Fried Cheerios!

I don't know where my mother came up with this idea.  I have a suspicion it was to get rid of stale Cheerios, you know, the last cup or so in the bottom of the box...  Anyway, it's kind of a nostalgic thing for me, reminding me of watching sesame street in my pajamas and feeding them to our playmobil figures as donuts.  Every once in a while I just have this weird craving for them.


So this is one way of making this "heart-healthy" snack not so heart-healthy, but oh well.


Take a 1/2 T butter. Melt it in a small frying pan, then add about a cup of cheerios.  Sprinkle with a little salt, stir and cook until they are just turning a little brown and crispy. Take off heat and let cool and you've got a great snack that's just as yummy as popcorn!

Today we paired it with this great chocolate smoothie and it was delicious! (I admit, I didn't add as much cocoa, and I threw in some extra banana to make it go farther).  The kids loved it!

And yes, we made this today because the kids picked the "Make a special snack" activity stick.

Bored

Yesterday was a rainy day and my three year old kept telling me over and over that he was bored.  I felt guilty for not doing as much stuff with them and letting them have way too much screen time of late --pregnancy will do that to a person-- so I proposed that we do a special project together.  They both perked up at the idea, and then I had to hurry and come up with something out of the ordinary.  I looked in my very small craft supply box for ideas, and came up with this:  Activity Sticks!


We painted them with acrylics, (which is not something I always have the courage or patience to tackle with a 2 year old and a 3 year old, but it worked out fine) and then brainstormed ideas of fun things to do on a rainy day, that wouldn't take too much time, money, or preparation, and wrote one on each stick.

Good thing acrylics are washable! (If you catch it in time, that is.)

They were a hit!


We ended up with 13 sticks, since my youngest decided that he needed to steal his brother's stick and paint three yellow ones, (not to mention that was about the time they decided to start painting each other...) and pictured here are just a few of the ideas we came up with.  I, of course, included a few "helpful" ones to disguise cleaning as fun (hehe, I'm so sneaky).


If you want the full list of activities we came up with just let me know, and if you have any ideas to put on future sticks please share!


Of course, while we were in the middle of painting the sticks, my three year old complained once again that he was bored --to which I thought, "How can you be bored!  We're in the middle of doing something totally fun, all together, and you say you're bored?" On the verge of being impatient with him, I had another thought hit me and I asked him, "Do you even know what 'bored' means?"  He answered so innocently, "No. What does it mean?"


Oh well.  Now he knows, and now we have the perfect remedy if he's ever actually bored.

Roger That!

I just have to give a big shout out to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.  I grew up on that show, and I always wanted my kids to experience it too. When I had kids I looked for it and it wasn't available for the longest time.  To my knowledge, Fox hasn't released them all for sale, and I was devastated. Finally though, I found a link to some of the episodes online!  PBS Kids only has 26 episodes online at one time, but the good news is that they rotate and you get new shows every once in a while.  The bad news is that my kids have their favorites and are sad when they disappear.  


Here's the link to watch Mister Rogers' Neighborhood online.

These pics were taken by my kids one day.

So much for not getting into trouble while watching shows.

The thing I love about mister Rogers is that he's so sincere.  He's always talking right to the kids and telling them how special they are and building them up (Imagine my delight when my three year old comes up to me one day and tells me, "I like you just for being you!"). He addresses the emotions kids might feel, and teaches ways of dealing with them, encouraging children to talk with adults about how they feel and such.  He uses his imagination, and shows the kids how they can use ordinary household items for playing in new ways.  Every episode takes the viewer to a new place to see how something is made or how something works --even I am always interested in that part!  I could go on and on. 


There are so many stupid kid shows out there that seem to be there just to entertain, or to advertise.  Some are so patronizing or obnoxious, I can't stomach watching even a minute or two, and others I feel are teaching the kids to be hyperactive and/or downright mischievous and disrespectful.  I won't mention all the ones I've deemed unsuitable for my kids, but I'll mention a few I like, and maybe I could get some more ideas from anyone else out there. 


