Oh Dear

I was feeding my kids a treat the other day -- chocolate silken tofu with bananas -- and smugly thinking how awesome I am for getting my kids to eat tofu. I told Tralee it was "brown cake." In all honesty the stuff DOES look like chocolate cake batter, and actually tastes a lot like it too. Anywho. . . I was feeling pretty good about this new trick of mine.

A few hours later I was checking out some blogs, when I hear Tralee shouting for help from downstairs. I thought she had climbed up on something, and couldn't get down. I shouted downstairs, "What do you need?" The only answer I got back was, "HELP!" So I went downstairs and this met my eye:

Tralee gave herself a chocolate silken tofu spa treatment. The picture doesn't do the mess justice. Our table is dark, so you can't really tell that there's "brown cake" all over it. There was chocolate tofu in Tralee's hair, on her face, and for reasons I don't know, she had rubbed it into her leg. I had a mess on my hands, and I didn't feel so smug after all.

Needless to say, right into the bath she went.

Rainy Day

The weather has been a little on the rainy side lately and I LOVE IT! There's something about gray clouds and rain that just brightens my mood. The only downer to misty weather is park playing is a little out of the question. We didn't let the rain hinder our plans for some outdoor time though. Tralee got in her rain boots, rain coat, mittens, and had a grand 'ol time splashing in our backyard.

Hunter and Corky watched Tralee play from the back sliding door. Don't worry Hunter, someday I'll let you play in the rain too.

Tralee was ready to come in at this point. I had closed the door, and she was looking in through the glass.

After I helped Tralee out of her wet clothes, I put on a movie, wrapped her in a down comforter, and I would have made hot cocoa, but she didn't want any (weird, I know). So we snuggled for a bit until Tralee was warm, and wanted to go play upstairs with her toys.

I hope another rainy day is right around the corner.

Sunny Saturday at the Park

Yesterday was a great day, so we headed off to our favorite park in the area.

Don't you think Tralee is the most beautiful three-year-old you've ever laid your eyes on? I sure do. I made the flower hair piece she's wearing. It just makes the outfit, don't you think? :)

Jim and Hunter playing with sticks at the park

Hunter swung for the first time in his life. I'm not too sure if he liked it or not. . .

What do you think?

We had a good Saturday together.

Daily Fight

Almost everyday Jim and I have the same disagreement. The source of our feud? Hunter's hair. Jim proclaims that Hunter has an "ear mullet" and wants to trim the sides of Hunter's hair that hang over his ears. I don't want to touch our son's locks until he's (at least) a year. I told Jim that I get Hunter's hair until he's a year, then he can do whatever he wants with it. I know it sounds stupid, but I feel like cutting my baby's hair, even if it's just to trim the sides, is like letting go of part of his baby-ness. I mean, the stuff we would clip off is the hair he had when he was born, and I'm not ready to part with it yet.

If I had my way, I probably wouldn't cut Hunter's hair for quite a long time. I didn't cut Tralee's until she was almost three. Even then I felt pangs of remorse, but knew it was time for her to have a trim. Anyways, Jim tells me it's different with boys, and we need to cut Hunter's hair sooner rather than later. We've agreed (both of us reluctantly) that Hunter's first cut will be on his first birthday. Daddy will be the barber, and Mommy will be snapping pictures and stifling her tears.

Am I just being ridiculous, or is the first haircut not as significant as I'm making it out to be?

Sundays are Good For. . .

. . . naps on the couch.

Looks comfy, doesn't it?

Day O' Fun

My friend Audie and I had been planning a fun day for a while now. We had it all planned out for last week, then my kids got sick. So, we rescheduled for Tuesday. Tuesday ended up being the perfect day! The weather was great, all children were healthy, and we were excited to play. Our agenda was as follows:

• Hit up a few antique stores (we're either brave or crazy, but our kids joined us for the experience. A lot of, "No touching!" was said by us moms.)
• Go to a grocery store to get items for the perfect picnic lunch
• Eat said picnic lunch at a park and then. . .
• PLAY! PLAY! PLAY!

Everything was crossed of our list and moms, toddlers, and babies all had fun.

Tralee started climbing up this hill. She was getting really far, and soon I knew I wouldn't be able to see her. She wasn't listening to me when I told her to stay where I could see her, so I did what any mom would do. I told her she better come down quick because there was a big snake on top of the hill that was going to get her if she didn't listen to me. Worked like a charm. This picture is of Tralee climbing back down, avoiding the scary snake.

