I Hardly Recognized the Child

What a difference a haircut of a few inches and some curlers will make! Ella Grace went to school this morning as happy as a clam with her hair. And while she was getting dressed she kept asking 'Is my hair still curly? What about after I put my shirt on? Still?' I assured her that yes, her hair was still curly, and I promptly put all kinds of hair products and sprays in it. Because a) I can and b) I'm like that.

The Official Fete

Ashley wasn't officially One until we had the requisite cake and presents on Saturday. It was a low key affair that got started with me trying my best to write with icing. Damn you, Betty Crocker with your 'It's easy!' decorator icing tips!

Using the wrong tip meant that just eeking this out took FOREVER. (Yes, the AK was an afterthought. She didn't care! And no, you don't ever want to do lowercase letters. Trust me.)

Ashley's birthday was important enough for some royalty to stop by.

AK with the AK afterthought corner. Perfect!

I think you've got a little something on your face...

Mother Nature does not take appointments, so when she calls, Ashley Kate answers.

After a little diaper refreshing, on to the gifts!

Later that night with a clean face and a clean shirt. (And a not so clean seat!)

Pretending to use a spoon is The. Best.

The Big One

Happy 1st Birthday, Ashley Kate!

Goodness gracious, I can hardly believe it's been a whole year. Time flies when you're having fun, and that's the honest truth. It has been so interesting to watch you grow and develop and sometimes remind me so much of your sister, yet wholly becoming your own person. I love it.




A few things to note:

*Ella Grace is the Best Big Sister Ever

*You can kick your feet unlike anything I have ever seen, and it makes me laugh, laugh, laugh, unless I happen to be bent over you and catch a few of those blows to my person. Then it's not so funny. But still kind of.

*You drink milk like you haven't had it in days, days people!, when in reality, it's only been about two hours.

*Lilly had earned herself a home for life (again) with what she puts up with from you. Big, floppy dog ears are SO. FUNNY. So is pulling them. And chasing down the dog who may have tried to escape.

*Those big teeth? That, ahem, rather large head? The Crazy? They are all genetic, my dear, so while you may try to escape them, they will hunt you down. Especially The Crazy. Just take a look at your sister. And mother.

*Walking isn't at the top of your priority list, which is fine. I know, I know, you've got other stuff to do, like eat things off the floor, open cabinets and pretty much make a mess of my huge pile of paperwork 'to do'.

*That furious feet kicking mentioned above applies to bath time too. I'm pretty sure I need to invest in a head to toe rain suit to protect myself from all of the water that your wild feet kick up. The wall may need a suit too, while I'm at it.

* You are showing some slight tendencies to being a bit sadistic. I mean, if a baby can be sadistic, I don't know, but sometimes it doesn't turn out well for your daddy. Like if he happens to be wearing a wild rag that you handily grab the end of, pull, and laugh a wee bit maniacally about it.

* In true horse girl fashion, clucking is now in your bag of tricks. Lots and lots of clucking.

Baby girl, it only gets better from here. And we absolutely can not wait. (Me, your daddy, Ella Grace and The Crazy)

It's the Best I Could Do

I really seem quite incapable of composing a real post at the moment, so lucky for me I found these pictures that I need to share!

Oh, man, would you get a load of the blue eyes on this one?! (Click on the photo to enlarge.) These kids are KILLING me!

This is what happens when Ella Grace helps knead the dough for our pizza the other night. I have no idea when all of the flour went flying, but up to her head it went.

When Ella got sent home from preschool on Monday for being sick, we veered off to the grocery store for some Tylenol, juice, and anything, anything she would agree to eat. Because I was throwing out some of the super good, super 'sometimes' foods and she was turning them down FLAT. The child needed nutrition and I needed some ammo, so look who I found to help the cause... Why, it's the Disney princesses in noodle form! She agreed to that soup in an instant. This is probably the first time I have been thankful for those damn princesses being on every. living. thing.

This right here is super cool, super sleek new camera that we at the McClure house were given by our super cool, super sleek friends Angie and Scott. For no reason other than the fact that they are very, very generous and love us a bunch. I hope that you all are as lucky as us to have friends like that. It is a remarkable, awesome thing.

I Voted

I tried to wear a red shirt today because, well, that's how I am, but it just didn't go. That's not to say that I went all green party and voted Nader, though...

I'm kind of excited to watch the results roll in tonight! Maybe even to the point of making a little celebration out of it, even. You know, it's really too bad I don't think my candidate is going to win. I suppose tomorrow's wardrobe choice will include black, for mourning. :)

This Year's Pumpkin, part 2

The first pumpkin was Ella's choice, this pumpkin design was mine. And I hear that it was every bit the pain in the rear that it looks like it would be. (We bought a pumpkin carving kit that comes with designs and carving tools. David's got carving skills, but he's not THAT talented!)

