Forks

Staying with my food theme...Arden is learning how to use a fork. She does not want to use the smaller fork that is her size but she would rather use regualr forks. She can't get it all the way in her mouth so she just puts the fork in her mouth sideways. She's getting pretty good at it and she really would prefer it if you don't help her too much.

Some Like It Hot

Arden loves to eat. We really cannot complain because she really eats well and rarely gives us problems when it comes to eating. However, recently I've noticed what I think are some interesting foods that she likes.

For example, last week I made some amazing chili. I used the rotel extra hot chilies and as soon as I dumped them into the pot I thought "why did I do that now Arden won't be able to eat any of this." Well I was wrong. She loved it. She ate two bowls (on different nights). She kept asking for more.

So Dave and I started thinking about the random food that she likes and I guess we never thought that a 17 month old would eat these foods.

• Extra hot chili
• Salmon sandwiches
• Grapefruit
• Veggies like green beans, black beans, carrots and sweet potatoes
• Chip with salsa
• Taco's

Simon Says

Dave and I teach Arden baby sign language. At first it was just to help out with meals but Arden has really enjoyed learning words. She has a few random words like bird, train and her newest sign is cat.

Lately she has felt the need to teach the baby in the mirror her signs. As she plays with the full length mirror in the hallway I've noticed that she will say a word like "please" and then sign it in the mirror. She will do this with most of her words and then she will just laugh. It is interesting watching her teach herself the words she already knows. Who knows I might have a future teacher on my hands.

Question of the Week

Why does the weekend go by so fast?

Love Those Shoes

Last week I took Arden shoe shopping and sometimes she liked to try on the shoes and others she didn't. As either the salesperson or I would feel to see how much room she had in the toe box we would always ask her if she liked the shoes. So now if you ask her if she likes her shoes or your shoes she will bend down and feel to make sure that you have enough room for your toes to grow. It's priceless.

A Little Gymnast in the Making

Dave's dad likes to play this game with the grand kids. Dave said that he did it with him and his brothers when they were little too. He takes Arden's quads and lifts her from top of his stomach and then takes her all the way down to the ground above his head. Arden laughs and giggles and has no fear. She wiggles and squirms for more. She'll even get in line behind her cousins and wait for another turn. He's been doing this to her since she was able to sit up on her own. She loves it and never gets tired of it.

Stepping Down

Yesterday was a milestone in Arden's life and I was able to capture it on film. She has decided that she was ready to tackle the stairs walking down holding onto the railing rather than sliding on her belly.

She decided that she needed something to hold in her other hand to give her balance so she ran and got a pair of my pants out of the pile of laundry I was doing at the time. That must have been the magic trick because she walked all the way down the stairs without any help. She's growing up so fast.

Traveling in Style

Arden looked like a ski bunny this weekend in the car. It was only about 25 degrees and she is ready to travel. She's got her hat, her mittens and her sunglasses. She's nice and comfortable as we head home.

Baby It's Cold Out Side and Other Random Thoughts

Dave and I traveled to West Virginia this weekend. We were hoping for snow but all we got was cold air. Here are a few random things from our trip.

Arden has learned to go to my brother Eric if she wants a treat or something that Dave and I would not give her to eat. For example, chocolate milk.

Ordering pizza is always the best alternative when your stressed out about what to have for dinner. Don't think twice about it...just order it.

Arden enjoys playing with race cars.

When we returned home the 32 degrees air temperature felt warm because the highest temperatures of the day that we experienced while we were gone were only in the low 20s.

There are several Marshall players on the New England Patriots team...so that makes it easy for me to pick who I want to win in the Super Bowl.

After fussing for about a hour and a half in her car seat on the trip home. Dave brought the car seat into the house so I would have it for tomorrow. Arden climbs into the seat and cheerfully chatter to us as we unpack. Priceless.

The Office

It looks like Hollywood's strike is over. I can't wait of my favorite show The Office to return. Its been too long since I've laughed at Michael and his staff. I think I used to work there.

Side note: I was shopping the other night at Nordstorms and they paged Dwight Schrute to meet his party. It was pretty funny.

Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

I can't believe that I am excited about the possibilities of snow tonight! I love to see it snow (but only once a year) and since we didn't see any snow during Christmas I am really for it now.

I grew up in the mountains of West Virginia where as a child we would get these deep snows and schools would be closed for a couple of weeks at a time. My brother and I would play out in the snow where we would build snowmen and throw snowballs at each other. As a child it was great. I also remember snow and ice so deep that we would lose power and my mom would make us tomato soup and grill cheese sandwiches on the kerosene heater in the kitchen as we also huddled around the heater for warmth waiting for the power to be restored. I remember my dad sweeping the snow off the cars and letting the cars warm up before my mom took us to school. I can also remember hearing the chains on the school buses coming around the curve to pick up the heavily bundled kids.

