Happy Birthday, Bee!

So, my little Bee is finally two years old. She was born on December 14th, 2009--just in time for Christmas.

Here's my mom holding the little bundle of joy who never cried, but instead only whimpered, to the relief of her parents.



Bee, amazingly, hasn't really had any tantrums... except for that one ice cream escapade last June. Other than that, she's been as sweet as ever. And while there are difficulties with putting her to bed (as well as with her brother) and her separation issues with her Daddy, she's just a little ball of sunshine that I absolutely adore :)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Bee.

Late Wordless Wednesday

Nonetheless, it is still a wordless moment *insert awesome heart here*

Cloth Diaper Love

"Hello! Guess what I got?"

A CLOTH DIAPER :D

That I've been wanting to get since April. APRIL! At the time, I wanted a one-size, but those things sure do go pretty fast. When I was finally able to get my hands on one about a month ago, the only size that was really available was the medium, and honestly... I only wanted this limited edition diaper simply because I wanted it. Bee just happens to be wearing it because I put it on her =P

But... does it look cute? Does it? Man, I wish I could a wear a cloth diaper. Kidding. But because they're lined with fleece, they're super soft. That's why I got cloth pads from the same company I got the diaper (Charlie Banana). But that topic is for another post another day :) For now, I'm gonna enjoy Bee's cute, little, cloth-covered bum.

More Kids, More Tears

Look, leaves!

"One leaf," Matschi says. *sigh* I tried playing a counting game with him, and just when I thought he was getting the hang of it... well, it's obvious that he didn't. I'm concerned with the fact that he doesn't know how much one or two is, or even what letter his first name starts with. Should I be concerned? Or am I just worrying too much? I think I am...

Well... while I was with my brother, we went to the park to play. Staying cooped up inside just isn't my thing. I love nature too much, and the kids love the playground as if it's the air that they breathe.

See? Look at that grin!

Despite grins and giggles though... Matschi ran into a bar. It seemed like something off of America's Funniest Home Videos with the way that flipped backwards. I was of course concerned though! Don't get me wrong. I'm not THAT mean. But at least I now know that he's truly related to me.

I'm a klutz, and well... Matschi is just about as accident prone as I was when I was a kid. People used to think my parents beat me because I had bruises and cuts everywhere, but let's just say I wobbled into too many wall corners and tripped over too much air!

Matschi though... bars and curbs seem to be attracted to him. Hopefully we won't be as clumsy when he gets older. Though I will admit... I find myself tripping more often than I'd like these days.

Wordless Wednesday

Yes, that is bread Bee's eating.

It's Here!

Yes, Fall is here and it always brings chilly weather... and sometimes snow!

This is the result of the beginning of November of 2010, so I guess I won't be surprised if we get snow again around the same time.










Cody obviously enjoyed it :)

But before the snow comes, I've managed to capture two things that I love most: colorful leaves, and my favorite little ones, Bee and Matschi.

After being at work and school all week, and having things be so hectic, I decided it was time to take them out and let them have fun. A day at Friendship Square was just what they needed :) Needless to say, they were sad when we had to leave.

Colorful leaves that I captured today while taking Matti out for his walk.






Matschi is such a good brother... even though when he tries to help his sister, it's usually counterproductive. Still, I'm pretty sure that they had a lot of fun while at the playground :)







Once we got home from Friendship Square, and because it was a little cold, I figured it was time to whip up some grilled cheese with whole grain bread and organic cheese with grapes from the Co-Op too :) But while the kids were waiting, Bee decided to have a bit of fun with poor old Matti... He doesn't seem to mind too much!





But obviously, they both loved what I had prepared for lunch. I'm not a terrible cook after all! Not that grilled cheese is hard...







Later that night, we all decided we'd bring out the books in order to end such a wonderful day. Since Bee is a bit independent at the moment, she was flipping through one of the books on her own while Matschi "read" to me. Really, it was him explaining in lengthy detail as to what was in the pictures. But hey, for a three-year-old... it's a start. And I don't mind anyway. Hopefully, I can get the both of them to love reading just as much as I do :)

Cloth--I love it!

So lately, I've been doing research on cloth diapers and cloth wipes even in preparation to the new little one that's due in November. Cloth diapers, I say heck yes. They save money, they're environmentally friendly, and there aren't any chemical's to go against baby's skin. What I haven't been too keen on, however, is the usage of cloth wipes. Whether it's for baby, or for cleaning. I could just never like the idea of using cloth whatsoever. It just seems so... disgusting. I'm the person that tends to use paper towels instead to clean up messes, going through several. Well, today I couldn't use paper towels.

