Five year olds

I have learned that a mom has to capitalize on certain things. Like when her five year old thinks its awesome to sweep the kitchen floor all by himself and then use the dust pan to throw it all away.

I think if I would have asked him to do it, he wouldn't want to. But because it was his idea...voila most of the crumbs off the kitchen floor!

Do you see my half broom. It got broken in the snow. The boys took it outside to sweep snow (I'm not going to say which of the three boys who live at this house broke it). It still works, just takes more time.

Death of an oven & creative cooking

Sadly our oven is dead. Well the cooktop still works thankfully, so I've still been able to cook just not bake.

Waymond has done all he knows to see if it's fixable. Well almost anything is fixable, so I guess he is trying to see if it's worth fixing!

In the mean time, I've had to be creative. I made a pot of beans the other day and couldn't bake cornbread. We are Oklahoman's and cannot have bean without cornbread, so I made cornbread pancakes. They were tasty! Waymond had the leftovers for breakfast the next morning.

A little sunshine!

Today we had some sun!!

We did some work outside in the yard (weeding the garden to get ready for some veggies) and at first it was a bit cloudy and overcast. Isayas kept saying, "you say it sunny today." I kept telling him that it might still be sunny.

When the clouds burned off and the sun came out Isayas yelled, "thank you Jesus for the sun!"

Even when we came inside Isayas found the sun! I wonder if he'll ever get used to the clouds? :o)

Sprouts

We have a few sprouts!! As soon as the weather gets normal around here we'll get them in the ground. I'll have to grow the tomatoes a bit bigger before they can go into the ground, but we are well on our way!

I'm hoping I can keep our cucumber plants from being eaten over night. Something that lives in our backyard loves cucumber plants. I bought 5 last year before deciding I didn't want to buy any more and keep feeding the caterpillar, slug??

Oklahoma

Our boys got some Oklahoma shirts for Christmas. And, they love them (plus it has a dog with big teeth)! They both had them on the other day so I thought I would get a picture of them both. Isayas was trying really hard to get a good picture, but his brother just can't stand still that long!

After this picture was taken Ermias ran off and Isayas wanted a picture of just himself. Isayas talks weekly about living in Oklahoma "all the time" as he says it. He wants to go to the same school his cousins go to. I think living by both of his Grandmas and both of his Great Grandmas (who give great gifts) have a HUGE factor in his desire to live there! Plus his Grandpa has a motorcycle!!

Our little Oklahoman

Ermias asked for in-the-shell peanuts to go with his sandwich at lunch today. In the past we've eaten these in the park or at the zoo and he's not been interested.

Today, however, he ate a bowl full. He cracked the shells with his teeth and then popped the peanuts in his mouth. One would think the grew up in Oklahoma!

Green Eggs & Ham

Isayas has been so excited; he read Dr. Suess's Green Eggs & Ham (most of it anyway) all by himself. It's the longest book he has ever read. He's read it several times over the last few weeks.

Well, the other night for dinner we had ham (a spiral-cut one that's been in our freezer for about a year - it was still tasty) and our boys don't love meat. Waymond was giving Isayas a bite of his ham and Isayas didn't want to try it. And then he said, "I do not like it, Sam I am." We all laughed.

After a few attempts of getting Isayas to try the ham Waymond said, "what happens at the end of that book?" Isayas sighed (loudly) and said, "he tries the food and likes it." And, then he tried a bite, "this is pretty good."

Shots

Ermias will be starting kindergarten in the fall and that means getting shots! Sadly both boys are having to play catch up with immunizations.

Waymond took him to get three yesterday. Afterward they met me & Isayas at Starbucks for a little family time over decaf.

Honestly, the coffee helped him. And, I think having something to look forward to after it was all done helped even more! Plus he got to hang out with daddy and ride in the truck - Bonus!

Ice Cream Cake

Since making the rainbow mini cakes I've wanted to try them again. This time I put ice cream with it!

I won't be making these for Baskin Robbins anytime soon, but they were tasty! The boys made it through about half of their piece and asked for a brownie. They still don't love really cold things.

Little snow

We woke up to a little snow on the ground this morning. The boys were super excited! They went out to stand on the porch long before we headed down to Isayas' bus stop.

It snowed a bit more before warming up to a nice rain. I'm ready for a little sun and heat!

Our week

We've had a busy week that stared with some homemade Ethiopian food! Thankfully our boys like the easier dishes to make!

There has been lots of reading. Isayas is getting better and better. He loves to pick out a book he hasn't ever seen and see if he knows the words inside. He reads everywhere, even city bus advertisements next to us while we are driving!

Isayas has really loved puzzles lately. This one is a map of the USA. Whenever he learns about another state he likes to put this puzzle together so he can see where it is compared to Washington State & Oklahoma. We are trying to find a "hardy/sturdy" globe that he can enjoy!

Saturday morning is the best when Daddy gets up first (TV)!! A little Scoobie Doo anyone?

Ermias has been batman several times this week! He wears both t-shirt capes and has "wings". This is a new development, but he's starting to get into super heros. Specially ones that he can pretend to be while jumping off the couch onto the floor or from couch to ottoman to couch!

We also got some seeds started. This is the first year I've started with seeds inside. We'll see how it goes, but since I've planted them the sun has not been out! Sad (on many levels)!

Crochet

Last Saturday I took a crochet class! I'm not fantastic, but hopefully I'll get there. My goal is the have one scarf finished by the time winter gets here again! :o)

I'm hoping to take a knitting class, too, but again, hopefully I'll get there.

At play

I'm not 100% sure where he gets stuff. Today Ermias said to me, "mom, you buy something from me." And he lead me around the corner to the dinning room where he had set up a little work station for himself.

He had his DS set up as his computer, a lego Cars guy as his mouse, a notebook (and he was taking notes), and a file folder (thanks Stacy) with my papers to fill out.

I suggested a few things I would like to buy from him, but he said "no" to them all. And then he said, "you buy a bike from me. One dollar." When I said, "one dollar!" He said, "no, its three dollars." Then he took my money.

He had me write on some papers.

And, then went off the do something with them.

Then he took some more notes. And, then I had a bike!!

I told Waymond about my purchase and he said, "I really hope he doesn't sell used cars someday!"

Creative Outlet

Sometimes you just need a creative outlet. I found myself in that place the other day and thankfully a friend's birthday was close. I baked her a mini rainbow cake (and one for us). I found the idea for a mini cake here. And, the rainbow idea came from some other blog. Instead of just making a mini version, I just made a regular recipe and divided it between 4 pans and 6 cupcakes. White cake + food coloring = rainbow cake:

I only had two mini "pans" (Cost-co size tuna/chicken cans) so I baked, washed, and then rebuttered &

refloured and baked again. It would be less of a process with a couple more "pans."

I sliced each one into three pieces. The tops are just bonus for the husband who wants a little snack.

So, each mini cake could be it's own double layer cake or do like I did and mix the colors and did two, four layers on each cake.

I did frosting in between one cake and pudding in between the other.

I had some random blue frosting from something else, so I used it too.

Tasty, tasty mini cake!

Brothers

I snapped this with my phone while we were walking to the bus stop this morning.

Brotherly love, one minute its a hug the next its a punch to the face!