My Family IS a Circus!

I've been a busy mommy lately!

Since my last post...

Both boys had baseball tryouts.

Both boys have had two practices.

(Actually Carter's team has practiced three times.)

We've had three interviews at the studio.

We've started a new Shawn Cheek School of Music blog.

I got a sunburn hanging out by the pool.

We shopped for baseball shoes, pants, and socks. We bought a pitching machine, bat, bucket of baseballs,  two pairs of sun glasses, batting gloves, baseball glove....and now that I'm adding it all up it's a ridiculous amount. (I didn't even name it all.)

Shawn and I consumed approximately 57 pots of coffee.  (7 for me.  50 for Shawn.)

Shawn taught two of our small group meetings at church.  I showed up.

I've read Bossy Pants by Tina Fey and Snow Angel by Glenn Beck. (When might I have had time for this you ask....it's how I pass the time while feeding Jonah.)

Jonah is trying his hardest to crawl.

I'm try my hardest not to cry at how big he's getting.

I've done about 400 loads of laundry. (It may not actually be 400, but it feels that way.)

I've run close to 20 miles.

I've done about 1000 sit-ups.

I've lost ZERO pounds.

I was trained to manage the Relay For Life of Waco's website. 

I managed to fall asleep during three movies...J. Edgar Hoover, Tower Heist, and In Time. 

I've driven down the main highway in Robinson dozens upon dozens of times. 

Just writing this post is making me tired and I still have laundry to do.  Shawn's about to drink a pot of coffee and tomorrow will be here before I know it.  Each day is full of a long list of things to do and places to go.  You'd think I need a break, but this life is wonderful and I wouldn't want it any other way. 

Can you relate?

Number one priority for tomorrow is go to the grocery store.  I offered Carter pickles for dinner (it's one of the few things left in the fridge) but he refused.  We had to stop by Subway after his baseball practice and we picnicked on the grass while watching Evan practice.  

  

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Food Memories :: Beef Stew

Is there a special meal, that when eaten, takes you straight back to your childhood?  

For me, that meal is my Granny's Beef Stew.  It's not a fancy meal.  The ingredients are stew beef, potatoes, carrots, and onions.  Basic and simple, but the feelings this meal gives me are much more complex.  I remember sitting in her kitchen watching her serve up this stew to me.  As a child I didn't really like meat much, but this stew... I loved.  It was served hot on a cold day, warming me from the inside out.  Today when I take a bite of this stew I'm taken back 20 years to her table.   

When I married Shawn she put together a cookbook full of recipes she made me as a child growing up. Of all the recipes in the book, my family enjoys this one most.  When I tell them I'm making stew Carter will ask, "Is it Granny's stew?"  I never stray from the original recipe created in 1960.  I want to do it just like she did.  

While I'm cooking I imagine her chopping onions.  Am I doing it like she did?  Browning the meat in batches, peeling carrots and potatoes, and tending a simmering pot takes time, but with each step of the recipe I think about the many times she's done it for her family through the years. 

As the stew bubbles away on the stove filling the house with the smell of true comfort food, I remember

the special moments I spent at her kitchen table.  Even the task of washing dishes by hand doesn't bother me when I'm making beef stew.  I take that time to think of the people I'll be serving.  Will they know how much I care about them, because this recipe is truly a labor of love.  It's reserved for people I hold dear and love the most.  

 I believe cooking for someone and sharing food is the best way to show you care.  One day, when my kids get older I hope they don't just remember the stew I used to make.  I hope they know the tradition behind the recipe and the love that goes into the preparation.  I hope they let me teach them how to make it so they'll understand the love that has been passed down from generation to generation with each full bowl of beef stew.  

Here's the recipe just as it appears in my cookbook.

Beef Stew

Heirloom recipe handed down from : Norma Kay (my Granny)

Region of origin: Central Texas

Tradition: Winter evening meal  

Origin date: 1960

Prep time: 3 hrs.

Ingredients

2 T. oil                                               2 lbs. cubed stew meat or chuck

2 large onions                                    clove of garlic, chopped

4 cups boiling water                          1 T. salt

1 T. lemon juice                                1 t. sugar

1 t. Worchestershire sauce                1/2 t. each paprika and pepper

1 or 2 bay leaves

Instructions

Heat oil in Dutch oven and brown meat slowly on all sides.  Chop onions and add with other ingredients to meat.  Simmer, covered, slowly, for at least 2 hours.

