Jack should have been a baker

This is the butter that I made.

 

This is the dough that was rolled in thin layers
With the butter that I made.

 

These are the pastries baked from the dough
That was rolled in thin layers
With the butter that I made.

 

These are the layers found in the pastries (243 of them, baby!)
That were baked from the dough
That was rolled in thin layers
With the butter that I made.

 

These are the children devouring the layers (all 243 of them!)
That were found in the pastries
That were baked from the dough
That was rolled in thin layers
With the butter that I made.



By the way, I love this book.

Why I love being a Mom

It's pictures like this that show why being a mom is so rewarding. I wouldn't trade them for the world.

 

By the way, even though I haven't posted much lately, I am trying to post more on my kids' blogs. So check them out if you can! (If you want in on this insiders club, just let me know. Their blogs are private, not exclusive.)

Do you hear angels singing?

Anna has something she wants to show everyone.

 

Yep, that's underwear. Underwear that she wore today. All day. Do you see where I'm going with this?

After months of slowly teaching Anna what to do with that lovely porcelain device in our bathrooms, we finally have some results. Our first, very first, accident free day.

You have to understand that this is a miracle. Less than a week ago, Anna started screaming any time we tried to sit her on the potty and was asking for a diaper. In fact, the whole time we've been trying to potty train her, it has been a struggle. However, after this last Sunday, I was about ready to put her in diapers until she was 20. But I didn't. Instead, I was forced to recognize that Anna and I were having major power struggle issues and if anyone was going to change, it was going to have to be me.

So, I discussed things with Hubby, and Aunt Ebis who happened to be in town, decided on somethings that I needed to change and hashed out a new plan for this whole potty training torture.

What we decided to do was a bit contrary to just about any advice I had been given. Instead of having her sit on the potty every hour or so, like everyone says that you should do, we stopped having her sit on the potty at all, except for right before naps and any time we left the house. I wouldn't mention it. Then, each time her underwear was wet, I would calmly respond and have her remove her underwear all by herself (not a fun task). Putting all the responsibility on her helped me to let go of the anger I felt each time Anna had an accident. Suddenly it wasn't my fault any more and she wasn't doing it to thwart my efforts to get her on the potty.

Of course, the first couple of days were messy, to say the least, but then she stopped pooping in her underwear, but would sit on her little potty when she felt it coming. And today she chose to sit on the potty several times, all on her own, and managed to keep her underwear clean and dry.

Yes, I know it isn't going to be perfect from now on, but at least I've been given a glimpse of what it is going to be like when this is all over. So, thanks to everyone who kept me sane. The end is in sight.

Piggyback Squared

It really is cute how our kids mimic the things we do (as long as what we do is cute). Lately, I've noticed Anna trying to copy another motherly aspect of my life. Everytime I strap Mathias to my back, Anna runs and gets her little leash/backpack (only used once for it's actual purpose) and snaps it on.

 

And yes, Jeanerbee, that is a Ergo I'm wearing. Oh, how I love that carrier! If I could recommend just one carrier, it would be an Ergo. It doesn't hurt my back like other carriers I have used. Also, it is nice to be able to use it in so many different positions (front, back, and hip). I'd like to wax eloquent here, but I'm just not that talented of a writer to do so. Just take my word for it that this is the best carrier I've ever used.

Wonder of Wonders

Sometimes miracles do happen. Let me tell you about our most recent one.

Last week, the last impediment to moving Mathias from our bedroom was removed, literally, thanks to Craig's List. With the prospect of Oma and Opa coming up for the weekend and needing to sleep in our room (Opa just had back surgery), I knew we had to get Mathias out of our room and into Anna's so that we could at least have some time to get used to it.

Here's an image to describe how I felt that first evening: Imagine you are swinging on a rope towards a large solid object, like a rock. Time seems to slow down as you approach and you tighten into a ball as much as possible, a cringe on your face as you anticipate the crunch of your bones on the rock face. Yes, that is how I felt. I could just imagine the sleepless nights as Mathias woke Anna up when he got hungry and Anna woke Mathias up because she was awake and had nothing better to do.

However, the rock was not a rock but rather a nice soft cushy pillow (perhaps like this one, he he). That's right. The anticipated difficulties have yet to arrive. That first night, Mathias woke up 2-3 times and each time Anna peacefully slumbered on. And it has been the same each night since.

Yes, I know that there will be times when the night will not go so well, but for right now, the transition has gone miraculously smoothly. I just hope that having Mathias sleeping in another room will help him to sleep through the night.

Mathias and the New Trick

On Monday, Mathias had his 6 month check-up. He weighed in at 19 lbs even, 29 inches long, and is a very healthy little boy. But the best (worst?) part happened after we got home.

Here he is this morning, after having a little time to practice his new trick.



My goodness, these kids grow up too fast!

Oh, and Anna got her first haircut on Monday. Granted, it was only a little trim of the bangs so her hair wouldn't be in her eyes, but it is the first time her hair has been cut in her whole 2 and a half years of life. I'll post a picture when I get a good one.

