What Did YOU Do Today?

Maybe I Should Just Post Pictures

2011-04-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

I was going through the last year of posts, which sadly, is like, 6, and realized a theme- I always end each one with 'look out for more pictures later', and then? Never happens. I am such a procrastinator. Then I think about it again, and think, 'eh, what's the use now?' Gosh I have issues.

These were taken in Costa Mesa, June 2010. Chris had a few weeks of training and since work paid for him to stayin a hotel down there, we joined him! Although it was too cold to go in the water at the beach, we visited a few times. Can I just say that the OC has the best weather?!?!? And shopping?!?

The Family on Halloween. They boys and I were ghosts and Chris was a Ghostbuster. I had ditched the way-too-much costume by this point. Brought me back to my HS days when I made a Hershey Kiss costume. WHAT was I thinking?!?!?!?

Really, I am alive!

2011-04-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

SOOO, its been, oh 4 months or so since I posted. Although I read and catch up on everyone's blogs, I guess I don't think I have anything worth writting. So here is what's going on with us- it will work for now, right??
We started talking about buying another house last May. After lots of phone calls, investigating, making sure we could handle two mortgages, etc, we decided to go for it! We started looking, didn't find anything worth moving, and took a break.

Zander had surgery in October to correct his shoulder. He was born with a disorder called Sprengle's Deformity. We knew this way back when he was 5 mo old, in the NICU with RSV. This surgery was planned, all went pretty well. His orthopaedic surgeon preforms 95% of this surgery, nationwide. We were thrilled to work with him down at CHLA. (REALLY, the best so. Cal childrens hospital). He was great in the hospital after, they let us go home less than 24 hours later! A few days later, though, he got really sick, he was breathing very hard and I knew we were in for another ER visit. Instead of driving all the way down to LA, we took him to Loma Linda, where they admitted him for pnenmonia. Dr. Skaggs (surgeon) said it was normal, since he was in his body for a long time, air most likely got trapped and messed up his lungs. We stayed down there for 3 days and he was great. Super trooper! We started PT two weeks later and although he hated the pulling and tugging on his arm, he loved playing! Miss Laurie was his therapist, and lucky for us, had been a preschool teacher for 20 years! She knew exactly how to work with him. He painted, played games and had a ball. We continued that until the end of Febuary. Pre-surgery, Dr. Skaggs said we could expect 30-40 degrees improvement in his range of motion. After all that hard PT, he has 60%! We were thrilled! So he is doing great. Learning to use it just as much as his other hand/arm.

Back to the house- we started looking again in November. Found one we liked, but didn't love, mainly because it needed lots of work. The bones were good, but it was super smelly and very dirty. But it was huge and we liked the floor plan. So we put in an offer, and we got it! We got the keys (well, basically, we broke in) February 4th, ripped out carpets, painted the entire house (after scrubbing every single wall. . . ) redid the floors in the kitchen, and cleaned really well and moved in the 12th. It was a crazy week, let me tell you, but worth it. We are finally starting to feel like its home. Still don't have anything up on the walls, but hey, we put curtains up on the sliding glass door in the kitchen, does that count as something?!?! Its still a work in progress. We have huge plans for it, but with huge plans come lots of work, lots of energy and lots of money!!!

So, the biggest news (which MOST of you already know) is that we are going to have another baby!! We have been ready for about 9 months now for another, and you know? I really know that Heavenly Father saw wisdom in my not being pregnant while Zander went through surgery, or while we shopped for houses, or packed up our old house, or got this one ready. .. .HE KNOWS me and my weaknesses and strengths so much better than I do. Very glad I didn't get too whiney about not being pregnant before.

Well. This is really long. And wordy, and probably annoying. But its done, right?? I took some pictures of the house, but they aren't on my computer yet, so I will up load them next time. Thanks for reading this rant! Thanks for the love!!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

What a busy year! And you know, its only going to continue this way, for like, forever. Kids are born, grow up, life is always changing. Trials come and knock us down for a bit, we recover, and (hopefully) learn the lesson we were meant too. And the blessings, oh the blessings! Life is sweet, isn't it?

I really like the idea of using this blog to stay connected with friends in far away places. I have done a very crappy job on my part, although I am grateful for those who frequently update! Maybe this next year will be better. I think the problem is that I feel a need to be elloquent, with proper grammar and spelling. When really, who cares, right? Staying in touch is way more important. So here is to a new year with more frequent posts.

Here are a few pictures of our little family. The boys are wonderful, crazy, exausting, adorable, all in one; growing like crazy, learning every day.

Again, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Kade's First Birthday

2010-08-05T23:32:00.000-07:00

So hard to believe my baby is One year old, where did the time fly?? We had a little(ish) birthday party for the Birthday boy this year, with just family. Even then, there were 20+ people in my house, plus 5 kids. yikes. Instead of going the easy route and sticking with cake and ice cream, I decided to make dinner for all these people. NEVER AGAIN!! Although it turned out great, it was a LOT of work, and although my family was worth the hassle, my mental capacity took a hit and I was a cranky momma by nights end. What's the point, huh!

I did a turtle-ish party. I say 'ish' because I kept it pretty simple. I made some cute invites, made a SUPER cute birthday banner, whipped together a turtle cake, and that was about it. Simple! Here are a few pictures, Isn't he precious??!!?
Here is the sign I made, using my Mom's Cricut machine. That thing is amazing. . . .I got the idea from emmiecakes.com.

Its a bit wonky in this picture because 1. I had 'help' putting it up, and 2. this picture was taken at the end of the evening. Trust me, Its WAAAYY cuter than the picture depicts!!

Here is his cake. It too is a bit wonky because 1. my partner in crime is MIA (not really, she just abandoned me for England) 2. I spent too much time on real food and not this bad boy and 3. I tried too hard and didn't know when to stop messing with it. It worked.

My big boy, tickling the Ivory's! He loves to play the piano!! (really, he just loves to make noise. . . .)

Whelp. Uploading pictures is taking forever and I need to turn in, so there ya go. More soon! (Don't keep your fingers crossed too long, that's what I said about posting more on our England trip. . . a month ago. . .)

May 2010

2010-06-21T23:35:00.000-07:00

Hello! I must say- even though I rarely update our blog, I check it frequently to see if you guys have updated yours and am always glad to see what life is like in your neck of the woods. We have had a busy May/June! Chris and I had the amazing experience of going to England for a week. My BFF (how high school does THAT sound!?! But really, she is!) and her family were Sealed for Eternity in the London Temple! It was an amazing day, one of my top 5 best days thus far. Jeannette and I have known each other since elementary school, and became besties around our Junior year of high school. We have gone through a lot together- she lost her Aunt just days after my Grandmother passed away, I was living with her in Vegas when Danae died, and we spent many hours crying together as she learned of her sweet baby's fate once she was born. Gosh, sounds like our lives have been all doom and gloom, huh! Watching our children grow, overcome obstacles, make us laugh, make us yell, make us be mean, has been so much fun as we go through these stages together. And of course, we have each other to 'vent' our spousal frustrations too. And now that they have this amazing blessing in their lives, I know our friendship will get even deeper as we share experiences and thoughts of things most eternal.

While we were there, we visited London for a day. Anyone who has ever been to London knows you need about a month to see everything there is to see. I had the chance to go as a nanny in 2003. We were there a full week and didn't see all we wanted too! I think it was pleanty of time for Chris, as he is a true fan of the good old USA over all other nations, and was content seeing the highlights. We took a double-decker bus tour, which was so much fun and perfect when you are short on time!! I need to up load my pictures. . .

I need to retire now, so I will add more later!

Kade

2010-04-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

April 23, 2010

This little guy is just, the best. He is 9 months old now, and growing! At his 9 mo apt this past week he weighed in at 18lb12oz and was 27 inches long. Tall and thin! He isn't as big of a kid as we thought, though. He grew fast at first, started wearing 6-9 mo clothes in November; he was 4 months old. He is STILL in those same clothes, but not for long.

He loves to eat, and has been introduced into snacking, his favorite is Cherrios and fruit puffs. Kade's sleeping habits left a lot to be desired until I worked on it with him about 6 weeks ago. He did GREAT for about three of those weeks, but has reverted back to his old ways. Darn kid. His first tooth hasn't come in yet, so everything gets blamed on that, including his sleep issues. He does take good naps, so I try not to complain much.

Let's see, what else about Kade-ster. He loves toys, especially his older brothers dinosaurs. He isn't crawling yet, but will spring forward out of a sitting positon onto his tummy when a prized toy is just out of reach. Mommy is working on tummy time more to encourage movement.

All in all, he is a great kid! He loves his momma and is very much a cuddler. Already a social kid, he waves when you wave back and smiles at anyone who talks to him.
Ok. This is sounding a bit boring, so I will end it with a few pictures of my cutie!!

