As Qade would say. 
We’ve had a BLAST this week!! Once we finally made it “over the interstate and through the traffic” to the fam’s houses we had a great time! Qade simply revels in the attention he gets from his grandparents and Oma. I love to watch him having fun with them. He cried when we left and wanted to “go back, gam-pa’s house!” That’s just because he didn’t know what was in store for him at OUR home! Yes, we are the odd ones who prefer to have our Christmas at home. We LOVE seeing family AROUND Christmas time, but prefer to have our actual Christmas at home with just us…. okay, we’re strange.
So as our “tradition” dictates we get to open something on Christmas Eve. Well, this year Stu said that we should open our stockings SO we did. Since we don’t ‘do’ Santa in our home it’s no biggie, and the boys loved getting their stocking goodies! They both got sunglasses, hoping that it will cut down on the “sun in ma eyes” screams that we get in the vehicle. Who knows though, Myles wouldn’t keep his on for longer than 10 seconds at a time and then scream for help to get them back on. Ha! They both thought they were pretty cool, and I’d have to agree!
Qade got “Cars” glasses, of course, and you can clearly see the McQueen and Mator. Very fun!! Myles glasses are uh… hot wheels I think. I’m not sure, but they don’t have any character on the front so who knows…. they did get schmoozed pretty fast, however.
I got a movie in MY stocking so after the lads went to bed (early, yay!) Stu and I got to snuggle on the couch and watch it. I don’t know who decided that if a baby goes to bed 1/2 hr early that it equals to waking up 3 hours early, but I believe it’s a BAD practice! No, it wasn’t so bad, but at around 4am I heard some squalls coming from the lad’s room and went to comfort Myles. By then he had roused his big bro, but fortunately Qade didn’t get up. I calmed Myles down, told Qade to go back to sleep, and then Myles joined us upstairs because I knew leaving them both in there awake would be a complete calamity!! Then we all got a couple hours more sleep and that made for a good Christmas morning.
We ate our TRADITIONAL Christmas morning breakfast of monkey bread!!!! It turned out so licky, sticky yummy this morning! LOVE IT!! And since the boys don’t have the actual idea of Christmas down yet, they didn’t mind waiting for gifts till after breakfast.
It was SO fun this year to watch Qade figure stuff out. He took an active role in passing out gifts with a hearty, “Mewwy Cwismas” and he took an even more eager interest in opening his own gifts. It has finally clicked to him that when ya tear the pretty paper off, there is something really fun on the inside! Myles is still much more interested in playing with the packaging and paper than the gifts but there were a few that sparked his interest.
We are determined to teach our children thankfulness, in as much as WE can. We want to teach by example, and also by helping them learn to give. This year at my family’s house we had Qade pass out the gifts we brought and tell each person Merry Christmas, by name. Then when visiting Stuart’s grandmother in an assisted living home, we encouraged Qade to shake hands with the residents and tell them Merry Christmas as well. He was so good about it! Sometimes going there makes the boys nervous, but this time they were both showing off for the amusement of the older folks. It made my heart glad to see the smiles that our boys were able to get from the people there. Next year, since the lads will both be old enough to participate, we will make “goodies” for them and have a great adventure “giving” day. Our little ones are very privileged to have so many caring people who want to give them good things. They have fantastic grandparents on both sides, and of course, WE even have a hard time restraining our ‘gifting’ when we see something we just KNOW they’d love! But more important than them getting all the things their little hearts could wish for, we want them to be thankful and ENJOY what they already have, and appreciate new things they get, rather than think that it’s just their due. We also want to help them learn the joy of giving. That is a treasure that can’t be taken away.
SO anyway, I hope that you have all had a very very fun and happy Christmas! Hope that “santa” whomever that is for you, was generous to you this year, and that you thought a lot about what it meant for “Baby Jesus” (as Qade calls Him) to be born for us. Merry Christmas!
Archive for the ‘The boys’ Category
Mewwy Cwismas
12.25
In Our Realm
12.15
Qade the little entertainer hasn’t been disappointing lately. He and his Daddy have this “fist bump” they do where Stuart will tell Qade to “hit the rock” and then Qade bumps his fist. Well, one day Qade put out his little fist and said, “Hit the little rock, Daddy” Ha!! Who knew he even had the size concept down?? He’s a fun, funny kid. The other night at dinner, out of the blue, he said, “My chill pill.” He then pretended to pick up a “pill” from his place mat and eat it! I was rolling with that one! We occasionally tell him to “take a chill pill” when he is having issues. He saw my vitamin by my plate and assumed it was my chill pill and he needed one too. I gave him a flintstone kid vitamin with dinner last night and he told me it was his vitamin chill pill. It’s amazing to me what our child will come up with. I know I don’t give him enough credit.
