One of many

Joy To World Religious Christmas Card

Create from the Heart: photo Christmas cards from Shutterfly .

View the entire collection of cards.

Adjustments

People keep asking me how we're adjusting, and let me tell you, my answer is this:

Better than I expected!

Cadence is a super relaxed baby. She sleeps a lot during the day still - and when she's not sleeping, she is very happy to hang out in her swing, kick her legs around while lying on the floor, work on her rolling over skills, and smile at anyone who is within her sight. She's really really awesome. It helps that she has two brothers who adore her, of course.

When we had Aaron, I thought he was pretty laid back, a good baby.

Then Evan came and I thought, "wow, good thing Aaron came first!" Evan was a dream baby who blew away my concept of laid back.

Now Cadence! WOW! Am I ever blessed.

On the other hand, we still have rough days - take yesterday, for example. A mess up at the bank (their fault), followed by a 3-kid trip to Meijer (which went very well!) followed by a miserable loading-of-the-van experience in the parking lot and some cutting words from a no-doubt-well-meaning stranger. Then we had a whine-all-the-way home trip, which wore the nerves right out of me. Cadence was crying at that point because she'd been awake for an hour with no food. When we finally made it into our house, I had a screaming hungry baby, and whining, complaining, temper-tantrum throwing children screaming their lunchtime demands at their mother. Top this off with an entire collection of family toothbrushes shoved down the sink drain by a curious three year old?

When I opened my mouth to respond, it was not my finest moment. Not by a long shot.

So when I caught a whiff of this article on a friend's facebook page during (attempted) nap time, I read it eagerly. Some very good reminders, some interesting thoughts, and you know what? I am so SO glad that I have God to help me through those rough days. I'm sure he used that friend's timely post to help give me some extra coping tools.

In the midst of it, of course, all I could think about was throwing in the towel, calling Michael and telling him the kids would be listed on Craigslist when he got home. (I jest. Maybe.) But I do have an anchor, a rock, and even though at the end of yesterday I was D.O.N.E., God quietly reminded me of His mercies, new every morning, and His grace, sufficient for each day. His grace, extended in forgiveness when I fail. Miserably.

Today has been infinitely better. I'm so glad bad days are most often followed by good. I am so glad I have a Savior, a shelter, and a God who cares about me, my small children, and our terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad days.

Triple Date Day

In honor of the second-to-last triple date day I ever have a chance of seeing, three new things for our family:

1. We just took an extended-weekend family vacation. Photos here. We had an awesome time just relaxing and making memories and will be forever grateful to Tiffany for letting us borrow her rental for the weekend.

2. Aaron can now tie his shoes with no help. When that kid sets his mind to something, it gets done.

3. Cadence has been doing great, sleeping through the night, smiling, growing faster than any other Muth prior. I'm going to have to break out the 3-6 month clothes before I know it.

And, Happy 11th anniversary to K & J. Hope you do something fun. Because this date is certainly fun. 11-11-11.

Gluten Free Morning Muffins

These muffins are an adaption of a recipe from the Bob's Red Mill website, adapted because of what I had and did not have on hand. I've made them twice in as many weeks, so you know the whole family loves them! They keep at room temperature much better than most GF items, although I did throw them in the freezer after 3 days.

1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup ground almonds (I put almonds in the blender until they were ground but still a little chunky)
1 cup gluten free oat flour (GF oats in the blender again)
3/4 cup flaxseed meal
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts (I omitted these; unsweetened coconut would also be fabulous, or use sweetened and reduce or omit the sugar)
1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots
2 apples, peeled & shredded
3/4 cup milk (the first time I made these it needed a little more)
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350* and combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the carrots and apples to the dry mix. Combine milk, eggs, and vanilla, then add to the dry ingredients and stir until moistened. If needed, gradually add small amounts of milk until the batter looks like muffins.

Line a muffin pan with paper cups, spoon the mixture into the cups and bake 15-20 minutes until tops are slightly browned and spring back when tapped lightly. 15-24 muffins depending on ingredients added (size of the apples, whether or not you add nuts, etc). Today I made 12 muffins and poured the rest into a loaf pan.

Enjoy!