Sun at Last!

After snowing all week, we woke up to bright sunshine this morning and just HAD to go play in it. We quickly gobbled down some waffles and headed outside for some sledding action. It was nice and warm and everyone had a great time (except our little guy for a while while he had snow in his gloves). Today is one of those days when we can appreciate living in the mountains.

Parenting Tactics

Can children's ages be rounded?

When people ask me how old my kids are, I usually reply "1 and 2". It's easy, succinct, and really, most people aren't too concerned with increments beyond that, right? Although if you ask any child in grade school, you inevitably will get the increment whether you ask for it or not. For example, being "9 years and 10 months old" is WAAAAAY more developed, mature and responsible than say, "9 years and 3 or 4 months old". Surely any logical person would understand the grade-schooler's reasoning. Which possibly, is why I have been met with a few eye rolls and quizzical looks when I reply "1 and 2". I get this from experienced moms mostly, who know my one year old is too big and speaks too well to only be 12 months old or that my two year old is definitely too vocal and responsible to only be 24 months old.

I however, am sticking to my guns. Most days I have a hard enough time remembering what month it is (they fly by so FAST) let alone do the quick math in my head to deduce what fraction of a year or increment of months I should be providing. Plus I'm probably in denial.

In my defense, for all intensive purposes she has not left her "terrible twos". Her latest evidence of this is testing the difference between truth and fibs. She will wake up (I know this because I have a video monitor that watches their beds), walk out her bedroom door and into mine, crawl in bed with us and when I ask her if she has gone potty on the toilet yet she always answers "YES". Or she is alone in a room and I hear something fall/break. I go in and ask her what happened. She inevitably blames her brother. I've told her it makes me sad when she doesn't tell me the truth and I figure she'll grow out of this stage (not soon enough) but in my book this classifies her as "two".

Really, I should be telling people that HE is two as well. I can round up too, right? His latest little trick is telling us "NO". It doesn't matter what we are asking him or what the current situation is. He usually will even oblige us with our request as he is stating his defiance. I tell him that he "doesn't tell his mommy no" and "mommys' the boss", which he seems to be figuring out, but I can just see all the wonderful other "terrible two" tricks looming on the horizon for him as well.

Maybe from now on I'll just tell everyone "they're two".

Our budding Dr Doolittles

Last weekend, while Daddy went golfing, the kids and I spent the morning and early afternoon at the zoo. It was kind of a surreal experience from the moment we walked it. First thing, as we walked in, the monkeys were going nuts, making lots of noise. Since we'd seen them already several times, we decided to head the other direction to the as-of-yet-unvisited portion of the zoo. Our first stop was the koalas. My first impression was the adorable baby being held in his momma's arms who was eating some leaves for breakfast. The kids however, seemed more interested in the koalas in the glass rooms. As they walked up to the rail and looked in, the koala inside stopped what he was doing and gave them his undivided attention.

I thought it was interesting at the time, but as the day progressed it kept happening. At the giraffe area they stopped eating to come greet us. The elephant turned and watched us the whole time we were there as if he had something to say. The snow leopard came down and paced in front of us against the bars of his cage. The orangutans were leaning up against the glass right by us too. Even a turtle crawled up to the wall we were leaning over to watch him. One of the oddest things though was the reptile house. Of course some of the snakes were asleep, as you would expect most of them to be. BUT, several of them worked their way toward the glass and even crawled up it where the kids were leaning against it to watch.

My favorite experience though was the gorillas. As the kids were standing against the glass, two gorillas (I'm guessing a big sister and baby brother) made their way over to the glass and began quite a show of rough-housing right there in front of us. They were so cute and the show went on for at least 10 minutes.

I'm not saying my little ones are animal whisperers or anything. We've been to the zoo a few times before this and they were pretty "normal" experiences as zoo visits go. All I'm saying is this particular visit was exceptional by my standards.

Our First Snow

This morning we woke up to a blanket of white outside our windows. Although he was excited to see it through the window, the second he stepped out the door our little man wanted nothing to do with it and cried to be picked up. Maybe it had something to do with me wrapping him up like the little brother on Christmas Story...

