Monday, August 27, 2012

Motherly rant.

Baby center has sent another email sharing its wisdom on raising happy and well adjusted baby (age 7 months and 3 weeks)

Separate. It's actually good for your baby's development to leave him in someone else's care periodically. This gives him a chance to cope with being away from you. If you don't use regular childcare, ask a friend or relative to take care of your baby for short periods so he can get used to your being away.

LOL

I really am glad that I don't follow ALL advice given.
Can you kids imagine me leaving you for even a minute with someone other than me? Well Brent - sure he'll go anywhere anytime, but he is in fact Brent - the - menace, never caught off guard, never has a shadow of the doubt that short of spanking, everything is OK!

Logan would seriously raise the roof though. So  I laugh. Brent at Logan's current age would have raised the roof as well. As a matter of fact - he did. 
One day when he was about 7 months old or so, grandma took daddy and me on a rafting trip with young uncles. Grandpa stayed due to having work and school to do at home and offered to watch the baby.

I never seen the man so frustrated. 

I hardly let anyone even hold my kids, except if the kids themselves want to and only for short periods of time. In our family's experience - that alone raises some of the most strong willed, independent and smart children ever.

Namely Brent.

:) 

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Teaching young one how to swim

You guys should see yourselves.

Brent treads waters carelessly in his life vest, this being the only sport available to him that does not require skill before trying tricks and jump.

Logan being careless little puppy in general, doesn't care if he doesn't have a life jacket. What is life or jacket anyways? He simply dives in headlong like a pro and wiggles his whole body to move himself along.

It's so fascinating - that I think I'm going to make a video of it tonight. :)

Our basic first lesson is supposed to be to relieve the child of fear of water (Logan's wondering what's "fear") - and dunk him on count of three (very briefly) to ensure that he remembers to hold his breath.

He took to this lesson in the very first days of his swimming - about couple days after he was born.

Heat did stress him out a little more back then - but since he's grown a nice big belly and a chunky layer of fat all over - making himself look a poster boy for #pillsbury. All pleasant baby rolls.

you kids are That awesome.

On another note - Brent easily treads 1 mile now. Very awesome - incapacitating our stroller was awesome!
We take everyone to sunset - and a lovely hike it is. Thank God most of the rattlers stay unmolested in whatever parts of the land they choose to - that to say none in our or our dogs' paths.

And our dogs finally got a bath. Now they are less stinky. (:

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Working out some details.

Your uncle G asked how does Brentik learn.

I went over some specifics, and reminded myself that for him videos = show and tell, play a large role.

One of our most successful tools is Youtube.
Grandpa introduced it and I haven't stopped using it since.

Brent learned a ton of songs (and so did I, because frankly I didn't know many songs back in the day). It helped him learn ABCs, numbers, colors and what parts make up a rocket and how to launch it. He also loves watching random flight videos.

There's something about the children's videos, maybe it's the joviality or the colors or the fact that a lot of times it's other children's voices - that grabs his attention and holds it.

Of course, the biggest component in Brent's learning is that daily - daddy or myself apply ourselves in his learning. You'll hear us walking the dogs and singing abc's or twinkle twinkle, or maybe you'll hear me retell one of the greats - like Treasure Island, Little Red Riding Hood, David and Goliath, last one was first few chapters of Three Musketeers.

The only thing that's missing in his (and his brother's and dogs') life right now is the back yard. But no worries kiddoes - daddy is working hard to get us there. :)

Friday, August 24, 2012

Oh Dear.

I've been on a hiatus from my mind lately. My children have inadvertently suffered from it because - let's face it - mommy on hiatus = the whole world goes to prah.

So I've been trying to figure it out and solve it in the most favorable way.

For instance - my biggest problem as of late is not having a good routine for my children.
As of now I'm actively trying to solve that problem and figure out a great routine for Brent and Logan - that fits both their mental and physical abilities.

Plus it'll help me put them to naps much easier!

yes it will. can't help it - you guys are like little energizer bunnies. you can go for hours non stop... It's wrecking my eating habits!!

lol

yes - i realize i said MY eating habits. mainly because I get so tired - and while I'm ready to go to sleep - you guys are far far from it. So I generally have to load up on something sugary etc to make it work.
That in turn wreaks havoc on my blood sugar, my mental capabilities and throws off MY schedule etc, so on and so forth.

This is really a common problem for parents - i know that one. And while I have no specific need to have everything on a timer (although it DOES help) i want at least everything laid out day before - especially the specific things I'd like to do with you kids during the day.

the time will hash itself out in process. 

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Constitution

Constitutional rights...

I wonder how many are intact today.

