She Can Be Taught!

Last time I made my own vanilla, I didn't realize before hand that it took three months. This time, I learned from my past mistake and started on my second batch when the first one was about half empty. Fingers crossed the timing turned out better this time!

A New System for Ruthie's Food

Ruthie is at the stage now where she vastly prefers to feed herself. She's been feeding herself grapes, cheese stick, banana, avocado and Os for a while, but we felt it was time to give her more independence. So this week, she got to feed herself pears and peas and today, I made a batch of cubed sweet potatoes and carrots.

At first, I made tiny little chunks to lay out in the freezer but I quickly grew tired of spreading them all out and thought slices would freeze just as nicely, maybe even better.

Here is a photo of the finished product.

Categories For Grandparents - a Hannah Story

Speaking of grandparents (see post below), we were babysitting the two youngest Marsh kids when the topic came up with them. Ian asked Hannah how many grandpa's she had. "Two," she said. "One that lives in Colorado and one that goes to Disneyland."

I hope that someday that is how my grandchildren think of me!

Love Hannah stories? See more here and here.

I Love Nice Neighbors

I was deep in the throws of replenishing my bread stock when I realized I was out of butter. Well, I actually knew I was out of butter but I forgot that I needed 3 tablespoons in my dough- I thought I just needed it to brush the top of the loaves after they were baked, which after waiting several hours for them to rise, I would have been to the store and back.

Anyway, all that to say that I found myself out of butter and my bread was rising, rising, rising and I had just put Ruthie down for a nap.

So, I grabbed the monitor and headed out the door to the next door neighbor's. We are pretty good fronds with them and I have actually borrowed ingredients from them before (as have they).

Thankfully, my neighbor was home and she gave me a huge chunk of butter. I tried to tell her I only needed three tablespoons, but you know how friendly people are - they always give you more than you need.

Which really turned in my favor, since I was also making an apple pie that day (Ian's grandparents were coming over for dinner that night - I don't usually make such a fancy dessert for just the two of us). So I had enough butter for my bread and my pie crust! Hooray for nice neighbors.

Disneyland After Work

For the first time, we decided to brave the Magic Kingdom on a work day. It has been so fun! (We are still here - Ian is taking Ruthie on the ride of tiny death circles, also known as King Triton's Carousel. I can't even stand to watch them. But they sure look cute!!

Sometimes...

You just have to do the dishes in the buff.

"Helping"

Ruthie is so helpful with her laundry...

Seriously, her favorite game is taking things out - out of drawers, cupboards, baskets, you name it!