888

Read 8 books each in 8 different categories in 2008.
1)Book Club Books:
1. Stop Dating the Church, Joshua Harris
2. I Am America, and So Can You, Stephen Colbert
3. Nathan Coulter, Wendall Barry
4.

1. I Am America and So Can You, Colbert
2.
3.
4.

2)Bookcase Books:
1. Thoughts on Family Worship, James Alexander
2. The Hospitality Commands, Alexander Strauch
3. Thoughts for Young Men, Ryle
4.

1. The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis
2.
3.
4.

Fiction Books:
1. Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers
2.
3.
4.

1.
2.
3.
4.

4)Non-Fiction Books:
1. How to Read a Book, Adler and Van Doren
2. Treasuring God in our Traditions, Noel Piper
3.
4.

1.
2.
3.
4.

5)Parenting/Family Books:
1.Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends, Mally
2. Thoughts on Family Worship, James Alexander
3. Raising Your Children for Christ, Andrew Murray
4. Thoughts for Young Men, Ryle

1.
2.
3.
4.

6)History Books:
1.
2.
3.
4.

1.
2.
3.
4.

7) Biographies
1. Elizabeth Prentiss- A Biography, Sharon James
2. Faithful Women and their Extraordinary God, Noel Piper
3. Sister Freaks, Rebecca St.James
4. Peace Child, Richardson

1.
2.
3.
4.

8) Picture Books (stole this category from someone else's 888 list)
1.
2.
3.
4.

1.
2.
3.
4.

I guess I've got some work to do (finishing this list) before I get to work (reading). Maybe Matt and I can split up the list, 4 books each category. Thanks Leah for the motivation!

Merry Christmas from the Greco's

Here is our Christmas card picture for this year. We hope you all had a great time celebrating the birth of Jesus!!

Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Kozdon!!!

Jeremy Kozdon is married! We had a great time celebrating this new marriage with lots of old friends yesterday. The bride and groom were perfectly happy! Boy, has Jeremy come a long way from that shy freshman at UCSC all those years ago. God has done a great work in him. Congratulations Jeremy and Jen!

Love this onesie, etc.

I first saw a similar onesie with the same saying (Does this diaper make my butt look big??) at Nordstrom for $20, on sale! Then, I found this one at a local 2nd hand store for a few dollars.

Gianna is sleeping a lot these days, so I don't have too many awake photos of her. Also, trying to get 3 kids to smile for the camera, at the same time, has been a bit challenging.

Ezra is loving his little sister and Justus has been pretty good, not too bad, but not totally interested either. This week has gone by pretty fast! We went to the park today for the first time in a long time. The boys were able to play with the Martin boys and Gianna slept the whole time. She has definitely been making this adjustment to 3 children pretty easy. We are so blessed!

1st Day Alone

After having all of last week off, Matt finally went back to work today. I wasn't sure how things would be with me and the 3 children, but the day has been pretty smooth! Gianna had a Dr.'s appt. today and I was able to drop the boys off at my friend Jill's house. Then, when we all got home, they all went down for a nap at the same time! So, I did some dishes and now will put my feet up and see what is on the Food Network. Not too bad for the first day on my own!

Here she is!!

Gianna Giselle Greco arrived Thursday morning, November 29th at 6:26am! She was 6 lbs. 5 oz. and 20 inches long. Here are some pictures!

Deceptively Delicious??

My mom got me this cook book for my finicky eaters. We've tried a couple of recipes and they actually have been pretty good. The pasta with bolognese sauce had some pureed yellow squash hidden in it and the pink pancakes had pureed beets. I think I will be trying to "hide" some vegetables in more of our foods, for all of our sakes. In reality there isn't really that much extra vegetable in the dish (the pasta sauce had only 1/2 cup of yellow squash, in addition to the regular pureed onions, garlic, celery and carrots), but I guess every little bit counts. The one thing I am concerned about is whether or not the boys will continue in this stage for the rest of their lives (needing to have their vegetables hidden), this could be bad. However, if it comes down to either they're not going to eat them or they're going to eat them without knowing it, I think the latter will suffice.

