Family Feud

Well, it's time for fall league softball.  That's not actually what the family feud is about.  No, Woody is in that season at work where I'm never sure if he'll go insane and take his baseball bat to the GRADD office windows or grow an ulcer.  Sports is good stress relief (if you like sports and are good at it: if not, it is a source of stress).

His shirt reads Macedonia Baptist.  That's just the coach's church.  It's really a conglomeration of Yellow Creek, FBC, and Macedonia.  Basically, they are all a bunch of ringers who came together to humiliate the rest of the league.  Not Woody's usual preference of playing for the underdog, but he was desperate to play.

My sidekick has been great so far.  Bleachers are her second home.

I've learned to pack a bucket of fun.  The trick is to change it up every week.  Even if it's markers instead of crayons...just don't bring the same things. 

Oh, but always bring a ring pop.  Baseball games are the only times she gets to have them so they are a treat to help look forward to the hour on the bleachers.  Ring pops used to last the whole game...Now it's just a few innings.  Hence the need to also bring the bucket of fun.

And for the family feud:  Woody and his dad are not on the same team.  That has happened plenty before, but due to being on opposite sides of the county, their teams have never played each other.  Last night, that changed for the first time.  They were great sports.  Still, Woody decided it's much more fun to play with your family than against them.  I wonder how the Manning family does it.  We don't like it. 

A rare day

I know most parents say that the first child is just an experiment.  Still, I give raising Hope my very best try.  Lots of things we have done well, but somethings we have not.  One of my biggest failures is in her playtime.  She will not play by herself.  Nope.  "Mom, do you want to play with me?"  Even when she was a wee little baby, she liked me to play with her.  And babies who sit in one place on their fuzzy blanket trying to get the shape sorter thing down are just cute, so I played with her...a lot.  This is coming back to haunt me.  I promise I am working on it, though.  I still want to play with her, but she needs to play by herself some too!  This is a picture of one precious moment when, instead of laying on the floor of my bedroom waiting for me to get ready to go, she went to her own room and started playing!  I quickly grabbed the camera and took a picture...ruining the whole moment.  I have lots to learn. 

Hope is singing Kindermusik songs into her microphone...all by herself.  More of this please!

Concert on the Lawn

It has been forever since I took some posed, for real, pictures of Hope.  One morning when we were at home I thought I'd take Hope out while the light was still good and try for some.  She had other ideas. 

Namely...singing.  No way in the world was she going to pose, but as long as I was a captive audience she thought she'd just sing me some songs.

Later that afternoon when the light was good again, I thought I'd try again.  This time I brought the bubbles to try and get her playing and not thinking about taking pictures.  Candid shots are, after all, some of my favorites.  But, the bubble wand just became the microphone and conductor's "stick."  She was pretty sure I'd brought her out for an encore.

When all the singing was over, she did offer me a wink.  This is how Hope winks.

After the concert, it was time for hide and seek. 

I did learn that when you "find" her with your camera, she'll always give you a smile.  It'll be in the middle of your ivy crouched by the fence, but it's a smile none the less. 

Bored?

A rare post with no pictures~
We have been very busy around the Maglinger household lately.  That's the main reason there are no new pictures.  One of the many things that we've done is to get new carpet throughout the whole house.  It was my job to be at the house while the carpet layers were here.  Sounds like a cakewalk eh?  And compared to my normal job, it probably was.  But, here's what you need to know if you ever do this:  They take all your doors off their hinges.  This includes bathroom doors.  This is trouble for a pregnant lady.  Big trouble.  Also, don't sit in your kitchen...the only room in your home where carpet won't be laid.  You'll get stuck.  Furniture will surround you in no time.  It's like an itch you have been told not to scratch:  it just gets more itchy.  Tell a pregnant lady you can't move and definitely not to go to the restroom and trouble is coming!

