Isn't this yummy?

Oh, man, I hit a new low today as I was convincing Elise to eat her lunch. She's a pretty picky eater, but two of her "go to's" are Cheese Quesadillas and Yogurt. The "Dilla" is just a tortilla shell, filled with shredded cheese, microwaved, then cut into triangles. Yum, right? She's been on a little bit of a food strike for a week anyway, but today for lunch she asked for yogurt and dilla. Great. That at least covers some food groups, and she had milk, too. After spooning the yogurt on top of all slices of the quesadilla, then licking one or two of them clean, she declared, "I all done, mommy". Grrr. I HATE wasting food, so I worked hard to get her to eat it. It's her favorite stuff, after all! After a few nice requests, I tried the "Mommy will eat one, then you eat one, ok?" She said ok, calling my bluff. So, I had to eat a cold/cheese congealed cheesy dilla totally immersed in organic vanilla yogurt. It gave me the chills it was so gross together. But of course I said, "ooohhh, Elise. It's so yummy. Your turn now." Her reply? "Nope. I said 'I all done' Now I can get down and go play in playroom?". Elise=1; Me=0

"Moments"

As previously mentioned, we had GORGEOUS weather here this weekend and we had a few family 'moments' that I hope to hold in my head for a long time...on Saturday afternoon when the girls woke up from naps (btw, they're on the same nap schedule in the afternoons- I love it!), we had a 'picnic' in our backyard! I mentally ignored the laundry, messy kitchen, and smelly dog, and we just sat outside on a blanket for almost 2 hours. Ainsley just crawled all over us, Elise ran around playing with Gus, throwing balls with us, enjoying a snack, etc...we didn't have cell phones on and all we could hear was the fountain in the pond behind our fence. It was nothing special, but fantastic at the same time. I just wanted to step back, take a look at what we've been blessed with, and hope to remember it down the road. One of those times you just want to freeze everything around you. Also this weekend, Elise fed Ainsley a bottle (all by herself) and it was so precious to see them together, at least until Elise got bored after 4 minutes and wanted to get up... This morning, Elise and I toasted pumpkin seeds together. They turned out pretty good and you can see from the pics that we had fun!

Genetics

Although we KNOW I contributed 50% of the genes to both our kids, you'd never know it from looking at these two kids next to their daddy! You'd think I'd be 'rewarded' somehow for all this work that I put into them! We can just hope they grow out of it a little...Don't get me wrong, I think Adam is very attractive, but I don't want our girls looking like him once they hit high school...teenage years are hard enough!

Play Park

Last set of pics from when my mom was here...I'm still catching up from last week. Sorry! We hit our favorite park on Wednesday afternoon- another one of those PERFECT WEATHER days. It was sunny, NO clouds in the sky, and about 75 degrees. Elise was a little grumpy at first, but she cheered up after a bit and we had a lot of fun. Ainsley continues to be happy and fun.

Pumpkin Weekend

WE LOVE THE FALL! Growing up in Ohio (Erica) and several years in Maine (Adam), we look forward all year to the perfect "shorts+long sleeve shirt+optional fleece vest" weather. There's no better weather than that in our book! Currently living in the south, we know there won't be many days/weeks like this, so we'll enjoy them as they come! This last week was unseasonably cool here (highs in mid-60's) and we loved it. To honor the Fall weather, Adam bought two pumpkins Saturday to start his next homebrew, "JAG-O-Lantern Ale", made with fresh cooked pumpkin. It was a gorgeous day to sit outside during the girls' naps and work on the brew. With the leftover pumpkin, we pureed some of the gourd for Ainsley to eat, I separated and cleaned the seeds (Elise and I are cooking them today!), AND we used 1/2 cup of the puree to make PUMPKIN SPICE LATTEs this morning. I mean, seriously? "We're so pumpkined" this weekend...I love it.
The beer smelled really good as it cooked. It won't be ready for about a month (hopefully it time to take some to Steve/Mary's wedding in mid-October!). Ainsley loved her pureed pumpkin, although if you've paid attention to pictures of her lately, she loves all food. The pumpkin lattes were good-but we know next time to STRAIN THE STEAMED MILK before we drink it! Each mug had about 2 Tbsp of pumpkin mush in the bottom...it doesn't feel quite right to be chewing a latte. The 2nd 1/2 was better.... We're excited to bake the seeds in a little while to round out "Pumpkin Weekend". Coming soon, pumpkin bread and Patty's Pumpkin Curry Soup! Those are both tried and tested recipes, so we'll continue to enjoy the Fall. Now if only the Gators won yesterday, it would've really been a great weekend.