November 2009, just learning to eat

Look at that face!! December 2009

Hello!

2010-04-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

Its been a very long time since I posted. And my blog is a little, all over the place. Not very exciting to read, at all. I am working on it a bit. More pics of my litle ones, more delicious recipes, more, period! So stick around. I promise I will be back! BTW- just because I rarely post, I love it when each of you do, so keep at it!! You inspire me!

Natalie

Made from Scratch Bread

2010-03-02T16:29:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I love fresh home made bread. I would make it every day if it didn't go strait to the hips. I love making it, eating it, finding recipes for it, waiting for it to rise, every little part of it. I must say, I am obsessed. (I am obsessed with a few different things these days, huh!)

How delighted I was when my pal Tammie gave me this little recipe. The easiest bread ever! Takes 1 hour from start to finish, and tastes so amazing. It makes 2 very large loaves, so far I have only made a half batch because its just the 2.75 of us, and it turns out great!!

I am NOT going to re-post the recipe, but will just post the link. This gal is great! She gives a very helpful video tutorial, too. And, I think she lives just down the hill (I will keep city names off to avoid any issues!) which is even better.

Ok. Here is the link. Check it out!

Coupons. . . what a pain. . . .c

2010-02-25T14:50:00.000-08:00

A few weeks go, Chris and I had a talk about our grocery and household items budget. We are really trying to cut back and save more each month. He would be content eating hot dogs and pb&j sandwhiches every night for dinner, while I would love a 4-course meal every night. We compromise and I usually cook one or two things that are more substantial and then we fill in with veggie quesadillas or sandwhiches. After our talk and our new resolve to save money, I took some advice from a few friends (I posted a question on FB and got lots of feedback!) and started checking out coupon blogs/sites. HOLY COW, what a can of worms that is!! I got really excited, learning I could get laundry detergent for dirt (ha ha) cheap, toothpaste for pennies, and any other toiletry product for almost free if I paid attention.

I hit the ground running, clipped my coupons from the Sunday paper, found ones from online sites, scowerd the adds both in print and on line, read every blog about couponing to make sure I found everything, got in the car with the boys, and lasted about 10 minutes in CVS. I hit a wall. Everything I was going to get for 'free' was out of stock, Kade was screaming, Zander pooped his pants and was yelling at me because he had to sit in the back of the basket, and because I forgot to bring fruit snacks, and it was just too much. This is the second week something VERY similar happened when I went 'shopping' last week. I just don't think this is going to work until my kids are a little older, like, in school. I ended up getting so frustrated at them and the annoying checker, that I ended up being in a bad mood the rest of the day, especially to my precious boys. That is just not worth it to me! They are the priority, not great deals!

I was talking to my friend, Angie, about it, and she felt the same way. She has 4 kids, only 1 is in elementary school, and although her second is in pre-school, it just adds to the errands she already has to run. Did I mention her husband just got called to be Bishop at Church?!?! So, yeah, she is busy.

I am going to give this one more week. Maybe I can escape one evening while Chris is home and go out looking for deals. Alone. Maybe if I can focus, think, and plan better it will go smoother. Any thoughts?

White Chip Bars

2010-02-25T13:52:00.000-08:00

***I started this post last week, but never finished it!! ***
I seriously think I have a problem. I am OBSESSED with making desserts. Like, I have to make something every week!! And I can't just use the good old stand by's. I have to try something new. The Missionaries are coming over for dinner tonight and although I have some cherry dump cake from FHE left over, I had to make something else. Mainly because there wasn't much left.

I scored and bought cookie dough for really cheap the other day ($1 for a tube of sugar cookie.Sweet deal, huh!) and searched the Pillsbury site for something yummy to do with it. This is what I found. The pan is siting in front of me, with one piece alredy missing. That's the beauty of making up bars like this- I can cut them up and arrange on a plate and nobody (ie Chris) will ever know just how much I have scarffed down!!

Here is the recipe-
1 16oz (or around there) pkg sugar cookie dough
1 can sweetend condensed milk
1 1/2 cup coconut
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup sliced or slivered almonds

*preheat oven to 350.
*In a greased 9x13 pan press the cookie dough down, making sure there are no holes, and try to make it even. Press the chips down firmly, into the dough.
*Sprinkle the coconut and almonds, then pour the sweetend condensed milk over all.
*Bake for 30 minutes, or until the middle is a little brown. I have a fear of buring or even over cooking things, so I took mine out a bit too soon, like before the middle was starting to brown.
*You can take an additional 1/3 c white chips, melt them, then drizzle on top after they cool a bit for a nice look.
*These are a 'white' version of magic cookie bars, so if you like those you should love these!!
Here is the link to the official recipe, which you might want to use for reference.!!
I often buy the dry packaged cookie dough when its on sale. I am sure if you add the ingredients listed on the back, you could use that too. Or any cookie dough recipe you like! Enjoy!!

Three Whole Columns!

2010-02-13T14:04:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! With a little bit of work, I changed things up a bit on the blog, as you can tell.
*I graduated to a three column layout, mainly so I can see everything I want too without scrolling all over the place. Organization is something I am really striving for in every aspect of my life, so I started with the blog, figuring it would be pretty easy.
*I have caught a coupon-clipping bugg and have added a few links to some great sights.
*New recipes are always fun to find, so I added some links to my favorites.

What fun, this blogging is!

Natalie

A Question

2010-01-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

So you dear Mommies, is the answer to my issues

"This too shall pass"

or

"Welcome to Motherhood"?

I, of course, am referring to my children's total lack of sleep discipline. I really should have posted this a week ago, because, really, they are getting a smidge better. They are both asleep at this very moment, so it can't be all that bad, right??

I have to admit, I was reading a friends blog (she has a baby just a week younger than K) and felt the tinest tinge of jealousy when I read her babe is sleeping through the night! Especially since K thinks he still needs to eat 3-4 times at night. I asked how she did it, and pretty much said the baby did it herself. And this gal is so sweet, and helpful, and how can I be jealous??

Just a bit ago, I was reading another friends blog, and she blogged about this very thing! We are blessed to have friends with blogs, but often we find ourselves comparing everything, because we blog and know about everything everyone is doing! If we don't have the right attitude, we can find ourselves having negative thoughts as we catch up, and isn't that the opposite effect blogs are supposed to have?? So dear Mommies, I say we take this all with a grain of salt and love and learn from each other. There. Done ranting for the day.

Have I mentioned it is POURING outside?? Parts of our neighborhood are flooded!!

SNOW!!

2010-01-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks we have had the best weather! If it has to be winter, I like California's version! This week Mother Nature decided we needed a turn at real winter, and filled Monday and Tuesday with tons of rain. Then this afternooon, it started snowing, and sticking!! YEAH!!!!! I am really hoping it keeps up enough for Mr.B to stay home tomorrow. A 4 day weekend would be heaven for this tired mommy.
Love to all!!

This picture is of Chris' car in our garage. The snow was in sheets, because it was starting to freeze. Right after we took pictures, it all fell to the ground! Glad for good timing!!

Sent to Word

2010-01-11T15:14:00.001-08:00

This is just an experiment- My dear husband surprised me with a new laptop for Christmas this past year. I was thrilled, as mine was just about 5 years old, very slow, and ready to crash. Last summer, Chris' department received a link to purchase Office 2007 for $10! A HUGE deal!! We were going to order it, but never did. I think the thought of sitting, waiting for it to download, not knowing if my poor laptop could handle it, was just too much. Well, since we got this little beauty, I was ready! I just downloaded it today and it came with a ton of programs! AND, the best part? I can create blog posts from word, with pictures included and everything.!! How wonderful, huh!! Now I have no reason not to post. I won't go crazy, because, well, I still have two small-always-needing-SOMETHING children and I do have to occasionally cook and clean. Plus, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?? So, I am going to send this baby off, and see what pops up! One more way cool thing- the laptop has a built in camera/video feature. This is a goofy picture of my, right now, as I type this blog, Rad, huh!!

ok, so the pic didnt work but the rest did!!! Cheers!!!

Candy

2010-01-06T13:37:00.000-08:00

I LOVE CANDY!! This girl could live on candy alone. My favorite??

PEANUT BRITTLE!! Especially See's. The great part?? Chris likes it too, but not See's, so I get the whole box to myself! And, He always buys me some for my stocking at Christmas.

This past holiday season, we made lots of candy; peanut butter fudge, Oreo Fudge, English Toffee, but the very best thing we made was this heavenly candy you make in a crock pot! It turns out like a Pay Day candy bar. Divine. Kade is waking up. . . don't want to wake Zander. . .post recipe later!

Thank goodness you can edit posts! Ok, boys happy, here is the link. I didn't take pictures of it, but there is one on the site, I think. Actually, I will just post the recipe so you don't have to go too it.

