glue and made Beniah's 1st cardboard box airplane.

Although I didn't get any pictures of Beniah being excited over his new toy, he was very pleased with it. He especially liked the pencil stick propellers. I would spin it for him and he would say, "Whee!"

Cheese!

2010-02-06T11:25:00.001-08:00

About a month ago, Tim received a bobble head Spock for his birthday. Beniah has now laid claim to it and tries to shake Spock's head so that he will say, "Live long and prosper." "You are, after all, essentially irrational." and "Fascinating." Yesterday, I tried capturing Beniah playing with Spock, but instead, I captured his first cheesy camera smile.

Great Grandma Corl

2010-02-01T22:37:00.000-08:00

One of my fondest memories as a child was visiting my family back in Pennsylvania. My grandparents lived across a pond from my Great Grandma Corl. Almost everyday my sister and I would race across the path to the other side of the pond and visit with my great grandma. She still used her wood burning stove even though it was well into the 1990's. I loved eating her crispy pancakes and drinking hot chocolate in her warm kitchen. There always seemed to be a quilt in progress on her dining room table and quilts hanging from her wall and in trunks and the fun closets that connected rooms together. I used to pretend that this old house was a stop on the underground railroad (in spite of the fact that the house was built after the Civil War) or that the Holocaust Jews would hide from the Nazis in those secret closets (Polish Jews could hide out in a closet in Pennsylvania, right?).
For the past 3 weeks, I have been cutting, pinning, and sewing my first quilt. It is for a friend of mine who is due to have a little girl at the end of this month. Now I am not arrogant enough to say that I am as good at quilting as my great grandma, but I am pleased with how my first one turned out. I think that Great Grandma would be as well.

Time To Get Dressed

2010-01-24T23:35:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered what a 14 month old would choose to wear to church if he got the opportunity to decide for himself? Well now you know!

That's right! Brown sweatpants and a gray GAP shirt. This morning, I was getting ready for church and Beniah was being...helpful. So, I went to his dresser and opened the shirt drawer and the pants drawer and told him to pick out a shirt and a pair of pants, expecting him to pull out all of his clothes leaving me with the time to finish getting ready. Instead, he pulled out 1 pair of pants and 1 shirt. He then shut both drawers and went off to play elsewhere. While I wouldn't normally dress my son up like this for church (or anywhere else for that matter), I thought "What the heck! It's the 1st time he chose an outfit for himself. So he'll wear it!"

We also had the pleasure of watching the kids in nursery this morning where Beniah successfully figured out how to crawl in and out of the toy box. When it was time to put toys away, he wanted to stay in there and have us put the toys in the box with him.

Christmas Past

2010-01-14T23:32:00.000-08:00

With the Holiday season and the flu that followed now behind us, I feel that now is a good time to reflect over the events of Christmas 2009. Another contributing factor was that one of my best friends told me to "update your blog already!" Without further ado, here are my musings of this past Christmas.
Last year (2008) was, technically, Beniah's 1st Christmas, but this year actually felt like his 1st Christmas. He was very interested in the Christmas lights and would literally demand that they be turned on the minute he was taken upstairs to eat his breakfast. Beniah would go to every Christmas decoration that lit up and would say, "ight!" and blow on it (yes, we taught him to blow on lights to turn them on) until we turned on the decoration.
Beniah had a ton of fun playing with his cousins during Christmas.

Tim had a ton of fun teaching Beniah and Jeshu to juggle.

I had a ton of fun dressing my son up in his suit. Beniah didn't seem to appreciate it though.

Watching Beniah unwrap presents was another delight of ours. When we celebrated with my family, Beniah was very diligent in unwrapping his gifts, until he got to the large lego set from Grandpa and Grandma, then he wanted nothing else to do with gift opening.

At the Whittaker celebration, he just opened the apple (only part of a gift from Auntie Jo) and wandered around eating the apple for the rest of the gift opening.

Beniah and his Whittaker cousins all received Chinese kung-fu outfits from their Auntie Jo.

Sad, but true gifts that Tim received.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a happy New Year (it still counts if you say it in January).

A Very Crafty Christmas

2010-01-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year, Tim and I decided to make homemade gifts to help with the cost of giving to 16 people. We had a lot of fun planning and creating our gifts and just might make this a tradition in our gift giving.

Our nephews each received wooden blocks that spelled out their names.

Our nieces each received a pillow with their names on it (I don't have a picture of Katie's pillow though).

My mom received a silhouette paper cut out of her wedding picture.

My mother in law received a candle in a teacup (I made the candle not the cup).

My sister received a wall hanging of India.

Tim's sisters each received a tea light candle holder.

My dad received a garden stepping stone that had leaf imprints on it. I chose the leaves for their pretty color. My dad, the tree lover that he is, started naming off all of the trees that the leaves came from.

