Home Again, Home Again

We have returned from our whirlwind trip to Wisconsin. I think we made it in one piece.

We stayed mostly in Eau Claire and had lots of fun. One of the highlights for me was going to an Amish community nearby and visiting a store run by Mennonites. I know I'm weird. I bought an apron.

It was cold. Like, 69 degrees was the high one day. I was very cold and so was E. He's a true Southerner.

The Eau Claire farmer's market was awesome. It was very large and busy and had an interesting variety of things. Including cappuccinos and the like. They had an espresso machine.

On the way back, we stopped in Kansas City and visited our good friends Gary and Lesa and their kids. They met us there and stayed the night. Sort of a weird grown-up sleepover. It's good practice for our commune one day. Now all we need is some land and a yurt.

A Post On Communication

I don't really have the time to post tonight, getting ready for our trip and all, so I'll just direct you over here.

Meg over at Sew Liberated has a great post on elimination communication and lovely pictures.

Leaving for "Miss Consin" tomorrow

That's how E pronounces Wisconsin. It's pretty funny. Hubby tried to explain that it's "W" like "window" and E says, "there's a window at Miss Consin's!"

Kids.

So we're off to the land of cows and cheese.

With three kids and we're driving. I know. We're crazy.

Breastfeeding reduces risk of child abuse

click to read May/June 2009

A Very Cute Baby

I just thought I'd let everyone know that we have most likely, the cutest baby ever. Since I can't post a picture, you'll just have to imagine her. 

Yup. That's her. Totally cute.

She's almost to 11 pounds now. Lorelei is getting teeth but is a real trooper about it. She hardly fusses; just quietly sucks on her hands and drools. She loves to stand up and can do baby push-ups.  She's very vocal too. Lots of baby talk. 

She's in her excersaucer now, just talking with the toys. She's so tiny I have to stuff a toy monkey in there to keep her upright (the seat is too big!) but she loves to have her legs out and standing.  

Of course she poos and pees in her potty too. And wherever else I ask her to go. Except pooing in her diaper. She had a fit the time I suggested it. 

In other news, the farmer's market opened on Saturday. We got there later than we planed due to a flat tire as we pulled out of the driveway. But we got there eventually and it was packed.  We bought squash, potatoes, and peaches.  Carol, a former co-worker, sells soap and herbs there. I said hi and she told me I looked like Angelina Jolie. I guess it was the long skirt and braid with the baby that doesn't look like me wrapped on my chest! It was a funny comment. 

We can't go anywhere without talking with Lorelei's adoring fans. I guess her natural cuteness is amplified by the fact that people do a double-take when they see how different our skin tones are. Then they are sucked in by her cuteness.  She usually reacts graciously by smiling or cooing appropriately to ham it up a little more. 

Of course, the boys are cute too. But they 're boys. There's just something about little girls that's so much more fun....

Blueberry Hill

My in-laws got here yesterday. It's been lots of fun with Grandpa Lee and Grandma Julie. The boys are having a total blast. They went to the movies tonight with hubby (some Glenn Beck thing or something) and E had a breakdown, he wanted to go too. He's never done that before! I suspect a lack of nap had something to do with it.

I know that everyone thought it was a crazy idea, but I made us all get up early this morning (ok, so we got out of the house at like, 8:30) and drive out to a pick-your-own blueberry farm called Blueberry Hill. You can find a pick your own farm here. It's a good 30 minutes away and when we finally get to the address on the website, we realize that it's a residential neighborhood! So I called the farm (luckily I had their number) and the poor farmer explained that somehow we had arrived at his house! So yes, always verify before you try to visit a farm on Pick Your Own's site! 

But he gave us directions and we got there 10 minutes later. 

We ended up having a great time. I picked blackberries and everyone else picked blueberries. I think we have a gallon and a half of blueberries and about a third of a gallon of blackberries. I realize that's an odd way to measure, but that's how they were weighed when we paid for them. 

Once we got home, I made a batch of blueberry jam and one of blackberry jam with a little blueberry in it.  And some blueberry muffins. 

And we still have a gallon of blueberries in the fridge. I'm going to have to buy more sugar and pectin. Or something. 

Blueberries anyone?

Oh, and while we were there, Allyson, the La Leche League leader for the area that had come up with the idea to go to the farm, introduced me to a lady named Susan. I spoke with her briefly and because Lorelei had just pottied (and she had a baby the same size and age), I mentioned our EC adventures. She said, 'Oh yeah, I've read about that on your blog."

So I have now met someone IRL (in real life for you non-nerds) that has read my blog that I didn't know previously!

Weird.

Surprise Playdate

Jessica (from our new church) and I went out for a playdate last week at Kid City. Kid City is an awesome play place set up at a big church. It's 4 stories tall and has a coffee shop next to it. It's wonderful.

We went to lunch at Jason's Deli afterwards and agreed we'd do something again next week. 

So we decided at church that we'd try to go to Sci-Port (an educational science place for kids) this week on Tuesday. I called her last night and left a message that I thought 10:00 sounded good, but I never heard back from her. So I assumed that she was busy and ended up sitting around in my jammies all morning.

Of course my job from FlyLady today was "get up and get dressed to lace up shoes when you first get up in the morning. This means fix your hair and face too."

If only I'd listened. So Jessica called at 10 and I was sitting in my jammies. All the kids were dressed and clean and fed (miraculously) so I said we'd be there in 20 minutes. 

I threw on pants and we got there and had lots of fun!