Corn Contraption

I bought some corn-on-the-cob the other day but we didn't have any holders so we improvised with forks.

Actually we would have used our "natural holders" except that somebody objected to touching the corn with his fingers! And, after all the effort of improvising with forks he only ate one bite. He didn't really like the corn, but he did like hearing about how he and I ate a lot of corn when I was pregnant with Izzie. Izzie loved her corn holders...

And delicately ate like a little lady...


with a lot of gusto!

Just for fun... vote for me!

I submitted a couple of pictures to be put on bottles of Jones Soda. There are various methods of judging, but they do say if your picture gets a high score from other voters it's more likely to be considered. Follow the link and don't forget to give me a high score. (I mean, that's what friends and family are for, right?) Don't bother to vote more than once. If someone is using the same computer to vote multiple times they reset the score. Or so they say.

Nat's picture

And one more:

Thanks, everyone!

Introducing Morley

The newest member of our family...

After the Bath

More pictures?

Laughing at Ben who is also wrapped up in a towel and falling face first on the bed...

Best Buy Pants

Colin is off on Mondays so that's our day to either be productive or take it easy and do something fun. On this particular day Colin took me to see a little waterfall he had noticed by the side of the road. He kept the kids amused while I set up with a tripod to try and take some pictures with a slow shutter speed. Of course Ben had an accident while I was in the middle of the river. Fortunately, Colin took care of it while I slowly made my way back across. (No really, I wasn't trying to get out of a diaper change, I just didn't want to drop my camera in the water! At one point I moved onto what I thought was a rock and it turned out to be an old mattress... ew!)

Here we are at the waterfall after the accident. Since I had cleverly unpacked his extra clothes from the diaper bag we squeezed him into one of Izzie's diapers.

We had other errands to run so it was Walmart to the rescue. Ben was delighted to get a pair of bright red pants and I was delighted that they were only $3.50. Walmart and Best Buy were very close to each other and we also replaced our printer that day which has led Ben to believe that we bought his pants at Best Buy.

Ben modeling his Best Buy pants.

And of course, the waterfall.

The other day I convinced Ben and Izzie to let me take some pictures with the promise that we would eat some Smarties and feed the ducks when we were done. Colin was working, so this involved us packing everyone into the bike trailer and riding to a park that is not very near our house, just because I was bored with the other park and wanted to take pictures in a new location.

We've been out quite a bit with the bike trailer recently and it's usually fun for everyone, but the last time I put the children in the bike trailer Ben had a tough ride. I decided to try riding to Walmart, in theory to get some hooks for our entranceway, but mostly because I was bored and wanted to know if it was doable. About halfway into the ride Ben fell asleep. This is usually a good thing, but his head kept lolling onto Izzie's shoulder at which point - still sucking her thumb - she would elbow Ben in the face to get him off her. Ben would wake up and indignantly inform me, "Mom, Izzie hit me!" Then I would tell Izzie not to hit and the process would repeat itself every few minutes as Ben's heavy head inevitably dropped back onto Izzie's shoulder. I felt bad for Ben, but there was really nothing else I could do. Izzie didn't understand why he wouldn't stay off her, and Ben couldn't control his head while he was sleeping. In any case we were already past the halfway mark. There would be no turning back.

We made it to Walmart, everyone's facial features still intact, and got our hooks - along with some water guns and water balloons for when the cousins are here in June! We had already paid for our items and were headed for the door when I heard the crash of thunder and realized it was pouring. No worries, though - Ben was pleased to pass the time in McDonalds sharing a McFlurry while the thunderstorm passed. When it had stopped raining we went out and found the bike trailer absolutely soaked. I pondered what to dry it off with and found that a wet wipe can also dry. The ride home was no problem - Ben had gotten a nap of sorts and was in a great mood because of the ice cream and "water shoots."

Getting back to the original story, Ben and Izzie cooperated very well considering they're one and three, and had fun running back and forth on the bridge. I think in this picture Ben is about to say, "Ready... set... go!"

Ben was just telling Grandma Ann on the phone yesterday that, "Anything I do, Izzie does too. And anything Izzie does I do." I asked Ben to go lean against the fence and Izzie immediately went over and leaned against the fence too.

Ben will also tell you, "I love candy!" Yup, he's got a Smartie in his mouth in this picture. What a face.

Ben loves to hug Izzie, and here she is a willing participant. Sometimes the hugging is more like grabbing and tackling - it usually involves Ben pulling both of them to the floor and Izzie either laughing or crying depending on what kind of mood she is in.

More hugs...

We were far enough away from the park to avoid the dreaded goose poop.

It's difficult to get a natural smile out of Ben's these days. I had to work hard for this one!

When the kids got tired of me taking pictures we went to find the ducks and geese but all we could find was a family with babies. Geese aren't the nicest animals even when they're not protecting their offspring, so we went home and I put my own little babies in bed.

Foam Letters

As it turns out these foam letters have a lot of uses besides protecting the floor (or children from the floor). They also function as bath toys, can be built into cubes, make good race tracks, and can be worn as a lion's mane, necklace, crown, or flower petals. And, of course, they just might help children learn the alphabet if one were inclined to teach something like that.

The Sad Tale of the Wasp... as told by Ben

We were in the garden and Mommy had a big hose. Izzie fell down and her shoes were muddy. And one shoe was muddy. Then I fell down too. And then I said I was going to bring my shoes to you. (Mommy) And then I stepped on a wasp and it hurted a lot and it did not go away. And then I was crying because it hurted a lot. And then Mommy carried me inside. Mommy looked on the internet to help it feel better. Blue was the color of the bandaid. Then it feeled better and then I didn't have a stinger in my body so it must be a wasp. It hurted a long time.

Ben was so tired after his ordeal that he fell asleep on the couch and went to bed without eating dinner!

Waffles

We recently introduced Ben and Izzie to waffles... with Nutella!

The only problem with this kind of snack is how quickly you can eat yourself through an entire (family sized) box.