Memoirs of a Moorings

So Long Summer...Hello Fall & Back To Blogging

The lazy days of summer are officallly over and I'm dipping my toe back into the world of blogging. We are slowly settling into the school routine two weeks into the school year. 2nd grader LOVES school and Littlest is so ready to go to school already. Hard to believe that Fall starts tomorrow.

Summer was grand. There were lots of snuggles from Littlest. Lots of water play & pool time. Lots of watermelon. Multiple trips to Chick-fil-A. An impromptu adventure to the Point Vicente Interpretive Center where there are sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and we learned quite a bit about the migration of whales and the former Marineland. The boys loved it. So awesome to be able to take a 15 minute drive to the ocean, enjoy the great outdoors and have fun for free.

 
I'm also getting back to my domesticated roots. Lots of cooking and organization going on. Last night's dinner was a family fave: Floretine Stuffed Chicken. Not even sure where I got the recipe. Found it during my first year of marriage when I was a stay-at-home wife. It's easy and tasty & absolutely no seasoning involved other than spaghetti sauce. Give it a try!

Floretine Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 4 bone-in chicken breast halves, with skin
• 2 cups spaghetti sauce
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, combine the spinach, Parmesan cheese and onion and mix thoroughly. Stuff the cavity of each chicken breast with 1/4 of the mixture. (NOTE: Bone-in split breasts usually have a little cavity; if one is not naturally present, use a sharp knife to make a slit in the side of the breast.)
3. Lay stuffed breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish, and cover with the sauce.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 35 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and tender; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and bake another 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.

I've also been pinning myself happy over at Pinterest. So many wonderful ideas and recipes. It's like a creative soul's dream land. I've decided to try my hand at one Pinterest idea a week if time permits. I've already completed some Pinterest-inspired things around the house so I'll be posting those in the near future.

 

At First Sight

"Holding a great-grandchild makes getting old worthwhile." ~ Evalyn Rikkers

This sweet little baby is my grandmother's 27th great grandchild. And she was so happy to meet him. Looks like the feeling was mutual.

Love it how little babies make everybody go all soft on the inside. And love it that my grandmother thinks I'm doing a great job with my own two little ones seeing that she raised six of her own.

Just trying to walk in the footsteps of the great women before me, like my grandmother, who brought children up to love them and who still surround her with love.

Observations....

“Every father should remember that one day his son will follow his example instead of his advice.”

This is daddy's way of soothing the baby's crying. And......it actually worked.

Slowing Down

“Always remember to slow down in life; live, breathe, and learn; take a look around you whenever you have time and never forget everything and every person that has the least place within your heart.”

I love how life slows down to a snail's pace with the arrival of a new baby. Of course, life needs to be tended to, but the most important thing is nurturing this new life. Learning his habits, tuning into his needs.

A year ago, I couldn't have imagined that my life would have down-shifted to the slow lane. I was running frantic...never having enough time to do anything. I hated the course that my life had taken. I don't want to juggle a zillion things and not have enough time to do them all. The Lord knew just what we need right? A new life to slow us down.

Just as I've been thinking about how to incorporate a more slow steady pace into my life, I happened across this beginner's guide to slowing down. My favorite is #10--take a nap. I think I'll go do that right now.

So Glad for Daddy

"My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard.  Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass."  "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply.  "We're raising boys."  ~Harmon Killebrew

As the mother of a boy (soon to be two), I've got a front row seat into the lives of little men. I didn't grow up with brothers so I didn't understand what makes boys tick. Our little one loves to roughhouse, climb, all the things that get boys excited. When Daddy comes home, it's like his roughouse meter is off the charts. He wants to wrestle, jump on Daddy, sit on his head when he's on the couch watching TV and pull him by his shirt tail and be dragged around the house. Lately, I've been noticing that my hubby looks like he's enjoying it all just as much as Rhyan! Thank God for Daddies!

Made With Love

"When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child." ~Sophia Loren

Growing up, I LOVED the TV show, "Leave It to Beaver." I adored its simple wholesomeness. Its focus on family. And yes, I'm going to admit this, I loved June Cleaver and still do. I know it was make-believe, but I loved the way she kept a clean and organized house, the way she greeted her kids after school with milk and cookies and sent them off to school with a warm breakfast in their tummies.

