Mary Mary Quite Contrary

My little garden is two weeks old!  I'm so proud of it.  (I totally feel like I'm talking about one of my kids). It's become a bit of an obsession.  Everyday I'm going out there to see how it's grown.  We've had a ton of rain lately so I'm worried that it's gonna drown it but there's not too much I can do about that.  It looks ok so far except for the herbs in the top right corner. They're turning a little yellow.

Yes it's my new baby. Can you believe how much it's grown!! (Now I really feel like I'm talking about one of my kids.)  The left box second from the bottom is supposed to be empty but it has 2 shoots coming up.  They kinda look like corn.  Weird.  Maybe the rabbit that dug in it the first night transplanted them.  Luckily the rabbit hasn't been back since.  So there's the update on my little garden.  It's so cute, isn't it!?!

Just Don't Call CPS

So we had a bit of a hard week around here. I promise I don't beat my kids, but to look at Kayden this week, you would probably think differently.  Let's start from the beginning...

Monday:
While helping me in the kitchen, he fell off the stool, hitting his cheek on the step on the way down.

It's a lot darker in person.

Tuesday:
First, while babysitting for a friend, Kayden got pelted in the eye by a flying book. It was totally on accident (I promise Emily!), he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Then, while helping me in the kitchen again, he finally learned what hot really means...he touched a boiling pot.  So sad.  He got quite the blister on his little index finger.

Wednesday:
Kayden was crazy hyper and messing around with Tyler and Kayden went to steal a shirt Tyler was holding and swung around, hitting his head on the edge of the coffee table.  He got a nice goose egg/cut right behind his ear.

Thursday, oh Thursday:
I was just getting out of the shower when Kayden comes in and says, 'baby eat'. I thought, oh great, what's she trying to eat.  So I follow Kayden into the living room where I find Morgan with the lid of the teething tablet bottle in her mouth.  Hmm, that's weird.  I took it out and found the bottle exactly where I left it (on the bookshelf, where Kayden could reach it, oops), but it was completely empty!!! Between the two of them they had eaten almost the entire bottle!!  I had no idea who had eaten how much.  I called poison control and she said the kids should be fine, just a little hyper, because of the caffiene, and will probably get a stomach ache.  I was to give them plenty to drink to dilute it and she'll call back in an hour.  She was right, Kayden was super hyper, and Morgan got a killer stomach ache so apparently they shared the tablets equally.  At least Kayden's learning to share. :)

Friday:
Luckily we had no incidents yesterday.  Unless you count the time I banged Morgan's head on the door frame on the way out of her room.  Wonderful.  She was pretty onery all day, too  I think those nasty eye teeth are coming in.  No fun.  Sure could use those teething tablets right about now.

So, to sum up, I'll not be getting the mom of the year award.  Better luck next year!

My Garden and my Kids

That's right, I started a garden!  A friend told me about this thing called square foot gardening. I didn't want to dig up a patch of our grass and till it and replace soil and test it and adjust it and deal with all that. This was the perfect solution! You should really check it out. It's awesome. So here's a pic of it.

  I planted all seeds instead of starter plants, except for the herbs in the top right corner. I hope the seeds come through.  I'm worried that our backyard doesn't get enough sun.  I guess we'll see!!  I've planted early corn, late corn, green beans, parsley, oregano, basil and thyme(all the herbs are in the same box) tomatoes, spinach, marigolds(to keep away certain bugs), cucumbers, peas, butternut squash, zucchini and green onions.  The grid is just on the surface to guide you when planting and to keep track of what's what when it comes up. We made it from 1x2 untreated wood and the box is 4 foot legnths of 1x8s.  They say to use untreated wood because the treated stuff has chemicals that will leach into the soil.  Then we stapled cardboard boxes to the bottom to kill the grass underneath so it won't grow through and sprout up as weeds.  It was fun to put together. I'm so excited to see what grows!

My kids are great. Morgan is crawling like crazy, it's the army crawl thing but she can definately get places! She's fast! Kayden is getting such a personality. He's so funny. His newest word is sit...except it doesn't sound like sit :) My baby already has a potty mouth! He'll say it a couple times and we start laughing so he'll say it more, over and over, and we have to tell him to stop! I'm just waiting until he says it in church.

Kayden loves going in to get Morgan up with me. He runs in, stands on the side of the crib and says, "Hi baby!" (No matter how hard we try he just won't say her name, he just calls her baby). Then he wants to get in the crib with her.  When it's time for bed he has to kiss her goodnight.  Yesterday I forgot and he chased us down the hall making kissy sounds.

Aw! What a good big brother!

 

 Kayden is pointing out his owie...that he got weeks ago and has long since healed. He has a great memory, seriously, he remembers everything!

 

Here's Kayden driving home from church.

Good Eats

I've come across a couple of amazing recipes lately and I thought I'd share!!

First up:
Chocolate Covered Cake Balls

cake mix(+ingredients to make it)
1 container store bought frosting
2 bags chocolate chips

You can pick any flavor cake mix, any flavor frosting, and any kind chocolate chips.  That's part of the fun.  There are so many combinations to try!  My favorite so far is Yellow Butter cake with cream cheese frosting and white chocolate chips.
So here's how ya do it...
Bake the cake as directed.

Let it cool enough to handle but it's still warm. Dump it in a bowl and mix it with the frosting.

Put this mixture in the fridge for a few hours, until you can ball it up easily without it falling apart. Roll them into aprox. 1 inch balls, like a cookie dough ball.  After they're all balled up put them in the fridge to harden up again. 

Next, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave. It only takes a minute or two.  Then, dip the balls into the chocolate, coating it completely.  This is the hardest part, it takes a bit to get the hang of it but you will!

Cool and Enjoy!!!  The flavors I used in the pictures are Devils food cake with cream cheese frosting and white and milk chocolate(since it takes two bags of chocolate chips I usually do one of each, gives a little variety!)  It was really really rich. A little too chocolatey for me.

The other one I wanted to share is this awesome salsa I found on my friend Alicia's blog.  De-lish.

Cowboy Cavier

1 can sweet corn--drained

1 can olives--chopped
1 can black beans--drained
1 bunch green onions--chopped
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup lime juice
5 cloves garlic--minced
1/2 tsp oregano
3 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

***Mix all of the above ingredients together and then just before you serve add..
3-4 tomatoes--diced
4-5 avacados--diced

It makes a lot but it is so so good!!

Have you had any great recipes you'd like to share?