Soft pretzels

As some of you know, I believe that if I have the time to make stuff from scratch, I will try it and it will be awesome. Such is the case with these soft pretzels. I am not a huge fan of pretzels, but others in my family are and instead of buying those nasty freezer things I thought I would make my own. I am glad I did, they were awesome (based on the fact I don't think they made it 2 days in this house!) I thought it would be a fun afternoon activity for the kids and I and it was. Sadly, we haven't had an opportunity since, but maybe with it turning colder and getting darker earlier, this might be something we will have to try again. I took a little bit of the pretzel dough and rolled it into the ball and gave some to each kid. I was hoping Gwen would be a big help with this project, but she got very frustrated when the things didn't turn out as she expected and wanted me to do it...Nate just jumped right in there and made the same shape over and over again, a snake, and then he would kind of throw it on the cookie sheet and say "Bam, a snake". It was quite hilarious. Here is a before picture:

After:

I attempted to make them actually look like pretzels, but it was a little more challenging than I expected. I guess with practice, I might be able to get some that look ok.

Here is the recipe, it is from the cookbook Petit Appetit:Eat, Drink and be Merry....by Lisa Barnes I highly recommend it if you are looking for Easy Organic snacks, I've made some good things from it...they have it at the local library.

Halloween bike ride

My husband sometimes gets hair brained ideas. Usually he was instigated by his friend and they would do these things together. But his friend lives too far away now, so he has to work on these things by himself. And it is not these things that are so hair-brained, it is that he finds things at the last minute and doesn't have time to train. He decided to do a 100 mile bike ride. Sure he rides 4 miles everyday, but he didn't train. My Mom was visiting so letting him spend the day doing what he wanted seemed fine. The race started at 8:30 in the morning and he woke me up to take him to the race. He called periodically and gave us updates, sadly that day started out terrible. It was rainy and kind of cold, but Eric persevered. He sadly was unable to keep up the pace to do the 100 miles, and so ended up doing 62, which I'd said wasn't bad for the day. We all went down to pick him up, but Nate fell asleep in the car, so Mom sat with him. I snapped this picture of Eric just before the finish line.

I am happy to report that Eric didn't finish last and got a beer and some pizza. We are very proud of him and enjoyed teasing him the next day when he walked like he had been riding a horse.

Teepee

A couple weeks ago I tried to post this and the pictures wouldn't work, I'll try it again. A couple months ago we had a storm, maybe a hurricane, not real strong for us, but sadly the neighbor lost a part of her tree. Eric thought it would be fun to help her saw it up. We decided to salvage the wood we could for firewood and make a "teepee" for the kids. The kids enjoyed playing in their "teepee".

Nate makes a LOT of faces now when he has something to say. The boy is crazy.

Halloween

My Momma came for a visit, she appears to enjoy spending time with the kids for Halloween, might be the childlike wonder, or the free candy after walking around the neighborhood in the "COLD", or it could just be because she likes to visit and this is as good of a time as any! We don't question, we enjoy, you should too, because without her being here, we might not have any pictures, so when you look at the slideshow, thank my Momma! This year was a big year for us, we had Halloween Carnival at Gwen's school, the kids always love that, we had a party at Eric's boss's house, we had a neighborhood party and then we the actual event. Let's just say the kids got plenty of use out of their costumes. Gwen actually wore her costume again today. So, Friday we had the Halloween Carnival, Grandmom had wanted to do something special for the kids for Halloween so she pre-purchased the tickets for them. (Thanks Grandmom!) The kids really love this event. The school is completely transformed and each class is in charge of different activities. Gwen's class was in charge of the ticket booth, which meant I was in charge of the ticket booth, which truly wasn't that hard, but probably would have been easier if Gwen had a bigger class and everyone came! But, whatever it all worked out. We didn't actually bring our camera for that so we have no pictures, which is too bad because Nate and Gwen got on the twirly bird by themselves, this year it was a single seater and the went with 2 bigger girls and had a great time, Nate was just a smiling and a laughing. He kept trying to twirl the thing around. But he really had the most fun on the bouncy maze while Gwen and Eric did the climbing wall. Nate seriously went 15 times in a row. The next night was Eric's boss's Halloween party, costumes mandatory. Mom was kind enough to help plan the costumes and make me a poodle skirt, sadly no one knew what we were...We had a good time, but it was another late night for the kids. Dinner, was served, I have no idea what it was, but it was good! Sunday afternoon our neighborhood had a party, we went to that also. They had a bouncy house, free pony rides, cotton candy, all free, all good fun for the kids. We chose to walk and on the way home Nate fell asleep and didn't wake up until the next day! I tried valiantly to wake him up for dinner, but he just wasn't having it, so we let him sleep. Then Monday was of course Halloween! 48 and rainy, my Mom was thrilled! We invited some friends over since there neighborhood is "lame", the kids wimped out before we hit the whole neighborhood, but we were treating for an hour, and they got plenty of candy, so it is all good! All and all a good weekend for them, now I just have to get more activities in line for Christmas, since Halloween seems packed with activities! So, without further ado, the slideshow!

