cowboy cookies

on thursday sam helped me make up a batch of cowboy cookies in a jar (courtesy of cousin kaitlin). my guess is that they're pretty much a standard oatmeal cookie recipe with chocolate chips. in any case, it was fun because all i needed was the contents of the jar + one egg + one stick of butter, and it didn't take ages to make them because it wasn't a huge batch. sam did a great job of helping, and he performed the service of taste-testing/quality control admirably (grampa h. would be proud).

the key to happy parenting

i have decided that the key to being a happy parent is to have an extremely amusing child. and i'm extremely happy, because mine is currently scoring a 10 in amusingness. a few examples:

- each time i stopped the cart at the grocery today, he announced "we're here!" and climbed out of the car. after we had chosen our food (apples, bananas, mustard) he climbed back in and steered wildly to the next item on the list.

- his ability to count to four, which sometimes goes like this: "one, two, free, GO!"

- his wonderful rendition of yewwow sumbarine, "we will live…sumbarine! we will live…sumbarine!" (this is also his movie pick of the week.)

- his request to be strapped into his (temporarily relocated) carseat in the living room while watching the movie of the week. (which was also awesome because i knew he wasn't getting into any mischief while i was fixing lunch. i am researching the installation of seatbelts for the couch, which would also be stellar for timeouts.)

the haircut

obligatory pre-haircut photo:

sam woke up after his nap yesterday looking very sweaty, so i finally decided it was time to say goodbye to his glorious head of blond curls. as much as i was enjoying them (and i was, let me tell you), he clearly needed a summer trim. plus, i was getting abit tired of everyone asking when i was going to give this boy a haircut.

so, armed with at least half a dozen hershey kisses, i put the step stool out on the driveway and attempted to snip away at a very wiggly sam. overall i don't think it looks too bad, considering all the screaming and head-grabbing the boy was doing. yes, i did give him a little jab with the scissors once or twice, but it could hardly have been avoided on my part (unless i'd given up about halfway through). i needed daddy's help for the final few snips. even so, i think there are a few long pieces. i try not to look too hard for the mistakes.

and now he looks like a big boy. when he walked in the room this morning i did a bit of a double-take and my heart gave a little twang.

things that sam is doing lately that remind me that he is growing up—he is:

• choosing his own clothes. he's done this for a while (mostly the "no, not that" variety of choosing), but now he puts on his own crocs (which i bought for him for the very reason that he can don them himself. otherwise he'd be pulling on rubber boots in 90 degree weather because he likes to do things "self"). he also picks out his own hat (which sometimes means a summer outfit and a warm winter hat). it is entertaining.
• climbing in and out of the car on his own. and heaven forbid you might try to help him without a specific request first.
• using words with syllables. well, sometimes. we're still working on "ba-na-na" vs. "banna", but he's doing a lot more real words and phrases. we've come a long way from the "no monkey bed!" phase.
• telling us what he wants. unless he's upset. if he's frustrated, he will scream bloody murder. our daycare let us know that he needs improvement in asking for help. thanks, but we already know. our attempts at anger management have thusfar been less than successful, and we surely appreciate the reminder that sam is indeed not perfect. but figuring out what's for breakfast has become LOADS easier.
• able to touch BOTH the pedals on his tricycle. he still doesn't get the whole pedaling thing, but at least he's got spots to put his feet so that they're not dragging on the ground for blocks.
• hmmm....there's probably more and i'll think of them later. perhaps we'll just call them fodder for another post.

obligatory post-haircut photo:

and a song for this rainy monday

found via all songs considered.

feeling a little french

am loving this song this today (though i find that lurker in the background a bit creepy).

and this one as well:

the last of the fabric flowers…for now

this recycled (or up-cycled) t-shirt chrysanthemum was really fun and really simple, and i'm dying to try it with my crafty nieces sometime soon. i've made several, but the pink is my favorite so far. you can find the tutorial here.

a post for auntie margy

a day or so after sam's second birthday party, we lost my aunt (my dad's sister). today i am drinking my coffee from one of her pretty cups and thinking about my memories of auntie margy:

- auntie liked to chat, and boy could she. if auntie called on the phone, you had to clear the next 30-90 minutes. she didn't call me all that often, but when she did it was a marathon of a talk (especially for me, as i tend to do anything in my power to avoid the phone).

- auntie enjoyed family traditions. she always brought breakfast on christmas (oh the strudel!), and potato salad for easter. i'll always remember having to find room in our little fridge for a very large container of potato salad.

- i remember auntie and her camera taking pictures. when i was little, her big camera with all its attachments and large flash seemed huge, and it made a huge impression on me (i've noticed that i'm now the aunt with the big camera chasing people around).

- auntie enjoyed having things be "just so" (i remember this about my grandma henderson as well—she always seemed a little frustrated when things weren't picture perfect, and i think auntie had a lot of that in her too). when i was younger i remember visiting and admiring her "purple bathroom" where everything was color coordinated (my favorite color at the time was purple). she also had a yellow bathroom and a "citrus" kitchen with shades of yellow, orange, and green—with coordinating appliances, no less.

- auntie enjoyed her nieces and nephews, and especially their children (her grand-nieces and grand-nephews). we had many a chat about how fascinating it was to watch us all growing, and i will never forget the famous "peek" episode that sam had with auntie last fall while visiting dad in the hospital. it was something that auntie particularly remembered about sam (and he remembered about her). in fact, during our last visit she recapped many of the stories she had collected about her surrogate grandchildren, and we talked about what kind of personality the newest addition (little alice, just brand new ten days before) would turn out to have.

i am remembering all these things and making a note to clear a space in my next life, because i'm sure that when i see auntie we will have a nice, long chat, and there will be a lot of catching up to do.

if you walk into our house, you very well may find us singing this song

we've watched a couple others, but this is by far the most popular.