Family Photo Fun

I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to get a good family picture.  Part of the problem is that there are so very few opportunities for family photos.  Well, without going through the trouble of scheduling an appointment and paying gobs of money and quarrelling with your spouse about it, then there are very few opportunities.  

I decided that as Aunt Miranda and Uncle Dan were here, by golly, we were going to make them take a picture.  Alas, I had forgotten that it requires some semblance of simultaneous cooperation from all parties involved.   I'm not sure if an "accurate" picture is really as treasure-worthy as an attractive one.  Miranda took about 7 pictures.  Here is a sampling of them, and unfortunately, the first one IS the best!

Yes, this is as good as it gets for us.  Okay, maybe I just like it because Dan and I look best here! Delaney looks confused with no thumb in, and Callie looks zonked. Heh heh heh!  Marian wouldn't put on her sweater and I decided it was not worth the fight.  Once we got to church it became worth the fight, so she did wear the sweater once we left the house.

Yeah, I'm a goof.  Miranda was being silly, and I could not resist. Marian and Callie look cute....

This is our Silly Shot.  Delaney didn't get the memo.

And yes, the chaos of getting it all done.  Good thing I know I have a cute family, cuz you sure can't tell just how cute from our family picture!!  (Thanks Aunt Miranda!!)

Callie's fun day

I actually meant to blog about yesterday;  It was my 10th Anniversary, you know!  Dan and I had a fantastic date, but the pictures are inaccessible right now, so you get to see what Callie did this week.

Uncle Dan and Aunt Miranda took Callie to the Zoo!  They took the bus to the Metro and the Metro to the Zoo.  Callie had a marvelous time.

Callie had fun with Aunt Miranda on the Metro.

They met friends at the Zoo.  It rained off an on, but that didn't dampen the fun!

Super-cool!  A fuzzy pelt they could touch.  Callie said she liked everything.  She had a "gweat day!" with Aunt Miranda and Uncle Dan.

And she fell asleep on the way home, marker in hand.  So cute!

Okay, totally out of order.  This is Callie, waiting for the bus, and it should have been the first picture.  But I am in a hurry and I'm hungry, so this is what you get!  If you are lucky, I'll get our anniversary date pix up soon.

Miranda's Fault

My sister Miranda is visiting! She brought her husband too. I like them both, very much. They have been pretty busy doing fun things in the area and I have gotten to spend time with them. We have feasted upon such divine tastiness as chocolate cookies and chocolate truffle pie (I'm sensing a theme here!). And I introduced them ti Five Guys. Mmmmmmm..... 5 Guys burgers.....

I have neglected to take pictures, and I have neglected my blog. For that, I heartily apologize to the 3 people who get excited to read it. I shall repent immediately and go take more pictures. For now, you will have to make do with some recent pix of the kids.

Joshua at the park during Spring Break.

Marian in her favorite fuzzy purple shirt, enjoying a donut and wearing a donut goatee.

Fabulous Callie at the park!

My 3 funny girls in the tub. Marian always asks to make "soapy solution" in the bath and last week I said she could. She poured half a bottle of shampoo in the tub. Ug. It certainly was soapy!

There's a New Sheriff in Town!

Joshua and Marian's school held a very well done Barn Dance.  We paid for dinner, and it was tasty.  Then you could buy tickets so you could buy other fun items.  I didn't know there would be ticket purchasing, and I only had $6, which was spent very quickly!  I let the kids each choose one of the fun items to get with their tickets.  Joshua chose a Sheriff Badge.  Marian got a fabulous mustache, and Callie chose a cowboy hat.  I will admit that it was a lot more work than I expected, taking all the kids without Dan. (He is having a wonderful time visiting his brother, now that his week of training in LA is done.)

So, here are the kids, all ready to go, dressed in their cowboy finest....

.... Okay, Joshua was the only one in his cowboy finest!  (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa White for the hats- they have lasted what, 3 years now?!)

During gym class, the kids had been learning the dances.  There was a Square Dance Caller who kept things very fun.  Joshua is showing me the moves he learned in class. 

