Chocolate Syrup Addiction

I have NEVER bought chocolate syrup before - but it is on my list this week. In December the Franklins moved and gave us a bunch of their condiments including two bottles of chocolate syrup. It sat, basically unused, in our fridge until Brian left for Brazil. While he was gone, the Cooks brought me over double-chocolate-cookie ice cream as a thank you for watching their kids on Valentines Day. After eating that half gallon of chocolate goodness I was hooked on ice cream. I exercised my self control and didn't buy anymore but I did take the edge off by starting to drink chocolate milk. I even let the girls put chocolate syrup on their corn flakes in the morning. But now a month later the syrup is GONE! No more chocolate milk for breakfast! I had to have juice this morning for my sugar fix! Do I tough out the withdrawal symptoms or give in and buy more chocolate syrup?

Aleah votes for giving in. A few weeks ago she woke up and told me, "I want something not healthy to eat." Two days ago when I was making lasagna Aleah had a breakdown and cried, "But I don't like those healthy kinds of food!" The last straw I guess were the mushrooms I put in. Even if she prefers "not healthy food" at least she knows what kind of foods are healthy and which aren't.

Emily takes after her dad. They have both been known to complain that something is too sweet. (How silly!) Emily is also the girl who sorts out her Valentines when she gets home from school and virtually ignores the candy. Her Valentine's Day candy from school lasted more than two weeks! What makes it even more amazing is that she gave Aleah a piece every time she had one.

Maybe I'll tough it out or maybe I'll replace my chocolate syrup addiction with some other sugary obsession.

FYI: Aleah just woke up and asked for cake for breakfast.

Uncle Jon

Last weekend Brian's brother Jon came to visit on his way to his 8 week physical therapy internship in KY. Brian, Aleah and Colleen picked him up from the airport Wednesday evening. (Aleah will not soon forget the subsequent stop at Steak & Shake on the way home.) Jon lived with us for the summer in Texas five years ago and we all got along remarkably well - the magic is still there.

Thursday was a laid back day. (Well, except for the cows getting out in the morning.) Brian went to work and Jon went to town to get a TB test for work and to browse Barnes and Noble. This is the boy who 5 years ago had not read anything for fun except Hank the Cowdog books when he was little - all grown up now! :)

Friday was AMAZING! Brian stayed home from work and he and Jon cleaned the rat infested detached garage, built and FINISHED the back fence and fixed the chicken coop. I have never seen so much work get done in one day. I also told Aleah and Emily they could earn Chucky Cheese tokens by picking up all the random trash in the yard. It is amazing how much stuff gets blown around two acres over the winter. The girls collected a whole trash bag worth of stuff and had a blast doing it. The weather was wonderful too - mid 60's - and made working outside a joy.




My favorite quote from the day was when I called outside and asked Aleah to tell Brian and Jon dinner was ready. Aleah responded, "I can't. They are killing a rat right now!" Sure enough they were. They killed 5 total that day. It turns out that Sam, the dog (not Jon's son), had been keeping the rats out of the garage and away from all of the corn we had stored there. Good news is that between getting all the corn out, killing some and putting tons of poison out they all appear to be gone now.

Saturday was exhausting. We didn't do that much but between staying up LATE for days in a row and being OVERSTIMULATED at Chucky Cheese's I was more than ready to do nothing but take a nap when we got home. Jon was super uncle and stayed up and played with Emily and Aleah. Hide and seek, puzzles, ice cream, books.... If he wasn't married with two kids I would see what we could do about hiring him as a nanny. All weekend Aleah kept saying she liked Jon better than Brian and I. Saturday we replied, "Too bad, you're stuck with us." She called out from down the hall, "I want to be stuck with Jon!" She was also very impressed with how gently Jon brushed her hair after Saturday night baths.

Sunday morning Brian and Jon left early for Indianapolis where Jon caught his bus down to Kentucky. Thanks for visiting!

Good Parents or Good Nursery?

Up until yesterday Colleen's repertoire of words consisted of Mama, Dada, (t)ickle-(t)ickle and cow, dog and pig noises. Yesterday Colleen surprised us by doing the rolling motions to "Do as I'm Doing" and "Head, shoulders, knees and toes." We rarely if ever sing "Do as I'm Doing" at home so we knew she had picked it up in the last 3 weeks in nursery. Then during story time she and Brian were looking at a book made out of pictures from the Friend and she repeated, "Je-sus" after Brian. She repeated it a few times and then said it again today. Crazy. Brian gives nursery the credit but I like to think that we laid the groundwork and nursery just gave her that extra push over the edge. Kinda like Jack-Jack's dormant powers in the Incredibles just needed that extra Mozart and flashcard stimulation to bring them out.