Nothing like being with Dad!!!

Last week we actually had a chance to take a family picnic to the park and play awhile...no where else to be or anyone else to see... and all barns were put on hold. :)  We spent most of our time running around the tennis courts playing with a football...I know that is the wrong gear! We had fun anyway!

Forgive our mugs, we tried for a decent pic!!

Tennis courts are just fun!

No one beats Matt...oh wait...Ben?

This is why playing with Dad is always fun.  Momma can't do things like this!!

You think little sis has a chance???

All grandmothers need to turn their heads at this picture!!  I know he is over concrete.  I promise they are just fine!

Someone tell Matt that he forgot to wear his cool shoes. :)

Who says girls can't throw????

Isn't this what we all want??  Someone holding out their hands waiting excitedly to pick us up and love us??? Praise God for our Heavenly Father!!!

Finally!  A decent shot of momma and daughter!

So....How much is that going to cost???

Today was an unusual day at Storytime. First of all there was a group of boys and only two girls, Princess and J, who is younger than Princess.  Normally it is all girls and one or two boys.  Secondly, it was a relatively small group.

For these two reasons, after the story was done and the craft completed, the boys were wrestling on the rug and around the room.  Once again, not normal.  But with no girls to worry about...let the boys do what boys do best, right???  Not only that, they had so much room to move around and nothing to hurt!  Well...

I was deep into a conversation with the other mothers when an extremely loud crash/explosion/implosion.....whatever you want to call it...occurred.  We looked at each other with the looks that only mothers can have and then looked towards the sound.

Right next to the cause of the sound stood MY SON and his friend W.  I then took in the scene....

Afterwards here is what Hotrod told me:
"Wellllllll, W and I were fighting (play fighting that is), and he was trying to get me to go back and I was trying to get him to go forward.  I was testing out my two dinosaurs that I had with me, triceratops and  ________ (one that I can't remember or spell). W pushed me and made me bump the TV."

Are you getting the scene yet???  Yes, As I turned my head and surveyed the scene, there was a very large TV exploded on the floor.  A. very. large. TV. Exploded. on. the. floor. What do you do with that????

So, Matt and I and our friends, will have to split the cost of a new TV for the library.  I am assuming. In all reality, I have to talk to our director on Monday. 

I told Hotrod that we were going to give our TV to the library. He cried.  I know that was probably mean, but how else do you get the point across?  I wish you could have seen the looks on their faces when we all turned around....deer in headlights doesn't even begin to describe it.

It is times like these, that you are thankful for a savings account.

After looking at the pics, you will want one too!!!

Last summer, I put away quite a bit of fruit into the freezer.  I have only used a small amount of it for pies, muffins and such.  It dawned on me the other day that fruit season was coming again, and soon! I need to use the fruit, but making a ton of pies only increases my hips!!! And we don't want that!

So, what I have started doing is making popsicles for the kids.  They are really good, especially the peach.  In my continued efforts at goofing off, we had popsicles on the backporch yesterday.  A fun time was had by all!!

ok, really she is licking her lips, but I think I detect an attitude!!  Not from my baby...nooo!!

Hotrod gobbled his popsicle down, so I am afraid I didn't get that many pics of him.

Yes, she is just that cute!!!

Popsicles or fingers????

My two cuties!!!

Potty training or Sprinting???

So, we are potty training Princess.  This is our second try in about three months and this time it is going very well.  I think she has it!  I don't trust her out of the house yet, but we will get there.

Once a kid is trained, you forget the intensity of potty training...until you do it with the next kid.  Let me give you an example.

I am sitting here on the floor in front of the laptop. (It is the only spot in the house that we can get internet) In about five minutes, Princess will call out "STINKY!!!!!!!!!!" with an unbelievable amount of panic or urgency in her voice.

Now there is no telling where in the house she is...so I will jump up from my sitting position to an all out run, find her, jerk her up, and run to the potty, heart racing.   Half the time she is upstairs and I just started running up our hill again.  Let's just say, it is uncomfortable walking up the stairs, now it is at a run.

Whew! Talk about stretching out sore muscles!! I think all moms of potty training children should get exercise points everytime they have to jump up and sprint their little one to the potty!!!  :)

A little more dirt, please...

Well, it is officially spring at our house!  The garden is turned over and cold weather plants like kale, various lettuces, and broccoli are in the ground.  It sounds like it was so easy, doesn't it??


Now mind you, my garden is 5ft by 5ft.  It was a first try last year, and I loved  it.  I am hoping that Matt will make me another bed this year.  Some of you are laughing at my puny garden, but it is cute and manageable.


Hotrod and Princess love to garden as well.  So the three of us planted the above mentioned goodies...together...yeah.


Here is the scene you need to imagine. Me, in my skirt, on my hands and knees turning over the dirt to mix in the compost.  Hotrod learning to do the same, but managing to flick the dirt every single time...at me.  Princess playing in the dirt with her hands and finding it very funny to put dirt on my back.  Of course it didn't stay on my back...it went down my skirt and shirt and places where dirt just really shouldn't be!!!


