Leakage Control - of the Sippy Cup Variety

What Mom out there is not always in search of a non-leaky, durable sippy cup? I feel like I'm always on a search and I don't often win the battle. Although both of my children can use an open cup, I find that I'm not willing to give up this control, especially in the car or around the house - anywhere except the dinner table. Surprise, Surprise. And then the question pops in, do they really need that cup everywhere we go? Or to have it at their disposal during the day? Probably not, but I justify it by saying it helps with the transitions and I'm not having to stand in the kitchen all day getting drinks, or cleaning up spillage. So it's one of those things that works for us, but if you have a no sippy rule after a kid can drink from an open cup, more power to ya.

 

I do have to say that Nate drinks from an open cup or a straw cup nowadays. He is almost 7. Congrats on this accomplishment Boyle parents. Really he has been on this track for several years and before that, after about 2, he drank from a sports type cup that controlled spillage until we switched completely over.

 

The 2 most important factors to me are non-leaky and durable. Durable - meaning that they can go in the dishwasher and be okay. First up are these kinds of cups. They are just OK in my book. They leak about 50% of the time and either my kids bite extremely hard or the mouthpiece is just not durable. After a few cycles in the dishwasher, they get this white crusty stuff on them from wear. Yuck. We still use them from time to time, but they are not my favorite.

Amazon.com



My mom found these for us this summer. We LOVE them! They are durable and can go easily in the dishwasher. My only problem with these is that although they don't leak most of the time, if you flip the top back too hard, liquid goes everywhere - especially if you are on an airplane. So yes, they don't leak, but you have to be careful. Another good thing is that these are cool enough for the almost 7 year old to use them.

REI.com

 I just found these because I had a coupon. They are Munchkin Click & Lock. Can I just tell you how impressed I've been in the short time they've been in our house?? They DO NOT LEAK. I tested it out before I let Lila loose with them in the house. Held it over the sink for 30 seconds or more and NOTHING. I think I might just hand wash them to keep them good but I think they will be OK in the dishwasher because the plastic on the top is a little bit different consistency. I'm sure she will bite it and prove me wrong. But these are my latest love of a sippy cup. LOVE.


Amazon.com



Do you have any cups that you like that I need to try?

Homecoming Weekend at Home

We were supposed to go to Homecoming at Mizzou this weekend, but with the early parade and game time, it wasn't going to be possible with Nate's last art class. I was sad, but we had a million bajillion things to do around the house, so it worked out for the best. We are very proud of our Tigers for getting their first SEC win. And it was nice to tell Scott that Missouri beat Kentucky by more than Georgia did. But then Georgia went and beat Florida, so I guess the moral victory goes to them this weekend.

 

Our weekend started off with this little girl wearing her new-to-her sparkly boots. My dear friend Nicole in Nashville sent these back with me last week and they were a huge hit! Nicole passes us a mess of clothes from her precious daughter and it is such a blessing! Not having to go to the store to pick out cute clothes? I'll take it - it's like having a personal shopper:) This is one of the first pictures I can see me in her face. I usually think she looks nothing like either of us! Wish it was better quality.

 



Nate was out of school on Friday so after a trip to the dentist, we went to Jilly's Cupcake bar. I had gotten a Living Social a few months back and decided the kids and I would take advantage of it. Lila would not cooperate with a group picture.

But Nate was more than happy to oblige with a smile.

She still wouldn't look at the camera for even an individual picture, but at least I caught a smile. Albeit with her tongue hanging out.

After lunch, they devoured Halloween cupcakes. So fun!

This is Lila trying to figure out who's birthday it was:)

Good  productive weekend as we head into Halloween week and the first of November! This year has flown by and in less than a month, my little girl will be 2! Happy day.

Special Visitors

We had special visitors last weekend. Mimi, Aunt Amanda, Noah, Gavin & Levi came to see us! After a freezing cold Friday night, it was a beautiful fall weekend.

 

It was Scott's birthday on Saturday - Happy Birthday Scott! - and we treated him to carving pumpkins with the boys. :)

Really. I think he enjoyed doing it. I also made him a birthday cake - Better Than Anything cake - but I didn't take a picture. That part of the night got a little crazy.

When we used to get together with a few less children, the cameras were always in use. But add a few more chillins and the cameras don't come out as often. But here's one of sweet Gavin.

The boys, eating their dinner. Their conversations remind me so much of Hamil and my cousins Evan, Brian, and David at family dinners back in the day. Hilarious.

Sweet Lila, the lone girlio. She handles it pretty well and keeps up nicely. She is a Total Mess. Her latest catch phrase is "What are you doing, Mom?" I'm not sure I'm ready for the follow you around, ask you WHAT and WHY non-stop. But it's cute. I'll enjoy it.

 



Saved the best for last - handsome Levi made his first visit to St. Louis. He is so very sweet and we loved having him here!





