Flubber and Rubber Chicken.

Since discovering that Jude needs constant activities in order to avoid getting into trouble, I've had the kids on a tight schedule. It's only been two days and I'm pretty tired come evening time, but it's worth it to have a lot more positive behavior from the kiddos. We did flubber time today - as in we made it and then I let the kids play with it until Jude got squirrly. The recipe for flubber is:

Mixture 1:
3/4 cup warm water
1 cup Elmer's glue
food coloring

Mixture 2:
2 tsp. Borax
1/2 cup warm water

Combine mixtures 1 and 2.
Samuel mixing up the flubber. The boys really wanted vivid colors.

Here's Jude taking his flubber time very seriously.

Jude and his odd faces.

And Juliet with the rubber chicken bottom in her mouth.

My Meal Plan

I love having my meals planned for the next week. It takes me forever to write out a week's worth of meals, but here it is:

Slow cooker chicken/rolls (from bread maker cookbook)/salad
Chicken tacos (from previous chicken)/slow cooker refried beans/rice
Tortilla chip pie - from current Kiwi magazine
Black bean and rice burritos
Pizzas - from current Sunset magazine

Also: Spiced applesauce cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting - from Gourmet.com

Scrapbook Page - First Steps

I finished this scrapbook page last night. So fun! I've been using this scrapbooking book like crazy for inspiration. I'm amazed at how hard it is to find time to finish crafty stuff, but this is so worth it.

Cinnamon Rolls

Oh, my. These cinnamon rolls by the Pioneer Woman are to die for. I almost wept over the pan when they came out of the oven. And then I tasted them. They are like maple bars with a cinnamon-y kick. And the recipe makes like 50 of them.
This is how mine turned out: I could lick the screen.

She Walks!!

Yesterday Juliet officially took her first three steps. Yay!! She's 13 months. It's really hard to catch her in action, but here are some photos from this morning.

Super blurry - but you can guess how hard it is to take pictures of her at this age. She's so busy!

She also likes to sneak off and crawl up the stairs....

Kids.

I took some pictures during snack time yesterday. And instead of packing for our trip today, I edited them and added a Seventies action. I love making photos nice and faded - it really emits a different emotion, I think. These photos would have looked fabulous with rounded corners, but I don't know how to do those yet... (Samuel loves the "Family Fun" magazine. He always picks out a craft for us to do together. This month it will be paper birds. And I picked out the rainbow cupcakes for St. Patty's day.)

Blog of Randomness

- I spent the early morning (6 a.m.) applying makeup and intermittently texting my long time friend back East about memories of crushes, workouts with Cindy Crawford on tape and eating low fat food (think: bagels and pretzels and water). Mixing MAC and good friend memories is wonderful.

-I spent last night after the kiddos went down sort of watching American Idol and spraying Glimmer Mist on chipboard letters for a family scrapbook layout. Glitter and teal paint? A match made in heaven. Did I mention I used my "new" typewriter. I love it.

-Today I'm going to be cooking a from scratch batch of minestrone soup for our big family beach trip this weekend. I love cooking double and freezing half. Also? I'm making a huge chocolate cake. I can't wait to sit up at night at the beach, eat chocolate cake and read books.

-There's something to be said for putting loads of dried beans in the slow cooker with water and only using half of them - putting the other half in the freezer so I don't have to buy beans in cans next time.

-I purchased the new Jamie Oliver family dinners cookbook. I heart Jamie Oliver and his flower/food named children.

Value Village Finds

I hit the Value Village 50% off sale day yesterday. Sometimes I shop to forget my woes of dealing with disciplining Jude all day long. And since I'm not allowed to get these boots until our tax refund arrives, I will settle for thrifty shopping. I picked up this wonderful ride-on toy for Juliet, since she is now pushing things and walking at the same time. And the kids could not keep thier hands off my new typewriter, so I picked up one for them to play with. Sharing has actually gone pretty well considering there is one typewriter and three kids.

Moms is taking the kids and I out to New Seasons for lunch (our current favorite eat-in place) and not a moment too soon. I am exhausted and it's only 10 a.m.!!

Pink for Valentine's Day

Pink being pink eye, of course. I found myself in Urgent Care this morning with Juliet, who has been waking up with an eye so swollen that it looks incredibly pitiful. She didn't seem to notice it much, but I figured treatment should come sooner than later with something like this. Sometimes I think that someone is playing a wild cosmic joke on me, but I know that is not how things operate and I have to start looking at the bright side of things. It could be worse in many ways - really. Spending a good portion of the weekend at Emergency/Urgent Care isn't the end of the world - at least we only had to pay roughly $100 for medical services all together. The cup must remain half full, or I would go batty.

Here's my sweet girl playing today - she is in surprisingly good spirits and her croupy cough from Friday is improving.

Consistency.

