My new car!

So, we got a new car about two weeks ago. a 2011 Honda Odyssey.  Yes, a minivan.  I finally decided we were outgrowing the station wagon.  1) when we found out we were having 3 kids, I only tested the carseats fitting with one facing backwards.  By next summer, all 3 kids will be facing forwards and Henri is very far from being heavy enough to be in a booster seat (about 10 pounds away). 2) Henri started preschool in the next town over. At the same time Carter starts in the neighborhood.  The good news is my neighbor's 3 year olds and 6 year old are all doing to the same schools, so we have entered the world of carpool.  Another close friend has a 6 year old at their school as well, and we trade rides. Well, the problem is I still only had 3 seats in my backseat.  Even when Carter would go with my neighbor, I couldn't fit twins in the car in addition to my two.  So my neighbor, who does have a minivan got pushed into doing morning drop offs. Then in the afternoon, I might be right next to the preschool, but have to race home, leave Val with her so I could fit all the 2 & 3 year olds in the car.  It was getting frustrating. Plus, since Paul's car was the newest, it was my turn to get the next car.

The Odyssey was at the top of all the ratings, so it was pretty easy to decide. There's only about 4-6 good minivans out there anyways.

I'd never thought about a new car, but did it for two reasons. 1) in 2011, the Odyssey got a big style upgrade. Not only does the outside not look so "Mom car" but the inside has awesome features that 2010 and before don't... the seats spread apart, go into the floor, etc. 2) a minivan is typically a wasteland of child activity. Normally families have more than 2 kids, which means they develop a variety of spills, such as the milk sippy cup odor that I really didn't want someone else's "kid stuff" wafting up when temps rise in the summer.  I have realized not everyone is a car cleaning nazi like myself.

Paul then treated me to an upgrade and I love this thing. I've thought about sleeping in it (which is good, because, not having bought a new car before, I almost had a heart attack at how much it cost, so it's good to know we could live in it-it's got DVD, video game jack & fridge....). 

My life is so much easier being able to reach everyone, move people around, etc.  I never realized. Though now it's making me lazy. See, the back two sliding doors and the hatch all have buttons so you don't have to be bothered with the closing of the doors yourself. Now I'm jealous that I can't open my own door with the key. Sigh. Maybe on the next version. But this should last us through the kids getting through high school, when Paul and I can buy a hot little sports car convertible :)

Amish Bread

Someone posted on Facebook that they had some Amish Friendship Bread Starter on Facebook.  I've been on an industrious streak so I figured I'd take some.  Never heard of it? It's this gallon bag of goo (yeast) that you feed and then use to bake two loaves of bread every 10 days. you also get 4 more bags of starter on baking day. Once which you keep, 3 you give away.  Well, let's just say I wasn't able to get rid of it for a time or two and ended up with way more bags. I just kept feeding the stuff like crazy and ended up baking and baking trying to get rid of the stuff (I've frozen the loaves).  I found variations on the internet and started to have some fun with it.  I've made regular (cinnamon) cherry cheesecake, white chocolate cherry, chocolate, lemon poppyseed & cranberry.  The stuff is addictive and the kids love it. I just whip a loaf out whenever I need to take a snack to something.  I have also learned how to control it. 

1) you can just bake it all
2) you don't have to feed it as much as the recipe states
3) you can let it go extra time before baking
4) you can freeze the starter.

The basic recipe uses a large box of pudding mix and by changing up the flavor and putting in some add-ins, you can get quite the array of variances.

So, it's been fun, esp now that it's no longer taking over my life and my 12 loaves I baked over 3 days are all safely in my freezer.

I'm going to quote you on that one

As Henri approaches his 3rd birthday, we are trying to potty train him and we're enjoying the interesting quotes we get out of him lately...

Henri starts pulling on the couch and tells us to "get off the couch" so he can move it and get his ball that rolled under. Paul showed him how to use his foot to get it to which he replied, "oh, that's nice!"

It's good that Henri's trying to get Valerie to play with him, but I'm not sure taking one vacuum sucker tube and forcing the other one into her hand screaming, "take the sword!!!" and "use the cleaner, I told you!!!" is exactly what I had in mind....

Me: Henri, you have to stop peeing in your pants.
Henri: That's not gonna happen.
 
Henri fell off the barstool and I held him and comforted him. I asked, "What did you hurt?" He answered, tears in his eyes, "The floor."

Carter's quotes:

Carter: What's that sauce again that I don't like? It's white and sounds like my name. Me: Tarter sauce? Carter: yeah, that one.

Paul's:

P: "Did Valerie poop in the tub?" E: No, that's a plastic army man P: oh, alright, just checking

Paul: Do you think this Amish Friendship Bread is the Amish trying to take over the world?

