Swimming in Love

Ethan enjoyed his first time in a "baby pool" (i.e. our old turtle sandbox converted into a pool) last Thursday afternoon.

Since the older two kids went to spend the night with my parents, I decided to do something special with just him. (I realized it was the first time in 11 years that I had just a baby to care for. What an odd feeling!) I searched the area for some sort of local (free) mommy-baby class or play area -- to no avail -- and then realized I had exactly what I needed right here at home.

And as Ethan loves baths...he LOVED the pool.

I think we'll be spending quite a lot of time splashing in it this summer.

More Meager Monday Musings

Happy Monday! The final Monday in June.

Final. Last. Wow!! Half of 2009 is already gone.

I was lamenting the other day with my older kids that our "baby" is nearly a year old.

Sigh.

Another fun Monday Night Movie Night was had by us. Last week's was a complete and utter bomb. Unless you enjoy completely cheesy (terribly done) films, don't watch Direct Contact. Oh, my gosh. We laughed so hard through the entire movie...and it wasn't meant to be a comedy. Tonight Stuart got Bedtime Stories, and it was such a wonderful movie! We both agreed the kids should watch it tomorrow. (You know the kind of movie you laugh, cry, and want to clap for at the end?) We enjoyed it so much more than last week's film-du-nuit. But then anything would have been better than that, I think. *wink-grin*

The kids have been super kids and seem to be enjoying their Summer thus far. We're hoping to enjoy lots of time outside and at the playground and library -- weather-permitting -- this week. We've had quite a bit of rain and even a few thunderstorms already this summer.

As I'm incredibly late in posting this and my brain is very tired, I'll end in the hopes that you had a wonderfully enjoyable Monday, too!

Friday Funnies

I am in no means making fun of the H1N1 flu, but this was too funny not to share. (Special thanks to my mother-in-law, Jan, for sending it!)

Enjoy! And have a funny Friday!

Wordless Wednesday

In honor of our bun-girls' 4th birthday on Friday:

Bubble and Squeak

Tuesday Tips and Tricks

I'm sure I've posted these recipes before under "Hellish Kitchens." But if you're new to reading this blog, it might take you awhile to find them again...so I'll republish them now.

Enjoy!!

Breadmachine White Bread (2-pound loaf)
(Add the following to your loaf pan in the order given.)

1 1/2 cups of warm water
2 Tbsp. canola (or vegetable) oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
4 cups flour (I like Gold Medal brand "Better for Bread" flour)
2 1/2 tsp. yeast


Cake Mix Cookies
Oven temp: 350 F

1 box any flavor cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola (or vegetable) oil

Mix ingredients together. Add raisins or chocolate chips, if desired. Using a tablespoon, drop spoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. Bake for 9 minutes for soft; 11 minutes for crisp. Cool and enjoy. Freeze any leftovers.

Muggi-less Monday Musings

Happy Summer!! Happy Monday!

And Happy Dad's Day from yesterday!

It's a beautiful day today! Sunshine and blue skies. It may change, but I'm enjoying it while it's here.

We had a semi-busy weekend. Life is beginning to finally wind down for the summertime. (Can we say: "Yay?" Yes, we can!! YAY!)

The kids showed their rabbits on Saturday at our 4-H club's fun show. It was an actual show with an actual judge (alright a judge-in-training who was not Zac Efron despite the similarities in looks), with the idea of allowing kids (like ours) to experience showing their rabbits. Emily has wanted to show Earl for years now, but we feel a bit nervous of the idea since he lives inside in the A/C during the summer. At the county fair, the rabbits are housed in an open-sided shed for a week. I'm not sure her bunny would enjoy that too much. Earl Grey got 1st place and Best-of-Breed, Best-of-Variety, Best-of-Class...of course, he was the only one in his breed, variety, and show. *wink-grin* But still... Edward showed Tony, our black Holland Lop, and got a second-place ribbon with him. He was quite proud since he's not an official member of the 4-H but was allowed to show anyway. It rained buckets while we were there, but we were in the cow shed at the Reading Fairgrounds so everyone stayed nice and dry.


