Last day of September

My mom's cousin Debbie has been wanting to babysit Levi so she volunteered to come by and give us a night out. We took advantage of the opportunity and went to the movies. It has been such a long time since we went to a movie that wasn't a matinee, we were horrified that it now costs $9 per person!! We saw Burn After Reading, which was humorous but I could have done without the excessive use of swearing. Lots of infidelity also, and some gory scenes too. When we got home she commented that "You two are the luckiest parents ever. He was such a good boy. This evening was the highlight of my week!" We were glad that they both had a good experience, reading books and playing until he crashed (early) at 7:50.

Before dinner I threw together a coleslaw for our work potluck tomorrow. I have never made coleslaw before. I used the head of red cabbage I had left over from Thursday and sent Matt out to the store for the rest of what I needed. Red onion, carrots, celery, vinegar, dry mustard. It turned out ok. I don't like raw onions so I probably should have left that out. Because I used red cabbage, it stained all the other colorful ingredients and now it is just a big purple mess. I hope people eat it! Levi had a great time "helping" me make it. First he pulled a carrot out of the bag and just went to town gnawing on it. Then when I started chopping the celery he wanted to eat that too. I was glad to see his healthy liking for raw vegetables! As a result, he didn't eat a lot of his dinner.

After the movie I had to rest. It was exhausting gimping around at the theatre and up the stairs to a good seat. I watched the end of the Biggest Loser and then some doctor show and decided to make a cucumber salad. One of the gals at work had some today for lunch and it just sounded like a good idea. So I made that up using my grandma Joyce's recipe and added some tomatoes. We will have that tomorrow for dinner.

I am signed up for the Daring Baker's challenge this month. I can't wait to see what they come up with for me to make. I will blog the experience once it is all over.

Volume

Today Levi wanted to watch his Thomas video, so Matt put it in for him. The volume, somehow was set too high, so when the video started up it was blazingly loud. Matt reports that Levi jumped up, ran over and turned it all the way down. Then, befuddled, he turned the knob back and forth, trying to find the decibel he desired.

He also mimicked me today when I said 'garbage.' He got his hand dirty playing with a racquetball racquet and I told him to go get me a baby wipe, he ran off saying "baby" and came back with the motorcycle helmet hood. He rubbed his hand on that and seemed satisfied that it was clean enough.

Words, words, words

Levi is just exploding with words lately. He is trying to copy more of what we say and at times is really amusing. This morning he said "diaper" and then as matt was changing him he was saying "oh noo....oh noo...." and he loves to point at his diaper pail and say "ewww!" He has also started pointing at the posteriors of animals in pictures that he sees in his books and says "ew!" Yesterday he brought me a toy car and said what sounded like "corvette." He also has an ice cream truck that he has been pointing at and saying "mum? mum! S. S!" I think he is saying 'ice' but it sounds like 's'.

We have a Mr. T talking keychain and Levi loves to push the buttons and hear Mr. T say his famous phrases. Today as I was getting ready to leave for work, Levi pushed the button that says "First name Mr. Middle name period. Last name Ttttttt." And just as he says his last name Levi chimed in with "Ttttt" What a riot! Next thing I know, he will be telling me to quit my jibberjabber. Ha ha ha.

At lunch today Matt went to Subway with his dad. Levi then said two more words - cow and apple. No more mooo when he sees a bovine, now it's the real thing. Cow!

He also has learned the word 'more' for when he wants something - he used to say "mmmmm!" and point to the food he wanted. Now it's "more-ah" "Mum! Morah!" I've created a monster.... LOL

We went in to the clinic today to have my ortho appointment. Levi ran the halls, waving at nurses and yelling "hi! hi! hi!" until one of them said "Well hello little boy, what are you in for?" and he stopped and thought and said "MuM!" and turned and ran back down the hall towards me. Crazy kid.

The update on the knee is that yes it is still fractured (4 more x-rays later). Dr wants me to come in next week for more x-rays. Then if it is healing well at that point I can wait a month before having ... you guessed it - MORE X-RAYs. Sheesh! He was glad to see me using crutches. Said everything looked ok for now. Hard to tell without an MRI but forget it, I am not going to all that trouble. Have to keep weight off my foot another six weeks. That puts me into mid-November before I can walk again. Just in time to fall and re-break it on some ice. Darn it, I was hoping not to be gimpy for my birthday. Oh well.