Now add:

6 carrots, peeled and sliced, 3 or 4 potatoes, peeled and cubed.  Simmer stew another 30 minutes.  Remove bay leaves.  Now pour 1/2 cup cold water in jar and add 1/4 cup flour and shake.  Push stew to one side and stir in flour mixture.  Simmer a few minutes longer until thick.  Serve with hot garlic bread or corn bread and salad.  

Serves 6 to 8

My favorite picture of Granny and Grandpa. 

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iHeart Valentine's Day

I don't know what it is about Valentine's Day, but I love it!  I love little hearts everywhere....heart themed clothing, heart themed food, and heart themed gifts.  I love chocolates.  I love the kids little Valentine's day cards and the parties they have at school.  

We don't do anything exceptionally special on Valentine's Day.  Shawn and I certainly didn't get all dressed up and go out on the town.  In fact, I write this blog post surrounded by papers for an upcoming website project, clean folded laundry, a plate with tuna sandwich crumbs, and shhh....a half eaten box of chocolates.  We didn't even have a special dinner (did you notice...tuna sandwiches.)  

I've received some pretty cool Valentine's day gifts in the past.  In junior high I remember getting one of those giant CD/Tape/Radio boom box with the big speakers from my parents.  It was all set up on the kitchen table the morning of Valentine's Day.  Valentine's day is just fun!  It's not a particularly important holiday, but can be special with little gestures from the ones you love.  

This morning I spent some time writing down some of the reasons I love Shawn, Carter, and Evan on cut-out hearts.  It's an easy project that didn't take me much time.  All I needed was some white printer paper and a thin Sharpie pen.  What was written is the important part.  When the kids got home from school I took them each aside separately and read theirs to them.  

To Carter, I wrote that he was the first baby I ever loved.  He helped me learn how to be a mother.  I love that he has blue eyes and can remember just about anything he's ever been told. 

To Evan, I wrote that I love his gentle and giving spirit.  I love the gap between his two front teeth.  I love how he's so precise about small things like how his socks fit or the way he likes to line up his toys.  I love that he'll give anything to anyone without thinking twice.  

To Shawn, I love that he loves the Lord.  He's a great father to boys and a friend to me.  He's smart and can always make me laugh.  He always holds Jonah when I need him to the most, and he never complains about getting up early with the kids.  He holds my hand while he drives and he's the perfect match for me. 

Shawn gave me a box of chocolates and a card.  The card, when opened, plays Don't Stop Believing (he knows I like a good 80's power ballad.)  I like all that stuff, but the most important thing about his gift was what he wrote inside the card.  He said, "You are a great mother.  I don't see how you do all that you do each day.  I owe you forever."  He doesn't owe me forever...I won't hold him to that...but it's nice to hear.  I can't think of a better compliment than to tell me I'm a good mother.  

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This Weekend

This weekend we...

went shooting at Gran & Gramps' house.

(Photo not from this weekend but it's a picture of Evan holding a gun...I thought it worked well enough.)

I went from having long hair to having very short hair.

I took a spin class at the YMCA....as a result I can't sit on any hard surfaces.

We took basketball pictures.

We played basketball.

(Photo courtesy of Shawn's camera.)

We took basketball pictures - round two.

We played basketball - round two.

We signed up for Little League baseball.

We had a baby play date at an old friend's new house. 

10 True Confessions

I'm going to tell on myself in this post.

If you're feeling like a slacker mom just compare yourself to me then pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

1. I don't clean my own house.  True story.  I pick things up. (But don't look in my closet.)  I organize (Oh yeah...don't look in our game closet.)  I haven't mopped the floors or vacuumed the whole house in over a year.  Before you freak out and think I live in the dirtiest house in America....I've hired someone to clean.  She does the dirty work.  I feel for her on occasion when she has to clean Carter and Evan's bathroom.

2. I haven't cleaned out the vegetable drawer in my fridge since before Christmas.  At this point I'm a little scared to.  There is a bag of grapes in there that has probably grown arms and legs and is planning a rebellion.

3. I just pulled a load of laundry from the dryer.  It's been there since last Tuesday.  If you see me at the grocery store next week I'll most likely have a wrinkled shirt on.

4. I was late to both boys basketball games today.  I was feeding Jonah but still, I could have started five minutes earlier I guess.

5. There are some soiled pants belonging to Jonah soaking in my kitchen sink.  I don't feel like dealing with them yet. (That's why I'm blogging.)

6. Wait for it.....wait for it....MY CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS ARE STILL OUT!

7. I watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

8.  I'm pretty sure Jonah was watching it last night too.

9. Everyone in my house can work any Apple product you put in front of them but can't change the toilet paper roll when it runs out.  Myself included.

(I feel good that Shawn is the only one with a cup of coffee. Carter on coffee....yikes.)

