Running list of funny comments and conversations

Natalie and I are sitting on the couch. Everyone else is still asleep or asleep again. Natalie’s holding this little piece of cloth that she has decided is a doll baby wipe.

Natalie: (saying something about changing the baby’s diaper or checking for poopy)

Natalie: She’s not listening.

Me: Who’s not listening?

Natalie: You.

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Natalie singing:

Mary had a little man, little man, little man…

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Joanna: Sometimes the light is too bright and it hurts my ears.

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Me: Auntie Kathryn is coming tomorrow.

Natalie: And her hold me a lo-ot (two syllable version of lot). It’s fun to me.

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Natalie calls toilet paper “privacy.” I’m not exactly sure how that started; I just realized it. You know she has to be so confused when we ask her if she needs privacy, she says yes, then we back out of the room. She grabbed some toilet paper the other day to give to Matt so he could take care of a bug. She tells someone (I think Mindy, maybe?) sitting on the couch that her daddy needs privacy. That’s when I figured it out. I find it so hilarious I’m having a hard time making myself correct her.

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Joanna just got this toy from McDonald’s named “Penny.” She keeps going, “Hey Coin!”

I’m clearly craving bacon.

And not just bacon, but bacon wrapped around beef.

Again from Pioneer Woman, big fat bacon sliders.

Be still, my heart.  I can think of only one thing to do.

Get bacon.  Get ground beef.  Get/make some rolls.

It’s only Tuesday?

Hee hee, just kidding.  We’ve had a good week.  :)  It’s funny though, the kids are already asking to go back to school.  They could feel on Monday that they should have been getting ready for school on Tuesday.  At least one of them asked where their lunch was.  Natalie’s been asking for Miss Anne and Miss Joan. 

I’m trying not to take it personally.  :)

I’ve been collecting some “school” or quiet time kind of activities for the girls.  I have a few that they both like, even though they may be more “developmentally appropriate” for one or the other. 

Here is Natalie sorting her colors

and matching heads and tails of animals.

Joanna is counting and marking her answers with clothespins.

She’s a genius.  :)  I need to print the next set, with higher numbers.  She’s got these single digits down!  She had fun with it.

Today Joanna (with her buds Anna and Emma) started her next set of swim lessons. 

I did not take one single picture.  Oops.

Afterward we went to Lisa’s for lunch and playing.

My Joanna sure knows how to dress up.

Lisa said she could borrow this costume, so we brought it home and she spent most of the afternoon in it.  :)

Natalie trying on the pretty pink sparkle hat.

And tonight we had enchilada night!!

I brought Cheerios and some pureed food (carrots, rice, and applesauce).  James was all about the Cheerios, of course, but only would tolerate a few bites of the puree.  Oh, well!

Grandma had just opened a can of peas though, and I let him have some.

They were a hit!

And yes, that’s a big ol’ blob of snot coming out of his nose.  Ew, right?

It was a fluke that I caught Matt with his mouth open so wide in this next shot.  He told me to take another, but I said I could crop it.

I did not say I would crop it though.

I still think he’s handsome.

Meatloaf

I was browsing through Pioneer Woman’s site (my Kindle is in the room where James is napping), and I saw this:

It’s meatloaf (which I already love anyway), covered in strips of bacon.

I cried a little when I saw this.

And now I want it so very very badly.

Hokey Pokey

Conversations

Natalie: (dressed in jammies, dress-up shoes, and a ratty cowboy hat) I a cowboy.  Bee haw!

Me: Yee haw!

Natalie: No, you not a cowboy.

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Natalie: I don’t want to put my pillow in the time machine.

Me: You don’t want to put your pillow in the washing machine?

Natalie: Yeah.

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The girls were watching our Cedarmont Kids Sunday School Songs DVD, and there is one where the kids are singing “Jacob’s Ladder” and they’re at a gym and swinging on a ladder.

Joanna: I want to swing on a ladder like that. (she says this a few times through the song)

Natalie: (patting Joanna) My sister wants to swing on the ladder.

Me: Do you want to swing on a ladder too?

Natalie: nods, eyes wide

Me: Well, I guess we’ll have to find one like that.  I don’t know where they are.

Joanna: Are they on Amazon?

Clean diapers, footprints, butter, hairstyles, and teeth.

This post is full of random recent pictures that really have no common thread.  Except that I took them all. 

Last week my diapers were very smelly (even “clean!”) so I washed them, stripped them, and dried the inserts in the dryer.  I sorted all the bits for stuffing, then I just had to take a picture.

And even better – all stuffed and ready to wear!

James and I finally got around to picking up his 6 month footprint plate that I painted a couple of weeks ago.

