Sisters, summer, and shirts

Anna was finally convinced to try going down the twisty slide in our yard.  She now loves it, and she and Kate had so much fun together.  I thought they looked especially cute in their new tie dyed tank tops they made yesterday.

Wearable project for The Fourth

We had a great time making tie dyed shirts, and we are so thrilled with the results. 

After I showed off our shirts, some people have asked me about how we did it.  I thought it would be fun to put up a post with all the directions!

Supplies you'll need:
1.  Shirts (Wash them first without fabric softener.)
2.  Dye  (I've learned to pay a little more for a one-step dye, like Tulip brand at Michael's, because it works infinitely better.)
3.  Squeeze bottles
4.  Rubber bands
5.  Rubber gloves
(If you get a kit, everything but the shirts will be included.  You can find coupons for Michael's on line by googling "Michael's weekly ad.")

1.  Wet the shirts.  (You can actually take them right from the washer.)

2.  To do the spiral tie dye pattern,  pinch the shirt in the middle and walk around the table to swirl the shirt into a spiral. 

3.  Put one rubberband around the outside and a few more across the shirt. (If you google "spiral tie dye," you can find a bunch of youtube videos of the process, which may make steps 2 and 3 easier to understand.)

4.  Apply the dye.  You can apply it in segments, using the rubber bands as a guide,
but any way you do it, the shirt will turn out great!

5.  After you've applied the dye,
put the shirts in plastic bags and leave them in a warm place for at least 8 hours. 
(24 hours is best if you can be patient.)

6. Remove the shirts from the bags and rinse them in cool water.

7.  Wash the shirts in hot water and dry them at high heat.

Here are Kate's and Anna's shirts after we rinsed them.

Now they're washed and ready to wear!

Just one of those moments

The kids and I were outside after naps last week when I decided I couldn't stand the weeds around the edge of the house another day.  I took action.  I nursed Luke and Ally and plopped them into their swings.  I opened the sandbox for Kate and Anna, gave the babies each a nice big push, and grabbed my gardening gloves.

It was slow work, having to run back across the yard to push the babies every minute or two, but I was making progress.   Ten minutes in I'd cleaned up several feet and came to my mint and rhubarb.  I decided to thin down the mint plants a little.  I pulled out a big chunk of mint which must have disrupted an enormous ant colony. 

Suddenly my gardening gloves were coated in ants.  Luckily, I can handle insects.  I stayed calm and whipped the gloves off, tossing them onto the ground.  But, I wasn't quick enough.  A few dozen ants were crawling up my arms.  I tried brushing them off, but no matter how many I got off, there were more.  As I began to brush frantically, I saw one run up under my sleeve, and that was it.  I freaked.  I let out a high pitched girly scream worthy of a prissy southern bell spotting a mouse in her kitchen.

Amidst my own drama, I heard Kate yell, "Maaaah-maaa!  Look what Anna's doing."  I wanted to yell back, "I don't give a sh&% what Anna's doing.  I have ants crawling in my freaking bra!" But, there was something in her tone.  I glanced up to see Anna pushing Ally on the swing... but Ally was hanging upside down.  Ally's swing had flipped over and she was dangling with her butt up over her head as Anna continued to push her. 

I took off running.  The swing set is less than forty feet from where I was, but I was in panic mode.  I could hear Ally yelling.  It was one of those moments when time slows down.  It seemed like it took me forever to get there.  I yelled, "Kate, help her!"  I felt like I was in a dream where I want to run but can't, where my body doesn't respond to my commands, where I move in slow motion.  As I got closer, I could hear Ally's cries more clearly.  As I ran, I shouted again, "Help her, Kate!  Flip her up!"

I finally reached the swing and flipped Ally right side up, causing her to bump her head slightly on the back of the swing.  She quieted immediately.  I cuddled her and fumbled to unstrap her.  It seemed odd that she'd stopped crying so fast.  I lifted her out and looked at her face.  She did not look like a baby who'd been through trauma.  She didn't even look remotely upset.  She was actually smiling.  Then it dawned on me.  That noise I'd heard... she hadn't been yelling in distress; she had been laughing.

Sigh

The following exchange took place at the kitchen table today before lunch.

Jessie the cowgirl, in Anna's hand, says, "Hi, my name is Jessie."

The Little Mermaid, Ariel, in Kate's hand, replies,  "Hi, my name is Ariel."

Jessie says, "Nice to meet you, Princess Ariel."

Ariel responds,  "I'm not a princess; I'm a mermaid, you idiot!"

Party planner extraordinaire

The end of Kate's first year of school was a little emotional for her.  She was feeling especially sad that she would have to go the entire summer without seeing most of her school friends or her beloved teacher.  So, when, in the middle of all that, she asked me if she could have a "Summer Party," I (like the sucker I am) agreed.

