Best Frenemies

The following incident occurred in our house last week:
Collin: Jenna, please stop bothering me.
Jenna: Bother bother bother bother bother

After admonishing Jenna that she shouldn't bother her brother on purpose, Collin and I had the following conversation :
Me: Collin, you shouldn't let her bother you. You are in charge of whether or not you let someone bother you.
Collin: No, I'm not in charge. You said you're in charge.
Me: Well, yes, that's true, but your emotions is one of the things that you're in charge of. You can choose not to let her bother you. Just ignore her and don't let her get to you.
Collin: Ok, I guess, but I don't think I have emotions.

About an hour later, I heard Jenna crying in the living room. When I went to investigate, I found Collin sitting on Jenna. What do you think he told me when I asked what he was doing? "I'm not letting her bother me, Mommy." I definitely had to walk away and laugh before I could address the issues at hand.

One of the perks of having our littles so close together is that they are best friends. They LOVE to play together, and it's so much fun to watch them together. However, one of the downsides of them being so close together is that they absolutely delight in pushing each other's buttons. Here's to learning early on how to ignore the people around you who are pushing your buttons, right? :-)

Using the Whole Pumpkin - Even the Guts!

I've always used the part of the pumpkin that you puree to make pumpkin stuff, and I've roasted the seeds, but until last year I just threw out the guts. It always seemed wasteful to me, but I didn't know what else I could do with them. Last year, though, I finally found a recipe for Pumpkin Guts Bread. It's a big hit with everybody in my family and everybody else we've shared it with. (Just leave out the guts in the name if you're serving it to someone you think might be picky).

Pumpkin Guts Bread Recipe Ingredients

• 2 cups of fresh pumpkin guts, pureed
• 3.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 3 cups sugar
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 0.5 cups water
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• A handful of chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Pumpkin Guts Bread Recipe Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9″ loaf pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Mix the flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar in large mixing bowl. Add eggs, water, vegetable oil and pureed pumpkin guts. Mix completely. If you are including nuts in the recipe mix them in now. Mix well. Pour into your prepared loaf pans and bake for about one hour, or until your toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry. Cool the pumpkin gut bread loaves for a bit, then turn them out of the pans and cool completely on the racks.

I like to serve it with a cinnamon butter similar to the stuff they have at Texas Roadhouse.

 

Cinnamon Butter Recipe

1 cup butter, softened
2 ounces granulated sugar
2 ounces brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:
Mix and beat all ingredients listed, together, until smooth.
Cover and refrigerate over night.

Enjoy!

Chatty Check-up

I took Jenna in for her two year check up today. It went like this:

Doctor: She eats okay for you?
J (before I can answer): Yes, I ate all my oatmeal for breakfast.
Dr: Well, my next question was about her talking but clearly there's nothing to worry about there. Are you starting to think about potty training?
J: Um, I go pee on the potty, and I wear Minnie unders.
Dr: Ok. I guess she's where

she needs to be. Let's check her out.
J: I want you to wash your hands first, doctor.
Dr: Well, I already did, but I can do it again.
J (after he washed his hands): Ok, you listen my heart now and check my ears and I will go, "Aaahhh".

Independent and opinionated - I'm not going to say where she gets that, but his name rhymes with hat. ;-)

In other news, she is 33 1/2" tall and weighs 26.2lb

Questions, Questions, Questions!!

I recently saw something on Facebook about the number of questions a toddler asks in a day. Having a two year old and three year old, I became curious about how many questions I answer each day. On Monday I did my best to count the questions Collin asked, and on Tuesday I did the same with Jenna. Before I give you the grand total, here are a few facts:

• Collin asked 33 questions BEFORE BREAKFAST!
• Most of Jenna's questions centered around food. 
• Collin asked 85 questions in an fifty minute car ride. 
• Jenna's questions almost all started with, "Can I have...?"
• Collin's most frequently asked question was, "What's that sign mean?" (He's into road signs lately).
• Between the two of them, I was asked more than 100 questions while I was on the phone. 
• On the day I counted Collin's questions, he napped for three hours and was at a babysitter for two hours.
• On the day I counted Jenna's questions, she napped for two hours and was at the Y nursery for an hour.

