Back to school shopping (the sleeping edition)

We're in Great Falls this weekend doing back to school shopping.  We came down on Friday, and Friday night, we played musical beds.  Have you ever played it?  I wouldn't recommend it.  When we got to our hotel room, Annika claimed one bed that she said would be shared with me, and she told Abigail that she and Clark would have the other one.  I put everyone to bed last night, and within 5 minutes, Abigail was crying because she wanted me.  We made room for her.  Until she was asleep, then I hopped over to the other bed, since Abigail prefers to sleep horizontally rather than vertically on the mattress, and it makes for crowded conditions. 

Around one in the morning, Abigail sat straight up in bed and screamed "Mom!".  I guess she was missing me.  So, I crawled back into her bed, she went right back to sleep.  In the process, she crowded out Annika who almost fell out of bed, so I shipped her off to Clark's bed (who slept through the whole night very peacefully.)

6:00 brought Tyler wide awake and crying, Annika wide awake and watching a movie, and me wide awake and blogging.  Abigail is still sleeping, and Clark pretending none of this is going on and stubbornly trying to keep sleeping.  I don't think that will last very long.

Saturday snapshot ~ New pants

I'm sure other people have this problem.  Their children don't like to wear clothes.  It doesn't seem to matter what I put them in in the morning, by mid-afternoon, you can find one or two little girls running around the house in some state of undress.  This was the case on Thursday afternoon.  We had to run to the store, so I told Annika to put some pants on.

She came down the hall and said, "I couldn't find any of my pants, so I'm wearing a pair of Abigail's."  Well, it turns out they weren't Abigail's pants.  That's right, these belong to Tyler.  The size?  3-6 months.  They fit her pretty good!

Rain

Press play and listen to the sound of rain while you read this.  It's actually quite calming.

We've been having some pretty nasty storms at our house this summer.  The power has been out twice and the thunder and lightning do not make me happy. 

Clark came home from work Tuesday and told me I should probably put the van in the garage, since there were tornado warnings in Brooks and he wasn't sure if the warning would extend to us.  Well, as soon as I put the van in the garage, it started POURING.  Normally I wouldn't mind getting wet going from the garage to the house, but I had both girls with me and so I had to make two trips. 

After the thunder and lightning had subsided, we looked out the front window at the rain and saw that our little bay had some minor flooding going on in front of the neighbours house, so I asked the girls if they wanted to go out and play.  Annika didn't understand me at first, so she told Abigail, "We're going outside, but no going in puddles."  I had to explain that this was one of those times where they were ALLOWED to jump in puddles.  They were pretty excited about that. 

Poor Abigail could only find one of her rubber boots, so we improvised and I put her in winter boots.  They are not the best things for getting wet in.  The insides of her boots sucked up the water like a sponge, so by the time she was done, she could barely move her little feet!  I took the boots off her and literally wrung them out.

I need to invest in a pair of rubber boots for myself.  It's kinda cold splashing in puddles in flip flops.  At least I had a poncho to wear!

I took a video of the girls outside.  They were just too cute!

A baby boy birthday bash (say that 5 times fast)

It was Tyler's first birthday on Sunday, so we had a family party in the evening for him.  I'm very blessed with parents and parent-in-laws that come to celebrate my children's birthdays.  That makes me happy.

On the menu for this evening was pork chops a la king, mixed vegetables and birthday cake.  Oh, the poor birthday cake.  I wanted to cry.  I had this brilliant idea to make a simple cake in a 9X13 pan, and then cut it into three, thus making a three layer number one.  I got blueberry pie mix to put in the middle of each layer...and I found this really cool pin on pinterest for edible glitter.

Oh pinterest.  I really should stop pinning things before I click on them to see if they actually are what they say they are.  Even though all of the instructions were in the comments, I clicked on the pin to take me to the actual website where the original instructions were.  Well.  I got there, and instead of edible glitter, I found non-toxic glitter, which is made with salt.  Not sugar.  My friend Sally and I decided to look up the melting temperature for sugar, and found it to be around 295 degrees.  The directions called for the sugar to be put in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.  Sally thought that we would have melted sugar when it was all said and done, but we figured we would try it anyway.  One does not know if something is going to work until one tries it.  Isn't that a pretty color?  We were cautiously optimistic at about this point that it was actually going to work, mainly because I think that it would have made very pretty glitter.

After our 10 minutes was up in the oven.  Notice the dark blue spots?  Yep, the sugar melted.  And, it definitely did NOT look like glitter.

Oh well, I can live with that.  I still had a really nice cake, right?  Wrong.

The cake on the right is the top layer which slid right off the cake.  I was so frustrated.

Sunday started with a picture of the birthday boy.

Then we got into our birthday outfit.  Do you know how hard it is to find a shirt that has NOTHING on it?  Practically impossible.  This romper is the best I could do.  As is the picture.  Now that this boy can crawl, there's no stopping him.

Here's the birthday boy eating his dinner.  He gobbled it right up. 

And here's the cake.  I'm so sad about this...still.  I really need to get over it.

There were no complaints from Tyler about his cake.  He enjoyed it quite a bit.

