Saturday, October 31, 2009

trick-or-treat


We have already been out to trick-or-treat on Main St. Lots of fun. Charlotte was fascinated with the entire thing. The costumes, the candy. She kept saying "oooooo, he's farey(scarey)".
Timothy was more excited about the candy, and after getting 2 pieces in his bag he was happy just to sit in the stroller and eat his tootsie roll. Pretty funny to me, how much more relaxed I am with the second. Last year at Halloween, I wouldn't even let Charlotte eat candy and she was older than Timothy is now-ha!
They also both seem content to eat only 2 pieces and save the rest for later-I'll count myself lucky.

Happy Halloween!

I confess

Yesterday, I set out to work, and realized my time would be better spent "fixing" the little things around our house to make it more presentable to potential renters. We are trying to buy a house, and need ours rented! Soooooo I went to paint the front door where a certain someone (eeehhmm, my well-intentioned hubby) stripped 1/3 of it 2 summers ago. Anyway, it just needed to be painted over. So I sanded, wiped and then got out the white, semi-gloss paint and began. Well, after I finished the door I glanced over at the trim and moulding and noticed it could use some touch-up too. Before you know it I was in a painting frenzy. I touched up everything white in the house-all trim, doors, and the kitchen cabinet doors.
My confession is that in the kitchen especially, I realized that instead of wiping off the coffee stains, etc from the cabinets I could just paint over them! And viola, like that beautiful, fresh cabinets with much less elbow grease than all the scrubbing would have taken. And I decided, I don't even care that I wasn't supposed to do that-how liberating :)

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

another peek

 

 

I had a moment this week where I thouhgt I could do some knitting while the kids played. Knitting, sewing, and crafts are things that have fallen by the wayside in the last few weeks, so anywhere I can squeeze it in I will take it. Well as soon as the kids saw me knitting they wanted to join in, so they each got their own needles and yarn and we had a family knitting session. You may see some things again-maybe as Christmas gifts.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

sneak peek

 

 

a peek at the kids costumes. what will they be??
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Sunday, October 25, 2009

pumpkin drumming

After carving our pumpkin. The kids thought pumpkin drumming sounded like a hilariously fun activity. I love the picture where Charlotte is cracking up, it makes me laugh out loud. A big thank-you to CG for our wonderful Halloween tablecloth that she made, we have been loving it. It makes for instant festivity at our house.

wonderfully scary

 

This fun picture is compliments of Charlotte as I carved our pumpkin yesterday.
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Friday, October 23, 2009

dinner tonight


I have had an excess of carrots this year. As I plated quite a few in my new raised bed. I have been trying to decide what to do with the last of the bunch, and carrot soup just sounded delicious. It is super easy, it tastes yummy too.
Here is my recipe:

1/2 large sweet potato cut into 2 inch cubes
4-5 cups carrots cut into 2 inch cubes
4 cups stock, either chicken or vegetable
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
olive oil
salt

Serves 6

1. Saute sliced onion and minced garlic in about 2 tablespoons olive oil until onion is translucent.
2. add stock, carrots, and potatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for about 45 min, or until carrots and potatoes are soft.
3. Blend (either use a hand blender or a regular blender)and blend soup to desired consistency. I like mine smooth with little chunks, but you may prefer chunky. (Note: be careful when blending hot soup, it may be best to let it cool a bit before blending. And if using a regular blender do not fill more than halfway-so do it in batches)
4. Add lemon juice and salt to taste.
5. Great toppings are: sour cream and nutmeg, or cheddar cheese, or sesame oil.

