Proud Mama of an Einstein

Now that we've had a couple of weeks with no sports and only two days of work (that is, until swimming lessons start next week), the boys and I have actually been able to do something besides run from one errand to the next. The first order of business? Making something sugary. I picked up a copy of "Fun Food" and Logan looked at it the whole way home. In fact, he told me he was marking all of the pages of things he'd like to make. By the time we got home, all but about 10 pages of this 100-page magazine were dog-eared. Looks like our grocery bill might be going up!

We decided to start with something simple (and cheap): marshmallow treats. Two large marshmallows on a popsicle stick, covered in melted chocolate and covered in sprinkles. Although the recipe claimed this was good for toddlers because they could participate so much, ours did not look nearly as pretty as the ones in the picture. I'm thinking there was no toddler participation in making THOSE. They were a hit - both after they had chilled and during the entire process. Now we're finding new long lost sprinkles along with the popcorn from last week whenever I sweep the kitchen.

Licking the bowl (or rather, scooping out chocolate with our entire hand) and licking a barely-empty spoon.


Oh, yeah...that's some good chocolate!

Logan preparing for a Picasso moment.

The serious pose of our moustache and goatee.

"Cheeeeeeeeeese"

Carter sporting a similar paint job. The difference is Carter's just happens with eating; Logan's was intentionally put on his face with his own finger!

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On another note, I am learning to "let go" a little as a mother. I have a bit of a paranoia with regard to bears and moose around here. I don't worry so much about myself or Ryan, but I do worry about the boys not responding correctly if they do encounter one of these animals...and that's not a lesson you get to reteach often (how many bear maulings do you really allow to happen before you keep your kid inside???). However, I also recognize that this is something I need to get over or my kids will hate me for requiring one of their parents to chaperone every time they go hiking when they're 15. Sooo, one of the things Logan gets to do in the afternoons when Carter's napping is he gets to ride his bike by himself just on our driveway and into the cul-de-sac at the end of our driveway (so Mommy can still see him). He actually took a piece of chalk and drew a line where he makes himself turn around. So, today, I noticed he was down there, drawing for quite a while, when he came back to the house and asked me how to spell "Hello." I knew what he was doing as we had written "Hello, Paul" (our neighbor) when his truck was parked in the cul-de-sac one day. But, later, when I went down there, he had written much more...

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"Hello Pal Im havin so mach fun Rabo ckumin today."

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Translation: Hello, Paul. I'm having so much fun. A Rainbow is coming today."

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I guess we need to annunciate more: "havin" as opposed to "having"...

Not sure why the "c" is backwards; it never is any other time. Maybe writing extra big is confusing...
"Rainbow"...as above....maybe we need to annunciate

This was my favorite...the "ck" at the beginning of "coming"



Not too shabby for an almost-kindergardener. It's so fun to listen to him read to Carter over the baby monitor at night. I think he's really going to thrive in school this year.

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Baby Info: I'm VERY full ALL OF THE TIME with all this force-feeding protein business and baby is definitely developing a schedule of dancing a little jig at consistent times of the day (and night). The kicking is so fun at this point (before they get strong enough to bruise ribs or knock the wind out of me!). Other than that, nothing new...