Hide and Seek

On Memorial Day, our family hiked in the Lake Elmo Park Reserve. Isaac suggested that Ellie run ahead of us on the path and hide. Where could she be?

Wait, we think we see her.

Oh, yes, we're getting close.

Here she is!

Cleaning Woes

Blogging about cleaning the stovetop in my last post brings up a whole lot of things about cleaning. Isaac and I are somewhat neat (although I tend to have a few piles around the house), but we're not the best at really cleaning. We wipe counters and all that, but we rarely give our house the deep scrubbing it deserves (and begs for).

A couple weeks ago I commented to my mom that I was out of the toothpicks I use in the kitchen to see if my baked goods are ready. She said, "No problem - just grab your cleaning toothpicks from the bathroom." Cleaning toothpicks? I think I've done that three times in the seven years we've lived in this house. My mother was appalled and said that she had taught me better than that (in her defense, she had). She uses toothpicks to clean around the edges of her sinks and bathroom every time she cleans.

So I've been feeling kind of guilty about my cleaning habits, but when I start to think about it, it gets so overwhelming. Not only is there all the organizing/simplifying that I want to do (every drawer, closet, shelf, pantry, toy chest, storage box, etc.) but there's all the nooks and crannies and corners that I want to scrub in every room.

Today I felt inspired to get on top of the kitchen. Even though it's the room we probably clean most often, it has more than its share of neglected corners, sticky shelf paper, flour spills in the pantry, etc. So I made a list, thinking that as I cleaned things, I'd check them off and feel good about them. My list included 10 categories of things to deep clean (i.e. refrigerator, walls, drawer/cabinet faces, etc.) and 7 categories of things to sort/organize (i.e. pan shelves, drawers, pantries, etc.). That's a pretty daunting list, especially when you consider that I spent an hour and a half of elbow grease on JUST THE STOVETOP this morning. Still, I need to do something about all this. I plan to tackle at least one thing on my list every day, and hopefully two, until I can move on to another list in another room.

It makes me want to hire a cleaning service and move to a nice new shining house where everything wipes right up and nothing has rust stains or worn enamel.

Summer Play Dates

This morning marked the official start of summer switching play dates with my friend Heather. Once a week, I get her daughter Isabelle for the morning/lunch, and another day each week I drop Ellie off at her house for the morning/lunch. It's just as easy to feed two kids as one, and it's so nice not to have to do lunch on our days off!

Isabelle came over this morning, and I felt that I should have paid Heather for the privilege! The girls played happily (okay, somewhat loudly, occasionally slightly obnoxiously, and very giggly, with lots of running at full speed around the house) all morning, and I never had to interfere or suggest things for them to do. I did a long Bible study on the couch, tidied the house, read a chapter of an organizing/simplifying book, and was inspired to clean the oven and stovetop. It was a great morning.

Anyone else want to do playdates? I need to do more of these! They make life so much easier!

Phipps Inn

Isaac whisked me away to a bed and breakfast last night. He surprised me with the reservation two weeks ago "to celebrate the end of the year at school," but I think he was just being romantic! We left Ellie with my cousin Maija, and she and her best cousin-friend Sydney sound like they had a blast. Ellie called it her "date" with Sydney, and highlights seem to have included sleeping in a tent in Sydney's room and eating blue squeeze yogurt!

Isaac and I drove to Hudson, Wisconsin, yesterday afternoon. We walked along the St. Croix River and took pictures until it was time to check in at the Inn.

The inn was gorgeous - we highly recommend the Peacock Chamber if you ever go. There were antiques, stained glass, and nooks and crannies everywhere. Our room featured an opulent feather bed, whirlpool bath with a waterfall, breakfast nook, and a gas fireplace. Our favorite part was actually right outside out room: a little attic alcove in an octagonal tower with a small love seat surrounded by windows. We spent a lot of time reading and praying there.
Here are some pictures of the inn and our room:

It was absolutely an incredible experience. Isaac and I had a blast together hanging out, taking walks, going out for dinner, reading in the hot tub, and playing pool. We could have happily stayed for a week, because there were lots more things we wanted to do!

