Maple Weekend

It snowed. On March 30th.  It is unreal how this Winter will not end!!  Oh well, it will make Florida feel even better when we finally get there.  We had plans to do Maple Weekend and 6-12 inches wasn't going to stop us.  Plus this was the view: 

  C'mon - at least it's pretty.  Not exactly what I expected at the end of March but it made for a nice ride.  Maple weekend happens once a year in New York and there are a lot of maple farms to go to but they are kind of far away if you live in the suburbs.  We found one in Gowanda, NY which was about 45 minutes away.  Most of the places have pancake breakfasts too but the Maple Glen Sugarhouse where we went doesn't.  There was a pancake breakfast at the Gowanda fire hall but for those that know me, I am not a fire hall pancake eating kind-of-girl.  So we had breakfast at Pappas' and then hit the road!  My parents came too.  Thank goodness for the DVD player in the truck although I'm pretty sure Daddy complains more than the kids.     

How is this method for heating up the hooter juice in the truck?

It worked like a charm!  The bottle was the perfect temp when we got there :)  If that bottle looks a little funny it's because it is.  Its called breastflow by Safety First and has 2 nipples.  It has allowed  all of the boys to go back and forth between bottle and breast with Zero issues.  Which is priceless if you ask me!  OK back to Maple weekend.

  The maple trees get "tapped" once a year but the liquid that comes out is a tiny bit maple syrup and a whole lot of water.  The workers then have to take the water out of it.  It goes through a bunch of filters and then through an evaporator and comes out maple syrup.  The evaporator is that giant silver machine in the picture.  The real stuff is super sweet but all natural.  Mrs. Buttersworth is all fake.  I know, Sad but true.  OK now for the kids favorite part:

Maple cotton candy!  Oh lawd it was good.  That maple donut I had wasn't too bad either!  We hit the little gift shop and came out with Maple cream.  Delicious on toast and worth the trek out there if you ask me. 

 

Goodies:

 



And then we came home and built the last snowman of the season.  At least it better be!!!

Projects

They never end!  In between caring for 3 kids, Steve and I have our own projects we are working on.  His is the motorcycle.  It's all torn apart because he purchased new rims, he's blacking out the front end and lowering the bike or at least I think that's what he told me.  Who knows!  Anyway his bike looks like this right now. 

Not rideable to say the least.  But it is like 19 degrees out everyday so there is time.  Of course he wants it back together ASAP.

Now I am working on the bed project.  Mr. Pierce can crawl out now.  He doesn't thank God but he can.  And pretty soon he will so he needs a new bed.  Not to mention Mr. Reid is rapidly outgrowing the rock-n-play.  So Reid will need the crib.  We couldn't do bunks because there would be nothing to stop Pierce from climbing up to the top.  Which at 1 is NOT safe.  I dislike trundles because they aren't attached and wheels on carpet?  I just can't.  So in lieu of purchasing 2 twin beds I bought a little toddler bed used for $30!  It was an ugly orange wood color so I am painting it white.  And I found a used crib mattress in excellent condition for $20.  I bought cute bedding from pbk to coordinate with big brothers room.  I was worried about finding cute toddler bedding but pbk has a bunch.  And since I saved money on the bed and mattress I went with their bedding. It is worth every penny if you ask me.  Here is my work in progress:

And remember when Steve and I were supposed to celebrate our 1 year anniversary back in July but the kids got sick?  Well we finally got around to it.  It only took us 7 months!

Recycle container envy

We live in a town that just hopped on the tote bandwagon.  That doesn't sound too exciting and the garbage tote didn't excite me at all.  Especially after I bought the Cadillac of garbage receptacles after losing too many darn lids for just under a 100 bucks!  BUT THEN.... this little slice of heaven arrived...

A recycle tote!!  No more little totes that we can fill in a day.  We love to recycle around here.  Maybe I should say I love to recycle.  This giant and lovely recycle tote holds it all and there is no need to sort.  Now I realize this post makes me appear very, very uncool.  And I am perfectly ok with that.  Don't act like she isn't beautiful!

Just hanging on

Me and Reid are taking it 1 day at a time over here with breastfeeding.  1 day at a time, just like  alcoholics or addicts.  Let me remember the good ole days for a moment breastfeeding Brady.  I would get my nice drink of ice water, my phone, the remote and an US weekly and just sit on the couch.  He would fall asleep on the boppy and I would relax with my feet up.  Even breastfeeding Pierce was kinda like that as long as I made sure Brady had everything he needed before I sat down.  Well, cut to now.  There is no ice water because my kids would drink it or spill it.  So my water is in the kitchen a room away.  My phone is still somewhere near, thank God!  The remote? Don't need that anymore.  Unless they are asleep it's Disney or Sprout.  And there no magazines either because I don't get too comfortable.  There is no relaxing anymore. 

Now just when you feel the milk start coming down you: a) hear "can I have some juice, b) mom Pierce is on the table, c) mom Pierce has poop d) mom Pierce is eating fill in the blank.  All of which make you have to take the show-on-the-road while trying to keep baby latched or sir drinks-a-lot gets all kinds of mad to go and rescue or stop Pierce from doing something he shouldn't.  It is not relaxing and it hasn't been fun in a while.  Breastfeeding with a 1 year old is quite the challenge!  My goal was a year like the other boys, then it was 9 months, then maybe 7 months.  Now it is day-by-day. 

I know if I stop short I will feel the mom guilt that the last one got cheated.  And I don't really want to buy formula but it would be nice to go on a cruise and not have to pump or get to sit and talk with other adults on my lunch break at work.  And let's face it, I would still be giving the baby a bottle and have to get up and stop Pierce from doing whatever he is into at the moment.  But my boobs are begging to be put away!!  Mommy decisions are the hardest, aren't they?

Stuck

Never a dull moment!  We let daddy sleep in till around 8:30 on the weekends, you know when there isn't a crisis.  I was downstairs with all the boys.  I was nursing Reid (imagine that!) about 3 feet away from Pierce.  Pierce was hanging out watching tv when he decided to put his foot inside the black hole on the front of the speaker.  Black holes are always so darn tempting when you are 1.  I literally saw him do it but with a baby strapped to my chest all the damn time, I was helpless.  I did manage to say "No, No, No, NOOOOOOO!"  Only to hear his little voice say "stuck"  At first, I thought ok No Big Deal, it went in, it will come out.  But it wouldn't.  He must have pointed his little toes to get it in and now his flexed foot wouldn't come out.  He was quite calm unless I was pulling on his leg.  He carried on watching Sesame Street so I snapped a little pic just to remember all the fun we have with three boys 5 and under. 

I called for reinforcements in the way of telling Brady to go wake up dad.  Meatball came down, assessed the situation and called for Pam, the cooking spray.  Butter flavor, ok?  That didn't work.  Hubs decided to take apart the speaker and he was pretty fast.  Pierce's little foot came out with a big red mark but it was out.  And the silver lining to all of this?  Brady put Joey's pirate pants down the speaker about 2 1/2 years ago.  You can't turn Joey into a pirate with no pants and that is just no fun.  Well those finally came out since the speaker was apart anyway.  There you have it!  ARGH.