mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys

If these weren't $22, I would buy these.

In Baby C's size and then Baby R could wear them later.

make a little birdhouse in your soul

My high school yearbook didn't do "most likely to's."
But if they had, I think I would be voted "Most Likely to Not be in MOPS"

And yet I am.

I volunteered to do "decorations" this year and the theme was "the home."
[insert your own joke here]

I give you my interpretation in birdhouse form, Mrs. Charlie's Neighborhood:


Before they got little boomerang boards glued on the bottom, I lined them up like a suburb for my own entertainment.
Each house corresponds to a different mini-group at MOPS. We're separated into colors (caucasians here, asians over there-- kidding.) I asked to name them too, and here's where I lay on the cheez real heavy:
Blue (my group): Otter Pop St.
Green: Pickles Pl. (shout out to Leigh's dog Pickles!!)
Yellow: Dandelion Dr. (not pictured)
Orange: Sweet Potato Ln.
Red: Radio Flyer Rd.
Purple: Octopus Ave.
Pink: Jellybean Blvd.

The white one with polka dots is for the welcome table. And instead of having little springy "home" elements like hammers and hairdryers that jiggle when you bump them, it has donuts and Noah's Ark, MOPS elements if you will.


Mojito was supposed to look like Godzilla coming to crush the city. But he's too pitiful.


Blue print free forms with filigrees attached.


Less flash.

I hope you didn't look to close. I didn't do a real quality control check on any of them because they had to get done pronto, all 8 of them. So I admit there are little "holidays" in the paint and some hot glue cob webs on the houses. C'est la vie.

I will say that this was the most satisfying art project I've ever done for the church. Because I knew they would really appreciate it, knowing themselves how little spare time mommies have.

I drove the houses over this morning and they loved them.

:)

products equal patriotism

Last night and today have been rough on Baby R teething-wise, and consequently rough on us sleep-wise. This fact has nothing to do with the rest of this post.

I feel like sharing my favorite products:

Stoneyfield Farm
I bet Al Gore eats Stoneyfield yogurt too. How can you not love them?
Unless I go to Trader Joes, it's the only brand of yogurt I buy.

Alvarado St. Flax Bread
I don't buy it's because it's low carb necessarily, although that is a bonus.
It's a way to sneak flaxseed (Omega 3 and 6) to my family without anyone complaining about it.
And it doesn't taste like stale biscuits like some other natural breads.

Tillamook Cheese
This is a non-organic exception to my usual M.O. I couldn't find the link to the newspost Kevin I read years ago about it, but apparently you can tour the creamery, etc, etc. It sounded like a fun cheese, and Kevin insists it's superior to other cheeses.

Natural Bacon and Deli Meat
I still haven't made up my mind whether naturally occurring nitrates in celery juice are secretly bad for one's health. But until I find some research, I'll continue to stock up on handy-meats.

Soy Garden
Butter will kill you.
Margarine will also kill you.
And while I try to use olive oil in just about everything that calls for butter or oil, toast and jam do not mix with olives.
So I buy this and it's great, it doesn't taste weird and it goes great in mashed potatoes.

Choice FairTrade Teas
I used to think people in front of me at Starbucks were silly for ordering "grande, double soy ,1/2 foam, 102 degrees, decaf, blah blah."
And now I drink organic fairly traded naturally decaffeinated green tea.
I still tell myself I'm different from those latte people because I just zap mine in the microwave at home in a pyrex measuring cup.

Puffins
One of Baby C's first words was "puttins."
She loves them, I love them, they're named after one of the cutest birds on the planet, what's not to love?

Baby Tuesday

It has been suggested that I put the baby news before the photos.
So be it!

Baby C recognizes new four sided shape, and it's not a square, find out at ten, your news is next!...

She recognized a diamond shape today after I pointed one out once.
That was my big deal for the day.
I live a mild life.

She also no longer calls mountains "big dirt," she calls them "mountains."


I could easily make these next four pictures into a comic strip, but some part of me thinks they are too cute to spoil.




Man, cute.
(And it wasn't cold enough to warrant that hat, but she likes it)



All you have to do is look at him and say his name in a happy voice and he's ecstatic!



Finger painting was a hit!
She didn't want to be photographed while creating-- somehow I became the her paparazzi.
I had to promise we would paint more tomorrow.

