I think it's interesting . . .

That in my blog history it says I blogged 26 times in Jan. 2008,

24 times in Jan. 2009,

13 times in Jan. 2010,

and this one here is #11 for Jan. 2011!

Busy? Ya think?

(-:

And, I wasn't even going to blog right now, but I thought I'd add another one to 2011, so this is what we get.

Well,

while I'm here I could put a few interchanges I've had with some kids that I've been keeping notes on. Let's see what we have, shall we?

Up First, Harrison (I'm mean, who else would it be?):

H: "Spain must have a pretty strong army."

Mom: "Why's that?"

H: "I mean, well, if they have everyone speaking spanish everywhere you know."

Let's follow that up with some more...Harrison:

H: "I think I'm going to move to Russia."

M: "MmmHmm, why's that?"

H: "Well, I was playing Just Dance on the Wii and they really have the best dancers so I'm going to move there and take their dance classes."

Okey dokey then, I thought to myself...(-:

Let's try some William:

W: "Can we buy some moustachios?"

The "mous" is as in moose, not mouse.

I could not bring myself to correct him, I love his version.

And we'll end with some...Harrison:

H: "You know San Diego?"

M: "Yeah."

H: "It's pretty sandy there, right?"

M: "Hmmm, I guess, why..oh, uh..it's not 'Sandy Eggo" it's San Diego."

H: "Oh, well, but it's still a little sandy right?"

M: "Yeah."

(-:

And there we have it. Post #11 for Jan. 2011. Wonder if I'll squeak in a #12 tomorrow?

This girl LOVES to . . .

COLOR!

Oh my gosh is she cute!

She would just break out into that open-mouthed smile after a particular line or two that she apparently just loved.

Such a fun age (minus the getting up at night...STILL!).

Hey, Look Who's Twelve!

This was a two-cake year.

Cake #1 was for the...

12-girl sleepover this past Friday night!

1. Boys, Baby and Dad shipped out for the night to an empty grandparent's house.

2. Ordered four pizzas, they ate 1 &3/4!

3. last burst of giggles heard @ 2:30a.m.

4. Wake up call @ 7:40a.m.

Cake #2

(warming her hands by the 12-candle fire...just you wait sister (-:)

Lara's choice for family celebration,

English Toffee Cheesecake

She has recently taken to headbands.

So pretty. (-:

Mini Cherry Preserves Cheesecakes made by Lara for her class today in her new cupcake maker. They had a "Nilla" Wafer cookie on the bottom of a standard cheesecake, topped with the cherries. It was absolutely delicious!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LARA!

And how did she spend her birthday evening? Trying to study for three tests she has tomorrow; math, geography and science. Mind you she is ex.haus.ted. from having started basketball practice for the season, yesterday and today. I mean she is totally whipped and trying to take in the economics, religion, culture and politics of Mainland Southeast Asian Countries, Southeast Asian Island Countries, Japan, and the Two Koreas...and that's just for geography. (And, excuse me but...WHAT??? in 6th grade??!!!). I did the best I could to help her (hahahahaha...quote from me, "Oh wow, look how far north South Korea is from the Southeast Mainland Countries."...which, as I type this, I struggle to even remember what the Southeast Mainland Countries are...).

Orbeez and Body Butter . . .

Do not eat either of them!

These teeny, tiny little guys . . .

expand when you add water.

They're pretty cool.

(unless they're in a vase like this and someone adds more water and they expand out the top of the vase and every so often shoot off the counter and bounce around the kitchen)

Body Butter

I am in L.O.V.E. with this stuff

(thanks Jeff)

You couldn't have a better lotion for a dry, Michigan winter.

However,

If you're a swimmer, do not lather up within a day or so of your workout or else this...

your pull buoy,

will shoot out of your legs like a torpedo,

threatening the guy in the next lane.

(and you won't be able to do your sit-ups with your legs latched over the side of the pool...they will not latch!)

Just like buttah.

(-:

Experimenting with the new camera...

Turns out my parents live on a pond . . .

And have for about 10 years!

So, when I'm thinking of pounding out a rink in my back yard, and it just isn't coming together this year, one might think It would dawn on me to get on over to their huge chunk of frozen H2O. Well, it didn't. Until today, when my Dad called and said "hey, why don't you guys come over and skate on the pond today." THEN it hit me..."Hey, we've got a built in, smooth as glass, no hoses needed rink at the grandparents, AND, they have a SAUNA! Let's git on over there and do some skating! (-:

We started with a pretty decent square.

I do think, when all is said and done, I did about 2/3 of the shoveling.

I'm not sure if I will be able to brush my hair tomorrow.

I can hardly type right now!!!

(-:

Boy did they have great fun out there!

Though, after checking out the neighbor's rink (at the top of this pic) we realized we needed ours to grow a bit.

Now that's a rink!

Sweet!

Now this guy needs to teach us all how to "hockey stop."

Princess likes her "pretties" . . .

