Happy Thursday!

We had lunch with friends, which is always a welcome mid-day diversion. Then this evening we went swimming at the Scera Pool. We would have had some cute pictures if the batteries in my camera had had some life! Tanner greatly enjoyed himself, splashing vigorously. He wasn't even troubled when he tripped several times and went under the water. I haven't taken the children swimming yet this year, but we'll have to go again; they both had so very much fun. Kinley was SO MUCH braver this year than last. She repeatedly slid down the kiddie-slide face first into the water. That is an enormous change from last year! They kept kicking everyone out of the pool because of mysterious floaties, which was very gross...

This morning I finished reading Shannon Hale's new book, Austenland. It was a cute, fast read, and a fun little story for those who love Pride and Prejudice! Thank you, Jenna!

I'm very tired. I think I'll go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. Like right now.

BYU Women's Football Clinic

Ok, don't laugh. With Justin's rather enthusiastic support, I'm going to attend the third annual BYU Women's Football Clinic in August! Ha ha ha! I'm actually strangely excited! We're quite silly over here. After 7 years, I've decided that I can't beat 'em, so I'm going to join them, along with another fellow football widow.

If anyone else is as out of their minds as we are, and willing to learn more about the great game of football for a fun Ladies Night Out, please let me know! Other than Shannan, I had no idea who might even be faintly interested!

Holy Grumpiness

I didn't sleep AT ALL last night. I was so freaked out about sleeping without the protection of the contact lens that I was awake, quite literally, the entire night. The few moments when I was able to slip into a shallow sleep, I dreamed about guess what? My cornea detaching. I'm so miserable this morning...

Monday Stuff

I went to the doctor this morning and had the contact lens removed. Eye apparently looks fabulous; tonight I risk sleeping without a contact. Interestingly, my eye is so desensitized that when I cut onions, only one eye waters. My bum eye doesn't seem to notice.

I feel queasy at the moment; some friends have the stomach flu so I hope I didn't catch it when munching on their daughter's cheek yesterday. Too much going on this week; no time for flu-bugs! I have an appointment to cut my hair tomorrow. I wish I had Mom Bradshaw's hairstyle book for ideas.

Tanner and Preston

Coughs and Stuff

Tanner has a cough; I think he caught it from me. It looks like I taught him the fine art of kissing at just the wrong time. Speaking of kissing, cousin Kaden spent the night on Friday, and I had to have a frank chat with Kinley and Kaden about the inappropriateness of them playing Sleeping Beauty with such enthusiasm. I'll just leave it at that...

We had fun last night at Danny and Mardie's. We played this great game called Guitar Hero on their X-box 360. Finally, a video game that I stand a chance with! It was undeniably entertaining.

It looks like this week is going to be craaaaazy busy, but most of it will be fun. That's ok, nothing seems so overwhelming now that I see the light at the end of the employment tunnel. Knowing there is an end to that in sight, and (hopefully) a lessening of the ol' load in general thereafter, I can face anything!! I'm invincible!

Knock on wood!

Confessions

Really, my life isn't nearly as exciting as my blog makes it seem. I seem so very domestic, organized, and put-together. The truth is that I'm just never in the "blogging mood" on those days when it would be most honest to say, "Well, I spent the day in my underwear today (again); the kids watched too much television and I forgot to change Tanner's diaper until it fell off. Kinley has been wearing the same spaghetti-stained shirt for 3 days and my kitchen stinks from something that died in the trashcan. I don't know what it is, but it isn't lunch, since all we ate was crackers, yogurt, and fruit snacks. I'll take it out before Justin comes home...after just one more episode of Law and Order..."

I tend to not broadcast those days with such enthusiasm. But they do happen sometimes :)

There, that's all I'll say on that matter!

Patriotism

I made a yummy jello salad for a family party tonight. This is probably the second jello salad I have ever made in my life. I didn't grow up with this legacy, so it's still a novelty. In my mind, jello is a dessert, but for Justin, it's a salad, therefore it should be a part of dinner, and can (read: should) even take the place of other, greener kinds of salad!

Isn't it so pretty? Isn't it so patriotic? Next time I think I'll use vanilla yogurt instead of pudding... or maybe cool whip....that would be whiter anyway... nah.... yogurt it is!

I hope they like it! I had no idea what I was doing!

