{games}

When you don't have family nearby and your regular babysitter goes away to college it's hard to get a night out alone. Here in our state they frown upon leaving a 5 year old home alone with a 2 year old. I can't figure out why. My dad and uncle nearly set their house on fire when they were home alone and they were much older. Gerard and Morgan would be much safer. We don't have any shoe polish that needs to be softened. On the stove. Near the curtains.

Luckily, our friends across the street don't have family here either, so we watch each others' kids about once a month. This past Saturday was their "date night" so we watched Ashley and Nicole. Nicole has offered (on more than one occasion) to trade Morgan for Ashley. Tempting, but I think Gerard and Ashley would kill each other if they had to live in the same house. They are way too much alike.

Anyway, it's cute how great Nicole is with Morgan, and Morgan LOVES Nicole. She wakes up from her naps asking for her. Her first words upon waking are usually "Go outside" and "Nicole?"

Here they are together -- Nicole is teaching Morgan how to use her Nintendo DS.

And here are just a few more pictures from tennis this morning:

{new phone}

Just FYI....I got a new phone and I'm back in business!

{what's a phone for, anyway?}

I've gone and done it. I'm a f*cking clutz. I've dropped yet another cell phone. This one still works (I can make and answer calls) but both the internal and external screens are dead.

So that means I cannot see who is calling and I cannot use my phone book. And who the heck knows phone numbers by heart these days?

So that means I cannot call anyone because all my numbers are stored on the phone and I cannot see them. I cannot text. I cannot use the mobile web.

So that means I'm screwed. 'Cause we all know that a phone is considered broken if all it can do is make and receive calls, right?

{t-ball}

Gerard had his last t-ball game this morning. Based on his birthday he really should play t-ball again next year, but we're going to bump him up to machine-pitch. He's already a little bored with t-ball... they don't keep score, there are no outs, they swing and swing and swing until they hit it (or use the tee), and they can only advance once base at a time. He's ready for more. So today really was his last t-ball game. EVER.

Here are some pictures from practice, a few of Morgan really paying attention to the game, and some of the post-game ceremonies. I didn't get a chance to take any during the game, but Shauna's brother was there taking pictures so hopefully he'll share them with me and I'll be able to post them.

{feelin' hot, hot, hot!}

It's been so hot here that we've barely ventured outside these last few days. We've been doing a lot of this:

Our favorites at the moment are Monopoly Junior and Clue Junior. I'm sooo happy to be past the Candyland/Chutes and Ladders phase with Gerard. Those games bore me to tears. Unfortunately I can't get rid of them yet -- I'm sure Morgan will be more than happy to play them OVER and OVER and OVER again soon enough! In the meantime, she's happy playing with her princess shoes, Care Bears and Little People (and no, that's not a euphemism for midgets). Yesterday she occupied herself by running around the house playing peek-a-boo, chasing Gerard, and just looking cute.

To help stay cool, we've been making our own popsicles this summer and they've been a big hit. The strawberry-banana was definitely our favorite and yesterday I tried blueberry. Not quite as popular, probably because I didn't strain out the blueberry "skins" like I strained out the strawberry seeds. Both kids ate the blueberry popsicles, but they both had issues with the texture. Note to self: strain the blueberry puree next time to avoid THIS (check out the teeth!):

EASY POPSICLE RECIPE:
To a blender, add the following:
*any fruit
*about 6 oz. yogurt (I have been using a container of Yoplait Light, but you could use plain and then add a little honey to sweeten)
*milk
Blend. Strain if necessary. Pour into popsicle molds (or a cup with a stick in it) and freeze.

EDITED: I've started using plain low-fat yogurt instead of the flavored kind. That way I can adjust the sweetness (by adding up to 1T of honey) based on how sweet the fruit it. Our latest popsicles were banana, strawberry and raspberry. They raspberries were pretty tart, so I think I used close to 1T of honey.

{jumping rope?}

Morgan thinks she can jump rope. Shhhh, don't tell her she can't...let's keep her dream alive....(Once again this video is taken with my cell phone, so please excuse the poor quality. One day I'll break out the real video camera.)

{report cards and a recipe}

We got Gerard's report cards the other day and we are very proud of him! (You can click on them to enlarge them.)

And I thought I'd share a recipe for Cajun Chicken Pasta from The American Heart Association's Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol Cookbook. I made it last night and it was very good. A little too spicy for the kids, but Gerard and I liked it (click to enlarge):