Activities & Sisters

So proud of myself I have done it again, baby steps people, baby steps. Annie and I did a "hunt" since trying to get her to say the word scavenger was impossible :o) I made a large list of colored things to find including: smell something purple, snuggle something brown & draw something yellow. She had a great time running all over the house collecting colorful things and it was her idea to bring them back and place them on the paper in their respective spots. She even found a yellow sticker of a sunshine and attempted to draw one which always impresses me. I am looking forward to finding some preschool activities to do with her this fall so please comment here if you have any numbers & letters activities or preschool books you have been impressed with because I am clueless!

Of course her daddy came home and took her picture with her scavenger hunt & her polishing off his Gatorade as she thinks it is her job.

These girlies have been playing together more lately and I love to watch them interact. Mostly Mia tries to do everything Annie is doing and I make her adapt to her level. Annie really wants Mia to "be Aunt Kuck and ride behind her like the girl" because Aunt Kelly rides behind Uncle Zach on his motorcycle :o) Mia however does not have the ability to stay on the back so she either gets a ride in front or gets to push Annie around the house which they both find just as amusing.

Favorite Things

This girl

Loves

(with reservation when they are out of their cages)

The

Pet

Store!

She visits on a daddy date quite often. Tonight she asked me what I was going to do while she and her daddy went the the pet store and the bank store. :o) I thought I would tag along and put my 2 cents in on the movie & snack selection for after the girls went to bed (mommy date you know). She has the place memorized and knows when a pet has been purchased. She actually took her daddy to the front of the store to "tell that lady where did the big fish go". :o)

The movie choice was Adjustment Bureau, ill let you know how it goes. The chocolate choice was Graters Buckeye Blitz and I already know how that will go... half a pint at a time!!!

Fun Project

I have been struggling with putting up with my children during the day :o) haha that sounds really bad I know. We are stuck in a stage, their attention span is short and I don't want to get certain things out while Mia is awake because of small pieces and she is in a totally whiny phase where she follows me around crying (ahhhh, its so annoying) I want them to learn to play so I have been trying to sit down and teach them how to play together with the kitchen set or blocks etc. We usually run errands, take walks, swim at grams pool (just around the corner) to fill some of our time, they are allowed to watch one movie which is usually in the morning because they have been getting up so early. So once we have done all of that we are usually all out of ideas by late afternoon post naps. Then I find myself dreading their waking up because they are just going to follow me around while I finish whatever project (laundry, dishes) I started during nap that I am trying to complete.

Yesterday I decided that when Annie got up I would have a fun project ready and I could remember gluing colored pasta to paper when I was little in sunday school so I googled it to find out how.

It turned out way more colorful than I remember and I was pretty excited how easy it was! Check it out!

A necklace for Grammy made from Pasta tubes and a picture made with tiny star pasta!
You couldn't actually wear the necklace because the dye comes off if it gets wet.

(trying to get this child to look at the camera and smile is ridiculous! She doesn't do it, this is her in mid-sentence talking to Grammy because I told her we were taking the picture for Grammy to see)

All you need is some sort of pasta

Rubbing Alcohol and food coloring

Oh and sans clothes is always a good idea when working with food coloring, as is a broom handy for all those tiny stars that didn't make it into the baggies.

Just mix approximately:
1/2 T rubbing alcohol
5-10 drops of food coloring
a few handful's of pasta
into a ziplock bag and gently mash, shake & mix

Pour it out onto a paper towel lined cookie sheet or paper plate and the alcohol quickly dries in about 5-10 minutes!
We let ours set out in the sunshine while we splashed around in the kiddie pool to soak our food colored fingers. I suggest a fan turned on high while mixing and measuring the rubbing alcohol we were quite fumigated ;o)

Last nights movie review : Adjustment Bureau (that has to be the hardest word to spell ever!)
It was odd but entertaining enough for a $1 Redbox rental. There was a sex scene and true to PG-13 movies these days they used their obligatory F word once. Otherwise it was Matt Damon who is always fun to watch and whoever wrote it was pretty inventive. The end was anticlimactic however not a let down which totally ruins it for my husband so that was appreciated :o)

