This is a random cute picture I took the other day. Emma likes to play games on the computer and Noah will sit there, watching intently, for a surprisingly long amount of time.

Yesterday Emma was asking me about saints, and what sort of things people have to do to become saints. I told her that to be considered for sainthood, someone basically has to spend his or her entire life doing really nice things for other people. "What about me?" she asked hopefully. "I obey the Girl Scout Law at all times!"

Last night at dinner, I think I qualified myself for some sort of bad mommy award. We were eating at Spin, and Noah and I were sitting in a booth seat that stretched along the entire length of one wall, well past our own table. He kept running along the seat, which was not such a big deal until someone else sat at one of the other tables along the wall. I didn't want him disturbing their meal, so I asked him to sit down and stay at our table. And I asked him again. And again. And again. Like a typical two year old, his impulse control is not the best and he just couldn't stop himself from running along the vast expanse of seat that stretched before him. I was getting so sick of chasing him down, and I really just wanted to sit and eat my delicious eggplant and goat cheese pizza. He is pretty sensitive these days to things being scary ("hairy"), especially dinosaurs, so without really thinking about it, when he started to take off again, giggling hysterically, I just casually said, "Well, watch out for the dinosaurs." Screeeech. I've never seen him stop so fast and stand so still. "Dinosaurs?" I didn't even say anything else, but immediately he was back and asking to sit in my lap. A few minutes later when I asked him to move, he said something about the dinosaurs coming for him. I told him that I was just teasing about the dinosaurs, but he still seemed a little nervous. I did feel sort of bad about it, but not bad enough to keep me from enjoying myself for those few peaceful moments!

Our last week was really a drag, due to a sick baby. Allie was sick pretty much all week and I was up with her what seemed like all night, every night. When she gets sick her temperature gets so high and it kind of freaks me out a little bit. One night she was all the way up to 104.7 and I found myself wondering at what point I should take her to the hospital. Luckily, she seems to be a lot better now, which means a much happier baby and a much more well-rested mommy. I'm sure everyone in my family is thankful for that!
This weekend we raked leaves in the yard, just so we could have the opportunity to jump in them. Emma and Noah loved it. I've never seen two people more thrilled about having yard waste thrown at them.I thought Allie might like it too, so I put her in the leaf pile. I don't know if it was because she wasn't feeling well or if she just isn't into playing in leaves, but she apparently didn't enjoy it nearly as much as her brother and sister!

Noah's latest trick:

Well, the kids made it back from my brother and sister-in-law's house without any trouble, and they apparently had a great time while they were there. Noah woke up a couple times the first night and cried for a minute or two, and the second night he woke up once but went right back to sleep as soon as my brother carried him into their bed. Amazing! I am so happy that it all worked out so well.Noah's hair had been getting pretty shaggy, and I was getting a little tired of paying $14 once a month or so for him to get a haircut. My brother owns a set of clippers so I asked him to give Noah a buzz cut while he was there. I had forgotten about that, so when I saw Noah Monday morning, I was a little shocked. He looks like a completely different kid!He's been home for three days now, but I still do a double take every time I look at him. I think he looks adorable, but definitely more like some other stranger kid than my Noah. Of course, two seconds with him will confirm that it is definitely him. He thinks its a hoot to close his eyes when I'm trying to take his pictures, so most of the shots I have of him lately look like this.

Well, this is weird. I'm sitting here at the computer with a baby sleeping on my lap and no one else is home to bother me. Meaning, I can sit here peacefully for her entire nap and waste time doing whatever it is I want.

My brother lives two hours away in Columbia, but he works here in Kansas City, so he usually stays at our house a couple of nights a week to save himself many hours of driving. Yesterday his car broke down and wasn't going to be fixed until today so he stayed here again, and offered to take Emma and Noah back home with him until Monday morning when he goes back to work.

Now, Noah has never been away overnight before, and he still isn't completely night-weaned (although we've been working on it lately) so right away I said no. Two hours away, for two nights? That seemed like way too huge of a step all at once. Still, Noah said he wanted to go, and Emma wanted to go, and Steve said he thought I should let them go, so I mulled it over a bit and I decided to let them go.

I sent them off this morning, although not without reservations. They both adore my brother and sister-in-law and I know they will be in good hands, but I'm just wondering what's going to happen tonight when it's time for bed and Noah realizes that he is not going to be able to nurse. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but I certainly hope that it isn't too traumatic for him.