Speaking of that look what I found.

And when I called her pediatrician's after hours line, the operator said "Oh, like Young and the Restless! I love her."

the sorrow and the pudding

These are the latest books that I have added to my Half.com wishlist.

Oh what a glorious library I will have someday, when I can call these titles my own:



Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s


The Gallery of Regrettable Food

The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan: Classic Diet Recipe Cards from the 1970s


The Museum of Kitschy Stitches


Mommy Knows Worst
Here's the first one that I've ordered. I can't wait for it to come in the mail!!

It works! It's alive!

I tested out my new silkscreening prowess (or lack thereof) on Baby R's crib sheet.

Baby C who now sleeps in her big girl bed had bequeathed two bunny-pink fitted sheets to her brother.
I know Baby R has no boy-identity yet but I decided to dye the pink sheets red just the same.

The idea was to do a tone on tone red sheets with red elephants. Apparently I still suck at vat dying because they came out more of a "coral" red--a very close cousin to pink, but less princess pink than they were before. (that's what I'm telling myself anyway)

Then I squeegeed away with the elephant silkscreen I made, and voila! Elephant sheet!

If I were to be making this kind of thing for someone else, I probably would have measured and spaced them out differently. Instead, it was just practice, a practice sheet that I can use.

I wasn't planning on printing on sheets as a habit, but now, I'm considering of the possibilities of glow in the dark sheets...

I also printed cherries on a pair of Baby C's pants, but they are in the sleeping dragon's lair at the moment. They came out great! Just take my word for it.

chi-weenie reconnaissance

I came in here to our bedroom to have a sandwich and moment of peace before one of the babies wakes up from his/her nap. And I needed to close the door to block out the i-don't-wanna-nap-whines from a certain toddler's room. I didn't close it all the way, but I put something in front of it so it wouldn't blow open.

And shortly after I see this, flaring its nostrils at me:

The nose is reporting back to headquarters that it is in fact a ham sandwich with mayo.
Copy that, good work nose.

As I type he has pressed half his face through, glancing back and forth from my gaze to my plate.

Shameless.

she's got a theme song!

Cute As A Bug by Lyle Lovett!

Here's a really wobbly video of the song.

Baby Tuesday

You might remember me, Miss Charlie from Romper Room.
Everything had to say "Toddler Party" including my ensemble.
' Impossible to have good posture with a full backpack.


They have this big old firetruck for kids to climb all over. He refused to look at the camera, but this view turned out to be pretty cute after all.


Speaking of not looking at the camera.
I can't say I blame her. She's trying to play and have fun and we're interrupting and being un-fun.


This was a photo I took to test if the camera was working.
Yep, works.


He was amazed. Really amazed.


Baby J came along to the CDM with us and Baby C was truly happy to see her.
Here they are playing in what seems to be a giant breadbasket.
Baby J also help build the hype of Baby C's new purple Crocs that she opened later, by wearing the exact same shoes.
Even today when she was wearing them she said "pur-pa[l] s[h]oos, juss[t] ligh[ke] J---'s"


We rode the light rail to the CDM because like every other toddler, she likes trains. It could have been a long torturous if Baby R hadn't cooperated, but blessedly although he was tired, he was a good boy. A 20 min car ride was a 40 minute drive/ride, but she loved it.


The beehive of kiddie excitement was centered around Water Ways.
As I watched them play, I tried to work out in my head how we could have our own water-ville in our backyard.


Daddy do my bidding.


I have no comment, she's just so cute.


He gave it a good run, but he didn't last 8 seconds.



Ba-bum!!


The wind kinda blew them out for her. We didn't tell her to wish, but I'm pretty sure it would have been "I wish to eat the cake."





And less we forget our other babies.
They also got cupcakes.






There is video that exists of Baby C gleefully opening all of her gifts, but sorry Jim, the CD's you burned for us didn't open.
So maybe I'll have them in time for next week's Baby Tue.
She loved all of the gifts, the whole day was really really fun.
We capped it off watching her favorite episode of Sesame Street while she danced ballet in her new pink tutu that Grandma Sue made her.

