Ice Shoves

We live a few blocks from the shore of Lake Winnebago, one of the largest inland lakes in the country. As long as I can remember, it has been a ritual every spring to go down and look at the ice shoves. As the ice melts, the waves push the broken ice to shore, and it piles up almost like a snowbank. Sometimes the shoves are taller than the nearby houses. This year they're actually pretty low, but still fascinating (at least I think they are!).

Here is a picture of Henry sitting on a chunk of ice. You can see how thick the ice still is (about 15") when it shoves up on land.

Another picture of Henry in front of a larger pile. This tree root is right on the shoreline:

The ice breaks off almost like shale, in these long, thin, pieces:

The shoves are strong enough to push boulders inland:

Here you can see the shoves up against the shore. Beyond that, you see some open water and what looks like flat land. That part that looks like flat land is actually more ice waiting to come to shore. Just past that you see a darker line that might look like a treeline far off in the distance. That's the shore on the other side of the lake.

We took these pictures on Sunday, and when I was out at the park today, as far as I could tell all of the ice that had still be in the lake had now either melted or come to shore. The piles are melting fast, but are still pretty substantial.

Interesting, or no? I think so!

It's Bee's Birtay!

On Sunday, March 29, Henry woke up and came downstairs to a house filled with Winnie the Pooh. The first thing he saw at the bottom of the stairs was our table, all decked out (sans food, at that point):



In the cutest, most amazed, voice a child of two and three quarters could muster, he said, "It's my birtay!!" :o) hee hee. I said, "No honey, it's Jack's birthday!" I thought maybe he'd be sad that all of the fanfare wasn't for him, but instead he just repeated in the same voice, "It's Bee's birtay!" Seriously, a.dor.able!

So, above you can see the little luncheon we had. That was only about half the food. I kept forgetting to put stuff out. Doh!

See those bumble bee cupcakes? I made those! Here's a close up:

They are actually "diet" cupcakes (one box of cake mix + one can of diet coke, then make and cook per package directions) with non-diet toppings. The base frosting was tinted yellow, then I piped the three brown stripes on. The wings are made of white chocolate. I drew a template on a piece of paper, and then put waxed paper over the top and traced over the template with melted chocolate to form the wings. I let them dry all afternoon (the day before), and then peeled them off and stuck them in. It was a little tricky, and I did break a few (in case you're wondering the broken pieces went in the garbage - if there's one thing I won't eat, it's white chocolate!) in the process. The white part of the eyes is a miniature marshmallow (cut in half) with a little more chocolate frosting piped on top. Cute, no? I was happy with how they turned out!

Unfortunately, our camera battery died after only a few pictures. We did get quite a few pics from my mom, but they're all from a film camera, and I don't have the patience to scan them, so all you get to see are the few we got before the battery died, and one that my cousin emailed me.
Jack and Mum:

Here we tried to blow out the candle, but Jack was more interested in dipping into the taco salad:

And my favorite, Jack's great-great-great (!!!) Uncle Dan jammin' out on Henry's "ahtar"!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

My mom celebrated her birthday on Monday, so we had her over for some cake and showered her with birthday gifts!

Here she is with her gift from Henry. I helped him pick it out. ;o) He looks very pleased with my decision though!



Great-Grandma and Jack watched from the chair:

Here's mom with the bottoms to the jammies that hubby and I bought her. My mom lives in jammies when she's home, and it's hilarious, because she is so particular about them. They have to be two pieces, and those two pieces have to coordinate. She would not be caught in a red top with purple bottoms. Me? I wear whatever I grab first. Her? Not so much! You can see the coordinating tank top over her knee there. She loved them!

And here's mom with the birthday cake I made for her. One of the moms I chat with online suggested Paula Deen's Butterscotch Delight, but mentioned that she'd also seen it made with Oreos, so I combined a few recipes to make this Oreo Delight:

Does it look yummy? Because IT WAS! Holy man... you have no idea. It was soooooooo good! Quite possibly the best tasting dessert I've ever tasted in my entire life!