Getting Ready for Baby!

Ezra is sporting the new (used) Hotslings sling that I bought off ebay. The baby in the picture is the new popular "toy" in our house. Ezra had it in the moses basket next to his bed all night. First thing in the morning he dragged the whole thing into our room, then into the living room. They love holding the baby, feeding her Cheerios, and covering her (even her head) with blankets so she can sleep.

It's funny how big these boys seem now that we're getting ready to welcome the little baby. We're taking a tour of the birthing center at the hospital tonight. It will be fun for the boys to see where we're going to "get" the new baby. Ezra's really excited that there is a church with a giant cross right there at the hospital. We'll keep you posted when this little one arrives!!

Air Obsession

Ezra went down to San Diego with Grandma last weekend. They flew down on a Southwest Airplane (his favorite), went to the Air and Space Museum, stayed in a hotel (his other favorite) and came home the next day. He picked up a United jumbo jet, a Blue Angel fighter jet, and a pilot's hat in the airport and museum gift shops. He is able to make two different airplane sounds, the jet and the propeller plane. He sleeps with at least one airplane every night. It will be interesting to see what Justus gets hooked on (right now he's sleeping with a Grinch and a bunny). Funny boys!

Candy Craze, Part 2

We were grocery shopping at Trader Joe's yesterday (a rare event for the whole family to be shopping together) and as I was asking Matt if there were any special treats he wanted, I spotted the BEST cookie invention ever! Candy Cane Joe Joe's (pretty much Oreo cookies with candy cane filling)!!! I am not even an Oreo cookie fan, but with that peppermint filling, I am a fiend (see previous post). It is that time of year, they are back, and I suggest you stock up now before they are sold out.

Candy Craze

Have you ever heard that Seinfeld stand up routine about Halloween? It's pretty funny. For kids, it's all about the candy, "how do we get more candy??" By the evening yesterday, after dinner, that's how it was in our house, how do we get the candy. We had more of what I bought to hand out (which we didn't since nobody came by our house). The mall had their trick-or-treating time so we got a few pieces there. We pushed our way through the crowd and were back in the car on our way home. I'm sure glad it's over!

Harvest/Halloween Party

Here are some photos from the Harvest/Halloween party we were at yesterday. Can you guess who Justus is? His hat wasn't staying on very well (I forgot a safety pin to help keep it on), but I think most people can guess who he is. Ezra was a cowboy for a 2nd year in a row, not because he wanted to be one, but because I was having trouble finding a kid's pilot's hat. Maybe next year. I'm still not sure if the boys will be dressing up today. It will all depend on naptime and if we make it downtown to trick-or-treat at the merchants down there (before the madness starts after dark).

Did you know that I never went trick-or-treating when I was a kid! We'd go to little school carnivals and festivals and dress up for school, but my mom just didn't like the idea of going to people's houses to get candy. It does kind of make sense, especially in the world we live in today. The street we live on now will probably be pretty quiet, so the mini-Snickers and Reese's peanut butter cups I bought will most likely be eaten by me, Matt and Alex. Yum!

Pumpkins!

We made it to the pumpkin patch this year! This is the 3rd year we've been to Rodoni Farms, just outside of town on Hwy 1. It's located on a hill so we had a few runaway pumpkins to deal with, but other than that the boys had fun! After we picked out some pumpkins, we headed over to Natural Bridges to see the Monarch butterflies. They come this time of year and it's really amazing to see all of them hanging out in the trees and flying around.

Funny!

I saw a funny video on another blog and from there found this other funny video, Top 10 Women Drivers of the Year. Here is a link to watch the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xyn-9cn0nE

(I'm not so technically advanced to put the youtube screen right here, anyone is welcome to enlighten me!)

