I have been so excited to start cooking. There are so many recipes I want to try but I need places to go with them so we don't eat them all. This weekend the parties get started!
Here's a list of things I want to make:
Cream puffs-I've never tried to make these but now might be the time! I love whipping cream.
Strawberry Cheesecake Squares-Cheesecake and strawberries, how can you go wrong?
Gooey Cookie Pie Bites-I have been thinking and dreaming about these since I saw it on Our Best Bites blog. I love pie crust and I love cookies. Perfect for my taste.
Almond Toffee Tart-I've never heard of this but I like almond stuff. I wonder if you can just make it in a pie tin though because I don't have tart pan thing.
Chex gooey mix-There are like a billion recipes for this stuff but I like this one.
I'm so excited to get cooking. I LOVE dessert!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
A life style change?
James got a job! We are so happy and relieved and grateful. James searched for over 5 months, locally, then all over the state, then out of state. He was about to search for any ol' job when he got an interview with DCFS, the Department of Children and Family Services. It went well and they called him back for a second interview. He met with many of the office supervisors and they liked him a lot. They called back two days later and offered him a full time position. Yay!!
So yesterday he started training. Since he's working for the state he's doing M-Th, ten hour days, like 7:30a-6:30p with an hour lunch break, for now. He still wasn't sure which office he'd be working out of. There are several in the valley, some closer than others. We were crossing our fingers for the Riverton office, which is only a 10-15 mins drive. The training center is in West Valley so he'll make that drive every morning for the first 90 days of work.
The first day went well. They met with more supervisors and believe it or not, they were all "fighting" over James, to get him at their office. The West Valley lady Really wanted him. Then the two Riverton people heard where he lives and they thought he'd work nicely at their location. In the end though, the West Valley woman won out. James is happy to work there even though the drive is longer. She seems laid back and fun to work for. I'll post another time about what he's doing for them.
But to get to the point of the post....a few things have to change around here. James gets up at 5:30AM!! Wow, that's like...so early. Oh man. So early!
So the things that are going to change and challenge us:
** Getting up early! W gets up that early to eat but goes back to sleep. Lizzie heard James this morning at 6a so she got up to be with him. Sick!!
** James will have the only car until 7 every night. I guess we won't be going on any day trips for awhile. In a few months we may "spring" for another car with better gas miles for James to take to work.
** We're going to have to go to bed early!! That means far less time together in the evening. Less treats and less movies every night. But hopefully it means better rest and good use of time...
** I'll be making meals by myself every night. Usually James is home and either cooks or helps with the kids while I cook.
** Fridays will have to be designated cleaning days, with Saturdays reserved for PLAY!
** We're finally going to have an income on which we can live without accruing more debt., (school loans.)
I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm a little nervous about all these changes. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy to have him working. But it's kind of a lot of things to change all at once. I think it's almost a total life style change. This is how it will be at least until James starts law school next fall. If that's what we're supposed to do.
So yesterday he started training. Since he's working for the state he's doing M-Th, ten hour days, like 7:30a-6:30p with an hour lunch break, for now. He still wasn't sure which office he'd be working out of. There are several in the valley, some closer than others. We were crossing our fingers for the Riverton office, which is only a 10-15 mins drive. The training center is in West Valley so he'll make that drive every morning for the first 90 days of work.
The first day went well. They met with more supervisors and believe it or not, they were all "fighting" over James, to get him at their office. The West Valley lady Really wanted him. Then the two Riverton people heard where he lives and they thought he'd work nicely at their location. In the end though, the West Valley woman won out. James is happy to work there even though the drive is longer. She seems laid back and fun to work for. I'll post another time about what he's doing for them.
But to get to the point of the post....a few things have to change around here. James gets up at 5:30AM!! Wow, that's like...so early. Oh man. So early!
So the things that are going to change and challenge us:
** Getting up early! W gets up that early to eat but goes back to sleep. Lizzie heard James this morning at 6a so she got up to be with him. Sick!!
** James will have the only car until 7 every night. I guess we won't be going on any day trips for awhile. In a few months we may "spring" for another car with better gas miles for James to take to work.
** We're going to have to go to bed early!! That means far less time together in the evening. Less treats and less movies every night. But hopefully it means better rest and good use of time...
** I'll be making meals by myself every night. Usually James is home and either cooks or helps with the kids while I cook.
** Fridays will have to be designated cleaning days, with Saturdays reserved for PLAY!
** We're finally going to have an income on which we can live without accruing more debt., (school loans.)
I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm a little nervous about all these changes. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy to have him working. But it's kind of a lot of things to change all at once. I think it's almost a total life style change. This is how it will be at least until James starts law school next fall. If that's what we're supposed to do.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Not a baby anymore
This is a picture of Lizzie's first piggy tails!