Stuart and I were recently organizing our sheet music and books. Qade sat happily on the floor examining one book after the other and telling me each time he picked one up, “This book is my favorite!” Now he’ll pick a random person he knows like Uncle James and pick a book out of his collection and say, “This is Uncle James’ favorite book.” Silliness!
Myles is our sneaky lad. He is learning what is off limits in our house to him, but that won’t stop him from touching now and then, just to check if it’s still a “no-no.” Usually all I do is say his name and he goes running (yes, he’s getting quite fast on his little feet) in the opposite direction. He’ll adopt this “I wasn’t touching it, oh no” look on his face as well. Hmmmmm…. Myles walks everywhere now. He rarely crawls at all, and is surprisingly sturdy. He will hang on to Qade’s shirt and walk around with him, just to be annoying. Qade squeals about it the whole time which is probably why Myles gets a kick out of doing it. 
Typical little brother. He IS indeed learning how to push Qade’s buttons and thinks he’s quite something when he gets a reaction. Ah, little people… they remind me so much of myself it’s terrible. Ha ha!
Myles is going through that phase that Qade also went through where it’s the most fun thing ever to empty drawers. I remember this with Qade, but you see then it was only one against one. NOW however, Qade thinks it’s great fun to join Myles and since he can reach the higher drawers EVERYTHING ends up on the floor. Imagine what a happy camper I was when I went to their room one day to find the entire contents of their dresser strewn about as well as 2 under-the-bed rubbermades that had “organized” clothes in it. Oh, and every book was off the book case too. Yep, happy day. I’ve started to learn though, and Qade and Myles both get to help put things back. Qade doesn’t enjoy it, so hopefully it’ll act as a deterrent from destroying things in the first place. Though I have a feeling that when that little brother begins to have such a blast being a destruct-o-matic that he won’t be able to resist.
It’s always an adventure. We’ve been 2 days on our “potty sabbatical” and doing great! Qade doesn’t seem to care a bit, and I’d rather change diapers than deal with the constant battle at this point. The holidays will certainly be “happier” for this mommy!
Baby it’s COLD outside!
12.04
Wow! I’ve been waiting all day for it to “warm up” somewhat, but I think it’s actually getting colder!! Brrrrr… the warm water that I put in the birdbath in direct sunlight was frozen this afternoon! Poor birdies! I put some more out there, but I know it’s going to be a solid block of ice before they can drink it all up. Qade is still convinced that if the sun is shining that it must mean it’s warm. Some days I feel guilty for not wanting to take him outside. I just don’t like to be cold! But today I don’t feel bad about it at all!! Especially since Qade himself has some kinda little bug. He’s had a low grade temp since yesterday afternoon, and has the crabbies and fussies to go along with it.
Last night at 2 something or the “wee sma’s” as I like to call it, I heard a little voice on the monitor. It had actual “word sounding” noise to it, so I knew it was Qade. It really can be difficult to tell their noises apart sometimes. So I went down to their room as quick as possible without killing myself on the steps because of being bleary eyed. I found Qade in his bed asking for his cup which had somehow managed to roll off his little bed, and Myles up on his knees having been awakened by Qade. *sigh* So Qade went back to sleep clutching his precious cup while I took Myles upstairs to his pack-n-play in our room. Now that he was awake he decided it was indeed time to play, not to the amusement of his sleepy parents. This was the second night in a row that I had to deal with midnight wakers so I was very sleepy this morning. Fortunately Stuart didn’t have to go to work till noon today so he gave me a chance to take a morning nap. Ahhhhhh…. so nice!
So here we are snuggy at home with the wood fire burning. I can’t tell you how thankful I am that fire makes heat! It’s the primary way we keep our home warm, and actually the only way most of the time. This afternoon the boys are “helping” Stuart put plastic over the windows. Stu has also put some weather stripping around the ‘cold’ doors. I’m sure it’ll make a big difference!