I have cast iron skillets. Or... my mom does. And we don't wash them in the traditional sense because my mom would have a fit if I dared to use soap and water on them, unless it's a very minimal amount of water ONLY just to moisten food that has dried and stuck to the pan. Then we generally use steel wool to scrub it and afterward, wipe it down with paper towels. But we end up using a good three or four when wiping one of the pans, and our stock of the towels runs out quickly since these cast iron pans are our only pans when it comes to cooking. Because we don't use teflon. No way! Experts tell us that teflon is safe as long as it doesn't heat up to a certain temperature. Well, I'll tell you this... our stoves get a lot hotter than what is required safe for teflon pans, meaning that chemicals get released into our food. GROSS. So... cast iron it is :)

Now... today, I discovered that I was out of paper towels. I kept hesitating on using the big stash of rags in my laundry room that I never use. I think I stared at them for a good ten minutes or so before I decided, "Screw it! These pans will never get clean if I just keep staring!" So, I broke down and got to work.

I LOVE USING CLOTH.

Not only can I use just TWO rags for THREE pans, but they're easy to rinse in the sink. Then all I have to do is just hang them over the hamper to dry so they don't get all foul-smelling in the laundry before putting them in the wash. It's that simple. No more paper towels for this young woman!

I actually feel better about myself now. Is this normal? I think I may have to use rags for a lot of other things, too...

The Weekend

Bee is 18 months now... and a screamer.

It actually took me a while to get this picture, and even then, she was pretty grumpy despite her nap. I'm now wondering if it's her pigtails that made her that way... probably the hair ties pulling at her little hairs. Oh well... she still looks cute. Even if I accidentally made one higher than the other, but of course, she wouldn't let me fix it.


Although Bee kept giving me "devil child" pictures, I did manage to get a couple of good ones, too. I think that they turned out good though because she was just thrilled with the dandelions everywhere. Too bad that they had all gone to seed, so now there will soon be a bunch of brand new dandelions in the yard! Not like there aren't enough already...




Did you notice that adorable romper?? It's been at my mom's house for a while now, since before Bee was born. She's only really in it because Chris doesn't have the sense to bring an extra change of clothes. I had told him to bring warm clothes along with their other clothes. He apparently only heard "bring warm clothes." So... the kids only had long sleeved shirts and sweat pants. Luckily for him, there were extra clothes at the house!

I suppose I'm going off topic. I originally stated that Bee had become a screamer. And, well... she has. Although, she didn't start up until Sunday afternoon. When Chris took us all out to breakfast and dinner on Saturday at Trudy's Kitchen, Bee behaved very well. She was quiet, though messy as all babies are. Her brother even managed to not pout and throw fits at the restaurant either, which usually happens, and it can be embarrassing. But it's usually their dad's fault. He tends to try and force feed Matschi food that he doesn't want, and it of course, results in a screaming fit. I swear, one of these days...

Anyway, while we were out for ice cream, Matschi and Bee got their own small cup of ice cream to share. Chris however, made the mistake of feeding Bee some of his ice cream before she could taste her own. So naturally, she wanted whatever he had, because guess what, it was Cookies n' Cream ice cream... When she and Matschi got their cup to share, Bee didn't want anything to do with it--she wanted Daddy's ice cream. But though Chris tried not to give in, Bee would just scream because she wasn't getting what she wanted. Eventually, Chris gave her the rest of his cone when there was just a little bit left. Unfortunately... Bee held onto it for so long, that the ice cream in the cone ended up melting, and she dumped the whole thing onto her lap, and then all over the booth we were sitting in. Then when I tried to clean her up and the booth, she again started screaming.

End ice cream outing.

When we got home, I also realized that Bee was soaked through her diaper. Chris hadn't changed her in a good five hours or so... And since he had no other change of clothes, he had strip her, and she ran around in just her diaper for a while until I could find something for her to wear. This was before I found the romper though, and the dress that I found was 2T, which is too big for Bee, but she seemed to get around in it just fine.



There's also a mosquito on her face... If you didn't notice anyway. And in that dress, she kind of looks like one of the poor trailer children in town.

