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!

The Snow Shuffle

Waking up to this begets breakfasts with this. It also begins the season of a little something I like to call "The Snow Shuffle." Those of you who have lived in wintery, icy conditions (which is probably all of you) know what I'm talking about. In case there's one person out there who has never tried to walk across the grocery store parking lot when it's snowing or hurried to get to class on time over a three inch layer of ice, let me explain. We all try to avoid this stupid-looking walk the first time we encounter the conditions that make it necessary every year. We all then humiliate ourselves by slipping and falling in front of a full size pickup and busload of school children in said parking lot, or we come close to it, which is almost equally as humiliating. (Imagine yourself slipping in midstep, throwing your arms out to the side and stopping your downward decent just in time to look like a tight-rope walker practicing without a rope.) After that, we succumb to The Shuffle. What is this shuffle, you ask? Basically, you walk very carefully, trying to look as normal as possible but not go too slowly so people don't notice. Instead of walking heal-toe, you just put your whole foot down at once, like Frankenstein. You all know what I'm talking about, right? Well, I caught myself doing this last night as we left the ward Christmas party and went out the car which was covered in about 1/2 inch of snow and was perfectly snow-free when we went inside. It took me what seems to be quite a bit longer than everyone else to perfect this shuffle. I fell quite a few times my first winter in Rexburg, ID. That was my first real encounter with enough snow and ice on a regular basis to necessitate The Shuffle. There are those out there who seemed to be blessed with Sticky Feet. They don't seem to need The Shuffle, they walk quicker than everyone else, and they never seem to fall. My old roommate, Heidi, was one of these. Maybe she did use The Shuffle, but had grown up in a place where the only mode of transportation in the winter was a snow mobile (snow machine, sorry) and had gotten so used to using The Shuffle that she just naturally used it all the time. Or maybe she has another secret that she never shared with the rest of us (half gecko?). So to all of you snowbunnies out there, be safe and don't be afraid to use The Shuffle and run the risk of looking Frankensteinish...it's better than falling flat on your bum, or face, or hip, and having to try to laugh it off as you wince in pain so as to not make others around feel bad for holding back their laughs but can't seem to manage from keeping that smirk off their faces.

Guess what!!

Here's what Craig's been working on and doing now for a few days.

Waiting for some new stuff

I have been trying to get a new video of Craig posted, but have had some trouble. So, in the meantime, here are a couple pictures I don't think I ever posted but are among my favorites.

This one was taken a while ago. I just thought it was so cute. I think he fell over after this was shot.I put rag curlers in my hair one night and it turned out REALLY curly. I was trying to take a picture of it, but Craig was more interested in the camera than I thought anyone would be in my hair, so I decided the keep this picture instead. He was really fighting me to get at that camera.

P.S. I invite all to go to my weatherbug thing on the upper right and click on "forecast". Take a gander at what we'll be looking forward to starting Sunday. Yikes, is all I have to say.

Another silly kitty moment

I was washing the bedding the other day and there was a cat laying on the sheet-less bed. I put the fitted sheet on anyway. (She loves to play under the covers.) I came back an hour later to finish making the bed, and saw this:

That last one is her laying on her side, sound asleep. (She's laying on her right side--that's her left ear sticking out on top.) I wanted to see how long she would stay there so I didn't make the bed and just left her there. I think it was over three hours.

Let it snow, let it snow (pleeeease)

I have been dying to get pictures of Craig in his snowsuit but I wanted to wait until there was some snow (call me crazy). We FINALLY got enough snow for me to justify it. In other words, we finally got some snow that decided to stick, at least for now. We may get more this weekend. We'll see. I live in Montana, for pete's sake. One of the things I really looked forward to when we moved here was that I could finally count on snow every winter and every Christmas. Wrong! (At least about the Christmas part.) Oh well, I guess I should be grateful that we can still navigate our driveway safely. As soon as the snow does come, that becomes a challenge. In the meantime, here's the cute boy looking like a little blue grub.

Check this out

Ever wonder what the number one song was the day you were born? (Or any other day for the last 100 years, for that matter.) Go to www.joshhosler.biz. This guy's got it all. The hit song on the day I was born is "I Love Rock 'n Roll." I guess you could say that's true, but rock 'n roll has changed so much since then. One of my favorite bands from that era is Journey. Another is The Eagles. Do those count as rock 'n roll? Let me know what your songs are!

And the award goes to...

This year, the Golden Pacifier award goes to Mr. Robert S. Leal Jr. for his fantastic work in the daddying department. For the last three months he has been willing to take over the putting-Craig-to-bed routine while I went to stake choir practice every Sunday night for an hour and a half. This may not sound like much to some people, but Mr. Craig is not a happy camper when someone other than Mommy is trying to put him to bed or down for a nap. Despite this obstacle, Robert still took over and let me have this time to participate in our stake Christmas concert without complaint. During this time, there were also numerous occasions (Enrichment night, Pampered Chef party, etc.) when I needed to go somewhere in the evening and leave Craig with Daddy. Robert would continuously accept the responsibility of the fussy evening baby--alone. The real icing on the cake was the night of the Christmas concert. Robert and Craig came that night (even though it was past Craig's bedtime) to support me. The entire time, Robert had to stand up and/or walk to halls with a crying, fussy baby. However, Robert persisted and spent the last 45 minutes of the concert driving Craig around in the car with him wailing in the backseat. To that I say, "Bless your heart, Sweetie." To show my appreciation, I am awarding him with the prestigious Golden Pacifier. Congratulations Robert!

I love this time of year

Here are some things I love about this time of year.

1. Getting up in the middle of the night and seeing the lights of the Christmas tree glowing in the living room.
2. Getting into my robe, having my cup of hot chocolate, and sitting in front of the fire.
   
3. Dressing Craig in all his cute winter clothes. (Still waiting to put him into his awesome snow suit!)
4. The snow, when it gets here.
5. Cold weather and walks in the crisp air.
6. Ice lining the edge of the river banks.
7. Sweaters.
8. The holiday decorations on all the businesses downtown and along main street.
9. The ward Christmas party.
10. Visiting people and seeing their Christmas decorations.
11. Putting up our nativity set.
12. The Christmas Ensign.
13. Planning Christmas gifts (especially stocking stuffers!)
14. Pulling a warm blanket out of the dryer and wrapping myself up.
    
15. Making Christmas cookies.
    

UMT vs. Texas State

We've been trying to get to a UMT game all season and fnally, last week, someone had tickets and couldn't go so they gave them to us!! We were so excited, especially since UMT has been a pretty good team this year. So, off we went, despite the temperature and cloudy skies. Craig was such a trooper. Even when it started to rain, he was happy and awed by all the noise and commotion. We made him a little poncho from a souvenir shop bag. :) He even slept for a little while in the sling. He was all bundled and cozy and snoozing away when it started to snow!! But we hung in there. I just covered his face with the loose end of the sling and he was all toasty warm in there. Despite a rocky start, UMT did end up winning. It was a lot of fun and a great game.

Grandma and Craig

We said goodbye to Grandma Cassie on Friday. We had a fun visit and it was especially nice to have more than just the three of us for the holiday. (Now what are we going to do for Christmas?)