Binki Free
Or free of the binki for yet another child. Lizzie gave up the binki about a week ago. It wasn't planned but it was time. She and Edin played in the toilet water with pee in it. Unfortunately her binki took a swim so bye bye binki. We had her put it in the garbage herself and told her it was gone forever because it got pee on it. The first nap was a challenge but not terrible. Night time was okay, a few more tears. The second nap was great. The first few days she actually seemed to sleep longer. Coincidence? Perhaps. But I'll take it. She does wake up in the middle of a nap a little sad, perhaps missing the binki, but manages to calm down and sleep some more. Only occasionally does she put William's in her mouth. Just experimenting though."Oh no, we lost another binki. Oh fine, let's open a new one. She needs to get to sleep." Then one day, "whoa, look at how many I found around the house." And yet, how do they all get lost again? I had to take a picture of them all together one time because it was so crazy.
Good bye sweet binki faced girl. I'll miss you.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Happy 4th of July
We had a really great weekend! I got excited for this holiday by making shirts for my family. Here's a look.
Lizzie and I got ruffles, Edin and William had straight lines. James was merciful. I asked if he wanted me to make one and he basically said he knew it would stress me out to make another one.
I decided to make these shirts on Friday. I saw the tutorial on one of my favorite blogs, Make it and love it. I was hoping to get them done for the family BBQ on Saturday but man, I was still elbow deep in this project Saturday morning. I stayed up until 5a Sunday morning finishing them so we could wear them to the Mantua family party.
I learned so much from this project.
--First, I went to the DI to get shirts to cut up. I'm not totally certain it was cheaper than buying, say, a third of a yard of fabric at a fabric store but the blue and red shirts were only a dollar. And I can never find the right "t-shirt" fabric at JoAnn's.
--Second, I've never used "Wonder Under" fusible webbing before. It's this iron on stuff you use for applicas. I used it to keep the strips and blue squares from moving around while I was sewing them. I guess I need some practice because I either ironed the stuff too little or too much. It was hard to separate the fabric and paper stuff. Then, it didn't really stick very well; the corners got bent while I was sewing.
--The third thing I learned was to make ruffles. I hope to sew straighter next time.
--And the fourth thing was using a stabalizer when I was sewing T shirt material on a t-shirt. Lizzie's ruffles got all bunched up underneath so I used a napkin on the back and sewed through it all. I admit it was difficult for me and I spent way too many hours doing it but I really like accomplishing something so cute and festive!
Now on the festivities. There was a BBQ at Bill's Saturday. We brought our swimming suits. I was the only adult with my swimming suit on and I didn't hold back. I ran through the sprinklers with the kids and I think they really had fun. The we all hopped in the hot tub and Edin and Lizzie thought it was so fun!
Sunday we traveled up to Mantua for the Bigler family BBQ. Yummy food, good games, and wonderful company. We play volleyball every year. They played for two hours this year!!
I like this picture of Lizzie because she's wearing her cute shirt but you can't tell at all!
On Monday we had a picnic for Family Home Evening at a Park here in Provo. We played t-ball, soccer and played on the playground equipment. I loved creating these memories with my children.
This is William's first "captured" smile. I'm in love!
Lizzie and I got ruffles, Edin and William had straight lines. James was merciful. I asked if he wanted me to make one and he basically said he knew it would stress me out to make another one.
I decided to make these shirts on Friday. I saw the tutorial on one of my favorite blogs, Make it and love it. I was hoping to get them done for the family BBQ on Saturday but man, I was still elbow deep in this project Saturday morning. I stayed up until 5a Sunday morning finishing them so we could wear them to the Mantua family party.
I learned so much from this project.
--First, I went to the DI to get shirts to cut up. I'm not totally certain it was cheaper than buying, say, a third of a yard of fabric at a fabric store but the blue and red shirts were only a dollar. And I can never find the right "t-shirt" fabric at JoAnn's.
--Second, I've never used "Wonder Under" fusible webbing before. It's this iron on stuff you use for applicas. I used it to keep the strips and blue squares from moving around while I was sewing them. I guess I need some practice because I either ironed the stuff too little or too much. It was hard to separate the fabric and paper stuff. Then, it didn't really stick very well; the corners got bent while I was sewing.
--The third thing I learned was to make ruffles. I hope to sew straighter next time.
--And the fourth thing was using a stabalizer when I was sewing T shirt material on a t-shirt. Lizzie's ruffles got all bunched up underneath so I used a napkin on the back and sewed through it all. I admit it was difficult for me and I spent way too many hours doing it but I really like accomplishing something so cute and festive!
