7QT: Caucus, Money and Other Things

one. Our caucus is on Monday. This is of course specific to here Iowa but almost every major candidate is coming between today and then. In between the political commercials... who am I kidding they're ALL political commercials, I've been giving this ol' caucus thing a lot of thought.

It's dumb.

Iowa has this inflated importance for being first or whatever but other than that it serves no purpose. We should for sure switch to a primary election system. If you've never been to a caucus, they are long and drawn out and the only reason people go is to check a box on the little ballot anyway. Then they want to leave. It's not a secret ballot and did I mention it's long and drawn out?

So we can't bring the kids. Which means only one of the voting individuals in our household can go. Which could be the exact reason the people Iowa tends to pick are wrong. It's because such a small percentage of eligible voters attend and it is a skewed population.

My point is I'm not hanging my hat on who Iowa picks. Unless we somehow pick someone electable in which case, go us!

two. It has been a long week. Quite in contrast to last week where I stayed home every day but Friday I have gone out every single day this week. I am tired. This morning's leaving the house experience did not go especially well but we rebounded strong! But still. TGIF!

three. M had her 15 month well check on Monday and she is healthy and happy. No concerns. She somehow sprouted her molars on the top without me noticing. Bringing the total to 8 teeth. She has been cranky this week boy howdy. I'm going to blame molars. Her pattern of getting teeth has been WILDLY different than C's. C followed the little chart perfectly if not a little on the slow end. M is just doing it her own way.

four. Who's got a fantastic idea on how to get a kid excited about writing? And GO!

five. At school yesterday C made a workout video with his friends. It is my new favorite thing! If it wasn't the largest file ever I would totally post it but it is so I won't. But if you were ever thinking about having your kids make a workout video, I don't care how old they are, I bet you'll get a major kick out of it.

six. Inspired by Colleen and the fact the last form we needed arrived in today's mail, I filed our taxes this afternoon.

seven. My January spending freeze didn't go super well. The first two weeks I didn't spend any money on anything not food/household supplies. Then I slipped a little but each time they were really conscious purchases on things that I would have bought anyway but they were at a really good price. With the exception of pillows for C. 

So I didn't spend no money but I did spend wise money. All in all I am happy with how that went. 

Okay have a great weekend! Link up with Kelly if you want. I like to read them!

Sunday Dinner on a Monday

For all those times when your husband brings home pork tenderloins and you don't know what to do with them*, worry no more.

I made Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin tonight and it was really great. Because it is winter I did not grill my tenderloins. I browned them in the cast iron then stuck in the oven at 425 for 15-20 minutes until the internal temp was 145. I also put pineapple rings on a foil lined pan and baked them at the same time as the pork.

I served my delicious pork with rice, carrots and  Scalloped Pineapple which was something I'd been eyeing since Thanksgiving when someone mentioned it online. It did not disappoint, not at all. It was in fact, so so good. I will be making it again. Probably with pork tenderloin. Or ham.

*It's probably not likely that your husband also brings random cuts of meat home in which case you could just put pork tenderloin on your shopping list.

Friday. Finally.

It was a long week. Husband was out of town for a training. School was at our house this week. Book club was at our house last night. Which does in fact mean that my house is pretty darn clean, except for C's bedroom which needs a little TLC tonight. 

We had art class today. I am really digging the art class. He makes several projects once a week but it's not at my house and I don't have to buy the supplies. Last week M had a playdate so she didn't have to just sit in the stroller and watch. This week she did, but she was actually really good. The teacher Miss Erin last week was talking to C because one of the crafts was a polar bear. Well he was super excited about it. And she told him that she would do all sorts of arctic animals for class this week. She did not disappoint. 

There is always a snack "craft" and we got to make polar bear cookies. This is actually the example cookie she had on the table since I didn't think to take a picture of his before he dug in. It is a boxed chocolate chip cookie with marshmallow fluff frosted on, big marshmallow slices  for ears and I think chocolate covered raisins for eyes and nose. (I didn't try any to verify what they were.) 

He loves the snack craft every week. It's definitely one of his favorite tables in the room. He is getting really good at spreading frosting/peanut butter/etc on to whatever. I love that he can practice that skill in a fun way. The class is really good about incorporating different skills into the activities.

This is him eating his cookies. I told him to look at the phone and say cheese but he opted for polar bear instead. It was a most fitting choice on his part. You can see his no-longer-swollen-but-still-bruised forehead that is healing nicely. 