--3 cups of sugar (Baker's sugar has finer granules and will dissolve well)
--1 cup light corn syrup
--4 cups of your favorite nuts (I only used peanuts, because at that time my almonds and pecans were spoken for for other recipes, but will try a mix next time!)
--4 Tbl butter
--2 tsp vanilla extract
--2 tsp baking soda

--parchment paper or Release foil

The Directions.

I used my 6 quart crock for this.

Drop the 4 tablespoons of butter into your crockpot. Add the sugar and the corn syrup on top of the butter. Pour in the vanilla.

Cover your crockpot and turn to high for one hour.

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or release foil.

After an hour, stir well to mix everything around. Add the baking soda. It will sizzle and make fun noises.
Your sugar mixture will be kind of milky-yellow and the sugar might still look granulated.

Cover again and cook on high for another 30 minutes. Check and stir. Cover and cook again for another 15-30 minutes, or until the sugar mixture is brown and looks the color of peanut brittle. Or a payday candy bar.**These are her directions, when I made it It was the 'right' color after the first 30 minute increment; I didn't want to cook it too much, although thinking about it, it would have probably been ok, its only a crock pot, not direct heat.)

Stir in your nuts.

Then, USING OVEN MITTS, carefully (CAREFULLY! seriously---use the oven mitts) pour half of the pot onto each cookie sheet and spread out with a spatula.
It will be lumpy.
that's because there are nuts.**We only used one cookie sheet, with sides, and it fit perfectly!

Let cool at room temperature for about an hour, then cut into pieces. we cut ours in 2 inch squares and wrapped each piece in waxed paper.

Prepare to be amazed. SERIOUSLY, so good. We planned on giving it out to friends, but, we ate it all. Well, my family had some. I will blame it on them!!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-05T16:27:00.000-08:00

Hello! I hope you had great Christmas and New Year Celebrations. We did. A little chaotic, but doesn't that make it more fun? We decided to have both our sides of the family over on Christmas day, and knowing we did not have room for 15 people to have a nice sit down Christmas dinner, we opted to have breakfast instead. It was delish! Chris and I made a breakfast casserole, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls and other family members brought drinks (Chocolate milk, Apple juice, egg nog and oj), bacon and sausage, and gravy. It was just, so good. I do love breakfast! Here is the recipe for the breakfast casserole- Its really easy:

24 oz shredded hashbrowns
1/2 c butter, melted
1 c chopped ham
2 c shredded cheese (I probably used more)
8 eggs, beaten
2 c milk
1/2 tsp salt

*Press hashbrowns in bottom of a 9x13 pan. Pour butter over evenly, bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes.
*Mix eggs, salt, and milk together.
*Sprinkle ham over potatos, followed by the cheese.
*Pour egg mixture over all.
*Bake for 30 minutes in a 350 oven. ENJOY!!

The next morning I went to the store and bought some tortillas (and really cheap after Christmas candy) and we made breakfast buritos with the casserole and left over bacon and sausage. HEAVEN!

So, try it! Feel free to add onions, bell peppers, or other spices to your liking! We liked this so much I may just make it for dinner one night. Yum!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

We wish you all a Merry Christmas! Here are some recent pictures, hope you enjoy!

I love this KID!!

2009-12-09T16:18:00.000-08:00

Here is a recent picture of Kadester. He really is amazing. I mean, Zander is too, in his 2 year old way, but gosh, Kade is what 4 month olds are supposed to be like! He is progressing and developing much quicker than we remember Zander doing. Its wonderful to see the difference, a little sad too. He is a big boy. At his 4 mo check up he was almost 16 lbs. Zander wasn't that heavy until he was at least 9 months old! its been fun seeing the changes.

Zander is talking a mile a minute! Almost everything is understood by at least mom, and dad gets most of it. He can name just about every animal there is, and loves dinosaurs and ocean life the most. Everything is a weapon, and we decided against the play tool set for Christmas because of this. He seems to be very mechaniclly inclined so we thought a little tool set would be fun. I think we will wait until next year.

I hadn't posted anything on the kids in a while, so I thought I would! Hope you enjoy it!!

Cafe Rio Burritos

2009-12-06T10:03:00.000-08:00

Wow, three posts in a row, I am on a roll!!

So, I have never been to Cafe Rio. Heard lots of good things about their food, though, so when I ran across this recipe I decided to try it. I am impressed! In talking to a few people who have been there, I think this is not exactly like a said burrito, but they are tasty, and worth the shot! Here goes:

Cafe Rio Burritos
1 1/2 lbs boneless pork loin
salt, pepper, garlic salt, to season
1 pkg burrito size tortillas
1 15 oz can (or 1 28 oz can) mild green chili enchilada sauce
1/2 c brown sugar
1 15 oz can black beans, drained
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 lb Monterrey jack cheese, grated
chicken broth or bouillon cubes
about 2 c prepared rice

*Cut pork into large cubes and place in slow cooker with 1/3 c water (you can use cola also, to add flavor). Season with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8. Remove from cooker and drain. Shred mean and place in a bowl. In another bowl mix together 1/2-3/4 c green chili sauce and 1/2 c brown sugar. Pour over pork and mix well.
*Prepare rice per directions. Add chicken bouillon cubes to water or use chicken broth instead of water to add flavor.
*Drain beans and warm up in microwave or on stove.
*Brown tortillas on a skillet or over flame (be careful!!)
*Assembly- Heat oven to 350. Spray 9x13 pan (If you have a larger one, use it!) with cooking spray. Pour 1/2 c enchilada sauce into pan. Sprinkle each tortilla with cheese, rice, 1-2 T cilantro, black beans and 1/3 c pork. Roll up burrito style, folding in all sides, and place in baking dish seam side down. After all burritos are made up, pour remaining sauce over burritos and sprinkle with cheese. Bake in oven until burritos are heated through and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Garnish with tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, lettuce, or nothing at all!! Makes a LOT. We used the whole pack of tortillas, there was a ton. Fed us for a week!!

This is one of Chris' favorites!

Captian Jack's Corn Chowder

2009-12-06T09:54:00.000-08:00

The original title of this recipe is 'Chef Jack's Corn Chowder' by Paula Dean. I read it wrong and titled it Captain Jack's Corn chowder, and since I made a few changes, that's what I call it. Here goes!
· 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
· 1 small onion, diced
· 1 small carrot, finely diced (or more!)
· 2 small celery stalks, diced
· 2 small or 1 large potato, cubed
· 2 clove garlic, minced
· 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
· 3 cups white corn kernels, fresh or frozen
· 4 cups chicken stock (2 cans broth)
· 4-5 slices crisp bacon
· 2 cups half-and-half
· 1 cup milk or more to thin a bit
· Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
· Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine the corn, potato and chicken stock in saucepan, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, Melt 1 stick of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic, and saute for 2 minutes. Add the flour and stir to make a roux. Cook until the roux is lightly browned; set aside to cool to room temperature.
Pour the boiling stock with the corn (a little at a time) into the saucepan with the roux, whisking briskly so it doesn't lump. Return the skillet to the heat and bring to a boil. Add bacon The mixture should become very thick.
In a small saucepan, gently heat the half-and-half; stir it into the thick corn mixture. If needed add milk to thin. Add the nutmeg and salt and pepper, to taste.

**This is SO SO SO good! The original recipe says it serves 8-10. I made a double batch and had 8 adults over and there were hardly any left overs. Served it with bread bowls, and it was fabulous!!

Super Easy French Bread

2009-12-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we decided to try out making bread bowls for soup. The Missionaries were coming over for dinner, and I thought it was the perfect time for experimenting! I found a great recipe for french bread and used that. The bread is so good and easy I make it a few times a month, at least, and since its just Chris and I, it lasts a while. The recipe rely on a bread machine to do most of the work, sweet, huh!! Here goes:

Place the following ingredients in order into your bread machine pan:

1 C warm water
2 1/2 C bread flour
1 TBSP sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp quick rise yeast (also known as bread machine yeast. Regular yeast is fine, it will just rise slower!)

Turn your bread machine on to the dough cycle and press start. My machine takes 1 hour 20 min to go through this cycle.

After it is done, remove the dough from machine and place in an oiled bowl, turning over so all sides are coated. Let rise until doubled, which is at least 1 hour sometimes more. If I start this early, I just let it rise until I get the chance to do the next step. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched

Once doubled, place dough on a well floured surface. Roll out to a 12x16 rectangle. cut in half, making 2 12x8 rectangles. Roll each piece up, on the long side, like you were making cinnamon rolls. Place seam on the bottom, and pinch ends together. Place on a baking sheet and let rise again for another hour or so, or until they are nice and puffy. The longer they rise the more tender and light the bread will be.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Mix egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water; brush over tops of loaves. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. For a crispy crust, place a pan of ice water on the bottom rack of your oven as the bread bakes. Or if you have a food-safe spray bottle, every 5 minutes or so open your oven and spray water inside. This creates steam, which creates a nice crisp crust!

