Quick 5

It's fall!  At least, that's what they tell me.  You wouldn't know it by the 88 degree days we've been having this week.  It's really putting the skids on my All Soup All The Time plan.

1.  Last Friday we had a rare family lunch date.  Alaina didn't have school, and Lee was working from home.  And Lee had secured some free meals from Freddy's by way of a raffle win and a trade.  So we took the girls out for lunch.  It was delicious.  Although girls who eat slow at home eat even slower at a restaurant where there are many many more things to look at.

2.  Last Saturday was our final church family hike of the season.  We hiked Mount Falcon, which is a really great hike near Denver.  In fact, at the ruins you have a nice view of Denver.  It was a beautiful day and the mountain smelled so good.  My parents came with us, which was a huge help in keeping track of girls.  I didn't get the best pictures, but the good Children's Ministry leaders did, so it all worked out.

 3.  Alaina had another eye check up this week.  She's doing great.  Her bad eye is right on the cusp of being 20/20, so the doctor wants us to patch for a couple of months to see if we can push it over the edge.  She wears the patch at home for two hours, and needs to do things like dot to dot pages and color by number and hidden pictures to really train that eye to focus.  Our patches consist of baby socks that slide over her glasses.  It was a great idea, since I was just about to throw away a bunch of baby socks that were missing partners and that Bria is too big for anyway.  Alaina complains most of the time.

4.  Speaking of patches, Alaina and Joya wanted you to see them with the patches they've earned so far in Awana:

She hasn't earned any patches yet.

 5.  This last thing falls under If It's Funny Later, It's Funny Now.  But it isn't funny now.  It's actually a real problem that has us at a loss.  I'm sure you remember Joya eating cookies in the night.  That was cute, I suppose.  Then the other day she came out of room time smacking her lips.  I asked her what she was eating and of course she said nothing.  But very quickly she confessed to sneaking a sucker in at room time.  She had hidden the stick under her bed.  She was disciplined, and after the discipline confessed that she had gotten up in the night and eaten a sucker.  I had heard her come out of her room at about 2:30 in the morning.  But I thought I had put all the food away.  Then last night she didn't eat all her dinner, and therefore didn't earn dessert, which was a cake pop made by one of Lee's coworkers.  But at bedtime, as I was gathering the girls to go brush teeth, I went into the kitchen only to see a huge mess of crumbs and one missing cake pop.  I know it'll be funny later, but the blatant sneaking of food and lying initially about it is baffling us.  It's no longer cute.  Obviously we'll be much more diligent about putting food and snacks out of her reach at all times.  And she's had some stiff restrictions placed on her.  But that's all I know to do.  And of course, I feel like I'm getting a glimpse of how God feels about us, when He's given us instructions on how to live and we blatantly do the opposite.  It's a yucky feeling.

But here are some cute faces to see you out:

Quick 5

Isn't September glorious?

1.  Last week, for the first time in my whole life, I made homemade jambalaya complete with a roux.  I had never made a roux before, mostly because I was scared to.  But I did it, and I only did it because I had Lee's help.  I stirred for the first 20 minutes, then he stirred for another 15 while I did the rest of the prep, then I stirred for the final 10.  There is no way on earth I could make a roux if I were home alone with the girls cooking.  Ain't nobody got time for that.  But I did it, and it turned out beautifully.  And the jambalaya would have been perfect if the rice hadn't been crunchy.  Why on earth was the rice crunchy?  I followed the directions to the letter.  I did not open the pot at all to stir.  I believe I had the liquid to rice ratio correct.  My only theories are that a.) I didn't get the liquid to a rolling enough boil before adding the rice, so the simmering temp was off or b.) the cast iron dutch oven I was using didn't have a tight enough seal on the lid.  The crunchy rice bummed me out, but the flavor was pretty awesome.

2.  So this happens quite often at our house now:

Bria will be playing nicely, then she'll go behind the couch and come out sans pants.  As if stripping off her socks wasn't enough.

3.  Last weekend I took the girls to the park.  Alaina was thrilled because she "doesn't ever get to go anymore!"  Never mind that she gets THREE recesses on a playground each day.  But it was a beautiful day.  I thought it would be nice to get some pictures of the girls.  Bria had other ideas.

Tasting the wood chips to compare them to the other wood chips at other parks.

So much for a nice Sisters picture

 4. Alaina had Thursday and Friday off of school this week due to parent teacher conferences, so she was able to join me at my Thursday morning kid watching gig.  The kids are all three and under, so Alaina was the oldest one in there.  She played all morning.  But to hear her talk about it, she spent all morning watching kids.  Granted she was a big help when it came to clean up, and she did read the kids a story.  I believe I'm still the one that shouldered most of the burden (and there's a trash can with two poopy diapers to prove it.)  I do love watching her grow up and become so much more of a help.

