Those little moments

Usually when I put Craig to bed for a nap or at night I say, "Good night, Craig. Say, 'Night, night Mommy." Then he'll say, "Night, night Mommy.'" And then I'll say, "Love you, Craigers. Say, 'Love you Mommy.'" Then he'll say, "Wuv oo, Mommy." Today, however, when I put him down for a nap he beat me to it. For the first time he said, "Night, night Mommy. I wuv oo," all by himself. I became a little puddle on the floor. How do they do that? He can make me burn in frustration at one time, and melt my heart at another. Motherhood is a roller coaster, for sure.

Or maybe more like an old time rail journey. :)

Family Halloween party

Monday was Robert's only day (and consequently night) off until next Monday, after Halloween, so we had our pumpkin carving and Halloween party all in one night. I made these little ham and cheese sandwiches from a recipe I got out of a magazine and roasted applesauce. The sandwiches really don't need a recipe. They're just pie crusts cut out with a pumpkin cookie cutter (the top pumpkin has the eyes and nose cut out) with ham and cheese in the middle, egg wash brushed on top, and baked for about 15 minutes. They were kid-friendly and fun. The applesauce recipe is awesome and I got it here. I think I might have posted this last year, too. Sorry for the repetition, but it's THAT good.


After dinner, we carved pumpkins. Craig didn't remember it last year, of course, so this year he was fascinated by the inside of these big orange things he's been seeing in all the stores for over a month. Here's Robert working on his while Craig is trying to set the house on fire.

Don't worry, I took the lighter away after this picture. It has a safety anyway, but just in case. And there's my pumpkin in the background. Here are the two finished products.

Robert's, of course, is awesome. Mine's cute. They look great outside on our wall together, though. Well, Happy Halloween everyone!

McDonald's Farm

We went to the Pumpkin farm yesterday! It was really a lot of fun. Craig was really able to enjoy himself this year. There were a few times he was afraid to try something new, but we convinced (pushed) him into it and he loved it. He is going through the phase where he likes the idea of something like riding a horse but when it comes down to it, he's afraid to try it. I guess that's pretty common, but it's annoying because I know he'd really love it, which he always does. When it came to horseback rides, we had to make Ethan go first.
He liked it, but was kind of oblivious. Once Craig saw Ethan go, he loosened up. Although, it wasn't for another hour, after the petting zoo and a hayride, that he finally started to get really excited to ride the horse. Even then, Robert had to stand on one side while I lifted him up onto the saddle. He was clinging onto me for dear life and whimpering all along the way. Once up, he decided it was awesome.It's funny for me to think that the last time I rode a horse I was about 12 weeks pregnant with Craig. On the way out, he kept asking for another ride. I think it was a success. Here we are on the hayride to the pumpkin patch:

That was something else we had to drag Craig onto. Once he got up and we got going, he loved it. They were so cute at the pumpkin patch. Ethan found a little one with a nice long, hooked stem and carried it around. Craig spent his time rearranging them all and saying, "I put away!" Then there was the petting zoo. When you walk in, there are several pot bellied pigs, two miniature donkeys, and a miniature horse. Regardless, Craig yells, "Chickens!" and starts to chase them all over the yard.


We also got to go into a bunny pen and pet all the bunnies. That was a big hit with both of the boys. I love this time of year. I'm glad we found this little farm/ranch right here in Scottsdale. They do trail rides and camp outs and all kinds of neat things. We'll definitely have to go back.

Ah, Facebook

Texting flushed the English language down the toilet for the first ten years of the twenty-first century. Facebook, with its on-the-fly status posting, seems to be proving itself the grammar-killer for the 2010 decade. My favorite mishap for today:

aspherguis

Any guesses what this says? (Hint: it's a vegetable.)

ANOTHER new addition to the family

We got a puppy! Her name is Jade, she's a Rottweiler, and she sleeps about 90% of the day. As you can see, she's just about the cutest little thing you've ever seen. We were looking at either her, her sister, or another person had an English Mastiff male puppy we were THIS close to getting. Both Robert and I really like Mastiffs but I was a little nervous about the size of them. I know they're really gentle and friendly, but with such little kids I was concerned he would just be too much for me to handle. We decided to go with the Rott because she's a girl, she's really mellow, and she'll be smaller than the Mastiff, of course. We came up with the name Jade because Robert has been trying to convince me for years to name our first girl that (if we ever have one). I, however, think we're just asking for trouble if we name our daughter something that sounds like an exotic dancer's stage name. (No offense to anyone out there named Jade who's not an exotic dancer.) It's a great name for a dog, though. Anyway, she's seven weeks old and is so cuddly, cute, and loves playing with the boys. They love her, too. We're trying to get Ethan to say "Jade" since he's pretty much called her "Kitty" since we got her. In his defense, she's a small black animal, just like the cat, so I can understand the confusion. Well, wish me luck!

