Date Night

Ben's birthday was at the end of June and on his birthday I made a special dinner for just the two of us. I made steamed crab legs and a couple of side dishes for us to eat after putting the kids to bed. I had so much fun having a special dinner where the two of us could sit and have a peaceful dinner that I decided every Friday night would be our date night. Every Friday night we will have something special for dinner, something that would not be good for Heidi to eat. This week we're ordering sushi! I also rented a movie from Netflix for us to watch together. Dinner and a movie, what a fun night!!

A Rainy Day

I was a little worried when I saw all the dark clouds this morning. I knew we needed the rain but I wasn't sure how the day would go with 2 kids stuck in the house. At least most days we have the option of leaving the house or playing in the back yard, but today we were going to be forced to stay inside. The day turned out great. Heidi discovered the joy of pushing her shopping cart around the upstairs. It was really the first time she "went shopping". She even put her "opie" bear and baby doll in the cart and pushed them all around. We also played downstairs for a good chunk of the day. I moved all the couches and table out of the way and made an obstacle course for Heidi to run through. I put throw pillows on the ground for her to walk on to practice balance. Then I rolled up some towels as her speed bumps to jump over (she's so cute when she tries to jump, just can't get both feet off the ground... too cute). Next she had to go through the hula hoop and finish by going under the blanket that laid across two chairs. So she did all the basics, over, under, through, and on top. It was fun and she giggled her way through.

Noah, my wildman, kept trying to follow her and pull down the hula hoop. Boy he's a handful. I love my Noah. He was no problem keeping busy today. He had a good assortment of shoes to chew on, tables to pull up on, and dog toys to chase after. Why is it he chooses these dirty yucky things over the nice colorful noise making toys we have for him? Come on, mom's flip flops over a 4 key piano? Why do we even bother to buy toys for him?

All in all the day was great. Even though I did manage to get the kids dressed, I never made it that far for me. I love a good lazy day every once in a while. Although, now my definition of a lazy day is not laying on the couch watching Lifetime movies all day. The new definition of a lazy day is giving the kids just enough to occupy themselves so I don't have to spend the day driving them around to activities to keep them entertained. Wow, what a change!

Cooking with Heidi

I love cooking with Heidi. Every time I say "I need to go cook" she runs into the kitchen and says "Heidi cook. I need chair." So I try to figure out what simple jobs she can do to help me cook. Last night we made pizza and salad. For the salad she took the lettuce out of the bag and put it into the bowl. While she did that I chopped all the veggies and then gave them to her to put into the bowl. She is so serious and focused while "cooking", I have no clue where she got that from. Next we made the pizzas. I put 3 pitas on a baking sheet and then put the pizza sauce on the middle of each pita. She spread the pizza sauce around on each pita. She mainly just pushed the sauce around and mommy came over and helped spread it evenly on the pitas. Then she put all the toppings on and overloaded daddy's pizza with olives. He pretty much had an olive pizza, but it was made with Heidi's love so it was the best pizza ever. Of course I chopped up some veggies, like squash and zucchini, real small and had her add them to her pizza, it was a good way of sneaking some veggies into the pizza. After that we added the cheese and I popped them in the oven. She absolutely loved her pizza and we'll do it again real soon.

I think it's important for the kids to help out in the kitchen, whether it's cooking, setting the table, or even cleaning up afterwards. Plus, it keeps her busy and is a good learning experience for her. The first thing Heidi helped me cook was her daddy's birthday cake in June. Now I'm always looking for ways for her to help me. I call her my little sous chef!

New blog

I've started this new blog to keep people updated on the kids and also as a safe place to vent on anything going on in our lives. I've realized through reading other peoples' blogs that these can be very helpful, both to the writer and to those who read it. So here is my new blog, I hope you enjoy it.