No Nap But Still Pretty Darn Cute

Apparently I have not solved the non-napping dilemma. Not today, at least. For the past few weeks, giving Ethan a book and a car when he goes down for his nap has been working like magic. He quietly reads his book and plays with the car then falls asleep.

Today, he was very active; he got up by 7:30, played with his friend Toby (and Gabe for a few minutes), played with Grandma while I got a haircut, went to Costco after lunch (hmm...maybe that's the culprit; they had an overabundance of wonderful snacks today). But alas...by 3:15 when I could still hear him talking, I decided it was time to get him up. I opened the door to see him with his pillow propped up behind him, the blankets spread out over his legs and a book open in front of him. When he saw me, he cheerfully said, "Oh, hi!!!", then shook his head and said, "No napping." The only non-cute part of this sight was that he had managed to dump the entire contents of his water bottle onto his crib mattress.

I brought him downstairs and after playing with my shoes and riding his bike through the living room for a few minutes, he pulled the basket of books up to the couch (where I was sitting, checking my e-mail), propped a pillow on his legs and began working his way through the books.
Seriously, how can I possibly complain about a boy who quietly sits reading a huge stack of books in lieu of taking a nap?

Mind Games

Who knew 2 1/2 year olds could make your head spin? Consider this conversation/situation that occurs, oh, pretty much every day with Ethan:

Situation: Ethan has decided he is all done eating his second bowl of his favorite breakfast of yogurt with homemade granola; Daddy is getting ready for work and he would rather be there. So, I logically decide to put the breakfast away in the fridge. After all, it is his second bowl. Apparently, this was the wrong decision. As soon as I sit down to eat my breakfast (how dare I!)....

Ethan: (whining and pulling on the chair)

Me: Mama put your breakfast away, honey. Go play with cars.

Ethan: (whining)

Me: Do you want to finish your yogurt?

Ethan: (whines and runs away from the chair).

Me: Ok, I guess you're all done.

Ethan : (running back to chair, whining) Wo-gurt! Wo-gurt!

Me: Are you still hungry?

Ethan: (whines and runs away from the chair)

Me: Ethan, if you want to eat the yogurt, you have to get in the chair.

Ethan: (Comes running to chair, then whines and runs away)

Me: Ethan, you have a bad attitude. You need to stop whining and show me your happy attitude.

Ethan: (Runs back to chair, whines)

Me: Ok, so get in your chair. You can have the yogurt if you get in your chair.

Ethan: (Whines and runs away)

Me: (Completely ignores him)

Ethan: (Runs back to chair, whines)

Me: That's it. (Swoops up Ethan under one arm, storms into living room, throws everything off official Time Out Chair, drops Ethan onto chair) You have a bad attitude and you need to show me your happy attitude. Do. Not. Get. Down.

Time out ensues.

Discussion about bad attitude and happy attitude ensues.

Hugs all around.

Apologies from mama for being impatient.

Ethan eats the yogurt. In his chair. With no whining. Hallelujah.

We're Building a House!

The home search has ended! Sort of. The official decision has been made and the contract has been signed..we're building a house!

Although I think building a house sometimes seems like a last resort born out frustration over not finding the "perfect" house, that's not the situation with us. We originally looked at building one of these houses (in Rolling Hills Estates off Middle Road for you Winchester people), but there were downsides that outweighed the positives at the time. We didn't like the lots that were available (no flat yards, drainage issues, etc); the one lot that Dave absolutely loved wasn't available and we figured it probably wouldn't be available for a long time since it was quite a bit in to the subdivision. In walking through partially constructed homes, they felt dark and cavelike. However, on Friday Dave got an e-mail from the builder describing a promotion they were running so he decided to just go to the sales office and at least check it out. I just thought it was a good idea to pursue every option to be able to make a clear decision on it. Well, Dave came home with an excited gleam in his eye, "THAT lot is available!" "That lot" would be the only one he loved. Here it is:

It's a half acre, in the city, in a cul-de-sac, backing up to farmland and a well-established cul-de-sac in the next development. It has a slight curve to the right but it's mostly flat. And it's slightly uphill which gives a good view of the whole development. It faces the west so we will be able to sit on our front porch and watch the sun set.