Oh, and I forgot to mention breakfast: tea and orange juice, broiled grapefruit with a sour cream/brown sugar/nutmeg sauce, French toast stuffed with pecans and cream cheese, sausages, homemade scones, and butterscotch bars. We actually took the last two items home with us because we were so stuffed! We could have eaten in the fancy formal dining room, but we chose to eat in our room. We were served on china and crystal! I'm actually still full.

Maze at Como Park

We've been to Como Park and Zoo frequently for years now, but we just discovered something new that we'd never seen before! It's a huge concrete circle with a maze (more accurately, a twisty and turny path called the Global Harmony Labyrinth) inlaid in the circle. It's up on top of the hill across Lexington from the parking lot by the lake. Have any of you other St. Paul/Roseville people seen this before?

We had a great time wending our way along the path and reaching the middle of the circle. It's perfect for kids who like to lead the way! The second time we did it, Isaac estimated that the path is about 900-100 feet long. You can't see the maze from the road, but if you've never checked it out, you should do it sometime.

Kid Remote Control

Isaac and I were walking behind Ellie today watching her as she skipped. Ever proud parents, we noticed the forming muscles in her cute little legs and mused that we could sometimes watch her forever. Then Isaac pointed out that we would want to watch her longer if we cut put her on mute. He had a point. So we came up with the idea for the Kid Remote Control.

• Mute: You can see Kid but not hear her.
• Volume: Similar to Mute, you can regulate the volume of Kid.
• Change Channels: You can switch Kid from a bad or whiny mood to a pleasant one.
• Pause: Put Kid down for nap, or take one yourself.

I think we could make some serious money off this thing were it possible. Any other suggestions for buttons to include?

Gardening

Yesterday afternoon, we put in our flower garden and our vegetable garden. Our vegetable garden is never big enough for all that we try to cram into it. This year we're trying tomato, cucumber, broccoli, green pepper, green beans, squash, basil, and cilantro. Ellie insisted on the squash, and she campaigned desperately for watermelon and pumpkin, but we don't even have room for what we already did!

I have absolutely no eye for design in flower gardens. I love looking at other people's, but when it comes to mine, I always plant the flowers in straight rows because I don't know what else to do. This year, I had my mom sketch out a design for us to follow, and we tried that. I think it will look a lot better - thanks, Mom! (I also feel like I should apologize to my poor neighbors who had to look at my old "design" for the past seven years!)

Isaac and I discovered that Ellie is actually a big help for yardwork this year. Not only does she love to run errands for us ("Go get the spade from the backyard," "Can you drag the hose over to the pots?" "Run into the front yard and bring us the seed packets!") but she's strong enough to handle the sprayer hose!

Disclaimer: When allowing a preschooler to use the sprayer hose, follow these rules:

1. Hand over the hose and turn the water on.
2. Stand far away.
3. No, farther away.
4. Keep going! You never know where that spray will end up.
5. Quickly run into danger to rescue the pile of gardening gloves and tools from getting soaked.
6. Patiently point out all the spots that are getting missed while others get drenched.
7. Politely say, "Okay, honey, that's good! You can stop now."
8. More insistently: "All right, sweetie, it's all watered. We're done."
9. Somewhat frantically: "That plant is drowning! Stop watering!"
10. Turn off the water at the hose.

No More Preschool! (Until Fall)

Yesterday was my last day of preschool for the year! It was a good year, but I'm ready to be done. There's something about not always having curriculum and preparations always hanging over my head... And about having two more mornings a week that I don't have to get up early!

It was Ellie's last day, too, and the class celebrated with our annual Family Day. This time Ellie invited Daddy, Grandma, AND Grandpa, and she was very pleased that they all came. Isaac took us all out to Red Lobster to celebrate afterwards, which was a huge treat too.

