how we eat

I do not like ripe bananas. If there isn't discernible green on the peel I won't eat it and would prefer to not smell it or touch it. It just gets too sweet and mushy and banana-y. Unfortunately the bananas that I bought on Saturday are past what I consider edible.
Betsy however had no such reservations and ate 2/3 of a banana! That's the most she's ever done, because usually we share and I'm faster than she. She was kind enough to share the remaining 1/3 with her big sister, who is the fastest banana eater in the whole wide world! (side note: my dear son loves exaggerate and say, "Whole Wide World!" about everything. I love it.) Betsy never really seemed that interested in eating (drinking?) until she started solid food and she has taken to that like a champ. She's never turned down anything!
Sophie is a little bit pickier, but not much. Dustin had some jalapeno pretzel crackers and the kids were begging for some. He doubted they would like them but shared anyway. Emanuel popped his in his mouth and then popped it right back out, whining that it was hot. Sophie kept asking for, and eating, more and more, until she was cut off.
Emanuel is very picky and opinionated. He puts on his apron and declares himself chef. If I switch up the recipe on any of our regulars, he gets very upset and informs me that, "These are not the right ingredients."
It seems like my children are constantly hungry so we eat five times a day usually. Breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner. If for whatever reason they do not finish their breakfast or lunch, that food is saved and must be eaten before they are allowed any snack food.
Snack foods are more fun foods, fresh or dried fruit, crackers, rice cakes, cheese cubes, etc. Lately we've been enjoying our snacks while sitting on the kitchen floor. This was Sophie's idea, and somehow it's really fun and cozy.
Dinner is the only meal we share with Dustin and usually we all sit at the table together. We do not always eat the same foods. Dustin and I love spicy and exotic foods, and our kids, well, don't. It's not at all unusual for them to have a sandwich while Dustin and I indulge in something a bit more grown up. Occasionally, if I'm late getting dinner started, we'll just feed the kids and put them down and really enjoy a nice dinner together.
If there is any dessert to be had we dish it up and eat it on the sofa after the kids are in bed. It's one of our favorite times of the day. Sweet food, Sweet company, Sweet life.

If I let them grow up..

Emanuel has decided that when he grows up to be a man like daddy he wants to be a doughnut hunter.(He did not take this stance until he figured out that grown-ups don't get spankings.) I'm not exactly sure what this career choice entails, the only way he has elaborated is that, "Then I'll take every one's doughnuts!", but I'm pretty sure there is a bit of fierceness involved. He'll need to be strong..

And Mighty

After having this discussion with him I turned to Sophie and asked her who she was going to be when she grew up. She yelled, "SOPHIE!" I know she'll need some strong and mighty for that.

Robot. Making. Pancakes.

So one morning Emanuel wakes up before anybody else in the house. Instead of letting us know that he was up and at 'em, he took his little self downstairs and proceeding to cook. Now his all time favorite food is pancakes. He has helping me make them many times, and I guess he felt like he had a pretty good grasp of the recipe. He climbed up onto the kitchen counter, opened the cabinet, started pulling out spices and dumping them in a bowl, and stirring them all together. Dustin told me later how he walked onto the scene and Emanuel started doing the robot walk and robotically chanting, " Robot making pancakes". Dustin found this so hilarious that Emanuel sort of got away with his transgressions. Since then every time he makes a big mess and senses that he might be about to get in trouble he pulls the "Robot making pancakes" out and charms us yet again. Why is this so funny to us? Who knows.

Soooo, the other day Emanuel and his sidekick went outside to draw with chalk, which lasted only as long as they were supervised , and then it was into the mud puddle they went. When I acted chagrined at this disaster Emanuel let me know that they just robots making pancakes out of mud.

but that house doesn't look mad

Here it is! Miss America! Our new home! Dustin loves it. I love it. And the kids love it. As you can see; the sky is always blue, the clover grass is always green, and the breeze keeps the flag waving gently.
Inside there is lots of love. And boxes, still. We've got a backyard, And behind that is the "forest". Kind neighbors. Quiet streets. It's better than we had imagined.
Well, the kids might have imagined something this wonderful, but they have great imaginations.

Prissy Missy

The girliest girly girl ever.

She only wants to wear dresses and be clean and pretty

(she usually falls WAY short of clean, as a toddler is wont to do).

 The other night she came downstairs draped in one of my nighties. She was so proud of her 'pretty dress'. There were lots of tears when we made her wear her own pajamas to bed.

She likes hearts, flowers, butterflies, and fishies (?).

 She does NOT like bugs.

 She always prefers a flower bow over a plain clippie.

 When she get food on herself at meals she calls for a "natkin, natkin!" until she gets a napkin,daintily wipes herself off, disposes of the napkin, because it's "dirty!" then she plunges her hands back into her food for another bite (spoons and forks are hard work and she's usually too hungry to be that patient).

 She only wears two pairs of shoes, a pair of pink cowgirl boots, and flower-y sandals.

She is very particular about what color bottle or binkie she uses.

 If I have hair in my face she pushes it over and says, "eyes?".

She's my little cuddle bug.

 She has a little toy drill she points at me and says "pow, pow".

She loves it when I die dramatically.                

Her daddy says, "nobody can be girlier than Sophie." But her little sister will have such a great role model.

We'll see. We'll see.

Darn it!

So yesterday Emanuel asked me if I know what Darn it! means. I was curious to hear his interpretation so I asked for the definition. He said, "It means, Stop making that mess right now!"
 I'd say that's pretty accurate.