Now on the festivities. There was a BBQ at Bill's Saturday. We brought our swimming suits. I was the only adult with my swimming suit on and I didn't hold back. I ran through the sprinklers with the kids and I think they really had fun. The we all hopped in the hot tub and Edin and Lizzie thought it was so fun!
Sunday we traveled up to Mantua for the Bigler family BBQ. Yummy food, good games, and wonderful company. We play volleyball every year. They played for two hours this year!!
I like this picture of Lizzie because she's wearing her cute shirt but you can't tell at all!
On Monday we had a picnic for Family Home Evening at a Park here in Provo. We played t-ball, soccer and played on the playground equipment. I loved creating these memories with my children.
This is William's first "captured" smile. I'm in love!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Update
I keep writing a blog post in my head but it never makes it to the computer. I guess I just keep finding "better" things to do with my time. Maybe.
We'll start this update from the top. James has defended his masters thesis!! They really grilled him, asking lots of questions pushing him to the limit of his knowledge and I think he stood up well to the challenge. He really knew his stuff. He passed with revisions, which means that they liked it but he just needs to change or fix a few things so we're on the down hill down. The past few weekdays he's spent at school making the revisions so we can be done and play like crazy this summer. Even though he's been busy with school, he has really helped out a lot at home. I really appreciate how much time he spends with the kids and how often he cooks dinner for us. It's exactly what I need after long days at home with the kids. I'm such a lucky lady.
I have been busy with lots of little projects and basically NO cleaning of my house. I have to say I've done really well with having the dishes done but man, I just can't dig myself out of the pit called my house. And yet, life will go on. Oh well. I'm in the process of making a quilt for William. It's my first one and I want it to be good. I think I'm a little too hard on myself, demanding perfection, when I really don't have the skills to be "that good" yet. But I'm really enjoying the practice. I'm in the middle of deciding if i should tie it or quilt it but lately leaning toward tying or else I'm never going to finish it.
I've also been into making ice cream lately. The Summer heat is getting to me...and I really like to cook, not to mention eat ice cream. We made snicker doodle ice cream the other day but it had too much cinnamon for me. I did like the cookies in it though. I also made peanut butter fudge, one ingredient ice cream, and General Tso's Chicken
Edin is learning and talking up a storm. He's really taken on learning letters. I have to admit we haven't tried very hard, which is probably why I'm so impressed with what he does know. He is obsessed with bows and arrows, like in Disney's Robin Hood, and swords and guns. This kid is a natural born ninja! He has some serious skill. He can also tell really long stories. Sometimes they are made up events, other times he tells about his day. James usually gets the brunt of this new habit but James is a really good listener so he doesn't mind. And also, he tries to make me do everything for him. I think it's his way of adjusting to the "new baby," William. I'll ask him to go get some clothes and he'll tell me "No, I want you to do it." Pff, what a punk! He also spends a lot of his day harassing Lizzie. Not that she doesn't dish it out but I separate a lot of "disagreements" throughout the day. It's getting old...
This is a pile of pads Lizzie used as stickers by pulling off the back of all of them.
Sir William is getting BIG! He's three months now and growing like a weed. At his two month check up he was 12 lbs. Let's be honest, Lizzie probably weighed 12 lbs at 6 or 8 months. It throws me off sometimes, having such a bigger baby compared with Edin and Lizzie. But he is such a sweet little thing. He has such an adorable smile. William has been trying to laugh lately and he can't stand to lay down anymore. He wants to sit up and see the world. The first two months were a piece of cake. He slept from like 7p-2a nearly every night, waking for a feeding, then a couple more times throughout the night. He "gets up" for the day around 8 and he's so happy. Nap times were insanely easy. He'd go down at noon with the other kids and sleep for three hours if I put him in the swing. Then the unfortunate happened. The batteries in the swing died and for two days he didn't get that nap in the swing. By the time I got more, he was kind of "over" sleeping in the swing and won't take that awesome nap anymore. What a rip off!! I'm so sad. Now he sleeps for maybe ten minutes in there and wakes up. His longest nap now is like an hour. Lame! I guess I got spoiled for awhile. He reminds me so much of Edin and Lizzie and I often feel like he "remembers them" from somewhere. He always gets quiet when Edin sings to him.
I have such a sweet and wonderful family. My life is so good. I'm looking forward to watching my beautiful children continue to grow up and learn. We'll be moving out of Wymount in August because of James' graduation and I'm excited to see where we end up. The possibilities are endless...especially because we have no prospects...
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Go Utes!
