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Thursday, May 15, 2008

12 on the 12th

Monday, May 12th: (and yes, my children stayed in pajamas all day!)

I'm not normally up before Jeremiah goes to work, but Ellie woke up around 7 to eat so after I fed her I made breakfast for the first time in a LONG time! Up until a few months ago I would make Jeremiah breakfast every Wednesday morning. Occassionally on other mornings too, but Wednesday was the guaranteed day. So he was pretty happy to have a good breakfast this morning!



Callie likes to sleep late like a "teeny-ager" as she calls them. She's very often the last one up in the mornings. I woke her up finally to eat her waffle that was waiting for her. The rest of us had already finished breakfast!



Jackson is waiting for me to change his poopy pull-up! I'm glad he thinks it's such a fun thing for me! At least it's usually just only once a day in the morning.



Callie dances & prances everywhere, all the time! One day she asked if I was as good of a dancer as she was. She didn't believe me when I told her I was so I danced to a song that was playing. She was in complete awe & thought I was absolutely amazing (thank you very much!)! But even a little later she would do a move & then ask if I could do it. Most of the time I told her I couldn't and sometimes she'd say, "Come on mom, it's easy! You just do this!" and she'd give me instructions! :)



Jack is so good at doing things by himself. He loves to read & it's very common to find him sitting or laying quietly "reading" books!



Just one of the many things on my to-do list! I finally fixed the track for the drawer to go back onto (of course I caused more damage that I had to fix in the process), but I still need to sand & repaint the dresser. I'd had the drawers sitting out for a few days though needing my attention. That's what happens when you spend $40 on a craigslist dresser instead of $800 on a new nice one! But I do love the scallop trim at the top of this one -isn't it adorable?! I plan on refinishing it in a shabby green or white. Someday. (I've already had it for a year I think!)



I got baby toys out of storage for Ellie so Callie had a great time rediscovering the fun things that peek-a-blocks do!



Ellie loves her swing! And I love that she loves it! I'm actually feeling good about myself because I have made a point so far to not just leave her in it all day, although lots of times she'd probably let me! She gets plenty of tummy time, bouncy seat time, & mom's arms time while she's awake.



Jeremiah called around 6 (the time he normally comes home) and said he'd be another 40 mins to an hour! It seems like this is getting more & more common. I'd tried really hard to have dinner ready when he walked in the door so we went ahead & ate without him. Can you believe I cooked?! Okay, I didn't really. Thanks to Stouffer's! We had a pretty yummy "rigattoni with chicken in a basil pesto sauce" dish.



The kids play outside every day & they were especially dirty so a bath was definitely necessary! These bath paints didn't work at all! The only thing they ended up doing was tinting the water. Oh, and Jack took the lid off the yellow & set it on the side of the tub, where it of course got knocked over & almost the entire bottle ended up on the bathroom rug which I had to rush to the sink to make sure the dye got rinsed out right away!



Our family night lesson was on listening so for our activity we played this "Listen-and-Learn" game that I got from WalMart for $4. I highly recommend it! It comes with a cd and these bingo-type cards. The kids listen to the different sounds on the cd & put the marker on the animal (or bug) that made the noise. There is no winner, and it's a fun activity that we've played several times since I got it last week. They love it!



Callie asked if they could watch the cookies bake. Sure! They sat here for at least half of the bake time. That's a long time for a 2 & 3 year old to just sit! I've had major cookie issues! No matter what I do my cookies always seem to turn out flat with crispy edges. Wendy and I have been making the exact same chocolate chip cookie recipe for almost 7 years and her cookies always come out of the oven nice & round. A couple weeks ago I ate somebody else's choco chip cookies that I LOVED so I got her recipe & again, mine came out really flat while hers were plump. What gives? I bought brand new baking soda, hand-mixed the cookies when I combined the dry w/the wet, & I even sifted the flour. I don't know which one of those things made the difference this time or if it was a combination, but after years of flat cookies I finally had a round one closer to what I desired!!! I was ecstatic! They were the best cookies I've made in a LONG time - maybe ever! Anybody have any feedback on what I could be doing wrong to always (except this once) end up with flat crispy cookies?! It's been driving me seriously nuts!

7 talk to me:

Chelsea said...

It's possible you need more flour in your dough to add height. How sticky/wet is the dough when you scoop it out?

Another thing is the temp. on your oven. It might say it's at 350 or 375, but I'd get an oven thermometer (the one that hang on one of the racks) to get more even oven temperature.

Chelsea said...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea/episode/0,1976,FOOD_9956_17114,00.html

check out that link.

katrina hayes said...

:) hah hah, your kids are SO beautiful!! congratulations on the latest one!

James and Audra said...

Yeah, I would check on how much liquid is in the cookie dough. Mine do that when I add just a little to much water or milk. I love your pics. Looks like you guys are doing well. Love Audra

La Familia Mata said...

I've said it before, I'll say it again... you're kids are beautiful!! I hear you on having the dinner ready on time. With David's work schedule, he never knows for sure what time he'll be home. Supe frustrating when we've "slaved" over a "home-cooked" meal, huh?

shannon said...

yup, i am with chelsea...you might need more flour. i like to make my at a little higher temp to make the brown top, but it's still oooey and gooey in the middle. i have the best recipe ever...i'll email it to you. i worked on my own recipe for years and it works every time!

Jessica said...

Probably sifting the flour is what is making the cookies flat. Baking is chemistry, its all about ratios. The ratio is more important that the exact measurement on the recipe. If its a more humid day I add a bit more flour. For perfect cookies you need the right ratio of flour to sugar. Once you get the perfect dough, make sure you taste it so you'll know how it tastes. When in doubt, add more flour! :)