Food Storage Cookbook

For anyone interested in food storage recipes, this is the book to get! It's all about cooking yummy meals using things from your pantry (not including things from the freezer and fridge in case of electricity outages). The recipes actually look really good! I just need to figure out how to get a lot of dehydrated ingredients now. She also talks about how to make a 5 week menu to better plan and organize your year's supply. Anyway, it only costs $5 on bookcloseouts.com for anyone interested.

V-Day Cont.

I forgot to post this picture for Valentine's. We all got new throw blankets for Valentine's Day, and here we are breaking them in after dinner while watching a cartoon.

Haircut

I had so much fun getting my haircut today! I was there for 2 hours (while my wonderful babysitter put up with a very cranky Jacob. Thanks again Megan!) so she could show me how to do many things with my hair. Boy, I needed it cuz I am very hair-dumb. She showed me how to apply serum and other goop, and how to do my hair with a flat iron, and how to rat my hair. Yes, rat my hair. I was very nervous about that part, but she promised that I would not have American Fork hair and she was right (my apologies to anyone that is from there- just pick a random city near you and insert where appropriate). She was such a great hairdresser that even if we move up to Sandy or some such place, I'm thinking about coming down here for my haircuts. I could tell her anything that I didn't like about my hair and she would show me how to fix it, and then I'd tell her I wanted to learn how to do some sort of technique and she'd show me how to do it. She even had me do half of my hair the way she showed me to make sure I got it right. Can we say AWESOME!

ANYWAY, it was so much fun and I'm so excited to play around with my hair in the next few days. I've been meaning to take a picture of myself for my goodreads icon picture, and now I needed a picture of how my hairstylist did it so I have a reference point, so Jeromy jumped at the opportunity and had a little too much fun. Mind you, this is late at night so my hair has gone a little flat and my nose is shiny. Oh well. I think I like the last one the best for my icon picture. What do you think?



For those of you that can't tell, this is my "I'm frustrated with my funny, smart-alec husband" look. I am NOT hopped up on something-or-other looking at pretty unicorns in the sky!


This is my all-too-familiar "okay, Jeromy, enough already, just take the picture" look. I just threw it in for kicks and giggles.


I didn't know he was taking this one (just like half of the ones we took), but I think it's the best. Ugh, I still hate getting my picture taken.

The Jungle Book

My friend Megan invited us to see the play The Jungle Book at BYU on Saturday. Surprisingly, it was only 45 minutes long, just perfect for little ones. They even had a question-answer session afterwards geared towards bullying. Kierra was absolutely enthralled throughout the play, loving all of the actors "pretending to be animals." Audrey, on the other hand, was terrified the whole time. The opening scene was a little intense with Shere Khan chasing baby Mowgli and his mom, so she got a little scared and told me she wanted to leave. But she braved it and watched the rest so Kierra could stay and watch. I thought it was really well done. It was also very refreshing to have a girls day out.

Audrey Learned a New Word

Me: Audrey, could you please put your markers away so we can eat dinner?

Audrey: UGH! (Stomps away)

Me: Why are you being so mean to me today?

Audrey: (Angrily with furrowed brows) Why are you being so glamorous to me?

My Age

This happened a few nights ago and I thought it was hilarious.

Audrey: Daddy, how old are you?
Daddy: Why don't you tell me. You know how old I am.
Audrey: I think you're 29.
Daddy: You're right. How old is Mommy?
Audrey: Um, I don't know, 56?
Daddy: No, try again.
Audrey: 90? (Smiling)
Me: Ha, ha, you're getting closer.
Audrey: 94? (Laughing) 99? (Uncontrollable giggling)

Bike Ride

As you know, Audrey got a bike for her birthday. Right now it is an indoors bike, seeing as how it is still icy outside and we don't have a yard...yet ;). Audrey is starting to get sick of riding her bike from the kitchen to the living room, getting off to turn it around, going back to the kitchen, getting off again to turn it around, and so on. So Jeromy took the girls to the church on Saturday morning so she could ride it in the cultural hall. She caught on very fast, and can now turn by herself and she goes pretty fast!

Showing off.

They also got to play a little basketball with Daddy.

Jelly Beans on the Brain

The girls picked out the big 4 lb. tub of Jelly Belly's to give to their Daddy for Valentine's Day. I'm not sure if they were more excited to give it to him or to have him share with them. Jeromy and I thought it would be best if he took it to work the next day, and so he did. When the girls woke up the next morning and I was getting breakfast together, Audrey noticed that they were gone and asked where they were. I told her Daddy took them to work to share with his friends. She was sad about it, but nothing more was said about it.

