Water Baby 2

Heading out to work. Roadwork.

Good times.

Mmmm. Watch.

This is how we keep him from answering his phone!

oh my - yes another one!

We were all sitting nicely around the table at my mother's house enjoying a wonderful roast chicken dinner last week. The toddler had eaten his fair share and excused himself (left the table on his own accord). He ventured out onto the patio to take in some fresh air (the door was left open to clear the house of the burnt chemical smell left behind from the pan handles that melted in the preheated oven!!). I peered over to see the toddler looking out at the picturesque view - with his pants around his ankles, diaper half off, peeing down the dollar sized gutter. Yes, he did. I directed my mother and sister's attention to this, but alas we were all to late to get a picture of this impressive feat. Oh my. What will happen next? Do I dare ask?

Rhythm

So. I have been trying to establish a little rhythm to our day. Well...specifically to our morning. We have a rhythm we follow at night: dinner, clean-up, play, bath, dressed, 1/2 hour movie, 1/2 hour books, bed. And bedtime is rarely an issue. Getting us moving in the morning is another story. So, in comes the rhythm. I figured I would start with the one thing I can control - myself. I nolonger sit and relax for 15-30 minutes in the morning drinking tea and cleaning up the kitchen. Now I hop in the shower. I hope to be showered and dressed before 7am. Good, great, done - 3 mornings in a row. Then, clean up the kitchen while tea steeps, set breakfast table, prepare daily baking/dinner prep. Kids breakfast by 8am, vitamins, teeth, dressed. Well. The first morning I attempted this, all 3 kids joined me in the kitchen to prepare and cook pancakes for breakfast. No problem. I love to have them cook with me and they are great at it. However, the whole rhythm was completed about an hour earlier than I had anticipated. Oh well, at least it happened. The following day, all things went off without a hitch. Teeth got brushed, before noon - wahoo. Today - another story. I seem to have missed the window. It is now almost 9am, and although I have accomplished a lot (dishes/laundry/vacuum/baking), the kids are still not dressed, have not brushed their teeth, and have not had breakfast. Instead, they are happily playing together downstairs and I am absolutely not going to disturb this amicable time they are having together. So what of the rhythm? I just don't know. To be continued perhaps....Hmmm.

Happiness

Things like this make me so happy. This is what I saw when I returned from the laundry room.

New Pets

My amazing and talented husband built a bird feeder for me the other weekend. Within a few days, we had a swarm of birds (chickadee's, blue jay's, junco's). Twin1 has been asking for a new pet for some time, so I suggested to him that he could pretend the birds were his pets. He was thoroughly pleased. Upon hearing this, the toddler got very excited and ran to the kitchen. I was unsure of what he was doing and could hear the chair scraping across the kitchen floor. I heard the clinking of dishes and a few minutes later he returned with the strainer. I asked if he was cooking and he responded, "Birds." Huh. A ha. He immediately put his boots on and headed out the door. He had his net and was going to catch a pet!!

Soup

We have been indulging in a fair bit of soup lately. Usually Lentil. I have fond memories of one soup in particular. My Austrian Grandma would make a clear broth and some fresh crepe noodles. Me and my siblings would gather around the table and cut the noodles to put in our very own bowls of soup. We got to cut the noodles any way we wanted. Fun. With our wheat intolerance, I had pretty much discarded the passing of this memory on to my kids. The discovery of Lentil Flour has changed this. So, one lunch while the kids were playing downstairs and I happily prepared the Lentil crepes and broth, set out the cutting boards... I was very excited to introduce this to them. However, things did not go well. Twin2 pouted and complained that the crepe was not in the shape of a builder hat. The toddler thought it was yucky because twin2 was such a mope. Twin1 put on a brave face and gobbled it down for me. I will persevere. I will try again and eventually my kids will think this is the greatest event and will pass this on to their kids. he, he.

(Can you see the pout?)

(He preferred chunky noodles.)

(All ready)

(The result. I couldn't help but add some vegetable. My grandma's did not have any.)

(Always ready for a cheese photo op.)

Life

We had a beautifully busy weekend. In anticipation of my husbands promotion at work, we had our weekend a day early, or a normal sat/sun weekend. We busily finished, or attempted to finish up some projects and relished in some family time. Something I fear will be a bit of a distant memory for the next few weeks.

I attempted to complete the quilt I have been working on for my husband - I did not accomplish this. We picked up the boat and gave it a bit of a clean. We had planned to take it out for a spin and test out the newly refurbed engine, but ran out of time. We dug out a little garden in anticipation of bean cultivation and a home for the remainder of the dirt, but we didn't finish and the dirt continues to sit in the driveway. We hiked the first lookout. We had family Monday night dinner a night early. We visited with traveling Aunt and Uncle. We thought we would go bowling, but didn't. Hmmmm. Where does the time go. Our last 2 day weekend until our road trip in 3 weeks.

2 whole weeks in together in an RV. I can't wait.