Worm Farm

A couple weeks ago we went to visit the local worm farm with a moms group. Curtis and his buddies had fun learning about how worms are good for our earth. They got to make small worm farms out of plastic bottles and got 6 pet worms to bring home. They also planted 2 bean seeds in worm enriched soil. Unfortunately the bugs got to one of the sprouts before I could spray them with castor oil soap, but the other little bean sprout seems to be doing great.

T

Writing

I'm so proud. I wrote Curtis' name today in chalk and then he wrote a letter C and said he wanted to do the rest. So I read each letter off to him and he wrote them one by one. I think it turned out really good for a 3 year old.

T

Ice Skating Pics

See below for video and explanation of these pics.

T

Ice skating

Our neighbor wanted to go ice skating with her daughter and she invited us. I figured, what the heck and I got a babysitter for Clark and we set out in her mini-van with sweat pants and sweat shirts in Florida in July. It was so funny when we got there. I was cracking up. We were slipping and sliding all over, but we had fun. I'm going to try to post a video and then I'll do some pics later if the video works.

T

Stromboli

I had to blog about it because it was the best one I've ever made. It turned out awesome. I made it half vegetarian and half meat, as you can see. We had it with salad and it was delicious then and just as good the next day left over for lunch. Even my 3 year old ate a slice dipped in pizza sauce!

T

Standing!!!!

The pic is blurry because I had to be quick, but he did this all by himself yesterday. I couldn't believe as I watched him grab the playtable and pull one leg up and then very focused pull the other up. Right after I grabbed the camera and snapped the pic he fell over. Then he proceded to try over and over to pull up on everything and anything all afternoon. He was really fussy and I am guess this new developmental leap is making him feel crazy right now. I can't believe it. Curtis was at least 2 months older when he did this for the first time. He looked so tiny standing there and his legs look so short. I wonder how much longer I have before he is standing on his own and......gasp....taking steps!

He'll be 8 months tomorrow!

Beach Day

Ok, last post for today I promise. I'm playing catch up with my camera.

Curt took Mon and Tues off for the long holiday weekend and we went to the beach Monday. It was fun. Curtis had a blast playing in the ocean and Clark ended up falling asleep ontop of Curt. Unfortunatley I got sun burn. I'm so good about sunscreen everyday, I swear. I got there and put it all over but couldn't get my back. So I thought to myself, "As soon as Curt is done I'll get him to get my back." Well, Mommy brain kicked in and I totally forgot and now I have a beet red back that stings so badly! Thank God for Aloe. I know God was planning things when I realize that aloe grows so well here in FL, the sunburn capital of the US.

T

My Guys Ate Cauliflower!

Can you believe it? I didn't tell them. I made the recipe from Jessica Seinfeld's book for "fried cheese sticks". It's half pureed cauliflower and half cheese coated and fried. I served it with pizza sauce to dip and let them have at it. They didn't come out super pretty like the sticks in the book, and next time I think I'll shape them into balls instead, but they were pretty good.

Curt kept asking why I made them. I guess my little smirk gave me away as he got suspicious. I finally told him and even my "super taster" husband admitted that he couldn't taste the cauliflower at all. He did have to add that it smelled terrible while I was steaming and pureeing it though!

T

Homemade Teething Cookie

Clark has been slowly getting more interested in solid foods. He kind of skipped the puree food stage, since he has 4 teeth now and can kind of chew a little. He has been eating green beans and cut up cooked sweet potato. I tried toast, which he wasn't really into and then decided to try this recipe from wholesomebabyfood.com. It is made with infant rice cereal, which he never really ate. It's high in iron. I have read that breastfed babies are sometimes lower in iron after 6 months when the iron store in mommy's milk gets low so I figured I'd try these. He kind of plays with them and chews them a little, but mostly just makes crumbs.

