In case you missed last week’s post, I will be illustrating the travels of Baylor’s Gnome – or Tome as she calls him. Get excited. He goes to some funny places.
I think I might be having more fun than Baylor with this story line. The kiddo had Tome going for a dip in her pool…I may or may not have suggested he talk to Barbie. And is it me, or is he smiling??
What do you do when you live in Arizona and you don’t have a pool to cool off in? You make a pool to cool off in. Because when the high is 114, there’s only so much pool-less-ness one can take.
Yes, this is our little backyard ghetto oasis. This is the only time of year that I would love the maintenance and cost of having a pool, but because the pool fairy hasn’t come yet, this is what we do to have some fun. And actually it is really fun. The hose going down the slide into the pool? Awesome. The mister under the shade of an umbrella? Surprisingly refreshing. “Tea” parties with Tome the Gnome and Barbie? Can’t beat it.
So while it may look a bit questionable, it is quite fun and refreshing. And some day when Baylor is in therapy describing how she had to play in a tiny pool where she had to roll around to get wet, at least she’ll have the money to pay for it since we didn’t blow her therapy money on a life-size pool.
For many years, Mame had a gnome that sat by her front door. It drove my mom nuts and one day she snuck into Mame’s house and left a book called “How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack” with a note inside:
It became a great joke – my mom would always ask when she was getting rid of the gnome and Mame would always threaten to start a collection.
Every time we would visit Mame, Baylor insisted on being the one to notify her that we were there. First we would ring the door bell. Then Bay would knock and shout: “It Baylor!!”. Which comes out more like “Bay-yer!” and the “it” is not a typo. There’s no “s” when she says “it’s”.
After she finished alerting Mame, she would spend the few moments waiting for her to come to the door petting the gnome. Except she calls him “Tome” instead of Gnome. The pats on his little hat were followed by sweet whispers saying “Hi Tome. Good Tome”.
I brought the gnome home to our house this week and put him outside her play house. The kid doesn’t miss a thing and was thrilled that Mame’s gnome had come to live at her house.
The funny thing is a few days later, she started moving the gnome around. He’s been in the wagon, down the slide, in the wadding pool and sitting at the dinning room table. The concept cracks me up so expect to see more posts on where Tome is this week.
Tome’s new home
Tome on the move…
Peter and I had a blast planning Baylor’s 2nd birthday party this year. It was so much more fun because she actually understood what a party was and that it was all for her. We had crazy straw cups, the new climber, a bouncer, a home-made game of “Pin the Stuff on Baylor”, design your own glasses, cookie cake and lots of friends. What more could a girl need?
Just waiting for her buddies….
Bubbles make everything fun!
Auntie Ali
No boys allowed!
Pin the Stuff on Baylor – will be more fun in a few years
Willow makes “design your own glasses” look goooood
Blow out the candles before the wind does!
Check out Stephanie’s blog www.manyhatsofamom.com for more great pics and her daughter Kelsey’s favorite parts!
For Baylor’s birthday two weeks ago, I attempted to make cake pops to enjoy during the family party. Please note the word attempted.
I found a blog that documented how to make the little spheres of deliciousness and I also had a friend walk me through how she made them. How bad could it be?
I forgot I was supposed to be taking pictures so I started when I was mixing the Fun Chip cake with icing to make the cake balls:
And then I started fashioning the balls – I thought they looked a little big and I should have listened to myself:
Then I started coating them in pink candy coating. However, my cake mix was too warm and they kept falling off the sticks. I had to regroup and put the balls in the freezer for a bit so I could finish the job:
After I took this picture, I had a hard time deciding if my creations should be called Crap Pops or Cake Meatballs. I decided on Crap Pops. But after tasting one I realized they were most definitely delicious, you just couldn’t look too hard at them:
Good thing the kiddo didn’t care!
Peter pretended that they were pretty
But I did redeem myself for her big party on Saturday with a delicious M&M Cookie cake. Made from scratch and not too shabby!
Peter’s mom, Marilyn, has a bountiful vegetable garden every summer and this one is no exception. She brought us great and HUGE zucchinis and lots of grape tomatoes, my favorite.
