Friday Funny

This box says mother approved.  My mother doesn't approve.

-Kate talking about a cereal that we found had Trisodium Phosate (the stuff they took out of our dish detergent because it is supposed to be bad for the environment) in it...

Kate's Half Birthday

Yesterday was Kate's Half-Birthday.  I asked her a set of questions so we can remember what she thought when she was 7 1/2.

Kate with a dead fall trap she built out back--thankfully it didn't catch anything, but she sure does like to make things!

What is your name? Katherine Elizabeth S-

How tall are you? 80 inches (really 52" or 4' 4")

What are you really good at? reading

What is you favorite toy? I don't really have a favorite toy.

What's your favorite book? The Mouse and the Motorcycle

What is your favorite game? Checkers

What is your favorite thing to eat? pizza and pasta and homemade bread

Where is your favorite place to go? to the park and out for ice cream

Who is your best friend? Ruby

What have you learned this year? I learned where to find the Laura and Mary books. (at the library)

What is you favorite thing to study in school? reading

What do you want to be when you grow up? The owner of an amusement park.

What is your favorite thing about Daddy? He takes me out for ice cream.

Gabby? She likes to play checkers with me.

Nate? He always trying to help me sweep.

Mama? You're silly.

 

Friday Funny

Nate: Gabby called us all stupid.

Me: Don't worry about it Nate. You are not still eating yesterday's lunch for breakfast, so who is the smartest person in the house?

(Yes, I do keep perfectly good food around and serve it until it is eaten.)

Kate: I'll be it!

Thankful

We had a change of plans when we decided to have a fourth baby.  We'd lent out baby things, given away every stitch of baby boy clothes below a size 2T, and passed on some of our little girl clothes too.  Thankfully the huge list of things I put up for sale on Craig's List last summer did not sell--not one thing.  The crib I was trying to convince my husband to turn into a bench, hadn't made it to the top of the to-do list.  We still have diaper pails, baby carriers, and the crib.  All of those items I lent to a friend, who had a health emergency afterwards, came back, plus some of their now outgrown baby gear.

We need some things, obviously.  A new baby always means a few new things for chewing, toiletries, and such.  We'll need a new car seat, which was inevitable, as Kate's original infant seat expired not too long after Nate was finished with it.

So, while at this point with Kate I had ordered a travel system, baby furniture, and I had purchased a small selection of gender neutral clothes, this time I have bought almost nothing.  We got the little onsies, so the kids could do something and I have bought one new changing pad cover, evidently we lost one of our two covers.  That's all.  Part of that is the lack of cute neutral clothing, but that will all be sorted out in the end.  I'm convinced it is a girl, so I may get a surprise and need to buy some blue.

I'm thankful we don't need much, but it does seem odd not to wander the baby aisle each and every time I happen to be in a store.  In a couple of months I'll make a run for diapers and cream and good smelling baby wash.  In the mean time I'm eyeing those car seats...thankful that we had the forethought to purchase a convertible car seat when we replaced Nate's out of date seat this winter, so we can go with the lower weight infant seat.  After all, that's the only thing they won't let us leave the hospital without...that and a name.  Still no idea what we will name this baby if Goliath is a boy.

Bridal Shower

This weekend I had the pleasure of hosting a bridal shower for a gal at church.  Her kitchen will be decorated in red, so I did a lot of red in the decorations.

The groom conspired with me for our game.  I made a list of questions for him to answer about himself.  Each of the guests took turns reading off questions and the bride had to try to give his answers.  It was a lot of fun, though the bride decided that he should have to go through the same task, since it wasn't easy!

Some of the favorites were: What is his dream job?  and When did he decide she was the one?

I completely forgot to take a picture, but we also made a date night can.  The Kate, Gabby, and I painted craft sticks three different colors to represent different types of dates: white was for inexpensive and little planning, pink for more expensive and some planning, and purple was for greater expense and more extensive planning.  All of the guests got to write down ideas for fun date nights and put them in the can for them to use.