We were having so much fun I didn't take any pictures of him actually making his crafts but here they are:

Polar bear painting. That big circle is snowball cam from Polar Bears: Spy On the Ice.Obviously. 

The walrus puppet. He had to get a crayon from the table next to it in order to add whiskers because tusks and whiskers are very important to a walrus fan. 

The Eskimo he was excited about. He just got a toob set for Christmas from his P-Pa and it was arctic animals and included some Eskimos. He did color it a little but he liked gluing the cotton balls on. I didn't make him cut it out because he's not great with the scissors yet and they weren't left handed scissors. I am also left handed and after years of practice, I have perfected  become capable of cutting with right handed scissors. I didn't think I needed to ruin his scissor experience at his age. He can live in denial of right handed scissors for a while longer. 

That bottle you see there I'm not quite sure what it is but it has mineral oil, water and water beads in it. It's fun to shake up and watch. And it looks arctic like. 

Also at class this week was a fishing craft we didn't get to, the water table with water beads in it this week and play-doh as always. It was a super fun class. A perfect capstone to the long week for sure! Happy weekend everyone!

Preschool: Diversity and Friendship

We finished the letters the week before Christmas so we are working on themes and letter groups for the second half of the year. You are probably aware of the fact that it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday. So the letters of the week were M L and K. (I know. I can see the shock on your face.)

We did letter activities and activities about diversity and friendship. For our opening activity I thought just playing with Magna-Tiles was the way to go. It's good for spacial reasoning and early geometry skills. Plus, you know, we have them and they're fun!

During circle time we read Peanut Butter and Cupcake.

We got our copy through Imagination Library but if you don't have that program you should for sure get this book. I love it. After we read we played a game about seeing how we were different and the same. Everyone liked this game. I would call out a characteristic and if people matched the characteristic they would stand on the blanket. We did blue eyes, blue jeans, pony tails and if you were 3. They liked to see that they had things in common and things different. 

Other activities for the day included: friendship necklaces, practicing writing our uppercase letters, watching the Sneetches movie while eating our cooperation trail mix. *This activity should have been more fun.* They were going to make trail mix and give it to a friend but instead we just talked about how all the ingredients make for a good snack but together they are better even though they're different. 

We also drove Hot Wheels on the MLK road (painters tape) and identified uppercase and lower case by parking in the designated parking spots I had written out on cardboard. (This one also would have been fun but they just wanted to drive the cars.) I saved the parking lots though I am going to try again with C. 

For our science activity we looked at Brown Eggs and White Eggs and talked about the differences of them. Then we cracked them open to see that inside they were the same. Truthfully we didn't do anything that was specifically Martin Luther King Jr. based. I couldn't find a book I thought was at their skill level and the crafts I could find seemed only meh. I figure they have a lot of years studying him ahead of them at school. So I stuck with the spirit of Dr. King and decided that was a better lesson than a biography anyway. 

So that is what we're up to this week in preschool. 

Theme Thursday: Focal Point

Hello! It's another Theme Thursday and this week brings us focal point fun. I wasn't super sure what to do with this theme. Because doesn't every picture have a focal point? Professional photographer I will never be. I am way not cut out for it.

I do enjoy taking random pictures though and so Theme Thursday is good for me.

This one I love. A typical scene at Chez Snark. Someone is always trying to get in the fruit bowl. This specific someone has added "banana" to her repertoire of words. It's not that big of a list yet but banana is on the list. 

I totally dig that the sun draws my eye first to the Dole sticker and then I can't help but focus on the chubby little almost 15-months-old hand. Now when I look at it, the hand is the focal point but what say you?

So link up whatever with Micaela because I like to click over to see pictures. I am pretty sure that in just about any picture you have you could justify what the focal point is. Just sayin' if you wanted to link up you could. No pressure though. 

The End of an Era

Well we finally ripped the band-aid off. We'd been meaning to for some time now but I just didn't want to. But on Friday we went to the dentist and he asked straight up if C was still using a pacifier. I of course lied. And said that sometimes he stole M's.

Only M has never really taken a pacifier (nuki) ever. When she was a little tiny baby she did for a little but not in the same way as C. We had actually gotten rid of his right before M was born. Then all at once he had a sister and he stole her nukis. So I got him a two pack and then almost 15 months passed and it was time.

I will say that to our credit he did only use them when he was sleeping and it had been like that the entire regression. He had to turn them in to us before we went downstairs and they lived on a high shelf.

So Friday I casually mentioned that on Monday we were going to give his nukis to the garbage man on Monday. I didn't make it a big deal, just kind of a heads up. I did the same thing on Saturday a couple times. Short. Sweet.

