Odds & Ends

Here are a few odds and ends from last week that I finally got uploaded from my camera.

After living with a bare bulb for almost 2 years, we finally got a new light fixture in our living/dining/computer area. I like it!


Crazy kids after eating blue lolly pops. Miles thought the blue tongues were hilarious!


Mocha is growing like crazy. Here she is asking for attention at the back door.

And sleeping with Peaches. They tire each other out.


The cloth diaper experiment is a success so far. I think it may turn out to be something we will do for the long haul, and for any future children. I ordered a few Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers (expensive, but very trim fitting) and I like them, but I think I'll stick with prefolds for everyday use. I do like the snaps on the others though. Maybe I'll order some covers with snaps: I need a few more covers anyway.

And finally, story time. The kids' favorite!

I'm Still Here

Thanksgiving was wonderful: mountains of delicious food, a crowded house full of relatives, chatter, games, love, and laughter. The official start of the "holiday season". Yep, Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday, and this year was everything I anticipated. Hope yours was great as well.

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. It's been a full, busy week. I'll try to get some pics up later today, now that everything has slowed down and we're taking a day at home to catch up on laundry and sleep!

Popcorn Tradition

It's become tradition around here to have popcorn for supper on Sunday night. Kaylee looks forward to it all week. Every Sunday afternoon around 3 PM she starts asking when we can have popcorn. So at suppertime, Daddy gets out the old old Stir-Crazy popper and makes popcorn, and she "helps".


Kaylee's favorite popcorn seasoning recipe? Butter and Parmesan cheese, of course. Miles thinks it's pretty tasty too.

Going Crazy With Cloth

Yesterday morning my when I got up my husband looked at me and said "You've lost your mind. You've completely lost your mind." That's his initial assessment of my new venture at giving cloth diapers a try.

I've had some old flat diapers and covers around for some time, but could never get them to fit right. Then, thanks to Jenni's post last week, I purchased some Cloth-eez prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers (www.greenmountaindiapers.com).

I mainly did it to have a backup around when we run out of disposables, since we are 20 miles from the nearest place to buy diapers, and it's just not practical to run to town if you suddenly realize that you've put the last diaper on the baby and there are none in any cupboard or diaper bag. But since trying them out on Miles, I may just have to switch completely. These diaper service quality prefolds are made wider and shorter than the traditional prefold cloth diapers, and much thicker, softer, and more absorbent than my old cheap flat ones. They can be pinned, snappied, or just folded and put inside a diaper wrap.

I used a Bummis wrap with the diaper folded inside, and I couldn't believe how well they worked together. No leaks!

Washing was no big deal, and the diapers came out super soft and fresh-smelling. Plus, Miles came and wanted changed when he was wet. How cool is that?!?! Cloth diapers may be my new potty training secret (maybe I should put them on Ian!!).

The only drawback was that the size I got was too large for Miles: I had to fold them under to get them to fit in the wrap, and that makes some extra bulk in the front. But he'll grow into them. So I ordered a second dozen in a smaller size for everyday use now, and maybe we can try the big ones at night. I may just become an avid cloth user yet!

I did some web research, and was amazed at all the cloth diaper options out there. I haven't tried all the types, but I really like these prefolds with wraps, and it turns out they are one of the most economical ways to diaper. They cost about $30 a dozen, depending on what size you buy, and the wraps are about $10 each - plus they come in cute patterns and colors! I figure I'll need about 3 dozen diapers and 5 wraps, which brings the total cost to around $140, plus tax and shipping. That's 6 boxes of disposable diapers. We buy one box (Huggies 88 count , size 4, about $25 at Walmart) about every 2 weeks. In 3 months, the cloth diapers will pay for themselves, and after that, they'll save us $50 a month. That's $600 a year! If we have another baby, we'll be able to use them for him/her too. Of course, we'd have to invest in the newborn size at that point, but in the long run it would still be much cheaper. I'm also going to try cloth wipes, using my terry baby washcloths, washing them with the diapers, and making my own wipes solution (Lavender Chamomile, smells wonderful and works great!). That saves another $10 a month or so.

