We had a lovely Christmas.
Santa made a little accident and gave Ruthanne a leapster game she already had (woops, luckily I had some extra in the closet and I offered her one of mine for her Santa one).
We had lovely cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
We relaxed and watched movies and chatted and enjoyed a quiet day.
All the pictures I took are linked below.
Paul wore his Auburn outfit. I guess it worked!
Charging the camera:
Cheese!
Ruthanne & John get in on the camera action.
Gotta love it! Just scored Curious George (the movie) on dvd for $7.99 on amazon! Perfect Christmas present for this little monkey!
I can’t believe I haven’t posted this recipe here yet. Patricia had seen oatmeal soufflé mentioned in a food network magazine and insisted I make a version while they were here one weekend. I obliged and it was really good. A little fussy and takes a little while to throw together, but we enjoy it. The original recipe comes from here: http://www.ericsons.net/535/oatmeal-souffle
But my version is this:
Preheat oven to 325 and grease a large high-sided casserole dish.
Bring to a simmer in a pot on the stove:
2 cups milk
1/2 stick butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup brown sugar/demerara sugar
Once it is simmering add in:
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
and simmer for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, separate 6 eggs.
Whip the egg whites until peaks form but still moist.
Beat the yolks until thick and lighter.
When oatmeal is done, mix in 4 ounces of cream cheese (the whipped works well for me) and the egg yolks until combined. Then, gently fold in the egg whites 1/3 of the mixture at a time. Pour into casserole dish, sprinkle with more cinnamon and brown sugar (optional). Bake for 35-40 minutes. Enjoy with cream or milk if you want!
So, I finally got to go to a ball! Luke was invited to pray at the Marine Corps Ball on Friday, so we got a babysitter and off we went! I had the babysitter snap a photo before we left though.
We got some professional photos taken at the ball, we’ll see if they turned out any better!
Here are some pictures I took of the kids before we went to the trunk or treat at church. We have a witch, a pirate, and Mickey Mouse (we lucked out that the weather had cooled off for this costume). The last two pictures are from the trunk or treat, I decorated the car with spiderwebs and had spider rings stuck in it.
Yep, it seems as though Paul is asserting his right to feed himself with whichever hand he chooses, and he chooses LEFT! It looks awkward to Luke & I (but I think it would look that way in his right hand too since he’s not a perfect eater) but if you try to hand him the spoon in his right hand, he just passes it along to the left one. He tends to throw with his left hand also (assuming the ball is small enough to allow one-handed throwing). I’m just happy he can get soft food to his mouth using a spoon, doesn’t matter which hand it is! Rice, yogurt, and applesauce are the current faves.
Oh, and this pic is about a month old.
Is going pretty well. Ruthanne is having tons of fun with her subjects and we are actually getting everything accomplished. This is a fun activity we did when we were learning about Columbus sailing to America. Tin foil boats in the bathtub.
John is doing well in school too. What is John’s school? Learning to read of course! He is doing awesome. I wondered if he would do as well as Ruthanne, and he seems to be flying right along in our reading book. I would highly recommend it. There’s no fluff, its to the point, quick, no preparation needed (totally scripted for the teacher), and produced a really good reader in Ruthanne.
What do I do with Paul during school? Well, we do John’s school during Paul’s nap (since its 15-20 minutes tops). I try to get Ruthanne’s school done in the morning and if Paul is behaving (i.e. somewhat quiet) then he can stay and listen to me read, play with toys, etc. Lately he has been too cranky, seriously hollers even if I am holding him. So, I have taken to putting him in the playroom (with John) with the baby gate up. This way he has playtime (and has started being happy in there) and Ruthanne and I can fly through her schoolwork (so much easier without the boys distractions).
One of my favorite pictures from the weekend in Brunswick.
Thanks to Jackson who spilled perler beads all over Mimi and Poppa’s house, the older kids all got a dollar from Mimi for helping to clean them up. One trip to the dollar store later, John is the proud owner of these funny glasses and wanted his picture taken with Poppa, his twin. Too bad Poppa didn’t have on his glasses.
Wow, long time no blogging. I just dumped my camera onto the computer so maybe you will see a bit more of me over the next few days.
First, Mice. We were infested! Six mice caught and disposed of in our house. I guess getting rid of the snake meant we had these little friends to deal with. But, me and the kids got to hang out in Warner Robins since I didn’t want to hang with the mice (Luke was out of town).
Next Mono. Ruthanne got sick while we were in Brunswick last weekend. Strep tests were negative and doctor thinks it might be mono, but I opted not to do the blood test. So, I’m sitting at home tonight while Luke is out at the Navy Ball alone since our babysitter opted out. Good news is Ruthanne is feeling a ton better, can’t believe she was sick a few days ago. Now, just don’t drink/eat after her, kiss her (with a good exchange of saliva), or otherwise get her spit in your mouth! Its a lot less contagious than the flu I’ve learned.
Lastly, more. I’ve had a lot of laundry to do after our two trips. I’m not sure the kids had anything wearable left in their drawers. This is what it all looked like folded on my bed (a king) before I put it away.
And, I got my hair cut by the “mobile hairdresser. A lady at church is a hairdresser on the side and you can go to her or she will come to you. So, I arranged to have her come during Paul’s nap. Perfect, I can actually see getting my haircut at regular intervals (instead of yearly). This is what was left on the floor. I’ll have to get a pic of what she left on my head sometime soon.