This soup is gluten free and casin free (obviously if you don't add the dairy on top). Our kiddos have had colds lately and Timothy is really hanging onto his cough, so I am trying to reduce all the dairy we can, as he doesn't do well with it on his healthiest days.
I cannot decide what to serve this with, but am thinking of a spinach salad with goddess dressing (oo-I will include my recipe for that soon), and our freshly roasted pumpkin seeds, and/or some homemade brushetta. Enjoy everyone, and let me know what you served with it if you make this soup too!

banner

I am changing the banner back to fall. It seems fall has actually arrived here.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

leaf play






Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, and for so many reasons we needed to be outside. Everyone gets along better in the fresh air and with extra room to run and play. We started the morning going to a new (to us) park, playing and having a picnic. Then we headed up the mountain to feed the fish in the rise of the Popo Agie River. We headed home for a nap, where only Timothy actually took one. So after nap, or in place of nap for some, we went back out and raked leaves into big piles. As soon as I began raking, Charlotte asked if she could jump in them. She spent an hour jumping and playing in big, soft piles of leaves. She insisted that I join and I obliged. Timothy was happy just to watch, but joined in a little bit too.
After we had exhausted ourselves we headed out for a walk to see if Chuck Faulkner had his horses out for cart rides. Thankfully he did. We hopped in with some friends of ours (who just adopted 2, 7-year-olds from Russia) and headed out for the usual Chuck adventure. Afterward, we headed on and Mama took everyone out for a Thai food dinner.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

playing in the park


This snowy filled October is finally melting off, and we have been able to get out and enjoy the warmth of fall. Charlotte, Timothy, Isa, and Sylvi all found plenty to do at the park. The play area was still a bit snowed in but leave it to toddlers to seek out the mud puddles and horses. Lots of fun, and looking forward to a bit more fall in the next week.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

an unbirthday


Charlotte had an unbirthday this week. Her unbirthday was a requested reward.

Reid and I have had a visitor on several nights attempt to crawl into bed with us. She has been having difficulty staying in her own bed to sleep. We asked her what she wanted as a prize if she slept in her bed for 3 nights. She said she wanted a birthday cake with candles she could blow out. I am thinking that after Cinch's birthday she was wishing the same experience for herself. Isa and family were happy to join in the celebration. I am pretty sure I spy a picture of Sylvi drooling at Isa's cupcake.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

cinch's birthday

 

 

Cinch had a birthday last weekend (October 3rd,92 years young)and she came over for a little mid-morning celebration. We had apricot brandy pound cake-which was soooo yummy-and thankfully she took all the leftovers home to share with her house mates at Westward Heights. Side note-maybe best not to make this cake with toddlers around who love to lick spoons. After a couple samples of batter for each of them, I remembered the brandy-ooops :o)
I just had to include this picture of Cinch opening her present, as Charlotte seems completely unamused that the present is not for her and she is not being asked to help. Too funny!
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Monday, October 5, 2009

really??




is it really still snowing at my house!! All signs point to yes-I am still shoveling snow, watching it fall, and feeling stuck inside. It seems we have had a least a foot of the heavy, wet, white. I am not quite sure what happened to fall. I am certain that it was 80 degrees last week. None of the plants seem ready for this much snow-leaves are still on trees. While grunting, shoveling, and cursing through the snow in my garden, I was pleasantly greeted with the scent of mint and marigold-delicious combination. And if it weren't 30 degrees out I may try making ice cream out of the two-on the list for next summer. Anyway, flowers were peeking through the snow and the kids are already in their snow bibs playing. Welcome winter!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

timothy


Timothy has been a bit easier (than Charlotte)lately. He is not full of so may cute quotes,but he does have lots of funny things he likes to do and say. He loves dancing as you can see in the video. His favorite new word is no, no, no. That's 3 words you say, try telling him that. This kid has opinions about how his life should be going and will let you know if things are not running accordingly.

He loves his Papa as much as ever and asks about him or to see him all the time!

He loves his blankie and prefers to wear it around his neck, or to lay on the floor and cover up with it playing hide-and-seek,

He knows the order things happen,just try to skip one part of his bedtime routine (like reading books) and he will let you hear about it.

He is a little flirt and is becoming more daring socially. Although he still has to check new people out for quite a while before smiling, he does not seem quite as scared of them as he used to be.

