Where did June go?

As we wrap up June we wonder where this year has gone. It really has flown by and it will be the holidays before we know it. We have settled back into a fairly familiar routine here, though A always hates sleeping on the weekends and loves sleeping during the weeks. This makes it difficult for Chris and me as our lives are reversed.

This past week A got one of her last shots before she goes back for boosters closer to starting school. We held back on the varicella vaccine simply because we'd almost rather her have chicken pox than the vaccine. Chris had a horrid case of them and I never had them. She also got to stay home on Friday with Chris and they did fun stuff as the weather has finally become summery and not rainy. She got a fantastic chair in the mail that is just her size. When I came home Friday she greeted me from it and refused to get out of it to meet me at the door. On Saturday when I came home she opened the door for me, took my hand so she could go sit in her chair and watch Mulan (which even beats out the puppy and kitty movies apparently.)

The rain and bugs have pretty much destroyed what bit of garden we had going. The squash plants still look like they could take off, and we have some buds on our green beans. Hopefully the sun the next week will help them take off and we remember to water them. We replanted some herbs in pots and actually have some butternut squash in a window box as an experiment. That squash is doing fantastic, as most of the pots are. Maybe it is location, but they don't seem to have as many creatures eating them. We will have to try again next year and maybe work at taking out more underbrush to get more sun. We will have to see.

Work for both Chris and me is going. It is kind of boring for Chris as he is between summer terms. He only has some much prep work that can be done. He has managed to get a lot of work done for the church. Hopefully it is put to good use. The church av team has kind of become his new thing. The church has needed the help desperately and he has the ability, so he's volunteering there a lot. He both runs sound and also works the stream. If you ever want to watch click here. It only streams during service (Sundays at 10 and Wednesdays at 7, both times eastern), but know that Chris is one of the people putting it all together.

Work continues to baffle me. I'm amazed by the lack of foresight and planning. I understand that the company has had to modify and adjust as different problems and situations present themselves, however, the lack of simple common sense mystifies me. We really need a person of clout in the company willing to say "no" when the owner or a VP or a researcher gets a hairbrained idea. As a company we are truly shooting for the moon and hoping to land among the stars. It will be nice if we get off of earth first though.

Anyway, I had a quick minute before I leave for church so I thought I'd post a little bit about what is going on here in NC. I hope all is well with you and that you aren't wondering as much about where the year has gone.

Music Fest

Last night we had the opportunity to go out to a music festival near us. We met a couple of other families there that have girls under 4. It was a blanket and picnic festival that they hold every Friday during the summer. We had a lot of fun and discovered a great new park to go play at this summer. This is a picture of A in her hippo chair. The chair was a big hit and all the girls wanted to sit in it. Chris managed to get a good shot with fun lighting as the sun was going down.

Little Rock Pictures

Minnie Mouse

Little to our knowledge, daycare has taught A about Minnie Mouse, and she LOVES Minnie. I'm not sure about this, but it has had tremendous results with us and potty training. She will correct you if you say it is Mickey or some other mouse. :) A thoughtful grandparent got her Minnie Mouse underwear for her birthday. We were kind of at an impasse on getting her to use the toilet all the time. We finally showed her the Minnie Mouse underwear and she wanted the wear them. We told her that was fine, but they had to be dry at the end of the day because Minnie doesn't like getting wet. After our small switch we have had no accidents this week. Not even during naps or overnight. She likes showing Minnie off to everyone who will look, but that will pass. We do expect accidents, but haven't had any this past week yet.

Other exciting news around here:

We got a new washer from the rental company. The old one (I think it was older than me, or at least close to my age) had a seal or gasket go out Wednesday morning, as I was washing what looks like my last load of diapers. They came Thursday (after telling us to pour drain-o down the stand pipe) and took the old washer after determining it was unfixable. They were going to leave it, but as our rental agency is not used to dealing with adults, decided to take it so that we couldn't use it. Because you know, I love having water all over my basement floor. The new one is fairly new and has a few more bells and whistles. It isn't eco-friendly, but that's okay. I'm kind of concerned about how it is going to work with diapers, but that's something I will find out as I want to re-wash/strip all the diapers I have before I put them in storage or loan them to someone. We shall see, but if it is something I don't have to deal with for a while then that's fine with me. Our next big hurdle is the dryer. It too is going out, the heater or something major like that. It is probably about 15 or so years old, but it works.