As you can see, I am extremely picky about what shows my kids watch and I admit, I don't even know what's out there nowadays since we choose not to have television.  I can't stand the commercials --I hate how manipulative and sneaky the advertising industry is!  I do have my collection of certain Disney shows and almost all of the pixar movies for them to watch, not to mention plenty of Kipper and some Scholastic videos. I also like getting Reading Rainbow from the library and Veggie Tales every now and again (I actually don't know why I don't own any of those) so they're not completely deprived (of what?  I don't know --zombiness?).  


I do think it's important to let kids watch shows, since it helps their imaginations, and they get to see and learn about things they wouldn't normally get to experience --I couldn't possibly teach them everything myself.  And yes, I have to admit, that sometimes I need them to just sit there and not get into trouble while I get something done.

They ate their lunch in a blanket fort today while watching Mr. Rogers'.

Thank goodness for wholesome, educational, kids shows.  I wish we had more people like Mister Rogers around.

Welcome to our "ool"

After a long period of deliberation, failed attempts, and sheer procrastination, we have finally made progress in the potty training area.  It's only been about a week or two since we've started in earnest (after months of coaxing and lecturing and bribing all to no avail), but the first week was a disaster.  He was begging for diapers.  I'm afraid neither of us know what we are doing. This week though we finally had some breakthroughs, and he hasn't had any accidents! Although we're not fully there --nights are still iffy-- I'm so proud of my 3 year old (even if he is almost four)!  We went to the swimming pool today, and he even had the control to stop and ask to go to pee on the potty twice!  Woohoo!

My Big Boy!

My (barely) two year old seems interested, but I'm not so sure about whether I can handle that much competition for the one toilet in our small apartment.  I am nearly 8 months pregnant after all... :)   Actually, even though he says he wants big boy pants, I don't trust that he has the control --and I really don't want to be scrubbing floors and furniture in my condition.  Can you blame me?

Crafty

Okay, so this is about as crafty as I get.  I don't sew or cross-stitch, or scrapbook, or make jewelry (although, I admit, I have done a little wire-wrapping lately), I do however like to work with wood when I get a chance to use my Dad's shop and tools and such.  I have done other craft-like things that were very random, like wood burning, sand-blasting, and using mod podge, but that's about it.  Anyway, I recently bought a hot glue gun and one rainy day, about a week or two ago, out of desperation to keep the kids happy I made these monster puppets out of some dollar store foam sheets I had around.  I thought they turned out rather nice, and the kids like them too.

Left to Right: Mike, Bluey Kablooey, Red Eyes, and Happy. 

They got to choose the colors and how many eyes and such, Ethan wanted a sad one, and you may recognize the green one from somewhere --I know, not very original, but whatever-- they had fun being part of the process.

Mike, meet Bluey Kablooey.  Bluey Kablooey, Mike.

A week or two later, I decided to make these fish, and my husband even got in on the act.  He made the small orange fish and the octopus.  They have a large safety pin inside so the magnet sticks and they can be "caught."

We had much more success with these than with real fishing.

Snagged it!

By the way, if you're wondering what's with the background of these pictures, let me explain.  First of all, I confess that I am the kind of person who usually tries to hide what a mess my house is when I take pictures.  My husband took this with no thought as to what was in the background.  Yes, it was laundry day, and yes, my child sleeps underneath a bunk bed which we use for storage (that's his toddler bed behind him in "the cave."  Right now we are crammed into a one bedroom apartment that has no storage whatsoever, so this was the best we could do.  The place was already furnished and there are two twin mattresses that went with the unused bunk beds, and our broken-down moving boxes are between them for want of a better place to put them.  We move so often, we just save all our boxes and reuse them.  Way to go green eh?  The ugly pink chair (which I also try to avoid taking pictures of) will hopefully get reupholstered this Summer, and yes, my son is using the changing pad as a boat --which gives a whole new meaning to "poop deck." 

Now you know.

