ICE!

Last night we went to see the Charlie Brown ICE exhibit. It was really neat and very cold! It was supposed to be a big family trip with all of my sisters, but ended up just being our family, my sister Kelley and her daughter Savannah, and Pappy and Bibby. We froze our little toes off together!

Gingerbread time!

This year, I bought a Gingerbread Train kit for Elliott to make. He had a good time, but I think he ate more candy than he added to the train. Last year, he just put the candy on wherever he wanted to; this year he kept consulting the box to see where he should put things. Gigi stopped by our house and ended up helping us. It was a fun time. Maybe Aaron will be ready to make one next year. I'm including cute pictures of him in his Christmas outfit since he missed out on the Gingerbread fun.

EAT

Before Aaron's naptime today, we were reading some stories and I picked up “My First Thanksgiving” by Tomie dePaolo. The book shows the family celebrating Thanksgiving by eating turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce, pies and more. Aaron saw the cover of the book (that we have read only once before) and immediately said “EAT.” Next, I picked up “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and Aaron’s first comment was “CAKE.” That is one little boy who likes to eat!

Keepin' it Real

This is a snapshot of my life today. Pretty incredible, isn't it? The boys and I enjoyed a relaxing morning at home and then went to Elliott's gymnastics class, came home, put Aaron down for a nap, did Elliott's "lessons"...and then I remembered that tonight was the last night of our Wednesday night church class. Our church has dubbed November the month for "Teacher Appreciation" and since I missed the boat last week when we were supposed to honor our childrens' caregivers, I intended to make some baked goods for church tonight. (My love language is muffins, by the way.) So at about 3:30 I started making snicker doodles from a mix. I should have gone with my grama's recipe and started from scratch because the mix failed miserably. So on to plan B - pumpkin muffins. These were coming along much better until I realized that the batter would only fit in the bowl that was currently holding weird snicker doodle batter. On to dishwashing. At one point, I looked around the kitchen and realized that I had no fewer than 5 cabinet doors standing open and the dishwasher full of dirty dishes. I just had to stop and take a picture. I wish I knew how to label things in pictures, but among the open doors, batters, and dishes, you will also find a craft project that I'm working on for Elliott's teachers (it's on the stove), and Aaron's yogurt-covered pajama top from breakfast. And I didn't even take a picture of the other side of the room which is currently home to lots of little pieces of raffia from when Elliott decided to work on his scissor-skills. And where was Elliott during this baking fiasco? Was he working on some handmade educational craft project? Brushing up on his beginning reading skills? Perhaps sorting and counting? No, he was, of course, watching a DVD in the living room completely oblivious to the chaos taking place in the next room.

PS - this post is dedicated to Katie S.

Go Titans, Go!

Matt took Elliott to his first football game today. They had a great time together. Elliott got to eat popcorn (apparently a lot of popcorn) and drink Coke and spend the day with his daddy. Matt even picked up a new Titans outfit for E to wear to the game. And the Titans actually won today!

Handy Manny - Take 2

Elliott chose to dress up as Handy Manny again this Halloween. We found a green t-shirt and yellow gloves and he wore his rain, I mean work boots to complete the outfit. Add in a tool belt, tool box, lots of tools, hard hat and safety goggles and we had all the requirements of a super handy little man.

Aaron "dressed-up" as Superman by sporting his new t-shirt from Old Navy. And notice the hands in his pockets. That's his new favorite stance. The cut on his head isn't visible in the picture, but perhaps he should not walk with his hands in his pockets so he can catch himself when he falls. I think I need to get him a helmet for everyday, not just Halloween.

Look! Both boys smiling and looking at the camera! This might have to be our Christmas card picture. It's really hard to get a shot with everyone looking happily in the same direction.

On a Thursday evening

Just playing video games with Dad...and eating some popcorn.

Just the popcorn. And chocolate milk.
Life is good.

Elliottisms

Thanks to Mary for coining the term "Elliottism." It's so appropriate for the funny things that he says. Here are a few of our recent conversations.

- We were meeting Mary (aka Mimi) at Chick-fil-a one day for lunch day (I know, I know, we eat there a lot). While I was getting our food out of the bags, Elliott turned around to a recently vacated table and picked up a newspaper. He then informed me that he couldn't read the paper without his glasses.

- Elliott finally got to chew his first piece of gum this week. I think he's finished a whole package in just 3 days since then...he obviously likes this new privilege. In the car yesterday he said, "I chew gum everyday, except holidays." Interesting. "Why is that, Elliott?" I ask. "Cause on holidays we eat holiday stuff and I won't chew gum on holidays." He is obviously a full-fledged member of his mother's side of the family.

- And tonight at bedtime I was telling Elliott that God has a plan for him. I said, "I wonder what God has planned for you?" Elliott responded, "maybe mushrooms." What? No, I said planned not planted. He was pretty much asleep at the time. Then he asked me where hippopotamus live. That boy is going to have some funny dreams tonight.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

(my lovely niece Savannah)

Aaron is 2!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Aaron!
We celebrated his birthday with 2 parties...one with his 1-year-old cousin Maddie and one with his 5-year-old cousin Aiden. Aaron enjoyed his birthday festivities and especially opening presents. And of course he enjoyed the food - notice the picture below where he's holding out his plate and saying, "eat."

Weather

Elliott's thoughts on the weather: "Do you think God hits a drum to make thunder? And maybe He uses a laser pen to make the lightning."

