We love waffles, apparently

I made waffles this morning for this first time in a looooooooooong time. Craig's never had them, but I think they're his new favorite. He's had a cold this week and his appetite has been a little down. All he'll eat a full meal of is applesauce--everything else he'll take about five bites of, then gag and spit it out on the sixth. (That was really fun when we were at some friends' house on Monday and he spit spaghetti out all over their carpet.) Anywho, he loves his waffles, though. Can you believe this little guy:

ate one whole one of these (with applesauce, of course, and no syrup)?

What a champ, at least I thought so. By the way, if anyone is interested in a really great waffle recipe, I thought I'd include this one. It's my favortie, by far. It's better than any Krustees or Bisquick or anything from scratch I've ever tried. It does require whipping egg whites, which if you don't have an electric mixer or at least a hand beater, I wouldn't recommend. If that's you, sorry. The fluffy egg whites really make this recipe.

1 3/4 cup flour 3 egg yolks
2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 cup veg. oil
2 Tablespoons sugar 1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt 3 egg whites, beaten stiff
vanilla and cinnamon, optional to taste

Preheat waffle iron. I start by putting the egg whites into the mixer, turning it on high, and letting it go while I do everything else. They're usually stiff by the time I'm ready to fold them in. (In case you don't know, beaten stiff or stiff peaks means that when you lift the beater out of the egg whites, it leaves a peak.) Measure the dry ingredients into a speparate bowl and blend. Combine egg yolks and milk, then stir into dry ingredients. Stir in cooking oil. Carefully fold in egg whites. Do not overmix. Pour into waffle iron (my waffle iron takes about 1/4 to 1/3 cup batter per square) and bake until waffles stop steaming. Hope they turn out well for you! I make a whole batch (see above picture and add two) then I freeze them in twos and toast when I'm ready to eat them.

Chia-head!

I am the assistant in our ward's Achievement Days and yesterday we had a really cool activity. I loved it so much, I made one! It's a homemade chia-head. The girls had fun decorating theirs with ribbons and buttons and multi-colored paper, but I decided to make mine a boy. Robert thinks I did it to make fun of him, but I tried to tell him that it's going to GROW hair, so it won't always be bald. He still takes it personally. :) I think it's cute. Here are the directions:

Supplies: knee high nylons
1 cup potting soil
Empty (clean) yogurt cup (Yoplait with the narrow mouths works best)
2 tablespoons grass seed
Googley eyes
Permanent marker
Glue gun (not glue stick)
Paper, buttons, ribbons, etc. to decorate "shirts" on the yogurt cups

Directions:
Place grass seed into bottom of knee high
Top with potting soil and form into a ball or "head"
Tie a knot at end of "ball"
Glue on googley eyes and draw mouth with marker
Decorate yogurt cup as desired
Fill up yogurt cup with water (at least1/2 to 3/4 of the way) and check water daily
(the tail of the knee-high soaks up the right amount of water to keep the grass watered as long as you check the water level daily)

I have mine on the window sill and will let you know once it starts growing hair. We have no idea how long it might take, but the other fun part is once it starts to grow, you can trim it, put bows in it, be creative! I thought it was so cute and a great indoor activity for kids, especially home schooling. Or even family home evening--we read Alma 32:28 and related this to planting a seed in your heart, etc. Let me know if any of you do it and how they turn out.

Thppptthhppt!!

We love to blow zerburts (sp?) on Craig's tummy and cheek (as I'm sure most people do to their babies) and he loves it, too. He loves it so much, in fact, that he decided to return the favor. :) The first time he did this, I was rocking him and singing to him, trying to put him down for a nap, when suddenly, I feel his little lips on the inside of my arm.....and then he blew. It was pretty good for the first time and I couldn't help but laugh. Now he does it whenever he wants to be funny. :) This video was last night--I only got him doing it once since he became so distracted by the camera that he lost interest in Robert's arm. That's why the camera goes black a couple of times--he kept noticing it, so I'd try to hide it. Anyway, it's pretty cute, so I hope the video is good enough to see it.

Swagbucks

Have any of you heard of this Swagbucks thing? It's a new way to search online that gives you "swagbucks" every time you search. Use this instead of google, for example, and get gift cards when you've earned enough bucks. It's only a little at a time, but it adds up. There's one lady who says she saved all her bucks for a year and used the gift cards she got to do her Christmas shopping. It's powered by google, so you get the same search results and the only difference is you get points for your searches, which then turn into giftcards of your choice! It's pretty cool and it only takes a second to sign up and begin searching. Click this link and it will take you there, and it will track that it came from my blog so I will get a point for every point you get! Hope you all enjoy it.

This is why I sometimes call him StinkFace

I love this face Craig makes. He does this, then he breathes in and out really hard, like a bull waiting to charge. Silly boy. :)

I was bored yesterday (duh) and decided to take a picture of Craig's hair. (Yeah, I was that bored.) No matter what I do, I cannot get it to stay down. Most people laugh and say it's cute, and I tend to agree, but Robert thinks it looks too messy and always tries to tame it. What does he know, anyway?

P.S. When you're blogging and you suddenly realize that the pitter-patter of little hands and the thump of little knees has stopped, and you can't even hear the bull-waiting-to-charge breathing, go check to make sure that your baby isn't picking the crud off the kitchen floor and eating it. (I know, I should sweep more often.)

Bleak...Boring...Day

What do you do when it looks like this outside, everyday for numerous days in a row, it's too cold to go for walks, you feel like you're on the verge of puking every minute of every day, you have a bored 8 1/2 month old baby hanging on your pant legs, and you have no vehicle to escape the monotony? Me? I call my family and complain, but if anyone else has a better idea, please let me know. (Sorry to be such a downer, but I wanted to post something since I haven't had anything post-worthy happen for the last few days, and this is my life right now.)

It's days like today that make me wish we lived in California, Florida, or someplace with a little Vitamin D in the air. And that we didn't live on the top of hill, and that we had neighbors. Okay, I'm done.

What's that term...Twerd?

I guess that's what I am. In about 14 days I have read almost all four of the Twilight books. (I'm about halfway through the last one now.) And I've seen the movie, so I guess that makes me an official "Twerd." Robert would say that the part that makes me a Twerd is the fact that I read about 16 hours a day and it takes me three days to do a load of laundry and a sink full of dishes. Craig eats and gets his naps, and his diaper gets changed. I eat, usually, and go to the bathroom, whenever absolutely necessary, and I begrudgenly make calls and run errands when I start getting past due notices, but otherwise...I read. On the bright side, I'm almost done and I can't wait to find out what happens to Bella!!! Things have taken a turn I never would have expected. Once I'm done, I will go back to normal life, I promise. Robert thinks this is weird and that I have a problem. Please, those of you out there who can relate to this on any level (whether you got sucked into Twilight or some other addictive book series) please let me know I am not alone so I can prove it to him! However, despite his total lack of understanding in this area (Robert is totally not a reader--he can read, don't get me wrong, but he just doesn't get what the big deal about reading is), he still surprised me last night by coming up with unexpected tip money, again, and offering to watch Craig while a friend of mine (another Twerd) and I went to the see the movie! Thursday was the last night it was playing. I think it's gone today and I totally thought I was going to have to wait until the DVD came out. So, the guys hung out together and watched the kids while we took off to the movies and Coldstone afterward. It was a lot of fun--something neither my friend nor I have done in a LONG time. So, thank you Roberto, for letting me embrace my inner Twerdness! I love you!

What do you do on your day off?

Do you think electricians rewire their house on their day off, just for fun. Probably not.

Do lumberjacks go stack wood on their days off, just for fun. I don't think so.

Do computer programmers play with computers on their days off, just for fun? Probably more often then you'd think.

But what does a chef do on his day off? He says to his wife, "I know what we can do today! Let's make a gourmet meal from whatever we have in the house and invite someone over for dinner!"

And what does a chef's wife think of when she's hears her husband say that? I really don't look forward to a day worth of dishes, since most chefs use every pot, pan, dish, and utensil in the kitchen...twice.

However, we came to a compromise and this is what the menu ended up being:
Shrimp Bisque, steak medallions with marsala and mushroom demi glace, potatoes gratin, french-style green beans, and creme brulee for dessert.

We invited an older couple who have invited us to dinner twice now and we hadn't had them over once yet. It went really well and everything turned out deliciously. I was going to take pictures, but I was so busy keeping up with the dishes I didn't have time. :)

Catching up

Here are some pictures from Christmas. First we emptied our stockings and Craig got lots of little things, like a toy car, a little rubber football, some other stuff, and these cute antlers.

This is all of us with our loot. Robert bought me a new bedding set that's I've been wanting. I got him some dumb little things because I was under the impression that the car was our Christmas present this year and we were going to just get each other stuff from the Dollar Tree to open on Christmas morning. He got a little book of inspirational thoughts, candy, screwdrivers, a red kitchen towel that says "Naughty" (my favorite), a whoopie cushion, and some other stuff. However, I guess he came into some tip money from all the banquets they did in December and spent it all on me. Which was fine with me, expect I wish there was some way for me to get something a little better for him. Oh well. He also got me a collection of Jane Austen movies and some other things I've really been wanting. Craig got some cool toys and books--things that we got him mostly to occupy him for longer periods of time and make our lives a little easier. (That's how we justified it.)

This is how the kitty spent Christmas Day (and practically every day.) She got a new toy for Christmas, too. No, I didn't pose her.

And last but not least, some of you already know our news, but I bet the rest of you can guess! Yep, we're expecting number two! I'm due the beginning of September so I'm only about 6 or 7 weeks along. Craig will be 16 months by then. I was trying to find one of those neat pregnancy tracker things to put on the blog, but I couldn't find one that fit and that I liked. I liked the one that Tammy and Bonnie had on their blogs. Could one of you please tell me where to find it? Thanks.

I'm Back!!!

I have returned from the land of the undead (can you tell I've been reading Twilight?). Or, in other words, the land of the internet-less. I have considered posting a long, detailed harangue of the trials and tribulations we have suffered the last month without internet service, but I think I will keep it short. (Some of you have already heard my complaints anyway.) Let me just say that I have missed you all and I am WAAAAY too dependent on technology. (I bet we can all remember when we didn't even have answering machines, let alone computers.) I greatly look forward to catching up on all your blogs and will be posting Christmas pictures and more soon. See ya tomorrow!