On the little lad front, Myles is now a big walker man!! He has been diligently practicing his walk for several weeks now, but just this past week after Thanksgiving he decided to really go for it. Now he’s actually walking more than he crawls. Makes me so proud of him and kinda sad at the same time… ha ha ha. Parenting is full of conflicting emotions. Myles and Qade get the biggest kicks now out of just walking around carrying things. Ha! Myles is the instigator, of course, because he thinks this walking thing is “da-bomb” and Qade just HAS to get in on any kind of “fun” that’s going on so hence the ‘walking game.’ Lads are such fun! Hope they get out from under the weather quickly so we can have more laughing and less fussing.
Have a happy day!
Happy Post :-)
11.09
So here is my promised post on more happy topics.
My boys:
This is always a happy topic, even when it’s not. I’m very thankful for my lads! They bring 100x more smiles than they do frowns so I can’t complain. Myles took his first 2-3 independent steps the other day. Nov 3. Qade actually egged him on, unknowingly, and was in shock as he watched his little brother walk. Myles was standing at my knee and at Qade’s invitation to come over and explore the bathroom (something they shouldn’t be doing) he turned around and walked!! Qade got this surprised look on his face and said, “Miles walk?!” It was hilarious!!! I had to laugh out loud before I closed them out of the bathroom. Qade can open that door so he thinks it’s great fun for he and Myles to go in there for some extra “fun.” Myles is pretty proud of himself when he stands unassisted now. He will get this “Woo-hoo, look what I’m doing” expression on his face. He can balance for quite some time, but then he usually psyches himself out and sits down laughing. The other night he was standing at Stu’s knee totally leaning on the chair, but he’d raise his hands up with this HUGE grin and look at us like, “Look, no hands!” So funny!! We’ve been helping him practice standing, but I know it won’t be long before he takes off running after his brother! Myles loves to chatter all the time now. When I go get him up from his naps there’s a running commentary going on before I even reach the crib. Of course, I don’t understand what he’s saying, but I pipe in anyway.
Qade’s vocabulary, not to mention his memory, is really taking off! Stuart got some body armor stuff to wear running in the mornings, and when it came he put the logo sticker on Myles back. That was last week sometime. This morning Qade noticed the logo on Stuart’s shirt and asked him what it was. Stu told him it was a logo, and Qade responded, “logo on Myles.” He has a great memory! Lately he has added an “a” to the end of a lot of his words, so now I’m often “Mommy-a”. Maybe he’s secretly Italian. Ha ha ha! Coloring has become one of Qade’s most favorite things to do. When we go to restaurants that pass out crayons and a paper he’ll actually sit there for most of the meal, barely taking time out for his food, and color that paper till there’s hardly room for any more color. He knows the colors Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Red, Brown, Black, White, and sometimes Purple. He counts to three and sometimes five. He knows that he is 2 and Myles is 1. He also remembers names MUCH better than me. Qade now LOVES going to Sunday School! Yesterday as they were walking to the car after church, Qade was telling Stuart, “Church fun!” He also likes to tell me that he likes things. “Qade like chocolate milk!” It’s cute! He is also caring of others and will say, “Are you okay?” whenever he feels it’s appropriate. His manners are a little TOO good because now if ever we ask him to do something his response is, “Say Peeeeees!” And yesterday after that he also added, “Say, yeah” I have no idea where THAT came from. Out of his head I suppose. We have to work on him with that some because he needs to obey without a bunch of stipulations. 
He also thinks it’s the coolest think in the world to say “Ya Wecome.” He LOOKS for opportunities to say it, but it’s still in context. He’s our big boy for sure, and way too smart for his or our own good, but we’re all learning together, and having a very fun time.
So there you have it. Great reasons to smile. Have a fun Monday!
Today
10.28
Happy Wed-nes-day everyone! We woke up this morning to white sparkly winter wonderland!! Stu told me that snow was ‘projected’ for our area, but I highly distrust those weather men so didn’t give it much thought. Glad they were right though! Looks pretty outside, but not too cold! I hopped outside before getting the boys up and took a few shots. Then when Myles was napping Qade and I went out for some more. Qade at first was rather disconcerted by the “snow on my pants!!!” but then got over it and enjoyed stomping around in it. The dog has been bounding about like crazy, he loves snow! But the cat is not that impressed with the cold wet stuff. I didn’t take Myles out because he is still sniffling and wiping snot on me every chance he gets, so I didn’t want to make that any worse!
