In the course of a week we have been treated to a mini-air show over our house. Today we had a B-25 fly over, about a week ago we had a B-17 fly over 3 different times, and on the same day we had a bright red bi-plane fly over. I had my camera out for 2 of the 3 B-17 fly overs and the biplane. The pictures aren't perfect and I long for a longer zoom lens, but they are still fun! The B-17 was loud, I can't even imagine a sky full of those and how loud that would've been.
This is a picture of what our living room looked like on Christmas morning. You can see the white cradle that Steve made for Emma. We had a wonderful day! Hope you had a Merry Christmas!
This was so yummy! And now one of my favorites for dinner. We made homemade tortillas . They were so warm and soft. Then Steve grilled some chicken with lime juice and pepper and then melted pepper jack cheese on top. Then we had refried beans from a can (but we have made them from scratch & they are super yummy). Then grated cheese and hot sauce and jalapeno peppers.
3 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4-6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or lard
about 1 1/4 cups warm water
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add vegetable shortening or lard. Or use a combination of half lard, half shortening.
Use a fork or a pastry cutter to cut in the shortening or just do it the old fashioned
way and use your hands.
Next add warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft and not sticky. You do
not need very hot water. (be sure to not use too much- you don't want to have to add extra flour)
Knead the dough for a few minutes.
Now you will pull off pieces of dough to form about 12 small dough balls. Let them
rest for at least 10 minutes, longer if you like.
This is a good time to heat up the pan. You will want to set it at medium to high
heat. If it is too hot the tortillas will cook too fast.
Now you can roll out the dough with your rolling pin. It is a good
idea to dust each ball with a little flour just before you roll them out. (very little flour) Lay the rolling pin
in the center of the dough ball and roll up, center and roll down. It is good to lift the
dough and turn it. Again, rolling pin in the center and roll. Roll them out fairly thin.
Lay your tortilla on the hot pan. It takes just a few seconds to cook. Flip to the other
side. When they are done it should have lots of nice brown speckles. Place them in a
towel. If you would like you can use a tortilla warmer to keep them warm longer.
They are ready to be served!
Fablehaven
I just finished Fablehaven. It is a very juvenile book and in the first half of the book I kept saying, "ok like that can really happen." It was not until half way through and the end that I really enjoyed the story. In the beginning the story just was not becoming real to me. But like I said in the end it was believable, well kinda. Overall a good book for kids to read- over the age of 8. In other reviews it is compared to Harry Potter and I say po po on them for making the comparison. I would recommend you read the book if you want a fast read with a fun story and I heard there are more in the series. Not sure how many.
So I have been wanting to post about this topic for a long time but have not actually sat down to do it.
Sometimes I dream of place to go
That I can call my own.
A place where I have no kids
Or husband to please.
A place filled with books galore
And a comfy sofa to lounge while I read
A place with no TV, no music, no screams
Just a quiet place, for me to read.
A place where laundry does not need to be done
A place where no one says "oops I dropped my sticky bun"
But then, I think
What a lonely place this would be
With no kids to hug
And make me laugh
No husband to love
And appreciate my half
There are both kinds of places
In this world that we live
We all have the choice to make
Am I willing to sacrifice
And have a kid?
Yes I think I know where I will go
Where I'll roam
Yes, you see,
I would like to go HOME!
I want to be greeted
By the ones that love me
By the ones that want to sit on my lap
The ones that want to read
The same story over again
The ones that cry
When they are tired or cut
By my husband who
Loves me no matter what
I can not believe that Christmas is only 3 days away. I am so excited. Mainly because my husband will be off work for a few more days than normal and we get to spend time with family. I am also excited because we get to see Emma's reaction. This is the first year that she actually is asking everyday, is today Christmas? It is so cute! I can't wait to see the reaction on her face on Christmas morning!
Can I just say we love our Doctor Godfrey. And Shelly the nurse too. Emma had her 3 year old well child-shots visit today. He was as always so personal and friendly with the kids. And it does not hurt that we have never been there for more than an hour total, which is amazing. They make you feel like you are their only patient. Here are Emma's stats: 38lbs 39in tall. She is in the 90%. And doing great!