I also sent out a recipe card with each invitation, so that the bride could start a recipe box full of some of the best recipes from the church.

Wedding Cake Sugar Cookies (icing)

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing in Rosettes

I also served quiche, deviled eggs, turkey roll ups, tuna salad, mock champagne, mints, chocolates, and a friend brought a fruit tray.

She received some lovely gifts and everyone seemed to have a nice time.

*I've included links to recipes I used that aren't ones I just make up.  As the comments suggested, I made the quiche recipe into two plates (but I added half again the eggs and milk).

Shower of Presents

I'm hosting a bridal shower for a gal on Sunday.  Justin is taking Nate and either of the girls that want to go out of the house, so that it is easier for me and said child(ren) aren't bored.  I've begun my baking and Nate is becoming distressed.

I've heard these things today, "I don't like baths!  I like showers!"
(Translation:  I want to be here, even if I don't understand what will be going on.)

I told him, "No, buddy.  No one is actually taking a shower.  It means we're giving gifts to Miss Emily."

He immediately responds, "I don't like my Legos."
(Translation:  While this is clearly absurd because these are my most prized possessions, I want someone to give me a gift.  If I stay, I'll obviously get gifts too.)

I anticipate crying on Sunday afternoon.  Thankfully Daddy has a trump card up his sleeve...thank goodness for ice cream!

Read All About It

My rule for the kiddos getting library cards is that they have to read me an entire book.  The little books we used with Kate are not at our local branch, but I've heard several people rave about Bob Books.  I requested  the second set of books be sent from the main branch to us at our local branch.  And Miss Gabby loves the books.  They are short and just a little challenging.  She would sit for an hour and read them over with me.

Here's the little miss with the first book she read and her brand new library card on a lanyard.

Friday Funnies

Justin: "Gabby you're as much as a chatterbox as Kate tonight."
Nate: "Kate isn't a chatter box."
Me: "Then what is Kate?"
Nate: "She's a princess."
Me: "Then what is Gabby?"
Nate: "She's a princess too."
Me: "How about you?"
Nate: "I'm a handsome prince or something."

*     *     *     *     *

After Kate complained that Justin was teasing her, "I just heard a study that kids whose fathers rough house and tease them are more resilient and have better self esteem."

Nate: "I steam myself!"

What is in a Name?

Justin and I are good at naming baby girls.  Baby boys...ugh.  We had a couple of names picked out when we were expecting Kate and Gabby, but by the time we were expecting Nate they were out for various reasons.  We didn't have a boy's name chosen until the very end.

I like names he doesn't like, and he likes weird names names I don't like.  We called Nate, Ehud, because I thought it was a joke.  Justin actually wanted to name the kiddo that.  We used it as a little pet name, that obviously didn't stick around after we truly named the boy.

We were discussing the name quandary the other day and the children have put in their votes.

Kate chooses Glibert Blythe. (I love that book, can you name it?)

Gabby decided on Goliath.  (I think we have our pet name for the itty bitty.)

Nate looked around the room and made suggestions to the best of his ability: wall?  stairs?  couch?
I tried to help him out by asking him his friends' names.  He named off two, so I prompted him for more.  He told me, "I don't know their names, but I love all my friends in class."

Laundry

If you've been around long, then you know that laundry is not my favorite thing to do to keep the household running.  I decided to do a couple of things to make it more enjoyable.

 The first is I made cute labels for the jars I use for my laundry ingredients.

I had them labeled, practically, with a Sharpie, but I much prefer these pretty labels.

The second is I'm going to add some of these to the wash rotation in September.

We're expecting our fourth little one in September of this year!

We can't wait to meet him or her!  The girls are over the moon excited.  They are dancing and singing about the baby.  Nate, well, I'm not sure he quite gets it.

  

Friday Funny

Nate has been calling the Epson salts we add to his bath water (helps with mild eczema) "Exit Salts."