Interviewing Beck

I've done this with Quinn every year, and now it's this guy's turn!

Uncle Jay.....

is moving back to the states--to Houston!  He's taken care of all of the important things.  Condo rented?  Check.  New car purchased?  Check.  Acquainted with the Cheetahs?  Check. 

Mandy and the cheetahs are old friends.  Matter of fact the cheetahs are still shopping for what they'll be wearing to her wedding.   

 

I love this girl.

 

My kids ate 6 pints of raspberries last weekend.

Not joking.  They were on a crazy sale at the HEB and I loaded up, thinking we'd use some for muffins or freeze em for smoothies.  We used a cup of them for raspberry-choc-chip pancakes Sat morn, but the crazies at the rest of them. 

Happy Birthday, Megan!

 Megan and Matt have moved back to the US!  Today Meg flew in from Nashville, just in time for her birthday festivities!  We've been preparing around here!  Q made little tiny flags to decorate Meg's cake.  

Today we made a chocolate cake from scratch....

 Q tried her hand at flouring the cake pans today for the first time.  That girl is quite the baker!

 But this is really her favorite part.  Both the cat and Q look blissed.

 The cake!  Mama finished it off with frosting, 3 types of candy bars (butterfingers, reeses and heath--meg's faves) and homemade whipped cream--sorta.  I am a failure at whipping cream, sadly.  This is my second flop.  So we'll pretend that it was supposed to be drizzled all over the cake like that, ok?

 

"More cake, Papa," says the boy.

 

Watching the tortillas get made...

 

The fam:

Peek-a-boo!

We have tadpoles!

 Of course our budding naturalist (Q) spotted them first, and I didn't believe her--thinking she probably saw mosquito larvae.  But she showed me and she is right!  I would guess that they are gulf coast toad tadpoles, as that's what live all around our pond.  We're keeping a close eye on them!  We're tadpole fans in this house, fo' sure!

via Beck.

While riding in the car one day last weekend Beck burped.

"Toot, mouth!"  he announced, giggling. 

Mornin!

 

 

 

 

Boo-boo from a run-in with a German Shepherd puppy.....

 

 

 

 

 

2 going on 90.....

This boy loves him some prunes (big an-yas) and apricots (cot-cots).  He's never been a choker or a mouth-packer while eating, but lately he's been swallowing large chunks of food without chewing them well enough, which then leads to choking and puking and pretty much all-around lovliness.  I think it might be because his teeth coming in are hurting and he doesn't like chewing with them too much. 

One said incident happened at HEB.  Last week Beck fell and hurt his hand.  We debated for a couple days whether it was broken or just sprained/bruised (it was the latter), but day after it happened I realized we were out of ibeprophen, which he definitely needed.  So we made a way-to-close-to-lunchtime run to the store.  I ended up opening the tylenol as soon as we got out of the store to get him started on some, and I also gave him a couple dried apricots so he wouldn't be taking it on an empty stomach.  At this point I realized we'd forgotten to grab the plants Quinn had picked and bought off the clearance shelf, so we turned around and ran back into the store.  As I am talking to the clerk Beck chokes on an apricot and proceeds to puke it all up.  And I stick my hand out and catch it all....I guess that's your first instinct when your kid barfs.  The HEB lady hands me ONE papertowel.  The cardboardy kind that doesn't absorb anything.  I told her I'd need a few more and she hands me the whole container of them.  Only problem is that I can't get them out with one hand and the other is pukey.  So I have to get Q to get them out for me and we end up getting the puke cleaned up enough to get to the truck and strip him down.

And that is why he now eats his dried fruits chopped......

The Mountain

Otherwise known as our couch. 
However "summits" are only allowed to occur at Mama-approved occasions.  :)

Bread Day

 Pickles is supervising Quinn's work...and yes, she even talks when she bakes.

Little Man likes exploring kitchen utensils. 

 What a cute lil flour-covered baker. 

 And bread day is also kitchen-cleaning day.  We do the table and all the chairs and Beck's booster seat.
Sometimes it's hard for him to decide...old school?  New school?  In the end it's just best to go with both.  :)

 And look, this girl washes dishes like a champ!

And nope, this wasn't today's bread day.  It's actually from a past one that I never posted.  We skipped bread day in lieu of a swim-date with friends.  We have to take advantage of our last school-free days while we can!  We swam in the rain, but swam WE DID!  Then we played with their puppies in the mud.  We're substituting Aunt Meg's birthday cake for our bread day this week.  Stay tuned for pictures!