Baking Cabinet Clean Out

Hold on to your hats, kids, because this is going to be one of the most exciting posts you've ever read. That's right. Today I am chronicling for you why it was necessary to clean out my baking cabinet/drawer. You might think a baking cabinet would not need to be cleaned out. And if you think that, you haven't met me.

Exhibit A:


Two bottles of molasses. Let me tell you how many times I've used molasses. Approximately 1. Good thing I've got plenty.

Exhibit B:


Two varieties of corn syrup. Light or dark. You have a choice, you see. These bottles hail from Drew's baby days and an effort to try and get "things" moving. I never did feel great about putting CORN SYRUP in my child's bottle. Glad I only did it once or twice. It never worked for us anyway. We're big fans of good old fashioned prune juice!

Exhibit C:


Four canisters of baking powder. FOUR. For the love, why do I have FOUR canisters of baking powder. They were all in different states of use, including one that had not even been opened. Have mercy.

And finally, the grand finale:


A barely used bag of soy flour. This may not seem villainous at first, but you should know the back story. See that plastic baggie on top of the barely used soy flour?? Yeah. I put that baggie there when we were moving. You know, FIVE YEARS AGO. I didn't know that I even knew about soy flour five years ago!! And what on earth was I making with it?? Clearly, not much.

So, today, just in case you're having a low self-esteem day, be assured, you're no where near as crazy as I am!

Drewism

Last night on the way home from Target, Drew and I were discussing super heroes (because, what else??). We were going through all of the alter egos, or as Drew refers to them, first names. Superman=Clark Kent; Batman=Bruce Wayne; Spiderman=Peter Parker; Iron Man=Tony something or other. Finally, he says, "Mom, what about The Joker. What's his first name?' When I told him I didn't know, he sat quietly for a minute and said, "I think it's Joker Anderson".

Holy law.

That kid kills me!

Beach Trip 2K10

Four years ago my sister called me up and said, "Hey, let's go to the beach for Memorial Day weekend!" Neither of us had kids-both of us were pregnant. And because we were footloose and fancy free we took an impromptu long weekend trip to the beach. The guys played golf and we waddled down to the beach each day. Kristin was around 6 weeks away from meeting Weston. I was only a couple months pregnant. I've always been a bit of a waddler-pregnant or not. We had a great time and talked about how we should make it a "thing".

And, so, now it's a thing! Last year had to be missed due to the fact that Van was approximately 3 weeks old. But, this year it was game on. No long weekend this year-a full blown week at the beach in a real live beach house.

We stayed at Surfside Beach in South Carolina. Surfside is south of Myrtle Beach and is a perfect place for a family.

You'll notice that I didn't title this post "Vacation 2K10". Let's be real for a minute. No way is it going to be a "vacation" when you are talking about three 3 year olds and 3 babies. It was straight up CRAZY TOWN!! And it was a blast.

Our house had a pool, so the littles were able to nap and the bigs were able to swim. Getting to the beach with all of our gear was pure hilarity, but totally worth it. The big kids LOVED playing in the ocean and digging in the sand. As you might imagine, the babies were not as enthusiastic about the sand/ocean. Luckily, we took a baby pool down and Emily was fairly content there. Well, as long as she didn't have to share her space with any boys!!

The kids had a pure blast playing together and Weston and Drew really perfected causing trouble together. This included their very first act of beach house vandalism. This does not bode well for the future.

Each couple got a date night and we all went out to eat one night. Because we're insane. Actually it went way better than we expected. We even discussed that next trip we should do it more than once. One day the dads took the bigs to a little ocean front dive for lunch. They had a great time.

I have lots of "favorite" memories from our trip, but the most fun thing was watching the dads teach the bigs about water balloons and ambushing the moms! Hilarity. Particularly when they turned on each other and the action moved INSIDE the beach house. No idea where our boys might learn about vandalism.

Just like everything else about being a parent, it was a lot of work but pure magic at the same time. And who wouldn't rather do hard work oceanside anyway???

Here are the very few pics I had time to take:

Drew on the beach with his name:


The creative sand castle I built with Drew and Lyla. Complete with a seashell driveway.


Drew in the pool. His favorite spot, by far!


Drew and Weston hanging on the couch.


Drew and Big Dan on our night out.


Emily in her personal pool


Emily waiting outside the restaurant. She was like this the whole time. She made friends with about 15 new people!


Emily taking down some table food.


Sheesh. It has taken me over a week to get this dang post up. And I know it is less than riveting. And, seriously, what mom takes only like 7 pictures on her family vacation??? I really have good intentions of blogging more. Because i have a lot of words built up, but I think my brain has melted inside my head!!

Drewisms

*Last night, Big Dan was putting Drew to bed and they were having an in-depth conversation about Superman. Big Dan was pretending Drew was Superman and telling him all about the things that meant. At the end, he said, "You are Superman, nothing can hurt you except..." And Drew answered, "Crystal Light!"

