Now THAT'S More Like It!

Today we got nearly 6" of snow on top of the 9.5" we got last week. At least 4 more inches are expected before tomorrow at noon. THAT is what I expect in the winter thankyouverymuch!

Tiny Visitors

Although I am missing Chester and Lucy (our dogs) during this time of transition (I have a cousin who graciously took them in while we rent) today I realized I had some little animal visitors.

After the kids eat there are often quite a few deposits of bread crumbs, noodles, cereal, and bits of whatever was for that meal left on the tablecloth. Yesterday I made #1 a coffee cake and this morning both boys managed to get more on the table/floor than in their mouths. At our old house the table cloth was taken out to the back deck, shaken, and then re-used. Our dogs do not get "people food" but do enjoy licking up crumbs and lost pieces of cereal. I figure that isn't going to hurt them. They probably got what equalled 1/4 c. of "junk" in a week's span.

I've started attempting to shake the table cloth each time at the rental house into the trash, but that hasn't been totally successful. I usually end up with more on the floor than in the trash, so I resorted (and am a little embarrassed to admit it) to shaking it on the floor and then simply sweeping. This morning I was in a hurry so I opened the front door, shook out the cloth on the front porch (which no one uses really, we go in and out the garage) and replaced the cloth on the table. I just really didn't want to deal with the mess this morning.

When I went out the front door to get #1's attention (he was doing something in the driveway) real quick, I looked down at the front porch and saw this!

Two animals enjoyed coffee cake this morning, and not a crumb was left. Being that there were both bird & cat prints...I am hoping the cat ate coffee cake for breakfast and not a birdie!!!

Try and Tell

I know, two posts in one day after I had been very bad about posting and very very bad about posting pictures (finally cleared a camera card...got inspired by Our Family Circus). If you want to read the other post I did today with lots of pictures of "Mono"...scroll down or click here.

So my friend Cop Mama has done a couple of Try and Tell postings, and I thought today I had something to share. Mom Tried It hosts this meme and explains it as grown up "show and tell". I kinda like that...isn't that what blogging is all about?

First off I'd like to say that I did NOT NOT NOT think or make this idea up...I saw it in a magazine, as did The Mommy Diaries. I was at a doctor's office...not sure where to cite this project, but NOT ME. I just tried it and it worked great. So I give to you....

Rainbow Ice/Sun Catcher Project

This is a picture of the one Snug made...at dusk. It is really much prettier in the sunlight, but I wanted an up close shot, and here it is.

Now Little M (during preschool) will demonstrate how to make it! He poured water into an ice cube tray. We found that 7 colored cubes was enough, so both boys got to make a sun catcher. We have been talking in preschool about colors, so this was a great project. He put red food coloring in the first one, made orange for the second, did yellow in the third, created green for the fourth, did blue for the fifth, created purple for the sixth, and then I let him put whatever in the seventh...kinda turned a weird purple in the end.

When the cubes are frozen (we let it sit overnight, but morning till after nap would have worked) pop them out and put them in a round *COLD* water filled dish. All I have here at the rental house was a pie plate, but I think a round cake pan would have been better (deeper). I also placed a small cup/dish with water in the bottom so that a hole would not freeze and we could hang it up.

The water must be *COLD* because the cubes will start to melt right away. Our dish is not completely full of water, but 1/2 full is easier to get into the freezer. After it is mostly frozen you can add more and then freeze again.

Here is what it looked like right before I added more water to his. We've gotten quite a bit of snow (nothing compared to All Things Family, but still a good amount) so my Draycare kids were not here today...he hasn't seen his done yet.

But this is what Snug's looks like (pre-snowstorm) done and in the sunlight. That hole is from where the cup was. If it gets a little water under the cup and doesn't quite have a hole, use a medicine dropper filled with hot water to melt enough to get a ribbon through. Hang up and enjoy!

Click here to see what other moms have discovered!

The Proof is in the Pictures

This is a book we received in a bag of hand-me-downs. This isn't our exact copy, because ours is in English and Spanish. Mono Y Yo is what it is titled in Spanish. My husband calls Little Monkey Man "Mono". And yes, we really call Snug, Snug. As he grows bigger we call him it less and less, but if you ask him who Snug is, he knows.

This fast growing toddler grows into his daddy's nickname of "Mono" more and more everyday. He will be a jungle gym champ. We're pretty sure he'll ride a tricycle before his brother (Poor Snug...riding a bike is THE most frustrating thing for him). Yesterday our Little Monkey Man was in a particularly interesting mood so I kept a camera handy to share some of his antics with you...and so when he grows up and isn't my little boy anymore I can remember just how much mischief he could get into.

Here are some couch acrobatics.