Father's Day was a fun-filled day. After church, a Skype video chat with Stuart's dad, and some pre-dinner dessert with my dad, Stuart and I prepared his Father's Day feast. Since we got him a charcoal grill last Father's Day I thought he might like to grill something special on it each year (different from, say, the other usual grillable stuff he does during the rest of the year). He's been "drooling" over a recipe for stuffed flanksteak since last year...so that was his choice-du-Father's-jour. And it was awesome!!! (The recipe is available upon request.) I made some bacon and egg potato salad and cooked broccoli and cauliflower to go with it. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.


Let me pause to remember it................. Mmmmm!

Anyways...

Emily finished her pointe club for ballet last Friday evening. We won't say it went without a hitch because she balked and cried everyday (with the exception of one) about going.... But it's OVER! No more dance until September.


Edward wrapped up his Spring soccer season on Thursday evening in between raindrops. It was not his favorite season, but he was still very sad when it was all over. Since it finished somewhat later than usual and Emily was still in dance class, we celebrated on Friday morning with waffles and ice cream (whipped cream, chocolate sauce, AND sprinkles) for breakfast! He'll play on a U9 team in the fall. All guys. And he gets a uniform with his very own handpicked number on it: 51.


We had Emily's and Edward's moving up "ceremony" on Friday evening after Emily's last dance class. Each got a "congrats" certificate, bookstore giftcard, and new Summer Bridge book, as well as a photo with the headmaster of our "school." Wooof. It was a "solemn" occasion, let me tell you. *wink-grin* Well, as solemn as silliness allows. Stuart and I did have a sobering thought, though, after we put the kids to bed that night. We'll have a 12th-grader, 8th-grader, and kindergarten all in the same year. Three "graduates." Wow.


Ethan is Ethan, still our jovial, silly baby. He's growing and developing all the time. And, like his siblings, he's full of curiosity. We had forgotten how much babies actually understand, and we are constantly amazed by his attention and communication with us. He's not talking by any means (though he loves to "sing" and jibber-jabber), but he shows his understanding by looking at whatever we say or signaling with his hands. We're anxious for his next checkup so that we can find out his stats. He's definitely one BIG guy.

Heard from the girl on Saturday. "I didn't know Agatha Christie was English. Oh, that's right. She wrote Harry Potter, right?"

Have a happy Monday! And I hope it's sunshining wherever you are, too!

Happy Father's Day!

In honor of Father's Day...

The first video is for my sweet hubby, my dad, and all the other dads out there who have "been there, done this"....er, um, you'll know. *wink-grin*

The second video is a touching tribute to dads everywhere, especially the awesome daddy of my three sweet kiddos.

Happy Father's Day!

Saturday Sweethearts

WE LOVE DADDY!

Friday Funnies

Just how bad is the economy?

(Cats are so dramatic!)

Enjoy a funny Friday! And remember that laughter is always free! *wink-grin*

Battery of Change

Thought for the day:

You know it's time to change the batteries in your child's toy when...

...the voice begins to sound like someone employed in a "red light" district.

...the sound effects could be used in the latest Freddy horror movie.

...it begins to malfunction with sounds like those in Close Encounters.

...the woman's voice deepens to that of a weight lifter.

"Cheese. Yum. Yum."

Wordless (mostly) Wednesday

George (4 weeks old)

As a Matter of Fact

I'm amazed at how soon the "will" of a baby develops and shows itself.

Well, I'm "amazed," typed in quotations...

Obviously, it's evident from birth in most babies, when they scream for their food and screech for a diaper change. But that's mostly involuntary, being their only method of communicating.

I'm talking about the eye-to-eye contact and grin of a baby who somehow knows he's doing something he's not supposed to be doing.

I can "hear" the swoosh of collective nodding going on out there from all those who have ever minded a child and who have "been-there-done-that." Yup. You know exactly what I mean, don't you?

So take our 9-month-old, Ethan.