Reaching for the Moon

Sometimes I feel that I'm a failure at life.  When I'm feeling motivated and enthusiastic about things, I make lists and set super high goals, yet when I can't accomplish them, I tend to give up completely.  A long time ago I actually decided I didn't believe in goals because I figured goals were just something to break and feel guilty about.  I admit, I'm probably terrible at making feasible goals, but I also always hated making goals when I wasn't really feeling it, and was just looking forward to when I could check it off as being done.  I felt a goal should be more a means to an end --actually, that there shouldn't be an end, it should just be the way things are.  Does that make sense?  For example, I could make a goal to go off chocolate for a year, but that would just make me a sad, deprived chocoholic until the set period was over.  Yeah, I may lose some weight, but in the long run, it wouldn't be changing my attitude much.  On my mission, we set goals to talk to a certain number of people each day, and I found myself thinking of people as numbers, and I resisted talking to people altogether for fear my motivations weren't in the right place.  What good did that do?  I haven't made an actual, write-it-down goal in years.  Perhaps it's just my bad attitude, but rather than choosing to "fake it 'til you make it," I've just chosen to do nothing at all.

Today I finally realized what was missing. At church, someone made an interesting observation.  We all have "To Do" lists, but maybe we should have "To Be" lists instead.  I mean, "To Do" lists are good, and they help us get from point A to point B in our daily lives, but I think that having a "To Be" list would help us to get from point A to point B in our eternal progression.  If we focused on becoming more, changing our perspective and inherently our motivations, I think the "To Do" lists would take care of themselves.  It's something I'm still trying to wrap my head around, and I'm not yet sure what I would put on my "To Be" list, but I like the idea.  It's more about changing from the inside out, rather than the other way around.  Yes, I'll still have my "To Do" lists, but when it's looked at through the perspective of what I'm trying to become, it may take away some of the drudgery, and help me to have a better attitude about things.  For example, maybe if I decided "To Be" a cleaner person, I wouldn't get so downhearted when I finally got around to cleaning something to check it off my list, and then watched it get dirty all over again, but rather, I'd just keep it clean as I went because that is what I had decided to be.    I know, it is a subtle nuance, but I think it could still help me change for the better as I focus on what I am wanting to become.


What would be on your "To Be" list?

That's why it's called "fishing," not "catching."

Today was free fishing day, and since fishing licenses are way too expensive in WY, we decided to take advantage of it.

Now, although I may have grown up in a very outdoorsy family, and I went (along for the ride) on many fishing trips --even catching some myself, I really don't have any idea how to fish. I'm afraid I took for granted the opportunities I had to learn thinking I'd always have someone around more knowledgeable than myself.  I think that happens in a lot of areas of life, and then when it comes down to it, I find that I don't know as much as I thought I did.


I'm afraid my husband had very few opportunities to learn such a skill, so as newly-marrieds I was the "expert."  I admit I thought myself quite competent, having had so much "experience," and of course, I had my life-lines (a.k.a. dad and brothers) back home in case I had any questions.  So, at the end of our first summer together we bought a rod and some lures and went on our first fishing/backpacking trip together.  It was a success!  The little lake we hiked to had plenty of nice hungry fish in it, and the water was crystal clear so you could see right where they were. We caught some nice ones and ate them that very same day cooked in tin foil with a little bit of lemon pepper on a bed of hot coals.  Mmmm mmm!

Aug 2006

My husband really enjoyed that trip, although he didn't especially like the breaking-the-neck part.  I still recall watching him from the other side of the small lake come running all the way back to camp so that I could finish the poor thing off.  I think he was quite traumatized at the idea of making another living creature suffer a slow and agonizing death by suffocation when he knew I could put it out of it's misery quite quickly.  He had unsuccessfully tried the method I showed him of snapping it's neck (which I had actually never done myself before that trip --that's what brothers are for -- but I wasn't about to let him know that; I was the "expert") and when he couldn't manage, we made a deal, that if I would kill them he would clean them.

('06) What a catch!  The fish were pretty nice too. ;)

Anyway, after that wonderfully successful trip we very enthusiastically decided to invest in fishing licenses the next year.  I think I caught one fish (maybe two, but the first was too small to keep) on that license.  We tried several times, but had no idea where to go to find fish, and each time was too discouraging to give us the motivation to try again.  Well, with babies and moving back and forth between states, we never had a good opportunity to do much fishing.  We bought another license the summer my oldest child turned 1, and I think the only fish we got from it was one that an old Mexican guy was unsuccessfully trying to revive in order to release it again.  I had to pantomime that if he wasn't interested in it, I would take it and he fished the poor thing back out of the water with the end of his pole and gave it to me.  He probably thought I was crazy for wanting such a small fish --it was at most 10 inches-- but I was set on going home with something.  We ate it, and it was a little bony, but good.


