My Newest Challenge:

Find a meal that can be eaten by someone with these allergies: eggs, soy, nuts, milk, corn. I thought this would be a cinch. I can do that! I've done no eggs or milk before. Soy isn't in much. Nuts, you can easily do without. Corn. Easiest of all. Boy was I wrong! Did you know that corn has over 80 names! I wasn't thinking of all the other things besides that tiny whole kernel. Check out this link: The Many Names of Corn. Alright. I'll let you know what I come up with! Ready. Set. Label search.

Ahh...

The girls are down for a nap today. Neither was too keen on the idea. L layed down and rolled over quite nicely but then got back up a few minutes later to talk to her sister. I think they must have played peek-a-boo for a bit. After experimenting with them doing this and not going in, I've decided to just let them have some time to do that and then settle on their own. It doesn't happen too often and the last time it did, they both ended up having a good nap...just had some sister bonding first. :)

Kj got her first 2-year molar this past week, weeks before her 3rd birthday. Normal??? I don't know, she's always been a bit late with her teeth so I don't really pay much attention to it. Consequently, she's had a bit of a runny nose, turned cough from drainage. Sounds yucky, but she perks up after about a half hour post-nap or morning wake-up.

L is moving and grooving. She zips after me down the hall. Or to her other 2 favorite spots: the bathroom where she opens the drawer with all the hair bits of Kj's, or the shoes. I have a bin for drying shoes by our garage door and she likes to go over there and inspect all the pairs there.

We're having family pictures on Saturday. Thanks mom for the dresses for them! I think they'll be just right. I'm still looking through their clothes and ours for a more casual alternative. I think we can have 2 outfits... I'll have to post some pictures later. I made a matching hat set for the girls, enlarging the infant ones I've been making for my friend. Kj helped to pick out the yarn, although I gave her 5 choices. She wanted "all o' them," but finally narrowed it down.

Aging

I am enjoying two more weeks with a 0 and a 2 year old before we have two weeks with a 1 and a 2 year old, followed by eleven and a half months with a 1 and a 3 year old! :)

Apple Butter

Looking through Super Baby Food, a cookbook, looking to see if they have an easy homemade jelly recipe. They didn't but they have a couple pages of butters that you can make...apple, herb, prune, avocado spread... So, I'm trying out the apple butter. All you have to do is boil then simmer applesauce until it gets to the desired consistency. Well, it has been simmering for about an hour. I never would have thought it would take this long, but I thankfully can be doing other things at the same time. I only have to stir occasionally.

Other interesting recipes I found:

Homemade Breakfast Nutty Grape Cereal
Tahini Milk (I have a whole lot of Tahini in the fridge from making hummus)
also just the idea of using Tahini like peanut butter

I had better go stir now...

Also, hello to the 3 family members in S.L. We're looking forward to hearing about your adventures! And your extravagant purchases (hehe...just kidding...).

Kjs Song Prayers

"Thank you for A. and all the kids she's going to have. Thank you for A. and her baby (not pregnant). Thank you for a pray I said. Please you might not ben. Praise you, halle halle lujah. We praise, we praise we praise, our Lord Jesus we praise you."...and on and on..."We praise you McDonalds... Our Lord Jesus comes for earth we praise you we praise you not poppy...." ~Kj, heard by parents in the other room...she was getting outerwear on to go outside.

"For health and strength and daily food we praise your name oh Lord." This is a little song she learned at my Bible Study and we have been using it to pray for others too. For example, "For Daddy, Mama, Kj, L we praise your name oh Lord." It works quite nicely and she's good at making up her own verses.

The Screen Door

Remember the new screen door we got last fall? Well, the last few days we have really been enjoying the sun shining in and the screen up top that lets the warm, fresh spring air in to our house. We have been refreshed from two days of walking outside. L still falls asleep on longer walks, but kicks her legs with enjoyment beforehand. Kj asks occasionally to get out and walk, but is still content when I tell her "not yet." The "rivers" in front of the driveways are still wide and deep but surprising to me is the fact that they are less than yesterday. Mmmm...new running shoes are on my mind...and actually running again...we'll see if I can find a time where that will happen again. Walking is great, but I thought I would try running for a little bit again...just to see if I still want to.

Home Again, Home Again

Hello, just thought I would check in with you all. We've been out of town because Kevin's sister has been in the country and we have spent as much time with her as possible. We had a great time and some great memories. You should see the video the aunts made with Kj. :) For those of you who have a Mac and have the photo booth bit...and the fun house part of it... Pretty cute. All the rest of you, yeah, that probably makes no sense to you. But that's ok.

