Remember How I used to Bake Bread?

     Last year, I decided to go all Suzy homemaker and bake bread instead of buying it.  And for a while, I was doing pretty well!  But after about six months, reality struck.  First of all, I'm pretty lazy.  Due to our small(ish) kitchen, the KitchenAid mixer is stored on top of the refrigerator.  I already hate using that thing, but the added step of dragging a chair over there, climbing up, and praying that it doesn't tip over and shatter my brain made it an easy thing to quit.

     And it doesn't end there.  I started making bread (always under Dave's supervision, since he knows way more about dough than I do), and the loaves came out beautifully.  I mean look at the butter glistening on these little wonders. 

     When I started taking the reigns myself, minor glitches would occur. Who knew splitting into three equal parts was so hard?!

    
     I realized that I don't yet have the baking savvy that it takes to see little problems along the way and make adjustments to save the bread.  Case(s) in point: the blob.

     All that to say, it's fall now.  I am no longer using the excuse that it's 100 degrees, and I don't want to turn on the oven.  If you don't hear from me for a while, it will be because I fought the KitchenAid, and the KitchenAid won.

 

Here We Come a-Krogering

(Since the Christmas songs have already begun in my brain)...

     Yesterday, I had a first-time experience at my local Kroger.  Side note: I love my Kroger, and my only real complaint is that they don't have enough of those God-awful shopping carts that I swore I would never use with plastic cars on the front for kids.  I hate them.  I hate them, but I need them.

     Anyway, as a general rule, I can't stand when people don't take their shopping carts back to the cart corral.  Because of this, I usually park next to one.  On this particular trip, I parked across the aisle because it was a little more crowded than usual.  Since I shop only every couple of weeks, it takes a while to unload everything.  I usually turn on the car, put the kids and my purse in it, then unload.  I did all those things and jogged (yea, I do that sometimes, it's awesome) my cart over to the cart area.

     As I was getting into the car, a man walked up to the door.  Mind you, I had my car unlocked and running (since it's too flipping hot to keep it off) with my children in it for two seconds leading up to this, so it freaked me out a bit that he walked up to my door wanting to say something to me.  He was showing me a car key in his hand and telling me some story about needing to get home (which I only partially heard due to the noisy air conditioning) and asking for $3 for gas.  Here's the thing.  Becoming a mother (or maybe just living in the world today) has affected me.  First of all, I couldn't stop thinking about this story: http://katytimes.com/news/article_45824626-1c89-11e3-b6cb-0019bb2963f4.html. 

     For the ten seconds I was listening to this man, my thoughts were all across the board.  One part of my mind was thinking that I truly want to be a generous person.  I have been given so much, and I can surely find a few dollars to help this man.  The other part of me was thinking, "I will murder you with my bare hands if you come close to my kids."   I think I muttered something like, "Sorry I can't help right now" and got out of there.

     Even thinking about it later on gave me conflicting feelings.  Part of me thinks that I want to love people and be a giver since I have been given so much, and the other part of me thinks I should go ahead and get a CHL, because back off, creepers.  What would you do? 

     [Mom, please don't call me and remind me not to speak to any strangers ever.  Love you!]

**I realize this post wasn't funny at all, so be distracted by looking at these photos!

 (A failed attempt at capturing the new freckles...)

 Chores: Start 'em young.

Babywearing for Dummies: A Tutorial

Babywearing is nice because it allows you to carry your baby in a hands-free fashion and gives you easy access to smother her head in kisses.

The real reason I wore Myla for the first time in a baby carrier was because I was too nervous that I wouldn't be able to figure out how to lock the infant car seat into the grocery basket the right way.  I had visions of myself standing in the Kroger parking lot struggling with the basket and looking like a total amateur.  (This was before all the online mama hype came out claiming that you should never put the infant bucket seat into the front of a grocery cart since "a running child might knock your cart over making your baby fall."  I shop at 8:00am, so it's just the Livingston girls and the senior citizens perusing Kroger at that time.  An elderly person has never been running through the store and rammed my cart!  I digress).

I liked to keep it simple with either my Balboa ring sling or the mei tai that my mother-in-law made (holla!).

