Grandma & Grandpa's house here we come!

The boys and I were able to go to my parents' house for the weekend. Chad was on call and had to stay here. We were able to also spend some time with my sister Tricia, brother & sister-in-law Ben and Kristy and my niece Abby. Being together is always so much fun!

Abby, Andrew and Carson stopping long enough for a quick photo shoot. Abby is so cute and so happy (her parents say not so happy these days in the middle of the night). She is almost 9 months old and she is everywhere! She crawls really well, pulls herself up on things and even attempted a step last week. She liked nibbling on this foam around the fireplace bricks.

Grandma reading Carson's favorite book to Carson & Abby. It is a Bob the Builder book with buttons to push that make different sounds. His favorite button is the "YES, WE CAN!" button.

Andrew playing rough with Uncle Ben.

Carson modeling a pair of Grandma's shoes.

Andrew & Carson enjoying watching 101 Dalmatians with Grandpa. Andrew often asks "Grandma, can I watch Pongo?" (the male dog in the movie) This recliner is the chair my Dad often sits in when he is in the living room. One morning when Carson came down stairs, he ran around the side of this chair and said "Aahh!" when he found an empty chair instead of Grandpa. Carson started saying "Papa" & "Mama" this weekend. So sweet. Thanks for a fun weekend!!

Melon Salsa

I made this Melon Salsa one evening this week. I got the recipe from Kroger's last year and always wanted to try it. I found it really good. It is light, refreshing and a little sweet. If you like salsa with a kick, this is probably not the salsa for you. Chad doesn't like cantaloupe or watermelon, but he did eat this. I asked him what he thought of it. He kind of shrugged his shoulders, took another chip full and said "I still prefer regular salsa." And I probably do too but it was a nice change. It makes a huge batch, looks like I will be taking some to Mom and Dad's this weekend. Sorry Dad, it has green pepper in it!

Melon Salsa

1 medium cantaloupe, cut and cubed into small pieces
1 medium watermelon, cut and cubed into small pieces
1 green pepper seeded
1 red bell pepper, seeded
1/8 cup cilantro, finely chopped
juice of 2 limes

Combine cilantro and lime juice in a small bowl and set aside (best if allowed to sit 2-3 hours). Cut the melons and peppers into very small pieces and combine with lime/cilantro mixture. Serve with tortilla chips or use to cool down your favorite spicy dish.

Happy chopping! It will take a good 2-3 hours (see above) to chop the melons and peppers. Just kidding.

That's disturbing...

Today is beautiful. I have our front door open allowing the breeze and fresh air to flow through the screen door. Carson is down for a nap. I am back in our bedroom putting clothes away. I hear a loud truck outside come to a stop. I don't really think much of it, they are working on the house next to ours. Then I hear the front screen door open and a man shout "UPS", plop goes a box and the door slams.

So I am hoping that the box is the only new thing in our house. I know that may sound ridiculous. I tend to worry, make things up, especially when I am home alone with the boys. But come on, why couldn't you just leave the package on the porch? This is my house, my safety and comfort zone.

All is well. By the time I cautiously make my way out to the front door, the UPS driver is in his truck starting it back up and on his way to the next delivery. But I can't help feeling disturbed by this. Note to self...Lock the screen door!

What do you love the most about fall?

football/soccer - 0
going back to school - 0
leaves changing colors - 4 (33%)
weather - 8 (66%)

I am not surprised that the weather and the leaves changing colors were the most votes. Two of my favorite things about fall. I am a little surprised that no one voted for football; guess Chad, my Dad, brothers and brother-in-laws didn't vote....well maybe they did and football just isn't what they love the most. Pretty close though. I do associate football with the cooling weather, especially during high school and college when the weather would be just so and someone would say "It feels like football/soccer weather". Today is so nice. Beautiful. Sunny. Mid 70's. Slight breeze. I'm sure it will cool off tonight. Just perfect in my book.

Had to chuckle

This morning I brought a radio out of Andrew's room and placed it on the floor in our entryway, as far as the cord would allow. I was listening to an AM station to see if Andrew was going to have preschool today. Andrew knelt down on the floor in front of the radio and repeatedly asked the announcers "Am I going to have preschool today??" Too cute. I could not get him to understand that the people talking could not hear him.

How truly fortunate we are

Andrew has been asking to go to the park, "Can we go to the rolley slide park?" and the pool, "Can we go to the outdoor pool?" recently. Something we used to do frequently this summer but not in the past few weeks. So today I decided to take them to the park.

