I did it myself!

I have a surprise for all of you, but first, a bit of E cuteness. He likes to crawl up under the chair, pull himself up and scream in a fun, playful, split your ears sorta way. It's delightful! See?Now, some may believe the rumor that circulates that I may not know how to do my own dishes. That is becuase I don't. Well, not really. I load the dishwasher a few times a day. But I don't handwash. I scrub out the pans when I need them. Same with knives. But I don't often take the time to fill up the sink, wash all the dishes, dry them, put them away and wipe the counters. I blame my kids. Really, I do. There just isn't time to stand in the kitchen.
But the kitchen was getting bad. The weather is nice. I sent the kids outside (I think, I don't remember if they went out or stayed in--this was like, a day and half ago for crying out loud!) and I cleaned the kitchen. Here ya go! It looks awful again already. After all, its a kitchen.


And because I'm a nice mom:This is a castle or something. Isn't it the coolest one you've ever seen?

Oh, and because I need to learn more cooking skills, Mhas been taken off all grains. Hopefully temporarily. But we are going to try eggs and see how that goes. He tested clear for them.

Happy Birthday to Aunt J!

Having a baby brother is like having the best doll, pet, action figure and prop all rolled into one. Here he does double duty as a doll and excuse not to help fold laundry.For the last couple of months, I have been offering solids to E. For the last couple of months, he has been refusing them as outright disgusting. I offer spoon. He grabs spoon. Some food gets in mouth. Baby ponders. Baby makes gross face. Baby coughs out food.
This weekend, G found some PerkyO's and was eating them. E reached out and grabbed one. I decided to let him decide what to do with it. He stuck it in his mouth, started to make the face. And stopped. He chomped on it awhile. He swallowed. He reached for another!
So we gave up on the carefully mashed fresh food, and have gone for the steamed chunks instead. My baby is happy. He struggled a bit with the slippery-ness of the sweet potatoes. Last night we tried green beans since I was using them in our soup. Oh happy baby! He devoured green beans. See? Happy baby!
I have mentioned the awesomeness of Aunt J before, I'm sure. But she really is so tremendously awesome. She watches my boys, she comes over to our house to do things like dishes, laundry and cooking. She tells us to go on dates. She does yard work. She drops everything to help when there is crisis. There is no way I could ever repay what she does for me. I couldn't do it without her. Thanks J! And Happy Birthday!!
But just for fun, we made her a cake for her birthday today. It was lots of fun and hopefully she enjoys it and shares it with her friends.
The boys adore their aunt. Here they are absorbed in card making. I'm not all that sure G is actually making a card. He's probably playing with the scissors.

Funny, funny, funny

Most blogs I read, I read because I have some sort of relationship or common interest with the blogger. I read family and friend blogs more than any other.
But in link clicking one day, I happened upon a blog called Navel Gazing at its Finest. I practically peed my pants. Partly because I'm a mom and not getting any younger, but mostly because Sue is just so gosh darn hilarious. Go click and read. But I'm warning you, it will take longer than just a minute to read.
Oh, and go pee first. Before you click. Go, go.

Everytime I turn around...

He's doing this:
E has learned to pull himself up and is full of pride for his new skill. What a whirlwind he's been. He learned to crawl while my mom was visiting in late March, he cut his first tooth almost a month ago now, and now he's upright. He was trying to figure out that whole furniture cruising thing last night. Egads.
Yesterday morning, when C came downstairs, I heard a very distinct "Da!" from E. He has babbled dada in the past, but this time he seemed to connect the sound with the object. My tiny guy is growing up. *sniff* And here Lanna thought she was going to meet my baby.

In other news...

They do know how to get along:
M and G share a loft bed with M on the top. Over M's bed is a large canopy. Sometimes, when he is feeling particularly generous, he allows G to enter his domain. They often cover the whole thing with blankets and set up flashlights. In this picture, they've hauled up a fair sampling of the kid bookshelves and settled in. Cute, no?

The funny things they say

We were planting the garden last week and M was helping GramRe with the lettuce bed. She had him mix the seeds with sand so they could evenly broadcast over the area. M refused to touch the seeds. When asked why, he responded, "because they'll stick under my fingernails and grow there!"
Fair enough. I mean, really, who wants lettuce growing from his fingers?

On Sunday, we went for a walk with GramRe and Aunt J. G was holding J's hand when they came to a street. "Look for cars. Do you see any coming?"
"Nope!" Says G. He looked right at his shoes and didn't see a single car! Obviously it was safe.

And I do think G may be a bit of a masochist. This morning, M kept losing his temper with G. Totally freak out lose the temper-ish. So I told him that one more outburst and he'd have to go elsewhere to cool off (his room). So, not 20 minutes later, G eggs M on, M lashes out and grabs G, throwing him down in a rage. I grab M by the arm and guide him to the stairs, where he proceeds to throw a huge fit. G is sobbing about M hurting him.
10 minutes later, G is crying again because he can't play with his brother. What, being hit 4 times in one day isn't enough?

Monday, when I took GramRe to the airport, we stopped at IKEA. Among our purchases were 2 laundry hampers for the boys' room. So far they've been sharing a hamper that was falling apart. So I told them how they would be responsible for bringing their own hamper downstairs to the laundry room when it's full. Every day since, G has dutifully brought his hamper downstairs and dumped the contents on the floor of my laundry room. "It's full!" he proclaims of the single outfit inside. I guess at least it's getting emptied.

Sweetness personified

I am Spoil-UHT

So, C was up in Beaverton running errands when he found himself next door to the Montavilla Sewing Center. I had told him I wanted him to look at any sewing machine I want before I buy it. I want an opinion on the mechanical side of things. He remembered me saying this and thought he'd stop buy and look at the Quest I want so much.
He called me and asked if I still wanted it. Uhhh, yeah. Seems the shop had a model they'd taken to a show and were selling at a discount. He wanted to know if I'd like him to bring it home.
I was rather surprised and didn't really know what to say. So I said what any self-respecting seamstress would say. Yes. My fabulous husband spoils me. I've already finished a t-shirt for my nephew. I really do love it. I'm looking forward to using all the whistles and bells I never thought I'd need or want.

What happens when the baby doesn't get his evening bottle on time:

He is still nursing and prefers that most of the time, but there are no doubts about that evening bottle!

My sleeping babes. It's nice to know they can settle down and stop fighting/yelling/screaming/running/bouncing for a few hours.

GramRe is here helping out and the boys are loving it. Here they are getting ready to watch some Wallace and Gromit. Fun stuff!Some pictures of my yard and garden.
Here is my serviceberry. I really hope it produces this year.
Here is the garden wildflower bed ready to go--thanks to GramRe and M!
Look what we found in the yard! A cute bebe!
One finished shirt. Remember my crazy sew-for-all-the-kids idea? G seems to like it. I have the skirt done and all the shirts at least cut out. I still need to start the boys pants. I don't think I'll get the jacket and button front shirts done. I'm okay with that.

Kid pics

My biggest little man. Wow, is he ever growing up! M is getting pretty good about helping out around the house--with a bit of coaxing. I think we've discussed this before?

I can see that mental shift starting to occur where he is moving from being a little child to a tween. It's a fun thing to watch--sometimes.

Everyone loves baby feet. Even the baby! Look at that flexibility!

My little photographer. He actually totally filled the memory card on the old camera. That's 3oo pictures folks. Some of them are even pretty good. I'll have to sort through them and post a couple if I get time.

My mom made matching outfits for the boys. They wouldn't wear the pants this day-except G, but the shirts are cute anyway. I'm going to try again for a complete outfit picture, Mom. And, M--see my laundry chair? I told ya!