Hope

Today's Mormon Message is from President Uchtdorf about Hope. It was very touching as I listened to his instruction. Regardless of who you are, what you believe, the message that there is hope in this life and the life beyond is true. There is hope to become better. There is hope that you can change. There is hope that this is not the end.

Tuesday Confessional

My friend Heather does a Tuesday Confessional each week. The topic varies from week to week, some are serious, others are hilarious. I thought it was a cute idea so I'm going to start it. And for today here is my confession:

I can't make Jello, no matter what I do I can't make Jello. And thanks, but no thanks I don't want a lesson, I don't actually like Jello that much. :)

Christmas Presents 2009

For my in-laws :) It turned out pretty well I think.

For my parents (it's a magnet board, a wooden frame with a brushed metal sheet, it's actually pretty cool), along with a stack of magnets made of glass beads and pictures of the boys.

It turned out to be a pretty fantastic Christmas this year :)

You Have To Pick Your Battles

I remember being told when I was a child to "pick your battles." I remember as an adult people telling me that the key to parenthood is to "pick your battles." Today was a day to pick my battle... 

Julian has been on a pajama kick lately. He wants to be in his PJ's all the time, doesn't want to change out of them and when I try to get him dressed for the day it's a HUGE fight; he associates getting dressed as us leaving the house. Some days if we don't have much going on I let it be and let him wear his jammies all day. There are days I don't want to get out of my jammies either... 

Anyway, this morning he took a shower and when he got out told me he wanted his jammies on. I told him that the only way he could have his jammies on is if he goes to sleep (it was almost nap time). He said ok. So jammies went on and he went to sleep. 

He woke up from a nap and it was time to get him dressed for Church; which he fought, tooth and nail (both the clothes and the idea of going to Church). There was a lot of screaming and attempts to convince, coerce and force on our parts; which ended up with more screaming and crying. After about 20 minutes of trying to get him out of jammies and into Church clothes we ended up with church pants, a sweater and church shoes over jammies. When it was time for a diaper change at church the jammies came off :) 

Not sure if this is a win or a compromise, but we made it to church and he was more or less presentable. 

Merry Christmas!

Today is Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to all of you, my dear friends and family. :) We love you and we appreciate all of the love and support that has been given to us during this year.

Re-Evaluating Priorities

I find it interesting that at the beginning (or end) of the year you begin to re-evaluate your priorities. At least I do. I look to the things that I had hoped to accomplish during the year and see how I measure up. I remember at one point I realized that it is also important to get on your knees and evaluate your standing with God regularly as well.

I've been looking at the year and although it was productive, busy, and exhausting; there is still a lot that has been left undone. I'm not sure how I feel about that. The reality is that this year I went from 1 busy child to an even busier child and a baby (who is getting busier by the day). Everything takes longer. I mean WAY longer. Trying to do the dishes is like trying to run a marathon for me some days (it takes over 4 hours sometimes to get them done). This week my body not so kindly decided to let me know that I have gotten myself into too much. I guess the new year will include removing some activities. Wish me luck in this endeavor... simplifying is not a strong point for me.

Do you have any good advice for managing and estimating time? How do you decide what is better when there are so many good things to choose from? (Seriously, I need some ideas here :) Thanks)

Solid Foods

Tennyson is a fan of solid foods. He likes pretty much anything he can feed himself. This extends to stickers, toy car wheels, suckers left around by brother, pretty much anything he can get his little hands on. When I was a kid I loved broccoli. I remember at one point eating it frozen and loving it. He likes it just as much. Julian needs it with a little bit of Ranch and he only likes the "tree" parts. :)

Julian left an apple on the floor and Tennyson started to devour it.

When I found him, this was his reaction :)

Snow Day Fun

It snowed a good 6-8 inches or so last weekend so Julian and I went out and made a snowman while little brother was sleeping. I think he had a great time :) Unfortunately it warmed up significantly and our poor snowman is feel a little under the weather and our "snow fort" that we built fell down the next day because it warmed up so much. Oh well. There will be more snow right?

What Will You Give?

I have been touched by the Mormon Messages that the LDS Church has been creating. I check at least once a week to see if there is a new one. I am touched by the messages shared, by the instruction given and by the encouragement I feel to become better. This week a new one entitled "What Will You Give?" was posted. I've been thinking about that a lot. What it means to give and what I am giving and to whom. Christ is the reason for this season. He is why we are on this Earth today. He is why we can return to our Father in Heaven. I hope that as we continue through the next few weeks we can think about why we celebrate this season and what He means to each of us.

