WIP Wednesday and so much more

I guess it is a good thing that I did not post my work in progress last Wednesday because it would of looked the exact same.


Confession: I have not picked up my knitting in over a week!
I have been working on test knitting a little girl dress pattern for my sister. I was super excited to get the pattern from her and I cast on my stitches the following day. I was doing really good at working on it but then all of a sudden it got lost behind all of the other things I have to do in a day. I only have to finish about 5 more inches in the skirt and finish the sleeves and then it will be done. Hopefully this weekend while camping I will be able to find some time to pull it out and do a few rows. One can only hope.
I still have a number of things to do before we can head off to the ocean early Friday morning. This will be the first time our family has not stuck around home for the fourth and we are pretty excited. The little man has been pretending to light off fireworks all week long and last night he was able to light of a few with the hubby.
So my goal tomorrow is to just hang out in my PJ's and get the things done around the house in the morning and head off to Costco in the afternoon (hopefully not still in my PJ's, but we will see). I really hope that not everyone and the mother are there.
Speaking of mothers my mom posted a great poem on her blog today and yesterday she joined in on all the fun my sister and I were having posting old pictures of each other by posting another picture of my sister, my grandma and of me back in 1987.
I have been having such a hard time sleeping the past few nights because my allergies are really kicking my butt. My ears are plugged, I have a cough, my nose is stuffed, my throat is scratchy, and my chest feels like an elephant is sitting on it. If the grass pollen was not through the roof I would not be feeling as bad as I do. I am going to start taking local honey daily but they say that it wont start working till NEXT spring and I need something to help me NOW.
It is also day number two that the little man does not want to eat what I cooked for dinner. Last night I cooked sweet and sour meatballs and tonight it was Italian chicken bake. Both meals I have cooked before and both meals he eat before. Last night I saved his dinner for him and every time he told me he was hungry I said his dinner was in the fridge. He still did not eat it. So tonight when we sat down for dinner he took one bite and one lick. Later he said he was hungry so I told him I would make a PB and J and during the time it took me to make it he ate half of his dinner. He then ate his whole sandwich, crust in all. If anyone out there has any helpful tips on getting your toddler to eat send them my way otherwise I will just stick with 'He will eat when he is hungry.'
I finally tonight managed to comb out all of the little lady's cradle cap. I coated her head with Bert's Bees Apricot baby oil and got combing. Now her head is as soft as a peach and it smells like one two.
Now our family is going to cuddle up on the couch and watch the little mans favorite show, Adam and Jamie (Mythbusters) while I nurse the little lady to sleep. Hopefully I get a little more sleep tonight.

Flash back

Yesterday my sister posted a picture of me and her on her blog when I was about 8 or 9. I cant remember when the photo was taken or even who's birthday it was. So I decided to dig up an old photo to add to the fun. So lets flash back to 1986.


That is my sister holding me when I was about the same age the little lady is right now.
Aren't old pictures so much fun?

Sunday funnies

Notice anything wrong with this picture?
On another funny note...
The hubby is always so worried that the little lady is going to poo on him when she is going diaper free but today it was not the little lady he needed to be worrying about, it was the birds. While outside this afternoon one decided to poo on his shirt as it was flying over. Yuck!
And as for the little lady she has pooed on the potty far more times this week than ever Yeah! I think I only changed two poopy diapers and my mom had to clean up one poo mess she made outside. Oops!

This moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - Amanda Soule

Thursday, Thursday

Last Thursday my sister started 'No excuse Thursdays'. When I read her post last week I thought that maybe, just maybe this would be the motivation I needed to get some things done. I knew what my goal was for this week, something simple and easy to ease me into this, put the large mountains of clothes away in both of the littles rooms.



I could see the light but before I knew it, it was Wednesday evening and the piles were still there.
When I got up this morning I was still not motivated. It is just still hard for me to get up at the crack of dawn (7 am) and dive into a project. I normally get up, potty the little lady, start a pot of coffee and sit down at the computer to nurse the little lady back to sleep as I catch up on all that I missed in the world as I slept. Once she is back to sleep I am stuck. If I lay her down then she will wake up and if I hold her then I cant get much done. 99% of the time I choose to hold her.
By 10 am we were all headed out to door to go a few places. By the time we got home it was already into the afternoon and it was time for me to start thinking about dinner.
After dinner I had nothing holding me back from getting done what I needed to do.



When the hubby saw me cleaning up the little ladys room he asked me if I was cleaning it so she could sleep in it. I quickly replied NO! She might like having a little more space sleep and strech out but I am not ready to give her any.