So I’ve been taking Supermom vitamins for the last 5 days and do believe I’m seeing results! I haven’t felt nearly as fatigued as I had been, and actually feel like I have quite a bit of energy! Doesn’t make me less lazy, but it feels better. I had been taking one at breakfast and one at dinner, but am moving the dinner one to lunch because I’ve been having a hard time falling asleep, oddly enough. It may not be the vitamins, but I’ve just been wide awake at bedtime and then when I do sleep I have very “active” dreams where I, the supermom, have to save the day, or run a race or whatever… you get the point. Still, I’m glad of the change, and just to prove it I plan on jumping on the eliptical machine as soon as I’m done w/ this blog post. Hmmmm…. now how long can I make it?
Funny Qade story. Last night as I was putting the monkey to bed he ran out of his room and then came back in moments later saying that something was “hot” and he needed to “put water on feener” with one index finger held out. I can only assume that he touched the stove, which was hot. It didn’t burn him badly enough to cry about it, or make a blister or anything, but he seemed to “need” water on it. I washed it off in cold water once, but when he was asking again, I had a stroke of brilliance and got a cold pack from the freezer for him. He loved having the “ice” wrapped in the dishcloth while I read him a book. Then he asked SO nicely to take the “ice” to his bed, and since he wasn’t screaming and crying about bedtime, I let him have the ice in his bed. I planned all along to take it out of his bed when I checked on him before going to bed myself. In the back of my mind I thought, “He’ll wake up looking for it” because that does happen now and then with stuff he takes to bed. Sure enough this morning at 5am-something he started wailing! I was foggy so Stu got up to comfort him. Unfortunately Stuart had NO prior knowledge of the “ice” saga, so when Qade was screaming for “ice” Stu gave him some. REAL ice to eat. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! This cracks me up! So Qade ate his ice, but as soon as it was gone began howling for his “ice.” Ha!! Finally I got up knowing that for us to get any more rest this night, Qade was going to have to have his ice. I retrieved it from the freezer and delivered it to a sad little boy cuddled up in his Daddy’s arms. Suddenly he was as happy as a clam, and I had to quickly explain to Stu why in the world our boy was screeching for a silly icepack. True story! We all went back to bed and got some good rest when the ice was back in the bed. Ahhhhh… the fun times we all have!
Potty training has been going better the past couple days. Knock on wood!! Today Qade and Myles were playing in their room when I overheard Qade tell Myles he needed to “go pooey on the potty, be right back!” I was soooo excited! Unfortunately he had already wet his pants, but at least he recognized that he needed to go on the potty. Someday he’ll “get it” before it’s too late! At least recently he hasn’t been pitching the HUGE fit about going that he had been. Whew!
Okay, so I’ve dragged this post out as far as I can for now. I’ll leave you with some photos of our snowy day! Toodles!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!! I’ve got to break out the tunes!
Snowy
Qade wasn’t so sure about this stuff!
See?
Snowball?
Love that “HOME” feeling!
08.04
We’re back!!! Love being home! Wow! I don’t think I knew just how much I missed home till we actually got here and the HUGE sense of relief and joy that washed over me while we unpacked. Ahhhhhhh! (Contented sigh) Stuart said he thought I didn’t care for our lil town, but I helped him understand that it wasn’t the town or even the house it was just “home.” At least I think I helped him understand. It’s really hard to describe that feeling. So yesterday we were busy busy trying to get stuff done. Well, I had to go grocery shopping, so that was most of my business, but Stu was vacuuming and steam cleaning all the carpets!! What a man! He also mopped and organized while he put things away. The floors are amazing! They feel so good on our feet now! There were gobs of cat hair all over the place when we got home. Unfortunately our sweet lil kitty has longish hair… we’re thinking of getting her shaved. But I told Stu that I’d ever so much rather have cat hair than be infested with mice! Today I still have a bit of unpacking to do, but the light at the end of the tunnel is very bright!
