March 28, 2011
Meet Giorgio. Cole's partner in crime at daycare. He's a hefty guy... literally, he weighs double Cole. And as a side note, his mom looks EXACTLY like my cousin Missy. Her name is even Melissa! Seriously, they could pass as twins.
Anyway, every Monday Cole smiles and giggles with delight when we walk in to the daycare and see Giorgio. And Ms. Nora, of course. Those two are both mobile and love to chase each other around, dumping toys and books everywhere, climbing up on everything, and tormenting the babies who can't move yet. I think they get so excited to see each other after a long weekend, that they can't settle down to take naps. It amazes me that even at such a young age, babies recognize who their friends are.
Double trouble those two are. Double trouble.
March 27, 2011
Pearl is always very excited for the next holiday to roll around. And with this holiday being Easter, I am as excited, if not more, to get out the decorations. (We need more decorations by the way... way more... like as in someone give me $300 to Pottery Barn so I can buy more.) Pearl get especially excited to put up any window clings we have (thanks to our neighbors). This year, it was fun to tell her what letter came next because she could actually spell out the words "Happy Easter." Although, if you look closely you'll see we need to work on which direction the letters "P," "S," and "E" go.
March 26, 2011
It amazes me how one day Pearl could care less about a particular toy and the next she acts like it's the ONLY thing she's ever wanted to play with. Today, it was her princess dolls and these magnetic girls with a plethora of clothes and accessories. She played with them for hours and especially loved being told to keep them on the table out of reach of her little brother. The laundry basket that I had yet to put away served as the perfect place to hang their dresses. And while I got tired of changing their outfits every 37 seconds because they were having a pajama party then a dance then a wedding then going to school, it was well worth the free time to try my hand at baking homemade dinner rolls for the first time.
Jeff was happy (with the rolls). I was happy. Pearl was happy. And Cole? Well, let's just say he felt a little left out.
March 25, 2011
I am so grateful for modern medicine.
Grateful that my Heavenly Father has blessed individuals with the knowledge to develop medicines, vaccines, and medical technology.
Grateful for a pediatrician who gets us in for an appointment as soon as possible. Because every month we're in with an ear infection.
Grateful for a pharmacy that filled our prescription in just a few minutes so I didn't have to stand there looking any more ragged than I did, with a tired and miserable little boy.
Grateful for a full night's sleep last night because I'm fairly certain I couldn't have made it through the day without it.
Grateful that wonder drugs can help my little guy feel more like himself.
And, I'm even grateful for the toys, blocks, books, dishes, towels, laundry baskets, dust rags, boxes, cups, spoons, and cars strewn about the house because that means Cole is starting to feel better.
March 24, 2011
Bullous myringitis.
That's what Cole has.
For all us medically challenged out there, let me put it in terms we'll understand.
Blisters on his eardrums. A less common and very painful type of ear infection. Not the typical run-of-the-mill stuff. Our doctor was actually excited to see that huge blister. Said he hadn't had one of these in a long time. And that they are very, very painful.
I could have told him that. When your normally happy baby boy screams from 9 p.m. last night until 11 a.m. this morning, yeah something's wrong. Waking up every 45 minutes all night long because Cole's screaming in pain, yeah that was fun. Or listening to him whimper, cry, and scream himself to sleep and knowing there is NOTHING you can do to help and that you are so exhausted you can't move out of bed one more time, yeah that sucked. Ugh.
March 23, 2011
A friend at work had a baby shower today and I was in charge of dessert. What better way to satisfy the chocolate cravings of a room full of women (three of whom were pregnant) than to bake a Texas Cake. I forget that not everyone has had Texas cake. A couple of my coworkers raved about how good it was all day, even sneaking a few extra pieces! Apparently, they need to attend a Mormon funeral... it's one of the essential food items besides the ham, funeral potatoes, and jello salad.
Anyway, every time I make Texas cake I think of my Grandma Allen. She LOVES Texas cake. So much so, that anytime I make it for her, I have to make some extra frosting because my grandma drinks it. Seriously. She loves it that much. Grandma always inspects the cake to find where the low spot is and hence the most frosting. I admit though, I usually scout out the low spot too. And our sweet tooth has reached a third generation in Pearl. This morning she begged me to let her have cake and ice cream for a snack. I told her repeatedly that we don't eat sweets in the morning. To which Pearl responded, "But Mom, cake and ice cream are my favorite!"
