Purple feet, black eyes, red beets, an announcement, money and costumes

It's been a while since I've blogged, so this is quite the potpourri of stories.  First of all, we finally got around to adding Sophie's foot prints to my preschool wall.  I wanted to do green, but the paint didn't turn out right. I liked the purple and it was more girly, so we went with that.  It was tricky getting a slippery, wiggly foot to print just right.

Last week Cedric was sitting on the bench at our kitchen table, lost his balance, fell backwards, then the bench tipped over and landed on his head!  It left him with two nasty bruises, one of which was right by his eye.  He had already gotten another bruise on his cheek from falling up the stairs, then he got another bonk at his friends house.  Pour guy, looks like he's been in a war zone.

 Tom decided to get us a Bountiful Basket to try for the first time.  I've heard good things about them, but I was hesitant to get a whole bunch of fruits and vegetables that I may not recognize, know what to do with, or like.  Luckily we got a lot of good stuff, bananas, pineapple, green beans, broccoli, etc.  I was way excited!  I pulled out our old steamer that I probably haven't used in ten years and steamed us fresh veggies every night.  If nothing else, it taught me how easy and yummy fresh veggies can be.  The only thing we got that I didn't know what to do with were beets.  I don't think I've ever eaten a beet.  Well, Tom found a website that showed how to cook them, we added a little olive oil and lemon juice to them, and the whole family tried them.  Tom and Lily loved them!  She said they tasted like red carrots.  I don't know if I'll cook beets anytime in the near future, but it was fun to try something new and different.

 I have a big announcement... My dad is getting married!  He proposed to his girlfriend, Lori over the weekend and they plan on getting married July 7th!  I'm actually really excited for them.  I like Lori, she seems perfect for my dad.  She seems to really fit in well with our family too.  My brother, Mike is going to perform the ceremony.  They are both sealed to their first love, so they are happy to just be married civilly.  When I told the kids they were getting married by Mike, because he's the mayor Jeff said "I get it, mayor-y (marry)".  I'm excited the kids will have one more grandma to love.  

Here's a really cute picture of Lori.  Lily thinks she looks a lot like Grandma Sherri.  

The kids have been really into jobs lately.  I've been slacking a lot in having them do jobs, because I am so bad at keeping track and paying them.  (They don't get paid for things they're supposed to do anyway, like pick up toys, just for the stuff they do that helps ease my burden).  I finally figured I'd just pay them right when they do a job.  We have a jar full of change that I use. If they earn enough coins to equal a dollar and want to trade it in for a dollar bill later, they can, but at least I don't forget to pay them.  They love it.  I'll say "who wants to unload the dishwasher for money" and the jump to the task.  I don't pay them much, anywhere from a penny to a quarter, but it adds up quick.  Here are the boys bringing in the milk delivery.  

Cedric's been into dressing up lately.  Here he is as "Lady and the Jones" as he calls him.

 We ran across this cute costume when we went through clothes boxes the other day.  Cedric asked if we could put it on Sophie today.  She's starting to sit unsupported for a couple of seconds now too.

 Then Cedric ran and put on a pumpkin costume that we also found.  It's too bad Halloween is still six months away and neither one will fit in these costumes by then. At least they got some use today.