Can't wait

I am loving the warm fall we've been having. But as soon as it gets cold I'll be making this:

Slow Roasted Garlic and Lemon Chicken

A friend of mine shared it on her blog. You can find it (here).
It is seriously so good. And so easy. And I think about it a lot. More than is natural.
(She prefers using drumsticks, I like thighs. But I can't wait to try it with thighs and breasts). This is pretty much the only reason I'm looking forward to cooler weather!

The Story

I promised you the story that had me in tears when my roommates and I had our night out. It probably isn't that funny to anyone who wasn't there. (Megan, Laura, Ashlee, this is for you). But Kate's two year old often requests it as his bed time story, so maybe someone else will enjoy it, too. One thing is for certain. I didn't realize just how incriminating this story was until I saw it in black and white. My only defense is that I was 18. Now, at 28, I certainly do not find mooning to be an enjoyable or acceptable activity. But it does still make me cry from laughing.

From the words of Kate:

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in our Heritage Hall apartment. Ella and I were going a little stir-crazy, so we started making fun of eachother. After Ella ran out of comebacks, she resorted to mooning me. I was spared the visual assault by a plastic bag on the table that obstructed the moonage. "Nice try," I said, and then laughed at her unsuccessful attempt. But I sobered up when I realized she would not stop until I paid the price. I made a beeline down the hall, with Ella a few steps behind. If only I could make it to our neighbor's apartment, I knew I would be safe! These sweet neighbors were the Molly-est of Mormons, and would never degenerate to such heathen behavior as mooning, and I knew that even their presence would curb that kind of behavior in others. Surely Ella would not moon me there! I sprinted as I've never sprinted before, with Ella hot on my heels. Breathlessly, I flung open the door to their apartment, my door to safety, and I yelled: "Sanctuary!!" At that precise moment, Ella, ever so slyly--and unbeknownst to anyone--gave a gentle tug on my skirt, which promptly fell down to my ankles. My outburst interrupted the neighbors' peaceful apartment dinner, in which their equally virtuous brothers were also partaking. For a few awkward and exposed seconds, I stared dumbly at their disturbed expressions. What might have possessed a person to run into anothers' home with their skirt down around their ankles, panties on display, yelling "Sanctuary!"? Ella (and her butt). She had fled the scene, and so I was left alone in my humiliation. I pulled up my skirt, mumbled an apology, and retreated.

Thanks for the memories, Kate!

Jack: 15 months

Jack turned 15 months today! What a big boy!

(Skip the first three paragraphs if baby milestone recordings annoy the heck out of you).

The big news of the month is that he has spoken! His best word is "all done." It sounds like "ahhh duh". He says it in the smallest voice possible. It's adorable. It helps that he does the sign for all done at the same time or I may not have even noticed. He also started saying bye-bye. And he's also said book and ball a couple times. Both sound like buh, and the only reason I know he's saying anything is because he will be doing the book or ball sign at the same time.

He's learned quite a few new signs this month too. Now his signs are: book, oscar, milk, all done, bye bye, more, baby, ball, cereal, shoes, and light. I hadn't done the cereal sign in a very long time but one morning he was sitting in his high chair and it seemed that he was telling me he was going to kill me by slitting my throat. Then I remembered that's what the cereal sign looks like and gave him some Cheerios.

It's exciting to see him learning body parts. He will pretty consistently point to nose, ears, and belly. And for awhile I thought he was roaring like a bear when we'd ask him what a bear says but he hasn't done that in awhile so maybe he was just in a growly mood.

More things about Jack:

*He likes to turn his light switch off before bed. He also likes to have you pick him up and take him over to a light switch so he can play with it for an annoyingly long time.

*He's starting to really like books. Sometimes he'll pull a bunch off the shelf and sit by himself and look at them. Other times, when nothing seems to calm down his fussiness sitting and reading with him will usually do the trick.

*He's gotten his bottom two molars, and his top two are trying to make their way in. That has led to a VERY fussy month. He used to be the best sleeper. He would try to get out of my arms and into the crib before his song was over. He'd sleep great at night and take 2 long naps during the day. Now he usually just takes one nap and will then just be SO FUSSY until bed time.

(look at that grump!)

*This was more true before all the fussiness, but I want to remember it anyway. The four of us would be in their room reading and what not for their bedtime routine. And Jack would be buzzing around the room moving from thing to thing at a hundred miles a minute. Then, as soon as you'd put him to bed, he'd happily lay there as still as can be and go to bed. Loved that! Now a days he's just not as happy to go to bed.

