Popping Noises

“How not to get your child to sleep” was the other title I had in mind.

I laughed so hard tonight last night. My #2 Son discovered how to make ‘popping’ noises when he stuck his finger in his mouth and pulled it out. He made this discovery about 15 minutes into the bedtime routine. He laughed, I laughed. It was hilarious. Not exactly the way to get your kid to sleep. I must say, I really enjoyed it – even if it is going to come back and haunt me another night.

Update at 2pm. I thought I posted these last night and had pressed the 'save as draft'. So made a correction to the 'tonight' up above.

1-800-222-1222 – Write this number down

This is the number for Poison Control. Luckily I had it handy this weekend. I am also very lucky that my #2 Son did not get sick. He decided to try out the flower of a Crown of Thorns plant. He and his brother were playing around them. I was trying to get them into the sandbox and turned around to see both with a handful of flowers. While watching them and deciding for a better way to stop them, #2 Son sticks one of the flowers in his mouth. I run to get it out, but when I tried, there was nothing in his mouth. The question was: did he spit it out or did he swallow it? I assumed he swallowed it and called Poison Control. I did what they told me to do. He did not get sick. I will assume he spit it out. What was really nice – poison control called back to see if everything was ok or if I needed more assistance about 4 hours later. This number is good for adults who may have swallowed something poisonous or gotten something on your skin. This.is.NOT.just.for.children.

Here it is again: Poison Control = 1-800-222-1222

Laundry Fun

I have shown pictures of #2 Son helping with the laundry. I thought it only fair to show how #1 Son helps as well.

Climbing in the Basket and I made it! Click picture to enlarge it.

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

The 28th Carnival of Recipes is up!

Check out these wonderful Recipes at Rocket Jones. I have found one or two that look like keepers to me. Besides, he does a great job on the presentation of the recipes. Enjoy!

Girls already?

I was waiting to sign #1 Son into school on Thursday and one of the parents asks if I am #1 Son’s mom. With some trepidation I reply with a Yes. She then tells me her daughter, N, has been saying #1 Son’s name since Tuesday. And wanted to know if he was going to be in class on Thursday. She went on further to let me know that N has never talked about a boy before, only the girls she plays with. Uh oh. Now what has my son done? Kissed her? Hugged her?

I ask about N on the way home and he starts singing ‘Ring Around The Rosie, Pocket full of possie, ashes, ashes, all fall down’. Hmmmm. Then he mentions ANOTHER girl. Oh my. What’s next?

Boys will be… a PITA

(PITA = Pain In The .ss)

I thought spitting was bad. Now I have a tackling, throwing, scratching little monster. Ok, BIG monster. #1 Son has learned how to tackle his brother to the ground and lay on him. If that doesn’t work, he grabs the back of his shirt and throws him to the ground and then lays on him. And if Mom comes over, scratching her purposely on the arm is the next best thing to make her get boiling mad if the other two items didn’t work. I am truly amazed at myself for not taking #1 Son and throwing him outside and locking the door or beating his butt until it was red as a lobster. How I remained calm, must be a mother hormone thing. It had to have kicked in about the time I looked at my arm, because I was definitely on the edge of total anger.

No one warned me about this part. Did any of you act like terrors as children but grow up to be ‘reasonable’ adults? What did your parents do to you? I’m hinting that I need help!

More Humor for Dreaded Wednesday

Why Women are Crabby

We started to "bud" in our blouses at 9 or 10 years old only to find that anything that came in contact with those tender, blooming buds hurt so bad it brought us to tears. So came the ridiculously uncomfortable training bra contraption that the boys in school would snap until we had calluses on our backs.

Next, we get our periods in our early to mid-teens (or sooner). Along with those budding boobs, we bloated, ! we cramped, we got the hormone crankies, had to wear little mattresses between our legs or insert tubular, packed cotton rods in places we didn't even know we had.

Our next little rite of passage (premarital or not) was having sex for the first time which was about as much fun as having a ramrod push your uterus through your nostrils (IF he did it right and didn't end up with his little cart before his horse), leaving us to wonder what all the fuss was about.

