Saturday Morning Scene

88 degrees and 67% humidity at 7:30 a.m. means absolutely nothing to a 2 year old. 

It looks like we're going outside to sweat!





What are you doing this morning?  Head over to Loves of Life to share your SMS!

Dialect Vlog~From Cali-sota-see

Oh my.

So, I saw this vlog on another blog and had the genius idea to have Andy do it with me.  I had no idea that it would take us (literally) hours to complete. Something about putting a camera on two people that are tired and goofy makes for nothing but nonstop laughter.

And yet, 56 takes later, we prevailed.  Not really, but this was the best we could do.

I apologize in advance if you want to claw out your eardrums.


Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped
body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry
groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

Tea Parties and a Tiny Troublemaker

I just love watching my girls play.  I can't get enough of watching them together.  Now that Sophia is getting bigger, Emma tries to include her in everything she does.  Most of the time, Sophia has no problem keeping up and loves playing with her big sister.

Today, Emma invited Sophia into her room for a tea party.  She served a lovely meal of orange juice, tea and cookies.  I was also invited, but only to serve as photographer. 

Before their snack, Emma showed Sophia how to fix her toy.

Emma was a wonderful hostess and served her guest first.

Even though the food was good, Sophia preferred the plates.

Big sister loves her anyway. 

Once the tea party was over, Emma decided that it was time for a little reading practice.

Her class was very attentive.

"Ms. Stegner" did a great job making sure her students had a good view of all the pictures. 

 

Class was going really well until a small disruption began.

One of the students couldn't keep her hands to herself.

There's one in every class, isn't there?

Laundry Day is FUN!

Most of the time, the kids provide us with all the entertainment we need.  Sunday was no exception.  Take two kids, add in a laundry basket, and you have a good ol' time all around. 

I love that they held hands during the "ride."

Mmm, Mmm Monday- Baked Tilapia

I've had some sweet friends (hello, Amber and Anna Marie!) remind me that I'm supposed to be posting recipes, so I decided to start doing what I call Mmm, Mmm Mondays.  I get bored eating the same thing all the time, so I like to try new recipes and I am constantly trying to introduce my VERY picky family to foods that they wouldn't normally eat.  If you're in the same situation, make sure you read the end of each post where I'll post our individual reviews. 

Tonight for dinner, I made Baked Lime Tilapia.  I love fish, but Andy and Emma aren't big fish eaters.  Andy normally likes to drown his fish in a spicy rub or in some sort of sauce.  I wanted to try something lighter, with lots of flavor to hide the "fishy" taste.  I like tilapia because it doesn't have a very strong flavor, which is perfect for my fair-weather fish fans.

What you'll need: 1-1 1/2 pounds tilapia fillets, 2 limes, bread crumbs, salt and pepper

Zest both limes and set the zest aside.  Squeeze the juice from the limes onto both sides of the fish. Rub the zest onto both sides and season with salt and pepper.

Place the fillets on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray (I used olive oil from my Misto). Top each fillet with bread crumbs.  The amount is entirely up to you; I just used a light coating.  Here is where you can choose to be "bad" and top each fillet with a pat of butter, or be "good" and spray with olive oil.  I sprayed mine...just enough to wet the bread crumbs.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (or 15 if you have huge fillets like mine) or until the fish flakes with a fork.  We paired our fish up with sauteed vegetables and rice. 

Reviews from the Peanut Gallery:

Me: 4 out of 5 stars. I liked the flavor of the lime.  I didn't add enough salt, so don't be like me. I liked the texture of the breadcrumbs, but I think butter would have added a nice flavor...and a few inches on my hips.

Andy: 4 out of 5 stars. He liked the lime and thought it had a nice, refreshing taste.

Emma:  She cleaned her plate (minus a few pieces of zucchini), so I guess that means she liked it!

If you try it, leave me a comment to let me know what you thought!

Saturday Morning Scene - Saying Goodbye

I'm linking up with Katie today to share our Saturday Morning Scene.  Here's ours:

We are saying goodbye to the baby stuff (sob).  We kept all of Emma's old things for Sophia, but now that she's getting so big (sniff, sniff), we need to start making some space and get rid of what we aren't using (tear).  Our neighborhood is having a yard sale, so we thought this would be a great time to do it (boo hoo).

It is so hard to let go of some of these items, because I so vividly remember what my babies looked like wearing them or using them. Like this one:

Emma wore this when she went on her first outing to Target.  She also gave her first smile in this onesie.

Then there's this one:

Who can forget my sweet Sophia, caught on camera right before a sneeze, but looking scared out of her mind?

We're also selling some of our other baby things that we will be sad to say goodbye to.  Such as our beloved swing.

This was by far the best purchase we have ever made.  It helped us survive colic, reflux and sleep problems with both of our girls.  The songs that played while it was in motion were the soundtrack for our lives for quite some time.  We were actually looking forward to taking it out of storage when Sophia was born.

Of course, there are some things that we will save forever.  Like Andy's favorite pair of pajama's that were worn by both girls:

I can neither confirm nor deny if I was sobbing as I pulled each item out of the storage bags.  I also may or may not weep as each item goes home with it's new owner.  Andy may banish me to the house so that I don't freak out the potential customers.

Now head on over to Loves of Life to see what others are doing this Saturday morning.  I can almost guarantee that the other participants will not be an emotional wreck while folding clothes.

Sob, sob, sob.

Apples Don't Fall Far from Trees

I spend A LOT of time on the computer. What can I say? I'm slightly obsessed. I also let the kids play on my computer.  They type e-mails, play songs, draw using Paint, and have their picture taken on Photo Booth.

But sometimes, I actually have to work (no, not blog), and they don't get to play.  They use that time to do some work of their own. 

