Only 8 months late...

My goal was to clean the living room carpet before Helen was born. Well, Helen turned 8 months old yesterday and I did finally get the carpet cleaned. Got post this picture quick, before the next big spill :-)

I love the stripes in the carpet, right after you vacuum or clean the carpet.

Now I've Done It

I actually took the girls to a "real" photo studio. After all the years of saying that it's a waste of money (which it is) and saying that I can take my own "formal" pictures (which I can't, now that I have two girls to try to position, keep happy, and stop from crawling and running to me while I'm at the camera). In my defense, I did have a gift card for $25 and so I actually spent less than that out of my "splurge" money I had saved.

My two sweet girls - December 2011

Learning Legos

Notice Lucy's multi-tasking. Snacking & positioning Daddies.

 Lucy's just starting to learn how to put lego pieces together. Of course at first she only wanted to break apart whatever I built for her. Now if I build something she

Happy girls

arranges all the "daddies" on it. All little toy people are daddies, didn't you know? She is happy with any basic platform, which is lucky for me, since I'm more autistic the artistic when it comes to my lego structures. My mom, on the other hand, can build the most elaborate little towns, with grocery stores and houses... I'll have to get a picture of one of them sometime when Grandma makes one for the girls.

What could be more tasty than a lego?

Helen is "standing" already - even if it is only for a few seconds and while she's holding on to something. This is crazy! She's my baby.

A Weekend at the Coast

We spent a lovely weekend at Ocean Shores. Our crew consisted of Ben and I, our two girls, and two of my sisters. It was very fun and relaxing. On Saturday we actually enjoyed the nicest weather I've ever seen there!

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Opening Christmas Presents

Since Lucy is only 1 1/2 years old, this is the first time she was really old enough to understand and be excited about ripping open presents. Helen just watched the opening process, but she definitely got in on the action when it was time to play with the toys!

Lots of Christmas Cookies

Well we finally got the last 6 dozen cookies made to wrap up in tins

and give away. Good help always makes a job more fun.

Good old fashion chocolate chip cookies, Ben's all time favorite.

Chocolate Crinkle cookies - one of my personal favorites :-)

Cleaning Tip - Keeping your microwave clean

This is a little cleaning tip for the From the Hearth - Cleaning Tips link exchange.

Don't worry, this isn't MY microwave :-)

How to Clean Your Microwave:

Of course the all time best way to have a clean microwave is to always cover everything you heat, and diligently teach and emphatically enforce this rule for everyone in your house. HOWEVER, if you do occasionally find that splattered, crusty food mess on the inside walls of your microwave, never fear. This is a little house-keeping tip I learned years ago.

#1. Fill a glass bowl about 1/2 way with water. You can add a couple of tsp of baking soda to act as a deodorizer if you want. Microwave for about 5 minutes.

#2. Leave the microwave door shut for about 5 more minutes (after the heating has stopped) to allow the steam to loosen up all that grime.

#3. VERY CAREFULLY remove the bowl of water. It will still be very hot!

#4. Use a damp rag or sponge to easily wipe off all the loosened grime.



This is much easier than all the scraping and scrubbing I used to do :-)

For more in-depth microwave cleaning tips you can visit this site.