Free Books

http://deseretbook.com/free

If you go to the link above you can get free PDF versions of several different books. If you're interested :)

We're Still Learning

Sometimes I do something stupid or do something without thinking and get upset that I haven't learned my lesson yet. I sometimes get frustrated with Julian when he doesn't act "his age" but then realize that he is acting his age, his age is 2 and 1/2 years old. Julian sometimes gets frustrated when Tennyson takes his toys or tries to color with him or tries to eat his food. I'm sure Tennyson gets frustrated, he just can't vocalize it as well yet :) Sometimes we all just get a bit frustrated. Today I had a simple reminder from my son, one that was not the first and will not be the last of valuable lessons I will learn from him.

Tennyson was playing in a cupboard, Julian was trying to play too but Tennyson was getting in the way. Julian hit Tennyson, Julian got a timeout. Here is part of our conversation about this situation:

Me: You are on timeout
Julian: Why?
Me: You hit brother and that is not ok. He's little and is still learning and you need to be patient with him.
Julian: Mommy, I still learning too.

He's right... we are all still learning. Still learning how to be nice, how to share, how to control tempers, how to apologize, how to generally just control this thing called the Natural Man. It wasn't intended to be mastered in 18 years. If that was the case, our lifespan would be rather short. All of these lessons, and many more, take time. They take patience. They take endurance. They take peace. They also take the right attitude, one of humility and meekness. I am so glad that I have my children to teach (and re-teach) me these things.

The Moon

Julian and I had an interesting conversation today. We've been trying to potty train without causing trauma over using the toilet. If he starts to have a really rough time wanting to go, we leave it alone and try again another day. Today was a day we were trying. He had an accident in our room and we were talking about where you can go potty. Here is our conversation:

Julian: Can I pee on my bed?
Me: No.
Julian: Can I pee on brother?
Me: No.
Julian: Can I pee on the moon?
Me: No.
Julian: Why?
Me: Cause the moon is too far away.
Julian: I need rope.
Me: Why do you need rope?
Julian: So I can get the moon.
Me: Why do you want to get the moon?
Julian: So I can pee on it.

I about died laughing. At least he's trying to find solutions to problems right?

Random Photos

These were taken a few weeks ago while JD was taking photos of our friends, the Cheney's. Aren't their kids adorable? Word to the wise, trying to take family photos when it is windy and cold is NOT fun. They turned out really cute though.

Snow Day!

We woke up to this:

He wanted these:

So that he could do this:

Snow Days are great :)

Tennyson 9 Months

Tennyson is 9 Months old! He has grown so fast. Here are a few things that he can do:

* He's crawling

* He's pulling himself up to stand on a few things, generally things that are shorter then he is so he ends up bending over but standing on his two little legs :)

* He has 7 teeth, 4 on top and 3 on the bottom.

* He likes to follow his brother around

* He likes to eat with his hands, no baby food puree for this kid!

* He's currently having a growth spurt and is eating ALL THE TIME!

We love this kid. He brings so much happiness into our home.

Julian's Rocket Pack

Julian has been a fan recently of Diego. Diego has a back pack that can turn into what he needs when he has to finish a challenge. Julian's favorite is when it turns into a Rocket Pack. So the other night we made him a rocket pack. He spent almost an hour "blasting off." It was super cute.

Art Projects

We have a joy school that we do with 4 families of kids. We have 6 boys and 1 girl and we try to do an art project or craft each time we meet. I've been wanting to try out this recipe for puffy paints for a while now. It's 1 part white glue and 3 parts shaving cream. Keep in mind that 1 regular sized bottle of Elmer's Glue is only 1/2 C of glue. I used only 1 can of shaving cream for all 6 batches, and there was some left over in the can. It was a big hit... kept them all busy for almost 20 minutes :)

I found a cute idea for snow globes online (I don't remember where) so I decided to try it out. Here is what I started with:

Clean 4 oz Baby Food Jars

Small 1 inch or so ornaments or figurines. I got these at Michaels. It was 2.99 for 6

Glass Decor Gems (the ones with a flat bottom)

Epoxy

Fine Silver Glitter (it's not pictured, sorry)

Epoxy the glass gem to the lid and then epoxy the ornament to the top of the gem. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes.