Tim is 25 and a College Graduate

2010-01-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

December has been an exciting month. Tim finished up and passed the last of his college classes and turned 25! We are now looking forward to Tim finding a job and lower insurance premiums.

Beniah is 1!

2009-12-25T20:48:00.000-08:00

November and December has come and gone with out any updates from us. Life has been pretty busy with Beniah's 1st birthday, Tim's graduation from college, and Christmas. So without further ado, here are some of the highlights of our past month.

On November 15th, Beniah turned 1 year old. It is hard to believe that my little baby is over a year old and walking, jabbering, and occasionally spearing a piece of food with his fork and eating it. We celebrated Beniah's birthday in style with friends and family on November 14th.

Each of the 5 children (who could eat cake) that were there was given their own pumpkin shaped carrot cake.

My sister, Evie, with my niece, Evie.

Beniah had a blast dancing with two of his older cousins.

Playing Catch up

2009-11-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

Life has been rather busy this fall, so I have been remiss in updating this blog. Beniah is almost 1 year old, is over 25 lbs, and has been walking like a pro since Halloween. Here is a little snap shot of what has been happening since September.

In September Tim, Beniah, and I went down to Roseburg to visit with my family who had come from back east. Beniah and I met my grandparents and aunt in Portland and had our 1st train ride down to Eugene.

Beniah turned 10 months old.

In October, Beniah and I traveled down to LA to introduce Beniah to his Great Grandma and Grandpa Gillies.

Beniah turned 11 months old.

Beniah's 1st Halloween. He was a lamb and didn't like having the hood on and his nose colored on.

Beniah is so proud that he can walk now.

Sometimes I have Days Like These

2009-09-17T12:41:00.001-07:00

I Should Have Known To Leave the Lid On.

2009-09-04T14:06:00.001-07:00

Battle of the Century

2009-09-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

The Faceoff.

The 1st Move.

The Attack.

The Result.

Andy - 0
Mongkut - 0
Sliding Glass Door - 1

9 Months Old

2009-08-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

Beniah is now 9 months old. He weighed in at his last doctor's visit at 24.8 lbs and is 25" long with a 19.5" head. Life has gotten a lot more interesting with Beniah around. He is pulling himself up and walking along furniture, walls, and giant overstuffed bears. We are constantly having to rearrange our area to accommodate his growing "no touch" zone.

Beniah is becoming more vocal and has a few words in his vocabulary.

"DaDaDa" (keeps repeating many times) - Daddy, Monkey, anything that is exciting
"DuDuDu" (again, keep repeating this many times) - Duck, Fish, Light up Frogs that don't light up anymore, any bath toy.
"Do" (The "O" as in ostrich) - Donny
"Bu" (as he waves) - Bye Bye!

Beniah staring down a friend's dog.

At OSU in Corvallis.

Beniah loves playing next to his cousin, Donny.

He also loves swings.

9 Months Old.

That's So Camping!

2009-08-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we took Beniah on his 1st camping trip. My parents, Beniah, and I found a campsite at Diamond Lake and was joined by Tim later that night. Within 5 minutes of arriving at our campsite, Beniah had a mouthful of mud, a huge grin, and a stick in his hand. He is such a boy. We awoke the next morning to frozen water and a campground of frost. We all donned 3 or more layers of clothes and looked like the marshmallows that we ate the previous night.

Mama and Beniah (notice the frost on the camp chairs). We all took turns cuddling Beniah that morning to keep him warm.

Beniah playing with Daddy.

We decided to tear down our campsite and find another one that was lower in elevation so we would be warmer in the night. While we did that, Beniah was off investigating the area off of the fake grass mat that he was put on.

His favorite campground toys, small pebbles.

We were joined by my sister and her family at Horseshoe Bend campground.

Cousins.

Beniah tried to eat pinecones.

Jeshu

We celebrated Evie's birthday (with trick candles, of course).

I made the cake for her. It was a yummy Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with a sweet Lemon Curd Filling and Lemon Buttercream Frosting. It was very sweet, but had a bit of tartness to it.

On Sunday morning, my dad, brother in law, and Tim went fishing. Ravi caught a couple of small fish for Jeshu to look at.

Jeshu looking at his "Ishy".

Jeshu's "ishy's"

8 Months Old

2009-07-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

Beniah is now 8 months old. He got weighed at the doctor's today and he is now 23 lbs 11 oz. That puts him in the 90-95 percentile. Beniah has grown a lot this month. He has perfected the crawl and has actually taken 5 steps by himself. Not for the camera of course, but there were witnesses! He loves to hold someones hand and walk everywhere.

He loves to see what we are doing...

...unfortunately, he fell off of the couch and got his 1st goose egg.

On Tusedays, we watch his cousin Donny. They have the greatest time playing together.

Beniah has been eating solids for awhile now, so we thought that he would like to have his 1st taste of lemon.

Beniah has been enjoying his mobility and has discovered Mama's full length mirror.

