Never say never! - EDITED!

When we started discussing having more kiddos, one thing we agreed on immediately was the vehicle. There would be no minivan parked in our driveway. We would be an SUV family, for sure. Minivans are driven by unexciting, suburbanite, homely, robot-moms. I would not be joining that force. That would not be me!


Flash forward!


As of yesterday, this is what is sitting in our driveway!

Yes, I know.

That's a Toyota Sienna!

Yes, I know.

The Sienna is a minivan!

And, we are the proud owners of it.

Never say never!!

**Edit: And just so you know...the stereotype is all wrong. Drivers of minivans can be hip, fun-loving, exciting, and according to my hubby, sexy mamas who've just happened to discover the functionality of a minivan. :)

What's with all the wittiness?

As Jacob is getting older, I find that he gets more and more witty. Sometimes his statements are thick with sarcasm and sometimes it's just an innocent comment that comes across as absolutely hilarious.

Last night, we were hanging out by the grill while Matt cooked. I was telling Matt about a blog post I had read earlier and Jacob asked where the blogger lived. As per typical Jennifer, I said "Texas, Alabama, Arkansas...I don't know, one of those southern states." Jacob then said, "Maybe Pennsylvania?" Now being a true Southerner (yes, you capitalize it folks), I wanted to be sure that Jacob knows which states hang out with us below the Mason-Dixon line. I informed him that no, Pennsylvania is not a southern state. To which he replied while laughing hysterically, "Yes, it is. It's southern of New York!"

Oh, yes he did!

From the mouth of our almost 9-year old!

And, he knows he's funny!

So, if this is what the next 9 years of my life holds, I might just need to invest in some Depends, because friends, that is some funny stuff.

Road to Recovery

Jacob's mom posted a "Jacob update" over at Wilbank's World. Check it out and keep him (and his nurse mom) in your prayers! :)

We certainly miss the big guy! He's been convalescing at his mom's (thanks to Niki for protecting the baby brother) and it feels like it's been forever since we've seen him! We can't wait to see him again!

Rockin' pneumonia and the boogie-woogie flu!

Well, not exactly.

Niki gave us a call earlier to let us know that she took Jacob to the doctor today. He's had a little cold-type thingy for a couple of days and it was time to "nip it in the bud" so to speak. Lo and behold, it wasn't a little cold-type thingy. No, sir! Jacob has pnuemonia. Poor guy! He seems to be feeling fairly good, and apparently when he found out he gets to miss two days of school he felt even better!

With that said, please keep him in your prayers! He has a big weekend ahead of him--he's in his aunt's wedding--so we pray he is 100% very soon!

Bat swinging and song singing!

Thursday night, Jacob's team, the Cubs, had their second game and second win of the season. They are tied for first place which is great, but it is still early in the season. Jacob played catcher and also spent some time in his favorite position, short-stop. He got the bat on the ball several times, but unfortunately, the opposing team was able to handle the ball to make the out at first before he could get there. Overall, he played a great game and says he had fun, which is what matters!

It was another late night for Eli and on the way home he was cranky and was letting everyone know. So in the style of The Partridge Family, The Osmonds, or The VonTrapps even, we broke out in song.

Oh, yes we did!!!

There was "The Itsy, Bitsy Spider" and some "I've Been Working on the Railroad." We even threw in some patriotic tunes just for fun!

I will not pretend it was the most pleasant or harmonious sound, but it was great fun for those of us singing and apparently it wasn't too bad to listen to, because Eli stopped fussing and commenced to smiling and laughing.

Good times! Good memories!

Holupkies

I had a couple of people ask about the holupkies from the previous post. I figured what better way to address that than to write an entire blog post about it! So, here it is!

I remember the visits to my Pop-Pop and Nanny's house in Pennsylvania. We would always go shopping at a huge outlet mall in Reading. Stops at my Aunt Linda and Uncle Joe's house were a blast thanks to the hair salon on the bottom floor of their home that served as my own personal playground! My dad often took us to a pretzel bakery that was down a small one-way alley and I loved walking in and seeing the huge brick ovens. Visits to "the Market" were a must with steak sandwiches included. And, Nanny always made holupkies. I remember, even then, thinking how special holupkies were. They were unlike anything we ate at home. They had a neat name that sounded different. No one back in NC knew what they were. And all those things made them special and wonderful and MINE!!

Flash forward.

I meet a great guy who happens to be from Pennsylvania. As we get to know each other better, we are running down the lists. You know, the favorite lists. Favorite book? To Kill a Mockingbird. Favorite color? green. Favorite food?

WHAT???

I MUST HAVE HEARD WRONG...

NO WAY HE COULD HAVE SAID...

Holupkie!

(Matt leaves off the "s"--he says holupkie is already a plural word, but we won't even get into that here. I just don't have the time.)

Back to the story...

He couldn't know about my holupkies. They were special and NO ONE knew about them. Except that Matt knew.

And at that point I knew without a doubt in my mind. It was perfectly clear!

God must have sent him!

6 months later we were engaged.

5 months after that we were married.

And all because of the holupkie(s)!

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For those who asked for the recipe:

Holupkie recipes tend to vary based upon the region in Europe from which they originated. The recipe I grew up with was ground pork and rice wrapped in steamed cabbage leaves and slow cooked in a tomato sauce base. It was handed down by my great-grandmother, BaBa, who came from Russian-occupied Austria. The recipe Matt grew up with is very similar, but contains ground beef, sauerkraut, and a tomato soup base. That recipe was handed down by his great-grandmother who came from Czechoslovakia.

Happy Hubby

It took a little more time and energy than I normally put into dinner, but making holupkies (cabbage rolls) for hubby made him so happy that it was worth it!