Sunday we did the same thing. He didn't think that was a very good idea though. Because now Monday was tomorrow. He stayed up way too late and I think he was processing how it would all work. But sure enough, Monday came and they went out in the garbage. The garbage man was going to send them to the penguins we told him.

My brother lost his nuki at the zoo when he was young and then totally accepted the fact that "the monkeys had his nuki" and never questioned it again. I was hoping this strategy would work in our favor.

Rest time on Monday was interesting. He asked for his nukis and I told him they went to the penguins. And he was sad. He told me that it was okay and that we could buy some more from the store. I of course told him that he was a big boy who didn't need nukis anymore and that he was going to be okay. I just ignored the store comment.

He didn't rest. Which was actually kind of my plan. That way he'd be extra tired at bed time. He got to help me order Where's Walrus and Penguin* from Amazon. I'd been eyeing it since before Christmas. It's practically like they wrote it just for him! A sequel to our favorite!

Husband sent us a text message that the penguins LOVED their nukis. Kudos to him for even picking Chinstrap penguins as if you come around here much you may know that of the 17 breeds of penguin, they are the best. 

Well bedtime wasn't the most fun but after insisting he go to Antarctica to rescue his nukis he went to sleep. The being especially tired thing really helped. Day one was a success!

Day two was pretty good. He even slept during rest time! Then last night he WALLOPED his head on the coffee table and got himself a giant goose egg. After a call to the nurseline to let me know he did not need to be seen, I was super nervous that sleeping wouldn't go so well. But he went down with only a little fuss and no mention of nukis at all. So go C! 

And now the mailman (we actually have a girl postal carrier but he calls her a mailman) just brought us our book and he is pretty excited. 

He by happenstance is wearing his walrus/penguin/polar bear* pajamas so he's got that going for him. And the lighting definitely down plays the purple bump but you can still tell his left eye is a little swollen. It's all very exciting here. He has now gathered all the walrus books we have and I don't doubt that gathering penguins and walruses will commence shortly. 

*We will ignore the fact that penguins are from Antarctica and walruses are arctic animals and would never be friends in real life.* 

So that is how we have gotten rid of our nukis over here. It's the end of an ear. And a continuance of the walrus one. 

Weekend of Fun. (Mostly.)

You know how sometimes a day is pretty great? That is how Saturday went. The whole group of us woke up early. C and I went to Zoo Tots, a class at the zoo. We signed our school friends up for the March session and we were going to scope it out. It was just okay. I mean C really liked it but it wasn't nearly as educational as I thought it would be. And it didn't have a single thing to do with the letter E as described online.

But we did get to see the zookeeper feed the Tamarin monkeys and that was super fun. At one point C and I were the only two people looking at them, and one guy was trying to eat a green grape, but instead leapt right at the net screen exactly at face level. (I was holding C.) Then he went on a sideways adventure. It was just like Super Mario! That was the best part for sure.

To continue our fun we went to the grocery store to buy some donuts and apples. C has been sad that we haven't had apples lately so he got to pick some out. It was super cute. He picked like 2 of bunch of varieties. He also got to carry the donut box and felt very proud of that job. 

The rest of the day was pretty good and typical. Husband went out and got Capriotti's for lunch. Oh my. So good. If you have one near you, you should go. If you're traveling and see one, you should go. Get the Bobbie. I don't even really like turkey but it is so so good. 

We had a After dinner we had a family dance party, it was so much fun. We turned off all the lights and used flash lights and glow sticks and danced around the living room. Seriously, it was so fun. After M went to sleep, Husband C and I played his games from Christmas. We played classic Candy Land. C was so cute playing the game. He really got the hang of it quickly. We love board games in my family so it makes me so happy that he seems to as well. 

He especially liked the ice cream floats!

Then we played the Busytown Mysteries Game. 

ffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjhhhhhhhhhhhhh vv

vvvvvveeeeevza 

Thank you M for that addition to the morning blog post. Anyway, Busytown was super fun. You all win or lose together because you're racing to picnic island before Pig Will and Pig Won't eat all the picnic food. Along the way sometimes you get to solve a Goldbug Mystery and search for things. 

All in all, Saturday was pretty darn great! 

Sunday. Well the sun was shining which is about all I can say. It got freezing cold. Book club was cancelled. The Vikings... choked in the 4th as is typical. Seriously so disappointing, especially because the announcers the entire game kept talking as though the Vikings losing was a foregone conclusion. Then to have it end like that... It's hard to be a Vikings fan. 