10. I had chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes for dinner.  Then two hours later I ate a bowl of cereal.

The one thing I feel good about today....

I'm glad I could help you feel good about your skills as a wife and mother.

Jonah turned 3 months old today.  I can't believe 3 months has gone by.  Can't it slow down just a little?  This is why I don't nap.  I'm afraid if I close my eyes for just a minute I'll wake up and Jonah will be 6 years old like my last baby.

I also don't nap because I am really grouchy when I wake up.

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Family Photo Shoots

Whenever my mom's side of the family gets together we take photos.  We take just about every combination of photo you can imagine.  We do each family individually...sisters...brothers in law...and last but not least the cousins.  We have years when each person is sort of smiling.  We have years when there's a few criers in the bunch.  Some years everyone is in the picture and some years a few will be missing.  For me (and maybe a few other cousins) this is the worst part of each Christmas gathering.  You have to stand there while everyone tries to make "the baby" smile.  There's a lot of cameras flashing and hand waving, "Yoohoo...over here...ok, me next...look this way." Every child's name is being simultaneously yelled by their mother hoping for that perfect smile.  Most years the pictures turned out just like this one from 1984.  We all look drained, a little stressed, and confused.

Oh boy...how the tables have turned!  Guess who was waving their hands, calling out names, and making a lot of strange baby noises trying to get kids to smile?  A few of us from the photo above have grown up, stepped behind the camera, and threw out all self consciousness.  We waved our hands, said our children's names in a sing song voice, and did all that we could to get them to look at the camera and smile.  It doesn't work.  They just won't listen to sound advice and instruction.  

Why is it that between 1984 and 2011 a better formula for family picture taking hasn't been discovered.  All the kids still look drained, stressed, and a little confused?  

The one constant however is Grandma.  She's the only one who looks at the right camera, at the right time, and smiles. 

Followers of this blog all know who Jonah is.  (The kid on the left.)  The kid on the right is Landon, my cousin Michael's son.  Michael and I are exactly one month apart.  Jonah and Landon are about 3 months apart.  Baby photo shoots are hard.  They don't stay still and rarely look at the camera.  These two guys kept taking turns spitting up and drooling.  (What you don't see is the giant drool stains I tried editing out before posting this picture.) 

After seeing the pictures of Jonah and Landon I recalled a few pictures from the 80s of Michael and me.  

     

 Since my mother is so tech savvy these days I have her to thank for the retro pictures.  She was able to scan old pictures onto her computer AND attach them to an e-mail. (Way to go Mom!)

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Happy New Year

I should have written something about the new year on January 1st, however that would have required rest and planning.  I didn't write in January 1st because I was doing this on December 31st. 

That's right people.  I rang in the new year playing Bingo.  Bingo with lucky black eyed peas as place holders.  I also rang in the new year wearing my newest fashion accessory...Jonah.  It's best to be celebrating the new year in the highest of fashion.  

The people I party with....they're family.  

They also wear the latest in fashion design.  See those t-shirts? 

See these glasses?

This might have been the hippest party in all the United States.

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

We're on vacation!  Sort of...We're in North Texas visiting family for Christmas.  Shawn, Jonah, and I are sleeping at my cousins house but spending time at my Aunt's.  My camera is at my aunt's, so no new pictures yet.  

Some fun activities have been going on.  

A Lot of cookies have been consumed. 

Plenty of laughter is filling the house. 

The newest part of our family get-together is babies babies babies.  If we could get all the babies in the same place...at the same time...without crying...I'd post pictures.  There's still more time.  It could happen. 

(Hi Auntie Norma!)

Christmas Morning

Thankfully my children value sleep.  Carter and Evan didn't wake up at the crack of dawn.  In fact, after I fed Jonah at 7:45 I decided Shawn should probably get up and start the pot of coffee.  By the time our pot was brewed Carter was up.  He was excited to see some unwrapped gifts under the tree.  

These little puppets were part of the unwrapped group of presents.  What fun they've been so far. 

Here was my little stack.  Carter and Evan each wrapped their own presents to me.  Evan added a little extra embellishment to the paper.  The box from Evan was the new Barnes and Noble Nook.  The gift from Shawn was some perfume I'd been wanting, and the gift from Carter was a pressure cooker.  

Twas The Night Before Christmas...

and all through the house, creatures were stirring leaving crumbs for a little mouse. 

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.  We said "farewell" to our Elf "until next year. Please come back."

With Uncle in his sweats and I in my jeans had just settled in to build a castle with blocks from Great Granny. 

While visions of mommy danced in his head.