After she was given the okay, my little party planner switched into high gear.  With a little help from me, she made invitations shaped like swimsuits, she planned decorations, crafts, games, food, activities, and party favors.  When the day of the party arrived, we were all set with pools filled in the back yard, a bucket of water balloons, visors for craft, sand buckets and shovels for party favors, food, and everything else we needed, except the summer weather.  It was 62 degrees with scattered showers.  But, we went ahead anyway, and the kids all had a wonderful time!

The hostess with the mostess!

Water balloon relay

1, 2, 3, pop the balloons!

The new K-5ers!

Friendly water war

More chasing

Picnic lunch

Showing off the new visors they made indoors while it rained.

Fresh fruit with friends

I absolutely love strawberry picking.  

Actually, I love picking anything: strawberries, sugar snap peas, apples, raspberries, anything from my garden...  The highlight of my trip to Georgia a a couple years ago was picking peaches.

There's something that, even as an adult, seems nothing short of magical about picking something and popping it right in your mouth.

Luke and Ally shared their first time strawberry picking with my good friends Samantha and Caroline and all their kids.  Ally and Luke definitely enjoyed themselves!

Notella Recipe

I didn't title this post "Notella" just to be clever, like why I call my non-alcoholic mojitos "Faux-itos."  Sure, I find it somewhat clever, because I tend to think a bit too much of my own humor, but the real reason I titled it as such is because it is So.  Not.  Nutella.

Here's the story...

I like Nutella just a little too much.  Beginning the first time I ever had it, in my high school German class, I have loved it.  I love it because it is amazingly delicious.  I love it because it was introduced to me as a novel foreign delicacy of sorts.  I love it because it reminds me of my only trip to Europe.  I love it because it's versatile, and I could find multiple reasons to have it with any meal, any snack, or as a dessert.  And, I love it because it was literally the only thing I could eat during my twin pregnancy that didn't come back up at least once.  Nutella is... well, I just love Nutella.  If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?  I want to.  I would.  But bigamy is illegal.

A couple months ago, when I decided to try a vegan diet, I also cut out cane sugar.  Nutella was something I gave up.  Not only does it contain dairy, but it also contains a truck load of sugar.  Six weeks into my vegan diet, Dave came home with a bag of groceries which included a giant container of Nutella.  He claims it was solely because it was on sale, but I wonder if he wasn't also trying to tempt me.  If he was, it worked.  I helped myself to an amazing snack of toast and Nutella.  (Well?  It was whole wheat bread, okay?)  After I ate that... okay after I ate that and a second piece, I started thinking of how there are vegan forms of everything:  milk, meat, cheese, yogurt, chocolate, ice cream, etc.  You name it, it's out there.  But, I'd never seen vegan Nutella.  So I sent my friend Katrina a light hearted email:

"Let me know if you find a vegan (and non-cane sugar? Lol!) form of Nutella.  You'll be forever my hero!"


If you know Katrina, you won't be surprised that within hours she emailed me back several recipes, including one for vegan Nutella with agave nectar instead of cane sugar.

I tried the recipe today.  I took pictures all along the way because I was going to show you all how to make a healthier form of Nutella for you and your kids.

The recipe wasn't easy.  It involved roasting hazel nuts and then removing the skins (which do NOT rub off easily with a towel as you may have read).

Then putting the skinned hazel nuts in a food processor until they turn into a smooth butter, which might happen... if you don't stop your food processor after five minutes when it begins to smell like it's burning.

Making the recipe then, of course, involves cleaning up, which includes sweeping your floors and vacuuming all your carpets because the hazelnut skins get everywhere.

But, all that work would be totally worth it if to feed your family an incredibly delicious treat like Nutella that isn't so bad for them.

Well, there's the glitch.  It's not like Nutella.  It's a grainy, tar-like substance that tastes semi-sweet.  What a disappointment!

I think I might get to like it, if I stop comparing it to Nutella.  But no kid I know is going to like it.  Perhaps if your child has never eaten actual chocolate or any dessert containing refined sugar, he might enjoy it.  But, not most kids.  Not my kids.  When I cheerfully asked Kate, "Do you like it?"  She simply replied with a flat, "No."

In case you were curious...

According to Poison Control, Vaseline is not poisonous if ingested by a ten-month-old, although it may cause some stomach upset.  Never mind why I know this.

A matter of chance

I often think about the order my kids were born and how it was really a matter of chance, the way the embryologist happened to pick them from the mix.  But, I realize it was definitely all part of God's perfect plan.  In little ways, and in big, the kids came in just the right order.

When Kate was Anna's age, she said all sorts of sweet and clever things.  Now Anna says a lot of funny things.  And that's just what I needed and just what I need.  I needed Kate's intelligence to shine through at that time to show me (okay, to let me assume) I was a good mother, and I need Anna's humor now because a household with four kids born in four and a half years needs a good amount of comic relief.  Another reason it was good that Anna came when she did, was because she was a very colicky baby.  Had she been my first, I would certainly have blamed myself (even more than I did).  And if she'd been born one of the twins... well, I may currently be living alone on a fishing boat in Mexico somewhere.

