A belated Merry Merry...

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. We'll be back with more pics, stories, etc later!

Favorite Quote

"The forces of entropy and my husband are closely allied."

-Anne Fadiman

Amen, Anne. Amen. In my case... I would have to add Sam and Zack too!!! (okay, okay, and occasionally me.)

Help...

Two things.

1 - Need to buy a new carseat since our little tiny baby ain't so tiny (aka I can't really pretend that he fits in his infant carrier anymore). Any suggestions / What do you use?

2 - How do you get your kids to clean up after themselves? Rules? Consequences? Regular clean up time each day? Looking for ideas...

Little Tank

Today, I put this adorable little boy (with his awesome hair) who is not quite EIGHT months old...
into an 18-month old size shirt.


AND IT FITS.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEL!

(an aside... now i think i am fully caught up to the present... HOORAY! Does that mean I get to go on a blogging holiday for a month???)

Happy Birthday to the best sister 4 years younger than I am. :)

We finally were able to celebrate with Bel last Friday. We met her in Ptown, gave her these gnarly glasses, and went to Sammy's Cafe, thanks to this post.
The food was delicious. The pie shakes were seriously some of the best (and most fattening death in a glass) I've ever had.
Happy Birthday Bel! (and good luck with your finals...) You're the best!

(This next part is from one of your adoring fans, Sam)

jhjkigjhihogggggggggggggggggggggggggppppppppppfyttttttttttttttt tgftd fvtfc tdgysfgyvgyyyyyyyygguhiufhyudihyuhyihyuyfgfyuguyhuhiyuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhgggihuyfvghygubufghut yht yyyyyyyyyy hguhgiuh76fyg yfgdytfgdtfgtdgyfghffgdyfgvdfvhfgvdfyrhfuyh nygbvuhgubhh8bh
I LOVE BELLLLLLLLLL. LOVE SAM (typed by Sam. He's really proud.)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We had so much fun this Thanksgiving. I didn't take a ton of pics of some of the best things... but here are a few. My family came in town, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Romneys, and played games games games. :)

Also... here are our FACES OF THE SEASON!
(I snuck up to everyone with my camera ready and told them to give me their "Face of the Season" with no further explanation. Here's what they each did...

Snow Days

Sam LOVES playing in the snow. Saturday, he was begging from the moment we woke up to go outside. He had to wear a hat, scarf, gloves, and coat just like Matt. He loved it.
This morning while I was doing the dishes, Sam went into his bedroom to take off his pjs. He is so proud that he can do this by himself now. Then, he came downstairs, and this is the conversation we had.

Sam: Mom, I'm ready. I just need a hat, scarf, gloves, and coat to go play in the snow.
Me: Sam, aren't you missing something?
Sam: No, Mom. I need a (counting off on his fingers one by one) hat, scarf, gloves, aaaaaaand coat.
Me: Sam, you're missing something.
Sam: No, I NOT, Mom.
Me: Sam... why don't you look at your legs?
Sam (looking down): Ooooooooooh, WHAT!?!? I forgot my pants. Silly Sam.

Silly indeed.

New Favorite Homemade Babyfood

My mom's chicken noodle soup. SO GOOD.

Recipe -
Mary's Chicken Noodle Soup

1 large can chicken broth
1 bag of whole wheat (or blend) noodles
carrots
celery
onion
chicken, cooked and cubed
poultry seasoning
salt and pepper

1. Cook noodles according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile chop a bunch of carrots, celery, and onion. (Should be about 1/3 each onion, celery, and carrot. I like lots of veggies, so I use 4ish large carrots, a whole stalk of celery, and a large onion.). Place in large pot with some water and boil / steam veggies until soft.
3. Add full can of chicken broth and as much water as you want the consistency of your soup.
4. Add chicken and noodles. Shake in LOTS of poultry seasoning (if measured, might be a tablespoon or two) and some salt and pepper to taste.
5. Enjoy.

This is really soul-satisfying food - and good for you. No fat. Whole grains. And lots of veggies.

Last time my mom was here, she made a batch and I pureed some for Zack. He LOVES it! So, I made a giant pot of it the following week, and pureed a bunch. He loves it plain, mixed with any vegetable, etc. I love knowing he's getting good food AND that it's food that we eat regularly (so hopefully he will be a good eater unlike his brother.).

Happy Birthday Sam!

This is a little late... but I can't believe that my baby boy is THREE YEARS OLD! It doesn't seem like that long ago that we welcomed our first boy into our family. And we certainly didn't know then what a funny little person Sam is. We're just starting to find out...
We threw Sam such a fun Thomas the Train bday party.
Indulge me for I have to post all about it so that anyone out there who searches for ideas can find some good ones. Since that's exactly what I did...

First... we sent train boarding pass invitations.
Then, the kids arrived (and yes, all 18 came. It was one busy party!!!) and we gave each child a Thomas hat and a train nametag.

Then, we had 4 stations the kids could go through. (MANY THANKS to Melissa, Tricia, Liz, and of course Matt for being my minions...). First, there was a coal toss into James. Meliss explained that some trains burn coal to make them go. I made Thomas beanbags with fleece from JoAnns - Thomas fleece on one side and black on the other. The kids each got a beanbag to take home after the party. (***I didn't take many pics at the actual party, so these are mostly after the fact.)
Sam LOVES these beanbags.
Second was the train making station. Tricia ran this one. I had spray painted TP rolls (actually I cut them down from a large roll from Tricia's office, so they were stiffer and could withstand more beatings...). Some were blue, green, and red. We used pipe cleaners and hole punched black circles for wheels. They threaded the pipe cleaners through pre-punched holes in the TP rolls. Another short pipe cleaner was used through another pre-punched hole for the funnel on the top of the roll. And there was a face complete already with nose and mouth - just add the googly eyes stickers. Finally, I had foam letters stickers they could put their name on them. Unfortunately... I don't have a pic of these. But I DO have a pic of the awesome play-doh creation Sam and I made together that night after the party. (Totally random, I know.)

Third - the coloring station. I drew this on butcher paper and taped it to the wall. The kids loved coloring it... and we only had some crayon marking on our wall.

Last - the train walk. (Just like a cake walk with a few twists.) Put blue electric tape on your carpet for train tracks. Label some of Thomas favorite spots on the floor (Chocolate Factory, Castle, Docks, etc). Play train music (Choo Choo Ch'Boogie, Take the A Train, I've Been Working on the Railroad, Catch that Train, among others). When the music stops, whoever (multiple people in our case) is standing close to the place you draw out of a hat gets a Thomas sticker! The kids really loved this one and Sam still loves running around. The track is a bit destroyed by the time I took these pics, but we still have it!

We had a Thomas birthday cake (the face fell off... paper was the rescue of choice in a crunch...) and let Sam open presents. Party over.

Our goody bags were fun to put together. Sam helped me make a train crayon for each child (use candy molds and melted crayons).


We made a coloring book from free Thomas pics found online. Add some Thomas stickers, a Thomas blower, the Thomas hat they got when they arrived, one of the bean bags and the TP train they made while here, and that's it!

Happy Monday

How would you like to have THIS little boy greet you when you get home???