LENNY!!!

So last night was interesting. After the torture session of taking a bath (for both us and Katelynn), Katelynn was so much better. She was happy, cuddly, chatty...an all-around sweetheart. I was hanging out in my bedroom doing some cross-stitch while Matt was on the phone with a friend. We were on opposite sides of the house and I wanted to keep Katelynn with me so he could talk to Stephen. It was great...Katelynn helped me eat my dinner. She grabbed her blankets, babies & books and we even called my dad to wish him a happy birthday. I know "happy" came out clear, "birthday" was unintelligeable, "grandpa" came out sort of like "ganpa" (I think!), and "bye, bye" was clear as a bell.

Anyway...

Matt had gotten off the phone and it was time for Katelynn to go to bed for the night. She grabbed her blankets and babies and I inadvertently said, "Katelynn, I'll get you Lenny." The problem was that I couldn't find Lenny the lamb. Anywhere. I could not find him and Katelynn began to wail! "WENNY! WENNY! I WANT WENNY!" (She can't say her "L's" yet) It was pretty comical to see Matt and me running all over the house trying to find this little lamb. But I found him, threw him to Matt to take in to her. She saw him, yanked him from Matt's hands, let out the loudest squeal of delight, threw him down on the bed and used him for a pillow. Atta girl.

Fay on Tuesday

Matt took these pictures while he was home on Tuesday during our acquaintance with tropical storm Fay. I know it looks like a lot of water in the street, but virtually all that water is gone now. Well, there might be a little left in the ditch, but I haven't looked that closely.

If you see reports on The Weather Channel or CNN about Port St. Lucie, rest assured, it's not my neighborhood. The northern part of the county got really drenched, and we live about as far south in St Lucie County as you can get. We're practically a suburb of Palm City, but that's another post. :)

Fay2008

Funny Conversation

This happened yesterday afternoon...

Matt: "Aah-choo!"

Katelynn: "Bless you!"

Matt & Erin: *laughing*

Erin: "Good job, Katelynn for saying 'Bless you!'" (this is a new phrase she's been saying recently.)

Katelynn: "Yeah, yeah, Mommy."

Hello Fay!

Fay's clouds and wet weather are starting to roll in. But we're fine down here. Seriously, we are. :) Looking at the maps we are in between the Tropical Storm Watch area and the Tropical Storm Warning area. It seems like it's going to be a very rainy and windy day tomorrow, but we are happy we are not on the gulf coast for this one. Matt & I are both happy he got the lawn mowed over the weekend. Other than that, not much going on.

Vote: Your Right, Your Duty

Why Vote? I have heard many reasons given “My vote is worthless”, or “I don’t have time or interest to stay informed on the issues”. Voting to me is one of the dearest privileges that we have living in America. So why do these views persist? Perhaps what Thomas Paine wrote in The American Crisis may give us some insight “What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. . . The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.” We have been born with these freedoms and few of us have had to truly sacrifice to secure them. To be free from self-serving, autocratic leaders has been the dream all people throughout history. Exercising the right to vote is the most direct, tangible exercise of our right to be free from tyranny. To be sure, as with all human institutions, democracy is imperfect. As Winston Churchill said, “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” No other form of government has proven to better advance the cause of human freedom, justice, and equality than democracy. Our rights are “inalienable”, but from the beginning of recorded history, governments have repressed these rights. Exercising your right to vote in the primary and general elections maintains our government and protects our liberties. Whatever your political affiliation may be, vote. It is your right and your duty.

And the stories keep a-coming

First cute Katelynn story of the morning: Matt checked on Katelynn before he left for the day, as usual, and today he found that Katelynn was awake. He knew she would not be happy if he left her in the crib, so he brought her to our bed to hang out with me. Now I'm super tired and was hoping to have at least another hour (or 45 minutes at least) of extra sleep. Well Matt left and Katelynn was quiet for about 2 minutes, then she sat up, hopped off the bed and walked around the bed to my side. She walked up to the nightstand, began drumming her fingers on the nightstand, looking for something and humming. She saw my glasses and gasped. Then she handed me my glasses. Then she grabbed my hand and literally pulled me out of bed. This was at 7:15 this morning.

Second cute Katelynn story: We came out to the living room to watch the Today show and I had given her a cup of milk and a blueberry muffin for breakfast. I had also put some water in the tea kettle to heat up. She devoured the muffin. My water was ready so I went back to the kitchen to fix a cup of hot tea and Katelynn had followed me. She wanted another muffin. I put a second muffin on the plate and was about to say, "Katelynn, what do you say?" But I didn't get a chance to since she called over her shoulder, unprompted, "Thank you, Mommy!"

Third cute Katelynn story: Sesame Street was over and Katelynn wandered over to her kitchen and pulled out her little teacups. She brought one over to me and apparently she had taken only a small bite or two out of the second muffin. She broke the muffin in half and gave me half to eat.

Some days I think she's reached the peak of her cuteness and then she'll prove me wrong and that's okay. :)

Just another Tuesday

It's been a busy day. I've gotten the dusting, sweeping, 1 Katelynn load of laundry & the dishes done and I'm just pooped. We had taken some cute pictures of Katelynn over the weekend that I wanted to share. And last night Katelynn insisted on sitting in her highchair at the keyboard to play. I snapped some pictures and commented to Matt that we really should be taking video of her since she was singing at the top of her lungs to Lenny. So afterwards, she was running around and we got the video camera out, took about 5 minutes of video and then played it on the tv. Katelynn was mesmerized. She couldn't believe she was seeing herself on tv! Then we rewound it to show her the video of her in the hospital and at first she would say "Baby!" Toward the end she started to point to her baby-self and say, "Kay-kin!" She finally got it that the baby was her! I know there must be some way to get the video from the tape to the computer, but I'm neither savvy enough or patient enough to figure that out. (i.e. I'm not the technical one in the family.)

katelynn81208

Yummy Treat - Chocolate Butterscotch Cereal Bars

I went to the store yesterday and bought rice crispies. On the way home I thought I could make rice crispy treats. But once I was home I discovered I had one marshmallow left. What to do? What to do? Ah-ha! Calm my unending cravings for chocolate & peanut butter! Here we go...

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3 cups crisp rice cereal
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Combine sugar & corn syrup in a large saucepan; bring just to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in peanut butter. Stir in cereal. Press into greased 8x8 or 9x9 inch baking pan. Microwave the chips together and spread over cereal mixture. Chill in pan for 20 minutes or until firm. Cut into bars.

Double the recipe to put into a 13x9 pan. We don't need that much of it. Katelynn eats the chocolate off of it and hands the rest to me. I will eventually add pictures like the pioneer woman, but for now trust me...they are yummy!!