Then at lunch, Audrey offered the lunch prayer. She said the usual stuff followed by:

"And please bless Dad to drive home safe with the jelly beans."

Candy on the mind for sure.

Potty

I went to the bathroom earlier today and Kierra asked what I was doing in the bathroom. I told her that I went potty. She said, "Good job, Mommy! Now you get a lady-pop (lollipop)!" and then gave me a high five. Me thinks we've been overdoing the treats a bit.

Beads

Kierra just walked up to me with the most forlorn face. I couldn't figure out what was wrong till she sadly admitted that she stuffed 2 beads up her nose!! I can't believe that she did that! I guess there's a first time for everything, and that was definitely a first. I'm ashamed to say that the blogging side of me wanted to take a picture before going fishing with the tweezers. But she was pretty distraught so I didn't think that was such a good/nice idea (my crappy camera probably wouldn't have been up to the job anyway). It's a good thing she can count, otherwise it would've been near impossible to tell how many were up there. Come to think of it, it's a good thing she could tell me what was wrong because I couldn't see the beads till I knew what I was looking for. Wow.

Tomato, Basil, and Cheese Baked Pasta

This pasta was absolutely delicious!! The only thing I'd change is mixing half of the mozzarella into the pasta with the pesto and parmesan, and then the other half on top like normal. We all loved it!


Okay, so the picture isn't that great. I definitely need a new camera (Jeromy would say it was user error. Pshaw!). I thought you'd be able to see the layers better, oh well. And I was kind of hoping that you couldn't see the burnt cheese on top, but I'm pretty sure that cheese is the only thing you can burn and it still tastes good. Actually, that was the best part of the dish. You can find the recipe here.

Valentine's Day

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: it is so much fun to have holidays with little ones!! My inner child comes out and we have so much fun making decorations and fun foods together. Valentine’s Day was no exception. The girls enjoyed making Valentines for grandparents and cousins. I figured it wasn’t truly Valentine’s Day unless there were heart sugar cookies to decorate. So we baked a ton of yummy goodies, the girls drew to their hearts content, and I made some fun meals. For breakfast we had heart-shaped muffins. For lunch we had PB&G cut into hearts with cookie cutters. And for dinner we had Rachael Ray's Tomato, Basil and Cheese Baked Pasta (sooo good), lemonade with heart shaped ice cubes, heart shaped red jello, and parmesan broccoli all on pink plates with pink forks and pink cups. The girls even made a Valentine tablecloth out of butcher paper. So fun.

Here's my cuties and my hottie, anxious to eat.




Here's the ice cubes (the molds for these were super cheap at Target. Love it!). Don't you love the elegant tablecloth?



This is what Mommy and Daddy got the girls for Valentine's Day, courtesy of the Dollar Spot at Target. I love that place!

Milestones

We've reached a lot of milestones in the last week or so.

Audrey had her 4th birthday last Sunday. Grandma and Grandpa Wilson were able to come down for the festivities, as well as some close friends. We had Winnie the Pooh cake and lots of fun. I regretfully didn't take any pictures because Jeromy had the video camera out most of the time and I figured I could just put that on here. Alas, after several hours of trying to figure it out, we don't know how to put videos from our camcorder onto our computer. Yuck. Anyway, Audrey had a great birthday, having fun with friends and grandparents, and getting many fun toys from friends and family, and her very own Disney Princess bike complete with training wheels from Mom and Dad. I just cannot believe how fast she's growing up! She is such a little kid now. No more baby. It's been so wonderful when she helps me with the baby or other things, and even nicer that she can do a lot of things for herself now.

Another milestone is that Audrey has been fully potty trained for over a month now. She's even been keeping her panties dry at night. It's been awesome!! Ya, I realize that she was almost 4 years old at the time, but oh well, every kid is different (as well as every mommy). And now Kierra is showing some interest in being potty trained. So we'll see how that goes.

Jacob turned 3 months old! He's smiling and cooing now, it's so much fun! Audrey and Kierra compete to see who can get him to smile the biggest. He was particularly adorable during church yesterday. It's so hard to pay attention when you're holding such a cute, smiling baby!!