I know this image is blurry... the camera couldn't pick something to focus on. Add no more then 1/8 tsp of glitter. In fact, 1/8 tsp was a little much. You could get away with a bit less if you want. Carefully fill the jar until it is almost completely full. Place epoxy around the inside of the lid, dry the the jar and twist the lid on. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Shake and enjoy! Good luck!

Update: Apparently even Epoxy is water soluble after being soaked in water for 2 days. Use Hot Glue NOT epoxy :)

Birthday Parties :)

Julian loves birthday's. He has been telling me "Mommy, Grandma got this for me for my birthday" when he wants something that I am not giving him. He thinks they are super cool.

His buddy Lawson had a birthday party (he turned 3... I can't believe I have an almost 3 year old!) at Jump On It in Lindon. It is in a small industrial lot and it is essentially a room filled with Trampolines. It is such a blast!

Julian spent a lot of time running back and forth between this game:

and this one:

Tennyson enjoyed just sitting and by the end he finally figured out how to make himself bounce a little bit. It was really cute.

Art Projects

I have been trying to do more hands-on art projects with Julian. It's been helpful for us to spend more one on one time together. Does anyone have any fun 2-3 year old activity ideas? This project was inspired by Filth Wizardry and I've been wanting to do it for a while. This is what I started with:

This is what we ended with because the kids were no long interested in putting playdough onto Dinosaur Island. Instead it is downstairs waiting for the right moment for unveiling. Maybe on a really snowy cold day :) Who knows. But, I did put a funnel on top with a small water bottle inside and I taped it together so that we could make baking soda volcanoes and it wouldn't get inside and soak the cardboard. Julian does like baking soda volcanoes but I think at this point he might be more interested in rolling out the playdough instead of putting it on a mountain.

I've also learned that Julian really enjoys painting. He doesn't really care for painting noodles (which is what we were attempting here) but he does like to paint pictures, paper, blocks, etc. Now we just need more paint application tools. We might have to try apples and potatoes. :)

Boys

Super Julian! Lately Julian has taken to wearing his cape and running around being "Super Julian" If you look really closely he is squirting a "Roaring Waters" Kool Aid drink. I just thought he was so cute!

This is a photo of JD taken by Julian. I think it's pretty cute :) He gets so excited to see us on the camera screen.

These are my boys all ready for church :) Aren't they handsome?

Thanksgiving

I was terrible at taking pictures this Thanksgiving! It was SO busy. We had a great time though. Tasha and her best friend Zach came down and spent a few days with us. It is always so much fun to have Tasha around. Julian loved his "Auntie Chasha" to read him stories and play with him. For the few days before she came, he kept looking out the window and yelling "Mommy, Auntie Tasha is here!!" He was thrilled to have her around.

We ended up cooking 50 lbs of turkey between Thanksgiving on Thursday and a second Thanksgiving with some friends on Saturday. Needless to say, we all have some serious leftovers :) I've even made stock, and it is so good. I experimented with a few different pies (see recipes for everything on my food blog) and they were really successful.

Gingery Pear Chiffon Tart

Tennyson enjoying some mashed potatoes :)

Turkey... need I say more?

What I'm Thankful For

What are you thankful for? That is an interesting question, and some people take it lightly. Sometimes I don't think about it like I should as often as I should. Here is a brief list of what I am thankful for.

1) I am grateful for a loving and supportive husband who encourages me to experiment with my talents, to explore what I can create and to love myself just the way I am.

2) I am grateful for two beautiful children that I am blessed to love, to raise, to teach and toencourage.

3) I am grateful for parents who love each other, who chose to make it work when times got tough and who did their very best in teaching me what it means to be faithful, to be loving and to be kind.

4) I am grateful for my friends, for listening to me, for loving me even though I am a little crazy some days.

5) I am grateful for a vehicle that runs smoothly and that I can rely upon.

6) I am grateful for my calling in my ward (Cooking Group Leader) and the way it has helped me to get to know the members of my ward.

7) I am grateful that JD is in Law School and for the things that I have learned while we've been here.

8) I am grateful for trials, great and small, and the faith that I have gained by trying to endure happily.

9) I am grateful for the ability that I have to read. And, for the time that I have to read.

10) I am grateful for the comfort and encouragement that I have been given from my Savior.

11) I am grateful for my testimony and the knowledge that I have received through studying the scriptures.

12) I am grateful for a warm house.