The Short Story

So, we had a few extras visiting this afternoon. The very short story is that I had to bathe Tanner while they were here. While I was scrubbing him down, Kinley and 2-year-old Olivia were in the basement (ostensibly) picking up toys and 1-year-old Natalie was playing in Kinley and Tanner's bedroom right next to the bathroom.

Chaos erupted in the basement when Olivia went into the off-limits sewing room (which she didn't realize) and Kinley bossed her out of there with a severe tongue-lashing. I raced down the stairs to get to the bottom of the sudden drama, helped calm emotions and smooth over the offense, then ran back up the stairs to fish Tanner out of the tub.

Alas, Little Natalie did not stay in Kinley and Tanner's room. Imagine my surprise when I returned to the bathroom...

She could not have been more pleased with herself, and Tanner was thrilled to have a splash-mate.

"Not Tired"

Yesterday Kinley told me she wasn't tired and didn't want to take a nap. I told her that would be alright, but that she would need to go into the basement and play with toys or look at her books for quiet time (you know, "Mommy Sanity Time"). I didn't hear from her for a while, so I went down to check on her. I found her in the tiny nook behind the couch, up against the wall buried in blankets. She slept for several hours. :)

Secret Revealed

Well, Courtney and I have been working for the last few months on a combination Mother's Day present for my mom and a birthday present for my sister Heather. Courtney scanned a whole bunch of old pictures of my sister and I scrapped them. Heather got them today and she is thrilled to death. I'm so excited! It was so much fun! Here are just a few of my favorites. Credits to come later...

I'm the little one in these first few pictures. The rest are of Heather alone. If you want to see any bigger, just click on them.

Call for Book Recommendations

What, don't you read at ALL? Tell me your favorite books!

11 More Days...

I have 11 more work-days to punch the clock at the office. I think these next 6 weeks are going to drag... Nevertheless, we are extremely excited! This is THE BIGGEST news in our family since we found out that little Tanner was on his way to our family. I could hardly sleep all weekend; I was just so excited!!

Story Time

We went to story time at the library this morning. We brought along our lunch and had a picnic under the canopy. Kinley REALLY enjoyed listening to the story teller, who did not read a book to the children, but shared a story the old-fashioned way! She shared two animated stories, each about 15 minutes long. I though she was extremely entertaining, especially for children--of any age. Tanner didn't think she was all that swell, but what does he know?

Kinley's favorite part of the story was when Jack put butter on his head and it melted in the sun! I thought story time started at 11, so we were there an hour early. No problem though; we were able to check out books and stake out the perfect spot for our blanket!
Tanner really wanted a bite of his sandwich, can you tell? When he WANTS what's being offered, he's really easy to feed! You could fly a 747 through that mouth!
Their future's so bright...they GOTTA wear shades! Ever since I've become so stylish by wearing sunglasses to protect my naughty eye, the kids have been all gung-ho to wear their own shades!

We were able to sit with friends during story time. Some we were expecting, some we weren't! What a treat!
DID YOU KNOW that there are "Little House on the Prairie" picture books?? They are called "My First Little House" and we checked out probably 6 or 7. They are just short stories, but perfect for Kinley, and even Tanner! I love "Little House on the Prairie" books, though I don't as yet own my own set! And we like the show too once in a while; I've even caught Justin watching a few episodes...

Retirement

I am pleased to announce my official retirement from orthodontics. With much peace of mind and happiness of heart, I gave my 6-week notice this morning. My last day of work will be July 25th! I can't tell you how happy I am, how excited we all are. I'm not thrilled to be scaling back my lifestyle, of course, but it will all be worth it anyway! Time to start couponing again, I guess!

Food Intervention Update

The Bradshaw Table Behavior Intervention has been going very well. Meal Time is a very happy occasion these days. Kinley quite often chooses to simply eat a few bites, then push it away and wait for the next meal, bypassing all treats and snacks. She'll usually eat better the next meal, but not always.

Kinley really wanted to eat an otter pop tonight and did not want to eat her chicken-salad half-sandwich. We told her it was her choice, but that if she got up from the table, the sandwich was going in the trash, she would be hungry until breakfast, and get no otter pop.

There were no threats, no whining, no telling her she'd get a whoopin' if she got out of her chair, no grandiose ultimatums or ever increasing treat-bribes, no nothing. We smiled sweetly and told her we didn't much care one way or the other if she ate her dinner, but that if she didn't, she'd be hungry until breakfast and she'd miss out on an otter pop.