In the meantime, did you hear what I said? NO ONE IS HERE TO BOTHER ME! Steve is working today and going to the Chiefs game tomorrow so it will mostly be just Allie and me for the weekend. I'm not sure what we'll do, but with only one easy little baby to care for, the possibilities are endless! Hurray!

Some random things...

~ I was able to get the beet stains off the floor using Magic Eraser. I love that stuff!

~ Emma is joining Daisy Scouts, and I volunteered to be in charge of cookie sales for her troop. I had to go to an informational meeting about it earlier this week, and I left feeling a little dazed and overwhelmed. They told us that the goal for each girl was to sell 125 boxes! Luckily, when I talked to her troop leader, she said I could keep it as low key as I want, which is a big relief. Still, if you get a hankerin' for some Girl Scout cookies in the next couple of months, keep us in mind.

~ I love fall! Love, love, love it! We've been going on lots of walks, during which the kids collect a multitude of leaves, acorns, twigs, etc. Their favorite thing to do of late is paint those objects with fall colors. I am plenty happy about that because it keeps them busy for a long time. Noah is surprisingly meticulous and will spend a good ten minutes painting a single acorn.
~ I made a great discovery today. I love banana bread, and because we often have overripe bananas that no one will eat, I make it a lot. I particularly like this recipe because it uses a lot of bananas - six bananas for one loaf! - but I don't like all the butter that goes in. Today I did a little experiment and replaced all the butter with peanut butter and then added about a tablespoon of oil, and it turned out great! I had to cook it a pretty long time, but it's really good. There is quite a bit of of sugar, but I feel much better about eating 1/2 cup of peanut butter than 1/2 cup of butter, and since I use whole wheat flour, I'm telling myself that it's actually pretty healthy!~ Last week one morning we woke up and it was 59 degrees in here so I turned on the heat. Where do you keep your thermostat? Right now ours is set on 64. It's fine for me (although I am usually hot when everyone else is comfortable) and no one is complaining, but sometimes Allie's little nose feels really cold. I can't remember where I set it last year.

~ Noah discovered our return address stamp, and he now he likes to be covered with our name and address at all times. Yesterday he got out of the bath and immediately ran to the kitchen and stamped up his legs again before I could get his clothes on.~ I still love Emma's lunch box and am having fun packing her lunch, but the novelty of taking pictures has worn off, so these will likely be the last ones you will see. (I can just see my brother heaving a big sigh of relief!)

Banana slices, celery with peanut butter, pistachios, and black-eyed pea salad.Orange slices, green beans, Yakisoba Chicken (this was SO good!), and home fries.
More black-eyed pea salad, raspberries, mashed sweet potatoes, and olives.

Here is a lesson for you: If you are peeling beets and a baby comes along and flings the beet peelings out of the trash and all over the kitchen floor, do not wait until you are finished peeling (and after that another hour or so while you try to get said baby to fall asleep) to clean them up. They will absolutely stain your tile.

Quite awhile ago, I started reading a blog called Vegan Lunch Box and then later bought the book from the same author. She packs really great lunches for her son in super cute, compartmentalized (Is that a word?) little lunch boxes. Recently Mothering magazine had an article about moms packing healthy, cute, and waste-free lunches for their kids using this same style of lunch box.

I finally got around to ordering one - from Laptop Lunches - for Emma, and ever since I placed the order, I've been stalking the Laptop Lunches Flickr group, ogling all the pictures of lunches packed in this particular lunch box. The group has almost 1200 members who have posted 8,484 pictures of their lunch!

Emma's lunch box came last weekend and so far she loves it. (I do too, maybe even more than she does.) Every day I've been really excited to pack her lunch, which probably makes me a humongous dork.The first day I packed her some Chickpea Salad with Roasted Red Peppers, raspberries, a kiwi, and carrots with ranch dressing for dipping. Doesn't it all just look so appetizing in there?The second day she got White Bean Roasted Red Pepper Dip, multi-grain pita chips, and glazed carrots and green beans that were both leftover from dinner. I realize that these two lunches are a little redundant, but roasting red peppers is kind of a hassle so I like to get the most for my efforts. Plus, Emma is a huge fan of anything with red peppers in it, so she was happy with it anyway.

When I told my brother about the Flickr group, he totally scoffed not only at people who are lame enough to take pictures of their lunches, but also at people who are actually interested in looking at them, so I won't torture you with any more pictures. If, however, anyone reading this is just dying to see more pictures of Emma's lunches, just let me know and I'll be happy to oblige!