TINKLE!!!

We have tee-tee!!!  In the potty!!!  On purpose!!!

And, it wasn't my idea to try it.  And he actually had a dirty diaper at the time he brought his potty seat to me to let me know that he wanted to get up on the potty.  So I took his diaper off, we disposed of its contents in the potty, and cleaned him so he could sit down.  And he sat there.  And dropped his head and didn't say a word.  I really didn't know if he was being dramatic or if he was concentrating, so I just sat there with him, equally silent.  Seeing as how this was his idea to get up there, I figured there's no harm in playing along.

Three minutes later, I hear some tinkling water, and he looks up at me with his eyes just as twinkly as can be and he smiles.

Whhheeeeee!!!

Poodle and I did the tee-tee dance and there were treats for all.

Maybe we're getting close to being able to truly potty train.  YAY Tooter!!!

Nacho Night Recipe

Lepidoptera at Foothills Valley asked for our Nacho recipe, because of the popularity of Nacho Night in the family.  Well, honestly, it's not so much what Nacho Night IS as what it ISN'T.

But, before I get to that, I need to brag on Jennifer from our recent Florida trip.  We get there on Friday afternoon, and get unloaded and settled, and we go into the "big house".  (The place where we were staying had a separate carriage house that we stayed in so as to avoid giving the other adults an early toddler wake-up call).  Come to find out that Jennifer has not only bought food for our meals so we didn't have to rely on restaurants, but she actually planned a nacho night for us, since she knew that this is what we usually do on Friday nights.  Can you be more thoughtful???

Now, HER nachos were waaaay better that what we usually do.  They were more of a taco salad, really, and were SO yummy.  Iceberg lettuce on the plate, topped with seasoned beef, refried beans, salsa, a bit of cheese, (and sour cream if you like).  Surround with chips and don't hurt yourself eating.

Our nachos?  Well, for Poodle, nacho night consists of things other than chips and cheese, which she thinks she doesn't like.  So, she'll ask for things like olives, cheese, and brown bread.  No lie - it's one of her healthiest meals of the week.  Weird.

Tooter's nachos consist of nothing more than chips with cheese melted on them.

Ours aren't much fancier.  Chips, cayenne pepper, cheese, and jalepeno peppers.

Not too exciting, huh?

So, why is it so popular?  Well, like I said, because it's not what nacho night IS,  it's what it's not.

It's not sitting at the table - it's sitting in the living room.  On the couch and comfy chairs.

It's not having to have good table manners while Mommy and Daddy talk - it's watching a movie.

It's not some food they're not sure they like - it's fun food.

It's not a stressed mommy who has had to figure out what to have for supper - it's already figured out.

Nacho Night can be pizza, tacos, soup - whatever your family thinks is groovy.  If the rules get relaxed and the mood is light, then that's what Nacho Night is all about.  :-)

Back and Gone... and Back again...

And a lot of gone.  :-)  Since returning from Watercolor and having the picture file fiasco, we've been in a computer confused state.  My dear brother Robert was able to recover a good number of the lost pictures, although I don't know exactly how many.  Because as I was going thru the almost 7 gigs of picture files, the computer started blipping on me again.  We realized that we were likely getting to close to a hard drive crash, or at least some serious problems.  SO, first, I'm not sure how many pictures were recovered and how many were corrupted beyond saving.  I'll find out as soon as I have time to get thru all of them.  Second, we went ahead and bit the bullet and got a new laptop for me so as not to deal with what we suspected was coming.  We visited the Apple store on Friday, and I am now figuring out my new Macbook.  I had an iBook years ago, but it was long enough ago that I'm still trying to remember how to do some things.  Well, still trying to remember how to do a LOT of things.

Anyway, we had some pictures on the "purse camera" (i.e. the small Canon digital camera) that weren't on the other laptop when it chewed up the other pictures.  I thought I'd share a couple.  

I love this one of my and Poodle's feet.  First, we had on matching toenail polish.  :-)  Second, the water is above her knees...  that's how clear this water is!  Incredible.

This idea was totally stolen - big, floppy beach hat tip to Kristen Kern for this.  When in a cool place (like a beautiful beach), take a picture over your feet.  Then, you can do neato things like make it your desktop on your computer so you can "go back" to that place as often as you want.

I love this idea - I love being around creative people who think of things like this.  Thanks Kristen!

Oh, and the very first picture was taken on Saturday while we were piddling on the tennis courts.  And being buzzed by butterflies.  Seriously.  Disney movie.  The place is ridiculously gorgeous.

