Still Best Friends

I love that my kids are so close. Last night, I was flipping through my scrapbook and stopped on a page that had a few of the crazy things I caught them doing with my camera this summer. I actually welled up with tears. I was so emotional about that fact that they enjoy each other so much. And that is completely by design.

When I was pregnant with Kaylin, I ran into a much-admired gal from church who was with her 15 year old daughter. Everyone gives advice when you're pregnant, but hers stuck with me.

She suggested that mothers can manipulate their kids into being best friends. From day 1, she did that with her kids and at 15 and 16 years old, they actually were best friends. I turned to her daughter, a little surprised, and said, "Really?" She looked sad and said, "Absolutely. My brother is spending a month in London right now and I miss him like crazy. I can't wait for him to come home!!"

I loved that idea. I want our family to be a tight unit. The kids can fight, disagree, get on each other's nerves, but at the end of the day, I want them to have each other's backs. So often, parents unknowingly pin their kids against each other.

So very early on, I started in with the brainwashing. "You can't hit your sister, she's your best friend!" "Remember to share your book with him...he's your best friend." I say that often and it seems to be playing out! (for now, anyway...) I intentionally make sure they show the other love, respect and kindness.

I recently gave up on the idea of the kids successfully sleeping in the same room together. It's worked a few times, but they just have so much fun together, chatting, whispering and giggling, that they fall asleep really late and everyone pays the price the next day. So last week was it...no more slumber parties for a while. They just can't handle it.

And when I was looking at the pictures in my scrapbook last night, I realized that I should be thrilled that they are so close, even if it means that they're so excited to be in the same room that it takes them hours to fall asleep.

The icing on the cake was this morning...they were playing in Ryan's room and Ryan came running out to tell me, "Kaylin just said, 'Ryan, I love you SOOOOOOOO much!'" (that's her new thing...saying how much she loves everyone and kissing people on the arm all the time) I said, "Wow, buddy! What did you say back?" His face dropped and he raced back to his room and I heard him say, "I love you, too!" He was so excited that she said something sweet to him that the first thing he wanted to do was share the good news, and in the meantime he left her hangin' with no response!

My heart is full.

New Children's Building

The new, long awaited children's building at our church is almost complete. The 3-6 year old kids are currently in a giant casino-looking tent that has tons of partitions to separate the groups into "classes" - and each one is bursting at the seems. I'm sure they'll be glad to get a real building with real walls and lots of room to move around.

Before they lay the carpet next week, our pastor invited the congregation to take markers and write on the concrete foundation. Prayers, scripture, whatever we wanted. It was a really neat concept and I happened to have the camera in the diaper bag, so I got some pictures! I thought I was all cool and figured out which side of the building Ryan's new class would be in, but I must have forgotten that he had a birthday because I just realized that we wrote on the foundation in the 3 year old rooms. Oh well...the thought was there!

Ryan wrote his name and Kaylin colored a picture. (and before I get questions, yes, it looks like Ryan is going to be left handed) I wrote out Proverbs 22:6 (Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it) and Mike wrote John 14:6. I mockingly asked if he was sure that was a good verse and he said, "I think it's 'I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.'" Then I had him doubting himself. So I looked it up and read a totally different passage that was something completely random about Jesus saying, "Whatever you are about to do, do it quickly." I know, I'm mean. He sat there for a minute, thinking, then said, "Are you serious?" I'm not usually the practical joker, so I thought I was pretty creative and got a good laugh out of that one.

Potty Training, Part 1

I am not ready to potty train Kaylin. Ugh...anyone willing to do it for me??? I know, I know - she just turned 2. It's so early, why rush it? Glad you asked. Because, unfortunately for me, I think she might be ready. She's showing signs of readiness and I'm thinking I may have to carve out a week coming up, stay home, put her in panties and clean up a bunch of pee off the floor until she learns to hold it. Actually, it would be ideal if it were a bit cooler outside and we could spend the day playing in the yard so I wouldn't have to clean up pee. But we'll see...