This is one of those silly things I do intend to teach my kids (since they are Americans,  after all).

Article 1 - The Legislative Branch
Section 10 - Powers Prohibited of States

<<Back | Table of Contents | Next>>
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

That one line I underlined. I am Curious - does that mean that stopping someone in traffic and taking away their vehicle is actually against the constitutional rights of individuals?
Because it directly caused daddy not to be able to obligate some contracts. Almost immediately.

Anyways - food for thought.

Don't worry kids, I won't start teaching you the text until you're about 4.
It IS important however to know your rights :)

Aren't you glad I'm your mother

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

yesterday!

After the car wash (will upload vids/pics later) daddy took us home and Brent took a much needed nap with Loggy.

Then uncles (G & L)  came and took  us to Star Bucks in Barnes and Nobles.
That's something pretty awesome in itself - we sat and ate sandwiches and bit of cake - Brent being a darling and actually sitting for a change and having good time with everyone.

Then we went to look at toy section. He found every rocket and airplane / helicopter that was available.
He further nlp'ed his uncles into getting him a bug. (one of those hex bugs that are little cool creatures that walk around your desk)

Pretty nice. Last one I had was about ten times that size - so at least it's manageable.

Then we went home and swam (again) - Brent complained of itchy ear once again - so we got to get that swimmer's ear checked.

After which mama went with loggy to walk the beasts and daddy stayed with Brent to watch couple of movies and wrestle.

Was pretty sweet - but I'm still tired (too much sugar in diet + too  much caffeine, not enough exercise nor good healthy items like real butter and real fish oils.)

One of those 'got a car!' posts.

finally.

We got a car. It's lovely. It's wonderful. It's a bucket - let's face it. But it gets us places and we can do things again. Mostly - send daddy to work.

Brent is incredibly excited about it - he jumped into it last night when daddy rolled up in it honking his horn. He proceeded to help us wash it the very next day (yesterday) and totally is in love with it.

There are few things that are wrong with it right off the bat:
1) a/c doesn't work (only reason we even bother with it is cause the kids don't handle the heat well.
2) windows don't  roll down. (biggie. it's too hot for windows to be rolled all the way up.)
3) the back door somehow stopped opening after we washed it. (this is HUGE, daddy needs the back to open for his tools!!)
4) it stalled once at idle - and refused to restart. But we're figuring that maybe - it's just because we didn't let it warm up.

All these and more, will be solved as soon as we go to auto zone and pick and pull. I personally have high hopes for it. We'll see tho.






Sunday, August 19, 2012

Holy smokes Batman!

This day was rather annoying.
But in the same hand it was lovely.

We took the bus to church. The preacher spoke of how "stories that we're told to as children" make us who we are, versus the actual rules that are drilled into us.

I think it's true. In my case there were a lot of stories. In Brent's there are really not that many. Daddy and I weren't much of story tellers - but I chose to change that.

We later went to grandpa's (he picked us up) and looked for cars. Unsuccessfully I might add. All good cars that were available - went quick. The rest were crud.

Daddy went with grandpa to look for them and we went to the bus station to go home. Somehow Brent was an absolute doll and gave me no pain = we also met some mormons on the way - they walked us partway, and also helped us in the right direction at some point. I was distracted and not thinking clearly.
And we missed the first bus.

Ended up waiting for little over an hour for the next one. Ah well. Mommy got a bit sunburn trying to make sure the kids had shade - but no worries.

After we got to our home vicinity - I bought Brent an ice cream cone from McD's. Although we both prefer ones from rite aid or whatever that medicine shop down the street.
I got myself a coffee. Blended. Extra sugar.
GAH

I lost track of HOW INCREDIBLY important it is not to have silly old sugar in our lives.

personally am paying for it now - cavities abound and extra 15lbs that I do NOT need.

oh well - easily remedied.

Also we went swimming afterwords. Our neighbor and her daughter Macy came along - so we talked about non-sense stuff for a bit. I don't particularly mind - however I do love playing with the kids and Macy is a blast to be around.

oh well - got to run.

<3

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Lazy Day

Grandma's last day here.

Not much could be done today - so she helped us get recycling out. Took us to lunch, and let your daddy go make some money.

After which kids just ran/crawled around and did all sorts of mental exercises (and physical) that we do while there's nothing to do.

Grandma spent that time on POF.

We shared some laughs - I pointed out a  guy that I thought would be nice to her - however i don't think Grandma is... ready for commitment.

At any rate - lazy. Not wanting to write anything of merit.

I did get an inspiration for continuing my short story!

Monday, August 13, 2012

One of those 'my car got towed' posts

Yes kids,

I forgot to mention that while doing all the fun stuff that I have described to you in all those other previous posts, daddy and I are actually financially in a big fat black hole.