Good food!

When my (Erica's) mom was here, she stayed with the girls so we could go out
to eat one night and we had some of the greatest food we've eaten in A LONG TIME! There are some cool restaurants in the historic part of our little town, so we headed up to one of those. When we arrived, the one we were looking for was gone! There was a new place there, and, although it was 6:30pm, there was only one couple eating. We didn't have another option, so we tried the new place "Relish Downtown". The appetizer we got sounded intriguing, but it was SOOO GOOD! Sweet Potato Fries with Honey and Goat Cheese. I can't begin to explain how good it was. We enjoyed it so much that we brought an extra order of it home for my mom to enjoy- she stood at the kitchen island and ate it all in about 5 minutes- despite the fact that it was barely warm by the time she got it AND almost 9pm! nice. We also enjoyed the shrimp bisque (although it was very watery-isn't a bisque supposed to be thick and creamy?!). It was still great. I had crab cakes and salad, too. Both great. Adam enjoyed some baked oysters-pretty good, too, he says. All in all...SO nice to be on a date and a nice bonus to have fantastic food!

Who doesn't love Gus!?

Although he doesn't often (or ever...) get his own posting, GUS is an integral part of our family! After 6 years with us, he was definitely our 'first kid' and we still love this dog. Sometimes I feel like the poor dog gets a little neglected these days with the immediate demands of two little kiddos in the house, he surely doesn't actually suffer! Elise loves him like crazy, gives him hugs and kisses before naps/bedtime, and (when she gets home from school) runs to him saying, "I missed you so much, Gus!" It's adorable! It now seems that Ainsley is going to follow in Elise's footsteps. She's a little crawling queen these days and will spend most of her waking hours trying to catch up with Gus. He gives in sometimes and just sits there while she climbs all over him, playing with his ears, feet, tail, ripping out chunks of fur out to shove in her mouth (yummy!). He's so gentle with her and really doesn't seem to mind being 'abused' by another kid! Here's to Gus.
That's Gus' toy in Ainsley's hands....


She sat/stood at the door and 'talked' to him forever the other day!

I'm way behind...

After receiving a handful of hate emails b/c I haven't blogged in a week, I'm going to try and catch up today. Most of the family was sick over last weekend, my (Erica's) mom has been in town for a few days, etc...so I've been out of my normal routine (and how that throws me for a loop!!! I LOVE my SCHEDULES!)
First update- my brother Kelly has been working on designing the labels for our homebrew beer...and it turned out so cool! There will be some slight variation for each specific flavor, but the first one with it's own label is the "Ambulance Chasin' Ale" (kind of like a Boddingtons, if that means anything to you...it didn't to me). We have a Raspberry Wheat that still needs a name, but the beer is ready now and is great! I think Adam told me Kelly is going to re-send this label with a little different coloring, but it's so cool so I wanted to share it now! Anyone who wants to visit is welcome to share in some homebrew with us, so come on down!
Brand name "Barrister's Brew"; caption under picture "Ye Olde Barrister Moseley"

My little Overachiever...

Not only is Ainsley a smiley little thing, but she is also seeming VERY determined. Not in a bad "stubborn/hard-headed" way, but she focuses pretty hard when she wants to accomplish something....(it's usually crawling across the room to get someone's shoe in her mouth! yum).
While I was gone last weekend, she accomplished two things that'll go in her baby book...as soon as I get around to updating it, that is! Her first little tooth broke through, although it's barely visible still. So, we'll soon lose that great gummy grin we've grown to love. The bigger deal is that she's started pulling herself up fully on furniture! I'm not really excited about this, because when she falls, she falls hard! At just over 7 months, she's not coordinated enough to get herself back down without a good size crash and subsequent crying, bumps on the head, etc...it's cute, too, though, to see her little face peeking over the side of a table, chair, etc...

Remember these things?!

I'm behind again on updates, so I'll blitz through a couple quickly before Ainsley wakes up and we go get Elise from school! On Monday, our wonderful neighbor Jean helped out with the girls for a few hours since Adam had to go out of town for work and I was stuck in Ohio b/c of bad weather from Ike...airports closed, no power, etc...Jean AND both girls loved having time together and Elise came home beaming because "I sharing Christina's Hippity Hop, Mommy". Man, how cool are these things? I was pretty sure she'd love it and bounce non-stop, and I wasn't wrong. Here are a few action shots...if you click on the shot to 'open' the picture bigger, you'll see a GREAT look of concentration and focus on her face!

