No more Mimis

Lenora turned 2 in February of this year. I always thought we'd have the biggest battle trying to get rid of the mimis (pacifiers) since she not only has one in her mouth but she has to hold one while she is laying down and while she's sleeping. Yesterday I was just so tired of seeing her running around and playing with it in her mouth and whining for it everytime she went to lay on the couch, so I said enough is enough! I told her that it was time to put her mimis away into a box so we can give them to all the other babies that don't have mimis and then she'll be a big girl. I took her into the spare bedroom and told her to pick out a box from the gift wrapping tub. She kept crying and saying "please don't take it, I need it" But I finally convinced her and she picked out a drawstring gift bag and finally put them all in there after giving them kisses of course and Mugga Muggas (from Daniel Tigers Neighborhood) We went and searched the whole house for more and she willingly gave them up! We filled two small bags! She did fine the rest of the day and if she would ask about them we'd just say "remember your trying to be a big girl" we never used the words "No, you can't have them back" that would of just devestated her.

 

That night while I was grocery shopping and she was at home with Martin I guess she found one and when daddy saw her she say's "Haha I found one" but after a short talk she wilingly gave it a kiss and put it in the bag with the others. So proud of her. It took about 40 minutes to put her to sleep that night (while my husband laid on her floor) No crying, just a lot of tossing and turning. She woke up about 5 times throughout the night, and she cried and was SO mad at us! She didn't want anything to do with us telling us to "GO AWAY" which devestated me into a crying fit because I felt like a bad mom for taking her mimi away from her, but after a short calming talk about how she was trying to be a big girl she fell back asleep each time. So it was a rough night but not as rough as I thought it'd be and today she only asked for it once and then forgot about it! We'll see how tonight goes. Next step POTTY TRAINING! But if we can get through the binky battle then we can do anything!

Tonight for bed instead of getting 5 mimis she picked out 2 stuffed animals. I laid down on her floor and after a couple "knock it off or I'll take Zoey and Lucky away" (her stuffed puppies) she was asleep in 5 minutes!!

Just had to share our success story because i honestly thought we'd lose our minds trying to get rid of the pacifier!

Trip to Tillamook

 I haven't done a blog post in forever because we've been so busy with birthday parties, easter, vacations, home renovations, yard work, etc! But here is a few pictures from our trip to Tillamook in April. Lenora was the best behaved little girl ever so we had a wonderful time! It rained the whole time, but what do you expect for Tillamook! Lenora had a great time anyway, playing with her cousins, seeing the airplanes, and sampling the cheese.

 Visiting the Octopus Tree- Tillamook, OR

 

                                                        At the Tillamook Air Museum

At the Tillamook Cheese Factory

 

At the Bonneville Fish Hatchery

 

 

 

Sugar high!

Celebrating Two with a Tea Party Brunch

We did a Tea Party Brunch for Lenora's second birthday. I LOVE LOVE brunch now! I had so much fun collecting all the trays and cups for her party. I already had a lot of the tea cups/plates from my Bridal Shower (Thanks Hilary) and I went antiquing for all the silver trays and the Tea Pot which to my suprise I found at the very first store and it was $2 (what luck) and I even found a sugar/creamer set at the goodwill for $2 which turned out to be an Oneida from 1908! Fun stuff! Needless to say I went a touch overboard as usuall, but it all turned out gorgeous! We did carnations in glass cups & vases decorated with paper and ribbon (thanks Better homes & gardens) and tissue paper pom poms. We served Muffin Tin Quiche, Sausage Patties, Hashbrown Patties, French toast (from my new americas test kitchen cookbook), Scones, and fresh fruit.

 

Her cake was done by Fred Meyer and like the cupcake it turned out amazing! I couldn't of been happier.

 

For gifts she got some clothes, a movie, some ariel lego's and princess books, and a giant soft "rock" and inside was 9 different stuffed dinosaurs, it's about the coolest toy I've ever seen in my life! Last but not least, we got her a pink Schwinn Roadster Trike.

