Guess who arrived on our doorstep at 7:30 AM yesterday?!

When I got in bed Wednesday night at 10:30, it was so weird to think that they were still going about their evening in LA, but that they'd be on the ground here before I even got out of bed! Those newfangled flying machines are so crazy!! ;-)

They seemed pleased to meet their new niece, but the B-man made sure Uncle Geoff found some time to play Whack-A-Mole with him, too!

And they brought Toot & Puddle for B which got read aloud by Geoff, then by Nicki, and then...

...even by the BG when he got home!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Years ago (like maybe 2005-- I'm too lazy to do research), Big Daddy came to town and helped plant several bushes around the back of our house. There were maybe 5 azaleas and they pretty much just withered away. I'm really glad we live in an area where people don't really care that much about serious landscaping because I am NOT interested in spending money on flora only to have them do exactly nothing. I've never seen a "Yard of the Month" sign around these parts as seems to be popular in many Texas neighborhoods, and that's just fine by me!

Anyway, out of nowhere last year, two of the azaleas just came back to life and started flowering, and flower again they did this year. It's a spring miracle...captured in a non-glamorous iPhone kind of way!

I think they'd call this ironic.

With the BG home all last week, I made it a goal to enact "Project Dinner." (Okay, we didn't really call it that. But we can pretend.) Since our evenings were completely up to us to schedule, we decided to eat together at home every night for dinner....as in, dinner was what dinner was. No plate of "Brooks food" for the wee lad.

I've mentioned B's pickiness on here plenty and it is not my intention to belabor the point. The kid, by all appearances, is healthy. He eats a good breakfast every day of a banana and either Kashi oatmeal/cold cereal/multigrain waffle. Lunch is a smorgasbord of a rotating cast of characters including peanut butter, peanuts, or deli ham (the only "proteins" that he'll eat, which means no beans or eggs), cheese, yogurt, avocado, raw carrots, cucumbers, bread, crackers, fresh fruit, and dried fruit. Until last week, dinner was also a smorgasbord of whatever members of the above categories he didn't have for lunch that we happen to have on hand.

He'll reliably eat grilled cheese or a cheese quesadilla when out on the town, and has recently shocked us by conquering most of a McDonalds cheeseburger, as well as eating the equivalent in very small bites of 2 Chick-fil-A nuggets. (Both fast food "victories" were with some fries, took at least 30 minutes of cajoling, and succeeded because he really wanted to play on the indoor playscape.) But that pretty much sums up what he will eat. You might notice that, for the most part, it's what I would consider "snack food"-- cold and compartmentalized, and lacking multiple ingredients. And no dips or sauces of any kind, so forget about that!

We tried an incentive chart. I know all of you crafty Baylor elementary ed and speech path majors are horrified at the utilitarian nature of my chart! :-)

The deal was that he could cross off a number each time he took a bite of a new food. Seriously, it took the better part of a month to get to the donut prize. We also tried incentivizing his beloved iPhone-- also a bust. While the BG has commented that he genuinely respects that his son can't be bought, you'll understand that I'm not quite to that place yet...!

On to "Project Dinner." We decided that we'd take advantage of the opportunity to all eat dinner at the same time and be served the same food. Everything we've read/been told cautions not to make eating a battle so we wouldn't make him eat anything, but he wasn't going to get any other options. He had to remain seated until we were all done eating.

I don't think I've ever cooked 5 different dinners in a row. I mean, I truly enjoy meal-planning and -preparation, but we usually have a night or two of leftovers built-in, plus going out (or carrying-home) most weekend meals. I was also torn by considering the whole "kid-friendly" aspect of things. In theory, I want my kids to eat what we eat (tending to be flavorful food from fresh ingredients, not stereotypical kiddie food), but clearly we hadn't gotten very far with that. Would that make a difference? And how would I balance that kind of cooking with trying to stay with my much-needed Weight Watchers regimen?

Ugh. There was a lot going on.

Well, first of all, I'm happy to report that I successfully cooked 5 different dinners 5 nights in a row. And lemme tell you-- it was SO refreshing to fix something and be done rather than also coordinate another plate of food for the young sir. But I can't say the results were overwhelming on his end:

Monday: Taco pasta shells, ranch-style beans, guacamole (nothing but guac--no surprise there)
Tuesday: Two kinds of grilled fish, lemon rosemary brown rice, sugar snap peas (nothing)
Wednesday: Cheese pizza from scratch (maybe 4 wee little bites of mostly crust)
Thursday: Pasta Fagioli soup in the crockpot (nothing)
Friday: Sauteed turkey sausage, baked pea-and-spinach risotto (one wee, tearful bite of risotto after lots and lots and lots of desperate pleading. Sometimes it's hard not to make it a battle...)

And that's it. There weren't even any issues sleeping his usual 11 hours on an empty stomach, which I think is supposed to be the stick in this "you have no other options than what you are served" thing. Not so much for this guy.