Cooking Redemption

Good news - I will live to cook another day. In a book called Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur, I found the recipe for Olive Garden's minestrone soup, which is one of my favorites. I made it the Night of the Bad Bread, and it was FANTASTIC - far beyond even my high expectations. It's ridiculously healthy, and my family even ate it happily. It's so good that I considered eating it for breakfast yesterday morning (but that might be pregnancy talking, so take it with a grain of salt!).

And the Bad Bread didn't turn out as badly as I expected. It tasted like plain old whole wheat sandwich bread, albeit a little less soft and fluffy than I like. But because of my grudge against that recipe, I've appreciated all your tips and will try them next time!

That book also has the recipe for Applebee's quesadillas - I think I'll try that next.

Breadmaker Recipes, Anyone?

At the grocery store yesterday, they were out of the cheap but healthy bread I like, and I refused to pay the high prices for the other kinds of healthy bread. I came home breadless, believing that we had half a loaf left anyway. We didn't. So in my stubbornness, I reasoned, "No problem. I can whip some up in the Breadmaker. We don't need to pay these high prices for something I can make so easily."

But all the kinds I like to make aren't healthy enough for every day sandwiches. They're very delicious (potato bread, oatmeal bread, rosemary herb bread) but not that tasty with peanut butter or turkey. So I found a recipe I've been meaning to try for multigrain bread, and "whipped" that up (see previous grumpy post).

Do any of you have a good whole wheat bread machine recipe? I never want to make this one again (and I still don't know if it will turn out with my substitutions). Please help me!

Grumpy Cooking Experience

You know how sometimes when you cook with kids, it's this magical bonding experience and prime teaching time? And sometimes, it's just one series of spills after another? We had one of the latter this morning.

Ellie spilled everything she touched today. Picture molasses and a quarter cup of water on my beautiful new hardwood floor. (I had a very hard time staying patient.) AND she kept trying to pack down the flour instead of spoon it gently into the cup. AND I discovered mealworms in my dry milk powder and had to throw it out and use substitutions instead and I don't know if the bread will turn out. AND my yeast is expired (I used it anyway).

I hope I get over my cooking grumpiness soon. We have a really nummy dinner planned for tonight.

Temptation?

I told Isaac that I had been tempted last night to make blueberry pancakes for dinner. Ellie chimed in, "By Satan?" I guess we use "tempted" to mean lots of different things.

Beautiful Outfit

Tonight, Ellie and I are getting together with some of the little girls (and their mothers) that we met at dance. She is really excited about it, and has been thinking about what to wear all day long. I have not seen this side of her before, so I was kind of surprised.

When I put her down for her rest, she told me, "Mama, I might not be able to come out when it's time because I have to change my clothes during rest time." During rest, I kept hearing her dresser drawers open and close repeatedly, so I should have been forewarned for her re-emergence.

Please note the multicolored sweater, the tan skirt sticking out from underneath, the maroon skirt, the black pants, and the red socks. I thought the outfit was fantastic, so I took a picture. Then she turned around.

When she turned around, I could see the pink skirt sticking out between the tan and maroon skirts. Nice, huh? She's really dressed to the nines (or at least to the three skirts and a pair of pants) for this playdate! I wonder what I should wear....

Birthday Suit

Isaac and Ellie spent several hours playing outside together this afternoon, and Isaac let Ellie choose the games. After they "hosed" the garden (hoed), they pretended to go camping and built a house in the yard with sticks and bark. Then Ellie wanted to play wedding, so they got dressed up in pretend wedding clothes and Ellie married Isaac with dandelion rings. Ellie knows that after the next wedding we go to (Abe and Ali's), it will be her birthday, so excitedly she said, "Now let's get go home, get out of our wedding clothes, and get into our birthday clothes!" It wasn't quite birthday suit, but Isaac thought it was pretty funny anyway.

Carrot Eater

For dinner tonight, Isaac set out a bag of baby carrots and a tub of dip (which I never do - I always put them on the plate and put some dip on the plate). I have never seen Ellie eat so many carrots! She just kept going and going until we cut her off and said she had to eat her chicken parmesan. My lesson: put out lots of vegetables with tubs of dip!

