colorful day

Yesterday I had one of those colorful days. . . you know the ones where you choose not to say colorful words even though your laundry is splattered with colorful bursts of crayon wax. Dang Mel's Diner. Dang kids who think that crayons in their pocket is a good idea. (relax, I said dang)

Bless whomever came up with this concoction that brought the stains out after 2 hot washings, an overnight soak, and another washing in the morning. Granted, I had to cut the pocket off that held the crayons, but I'd say the outcome was miraculous. Maybe I should make the little culprit wear his pants with the pocket cut out. Maybe the thought of his friends and classmates possibly taking a peek at his star wars underoos will scare him into never putting anything into his pockets again! . . wait. . . why don't I just cut out all of the pockets of all of the kiddy pants! WAAAHHAA HAAA HAA . . . that's my best evil laugh.

Here's the magic potion . . . I hope you never have to use it.

"Getting the Dang Crayon out of the Laundry" Magical Potion

2 max amounts (line 3) of concentrated Tide
1 cup Oxiclean
1/2 cup 20 mule team Borax
1 cup Shout liquid
1 cup white vinegar

Soak the clothes in the washer on the hottest setting. . . make sure you've sorted the laundry so colors don't bleed if you are not used to washing on hot. I soaked, washed, and then soaked overnight, washed again, and then washed it like I normally would

Luckily there was no crayon on the walls of my dryer. If you have that problem. . .you'll have to google it, though I've heard that magic eraser will do the trick.

There are no pictures. I was really mad.

6 month stats

Morgan is 6 months. . . well, technically 6 months and 3 weeks.

height: 27 1/4 inches (85th %)

weight: 15 lbs 6 oz (30th %)

head circumference 42.9 (50th %)

She's showing off these cutsie little bottom teeth. I LOVE this phase! She said Da Da first. . . . . . despite all of my coaching efforts. She's also big into rocking back and forth on all fours. I better watch it. . .she'll be crawling before I know it. I see in my future many hours of fishing barbie shoes and legos out of her mouth.

"Watch mom. . . one handed!"

showoff.

love. . . and a race

We went to watch Tyler at his running club race last week. They ran 1.5 miles and we waited patiently at the "finish line." I use the term "patiently" very loosely since from the minute he took off running, I heard, "WHAT SHOULD IEYYYY DOOOOOO?" I hear that a lot you know

Mo had a grand 'ole time. Her legs don't bend when she's in the stroller :) Don't you just LOVE the little chubby rolls around her knees! She may not be so happy about that when she gets to be my age. Rolls around the knees. . . not so cute when you're approaching your 30s.Paige passed the time by showing me her new "bumpy teeth." They just can't understand why their new teeth are bumpy and ours aren't. You have to do a LOT of chewing to smooth out the bumps. Then she found some sparkly new treasures that I later found banging around in the dryer at 11:00 at night. To sum up. . . there are too many rocks in AZ.Oh! Here he comes now! Whatever you do, don't look directly at the camera. We wouldn't want a picture of your face. . . Heaven forbid! 19th place overall. Pretty good, considering that he's running with 5th, 4th, and 3rd graders who have very long legs.

Now onto some things that we love, in honor of Valentines Day.

I LOVE feeding Mo her veggies. Especially green peas. She LOVES eating them. She also likes to suck on the spoon when we are done. I won't say that she "loves" it, because it always leads to gagging. And. . . I now, guess I have no choice but to say it. .. . gag me with a spoon.Mo LOVES her newfound sitting skills.

Mo also LOVES Paigey. Now, I'm not saying that she doesn't love everybody else too, but just look at the way she watches Paigey. I think I might have two girly girls on my hands.Paigey absolutely LOVES Mo too. Isn't it obvious!It must be because they share the bond of thumbsucking. Paige also LOVES it when she gets a bag from school. Her teacher has made up several fun bags that circulate through the am and pm classes. It usually has an activity and a book to read. On this particular day, it happened to be the cow bag. I think she may have actually kissed it when she took it out of her backpack. Now, Ty also loves Mo, but first and foremost, he LOVES video games. It just so happens that it is tv turnoff week at school.

"We only get 30 minutes of recess for turning off the tv all week, Mom. It's not really worth it.". . . oh brother.

