4 Miles

Will pulled out his drum today. Inside are the drumsticks and other noise makers. He took off the lid and said, “Look! My breadsticks!” as he pulled out the drumsticks.

Yesterday, we also went up to my parent's house. My grandfather was in town (from Arizona) for a few days and I wanted to let him meet Alex and see Will. We drove up after lunch, and had a nice afternoon and evening together. We spent a good deal of time outside—Will's favorite place. Dad has a fish pond he's created with Goldfish in it. Each year, he has to get rid of the brown fish, or they would continue to mate and all the fish would be brown (Dominant trait and all…I could go on, but won’t). So, while we were there, he and James worked with a net to scoop out some brown fish. They caught one, and let Will see/hold it, as you can see by the pictures. Will kept saying, “Hi fish. Hello” Then he asked it, “Are you sad?” I just view it as a great science lesson (my mom was more sympathetic to the fish then I was).  You can now click on the pictures to see them larger, if you so desire.

I decided to clean out the microwave & the fridge yesterday. Our microwave needed it after an unfortunate Spaghetti Reheating Episode. (The paper towel covering the bowl came off and the microwave became coated with red sauce.) My friend, Krisha, had told me about a tip she'd learned where you cut up a lemon & put it in a bowl of water, then microwave it for about 10 minutes. Then you can just wipe out the microwave and the mess is gone! She said when she did it, she then used the water to wipe out her fridge, and it cleaned it as well. So, now when I clean out the microwave, I clean out the fridge as well. First step for me is to get all the containers of food that have spoiled, out (I’m working on getting better about not letting that happen). As I was washing those, I went to get the lemon water started. I got out the bowl from the cabinet, and discovered a bug/weevel in it. As I looked more, there were bugs in the cabinet (probably in the whole wheat flour I had in there—the ONLY thing not in a zip-lock bag!). So, I took everything off the two offending shelves and cleaned those out. While I had everything out, I decided to get the shelf paper I'd bought out and reline the shelves. (When we moved in, I had gotten the 'no stick/no skid” plastic stuff and lined the shelves with that. I quickly learned I thought that stuff was CRAP, and got rid of it. I'd bought the new lining paper a long time ago with the intent to do the shelves, but that was pretty far down on the “To Do” list.) Oh, and I did manage to get the microwave and fridge cleaned out as well.

All that to say, I now have two beautifully lined shelves that mock me every time I open that cabinet, reminding me I have many more shelves to do now. So, we're going to try to do it in “Baby Steps”. Today I tackled the one that holds the Tupperware/Rubbermaid (HA! Like I actually have Tupperware. More like Rubbermaid and Glad/Ziplock plastic containers) , and did what I'd been saying I was going to do for the last month: organize the plastic containers. I bit the bullet, and decided to get rid of any containers without lids or vise versa. I sorted them all, and had 21 lids with no matching container. And one container with no lid. How in the world did that happen?!? I don't just toss the containers when they're dirty or anything! The pack rat in me was thinking, “Save the lids, you never know when you'll find the container that matches!” The realist said, “This is how you got this mess in the first place, chica. Toss them!” So, I saved 5 lids and that one container for the sand box, and threw out the rest. And I have one more clean, nicely lined cabinet to show for it!

When we purchased our new house we inherited a swing set.  Will absolutely LOVES swinging on it.  Me?  I absolutely HATE mowing around it.  I solved that problem.

We had also inherited a coy pond that was framed by 15 7' 4"x4".  Since I didn't want the coy pond and there was no moisture barrier between the brick on the house and the potting soil (yes, I said potting soil.  The people before us used bags of potting soil to fill a 7' x 7' x 10" area) I pulled the 4"x4"s.  I used them to frame out a 21' x 28' area around the swing set, sand box and picnic table.

As I was working away my neighbor showed up and offered the results of a ground out tree stump that he had on his property.  Since I had a birthday party to go to at 1, he filled up his truck, drove it over and dumped it.  All I had to do was spread it around.

Right now (from what I’ve read) sidewalk PAINT is being called the “cool new thing” that kids love to play with outside. I found this CHEAP recipie on-line:

Sidewalk Paint
You’ll need:
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
6-8 drops of food coloring
Mix the cornstarch and cold water together.
Add food coloring and stir. Repeat to make different colors.
NOTE: This paint can be easily washed off with water and is great for painting large areas temporarily!!!

The author of the site I found this on said: 

I also found this recipe courtesy of The Ultimate Book Of Kid Concoctionsâ€? by John E. Thomas and Danita Pagel. There a ton of great recipes for other things too. For example, if you add 1/4 cup cornstarch to the above recipe? You get goop. If you add 2 T of corn syrup to the above recipe? You’ll get finger paint (the kind you can use on paper). Ultimately, not only are all of these recipes washable? But you can use them with the very youngest of babes, and not have to worry about toxicity.