Here he is standing on a chair during our preschool session. A folding chair. I've tried putting him in his high chair and giving him things to keep him "busy" but he chucks them at the kids who are trying to work and gets great pleasure out of screeching and seeing who is bothered by it. We now just let him run around and I remove him when he gets himself into dangerous situations (ex. standing on folding chairs). Homeschool moms, how do you deal with little ones while you are teaching bigger ones????

Ah, the motorcycle. He mounts it from the front...lays on top...spins around...and then sits down to ride like the wind. It looks painful, but not as painful of posting how nice our computer desk is organized at the moment.

While playing with the vintage Little Tykes party kitchen that I picked up for next to nothing at a garage sale a couple of years ago (come on, someone else out there remembers this relic) it is very necessary to be on top of it, hang over the edge, and then stick things into the cupboard on the other side...upside down. I didn't get the upside down picture because I was afraid he would (and he did) fall off and bump his head. I was on the other side to catch him. I'm not good with catching.

This may be one of my favorites. This is a built in china hutch (1 of 2) that we are not using in the rental. Monkey Man likes to open the door, climb up/in, and take a little break.

This last picture I had to snap while he was not looking because it is a BIG no-no. Anyone want dinner at my house? I won't tell you how many things he has "sampled" from this perch without me realizing it.

And to end, I have to tell you a funny from him. We've been teaching him that things are hot for quite a few months. He particularly enjoys blowing on hot food...with gusto. The other day I was opening the oven door to take dinner out (or put it in, don't remember). I told him to "get back, it is hot". He instead took a step forward and began blowing as hard as he could into the oven. I had to laugh. And then I had to make him step back. I know I am so tired right now, but I will miss these days when they grow up.

Superbowl "Party"

As I mentioned yesterday, we don't exactly party for the Superbowl. With my husband working and two kids who have to go to bed should be in bed before halftime...it isn't exactly excitement city.
My kids don't watch hardly any "regular" T.V. Snug does watch Wheel of Fortune probably 3 nights a week. Having commercials on is always entertaining. I'm not big on the media advertising to my kids, but during Wheel or Fortune the ads are pretty safe. Aspercreme, Cialis (he has NO clue), Boniva, denture cleaners, and electronic wheelchair commercials haven't seemed to increased his "gimmes" at the store :o)

Monkey Man rarely sits still for any kind of T.V. but he does enjoy watching football. He sat himself (half dressed) right in front of the T.V. to watch last night. Apparently he is watching a commercial in this picture because the person appears to have a hospital gown on...I don't remember any of the players being that seriously injured during last night's festivities.

Snug on the other hand not only watched the game, but the commercials as well. Luckily he is pretty distractable because the Doritos one with the 3 year old slapping his mother's date after he touched the bowl of chips was a "no-no" with me. I can usually just talk to him during the commercials and he doesn't pay that much attention. However, there was a funny incident last night. After Monkey Man went to bed, I told Snug he could stay up till half-time. There was a commercial for___________? and all the men at the office were in their underpants. They were making copies, doing deskwork, etc. Something about casual Fridays. Not sure. What I do remember is Snug looking at me and declaring "Thems needs to put their CLOTHES on!!!" I had to laugh. This was coming from the boy who has no qualms about running around in his birthday suit even with company here. We have been trying to teach modesty, and apparently it is sinking in.

One commercial I really appreciated was the one by Tim Tebow and his mom about supporting life. They then directed people to http://www.focusonthefamily.com/ where you can watch the commercial if you missed it. I know CBS got lots of flak for airing the commercial from lesbian and abortion causes, but YEAH FOR YOU CBS. I guess I can forgive the underwear men and slapping preschooler.

So back to the "party". I had decided to order pizza for my husband's dinner to make him feel a but more Superbowl-y. Papa John's pizza had a deal that you could get a large any topping pizza for $10. WOW! So I got online to order at about 5:00ish. I could NOT get the website to load...and when it did and I put in my order, it would kick me back to a "cannot find the page" thing. Either I ordered a half cheese half all meats pizza 12 times, or it never went through...probably the latter. So I decided to call them. I had to dial our local branch 27 times (I went back on my cell and counted) before it even would pick up. Papa John's has this annoying policy that you have to listen to their entire commercial spiel on the phone before they even answer. I listened to it for 15 minutes and hung up. I did find out during that lovely listening experience that the $10 deal was only for people who order online (and apparently whom the website works for).

At approximately 6:00 I gave up on Papa John's and decided to go with our old stand-by. I dialed Little Ceasar's and immediately got a REAL person, ordered twice the pizza (but #1 will point out not twice the quality) for the same price and they said it would be ready in 12 minutes. Now that is customer service. But it gets better. #1 was going to pick up the pizza/had the money and he wasn't able to get it until after 7pm. Those poor people held our pizza F O R E V E R on their busiest night of the year. Thanks Little Ceasar's!

So, what did YOU do for the Superbowl?