Friday, February 29, 2008

It's Activity Time... Again!

Jackson might even call this one of the "FUNNEST" activities ever! We started with two plastic cups filled 1/2 way with water... Added a few bits of food, and let it sit in the freezer for a day or so, making it ROCK SOLID! (Obviously, teaching a lesson all about solids/liquids, etc., but you all knew that...)

THEN, we helped it melt. :) This video will help clarify.

Oh, and the "white raisins" are actually yogurt covered raisins - they've just been "named" that since they first enjoyed them at Grandma's and Pa's house last summer.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Wordless Wednesday

stole the wordless wednesday from you, miss "because i said so." wink ;)

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

What I should be doing right now...

is preparing supper. But I'm very, very, very good at procrastinating. A master procrastinator, even. Instead of supper prep - here I sit. NEEDING to update my blog. :)

One note... Idol is coming on tonight. Here's my assessment:
favorites:
brooke w.
david a. - my #1 fave
jason c.
jason y.
michael j.
ramiele m.
syesha m.

go homes:
danny n.
amanda o.
luke m.
alexandrea l.

The others just need to do something to sell me. like, sing a song REALLY well, or something like that. That's all.

Subject #2 worth my procrastination... Carter Michael... I've been meaning to dedicate a post to him for some time now. Today when he was scarfing down a croissant, I got some footage of him attacking it like he hadn't eaten in days. In his defense, he had just woken up from his morning nap, so it had been a good 2 hours since he last had anything to eat. ;)

Here's a little montage that clues you in to just-how-hungry the little guy was. :) Still, I've got so much to tell about this little sweetums... Maybe this'll do until...

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Pig bones

I didn't consciously decide to do two posts in a row about food, but it has come to that. My apologies.

Real quick though, I have to share what happened last night. I spent the latter half of the day with some thawing pork ribs. I'm pleased to say they turned out great, but that is not the point. ;) Jackson's curiosity about the poor fallen pig is, however, the point.

Anyway, he kept asking to see the bones (the ribs, of course), and I would show him, and he'd walk away satisfied that he had, in fact, seen pig ribs. Well, as they were finishing up on the grill, and the ends of the bones became more and more exposed, he got more excited, somehow! He finally said "LOOK! I CAN SEE THE RIBS!!!" Well, the excitement turned to mush when this conversation came up over supper:

Jackson: How did we get the pig ribs from the pig?
Mommy & Daddy: Well, Jackson. The pig died, and now we're eating him.
Jackson: Who did it?
Mommy & Daddy: A butcher - It's his job...
Jackson: Why did the butcher have to kill the pig?
We had a little trouble with this one...
Mommy & Daddy: Well, a butcher kills pigs so that we can have yummy food to eat, like bacon and these yummy ribs...
Jackson: Was it a baby pig?
Mommy & Daddy: No, hun. We don't eat "baby" anything -it was a BIG BIG pig, with lots of good meat on 'im.
Jackson: Well, that seems pretty MEAN!

Jackson only ate about 3 bites. The truth hit him too hard, I guess. Poor Jackson (for not being able to enjoy some yummy pork ribs) and Poor Pig - for dying for me... and Rodney -He ate more than I did.

Friday, February 15, 2008

I Heart Salmon



I really do - especially the recipe that Rodney uses as a marinade when he grills our fillets... I'll have to post that later when I find it... Don't hold your breath, k? :)

BUT, I come to you as a voice of warning. Do NOT eat this salmon Lean Cuisine!

I have never met a Lean Cuisine I didn't like (till now, of course). Kinda like my massages (see below). Who knew? I will even tell you my FAVORITES...

