All Dolled Up

Miriam was acting so cute after church today that I decided it warranted an amateur photo shoot.

My baby is growing up; she's starting to look like a little girl now.She's still my curious little baby though. (I think she was reaching for the camera's lanyard; it mesmerizes her every time the camera is out).We sure love her and think she's pretty cute.

The Most Friendly Shampoo Bottle I've Ever Seen

I was standing in the shower the other day when I noticed Owen's new bottle of shampoo.

Oh, now isn't that nice?! A shampoo bottle that gives compliments -- and in a place where we all need a little reassurance now and then.

Have a happy day!

Killing Two Birds With One Stone

Miriam has been popping teeth out like crazy lately! She's still just under nine months and has five teeth...FIVE! This is not normal. Then again, does anybody in our little family actually follow normal? Well, at least she'll fit in here! And, in typical anything-but-ordinary fashion, the teeth are all presenting in the "wrong" order.

Four and Five really came at the same time, but four seemed to break through a tiny bit sooner. So, at least if she's going to be cutting all these teeth, I'm happy that she's being efficient about it. It doesn't get much better than two fer one, does it?

Have Your Cake...

and eat it too!

This morning as I was browsing through my many Google Reader subscriptions, this post from Makes and Takes caught my eye. A five minute cake?! Made in the microwave?!! Are you serious?!!! I was skeptical, to put it lightly. Naturally, I shared the crazy idea with Owen. He thought it was cockamamy too, but we had to try it out before completely throwing out the possibility. So, at 8:30 a.m. we made cake. In the microwave. In less than five minutes. And it actually turned out pretty good. It's no five star, gourmet recipe. But it is fast, and it's chocolate. So, if you're looking for a fun science experiment to do with your toddler or you just need a quick chocolate fix and don't want to dirty up the whole kitchen making a dessert...try this out. I bet it will surprise you.

How is it done? Let's have a little walk through, why don't we?

You will need:
4 Tablespoons cake flour (although we used regular all-purpose flour and it was still fine)
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil
1 Mug

Mix flour, sugar and cocoa

Spoon in egg

Pour in milk and oil, and mix well

Put in microwave for 3 minutes on maximum power

Wait until it stops rising and sets in the mug (it didn't rise out of the mug much because this mug is oversized...in a typical mug though it will appear taller)

Dump out (or leave it in the mug even) and enjoy!

And, if you're brave...add some chocolate chips or hot fudge (not both though) to the cake batter before you microwave it and tell me how it goes. :) The hot fudge should create a nice lava cake...should being the key word here.

My Lousy Weekend Off

When I woke up Thursday morning with a scratchy throat and an enhanced tickle in my nose, I went about life as usual. And although they felt worse than usual, I still blamed it on my allergies. Being allergy season, these things are mostly normal. I figured the farmers had started burning their fields, which really just means that they are adding smoke (yet, another thing that brings about allergies in me) to my hay fever. It's a sign that harvest is nearly over though, so I merrily went on my way hoping I would soon be free and clear of all sniffles...at least until cold season, of course :)

It wasn't until Friday that I caught on to the idea that this was no allergy I was dealing with -- I was sick! And boy, was I ever. I think all did last weekend was sleep and blow my nose. No homework. No housework. Nope! I just lazied around doing nothing. So, I've spent the last three days (today included) playing catch up. I'm just about finished and should be back to my normal routine soon. And, I can happily say that I am fully recuperated.

It Couldn't Be...

When I look at this picture I see two things:

1. Owen is actually reading
2. It isn't Harry Potter

When Owen and I were married, he had never read a novel cover to cover. That didn't stop me though; I'm always up for a challenge. And I was determined to make a reader out of him. So, I started with something that seems to catch 'em all...Harry Potter. He read The Sorcerer's Stone and was quickly reeled in. After that he breezed through the next five and anxiously awaited the release of The Deathly Hallows with the rest of the world. Once "Book Seven" came out, he read it and I then I figured we'd be on to bigger and better things....Wrong-o, bong-o. He just wasn't ready to move on, so he started over. That's right. He went right back to "Book One" and started re-reading (or rather, listening to) all seven Harry Potter novels. And again. And then he started skipping around within the series and reading only his favorites. Throughout all of this I am reading and recommending new books, and eventually poking and prodding in hopes of getting him to branch out some.

Then one day, earlier this summer, my sister, Heidi, brought over the book that would finally (although not immediately) break the Potter-streak...Fablehaven. All summer long it has been on Owen's nightstand; waiting and hoping that someday he'd pick it up to read. A while back he started a chapter or two in it, but was still stuck on Harry, so it stayed on the nightstand. But I guess a couple days ago he decided it was time for something new and he picked it up again.

Now, during all his empty minutes, he has been reading and reading and reading. I don't think he's even had the TV on!! He's so into this Fablehaven book that he's even pushing me to read it!! (And I will...but currently I have 40+ hours of textbook reading a week that seem to be consuming all my waking hours).

And so, it could be...caution folks, there's a new reader on the loose!

This Is Likely Not the Last Time This Will Happen

Tangles just seem come with the girly, long-hair territory. So, since Miriam has long hair (although very fine) I was not the least surprised when she woke up with her first case of bed head today. I was kind of relieved that I had to leave and go to school all day so that I didn't have to be the one to tug and pull and comb through the mess (actually, I take that back...I hate being away from my babydoll all day. But I've gotta finish my degree sometime and now seems better than later). But, I imagine that this will happen again....and again...and again. And probably even more than that depending on how many sisters she ends up with. So, I'm sure I'll get to deal with it one of these days.

A lousy view of the hair, yet a cute picture of a very groggy, still-trying-to-fully-wake-up-baby

A close up of the damage