We're trying to get back in the swing of things. I went to the grocery store tonight because I started out the day with nothing "regular" for breakfast so I had to take an old banana and some other random fridge/freezer items and make a smoothie. Then we were out for the morning and asked a friend to go through a drive-thru for our lunch, and mac-and-cheese with no milk for supper. I guess all I needed was milk, but if that was all I had gotten we would have had a worse supper tomorrow. Now, I have enough to make 3+ meals, with leftovers it will probably be 7 meals. Mexican Lasagne (modified to not be as rich), burritos, Ramen meat and veggies stir-fry thing... Mmm...

Just thinking about Aunt C. tonight and her parents, staying at my parents' home on the way to the airport tomorrow. Then out of the country. Won't get to see her again until late fall. But what a great homecoming that will be because that will be the end of her long-term commitment. Then we'll only be 5+ hours away instead of a 3 hour car ride, 2 - 8 hour flights, and a helicopter or ferry ride away from each other!

Hmm...this is probably the most boring post in a while. Sorry, I should have warned you at the beginning and you could have just bypassed the whole thing. Take care! Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's day.

A Hat for L

Yesterday, I adjusted the pattern a little for the baby hats and made a hat for L. So far she hasn't kept it on too long, so I may give it to K (the photographer) for a "big sister" or "1 year" hat. I just am having a hard time wanting to part with it. The other cool thing, is that we have a day set to have family pictures taken...and it's this month!! I'm going to be on the lookout for the perfect outfits in our wardrobe that coordinate, yet are each of our unique style. Once I find them, I don't think I will let any of us wear them for the rest of the month...don't want to get any stains or have to do a rush wash the night before! :) Hahaha...


I put the girls down for their naps today and they had about 15 minutes of fun and games. I think they were playing peek-a-boo with each other. They were laughing and squealing (with delight) at each other. I had to make a tough call and went in and laid them both down again. Then it was tears from L. So, again, I went in and fed her a bottle, because by then it was nearly the regular wake-up time and she was hungry, and back to bed. Quiet, a few tears and now they are both down. Is Kj sleeping?? Who knows, but that doesn't matter so much.


Next on the list of things...a hat for Kj!? Who knows. She would like it for sure, but I'm not sure I have enough "girly" yarn for it. I'll have to wait and see. Probably just another quick baby hat. Oh, yes, I did make one for one cousin having a boy, and now I have to make another cousin's soon to come boy one. That's right!

Photography

I've been making some more hats and diaper covers for my photographer friend. I'm quite enjoying myself. This time I think instead of monetary payment, we will be getting a family photo session...maybe I'll have to enlarge a couple of the hats I've been making for the 1 and 3 year old that are going to get their pictures taken. That would be fun. Can you believe that they are that old already (next month)!? It will be different. My baby will no longer be quite so much baby and my big girl will have some real big girl competition (and camaraderie). They do already play together well. I just need to be listening to make sure L isn't getting "handled" too much...pushed, pulled, physically moved, walked...that sort of thing. Kj has all the best intentions, but I try to tell her that she isn't big enough for doing such things. Well, back to the original post, here is a picture.



(I have found that I can post pictures directly from my camera, and now I am getting even more behind getting pictures on the computer...)

Quotes That I Found Interesting

"A church that has passion is a church where discouraged folks cheer up, dishonest folks 'fess up, sour folks sweeten up, closed folk, open up, gossipers shut up, conflicted folks make up, sleeping folks wake up, lukewarm folk, fire up, dry bones shake up, and pew potatoes stand up! But most of all, Christ the Saviour of the entire world is lifted up. " ~Davon Huss

"I'm going to put this on for me to jump. It's my jumper." ~Kj (2)

"I like JC and Penney." ~Kj (she knows the store's name is JCPenney's...but decided that she liked those two girls as well.)

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired. " ~Terri (4)

Looking at the computer: "I want to learn something." ~Kj

Observations

• The sound of the door closing signals L to give up bedtime protests and go to sleep. Kj's teddy has a similar result with Kj.
  
• Just learned something new about the whole grain stamp on food products. Just by observation...I found out that if there are 100% whole grains in the product then a 100% bubble is posted over the grain picture. Also, it tells how many grams of whole grains there are per serving.
  
• Blood types...O: universal ((-)red blood cell donor), can give to anyone, A: can give to A or AB, B: can give to B or AB, AB: can give to AB ((+) universal plasma donor). For more information go to the Red Cross site.
• Kj makes a great Christmas/Valentine's Day/Easter card decorator...it also makes for good diversions from other things
  
• When Kj comes up to me and says, "I need you to hold me." It means, "Please, bring me to the potty as soon as I say this, because otherwise you will regret it and you'll have a lot of cleaning to do." Took me a week or so to observe this before finding an accurate translation.
• L might be a little more daring than Kj...she's becoming my little climber...she's been climbing on Kj's bathroom stool, and the stool next to the coffee table, and the stool to watch out the front window.
• The L baby giggles and snuggles will not last forever...so cherish this moment!