Baby Buffet

The twins' pediatrician had recommended waiting until 6 months to start solids.  We are so close though, and I was excited to get them started.  I don't know why.  Why is it that shoveling mush into a child's mouth for the first time brings such happiness?

The delicacy today was breast milk mixed with a bit of rice cereal. 

First bites:

Reid on top, Cort on the bottom right.

Thinking it over. 

Hmmmm, as true to their individual natures, wonder which one likes eating more?

Yup, Reid definitely likes eating more.  Chunk!

Look at the two of them.  Like two little old men sitting in their armchairs, watching a funny tv show, with faces covered in oatmeal.

Lest I leave someone out, here is a little chocolate mousse before:

And after:

Yes, we still put our 3 year old in the high chair.  Believe me, I know this is wrong.  But look how messy he is!  Since he doesn't seem to question the confinement, we're cramming him in there just as long as we possibly can.  Or at least until 5th grade.

Everybody Have Fun Tonight

I've been selling a few odds and ends on Ebay lately and using the money to buy fun family stuff (a year long family zoo membership, Thomas the train track, etc.).  Yesterday I got two packages in the mail that I was very excited to see. 

Yes, yes, I continue to dream of having my own chickens.  One day, I tell ya, one day!  The Shrinky Dinks were for Pierce.  Incidentally, they came with a very cute pic of two girls who are selling things on Ebay to raise money for activities like Space Camp.  Seller name is childrenfundraising if you want to get some Shrinky Dinks of your own (they have several different packages to choose from).

I just knew when I chose this package that Pierce would go for the dinosaurs!

He also picked a teddy bear, since we've been reading Paddington.  Incidentally, he seems to be ambidextrous.

The fun part was watching them in the oven.  This brought back all sorts of childhood flashbacks for me.  Mostly the memory of the cloying nasty smell of the shrinky dinks cooking.  Smurf shrinky dinks if my memory is working correctly.  But guess what?  Modern shrinky dinks don't reek!

Please please please don't look at how dirty my oven is! 

 You looked, didn't you?

This kit came with the tools to turn your shrinkies into key chains, necklaces, magnets, and little stand up pieces. 

And I decided to embrace my 80s childhood. 

I never was very good at big hair.

In case you couldn't tell, YES, that is blue eyeshadow I'm wearing!

This Swatch jacket was my most prized possession in 6th grade.  I still have it (obviously) but hadn't looked at it in years.  Hey, still fits.  Maybe I should start wearing it around (not).

Still got my old Swatch too.  It originally had clear purple bands.

Now excuse me while I go break out my 80s music.  Paul is going to be oh sooooo thrilled.

What do you have sitting around in storage from your childhood?

Paddington Bear or Friday the 13th? You decide.

Well, you all voted, and picked Paddington for our next reading adventure.  We haven't had a lot of reading time this week, but we're into the third chapter. 
Pierce loves maps.  One of our placemats is a United States map, and he loves to learn about the different states during meals.  He already knows about Texas, California, Nebraska, Virginia, South Carolina and Florida.  So to get started with Paddington, we had to break out our globe.  This globe is actually the one I had as a kid, so it isn't quite up to date but it serves its purpose.
Paddington is originally from Lima, Peru:

 But when his dear aunt moved into a retirement home Paddington set off on his journey to England.

Pierce especially likes it when Paddington gets dirty or gets into trouble.  He seems to be drawn to troublemakers.  I suspect this is going to be a very.bad.thing come kindergarten. 

Speaking of very.bad.things.  Does this not look like it belongs in some horror movie or something?  Most disturbing bear mask I ever saw...

My, what creepy eyes you have Mr. Bear...

New York, New York!

I'm not really the type of person that shows a lot of external excitement.  I remember when my parents bought me my first real horse.  A beautiful flea bitten gray quarterhorse/thoroughbred cross named Chico, he was something I'd only dreamed of previously.  My mother and my trainer, Jay, broke the news to me.  I was thrilled.  All I wanted to do was go throw my arms around Chico's neck.  But apparently I didn't show this.  Jay said, "Lisa, can you just do me a favor?  Can you just jump up and down a couple of times for me?"  I complied in good humor, right there in the barn office.

That said, I cannot begin to describe how excited I am to have registered for my guaranteed entry into the New York City marathon yesterday.  I have been trying to get in since January 2007. Now, finally, in November it will be my chance to run this epic race.  My heart races just looking at the pictures of NYC and imagining running through it's heart.    In fact, I'm so excited that I made my hotel reservations this past November. 

