Bye bye baby food

So if you have kids over the age of one, you know how this works. You see baby food on sale at Target. You load up the cart, and think to yourself, "Man, I am so amazing! I just saved like $15 on baby food and we have enough to last like forever!" And you slowly start using up all the baby food. Then one day, your beautiful, sweet little baby refuses to eat the baby food. Yes, the same baby food that you, with your amazing deal-seeking wisdom, purchased at 17 cents per jar less than regular price. So you try to trick her into eating. Look! Here's a bite of hot dog! Ooh! She has her mouth open now, and you shove a spoonful of 'turkey with rice' dinner in her face. Ah, but you failed to realize that her older brother and sister taught her the art of baby kung fu and now you have 'turkey with rice' all over your face. And the floor. And the table. And the ceiling. Okay, maybe not the ceiling... I exaggerated a little there. But I guess I can't really blame Lia for not wanting to chow down on Gerber spaghetti dinner when she's tasted real spaghetti that Papa made. And why would she want to eat a banana that went through a blender when she can have a real banana. They are much more fun to mush up anyway. So the moral of the story here is NEVER STOCK UP ON BABY FOOD. That's the perfect time for your baby to move on to big people food.

And, what would a blog post be without a few photos. Here are a few shots of Max and Ava feeding Lia, before she went on baby food strike :)

My little man is a reader, baby...

Every day marks one step closer to the day when my kids are all grown up. As much as I don't want that to happen, I'm powerless to stop it. That being said, I'm super proud of my little Max and how fast he's picked up on reading. But, not only has he started to figure it all out, he LOVES to read. It just melts my heart when I walk into the kitchen, and I see he's pushed a chair over to the cabinet to get his reading books out. In fact, the other day, I even caught Max snuggled up next to Ava teaching her how to read :)

Here's a few shots of Max reading. I love how serious his face is when he's concentrating :)

Is Max not the best big brother in the world?

Happy Birthday, Lia

My baby turns 1 today. She's not a baby anymore. I'm sad....but she's super cute, and always happy! We had her party Sunday afternoon and let her tear into her very own Sam Combs cake. Yes, we love her that much :)

Did I mention yet that she's finally "walking with assistance"

Lia's Cake (Cakes by Combs)

And one for everyone else, thanks, Sam (chocolate with cookies & cream filling)

Lia wouldn't wear her hat...mommy was sad :(

But you might notice that she has a death grip on her chicken nugget. She wouldn't even put it down to open her presents :)

I just want my nuggie :)

Time for cake! I will say that Lia was the only one of our 3 that made a mess on their birthday. Thanks, Lia!

She was unsure at first.

Ok, I'm ready :)

Ava decided she was going to help Lia a bit.

While not as messy as I would have liked, I'm happy with the result. I remember Max just cried when he touched the icing, and Ava was too shy to do anything so she threw a fit too :)

This is what was left....doesn't it look tasty?

The Little Things

I'm constantly amazed at the things that really get my kids excited. We like to think that we have to spend tons of money on all kinds of wacky toys that the kids play with for 5 minutes then break, when actually, we can buy twisty straws for a $1 (pack of 4!) and they're completely happy. And, little Lia, well, she just wants to be hanging upside down (in fact, when you pick her up, and then flip her upside down, she just starts laughing uncontrollably). Here's pictures to prove it...

It's true... I'm a minivan mom

So I can remember pretty clearly how adament I've been that I would never be "one of those minivan moms." You know, I just wanted to be cooler than that... It was Josh who first put out the idea last summer that maybe, with baby number three on the way, it was time to make the leap. Even then, I was totally against the idea. But we can just get a cute little SUV, I said. As long as I wasn't sitting behind the wheel of what seemed like a giant bus, then surely that meant I wasn't too old to wear short shorts or paint my toenails pink or anything else that just seems weird when you're "too old". But, Josh won the battle (don't worry... it was a one time thing :) and we bought the minivan. I hate to admit it now, but I kind of like the minivan. Oops... did I say that out loud? I don't think Josh reads this blog anyway :). Oh but back to the minivan... it turns out that they aren't so lame after all... My kids think the automatic doors are the coolest thing since play-doh. And the seats fold right into the floor when they don't have kids in them (which is pretty rare). So I guess being a minivan mom isn't all that bad after all...

And here's a shot of Lia, just for good measure...

Solarisms - Butt Chicken

So, I'm convinced that every family has their own little made up words. If this is not true, please let me continue to believe it anyway so that I feel better about myself :). This story is about the evolution of the phrase, "Butt chickens". This phrase has become a staple around the Solar household. I believe that the phrase was first coined by Max, when he repeated something that Josh or I said incorrectly. The original statement went something like, "If you don't eat your dinner, I'm gonna give you a butt kickin!" And then Max said, "A butt chicken?" And thus a new Solarism was born.

The interesting thing about the phrase 'butt chicken' is that it has many uses. For example, it can be used as, "Who's a butt chicken? Ava's a butt chicken!" It can also be used as, "I'm gonna give you a butt chicken!" And I'm pretty certain that sooner or later, it will become an adjective as well, as in, "look at all these butt chicken toys!".


Here are a couple of shots of my three favorite butt chickens...