And the Ice cream was as delectable as ever and I will triumphantly report to you that I stuck to my 1 serving which is good because it was probably 500calories alone ;o)

Good Friends & Vacation

We have been busy doing all things summer. We traveled to Ellijay Georgia which if you have never heard about it don't be surprised. There is Nothing there but mountains in which there is a community of cabins that we stayed in with some of Joe's Cedarville roommates and their families. It was the longest the girls have spent in the car and did a wonderful job. We left around 6:00 thursday night and encouraged the girls to go to bed around 8-9. After fussing for way too long Mia (who normally sleeps in the car with no problem) got a pant change and we were quickly on our way again.
I already mentioned that it was in the middle of nowhere and after 11 when I climbed into the backseat of the truck to help Annie fall asleep Joe was trying to navigate us through small town usa into the middle of Nowheresville GA we finally made it to our desitination around 2:00 am. The girls and Joe slept until after 9:00 that morning which was a relief since you never know how the kidos are going to sleep when you are in a strange place.

Joe, Matt, Jay, Pete

We were looking forward to seeing everyone and meeting the children that we have all given birth to since we saw each other last. Joe's senior year he rented a house with 7 of his closest soccer friends and we have all kept in touch over the years. They are some truly wonderful godly couples and we enjoyed spending time with them catching up on each others lives.

Levi

Cooper

We swam (Annie & Jax)

Ate good food (Mia's first corn on the cob)

Sam & Jay

Annie, Sam & Emma who is 3 and the oldest of our 7 children

The kids made new friends

Joe bought sparklers to celebrate the 4th when he was on a junk food run. Turns out fireworks are frightening for a 2 year old. :o)

We had a great time, we missed the Beall's and Belleman's immensely and can't wait to take another trip all together again soon!

One Year

I wrote this 2 weeks ago and forgot to post it... oops!

You know you are neglecting your blog when even your dad tells you it needs to be updated :o) I love that my daddy reads my blog, I love that my daddy says things like "Oh I saw that on her facebook status" not that he has a fb account but he is a super duper closet fb stalker and he reads moms :o)
So here you go daddy and the rest of my adoring fans, a fresh new outlook on what has been going on in the Z world.

Amelia Renae, "Mia Nay" (Annie), squish, squisha, squishy, squish face, baby chakes, chakes, chake, chakea chake, mia, mia mia, sis, bb, namesake (Kara) and finally "Little Kate" (grandpa neal) :o)
At one year old the child has no shortage of nicknames. She is my tiny little brown beauty. At one year old she has decided to take some steps although she is not serious about it and doesn't choose to very often. She claps for herself and tries pat-a-cake, so big and pointing one finger when you ask her how old she is. She is always, always smiling and wrinkles her nose when she does. She charms everyone even though she is not usually putting on a show. She is finally sleeping through the night after about 10+ months of not and she still takes 2 naps a day most days. She is a happy baby, easy going and along for the ride. She is still a cuddler and I LOVE it! She has 4 teeth and not much hair although its getting longer in the back and when its humid it curls around her neck. Wouldn't it be nice if she had nice, dark, wavy hair like Nels and Beth? Too bad they were both born with more hair that she has at one year old! She says DaDa, and occasionally Mama, dydy and waves for byebye. She will sing along with her sister in the car sometimes and it is absolutely adorable! She gives big open mouthed kisses and I love it!
She weighed in yesterday at 17.3lb and 28.5in. just 5 oz smaller than her sister was at a year! I can't believe I have two tiny babies. The pedi yesterday said less than the 5% was fine she is just petite like I was!! Hahaha! I was a HUGE child! 10lb at birth and 21 at 1 year! These children do not take after me... ok maybe her looks to because I was watching a baby video of me yesterday and she really does look a lot like me only my hair got lighter as I got older and hers is staying dark.
I threw her a little family 1st birthday party and I was really excited to make this cake I saw online.