Cheese Ravioli, Penne Pasta with Tomato Basil Sauce, and Sweet & Sour Chicken. There are more, but I can't think of them right now...Story of my life...


update: here's the recipe. :)
* 1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets
* lemon pepper to taste
* garlic powder to taste
* salt to taste
* 1/3 cup soy sauce
* 1/3 cup brown sugar
* 1/3 cup water
* 1/4 cup olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Season salmon fillets with lemon pepper, garlic powder, and salt.
2. In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, brown sugar, water, and olive oil until sugar is dissolved. Place fish in a large resealable plastic bag with the soy sauce mixture, seal, and turn to coat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
3. Preheat grill for medium heat.
4. Lightly oil grill grate. Place salmon on the preheated grill, and discard marinade. Cook salmon for 6 to 8 minutes per side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Motrin and Water

My Sweet Valentine was nice enough to give me a Spa visit to celebrate V-Day. As Madonna sang in "Evita," my heart swelled with thoughts of "You Must Love Me." Wish I had the time to take a picture of the sweet card, and prove it, but I have a feeling you all believe me. Noteworthy, though, is the explanation of the massage he "ordered" for me. Yeah, Baby. And I quote:


HOT STONE – Hot stone massage is a specialty massage that uses smooth, heated stones. They are often basalt, a black volcanic rock that absorbs and retains heat well. It is a deeply soothing, relaxing form of massage. The heat helps tight muscles release. The therapist uses traditional strokes of Swedish massage while holding a heated stone. As the stone cools, the therapist replaces it with another. The therapist might also leave heated stones in specific points along your spine, or in the palms of your hand, or even between your toes to improve the flow of energy in your body.


Sounds delicious, Right? :)

The bad news of it all is, we both lacked communication. I should have said, as she was escorting me back to the room, "So, we're doing the Hot Stone treatment today, right?" But I did not. What I did do, however, was answer this question on the welcoming paperwork, "What areas would you like us to pay special attention to today?" with the answer "Lower Back." Reason - I've had a crampy feeling in my lower back for several days, and thought the hot stones being placed there for a little extra time would be just about HEAVENLY!

Let me keep going... So, about 20 minutes into it (what seems to be the beginnings of any ol' back massage - but somewhat on the FIRM side), I say to her, "Can I ask you a question?" and asked if the hot stones were coming? She said politely, that that's not what she had on the paperwork, so I kinda think "Oh?... well darn, I'm going to get a full body massage, I won't complain..." Well, she started getting more and more "deep" with her strokes and pressure... I squinted my eyes into the pillow, and moaned a litle - or a lot, I don't know... Long story short, by close to the end (at about the 60 minute mark of an 80 minute massage) she says, "I can tell you're really resisting some of these pressure points?... but an 80 minute deep tissue massage pretty much requires that I do what I'm doing..." and I think, "WHAT!?!" Lord knows, she gives a mac-daddy deep tissue massage - but OH MY GOODNESS - I would NEVER EVER EVER choose to have a deep tissue masage. EVER! (And yes, that is where I stood on the subject before yesterday.)

My day-after perscription (from her) is lots of water. My day-after perscription (from me) is lots of Motrin. I'll go with both...As I sit here...in pain.

Next time, I'll ask.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Update on our sweet li'l life

Please forgive. Updating the blog is not my forte, but I'll be trying harder from now on to update regularly. I love reading others' daily/weekly/even monthly updates, so I need to do this myself too!

I don't know where to start - I guess it's easiest to start with updates on the guys. Rodney is cleaning the kitchen right now. As he should be. Kidding! I told him I HAD to update my blog tonight, and he's doing what he usually does after the kids go to bed - help me with the housework that didn't seem to get done during the day. What's more, the dishes he's unloading from the dishwasher have been clean for 2 days, thus the collection of dirty dishes by the sink have been there at least that long, so he's got his hands full for at least 30 minutes. He came to ask me why the floor was in such terrible shape. Well, it's frankly because I decided that the bubbles that I was blowing on the back porch for Brady earlier today were being carried away too briskly by the breeze, so I decided that the kitchen was the prime spot for "no breeze." Bubbles and Brady's dirty shoes dancing around to catch the bubbles are the simple culprit. Such is life. ;) Oh, back to Rodney - You should see how closely he's following the election this year! He's quite peeved tonight (Super Tuesday) that the first state (WV) to report it's results has Huckabee as the winner by 4% over Romney. He came close to making phone calls for Romney last evening, but decided that it was a better idea to play guitar hero - which I love! He's so good at it, and Slash will soon bow down to him, after he completes every single track on the EXPERT level! Yeah, that's right! He's so cute! (His playlist on his blog is all of his favorite Guitar Hero songs!)