***Bread bowls*****
Instead of rolling the dough into loaves, I just made balls. I got 3 out of each recipe, they weighed 7 oz each (I like to weigh everything to make sure its even. Call me a dork. . . )Let them rise the second time, and bake for about the same amount of time, I think. Just keep checking. I let them cool, cut the tops off, dug a lot of the dough out, and pressed the insides so that it made the crust thicker. Filled with thicker soups and enjoy!!

New Quilt Idea

2009-09-04T14:09:00.000-07:00

I really need to blog more. I have 2 issues- I am a Farmtown on Facebook addict, and I have 2 little boys. I have been searching to a solution to my issues. The second can't be resolved, and I wouldn't WANT it resolved- I adore my children and want more! The first? I am going to replace my FB time with quilting. I love the entire process of quilting (as long as the quilt isn't so big) and think it will be my new substitute. These feelings escilated when I saw this quilt top/tutorial. The fact that this quilter is a Dad makes it even cooler in my book!! I LOVE the fabrics in this block, and would have never chosen them to go together. I have lots of fun fabric that I am going to go cut up! So, keep bugging me (if you want) for progress on this project. If I have someone expecting something I am much more likely to stay on track. Happy September!

Recipe

2009-08-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

So. I was a bit of a rock star in the kitchen yesterday. Since it was a little cooler and I had a bit more energy, and we HAD to eat, I decided to try a new recipe for dinner. I am so glad I did, because this is one tasty dish!! Much like me. . . ha ha. So kidding. Anyway, its from the red and white checker Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Its low fat (kind of) and vegetarian. Not that we are by any means vegetarians. Chris's system gets a little out of wack if we eat too much meat. Plus, its healthy to eat more veggies and beans than fatty meat. Anyway, here is the recipe. Its called:

Black Bean Tortialla Casserole.
2 C chopped onion (2 large)
1 1/2 C chopped bell pepper (2 med)
1 14.5 oz can tomatoes, undrained and cut up (I use the petite diced tomatoes)
3/4 C bottled picante sauce or green salsa (I used salsa)
2 tsp ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 15 oz cans black beans and or red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
12 6 in corn tortillas (Mine were a little bigger and I only needed 10)
8 oz reduced fat jack cheese (2 cups. i had some already shredded cheddar and used that with the jack. If you only had cheddar it would br fine! And my cheese was NOT reduced fat! hence the above coment about sort of low fat)
Sour cream, chopped up lettuce and tomatos, green onions, and chopped olives for garnish

1. In a large skillet combine onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, picante sauce (or salsa), cumin, and garlic. Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Stir in beans.
2 Spread 1/3 of the bean mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 (3 quart) baking dish. Top with apx 6 tortillas, overlapping if necessary. Top tortillas with 1 cup cheese. and another 1/3 of the bean mixture, then more torillas, then the rest of the bean mixture.
3. Bake, covered, in a 350 oven for 30-35 minutes. Sprinkle with remaning cheese, recover, and let sit for 10 minutes so the cheese will melt. Serve with desired garnishes. we just used sour cream, and it was perfect. Maybe tonight we will have salad too.

Nutritional info- 295 calories, 8 g total fat per serving. These figures are with reduced fat cheese, and probably very little if any sour cream. Still not bad. The recipe lists 8 servings, which allows for good size pieces! Told you it was pretty healthy! Enjoy!

Kade is HERE!!

2009-08-02T17:09:00.000-07:00

Kade Michael was born at 12:36 PM on July 17th! I will post about the story soon, for now here is a picture!

Kade Michael

2009-08-02T16:48:00.000-07:00

Our new baby boy arrived!! Its been 2 weeks, and a great two weeks at that. I didn't go to Church today, needed one more week home, but have had a great day with my two boys. Chris has been gone since 10:30 at before Church meetings, and its nice to know I will be able to handle it tomorrow when he goes back to work. I am totally rambling right now, aren't I? So, here is Kade's story.

Friday, the 17th, I woke up around 2:15 in the morning to go to the bathroom. I had been having contractions since, well, really since the end of April, but they hadn't gotten 'bad'. You know what I am talking about when I say bad, the horrible gut wrenching ones that make you think you are going crazy. Actually, most of my contractions had been very mild, I could barely feel them except for in my back. Anyway, as I am lying there trying to go back to sleep, I have a few mild contractions, really close apart. I realize after the third one that I should pay attention to the clock. After about an hour of contractions at 5 minutes apart, I wake Chris up. By now a million thoughts are running thorugh my head, mostly consisting of, "Oh my, its really happening!" and "holy crap, I have to give birth today,". When I woke Chris up he was in a really good mood. We both layed in bed and got really giddy at the thought of another baby being born in our family, TODAY!! I went and took a shower, he turned the tv on to wake up a bit. We got dressed, got our stuff together and I called my mom at 4:45 and told her to meet us at the hospital. As I was hanging up the phone, I heard her squeal with delight! She is so cute about things like that!

So, by the time we get to the hospital, the contractions are like, 2-3 minutes apart and hurting kind of bad. At the time I thought they were terrible, the worst. Now, looking back at rememering the rest of labor, I realize how very mild they were. I remember thinking that this was just what I pictured having a baby would entail-waking up in the middle of the night, waking a sleepy hubby up, driving (too slow!!) to the hospital all the while starting the breathing patterns to get through the contractions without snapping your husbands head off!! It was perfect!

My mom got to the hospital, took Zander home, and we went in at 5:30. The nurses checked me out and determined I really was in labor, so they called the dr and put me in a room. I told them right away I wanted an epidural. I learned my lesson last time. What lesson was that, you ask?? Labor is hard enough without all the pain, and a little relief is OK!! I wasn't going to get a medal of courage for doing it the old fashioned, no relief way.
**I started this right after Kade was born, and never finished it. Here is a tie- up to the story!**
I had the epidural, was able to rest for a few hours, then my nurse came in to check me out. I was at a 10 and ready, although I was so out of it, just tired. She had me push a few times but the Kade's head was still pretty high up, and he was faced the wrong way. And each time I push, his heart rate dipped. I don't know what it went down to, though. Another nurse came in checked me, and said, "We gotta get this baby out of there, you are having a c-section." WHAT!?!! I go from nice and resting to a c-section in like, 10 minutes. She gave me a shot to stop the contractions, went and called the dr, and they rushed in and had me sign all this paper work. I got pretty emotional because i didn't want anything to happen to the baby. She made it sound horrible, and looking back, i don't know if it was really that bad. They took me back to the OR about 30 minutes later and got me ready. Dr. Arora came in, did his thing and Kade was born at 12:36 pm. I felt NOTHING at all. . . until a few hours later. Thank goodness for Darvocet, let me tell you! My Dr. came in the next day to see how things were going, and admitted that if he would have been there things might have gone a little different. But hey, it was a Friday, one of his busiest office days, there was no way he could be there until he absolutly had to be, which I understand. As it was I caused a 4 hour delay that day for his other patience with aptointments. yikes!

So, recovery has been. . . long, to say the least. He is 7 weeks and 2 hours old, as of right now, and I have felt normal for less than a week. Every few days a new pain would emerge, and I know its because different nerves woke up at differnt times, and in phases. I have experienced a bit of the grieving process as well, which might sound dumb, but its very real. Things didn't go as I planned, and my plans were quite flexible, mind you, with the result of giving birth naturally, coming home, and enjoying my babies. Instead I was down for 2 weeks, unable to do anything, much less give Zander the attention he needed. I couldn't play with him, or even put him down for bed, which was/is one of my very favorite things to do. Knowing I forever have to deliver via c-section, and go through this long recovery process every time i have a baby makes me cringe. However- I am looking at the positives (I get to choose my babies birthdays, NO labor contractions, and much more planning) and am ok with more c-sections. My doctor said I can have 3 more easily, so I am ok. Lets just hope we get twins next time, and I can be done!!

Thats Kade's story, he is fussing now so i am going to post and be done. I appologize for the typo's!

Toilet paper, Toast, and Towels

2009-07-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

Its been a while, and Zander has said/done some terribly cute things the last few days so I thought I would post. Yesterday I was in the office, on the computer, THINKING that Zander was watching Clifford, when I hear a faint "Ma Ma" coming from somewhere echo-y. I KNEW, as soon as I thought about it, where it was coming from. Our master bathroom is open to our room, except the toilet is in its own little area, with a door (thank goodness!). For some strange reason, Z loves to go in there! We put a door nob lock on it, but I had forgot to close it, so there he was, trapped in the toilet room. My biggest concern is the germs, and his touching everything, yuck. Never did I realize he was capable of THIS-

Yes dear readers, that is a WHOLE roll of tp, I know because I had just changed it at 2 am that morning!! He ran out of the bathroom as soon as I opened the door, but I made him come back so HE could pick it up, and so I could take a picture. He had put that hat on a while before, isn't he funny about his hats!?! So, our first toilet paper experience. Mommy has learned her lesson and BOTH bathrooms are shut!!