Yes, low-calorie powdered beverage is quite the danger to super heroes!!

*This morning we were in the thick of the morning rush when I asked Drew what he wanted for breakfast. He said, "Something delicious!!" No pressure, mom!

8 months

EIGHT MONTHS. What the what??? My baby girl is 8 months old. I can't believe it.

The change in Emily in the last month has been crazy. She is growing like a weed and doing new things every day.

Emily, at 8 months:

*You are just as happy as ever. You still laugh so easily, love being around other kids, and you do great playing on your own.

*Drew is still your best friend. He is so good to play with you and you think every single thing he does is hilarious.

*You have shown your sensitive side a little more lately. While you are pretty laid back, you don't love loud noises and sometimes play gets too rough for you.

*I finally found a way to get you to enjoy a bath-in the sink!! This also helps me keep my sink clean...sometimes!





*You love, love, love to feed yourself and would just keep eating puffs/dried fruit/fruit as long as I kept putting it on your tray.


*It seems your stomach might be catching up with the rest of you. Maybe. But, we are branching out and it seems like you are handling it. I am hoping that we are going to turn a major corner really soon and leave all the drama behind!

*You sit up like a champ. You love sitting up and get super frustrated when you fall over. Although, you have learned to make it more than just flopping down! You can sort of ease yourself down now. Just tonight you pushed yourself back up to sitting-almost-you were in sort of a herky position, but I'm counting it!

*You are thisclose to crawling. You push up to your knees all the time. I know you will be so happy when you can motor all around.

*Even though you aren't technically crawling, you can sure cover some serious ground. You scoot backwards all over the house. Today I found you playing in the dog's water bowl. Yummy!

*Since you are such a good sitter, you have had some new experiences-swinging, which you LOVE and riding like a big girl in the stroller.





Em, you are growing so much and we are SO happy to have you in our family. You bring us so, so much joy. I can't wait to watch you grow and change in the coming days. I love you baby girl!!

Last Day of School

Well. I was just simply not prepared. I was not prepared to feel just as emotional on Drew's last day of school as I was on his first day of school. Too bad, because I was super emotional. First of all, Drew LOVES his teachers. Loves them. Talks about them all the time. And for the past few months he would ask every day, "Is it a school day?" and when I would say no, he would be totally bummed. This is a major change from the beginning of the year. I almost couldn't bring myself to tell him that they would not be his teachers any more. It has been a full week out of school, and again today he asked me if we could go "check on" Mrs. Judy. I mean, really.

I was a wreck about taking him to school. I felt guilty. And that was really lame, because school is one of the best things to ever happen to him. He is so much more confident. And while he still likes to play by himself, he is much more likely to play with someone else. I really have loved hearing about the way he is when i am not around. I sort of wish they had that special FBI glass so I could watch him without him knowing!

On his last day I let him pick out flowers for his teachers. He picked roses-two different colors-pink for one teacher, peach for the other. Apparently he knew which one would like which, because he remained consistent in his decision up to time of delivery! He was BEAMING. It was priceless.

Anyway. What a great year for Drew at school. School gave him some stability and predictability when Baby Sis hit the scene and wreaked some havoc for a few months. He had a teacher who loved him, who got him, and who brought out the best in him. His first little class and his first little school. See? Emotional.

HUGE thanks to Mrs. Judy and Mrs. Fran for a fabulous year!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Hey guys and gals! Did you think I'd quit the blog cold turkey? I didn't. Although, tonight, trying to log-in I had a little scare when it told me my account didn't exist. Yee-ikes. Turns out my computer momentarily thought it was December 31, 2006 at 10:06 p.m. This is probably not a good thing, but I don't have the energy for the "big fix" just now, so I just reset it and rejoined all of you in 2K10. And in 2K10 my blog does exist. This urges me to back this thing up. I'm really not narcissistic, but this is my record of my rookie years as a mom. A record I'd like to keep. Even if it is 2006 again.

So, anywho, I've been at the BEACH for the last week! I didn't really give notice that I was leaving town. Not because I think any of my 8 are robbers or killers, but because I was going on vacay with 3/4 of my readership. That would be my family. We had a blast. A crazy, chaotic, ridiculous blast, that will, of course, be getting it's own post. But not tonight.

Just wanted to pop in and tell you to get excited. New posts are coming soon. You may (or may not) have noticed that Emily's 7 month update did not exactly make it to the presses. Big flood and all that. But the 8 month one is coming and it's going to be good! Also, a riveting photo post explaining just exactly why my baking cabinet needed to be cleaned out. If you have somehow made it to this point without doubting my sanity, this will set you straight. Mayor of crazy town, right here. I'm working hard on planning the "Summer of Fun II" because big changes are coming for the Hull household. And NO, FOR PITY'S SAKE I'M NOT PREGNANT. Bite your tongue. Twice.

Now that I have you on the edge of your seats, I'm going to bed. A full day of lively antics looms.