I have too much time on my hands

I get waaaaaaay too into my cooking. I almost titled this post "Weird Things I Cook." Lately, I have been obsessed with beans. You get a lot of them for not many WW points - so they're valuable to me. I've learned that you can cook them all day in the slow cooker and they are delicious. And my new find...thanks to my friend Carla...are Lentils. These are Lentil and Smoked Cheddar Burgers (or as we call them....BEAN PATTIES!) They are lots of work, so dorky Holly took a picture. I have to say, these were probably my best Bean Patties to date.





And my other new obsession...preparing cutesy Bento Box lunches for Leo (aka King Picky). Another little tidbit I picked up from an online mommy chat board. Turns out there's a whole little community of people who like to pack these cutesy lunches. For those who don't know...Leo is in the middle of a very PICKY EATING phase, and it's driving me nuts. He likes everything separate...no spices...blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! He doesn't know how lucky he is to have a mommy who cooks. But, anyway, I thought he would like this...and my first attempt was a huge success. Everything is cutesy and has its own little compartment. He said..."Thank you, Mommy, for making my lunch look like this." We have ordered Laptop Lunchboxes to help with this new obsession.

This is "faux sushi" (flattened bread and lunchmeat pinwheels), cheese cut with a cookie cutter, olives, pickle slices, wheat thins, and strawberries cut into hearts. All things I copied from other people. :)

Oh...and the olives...I have to share...just a glimpse into the machinations that I go through... Leo will tell you a million times that he DOESN'T LIKE GARLIC!!! He doesn't want to see me cutting it up to put in anything, tells me it stinks, blah, blah. But he loves these garlic-stuffed green olives. So one day he asked me what the white thing in the middle was. Being the super-quick thinker that I am, I said..."It's called 'filler.'" Now he'll say, "Oh, mommy, I just looooooove filler." I'm saving that story for a college graduation or something...when he's eating sushi and all kinds of foodie things that we've exposed him to...hopefully.

Swimming!

Here is a little video of Leo from his last day at swimming lessons this summer. His big accomplishments this summer are that he can jump off the diving board and (kind of...with assistance) swim to the side, tread water (kind of), and take a breath and keep going. It was a wonderful two weeks, but we're all glad it's over so we can get on to other activities that take up more time during the day. ;) The Leo must be occupied and have opportunity to go full throttle for more than just a 30-minute swim lesson.


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The life of a little brother

Leo in Concert

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Swimming, Napping, and Skeeters am a Hummin'

We are in the second week of our two week swim class. Leo is doing well, but I'll be glad when it is over. It's at a great time - right in the middle of the day between naps - but it just makes us have to be somewhere for thirty minutes right in the middle of the day. Except for one day where he didn't like diving off the board, Leo is doing really well. He is learning to pick up his head and take a breath as he swims, tread water, and dive in from the side. Expect a video soon!

In Henry news, we are finally finding a schedule! He takes either a very early and midmorning nap or just one long midmorning nap, and he is also taking a consistent afternoon nap with Leo. You know what that means - we're ALL getting a nap! Happy boys...and a happy mommy! He is eating us out of house and home. By this point, I really think Leo was eating every 4 or 5 hours. Not Henry. He still wants to eat a 6-8oz bottle every three hours during the day. He's doing well on solids - as long as they have something sweet in them. I think he's got a sweet tooth! He still won't eat anything green, but he loves meat mixed with fruit or sweet potatoes, and he can polish of a jar of prunes like you wouldn't believe!

The mosquitoes are eating us alive. After several dry years, we have had lots of rain. And now we have huge mosquitoes that have been lying dormant...waiting to hatch...for two years. They are hungry and aggressive! I have about twelve bites and Leo has about six. Todd has several too, so we are slathering on the Benadryl cream and taking the liquid to get to sleep at night. I feel like I'm in LA again! When I run in the morning, I can hear the buzzing all around me. Thank goodness for OFF! Whatever the bad side effects of DEET are - we'll take our chances!