What a whirlwind the last day has been! At about 8:20 last night while I was sneaking up to put on my pj's, I paused in the hallway and heard Juliet struggling to breathe in her bed. Think: asthma-like breathing where sucking in air sounds very difficult. Paired with a very hoarse cough/voice, I was freaked out. It came on suddenly and she was acting lethargic. Now, don't get me wrong - I am not a freak-out mom. Especially by my third baby, I usually take everything in stride. Breathing difficulty and Juliet, however, I don't mess around with. As I was holding what felt like my lifeless baby trying to gasp for breaths, I instinctively dialed 911 (that's a first for me). I calmly answered all the operator's questions, got off the phone, called Colin to come home immediately from work and began pacing around outside begging under my breath for the rescue crew to show up quickly. Minutes later, I heard the siren and met them halfway up my long driveway so they could help my sweet baby. As it turns out, she had croup and I declined the ambulance ride to the hospital, but did take the fireman's advice to go to the ER to get a breathing treatment. It took 2 1/2 hours to be seen (don't even get me started with how much I don't like Kaiser) and they advised me to elevate Juliet's bed and give her a cool mist humidifier in her room. At that point it's past midnight and after getting Juliet nursed, in bed and the humidifier going, it was closer to 1. I heard crying and barking coughs from her room all night, so I am running on fumes today. The good news is, unlike the other breathing issues Juliet has had in 2009, this one didn't end in a hospitalization and is not serious.

We are still in the trenches of the terrible two's with Jude and I am praying that will let up soon because I am feeling like I'm being given more than I can bear at times.

Here are some recent pics of the kids.
Samuel helping me make Barefoot Contessa's "Sunday Oatmeal" very early one morning: Juliet is standing for a few seconds on her own now. She also loves doing these cute little headstands:

Colin's mom had her dogs over her for a bit and Juliet was very interested in them:

The kids and I made Valentine's cookies and passed them out to some neighbors. Have I mentioned how much my kids love decorating cookies?!

Cute.

Samuel decorating his cookie Army green.

Jude having fun.

In the Trenches

I'm in survival mode here in the McGladrey household. Colin is getting loads of overtime (good for our checking account, not so good for child rearing) and Jude has decided to enter a late phase of the terrible two's. Think shaving cream on mirrors, pushing his sister, stealing toys, throwing fits - and that was all before 7:30 a.m! I will survive this, right?
In an effort to escape our house, I have been taking the kiddos for walks - Samuel rides his scooter. Jude was preparing a bed on the floor last night and Juliet joined him.

Here's Jude playing in their car outside.

And Juliet in her stroller this morning. I could just kiss those sweet little (cold!) cheeks. Did I mention it felt like 40 degrees this morning on our walk. Jude was pretty much frozen when we returned and I happily obliged warming him by placing him down for an early nap in his very cozy bed.

The Vintage Pearl

I love this shop. And in case my husband ever peeks at this blog, I wouldn't be mad about getting the circle bracelet for oh, Mother's Day.

Juliet's New Throne

Juliet has learned the art of climbing up on things (stairs, Rubbermaid totes, etc.) and tried her hand at the dishwasher last night. She climbed up, perched, and started grabbing utencils - her favorite pasttime.

Think that's a guilty face?! Cheese graters are fun to.

And here's just a cute one of her - she's mastering the McGladrey crinkle face.

Quotes From This Week

Samuel: "Look at Sissy's face. She's making bad notes in her head"
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(Samuel to me as I am singing to myself around the house) "Mama. You have an iPod in your brain again!"
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"You really don't want plaque to get the upper hand" (dental hygenist lecturing an abashed me after confessing that I don't floss nearly enough)
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(Jude, after listening to the Bible's creation story on CD in the car) "Who's Adamand?"

Me: "Oh, you mean Adam. He was the first man ever created. And Eve was the first woman created."

Jude: "Eve! Yes! I love her!"
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Quiet Time

Every once in awhile while reading the Bible, I stumble upon a verse that speaks volumes to me. Such as this morning. I struggle with finding time for devotions, what with a son that likes to wake up before 6 most mornings, but I decided to just sit alongside Samuel this morning and turn a movie on quietly and read the Bible anyway. Quiet time sure looks a lot different than it did pre-kids, but that's a whole different post. This morning, while reading Luke 6, it dawned on me that I really need to work on my critical spirit. Luke 6:37 states "Judge not and you shall not be judged. Condemn not and you shall not be condemned. Forgive and you shall be forgiven". I've glossed over that verse so many times, but I feel like I've reached a point of really needing to assimilate it into my character. Why do I care so much about the choices others are making when I really need to be focusing on my own character? I won't delve into my character flaws because confession isn't the intention of this post, but to encourage others with a good word, or the Good Word, as it were.

Wouldn't this world be such an amazing place without condemnation and judgement?