Delving into Dip

A friend of mine treated us to some real Ranch dip, made from a mix brought straight from the States. It was yummy! I need to put that on my list of "Things to Bring Back". :-)

I served it to the kids with cucumbers for a snack. Toby wasn't overly impressed, but Abbie could NOT get enough. See for yourself....

 She started off thinking the cucumbers were just a handy tool for bringing the dip to her mouth, but I convinced her to bite off bits of cucumber as well. She caught on pretty quickly and thought that was lots of fun. Then came time to clean her plate....

Such a silly girl. :-) Thanks, Nancy, for sharing your Ranch. What a treat!

Daybook - June 20, 2012

Outside my window... I hear hammering at the neighbors' house, shouts of children playing, and delicious silence coming from my napping children's room. =)

I am thinking...about a playdate with friends coming up tomorrow morning. We always have a fun time chatting, snacking, and watching our kids play together. These ladies encourage me so much!

I am thankful...for friends. Earlier this year at a women's retreat, one of the speakers encouraged us to seek out all kinds of friendships instead of looking (consciously or unconsciously) for one do-all, be-all friend. It's neat to see how different friends satisfy different parts of me: some encourage me to be a better mama, others challenge me spiritually, others help me to relax and have fun, others indulge my English major self with good conversations about books. There's room--and need--for all!

In the kitchen...are 3 loaves of freshly-baked bread, 2 small papayas picked from our yard, 2 pineapples I bought from a lady who came to my gate this morning, and a whole bunch of dishes. Need to start thinking about supper....

I am wearing...a comfy shirt, khaki skirt, no shoes or socks. I do love skirts in warm weather. :)

I am creating...not much of anything these days. I'd like to get back into crocheting and digital scrapbooking soon.


I am reading...The O'Malley series by Dee Henderson again; Blue Like Jazz with Jonathan; Go, Dog, Go with Toby; a well-loved nursery rhyme book with Abbie. I love it that our kids have picked up on our love of books. :)

I am hoping...for some motivation and energy to tackle my project list. Things are slowly getting checked off, but it's hard to get much done with 2 Littles vying for my attention.

I am looking forward to..."together night" with Jonathan tonight. Dates are hard to come by here--not much to do, not easy to leave the kids--so we've taken to having "together night" once a week instead. Maybe we can finish Blue Like Jazz, then watch a show together. We still have some episodes of White Collar to savor. :)


Around the house...we're making progress on our yard. Oh, yeah, that's another reason I haven't spent much time on my project list. We finished de-jungling our side flower bed, now I need to fertilize it and plant some seeds to fill in the gaps. Can't wait to see what it looks like in a month or so!

I am pondering...how to tune in to my kids' needs and how to be productive when they're awake. Seems to work best when I can find little things for them to do nearby--little things that keep them busy, helpful, or at least not destructive. :)


One of my favorite things...hard-boiled eggs and toast for breakfast. My kids love them, and it's an easy, do-ahead meal.

A glimpse of my week: spent some time Monday and Tuesday helping my friend prepare for her birthday dinner; enjoyed Mexican food, games, and good conversations at the birthday dinner Tuesday night, quiet day at home today; playdate tomorrow; shopping or work day at home Friday; hope, hope, the guy comes by this week to take a look at our ailing water pump

A peek into my day...Toby reading in his tent before falling asleep. He loves his new bed!

Want to join in? Go to http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/.

Abbie at 18 Months

It's hard to believe my baby girl is 18 months old now. She's such a delight to our family with her silly faces, big smiles, and developing personality. I'm often amazed at how different she is from Toby; her feminity is coming out in so many ways.

Abbie at 18 months

 Abbie is wearing 12 month shorts (she's a skinny little thing!), 18 or 24 month dresses and shirts, and size L diapers. Her size 4 shoes are really too small for her, but she loves them so much, I haven't had the heart to put them away yet. Her hair is dark blonde with a reddish tint in some lights. It's very fine and curls up at the ends. It's long enough now that I can put it in a ponytail, although it doesn't take long for her to pull it out. :)

Cute little ponytail

She loves pink, her blanket and pacifier, books, her "Favorite Children's Songs" DVD, animals, papaya, cookies, muffins (breads of any kind, actually), rice, my camera, my cell phone, her flower sandals, playing outside, helping Mama bake, looking at pictures on the computer, imitating Toby, and drinking out of a "big girl cup".