So, I'll have more pictures up later on as I work out the corrupted vs. usable pictures from Robert's recovery of the old hard drive.  But, I now have a computer that will write CD/DVD's, so we won't be doing a whole lot of photo storage on the hard drive any more.  I don't need the heartburn.  :-)

Watercolor, Florida

Let me just say - WOW.  We had a graciously free place to stay this past weekend in Watercolor, Florida.  And even though we couldn't stay but just over 36 hours, we went anyway.  And it was so incredible.  The cold front had just passed through, so the weather was cool and sunny and so beautiful.  There were butterflies EVERYwhere.  We spent a couple of hours on the tennis court on Saturday morning, and it felt like a Disney movie.  Lepidoptera would have been in love.  Every couple of minutes, we'd have a "bluhbluhbly" (as Tooter says) fly past our heads.


It's a quiet, family oriented resort area and thanks to Jennifer and David, we were given a beautiful place to stay.  Lots of "natural Florida" landscaping to enjoy, as my friend Patty called it - and she was right.  Even though the houses are up close to each other, you still feel like you have a ton of room.  It adjoins Seaside, Florida but has a completely different feel - not that there's anything wrong with Seaside, mind you.  But Watercolor had a homey feel that was sooooo relaxing to us.  Believe it or not, I didn't check my email a single time.  Didn't think about politics one single time.  (until I saw a stupid commercial on t.v. accidentally on Saturday night while the baseball game was on).  I was so relaxed.  We rode bikes all over the place.  Riding bikes in the middle of the day thru a gravel lined, tree bordered pathway on your way to the beach will make you feel like a kid again.  I guarantee you.  Even if you're pulling a trailer with your 2 year old in the back, you will feel like an absolute kid again!  You felt so safe, even though you didn't actually see security anywhere.  The landscaping was pristine, even though you didn't actually see anyone working on it.


I would post pictures, but unfortunately, we've had a computer catastrophe.  For some unknown reason, EVERY SINGLE PICTURE in the "My Pictures" folder has simply disappeared.  Because I have unwisely not backed up since May, I have lost months of pictures.  Including every picture that was taken during the photo session on the beach on Saturday afternoon.  I have no idea what happened, and right now, no one else does either.  I'm absolutely sick about it.  My brother David tried to talk me thru some things, but he wasn't familiar with this.  My other brother Darrell (kidding - it's Robert) is going to try some recovery things tomorrow, but the weirdness of all this doesn't make me very hopeful.  They aren't deleted.  They weren't accidentally moved.  They aren't hidden files of some sort.  It's as though they were abducted by aliens.  I dunno......  Robert will do his best.  He can do as much, if not more, than Geek Squad, so if he recovers these things, we will owe him BIG time.  And if he can't, I'll know that they aren't recoverable.  I'm just sick about it.

I'm trying to keep perspective - because I'm sure if I walked into a children's hospital right now, I'd be reminded that I have what's important.  And the pictures aren't it.  But all of Poodle's bday pictures are gone too.  All of June thru now.  ::exhale::  My stomach is literally in knots.


Anyway - being at Watercolor during the off season was so nice.  I mean, I've not been during the "on season", but I can say that it seemed very uncrowded and soooo unhurried.  I think, though, that the unhurried thing is all year round.  I would say that being able to be there for a week would be better.  Spend a day getting lost on your bike.  Spend a day getting lost walking around.  Spend a day on a boat fishing.  Spend parts of every day enjoying the soft white beaches that are the stopping point of clear turquoise waters.  It was extraordinary.  God's beauty and creativity abundant.  And a reminder that man is nothing compared to HIM.

I hope the picture thing works out.  I won't put any of the pictures that are still on the small digital camera on the computer until something is worked out.  Until then, I'll just assure you that we were pampered this past weekend.  And I sure did enjoy it!!

And if anyone knows anything about Windows XP causing files to disappear, we'll take all advice.

I've Been Tagged

Thanks to dear Lepidoptera at Foothills Valley, I have been forced completely against my will ::ahem:: to participate in a tagging thing.  (kidding Lepi!)  Here you go.

1.  I still have the same mechanical pencil I used all the way thru college.  I bought it in the campus bookstore, I think.  (I was a math major).

