New Name

Sweet little Olive has requested that we 

start calling her 

Banana.

So we have.

Friday Cookies

Some of you may remember several years ago when 

we tested recipes for holiday cookies.

We have decided to start it again, and I'm disappointed that

I can't find my magazine that we used a few years ago, since

there were plenty of recipes that we hadn't tried yet.

So I've been using pinterest, of course.

I will try to remember to take pictures in the future, but no promises.

The first one we tried is

Cran Pistachio Cookies

The recipe I found called for a Betty Crocker sugar

cookie mix, but when we made them last week I tried using my

favorite sugar cookie recipe. I also followed the advice of some of the comments

and didn't use quite as many nuts.

And they turned out great.

Try them!

2/3 c shortening

3/4 c sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

4 tsp milk

2 c flour

1 small box pistachio pudding mix

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

 1/2 c roasted, salted pistachio nuts - chopped

1/2 c dried cranberries - chopped (I didn't chop)

Cream the shortening, sugar, & vanilla.  Add the egg and milk and mix well.

Combine the dry ingredients and then mix together.  Finally,

add the nuts and cranberries.

Bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes.

The flavor we tried yesterday is

Chocolate Dipped Molasses Cookie

Also delicious.

1 1/2 c butter

2 c brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c molasses

4 1/2 c flour

4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

white sugar for rolling the dough (I used about 1/2 c)

2 bags white chocolate chips (I only used one & didn't dip them all)

Cream butter & sugar.  Add eggs & molasses.  Mix dry ingredients together then 

slowly mix into the wet.  Roll into 1-2" balls, and roll in white sugar.  Bake 

on parchment paper-lined pans at 375 for 10-12 minutes.  

Melt chocolate in double boiler & dip half a cookie into it.  Place on

wax paper to dry. 

Both of these recipes can be found on

The Girl Who Ate Everything blog,

labled as 12 Days of Christmas cookies.

And of course we will be trying more and if the cookies are good,
I'll post a copy of the recipe here.

It's About TIme & Halloween

I have not been interested in blogging for months.

It was a task to convince myself to write the last post, and it's

been this long before I've really thought about posting another.

I don't know why that is.

I even stopped reading blogs, even though I love, love, love

to read the blog posts of my friends and see what you are up to.

And I missed a lot, which makes me sad.

But I can't go back and change my actions.

We've had a lot going on around here since summer, even though there

are so many days that it doesn't feel like it.

But I'm not feeling well today, so it's a lazy day and perfect to get

back to blogging, right?

And I'm going to start small.

The girls, of course, wanted to be princesses for Halloween.

And they, of course, wanted to be pink and purple princesses.

So I headed to the fabric store and bought fleece, since it was on sale

and I thought it'd be nice and warm for a costume.

I bought two yards of each color & had plenty of fabric, so these dresses

were $8 a piece, and then I'll probably make some new winter hats with the rest.

 I just used some elastic and felt from my fabric stash to make the crowns, after

finding a great tutorial and pattern online somewhere.

 The boys were all going to be grandpas, and we were going to cut Sour Cream's 

hair into a grandpa style (shave the top bald), but I never made it to

the thrift store to find him or daddy a sweater for their costume, so I ended up

improvising.  He wore his jeans, plaid coat, winter hat, and I made a quick

felt axe so he could be a lumberjack.

I tried putting some makeup on his face to give him a goatee, but he resisted

and it looked like a bunch of gunk, so I wiped it off and we were out the door.

And the baby, of course, hated his outfit.  But he was warm

and it was in our costume box.

Four

We are now a family of six!

Surprise!!

Here's my sweet Baby B, who will be referred to on this

blog as Cheddar.

We didn't really tell too many people that we were expecting, so don't feel

bad if you were out of the loop.

Of course we told our families (but not until around week 22),

and people who could see my belly could tell, but that's about it.

He was actually early (he wasn't due until next week), which is a new experience for me.

He was born when I was 38 weeks along, and all the rest have been late.

I woke up early one morning, when Kidney Bean's alarm was going off.

He was delaying getting out of bed and after the snooze woke me up one too

many times, I gave him a nudge.  But then I realized that Sour Cream was crying.