Of course, I had tons of questions regarding switching to cloth. Here are a few of my observations.

Aren't disposables more convenient? Yes, a little.

Don't they leak? Not if they fit right - I have yet to have a leak on Miles!

Is the extra laundry a hassle? No, not really. I do laundry all the time anyway. What's another load every other day?

Does the diaper pail smell nasty? No - I'm using the "dry pail" method, rinsing poopy diapers off first, and sprinkling with baking soda - no odors yet!

Will it work for us? I'll never know until I've really tried it! My plan at present is to use cloth at home, but keep a few disposables around for trips and such. I'm currently still using disposables at night, but as soon as the smaller size comes I hope to switch at night too. I figure if I spend the money, I'm obligated to at least use the diapers until they pay for themselves. After that, I'm saving money. In the meantime, I'm not filling up landfills with diapers. I"m putting only 100% soft cotton (no chemicals) against my baby's bottom, and he's learning to recognize when he's wet.

Is it worth the extra effort? Have I lost my mind? What will we do with the $700 I'm saving a year? I"ll keep you updated.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

I did some searching this morning for a tasty recipe to use up my cooked pumpkin, and I found this. It sounded like the best of both my cheesecake and bar cravings so I tried it. YUMMY!! The only thing I would change is the nuts: mine weren't very finely chopped. Next time I"ll use the food processor.

Here it is, for your enjoyment:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons cold butter
1 cup finely chopped pecans

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground allspice

1. In a bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in pecans; set aside 3/4 cup for topping. Press remaining crumb mixtures into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool slightly.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar. Beat in the pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and allspice. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool and cut into bars. Store in refrigerator.

Punkins

For those of you who need their daily picture fix, here's a picture I took last Friday of my 3 little punkins. It's the only one out of about 15 where all 3 are looking at the camera and not making silly faces. They were clapping - notice Ian and Kaylee's hands. Anyway, I think it's pretty cute.


Super smiles!


Speaking of punkins, yesterday I cooked a pumpkin to make pie, and I have all this extra pumpkin that I need to use. Anyone have any great recipes for pumpkin bars? My sister has one, but she says it's not very good. Or pumpkin cheesecake? Both those things sound pretty good about now! Actually making anything will have to wait until tomorrow though. I spent the whole day cooking and doing laundry for my sister. I"m tired. I think I"ll go to bed.

Busy Bees

Life is getting busier around here. (Is busier a word? More busy? Can't decide!)

Mom leaves tomorrow for Houston to be with my brother-in-law during his high-dose IV chemotherapy treatment for the next 5 days. My sister has school, so she can't go. He seems to have responded very well to the whole-brain radiation, so now they are going after the other spots in the lungs and lymph system. This type of chemo has had good results, so they're quite hopeful about it. I can't imagine what this has been like for my baby sis, to have her new husband so sick, but things are starting to look up. They are always in our prayers...

Starting tomorrow, I will be going into town to watch Ian at my other sister's place 2 days a week. She is getting near the end of her pregnancy (33 weeks) and has had some trouble with preterm contractions so I decided to give her a bit of a break. I'll try to get some laundry and housework done while the kids are napping, and maybe even cook up some things that she can just pop in the oven for easy dinners and such. If she can make it one more month, she'll have Christmas break, and the baby can come any day! Hopefully this will help.

And here I was thinking that I needed a project to keep me busy!

Yes Man

I took this video of Kaylee asking Miles questions this morning. He's showing off his newfound ability to nod. Notice how there's only one thing that he doesn't say yes to...no ego problem here!

Dream Big

I've been wasting way more time that I should be lately looking at house plans online. No, we're not planning to build a house any time soon. However, SOMEDAY, we'd like to build our dream home, on an acreage, set down a long driveway off a paved road.

So, in the interests of someday, I've been looking at floor plans when I should be doing laundry or sleeping. After much thought, here's what I've decided.