Jackson is doing great these days. He wears the "biggest brother" hat so well. He is my helper nearly all day, for just about everything I ask of him. He may be such a sweetie knowing that I'm likely to reward him with sweets or gifts (hiding behind a tall something am I), but nah, he really is just a good boy. He has this momma wrapped around his finger, and he's quite sly, when needs be. He can defend himself better than Bill Clinton, and time-outs hurt his heart. Every neighbor knows when he's done something bad. ;) Tonight we dined outside at "Los Tres Majuyes" and when he tripped and fell down over his own chair, you could have heard the cries in Beaufort! Lungs! My Gosh, the Lungs! I digress. Jackson's favorite shows are Scooby Doo, Looney Tunes, Transformers, and still the occasional Hi-5. I'm not too proud of it, but he could watch t.v. all.... day.... long! When not watching t.v., of course his favorite thing to do is "crafts!" The messier and the more thought out, the better. I dream in crafts. I bet he does too. Gosh, I love my big boy!

Brady is being quite the super-big-brother these days, too. He hesistates each time I ask him to go retrieve a diaper or toy or bottle off the counter, but on my 3rd or 4th attempt, changing the tone of my voice will usually get him to agree. I think he lives for the rise that he gets out of me the first couple times of saying "No - I want Jackson 'do it!" Just this afternoon, we were going for a walk in our neighborhood, and has he started veering off of the clear course of the sidewalk, into a neighbor's yard, I said to him (and Jackson too), "Stay on the sidewalk, please." BUT, what he heard was "Hey Brady - PLEASE go walk on the neighbor's grass. The farther, the better!" I swear! Ok, his favorites - He LOVES Pops Cereal. He loves Cars (TM) cars. He loves his blanket and Pablo, still. :) He loves bathtime. He loves to squeal with excitement while I blow up green balloons. He loves dinosaurs and stickers - the best are stickers of dinosaurs - or stickers of Cars - like Mater or McQueen... or Sally. He loves her. ;) He LOVES - I REPEAT - LOVES to say these two words in any given sentence... Get ready, this is good - "BOOTY!" and "POOTY!" If I had a dime for every time (in the last month or so) I have said to him, "Please don't say that word, That's ugly talk," I'd be a rich momma. The best is when he does it in public, like with the senior doctor at our pediatrician's office - Dr. Jeffers. I'm sure he's heard it all and seen it all, but for goodness sakes! Let me think of some examples - If I say, "Let's get ready for bed boys," his reply is "let's shake our booty!" or "Can you kick me the soccer ball?" his reply is "i kick you the pooty ball!" or "Say cheese!" his reply is obviously, "BOOTY CHEESE!" The best example of all was from about a week ago. We were upstairs in the playroom, where I was writing some easy words for Jackson on the dry erase board - all three letters, all rhyming - like C-A-T and H-A-T and B-A-T, and as I was reviewing them with Jackson, I spoke in a very teacher tone, annunciating each letter's sound. Brady then walked up to me, and pointed to a clean spot on the board and said to me, "Write this mommy..." and then continued in the same clear way of talking "BOOOOO-tee." Jackson, Brady and I all laughed hysterically for a good 10 minutes. It was a great moment. Wish you all could have been there. :)

I'll give Carter his own thread. Next week. ;)

Here are a few recent (From December 'till now!) pics of my little dearies - in a onetruemedia video! What else? :)