February 9, 2014 ~ Olympics of Oz

Sometimes weekends are rough.  Stu works Sundays, so he’s not always available to distract, divert, entertain.  Sometimes the girls are extra needy, loud, annoying.  This weekend was one of those weekends.  We survived yesterday, barely.  Thank goodness for activities!

Today, I tried to keep them entertained.  They’re more fun when entertained.  I had Ashlin help me make brunch, well second breakfast for them and brunch for me.  She helped scramble the eggs.  Stu doesn’t like eggs much.  Then I had them do some hand-print hearts, and kept them busy with painting, a butterfly foam craft.  Unfortunately there were glue issues, and a lack of fine motor skills got in the way of finishing them.

We tried watching some of the Olympics, Teagan was interested in the speed skating, Ashlin wasn’t.  Neither was thrilled much with the snowboarding, though I think it’s crazy.  The cross-country skiing didn’t phase them at all.  But the ice dancing was a hit.  They started trying to ice skate in the family room.  We relegated them behind the couch, but they didn’t care.
http://instagram.com/p/kNEXUgnWiN/

Chicken!

They threw a beach ball over the cardboard house while I cooked dinner. I tried a new recipe and it turned out fantastic! (Pan roasted chicken!  With dijon rosemary onions and mashed potatoes! Yum!) Ashlin decided she didn’t want to eat any chicken, but she had three servings of the mashed potatoes. Teagan got a chicken leg – chicken on the bone – and went to town.

After dinner and baths was movie time!  With popcorn!  Teagan had mentioned something about the Wizard of Oz during the day, so we watched that.  Ashlin hasn’t seen it yet.  We got them settled in their chairs, popcorn and drinks and started the movie.  As usual, Ashlin started off very interested, curious as to what the story would be.  Teagan, the old hat who’s seen this movie at least four times, was a bit distracted, needing another stuffed animal, more popcorn.  Ashlin told us she knew about munchkins – damn day care! – but didn’t know the words.  She enjoyed the movie a bit, though did get distracted during the Emerald City and haunted woods scenes.

Teagan was glued to my side, once she finished her popcorn.  She said she was scared of the witch and the trees.  Fair enough, those trees are kinda creepy.  She ended up sitting next to me, almost in my lap for the rest of the movie.  We tried to make her feel better, even offered to stop the movie, but she powered through.  At bedtime, she did ask for another stuffed animal and a night light in her room.  We couldn’t give her another night light, she settled down.  Eventually.

They’re both upstairs, sleeping.  It’s quite down here except for the Olympics.  We survived.

August 5, 2012

Dinner

Tonight was one of my favorite dinners. Cheese and pâté.  Stu found one of my favorite cheeses, a goats milk bucheron, as well as a very lovely goats milk Brie.  Our grocery store doesn’t seem to carry the bucheron at all, whereas our former store did, as well as the one in the town over.

The piece of goat cheese that Stu picked was thick, with a nice creamy ring around the outside.  The middle was solid, but not crumbly.  It was a strong, but rich taste, but not overpowering.  Definitely one to eat after the brie.

And oh, the brie!  It was very creamy and rich.  Mild, but more along the lines of a Camembert than a Brie, but still, a very lovely cheese.  Both went nicely with the Champagne pâté, a mild  yet satisfying pâté.  I paired my dinner with a hard cider, Stu with a beer.  I had a quick thought about maybe some wine, but it is Sunday night, and we didn’t get to sit down for dinner until late.

One reason Teagan was up so late, I figured out how to get some of the Olympic events on the iPad.  I showed her the Synchronized Swimming, and she was in love.  She started doing the leg lifts on the floor, some of then hand motions, asking why they do that? What’s their name?  She was very impressed with how long they could hold their breath.  To be fair, I am too, and I did my fair share of synchronized swimming (water ballet!) when I was younger.  Nothing along these lines, but we had shows with all the groups doing a routine.

Maybe she has a bit of Olympic spirit after all.

Creamy Brie

Goat’s Milk Brie

 

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• August 1, 2012 ~ Dinner (lisasff.wordpress.com)

August 2, 2012

Teagan started drawing me a rainbow before dinner. She may have finished after her peanut butter sandwich with banana and yogurt with strawberry jam if she hadn’t thrown her new chalk, breaking the pieces on the sidewalk.  She was asked to stop, and didn’t.  She actually did it again. I carried her inside, once I caught her.  Stinker tried to run away.

But she was lovely once she got her pj’s on.  Somehow she was all giggles while brushing her teeth, Ashlin started laughing too while I brushed hers.  She did big cheesy grins for dada and Teagan, you could see the bottom molars coming in.  Teagan’s giggles continued on to books.  I could hear her from Ashlin’s room.

Anyway, I hope we can get another good drawing from her tomorrow.  With less chalk-throwing!

Back to the taped Olympics, gymnastics now.  I know the results, but there’s something about being able to actually see the performances.  The swimming was great!

 

February 26, 2010

The other day, I promised a happy post.  Here it is!  We’ve been so busy and I’ve been enjoying the Olympics and then so tired that I didn’t get to blog it. 

Teagan turned 9 months last friday.  She’s getting so big!  Two teeth through, two more on the way, crawling, trying to stand… I can’t believe it’s been that long…  it feels like just yesterday was her birth day and then again, it feels like she’s always been here.  She got new bath toys for being 9 months.  The octopus is her new favorite :)  She takes it with her from the tub to the jumpy jump to the excersaucer to the floor and then the farm.

 Stu and I found our new house.  We found it on Valentine’s day :)  It’s lovely and roomy (3 beds, 2.5 baths) and has a garage!

Façade:

I have some more pictures from the listing and some from the inspection…  fireplace:

kitchen, with island:

master bath (Stu will get more than part of one drawer!):

Pantry cupboard in the master bath (below is another cabinet, they use for laundry):

Full bath – FINALLY! more than one bathroom in the house, and with twin sinks:

The back yard is landscaped, and has a koi pond hiding behind the ornamental grasses :)

 

It’s a lovely house…  there’s both a formal living room and dining room.  A kitchen nook.  An office.  A half-bath.  Basement playroom/guest room.  Although we’ve filled this house, we don’t have enough furniture for the new house :) 

We had the inspection this past Wednesday.  It was so nice being able to walk through the house again…  finding some of the interesting bits – the kitchen pantry has a space saver double door feature – and falling in love with it again.  Placing what furniture we have into the space.  Imagining how our life will be in this place of ours.

PS.  Short track makes me anxious and tense.