Yesterday

Yesterday was kind of lazy.  We had "happy pants" on all day (our elastic waist flannel pants.)  We went to the park and swung on the swings.  We made puppy chow, which explains Ingrid's chocolate covered face.  We watched Yo Gabba Gabba, which explains the zombie on the blanket.  I got to sew a little, and do laundry.  Good day.

Puppy Chow Recipe:

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup chocolate chips

1 stick of butter

6-7 cups of Crispix, Corn Chex or similar cereal

3 cups powdered sugar

Melt peanut butter, choc. chips and butter.  Pour over cereal, coat well.  Put the powdered sugar in a gallon bag, put in covered cereal and shake until covered with the sugar.  Refrigerate.  Or just eat and get chocolate smeared all over...Your choice!

Frosting!

I made sugar cookies yesterday and we frosted them today.  Well, tonight.  After dinner, right before Ingrid's bedtime.  Perhaps not the smartest thing, as the first thing she did was grab a cookie out of the pan and shove it in her mouth.  Then she ran around screaming "cookie! cookie!" and now she's up crying in her bed not going to sleep.

Ah well, the cookies look good...

First Snow.

It's spitting snow today and for some reason I got excited.  Usually I hate snow, but I guess the first one is always kind of fun.  Luckily it's not sticking and it's just a dusting.  Pretty to look at and not a pain to walk or drive in.  I found Ingrid behind the curtains staring outside at the snow coming down, she was very interested.

So it really is December, huh?

This weekend Brendan had to get new glasses so we went to the mall, where we NEVER go.  And for good reason--I don't think I like the masses.  Ingrid and I walked around while Brendan got his eye exam and we found the Santa set up.  It was crazy and they had all kinds of stuffed jungle animals in the snow.  Hmm, really, jungle animals?  That's not very north pole, is it?  The Santa was actually pretty realistic looking, unlike some of these Santas (how funny is that site??)  but I refuse to pay money to take a picture of my child crying on some old man's knee.  I'm such a grinch.

Other than that, not much going on here.  We're getting our tree on Saturday, then we have a party at Brendan's advisor's house.  Then Sunday we're having a party at our house for our small group of friends we've met in Michigan.  I have been preparing the past week or so and I forget how much I love to plan parties!  I baked bread and cookies and other food for the day, I got Christmasy napkins and little presents for the kids, I found all my holiday things in a box at Brendan's parents house so we have a little holiday shelf.  We put twinkle lights on the porch, and once our tree is up, my goodness, it will be Christmas.  It DOES NOT seem like time for that, but alas, it's here!

I am Such a Copycat!

Another day, and another activity I snagged from Fiona.  I love that Ingrid likes to color, but those damn crayons get EVERYWHERE!!  I'm constantly picking them up, piece by piece since I step on them and break them all the time.  So, when I saw Fiona's post on melting broken bits together to make big crazy crayons, I knew we'd eventually try it.  Today was that day!

First we peeled the crayons, which is harder than it sounds.  My hand cramped up quite a bit, but we managed to get them all peeled. 

Then of course Ingrid dumped all the wrappers and rolled in them.  They stuck to the drool on her chin...

Then we broke the crayons into pieces small enough for the muffin tins.  We lined the tins, put the colors in, and put them in the oven. 

I did 225 degrees for about 15 minutes.  We took them out just before Ingrid's nap and by the time she woke up they were cooled and ready to use.

Ingrid thought they were pretty cool!  They are huge and make cool multi-colored squiggles.  And an added bonus for me:  there are only eight of them to find!  For now, I'm sure they will break and then I'll be right back to square one...But for now, eight huge crayons are much easier to keep track of than 24 little ones.

Messy Messy Morning

Today we had a yelly kind of morning.  Ingrid was up from 11pm-1am unable to sleep either in her bed or ours, so I layed down with her kicking me in the stomach for two hours, just begging her to stop talking about the cats and just go to sleep.  She slept from 1-6am, then was up chatting again.  So, up we got, to make coffee and waffles.  But instead of being happy to be up, Ingrid decided to cry and whine for the first twenty minutes of the morning.  Which brought me to my yelly mommy spot.  I don't know why she doesn't understand that if she doesn't let me sleep she HAS to let me get my coffee...

