My mom got this pan for Caleb for Christmas. Are you skeptical? I was a tad at first. I thought, there’s no way I could just pour some batter in there and have it fall right out without breaking, perfectly molded. But that is exactly what happens! I’ve made two batches with flawless results, and I do not bake all that often. The pan comes with a recipe that is quite good, and has good results with the pan. And guess what? It’s on sale! $13.99 + shipping. Not too bad.

Caleb helped make the batter last night, then I prepped our work station as quietly as possible this morning. He wanted so badly to do this last night. I used buttercream icing. Not once have I ever measured ingredients when making this icing. Plop some cream cheese in a bowl, add a little milk, then add powdered sugar to your liking and consistency. I scooped out a bit into cups. Now I am not a cake decorator, this may be common knowledge to other people. But when it comes to tinting icing, food coloring (the drops from the grocery store) is wretched. Unless you’re just going for the pastel look. But if you look in the craft section in Walmart, they have cake decorating supplies. Wilton brand even! I picked up several different concentrated paste colors that were sold individually. They also had an 8 pack I think. I read to swirl it in with a toothpick, yes, you will need that little of an amount to get these bold colors. I also read that too much red, trying to achieve a good saturated red color, can cause the icing to taste bitter. So I chose the No-Taste Red over the Christmas Red and the Red Red.

Look, I’m so neurotic. The paintbrushes match their colors. In my defense, I picked up four brushes at random, and three happened to match, so I switched out the fourth with a different color brush so it would match too. Leave me alone.

This truck ended up being my favorite because he spent the most time on this one. He did seven cakes, while I did one!

He hadn’t even finished the first one before getting icing in his hair

Welp, I guess we won’t be selling these at any bake sales!

Working on a masterpiece

I claim the three dots, it was a collaborative face painting effort.

Eating his handywork

I asked him which one he would like to eat. He decided on the Jeep, although he would be sure to correct me here. No it is not a Jeep, it is a Rubicon. A particular off road version of the Jeep Wrangler.

The Jeep Rubicon had a wreck. Several actually.

In the end, the insurance adjuster deemed it a total loss. Being that it was in several different pieces and all.

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You are turning three next month. My little man. It hardly seems time for you to be three. I’ve been feeling a little weepy about it actually. First birthdays are milestones, no doubt about it. And don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that I didn’t love and cherish that first year, but I welcomed change. Every day older you grew meant I was one day closer to you finally sleeping through the night, much less doing so consistently. Number two is sandwiched in there between one and three, and for us it marked the end of such drastic physical and gross motor skill change. You growth pattern slowed, you had mastered sitting, crawling, walking, and running as fast as your legs could carry you. One thing left to do…talk. You kept us waiting a bit on that one, but when you started, we knew you had been storing all of that information up there in your head, just waiting on the right time to use it. You have turned into a dramatic, stubborn, independent yet still needy, mimicking comedian. I wonder what I’ll be thinking this time next year as your fourth birthday draws near. Will you still enjoy cuddles in the morning? Will our gentle kiss still fix all that ails you? Will you still need Charley?

Loving on Charley

Charleys can talk too

Giving Charley nosies

I can still remember reading hundreds of suggestions on how to get your baby to sleep better. I ran across the suggestion of introducing a ‘lovey.’ Some object to provide comfort for your little one in your absence. Six months old seemed like an appropriate age, so I headed to a shelf in your room that housed the countless stuffed animals that people give to mothers-to-be at baby showers and upon baby’s arrival. I picked each one up, trying to decide in the back of my head which one I would enjoy looking at for years to come, should you decide to “keep” it. Not too big, but not too small. It must be soft. Something that could be wallowed upon. After careful consideration, I decided on a giraffe that my mom had given me. I took him to the crib and set him in a corner. From that day forward, I began taking him everywhere you went. He was always tucked in your carseat with you. In the stroller. Even between us while you were nursing.

By nine months old, you had officially decided to keep him. Learning to crawl was hard on Charley, he aged very much in those few short months. Most animals would if they were dragged around by the tail.