Anyhow...to distract my mind and pass the time, I surfed the internet.  I found a website: pinterest.com.  I am always late to discover these online jewels.  If you knew about this and didn't tell me, then I'm telling you that I'm mad at you.  But, if you, like me, are always behind the times in internet discovery and you like cute ideas in general...be it for your house or kids, or whatever, then visit this site!  I'm warning you, it's very addictive!!
Okay, off I go to my new favorite website.  See ya'!  Next time, there will be photos!

The Big Screen

I have a piece of advice for moms of toddlers out there.  When the going gets really tough and you need desperately to have a break from tantrums, endless rounds of hide and seek, strange quietness that means big trouble in another room, and picky eating- but you have no options for babysitting: just go do something fun.  Something that allows you to not have to say 'no' at all, somewhere cool if you are pregnant, somewhere that the only food required to be eaten is a treat.  Last week I learned that you can have a day off with your munchkin right there with you.  I took Hope to the pet shop, then to the new JoAnn's store that just opened (we love to look at craft supplies), then to eat at Panera (where Hope ordered a french toast bagel for lunch and I didn't care one bit), then...to the movies!

It was her first trip to the movies.  We saw the Pooh movie.  It's only 70 minutes long so it was tolerable for a toddler.  We saw friends from Kindermusik there, too!  It was a big screen, but it had to be Malco's smallest theatre.  I didn't know such small theatres existed.  Seriously, only about 5 rows of seats.  Is this the one they usually reserve for boring documentaries or is it the child's theatre?  Who cares.  We loved it.

Woody had told me to buy treats and let her play any video game she wanted.  Well... I may be on a day off, but I'm still a penny pincher so we smuggled in our treats and skipped the video games. (yes, I do feel a little guilty about the smuggling.)  The tears from skipping the video games washed off most of her chocolate face.  It was so cute, but so messy!  Remember though, we don't care today.  Both of us had to change clothes when we got home and it was just a thing of mini M&M's!  The Kindermusik friend was eating gummy bears.  She's her mom's 3rd child.  That mom has learned not to bring anything remotely meltable into the movies.  I'll know for next time, but I will always remember that sweet chocolate goatee grinning back at me singing the songs and saying "I like this funny movie, mom!"

The Cake Lady

Even before Woody turned 35, he had very old man tastes.  Ever wonder who orders the sorghum molasses flavored frozen sundae at Cracker Barrel?  It's your friend Wood.  Given a choice between Cheesecake Factory and hospital cafeteria tapioca pudding, Woody goes for the pudding every time.  To be honest, the only other person I've ever known to eat tapioca pudding was Rainman.  So, I shouldn't have been surprised when he said he wanted carrot cake for his birthday cake.  But, it's his day, so carrot cake it was!

Hope is always excited to do some baking.  Once again, we reinforce reading the recipe first!

Then, lets get those pans ready.  I've told you before and I'll tell ya' again. Parchment paper is where it's at!  No greasing and flouring.  It's not just for professional bakers.  I use it more than any other thing in my paper/foil/plastic roll drawer.  My favorite use (other than baking) is to bake your bacon. Yep, bake it.  Just line a rimmed pan with parchment paper, spread out all the bacon you can eat and bake it at 400 for around 15 minutes.  No frying, no burning, and it's all done at the same time.  Try it, you'll thank me.

Okay, let's get crackin'!  Yep, she cracks eggs now.  It is imperative that you have a separate bowl to crack your eggs in.  We're good crackers, but that splitting part that comes next is still tricky!  Then, we'll mix together the oil, sugar and eggs like we do with all cakes.

Measure out your dry ingredients.

Stir them and add to the wet ingredients.

Now, it's time to dump the carrots, pineapples and pecans.  Maybe raisins.  I thought carrot cake had raisins?  Our recipe didn't call for it.  I'm not sad about that.   This is where our photo adventure ends.  We did finish out with cream cheese frosting, but our cake....it just wasn't picture worthy.  Next time, I'll double the frosting recipe. 

Happy Birthday Woody!

Today is Woody's birthday!  If you see him around town, give him a good spankin'!  35 good spankin's!