Work is work for both Chris and me. We are starting to consider finding jobs not in the mountains, so hopefully that will go quickly and smoothly if we decide that is what needs to happen. A lot of people at the company I work for are unhappy with the new schedule (they just decided to do enough work for a second and third shift of workers, but don't have enough people to cover that much time so those of us currently there are supposed to make it up and not get paid any extra) so we will see how long that lasts. Most of us at work are betting on how long before one of the critical machines malfunctions. It is a schedule that I won't be able to keep up for long, and don't really want to. I went to school and got a degree so that I don't have to work for less than minimum wage, yet the hours they are asking for what they pay us, make it a close call. The management of the place is annoyed with me because I have to pick A up from daycare by five, therefore leaving each day at 430. The fact that I've already worked an eight hour day and probably through lunch (so nine hours really) is just expected. Oh, and we are going to mandatory Saturdays, where we have to ask and take PTO for Saturdays. These are a couple of the new developments at my office that make me want another job.

The university is starting have labs until 9 during the week which means that in the fall Chris and I will get to see each other on weekends if he gets the later shift. We will have to see how it all plays out, but him not seeing A isn't going to work -- for him or A. As it stands she tolerates being home without him, but not much more than an hour. He wouldn't even be able to come home for "lunch" since he will be the only one there. Once again the university has the work for more than 2 people, but doesn't want to hire another person or two to get it all done. However, we both have jobs which are stable for now, and we will keep eyes and ears open for other opportunities.

A is also talking up a storm, and most of the time you can understand her fairly well. She talks and talks and talks. It is a nice change from the crying she's done for the past two years as a way of communicating. Some of the teachers and kids at daycare have horrible grammar and her favorite phrase right now is, "Why cause?" We told her that is something she asks NJ (why cuz?) but if she wants an explanation for something then she asks, "how come?" We're getting there and she often has her own ideas about how things should work. We do get some tantrums, but the fact that she's two (and normally tired) explains a little. We are prone to let her flop on the floor or go sit in her room until she's ready to behave. We've only had to leave one store so far, so that's a good ratio we think.

Anyway, I need to go get some breakfast together. I had a minute at a computer and realized I didn't get the post up last weekend that I wanted to, so I better do it now. Hope all is well with you.

Williamsburg Visit

This weekend we went to Williamsburg, VA. We left town Friday after Chris got off of work as I was granted the day off from work about three Thursday afternoon. We made it and then got up early on Saturday and went to the Mariner's Museum. It was a lot of fun to see the different ships and such. After our trip to the Mariner's Museum we went to the Williamsburg Winery. We had a fun winery tour which A managed to sleep through. She had a very good nap and the tour guide was rather impressed that she slept so well. We ended up using the winery to get several good photos of the munchkin for her 2 year pictures. :) Hopefully soon we will have those to distribute to everyone, but it will take our friend a while to process them a bit I imagine.

Sunday we went to Jamestown. We went before it got super hot. The original settlement was interesting and then we got to both explore the cargo ships that brought the people over from England as well as listen/watch an artillery demonstration. Since the original fort was there we also got to play in it. I got to be a pikeman in a pike block and the A got to be a musketeer in training. She was young and needed a lot of help, but she wanted to do it. We had gone into the armory and an actor was asking little kids if they wanted to be a musketeer, all the boys (who were 7-10) plus A (who just turned 2) wanted to do it. She then didn't want to give the wooden musket back. Our friend got several pictures so hopefully one or two came out acceptably.

This morning we went to the VA Aquarium in Virginia Beach. It was about an hour drive from Williamsburg, but helped break up the trip a little for us. We got to see all sorts of animals and A loved the fish. She also talked all day about wanting to see the otters. She really likes otters apparently, but they are fun animals so I get the attraction. Here are some pictures from our short venture:

walking in

watching some fish

in the aquarium tube

trying to pet the rays

figuring out the lighting scheme our friends devised

Otter swimming in the sun

"How old are you?" "TWO!"