 

Myla @ 2 months

 Piper @ 6 months

They were so little and cute back then!

Myla, on the other hand, takes a different approach.  Say you're hanging around the house with no pants and your baby is fussy.  Solution-- stick her in your shirt.

 

 I know what you're thinking.  "But what if I'm only wearing pants?!"  Answer:

Easy as that. 

Rooty Tooty Fresh-n-Fruity

     Unfortunately, Piper Joy is making her way to the picky eating stage (as evidenced by her picking green peas out of rice, yelling "no!" and placing them on the table).  I am hoping it never gets quite as bad as Myla's food aversions, though.  One thing is for sure-- she hasn't met a fruit she doesn't like.

 

     Before I had kids, I was a really good mom.  I told myself that I would never let my kids wander around the house while snacking.  Food is to be eaten at a table.  We aren't animals!  As it turns out, we actually are animals.  Piper can be a little disagreeable at times, and she seems to put a cork in it when we give her some grub.  Thus was born the wandering peach-eater: 

 

You just have to get her started with the first bite, and she's good to go for a half hour!

 Watching shows, snacking on a peach.

 Five second rule!

 It's the perfect traveling snack.  You know, if you ignore the part about the juices running all over your child and your home.

 In case you're wondering, yes, I did trim her bangs shortly after this.  Now she's all business in the front, party in the back.

I have never seen a person as passionate about watermelon as my husband until I met my daughter.  We have probably been through 15 watermelons this summer.  I literally watched my daughter gag up a little piece of watermelon from lunch (30 minutes prior) while we were grocery shopping and proceed to eat it again....

 

(Does that count as a five-second rule?)

 



Happy end of watermelon season!  Dave is now looking forward to apple pie season, so I guess you'll be seeing my thunder pie-thighs at the gym this fall!

Beach Bums

You can probably tell by the Livingston's pasty shade of flesh that we aren't actually frequent beach goers, but we did manage to get down to the gulf a couple of times this summer.  Our first trip was just to spend the day in Galveston to gauge how the kids would handle the beach.  The verdict: Myla has panic attacks about touching sand, and Piper is down for anything.

 

Can we just stop and look at this little cutie?  He's my friend's baby (obviously, since we don't create male offspring).  I would totally steal him, though, if I thought she wouldn't notice. 

 



How do we keep our skin so white, you might ask?  Well, we stay under a tent while other children are playing in the ocean.  Piper chilled in a kiddie pool since she wasn't walking yet (in June).  You can also see how Myla makes a point of resting her feet on the pool so as not to touch the sand. 

Not. touching. sand.

Piper's favorite activity was/is eating.



Myla's favorite activity was staying away from the sand.

ROUND 2.

We headed down to Port Aransas with some family and friends in August.  In true Myla fashion, she took her own sweet time but ended up enjoying the beach (even the sand!)  She would watch Piper and me playing for an hour or so then decide to give it a shot.  I'm sure we'll start all over from the beginning next year. :)

Here is some of the crew:

Bunnie is our friend who loves the beach.  She's 92 years old, and she'll still kick your butt.

 Alan and Kristen won the "Cool Aunt and Uncle Award" by taking Myla on her first fishing trip.  They also made a big to do about buying her a special pink fishing pole.  They let PawPaw come along for the ride but told him not to touch anything.

 I guess they let her drive.

 

 

 

 Proof that this happened:

(My child won't even touch a piece of broccoli without hyperventilating and throwing a fit, so this was a big deal).

 

 The guy who takes it seriously:

 Beach babes.

 

 

 We were just relaxing and having a grand ole time at the playa when the ice cream truck practically bombarded us and forced us to buy something!  Back in my day, ice cream off the truck was cheap, but these cost 3 or 4 bucks! 

Nana came armed with cash to buy the grandkids' love ice cream for everyone after she saw the truck the first day.  In an attempt to not take a step backward, I explained to Myla that she may have ice cream, but she needs to eat it in her own chair (i.e. her feet would be touching the ground.  the sandy ground).  I was firm on this rule.  As you can see here, Nana totally undermined my authority and let her eat while sitting on her lap!

Dottie Kemp, you're on my list.

She's not worried about bikini season at all: