I do love mothering these boys!

It's 5:15 and they went down for their naps at 2. (Nice break, huh!) Both boys are now awake and playing in their respective cribs. Carson gives a loud play-by-play of what's going on outside his window. ("oh, dat silly birdie!") Everett is enthralled with the little toys I sneakily hid under his blanket when I put him down.

They are such good boys! I mean, Carson still poops his pants every day, and Everett's been grumpy (for the first time in his life) since all his teeth seem ready to pop in at the same time, and Carson knocks Everett over nearly every chance he gets, but they really are good boys!

Monday was library day, as usual, and we are still trying to get over the excitement of new books. Carson frequently refers to me as "Miss Carol," the storytime lady at the library. He asks me to "be Miss Carol," and sit in the chair to read him books. All. day. long. (Also, according to Carson, he no longer has a little brother; he has a cat. Everett is "Angel," named after the neighbor's big fluffy white thing. I feel silly in public when Carson keeps yelling that he's "hugging Angel.")

I am about to go get Everett from his crib. When I walk in the room he will clap and squeal and say, "ma-ma!" That boy melts my heart! Sorry to gush, but they gave me such a great break of an afternoon today I had to pay my two boys a little tribute.

Fondant, anyone?

Although I am totally not as cool as these girls who were the belles of the ball, I did make a polka dotted cake for a semi-formal event at our church last weekend.

This was my second attempt at making fondant, and it was disappointingly lumpy again. The polka dots were a nice mask, but I'm wondering, does anyone have any suggestions for fondant recipes or technique tips?

Blizzard 2010.

Rick loves to clear the car off, and Carson loves to watch!

That Sunday, even church was canceled. We all had a little cabin fever, so we invited some friends who live nearby over for a spontaneous pot luck.

When you're snowed in, you can come up with lots of interesting things to do.
Like pushing chairs around the kitchen.

Or playing soccer in the nude. (With tennis balls. Using a tupperware as a goal.)

And doing this!

Or washing dishes together. Carson insisted on finding pitchforks in the utensils and using them to feed hay to his horses.

Or doing "sink or float" experiments. This got a little out of hand, and I don't think he's learning anything about the properties of water.

Or inventing tricks to do on Peanut. (He came up with that name on his own.)

Peanut's hooves need to be cleaned, of course. ("Like Mackenzie do!")

Or feeding brother like a baby cow.

Or playing peek-a-boo at the glass doors.

Everett!

Or transforming the wreath (that still was looking fall-ish, whoops, we missed winter) into a Spring wreath. We hope the weather follows suit!

Happy Valentine's Day 2010.

from our handsome boys.

After seeing my crafty cousin Salem's heart garland, I feel a little sheepish about my attempt. But the baby is cute, for sure!

Can you tell Rick is excited about Valentine's Day? And he didn't even know he was getting Pad Thai and Mango Sticky Rice for dinner!

And Rick's Valentine gift to me? I came home last night to ALL of my kitchen cabinets having been freshly sanitized, including every single tupperware, baking dish, and muffin tin sparkling clean. (This gift means even more when you find out about our little friend the mouse who likes to prance around our kitchen at night. The picture is Rick being funny with a mouse trap on his lip.)

This Valentine's Day, I LOVE my clean kitchen, that mango sticky rice recipe (thank you Callie), my extremely attractive husband, and my two sweet, sweet boys.

I looked super cute last week.

My mom says that styes are from peeing in the road.

Guess my secret is out!

A Silly 'Silly Putty' Story.

Carson got to choose a 'reward' at the Dollar Store the other day. (Warning: if Carson visits the restroom at your house, he may come up to you and ask for a 'reward' for his proper use of your facilities.) He chose bright orange Silly Putty, which I thought was a great idea.

Well, at some point during that afternoon, the Silly Putty needed to be removed from the sight of a certain baby, so I stuck the ball in my back pocket. I have no idea why I didn't put it up on a shelf or something instead. Of course I promptly forgot what was in my pocket. You can imagine what happened after I sat down a few times.

.

That is how my jeans ended up in the freezer a couple of days later. (One of the first lines of defense against Silly Putty stains is to freeze the offended clothing and then chip the Putty off with a knife. Side note: that treatment is very ineffective.)

So, just after I had placed my jeans between the salmon burgers and the peas, I resumed my spot at the kitchen sink to wash dishes. I began to wonder where the actual ball of Silly Putty had ended up after I took it out of my pocket. I started to worry that it might show up again on another article of clothing. Just then, I looked up and saw a squirrel jump up on our backyard deck. The little guy was excited about some new find and was nibbling furiously. His prize didn't look like an acorn. It was a sort of neon-orange color.

Hope the poor squirrel fared better than my jeans!

10 months this week.

And he finally cut his first tooth!

Late teething is great for a few reasons.

Mostly for nursing.

And I do want to nurse this baby until the cows come home. Or until he tells me it embarrasses him in front of his friends. Ok, maybe not that long, but oh how I love to nurse this sweet boy!