If you don't have the time to watch the video, the best picture is the one above (sorry it's so small).

I do consider myself to be a pretty good driver, not the stereotypical, bad woman driver. However, I have driven into a planter box in a parking lot (when I was 17 and newly learning to drive stick shift and trying to say hi to a bunch of guys from school). That was pretty awesome. Also, I do know someone who drove away with the gas nozzle in the car, it happened right here in Santa Cruz, that may have been even more awesome. Any guesses who that happened to???
Maybe I'll try to scan in the picture, I'll have to work on my techno savviness...

New Blog to Read!

Some friends were talking about this blog and I had to check it out. It is awesome and I've only just looked at the pictures! Check it out!
http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

Nice and Cozy

I went into the boys' room the other night to check on them before I went to bed and this is what I found. Ezra sleeping in Justus' crib. Usually Ezra will be bothering Justus so we'll hear them, but I guess they were both too tired this evening!

Chicken Stew with Biscuits

I saw this episode of the Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten) where she makes a chicken stew with biscuits. Normally her recipes are a little more involved than I care to do, but I decided to give this one a try as it looked super delicious and would even make enough to freeze for another day. It was great! At least Matt and I thought so. Justus ate some of the chicken and biscuits and Ezra ate one bite of chicken, then was putting his head down and trying to fall asleep (he didn't take a nap yesterday). We managed to keep him awake, gave the boys a bath and then right before bed time he was ready to eat more chicken.

They must be related!

I was going through some pictures and found these 2 that Ezra took. The one of me is in February and the one of my mom is in December. I thought it was pretty funny!

Future

Future daddies and future skater.

I Love Dim Sum!

Good news! We found a place where you can get dim sum locally! Dynasty Restaurant in the El Rancho Shopping Center on Portola serves dim sum on Saturdays and Sundays, from 11am-3pm. My mom was in town this weekend, so she watched the sick kids while Matt and I went out to lunch on Sunday. It was great! For those that don't know what it is, dim sum is:

In Cantonese, "dim sum" means "heart bits," little foods to touch your heart, by way of your mouth and stomach. Traditionally eaten in the early afternoon, this unique meal stretches its centuries-old roots to the teahouses along China’s legendary Silk Road. Weary travelers and hungry workers gathered to engage in traditional "yum cha" (tea drinking), adding heart-touching snacks. Chinese immigrants coming to America in the 1800s brought this civilized custom with them, to the New World’s benefit.

Growing up, my Japanese family would go to dim sum on the weekends, to the large Chinese restaurants where big Chinese families would sit at the round tables. Waitresses would push around little carts with the different dishes on them and we would choose based upon the looks of the food (as we never really understood what the ladies said when we asked them what it was) and believe me, some of it looks pretty strange! Some of my favorites were classics like pot stickers and egg rolls, the little pork dumplings (shu mai), steamed bbq pork buns, and especially prawns in bell peppers. My mom's cousin would always get the chicken's feet, which would gross us kids out. We'd leave stuffed every time. Mmmmm, good memories.

Anyway, we'll all have to go after church one day. I could probably go every weekend, now that I know it is there!

P.S. I just ordered these super cute board books: First Book of Sushi and Yum Yum Dim Sum, by Amy Wilson Sanger. Check them out!

Good Bye

So long to Barry Bonds! Despite all the controversy, it has been fun watching this guy play baseball. I'm surprised they weren't playing, "It's so hard to say good bye" (Boyz II Men) as he walked off the field tonight. We'll miss him!

Tribute to My Husband

I've been searching for something to post about (to get away from that last post about Rock of Love, kind of embarrassing that I put it up there, yikes!) and finally came up with this! My great and hardworking husband put together a new crib for Justus last night. He endured through some ridiculous instructions, missed most of the Giants game, and then had to study for a men's Bible study he was to lead the next night. And Justus likes it!

Is this for real???