I can't help it

Okay, I admit it. Admitting is the first stage of recovery, right? I am ADDICTED to the Twilight series books. A friend of mine bought me the first book for my birthday and I read it in under a week. I saw her on Wednesday and I borrowed book #2 (she's moderately addicted, nowhere near my affliction). I finished it last night. 600 pages. In two days. To my defense, I don't neglect work around the house or my family to find time to read. I read at night....until 2 in the morning...I can't help it. I just CANT but the book down. Stephanie Meyer (the author) has a way of sucking you into the next chapter, then the next, then the next, until you look up and it's 4 hours later. Now that I've finished reading #2, I simply MUST find the third book. Soon.

For any of you looking for a new series to read, I highly recommend it. It's an easy read (obviously, since I'm doing it). When I was younger I read a lot of the Anne Rice series but I like these better. In the last few years have read the Shopaholic series (also started when I received the first as a gift and it finished quickly). It's not like I'm a habitual reader though. Quite to the contrary in fact. I am however, biting at the bit to be able to see the movie, which I promised the friend who gifted me the first Twilight series book that I'd wait for her to see it with me. Otherwise, I'd have seen it already...maybe more than once. It's my current addiction but I'm okay with it.

Ready for Christmas

There's several things we enjoy doing during the Christmas season. One of these things is to set up the manger on our mantle. We make a point of getting the kids excited about it by lifting them up and showing them the sheppards, wise men, animals and Joseph & Mary. We ask them to look for baby Jesus and when they are unable to find him we explain that he doesn't show up until Christmas eve. So then every day it seems, they ask to be lifted up to look for Baby Jesus in the manger. The oldest knows that Christmas is baby Jesus' birthday and when he's not in the manger when she looks she says "Nope, it's not his birthday yet!" It's pretty cute.
Another of our family traditions is a trip to get a live Christmas tree. As practical as a artificial tree may be, there's just nothing that compares with the smell of a live tree and the fun involved in searching for the perfect one. This year we got a nice big noble fir. Both kids were old enough to help hang the (unbreakable) ornaments. Although our little man showed little interest, his sister took on the job with gusto and loved it. Only after the tree was essentially complete did he decide he wanted to help and began bringing his toys in and laying them on all available branches. It's also a tradition that Daddy does the very last tree decoration - the star on top.
Last year I found a board book of "The Night Before Christmas" so this year we've begun the tradition of reading it several times to the kids as well. I leave it on the coffee table so it is always within reach for them and they bring it to us often to have it read to them. The oldest has kind of grasped the idea of Santa this year and I'm so excited to share this season with them both.

What's for dinner?

Daddy & I have a thing for thai food so last night we tried a new recipe I got from one of my magazines this month. It's Thai Chicken salad, and it was yummy.

First, for the dressing, mix together peanut butter, red wine vinaigrette, lime juice, garlic & chili-garlic sauce (use this sparingly as it is very hot). Then in a different bowl mix shredded chicken, cilantro, mint, diced red & green peppers and seeded/diced cucumber. Toss the dressing into the bowl with chicken mixture. Spread out some butter lettuce on the plate. Then top with the chicken mixture. Sprinkle with chopped cashews & crispy noodles.

This was really easy to do and relatively healthy so that's a plus. Because of the chili-garlic sauce, the dressing heat builds on itself so Daddy & I drank more water than usual but both finished a full plate of salad happily. I didn't put the dressing on the salad for the kids and they each ate a full plate of salad too.

A Great End to November

We spent Thanksgiving with lots of family who live out of town, that we seldom get to see, so that was a great start to our last weekend in November. The next day, we went with some friends to see a Christmas lights show and fireworks to start our Christmas season. From there we headed to Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa's house for another family gathering on Saturday. To top it all off, today we put away anything Thanksgiving and brought out the boxes of Christmas decorations. Although we weren't able to get it decorated yet, we found the perfect Christmas tree and the kids are just overjoyed to be helping put out and see all of the holiday decorations. It's weekends like this that are better gifts than anything you could ever buy in a store.

