Mother - Daughter

Ellen has a habit of playing with things in pairs.  A mother and a daughter combination, one big and one small.  Any small object needs a mother and any large object needs a child.  And when I say things I mean anything...  Here are some combinations I found around the house this week...

She's too funny for her own good!  

Happy Weekend!

  

Microwave {Air-Popped} Popcorn

We have another snow day today and I had requests at 10 AM for our current favorite snack - popcorn.  Instead of making it on the stove, I made it quick and in a smaller portion for Jude in the microwave.  Less mess and a bit healthier than cooking with oil.

I put 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels in a brown lunch bag.  Close the bag by folding over the top a few times.  Then, for our microwave, I pop it for 2 minutes.  Add on salt and our favorite white cheddar, and it's good to go!  

Thought for the Day...

I saw this quote the other day and liked it...

The Things He Says/They Say...

Jude when asked how he had such amazing (interesting) dance moves one night:

"Remember if you drink those Capri Sun waters?  Well I drank one of those..."

"Why is Michael wearing farmer clothes?"

"Is that his new pajamas?"

And from Ellen:

"I just want more of that black stuff (hot fudge)."

"Jude, if you do that again...I'm going to...to...PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE!"

While wearing my glasses:

"I'm just walking on all of these hills."

FIVE FAVS!

Linking up at Hallie's with some of our current favorites.

1. Kernal Seasons White Cheddar Popcorn Seasoning.

image

We have been on a popcorn kick lately and it was my mother-in-law who introduced us to white cheddar a few months ago.  So yummy!  

2. The Oball - by Rhino Toys.  

image

My 3 month old nephews introduced Michael to these balls while we were in town over Christmas and he loved them.  Once we were back home I headed to Target and picked one up for Michael.  They are the perfect size/shape and easy for even a 3 month old to play with.  We have several big Oball fans in our family!  

3.  Praline Nut Crunch Chex Mix.

image

We made this Chex Mix for Christmas and my goodness it was delish!  (Recipe found here.)

4. Good neighbors.

We were snowed in Sunday until Tuesday of this week and ended up with several spontaneous get-togethers with our neighbors.  So thankful to have such good people living close by!

5.  This video.  (Get your kleenex out.) 

Jude and Ellen have a small obsession with baby Ward.  They can probably be credited with about half the hits this video has received.  So sweet.  

10 MONTHS!

I cannot believe this baby boy is 2 months away from his 1st birthday!  It seems like it was just yesterday I was starring down at my big belly wondering when he was going to make his debut!  Michael has been a bit more daring lately and is starting to pull himself up onto the bottom step and has also made his way into the cabinets more than once.  And so the "fun" really begins!

And his fans love his "model" pose...

Weight: 23 lbs., 2 oz.

Height: 29 inches

Eating: Thinks he is a big boy eating more table foods and feeding himself.  Especially loves breakfast time.  (Maybe because he is perched in the high chair with a good view of the morning action.)

Starting to enjoy: Books, especially ones with "touch and feel" pages.

Newest feat: Going from an army crawling to sitting position on his own.

Latest accomplishment: Growing more hair.  Mostly on the sides and over his ears sporting a bit of a Bozo the Clown do.

Disposition: Still very sweet and always snuggly.

Snow Ice Cream

We are part of the snowpocalyspe that has hit the US of A.  (So much that our Christmas break is continuing an extra day today...)  A friend sent us this Ice Cream Snow recipe and we made it after dinner last night.  Jude gave it 2 bouncing thumbs up (a sign he really really likes something).  And making it broke our cabin fever for a few minutes!  

4 cups of fresh snow 

1 cup of milk or cream

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and enjoy!

Plenty of snow here to make more tonight!!

  

7 Quickies For Today/Tonight/Whatever Day it is...

Happy Friday!  (At least I think - these mid-week holidays have my internal clock confused!)  Playing a late night catch-up with Jen...

1.  Before Christmas break, Jude received the coveted "Sunshine Award" in music class.  He was VERY excited to share the news when he got in the car that day after school.  Although from the teacher's comment (and from his reenactment), I'm wondering if his sleigh bell ringing was similar to the cow bell...

2. Moving onto child #3...  Lately Ellen has been saying the Act of Contrition in the morning before breakfast in place of Grace.  A slight foreshadowing that it will be needed for the day ahead...

sharing my morning coffee

3.  And now news about #4...  Over the past week Mr. Michael has begun to move vertically and not just horizontally.  He's propped himself up on the bottom step several times and has also made his way into cabinets a few times now.  And so the fun begins!  

4.  We've seen a fair share of snow so far this winter.  And I'm beginning to think my kids' obsession with eating snow is borderline unhealthy.  One big snowfall (about 8+ inches) happened about 12 hours after Ryan had knee surgery a few weeks ago.  Our good friends thoughtfully offered to help shovel our driveway.  Ryan joked that our kids could probably eat enough of the snow to clear the driveway - similar to ants lifting 50 times their body weight, our kids could probably eat 50 times their weight in snow.  (Don't worry - I did the shoveling and no children or ants were harmed in doing so.) 

     

5.  With the fresh start of a new year (and with new Christmas goodies in our home) I'm copying off of my sister and have embarked on a 30 bags in 30 days mission.  So it's day 3 and I have 4 bags for Goodwill, 1 bag of treasure chest donations for the classroom (that Clare and Jude are NOT students in!), and 2 bags in the trash.  I love a good purge!  