I've sometimes wished the twins had come first, so I'd had more time for them, so they could have had each other when the second child was born.  But, that is just "grass is greener" logic.  If I'd had the twins before I learned that it's okay for babies to cry sometimes (and a lot of other lessons it takes a couple kids to learn), I'd have likely lost my mind.

Plus, if we'd had twins first, who's to say Kate and Anna wouldn't have different names and be living with couples who'd conceived using donated embryos?

Gotta love it

Chubby little hands,
Brand new, budding teeth,

 Juicy dribbles,
Sticky faces,

Watermelon and babies,

What a perfect combination.

My little chipmunk

Luke doesn't eat as much as Ally, but he eats for a lot longer.  At the end of every one of his meals, he packs his mouth full of food and just keeps it there, sometimes for hours.  Although we usually sweep his mouth out soon after meals now, before we caught on to his habit, there would be times when we'd find broccoli or asparagus bits in his mouth from hours before. 

It's not always easy to get the stuff out, because he likes to keep it in there and he now has teeth on the top and bottom, but I'm worried he'll choke if he naps or even plays with his mouth full.  And nursing... Let's just say, he finds nursing time to be a great time to start chewing his food stockpile.  Ouch. 

Even though he's done this for months now, I still think it's funny to watch him.  He'll stop eating for a while, and then he'll just grab a bunch of food and leave it in his mouth.  While some things dissolve, I always end up sweeping out little pieces of vegetables a few times a day.

Confession

What is gained by pretending to be perfect?  This question crossed my mind a moment ago.

I was in the kitchen.  I'd melted chocolate chips in the microwave, added sweetened coconut and pecans, and grabbed a spoon.  This would be my snack tonight.  Somehow almond milk yogurt with homemade sugar free granola was not going to cut it at the end of this day, at the end of this week.  As I dipped in for a big, decadent bite, I self-consciously turned my back to the window so my neighbor wouldn't see me..
Then I rolled my eyes, realizing how ridiculous I was being.  First of all, my neighbor doesn't sit in the dark, peering out the window with binoculars, waiting to assess my food choices.  And secondly, why should I care if she, or anyone else, saw me eat that?  Yeah, it's a sucky food choice.  Yeah, there are probably countless better things I could eat right now, but...

What is gained by pretending to be perfect? 

I think the answer is:  We all feel worse about ourselves.

We all clean our houses like crazy before someone comes over.  Sure we do this because we're embarrassed, because we don't want anyone to know how cluttered things get or that we've neglected to clean our showers for weeks, but then our visitors see our clean houses and become more self-conscious about their own houses, so that they're houses are cleaner when we visit them.  And, the cycle continues.

And, I'm as guilty as anyone, maybe guiltier.  This blog.  I share cute stories, I tell of the adorable things my kids say, the projects I do with them, and how deeply I love them.  But, would I share that today I ignored more "Mommmm-eeeeee" s than I answered, that I anxiously await time when the babies have to nurse so I can get some privacy, go on Facebook and "check out" for a little while, or that sometimes Kate annoys me so much that I worry I'll to stop loving her as she gets older.

No, I don't admit this stuff.  I feel extremely guilty about it, because nobody else talks about it, and part of me assumes feeling this way means I'm the worst mom I know.  So, I don't admit my "bad mommy" faults, I clean my house for company, and I hide my chocolate supply.  And, we all end up thinking everyone else is doing better than we are.

Even though we could probably figure out that we're not the only ones eating crap some nights, living in houses that get so out-of-control messy we can barely walk through them some days, and secretly wishing we could put our kids in a sound proof chamber part of the day, I don't think we logically think it through.

So, I'm going to go out on a limb and start confessing. Hopefully, I'll break the cycle.  Hopefully, we can all cut ourselves a little more slack.

Mama don't allow... or does she?

Although I've turned into "a parent" in so many ways I'd never thought I would, I still don't boycott jumping on furniture. 

Sure, don't do it at other people's houses, don't do it when company's over, and be careful.  But, otherwise... hey, why not?  Once in a while... on a rainy day... as a special treat... oh, what the heck?  Go for it!

Luke, though... He just doesn't find this behavior appropriate.

Spring has sprung

Lettuce seeds in little hands.

Mini fire fighters fighting drought.

Beautiful surprises around every corner.

 And some other surprises too.

Mint popping up for fresh tea on hot days.

Cilantro to add "yum" to ordinary meals.

Rhubarb waiting to be smothered in sugar.

Our apple "branch" blossoming... where are more branches to make it a tree?

Asparagus that is eaten before it makes it into the house.

Basil wondering where tomatoes are for it to be paired with.

Strawberry blossoms with delicious promise.

All of this evidence that spring has sprung!