Then it' was off to Motherhood where we learned to live on dry crackers and water for a few months so we didn't spend the entire day leaning over Brother John. Of course, amazing creatures that we are (and we are), we learned to live with the growing little angels inside us steadily kicking our innards night and day making us wonder if we were preparing to have Rosemary's Baby.

Our once flat bellies looked like we swallowed a watermelon whole and we pee'd our pants every time we sneezed. When the big moment arrived, the dam in our blessed Nether Regions invariably burst right in the middle of the mall and we had to waddle, with our big cartoon feet, moaning in pain all the way to the ER.

Then it was huff and puff and beg to die while the OB says, "Please stop screaming, Mrs. Hearmeroar. Calm down and push. Just one more good push (more like 10)," warranting a strong, well-deserved impulse to punch the ***** (and hubby) square in the nose for making us cram a wiggling, mushroom-headed 10lb bowling ball through a keyhole.

After that, it was time to raise those angels only to find that when all that "cute" wears off, the beautiful little darlings morphed into walking, jabbering, wet, gooey, snot-blowing, life-sucking little poop machines.

Then come their teen years. Need I say more?

When the kids are almost grown, we women hit our voracious sexual prime in our early 40's - while hubby had his somewh! ere around his 18th birthday.

So we progress into the grand finale: "The Menopause," the Grandmother of all womanhood. It's either take HRT and chance cancer in those now seasoned "buds" or the aforementioned Nether Regions, or, sweat like a hog in July, wash your sheets and pillowcases daily and bite the head off anything that moves.

Now, you ask WHY women seem to be more spiteful than men when men get off so easy INCLUDING the icing on life's cake: Being able to pee in the woods without soaking their socks...

So, while I love being a woman, "Womanhood" would make the Great Gandhi a tad crabby. Women are the "weaker sex"? Yeah right. Bite me.

Humor for Dreaded Wednesdays

I was too lazy to go see if this is a hoax, so I'm putting it in the Humor section.

LIFE IN THE 1500'S Interesting!

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:
These are interesting...

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway.
Hence the saying a "thresh hold."

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

Lemon Meringue Pie

Time for Carnival Of Recipes. My Mom sent me this recipe and I'm putting it out for everyone to enjoy. Make sure you head over to Rocket Jones, since he is nice enough to host it this week.

Please read completely before starting:

Notes to help out:
A baked and cooled Pie Crust (frozen works). Make sure egg whites are room temperature. Be sure to temper beaten egg yolks well, stirring constantly. Heat oven to 350 F.

Have Meringue ready before completing lemon custard. Pour hot custard into pie shell and immediately top with meringue sealing edges completely.

This actually goes quite fast if all ingredients are measured before starting. I usually measure the cornstarch, sugar, salt and water last, directly into the pot I’m cooking in. Everything else I measure and put in small containers. Of course the egg whites go in a mixing bowl and the yolks in a bowl large enough to temper in.

Ingredients:

4 egg yolks well beaten
½ cup corn starch
1 ½ cup water
1 1/3 cup sugar
¼ tsp. salt
3 tbl. Sugar
1-2 tbl. Zest
½ cup lemon juice
Pinch of tartar

Directions:

Put cornstarch, water, sugar and salt in pot, bring to boil while stirring then leave on warm while making meringue. Meringue – 4 egg whites, pinch of tartar, beat just till soft peaks form, add 2 tbl. Sugar, beat few seconds to incorporate sugar. Set aside in cool dry place.

Bring custard base back to boil. Temper egg yolks with ½ cup custard base adding slowly, stirring constantly. Add egg yolk mixture back to custard base, simmer no less than one minute while stirring. Continue stirring while adding:

3 tbl. Butter
1-2 tbl. Lemon zest
½ cup lemon juice

Simmer a minute or two while continuing to stir.

Pour hot custard into pie shell, immediately top with meringue (after beating meringue another 20 or 30 seconds). Be sure to seal meringue to pie crust edges.

Put in 350 F oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool

Kids and computing

A good friend sent me this note:

These links describe a very interesting experiment in India regarding bring computing and Internet to kids. Computers are placed in open kiosks, and kids just figure out how to use them with no adult intervention.

Hole in the Wall

Just questions and answers about Hole in the Wall.

