I thought I'd pop in today to share some tidbits about what's been happening in the Carlson household. Here's the latest and greatest of what's currently going on:
Driving a new van. Shawn and I have been talking about buying a van since before we moved to Texas. I used to drive a Ford Fiesta, which was perfect for me but cozy when Shawn rode in it too. Once we added Nicole, things quickly went from cozy to cramped. Regardless of how tight things were in my car, I loved it for it's size, it's familiarity and it's gas mileage. We had been saving money for about 2 years to buy a new-to-us vehicle that would better accommodate our family, especially on our long drives back to the midwest. Shawn was introduced to a guy who owns his own business buying cars for people at auction, and since he came highly recommended, we decided to call him up to help us buy our van. It took him about a week and half to find what we were looking for but when everything was said and done it was the easiest and least stressful car buying experience either of us have ever had.
Retelling the story of a dog named George. When we went to pick up our van, their was a bulldog named George there too. George looked full-grown but he was still only a few months old and was learning how to behave. He wasn't allowed in the office with us but kept jumping up on the french doors wanting to be let in. His owner told us to tell him to get down or to say "uh ah George" any time he jumped up. So while Shawn went over the paperwork to purchase our van, Nicole and I kept George in line. Even though weeks have passed, not a day goes by when Nicole doesn't look at me and say, "get down, George!" or "uh ah, George!" I'm not sure we'll ever see George the bulldog again but something tells me we'll be talking about him for a long time to come.
Eating copious amounts of hard boiled eggs. Nicole had a hard boiled egg when she was playing at the neighbors house a few weeks ago and she's been requesting them ever since. Thanks to a tutorial I found on Pinterest a couple of years ago, I've been successfully baking my eggs to hard boiled perfection instead of boiling them. Nicole helps crack them once they are cool and happily eats as many eggs as I'll let her eat in a given day. I love watching her crack the shells on her eggs and I smile every time I hear her little voice say, "shank you, mama (thank you)" when I help her finish peeling them. It's the little things in life!
Reading Nursery Rhymes. A few weeks ago, a young library assistant sheepishly approached me and asked how I could handle having a conversation with a toddler all day every day. I told her that while I can't say that I've ever been bothered about it, I do think literacy has played a huge role in our communication. When Nicole was a little baby, I used to rock her on my legs and read parenting books aloud to her. When she was older but still not mobile yet, we spent hours reading board books of all kinds which kept my dialogue toward Nicole interesting and varied. Now, we spend our time reading things Nicole is interested in and talking about anything and everything as the day goes on. Nicole's current obsession is Nursery Rhymes. I think she likes them primarily for their rhythm and length and I like them because it's been very fun for me to listen to Nicole retell them with increasing accuracy. Nicole's current favorites are Hey, diddle, diddle, Hickory, dickory, dock, Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, and Mary, Mary quite contrary.
Preparing for my next cooking class. It feels like it's been forever since the last gathering of my humble cooking class but that's because we haven't gotten together since the beginning of the year. It always takes me a long time to decide what we're going to cook together since everyone is trying to eat healthy on a budget and save time in the kitchen. After editing our menu no less than 5 times I finally decided to cook something seasonal, instead of something fast. We're going to be making a variation of these taco stuffed zucchini boats and as a bonus, we'll be baking up a batch of my mom's chocolate chip zucchini bread. It should be a fun and delicious night!
Finishing summer swim lessons. Nicole and I have been faithfully teaching parent-child swim lessons at the YMCA for most of the summer but we're finally getting ready to wrap things up. We just started our last two-week session on Monday and we'll hang up our instructor shirts until fall on the 27th. We (and by we, I mean Nicole) have made numerous friends throughout our extended time at the YMCA this summer. We've gotten to know a plethora of staff members we didn't know before and we've visited with many elderly women who do water aerobics at the same time as our class. One woman in particular comes to the locker room with a treat for Nicole almost every day. It's always something small but thoughtful and Nicole has made a household name out of this new friend. We talk about her almost as much as we talk about George, the bulldog :).
I hope all is well with you!
Love,
Erica
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