Messy Face

Strawberry, blueberry Pops

1 cup organic frozen strawberries
1 cup organic frozen blueberries
1 cup water
1 banana (for sweetness)
1 tbsp agave nectar (or to taste)

Whiz together in blender until liquefied. Pour into popsicle cups with sticks and freeze at least 4 hours.

The kids loved these. I should have taken a picture of them both yesterday- they had it all over them like war-paint. Ya know, you leave them alone for just a few seconds!!! I tell ya!

Good Buddies

Birthday Wish List 2006

Ethan's 1st birthday

In lieu of Super E's 5th birthday (can you believe he's going to be 5 already?), I have updated his wish list in case anyone is wondering what to get him. He has been compiling a list in his head and telling me what he'd REALLY like this year. Take a look to get some ideas.

Good News

The house is under contract and our closing date is set for July 27. We are slowly starting to pack and get ready for our big trip to AZ

Here are some pictures of the boys in our mini pool. Yep, this is the best we can do on a hot summers day in the Big D.

P.S. Does anyone know who this dirty orphan child might belong to?

At an art festival

We were kicked out of house yet again by more home shoppers all day Saturday, so we went to another art festival to get out of the house.

Fortunately, all of our house cleaning, rushing the kids out of the house, and sitting out in the heat has paid off. Our counter offer was accepted (yipee!!!) and we are now in our 3rd day of the option period (4 more days to go). Hopefully our home inspection will go well and we'll be on our way to AZ by the end of July! Now, we are getting ready for a massive yard sale. We are liquidating BIG TIME!

Some pictures

Sorry, I haven't posted in a while but blogger has been acting up making it nearly impossible to upload pictures. These are the very first pictures taken on my new camera! Yea!!!!

We finally got an offer on our house yesterday(a bit low) and have given our (very fair) counter offer. Everyone PLEASE keep good thoughts in your head that they will accept it!! We will find out tonight or tomorrow if it's a go!

Kiddley

Loobylu (one of my favorite blog sites) has just started Kiddley. It's a great new blog with tons of great ideas and things to do that are all kid and family related. I'm putting it on my sidebar so check it out sometime!

Here is a picture I haven't shared yet. It's a couple of weeks old. This is where I-guy likes to sit. Sometimes when it's really quiet and I'm busy cooking dinner I'll stop and wonder where he went. It's usually here. He gets up there by himself and just sits and plays. He's eating a raisin in this picture and Ethan like to put this crown on him every once in a while.
For some reason I felt compelled to take a picture of my mosquito bitten finger and share it. I just thought it looked kind of cool. Looks like a perfect TB skin test (in the wrong spot of course). heh, heh.

Notes

Don't ever buy V-smile Pocket Learning System. It was a great gift from my sister for Super-E, while it lasted. It's been broken since March and he got it for Christmas. From what it looks like, it not at the fault of him, but the product is just not made well. It got some horrible reviews on Amazon and here is why: a) It uses up 4 AA batteries in a period of about 3 hours b)the jack to connect to the TV only works if you hold it in a certain way, c) The AC adapter does the same thing and no longer works and d) the cartridges are $20 a pop! Over all it's a waste of money. Now we have a collection of cartridges that are good for nothing!! We're not sure about going through the trouble to get him another because we'll just end up with the same problems. He sure did love it while it lasted though.

Lately Super E has really gotten into cooking shows. We sit and watch them together. He really thinks Rachel Ray is silly and does funny things. The other day she made GORP (trail mix) and he thought that was pretty fan-tas-tic! He's also been wanting to play less on the computer. Hmm.

Another thing he loves is seeing what Shmoo has been eating for lunch every day at the Vegan Lunch Box, which is one of my favorite website. Jennifershmoo (the mom) takes a lot of care to make the most amazing lunches for her little guy every day! She also won the 2006 best blogger award for best food website! If you haven't seen it yet- check it out!! She made some awesome vegan twinkies (twinkies aren't even vegetarian by the way- they may contain beef fat!) She made them using a very cool twinkie kit* and then used the same kit to make vegan corn dog's. Very cool I think!! I promised Super E that we would get him a lunch box like Shmoo's when he starts school in August. He's very excited about that.

*I've looked all over the net for this twinkie kit and can't find it. Bed Bath & beyond used to carry it, but the stores here in Dallas don't have it. If anyone finds this kit, snatch it for us and I'll pay you back :)

A day at the park

My camera is broken, so these are pictures from last Wednesday. We were kicked out of our house for 3 hours so that a bunch of real estate agents could tromp through our house. I drove to 4 different parks before finally settling on this one. They were all have construction work done to them, even this one, but I was tired of driving around. The kids still had a grand time, even though most of the park was fenced off. And poor Super E had to swing on the baby swings because there were no big kid swings. He just barely fit.

A Day at the Lake

We went to Grapevine Lake today. Slathered on the sunscreen and spent a few hours in the sun, hiking around the lake. The guys had a great time throwing rocks and getting dirty. Just a nice beautiful day with my guys.

Ache

Lately, a lot of people have been asking me if I am STILL breastfeeding as if it were some kind of burden to them. Yes I am! Going on 15 months. Even my pediatrician seems to feel the need to talk to me about weaning and stopping (someone who obviously knows very little on the subject)! And just to set the record straight, I am weaning! Just very very s..l..o..w..l..y. I plan on sticking with it for quite a while longer. After all, I'm not working. What else have I got to do that I can't stop for 15 minutes a couple of times a day and spend some one-on-one quiet time with my precious little baby. He won't be this small much longer. It's a perfect way to stop what I'm doing, slow the clock a little, and cherish every moment.

