The Midnight Mommy Call

It's midnight and you hear Mommy, mommy coming from the big kids room and think if I ignore it she will go back to sleep. No luck. So you stumble out of bed and open the door and you are hear Mommy I peed the bed. You think how is that possible you have a pull-up on. Then remember you did not check to make sure it was pulled up all the way last night, yup sure enough it's not on all the way and yes the bed is wet, pj, kid you get the picture. You feel and around to find the beloved pink blanket somehow it has escaped the pee, thankfully. do you:

A) run a tub to wash child off, change bedding and remake bed?- if you picked this one you forgot that all this commotion would wake up the other child still sound asleep on bed and take way to long, and cut your already few precious hours of sleep in half.

B) change child put into your bed, move second child into your bed. Remake bed. Realize that now both kids have fallen asleep in your bed and sleep in kids bed for rest of night. - if you picked this one you are not sleep deprived enough. You know that in the next 2 hours you will probably be getting up with the baby.

C) change pjs on child and put a towel over wet spot deal with rest in the morning. - ding ding the answer is always c!

Plachinda -Updated

Dad called me after I had sent a picture of our pumpkins to him saying I should make Plachinda. I had no idea what it was... He said that his Grandma (my great grandma) used to make it all the time and his Mom made it a few times but not as much. 

So I went on a google mission to find a recipe for pumpkin plachinda (seriously what did we do before google?).  I successfully found a recipe. 

I knew the recipe should be close to what his grandma made as it had cream as the first ingredient. And enough flour to make a stiff dough. Sounds like something out of grandmas recipe book or lack of book!

So once i found a recipe we had to try it. verdict... Kids loved the plachinda, and I sent some out to the combine for Dad. I have not heard if it is right yet. I am sure it won't be like his grandmas and probably does not look as perfect but I think it turned out great for the first time. I will wait for the expert to let me know though.

We had a bit of extra dough so we also made a few apple ones. I think this may become a new fall tradition (when the pumpkins are ready for the eating).

http://www.tasty-german-recipe.com/german-plachinda-pumpkin-turnovers-recipe.html

Update: apparently they are very close to what Dad's grandma made, she put a bit more cinnamon in. Must have been okay as they seem to be disappearing quickly.

Letter W

This week we were entertained by the letter W. 

We painted with worms, made windmills and watermelons.

And splashed in the Water.

Pumpkin Crop

The Post About Sleep

Just imagine if every baby and child received 10 to 12 hrs of solid sleep a night. Next imagine of every adult got 8 hours of solid sleep a night. What a wonderful world it would be.  This is not the case in our household.

Well Will and Maddy typically get 10 hours of sleep per night.  Abigail had been sleeping fairly good as in up once or twice a night. However, since her two month shots she has been up almost every hour after her first stretch of sleep which is typically 9:30 to 1:00. Yes, we have been seeing every hour from 1:00 in the morning until we are up for the day. I use the royal we but basically me, even if Chris tries to help she just yells at him. If I go in she nurses for less than five minutes I hold her for another 15 or so to make sure she is asleep then lay her down ever so carefully and repeat an hour later.

Here is to hoping that she returns to getting up once or twice a night. That I can deal with, until then we will continue to live in our sleep deprived state as much of the world does.

Letter M

This week was brought to you by the letter M. We made M crafts and played M games even made M cupcakes.

Crafts: glued macaroni on a letter M, mouse, and monkey.

Games: monkeys jumping on the bed, looking for things that start with M on our walks to the park (we found mailbox, motorcycle, motor home, motor boat, mailman), looking for the letter M on signs.

Food: Mickey Mouse cupcakes.

Will made a W, because M is just an upside down W.

Christmas

So I know Christmas is months away, but both Will and Madelyn are very excited and talking about Christmas all the time.

On any given day you can hear us singing Christmas carols, discussing what kind of food the reindeer like, where Santa lives or what kind of cookies Santa will like the most. It is also decided that Santa like chocolate milk the best.

Tonight Will said maybe we could make carrot cookies for Santa then he could share with the reindeer. I said I didn't know if Santa liked carrot cookies. Will's response. Well maybe he should try them you never know what you might like if you try it, right Mom. That's right buddy! Just keep remembering that!

Until Christmas rest assured I have not begun my shopping and we definitely are going to be encouraging the kids to donate some toys before Christmas comes this year.

Exploding Sidewalk Chalk

Nothing say fun like something exploding. Kids loved this, next time I will add more vinegar and baking soda to speed up process!

No Water

Our water is off this afternoon as they are fixing a waterline. We seen the leak this morning while out for a walk. What a great opportunity to discuss how fortunate we are to have running water. 

I think I totally blew the kids minds when we were discussing what not having running water. Here are some examples:

- Will said you would have to carry water to flush the toilet. So I explain there were no flush toilets, what a concept, only outside toilets. 

- Another tough concept, no washing machine or dryer.

- I blew William's mind with the concept of no dishwasher. That would be a lot of dishes to wash, like 200!

- Finally, the concept of having to carry dirty water back out and it not just going down the drain into the sewer was interesting to the kids. I was impressed that Will said you would not want to put the dirty water back down the well, maybe dump it somewhere else like the trees, or next time you would have dirty water to wash with. Good thinking buddy!

Of course within 15 minutes of the water being off both kids had to poop, so now we have no more flushes left for the afternoon and poop sitting in the toilet (sorry if too much information). On the plus side I can't do any more laundry so once I fold the one load from yesterday and make the two beds that I already washed this morning I am done with laundry for the day! 

Parkinson's Super Walk

This year we participated in the Parkinson's Super Walk with the Gatrell Family. It was a great time had by all and we raised almost $2000  as a team for Parkinson's. 

 People were encouraged to dress like superheroes.  The kids dressed up!

For anyone that does not know Chris' Grandma Gatrell had Parkison's so the cause is near to all our hearts. 

Hopefully we will make this an annual event next year I maybe a bit more aggressive with fund raising!

Things Kids Say

Madelyn:

-daddy you broke my hair cut, I need a new one! After Chris washed her hair.

William

-mommy did you know on t.v. They say the first letter of my name three times in a row, all the time? 

Happy weekend!