First words and endless chatter

Two kids and "Mom" (or some variation) has yet to be the first articulated, recognizable word out of either of their mouths. Ethan burst out with, "didy!" (kitty) the other day when the cat walked into the room. He proceeded to follow her around the house, repeating his version of her name for the next fifteen minutes. He was only distracted from that activity when he heard Robert walking around upstairs. He toddled over to the gate on the stairs and yelled, "Da-ie!" To my credit, I have at least been able to prompt him to say, "Mama," which Craig refused to do until he was over 18 months old, at least.

As a side note, I need to get something off my chest.

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Phew.

After the day we had at church today, I needed that. The last few days Craig has been a little monster and this morning while we were getting ready for church was the same. He is constantly doing something he shouldn't: taking toys away from Ethan, pushing Ethan, hitting Ethan, putting several movies into the PlayStation, saying no whenever I ask him to do anything, etc. I was continually stopping what I was doing to put Craig in timeout or count to three. We finally got to church and the only reasonable seats were in front of a family of three active children. Practically the only other active children in the whole ward. Any noise during church came from one or both of our families. Craig refuses to whisper (he's still learning, I know) and seems to think that everyone else is so quiet and reverent during the Sacrament just to listen to him. His cute/annoying motor mouth becomes unbearable during church. And again, any attempt on our part to distract him with toys, snacks, or coloring is answered with, "No!" For the second week in a row, I've had to take him out during the passing of the sacrament just so others could enjoy a little peace for fifteen minutes. However, our ward doesn't pass it into the foyer (or at least they haven't noticed me leave, somehow) so I've had to go without. Needless to say, by the end of the first hour we are all more than ready to send Craig off to nursery. Luckily, he gets nothing but glowing praise from the nursery leaders. He's a good sharer and very polite. The real kick in the pants is that so much of the time he is so funny, cute, sweet, and innocent I'm constantly feeling guilty for letting myself get angry with him at his worst times.

I know many of you have been there (or are there now) so what do you do for active 2 1/2 year olds during church?

Tangled necklaces? You've come to the right place!

The Relief Society here had an activity night where they made necklace holders. I couldn't go that night, but I did see the examples they had at church and made my own. I have been looking for a way to hang up my necklaces for so long and this was the perfect answer. I thought I would share it in case someone else out there is having the same trouble I had.

First of all, the example at church said to stretch a piece of fabric over the cardboard piece inside a decorative frame and glue it in the back. I didn't have a nice frame or a pretty piece of fabric, so I went looking at Ross. I found this picture instead. So mine's not fabric, it's the generic picture that came inside. I just had to break the glass out. The hangers are just decorative drawer pulls that I got at the hardware store. I screwed them in through the back of the picture and I was done! I did have to cut a little extra cardboard from an old box to use as spacers in the back, but that was the most complicated it got. Anyway, I thought I would share since this has solved about ten years of tangled necklaces for me and I think it's pretty.

Pinanta

I tried making my own pinata. Should've known that I always need to follow directions and looked up some tips online first. I did have the presence of mind to use a balloon with a rubber band on one end so I could hang it while I put the paper mache on. However, I forgot to build some kind of thing to hang it up with once I popped the balloon. I also started by using way too much flour and water so it dried kind of funny. Here is it while I covering it with the paper mache.


I wanted to paint it white and then let Craig have at it with his paint brush, but the thing's been sitting around for so long, I just want to punch a hole in it, hang it up, let Craig whack it with a broom, and be done. I love the idea of this, though. Here's a really cool one from Family Fun with all the directions you need if you want to try it. Maybe I'll do that one next time. I'm looking forward to watching Craig have fun with it, but it would've been so much better if I had been organized from the beginning.

Poor baby

Ethan was walking around outside the other day and started going up a slight incline in the driveway. When he realized it was too steep for his little unstable self, he turned around to walk back down. Instead, he fell forward and totally face planted into the gravel and rocks that run alongside the driveway. Poor baby. He just laid there until I ran over to him, face down, crying, with his arms tucked under him. I can't figure out why he didn't even try to save himself. Poor kid. His little nose was all scabby and red for a few days. It's a good thing babies heal so quickly.