My long time readers may remember last year after Christmas, when I actually got my not-yet-walking 15 month old Kaylin to pee on the potty after bathtime every night. It only lasted a few months, and I had no intention of truly potty training her at the time...I think it was a fluke.

Fast forward to this summer: I didn't use swim diapers on Kaylin in the pool, partly because I'm cheap, partly because they don't do any good, but mostly because we were in the pool 4-5 times a week for under an hour at a time. That's a lot of swim diapers.

Instead, I tried the ever so faithful technique of logic to get her not to go to the bathroom in the pool. As soon as I put her swimsuit on, I'd remind her, "Don't go potty in the pool...please tell Mommy if you need to go." You're all thinking, "Yeah right! Your pool is probably half urine and you'd never know it." Actually, I doubt it. Because Ryan was in the habit of going pee in the bushes (saved slippery, dripping kids running through the house) and Kaylin wants to do everything like him, she ended up following suit. But she has nothing to "aim," so she would walk over to the grass, pee, and come back into the pool to rinse off. Like a dog. Yes, I trained my daughter to pee in the grass like a dog.

So after we painted with pudding this morning, we decided to swim. Kaylin kept going into the grass to pee, but nothing was happening. Finally, she said, "Mommy, I pooping." NOOO! Code brown! Get in the house! I asked Mike to bring the potty chair out to the grass to see if she'd go out there. Oh yes I did. Hey - it worked with the bathroom rug after the bath idea at Christmas! But nothing happened.

Then it occurred to me that she's been very consistent about where she goes to "hide" when she goes poo lately. Our walk-in pantry. I know! Around food. Ew. But did that stop me from putting the potty seat in the pantry to see if she'd do her business?

No it did not.

She even stood up to close the door for privacy. Then proceeded to poo in my pantry.

Whatever it takes to get her used to doing the deed sitting down and on the potty chair! I hope it won't take long for me to be able to move her into the bathroom where she belongs.

Painting with Pudding

When Ryan was little, I used to make pudding and let him finger paint his high chair tray to his heart's delight. It kept him occupied and contained while I made dinner or cleaned up the kitchen. A fun little project that I forgot about until a recent episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8...but they turned the pudding painting project into a body art idea.

I've been wanting to do this for a few weeks and finally got around to it today. The chocolate pudding body painting would have been a great idea for brown day, come to think of it. Anyway, I made up the instant pudding, put the kid's suits on and headed for the backyard. Allow me to narrate with pictures.

Initially, there was more eating than painting...


Then they painted...


And ate some more...


But when I encouraged them to paint on themselves, they wanted nothing to do with it. In fact, when I smeared some pudding on Ryan's back, he stormed off, begging to go inside...


So I tried a different angle. "Wanna paint Mommy?"


It took Kaylin a minute to catch on, but soon she joined in the fun...


Then - LIGHTBULB! Kaylin finally started painting herself...


Soon she went after Ryan, but that didn't go over very well...


So she chased him around the patio...


Ryan didn't think that was quite as funny as I did, so I distracted Kaylin by asking her to paint my legs again...


More eating...


Finally, it was time to hose everyone down. I think the water was a little cold because Kaylin burst into tears and went running for the kitchen door...


Is it wrong that I think those big crocodile tears are adorably hilarious??

Random Thoughts and Updates

Sorry for my unannounced hiatus. I think I blogged too much this weekend and needed a break. And I've been working for my mom a bunch this week. In the meantime, I've stored up lots of random thoughts that are floating around my head. I think it's been a while since I've done a good brain dump...so here goes.

* Let's see how far I can get without having to re-boot. My computer has been terrible lately! I have no idea what's going on, but the issue is either with Explorer or my PC memory. I get kicked out of the Internet at least twice a day. Incredibly frustrating. Any suggestions???