Halloween2011 - free slideshow

Wedding weekend

I have been pretty busy lately and I think that this past weekend and the preparation for traveling through 9 states to get to the wedding has taken up most of my time. We chose to drive to the wedding to keep the costs down. And I have to say my kids are fabulous travelers! The drive was long; we packed new car toys in a bag, food and audiobooks. Eric drove most of the way and has vowed to not drive for a LONG time.
In good news, we had a nice time at the wedding and Eric really enjoyed spending time with his friends from college. They did a great job with the wedding and the kids really couldn't get enough of seeing their godfather and Hector and Carissa. I took some pictures, but sadly none of us in the rental car! (I wonder why that was). So, here is the slide show.

Wedding extravaganza - photo slideshow

The Kindergartener!

Today was a big day for us, the oldest started Kindergarten! She has been so excited to start Kindergarten. I think she's been ready since the day after preK ended. The husband wasn't sure we should send her to preK, but on days like today I was totally sure it was the right thing to do. Gwen was already to go this morning, about 15 minutes before we had to leave, she confidently got out the car and held the 8th graders hand and went into the school.
We had a Meet-the-teacher on Sunday afternoon, where Gwen met her other classmates, her teacher and I took some pictures. Next to the birthday board.
Next to her cubby.
With her crazy brother.
On her first day of school, in her uniform!
On the way to the car.
With her brother, but who's the crazy one now?


Walking out with the eighth grader-in the background in red is her preK teacher, chatting with the Kindergarten aides. I saw her turn, spot Gwen, catch herself and turn around. It was until then that I held it together and I am going to blame her teacher on that.
Gwen only had a half day today, so Nate and I ran some errands, came home, started some laundry and went back to pick her up. You can see her in the picture walking to the steps.
She apparently had a good day. They read a book, and she talked about some stuff that happened, I think we are on par with a good day again tomorrow. She was super nervous and excited about school today. As a matter of fact we apparently decided to have a party last night between 2 & 4am. FUN! Oh wait, not fun at all, we are all exhausted. I was not pleased at all, since I had to get up and run this morning! I am going to try and put them to bed in about an hour or so. (Heh, just kidding) I did enjoy the one on one time with Nate. He was terribly clingy today, but I suspect the is the exhaustion, well that with a side of Momma's boy. I could tell he missed Gwen terribly. I don't know what I'm going to do with Nate all day, I guess I'll find out tomorrow!

What you don't want to see more video of swimming lessons?

Well, too bad, we've got more! This is Gwen pushing off to a swim.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

I don't remember what this video is, but it is Gwen swimming.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Ok, this is Gwen swimming down to the other end of the pool, I took the whole way down to the other end. What I think is funny about this video is that Gwen apparently decided to pass someone and she works really hard to pass the kid, then gets to the end and is floating. Nut!

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

So in this video, Gwen was supposed to jump in, and then saw me with the video camera and decided to jump off the starter block. Show off!

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

These are from today, "safety day", look at the smile on that face.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Nate jumping in at the deep end, his first time!