 

It was a fun and exhausting day. Both me and Lenora took a 3 hour nap when everyone left!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday Dinner

 

Lenora turned 2 last week. Her actual birthday fell on a Thursday so to make it special I made her favorite dinner (Homemade Marinara sauce with noodles & LOTS of cheese, and Rosemary Rolls)

I've recently discovered this recipe for Marinara Sauce and I will NEVER buy the jarred stuff again!! It's so easy and it freeze's well, and I can hide ALL the veggies in it (and lenora will never know) She loves it so much, she'll come in to "taste it" while its cooking, and then keep asking for more more more. I puree all the veggies in my blender when its done-except for the bay leaves.

Her cupcake was an "under the sea" theme because nowhere in town could I get someone to do a single ariel cupcake (all the decorations came in kits for cakes). However, the lady at Fred Meyer did an AMAZING job, and as you can tell in the pictures Lenora loved it. She then got to open one gift which was a Fisher Price Little People Ariel Carriage. We love Little People.

 

 

 

Bribing, Funny Faces, and Pigtails.

If someone were to ask us to describe Lenora in one word, we wouldn’t be able to answer. We would however say she is psychotic, lunatic, crazy, goofy, silly, sneaky, smart, and a big helper. Sometimes I wish I knew what Lenora was thinking when she tries to feed her snacks to the people on TV and her Elmo which I’m constantly removing day old snacks from his mouth, or when she comes up and licks your leg for no reason, or why she likes to yell at you until you “pretend” cry so she can hug you and say “I love you”, and why she thinks it’s okay to hide in the pantry until mommy almost dies from panic because she is missing, I could go on forever. Oh and just as a side note-she could finish a whole jar of baby dill pickles in one day (I have never let her though).

Today I tried real pigtails, we usually just do silly ones on top, but I decided now that she is older she deserves a big girl hairstyle! 

Then I of course had to take a photo, and after trying 27 times I cut her off a small piece of an otter pop (To bribe her) it kind of worked.  As I’m prompting her to make all kinds of faces, she does exactly the opposite. These are the results….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ROASTING PUMPKIN'S

Last night we cut up and roasted 2 giant pumpkins (also toasting the seeds, yummy). I made extra pie crusts to freeze and have on hand, and also plan on making something called “Pumpkin Butter” with all the puree. We now have 32 cups of pumpkin puree! It took me a couple hours, and it managed to burn up one blender- but I had a second base on backup (long story). So this Fall I’ll hopefully be making lots of pies, breads, muffins, and oooh pumpkin scones!

Back to carving- Lenora was absolutely disgusted by the innards of a pumpkin! She ran away, hid, and kept saying “eww, dirty, icky”, yet she had no problem whacking them with wooden spoons, and kicking them and when Lenora has a wooden spoon or other long object she is not one to be messed with (flash back to my ankle getting hit with her plastic broom, and swelling to the size of a lime almost instantly)  

Enjoy the pictures.

 

This is her go to look now for photos.

 

 



Assaulting the pumpkin.

 

Hiding from us and the pumpkins.

 



Must of got some on her arm.







 

 

32 cups of pureed pumpkin.

PUMPKIN PATCH

Today we took Lenora to the pumpkin patch. It’s so crazy to think that she will almost be 2 years old, and last year when we took her to the pumpkin patch she was only 9 months old and couldn’t even crawl yet (back when we could actually take her places without dramatics) Today she was such a good girl, but strangely did not want to pose for any photo’s like usual.

We took her to a farm today where you could not only pick pumpkins but also pick Asian pears, Fuji apples, Squash (acorn & butternut), and we even got some onions. It was also a very quiet farm, not a lot of people and it was free to get in. All together I think we got 3 pumpkins, 2 butternut squash, 1 acorn, a bunch of apples and pears, and some onions for only $16! Asian pears were 0.50 cents a pound!! Amazing! I think I’ll try and make a pear tart.

 

PUMPKIN PATCH 2011 (LENORA 9 MONTHS OLD)