Quad

There is a little man that I do know
who will ride his quad from to and fro

He likes to go fast, he likes to go slow
He likes to pull his wagon where ever he does go


When he rides his quad he looks like one cool dude
He even likes to ride in the nude


And when the sun goes down
there is no need to frown

because tomorrow is a new day
and a new day means lots more play

She likes to move it

The little lady has always been a mover. I can remember her always moving when she was in my belly, so very different from her brother who I had to push to see if he was still in there. Once she came into this world the moving has not stopped.
Last month she rolled over for the first time. For the past few weeks as soon as I lay her on her back she is flipped over onto her belly (she just loves to be on her belly).



And when she gets onto her belly she is kicking her feet trying to go somewhere. The little man thinks that it is very cool that the little lady is trying to crawl. We will see how cool he thinks it is when she really starts doing it.
She looks like she is doing the worm (dance move) when she is trying to crawl. First her feet will start moving. Kicking all over the place. Then she will start pulling her legs in and pushing up her bottom. Once she had done that a few times she will start swimming with her arms. After a little while she gets really frustrated and gives up and just starts chewing on her thumb.
Before I know it she will really be on the move and I wont be able to put off cleaning my floors any longer. Who knows, the little lady might enjoy chasing dust bunnies.

Welcome summer

We welcomed summer today by pretending that we were really having summer like weather.
The little man had a blast playing out in the 'sunshine'.
He even got so 'hot' that he just had to take off his shirt while he was working out in the yard.




Good thing I 'remembered' to put sunscreen on him.
Hopefully summer will be her soon and we wont have to pretend anymore (even though pretending is lots of fun).

Circle of life

Around

and

around

and

around

we go.
That's our life and I love it.
Happy fathers day, hubby.
We love you.

What I have learned this week from baking/ cooking

I have been trying to cook healthier and make more food from scratch. Not only is it cheaper but it is also healthier. Here are just a few things that I have learned this week while baking and cooking.

1. That the little man does not like blueberry muffins. He woke up on Wednesday morning and I asked him if he wanted blueberry muffins for breakfast. He was all excited. So he helped me make them. When it came time to add the blueberries he wanted to help so we added a few extra. When they came out of the oven and were cooled off a little I handed him one. He looked at me and said 'I dont like blueberries mom.' What! Then why did we make blueberry muffins. There is now way that I can eat a dozen and a half muffins all by myself. Oh well, there was nothing I could do about it. I tried to get him to eat around them but since we added extra (like he wanted) it was a little hard.

2. Just because I think I know the recipe, look anyway. I have a recipe for no knead bread dough that I use all the time (at least once a week). I use this dough for everything. I know the recipe by heart, or well I thought I did. Water is the first ingredient and for a single batch you use 3 cups but for a double batch you use well.. double. I forgot that part and started mixing it and realized that the dough that is normally really wet was really dry. I added the water and mixed some more causing my no knead beard dough to be a little kneaded. The finished product still turned out fine maybe next time I will look at the recipe.


3. Sugar makes dried beans hard. I had soaked some bean over night yesterday so that I could make chili for dinner. Plans changed and I decided to make baked beans instead. So I just took the beans that were in the pot, rinsed them, added a can a beef broth, a can of tomato sauce and some brown sugar. I let them cook on med-low heat for a while and I tasted them. Still crunchy, so I let them cook longer. After three hours of cooking they were still crunchy. After talking with my mom and dad they said that they have had sugar make food hard before. I had never heard such a thing.

4. Agave can not be substituted for sugar in peanut butter trail mix bars. I had never made these bars before but adding agave was the only change I made to the recipe and the bars did not turn out very bar like. Here I was trying to make them healthier by not putting sugar in them and it was a flop. It had a great taste but it was more like peanut butter granola than a bar. I think that I will try this recipe next week (with no changes) and see if it turns out any better.


And now I have some bananas calling my name. So I think that banana bread might be for breakfast tomorrow (the little man likes banana bread, I think). Hopefully it turns out great.

Bath and sleep

Yesterday was attempt number two at trying to give the little lady a bath in the big tub with her brother.
She did not like it.
I told myself last time I tried it that I was not going to try it for a while. Why dont I listen to myself?
It would just be easier if I could give both a bath at the same time but if I did that I might miss moments like this


Both kids are napping right now. One on my chest the other is in the car.
The little man woke up tired this morning. I wonder if he would of slept better if he would not of insisted on sleeping naked?
I guess I spoke too soon about both of the littles sleeping, the one on my chest is wide awake. She must of heard me typing about her.
She slept great last night. 10 hours!! We will see if that can happen again tonight.

