Just hanging out

Today was a lazy summer day at the Efird household- well as lazy as you can be with 3 kids, two dogs, and a lizard to take of. Oh I forgot about the fish. The fish named Spongebob. I did get some work done outside, a lot of weeding and mulching, this morning. It was beautiful today, wasnt it? The kids and I spent a lot of time outside and just made some yummy cookies from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook which you can find on my bookshelf. They have garbanzo beans and oatmeal in them and Alexander just said, "These cookies are soooo delicious!" YES!

One of the special things that Alexander and I do together is sing our dialogue. It is a lot of fun. We get a tune in our head, change all the words to fit our conversation and sing it back and forth! He is really good at it. I try to make it rhyme, like the original song does, but not always. Today Alexander started singing that he wanted to go McDonalds and I sang back, questioning why he wanted to and he sang that he wanted to get Kung Fu Panda Toys and then I sang back that maybe we could get them on Ebay and he sang that he didnt think that they were on Ebay yet and I sang back that maybe we could find them on there. So I diverted the MCDONALDS, MCDONALDS, MCDONALDS!!! chant today. Yesterday it lasted about 5 full minutes. Ugh. "The answer is still no!" I love how the fast food chains entice our kids with their cool toys from these popular movies and then the kids beg their weary parents into going there and then they partake of the non-nutritious, humongo portions of chicken, beef and potatoes just to get that special toy (you like that run-on sentence?). The toy, the object of such hullabaloo is then looked at, played with in the car on the way home, and then left in the car until the next time the car is cleaned out. Then it is thrown away. Such is the life...

Well! I really didnt mean to go on about fast food chains and their toys. On a lighter note, here are some picts from today I found to be especially cute:

Alexander sat on top of the slide for a long time today, soaking up the warm rays, and evidently day-dreaming. He is so handsome, I had to take a picture of him.





Maggie was entertaining Andrew on the deck. I'm not sure what they were playing but I do know that Andrew was getting a little tired of the game. They are having fun in this picture.

Earth 911, etc.

Do you want to know where you can recycle old batteries or electronics? Just type in Earth911.org and your zip code and it will tell you! Very cool and very green!

I have been super busy getting Alexander's Sponge Bob birthday party ready for next Saturday! I have a lot to do and have been busy getting invitations out and doing some shopping! Everything is online for me with these three kids. Speaking of kids, Andrew went to his 9 month check up on Monday and got his two vaccines (we're on the alternative vaccine schedule). He did great, slept 13 hours last night and has been happy all day! I hope it continues... He is so much fun right now. He has started to wave and it is downright adorable! He also loves our dog, Bella, and has started to say Bewwa every time he sees her which is so cute.

Here is the front of the Sponge Bob party invitations that we made:
I superimposed Alexander on the Sponge Bob pic using Photoshop. He thinks it's pretty cool!

My baby is 9 months!

Andrew turned 9 months old yesterday! I just feel like he is growing up before my eyes. It is sad in a way and exciting in another. He is so thrilled with all the new tricks he can do now. He will get up on all fours and try to decide what to do next. He can do the army crawl and then roll to wherever he wants to go. He can definitely get around. Unfortunately he eats everything on the floor or in his path, so we have to continuously monitor his actions. I kept warning the older kids about leaving their markers and crayons all over the place, but Andrew got a hold of one and wrote all over the carpet the other day. Luckily they were washable ( I buy nothing but)! I think that I have one very curious little boy! I have to say the other two weren't like that. They never got into anything much. Am I due?

Andrew has to be the sweetest little thing. Whenever I pick him up I get all kinds of hugs and kisses. He just smiles that toothless smile and giggles! He is so happy! This is such a fun time! I just wish I could enjoy every little moment, soak it all up, and never forget it.

