Knock Knock Jokes

Kate and Dave love telling knock-knock jokes. One of their favorite is one that Dave made up. It goes something like this:

Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Shhhh!
Shhhhh-who?
Don't make me leave!

So, this morning Jack told us a knock-knock joke. This is what he said:

Jack: Da. Da. (while he said that he acted like he's knocking)
Dave: Who's there?
Jack: Shhhh!
Dave: Shhhh-who?
Jack: held up his foot and grinned

I was pretty amazed that he thought of that on his own. It's amazing how much the second child picks up from their big siblings. I mostly posted this so I would have it written down and won't forget. Maybe someday I'll print out my blog and use it like a scrapbook.

Silly Jack

Here are a couple of pictures that I took of Jack this morning. Apparently Mrs. Snowman needed a diaper change. He's been changing doll diapers lately. He loves to play with dolls just like Kate.
I went through the kids drawers and closet this morning to put away clothes that were too small. Jack found these lovely too small pajama bottoms and insisted that he put them on. Then the UPS man brought Jack's new snow boots so we added those the ensemble. Lovely!

Early Christmas Gift Fun

Our sweet neighbors from New Mexico, Chris & Geneva, sent the kids Christmas presents which we got today. They told me to let the kids open it and start using it right away -- which I'm so glad for since we have a whole week until Christmas with not much going on. They sent the kids a VSmile Learning System with a dance pad. Really fun! I just wanted to share this video of Kate trying out the dance pad for the first time. It makes me laugh. I'm pretty sure that she didn't learn those moves in dance class.

Making Sugar Cookies

Last night the kids and I made sugar cookies. The kids helped me roll out the dough and cut the cookies out. They each had their own rolling pin and cookie cutters. Then they decorated them with sprinkles after I frosted them.

Jack was pretty into cutting out his cookies. He ate most of his cookie dough. Later when we were trying to have family night he was on a little bit of a sugar high. He was running around like crazy and wouldn't hold still or be quiet. Oh well, at least he had fun, right?

Jack was showing Dave in this picture that he had just pushed the cookie cutter into the dough by himself.

Visiting Santa

We went to our ward Christmas party on Saturday night. Kate couldn't wait for Santa to get there. She and Jack were one of the first kids to sit on his lap. Jack didn't cry -- he likes to do whatever Kate is doing. He wasn't too excited about it though.

Waiting in line to sit on his lap.

Kate is telling Santa that she wants a bike and an Ariel. I'm pretty sure Jack didn't say a thing.

Elf Dance

We just did the "ElfYourself." The kids want to watch it over and over. They loved watching Ethan's family dance, so we made our own. Here's a link to it:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1280357458

Check it out and watch us dance!

Boy Gift Ideas?

I'm not really sure what to get Jack for Christmas this year. I was thinking about some kind of a race track or something for him to play with his cars on. Does anyone with little boys have any great gift ideas? What did your little boys love when they were 2?

Snow Snow Snow

This weekend we got a pretty good snowstorm. I finally bought the kids some snowpants, so they went out in the snow. (We haven't found any boots yet, so that's why they are wearing ziploc bags on their shoes -- pretty creative.) It was Jack's first time really playing in the snow. He was too little last year ane he couldn't move in his snowsuit when we did go outside to play. He didn't like getting his mittens in the snow, but he wanted to tromp around in the snow just like Kate was doing.

Jack liked the idea of balls made out of snow since he loves all kinds of balls.

Kate's Dance Recital

Kate had a dance recital on Saturday. Here she is before she danced. She decided that she wanted her picture taken doing her lovely dance pose (that she made up). She has another recital this weekend, so maybe we'll get some pictures of her dancing.

Nativity Puppets

At Enrichment a couple of months ago we learned how to make these Nativity hand puppets. I had only gotten one wise man half sewn, so I brought them with me to my parent's house this week. My mom helped me finish them. She is a great seamstress, so she did most of the sewing and I did the other stuff. Who knows if I'd have ever finished them at home on my own. It was nice to have the kids occupied and a big space to make my mess where I could leave it until I finished the project. Here is the finished product:

Kate with the angel and shepherd.