We've also lived in this house for 4 years now. We have loved getting to know so many wonderful people in this neighborhood, but feel like our house is shrinking and getting farther away from work. We haven't totally ruled out staying here for a little while longer, but we've started looking at houses already. It's very bittersweet.

So there you have it. Lots of things have been going on and the kids just keep growing up!

Stake Enrichment

We had our stake Relief Society Enrichment meeting last week. It was really neat. They offered a bunch of really interesting classes, two of which I was able to attend. The first was about cooking with food storage. Did you know you can make cheese and sour cream out of powdered milk? (By the way, I didn't get the recipes for this one, so if you have ANY to share, please send them to me!) The second class had some great parenting tips, one of which was rewarding your children for good behavior during the passing of the sacrament with goodies. This actually worked really well on Sunday; I hope I don't get lax about it this Sunday.

Anyway, one sister gave some suggestions about how to create some excitement in our everyday lives with our families. She gave some excellent ideas, but unfortunately, I can only remember two of them: have just a normal dinner but with candlelights, and have a Cat in the Hat bath complete with cake. We've created one ourselves. The last few times we've ordered pizza, we have a picnic on the living room floor while watching a video. The girls love this! So now I want to know what ideas YOU have for creating simple fun activities at home. I want to hear!

Another Funny FHE Prayer

It can be so fun to hear prayers from children! Last night at Family Home Evening, we had Audrey give the opening prayer. The end of it went something like this:

"Please bless Jacob,
Please bless our silly families,
Please bless our houses,
Please bless our guns."

Trying not to laugh, Jeromy said, "That was a, um, pretty prayer, Audrey."

She replied, "Ya, pretty."

I have no idea what familIES our housES she's talking about, let alone what guns. Where does she come up with this stuff?

President Hinckley

We are definitely going to miss this great man, but we're so happy to know that he is with his sweetheart now. It's been interesting to see how the kids have reacted to this news. Whenever Kierra sees a picture of Pres. Hinckley, she says in her sweet voice, "That guy died-ed, huh Mommy. Oh, that's sad." And I was amazed at how much Audrey understands about the plan of salvation. When we were watching some clips of his life, Audrey said, "But Mommy, I think he's gonna live again." This produced a great conversation about, "when Jesus comes again."

But the funny remark came when we were watching the funeral on TV. Audrey kept asking about the casket. And just about every time they zoomed in on the casket, she would run out of the room. We thought she was just bored and wanted to play in the kitchen. Finally, she asked, "He's not going to pop out, is he, Mom?" No wonder why she kept leaving the room, she thought a dead body was going to move around. Where in the world did she get that idea? Scary.

Rude Awakening

The girls have been going to bed so well lately (knock on wood). It's been wonderful! Well, tonight they went to bed on time, and everything was going well. It was silent up there for about 20 minutes when all of a sudden, Audrey screamed bloody murder, immediately followed by the sound of her fast pitter-pattering feet going into our bedroom. "What in the world?" we both said as Jeromy ran to find out what happened. Well, apparently, Audrey was half asleep when she turned over and opened her eyes, and lo and behold, she saw a face looming RIGHT above hers. Kierra's face. It scared the wits out of Audrey, who thought an intruder was staring at her in her sleep. Kierra also got spooked due to the yelling and running, when all she wanted to know was whether or not her sister was still awake. What a crazy night!

Tag

I've been tagged! Here are my favorites:

Book: Twilight, Artemis Fowl, Gregor the Overlander, To Kill a Mockingbird

Movie: The ones we've seen recently that we really like: Stardust and The Ultimate Gift. I also really like the first Harry Potter movie and Secondhand Lions and Undercover Blues. The Illusionist is pretty good too.

Color: Purple has been my favorite for a long time, so I guess it's stuck. But to be honest, I like a lot of colors, especially color combinations. Lately it's been dark red and harvest gold, or smokey gray and cream, turquoise and brown, and tan and mocha brown.

TV Show: Psych!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so grateful for Tivo because it allows us to pause and laugh our hearts out before they make another joke and we miss it. We often rewind the joke so we can laugh again. I know, we're nerds. We are also fans of Chuck, The Office, Heroes, As Time Goes By (an older British comedy with Dame Judy Dench), and Raines and Studio 60 (not sure if these last 2 are coming back though). We also like, but not love, Ghost Whisperer and Numbers. Gosh, we sound like couch potatoes, don't we?