 

I have no pictures of Mimi or Aunt Amanda, sadly. They were here. Promise.

Parenthood Thoughts

I think when you are a parent of young children, it is easy to dwell on all the things that don't go exactly as planned. Which is 90% of life with kids. At least my kids. Or maybe it's even closer to 98% but who's keeping track. Point is, you are constantly blocking and tackling aganist the melt-down, the dramatic reactions, the hearing loss, and of course sibling rivalry. At least it feels like you are, but I have to challenge myself to think that we actually do this stuff 2% of the time and the rest of the time is pure familial bliss. Some days people, it does happen some days.

Nate has been doing so well in school. When I am asked by family and friends how he is doing, I gush about all his accomplishments. The standard response is, "Well, I'm not surprised." I wouldn't call my thoughts about his success a shocker, as he's always been an inquisitive child, but it is surprising to me that it brings so much reassurance. Reassurance that what we support at home really does point him in the right direction. We try as hard as we can and sometimes it feels like nothing is working. But it is. Surprisingly.

Nate's parent-teacher conference was this week. His teacher was so complimentary of him and said she was lucky to be his teacher. I could have cried right there on the spot, but I held it in. I try to pretend that I don't wear my feelings about my kids on my shoulders some times. But I do. I was relaying what she said to Scott (it's just not in the cards for both of us to attend right now) and he said, "Does this mean we are doing something right?" I guess so I said, I guess so.

The same can be said for Lila too. Her teachers (or any teacher) at her school are just in love with her. They always report how sweet she is and how they love to be around her. One of her teachers from last year is going to have her first baby in November. She hopes it will be on Lila's birthday and I won't be surprised if the little girl's name has something to do with Lila. How special and how flattering is that?

When I went to pick Lila up one day this week, she threw a tiny temper tantrum about putting on her coat. YIYA DO IT!!!!! she screams (so odd for us because Nate never wanted to do anything for himself at this age). Her teacher was aghast. I guess she doesn't do those things when I'm not there. And even though I could look at the situation and say well I'm not doing something right if she's throwing a fit at all, I chose to think, "I'm very glad she doesn't do this when I'm not here!"

The point is that we are very blessed to have 2 happy, healthy, flourishing children. And I need to not take them for granted while we are raising them up when sometimes it feels we are in the blocking and tackling abyss. We have done some things right, we do some things wrong every day too. These times of reassurance provide strength for those days that don't go so well. Parenthood is not for the faint of heart, so we'll keep on keeping on:)

While I Was Away...

While I was away enjoying New York, the rest of my family went to Brunot to be with my parents. I think it is safe to say fun was had by all. My kids (and Scott) love it there. Probably because they are allowed to be as dirty as they want all the time. I think they took 5 baths between them when they returned home on Sunday. One washing just couldn't get it all off. I guess that's the sign of a good time!

 



Waving to the cows - it's good there is a gate between them. I'm sure she's not scared of them like I am!

NYC 2012

This past weekend, I traveled up to NYC to see Emily, Ben & Bluet. I had a fantabulous time. I love NYC. I would never want to live there but it's fun to pretend for a few days. This was the 5th time I've been since Emily moved there but I had not been in 3 years. Kids'll do that to ya.

 

On Friday morning, Emily & I took Bluet to the Ancient Playground in Central Park. It is one of Bluet's regular hangouts. There were many nannies and their charges there and I find it interesting to try to guess if the woman is the mother or the nanny. Most of the time, it's not hard, but I find the relationship between nanny and child so fascinating. It is a way of life in NYC.

 

 

On Friday night, we went to watch the Cardinals play at a bar where the Cardinals fans meet up. I love that there are so many Cardinals fans there! They all have a Missouri (or Illinois) story to tell which is so fun! I hate this picture, but I had to include it because it is the only one I got of me & Em.

 

 While still relishing in the unbelievable Cardinals win from the night before, we had breakfast at a cute milk bar.

 

 Then it was off to shopping, as one must do while in NYC. I have to say we didn't do as much of it as we usually do on my trips there. My feet were worn out after only a few stores!

 

After resting for a bit, we took Bluet to Whole Foods where they have a great kid-friendly bar. This photo courtesy of Ben.

 The fam!

 And this is the reason I should be thankful for only having to put my kids in a carseat in the safety of my own driveway. I could be wrangling a fiesty 18 month old while trying to hail a cab on a busy New York City street. No thank you!

The iPhone pictures are not good quality, wish I had taken my real camera! I love that most all of my trips have been captured on here. You check them out here and here!

Chalkboard Door

After Nate moved into the room upstairs, I kept looking at his door and thinking, some chalkboard paint would look great on the top panel.

 

 The doors are old and have inset panels, front & back, top & bottom.

The top front one was just saying "Paint me!"

 So we did.

 And he loves it!

I'm not a decorator. At all. But sometimes I have ideas that work out!