*He's been very congested lately (teething, remember?). And he's always got snot issues. Matt has used a nasal aspirator a few times. Most babies hate that but Jack thinks it's hilarious. The more disgusting it sounds the funnier Jack thinks it is.

*Jack loves to play with gravel. He likes to throw rocks but his trajectory is straight down to the ground.

(not sure where the church shoes fit in with that outfit)

*He is starting to play more with Jane. He thinks it's pretty fun to chase her around the house.

*If the TV is on and Jack is interested in the show he will sit himself down in his old vibrating chair/toddler rocking chair and watch for a few minutes.

*If you leave the bathroom door open for even a second he will quickly get in there and turn on the bath water. Unfortunately the side he can reach is the hot water.

*He also takes advantage of when our bedroom door is open and will head straight to the stuff we don't let him play with.

*He's got a jealous side. When we babysat a baby he was NOT happy with me holding her. And if we're with Jack and Jane comes up to us for a hug or to sit with us he tries to push her away.

*I'm hoping for a less fussy month. But if not, we'll love him just the same.

(Here's a pic of Jack's food mousse style as referred to last month!)

Art Recipes

Awhile ago I finally compiled all of my art recipes together. And I've been wanting to share them with you so you can have them all together too. I'm not including any links because there's too many and I'd have to hunt down where I got them all. But, of course, I am not the original creator of any of these recipes (and I doubt the blogs I got them from are the actual creators either).

Playdough

1 c. flour

1/2 cup salt

1 T. cooking oil

1 T. cream of tartar

1 c. water

Food coloring of your choice

Add-ins of your choice (i.e. spices, extracts, glitter, etc.)



Stir ingredients together well. Just measure them into the saucepan you will be using to cook the dough, but mix them well before heating up the pan. Over medium heat cook the dough, stirring constantly until it forms a ball.
 Let the playdough cool and then knead until it's smooth.

*My thoughts: This is a great playdough recipe. It always turns out and keeps for a very long time.

Fingerpaint
4 c water
1 c cornstarch
1/3 cup sugar

Heat over medium heat and STIR CONTINUOUSLY. Lumps will begin forming, and soon after that, the mixture will thicken like crazy. When it starts thickening, remove from heat immediately and stir for an additional minute. Spoon the paint into bowls (or fancy cottage cheese containers!) and let it cool for a few minutes. Add food coloring, and you've got paint!

*My thoughts: This is fun. As soon as you notice a little thickening I'd get it off the heat! Don't wait until you're SURE it's getting thick. It will be too late. And don't think you can leave your finger paint out for awhile and come back to it and use it later. It will be all dried out so you better cover it.

Silly Putty
1/2 cup white glue
1/2 cup liquid starch
food coloring
Let sit out and dry for a couple hours until desired texture.

*My thoughts: I would not call this silly putty. Maybe just a science experiment, or maybe you could call it gak. After a few hours I drained off the excess liquid and then let it sit out for a couple days. It would be fun to check it periodically and talk about how it's changing. But in general, it wasn't really something to "play" with, just to "check it out."

Bubbles
4 cups Water
1 cup Dish Soap
1/4 cup Corn Syrup

*My thoughts: These bubbles worked. But I still want to try a recipe with glycerin.

Salt Dough
1 cup flour
1/2 cup of salt
1/2 cup warm water.
Roll out dough and cut into shapes. Bake at 250 for about 2 hours.

*My thoughts: This is fun for doing "themes." If you're teaching shapes you can make the shapes, bake them, then paint them, sort them, match them, etc. You can do the same with whatever cutters you have: letters, animals, etc.

Salt Paint
2 T liquid laundry starch
2 T water
1 T tempera paint
1/2 cup salt

*My thoughts: I just didn't get this. Why not add salt to just your regular old paint? Then again, why add salt? I don't know. I just didn't get it. But Jane seemed to enjoy that it was little different.

Homemade Sidewalk Paint
-1/4 cup cornstarch
-1/4 cup cold water
-food coloring

*My thoughts: So fun. Try it before it gets cold!

Ones I still want to try:

Cornstarch Clay

2/3 cup salt
1/3 cup baking soda
1/2 cup cornstarch
In a small saucepan mix the salt and baking soda with 1/3 cup of water and bring to a boil.
In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water and stir well.
When the salt mixture boils, remove it from the heat and add the cornstarch mixture. Stir vigorously for a minute or two to thicken the clay. Spoon it onto a sheet of waxed paper and allow it to cool before working with it.

Kool-Aid Playdough

1 cup flour
2 TBSP cream of tartar
1/4 cup salt
2 pkgs. of sugar free Kool-Aid (use the same flavor/color for each color you make)
1 cup water
1 TBSP oil
1. In a saucepan combine everything but the oil.
Stir well.
2. Stir in oil.
3.Move saucepan to stovetop and cook for 3-5 minutes on medium heat. Stir well the entire time.
4. When a soft ball starts to form, turn off the heat and remove the pan. The playdough will be HOT, so be careful.
5. Remove the ball of dough from the pan and let cool for a second.
6. Knead well until soft.
7. Store in an airtight container or a ziplock bag.

Pinata

Mix up a thick soupy mixture of flour and water.
Dip strips of newspaper and apply a layer all over balloon. Let each layer dry before adding another.

What am I missing? Share your favorites with me!

First Day of Preschool! (and more)

Jane has been eagerly looking forward to preschool for quite some time. I've been looking forward to it too simply because I knew she would enjoy it so much. I didn't know what to expect, though, when it would come time to actually leave her there. She was a little nervous to walk in the door, but after a few minutes of getting her bag put away and answering the question of the day I told her I was going to go. She smiled and said, "Bye!" I said, "Can I have a hug?" We hugged, and kissed, and said I love you. I was the only one with tears in my eyes.

She loved it. She loved it the second day too. She told me she likes her teacher because "She has a good face and I like how her shirt looks like." What a girl!

Here are some pics we snapped before leaving our house to go to preschool for the first time. I would like it noted that the kids had to wear their over-sized yellow school shirt the first day of preschool completely ruining any first day of school photo shoots.





I would also like it noted that Jane does not simply have her hands in front of her face in the last picture. That is simply a visual of Jane's latest OCD characteristic. She is obsessed with smelling her hands, constantly. She is not happy when they smell in any way and usually will go wash them.

Before Jane's first day of preschool we all went as a family to an open house. Jane's stomach hadn't been feeling too during the day. She kept calling her tummy-ache "diarrhea." When evening came and we got in the car to go to the open house I asked her if she was feeling nervous. She said, "Yes." I wondered if she even knew why I asked that and said, "About what?" She said, "About my diarrhea."

After the preschool open house we talked about it for awhile. She said she liked it and was excited but then said, "But it was little. It was like this." and she held her hands about a foot apart and indicated with her fingers and thumb that the school was about the thickness of a cookie sheet.

In non-preschool matters,

I made a pudding concoction for a picnic and Jane asked what it was. I told her it was called Cookie Salad. She asked, "Is that what I'll love with Ranch?"

Matt and I can't remember what older person in our lives we were talking about but we told Jane that someone was going to be really old for his birthday. Jane gasped in shock and said, "He might get sick!"

Jane was drawing with her 5-year-old cousin Paris and Jane was concerned about the state of Paris's rainbows. A few days later she came to me concerned and said, "When I turn 5 I won't know how to draw rainbows." I said, "What do you mean?" Jane said, "Paris is 5 and she can't draw rainbows." and then continued on thinking through the problem and asked, "But I've drawn so many rainbows when I was 3 that I won't forget?"

Jane came across her first toy gun at a friends house. It was a big rifle that made a noise when you shot it. Jane picked it up and looked over it admiringly and said, "This is for killing people."

Recently I've read a couple self-help sort of books about parenting. One day I was trying out some new tactics on how to talk to Jane when she is crazy upset about something. She noticed and said, "Mom, you're talking funny."

That, of course, was much nicer than the time she asked me what book I was reading. I told her it was a book about being a better mommy. She said, "Oh, because you're a little bit mean?" I said, "Am I kind of a mean mom?" She said very sweetly, "But it's ok. You can read the book."

I've always heard about how older kids try to translate for their younger siblings. Jane likes to do it. One day I was playing with Jack and trying to get him to say "ball" by pausing before giving it to him and encouraging him to say it. Jane chimed in pleading, "He wants the ball! Give it to him! I promise he wants it!"

Jane wanted to go outside at her Aunt's house. Matt talked to her before letting her go outside and said things like, "Don't play by the water, stay in the back yard, etc." Jane said in a teenager-esque voice, "I know what I'm doing, Dad."

After trying on a new pair of shoes Jane went to show Matt and asked, "Do these look foolish?"

Matt opened up the cupboard to get some peanut butter. Jane asked Matt what he was getting. He held up the peanut butter and said, "This." Jane said, "Oh, don't eat all the cereal bars, Ok, dad?"

Our family attended a wedding reception held in a beautiful backyard. We were waiting in line on stone steps for our turn to see the bride and groom. I'm not sure what made Jane say it, but she announced excitedly, "This is a holy ghost wedding."

One night we went out as a family to use a coupon I had for a pizza place. While standing in line Jane met another 3-4 year old girl. They never spoke one word to each other. But they become good friends through a series of taps on shoulders, waves, jumping up and down, taking turns shaking their heads back and forth, etc. It was hilarious to watch.

Here's some pics of Jane enjoying pizza on another night.

Because it's Sunday

I don't tend to get too serious on this ol' blog of mine. But because it's Sunday, and because the most important things in life are good to blog about every now and then, I'm going to share with you some very special things.

I want to share with you two blogs that have deeply touched me. The first requires a long paragraph of explanation. I hope the blog owner doesn't mind. She doesn't know me. She does know some friends of mine. There is a group of ladies in California that I first met when I went to visit Matt's family for the first time seven plus years ago. Actually, I only met a few, but have since heard about or blog stalked this impressive group of friends. Individually they are each impressive: beautiful, cool, funny, kind, faithful, but collectively they are amazing. I can't imagine having such a LARGE group of awesome friends. Plus, a lot of them run together so my crush on them basically began there. Enough of that. One of Matt's friends, Lindsay, who I did know, posted on her blog about being a guest contributor on another blog. After following the link I realized Maren was someone who I had long admired from far away. Maren asked the inspiring women in her life to write a post to share in response to the question, "How do you do it?" Each woman has faced her own set of challenges, and each has their own inspiring words of wisdom. Lindsay's post is (here.) Maren's post is (here). But I suggest you start back on August 12th and read them all. If you're like me, your soul will be uplifted and your faith will be strengthened

Second, I'm sharing a very special blog from a very special family. They are friends of ours who lost their sweet 4 month old daughter to heart complications. I cannot tell you how many times my mind wanders to them and what they have taught me when I give myself a few quite moments to think. Attending Annie's funeral is among my most cherished sacred moments. The mom felt very strongly about sharing Annie's life with others because she felt that Annie was hear to teach all of us. She certainly taught me and for that reason I'm sharing it with you, (here).

Have a beautiful Sunday.

Time for a little blogging

August was a pretty fun month. We did a lot of playing.

Markering:

Mud puddling:

Collaging:

Aquadoodling:

Water playing:

We also tried out a lot of art recipes. Stay posted and you can try them too.

Salt paint:

Pasta dyeing:
Foamerator:
Homemade Bubbles:
Sidewalk Paint:

Also this month Jack learned some pretty cool things. He learned how to blow raspberries after sipping his milk and about all the fun that that creates. I walked into the kitchen to find him standing in a puddle of milk thoroughly enjoying himself.

He also learned how much fun it can be to be ambidextrous. He likes to feed himself breakfast with a spoon in each hand. One for oatmeal and one for yogurt.

He's also learned the importance of a good accessory.

Matt learned how to be on the other side of the camera,

And Jane learned how to draw an apple tree.

I learned what it feels like to spend the night away from the kids. I went with 2 old and dear roommates back to our Provo stomping grounds and had a good ol' fashioned sleep over. I laughed until I cried numerous times. Kate retold one of my favorite memories and said it was her 2 year old son's often-requested bedtime story. I'm hoping she'll come share it with you.

me and kate

kate and megan

studying the essentials at the BYU library

Our loot after a morning of garage saleing.

It was a blast. Thanks girls!

That pretty much sums up August! Coming soon: freshman memory, art recipes, and Jane's first day of preschool!

But first, I have 2 important things to get off my chest.

First, you know how when you go to leave a comment on a blog and sometimes you have to type a word in first? Well, have you ever clicked on the handicap icon next to the word verification box? It's a hoot. Actually, it's kind of creepy. (but remember to have your volume on).

Second, we babysat a baby tonight. It was a wonderful reminder that 3 years is the PERFECT spacing between babies for us.