About the house...you can go here to see the house plan. Basically, it's a 4 (potentially 5) bedroom, 3.5 bathroom house. The promotion they are running will give us a finished rec room and full bath in the basement. On Saturday evening we got to walk through a mostly finished version of our house and it's so pretty. It will basically look like this:

We are soooooo excited! We have about 6-7 months to wait to move in, but that's ok. We're not in a rush and since the site is basically right behind our current home, we can take daily walks to see the progress. I'm looking forward to decorating again and Dave is looking forward to finally having his much-longed for firepit. Open invitation to join us at the first fire-pit is hereby extended. Wahoo!

Districts

My little brother Stephen is all grown up! (tear) Stephen is 11 years younger than me and is graduating from high school this year, a fact which makes me feel old. That and the fact that I am turning 30 on Sunday, but that's another story...He is a state champion in cross-country and this weekend was the track district meet where he had the potential to qualify for the State Championship which is next weekend. Friday night he came in 2nd in the 3200 and on Saturday morning, we got to watch his 4x8 relay team qualify for States on their time (thus also beating their school record).
Stephen is going to Elizabethtown College in the fall, which is Messiah College's main rival. I told him I might not be able to speak to him again once he heads off there. However, we met Stephen's future coach this weekend and were informed that "it's not like that with track and field", so maybe there is hope.

I knew Ethan would have a great time watching. He's so easy to take places. He climbed up and down the few bleachers near us, sat with Nana and Papa, cheered for someone named Thomas...

I had been worried about Noah because he's just harder to take places and doesn't understand that sometimes he can't just run everywhere. But he was awesome. We stuck him in the backpack and he just hung out. We did get him out for most of the time and he had a delightful time lining up various water bottles on the bleachers.

And...he even let Papa hold him! (Don't be jealous, Winchester grand-parents!)

So now the excitement starts again next weekend when we go back to watch Stephen run for a State medal.

Oh, and the other excitement of the day? Ethan near dying in the car on the way home choking on a Matchbox car door that he decided to try to swallow. Fun times. Don't worry. I threw my body into the back seat in a split second, did a sweep on his mouth and clamped down firmly on that car door. Which, I should mention, I have no idea where it came from. It does not belong to any of our cars. Anyone missing a black metal door on their kids' cars? Seriously, I thought kids outgrew this fascination with putting things in their mouth. One day I found him chewing on potpourri. Another day he had a screw floating around in his mouth. Isn't this a 6-month old thing? My 16 month old doesn't even do this. Of course, he has his thumb, but still. I guess Mama needs to keep a close watch on him.

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Tree

This is our mulberry tree. This tree has been a bane to our backyard existence since we moved in 5 1/2 years ago. It is untameable and it is out of control. Despite pruning it every year, the branches inevitably go everywhere. Dave sometimes has to dodge branches just to get to the front door. Only Noah is short enough to get underneath it without ducking.

So since life has given me mulberries, I've decided to make mulberry cobbler.

This afternoon I braved the pollen to go pick them. I lost the pollen battle and am now sorely regretting subjecting my poor immune system to the outdoors, but I did get a good bunch of mulberries.

And now for the cobbler. It should go nicely with all the local food I picked up at the Freight Station Farm Market this morning.

Lettuce, strawberries, goat cheese, grass-fed ground beef and honey. No, you can't have any. The boys and I demolished the strawberries during lunch today and I'm not sharing the homemade goat cheese. Hey, local honey is supposed to help with allergies, right? I definitely need to break into that.

Books, Books, Books

I love to read. I have always loved to read. Before I had kids, I could breeze through a book every day or two. I don't read as much now, but I still love it. When I was pregnant with Ethan, those wonderful doom and gloom people told me I wouldn't ever have time to read again. Mentally, I responded with, "Well, my mom had 6 kids and homeschooled and I NEVER remember her without a book." In fact, I remember once finding one of her book diaries filled with titles of classic books; she told me that when she had kids she determined to read classics to keep her mind active.

Now my problem is that I get too interested in too many books at the same time. Right now, this is what I have started. And there's one more downstairs on the kitchen table - All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot (which I NEVER thought I would like, but I do.)

On my reading list for whenever:

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson

Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins

Loving Our Kids on Purpose - Danny Silk

The Heart of Anger - Lou Priolo

Mommy, Teach Me To Read! - Barbara Curtis

Ethan is also enthralled with books. Our library trips usually result in us coming home with an enormous stack of books which he then spends the rest of the day checking out. After our last trip, he couldn't even pry himself away from one book to eat his snack. I think I finally found a solution to Ethan's non-napping problem and it involves books. If you give him one book to read in his crib, he reads it quietly and then falls asleep. Works every time.