So I had to go read this stuff. One of the items that really caught my attention was what the kids learn from these 'hole in the wall computers'.

An estimated 100 children can learn to do most or all of the following tasks in approximately three months, using the "hole-in-wall" arrangement with a single PC:

1. All windows operational functions, such as click, drag, open, close, resize, minimize, menus, navigation etc.
2. Draw and paint pictures on the computer
3. Load and save files
4. Play games
5. Run educational and other programs
6. Play music and video, view photos and pictures
7. Browse and surf the Internet, if a connection is available.
8. Set up e-mail accounts
9. Send and receive e-mail
10. Chat on the Internet
11. Do simple troubleshooting, for example, if the speakers are not working.
12. Download and play streaming media
13. Download games

Now I'm worried. Guess I need to start locking my PC up with the kids around. They'll be downloading more stuff than I can keep up with at this rate. GRIN.

Lunch and The Five Guys

Usually I do the Breakfast Thing with Bou and her 3 boys. Not today. We decided to do Lunch. Picture this – 2 adults, 5 children all in a Japanese restaurant for lunch. Quiet, subdued atmosphere. Not for long. Between her boys and mine, the restaurant had a distinct sound in the air. 5 guys talking or making noise of some type. Not loud (or not loud for long), but definitely noise.

Then the occasional something happens… my two favorites from this outting are:

1. My #1 Son has a bandaid on his left index finger. He decided to take the straw out of his water and put his finger (the one with the bandaid of course) down the hole. He could not pull it out. He started to fuss. The look on his face, looking down at his hand and the cup - like it was some big monster that just ate his finger. I started to laugh. It took everything in my power to stop laughing and reach over the table and help him get his finger out. It was just too funny. And not two minutes later I stopped him from trying it again. ;-)

2. At the end of lunch, Bou and I were talking about leaving and Bou was going to go shopping with her boys. Her oldest heard part of this conversation and with the most ‘OMG No!’ (OMG = Oh My God) look on his face said, “They aren’t coming with us, are they?” I had to turn away to keep from laughing out loud.

I tried to explain that shopping is actually easier to do with my boys than eating. But he was just so happy that we weren’t going that I had a hard time talking. He thought that they would be pulling things off the shelves and running amok. I told him, “Yes, they would run around, but it was easy to watch them and No, they don’t pull stuff off shelves or take down clothes.” Not sure if he believed me or not.

And that was just a few of the things that happened today. Ahhhh... I had a few minutes break while the kids were napping. Got this written just in time!

Day of Rest

No, not really. But Saturday night I got 2 ½ hours of continuous sleep and little snippets after that. I was something that rhymed with witch most of Sunday. Last night I got 4 ½ hours of continuous sleep. Life is good. I feel like a human being again. In the meantime, I am taking a break from posting about them today. I have a lot to tell about the kids but am going to go play with them instead. Later!

2 out of 5

Wow! I have had 2 people volunteer to do the Music Meme. Go check it out!

My new Blog-Sis, Sissy at And What's Next

and

Anselm at Hill Country Views

Thanks!

Bits and Pieces

Bugs in the Diaper? Nothing like taking a diaper off of #2 Son and seeing something in the bowel movement that looks like a bug – or maybe two. Of course it turned out to be something just as disgusting – undigested raisins. Eeewwwwwwww. Where Am I? #1 Son is at school in a classroom where there is no place to really hide. The teacher told me that she lost site of him for a minute and was surprised where she found him. He was in the kiddie bathroom with the door closed and the lights off. He wanted to wash his hands some more. Side note: he got his hands, shirt, pants and face wet in the process and was wearing the clothes from his backpack when I picked him up – BIG CLUE to me that something happened. I am impressed that my son is not afraid of the dark in enclosed spaces.

From Snooze Button Dreams, I found this cool link on The Baby Name Wizard. I found that if you moved the mouse over the graph, it will tell you what position that name was in that year’s list.

From Whimsy Capricious, I found this fun link on creating your own SouthPark character.

Carnival of Recipes is up over at Allan’s place (Inside Allan’s Mind). Go look at those yummy recipes!

