Before the Social Awkwardness Sets in...New Post at The Inquisitive Mom

In case you haven't made the (very) short trip with me over to http://www.theinquisitivemom.blogspot.com, just thought I'd let you know that I just posted http://theinquisitivemom.blogspot.com/2009/11/before-social-awkwardness-sets-in.html.

What are you waiting for?

:0) Mindy

I'm Moving to The Inquisitive Mom...Please Join Me!

I started this blog after my family moved from our Washington State home to small town Illinois, far from our family and friends. When I discovered how much I loved visiting other blogs to stay connected (and to reconnect), I decided to start one of my own. As the name implies The Farmer Family Scoop was meant primarily to share pictures, updates, and anecdotes about our little family. I initially envisioned that both Tim and I would author the blog.

Over time, I found that the blog was my outlet...Tim wrote maybe a total of two posts. While the primary focus has still been my family, I've also shared some of my thoughts, experiences, and ideas. When my interests expanded to cloth diapering, I started discovering a whole new network of mommy bloggers. I worried that my current blog was moving too far beyond the focus of my family to interest the audience and I also worried that a new audience wouldn't be interested in all of my family anecdotes and pictures. To mitigate this problem, I created http://www.theinquisitivemom.blogspot.com.

After managing two blogs for a few months and reading more and more mommy blogs, I now think I was mistaken. I think there's room for a blog to be personal and also appeal to a broad audience, as long as it's sincere. There's plenty of room in one blog for family, faith, humor, experiences, and information.

I will always love my http://farmerfamilyscoop.blogspot.com site and plan to still post some pictures and family updates here occasionally. But I now think it's time to merge into one blog, so I'm asking if you'll please take a trip with me, follow http://www.theinquisitivemom.blogspot.com/ and add me to your blog roll. In fact, if you're feeling generous, I'd love it if you'd even grab the code from my The Inquisitive Mom blog and add it to your site!  I've even imported all of the previous posts from this blog, so you won't miss a thing! Thanks!

Happiness is a Wooden Spoon, a Pot, and a Sibling for Your Band

Ella still had a bit of time left before school this morning to play with her little brother after breakfast. She's been making more of an effort to play with him and baby him a bit now that he's getting bigger. It seems ironic, but I think it's natural because he must feel more like a "real" person to her now that he can crawl, babble, point, and interact more. I wish I'd taken a picture of my kiddos together this morning, but I was actually sweeping, filling the dishwasher, and simply enjoying the moment. Ella asked for a big pot and spoon, then said "Ezra needs the little one. He needs a spoon too!" The proceeded to bang to their heart's content, laughing, and smiling together, while Ella instructed me to dance. This might sound cheesy, but it was one of those moments of happiness that you feel is being etched on your heart. 


As I took a few extra moments to snuggle my little ones to sleep last night, I decided to stop and savor the moments with my kids more. Two kids, plus all that our family has going on, can sometimes make me feel like there's never enough time for anything, so I think I'm rushing through my life a bit. I don't want to look back and wished I'd played for just a few more minutes, read just one more book, or snuggled just a bit longer. So, I"m resolving to pull out the pots more, play My Little Ponies for a bit longer, and to stop more and really listen.

When Two Book Nerds Unite

Last night, Ella handed her dad a book to read. Turned out it didn't have much of a plot or storyline, but he indulged her and started reading anyway. I came into the room and heard, "Those who work with language know there's no such thing as a synonym." It seems Tim decided to indulge his little girl, start reading "The Synonym Finder," and wait for her to call his bluff. I laughed and told Ella she should appreciate that book because it's the reason she's here today.

Thing is, this isn't too far from the truth. Of course attraction, a bit of luck, a church dance, and (later) texting helped bring Tim and I together, but our first conversation involved a mutual liking of this book. In fact, quite a bit of our getting to know each other and "courtship" involved books. First, "The Synonym Finder," then Tim lent me "The Poisonwood Bible" (I hate the characters & can't get through it. I know everyone loves it, but now resisting it is sort of a "thing," you know?), then he bought me the Harry Potter books for my 25th birthday (I didn't want to read them because they were uber-popular, but I really like him, so I read them), and I gave him "Sonnets from the Portuguese" for our first Valentine's Day.

Dorky, you say? That's okay. As Tim would say, "Nerd is the new cool." ;0)

Ezra Climbs to New Heights

Now that Ezra's marathon teething session seems to be coming to a close, he's more willing to venture out on his own again and explore the world. He wowed my mom and I last week by crawling, then refused to crawl and only wanted to walk with someone. In fact, there's been quite a few days this past week when he was only happy when holding onto mom's fingers and toddling around the room!
When Ezra approached the stairs last night, I was curious to see what he'd do. He's finally figured out how to "walk" up them with assistance, but he was crawling up to them. Initially, he'd make it up to the first step, then slide down during every successive attempt:

Sometimes you even need a little head push!

We took a break to change his diaper and I let him play again for a few minutes before bed so he could show off for Daddy. If his bum looks out of proportion to you in these photos, rest assured that his diaper is double stuffed for nighttime!

I swear I looked away for a second and he was climbing the stairs, nearly to the top!

I love how pleased he looks with himself!

Suddenly he looks like such a big boy!

Just chillin' on the stairs like he's done it all his life.

Heading back down the stairs is tricky!

Wordless Wednesday: Making Cookies with Grandma

Grandma Cathy and Ella had a blast making Halloween cookies this past week. Ella talked about it in anticipation the entire week before. For some reason, she also thought they were going to get to eat the cookies in bed, but forgot about this in the excitement of making cookies!

This is a long series of photos, but I just couldn't decide which ones to cut. I wanted Grandma to see them all!

Visit www.5minutesformom.com for more Wordless Wednesday Fun!

Order Scentsy for the Holidays & Get 10% off Your Next Order

 
The Scentsy 2009 Holiday collection is here! With snowflakes, a snowman, holly, and an angel, there's sure to be a holiday selection to suit any taste!

Now is a terrific time to order your holiday gifts. Scentsy makes an excellent "thank you" gift for a teacher, gift for a neighbor, or Christmas gift for a discerning friend!

Order your holiday gifts early and receive 10% off your next order! Simply visit my website at www.scentsy.com/mindyfarmer (click on the button link above) and opt to shop from the "Holiday Party." This party is open until Sunday evening, November 8th. Orders must be placed through this party to qualify! Happy Shopping!

We Love Grandma's Visits!

Grandma Cathy found a way to visit us for a week over Halloween and we were thrilled! Ella thought having Grandma here was absolute heaven. Once again, she only wanted Grandma to help with everything and we'd regularly hear, "Come on, Grandma" throughout the day. I'm convinced there's no better companion than a Grandma! We miss you mom and we're so grateful you came to visit us!

We did all kinds of fun things during Grandma Cathy's visit, starting with an overnight trip to St. Louis. Grandma flew in, we met up with her, stayed overnight (without much sleep due to Ezra), then enjoyed a day in St. Louis. Tim and I were able to do a session at the LDS temple while mom watched the kids (thanks, mom!), then we went to the zoo for some Halloween fun. I don't have a lot of time today with Ezra not feeling well, but I thought I'd post these pics. More field trip and cookie-making fun to come!