A wonderful day

We had a wonderful day the other day. We didn't have to go anywhere, so we were relaxed and had a lot of fun. We took a walk to the playground and fed the ducks. We saw baby ducks and baby turtles.

There really are baby turtles in the next couple pictures. I didn't notice them at first, but once one of them moved, I started seeing a bunch of them. They are very cute.

They like to sit on the branches. See the light colored almond/oval shape on the branch?

Getting some sun on the rock ...

This one is on the left side of the rock with his head up.

The Piccolo Sisters Restaurant is open for business! Mmmm! Wood chips! My favorite!

Peek a boo!

We also passed a man in a turban and a severely handicapped girl with her two nurses. I was able to have some great conversations with Stephanie based on her observations.

I have been trying to carve out some time during quiet time when Erica is still asleep to start working on homeschooling with Stephanie. I haven't figured out anything really official yet, but I want to start somewhere. We played for a little while (I found a great teddy bear picnic book that has a picnic basket with removable items and she loved that) and then we sat down to play with the lacing boards and spelling boards that Grandma Gray gave us a while ago. She was doing so well with the spelling boards that I had to take a picture. There was an amazing point where you could just see her brain working when she was trying to figure out the difference between the "b", "d", "p" and "q".

The girls finished off the day cuddling together on the chair watching a movie after dinner - very sweet.

A Tale of Two Sisters

A palette is worth 1000 counseling sessions?  Ha ha! We sat down to paint the other day and I was intrigued by how the girls handled their palettes. Erica immediately started mixing the colors. Stephanie didn't mix them at all. I would have expected the opposite to happen since Erica hates to be messy, but once again my children show me how little I know.

Identity Crisis

Is she a space ranger? Or is she a ballerina!?! Erica insisted on wearing the Toy Story PJs AND the skirt. She got really upset when I tried to take the skirt off when she went to bed. So, I let her sleep in it. She was sooooo happy.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

Do I really make that many lists? (yes!) I was making my shopping list today when Erica asked to have the pad and pen. She walked around and looked like she was jotting down notes and then sat down at the table and got serious. She sat there for a while making her list. I think I am creating a monster!

More pancake fun

I had fun putting their breakfast plates together this morning. Stephanie asked for a horse and a donkey. I added the heart. I made a smiley face for Erica (turned out to look more like a mokey I think). I also tried making a cat, but completely flubbed it up. I also made ham and cheese omelets. I had some left over ham strips and formed them into little hearts, too.

At least she "nose" what she wants

Daddy came home late the other night and we were just wrapping up dinner when he got home. I asked Erica if she wanted some pineapple and - very clearly - she said, "Yes". I was so surpirsed that she said it so clearly that I asked her a few more times to see if it was just a fluke and each time she said it very clearly. Then I grabbed the camera and this is what I got. How do kids know when you want them to perform??!?!? Daddy comes home right at the end. The girls' reactions are so cute that I had to keep them in.

Peek A Boo!

Erica woke up in a really good mood from her nap the other day. She was very playful. We played Peek A Boo for a while. She was so cute.

Yumiko - if you are reading this, you need to tell your mom that the "Inai Inai Bah" book that you gave Stephanie 2 years ago has now become Erica's favorite book. It is falling apart, but I have to read it to her a few times before each nap and before she goes to bed at night. Thank you!

Moment of Inspiration

I needed to take a meal to a lady from church who just had foot surgery. I made rolls, but haven't gotten my roll basket back from the last family that I cooked for. So, I got a 5-pack of flour towels from Walmart and a pretty ribbon. I put the rolls in an aluminum pie plate and then wrapped that up in one of the towels and tied it with the ribbon. I thought I turned out really cute and pretty and disposable! Yeah!

Stephanie was so inspired that the next day, she made a similar package all by herself with a head rest cover from the LaZBoy and a ribbon. I was very impressed.

101 Ways to Pass Time in the Doctor's Office

What do you do with 2 small children in a sterile, confined space?