So, now that you know our fishing history, you won't be surprised to find that yet once again we tried to go fishing together as a family today and I'm afraid to say we were completely unsuccessful.  The fish were literally jumping around us, and yet we didn't have what they were interested in.  How aggravating.  The kids had their heart set on eating fish too (as if they even liked fish --how would they know with us being such poor fishermen?). I think it was the sheer novelty of the thought that made them say so.

I think the last time I caught something I was this pregnant with my first child.

I won't say that today was a complete failure though.  It was a beautiful day to be outside, and I'm glad we took advantage of it.  It was a good family outing, where we got to do something out of the ordinary and enjoy nature together.  The kids had a blast throwing rocks in the river all day, eating outside, and getting muddy (honestly, as a kid what more could you want?). We'll try again sometime, and if even if we don't catch anything, we'll just remember to enjoy the ride.

Skunked again, but what a beautiful place!

Famous

My husband has finally been recognized for his natural voice talents! Ok, so at his work they needed someone to do a few short radio announcements for some upcoming events and they asked him. They must have liked his work he did on some voice-overs for an educational video they did recently. 

What a catch!  Now just add a deep, sexy voice and you can see what a hottie I have for a husband!

I like to think it was for his deep, sexy voice, since that is one of the first things I noticed about him, but I doubt that 'sexy' is what they were going for with an announcement for county-wide noxious weed awareness workshops.  They actually probably just wanted someone who was understandable and didn't sound like a hick.  Personally though, with a little training, I think he could have a bright future in the field.  For now, I'll just selfishly keep him to myself for reading books aloud together --one of our favorite pastimes.

"Foggy"

I don't know why, but for some reason every time I hear a frog I want to find it and catch it. Of course, such adventures would most likely involve getting wet and muddy, and nowadays practicality usually outweighs curiosity, so I generally shrug off the urge and leave the little beasties alone.  However, you can imagine my excitement when I happen upon one somewhat out of it's element in a fairly easy to catch state (i.e. on land).

It's even more fun when you have eager young boys to share in your excitement. 

He might have gotten squeezed a bit but seemed no worse for wear when we put him back.

We could hardly drag them away from the river, what with the prospect of possibly more frogs lurking in the grass nearby.  I was quite reluctant to leave myself.  What fun!

Sorry little froggie, to traumatize you so.

Ahh, simple joys...

Maiden Voyage

Adrift in a makeshift sailboat.

So now that I've made this blog, I'm not sure where to start.


 I admit, in that last post, I actually kinda intimidated myself with big plans to write something profound or meaningful, and yet, right now I don't feel very profound.  I guess I'm really just out of practice.


Thinking profoundly doesn't happen that often when my life seems like an unending sea of diapers and dishes.  I'm concentrating too much on what needs to happen next, and how I'm going to do it, and then putting out the small fires such as pee on the carpet, or a toddler who's escaped the house, or a stain that needs to be soaked, or  figuring out what I am going to feed my family for dinner (actually, in all honesty I hardly ever remember to soak stains). Yet when things do calm down for a moment, I'm usually trying to get a nap (or wasting that precious naptime by escaping on the blogosphere).  Anyway, you get my point.  I hardly ever get time to myself to think.  Even if I do come up with a particularly insightful thought, it usually gets interrupted and forgotten before I can try it out on someone who might actually understand what I'm saying, so I think I gave up a long time ago.


I recently realized something about myself --and it's really quite sad-- that when I am in social situations it seems that all that comes out of my mouth is, "my baby did this," or "my kid did that." I get so embarrassed of myself by only talking about me that I get more nervous and I begin to really jabber about even more mundane things such as potty training or how I organize my tupperware or something.  Maybe, subconsciously, I'm afraid that the other person will come up with some highly intellectual topic of discussion and that I will have nothing to say, so I hog the conversation instead.  Wow. Has my life really sunk so low?  Please tell me I'm not the only one that does this.

Looking for sharks

 I'm hoping that this blog will give me the motivation to start thinking more so I actually have something worthwhile to say, and a place to write it down before I forget it.  It'll take some practice I think. For now, I'll just have to go wherever the winds of thought take me.