Callie had no idea what to do, but she was out in the middle of the crowd, shaking her thing for most of the time.  Here, I caught her doing the "Hokey Pokey".  She's so cute!

Since Marian had a marvelous mustache, everyone had to try it on.  Here is Joshua.

(Dangit!  My pictures are out of order and I can't figure out how to move them on the Apple!  The drag and drop isn't moving them.  So, this was not the order these last ones should be in!)

Delaney is having fun with Callie's hat.  Marian is just having fun!

Yes, even I had to put on the 'stache!  And Callie's hat!

And last but not least, is Marian, rocking the mustache.  She loved it and wore it most of the night.  It was the coolest part of the evening. Well, that and Callie boogieing! 

Family

First, some gratuitous play-doh pictures (sorry about the red eye.) and then on to the real post.....

I occasionally visit the "Mormon Mommy Wars"  blog site and the other day they had the topic of, would you want to live by your family.   There were a lot of responses to that and I read many of them.  Some people liked living by family, others were vehemently against it.  Some felt that a little distance was good, but close enough for short visits.  I found some so sad.  And it made me feel very blessed.  I have a wonderful family.  I would love to live near any and all of my family.  That is actually my dream.  My ultimate dream would be to live on a compound with all my family and to be self sustaining and live off the grid, powered by windmills and solar power, and to have cows and chickens and all that good stuff!  But, as I said, its just a dream!

And I want to be clear that I also would love to live near my in-laws.  Dan and I got to live with both our parents for varying amounts of time- a summer with his folks, and then I stayed alone with them with 2 small children a few months while he was in RI.  While actually living with family is not ideal, I think it would be so great to be in the same neighborhood, same ward, same city.... any of it is good.  Same thing goes with my family.  We keep going back- a summer here, a few weeks there, and we stayed a while when we were waiting for Dan's bar results.

It is true that we never HAD to stay with them, it was just monetarily advantageous and, well, we like our families.  I was so sad for the people who could not live in the same place as their parents and/or siblings.  It made me feel really blessed.  I am so glad to have family (both mine and Dan's) who are healthy, happy, good people.  I'm so blessed that they are people I like to be around.  There was one person who wrote that she would not let her parents move into the same ward she was in.  How sad.  I loved it when we lived with Dan's parents those few months and when we went to church, the kids could sit on their grandparents'  lap, or they could go hang out with Uncle Mark, and Aunt Star and their cousins.  It was fun to have Sunday dinners with the whole family too.

I did agree with some of the comments about moving away for a while after you get married.  I agree that it is good, especially if you have parents who are into your life a lot, or who can't seem to let you go.  We did not have that problem.   We lived pretty far away anyway, but that was due to school and stuff.  The other issue I hadn't thought about was that some people who live by family are not interested in developing other friendships because they don't need to.  I think that may be true.  I love making new friends and meeting new people when we move.  And when you can't fall back on family, I guess you may make stronger friendships.  I'd still rather have my sisters around though!

Growing up, knowing your grandparents and cousins is such a wonderful thing.  I got to see my cousins and grandparents a few times a year until I was a teen and we moved from CA to NJ.   When I got to college, I got to know my cousins again, and now we have great family reunions.  I am so blessed to have a large extended family that I enjoy being with.  I am double blessed to have in-laws who I also like.  I take it all for granted, and yet, it is a marvelous gift that I have been given.  I would love someday to live by as many of them as possible.  Unfortunately, I have my parents and 5 siblings who all live in different states.  Dan's parents and siblings also all live in completely different states.  So it looks like my compound is going to take a lot more work!

Easter Eggs

Okay, I finally got out of my comfort zone.  I hunted down the camera cable and hooked it up to the camera and the Imac and to my utter astonishment, I was actually able to download the pictures from the camera onto this computer.  Yay me!  Later I will look into the photo program so I can get rid of the red eye.  But for now.... you can check out pix of our Easter Egg coloring.

Callie really liked the stickers.  She wanted them on every egg.  And lots of 'em!

Marian missed the coloring part, but she was happy to apply stickers and didn't seem upset about not getting to do the coloring.