5.  This also happens at our house quite often:

What kind of kid would she be if she didn't empty the toy basket and use it to sit in?

Need a fun thing to do this weekend?  Join our church for our last family hike of the season!  We're meeting at the West Mount Falcon Trailhead at 9:00am.  There will be a BBQ at the end of the hike, so bring a side dish or dessert to share and stay for lunch.  It will be a beautiful day and we DO live in Colorado.

:)

Quick 5

Today I am thankful that we never got around to taking the electric blanket off our bed in the spring.

1.  On Monday I left the little girls home with Lee and went to pick Alaina up after school.  I had gotten there about 10 minutes early, so I parked in line, turned off the car, but turned back on the power to listen to the radio and read a book.  Then the cars started moving, so I went to start my engine and POW everything shut off.  I didn't even have power locks. Of course there were cars lined up behind me and I couldn't even turn on my hazards, so I popped the hood and jumped out to let the other cars know they had to go around.  Thankfully almost immediately three people came running over to see if I needed help. I did. I needed jumper cables and a car to give me a jump.  In fairly short order the car was jumped and we all began to creep through the line.  I got about seven more car lengths along in line when, as I was driving forward, everything just shut off again. I had to do the same routine.  This time the gentleman that gave the jump helped me push the van into a parking spot, where we tried again to jump the car.  This time it wouldn't even do that.  I ran over to the kids and picked up Alaina then went back to the van to figure out what to do.  I thanked everyone who was helping me and said I was going to need to call my husband and a friend, because someone was going to need to come get us, since I had the carseats and Lee didn't.  But the guy and his wife insisted on bringing us home.  They had a van, so they loaded up all our car seats, his wife sat on the floor in the back and they took us home.  In my stressed out state of mind I only caught that her name was Maureen; I don't even remember his name.  But I was so grateful it died in the parking lot and not while I was driving down Kipling or something, because clearly that was a possibility.  Also, as embarrassing as it was, I was thankful it happened during the busiest time of after-school pick up because there were so many people around to help.  I got help instantly, without even really having to ask around.  There are some good families at Alaina's school.

2.  It truly was just the battery on the car.  It was so lame we had to get it towed for that reason, but at least that was an easy fix.  The van needed a few more things so it turned out to be pricey, as car things always tend to do, but the shop had it ready for us by Tuesday afternoon.  And we've never done anything to that van but change the oil for the past two years that we've had it, so we're trying to be grateful for that too.

3.  Alaina got a fun package in the mail this week: a tub of letter cookies from Gramma Kimble!  It's our first taste of anything from Trader Joe's and I'm pleased.  Of course we had to find the letters in their names:

I gave Alaina's to her in her school lunch, but since she ate them at snack she didn't take the time to spell out her name.  And now we have no more As.

4.  At 4:00 this morning I heard Joya wandering around.  I keep all our doors mostly closed; you know, partially cracked.  Well, I heard our door close and it freaked me out.  So I got out of bed and saw that the girl's door was normal.  I looked down the hall and saw Joya in the living room.  I asked her what she was doing and she said she didn't know.  So I sent her to bed.  Fast forward to this morning while she was coloring before room time.  I can't even remember exactly what she said, but she was singing a little song about cookies in the night.  So I said, "Joya, did you get up in the night and eat the letter cookies?"  She got that stricken I've Been Caught look on her face and finally nodded.  It now answers the question of what she was doing so far away from her bedroom at 4:00 in the morning.  She's never done anything like that before.  I always pray that the girls' sin will find them out, and it looks like this is a classic case.

5.  Oh Bria.  Her new thing is to play Dead Man when I put her to bed at night.  We brush her teeth and go into her room and she becomes like a dead man in my arms. She just becomes dead weight and it's very hard to get her settled in bed that way.  She giggles and then squirms and wiggles and generally doesn't cooperate.  She's not fussing, just playing a game.  A game I loathe.

Don't be fooled by that face

Enjoy the snowflakes today!

Quick 5

I'm glad that cooler weather is here, because I've been ready for a good bowl of soup for a long time now.

1.  Perhaps one of my larger failures in marriage has been the failure to adequately supply my husband with dessert.  (At least I think it's one of my larger failures.  Obviously you'll have to ask him.)  I don't know why.  It probably stems from my self-centered behavior of preferring salty to sweet, so I just don't think about it.  But we were desperate, so I busted out some made from scratch brownies.  They'll do because we don't have anything else, but they definitely leave much to be desired.  However, thanks to the power of social media, I am now armed with several homemade brownie recipes that I'm excited to try.  When I remember to make dessert next time.

