Evening at the Beach with Friends

Sunday evening at the beach.

Fun People.

MMD caught this look.

It's my first beach visit!
Wait, I'm five months old and we live six miles away from the Atlantic Ocean....why is this my first beach trip?

Where are you going MDX?

He should be in hair commercials.

Creeping up on the ocean.

Oh, the Ocean.

She's serious about Sand-Marching.

Come back, come back!

Dad teaching the Great life lessons.

Bread, Jalapeños, and Sweet Tea

I've been in the mood to cook. Not just cook because we are supposed to eat, but try new recipes and cook things that I really want to eat. Wednesday morning the Squirms "helped" me make Apple Pie Bread. R had given me a bread machine several years ago, but ALM had inspired me to dig it out from the back of the cabinet and get the house smelling delicious again. Squirms helped me count the cups of flour we used and she was very interested to watch the machine mixing and kneading. Good news: the bread was edible and Squirms asked for seconds.

It did overflow.

I just like the red tea towel and blue kettle in this picture.

Dried apples, raisins, and walnuts.

Thursday night I wanted to celebrate R having a three day weekend by making him cornbread with jalapeños, and collards cooked in hot sauce. My favorite cornbread recipe (http://cornerofcentralflorida.blogspot.com/2013/01/food-pictures-and-issues-and-cornbread.html) is supposed to have jalapeños but I don't like spicy food so I've never used them. But, Thursday night I thought, hey, why not use them just once? 

After I cleaned, chopped, and added the jalapeños to the mixture, the mixture was ready to pour over the cooking bacon and go into the oven. I told R, funny, my hands are kind of stinging. Several minutes later I asked R to bring me a bowl of milk for my hands and where I had apparently touched my nose. I attempted to eat dinner while pretending that my hands weren't red, splotchy, swelling, and burning. Then we called my hero MMD and asked her to HELP! HELP! please let us know if we should try a google-internet-remedy or if she had any other ideas. MMD asked for photos and used the term allergic reaction. 

R went to Walgreens for benadryl and hydrocortisone cream. By the time he returned Squirms was pretty upset with me for not helping her put on her new gardening gloves and I could no longer bend my fingers because the swelling had increased. Thankfully, MMD's wise cure provided relief, and because of my inability to touch anything (and because I took a couple of benadryl) I got to lay on the couch and watch basketball while R cautiously sanitized the kitchen and any other surface I might have touched. 

So, basically, I created a fun dinner for R....but then he had to take care of me, get both kids ready for bed, run an errand, and clean the house. 


Tonight I made sweet tea.

Refreshing.

For ALM and L

I had taken clothes from our room to the laundry room....and noticed that Squirms (yep, keeping that nickname) was no longer in the living room....I immediately went to our bathroom....

Hi Mom! I'm wearing your shoes and putting on your make up! How Great!

While the eye shadow was a more visible reminder that I'm being constantly watched, I can't help but love how her tiny feet look in my shoes....and of course be scared that she wants to wear my shoes and always runs to mommy's make up drawer when the chance arrives.

So. Then we had a lovely time taking pictures and putting make up on, and yes, I have conveniently forgotten to post the pictures of myself after Squirms put eye shadow on me.

Doesn't eye shadow go on the nose?

R's amaryllis' are looking beautiful in the front yard and he cut a branch so I could have fresh blooms inside too.

And Auntie L came to visit!!!! We had a great time watching Downton Abbey, eating at a new burger place downtown, and L and Squirms played outside.

Cuddles with Auntie L

Who likes to sit in mom's lap while she's trying to take photos?

Such a calm photo shoot

We're just lucky Squirms didn't tackle Auntie L here

We love Auntie L!

And now he's five month old.

Ten Things

1. I'm loving the jogging stroller that we bought. And, when I don't feel like going for a walk/jog, remembering the cost of the stroller can guilt me into exercising!

2. The Great is growing too fast. Or the months are going by too fast. Something like that. I can't believe he is almost five months old! My concept of time seems out of sync with reality.

3. Squirms is turning into quite the helper. She likes to help give the Great baths, mainly I think because she loves baths and doesn't like the idea of him getting one and she not being involved. I've delegated her in charge of washing his feet, which she does with gusto the entire time he's in the little tub. He ends up with very clean, and well rinsed feet.

Hi Mom! I'm helping Dad!

The Helper and Her Prey.

4. Auntie L is here for a couple of days! She and the kids are napping.

5. R leaves today for the city of New Orleans. He is speaking at a conference this week, presenting a paper he wrote concerning the heavy oil industry. I love saying, paper he wrote, because, he is the main author on this technical paper! That's cool. And he's a genius who works hard.

6. I'm reading the book D-Day by Stephen Ambrose. This is the second book I've read by Ambrose, and while I'm having trouble keeping up with what all the acronyms mean (it is a military history) it's fascinating so far - he discusses big picture issues surrounding D-Day as well as detail preparations of both sides.

7. There is a framed, professional, 8"x10" photo of our wedding cake on my nightstand. It's been there for seven years, and I still love it. Six layers of cake topped with the same topper that my parents had on their wedding cake.
Yes. This is one of my favorite, and the most displayed, wedding photos. Weddings are fun! And we had a truly beautiful cake.

8. I think that I might like olives now. The large green ones anyways. And Jason's Deli's olive mixture on the muffalettas.

9. The Great is a rolling machine now! He rolls and scoots. It's funny to see where he ends up after putting him down on the play mat. He also keeps rolling onto his stomach while he's sleeping, then waking up crying, like I don't know how this happened? Help mom!

10. I've been looking for violin music to listen to, to assist in my efforts to practice more and just get my ear used to what notes should sound like.