Abigail informed me that she couldn't see anything, so I gave her my glasses to wear.  Clark mentioned that she looked a lot like me.  I have to agree with him on that one.

Annika wanted to get in on the glasses wearing as well.

And now I leave you with the CUTEST video of Tyler.  He was making these funny noises deep in his throat that made everyone laugh.  Make sure your volume is turned up so you can hear him!

Cute Things Annika Says (Part Eleven)

I dare you to read the following story and not laugh out loud.  Betcha can't do it.

Annika decided it would be fun to crawl under our bed today and go "treasure hunting".  She actually found some toys under there that she thought were lost forever.  When she was done, she came up to me in the kitchen and asked me to smell her arm.  She said, "I smell disgusting.  Maybe I need a bath."

I smelled her, didn't think she smelled THAT bad, but agreed with her that she could have a bath.  As I was walking away, she smelled her arm again and said,

"Yep, disgusting.  I smell like....garlic and smelly socks."

She then asked me why I was laughing so hard.

When you were >1

I can't believe that Tyler has been in our family for one whole year already.  Time sure flies.  It seems like yesterday that they were putting a little boy on my stomach and I said, "Boys aren't that bad." And now my baby is no longer a baby.

Here are some things from the past year that I wanted to remember:

Dear Tyler,

• You started sitting up all by yourself at 9 months

• You LOVE to talk.  Favourite word seems to be "Dad", although you have been heard saying "Mama"
• Your father has come up with a special nickname for you.  It's kinda cute.  He calls you Ler-Ty.  I don't think it would work if I tried calling you that, so I'll stick to your real name and leave the nicknames to your father.
• You LOVE your sisters.  They usually don't have to work to get a smile from you.  Anyone else is a different story.

• You started crawling at 11 months.  At first it was kind of a stomach scoot, but then one day the cat walked into your line of vision and you started crawling after him.  You also like crawling to his water dish.
• You are so strong.  You can pull open the drawers in the kitchen.
• It doesn't matter what kind of food I put in front of you, you like all of it.  You do this little giggle whenever you see it.  Have I mentioned yet how much like your father you are?
• You seem to prefer to sleep on your side.
• You are very serious. 
• My heart melts every time I walk into the room and you catch sight of me.  You break into this grin that seems to stretch over your face.  It disappears quite quickly, but I love knowing that you are so excited to see me.
• You give the best hugs.  They are few and far between, but when I get one, I make it count.
• You love having baths.  The only part you don't like is getting your hair washed, because the water streams down your face and gets into your eyes.
• You love going to the swimming pool as well.  That makes me happy, since your sisters are such water babies.

• Your favourite game to play is peek-a-boo.  You'll use your hands if you can't find a blanket.
• Sometimes, you'll put a blanket on your head and sit there very quietly.  I'll then say, "Where's Tyler?" and you'll giggle under your blanket.  I love playing that game with you.
• You have six teeth, but you're working on two more.

You have been such a wonderful addition to our family, I can't imagine our lives without you!  We love you baby boy!!!!

Love,
Mom

Saturday snapshot ~ I always knew they were a little bit goofy

Can she bake a cherry pie Billy Boy?

When we moved into our house, our neighbours across the street, Fred and Kathy, brought us a fruit tray and introduced themselves.  It was really sweet of them, but I promptly forgot their names since I figured that we would never talk to them again.  That didn't happen, they're pretty friendly people.  I'm just glad that they use their names in front of me, so eventually I found out what they were called.  For the longest time, we were calling them Fred and Ginger (sometimes I would change it up and call her Wilma).  Anyway, while walking behind their house the other day, I noticed this tree hanging over their fence with pretty red things hanging off the branches.  The next time I saw Fred, I asked him what it was, and he told me cherries.  I said that was really cool, and he told me I could go and pick a cherry from the tree and plant it in my backyard.  Their cherries grew from just one tree and he now has five in his backyard.  I took the information and filed it into my head until Saturday morning, when the doorbell rang.

Mr. Fred was there with a box of cherries he had picked from his tree for me.  I thought it was pretty sweet of him and I was very excited to try this recipe from my friend Alison.  The only problem is, I don't have an ice cream machine.  That will hopefully be remedied at the end of the month when we go to Great Falls.  Until that time, I had a box of cherries I needed to do something with.

I have never had cherry pie.  Clark asked me to make him one, and because I love him, I thought I would try my hand at it.  I have never baked a pie.  Well, that's not quite true.  I make impossible pie, impossible pumpkin pie, and lemon meringue pie but only with pre-made crusts.  This was my first ever pie that I made 100% from scratch. 

On a side note, I think I need to purchase a cherry pitter.  It took me over two hours to pit 20 cups of cherries.  It was sticky business.  I got pretty good at it near the end.

Before it went in the oven.

After it came out.  It looked pretty good!

Here's a problem I had, maybe one of my baking readers can help me out with it.  My pie didn't set and was quite watery.  It still got an enthusiastic two thumbs up from Clark, so I don't think the taste was compromised, I just thought it would maybe taste more like the pies you get when you use the cherry pie filling.  More like a jello with cherries in it. 