I'm far from June Cleaver, (though I do like to wear an apron in the kitchen) but I do hope to inject some of that simple wholesomeness into my own mothering. To that end, I made heart-shaped chocolate waffles (with some chocolate chips thrown in for good measure) this weekend for the guys. They loved them. I could hardly wake up Sunday morning before my little one was asking for them again.

I think this just might become a weekend tradition--June Cleaver-style!

Stir Crazy Car Trip

"The car trip can draw the family together, as it was in the days before television when parents and children actually talked to each other." ~Andrew H. Malcolm This weekend, we headed to San Diego to attend my hubby's company picnic at Sea World. What should have been an hour and half drive turned into more than three hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Gotta love Southern California. I thought I was going to go CRAZY in that car! Rhyan slept for about 30 minutes and then was going stir crazy himself. After the DVD player battery died (the fuses for the lighters in my car died also-big, sad face), I had to get creative. Turns out I'd experimented with my mp3 player and downloaded two episodes of Wow, Wow, Wubbzy on it. Whew! We'd been talking about Sea World all week, so Rhyan was so ready! We went to the dolphin and Shamu shows which cut down on the walking for this pregnant mommy. Our little guy loved the dolphins! We partied like rock stars at Sea World and didn't get home until after midnight. At least the ride home was smooth sailing.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world. ~Ada Louise Huxtable

About a week ago, it was downright HOT here in Southern Cali. So we broke out the shorts and the sprinkler. Only thing is this kid kept running away from the water rather than towards it. Daddy had to literally drag him through the sprinklers! What kind of kid is that?!!

Sacrifice

"It is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich." ~Henry Ward Beecher

About a week before I found out I was pregnant, my husband, who is a four-time Muay Thai kickboxing champion, announced that he was retiring. Now I'd heard this before, so I didn't get too excited. That is, until he said he called the fighting promoter and told him he was retiring and that he would not be attending the fight where his upcoming bout was going to be announced in the ring. Wow. He'd gotten my attention. My husband the kickboxer is retired. For real. Wow! This is big news and news that I'd really been praying for. And here he was sittng before me telling me he was really retiring. It felt surreal.

Now, don't get me wrong. I fully supported his kickboxing fighting career. But it's mighty hard to be the wife on the outside of the ring. And even harder to be a mother sitting with a child outside of that ring. I remember the first fight Rhyan went to where he understood the concept. And as soon as he saw Daddy in that ring, he cried. And I wanted to join him. I would hold my breath until the final second of each and every fight. Praying and hoping he'd never get too hurt. Then there were the weeks leading up to the fight. The training was hard on him. Waking before dawn to run five miles. Getting home worn out and tired on the weekends from even more training. Watching our little one pull on Daddy to play outside, knowing that he didn't have a lick of energy left to throw a ball.

I know this was a hard decision for my husband. It's like a chapter in his life has ended. I know getting in the ring was exciting for him. Training gave him a goal and purpose. I don't under-estimate the importance that it played in his life. But I'm so happy to know that he'll have time for our little ones--and the new little one on the way. Praying for a change with the fighting was such a small request, but I'm constantly humbled at how God is concerned about even my smallest requests.

Psalm 37:4 has a renewed meaning of late. "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."

My  husband may not be able to be declared a winner inside the ring anymore, but he'll always be a champion at home among me and our growing family.

Happiness Remembered

"Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember." -Oscar Levant

On Friday Rhyan announced at bedtime that he'd had a great day. The greatness can be attributed to the purchase of a new pair of skates--his first. Something so simple brought him an afternoon full of smiles. Wobbly legs making their way down the street. His warm, small hand gripping mine and soon letting go. Falling down and getting up again and again. The freedom of rolling down a small incline into mommy's arms. A great day indeed!

Earlier that day, we'd celebrated my sister's birthday. Her greatness came in a Tiffany box. Enough said. Lunch at The Stinking Rose (can't say yum enough) with a good friend. Nothing gets better than that.