What happens when Daddy watches the kids...

Need I say more?

What's Cooking?

Max has started to show quite an interest in cooking. He loves to sit on his stool in the kitchen and pretend to mix and bake with pots, wooden spoons, and whatever other kitchen utensils he can confiscate from the drawers within his reach.

I decided last week that he was ready to help me with some baking, so we attempted to make some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! I say attempted because... well... they really didn't turn out very good. Yeah, I managed to ruin cookies, that's not easy to do! I accidentally used quick oats, which made them totally mushy. But they were still a blast to make.


I measured all of the ingredients into cups, and Max was the Master Pourer. He dumped everything into the bowl at the appropriate time, and he even helped me with the electric mixer! He taste-tested the batter for me (it was super good then! We should never have baked it.) and helped scoop spoonfuls onto the cookie sheets.

Then we set the timer, and Max stood sentinel at the oven door and watched the cookies brown. When they were done, I took them out and served them up with milk! Even a mushy cookie is edible with a glass of milk (especially if the cookie contains chocolate).

Since then, every time he sees me or Daddy get out a measuring cup, he wants in on the action! Culinary school, here we come!

Halloween

I'm not a huge Halloween fanatic. I don't like scary things in general, especially in the ghost/goblin/ghoul category. They make me very nervous.

But I love a kid in costume. And I love sugar.

So we had a great time celebrating the lighter side of Halloween, trick-or-treating with Grandma (Elmo) and Grandpa (Clown). Max and Lucian went as a Lion and a Lamb (yes, the double meaning was purposeful- Biblical imagery PLUS the costumes fit their little personalities so well!) Max took in quite a haul, even more than expected because people kept dumping extra candy into his bucket for his "little sister"! No, it didn't occur to me that a little baby in a lamb costume would be assumed to be a girl. Oh well, no harm done!




But even more exciting than the candy (at least for me) was Lucian's new accomplishment. He made forward progress! And get this: his very first movements forward took him directly toward Max's candy pile! Nothing like a big heap of sugar and brightly colored wrappings to get a kid moving.

But Max guarded his stash with his life, so no candy was harmed in the moving of this baby!

Happy sugar buzz, everyone!

Slow Down

We have recently recovered from a bout of some nasty stomach bug, starting with me and then hitting Max, Paul and Lucian simultaneously. Thankfully, we were all recovered in time to go trick-or-treating (pictures coming! I promise!), and the symptoms were of fairly short duration. But, oh goodness, it was not fun.

I'll spare you the details and skip right to the end, when Max was getting back to his usual self. The morning after the worst of it, Max was very hungry and thirsty. He hadn't eaten any solid food since the previous breakfast and he was ready for something good!

First thing in the morning, he said to me, "I would like some toast with peanut butter and jelly."

"Max, honey," I responded, "You've been pretty sick. We should probably start slow."

Very deliberately, he responded, "... I ... would ... like ... some ... toast ... with ... peanut ... butter ... and ... jelly."

I attempted to contain my hysterical laughter and got him his toast.

Hairless

My dad is bald. That's no secret. While he is cue-ball bald by choice, his hair would be sparse even if he tried to grow it out. So... we tease him. It's all in good fun, but his children are sometimes ruthless! Luckily, he's really easy-going and laughs along with us.

Well, yesterday, his grandson joined the charge. He was playing in a little tent at my parents' house when Grandpa came home and crawled in to say hi. After a few minutes, I heard a little voice from inside the tent say, "You really don't have any hair, Grandpa??"

Nope, and apparently your hairline is genetically linked to that of your mother's father... Sorry, Max.

Grandpa and Max on the teacups at Como Park

Pumpkin Time!

Oh what a night! It's been awhile since we've had plans on a Saturday night. We decided it was a good day to carve pumpkins, so we invited Ben and Amzie over for dinner and some good old fashioned pumpkin carving. I must say, with the limited supplies we had available (crayons and steak knives) we created some beautiful - and very expressive - pumpkin faces! We spread out the newspaper and drew our outlines...

Then cut open the tops and scooped out the insides. Max loved this part! He was not a bit afraid to get messy.

In fact, I think he was a little afraid that he wouldn't get messy enough! We carved the faces out and Max attempted to put his entire head inside my pumpkin...

And finally, the finished product!

After all of that hard work, we needed some refreshment so we sent the kids to bed, lit our Jack o' Lanterns and made ourselves some Flaming Pumpkins!

Next up, pumpkin pie!

Little House on the Prairie

When Paul went back to Minnesota on Monday after the wedding, the boys and I stayed out in Elm Springs with the Trasks until Friday. What an adventure! But the best part of all was putting the boys to bed and staying up until midnight, one or two o'clock with Bridget and catching up on life. However hard it is to live 600 miles apart, this is something we would likely never do if we lived in the same town. Most of our time spent together since having kids has included our children, so the late nights in combination with the long drive finally gave us the hours of conversation that we've been needing!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The trip was a total success (I was a little nervous about single-parenting for an entire week) and the boys had a great time together! Some of their favorite moments (since, believe it or not, the trip wasn't all about me):

Playing in a mountain of alfalfa seed (Max loves being friends with a real farmer!)

Ice Cream!

Bathtime

Bob the Builder videos in the car (Can he fix it? Yes, he can.)

On Thursday, we brought the boys into town and met up with Annie for an evening of shopping with the girls. Oh my goodness, I haven't done anything like that in way too long! We went to Someone's in the Kitchen, Pier 1, Borders and Hobby Lobby, mainly just wandering the aisles and chatting. Good times. Thanks Maureen, Patrick and Kelley for watching all four kids! I know that wasn't easy...


We left Friday morning for our road trip back to St. Paul. We decided to take the scenic route, and even though it took much longer, I'm so glad we did! We passed through some beautiful (remote) parts of South Dakota that I would otherwise never have seen. Our first stop was in Pierre for lunch- the boys loved the park and the chance to stretch their legs. Patrick is totally enamored with Lucian, and he even shared his lunch with him!




Second stop was De Smet, SD, the location of one of the homes of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Bridget is a huge Little House fan, and she brought her set of books along so we could compare the stories with the area we drove through. It so made me want to read them all again!


As we got into Minnesota it was getting late and dark, so we decided to forgo our planned stop in Walnut Grove (another Laura Ingalls Wilder stop) and turned instead up toward Marshall to grab some dinner. I called Grandma and Grandpa Moorse as we pulled into town, and they jumped right in the car to meet us at Perkins! I think they enjoyed the surprise, and it was really fun to see them, if only for a short time.


We pulled into the garage at about 12:30am, and a slightly groggy Paul came out to meet us and help haul all of our gear and sleeping children inside. On the table was a bouquet of flowers and a box of "welcome home" chocolates! I think maybe my husband missed his family... That makes me happy.

We went to the Mall of America with Bridget's brother and his family on Saturday, and Max got to try the Nickelodeon Universe rides for the first time. He was totally fearless! He even liked the log chute! Child of mine, where did you come from? Not your scaredy-cat Mommy, that's for sure.


Bridget and the boys left Monday morning for her own little house on the prairie. I think maybe Max was ready to have his mommy to himself again (as they drove off, he climbed onto me and repeatedly sang "I like you, Ilikeyoualot") but I sure wasn't ready to see them go!


A cross-country road trip with four boys under four is not for the faint of heart, but where there's a will, there's a way! We did it and lived to tell the tale. Thanks for letting us invade your home, Al & Bridget! When are you coming out here?