Wordless Wednesday

Basic Math

So if you take 1 liesagna

add 1 Lil Bit

you get...

One huge mess!! and alot of fish faces.

Seriously, I thought my easy peasy Liesagna could not be improved, until today! This deliciousness was cooked up in just a few minutes using sour cream and cream cheese instead of ricotta, and leftover LENTILS instead of ground beef! I am getting better and better at budget meals, and this one was a great time saver and healthier too. The kids seemed to really like it. Especially, Little Bit. Also.. don't you love that we got a new camera at Costco? It is harder to use than our old one, and we are definitely not keeping it, but it is nice to be able to take some pictures again!

Wordless Wednesday

Old Maid

While on a weekend vacation at Mimi and Papa's a new family favorite was discovered. There were a few rousing games of OLD MAID!! I remembered playing this simple game not with a specialty deck, but by simply removing three of the queens from a regular deck. Well Miss H and Cubby are at the perfect age to dread the drawing of the OM and to try to trick the other players into selecting it. Check out this Vegas action!

A nice friendly card game....

Stacking the deck for Mimi...

AHA rid of the Old Maid!!

Here Cubby tries to pawn off the losing card on Miss H..

Seriously, I haven't giggled so hard in a long time. Miss H's reactions were priceless!! So we played quite a few times because who doesn't love to laugh like that! There was one snafu in that Little Daddy is none to interested in playing by the rules, and really would only like to match the firemen cards. but even that could not detract from the general giggling and anticipation.

There is something magical about this stage where Miss H and Cubby have not yet mastered the masking of their emotions. I adore the rawness of their joy, and the transparency with which they approach everything. As much as I would like to prolong this stage, where attempted sneakiness is accompanied by giggles, and a stern look can bring the truth tumbling out, I do know its time is sadly limited.

An Epic Tale...

This is a little after the fact, but worth the wait I am sure. Last Tuesday, I had the opportunity to stay at home with the kids as mommy went off to coach field hockey. Lil Bit was going down for a nap, so I was upstairs listening to that special sound she makes as she goes off to sleep (some people would categorize it as screaming, screeching, or crying. I prefer to think of it as pre-snoring). After she finally stopped and went to sleep, I went to the basement to check on the other three. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, I noticed that there was a great big mess down there, which led me to think that maybe I should not go down there, as the general rule in our house for messes is that if you find it, you are responsible for cleaning it up. As a side note, this is also our rule for poopy diapers, which has led both of us to pretend that we have stuffed up noses on several occasions. But I decided that I would go down there, and boy am I glad that I did. As I was able to see one of the great theatrical performances in our family's history. I tried to capture it on "film" but I am sure you have all read about the trouble we are having with our camera, which is also the reason that I was unable to switch to video mode to capture it as it happened.

As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I noticed that Little Daddy was decked out in full knight gear. He had on a breastplate and was carrying the scabbard of the sword that went along with the breastplate ( the sword has long since been confiscated from the original owner, Cubby). Additionally, he has on the knight helmet, and was holding the Swiffer end of a broken Swiffer, which confused me at first, but then he explained that it was his shield. Next I came across Cubby, working very hard to squeeze himself into a Size 12 Months pair of pajamas that his mother had sewn an alligator head to. This is a 4 year old boy wearing size 12 months pajamas, you will note that they do not reach his knees, but he got them to zip up. He then put on a set of butterfly/fairy wings, at which point he grabbed an orange visor. I was equally as confused by this as I was the Swiffer, so I asked what he was doing. He explained to me that this would be his "fire breath" for the battle. At this point I had yet to notice Sleeping Beauty on the couch in a bright pink tutu, also hand crafted by her mother.

So I have set the scene for you, and for those of you who know our kids it is fairly obvious that this idea came from the head of our very own Cubby, who is remarkably creative for someone who is destined to lead the Cubs back to World Series glory. He then explained everyone's role in the play. Little Daddy would battle him with his sword and shield as he breathed his fire breath at him.

Sleeping Beauty would lie on the couch doing nothing until she was rescued.

After the battle, which of course was inevitably won by the handsome knight, the dragon would lie dead on the ground...

... and the knight would give Sleeping Beauty a kiss!

