Andrew's First Tantrum

He wanted to eat paper towel, and I wouldn't let him.

 

rhyming - gracie style

Grace just learned what a rhyme is - "Mommy, Cat.  Hat.  See?  Rhyme!!!!" 

As she kept this up this weekend we realized that she was taking every word and adding a "Pl" at the beginning.

Gracie. Placie. Rhyme!
Kevin. Plevin. Rhyme!
Bridget. Plidget.  Rhyme!
Andrew. Plandrew. Rhyme!

Now she has realized this makes her parents laugh hysterically, but today she threw us for a loop.

"Gracie, what rhymes with store?"
Plore!
"Bag?"
Plag!
"Counter?"
Plounter!
"Cracker?"
Placker!
"Banana?"
Tree! 
Which she found hilarious....I love toddler jokes.

No Monsters Allowed!

Grace has been scared of monsters in her room lately.  We are not sure if this is being used as a tactic to avoid sleep or if it is genuine.  We decided to play it safe by having the house sprayed with monster repellent and we made a sign to warn any monsters that come knocking.

Kevin

Tonight at the garden center I saw one of those pretty evergreen topiary trees, Kevin and I liked it but we decided not to purchase it. 

Later as we were pulling out of the parking lot, he said in a thoughtful tone, "You know what?  I decided I do not like those ball tree things."

Me, "Oh really, why?"

Kevin, "I feel like those cliched things are just not "me"." 

Uh okay.  Never thought of topiaries as "cliched" but uh whatever. 

He may not like manicured lawn trees but he is a great dad...so that works for me.

Snapshots from last night

Awesome family portrait

Easy and delicious potato salad

Anyone who has been over to my house in the last few years for a party has probably had this potato salad.

Small red potatos or fingerling potatos (the ones i photographed were from the farmers market...look at this purple one....Grace would say "Mommy, look at that CRAZY potato")

Cut into small pieces and toss with olive oil, garlic or shallots, and salt and pepper. Sometimes I add dried rosemary in while they roast.

Bake in a hot (like 425 or so) oven until the edges are crispy and the potatos are soft.

Toss with fresh herbs, parmesan cheese, or just eat as is. 

Serve warm, room temp or cold.

Ham and a half

Grace is a character, as you all know.....this photo is of her "posing"....

Recently I called her a "ham", and she said "I am a ham and a half!"

channeling martha stewart - failed attempt

So last Saturday I was at the grocery store and saw some great looking cookies in the bakery.  I could have bought those for dessert, but instead I thought, "Why not make those super cute ice cream cone cupcakes that I had once for a birthday treat in the 6th grade and thought were awesome?"

An acceptable answer would have been, "Because you are having 3 families over for dinner tonight, which by the way is in 3 hours and you have not showered yet.  Or made dinner yet.  Or appetizers yet.  Or cleaned up the house and backyard yet."  But the ice cream cone cupcakes are so darn cute, so i ignored my inner voice...she was saying "stop! buy the cookies!"

Anyways, I used a cake mix and a box of cake cones. 

Make the mix according to the directions on the box, pour it in the cones, put frosting on top, simple - right?  Not really. 

One tip I read was to put the cones in an egg container, but that didn't really work.

The muffin pans worked well, meaning none tipped over. 

The directions said "fill cones 1/2 full with batter". But I wanted the domed tops, so I filled them up to the top. Not a good idea, you get this....

But the little cake dribbles were DELICIOUS. And irresistable (this piece went immediately into my mouth after the photo was taken).

 

So, in short,  it was a mes.

But on the upside, I think I have found a frosting recipe that rivals my beloved Bay Bakery frosting!  Now, I was a bit embarassed purchasing....

at the grocery store....but it is trans fat free!  Does that make it ok?  No?  Does it help a bit? No? Oh well.  The frosting was good.  Really good.

So not exactly a Martha Stewart-esque effort, but not a total failure either.

Oh and my little taste tester....

weird things my kids do

When Grace is supposed to be going to sleep, she does lots of odd things. 

 Like put stickers on her fingers...

and the wall...

And pull up the edges of her carpet.... 

and more stickers on her wall...Not cool Grace, not cool.

I also found baby snack food in there the other day.  And she likes to venture into the guest room and mess with the filing cabinet.  Why Grace?  Why!? 

And Baby Andrew....well he loves to take any object ( I mean anything...stuffed animals, tupperware, hair brushes...) and put it under one hand and scoot around.  He has figured that his makes him an even faster crawler, and, well, he likes that.

but isn't he cute?

baby shower

A few weeks ago I was so lucky to get to co-host a baby shower for Maggie.

Grace and I had lots of fun decorating the house.  We made a diaper cake,

a clothes line of onesies to hang over the gift table, and baby pictures of Maggie and Jonathan were displayed in the dining room.

Grace was so proud of her handiwork.

We had a large group, good food and Maggie got a lot of really fun and practical baby gifts - which Grace helped her open. 

thank you city of milwaukee

...for not putting up a sign informing drivers of the impending road construction.  My poor minivan did not handle the 8" drop at 30mph too well.

First Movie!

This weekend my mom and I took Grace to her 1st movie in a theatre - Toy Story 3! 

We chose Fox Bay theatre, which is retro and fun.  We made a quick stop at the local pharmacy to stock up on fun candy before the show.  

 

Grace was very excited to see Woody & Buzz, and eat the candy that we snuck in.

The movie only option at the theatre was the 3D version, which is not ideal for a first movie experience. 

Grace refused to wear the glasses for 99% of the movie, but she didn't seem to mind that the movie was a bit blurry.  Grace only had to be removed from the theatre one time (for a temper tantrum about candy) - so all in all it was a success.