On the merry-go-round

The girls and I enjoyed a visit from my Mom last week. She came on the train Sunday night and stayed until Wednesday morning. I picked her up after the girls had gone to bed so we enjoyed seeing their surprised faces when she came upstairs for breakfast the next morning. By chance, Gordon had to go out of town for a two day trip so I was really grateful for the extra help and the girls enjoyed having an in-house playmate. Monday was full of fun stuff. We went to the mall to ride the carousel and to do a little shopping. Anna wanted to ride on the top level of the carousel, so we did and the adults left feeling a little dizzy. We enjoyed a dinner of pizza at Costco and rounded it out with ice cream for dessert. Thanks for a fun time, Mom!

Unsuccessful

Okay, so this blog post may just turn into my rambling thoughts put in print. This seemed to be a day full a way too many unsuccessful attempts (more than one is way too much for me).

First, the girls were anxious to get Valentine's Day started so this morning they gave us their Valentines that they made last night with the babysitter. Cute, creative, and of course lots of glitter. At the same time I gave Gordon his "sweets for the sweet". I had managed to shape licorice into hearts for my love, tied with embroidery floss. (He doesn't like chocolate as much as I do so I try to go the sugar route.) When I pulled them out of their hiding place today, they had broken into several pieces. Of course he will still eat them, but the symbolism was lost. Unsuccessfully creative.

Secondly, as a family we decided to go feed the ducks at a local water spot. The girls were excited and willing to put all of their winter gear on so we could spend 10-15 minutes outside without freezing. We arrived safely, with bag of bread in tow. Unfortunately, no hungry ducks to feed. A few floating decoy ducks to attract wildlife, but they didn't want our bread. Unsuccessful decoy ducks.

Lastly or Thirdly(the day is not over yet), thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Shaw, the girls each had a dollar to spend. Anna has been begging to spend it as soon as she got it in the mail yesterday (she gets that from me, not a saver like her Daddy). So a trip to the Dollar Store was in order. We get there and let the girls look for the perfect thing to spend with their money. 20 minutes later, after much deliberation and one tired mommy, we are checking out. Anna decided on an outfit for her stuffed dog, Lucy, and Megan was happy with her wind-up car. The cashier scanned the outfit, put it in a bag for Anna, Anna paid with her precious dollar. Next up, Megan with her car. She was very excited about it. The cashier scanned it, it beeped several times back at her. Apparently, Megan's new toy has been recalled and could not be sold. Okay, explain recalled to a 2 1/2 year old. Unsuccessful purchase.

I am just glad Gordon is making dinner.

Cute things for baby

Every Wed-nesday morning for a couple hours, the girls and I go to our friend Carrie's house for craft group. The girls enjoy her cable TV while I enjoy a few hours of chatting and working on a craft. Marissa, Carrie, and I are the regulars in this group even though anyone is invited to join us. We have attempted many projects so far and today was one of my favorite ones. We used iron-on transfers to make cute onesies for the little ones in our lives or future little ones, as the case may be. Given the fact that none of us had ever done iron-on transfers, I think we had great results. Next week, we are going to attempt potato stamping with fabric paint and then on to tie-dying. Fun!

Taffy Pull

Our last Family Home Evening night, we decided to pull taffy the old-fashioned way. After a lot of cooking (45 minutes) and then adding just the right amount of food coloring (Anna chose pink, of course), we let it cool to where we could start the actually pulling process. I understand now why someone invented a machine to do this part. After pulling, pulling, trading with the girls, and pulling much more, we ended up with something resembling one of our favorite treats. The resulting taffy could have been a little firmer, but that would have meant more time at the stove, or more time pulling the taffy and the girls were done waiting! Fun times for fun treats!

For the Sake of Posterity

The things I swallow for the sake of my posterity. I know there are smaller pre-natal vitamins available but this was a sample my OB gave me. Fortunately, thanks to the blue coating, the pill is easier to swallow than a quarter. On the other hand, I have never tried to swallow a quarter.

8 more weeks!!!

Our new addition!

No, our baby boy is not here yet, but they are both very expensive! We are now part of the minivan club. Our initiation was all the hours spent thinking and praying about this purchase, not to mention actually writing the check! We bought a 2008 Kia Sedona yesterday and feel pretty good about. March will be here soon enough and we will need more room.

On a sad note we traded in the Ford Ranger. Gordon had that Ranger for 8 years and put many miles on it. It holds a lot of good memories too as it was the transportation for our dates before and after marriage as well as Gordon's daddy-daughter dates with Anna. Anna already says she misses the truck and how she can't sit up front with her Daddy. But I don't think she minds something new as well!

Happy New Year!

A new year was quietly brought in here at the Shaw household. We celebrated it by letting the girls stay up and watch "The Jungle Book". I forgot how much I love that movie. Anna and I are still quoting the vultures at the end of the movie in our best British accent:

(1st vulture) "So what are we going to do?"

(2nd vulture)"Uh, I don't know what do you want to do?"

(1st vulture) "Now don't start that again!"

A five-year-old's best British accent sounds a little hillbilly, but funny nonetheless. We made a pallet of blankets on the floor with extra pillows for me, the pregnant mama. We snacked on popcorn, a juice and soda combo drink, and cookies on a stick. Anna had been begging to make the cookies on a stick all week after spotting the recipe in a cookbook for kids that Aunt Amy sent for Christmas. As you can see from the picture, the cookies were almost as big as their heads! My kind of new year's eve, eating good snacks with my favorite little people!

Happy New Year!