If you ask why we decided to have second kid while still in a hole - let's just say family planning is as important if not more - than making money. And while money sure DOES HELP!!! in raising a family, it's not necessary to have a whole lot of it. So back off. I basically wanted a little brother for Brent, I got one. Rest will sort itself out. And Brent is happier for it - and Logan I'm sure of it - is happy to be alive.

Anyways... being in a financial hole means daddy-o owes a ton of money for some things he owned back in the good days (immediately prior and slightly during when we first met, so 4 1/2 years ago).

That also means that if you go couple of years in a depressed "don't want to work" state - then there's nothing you can do to settle those debts.

Of course it's only matter of fact that occasionally a cop will pull someone over just cause they feel like giving you a ticket etc... well that happened to daddy COUPLE of times.
Naturally bench warrants (no biggie) were issued, license was suspended, insurance rates sort of went UP a bit. So on and so forth.

We got one car taken a while back. Was a nice little mercedes (one of the older ones) and we were incredibly sad to see it go. But tags on it were expired - and daddy got his license suspended. So bye bye that car went. And that let us learn that things can be done WITHOUT a car just fine for a couple of years.

Then we bought a van - right around my birthday. And restarted daddy's business... and basically fast forward to mommy not wearing a seat belt - voilà .

I didn't bother putting it on even after he pulled us over. My mind totally blanked. It happens to mommy sometimes. Usually under stress.

Sooooo... daddy and grandma are out to figure out what can be done to get the car back.
And I got to sit and make breakfast for bubba-boy. Loggy is still sleeping. :)

We did end up taking a huge break yesterday in the evening, since daddy was awesome cool and didn't get mad - just little stressed out.  Brent and Loggy went swimming with me for about three hours. Then later we walked the dogs a bit. And then we watched a movie or two with grandma.

So I'm basically tired this morning.
Might need a chaser coffee for that original coffee.
and some fish for essential brain power!

<3 my kids and hubby

Saturday, August 11, 2012

aquatic center at natomas

i must say - the kids and we had load of fun.

we almost didn't because mommy almost forgot her ID - but it's all in the past now.

LOL

Here are the pics:







































Monday, August 6, 2012

Mondays shmondays.

Felt a bit crazy today.

But it was again too hot to take you guys to the park, and we're not all that recovered yet to go swimming so soon. Which we better hurry up - before it's not hot anymore Heheh.

I made pirozhki, fried ones. They were PERFECT. Almost.
Looked perfect at any rate.
But Fattening oh my goodness so fattening.
Brent downed a ton, Duke got a ton, daddy didn't like them cause he's boo boo head?

Recipe as follows: (slightly modified from one in allrecipes)
  • 1/2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ground black pepper to taste
  • dried dill
  • dried parsley
  • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cups oil for frying

Basically I cooked the meat, then added chopped onions and cooked it incredibly long time, seasoned it properly.

Meanwhile I had the dough raising - I only waited for it to raise a little bit - then started dipping little pieces of it in flour and working them into small flat pancakes. Adding delicious stuffing and sealing it to look like a potsticker. Then pop into hot oil and fry. I don't have a temperature gauge for all my frying needs - so I simply set the stove burner to 4. It's not too high, not too low. Then fried each thing on three - four sides as I was able.

Came out really good. Especially with sour cream. Woot..


Daddy and Brent went for a bike ride with the dogs later that night. Brent had nothing but pirozhki actually - but it wasn't all that bad.

We also had a short playdate with our neighbor Macy - and her big brother ate a ton of the pirozhki as well. 

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Grandpa's Wedding!

Oh there’s a biggie. First things first. I missed about three days of posting mainly due to the fact that Brent, Loggy bear and myself got sick. Duke’s foot still in pain and daddy has been working a lot.

So we’ve spent most of the week watching Stuart Little, doing our work book, getting the prayer before food down and just doing random stuff at home. Like trashing it and then bringing it back to life and order. 

But since that week we also managed to meet Eileen, grandpa’s new wife. Lovely woman she is – and while we (daddy and I) kind of wondering what the heck is grandpa thinking getting married THIS FAST, we still had lots of fun at their… WEDDING!!!

There were a lot of pictures taken, both by my camera and minister’s daughter. She was a wiz at the camera, and we had a lot of fun snapping pictures. Eileen seemed nervous and so did grandpa but it was all good. After all it IS marriage. 

