Snipperdoodles, stickernoodles, sneakyturtles...

The number of ways a 4yo can mispronounce "snickerdoodle" is pretty darn hilarious. :D

Regardless of what they are called, they were so yummy. I've actually never heard of a snickerdoodle before talking with a few online friends. I finally decided to give them a try today, and so glad I did. I'm usually horrible at making cookies, but these came out delicious!!

One good thing about making stuff from scratch is that there is no crap like HFCS, artificial flavors/colors or preservatives. So, even little Ollie got to indulge.

Isaiah's word for cookie may be next to impossible to understand, but there's no mistaking what he's signing!!

Totally cursing dial-up* right now, because I got the cutest video of Abbie saying "snickerdoodle" then randomly bursting into song about sneaky turtles sneaking all the snickerdoodles. It was only 10 seconds long, but estimated time was an hour to upload. Got 85% done, then timed-out. *grr* So, you'll have to settle for just a sweet picture.

This is what we had for dessert since I was too lazy to make an All-American apple pie... baked apples with butter/sugar/cinnamon, snickerdoodles and ice cream.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth! I've been a little emotional due to what happen this time last year, but being able to spend the day with my Sprouts has made it an awesome day, regardless. Seeing them smile lights up my world brighter than any sparkler or firecracker. <3

Going Bearfoot...

Conversation with Abbie, as we were getting ready to go play outside:

Mommy: Get your shoes on, kids!
Abbie: I wanna wear my feet shoes
M: You mean go barefoot?
A: Yes, go out with my bare feet shoes!
M: No, it's just called barefoot, no shoes.
A: Oh okay.
M: Mommy likes going barefooted, too. We can go barefoot together!
A: [thinks a moment] No, you have bearfeet, I'll have deerfeet.

My Little Chef

A few mornings ago, I was changing Oliver in the bedroom. Isaiah came up to me and asked for some juice ("eeeeuuuu!"), so I told him to get his cup out of the fridge. Moments later, I hear the refrigerator door open and shut, so I assumed that he found it. (He's constantly drinking, so I try to make sure I have a full sippy in the fridge, ready to go, for him to help himself. )

Not more than 5 minutes later, after getting Ollie dressed, I walked in the kitchen to find Isaiah trying to open the oven door. A brief look around, and I quickly realized what was going on. Apparently, he was hungry and didn't want to wait for me. He had taken a can of biscuits out of the fridge, somehow managed to open the can (there was a tiny plastic play knife on the table?), got a cookie sheet out of the cabinet, lined up all the biscuits in a row, and was going to cook them. o.O

I was stunned! I guess he had watched me make biscuits enough to have the routine memorized. When he noticed me, he very nonchalantly pointed up at the oven knobs, and said "iiiii" (for "light", associating the oven light with it being on).

This isn't the first time he's surprised me by his perceptiveness in the kitchen. Long before he was even 2, he would insist on handing me a cooking utensil from the drawer while I was cooking. And it was always the right one! If I had a pan on the stove, he would give me a spatula, and if I had a pot out, he'd thrust a spoon at me. Not once did I ever ask him for X utensil, or correct him. He just learned by watching me, making notes what I was doing, then started doing it himself.

So, yeah, cooking biscuits (albeit canned) at age 2.5. Not too shabby, uh? Maybe he'll be frying up eggs before his third birthday. ;-)

Our Solstice Celebration...

The past few weeks, there have been more rainy, dreary, gray days than I care to count. I do love the sound of the rain, and how alive it makes the earth feel, but I could really feel it starting to affect my mood. So, it felt great waking up yesterday to bright sunbeams streaming through the windows. How perfectly fitting for Winter Solstice!

I made pumpkin muffins for breakfast, and then we all bundled up and headed outside, despite the temperatures being in the low 30s. We were only out briefly (especially since their coats were actually still in the wash, due to a juice accident the night before), but it was a very welcomed change of scenery from being stuck inside. We ran around in circles, just enjoying the sunshine, then gathered up a few nature items for our Yule candle.

I let Abbie and Isaiah each pick out a small stick, and tied these around a bayberry candle that I carved a sun on, along with a bunch of evergreen trimmings from our tree. I then explained to the kidlets how the sun is really small right now, but every day, it will get a little bigger. We also spent a minute talking about seasons- winter vs. summer, and how the sun makes things light and warm, and helps the plants grow. The kids colored both a small sun and a bigger sun, which we tied on the sticks to represent the sun growing.

