New Word

My niece, Emily, is famous for making up new words which, when analyzed, actually make a lot of sense. Ryan has inherited this "wordsmith" gene as well. When he went ahead of me out to the van the other day, he would not go down the stairs and yelled back "No, mommy! You carry me!" When I asked why he couldn't walk down the stairs he said,

"Mommy, it's too wuggy!"

 [top view]

 [side view]

ruggy: (pronounced "ruh-gee" or, alternatively for two-year olds, "wug-gee") [adj.]  the condition or state of a stairstep that has an overhanging floor rug on the top step so as to prevent safe stepping on lower step. Ryan could not walk down the steps because they were too ruggy.

Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls

I pinned a picture of blueberry cinnamon rolls on Pinterest and since we're having people over for chili and cinnamon rolls tonight, it was the perfect time to try them out.

I used the blueberry cinnamon rolls filling recipe from beantownbaker, but used my own bread-machine dough recipe. I also used her cream cheese frosting recipe. The rolls were pretty good and nice for something different, but I still like caramel rolls better so I'm in the process of making a dozen of those for tonight. 

Ryan thought the frosting was something pretty special, although he was hungry by 11 because he never got beyond just licking all the frosting off. Apparently cinnamon rolls serve as a "plate" to serve frosting. I blame myself :)

New Uses

Empty box that came around new mirror = art canvas!

Ryan had another "new use" to add:

White tee shirt = art canvas!

Quick Convo & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adam : "I really like laying my clothes out the night before. Then I can go downstairs in the morning, take a shower, get dressed, and when I come up, my coffee [prepared the night before] is all ready. I always tell my students to get their stuff together the night before...just practicing what I preach."

Me [who has been hanging my clothes in my bathroom the night before ever since we moved to our new house]: "I know, me too. I never thought I'd be the type of person who lays their clothes out the night before. It always seemed to be one small step away from the type of person who eats 8 almonds as an afternoon snack. Look at us...we're this close to becoming a bunch of almond eaters."

Adam: "Are you going to blog that?"

Me: "Probably."

Sorry folks. We've been a little less than blog-worthy lately. I blame it partly on some long work days/nights that leave my eyes screaming for less screen time, and partly on the most exciting parts of the night being seeing if the Gator Boys caught that fence-climbing alligator so the guy's pet pig was safe in his own Florida backyard.

I just spent about 2 hours browsing the internet in search of inspiration to accomplish 2 goals.

1. Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies
2. Get some sort of crock pot meal ready for tomorrow

What do I have to show for this?
1. Three chocolate chip cookies. (Adam and I ate the other four I baked) The rest of the dough will have to just chill.out. until I have time to bake more. I also have a counter full of dishes that need to be washed sometime before Jimmy Fallon is over.
2. An idea to just bake some garlic chicken tomorrow after I get home and make some wild rice from the box. I KNOW I will regret this when Ryan is yelling, "Mommy! I need go potty now! No, I don't need to go! I need go potty! No, I don't want to go!" throughout the cooking process tomorrow. But I'm fed.up. trying to find a recipe that I have all the ingredients for and that won't be dried out after 10 hours in the Crock Pot.

EDITED TO CORRECT:
Two chocolate chip cookies

Screw the almonds.

The Dog Whisperer

This afternoon, after a family walk, Ryan decided he wanted to lay down in his bed. He'd already taken a short nap, but I complied and was sitting in the chair next to his bed reading. Nika came in the room and was whining, as per usual, and I was tuning her out. After a while, though, Ryan lifted his head and we had the following whispered exchanged:

Ryan: "Mommy, water!
Me: "Do you want a drink of water?"
Ryan: "No, mommy, Nika wants water."
Me: "What?"
Ryan (signing "more"): "Nika wants more water."
Then he laid his head back down.

I went to the kitchen, and sure enough, Nika's water bowl was empty and as soon as I filled it, she greedily lapped it up.

Future career as a dog whisperer?

Snowy Day=Time for Cocoa!

When we looked outside this morning, Ryan started jumping up and down, saying, "Let's go sledding!" Sadly, we informed him there was not quite enough snow for that activity. Later, when Adam was going out to scoop off the inch of fluffy snow on our driveway, he asked Ryan if he wanted to help. Ryan hurried up the stairs, saying, "I can use my scoop! Mommy, I need to get my snowpants and coat and boots on!"  He happily bundled up and then spent at least 30 minutes outside clearing the driveway and the sidewalk next to our house.

When he came inside, Ryan decided he needed to have "cocoa" just like Curious George. "With mawsh-a-mallows!" He's been enjoying reading many Curions George books lately, including Curious George's Snowy Day. I didn't know how he'd do with a "hot" drink, but warming it up only 30 seconds made it drinkable for him. He loved the marshmallows on top and thought he was pretty big stuff drinking out of a mug just like mommy & daddy's coffee.

I am happy to report this is only the second snowfall of winter and that the snow is completely gone as of 2:00 today. My kind of weather! I think Ryan will look forward to the next snow, and maybe next time it will be enough to go sledding!

A Cowboy and his Trusty Steed