Sistersssss

The other weekend, I was feeling very tired of my children. I had spent 4 of the previous 10 days babysitting three different friends' kids and three of the four occasions were quite trying, with kids crying incessantly for missing mommy and a combined 5 potty accidents from kids we were watching that required clothing changes and carpet cleanup. I started thinking- maybe the reason that Natalie isn't potty trained yet is because this house has some kind of curse on it! It is so powerful, it even undoes potty training in kids who have been out of diapers for almost a year! (Side note- we took away diapers from Natalie last Saturday. So far, she hasn't gone a day without an accident. We'll see what comes first- her deciding to get with the program or me deciding I've cleaned up enough urine.)

Anyhow, when Saturday finally came, Micah was called away for about six hours in the morning while I was left with the kids and I was really at the end of my rope. So, I tried to think of a way to refresh and renew my interest and affection for my children. 

Naturally, I took eyeliner to their faces.

It was surprisingly effective. It made me laugh. And consequently, it made them laugh. 

Another battle we're fighting-teaching Natalie some body discretion. She's always liked to be undressed, but it's reaching troubling levels! Today during nap time, I put on a movie for her, left the room with a fully dressed child, and returned a few minutes later to her sitting on the couch completely naked. I asked her what was going on, and she just responded, "I wanted to see my nipples". Ugh. She's very into private parts. Last Saturday, I had to stop her running around at the YMCA pool repeatedly screaming, "Hello, penis!!!!" to nobody in particular. She asked me to help her spell "vagina and bum" on one of her pictures this afternoon. Hopefully she gets over it before we're sending her to kindergarten.

Too cool for a shirt or pants, but these sunglasses will do!

Natalie and Angela are very sweet sisters, wen they're not snatching away toys, jumping on one another's heads or making the other cry.

Natalie is coming to understand some of the perks of having a baby sister who is happy to share. Thus, Natalie gets to enjoy her own popsicle and then turn around and down half of Angela's.

We got a little $2 popsicle mold at ikea and Natalie loves making them. I love tossing in some spinach and Kale and believing that I'm helping them eat more vegetables to justify all the sugar in the juices that we add.

I've been trying to eat more salads. I'm normally not a huge fan, but I'm figuring out a few that I like. Anything southwest-ish- like corn, red bell peppers, avocado, black beans- will make greens tolerable for me to consume. And the other night, I really enjoyed cobb salads as our main entree. Here is Natalie's cobb salad "deconstructed".

I recently have been feeling very uninspired when it comes to cooking dinner- so much effort, especially with the kids haniging off of me and crying- over a meal that will barely be appreciated any more than frozen chicken nuggets. One meal that I am loving and wish that I could prepare every other night is Indian pizza:

It's naan flatbread with curry sauce and cheese topped with meats/seafood/veggies and it's amazing. I could make the naan, but it's too much effort with my kids right now, and plus I can never quite get that chewy consistency with the big, fat bubbles just right. Maybe it's the whole lack of a clay tandoori oven thing. I recently found naan pretty reasonably priced at costco anyhow. For the sauce, I like tikka masala- I've tried a couple brands but trader joe's masala sauce seems the best price with a good flavor. It wouldn't be too hard to make myself once I have time. Another beautiful thing about this is that I can just pop it in the toaster oven to melt the cheese, so I don't need to heat up the whole house using the full oven. My favorite topping are shrimp and red onions with cilantro, but this weekend I'm going to try korma sauce instead of tikka masala, and peas. I also got some really good provolone to try instead of mozzarella. So, there you have it- quick, easy, low-prep meal idea that breaks away from the boring cream-of-mushroom-soup stand-bys and and is super flavorful and delicious.

We went to the zoo yesterday and though we arrived by 9:30 am, we only saw the flamingos, parakeets and elephants before it was so hot, we had to go play in the splash pad. I expected to see more animals after, but Natalie got stung by something and we had to go home because she was in such exquisite misery.

I recently learned that Angela loves popcorn. Here she is stuffing her face with the newly-discovered favorite.

And this accidentally captured expression just cracks me up.

Natalie spread out a blanket today and asked for a picnic. I gave her a bowl of blueberries. It was very sweet- Angela went over and sat down right next to Natalie and they shared. They are finally figuring out how to enjoy one another.

 Angela is obsessed with markers. I have tried to keep art supplies away from her, but she recently realized that the box that we keep under the table is full of markers, crayons and colored pencils and she is determined to get into it. The box has closing tabs that she can't open, but she will get it down and walk around, carrying it and crying until I open it for her. I finally let her have a little freedom and set her up at the table, thinking that she couldn't reach any walls, so she couldn't do much harm. It never occurred to me that she might EAT THE TIP OFF THE MARKER!!! Angela may have some bright blue dirty diapers in the coming days.

Upset that I took away her yummy treat

Natalie is learning to do some basic commands with Sammy. His deep respect for her authority is absolutely palpable.

Micah is busy, busy, busy. I am preparing to sell out house-trying to do one cleaning job every day. We'll be listing in the first week of August and in addition to all the cleaning, we will be moving much of our clutter to a storage unit to show the place, so I've already started packing and organizing for that. I'm looking forward to August and September when Micah will be less busy and I can work on some projects, like catching up on our scrapbook, making new cushions for our dining room chairs, learning about zone 9 gardening and mastering carpentry, to name a few.