13) I am grateful for the ability to host (and make) the Thanksgiving meal every year.

14) I am grateful for Julian. I am grateful that he has been asking "why?" and really making me think about what I am saying to him to make sure that it is truthful, but also something that can be repeated :)

15) I am grateful for Tennyson and his sweet little laugh. He is such a joy.

16) I am grateful for Grandparents who are still around and who have always made sure that I know that they love me.

17) I am grateful for in laws who have loved me from the first day they met me and love me like their own.

18) I am grateful for a living Prophet and for the guidance that he gives me.

19) I am grateful for my health and for the health of my family.

20) I am grateful for technology... I am very grateful to live in this time.

What are you grateful for? Let me know :)

What Are You Thankful For?

True Friends

I appreciate true friends who have the same goals and aspirations as I do. Who want to become better, become more like Christ and who want to offer positive uplifting support. They help when they don't know they are helping and they offer their love at all times. They look for the best things in life and remind you of them. They see someone struggling and jump in to help. They love you even when you make mistakes and tell you so often. They make you want to be better without ever saying a word.

So to all my friends, I love you :) Thank you for your support and for you love. Thank you for encouraging me to reach my goals and providing me with a shining example.

And by the way, my definition of friend includes my family. Especially as I grow older my friendships with my siblings, parents, in-laws, grandparents, etc have been strengthened and I am so grateful.

My Husband Is So Awesome

JD is taking a real estate development class. His development is a Grocery Store and Greenhouses that will grow all of the fruits and vegetables hydroponically. He decided that he would create a 3D model of his project to present to the panel and this is what he's created. I think he did a great job. 3D modeling has become a hobby over the last 2 years. He modeled our apartment, our crib, our desk, our couch... it's actually really cool and really involved.

I also think it's really cool that given a challenge John-David is always able to figure out a way to overcome it, whether that is by learning a new type of code or creating a new solution to an old problem. He's just awesome and that's all I have to say. :)

For the Grandparents and Great Grandparents

Tennyson is such a cute kid. He is so happy and laid back. He's also been getting more fun as he gets older. Here are a few clips of the kiddo.

Tennyson at 6 Months

Tennyson at 3 Months

This should speak for itself

JD and I were watching a show in the other room when we realized that Julian had been quiet for too long. We walked into the kitchen and he was like this.

The next day I was working on bread, cleaning the house, etc and he walked in to me and said "Mommy, clean my hands please!" I looked down only to see his mustard covered hands and this on the table:

Crayons

We made crayons today. They are SUPER easy. Take the paper off of crayons, break up, put in a WELL GREASED muffin tin and place in oven at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes or until melted. Let them cool, pop them out of the muffin tin. I've actually been meaning to make these for about a week. The greased muffin tin has been sitting on my counter since Monday, literally. Next time I won't wait as long. :)

Crayons Before

Crayons After

My Boys

Aren't they handsome?

Cantaloupe

I had one lone cantaloupe grow this year and it didn't start until September. This is how big it was when the plant finally died. :( I'll have to start with plant starts next time.

Tennyson Crawling

He as well as his brother loves spaghetti. So much so that he has to eat it almost naked :) He looks happy doesn't he?

Tennyson started crawling last week. He switches back and forth between one foot and one knee and the traditional crawling on both knees. He's really enjoying getting around. This was from last week, before it snowed.

Croup

Ah... childhood illnesses, they are pretty much LAME!! We've been in the doctors office once a week for the last month. It all started with Tennyson's first (and probably not last) ear infection. The next week, Julian was wheezing and needed a breathing treatment. The next week the nurse said "come in the kids might have swine flu." This week, Tennyson has croup. It was a pretty mild case, he's doing really well actually. Wednesday through Friday was pretty rough, he wouldn't sleep on his own, he was upset because he was tired, he was upset because he couldn't go to sleep, he was upset because he was hungry but also because he couldn't nurse for longer then a few seconds (I assume it's because his throat hurt), it was a few long days with a lot of tears on both sides. Yeah... croup is really lame. He's doing better, but the doc says that even once symptoms are gone (2-5 days from the beginning of symptoms) that he is still contagious for another 2-5 days. Oh, and once you are infected it has an incubation period of 2-5 days. So sorry if we passed it on... but hopefully while we hunker down at home it will pass and we can finally get healthy for a while!

Create

A Guy Show

My conversation with Julian yesterday as I was watching "Dancing With the Stars"

Julian: I don't want to watch this show

Me: What do you want to watch?