Here's some of what he's reading...Little Quack's Bedime, a little Eric Carle, and his current favorite, The Three Little Rigs. It's a truck version of The Three Little Pigs. My favorite part is when the "big bad wrecking ball" (the big bad wolf), "the mean magnet" and the "cruel cutter" get thrown into the melting pot by the cranes who saved the three little rigs from having their garages torn down. Yeah, I know...the first time we read that, Dave and I looked at each other like, "Geez...this is a kid's story?" And yet we persist. I feel like I remember reading somewhere that most fairy tales we read to kids nowadays have been significantly cleaned up. Apparently, not this one.

Noah took a little longer to get into books. I think we had a little of the first child syndrome with Ethan in that he got read to when he was 3 months old. I just didn't have time with Noah. I finally started reading to him when he was about 9-10 months old and it was hard to find anything he was interested in. Well, Noah is very good with fine motor skills and loves to do things with his hands, so I started reading only the "Touch and Feel" or "Peekaboo" books with the flaps. He LOVED them! After a while of reading only those, we made the transition into some other stuff - Goodnight, Moon, Barnyard Dance, Brown Bear, Brown Bear. He doesn't really sit down and look at books much. His play with books consists mostly of picking books out of the basket, opening them upside-down to one page and then tossing it to the side.

And um, yeah...I don't have a picture of Dave's books. He has one book that he's been reading for, oh, two years? He's just not a big reader. He reads the newspaper and he does also read to the kids. I think my favorite memory of him reading to the kids was when I overheard him doing a rap version of Mr Brown Can Moo, Can You? Awesome. Hilarious. I wish I had caught it on tape.

The Home Search

The Spences have been on the hunt for a great house. So far, rien, but we're keeping the hope alive. To remind you, about a month ago, we tried to buy this house:


And were denied. I still love this house. The one drawback was that it had no basement, but it was about the size of our current house with 5 bedrooms, lots of light, a sunroom, awesome brand-new appliances, a garage and most importantly, a spectacular yard. This might actually still be a possibility; when we put an offer on, it wasn't actually on the market and the owners decided to try their luck on the market...while overpricing their house. Good luck with that. Anyway...moving on.

We are basically only looking in a few neighborhoods within Winchester City. If we move outside the city to the county, Dave would lose his spot on the Old Town Development Board and he's very passionate about that. We don't want to live in Old Town mainly because we don't want an old house and I absolutely do not want to deal with the Apple Blossom chaos. So our options are limited particularly since we would really like to stay near where we currently are so that we are close to Dave's parents. Other than that, our main criteria are four bedrooms, a garage and a level yard.

This past weekend, we thought there was a possibility for buying a foreclosure 4 doors down from Dave's parents; so close you could wave from deck to deck. But the owners are trying to keep their house by working with their lender so that's out for now. Bummer.

Double bummer when this house directly behind the Spences came on the market over the weekend (although technically the owners have been trying to sell it for 2 years, now it's going to foreclosure).
But oh...it's just too darn big. Four thousand square feet. Four THOUSAND square feet. We went and looked at it last night and while it has an awesome yard, Dave and I have never wanted a huge house. There were a couple of other odd things about it too; there are basically two living areas back to back and sort of open to each other, and the basement probably wasn't finished according to code (or even with permits). I want to like it because of the yard (and because we could put a door in the fence so that there would be open access between the in-laws house and ours) but Dave doesn't feel at home in it and I don't feel like I could manage it. I'm afraid it would look so empty and it would be really easy to get sucked into buying furniture to fill up the empty space. And really, it's a little out of our price range anyway.

So that's where we are. Trying not to get frustrated. Trying to remember that God has the perfect house at the perfect time for the perfect price in the perfect place. I'm very thankful that Dave and I are in agreement about what we like and so far haven't argued about anything home related. We've been doing good about reminding each other not to get discouraged or desperate but to remember what our values are in the home search.

And hey! If anyone has a great house and wants to move, let us know!

15 Months

We had Noah's 15 month checkup today. Once again, it was confirmed that I am, in fact, raising peanuts of children. Very cute peanuts, but peanuts.