This morning I was searching for something for a snack for both of us and toast sounded so good. He was sitting in his high chair asking for more of something while the toast was toasting. I told him mommy was making him toast and he lifted his feet up, pointed to them and said 'toes?' I think he was a little confused, but I thought it was funny.

This morning I had a cup of water from last night on my nightstand and he grabbed it and of course it spilled on the night stand and the carpet. I told him to go get a towel and clean it up, not really thinking he knew what to do. I went to the linen closet and grabbed a towel for him and surprisingly, after I handed it to him, he went back in my room and sort of cleaned up the water!! What a cleaner! Then, the cutest part, I told him to go put it in the dirty clothes while I got ready. He came back in a few minutes later empty handed, we left for swim lessons, and I thought nothing else about it. I went to grab a towel for some other mess he made a little while ago and there was the wet towel in the closet! he had put it back where I got it! Not exactly the dirty clothes, but hey, he knew where it went! I think he might have inherited his fathers 'put it back where you found it cleanliness' attitude-YES!!!

Ah, I love my kid. We are very excited for this next baby to fill our hearts even more. Can there possibly be room?!?! I think so. . . 2-3 weeks and we will find out!

The Time to Prepare

2009-06-16T12:30:00.001-07:00

I have been having nightmares for a few weeks now all consisting of the baby coming early and me not being ready. This may stem from Zander actually coming 2 weeks early and I wasn't ready! Although it wasn't that big of a deal when he was born, Chris is pretty competent in filling the list I made of things I needed from the hospital, and my mom more than happily obliged to pick up some clothes for him (sort of a good thing I wasn't ready because he needed premie clothes) I fear more this time because I also have Zander to take care of and prepare for what to do with him while I am in the hospital.

These crazy dreams are driving ME crazy! What starts off as a middle of the night potty quickly turns into me laying in bed for 2 hours making mental lists of everything I still need to do. I figure if I break it down into small tasks, I won't get too tired and in the 5-7 weeks I have left, everything will get done.

Today's task was going through Zander's dresser and making room for baby stuff. I put away (actully I made a pile on the floor) all the winter and too small clothes and got out the newborn stuff and washed it. I had a trial size packet of Dreft left over and as I opened it, the smell of newborn krept up my nose!! I love that smell! I used that soap for a while with Zander. Actually, someone gave me a big bottle at my shower and it lasted for about 5-6 months. I will have to look for coupons and add it to my list!

Anyone have any advice on the use/need for a double stroller, and good, sturdy brands? I really think we are going to need one, but there are so many options! Any thoughts would be great!!

This Week's Favorite Desert

2009-06-09T16:28:00.000-07:00

I have decided I REALLY enjoy desert. So much so that I can't say I have only one favorite. I thought the orange one a few posts ago was it, then I tried this. Thinking back, I can browse through cookbooks all day looking for my favorite and I only get more excited to try new things! We had an Enrichment activity at Church last week and had cold deserts for refreshments. I practically begged Angie (the leader) to let me make something, because I was dying to find the next best thing! I found this recipe and am SOO grateful for it. SOOo amazingly good, and you can totally alter it to your preferences. Here goes the original recipe:

Butterscotch Ice Cream Squares
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c oats (uncooked)
1/2 c brown sugar
1 c (2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted
1 c chopped nuts (I like pecans)
1 12 oz jar butterscotch topping (I used a 16 oz jar of Mrs. Richardson's Carmel)
1/2 gallon English Toffee or Butter Brickle ice cream, softened (I used Pecan Praline)

* Mix the flour, oats, and brown sugar together in a 9x13 baking dish. Add butter and continue to mix well. Add nuts. Press mixture into pan evenly, making a crust.
*Bake for 15 minutes at 350. Stir while warm to crumble mixture then let cool. It will look like granola.
*After crum mix is cool, press down half the mixture into a 9x13 pan, I used the same one I baked it in.
* Pour half the carmel/ butterscotch topping over the crumbs.
* Spread the softened ice cream over the topping.
* Pour the rest of the carmel/butterscotch topping over the ice cream, followed by the rest of the crumb mix.
*Freeze for several hours, and serve!

** I used too much carmel topping, but didn't want to waste it!! 12 oz would have been pleanty. The recipe says you can use hot fudge or chocolate syrup and any flavor of icecream. Really its the crumb mix that makes this wonderful! I didn't freeze my desert long enough, so when we ate it at the activity it was kind of soupy. Then, after it had more time to freeze, it froze weird beacuse it had kind of melted. So it wasn't the prettiest desert, but so tasty!!

KFC Coleslaw Recipe

2009-06-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

This is my grandma Patsy's favorite thing, and I was thrilled when I found the recipe for her. I made it last night and Chris liked it a lot. I am not a huge fan of the stuff, so its just ok in my opinion. Here goes:

8 cups shredded cabbage
1/4 cup carrot, shredded
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teas. salt
1/8 teas. pepper
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonaise
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tbls. white vinegar
2 1/2 tbls. lemon juice
Combine cabbage and carrots in a large salad bowl. Mix remaining
ingredients together and combine thoroughly. Pour liquid ingredients
over cabbage and carrots and stir. Refrigerate at least two hours
before serving (overnight is better). Stir well before serving.

** I think of myself as a pretty good cook, but do NOT know how to shred cabbage!! Do you use a grater? I just chopped it up pretty fine (well, I thought it was pretty fine until i was done and had bigger than planned pieces of cabbage). Also, I just used my peeler and peeled the carrots, when i should have grated them. So, the texture was a little off, but the taste was good according to Chris. And hey, if he is happy, I am happy!!

Current Favorite Dessert

2009-05-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

Hi all. My mom made the BEST dessert yesterday for my Dad's birthday/Memorial day. It was amazing. Seriously. If I wasn't worried about my blood sugars I probably would have eaten the whole thing. Its a recipe from Kraft, and for those of you who get their quarterly magazine, its in there! Here is the recipe:

No baking, and very few ingredients, perfect for the summer!

Check it out!

Baby Steps

2009-05-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

Great news! Wednesday, May 20th, Zander took his first steps!! Woo hoo! We had a physical therapist and early education specialist over and I wanted them to see him stand up on his own, something he just started doing last weekend. What a glorious suprise when he stood up then took 3 steps toward me!! I almost cried. Actually, i would have had the others not been here! That night Chris and I worked with him and he did so well taking litlle steps. We made it a game and got him to go from the couch to the ottoman and back. We busted out the video camara and got some good shots too. So exciting. I knew he would do it eventually, but boy, this gives me a huge boost of confidence. Him too, I think. He really likes being up and moving around, so hopefully he will just take off! I know, many of you are probably saying "watch what you ask for!" but hey, he is 21 months old (today!), its time. Plus, I cannot carry 2 babies anymore!! No pictures, but if I get the video software figured out I will post a little video. Happy Memorial day weekend!

Recipe

2009-05-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

I am thinking about food right now. Partly because I just ate, and it was good, and partly because I am organizing my recipes. My mom made me a really neat cookbook filled with recipes contributed by family and friends for our wedding, and I have added to it and used it as 'home base' for all the recipes I collect, which is a bunch.I have a ton of strays that need to go back to home base.
I love a good recipe. Last night I made kickin' enchiladas and I thought I would share the recipe. It is my mom's recipe, but kicked into higher gear to please my saucy, spicy lovin' husband. (although he thinks your enchiladas are great, mom!!) Here it goes. This will make a 9x13 pan, which is plenty for Chris, Zander and I to have two meals. You can double if needed to fit your family!

1 lb of chicken breasts
1 15 oz can green chile enchilada sauce (I am not actually sure of the can size, I bought the large can (28 oz) because it was cheaper and saved half of it.)
1 4 oz can diced green chillies
diced onion, how much is your discretion!!!
1 15 oz can cream of chicken soup (low sodium, low fat is best, in my opinion!)
1/2 c sour cream (more if you like)
2 c shredded jack cheese (more if you like)
1 dzn corn tortillas

*Cook chicken preferred way, I boiled it because I didn't want to turn the oven on twice and it allowed me to do other things while it cooked. You can also bake it! Let cool and then shred.
* Mix together enchilada sauce, sour cream, soup, onion and green chilies. Add salt and pepper to taste, and taste to get flavor/creamieness right. Save some for top, apx 1/2 c or so. (you might have left overs anyway!!)
* Cook up tortillas. NORMALLY, I soft fry them, but its so time consuming, and greasy, so I experimented and placed 4 between two damp paper towels and microwaved them for 45 seconds. PERFECT!! I cooked 4, filled them, then cooked 4 more.
* Take one tortilla (warning, they are HOT!) place a bit of chicken, some sauce and cheese in middle, roll up and place in the bottom of baking dish, seems down. Continue until you have all your tortillas rolled up. Spread reserved/leftover sauce over all and top with left over (or more!) cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or so. We like ours a little crispy around the edges.