Justin, Tanner, and I went down to the nice cool basement to enjoy our otter pops while Kinley sat at the table for another full hour staring at her plate. I was surprised she didn't just choose to do without. That was actually what I expected. I should mention that it was 100 degrees outside today and the kitchen faces the western afternoon sun. It was not Cafe Comfy. Every time I went upstairs to check on her, she happily updated me with her progress, though I confess I could see very little improvement, if any.

Finally, after 90 minutes, I set the timer for 10 minutes and told her that when it went off, the sandwich was going in the trash. That little imp appeared in the basement all grins, not 6 minutes later, her mouth stuffed with almost her entire dinner, holding up her empty plate in a victory stance.

So, it looks like we'll have to use that timer again. That was effective.

No power struggle here, my gal! Mommy and Daddy have taken over meal time and you don't even realize you lost the war!!

These Is My Words

Oh MY, but that was an enthralling story! Thank you, THANK YOU, Courtney, Heather, and Johanna for the great recommendation!

I just finished reading These Is My Words, by Nancy E. Turner. It was positively gripping, and I have all but ignored my family today as I have raced through to the very end. I'm very grateful for the suggestion!

I had been warned about the smattering of frontier gruesomeness in a few places, and was thankful for the heads up.

Honestly, that was a FABULOUS read.

My favorite line was, "That woman grinds my grits, and that's a FACT!"

Two books in one week that have shot to my list of favorites! What are YOUR favorite books?? I need more recommendations!!!

Play Day

Well, today was a busy, but fun day for the kids. We hosted playgroup this morning and had 6 other mommies with their kids come over to our house to play in our basement. That was a real treat, one that I've missed. I used to host quite frequently, but dropped out of the loop during tax season, with my eye problems.

Then tonight was, coincidentally, our turn to host babysitting club. We had a few extras, which lended itself to a wild and raucus evening. We read "Where the Wild Things Are",
and just as we were reading the part when Max says, "Let the wild rumpus start!", Spencer appeared around the corner, which was pretty appropo!

Hilary surprised me with the most delicious Jamba Juice, the Caribbean Passion. It's one I never would have chosen on my own based on the ingredients, but I do believe it has just become my favorite!

It's been a stressful week, but it has ended extremely well. I even got my kitchen cleaned this morning. Shiny sink and everything!

So She Thinks She Can Dance

Earlier this week, I confess that we allowed Kinley to watch the opening competition night for So You Think You Can Dance. There are a variety of styles of dance performed on the show, incorporating dancers with a mixture of dancing expertise. The judges often comment on the various styles, educating the audience, who may be unfamiliar with the wide diversity of techniques displayed.

Always listening, at one point Kinley jumped off the couch and putting her hands on her hips, began to jump/"hop" around the room with much energy of spirit.

She said, "Look, Daddy!! I can dance "hip-hop" too! See my hands on my HIPS? See me HOPPING?

That First Testimony

Three cheers for Family Home Evening; that's all I have to say!

Our last two FHE lessons have been on the Holy Ghost, thanks to the handy dandy new FHE packet that I created for the exchange a few weeks ago.

Tonight while driving home, we were listening to an adorable little CD called "I, Nephi" by Janeen Brady. It's basically the story of 1st Nephi (from the Book of Mormon) told through simple music and poetry. Kinley just loves it.

Well, tonight on the drive home we were singing along to the CD, singing in particular a sweet song about Lehi's dream, and his vision of the tree of life. All of a sudden in the middle of a phrase, Kinley stopped singing and sounding almost alarmed said, "MOMMY!" I looked at her in the mirror and her eyes were as big as saucers, so I said, "What is it?!" She said, "Mommy, this song is TRUE!" I said, "Ok. Why do you say that?" She said, "Because the Holy Ghost just told me! I know it's true because I feel the Holy Ghost! It's TRUE, Mommy!!"

Are they just coming to the earth wiser these days? Just wondering...

Attention, Fellow "Bare Escentuals" Users!!

You may remember that fun new make-up I fell in love with a few months ago: Bare Escentuals. Courtney also quickly converted once she purchased it online and tried a teensy tiny mini-sample kit from Ebay. Well, she recently ran out of the mineral veil and found a copycat brand online.