Emmalee with Joseph on the left and a wise man on her right.

Cheesy Kate with the innkeeper.

The other two wisemen and Mary.

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's

The kids and I spent a few days at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was really fun. Kate has been in heaven playing with all of Emmalee's princesses and Barbies. And, Jack figured out Emmalee's remote control Barbie car. And of course they love playing with Grandma and Grandpa and Emmalee.

This afternoon we took a walk down the road to see Grandpa's horses. I fed them some carrots and Jack was a little freaked out when I tried to rub their noses. He kept screaming and yelling, "My momma. My momma." I don't know if he was worried about me or worried about himself. My kids are a little afraid of all animals, even cats. When it was time to walk back home Jack didn't want to leave the horses. I guess he and Kate like to look, but not touch.

The kids and I with Pooch (I think that is the horse's name. My dad has changed it three or four times -- I can't keep it straight).

Jack and I feeding the horse (Jasmine, I think) a carrot. Jack was freaking out about then.

Kate wanted to do her "homework" while Emmalee was doing her homework this afternoon. And of course Jack had to do some too.

A little paranoid?

So, Dave and I decided that we should make my blog private. I know it's a little annoying, since you have to log in. But Dave showed me how easily it is to find our address on the internet. Since there are so many crazy people out there I decided that it's better to be overly cautious when it comes to my family's safety. Anyway...My blog should still be the same, but I just changed the address and now you get to sign in! Oh well.

My Kitchen Helpers

Uh oh! Jack and Kate were helping me make some pumpkin muffins yesterday (Meagan's recipe -- really good!). Jack's job was to stir the flour and baking powder together. Oops! He was trying to smile, but wasn't quite sure what to think of the 1 1/2 cups of flour on his jeans.

Every time I make dinner or cook anything Kate and Jack pull up their little chairs to help. Jack usually just tries to stick a spoon or something in for a taste. Yesterday I caught him trying to eat a piece of raw chicken that I was putting in the oven. I'm glad I caught him before he ate it. Yuck! Kate's a good helper though. She always pulls up her chair and says, "Mom, so what can I do for you?" I love hearing that!

Tagged Again!

Maggie tagged me a week or so ago, so here goes (my kids are finally in bed so I have a little time to blog). I'm just doing the last half of her "tag" since I did a tag from Michal a month or so ago. So, here's a little more about me:


4 Things People Don't Know About Me:

1. I love to bake. Probably because I love to eat what I have just baked especially when it comes right out of the oven. I love to make bread, rolls, cookies, pies, etc. And I think I enjoy it because things usually turn out like they are supposed to. Sometimes other things that I cook (for dinner mostly) don't turn out so well. I consider myself a "non-practicing foodie" like Melinda as she called herself on her blog. I love learning about cooking and food, but I don't make many new exotic dishes.

2. I can't decide if I like being a small town country girl or a big city girl. Since in the last few years I've lived in a big city and a really small town, I can't decide which I like better. It will be interesting to see where we end up living when Dave is done with school.

3. I'm pretty talented when it comes to being clumsy and uncoordinated. Luckily for my kids sake Dave is pretty coordinated, so hopefully they turn out okay. Things are always just falling out of my hands. A week or so ago within 24 hours I broke Dave's external hard drive (a very bad thing to break!) and cut the cord on his brand-new razor right after he opened the package and of course I snipped it (accidentally of course) in a place where he couldn't splice it to fix it.

4. I would love to be a great home decorator (you can't tell that from my house now). I guess I'm saving up all of my decorating knowledge (gained from watching HGTV) for when we have a home of our own and are out of school.

Caviar Anyone?

I had my first, and maybe, last taste of caviar yesterday at our Quarterly Enrichment. In the holiday cooking mini-class that I went to a sister made "Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Creme Fraiche and Caviar." I was daring and had a sample, since who knows when I'll have a chance to have caviar. Probably not ever again if we end up living in New Mexico or even Utah.