Please ignore the mess of toys behind the kids.  It is what it is, folks.

Hey, look!  I got an e-mail from Matthew!

No, no!  He sent it to me!

This is the Skype icon, Sophia.

The Master Evader

Emma is still taking her antibiotic two times a day and she hates it.  Now she does everything she can to avoid taking it.  She has many approaches, so allow me to share some of my favorites with you:

Tactic #1: The Sidestep

When I call Emma to take her medicine and she tries The Sidestep, she will dance, wiggle, and tiptoe her way over to me.  It may take several minutes to wrangle her in.

Tactic #2: Confuse Mom

This is easier to do on some days, especially if I'm giving the morning dose and I haven't had my coffee yet.  This morning, Emma tried this exact tactic and it went something like this:

Me: Emma, come take your medicine.
Emma: I took my medicine.
Me: No, you haven't taken it yet.
E: Yes, I took my medicine.
Me: Did you???
E: Sees an out and runs away. 

Tactic #3: Pass the Buck

When Emma sees me getting her medicine, she will throw me, her dad, the cat, anyone or thing she can find, under the bus.  Last night it was her sister. As soon as she saw me get the bottle out she said, "That's Sophia's medicine. Oh, Sophia, it's ok.  Your medicine make you better."  When I told her that no, it was her medicine, she looked at me with pity and switched to Tactic #2: Confuse Mom.  "No, mama, that's Sophia's medicine!" There's no family loyalty when medicine is involved.

Tactic # 4: The All Clear

Now that we're on day four of the antibiotic, and she feels fine, she doesn't feel the need to take it anymore, even though she needs to take it for the full 10 days.  When she uses this tactic, she tries to reason with me.

Me: Emma, here's your medicine.
Emma: No, I'm all better.
Me: You need to take your medicine so that you'll keep feeling well.
Emma: No, I feel better.  I'm ok, see?

Tactic # 5: Avoidance

This one always makes me laugh because it's amazing how busy she can become at a moment's notice.  She hates to pick up her toys, but if it's time to take her medicine, she MUST pick up every.single.toy.  And her sister's toys (even if Sophia is playing with them).  While she's at it, she might as well dust the lamps, and hey, shouldn't we vacuum too?  No, I can't take my medicine, because I was just about to go to the bathroom.  Well, I would take it now, but I'm really hungry/thirsty/tired and I need to rectify that immediately, so I'll catch you later, Mom!

I am always amazed at the things kids know without ever learning it.  There are just some things that must be embedded in their DNA.

Week in the Life: Sunday

Today is the last day of the Week in the Life series.  I've really enjoyed doing this and I'm looking forward to looking back at this in a few months and in another year.

This morning I woke up around 6:00 and was able to just lay in bed for a while, which was a rare treat.  Emma woke up shortly after and so I got up and brought her downstairs.  We had some cuddle time and then she sat right up and said "I'm hungry.  I want eggs."  At least she knows what she wants.  I made her eggs with yogurt and toast.  Sophia woke up at 8:00 and then Andy got up to take care of the kids while I jumped in the shower.  I got ready and then got Emma dressed and ready because she and I had a movie date to see Winnie the Pooh.  I was so excited to take her to her first movie.  The movie started at 9:50, so we headed out pretty early this morning.  We got our tickets and then I got Emma popcorn and water to snack on.  Since this was her first time in a movie theater, she was amazed at all the people and the lights.  Once we got into the theater, we sat down and she immediately dove into the popcorn.  The movie was so cute and she sat and watched the entire time.  I see lots of movies in our future.

Eating popcorn at her first movie!

We had planned to go to lunch after the movie, but Emma ended up eating the entire bag of popcorn, so we skipped lunch and headed to the grocery store to do our shopping for the week.  Once we got home, we unloaded the car and had lunch.  Emma was pretty tired, so by 1:30, she was ready for a nap.  She fell asleep pretty quickly and then I laid down on the couch and ended up taking a nap myself.  It was SO nice to relax and sleep.  It had been far too long. Emma woke up around 4:00 and I woke up to get her up and bring her downstairs.  Andy and Sophia were hanging out in our bedroom, waiting for us to wake up.  I started dinner and Andy folded laundry.  Dinner took a while to make because Emma wanted me to play with her, so I took lots of breaks.  After I ate, I fed Sophia her cereal and then we got the kitchen cleaned up.  After dinner, Andy mowed the lawn and I played with the girls.  Sophia got hungry and wanted a bottle, but fell asleep while she was eating.  She hadn't napped well earlier in the afternoon, but I didn't want her to sleep and mess up her bedtime schedule. She wasn't happy when I woke her up, but Emma distracted her enough so she wouldn't think about it.  Once Andy came inside, we all played until it was time to get the kids ready for bed.

Tonight's dinner: Ranch chicken tenders, pasta salad, and corn on the cob.

Watching the Women's World Cup with Daddy.

 After they were washed up and in their pajamas, I wanted Andy to fix Sophia's video monitor.  She refuses to turn her head when she's sleeping and I hate it.  It makes me so nervous.  No matter how many times we turn her head or flip her back over, she goes right back to her tummy with her face planted into the mattress.  I wanted to see if the camera could be moved closer so I could keep a closer eye on her but it seems like it's in the best place it can be.  Rats.

Can you tell that Sophia is teething?

We put the girls down at 8:30 and they both fell asleep pretty quickly.  20 minutes later, Emma woke up crying.  I thought she had had a bad dream or was scared or hurt.  Nope.  She couldn't cover up her Ernie doll and she was frustrated.  I covered him back up and she fell back to sleep.  Crisis averted.  Now Andy and I are relaxing on the couch and ready to go to bed soon.  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!