Not Even 7 Quick Takes!

Friday. Quick Takes. And go!

1. First day of Spring! Also my Grandpa's birthday.


2. Yesterday I was kind of on a roll. I washed a load and stuck it in the dryer. Then I hand washed a few dishes and loaded the dishwasher and got that running. I did some tidying and vacuuming on the main floor. And I made and cleaned up lunch. Then M started fussing so I picked her up and it was blowout city. So I got her cleaned up, took the lining off of the rock n play and brought it down with the outfit and changing pad to wash...

And a bottle of Tide was apparently knocked off the top of the dryer when it was turned on. Tide everywhere. And the cap was clear across the room. I honestly wish I had seen it because the cap was so far away I legitimately have no idea how it's possible.

So I cleaned up the tide. Got the other load going and brought up the now dry laundry to fold. But I am glad I found the Tide when it was easy to clean. Thankful for a blowout? Silver lining to a blowout we'll say.


3. We almost made it. Nearly. But no. In that last hour of winter sickness descended upon our house. Everything seems okay this morning so far. Except that I am tired. *fingers crossed* The upside there? It was the first time all Winter he was sick.


4. It's March Madness. As in: the time of year I randomly pick teams to win or lose on the online tournament thing. You can't lose if you don't really care.


5. I made banana pancakes for lunch. They were perfectly cooked and delicious. I also still have batter left so there's a chance I will be having banana pancakes for dinner.

6 and 7. I've got nothing. Enjoy your weekend.

Animal Cams

Hello!

It's been quiet on the blog front this week for no real good reason. Monday was almost 80 degrees. Certainly an outlier for our March but we were not about to waste it. We didn't even nap! (Not for lack of trying but that's another story.) We played outside and had a really good time. I even managed to pick up a good chunk of the sticks that littered my yard.

Then real Spring weather set in but even those temps have been delightful! Anything beats cold at this time of year right?

But the real reason for lack of posting is that the computer has been all animals, all the time. Our local zoo, which isn't super great but way better than nothing at all opens next week. I was online looking to see when it would be opening and we looked at all the pictures and talked about it.

That led us down the rabbit hole of zoo web cams.

All zoo web cams are not created equal. The Sea World webcams are probably the best (because, hello for profit!) and include 3 different penguin cams, above ground, shallow and deep. Deep water is my favorite but the resident toddler prefers them "in the snow." *ahem* Above ground.

The Walrus cam at the Indianapolis Zoo has been down much to our chagrin. The National Zoo Panda cam is pretty good too. They clearly have someone sitting there following the Panda. Maybe some deal with China so they can be checked in on at all times, though how would you like that job? The web camera man for a Panda?

I can only vouch for the Elephant and Panda at the National Zoo because the others currently require Internet Explorer currently. I expect since IE is being phased out the other animals will be available as well.

The most elusive animal to capture via webcam is apparently the tiger. There are Tigers at the Minnesota Zoo but they've always been hard to spot because their exhibit is huge and has lots of places for them to hide. I am learning that tigers generally must not want to be witnessed much. I don't really blame them but for the sake of mothers everywhere doing this exact same thing I wish they would pop out every once in a while.

I hope you all have good Thursdays!

Bubbles and Pi: Theme Days

In a way to mix it up I decided to invent some theme days to enhance C's learning. So on Friday we had Bubble Day. We started with a viewing of "Pluto's Bubble Bath" then proceeded to do some bubble painting. 

Bubble painting is very fun! (And a little messy with toddlers.) If you have not experienced the joy of bubble painting you mix tempera paint, water and a little dish soap in a small container. Then you blow bubbles into the mixture until they're above the container and you smush the paper on them to make art. 

We followed up the messy activity with a bubble bath of course!

Then we had a bubble themed lunch! PB tortilla bubbles, a "popped bubble" Cutie and mini pea bubbles. 

After rest time we then blew bubbles and with our bubble machine had a bubble dance party. I think it was all in all pretty successful! 

Then yesterday was Pi Day and a really fancy one at that! 3.14.15 9:26:53 so we decided to celebrate. We had pizza pie for dinner and homemade blueberry pie for dessert. 

C helped make the blueberry pie. It was my very first go at a lattice crust and it was pretty successful for the first time out. I took away some good lessons to do a better job next time too!

So those were our theme days. I am hoping to do more in the future. Maybe book based. We'll see! 

7QT

1. It is amazing what a little SPRING weather can bring. We've had a week in the 50s/60s during the day and the "cold" snap tomorrow is going to take us to the mid 50s. Yeah. I'm really upset. Let's just say that I really really needed to open windows and let the sunshine in. I actually didn't realize how blah I was feeling until I was feeling great! 

2, I was feeling so good that I went out into the sculpture garden. (Do you get that reference? My favorite West Wing scene. Hilarious.) No but really I was feeling so good this week I wound up rearranging the downstairs furniture and setting up the fort yesterday instead of waiting for the weekend like originally planned.

My little roly poly has been so fast that I would go into the kitchen to pour her brother some milk (read: not that long) and she'd be in a completely different place doing something she shouldn't. So it was time for child safe containment! It was one of those times where the mess steadily grew and I wanted to cry at it's peak but then the result is totally worth it. 

3. Besides the weather, the latter half of the week was also really good. Wednesday I felt like a rock star. And the day really was phenomenal. But let's also chalk that up to my little introvert self being able to stay home. It's going to sound pathetic, but I barely left the house in February. Really. And I was 100% okay with that. Then in a span of eleven days I left six times and hosted twice. My poor little heart couldn't take it.

