Summer break

Today marks the end of my first week of summer break. I've been staying busy, but it's weird when something that consumes your time suddenly vanishes. My whole routine gets thrown off. I recently realized that I can be doing more structured reading and learning times with Craig and more involved play time, too. I've slacked on all those things this week, though, and have read about half of this:

and watched ALL of these:


I know, that's a lot of movies in one week. It's just one of those things--once you watch one, you have to watch the next one. That's why I watched the first season of 24, but haven't seen one episode since. Too addicting.

Something productive I did this week, though, is that I spent a lot of time going through sale ads and coupons. My most triumphant purchase this week was at CVS today. Here is what I got:

My total for this purchase was $22 and some change. I'm still learning a lot about this whole process, but seeing as how that box of diapers was normally $23 alone, not to mention the Pull Ups being about $12 normally, I felt really good about this! The milk and syrup I threw in because I had the credit in my Extra Bucks (a thing CVS does to give you money back for your purchases) and they were the only other two things I still needed to buy that CVS stocks.

This coming week should be fun. The golf course Robert works at is closed for the next two weeks and he has to go in for a few hours three days each week, but that's it! His mom is coming down to visit for a few days next week, so we'll be busy. Before we know it, he'll be back to work and I'll be back to school so I really want to try and enjoy this vacation time and take it easy.

First trip to the dentist

Craig went to his first dental appointment recently. I found this place called For Kids Only. They are super friendly, the office is full of toys and colorful things, and the dentist has won all kinds of awards. Since Craig has never been, I wanted to be sure he felt comfortable. I talked to him about it for a week before going. We practiced openly his mouth and letting me look at his teeth. He loves brushing his teeth, too, so I wasn't too concerned. Once we got there, he did well and played with the toys. Then they called us back. Craig started getting very suspicious and antsy. We just about had him calmed down, until the assistant snapped on her latex gloves. I'm pretty sure he associates that with getting a shot. I don't remember much after that. Just a lot of kicking, screaming, and me holding Craig in a way similar to how The Incredible Hulk forced his opponents into submission. At least his mouth was WIDE open so they were able to get in and out. At the end, she wanted to take a picture to put on their "Our Friends" wall. Here is what all the other little kids are going to see on their way to The Chair:

I know Mom, I know :)

The best time to get outside and play is in the morning, as I'm sure you all have experienced where ever you are. The best way to stay cool and keep my little fish occupied is with water. So, the other morning after promising Craig we could go play in the water and discovering that the splash pad doesn't open until 9:00 (which is crazy when it's 95 degrees at 8:00 in the morning) and then having to think quickly, I did what anyone else would do. I went to Target. I found this neat little pool, two squirt guns included, for $15! We went home, set it up, and had a great time. Now I just need to buy a camp chair so I can sit outside with him and not have to be in the water or sitting on the ground.

Side note:
Craig's starting to say some funny things. My favorites are:
"Cool, Mom, cool!"
"Craig do it!"
"Silly [Ethan, Mom, Dad, Kitty, Jay Leno, etc.]"
"Oh, man!"
"Wake up Jeff!"
"Swiper no swiping!"
Those last two are funny because he says them while watching the shows, but also at random times and he uses the hand gestures.

Oh, and yes, he loves Jay Leno. I DVR the Tonight Show and Craig's gotten into watching it with me. If something is funny and I laugh, he laughs too and says, "Silly Jay Leno."

If I had a show on the Food Network

I came up with a brilliant idea for a new show they should do on the food network. They somewhat cater to the home cook, right? That's why everyone tries to make things cheap, easy, and at least "semi-homemade." To showcase the REAL home cook, they should have average people come on as contestants, put them in kitchens that look like this:

And make them produce something that contains all the food groups, is nutritionally balanced, and edible. That's it. Well, why not throw in a couple of kids. And make sure that they're crying and saying things like "Hungry!" and "Food!" Oh, and they're trying to snatch things off the counter like little scavengers.

Needless to say, that is what cooking dinner is like for me sometimes. This is what I produced on the same night the above picture was taken:

Fried chicken, garlic-butter green beans, and cheese biscuits. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but if I had a vuvuzela, you would have heard it from a mile away.

Who's with me?

The grass is always greener...

Ethan's begun to realize that when I'm feeding him baby food and we're eating something else, our food is a lot better than his. Craig has also become interested in what Ethan's eating and occasionally asks for a few bites of baby food. He seems to like it but I know he would never eat it on his own if Ethan weren't eating it, too. They're both in this stage of wanting what the other one has. Toys, food, sippy cups, whatever it might be. It worked to our advantage the other day, though, when Craig and Ethan rejected their food simultaneously. My solution? A swap!

