September blahs

We've had a TIME of it here.

Plumbing problems, rodent problems, a/c problems (related to the rodent & plumbing problems). Double down on the gross factor because we're Hot too, since we haven't had a/c for a few weeks.

Fun times.

I never thought we'd get rats in our a/c system!! I don't know whether to be happy or disgusted that they were pretty much there just to eat the possums that crawled in to the ducts and died. It's all so gross. And, my GOODNESS, how did they all end up getting in there, dying, eating each other, befouling our whole house to the point where we had to replace every stinking (literally) inch of the system in the TWO FREAKIN' DAYS between when the plumbers were here and the a/c guys came out to fix the ducts in the first place? ugh.

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Repeat.

My kitchen - A to Z

I've been helping Anders learn to write his letters. He's doing great! He really, really, really wants to learn, probably so that he can write stories about Ben10 alien force meets Star Wars. Or write Dagny notes. Or letters to his grandparents, which is one of his favorite afternoon activities.

At the same time I noticed he was also really intent on learning the phonetic sounds to the alphabet, so hey why not kill two birds with that stone? Presenting Mommy's Kitchen A to Z! Now he can learn his letters and sounds while associating them with stuff that he is surrounded by every day - and since the kitchen is my favorite room in the house, why not?

A - Avocados
B - Bread
C - Cantaloupe
D - Dill
E - Eggs
F - Frozen french fries
G - Grapes
H - Hot sauce
I - Ice cream
J - Juice
K - Ketchup
L - Lemons and/or Limes
M - Mustard
N - Nuts
O - Oatmeal
P - Pasta
Q - Quinoa
R - Refried beans
S - Spices
T - Tuna
U - Us (the family)
V - Vinegar
W - Water
X - "X" marks the spot - I make it out of string cheese
Y - Yogurt
Z - Zucchini

Take the cake

I am baking a cake for my Mom's birthday this weekend. It is delicious, and I know that because I previewed recipes before deciding on The One. It is going to be a buttermilk layer cake (a white cake) with raspberry/blueberry filling and whipped cream cheese frosting.

The major thing will be keeping it cool til Naples. Big cooler? Check!

Happy Birthday Mom! We'll see you tomorrow!

Weak

The kids know by now that the one thing I'll always cave in on, the one thing I can't help buying for them, the one thing that all they have to do is ask semi-politely for and they'll get, that I just can't say no to is...

BOOKS!

I love books! I love to read! I love that my kids love them too! We do go to the library just about every week, but they also know that I'm a complete and utter pushover for any kind of reading material.

Right now Anders is all about action, adventure, even things that are a little spooky. Dagny is totally into Egypt & mummies.

Pretty cool.