As we were driving there, we saw many large trees down; some on homes, some blocking roads. We had our version of "Ike" come through Sunday night. It was extremely windy in the late afternoon early evening. Andrew was pretty scared of the wind at bedtime, asking all kinds of questions about the wind. I tried to explain in a way that he could understand. We were very fortunate to not lose power for any long period of time (some people still don't have power). We were also very blessed to not have any large trees down around our house; just small tree limbs, sticks and lots of leaves.

Chad was supposed to work at the satellite office yesterday but they didn't have power there. He did go in to work at the office here in town for the morning. He was able to clean up the yard with raking and mowing in the afternoon. Our neighbors directly behind us had some larger trees down and had someone over cleaning that up.

Driving to the park today was an eye opener for me. Houses with shingles missing, trees laying on top of houses, seeing tree removal companies cleaning all this up. I am now really surprised that we didn't have more trees down around us. I didn't realize how badly it really was during this wind storm. Thank God for protection over us during the storm, so thankful for a strong sturdy home to live in. While driving to the park, we were listening to the radio. They were going down the list of school and business closings (Andrew's preschool was included in the list of closings). Andrew asked "Is the rolley slide park going to be closed?"

Monkey Muffins

Last week at preschool Andrew's teachers read a story about monkeys one day and then set out bananas as their "science project" and watched them ripen and turn brown over a few days. Then they made Monkey Muffins and ate them for their snack. All the kids really liked them. Andrew was very excited telling me about these Monkey Muffins and apparently he had 1 1/2. We were given the recipe, so Andrew and I made them yesterday afternoon. Andrew's favorite part is helping clean up, you know by licking the beaters and spatula!



Monkey Muffins
1. Cut four bananas into pieces and mash them.
2. Put 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 teaspoon of baking soda in a mixing bowl.
3. In another large mixing bowl put 1/2 cup of shortening and 1 cup of sugar and beat until creamy.
4. Add 2 large eggs and mix.
5. Add bananas, 1 tsp. of salt, and 1 tsp. of vanilla. Mix well.
6. Add the flour mixture and 1/2 cup of sour cream. Mix well.
7. Put 12-16 paper liners in muffin tins. Fill the muffin cups 1/2 full. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350.
(our batch made 16 large muffins ~ I had to fill them over 1/2 full because we only have 16 cupcake/muffins. And they needed to be baked more like 20-22 min. This recipe is from the children's magazine Highlights High Five )

Carson's new tricks

Carson is doing some funny things recently. Andrew being the first born with two attention to detail parents wasn't allowed to be very creative at meal times. We didn't/don't like messes. Sometimes as soon as Andrew's face or hands had anything on them, they were soon wiped. Not so much with Carson. Perhaps it is just too much to try to eat ourselves and pay attention to what two little boys are doing. Carson has been allowed to play and truly experience food and know that eating food is fun too.

Carson is now requesting that his glass of milk or water remain on his high chair at all times. (I always moved it so he wouldn't accidentally spill it.) After all he is a big boy now, nearly 2 and at times likes to show that. So now when he is done eating he plays with his cup and bowl, pouring water from his cup into his bowl and vice versa. This continues until he tires of it or he drops the cup or the bowl or it becomes way too messy and I put a stop to it. Here he is today, the mad scientist.




Carson enjoys playing behind our futon couch in the play/sun room. He climbs up over the toys and squeezes in behind the futon. He likes to sit on the windowsill and rest his feet on the base board of the futon.
Then he does this dive over the back of the futon to get down.
I know I had written a post about his before. I tried to explain the bizarre position I found Carson in when he was supposed to be taking a nap. Well here he is in that position. He has been doing this more frequently. I'm not sure how he gets up there. His right leg is hanging down pinned between the crib railing and the wall and his upper body rests on the end of the bed and his left leg lies across the top of the crib railing. He isn't able to get down from this little perch of his. He calls "Mommy. Mommy! MOMMY!"

He truly is so much fun.

On being a Mom

This is an email message I received from a friend/past co-worker of mine. Though I really have just begun this journey of being a mom, I really needed to hear this now. I need to just enjoy every moment I have with these two special little boys. Right now they love hugs and kisses, love spending time with us, love helping us do different things ~ but they probably won't always. I need to, like she says... not be in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

On Being A Mom

By Anna Quindlen

All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like. Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of the past.

Everything in all the books I once pored over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories.

What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations --what they taught me was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all.

Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One boy is toilet trained at 3, his brother at 2. When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research will follow.

I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month-old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China . Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.

Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the Remember-When-Mom-Did Hall of Fame. The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language-mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, What did you get wrong? (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be. The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That's what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts.

It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were.

