Camera

This is Buddy checking out Eleanor's new camera. It has become a favorite of both kiddos. The newness has worn off a very little bit so that now every time he touches it she isn't worried or hovering around him. :)



Kids are so great and funny. He must feel very good holding a real camera and being allowed to walk all over the place with it.

When Ellie knows there are a lot of pictures on her camera she is very anxious for Clay to "put them on the computer". She will ask him repeatedly if he has done it yet. We are not sure what her plans are, but at least they are on the computer and she feels good about them. :)

Ellie Speaks

Somehow Clay gets Eleanor to make all these crazy faces. I love them. And I will have to start entitling these posts "Eleanor Speaks". She has decided she just wants to be called Eleanor. When we accidentally say Ellie she will say, "Can I just be Eleanor?"

The other day we were talking about the new baby. And Eleanor said something like, "...when Mommy has the babies." Clay told her that Mommy is only having one baby. Eleanor said, "Oh, I know. But when she has the first baby then in a few weeks she will have another one." We have actually had this conversation several times, she is having the hardest time understanding that there will only be one baby. :) Little does she know that one baby will be plenty for us to handle.

The kids have been sick, it all started LAST Thursday. My temperament doesn't really thrive on being still or staying inside all the time. But, it is good for me, as hard as it is. Yesterday was our annual church conference and I was really excited about going. I had big plans about bringing a blanket and sitting in the back with the kiddos enjoying pipe cleaners, play dough, and coloring. I'm not sure why, with having small children, but it is one of my favorite church events. But because of the sickness, which is the never ending cough and annoying fever, the kids and I stayed home and Daddy went ahead alone. This morning Clay was getting ready for church, he was pretty much dressed and ready to go. I was sitting on the rug in the living room trying to jump start my attitude for the day. Another day of movies, activities to keep the kids busy (because they do not believe us when we tell them they are really sick, did I mention that Athanasius will sometimes stand at the front door and cry because he wants to go outside...sad.) another day of being cooped up. Clay asked me if I was okay. I said, "Yeah, I'll be fine. I just feel a little bored." Eleanor, with her great smile looked at me and said, "Mommy, we don't say bored." ha ha! That's right baby, we don't say bored. Needless to say Clay noticed the morale of the troops (mainly Mommy...) was on the line so he stayed home and we had a wonderful day. We did take the kids outside for a ride in their wagon. Daddy's just have a way of making the whole house happy. :) It is always really weird when we have to stay home on a Sunday. It feels unnatural. But it isn't the end of the world, and in the scheme of things sickness lasting over a week isn't that long. But at the time it feels so. I was so thankful for Eleanor's reminder. I firmly believe one reason God wants us to have kids is to help sanctify and purify our lives. I think our kids are doing a great job at that. On a side note I made homemade jello for the first time. I mean I used unflavored gelatin and fruit juice. I was pretty excited about the whole thing and felt very productive. You know you do not have much going on when you feel productive from the act of mixing gelatin and juice in a bowl and then sticking it in the refrigerator. Sometimes it is the little things that bless us. We are hoping we are on the tail end of this sickness and that Clay and I do not get it. Ecspecially since we have a wedding to do this coming Saturday. I don't think a photographer canceling at the last minute would go over well.

I wish I could think of more things Eleanor has said lately, she says a lot. :) I should really write them down and then I would have a more substantial post.

Garden

These are our first banana peppers. We are quite excited. They were lovely and smelled so good.




Some very sweet friends gave Eleanor her very own digital camera! It was probably the best thing they could have given her. She loves it. Yesterday she figured out how to do a slide show on the viewing screen? She wanted to take part in my pepper shoot. Although Athanasius doesn't have a camera he wanted to join the fun. The peppers ended up on the grill. I am so happy about little gardens and plants that don't die.

Food Art

We were having issues with the glue bottle so I gave them a q tip and I think that ended up being more fun.


This is such an Ellie face, so happy.