UPDATE 11:17am
My horse dog made the Carnival of Dogs over at Mickey's Musings. Not many listed, but some great links to other carnivals and pictures.

I'm as Big as A Horse

I found this picture and could not resist posting it. Makes my cute little dog look as big as a horse... or my Pony look as tiny as a dog. GRIN.

New Toys

For Christmas we bought each child a workbench. Today, I actually pulled them out and put them together. As you can see #1 Son has taken over both benches. Don’t you love the safety glasses??? Click picture to enlarge it.

= = = =
Yes, those are drawers full of cars, trucks and other vehicles between the two workbenches. Doesn't stop #1 Son from sneaking over to play with his brother's workbench.

Music Meme Answered

I was tagged on Feb 1, 2005 to do the Music Meme by Bou at Boudicca’s Voice. I haven’t had time. But today I thought I would give it a shot. I am terrible with the names of Artists and Song Titles. I will do the best I can.

Random Ten Albums:
.     Janet by Janet Jackson
.     Music Box by Mariah Carey
.     For the Record by Alabama
.     Timeless Classics by George Gershwin
.     Harmony of Strings by Tranquil Moods
.     The Moment by Kenny G
.     Spellbound by Paula Abdul
.     Dead Parrot Society by Monty Python
.     Nature’s Romantic Piano by Nature Quest
.     NikiNana by Yanni

1.  What is the total amount of music files on your computer? Zero
2.  The last CD you bought is: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for my kids
3.  What is the song you last listened to before this message? Brandenburg Concerto No.2, 3 from the Baby Einstein, Baby Bach video
4.  Five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
.     a. Learn to be Still by the Eagles

.     b. Sister Golden Hair by America
.     c. That’s the Way Love Goes by Janet Jackson
.     Three is all my brain is going to pick up right now.
5.  Who are you gonna pass this stick to (five persons and why)? No one.

Unless someone who reads my blog likes to answer these kind of things, then PLEASE take these questions and answer them. I love reading this about other people, but I hate to put people on the spot.

Son Number 2

Recently I had a bunch of pictures of #1 Son. Now it is time for #2 Son to be shown off.

Nothing like sitting still with a cracker in your mouth!

= = = = = = = =

How could you resist picking up this cute boy? If you are mom – really easily.

= = = = = = = =

Here’s Dad giving him the nebulizer treatment.

Having Babies Alters Mother's Brain

Only my Mom would watch a show that talks about how having a baby alters a mother's brain.

And there is an article on-line that started the talk on the show (see link above). I love the quote from it that says:

If you're a rat, it makes you better at finding and killing dinner quickly.

Ahhh... and I thought I only lost brain cells after having children. GRIN.

Wildlife Sanctuary

When the in-laws were here, we went to a wildlife sanctuary nearby. J took some awesome pictures of the wildlife through the bars of the cages. (the kids photos will be tomorrow!) Here are some pictures:

It was the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary and it is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and conservation of Florida's wildlife and natural resources. Those pictures that J took are of animals that cannot be released back to the wild.

Lemon Supreme Pound Cake

It is Carnival of Recipes time again! I have gotten so many great recipes from it, I'm adding another recipe of my own. Allan from Inside Allan's Mind is hosting this week. Thanks Allan!

LEMON SUPREME POUND CAKE
1 pkg. Duncan Hines Lemon Cake mix
1 pkg [4 serving size] lemon instant pudding mix
1\3 [one third cup] Crisco oil
1 cup orange juice
4 eggs
Blend all ingredients in a bowl, then beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Bake in a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan for 45--55 minutes [until center springs back when touched]

Take from the oven and immediately punch holes with an ice pick all over and pour glaze over hot cake. Cool in pan for about 15 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool.

GLAZE
1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
1/3 [about 2 lemons] lemon juice

Mix together while cake is baking. When cake is done pour over hot cake as directed above.

Humor for Dreaded Wednesdays

You lovers of the English language might enjoy this. There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is "UP."

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP?

Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends and we smile to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.

We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.

At other times the little word has real special meaning.

People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and
think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

This UP is confusing:

A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used.
It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP.
When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.
When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so............ since I took so much time to speak UP, I guess it's time to shut UP.....!

