fun with photoshop

we thought these 2 pictures belonged together:

kate's heat exhaustion

and jacob's "emergency potty"

and together, they make this:

for the books

i can't tell you how many times i've referred back to my blog archives to find out important dates and milestones of my kids' first years. i've claimed many times that this blog is more of a record of these milestones than anything else. so here is what happened to kate this past week, as she is almost 21 months old.

last sunday after church jesse had to be around to help set up for VBS, so our family went and grabbed a quick lunch at wendy's. as we were cleaning up to leave, kate decided to throw a little tantrum and plopped herself to the ground just as someone was holding her hand. immediately she started to cry, and i assumed it was just the "nap-time" crankiness. trying not to make a scene, i thought i'd distract her by showing her the firetruck outside. when that didn't stop her crying, i took her outside and she only cried harder. this is when i figured there was something more wrong with her than just a tantrum. i noticed she was babying her arm, but couldn't see anything visibly wrong with it. we loaded up into the car and noticed an EMT getting into the ambulance parked next to us. kate still crying, and not letting us touch her arm, we asked the EMT to check her out, which he did, and told us he couldn't tell what could be hurting her but that we should "keep an eye on her". kate is screaming at this point. we stop at the store to buy a paci (i had forgotten to pack one and knew this would be the one thing that would calm her down) and i picked up a PEZ for her and jacob (he needed a distraction too). hello kitty for kate and thomas the train for jacob. :) PEZ wasn't working and paci wasn't helping much. kate wouldn't even move her arm and anytime you even mentioned it she would cry "no, mommy, no! no, daddy, no!" it was so pathetic and sad. :( we headed back to church and i took her straight to the nursery, where i knew her pediatrician was serving in the 2 year old room. he listened to my plea and right away said "she's dislocated her elbow". he took her in the other room, and while i held her he straightened it back out. kate cried really hard. she calmed down a few minutes later and i set her down at the toys to see if she would use her arm. sure enough, all was well, and dr. price was kate's hero.
later on that day she woke up from her nap and tried to re-hash the story for me: "owie ... arm ... fireman (EMT) .... dr. price ... all gone! (as in, owie all gone)". at least she ended on a positive note. :o)

oddly enough, after having just paid $5 for a new pack of pacifiers just last sunday, jesse decided this was the week to remove kate's paci. (this is a point where blog archives came in handy...i figured out we took jacob's paci away just around the same age). we made her quit cold turkey. she wasn't cool with it at first. night #1 she was up for 2 hours, crying off and on for the paci. we snipped the tip off and showed her it was broken. we told her she's a big girl now and doesn't need a paci anymore. jesse even had her repeat the words "i'm a big girl" and "no more paci!".
night #2 was a little easier, and so was night #3, and also night #4. nap times were a bit harder, but got a little better with each day. and now we are at night #5 and she didn't even ask for it tonight. i think she's figured it out. :o) we're in the process of trying to figure out a new bedtime routine that will hopefully keep her mind off of the paci. kissing her night-light flower, letting her have a book in bed with her, and of course cuddling puppy too.

catching up

it's been a while since i posted anything, and since someone finally noticed, i've decided to honor that person with a big fat catch-up. so, here you go mom, a summary of what we've been doing since june 22, 2010 (aka my last post):

painting a road surface with daddy. jacob needed somewhere to drive all of his 20 million tractor and car toys.


a visit from aunt brianne and uncle kevin. i didn't get the camera out much, but we had fun hanging out with aunt brianne and uncle kevin. they took the kids to their first theater movie ever, toy story 3, and did some fishing at a local pond. kate loved her uncle kevin, but for some reason she kept calling him "josh". aunt brianne is carrying the kids' 4th cousin, due october 14, 2010. we can't wait to meet baby easton!


that same weekend i got to go blueberry picking and absolutely LOVED it. i picked 10 pounds in just 45 minutes and have been enjoying the fruits of my labor. the first recipe on my agenda, a blueberry pie for my friend's 28th birthday.



the highlight of july for us was a long weekend trip to ludington, mi, with our good friends to celebrate the 4th of july holiday. we went to the lake michigan beach, went to the town parade on the 4th, saw fireworks on the beach, rode go-carts, and played. a lot. here are some picture highlights:


after returning from our little vacation, jacob had the opportunity to take a ride on gomer the camel, a new attraction at the creation museum. he enjoyed the ride along side his buddy isabel.

last week the kids and i were invited to swim at a friend's house for the morning. this was kate's first time ever in a real swimming pool (not a baby pool) and only jacob's 2nd time (his first time was when he was 14 months old, which he doesn't even remember). we had a nice time enjoying her beautiful pool and the great company!


other highlights include a recent "smoothie night" when we had yogurt smoothies for dinner, made from local fresh-picked blueberries and blackberries, frozen strawberries from my garden, and some frozen bananas. it was delicious! (jacob took the picture of me, pretty good for a 3 year old!)

and now the kids are both sick with hand/foot/mouth and we are quarantining ourselves to the house. i like to look at it as forced relaxation. we needed a little slowing down after a busy month.

happy birthday to jackson

jackson's 6th birthday was this week, and it was a day just like any other. the kids and i were gone for the morning, came home after lunch for naps and some lawn-mowing, and as soon as the kids were awake we left again for the evening. sadly, the birthday boy didn't get much attention on his own birthday. we were home by bed time and decided we needed to at least sing to the poor dog. i had brownies left over from our small group gathering, which coincidentally, with a little powdered sugar on top, very much resembled jackson's beautiful coat of spots. :)




jackson didn't realize we were singing for him, and kate was not happy that i gave the 1st piece of brownie to jackson. ooooh, so sad. nevermind that i am giving my dog chocolate, or that my kids are eating brownies at 8:30 pm. :P

random food thoughts

i was just realizing that i blog a lot about the kids, and a lot about the goings on of our family, but i don't mention enough of one of my most favorite things that God gave us: food. so here are some random things i've been thinking about lately, all about food:

• i think my kitchen would be most boring if it weren't for sugar and my trusty lawry's garlic salt. i use them both almost daily.
  