Now for the grand total.....DRUMROLL PLEASE!!

On Monday, October 1st, in the hours I was with Collin, he asked 472 QUESTIONS!

On Tuesday, October 2nd, in the hours I was with Jenna, she asked 138 QUESTIONS!

Put that together and that means in a typical day spent with my two favorite little people, 

I am asked OVER 600 QUESTIONS!!!

Seriously, I love my two curious kiddos. They are so fun, and their many questions make for some interesting conversations. These numbers, however, do help explain to my husband why sometimes a simple question such as, "What's for dinner?" or "What do you want to do tonight?" or "Do you know where my glasses are?" asked after he gets home from work will push me over the edge and he'll get a response such as, "Stop asking me questions!" or "I don't want to decide one more thing!" or "I just cannot be in charge of everybody's everything all the time!!" My poor husband. I really try not to respond like that, but sometimes it happens.

I'll leave you with some conversations/questions that have made me smile or laugh out loud lately:

C: Mommy, can you turn in to a choo-choo?

Me: No, people are people and don't turn into anything.

C: Can I pretend you're a choo-choo?

Me: Sure, you can pretend anything you want.

C: Can I pretend it's my birthday? Then you have to make me a cake!

Me: Jenna, what do you want for your birthday?

J: I want daddy not go to work. Daddy please stay home for my birthday?

C: Mommy, I wiped my own bum! Are you proud of me?

Me: Yay! 

C: There was no toilet paper, so I just used my unders. Was that good, Mommy? 

(Sometimes you have to laugh, or you just might cry!)

J: Can I see Grandma?

Me: No, she's too far away.

J: Oh, do I need to climb a tree and see far?

Me: No, she's still too far.

J: Can I use my 'noclars? I want to see my Grandma!

Lost in Translation

I had the following conversation with Collin this afternoon. It literally made me laugh out loud. Here's hoping it gives you a chuckle, too!

ME: Collin, who made you?
COLLIN: God made me. Who made Jenna?
ME: God made Jenna, too. Who made Mommy?
COLLIN (replying quite emphatically): No, Mommy's not made. My mommy said, "Mommy's not a maid!"

I love this boy!! Have you noticed that he just keeps getting more handsome all the time??

Introducing....

Theodore Q. Montgomery

"Theo" for short


Matt and I have been looking at dogs for several months now, and we had our hearts sets on a cock-a-poo. Almost daily (sometimes many times a day), we were scouring shelter websites hoping to find the perfect dog. Once a few weeks ago, the shelter had a 3-month old cock-a-poo, but she had already been adopted within a few hours of being posted and our search continued. On Monday a 5-year-old cock-a-poo mix was posted, and we went to look at him on Tuesday. When we walked in the kennel, most of the dogs started going crazy, yapping and jumping. One didn't. He wagged his tail and walked to his gate, but he was very calm. Matt said, "That one - the one that's not yapping - that's our dog!" (I have always wanted a small dog, but Matt really didn't want a small dog because he thought, "Small dog = yapper"). Even when we put our fingers through the gate, he was calm and gentle. After getting to know him a little, we agreed that we would get him. He wasn't quite ready to be released yet, so we did not get him until today. That gave us a few days to get everything we would need for a dog.

Theo is 16 lbs, and the top of his head is about as high as the bottom of my knee. We've only had him about 5 hours, but so far he seems like a wonder dog. He appears to be well-trained and obedient. He's left everything alone that is not his, and he's stopped whatever he was doing immediately when told, "Stop!" Neither Jenna getting in his face nor Collin running around like a maniac has phased him at all. He hasn't growled at all, and he's only barked a handful of times. He goes to the back door when he needs to go out, and he's also a low-shed. I'm hoping that means he won't make too much extra housework. We're really hoping this works out, because the kids love having him around the house.

PS. He looks a little mangy right now, because he's in need of a good grooming. Hopefully, we'll be able to get him groomed soon.

It's Gone!!

Do you see what I see? What I see when I look at this picture is really what I don't see. Can you tell what's missing?

Can't figure it out? Compare it with this one taken about a month ago .
Now can you see what's missing?