Tomatoes are a no brainer, we eat them straight up, caprese salad, etc. But zucchini is always a toughie. Besides bread, I’m a little stumped. Feeling adventurous, I sliced the zucchini long ways into strips, about a quarter inch wide. Salt, pepper and a little fresh garlic and grilled them up. The result as delicious! The garlic gives them a little spiciness and they go great on the side of turkey ranch burgers.
Ranch burgers are not my invention, but rather those at Hidden Valley. I tried the suggested recipe and the result is great. It’s an easy and fast dinner that even the munchkins like – 1 packet of dry ranch dressing and 1 lb of ground turkey. Mix well, form patties (go bigger, they shrink when cooked) and grill ’em up. Double the recipe and have plenty for lunch the next day.
Also I’ve gotten a comment from a reader who I actually know and like (although his comment made me question our friendship) regarding the simplicity an often the use of ingredients that are pre-made (i.e. Lenten Deliciousness). This person questioned whether or not it should really count as a recipe when it is simple to make and my answer is this; when you have a toddler crawling up your leg, a sink full of dishes and a very small window before all hell breaks loose due to hunger and bed time, and you have to create a delicious and healthy meal, you call me and let me know if my “recipes” count as recipes. Ok?
Tonight I tackle cake pops for Baylor’s family birthday diner tomorrow night. Pictures and play by play to come. Hopefully they are great pictures and a happy story and not something along the lines of the Whopper Brownies.
Baylor and I did a lot of yard work this weekend. Her contributions are along the lines of:
1. Don’t pull the plants out that have just been planted
2. Play in a big bucket of water
3. Water the plants. The house. The patio. And herself.
But we did get a lot new color in that will hopefully last at least until it’s 110!
Beautiful Salvia and Portulaca – a favorite!
I love that you never know what color the flowers will be
Finally getting bigger berries – these are aaalllmoosst ready!
This past Sunday marked yet another week of taking our sweet soon-to-be-two-year old to church. A ritual we’ve done since the week she was born. And until the last few months, has been a relatively simple process. As she enters the second year of her life, she has a new-found fun time at church. Mainly torturing her parents.
Last weekend Baylor was frustrated, hot and bored. In an effort to get my attention and thus relocated to the much more interesting and fun vestibule of the church, she attempted to head butt me. I gave her the mom stare trying to telepathically tell her “knock it off” when she went for a second shot. I’m quite sure that she knew that my usual response to a head butt is a head butt – which I obviously do gently and in a “I’m going to show you that this hurts” teaching kind of way. However, when someone sees you head butt your child, they tend to frown on that. Especially in a place of worship. Therefore my little Einstein knew if she threw her noggin at mine, she was probably A. going to get away with it and B. get to go to the vestibule. And she was right.
So instead of a demerit system and empty threats, we tried a reward system. If Baylor was quiet, we would quietly thank her for being silent and then give her a yogurt raisin (her favorite). Brilliant? Maybe. But worth a shot none the less. I have to say that it did work, until about a half hour in. The little stinker caught on and then started making noise in order to be shushed and then she knew she got a raisin for being quiet. She’s either going to be president or live in a secluded cabin somewhere running a blog that plots to take over the world.
The one redeeming quality is she’s really stinking cute and I am always sure to dress her equally as adorable. Mostly because I think people are more tolerant of cute kids.
This is the conversation Peter and I had on the way into church yesterday. I’m going to leave out who said what. You’ll get why.
“Oh no. I think I forgot to put on deoderent.”
“That’s ok. I forgot to brush my teeth.”
“Well at least we won’t have to worry about anyone sitting too close to us.”
Amen!
If you could get your DAMN kid’s DAMN coloring book out of my DAMN bed, that would be helpful. I’d like to get some DAMN sleep!
“Mommy, I really loooove your shoes! Are you suuuure I can’t wear them a little longer??”
The real question is; who DOESN’T wear a knit cap and Little Gym medal to walk their dog?
The Goon Room 