Here is the (combined) recipe I used:

Oreo Delight

1 (20 ounce) package chocolate sandwich cookies
1/2 cup butter

Crush cookies into bite size pieces. Reserve 1 cup for top. Melt butter and mix with rest of cookies. Press into 9x13 pan.

8 oz. Cream Cheese, at room temp
1 cup Powdered Sugar

Beat these together in a bowl.

3 cups Heavy Cream
3/4 cup Sugar

Whip these together until it forms stiff peaks.

2 - 3.4 oz packages Chocolate Fudge Instant Pudding Mix
3 cups Milk

Prepare pudding according to package directions using the 3 cups of milk. Fold 1 cup of whipped cream into cream cheese mix and spread over crust. Spread the pudding over that layer, and cover the whole thing with the rest of the whipped cream. Sprinkle the top with the reserved crushed Oreos. Chill overnight.

I have to tell you, it is NOT like me to go through this much effort for a recipe. I am the kind of person who will usually only try recipes if they include 3 or less ingredients and 2 steps. I found the Cool Whip variation of this recipe on allrecipes.com, and there was a day when I would have just made that.... but now I know why people go through the extra effort. If my mother's words ever came back to me, it was while tasting this recipe because it's totally true: you get out of it, what you put into it. Although I'm sure it's much easier, I'd lay money on the fact that the Cool Whip version doesn't taste nearly as good as this does!

If you decide to try it, leave a comment here and let me know how you liked it!

Nekkid Bebe!

When it's time for a bath, we've always undressed Henry in his bedroom and then let him streak down the hall to the bathroom yelling, "Nekkid Bebe!" as he goes. Today he had a little accident (explosive diaper - damn antibiotics!), so I had to strip him mid-day. He really could have used a bath then and there, but I didn't have anywhere to put Jack that he would have been content, so I had to do the best I could with cleaning him up. Anyhow, after I put his diaper on, I went to get him some clean clothes and he ran after me shouting, "Nekkid Bebe!" over and over. tee hee. :)

I had to grab my camera and snap a few pictures.

Down Time

Jack started running a fever last Wednesday, and it continued through Monday, when he also started to develop a bad cough and was gasping for air. We took him in, and he was admitted to the hospital for a day with croup and stridorous breathing. He needed several treatments to get his breathing back under control.

The following day, Henry also developed a fever, and was diagnosed with pneumonia when we took him to the pediatrician. This pic was taken on day 1 of his sickness as he snuggled with Grandma.... on day 2, he was flat on his back on the couch for 14 hours straight, and absolutely refused to move for anything (this was the day I took him to the Dr., which he fought... "I no like my dotdor.... I not feewing so good.... I no like my dotdor"). The Dr. gave him two shots of antibiotics, and by this morning (day 3) he was up and about again, and thankfully feeling much better.

I will be so glad once the sickies are out of the house for good!

What do you see?

Here is a short video of Henry looking at one of his favorite picture books. For as long as we've been reading together (basically all his life), I've asked him what he sees on every page of every book. I'm trying to get him to notice the little things in the background in the hopes that he will grow up to be more observant of the things around him than some men I know (*ahem* lol!).

The theory doesn't really apply to this book since all that's there are pictures... but at least I explained my title. ;o)

No, Mama...

I didn't eat any Cheerios. I promise I.....

What?

Oh.... that.

I can explain...

*Sigh*

So, my original goal with bringing out the camera yesterday was to capture Jack's (a.k.a. "Bee")army crawl. Henry was just fascinated with the camera though, so that didn't really work as planned. Here's another clip... This was my first attempt. :)

Army Crawl

Here's a quick video of Jack's army crawl. He's been doing this for about a month now (maybe a little longer?), but has recently picked up speed. He's pulling himself up some, too. I have a video of that to share another day. Stay tuned!