3 of Abbie's favorite things: her pacifier, her blanket, and books

Abbie is all girl! She loves shoes, hats, necklaces, and sunglasses. She has a definite favorite dress and nightgown (both pink). She started out this morning wearing a red shirt and jean shorts, but I wanted to change her into a dress because 1) she's so skinny that her shorts fall down unless she's wearing a cloth diaper, and 2) we were going up to the school, so I wanted her to wear a pamper while we were out. I took her to her closet, and she searched through her dresses at least 5 times, looking for her favorite dress (which happened to be in the laundry). Seriously! Since she couldn't find it, she was heartbroken at the idea of having to change out of the outfit she was wearing. I ended up pinning her shorts so they wouldn't fall down. I did NOT expect clothes to be an issue this early! To her credit, she (almost always) happily wears whatever clothes I pick out for her; it's just on the rare occasions when I let her pick out her clothes that she gets so particular. I can't really blame her for that....

Her favorite dress

On the not-so-pleasant side of this age, we often find ourselves in a battle of wills with our sweet little girl. She knows what she wants and has a hard time giving up. She can also throw a masterful fit when the occasion arises. We have finally gotten to the point where the threatening sight of the "spanking tool" often convinces her to obey. I have to be really consistent with expecting obedience from her because she pushes the line as far as she can.

She's slowly adding words to her vocabulary. She communicates a LOT through signing, grunting, and pointing, so I'm often surprised at how few words she really says. Her signs: milk, eat, more, help, no, drink, all done, hat. She also does lots of sound effects: dog, cat, horse, cow, car, turkey, duck, lion/tiger. Words (in rough chronological order): papa, bah (referring to our house helper), enak (yummy in the local language), mama, yah (yes), wa-wa (water), please, cheese, ball, and most recently, kakak (meaning older brother; Toby referred to himself in this way for a long time).

Signing "All done!"

Other fun things about Abbie:

• When Abbie gets really excited about something, like when Papa made a swinging boat for them out of blankets, she yells eeYEAH! eeYEAAAHH! eeYEAAAHH!
• She laughs and laughs when Mama jumps out from behind the wall and startles her.
• She loves it when we chase after her and say, "I'm gonna get ya'!" Even funnier, she runs away for a while, but then--as if she can't stand the suspense--she turns and runs straight at whoever is chasing her.
• She loves to ride on the back of Toby's bike and is learning to "hold on tight". :)
• She has this funny trick of rolling her eyes up as far as she can when she's holding out on obeying. She knows I can't help but laugh when she does it, even though it doesn't get her out of whatever she's supposed to do. 
• She has just learned that she can stick her leg up all the way to the top of her pack and play, hook her foot over the top, and climb out. Scary! Guess it's about time to move her to a toddler bed....
• She loves her bedtime stories with Papa and cuddle time with Mama.
• Favorite songs/nursery rhymes: Pop Goes the Weasel, The Wheels on the Bus, Jesus Made the Rainbow, Pat-a-Cake, Yankee Doodle
  

  

  Riding the bike around the yard

My happy girl, never staying in one place for long, especially if the camera comes out :)

Mud-luscious and Puddle-Wonderful*

We've been getting a LOT of rain this week. Not so surprising--we do live in a rain forest, after all--but it's a change from the fairly dry weather we've had for the past month. I love, love, love the rain, especially since I'm a stay-at-home mom with a flexible schedule. We can just stay home and listen to the rain pounding on our tin roof while we read books together. =) What a life, huh? It works for a while...until I have to deal with damp laundry and energetic kids who have been cooped up in the house too long. =)

 

One afternoon this week we had a torrential downpour during the kids' naptime. It was fantastic! There are few things I love better than sitting in a quiet house, drinking coffee, and listening to the rain. When the kids woke up, I snuck outside to finish trimming up one of our bushes when I noticed a massive puddle in our yard. So I summoned the playful, carefree mama that hides way deep down inside me and invited the kids to come out and play in the puddle.