I'm really not sure what we're in store for here. Our almost 14 month old seems to be alarmingly into "bling."

For instance, if I don't put these very shiny, black patent leather ankle boots on her, she will hunt them down through out the house and bring them to me with a grunt implying;

"Put these on, don't you know they are so much prettier than these faded slipper shoes?"

She's also VERY into bracelets and necklaces. A few nights ago she improvised with a tart pan.

Whatever works when it comes to fashion I guess!

Bracelet on . . .

Off we go!

Seems to make a fine necklace as well.

(blurry shot, still learnin' the new camera)

Back to the bracelet.

And do you know what our pretty little princess is actually doing here???

Yes, in fact she is checking herself out in the window's reflection.

She did this for quite some time, bracelet, necklace...necklace, bracelet.

Still lookin' good sister!

Now break away from the mirror already!

Ay, yi, yi!!!

Pumpkin Pie for a Crowd . . .

Well, I think I'm at 11 years now of wanting to file my recipes.

That.Cracks.Me.Up!!!

I mean, for real? ELEVEN YEARS???

Check here for my first blog record

and then the next year,

I gave it another go.

And here we are, two years after that, trying again!

As of today, I've made it through about 3/4's of all the recipes and tossed out a ton (I'll look up garlic soba noodles with swiss chard on the computer the next time I want to make it, in 10 years...). I've added my new ones to the food groups piles I had started and some are even in folders (I'm compiling a folder of kitchen tips and the like that I sure hope Lara likes some day since I've been adding to it for about 15 years...man, I'm nuts! (-:).

I did get all my cheesecake recipes filed as per that blog post in 2009...yes, that is insane...I've only filed the cheesecake recipes???? Who do I think I am, Julie Childs? SP wonders why I can't just scan them and go virtual with them all but I really like my clippings for some odd reason. Some are from my old NY Times magazines that I would read in NYC when we lived there, some from a favorite A2 Food Section Editor (who we actually ran into a few blocks from our NYC apt when she was visiting her daughter), and a precious few are written by my Grandma.

Found this in the Sunday Funnies . . .

and, kindly enough, the Dilbert website allows one to embed the code, so,

here it is:

I don't know, but it gave me a laugh...

could be a Mansell thing.

Found this on Facebook, it Cracked.Me.Up!!!

11 Step Program for those thinking of having kids

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.

2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.

3. Go home.

4. Pick up the paper.

5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...

1. Methods of discipline.

2. Lack of patience.

3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.

4. Allowing their children to run wild.

5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.

Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...

1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)

2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.

3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.

4. Set the alarm for 3AM.

5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.

6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.

7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.

8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.

9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

(This is absolutely no joke...this has been my life for the last year with Livia, minus the infomericals. ~ Julie)

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out...

1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.

2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.

3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.

4. Then rub them on the clean walls.

5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.

6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

(I mean, for real??? Have these people been to my house???!!! ~ Julie)

Lesson 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.

2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.

1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.

Leave it there.

2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.

3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.

4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

(This is written by a very experienced parent!!! ~ Julie)

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.

2. Make a small hole in the side.

3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.

4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.

5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.

6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

This is all very tongue in cheek; anyone who is parent will say 'it's all worth it!' Share it with your friends, both those who do and don't have kids. I guarantee they'll get a chuckle out of it. Remember, a sense of humor is one of the most important things you'll need when you become a parent!

Happy Birthday, SP!

How about a quick retrospective of the past year?

Sledding at Crystal Lake

1/23/10

A picture of the picture taker.

Lake Michigan, Jan 2010

Expert iDog fixer.

Great bike seat adjuster.

This was the year of "the hat."

He made sure to get Livie in on the exciting hat trend.

Anyone else wanna ride...I've only given about fourteen so far today!!!

Bakin' bread wit the boys at Fort Wilkins.

He makes a great table for fishie snacks!

He L.O.V.E.S. setting up tents...

A nice refreshing dip in Superior!

Here's to another action packed SP kind of year!

I'm tired . . .

No, he's not why I'm tired (well, not entirely (-:), we'll get to him in a minute. I think I had too big of a gangbusters day around here yesterday in that it was the kids first day back to school and I wore myself out trying to pull this place back together. Today, I've been tired all.day.long!

Ah, well...on we go...

This boy l.o.v.e.s. his new hat from Uncle Jeff.

I love his ears in his new hat from Uncle Jeff.

Here's that boy two years ago helping shovel.

Here's that boy now helping shovel!

I mean, c'mon...really? Let's stop blinking, eh!

Big Bro and the snow scoop.

Just 'cause.

And,

It's no wonder this gal is constantly putting on circle legos as bracelets, bringing her shiny patent leather boots to me for her to stomp around the house in and wanting "pretties" (ribbon barrettes) in her hairless head, the way she is constantly getting dressed up by her big sis.

Who doesn't wear a shiny, sequined cape when digging in the toy box?

Her long lost Uncle would I bet!