I like how it turned out.  Now I need to get all the feet back up on the wall in the kids’ room, along with their other miscellaneous wall hangings.  It’s just hard when the only time that’s good for that kind of work is when the kids are asleep but obviously I can’t do that when they’re asleep.  :)

This is the picture that really makes the post random:

It’s homemade butter!  On Friday I had some heavy cream, skimmed off the raw milk, that I didn’t have a plan for.  So I put it (about 1 1/2 cups, maybe a little more) in my Kitchenaid mixer.  I attached the whisk thing, then let it go to town for about 20 minutes or so.  I squeezed all the buttermilk out of the butter using some cheesecloth, then stuck it in the fridge.  I used the buttermilk in pancakes that night.  :)  I find it very cool that you get yellow butter from white cream.  Raw milk is just the coolest stuff.

Joanna can really rock a side ponytail. 

I like putting Natalie’s hair up in a ponytail with a clip for her bangs.

It never lasts though.

I also think this is super cute!  A side ponytail in the front that has her bangs in it!

Today in church I gave Joanna French braided pig tails!  This was after she’d run around in them all day, so they’re scraggly.

 

They were so cute, and brought back memories of high school.  I wore my hair like this a lot for marching band.  It fit well under the hat.

Today James’ second tooth came in, and I managed to take a picture of his two little teeth!

Those little things have been causing him all kinds of trouble.  Maybe he’ll have a little break now?  Ha!

It’s very cute to watch him feel them in his mouth.  He’s always got his tongue or his lip on them, investigating.

My mom told me it was a sign of intelligence when a baby gets his first two teeth in the same week.

I have this feeling she was making it up though.  :)

Twenty-Nine

I’m glad my birthday was on a Saturday this year.  That meant I got to do a lot of this:

That’s snuggling, in case you couldn’t tell.  :)

And it was handy because I managed to stay up very late the night before.  I was in a place in my book that I just could not put it down!  I read two-thirds of what I think is a pretty long book (Kindle version, no page numbers) all after I went to bed.  Finally close to 2am (what?!), I was just about finished but I heard James.  So I fed him (I’ve been babying him this week since he doesn’t feel good) and I finished the book.  I was born at 2:20am but I didn’t quite stay up for my “birth time.”  I did think about my mom at 2am though, and how she was in labor 29 years ago.  :)

So anyway, Matt let me sleep in (around feeding James another time or two), so I was almost at normal capacity.

Look at my pretty plant from Mindy:

I sure hope I can keep it alive for a while.  I like it.  :)

Matt’s mom and dad came over, as did Mindy, and visited for a while.  After they left, the kiddos had naps/rests.  And upon Joanna’s suggestion, we ordered pizza for dinner.  She said we should order pizza so I didn’t have to cook.  Is she the best daughter or what?!

So selfless…

We ordered Dominos, since we had a few dollars left on a gift card, and Matt took James to pick it up.  That way I could put together salads and set up our living room picnic with both my hands!

We ate our dinner and watched The Princess Bride.  The last time we watched this, Joanna did not ask so many questions.  :)  I love four year olds.

I let James have some pizza crust.

He’s a fan, as you can see, of pizza crust, and The Princess Bride.  Good taste.

I have no idea what’s up with Matt’s face here.  :)  But he’s still handsome.

Natalie drinking her juice.  Mom brought them a pack of Capri-Suns this week, and they’ve been enjoying them very much!

I nice blurry close-up of James.

After he’d done all the damage to his crust that he could do, he stole my snap pea right out of my hand!  That boy likes his finger foods!

We had such a nice evening celebrating my birthday!  Thank you to all my family and friends for the phone calls, facebook messages, texts, and “Happy Birthday!s” in person.  I like them.  A lot.

Last Day of School–Wahhhhh!!!!

That part in the title is me crying.  :( 
Thursday was the girls’ last day of SLC/MDO for the year.  Booooo!!!  Though I do know that everyone needs a break.  :)

The girls (and I!) have LOVED LOVED their teachers this year.

Miss Shawna and Miss Patty:

And Miss Anne and Miss Joan:

Anne and Joan had Joanna a couple years ago… and if we cross our fingers real hard they’ll have James in a couple more!  We love them.  They are the best most wonderful ladies and they’re amazing with that room full of toddlers.  I would just like to say right now that Joanna almost never napped for them, but Natalie napped EVERY SINGLE DAY.  And so I feel redeemed as a mother.  :)

Here is Natalie’s book from the year.  Joanna got one too, and I treasure them!!

I’m very much looking forward to the fall and starting back up again, but we’ll enjoy our time off until then!

Latest box o’ veggies

Our bounty from last Tuesday’s CSA box.

snap peas, carrots, radishes, spring greens, micro radishes, rhubarb, onions, cucumbers, potatoes, and cauliflower – what a lot of yumminess!

I’m glad (very glad) we did the CSA, but I don’t think I’ll be doing it again soon.  It really is too much food for us (in not the right proportions) and it makes me a little crazy not to be in control.  :)  I’m so glad it has forced me to try a few new things that I never had before!

Like rhubarb.  I’m not even sure I’ve ever laid eyes on the stuff.  I know I’ve heard of rhubarb pie, but that’s about it!

The stalks come attached to a bunch of greens.  But apparently they are toxic.  You just use these pretty pink things.

I looked online and found a recipe I liked the looks of for rhubarb bread.

