Pumpkins and Cat Cookies

So, last week I decided to give cooking a pumpkin a try. We got two little ones (pumpkins, not children) for free at the festival a few weeks ago, so why not. Other than burning 2000 calories trying to cut the thing, it was fairly painless. I steamed it and scooped out the puree. It made about 2 cups, with which I made pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie and these delightful little treats: Gingersnap Pumpkin Cream Tarts. Yes, they were as tasty as they look. :)

We decided to buy a pumpkin yesterday since we had good results cooking the first one....yeah...we got the biggest one we could find. Can you tell? Since Philip was home (amazing..considering he actually had to work almost 20 hours over the weekend!), he got to do the cutting. :) We baked it for 2.5 hours at 350 and then peeled and pureed. It made about 18 cups of pumpkin puree!! That would make a lot of pies, people!! I am probably going to feed some of it to Andrew...I think I am finally going to start him on solids this week. or soon anyway. It's time. He has two teeth and gets excited when he sees me putting food in the microwave...he thinks it's his. Philip set up the highchair last night. Soon there will be no going back. I am so not excited about the upcoming stinky diapers, but my little baby is growing up, I guess!

Today, the boys and I made Black Cat Cookies. I was not impressed with the cookies themselves (YES, I know I am a cookie snob and I am ok with it. :)), but they are super cute! We had a fun time making them. Caleb did a lot of the whiskers and noses. Joshua wanted to help with the eyes, but since they are put in half way through the baking time, the pan is really hot and I was so nervous he would get burned! Caleb got a little burn even though he was being careful.

Ok, what's funny about this picture is that the boys, instead of saying cheese, said "This was so fun!". The reason Caleb has Joshua by the neck? Being the big brother that he is, he was trying to make sure Joshua didn't look away from the camera! Caleb was "tired" of taking pictures because this was like the 7th. I told him all I really needed was ONE where they were both smiling and looking at the camera. Hence the necklock...LOL.

And since I know you're all dying to know if Andrew looks the same this week as he did last week, here is a picture of him from yesterday to satisfy your curiousity. :)

I Wish I'd Had the Camera Handy...

I would have titled this post "Oh Boy", but seeing as that was the title of the last post, I had to go foroption B. This morning I sent the boys to get dressed. Caleb came down right away with the appropriate seasonal clothes on. Joshua showed up in his underwear...as usual. He's decided to regress recently to requiring "help" to get dressed. Even Caleb said last night "Didn't he used to put his clothes on by himself? So, he can do it now. Joshua (tapping him on the shoulder), you DO know how to get dressed by yourself!" Anyway, I digress. The point is, Joshua came down with his clothes in his hands. I told him to put his pants on and then looked over. His pants looked like capris... I asked him where he got them and he said they were in his drawer. I wonder how they got there because they were 12 month pants! I about died laughing. This was actually not the first time this has happened, but this was by far the greatest size differential. Joshua didn't seem to think it was a real big deal and seemed to be prepared to wear them for the day, but I insisted he change. So, now he's wearing 3T like he should be. :) Wish I'd had the camera to show you how funny he looked!

Oh Boy...

So, Philip has a reputation around our house of almost always buying the wrong thing or paying the wrong price for it when he goes to the grocery store. For this reason, he doesn't go very often. :) Well, last night he stopped by to get a few things for me and decided to buy me some flowers "for no reason". (I maintain that any flowers received +/- 1 week from an event such a Valentines Day, Anniversary or Birthday when no other flowers are received for the actual event cannot be "for no reason" and really default to the reason of the event...but that's another story!) So, anyway, we now have some pretty flowers on the kitchen table. This morning I had a conversation with Caleb that went like this:

C: "Where are the flowers from?"
A: "They are from Daddy, for our anniversary"
C: "But where are they FROM?"
A: "They are from the grocery store"
C: "Which one?"
A: "From Giant"
C: "Did Daddy buy them?"
A: "Yes"
C: "Did he buy the wrong thing?"
A: "Well, not in this case"
C: "Were they too expensive?"
A: "No, I don't think so"
C: "Are you sure? Because Daddy always pays too much or buys the wrong things when he goes to the grocery store!"
A: "Ahh...welll...that may be true, but not in this particular case"

Oh boy....