2.  When Jmk was living in Hawaii, I was doing a state project on Hawaii for school.  I can't remember now what grade I was in, but it was 6th or 7th grade or something like that.  I got an "A".  :-)

3.  I actually like making homemade pasta.  It's a lot of work, but it's calming if you have an afternoon to spare.  Which I don't right now.  So, obviously, my pasta maker is gathering dust.

4.  I never wanted to do Junior Miss.  My mom talked me into it by dangling the "possible scholarship money" carrot in front of me.  It worked.

5.  When I read (and reread.  and reread.... etc) the whole Anne of Green Gables series, I read my mother's books from when she was a girl.  That was cool.

6.  I *never* thought I would *ever* homeschool.  Ever.

7.  The second toe on both my feet had started to be longer than my big toe.  (Like my mom's feet).  But then I got put en pointe in ballet, and for some reason that second toe quit growing and actually got a tad shorter.  Weird, huh?  I dunno.  Maybe my big toes just grew.  :-D

You know, this tagging thing is like email forwards........  but I couldn't resist this time!  :-)  So, to the people who are getting tagged:
Do this or there will be an offensive browning of a significant portion of a square foot of your yard.  Don't say I didn't warn you.  Except for Robert Chapman.  I'm tagging you on your professional blog.  You're not so much obliged to play by the rules.  Okay, technically, everyone else is a mommy with small children (some pregnant!) and a really busy freshman at MSU.  I can see how y'all might not have just a TON of time to do this either.  ::grin::

Intelligent Afterthought

The Fidget Files

4 Forts

Mandolin Moon

Hey Guy, The Blog

God's World and Me

Expectant Legacy

SueSue Pecans

I just finished putting a batch of SueSue Pecans in the crockpot for our trip this weekend.  Pardon?  What are SueSue Pecans, you ask?  Ah -- they are super easy, stupid good spicy pecans that SueSue first shared with us.  I'm sure she told us at that time where she got the recipe....  but I don't remember now what she said, and neither does she, and quite frankly, I'm going to call them SueSue Pecans anyway.

Ah, what does stupid good mean?  Well, they are so good, that it becomes extremely easy to be really stupid and eat WAY too much without even realizing it.

The recipe, you ask?  Well, of course!  Here it is:

SUESUE PECANS
Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tsp. worchestershire sauce
1 tbsp. Tobasco sauce
1 tsp. garlic salt 
4 cups pecans

Directions:
Mix together the butter, worchestershire sauce, Tobasco sauce, and garlic salt.  Pour over the pecans and stir to coat well.
Put into a crockpot.  Cook on low for 2 hours, then cook on high for 30 minutes.
Drain on paper towels.

Don't say I didn't warn you!  :-)

Go Forth, Make Money, Hold Your Head Up

“This chronic cycle will not end until businessmen accept that their production of profit is neither immoral nor amoral--it is the capstone of moral virtue. Once they shrug off the role of scapegoat, businessmen can demand with moral certitude that government punish fraud and enforce contracts but refrain from interfering with voluntary trades among consenting adults.
“When America’s markets are finally free of all coercion--in other words, when laissez-faire is achieved--financial crises such as the one we’re experiencing will never happen again.”

For more, go see this from AynRand.org.  I need to read Atlas Shrugged.  One of my siblings has it.....  someone 'fess up so I can borrow it!  :-)

Grandparent (et al) Gravy

No one else need feel obligated to watch these!

I'm trying Motionbox.  I haven't figured out how to embed them yet - it's not as painless as doing a YouTube video.  My brother would have no problem.  I, on the other hand, don't know html to save my popo  :-)

Poodle's Ten Commandments:

Tooter's ABC's:

XOXO!

The Ten Commandments

Poodle has memorized the Ten Commandments!  King James Version, of course.  Along with the Book and chapter from which they come.  (Exodus 20).

Now, lest you think that I'm casually bragging on my child - that is NOT why I'm posting this good news.  I actually have two different good reasons to post this.

One:  To share this method of bible verse memorization.
Two:  To give proper credit where credit is due.

Alrighty, let's begin with number one.  We know that as parents, it is our duty and responsibility to get God's word into our children's heads.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit to get it into their hearts.  So, with the head in mind, I decided to start with The Rules.  What we did was to have her repeat each commandment (one at a time) at breakfast, lunch, and supper.  For example, start on Monday.  Repeat Comm. 1 at breakfast, lunch, supper.  Tuesday, continue with Comm. 1 for breakfast, lunch, supper.  Wednesday, realize that she's got Comm. 1, and add Comm. 2 at lunch.  Continue this pattern, moving slowly forward, until child can repeat all 10, in a row, with the book, chapter, and verse at the end.  Regular Bible verses?  Same thing.  Just start a verse on Monday morning.  By the end of the week, the child should know the verse and its Biblical location by the end of the week!
It took several weeks for the commandments.  Don't remember how long exactly because I really wasn't worried about the timing of it.