Noah weighs 19 lbs 3 oz (below 5th percentile - he dropped a little) and is 28 3/4 inches tall (5th percentile). Whoops...already put him in a forward facing carseat after assuming he was 20 lbs. I was assured that it's fine; something about a neurological ability to hold his head up...keep him forward facing. On the list of questions for Dr. Schiavone
1) Is he concerned about parabens and pthalates? (He's not.)
2) Do his teeth look ok? The bottom ones seem stalled in their growth. (They will keep growing and look fine.)
3) Since he's starting to be pickier, will he survive if I don't continuously supplement what he's not eating? (Yep. Don't keep feeding him extra food.)
4) Does he need calcium supplements since he doesn't drink much milk? (No; as long as he's getting 2-3 servings of dairy, he's fine.)

So, then he got a shot - one shot, nice! - finishing up his immunization against diptheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and something else.

And in other news...I feel I must document how Noah sucks his thumb because it's so funny. If he is wearing a long sleeve shirt, he holds his sleeve between his other fingers and his palm while sucking his thumb. But, if it's a short sleeve shirt, he grabs the front of his shirt and holds it in the same hand as the thumb he's sucking. He walks around with a perpetual wet spot on the front of his shirt.
And the thumb sucking doesn't mean he's upset anymore like it used to. Now it's just habit and comfort. I asked Dr. Schiavone if I should worry about it and he said not until he's 3. His theory is that as he gets more active, he will need his hands more and more and will naturally stop sucking it. Um...ok, but seriously, he walks around playing with one hand and it doesn't seem to bother him one bit. In any event, I'm too busy teaching Ethan to share and not hit Noah and teaching Noah to stop hanging on my legs and destroying Ethan's creations to want to fight that battle right now. Later...later.

Make-Ahead Food Makes Me Happy

I am continually amazed how satisfied I feel when I take the time to plan ahead and spend some time cooking so I don't have to do it later. I do struggle with motivation sometimes, but I when I get it, I can get a lot done.

Yesterday, I spent 2 1/2 hours in my kitchen during naptime and here's what I accomplished.

- 1 batch 5 minute hummus

- 1 batch spicy red pepper feta hummus

- cut up cantaloupe

- cooked up bacon (leftover from a recipe)

- cooked sausage for Pizza Friday

- hardboiled free-range chicken eggs (for breakfasts and lunches)

- made 4 loaves of pizza dough to freeze

- made 3 2-cup containers of chicken stock

- cut up chicken for future meals

- made double batch of granola (this goes soooo fast around here)

- made spiced bran muffins

I'm trying to make all breakfast foods from scratch. It's really hard to find healthy, whole grain options of anything - bagels, pancakes, waffles, etc; if I make a large batch ahead of time and freeze it, I feel great that the boys will always have a healthy breakfast. The only thing I need to add to my freezer is a double batch of bagels (blueberry this time) and oatmeal pancakes. Also on my list of new cooking techniques, but probably for next week since we're stocked up right now - yogurt. Did you know you can make it in your crockpot?

Sprouting

Sorry to go all Julie/Julia on you, but I have completed yet another cooking project. After reading my friend Jen's blog about sprouting grains, I thought, "Hey, new cooking technique. Let's try it."

I had no idea that sprouting was like a whole other world. Seriously. It's like the Nutritional Underground. Apparently, you can sprout all kinds of grains and seeds and it makes them healthier. I personally had no other motives for doing this other than learning a new technique; I have no plans to change my lifestyle to incorporate sprouting, despite feeling like it's important to eat healthy.

To sprout, you have to plan what you're making way ahead of time (Strike One - I'm not that deliberate about what I cook on a regular basis). First you have to soak the wheat berries - no, wait, first you have to know wheat berries exist and hunt them down in the grocery store.

Once they have soaked for several hours, you rinse them and put them in jars with cheesecloth covering the top of the jar. I have cheesecloth thanks to my mother-in-law. The jars get hidden away in a cool, dark place.

After 2-3 days, during which time you have to remember to rinse them a few times (Strike Two - I almost forgot to do this), they sprout. I have to admit that every time I looked at the sprouted wheat berries, I actually got chills (ugh, getting them right now). They just look like insects. I felt much better once they were chopped up in the food processor.

And then I made bread. Bread, surprisingly, is not hard to make. It's actually pretty easy if you have a nifty dough hook to attach to your nifty KitchenAid stand mixer. The biggest strike against making your own bread is that it's time consuming. It takes about 4 hours total between all the rising and punching down and baking.

I know this sprouted grain thing is supposed to be healthier, but I was not particularly impressed with the taste of this bread. It doesn't taste awful, but it just has an odd...grassy (?)...flavor to it (Strike Three - healthy has to taste good). So, another technique completed and placed into my repertoire, but I highly doubt I will ever do this again.