Ethan does not even have his firs tooth yet, but he gummed his way through this chicken and pasta.

Craig thoroughly enjoyed Ethan's pureed sweet potatoes/green beans/chicken mash and even wanted me to get him more, of which he ate over half. Craig's kind of spoiled when it comes to food. He usually won't eat things that aren't properly seasoned (thanks to having a chef for a dad), so this really surprised me. The most important thing, though, is that they both got all the nutrients they needed and walked/crawled away from dinner with full tummies. What more could I ask for?

Arizona Science Center

On Monday (one of Robert's days off) we all went to the science center in Phoenix. It was really neat. I love stuff like this. They had all kinds of things you can see and do. On the first floor, there was a stage you could stand on and watch a weather simulator. When it was a tornado or hurricane, there would be a really strong fan blowing on you. They had lightening, thunder, and a little misting for rain. My favorite, though, was the earthquake. Craig loved that part, too. Here are some pictures of only a few of the things we did there.

This one you just stand and spin. Craig loved it, until he got off and couldn't stand up straight. He just leaned against the side bars with his eyes closed and yelled, "Mama!" I had to hold him until he regained his balance.

Here am I on a bed of nails. Well, they were pretty big nails and not very sharp, but uncomfortable nonetheless. There's another one checked off my bucket list! :)

By the way, Ethan was there, too, but I forgot to get a picture of him and Craig while they were playing in the little kids area. Most of the time he spent happily eating graham crackers in the stroller.

A little adventure

Robert and Craig were hanging out on the patio tonight, waiting for a storm to roll in, when Ethan and I joined them to see what they were up to. I had left the door open and on our way back to the door, we walked under the arbor that houses two birds' nests. I wrote about them here (you'll have to scroll down in the post a little to find the picture of the nests). I thought I felt something hit my shoulder, but I saw a bird fly out of the nest out of the corner of my eye, so I just figured it was a little stick or something he knocked out with his hasty departure. We came in, I put Ethan down to bed, and on my way back down the stairs, I noticed the cat sitting on the landing, staring straight up at the little window about fifteen feet up the wall in our stairwell (if that makes sense).

I looked up to see what she was so focused on and saw this (this picture was taken from the top of the stairs):

So the thing that had hit my shoulder wasn't a stick the bird had knocked loose, but the bird itself as it flew into the house! I called Robert over and we stared at it for a minute, trying to think how on earth we were going to get it out of here since it was so high up and we had no way of catching it...or so we thought. I decided to see if there was a 24 hour animal control number and see if they had any ideas on what to do. The only number I could find was the non-emergency fire department number. Remembering the days of my childhood when my dad (a 25 year retired 911 dispatcher) would come home from work and tell us all the stories of the strange phone calls he got and the funny things the fire fighters would do for people, I figured my call would seem somewhat normal to them and maybe they could give me some pointers. I NEVER expected this:

Dad, I'm sure you're not surprised, but we sure were! The dispatcher told me that he would just send a truck out. It would be something for the guys to get out and do, he said. :) So, these four firemen showed up. I thought they would bring a net or a bird catching device or something...I don't know what they do. But nope. You'll never guess what they did. They used our blanket and broom, scared it into a bathroom, one guy closed himself in with it and caught it in a towel. Then they let it go outside. Here we thought we had no way of getting the thing out ourselves, and these guys came in and proved us wrong. After, I kind of felt silly about calling them. But not silly enough to not go out and take a picture of their truck. I was this close to asking them for a picture with...I mean OF the firemen themselves. Let me just say, what they say about firemen is true. There's a reason they make calendars. I wonder if they've done one here....Don't tell Robert I said that. :)

One really good thing about tonight, if our house ever caught on fire, I know we'd be okay. The response time was something like 2 minutes...and they weren't even in a hurry!

Not Stroganoff

As I was eating dinner tonight, I was thinking how much I loved this meal. It's easy, versatile, cheap, and so tasty. I realized I hadn't shared any recipes lately, so I thought I would throw this up here. Many of you might have something similar in your cookbooks or recipes from your mom...it's not completely, totally original. But this rendition started off several years ago. One night, Robert was craving stroganoff. I don't recall ever making real stroganoff before, so I don't know exactly how this is different. I think stroganoff usually uses beef strips and gravy where this is ground beef and a creamy sauce. Anyway, that night when Robert got his craving, we rummaged through the cupboards and came up with the ancestor to what I made tonight (and what I make at least once or twice a month). Without further ado, here's the recipe for what we still refer to as "Stroganoff" even though it's not.