Guilty Pleasure: Chocolate. Everyday. That's the only way to survive, in my opinion. Also, good juvenile fiction, blogging, baking, buying books (especially cookbooks), and goodreads.com.

Outfit: When I'm not going anywhere, it's my black Lounge pants from Old Navy and a comfy solid tee. When I'm going somewhere, my cute new gray pants with the fun embroidery on the back pockets, and my black hooded henley.

Body Part: On me? My eyes. On Jeromy? His smile.

Kitchen Tip: Soy sauce gets any stain out (just kidding, please don't try that at home). Um, I don't know, don't worry about things too much and enjoy your food as much as you can. Ooh, I know, a wise woman once told my mom who then told me when I got married that even if you haven't started cooking dinner, you should have the dinner table set when your hubby gets home. It makes him feel more secure, loved, etc.

Life Lesson: The Lord DOES provide a way for you to keep the commandments, sometimes you just need to ask.

Activity: Eating. Watching TV w/ hubby. Cooking. Shopping. Reading (especially aloud to Jeromy or the kids). Chatting. Decorating. Crocheting.

Food: Any dessert pretty much, especially if it has chocolate (cheesecake, cookies, and eclairs to name a few). Funeral potatoes, mangoes, creamy sun-dried tomato pasta (well pretty much any pasta, really), teriyaki chicken, fresh pineapple, roast with gravy, stuffing, sweet potato streusel casserole, chicken crescent rolls, Cafe Rio's chicken salad, guacamole and chips... I could go on an on, but that's what comes to mind right now.

Child-Raising Tip: Actually, I could really use some. Any pointers? I guess I would have to say that it's always much easier to nip something in the bud, so you have to stay on your toes to notice. Also, if you can't seem to calm down about something, at least pretend to be calm and eventually you will be calm. Breathe. And just enjoy them while they're in the particular stage they're in, because before you know it, they'll have moved on. There's pros and cons to every age.

Game: Ticket to Ride, Settlers, Phase 10 or Barnyard Rummy, Speed, Wii bowling, Scene It, Catch Phrase, Mad Gab, Uno, and Apples to Apples.

Element: Silver.

All right, Kristine, there you go! Now, let's see. Megan, Shelly, Jenna, Nicki, Leslie, Jenny, Bethany, Mindy, Heather, Johanna: tag, you're it!! (Can you tag 10 people at once?)

Knots

Audrey just said something else really funny. She's playing with some pipe cleaners, making some interesting crowns and stuff. She wanted me to untangle one of them back to its original shape. I said, "I don't know if I can" as I try to unwind it from its knot. She said, "But parents know how to do that. They learn and learn and learn!" I'm so glad she has so much faith in me.

My Poor Little Jacob

My little guy is sick:( He has lost his voice, so his cry sounds like a squeeky door. I feel so bad for him. Doesn't it just break your heart when your little ones get pathetically sick?

A Letter

Jeromy said our blog is depressing. I'm just telling it like it is. Sorry. So, I'm going to try to write about something more uplifting, or at least cute.

Audrey is watching Sesame Street right now, and Elmo was writing a letter. While I was changing Jacob's diaper, she ran out of the room for a minute and then came back to show me her own letter, complete with squiggly lines going from left to right. Then she read it to me. It went something like this:

"Here is a letter for you. It is a secret. Now you have a letter.

(turned over)

Dear Kinley,

You are going to come over for a party. You will come to our house tonight to have a party. Yes, you will. Love, Audrey"

I thought it was so cute how when she saw Elmo writing a letter, she automatically thought she could do it, and she did! But I think we need to work on her manners and how we POLITELY ask someone over for a visit.

Bossy Pants

Audrey still wears diapers to bed at night mostly because we're lazy and don't want to wake her up later to go potty and partly because she's been doped up on cough syrup at night lately. Two nights ago she was difficult to put to bed, thinking of any excuse. We ignored her, until she said she pooped in her pants and wanted to be changed (I'm thinking she did this on purpose, the little squirt, but I have no proof). We consented, and she came down to get her diaper changed. When Jeromy finished, he told her (paying more attention to the TV than to her) to get back in bed. She pointed to the mess of toys still left in the living room and said, "Now, Daddy, you and Mommy have GOT to clean this up in the morning! OKAY?!?" He replied, "Okay, sweetie, get to bed." I was shocked that he said okay, but he actually wasn't paying attention to her and had no idea what she said. Fabulous.

Fruit Snacks

For those of you who have mild-tempered children, here is an example of what my dear sweet Audrey can be like at times.

