What goes on in the mind of a 7 year old boy?

Ever wonder what is going on in the mind of a 7 year old boy? Me neither, until now.
Garrett came down the hall the other day, asking for tape to put up some signs he made.


This is the sign on his door. "No girls allowed" is what it says. Then he tells me, "Except that doesn't mean you, mom. Only Hannah." Hmmm....



Here is what he put on Hannah and Ryan's door. "No dogs allowed." You can tell its a dog because he drew it saying "Woof!" We don't have a dog. Wonder what this sign means?
I'll have to say, though, these signs made me laugh. I can only imagine the sign he would put on my door. Maybe it will say, "No kids allowed!" Haha!

The Sickness Chronicles

DISCLAIMER: I am not whining. I am just journaling. Cuz heaven knows this is the only sort of journaling I do with any sort of regularity.

2010 isn't starting out to be a very healthy year for me and my family. We started the New Year off with a bang! Ear infections for both Hannah and Ryan! They both also had some sort of respiratory illness that caused them to wheeze. Neither one has asthma but I'm not really surprised about the wheezing. Garrett used to wheeze whenever he got sick. SO-that means 10 days of antibiotics for both kids along with 7 days of steroids for the wheezing. Now, if you've never had a kid on steroids, well, its like having a kid on steroids. They get hyper and grouchy and MEAN! (At least my kids do).

Well, we got through that and just as I was envisioning sailing through the year without any more illness, I got laryngitis. This malady, although relatively painless, is quite annoying. When you try to speak louder, less sound comes out. I had to take a class for work where you have to take turns running codes (being in charge of a code blue if someone stops breathing or their heart stops beating) and my group kept saying "Speak up! We can't hear you!" Annoying, I tell you!!

After coasting through a couple of sickness-free weeks, here were are again. Kids have colds (to be expected this time of year) but I am sick once again. First its just a scratchy throat, then its headed to be a cold, but my illness turned ugly last night. Can I tell you how lovely it is to wake at 4:00 am with your left eye swollen to the size of a golf ball with the added bonus that it is matted shut. PINK EYE! Yipee Skippy! So yet another doctor's visit for the Jones family-and to top it off, my cold has turned to bronchitis. Cough yourself silly, Jodi!

Blaine had swine flu in October. Today he just blows a kiss in my general direction. He has stayed healthy since October. Garrett has stayed healthy too. Mostly its just me that is sick. Maybe I should start wearing a mask too. Hannah won't wear one anymore. She says, "I don't want to be the doctor!"

Can you see why I called this the sickness chronicles? Never in my life have I been so sick as I have this winter. (Had strep in December). The year has only begun...

On the upside, though- I just burned my tongue on a really delicious batch of homemade pudding. I don't think I'll be able to taste anything for a really long time.

Baker's Man

While making Valentine's cookies with my kids tonight, Ryan thought he'd get in on the action as well.

(I thought I'd closed the lid tight on the flour. Guess not.)

I had to vacuum the floor and the baby. He thought it was hilarious and laughed the whole time.

The kids had a great time making cookies.

Cutting heart shapes was great.

But even more fun was making snakes and snowmen and cakes and whatever! Better than playdoh 'cuz you can eat this stuff!

Go Baby, Go!

So, this morning I asked Garrett to get Ryan out of his crib. He did and I continued to go about what I was doing. I looked at Ryan running around and thought, "Hmm...his tag on his pajamas is sticking out" and then went back to whatever I was doing. Just before going out the door to take Garrett to school, I figured what was sticking out of the back of Ryan's pajamas. And why he made a strange clicking sound when he walked.

Its a pedometer! Garrett put it there to see how many steps Ryan takes in a day. When I took this picture the pedometer read 105 steps. He had been out of bed for maybe 15 minutes.

I'm going to leave it there a little longer. Lets see how far my baby can go!

What's for lunch?

I was wondering the other day...what do stay-at -home moms eat for lunch. I know what I have. I make my kids mac & cheese or ramen noodles or possibly leftovers and then I might pick a little at their food or just not eat lunch at all. I am pretty good at making dinner every night. I've been better at my meal planning (Thanks Natalie!) and that has taken a lot of the stress off of "Whats for dinner?". I've even started cooking one meal a week with my friend Lorna. We get together at one or the other's home and cook dinner for both our families. Then, we can take the dish we made back to our respective homes and Voila! Dinner is served. Its been really fun to cook with a friend. We are trying new recipes and just having a great time visiting while we cook.

Here is my new red pot. I LOVE it! It is so functional and beautiful. Food cooks quickly and evenly and I got a smokin' deal on it. And its RED!

I had seen these enamel coated, cast iron pots for a while and had been drooling over them. My husband even wanted one. So when a deal I couldn't pass up came along, I snached one. Two actually!

Lorna and I made garlic potato soup the other day. It was snowing and blowing and just looked like a good soup day. It was and so was the soup. Yummy!

But back to my original question. What do you eat for lunch? I'm tired of Mac & Cheese (although Hannah asked for it for breakfast today!) and I'm tired of ramen noodles.

So, tell me, What's for Lunch?