Oh...one more thing:

What is the first thing you do in the morning &the last thing you do at night?
U P

Milestones

I remember when (sounds like I’m really old now!) I use to set myself milestones for the year, for the next couple of days and occasionally what I would be doing for the day. Now they look something like this:

For the next week:
1. Get #2 Son through the teething process. He has 4 molars all coming out at the same time.
2. Get all kids over being sick. Both kids are on antibiotics and nebulizer.
3. Get mom over being sick. Mom is on her second set of antibiotics in a month.

For the day:
1. Do at least one load of laundry.
2. Feed everyone.
3. Remember to look for the humor in things (yes, I have to remind myself to do this).
4. Remember to get something out for dinner.

Amazing but I can’t have more than 3 or 4 items or nothing will be done. So what does your milestone list look like?

Happy Valentine’s Day

May your day be as relaxing as laying in laundry:

And as much devilment as sneaking off with a spoon to get something good to eat:

Husband’s Sister and Husband In Town

There is a ton of cute pictures, but here are some of #1 Son. Enjoy!

Here is Aunt B and #1 Son decorating sugar cookies. Click pictures to enlarge.

Uncle J had #1 Son make some faces for him for the camera. These pictures are as big as they get.

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

After a busy day, #1 Son fell asleep in the car. Click pictures to enlarge.

Eagles

My Husband, his sister and her husband are all Eagles fans. Whether the Eagles are winning or losing, they support them. Even to the point of buying my children Eagles clothes. Cute, huh?

Click any picture to enlarge it.

Here is #1 Son showing us his big rock.

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Here is #2 Son showing us his big beautiful blue eyes.

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My goodness, it looks like I have twins!

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Here is #1 Son showing us the proper stance for football.

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“I’m the cute Eagle fan”, has to be what #2 Son is saying.

More pictures in the days to follow.

More humor for dreaded Wednesday Friday

Pharmacology

In pharmacology, all drugs have two names - a trade name and a generic name. For example, the trade name of Tylenol is acetaminophen. Aleve is known as naproxen, Amoxil is amoxicillin, and Advil is ibuprofen.

The FDA has been looking for a generic name for Viagra. After consideration by a team of government experts, it recently announced it has settled on the generic name of mycoxafloppin. Also considered were mycoxafailin, mydixadrupin, mydixarizin, mydixadud, dixafix, and of course ibepokin.

Pfizer Corp. is making an announcement today that Viagra will soon be available in liquid form and will be marketed by Pepsi Cola as a power beverage suitable for use as a mixer. Pepsi's proposed ad campaign claims it will now be possible for a man to literally pour himself a stiff one.

Obviously we can no longer call this a soft drink. This additive gives new meaning to the names of cocktails, highballs and just a good old fashioned stiff drink. Pepsi will market the new concoction by the name of Mount & Do.

Humor for Dreaded Wednesday Friday

Imagine this being sent from a man (not me!)...

This new scam is being pulled mainly on older men.

What happens is that when you stop for a red light, a young nude woman comes up and pretends to be washing your windshield.

While she is doing this, another person opens your back door and steals anything in the car.

They are very good at this.

They got me 7 times Friday and 5 times Saturday. I wasn't able to find them on Sunday.

Hurry hurry hurry

It has been one of those days where it feels like the world around me is in a hurry and I just can’t keep up. Now I’m going to slow down even more and post a really cute picture of my #1 Son. His grandmother gave him this paint set that is not messy at all. Snicker Snicker. Click picture to enlarge it.

Stuffed Chicken Rolls

Here is my entry for the Carnival of Recipes this week. It is from the Kraft Stuffing box. It was delicious. Kris at Anywhere But Here is hosting this week!

Ingredients:

1 pkg (6 oz) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken
2 eggs, lightly beaten
6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/4-inch thick
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp paprika

Directions:

1. Combine stuffing mix and 1 cup water in large bowl. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in eggs. Spread stuffing mixture evenly over chicken breasts, to within 1/2 inch of outer edges. Roll up chicken from one short end to enclose stuffing mixture.
2. Place chicken rolls, seam side down, in 13x9 inch baking dish. Mix soup and milk, pour over chicken. Sprinkle with paprika.
3. Bake at 400F for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

What Happened for Valentine’s Party?