The idea of stopping makes my heart ache so much. I can not bear the thought of not doing it. Stopping means that he is growing up and I want to enjoy his smallness as long as I can. I know after I-guy, I will never breastfeed again and breastfeeding both of my children has been one of the greatest joys in my life. I can't begin to explain the closeness and deep bonding you feel when you snuggle up with your child and began to nourish them in this way. It is my body that fills his body up with delicious nutrients and love. I know I can give them nourishment and love in so many other ways, but nothing is as personal and totally of myself. Super E watches me feed I-guy sometimes and I know he feels the importance of it. He hears the stories of our breastfeeding experience and I hope he will carry it with him always. I can't think of a better gift or more important way to start a babies life out. Giving completely of yourself as a mother, protector and provider.

I know breastfeeding won't last forever, but for now, we are very happy doing what we're doing.

Mama says Om

All boy

My Guys

Another quick post with a few pictures.Here is Super E showing off his new Soccer Trophy. He had his last game last Thursday. Afterwards, they all went out for ice cream. Here is what he had to say about the season.

"I tried really hard all season long to make a goal. I didn't get a single goal in the whole wide world, but I did make two goals at some other games. I did get a trophy and that is something really good for me. "

I was pointing out to him all the chocolate finger prints on it and he said to me, "Well mom, that will be your new job. Just clean it and make it shiny everyday!"



Here is cutie pie little I-guy

He's sporting another item of clothing that mommy decorated with a freezer paper stencil. And just so you know, He climbed up on that chest all by himself.

Happy I-guy

Just a few quick pics of my little I-guy.

A BIG smile.

A really REALLY BIG smile!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

A Happier Day

Here is Super-E sportin' his new t-shirts that mommy made using freezer paper and fabric paint. You can see how it's done here. He loves his new shirts screaming, "these are PERFECT!!" when I showed them to him. He has plans for me to make more. I'd like to make some for I-guy too. It's really fun.

As you can see, Super-E is looking a lot happier today. Today he'll be meeting up with his soccer team for a final game against Black Magic (if it doesn't rain) and ice cream at Braum's!! He's very excited about that!! Can you tell?

I-guy is in better spirits today as well. Unfortunately he keeps rubbing snot all over his face with the back of his hand and is not suitable for picture taking (per his request). Maybe tomorrow.

Liquid

Tears, Tears, and More Tears

The first thing I think of when I see the word liquid (relating to family) is breastfeeding (I-guy is going on 14 months-yeah!). But, after a day like today, all I can think of (see and hear), are tears. Not tears of joy- nope tears of.......I don't know what. The guys are just feeling crumby today. I-guy is still a little snotty and congested which I'm sure is not making him feel very well and Super-E is just plain upset because Gracie (our neighbors grandchild) hasn't been able to come over and play. To make matters worse, Ry-daddy and I are starting to feel the stresses of having the house up for sale. Why gosh, I feel like crying right now......bwaaaaaa- waaaaaa-waaaaa.

Okay, sorry. I lost control. When ever the kids are both crying at the same time, sometimes Ry-daddy and I start wailing too(just for fun). Usually I-guy is the first to stop. He just looks at us like "what the heck are these two doing?". Super E usually stops soon after because he has to try not to laugh! Pretty soon we're all laughing. It's a fun game.

Mama Says Om: Liquid

Wild

Just a fun little picture showing how wild my guys can get. In these pictures they are doing a little dance- getting jiggy with it! Don't worry, we weren't playing any country music, they were just taking turns wearing that cowboy hat. It was pretty funny. Oh, and there was no music playing- just me singing. Yeah, I can sing a tune or two. I must be pretty good at it because Super-E kept asking me to sing it over and over! Yes, he's had his hearing checked.

After we did some dancing, there was a little wrestling match between Super E and I-guy. Really it's just them hugging each other and rolling around on the ground screaming. Another pretty funny site.









Sorry about the crazy colors. I guess I got a little wild too!

On the verge

I-guy is all better from his cold, Super-E got sick a couple of nights ago and has been sleeping with me, Ry-Daddy started feeling bad yesterday and is sleeping in the spare bedroom, and now I feel that I am on the verge of getting it too!! It's been a snot-filled past couple of days and I forgot to buy tissue at the store today!!
You can tell that I-guy is feeling much better because he has discovered that he likes running through the curtains. Of course, we don't like him to do this because he could 1) hurt himself and 2) rip the curtains down. He knows this, so he only does it when he thinks we aren't looking. We were able to get this picture by pretending that we were busy talking. He's a sneaky guy. He's a very brave little fellow too. Much more of a climber than Super-E was. He climbs onto Super-E's bed, onto the couch, anywhere he can hike up his little leg up and grab hold of something to yank himself up. A monster I tell you! And if you so much as slightly raise your voice to him, the lip hangs down and he'll give you the saddest cry you ever heard.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend. It looks like we may have a rainy one.

A very nice visit!

We had a very nice visit with Mike & Miya. The weather turned on us a little which is a good thing because it was starting to get humid, sticky and heavy! Ugh! We had no problem getting their RV in the driveway. We had Subey (the car) in the garage and the sub-hog(suburban) parked to the left of the basketball post in the grassy area. Super-E thought they brought the RV for his own play-house pleasure!Auntie Miya read stories, played hide-the-ball, and pretend driving in the RV and Uncle Mike brought his remote-control truck, so Super E had a fine time and didn't want to see them go.

I-guy is wearing the cutest little hat that Mike & Miya brought for him. He actually wears it for more than 10 minutes at a time. He's also feeling much better today.
Thanks Mike & Miya for coming all the way to the Big D! We loved having you here!!