Answered Prayers

We've had three big prayers answered this week, so I just wanted to pass on the amazing things God has been doing in our lives lately.

1. We're having a girl. I already blogged about this one, but it's sure not forgotten!
2. Our current renter had been planning to move out in August, and she has already found the next renter for us. He signed a lease today through the end of next August. (We hadn't even started praying about this one yet!)
3. Ellie was playing on our plastic Little Tykes slide today and went down it carrying a kid-sized plastic rake. I didn't think a thing of it, until she reached the bottom and the rake hit the ground before her feet, and the handle jammed into her eye. (Parents, don't let your children go down the slide carrying a rake. It sounds obvious now.) I worried that we should maybe even take her in to the doctor right away, just to make sure her vision was okay, but Isaac calmly prayed over her while I held ice on it (there are SO many reasons I married him!). Now, 6 hours later, it looks FAR better than we thought it would. God really protected Ellie's eye and kept her safe.

Ellie's First Dance Recital

Ellie had her first dance recital last night. In my admittedly biased opinion, she was one of the best in her class (not because of her grace or skill, but because she watched and copied the teacher faithfully). It was very fun to watch. How can you not love 13 little girls dressed up in bright yellow tutus?

Isaac's Amendment

Isaac wants me to clarify that the baby isn't born yet - the ultrasound told us it's a girl. The baby isn't due until September 26. Just in case anyone was confused!

The Name

Oh, yeah, I forgot to announce our little girl's name: Amelie Joy.

IT'S A GIRL!

It's a girl! It's a girl! God has answered my prayers (I don't care if that's a bad thing to pray for) and it's a girl! Thank you, God!

Note to my friends who have boys: I like your little boys very much. I'm also sure that if God gave us a boy, we would love him very much and be happy we had him and not want to trade him for the world.

That being said, here are reasons it is GREAT that we are having a girl:

• Now we can use all our cute little baby girl things again!
• We only have to keep girl toys around - not a second set of boy toys
• I really like girls
• We have a girl's name but not a boy's name picked out
• I am a very good "girl" mom but not as good a "boy" mom
• Ellie has a better chance of having a close relationship with a girl who is 4 years younger than a boy
• We don't have to buy nearly as much new stuff for this baby
• I would want to keep having kids until we could have another girl (Isaac is very relieved on this one)
• Ellie prayed for a girl and this shows her God answers her prayers

It's a girl!

Monday, Monday!

We've scheduled our 20-week ultrasound for Monday afternoon. We're REALLY hoping to find out if we're having a girl or a boy.

Peaceful Nap

After preschool this morning, I needed a nap. When I nap at the same time as Ellie, she likes to sleep in our room with me. So I let her (knowing that it never works out well) on the condition that she lie still and let me sleep.

So after we cuddled for a while, I gave her the warning: "Okay, honey, now I need to sleep. Lie still and be very quiet."

There was total and complete silence for a little while. Then Ellie asked, "Can I snore?"

Isaac's Old Age

Since I just bragged about Isaac in the last post, here's a great story that balances it out a little! Ellie and I were talking about how old Isaac and I are. I asked if Daddy or I was older, and she correctly answered, "Daddy!" Then she added, "Daddy's really old. He's super old! Really really super old!"

I liked this train of thought (Isaac was sitting next to us listening) so I asked who was older - Daddy or God. She knew that God was older. So next I asked who was older - Daddy or Oma (his mom). Ellie said, "Daddy!" I had a really good laugh over that one. Isaac didn't laugh. Maybe the gray hair I've been finding in his eyebrows is bothering him.

Husband Bragging

Isaac is always a good husband, but he has been really spectacular this week. On Monday, I woke up to breakfast in bed! He brought in a tray with waffles (already buttered and syruped), bacon, orange juice, and blueberries and strawberries. (The man knows the way to my heart is bacon.) When he brought the tray in, I almost made him go get the camera so I could take a picture of how pretty it was, but I decided I'd rather eat while it was hot!