How much time do you waste, I mean spend, on your home computer each day?

less than 1 hour - 4 (40%)
1-2 hours - 5 (55%)
2-3 hours - 0
more than 3 hours - 0

I thought for one week I should keep track of the actual time I spend on the computer for this poll post. But I never did, not even for one day. Maybe I am too afraid of what it would actually reveal! I know I spend a lot of time on the computer. If I were to guess, probably close to 2 hours and maybe more some days but a lot of that time is after the boys are in bed.

I really wasn't into the blogging world a year or so ago. Then I began checking our friend Sarah's blog daily. Her blog was the only one I really looked at until I started my own. I really enjoy blogging and reading other people's blogs. It can kind of get addicting. You can read one blog and then often the blogs have links to blogs they read and it just snowballs from there. I usually only read blogs of people that I know but recently started reading people that I don't know. I think I will stop that.

I am really quite amazed with the blogging world. I started this blog in Feb. I'm not sure when I added the counter of how many total visits this site has had but so far 5753. (now that includes the many times I would check the blog to see if there were any comments left! but now I found out that I can be emailed when a comment is left, so I am not checking my own as often. Isn't that pathetic! I do LOVE to read your comments though!) Then my cousin Jackie mentioned this flag counter that she found. So I added that. This counter is nice because it only counts the new people, it doesn't count each time you view it just the first time. I added this only a few months ago and 538 US visits and one United Kingdom. That is really fascinating.

Then there is emailing, which it seems I am not doing as much of now that I started blogging. Or I often look for different items on eBay (right now purses and Lucky jeans) I have been looking for a new purse, so searching many different websites. I think my favorite are the Lill purses. I love all the different fabrics they have. The price is more than what I really want to pay so we shall see. But I have had fun frequently designing my own purse there.

Now, after saying all this, I really can't complain about not getting things done around the house. The past two weeks, I have spent some of Carson's nap time on the computer. I realize that this is valuable time and I probably should do other things while Andrew is at preschool and Carson is napping. Once I get on the computer, I end up thinking, I will just check one more thing....and before I know it, Carson is awake. So on that note, I am off to clean the bathroom!

"It didn't work."

Andrew has of course passed his cold along to Carson and Chad as well. I'm staying strong. I'm not getting it! A neighbor mentioned that she heard of putting Vicks on children's feet and then putting socks on to help with cough and congestion at bedtime. So we gave it a try last night. I had Andrew sit on his bed with just his feet over the side of the bed and put the Vicks rub on his feet. Carson climbed up there too..."Me. Me. Me." so we put it on Carson's feet as well. I explained to Andrew that the cream was supposed to help him breathe easier and so that he wouldn't cough so much.

Around 11:00, just after Chad and I had gone to bed, we heard Carson crying faintly on the monitor followed by the dreaded barking croupy cough. Chad went to his room. We were trying to decide what to do as far as sleeping, knowing it probably wasn't going to be a good nights sleep. Carson was so sweet; giving hugs with his short little arms, whispering "ya" behind his paci, which sounded very hoarse. I ended up taking Carson back to his room and we both slept in the "guest bed" in his room. He was very cuddly, wanting to be right near or on top of me. He actually slept pretty well and not much more coughing. I didn't sleep so well, but that is ok.

Andrew was quick to report this morning to both Chad and I at different times "It didn't work." I think that is the first thing he said to me this morning and I had to think about what he was talking about.

I just checked on Carson, to make sure he had actually fallen asleep for his nap. This is what I saw....
He hardly ever sleeps like this anymore. I love it when babies sleep like this; on their tummies, with their cute little bottoms up in the air and legs tucked underneath them. I thought it was especially cute since he has on this football outfit that says "end zone" on his bottom.

Nature

I really do enjoy the change in seasons. I welcome each new season gladly. The only season I really tire of is winter, which makes welcoming spring so much fun! I do love fall. Bringing jeans and sweaters and sweatshirts out again. But man, where did summer go?! It went so fast!! Anyways.....this morning it was raining ~ which we really needed ~ and now the sun is out. The temp is in the upper 60's and just soo pleasant.

This past Sunday, we spent the afternoon outside. Andrew rode his gator a lot as well as other riding toys. I enjoyed watching a butterfly and hummingbirds amongst our flowers. Chad and I were discussing and measuring out where we would like to put in a garden next spring. Such wonderful weather and care free time. Isn't nature great? Here are some pictures of the butterfly/hummingbird garden we planted earlier this spring and the butterfly (and bee) that frequent them. I wasn't able to capture any of the hummingbirds. The feeder is right outside the window where our computer and desk is. I love to hear the hum/buzz as the hummingbirds dive into the garden.