On Sunday I walked the family to the Sockswithsandalsland Crafts & Booze festival. Ordinarily the park welcomes leashed dogs, but once I get there, there are big serious signs saying no dogs and the entrances are manned with police.
Great.
I felt a little like Clark Griswold finding out that Wally World was closed-- I was gonna make this work!
I tried stuffing them into the mesh bags underneath the jog stroller, but that only lasted a few minutes, that is, until I tried to go uphill and they popped out like peas.
Then I unstrapped Baby C so she could walk and put the dogs in there. Immediately everyone ooh and awed at how cute they were in the stroller with Baby R next to them. At first it made me nervous that we would get busted, but then I just smiled and nodded and politely explained that these dogs were "fugitives" according to the sport sandal craft fair police, as I tried to cleave a thick crowd of wine-ies in pursuit of my speedy toddler.
It was soon too much for me to handle, and we fled, albeit quite slowly, inching the double-wide stroller through slow moving baby-less, dog-less crowd.

We went to the "fair" for two reasons, to see the ducks and to scout out the booths, because I plan to have one next year. Yes that's right, I'm gonna do it, I'm joining the sisterhood of crafties.
(I'll blog more about that later)

sneak preview

look at this guy!

the children were nestled all snug in their beds

I am so excited for Baby C's birthday super fun day tomorrow!
Let me show you what I have prepared so far:


Here are only about half of her gifts, Sandi's and Auntie RoRo's were in Baby R's closet.
They are wrapped spectacularly too! Mom, you may notice I added some bows and fingerpuppet flair to your packages. :)
And Dianne I put the Crocs in one of these, which worked surprisingly well.


I made a balloon butterfly in front of her today, just to see what she thought.
She wasn't amazed, she just wanted to do one herself.


The only protected area in the house, the unused bathtub, is posing as a stashing/staging area.


Piece de Resistanece, le gâteau de petit gâteau.
Do note, that the turtle in the center is a Charlie-made white chocolate (which is reminiscent of donkeys) cherry cordial which is slightly gory to bite into, if you can picture it. The rest is my own recipe of sugar-clay, and a few little candy snowflakes.

Woo!

now leaving Procrasti-Nation, Drive Safely

I've been putting off painting the cow/pig meat charts on our kitchen wall for about nine months.
But tonight! I began it!

I give you phase one:

It kinda looks like the cow is standing on the pig...hmmm...I'll address that later...


And here is Kevin milking the cow, despite it's lack of teets.

I wanted to pull and all-nighter and get it done tonight, but I was starting to hallucinate from the cheap can of paint I found in the garage so I'm airing out my head for now.

Baby C desperately wanted to help. And even worse, she's seen me drawing/painting on the walls, so I'm sure she'll monkey-do some "art" herself in the near future.

hee haw!

This afternoon as I was making chocolate turtle and frog cherry cordials for the tot's birthday cake, a strange thing happened.
Even though I bought Ghiradelli white chocolate to use, something in the taste reminded me of a donkey. Along with the couple of flies pestering me while I cooked, I was suddenly whisked back to the livestock paddocks at the state fair.

Can anyone tell me why the chocolate tasted like how a donkey smells?

(and on a separate note, doesn't anyone else think that papayas taste like sweaty gym socks?)

Baby Tuesday...in progress

Lots of material here today, pour yourself a drink and get comfy.




We had dinner with another family with a baby girl and boy that are nearly the exact same ages and Baby C and Baby R. We forced them to be friends!


tiny tomato harvesting at Grandma T's





"Just try n' strap me down like Baby J!
It won't happen! I'm an animal! I gotta look busy!"


They look like they've been caught in the act.


Thank heaven she loves to brush her teeth, let's hope it lasts.


eBay impulse buy #37
My justification: it was cheap, and Baby R can wear it too, since it's for a boy anyway.


a thousand words (Sesame Street is playing on the laptop)


Zebra print skirt, garage sale $1 !






(Baby R thinks he can stand at anytime)
Thanks to Auntie Anne who sent the ball popper! I couldn't wait any longer we had to open it! They love it.



In other news:
Baby C sleeps in her big twin bed now!!!
And by sleep, I mean, can't open her door to escape and eventually decides to sleep in her bed because the crib is now in Baby R's room. As I type this she is "napping", which means she scurries around her room playing with her toys for a couple of hours until I come back in to get her. Good enough for me.