1) Sing a song.
Stephanie likes to sing the alphabet song. She is still a little confused about "E". She likes to sing "A, B, C, D, F and G". Ha ha! Listen carefully to the end of the song. She made up her own ending and mentions her new favorite gymnastics coach - Coach Casey.

2) Have a funny face contest.
Stephanie started making faces and Erica had fun trying to copy her.

Snack time in the nursery

It was my turn to be in the 18 month - 2 yr nursery on Mother's Day. When the kids sat down for snacks, they just looked so cute I had to take a picture.

Birthday Party!

We got invited to go to the birthday party of a girl from Stephanie's gymnastics class. The girls LOVED it. They had an inground pool, but the also set up a baby pool. Last year the girls were a bit apprehensive of the pool, but at this party, they spent the whole time in the pools. I had to drag Stephanie in to do presents. She almost didn't even want cake and ice cream. She said, "That's OK. I am going to stay in the pool."  Ha ha! Now, when the pinata came out, the pool was quickly forgotten. It was such a big hit (no pun intended) that I think we are going to need to get one in September.

Friends

We got to have some friends over one day. Hannah is 2 months older than Stephanie and Elizabeth is a three months younger than Erica. The girls had a lot of fun and I had a few moments where I understood why Allison says that four kids are easier than two. They played so nicely together that I had a few moments of peace! After lunch, I let the older girls have some KoolAid. Stephanie loves the "fun fizz" tablets - kids love the "alka seltzer" effect.

Elizabeth was so happy to be around new toys. When her mom dropped them off, she didn't even look back. She ran squeeling into the living room. Very cute.

Fun in a fountain

We had a long day - music class, dmv (45 min wait! Ugh!), haircuts for the girls (after this picture was taken) and grocery shopping. Phew! I took the girls to lunch in a fun outdoor food court type area (this is also where that great burger place was where the "leg" stool was). In the middle of the plaza is one of those fun fountains that unpredictably squirts water up out of these holes. This was the first time the girls encountered one of these fountains. They were so much fun to watch. I didn't guide them at all. I just watched the experience. As you can see in the picture, Erica is a little closer to one of the fountains than Stephanie is to hers. Erica was definitely more adventurous and was the first to get wet. I think she was looking down at a hole when it turned on and squirted her forehead. She was a little startled, but then burst out in laughter. After that, all their inhibitions were thrown out the window. Somehow I got us to leave before they got soaking wet, but they sure had fun.

Oh my pork!

Well, it's potluck time again. I made a suggestion to the pastor's wife that our next "First Sunday" potluck theme be BBQ (the church has a potluck on the first Sunday of each month). I had been getting interested about how to smoke meat on our charcoal grill and thought it would be fun to make a big pan of pulled pork for the dinner. She thought it was a great idea, so I proceeded to buy 13 pounds of pork butt! I didn't stop to think how I was going to fit it all on the grill! Ha ha!

I started researching various recipes and soliciting input from Dad. In the end, I used 2 cookbooks (Dino BBQ and Cook's Illustrated BBQ cookbook), 1 website (Perfect Pulled Pork Recipe) and Dad's input to get through.

I also made Dinosaur BBQ "Mutha" sauce, red onion pickles, bbq pasta salad and Dad's cole slaw. Christian talked me out of making the strawberry cream cake, so I just took 2 pounds of strawberries.

I had a lot of fun going through the smoking process and seeing/tasting the results. I tried documenting the process in pictures.

On Friday night, I tied the roasts, rubbed them with oil and Dinosaur BBQ red rub and wrapped them in plastic wrap.

I was barely able to fit them all on the grill. I kept flipping and rotating them around. I smoked them for 5 hours.

After 5 hours, I wrapped them in foil and put them back on the grill. At that point, I got tired of tending to the temperature and moved them into the oven for another 4 or 5 hours.

Cook's Illustrated suggests letting the roasts rest in a brown paper bag for an hour. I sent Christian out to get some groceries and he came back with these huge lawn bags. At first I was skeptical. Then I found that all the roasts fit perfectly inside one bag and that bag fit perfectly on a cookie sheet. Perfect!

The final yield (that is large roasting pan - for up to 25 pounds). The small bowl was for my sandwich. Yum!