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

You are in luck, tomorrow is the last day of swim lessons! I am trying to convince Gwen to jump in on her own, no hands, she'll do it with me, why not do it with her instructor? We'll see if she will perform for the camera!

Swimming Lessons

I have noticed that now that the kids are in school I realize that summer has gone a lot faster. Although it could be because we didn't really know anyone last summer and now we have friends. I decided that the kids needed swim lessons this summer, so in the last couple weeks of summer I finally got them into the lessons. And they love it!
I took some videos also, for my Mom and Eric to see their progress. Gwen and Nate are actually in the same class, there are 2 instructors and they split up the younger kids into a separate group. So they seem to be in separate classes. Gwen has improved so much, but I'll let the videos speak for themselves.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Nate swimming

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

If you listen closely, you can hear Nate squeal with delight when his teacher twirls him around.

Nate enjoying swim lessons from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Gwen floating, not thrilling, but note worthy.

Gwen floating from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Every week the "older" kids swim the length of the pool.

swimming to the deep end from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Jumping in and swimming to the edge

jumpin' in from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

After the swim lessons we go to the playground and they have water to play with, the kids love it...

After swim from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

More recent blast from the past

A couple weeks ago on 4th of July we had the big rain storm, which canceled the fireworks. Eric and the kids decided to play in the rain. I took some videos, 'cause that's what I do!

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

The kids love playing in the rain, and apparently so does their father!

Blast from the past

I have been not really posting on here, obviously, so here is a blast from the recent past. A couple months ago we decided to take the kids to a free festival at the NC fairgrounds. It was called the NC got to be festival. They had a bunch of free stuff for the kids to look at and a petting station. We had a good time, except we had to figure out how distract the children from the exorbitantly expensive ticket prices for the rides. Gwen loved the petting zoo, Nate stayed away. We watched this hilarious animal race; only hilarious because of the announcer and the kids enjoyed it. It was pretty hot for May.

Happy 4th of July

Ok, so I know that the 4th of July was 10 days ago, but we know that I've been a little behind. This year we decided to take the kids to some fireworks. They've never seen fireworks before, so late for them, but this year we decided to try it. We found out that you could get into the ball game for free after the 7th inning and then stay for the fireworks. So we decided to try it. The 4th of July was going well, we got Nate down for a nap and then about 5 o'clock, it rained liked it has never rained before. And, they postponed the fireworks and the baseball game. So, we decided to try again the next night. Eric also humored the kids and got pictures of them all decked out in their red, white and blue. And apparently there was some finding of Daddy's cap and gown. We went to the game the next night-made it for the end of the 8th inning and for the fireworks. After the fireworks we ran the bases. The kids really enjoyed that!

Happy 5th birthday!

Today is Gwen's 5th birthday! My oldest starts Kindergarten this year, summer is halfway over! I don't know really what to say about her. Most of the time she is a sweet, fun and great help around here. She does have times when I wonder what has happened to my sweet girl, but her brother is requiring more and more attention and I think the sweet one occasionally gets jealous and when I speak to her about it and give her some attention life gets much better. She adores Nate though and usually plays so well with him.
She is very affectionate, she especially loves babies and animals. She is planning on moving to a farm, she'd like goats and other assorted animals, which I think she has already named. Every time we see a baby she calls it a "cutie pie" and tries to help it in some way. I almost dread when the neighbors with dogs are outside because I know she will run down there to play with them and then I feel kind of awkward, because I don't really know those neighbors and then I have to make random chit-chat.
She is very timid. She needs lots of coaxing to try something new. And often times she can't be coaxed into something new. I am usually unable to coax her into stuff, which can be very frustrating. But, since going to preK she has become more confident and I am excited to see how much confidence learning to read next year will help her overcome her timidity. She is slated to spend the night at a friend's house this week. And although I am pretty sure that she can completely do it and I have the up most confidence in my friend, I will be interested to see if I get the call. I had a neighbor growing up that was often invited to spend the night and fortunately we were neighbors because it was a long time before he could make it through the whole night. I don't think I had a problem, but then again, why would I remember that? Sometimes I think if we make a big deal about something she gets more nervous. So, I've just casually mention it and telling her that she can come home if she wants or she can stay. I did mention to her today that her friend sleeps in the same room as her baby brother and her eyes just lit up with excitement, so I am thinking that might be incentive for her to stay.
I took some pictures and video of her today, opening presents and riding her bike. I have to mention she was real cautious about her bike today, which is kind of funny, since whenever we were in the store and she tried it she was all over the place with confidence. We tried to take her to the Tobacco trail today so she could get more confidence on the trail, smooth surface, no hills. But sadly, the easiest way to get there is by hooking the bikes into the bike trailer and towing the kids and the bikes behind Eric. On the way there, Gwen's bike tire was rubbing on the trailer tire and rubbed a hole into the tire and tube. Fortunately we found a new tube and Eric replaced it and as you can see from the video she was back riding the bike and racing on the street.
Here is the slideshow with pictures of her cake-which Eric made and I frosted...he made a light and fluffy cake, quite yummy, but the kids seemed to prefer my roses, which were so rich not as much cake was eaten (or maybe they were full from dinner!)