The most amazing part about this entire project, which was entirely kid driven, was that they actually did what he said. Even the kiss, and they repeated the scene for me several times so that I could get pictures. After the many takes they decided that they should rotate roles, which I thought was going to work out fine, but alas neither Cubby nor Little Daddy wanted to be Sleeping Beauty so the play fell apart and we all went upstairs to make some cookies.

Wordless Wednesday

Let the Good Times Roll!!

So, our camera died, as you know, and I had this brilliant idea that we could have a yard sale to help fund the purchase of a new one, because the idea of not being having photographic evidence of the best time of our lives saddens me. So the Mr. cranked up the Cricut machine, and I broke out the spray glue, and we made some super signs. I posted on Craigslist, (super awesome!!) and the Mr. went around stapling up the signs. Just as he put the last staple in the last sign, RAIN!! buckets of it!! A sudden isolated thunderstorm it seemed, specifically centered on our yard sale signs!! AHHHH!

Well, when The Mr. returned home, we both kinda shrugged, and said, you know.. if it's meant to be.. it will be, and there just isn't much to be said about it. As in all things, His will be done.

The Mr. deposited the doughnuts we planned to bribe the kids with during the sale on the table and we went to bed.

At 5:30 in the morning, we started pulling out our sale items and arranging them in a true pottery barn meets yard sale style.. I even had the most awesome idea ever (if I do say so myself) to take the cover off our pop up tent and use it as a huge clothes rack. I wrote prices in colorful sidewalk chalk on the driveway.. and then.. we waited.

We didn't have to wait long, because at 15 minutes before we "opened" while we were still steeling our nerves, a man and his dog walked up. No they didn't buy anything.. but at least it seemed that people would be coming!

The day continued and it was awesome. People were coming and they were genuinely interested in our items, and we met a lot of people from the neighborhood that we hadn't seen before. We had a couple of items sell right away, and some people were a little sad they hadn't gotten there sooner.

One thing that I thought was really funny.. when we were cleaning stuff up and choosing items to put out, I pulled out the Mr.'s cleats (he used them maybe one season).

"No one's going to want those!!" he said with indignation.. "I'll bet you someone will" I countered, because really they are great cleats, hardly worn.. and we are taking Yard Sale prices...

Yep you guessed it.. Those were the first things we sold. Three bucks!

Another big hit, all the clothes were $1. Unless of course you bought a lot.. in which case.. I said make me a deal. Even the maternity clothes (which have been around the block obviously!!) went for $1, and you should have just seen the parade of pregnant bellies that came along.

So the Mr. and I had just one regret, and that is that there was a little boy who desperately wanted both Ape Escape games, but his mother told him he could only have one. We both confessed we had just wanted to give it to him, but didn't want to go against the mother.

A little boy from around the corner came with his dad, the dad bought a CD and the little boy bought 4 tall shot glasses, I looked wearily at the dad to make sure it was okay, and asked the little boy if he was planning on using them for flowers, no he looked sheepish, I use them for making potions and stuff. I love science! So cute!

It was neat to see couples stumble onto our extra glassware as if it was exactly what they'd been looking for. To see them smile with pleasant surprise at 25 cents a glass, was even better.

So at the end we had a few toys left, and buckets of clothes, a feeling of great appreciation for our neighbors, and the kind of God that would allow us to have surplus, and to disperse it in this way. To bring joy to others, to see a mother picking through my maternity wear for her first grand baby still in belly, to see another gramma find the perfect winter wear for her new grand daughter... was awesome!

Generally, we are people who give it away, when we are finished we do just try to pass it on to someone that will use it, but often this transfer is blind. It was uplifting to see his love connecting us to people. There is a different kind of joy to be witnessed upon someone finding what they want, and being able to get it for themselves.

The bottom line.. not only did we get to meet and greet people, to hear their stories, and see their kids. We ended up with extra space in the garage and shed, and we made $400!! Seriously, so I'm thinking a camera is definitely in our future!! This is the Canon G10 which is currently topping my list of favorite, although the sx200 is right behind it.

The most priceless gift if you ask me, was seeing His care for us. We had a desire, and he met it, the downpour did not obliterate our signs, Craigslist did not delete me when I accidently reposted before deleting, and people came, and they bargained.

Also since we still don't have a camera, I got to browse through flickr to find these! NEAT.

Let the good times ROLL!!