The baby is asleep and Kierra too, and Audrey is watching cartoons. So I thought how nice it would be to catch up on blogs, email, goodreads.com, etc. Audrey asks for a fruit snack, and I say yes. She eats it. She asks for a second one, bringing it to me. I say that one's for Kierra, and no, one is plenty, how about some pretzels? She replies: But I want it!!!! PLEEEEAAAAASSSSEEEE!!!! Me: I said no! Just because you want it and say please does not make it yours. Her: Aaarg! as she throws it at my face! I immediately tell her to get in timeout, she runs away from me, tripping on the laptop cord, almost knocking it off my lap onto the ground. By this time I've had it and yell at her to get into timeout. So then she yells and screams on her way to timeout, thus waking up Kierra (and Jacob too I think, but he went right back to sleep luckily), who comes down the stairs (our usual timeout spot) to comfort and console her big sister.

So we're in our separate corners cooling off. Then I have a little talk with her about when Mommy says no, she means it, and we don't throw things, especially not at faces, and especially not at Mommy! I tell her if she still wants another snack, she needs to choose something else because one packet of fruit snacks is enough.

Things calm down, and she grabs yet another fruit snack. Her: But Mom, this one isn't for Kierra, that one is. Please? Me: I'm so glad that you're saying please, but I still say no. One is plenty, choose something else.

Things are quiet, I'm blogging and not paying attention, thinking that she's in the pantry trying to choose something else. A couple minutes later, she says she's going to go downstairs and choose a different fruit snack than the Scooby Doo ones (nice logic there kiddo, Mommy said I can't have a Scooby Doo fruit snack, but maybe I can have the fruit shaped ones). I tell her again that I said no more fruit snacks. I ask her where the other one is that I said she couldn't have and she points to her throat. Urg!!! So now she's in timeout AGAIN and needs to have another little chat. A very serious one.

And then, apparently, I need to make a snack for the little ones.

Gosh I can be such a whiner sometimes. Sorry about that. Things are going a little bit better with Jacob. He actually took a 5 hour nap yesterday! Crazy! He usually only sleeps for half an hour or an hour during the day, so that was a nice break. Speaking of breaks, I'm going out to dinner with some friends tonight! I'm so excited!! Too bad I still have to cook dinner anyway, but chicken nuggets shouldn't be too hard, right?

Okay, so I'm letting Audrey "play" with my hair right now. She's usually pretty gentle and it can be a fun time with just the 2 of us, but she has this weird fetish with rubbing my hair between her palms. It makes for an interesting hairdo!

My Day

My goal today was to do all of the laundry (I'm a do-it-once-a-week kind of gal), and then maybe cut some coupons since I'm like 2 months behind or something like that. But not getting to bed till 1am, waking up at 6am with the baby and then at 8am with the whole gang, didn't get me on the right foot. The baby hasn't been napping really well and it's really starting to take a toll on me. It's just IMPOSSIBLE to get anything done during the day (and we want to move soon?!?)Most nights he sleeps for 8 or 9 hours! I love it! But come morning, he's been so cranky. I'll spend so much time getting him down for a nap, and then 5 minutes later he's up and crying again. I have to feed him really good and then stick him in the swing for half an hour to just get my shower. But as soon as that thing stops, he's up again. Jeromy thinks he's teething but I refuse to accept that as a possibility right now (I don't want to even think about having to nurse him for 6 or so more months when he's got teeth. Cringe.). Maybe I need to read those baby books again.

Ugh, I was going to get so much done today. Did I even get 1 load of laundry started? No. Did I even look at the coupons? No. And here I sit at almost midnight typing away when I could be resting up for the day to come. I've got issues. Well, maybe tomorrow will be better.

Ooh, but I did make a very healthy dinner of chef salad, crudites with ranch dip, and Italian herb chicken, and pound cake topped with homemade strawberry sauce and fat free whipped cream for dessert. Yummy.

Christmas Pix

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from Christmas. Sorry about the belatedness and poor quality of these photos. We are in the process of getting a new camera.

My Dad is reading the Christmas story from the HUGE Bible. It's really hard to keep 10 little ones reverent for this. Especially when they're excited that Santa is coming really soon. Oh well.

It looks like my sister Laurel (the one sandwiched between my Nana and Papa) is really enjoying the story.