Here are 2 videos of Gwen opening presents, which I thought were quite funny-I am sad I missed the very beginning, because she received a "pop-out" card from her Godfather and she was so excited, when people asked her what she got for her birthday they mentioned the pop-out card. She has since popped out all the characters and played with them.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

These next videos are of Gwen "racing" Eric. He's not wearing shoes or a helmet and he is using my bike, I'd say it was a fair race. She used to ride down the driveway on her old bike, but she apparently needs more confidence before she can start doing that with the new bike.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Another ride...

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

My garden

I thought I'd post a couple pictures from the garden, these were taken at the end of May- you see lettuce (that I think reseeded from last year), bell pepper and dill.
This is the tomato section, some of these I planted from seed, some we received for free from the farmer's market and some were moved from other sections of the garden were they apparently reseeded themselves from last year...we have Roma, cherry, big boy and purple Cherokee. This picture is also from May
This is the tomato patch from May.
This is 1 of 2 berries I got before the birds got them all! Blasted birds...I have a plan for next year though, we'll get some, next year!
This is also from May, we have beans and sunflowers in the back row, watermelon and squash in the row up from that.
Ok, so this is the watermelon now...2 plants lots of trailing going on now and i see a lot of flowers, I have found at least 1 melon growing, but I've only looked at 1 little section...I am hoping to have lots of watermelon slushies in my future!
This is the strawberry patch now, you can see we've had a lot of growth and we are having a lot of trailers that are making more strawberry plants. YAY! We are well on our way to a strawberry patch!
These are my green beans, so far I have 2 that I picked, not sure what to do with 2, next year I will have to plant more, closer together...now I know! (you can also see another tomato plant that I did not plant, but is just growing there...)
Here you can see more of the garden, you can see my sunflowers are getting big, my lettuce is going to seed, and I didn't plant any of those marigolds either.
I've decided next year I can plant some stuff closer together. I also hope that I will have some compost to go into the soil and if we keep the garden this wide, I can get at least one more row in there. I also think this year I gave the tomatoes plenty of space, but maybe they should go in the back...I am having fun planning and doing all this stuff...I just feel like I need more space! Damn reseeding marigolds, tomatoes and lettuce!

I think I have mentioned that between Gwen and Nate, Gwen is more reserved, more pensive, more a watch and see kind of kid and Nate is more I LOVE THAT. We have a new found appreciation for the public library, air conditioned-age specific activities, what's not to love. Last year we participated in the summer reading contest and Eric won a prize! So we've decided to try it again. The libraries have kick-off events where you can pick up your forms and they have stuff for the kids to do and some free food. FUN! The kids decided to get their faces painted. As you can see:Gwen the ever present ham:
Nate-he was so proud! He told her he wanted to be Captain America, she asked him if he had a red mask and white stars. I should have videoed his reaction he was like "YEAH". I know that you can't really tell that is who he is.
Today we got the met the mail man as he was delivering mail, sadly I did not know that Gwen was going to receive a little package from Grandma. I have successfully hiding all the cards, but when the mail man hands it to her, what was I to do? I gave her the choice to open now or on her birthday. She obviously chose to open it immediately. Then proceeded to put everything on. I made her pose with all the stuff on so I could take a picture so Grandma could see it...
If you look closely you will see 4 headbands and a skirt. Sure I probably shouldn't have let her open it today, but we are 3 days to her birthday and you can't say no to the birthday girl, can you?