Qade has been working on being our big boy. We still have to work with him daily on the whining thing, but we can see progress too. He was “wigging” on Sunday when we packed up our “Mary and Laura” cabin to come home, but again I think it was just the insecurity of seeing his “home” being pulled apart. I remember him doing it too when we were packing to GO to camp. So I sat down with him for a minute and explained that we were packing all of our things to go to our house where we’d see our dog and cat, and that Mommy, Daddy, Qade and Myles were ALL going to get in the car and go. After that he sat on the couch with Buford and did much better. Even lil’ guys need explanations sometimes. Speaking of Buford. The other day Qade brought him out, laid him on the floor and said, “Change diaper.” Now Buford was NOT wearing a diaper, but Mommy put one on him anyway for Qade’s sake. Maybe we can get Buford some “big boy underwear” in a little while too. I got Qade’s potty seat and a little stool and some “unders” that have cars on them!!! He was interested in those for a little while yesterday, just to see the cars. We’re gearing up for sure. Ha ha ha!
Last evening at the table Qade was mimicking Myles’ squeals. He does it pitch perfect too, it’s amazing, but it can also be annoying to have 2 squealing babies. So we told Qade to use his words to “talk” to Myles. It was so funny because Stuart would say a sentence for Qade to tell Myles, and then Qade would repeat it in this high little voice that he uses when he’s talking “nice” to Myles. Cracked me up!
Myles is doing great with our move home. He doesn’t seem to be bothered with it like he was that one weekend. Poor guy has a little shiner, complements of his big brother throwing a book at him! And he had a little knot on his forehead too from falling on his face. Poor lad looked like he’d been in a row! He’s a speedy little crawler now, though most of the time it’s still one foot and one knee. He looks funny! Yesterday while I was cleaning in the kitchen I heard him squalling in the back bedroom. I knew Qade was in there with him so I assumed that Myles was being tackled again (something Qade has decided is his favorite sport) so I walked in. I saw Qade on the floor at the end of the bed looking under and poor Myles had somehow completely gone under the bed and was stuck and NOT very happy about it. It was actually pretty funny. I pulled him out and he was fine, but I told Qade that he could come ask Mommy for help for Myles. He was just sitting there watching the whole time. The boys do enjoy each others company, but have their “moments” as I’m sure you can imagine. They are both learning to share, and I’m sure they’re going to be the fastest friends growing up.
Okay, well that’s enough of my ramblings. I wrote a fantastic blog post full of wit and fun the other day and accidentally lost it when I tried to publish, so that totally disheartened me from writing again too soon. Hopefully this one will make it out to cyber space and y’all will have the chance to waste time reading all of this. Ha! Have a sparkling week!
Littlest Buddy
07.20
Recently I got to have some great Myles and Mommy time! One day he and I went to do some errands in a town about an hour and a half away. He was a great little traveler! I got to try out my ring sling with him, and he sat in it wonderfully through the bank AND Wal-Mart!! It was a pretty hot day though, so we were both hot and sweaty by the time shopping was done. Still it was so much fun to get to spend one on one time with him. I miss that sometimes, because with the 2 monkeys in my house there’s always something or someone else competing for attention. When Myles in in the sling and he starts to get sleepy he cuddles, and I love it!!! Myles is not my cuddly child for sure, but is growing more so as he gets bigger, which seems weird.
Anyway, this past weekend he and I had some more quality time as I went to Abq for my cousin’s wedding. Qade got to stay home and do manly work with Daddy, and of course he had the time of his life! Me and Myles had fun too. Anyway, the wedding was beautiful and even though the reception was late, Myles did great! He started to have a melt down part way into things, but actually relaxed while I rocked him enough to go to sleep!! That was special for me too! Myles does not like to be rocked before bed. He wants to be put down and let alone when he decides he’s sleepy, and he won’t “go down” just anywhere. Typically it’s either his bed or his car seat, and nothing else will do. So this Mommy was happy to get to rock her baby boy to sleep for once.
Myles has finally figured out that he really can crawl forward! In our little cabin there’s not much floor space so he hasn’t had to do more than skoot a little to get what he wanted. This weekend however he was in actual houses with cool things to explore, and off he went. He’s still a little “gimpy” in his crawl, but he’s got forward momentum! Qade’s world is changing with this new mile-stone. His precious, perfectly lined up cars are no longer safe from the chomping jaws of little brother. It’s great times!
With new territory comes new boundaries and Myles is learning “no-no’s” with the unwelcome aid of his big bro as well. This morning I was telling Myles no-no to something while I put on Qade’s shoes. Myles did stop and look at me, but Qade thought he needed more “reinforcement” so as soon as he was free he ran over and smacked Myles’ hand! Myles was totally unaffected, but Mommy put a stop to that right away. First born children try to be little parents I’ve noticed. Just never knew it would start so early!