It was surprisingly easy to make, took waaayyyy too much icing (5 cans of store bought icing to be exact!) But it inspired me to go a little further with the rainbow theme. I hung rainbow balloons although some of them popped and I had to replace them with colors out of the traditional rainbow order which really bothered my OCD self. I told myself to calm down and just enjoy the day inspite of the off colored balloons and then my stinkin big sis had to walk in the door and point out my improper color spectrum. I punched her for noticing and then punched her again for bringing it up :o) Don't worry punching is good for someone with chronic illness it takes the focus away from the kidneys :O)I bought m&m's (yes skittles would have made more sense but m&m's were on sale) made a salad with red tomatoes, orange carrotts, yellow cauliflower, green lettuce, & purple cauliflower. I thought about throwing some blueberries in but yuck! I even co-own a Longaberger basket that is rainbow colored that I used for napkins and utensils (kris is it your year to have it?) I dressed the birthday girl in her rainbow dress and honestly I was pretty proud of myself :o)

They wanted to swim even though the weather was perfect but too cold for swimming so they sat and shivered for a while.

Stream of Consciousness

I shouldn't be blogging right now. I should be getting ready for work. Here are my thoughts jumbling up my brain.

Mia is almost a year old! I love it!

She took 2 steps for her Daddy yesterday (or so he claims, I didn't witness it)

She (FINALLY) has a second tooth on the bottom and has her two top ones driving her CRAZY trying to poke through.

Have I told you all that Annie says "Moo" instead of "New" and she says it 100 times a day! I love it. Currently my favorite is "Mama wanna sing moo happy day?" and then she sings "OH, moo happy day, moo happy day, I never wanna chaaaaange" I think it should be her theme song :o)

I was looking at this adorable tutorial on how to make a clutch this morning. Not that I would make my own clutch because I don't have a sewing machine but I LOVED the clutch. Before I had kids I only carried a purse because I had to. I never got into what they looked like and I kept the same one for years. I was excited to carry a diaper bag because it was large enough to carry everything I needed and then some and I didn't have to worry about a purse.
Now I believe I have grown up a little in the past 2 1/2 years and I love cute clutches but I lack a free hand to clutch anything other than a pumpkin seat and a sticky little hand!

Day In The Life Of Us Part II

I swear Annie knows when her father is in the house and doesn't take as good of a nap. So after a very short 1 hour nap she was up (and whining that she was houuuungry). However cousin Carter was coming over to play (save the day!) Our afternoons are so much different than our mornings. Afternoons are survival mode, make it to bed time, kill or be killed if you know what I mean. :o)
While Joe worked on homework and Mia slept like a good little girl, Annie, Carter and I went to "Mr Burry's Park" which would actually be our wonderful neighbors Beth & Barry's swing set. They have a wonderful piece of property in a flag lot behind our house and let us use their play yard whenever we want! The best part is that it is completely shaded, I foresee many hours spent here in the summer when it is ridiculously hot to go to the park up the road.

Blowing bubbles on Grams Deck after dinner

While Daddy & Uncle Noon build a new pool deck. We are SO excited for summer. Gram got 2 new big umbrellas for Mothers Day. Bring on the hot sun & new pool!

I had intended to take pictures of the dinner making process as well, however I forgot and after the process began it was every man for himself, there were tears & spankings & bribes and sadly it is one of the easiest dinners in the world to make! Ill leave you with my "recipe".

Calzone's (or Stromboli depending on how you roll it out)

1 Frozen bread dough (purchased at Kroger)

Favorite Pizza toppings

Favorite Marinara Sauce
Olive Oil
Minced Garlic, Parmesan, Sea Salt, Favorite Italian Spices, for topping

Let dough rise in a warm place according to pkg directions (I left mine outside on the deck all day and it overflowed & fell, don't worry it still works!) Preheat oven to 400, roll dough out into either one large rectangle for stromboli or several smaller circles for calzones. fill half of dough with cheese and favorite toppings (I just do cheese, pepperoni & leaf spinach). Roll along the longest side for Stromboli and place seam side down, for calzones simply fold over and press dough onto itself along the sides. Brush with Olive Oil and sprinkle with minced garlic and sea salt & Parmesan if desired. Place on preheated baking stone or cookie sheet until top is browned about 10 min. Heat Marinara and serve alongside as dipping sauce. YUMMY!!

I prefer Calzone's because the dough is easier to roll out in small pieces and each of us can have the fillings we prefer.