It was about two months later when I realized I had to act fast. What if something were to happen to Charley? I had a short window of time to introduce a twin before you honed your categorizing skills. Old or new, too fuzzy or not fuzzy enough, worn or not worn. But of course, everyone knows that velveteen giraffes do not have tags. I started my search with a phone call to the grandmother. She advised me that she really couldn’t remember where she had gotten him or who he was made by. Now what was it again? A giraffe? Hmmm, let me think on it, and I’ll call you back. I plopped down at the computer after you were tucked safely in bed with your beloved Charley. Five hours later I stood victoriously. I had searched eBay and hundreds upon hundreds of yahoo and google search results. Finally I found his picture. Mary Meyer sweet gillian giraffe. I ordered two backups.

When they finally arrived, I scooped up your Charley and tucked him out of sight. I snuck up behind you as you crawled away and plopped a new Charley in your tracks. “Don’t forget Charley,” I said. You turned around and looked at him. You turned back to continue crawling and then turned around to have a second look. I watched nervously. You picked him up. Examined him. Set him down. He certainly sounded the same when his bean filled feet hit the floor. You looked at him curiously, as if you were trying to place your finger on what was different. But you accepted the new Charley. I breathed.

When we were in Georgia last fall, we accidentally left Charley at great grandmother’s house, and it came time for you to nap. I suddenly remembered where Charley was, but thought I’d test uncharted waters…would you nap without Charley. I think not. You cried and cried. Nothing I said mattered. You wailed his name over and over. I lasted all of five minutes before putting your shoes on and going to get Charley.

Charley reads

Charley joins in family celebrations

Charley plays

But most of all, Charley is a shoulder to lean on…

…a confidant…

…and a friend.

And one day, he will be a real giraffe.

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Yesterday we spent an hour building this monstrosity of a fort in Caleb’s room and read a bunch of books in it. When bedtime came, the dresser and bed were completely unaccessible. So I tried to drag the fort into a different room. Yeah right. Then I tried to dismantle it into sections to move it. Yeah right. Finally I erupted in laughter and the rest of the family came to find out what was going on. The results were…carnage.

The kitchen section:

The bedroom section:

So today we rebuilt. I know I’ve posted about this several times, but I love this product. It gets mixed reviews online, some people love it, some people dog it. I’m one of the people who loves it. The recommended age is four years. I’m sure it is some sort of safety reason, but Caleb can easily build with this toy. He loves to help make a fort. It isn’t something he could do alone just yet, but it goes together with plenty of ease so that a 2.5-3 year old can easily join in the fun. He isn’t able to clip on the fabric panels though. Caleb got this for Christmas, and we had so much fun that we went and bought another set so we could build bigger and better! Each set comes with a storage bag to hold everything.

200 points!!

See the thing he’s stepping on? You put the purple (or green, it came with two) ball on there and then stomp the air pump. It shoots the ball and the ball sticks to the red panel. 300 points!

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the purina diet

Feb 26

Posted by: Rachel in: blog, ramblings

an email forward that should be saved and shared: 

The next time someone asks you a dumb question, wouldn’t you like to respond like this?…..

Yesterday I was buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for Athena the wonder dog at Wal-Mart and was about to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think I had, an elephant? So since I’m retired, with little to do, on impulse, I told her that no, I didn’t have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina Diet again. Although I probably shouldn’t, because I’d ended up in the hospital last time, but that I’d lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms. I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story.)

Horrified , she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no; I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter’s butt and a car hit us both.

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard!

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I took this video with my cell phone, so expect nothing stellar (also no sound for some reason), but I swear I haven’t sped it up. To me it looks like a video that someone has sped up, but no, that’s him, in motion. He wants to run everywhere he goes!