The ceremony was supposed to include me and daddy paving the way for the newlyweds, followed closely by Brent the official ring bearer. But Brentik had something totally different in mind. As soon as he saw that there were MORE people than just Eileen and us, he clammed up and threw a very controlled fit (as in don’t want to do this, take me home and forget this place exists). I was questioned as to whether he was going to actually get out of adjoining wedding room and come into the area where everyone was already seated – I said something like ‘maybe if I spank him first’ then daddy came to the rescue and got Brent to sit in the pew. Where Brent proceeded to knock sense into himself by smacking his head on the back of the pew. With a tiny booboo and pressures of performing off of him, he was finally content and in best of moods. 

The ceremony was short and sweet. Things almost got mushy when the lady minister pronounced them husband and wife. They shared a sweet short kiss and viola! We now officially have a new family member. 

I felt slightly sad for Eileen - because she didn’t have at least one of her sons (or anyone else for that matter) present on her side, and was glad to be there for her, since grandpa seemed like he didn’t care if anyone else besides Eileen was even around. (Which I’m sure he did, but you know grandpa.)

As  a matter of fact I felt bad for grandpa as well a bit. There was at least 20 people invited. Only four others besides myself and daddy showed up. And we were the first ones to the chapel wondering where the heck is gramps and Eileen are, or for that matter the guests.

Daddy’s aunt Cathy, grandpa and uncle Tom with is lovely wife Maria were there and they certainly are a blast ANY time. When daddy gets us a nice little house with a backyard – you bet your bottoms I’ll be having those people over as frequently as I can – considering they live 40 min to an hour away that might be NOT so frequently, but you know. They are absolutely characters all onto themselves. I’ll fill you in later. Or earlier. Depending heheh.

Back to the wedding. For reception we went to PF Changs. Mainly because Eileen is gluten intolerant and they have a special menu just for her specific needs, and also because they have pretty bomby Chinese food.

The server (if I AM right his name was same as daddy’s “Gary”) was “alright”, he didn’t satisfy only cause he didn’t hear your mother like EVER, even tho I was almost the closest one to him with my requests. But whatever, daddy’s set of pipes are loud enough – and that was good enough. Plus it was funny. I think. Maybe not. It was getting late and I'm always happy at family get-togethers.

Daddy’s younger brothers with one girlfriend (I think she’s uncle Johnny’s fiancee actually at this point, Joana) and a friend (Marty) finally DID show up. And that was nice. I Love seeing the boys – they are a blast when in good mood and having fun. Although I did want to kick their collective butts for missing the ceremony. I mean how would THEY feel if their dad missed something important in their life?

Ah well, I’m too old fashioned. I do love them tons tho. And Joana is so sweet I didn’t even bother worrying about her. I knew she would have been there on time if it weren’t for the boys. LOL

The food… oh golly the food kids, I thought I’ve had good Chinese food before. Nah, what I’ve had was slop. Like the stuff they feed the pigs. Finally I have tasted Chinese food. Perhaps not very authentic, but flavors – oooh. Good.

I thought I was a pretty decent cook, but I realized that in Chinese kitchen, I’m merely a novice, who’s learning how to boil eggs. Ah well. Practice makes perfect. Plus if this place is around Sacramento – you bet your bottoms I’m going to visit it again and get some of those recipes Down. Just checked - there is. Must get my bros (your uncles L & G) to order from there someday.

The newlyweds looked so nervous the whole time. On the inside I sympathized. Been there done that. On the outside I laughed and smiled with the rest of them. Glad that dad found a little bit of happiness and of course glad that it’s with such a lovely woman, whom I like more and more as time goes on. I totally see what dad sees in her. And I have a feeling rest of family does too. Or beginning to, this includes grandma – although she does share the same reservations on grandpa’s  sanity with the rest of the family. This of course has nothing to do with Eileen and kind of woman she is – just curiosity as to why rush things, lol.  What’s done is done however and all are glad to have this lady in our lives. 

Finally the cake came. The dots were supposed to be green. So I hope Eileen will get some money back for that (cake was like $100) but if not it was still a hit with me, I totally DIG the flavor of rice flour, albeit it does make things a touch too dry. Icing was perfectly too sweet. But with cakes like this it always is – that is a norm.

My sons finally started showing signs of fatigue the way babies do, trying to fuss and draw with chalk on more than just paper, so daddy pitched in a $100 for the (incredibly expensive) food bill (it was like $350 for all of it, I mean REALLY???!) and we grabbed the left overs and sayonara’ed out of there.

I was half expecting them to leave the next morning to go on their trip, but apparently I was mistaken, over and over again. LOL – they aren’t leaving for a couple of days. 

/yawn
This post is incredibly long, my back hurts from sitting so long, so I’m done for now.

I love my kids!!!





















 LOL I told grandpa to SMILE, and this is what I get???