It's going to take introducing real food to Miss C to determine whether my guilt at somehow messing him up, eating-wise, is valid. I pray that our heightened awareness of how we don't want it to go will come together with an adventurous palate and maybe...just maybe...she can convince her big brother to see it our way.

In the meantime, we'll just keep plugging away, hoping for a breakthrough. He's gotta eat dinner sometime....right?!

Time marches on and all that. Two has turned into three (months).

A big smiler who regularly sleeps 11-12 uninterrupted hours per night? Not sure how we were lucky enough to get two of those, but we'll take it.

(I'm sure this just means I'll double my membership in the PPE--Parents of Picky Eaters--Club and spend a lifetime pulling out my hair over lack of culinary variety! Great, then I'll be bald, too.)

Totally bummed that the BG has abandoned us to return to work today. So rude! (We miss you, tall daddy!!!)

B very generously shared his cold with me so he and I spent the back half of the week coughing and sneezing and feeling generally less-than-perfect. I still thought it best to keep him out of the nursery yesterday, so we weren't able to celebrate Easter at church as we had hoped. Thankfully, though, our hacking was reduced enough that we didn't scare off FAC and FUE for our planned festive feast! Even though we didn't ever get around to dyeing eggs or hunting them, we still managed to have a wonderful celebration!

C decided to take a siesta right when I was hoping to snap some pics, but I got the boys:

And hopped in one myself with a boy-turned-brooding-model:

But she woke up in time to flash some smiles! (Thanks to Auntie Lindsay for the bunny hat that was sported earlier in the day!):

Camille's dress was a present from our neighbors and I quickly realized that the straps were NOT conducive to photo shoots for a propped-up baby! But we tried, anyway-- here are a few that make me giggle:

While I didn't subject Christy and Eric to the camera's glare, the scrumptious food did not receive the same courtesy. C&E provided the ham, macaroni and cheese, asparagus, and homemade rolls (not pictured--oops!), and we did the deviled eggs, carrot souffle, and...

...chocolate decadence minis!

After the hearty meal and lots of chattin', the boys ended the day with the first pool party of the season. Here's to more warm weather and lots of backyard fun to come!

I mean, she hasn't even MET Auntie Rosemond yet! :-)

I adore signing up to get free samples mailed to me......or to someone named Emmers.

Years ago, the BG ordered a magazine subscription for his mom and had it addressed to Mamakins. Shortly thereafter, "Mamakins" received some junk mail. Hmmm- wonder who had sold her mailing info?!

Because of that, and also just for kicks, I often employ this quasi-alias. It's no "Chanandler Bong" but it'll do.

Any fun pseudonyms out there?

(AKA: pics that will make Grammie cringe because, YES, he does always have a dirty face! Although, to be fair, these shots were taken during breakfast...!!!)




Unfortunately, there's been a lot of this recently:

So Day 2 of Spring Break was spent in pajamas inside the house due to a yucky cough. And there actually still is preschool this week-- what a bummer to have to miss!

Photo note: These pictures were all horribly lit due to my ongoing trial-and-error with learning how to use manual aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings instead of the automatic ones. Um, it's a difficult process!! The reason they're even passable is due to my other fun activity: playing with editing techniques in Photoshop!! ;-) Then there's the kicker that I'm using a new laptop and the brightness/contrast of the screen is completely different from the old one, so I have even less of an idea what these pics "really" look like! Ah, technology!

PS: Speaking of not-so-well-lit photos of fabulous people, check out our breakfast companion from last Friday-- none other than today's BIRTHDAY GIRL herself!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POLLY!!!!!!!

All 3 of 'em!

Indeed, Stumpy has escaped from his winter hibernation perch on the shelf high up in B's closet. Brooks's fave question of late is, "How is Stumpy doing today?" And the Lone Star State is no longer that where the grandparents live; rather, Texas is now known for "where Stumpy was born." Except, for some reason, he's been saying "where Stumpy was boring." And I gotta say-- I'm pretty sure that's THIS state, too!! Ha!

Speaking of creatures-- we lost our grill hose last year to what we think were some overeager squirrels. For some bizarre reason, we weren't able to disconnect the hose from the clamp (or something like that....I don't do engineering) so the entire grill had to go. The BG bought a new one yesterday and spent the afternoon outside putting it together. Luckily for him, he had "help":

And the little miss supervised for quite a long time, too!

Okay, TWO someones. It's finally spring break!

Since the BG gave the track team the week off, he had to get out his coaching energy somehow. First up: batting practice. The kid continues to confuse us about which hand he favors, but he does seem to be a lefty in ball-related pursuits:

No editing at all on the pic below-- check out the difference in skin tone. Sorry that you got my pasty white (lack of) color, bud!

(Also-- how does such a skinny minny have a gullet/double chin? So weird!)

Anyway-- we'll be playing all week around here! Good times!

(Yes, technically, we're all older today but the answer I'm looking for is......)

THIS BEAUTY:
She's off frolicking in her former Pacific Northwest stomping ground this week, so she probably won't even see this but nevertheless...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girl can rock a piggy hat:

Is reeeeeallly close to holding up her head:

And sure does know how to blow spit bubbles!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

So long, scampy-scamp!

