Bountiful baskets

I had my first experience with Bountiful Baskets today.  (Well, that's not entirely true.  My first experience was two weeks ago when I paid for a basket and then forgot to go pick it up.  But let's not talk about that.)  I was really happy with what we got!  We got more than what is pictured--we also got three grapefruits, a 5+ lb bag of butter gold potatoes, an eggplant, leeks, and eight bananas, plus Nate had already eaten one of the apples (pink lady) and one of the blood oranges(which are red inside).  And that pile of broccoli is a lot bigger than it looks.  You can't see quite how "piled" it is in the picture.  I got an extra bunch for volunteering.  (Have I ever mentioned that I love broccoli?  And that 4 of the 5 people in my family who have teeth like it too?)  The spinach, I think, is going to find a home blended up in something--probably spaghetti sauce.  (Husband, pretend you didn't read that.)  I'm not quite sure what to do with the eggplant.  And the leeks are going to have to find a home elsewhere.  But overall, I think this is awesome for $15.00! 

Did you notice the carrots?  Yes, those are all carrots.  Okay, admit it... how many of you didn't know carrots came in other colors?  I actually did know that.  I found it out a few years ago.  Want to know something interresting?  Carrots were originally purple and yellow, not orange. Somewhere along the way it is thought that the two created the hybrid orange carrot.  Supposedly, orange was prefered by westerners and that's why we really only see the orange ones today. The purple ones are native to Afghanistan.  Anyway...

We got orange, purple and yellow carrots today.  There were a few random red ones in the mix, but we didn't end up with one.  I know there are also white carrots in existence.  What's funny is that I just told the kids last night about the other colors of carrots in existence as they were eating their orange ones.  I had no idea we would actually get some of the other colored one today.  The kids were really, really excited when I showed them the carrots--especially the purple ones.

The beauty of the purple ones is a little bit skin deep though.  About a fourth of the way into the carrot, it turns to an orangish color and then the middle is more yellow.  I was really hoping that they were dark purple all the way through.  Oh well.  They are still cool looking.  Oh, and if you are wondering, they all taste pretty much the same.  Kelton did say that the yellow ones had a little bit different flavor, but he said it was really good.

Now, here are some things I don't know.  When I use the spinach, am I supposed to cut the "stem" off, or do you eat that part too?  And when you store carrots and broccoli in the fridge, are you supposed to have them in a bag?  When I buy them from the store, I always leave them in the produce bags.  I don't even know if you are supposed to do that... But these don't have produce bags.  I put them in ziplocks, which I didn't seal all the way, and then put them in the fridge, but I don't know if that will help keep them from drying out, or if it will just make them soggy.  I may know that purple carrots exist, but I am realizing that there is a lot I don't know about vegetables!

Going Private

Okay, I didn't really want to do this for a few different reasons, but I guess it is now time.  My blog is going private.  There have been some porno sites accessing my blog, plus some people in Russia and Belarus (and I know no one in those places).  I know this has been happening to a lot of people--you may want to check the traffic on your own blog.

So, if you like to read my blog (or even if you don't like to but still do anyway ;) ), leave a comment with your email address--even if you think I already have it.  I will wait a few days before I make the transition.

And one of the reasons I didn't want to go private was because there have been other people I have known who have changed their public blogs to being private and I was too... I don't know-- shy maybe, to ask to be invited because I knew them, but maybe not super well.  Honestly, I really don't care who reads my blog as long as I at least know who they are.  So, don't be embarrassed.  If you want to keep access to my blog, just let me know! 

Arie's favorite pastime

See this little girl?

We finally got around to taking pictures of her favorite thing to do.

I've never had a baby who loves to have their hands in their mouth as much as Arie does.  She seems to have her fist in her mouth a good part of the time.  It amazes me that she can fit that whole fist into her little mouth.  And a lot of times her fist ends up in her mouth after she smiles.  It's like she can't stand to have her mouth open (which she does when she smiles big) without putting her hand in.  I love it.

She is such a cute little girl!  And even though she has decided recently to not sleep as good as she used to at night, she is still a super sweet baby.  She is getting onto somewhat of a schedule where I know about how long she will be up before she needs another nap and she has figured out how to make it through the day on three good naps.  That's been nice.  And while she has some pudginess in places, she is still not super big.  At her four month apointment at the beginning of the month she weighed 13 lbs 8 oz and was 24.5 inches long.  I think.  (I have it written down but I don't fee like getting up to find it!)

I love how she's holding her hands in this picture.  Like she's posing.  But really, she is just getting ready to insert that fist...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! No, wait...

We got snowed on!  Right here at our house in the desert. 
Date: February 11th. 
Time: Late afternoon

This wasn't even a snow/rain mix.  It was all out snowing.  Big snowflakes.  And it snowed for almost two hours.  We didn't get much to show for it on the ground because the ground was really wet from the previous rain, but it did stick to the ground in places.

I went out with the kids so they could play in it and catch snowflake on their tongues.  It was a lot of fun. 

Maybe about six years ago, we woke up to a light dusting of snow on the ground.  That was fun.  But I realized that this is the first time in the 10 years I have lived here that I have actually watched it snow.  I've watched snow fall before, but it really was fun to watch it fall here.  As I stood outside, I really did get a Christmas-y feeling.  Silly.  But it's true.  There was just so much snow falling, even though the pictures don't really capture that. 

Like I said before, it didn't stick to our really wet dirt out back, but you can see it on the trampoline.  (and over on the red slide on the far edge of the picture.)  If we would have had grass out back, then you would see the snow on the ground too.

What's crazy is that the metro area has snow in their forcast for around mid-day tomorrow!  They didn't get snow when we did--they are a bit warmer than us, and maybe a little lower in elevation.  So we will see what happens!  Maybe we'll see some more snow tomorrow too.

Kid dictionary

If someone wanted to create a dictionary of words invented by kids, my boys would have a few new words that need to be added in.  These are the kind of words where they think they are using the correct word, when in fact, they have altered the correct    word(s) to something similar and the result is too cute to correct.  I'm pretty sure all kids do this, and I think a resulting dictionary would be a top seller. 

Damon's new word: drawler
Kelton's new word: anoising

Damon's word is is a hybrid of draw and color.  Drawler.  He tells me all the time that he wants to go drawler a picture.  Or asks if I want to come drawler with him.  I love it.  Why say that you want to go draw and color when you can mash them together into one word?  Very efficient and succinct.

Kelton's word cracks me up and I have to keep from laughing every time I hear it used--because really, he's five and I think he would have realized that he's not using the right word.  The word he means to use is "annoying."  My kids have latched onto this word recently because they are at the ages where when the other one(s) make noises, it bothers them to no end.  Or, in Kelton's words, it is a-noise-ing.  This words gets the most use at the table during meals and in the car when Damon is either singing or making other repetitive sounds and Kelton crys out in agony, "Damon, stop it!  That's anoising!!"

Today (Feb. 7) I have to add this to my post from last night.  Because the other thing that is cute is when little kids don't make up a new word, but use a real word they are familiar with in the place of a similar sounding word that is newer to them.  For example:  A few days ago, Damon came in while I was getting ready for the day and was wondering what I was doing to my face.  I told him I was putting on my makeup.  He found that fascinating and stayed to watch.  So this morning he came in needing some help with something while I was putting on my makeup.  I told him I was almost done and he said, "Oh, are you putting on your hiccups?"