old habits die hard

and by old habits, i mean procrastinating with posting. yeah- bad blogger!!

BUT... in my defense, we have been a little busy. with kelvin out of the state for work (rapids city, sd), i'm on duty 24-7. well, that's my usual shift, but now i'm solo. but it's ok- we're managing just fine!

so without further ado, let the catch-up commence!

(on a side-note straight from the inner part of my muddled mind: did that sound like the start phrase to a food fight to anyone else? catch-up, ketchup... anyone... ? i'll stop now.)

madison made it to the front page of our local weekly paper! her grandpa cal is proud: top right quarter, the display part!

the kids have a new storage bin for legos. the canvas bin that i thought was adorable apparently doesn't hold up to toddlers... and the wire frames poking them in the pits just wasn't working.

the new bin's bigger.

big enough to hold afore-mentioned toddlers!

this past weekend we went up to my mom and dad's for the day- mom's birthday was yesterday, but since it was the middle of the week, we thought it might be fun to take a cake up and celebrate a few days early. i made a yellow cake, mixed in some nice juicy raspberries, and topped it off with a lemon-cream-cheese frosting.

it was pretty good... and all from scratch, so cole could enjoy it too. more on that later...

anyway, there were giggles with grandpa....

... rides on the four-wheeler with daddy...

... being a (sock) monkey...

... making cut-out cookies with grandma (just like we used to do with our grandma)...

... and more giggles. with grandma, this time.

madi's able to wear the culver's outfit that my aunt and uncle gave cole when he was born. unfortunately, cole never got to wear it because by the time he was big enough to wear it, we were in arizona and it was h-o-t. and once we got back, well, he was too big for it. so madison's enjoying it! i think i put it on cole once, just long enough to say he wore it for a few minutes.

sunday morning came and kelvin left for rapids city again.

the kids and i spent the afternoon in our pj's and had blueberry pancakes for supper.

mmmmm.

(*drool*)

he's excited, not freaked out. i promise.

see the blueberry moustache??

madi one-upped her brother and went right for the goatee.

i learned a valuable lesson: never, ever let the kids eat blueberry pancakes while fully clothed. ever.

i had to sneak this in... madison LOVES her bath! i intended to videotape her because she splashes like no other baby i know. the damage is epic. but wouldn'tcha know... she chose THIS bath to sit perfectly still. at least i got a shot of her trying to scale the tub!

and then there was cole's post-bath hair... mohawk!!

now. back to the "from scratch so cole can eat it too" cake.

i decided, after researching some more, to eliminate as many additives and preservatives from our diet. i mean, it can't be bad for us to avoid all that, but i was thinking of cole in particular. also with that, i'm avoiding artificial colors. you know, the kinds you see listed as "red 5" or "yellow 3", that sort of thing. i've been watching this very closely for almost two weeks now, even having whipped up a batch of home made chocolate syrup for his milk. i wasn't sure if avoiding these things was making a difference... that is, until yesterday. at daycare at biolife, cole got a sucker. a red, heart-shaped sucker. i didn't have the heart to tell "mee-maw" that i didn't want cole to have it. mee-maw is the daycare lady- she's one of the most kind-hearted people i know. there's a reason i say that- after hearing that kelvin was laid off for a while, she made a trip to our house with some groceries. yes, we love mee-maw!!

anyway, cole had his sucker, enjoyed it thoroughly and after about two, maybe three hours, he suddenly became this unreasonable, out-of-control mess. an "i'm-fairly-certain-that-we-may-not-be-allowed-back-at-barnes-and-noble" mess. he had the hardest time settling down for bed and today is mostly better, but slightly "off" yet.

i guess that answers my question: yes, dye affects my son. now, i'm not saying that our new choice of lifestyle (for lack of better terms) is right for everyone, and i certainly don't frown upon anyone who doesn't avoid the things we're trying to avoid... i'm just saying that i think we've found something that cole does NOT benefit from. of course, i've taken into consideration the fact that he IS a toddler and toddlers are prone to outbursts. however, he was starting to behave SO well the past few days that i have plenty of reason to believe that artificial color doesn't sit well with his system. now we're on a new adventure... part of which will involve trying to find reasonably priced foods that are natural. which brings me to another question: why is it that truly healthy food costs WAY more than stuff that's not so good for you? does that make no sense or what?

crazy.

so... we had a full week and learned a few things. now, on to the next week! :)