He's in Stitches!

"It's an old AWANA injury..."  That's what I expect to hear in a few years when this heals and leaves a scar.  Griffin got 4 stitches in his nose after he was messing around in a chair at AWANA (a kids' Bible memory club that stands for "Approved Workers Are Not Ashamed") and fell forward, slamming his nose into the ground.  I think he learned his lesson, and I am truly glad that it was not worse, but I know the pain he'll be in for a few days will teach him better than anything I could have told him. 

Smiley

Oliver is 5 months old!  It is hard for me to believe that my littlest guy is so big.  He smiles a TON, which has earned him the nickname "Smiley" at our house.

Sammy loves his little brother!  He will occasionally ask to hold Oliver or feed him, and I just love watching them together.

Oliver loves his Super Yummy Teether from Discovery Toys.  It smells like vanilla, and I use DT's Boomerings to attach it to the high chair or swing or carseat so that it won't get lost.  He likes to play with the Boomerings almost as much as the teether!

As soon as we put Oliver in the Jumparoo and his feet touched the floor, it was destiny.  The sky opened up, the angels sang, and he had a new favorite place to hang out.  He doesn't just want to be held anymore.  Oh, no!!  He wants to jump!  He wants his feet to make contact with a solid surface underneath him so that he can use those chubby springy legs and bounce! He apparently wore himself out in it, and I snapped this picture just before he woke up and smiled at me with those tired blue eyes.

I think he may be a bit concerned with the quality of the food at this establishment.  This was the first bite of one of his first oatmeal feedings.  He wasn't exactly a fan at first, but I think it's growing on him.

 

I have no idea what he was reacting to in this picture, but the look on his face cracks me up! 

A bunch of other fun pictures.  Griffin is very protective of Oliver!  He will run and get his pacifier to calm him down, and he'll stand there and talk to Oliver for a long time while he coos and giggles and blows bubbles at Griffin.  I think Oliver laughs the loudest for his big brother.

2010, Mario, Food and a Cat.

Griffin:  "SAMMY!!!!  YOU KILLED ME!!!!!!!  Now you have to POP me and I'm not the FREEZE guy anymore!!!  Hey, watch OUT for that MUSHROOM!!!!!!"

Sammy: "Oh... okay."

And thus has been much of the conversation at our house lately.  If you have ever played Super Mario as a kid, or your children are...

Okay, I had to take a break, the boys needed me to beat The Water Level for them.

What was I saying?  Oh yes.  Mario.  It's a whole other world.  It is also quite the aerobic activity.  What?  You didn't know that?  Oh, yes.  It helps if you jump up and down while you play.  And kick every so often.  And run back and forth in front of the TV.  Yeah.  Those things can make you work up quite a sweat.  Just ask Griffin.

So I sat down and wrote out my resolutions a couple of days ago.  Drink lots of water.  Eat at home more.  Spend less.  You know, the usual.  I was actually a lot more specific than that, and I wrote out my specific plan, but that is for only me to know.

I don't like people to know what my resolutions are because if no one else knows them, I am only accountable to myself and I don't disappoint anyone but me -- and it's okay if I disappoint myself.  I am a middle child, and I hate to disappoint other people, so I just won't tell anyone what I want to change.  Not exactly, anyway.  You just get the Cliff's Notes.

I have lost 5 pounds so far.  Yay for me!  Now I just have to keep it up.

My ultimate goal?  To be a healthier person.  I don't have a weight loss goal, or really any specific goals in mind.  I just want to be healthy again.  Or maybe for the first time in my adult life.  I have always gone for convenience; fast, easy food is what I have mostly been feeding my family.  Now, I am shopping at Whole Foods at least once a month, and probably will replace my former grocery store with Whole Foods.  It is farther away from my house, so I have to drive a bit, but it is worth it to feed my family well.

