Big boy bed (pictures only)

The Laundry Fairy

I was just talking with some friends about how laundry is my downfall.  I have no problems getting things clean and dry, but anything beyond that is apparently beyond my capabilities.  I can usually get the clothes out of the dryer, but that is only because the next load needs to go in its place.  Then it either sits in a lovely pile on my floor or on top of the dryer itself.  If I do fold it, it sits in the laundry basket and I find myself pulling clothes for the kids straight from there. 

Well, today there was a glimmer of hope.  Desperately trying to overcome this laundry cycle, I worked hard last night to fold and put away all of my laundry only to fail after realizing that I couldn't put away the kids clothing as they were sleeping in the very room I needed to enter to finalize my task.  And little did I know, but I had left a load in the dryer...tsk tsk! That is where my little laundry fairy came into play.  All on his own, he pulled the laundry out and started to fold it.

Then, when he was done he asked me where he could put it.  At 2 1/2 years old he has done what I have come to think was impossible :0)  Oh JOY!

I haven't posted in how long?

I used to think it was bad when I was only able to post once in a month. I was ashamed to see that I haven't posted for over a year...OVER A YEAR! I am also ashamed that my children are only mentioned as being conceived and having a baby shower. Not one picture to prove that I have two beatiful boys. Not one mention that their births were relatively uneventful and that both are healthy. And not a shred of evidence that I quit my job as an RN to be home with my babies full time.  No. Nothing.
So, if you think I am a horrible mother for not bragging regularly on my children and documenting their every move, then you just need to ask me for a link to my photo album. There you will find plenty of bragging and monthly updates (see I am not so horrible ;0)). And for those who are not brave enough to ask...well, I will start to post a few here too. Although, I am fairly certain that if I ever had a following (readership? lurkers? ;0)), they have long given up on me. So, this post is really for me...the person who gets impatient when her favorite blog doesn't get updated daily.

See...I really do have cute kids :0)

We've been had!

I am not a huge fan of white elephant gift exchanges, so I was more than a little apprehensive about our small group Christmas party. I had thought long and hard about what to bring as gifts, hoping that I had not gone too far with our "silly" gift. We arrived and placed our gifts with the others and soon enough the time came to proceed with the exchange. They explained the rules for those who may not remember or have played it differently in another setting, then we drew numbers for the order we would choose or steal gifts. I was number 2 which usually means I have a great chance to be stolen from. The first gift is opened. Baby Pj's too small for the smallest of babes there. I am next, and having just found out that I was having a little baby boy I figured who better to have that "silly" gift than me...so I stole it. Next gift is opened...a handmade burp rag. Cute, but now my stomach is dropping...did I not get the memo? Did I not know how to shop for a silly white elephant gift? Next gift is opened...MORE baby stuff...hmm. And this trend continued around the circle of guests. By gift number 3 Doug and I were pretty sure we had been had. And when all of the "baby" gifts were open (our gifts had been conveniently untouched), we were given one chance and one chance only to steal all of the gifts opened so far. We had just had our first baby shower for baby boy number 2 and what a surprise! Other gifts were then pulled out for the real exchange, and to my relief, our gifts fit right in :0).

Ultrasound results are in...

Blueberry

The size of the newest Lewis.

The Fruits of my Labor

Okay, to set the stage for this post we need to think back to August of last year. That was when we were considering purchasing this home, and in reading the listing it mentioned that there were fruit trees on the property. Now, we had looked at LOTS of homes prior to this one, and when the listing calls out something as a "feature" you are not sure what to think. After considering it for a while both Doug and I were convinced that they may have been talking about the blackberry bushes that are growing like weeds on our property. However, we were wrong...we really did have fruit trees on our property. Two beautiful trees bloomed and started to grow fruit. Now if only I knew what kind of fruit it was baring!

Now back to present day, these trees started to drop their fruit...fruit that didn't really look ripe. I decided to bravely taste one that was still on the tree, and to my pleasant surprise, it was delicious! It tasted like a sweet juicy plum. I turned to the Internet and found pictures that lead me to believe we have a greengage plum tree (they might both be, but the other fruit looks more golden, so it may be a yellow gage plum...but honestly I haven't tasted its fruit as the branches are too high).

So what does one do with plums other than eat them fresh off the tree (there are way too many for that option alone). I just happened to have my mom's dehydrator handy, and I thought I would give it a whirl. I watched over them as I carefully dried them, and when they looked like they were nearing dried perfection, I popped one in my mouth for a quick taste test. Okay, have you ever had a Cry Baby sour candy? You know, the kind that makes your jaw start to lock up as your mouth puckers at the tartness? Well, that was exactly what happened...my jaw started to lock up, my lips puckered, but instead of turning into a sweet pleasant taste that make the Cry Baby candies worth while, my jaw just continued to tense up and I finally had to spit it out. See, what I didn't mention above was that the peel of the fruit was tart, but it was a wonderful taste in combination with the sweet flesh...apparently when you dry up the sweet flesh, you are left with just sour peel. Luckily some people in this household are enjoying them. And luckily, I had dried some cherries with them just because I really like dried cherries.


The picture above shows dried apricots, my mystery fruit, and cherries. The apricots were the reason I had the dehydrator in the first place.