She made me promise - at least seven times - that I would save her a piece of cake. And some "ass-cream" as she pronounces it. I made sure she got her sweet fix as soon as we got home. Yes, before dinner! Sort of makes up for being "a mean mom" and not letting her have cake for breakfast.
Texas Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (I add extra!)
Mix flour and sugar. In a small saucepan over medium heat add butter, cocoa, and water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. While still hot pour over flour and sugar and mix well. Add buttermilk, soda, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well. Pour into a floured jellyroll (cookie sheet) pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
Texas Cake Frosting
1/2 cup butter
6 tsp evaporated milk
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
powdered sugar
Combine butter and cocoa in small saucepan over medium heat. Add evaporated milk and vanilla and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Pour liquid into mixing bowl and slowly add powdered sugar to taste. The frosting should be sweet and thick, yet still smooth enough to pour over cake. Frost while cake is still warm.
March 22, 2011
I love Easter. Love, love, love Easter.
So when I went to the store tonight and spied isles and isles of Easter goodies, candy, decorations, plates, etc, etc, etc, I had to remind myself my checking account couldn't afford what my eyes wanted to buy. It took all my energies to refrain from buying everything in sight. But I had to come home with something. And for $2.50 I figured I was pretty safe with a strand of Easter egg lights.
March 21, 2011
There are moments in the day when it strikes me.
Cole is a big boy now.
He's given up on eating baby food. Unless I can trick him with some fruit... but only because he probably thinks it's ice cream. He wants to eat whatever we're eating. Despite only having two teeth, he can actually chew things pretty well.
He chugs Kool-aid and really, anything in his sippy cup. It's hilarious to watch and he gets so mad when I try to hold the cup for him. He's a big boy so he can do it himself.
He sits at the table with the other big boys at school to eat lunch and snacks. That's when it really hits me that my baby isn't going to be a baby much longer. He just looks so big sitting there.
He's starting to wean himself. Although some nights, you'd never know it with the waking up three times in the middle of the night. Once nursing is done, he won't need me anymore. It makes me sad.
He can't wear "baby" clothes anymore. They look dorky on him. No more cute onesie outfits. Nope. It's all collared shirts, jeans, and big boy tee-shirts now. He looks good in his big boy clothes... and very grown up.
Too grown up.
March 20, 2011
Jeff and I are taking the "Marriage and Family Relations" class for Sunday School. Again. I think it's the 5th or 6th time we've taken it. Hopefully this time we actually finish the entire course.
Today's lesson was on communication. Positive communication. We started out class by writing down five admirable qualities of our spouse. Jeff and I were giggling the entire time. Here's our lists:
Mine
1. Funny
2. Hard worker
3. Involved in our kids' lives
4. Honest
5. Good cook
Jeff's
1. Great with our kids
2. Loving heart
3. Tall (yes, he wrote tall... he's always said he needed to bring some tall genes into his family)
4. Strong will with scripture study
5. Realizes the importance of family dinner
6. Patient
7. Good at recording our family history (guess this means I can keep blogging)
8. Formerly hot, currently nearing dead (remember, I wrote he was funny)
Yes, Jeff wrote three bonus qualities. I love that man.
March 19, 2011
After braving the cold wind at my brother's lacrosse tournament (Kurtis is a stud... scored goals each game we went to), my mom, my kiddos, and I did a little clearance shopping at Carter's. I L.O.V.E Carter's clothing. It just lasts longer and fits better. And their clearance racks are super - they always have the current season clothing plus the upcoming one so you can get warm stuff and summer clothes. The only problem is, Cole keeps growing and growing and growing. Every three months we have to buy an entire new wardrobe for that kid. Thank heavens for an extra 30% clearance items PLUS a 20% off coupon I had! Yeah, I saved $40 and my kid is stylin' now! I just wish Pearl was as excited about clearance rack shopping as I was... she threw a royal tantrum because I refused to buy her a bright yellow nightgown with a mermaid on it for a whooping $26.
March 18, 2011
This morning was one of those days when it's probably a good thing I work.
There were a lot of timeout threats, strewn-about toys, crumbs on the floor, tears, screams, and then this.
I told Pearl that just because I was taking her picture, it did not mean it was ok to draw all over her face. She disagreed. When I asked her why she did this, her response was, "It's funny, Mom!"
Yeah. She wasn't laughing anymore once the scrubbing started.
March 17, 2011
This is the extent of my idea to have a "green" dinner for St. Patrick's Day.