Did you guess the purple and blue hippo float? If you did, you're wrong. :-) If you guessed the paci, then you're right!

Today marks one week that Collin has been without his paci!!

I'm a little sad about getting rid of the paci. After all, it's just one more clear indication that my baby boy is getting older, but it really is for the best. He had started to have an attitude about it so we decided it was time for it to go. We didn't try any games or tricks or fun things to get rid of the paci; we just took it away. Thankfully, it went much better than expected. He cried for a few minutes the first night, but he did all right after that. It shouldn't have surprised us that the most comforting thing to Collin has been that Thomas does not need a paci, so Collin doesn't need one either.

Doll Baby

I took a few (dozen) pictures of Jenna the other day. I only got 2 or 3 in which she's looking forward and smiling and not blocking her face with something or in some weird pose, but many of the others display her personality so well. I couldn't decide which ones to post, so I made a video of all my favorites. Enjoy!

Summer Catch-up Posts Part 2: 4th of July Weekend

We were able to travel to New Hampshire to visit my family for the 4th of July this year. This was the first time Collin could remember having been to Grandma's before, and he was so excited! Since traveling with the kids is easiest at night, we left Friday night around 9 and arrived at my parent's house around 4:30am. Thankfully, the kids slept for several hours after we arrived, so Matt and I got some sleep as well.

Saturday I went yardsaling with my mom (got some great deals on things I probably didn't need), and then we spent the rest of the day hanging out at my brothers house with him and his family. We hung out in his pool with his kids for a while, and Collin (with the aid of a life jacket) finally mustered up the courage to be in the big pool without someone holding onto him. After swimming, we had a cookout. My brother and his wife prepared some AMAZING food. While the adults were enjoying steak tips, my kids were more than happy with watermelon and hot dogs.

Collin LOVED the pool, but Jenna was not too sure about it.

.

So Mommy and baby rested in the hot tub.

When Collin's toes and lips started to turn purple, he and Matt joined us in the hot tub. I swear, despite what the picture looks like, the Montgomerys did not kick the Akerbergs out of their hot tub.

Jenna found a friend in Uncle Arik because he gave her as much watermelon as she wanted.

This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it.

All that watermelon clearly exhausted the princess.

While Jenna scrounged under the table for food (seriously, we really do feed this child!)....

....Collin spotted a cake and decided to help himself.

All the swimming and good food left my kiddos exhausted, so Jenna snuggled with Aunt Krista and Collin watched Thomas with his cousin Apryl.

On Sunday, we visited my parents church. They did a program for the 4th of July, and then they had a picnic on the grounds. My baby brother put the whole thing together, and he did an awesome job. After church and a nap, we went candlepin bowling with my parents, my brother Josh and his fiance Breana, and my brother Arik's family. Apparently, I come by my "crappy bowler" status honestly, because we all did awful! I think Collin (2 1/2) and Apryl (almost 5) did better than anybody else. Of course, they were using bumpers and ramps, so they had an advantage.

Jenna and her cousin Apryl at the church picnic

Collin being handsome at the church picnic (My ten year old niece Ally took this picture).

Me and my baby girl at the church picnic

Collin and Apryl had their own bowling lane, because nobody else wanted to use bumpers. Here they are being cute together.

We also went to fireworks on Sunday night. My kids LOVED them! Collin's running commentary the whole time went something like this, "I love fireworks! Fireworks loud. I love loud! That one's red. I love the red one! I like that one Mommy! Doggie want watch fireworks. Doggie loves that one, Mommy! I like that one, too!" Meanwhile, Jenna squealed the whole time and tried to reach out and grab the fireworks. I felt bad for the people just a little ways in front of us with a screaming kid, but I also couldn't help thinking, "Better them than me!" Is that terrible? Sadly my camera died, and I have no pictures of my kids at the fireworks. :-(

On Monday morning, my dad, Josh, Breana, Matt, and I climbed Mt. Major. My awesome mom graciously offered to watch the kids so Matt and I could go. Even though it was hot and sticky, we had a great time. I've climbed the mountain so many times that the hike was really like taking a trip down memory lane.