First he turned on the charm and had his sister in stitches:

And then, when it came time to dive into the latest TJ treats...:

...I asked him what word we should spell and this is what he picked:

(After eating those 5 cookies, he said, "Now I want to spell 'Daddy'" but I had wised up to the cookie monster by that point!!)

In related news, it turns out that I'm slightly obsessed with playing around with camera focus. I could do this all day!!

Behold-- Blurry Brooks with sharp B:

Blurry B with sharp Brooks:

So fun, right? Ahhh....again, it's the little things that bring me such joy!

Oh, and speaking of focus-- gotta make sure these little bits o' goodness get their due:


PS: Bears, I just saw that today is Diadeloso! We're supposed to have beautiful weather up here so maybe I can pretend-- but without a hypnotist, a Taboo contest, inflatable thingies, and people everywhere wearing student election campaign stickers, I'm just not sure it'll work.

Maybe instead, I'll dig out the video footage I have from Dia 1999! Oh goodness, are there some classic comedic bits on there....not the least of which is a hard-workin' Chamber BG running away from the camera with his patented grimace. (Obvs, he just didn't know yet that his life was about to improve dramatically with the addition of me--and my omnipresent camera!--to it!!)

...or does Mrs. Butterworth's spring outfit make her look like some sort of household cleaner? She might be having an identity crisis.

In other grocery store news, here's B's favorite display (well, second to the candle aisle. and the other candle aisle.) I forget about it every time and am always startled when he yells out, "IT'S THE YELLOW HANDS AND THE WHITE HANDS!!!"

Really, it's the little things in life that make us happy, right?!

I'm pleased to report that we have successfully made several grocery store jaunts with C "riding" in the Ergo so B can stay contained in the cart! The thought of having B loose and able to run off pretty much negates the joy I derive from going grocery shopping in the first place. I should probably start working out an alternative plan, however-- apparently the weight limit for the seat portion of the cart is 35 lbs and that's not too far off! 'Course, since the majority of food at said grocery store "makes [him] gag," it might take awhile to hit that limit!

The little miss seems to enjoy swingin' more than her brother ever did. (Of course, it might be due to the "gourmet" swing we inherited from the Dunbars--thanks, guys!)

She was taking quite the snooze in it yesterday afternoon and I ran to grab the camera to document the peaceful bliss. The pictures, however, all turned out like this:

Why, you ask?

Because Brother decided that moment would be the perfect time for a little ear-piercing "music":

So much for peaceful bliss.

I guess we'll keep him around, though. I mean-- how could you kick out such a talented performer as this guy:




Back story: over the weekend, a local FB friend posted something about how she, a non-country music fan, couldn't get the song "Boot, Scoot & Boogie" out of her head. I had to leave a comment teasing her for the mangling of the song title and, after looking up the lyrics and realizing I already knew 95% of them from back in the day, took to belting out the song. The B-man could not get enough and little sister cracked quite a few smiles, too!! So it's currently our fave song to sing and he's really making it his own, as they say...!

Man, all we need is a Dunn and we could have a properly-named cover band!

About a month ago, when C was 6 weeks old, she flipped over from her stomach to her back a couple of times one day. Being the seasoned parents that we are (clearly salt for the BG and sugar for me...HA!), we knew it was a freakish, involuntary reflex thing that meant nothing.

Last week, however, she decided to get down to bidness and suddenly pushed herself way up when on her tummy:

And then kept going....

...and done!

Since--contrary to what you might think--I don't actually have a camera growing out of my arm, she was already on at least round 3 by the time the pics above were taken. Shortly thereafter, she had concentrated/exhausted herself into some serious eye-crossage!!

Whew!

(How many of you does that last pic freak out? I'm guessing all of her relatives, for sure...!)

I think I've mentioned on here before that I might have a slight fondness for online (sale) shopping for baby/children's clothes. Being able to look through the virtual racks from the comfort of my couch? Can't beat it....well, except if there's free shipping. Then it's seriously the most awesome thing ever!

A few weeks ago, I found out that The Children's Place was having a one-day-only free shipping sale. I don't do a lot of shopping there, but I figured a quick perusal couldn't hurt. Bingo! A cute little polka-dot onesie for C for the summer-- $3.24 shipped. Done!

When it arrived (and, let's be real, finding packages on one's doorstep is a joy in itself!), I couldn't help but wonder if maybe they'd messed up the order and given me a free item or two....because, seriously, the onesie could have been folded up and fit in a greeting card envelope. Why in the world was there a big box?

Apparently they knew I had a 3-year old who loves "popping bubbles" from packaging. Because, seriously, this is what it looked like when I opened the box:

Seriously?

The real kicker is not only was this wasteful packaging free to me but it also arrived two days after I placed the order-- super fast! The mind boggles at how that's cost-effective.

But whatever, I got a cute onesie for $3.24 and didn't even have to get in the car! :-)

HAPPY FRIDAY!