I know EVERYONE has a chicken enchilada recipe they love, and so this is mine. If you use low fat cream of chick soup it really cuts down on the fat in these. The green chile sauce adds ton of flavor without much fat.

This is a recipe for my Grandma Patsy's corn casserole, which we had with tacos last week and the left overs tonight. It tastes like the corn stuff they put on the side of your plate at El Torito, but way better. I will share, cause its sooooo good!!

1 15 can whole kernel corn, drained well
1 15 oz can cream corn
1 box Jiffy mix (7 oz or so)
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 stick of margarine (1/2 c) melted
1 c sour cream

Mix all ingredients well and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake 45-60 minutes until center is firm. You can make this ahead of time by mixing it all together and putting it in the fridge until time to bake. Its a great, quick side.

Cake Decorating

2009-04-28T22:10:00.000-07:00

I grew up with my mom always making our birthday cakes. We would start talking about what kind of cake we wanted months before our birthdays. She did some really cool ones, especially the Barbie doll cakes. I think she ended up making one for all my girl cousins at one point in time. I love cakes and the art of cake decorating. The Food Network cake decorating Challange episodes are my very favorite! I have their most recent competitions recorded on DVR, just waiting for me to watch. Chris likes watching them too, which is even more fun!

While I KNOW there is not any way I will ever be good enough for one of those shows, I decided a while ago I wanted to learn the basics. Thinking back, it was right before Zander's first birthday. We were deciding on a cake, and I was wishing I knew what I was doing as I decorated his monkey cake. So my dear husband bought me cake decorating classes at Michaels for my birthday, last October. I am JUST now getting around to taking them and am having a great time practicing! Tomorrow will be the last class in the first course, and while I am grateful I will have one less thing to do, I will really miss the practice and learning. Here are a few of the things I have done:

It may not look that great, because I took a picture after I cut into it. It started out with a really nice looking hot pink and purple rainbow on yellow iced cake. (still working out colors!!) I had extra frosting and wanted/needed to practice so I worked on piping letters (shout out to my Babe) and doing circles and stars. I love it!!

For our next class we learned clowns. The store didn't have any clown heads, so I didn't bother with taking pictures of globs of icing. They are cute and really easy, though. I made cupcakes for Chris to take into work the next day and practiced all the techniques I leaned. My teacher showed my how to use the flower tip to make a really cool looking ruffle. I took it further and made what I think is a rad looking flower cupcake. Anyone need a dozen flower cupcakes for something?? I will do it!! They are so fun and so cool looking. At least, I think!! Here is a shot from the top.

And here is one from the side:

Thanks for looking!!

Contractions

2009-04-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the lack of blogging, not that any of you sit and wait for me to post something interesting, or anything. I have been very tired and overwhelmed by any and everything lately, and just have not made time to blog!

This pregnancy is kicking my butt!! For those of you who don't know, we are having another BOY!! We are thrilled that Zander will have a little brother, a little buddy to pal around with. And, logistically, it works perfectly! My only fear is that we will never get a girl, but even that could be OK! Think of how much money we would save on clothes/shoes!!

Back to the pregnancy. I never got braxton hicks contractions with Zander. Never even a real contraction until the pitocin kicked it after my water broke in the dr office. So it came as a real shocker last week when my belly would get really hard, and I would get super tired all of a sudden. On Saturday we were in Home Depot (it might have been Lowe's, actually. Both that day) when I really felt it. I told Chris to feel my belly and he was surprised at how hard it was, the whole thing, not just where the baby was!! Holy cow. I didn't have pain, really, just tightness. Of course I called my BFF, the pregnancy guru in my book, and told her and she confirmed it was braxton hicks. Such a weird thing. I have gotten them here and there, and find that if I am doing too much or not drinking enough water they are worse. So water I am drinking. Whew. They wear me out. Sure I have to pee ALL the time, but I guess its better than not having any energy. Or going into labor at 26 weeks. Yikes.

I guess I should start taking pictures of my baby belly. I took a few with Zander in the last few months, because I didn't really start showing (baby, you could always see jiggle!) until the last few months. Haven't taken any this time. My Mom thinks this baby is going to feel left out if there are no pregnancy pictures of it. Well, it will just have to get used to it, because sadly, the first child always has more baby pictures to look at. Its just a fact of life. Right, all you first children?? And even you second and thirds, you got over it, right? Just accepted the fact that your oldest sibling was more loved as a baby than you?!?! JUST KIDDING. My sister would be throwing a fit right now if she could read this. Shout out to the Weezer.

My resolve- to post more pictures and blog a little more. I have tons to write about!! Thanks for reading!

Easter Ideas

2009-04-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hi. So we are having both sides of the family over for Easter on Sunday. It will be about 14 adults and 4 kids. We are skipping the traditional Ham dinner because we have 1 pm Church and don't really have time to put it all together. Plus, Chris isn't crazy about a ham dinner. I am not really, either, actually. We decided to have ribs. Yum. (kind of) Here is my delima- what to have with it?? Everyone is going to bring stuff, I just have to make suggestions.

And, what are some fun activities to do with everyone? Just about everything and everyone in this group revolves around the kids; our own source of entertainment! Any easy, cheap, decor activity ideas would be great! Thanks guys!

Zander Update

2009-03-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

Some of you know, our little Zander man is still not walking yet, and has mastered his scooting technique. He can even get up and down stairs (closely supervised) on his hiney. It is pretty entertaining. The orthopaedic surgeon scheduled an MRI for last Friday and we saw the dr. on Monday of this week. The MRI was of his spine and is looked really good. Which is great news, except we still don't know why he isn't walking at 19 months. The ortho is not worried and thinks that with some physical therapy he will be fine. So we enter the world of PT. We have been warned by both the ortho and our pediatrician that we can easily be sucked into doing several different therapies every week, and they could make very little difference. Almost like when you go to the dentist to get a simple cleaning and before you know it you have been talked into spending thousands on veneers and tooth whitening kits. I mean, really!! What is necessary! While I have tons (well, a normal amount for a 21 week along pregnant woman) of energy now, I won't have all the time in the world when the baby gets here to be in therapy all week. Lets just hope the therapists are miracle workers and we only need 3 months of help!!

He finally learned to sit up on his own in his bed, which is great, except now he fights sleep more. Yesterday was dramatic. After letting him scream for 30 minutes, i went in to check the silence. I found him asleep, hunched over. Had to take a picture! Well, my camara/computer is being lame right now so I will have to post later.

He is talking quite a bit, too. His favorite words are oh no, uh oh, NO!, dog, what's that? here I am, and others. He will say thank you SOMETIMES, when we don't prompt him. We are working on 'love you' now, as well as 'thank you.' Two importants, i think!!

Girl Scout Cookies

2009-03-26T17:26:00.000-07:00

I was sad to see this morning our supply of GS cookies is running low. And I think they are done selling them for the year. . . whine. HOWEVER- today while perusing the lovely world of blogging, I ran across a lady who figured out the recipes for some of our favorites!! I am SOO thrilled!! I am very tempted to try one of these recipes, like, right now, but need a few ingredients. I think I am going to make the Samoas tomorrow, as a suprise for Chris. They are by far his very favorite, and will totally dig them! Here is the site. Enjoy!

QUILTS

2009-02-26T11:53:00.000-08:00

I LOVE QUILTS. I think I always have. My mom started me off young on loving the textures, colors, and patterns of fabric and quilts just always seemed like art to me. BUT, I knew what kind of time, patience, and precision it took to make quilts like I had seen and knew I would get bored before I even had the pieces cut out. So for years I would just admire them from afar. THEN, a friend introduced me to strip quilting, explaining it was so much easier because you cut out long strips of fabric, sewed them together and then cut out smaller pieces, thus eliminating sewing together a million 2x2 squares of fabric. We set out on making a quilt for my brother Joel. Mind you this was early 2004. She started dating someone serious and our quilt project sort of disolved, although I had the pattern and the basic concept. For the next 3 years, I would sew bits together to give to Joel as his gift with the promise that I was going to finish it that time, and it never happened. FINALLY, my dear husband, knowing what motivated me, challenged me to get it done for Christmas 2007, but sort of put a little doubt in my head to really motivate me. I told him I would not buy one inch of fabric for the entire year if I didn't get that darn quilt finished before Christmas. SO, needless to say, Joel opened a great looking quilt that Christmas morning!! Ah, inspiration and motivation!! I didn't take any pictures of it, but want to use it for an exhibit so I will snatch it back and take some pictures. Its pretty darn cool.

