Book Update

One of the most difficult things about being a trophy wife is that your coffee always gets cold while you're changing diapers, stopping the Great from eating crayon wrappers, and reading to Squirms. This afternoon, after making a second pot of coffee, I had a revelation: USE A THERMOS.
R and I each have a Contigo thermos that we carried to work every morning. R still fills and carries his to work. Why has it taken me almost two and a half years to figure out that I could keep coffee hot using the thermos I used to carry to work every day?

Recently I have also over-booked - no, that's a horrible pun - I have over-committed myself to too many books. I'm still reading D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climatic Battle of World War II, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, and Washington: A Life. And, I've read the first four Inspector Morse books and started the fifth, The Dead of Jericho.

Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse books are well written and intriguing. And, they don't follow a specific plot pattern which I think is rare with a series of books involving the same, very intriguing, main character. I also really like that I haven't been able to completely figure out the puzzle until Morse tells me.

Now, if I can just convince Squirms to stop taking my bookmarks out of the books I leave around....I think I should finish reading D-Day and The Dead of Jericho soon. D-Day is intense, so I only read several pages at a time; and both of these books require intellectual acuity that I don't normally have at the end of the day by the time both of our sweeties are asleep.

Squirm's favorite books lately include Olivia (also R's and my favorite), her Tractor book, and On the Night You Were Born (she likes pointing out the moon on each page). The Great doesn't have favorite books - he'll try to eat any of them. Squirms has also figured out that if she asks R to read the Bible (Storybook Bible) she can postpone her bedtime. How do you say no to a child asking to read the Bible?

This Week

Sometimes I have to look at pictures to remember what happened last week.
There was July the 4th. We stayed around the house; our canoe trip remains elusive due to multiple unforeseen circumstances but we did make a major change around the house....

Happy Independence Day from the Great. He was the only one who dressed up.

We said goodbye to our sweet girl's crib. This was difficult for R and me, because we knew that nap time and bedtime would now take a lot longer and much more effort from the two of us. Wait. Am I supposed to say it's difficult because "she's growing up so fast"?

Please note, after the picture and evaluation, we did remove the box spring to make the bed lower and hopefully a bit more accessible to Squirms. Also. Shout out to keeping bedding from college - I loved my bedding and am excited to use it in Squirm's room!

Bye Crib.

Big Girl Bed (made from the crib).

While trying to convince Squirms to take a nap this week by lying down next to her and pretending to sleep, she sat next to my head, slowly opened one of my eye lids, smiled and said "Wanna build a snowman?"

We enjoyed some Blueberry Crunch - not my best, but still very tasty. Squirms called it Blueberry Cupcake.

The base.

My mother keeps telling me to write down the adorable and hilarious things that the kids are doing.

Squirms grabbed my headphones yesterday, put on my oxfords (she calls them boots), and told me "I go forrun".

Running Attire.

She smiles extra big when she has something of Mommy's or Daddy's.

Where's the music?

The Great has some great expressions now - most involve him scrunching up his nose and yelling loudly. He is a big fan of loud noises. He also has a favorite song to be hummed while he is rocked to sleep: Silver Bells.

I call this: Mommy, I'm going to drool on your face!!

This one is: Mommy, I'm so beautiful. Why won't you let me drool on your face?

Barbies and Soldering

If I were going to write an early July Ten Things post, it would include
-Bobbi Brown liquid gel eye liner (it actually stays put....in an environment that normally has a 94% humidity level)
-San Pellegrino mineral water (last month was the first time I tasted mineral water - new obsession)
-MoroccanOil hair treatment (R always compliments my hair after I use this)
-Blueberries and Blueberry Crunch (our dads have been making me extra homesick by talking about how many gallons of blueberries they've been picking from their respective back yards. I'm planning on making my dad's Blueberry Crunch recipe today....from blueberries I bought at Sam's)
-My Violin teacher (she's just awesome)

But I took these pictures last week and wanted to share them now that R's latest home project is complete. R used old speakers, and other assorted parts that he, as a electronic-parts-hoarder, had around the house to give us the ability to stream sound from our phones, ipad, and computer through these speakers.

She put down Mary Poppins to help.

He noticed that when I clean the kitchen I like to watch Netflix on my laptop, and sometimes when cooking I listen to music using my phone - but both of these devices don't have speakers loud enough to really hear well when you're moving about the kitchen. So, he used phrases like "bluetooth", "airplay", and "I need to drill a hole in the top of this cabinet" and I said, "sounds great honey".

Learning with dad.

I do think it's cool when he gets out his soldering iron, and I loved seeing him explain to Squirms what he was doing. One of her favorite words this week has been Battery.

Soldering Iron, Mary Poppins Barbie, Space Center cup, tackle box, and a pineapple. In one picture.

R is always so considerate of any possible wants I might have....part of me is also wondering if this means I should clean the kitchen more often? Hmmmm.

First, I'll find dad's recipe and go make a mess in the kitchen. Perhaps while listening to NeedtoBreathe....

Entropy

The Man in the Yellow Hat hangs out in a tea cup.

Thursday is my Laundry day. This means that my calendar has a weekly appointment labeled Laundry, and that when I'm walking around the house feeling overwhelmed with free time and energy, I remember that I should devote this time and energy to Laundry.

Therefore, this morning I have cleaned cereal from the floor, stopped Squirms from eating a dog biscuit, stopped the Great from eating a houseplant, reclaimed an AA battery that Squirms had "hidden" in her car/shopping cart, and rearranged my bookshelves so I could store our TV remotes out of reach of the children (because it seems Squirms now has the ability, and desire, to remove batteries from said remotes), which also led to dusting the bookshelves.

Several weeks ago R came home to a Foyer Obstacle Course of Toys and we laughingly had a discussion about entropy. I know, two electrical engineers really shouldn't pretend to understand entropy, but its definition intrigued us considering our current life stage. So I found my fundamentals of thermodynamics textbook and did a bit of research.

The textbook basically uses molecules to describe life with a two year old and eight month old. Disorder, randomness, unpredictable, lots of energy and movement not related to direct work, chaos.

From my very fundamental understanding (thermo was not my best nor favorite class), I would classify the state of our household as High Entropy, if entropy is used as a measurement, and an Entropy Generator.

Instead of formulas, here is a picture.

One wrapping herself in Christmas paper, one taste-testing the Christmas paper.

I may not be able to use Energy for Work, but I'll take Mama-stop-and-pay-attention-to-me Entropy. It's more fun than Work.