Delaney LOVED everything about it.  The cocoa mugs were the problem, as she kept wanting to spoon the colored liquid into her mouth, if there was no egg on the spoon.  She managed to get a mouthful of blue and that was it for her.  I ended the egg coloring and emptied the cups after that. 

Delaney didn't take it well.  She was most irate and cried for her cocoa.

Mentionables

I have a hard time getting motivated to blog when I can't post pictures.  We are still having issues with getting wireless Internet, so only one computer at a time gets the Internet.  Dan prefers the Apple to have the Internet and its too much hassle for me to switch it over.  That is my excuse for not being a more frequent blogger and not having pictures today.  That means I must talk about something, so you know I am still here and still care that you came to visit us here!

So, what is happening at our house lately?  If you ask Joshua, he will proudly announce that he threw up 7 times, and he had diarrhea!  Yep, I'm the mom of a boy who doesn't know how much info is too much!  He really was sick of Friday, but it was a quick bug and he was fine by dinnertime.  He did actually make the above announcement to his friend though.

We colored Easter Eggs on Saturday. I wasn't enthusiastic about it because, well, its dye and children, and a liquid.  I'm sure anyone can see the potential for disaster in that combination.  Plus I had 500 other things I needed to do.  Still, I figured it was for the children.  I strategically did not call Marian and Joshua in to help.  I just sat down with Callie and Delaney.  I made a grave error though.  I made the dye in our cocoa mugs.  Delaney kept referring to it as "cocoa", and wanted to drink it.  I have a wonderful picture of her crying after she spooned some into her mouth and I took it away from her.  She was very angry that I didn't let her drink her "cocoa"! 

Delaney ate waaay too much Sunday night.  She started with her Easter candy and then snacked her way through the tasty snacks we had out for company that evening.  She puked it all up about 10pm that night.  Such a vast quantity that I was truly amazed.  I probably should have anticipated such an event when I saw her spooning the last of the veggie dip right into her mouth.  Poor thing.  Dan had her sheets off and her into the bath before I even knew she'd tossed her cookies.  She went right back to sleep though and was fine after that.  I imagine she must have had quite the tummy ache!

Dan is off to New Orleans this week.  I only have to make it to Saturday, because Miranda and her Dan will be coming to visit me!  I am so excited about that!  So are the kids.  Miranda has cultivated her image as Favorite and Fun Aunt Miranda, and Dan doesn't seem to need to work at all to be the favored Uncle.  Although Uncle Monkey gives him a run for the title.  So, I am having a good week, possibly on the mere anticipation of the weekend!

And the last item possibly worth mentioning is that I exercised this week!  Yes, I did.  I quit running and everything, cold turkey, about 6-8 weeks ago because I was not going to stress about vomiting on the way.  Now that "morning sickness" seems to be over, I have decided it is time to do something about the vast quantities of food I am now consuming.  So I made friends with our elliptical machine again.  We spent some quality time together yesterday and again this morning.  I love how much better it makes me feel!  When it stops being icky outside, I'll toss the girls in the stroller and we'll reacquaint ourselves with the park.

Flat Stanley

Marian's class read the book Flat Stanley at school. They then made their own Flat Stanley's, which they brought home for Spring Break. Their homework was to take him with them for the week and report back on the adventures they had with Stanley. I decided it would be so much more fun if we took pictures! Granted, we did not do much in the way of exciting adventures, but it was still fun to document everything we did this week. (I will develop the pix and we'll make a book for her to take to school on Monday. ) So, here are some shots of what we have done this week with Marian and her Flat Stanley .

I took the kids to a park on base that I've never stopped at before. They always beg when we drive by it, but I'm always in a hurry to get somewhere. So this time we went, and it was a beautiful day. They played for all of 20 minutes and then were bored. Well, not Marian. She loves the monkey bars, and she's very self entertaining.

My goal had been to hit about 4 parks this week. We only made it to 2. This is the park that's about 3 miles down the road. The kids had a great time, despite the fact that it was blustering wind and I was freezing!

Flat Stanley got to come with us out to lunch at Chevy's. I love, love, love their floutas! Yummy in my tummy. The children were all very well behaved and we got a bunch of free kid's meal passes on the way out! Yay!