Erin's reviews

my review of the shellac pedicure... So beginning of Sept I got a shellac pedicure. Usually pedi is $25, this was $40 because it's supposed to last a month. My verdict? Not worth the extra money. It was super fast drying under UV light, but a) I don't think it lasted any longer than a regular pedi b) you have to use 100% pure acetone to get it of and it's a PAIN!!! You have to soak, took me probably 45 minutes to get it off. Think I'll stick to my 60 second polish while the kids are in the tub.
(A friend told me about a local place that does natural polish and will take care of your kids on tuesdays, I'll check it out)

Pam baking spray. Totally worth it. After baking 6 loaves yesterday with my Misto & olive oil and today with Pam, I'm a believer. No running the knife around the edge, just flip and the loaf falls out!

is glad she got the Best Busy Black Tie warranty on her camera. It's now been replaced two times in a little over a year. However, their customer service leaves something to be desired. I got a call yesterday that they knew they had to replace it because they couldn't fix it. So why did I spend 30 minutes with a small child at the opening time of the store to watch the gal do paperwork while waiting for my replacement? If they knew it was being replaced, shouldn't it be waiting at the desk for me????
(Best Buy did call me and tell me that they appreciated the information and were forwarding it on to the managers at the store, this is the second time I've had to sit around while they did paperwork)

Photos are here!

We had our photos done by Kerri Kincaid of Kincaid Expressions and these are some of my favorites!

She was offering 30 minute mini sessions and had just purchased a puppet to try out with the kids.

We also tried on Halloween Costumes... Right now it appears as Carter will be Elmo, Henri will be a pumpkin, Valerie a dinosaur (she'll be a bee next year).

He kept running around going "Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Pie!"

Phone pictures

I don't take many pictures with my phone, but once in a great while I will see something cute and not have my camera on me. Then 6 months later, I take them all off my phone. This is what I found this time.

Waiting for Valerie's surgery beginning of June...

In front of Trader Joe's, end of July

Henri, yesterday. It took 45 minutes in the rain to walk to Carter's school and 1.5 hours to walk home.

Henri & his friend Eli at Costco, late spring

Ah, brotherly/sisterly love

Our kids' dynamics seem to morph when school starts.  Carter's been getting along fairly well with both Henri & Valerie though he now seems to think Henri's big enough for wrestling, so sometimes it leads to a little chaos.

Henri & Valerie.... last year when Carter went off to school it was so QUIET. Henri would play quietly. Valerie was a baby and slept a lot or was confined to a bouncy chair, etc.  Well, this year she's walking and playing. Most of our toys are Carter's and Henri's. Since Carter's moving on to Legos and DS, a lot are Henri's.  Well, because Henri has so many toys, we don't really get much for Valerie, so what should she play with? Henri's toys. And of course any Henri toy that she is playing with he immediately must claim.  I swear I'm saying 100 times a day, "Just leave.her.alone. go to another room" ect. ect. 

Valerie is an excellent baby, but will throw a complete fit if her toy is taken or she is told "no".  She also has an excellent grip, so sometimes having a toy taken away will throw her off balance (remember she's only been walking 3 weeks now) which also brings crying.  Then, there are times like last night where Henri entertains her and I just hear her giggling and giggling.... sigh.

In other news, I finally found a meal everyone will eat. Corned beef & Macaroni & Cheese.  Valerie even was licking her plate. I didn't get it on video, but these plates are transparent, so you could see her little tongue, it was super cute. This video turned out super cute as well.

Settling into a new routine

Fall is all about setting up new routines for me.  Henri's now in preschool two mornings a week and has to be at his school in the next town over the same time Carter needs to be in 1st grade down the street. Luckily my neighbor has twins and the same schools and days :)  So she picks Henri up with his little backpack two days a week and leaves her first grader with me and I take the big kids to school, then we switch off and each take an afternoon pickup.  I have to leave Valerie with her since I still, with 3 kids only have the station wagon and she has a minivan.

Valerie walks all over the place and has discovered this means she can get into even more stuff than before. She's going upstairs, but not downstairs.  The kids were all sleeping through the night but she's now waking up, oh, every hour and drooling constantly (Paul even asked, "how can all that drool come from such a small person?")  Henri and Valerie are figuring out the sibling thing. They make each other laugh and also yell at each other over the stupidest things!

A few pics to share:

Carter had picture day this week, so Henri also wanted his hair done and picture taken.

Valerie looking cute-we went to the park and had someone take pictures of us all...

Henri's first day of preschool...

most of what Henri tells us about school involves the guinea pigs and the toads.

I'm frantically getting as much prepared as possible for our Mothers of Preschoolers group. I'm the Craft coordinator for the year, so I'm shopping for supplies as well as doing samples.  We have over 55 people registered and our first meeting isn't until Friday!  I'm also helping with projects for the kids, which I haven't even started on yet.  I also started a bible study today on John. Not the book of John, but learning about him as a biblical persona.

We still have Mondays "off" which is quickly turning into my cleaning house day and running errands occurs while Henri's at preschool. I'd forgotten how much quicker it is to do errands with only one child!  We also have all our afternoons free as well, which are usually spent relaxing after a busy morning before big kids come home. I'm swapping 2 days a week for pickup as well, so it's busy on the days when it's my turn, but so relaxing on the days when I just wait for children to show up on my doorstep :)

Valerie's walking everywhere and better now, she's finally learned to move her knees! She's also changing direction, getting faster and getting back up when she falls rather than giving up and just crawling. I think her walking is finally faster than her crawling :)

That's all for this week, I'll update again soon!