All my letters

I'm getting ready to go out of town for a few days (leaving the girls, essentially, for the FIRST TIME! AUGH) to meet up with wonderful college roommates! I'm excited to see old friends, but a little nervous about leaving my girls. Elise got my mind off it, though...I'm helping her color and practice her letters with a learning/coloring book she just got. I asked her about a few letters, and then answered it myself a minute later...she says, "You're very very smart, mommy. You know All your letters. I funny. " Yes you are, Elise. =)

Just when I was feeling pretty good....

I've been trying to figure out a way to write this for about 2 weeks without giving out 'too much information', but it's just too good to pass up....
I was sitting on one of our kitchen chairs doing something at the table. Elise came up and wanted to share the chair with me. We do this a lot, so it's normal. She climbed on behind me, straddling my body with her legs as she's also sitting on the chair. She starts giggling and lifts up the back of my shirt to 'count my freckles' on my back. She loves doing that, I'm not sure why...but again, this is pretty normal. She's counting for a few seconds and then starts poking my 'love handles'...that's nice, I'm thinking. Just what I need is a reminder that I still have a few pounds to drop...maybe I should dig out that Pilates video after all. She keeps poking- both hands on both jiggly spots...I'm laughing to myself at this point...until she says "Wook, Mommy. You have boobies back here, too!". Awesome.

Next Milestone for Ainsley...

Ainsley had a big day on Sunday (her 7 month "birthday", too). Not only did she officially graduate to a "crawler", but she also figured out how to get herself from her sitting/lying position to sitting upright. All on her own. It's so fun to see her excited that she figured something out and that she can get to stuff on her own, but it's also a nice break for me to not have to constantly re-adjust her and keep her happy. She's a lot more high-maintenance these days in general- throwing a SERIOUS fit when shes hungry, a toy gets taken away (that one usually thanks to Elise), or she just wants something HER way. It's a riot to see her face get so grumpy SO fast. Poor thing doesn't realize that her crying doesn't phase us that much and we can outlast her grumpiness...at least until she's a teenager! Here's the little crawler in motion:

Hanna-hype

As we cautiously watched the Weather Channel last week, we did a few little things to prep for Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hanna. We were pretty sure the storm would just pass, but we bottled some water and bought a few batteries, just in case. We met up with some neighbors around 6pm and shared a whole lot of appetizers, sports trivia, and a few adult beverages in Bill/Brandi's garage. The kids ran in the rain and wind like crazy and had a BLAST. The worst of the storm hit about 1am, just barely waking us up. Now we just hope that the same thing (miraculously!) happens with IKE! Here are a few shots of elise and the neighbor kids playing in TS Hanna. They laughed a lot and had so much fun.

There were about 3 inches of rain over the street...
Perfect for doing "stop,drop,and roll" in the street!
Taking a break for a few minutes and reading a book with Daddy...
Rolling like a ball...
The rain took a break, but the kids didn't! Is that a good idea to be playing on the electric box in a storm?! Needless to say, Elise slept well that night. =)

Grrr...

Always in search of a good deal, I thought I'd try the "Wal-Mart" brand diapers. Since we use cloth diapers most of the time, Ainsley only wears disposable diapers overnight (no matter HOW good a cloth diaper is, it can't keep her dry for 12 hours of sleeping!). So, we use 1 diaper a day. You'd think I'd buy the good ones for that very reason- a $16 pack of diapers would last 2 months...but, nope, not me. A good friend recently said they love Costco's brand of diapers, so I thought I'd try Wal-Marts....even though I DESPISE that place in general. I bought 80 diapers for $13 or something....Great deal! Not a great deal when the diapers are horrible. Three nights in a row she woke up soaking wet. I'm stuck with these lousy diapers for 3 months now! Grrr! So, for all those 'deal searching mom's' out there, DON'T TAKE A CHANCE ON CRAPPY DIAPERS. It's not worth it.

At the Mall...

The second 1/2 of the long weekend included a few hours of hanging out with The Andersons! Abby is a great friend from College (and beyond, of course) and it's so fun to spend just any time with them. =) They were visiting family nearby and the graciously took a little time for us- so we met up at a nearby mall so the kids could run and play. Their little boy Soren is going on 2 years old and is so adorable. He and Elise played well together and rode a mini-carousel toy for about 30 minutes straight. It was way cute. Here are some fun pictures....
So cute...