Dave remembers sled ridding in the dark with his two brothers and his dad in the dark on a toboggan (not the hat). He remembers his mom waiting on them with hot chocolate when they would return. They would make snow forts in the front yard to protect their land from his friendly neighbors.

Both of us remember anxiously standing around the radio in the morning waiting to hear if we were on a one-hour or two-hour delay or even better school would be cancelled. Great celebrations ensued.

I have a feeling that we won't be able to enjoy this snow since it is supposed to rain most of the day so that will melt what snow falls. But we will take any precipitation that we can get.

Savor

Tonight I went to the mall alone. I honestly can't remember the last time I did this. As I walked store to store looking for bargains I noticed that every store already had out swimsuits and summer clothes. Wasn't Christmas just 3 weeks ago?

Why is it that we are so quick to rush out the old and put on the new? What happened to savoring the moment? Now I'm not talking about living in the past and not letting go but what happened to noticing the little things or savoring the moment.

I guess that I am just getting older or maybe it's because I want to enjoy my life. I know that I don't want to look back 20 years from now and not be able to remember the details of my life because I didn't take time to enjoy the moment.

So I will start shopping for my summer clothes later but for now I am going to savor the season.

How Many Cans Can A Canner Can Can?

Arden has picked up a new hobby and it is what I would like to call Can Art. She empties out the lazy susan cabinet that is full of canned food and random bottles of condiments. But she does not just take the cans out and leave them... she takes the cans and starts arranging them in patterns in the floor. She will walk around her can collection and move different cans around until she is satisfied with the way it looks. When she returns to the lazy susan to retrieve more cans she will look for a specific can shape and size to her add to her art work.

The past couple of days she has moved her art work from the kitchen into the dining room. Yesterday the can trail started in the dining room and ended up in the kitchen. She is also getting where she is carrying three cans balancing one in-between the other two. I must say that she is getting much better about putting the cans back into the lazy susan once she has finished her project.

I think the way that she organizes the cans she will be someone who alphabetizes her cans, spices and anything else she can. I love watching her in her element as she explores.

Question of the Week

Which is more beautiful when the leaves turn colors in the fall and the air is crisp and clear or a deep snow that covers everything and the sun glistens over it?

Parking It

The three of us spent the afternoon at the park. It so much fun that we are starting to become park regulars. Arden and her father played on the slides (sliding down head first of course). Then Arden explored the field and was running around while we were able to talk to some of the other parents at the park.

Here is a few great parks which you may not be familiar with but we've enjoyed over the years.

1. Murfreesboro Greenway -- Murfreesboro, TN -- you have to see the world's biggest bucket.
2. Glenwood park -- Princeton, WV-- great trails, rolling hills, ducks and a small lake.
3. Centennial park -- Nashville, TN -- houses a small replica of the Parthenon.
4. Hitchcock Woods -- Aiken, SC -- beautiful woods with fox hunts and horse trails. It is also the largest city park in the U.S.
5. Ritter Park -- Huntington, WV -- Look for the rose garden or walk the 4 miles of cyinder path. It is also a great place to play ultimate Frisbee.
6. Freedom Park -- Charlotte, NC -- great walking paths, a train engine and greenway.
7. Cascades -- Pembroke, VA -- Great trails leading up to an amazing waterfall.
8. Natural Bridge State -- Lexington, KY -- a rock natural bridge that the wind has carved.
9. Riverfront Park -- Louisville, KY -- rent the tandem bikes...it's worth the great memories.
10. Symphony Park -- Piestany, Slovakia -- A small spa village that has free symphony concerts at night during the summer.
11. New River Gorge State Park -- amazing views of the New River Gorge and New River Gorge Bridge -- the longest and 2nd highest steel span bridge in the world. It's a long hike down to the river. Bridge Day in October is worth the trip.

Sleeping Beauty meets Houdini

Sometimes in the middle of the night Arden will scream or let out a short cry. When we go and get her in the morning this is what we find.

Now we are not sure how she does this. The sleeper is still zipped completely up and the snap is still snapped. Should I start calling Vegas to get her a gig?

How NOT to Make Cookies

Well after last night's cookie fiasco Dave and I are able to laugh about it today. Last night we were so frustrated because of all the time it took him to make the cookies plus all the ingredients that we ended up wasting. The dough ended up in a big heavy heap in the trash. But a good night's sleep helped us to see the humor in the situation.

Last night I was laying in bed and thinking well I'm not Martha Stewart nor am I Martha from the Bible. As I pictured it both Martha's would have everything ready, have all of her supplies labeled and dated and never, ever confuse flour with tile grout.

Here's how the incident occurred. All day yesterday I was really craving homemade chocolate chip cookies not the kind from the tube but the ones made from scratch. I could taste them all day. After I fed Arden dinner I started to make the cookies but realized that I needed to start over because I did not read the directions before starting. (I can hear my 4th grade teacher saying "Do not start until you have read through all of the instructions."). Luckily I didn't get too far in the recipe so nothing was lost. Note: Dave usually makes the homemade cookies in this house.