I have been making a weekly menu plan for the last month, and it has worked out well for me.  I love being able to look at the menu and see what is for breakfast, lunch and dinner and not coming up to mealtime and not knowing exactly what to cook.  I also write reminders for myself to "take chicken out of freezer," etc. so that I am not tempted to skip meals on the menu because I am not prepared.  Oh yeah.  It saves us money, too.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am an impulse shopper.  Well, not anymore!  Okay, maybe sometimes.  But a lot less often.

I love to cook, I really do, and having quality ingredients just makes it that much more fun.  Here are a couple of the scrumptious things we've eaten this week.

Homemade Bagel Pizzas

Chimi-Ritos (crispy baked burritos)

We are also going to have this.

I didn't take any pictures, but another favorite was the sandwiches I made yesterday.  I toasted bread, then layered Miracle Whip, sliced ham, turkey and pepperoni on one side, then on the other side I put a couple of slices of fresh sliced provolone.  I made the sandwiches on a baking sheet so that I could pop it into the oven (open-faced), and the provolone melted like a dream!  I popped some alfalfa sprouts on the sandwiches, put the tops on, cut them in half, and they were so delicious... I will definitely do that again! 

Also on the menu for the week are Beef Stroganoff, and Chicken and Noodles over mashed potatoes (Great-Grandma Style).

Oh, and before I forget, here is a picture of our dejected kitty Cleo (glowing alien eyes and all) as Mike was taking down the Christmas tree.  She was so disappointed!  She and Miles will go and lay down on the floor where the tree used to be, dreaming of the days when they chased each other around under its branches and played with ornaments that had been knocked off by Gordon's tail.

Monkeys

It was hot and muggy inside the house a couple of weeks ago, and I was on the phone with Bonnie when I just had to say "Hold on, Bonnie, I need to go grab my camera for a second."

Griffin is officially following in his father's literal footsteps, and is climbing the doorposts. Somewhere there is a picture of Mike at around Griffin's age hanging on to the doorpost grinning from ear to ear. Well, now I have my own!

I was a baaaaaad Mommy and pulled a "Do that one more time so that I can get a picture, and then never, ever do it again!!!"

He hasn't done it since, but then air conditioning isn't nearly so handy because the humidity isn't a factor anymore. Hee!

Sammy wasn't quite so adventurous. He got a little way up and decided it wasn't worth the trouble. Good boy!

And no, they don't even try to climb the ladder in the background. Nah. That would be much too easy. It has STEPS.

Snow Play

Yesterday was a lazy day for us. The boys were SO excited to see about an inch of snow on the ground when they woke up!! They bugged me for an hour until I finally gave in and dug their snowsuits out of the storage room. I just love Children's Orchard! I had gotten them for $15 each when they had all of their coats out, you know, in August. Because what reasonable person isn't thinking about frolicking in the snow in the 95-degree humidity of the summer?

They were soon (soon is a relative word... about 30 minutes later) bundled up and ready to brave the elements. They headed out the door with much gusto... and came back inside less than 20 minutes later.

It was really cold, I had to agree.

But the smiles on their faces...er, whatever face that is that Griffin was making... were worth all of the work it took to get them out there.

Have fun playing in your snow!

Powder Puff

Need I say more? But, yet again, I will.

I swept three times over the course of the day it happened (sweep, wait for it to settle, sweep, wait for it to settle, sweep) and now you'd never know the floor sported a layer of baby powder. And the carpet. And the furniture. And the upstairs. All. Of. It.

But I'm maintaining my sense of humor, because you just have to laugh, right? And put them in time out until they are 5.

I put him (yes, it was Sammy) in time out for the entire time it took me to clean up the mess. Which was basically all morning. Three hours, I think? He was begging for a spanking about half way through my cleaning, and when I was done, I went to the couch to tell him he could get down and this is what I saw.

He was all tuckered out from working so hard! I mean, it must have taken him a long time to cover so much ground (pun intended). He started very early, because it was that way when I woke up at 7am.

*sigh*

No more sleeping in for Mommy!

Pool Fun... NOT in the sun

All Dressed Up

Anticipation

The Toe Test

First One In

Shoveling The Water

Everybody In... Almost!