With crawling comes rug burns, so I have devised a way to save Beniah's knees. We'll see how it works out.

I thought that I would add this picture, as this is typical photo during a shoot. Beniah really wants the camera and lunges for it resulting in this...

Beniah at 8 months.

Family Visits

2009-07-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

Last week, my family came up to visit us. We met up with my sister and her family on Sunday at Multnomah falls. It was a fun, but slightly damp hike.

Cousins.

Evie and Tim

Typical Multnomah Falls picture.

We hiked a little bit beyond the bridge. When we got to the bridge, Tim looked over the side and said, "I had that made just for you." Ahh! How sappy sweetheart!

Evie and Ravi left on Monday morning and my parents arrived that afternoon. We spent the next 3 days visiting, touristing, and spoiling Beniah. I wasn't apart of the last item, but I let his grandparents have fun.

Mom thoroughly enjoyed giving her grandson a bath.

On Tuesday, we were going to hike up to Beacon Rock, but realized that the path that was touted to be good for young children was to rocky and steep for a stroller. We ended up walking on a nature trail that was back up the road a bit.

Grandpa and Beniah

Grandma and Beniah.

Beniah loved Grandpa's shoulder rides.

On Wednesday, we went to Fort Vancouver and looked around.

Not a very good photo of me, but it's a fun one. We are all laughing because Beniah just got done trying to eat my hair.

Grandpa and Grandma with Beniah

My parents.

Beniah was so tired by the end of the day that he fell asleep. He didn't even wake up when I moved him from the stroller to the car seat.

After the fort, my parents took us to Burgerville, where Beniah happily sat in a restaurant highchair for the 1st time.

After Beniah woke up in the morning, my parents would bring him into their bed and play with him. I had to take a picture because I remember doing this with my grandparents. I love the smell of Foldgers coffee (not the taste though) because they would be drinking a cup of it while I was curled up next to them.

Swing Time!

2009-07-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

The wind up.

The unravel.

The stop.

The reaction.

Pure Joy!

4th of July

2009-07-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

This was Beniah's first 4th of July and he loved it! It was a lot of fun to watch him see his 1st fireworks show.

Pool Time!

Sitting tall.

"Who put the P in my name?"

"Aargh! Weed roots!"

Sitting by the fire with Grandpa.

Beniah watching his 1st fireworks...

...and his reaction.

He actually clapped for them when they were over. He was more imitating me than cheering for the fireworks.

Cuddling with Mama.

Fighting off sleep while cuddling with Daddy.

Aaron and Danny with a sparkler.

Look What I Got For Free!

2009-07-16T09:08:00.000-07:00

My parents and I toured around Fort Vancouver yesterday and saw a blacksmith make a wall hook. He then proceeded to hand me a smaller hook that he had made earlier and told me that I could keep it. Apparently, this hook is imperfect because of how short it is. I think it is perfect for a hand towel hook.

Baby Got Back!

2009-07-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have taken a break from cloth diapering this past week because the diapers just weren't holding the liquid as well as they were in the past. Needless to say, I became tired of having to change the bedding and Beniah in the middle of the night. I was going to double up our liners until my wonderful sister suggested using the cheap-o Gerber cloth diapers as the doublers. This solution is still in the testing process. Whether or not this works, I got some cute big butt pictures of Beniah.

If you click on the picture, you can see his 2 bottom teeth.

Happy Birthday Donny!

2009-07-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

This evening we went over to the Shire residence to celebrate Donny's 2nd birthday.

The cousins had fun playing with Donny's new ball popper. Beniah was mostly excited about putting the toy and balls in his mouth.

Beniah in Donny's new ball pit/ swimming pool.

All Aboard!

2009-07-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today, we set off on a great adventure to see the Disney Christmas Carol movie train. This train is making its way across the country and stopped for one day at the Union Station in Portland. There were 7 of us piled into the grandparents' van as we drove to Portland, so Grandma Whittaker had to sit in the middle of the van on a padded stool.

Aaron enjoyed wearing Grandma's sunglasses.

We had a 45 minute wait in line and were entertained by some carolers.

Mama and Beniah.

Since we weren't allowed to take strollers on board, we had to take turns holding Beniah.

Beniah's favorite part of the day was playing with the greenery...

... and patting the picture Scrooge's (Jim Carrey) face.

Although walking down one of the cars was fun too!

Beniah looking at a figurine of the ghost of Marley.

Three Years Ago Today...

2009-06-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

7 Months Old

2009-06-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

It is hard to imagine, but my baby boy is now 7 months old! He has had many accomplishments this month. His top left tooth has burst forth (3 total teeth now) and he has learned how to creep. I keep thinking that my place is baby proof, but Beniah keeps proving me wrong. I will post a video of his feats once I can figure out how to download the footage to my laptop.

Getting ready to crawl.

Teething on Dwight Shrute.

Beniah loves our cat, Mongkut.