On Sunday we went to my family's ward so Steve could bless my sister's baby and Spencer just looked so cute!
Well here the kids are sitting on Santa's lap at the ward Christmas party Sat. It was fun. We had good food, a good program and of course Emma was really excited to see Santa. There were a ton of people there. Emma was just confused as to why she did not get her toys right then & there. I guess I has some explaining to do. We got 2 photos and Spencer is not looking at the camera but there were a ton of kids still waiting to see Santa so we did not want to impose on their turns. This is still cute though.
Last night Emma was really tired when I put her to bed and read her a story. I sat down by the door because this is what it takes for her to not scream at the top of her lungs and for her to sleep in her own bed. She usually just falls off to sleep but she said, "mommy I don't want to LOST you." "What was that again" I said, "Mommy I don't want to LOST you, & when I wake up and your not in my room." By now I got it and reassured her I would always be near." I am so grateful for this age where my kids want me around and that sweet moment helped me to be more grateful to be a mom.
Then about a minute later right before she nodded off to sleep (i think she was in a pre-dreaming state) she said, "mommy I can walk on the water, I can swim." I said "ok honey go to sleep and she was out like a light. I cracked up! How funny is that!
Also, another sweet moment: If you know Emma she loves to sit on my lap and hug & kiss me all the time. I have realized something so cute that she says, every time she is hugging on me & looking me in the eyes, with a real soft 7 serious voice, she says, "no matter what happens, mommy, no matter what happens." O.K. so I know she got this off of a movie but I don't know which one & it just tugs at my heart strings every time she says this.
I made this last night and we loved it. The kid also loved it. (be sure to add salt and pepper to taste) or add Tony's (if you know what that is.
American Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed vegetable soup
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3 cups mashed cooked potatoes
1 cup shredded Colby longhorn cheese
Directions:
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees and lightly grease a 2 quart baking dish
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, stir and cook ground beef, onion and celery until juices run clear. Drain. Pour mixture into baking dish with vegetable soup and thyme: stir well. Spread mashed potatoes on top.
3. Bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top and bake for 5 minutes more, or until cheese has melted.
Note: Needs salt and pepper to taste.
Also this dish can be prepared and then put in the fridge and then taken back out later in the day when you are ready to bake it.
I don't think I realize what a great man I have. Just a few examples are:
* On many days when I am tired and frustrated he takes Emma and goes shopping.
*He is always buying me flowers or bringing small things like my favorite candy bar home, just so I know he was thinking of me.
*He calls me often from work to see how my day is going.
*He often tells me he loves me!
*He often tells me I am beautiful!
* He is tells me he wants to make me happy.
* When I am complaining or arguing he is often the peacemaker and says we can work through this.
* He is my CALM from the STORM.
*He gets on the floor to play with the kids, goes outside to play with them and reads to them.
*He cooks........ALOT.
*He puts up with my grumpy moods.
*He would never think about putting our family at risk in any way- physically, economically, or spiritually.
*He never complains when I ask him to help.
*And he is my tall, dark, & handsome prince charming.
For HFPE we made padded notebooks with one thought and song for each day in the month of December. These are some friends ( L-R ) Holly, Me, Katy. Here is a picture of my binder!
I just want to brag about the only thing that is completed at my house. That is the Christmas shopping. Yes, all gifts are bought and wrapped and in my closet under lock and key. Now we just have to get the Christmas decorations out!
Ok Ok Ok I finished reading "A Long Fatal Love Chase" by Louisa May Alcott today and I will have to say it was good. Thanks to all my BR friends who encouraged my to keep going and finish it! And by the way just so I am not confused Rose and who dies in the end? It is the priest right, not the so called crazy husband. Please confirm! I just want to make sure I read that right! And does anyone have any ideas to how SHE died exactly? Come on let have our own on-line book club!
Wednesday we had a play date at the McDonalds. Here is a picture of Spencer eating chicken nuggets with his friend Bradley.
OK this week has flown by so fast so I will post while the kids are napping. Yes I made Emma take a nap even though it is 4pm because she has been soooooo challenging.