Then all of a sudden Uncle Tyler collapsed when a 6 year old Evan jumped right on his back. 

A Picture of a Picture of a Picture of a Picture (Did you get that?)

This is Jonah wearing the sailboat outfit that belonged to my younger brother Tyler when he was a baby.  Jonah is laying on the blanket that also belonged to Tyler as a baby. 

This is a picture of Jonah holding a picture of Evan, holding a picture of Carter, holding the original picture of Tyler, in the sailboat outfit on the blanket.  Each of the boys is about 2 months old in the picture.  Each of them fills the sailboat outfit out a little differently.  Evan filled it out the most.  

I must take after my Aunt Norma who admitted to her photography laziness in a particular blog post she wrote recently.  If I wasn't so lazy I'd scan in the original photo of Tyler and each photo taken after that for a line up so you could compare their looks.  I'm not going to do that.  I'd have to locate all the pictures (one of which is at my mom's house, in an album that might crumble if I try and unstick the clear barrier protecting the picture.)  I'd also have to scan them in, upload them to the blog, position them....it's  a whole big thing.  

My excuse is I have a baby.  He's a newborn.  He cries a lot.  My time is limited.  That's also the reason I don't wash or brush my hair most days, wear stretchy pants, and have spit up on my shoulder.   So, for a closer look, click on the picture.  If I have any more boys (don't worry I'm not planning to) Tyler's picture will be microscopic. 

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  The leftovers have been eaten or made into something delicious like turkey pot pie.  I had grand intentions of posting all the things I'm most thankful for this year, like a healthy baby boy named Jonah, funny and smart kids like Carter and Evan, a loving and supportive husband like Shawn, but I just never got around to doing it.   (My list of things to be thankful for could go on and on by the way.  I'm a very blessed person.)  I even have a sticky note on my computer desktop with ideas for posts, one of which being what our menu is for the week.  That's how life has been lately though...we haven't even eaten regular meals.

Even though our lives have been busy and hectic and a whirlwind, Carter and Evan still say the funniest things.  So I'll leave you with this little conversation Carter had with my parents after seeing a commercial for an Active Adult Living Community on television.

Carter: Gran, why don't you live in a retirement home.  You're retired aren't you?
Gran: Well Carter we don't need help yet...
Carter looks at Gran with a very skeptical look.
Gramps: We do live in a retirement home...we're both old and retired and this is our home.
Carter looks convinced.

The funny realization I had after this conversation is that the older I get the younger older people seem, but to Carter my parents seem really old, old enough to need assisted living.

Carter needs to remember though that his "Old" Gramps does silly things like this still.

The Sick House

Our house has been the sick house for a few days now. Sunday afternoon Carter started throwing up and within an hour Evan was throwing up too. Jonah and I escaped to my mom and dad's to avoid the plague. When stuff like this happens Shawn immediately goes into pandemic mode. He wears a surgical mask, rubber gloves, and enters a room with two cans of Lysol as his weapon of choice. A neighbor across the street kept giving me updates on how many times Shawn was going outside to wash out trashcans. Poor thing!

I came home at one point, leaving Jonah behind with my parents, to find Carter walking through the house naked looking for more toilet paper. The back view of his sick little body was NOT CUTE! He had made a huge mess in his bed and was worried he would get in trouble. I put on my surgical mask and gloves and stripped the bed. Yuck. I do not do these things well. The whole time I gagged and prayed I wasn't going to get sick.

When I came home Monday night Shawn had come down with a cold and was pitiful in bed. Thankfully there is a twin bed in Jonah's nursery that I've been using the past few nights. Just to be safe I'll probably sleep there again and continue to disinfect light switches, door knobs, sinks, and countertops for a while longer. It's hard to tell if they're still sick or not because both boys are running around like crazy maniacs already...in fact, Carter and Evan are wrestling in the back yard as I type. Thankfully they still have their shirts on.

I don't have a picture of the sick ones for this post. It was too gruesome to share. I do however have the sweetest picture of Carter from a few years back when he was sick. He was chosen to represent his class for a school wide coronation and ended up getting sick sick sick the day of the show. It was too late to get a backup so he had to follow through with his duty. He was so sweet and mild mannered that day. Sometimes I wish he was always just a little sick.

Relay For Life 2011

This past weekend was Relay For Life. I have a strong connection to this event not only because it's fun and raises a lot of money for the American Cancer Society, but because both sides of my family have been touched by cancer. I also have been the Event's co-chair in my community two years in a row. This year, with the birth of Jonah, I had to take a step back when it came time for the actual event. It was hard to let go of the control I like to maintain. (I like control.) The American Cancer Society staff and my other co-chair did a great job picking up the slack that I left when I had Jonah. In my opinion though the event wouldn't have gone as well without my mom and her role on the Relay For Life Committee. I felt like she was a lot of the glue that held the event together and she was a tremendous help! Thanks mom for all your hard work!