We usually act out the Nativity, complete with costume and songs, but we just weren't that organized this year. We did manage to make me be Mary and Jacob was baby Jesus.

Audrey had to show everybody 5x each her Santa hat that Granddad lent her.

Logan

Here's my cute little nephew, Logan. He makes all sorts of different faces that are hilarious! He had us in stitches during the whole vacation!! It's actually kind of odd that he has a normal smile on right now, isn't it Shelly?

Holiday Prayer

Last night Audrey said the dinner prayer. After blessing the food, our silly family, and the usual, she said, "And please bless Halloween, and please bless the Easter parties." We were trying SOO hard not to laugh! Where in the world did that come from?

Kidisms

Here are some funny things our kids have said lately:

Me: Kierra, you're so cute!
Kierra: I not cute, (with a flourish of her hands) I sparkly!

Some funny words Kierra says: ladypop (lollipop), won-duh-full-ull (wonderful), and our personal favorite: buffalo (beautiful). We love trying to get her to say it. We'll say, "Kierra, you're so beautiful!" To which she replies, "No, I not buffalo, I Kaywa!"

Audrey was doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing (big surprise). I can't even remember what it was, but I told her I didn't want her doing it. She put her hand on her hip and told me, "Then don't look, Mom." I was too speechless to respond.

Dance Class

For the last 3 weeks, Audrey has been taking ballet/modern dance lessons from two teenagers in our ward. Here's my little ballerina in her leotard and tights. She loves it!

Sleeping In

The other day I was trying to sleep in after a long night, so when Kierra woke up early, I just pulled her into bed with me. A little while later, Audrey woke up and went downstairs, calling out, "Hello? Hellllllooooo?! HELLO!! I'm awake!!" I didn't want to call out to her and wake up Jacob, so I whispered, "We're up here, sweetie." She didn't hear me. So, bless her heart, Kierra took it upon herself to get out of bed and notify Audrey where we were. She got to the top of the stairs and said in her sweet angelic voice, "Sweetheart, we're up here." Audrey, being the non-morning person she is, yelled back, "You don't call me sweetheart! Mommy calls me sweetheart!" I guess it's time to get out of bed.

Later, when I was telling my Mom this story over the phone, Audrey finished telling it for me, laughing really hard. "Wasn't that funny, Mom?"

My Girls

It is so nice when I walk in the room having been gone upstairs for 20 or 30 minutes taking care of the baby, and I see this. I'm so glad that they can entertain themselves!

Mini Moms

It is so nice to have 2 little girls in the house with this newborn! Their nurturing instincts are kicking in and it's like having 2 mini-moms. Although sometimes that's not a good thing: they fight over who gets to play with the baby, and who gets to sit next to his bouncer. And Audrey considers herself an expert at what Jacob does and does not like. She'll correct me when I'm trying to de-gas him (pulling his feet up to his head so he'll toot) and say he doesn't like that. But they abolutely love him! I keep hearing from them things like: Oh you're such a cute little boy, where's my smile, oh it's okay sweetie, etc. It's especially nice when I'm busy with something and he starts crying because I can send one or both of them to calm him down and buy me a couple more minutes. They'll talk to him and Kierra LOVES to sing Twinkle Little Star to him. It's adorable. I love it!!

Sorry this is such a bad picture. But I thought it was so funny that Jacob slept for over a whole hour like this. I was wondering if his hand fell asleep.

Jeromy's birthday was over a month ago, but I thought I'd post it anyway. Happy 29th hon!


He asked for a pumpkin cream cheese log instead of a cake. We're a little short on birthday candles so we improvised using a #2 and a P. Oh well.

Audrey asked for a second slice, and Jeromy thought he'd be funny by asking her to say, "Please Daddy, you're the best!" She did, and then he asked her to say, "Please Daddy, you're as strong as an ox!" She did, so he went even further and asker her to say, "Please Daddy, I love you more than chocolate!" She thought about it for just a second and then said, "I love chocolate!"

Recipe Request

Does anybody have a cake recipe made with Milky Way bars? Or a good split pea (or lentil) and ham soup?

Shepards

Yesterday we were watching the Liken video about the birth of Jesus. The shepards were on their way to visit the baby Jesus when Audrey asked where they were going. This is basically how the conversation went:

Audrey: Where are they going?
Me: To see baby Jesus.
Audrey: Why?
Me: Wouldn't you want to go visit the baby Jesus?
Audrey: No, Mommy, we're not on TV.

