Yesterday

I had this bright idea yesterday to do a post on all the things we did that day. A sort of this is what I do on an average day post, a glimpse into our little life. I even uploaded all the pictures and videos. And then reality set in and I was up until midnight cleaning the house before my whole family comes into town. But I thought to myself this morning, why waste a good blog idea? So, here is what our day was like yesterday.

We baked banana bread in the morning. Elise loves to help cook and make big messes. I told her it was banana cake and she got really into it. We put it in these fun shaped pans my mom gave us for Christmas. This is Elise wolfing down the teddy bear. What can I say? My kids are good eaters. Elise ate the whole teddy bear, minus the legs. I gave those to Chloe. I ate the whole flower.

Then Chloe learned how to play the recorder all by herself. It got a little annoying after a while but she was pretty pleased with herself. I can see many a future battle over this purple plastic instrument brewing.

And then, Chloe and I had a little tickle party. She's my little giggler.

Not pictured: my 6am run (and that is sleeping in), me on the phone frantically trying to get our refrigerator fixed before my whole family comes into town, Ben's sweaty bike ride, me frantically trying to figure out what I can make with the contents of my rapidly thawing freezer (the answer: Slow cooker Thai pork, Moroccan apricot stew, and a berry cobbler.), Ben finally putting a light up over our kitchen table so there is well, light, over the kitchen table, the cleaning, oh the cleaning.

The Reveal

Our house was built in 1968 so we bought it knowing we'd have to do a little work on it. Easier said than done though, right? Ben and I worked really hard and did as much as we could by ourselves ("No, Ben, I don't trust you to tile the whole kitchen by yourself."). We need to hang up some pictures and get a little more furniture (hopefully the craigslist gods will be kind to us) but other than that we're pretty much done. With the inside at least. The yard is a wreck. That's the next project.





I also got some sand for the sandbox finally. Crayola makes this fun colored sand. Ben hates it because he thinks it makes a big mess, but hey, sand is going to make a big mess anyway, so why not make it a pretty color so it doesn't look as dirty? Plus, now the sand is easy to identify and the threat can be removed before going inside. My favorite part? The blue is exactly the same blueberry color that Veruca Salt turns in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the old school one). I love my blue girls!

Attack of the Praying Mantis

I know. Enough about the praying mantis. I've written more about this still-unnamed insect than my own kids lately. But there have been some interesting developments to the story. Just as we were about to let the thing go for fear PETA would knock down our door and demand we stop the cruelty, Ben found a cricket outside, something we have on good authority that praying mantises like to eat. He thought it was at least worth a shot and luckily for us he chose to document it. Like in Cloverfield, it's kind of hard to make out what's happening at first, and then, oh yeah, that's the monster and he is totally going to eat you.

Warning: the following pictures contain graphic insect violence

I told you that thing was a killer.

Praying Mantis Update

I think the praying mantis is protesting its captivity with a hunger strike. I started to feel bad for the little guy because he had no food and was stuck in a little plastic container (reverse Stockholm syndrome?) so I had Ben stick some of the large ants that have invaded our house into the container with him. Now, just so you know that my previously expressed fears weren't completely baseless, it did get out when we opened the lid. Luckily, praying mantises are bright green and not really fast moving so it was pretty easy to put back in its cage. But it still didn't seem to like the ants crawling around in there with him so Ben took out the ants, killed one of them, and put it back in the container. And there the dead ant has sat for 2 days. The praying mantis is either as picky as my 1 year old about what's for dinner or else it's decided to make a statement. I think we're going to have to give in to its demands and let it go soon. I don't think I'd make a very good president. Or superhero. I cave in to killer bugs/terrorists way too easily.

We're alive, and sometimes even well

We've had a busy past few months and when I'm busy, blogging is the first thing to go, followed closely by dusting and cleaning the shower. We've ventured a little further south and are living it up in Durham, North Carolina now. It's nice to have a fresh start amidst people who have no idea that I've neglected my blog for months at a time. But I'm not even afraid of people finding that out here since everyone is so extra nice. They take longer to do everything, but they're super nice about it.

The girls have made lots of new friends, including some from the animal kingdom.
Ben found this turtle about a mile away from our house on one of his runs and ran home with it. I don't even like to run holding a water bottle. I can't imagine running with a turtle for a mile (the thing was heavy). Way to go Ben! He had grand visions of the turtle living in our backyard, but it took off for greener pastures shortly after its arrival, a decision perhaps spurred on by Elise trying repeatedly to feed it sticks and leaves. Here's Elise bidding it farewell, "bye bye sea turtle." No matter how many times I correct her, she insists on calling all turtles "sea turtles." This is how the conversation always goes: I'll say, "it's not a sea turtle, it's just a regular turtle. Sea turtles live in the ocean." Elise, "Ok, bye bye sea turtle."



A frog/toad (I didn't get close enough to verify) appeared in our sandbox with no sand turned swimming pool a few days ago. Elise offered it some of her lollipop but it declined.

Finally, the latest addition. Our 12 year old neighbor loves playing with Elise and she showed up yesterday with a little container for her. She found a baby praying mantis at the store and brought it home to give to Elise. She even made it a little container to live in. Elise loves it. I don't know how long it will last. I'm too scared to feed it for fear it that when I open the lid it will attack my face and get loose in the house. It is kind of cute, in a killer insect kind of way.

Playing catch up- Chloe turns one!

My little Chloe bug turned 1 in June. It's hard to believe that a little over a year ago Ben left for a 5 hour bike ride and I went into labor shortly afterwards, a month early. This year we had a quiet birthday here in Durham surrounded by boxes and messes. Our neighbor brought over some balloons and presents and I took a break from painting to bake her a cake, which she refused to eat.

Stuffing her face with some birthday pizza Opening some presents

I just looked at some baby pictures of her and got a very very small twinge of "baby fever" as Ben calls it. Look at that face though! So precious.

And look how little she was.

I think I need to stop looking at pictures now. We love you Chloe!