6.  And of course I am very much looking forward to Downton on Sunday night!  

image

7.  Have a great weekend and stay warm wherever you are!  

2014

Happy New Year! 

The 6 of us celebrated with friends (and cousins!) and still made it home by 10PM.  :) 

We were out of town for Christmas (enjoying new baby cousins!), so things are slowly getting back to normal around here.  Gifts have found new homes, laundry is mostly caught up, and the fridge and pantry are restocked (as best I can when Jude is home from school).  I have my new calendars and have been penciling in all the important dates we have this year...from Michael's 1st Birthday in March (-sniff-) to Clare's First Communion in May.  Looking forward to what lies ahead!  Many wishes for a Happy 2014!    

10 on 10

Linking up tonight with Rebekah for 10 pictures from our 10th day of December...

6ish

Tree lights are always the first lights on.

7ish

I will never grow tired of these pudgy hands!

9ish

Story hour craft by Ellen.

11AM 

New library books (and books on tape and DVDs) for all to enjoy.

Noon

Lunchtime!

2 or so...

A lovely gift from friends in the afternoon sunshine.

3PM

Sunshine in office - real life still life.  

5PM 

Love the quote for February on this gift-to-be calendar that arrived today.

  

6 PM 

Bubbles for the baby while Mommy washes dinner dishes.  

7 PM 

Sister snuggle under the Christmas quilt.

Hope you had a wonderful day!

9 Months

Michael turned 9 months old on Saturday!  

Bathtime = splashtime!

Teeth: Has 5, working on #6

Says: 

"Da-da" = Daddy

"Juuuuuuuu" = Jude

"Na-na" = Wants to nurse and go to bed

New Foods: puffs in any flavor, but especially likes banana ones...and has enjoyed vanilla wafers!

Mobility: Army crawls on his belly, pushing off with his right toe.

New Look: Growing (a little bit of) hair.  He's a blondie.  

Size: Anywhere from 6 month - 24 months.

Loves: Jude

Tolerates: Ellen as a playmate, especially if that means being in any "hideout" with her.

We love our Bubbs!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

I love finding good soup recipes to enjoy during the fall.  This is one of my favorite soups to make, but since Ryan has no love for broccoli, I don't get to enjoy it very often!  I recently made this for friends and kept a few bowls for myself.    

Ingredients:

3/4 cup chopped onion

3 tablespoons margarine

6 cups water

6-8 bouillon cubes

8 oz. egg noodles

2 - 10 oz. package of frozen broccoli

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

6 cups milk

1 lb. cubed velveeta cheese

To make:

Saute together onion and margarine.  Add water and bouillon cubes and bring to a boil.  Add noodles, cook 3 minutes.  Then add broccoli, cook until tender.  Stir in garlic powder, milk, and velveeta.  Heat until cheese melts.  

Enjoy!  

Thanksgiving Long Weekend In Review

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  

Both Clare and Jude donned Native American apparel for their respective Thanksgiving play and Thanksgiving feast to start off the long weekend.  

We put our Christmas tree up on Friday, but not before cutting out all 1000 lights on our pre-lit tree. That was an all-day event in itself.  As we were nearing the end of that ordeal I began to wonder if the time we had "saved" by the ease of the pre-lits in years past was catching up to us in the time we spent cutting out the lights...   

We have our hay and manger out for Advent.  (Ellen is especially excited about this and has already put ALL of the hay in the manger several times.)

And she was very pleased with her seasonal Sunday best yesterday and asked Ryan, "Just how gorgeous do I look!?"  (She also wanted to show her puffy slip to the man and son behind us at Mass.  Thankfully she asked me first and was told no.)  

Happy December!

Happy Advent!

5 Favoritas

Linking up with Hallie today for some favorites...

1. New-ish jeans.  

I got my sewing machine out last week and made easy alterations on 2 pairs of jeans, hemming one piar and taking in another.  This tutorial by Refashion Mama on hemming jeans, and keeping the original "jean" hem was great - I'm going to keep it in mind the next time I'm shopping for my short self.  

And this tutorial by Freshly Picked on altering jeans by taking them in on the sides was very helpful. Glad I took the plunge on both of these are have been loving having 2 "new" pairs of jeans to wear!  

The only picture I have of my work was of me in the mirror, standing on the toilet in my altered jeans for my fashion grad sister...not worthy to post.  But she did approve!  

2.  Cartwheel by Target.  

Have you heard about this???  It's a free app that lets you choose deals/coupons (5-50% off!) to use at Target.  Just select which deals to add to your cart and then present your phone when you check out to be scanned.  So easy!  Love me some good dealz!

image

3.  Clementines.  

They're herrrrrrrrrre!  

And I love that Clare loves them so much.    

4.  The color fossil grey by Glidden.  

Color matched in Sherwin Williams cashmere paint.  And purchased during their 40% sale.  

Win - win - win.  And currently being rolled out by my husband.  :) 

5.  Crock pot soups!  

The Cheese Tortellini Soup I shared yesterday is a current favorite here.  But I also love making Potato Soup (and I know you do, too, Kathleen!) and Chicken & Wild Rice Soup is another one of my very favorites!  Delicious, hot, easy dinner - check!