First of all this week Spencer went to the doctor for his well child 1year exam & shots. Here are the stats: he is 23 lbs & 2oz. he is 30.5 inches long and has a head circum. of 18.9. Well he is doing great! That is somewhere in the 70 percentile of everything. I think.
Tues we went and got Christmas photos done. Will post soon!
Michelle, Katie, Colleen
On tues night one of my friends Michelle had a spa party and we got facials and hand & foot treatments. It was fun!
I was tagged for the Seven Things Meme by Ann
The rules are:
Here are Seven Random Things about me:
1. I hate eggs, milk, and tomatoes.
2. I love to be crafty even though I am not very creative.
3. My husband builds furniture.
4. I once swallowed a bee bee.
5. I once broke my foot jumping on a trampoline.
6. I lived in Utah for 6 months.
7. I know sign language.
I tagged:
Ok So we did the elf thing! It was so funny! http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9600231642
Ok, so I have to explain why it only took me a few days to read "A Long Fatal Love Chase" by Louisa May Alcott. Well the real reason is because I stopped reading it. I just could not get through it. I just have a very hard time with the language of that time and find it boring. I figured since I was not enjoying it I would move on. I might pick it up from time to time to finish it. But I was so tired today I just wanted to read a book that I did not have to think really hard to understand what was going on. Which also leads me to wonder who picked this book for the BR book club. I am just curious because that is why I choose to read it. Don't get me wrong it is interesting & I am curious to find out what happens but I am having a hard time with the language. So who chose this book? Go on you know who you are! Just confess!!!
So our camera broke (not the nice DSLR one, just small Sony we have had for 3 years) and Steve was going to surprise me with a new camera for Christmas. I guess he was a little leary of me using the nice camera every time I wanted to take pics of the kids. So he said he could not wait any longer and wanted me to have one of my gifts early. I told him I would rather be surprised and wait. But he insisted. So here it is. He got me a RED Samsung S730.
We had the best Thanksgiving ever! Because it snowed! Yes you heard me right, it snowed. My family came for turkey lunch and we were sitting around the table and I said, "hey what was that white thing?" So we went outside and sure enough after about 20 min. it started coming down faster. It never real stuck but it was fun while it lasted!
*We had a very fun filled and busy weekend. It started on Friday at noon. I had the book club at my house. 5 People came which is one more than last time but we really had a great time.
*Then on Friday night we had a Girls Night Out! We went to Olive Garden and had about 20 people come. We did not get home till late, but had a fun time talking. I am still recovering from that late night.
*Then on Sat am my mother in law flew in on her way back home. So she stayed with us for one day this time. I was so glad she was here. She was such a big help! She went grocery shopping with us, and helped us prepare for our guests. On sat night we had the couples dinner group at our house. We served jambalaya and salad and bread and root beer floats for dessert. It was a great success and we had 13 people. It felt like Thanksgiving. We also played Cranium. We had a blast with out the kiddos.
Steve's parents came down for the weekend and we had lots of fun. Here are a few pics from our weekend!
Steve has done a great job on his first table. I am so excited it gets to go in our kitchen. Thank you honey for all the hard work you put into this for our family! We love you!
* I am almost done with my book -New Moon
* My in laws are coming this friday & I need to start cleaning the house
* Weaning from the bottle is hard for my son
* Cutting your top front teeth at the same time is painful
* I have been in one of those moods lately (some people call it PMS) but it is not my time of the month
* I don't like waking up at 5am when I am tired.
* I want to get a babysitter but every time I think I am about to call someone I hang up because I feel sorry for who ever I am asking.
* Stake conference was last Sunday & I did not get a thing out of it except our Stk Presidency got released. We also left 30 min early. (Kids were having a bad day.)
*
TODAY SPENCER OFFICIALLY TURNED ONE YEAR OLD!
Spencer has been such a joy in our lives. He still has only 2 bottom teeth and it is so cute when he smiles. He loves his older sister and always gets excited to see his mommy or daddy. He loves playing outside and also loves taking baths. He is walking everywhere and also starting to go faster (a baby run). He is so cute and we love him more than words can say!