For Hire: Artist of Destruction

Do you need revenge? Want to play a cruel practical joke? Is your blood pressure too low? I have your solution!

  Your very own three year old terror. He can absolutely destroy any area in fifteen minutes flat. Just leave him lacking adult supervision and he will create a distressing masterpiece worthy of a psychotic museum.

Some of his favorite mediums:

~ Lotion
~Dirt
~Paint
~Oil (cooking, baby, lubricating, etc.)

~Makeup

~A dresser full of clean laundry

~Female hygiene products

~Eggs

~Gel (hair, aloe, etc.)
~Baking supplies (flour, baking soda, flax seed, powder sugar, etc)
~Lightbulbs
~A garden
~Sticks
~Shaving cream
~Crayons
~Paper (Newspapers, paper towels, toilet paper, etc.)
~Ketchup
These are only some of the works I have witnessed. If the place you want trashed does not have all or any of these props; don't worry! He is infinitely creative!


Will accept Chicken Nuggets as payment.

note: He seems to do his best work with the encouragement of his little sister, so if you want something truly stunning, extra nuggets must be provided.

Bedtime miracle

Here's how it played out.
 Scene: Emanuel and Symphony sitting on my lap. Betsy playing on floor next to us.

Emanuel: Mommy, can I have some more juice?
Me: No son, It's almost bedtime, so no more juice today.
Sophie: (jumping up and running towards room) Pillow, blanket, binkie!?!
Me: okay sweetie, mommy will put you down.
Emanuel: Can I go to bed too?
Me: Sure
(Emanuel runs to room)
At this point Beatrix pipes in with her tired cry, whick I interpretted as: "please mommy, don't forget about me, I'm tired too!")

Scene: Kid's room with two oldest children. Mommy is lowering Sophie into her bed with night night prayers and kisses.

Emanuel: Oh! Mommy, can I have a fresh diaper?
Me: Absolutely!
( Emanuel leaves rooom)

Scene: Living room diaper changing station. Emanuel lays on changing pad with diaper in hand)
I change diaper, change him into his jammies, kiss him and tell him what a precious son he is.

Emanuel trots off to bed, I follow, tuck him in.
Emanuel : Night Night mommy! Love you! See you in the morning!
Sophie: Nigh Nigh! Wuvvu! Morning!

I leave room, put Betsy down and she immediately falls asleep, no fussing.
Thanks Lord. I needed that!

fishing

It was a lovely day today so I took the kids down to the creek for a bit this afternoon. All of the fancy toys in the world are no match for water, sticks, and rocks. Why is it so satisfying to throw rocks into water, and SPLASH!

precosious memories

I hear quite often how I should be writing down the hilarious things my kids seem to spew forth constantly, and I've decided to act on that advice. After all, I'm starting to get a feel for just how freakishly fast kids grow up, and I realize that they'll be trading in cute and innocent for angtsy, sexy, and cool in a very short time. Here a some typical clips from the circus that is our life.

Emanuel announces conversationally that there is a scary monster in his room. Dustin takes the reins on this one; "Son, there are no such things as monsters, they're just pretend." Without pausing, "Yeah Daddy, there are monsters pretending to be in my room."

Children tend to see the world as a beautiful place. Through rose colored glasses, well sorta.. Emanuel prefers chocolate to roses. In fact he claims that, "the dark is made up of chocolate!" Ignorance is bliss, no?

Sophie will be 2 this summer, but she seems to think she can do anything. Anything bubba can do, she can do better. Unfortunately her little (said with a hint of irony) body isn't quite there. She tries to climb the jungle gym, she falls flat on her ample tushie, she tries to drink out of a "spillie cup" and she gets drenched. So far this week she has gotten both a black eye and a bloody lip. It's not all physical though, she has the most darling tuneless version of "twinkle twinkle little star" you could ever hear, though it is missing most of the words. Part of that could be from her brother/teacher who insists on singing "upa upa world so high, diamond diamond in the sky", and yes I've tried going over the words slowly. He loves singing. He's always making up little songs, and when baby Betsy (yes, yet another baby) cries he sits at her side and serenades her with his very favorite song; "ABCDEFG". No, she is not comforted, but he sweetly persists.

Beatrix (AKA Betsy, AKA Trixie pop), Is almost 4 mos old and a sweeter baby, I've yet to meet. And yes, My older two are included. She is mellow and good natured, she doesn't need a ton of attention, but she accepts it by showering the giver with smiles, coos, and, lately, squeals of laughter. She's a redhead. Well, strawberry blond, and when she has a bath her hair sticks out in a wild frizzy halo, not unlike Bozo the Clown.

We're buying our first house, so we'll have somewhere to stash all of these babies. We close next week and move in on the 24th. Dustin and I have house stuff constantly on the brain. We'll be having a deep discussion about classic literature, philosophy or whether we think Pam will end up going back to work, and somebody will interject with, "Oh, we'll need to look into pest extermination, cause you know, an ounce of prevention and all that." Or, "How do you feel about yellow kitchens?" etc. I have been packing like mad, and though I try to only pack up things we won't be needing in the interim, You just never know when a muffin craving is going to hit. Hint: It will be the day after you pack up your rarely used muffin tins.
  Speaking of baked goods, I had a wonderful bread pudding tonight. It was springy and dense and buttery, and oh so yummy. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, something about fish I think. It was a night out with some of our friends that was desperately needed. I feel quite refreshed after only a few hours spent, not with toddlers, but with people who go potty all by themselves.
 Well, If I'm actually going to keep up with this blogging thing, I'd better save some material for next time. Ciao!