We also made wishes that were rolled up, tied, and tucked into the trimmings. Abbie insisted on writing her own (consisting of a line of A's). She said her wish was "for everybody to be fwiends", which brought tears to my eyes. (Hey, honestly, I was expecting something along the lines of lots of candy, or for Dora to come visit!)

I used the Birthday Ritual found in the current issue of the e-zine of Pooka's Sandbox. We lit the candle, Abbie and I sang Happy Birthday, and then Isaiah blew out the candle. (I later moved it to the mantle, where I left it burning the rest of the day/evening.) We celebrated by having sugar cookies that we made and some eggnog.

It was an absolutely wonderful and magical day, and it left me feeling very re-energized! I'm sending love, light, and brightest blessings to all of you.

Wordless Wednesday - "I have boootiful eyes, mommy!"

Here's what happens when you leave your mascara in the reach of a 3yo...

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For more Wordless Wednesday, check out http://www.wordlesswednesday.com!

Mermaids, Pirates and Lobsters- OH MY!

Here are a few pictures of the kids before we went trick-or-treating in downtown Lexington. I had so much fun making their costumes, expecially Abbie's as she was so excited to be a mermaid. She was delighted to help pick out the fabric, trace the patterns, and even helped sew her own treat bag and string her seashell necklace.

Abbie the Mermaid Princess. (She was a mermaid princess, because despite all the above, at 1pm on Halloween, Abbie changed her mind and wanted to dress up as a princess. Calling her a mermaid princess was the only way we could convince her to not let all of our efforts go to waste!)

Here is Isaiah the Pirate. (I was worried he wouldn't wear his costume at all, since he would hardly let me try it on as I was making it. But not only did he wear it, he also let me paint on a beard and scar.) (Attempts at getting a good picture of them together, but they were chomping at the bit to go, go, GO trick-or-treating)

And last, but certainly not least, Ollie the Lobster! (My friend Robin knitted his hat, and I made the lobster claw mittens out of fleece. Everyone kept cooing over him, except the person who thought he was Clifford the Big Red Dog *raises eyebrow*).

(BTW, that's me... cleverly dressed up as an "mother of three little ones who was so busy fussing over costumes that she forgot to put on make-up to disguise the zombie look as result of staying up way too late the night before frantically finishing up aforementioned costumes". Good thing it was halloween, or else people would have ran screaming.)

A Toddler's Epiphany

Abbie just ran in here and exclaimed to me: "pee-pee makes yellow... and poo-poo makes brown!". And now folks, you are just as enlightened as I am.

Abbie: The Butterfly Who Can't Fly

This goes along with the photo I posted yesterday for Wordless Wednesday. I was working on some burp cloths, and Abbie grabbed my pattern (a rounded hourglass shape), held it up to her back and said "Butterfly!" So, I took some scrap posterboard I had, cut some wings out, had her color them, and then used yard to tie them to her back. She was SO thrilled, as she ran out of the room. A couple minutes later, a VERY sad Abbie came shuffling back in, with tears in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong. She said in the saddest little voice "Mommy, I can't fwy". So, I showed her how to flap her arms, and she just looked at me and sighed. She pointed to the window and said "Abbie go sky. I can't do it." The poor thing thought that her 90-second makeshift butterfly wings would let her fly up to the sky, and was absolutely heartbroken that they couldn't. I was *this* close to all-out bawling, because she was just so disappointed. So, I did the only thing I could do: scooped her up and ran around the house, letting her "fly" and fortunately that made everything okay again.

Our Family: As Painted by Abbie...

Abbie decided to paint our family yesterday. Here she is warming up with some abstract art:

On to the portraits... working on a smile:

The finished results- our whole family (plus a random stranger... hmm, maybe she's trying to tell me something!). Daddy is on the bottom right (note that he doesn't have any hair), I'm to the left of him, Isaiah is in the middle, and Abbie is on the top right.

I didn't let Isaiah paint, since he usually just eats it. However, I guess he proved me wrong. After I cleaned up the table and put the paints away, I found this... he must have found a dollup of wet paint on the floor.