Sideways Video of Maddie the Elephant

Happy Halloween!

When you wait until the day before Halloween to shop for costumes, and you want to spend less than $40, and you are not really a Halloween person anyway, your kids look like this...

Ok, I admit it...I'm a Halloween scrooge. In fact, I am even going to turn the porch light off when we get back from trick-or-treating. You know, to save the 6 bucks I'd have had to spend on candy. Ahem.


BTW, I took these pics long before its time to go, so they aren't completely made up. Maddie will be grumpy by the time we actually set out at 7 pm. But aren't they cute anyway?!

These posts with pics of Maddie eating are probably a snooze fest to other people but, well, she eats a lot, quite often, so meals are pretty much the highlights of our days. So, I give you Maddie enjoying Chef Boyardee ravioli.

Again, food in the left eyebrow. Never fails.

With All Of My Heart

Stellan holds a special place in my heart, even though I have never met him. I think this is because this little miracle guy reminds me so much of my own Madison. They are two weeks apart in age, and to my own eyes they even resemble eachother, remarkably so. When I learn that Stellan is struggling, I can't help but imagine Maddie in his place, and how it would make me feel. So I hug my girl extra tight, and hold no resentment or frustration when she gets up in the middle of the night and needs to nurse to fall back asleep (twice, last night). And I pray.

When I emerged from the bathroom after brushing my teeth...

I found this...


This is a picture of a man who claims to hate my cat. Hmmm...

Maddie's First Taste of Yogurt

"What's that? Let me try it."

"Mmm. This is oh-so-good."

"Almost...intoxicatingly so..."

As my good blogger friend Heather says, I'm starting her early!!

**By the way, my husband was supposed to be vacuuming.

My New Favorite Store

Today the girls and I took a trip to Half Price Books. The reason I go so far as to call it a trip, well, it turned out to be a huge ordeal. It is a crowded, unorganized, stock-packed store with displays and shelves haphazardly spaced throughout the store, rather like a maze. Not ideal when you have a toddler in a stroller and a hoodlum with sticky fingers who seems to have lost her hearing energetic 3 year old free on foot.

However...

I left the store with 13 paperbacks for me, 1 children's board book, 1 plastic Baby Einstein bath book, and 4 dvd movies. ALL for $36. You.Can't.Beat.That.

Fool Me Once, Shame On You. Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me!

How many times am I going to put a bowl of something (this morning it was oatmeal) on Maddie's tray for her to eat, and then see it fly across the room 3 minutes later?

At least one more time, I guess. I didn't know something so sticky could splatter quite so far.

Meet "Six", Taylor's bunny that she built herself at Build-A-Bear Workshop this week.

She named her "Six", but whenever I ask her to remind me what the bunny's name is, she says "seven eight nine". Whatever her name, she hasn't left Taylor's side since Tuesday.

Recipe for the Foster Family

Jennifer, at www.nbjenni.blogspot.com has sent out an SOS for recipe help, so here is one of our family favorites. It comes from my mother, and I love it because it is simple, and it tastes great. Here goes!

"Green Porkchops"

Season porkchops (I like the thick, butterflied chops, but the thick bone-in variety works too) with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Lightly dredge chops in flour (to thicken the gravy while they bake). Brown the chops in a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Transfer them to a glass baking dish. In a separate bowl, mix together one can of cream of mushroom soup and one can of verde sauce, add a little bit of milk. Pour all of the mixture over the chops, and bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chops you have chosen. Make some brown rice (I use the brown Minute Rice) to pour the gravy over, and that's it! See? Very simple, yet oh-so-good!

La Petite Chef

Sugar cookies, squeezy frosting, and chocolate sprinkles.

The finished product...

See the cookie on the plate on the left, the one in the center, closest to the other plate? Um, yeah, that's the one she picked out for me to eat. I'm not feeling so great right now...

Bad Hair Day

Really.

Bad.

A Beautiful Day

After a solid week of rain and drizzle, yesterday was a humid, steamy 90 degrees. Today, however, was a beautiful day. So we scouted out a new park, an amenity of a nearby rich neighborhood. I guess you could say we "borrowed" it for awhile.
















I absolutely will not, under no circumstances, admit to giving Maddie a funnel and amusing myself for a good 30 minutes by watching her attempt to fill it up with pea gravel.

Bah Humbug

Not much to say, it has been a horrible frustrating, lonely, and stressful week (being with my girls could never be horrible). Corey worked 7 days straight this week, for a grand total of 65 hours. Grrreat for our pockets the people we owe money to, disastrous for my sanity. So here are my girls, eating dinner. That's about all I have for now.

This is what I found when I went to check on Maddie, who was playing in Taylor's room. She was stitting in the Rose Petal Cottage, tipped on its side, with Taylor's blanket wrapped around her little legs and a book propped up on Taylor's pillow. As you can tell, we have almost "read" this textured book to scraps.

Of course that stopped when she saw the camera. I've complained about this camera before (note the terrible picture quality), and I admit I let her play with it in the hopes that she breaks it and I can get a new one. Evil plot, I know...

Wish List Wednesday

Because money doesn't grown on trees 'round here!

I am an avid reader. Seriously, I pick up a book any chance I get and escape for a few minutes from the sometimes tedious, sometimes maddening, always chaotic life of a stay-at-home mom. Recently, I have an urge to re-read (for the thousandth time I'm sure) the old V.C. Andrews book series of "Flowers In the Attic", there are 5 books in this series.

Is it fair to wish for a fat stack of cash? If I am wishing, might as well wish big!

I would love some teak outdoor furniture, though I do wonder about spending $1400 on furniture that is in constant contact with the elements.

What about you? Head on over to http://www.nbjenni.blogspot.com/ to join the fun!