I wasn't too happy about being the one to take care of him, since I 

didn't really need to get up and face the day yet, but I went and helped him out.

When I went back to bed, my belly hurt a little, but I figured it was just a normal pain,

since I was long into the uncomfortable stage already.

But then I decided to head to the bathroom and my water broke.

So I went downstairs quickly and told Kidney Bean what happened.

He had just started digging into his eggs, sausage, and toast, but he left those behind

and got dressed while I tried to get ahold of someone who could come over

and watch our sleeping kids.

I really didn't want a repeat of last time & having them come to the hospital in the wee

small hours of the morning.

Luckily, I had a friend who was able to come over before she had to go to work.

She showed up quickly and we rushed off, hoping to make it.

The contractions were strong and coming fast, but I wasn't 

yelling and yelling while we drove, so I was feeling pretty good.

We arrived at the maternity ward about the same time as two other women, and

for some reason there was only one nurse available.  We were somehow

chosen as the 'lucky' ones who were attended to last.

I was sitting on an exam table in the Triage room for more than 20 minutes before she 

was able to come and check on us.

My contractions were about 2 minutes apart and she did all the admitting stuff and we

walked down to a delivery room.

Things went really well.  And my doctor was the one on call that morning, starting

just about the time that I delivered.  He walked in the room, 

took off his coat, washed his hands, and it was time.

I was yelling and yelling as I pushed, but then I think I was a little distracted

by the pain because the next thing I knew, a nurse had grabbed me by

the shoulders and shouted, "HEY!!  You need to focus and bear down!"

So I nodded at her and did.

And out he came.

A tiny little 6 pounds, 13 ounces.

And now it's about two weeks later and we are both doing great.

And here's some more pictures of this new little cutie, including one where

he and Sour Cream are introduced.

Bacon

I have a friend who was ready to swear off bacon.

I know, the horror!

But a bunch of FB buddies stepped in and suggested

said friend try cooking it in the oven.

And since we had bacon that night for dinner, I thought I'd take some 

photos to demonstrate how I do it.

I preheat the oven to 400 - some people prefer to put the bacon in

the oven cold, but ours takes a long time to heat up, so I preheat it for bacon.

Then I grab some foil and make some 'boats'.

I make sure that each boat has a tall side, to keep as much of the fat in as possible.

 

I have a really large sheet pan, and I can fit a whole package of bacon on like this,

with three boats:

 When I use a smaller pan, I generally make only two boats.

Then I cook it around 12 minutes, until it's a little crispy.

 I don't think you can really see in this picture very well how much fat there

is left in the pan, but it kinda pooled on the right side.

I don't wash it right away - I wait a little while so the fat will harden/set a little.

That way, I can just ball up the foil and toss it in the garbage.

And the pan is pretty clean and doesn't require any scraping, just a quick wash by hand.

Mmmm...now I wish I bought bacon this week.

Girls' Room

Here are some pictures of the girls' finished room.

 New bunk beds & curtains.

Neutral, creamy new paint.

 Circle stickers everywhere.

I ordered these from an etsy shop.

I think we had 80 circles in four different colors, and it was

right around $27 for it all.

I thought it was a great deal, especially

since they'll be easy to peel off and take down when we are ready to move

out of here someday.

I taped off an area on each wall, 18" from the ceiling and 36"

from the ceiling.  Then I gave the girls turns (in between choosing myself)

of where they wanted circles to be.  This way, they are not in reach

of little hands, which have peeled off a couple & had to face the consequences.

 

 They love it!

And so do I.

It was kind of a pain to get the walls done.

Here's what they looked like before - 

floor to ceiling purple.  On every wall.

And there was some writing done by some previous

residents.  Apparently their little girl was bad one day

because she took a crayon and wrote her name really

big on the wall, followed by the word 'bad' and a frowning face.

It took two coats of a gray Gripper paint, which we 

used at the suggestion of the girl at the paint counter when I showed her

an approximate color of what was on the walls and how light we wanted to go.

It's a really thick primer, and it was really good we used it because it took almost the whole

can to get the purple to stop showing through.