It was just irritating that I was up with her while Brendan slept on the couch, then he got to sleep in, and when I went to see if he'd watch Ingrid while I showered, he was ready to jump in the shower.  Why is it he doesn't have to ask me to take a shower but I have to ask him??  (Love you, honey, but you drive me nuts sometimes!)  Anyway, all this made for a crabby, yelly kind of morning.  And I decided I didn't want it to be that way.  I don't have a car today so we're stuck here and Ingrid has been watching a lot of TV lately, which I'm not totally happy with.  I want today to be happy and filled with fun, not a crabby mama and a whiny kid.

Fiona had this post awhile ago and I loved the idea.  We only have tile in our kitchen so that is where we set up the bowl of rice and lentils.  I gave Ingrid a wooden spoon and some measuring cups and she went to town.  She immediately began tossing the rice around and giggling, so I knew it was going to be a fun activity for her!  Our kitchen is tiny and I managed to make two quiches and four mini pumpkin breads all while Ingrid threw rice and lentils all over the floor--even rolling out homemade crusts! 

This kept Ingrid busy for almost an hour, long enough for me to get what I wanted done in the kitchen and time to clean up.  And I am happy and not yelling and now it's naptime and I'm ready to go back to bed. 

New Stockings

I finished our stockings today!  I really didn't need to make them but I wanted to.  We have stockings from before we had Ingrid, and she has two other stockings people have given us.  But one says Baby's First Christmas, which it isn't anymore, and the other one isn't actually finished.  My aunt cross stitched one for her and it's gorgeous, but unfinished and I know I won't make it by this Christmas.  Maybe next year!

Christmas Card Outtakes

We took pictures for our Christmas cards this morning.  Here are some that didn't make it but are way cute anyway :)  Can you believe it's December already???  I can't.

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year was amazing.  We drove the six hours to Milwaukee and had a great weekend!  Dinner with the family, Ingrid slept the whole night through, all THREE nights!  And we got to see friends we haven't seen in months.  Made me homesick (see here) but we only have a few months left in Michigan and then we'll be off to the next adventure.

We had Christmas with Brendan's family since we'll be celebrating with my family this year.  Ingrid loved to help open presents.  She got some cute wooden toys and some money for her college account.  Or her traveling account, whichever she decides to use the money for :)

Ingrid had so much fun playing with the dogs.  Brendan's parents have three, two really old ones that didn't really care for Ingrid (that's Oreo down there, unable to get up and run away from Ingrid...) and an 8 month old 100 lb puppy, Bear.  He loved Ingrid, they played together very well. 

We also went to Fuel to see our preggo friend Katie!  I can't wait for April to meet baby girl Johnson.

And we went to Madison to FINALLY meet Camryn, who is about two weeks younger than Ingrid.  They had a blast playing together!

Thank You, Switzerland!

Fiona over at Living in the Land of Chocolate and her two girls sent us this adorable cow.  It is the cutest thing, both Ingrid and I oohed and aahhed over it when we opened the envelope!  I love the little wooden udder, and of course the bell around the neck, which Fiona says is very truly Swiss.  Ingrid has played with this little "moo cow" nonstop and even had to hold onto it during dinner.  Funny kid.

Thank you so much Fiona, Sofie, and Emily!  We also really enjoyed the homemade thank you cards with sparkly stickers :) 

And on another thankful note, it's Thanksgiving today and we are off for a six hour drive to see friends and family in Milwaukee.  Yay! 

Our Busy Weekend

Last Thursday Ingrid's friend Allie came over.  They have matching stripey outfits, so of course the mamas had to put them together and take silly pictures of them...

Ingrid had fun dancing.

My mom came over this weekend, allowing Brendan and I to have some date nights.  It was awesome to have help!!  We got to go out to dinner and for drinks TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW!  Yay.  Ingrid loves when Gramma comes over.  They made brownies and when Ingrid was given the empty bowl, she used it as a hat.  Then she smelled like brownies all day until bathtime.  Yum.

We went on a nice autumnal walk and played in the leaves.  It was HILARIOUS when we were sitting near a log that had a grasshopper on it.  We pointed it out to Ingrid, who went to grab it.  She touched it as it was hopping away, which caused her to make the most horrified face and shudder.  It was so funny! 

That sucker was huge!