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Last year, in April I think it was, I did a challenge to “unplug your kids” and turn off the TV for a week. It was a little weird at first, as we often keep it on for background if nothing else. It stays on Noggin all day, so somehow I justify it with myself saying at least it is commercial free and educational. After the challenge last year, I kept going for almost a month. I can honestly say it was an excellent month. Being that connected was nice. I remember noting at the time that the “terrible twos” were noticeably less. Kids enjoy your undivided attention for entire days on end. They have much less reason or opportunity to get in trouble when you’re there. I wish it was ideal 24/7. I guiltily admit old habits die hard. We resumed our background noise. Today the TV stayed off all day though. Caleb had speech therapy this morning (hooray it’s almost over!) and we just never opened the cabinet afterward. We played with cars and built a city on the train table. We played with a game that came in the mail today. We drew on the aquadoodle mat. The second I took my attention away to catch up with a friend on the phone, his good behavior dissolved into launching things through the air. But for those few hours, it was nice. Quiet. I know we should have more days like this. I once read a quote about homeschooling…just keep the TV turned off and the bookshelves full.

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Things I never thought I’d say before I was a parent:

You know what I love? Chicken kisses. Little chicken pecks.

Those sure are some cute little chicken buns.

When the Grump woke up from his nap and polished off a sippy of milk from lunch, he launched into a tantrum when I declined to get another cup of milk. We’re trying to limit the between meal drinking, as he prefers to just fill up on milk instead of eating. I gave him water instead. The nerve of me. His Halloween costume is STILL hanging on a hook on the outside of the linen closet door. He looked up and said “Can I dwess up like a chicken?” “Um, sure,” I replied. As I was putting on his attire he informed me, “Chickens like candy you know.” I explained (again) that Halloween was over and we couldn’t go to doors and expect candy today. “Chickens like milk toooo,” he replied. Although he’s a persuasive little chicken, I instead opted to dump out a bunch of pennies on the floor for him to put back in the piggy bank. Hey, fourteen minutes down, only three hundred and seventy four more to go.

Something about this picture looks familiar…

Chicken Bellweee

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I have this sudden fascination with wooden toys. I’ve been looking at several different vehicles, but most require a second mortgage to purchase. Scott said he wouldn’t get them if he won the lottery. I say I do the kid shopping and we would have all of them! I’m especially partial to the Tom Toys dump truck and semi. Coincidently, the two most expensive. Aren’t they beautiful though!

Tom Toys Semi

Tom Toys Dump Truck

The Community Playthings Fleet. They look small in this picture huh? Well they aren’t.

When I said big, I meant big. People talk about their public libraries having had these trucks for years. Another lady used a grant to furnish a complete daycare from Community Playthings. When she closed her doors 15 years later, everything looked like they day she bought it.

Guidecraft makes a line of construction vehicles called Cito, also large scale.

This is a book I found on Amazon.  Just look.  Look at that truck.  Even the wheels are wooden.  It is beautiful.  Oh how I wish I had the tools or the skills to make these.

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Look, he’s reading! Okay, okay, he has actually just memorized a large portion of the book.
Note: this is a long one, and will probably bore most people, but I have no doubt my mother inlaw and sister inlaw will be thoroughly entertained.

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This one might take some time to build up a collection, but if your husband drinks chocolate milk (or maybe orange juice in your case) like mine does, it shouldn’t take you too long. Besides “free” has a nice ring to it. These bricks are $40 for just 16 of them:

I recently took up recycling, and Scott loves Nesquik. I’ve been feeling guilty because I had to throw away the cartons, as our recycle center does not currently accept them. I stashed some of them away hoping for a reason to use them, but I quickly ran out of storage room, and threw some away. I only ended up with eight leftovers, which makes four blocks. I’ve informed Scott of his task which he gladly accepts.

Just cut the tops off and push one inside the other. I’m planning to either wrap ours in white paper like a present and let him decorate them, or use gray paper to cover them so that they look like stones. I’m too cheap to buy contact paper. It is one of those items that I never seem to find. Is there some secret place that stores stash it? Colored or clear, I can’t ever seem to locate it. Michael’s has a ridiculously small amount packaged for a ridiculously large price over the in their scrapbook section. So get your family and friends in on saving cartons for you. Make sure to wash them out quickly or at least leave the top off, otherwise the cartons will swell.

Added bonus, not only do these make great large scale building blocks, but also nice bowling pins or monster truck obstacles.

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