Motherhood and Fatherhood

Alright, these videos have already been on at least a few of my friends' blogs/facebook pages, but I just have to share them 'cause they're so good.  The first one is about motherhood, the second is about fatherhood.

 By the way, these two videos are not actually related in any way.  The first is produced and published by the LDS church, and the other appears to be done by some other Christian church or group. 

Firestation Tour

Our ward in Pittsburgh had playgroup that met every Tuesday morning at a different local park throughout the sunny season.  At our last playgroup in Pittsburgh before me moved, Andrew and I joined the group at a local fire house for a tour.  We got to see the downstairs living room where the fire alerts are radioed in (there's always at least one firefighter awake and listening to the radio 24/7), the upstairs dorm room where they sleep and work out, and of course we got to see a real fire engine.  This fire house is pretty old and it's one of few that still have a fire pole, though they don't use it anymore.  I didn't realize before we went that fire houses aren't typically built with poles anymore.  The firefighters at this station said that whenever other firefighters visit their fire house to fill in or whatever, they always get photos and videos of themselves sliding down the pole because it's such a novelty.

 

Andrew got to sit in the back seat of the fire truck.

Here's the whole group.  What a bunch of cute kids, huh?

Garden Update-Second and Final

Here are some pics of our garden as we will leave it when we move.  Our garden boxes are pretty much overflowing with growth.  Overall, I've been very happy with the success of this square foot garden idea.  I think next time I'll put some tomato cages or something around the bush beans so they don't encroach upon the surrounding plants so much.  I'll also put cages around my tomatoes when I plant them instead of after they are already starting to fall over, although it worked out just fine how I did it this time.  My corn doesn't look too great--it's got lots of yellow/dead leaves.  I'm not sure why, but I suspect it's because that garden box was built over the remains of one of the spruce tree stumps in the yard so there isn't much room for their roots.  Despite that, the corn continues to grow and it looks like it will produce.

So far, the fruits from our garden have been: lots of basil (including a batch of pesto), two tomatoes, and about 1/2 lb of green beans.  Whoever moves into this house after us is going to gets lots of good produce.  The beans have just gotten going, there are tons of tomatoes on the two tomato bushes, and there is one beautiful eggplant and tons more flowers on the eggplant plant...plant plant :)

And So It Begins...

The beginning of the end.  Or, to be less melodramatic, the beginning of the transition into the next chapter of our lives.

I taught my last Sunday school class today.  I have packed 11 boxes (out of what, 100, or more?), and as I write this I should be packing the file cabinet or my closet.

Andrew and I drove Paul to the airport yesterday morning.  He flew to Kansas City to help his brother's family move.  He's driving a big U-Haul towing a car from Kansas City to Hartford, stopping in Pittsburgh to see us Monday night because it's right on his way.  Then he'll take a train from Hartford to NYC and maybe, hopefully have an interview or two in New York, then fly back to Pittsburgh.  We'll then go for a weekend trip down to DC just for the heck of it because we may not be back to the east coast for a while.  Then next Monday Andrew and I will fly to Fayetteville, AR.  Paul will stay behind to finish packing the house and load everything into a POD.  Then he'll drive our car to Fayetteville.  After visiting Lindsey and Doug for a while Andrew and I will fly and Paul will drive to Vancouver. 

Whew.

Tidbits

This blog post is not fancy and doesn't have any photos to go with it.  But I haven't posted in a long time and there are several little things I keep meaning to jot down.  Warning: these may be really random.

Andrew seems to have taught himself about somersaults.  He gets his head down on the floor so you'll push him over the rest of the way.  He occasionally does the whole somersault by himself.

He usually doesn't mind getting his hands messy, but when I hand him a graham cracker with cream cheese on it he hesitates taking it because he's trying to figure out how to hold it without getting his fingers in the cream cheese.

He now knows about 16 body parts.  I took him to the pediatrician a week ago and he said that at 18 months a baby is normal if they only know 1 body part!  We are a little concerned about his speaking ability, though, so we're taking him Monday to get his hearing evaluated.  He can definitely hear, it's just that he may not be hearing accurately enough to figure out how to talk.  We are extra sensitive about the issue because Paul's expressive language was delayed because he had fluid in his ears as a toddler.

Oh, gotta go; the cream cheese-covered toddler is crying for attention and can now reach into the kitchen drawer where I keep the kitchen shears, vegetable peeler, etc.

P.S.

When I look at a picture book with Andrew that has a pig in it, he always puts his finger in his nose, because he sees that pigs have big noses.

Sometimes he decides to spin around and around until he gets a little dizzy.

He can now open the refrigerator and get his milk out when he wants some. 

Green Smoothies

I'd been wanting to learn how to make good-tasting smoothies with spinach in them, and in May I came across a good method on an old friend's blog.  I've made lots of these since.  Andrew even drinks them!

Here is the method that I've adapted from my friend:

1. Put a couple of handfuls of spinach in the blender (about 1 cup packed).  Add a banana.  Then pour in water, or a combination of water and some good orange juice, so that it almost comes up to the top of the spinach heap.  Blend really well so there aren't any spinach chunks left.  I've found that you want to use enough liquid that it blends really well, but if you use too much the smoothie will taste watery.

2. Add a bunch of frozen, or fresh, berries, maybe 1-2 cups.  You can use any berries you like.  I find I get the best flavor with a combo of strawberries, blue berries, raspberries, and blackberries.  Blend the mixture really well again.  Taste it and add more berries as needed.

3. I sometimes add some blue agave nectar if I want it sweeter.  You could certainly use sugar or whatever. 

In the end you'll have a smoothie that doesn't look or taste green, but has some green goodness in it.

The Pittsburgh Bucket List

Paul has actually really been enjoying his time off work.  He is working on updating and polishing his resume and portfolio, but we've also had a lot of time to do things as a family.  We are crossing things off our "to do in Pittsburgh before we move" list.  We went on the incline again, ate at Five Guys Burgers and Fries (although I just found out that one just opened "back home" in Vancouver), and went to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.  Here are some pics from the zoo.

This is just before Andrew dropped his sippy cup into the elephant enclosure.  Bye-bye, sippy cup.

The elephant family

The Tanner family

The Rhino

The Pittsburgh Zoo actually has some stuff for kids to do, like slides, a toy jeep ride, a log boat ride, and a climbing tunnel thing

Oh, and these friendly animals to hug.

Then there's this gate that says "Gate must be closed at all times."  We got a kick out of this.  Paul was saying "Gate must never be used," "Gate should not exist," "Gate should actually be a fence"
I don't know, maybe you just had to be there, but I was cracking up.