And now here we are on Monday. A new week! Hope it's a good one. 

7QT: ALL.THE.THINGS

one. Oh my goodness. My guy is growing up so fast. I signed him up for summer camp yesterday. I have been stalking the site for over a week now waiting for sign ups to begin. I am a big fan of camp and I want my kids to love it too. I did sign him up only for the practice camp. Kinder Camp they call it. For 4-6 year olds. They go for just 3 days. I am so excited for him!! I can hardly wait until July.

two. Also preschool round up is now on the calendar. I am so excited for him even as my poor little heart can't take the fact he's growing up.

three. Let's have a little talk about my friends Melissa and Doug. They make awesome toys. But what is up with their packaging? Seriously, they spend the money to make these wooden boxes with little partitions for all the millions of pieces and they don't have lids. That's no good. They're basically garbage at that point. But they're not cardboard, they're wood so I can't just stick them in the recycling bin. I mean sure they look great all sealed in plastic wrap but once they're open just worthless. All of our Melissa and Doug toys go into Ziplocs, which is the antithesis of buying the wooden toys in the first place.

*Apparently there are many up-cycling projects to be done with the packaging.*

four. It's so far been a pretty mild winter. When I say winter I mean since November not meteorological winter. It did ice storm then snow fell on top of the ice while we were gone. I have always been a get out there and shovel during the snow event kind of girl, but obviously we missed it. As a result we had some giant ice ruts left in our parking area. Blah. But it warmed up this week a bit and I went out every day at nap time and chiseled away at it and cleared it off officially yesterday.

I am super excited about this because it's going to get super cold this weekend, and in this area things tend to melt a little then refreeze, meaning ice ruts can stick around for a LONG time.  My best friend was watching our house and shoveled our sidewalk and in front of our garage. But just past the gate was a giant ice/snow patch and I was not going to live with that until March!

five. Did you hear about the Blue Tooth Pregnancy Test? There's a lot of backlash about it, which I kind of get. $20 is  ridiculous. But I also kind of see the good in it. Some people do need something to talk them through a test. Or maybe your spouse travels a lot for business but he wants to see the results at the same time as you with just a text messaged code. It is not a black and white negative is what I am saying. Someone will appreciate this technology.

six. I just finished Hart of Dixie on Netflix and it was a roller coaster how I felt about it. Season 3 was blah for over half the season, no wonder it got cancelled. But Season 4 redeemed it in the end. It's super cheesy and really predictable but I liked it. I laughed, I cried (like actual tears) and I squeed occasionally.

It was what I needed after finishing Friday Night Lights and The Great British Baking Show. Though seriously, it was like a spider web of dating until everyone had basically dated everyone else. That got old pretty quick. Also it totally made Alabama seem like a good idea (with the same set as Stars Hallow) even though I'm pretty sure I wouldn't actually like living in Alabama.

seven. I joined another book club, this one meets on Sunday afternoon at during the Viking game. Luckily I can watch the first hour or so before the book club starts. We read Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. I am really curious about this discussion because I read the book in two sittings on Wednesday and I think I enjoyed it. It is not a happy book but deeply thought provoking as a parent. I feel like this book is an onion, there's so many layers in it that I will have to mull it over for a good while. A discussion will be helpful in my digestion of the book, though I've never met anyone in the book club other than my bestie.

Theme Thursday: Rule of Thirds

Woah. It's Thursday. There's a theme. Everyone else started school up again this week but we are still off getting our sea legs mostly just because we can. I mean, sure we have places to go, people to see and things to do tomorrow but today is still adjust back to real life mode day. Which I guess, can include Theme Thursday. I mean why not?

Why not? Probably because Micaela picked like actual photography rules and terms as is her right. Only I haven't really picked up the good camera in over a week. And my cell phone shots are pretty nonexistent as well. 

So I will really have to get it together here and plan ahead more than Wednesday night to get decent shots I actually want to blog about. For next week because of course, in adjust back to real life mode I haven't taken pictures at all. 

Imma go back to boxing day which was our Christmas with my family. Some cute pictures and maybe some rule of thirds right? 

I mean not the most shining example of the rule but it technically follows it so it's going to work this week. 

This elephant wants to go on a learning adventure. Open the book, there's lot's to explore. Or so the thing says. *Shaking my fist at VTech Toys* But she really digs this one and it does turn off which is a huge bonus. It also is kind of a story, albeit with a terrible plot, so that is kind of a redeeming factor. And did I mention she really loves it? That's enough to keep it in my good graces because it keeps her away from the computers and cell phones. My little Director of Technology. 