My new toy

Meet the newest member of our family!

I have been wanting a freezer for a very long time and we finally got one. Now I can't wait to really start maximizing on the couponing thing and stocking up on perishables when they're really on sale and I can get a good deal. Is it weird that I'm so excited? I don't think so.

This picture says so much about my husband, Robert. First of all, they're all obscure Asian foods and sauces. Okay...so the little chocolate filled panda cookies on the left were my pick. But after that (from left to right) there's sweet soy, sweet chili sauce, oyster sauce, black sesame oil, and black bean garlic sauce. We found an awesome Asian market in Mesa and he just about had a heart attack among all the udon noodles, rice paper, weird sauces, and kim chee.

The other part of this picture that defines Robert is this. When we got home, I went upstairs to put the kids down for naps and Robert put the groceries away. This picture is what I found on the counter. We don't have an Asian food shelf in our kitchen, so these got to live on the counter for a while. Notice, however, that they are all lined up, tallest to shortest, and each with its label dutifully facing out for easy identification. This is a classic Robert move. If it were up to him, all the canned food would be lined up like little soldiers, labels out and in a neat row. The funny thing, though, is that he's not the one who has to use the stuff and try to resort everything back into their rows whenever I go shopping. I'm doing well to have a shelf for canned fruit and a separate one for veggies with no intermingling.

Anyway, I just thought this was funny and wanted to share a little about him.

Candid moments caught on camera

I love it when one (or both) of the boys does something cute and I happen to have the camera right there...and I actually get a good picture, too!

Craig loves to hold the cat. She doesn't love him so much, as you can tell in this picture, but she is so tolerant with him as he learns how to be gentle with pets. I've wanted to get a couple of pictures of him hugging her or giving her kisses, but I never seem to have the camera handy. Good thing for her she's too big for him to pick up on his own and he still needs my help.

When most toddlers just start walking, it's all they want to do. That's how Craig was. Ethan, though, is so cuddly. Whenever he comes across a pillow or blanket on the floor, he has to lay on it, tuck his little arms under him, and snuggle for a minute. Here he found my pajamas and decided to wallow in my scent, I guess. The kid loves the camera.

Today I'm thankful for balloons

This:

Plus this:


Equals about 30 minutes of a happy two year old and an un-tormented baby.


Today I'm thankful for balloons and all the fun, safe, active playtime they create! I think it's time to go to the dollar store and invest in a case of these things. The possibilities are endless.

Hospital birth: 1 Home birth: Infinity

There's a chain of hospitals down here all called Banner Something-or-other. Ethan was born at Banner Gateway, but there's also Banner Baywood and many others, including one called Cardon's Children Medical Center. Apparently Cardon's keeps track of when the babies born at Banner hospitals turn one year old and they select a chosen few to receive a special birthday present: a free three month membership to the Phoenix Zoo! I was totally floored when I got this offer in the mail about two weeks ago. I called right away and signed up for it. My voucher came Monday afternoon so yesterday, being my mother in law's last day with us (Robert drove her home after work last night) she and I took the kids to the zoo. It was so much fun. As a member, you also get discounts on the safari train, camel rides, giraffe feedings, and other cool things. It was warm, but at least it was under 100. We were home by 1:00, though. Craig crashed in the car at about 12:30, I laid him down when we got home and he continued sleeping until 4:30! I was shocked...and grateful. That made it possible for me to take an hour nap after putting Ethan down. I'm still recuperating from my big weekend. Here are a few pictures. I can't wait to go again!

There are several splash pads like this at the zoo. I forgot to bring swim stuff for Craig, but it was hot enough for him to just play in his shirt and diaper and then dry off pretty quickly afterward before I changed his diaper and put his pants back on. I think this was his favorite part. He LOVES the water.

We also ate lunch at the splash pad. We had several ducks for company. One of them tried to snag a piece of an orange (or "orshan" as Craig says) out of his hand. Craig was kind of scared of them after that. I thought it was funny. :)

I've ridden an elephant, but never a camel. Craig didn't want to go at first, but once he got on, he had fun. He kept saying, "Horse?" and I'd say, "No, camel. Say camel." Then he'd say, "Horse." Okay, Craig, so it's a horse.

There and Back Again (it's a very useful title, isn't it?)