You can also hear Henry in the backgroun on this. He is enthralled with the camera, but only wants to be on the back side of it so he can see what's going on in the little screen. :)

Pardon the Christmas music in the background. Henry has a National Geographic video of Santa telling him about all of the different animals at the North Pole, and he just loves it. The songs are all about the animals, but set to the tune of various carols. He loves his, "Santa wif ameals" (i.e. "Santa with animals") :o)

Halfway There

If you've been paying attention to my sidebar, you know that I've been participating in the Pound for Pound Challenge that was issued on The Biggest Loser. I pledged to lose 28 lbs during this season of the tv show, which ends around May 5th. As of yesterday, I'm down 15 lbs. I thought it would be fun to do a little comparison photo, so I had Darrin snap one of me last night.

I can totally see the difference in my face between these two pictures! I also am loving that more of my favorite clothes are starting to fit. As of today, I weigh one pound less than I did when I got married 9.5 years ago! Woot!

Although I am over halfway to my PFP goal, I still have quite a ways to go to my overall goal, but I'm trying to focus on one step at a time and stay realistic about everything. Big thanks to everyone who has encouraged me this far! Keep it up! You have no idea how much your words mean to me.

Your crib or mine?

The boys are starting to interact more, and Henry is saying "NO!" a lot less when he is placed next to his brother. lol! He never has really shunned Jack per se, but has always enjoyed having a little distance between them. After nap time, I usually grab Henry first and then he runs into Jack's room yelling, "Bee! Ha-woah Bee!" (say it outloud, you'll get it.) For whatever reason I decided to get Jack first this particular day, and set him in the crib with Henry while I put some clothes away and cleaned up in Henry's room. They played nice for a good 10-15 mins before it got old. Hey, I'll take what I can get!

And yes, before you ask, my almost three year old is still in a crib. Could he be in a toddler/regular bed? Sure. Will he be in one by his birthday? Maybe. Right now he's content in the crib, and I'm happy as long as he is. ;o)

Bath Time!

These pictures of Jack were taken on New Years Eve, but I forgot to post them. I just found them today while I was flipping through my photo folders, and thought I'd share.

I love baby toes. :) And baby toes in water and just as cute as can be!



What's cuter than baby toes? Baby fat! Isn't it sad that fat doesn't remain cute into adulthood? lol.

The only way we can keep Jack happy in the tub is to let him chew on this lid. And yes, it has to be *this* lid.

My blue-eyed boy:

A few pictures...

Here are a few pictures Darrin snapped today. I was getting ready to head off to a meeting (helping to plan our 15 year high school reunion), and my Mom had just stopped by to pick up Henry for the afternoon.

Here is Jack with Grandma:

Mama with Jackie:

And a few of me reading with the boys. We've tried to instill a love of books in both of the boys, and it has definitely worked with Henry. He will sit and "read" for hours, and then beg you to read more. Jack is a little more distracted than Henry ever was, but he still seems to enjoy it from time to time. These are two of Henry's favorite books:

Note the bare toes on Jack. We cannot keep socks on this kid to save our lives. No matter what we do, he manages to get them off. He can even de-sock in the saucer, where he can't even reach his toes! It's crazy! I've threatened to buy him tights, but that didn't go over too well with Papa. ;)

It's Always Something...

This morning my husband came into the bedroom at 7:30am. Sarah, are you awake?. *sigh* I am now. He climbed into bed and said he thought the hot water heater was broken, because he just took a cold shower. Feel me, he said, as if I didn't believe him and really wanted to be awake enough to move my arm. I slapped a hand over his way, and sure enough, he was cold. Ok, I'll call a plummer this morning... Lemme sleep.

