Birthday!

Another year older. I am amazed, indifferent and nostalgic about the fact that I am now 26. I can't believe all this time has passed without me even knowing. I remember Nick had a hard time with turning a quarter of a century. It wasn't as hard for me because I felt like I had plenty to show for my short 25 years on this planet (not that he didn't, but, you know) Now, I am closer to 30 than 20. Wow. I have never been huge on birthdays, never needed big parties or big presents. I prefer not to be the center of attention. This year was perfect. I had the best birthday I've had in a while. Nick got up super early and cleaned the kitchen that I didn't have time to clean the day before and ended the day by watching Pride and Prejudice with me. We met at the fountains in Corvallis for a picnic lunch and then walked around Corvallis with the best of friends for the whole rest of the day. Thanks Leslie- you are amazing. All in all- a great day.

3 year old musings...

These are a few of the conversations we have been having with Elie lately...

Mom, does God wear clothes? Does he change his clothes?

Does God eat?

Does God go potty?

I want to be a dog when I grow up. And then a giant.

Mom, my poop is brown. Hey, your hair is brown. Your hair looks like my poop. (not even joking. She told me this on my birthday too!).

Jesus' mom's name is Mary. Hey, Mary Poppin's name is Mary. IS MARY POPPINS JESUS' MOM?!?!!? (this was said with much enthusiasm.)


Some days I wish I could just read her mind. She definitely keeps me on my toes.

Guess who?

Elie? You got it! We blew Elie's hair dry after her bath today.



She looked in the mirror incredulously and said "that's not Elie." She couldn't stop turning her head and feeling her hair against her back. It was fun. It is amazing how much hair effects the way a face looks.







The half and half shot

Green Thumb?

I have been growing increasingly tired of apartment life. Sure, there are positives; no utilities, cheap living, free work out equipment, but I want some land! Kari- there is a Far and Away quote lingering in the back of my mind that would fit here nicely but I can't remember what it is. Anyway... This weekend Elie and I went out and bought a few starters to make our own little concrete garden. Thanks to my father in law (who never throws ANYTHING away) we inherited a few planter boxes which we put to good use. We planted string beans, pear tomatoes, bell peppers, basil, cilantro and lots and lots of strawberries! I am so excited to eat the "fruits" of my labor (ha ha). Luckily, I have an extremely responsible daughter with an incredible memory (I compared her with an elephant in my previous post) the plants will never go without water- something that would likely happen if it was left solely to me.

*And yes, that is our Easter Cross holding up the planter boxes. The earlier comment that I lovingly made about my father in law also applies to my husband. And the tree has been out there since CHRISTMAS because there would be a use for it. To give him credit, it has been a Christmas tree, Easter Cross and now a planter box support thingy so I guess there is SOME value in keeping things past their apparent usefulness-although don't tell him I said that.

That's my girl

The other night on the way home from Tribe Elie threw a FIT in the car because she wanted Nick to pull over so she could pee in the forest. As is typical with Elie and her ideas, I have NO idea where it came from and why it was so important to her right then. Nick suggested that she make a forest in her bathroom so she could always pee in the forest. Great idea Nick. Elie, having the memory of an elephant immediately remembered the idea this morning and worked hard drawing, cutting, gluing and then taping her forest to the bathroom wall. Mine is the one in the
middle.

while we are on the subject...

While looking for a picture for my last post I ran across this... Another reminder of how similar to me my darling daughter is. She has definitely made this face while loving (okay squeezing) her sister.

apples

I had a flashback today while I was dealing with my three year old. A flashback in reverse. I was attempting to talk to my willful child and she would not look at me. I said to her "you can look at me and talk this through with me or go back into time out." She very calmly placed herself in timeout and turned her head away from me. She did her three minutes in silence and walked to the bathroom (where she was supposed to be before her fit that got her in timeout the first time). I walked into the bathroom to talk to her and she was turned around on the toilet so that her back was to me. I knelt next to her and sat there quietly as she stared at the wall, not flinching, not glancing back, nothing. And suddenly it hit me. The memory of my father staring at me, stone faced and irritated while I refused to give him the satisfaction of eye contact. One little defiant apple rolling slowly away from the tree.

One of those days

This afternoon was chaos. Sitcom-worthy, stay-at-home-mom-cliche chaos. Burned fingers, burned muffin tins (no, not the actual muffins- just the tins), two pies, lots of tears, a dented frying pan, dishes everywhere, no counter space, five loads of unfolded clean clothes and a frantic attempt to get a hold of someone to bring dinner to me so I don't have to cook. What does Nick come home to? Dinner and smiles. He must think I am so dramatic when he sees all of that and then my don't-even-think-about-touching-me-face. Now the kids are in bed, dishes are done, pies are baked and I get to sit and eat a bowl of ice cream.

Pinkalicious!

Elie and I read a book at Costco last week about a little girl who ate so many pink cupcakes that she turned pink. I just might experience the same with the muffins I made today. I got the recipe from one of my favorite blogs...

http://cookingwithmykid.com/category/breakfast/page/3/

The recipe is for blueberry muffins and they are some of the BEST muffins I have ever had. They are really moist and even healthy! (If you don't add the brown sugar topping) I didn't have any frozen blueberries, but I did have the triple berry mix from Costco. The raspberries turned the muffins pink. So fun! Now if I could only stop eating them.

Happy 7 Months!

Miss Lainey Kate is 7 months old today! I can't believe how quickly it has gone and how sweet she is. She will have her first tooth by the end of the week too!

When imaginitive three year olds are left to their own devices...

I don't think she had any toys left in their respective homes and I know for sure that there was not a stitch of clothing left in her dresser. Although you can see they didn't get to all the books.