Dancin' with the Stars ... err ... Toddlers

Apparently during breakfast yesterday at day care, Conor's teachers turned on some soothing music. That inspired Conor to get up and bust a move. He did a dance, noticed his picture being taken, did one more dance move, and then sat down to finish his breakfast. That boy cracks us up!!

Poor little guy!

Yesterday, after arriving home with Conor, Eric said "today might be a Tylenol day for him." I elequently replied, "Huh?" (Boy, is that degree in English paying off or WHAT??) Eric told me I'd understand as soon as Conor's coat was off. He wasn't kidding!! My poor little baby boy had bite marks on his left forearm. The bite didn't break Conor's skin, but did he ever bruise! I could count exactly how many teeth are in the biter's mouth because of the bruise left on Conor's arm. The bite was the color of a raspberry and just looking at it made my eyes sting with tears. I kissed my baby's arm (he was fine, by the way ... no emotional trauma) and proceeded to dope him up with some Tylenol.

My next task is to invent toddler muzzles for Conor's classmate. :)

Ravioli Boy

Recently, Conor had ravioli for lunch. He LOVED it. He loved to eat it. He loved chasing the slippery raviolies all around the plate with his fingers. He loved, loved, loved his lunch! In fact, he loved it SOOOO much that he licked his plate when he was done eating. He also decided to wear the plate as a hat. (He's so fashion forward!)



Immediately after finishing his lunch, Conor went straight from his high chair to the bathtub. He was COVERED! So much so that I wound up wearing some tomato sauce due to undressing him for the bath. (Side note: Saucey boys are slippery! Greased pigs have nothing on tomato sauced little boys!!)

Conor didn't require a little dunk in the tub; this boy needed some serious scrubbing to get all of the sauce off. It was in his ears, in his hair, on his arms, in his neck folds, all over his face, and around the back of his neck! There's nothing that can truly describe picking chunks of ravioli out of your child's hair. It's just something you gotta experience first hand. In case you missed the sauce's topology, here's a little visual aid.

Pics from Whidbey

Last month, we spent a weekend on Whidbey Island with Eric's side of the family. It was such fun to kick back and relax with everyone for awhile. While there, we celebrated the March boys' birthday, had brunch at the golf club, and spent lots of time catching up.

Kajsa, Jeff, Karen at brunch


John, Jack, Eric at brunch


Annika and John at brunch

Annika riding the horse outside of the grocery store (Thanks, Aunt Kajsa!!)

Annika modeling Bestefar's ATV helmet

Conor and Bestefar

Annika's quotes

Yesterday, Annika said two things (almost back to back) that had me in stitches.

"Whoa, Mama! You almost made my balance fall off!"

"Our cat's name is Smudge, but I'm going to call him Little Fella." (Mind you, our cat is anything but little!!!)

Bath time, Craft time, Crown time

We tend to segment our days into "times".

"It's dinner time!", "Bath time!", "Time for jammies!", "Time for bed" and "Time to go" are some of the most common "times" we have.

Below are a few pictures of our day-to-day "times".

Conor enjoying bath time


Conor exploring his artistic side (and the flavor profiles of crayons) during art time


Annika having fun gluing feathers and sparkles to an egg container during craft time


Annika modeling her princess crown during breakfast time

BFFs

I've known my best friend, Kate, for about as long as I can remember. (Before much longer, we'll probably start saying we've been friends since Moses was wandering around in the desert!) We've seen each other through some true highs and lows of life and I couldn't imagine having anyone else who knows me as well as Kate does ... or as long!!

Annika has a BFF, too. Her name is Allison. The girls met at pre-school and quickly formed a bond that keeps the surrounding grownups highly entertained and a bit more exhausted. :)

The girls play and laugh with pure innocence and joy. It amazes me how quickly their friendship has blossomed and developed roots. I pray that the girls continue to grow as friends as the years pass. Having a friend who has known you from early on in life truly is an amazing gift... trust me, I know!

Look at the sheer joy on these faces!

Annika modeling the latest in cupcake mustaches... Allison modeling her stylish sunglasses

*A special thanks to Allison's mom (Linda) for capturing these photos and sending them my way!

Amazing Beer-battered Onion Rings!!

Last night, we made chicken burgers and onion rings for dinner. I'd only made onion rings one other time and it was a royal disaster. I vowed this time would be different. Wasn't it just a couple of weeks ago that we had a roaring success making fish and chips?? Because of that success, I decided that a beer batter might be the way to go with the onion rings. I popped onto www.foodnetwork.com and found Guy Fieri's onion ring recipe. I skipped his dipping sauce recipe because Eric wanted to try a knock-off recipe for the Outback Steakhouse's Bloomin' Onion dipping sauce. Holy moly!! They were some of the best onion rings I've had ... EVER! They were light, crisp, and not greasy. Eric knocked the dipping sauce out of the ballpark. All in all, a very wonderful experiment that we'll repeat again!