Tonight at dinner Levi ate half a baked potato, a bunch of chickpeas and even tasted and ate a couple pieces of zucchini!! I couldn't believe it! He has been spitting zucchini out for a long time now. He would say "zu..chi...ni..." and eat it. I guess it is such a fun word that makes eating it fun too. We also started teaching him to say "please" instead of "more-ah" when he wants something. Today Levi has really found a key to language.

Dinner out

Tonight we hoped to try that new Thai place in town so I called Jenee' up and asked her if she wanted to join us. She and Lisa and the kids (and a friend, Matt) met us there and as we pulled in we couldn't help but notice the empty parking lot. Uh oh. Jenee' said "they're closed on Sundays." Whoops. We mentioned Iceberg but they had eaten there lately. So we suggested Pacific Express. We all zoomed on up to eastgate and had a family-style dinner, trying many different dishes. It was really good, and the price was great too. The kids, despite missing naps and having the potential to be cranky, all behaved really well. Maddaly showed off her verbal skills by saying "Aleksandr!" twice. WOW!

I also finished reading my Seabiscuit book today. I was sad that it was over, it really held my attention. If anyone wants to borrow it, let me know, this is one I won't be putting up on paperbackswap.com

Crusin'

This morning Matt took his motorcycle driving test and passed - earning his endorsement!

Later this morning, when he pulled up in front of the house and turned the truck off, Levi looked at him and said 'Home!' and pointed at the house. Wow!

Survivor Premier

Today when work was over, I got busy making dough for some pizza. It takes an hour to rise so in the meantime I chopped sugar snap sweet peas, red cabbage, carrots, and made some spicy peanut bake tofu for toppings on a Thai-style pizza.

Jenee' and I had planned to watch the Survivor premier together. Well, I was an hour late getting to her place and by then her friend Alicia had called her (in labor) wanting her to take some photos of the new baby. Jenee's sister Lisa was there with her husband Darren and the kids. Lisa and I could not figure out what channel Survivor was on because Jenee' does not have cable - she has rabbit ears on top the television stand. Hmm. Well we had the pizza cooking so focused on that instead until we could get Jenee' on the phone. She said the show was on channel 19. Ah ha! There it is!

Well Jenee' got back about in time for the second hour so we were amused by the antics and arguments already of the Fang tribe. I may have to watch the first hour online if I can find it so I can see what I missed. It was a nice evening and Jenee' reported that Alicia's baby was about 8 lbs 6 oz (?) and named Anthony.

Misc.

Since my knee injury on Saturday I have found that I have a lot of time to just lay around and do nothing. It is quite annoying at times to not be as active as I am used to being. I thought maybe I could get addicted to lots more tv shows but since Matt is in school now, he needs quiet to concentrate on his studies so my tv time is limited. (I guess that's a good thing). He is doing great and getting 100% on his papers and extra credit assignments so far.

So, I have taken up reading. I started Seabiscuit and it is a fantastic book! It has so much history in it, it is not just about the horse but all the people involved in the story and what life was like at the time. I am about half way though it already. The way I came across this book is neat - someone posted free books on Walla Walla Freecycle and we happened to be the first people to swing by the address listed and pick them up.

Yesterday Matt collected 10 eggs. I can't figure that one out. I have ten chickens and I thought for sure one is a rooster. Well maybe Harrison is not a "he?" Or perhaps it's possible Matt missed one last time he collected the eggs, but he doesn't think so. I think we finally have enough to give away or sell a dozen or maybe even two dozen. All my girls must be laying now, and I am FINALLY getting tired of eating eggs! :)

Levi is getting better at saying "All done" and will use that now to let us know when he is done with dinner.

The end.

Today Levi brought his "Mater" book to Matt because he wanted Matt to read it to him. At first Matt was not sure what Levi was saying but he finally did figure it out that Levi was following him around, holding up the book saying "The End....The End" He will also say Mater now and is learning the other characters in the movie/books and will point to them as I list them off.