Beniah- 7 months old.

Whittaker Family Beach Trip 2009

2009-06-23T22:32:00.000-07:00

Tim's brother, Danny, along with his wife, Betsy, and son, Aaron are here visiting from the great city country of Singapore. To celebrate, the Whittakers got together and rented 2 beach houses for 3 days and 2 nights full of sun, sand, surf, and six children under the age of 4. It was very fun and just slightly a bit chaotic. This was Beniah's 1st time at the beach. Keeping with his Norse heritage, he didn't mind the cold Pacific water. His only complaint was that his mean mama wouldn't let him eat the sand. Horrible!

Beniah's 1st look at the ocean.

Getting his feet wet. (Grandma Whittaker, Aaron, and Uncle Danny are running in the background)

"Hey Mama!"

Beniah trying to eat sand.

Tim was given his Jack/ Donny wake up call Thursday morning.

All 6 of the grandchildren.

On the way home, we had an extra passenger, Donny Shire. He chattered almost the entire way home. Every once in awhile, I would hear "Hi Nana!" (Beniah in Donny language).

Donny was all tuckered out.

Like Father Like Son.

2009-06-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

6 Months Old

2009-05-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

This is a bit late, but here is Beniah's 6 month pictures. At his last doctor's appointment, he weighed in at 21.6 lbs and is 28" long.

Beniah with Great Grandma Kjossness.

Beniah wasn't to sure about the Twist's oh so gentle dog, Bailey.

In the end, he decided that Bailey wasn't that scary and that grass was a lot of fun to play with.

"I am so cute!"

Beniah - 6 months old.

Happy Memorial Day!

2009-05-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

It's Feeding Time!

2009-05-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

Ever since we noticed Beniah looking at us and chewing with us whenever we ate in front of him, we have been thinking of starting him on solids. It has now come to pass that Beniah is eating solids. He had his 1st rice cereal meal a few weeks ago when he was 5 1/2 months old. He wasn't thrilled with the taste.

A couple weeks later we tried Sweet Potatoes.

We have also tried carrots and grean beans, all to no avail. My son just isn't thrilled with the taste of this new food. We'll get there eventually.

4 Months Old

2009-05-05T17:14:00.000-07:00

Although Beniah is 5 1/2 months old, I thought that I should put up pictures of his 4th month. He has grown quite a bit since these pictures were taken, but that is another post for another day (i.e. we have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and can give the stats then).

This is the view that we saw whenever we put Beniah in his rocking chair.

Beniah loves his toys.

ChipnDale Beniah.

Beniah in waist high pants.

These are the feet of my favorite sleeper, unfortunately Beniah has outgrown them already.

Beniah was given a knock off Baby Einstein video for Christmas this year and loves it. He usually cries whenever I turn off the video.

Beniah at 4 months

When Beniah Met Beniah

2009-05-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

A couple of months before Beniah was born, a friend of ours from high school gave birth to a son and named him Beniah. She and her husband had found the name, liked it, and purposefully misspelled it just like Tim and I did. Neither of us knew that the other was naming their son Beniah until after we had the name chosen. Today, we had the pleasure of meeting Beniah Lucas and hanging out with his parents, Jessica and Caleb.

As canned as the next two pictures are, the Beniahs did the posing themselves.

This pictures was taken seconds before Beniah Mark licked Beniah Lucas' head.

Beniah was tired of Beniah being in his Daddy's lap.

Cousins

2009-05-03T16:14:00.000-07:00

The other day, the Whittaker siblings and their families came over for a dinner together. Beniah was able to have some playtime with his male cousins.

Jack would push Beniah back and forth on the piano musical toy. Beniah thought this was great fun and squealed with laughter.

Caught in the act of mischief.

All Moved In

2009-05-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

After a few weeks of waiting, Tim, Beniah, and I are all moved in to Tim's parents daylight basement. We thought that we had broken Mongkut with this move because he was a lap cat for a few days, but he is now back to his attack cat practices. I haven't taken any pictures of our new place yet (mainly because it's still a mess), but here are a few of the things that I will miss from the apartment that I loved/hated.

I will miss the kitchen with the stove that turned on by just leaning against the edge.

I will miss the balcony that was only large enough to hold my bike.

I will miss the shelves in the bedroom that looked like they were going to break in half if you put anything on them.

I will miss the bathroom that had a horrible mold problem and a hole in the wall that we covered with an above the toilet cupboard.

I will miss the weird dark marks on the walls.

In all honesty, we will definitely miss our landlord, Steve, and property manager, Harry, who were wonderful people to work with.

Just for Laughs

2009-04-10T15:52:00.000-07:00

What to do...

2009-04-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

What do you do when your dinning room table is packed away in a trailer and you want to have a nice meal with your husband while your baby is napping?

Well, Duh!

2009-04-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

When you peel apples, don't peel your thumb knuckle.