Me - about halfway up the mountain

Josh and Breana taking a break


At the top


Exhausted at the bottom

Monday afternoon we went to a family friend's house for a cookout. We had a lot of fun boating and swimming, but we were SO TIRED by the time we left for home.

My cute kids

The only even halfway decent family picture we got all weekend


Matt took Collin out in the boat.



The princess with her grandpa

We left NH at 9:20 pm Monday and arrived home at 4:21am Tuesday. That seemed like one of the longest drives ever. We had had a great weekend, but we packed it so full of family fun that we were exhausted by the time we went home. I drove most of the way because Matt had hurt his ankle hiking Mt. Major, and I sent this text to my brother less than 2 hours into the drive, "I'm already sucking on fireballs to stay awake. This could be a very long night!" (We had stopped somewhere; I was NOT texting and driving). Thankfully, with the exception of being passed on the highway by someone going the wrong direction who crashed into the guardrail right after he passed us, the trip was uneventful.

PS. This may be my longest post ever. Sorry about that, but it was a busy weekend. On the plus side, it has WAY more pictures than normal. :-)

PPS. Giving credit where credit is due: Most of these pictures were taken by either Arik or Krista with their really awesome camera.

Summer Catch-up Posts Part 1: Father's Day

Father's Day was a month ago, but we had such a great day and got some fun pictures, so I decided to still post about it.

For the last several gift-giving occasions, Matt had asked for a fishing pole. Knowing next to nothing about fishing, I was at a loss about what to get him even when he tried to explain to me what he wanted. I asked several friends who know more than I do about fishing, I asked the salespeople at sports stores, but I still was not confident that I could pick out the right thing. If the present were for anybody else, I would give them money and say, "Go pick out what you want." However, since we're talking about my husband here and all the money belongs to both of us, it would be pretty dumb to just "give" him money that already belongs to him. When I reached the peak of my frustration over the situation, I had an idea - a pretty good one if you ask me. I decided to give Matt something that would say, "This is symbolic of your real present. Go pick out what you want."

All of that explanation leads up to this: Matt's present for Father's Day from the kids and me was a Spiderman fishing pole that he could use to teach Collin how to fish.

You would think that Collin knew the present was for him, too, with the way he was trying to get in on the present-opening action.

After church, our Sunday afternoon nap, and a stop at Wal-mart for worms ("yucky worms" if you ask Collin), we went to a park with a pond for Collin's first fishing lesson. At first, the fish were too fast - they grabbed the worm and swam away before Matt and Collin could get them on the hook. This happened so many times initially that Collin thought the purpose of fishing was to lose the worm. He kept exclaiming, "Yay! We lost the worm! Need get 'nother one worm!" If we had never gotten a fish, he would have been happy because he had no idea that getting a fish was the point of fishing.

Getting a 'nother one worm - Collin was afraid to touch them


Waiting patiently for a fish (That's what the picture looks like anyway, but in reality I had to snap this picture very quickly, because the fish came and took the worm pretty quickly).

Eventually, they caught an actual fish, and Collin has been IN LOVE with fishing ever since. He was so proud of his fish! It was so fun to see him so excited!

Collin was very proud to be showing off his first fish!

I was so surprised that he was brave enough to actually hold it in his hand - I wouldn't be!

Perfect Collin-sized fish (I have no idea what kind it is)


Taking after her mother, the princess has very little interest in fishing. :-)

After we fished for a while, we spent some time at the playground, and I was able to get some cute pictures of my kids and their amazing dad.

I love the way Collin is looking up at Matt here.

Collin's eyes in this one make me laugh.


Jenna getting kisses from Daddy

Collin and Jenna are seriously the luckiest kids in the world, because their dad truly is the most wonderful man in the world! We love you, Matt! Thanks for being amazing!

PS. The following Tuesday we went to Dick's Sporting Goods, and Matt picked out his ow fishing pole. He hasn't used it yet, though, because he doesn't have a fishing license.

PPS. I've been way behind on my blogging lately, but I'm going to work on catching up. The following posts should be coming shortly:

• Summer Catch-up Posts Part 2: 4th of July
• Summer Catch-up Posts Part 3: Camping and Corn on the Cob
• Catan cake
• Monkey See. Monkey Do.
• Garden Update