This Year's Pumpkin Carving

Would you take a look at what pumpkin face Ella Grace chose for this Halloween?! David and I asked her, repeatedly, was she SURE that she wanted this scary face? Oh yes, yes, that's the one she wanted. Good grief.

After some skillful pumpkin gut cleaning out by me, and my lovely assistant E, David put his mad skills to the test and produced this bad boy:


Dang! I guess it's a good thing that we don't ever have any trick or treaters, right? :)

Ella does her impersonation of the scary pumping face:

I Would Gobble Up These Twinkies

(I may have mislead you with that last picture I posted... It is Ella, but when I came across it I had an instant where I thought it was Ashley. I thought that maybe y'all would go for it too!)

Last week when I was at Target looking for Ella some long sleeve shirts, because long gone are the times where she can wear stuff from the previous year, I came across a top that came in both Ella and Ashley's sizes. I remember when I was pregnant and had just found out that we were having a girl I got all excited at the prospect of dressing them alike. And then promptly forgot that option when it came to their wardrobes. Nothing like one little trip to Target to bring me back to that world of possibilities, so we came home with matching tops.

I was afraid that the blue was a little too boyish for Ashley but I trudged through anyway. I was too dead set on having my twin girls! Turns out that she did look a bit like a boy, but hey, them are the breaks. It was still cute, anyway!

I tried to get a super cute, twins-esque picture but A was having none of it. The picture below may look like Ashley is laughing and crawling away, but alas, that would be crying. Real tears, crying even, so I decided not to press the crazy psycho mom issue!



And then a little photographic evidence to show my newest revelation about Ella's eyes. They used to be so, so dark blue, just like David's, and sometimes they still are... but more often I notice them looking rather gray. A very pretty, can't help but stare because you never see eyes like that gray. WE ARE IN SUCH BIG TROUBLE!

Cute Baby Girl

Last Weekend's Project

You demand a picture of our hard core, 'give me a beer while I'm laying this floor' floor, do you?

Behold our skills:


I KNOW! We look so professional, don't we? Can you just imagine the disgustingness that was carpet in our bathroom? Puke. I think Ella and Ashley's bathroom might be on the chopping block next. How could we not share in the glory that is tile in the bathroom?!

Burying My Goldfish

I posted this over at Smartini, but couldn't resist putting it up here too.

It's kind of bad.

But not really.

Ok, sort of.

Lovable Indeed

I'm pretty sure that Anderson is so cute that I might die. LOOK AT THIS PRECIOUSNESS!


I need hugs and kisses from this little boy PRONTO. Somebody see if you can work that out for me. Thaaaanks.

Drinkworthy Weekend

Three things that happened this weekend that warranted a beer (or three):

* I took the GRE and did much better than I thought I would! And much better than the 'we tell people to shoot for' score! Time to get my celebrate on!

* This morning the toilet overflowed all over the CARPET in my bathroom. Yes, we have carpet in our bathrooms. Genius, I know. Somebody hand me a drink.

* We decided that it's high time that carpet came up (seeing as how it was soaking wet with toilet water and all) and that we put down vinyl flooring in its place. Two people who have never done this before + one small space + two little children = I'll go for more beer.

But the floor looks fantastic and I still have a good GRE score! Everybody raise your glass!

My Crazy Baby

I have told you that Ashley is a nut, and here is certifiable proof. Also, this is certifiable proof of the feet of fury that I have mentioned.

Wow, that girl makes me laugh!

Orange Goes With Blue, Right?

There's big news from the Ashley camp: A Tooth Has Been Spotted! And at the tender age of almost 11 months... Teeth schmeeth.

As Ashley Kate came army crawling across the floor to me tonight I couldn't help but take a few pictures of her. Her shirt is a wee bit too big, and as she drug that belly across the floor it just slid further and further down her chest, ultimately exposing a bit of baby cleave. I know it's not really cleavage, but I got a little snicker out of it anyway. Of course when I positioned myself in front of her with the camera she instantly NEEDED that camera, and in a bad way. So all of my pictures ended up really close because the child can move when inclined.

Yes, she looks orange, which is sort of true, sort of not... I'll say this lighting and that shirt don't help her slight orange glow (which we are pretty sure comes from eating lots of orangey baby foods - I swear carrots are in EVERYTHING) but lets look past that. How about focusing on those eyes instead?

Lilly, in her bravery (or, um, unintelligence) laid down right beside Ashley and subjected herself to getting little baby fistfuls of her hair and skin pulled in all directions. She might have even gotten her eye poked once. Or twice. To which she lovingly responded with a quick lick to the face.

If Ella Had an iPod

These would be on her playlist:

The top song of her four, almost five years (mostly beause it's been out the longest of all of her faves) is also one of my faves. I can't help but crank this up and beat on the steering wheel. We both look like fools when this comes on!



And then I'm a little ashamed to admit that she absolutely loves this one. Her parents, not so much.



Oooh, I really, really like this one though! So does she, so that's good, but there's just something alternately funny and disturbing about hearing her loudly sing 'cold beer on a Friday niiiight!'