There is tons and tons more. Hope to write a little bit of something every day for the next little while.
I never did find that pesky camera cable.
HOWEVER, I did find something that worked just as well. See Paul has this toy
I happened to see his computer cable sitting in the kitchen box and thought, that looks similar. So, lo and behold, it worked!
So, here are a few pictures…
Playing at the park on St. Simons Island, man was it HOT!
Paul got to spend extra time with Mamom & Aunt Kathy since the big kids went to the river.
I’m sure Paul is looking at a dog in this photo. He loved them!
These pictures were from a while ago, Ruthanne with a watermelon from our garden (before the squash bugs ate it up).
John requested this photo be taken of him with Woody. Poor John was sick at the time.
Well, I had a video to upload too, but youtube is being wonky, I’ll save it for later! Want to go ahead and get this out in blog world. Later today (hopefully), a new recipe, Taco Slop!
And, it was THE. BEST. DAY. EVER! Her words, not mine! She had a little birthday part here at the house with the kids from her Sunday School class. We did dinner, cake, presents, then some outdoor fun. Outside there were sprinklers, swings, chalk, bubbles, water balloons (NOTE: 100 water balloons don’t last long!).
Some fun present opening. She was sooo excited about her presents and loved each and every one of them.
Getting ready to blow out the candles. Oh, this isn’t a very good picture but the icing is pink with a white big 7. I was SUPPOSED to make the cake pink also, but I forgot. I felt sooo bad, but Ruthanne took it surprisingly well.
Making a wish.
Outdoor fun. See the swingset in the background, the kids LOVE it! Thanks Mimi & Poppa for coming to help us put it together.
Well, I was trying to get a picture of this stinker eating cake off of the kitchen floor but he wanted the camera! Suck that baby gut in!
Next year I guess John will have to have a party. Thank goodness I have about 11 months to prepare!
Man, we’ve been busy! Where is my relaxing summer? Between starting back up piano lessons, two weeks of constant swim lessons, gardening, school, etc, we have been BUSY! Thankfully some of those things were fun things for the kids!
Its also been HOT so those swimming lessons helped the kids cool off, but only made me want to jump in the pool, clothes and all! Ruthanne can swim and tread water and float now! Woohoo! She loves getting her face wet and playing around. Yay! John also made significant progress (last year he wouldn’t even get wet, I think he associated it with potty accidents) and will put his face in the water and can almost tread water. We are going to keep playing in the water this summer and we’ll see if he can make more progress. Here is a pic from before swimming lessons:
We also had some fun water time in our own backyard.
Then, Friday we went and played at Mistletoe State Park as part of the local Marine Family Day (we get to do fun things with the Marines and Navy because of Luke’s assignment). There was a bouncy house, playground, bbq, and a little beach. The kids had a blast at the beach and I got in the water with them. Luke and Paul mostly enjoyed some shade, but for about the last 5 minutes, Paul came a played in the water too. I thought he wouldn’t like it because lately he hates his baths, but he LOVED it!
This is just one of those fluke funny pictures. I’m pretty sure he was not upset but just making a funny face because of the water splashing.
Hopefully I will have a little more time to blog soon!
The kids survive their first day of swimming lessons, but John is running around the house and splats down on the ground with a slice over his eyebrow. It didn’t look too bad to me at first, but after he got a bath it started looking like it was gapping open, so Luke took him to an urgent care (Luke is getting good at this, he took Paul to the ped yesterday – another ear infection for Paul). John now has four stitches over his eyebrow and can’t be submerged underwater at swimming lessons until Thursday. Luke says he was very good, and got John some food on the way home, Sonic it was. The hamburger and fries were gone but the shake was still fully intact and Ruthanne got to share some too.
Stitches come out Sunday sometime. We’re wondering what will happen to Ruthanne tomorrow so she has to go to the doctor. Hopefully nothing! Can’t life be boring?
I think we made it to five, if not, oh, well, I guess that many people just aren’t entertained by my blog!
Here are a few befores. Luke made me have a photo session with Paul before he let me cut his hair.
There are no “durings” of the haircut because it was just not pretty. Lets just say Paul was not appreciative of the haircut. I ended up holding him on my lap and cutting his hair, we were both completely covered with hair by the end! And, here are the results.
I have a few more on the camera, but its inside and I’m outside watching the kids ride bikes. We really like it. He looks like a little boy now and not a baby!
without this much hair?
I think I’m gonna have to wait until I have at least 5 comments before I can be persuaded to share after pics!
John had a pretty good birthday I think. It started off with a present.
I wonder what it could be?
His favorite cereal, of course! So, he got to eat that for breakfast.
Then, company arrived, Aunt Kathy and Mamom (sorry Mamom, I didn’t get a picture with you in it, I guess you always had your camera over your face when I was using mine!). Time was spent exploring the content of Aunt Kathy’s purse.
There were a few presents to be had, some letter factory videos,
a scooter (no more sneaking Ruthanne’s),
and a new piggy bank.
I finished John’s birthday treat (chocolate cupcakes, I decided brownie cupcakes, with chocolate icing) just in time! I really like how it turned out.
About to make a wish…
One candle down, three more to go.
I can’t believe John is 4. He seems to be getting older and growing up! I guess he is officially a preschooler not a toddler anymore! I love that boy and his silliness! Life would surely be boring without John!