Here it is, from www.rhubarbinfo.com:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c diced raw rhubarb
1 1/2 c brown sugar
2/3 c. oil
1 egg slightly beaten
1 c. sour milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
pinch cinnamon

Procedure:

Topping- 1/3 c. granulated sugar mixed with 1 Tbsp. melted butter.

Mix brown sugar, oil, & egg together. Sift salt, soda, flour & cinnamon together. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to other mixture. Fold in rhubarb and nuts. Fill 2 lightly greased loaf pans 2/3 full. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 325 for 1 hour.

My changes:

-I used freshly ground whole wheat flour


-I skipped the walnuts because I didn’t have any


-I subbed turbinado sugar for the brown sugar


-My “sour milk” was 1T vinegar plus milk to equal one cup


If I ever do this again, I’ll fill one loaf pan full instead of two pans not full.  The loaves were tiny.  And I’d leave off the topping.  As it is I just put it on one loaf (since I had a feeling it wouldn’t be for me).

My chopped rhubarb:

I liked how the little rhubarb pieces looked like pink hearts.  :)

All my little pink hearts going into the batter:

The bread, fresh out of the oven… without topping:

With topping – sorry for the blur.

It was plenty sweet without the topping and less crumbly.  We all had some fresh, and I cut the loaves up and froze them for snacks.  It’s very yummy warmed up in the microwave – yay!

The rest of the rhubarb is in the fridge, and if it’s still good I may do another loaf tomorrow.

Cuteness last Monday

I’m behind on blogging (gotta be behind on something!), so there may be quite a few posts popping up soon as I get caught up.  These are from last Monday, a day in which I made a concerted effort to get my kiddos outside.  It really was beautiful.  :)

Dressing up for gardening (a.k.a. playing in the dirt).

I love how his whole face lights up when he smiles!

And that big open-mouth grin – LOVE IT!!!

We even ate outside in order to keep food off the dining room floor!  And because it’s fun.

Inside later that day the girls roped Ray into their game – their driving a car.  There’s a baby doll buckled in to Ray’s carseat behind Natalie.  Poor Ray’s breaking the law – standing up in the car!

Joanna loves to hold James, and she’s pretty reliable (that may not be quite the right word – she doesn’t drop him).  I love both their faces here:

Oh, they’re so beautiful.

And despite what you may see on his face, Joanna is NOT squeezing the life out of James.  :)

I like Mondays.  They are typically my highest energy day, and we usually don’t have much going on.  I love spending the morning getting caught up around the house and letting the kiddos play.

First Tooth!!!

I have lots to blog, but I didn’t want to miss this important milestone by waiting and then forgetting.  James cut his first tooth today!!  As you’re looking at him, it’s the bottom left front tooth.  Awwwwwww!!!  The one next to it is just behind it, maybe then he’ll have a little peace in his mouth!  And then again, maybe not.  I doubt I’ll be able to get a picture (especially with my camera) but I’ll try!

James is Seven Months Old!

And just so you know, I took 48 pictures, but I’m only posting 20.  But that’s really only because a bunch were blurry.  (I will get a better camera… someday.)  :)

James was “half a bubble off” (as my MIL likes to say) today, but he’s still such a happy guy!  He’s got two teeth this close to breaking through.  He didn’t have a fever today, but he had one off and on some the last few days.  And he spit up twice today (which seems like a totally normal baby thing, but is in fact unusual for James especially in the manner in which they happened).  And his “naps” are all over the place!

Well, without further ado… my seven month old boy!

This is his staring-off-into-space look:

A yawn…

Tell me, did you all just yawn?

Those eyes!!

That smile!!

I love that little pointed toe!

Little crinkle nose!

I could live right here…

in these eyes… oh my.  LOVE LOVE LOVE this boy!

A sneeze – ha!

Funny face.

Just look at him!!

He is just so handsome and precious and wonderful!

A few quick things off the top of my head about James:

He…

• loves finger foods.
• is doing better about eating purees.  He doesn’t eat much, but he does eat.
• is cutting two teeth (bottom middle), but technically still has none.
• has the best big ol’ open mouth smile.  It just warms my heart!
• Just in the last couple of days has started saying “ba ba ba ba” and moving his mouth around to “talk” to me.
• Will be perfectly happy in someone else’s arms until he sees me and then he MUST HAVE ME RIGHT NOW!
• has the best laugh.
• Will “usually” take three short naps during the day, but “usually” may be a generous word for that.
• Most nights sleeps from 7-something to 7-something, with a little snack in the 4 or 5 hour.  Some nights he sleeps through to 6-something and is then up for the morning.
• Is flexible.
• Likes riding in the car, thankfully.
• Is very happy to roll around on the floor.
• Can roll far and fast.
• Doesn’t fall asleep nursing much anymore.  :(
• Gets all sweaty when he nurses under the cover (when we’re in public).
• LOVES his sisters.
• likes to sing in the car with the radio.  Hilarious!
• gives open mouth kisses.  :)