Ribbon Trees

This year, I went to a craft fair-type-thing with a friend of mine and took home the cutest idea. It was the perfect craft for our little girl to help me with so we made three and gave them to our three local grandmas. Unfortunately for her two grandmas who are out of state, they don't travel far very well or we'd have made five of them.
You only need 4 things and you can get all of them from your local craft store:
1) ribbon - have your toddler pick out 5-6 rolls of coordinating spools
2) a foam cone
3) a terra cotta pot
4) a box of pins
Here's what you do: Wrap the ribbon around your 3 middle fingers and cut it by your thumb & pinky finger so that you wind up with lots of pieces that are 3-4" long. Give all of the pieces to your toddler and let him/her play with them long enough that they get really mixed up (it shouldn't take long). Ask your toddler to pick a piece of fabric. They'll come to you randomly, which is what you want. Wrap the fabric in a circle and use the pin to stick it to the cone. Repeat this until the entire cone is covered in ribbon circles. If you are so inclined, use a dowel to secure the cone to the pot or a hot glue gun to adhere it. I didn't do this because I wanted it to be able to be stored more easily. That's it! Easy cheesy and it's basically the toddler's creation since they picked the ribbon and order that they were attached. I think they turned out SO cute and my little sweetheart was excited all week about giving them to her grandmas. We signed & dated the bottom of the pot for a little personalization but I suppose you could have the toddler decorate it too.

Blanket Forts

Everybody loves them. You just really can't get away with doing it to your living room unless you're under 10 years old. In this case, Daddy lucked out and got to make one for the kids...

What's bugging us

Sesame Street this week gave Mommy a great idea. There was an episode that was based primaily on bugs. Both kids were interested and the oldest talked about all the bugs she knew of for most of the day. SO...we decided to the river Sunday afternoon on a search for bugs. Daddy packed a hammer to dig into logs with and mommy & both kids had clear containers to hold their prisoners for further inspection. Try as we might however, we couldn't find a SINGLE BUG. NOT ONE. We saw two miniscule spiders for a split second a piece, but they were so small (I'm talking, as small as a tic-tac including legs) that there was no use in chasing them further into the dirt. What a disappointment.

I will have you know, that there are thousands of bugs that live along that river. When we're hiking and spending the day there on all other occasions, they are everywhere and have an uncanny ability to show themselves at the most inopportune times. They often times will not leave us alone. Perhaps it was too late in the day (shadows were falling) or too late in the season (although we were all in jeans & tees). Whatever the reason, they seem to have eluded us. We have vowed not to be defeated however and will find some around the backyard at our house for our little ones' inspection if we have to. All you bugs out there beware - we're coming for you!

What's for dinner?

This week I plan to make the following new recipe. I am a big fan of the "A Year of Crockpotting" website and got the idea from there. Here's what I'm going to do:

Put chopped up chicken, black beans, broth, sliced mushrooms, corn, a jar of salsa, and a little cumin in a crockpot (in that order, don't mix). Let that cook on low for 6-8 hours. Use an immersible blender to blend a bit of the chicken & beans on the bottom (just to thicken the soup - don't blend it all). Stir in a little sour cream before serving and top with cheese, avocado & tortilla strips. MMMM....okay, now I have a craving for it and I HAVE to make it tonight.

Thanksgiving playdate

Our mom's group had a potluck last week for the kids. There were games to play and we made turkey headbands and hand-turkey cards. There were loads of toys to be played with, pumpkins to pound golf tees into, a sandbox and hay bales to climb on/under. Both kids had a great time.

She's gone bazzerk

Our daughter has a few language barriers she has yet to cross. One of them comes after dinner when she never fails to request "bazzerk". Luckily, this kind of bazzerk is the kind that comes with ice cream, a cookie or other treat and not a total mental breakdown. I just don't have the heart to correct her yet because "dessert" just wouldn't be the same...

Lucky Kids

Our kids are especially blessed in that they get to have so many family members around them for love and support. It takes a village, right? Well, they have SIX great-grandparents, FOUR grandparents, and way too many aunts, uncles, great-aunts, great-uncles, cousins, etc to count. On Sunday they got to spend the day with one of their grandmas and they had all sorts of fun, including making edible playdoh into cookies that they got to cook and then eat...now what could be better than that?!?!

