My Pancake Thief!

Photo Evidence 1: Toby is showing off a pancake we made that accidentally looks like a bunny rabbit running. Note someone trying to sneak a bite of a pancake (after already finishing two others!).

Photo Evidence 2: Someone's guilty conscience over taking a bite out of said pancake. (Toby is so excited about the bunny pancake that he doesn't notice the thievery going on behind his back!)

My BHG-Martha Stewart-Betty Crocker-Baker!

Toby and I baked a blueberry pie today. Toby picked blueberries yesterday with his summer playground group. We made the crust from scratch. We combined recipes from Martha Stewart (for the crust), Better Homes and Gardens, and Betty Crocker cookbooks, matching the ingredients we had to make pie. Toby rolled out the crusts, fit them in the plates, mixed the filling, crimped the crust and cut slits in the top. He also sprinkled sugar on top.
We let the pie cool until after dinner. While I served it up I asked Toby if he wanted ice cream with his pie. His reply: "I only want ice cream. I hate blueberries."

My Blog Roll

There's a feature here on Blogger that I haven't used yet, but I thought about adding a few links to the blogs that I follow.
Today I'm hoping you'll click on this link to read a post from the NPR Blog "Monkey See" about libraries. I read Linda Holmes' daily posts and love the way she spins pop culture for NPR. :o)
Now I've dropped Toby off at summer playground (they're taking the little kids to Chuck E. Cheese's -- Toby's first time there) and Norah and I are heading to the "why-bee," as she calls it. (That's the library in two-year-old-talk.)

My Reading Pace

I know that part of my "tag line" on the blog says "wish-I-had-more-time reader" but it truthfully should say "wish-I-could-get-paid-for-this reader." Maybe I'll change it. :o) I've been keeping a list of the books I've read for the last year or so and I realized tonight that it's been a while since I updated it. I added three of the more recent titles: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall (highly recommend!), The Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman (meh), and Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls (also a good one). Then I spent some time scrolling through the titles. I know there have been more books that I've had on my nightstand, but I've blown through them so quickly that I can't remember their names. I take the kids to the library weekly and so I have a quick turn around on the books that I've read; I don't like having library books sitting around when I'm done with them. Since I rarely have the chance to browse with the kids in tow I tend to select my books ahead of time and put holds on them (even if they aren't checked out), which makes the librarian do most of the work!

Back to the list: there are over 40 titles on there, and I honestly had to go back to the online library to look up a few of the titles to see what they were about. For example, the book Tamar -- I couldn't remember at all what that one was about. But then I saw the cover and remembered that it was a novel I actually liked about a couple of World War II spies in the Netherlands. One might think the lesson from this is that I should read slower or choose my books more carefully so as to retain the information from higher quality literature. But reading is my hobby (hence, the desire to get paid for it!). I think it's similar to hiking or backpacking or even running: I can read a guide book (or review) about a new trail (or book) but I've got to experience it for myself. Sometimes along the way I enjoy it and other times I wish I had stayed home. But the feeling of accomplishment at the end, in addition to the good parts of the journey, make the effort well worth the time.

P.S. A glance at my current holds list: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (doesn't come out until August but I am very excited for it) and How to Sew a Button and Other Nifty Things your Grandmother Knew. But since my grandmother is 10 minutes down the road I might skip the latter and just go learn those "nifty" things in person!

My Big Kid Activities

Toby is at a fun stage right now -- taking him to the aquarium or the beach is always an opportunity to learn new things for both of us!
Here he is at the touch pool, on a rope bridge at the park on the 4th of July, and completely passed out from playing with Star Wars Legos.

My Cutie Pie!

Just wanted to post a few pictures of the cutest girl this side of the Mississippi!

My Goal--I Made it!!!

I set a goal for myself back in February to run 100 miles on my shoes before I could buy new ones, no matter how long it took. Well, it took me until July 11th. I think I would have been done back in May if I hadn't hurt my hip and then broken my toe (I was 18 miles away from my goal at that point).

Now we get to plan a shopping trip for me to go to Providence to pick out new shoes. Hooray! The other day Toby yelled at me in the kitchen (in a nice way--we were all busy with dinner prep), where I keep my mileage chart: "Mom! You filled up your chart!" He has a similar chart that we put stars on when he does his chores or shows extra kindness, and he's earning things like video game time with Dad or bowling time, etc. We make a big deal out of him filling in 10 squares. I think he figured that when my chart was filled that we'd have a party or something, but it's been quite anti-climatic around here. :o)

My Providence 4th

On the 4th of July the family packed a picnic and headed to nearby Providence for music and fireworks. We at dinner near the water, enjoyed the playground and ice cream treats, and then settled in to listen to the orchestra play for an hour. The evening was capped off by the 1812 overture and fireworks. The kids had a ton of fun and we're already planning on going to that park again soon. I was so proud of us for trying something new as a family, and it turned out great!

My Kids Don't Mind A Little Bit of Sand

Norah and I buried Toby in the sand one day at the beach. The water was too cold for swimming and it was pretty windy out. So we snuggled up with some sand.

My, We're Wet! Those Darn Sting Rays...

