If this isn't your favorite soup it's because you haven't tried it yet. Not only is it delightfully tasty - it's ridiculously easy to make. Like spaghetti from a jar easy. Really. I'm not kidding. Try it! You will need: 1 onion 2 cans of diced tomatoes 1 can chili beans 1 can black beans, drained 1 can whole kernel corn, drained 1 can tomato sauce (small) 1 bottle of beer (light) 1 packet of taco seasoning 3 chicken breasts Chop...

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Cornstarch + water = fun. (Also, having my computer back so that I can photo edit = fun. I maaaay have gone overboard with the 70s style processing. I MISSED IT SO.) New substance! Must investigate! Its gooey, it's mushy, it's liquidy.... It's tasty! It's messy! It's worth it. ...

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Cael got some magnet letters and numbers for the fridge. Right off the bat, he determined that Finn was not allowed to play with the letters, but he could play with the numbers if he had to play with something. Cael: [Slides the F over with the numbers.] Allie: [Slides it back.] F is a letter. It goes between the E and the G. Cael: [Slides it to numbers.] No, Mama. Allie: [Sings the song.]...

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Allie: Cael, why are you taking off your pants? Cael: Because I have to dance! *Twenty minutes later* Allie: Finn, why are you taking off your diaper? Finn: [pees on the carp...

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I decided this afternoon (while still moaning about being sore from the teeter-totter two days ago) that it was about time for me to start working out again. So, after almost a three year break from Tony, I polished the DVD and popped it into the player. I'm not going to lie - the warm up and the yoga were brutal. And I may have cheated a little. "Finn? You say you need help moving that car?...

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PSA: Having a one year old open your laptop like a book, plant his butt on the keyboard and slap the screen like it's whack-a-mole results in a fair amount of computer troubles. On a related note, I can't do any photo editing and I'm spending all day reinstalling everything I've ever installed, so I bring you the only thing I had on my desktop...

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On Sunday we found ourselves at Sunnyslope Park. A small but apparently popular park tucked in an old neighborhood south of our house. The playground was composed of two different kinds of retro structures: a wood one and a metal one. And we thought our park was ghetto! Really, though - the wood one was pretty cool. You can't beat the classics. Plus, Dad's pretty cool no matter what you're playing on. And there was...

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Last night I was woken at 4 because Cael needed his sheets adjusted. (The white one was touching him, if you can believe that!) At 5 I went and tucked Hop Hop in. (Stuffed bunnies can get cold.) I am so whippe...

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Cael and Finn are having a sick day. Are they going to let a little snot let them down? Okay, a lot of snot? Heck no! They're wild! They're crazy! They're boys! Oh wait. Yes, yes they wi...

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I tend to wake up on weekend mornings a little late. Okay, a lot late. Sleep and I aren't as friendly during the week as I'd like and we use Saturday and Sunday to catch up. Ryan uses Saturday and Sunday to morph into Martha Stewart. Saturday it was banana bread. This morning I woke up to a heaping plate of fresh strawberry shortcake and homemade whipped cream. I'd show you a picture but I ate it too quickly. The camera...

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AKA: The Ritz of Salem. Seriously. This place is hooked up. And I didn't even take pictures of the splash fountain and grass run and basketball court. It has two play structures. A 2-5 year old and a 5-12 year old. Both of them are far superior to anything we've seen in our (admittedly limited) travels. South Village, our go-to for toys, is close in that the 5-12 year old one is almost as big as WB's 2-5 year old one....

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Finn's grip of steel + his ability to open Ryan's desk drawers = problematic. He's especially fond of the battery drawer. I spent an embarrassingly long amount of time trying to pry that AA from his little iron fists this morning. (I even employed Uncle Dan's spoon-dropping trick, but he's gained an immunity.) The result was much screaming and tantrum throwing. Fast-forward ten minutes. Cael...

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We have a park near our house, but it's not the best park in the world. The equipment is the old-school metal stuff, there's not much of it that's fun for someone as young as Cael or Finn, it's pretty small, and the trees - the huge, gorgeous trees - aren't the ideal setting when you're looking for sunshine. Also, our park has some construction going on right through the center of it, so it's pretty cordoned off at the moment. So...

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