Do the Graham.

a walk

everyone says that you are outnumbered when you go from 2 to 3 kids, as there are only 2 of you. however, when you decide to take all 3 out on a walk you are really outnumbered. it was almost 60 degrees today, so I got the boys all in lightweight coats and decided to take a walk up the driveway. I knew there were puddles the boys could jump in and throw rocks in. As we were leaving the garage Luke found a lawnmower and started pushing it, of course Graham wanted it so we did half and half ,with Graham having the first half of the driveway. When it got time to switch, Graham decided to throw a fit and threw himself down. Of course, it is wet on the driveway. So I get him on his feet, but he won't walk, so i leave him and keep walking, but turn around and he really hasn't gone anywhere. So once again I try to get him to walk and take his hand, and have to half drag him, as he is still unhappy he doesn't have the lawnmower. So I end up picking him up and carrying him. Half way down the driveway again, he wants to walk, so I let him walk and he again pouts and won't move. So I carry him the rest of the way to the road. There everyone is happy and we walk around the circle. On the way back, Graham has discovered the puddles and wants to throw stones in them. Every 5 steps he has to stop and throw like 4 stones in each puddle. Eli, who is strapped to my back, starts to get fussy, so I am trying to get the boys to hurry up no the way back, since it took us 30 mins to go down. Well with stopping every 5 steps it took a long time. About half down, Luke went ahead with he lawnmower. Not a big deal, he won't run away, and I can see him as i keep trying to get Graham to walk faster and quit throwing rocks. Well then I realize, Luke is going to go inside. The problem is that he has stepped in every puddle and mud he could find on the way down the driveway. So I am trying to drag Graham/run to get Luke to stop as he either can't hear me yelling or is choosing not to. But it was too late, he made it into the house. Luckily he stopped right inside and didn't leave muddy footprints all over the house. He got his boots off and just had his wet socks everywhere. So the moral of the story, is to have everyone walk at the same speed, or to not allow children into the house by themselves. Not walking in mud puddles isn't an option!!

Shelves

Well we decided to build some shelves downstairs in the basement to try to unclutter our basement. So I watched a video online about building shelves and took the plans and modified it for our area.

I went to Lowes a few weeks ago and purchased the wood with joe's truck. One thing I didn't think about was that the truck bed is 8 feet with the tailgate down, not up. So I had to learn how to tie down the plywood and the 2 x 4's real quick. I figured it out and we didn't have any accidents along the way!!
















So I constructed the boards and then I had asked the guy at lowes how to attach it to the concrete block. He showed me a pack of concrete anchors that also had a drill bit in it for concrete. Great I thought. So I get started on the project and the first few holes were ok, but after that I went through the power battery 3 times and wasn't getting anywhere. Joe even tried, and wasn't successful. So after getting frustrated with wanting the project done, I drove back to Lowes after we had researched 2 different items. A Hammer Drill, an electric, drill that somehow can drill through concrete like a real drill can't. Plus a Power Accuated Tool, Caliber Shingle Shot, to be exact, that would also drive nails into concrete. We were planning on the cheaper power accuated tool that you hit with a hammer to get the nails into it. However, the nice guy at Lowes talked me into the Hammer Drill, and the reason being the Power Accuated tool only drives nails, and with the weight of the stuff on the shelves a screw would be better. Therefore, we are now the proud owners of a Hammer Drill!!!! The best news is that I thought we would use it for this project and never again, however as the shelves are already full, I am thinking more shelves will have to be built on the other side, and the drill can be used again!!! Yipee.

ELI

Eli is 7/1/2 months old already. He is cute and cuddly as well. He is starting to lose his baby look and is starting to turn into a little boy. Both Joe and I have mentioned that he needs his haircut soon. I didn't cut Graham's hair until he was like 10 months and looking back, I am not sure what I was thinking. Well Eli got some warm, fleece outfits for christmas and I love them. This one is especially cute. He has little ears, which I think are adorable. Joe isn't too fond of it, but that is ok.