Crafts

I made this T-shirt for Aaron to wear for his 2nd birthday party (sniff sniff). It cost me a total of $6 and was done in about 30 minutes. I bought all the supplies at Walmart - a $3 t-shirt, $1 for the fabric and $2 for heat 'n bond to stick it all together. And I only had to call my mom once!

And since I'm feeling crafty, here are a couple of diaper cakes that I've made. My mom had to help with the bows on the pink cake. I can't tie pretty bows, so I have to call in my mom for that part. Maybe that's why I have boys and not girls!

A few more beach pictures

These are pictures that my lovely sister Mandy took on our vacation this summer. Yes, she is an amazing photographer. Check out her website to see her work.

Cousins - 7 kids in all and aren't they all beautiful? Perhaps I'm a little biased.

The Whole Family

Random Housekeeping Post

"Cleaning the house while the children is growing is like shoveling snow when it's still snowing."
- Erma Bombeck

I recently read this quote, and, boy, did it hit home! This is a complete diversion from my usual post, but I have been thinking lately about how to better manage my household, so I'm sharing what I have come up with and invite comments to see what works for others.

First, I have created a cleaning schedule. Obviously I'm not doing too well with it today since I'm on the blog and not cleaning our fun room like the schedule says. But the schedule also allows for some free time as well. Over the summer, Elliott has gotten less consistent about taking a nap. Today is one of the days when he apparently fell asleep during rest time. Other days, he rests in his room for a few minutes and then is back up. It was really throwing me when this happened, so I created a daily schedule to accommodate days when he doesn't nap. Part of that schedule is a daily cleaning routine.

In the afternoon during naptime, I work on my daily cleaning project. I broke our house into manageable parts, and I focus on one small area each day. Thus not becoming overwhelmed with cleaning the whole house during naptime, though quite frankly that never happened. So Monday is laundry and clean the fun room day. Tuesday, I clean the kitchen/dining room. Wednesday is bathroom day. On Thursday, I work on the bedrooms. And Friday is living room day. I also straighten up my desk and pay bills. Now, my system is not perfect and admittedly I get distracted some days, but it is helping me to feel better about my housekeeping. I also feel like I'm more able to do some deeper cleaning since I'm only focused on one room at a time.

I am also trying to do better about keeping up with the daily things. Elliott now helps unload the dishwasher every morning and sweep with our new Swivel Sweeper (a product recommendation for all households, but especially those with young kids).

I'm also trying to streamline my cleaning products. I use a spray bottle with 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water to clean just about everything. It works on windows, mirrors, countertops, bathrooms, high chair trays...you name it. And I have read about using borax to clean toilets, so I'm going to try that when I run out of toilet bowl cleaner.

Another area that was bothering me was menu planning. I used to plan meals for each week. Now I've started planning meals for a whole month. I just print out a calendar from Word, look at our family calendar, and write in what's for dinner. I usually cook 3 times a week, so I start there. It's easy to make adjustments and I don't have to go through the "What's for dinner?" dilemma every week. And I think once I have several months done, I will just repeat them.

Well, if you're still around, you must be a really good friend or also in need of some household help. I really would like to hear what works for others. I don't see hiring a maid in my future, so I hope this plan works out for me. It's Monday...I better go clean the fun room and check on the laundry.

August Highlights

Boys in Bandanas:

The Boy version of dress-up:

Elliott got out his Thomas the Train costume and Aaron wanted a turn. The costume was a bit big for him though, so I had to turn it around backwards so he wouldn't trip over it. And of course, Thomas needs a beach hat, right?

Elliott the builder, quite a common sight.

And finally, the boys helping around the house:

Elliott making some homemade salsa.

Aaron using the new swivel sweeper to clean the floors. Is that a great birthday gift or what?! Even a not-quite-two-year-old can help clean!

Lucky girl

Have I mentioned what a lucky girl I am? One more talent that my husband possesses is the ability to make these incredible chocolate chip cookies. He uses his mom's recipe so how could they be bad? The answer: if someone other than a blood relative makes them. Matt can make them. His sister can make them. I can not make them. I tried; I really did. And the ones that I made were fine, but they just did not measure up. In fact, after my first and only attempt at making these cookies, Matt decided that they just weren't quite right and proceeded to make his own batch. In the same kitchen. With the same ingredients. And, you guessed it, his turned out better than mine. So ever since that day at least 5 years ago, he has had the honor of baking the chocolate chip cookies in our household. (I can bake a mean snicker doodle though.)

This past weekend we had a baby shower for Matt's cousin and his wife, and Matt had the task of baking the chocolate chip cookies...because quite frankly, I am never making them again. In the process of measuring the ingredients, he pulls out this little silicone spatula and laughs about the story of its origin. You see, I had the larger spatula and really liked it. And one day around Christmas, I was doing some baking (not the chocolate chip cookies), and said, "I really wish I had a smaller spatula like this one for icing cookies." And then my husband disappeared, only to rejoin me moments later with a look of triumph on his face and the smaller spatula in his hand. He had gotten one to put in my Christmas stocking! So he was quite the hero and I got my present a bit early.

See what a lucky girl I am?

Friends

This morning I kept the boys' good friends Caleb and Seth. They have such fun playing together. I got out the playdough for them and it lasted all of 10 minutes, but they enjoyed it. And then the little guys ran to the front door to watch the lawnmower. Entertainment is so easy for these little boys!