It is just driving you nuts to find out what I did, isn’t it? Ok, here is the breakdown per child:

Play-doh = $0.50 each
2 Dinosaurs = $0.30 for the two of them
Misc. items: tissue paper, ribbon, construction paper = $0.50 each child

Total cost for one child = $1.30 or for all 12 children = $15.60

The tissue paper was used to create little gift bags, the construction paper was used to make red hearts for the tags and the ribbon was used to tie it all together. Not bad!

Thank you to everyone for your help!!! For those that emailed and called, I remembered to mention that this month is Dinosaur month at his school. For everyone else, that is why I have dinosaurs in the gifts. GRIN.

Now about those Sugar cookies… I should never try to bake something for the first time with the help of a 2 year old. My cookies ended up being about ½ to ¾ inch in height BEFORE baking. He was much better at cutting the heart shape cookies out when they were thicker. They did not bake up very well though. Too doughy tasting. But Nestle has these wonderful premade cookie dough Sugar cookies. Worked like a charm.

Here is a picture of everything (minus a few cookies still being baked): click picture to enlarge it

Thanks again to everyone! Lee Ann, Jennifer, Tammi, (Prochein) Amy, Harvey and Bou. Also to Patti, Mom and a few others.

Sugar Cookies, Superbowl, Spitting, Sickness

These items kept me from posting this weekend. The one I really wanted to post about was the spitting. Did anyone else have a son that went through a spitting stage? If so, how long does it last???? My #1 Son came home Thursday from school and kept making these horrible sneezing / hacking sounds and then drool came out of his mouth. It took me a little while to realize, he was trying to spit. He was doing it on purpose. It was GROSS. Either I want him to spit right or not at all. I have no clue how to teach a kid to spit ‘cleanly’. Consequently, it is no spitting at all. I am open for suggestions on how to handle this situation.

The other items will be posted about later, except Superbowl. All I have to say is what a sad day... so close and yet so far for the Eagles.

UPDATE at 10:40am Found a good site for seeing those commercials, particularly for those of us who missed most of the game. SuperBowl Ads

Silly games

I'm a sucker to go and try out on-line games. Particularly those made for kids. Hat tip to Anywhere But Here for this Doom Funnel Chaser game by Vegie Tales.

Update: Found a better game: Mah-Jongg at Nabisco. This is what happens when you eat Chips ahoy Chunky cookies... you find games to play.

So Many Things, So Little Time

Two Carnival of Recipes have gone by and I’ve missed them. But I don’t want you to miss out on those wonderful recipes.

Two weeks ago The Men’s Carnival of the Recipe #24 was featured over at Kin’s Kouch.

This week the Carnival of Recipes #25 is over at The Glittering Eye. Easy to read and lots of delicious recipes.

From Snooze Button Dreams, I found a couple of items I really enjoyed. This humorous article on Tell Me Why and Take a Bite Out of PETA. Please go sign the petition on Take a Bite of PETA. I have some horror stories I could tell you about them when I was raising birds that would make you sick. There are way too many ‘over the edge’ people in PETA.

Need something to tickle the brain cells? Read about Numbers from Random Fate.

I was looking for a Sugar Cookie recipe today and found it at Prochein Amy. Thanks!

For some Friday humor check out this POST at Iowa Geek. The Bra humor is NOT work safe.

Hope you enjoy some of the things I stole linked to for Friday. More on the kids over the weekend. Like spitting, golfing and other goodies.

Llamas

Ogre got my attention with his comment on the fact he said Disney’s Animal Kingdom was lame because they had no llamas. Blllllhhhhhhhh to you. They do have Llamas at the Animal Kingdom and the kids get to pet them! Affection Section has a delightful animal encounter with goats, sheep, pigs, chicken, llamas and more.

This and other odd facts coming your way over the next day or two.

The Last Part of the Story

So much happened, I’m just trying to pick out some of the better stories to share. It’s morning and we are off to Disney World. We take the monorail over to Disney (it’s a TRAIN for #1 Son). Once we get there, we take the Choo choo Train to Mickey’s House (as #1 Son tells it).

