It's not like we haven't been doing anything...

It just all seems like it's the same old kind of thing these days. Not a bad thing, however; it just leaves little interesting to blog about.

I guess that's not all true, because Andrew alone is enough to spice up anyone's life. For example, in the past few weeks, I have found him here:


(We managed to save all those wipes, nearly a brand new package full)

And here:


(We managed to save him from wiping out)

And just today, he spilled out a whole container of trail mix onto the carpet and a package of crackers onto the kitchen floor. And it's only noon. Whose genius idea was it to have snacks at the kid's level anyway? (Hint: It was mine).

A picture I don't have and maybe wish I did happened the other day. After brushing his teeth, I gave him a little Dixie cup of water to drink out of (since he loves drinking from regular cups, this is his reward... since "brushing his teeth" is a euphemism for the much less pleasant, me pinning him down straight-jacket style, to brush his teeth for him). Well, after giving him the cup, I left the bathroom for, literally, five seconds, and when I come back... he is dipping his dixie cup IN THE TOILET!!! Just scooping and pouring water. I'm really not sure if he drank any. I haven't seem any evidence of parasites, so I think we dodged a bullet there.

This was a fun game I caught on video a couple weeks ago when some friends came over to play. Andrew loves Jada and they had a fun time playing together, a three way version of peekaboo, with Andrew pushing Jada back down to hide. It seems a little like he's manhandling her at some points in this video, but don't worry, no babies were harmed in the production of this film. They both were having a great time.



I also want to personally thank Julie de Azevedo Coleman, for creating the Signing Time DVDs, and teaching my son the word "No!"



It's really okay though. I'm pretty sure he did pick up the word no from these shows, but he's also picked up a lot of other words and signs. And anyway, Andrew loves them. He laughs the minute he sees the menu come on. After coming home from walking Aubrey to school, he watches it. And then watches it again. The "two times in a row" is absolutely necessary. Then he can go about his day. If we don't watch it twice in a row, he will point to the TV all day long. As it is, he already would probably watch it all day long on repeat, if I let him. I do let him watch it a couple times, because I think not only has it taught him many signs, it has taught him words too, and his vocabulary is really coming along, like today he said "nose" out of the blue, while we were playing. So we are encouraged by his progress.

Last weekend we went to San Antonio to see Lindsay and Ritchie and with good intentions of going to Sea World. But then Chad and Ritchie decided to turn on some football, and Sea World went out the window. And then this is what we saw most of the weekend:



They slept most of the weekend, with football on in the background. No matter, Lindsay, Aubrey and I were busy making puppets most of the weekend. A nice throwback from my childhood. Next time we get together, we might even make the stage.



Aubrey got to play with Rylee, the daughter of one of Lindsay's good friends in her ward/neighborhood. Aubrey has become friends with her and always asks to see her when we are there. We built a fort and that was fun.



We went to their ward's Labor Day picnic, and Chad, the big strong manly man played stick pull.





He makes me so proud! :) He would have made a great pioneer, for that reason alone.

And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for. Just kidding. I finished my first attempt at Cream Cheese, and it turned out great!!! I was really excited. It's so easy, you just wrap two cups of yogurt in cheesecloth in a strainer and let the whey drip off for two days. (And note to self: be careful next time you pull the strainer out so you don't spill the whey all over the kitchen floor. Who knew that whey was SO sticky?) I used my own yogurt, and was pleased to find that the cream cheese is sweet, and has a lot of flavor and will be delicious on a bagel, or with crackers. (Nevermind that it slightly resembles a ball of sticky tack). Yummy. I am going to depart for a while from my milk products experimentation because I am going to tackle a new frontier, the the exciting world of soapmaking.



One final thing I wanted to add was, I finished Breaking Dawn. I was sort of iffy about reading it at all, because I had gotten bored with the series after the second and third one, but I was pleasantly suprised to find that I liked this one! I was happy with the way the story progressed and even though at points I felt like the plot stalled a little, overall, it was fun to read and maybe my favorite one of the whole series. Now I'm reading the Screwtape Letters, a book I've read parts of years ago, but never the whole thing. Such an interesting book.

Anyway, today is the day I go volunteer in Aubrey's classroom, so we will see how that turns out. Everyone have a happy day!