Ten on Tuesday

Dino play dough sculpture by B - reminds me of the Dotter Dragon, right?

1.  We very sadly missed Serenity's birthday party again this year.  Chrissie, her mom, throws the absolute best kids parties, so this is even more sad than you might think.  This year's theme was "Sparkly Science" (follow the link to read more).  To make up for missing sparkly science at the party we did some science at the farm, including our own volcano, dancing raisins -- and other density experiments, and making play dough, with the added bonus of lots of play dough playing the rest of the weekend.  Pinterest is a treasure trove of fun kids science ideas if any of you want to have your own little science fun.  We highly recommend it!  (You can find some of the ideas I've pinned on my "Kid Stuff" board if you're interested).

2. B is currently very interested in super heroes.  He is particularly into Marvel Comic created books from the library, including several about Wonder Woman.  He is also watching some Avengers and Super Hero Squad on Netflix.  I am not so good at keeping all of the characters straight, but do like to hear him discuss it all.

3. The fourth of July is so much different now than mine were growing up.  For starters, Brent, E, and I slept in fairly late while the bigs played and watched TV in the living room.  Perhaps not our most awesome moment in parenting, but we were well rested and they were quite happy.  We followed this with good food, swimming and family time at Great-Granddaddy's.  When everyone was full, hot, and tired, we drove north to the farm for some family time and a quiet evening.  No fireworks, not even on TV this year, but it sounds like the Okeene show was quite impressive so perhaps we'll brave that again some year.

4.  Monday's terrifying moment - I walked in to wake M up from her nap and saw that her face, hair, neck, shirt, hands and pillowcase were covered in blood.  Rationally, as a parent you know that she likely just had a bloody nose while sleeping as she has before.  Irrationally, there is this moment where you're terrified that something horrible has happened.  She was totally fine and cleaned up quickly, but such an adrenaline jolt.

5.  We spent Wednesday evening through Monday afternoon with my sister's family, Mom, and Able.  The visit was longer than anticipated as on Sunday people started getting sick and ultimately the Korenaks needed to stay another day to be able to fly.  Brent and B were sick too and I thought I was for a bit, but probably was mostly just over stressed at the thought of our tiny baby being sick-- so scary even when the illness is totally a manageable one. (So yeah, another bit of that adrenaline about sick kids... parenthood is tough)

6.  We made our annual fourth of July pilgrimage to the lake with just my crew, Mom, Able, and the Korenaks.  It was blazing hot, but the lake was warm and the kids loved it.  Lake visits as the parent are a bit trickier as there is so much logistics for just a short visit and meal, but I'm glad we did it.  The meal was awesome - grilled burgers, fried okra, corn on the cob, chips, and angel food cake.  My kids even got to try their first grape soda as a rare treat!

Life jackets are a paddle boat must and so many Dotter kids have worn this one!

7.  I've mentioned some of E's and my favorite books in recent postings and want to add M's here - Her current favorites are the Tallulah books.  We initially checked Tallulah's Solo out from the library and she could not get enough of it so E gave her Tallulah's Tutu as his welcome gift.  A month later, we still read it almost every day and practice our ballet positions and bowing.  Definite hit for our nearly three year old girl.

8.  We continue to enjoy our weekly vegetable deliveries.  The most interesting item this week was a big bag of Purple Hulled Peas.  After some examination, my mom and I agreed they should be shelled and boiled until soft like black-eyed peas.  This worked out quite well, but I also really liked the taste of them raw, which was a new experience.  A few have asked about where we subscribed to this vegetable delivery - we have an 8 week "Garden Club" subscription for a family of 2-3 from Rhonda's Specialty Foods.  We get a delivery each Sunday afternoon that includes a dozen eggs.  So far, it is going well. I do find myself planning meals off of which vegetables or fruits are in the packet as I try to make sure each week's bag is used up or given away before the next arrives.

9.  Have I mentioned how much I love amazon prime? Their subscribe feature is awesome with new babies. I (ironically?) set up our formula subscription for monthly deliveries while nursing E late one night, and the next day set up a similar one for diapers.  We already have ones for things like maple syrup, olive oil, allergy meds, and squeezable applesauce. It is so convenient to have these routine things show up at our door and avoiding a trip or four to target.  We are spoiled, but happy to have more time here and less shopping with kids.  (In full disclosure, amazon links on my blog are generally affiliate links, but my love of these things and prime is all my own).

10.  I only had one cooking assignment for the 4th and wanted something easy and delicious.  I made Chess Bars and they were a delicious hit.  I definitely recommend them as a quick dessert for any gathering and suspect we'll be making them again.  (Ps.  My sister says they are very close to gooey butter bars or something similar that is an STL staple.)

Happy 4 weeks of baby E today - the post will come on Thursday when he is officially one month old. Remember that Thursday is 12 on the 12th as well and I'd love to see collages from you too.  Hope you have a wonderful week!