I covered the pork with aluminum foil and put it in the fridge. On Sunday morning, I let the pork sit out for an hour. Per a suggestion I found on a great website, I mixed in 1 cup of water with 6 T of melted butter and then warmed it up in a 200 degree oven. At church, I put it in my largest crockpot (6 quart) and it mounded over the top - with just enough room for the lid to sit on top. I didn't stir any BBQ sauce in it at all and it was perfectly moist when it was time to serve.

Did you think that 13 pounds was excessive? Well, luckily I tried out a sandwich Saturday night after I pulled the pork. I was the last person through the line for the dinner and I was barely able to scrape 2 tablespoons of meat scraps off the spoon - just enough to taste it and see that it was still moist! Yay! The Mutha sauce and strawberries were all gone, too. There were leftovers from the pickles (I made a triple batch), pasta salad and cole slaw, but I was very pleased with the outcome.

The whole dinner was great. People brought brisket, chicken and sausage, potato salad, cole slaw, beans, fruit salad, chips and desserts. There were 4 beautiful tossed salads that I didn't even get a chance to taste. We are very blessed with so many wonderful cooks. Each potluck is a great time of fellowship.

Dad - thank you for all your help!
Allison - the pickles were a BIG hit and lots of people asked for the recipe. Thank you!

Stephanie

I am enjoying watching Stephanie grow up. She is still in gymnastics and we are back in Ms. Josie's class. Ms. Josie is still one of Stephanie's favorite people, but Stephanie has a new favorite. Coach Casey (not in the picture) started picking on Stephanie one night by making funny faces at her and making her laugh. Ever since then, she really looks forward to gymnastics so she can see Coach Casey again. He's really good with her and likes to make her laugh. She was even making up songs about him last week - very cute.

One day, I let them watch some TV while they were having their afternoon snack. I stepped out of the room for a while and retuned to find Stephanie lounging with her feet up. I didn't get a picture of it, but she had her arms crossed and had a pensive look on her face. It was very funny - like she was the boss and she wasn't happy. Ha ha!

Great Blue Heron

Well, the three stooges (see earlier post: The Three Stooges) didn't seem too inclined to bully this guy. We see a grey bird (perhaps this one) and a white one all around Rowlett, but finally got a chance to take a picture. Stephanie thought he was really cool.

Mommy's Grocery Store

One morning, Erica slept in late so Stephanie and I set up a little village. The A/C broke last week and we got the box from the new unit to use as a house. The rest of the living room was transformed into a grocery store. She pushed her shopping cart around the coffee table selecting her items and brought them over to the "cash register" where I had paper bags to bag her groceries. She had a great time role playing and figuring out what she needed from the store. She even had an old Walmart gift card that she used to "pay" for the items.

New Sand & Water Table!

The Easter Bunny was very generous to the girls this year. Grandma and Grandpa Gray sent them a sand and water table. Silly mommy believed the catalog picture and expected Stephanie and Erica to play serenely keeping the sand in the sand side and water in the water side. That's what the picture showed! I think I will sue for false advertising. Within the first five minutes of setting up the table, one third of the sand was already on the ground and another third was expertly mixed with the water. Then the tracking began. Before I came back to my senses, there was sand from the back door into the bedroom. Later on I found traces of sand stretching all the way to the front door. It's only been one week, but I have gotten smarter. The vaccuum has a permanent place by the back door. I have not replenished the sand. I have also not put water in the table - but that is mostly because it has been too cold. Regardless of the sand level or lack of water, the girls LOVE the table and play in it every chance they get. Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa!

Here they are modeling the new outfits they got from Nonna and Grandpa Piccolo. Erica had already gotten something on her new shirt, so she's just in a white shirt, but she loves the new shirt because it has PURPLE on it. Amazingly Nonna picked out the right colors for each girl. Stephanie claims that pink is her favorite (although, she has learned what turquoise is and likes to say the word, so some days that is her favorite). Erica has shown a preference for purple. We didn't tell Nonna this until after we got the outfits. She even sent pink and purple Peeps for each girl. They were also a big hit.