But despite that, there was a moment in which Bee was very quiet, which everyone knows, a quiet child is a mischievous child. To my surprise though, I found her sitting in a chair like a little lady. You'd never think she was really a spoiled little screamer!

But while Bee was sitting still, her brother was playing with one of his favorite balls... though poor Cody was staring out of sliding glass door at him, just dying to be outside.



So, I eventually found that romper that I showed at the beginning of this post since I realized that it was near impossible for Bee to walk up the stairs without stepping on the dress and falling over. So, I dug through my old closet, and voila! Cute, seaside romper!


Too bad she'll be too big for it by next month. The romper is 12-18 months, so I guess it'll look mostly new for whenever the next little girl comes into the family. That could be quite a ways down the road though. Yay for hand-me-downs!

Winter Fun!

Oh, the drama of winter. It's the time of heavy snowfall, power outages, sledding, and... Christmas!

To start off my break from school, I traveled with a neighbor down to Boise, near my mother's home. I was definitely looking forward to snow because up north at school, we hardly got any of the nice white stuff at all. Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of snow left from Thanksgiving, but it sure as hell was cold! Not that I'm surprised. It's very common for my home town to start hitting the negative temperatures in late November, and every year, I'm always prepared! My bedroom doesn't have insulation as the house was built in 1867, but thankfully, I have double-paned windows that are almost new. I also have a space heater, and I sleep with a heating pad, flannel sheets, a thick quilt, a fleece blanket, fleece socks, and flannel jammies ;) So, I can say that I at least know how to keep warm in a colder climate.

To start off the Christmas celebrations, my mom's best friend, Terri held a party at her place. Everyone had to bring their own ornaments, as she had divorced just three months before my mother did, which was in December of 2008. I can't even count how many people turned up, but everyone was stuffed and happy, and Terri's tree looked like it had exploded with ornaments! She was so delighted to have new decorations.





Since so much more went on during the winter break, here's some pictures to just sum it all up :)

Sledding at Steamboat.

My brother and Matschi.

The tree snapped during a four day snow storm (we've had week long or two week long snow storms before), and the power was out for two days (also, we've had two week long power outages)! We didn't think our ASH tree would snap, as they are very sturdy trees!

My backyard.

The snow became a giant barricade for our dog at the back door!

My mom and her granddaughter.

My mom and her grandson playing with his new light sabers.

A house in the valley, decorated with nice Christmas lights :)

Home.

Major Catching Up

Since I last posted, many things have gone on, including "tame" deer, ice luge tracks, invasive mites, weddings, and screaming babies. To save you from a gigantic blog post from me, I think I'll just give each topic a post of their own.

Back in October, I ended up going my friend's cabin up at Coeur d'Alene Lake. While there, I hadn't expected to see calm, and "tame" deer roaming around the cabins! I put it in quotations because... well, everyone should know that deer and other wildlife are never tame, so you should never approach them. Thankfully, I have a nice zoom option on my camera, but my friends were adamant on getting as close to the deer as possible.



Now, I've been this close to deer before, back when I was eleven years old. I used to enjoy playing the Prince of Egypt outside, all dressed in a long shirt from my dad, and a pair of ratty, white sandals. Of course, I don't think the deer had felt threatened then because I was so small. Since I'm older, I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem with kicking me in the face now. So... I'll just view them from a distance from now on, such as on the first morning that I was at the lake.



After being woken up at 5:30 in the morning by an obnoxious chipmunk in the cabin (who was eating through all of the chip bags!), I laid in bed for a while, until about 6:30 when I just couldn't sleep anymore. Instead, I got up and made a nice cup of hot chocolate before settling out on the deck... after bundling myself up, because it was rather cold outside! I think was about 24 Fahrenheit when I checked, but the hot chocolate was nice and warm, and it kept me from shivering.

While out on the deck, sitting there in peace, just watching the sun rise while fog rolled across the lake... two deer happened to come by. At first, they grazed in front of the deck, but I guess they hadn't seen me yet. It was time for a photo opp! Forget the hot chocolate, forget the sunrise; it was a perfect opportunity to capture those deer. I think once they heard the shutter on my camera clicking though, they became very curious with me.



Not much else really went on at the cabin; it was mostly just viewing nature... and writing on my laptop. I feel bad that I stayed inside more than I went outside. I'm due for another visit this weekend, but I don't think I'll be bringing my laptop or my phone. While there, I was able to receive text messages, even with a bar of service. I don't want to be distracted this time, and it's always nice to take a break from technology!