* Can I quickly say how much more difficult it is to be a kinder, gentler wife and mother when I'm PMSing??? I keep hoping my period would just start already so the zits will fade (I have one in my arm pit - what's that about???), I'll be less hormonal and my crazy attitude will disappear. I seriously had thoughts this morning such as, "Why do my kids talk so much? Why can't people just stop talking? What's with the stupid questions about the cartoon? If I hear, 'Mommy? Hey Mommy?' one more time, I swear..." then 20 minutes later I was tossing Kaylin around and loving life. Psych. O.

* Last night, Kaylin and Ryan were putting together little wooden board puzzles in his room and he took off down the stairs for a bit. Mike realized that Kaylin hadn't followed him (as she has a tendency to do) and peeked into the room to see her quietly sitting with the puzzles around her, a little confused and not sure what to do next, but trying to complete the puzzles on her own. She was in there for quite a while before coming out and asking Daddy to play with her. I love that she's already getting to be an independent player!

* I haven't documented the thing that I love hearing almost more than "I love you" from Kaylin: "I so sited!" She says that with raised eyebrows and a huge smile and sometimes wiggles her shoulders. Today I took her to a pottery painting place to paint a piggy bank and she told me how "sited" she was several times. Of course, she was also "sited" to go to Target afterward...she's a low-maintenance kid. She loved the 5-pack of bracelets that I bought her from the $1 bins at Target even more than the piggy bank.

* Speaking of, I'M so "sited" that The Office is back on t.v. tonight! I am completely addicted to that dumb show. Love it. Laugh out loud, jaw-dropping funny. Anyone with me?

* An update to my recent photo printing post: Money Saving Mom just posted about a deal with Shutterfly that if you sign up with them, you get 50 free 4x6 prints, plus free shipping, plus a free photo collage. And she mentioned another new site that's offering 50 free 4x6 prints when you sign up. It's called PhotoMama. You have to pay shipping, but their regular priced prints are 8 cents, so it's worth checking out.

* One other update: for now, I think I figured out my cleaning dilemma. My new-ish neighbor friend suggested that we utilize each other to trade babysitting favors on a weekly basis. BTW, she's the same neighbor who cooks for me every other Thursday and on opposite Thursdays, I double the recipe I'm cooking and bring it to her family at 5:30, hot and ready to eat. It's a sweet deal! Anyway, every other Monday, she will start bringing her kids to my house for 2 hours in the morning and opposite weeks I bring my kids over to her house. This week was my week. I have to say that I work well against the clock, so as soon as I came home, I started cleaning like a madwoman. You'd have thought the Queen was coming for tea. I was a scrubbing, wiping, cleaning machine...I think I'll reserve this time once a month for a deep clean of the house and the opposite weeks do something relaxing that I can't (or won't) do with the kids around. Like scrapbook. I'm getting used to this swapping concept!

* Where did September go? I think our short vacation made this month seem short. The weather is getting a bit cooler in the mornings and Mike's parents gifted us with a security door that's getting installed Monday. (For everyone outside of AZ...it's the same as a screen door. But metal. Yeah, I don't get it either, I just enjoy the cross-breeze in my house in the fall!) I'm busting out the fall decorations this afternoon. I think the kids will get a kick out of helping with that.

On that note, I hear the pitter patter of little feet, so I should log off now. I only had to re-boot once. Woo hoo! A semi-successful Internet experience! (how pathetic...)

More Colors of the Day

We've been continuing on with our Color of the Day theme and I wanted to post some more pictures of my cute, colorful family.

Tuesday was Yellow Day. We ate Joe's O's (Trader Joe's Cheerios) with bananas for breakfast and used yellow cups and bowls. We incorporated cheese and scrambled eggs into the day, too.

Wednesday was Purple Day. (Thank you Katie Porter for telling me that KSU was playing! I forgot that you read my blog...HI!!! Miss you!) As pathetic as it sounds, Ryan doesn't have anything purple. For shame! So he wore the most purple shirt he has, which was really more blue. And Kaylin's shirt was light lavender, but still purple. I had an off brand of Chex cereal in the pantry to make Monkey Munch, so we ate that for breakfast with a side of grape juice in purple cups. I planned to make eggplant with dinner, but we had tons of leftovers to get rid of, so I copped out and we ate leftovers.