Silly kid. We are just relieved that his language skills are finally taking off.

Levi also has a (bad) habit of throwing food, or anything, on the floor. I think he enjoys watching the dogs jump at the treats he drops. We have been trying to break him of this by telling him that he should not throw things on the floor and he gets a time-out. Today when Matt asked him if we throw things on the floor he said "nooo" solemnly and sat through his time-out quietly. So he seems to be catching on. Now I just need to teach him to clean up after himself :)

Keys

Levi's word of the day is keys. He was watching Matt out the window and turned around and saw our car keys on his highchair tray and pointed to them, saying "keys." How does he know this stuff? It isn't a word we seem to say often. The other day he also surprised us by pointing out and saying "cone." Another word we don't really use.

Up. Down.

Levi is having more fun with words. He is starting to mimic us a little more (thirsty? water) and today really has been exercising his use of 'up' and 'down.' He enjoys turning the light-switch off and on and says up and down while he is doing it. He is also saying "ohhh-k!" when I do.

Tragedy.

Today I got a phone call at work to meet Jenee' at the hospital. Thad had a bad accident on the tractor while working on his shop and suffered a massive head injury. He is no longer with us. Life is so precious and can be taken from us so quickly.

Thad was a great guy and one of the sincerest people I knew. I looked up to him and thought he set an example of what a true Christian is. If you needed something he was there to help. And what a sense of humor, he always made me laugh. We will sure miss him!! I am still in shock and can't believe I won't see that mischievous grin again. We feel honored to have known him, and are richer for it.

The first photo is from October when the Franklins joined us at a dog show; the second from July at the pool.

Dinner with the Franklins

4 pm, the day before

I really love to cook. Typically, though, I can't justify spending extra money on ingredients for my experiments. When we have company over, that's a different story. There is something really exciting about trying out a new recipe on unsuspecting friends. In the past things have generally gone well. I can think of some fantastic examples where the food was a big hit and that is incredibly satisfying. I can also think of average meals I've served, but no really horrible ones. There is always the possibility. It is kind of a food version of Russian Roulette... will they agree to come back and eat with me again? Or will my attempts to tickle their palate knock them flat and bitter towards the next invitation?

Tonight we are having company for dinner. I am excited because I get to try some new recipes. One of them is from my aunt Wendy, it is a Swiss Quiche. I figure I can put those farm fresh eggs to yet another use (we are eating them as fast as they can lay them, it seems).

The other new recipe I found, and it seems like it will go well with the Quiche, is Roasted Onions stuffed with Mashed Potatoes. I will likely have to recruit Matt to help me with this one if it is to be cooked up in time.

The Franklins have a large garden bounty and have agreed to bring the vegetable for the meal, so I am looking forward to seeing what surprise Jeneé has in store for us.

I am still undecided on dessert. I also feel like we need to have a salad. When my aunt served us the Quiche, it was alongside corn on the cob, and string beans. I like to have a lot of options, especially for the kids, as it seems the more they have to choose from, the greater the chance there will be some thing(s) they like!

Well, I will figure it out... I still have time...

8:00 am, the day of

Last night we did some grocery shopping to pick up items that had been added to my list since I decided on the roasted onions and dessert - Jimmy Carter Cake. I looked online for other dessert ideas, esp. with berries (color!), but didn't really turn over anything that excited me. JCC is easy to make and I knew I could make it the night before and have that done. Unfortunately, this means that everything I am making is the same color. White, tan, brown. I told Jeneé she could bring any vegetable she wishes, so long as it was green! :)

I feel like my evening was productive. I made the cake (which is really just layers of goodness and pudding) and also hard boiled some eggs, and sliced up the rest of a watermelon which has been taking up too much space in the fridge. I also washed some grapes and put them in a tupperware so they are easy and ready for the boy to eat when he needs a snack. Success.

Dinner Preparations, 5 PM

Matt put the potatoes and onions in the oven so they were baking up when I got home. The house smelled like....well onions. I don't really get too excited about that smell but it made Matt happy. I took the dogs out, washed my hands and got started on my pie crust for the Quiche. That went really well and was quite simple, turned out better than in the past when I have tried it. Relief! Then I got to work on the filling. My directions were a little muddled, it said to put the cheese and flour together which I did. Then something about adding cream, blah blah. Well I messed up and put the cream into the cheese mixture and THEN realized I needed to beat the cream with the eggs only. Whoops. I was able to strain most of the cream out and into a separate bowl. Disaster averted!

We had to pull the onions out of the oven to slice off the tops and spoon out their soft little interiors. I then took these piping hot insides and sauteed them in a hot pan. Once they were caramelized, I placed them in the base of my pie crust. Then the cheese mixture, then the eggs and cream. Ta'da! Ready to go in the oven. I also made two little miniature quiche's for the kids, without the onions.

6 PM, Franklins arrive

Well Thad and Jeneé and Maddaly arrived bearing gifts of beautiful food. A hot green bean dish and a colorful salad. Greens, radish quarters, carrot strips, green olives, raw broccoli pieces, all kinds of goodies. What a delight.

The food was finally done cooking about 6:40 pm and we all sat down to a feast with good company. While I thought my quiche was a little salty, there were no other complaints about any part of the meal and I was delighted to have such a lovely spread. Levi sat in his high chair and sampled bits of everything but didn't eat much. (Until we brought out dessert, he gobbled down his small portion of JCC with gusto and got chocolate all over his face as a result). We all enjoyed the food and it was the highlight of my day to have such a nice dinner party. Thanks Franklins!!!



Levi had fun playing with Maddaly after dinner, they romped around the house amid giggles and eventually found their way to the computer chair, both climbed up in it and Thad spun them around.

I don't know.

I was getting some clothes on and Levi was hanging out with me in the bedroom. When I had gotten dressed I picked him up to leave and I asked him if I could have a hug. He shook his head and said 'no.' So, I asked him if I could have a kiss, and again he shook his head and said 'no' but then he stopped and looked at me for a second and then shrugged and said 'I don't know.' And then, I think because he was proud of his cleverness, he said shrugged and said 'I don't know' like ten more times. -Matt

Down

This afternoon Levi stood up in the high chair and said, with perfect clarity 'down' while pointing towards the ground. Another new word this week!

Chicken watching

Some evenings we go out back and sit as a family and let the chickens loose to roam. The chickens really enjoy this and after a little while (if I time it right) they will put themselves to bed once the sun starts setting. Levi loves to watch the "goo-gahs!" and always wants me to catch one for him so he can pet it.


Here is Harrison, my gold-laced Polish Rooster watching over two Leghorn hens, Henny and Penny.

Another shot of Harrison, for Lara. :)

New routine

Well Matt and Levi have developed a new little routine which is pretty cute. Matt will ask Levi "Who's my favorite boy?" And Levi will say "ME!" and then Matt will ask "What's your name?" Levi says "ee-ii" and then Matt says "how old are you?" and Levi replies "two!" as he holds out his fingers (usually more than two but he's trying). Then Matt asks him "Where do you live?" and Levi will say "Waaalla Waaala" as best he can. "Who's your favorite dog?" "Bebe!"

Last night I was changing his diaper and somehow said "ding ding ding! we have a winner" and Levi replied "ding!" so that is his new favorite word. He also mimicked me when I said Wooooeeeee! when he spilled some cold water on my leg. He is becoming more of a parrot now which is great because we have been trying to encourage more words lately. What a fun kid.

motorcycle mamma

Well, I did it. I passed my driving test at the DMV for my motorcycle endorsement. Now on my license instead of saying "END: Y" it says "END: 3" For more information on Motorcycle Endorsements in WA check out this link.

As many know, I am a bit of a reluctant motorcyclist. It has saved us a ton of money on gas this season, since I ride it back and forth to work every day, and out to the barn when I go. I sure do miss having 4 steady wheels around corners and in the rain though.

Sesame Street

Levi and I were in the kitchen, and I asked him if he wanted to watch Sesame Street. He got all excited, and nodded really hard, and then ran out to the living room and sat on the couch in front of the television. So, he obviously understood and remembered what Sesame Street is after more than 10 days of not seeing it (we haven't watched it since coming back until today)! - Matt