I have some very definite ideas when it comes to the perfect house plan. First, and most important, it should all be on one floor. When my rheumatoid arthritis flares up, stairs are a big problem for me. Plus, we want something we can stay in until we're REALLY old and gray. So no stairs. Living area, bedrooms, laundry, etc all need to be on the main floor. This causes a bit of a problem cost wise, because you have to pay for all that foundation and all that roof.

Next, and nearly as important, is the kitchen. A large, open, well-planned kitchen is a must. I'm talking at least 12x12, or something similar. Even when it's just family around, everyone always ends up in the kitchen. I need room to cook, and can, and entertain. Lots of cupboards and counter space, double ovens, an island, and a peninsula with an eating bar are big pluses.

Finally, we need 4 bedrooms. We already have 1 boy and 1 girl, plus the master bedroom, and then we need a guest room. If we have more children, we'll need larger rooms for the kids, so the boys can share one and the girls another. With lots of closets for all those kids' stuff. That takes some space!

I absolutely love the farmhouse look, with the big wraparound porch. If at all possible, I want that type of plan. And an attached garage, preferably with a mudroom. We do want a basement, (I know, you need stairs for a basement, but I wouldn't have to go down there all the time) mostly for storage. A walk-out would be the best, but not totally necessary. A fireplace would be good. An office or study would be nice. But all those things are just extra perks, mostly.

So, based on all that, I found my dream home. The only thing missing is the study, but there is a sitting room off the master bedroom that could double as either a study, nursery, or craft room. The porch doesn't wrap around, but there is one on 2 sides. Yes, it's enormous. 3500 square feet, to be exact. But hey, why not dream big?
If the plan looks fuzzy, click on the image for a clearer view. And check out those walk-in closets! And the kitchen, and the pantry! I could go on and on. Here's the front view.



Now if we could ever afford to build it... sigh. Maybe someday.

Baby Fever

Here is our newest nephew, Malachi, born Nov 6. Just look at all that hair! We hear that he's a great baby....good eater and sleeper and sweet as can be. Wish I could meet him. Don't you think he looks a bit like Miles at the same age?
Malachi


Miles

Every time I see or hold a new baby lately, it gives me just the tiniest bit of baby fever again. You know, that little twinge you get when you look at your toddler and preschooler and think, wow, how did they go from helpless infant to little independent people in such a short time? It seems like just days ago that they looked like this!


And then, for just a second, I think, "maybe we should have another one." But just for a second. I'm definitely not ready to start planning another baby yet. Maybe in a year or so. Luckily, my sister is expecting her second son in January. After her maternity leave, I"ll be babysitting him 5 days a week. To be honest, I am looking forward to having a newborn around again. But the best part about it is, he will go home to Mommy and Daddy every afternoon and I will still get a good night's sleep! So you see, another baby can wait for a while. I'll just do my best to ignore the twinges.

Miles Milestones

*ALERT* Mommy brag post ahead. OK, now that you're clearly warned....

Miles is at such a cute age. He seems to be learning something every day. Just today he learned how to nod. He wanted to get out of his high chair after lunch today, and I was busy clearing the table. After saying "a-dun" several times, he finally shouted "Down!" That's a new word too. I turned around and asked, "You want to get down? "Uh huh" he says, vigorously nodding his head. Then he gave me that little grin that says: Hey, I'm so smart!

I'm constantly amazed at his vocabulary. He probably has 30 words that he says well, and a dozen more that he uses consistently but aren't real clear. He can tell you what most farm animals say, and has even put 2 words together on occasion. He can also point out and identify most body parts. At this age Kaylee said about 5 words, and one of them was uh oh!

Another thing Miles has learned recently is the concept of taking turns. He'll be getting horsey rides on my foot, and Kaylee will come over and want one too. So Miles will hop right off and wait patiently until she gets her turn. Then he wants back on. He's very sweet about it, until someone doesn 't give him a fair turn. Then you'll hear about it!

OK, I guess I've done enough bragging about my baby for tonight. I'd better stop and get to bed. But isn't he cute? :-)

Mommy's Helper

Kaylee's my helper. As the oldest kid, I'll admit that she gets her share of requests for help, but she usually loves to help. Especially if there's a project involved, such as pitting cherries, cutting apples for applesauce, or canning tomatoes.