They were thrilled! And a bit worried that I didn't really mean it.

Toby must have asked me at least 3 times, "May I play in the puddle, Mama?" (He knows he's not supposed to play with water unless he has permission, so I guess he wanted to make absolutely sure he wasn't going to get in trouble for this.) Once he had been sufficiently reassured, he went wild. I couldn't get any good pictures of him because he would NOT stay still. 

He had several good falls in the mud, of course, since he was tearing through the puddle at full speed. He complained the first few times but got over it pretty quickly. Then he completely cracked me and Jonathan up when he warned Abbie, "Hati-hati" ("be careful"). He had just learned the word that morning when the kids and I were out walking. He says it very carefully and precisely, and it sounds so funny!

Abbie was mainly delighted by the game because her brother was making such a big deal of it, I think. Between her frequent face-plants and sagging diaper, she was quite a sight.

They had a grand time. I don't think I've ever seen them so thoroughly dirty. Playful Mama was glad they enjoyed themselves so much, and Responsible Mama was glad that all the dirt (I think) came out of their clothes after a good scrubbing.

*Compliments to e.e. cummings for this delicious phrase. If you've never read the poem it comes from, you really should. It's delightful.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of everyday life ~

Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

 

{pretty}

Hawaiian ginger

We've been working in our yard a lot lately, and part of that project included getting some plants from friends of ours. This lady grew up in the Philippines and knows a LOT about gardening in this part of the world. She was very generous with her plants and gave me some good advice and ideas.

I was especially excited about the Hawaiian ginger plants she gave me. The flowers smell amazing! I cut one and brought it inside, and its incredible fragrance filled my whole dining and kitchen area. Smells like a cross between gardenia and honeysuckle. Mmm! Pretty and fragrant--can't beat that. :) I planted some right outside my dining room windows where we'll be able to enjoy those flowers to the max.

{happy}

Nothing makes my kids happy like a trip to the library. We loaded up on books, and I even found some fairly recent copies of the Reader's Digest. :) My kind husband even stole away from the computer lab for a while to take the Littles on a tour of the school grounds so I could browse the shelves in peace. He's a keeper, for sure! :)

{funny}

Abbie threw a massive tantrum when she was asked to put away the water bottle she had been playing happily with. Unfortunately for her, Jonathan was nearby to document the whole thing. ;-)

After Mama said she could take one more drink, she cheered right up. Can you see the tears in her eyes even as she smiles? (No, I do not make a practice of giving in to my kids' tantrums. I had my reasons, OK?)

{real}

This is what my patio looks like after three days of clouds and rain. We hang the clothes on hangers, put them outside when the sun comes out, and rush them back inside when it starts to rain. They will dry out here eventually, even if I can't put them outside. So thankful for this indoor clothesline!

Saturday Gardening

We've started to give our yard some much-needed TLC. The kids love to be outside and I love messing around with plants, so it's a good fit. :-) One of my friends came over last week, looked around, and gave me some good tips and ideas. I'm not real experienced when it comes to jungle gardening, you know? 

Last Saturday was a perfect day for working outside--cloudy and fairly cool for this part of the world. We planted some cuttings and starts from our friends. Jonathan also began de-jungling one of our flower beds. Incidentally, he broke 2 shovels working on this flower bed (tools are not all that sturdy here). :-(

Toby amused himself by pushing or riding his bike around the yard. Abbie happily played with some toys and a bucket of water until her late night the day before sent her to her bed for an early afternoon nap.

Just after Jonathan got home with our second shovel purchase for the day, a gentle rain started to fall. Toby and I made several last trips to the brush heap with branches and discarded plants while Jonathan planted one last ginger plant. Then we headed inside for showers, lunch, and naps. Gluttons for punishment that we are, we headed outside again later that afternoon for more work. I think we all ended up taking 2 showers that day. On the up side, we got a lot of work done and didn't even mind that the electricity was off most of the afternoon. :-)

We've still got a lot of work to do, but I'll try to post pictures of our progress.