Last month, at a mere 8 months old, he started to stand (slightly) in his highchair. I patiently (and gently) pushed him back down and said very calmly, "No. Sit." It was his introduction to the word "no," and I wanted to be careful not to overuse it and to show him what he should be doing instead. (Who's been reading her baby manuals, huh?)

Forty-seven times later -- in less than 15 minutes -- (I'm exaggerating, of course, but you get the point, right?), and I'm starting to use the hard "mom stare" along with the word "sit."

I'm thinking "firm, but gentle" thoughts.

He's thinking I'm uproariously funny and that this is a game...and a very fun one at that.

Eventually, the idea sunk in, and he sat his little tushy on the seat and finished his Cheerios.

Sigh.

I'm not new at this. I've already successfully navigated my two older kids through this early "show-of-the-will" time. But that was then...this is now.

So today when he started to stand up I told him the "facts of life." (No, not those facts.)

But these: I'm bigger, stronger, and smarter than him. So he's not getting away with anything...well, with much...well, okay, with that.

He grinned and giggled.

Sigh.

I might be bigger, stronger, and smarter...but he's so much cuter.

Now who's giving the *wink-grin*?

Maiden Monday Musings during Summer Vacation

"No more pencils...no more books...no more teacher's dirty looks...."

Ooops! Wait a minute! That "teacher" would be me, huh? (And I've got news for my kids...the looks are staying.)

Happy Monday! The first Monday in our Summer break! Woo-hoo!! I can't believe we're at this point in the year already.

We took "last-day-of-school" photos on Friday, and I suddenly realized, we started the schoolyear with two kids and finished it with THREE. Yikes! I hope this isn't some kind of trend.


Funny enough, life isn't slowing down for us...at least not yet.

Emily begins her "pointe club" -- a ballet "intensive" camp -- tonight. It will run from 5:30 to 8 every night this week. Edward has his last soccer game this coming Thursday. And Emily still needs to finish her life science lessons.

Still, it's nearly SUMMER!! Yippee!!

The weather has remained a tad chillier than usual, though you won't catch me complaining. Cooler weather means NO air conditioning...and no air conditioning means lower electric bills. Now that's something to really WOOOOO-HOOOO about!

Stuart and I continue our Monday Movie Nights with "Mall Cop" tonight. Hopefully, it will be every bit as funny as people say it is. There's not much on television at the moment, so we're spending our time doing other fun stuff. A win-win all around, right?

Since, it's late, and I'm posting this late, I'll bid you adieu a little earlier this week. Happy Monday!

9 Months Today!

It's IN-AND-OUT Day!!!!!

Our Ethan Samuel is 9 months old today!

(Could someone please tell me how time flies by so quickly?)

Here he is in all of his 9-month-old splendor:

Saturday Sweethearts

From this:
To this:8 months old

Friday Fun

Here's a fun music group -- called "K3" -- that my dear, sweet Dutch friend, Jadie, introduced me to today. I found this video after she sent me a few of their other ones, and I think it's such FUN!!!!

Enjoy! And join in to have a "hippie, happy shake" kind of Friday!

Thoughts and Thursdays....

Note to self: Never, ever have a baby at the beginning of a schoolyear.

Okay. Okay. So I really didn't have a "say" in the arrival of our sweet baby, Ethan.

But I'm just saying now...

Back when Stuart and I started to discuss the possibility of a third little Foote, I mentioned (quite strongly) the fact that (especially) since we homeschool we should be (especially) careful not to plan a baby for a September arrival....

I'll pause to let that sink in...........................................................

Yeah. Yeah. I really was present during health class in high school. I really did learn about the "birds and the bees." (Remember, we'd already had two babies...babies who were planned.)

And then I heard it.

It was the sound of God, up on His glorious throne in Heaven, laughing.

I don't know if I completely understood it then. (I thought I was so in control of stuff like that.)

And while our first two little people arrived more-or-less when we expected them, we weren't so blessed the third time around.

Bringing another baby into our family seemed as elusive as catching Santa Claus eating the cookies and milk you left out for him on Christmas Eve.

