Monday Update

Around the House: I have finished my first official week at work and all is well, so far. I'm not really any more tired than usual, but I have definitely been sleeping better at night. J is handling the kids fine in the evenings, and because I am missing them so much when I'm at work, I can't wait to see them the next morning. I do miss having the weekends to do whatever, and I am appreciating the time I do have off much more.

In the Kitchen: We've been cooking a lot lately since we've been given tons of garden veggies from my MIL. Some of our favorites are fried green tomatoes and okra, grilled zucchini, homemade salsa, and anything we can think of with fresh tomatoes. I also broke in my new cookbook, "Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey." (Thanks to Alicia for introducing me to this one.) The recipe we chose was Banana Bread Pudding. The recipe called for a chocolate sauce, but we made a bourbon sauce instead. It was soooo yummy.

New with Embry: Embry has been slightly obsessed with climbing lately. "Climbing what," you might ask? The car, the doorways, the swingset, anything that is taller than she is. She can almost touch the ceiling in Matthew's room, all on her own. That kid will do anything to keep from being bored.

New with Matthew: Matthew has really started to like anything to do with drawing. He draws on his MagnaDoodle all the time. Anytime he sees me using a pen or a pencil he runs over, grabs it out of hand, and draws all over whatever I was working on. Then, the other day, I let him try his hand at the chalkboard and he loved it. Then he started using the chalk to draw on the paper side of the easel (and the wall and the table). Luckily, chalk wipes off easily. Now he and Embry draw together all the time. So cute.

I'm Grateful For: Kids who are old enough to play together for 10 or 15 minutes at a time without fighting or injuring each other or breaking something.

The Weather Outside: I have nothing to report except beautiful weather all around. Low eighties, partly cloudy, no humidity. Just lovely!

I'm Obsessed With: Darn that stupid Internet and the vast amount of old tv shows that are available whenever you want. I recently started watching "My So-Called Life" on Hulu.com. I almost forgot how amazingly great that show was. And all my feelings of anger about the show being cancelled after one season because it was too controversial, came rushing back to me. I mean, if this show were on tv these days, it would be quite tame in comparison to what else is on. Anyway, I'm almost finished with this show, then I'm starting "Growing Pains"...