Tuesday Morning...

We woke up to this


So we went out to enjoy!


I know what you're thinking...which one's the girl and which are boys?



They don't care what they're wearing! As long as they're warm!
Right?
Maybe they will resent me later. I don't know.
But they had fun!

So thank you unexpected snow! You really made our morning delightful and whine fest, cry free!

(Also, thank you for keeping my kids hydrated!
They do love to eat snow!)

Oh yeah, I never get to go in the snow. I never get to do anything. Except to look cute. Even if my clothes don't match, either!

5

5

DAYS

TO

GO

!!

(**hint hint, husband. Allow no bullying about staying longer! We Miss You!**)

Introducing

My New Best Friend...

Don't Judge Me

I thought that since I make my own sunflower seed butter in the food processor then why not my own rice flour? Nope, was I wrong. After 10 min. I gave up and was determined to find a way.

So what did I do?
What would you do?
I googled:
How to make rice flour.
Easy.
Mr. Coffee.

In 45 seconds, he did what my trusted (yes, I'll still keep you around for many things) food processor could not do at all!

Beautiful!

Now instead of paying $5 for 4 cups of rice flour in a nice little package, I paid $14.99 at good old Fred Meyer for my new friend and can have it any time I need.

Thank You Fred Meyer
and
Thank You Mr Coffee

*also a thanks to gluten-freegirl.blogspot.com for the how-to and allergycookbook.blogspot.com for all the wonderful Nora and soon-to-be June friendly recipes!
*maybe I never mentioned that June is showing signs of having the same food plight as Nora. Two kids on EleCare! Good Grief - if you don't know what that costs? Good for you - I hope you never do.

I have many ambitions this week - here's one:

More Water. Less Chocolate.

Cheers!

What should I think of this?

Lane and Kyle are 15 months apart (Lane being older)...though most of the time they act like twins...and I treat them as such. Anyway, after dinner I said something to Kyle. I don't remember what I said, just his response"

"Our name is not Kyle and Lane! Its Lane and Kyle!"
should that be telling me something?

Cool Trick

My kids LOVE the show Yo Gabba Gabba. Especially the middles (as we like to call them.) Anyway, on some episodes they have a "cool trick" segment. Someone comes on the show and demonstrates their cool trick. Playing drums, beat boxing, drawing, etc. Kyle loves the one where a kid hangs a spoon from his nose. He's so proud that he too can do this. And often shows us during dinner. It goes like this.
Kyle - Hey guys! I will now show you my cool trick which is (yes, he really says which is...) then he does it and says "ta da!"

We haven't seen this demonstrated in a while. I don't document it so I don't remember how long its been. But back to the story:

We're sitting at the table for dinner and I hear Nora (our almost 2 year old) say something that sounds like "trick." I turn to her and see this

As she's saying, "trick. trick. trick."

Spain

...for 2 weeks!

Heaven Help Us!


!

One more just for fun

Aren't they Handsome!

K.G. is 3!

My sweet little Kyle is now 3. Although it seems as if he's been 3 forever. Such a bright little boy. So full of imagination and quite passionate about most things. He loves any animal and always makes sure there's a mommy or daddy and a baby. If there isn't, he'll find something to pretend. Oh yea, and he can turn just about anything into being Buzz Light-ear.

We decorated the kitchen the night before his big day with cut out 3's hanging form the ceiling fan and streamers. The next morning, from our bed, we hear - "It's my party! I like it!"

Who couldn't love that face! Oh, I could just kiss it all the time! Uncle Darin made this crown for him and days later, he still has it on whenever he can. He has even tried to sleep in it!

The cake. What little boys don't want to eat dirt? So much fun.

The homemade pizzas. YUM! The boys got to make there own little pizzas. Which was a hit. I'm working on a Nora friendly pizza. If anyone knows of a crust w/o wheat, soy, dairy, egg, potato... I think that would be enough of a birthday gift for her!
We were lucky to have Darin and Charla drive down from Seattle to spend a couple of days. Pat's dad and brother came for the party as well. Kyle was spoiled with lots of goodies. Lane and Nora were only "slightly" jealous.

We had a wonderful time. I love little parties and making my kids feel special. Because they are. I can hardly wait till the next one.

We love you Kyle Parrot!

Are You Ready?

We did it! We actually went on a date - its TRUE!
I had the blog post all planned out. Of course I would have my camera and document the evening. The drive in Pat's car - with no car seats! The beautiful restaurant positioned along the river with a table facing out to all the amazing boats adorned with Christmas light. The food! Oh the FOOD! There are few words. This restaurant receives fresh fish daily. Scallops, rare seared Ahi, Dungeness Crab with shrimp and brie cheese stuffed salmon. All melt in the mouth fresh. *the menu boasted of having King Crab from the Early Dawn Vessel from the 'Deadliest Catch' show. I found that humorous.* We had no problem using all $100 of that gift card. (A present to ourselves from credit card reward points.) I'm sure you can see what's coming.


With the chaos of getting ready for the babysitters. Yes, 2 babysitters. 4 kids ages 4 and under...you need 2. Works out that we know 17 year old twins. Perfect. Anyway, there's so much to remember and prepare for when we leave these little ones. Last time we left (the Urgent Care incident) we had the older 3 asleep. Not much prep needed. But to think about PJ's and bedtime routines. And this girl needs this much formula and this one needs this much and then some again. And the older pink can't eat this or this or this and so on. Really we should just have a chart of what she CAN eat. That would be much shorter. Poor thing. Its really so sad.

I FORGOT THE CAMERA. So you'll just have to take my word for it that it was wonderful, glutenous and oh so worth the wait. The waiter took us on as his favorites of the evening. Never a bad thing. Well sort of cause he talked to us a lot but we got a free dessert out of it. Curious?

We're parents - we mentioned our kids. He said that he's been married for a year and a half and he and his wife want to have kids but they're scared so they think that they should get a puppy first for practice. This is when we both laughed out loud. Not nice - it got worse.
Pat - "That's stupid. What's a puppy going to teach you? If you want a baby, have a baby!"
Me - "Seriously. You'll never be prepared until you have one. Just do it. Its wonderful, crazy and so much fun."
Waiter - "You're right. Its just like that with most things, I suppose." "I'm just happy to see two people so enthusiastic about families and kids. Its not something one sees too much of these days."

Which is why he gave us a free dessert. Even though we were so bold. I guess its nice to be admired for what the "world" thinks is insane.

While we were driving home at 8:30. Yes, 8:30!
Me - "Wow! We're pretty cool to be coming home so early. Shouldn't we be wanting to take advantage of this freedom and go do something else?" In my younger days we would've gone bowling or saran wrapping cars or...

But what? We're too tired to think of anything else to do. So lame, I know. But oh well...we'll work up to that. On our next date. In 8 months! No way that's going to happen again. I really do like my Husband. We need to be better to each other. New Year's goal?