Anyway...It wasn't too bad. A little salty, but it was okay, until a stray piece of caviar slipped off of my potato and I got a little taste of it plain. Not the best texture -- pretty much like a fish egg should feel like. It was a little fingerling potato baked with olive oil and rosemary, with a little creme fraiche (which I've heard about from watching a little too much Food Network, but have never tried it) and caviar on top.

I wanted to share the recipe because it is interesting and just rosemary potatoes without the creme fraiche and caviar would make a yummy side dish. So, here's the link to the recipe.: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/108940

We Made It!

We made it through all of sacrament meeting today without taking any kids out into the hall. That hasn't happened for a long, long time! Hooray! It was great. Who knows when it will happen again. Probably not for a while, but at least we got to enjoy today's meeting.

Quick Exercising Note

Does anyone have any great at-home workouts that they like to do? My goal is to get up early every day and exercise, but we only go running on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Doing Taebo isn't really motivating me to get up early. I tried yesterday and I made it two minutes into it before Kate woke up and I had to stop. And, who knows if we are going to go running in the winter? I can just see myself slipping on the ice while trying to run since I'm not very coordinated. We'll see what happens when it starts snowing.

Crafty kids!

The kids and I have done a few crafts this week. I usually am not creative enough to think of something fun for the kids to make, but I've had a little help with ideas. I just remembered that Kate and I made the paper-sack turkey that was in the Nov. issue of the Friend. Here are some picutres of our latest creations.

Yesterday we made our names out of leaves, herbs, and flowers from our yard. We have some rosemary growing in our front flower bed, so we used a little of that. I love the smell! It reminds me of Macaroni Grill (their bread that they make). We got the idea out of the Family Fun magazine (thanks Melinda!).

Jack loves to pose just like Kate. He's a little wet from helping me do the dishes.

This morning Kate and I made her lovely beaded tiara.

Am I A Runner?

Running. Not usually my favorite thing to do. I like it when the run is over, but not so much while I'm running. However, the last two mornings I've gone running with my friend at 6:30 am and I've really enjoyed it for several reasons:

• I get exercising over with early in the day, so I don't feel guilty all day for not exercising. (Which helps me be a less ornery mom.)
• I get a little social interaction with a friend early in in the day.
• Since my running friend is a little more athletic than I am it helps me not be a wuss and walk. We went 2 1/2 miles, but she wants to try the harder 3 1/2 mile run next week. We'll see how that goes.
• It's a great form of exercise, then I don't feel so guilty for having ice cream for dessert (and maybe a few more bites later because it tasted so good).
• The kids and I get out of the house a lot earlier than if I don't exercise and get ready earlier.
• And -- I get to see the sun rise!

Will I ever be a great runner? I doubt it, but it sure is nicer to do with a friend!

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves

We love living in our new neighborhood. For those of you who haven't been to visit us the streets are lined with huge trees. Which means there are a lot of leaves everywhere! We've been raking leaves for a month or so. I've been afraid to do it with the kids because Jack isn't scared of running into the street. And he thinks it is really fun when I run after him yelling at him to stop. So, I've been waiting for Dave to help me rake. We tackled the leaves that came from our one huge tree yesterday. I think we filled up 10 39-gallon and 2 30-gallon leaf bags and there are more to come. I'm amazed at how many leaves one tree can drop!

I remember raking leaves growing up from our huge willow tree, but I don't think we ever bagged them. I think we just dumped them over the fence into the field next to our house or put them on the garden. I'm amazed at how much work raking leaves is. But, I've enjoyed doing it because the weather has been so nice. I guess our nice weather is probably over and hopefully the leaves will stop falling too. It was fun while it lasted.

Trip to the Zoo

Today the kids and I went to zoo for the morning. It was a beautiful day and really warm out. The zoo wasn't crowded, so it was great. We bought a year membership so we can go there often, since it's only a few minutes away. Jack hadn't been to a zoo before so it was fun seeing his reactions to the animals.