It has been a very big week for me. On Labor Day, we drove to a town called Show Low to pick up Robert's mom and bring her back to Fountain Hills with us. That was a long day and I won't go into tired babies and being stuck in Labor Day traffic for four hours. I think I kind of just went into it anyway.

On Tuesday, at the last minute, I was able to go with Robert and a couple of guys from work to watch the Diamondbacks/Giants baseball game. They got tickets from a food purveyor (Sysco) and one of the guys backed out. Since Cassie was here (my MIL), I got to go and she watched the kids! They were awesome seats (about three rows back from the home dugout), we had access to the under-the-stadium restaurant, and we had a $10 credit--so a buffet that normally costs $23 only cost us $13! If you've ever been to a professional sports game you know you can spend that on a hotdog and a bag of chips. Arizona lost, but I am a San Francisco fan at heart, so I won either way.

Thursday was the day I had been waiting for, though. That was the morning I flew out to Sacramento to meet my mom and two sisters for a weekend in the city, away from children. husbands, and responsibility. I was very excited/nervous about leaving them since the longest I've been away from either one of my boys was when I went to the hospital to have Ethan. I held myself together well until my plane was on the runway. The engines revved, and we began speeding down the lane, launching into the air. I felt this desperate, inner voice yell, "Stop! I'm not ready! You're pulling me away from my boys and I have no power to stop it!" I involuntarily burst into tears as I watched Arizona shrink away. All of sudden it was very real to me just how far away Sacramento is from Arizona. I got over it, though, by the time we reached 10,000 feet and pulled myself together. I found refuge in the new book I bought at the airport: Eat, Pray, Love.

After that emotional outburst, I got all my nervousness out at once and felt much more confident the rest of the trip. I didn't worry about Craig and Ethan at all. I missed them like heck, but I didn't worry. I had so much fun. It was great to get away and see my family...well, most of them. I spent Thursday night at my parent's house and Friday morning my sister Laura, my mom, and I headed out to meet Anna in Fairfield before heading to Sacramento. I did get to stop and visit with some of my favorite people in Sonora, though before we left Friday morning. I used to work at a center for disabled adults for about two years before Robert and I moved to Montana. I surprised them and got to catch up on everything I've missed these last three years.

Under the capitol dome

In Sacramento we ate a lot, rested a little, laughed, walked, shopped, swam, and had a great time. We got to visit the capitol where we saw a police officer on horseback and took a picture in front of Queen Isabel from Spain (who said she would pawn her crown jewels to help America succeed--where's the queen of Spain in this economy, huh?) Saturday afternoon, my mom and sisters dropped me off at the airport and they went back to their homes. It was a lot of fun and I am so grateful to the grandma and husbands who made it possible for us to see each other and have a fun couple of days away. I got home right at bedtime and was able to see my boys for a few brief moments. I had missed them so much and it was good to see how much they had missed me. But they were good for Grandma in my absence. I'm ready to get back into the swing of things, though.

The cobblestone road in Old Town Sacramento

Despite Craig's best attempts, Ethan made it to his first birthday

Mr. Ethan turned one today and I can't believe it. I know everyone says that, and I said it on both of Craig's birthdays so far, but I really look at Ethan and see a baby still. Not a toddler. Maybe it's because he's so much smaller than Craig ever was at this age. He's barely big enough to be in a forward facing car seat. We had to put Craig in a big car seat, turned backwards, when he was seven months old. I'm tempted to just leave Ethan rear facing for a while because they sleep so much better that way on long trips.

Robert wasn't feeling well so he stayed home from church today. For a special treat for Ethan's birthday we let him stay home, too, and have three fulls hours without Craig! After dinner, we celebrated with this carrot bunny cake:


I made one like this for Craig's first birthday and I think I might make it a tradition. I'm certainly not claiming to be a cake decorator, but I think it turned out cute. Craig knew it was a bunny, so I guess that's a plus. Here are some pictures of the messy little birthday boy diving into his cake. I wish I could say this was his first taste of sugar, but it's not. I'll be honest.
The blogger video feature hasn't been working right, I've noticed, so I might try to post a video of him squishing it between his fingers at another time. If it doesn't show up, it's because I couldn't get it to work right.

By the way, I've noticed some of you have successfully posted videos in the last few months, any tips on how to do it? Do you use something other than blogger?

NCRM missionaries please read!

