Handsome Faces

An Austenite in the Making

Last night as part of our family night, we had a picnic in the family room and ate our quiche while watching Pride and Prejudice. It started out that we just picked up from where I had left off earlier in the day while we waited for the quiche to finish baking. But then everyone was so into it, we just had to keep going. S was totally enthralled. She kept asking what Mary and Elizabeth were doing. I was surprised it kept her attention so well.
Leaning on her papa's leg. Comfy?

I have to do my workouts at home, since my kids are already up two hours before dawn, we live in the middle of nowhere, I have no car, and by the end of the day I'm exhausted. So I have my lovely Zumba videos that I use every morning. At the end of one DVD is a Zumba kids dance routine. S loves it. She is always wanting to exercise and generally watches the video at least twice a day. Here she is dancing. She insisted she put on her pajamas as "exercise clothes."

I Recommend...

So Rachael had this idea, and I liked it, so here goes...

I recommend Dawn dish soap for pre-treating grease based stains like spaghetti sauce. Oh, and warm water.

I recommend swaddling babies for sleep. It always works. Ask Kristin.

If you don't know something, I recommend educating yourself by using the library. That's how I know so much about baby sleep (that and my first one refused). I currently have books on woodworking so N and I can build shelves for the kids toy room and a book on house plants so my alive but not thriving plants can have a new shot at life. And my beginning sewing book has taught me so much that on occasion I've even given other people tips!

I recommend letting your kids walk on walks and not ride in strollers. Kids are supposed to get 60 minutes of exercise every day and most aren't. If you walk for your own exercise, then be sure to take an extra walk or go to the park for the lil' ones.

I recommend having a fun dinner night once a week. Ours is pizza night every Friday. We make it all from scratch, even the crust. Well, the sauce isn't scratch I guess. We tried that but it just wasn't worth the time and it wasn't actually all that better. Since we do it every week I've become very adept at whipping it all up in no time.

I recommend letting little kids help with the housework. S like to fold the burp cloths and "water" aka rinse the dishes before they go in the dishwasher. It takes longer and sometimes is a bit messy, but you'll teach your kids good skills and you'll spend quality time with them while still doing some chores.

I recommend this book. It's fabulous. And quite tasty.

I recommend reading books with your husband. Way better than spending hours in front of the tv. We might try Sherlock Holmes next. I've read them all but he hasn't.

More at the park

This is kind of boring, so unless you're a Grandma wanting to see your sweet girl, just skip it.

Super Cool Kids

"I have Daddy's shirt on! It's super cool on me!"

We went to the park today. These are some super cool kids.

Day at the Park

We went for a picnic in our neighborhood park last Saturday. It was a beautiful day and all of the birds that leave all of you cold folks for the winter came to our pecan trees and serenaded us. The kids rode with daddy in the bike trailer and got a flat along the way. They had to run back home real quick to pump up the tires. I walked to the park and relished the time alone. After filling up on sandwiches and apple slices it was time to hit the slides. S was especially happy to have her daddy there because there is this one particular ladder she's been dying to try out. Unfortunately, it's a little advanced for one so small and since I am always holding M, she's had no one to help her tackle it. But Daddy was there to help and she made it! It was pretty funny to watch because half way up she started panicing a bit due to the height and started to say, "This is just not good."