When you go to sit down, look where you are going to sit. There might be a cat laying there.

Cold Time Blues

2009-04-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

The victim.

The tools.

The result.

Beniah happys up after this horrid treatment by finding the cat. The cat, however, can take only so much of baby time and is often found here.

In the Words of Beniah

2009-04-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

Nhb87 g6n b ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,MKIJH
.KIG
2C3X51G

Bubble Bath Time

2009-04-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

Tonight I gave Beniah his 1st bubble bath. He didn't seem to care that there were bubbles, he just wanted his toys and the camera out of his face.

In His Daddy's Clothes

2009-02-28T11:32:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of Beniah in his Daddy's baby clothes.

In Pursuit of Mobility

2009-02-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

Beniah rolled over (from his tummy to his back) for the first time today. He looked more surprised than excited to find himself on his back.

3 Months old

2009-02-23T08:56:00.000-08:00

Beniah is now 3 months old (and has been for 8 days now). We don't have an official weight but we know it is close to 20 lbs. We have a check up on March 5th, so we will let you know the official results then.

Beniah is starting to get the idea of rolling over, but hasn't been able to accomplish that feat yet...

... silly arm is always in the way.

Beniah LOVES playing with his Daddy.

Beniah gets to playing a little to hard in his seat and ends up nearly sliding out of it.

Beniah - 3 Months Old (I know, I know, the Alien head got cut off. This was the best picture of Beniah though. He was rather grumpy during this photo shoot.)

Based on a True Story...

2009-02-17T18:54:00.000-08:00

The warm air whispered of spring.
The birds soared through the air.
I was envious of their freedom.

As I was contemplating the concept of flight, I was thrown through the air. I rejoiced in the feel of the wind--until I landed on the cold, wet pavement. There I lay abandoned while my master just rolled on.

My despair deepened as day turned to night. I lay there sodden while the sun rose in the sky and reached its zenith. I cried out to God in my despair.

Suddenly I heard a familiar sound of wheels clattering on the pavement. To my greatest pleasure I saw my master roll past me. I felt myself get picked up and lovingly carried home.

My joy was fulfilled the moment I entered the door and saw my mate eagerly awaiting my return.

Dedication

2009-02-15T16:31:00.001-08:00

During our time in Roseburg last week, Tim and I had Beniah dedicated at our church. For those of you who would have come, if you had known about it, I'm sorry that we didn't invite you. We completely spaced inviting people other than our parents and my sister. We were going to put the video of the dedication on here, but we don't have the USB cord to download it to our computer. Here are the pictures that were taken though.

Our Pastor, Dave, with Beniah

Praying over Beniah

We made it through without Beniah either bursting into tears or erping all over Dave.

More Cakes - Mine this Time

2009-02-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, Tim, Beniah, and I drove down to Roseburg to celebrate my nephew's, Jeshu, 1st birthday. I helped my sister out by baking and decorating the Monkey cake.

This was the original cake that Evie got the idea from.

This is my attempt at the cake. I thought of the tongue. Evie thought of the teeth.

If you can't tell, that is supposed to be a banana.

Jeshu wasn't certain about eating the cake.

Once he got into it, though, Jeshu approved of the cake.

He got the frosting from his hair to the bottom of his feet. He stepped on the highchair tray that had frosting on it.

Cakes

2009-01-30T11:12:00.000-08:00

If you would like to see an interesting cake go to Black Widow Bakery.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Luse

2009-01-30T10:18:00.000-08:00

On Monday, January 19th, Tim, Beniah, and I met up with my family to celebrate my Dad's birthday. We had a wonderful dinner at a Mongolian Grill and then got our bowling shoes on and hit the lanes in style.

Jeshu LOVES his cousin! He tries to be gentle when he gives Beniah a hug but...

Beniah and Grandpa.

Jeshu cheered for everyone no matter how poorly they bowled.

In spite of all the noise and commotion, Beniah fell asleep in the bowling alley.

Yes, the 60 year old man beat us all.

Happy Birthday Daddy.

2 Months Old

2009-01-30T10:16:00.000-08:00

Beniah is now 2 months old. At his last doctor's appointment he weighed in at 15 lbs. 6 oz. That is exactly 6 lbs heavier than his birth weight. He is also 27" long. He is now in the 97th percentile for both height and weight.

Beniah in his Hugh Hefnerish outfit.

Yes, Beniah does sometimes sleep with his head at the weirdest angles.

Beniah at 2 Months.

A Smattering from the Holidays...

2009-01-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

Life has been rather busy lately for Tim, Beniah, and I. In an attempt to update you all on our lives, here is a brief glimpse of the past 2 months. Just a side note, the text is very odd because Blogger is not the brightest crayon in the box and I am tired of trying to fix this post.

Tim's Birthday
Corvallis received a part of the snow storm that rocked Portland area this December. It was fun for Tim to wake up to a white birthday.

