Be My Valentine

Looking at the pictures of this Valentine card, you might think it's from my husband. But no. This is the card my four year old picked out. I think he was drawn to the cartoon animals and the bubble bath. Tyler says CSR chose the card on his own and didn't care that it was for a wife. I think that and the penmanship make the card all the more precious.

The Boys

There's just something about playing outside. I swear. CSR and his friend Evan have got the outdoors figured out. This picture is of them this morning playing in the backyard. After asking for their lunch to be a picnic, they dragged the picnic table from the deck and parked it underneath the slide on the swing set. They came inside wanting a game while they waited for lunch to be made. Not willing to let them take Candyland out there, the boys were satisfied with checkers and a box of Go Fish cards. Before all that, it was all about water and making soup. Begging at the back door for water, I slipped on some shoes and went out and filled their various buckets from the rain barrel. At first, I had my doubts and didn't want to end up going outside every five minutes to refill their containers. They only came back one more time wanting a refill so that wasn't so bad.

Since they started playing together regularly in September, the backyard at our house or Evan's has been the prime play spot. Evan's yard has a great tree (Laurel?) that provides a cool canopy for their imaginations. When I picked CSR up on Tuesday, he didn't want to leave (which can be a sign of a good time being interrupted). They were making "soup" and had a campfire going-- which was two real pieces of firewood surrounded by some wire garden fencing. Very creative I thought. They had also discovered a plastic wastebasket filled with water and were pushing a ball down in the water to get it to spill out of a crack and into their watering can. So besides playing outside, they were maybe getting a little science lesson on water displacement.

Snow Day!

Three inches of snow on the ground in our town means SNOW DAY!




While RTR took a nap, CSR and I headed outside to play. It was great! Good snow for rolling into snowmen, snow angels and trike-riding (CSR took this picture of me, better than I did taking his picture).



A snow day also means fun indoors-- playing in the teepee set up in the living room. RTR thought it was pretty cool-- loving the red color, the feel of the nylon fabric and the entertainment provided by big brother.




Oh, and a picture of what happens when you feed a tired baby-- a cottage cheese, mixed vegetable and prune facial. Click on the picture for a closer view.

Rhead Boy Reads

This is what the 5 o'clock hour usually looks like at our house--me trying to get dinner on the table while keeping the troops entertained. Recently CSR did his part to help keep RTR happy--with a little reading. He got out his "Fox in Socks" book and looks like he's really reading it. While I think he is a "sight reader", he's not yet reading books--even those easy-peasey Dr. Seuss classics. It's also funny to me because that book isn't in our regular reading rotation... at least not in CSR's top requests when it comes to books.



Oh and congratulate me, this is my first youtube post from my Flip Camera!

A Mom's Rant (and a little raving too)

Here are a few things I wonder about: Why do companies put characters on diapers and food? It's not like the baby is aware enough to know that the Huggies he's wearing have Sesame Street characters on them. Same with these "Shrek the Third" veggie/cereal puff things among the baby food at the store. I don't think "Shrek the Third" is even rated G.

I read grocery prices are expected to go up 4% this year. One reason is a drought in Australia that wiped out the wheat crop-- wheat imported to the United States. Don't we grow wheat and export it to Russia or something?

Why are my frozen organic peas from New Zealand, my store-brand black beans a product of China and my honey a product of the USA, Canada and Argentina? I've been trying to "buy closer to home" but things like that can make it really hard (and cost more money). I admit I have given up buying produce from Chile (sorry Chilean Produce Advertising Commission) and apple juice from China.

Here's the rave part of this post. A couple weeks ago the boys and I went to Pagliacci Pizza in Edmonds and had a great time. There is a kids play area painted with chalkboard paint and a bunch of toys and books. I had a hard time getting CSR to eat his pizza, which is his favorite meal, because he was having so much fun playing. The pizza was awesome. If you like spicy, try the Chicken Rosemary Primo. The service was great too. Maybe I've got low expectations. But the guy who took our order at the counter was so nice... bringing me a glass of warm water so I could mix up RTR's cereal to feed him. He also asked if I wanted a chilled glass for my beer. It made me feel so guilty for not adding on a tip when I placed our order. So I dug through my pockets, wallet and baby bag searching for enough cash to toss in the tip jar. I wasn't sure if side tips are allowed. I probably wouldn't have pulled it off graciously anyway. The pizza was a splurge and so having such a great experience on top of it made it even better. I also wrote a letter to the company, so who knows, maybe I'll get a free pizza out of the deal.

One Tired Hombre

I noticed something last night as I was turning off CSR's bedroom lamp that I had NEVER seen before. After the nightly story time, CSR gets a stack of books to look at in bed before falling asleep--hence the lamp needing to be turned off later. Anyway, when I went in, CSR was crashed out (or is it cashed out?), anyway, before turning off the light I noticed the four or five books were in the same exact spot where I had set them. He must have been so tired that he fell asleep right after I tucked him in. I think that's the result of back to back birthday parties on the weekend, waking up early on Tuesday and just being a busy, curious, energetic kid.


(Picture is from two nights later, this time, CSR is asleep on the hardwood floor!)

Not a Social Butterfly

One of the newest developments in our lives has been the drop-off playdate. After years of entertaining preschool friends and their moms, or vice versa, we've entered the drop-off playdate zone. We've hosted two successful dates, including one that resulted in a quickly reciprocated invitation. The plan was for CSR to go home after preschool with a classmate on Wednesday. But as with all carefully laid plans... At noon the phone rang. It was Joanne, the classmate's mom, saying CSR was upset and didn't want to go home with them. I talked to him on the phone-- and he did sound a little freaked out. Which made my mother guilt kick in. I think he was having a hard time hearing me too. Anyway, she said she would bring him home. But after more than ten minutes of waiting... they hadn't shown up yet. A few minutes later, the phone rang. Joanne calling once again to say CSR WAS at their house. Apparently once in the car and on the road, CSR told Joanne he changed his mind and he would like to go to their house. For lunch, he told her he liked bananas and peanut butter if she had them. Which is funny to me for two reasons-- first, I can hardly ever get him to eat bananas. And second, peanut butter and banana sandwiches are what we had when we took my 98 year old grandma on a picnic adventure in August. The sandwiches were my grandma's idea. I think they're one of her favorites. She has told me that when she was a little girl, her father would bring home bananas on a stalk for their family.