A pathetic plate of clover shaped Jell-O jigglers. Ok, so I made everyone eat some asparagus too.
Oh well. I did have plans for other green food items. Like using those green plates I bought just for today, but am just now realizing they are still sitting in the cupboard. But after a lunch date with Jeff at the Red Iguana, we were both too stuffed to have anything for dinner.
At least Pearl thought the Jell-O was awesome.
March 16, 2011
Jeff taught Cole to give high five's recently. But sometimes, he forgets to open his fist up - although he definitely has the slap-as-hard-as-you-can thing down - and instead does "finger." Another trick of Jeff's. Finger is where you touch fingers and then watch your dad go "zzzzz" and shake all over the place, like you've just been electrocuted. Cole finds it hilarious.
March 15, 2011
We filled out our NCAA tourney brackets tonight. Pearl and Cole included.
Last year, Pearl picked whatever team sounded most like Utah State or the temple. This year, she picked whatever team Jeff said second. And really pissed her Dad off with her insistence that BYU keep advancing in the tournament. She thought it was a joke and apparently her way of teasing her dad for all the pestering he's done over her three years of life. It really ticked him off. I thought for a moment Jeff might disown her. Just hours before she was telling us that "BYU smells like poop and they suck."
Cole's bracket was a bit more time consuming to fill out. We resorted to picking the top seeded team based on whether Cole hit an even number on his play phone, the lower seeded bracket if he picked an odd number, among a few other tricks. It took a good hour to finally get all his choices selected. And according to Jeff, his bracket was actually really good.
And as for the "dude" part of this post. Jeff has taught Cole a new trick. Every time he says, "Dude" to Cole he bonks his head. So unless you're willing to risk a slight concussion or lose your glasses, don't tell Cole "dude!"
March 14, 2011
Jeff often tells Pearl to stop being "a little Mommy." This is really confusing for her because she takes this as a compliment. As do I.
Most of time her "mothering" gets her into trouble. But tonight, it was actually sort of helpful. Cole was starving and I was running back and forth trying to feed him bites in between getting the rest of something to eat. So Pearl decided to take matters into her own hands. Cole wasn't too sure about his sister stuffing spoonfuls of food into his mouth, at first anyway. I guess he figured choking on food was a better option than starving because he soon eagerly opened his mouth.
March 13, 2011
The other day I pulled out the wooden blocks. I had forgotten we even had them until Pearl and Cole started fighting over some toys. Every night since, we've built block towers. And every time we get them stacked almost as high as we can, Cole squeals with delight, crawls over to them, and CRASH!
You can imagine the reaction from his sister.
March 12, 2011
Some of you may have noticed my recent obsession with the Our Best Bites blog and cookbook. It may be the fact that these fab girls, Sarah (left) and Kate (right), make REAL food that REAL families eat. Or because Kate was my best friend in the 2nd grade. When I happened to stumble on her blog, which I have no clue how, I instantly recognized her and sent her a little note. She remembered me too. So I started following her blog, with let's face it no real intention to actually cook anything from it. But the recipes and step-by-step instructions in pictures convinced me to give it a try. The rest is cooking history.
Well, today they came to our Deseret Book for a book signing. I was beyond ecstatic!!! So excited that I drug Pearl over to Costco before the event started to buy two more cookbooks for some lucky ladies yet to be determined (sorry DB, they were a lot cheaper there). Pearl was excited to meet the girls who wrote "her" cookbook too, although you wouldn't know it from her blank stare. I felt so dumb but I was actually really nervous to meet them. Mostly because I was so excited to see if Kate recognized me in person. She looks just like how I remember her and when she saw me in line she jumped right up and yelled, "Jenny!" I was all smiles and had to literally contain myself from jumping up and down right there in the store.
When I got home, Jeff kept teasing me that they weren't REAL celebrities and that I was being such a dork. Call me a dork because I'm star-struck!
March 11, 2011
The last time Disney on Ice came to town I waited and waited, debating on whether I really wanted to shell out the $$$ to go see a slew of Disney Princesses skate around the Energy Solutions Arena. I figured Pearl would love it but I wasn't too sure I'd enjoy the two hours of "magic."
But my little pip-squeak has a way of getting to me. Of course, a half-off coupon didn't hurt either.