He loves, loves, loves being naked. He runs around the house playing, chasing, and laughing.

And he loves the water-pool, bath, whatever-splashing,falling,scooping, pouring,sticking his head in-lots of fun.

He loves his sister,playing with her and provoking her. He wants to do whatever she is doing. Charlotte's new job is feeding all the animals and Timothy really wants to help her. He got to feed Ava all by himself this morning!

He is fascinated by animals. He gets so excited, bouncing up and down on his legs,giggling. His favorite animal sound is neigh-and I think he says it 30 times a day. He will hop on my back and sayneigh,wanting a ride or to be bounced.

He is also working on a bunch of teeth and not sleeping quite as well as normal. But i will take the midnight snuggles,as they will be gone soon enough. And with winter weather on the way-naps will just have to be in order for everyone.

charlotte


Charlotte has been a handful lately. Along with all the recent defiance,pushing and hitting-yikes-has come some big personality developments. She has been saying the funniest things lately and is so serious about them. Here are some recent quotes:

She often asks to be sent in the mail. In the picture here she is all packaged up,shipping label and all. When i asked her where she was going she said Uncle Grant's house.

If she is having a hard time or something goes wrong she says Oh,no this is terribolt.

If I ask her to do something nicely and she doesn't want to (often I just hear "NO!")she says sweetly Weell, not today.

She fell in the toilet while trying to pee like a big girl and she said This is not so good.

Yesterday while she was feeling cranky she saidI'm just being fussy. We have been working on expressing and identifying emotions.

While struggling to get into her carseat on her own our conversation went something like this:
Mama-would you like some help?
Charlotte-I need a man
Mama-what did you say?
Charlotte-I need a man to help me.
I promise she has never heard that from my mouth!

To anybody:Want to come to my house for tea and cookies?

Some version of this heard often (she actually just said this to me: Guys, i have a baby in my belly. Are you excited about that? Want to see? You know, I have 2. They are coming out soon and then you can hold them.

At night,after Timothy goes to bed,we read books and snuggle in Mama and Papa's bed. We often talk about what we want to dream about that night. Last night our conversation went like this:
Charlotte-I don't want to read books, I just want to cuddle.
Mama-Okay,lets talk about our dreams.
Charlotte-What do you want to dream about?
Mama-I think I would like to dream about Papa becauseI miss him.
Charlotte,stroking my hair says-What else do you want to dream about sweetie-pie?
We went on and on and couldn't help but start laughing.

Then lately the spontaneous I need to tell you something. I yove you Mama.

Well,melt my heart :)

Thursday, October 1, 2009

ahhhhhhh

It's only 10am and guilt is setting in. Guilt,guilt,guilt-it is like a little dagger.

*sniff sniff*

I cannot believe it. My kiddos are at a real daycare for the majority of the day today, and 3 days a week from here on out. *sniff, sniff*. I have lots of mixed emotions. I will miss them today, but I am very, very thankful for time to myself (even if I do plan to work all day). It will be quiet here and I can even have a kitty snuggle on my lap while I type! Amazing. I don't think I will turn on the radio or go anywhere all day.

The kids did great when I dropped them off. They joined the others at the table for fruit and breakfast burritos (oh yeah daycare also means 3 days a week with me not fixing or packing breakfast, snacks, and lunch-sounds small, its huge). Charlotte has been well prepared for today because I could explain everything to her and how her day would go there. Timothy is a bit less prepared, and although we did visit and play last week, I think it may be rough for him today. There was no crying when I left, but I am sure once he realized I was gone there were some tears. But,I know they are going to be fine, right, right???

Why the sudden change to daycare, you ask?? Well, Reid and I are trying to buy a house. Which means I need to make more money, and I am ready! Ready for some adult time, some job time, some time for me to fulfill a purpose outside of motherhood for about 30 hours a week. More on all of this as we progress.