QUILT

Well I made my first quilt about a year a half ago, maybe a little longer. It was right before we moved, I made it to fit our new King size bed. Since that time I have made 3 baby quilts for various folks and decided I needed to make another quilt for our bed. The first one I put in double the batting, so it is really warm, and well in the summer I slept without it most of the time. So I wanted to make a thinner one for the summer time, and also have a spare. So I came up with this design and it took about 6 months to finish. I guess having a baby in there, probably slowed me down. But I finally finished it and made some pillowcases to go with it with the leftover material. I am pretty happy with it and we will see how the first night goes!

Chicken Scampi

If anyone has ever watched the Food Network they may have heard about a show called the Worst Cooks in America. Well compared to those folks I am not the worst cook, but pretty much we eat similiar foods every month. I have started making a menu of our dinners every month and have been inspired by the show to try new things. So I added Chicken Scampi to the menu. Erin and I had it at Olive Garden when we went out one might before she left. It was great and Joe had found the recipe to it online a few years ago and it just happened to be in our recipe book. So I went and bought the ingredients and gave it a good attempt. Well the first problem was the garlic. I used the butcher knife to the clove of garlic method I had seen multiple times on tv. What they never show is that 10 of the 20 cloves fly off the table and onto the ground depending on how hard you hit it. Then I got to use my food processor I never knew I had. It came with my blender that I use all the time for making baby food, and just recently found the food processor attachment and used it. Joe thought the whole kitchen smelled like garlic!! Well one of the ingredients in Chicken Scampi is wine. Something called Chiablis. If any of you are wine drinkers you might know what this is, I am not and Joe ended up going to 3 different stores looking for anyone that was opened on Sunday and came home with a bottle. Of course, since we drink so much wine in our house, we went on a made hunt to find a cork screw to remove the cork. We came up with nothing, and ended up taking the bottle to our neighbors and using theirs!!! So I followed the directions and was very happy that it looked good. I took a bite, and thought wow that is spicy. Not sure where the spice came from, Joe asked what was in it and sure enough the crushed red pepper flakes stuck out. But then I said Italian Seasoning. Did you know that crushed red pepper is in italian seasoning??? I did not. So I got a double dose of red pepper flakes. So next time I will eliminate the red pepper flakes and use the italian seasoning and hopefully it will be good. It still tasted good, but both the boys said "HOT". Joe and I, enjoyed it and I do hope to make it again, I just need an hour of no kids to make the sauce and everything. So the only remaining question is how long is wine good for?? Since it won't get tasted at our house, unless I make this dish again, how long do we keep a corked bottle of wine around??

an earthquake

Sickness is something that comes with having kids. I can remember about twice when Joe or I was sick prior to having children, and one of those was the night before Luke was born. However, once you have kids there seems to be a lot of colds, coughs, runny noses, fevers, and sleepless nights. Joe blames it on Chuckie Cheese. Joe and Erin took the boys there last weekend, while I had a baby shower at the house. Luke and Graham started with runny noses on Thursday, and Joe started feeling a little under the weather Thursday as well. Friday, Joe said he felt worse than a cold, but no fevers, or chills, just not feeling well. He went to bed at like 8. I was woken up at 4 in the morning with a mini earthquake in my bed. I wake up to realize that Joe is having rigors. He was shaking uncontrollably. I told him he needed to get some tylenol, so he goes into the bathroom and i heard the bottle shaking back and forth very fast. I then proceeded to get up to help him with both the tylenol and the water to wash it down. Needless to say, his fever was not far behind as was his body aches. He laid in bed most of the day. He came out 2 or 3 times for like 15 minutes each to try to help, but couldn't last more than 5 minutes before he felt awful again. I diagnosed him with the flu and tried to keep him away from the kiddos, especially Eli. the kiddos weren't that far behind, but no rigors or fevers in them until right before bed. They were interested in laying on the couch yesterday and watching movies, which is not like Graham at all. Today, more fevers for the boys, and they got diagnosed with ear infections, but i don't think they have the flu. Luckily, our nice neighbor decided to make us chicken soup, and that saved the day!! So i am praying Eli and i do not have anything, as Eli is still getting over croup from last week and still have a lingering cough. Me, well i am still healthy at the moment, and plan to stay that way. All I can say is thank God it wasn't the GI bug, as that would have been worse than what we had. Hoping everyone else is staying healthy!!