Here is the verdict: She actually likes it slightly BETTER than the original, if you can believe it, and definitely at least as much. And here is the best part...it's a half the price!!!

I can buy the real stuff (which I just did only last week on Ebay, dang it!) at 13.5 grams for $20. Of this new stuff, she bought 28 grams for $19.90 or you can get 10 grams for $10.95!! These particular steals are refill kits available through Southern Magnolia Minerals Ebay store only. If you don't already have a jar, you can get one on her Ebay store for $2.50.

I haven't tried it myself yet (I won't need to now for another 6 months or more!) but I thought I'd pass on the recommendation! They have more than just the mineral veil, but that's all she has tried so far, and one of the buki brushes. I'm tempted to try the foundation when I finally run out of mine... They even have several different mineral veils, and they have still other options in her off-ebay store:

Southern Magnolia Minerals
http://www.smmcosmetics.com/store/home.html

**Refill options (the really cheap options) available only on ebay.
http://www.smmcosmetics.com/store/proddetail.php?prod=20gMineralVeil

So exciting!

Laddie

I just finished reading the most wonderful tale, a book sent to me from my sister Heather. It's her favorite classic and it's called Laddie, by Gene Stratton-Porter. It is going immediately to my list of favorites.

Warning: the first 100 pages were very boring and overly descriptive, in my opinion; the only reason I continued was because Heather kept calling me asking how much I loved her favorite classic. She spent money on it, so I felt obligated to continue. In fact, I had to start over because I have given up on it during tax season.

SO glad that I did! I became utterly engrossed in the story and the lives of the Stanton family. So sweet, very uplifting. I just loved it (the rest of it, anyway). Little Sister and her entire family are absolutely hilarious, so witty, and so cohesive! I'd give it an A+ if I liked the first quarter of the book half as much as I adored the rest!

If you want to borrow it from me, let me know!

This is the description:
Laddie, A True Blue Story (1913) by Gene Stratton Porter is a wonderful and semi-autobiographical novel of siblings, family bonds, struggles and loves, learning and nature, and the complex joys of growing up in the country at the turn of the past century.

Little Sister tells us the story of her brother Laddie, and the whole family is glimpsed through her loving eyes.

A classic uplifting tale of self-discovery for all ages.

Cruella DeVille?

My mother-in-law called this evening, concerned that the ammonia may have bleached my hair with a faddish skunk streak. Either the ring-cleaning solution wasn't very potent or the Lord decided I had been tormented enough for one day, but it appears to be a little dry, and otherwise unharmed. Then again, I can't see the back of my hair very well... I'd like to believe that someone would tell me if I should look into adopting dalmations...

Sunday, SUNDAY!

Well, this morning bright and early, I met with some of the gals for our final practice before singing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" in sacrament meeting. We found our harmonies, improved our dynamics, and after shuffling around a few times, we found a standing situation that seemed suitable, so we called it quits.

I had already gotten myself fully dressed, made-up, hair done, etc.--I had even taken the extra effort to clean my ring (which becomes important later); I just needed to go home and see if (hopefully) the kids had been thrown in the bath and (gasp!) washed. Alas, they were at least in the bathtub, waiting for Mommy Scrub. I packed the church-bag, updated and loaded the enrichment binders, and tossed a naked chicken in the crock pot. Then I scrubbed the kids and got Tanner out, found the only pair of clean long pants without holes in the knees and the only church shirt hanging in his closet that didn't look like I dug it out of the bottom of the D.I. bag.

He needs a haircut, so I decided to see if we could salvage his do this morning by blow-drying it (against Daddy's sensibilities). Major mistake. I was so amused with the hair-styling novelty, that I didn't realize he had picked up my jar of ring-cleaner. He (of course) opened it and spilled the entire contents all over himself, his mother, his mother's Sunday clothes, the entire vanity, all of my hair-basket stuff, into the drawers, cupboards, and all over the floor.

I stripped him down, put him in a not-very-sabbath shortall outfit, re-thought my own ensemble, started a load of laundry, told Kinley to hold her horses, and assisted Justin in the final touches of bathroom clean-up, all while trying to ignore the running commentary from the peanut gallery on how I need to be more careful.

I finally managed to fish Prune Kinley out of the bath and get her dressed and headed for the bathroom for her own hair-styling. Unbelievably, I managed to make it this far without profanity and without crazed declarations of surrender to the cosmos, which was so obviously bent on making my morning something less than pleasant.