I bought four tickets. One for me. One for Pearl. One for my sister-in-law Emily. And one for my niece Ruby. A girl's night out! Every day for two weeks, Pearl asked if it was finally "Disney on Ice day." Today, I was finally able to say yes! I can't even describe how excited she was. I thought she just might have a meltdown waiting for the train and then the show to start. We rode the train downtown, spent a grundle on popcorn and Mickey Mouse binoculars, cheered and smiled all through the show, and had quite the adventure coming back home on the train (you'll have to read my other blog for the story). It was loads and loads of fun. Magical, you might even say. When you ask Pearl what her favorite part of the show was, she'll eagerly shout, "I loved all of it!" We will definitely be making this a new girl's night out tradition.
March 10, 2011
My sister has been gone for a month. I almost lost her. And even though I've been through a flurry of emotions during this time, I miss her. Tomorrow she is coming over to visit and watch Cole while Pearl and I go to Disney on Ice. As a thank you for babysitting, and because I miss her, I made her a special treat. She loves cheesecake so when I found a recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake Squares from my favorite food blog (and now cookbook), I knew they were perfect. My only regret is not sending more of them home with her.
March 9, 2011
At some point, the sugar high from sucking down a cup of Kool-aid instead of eating your dinner has to come to an end.
But until then, I'll enjoy the hysterical giggles, squeals, toothy grin (yes, plural... there are two fangs in there now), and intentional taunting of your sister.
March 8, 2011
We woke up to several inches of freshly fallen, heavy, wet snow. So much snow that it broke a large branch off our tree in the front yard. Which is still stuck there because it just happened to break in a "v" and get caught on another branch. The forecast called for warming temperatures the rest of the day so Jeff bagged shoveling the driveway. I don't blame him... considering my last stint with shoveling. Besides, as much as I sighed at the thought of more winter, the snow covered trees were absolutely breathtaking.
March 7, 2011
And Jeff wonders why dinner is never ready when he gets home. It takes me three times as long to do anything because I'm constantly turning around to find my pint-sized helper causing mischief.
March 6, 2011
I'm quickly learning that I have underestimated Cole's fascination with books. Daily, Cole crawls back to Pearl's room and pulls every single book within reach off her bookcase. His latest discovery though, is that some of the books talk to you. And any book that makes loud noises and plays music is definitely worth the risk of ticking your sister off for destroying her room.
March 5, 2011
We ventured up to the grand city of Malad, Idaho today for our nephew Jacob's baptism. Jacob was very excited to have his Uncle Jeff serve as one of his witnesses during the baptism. Pearl was fairly concerned that Jacob was going to get his church clothes wet and that he had been waiting in the water all day for us to get there. Oh, and when I asked her how old you have to be before you can get baptized, she said 16. Hmmm... we have a few years to work on that one.
While Malad is probably the last place on this earth that Jeff and I would live, it does have a beautiful church house. Unlike our 100+ year old church, there is more than one bathroom and the mother's lounge is an actual room. Not in the bathroom where you can hear and smell everything. And it's heated. Enough said.
March 4, 2011
Pearl thinks the couches are her personal trampolines. She knows one of the rules is no jumping on the couch, hence the reason the cushions are off it. Technically, you aren't jumping on them if the cushions are on the floor.
Well, after being told repeatedly to stop jumping on the couch - cushions included - Pearl finally told me she wanted me to buy her a couch. You can probably guess what she said when I asked her why she wanted her own.
Yep. To jump on.
March 3, 2011
It was a blustery, rainy day today. Perfect for rain boots, rain coats, and rain hats. And we can't forget the umbrellas. It's amazing we were even able to squeeze our way out the door with all the rain gear Pearl insisted on wearing today. But I've got to hand it to her, she didn't get a single drop on her.
March 2, 2011
If you look ever so closely, you can see a tiny tooth finally poking its way through some very sore gums. It's been trying to make it's way out for days now but tonight was the first time I could get a picture of it. Cole wasn't too happy about documenting this momentous occasion but I didn't care. It's not like he's made it known how unhappy he's been with this whole tooth thing for the past week anyway.
March 1, 2011
These two sure are fascinated with each other. I only wish they'd stop with the finger sucking. Kind of gross considering one of them had their finger stuck up her nose just moments before.
February 28, 2011
You know what the best part of dinner was tonight? You might be surprised that it wasn't the "World's Best Dinner Rolls" but the fact that our neighbor made them for us. Yep, we ate delicious, hearty rolls and we didn't have to lift a finger.
March 28, 2011