This last fall I decided I wanted to learn how to 'quilt' quilt, meaning quilt the top, batting and bottom together, like in real quilts. (Versus tying them together). So I read up on it online and decided that pink and yellow fabric I had been collecting would make a really cute quilt for my mother in law, Sheila, and that would be a great time to practice!! I set out on it, deciding to use large blocks to minimize lots of small cuts. Plus I only had a month to get it done, and knowing HOW long it took to get Joel's done, I needed to hustle. Looking back I wished I would have just taken more time and used more interesting blocks. Oh well. I even stippled it on my machine, which once I got going was so much fun! Its like drawing with thread on fabric! NOW, this was my first stippling, so its not perfect and I have learned soo much in doing this project. But here are the results:

The first picture is the front of the quilt. Told you it could have been more interesting:

Here is the back, which I kind of like better than the front!!

And here is a close up of the stippling. I think I needed to do it closer together, then it would have puffed up a little more. Plus, the pattern was not consistent at all, which I know is ok to some degree, but I took it a little far.

So, that's my first ever stippled quilt. I have wanted to make one for Zander and his big boy bed for a while, and think i have decided on a pattern. That's my next project! This is the inspiration for Zander's quilt: . I am going to do it a little different, using slighly larger pieces. I have been collecting different shades of brown and blue fabric for this very purpose and am really excited to get going on it. Just hesitant, you know?? Wish me luck! Oh, here is a picture of the fabrics I want to use. Ah, I will post that later. Zander is asleep and I don't want to go digging through my stash and risk ruining nap time!!

More on Zander

2009-02-25T14:54:00.001-08:00

I know- I go weeks without posting and here I am, twice in one day! Just had to update everyone on Zander's progress. He is officially a toddler! He turned 18 months old on Sunday; his half birthday is his uncle Joel's and cousin Jameson's real birthday! Anyway, we mentioned to his ortho doc in September that we were slightly concerened he wasn't walking yet. He told us walking under 18 months old is normal and only after 18 months is it abnormal for a child to not be walking yet. We were told to report back progress at 16-17 months and if he wasn't close they would run some tests. ( some of you know this story, sorry to bore you again!) Well, about 4 weeks ago I decided I had better e-mail the dr because he wouldn't even pull himself up, take steps as we held his hands, or even try to stand, even supported. The dr. decided to go ahead and schedule and MRI. It is scheduled for mid-March.

Just a few days later, what do you know, we grabbed his hands and he pulled up to standing! YEAH!! You would have thought he hung the moon, Chris and I were so excited! About a week and a half ago, he started half-way pulling up, by getting on to his right foot, and left kneee. And just the other day, he started pulling himself all the way up! At first it was only on the ottoman, but now he uses everything to pull up on. It just warms my heart. Yesterday I was gettting ready in our bathroom and he was playing around in my room. He came in the bathroom, slid the door open and just pulled himself up like he had done it for years. So fast! I had to take a picture- here it is!

One more quick story- Zander is gaining in his independence. A good thing, but also a very messy thing, as he really likes to feed himself. Now, if the food of choice is crackers or pretzels, fine, no worries from mommy. But when it is spagetti?? Holy cow,, what a mess. This was last nights dinner. EVERYWHERE. Cute, (again a little possesed) pictures though!!!

Zander's New Doo

2009-02-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

We decided it was WAAAYYYY past time for Little Man to get a hair cut. It looked great fresh out of the bath and combed so nicely. As soon as it dried, though, it would fall into his face and he looked like a rag-a-mufffin. Just like his mom looks 90% of the time. . . Anyway, we opted to go short, give him a more little boy look. Here is a before picture- (warning- he looks a little possesed. He was just really excited!!)

Here is an after picture: We comb it up so its spikey. Although I need to investigate more products for his hair. The gel I have doesn't really last for more than 30 minutes. Either his hair is too thin or the gel is too heavy.
This isn't the best picture of him. He was kind of in a 'mood'. It looks really cute though, very grown up!!

Due Date

2009-01-28T15:57:00.000-08:00

I went and had an ultrasound this morning and found out I am 13 weeks pregnant! We have a due date of August 2nd. I am HOPING that once my Dr. sees this info he will disagree with the tech and say I am due a few weeks earlier. Then again, as long as its not PAST Aug 2nd, I will be ok. We just don't want the baby to come too close to Zanders birthday. I know, I am a total fanatic about my kids birthdays. I can't help it!! plus, have you seen Augusts birthstone?? PUKE!! If I would have planned it better, all my kids would have been born in April and October, so my mothers ring would be diamonds and pink stones. Perfect! September is Saphire, which is really pretty too.

I have a really cute ultrasound pic, where you can see the baby's face really well. I will scan it in and post it later. Right now Zander is fussing at me. He has ANOTHER cold and is getting wheezy. GREAT. The lovely life of a MOMMY!! I love it!!

TWICE

2009-01-18T21:32:00.000-08:00

This is just too funny and too cute not to post. Last week Zander Man fell asleep in his highchair TWICE in the same day! He had never, to this point, even gotten sleepy while eating. Chris was home that day and we just cracked up the first time, and laughed very hard the second! Here are the pictures:

The Second Time

Anyone teaching bloging lessons???

2009-01-18T21:28:00.000-08:00

SO, as Amy and Tammie commented, the recipes are NOT in the post, like I thought. I THOUGHT i was adding a link to the sites where the recipes are, but obviously not. Any tips?? Until I figure it out, the Oreo Fudge (actually called cookies and cream fudge, you know, copywrite laws), and comes from verybestbaking.com, the Nestle/Carnation website. The English Toffee recipe comes from Paula Dean on Food Network.com.

Hope you all enjoy them!!

Nat

While I am here, my mom sent me an e-mail with a ton of links to crock pot recipes. I obviously don't know how to put the links in an e-mail, but if you want, I will send the e-mail, just e-mail me your address, or post it in a comment.

I was tagged!

2009-01-17T16:09:00.000-08:00

Thanks Tammie, for tagging me!!

8 Favorite Shows:
1. Grey's Annatomy
2. Bones
3. House
4. Jon & Kate Plus 8
5. The View (sometimes)
6. Ace of Cakes
7. Chuck
8. NCIS

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Went to the store
2. Forgot to take Zander to get a shot
3. Took a nap
4. Did Laundry
5. Ate
6. Picked up Zander's toys
7. Fed Zander
8. Made Dinner

8 Things I Look Forward to:

1. Finding out how far the heck along I am!!!
2. Finding out if I can start going crazy with the PINK!!
3. Going out with Friends
4. A clean house. Why can't we really have house fairies???
5. Zander taking his first step
6. Many more babies
7. A little trip to see family in Febuary
8. Seeing long lost friends again

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1.Claim Jumper
2. Cheesecake Factory
3. Red Robin
4. Pizza Factory
5. Steer N Stein
6. Johnny Carino's
7. PF Changs
8. Del Taco

8 Things on My Wish list:
1. A Healthy baby to arrive in early to mid July
2. More energy
3. A housekeeper, or a bunch of older kids to do the job. . Ha HA HA!
4. Zander would start walking before we have to put him through lots of tests
5. That Jeannette heals soon from her trials
6. That those who are struggling financially will be blessed for their faithfullness and perserverence
7. That the Winco by us wasn't so ghetto. . . I am considering going to AV.
8. That I was caught up on my scrapbooking. (Good One, Tammie!!!)

8 People I Tag:
1. KELLY C.
2. Amy H.
3 Shannon V.
4. Ceri
5. Michelle S.
6. I Don't really have any more blogger friends. . .
7. How
8. Depressing

Ahh, the mess is clean. Sort of. . .

2009-01-17T15:45:00.001-08:00

So I managed to make my mess of cords all neat again, and found, in turn, the magical camera cord. Yeah! here are a few things I have been up to lately.

First off, here is one of my favorite treats. Chris and love to make candies and sweets during Christmas and this year we made Oreo Fudge, Toffee, and Haystacks. Here is the link to the fudge.

Here is a picture of the stuff I made:

Here is the English Toffee Chris made.

And here is the recipe. Thanks Paula!

My parents, actually, my Dad more, make toffee every year for Christmas. The recipe wasn't very definite in the amounts of ingredients so we went elsewhere. They were both great!!

And the last one, the haystacks, well, Chris won't let that recipe out. I know many of you may have made them, and have your own recipe, but this is one from his Grandma in Ohio and he doesn't like to share family recipes. What a brat!! Just kidding babe. Enjoy!

Well. . .