The we used the premium stuff, Behr Premium Plus Ultra.

We wanted to be sure that the purple was gone for good.

This stuff ended up using two gallons to cover the walls and look good.

It looks great, and we are happy to not have a purple room anymore.

Ouch!

Sour Cream is getting so big.

And breaking his leg in May hasn't slowed this boy down - thank goodness

for doctors who know what they are doing.

We've been reading Little House in the Big Woods lately,

and it made me wonder what we would have done if we hadn't been able

to access a doctor.  He might have been stuck with a limp forever.

Anyway, that's not the point of this post.

The point is how fast this boy is getting.

He doesn't need to keep his hands up and out in front of him for balance much anymore

while he's walking.

Which means he's also starting to try running.

 

And since he always wants to keep up with girls, he's often going top speed.

Tonight after dinner, he was headed for the library book bag,

since that's where the girls had been, and

I heard a bang.

Followed by a cry.

And a scream.

And lots of tears and snot.

As soon as I got into the living room (15 seconds max),

the bruise was already forming.

 Right between the eyes.

As I tried to console him, I went to the freezer and tried to give him 

an ice pack.

Not happening.

We'll see what it looks like in the morning.

I'm guessing he'll have his first goose egg.

Best Friends

I love what great friends my kids are all becoming with one another.

They still get on each others nerves every day, but

there are more and more tender moments and laughter and a little less of the 

fighting and bugging.

 I also love how cute this boy looks with a little bit of gel in his hair.

We've put the girls in a bedroom together.

It's been a week now, and it's been great.  They are actually

getting along better with each other and seem to be sleeping better at night.

If anyone would have told me this would have happened, I would not have believed a word of it.

I'm also excited to complete their room, and I will share what we've done.

It's the first time that we've ever decorated a bedroom, and I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.

Sweet Boy

My sweet little Sour Cream.

He's becoming quite the little gentleman.

Yesterday right after dinner, I asked Olive to bring me 

the rag so I could help her get cleaned up.

She had washed herself, but missed some ketchup on her face.

As has become the norm for her the past week or so, she said 'no' and started crying.

I told her that she needed to go get the rag and get cleaned up or she'd be dirty all night.

Well, little Sour Cream saw her crying and toddled over to her - 

BTW, he's now walking!! - 

and as I watched him, I could see that he knew she was sad.

He almost gave her a hug, in the form of bending his head down to her, and

then he stood up and walked off into the kitchen.

We read scriptures as a family together after dinner, and 

Daddy was helping Tomato read her verse.  I was

watching Sour Cream come back over to the living room, and he was 

carrying the rag that I had asked Olive for earlier.

I watched as Olive sat up when he touched her and he

shoved the rag into her face, trying to clean her up.

 So.

Darn.

Cute!

 I interrupted the reading so Daddy could watch this touching display

of affection and love that our little 15 month old boy was demonstrating.

She cheered up while Daddy ran for the camera, but he was done cleaning by then.

Grandma

My grandma died last month.  It was not

completely unexpected - she's been very sick and frail for years, but it was still

a shock for us all.  I guess she had been hoping to make it to age 87,

since that's the age that her mom and one of her sisters passed away, and she did.

She turned 87 just 2 days before she died.

This is an old picture, but it shows how happy my grandparents

were to have each other.  They have always loved spending time with family.

She was an incredible lady.  She had 6 children, one of which was my mom.

She's the first person to die on that side of the family, which is really

quite amazing, since there are 28 grandchildren & over 40 great-grandchildren.

I think that my cousin summed up her amazingly when she posted this

on facebook:  

"She is the spunkiest firecracker, who will whip you into shape and love you at the same time."

 Grandma made sure that you knew what was right and that she expected you

to act right.  But even when you were upset that she called you

out for something or let you know what's what, you always knew that she loved you.

She always called me by my given name, which even close friends have at

times been surprised that my Missy is not my given name.

I was able to fly to Salt Lake City for the funeral over Father's Day weekend.

I'm so glad that we could afford that, and especially that my husband was willing

and able to stay home with the kids all weekend.

He's kinda great.

Still in love, over 60 years later.