• coffee is the best.
• kate's been calling me "honey", which is a name i use when talking to her. she's just reciprocating. :o)
• our new favorite dish, that we've been eating every other day, caprese. which is fresh mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, basil, salt n pepa, and e.v.o.o. YUM! makes a delicious lunch, or a dinner side dish.
  
• for father's day, jesse didn't want breakfast in bed, didn't want to go out for lunch or dinner, and had absolutely no requests for a special dinner menu. for me, it's not a celebration without great food. i guess opposites attract.
• my favorite recipe right now is my variation of giada's meatball recipe. i make a big batch and freeze them for easy meals like meatball subs and pasta & meatballs. here's the recipe: 1 lb ground turkey, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, 2 eggs (lightly beaten), 2 tbsp milk, 1/2 cup, grated romano or parmesan (i use parm), 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley (i use 1 tbsp dried parsley), 3/4 tsp salt (i use garlic salt, because meatballs need garlic, right?), 3/4 tsp pepper. combine ingredients, mix well. scoop mixture into 1 inch balls, and drop into preheated pan with 1/4 cup e.v. olive oil. cook 4-5 minutes on each side (i roll them around every 3 minutes or so, for about 10 minutes). cook through. i drain them on a paper towel when i take them out of the pan.
  
• kate's new favorite thing to do at mealtime is to throw her food on the floor. we never had to deal with this with jacob. and i am not sure how to handle it, other than to say 'no'.
  
• last week i got to teach my good friend how to make sweet tea, another staple in my kitchen. this hot weather is definitely sweet tea weather.
  
• my strawberries are pretty much done for the summer. i see a straggler in the garden every now and then. i ended up with about a dozen 1 qt ziploc bags in the freezer. maybe next year will be a little better?
• i love coffee.
• about 2 years ago, jesse and i toyed around with the idea of me canning and selling my homemade pasta sauce. maybe some day.
• jacob likes tuna. he's a slightly picky eater, so this strikes me as odd. yesterday he didn't even want it on a sandwich. just a big scoop of tuna salad, in a bowl, with a spoon. and he ate it like it was ice cream. weird!
• jesse got a lot of compliments and a boost of confidence from the tractor birthday cakes he decorated for jacob's recent birthday. he will be filling his first decorated cake order this weekend, for a co-worker of mine. i love being married to an artist. his talent spills into so many different arenas.
• jacob shared his John Deere fruit snacks with farmer gary, the farmer who was cutting the hay fields here at our house last week. he also asked me to bake cookies for him, and i did. he "loves farmer gary", and his tractors. :o)
• coffee is so wonderful.
  
• i took my trusty chocolate chip cookie recipe and experimented with it today. added some peanut butter and oatmeal, and adjusted some of the other ingredients. it made the perfect cookie. i ate 5 of them as i was transferring them to the cooling rack, and even considered hiding them from jesse and the kids. but don't worry, i shared.

ok, now i am hungry. but what i really need to do is go to bed.

bird is the word

early in May, jesse and i noticed a blue bird making a nest in one of the bushes in our backyard. 3 weeks later, there were brand new baby birds in there, squawking for food.

the kids have really enjoyed watching the momma bird and the daddy bird bringing food to their babies, all day long. they sit up on the garage roof and wait till the coast is clear, then they dive towards the nest quite cautiously. it's been fun to watch.


the male is the prettiest color. jesse pointed out that it's funny the bird chose a home that matches the color scheme of his feathers, red and blue. :)

kate counting and other goings on

kate surprised me the other day when i heard her counting to 10 with a nursery worker. what?! she doesn't do that at home! so that afternoon, i tried to get it on video. she needed a little assistance, but pretty i was impressed with what she could do.


not sure what the extra words are at the end?

jesse and i celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary yesterday. our day went on like normal, we didn't do anything special. we're celebrating later this week with a night away at a b & b. looking forward to some time spent with each other that is not consumed with minding to the children. yesterday was not one of jacob's better days... attitude issues all day long. so in the evening, right before bed, we witnessed a much needed, rare moment of tranquility:

watching lightning mcqueen together.

we've been spending most of our days outside, exploring,

gator ridin',
and playing with friends.

yesterday farmer Gary came to start working in the fields, cutting and bailing the hay. he wasn't here long, but long enough for him to offer a ride to jacob on the tractor. and jacob refused it. and thus displayed his love/hate relationship with tractors. loves to look at them and play with them and talk about them all day long, but you get him ANYWHERE near a tractor that is on and running... jacob will scream like it's the end of the world. we're going to work on his fears this week, and hopefully he'll be able to enjoy a ride with farmer Gary before the week is over. and hopefully he will not have to be held by his mother so i can have my hands free to take pictures to document this exciting occasion and share them with you all.