Little Nurse Maid

I've always wondered what Anna thought of how I feed Mathias. Sure, she ate the same way at that age, but like she's going to remember that! And for the longest time she would try to have her doll drink from her sippy cup. In nursery at church she rushes for the doll bin and collects all the dolls and all the bottles, and feeds them. I really don't know where she figured that one out since Mathias has only used a bottle once in his short 6 months of life.

Yesterday, we had a break through. My breastpump was lying out on the counter drying and Anna pointed to it and said "I need to punk." What? "I need to punk, Mommy. I have lots of milk."

Today was even better. I had just finished nursing Mathias and changing his diaper and came out to the living room to see this:

 

If you notice, she had to nurse on both sides (because, she told me, she had a lot of milk) and very properly burped the baby when she was done. I tell you, just seeing her gave me warm fuzzies.

What was I thinking...

This morning when we woke up, we found Anna completely naked in the bathroom trying to get onto the toilet. That in combination with all the other signals she's been giving us must mean that she is ready to be potty trained, right? Oh, I hope that I'm not getting myself in too deep...

White Bread is Evil! (sort of)

Now before you blow me off thinking I'm about to go one a rant about how white bread is causing the decline of civilization, I won't be doing that. I like white bread. I eat white bread. I even let my children eat white bread. So why is white bread evil? BECAUSE IT IS TOO EASY TO MAKE AND TASTES TOO GOOD!

As you may know, I'm obsessed with whole grains and love to make whole grain bread. In fact, other than the test recipes I am doing, I almost never make white bread. Until Anna got diarrhea. She isn't sick, so we are having to battle it with diet rather than meds. That means less fiber, or no whole grains. And since I had very little in the way of white flour baked goods, I made white sandwich bread from the Joy of Cooking. If I say so myself, it turned out perfectly. The texture was incredible: light, fluffy, and perfectly even throughout. So, why can't my whole wheat bread turn out so wonderfully? *Pout, whine*

My beautiful bread, the day after baking:

 

 

The one good thing that this has taught me is that I must have improved considerably since I started making bread a few years ago. All that work trying to get my whole wheat bread to turn out has helped me tremendously to know how bread works. That and bread flour is an amazing thing and should be used instead of the ubiquitous all purpose when making bread. It is called bread flour for a reason!

 

By the way, if any one has any suggestions on how to help a two year old to be "regular", please let me know. So far the "bland food" diet (bananas, applesauce, white bread, etc) hasn't done much. Neither have the probiotics we've been giving her (she's in a no yogurt phase).

Go do bread, Mommy

Anna loves glue and today she asked to glue pictures to some paper. With a Burpee catalogue and a glue stick, we were ready to go. But as I tried to help her put glue on the pictures and put them on the paper, she shoos me away and says "Go do bread, Mommy". I think I've been making a little too much bread lately...

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!



And, yes, it was still snowing this morning. I do love watching it fall.




We just had a few presents under the Christmas tree this morning, since all the grandparent presents were conveniently stored at the grandparents' home (at Hubby's parents' home) where we were supposed to be. However, Anna sured scored big.

Since she often "borrows" this from friends, we thought it would be best that she had her own.


And this was the gift that I was the most proud of. It started as a somewhat beat-up white rocking horse with dingy yarn hair and tail. Quite the improvement, don't you think? And I'm not just talking about the really cute equestrian. It was too big to take with us if we had traveled, but since we didn't go anywhere, Anna was able to find it under (or next to) the tree, which made me very happy.



Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Sleep like a baby

Since Mathias was born, Anna has had a few sleeping issues, such as waking up way too early, not sleeping long enough during her naps, and having trouble going to sleep at night. While this can be rather frustrating at times and rather exhausting, it can give us a good laugh from time to time.

Here is Anna waking up in the middle of her nap yesterday (she went back to bed and slept for another hour, thank goodness).


And then early this morning I went out to go to the bathroom and noticed that Anna's bedroom door was open, a sure sign that she is not in bed. Our bedroom door had not been opened, so the only other place that I could think to look for her was here:


Yes, Anna is sleeping in the laundry hamper. That is one of her hiding places when she doesn't want to go back to bed, or get clothes on, or ... I just knew I would find her sleeping in there some morning, and this was the morning.

Halloween, finally

Sorry it has taken me so long to post about Halloween. Honestly, it was the amount of information and pictures that stalled me. With so many activities, there are too many pictures that need to be shown and it can be daunting to try and show them all. So, here goes...

It all began with the costume. A week before Halloween we had our church Trunk or Treat activity and we did not have a costume for Anna. We tried looking at DI for something used, but I just couldn't justify the cost. Then I had the most brilliant idea. Anna has a set of "piggy" pjs and all I would have to do to complete the outfit would be to make a set of knitted "piggy" ears for her to wear on her head. Instant costume! And super cheap, since I already had pink yarn that I could use.


So, Anna woke up from her nap the day of the activity and was able to put on her set of "piggy" ears. (She now asks to wear them almost every time we leave the house. Sigh.)

