My New Helper...

With Pipps gone for 8 weeks, Bobalu has been helping with her chores. He's suprisingly willing to help although he doesn't quite catch everything which sometimes makes for more work for me :)

(note the crumbs from the table that he's wiping onto the floor)

Ah well...it's the thought that counts right??

A Little Light Reading...

So...

The "boy bookclub" that Bobalu was going to be a part of this summer is pretty lame. Plus, there's a really snotty librarian and neither B nor I have the patience to deal with her, so we started our OWN bookclub!

Since B goes through 2-3 chapter books in a week, we're trying to read stuff a little more challenging. He was NOT excited about the Hardy Boys. Not at all. This from the boy who loves to read Captain Underpants and Magic Treehouse books...a story about 2 boys just seemed lame to him I guess.

BUT...he actually liked this book! And his comprehension was suprisingly wonderful...he remembered even small details, so I was impressed :)

He wants to read Harry Potter next. We'll see how that goes. It's a lot of reading for a 7 year old, but I guess if he can master the Hardy Boys...

Monkey Loves Popsicles...

So...with all the heat earlier this week, it's been perfect popsicle weather. Monkey got to try his first one the other day :) It was a little messy, but he LOVED it. Bobalu was a little grossed out by how syrupy and sticky Monkey was (see picture below), but we got him in the bathtub afterwards and everyone was good...

Monkey also has developed a borderline obsession with his belly button (or beh buh as he calls it...) He also points to my belly now and says Beh Beh...which I think is baby, but who knows what that really means to him :)

Anyway, here are pics of Monkey and B after their tropical pops. Enjoy!!!

Where did I leave off???

This summer has been so busy so far that I haven't had time to sit down, much less write about anything. Bobalu started the summer with swimming lessons. Those were done last week. We were going to do a 2nd session, but he was supposed to be on vacation with S&T during one of the weeks. However, they cancelled that at the last minute, so I couldn't get him signed up and he'll just be here instead.

Ah well...there's always next summer.

He did pass beginner 1 and he's doing great. His teacher called him a rock star and said he was a great swimmer :)

This is also the last week of baseball. DH and B are at the game tonight. Monkey and I are home watching the dog (for my Mother) and trying to cool off. It's 84 in my house right now...yuck.

Anyway, here's a picture of my little Cub! I'm so proud of how much he's accomplished so far this summer. He's been doing really well with our summer schedule and adapting to it. We have our moments, but all in all, things have been going really smoothly...

My Little Fish...

Mr B graduated 1st beginners today in swimming. Apparently his teacher thinks he ROCKS!!!

Just thought I'd share a couple photos :) We're all very proud of him. Woohoo!!!

Pipps is Off...

Ms Pipps left for Sweden this evening to spend her 8 wks with her father. She was very excited.

I miss her already :(

I Want My Baby Back Baby Back...

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there! Yesterday was fun. My Dad came down for a BBQ and I took my first shot at making ribs. Mmmmm....they turned out SO good. I found a recipe on Epicurious.com (one of my fave sites for recipes) and tweaked it just a little...mostly because I ran out of a couple things. I posted the recipe below (my version). I made 7# of ribs and there were only about 5 left today for Chad to take to work :)

All in all, it was a nice day.

Bobalu wrote a letter to the MN Twins about his Dad (Chad) and gave it to him last night when he got home from S&T's house. When Chad read the letter and saw the other things in the big envelope, he got a little choked up. It was by and far his favorite present ever :) B did it all by himself and so I was very very proud of him.

I was busy in the kitchen all day, so I didn't take any pictures...I know...shame on me! Maybe my Dad will forward a couple. He and Mary played outside with Monkey quite a bit yesterday :)

So that's it for today. Here's my recipe. Try it. It's SO good...


Spice Rubbed Baby Back Ribs with Espresso Barbecue Sauce

1 tablespoon hot Mexican-style chili powder

1 tablespoon Chipotle chili powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 pounds baby back pork ribs (get the butcher to remove the skin if you can)

1 12-ounce bottle dark beer (I used Guiness)

1 18-ounce bottle good-quality barbecue sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Whisk chili powders, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper in small bowl to blend. Rub spice mixture all over ribs. Place ribs in heavy large roasting pan.

Boil beer in medium saucepan until reduced to 1 cup, about 5 minutes.Pour beer around ribs.

Cover pan tightly with foil. Bake ribs until fork-tender, about 90 mn to 2 hours.

Combine barbecue sauce, 1/2 cup water, brown sugar, and espresso powder in heavy medium saucepan.Simmer until flavors blend and sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

(Ribs and barbecue sauce can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cool slightly, then cover separately and refrigerate.)

Prepare barbecue or broiler (medium heat).
Brush ribs with some of the barbecue sauce. Grill ribs just until heated through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer ribs to platter.

Bring remaining sauce to simmer. Brush ribs with more barbecue sauce. Serve ribs, passing remaining barbecue sauce separately.

Last November...

SO... with my fancy new computer I can just plug in any memory card and it'll read all the pics. Can't TELL you how much time that saves :)

Plus, no more looking for cables!!!

Anyway, these are from last November. You can probably tell because my hair is long :)

We don't use the hubby's camera very often, obviously, so excuse the late posting...

That's all I have for today. It's been VERY busy this week with the kids out of school and trying to get used to the new schedule (and everyones summer activities...).

Bobalu is in swim lessons and I can actually watch on Thursday, so I should have some pics then. Oh! And it's finally baseball night where it's not pouring rain, so I will probably do that as well :)

Yeay for nice weather!!!

Monkey Knows His Nose...

BS Camp

DH and Bobalu spent the wkend at Boy-scout camp. What fun! I can't even begin to tell you everything that they did while they were there, but it was a lot.
They both came home happy and exhausted couldn't stop talking about what a great time they had.
Any doubts about continuing with scouts next year are gone and they're both looking forward to going again next summer! Woohoo for male bonding!!!

Ok Ms Meghatron, Here They Are!!!

On Friday we went to my cousin Hannah's wedding and my sister, aka The Ginger Cupcake, made me take pictures of her in her cupcake dress.
She's been whining, ahem, asking nicely, for me to send them to her, so here you go!!!

A Different, More Fascinating Kind of Rock...

We got the rock put up on the front of our house last week. Looks pretty nice if I do say so myself. Monkey LOVED watching the guys work on the house. He was constantly at the window, standing on his tip-toes, peeking out, speaking his baby babble to the contractors.

I finally just moved a chair over to the window for him so that he could get a better look and you wouldn't believe how he loved it...Plus, I got so much done!!!

The last of the cabin pics...I SWEAR!!!

Bandit Loves Chapstick...

My Aunts dog is actually one of the few that I actually like. She's pretty smart, but apparently has an issue with chapped lips...