Peanut-isms

Peanut is talking more and more each day.  We have no idea where he is coming up with some of his words, but they are very deliberate and it doesn't take us long to figure out exactly what he is talking about.

"I"--Water.  Maybe this comes from "ice", but only Daddy-o typically uses ice in the winter, so he hasn't really seen a lot of this, and almost never in his own water.

"'Nee"--Cheese--one of his absolute favorite foods.  So glad he seems to be tolerating this!

"Ah-bee"--Horse.  This one took a little while to figure out, but he starts yelling it as soon as the kids get out of the car at horseback riding class, and every time he sees one, Lego, or real.

"'Nack"--snack.  He asks for these several times a day.  The kid is always hungry.

"Way"--Yes, or You figured it out!   As in, Me: "You want a snack?"   Peanut: "Way!"  And it's usually accompanied by very slow, careful nodding of the head.

"Ow"--Olives.  Another favorite food.  Ever since we found some in Jan. that have no dyes or anything in them, he's been asking for "ow".  He needs all the good fats he can get, but maybe we need to find the low salt version. :)

No Bake Cookie Balls

These little cookies are so good.  They are similar to a Larabar (but cheaper!), and very forgiving--you an use what you have on hand.  This is actually an adaptation from here based on what I had a the time (but I've tried the original and I like using at least half dates.  Raisins just aren't sweet enough.)

No Bake Cookie Balls

1/4 cup almond butter (you can sub another nut butter)

1/2 cup dates (or you can mix half raisins, half dates)

1/4 tsp salt

2 tablespoons cashews

1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Mix everything in a food processor until crumbly enough to easily press together.  Shape as you wish--makes about a dozen bite size balls.

An Amazing Decade

Ten years.  It's kind of amazing how much a life can change in 10 years.  Before that, Daddy-o and I were two individuals who were used to doing our own thing (and honestly didn't always take very well to someone else expecting us to change what we wanted for them.)   We'd both, individually, gone to school, worked, made and achieved goals, made many friends, lived with hundreds of roommates.  We'd dated, broken up, dated again.  We loved each other without really understanding just what that meant.

In the last 10 years, we have

learned to compromise and think of another because we love them more than we care about getting our way,

gotten to know each other better than anyone else in our lives,

brought three new individuals into this world and learned that we can love indefinitely,

moved 7 times,

lived in 4 states,

traveled to 3 other countries and 26 states,

cried,

laughed,

cried until we laughed and laughed until we cried,

spent thousand of hours just talking,

lost more sleep than can possibly be healthy,

eaten more good food than we really need,

dreamed, planned, and changed our minds on what is really a priority,

and grown this amazing little family.

I'm hoping the next decade brings more sleep and laughter, but also more growth and dreams and changing of our minds.

Happy Spring!

First day of spring--the weather is still too cool around here, but we got a nice enough day to get out and enjoy the blossoms.

A little t-ball practice.  Real practices start tonight.

A little rolling in the grass.

 

 

(Someone else likes rolling in the grass, too.  Or, even better, manure, but we'll try to skip that.)

And this little girl couldn't put down her book, but still wanted to be out in the sunshine.

Not a bad first day of spring!

At the End of the Rainbow

St. Paddy's Day. 

A little green wearing.

A Celtic festival the day before.

Corned beef and cabbage for dinner.

Fruit rainbow with a spot of gold.

Zoo Day

We haven't used our zoo pass quite as often as we'd planned, so when the weather forcast looked good last Saturday, we thought we should take advantage.

 I think the kids might have been just as happy in a statue garden.  The fake animals were as popular as the live ones.

 Although feeding the birds was pretty fun.

 I love seeing their faces light up.

We did see a few real animals through out the day, too. 

 We also saw some nature in action--that would be a dead rat in the mouth of that owl.  The owl looked like it wasn't quite done playing before it started its meal.

Daddy-o and Bean decided to try the ropes course.  Three levels of obstacles and they both loved it.

One of Those Weeks

We've had a rough time of it the last week or two.  Not in the way of catastrophe or anything life threatening or otherwise devasting.  Just in a nothing-is-going-right type of way.

 Colds, coughs, double ear infection, stomach virus--everyone but Daddy-o has been less than top form for at least a few days.

A little too much togetherness, trapped in the house, while it's felt like winter will just not die, so no sending the semi-sick kids out in the yard in the bitter cold.

 And sick days turn into too much TV days, which means extra whining, especially from the toddler who doesn't watch TV, extra fighting, shorter tempers, less patience.

 Bean, the healthiest of all of us, has been bored.  She's fought every productive suggestion I've given her, but all the sitting around hasn't left her very happy either.

 Bug went from a couch lump to trying to makeup for the teasing and tormenting he'd missed out on while sick.  He's been driving us all crazy the last 3 days.

 Peanut clung, cried, yelled, and whined, until he finally felt good enough to start getting into trouble.  Now he alternates between whining and stealthily wreaking havoc. Just today, he broke a dish, pulled up all our seed plants, filled the sink with everything in the bathroom, and tried to empty the drawers and dishwasher numerous times. 

Bug tracked mud through the downstairs, and spilled yeast all over the kitchn, (and we got to pull the vacuum out for the 3rd and 4th times today.)

The laundry is piled sky high because 3 days of Mama being sick (and all the germs everywhere) means way too many loads of laundry washed and dumped.

And just when I'm not sure I can put up with much more of having 3 kids home with me 24/7, we get the news that once again, the charter lottery has let us down and the kids probably don't have spots in school this next year, either.  That would have been pretty dissappointing news on a good day, but I've spent the last few challenging weeks reminding myself to try to enjoy homeschooling because this is probably it.  Only now it's probably not.  Time to regroup.

We are in much need of some fun this weekend so we can shake off the last couple weeks!t