As I was flipping through the channels tonight, I came across a tv show on VH1 and seriously cannot even believe that 1) it was on the air 2) that people would be watching it (I watched about 15 minutes of it, but believe me, I will NEVER tune in again). Rock of Love with Brett Michaels is pretty much about an old rocker guy from the '80's who has been "searching" for his true rocker girlfriend on this "reality" show. It started with 20 girls and will be narrowed down to the one "lucky" girl (who probably will have nasty diseases before and after the show). I know that many of these "reality" shows are definitely NOT that, but really, this is the lowest I've seen, LOWEST. This guy is 44 years old and dating/molesting these dumb girls who are half his age, if that. Disgusting. And that's all I have to say about that.

Some random bits...

We were in Tahoe a couple of weekends ago for a family friend's wedding. While it doesn't have the best lighting, it is a rare picture of Matt and I together!
Have you ever been to that little amusement park in South Lake Tahoe, next to the mini golf place? It is just begging to be shut down, carnie-like operators, rides broken down with tools just sitting out, 2x4's holding up the train track for one ride. However, Matt and Ezra had a blast riding in the go carts.
Burp cloths are the easiest things in the world to make, really. Slap a couple of pieces of material together, sew around the edges, and you've got a great homemade gift! I found this pink terry cloth in the remnants at Hart's Fabric, which isn't always cheaper to buy remnants but at least it feels cheaper because you're not buying a full yard of it. Then, along with this brown and pink flannel, I've got some super cute burp cloths for our girl baby. I've got another ultrasound in couple of weeks, so we'll be able to confirm that she is still a girl baby. Ezra is hoping we name the baby "Airport." I don't think so...

SUMMER FUN!

Playing in the mud and eating watermelon.

Corn

So I never really thought of corn more than what it was: on the cob in the summer, growing up eating it creamed from the can, occasionally sprinkled in chili, etc. Corn itself is not bad, especially in moderation (as most anything in excess can be a problem). However, The Omnivore's Dilemma has taught me much about corn's development in the past 75 years.

I kind of feel like I did in college in learning about the prison industrial complex (where big business enters the prison to utilize cheap labor, which isn't all that bad except when the people who once held those jobs are displaced, similar to corporations taking their businesses to other countries to take advantage of cheap labor). I am certainly looking forward to our book club's discussion on this topic, it usually broadens the scope of what we read, opening up or challenging the ideas that the author may have left out.

Back to corn. It used to be a regular crop on the farm, having its place among the other vegetables and grains and livestock. However, as technology advanced (i.e. tractors) certain aspects of the farm were eliminated (i.e. livestock used to farm the land and their feed), thus opening up room for more of a crop that is easy to grow and make money from. With the increase in corn production and change in government agriculture policies, the price of corn declined. Instead of producing less, farmers produced more corn to make up for the lost revenue. During this time production also increased due to the new application of chemicals

(aka fertilizer) to the farmland. Chemistry also allowed the corn kernel itself to be made into the better, more durable, more resistant crop. Now, corn in the grocery store is fine, but I never realized all the other places that it goes: to the cattle industry (corn is cheaper and fattens the cattle much faster than their previous grass/grain diet) and to the food processor (or whatever they call it) to be turned into the most chemically advanced things that are in almost everything that we use (from fuel to breakfast cereal to laundry detergent).

I know that there are probably lots of things that have been chemically altered and aided that we consume, but at present corn and its derivatives are what I'm learning about. Since there really is a lot of processed food in our refrigerator (from the whole wheat bread to the ketchup), I'd really just like to be more aware of it. It kind of feels like when you first learn about the sovereignty of God or even endtimes theology, you realize how much more there is to learn about things you either didn't think about or didn't know there was MORE to even think about.

Anyway, I guess I'm not saying that corn is bad, but I never knew how much it has impacted the culture that we live in. Really, take a look at this book. I'm only a third of the way through now and am very curious to see what else he'll be talking about.