New York City isn't the type of race you run to PR (personal record in running jargon - or to get a best time).  You run it to be.  Just to be alive, to see the sights, to meet the people.  And I can't wait to be a part of that.  I can't wait so bad that I actually got up EARLY to run before Paul left for work yesterday.  Now you really know how excited I am! 

Proof...the sunrise:

I debated going further. 

But El Diablo is an early riser.  And Paul had to get to work.  And I'm a wuss afraid of that big black dog.  So I turned around.  I really need to get some dog repellant.

Twin Talk

 Oh hey Reid, look, Mom's got the camera again!

Do you think you could bench me Reid, huh?

Muah!

Hey, Reid, is that a....is that a HUGE zit?!?

Reid's got a zit, Reid's got a zit!

MY REID.  Only I'm allowed to make fun of him.

TICKLES!

The Clash of the Toddler

So this is what Pierce had on yesterday, from his aunt Pam and uncle George:

George restores antique firetrucks, and Pierce is a type of firetruck I think.  Anyhow, he ordered Pierce his  own Pierce shirt.  Very cool! 

So I said, "Pierce, go get some shoes and socks on so we can go have a picnic out on the porch".  It was a balmy (for these days) 59* on our thermometer.  Off he scampers.  Now, do you think he came back with some reasonable tennis shoes?  With maybe some socks that had a stripe of red in them?  Or perhaps some boots?

.....

Dude.  That's just wrong.

Sweet Potatoes, a Viking, and a Pirate

The twins will be six months in two weeks.  So I decided to make a batch of baby food for them in preparation of them starting on solids.  Poor Pierce.  I was working full time when I had him and never once made him baby food from scratch.  Obviously, he's going to need therapy over such blatent neglect.

So first I got 5 sweet potatoes:

I poked holes in them with a fork and wrapped them in aluminum foil.  I baked them for an hour at 400*

Meanwhile, I tested out my new Jamie Oliver mug I got at Barnes and Noble for $2.50.  They are having their 75% clearance right now.  Lots of great stuff!

Mmmmm, creme brulee hot chocolate.  Creme brulee is only my favorite dessert ever. 

Now the best part:

The potatoes came out:

They are so easy to peel.  You can just pull the skin off after they cool a few minutes.

Into the mixer.  I added 5 ounces of breast milk.  So um, sample at your own risk, okay?  ;-)

Mixing:

After this was pureed to a silky smoothness, I filled up clean ice cube trays.  I had enough to do 3 large travel containers as well.

Put the ice cube trays in freezer zip locks to keep them clean and prevent freezer burn.  Just take a cube out to defrost the day before.  Voila, individual servings.  And the best part?  All this food only cost me $3.90! 

Now, time for some cuteness:

Cort the Conquerer and Piratey Reid.  Every day is a good day for costumes!

The Colors!

Pierce and I got our Family Fun magazine this week.  If you have kids, I highly recommend it.  Really fun creative ideas.  Pierce and I decided to make their winter sun catcher.  I like this craft because it costs nothing and was easy for Pierce.
First, you fill up an ice cube tray with water.  Then put a drop of food coloring in each cube.

Oh, did I say Pierce?  I meant SUPERMAN.

Freeze the cubes until solid.

Superman was so excited to see the colors when these came out.  He went on and on about it.  Toddlers just love colors.

Meanwhile, take a round cake pan and fill it 2/3 with water.  Place a small juice cup filled with water in the middle to make a hole to hang your suncatcher from.  Freeze for an hour.

Take it out and arrange the ice cubes in the pan.

Superman really liked this part.

We let this sit overnight, but really you could just leave it a few hours.  We ran warm water across it before popping it out and then tied a ribbon on.

Pretty, huh?  Here it is hanging off our deck:

In fact, we liked this so much we decided to do a similar craft that wouldn't melt away.  So we got some cookie cutters and traced their shapes on wax paper.  I helped Pierce cut out the shapes (in duplicate).  Then we took some crayons and Pierce made crayon shavings.  Would you believe we did not have a single pencil sharpener in the house?  Not a one.  So I sacrificed my eyeliner sharpener.  Eyeliner is overrated anyhow ;-)

Once again, he was fascinated by the colors.

We put the shavings in between the wax paper (we did one of his traced hand) and then I used the iron to melt them together.  Finished products: