Conversations With Anne

Late this morning, it was down to just Mommy, Anne, and Joseph in the house. So, Anne and I decided to make cookies. She was so excited to stand on the stepstool and watch all by herself, and when I gave her the beater to lick, oh, heaven! She was quite a chatterbox and here is a small sampling:

Licking the beater: "Mommy, I'm getting all that tasty stuff."

"I see Jesus on the twoss." Where? She points and I see the crucifix/holy water font by the back door. "He's trying to get away from the bad guys." (Where did that come from?)

"I'm a big girl now." Are you going to go pee-pee in the potty like a big girl? (She's a little resistant to that.) "I go pee-pee in potty tomorrow."

A little later: "I'm going to make some pancakes." And she proceeds to mix and stir on the floor with Joseph.

Then, eating lunch while I'm finishing the cookies, "I like peandut buttah."

And finally, to reinforce the post below: "Mommy, I stand on one foot last night."

So, I got to experience life for a little while with only 2 small children and I have to say, it was much easier to make cookies, fix lunch, take care of Joseph, and getting them in bed for a nap was a cinch. Anne was so sweet and there was no fighting, crying, or temper tantrums. I had patience to spare and even Joseph getting fussy did not bother me. BUT, even though it was a nice break and an interesting revelation, I still would not change my life of chaos with 4 littles for the world!

Last Night

At our house, everything happens "last night." Every day the kids say things like:

"We went to church last night." (We always go in the morning.)

"Mommy went to the grocery store last night." (Apparently I go every night of the week!)

"I puked in my bed last night." (Months ago. I guess it made a strong impression.)

"Mommy toot my tempachure and gave me mecidine." When? "Last night."

"I heard Joseph crying last night." (That one is probably true.)

We'll have to work on a few more times of the day.

Peeps

Am I weird, or does anyone else like Peeps better when they get a little hard and chewy?

Murphy's Law for Moms, #9

The less sleep the Mom gets at night, the less willpower she has the next day to resist the Easter candy.

Busted Again!

"Look, Mom, I can stand up now and open the cabinet doors and shake things really hard!" Let the carnage begin.

Busted!

Joseph has figured out how to open the drawers of my dresser and he loves to pull things out. And look, he even shut the drawer so I wouldn't figure out who did it!

Pictures From Easter

Easter baskets are a hit on Easter morning! Joseph loves the package better than the book
Catherine, Anne, and Dominic ready for MassRelaxing after Easter Mass

Easter egg hunt in the backyard after a big ham dinner

Toothpaste Does the Trick

After a session of decorating Easter eggs on Holy Saturday, Dan got online and found a remedy for the seemingly hopelessly stained fingers of our 3 older children. Toothpaste. And yes, it really worked! There were only very faint color spots left. Yay! File that one away in the brain!

Happy Easter Monday!

83 Years!

Read here about an amazing Catholic couple who have been married 83 years and are going into the Guinness Book of World Records!

Murphy's Law for Moms, #8

Pretending to sleep is a great game, but going to sleep for real is no fun at all!

A New Hair Product

Here is our grubby boy after our St. Patrick's Day dinner (corned beef and cabbage), which he plastered into his hair.

Bruno's Cake

Happy feastday baby Joseph!

We checked out the cutest little book from the library called "Bruno the Baker." It is about Bruno and his friend Felix making a cake and goes step by step with the whole process. The kids really liked it and there was a recipe at the end of the book for "Bruno's Cake," so we decided to make it today in honor of St. Joseph's feastday.

Here they are watching to make sure all the ingredients get put in: Scraping down the bowl:
Licking the bowl (the best part!):
And here is our cake:

Spending Some Time in the Bathroom...

Potty Training!

Oh, yay, it is so much fun, I can hardly stand it. We have 2 potty chairs lined up and a stool to boot. Anne and Dominic have their "assigned" potty chairs. Catherine comes in and sits on the stool and helps entertain/encourage them. Great! Maybe I'll sneak out and let Catherine potty train the twins for me! Then Joseph comes in and tries to get into the cabinets, the trash, the big toilet, you name it.

Right now the rule is, if they at least sit and try, they get one M&M. That alone gets them on the seat. If they actually produce something, they get more M&Ms and a sticker. That gets Dominic trying hard every time to get something out. Anne so far has had no luck. Today I have been trying harder to go in more often and I even set the timer a couple times so I would remember. I haven't been brave enough yet to try the no diaper/pull-up way because we have a lot of carpet! I am thinking that tomorrow I'll set up a "potty station" in the living room and let them sit while watching Saturday morning cartoons. Hopefully that will get Anne at some point.

Last night I even got Thomas the Train and My Little Pony underwear at the store and today we had much excitement looking at it. Even Dan got in on the action when he came home for lunch. (You know a good Daddy when he will take time to look at toddler underwear and get "excited" about it!)

Anyone out there have any more ideas for me?

Murphy's Law for Moms, #7

To a crawling baby, an open bathroom door is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Charge!

Foiled By The "Gate"

Joseph has recently learned how to crawl and watch out world, here he comes! This picture was taken before Daddy put up the baby gate and the kids have formed their "gate" to keep Joseph from falling down the stairs. Of course, they had to do it as soon as Joseph even looked in that direction, even if he was across the room. And accompanied by a very loud "Aaaahhh!!!" until Mommy or Daddy came to get the baby.

Can You Believe It?

Read here about a guy in Britain who actually got jail time for slipping abortifacient drugs into his wife's food after she refused to have an abortion. Luckily, they didn't work and her baby was born early, but alive and healthy. I could not even imagine!

Ginger Lentil Soup

I am always looking for different things to make on Fridays in Lent, without much expense. I found the recipe below in a cookbook which has become one of my favorites: 1000 Lowfat Recipes, by Terry Blonder Golson. I got it years ago and I am surprised at how much I use it. I don't necessarily follow all of the lowfat parts, but for recipes using lots of different herbs and spices, it is great!

If you like fresh grated ginger like I do, you will love this soup.

Ginger Lentil Soup
Sometimes it is a seemingly fussy technique that makes a recipe. For example, the spices for this soup are first cooked in the saute pan before being added to the simmering soup. This step enhances both flavor and aroma and since it only takes a minute is not as much bother as it might first appear.

1 cup lentils, rinsed and picked through
6 cups water
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 carrot, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 & 1/2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
One 14 &1/2 oz. can whole tomatoes, drained and chopped
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

1) Bring the lentils and water to a boil in a large saucepan. Reduce to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, or until the lentils begin to soften.

2) Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large nonstick pan. Saute the onions, carrot, and garlic for about 5 minutes, until the onions begin to change color. Keep the lid on between stirrings.

3) Stir the ginger, coriander, and cumin into the onion mixture. Cook for 1 minute, then scrape it all into the pot with the lentils. Add the tomatoes, Tabasco, and salt to the pot.

4) Simmer the soup, covered, for 30 minutes. Stir in the parsley and cilantro, if using, and serve.

Makes: 5 servings


I didn't have any coriander, so I think I substituted tarragon. I cut out half the garlic and left out the Tabasco, in honor of the children of the house. I also added celery and for us the cilantro was not optional. I love cilantro! It was pretty easy to do, even with four little "helpers."

Padre Pio Exhumed

I have to post this for Dan, who has a special devotion to Padre Pio. Dan was born exactly one year after Padre Pio's death. Read the article here about the exhumation of Padre Pio. They said his hands looked like they had just had a manicure.

Twin Time

Plotting the next round of mischief!