I signed up!

Yes, it is official. I signed up for The Daring Kitchen (http://thedaringkitchen.com/).


The basic idea is a recipe is selected on the 1st of the month and is kept top secret from all non-participants. All participants make that recipe at some point during the month. The big reveal is on the 27th of each month. Each person posts information about his/her experience working with the recipe, pictures of the final product, etc. on his/her personal blog.


I missed this month's recipe, but will participate in the May one. On May 27th, there will be a post right here letting the whole, wide world know how it went. Stay tuned!!!

Friends + Cupcakes + Playground = Lots of Fun

Yesterday was a gorgeous day in Seattle!! It reminded us that we can go outside without getting poured on and blown to kingdom come. It was wonderful!

After church, Annika and I went to the 2nd annual Seattle Cupcake Camp with our friends the Frashers and the Krugers. The kids had a fantastic time being goofy and getting hopped up on sugar. The moms did, too, but we won't mention that! After spending an hour oohing and ahhing over the yummy and eye catching treats at the cupcake event, it was time to burn off some energy.

I swung by the house to get Conor (he napped during the cupcake event) and then the kids and I met up with the Frashers at the playground by Bitter Lake. The kids played themselves to the point of exhaustion. They ran around, played ball, went down the slides, crossed the monkey bars, and more. There were a few tears when it was time to go ... always a sign of having had a good time. We'll definitely have to do it again soon!

Annika at the cupcake event

Allison likes blue frosting!

Annika soaking up some sun

Annika, Allison, and Collin scaling the wall

Conor hanging out on the slide

Annika loves climbing trees!

Conor peeking through a tree

Explorer Conor, at your service!

Collin on the slide

Annika having fun on the swings

Collin and Annika going for a spin on the merry-go-round

Mickey Mouse Wasn't Listening

Last night, Annika was watching "Mickey Mouse Club House" on TV.

Part of the show involved identifying shapes. Mickey Mouse pointed to a shape and said, "A square has four even sides and four corners. Is this a square?"

Annika replied, "No, it's a heart."

Mickey then said, "No, that's not a square. What shape is it?"

To that, Annika said, "I already told you! It is a HEART!"

Apparently, Mickey needs to put on his listening ears and start using them!

My family!

Annika just hangin' out


Conor bedazzled himself


Annika showing off her cookie decorating skills


Conor thinks chalk is tasty!


Annika and Eric playing with Playdoh


Chef Annika, at your service!


Eric and Conor - aren't they cute?

Our little jumping bean

This morning, Eric helped Annika jump over Buca (our black lab), who was lying down in the hallway. Eric counted "1, 2, 3" and then helped Annika get airborn. Conor watched the whole thing. The next thing I knew, Annika and Eric were off doing their own thing and Conor was standing in the kitchen immitating Annika's jumping action. The rest of the morning, each time we asked Conor to jump, he would squat down and then hop up - never getting airborn - and then smile like he'd just hopped over the moon.

Ants on a Log

Recently, I taught Annika how to make the quintessential childhood snack: Ants on a Log. Basically, take a stick of celery and schmear it with peanut butter. Then, drop some raisins (aks "ants") on top of the peanut butter. Voila!

Annika had a great time working on her spreading skills. She is incredibly independent and seemed to love the fact she could do this all on her own. Of course, she thought the best part was licking the stray peanut butter off of her fingers! :)

Our princess

Yesterday, Annika ran a few errands after I picked her up from school.

We needed cat food. Let's just say that Smudge gets rather cranky when we run out of his food and he expresses that crankiness by reminding us of his sharp parts. I don't even want to think about my naked ankles and his ninja-fast claws... owie!

After getting our fat cat his food, we swung by the local consignment shop so I could get Conor some shoes that will (hopefully) not be the tripping hazard that his current shoes seem to be. While at the consignment shop, I found a $3 tiara for Annika. Really, who could resist turning such a sweet little girl into a princess... especially at such a good price? Shockingly, the sun was out in Seattle yesterday afternoon, so Annika insisted on wearing her sunglasses while we were out and about, which upped her already high rating on the cuteness meter.

It tickled me that when we got home, she ran up to Eric and said, "Daddy!! I have a surprise for you! Look, I got a crown!"

Caught red handed!

Last night, Annika and I tried our hands at making our first-ever red velvet cake. Needless to day, both of us are now sporting red splotches on our hand from the massive amount of food coloring that went into the dessert. Fortunately, today we just look messy. Last night, we looked like blood was spattered on our hands.

I'm not quite sure how the color will turn out. The recipe called for 6 T of liquid food coloring, but I don't own any. I only use gel food coloring. So, I had to guess at the amount of gel that went in. Plus, becuase gel isn't as liquid as ... well .. liquid food coloring, I had to add some water to the mixture to get the color to mix with the cocoa powder. I've decided to look at this cake as an adventure!

Tonight, we'll decorate it... stay tuned!!