2.  Alaina has made a new friend at school: a second grader named Alayna (who is actually the daughter of a gal I went to church with a long time ago.)  Alaina loves that there is another girl named Alayna there.  This morning she told me that Alayna promised to wear her sneakers to school today so she could help chase the boys.  "Not to kiss them, Mom!" Alaina assured me.  "Just for fun!"  Oh to be in first grade again.

3.  Here are my Cubbie and Sparkie:

They were all decked out for Crazy Hair Night.  I found it most impressive that Alaina was willing to be that crazy.  It's taken her four years to get into the spirit of things.  Then Joya absolutely chickened out.  I didn't see that coming, but I should have, based on how Alaina reacted the first few times she went to Crazy Hair Night.  Joya thought she looked "ridiculous" and that everyone would make fun of her.  No amount of talking about how everyone would be crazy could convince her.  So she did not go looking like that.  Maybe next year.

4.  Our week of having Lee work from the office while we have to do the school drop-off/pick-up thing went very smoothly.  It was almost a non-issue.  Last year the girls were very good about waiting in the car for Alaina to come out.  This year Joya's patience is quite short.  She's good, but she spend the time saying things like "Why aren't you going  Mom?"  "Just go!"  "This is taking forever!"  I think the difference is last year there were only about 10 of us moms who picked up the kids, so we were able to park right next to the playground.  This year every parent has to pick up their kid, so we're probably 20th or so in line, which means we are out in the big parking lot, and not next to the playground.  Bria has been a gem; Joya has turned into quite the backseat driver.  Hopefully she'll catch on soon that I can't very well drive forward if there is another car directly in front of me.  Needless to say, her dad will be teaching her how to drive.

5.  I am very much enjoying the zucchini that comes out of our garden.  We only get one or two at a time, which actually isn't quite enough.  Next year I'm going to plant two plants (which apparently I should have done this year anyway.)  Mostly we grill it, but last night I roasted it in the oven with some garlic.  I about gorged myself.  While I'm not getting enough zucchinis, I'm getting more than enough tomatoes.  Confession: I don't know what to do with them all.  They're little guys, but they are plentiful.  Confession #2: I grow tomatoes so I can have BLTs.  That's it, really.  But I'm getting too many for even that.  And no, I'm not really interested in canning, although maybe I should be.  But I don't really have the moola for the expense that it would take to get that going.  So I have an abundance of small tomatoes.  Anyone want any?

Welcome September!  I've always liked you.

Quick 5

Is it just me or are the mornings getting quite cool around here?

1.  Not much to report.  We've been settling into our school routine, which has been going quite nicely.  Next week we'll add the layer that involves taking all the girls to school for drop off and pick up.  We've been able to skip that part because Lee has been working from home most of the time, but he says he needs to be in the office all next week.  I knew this day was coming. We'll manage.

2.  Joya actually loves staying home with Daddy while I run Alaina to school.  It surprises me, because she usually doesn't like being left out of anything.  Bria puts up a fuss so I take her with us, but Joya likes to stay home and color in peace.

3.  Speaking of Joya, if anyone needs a birthday present idea for her, you can't go wrong with a princess dress.  This one has been loved and loved and loved and I'm quite shocked it's still holding together.  She likes to wear it out and about on our errands and most of the comments from other people involve, "Oh, that must be a favorite!"

4.  Last Friday was Bria's 18 month well check up.  Our good doctor said that it is at this age that you can get a good idea of how tall they are going to be as adults.  It's not an exact science, but you can basically double what height they are between 18 and 24 months and get a good ball park figure. Based on this info, Bria will land between 5' 7" and 5' 9".  I'm 5' 4".  She's going to be a giant.  Our old pediatrician was laid back (so was I) so I don't really have a good record of how tall Alaina and Joya were at this age, but I expect Joya to be somewhere up there with her, and Alaina to probably be the shortest.  I'm preparing in my heart to be looked down upon by all my children.

5.  My project of the week has been these puppies:

 Another Pinterest success, if I do say so myself.  They're tooth fairy pillows, in case you couldn't tell. Alaina is probably another month or two away from needing it, but she does have a loose tooth. And since I was going through all the trouble of making one, I thought I might as well make three.  And I got to buy a fat quarter bundle, which is one of the funnest things on the planet to buy.  The girls like them, but I don't think they are quite as impressed as I am.  Oh well.

