Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Tendencies

Everyone knows that I have certain..."issues." I like to eat Reese's peanut butter cups by eating all of the chocolate on the outside first. I hate when my food touches, especially if pancake syrup gets on my eggs. Yuk!

I always assumed that Embry would the one to inherit some of my behaviors. She likes things neat and organized, just like me. But, I started to wonder when Matthew became obsessed with picking lint up off the floor and looking for hairs in the bathtub.

This is his latest quirk that seems way too much like something I would have done. Matthew often has yogurt and crackers for lunch. The other day I noticed him doing this:



He lines his crackers up and takes one bite out of each of them. The same size bite out of the same corner.


Then he lines them up again and takes another bite.





So funny, and yet a little bit scary :)

Thursday, November 12, 2009

November Update

Around the House: Not a whole lot going on here lately. It is birthday party season, apparently. Embry has been invited to 3 in the last couple of weeks. I still haven't decided how many she will go to. I like for her to socialize with her classmates outside of school, but there are only so many weekend afternoons I am willing to give up. I have so few weekend days off as it is.

In the Kitchen: On my way home from work last night I decided that our home has been lacking in baked goods lately. I had to resort to toast for my late night snack. So today, I was determined to make cookies. However, Matthew is napping and I am blogging rather than baking. After putting together the dough for a double batch of chocolate-chip cookies, I realized that I only had half a bag of chocolate chips. Note to self...check to see that you have all the ingredients before you put everything into the mixer. In my defense, I did check to see if we had enough butter and brown sugar, the two things we are usually out of. So, in my fridge sits a large bowl of plain cookie dough, sans chips. I was tempted to bake a few without, just to see how they turned out. But, I decided that the dough can wait until tomorrow, and I'll bring home a 5 lb bag of chocolate chips from work tonight.

New with Embry: Embry is making huge strides in her reading. She wants to read everything that she sees. Road signs, t-shirts, mail, everything. She's really starting to get it. She's also starting something new with her penmanship. I came home the other day to find a page of cursive words on the desk. She has just started to learn it, but it is coming very easy to her. She seems to like it much more than printing. She did not get that from me, I hated writing cursive in school. It was my worst subject. Go figure.

New with Matthew: Matthew is saying new words everyday. He seems to focus on one sound at a time. He favorites this week are "cool," "goose," and "soup." It is so much nicer to hear his little speaking voice than the usual screaming that we have become too familiar with.

I am Grateful For: The next 2 Saturdays off, and spending as much time with J and the kids as possible.

The Weather Outside: It has been ridiculously nice outside, especially for November. There are lilies blooming in my front yard! I can't remember it being so warm this late in the year, even when we lived in Alabama. We did have our first frost last night, but it is 65 out right now. I love it!

I am Obsessed With: Making plans for the holidays. Unfortunately, I may not know my schedule until the last few days before Thanksgiving and Christmas. So far we have several contingencies, but I know we will make it work...somehow.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Happy Late Halloween!

Ok, everyone else I know posted pictures of their kids in their Halloween costumes like a hour after trick-or-treating, but I'm lazy. So, here they are finally...


Matthew is wearing a glow-in-the-dark hoodie that I found at Target in August. (I wasn't even sure it would still fit him by the end of October.) Technically he's a skeleton, but really I would put this in the category with the "Yes, this is my costume" t-shirts. I knew that he would not be interested in Trick-or-treating, but I had to put something on him since he was coming along.


Embry has wanted to be a puppy for months, so I started looking for a costume for her as soon as they hit the stores. Apparently, she grew out of the puppy costumes a couple of years ago, because I could only find them for babies. I did, however, find every Disney princess and fairy costume imaginable. Alongside these were tons of (for lack of a better word) trampy costumes like french maids and schoolgirls complete with fishnets and bustiers. Yes, for a 5 year old! Who dresses their little girl like that? So, I was forced to concoct a puppy myself using a brown hooded sweatshirt and some black socks for ears. Finished off by J's great makeup job of a puppy nose and whiskers, I think it turned out great. Everyone knew exactly what she was.



The pictures are actually from after trick-or-treating, which explains the look on Matthew's face. I had to work all day and I joined J, grandma, and the kids right after they got started in the neighborhood. (J forgot to take pictures before.) The weather was great and we had a great time. There were tons of kids out. A couple of houses had haunted houses to walk through. One family even had the BBQ out and was serving hot dogs, chips and soda to the parents. What a great idea!

Embry got tired after only a couple of blocks, so we got home pretty early. She has enough candy to last her quite a while, though. And she is happy to share with Mom and Dad and her little brother.