I tried to explain, but she wouldn't listen. A little while later, she and Kierra were fighting over something, and Audrey came to me crying, "Kierra's fighting with me, and I'm right!" I guess she could use a little humbling. Heaven help her future husband!

Bowling

Our girls enjoy bowling on our Wii. Audrey is very competitive and actually really good, usually totalling over 100 points. Well, now Kierra thinks that any sport involving a ball must be bowling. She takes Jeromy's basketball and tosses it after saying, "I gonna get a spare!"

He's back!

Jeromy is back from his conference and things are starting to get back to normal. Whew! It's so crazy when he's gone. Whenever he does go somewhere, he brings us back souvenirs. So while in New York City, he went to M&M World. He got the girls some swirly straws that have the M&M guys hanging on them so you can twirl them around. He got me a kitchen towel with an M&M on it that says "Bake or Broil Baby!" When he was about to take it out of his suitcase, he tried to get Audrey to guess what it was. Thinking of how I like to cook, he asked her, "So what does Mom really like to do?" She answered, "Cleaning!" We chuckled. Then he clarified, "No, what does she like to do in the kitchen? And sometimes you help her with it?" The enthusiastic answer: "Cleaning!" We chuckled heartily. I guess when you're doing something all day long (or at least it feels like I do it all day long) they think you really like to do it.

Christmas Update

Christmas was great! We went to my parents' home in Idaho, all 20 of us (10 adults, 10 kids 5 and under- 4 of which are newborns)! We had a lot of fun, and suprisingly none of us got and spread the flu this year. Most of our free time there was spent watching Psych, our absolute favorite TV show (many of both of our families agree the main character reminds them of Jeromy, which is probably why we're such big fans and also why those who know Jeromy enjoy watching it). It snowed a ton on Christmas Eve, so everyone went outside to play. The adult boys made a huge snow fort complete with furniture and a slide. That night when Santa came, Audrey heard him and his reindeer on the roof and told EVERYONE about it the next day (although nobody else heard him, if you know what I mean). It was really fun to see so many young eyes so big with excitment about Santa.

We wanted to bless Jacob while we were up there since most of our families would be able to attend. We got the needed permission to bless him in my parents' ward, and then they canceled church that morning (church was at 8:30am! Imagine getting 20 people fed and bathed and dressed that early!). So the bishop came over and Jeromy blessed Jacob in my parents' living room. It was really nice. And we were especially grateful that Jeromy's parents, sister and her family, and grandpa came 40 miles away early that morning in not-so-pleasant conditions. It was so nice to have so much family there.

We had lots of fun, lots of good food, and very good company.

Barely Breathing

So I haven't written in awhile for a few reasons. Just so we're clear, I'm not about to complain, but rather to explain why I haven't posted anything in awhile. I know you've all been waiting patiently, ha ha. Here goes.

The week before Christmas, obviously, we were preparing for Christmas. While at my parents' home in Idaho for the holidays, we didn't have the internet for a week and a half (hard to imagine, I know). We got home on the first and had 8 loads of laundry and a cold waiting for us. Then last week Jeromy was working late every night (the earliest of which was 8pm, the latest 11:30) getting ready for the big conference of the year in NYC. Now he is at the conference; he left yesterday. And he won't be back for 3 more days! Needless to say, I haven't had any time to even breathe lately, and won't get another chance till about Thursday. So there's your explanation. See you on Thursday.

(By the way, I'm feeling a lot better now that I'm watching my first episode of John & Kate + 8 on TLC. At least I don't have twins and sextuplets. But I should probably watch something else during my brief amount of down time).

Well I Feel Stupid

Earlier I complained about not being able to get Jacob to sleep during the day lately. It was a rough week last week and I wasn't able to get much done (what was I expecting? He is, after all, only a month old!). But then, miraculously, he was great this weekend. The difference: Jeromy put him in his bed for me each time I was done feeding him, and he apparently swaddles Jacob up tighter than I do. Plus I was a little lazy with the whole swaddling thing last week (and I just didn't even think about it- lack of sleep definitely affects problem solving skills). Well, not anymore! I've learned my lesson. When all else fails, make sure he can't move in his blanket!

By the way, many thanks to Megan for opening my eyes to the wonderful world of swaddling!!

Pixy

Audrey and I did some Christmas shopping tonight, and when we came home, Jeromy said that someone ding-dong-ditched us a present. We're so thrilled! It is a mini Christmas tree and they even put a scripture with it for why green is a color of Christmas. How fun!