Quick 5

::insert witty opening line about our week::

1.  Last Friday I heard a noise while I was in the basement.  This was noteworthy because Joya was making a racket upstairs, and I heard this tiny noise coming from outside.  So I looked out the window into our largest window well, right into the eyes of a tiny bunny.  That well is deep and the bunny was tiny, so there was no way he was getting out on his own.  Like any respectable wife, I emailed Lee.  And then threw some grass down the well so he'd have something to munch on.  When Lee got home from work he suited up and got down in the well with the bunny.  It took a minute or two, but Lee prevailed and set that bunny free.  (If I find that the bunny ends up in my backyard eating my garden, there will be war in the camp.)

2. Alaina started first grade!  She's gone for four days now, and it already feels like we've been doing this all along.  My biggest concern is forgetting to pick her up after school, since that is something we've never done before.  So far so good.  Alaina loves her class and her teacher.  Her teacher is just as great as last year, but I have been marveling at the difference between the two.  Both are extremely kind and obviously love kids, but where Mrs. Galloway was soft-spoken, Mrs. Casassa is loud.  She just has a higher volume.  I worked with her for about 5 hours on Saturday at an all-school work day and really enjoyed her company, but definitely noticed the volume difference.

A little throw back to last year:

3.  Joya was pretty upset the day Alaina went to school.   We tried to tell her how great it was going to be to be the big sister for awhile each day, but she declared that she was NOT the big sister.  I never realized how much she enjoyed being Alaina's little sister.  And at one point during the day Bria looked around and said "Ay-na?"  She obviously missed her too.  As they days have passed they've gotten used to Alaina being gone, but she was definitely missed that first day.

4.  In addition to starting school, Awana started this week, and Joya got to go to Cubbies for the first time. She gave me a bunch of hooey about missing me, but when I gave her the option to stay home instead she adamantly refused. Of course she had a great time, and I'm excited for her to be doing big girl things like going to class.  She was pretty exhausted the next day after going to bed so late, but she'll get used to that.

5. I started a new job this week.  I think I'm the Queen of Many Small Jobs.  I still am the nursery director at church, which is about 10 hours a week.  I also work for my dad's company, which is about 10 hours a week.  And thanks to my good friend Misty, on Thursday mornings I will now watch the little kids for a homeschooling group.  Our first day was yesterday and it was both great and HORRIBLE.  The horrible part was my own youngest.  Bria had had a bad night before, and she was not happy that I was holding other babies.  So, like an infant, she screamed the whole three hours.  That's not an exaggeration either.  Moms kept stopping by the nursery and asking if they needed to go find a mom for me.  I had to swallow my embarrassment and confess that the screaming child was indeed mine.  The other kids were actually pretty amazing, considering the ruckus Bria was making.  So I am looking forward to next week, hoping that Bria just really had a bad day and will be back to her normal self next time.

Welcome to our Fall life.

Quick 5

There's something about mid-August that makes me want to go spend a few days at the YMCA Camp of the Rockies in Estes Park.

1.  Last Friday we were so lucky to be able to see our friend "Uncle" Joe.  Joe is Lee's old buddy who was the best man in our wedding, and now lives in Alaska with his lovely family.  He was down here on a job and came over for dinner.  It was so fun to see him, and the girls loved him too.  They hardly let him get a word in edgewise.  Our visits are with him are unfortunately few and far between, and we hope to see his whole family the next time.

2. Our newest addition to our household is a new table, brought to us by our garage sale and Craigslist.  It is the perfect size that we wanted and it was an amazing price.  Unfortunately, I think it's ugly.  It's a good, solid piece of furniture, just obviously dated.  Thanks to the encouragement of a friend and Pinterest I think we can paint it to update it.  It sounds like a huge project, but if I can truly make it like the ones I've seen then I will really love it.  But I'm trying to just be grateful, regardless of its appearance.  Like I said, it's the right size and it was the right price.  And I am thankful.

The cushions came with the table.  They're quite comfy.

 3.  With the new table came another change: Bria eats at the table with us now.  She had been doing a great job keeping the food on her plate at meals, so I moved her over.  She's like a real live human being now.

4.  This week I took Alaina on a special Before School Mommy Daughter Date.  We left the little girls at home to eat mac and cheese with Daddy, and she and I went to Panda Express.  It was her first time eating Chinese food out.  We had a nice visit, but she would have rather stayed home to eat mac and cheese with the little girls.  I guess it did turn out to be a special meal, since she got to have a cookie and lemonade for dinner and how often does that happen?  Oh well.

She had one bite of that delicious Chinese food and that was it.  I really enjoyed it later.

5.

These two peas in a pod. Life is going to look so different next week.  We met Alaina's teacher, Mrs. Casassa, and she seems so nice and energetic.  Many of Alaina's friends are in her class again, and this girl is ready for first grade.

So ends the Summer of 2014.