How to make brownies

To make Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies:

Decide after supper to make brownies while the baby is napping, the toddler is playing with his father, and the seven-year-old is playing with Legos in his room.

Measure butter, brown sugar, and white sugar into mixing bowl. Turn the mixer on to blend those ingredients while you go pick up the baby who is now awake. Because picking the baby up causes the toddler to lose all interest in playing with his dad, pick him up as well. (Remind yourself that this jealous phase will pass.) Sit for a moment rocking both boys to calm the crying. Give the baby to your husband and take the toddler with you to let him "help" with the brownies. Get eggs and milk out of the fridge while holding the toddler. Sit him on the counter (stand directly in front of him - we don't want any falls!) and shut the mixer off. Give him the same lecture you always do when he's near you in the kitchen. "Don't touch the mixer. It's very dangerous and it can hurt you."

Crack two eggs into the mixing bowl. Measure out two tablespoons of milk and add it to the mixing bowl. Turn the mixer back on, pick up the toddler, and return the milk and egg containers to the fridge.

Avoid running into the seven-year-old who has come to show you how his Lego clean team works. Return to the mixer and shut it off. Hold the toddler because the seven-year-old is now using the counter space that the toddler was sitting on to demonstrate the forklift, truck, and crane that help him pick up Legos off the floor. (They're all driven by little Lego men wearing hard hats. Safety first!) Realize that this is why it takes him so long to pick up his Legos. Get out the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa.

Try to pay attention to the Lego demonstration while accurately measuring flour, baking powder and salt into the mixing bowl. (Remember you're still holding the toddler. Don't drop him or let him grab the ingredients.) Mix until blended. Realize seven-year-old is done demonstrating and intends to play with the Legos right there next to you. Ask him to move to the other side so you can set the toddler down on the counter again.

Divide half the batter into another bowl. Pick toddler up and get peanut butter, chocolate chips, and peanut butter chips. Return to mixing area.

Measure cocoa into the batter left in the mixing bowl. Blend. Raise mixer head and reach for a spatula to stir in chocolate chips. Freak out as toddler turns the mixer on. Simultaneously holler, "No, no! That's naughty!", turn off the mixer, and check for injuries. Breathe a prayer of thanks that there are none.

Realize what a mess your kitchen now is. Wash the toddler. Realize seven-year-old has had the sense to vacate the kitchen. Put the toddler down amid much crying as he realizes he's not going to be able to watch anymore. Get down on his level and explain that he was naughty and now he has to stay down. Harden your heart against his pitiful cries.

Shoo the dog out of the kitchen and wash the batter off the floor.

Overhear seven-year-old telling his father (with great delight) that he got brownie batter in his hair but he washed it out. Realize he's coming back into the kitchen to play. Right next to you. Tell him he has to take his toys elsewhere for now as you wash chocolate batter off the counters, cabinets, and your sweatshirt.

Realize there is chocolate being smeared back on the counters. Where is that coming from? Oh, there - you missed a whole big bunch on your sleeve.

Stir in chocolate chips into the batter. Ignore the crying and tugging on your pant leg. Measure out peanut butter into batter in second bowl; mix well. Stir in peanut butter chips. Drop batter in small mounds into the pan, alternating flavors. Put into the oven. Give one child a spatula to lick. Give the other the beater bar from the mixer.




Enjoy the quiet as they enjoy their chocolate.

A couple of pictures

This is how we dress for snack.

Big smiles!

Good night hugs

Camera hog

Double chin

Bathtime Curls

Benjamin has very curly hair, when it's wet. When it's dry, it tends to stick up!

Reading to Alex

Another perk to having a reader in the house ... Ethan will read to Alex! This is especially helpful when Alex wants to read the same book over and over. Ethan is a wonderful help and reads cheerfully until Alex is ready to stop.

By the way ... Duck on a Bike is a great book!

Smiling

Benjamin has kind of a small smile here, but it's big enough to see the dimple in his cheek! (You may have to click on the picture to enlarge it, though.)

I'm trying ...

Wiser women than I have told me to enjoy the baby years we're in right now. And while I'm trying to, sometimes I wonder ... have they forgotten what it's like to have little ones?

Have they forgotten what it's like to have two crying babies? They seem to set each other off, although sometimes they just both need me at the same time.

Did they enjoy feeling pulled in so many different directions? When Alex is protesting the fact that I'm changing his diaper while Benjamin is crying because I'm not holding him and Ethan is telling me a long drawn-out story, while I remember I forgot to get dinner out of the freezer and the dog is whining to go out, well ... sometimes I want to sit down and cry myself.

Did they not have days they struggled to keep up with the housework and school and meals and diapers? Some days I think that all I really enjoy is bedtime - for me and the boys!

But then I see Alex gently patting Benjamin with a look of intent interest and affection on his little face.

I see Ethan playing with Alex without being prompted to.

I see Benjamin growing so quickly ... I'm already putting baby clothes away.

And I realize that those older, wiser moms haven't forgotten what it's like to have babies in the house. They just remember the sweet, precious moments that really matter, and forget the rest.

My mom is right - the days are long, but the years are short.

So through the fatigue, the whining, the lack of ability to have a complete, uninterrupted conversation ... I'll try to remember to look for those small moments that will make for lasting memories.

And someday, when my house is quiet and I miss the constant chatter ... when I have time to read grown-up books and I've forgotten the words to "Good Night Moon" ... when I won't have to plan phone calls strategically to make sure everyone is either napping or occupied ... maybe I'll find myself telling a frazzled young mom ...

Enjoy these years. They go so fast!

Benjamin

Benjamin likes being snuggled in his wrap!