Here Beniah and Mongkut are trying to get Tim up.

Tim wanted to carry on his new found tradition of weird sounding birthday pies, so he asked for a strawberry kiwi pie. It did not turn out as planned. The recipe that I got for this pie calls for Strawberry Jello with Strawberries and Kiwi added to it. The pie didn't set up, so we had a very sweet soup in pie crust. Tim still approved, saying, "The taste is what's important!"

Kjosness Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve, we drove down to Eugene to celebrate with the Kjosness's. It was a lot of fun to see the family and to introduce Beniah to his Great Grandma Kjosness.
We also enjoyed meeting David Patrick (Beniah's second cousin).

During the caroling time, Beniah decided that he wanted to join in on the festivities and sang along with us to "Joy to the World".

Luse Family Christmas
On Christmas Morning, we drove down to Roseburg to celebrate with my side of the family.
Beniah was, of course, loved on by everybody including his cousin who hugged on him and gave him kisses as often as Beniah was content with it.

Beniah received a quilt for Christmas from his Great Aunt Nancy.

Whittaker Family Christmas
The Whittaker family got together on the 31st of December to celebrate. There were a couple of additions to this year's festivities. Jim's Brother, Uncle Jeff, and Marie's sister-in-law, Aunt Kathy and her friend Dave were able to celebrate with us. I have tried 5 times to upload pictures, but the internet cuts out everytime! So, if you go to the family links on the sidebar, you will be able to see pictures from our Christmas celebration.

The 1st Month

2008-12-16T13:11:00.001-08:00

Even though we promised to post sooner, life with a newborn is rather chaotic and posting isn't at the top of our to do list.
Life is starting to get back to normal (whatever normal is now). I'm healing up from the surgery and my energy level is almost back to pre-pregnancy levels. Beniah is growing very fast. He weighed in at 11 lbs. 14oz. at his last checkup. He is getting a slight 3rd chin (when his head is turned a particular way). His latest feat is responding to Mama and Daddy's voices with a smile.
We have had both Grandma's here to help Tim and I out this past month. Of course, both Grandpas came for a visit as well. Unfortunately, we only ended up taking a picture of Beniah with his Grandpa Luse.

Hanging out with Grandpa Luse

Beniah in the cradle. He is the 4th generation to sleep in this cradle. His Great Grandpa Luse was the 1st to sleep in it.

Asleep with Daddy.

The third chin poking out.

Here is Beniah's pouty face that we think is adorable (at least at this point in his life).

Beniah's 1st smile captured by the camera.

Beniah - 1 month old.

Beniah Mark Whittaker

2008-11-30T22:09:00.000-08:00

After over two weeks of learning to care for a newborn, we are finally alert enough to post about our firstborn. After 41 hours of rather intense (yet frustratingly non-progressive) labor, Beniah Mark Whittaker was born by Cesarean on November 15th at 5:20 am. He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz. The reason for the lack of progress? His very large head. The circumference was 15 inches, while the average newborn’s is around 13 or 13 1/2. He has his daddy’s head!

Here are a few pics from our 6 day (!) hospital stay.

Heather soon after getting settled on the fourth floor.

Fingerless gloves are SO in!

Dressed in scrubs for the C-Section. (Obvious, right?)

Mama's first look at her son!

Jeshu Kumar being oh-so-gentle with his tiny cousin.

Beniah was hungry, and mama was busy. So, of course, Grandma Luse offered her chin as a substitute! Got a hickey for her trouble, though.

A less-drugged version of mama enjoying her sleeping son.

Beniah does NOT like hats!

All dressed up to go home. And though you can't tell from this pic, those little socks are quite embarrassing. Beniah's Auntie Jo bought them for him before we knew his gender, and insisted that our child wear them, even if it was a boy. So, of course, Beniah decided to be a male that wears socks with a picture of Ariel, the Little Mermaid.

A close-up of Beniah in his adorable hat.

The Whittaker Three on their way home from the hospital.

We’ll post some more pics of the newly enlarged Whittaker family later. Hopefully in less than the two weeks it took for this post!

2008-10-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my 1st official day of not going into work. My wonderful husband told me that I wasn't to do anything except relax all day long. So my day was filled with Fanny Price (Mansfield Park) and cups of Hot Peppermint Tea. It was quite nice to look at my basket of clean laundry and say, "I need to be submissive to Tim, so I can't fold the clothes that you hold."