My aunt created a painting of this photo and it was next to the

casket at the viewing.

I learned some things about Grandma at the funeral that I hadn't known before; she had

graduated from beauty college & another program, like a typing program or something.

It was so fun to hear her brother give the eulogy - he was telling stories of

Grandma and also her mom.  It was neat to be able to hear how 

Grandma had so many of the same characteristics and attitudes that their mom did.

Her mom had 10 children, and later ended up taking care of several nieces and nephews 

after their mom died.  And since Grandma was one of the oldest, she helped a lot.

I'm so grateful for such a good example in my life.

And even more grateful that I know that we will see her again one day.

It makes losing someone in this life easier to bear.

The gospel is true.

An Eventful Weekend, take 2

So it was another busy, family-filled weekend.

It started with a cast for my little Sour Cream.

Here we are in the waiting area before his appointment with the 

Orthopedic doctor.

 And here he is the next day when we were visiting my parents.

He ended up with a spiral fracture on his tibia.

But the good news is, it wasn't too serious and he's young enough that

he should be able to get it taken off next week!

The cast wasn't the only thing keeping us busy...as

soon as Sour Cream and I got home from the doctor, we loaded the family up

and headed to Idaho for my little brother's second wedding reception.

I had thought about going alone, or the whole family staying home.

But since it would've left me the only one of my mom's kids not attending, we made the trip.

We pulled in to her house just after 11.

Tired kids.  Grumpy family.

And then found out we were all sharing one room.

It was a disaster.  I think the kids were finally all asleep around 1:30.

Once the afternoon hit and Sour Cream had a nap, followed by everyone eating

a good lunch, our moods were lifted.

The girls headed outside with Kidney Bean to have some fun.

And my oldest brother had his kids there, so they had a lot of fun seeing their cousins.

Here are some shots from the reception - it was super cute!

My mom and aunt and sister made 7 different flavors of homemade marshmallows

for the s'more bar.

And of course we had to get all of us in a picture together.

I don't know how long it's been since we've all been together.

The trip home was surprisingly pleasant.

It helped that the girls slept better Saturday night, we had a big breakfast,

they had lunch right before we left, and were tired enough to sleep 

for at least 1/3 of the trip.

We stopped near a Columbia River overlook to have some milk

and graham crackers...leftovers from the wedding.

I sure am looking home to a nice weekend at home!

An Eventful Weekend

We had quite the weekend.

And it started on Thursday & isn't quite over.

But today was nice and quiet ... so far.

My little brother got married on Saturday, in the Seattle LDS Temple.

Which is the reason for most of the busyness.

On Thursday, I went to the temple to be there the first

time his wife went.  It was really nice, although a little stressful because

of the crazy traffic.  I almost missed it because it took

45 minutes to get about 5 miles.  I'm glad I don't live in Bellevue.

After the temple, I went to say hello to my parents, who had just arrived

at their hotel.  And I picked up my sister and brought her home with me.

It was a great surprise for my kids on Friday to wake up

to their aunt!

She painted their nails, of course, and we all had a nice morning.

That afternoon, we had a babysitter come over and

I headed back to Bellevue with my husband & sister for the rehearsal dinner.

We knew it would be a late night & opted for a babysitter so our kids would be happy

on Saturday.  And what a great decision that was!

We ate at a pizza place, where my mom & two of her sisters performed a rap that

my mom wrote in honor of my brother.

And we had an aunt & uncle sing a song about love for them, too.

It was great.

On Saturday, we got up, had breakfast & got everyone cleaned up and ready to go.

I didn't want them wearing their wedding clothes all day, so I made sure

to pack an extra bag with everything in them.  And the only 

thing I messed up with that is I forgot the girls' shoes.  So they wore their 

everyday shoes.  Oh, well.

And I brought the wrong headband for my daughter, but she ended up wanting

to wear one of the ones I remembered, so it worked out okay.

We stopped by the church to say hello to my mom & her sisters, who were putting

the wedding cake together.

Then ate lunch.  Then went back to the church to change our clothes. 

Then we went to the temple.  My sister watched the kids in the waiting room, since

they aren't able to go inside.

It was a beautiful wedding.