Baseball Rivalry

I'm a little behind on posting these pictures...this  one was back when Scott was happy about baseball. i.e. before the Braves lost. He & Nate were on opposite sides because as Nate told him, "Dad, my teacher likes the Cardinals, OK?"

 



We went to our local hangout, The Post, to watch the game. It was CRAZY, but fun to see all the insane Cardinals fans.

Lila didn't have any Braves or Cardinals stuff that fit, so we went with pumpkins. I may or may not have taught her to say "No Braves Dad." That's terrible of me.

Jason & Scott toasting to Chipper Jones last Friday. In Scott's words, "Totally cheesy and totally us."
I concur.

I'm thankful to get to watch a little more Cardinal baseball - although I would have cheered for the Braves if they would have won last week. I don't think Scott is rooting for the Cardinals...yet. It's contagious.

10 Things - Short & Sweet Version

1. Lila eats crayons.

 

2. My cat has finally realized I moved my office downstairs.

 

3. The Cardinals beat the Braves.

 

4. Nate can rock out some math problems.

 

5. Scott & Jason had a love fest for Chipper Jones last week.

 

6. I'm passing my love for candy corn to my children.

 

7. I get to see my sister in a few days.

 

8. I don't want it to be 50 in October.

 

9. Menu planning is the key to a successful evening.

 

10. Cardinal baseball rules.

Another Big Game

Don't forget to watch tomorrow!

vs.

Scott said to me, "Don't you think it would be nice if some other team earned the chance to play in the World Series?"

 

I thought about it.

 

Being that I'm nice and all.

 

For about 1.5 seconds.

 

Then replied...

 

GO CARDINALS!! 



Art, Dishes & Surprises

A few randoms from our life lately...

 

Nate is taking an art class in Tower Grove Park this fall. We knew we wanted to sign him up for a class but weren't sure exactly where to go. Insert Google. I found St. Louis Open Studio and Art Gallery (SCOAG) and it had a kids class on Construction starting soon. So we signed him up.

 

It wasn't until we went the first day, did we realize it was in this building inside the park. How cool is that?

 

 The class is taught by a very nice young man from Berkeley, CA.  And the class contains 3 boys, all as jazzed about art as Nate. Some things just work out. And this did.

 

Nate has a blast and has already made some awesome creations. He's even opened up his art studio in the basement and hosted Scott, Lila & I for classes.

 

Although I don't want to think of him being a struggling artist someday, he could totally pull it off!

 

No, this is not abstract art. And yes, I know I need to clean the grout in my kitchen. Workin on it. Ignorin it.

 

These are Lila's breakfast dishes that she so kindly brought to the kitchen after she was finished. I guess if you can't reach the counter, this is better than the alternative!

 

 The Bakers were in town on Sunday for the baseball game and we are so glad they broke their attending game losing streak:) Myra was so happy to see her first winning game at the ballpark! And Reid "caught" a foul ball!

 

They dropped by after the game, and it was a wonderful surprise. Surprises are frequent when you live with Scott Boyle. But this surprise we couldn't have planned better if we tried. They stayed for dinner and everyone had such fun catching up. Our kids only see each other every few months, if that, but pick up right where they left off each time. I love that part.

 

And Lila was SO excited to sit with the big kids. She did a fabulous job of staying in her seat and eating her dinner. Must have been the peer pressure.

Recipe & Question

It's been a while since I did a recipe post. This doesn't mean I haven't been cooking, it just means I haven't been cooking anything too terribly interesting. My mom gave me this recipe and it is one she has had for many years. It was passed to her by my Uncle Mark's mother, Betty. I love that the recipe card she gave me still has Betty's name on it. I wish we still did that - exchanged "From the Kitchen Of" cards with our recipes.

 

Any who...this recipe is fabulous. Even my kids cleaned their plates. Which a is a red letter day. Because the usual day involves Lila taking one bite and then saying "YiYa all done!"

 

I made mine in the crockpot, but the recipe calls for the oven. I don't think it made a difference.



Taste of Home

Chicken Westmoreland - Betty Haas

1 3oz jar of dried beef (yes, I had to ask my mom where dried beef was kept at the store)
8 chicken breasts (or less)
8 strips of bacon (more or less)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 pt sour cream

Mix sour cream & soup. Place dried beef in bottom of casserole. Wrap chicken with bacon. Place on dried beef. Cover with sour cream & soup mixture. Cook at 275 for 3 hours.

And if you are still reading...do you have any good recipes for cube steak? We got several pieces of this cut from our quarter cow this year. And I don't have a great way to fix it. Any suggestions?

Nate's Self Portait

I found these pictures of Nate on my camera this weekend. I didn't know they were there. I faintly remember him asking me if he could practice for picture day (it was this day) but quickly forgot about it.

 

What a nice surprise!

 

Love him!!