I decided that what I needed was to fix my hair (which had become understandably flattened by this point.) Wouldn't you know, in all Justin's helpfulness to rescue my hair supplies, he set my brush in a safe spot on the other side of the sink...but forgot to rinse it out. So I took a strong, ambitious swipe across the top of my head with a brush filled to the brim with pink ammonia/soap mixture. There now. I'll confess that THIS was when profanity won out.

So, I did my best to work with what was left of my hair and my second-string Sunday outfit and then we all set off to smile for the neighbors in what has got to be the most outrageous Sunday morning the Bradshaws have suffered in recent memory.

Oh, and I ate a big bowl of ice cream tonight. Yum.

The End.

Food Intervention

So far so good today. Twice Kinley chose to not finish her meal (breakfast or lunch). I swept away her breakfast when she ran into the livingroom after taking 4 bites. She wasn't troubled when I tossed it and said she would wait until lunch. She ate something like 3 bites of lunch and then told me she'd wait for dinner. I didn't think she'd make it, but she did, with no snacks, juice, or milk in between--only water (and not enough of that!) So far, it hasn't been a battle (today).

I've decided that she will, after all, be allowed to choose to go hungry and do without dessert. She finished her entire dinner tonight and is ready to go to Jamba Juice. This is nice. No more threats, no time-outs, no melt-downs (for any of us!), no hanging out at the table all day, no spoonfeeding her, no insisting that she take 3 more bites. But if she doesn't finish her meal (or at least make an reasonable dent in it), no treat, no snack, and she goes hungry until the next meal. Alas, she has Justin's constitution and she can go a LONG TIME between meals.

Last night she was furious because even though she eventually ate her pea-sized shard of tomato, because she cried and yelled and whined the entire time, she didn't get ice cream. She pitched her fit on her bed without an audience. Now she knows the rules and has experienced our determination; she APPEARS ready to make this work. She sees how completely unrattled we are by her rantings. We removed the obvious desperation from our table-side parenting and thus, we are gaining control at last, hallelujah!!! Today it's all been very peaceful and she has been free to choose the consequences.

As far as Tanner...I give up. Hopefully he'll just eat if he's hungry and if everyone else is doing it. He scarfed a tuna quesadilla this evening and then stole his Daddy's. This afternoon he refused the kid-friendly meal I offered him and demanded that I share my brown rice salad. Uh...OK!!!! NOT A PROB-LEMO!!

This rocks. So far, at least :)

Slim in 6...Attempts :)

Ok, I feel a little safer to announce this evening after finishing my FOURTH workout this week! Woo hoo! I am officially very solidly back on the diet/exercise wagon!

Turkey burgers? Brown rice salad? Didn't you guess?

Most people think "Slim in 6" stands for "Slim in 6 WEEKS." Not so, I say. That should be "Slim in 6 Attempts."

I am hoping and praying that my eye holds together long enough this time to make it through 6 weeks, though I have enough chub-chub going on, that I'm actually focused in on 12 weeks. So, hopefully by September 1st I'll post a hot-mama picture of me in much, much smaller capris :)

I'm very excited because I was so successful last year. During tax season 2006, I did this program and lost 20 pounds, going from a size 16 to a size 10. I felt great, looked awesome (at least much better, anyway!), and felt so much physically stronger. I've managed to keep it off since then, but I haven't gotten any smaller since I returned to my very naughty eating habits and completely stopped working out. I should just be thankful that I haven't ballooned back up the 20 pounds, I say!

So I'm ready to change things up again and power through and see where it leads. I'm taking the whole family for a ride this time because I refuse to make separate meals for us all. So far, they are diggin' it; and not too much fuss.

I won't, however, be force-feeding Tanner tomatoes again, after foolishly drawing my imaginary line in the sand about how he can have a cookie if he just tries a piece of tomato--like tonight. It completely ended in disaster with both of us in total hysterics and tears, me with a smushed up tomato on the floor, him with a cookie he no longer wanted, and Justin shaking his head at the idiocy of the entire exchange. I sent myself to time-out in my bedroom...