Being the Baby

Fun and Games

Let me start by saying we have rather ugly furniture. But then, if you've been to our house, you know that! Some time ago, I got slipcovers for the couch and chairs. They weren't beautiful, but they made me feel a little better about how the furniture looked. They've recently worn out, however. (You didn't know slipcovers could wear out? When you have small boys, ANYTHING can wear out! If it doesn't get broken first, that is.)

Ethan and Alex are thrilled with the current slipcover-less state of the couch. This is why:








To think of all the money we wasted on Christmas gifts! That would be what's laying all over the floor, by the way. Mr. Potato Head is fun for scattering all the little pieces all over, but then it's on to the good toys! The couch cushions!

Happy 7th Birthday!

A couple recent pictures of our just-turned-seven-year-old:


Here he is dressed in Papa's coat and hat ... because we took a picture of Alex in Papa's coat and hat, and he tends to be a camera hog!


And here he is letting Alex watch while he plays a computer game. Alex was laughing and Ethan was being remarkably patient. Luke took this picture "to remind us that sometimes they *did* get along"!

Happy Birthday, Ethan! We love you!

A few funnies ...

So we've been busy around here lately. :) I've discovered that having an 18-month-old and a newborn is entirely different than having a 5-and-a-half-year-old and a newborn. Do you know the kind of things I've been saying?

"Don't lick the baby!"
"No, we don't pat the baby with a spatula."
"No! Icky! Don't stick your finger up Benjamin's nose. And eww, don't stick your finger up your own nose, either. And Ethan, quit laughing at him."

Alex really loves Benjamin, though. He'll even give him kisses, which he won't do for any of the rest of us. I hope he and Benjamin will be good friends as they get older, but I'm thinking that Benjamin will first go through a stage of being really irritated by how in his face Alex is.

Then again, maybe Alex will be slightly less enamored with him once Benjamin is moving and into Alex's toys. It seems to me it worked that way with Ethan and Alex!

The Boys

All of our boys

Waiting ... and some pictures

We're less than a week from the baby being born (at most), and we're all getting anxious to meet this little guy! Although Ethan wavers between being excited about another "cutie pie" and bemoaning the fact that now there will be TWO little brothers to destroy his Lego creations!

We will be inducing next Monday if baby doesn't show up of his own accord before then. Any bets on whether he will? My mom is betting he'll be here sooner. I'm hoping he waits ... if he does, then I think I may get everything checked off my to-do list!

I think I'm trying to convince myself that he'll wait, though. At yesterday's doctor's appointment I was dilated to almost 5 (sorry if that's TMI for any male readers!). That was up almost 2 cm from my previous appointment, which was only 5 days earlier.

So we'll let you all know when something happens! Until then, I finally remembered to take some pictures of the boys yesterday ... I have a terrible case of "pregnant brain" and have been forgetting to take pictures so you all can see how big the two of them are getting. Ethan is also thinks he has to be goofy for every picture ... this is the most normal one I could get.

Christmas Anticipation

Tonight as the boys were eating their bedtime snack, I asked Ethan what he was looking forward to most about Christmas. I expected to hear something about presents, and decorating the Christmas tree, and maybe making cut-out cookies together.

He is six, after all.

His response was one of those heart-warming moments. You know, the ones that come just when you need them most.

"Well," he answered thoughtfully, "we'll have a new little cutie-pie in our family."

And I think we're all looking forward to that!

We're really still here ...

... we just spent over a week at Mom and Dad's, and now we're all sick. We got pictures taken of the boys while we were at Mom and Dad's, though, so I'll be posting those soon!

If you had eaten lunch with us today ...

... here are a few things you would have heard:

Don't rub chicken on your legs! (to Alex)

No, I don't think we should name the baby "Noodle-head". Or "Slobber-tongue Head". (to Ethan)

Get your feet off the table. (to Alex)

Why are you slobbering on the table, you silly boy? And - oh, gross, don't suck it back up! (to Alex)

Get your finger out of your nose! (to both of them)

Now if that doesn't make you want to come share a meal with us, I don't know what will! On the other hand, there is a lot of laughter at the table. Even if it doesn't always come from the adults!

Playing Dress-up

Alex has decided that an angelfood cake pan is the perfect helmet, and plastic bowling pins make great weapons:


Ethan, however, prefers more traditional accessories:

Jokes by Ethan

Ethan has started making up jokes. I knew many kids went through a phase where they did this, but I didn't realize how funny it would be to us!

Ok, to get the first joke (it will be much funnier if you know this ... or maybe not, but it might make more sense) you need to know that we've been studying honeybees in science. One of the things we've learned is that honeybees dance to tell the other bees where there are flowers. So now that you know that:

When do honeybees dance and not give directions?
At a bee wedding!

(This is actually made funnier by the knowledge that he's never been to a wedding where there was a dance!)

The second one came completely out of the blue:

What do you call a centipede that weighs a few pounds?
A centi-pound!

So now you can be the life of the party with these new jokes!

Ants in the Pants

Do you remember that game, Ants in the Pants? I'm thinking I may have to get it for Christmas for Ethan and Alex to share.

This morning, Ethan was working on his math with me while Alex was playing with some centimeter cubes and rods. He usually just dumps them out and throws them around, but today he took the cubes and figured out how to jump them like the ants from that game.

This occupied him for a good 15 minutes. He'd climb up into his desk, flip the cube, chortle, climb down and find the cube, and repeat the whole process. Ethan thought it was very funny and he had to try it, too.

I don't know that they would actually play the game, but they'd sure have fun flipping the ants, don't you think?