My Aunt Helen was there for the...oh, I don't know how many years in a row... She entered Jonah in the costume contest where he placed second.

These guys didn't make it in time for the costume contest because they were eating a hamburger in the food court. In my opinion they would have won for most outgoing. Evan is the Ninja on the left, Carter is the phantom on the right, and Carter's friend is the phantom in the middle.

My mom, my Aunt, and I Relay for their dad, my grandfather, Albert Smith who died of colon cancer over 20 years ago. Luminary bags were given in his honor by all of his daughters and my grandmother.

I also Relay for all the Cancer Survivors who walk the track. Some are surviving for 6 weeks and some are surviving for over 20 years. It's a touching sight to see them all together walking their victory lap.

I love Relay For Life! It's a fun event...even Jonah thought so. But, by about 8:30 we were ready to go home and snuggle together in our big comfy chair.

First Day of School

Here's a little rewind back to August.

Let me tell you, school couldn't have started early enough for me this year. I was SO happy when they finally went back to school (even though I had a few tearful moments thinking of Evan starting kinder.) OK, it wasn't just a few moments, it was like the whole entire day. I was 7 months pregnant and hormonal. And, he was my baby.

Evan is in Mrs. Hahne's class. She's the same teacher that had Carter two years ago. I actually heard from some of the staff at the primary school that she was excited to have another Cheek boy. I'm not going to lie, she might be a little crazy. Cheek boys are a lot of work. Evan strategically picked out what he was going to wear the night before. He wanted everyone to think he was a "soccer ball player". He's never played an organized soccer game in his life. Anyway...he also decided to style his hair all on his own too. Can you see the bald spot right in front? I guess he thought his hair was getting a little long on top.

Carter is good at the first day of school by this point. He's a second grader, he's in a new school and loves feeling like a big kid. His hair is his strength, power, and pride. I even jumped into the room mom pool this year. We'll see how that goes as the year goes on. So far, I've only had to write a letter asking for money.

(Taking pictures on the first day must be painful.)

They've both survived the first six weeks of school. Carter made all A's and Evan's teacher said he is such a thoughtful and giving kid. Both boys had perfect attendance and don't complain about getting up in the mornings. Evan doesn't like buying his lunch. He says "the food is horrible and they don't even have spinach on the sandwiches."

4+1=5

With a little encouragement from an auntie of mine I've decided to come back and try my hand at sharing again via this blog. We've always got something going on around our house. Sometimes it will be worth sharing and sometimes it may be so shameful that we'll keep it all to ourselves until we're ready to admit it ever happened. (Like the time Carter pooped on the floor and a curious Evan picked it up with his bare hands. Uggh, I shudder at the memory.) Our newest member of the family, Jonah Cheek, was born October 13 at 5:26am.

He was by far the hardest pregnancy, labor, and delivery I've experienced. I want to say it will be the last. I'm like 99.9% sure. The .1% is me not wanting to be that person that says in a snooty voice, "Oh, I'll never have another child...this is it for us." Then find out a year from now that I'm pregnant. Let me assure you though, we do not have plans to add on to this family right now. The house is full. No vacancy at the Inn.

Jonah doesn't have much of a personality yet, unless you count eating, sleeping, and pooping. He does stare off into space occasionally. That's pretty cool, since seeing his eyes are a new thing. The most entertaining thing about Jonah is the things that Carter and Evan say about him, or rather, their observations about babies and how they come to be in this world. This is mostly what you'll see on this blog. Updates on what's going on at the Cheek household and the goofy things Carter and Evan say.

For now, I'll leave you with the first thing Evan wanted to know when he showed up at the hospital to meet his new brother Jonah for the first time.

Evan: So mom, did he come out of your butt or your mouth?

(Carter, sitting next to him horrified at the thought of either option being a possibility, get's up and walks away)

Me: Trying to move past this conversation I say, "It was near the butt".

(Evan is distracted by Jonah, and starts playing with his feet.)

Evan: Wait, (quizzical look) did you say near the butt....

Here's our first family photo. When I asked someone to take it I remember saying, "can you get a picture of the four of us". I had to correct myself when I realized we are no longer a family of four, we're a family of five. Five times the love and five times the fun and maybe sometimes it will be five times the tears. But, if I get and am able to give five times the hugs and kisses it will make up easily for the tears.