Clearly, we have issues. We have launched into Bradshaw Table Behavior Intervention Week and while it didn't go perfectly, (um, wrestling on the floor with a toddler and a tomato wasn't exactly in the official guidelines) with Kinley it went MUCH better. I have been collaborating with Heather W. (my "Mean Mom Mentor") and have come up with a plan:

Outline:
1. No getting up from the table. If she gets up from the table, the food disappears and she goes hungry until the next meal (no snacks)
2. When it happens (and it will), and she cries and complains (and she will), she cries on her bed without an audience
3. If she eats her whole meal WITHOUT whining, fussing, etc, she gets a treat. If she doesn't earn a treat, I make Daddy eat a big bowl of ice cream in front of her (since I'm not doing the ice cream thing at the moment) to drive home the point. Now, refer back to #2. If she does earn a treat, we make a BIG deal about it and praise her shamelessly. Same thing with staying at the table. We make a BIG deal about it (because, let's face it, it IS a big deal!!)
4. I'm on the fence about allowing her to simply choose to go hungry or insist that she stay at the table until she eats, say, the fingernail-sized piece of tomato. Since we also have issues with how painfully long she takes to eat meals, I might opt for the "dinner is over when the rest of us are finished. If you choose to take too long (come on, 90 minutes is too long by any standard), then you will go hungry and there will be no dessert." And BOY do my kids love dessert!
5. I'm also on the fence about how much to make her eat. The whole meal? One bite of everything? Three bites of everything? I can't decide.

Anyway, that's the game plan anyway. We'll see how it goes! The only problem is that I can't (obviously) figure out how to make this work on Tanner's level.

Like I said, CLEARLY we have issues... We have never been in control of our food table. Wow, I'm going be the mistress of the table AND I'm going to be skinny! What a great summer!

Reading

As it turns out, Tanner loves to be read to, after all! We just needed to find the right position for him, as demonstrated below. If we get him situated just so, he'll hang out long enough to listen to several books!

Chalking

Kinley's little friend Aliyah came over to play on Tuesday. Here are some pictures of everyone turning our humble driveway into a beautiful work of art! Tanner making poses!

The girls pausing for a smile!

Tanner figuring out what this chalking business is all about...

This is Tanner's silly face that most people never get to see. He does this when he wants to make us laugh. It's his teasing face! This morning when he did it, he made these eyes and smile,and then slowly shook his head back and forth. It's so funny!

Kinley and Aliyah making the "longest rainbow ever".

My Silly Sleepy Kids

Tanner slept in until 8:30 this morning and Kinley until 10:00! This has been going on for a couple of weeks, getting later and later! I haven't been getting them out of bed early on Mondays and Wednesdays to take them to Bethanys (vacation) and thus they have been sleeping in longer and longer and longer... It all comes to a screeching halt next Monday morning when we return to our previous schedule, and they'll likely return to getting up at 7:00 on the dot 7 days a week.

Add to that, Tanner LOVES to nap. When we were in Blackfoot and in Rexburg, whenever Tanner saw us setting up the port-a-crib, he would drag his bambi to it and try to climb in, nigh unto hysteria. He only calmed down when we would put him into it, at which point (at least in Blackfoot) he fell promptly to sleep. Today at noon, we were sitting on the couch together and I asked him if he wanted to go night-night because he was starting to blink slowly and rub his eyes (keep in mind he just got up at 8:30). He smiled so big, then he climbed down off my lap quickly and ran for the stairs. He was so pleased and content when I put him in his bed, and he's been sleeping now for more than 3 hours.

My kids are so weird.

Turkey Burgers

Who knew? My entire family just inhaled turkey burgers like they were cookies. I guess we'll be adding them to our rotation...

I just bought them frozen and threw them on the grill for 20 minutes. Can't beat that.

Speaking of cookies, Tanner said, "COOKIE!" tonight after dinner, loud and exceptionally clear! YEA!!!! Now we are up to, what, 5 words?

Brown Rice Salad

Ok, don't barf. My sister Heather recommended this recipe for a healthy and surprisingly delicious salad. I tried it and am pleased to pass on the recommendation.

You have to understand, when my sister says that something is "so delicious", I usually get pretty nervous. This is the same person, after all, who said that her lentil loaf burgers tasted "exactly like McDonald's." Actually, they tasted exactly like what you imagine lentil loaf burgers would taste like, and absolutely nothing like anything McDonald's would charge money for.

But I digress. Here is the recipe and it's DELISH! You just have to trust me!