Now.  Number two.  I don't know if she came up with this idea or not, but regardless, she is a GEM of a person for sharing the idea with me.  And it's why I want to pass the idea forward.  Mrs. Kathleen Savage Foster, please take a bow!!!  Thank you for always being so generous with your ideas and your support.  You are truly a wealth of creativity and ideas for me - especially with my in-the-box personality.

It's so funny how things work in God's world.  Kathleen dated my youngest brother eons ago.  She was why my other brother met his wife, because Kat and Jaime were friends.  And now Kat and I find ourselves in a similar place in life now and have built a friendship through circumstances.  It's just neat how it all happens.

Anyway, thank you Kat for the wonderful idea.  And I hope the sharing of this idea helps someone else who wants this to be part of their family's development!  And, for those who were wondering....  Yes, Jmk and I now can recite the 10 commandments as well.  For the first time in our lives.  But, who's counting?  :-)

Huntsville Fun

We returned late Sunday afternoon from a long weekend in Huntsville to celebrate a cousin's marriage, see college friends of Jmk's, and generally get away for some fun.

Friday was Jmk's birthday (!), and we spent the early part of the day at the Early Works Children's Museum. We spent most of our time in the Biscuit's Backyard area, but did skim thru the rest of it. GaGa came with us, and we see him and the kids in front of the talking/story-telling tree.

Then Friday night, we went to the Schlichter's house for some good fellowship with two of Jmk's college roommates and for a little mini-surprise party for Jmk.

Complete with ice cream cake! Jmk is not a regular cake person, you see. And, in true "good daddy" fashion, he let the boy blow out his candle. :-)

We had a wonderful time and enjoyed some top notch hospitality. Jmk has some really great friends, and they have created some beautiful families.




Then, on Saturday, we went to an outdoor mall called Bridge Street. High dollar stores/restaurants and high dollar landscaping. You know the kind. But, we didn't go to shop. We went to entertain the kids. And we did so by letting them ride the carousel, play in the outdoor fountain (one of those that you can walk thru because it's flush with the ground), and take a gondola ride. Seriously! They have a real, made-in-Italy, wooden gondola. The ride was about 15'ish minutes which is just right for two small kids. We were told that, to date, 49 couples had gotten engaged on the gondola. :-) I thought that was sweet.

MooMoo was back at the hotel with some distant family who had come to see Granny. But GaGa got a yard pass to come with us. ;-)





Then Saturday night was The Event. Rebecca and Bryan got hitched in a lovely outdoor ceremony at her parents' house. The Very Cool Thing was that my entire immediate family was able to be there, and that was very nice to be able to see both Leslie and David at the same time. Plus, we got to get all fancied up AND I got to dance a little bit with David, which hardly ever happens. My arms were sore the next day from just 3 itty bitty swings. So sad!

JAZZ HANDS!

It does appear that the Tooter Man has developed a taste for the hardwood as well. He and Audrey cut a rug with each other - although they did it before the bride and groom had their first dance. ::gasp:: I tried to explain the utter wrong-ness of this, but the explanation seemed to get lost on this 18 month old and 34 month old.

It wasn't the last time they were out on the floor, and Poodle had a BIG time dancing with the bridesmaids and the bride! Mom and Dad won the Longest Married Couple dance contest - 44 years and counting!


We got up Sunday morning, packed up, visited some more with family, and then headed home. The drive there and back was pleasantly uneventful, as it should be, and the weather was GORgeous. The only hiccup was that we all brought home some kind of cold-thing. Joy. But it's not a bad one, thankfully, and we will soldier thru it without too much of an ordeal. Lord willing.

Congratulations Bryan and Rebecca!!!

The mess that vacation brings

I'm in the process of getting the family packed up for a trip to north Alabama for a cousin's wedding this weekend.  We leave tomorrow.  And while I'll freely admit that the house was certainly not in pristine condition before I got started, it's in significantly worse condition now.  The kids get away with sheer murder when I'm completely distracted.

Pffllbbbtt.

Okay.  Venting over.  Back to gathering clothes and things and things and things.