Yesterday was A's second birthday! We had afternoon snack with her class at school and it was a lot of fun. Her friend came back to school just for the party and the class as a whole had a blast! We did frozen yogurt sundaes with blackberries, raspberries, bananas and m&ms. Overall it was a lot of fun and both Chris and I got to go. Here are a picture of A with her daddy at school:

He was a HUGE hit and she had to grant permission for people to sit on his lap. They asked her. We are kind of concerned/amused by this type of development. I've noticed when I drop her off that the kids in her class always say hello to her and bring her a stuffed puppy that she apparently loves. It is like the offering they bring her when I set her down in the classroom. We're hoping it is because she is sooooo sweet (which everyone says she is) and not because she is a tyrant. We find it curious that she has her 2 year old friends "trained" (for lack of a better word) to do this though.

She also has known it is her birthday so it has been a lot of fun. If you ask her whose birthday it is she says, "ME!" and then when you ask her how old she is she answers, "Two!" I have it on video, but will have to get it some other time. 

We did cake for her last night and opened her presents. She got a lot of Dr. Seuss books, enough that I'm deeming this her Dr. Seuss birthday. She loves them though and wants to read each one of the every day. She also got new shoes, which she refuses to take off really. She is definitely going to be a shoe girl, so we are in trouble. She also got a lot of good clothes. We are clearly blessed. Here are a couple of pictures of her cupcake from last night:

 

Today we had several of her church friends over for more cake and ice cream. We were originally going to go to the park, but we got our weekend downpour about the time we were starting to party so it ended up being at our place. We had six kids with parents in our place and it was fun. We did some fingerpainting (a wonderful grandparent sent her all the colors imaginable for fingerpaints), some toy playing and some tricycle riding. They sort of interacted with each other, and it was fun with the three boys (all brothers) that were here. Here are some pictures of the party today: 

Monday Morning

Last weekend was Mother's Day and we had a lot of fun. I made a peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip scones. They were tasty and fairly easy to make. The recipe is originally found here. Of course I made a few modifications, but they turned out rather well and everyone liked them. They are so good that when we go places for vacations I'm contemplating making some before hand so that I can eat them while on vacation.

Yield: 12 scones
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour --  2/3 C Sorghum, 1/3 C Arrowroot, 1/3 C Oat, 2/3 C Rice
1 cup traditional rolled oats
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
¾ cup buttermilk -- Sour Cream
1 egg, separated
½ cup chunky peanut butter --Its peanut butter, just make sure it is room temperature and will mix well
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Raw sugar, for sprinkling -- Cinnamon Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
2. In a large bowl  Mixer, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the butter and mix until it looks like corn meal or pie crust before you add water.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk sour cream and the egg yolk -- I used a 2 C measuring cup and simply used it to mix the stuff together.
4. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour the buttermilk mixture into the center of the well, then add the peanut butter. Using a rubber spatula, very gently fold the mixture together until it starts to come together. Add the chocolate chips and gently knead with your hands (in the bowl) until just incorporated.  Pour the sour cream/egg mixture into the mixer and mix on low until just mixed. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula. Be careful not to overmix the dough.
5. Turn the dough out onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and pat it into a round disk about 8 inches in diameter. Whisk the egg white, then brush the top of the dough with the egg white, and sprinkle with the additional sugar.
6. Cut the dough into wedges (do not separate them -- I separated mine and they lost a bit of their shape) and bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until the scones are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then re-slice and separate them. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, or serve slightly warm. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

After Sunday comes Monday though, and we had a Monday. No sooner had I walked into work and turned on my computer did I get a call from my manager to go to A's day school. I didn't get a reason or anything, just to go. I did and A was jumping (with a chair involved somehow) and managed to put one tooth through her lip completely and a second one almost all the way through. All of the teeth looked fine and she was bleeding a little. I was against taking her to the emergency room because clearly she wasn't in pain or anything really, it was just oozing a bit. I felt strong-armed but did it anyway. I took her to urgent care as a compromise and it took three hours. Ugh. However, they ended up glueing her lip back and off we went. The worst part was numbing the lip, but that was over quickly. Here are a couple of pictures from our first Urgent Care trip:

Oozing blood and such

After we were going back to school, she was hungry and tired and not sure what to think about the lip. The white spot is the numb area.