You can't really tell, but Delaney pulled off his left arm just before we got to Home Depot. I do not like the HD here. I cannot find anything! Hauling all 4 children up and down every single aisle to find what I need was pretty rotten. And no, they did not have anyone helpful in there. I was grumpy. (And yes, we were able to tape the arm back on, good as new!)

We were going to go to the Zoo on this day, but it was raining. It looked beautiful until about 10am, and then the drizzle started. Then it continued all day long. Very dreary. The kids had a picnic in the living room and enjoyed that.

Heaven in my mouth!

I was telling my baby brother about this fabulous recipe I have. I made this Carbonara for dinner last night. It is so yummy and easy to make. Since I had to track it down for him, I decided that all my friends should share in my good fortune, so I am posting it for your enjoyment today. Or tomorrow, or whenever you manage ro run to the store and stock up on bacon.

I must thank my friend Jessica for this recipe. She passed it on to me and I adore it. I love it! I would totally marry it! It brings me such joy and happiness. And then I eat waaaay too much of it and have a tummy ache, and still, I am happy. Currently there are leftovers in my fridge, calling my name, but I have already overindulged this evening.

Dang it. Now I am thinking about it and I may have to eat the leftovers anyway.

Thank you Jessica, I will always remember you because of this recipe and I shall think fond thoughts of you as I gorge myself on this fantastically delicious food.

Pasta Carbonara

Spaghetti or pasta of choice (16 oz., will feed 6-8 people)
1 sm. onion, chopped and sautéed in butter
2 eggs, beaten
parsley
1 lb. bacon, crumbled or 1 cup (or more) cooked ham chunks
A package of Sargento Parmesan cheese (the real stuff) or 1-2 Cup Kraft Parmesan cheese (the powdered stuff)
2 Tbls. butter
Salt

Cook spaghetti according to package directions in salted water. While pasta is cooking combine cheese, eggs, parsley and onion in a bowl. After pasta cooks, drain it. Then add the butter, bacon and cheese mixture and stir vigorously to distribute all the yummy goodness. Add salt to taste.

Who LOVES clothes?!

Today we are going to talk about Delaney and her obsession with clothes. The kid LOVES to change her clothes. And now she has an opinion on what she wears, so it can be a trial to get her ready to go in the morning if she can't find something SHE likes and wants to wear. I wanted to document her fixation, and even more so, her multiple changes during the day.

This is her first outfit of the day. She is wearing Callie's Jammies, that Callie has barely outgrown and Delaney barely fits into. Delaney loves them. They are one of her favorite things to wear. I think she like the pink. She is showing her belly for some reason.


Then she spots her most favorite outfit and off come the jammies. She, of course will not immediately put on the clothes, she must wander around naked for a while, and drag the outfit with her. You can see the flowery pink pants behind her.

Ahhhh, finally she has put it in and I have helped with her "butties", (as she calls the buttons). She adores this outfit. It is size 24 months and is getting a bit small. I love it because I always know I can get her dressed if I have this in hand.

Uh-oh, she saw Marian's jumper from Sunday and had to put it on!

Well, everyone knows the zipper HAS to go in front! How else could she get it on?!

After her nap, Delaney saw Callie's spare clothes which I had just brought in from the car. She just HAD to put them on.... even the Dora underpants!

And she did it all by herself! She does NOT want help when she is dressing.

And then, its Off With the Clothes and they get heaped in a pile on the floor. Note that she has also become angry about something and pulled out her pony-tails.

And she is back into PJs. These are a 24 month size and you can see they are a bit snug. She had a little trouble getting them over her diaper. No worries, they won't last long!

Nope, it was back to the Jumper. She likes dresses a lot now. She likes to put on a "cuke dess" these days if she can find one. Watch her zip this up all by herself. I told you she liked to do it without assistance.

And she did it.

Its nearly bedtime, so she'll need to put on something else for bed.

Dan had to go off to YM that night, so I got to put the kids to bed by myself. That's why I didn't get a picture of Delaney in her last outfit of the day. I was busy and she was probably uncooperative till the last minute. Still, I think the rest of the pictures demonstrate the proper level of her obsession with clothing!