Life lately

My go to line for dangerous chair behavior is, "Do we sit on chairs or stand on chairs?" It works great because they technically aren't in trouble, they fix the behavior and then I get to say "You're right!" and they get a positive. Works grand in the junior high circuit, but my little girl found a way around it.

M has been loving his Legoland souvenir Duplos, courtesy of Cheryl the Great. Right now he likes to dump most of them out, then shake the box as fast as he can to make thunder noise. And destroying whatever his sister has made.

He really does love his Auntie.

And donuts.

I love seeing quirky stuff like dogs in goggles.

Trina spent the a couple days with us while my friend was working. J actually let someone do her hair and taught her to make funny faces at the camera.

I made homemade fried chicken from a Martha Stewart recipe. Mostly because I like a challenge and I needed something to do with leftover buttermilk. New cooking methods and recipes is part of my strategy to stay self-actualized as a SAHM. Guys, this chicken was delicious. I highly recommend you give it a go with the recipe here. Warning: Requires brining the night before and marinating 6 hours before cooking. And bringing the chicken to room temp for an hour before cooking. And before you roll your eyes and say, "Ain't No One Got Time For That!," know that I agree with you and it's worth it for special occasions only. The hands-on time itself isn't bad though. And thanks Madre for giving me your spice stash before you left or I would never have had dry mustard.  M really liked the chicken, even though it about killed me to give up any heavenly pieces for my children to destroy.

I gave him J's remnants so he could double fist it.

In other culinary adventures, we went to a donut place called the Fractured Prune. You get to watch the donuts made hot in front of you and can customize them however you like. The Peppermint Pattie was interesting, as well as Cookies and Cream. My favorite was the OC Sand that had cinnamon sugar and graham cracker crumbs over the vanilla glaze.

And this is just M being completely delighted to run around in the retention basin without his mother chasing him or directing him.