We'll start this update from the top. James has defended his masters thesis!! They really grilled him, asking lots of questions pushing him to the limit of his knowledge and I think he stood up well to the challenge. He really knew his stuff. He passed with revisions, which means that they liked it but he just needs to change or fix a few things so we're on the down hill down. The past few weekdays he's spent at school making the revisions so we can be done and play like crazy this summer. Even though he's been busy with school, he has really helped out a lot at home. I really appreciate how much time he spends with the kids and how often he cooks dinner for us. It's exactly what I need after long days at home with the kids. I'm such a lucky lady.
I have been busy with lots of little projects and basically NO cleaning of my house. I have to say I've done really well with having the dishes done but man, I just can't dig myself out of the pit called my house. And yet, life will go on. Oh well. I'm in the process of making a quilt for William. It's my first one and I want it to be good. I think I'm a little too hard on myself, demanding perfection, when I really don't have the skills to be "that good" yet. But I'm really enjoying the practice. I'm in the middle of deciding if i should tie it or quilt it but lately leaning toward tying or else I'm never going to finish it.
This is a prototype made in paint.
As I've been spending so much time sewing this quilt, I keep thinking about all the projects I bet I could learn to do. Last night I made some ripped pajama pants into shorts. Again, the sewing skills...a little iffy, but I have to start somewhere. There are a lot of other things I want to try that come from the Make it and Love it blog. I just have to get up the courage.
I've also been into making ice cream lately. The Summer heat is getting to me...and I really like to cook, not to mention eat ice cream. We made snicker doodle ice cream the other day but it had too much cinnamon for me. I did like the cookies in it though. I also made peanut butter fudge, one ingredient ice cream, and General Tso's Chicken
Edin is learning and talking up a storm. He's really taken on learning letters. I have to admit we haven't tried very hard, which is probably why I'm so impressed with what he does know. He is obsessed with bows and arrows, like in Disney's Robin Hood, and swords and guns. This kid is a natural born ninja! He has some serious skill. He can also tell really long stories. Sometimes they are made up events, other times he tells about his day. James usually gets the brunt of this new habit but James is a really good listener so he doesn't mind. And also, he tries to make me do everything for him. I think it's his way of adjusting to the "new baby," William. I'll ask him to go get some clothes and he'll tell me "No, I want you to do it." Pff, what a punk! He also spends a lot of his day harassing Lizzie. Not that she doesn't dish it out but I separate a lot of "disagreements" throughout the day. It's getting old...
Lizzie is also quite the chatter box, mostly when she's at home. But lately she's been really friendly with strangers. The other day, at a store, she walked up to a random woman and hugged her leg...uh, what? Then she hugged the legs of the other three girls this woman was with. It was really cute and quite hilarious. Quite unexpected. The girls were all smitten with Little Lizzie. She just soaked it up. Lizzie is a very fast runner and she tries to mimic everything Edin does, even when he doesn't want her to, haha. She has been quite sassy recently and I blame it on James' side of the family. You know the type--you say "don't do that" and they look at you and do it, like they are testing you. She certainly doesn't stay where I ask her to stay either. I think perhaps she's too much of a free spirit. And she's still only like, 21 lbs. Will this girl ever grow?
This is a pile of pads Lizzie used as stickers by pulling off the back of all of them.
Sir William is getting BIG! He's three months now and growing like a weed. At his two month check up he was 12 lbs. Let's be honest, Lizzie probably weighed 12 lbs at 6 or 8 months. It throws me off sometimes, having such a bigger baby compared with Edin and Lizzie. But he is such a sweet little thing. He has such an adorable smile. William has been trying to laugh lately and he can't stand to lay down anymore. He wants to sit up and see the world. The first two months were a piece of cake. He slept from like 7p-2a nearly every night, waking for a feeding, then a couple more times throughout the night. He "gets up" for the day around 8 and he's so happy. Nap times were insanely easy. He'd go down at noon with the other kids and sleep for three hours if I put him in the swing. Then the unfortunate happened. The batteries in the swing died and for two days he didn't get that nap in the swing. By the time I got more, he was kind of "over" sleeping in the swing and won't take that awesome nap anymore. What a rip off!! I'm so sad. Now he sleeps for maybe ten minutes in there and wakes up. His longest nap now is like an hour. Lame! I guess I got spoiled for awhile. He reminds me so much of Edin and Lizzie and I often feel like he "remembers them" from somewhere. He always gets quiet when Edin sings to him.
I have such a sweet and wonderful family. My life is so good. I'm looking forward to watching my beautiful children continue to grow up and learn. We'll be moving out of Wymount in August because of James' graduation and I'm excited to see where we end up. The possibilities are endless...especially because we have no prospects...
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Go Utes!
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