T

Bunk Beds

Check out what we got. A local kid's furniture place went out of business and they had everything 50% off. So I went up and fought the crowds and got these cool bunk beds. The plan was to have them as two single bed, but when Curtis saw them he threw a fit and begged to have "a up top bed". So this is how they will be in his room until Clark is ready to get into a bed. Then we will take them apart and Clark will move into the one on top since it has a rail around most sides. I'm hoping he'll be ready to move in sometime this winter but maybe more like next spring. Then I will have a guest room/sewing room/office and Curt will no longer be working next to my bed!

T

swim lessons

Curtis and I are learning to swim. Actually my lessons are now over and he is still learning.

I never really learned to swim as a kid. Mostly we spent time in the ocean where I grew up in NJ and I was always a touch anxious in pools for some reason. So I signed up with the city for lessons and a young college kid taught me how to tread water, float on my back, and yes...I learned to do the forward crawl. I'm pretty good at it now after 2 weeks of lessons but I don't have much endurance. I feel successful though because I just really wanted to be more confident in the pool, since I now live in FL the state where every other house has a pool.

Curtis was kind of nervous for his first two lessons but now, in week three, he is very confident and has even come very close to floating by himself. You can't beat these lessons as they are 4 days a week and two weeks for $25 for city residents.

T

wist list

I'll add to it many times I hope. I keep forgetting these great ideas or suggestions I get so maybe this will help.

http://www.wists.com/Taradactyl3

Father's Day

Father's day was a little like mother's day around here. First, I got to sleep in (I have the best husband). Secondly, Curt took Curtis canoeing on the Wekiva River, so I got some good Mommy/Baby bonding time with Clark. Thirdly, we got take out so I didn't have to cook!

Curt did get some cool things too. I made him white cupcakes with white icing, per his request. He also got the aforementioned canoeing trip. On top of all that he got this cool hand made frame and foot and hand print casts.

It was a good day for all!

T

Amaranth

Amaranth is an ancient grain that the Aztecs used to eat. Apparently some of them also used to mix it with blood from sacrifices and make little voodoo dolls of it so the settlers banned this grain in hopes that it would stop the sacrifices. Luckily for us a few of these ancient people keep growing it in secret or we wouldn't have it today. It is full of protein and, the reason I'm experimenting with it, is gluten free.

A local mom just had baby #4 and she is gluten free so I made this amaranth with mushroom tomato sauce for her. The recipe called for spinach too but it really tasted good this way too and I was out of spinach. Next I plan to try to pop it as I've read you can pop it like popcorn and it is much more nutrient dense then corn is.




This is a chocolate torte I made. It's basically a big round chocolate brownie with chocolate glaze on it. It was definitely not gluten free, but sure tasted great with whipped cream.

T

Sprouts

I started sprouting now. The pics are a little blurry, but basically I took one after day 1, the middle is from day 4 (the last day), and the last is some on my sandwich for lunch today. It was so easy and amazing really to watch how much just a little tablespoon of seeds makes. My new Pediatrician told me to do this. He said they are packed with nutrients and I'm eating them and I'm going to try his suggestion of blending them into a puree and adding them to the kids food (and maybe the hubby's too but don't tell).

T

Petting Zoo

Sorry I've been MIA. Just not having much time to blog lately.

A friend of ours had a petting zoo at his house for his 4th b'day party. It was fun. Here we are with a poney named Sissy.

Win an Ergo

Win a Free Ergo Baby Carrier from Along for the Ride

Enter to win. Ends 5/30/08...

but I plan to win it ;o)

We went on mini-vacation

Almost everything went wrong with the trip, and I'm not kidding. So here I sit with ear infections and pink eye everywhere trying to recover. Curtis did have a blast on the 60 foot waterslide at the hotel. He loves the pool which is why we are signing him up for swimming lessons next month.

T

I donated my hair

Yes, it's true, although I'm still having trouble believing it myself.

Check out what we got

Curtis' Paw-Paw (Curt's step-father) designed and made this for us. We used tax money to pay for all the lumber etc. He is an architect so that is why it looks so cool. Curtis loves it!