Not Stroganoff

1 large bag of egg noodles
1 medium onion* diced
3 cloves of garlic* minced
1 lb. ground beef
1 26 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup milk
1 medium bag frozen broccoli
Salt
Pepper
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Italian seasoning
Paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin (opt.)

In a large pot, boil enough water for all of the egg noodles. Sprinkle in about 1 tsp. salt. Add noodles and cook until done. Drain, set aside, and return pot to stove. Drizzle in about 1 Tbsp. olive oil (or whatever oil, butter, or margarine you have) and heat pot to medium-high. Once hot, add onions and cook for about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add ground beef and brown. Add the whole can of cream of mushroom soup and mix. Pour in milk. Season with salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and any other seasonings you like to taste. Experiment! The consistency should be about the same as a cream soup. Not watery at all...like chowder. Sometimes, if I have it, I'll add cream, sour cream, cream cheese, ricotta, Parmesan, or even a cup of shredded cheese and then more milk if I need to stretch the recipe further. Just make sure you had more seasoning, too. Make sure it has plenty of salt and pepper. If you like spice, cayenne pepper is better than chili powder for this, but use what you got. Add in frozen broccoli and bring to a simmer. Add in noodles and mix well. And you're done!

*If you don't think you can dice the onion small enough to fool your most discerning eater, just use extra onion powder. Also, if you don't have fresh garlic or don't like it, just use extra garlic powder, too. The key is to make sure this is well seasoned.
**Another variation is to pour this into a 9x13 pan, top with lots of shredded cheese and bake until the cheese is nice and bubbly. Or mix 1/2 and 1/2 Italian bread crumbs with Parmesan, sprinkle on top, dot with butter, and bake until golden brown. The possibilities are endless!

By the way, I added this up and if you get your ground beef on sale (I try to not pay over $2 a pound for it) and get the generic brand for everything else, you can spend less than $10 on this whole meal and it could easily feed an average sized family of six (maybe not all boys, but you know what I mean).

Heat Wave

Lately we've been having one of our legendary heat waves out here in the Valley of the Sun. Today it got at least to 115, but our thermometer outside is in a shaded area against the house, so it is always about two degrees or so cooler than the actual temperature. We don't go out in the afternoon anymore. However, a couple days ago it was "normal" for this time of year, which is still hotter than I like to be outside in. Craig, on the other hand, seems born for the heat (but ironically he was born in Montana). He begged me to go outside a few days ago so I let him. I thought he'd be back in within five minutes, but he spent a good 20 minutes out there playing. Here's him outside (my proof):

And here's the thermometer reading (the upper right is the outside temp):

Crazy little boy! Of course, I made sure he drank plenty of water when he came in, but I still couldn't believe he wasn't very bothered by the heat.

I do love a sultry summer night, though.

Brag-about-my-kids Day (cont.)

Yesterday I was going to do a post about Craig and Ethan, but I only got as far as Craig before I had to shut down due to a storm rolling in. It turned out to not be very big, but it was fun. I let Craig go outside to play in the rain. It was actually cool and breezy (what a relief!) so he got on his little trike and road it down the little hill in front of our house, splashing through a puddle on his way. It was one of those moments I wished I had the camera. :)

However, this post is about Ethan and the little things about him that make me smile. He is getting to be one fast little crawler. And he's "cruising" now along the furniture and trying to stand up on his own. It's so funny to me because he's still fairly small for his age so he looks like this tiny baby who's not old enough to be doing all these things yet. Because of his size, I also forget he's starting to be able to handle more real food and less pureed stuff. The other day I gave him a strawberry and he was so cute taking bites out of it and making mess, I had to take some pictures.

He handled it, and many others after it, like a pro! He's 10 months now, and I'm truly flabbergasted. I'm afraid of missing his babyhood. I guess that's why I am doing this post. I want to document him and his growth better than I have been. He continues to be the sweetheart of the house. He's so easy going and easy to read. If he's fussy, it means he needs a nap or a snack. Anything will do, too. Cheerios, graham crackers, bread, fruit...he doesn't care. Even if he's tired, it's easy to distract him if I can't put him down right away. We've just recently transitioned to two naps (yay!) so for about a week it was really hard for him to last between naps, but when I had to push him, he was a trooper. Even when he cries, it's like a sad sound than an actual cry. As I'm struggling with Craig through his "twos," I keep looking at Ethan and wondering if he'll be like this. Somehow, I don't think so. Of course, I'm sure he'll have his tantrums and his moments of testing the limits, but I don't think he'll be as intense and dramatic as Craig. And hopefully not as persistent. We'll see, I could be eating my words.