Saturday snapshot ~ Ranch dressing

Homemade.  So good.

I failed Him today

I'm going to date myself here, but when I was little, we had records with books.  You read the book while the record played.  One of my favourite stories that we had on record was a story about a cobbler who had received a letter from Jesus telling him that He was coming for a visit.  So, the cobbler waited, and waited.  I think there were three people that came into his shop while he was waiting that needed some sort of help, and each time he helped them.  One of them was a little old lady who was hungry, and so he fed her the food that he was saving for Jesus. 

At the end of the day, he was upset because Jesus never came for a visit, but then he was told that Jesus had come that day, just not the way the cobbler had expected.  He had shown up in the three people that came to him for help. 

The premise of the whole story is based on Matthew 25:40 ~ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

We ran out of milk this morning, so I took the kids and we headed to Wal-Mart.  I was in a bit of a rush because I wanted to get home before Clark left for work.  When I got to the van to start loading it up with kids, this person appeared out of nowhere.  I`m not quite sure if it was a man or a woman, but they asked how I was doing that day, to which I replied "Fine, how are you?"  They said, "Not too good, I'm homeless, tired, hungry and cold.  Do you think you could spare two dollars?"  I looked in  my wallet, didn't have any change and told them no.  So they left.

Abigail, who I thought wasn't paying attention to my conversation, piped up and asked "Mommy, is that man hungry?"  I said yes and continued putting the kids and the milk into the van.  But, as we were driving away, it hit me that I could have taken him (or her) back into Wal-Mart and bought them a meal.  And my Abigail noticed that they were hungry, and I didn't do anything about it.  How am I expecting my children to respond with compassion to people if I can't do it myself?  And because of this, I failed my God today.

Last night

Last night was a bad night. 

Abigail couldn't find a soother, so she didn't sleep well.  It's her own fault really.  In the morning, I usually take the soother from her and put it on top of the fridge.  But, if Clark gets up with her and not me, he usually lets her keep the soother.  She put it down somewhere yesterday and couldn't find it before bedtime.  Oh well, she has to get rid of it sometime.  It made for a rough night though. 

Abigail's diaper leaked last night.  She wasn't too happy about that.  Truth be told, I wasn't too happy about it either.  I guess I'll have to make the extra padded soakers for nighttime.  I had to go into Tyler's room to get her a new diaper, which woke him up.  That did not make me any happier.

And to top it off, I found a blog that kinda upsets me too.  The premise is she takes pins from pinterest and tries them out at home.  Some of them are kinda funny, but her language is atrocious.  Also, the part that irks me, is she doesn't seem to want to try it 100%.  Sometimes it seems like it's an "oh, I'm going to try this, but I don't have this ingredient or this ingredient...." so of course it isn't going to work out. 

I really don't know why it would upset me so much, but I guess it's just because if I was going to do a blog like that, I would try to do it more like Mythbusters and try multiple times and multiple ways before declaring a pin to be a fail.  That's just me, but I had a hard time sleeping last night because of it. 

Anyway, now that I've vented, back to our regularly scheduled program.  I took really cute pictures of the kids tonight.  Watch for them coming up on a Saturday Snapshot very shortly!

My latest project

I appear to be a bit of a bandwagon jumper.  This might not necessarily be a bad thing, I guess it just depends on my follow through.  My friend Ashley made reusable diapers for her son Caedmon.  I was a little sad about this, because she had mentioned for baby #2 they wanted to do cloth diapers, and I had big plans to make her some.  I even went on pinterest and pinned a couple of diaper insert patterns.  However, she beat me to it. 

My friend Sarah, whose son Wesley is 10 days older than Tyler, mentioned that she might be interested in trying cloth diapers out, and it made me happy again, because here was someone I could try my sewing out on.  I went out and bought the supplies and thought that just maybe I would try it too, since I seemed to have a lot of material.

Then today, Abigail ran out of nighttime diapers, and I thought...why not make her some cloth diapers to wear at night?  That would definitely make her HAVE to go on the potty, since there would be no more diapers in the house.  And so, the bandwagon has been jumped, the material purchased, and I am now cloth diapering two of my children.

Ashley was very kind and lent me her pattern book and snap attaching tool, which saved me some money.  Still, I have not been this frustrated when sewing something in a long time.  The pattern is HORRIBLE to follow.  I ended up borrowing one of Ashley's completed diaper covers and kinda making up my own pattern.  I think it turned out pretty cute.

The inserts were pretty fun to make, just really time consuming.  You have to cut four pieces of flannel and two pieces of batting and put them all together.  Because I'm a bit of a perfectionist who wants this to be pretty, I had two different colors of flannel I had to cut out, which took a bit more time.  Here's the finished product.  Oh, and YAY! for sergers.

And then, because Abigail is a girl, she got a special insert just for her.

The best part is, they fit really well.

The best BEST part is that after my initial investment, I shouldn't have to buy diapers again.  So in approximately two months, I will have saved what I paid out.  These diaper covers I made for the kids are the same size, 28-40 pounds, and they seem to fit both of them very well.