When I got home from preschool this afternoon, he had already vacuumed, swept the whole house, changed the sheets, and mopped the kitchen. Now he's out in the backyard washing and vacuuming the cars with Ellie. I don't know what's gotten into him, but I like it!

Hiking

I got a book out from the library (for the second or third time now!) called Hiking Minnesota with Kids by Mary M. Bauer. I highly recommend it if you like hiking. It rates and describes shorter (mostly around 2 miles) hiking trails all over the state on a very kid-friendly scale. It even tells you which trails are stroller-friendly, which involve climbing or drops with no guardrails, and which don't have any bathrooms close by. It also includes picture scavenger hunts for each trail which would be good for about 4-year-olds on up, or any kid with lots of help!

From the book, we picked out the Southwest Trail at Spring Lake Park Reserve to hike on Ellie's birthday next month (we always do a family hike on her birthday). Next on my list are the Carver Park Reserve, Interstate State Park, and Quarry Hill Park for day hikes without camping. I desperately want to visit every park in the Duluth area and I haven't been there since I was a little girl, but that takes a little more advanced planning!

Fun Family Dinner

I found a recipe for Taco Tater Skins and jumped on it. It's the perfect recipe for little kids to make - Ellie loved washing the potatoes and basting them with butter and taco seasoning. (After all, basting is just like painting!) We also put on bacon and sour cream. Ooh, they were so good. It was fun to all be in the kitchen together; we do that too rarely.

Cute Kid Stories of the Week

At preschool, I helped a little boy read the word "dog." When he figured it out, he got excited and cried, "Just like dog-gone!"

A little girl told me solemnly last week, "I'm a drama queen." (She was right.)

Today Ellie asked if the storm would blow our house away. I assured her that it would not because our house is built on the rock. She got it right away and smiled, "Not sand!" But a few minutes later, she said worriedly, "That's not true, Mama. Our house is built on water because the toilet pipes go down into the water." Way to figure out the sewage system at a young age, honey!

Pregnancy Updates

I realized I hadn't talked much about the pregnancy. (If you don't care about that, feel free to stop reading!) I'm 19 weeks today, so we're almost halfway there. I haven't had any bleeding or spotting since Easter, so that is good news. I think we're home free on that.

This pregnancy has been much harder than I remember the last one being. I get very tired easily; I'm always either stuffed or starving; and I go to the bathroom ALL THE TIME. (Okay, the bathroom part I do remember.) I have been getting very light-headed when I am not careful to eat and drink frequently or when I've been standing too much (in other words, almost every time I go grocery shopping). There's nothing like hanging onto the grocery cart for balance!

Isaac would say that I have food cravings, since he made me bacon at 11:00 last night. (To be honest, I always want bacon whether or not I'm pregnant, but being pregnant gives me an excuse to ask for it!) I definitely have food aversions. I ate cereal yesterday for the first time in months, and I'm very happy that my breakfast options will no longer be limited to bagels or scrambled eggs (which I always have to make myself eat anyway). Unfortunately, meals that sound wonderful when I'm making them often have a way of grossing me out once they're prepared, which means Isaac has to eat a lot of leftovers that I had really been looking forward to.

On the good side, I've been able to feel the baby move now for over a week, and it's really fun. Isaac finally felt the movement last night, too, which made this more real to him (although it's real to him and he laughs every time he hugs me - I'm getting big enough that my neighbors from ACROSS THE STREET asked if I was pregnant). Ellie says she's felt the baby move, but she's pretty suggestible, so I'm not sure if she really has. She would tell you that she felt its ear!

After our 20-week appointment next week, we can schedule the ultrasound to try to determine the baby's sex. Ellie was stubborn and didn't let us find out. All three of us are hoping for a girl on this one (particularly Ellie and me) but of course we'll be happy with whatever baby God gives us. So I'll update you again then.