We went to the aquarium last Friday for a quick afternoon visit. We started indoors with the sharks and the touch pool and then moved on to their favorite exhibit, the sting ray touch pool. The whole place was really crowded. We found a spot along the edge and put our hands in the water to wait for sting rays to come by. It must have been lunch time because the rays were really active. The kids had several rays swim by and then a few crowded up against the wall and splashed all of us. I didn't have my camera out but we all got totally soaked. I grabbed a few photos at the front of the aquarium on our way out -- we didn't want to stick around in wet clothes!

My Son's Last Swim Class

Toby went to his last swim class a few days after his birthday. He did a great job, and even swam a portion of the shallow end without his swim belt on. Although, "swim" is a term I use loosely, especially since he goes under pretty darn quick (see video below). But he has no fear (probably because he can touch in the shallow end) and had a ton of fun playing a game with the other shallow-end class (level two's). He was clearly picking up the concepts from Level 1 during his swimming lessons but the teacher wasn't totally convinced he'd be ready for Level 2 come fall. She figured that after a summer spent on the beach he'd be ready for it.

A few weeks ago we went to my aunt and uncle's house to swim in their pool. Toby had a great time using his new arm-band-swim-things (I can't call them "swimmies" because they're way better than what we used to call "swimmies"). He couldn't touch as easily in the shallow end in their pool, so he was a little more cautious, but still had a lot of fun.

I'm excited to see him grow as a swimmer this summer!

My Day in the Pool

Man, it's hot! We broke out the turtle pool a few weeks ago. The kids have grown so much that it barely fits them, but they were making the best of it. It was great to hear them playing together and splashing each other.

My Friendly Welcoming Committee

We like to watch for BJ when he's headed home so we can welcome him. This time Toby and BJ went to the grocery store together while Norah was napping. When she woke up we watched for them to return at the front window. Here's the video of how she reacts when they come home.

My Son Turns 5!!!

We like to keep things low-key for birthdays around here. Hence Toby's gift opening with just the 4 of us (and piles of laundry everywhere). Toby opened a few presents after the fun run (it was probably 10:30 in the morning) and then asked, "Where's the cake?" We made him some pirate cupcakes. The day after his birthday we had a few families over for pizza and more cupcakes.

Norah sings "Happy Birthday Buddy"

Toby and his pirate cupcakes

(I think he ate a half dozen of them over the course of the weekend).

Toby got golf clubs and lots of Star Wars Legos!

My Fun Run With Toby

On Toby's 5th birthday we participated in a local 1K Fun Run. It was such a hot morning but we all went out and did the run together. Toby had a great time! He ran almost the whole way, only stopping once. He got a bright red shirt with a lobster on it (the town, Noank, is well known for lobster) and his bib number was 405 -- on the day he was four turning five!

My Magic Blanket

I was playing around with my camera last month and decided that Toby would be a good subject while I was experimenting. He would hide under the "magic blanket" until I was ready to take a picture and then he would surprise me with a different face for each shot. We love this blanket, by the way, and it's called the magic blanket by everyone in the family (and a few guests who have fallen under its spell). Beware: anyone who uses this blanket magically falls asleep within minutes. (It's from Eddie Bauer and it's fantastic. This kid is pretty cute, too.)

My Kids' Nicknames

Toby and Norah have nicknames for each other that they came up with all by themselves. Norah has called Toby "Buddy" for the last few months, which has tended to stick around with us even though she now calls him Toby most of the time.
Last night I heard Toby yell to Norah from his room in frustration, "Norah Jones!" I don't know if he heard us talking one time about Norah Jones the musician and he thought we were talking about his sister, but he called her that twice last night. I thought it was pretty funny. Usually when he's frustrated he'll call her by her full name ("Norah Lynn Renae Strawser, come here!"). Last night's nickname was a first.

My Son Asks, Did You Know...?

A recent quote from Toby, shouted to me from his room where he's playing with Legos:

"Mom, Dark Vader is real! And alive! He's in Minnesota. He lives in a mall, I think."

And now the context:

Toby's new fascination, caught from his preschool friend, Eric, is Star-Wars Legos. The only thing he said he wanted for his birthday was Star Wars Legos. Since his birthday he's been setting up battle after battle with his new Legos. Eric came back from a summer trip to the Mall of America and a visit to LegoLand and shared that little tidbit of information with Toby. Except Toby calls him "Dark Vader" and thinks that he's the main good guy in charge of killing all the bad guys. We haven't been willing to let him watch any of the movies to sort that out.

And along those lines, a recent dinner guest posed this question: which Star Wars movie do we start with? This may not seem like too big a deal to many (I admit, it was lost on me for the most part), but the die-hard fan who asked the question gave us a topic to mull over.

:o)

My First Quick Summer Read

I recently finished a fun book called "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" by Katherine Howe. A good read, filled with interesting historical references. It came out last year and I picked it up at the library based on a review (er, it actually might have been an ad disguised as a review) in The New Yorker's summer literature issue. The novel suggests a link between the protagonist, a young woman researching for her dissertation in colonial American history, and a woman accused of witchcraft in 1600's Salem. A fun summer book with an even dose of predictability and unexpected twists.

My New Look....Er, With Struggling Titles

I've tweaked a couple of things on the blog this week. And I'm going to try this style out for a little while and see how it goes.

New pictures from last month will be up and showing soon!

Happy 4th of July weekend!

EDIT: Pictures from June are scrolling now! And my use of the word "My" in the titles is getting more challenging, especially since this is "Abbi's Family Blog!" Bear with me.