chicken, alpaca and evil flies

This week, I thought about my grandma a lot. She died 6 days before Addie was born. I was pretty annoyed. Common' Grandma, you couldn't wait like a week so you could meet her? My sister was more annoyed because she died on Wendy's 40th birthday. I miss her and think about her all the time though.

 I smile when I do or say something that reminds me of her. This week, I've been killing flies in the house and yelling at people for letting them in. I remember Grandma constantly yelling at us kids to "SHUT THE DAMN DOOR!" because we were "LETTIN' THE FLIES IN!" I totally feel her now. Flies are the worst. I didn't realize it as a kid. I was like, why is she so angry at the flies? They're just minding their own business hanging out by the window. But when you're a grownup, all they do is buzz by you and remind you that they're still in your house. 

Another thing my grandma used to say was, "No roughhousing in here! Take that outside!" or "Be quiet! I'm watching my show!" I understand it now. When you grow up, rowdy kids disturb your peaceful environment. I'm constantly yelling at the kids to go in the other room or go outside or stop running in the house (or to stop barking, this week). I get it now Grandma.

"OH. MY. GOSH. I can't believe I drawed Mickey so perfect!" 

I love his confidence.

The kids were pretending to be dogs so Mya made them dog bone shaped pancakes =)

And Otter is hanging out just in case she messes up and over-flips a pancake onto the floor. I'd say the chances are pretty good.

And now for the Angus quotes:

Angus as he was coloring, "I wonder if my grandpa is Santa..."

"How we doing eggs? Havin a nice day?"

"I wish birthdays could happen every day."

Me: Angus did you brush your teeth? 

Angus: mmm hmm!

Me: All of them? 

Angus: Well, not ALL of them. Like 5 or 6.

I was taking a pic of Angus sleeping on the carpet but he woke up. Spiderman sheets and a Hello Kitty blanket. Pretty typical.

The state of this room is impressive.

These two don't hang out much because Mya is more motherly and Winter likes to play barbies and paw patrol with the littles so Addie tends to play with Angus or Winter. But when they do hang out, they are the sweetest little pair. I'm not sure if Addie looks more like Mya or Winter. She's kind of a combo of both.

Angus wanted to hammer some nails. Real ones. So they did. It makes me nervous to watch but he gets so much joy from it.

The first chicken match between the four of them. Angus didn't last 2 seconds. He may have fallen off before they got into their spots.

I have been paying Mya to tutor Angus. She's way more patient and fun than I could ever be. It's working out quite nicely and he's learning a lot with her.

I decided to get out of the house with the kids yesterday. When it's 100 degrees out, I rarely take them anywhere besides the pool. So we went out to lunch at the Habit followed by ice cream at a local ice cream shop. Angus is still allergic to milk products so we brought some vegan chocolate ice cream for him in a cooler. He ordered a chocolate sprinkle cone to go with it.

After ice cream we hit up all the little free libraries around town. We took a bag of books to donate and the kids found lots of good books to take home. It's better than going to the actual library because I don't have to take 30 books home and keep track of them for a month. Plus I can just wait in the car.

This is Addie's pillow fort. She likes to hide in here just in case the TV show that's on gets boring or scary.

This leads me to my 1st recommendation. My boss friend recommended our new favorite family show. I started watching it with the kids but sometimes it's just me and Dan that are watching it. It's on Disney plus. Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet. It's a reality show/documentary series about a vet who works in the Yukon. Many of her patients are not your average animals including alpaca, bears, bald eagles, ferrets, horses, bulls, reindeer and more. I'm not really an animal person but I love it. It's so informative and interesting. Dr. Oakley is super mild-mannered and easy going which is probably why I like it. Usually, when I watch reality shows, the people in them annoy me. But I love her and her family. When the kids all had covid we would watch it for hours on end. It shows the surgeries she does on the animals, hence Addie's pillow fort. Mya and Addie can't watch anything with blood. They get that from me.

My second recommendation was gone shortly after I took a pic of it. It's greek style hummus. Hummus loaded with kalamata olives, feta cheese, tomato, cucumber and red onion. I think there's cilantro in there too. It was amazing. I found it at Vons. It's the first time I've noticed it but maybe it's been there for years and I just didn't know. Mom, you should make this, sans the feta of course. My mom makes the best hummus.

I also found this at Vons, vegan mac and cheese for Angus. He told me to buy 100 more boxes so I guess that means he likes it. I tried it and it's not bad.

TGIF!! 

Well, the days around here are all the same to me but if you have a 9 to 5, Happy Friday to you!