Playing in the woods

My parent have been spending a little more time over at the lake house lately and today our family decided to come over and join them.

The weather was beautiful.
The little man had fun helping Grandma out in the over grown garden.


There is a very large garden space over at the lake but this space has not been used for the past few years so it is really over grown. They planted squash plants, pulled weeds and examined bugs. He even saw his first gardner snake that he was a little afraid of.


He also helped Grandpa spread the new gravel in the driveway.


And he took his fair share of pictures.





The last picture is of the little lady going potty outside. She has had some great potty days lately.
It brought back so many memories walking around in the woods around the lake. I am glad that the littles will get to make there own memories in the same woods.

Cute as a button

Today was very low key
I cleaned house a little (not like it need it or anything).
Washed a few loads of laundry.
And just hung out with the kids.

The kids both took naps today. This is not rare for the little lady (she naps most of the day) but it is becoming more rare for the little man.

The little lady woke up with a button mark on one of her chins.


The little man woke up with blankie lines on his face.


It would of been nice if I could of had a nap also. I wonder what my lines would of looked like?

This moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - Amanda Soule

His own style

The little man got himself dressed yesterday and spent most of the afternoon outside helping daddy out in rain.

What a difference a day makes

Yesterday the sun peeked its head out from behind the clouds. It was not real that sunny but at least it was not raining. We were able to spend most of the day outside and we even went for a nice walk in the afternoon.
As I was laying in bed last night I heard it. The four letter word that has been haunting us this spring. RAIN. I lay there thinking to myself I guess I did not need to water the garden.
So today when we got up it was still raining. The sun did come out for a little while this morning (and I had a little hope that today might be a nice day)but by afternoon it was hiding behind a really dark, big cloud. Just after lunch that dark cloud opened up with a bright flash and a large rumble.

It seems like on the days that it is wet outside the little lady is staying dry inside.


We have been practicing elimination communication (EC) with the little lady since she was about a month old. We have good days and then we have really good days.
Today has been a really good day. We have had far more 'success's' than 'misses'.
But what really makes it a great day is being able to be there for my kids and show them how much I love them.

I wonder what tomorrow has in store for us?

Today was a good day

I had some leftover pancakes from breakfast so they are now living in my freezer until I feel like pancakes again.
The sun did not stick around all day but I am not complaining, at least it was not pouring.
We all played in the playroom for a while.



As you can tell by the photos he never got dressed today. The only reason I got dresses was to go to the grocery store. Then I came home and put them back on.

I think what made my day was when the little man and I sat down and drew pictures. I love to draw. I have been waiting for the day when he would finally start drawing people. I knew it would come and today it did. He wanted me to draw me, him and the little lady. So I did.


Then it was his turn. He wanted to draw daddy. So he did.


When he was done drawing I think that my smile on his face was bigger than his.
After we were done drawing I realize I needed to get dinner started.
While I cooked dinner both kids slept. One in the ergo and the other on a kitchen chair.


The little lady just got done nursing to sleep (hopefully for the night) and the kitchen is still clean. I think that I need to cast on another pair of shorties tonight because I heard something about temps in the 70's for next week. Maybe summer IS going to come.
Yes, today was a good day.

Today is going to be a good day

I can just feel it.
Made pancakes for breakfast.
The sun is shining.
The little man is off playing in the play room.
The little lady is nursing back to sleep.
My kitchen is clean.
The laundry pile is very small.
The hubby is waiting to hear back from a job.
And did I mention the sun is shining.

This moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.


The women who started it all Amanda Soule

You capture- Best shot

I dont know if I would really call this my best shot but I really like this picture.


It was taken last night during naked time (well... it is naked time in our house most of the day).
The little man was sitting right next to me taking pictures also. So in this picture the little mans flash from his camera over exposed my picture. I changed it to black and white and uped the contrast a little and I really like the way it turned out.

Part of I should be folding laundry's You Capture Thurdays

WIP Wednesday

My needles are once again bare.
I finished my rainbow shorties from last week and they are working great. I still need to finish the tie for them, but other than that they are finished.


When I find some time to sit down and cast on it will be another pair of shorties. This time in different shades of pink. It was a very fun and easy pattern. I am not really up for too much of a challenge right now.

I cant believe that it is 59 degrees outside, windy, rainy and the second day of June. The only way the little lady was able to wear her shorties was with a pair of leg warmers. Lets hope that this is not how the whole summer is going to be.

We are home

After five days of camping


five days of hiking


five days of rain


five days of no Internet or TV


five days of great family time we are home.


After an early dinner, baths for all, I have two sleeping kids.



What a great way to end a wonderful family trip.