Julian: I want to watch a Guy Show!

Me: A Guy Show? What is a guy show?

Julian: A Guy Show Mommy! This not a guy show.

Baby Rilie

YAY!! Baby Rilie has finally joined our family. My Brother and Sister in law (JD's brother and wife) adopted a beautiful little newborn this week. This is the happy Mom and brothers, Paul (on the left) and Alvin (on the right). He was born on 11/10/09 (pretty cool birthday) at 10:43 PM via C-Section and was 7 lb 10 oz and 19 inches long. Congrats Nick & Becki... we are so excited that he was able to join our family.

Paul, Becki & Rilie

Baby Rilie in all his baby glory :)

Food Blog

I started a food blog in January and only posted a few times before Tennyson was born and apparently my world decided to implode :)

I teach a cooking group for my ward Relief Society for 2 months out of each quarter (8 times a year). It's pretty intense and I've been doing it now for almost 2 years. It's super fun and we've done lots of stuff, from bagels to truffles... Anyway, the wonderful ladies that come talked me into updating my food blog again with the recipes we use for cooking group. Maybe next time I will take my camera and take a few pictures... but until then here is the address with some really yummy new recipes.

http://gastronomistweekly.blogspot.com/

Finally!

I forgot to post that Tennyson officially started crawling last week. He is much happier on the ground now that he can move around on his own. Julian is still learning about why we can't leave candy wrappers, tissues, medicine containers, chips, chocolate bars, and anything else he finds on the floor for his brother to find. So far we have found a wheel from a hot wheels car and part of a foam star in Tennyson's diaper. I keep thinking "Julian never swallowed stuff like this!" but then I remember that Julian also didn't have an older brother leaving things out for him to find... oh the joys of more then one child.

Anyway... he's crawling and we're all a bit happier because of it. :)

Tomatoes That Worked!

So I had 3 different types of tomatoes in my garden this year. The ones I loved were: Early Goliath (produced my first tomatoes of the season. They were ripe the first week of August and SOOO good) and the Big Burpee. They also produced a TON of tomatoes, in fact when I ripped them unceremoniously out of the ground today (it's a sad day) they still had at least 15 tomatoes on each plant.

I also put steer manure into the dirt. These plants were at least 6 feet tall. They needed to be staked for sure, but they were AMAZING. I'd say it was a huge success for my first garden.

Halloween

We had dinner with some friends the night before Halloween and so I made some Halloween Ghost Cupcakes... it was more work then it needed to be honestly. The ghost part is made out of Marshmallow Fondant (Marshmallows, water and LOTS of powdered sugar). Still not great fondant but better then regular stuff; however I've only met one person who actually eats and like fondant. They turned out cute though :)

The Law School does a Halloween Party every year with a costume contest, pizza lunch, and a trick or treating/costume parade through all the carrels. The kids get TONS of candy and other great stuff. This year a 1L (first year law student) was making balloon animals and swords for the kids. It was a huge hit.

This year I decided to do a family costume. This is the first time JD has dressed up for Halloween in probably 17 years (literally). He's not a huge fan. We decided to be Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. Julian was Sam I Am, Tennyson was the Green Eggs and Ham, I was the book with a few pages, and JD was the one who eats the Green Eggs and Ham (he doesn't have a name in the book). It was fun, but too much money and time... I think I'll save the family costumes for when we are all a bit older... we'll see. Not sure though if I could get JD to dress up again. It'd have to be something really cool.

Random Stuff

This is Tennyson at 7 months... he turns 8 months tomorrow :) He's sure getting big! He's making more progress in the crawling arena, but still not quite there. In the next few weeks though he'll be all over the place (at least I hope).

Julian has been pretending to talk on the phone a lot lately. In the last few days he's had 2 real life conversations with both Grandma's for at least 10 minutes. This is how he holds the phone. I wonder where he gets it?

He's been big into stickers lately, well and bandaids. He will regularly find the bandaids (or stickers) and put them on his face. This is the general area that they end up. Bandaids are hard there because they stick to his hair and it takes some creative thinking to get them out without too much fuss. Chocolate milk works great as a distraction.
Julian wanted to help vacuum the other day... not sure if you can see but he vacuumed up the raw end of a ball of yarn. I started pulling it out thinking it was a small piece, but no... the yarn is holding up the vacuum hose.