Myles now weighs about 19 and a half pounds!! He’s a whopper! I just realized today that in 3 months our “baby” will be one!! How fast it flies! Makes me kinda sad, but I’m enjoying the journey. I have “plans” for Myles once we get settled in at home again. He needs to start drinking exclusively from a sippy, start off on milk and yogurt, and eating table food with “chunks.” He tried some of this the other day and kind of freaked out at the chunks. I don’t get it because he will munch little finger foods and crackers, but if you put it on a spoon somehow it becomes impossible to mash or swallow. Qade reacted that way too, so we’ll work through it. However all of these are future events. I’m not going to start any “growing pains” while we’re still in limbo.
Qade too has some goals, but he doesn’t know it. Potty training will be the biggest one for sure! I’m looking forward and dreading it all at the same time, but it must be done. Eating totally independently is also another goal. This one isn’t that big of a deal because he’s practically there. I’ve just been feeding him more while we’ve been at camp for sake of ease and mess. Soon that will be past and he can make a royal mess while he feeds his own face. He’s usually pretty accurate anyway.
So that’s some of the stuff on my lads. Hope you all are having a swell start to your week. Ta ta
Bluster and Blow
03.05
Alrighty so the lion of March is here for good. I was kind of hoping that we could get some lamb days in here, but the wind has been howling round the eves like mad! Yesterday in the morning it was just beginning to get blowy so I snagged the chance to take the boys for a ride in their stroller. It was blowing some, and cracked me up to hear Myles gasp every time a gust hit his face. Funny funny! However, I’m sure that wind was blowing all the Juniper pollen right up my nostrils because that afternoon my nose/throat/eyes started driving me crazy!!! It hasn’t gotten better either. Today the wind acts like it would like nothing better than to take the roof off so it can make my nose even worse!
Beyond all that though things are going swell. Myles slept ALL night last night, which was spectacular! I fed him a good dinner of rice cereal which he actually really seems to enjoy. Well, after the first bite that is. He has to get past the texture at first, but then he loves it! I’ve hit a couple snags recently in the nursing arena which have made me contemplate weaning, but the last couple of days have been better, so now I’m not sure what I’ll do. I have peered into Myles’ mouth and seen the spots where 2 bottom teeth would like to be poking through. Once they do I’m not sure I’ll have the courage to continue nursing- ha! We’ll see. We take one day at a time round here.
Qade has been his regular toddler, hilarious, getting into trouble self. Really though he is getting better about obeying, and I’m learning to find creative ways to get him over the whining and temper tantrum parts of life. Yesterday he was begging for a “cookie” to which I replied in a very deep strange voice “NOOOOOOOOOO!” For some reason this struck him as hilarious so he would keep saying “cookie” and I would keep replying the same way, only he was laughing so hard that he could hardly say cookie any more. It worked as a game and helped him to not whine, and then he completely forgot that he had been asking for a cookie altogether. Hee hee! This morning he wandered around in circles with one of his toy’s baskets on his head for a considerable long time. Myles and I were laughing at him which probably prompted him to keep going. He’s tons of fun, and every day, even though he can be a challenge, I’m so thankful for my little lad! I’m also so thankful for my littlest lad who is learning and growing and changing so much each day. He’s really getting the hang of sitting up by himself, but he’s not to the point he can do it unattended. He’ll get thrilled with something and his first reaction is to rocket himself backwards loosing every bit of his precarious balance. So this mommy mostly holds onto him, but lets go just now and then so he can see what it feels like.
Tonight, just for the record, we are having 5-spice beef stew. Some time back, probably about a year ago, I came across this recipe and thought it looked delicious! However actually finding the Chinese 5-Spice was impossible!! I had looked everywhere I could think of and had relatives looking too. Eventually I gave up on it, but then I think it was Oma who located some of the stuff. Now I’ve had it for a little while, but have been reluctant to try it because I smelled it and it didn’t smell like something you’d want in a stew. More like a cookie! But today I bit the bullet and hopefully my poor family won’t suffer when they bite into the stew for dinner. I’ll give you a verdict in my next post! Till then have fabulous days! Ta ta.
P.S. I’ve posted some recent pics on facebook and will try to get some up here soon!