Here are the sounds you should imagine..."Hotrod...dig in and turn, don't flick...Princess....really? More dirt?" (both children finding it immensely funny).  To say that we were dirty when we finished is to put it mildly!!!


We celebrated with oranges on the back porch. Yes, more sticky! :)

A change of attitude...quiet times.

For the past year, our lives have been busy...to say the least.  We have traveled, dabbled in politics, started new things, traveled, joined new things, traveled....you get the idea. 

Until about three weeks ago. 

It all stopped. 

 Suddenly.

I have had a hard time dealing with the quiet.

Don't get me wrong, there is life with two kids, and they have noise of their own.  That is not what I am talking about.  I mean the day to day here at the house. The same four walls with no adrenaline rush.  I can be an adrenaline junky. A sense of my own importance while accomplishing something. 

The dishes for the hundredth time is not an accomplishment in my mind.  (don't get mad at me for that comment!!!)

I was saying something to Matt one morning, when he asked what was on my schedule for the day. "Nothing" was my response. "It is a quiet time."  I had yet to go to my Abba for this.  Matt did it for me.

As He prayed and thanked God for this quiet time, I had an attitude adjustment right then and there in that moment.

So I am now doing my best to...well....hmmm...how do I put this.....ummmm.....goof off.  THERE I SAID IT! THAT IS WHAT I AM DOING! I AM GOOFING OFF!

Life will change here in a few months with Hotrod starting school. So we are going to spend his last few months of honest, carefree childhood goofing off!

The laundry might sit there a little bit longer, the dishes too, oh well! :)

So here are the pictures I took of us making mudpies the other day....enjoy!  I did.

Ok, this isn't the best pic of my girl, but it looks like she is holding the sun and interrogating me with it! I thought it was great.

I love the dreamy 70's look of this pic.

Is is just me, or does anyone else feel like quoting Macbeth here?

My little princess...can't stand to be dirty inside the house. Outside is another story!

Preciousnesss first thing in the morning :)

My children like to hide.  When Daddy's car pulls in the driveway, we all go hide somewhere..anywhere, and he has to come find us.  Hotrod is good at it...Princess is getting good at it.  We have fooled him on a couple of occasions! 

They also like to hide first thing in the morning, under the covers...like I can't see them! ;) As I went up the stairs this morning, I heard them saying, "hide! hide!". I went back downstairs and grabbed my camera.

This is what I found...cuteness personified!!!

Can you find Princess?

There she is!!

Ok, she does not normally sleep with three pacis...just two. Big brother had already been up and got the third and a book for her. So sweet! He really spoils her sometimes!

What is she laughing at???? Hotrod, of course...

How can I find Hotrod?  I just don't know where he is!

There he is! Good morning, Sleepy head.

Up and ready for the day, already pretending to be  a dinosaur.  Don't question his PJ's, he picked them out! Lots of fun in the morning!  Let's see what today holds...

A taste of home...of Mom...of comfort.

I finally found it!!! It has been under my nose for almost 13yrs!!  How did I not realize where it was??  I guess my thought was "surely she didn't use that recipe...", but she did!!!


Who?  My Momma....I found her homemade Macaroni and Cheese recipe!!!!  and for the first time in 13yrs I have stepped back into her kitchen.  Where did I find the recipe? Where has it been hiding?????? In her New Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, of course. 


I have had the cookbook ever since she passed, but have never used it much.  I kept it because it was Mom's...it has her splatter marks. Yesterday, all I wanted was Mom's mac and cheese.  On a whim, I pulled down the cookbook and looked it up.  The recipe had a splatter mark by it!!!!!!!! That is a good sign that it was used.  I just never saw her use it when she made mac and cheese.


In preparation for the dish, I tried a new recipe for noodles today. (I don't like it and will never use it again.)


Unfortunately, Mom almost never followed a recipe exactly as it was written. I have looked at this recipe in the past, but it just wasn't right. Mom threw all the ingredients into a casserole dish and stuck it in the microwave...not what the directions call for.  I guess that is why I never used the recipe.  I gave it a shot.


Even as it was cooking, it smelled right.


The cheese sauce was finally done...I took my first bite...I cried.  I was transported back to that one-butt kitchen with Amy, Matthew and I standing around Mom as she put the dish in the microwave.  We were all salivating by the time it was done.  We could each eat the whole dish on our own.


To say that mine looks like Mom's...well, it doesn't, but it sure tastes like Mom's. My siblings would look at it and question if it tasted right.


I enjoyed every bite, if fact, I have eaten too much. :)


I have a slight problem with the recipe....my kids hate it... how is that possible?????? Are they mine????? What am I to do?????  The ultimate in comfort food and they don't like it.  Thankfully, Matt didn't mind eating it.  I guess I will simply make it in small batches in the future.


I think i will go take another bite... ;)

My little Princess

Ok, here is a series of pictures that are unapologetically all about my precious little girl.  I hope you enjoy!!



She is beautiful...I know I am bias.





Peek-a-boo

 


"Want to meet for lunch?"






So, she got a little close to the camera ;)

My sweet and fiery little girl...I wonder what life will hold for her.