While I am enjoying the relaxfullness (is that a word?) of being at home, I am realizing that there are some things about Selmet that I do miss.
I will miss the 1/2 mile driveway up to Selmet.
I will miss the speedbumps that rip off oil pans if driven over too fast.
I will miss the realization that plant I work in really does look like a prison (it is painted a grey-blue color, it has no windows except in the office, there is a chain link fence that runs along the perimeter of the property, and there is a guard shack).
I will miss the sheep that followed the sound of your voice when you walk up and down the driveway at lunch (until one of their members died. Then they looked at you with hatred in their eyes).
I will miss the drama of being a scapegoat just because I am in purchasing.
I will miss hearing the accountant's view on how many staples a paper bunch is really supposed to hold (by the way, it is 1 staple per bunch because more than 1 can cause the bunch to get really heavy when you have to box up all of the bunches at the end of the year. I never knew how 3 extra staples were such a work hazard before.).
Finally, I will miss working for a boss who is a slice of heaven to work for (her boss told her that when he was mad at her. I'm still not sure how that is a bad thing.)

Goodbye my Phalangical Friends

2008-09-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

I have officially lost sight of my feet!

Ahh the growth of summer

2008-09-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

As the farmers around Corvallis have been watching their crops grow, I have been watching mine grow as well.

Here I am at 17 weeks (Memorial Day Weekend):

Here's 20 weeks (Halfway Done!):

22 weeks (4th of July)

27 weeks:

And finally at 29 weeks (Labor Day weekend). Can you guess which one of us has the watermelon under their shirt?

Ironic?

2008-08-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

On my way home from work today, I almost got side-swiped by a Farmer's Insurance car. Hmm...

Sweet Dreams

2008-08-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

I've been reading recently that pregnant women have more dreams, or at least remember their dreams more than other people, and that these dreams have significant meanings. For instance, if you dream about cuddly baby animals,buildings, factories, or construction sites, you are aware of your baby growing. If you dream about driving a large vehicle or having trouble walking, you are aware that you are growing. Finally, my favorite, if you dream about water, oceans, lakes, or pools, you are aware of your amniotic fluids or that you have to go to the bathroom.
Although I find these interpretations rather off the wall, I have had my share of strange dreams. The other night, I had a dream that Mongkut had made Tim and I a nice pancake breakfast and was trying to wake us up at 6 am to enjoy his creation. I will admit that I was slightly disappointed when I actually did wake up and realize that our cat did not make us a pancake breakfast.

And He Shall be Called

2008-07-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

Heather and I have been searching for the perfect name for our son. It's been difficult to find one with a meaning we like and a sound we enjoy. We've joked about names like Luke Warm, or Intel Inside, and the like. While we did briefly consider Luke or Lucas, we eventually decided against them.

Before we divulge our final answer, we'd like to share a few other names we've found along the way.

Abimelech--"My father is king." I personally liked this one a lot, but we eventually decided it was a bit too pride-inducing in me.

Benoni--"Son of my sorrow." We considered this one due to Heather's hormone-induced tears, but, like Jacob, decided not to curse our son. We didn't want to name him Benjamin either, though.

Jabez--"Borne in pain; sorrow." Similar to Benoni, but with pop culture behind it! So, double no.

Lehi--"Jawbone." 'Nough said.

So, you ready? Have we dragged it on long enough? Shall we say, "Come back tomorrow, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel."?

Alright, fine. I'll tell you now. Now, you can't laugh, okay? 'Cause we're serious about this name. Sure, it's unusual, but that's one of the reasons we liked it. If you don't like it, send any critical emails to I'mNotListening.com.

Without any further ado (though thinking about it, that PHRASE is 'further ado'!), our son's name is--

You ready?

BENIAH MARK!!!

Put together, this means "God has Established" this "Mighty Warrior."

Mark is my middle name, and has an excellent meaning. I'm sure it needs little introduction to all of you.

But, I know what you're REALLY thinking. (Yes, I AM a precognitive psychic. Deal with it.) You're thinking, "Beniah? Where'd they pull up that name?" Well, I'm glad you asked yourself that. In historical times, there was a man named David. He was a Jewish king, adept at war. He had many mighty men that fought with him. One of them was Benaiah. Here are some references:

2 Samuel 8:18
2 Samuel 20:23
2 Samuel 23:20-23, 30
1 Kings 1

To sum up these passages, he was one of the mightiest warriors in David's army. David obviously trusted him greatly, as evidenced by the end of 2 Samuel 23:23--"David put him in charge of his bodyguard."

When Adonijah rebelled against David, he didn't even invite Benaiah to join him. (1 Kings 1:10). This may have been because of a personal slight, but I think it had to do with Benaiah's loyalty to David.

In regards to the change in spelling (from Benaiah to Beniah), when we first chose the name, we were pronouncing it Ben-I-ah, not Ben-A-ah (think Isaiah, but with Ben). Though we later discovered our mistake, we decided to stick with our initial pronunciation. We changed the spelling because, as Heather so aptly put it, "Silent letters are stupid, because they're wastes of perfectly good letters."

Wow. Talk about text-heavy! Here're a few pics for those of you with short attention spans.

I am tired.

2008-07-14T22:04:00.001-07:00

That is all.