We still laugh at a conversation that Philip had with Caleb at Home Depot about 2 years ago. When I am shopping with the boys we always talk about the price of things and how we don't buy things if they are too expensive. So, Caleb and Philip were at HD looking for a box of roofing nails we he needed to repair the roof (which costs about $2). Caleb says to Philip, "we have to check the price because if they are too expensive, we can't buy them!" LOL Philip assured that Caleb that we could afford the $2 for the box! Hey, never too early to teach them to be thrifty, right?!

Cute Sayings and Other Such Things

Joshua: "If you need help, ask me because I'm a big brother now.
I am t - h - i - s tall (touches toes all the way to the top of his head)

Then this morning, I overheard this conversation down the hall.
Joshua: I was talking to God some this morning
Caleb: You were? What did you say?
Joshua: I was just talking
Caleb: But what did you say?
Joshua: I just said some things.
Caleb: Like what?
Joshua: Nevermind...

Later, he started the same conversation in the kitchen with me and said:
Joshua: I was telling God about our videos, and which ones we had
Caleb: God already knows which ones we have.
Joshua: I was just telling Him about them
Caleb: God already knows everything. He knows what you're going to say before you say it. Isn't that amazing?

Joshua didn't seem overly moved by this observation. LOL.

Last night we had a small group dinner and the boys were very anxious for everyone to arrive so they could see them before they had to head off to bed (we fed them beforehand). Caleb kept asking when people were coming and all I could do was tell him what time they were due (6:30) and what time is was. Well, it was about 6:40 when the first two couples arrived and of course Caleb was aware of what time it was and that well...everyone was a little late (which of course is normal...especially when people are bringing food items along). So Caleb being the exact person that he is (6:30:05 would have been late in his mind) says to our company, "why are you late??" (Gulp.) Guess it's time to start working on that kid's tact! LOL

On a lighter note, this conversation happened Sunday:

Caleb: "Andrew is a special baby."
Me: "Why?"
Caleb: "Because there were two babies in your tummy that we didn't get to meet, but we got to meet Andrew."
Me: "Oh, that's sweet. Does that make you love him more?"
Caleb: "No"
Me: "Oh"

This is Andrew practicing looking surprised. Perhaps this skill will come in handy one day. (notice the full hand, as if to convey sincerity)

This is Andrew practicing looking innocent. This is a skill that will doubtless come in handy one day! (notice the finger pointed at himself as if to say, "me? never!"

Meanwhile, if you haven't heard, Andrew is in process of breaking through his first teeth. One is basically through and the second is not going to be too far behind. Today is the grumpiest he's been about it. Poor guy.

As I mentioned in the last post, my unofficial (or maybe official since there wasn't anything else!) anniversary gift was having our bedroom repainted. We painted it when we moved in, but the color looked really different on the wall than it did on the chip and I HATED it. It didn't match anything!! So, we still haven't gotten everything put back together (and I'll probably eventually replace the bedspread with something much more neutral), but at least you can see the color difference in these pics.

Here's the before. It looks purpley-gray (it was gray in reality...and don't ask my why I thought this was a good idea in the first place)

And here's the after. It's a light neutral-brown

Happy Anniversary!!

Today is our 6th Anniversary! It's hard to believe it's already (and ONLY) been six years!! This last year has been the best we've had yet and it makes us so excited as we look toward the future. God sure blessed us with the gift of each other and we are so grateful for our love, marriage and family. And he has also blessed us with the gift of friends who are watching our kiddos tonight so we can go out alone! Thanks Todd and Sarah!! Coming later...pictures of my anniversary gift...a newly painted bedroom! :)

Boy, if Andrew had been in this picture below, what a winner it would have been! Alas...he was napping...silly baby! :)