Ingredients:
Cooked brown rice
Parmesan cheese
Dried parsley
Romaine lettuce
Italian dressing or some other (light) vinaigrette

Directions:
After cooking the brown rice (with a small dab of butter and dash of parsley), spread into a baking dish and sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese. Bake on 400 for about 10 minutes. when finished, put hot, cruncy rice on top of crisp, cold romaine lettuce, top with dressing and serve immediately. You can add diced chicken, olives, tomatoes, or anything else if desired.

Review
I could eat this every day. It's that good. I should mention that I hate brown rice and I hate salad. Somehow the combination makes them completely edible!

Marvelous Memory

Isn't it just amazing the memory that these young children have? Let me give you two recent examples:

1. Kinley was opening a piece of Bubbalicious bubble gum recently. As she was opening it, she remarked, "this is just like the gum that Emeline gave me for my birthday" (four months ago!)

2. Yesterday there was a picture of a donut in the book that we were reading. I asked her what her favorite donut was. She responded without hesitation, "pink ones. Do you remember when we ate pink donuts at the old church? We went to the old church to have breakfast and I had a pink donut. So did Aliyah." (That was in December, over 6 months ago!!)

And she still remembers the pretzels that Daddy gave her when she came to the hospital after Tanner was born, almost 2 years go. I do notice, however, that all of these things involve food... maybe she is just her mother's child :)

Summer Reading Program

For those that live locally, you might want to get down to the library to sign up your kids for the summer reading program! The kids love their free t-shirts, they'll love going with Justin to McDonald's to get their free ice cream cones, and I KNOW they are going to love the celebration party at the Veteren's Pool in August! And HEY, reading to your kids every day is NEVER a bad idea!

Kinley is totally jazzed to participate, but I don't think Tanner is going to make it the entire summer, unless our goal is 2 minutes per day. He has never been as into reading as Kinley, and that's probably my fault. Kinley is always wanting to be read to and it's just easier to read to the interested kid who has climbed up into your personal space with a book of her own accord, rather than hog-tying the little one, who would rather be doing ANYTHING but reading. I haven't pressed the issue with Tanner, which I'll likely come to regret.

Important items of note:
The goal is to read a certain number of minutes per day, and that number is up to you.
Last day to sign up is July 2nd (but if you wait that long you'll really have to catch up!)
Bring completed log to the library between July 23 and August 2nd to pick up prizes and pool party entrance ticket.

For more information, click here!

Thoughtful, Thoughful

This little Kinley Rose just amazes me with her thoughtfulness sometimes. Twice now in the last couple of weeks, I have taken her to Walmart by herself, leaving Tanner with Daddy at the house. At the end of every shopping trip, we always go to the bakery and get a free cookie if the kids are good, which they usually are if it's not nap time.

Last week, for whatever reason, the bakery lady gave Kinley two cookies. We shopped for produce, went through the line, checked out, loaded up, and got all the way home. What I didn't realize is that she was still holding on to one of the cookies so that she could give it to Tanner when she got home. I can't believe this little 4 year old managed to keep from eating a cookie that was given to HER, so that she could share with her little brother who was waiting at home. I don't think it even occurred to her to eat it herself. She is always mindful of him, which I find so delightful.

Yesterday, the bakery chick gave her only one cookie, so Kinley piped up loudly, "can I have another one for my brother?" Again, she ate hers and carried his all the way home and kept it safe until he woke up from his nap and could eat it.

I love this little girl!

Weekend With The Cousins

Tanner during a rare non-whiney moment...
Cousin Mieley...

Kinley and cousin Adalyn enjoying each other's company. Kinley was devastated to leave her behind.

Weekend Away

Justin and I enjoyed a wonderful weekend away with the Schwartzes and the VanOrdens in Island Park. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Kayla for taking Kinley and Tanner while we were gone. Tanner was whiney, fussy, teething, and feverish pretty much the entire time we were gone, which was not in the original plan, so we owe all of the Grovers a huge THANK YOU!

Every year our weekend in Island Park just gets better and better. One of the greatest improvements this year was a new cabin in Rancho McCrea, owned by Mandee's mother. We've always loved the little cabin we've stayed in previously, but this one was so spacious and lovely, that it just added further to our utter enjoyment.

