Our Weekend

We had a great weekend at the cabin. The weather was very hot but we were able to cool things off for the most part with some AC and splashing in the lake.

Lily was a little unsure of the water to start with, but she loved the sand! She liked rubbing it all over her legs. On Sunday I was able to finally put her in a floaty and let her kick herself around in the shallows. She loved it! What a little fish she is once she gets over the scaredy-catness! Addie really enjoyed splashing in the shallows. She and Adam raced up and down the beach splashing water everywhere.

Adam made a fort out of some cushions, a table and some blankets. The girls loved hiding in there.
Addie helped me make "pupcakes" for Grandma's birthday. She was very excited because they were "worm pupcakes with dirt!" We used strawberry cake mix and chocolate frosting. I had Addie dip each cupcake into crushed chocolate cookies and put gummy worms on top. (all were safe for Lily by the way!) It really did look kind of gross! She thought it was the coolest thing ever, especially since she got to help. We almost blew the surprise when Addie told Grandma over the phone that she had made cupcakes for Grandma's birthday. Luckily Grandma didn't think Addie could possibly be talking about real dirt cupcakes! When Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Rachel showed up on Saturday morning and saw us there, Grandma was very surprised.

Addie has discovered a new favorite - Candyland. Actually she likes playing all games right now. (Hint, hint, games would be a great birthday gift!) She doesn't really follow the rules, but that's ok, she's getting the general idea.

Saturday night Addie went home with Grandma and Grandpa to get some special time alone with them. They took her to church (one of her favorite places) the next morning and then to breakfast before coming back to the cabin.


Grandpa broke out the guitar on Sunday afternoon and Addie just loved it! She stared at Grandpa for the longest time, then got up on his lap and helped him play.

It was a great weekend - lots of sun, sand and family.

An Open Letter

Momma, maybe you don't get it. These pants you put me in today? They're 9 month pants. You see how they sag in the back? You see how they show my diaper like I'm a slutty teenager showing off my thong? Well guess what Momma, I'm 16 months old. I'm a big girl, I'm no baby. Someone obviously isn't feeding me enough.
















What's that? Oh, you can see that I have my mouth jammed with food and I'm not stopping to chew? Oh well, I guess you are feeding me. I did eat an entire chicken breast for supper tonight along with broccoli, some bread, and dessert.

Never mind! I love you Momma!

Nonchiladas

I made this up this week and it was a HUGE hit at our house. Addie said it was too "picy" but only after she had eaten half her plate. Lily has had leftovers twice for lunch since. I had planned on making enchiladas, but we were out of tortillas and I didn't want to put cheese on it because of Lily. Hence, it became "Nonchiladas."

1 lb. ground beef
1 can black beans
1 4 oz can tomato sauce
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 packet enchilada seasoning
onion, diced
green pepper, diced
celery, diced

Cook and drain ground beef in skillet. Add onions and saute until just transparent. Add green pepper and celery. Stir. Add tomatoes, sauce and enchilada packet. Stir it all together. If you wanted, you could transfer it into a casserole and bake it with some cheese on top. However, part of the appeal for me was that the green peppers and celery didn't get overcooked so they were still a little crunchy. Otherwise, serve it with a nice big green salad and maybe some tortilla chips. Yummy!

The other bonus of this recipe is that it is super fast. If you chop the vegetables while the beef is cooking it goes together in no time. Very important when you have 2 children clinging to your pant legs telling you they are hungry!

Whee!

Lily has added two new words to her vocabulary. "Bubba" and "Whee." She found a bottle of bubbles outside yesterday and insisted that I blow bubbles for her. As soon as she saw the bubbles she started saying, "Whee!" I'm also pretty convinced that she said "boppa" when she saw grandpa today, but she refused to say it again when Ray was inside.

See here for why I don't have any pictures to show you. I took darn cute picture of Lily in her farmer overalls yesterday and more today, chasing after bubbles.

Momma's Taking Us to the Zoo Tomorrow...

Some pictures from our recent trip to the Lake Superior Zoo.


Addie and Tyler watch the Polar Bears eat watermelon.

Addie and Em look for the tigers. There was supposed to be something called Tiger Enrichment, but nothing seemed to be happening. I don't suppose that the tigers were learning to read...

Poor Lily was wiped out! She slept for a while in the stroller, then went home to take a 2 hour nap! Poor kid.

Big Girl Bed

Yeah Addie! Addie's in a big girl bed!

She spent her first night in a big girl bed last night. She did very well, only falling out once. This morning Lily woke her up at 5:20 which was a little early (2 1/2 hours earlier than normal!) However, she is extremely excited about her "new" bed. She doesn't realize that it's actually her crib with one side removed. :)

Poop Everywhere

WARNING** This may be too much information for some people. If so, look at the cute picture of Lily with Grandpa and move on.

For those of you still with me it was a morning to remember. It started out much like any other day. Addie still hasn't pooped, so we moved on to slightly more advanced maneuvers. I gave Addie her peanut butter with mineral oil mixed in and a bagel to dunk, a cup of yogurt with mineral oil and some juice. I convinced her that Dr. Shar told me Addie should have some cream on her butt to make it feel better. While Addie "assumed the position," I inserted a suppository. Not as traumatic as Dr. Shar had lead me to believe it would be. It should take about 15 minutes or so to soften up whatever is blocking the plumbing.

But then.... the trauma started. Addie started crying and moaning and whining for Daddy. Daddy was outside working on the siding. Daddy had to come in to periodically comfort Addie. Finally (55 minutes later) I had to get ready for work so I asked Addie if she would like to come take a bath. Normally she loves taking a bath. Not. Today. She screamed; she cried. She ran from the bathroom screaming (nakey) and slammed the door shut. While I was in the shower I hear her start screaming again, "I poop, I poop." So I opened the bathroom door and she raced to the potty. Yes, she did poop, all over the hallway. Of course I had to calm her down because she was traumatized by pooping on the hall floor. The poor kid felt so bad about it.

Honestly, I have no idea how that kid didn't block up the toilet. We must have fantastic plumbing! She was on the potty, she'd say she was done; two seconds later she was back on again. I'd just clean out the potty and she'd be back on again. Not to mention the mess on the floor! Mineral oil is bad. Very bad. Like eating too much Olestra as Adam would say.

Meanwhile, downstairs Lily got into the peanut butter laced with mineral oil. There was peanut butter all over the floor, over the rocking horse, all over her. So what do I do? I take both kids to daycare and let the teachers deal with the aftermath. Momma needs a drink!

Obvious Genetic Link

It is obvious to me that there is a gene responsible both for the love of shoes and for wanting to talk on the phone. Here Lily talks to all of her Peeps while walking around the living room. She says, "Hiiii..." "Uh huh" "ohhhh" and "Buh bye" She looks like a mini-me!

As for the shoe gene, well I realized that both my girls have it. Lily loves nothing more than to try on Addie's and my shoes. She even gets excited about putting her own shoes on. I had assumed this was learned behavior. However, I was reminded of Crazy Uncle Matty's shoe "habit" while we were in Chicago. He's got more shoes than I do. So I believe that my girls come by this love of shoes quite naturally from both sides. It is obvious to me that Adam just has a recessive shoe gene.

See, it's not her fault that Imelda Marcos had so many shoes! Adam, pay no attention to the letters DSW with the dollar amount after it on our Discover Card bill. It clearly is not my fault either.