Pickled Okra

Sweet, sour, and spicy pickled okra. Here is a photo of our okra in the process of being stuffed into this jar of spicey goodness. Jason did all the work. Recipe courtesy of my cousin and her husband. They made this recipe last year and we thought it was the best we'd ever had. Jason recreated it and we weren't disappointed.

Feeding the Hotdog to "this mouth"

This is just the kind of cute stuff I get to take part in on a daily basis. The memorable moment happened a few minutes before the took this snapshot: Joanna said she wanted to feed the hotdog to "this mouth" referring to the Rolling Stones logo on Jason's shirt. This got a few chuckles out of all of us. Thomas laughs because we are all laughing. He's laughing at us, I guess. We are a corny crew.

Here is the video I took right after this picture:
http://picasaweb.google.com/amyjokidd/July2010#5502892912633380834

Smiling at Me!

I was just looking at the Picasa Photo Album software thumbnails. (It uses face recognition to match faces in an album together.) I was looking at these pictures of just Joanna's face. She had several where she was super excited and had the biggest smile. I am honored to be the one she is smiling at or the one holding her while she felt so happy that she smiled that big. I love my daughter. I'm so proud to be her mom. She is such a beautiful and sweet person and I'm lucky to get to wake up and see her smile every day.

Reporting Numbers over Time

The truth of numbers depends on when a story was written, I guess! 

The Keen Oberver Website posted, "Haslam won the fifty percent of the Republican primary vote." http://www.keenobservers.com/2233/bill-haslam-wins-the-tennessee-election/

WATE News' article says "Haslam defeated Rep. Zach Wamp, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and two others by taking 47 percent of the Republican vote."
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=12924871

WATE has a chart posting all the election results at http://www.wate.net/news/election/august-2010/tennessee which I found to be helpful.

I found the first article reporting "50%" from my search online. I enjoyed reading the article. It seemed well written. However, now that I have read different articles, one difference jumped out at me: 50 percent and it seemed final. It makes me discount the other things in that article. I'm disappointed. Who is right? I had to go read a third article.

This third article from the AP reports 52 percent, which wasn't the final number either. However, the article said that 2 percent of the precincts had reported at the time the article was written. I can respect that.
http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=129705&catid=2

"Not 2 Snakes"

Joanna asked me for a hot dog for breakfast today. She said "I want a hotdog--like a snake. Not two snakes. Just one snake." Exact words. Here's the story. I used to cut up the hotdog for her. But not anymore. The first time she described the way she wanted to have the hotdog whole, she asked for a hotdog "like a snake." This went on a couple of times. I thought "How observant and smart she is!" Jason and I went out on a date and Granny watched the kids. Joanna asked her for a hotdog like a snake. She called us to find out what that meant. (This was really thoughtful and funny at the same time.) She warmed up the hotdog and got it a little too hot so she cut the hotdog in half, longways, to help it cool off. She told Joanna it was two snakes. (Sounds reasonable, right? Joanna ate the hotdog. Now, though, Joanna adds more specifics to her request for a hotdog. "I want a hotdog--like a snake. Not two snakes. Just one snake."

A Good Weekend

Saturday, Jason and I went out! We went to get the mower's tire repaired, ate sushi for lunch, attempted to find shoes at Coffin shoes (and found nothing), then we visited a new thrift store, then we went to see Twilight. God love my hubby for watching a movie just because I wanted to see it! Rachel watched the kids and when we got home we grilled and fed her dinner. That morning Joanna and I went to the grocery store, before 8 a.m.! We got some milk (for gravy) and a few other groceries. Joanna picked out cheez-its for herself and a miniature rose bush for Granny. Jason made a yummy breakfast and we had a nice morning together. I got grumpy before we even left because I tried unsuccesssfully to get Joanna to go down for a nap--she was so tired!!! But, she eventually passed out on Granny as she had not slept the greatest the night before. Luckily we smoothed out the bumps and had a good day.

The Kids are Growing

I don't know if I've talked about Thomas' crawling technique, but he crawls with one knee and one foot. It is as if he is sitting cross legged, then takes steps with one foot and one knee. It sure is a sight. I need to put a picture up. And he can boogie. He can come when I call him and he comes to me when he wants me to grab him up. When he's crawling to me to pick him up he starts kind of grunting a certain way. He's so sweet! I just love to hug him and kiss him. His eyes sparkle and he has a beautiful smile. He has six teeth now. The last two came in last weekend. His hair doesn't stick up as much anymore. He can eat several things by himself now. He can pick up and feed himself cereal O's, peas, cut-up banana bits. He goes to bed so well, too. He starts crying a certain way when he's sleepy. It's not really crying, but more like a call. He starts calling a tune or rhythm. When I lay him down around 8 o'clock, he usually doesn't fuss. I think he is like me. Happy to go to bed. I love to go to sleep!

Joanna said her eyelashes were sparkley today.  She has so much to say and is doing so many things on her own. This evening, she took something to the bathroom, turned on the light, washed it in the sink, dried it on the towel, turned off the light, brought it back to me, and told me all about it. The bathroom sink is easier access for her than the kitchen sink, so I always ask her to wash her hands in the bathroom sink. She brushes her teeth by herself too. She does everything she possibly can by herself. Well, that is except potty. I'm not sure why she is not interested in going potty, herself. It has come in phases, but it will happen. Today, she took a doll into the bathroom and showed it how to go potty. She's taken this doll though the routine one time before. I was in the other room and I heard her tell the doll, "Good Job! I'm so proud of you for going potty!"

Joanna's hair is so long now. It is curly on the ends and when wet stretches to the middle of her back (well, maybe a few strands do). She lets us wash her hair pretty well, sometimes she doesn't "look up" like she should and gets water in her eyes. Joanna and Thomas take baths together. They splash each other and have a good time. I usually get Thomas out first and let Joanna play a few minutes longer as he gets dried off and dressed. Jason put Joanna in the bath tonight and washed her hair. That was really nice of him. I just put Thomas to bed. He was tuckered out. He sat up in bed after I laid him down, but I didn't hear a peep out of him. He laid down by himself evidently and went to sleep because a while later, I checked on him and he was snoozing. Joanna is a ball of energy, on the other hand, and never wants to go to sleep. I'm sure whoever invented the Energizer Bunny must have had a child with energy like Joanna to inspire them. She keeps going!

I'm reminded of the time mom and I put entries in to win an Energizer Bunny at the local hardware store. Mom won the bunny and we went to pick it up. She still has it.