Left Over Cookies?

Never, not ever, in my entire life has this ever happened before.  I have no idea how old these cookies are.  I opened the cookie jar to put new cookies in and found that there were already cookies in the there.  

Usually we eat them or give them away so fast we don't even bother with a cookie jar in the first place.  The first thing I did was try one. It was... dry!  Yeah, they'd been in there awhile.  I couldn't finish it, but the thought occured to me that they might be good dipped in milk. 

I dumped them in the trash though since I honestly don't know how old they are. They still looked beautiful though.

My kids found these "sugar cookies" in the store and wanted to make them.  

So we baked them and tasted them and I was going to put the rest in the cookie jar.  But I'm not sure if that is a good idea now.  We may never remember them if they go in there. 

Making Pumpkin Bread

I enjoy baking for the holidays, baking... not cooking dinners, especially if it's not obligatory baking.  So, anyway, I've been baking pumpkin bread lately.  

Well, today Taylor helped me in the kitchen.

 

She was so excited to help me and wear her new apron.  "I have an apron, just like you!" she said.  And she wanted to do as much as possible, all by herself.

So I taught her how to crack open an egg. 

She was so proud of herself.  Right after she finished with the eggs, I got a phone call.  While I was on the phone she whispered to me, "whoever it is, tell them that I cracked the eggs all by myself!"  It was her father on the phone, by the way. 

Adding the spices.

Happy helper.

We made muffins with the extra bread dough.

And then frosted them to make them extra yummy.

Baking makes Taylor happy, and that makes me happy too.

Library Tours

We love the library!  We go at least once a week.  

Before we even moved to this town, we checked out their library.  To be honest, we were disappointed to find that it was quite a bit smaller and not as technologically advanced, (we would have to actually interact with the librarians).  :)

We were much less disappointed when we found out that our little town's library card would allow us to check out books from ANY library in our ENTIRE county!!!  When we search the library's website for books, it pulls from the all the libraries in the whole county!  And we have some big towns and libraries in our county. 

So we decided to go on a library tour of all the libraries in our county.  We're all loving it.  So far we've only been to two. 

One quite small and quaint, 

the other a large 2-story building in a busy city.  

If we go to a library every week, it'll take us all winter to get through them.  I'd say that's a great way to spend the winter.  

 

All I Want For Christmas...

Is My Two Front Teeth!

Harry Potter

 So I read the first Harry Potter book to the kids.  Taylor's interest waned.  She paid attention when she wasn't busy doing more important things, like taking care of her babies.  


Logan loved it though and now plays Harry Potter all the time.  He uses a colored pencil for his wand and his toy rife for his Nimbus 2000.  He runs around chasing his imaginary snitch.  

Because Harry Potter has glasses, Logan insists on wearing his only pair of glasses all day, even indoors.

"Harry Potter" and "Hermione Granger"

Taylor just loves playing whatever Logan is playing.  "Oh, you're waving a colored pencil around?  Well, wait for me!"

We also watched the movie after reading the book, well most of the movie. Now Logan's really into "Wizard's Chess."

He's getting better all the time too.

"We have a witch [and wizard] in the family!"

   

Happiness

We've been taking it easy around here for the last several days.  Logan's been fighting a stomach virus.  So he hasn't had energy for much else.  

So, here's what makes Logan happy lately: 
1. Not throwing up for a few days now.
2. Playing with Legos
3. Feeding the ducks

Here's what makes Taylor happy:
1. Skirts "because they are pretty and twirly." 
2. Spending time with her new favorite parent, Daddy.
3. Feeding the ducks, "I adored feeding the ducks!"

Here's what makes me happy:
1. The fact that Logan is eating solid foods again.
2. The fact that Taylor never got the stomach virus.
3. Feeding the ducks?  No, not really.  But I love being outside in beautiful fall weather.  

The ducks were fair-weather friends.  

The minute the food was gone, so were they.

So the kids said, "We're outta here too."

The Switch Witch

The Switch Witch came to our house last night.

She took all of our Halloween candy and even our carved pumpkins, which were starting to "wilt" for lack of a better term.

 

In their place, she left a little Lego Ninjago set for Logan.

 

And a little Lego Kingdoms set for Taylor.

 

This was Taylor's very first Lego set, that is hers and hers alone.  She put the entire set together, all by herself. 

On a totally different subject, Logan got some sort of stomach flu last night.  He woke up in the middle of the night, complaining that his stomach hurt. 

I figured he was just hungry, since it had been 8 or 9 hours since he'd eaten.  This morning he didn't feel much better and then he really started getting sick.  

Logan heard me telling James that he'd been puking this morning.  Later on, as Logan was laying on a towel on the floor, next to his puke bowl, he said to me, "Mom, I don't like 'pew-ping.'"

So he's just been laying on the couch all day, trying not to 'pew-p' too much.  Poor little guy.

Logan's Genius Plan

Well, first of all you've got to understand that we haven't seen much of James these last couple of weeks.  That's just the way it goes when you're in graduate school.  It's rough on Logan to have James gone so much.  

Although James does try to come home around dinner time to spend a couple hours with the kids before bed, sometimes he can't.  Yesterday was one of those days.  James got home after Taylor was already asleep and Logan should have been.  

So tonight James came home early and everybody was happy.  Then, as I was tucking Logan into bed he revealed his genius plan to me.  He whispered, "Tomorrow, I'm going to get up really early, before Dad even gets up.  Then I'm going to dress like him and go to his school and CANCEL school for the whole day!!!!  Then Dad can spend all day with us."  

I just told Logan, "That's a great plan!" 

Logan & James at Ecola State Park, a few weeks ago.

I think James' being in optometry school is hardest on Logan.  He's right at that age when he really wants to be with his dad and do stuff with him.  I hope it lasts well beyond when James is done with school. 

(P.S. James, this isn't meant to make you feel guilty, just to remind you of how much you are loved and missed, especially by one little, 7-year-old boy.)

Another One Bites the Dust

"Another one bites the dust.

And another one gone and another one gone.

Another one bites the dust."

Another tooth that is.  On Halloween night.  Whooo hoooo!

His other tooth is pretty wiggly too.  I mentioned a couple of times to him that he's going to be saying, "All I want for Christhmath is my two front teeth."

   

I need to find that song on youtube or something and show him, because he just says, "What are you talking about, Mom?"

Taylor, cutting out paper dolls of Justinian and Theodora, Emperor and Empress of the ancient Byzantine Empire.

We have been reading about them in history, in our "Story of the World" book. 

 

History AND paper dolls!?!  Taylor's in heaven.