And with that I bid you adieu until next week when I try really hard not to phone in Focal Points. Happy Thursday everybody! 

Pingu Pingu The Regular Penguins

One of my boy's favorite past times involves looking at animal pictures online or watching animal videos on YouTube. In his sweetest voice he will come up to you and ask to look at "walrus pictures on your phone?" Or if you want to watch on the computer. Etc.

Over our Christmas he had a Grampa and Grandma who were all too happy to indulge him as well as two uncles who liked the snuggles. C will sit in the lap of the lucky computer driver and he would stay there for hours watching and enjoying. From my perspective, the actual video/picture viewing is kind of a whatever, but his reactions are just priceless. 

On this particular trip, penguin movies were the big draw. Many many times he found himself in the lap of a kind soul who clicked through YouTube at will. Then one day he asked to watch "Pingu Pingu the regular penguins." And then the adult looked at me to translate that. 

"Um... I'm not sure. He likes Pingu, the claymation penguin show." So then they started watching that. It wasn't what he was looking for, but he does in fact like Pingu so he was pacified. But then again a little later he asked to watch "Pingu Pingu the REGULAR penguin." Big emphasize on regular. 

I was still clueless. I had no idea. The joy of the trip is that it never really became my turn to watch the animals with him. I take plenty of turns in real life so it was a novelty to not be involved. But that did not help my guy with his task. And people kept looking at me like I should in fact know what "Pingu Pingu the Regular Penguin" was. 

We moved on from videos to play another game and I didn't give it much thought. But the next day, sure enough, the request came again while watching with my brother. I explained that no one knew what that was but if he wanted to watch Pingu that was okay. But as they were scrolling through the YouTube list he very dramatically pointed at the screen. "Let's watch THIS one!!"

So they clicked. (I put it there because it goes with the story. You need not click.) 

And what do you know? After the image of Mumble from Happy Feet, there is a compilation of penguin clips. Real penguins. Set to the theme song of Pingu. The song's only lyrics are in fact "Pingu Pingu" and is actually one of the most inane theme songs in history. 

It was exactly a video of "Pingu Pingu the regular penguin." My guy surprises me daily with things like this. I know he has a terrific memory but to remember  what the YouTube clip image looked like and that it was "regular" penguins as opposed to animated set to the Pingu song? And then to express that in such a specific way? I love being amazed by him. 

I am so lucky to get to be the foremost expert on this little dude. The one people look at to translate, even when I have no clue. I love spending my days with him, even the rough ones where I think I couldn't possibly make it through until Husband comes home. Even when he is the most threenager that ever threenagered. I love my guy. And my vocation. 

But I'll probably never love the Pingu song. 

And We're Back!

Our Christmas started early. Because we were going to travel and such, we had our Christmas Eve on December 23 and Santa came on Christmas Eve. (The joys of littles, the magic can be real.)

I borrowed a tradition from Laura Pearl and did Christmas delivery pizza. As fate would have it, my parents did Christmas crackers at their Christmas Eve this year so maybe we'll have to borrow that bit too!

Our Christmas morning was wonderful. Pajamas and presents and monkey bread. Just blissful!

The rest of 2015 was spent traveling. First to my FIL's and then to my parent's. We had a great trip but we are glad to be home. We spent yesterday packing up Christmas decorations, rearranging furniture and unpacking duffle bags and new presents.

C's favorite Christmas present was "Penguin." Whether he means, the giant Emperor Penguin stuffed animal, the smaller aroma stuffed penguin from France, the wooden decorative penguin puzzle or the set of nesting Penguins I'm not sure, but they were not in shortage. (Neither was the walrus and the excitement was real folks. And the Eric Carle MeReader set has literally not been away from him since he opened it so that's right up there too.

My favorite present was a rug for our bedroom. I was definitely not expecting that but I am a huge fan. I have never really appreciated having hard wood floors in my bedroom.

Husband, I think would tell you hi favorite present is socks. Sounds lame but the situation was getting dire. (For casual socks.)

M's favorite present... it's hard to tell  but I think either the little radio/iPod thing or her tea set. But she likes her stuff too. She is one loved little girl!

2015 ended and 2016 has started off pretty good. Since the best of '15 is the thing, here's mine.

Happy Real Life Monday everyone! Reality is a hard pill to swallow, but it's time for some routine again for sure. And the Vikings winning the NFC North last night is kind of a balm for the soul today. Though certain individuals were not happy to have their Daddy go to work this morning. I am sure he feels the same way!