I was looking at our Easter diorama and thinking its time had come and then I thought hey, that might work as a beehive. So with a little fixin’ we made this:
We’re off to a homeschool convention. Tonight Harv and I will go hear a couple of speakers and then tomorrow I’ll go back to check out some curriculum and listen to some more speakers. Hoping it will help us decide soon!
Ryan has been asking to make these yard stones that he got for his birthday, so we mixed, dried, and painted and the first one turned out pretty cute!
Ta-Da!
What would I do without Cheerios? They kept him busy long enough for Ryan to get most of his painting done.
The Apprentice
A yummy snack: Giada’s grape pizza! Store-bought dough, garlic, shallots, and grapes…delicious!
Before we brought Erik home we decided to switch doctors. We had been seeing our doctor for many years but the location got harder and harder with each move. After so many visits for the adoption papers (we can never get anything done in one fell swoop) we had had enough and changed to a place close to home. We both had physicals soon after Erik came home. Not surprisingly, Harvey went and had his blood drawn right away as the doctor ordered. I did not. So today, Harv came home early and I thought, “It’s been six months, I should go do that!” I quickly regretted the cheese sandwich I decided to eat at 10pm last night since the blood test was a fasting one, but decided I could make it a couple more hours to finally be done with it. I went into the kitchen and got Ryan a banana and some milk and then I got some Cheerios for Erik. I instinctively threw a handful right in my mouth, but just as my jaw was closing I remembered THE FAST and spit them out in the sink. With great sadness I washed them down the disposal, looked at the clock, and decided to take a long shower. I took Ryan with me since he loves watching the needles! As I sat down I told the technician, “I’m not very good at this,” (this is my foreshadowing) She smiled and kept gathering vials (notice the plural) to collect my precious blood. It was probably around the third vial that things started to go south. Just when I thought she was finished she says, “your vein just ruptured (or something like that, things started to get a little lot blurry by now.) She said that she was going to have to do it again on my other arm. Well, turns out that wasn’t going to happen. I told her I needed to lay down. She got me a cold towel and started fanning me. Pretty soon she was holding my shirt and lifting it up and down. “You should wear a loose shirt when you do this so you don’t get so hot.” Okay, wasn’t planning on nearly passing out when I got dressed this morning. Little Ryan was a trooper. He held my hand the whole time. So up to this point…been here, done this (except the tech fanning my shirt part.) Not my first apple juice. Calling two nurses and taking my blood pressure four times…new. So the nurse takes my blood pressure, can’t remember the numbers, but she says them and adds “irregular heart beat.” Hmmm…that doesn’t sound good. So a few minutes later they take it again and say, “that’s pretty low and still irregular. Do you have diabetes? Do you have a heart condition? (No, but you’re about to give me one!) They take it a third time and it’s a little better. Then the nurse asks “Are you wearing lipstick?” Since it wasn’t blue lipstick I’m not sure what she thought might be wrong with my lips, but just add that to the mix. Meanwhile, Ryan couldn’t be more interested in the blood pressure machine and has held my hand the whole time. Finally, they let me sit up a little more and then let me stand. My final numbers must have returned to somewhere near normal because they let me have some juice and asked if I was feeling well enough to drive home. “I just can’t wait to do this again,” I said. The nurse looked at me and said, “We just gave you juice, you have to come back.” Fortunately, the gal who started this whole thing took my blood thought they could do it all with what she got. And then that was it. Ryan got a lollipop, they directed me to the food kiosk in the lobby, and wished me well. All for the love of a cheese sandwich!
After a couple of games all of your pictures start looking the same! Ryan has such a cute little routine now when he bats. One of these days we’ll put a video up. The pictures are still cute though so here are a few from Saturday:
All Aboard!
Potato Art:
Our word for this week is “kind” so I thought ‘bee kind’ and a little bee art this week (that’s the way I think!)
New Neighbors!
they are noisy little birds and so incredibly ugly that they are darling!
Afternoon train:
Today was picture day for Ryan’s baseball team. I had to wash his pants twice to get them nice and white for the photo. I was thrilled to pieces when I saw him crawling in the wet grass to collect leaves right before they called his team up. So…grass stains it is!
Tonight Harv and I went to dinner…alone!! Auntie Gay and Auntie Tessie came over to watch the boys so we could go out. It was so great for everyone. We walked around the hip and happening shopping area/restaurant row for a while, finally figured out that we aren’t hip or happening, and decided to hightail it out of there and went to an old favorite. I think there were four other tables and no music. Man are we getting old before our time. It was so wonderful to just sit and talk in peace and then not have to clean up! The boys had a great time. Apparently Auntie Gay is the best pitcher! (Sorry Daddy)After they left I asked Ryan if he had fun. He said, “I hope they come every day.” Yeah, I don’t have to cook or clean any more! : )
Well we made it to our playdate! The first thing Erik did was fall and slam his face into their door. It all went well once he recovered!
A friend had recently told me about a new ‘cheese’ that Whole Foods was carrying. She said it actually melted so I decided to try again. I bought Ryan some pizza dough and sauce and told him we were making pizza for lunch. Harvey came into the kitchen while we were putting on the sauce and I gave him a little cheese to try. “That is disgusting!! That is the worst…..” It went on and on until we finally met eyes. I shot off my VERY unhappy wife eyes and tried to distract Ryan who kept saying, “What’s so terrible?” Well, it didn’t get any better. After finishing this large pizza Ryan finally got to try it. Ryan said, “You know, I like the dough and sauce, but this cheese really isn’t good.” I think it’s time to stop buying ‘cheese’.
I don’t know that this looks all that good, but this was the best spaghetti and meatballs I have ever made and the easiest. I am so happy to have another good recipe. I’ve been in a recipe slump. It’s from Giada De Laurentiis and I like almost everything she makes. This is her turkey meatballs and basic marinara sauce in case you’re in the mood for Italian.
On the way home from an errand this afternoon I decided to stop and get some more bubbles for our bubble-minded kids. I found a great deal-64oz’er for $2! I let Ryan hold it (can you see where this is going?) as we walked around the store. “This is like carrying a baby,” he said. Then I heard a crash and turned around to see about 60 ounces of bubbles already spreading across the floor and under the displays. (All of you with very small children be warned of Ryan holding your children). Ryan took a step and went down. I saw an older woman headed towards us (and a hip replacement) so I recruited the closest customer to guard the growing affected area so I could get some help. The girl was so sweet (guessing she’d never tried to clean up 64 ounces of liquid soap before.) I tried to pay for it but the cashier wouldn’t hear of it and was so nice to Ryan. She told him she had broken lots of things in the store before (wondering if her manager is aware of that) and that made him feel so much better. So we left: three small bottles of bubbles for $3, two soapy flip-flops, and a heap of trouble!
Erik has taken to trains just like his big brother! He spent a long time this morning playing with the trains while I worked in the kitchen.
Ryan got this ‘cool’ popsicle maker from his grandparents:
And a fun bubble maker from a friend…
Erik is also crazy about it. Mommy is happy because it requires no blowing!
Good Flip-Flopping
Could there be any cuter feet? I found these at Target today. He loves them!
Tomorrow is our weekly playdate with some of our Korean buddies. Hope we get to go!! : )
Yeah, Daddy is finally as old as Mommy!
We did it!!
Isn’t it pretty?!!!!
It was yummy too! We finished the whole loaf today! It was so easy. We’ll definitely make this again…soon! In case you want to try too:
http://steamykitchen.com/168-no-knead-bread-revisited.html
Happy eating!!