An hour later, he was back. GOOSE! You have to get up! Yes, he calls me Goose. He has for years, and I have no idea how it started. After leaving the room an hour earlier, he just happened to go down to the basement to check on the water heater, and found water gushing into the laundry room from the bathroom. When he came upstairs, he told me there was a leak in the pipe under the sink. So, being the handyman of the house *wink*, I got up and got dressed, and schlepped down to take a look. As it turns out, there was no leak... there was a tidal wave. And it wasn't coming from under the sink, it was coming from under the vanity... and under the wall... and crap, is that water coming in through the cracks in the wall? Yep. Niiiice. Now I'm willing to tackle a lot of home projects. I learned quite a bit by watching my grandpa work on homes over the years, and feel pretty confident with just about any task you throw my way, but I knew I'd been beaten by Noah and the great flood that was about to come crashing through my wall.

I went upstairs to call the plummer, and was told they could be at my house "around noon". Umm, excuse me? It's 8am, and I have a wall of water trying to break into my house. Noon does not work. She made some calls, switched some appts, and said a tech would be at the house within the hour. Ok, fine. 9am comes.... no tech. 9:30.... no tech. I call back only to find he's "minutes away". *sigh* Fine. He comes at 9:40, and I trust Darrin to the business of getting everything squared away while I take care of the kids.

Darrin comes upstairs about an hour later, and tells me the repair is going to cost us $250. Not great news, but certainly not as bad as it could have been. The pipes burst behind the wall, and needed to be replaced. I asked him how big of a hole they had to make, and "the whole wall is gone" was his reply. Are you kidding me? Then he says, "I never liked that old vanity anyhow." WHAT? The vanity, too? OMG. I must have looked like one of those cartoon cats, where you see the $ signs rolling through their eyes like symbols on a slot machine. My husband, however, was unphased.

Let me give you a little history.... When we moved into our 100+ year old house, we learned the the southeast corner of the basement is an old cistern that has been closed off. Since day one, he has been asking me to let him tear that basement wall out so he can see what is in the cistern. Why would you want to do that? I'll tell you what's in there. Nastiness. Bugs. Maybe even a dead body. Who the hell cares?! Let it be! But no, he refused. Every six months or so for the last ten years, we've gone through the same discussion. Him wanting to tear the wall out, and me knowing that if he did he'd never be able to repair it himself, and it would just sit, or be one more thing for me to do, or one more unnecessary repair bill for us. So when he came upstairs to tell me they had to break through the wall to get to the pipes, he was almost giddy. Well, I said, you finally got to break through your wall. Congratulations. What did you find behind it?

*pause*

*sad face*

Another wall.

BWA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! The cistern is still cemented off, and the pipes were between the cement and the paneled basement wall. So I said the only thing I could at that moment...

*shrug*

Sorry, Geraldo.

ROTFLMAO!

Once I got Henry down for his nap this afternoon, and had Jack happy in his saucer, I grabbed my camera and took it down to the basement to capture the carnage. As it turns out, my husband is quite the exaggerator. Not only is the ugly vanity still intact (albeit very dirty), but only a small piece of the wall had to be removed. That piece was destroyed, but it is easily fixable once everything dries out.

Here is a picture of the cement that still keeps my husband from the contents of our cistern, our $250 little black pipe, and my ugly bathroom vanity:



I was pleasantly surprised to see that the paneling had been put up right over the cement. I thought there would be plaster under it that would need repairs too, as the opposite wall of the bathroom is plastered. Phew! I lucked out this time. :)

Those were the days...

Pretty much anyone who has talked to me for as much as a minute in the past six months has heard at least part of my sob story about Jack, and how he has stopped sleeping. We have tried everything to get him to nap and sleep better through the night, but nothing seems to be working. I've read every book, taken all of the advice, and he has laughed his cute little baby laugh in the face of it all.

