The Ducks Have It

Looking for a distraction, and something to get us out of the house the other night, we all headed to the local library.  Marin, I have learned, is still a bit young to understand the concept of a library and although she loves to read, she also loves to talk loudly and pull books off the shelves, if only to see the cover and determine if it's worth reading.  So, our system works like this now:  Daddy reads to Marin while mommy races through the children's section finding age appropriate and fun books for Marin and loading them into our library bag.  Mommy then pops her head into the adult section to see if she can find a book that tickles her fancy and makes her feel like she isn't always reading parenting/kids/baby books all the time.  This time I was in a funk and came back empty handed....perhaps because I spent most of my time in the 'NON-FICTION' section?  Who am I kidding, when I read, I want to ESCAPE, not be slammed back into reality by someone else's literary and enlightened journey through transcendentalism (which, I wrote a paper on in college, by the way!).  So, after this, mommy rescues daddy while he searches for some finds of his own, and I sit and try to read to a very loud and starting-to-get-antsy Marin.  Marin has two volumes:  OFF and LOUD.  That's it.  There is no in between setting, no whisper, no soft talking, it's all about telling the world what she see's.  Believe it or not, I had the nursery leader from church pop her head into our aisle with her kids and say: "Hey Samantha, I thought that was you, I heard Marin's voice from the (get this) back of the children's section over by the DVD's!".  That's 30 feet down and around the corner!!  Oh dear. 

Anyway, after our short library escapade, we walked across the lawn to the beautiful Intel park.  Such a lovely place to visit!  They have long, paved jogging trails and ponds and fountains....and ducks!  Marin of course being two is into all things animal, so we took some old bread crusts and freezer-burned rolls to feed those lucky ducks.  They have got to be the best fed ducks in Oregon!  Marin LOVED feeding the ducks, and at first, we handed her the small bits to throw, but I showed her how to hold the whole piece of bread and break off little bits to throw to the ducks, she did great.  Those ducks are FAST!  And so are the fish!  If the ducks take more than 2 seconds to get to the bread, the fish are all over it, crazy!  And Trine, I thought of you the whole time we were there, I know you would love taking Marin here :)

Here is our big girl...I had a hard time getting some good shots, most of them are of the back of her head, or are blurry because she was racing to get more bread!

And BIG news.....Marin poo'd on the potty this morning, for the first time ever!  I was so shocked!  Of course, before she did this, she raced into the bathroom, slipped and tanked her poor little noggin right into the side of the toilet bowl.  Ouch!  Poor thing, she had quite the dent in her skull for about an hour!  But, some kisses and snuggling can cure all, so she sat on the potty and mommy talked about going poo poo and told her to push (knowing she hadn't had her morning poo yet), and she sat and practiced....and....results!  I am so amazed at how quickly she is catching on to this, and now that she has done it once, let's hope the next time is a little easier to recognize.

My latest kitchen adventure, I admit, I caved to some peer pressure!  I have been meaning to make bagels for quite some time, and I have had literally THREE friends beat me to the punch!  So, after I read their recipes and how cost-friendly it is, and seeing as how Little Lyman has a love affair with bagels, I gave it a shot.  Oh.......My.......Goodness!!!  SOOO GOOD!  You have not had a bagel until you have made your own, seriously!  And it is not that hard, I did the dough in my bread maker (THE way to go), and finished them off myself.  I can't stop eating them.  The batch made 9, and between Kris and I, I think there are 3 left....from when I made them yesterday afternoon!  So, to see how they came out, click here:  BAGEL-LICIOUS!