Recipe Monday

I had some um, let me just say, very ripe bananas sitting beside my onions (did you know that onions give off some chemical that makes your fruit ripen really fast?) and decided to use them. I found this awesome recipe on All Recipes. com. It had like 3000 comments and the majority were good so I tried it! I have to say it is one of the best banana bread recipes I have tried.

I made a few alterations to the recipe. I made cupcakes (12) instead of a loaf and added a couple shakes of cinnamon and a few drops of vanilla (I'm not much of a measurer). I baked them at 325 degrees for 25 minutes. They are super yummy! Oh- and I finally figured out the macro setting on my camera! Pretty cool!

Sunday

Okay, I not really playing hooky from church. Andrew woke up late and I didnt get to feed him, plus he was up a lot last night and nap time just happens to be in prime church hours, so I just brought him home to feed him and let him take a nap. So far so good.

WOW! I had forgotten what it was like to get everyone ready for church by myself (Bob is gone for the rest of the summer)! It's terrible! I end up not being the type of mom I would like to be, especially on Sunday morning. ugh. I was so tired this morning since I was up with Andrew a bunch, and I have to say, up late because a friend of mine invited me to her facebook site and so I had to join, got interested, and so on. I could stay on the computer forever!!!! When I was a computer design student at JMU, I would sit in front on the computer in the computer lab for 8 hours straight. It was crazy and I loved it!

Anyway, I am going to have to get up earlier on Sunday morning. We did make it to church early enough for me to play prelude! That was one miracle I didnt see coming this morning!!! And Alexander was so sweet as the reverence child. Maggie tried her best but her loud, incessant crying was not helping the reverence before Sacrament meeting, so I had her sit down. Bless her little pea-pickin heart. I have to say she looked especially cute this morning in her new little dress Samantha, next door, gave her. I was frantically looking for the bloomers that went under it this morning, but alas, to no avail. I could just see her standing in the front of the church with her dress over her head, showing off her panties to the congregation. ACH! Didnt happen- she wasnt up there long enough.

So I am here at home, it is peacefully quite. A and M are still at church. Little A is here taking a much needed nap. Oh, by the way, I have great help at church with the kiddos. Just in case you were wondering how in the heck I play the organ with 3 little ones. Sister Fordham always makes herself available and I so appreciate it! Since I know she reads this blog, THANK YOU! Oh and I also have eyes in the back of my head, so that helps.

Sister Fordham (Dubby is her blog name- oooh am I giving out secrets?) also told me today and you are able to take that shredded dollar bill to the bank and they will give you another intact one for it! Yippee for Maggie that her shredded bill is replaceable and yippee for me that I dont have to replace it myself! If you dont know what I am talking about, read the previous entry.

Maybe I will post some pictures later. I have to go back to church for choir practice. I think that I have decided that I need 10 hands and an extra body- I have to be director and piano player for the choir. If you feel sorry for me or just like to play the piano, let me know, and you can be our new choir accompianist! We have such talented people in the branch, just not many piano players. Hope everyone has a great Sunday!

It's just money...

This is what Maggie thinks about the almighty dollar, I suppose! I found a shredded bill from her piggy bank (which she plays with every night when she goes to bed) on the floor of her bedroom. There was another one torn in half that I was able to salvage. I think I'll keep her bills from now on. She can keep the change....

Andrew's First Haircut

Andrew had his first trip to the home hairtrimming chair (highchair) today. I had been putting this off even though he needed a trimming very badly. It just had to be right. I had to have the camera ready for the before and after shots, Andrew had to be in a relatively good mood, and it just had to be the right time, if that makes any sense. So I dont know if it was the right time, but it was time. He was looking pretty straggly. I just got the length off of his ears and a little from his bangs. I think he looks 100% better! Unfortunately, the poor little guy has a terrible cold and his nose runs constantly. And still no teeth!!!

BEFORE

AFTER

Shawna reminded me that I still needed to post a picture of Maggie's bear from the Build a Bear Workshop. You can barely see the bear in this picture but I was very lucky to get a picture at all! She is three, ya know. ;-)