Here, Andrew pushed on the gas; which I wasn't ready for and neither was Carson!! I won't post the picture Chad took of Andrew's bottom as he took a leak in the woods. Boys. Yesterday as I was pulling weeds in the front flowerbeds and turned around and saw Andrew with his pants down in the front yard! Mooning all the men working on the house next to ours. This must be stopped.

P.S. Andrew is now home from preschool. I asked him if he went potty at preschool. He said, "yes, in the grass." Okay, this really has to be stopped!!

Four days of pre-school

and Andrew has a cold. That didn't take long! I knew he would be exposed to many more germs this year and expected more illnesses than usual but already!! He woke up during the night last night, coughing, crying and grabbing his throat. I asked him if he wanted a drink. He said "No, I want some medicine." He seems pretty good today, coughing occasionally. Hopefully he won't get croup, which both boys are prone to.

Pre-school has been good. He enjoys going everyday and I love the "MOMMY!" I'm greeted with when I pick him up. Friday he said "MOMMY! Your home!" when I picked him up. :) He is pretty tired when he comes home - at least that is what I am blaming his behavior on. He doesn't listen well, he is really rough with Carson - hitting and pushing, and easily has meltdowns. I don't want him to take a nap after pre-school because then he wouldn't fall asleep until 10:30-11:00 like last night.

He picks up things from other children so quickly. A phrase he is now saying that I haven't heard him say is "I don't like girls!" Yeah right! You have 5 girl cousins and you love playing with all of them!! Also he will make a comment and then do this fake laugh and say "It's a joke!!" He also is doing some karate (?) moves. I think some of the children have seen the animated movie Kung Fu Panda and are doing some karate moves; at least I know our neighbor was. Which is fine, but Andrew does this really aggressively and I just don't like it. I never know when he is just doing these karate moves or when he is actually going to make contact with someone.

We are all still adjusting to this new routine. I have a hard time getting lunch around at 11:30, it just seems too early for lunch. I have enjoyed going grocery shopping with just one child. Carson doesn't really seem to notice that Andrew isn't around. Most of the time Carson is napping while Andrew is gone. It will be nice that he doesn't have pre-school on Mondays, that way we can kind of ease into the week.

What is your biggest clutter problem?

I really don't have a clutter problem. - 0
Clothes - 0
Dirty dishes - 0
Mail - 3 (27%)
Toys - 6 (54%)
Everything - 2 (18%)

Our biggest clutter problem is mail. It clutters our kitchen island and table. At times I do my best to not let it bother me, but it really does! These stacks of mail can be ridiculous at times! I get the counter and table cleared off (I love it when there is absolutely nothing on these two surfaces!) but they never stay cleared for long. The biggest thing is probably the medical journals that Chad gets. I guess I just need to find a crate or something to chuck these in and let him go through them on his time. Sometimes I bring the mail to our desk, which is currently in our bedroom. So I don't really like cluttering our bedroom either. Hopefully our basement will be finished someday and we can move the desk down there.

Toys definitely clutter our house as well. But I am ok with this one. They are not overwhelmingly cluttering our house. Each night before bedtime (or after bedtime, we peacefully do it) or sometimes during the day as well we all clean up the toys. I guess I can tolerate this clutter more because we have 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 year old boys and I figure that toy clutter just comes with that.

First day of Preschool

Today was Andrew's first day of preschool. I have never done anything so easy with him! He was to be at preschool at 12:15. I knew this might be a bit of a crazy time, since this is typically when we eat lunch. I decided to not go to the first MOPS meeting of the year this morning that I attended last year. It was from 9:30-11:30. I just thought it might be too hectic and a little overwhelming for Andrew all in one day. Thankfully Chad was home for lunch today and helped me encourage Andrew to hurry up and eat ~ he was eating the peel off the apple slices and then eating the apple. Chad helped me get Andrew ready and then Carson was able to stay here and finish eating while I took Andrew to school.
Isn't this door the cutest thing??! It is outside the preschool by the larger "adult" doors. He thinks it is pretty neat. (not the best pictures of him but we were running late.) We walked down to his classroom and he was off! Exploring everything, hugging his "swimming pool friend" and not caring at all that I was leaving him. I'm glad he was so excited and wasn't upset that I was leaving. Had he been upset, it would have been much more difficult for me as well.

Here he is playing with the little kitchen table and place settings (kind of dark picture). "Here is my favorite spoon! Lighting McQueen!"

Carson is napping, the house seems so quite. I've managed to get a few things done but soon it will be time to go pick Andrew up, 3:15. I think I will enjoy this quiet time each afternoon. It will help me feel re-energized and able to take on the world ~ well at least two active little guys!