She helps in the garden too. My mom says that Kaylee knows more about gardening than some adults. I find myself hoping that she just knows which ones are weeds and which are not! This photo is from last fall. (Did we use all those pumpkins? Um....no. They got rotten in the basement. This year we didn't plant so many!)


Today I asked the kids what they wanted for lunch. Kaylee's reply? "Homemade bread." So I made some. And sure enough, she helped. "Turn, fold, push, right Mommy?" she asked when I gave her a piece to knead. Thank goodness for little girls.

Winter has Come

"Winter has come to our house," Kaylee stated this morning, staring out the window at the huge snowflakes falling on top of 1/4 inch of ice.

She then proceeded to beg and plead to go out, so as soon as it stopped snowing so hard I bundled her up and let her go. It started melting as soon as the snow stopped, making perfect snowman-making conditions. Kaylee spent the morning rolling snowballs and making snowmen. I had to bribe her with hot cocoa just to get her to come in for lunch!


I took Miles out for a little while too. The first thing he did was grab a mitten full of snow and taste it. I wish I could have captured the look of surprise on his face but I was a couple seconds too late.


We tried sledding, but the snow was very wet and it didn't work very well. They liked being pulled around by Mommy, but that got tiring very quickly!

Miles isn't crazy about mittens. He must feel like he can't do anything with them on, because he spends most of his time trying to take them off. After Kaylee's frostbitten fingers episode last winter, I'm almost ridiculously strict about keeping mittens on. Needless to say, Miles was back inside within 20 minutes. It didn't seem to bother him much. He got Mommy's mostly undivided attention while Kaylee played happily outside the window.

While Miles was napping I went back outside with Kaylee and we made a snow house. Not a fort, mind you. A house. Then she made very wet snow angels until she was soaked through her snow pants. Tonight we have an entryway full of wet winter clothes and one very tired, happy girl. Winter has come.

Bookworms

There's no question about it. My kids are bookworms.


Kaylee likes nothing better than to settle down with a pile of books and look at them for hours.


She's recently discovered comic books. Rich has some old Garfield and Heathcliff comic books from when he was a kid, and she'll look through them for hours, making up her own stories to go with the pictures. I also found some "tape books" on ebay, so she can listen to the cassette tape and follow along with the story.

Miles is constantly bringing books to be read. If you're sitting down, you should be reading to him, in his estimation. He'll come running, carrying "The Jolly Barnyard". "Baa-n", he'll say, looking up at you pleadingly. Or "donna", which of course means "Old MacDonald", but also includes any picture book relating to farm animals except "baa-n". But when you're reading it, don't even try to paraphrase or skip a page about Farmer Brown. He'll call you on it. Every time.


Sometimes if everyone is busy, he'll sit down and study the pictures himself. He even likes to look at books that are way beyond his level. I guess it's the monkey pictures!


Occasionally Kaylee will "read" to Miles or Ian. She's especially good at reading the nursery rhymes books, because she knows most of them from memory. The boys love it. Before I know it she'll be reading to them for real.


I love that my kids are into books. One little caveat, however. My living room near the bookshelf always looks like this. Is there some reason why ALL the books have to be on the floor in order to read just one or two?

Now if you'll excuse me, there's this book I"d like to finish tonight since the kids are in bed. Hmmm, wonder where they got it from? :-)

I wish I were in Dixie

My thoughts are in Mississippi today, with my parents and extended family at my great-uncle Chester's funeral. He hasn't been well for some time. I would have liked to have gone, but 15 hours in a car one way with 2 little kids or plane tickets at over $500 each just wasn't practical. Of all my Grandpa C.'s family, Chester and Dorothy, or Uncle Chet and Grandma Dorce, as we called them, were the ones we knew best. They lived here in the Midwest for most of their lives, but moved to MS in their later years to be near their daughter. We all appreciate their faithful lives and influence. We'll miss you Uncle Chet.

