CHATEAU MABILE

The day Nana Becca came was a very exciting day at our house! Not only was she coming for a two week visit where we were sure to have tons of fun, but we got a new stove! The last one, well, that's a fun story which I will tell you...right now! Greg and Liam were outside grilling while Ginny and I stayed inside to watch the sweet potato fries. The fries hadn't been in long when a bright orange glow inside the oven caught my eye. Thinking it was the new parchment paper I was trying out, I ran over and saw sparks! It wasn't the parchment paper though, it was the bottom heating element of the oven! It started hissing and popping as I watched in horror, about a 1-2 inch piece of the element caught on fire and broke off. So I turned the oven off and ran to the glass window to summon Greg and Liam IN to the potentially burning building. Hahaha. Not wanting to cause a panic amongst neighbors, I didn't want to yell, "Fire!" so I calmly, firmly, and urgently called down, "Oh dearest, something is afoot, please come up." Haha no. I said, "Greg. Come up here NOW. Like right now." Greg's response: "Huh? The asparagus are still cooking." So I said, "NO. Get up here NOW." in such a way that he might have fear in his heart and think he'd done something majorly wrong. He and Liam came up quickly and the oven never did anything else so all was well. Oh I take that back, the sweet potato fries were hardly cooked at all so that was a bummer. I had to do them in tiny batches in the toaster oven. Anyway, that's how we got the new oven! The apartment even let me choose between off white and white! It came the morning of Nana Becca's arrival and I silently did a happy dance while the big, burley, ex-hockey player Minnesotan men installed it because I realized it was digital!! Woo woo woo! Liam was excited as me and immediately started investigating how it was different and asking how they were going to install it.

But then the day got even better! Ginny-Beth has lost a lot of her shyness and they got to start bonding immediately. Ginny even handed her her baby doll in the car ride home.

My kids love window clings. If only they were edible...

They got started on some art time quick.

Ginny looooves scribbling. It was funny to watch a kid actually enjoy it. Liam gives you 5 minutes maximum and he's done.

Now Nana Becca came with gifts. This was from Nanny Jessica for Ginny and she LOVED it. And...

So did Liam.

Turns were taken...

Fun was had...

(Most of the time)

They did a pretty good job of sharing it, overall. It's hard when both kids still pretty much live by the philosophy of "What's mine is mine."

Painting rocks! Nana Becca and Liam painted some adorable rocks and we left them outside our apartments for the other kids to see. They were a hit! Now they are all missing though :(

Tilapia Fish Tacos. Make this. Like now. Healthy, filling, and crazy delicious.

We were all begging for more!