What a smirk!

Trying to get the two of us + the three kids to all look at the camera for a picture was next to impossible, but we got a few decent ones. It's always encouraging and refreshing to spend time with the Andersons and this was no exception. If only the Navy would move us to New Hampshire so we could see them on a regular basis...how else are Elise and Soren going to fall in love someday!?!

Ok, try to get all kids together...
Hmmm... 0 for 5 on this one...
2 for 5 is getting better...

Finally, all 5 looking ahead and at least somewhat happy about it! Yay!

Is it just me?

Does everyone else re-use the "Swiffer" cleaning things? not the wet pads that are mop-esqe, but the flat dry ones that you just use to pick up dust and (in our house) massive amounts of dog hair? Once it fills up, I get out the vacuum cleaner and vacuum just the Swiffer pad. Then I put it back on the end of the mop and, voila, a whole new Swiffer! I do that for three or four cleanings, then you can flip the whole pad over to the other side for another few uses....I figure that I really get about 6-8 uses out of each one. That adds up to several dollars over the life of the Swiffer refill box. Am I the only one this cheap!?!

3 day weekend...lots of friends

Casey and Los
All together before a good meal
Casey and Erica...after a few margaritas
The "Men" discussing deep things

Last Thursday night/Friday morning, our dear friends Casey and Carlos (along with another friend of theirs, Erica), showed up for a great weekend of sight-seeing, sharing meals, and re-connecting with people we haven't seen in three years! We hit Middleton Plantation (hmmm...anyone see a pattern to where we take visitors?!), the Charleston Waterfront area, had a great Japanese meal and a great "Adam's famous hamburgers on the grill" meal...it was a good time for all. Here are a few pictures. The highlight of the weekend with them included Friday night when Casey took Elise up to bed and they prayed together. We were listening via the baby monitor and heard, "Miss Casey, Mr Carlos, Miss Erica, Gus, hair, books, Mommy, Daddy, Ainsley,..." it was precious to hear Casey then praying for Elise as she grows up, etc... Also, when we were downtown on Saturday, Elise insisted on putting the Baby Bjorn on herself and putting her favorite stuffed animal Doggy IN IT as she walked around downtown....it was hilarious! Casey took a picture, so I'll post that sometime when she sends it to me. That area of Charleston is just GORGEOUS to walk around and people watch, look at old homes, architecture, etc...it was cool.

5 Day Forecast...

After just getting a lot of rain from Hurricane Gustav, we're really starting to brace ourselves for TS/Hurricane HANNA. It's crazy how there are three named storms all brewing together in the Atlantic right now. We're REALLY hoping that our roof on the house in Jax holds tight. (We just learned over the weekend that it's "significantly leaking"....hmmm...not great timing!). Adam is traveling for a couple days, so he called to tell me to start mentally prepping to leave the house and head up to stay with friends in NC. So, we're looking around the house at what we'd grab and run with, if necessary. Things like our wedding album, computer, a few important books, ...is my latte machine considered "essential"?!
Wouldn't it be nice if, in life, we could always see a "5 Day Cone of prediction"?! I mean, to know a "storm" was coming would be so helpful. To be aware of the need to store up some energy, water, batteries, etc...in the thought that there was imminent turmoil in the forecast could be nice. Although I guess that would take out a lot of the joy of life, too. Faith and trust in God wouldn't be as necessary. So, I guess it wouldn't be such a great thing after all... I'd rather follow God and experience all the joy, expectation, challenges, etc...that come with that. That answers my own question I guess. I'd choose God. Although, some days a little peek at the forecast would be nice, too!

Crustaceans con't...

After a few days of observing Jing Jr and Doc, I think that the original Hermit Crab was sickly from day 1. These two little guys are so active, they're eating and drinking like crazy, and Elise is so in love with them. When we get them out to play, they literally RUN across the kitchen floor...unless Elise is crowding them. Then they get scared and "jump into their shells" as Elise reminds me. She's adorable. Here are a couple pics of the pets and one of Elise sitting on a chair watching them. FYI- I know, I know, her hair is a riot! She'd had pigtails in earlier in the day, took a GREAT nap, and then this is the result- "post-pigtail-bedhead". not her best look....