At this point Dave walked in the door and once he saw that I wanted to make the cookies he said that he take over. He loves making made-from-scratch cookies. So he ate dinner, played with Arden and then started making the cookies while I gave Arden a bath.

As Dave started making the cookies he realized that we were out of flour. I said "don't worry there is a whole bag downstairs in the closet". (Important note: our kitchen was built in 1962 and has not been updated and it is about the size of a bedroom closet these days... so I turned the downstairs hall closet into a pantry.) So I went and got the bag of flour which was in zip lock bag not labeled. It was soft like flour and had no smell. Dave looked at it and asked "are you sure this is flour" I replied that it was and that I put it down there last year after I had Arden. He proceeded to make the cookies.

As I was drying off Arden and putting on her pj's I heard "COUGH, COUGH!! UGH! Pheeph! YUCK! Lisa I don't think this is flour!"

Arden and I head into the kitchen and find a pasty white looking cookie dough and Dave still coughing and spitting from where he licked the beaters. I felt the dread rising up and thinking that doesn't look like cookie dough.

Of course like anything that tastes bad Dave asked me to "try it". My response was uh-no...he was coughing and it looked like caulking with chocolate chips swirled in it. I knew this was nothing that I wanted to taste... Then Dave said "I should have known that something was wrong when it had a cloud puff and turned blue while I was mixing it."

So with that said Dave started looking at the "flour" in the bag and determined that it had to be title grout. When we moved into the house we put tile in our bathroom and had grout in the house. I have no idea how this bag made it into my food pantry and why I thought it was flour.

Well needless to say I felt horrible and at the same time was very thankful that I didn't use it in a meal recipe where our dinner would have been ruined and we all would have been sitting around hungry.

Well I'm off to organize my pantry.

Frustrating

The past 24 hours have been a little frustrating for Dave. He is frustrated that

• Ohio State couldn't get it done and beat LSU for the National Championship.


• He made cookies with what we thought was flour but ended up being what we believe to be tile grout. Luckily he caught it before we baked and ate them...they just didn't look right and he had to rinse his mouth out multiple times. So frustrating and disappointing since we really wanted fresh baked cookies. Now if we can only figure out how that happened.


• It hasn't rained enough because he wants to wash our cars in our own driveway. It's been since August...that's way too long.


• That his road bike wheel has been at the bike shop for 3 weeks and they still haven't been able to fix it.

Well there's always tomorrow.

Getting Comfy

Today as I was finishing up a note for work and Arden discovered a new place to hang out...Daddy's closet. She climbed up in his running clothes basket and had a ball. She hung out there for a few minutes with her Pooh Bear while I finished working. It was classic.

Question of the Week

How is it that every time you go into a store with the intention of getting only the items on your list and then you end up getting a couple of more things and staying longer than planed?

Learning Good Hygiene

Arden really likes to brush her teeth. While we were at my parent's house my brother decided to give her a through cleaning. I just hope the first dentist office visit is this easy.

Christmas Laughter

Arden had a great time opening gifts but this one she really enjoyed. She laughed and laughed. What a great feeling!

Arden and Her Grandpas

We had many great memories of this Christmas that I still haven't shared. Last week Arden was able to spend some time with both of her Grandpa's. She engaged them in some of their favorite morning rituals.

With my Dad she would help him make the fire. She would open her mouth real wide and say hot as he built the fire. After the fire was nice and warm she would sit with him and read the paper. By the end of the morning both Arden and Dad were toasty warm and up-to-date on all the news.

While at Dave's family's house Arden took it upon herself to help Grandpa to eat his cereal. This morning she was was particularly hungry. She had already ate her oatmeal, a yogurt, a peach cup, and 1/2 of piece of toast with cream cheese. Then she went bite for bite with her Grandpa. It was a great morning to see them share their breakfast together. (Notice the large and full cereal bowl.)

Arden also likes to sit and read or open presents with her grandpas.

She really likes hanging out with her grandpas.

Happy New Year!!

Today has been extremely busy. Dave and I decided not to do anything this year for New Years Eve and I can't remember the last time that we did not have plans. We went to bed our normal time and slept in this morning. Then we both hit the stores. I was at Wal-Mart by 9 am and it was empty!!! I loved it. I was able to stock up on many items that we use and felt great about my trip. Dave went to Lowes to get a couple of items that he needed to do around the house and he said that he was only one of a few people there.

After I unloaded everything I was able to get many mini-projects done around that house and Dave worked outside getting the last of our leaves up off the yard and preparing the ground for any rain that we might get. Afterwards, he tackled a couple of inside projects as well.

If today is any indication of 2008 we are going to be some very busy people...but then again would that be any different than any other year?

Happy New Year and I can't wait to see what the new year holds in store for us.