First ride is the race cars. Husband and #1 Son get in line, myself and #2 Son are relegated to wait and take pictures. While I’m waiting I walk around and end up back at the ride. I start talking to the attendant of the ride. Turns out she has an 18 month old girl, so there is something in common between us. A little while later, a woman with a child smaller than #2 Son gets on the ride. I ask the attendant if I could have taken #2 Son on and she says yes. Ohhh mannn. I mention that if I had known that I would have gotten in line with my Husband. (it has now been about 20 minutes). She asks if I still want to go. YES! I park the stroller and come back. She opens the side entrance and lets me and #2 Son through. Straight to the front of the line and puts us in a car! Yep… I wave to #1 Son and Husband as I am loading up into a racecar. Tee hee. They still had 15 minutes to go before they got in a car.

As it turns out, when they got ready to get in a car, the attendant asked #1 Son if he had a driver’s license. He said “Yes”. So she held out her hand and asked to see it. He gave her a slap on the hand (high five!). Amazing what kids will do. My Husband let #1 Son drive. His back may never be the same.

Click Pictures to Enlarge Them

One other story and then the rest of the pictures. I never liked Winnie the Pooh and one year I ended up hating Winnie the Pooh (had 4 baby showers within 4 months of each other and they all wanted Pooh stuff – UGH). But Bou loves Winnie and has passed down to my sons Winnie the Pooh clothes and stuff. Which has taught me to tolerate him. Much to my disbelief there is a Winnie the Pooh ride at Disney. I had totally forgotten about it.

It turns out that #2 Son fell asleep about the time we were going to get on it, so my Husband and #1 Son went by themselves. #1 Son still talks about it every day. Winnie the Pooh, riding Honey Pot, Tigger, Bouncing. Did you get that? He went on the Winnie the Pooh, where they ride in a Honey Pot and at some point they see Tigger and the Pot bounces along with him. Sigh. Every day I have heard this story since we got back. Every day.

So here are the rest of the pictures. Enjoy!

I HATE the sun in my eyes! (I’m sure that is what he is saying since he smiled as soon as we got back into the shade):

Don’t you love the hat?

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Waiting for the Boat (leaving Disney):

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On the Boat:

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Car ride home (stole Mom’s sunglasses):

Humor for Dreaded Wednesday

Florida Blonde in Pennsylvania As a trucker stops for a red light, a blonde catches up. She jumps out of her car, runs up to his truck, and knocks on the door. The trucker lowers the window, and she says, "Hi, my name is Heather and you are losing some of your load." The trucker ignores her and proceeds down the street. When the truck stops for another red light, the girl catches up again. She jumps out of her car, runs up and knocks on the door. Again, the trucker lowers the window. As if they've never spoken, the blonde says brightly, "Hi my name is Heather, and you are losing some of your load!"

Shaking his head, the trucker ignores her again and continues down the street.

At the third red light, the same thing happens again. All out of breath, the blonde gets out of her car, runs up, and knocks on the truck door. The trucker lowers the window. Again she says, "Hi, my name is Heather, and you are losing some of your load!

When the light turns green the trucker revs up and races to the next light. When he stops this time, he hurriedly gets out of the truck, and runs back to the blonde. He knocks on her window, and as she lowers it, he says... "Hi, my name is Kevin, it's winter in PENNSYLVANIA and I'm driving the SALT TRUCK.

Second Part of the Story

We went to the Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge for the night. This is what the kids looked like on our way to the hotel:

Once we got to the hotel, we wanted to walk around. Here is some pictures from one of the observation points:

And here is just a few of the animals we could see from our Balcony:

Here is a sample of the Balcony:

Notice the nice y shape at the top of some of the rails. While calling my mom to let her know about the hotel, my #1 Son put his hand in the y, his foot on the bottom horizontal rail and started to pull his body up. The conversation with my mom went something like:

“Mom, the hotel is gorgeous. Son stop that! The rooms are large. Son STOP that climbing! You can see some great animals from the balcony. I gotta go, my Son is trying to climb OVER the balcony. Bye!!”