Snow!

After such nice days the beginning of the week, we woke up this morning to this.


I just can't say that I"m ready for winter yet this year. I enjoy the changing seasons, but I'm not a big fan of icy roads and blizzards. Rich has a long drive on county roads to work and back every day, my sister has to bring Ian out in the mornings, and taking 2 or 3 little ones to town for groceries, etc with bad roads is out of the question. Plus, we were all so enjoying this Indian summer!

I remember when I was a kid, the first snowfall was cause for great excitement. Snow! That meant sledding, and snowmen, and snow forts, and digging cat caves in the snow banks. We could go tubing at the park, and come home to hot cocoa and homemade chicken noodle soup. Maybe there would be a snow day off from school! Maybe we'd even get snowed in! Everything is an adventure when you're a child. So I try not to let my winter travel concerns dampen my kids' enthusiasm.



I was really hoping that the snow would hold off a little longer. But now, since it's here, I think I'll settle in with a cup of cocoa, bake some bread and make soup. Maybe we'll even bundle up and go outside later if the wind lets up. I guess winter isn't so bad after all!

Birthdays

We had some special company this week. There was much book reading, dog petting, fellowship, and even a game of Scrabble, not to mention an encounter with a loose cow (you'll have to ask L about that:-) We also discovered that today is M's birthday. A very happy birthday to our very special friend. We hope you enjoyed your cupcake!


Speaking of birthdays, here's a special welcome to our newest nephew, Malachi, who was born today! Congrats to Tabatha and her family as they welcome their new little one out west. We hope to get to meet him someday (and see pictures once you get a chance!).

Driving Me Apples

We have had the most beautiful weather the past 3 days. Warm, as in highs in the 60's and 70's, and for the most part, sunny. Perfect for playing in the leaves. The kids were even outside with no coats, which Kaylee thought was pretty neat.


The cats love the sunshine too. They always manage to find the coziest spots.


This cat's name is Summer (courtesy of Kaylee of course). Doesn't she look happy?


The flies have also been out in droves during this weather, looking for a place to come in. As I was swatting away yesterday, I said, "These flies are driving me bananas!" To which my ever precocious daughter replied, "And the flies are driving me apples!"

And then there were...how many?

We've done it again. But in our defense, we thought Peaches had disappeared. Plus she was free to a good home. And then he sent pictures. After that, there was no going back.



Yes, we got another puppy. Her name is Mocha. She's a little brown mutt, with some Weimaraner and Lab and who knows what else in her background. She's about 10 weeks old, cute as a button, with the biggest feet you ever saw. She's already captivated the kids (even Ian, who is usually terrified of dogs),

made friends with Misty,

and wrestled with Peaches until even that energizer dog was worn out. Then they took a nap together under the front bush. I think they're going to be pals.



And of course, Rich and I don't think she's so bad either. So far she tolerates the cats, comes when she's called, and ignores cars driving by on the road. Hopefully we can keep her that way!




Why would we get ANOTHER dog, you ask? It started last week when we went out one afternoon to feed Peaches and she was nowhere to be found. After calling and searching and asking around, we still couldn't locate her. Kaylee was distraught, and I was a bit upset myself: I like having a dog around, to alert me when someone drives in and keep the coyotes at bay. So the next day we answered an ad in the paper for free puppies. The man said that he had one left, and that he would email us pictures. If we were still interested, he could meet us in town on Sunday to see the puppy. We said, sure, send us the pictures.

Wouldn't you know, 3 hours later, Peaches showed back up. She had a bloody foot missing a big chunk of her toe, but she was home. We showered her with love and thought we'd forget about the puppy. But then, as he had said he would, the man who had the puppies to give away sent us an email with pictures. And they were so adorable.....we got to thinking, maybe it would be good to have a companion for Peaches, and well, the rest is history. So we have another dog, to eat like a horse, chase the cats, chew things up, and dig in the yard and garden. To chase away wild animals, play for hours with the kids, bark at strangers, and give us endless love and devotion. Did we need her? You decide.