2009-01-16T10:36:00.001-08:00

I was going to post some pictures of some funny things, recipes, stories, and such, but I cannot find the usb cord for my camara!!! I just took a picture to explain my predicament, but then soon realized, duh, how can I post a picture of the MESS of cords that is entraping my special cord, if I can find the darn cord! Here is the deal: We have lots of 'gadgets'. palm pilots, cell phones x10 (all old) computer components, things with ear phones, etc. They all have several different cords and they all end up in a tangled mess on my desk. I have taken some time to rubber-band each cord together, but not all have made it that far.

AND WHY does MY camara have to have a special cord any way?!?!!? Why cant it be the same as the others???? you know, usb one end, the little dented-rectangle shape on the end?? Oh well. I guess I will get back to my cord clean up. And Zander is starting to wine and the phone is ringing. Beter go. Here is to a better morning!

SUCH a Slacker!

2009-01-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

I know, Christmas was over 2 weeks ago and I STILL Haven't changed my blog. Things have been crazy!! We had a great Christmas, visiting with both sides of the family. Chris got a GPS, which we have had fun playing with, and I was given Guitar hero. I am such a dork, but I LOVE THIS GAME! I am NOT a video game person, that's Chris' department, but I love playing this. Especially with Chris, although he drives me crazy because he can already play on medium difficulty, and I am barely making it on Easy. Oh well. I Must practice!

We went to Vegas for New Years. My aunts and uncles and cousins on my mom's side still like to get together for the holidays, and instead of trying to get everyone together before Christmas this year, my Brillant cousin Brandi suggested we meet up in Vegas. Her family, mom, and brothers, all live there, so a third of the group didn't have to travel. Although not everyone could be there this year, we had a great time. We also spent some time with Jeannette and her family. They are going through a very difficult time right now with their unborn baby, and I think (hope) we were a positive distraction. It was nice to get away and just chill for about a week. Zander LOVED hanging out with all the kids, even when they were acting like monkeys at 1 am in the morning and waking him up!! Just teasing- I am grateful for their fun, spunky personalities. They all make me LAUGH!!

So I have a few new recipes I want to post on here, along with some little ditty's I did over the hollidays. I just need to upload my pics off my camara. It takes forever, for some reason, so I am really bad about doing it.

On another note, we are going to have another baby!! We have suspected we (well, I really,) were pregnant for a little while but the test confirmed it on December 9th. Funny story= I think I should have made this another post= I hadn't been feeling well for a few weeks, when I decided to take a test. I took it first thing in the morning, but only a line came up. The last batch of preg tests required a plus sign for a positive result. I threw it in the trash and went about my day. I was cooking dinner when I started to feel so nausous, like I was pregnat! I had a nagging feeling, so I went and checked the test and looked at the instructions, and sure enough, only a line was needed for a positive result!! I started laughing so hard!! What a blonde! Chris was due home in about 5 minutes so I excidedly waited at the door for him. When He came in I told him the story and he just laughed. We were so exctied because we are ready for more babies! Zander has been such a joy and so much fun that we want more! Although, a few days after we found out he started getting an attitude. GRRRRR!! Oh well. We told our families at Christmas by opening a gift for Zander. I found a shirt that had a monkey on it with the words Big Brother. No one really got it until we pointed out what it said. My mom flipped, and cried a few times that day. She kind of likes babies. . . just a little. . . Everyone was very excited. We are the only ones out of our siblings who are having kids right now, so I guess its kind of our privledge of sharing our babies!

Enough Already!! I hope you all had a great New Years! Here is to a new year full of projects, new recipes and babies!!

Mincemeat Pie

2008-12-07T19:46:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was young, I would hear my Dad rave about my Great Aunt Marion's Mincemeat pie. When my mom told me it had meat and fruit in it, I refused to eat it as a kid! Great Aunt Marion died a few years ago, and I know that is one thing my Dad really misses about her. She would make him one any time he worked on his car or for birthdays, and always brought them to holiday gatherings. In my quest to be a great pie maker, I thought I would try one this Thanksgiving. It helped that Chris liked a little taste of one he had before. I went on line, found a recipe from Alton Brown, but it required a TON of work. I wasn't that adventurous. I have a great cookbook from Good Housekeeping titled "Great Baking". There are some tasty recipes and how too's. The recipe was one of thos semi-homemade ones, my specialty, so I went for it. Here are some photos of the filling:

And here is one of the finished product:

My Dad loved it, and my cousin Karen, Aunt Marion's daughter, said it tasted just like her Mothers. Score!! My Grandma Patsy, Aunt Marions sister, really liked it too.
Here is the recipe. Try it out!

1 28 oz jar ready-to-use mincemeat (there is brand Nonesuch that worked well. Found it at Albertsons.)
1 large granny smith apple, pealed, cored, and finely chopped
1 C. Walnuts coarsly broken
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1 TBSP lemon juice
Double pie crust (I cheated and used Pillsbury. Haven't mastered crust yet!)

1. Prepare dough.
2. Preheat oven to 425. In a medium bowl stir mincemeat, apple, walnuts, brown sugar and lemon juice until well mixed.
3. Roll out bottom pie crust and place in pie plate. Fill with mixture. Dot butter (about 2 TBSP total) over filling. Roll out top dough and place on top of fillling. Crease two crusts together. Using a knife, make a few slits in top crust of pie.
4. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

This just in. . .

2008-12-07T19:36:00.000-08:00

Zander is at it again. . . while I was just posting the bit about he and Chris playing he managed to get into the Ziplock bags AGAIN. Its sort of my fault because i didn't put them in the very back of the cuppord. I swear, that is his most favorite thing to do. Pull EVERY SINGLE BAG out of the box. And then, he scoots around and kicks them all around the kitchen, spreading the wealth everywhere! Grr. Oh well. Makes for a funny story. And a stronger desire for a new kitchen with more drawers!

Playing with Daddy

2008-12-07T19:28:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things is watching Chris and Zander play. Zander has such a good Daddy, so he gets played with often! This time I just happened to have my camera handy. Earlier I made Zander a fort by pulling the ottoman out a little and draping a blanket over it and the couches so that he had a crawl (scoot) space. He had such a blast going in and out! When Chris got home he chased him around and they had a ball. I love these two guys so much, and love watching them play.

A Photo

2008-12-01T09:31:00.000-08:00

Since I didn't have any pictures of our big date, here is one of our Wedding.

Three Years

2008-12-01T09:20:00.000-08:00

Chris and I celebrate our 3rd anniversary today! We joke that it really seems so much longer, but in a good way! I think back to friendships and usually three years seems to fly, and before you know it, its been 10 years since you have been friends with someone! With Marriage though, the realtionship is so much deeper, involved and meaningful, so even a short amount of time seems like a long time. Does this make sense to anyone but me!?!?! Since our Anniversary is today, on a MONDAY, we went out on Saturday.

We went and ate at Claim Jumper, my alltime favorite restaurant. Maybe not all-time favorite, but its very close to the top! We had these parmesan zucchini sticks that were to die for. . . i can still taste them now. . . they were in a mini-appetizer, a smaller portion so that we could actually eat out dinner without getting too full. There were only 4, so we savored them as long as we could. Man, they were good. If anyone has ever had these homemade and has access to a recipe, let me know!!

After dinner we drove down to Hollyweird and saw WICKED!! It was Amazing, to say the least! We laughed so hard and really enjoyed ourselves. A confession- I have a little ADD and have a hard time sitting still. Not during this show! I was so sad when it was over. The music, costumes, acting, sets, all were just spectaular. I highly recomend everyone to go see it, soon too, because its leaving LA in January. We actually got really good seats, and could see the actors mouths moving. So amazing.

The only bad part- I had left the camara case at my parents house, so we had NO pictures. Total bummer, my hair looked really cute!!

Pumpkins!

2008-11-26T17:04:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving already, but I took some cute pictures of us (Zander and Chris, really) in our quest to have a great carved pumpkin and wanted to show everyone!

Here are two of Zander at the Pumpkin patch. He is so big this year!

Tripple Layer Peanut Butter Brownies

2008-11-24T16:55:00.000-08:00

These are the best. I made pan last week for FHE and Chris and I just finished them yesterday. They are from the Kraft Foods website. I should have taken a picture of them for the blog before I gobbled them all up! Oh well. Check them out!

kraftfoods.com

First Ever!

2008-11-24T16:38:00.001-08:00

So, its my first ever post on my first ever blog. It may be a little boring now, but just you wait!! Talk about entertaining! This baby will blow your socks off!

Ok, so I have lofty goals for my little blog. I see some amazing ones as I waste away in cyberspace. Although I won't even try to keep up with them, I will promise to post fun crafts, family photos and info, and of course, my NEW Favorite recipe!

I need someting to fill Zander's nap times like I need another rubber scraper, but oh well, it will be fun! Thanks for looking!