I hope someone else can find this useful! :-))

“A little library, growing every year, is an honorable part of a man’s history. It is a man’s duty to have books.”

–Henry Ward Beecher

I have been asked by a number of people if Will and Alex look anything alike (since they look very different now). While they have some differences, I see some similarities from when they were about the same age. I dug up some pictures to show those who are curious. (The ones on the left are Will and the right are Alex.)

 Happy Easter! I know I’m very late in sending our Easter wishes out to you all. We had a very nice time visiting James’ Grandparents and Aunt & Uncle, who live about an hour west of Chicago. The trip (and the cold Alex & I shared) did take a bit out of us, and the last few days have been recovering from it! We drove up Friday night. Saturday, I drove to Chicago to meet up with a good college friend. She and I talked all afternoon. Will and James stayed at the farm. Will got to see Uncle Tom’s tractor (but didn’t want to ride in it), and watch trains go by. Then, while James played basketball with his brother and cousins, Will got to play with toys Aunt Nancy brought out from the basement, including a “foot pedal carâ€? (that he kept calling “Will’s Car”).

Easter Sunday wasn’t as nice, weather wise. We went to the late service at the Grandparent’s church, and when we got out, it was windy and cloudy. The thunderstorms waited until we got home to break (but Will still wanted to play with “his car”, even in the rain!).  We had a nice lunch, and relaxed while the boys napped. Once Will woke up, we had an indoor Easter Egg hunt. It was good he didn’t have to hunt with anyone else. He was excited to hear there were things inside–and more excited to see Jelly Beans! So he stopped and ate them. Then he found another egg, and stopped and ate what was in it! I kept telling him to save some for later (so he’d eat one bean out of an egg, and save the rest). Then he found some eggs with Goldfish crackers in them. He looked at them and said, “I save these for later.”  You can see him in the picture to the left, holding his eggs and wearing his candy necklace. (Aunt Nancy said that was for the road home, but we “forgot” to give it to him on the drive home. Whoops!)

 The drive home was a long one because of rain, road construction and traffic. But Alex didn’t cry too much on it, and once we got into Indiana, all of those things ended, and it was (mostly) smooth sailing!

 

Today, Alex is three months old. I love this milestone. At this point, I feel it gets easier. (That’s what I kept telling myself for both kids the first 4-6 weeks!)  He’s only waking up 1-2 times a night. When he does wake up, he eats and (usually) goes right back to sleep. He’s smiling and “cooing” and beginning to respond more and more to us. After I feed him, he gives me the biggest smile, and then he and I will “talk” (he can make a sound that sounds a lot like “hi”! He’s a genius! ;-)  He is getting very good at pushing up on his elbows–I know rolling over is coming soon! (You can see in the picture below he was very close.)  The one problem I am having right now is he naps for an hour, then wakes up. He’s awake for awhile, then back asleep for just another hour. Before, he was napping in 3-4 hour stretches!  I’m not sure if this is a stage, if it is because of the last few crazy days (both kids have had their routines thrown to bits in the last few days), or if that’s just the way he’s going to be.  He is growing, and is quite a stocky boy, with long arms and long legs.  I was trying to put some 3-6 month clothes on him today, and they were already too small. (Granted, these are ones that were passed down to us and are cotton, they have been washed a number of times so they’ve shrunk, but still!!!) So I pulled out some smaller looking 6-9 month summer outfits, and they fit fine. That’s crazy! He just turned 3 months and in 6-9? I remember Will “filled out quickly” :-), but I don’t remember it being this fast!

We are having fun seeing more and more of his personality come out. So far, he appears to be a happy, easy going baby–until he’s ready for bed! Then, watch out! But over all, we often see the happy, big smile, and are very thankful to God for how much he’s blessed us!

We have had a string of beautiful days. Will loves to be outside, so we have been having fun outside. Will is enjoying playing with his dump truck and bull dozer in the rocks and dirt and along the drive way. I’ve been weeding. It isn’t much fun to be grown up!

Will loves to eat outside. (That’s what he’s doing in the picture on the left.) I think it’s because he can walk around and eat at the same time–something that is NOT allowed at the table. Last week, during our first nice day outside, I asked him if he wanted to have a picnic outside.  He was very excited. When I brought out his lunch of PB & J, he was quite upset. He kept saying, “No! I want picnic!” I then realized he thought a picnic was something to eat. And surely it was something yummy, not something boring like peanut butter and jelly! I finally got him to realize that a picnic was just any food we ate outside. He did eat his sandwich.

It is interesting to move into a house where someone before you planted a great deal of flowers and plants. We have all kinds of things coming up, and some I have no idea what to expect.  The tulips and daffodils are blooming.  I have discovered we have a great deal of green onions growing like crazy in all the flower beds. So, the gardening tip of the day (not that there will be more) is to plant green onions/chives in a pot. Other wise, your garden will go to pot! (Sorry, just couldn’t resist.)