Well, he was unable to get his leg high enough to make it over. Later on, he moved the ottoman next to the railing. Smart boy. Luckily Dad was with him and not me. Ohhh by the way, our room was on the 5th Floor.

Shortly after that, he discovered he was able to fit under the wall between the rooms. Dad caught him before he was completely on the other side. #2 Son was right behind him.

It is a really nice hotel. They had a nice playground (which the kids enjoyed), a nice pool (which we did not go into), decent restaurants, and nice rooms. I would recommend it… particularly in the off-season when it is cheaper!

More tomorrow!

A Cry for Help for a Valentine’s Party

What is this all about? My #1 Son’s classroom is having a party for the kids. I have to come up with 12 gifts. I have very little money and basically no time to make really cool stuff, or do a lot of shopping around. Sounds weird since their party is Feb 10th, but trust me, that is not a lot of time.

Argh! I didn’t know that having children would be so difficult. I love parties, I love making things, I love it when I have TIME to do these things. Right now, I really don’t have the time to do anything but the basics (laundry, vacuuming, feeding children, changing diapers, and repeat constantly).

I would love to get those kids something really nice to help them celebrate Valentine’s Day… so please give me some suggestions!

Thanks in advance for your help. You can always email me at onehappydog@excite.com if you don’t want to put it in the comments section (or if Blogger is being difficult letting you comment).

First of a Three Part Story

We’re back safe and sound. It was so much fun going on this trip. I was worried that the boys would be too young to enjoy it or get too fussy. Nope, it worked out just right. I don’t have time to tell everything in one sitting, so I’m breaking it into three parts. First part will be Sea World, second part will be the hotel, and the third part will be Disney World. And for those not wanting to read what happened, just skip on down and enjoy the pictures. More pictures of the kids tomorrow.

My Husband had been talking to #1 Son about seeing the whales all week. Finally we make it to Sea World and the first thing my Son wants to see is the WHALES…

They are located opposite of where you come into the park and the first show isn’t until 11:30am. Did I mention it was only 9:30am? After we explain to our 2 year old that we can’t see them until they are ‘ready’ to come out, we head off to find our way around.

First show we see is the Seal/Walrus show. Both kids enjoyed the show. I think #2 Son was just enjoying all the people and the hustle/noise, while #1 Son was watching the show. Time to leave the show. Sigh. I have to tell you what happened because from this point on because any pictures you see of #2 Son will cause a pause. Yes, he scraped his nose in a bad way. There is a ramp that leads down from the stadium to the rest of the park. Attempting to let #2 Son walk while holding his hand is like struggling to hold a crocodile that is trying to do the death role. Yet, I felt he needed to walk around instead of being in the stroller or being held the whole time. I let him walk down the ramp with me, while I was holding his hand. After a few minutes, I got tired of the screaming, fighting, pulling, sitting down, rolling around. You guessed it, I let him walk it himself. 5 steps are all he made before taking a nose dive. Literally. Even after this, he still did not want to get in the stroller but wanted to walk. What a stubborn child.

There is so much I could tell about this trip… the cheerleading championships being held there (in the morning it was little girls – maybe 6 or 7 years old?). I almost took a picture because I couldn’t believe these kids dressed up with makeup and hair better than the average woman. My Husband was getting #1 Son to wave at them. Already teaching him how to flirt with the ladies. GRIN.

Or when #1 Son said the Clydesdales had big PU butts. The whole eating experience is always entertaining. Mom having to share her strawberries, sigh. Still, I loved the awe my #1 Son had when he saw the Penguins, the Sharks swimming overhead, the Dolphins (no show going while we were there, but you could see them), the White Whales, the Polar Bears, and so much more.

But the best part has been when we got home and he wanted to talk to everyone on the phone to tell them about it. My #1 Son wanted to talk!!! He picked up the cell phone and tried to call someone. I asked who and he said “Mamaw”. YAAAAAAAAA. I dialed the phone and asked her to talk to him. He told her about the Whale tail getting Daddy wet. About the Walrus with two big teeth. The big Penguin swimming by him. The Polar (actually he said Panda) Bear that scared him. And some other stuff I’m not sure what it was. He did keep going back to saying he saw the Big Whales.

Here are some pictures to enjoy.