Now, on the other hand...let me tell you about the other, most wonderfully delicious bread I also made yesterday. As background, Rosemary's Christmas gift from Janelle and I (and Brad and Dave) was a Spence Family Cookbook which we created online and had published. Judy snuck around behind Rosemary's back and snagged copies of all the classic family recipes, one of which was for Wheat Bread made with wheat berries (non-sprouted). We puzzled over the faded writing, additions and changes and ultimately decided to not put it in the cookbook because we couldn't figure it out. Well, when I bought the wheat berries to sprout them, I remembered that recipe and asked Rosemary if she could decipher it and rewrite it for me. She did and I also made two loaves of that bread yesterday. Most delicious bread ever. EVER. And if you want to talk about being impressed with cooking skills...Rosemary created this recipe on her own. Like, it didn't come from a cookbook! I cannot cook without a recipe so I can't imagine coming up with a recipe for bread on my own. I apologize, but I do not have pictures of this bread because it's halfway gone. Delicious.

Growing Things 101

I cannot tell you the pride I felt when I first walked down into the basement to check on my herbs and saw sprouts. Sprouts! That means they're growing! That means I didn't kill them yet!


So, I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to put them when they need larger pots since yeah...I have no yard. I'm pretty sure you can't make a garden out of mulch. That much I know.

I also bought two tomato plants and a strawberry planter. I think the strawberries might not make it. I don't get how to water them without the dirt and water coming right out the holes. I am not sure I want to get it. I think tomatoes might be quite enough for me.
I'm hoping that, just like with my cooking projects lately, I start to feel less and less dumb as this process continues. I was just informed yesterday that I will need to re-pot the tomatoes and buy a tomato cage. I had no idea such a thing existed. Something in me whines, "Why do I have to buy a tomato cage?? No one told me I had to buy equipment to grow stinkin' tomatoes! They said this was easy!" I really really want the tomatoes to succeed, but I also feel like it's an effort to learn to do this. It's not that much of an effort to learn new cooking techniques. I feel like I did when SOMEONE made me sew a skirt - like crying (p.s. sewing will not be making an appearance on this blog; I hate it). If I can just push through it, I'll learn, right?

Homemade Professional

After realizing that I am now grown up and my official job is that of a homemaker, I have decided to do some "Professional Development". There's no reason why only actual paid professionals should get to be the only ones who learn new things to keep their skills top-notch, right?

In the past few months, I've noticed blog friends and Facebook friends talk about what I would consider advanced cooking skills. Someone made marshmallows and meringue and another one made bagels. (You know who you are.) I was unaware that an ordinary person could actually make marshmallows or bagels. I thought only professional cooks could make those things or that it was only possible to create them in a factory with chemicals and machines. I've been proven wrong. And I've decided that I would like to little by little try some new cooking techniques.

Today's lesson was bagels. I found this recipe for Honey Wheat Bagels and added a little cinnamon and dried cranberries.

I have not tasted them yet, but they smell wonderful. The only thing I would tweak at this point is that it made 12 tiny bagels. I might make 8 larger bagels next time and double the batch. The only problem I had was that some of them (not pictured) didn't rise so well, but I think I boiled them too hard. When I turned down the heat, the other bagels turned out much prettier. My only question is this (and let me list the parts of this complicated question): 1) I know whole wheat flour makes products denser 2) I know you can use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour to make fluffier bagels 3) I know you can add wheat gluten to all-purpose flour to make your own bread flour. Sooooo, the question is - can I make whole wheat bread flour by adding wheat gluten to it? Any expert cooks have advice?

An Accomplished Family

Lots of fun developments in the Spence household lately...

First of all, Noah moved up in the carseat world...


And Ethan moved down...


Noah's got some words...mama, dada, uh-oh, choo-choo, shoes, juice, truck (maybe?), and sometimes teeth.



Ethan's got lots of words. Prizes for those of you who can guess the real word from my transcription of his pronunciation.
1) "boza"
2) "exababa"
3) "aminence"

In parental accomplishments, Dave and I ran the Apple Blossom 10K with friends and family again. Dave finished in 50:47 and I finished in 57:26. Not to brag, but my time last year was 65 minutes. Of course, this year, I wasn't only a few months postpartum, so I really had no excuse to NOT beat last year's time. As we were leaving and listening to the times of the winners, we heard the women's winning time was something like 34:09 and I told Dave that will be my time next year. Yes, yes, it will be. I am going to win the whole darn thing.