Elisabeth Starts Kindermusik Class

Jonah went to Kindermusik classes from the time he was 8 months old until Elisabeth was born. Poor Elisabeth is just now getting her turn. I took her to a preview class last week to see how she liked it.



As you can see she rather enjoyed it and mommy did too. So we signed up and today was her first full class. This was her favorite part.

Parenting.com Baby & Child Model Contest

I submitted a photo of each kid to a model contest for Parenting magazine. I rarely do this, but thought the $10 coupon for Shutterfly was good motivation. We acquired a new lens for our camera recently, so I had a few good pictures to choose from. I like that (1) actual people in the industry are doing the judging, (2) that you can submit a photo every month, and (3) your photos from previous months are still in the running. Just for fun, they do still have a people's choice award each month; so, if you would like to vote for my cutie pie's click the corresponding links below.

Vote for me in this contest!

Contest details

Vote for me in this contest!

Contest details

MLK Holiday at a NC Aquarium

The Martin Luther King Jr, Holiday sneaks up on me every year being so close to Christmas and New Years. A nice surprise every time though since hubby gets the day off and we get a chance for some unexpected family time. We decided to go the Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores on the coast. It is one of three of North Carolina's aquariums. We went to the Fort Fisher Aquarium last year on the same holiday and were pleasantly surprised to find the cost of admission waived on Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. That is the case for all three of the Aquariums on this particular holiday.

We spent about two and half hours making our way through the exhibits. Jonah and Elisabeth both really enjoyed it. We enjoyed it as well, but particularly so watching the kids responses. Elisabeth was surprisingly expressive and kept taking in deep breaths and saying, "wow," "fish", or "look mommy." It seemed like almost all the exhibits were designed so little kids could really get up close. The big tank at Fort Fisher is like this too, but it seemed like many of their smaller exhibits were not as easily accessible to little people as the ones at this aquarium. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Aquarium. I'll spare you all the fish pictures though...









In case you do find other peoples pictures of fish and turtles and snakes interesting, click here

Exploring Kennedy Space Center

Jonah loves planes and spaceships and astronauts as I have mentioned in a previous post. So on our recent visit to Florida we took a day and went to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. We had a great time learning about some of the history of space flight. Did you know there were 6 moon landings? For some reason, I thought there were only two. The last one was in 1972. We went inside the cargo area of a space shuttle - it was really big. We took the bus tour, but there seemed to be a 40 minute wait to get back on the bus at every stop. The kids were fading and we were getting worn out too. So we missed some good stuff - gotta save something for next time!

Here's my favorite picture. Watch out NASA - possible future astronauts here!



Here is a slideshow of all our pictures. Jonah loved the park with all the tall rockets.

Potty Training Update

Boys are notoriously hard to potty train and my son has not been an exception. He has had days where we think he's almost there and then it's as if he's forgotten or doesn't care - one step forward; two steps back, seemingly. He started preschool last fall and has been wearing pull-ups almost exclusively through the day and diapers at night. We have constantly had to coax him to the potty. Since returning home from holiday travel, we've let him choose between real underwear and pull-ups and he prefers real underwear. He seems to have an easier time getting them on and he's been much better about going to the potty. We still ask and remind him, but he's not been quite as obstinate. Yesterday, however, I had to clean up poopy pants - not my favorite activity - obviously! So this morning after breakfast, I showed him a large caramel-filled, chocolate left over from Christmas and told him that if he poops in the potty he could have the whole thing for himself. A couple of hours later, he comes running into the living room saying, "I have to go potty! I have to go potty!" I told him, "go potty then!" Well don't you know he goes #1 and #2 in the potty and he gets his candy. I guess he just needed a little more motivation.....

A Dash of this....

This is by no means a cooking blog, but I was so happy with this new recipe I made today that I wanted to share. My grandmother's clam dip and chips, Kelly's grandmothers sausage balls, and my moms fudge tempted us constantly over the holidays with their sweet and savory goodness. Needless to say we indulged quite a bit and now need to visit South Beach once again. Phase 1 is challenging to plan meals for, so I did a little internet searching a came across a recipe for a spicy pinto bean soup that sounded tasty and very "doable." Soup is just the thing to hit the spot around here with temperatures remaining unseasonably cold with high's in the 30's. Burrrr.... I did make a couple of changes though - I used one Serano pepper instead the can of peppers and left out the optional ham flavor concentrate (never heard of that before). It was really good! Has a little kick to it, but again just the thing to warm you up on a cold day.