Chicken vs. Chicken Nugget

Last night we went to Carpo's for dinner since they will be closing down the westside location in a couple of weeks. Ezra said he wanted chicken nuggets and I tried to explain to him that they didn't have chicken nuggets, but they had chicken tenders. I've tried to cut back on allowing him to eat chicken nuggets since often he doesn't want to eat REAL chicken. If he eats the real chicken when we're eating dinner, sometimes I'll let him get the nuggets when we're eating fast food, but that usually just gets him into the "I'll only eat chicken nuggets" mode.

Well, after one bite of the chicken tender at Carpo's he realized it wasn't chicken nuggets and put up somewhat of a fuss. However after showing him how great they were with the ketchup he reluctantly ate a few. Nevermind the fact that we told him if he ate the very last one, we'd go down to the Boardwalk to ride a ride. He did, well actually, the last bite fell on the floor and he tried to eat it, but we got it away from him and told him we'd still go down to ride the ride.

After driving around for about 15 minutes, we finally found a parking spot down at the Boardwalk and Ezra was able to ride his beloved airplane ride. Then, he, Justus and Matt were able to ride the Pepsi truck ride (Justus' first ride at the Boardwalk).

Amusingly enough, the section I was reading in The Omnivore's Dilemma last night was about the chicken nugget. Here is an excerpt about the author eating a meal at McDonalds with his son:

"When I asked Isaac if the new nuggets tasted more like chicken than the old ones, he seemed baffled by the question. 'No, they taste like what they are, which is nuggets,' and then dropped on his dad a withering two-syllable 'duh.' In this consumer's mind at least, the link between a nugget and the chicken in it was never more than notional, and probably irrelevant. By now the nugget constitutes its own genre of food for American children, many of whom eat nuggets every day. For Issac, the nugget is a distinct taste of childhood, quite apart from chicken, and no doubt a future vehicle of nostalgia- a madeline in the making."

Did you know that there are 38 ingredients that make up a McNugget?? Even after they've made the switch to all white meat in their nuggets. It is a bit scary learning of all those ingredients (13 of which are derived from corn, which goes back to my last post. I never knew that CORN is in pretty much everything we eat!). So, it is all very fascinating.

I'm seriously considering the things we eat and Matt is a little scared that I'm going to go all hippy on the family. Don't worry if I do, it will be gradual. Wouldn't want the boys to go on a food strike or anything like that!

New Book

Our book club is in the middle (actually, I'm just at the beginning) of this book,

The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. The first 40 pages have been very interesting, only about 380 pages to go, yikes! It already has impacted my life, as I've decided to change from using non-dairy creamer (Coffeemate's Vanilla Caramel) to regular 1/2 and 1/2. We'll see what other changes I make (and how long I stick to them) as I get further along in the book. So far, I still eat at McDonald's. Love those french fries!

Felt Food

If you search for "felt food" on Etsy http://www.etsy.com, you'll come up with a great assortment of just that. Here is one of my favorites. I think I'm going to start with the frosted cookies (see post down below), better to start with dessert, right? People can be very creative, thankfully there are these websites to get inspired! I need all the help I can get! I'll post the finished products when I'm done!

Last Saturday

While Matt was at the drag races on Saturday,
the boys and I went to Loch Lomond with
Giselle and Brenda to do some fishing.
It was a fun afternoon getting reaquainted with
an old sport for us girls and a new adventure for the boys.









Ezra had a blast with the fishing pole. We
eventually took the hook off so we didn't have
to worry about anyone getting snared
(although that was a problem later on
between Brenda and Giselle, sorry, I didn't get a picture).








This is the lone fish we, I mean, Giselle caught. It definitely made the trip worth it. We threw him back, bleeding and all (we couldn't get the hook out). He swam away okay enough.

Giselle bought her annual fishing license, so I'm sure she'll be out there some more if anyone wants to join her!