After pictures outside, we went back to the church, since the reception started

in about 45 minutes.  There were a few family members who were able to travel

long distances to come, and it was really great to see them.

One of my mom's sisters wasn't able to make it, but the rest of her siblings came.

And we had two cousins who brought their families along.

On Sunday, I had a tough time staying awake during sacrament meeting.

But I did it.  I think it helped that I had to get up halfway through and sing with the choir.

Our next adventure started right before we ate our early Sunday dinner.

Since we get out of church at 230, we started eating a bigger meal as an early dinner, and

then give the kids a sandwich right before bedtime.  It's been really great.

Especially when I remember to do a crock pot meal.

But I digress...

While I was getting the food ready, poor little Sour Cream started screaming.

It was definitely a hurt cry, so I put down what I was doing and went to find him.

He was curled up on the floor, in an awkward fetal position.  We usually try not to pick the

kids up when they are hurt, so we know that they can move on their own.  But he was

too upset to try to move, so I carefully pulled him onto my lap.

He didn't settle down until Kidney Bean took over the cuddling.

And then promptly fell asleep on him.

It took us a while to decide what would be the best course of action

when he was still complaining about his leg a couple hours later, but we opted to have him checked out.

Of course, it was the time of day that all of the urgent care facilities in town were closed, so

off Sour Cream & I went to the ER.

He wasn't complaining much about it, but I had utilized the toll-free, 24/7

nurse hotline that our insurance provides & the one I spoke to urged that he be checked out within

the next 6 hours.

It took SO LONG to get out of the waiting area, which was super lame.

My poor boy sat on my lap for two hours in the waiting room, then got so sick of it that he 

insisted on getting down on the floor.  Which I'll admit I let him do, even though I wasn't sure

I really wanted him down there.

But have I mentioned that he's about 25 pounds?

Heavy.

It took another hour before we were called back.

He had two x-rays done, but the dr couldn't see any break or fracture, but

he said it was inconclusive about the fracture.  So we are supposed to follow-up

with his regular doctor in the next 1-2 days.

BUT, it was a holiday yesterday, so we weren't able to go.

And the only option we were given is today at 4, which is in three more hours.

My poor guy.  He was just learning how to stand & so excited at the possibility of walking.

But he refuses to put any weight on his right leg, so standing is really awkward &

when he tries, it usually ends in tears.  

And screams.

And cuddles.

Wish us luck!  Hopefully it'll heal quickly.

So he'll be back to doing this soon:

Childhood Logic

One of my favorite things about spending all day

with my children is observing over the long-term how their

brains start connecting and logic develops.

My just-turned-3-year-old, Olive, has some great logical lines, and I keep 

meaning to post them BUT I can usually just remember one.

But I've been trying to pay attention the past week or so and I've made

mental notes.  Here are some:

"When I'm crying, then I cry."

"If it's broken, then it's broked."

"When I'm sad, I'm sad."

It's so cute!  I really try not to laugh, even though that's what I want to do.

But she's so serious about it.  So I wait to laugh.

No Socks

Today while I was fixing breakfast, Olive looked at my feet

& her sister's feet and then realized she

was the only one not wearing socks.

Then she laughed and said,

"My feet are naked!"

Happy Birthday to my Baby!

This big boy just had a birthday. 

It's been a great year having him in our family.

The past few days, I've been trying to figure out if he thinks he turned 2, though.

I don't remember the girls giving me attitude this early.

But that might be my poor memory speaking.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Our church Stake (multiple congregations)

hosted a Daddy-Daughter Dance last Saturday.

It was for girls 3-11 & their Daddy's.

Tomato was excited that she was able to go.

There was a milk & cookie bar, with many different types of cookies

& chocolate, strawberry, or green (?!) milk.

They rocked out to hits like the Limbo,

the Hokey Pokey, the Chicken Dance.

Tomato & Daddy both had a lot of fun.  And we were 

pleasantly surprised when they showed up just after 8pm, since

the dance lasted until 830.  But Tomato

was just worn out and asked Kidney Bean to come home.

There was even a photo booth with a bunch of different props available.

Surprisingly, Tomato looked at the camera!