Half Way There

2008-07-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

I am officially half way done with this pregnancy (technically it's 55 % of the way done since this is being posted when I am 22 weeks pregnant)! A couple of weeks ago, we were up at Kim and Andy's for Donny's 1st birthday party and was able to have Joann take some 20 week pregnancy photos.

Here are some of our favorites.

You can find more great pictures on Joann's blogsite.
Aside from seeing family, one of the best moments for me was when we were all in the living room watching Donny's present being opened up amidst the squeals and laughter of my nephews when my son started kicking and moving around. I wasn't slouching like I usually do when he kicks, so my guess is that he heard everybody and was trying to join in. Then again maybe my imagination is overactive.

A couple nights ago, Tim was able to feel his son move for the first time. I was reading a book that was propped on my stomach (pregnant bellies make excellent tables) when I felt him kick and saw the book bounce up a bit. I looked at Tim and said, "Was that a gas bubble?" So Tim put his hand on my belly and our son kicked again, rather fiercely! I can't feel him move all the time, but when I do it's like a punch in the gut (that was Tim's addition). I am starting to get an idea of how active he's going to be when he is outside of the womb. *Sigh* I am excited for that, though.

Kung Fu Fighting

2008-06-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Our baby was kung fu fighting.
His kicks were fast as lightning.
In fact it was a little bit frightening.
'Cause he fought with expert timing.

Well, on Friday we had our 2nd ever ultrasound and were able to see our baby. He has grown quite a bit since his lima bean stage.

(Click for bigger images)

As you can see here, our boy has all the necessary parts (although we don't have a picture to prove that he is a boy). The one thing I don't really like about the ultrasound scan is that they remove the arms from the picture so that they can look at the whole length of the body. It makes him look like a rubber chicken with the head of a human.
Other than being a chicken boy, everything looks good with our son. The tech ended up having a hard time measuring our the baby's legs because he kept kicking and wouldn't stop moving. From how he looks so far, he is going to have the size of his daddy's head (minus the bone spur!) and my yawns.
I did have a pretty good scare during the ultrasound. The tech was doing a scan of the baby's brain, looking for a couple lobes. Apparently, I wasn't listening well enough to the tech. When he said, "There's one and there's the other," I freaked out a bit and asked, "The other? There are twins?" Tim and the tech laughed at me.

Finally, here is the clearest of the ultrasounds.

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-26T13:21:00.001-07:00

Tim and I have had a very full Memorial Day weekend so far. A couple that we met up here was having a garage sale and found some very good deals. We got a baby Bjorn, a Sling, and a Portable highchair thingy (All for $15!) . We weren’t quite sure how to use the stuff, so we decided to test it out on our cat.

By the time we got to the baby Bjorn, Mongkut decided that he had enough and his claws came out and started scratching anybody who came near him.

Yesterday, Tim and I decided to go on a spontaneous road trip to Newport for the afternoon. We started out with a walk on the beach.

As we were walking back up to the car we stopped to take some pictures near a weird metal Christmas tree ( I think).

We headed to the historic Bay front and were greeted by a sound of dying wiener dogs. We soon discovered that there weren’t any dogs, just a group of sealions sunning themselves on a dock underneath one of the piers. There was one that was particularly vocal and would get the others to bark back at him. I have a feeling that they were telling him to quite down and let them sleep.

Prego vs Ragu

2008-05-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have had a lot of people call me Prego. One guy at my work said that he will call me either Prego or Lumpy. It’s been a rather hard decision which nickname to pick. I could either be called a brand of Spaghetti sauce or be told that I look like I have an old pillow under my shirt. He has made the decision a little easier, though. Now he calls me Bubbles

I have decided that I will call people Ragu or Hunts when I am called Prego.

“Why yes Ragu, I am feeling good this morning. Thanks for asking.”

“No Hunts, I haven’t felt my baby kick yet, but I am told that it will be soon.”

Here are some pictures to show you all how big I’ve gotten.

Here I am at 3 Months.

And here I am at 3 1/2 Months.

I have gotten some nice comments ("Wow, you barely look pregnant!") to some... well intended comments ("Wow, you're really big for a November baby!").

I prefer the former.

Filler

2008-05-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Good grief! We need to post more often!

Heather will be back with a longer post either today or tomorrow.

Ciao!

Oh the Tears!

2008-04-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

So here is a somewhat interesting note about my pregnancy. Apparently, I am one of the many women who get very emotional during their pregnancy. The other night, Tim and I were watching a movie, that I would normally have thought was somewhat sappy and ridiculous--not so this time. There was a death in the movie, so I started crying. The scene got over and I was still crying. The movie ended about 5 minutes later and I was still crying. I had gotten myself under control by the time we decided to start looking online, for a bigger apartment, when Tim asked what I thought about getting rid of our cat so that we have more options for an apartment. You guessed it! I started sobbing again. Seriously, I am not a very weepy person until now. I sure hope this gets better because I have 31 weeks left and I am annoying myself with my tears!