Thursday and yesterday were both White Day. Thursday is the day I run the mom's group at church and I wasn't paying attention during breakfast or lunch, so I thought the kids got jipped and I decided to repeat white again yesterday. We did have popcorn on Thursday and pasta for dinner.

But yesterday, we ate hard boiled eggs and toast for breakfast, quesadillas with flour tortillas and plain (white) yogurt for lunch, Mike and the kids made homemade vanilla ice cream for his dad's birthday dinner last night plus we had a side of potatoes with dinner and ranch dressing on our side salad. So lots of white ideas.

Today is the last of the colors: Brown Day. We had french toast with whole wheat bread for breakfast, tan dinosaur nuggets for lunch and we're having a golden brown chicken pot pie for dinner. There isn't much brown in my kids' summer wardrobes, but I pulled out a little pink and brown pants outfit for Kaylin and found a plaid shirt for Ryan. I'll probably make something chocolate for dessert...you know...in honor of brown day. Not because I'm PMSing. At all.

Friday, I tried doing Black Day, but Kaylin doesn't own a stitch of black. And other than licorice, there aren't many black foods - well, unless you're a bad cook and burn stuff! I did buy Oreos to bring to a Girl's Night last night and the kids enjoyed a couple of those, so they are black, I guess. But for Kaylin, Friday was pink day. Ryan and I wore black, she wore pink. Again, Ryan doesn't have pink, blah blah blah. We had pink-ish pancakes for breakfast and strawberries with lunch. (yeah, I know, they're red - but we don't do strawberry yogurt around here)

This has been a fun exercise, but Kaylin isn't much closer to knowing her colors. So I guess we'll have to do all of this stuff again and again until she gets it. I don't mind - it brought variety to each day!

Meal Plan - week of 9/22

Monday - Tomato & Spinach Pasta Toss (and eggplant...and broccoli...I have a ton of veggies from the co-op to use up)

Tuesday - Healthy Chicken Pot Pie

Wednesday - Chili and Cornbread

Thursday - Garlic Chicken Farfalle (I'm going to sub in turkey bacon and evaporated milk for the heavy cream, plus I'll throw some veggies in there - we'll see!) and I'm going to try a new Homemade Bread from my little friend Emily

Friday - Date night - no cooking! Leftovers for the kids and my mom.

Saturday - Chicken on the grill with veggies from the co-op and a salad

Sunday - Vegan Shepherd's Pie

Five Layer Mexican Bean Dip

There are a gazillion variations to this and, over the years, it has been one of the standard pot-luck dishes that I bring. I actually saw an interesting, healthier version on Healthy Appetite a few months ago, but I was out of black beans yesterday, so I combined some of her ideas with my tried-and-true recipe and came up with this yummy little number. The corn added a bit of filler (and although starchy, it IS a vegatable) and it was a nice burst of flavor. My brother in law swore he could taste the difference between the yogurt and the sour cream, but he's not used to healthy eating, so I think it just psyched him out. I thought it was a great substitution and couldn't tell the difference at all.

Mexican Layered Bean Dip

1 - 15oz. can refried beans

1/2 cup mayonaise (not Miracle Whip)

1/2 cup sour cream OR plain yogurt (not vanilla or any other flavor)

2-3 t. taco seasoning (or 1/2 of a packet)

2 t. olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 cup frozen corn

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

3 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (or Mexican blend)

• Spread the beans evenly over the bottom of an 8x8 or glass pie dish.
• Combine mayo, sour cream or yogurt and taco seasoning. Spread over the bean layer.
• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook 3 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and corn and heat through, about 3 more minutes. Remove from heat and add the cilantro, sprinkling the mixture over the sour cream layer.
• Evenly sprinkle the diced tomatoes, then finally the shredded cheese on top.
• Chill before serving with tortilla chips.