Yep, Ethan is almost a perfect baby and I am so happy to have him. The last thing I want to brag about him is probably one of my favorite things about him. His poop doesn't even stink. Not really. I'm serious. I usually don't know he's poopy until I change his diaper and even then I can barely smell anything. I just throw his diapers into the regular trash, too, and don't have to go out to the diaper bin in the garage. How did I get so lucky?

My cute little Strawberry-face.

Brag-about-my-kids Day

Lately I have been thinking of so many things I am grateful for about Craig and Ethan so I decided to take some pictures and tell you about them. These are just a couple things, but everyday there are so many things that come up, I could never list them all.
(Side note: the first monsoon of the season is brewing outside...the wind's a-blowin' and it just started raining a bit. I'm excited!)

I'm considering writing to LG and telling them how much I love my washer and dryer--they're so easy, even a 2 year old can do it! Literally. I've taught Craig how to load the washer and dryer, turn it on, select the right wash load, and start it. He just needs me to put the soap in and I have to direct him on what clothes go where (washer or dryer). The best part is, he loves it! I'll be making dinner and if I tell him to take the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer and then point it out so he really understands, he does it! I rarely have to bend over anymore to load and unload the washer and dryer. He really is such a big help and I only wish he could truly understand how much I appreciate it.

I made another great investment when I bought this little contraption that he's using right here:

Originally I just got it to use on the stairs, but he's taken to it like his own personal vacuum. In this picture, he had spilled some tortilla chip pieces from the bottom of the bag so I gave him the vacuum and he cleaned them all up all by himself! And then he chased the cat around the house with it. (It's functional AND fun!)

I have more the share about Ethan, but this storm is really picking up and I'd better turn off the computer and grab a flashlight just in case. I really hope the power doesn't go off. That would really stink. Again.

Coupons!

With a possible weekend getaway looming, a few projects I want to get done, and some bills that are still backed up from our move, I've decided to delve into the whole couponing thing to save some money. I wanted to share with you all my first AWESOME deal. There are many more on the horizon. Yesterday, I got two tubes of Colgate Total toothpaste for $.25 each! I've also added up my receipts for this pay period's food/necessities and have only spent about $35. I anticipate possibly spending only about $15 more for a few things I forgot to buy yesterday, but I feel really good about that. Normally, I spend roughly $450 a month on food and everything, including diapers, t.p., soaps, and other necessities so to spend only $50 in one two week period feels so good. I also know that the longer you're into this, the more coupons you have, the better your system gets, and the more money you save. I'm REALLY excited!

If you want to know where I learned about doing this and the basic things I did to get started, just ask!

I'm tired of seeing that icky scorpion at the top of my home page

A self portrait ala Craig

I love the toothless smiles. :)

I really don't have anything new to post, but I can't stand seeing that picture of our "intruder" anymore. So, here are some pictures, just so you don't get bored. And a story, to hopefully make this post seem worthwhile.

This morning at about 3:40, Ethan woke up to be fed. I don't like going in much before 4:00 (otherwise he wakes up for the day too early and it throws off his nap times) so I laid in bed and let him fuss a little before I went in. The power went off around 3:50, so I got up and fed him anyway, checking the neighbors' lights out the window on my way. Their power was still on . Hmmm, maybe we had a blown fuse. I woke Robert up and he went out and checked the fuse, but those seemed fine. I called the power company and apparently we are on a different grid than our neighbors and they were working on something down the road. It would be back on by 6:00, they said. My air conditioning concerns were alleviated (it's about 85-90 degrees at night) but then I realized a much greater problem: the humidifiers. Both Craig and Ethan have humidifiers in their rooms for several reasons: humidfying (it's just healthy, they say), a little bit of a night light if I have to go in and check on them, and white noise. Their rooms are really close but with the humidifier on, you really can't hear a thing in the other room. It's a life saver during Ethan's naps when Craig is playing with all his most obnoxious toys in his room, but their dependence on them was the bane of my existence last night (or this morning, rather). Craig woke up around 4:30 and when he realized there was no faint orange glow and no constant humming, he freaked. Craig was determined to not go back to sleep. Did I mention that last night was the once-a-year-time I went to bed at midnight? I soon realized I would have to get up with Craig. He was waking Ethan up since Ethan had no white noise to drown him out. At this point, I had a total of three and a half hours of sleep. I let Robert sleep until 9:00, and then we switched. I slept and he babysat. I'm exhausted now and don't know why I'm writing this at 11:00pm! I'm going to bed.