Hi! How've you been?

I'd like to say we've been really busy, but I am not sure we have been really busy. Mom was here, then she wasn't, then we did Vacation Bible School. And now we are done with Fourth of July and almost to Gwen's birthday! I know, summer is almost over and I have pictures that I haven't even posted. I have been feeling like I haven't been finishing anything and have projects weighing on me, I guess not necessarily anything I can say hey guess what I did, but piles of crap that I have to accomplish are not still there, so YAY me. But that doesn't leave much time for blogging. So, maybe I will start blogging more, but I can't make any promises!
The kids have recently received lots of cash and since we don't often splurge on them or buy them anything Eric decided to just take them to Target and let them pick something out. Here is what they picked out:Nate sure gave lots of people in Target smiles, he almost ran through the store yelling "I AM CAPTAIN AMERICA". He might have added sound effects at the end, you never know with that boy! He definitely is a very vocal boy, and has no problem showing every emotion and letting us know about it. Seriously like to yell excitedly about stuff, I don't know where he gets it from, cause Eric Gwen, and I aren't like that. But he certainly keeps the older generation entertained, it is kind of fun to walk a little behind Nate and watch the wake of smiles he produces. I also find myself talking to a lot of random people who seem to feel the need to talk to me about his enthusiasm/energy level.
I made Gwen pose with all her accessories. Ok, so I didn't have to beg this time, she willingly went over and posed.
We were hoping to throw her a princess tea with her best girlfriend whose birthday is 4 days after hers, but all the other girls from her class will be out of town, so we've scrapped the idea and we are going to just do family thing together. Maybe we'll do something more later. Gwen isn't super princessy anymore but since we were planning the tea, I encouraged her to get the accessories also. She hasn't really worn the whole thing together, but I often see her fussing over the tiara, bending it back so it is just so (that is how you know it is high quality!). Purple is her new favorite color, if you must know!

Happy Father's Day

to my babies' Daddy and to all the Fathers out there. What do you think, do they look alike? I have heard people say they think they look alike.

New bike

Today I am going to post the videos I took of Nate riding his new bike. I seriously can't keep up with him, I had to run next to him! I am noticing his balance, if the bike begins to tip to one side he can usual compensate for it. Today he had his first hit the pavement with his chin spill. He was ticked, but he hopped right back on. To watch him "fall" off his bike is something kind of funny that I can't describe, one day I hope to get them on video. Gwen had the idea to attach her stroller to her bike so her bear could go for a ride, so I took some video of that also, because I thought it was so sweet.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Happy 3rd birthday!

Today is Nate's 3rd birthday! It is so hard to believe he is 3, mostly because he's talked like a 3 year old for several months now. He's also now day potty trained, which you don't often see in 3 year old boys. He is much improved this year. We are still suffering through a boy who does not nap but probably should, but who would want to nap when there is so much fun going on during the day with Gwen home.
He is quite a sweet boy. He has his favorite people and he gives them leg hugs and such. He still gives a good hug and kiss to all of us, he loves to cuddle for sure.
As I've mentioned he is a very good talker and seems to be very smart. It will be interesting to see if that translates well to book smart. He is a very active boy and has to be watched all the time! He also seems to be very musical. He always wants to listen to music and often plays the piano or the guitar or whatever.
Today has been a very good day for the birthday boy. We decorated the house up and woke up to the sounds of Gwen yelling about balloons. Nate has been walking around all day declaring "it is my birthday!" He seemed to love all his presents and is so aggreable and happy that we all had a lovely day. His godmother and her daughter were able to come up and join us for the afternoon, which was lovely. And although we could not find Nate's "Speed" car to put on his cake, he loved it nonetheless! He is currently camping outside in the new tent he and Gwen have received for their birthdays! Here is a slideshow from today. Enjoy!