But then it happened. When we least expected it. Or possibly when we no longer expected it? Ethan Samuel arrived about 5 years after we'd hoped...in -- you guessed it -- September.

Are you laughing? I am.

I believe that God allows us to go through situations to teach us. In my case, I learned that I definitely do not determine the timing of my little ones....and that I need to rely wholly on God for my strength (something I already knew well but needed to be reminded of).

September. The time of vacation and my hubby's birthday; of school starting, soccer starting, ballet starting, learning group starting... So much happens at that time of year...

Sure, the older kids could have gone to our local brick-and-mortar school. But we'd already committed to continuing their education at home, so we knew we needed to continue no matter how hard the road might become.

And it did become hard at times. We had a new person to work into our schedules. We had new feeding times and changing times and naptimes...and lack-of-sleep-and/or-patience times.

Now, as we stand poised at the finish line of the school year, we look back and smile as we sigh.

Who'd have "thunk" Ethan into our lives all those years ago when I told Stuart the one month to avoid having a baby was September?

Note to self: Scratch the first thought, and remember this one instead: Never, ever doubt the timing of God's blessings.

Wordless Wednesday

Did You Copy That?

*$*%#$#%$!#*$*%#$#@%$!#"*$*%#$#%$!#*$*%#$#@%$!#"$*$*%#$#@%$!#*!

And that's not me swearing. It's me smacking my head on my keyboard...

Honest!

Remember the "old" days? You know, a few days weeks months years ago when things were built to last...work...stay around awhile?

I've decided that this printer-scanner-copier-faxer of mine -- that I bought secondhand from my sister who traded with my dad (hmmm....) -- has a "love-hate" relationship with me. It's temperamental to the utmost degree.

For some reason, it thinks it's in control. That it can do what it wants when it wants.

Ha! Have I got news for it.

A few days ago, it worked like a charm. I faxed several documents to several different places...without a hitch. I even made a few copies on it in between.

Now, it's decided to go on strike...just when I need to scan our schoolwork to send to our teachers.

I tried "sweet-talking it"...offering to buy new ink cartridges..."massaging" its innards to make sure everything is in the proper spot.

But no-go. Nada. No vas.

So I taught it a lesson. I'm not going to let it win. I told it who's boss and.....

...I unplugged it.

Sigh.

Anyone want a printer-scanner-copier-faxer? Cheap? Comes complete with a manual and...an "attitude."

Of course, you might need to piece it back together first.

*wink-grin*

Muggier Monday Musings

Happy Monday! The second one in June!

Well, I guess it's officially getting closer to actual Summertime.

We were spoiled by a few days of cooler more Spring-like weather....and now it's getting humid. Ugh. I guess that's all part of living in Pennsylvania.

Thank You, God, for AC!!

Emily had a fantastic recital yesterday. The dancers did a wonderful job and all their hardwork really paid off. She just finished her 9th year of dancing!! Wow! I can't believe it has been that long already. Apart from a weeklong "pointe club" next week, she has off from dance for the summer. Yay! We're getting closer to finishing school for the year. Just a "few" more sciences.....

Edward is still finishing up his Spring soccer season. He has a few more practices and games, I think. He's officially finished with all of his lessons for the year. We finally managed to do the rest of his music lessons, and, oh, what a relief that was! Hooray!

Ethan is nearly-mobile now. He can scoot around a bit and get to things that used to be out-of-reach. And he loves to pull himself up and stand. Ut-oh. Life is changing dramatically for all of us. He's certainly growing and changing quickly. He'll be 9 months old next Sunday. Yikes, huh? But it's fun as well!

Stuart and I started a "Monday (and Tuesday) Movie" night to take the place of our 24 show that is over for the season. So far we've watched New in Town and Taken. Tonight will be He's Just Not That into You and Defiance. We're hoping to start The Closer Season 4 soon, too. It's fun to have some good stuff to watch...especially when our favorite-most shows finish out their seasons. That, from two people who don't watch much anyway. *grin*

On that note, I will bid you adieu and hope that you have an enjoyable Monday!