Playmill
Traditionally, we always see a production at the Playmill Theater on Saturday night in West Yellowstone. This year was no exception. We bought tickets to see Footloose. It was...dreadful. The worst we have ever ever seen, by a long shot. The manchild who played Ren McCormick was no Kevin Bacon. Who am I kidding? The actor was better suited to portray Liberace or Richard Simmons, if you catch my drift. We couldn't take him seriously as Ren. Oh, and did I mention he couldn't sing or dance? Nor could the rest of the cast. We've always been so impressed with the perfomances from year to year. Then again, we always go in July. I guess this is what we get for going one week into the season! We actually left during intermission.

Here is a picture of us waiting for entrance into the Playmill Theater.

The Great Cranium Defeat!
Well, as usual, Settlers of Catan, Cranium, and Acquire filled in all of our free time, when we weren't napping, reading, or eating. The big change this year was that the men didn't dominate in Cranium this weekend! Every year they wipe the floor with us, all thanks to the Datahead questions. For some reason we always draw things like, "What was the name of the second leutenant's girlfriend in Andrew W. Brawning's 1824 army?" and they get questions like, "What color is a stop sign?" Last year it almost came to blows and there was great contention over what we (the otherwise dominant team) felt were completely unfair questions! I can't remember ever winning once, to be honest.

We actually spanked those naughty boys in our very first round! They were so convinced that it was a fluke, that they decided they wanted to make a small wager. Two out of three, losers jump in the reservoir at the end of the game. They tied it up in game two, causing me to shake convulsively for most of game #3. In the end, well, you can see what happened below...




So, as you can see, it was a GREAT weekend :)

It was all probably for the best, considering Missy is 8 and 1/2 months pregnant and I didn't bring a swimming suit :)

On a side note, I should mention that the boys jumped blindly off the dock into the reservoir at 11:30 at night, while we stood behind with the cameras, gloating. They all jumped off the end of the dock at about 30 degree angles. Matt and Justin both grazed a cable of some type . The next morning when it was light, the boys went out to inspect their jumping off point and discovered a strong cable extending out straight off the end of the dock, right below the surface of the water. We are all very very relieved that none of them leaped straight out and onto that cable! The boys shuttered involuntarily every time they thought about that particularly close call :)

As usual, the food situation was hilariously overdone. Because we were out at the reservoir at 11:30 at night and then everyone came back and played Settlers of Catan until 2 or 3 in the morning (except me; I was a wimp and went to bed because I know I get really testy after midnight), we didn't have breakfast until almost 10. Then we had to hurry and squeeze in lunch at 1:30 so that we would be (almost) hungry again when we went to the Canyon Street Grill for dinner before the show. We do this to ourselves every year! Of course, we also snacked relentlessly between meals and late into the night when gaming. Let it never be said that we go hungry on these weekends!

Has anyone ever heard of a Monte Cristo Sandwich? I got one for dinner on Saturday; it was so bizarre, and so surprisingly delicious. I don't even know how to describe it... It's like a grilled chicken, ham, and cheese sandwich, but after you put it together, you dip the entire sandwich in egg/milk mixture and then cook the whole thing like a great big french toast sandwich. And the whole thing is lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar. And THEN you put raspberry jam on top. Very strange. And VERY delicious!
I read Twilight again this week/weekend, mostly in the car. This is my second time through the book and I must say...I can't believe it's even better the second time! How is that even possible?! It's so nice to not be racing through it, frantic to find out what happens next. It's awesome to just be able to leisurely mosey through this wonderful tale. Now I need to figure out who has my copy of New Moon...

London Bridge?

After the "sassy pants" episode, I thought we were done with bloggable behaviors for the morning. I was so wrong...while I was blowdrying her hair, Kinley started singing "London Bridge Is Falling Down". We haven't sung that song in quite a while, so I had to stop what I was doing and go wheeze and compose myself in the hallway when I heard this new version of the second verse:

Take the key and knock her up, knock her up, knock her up!
Take the key and knock her up, MY OLD LADY!

Sassy Pants

We're up in Blackfoot this morning. While getting Kinley ready, I said, "sorry, Kiks, you need to take a bath because you're stinky." She sniffed the air and said with a grin, "I don't smell anything. It must be coming from YOU!"

I said, "Kinley Rose, you're being a little sassy pants." She responded without hesitation, "Well...you're wearing shorts. So...that means you are a sassy SHORTS!"