At the Trunk or Treat, Anna refused to say anything. Not a "thank you" or "trick-or-treat" to be had, though she had proved herself an expert in the car. However, she very quickly understood that all she had to do was hold her bag up and she would receive a treat. Why go to all the effort of saying something?


We returned home and Anna had her very first taste of Halloween candy, which she enjoyed very much. Mathias did very well the whole evening in the sling, but no one was able to see his cute lederhosen. Here he poses with Anna while she eats her candy.


The next Tuesday, we went pumpkin hunting. We found some great pumpkins, if you ask me, including the one I was carrying.


The pumpkins were dutifully carved, though Anna did not like to touch the inside and spent most of the time eating her candy instead of helping Grandma cut out the face. But she did enjoy playing with the little battery operated tea lights Grandma brought!


If I say so myself, I picked a great pumpkin for myself (not shown) that made some pretty amazing pumpkin puree. We're going to have some great pies for Thanksgiving!

Finally Halloween night arrived and we celebrated by taking Anna trick-or-treating at the local businesses. Once again, she refused to talk to strangers (not a bad thing, I suppose) and simply held her bag out to be filled. Here, she got to pick out her own piece of candy.


Whew. There it is. Our Halloween was quite fun and full of candy. My mission for next year? Teach Anna to pick the kinds of candy I like to eat.

Like Mother Like Daughter

Before Anna was born, my mother gave me a dress my grandmother had made me when I was two. Along with it, I received a picture frame with a picture of me wearing it as well as an empty frame in which to put a picture of Anna when the time came. A week or so ago, I happened to be putting one of Anna's dresses in her closet next to this dress and realized that they were the same size! That very next Sunday, Anna wore my dress to church. Isn't she cute?

Now, I think this is a pretty cute picture of me, but my husband says that Anna is much cuter. What am I supposed to think of that?

A Week to remember

For the past week, Anna and I have been off galavanting in Oregon while Hubby stayed at home to keep down the fort. And quite the week we had!

First, Anna's favorite single aunt wanted to take her to the beach. There we enjoyed lots of wet sand, cold water and good company.

Anna "helped" her aunt by demolishing all the sand towers she could possibly make. If you listen hard to the video, you might just hear Anna say "Helping!" while scurrying from tower to tower.

Anna got some sand on her leg. While that might be normal for the beach, Anna did not think so and held her leg up hoping that we would clean it off for her.

After the beach became too cold to handle, we went back to Grandma's house, with a short stop at a farm stand that had a few goats, bunnies, and chickens. Anna had a lot of fun feeding the goat.

Here's our little sunflower!

After the weekend, Aunt, Anna and I went to the Portland Children's Museum, which is next to the Zoo (Can I just say I love Cultural Passes?!). There, Anna got to color, play with clay, trains and balls, "drive" an ambulance, and dig. All the while, her aunt and I were running trying to keep up with her. Well, her aunt was running; I was trying to sit down as much as possible. What a great time she had.

Digging!

Our last day there was the opening day of the County Fair and we just had to go. We had a busy day looking at all the cows, goats, sheep, poultry, llamas, and rabbits. And that was after getting cheesecakes ready to enter into the daily contest (we didn't win, but we did get in for free!). While the highlight for Anna was probably all the animals, or the ice cream, my highlight was seeing this:

This was the very first year I have ever entered anything in the fair, and I won! I entered a sourdough loaf (Thank you to the Bogardus family for the recipe and the sourdough start!) that I didn't think turned out that well, but it won. Of course, I had entered it into the sourdough section and there were only two other entries. I got to taste the other two, and mine certainly was the most sour of the group and my mother-in-law just raved about the texture (I thought it was a little lacking). To say the least, I was very proud of my accomplishment and maybe I'll be able to enter more in the future. I am getting better at making 100% whole wheat hearth bread...

So, now we are home and glad to be there. But it was a wonderful vacation!

Growing up

Anna certainly is growing up. Just this morning she did what every other toddler girl does at some point in her life: insist on wearing a bathing suit, just because. Granted, I did just buy the suit yesterday, so when she saw it this morning, she insisted on putting it on.

Doesn't she look cute! It sure was hard to get her out of it though!

Anna is also enjoying trying on Mommy's shoes. She got the zippers on these boots done by herself.

Neat Freak

I don't know which side of the family she got this from, but my darling Anna has become a neat freak. "Uh oh" is her word to say "there is something dirty there and I won't do anything you ask until it is removed or cleaned". This happens especially when we are eating. Just today at lunch, she noticed the lentil soup on her bib, said "uh oh" and then refused to wear it because it was dirty. In addition to this, she is always wanting a napkin to clean her hands, tray, and cup during dinner. In fact, she would spend all of dinner time cleaning up rather than eating, if she had a choice!

I have a video of her that I can't post because it is too long, but it shows her in the bathtub wiping things down. I really don't know where she learned this. I do try to keep our living space clean, but I'm not that much of a neat freak. Perhaps it is just a phase that she will grow out of...