Kidding around

The kids had a great time this morning at the petting zoo, with the other "kids"...

My Little Stinky Faces

Both of our kids love books and we make it a habit to read several books to them a day. A particular favorite of the oldest is "I Love You Stinky Face" by Lisa McCourt. I walked in on the cutest scene today while putting away the laundry. Our 2-year old was "reading" the book to her brother (and her purple teddy bear). It wasn't verbatim, of course, but I think I kinda liked her version better.

"

For those of you not familiar with the book, here are the real words:

"Mama said, 'I love you, my wonderful child.' But I had a question.

Mama, what if I were a BIG, SCARY, APE? Would you still love me then? If you were a big, scary ape, I would make your birthday cake out of bananas, and I would tell you, 'I love you, my big, scary ape.'

But, Mama, but, Mama, what if I were a super smelly skunk, and I smelled so bad that my name was Stinky Face? Then I'd plunk you in a bubble bath! But if you still smelled stinky, I wouldn't mind. I'd whisper in your ear, 'I love you, Stinky Face.'

But, Mama, but, Mama, what if i were an alligator with big, sharp teeth? I'd buy you a bigger toothbrush! And if your throat hurt, I'd look inside your huge mouth. I'd tell you, ' I love you, my dangerous alligator.'

But, Mama, what if I were a terrible meat-eating dinosaur? Then I'd make you a mountain of hamburgers to eat! I'd say, ' I love you my sweet, terrible dinosaur!'

But, Mama, but, Mama, What if I were a swamp creature with slimy, smelly seaweed hanging from my body? Then I would live by the swamp and take care of you always. I'd tell you, ' I love you, my slimy swamp monster!'

But, Mama, but, Mama, what if I were a green alien from Mars, and I ate bugs instead of peanut butter? Then I would fill your lunch box with spiders and ants and the tastiest bugs you ever had! And I'd pack a note with all the bugs that said, ' I love you, little greenie. Bon Appetit!'

But, Mama, but, Mama, What if I were a one-eyed monster? Then I would look right into your one eye and say, ' I love you,' and I would sing to you until your one droopy eyelid finally closed and you fell fast asleep.

I love you, Mama. And I love you, my wonderful child.

1st and 10

We went to our first football game with the kids this Friday and it was fun but very chilly. A friend of the family was playing so it was worth the price of admission to get to see him knock heads with the other leatherheads. The kids were pretty excited at first, what with all the lights and band and noise and cheerleaders and novelty of it all, but that gave way to crankiness when they realized it wasn't getting any warmer or earlier. Then as bedtime passed they both decided in their own ways to no-so-subtly let us know it was time to go home. So we made it through the 3rd quarter, which I consider a successful evening.

What's for dinner?

Here's a good idea for AFTER dinner. I got the idea from "A Year of Crockpotting" website (which I love, by the way). I haven't made it yet, but plan on making this warm dip this evening for dessert before we head out for a football game. It sounds so good that I can't imagine it being anything but absolutely divine.

In a small crockpot (or pan), add peanut butter, brown sugar, cream, and marshmellows (in a ratio of about 3/1/1/4)& a little vanilla. Let that cook slowly for about an hour and serve with sliced apples and/or celery.

UPDATE: We made this and it was super yummy! We had pretzels, bananas & chocolate wafer cookies to dip also. A little bit went a long way though and we have loads left over for later...which isn't such a bad thing (except for my belt notches!)

Closing in fast

Our little guy is quickly closing in on his "big" sister. Her clothes are mostly size 2T but she's lengthening out to a 3T so has a few bigger things. HE on the other hand, is quickly moving past his size 18mo clothes and into size 24mo (aka 2T). This evening we went to grandma & grandpa's for dinner and both kids were wearing size 2T clothes. I wonder now how long it will take for them to realize it too.

My brother is 7 years younger than I am and has referred to me as his "little" sister for many years. I guess since he's over 6 ft and 200 lbs I would be a bit insulted if he didn't...