Luke's Snow Owl Pecker

We have been having so much fun, we just can't contain it any more.  :)  Over the weekend, we visited my parents', and Luke got to spend a night with his Nana Dee.  Autumn is almost walking, and she has learned to hold her bottle with her feet so her hands are still free to grab other random objects.  Luke is doing well in school, and was awarded "Most Improved" at the last awards assembly.  Tomorrow is the next Parent/Teacher conference, so I'll be able to get to the bottom of a few things.  

We found out Autumn loves to rock out to some music I used to listen to, like Disturbed, AC/DC, and Korn.  Rock out, girl.  Rock out.

Terra has been moving to her own beat and saying random things like, "Somebody's a wit-two jewous." 

 Terry insisted he was not going to give me a smile.

 The kids didn't want to cooperate with me either.

Yesterday at the bus stop I was playing with my new camera.  Luke wanted to take a picture of me, so I let him.

When Luke came home from school, he showed me a snow owl he made in school.  He said, "I think I'm going to name it Pecker."  So here is Luke and his Pecker.

Recipes

Everyone loves fudge.  Well, at least I do.  I believe this recipe is a Paula Deen recipe, and I enjoyed making it almost as much as my husband enjoyed eating it.  Seriously, he barely left any for the rest of us.  It tastes a lot like a brownie, so I call it Brownie Fudge.  You can substitute the chocolate to whatever type of chocolate you like.  I used the Hershey's brand.  mmmm...  

I haven't tried this recipe yet.  It was on the back of a flour bag and I needed space so I threw away the bag and took a picture of the recipe.

Home/Shopping Tips

Obviously when we go to the store to buy bread and milk, we want the freshest available, so when we look at the date of the milk, we will already choose the milk that will expire the latest.  Unless you live in my house, then the gallon will be gone in a matter of a day or two at the latest, and it would never meet the expiration date anyway.  But how do you know which bread is the freshest?  Apparently, bread is delivered to the store five times a week, and you can look at the tie used on the bread to indicate the freshest loaf.  Monday is blue, Tuesday is green, Thursday is Red, Friday is White, and Saturday is yellow.  Obviously, if it is Sunday, you want a Yellow tab/tie because Blue would indicate the loaf is close to a week old. YUCK! 

I have read that this is a great stain remover.  I haven't had the opportunity to try it out, and I'm very hopeful I won't have to, but living with three children, and a husband that doesn't always think about cleanliness...  Well, it's inevitable.

The Best Potato Soup Recipe

This Recipe is floating around FB somewhere.  They all say "Share this so it will be posted to your timeline."  Well, where the heck does it go when you are looking for it?  Somewhere ELSE in cyber space, never to be heard from again, so I'm posting it here for my reference, though if you would like to try it out, by all means, do so.  This is a family favorite, and even my husband (who is usually skeptical when it comes to eating leftovers) will fight to take some to work the next day.

Dish Washing & Baby Feeding

      Sometimes it is just worth it to carry around the camera.  The elusive husband has been caught!  He is so good to me, though some times he just has to act like a typical man.  ::eye roll::  The kids are just as fun to catch unaware.  

      We pray before we eat dinner, and we have been trying to teach Terra how to pray.  This is how she holds her hands.  :)  She's such an adorable girl!

           This group of pictures shows Autumn in her first feeding.  She is too interested in the spoon to eat, but she finally gets the idea.  Imagine where she put her fingers when she let go of the spoon.  Ready to learn?  She FLUNG it at me!  I ended up wearing more than she ate.

           Terra has even started helping with her share of the chores before her older brother Luke did.  She's putting away her own dishes.  She LOVES to help me in the kitchen.  Luke does too, but I think it's just so he doesn't get left out of licking the bowl.  :)  Terra REALLY likes to help me cook and clean the kitchen.  Now tell her she has to clean her room.  HA!  That's a laugh.  :)  That's still my job, according to her...

           I did catch her in the bathroom trying to give one of her dolls a bath.  Apparently, the baby was so nasty she had to use half of a bottle of shampoo to get it clean.  Yay for wasting!  Grrr....

     Terry is such a great dad.  Autumn is giving him problems though.  :)  He's lucky this wasn't one of her infamous diaper bombs.  GAG!  She literally blows out her diapers.  The day before yesterday, she was sitting in her bouncer and I saw she had some clay caked on her feet.  Both feet.  My thoughts were "she can't walk, so how did she get clay on her feet" and "There's nothing else around her that's like that."  It was crap (gross I know), but that's the life of a baby who's diapers don't match right with her.  I think I'm going to change from Pampers to Huggies.  If that doesn't work, I'll go to Luvs.  Every child has different bottom needs, and diapers fit differently.

       Every once in a while, we get to go out and eat with family in friends.  In this case, we got to eat at Apple Bees with Nana Dee (my mom).  See that big drink?  Don't worry, I didn't drink it all by myself.  Though I probably could have.  ;)  Autumn is in her car seat to my right.  The girls were very good, so Terra got to eat a Happy Meal from McDonald's.

       It's that time of day again:  nap time.

     Even Mom's need a pick-me-up once in a while.  Kids run us ragged!  Italian Roast is in this particular cup, and I LOVE it.  :)  Yumm....  If it wasn't so late, I would fix myself another cup.

       My mornings are welcomed by this sight.  As long as I get what is pictured above, I can handle what is pictured below.

      I cut my hair a couple weeks ago, and I asked Terry, my darling husband, to take a picture of me because I couldn't get a good shot, and I'm tired of seeing bathroom pictures.  It took him a minute to figure out where the "switch camera mode" button was and ended up taking a picture of himself.  <3

     Every once in a while, you'll get a great candid shot of a kid.  This particular shot was a mid turn.

       And with that, I say no matter where you are or who you are with, don't stop being yourself and pretend no one is watching you.

Mile Stones, Painted Faces, and Hidden Pictures

Autumn has started sitting up if she's laying at an angle, like in her bouncer.  It was too cute NOT to picture.

   Every morning, I find my phone and look through the pictures.  Sometimes I get a few pictures, like of feet, fingers, hands.  This time I got a picture of Terra.  :)

Terra loves to help me out in the coop.  Luke does too, but he was busy during this moment.

I'm going to be painting faces at the Kennel club of Texarkana's Responsible Dog Ownership Day (RDOD) celebration.  I had to practice, and this is what came out.  :)  Terra wanted a butterfly, and Luke wanted a car.  We got it good.