He's not allowed to watch tv or play video games during the school week anyway. He's really only giving up his Friday after-school game time. You'd think, with the way he was carrying on, that they had asked him to donate a lung. Kids these days.

Ty also LOVES scouts. Here he is painting his derby car with a grin. The derby comes with a sad story, but that's another post.

As for me, I LOVE that Shane and Ty Make the same face when they play guitar heroes. AWWW! That little tongue is just so cute!

I LOVE these cute little mailboxes that I made for Paige and Tyler's school teachers for valentines day. I found the tutorial on someone else's fabulous blog a few months ago, and when I went to find it, there were about bazillion posts just like it. Crafty people out there.

I also LOVE the new lens that I got shortly after Christmas. Canon 24-70 L f2.8 L series. It's a beauty I tell ya. All of these pictures were taken with it, and I can't wait to do some family shoots with it. I'm so spoiled.

What do you LOVE? If I type that word one more time I will probably have to gag myself with a spoon.

Happy Valentines Day!

Tutor

Here's how tonight's dinner conversation went down.

Tyler: What number of job is this for you, Dad?
Me: Shane, tell him all of the jobs you've had before this one.
Shane: Well, I worked at McDonalds and a pizza place. Then I was a tutor.
Tyler: (making a fart noise) A TOOTER! HAAAAA! HAAAA! HEE, HEE HEE!!!!

Needless to say, our son may require a tutor in the near future. . . possibly for vocabulary.

laughing

There's just nothing like that belly laugh! I love it!

This and That and a recipe

The smell of the pinewood derby is in the air. . . Tyler's first, you know. This is the part where Shane gets to relive his childhood scouting experiences. They drew up sketches, did a little online research and sanded to their hearts' content. The finished product will only be revealed on the night of pinewood derby. . . so you can look forward to that. (I'm sure you can't wait.)

Now on to the girly things . . .

Mo is eating everything in sight. Puppies for dinner? That's right. If she's in her chair and you give her something, she attempts to eat it. She's all about carrots, bananas, berries and applesauce. She wasn't such a fan of the chicken and rice, but we'll keep working on that.

Paige just started her little ballet/jazz class throught the community. She loved her first day. I wasn't allowed in the room, so we'll have to wait until the recital for the good stuff. That probably ok with her, because the first day was pretty comical. I watched through the door as she attempted to touch her toes. With her legs bent, she grinned at her teacher. Then it was on to teaching the stretches for the splits. The teacher asked for a volunteer to show the class how to properly do the splits. "I'll do it!" she exclaimed with her hand in the air. (She's never done this before, mind you.) Poor kid, she got her flexibility from me. She kind of looked like a little frog all stretched out on the floor, but grinning from ear to ear. Good thing I was OUTside the classroom, because I laughed out loud. The teacher was much nicer. "That's good Paige, but let me show you how to do the splits properly." HA!

And, here's a little recipe from last night that has to be shared.

Here's what you need for Couscous and Feta-Stuffed Peppers. (minus the tomato paste)

Couscous and Feta-Stuffed Peppers

Vegetable-oil cooking spray

1 1/4 cups fat-free chicken or vegetable broth

2/3 cup couscous (I used Hodgson Mill whole wheat couscous, garlic and basil flavored)

4 large bell peppers, yellow, orange, or red

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion (I used green onion)

6 oz zucchini, quartered lengthwise then sliced across thinly

6 good-sized mushrooms diced

1 handful of fresh spinach, chopped

1 clove chopped garlic

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp salt

pepper

1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half

2 oz crumbled feta cheese (about 1/2 cup) or more if you want

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a small baking dish with cooking spray. Bring the broth to a boil in a saucepan, add the couscous, cover the pan and remove it from the heat.

Meanwhile, cut the stems and top half inch off the bell peppers and scoop out the seeds and membranes. Microwave trimmed peppers until you start to hear them sizzle.

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet. Add onion, garlic, zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, oregano, pepper and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or until vegetables are softened. Remove from heat and stir in the tomatoes. Using a fork, fluff the couscous and then scrape the couscous into the skillet and toss with the vegetables. Stir in the crumbled feta.

Place peppers upright in the baking dish and fill them with couscous. Bake 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

yummmmmmy! I served this with Pioneer Woman's Marinated Flank Steak.

Then today for lunch I had 3 oz of the leftover meat on my salad. Excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!