I asked Athanasius to smile and this is what he came up with. :)




I was waiting for one of them to use their fingers for the glue, Athanasius thought of it first.
Who would have thought macaroni and beans glued to paper could be so fun? You can't really go wrong when you have two littles in the house that love "art". Now to come up with more things we can glue on paper...

Popeye

Playing Together

This is a box that lived a good life in our home. In the video Eleanor really wants Athanasius to get in the box with her. He does, and then gets a boo boo. We were not surprised at all that Eleanor wanted to kiss his head but that he let her! Ellie is very hands on and sometimes Athanasius is no touch when it comes to Ellie. :)

The Haircut

These were taken at a Baptismal feast. Some friends at church had their new baby baptized so to celebrate they hosted our whole congregation for lunch after church. There was excellent barbeque and sides, a kiddie pool, and a lot of beer. What better way to celebrate a new Covenant member?


Here is one of Eleanor just because she is so cute.



Athanasius pretty much tinkered around the whole time. He found this great plastic rod thing and a wagon that he pushed around. While Ellie was anywhere and everywhere. Part of me was always relaxed because I knew where Athanasius was but then the other part wasn't because I was always looking for Eleanor. Oh...how different my children are; I love you.

The lovely wagon he was so content pushing around.

Kids I Love

This was taken this past Winter. Notice the great hat Aunt Frances! He loved wearing it.



One of the many faces of Eleanor. :)



This was a couple weeks ago at the zoo. He did a lot of pointing. This was also before the great hair cut of 2011. Hopefully pictures coming soon of our now buzzed cut little boy.


We got the kids a wagon for their birthday and the box was just as fun. I cut a door and windows in it. I love how different our kids are. They approached and enjoyed the box in such different ways. Athanasius just wanted to push it around and move it all over the place. While Eleanor tried every different way possible to get in and out of it (notice the picture above...). While Athanasius wasn't really interested in playing inside the box at all.

Revamp

We have been wanting some outdoor furniture but it is a little on the expensive side. I saw this table at the thrift store, it was $14.96. Right away I knew what I wanted to do with it. It is really neat, metal with two drawers and a cool top. But at the thrift store it was this ugly blue/grey color with scratches all over. I brought Clay over to look at it and see what he thought. He didn't say anything..I was like, "Babe don't you see the potential?" "No...not really." I love him, and how different we are. So we brought it home and I worked on it some. Compared to other projects this one was pretty easy and did not take a lot of time. The green chairs were not my first choice but they were out of the other color I wanted. I think they are starting to grow on me. The little plants are my favorite, they tie everything together. I already had the pots so that was another item I saved money on.

We ate dinner out there one night and Ellie said in this very contented voice, "This is fun." That was my goal. :)

I have to give credit to Clay for the pictures. He was outside one evening and noticed the light was nice. Thanks Babe, I love them!

Baking

I have been experimenting lately with gluten free baking. A year ago I would not have imagined I would be baking with brown rice flour, buck wheat flour, or garbanzo bean flour. Now, I feel very comfortable with gluten free living and it is kind of a rush when something turns out well. :) Gluten is the protein in wheat that helps hold everything together when you are baking. So when I make something gluten free I might add extra eggs and xanthan gum powder to help it rise nicely. So far I have tried some cookie recipes, cakes, muffins, and now biscuits. This was my first batch and it was going along with chicken soup so I was really hoping they would turn out. When Clay took his first bite he said, "these are the best biscuits you have ever made." I told him they were gluten free, and he said, "well, they are the best." So they passed the test! The kids always love anything I give them, I mean they are four and two. But when Clay loves something it means more.

Ellie has been asking about gluten and things that have gluten. She is very sweet about it. Sometimes she will say things like, "I could get you some cookies with no gluten Mommy!" Her and Clay made a Walmart run and came home with gluten free Chex cereal; she was so excited to give it to me. And I was more than willing to indulge in a junkie pregnant snack. :)

Anyhow, here is proof that biscuits can be made gluten free. And these were made with Bob's Redmill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. This is turning out to be my favorite flour because it isn't grainy like most other flours.