But as of late, this song sparks the request to turn it up.



And then this one, which I think shows all kinds of class and intelligence. It's George, people! Obviously she's got her mama's taste!

The Perfect Outfit

My mom sent this bib to me four years ago for Ella to use and of course I had to keep it tucked away, just waiting on Ashley to be ready for it. It makes me snicker when I see her in it, shoving food in her face and being an all around terrible party guest, but wow isn't she dressed appropriately? Pearls and all!

(So, I'm very aware that I owe everyone a Trip Home post and I've got one saved here on blogger in my drafts... but the truth is, I've got to go through some of the pictures of wee little baby Anderson and blur out his wee little privates! Maybe I don't HAVE to, but I'm going to. I don't want to become Mean Aunt Megan right from the get go!)

Purple Power Play On Poyntz

Before we left on our trip east, Ella and Mallory performed at Purple Power Play on Poyntz (a big pep rally to get everyone pumped for K-State football) with the girls from the gym where they take gymnastics. They didn't do moves that were all that tricky, but it did lead to one classic picture: the roll.

While Ella and Mallory were up on stage showing their wares, Ashley was out in crowd doing her best to be mischivious, like pulling Angie's hair.

But how in the world could you be mad at this face, even after she made off with a fist full of hair? You just can't, I tell you, so Angie made Ashley pay for her naughtiness with a visit from the Tickle Monster.

Water Treatment

Sometimes we at the McClure house do our very best to add punctuation to the truth that is the title of this blog.  We're all certifiably crazy, and that's what keeps us from going insane.  Or getting a divorce, whichever.

Friday night Ella was down the hall in her bathroom when she hears us talking in the kitchen as we're getting supper ready.  David says something about how I'm throwing a fit (who, me?) to which Ella yells 'Mama! Do Not Throw Fits!  Daddy doesn't tolerate fit throwing!'  We both get a good little laugh out of that but then I bristle just slightly at being called a fit thrower and possibly make a statement that only David could hear.

David, who at the time was holding a cup of water, made the insinuation that he was going to toss all that water on me, right there in the kitchen, as payment for my surliness.

Being surly has gotten me drenched before, many years ago at our old place in Georgia, when we were busy hosing out the dog pens that were out back.  David made a remark that I didn't care for and I sprayed him like there was no tomorrow.  And then I promptly threw the hose down and ran into the house like a girl.  This didn't deter him, however, and he drug that hose, all eighty billion feet of it, up to the house and stood outside yelling COME OUTSIDE AND TAKE YOUR MEDICINE!  I didn't, of course, so he got a little surly himself and sprayed me, inside the house, through the open window.  I kid you not. 

I tell you this so that you know what the two of us are capable of and how our minds work.  So you won't be surprised one bit when I say that as I stood there, staring down a man with a large amount of water who is threatening to throw it on me, I knew he wasn't bluffing.  This is going down on my terms, I thought, so I reached forward and knocked some of the water on him.  And then turned and ran like a girl.

Chariots of Fire started playing as I spun around, and in slow motion David threw that whole glass full of water at my back. HIT!  I'VE BEEN HIT! A quick glance over my shoulder tells me that David's coming after me.  But as soon as I turn back around I hear it:  ZZZZZZOOPE! as the rubber traction of David's moccasin-esque shoes hit the puddle of water and his feet go flying.  And as I stop and turn to watch this train wreck, I see a six foot two inch tall man with one leg kicked high in the air and the other giving way as he crumbles and bends and gets squished like a long legged spider in the very narrow, puddle filled hallway.

I don't think I even checked to make sure he was OK before I started laughing so loud and for so long that you would have sworn I was a crazy person. 

It's what keeps me from going insane.

I'm Cooking: Banana Crumb Muffins

I'm going to need you to go ahead and make these Banana Crumb Muffins.

Because when you do you will want to kiss me and say all kinds of nice things and possibly even send me gifts? Gifts would be nice.

These are really some of the best muffins you can make at home, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. About 2800+ people over at All Recipes, one of my very favorite sites on the web, agree with me. Actually, this is the number one recipe at AR!

The recipe is really basic but they come out of the oven looking like they are from some fancy schmancy deli, and they taste even better than they look. So good, in fact, that David ate FOUR of them this morning for breakfast. Um, yeah, they're that good. (He has even decreed them his very favorite muffin of all time ever to infinity.)

As usual, I made slight adjustments to the original recipe, but nothing too drastic.

Banana Crumb Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
walnuts to taste, optional
chocolate chips to taste, optional

Crumb topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg, melted butter, vanilla and any optional nuts/chocolate chips.

Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together dry ingredients of crumb topping. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

These will disappear, I'm here to tell you!

(PS: The walnuts are so crucial, SO CRUCIAL! But I happen to like nuts in bread, unlike someone else I might know. That had to have his made special without nuts. But I'm not naming names. Mavid DcClure.)