I got this in my email today and wanted to post it so anyone who may not be on the mission email list can know about it. Let me know if you want your email sent to Pres. and Sis. Welch and get on their list.

The family of Garth and Melba Welch is hosting an open house to celebrate their 50^th Wedding Anniversary on Saturday, September 18^th from 5:00 – 7:30 pm, to be held at 3910 No. 800 West, Pleasant View, Utah. In case of inclement weather it will be held at the church on the corner of Pleasant View Drive and 900 West. We would love to have you and your family join us for a combined anniversary celebration and missionary reunion.

We are sorry we were not able to get this out earlier. My computer has been down for a couple of weeks and we are hoping that it will hang in there till we notify everyone. We would appreciate your passing this on to others. It is far better to have several notices than none. Hope to see as many of you who can make it.

What do you get a one year old with a million toys and tons of clothes for his birthday?

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything really interesting. I've been waiting to take some good pictures but Robert took our camera to work. So, I figured I would just tell you all what's going on around here and put some pictures up next week. It seems like there's been a lot going on and we've all been busy, but then when I sit to write about it I can't think of anything worth documenting. Craig is using more complete sentences and just beginning to attempt "the, is, and" etc. I love being able to ask him questions and trust that his answers are really answers and not just the first this that popped into his mind. Ethan's walking is more and more confident every day. He's crawling less and less. He also got comfortable wearing his little soft-soled shoes at church on Sunday.

Here's something you can help me with---what do you suggest I get Ethan for his birthday? I want something he and Craig can (relatively) easily share but I'm not interested in just buying him a new toy. A couple ideas I had was a sandbox. I was thinking of using a plastic swimming pool. However, around here you have to worry about things like scorpions and tarantulas burrowing into the sand. So I would have figure out some kind of cover for it. Would that just be too much trouble? I also thought of getting a little plastic slide, but we only have a concrete patio and no grass, so I might just be asking for trouble there. My last thought was a double sided easel and some kids finger paints. I don't know. What suggestions or advice do you all have from your experiences?

Pasta with Turkey and Zucchini

I made this for dinner last night from a recipe I found on the Food Network website. This week, I've planned meals that are lighter, simple in flavor, and easier to make and this was my first edition. I ended up making a lot of variations since I was trying to save money and use what I had on hand so the end product was quite a bit different than the original recipe. If you want to see the recipe I based this on, you can find it here. This is what I ended up making:

Pasta with Zucchini and Turkey (catchy name, I know)

1 bag (12 oz.) Bow-tie pasta
1 medium zucchini, coarsely grated
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium tomatoes, cut into chunks
1/4 lb. turkey lunch meat, cut into strips
1/4 lb. mozzarella, cut into cubes
1 cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste

First cook the pasta in salted water. Put grated zucchini in a strainer, mix with the 1/4 tsp. salt, and set in the sink to rest for at least 10 minutes. The salt draws out the moisture from the zucchini and seasons it at the same time. Drizzle the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add the garlic and saute until lightly browned, about 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and let them cook for a few minutes while you squeeze out the excess moisture from the zucchini. Add zucchini to the tomatoes and garlic. Lastly, add the turkey, pasta, and chicken stock. Stir well and simmer for a few minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and fold in the mozzarella chunks. Let sit for a few minutes to allow the mozzarella to heat through and begin melting. I was surprised at how simple the flavors are but how addicting this is, too. As a side note, I used a dash of cayenne pepper when I added the garlic to the oil. It was the perfect amount of spice for me, but too much for the kids. Just a little variation, in case you like a little spice.

The best thing about this was the only I had to buy was the zucchini--I already had everything else. I like that this is versatile and you can easily make substitutions, like squash or cucumber, maybe, or bell peppers, onions, feta, parmesan, ham, shrimp, cilantro, lime juice...anything, really! (Except maybe not all of those things together. :)) Just remember to keep the ratios of dry to wet ingredients the same.

We have walker!

Ethan started trying to take a few steps about two weeks ago but it was really minimal. I thought it would be a month or so before he really got the hang of it. On Saturday, though, I noticed he was starting to stumble with a little more confidence and realized that it was going to happen sooner than I thought. Sure enough, today I think he can officially be classified as a walker. He prefers to walk now and only crawls when he's upset (like if he bonked his head or was pushed by Craig). He's even mastering the art of stopping, standing for a minute, and then walking again. He changes directions, too! I can't believe my little baby is embarking on toddlerhood. I sure love this little boy.