Imaginations

I have been so amazed at my children's imaginations lately! Here are three instances:

Audrey and Kierra love playing kitty. One of them (and only one!) pretends they're a kitty (meowing and everything) while the other one guides them throughout the house, saying, "Here kitty, this way." They'll do this for quite awhile.

I guess neither of them is ready to let go of Halloween (2 months later! Geesh.) They both get dressed from head to toe in princess paraphernalia, and then walk around the basement trick-or-treating to each other.

My favorite is when they pretend my big red armchair is Santa's sleigh. They sit on the armrest and Audrey puts this ribbon (which was originally wrapped around a present given to us, but has since been a ponytail holder, sash, belt, cape, scarf, and flying thingy.) on her lap for a seatbelt. Then she tells Santa (Kierra most of the time) she's ready. Kierra grabs the reins (the strings to the blinds) and away they go. If I'm nearby, Kierra will say, "Mommy, I'm Santa! I love you, bye-bye!" and then shakes the reins, just like Grandpa Wilson does with his horses (he'd be so proud:). I'll try to get a picture, but I'm usually nursing or otherwise detained when they're doing this.

I'm starting to think that they're really bored. But maybe it's just proof that they're really smart;)

Snacks

Kierra just gave each figurine in our Nativity a Ritz Cracker, saying, "Here's a snack a you, and here's a snack a you, oh oh oh, turn around, here, eat. And here's a snack a you..." After they had all "munched," they all laid down for a nap. I could just eat her sometimes.

55!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not to mention that I also would like to catch up on all my friends' blogs that I haven't looked at in over a month. Eeek, 55 new posts, Megan? This is going to be an all week project.

Arg

I've been trying so hard to get the dishes, feeding, changing, feeding, laundry, and more feeding done so that I can blog what's in my head before I lose it (I do have Mommy Brain, after all). Alas, the baby just woke up for the tenth time today, so I can't. Help! He sleeps sooo good at night (usually:) but lately I can't get him to stay asleep during the day for more than a half hour. I'm beginning to wonder if he's got some gas issues, or just an incredibly long growth spurt and needs to eat constantly.

Reindeer

Okay, Audrey is too smart for her own good sometimes. We went to our ward Christmas party on Saturday, and Santa was there! Despite being totally afraid of him and refusing to get anywhere near him, she was still intrigued and excited that he was there.

Afterwards, when we were getting everyone in the car, Audrey wasn't getting into her seat because she was looking all over the church. I thought she was just watching the snowfall, and we needed to get the baby out of the cold, so I was getting frustrated. But then she said, "But Mommy, where are the reindeer?" After a big "um" I told her they were probably in the woods behind the church eating while they waited for Santa. Then she continued to ask a bunch of questions about what they eat, etc. I can't believe how smart she's getting!

Elf Yourself

We elfed our kids. Check out this link:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1272659655

Snowman

We got a bunch of snow yesterday, and so I decided to seize the day and take the girls out front to make a snowman. We had so much fun, by the end Audrey and I were laughing so hard from our snowball fight (this, by the way, is Audrey's first instinct when she's sees snow- to pick it up and chuck it at the nearest person). Her aim is so much better than mine that I got soaked!

Snowfall

Aaah, the magic of snowfall.

Fun on the Bus

The girls had a lot of fun shopping at the mall with Grandma Wilson and Mommy the other day.

One Month Old

And here are the ones I took this week at a month old. He's so cute, isn't he?! He's doing so well too, we couldn't be more blessed. He hasn't thrown up in more than a week, so we're really glad about that progress. Now if we could just get his older sister to stop messing her pants, then we'll be in business.

One Week Old

Jacob is a month old now! So I thought I'd share some recent photos. I've been trying to take pictures of him every week this past month to show how fast he's growing, but I only managed to take them when he was a week old and a month old. Here are the ones from when he was one week old.

Audrey's Prayer

Audrey gave the opening prayer for FHE this week. This is basically how it went:

"We're thankful for Mommy, Kierra, Daddy, and the baby. Please bless Heavenly Father. Please bless Santa. Please bless our family to be silly."

Then when she had finished, she said, "That was a new one, Mom!" I guess we haven't covered that aspect of the principle of prayer in our FHEs;)

Burps

The other day, Kierra tripped, fell, and then farted. Audrey then told me that Kierra's bum had burps.