Our pediatrician recently referred us to the sleep clinic at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and we had that appointment last week. After a 90-minute check-up, we were told there were no physical problems with Jack. Although this was a huge relief (we feared Apnea), it was a little disheartening because it meant we still had no answers, and therefore no solutions. The nurse who performed the exam gave us two suggestions. The first was to switch up his bedtime routine so that nursing was not the last thing that happened before sleep. We have tried this for the last week, and if anything it has made the situation worse. We figured it would take time for him to grow accustomed to the new routine, but that doesn't really seem to be working out in the least.

Another suggestion was to give him Melatonin, which is a hormone the body produces when it gets dark to make you drowsy, fall asleep, and stay asleep. Some children do not make enough Melatonin, and need to be supplemented. She suggested giving .5 mg per night, a half hour before bedtime. We've done so for two nights now (had troubles finding it at first), and it hasn't phased him in the least. *sigh*

I've now resorted back to my theory that the thing that keeps him up/wakes him up is intestinal, having to do with his bowel movements (or lack there of). Mylicon doesn't touch it (of course), and the pediatrician tells me there is nothing stronger on the market that is safe for him... well, except for Reglan, but after a little research on that, it doesn't fall into my "safe" category either. Reglan is a motility agent though, so I did a little research on natural motility agents, and the only thing I'm coming up with are prunes. Sooooo, starting today, Jack is on an all prune diet. LOL. Totally kidding. :) But I am going to make it a point to give him at least a serving a day in an effort to get him regular (sometimes he is, sometimes he's not) and see if that helps with the sleep as well.

If you're wondering how I came to this theory, well, I've had it for some time and it was quickly debunked by doctors. But, sometimes you just have to stick with that mama gut feeling and run with it. The two times he woke up last night, I happened to be right by his room, and went in quickly. I could hear him passing gas as he was struggling to stay asleep, but the gas won, and he was up.

The nurse at the clinic did say that he seems to be suffering from "infant insomnia" and that he will grow out of it eventually, which I'm sure is true... it's just this in between time that's difficult.

Lunch

The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.

~Abraham Lincoln

Those who are reading this and know me well, know I've always held my friendships in high regard. Although our paths may separate for months or years, I can think of no friend I've ever had that I wouldn't welcome back into my life for an hour, a day, a month, or years. I know some people think this is odd, but it's just who I am, who I have always been, and I have no intention of changing.SO, when I was recently given the opportunity to reconnect with an old friend from high school, I went for it. We hung in the same circle in high school, and then life kind of got in the way and we went our separate ways around 1996. We touched base again in 2000 for a bit, and that was the last I'd heard from him until about a month ago when we reconnected online.

We've chatted off and on for the past month, mostly about how many similarities there are in our lives, between both us and our spouses. I've joked that we're like a walking Lincoln-Kennedy penny (did you have one of those? My grandma saved one for me. :o)). We've also exchanged recipes, and just enjoyed mundane chit chat about diaper rashes and lunatic deer on the rampage. In short, its been fun.

About a week ago, he found out his neice was being baptised in Oshkosh, and he was planning to come up for the celebration with his dad, so we arranged some time to meet for lunch. In keeping with my Pound For Pound challenge, we hit Subway. It was actually kind of funny, because this woman was milling around and we were both saying how we thought we knew her but couldn't place her. We ended up realizing she was the manager.... the same manager that worked there when we would go in high school... Weird.Being the good blogger that I am (HA!), I remembered my point n' shoot, and she was kind enough to take a snapshot for me:

Aaron and his wife Kara are now living just outside of Darrin's hometown. Darrin and I are hoping to get back to the area this summer to see his family, and will hopefully be able to hang out with our new old friends a little at the same time.

Jack in a Basket

I thought I'd share a few pictures I took of Jack the other day. He just turned 9 months old a few days before these were taken. He was being super fussy that night, so after trying everything else I decided to toss him into a laundry basket with a few toys. He was happy in there for a good half hour!

I love that bottom picture. You can tell he'd had enough! His personality is really starting to blossom lately too, which is fun to watch. :o)