This girls LOVES to climb!

Tralee also went down this big enclosed slide like nothing. There's one just like this at the park we frequent, and Tralee is too afraid to go down it. But this slide wasn't scary to her for some reason.

Jovie and Tralee had fun together

Do you see Tralee?! She climbed up this big rock formation several times. Of course she didn't know how to get down, so Mommy came to the rescue several times.

Look at my little stud muffin!

He was stylin' a little mohawk

Jovie told me "this is what Ariel, the little mermaid, does on the rock in the movie." I had to snap a picture because for a second, I thought I was ACTUALLY looking at the little mermaid!

Hunter and Oakley had fun standing next to each other. Actually, Oakley was hit on by several little boys around her age. She didn't really care for them, and preferred the company of Hunter. Too bad Hunter and Oakley are distant cousins, or I might be tempted to arrange a marriage.

See what I mean?

I like his face in the picture below. He looks like he's flexing his muscles and pulling a manly face for the ladies.

It was a day full o' fun!

St. Paddy's Day

St. Paddy's Day has special significance to us in this house hold. Here's why:

1. It's the anniversary of Jim's and my first kiss. The story is written down here if you care to read about it.

2. My brother and his beautiful wife were married on St. Paddy's day ten years ago! Happy ten years guys!

3. Our niece Colleen was born on March 17th three years ago. Happy B-day Colleen!

4. Jim served a mission in Ireland, so of course he loves anything Irish (we even named our daughter after his favorite Irish city - Tralee.)

5. Jim's favorite color is green. . . so he pretty much loves St. Patrick's Day for the excuse to deck out in all things green.

Those are all the reasons I came up. Someday Jim and I would like to travel to Ireland together. We're hoping this adventure comes sooner rather than later, but it will come. Until then . . . this is how we spent our St. Patrick's Day:

1. Woke up and made green eggs, green yogurt, and green milk for the kids. . . .and by kids I also mean Jim.

2. Tralee woke me up by climbing into bed with me, turning my face towards hers, and requesting "brown cake." I think she was remembering the brownies I made on Sunday. I usually only bake on Sundays now-a-days. However, since it was a holiday Tralee and I spent the morning baking chocolate cupcakes with green mint cream cheese frosting, and then sprinkling shamrock sprinkles on top. I would have shared them with our neighbors, but thought against it the twelfth time Tralee dipped her same finger in the batter/frosting and licked it clean.

3. After cupcakes I started on my Grandma's recipe for corn beef and cabbage. When I served it for dinner Jim announced that he never once ate corn beef and cabbage the two years he lived in Ireland. He ate cabbage. Lots of cabbage. Lots of potatoes. But corn beef? Nope. Not-a-once.

4. We all wore green yesterday. In this house, Jim will pinch you HARD if you don't wear green on St. Paddy's Day. The worst is when he pinches you with his toes. Jim has abnormally strong toes, and it REALLY hurts when he pinches you with them. So. . . the first thing I did was dressed myself and kids in green. We needed protection.

5. Usually Jim and I give each other a cute St. Patrick's Day card with a little made-up limerick written in it commemorating our first kiss. One year we both picked out the exact same card to give each other. Of ALL the cards, we picked the same one. Funny. Well, neither of us did it this year. We both forgot. I wonder why? We're a bunch of lazy bones I guess. Either that or we're not as sentimental as we once were. At least we both forgot so the other one doesn't feel bad.

Even without the St. Paddy's Day cards we still had fun as a family wearing green, eating green things, and dreaming of our future trip to Ireland.

Park Time

More pictures from another park adventure:

Feeding the ducks:

Birthday Party

A few weeks ago we celebrated our friends' daughter Jovie's b-day with a little bowling, lunch, and pinata fun. We all had fun.

Tralee and Jovie running amok

Tralee bowling

Tralee being Tralee

The girls eating their lunch

Pinata time

Jovie's turn

Tralee's turn

Oakley's turn

Tralee giving her daddy a little love

Look at the pinata's guts flying out everywhere!

Candy! Candy! Candy!

Jared about to smack Jim

He's down

Tralee and Oakley chillin' on the deck

We had a lot of fun. Thanks for the fun birthday party Jovie!