4. In what we've been working on this week: inside voice vs outdoor voice. Outdoor voice is winning much to my chagrin. 

5. This past week was a pretty good mail week. I got my Scentsy order, (Satin Sheets, Luna and Pink Haze) the Amazon Subscription box (diapers etc.) and yesterday my glasses came. Plus Highlights High Five and Entertainment Weekly, that's the kind of mail I like! 

6. After about a year of pasta only, we have determined the reasoning C wouldn't eat sauce was because of the meat in it. So we stopped adding meat to it and his little hobo beard self is back. (Husband thinks when his face is saucy it looks like a painted on hobo beard.) The past 2 spaghetti times he has not only had sauce but asked for seconds. 

7. Throw away take to wish you a happy Friday! I will not be linking up with Kelly today because these are spectacularly uninteresting. Have a good weekend friends. 

Train of Thought

Do you ever stop and ponder the meaning of the song that's stuck in your head? Like is there a greater purpose for me singing "Little Lobster Girl" because it seems like there probably isn't. That one is probably just catchy. Similar to the Tina the Talking Tabby Jingle, also just catchy and probably a sign that I need to watch some grown up television.

These are the kind of things I ponder through the course of my day. Just in case you needed some insight into my mind.

C has had a major resurgence of love for the books in his life. We still read every day don't get me wrong, but there was about a 2 month period where he wouldn't ask to read. Now he has a couple books memorized and "reads" them to anyone who will listen.

Daylight Savings effected no one but the adults. M's schedule is so loose (Generally speaking, the schedule is after she's been awake for 2 hours I try to help her go to sleep.  Real specific like.) that it didn't give her any never mind. And while in theory the jump ahead was supposed to mean C sleeps until 7:30 his internal clock was also reset and thinks his 6:30ness is just fine. We did the whole cold turkey thing and just did his same schedule by what the clock said. Except for the fact it's dark when he wakes up now, nothing has changed. At all.

In other news... today is going to hit 60 which makes it the warmest day since November 10. I'm just going to do a little happy dance. Don't mind me.

And one more cute C story for good measure. Husband took him to the grocery store yesterday for "animal cookies and bananas" (His requests.) He came in and he always gets to carry one bag, his bag had grapes in it. Green and purple mixed. He ate a good chunk of them last night and at bedtime we told him the grapes had to go to sleep in the fridge. So he carried them to the fridge and put them in, telling them goodnight. Immediately after closing the fridge he yelled "Oh no! Grapes!" And threw himself on the floor kicking. But he got over it and went to sleep. This morning when we came down stairs the first thing he did was run to the kitchen and yelled "Purple Grapes! Wake Up!"

And he still hasn't had a single animal cracker.

Do You Know What That's Worth?

The summer before junior year I worked at a day camp. I had been a camper there and did the whole CIT progression for a few summers before I was actually old enough to be there and get paid. I'm not going to beat around the bush here when I tell you that summer camp is my calling.

In real life I kinda dislike dirt and bugs and even nature a little. In camp world no one could get down and dirty like I could. I can do fake peppy "It's just a spider." like nobody's business. I know all the songs and I'm really loud. Plus I have a good memory so learning a bunch of new names every week and figuring them out? I was born for that.

But the best part about my sweaty summer job was coming home every day and taking a shower.

Somewhere towards the end of junior high I quit the bathroom I shared with my brothers in favor of my parent's en suite. Okay... the 3/4 bath off of their room.

That bathroom has a window. And in the late afternoon after the bus had dropped me off and I walked/rode my bike/scammed a ride home the sun came through that window perfectly into the shower. So those after camp, get the grime and lake and chlorine (lake for canoes, pool for swim) off showers were amazing. And I was still soaking up the Vitamin D.

I was even then slightly convinced that Heaven on Earth is a shower in sunlight.

So fast forward thirteen years and our house has a bathroom with a window. And in the afternoons the sun comes shining in perfectly. So today after nap time I did not put away the laundry or pick up any toys. But I took a shower, in sunlight.

And my early March, is it spring yet attitude got a little bit more in check. Not only am I clean but my soul is soaring. So I'll just be over here in the cold singing Belinda because seriously... Heaven on Earth.

Why You Should Post Recipes on Your Blog

We had a pretty spectacular weekend! All thanks to Beth! Well okay... not entirely but she sure helped even if she doesn't know it.

On Saturday we had our friends and their two kids over for brunch. A while ago, I remember reading about a breakfast dish that she made that didn't need very many eggs. After a little search it turns out it was almost 3 years ago but the recipe was still there and still great! It was very popular! We served it with a selection of fruit (grapes, strawberries and mandarin orange slices) as well as Cherry Almond Bread.

Cherry Almond Bread is pretty much delicious. It's moist and sweet with a really unique flavor. To repay the favor I will post the recipe here:

2 Cups Sugar
1.5 Cups Oil
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
3 Cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
1.5 tsp Baking Soda
1 can Almond Filling (by pie fillings)
1 Cup Sliced Almonds
1 Cup Cherries
1/4 Cup Cherry Juice
12 oz can Evaporated Milk

Mix in order. Bake at 325 for 60 minutes.
Makes 2 large loaves or 7 mini loaves.

It is a really good brunch item as an alternative to a cinnamon roll or monkey bread. Not that those aren't good too, but it's nice to mix it up a bit. We had a really great time at our brunch. 

Then on Sunday night we had a roast, because when Beth posted about the Mississippi Pot Roast earlier this week I was sold. And it was just as good as she said. As it turns out, one of my favorite cookies to bring to events or just to eat is also one I found through Beth's blog. The power of suggestion is very real folks. So if you've ever wondered if posting a recipe is worth it know I click and read them always. And sometimes they become crowd favorites!