The kids stayed in the stroller for the first little while. It was great! I love my double-jogger!

Jack by the zebras.

The kids by the tiger drinking from the water. The new tiger/big cat section of the zoo is pretty nice. We haven't been there since they finished it. You get pretty close to the animals.

Powdered Sugar Anyone?

Last night Kate helped me make some oreo cookies. I had a bowl of powdered sugar on the counter and Jack climbed on top of his chair so he was next to the counter. I thought it would be okay if he just dipped his fingers in a few times hoping that it would keep him busy for a minute so I could finish the dishes. He just smeared it all over the counter before he even licked his fingers. Anyway... The kids had a great time with cookie dough and powdered sugar all over them.

**Maggie -- I used your oreo cookie recipe and made a few rolo cookies too. They were really good and so easy. You can't go wrong with a little chocolate and caramel.

Trick-or-Treat!

Last night we went trick-or-treating up and down our street. Derek and Meagan and Brooklyn (the cute skunk) and Grandpa Judi came with us. The kids got a hang of trick-or-treating pretty fast and they loved it. Kate decided to be a ballerina (she changed her mind a few times yesterday of what she was going to dress up as). Jack and Brooklyn was really cute together. They got a little extra candy because they were so cute.

NOOOOOOOO!

Today Jack figured out how to say, "Nooooooooooooooo!" He said it over and over today and he meant it! This afternoon I was going to pick up Dave from work and I was planning on leaving the kids at home with Grandpa Judi. Jack was standing by the door and I told him bye and he yelled, "Noooooo!" and he really meant it. I enjoyed the days when he couldn't express himself and would do whatever I thought was best for him. I guess those days are over now.

South-of-the-Border Chowder

Cammie posted this recipe on her blog a little while ago. I made it for dinner tonight and my family loved it. So, I thought I'd pass it on. I'm excited to have my leftovers tomorrow. Cammie said that it is even better the next day.

1/2 C Chopped Onion
4 Bacon Strips....or more if you like bacon a lot... substitute turkey bacon for lower fat grams.
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 package (32 oz) frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes
2 cans (14-1/2 oz each) chicken broth
1 can (14-3/4 oz) cream style corn
1 can (11 oz) Mexicorn, drained
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilis
1/4 cup pearl onion
Sour cream and minced fresh cilantro, optional

In a soup kettle, saute onion and bacon until onion is tender and bacon is crisp. Stir in flour, cumin, chili powder and garlic powder. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened.

Stir in the hash browns, broth, cream corn, Mexicorn, chilis and pearl onions. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes or until heated through. Garnish with sour cream and cilantro if desired.

Yield: 10 servings or 2-1/2 quarts.

You can make this in a crock pot too. Just cook the bacon as instructed, them dump all the ingredients into a crock pot and set it on a medium heat setting for about 3 hours.

Nutritional Analysis: 1 cup (without additional toppings) equals 197 calories, 6 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 6 mg cholesterol, 756 mg sodium ( you can cut the sodium WAY down by using low sodium chicken broth), 34 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 6 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 vegetable.

**I substituted potatoes from Vaughn & Maianne's garden instead of the hashbrowns. I just boiled them seperately for a little while before I added it to the soup.

Twilight Series

It's not often that I take the time to read a book (mostly because I can't seem to get what I need to do done, not ignore my kids, and still have time to read). But I got my copy of the 2nd book of the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer from the library yesterday. I've had a hold on it for a few months and it was finally available yesterday. I really want to read it, but I guess I'll have to stay up later at night or maybe give up some computer time. If you haven't read them, I recommend them.

Getting Ready for Halloween

I took the kids to a neighborhood Halloween carnival yesterday. Here are a few pictures from it. Kate had to wear her shredding, much-loved Cinderella dress (she wouldn't wear her nicer one) and Jack was Mickey Mouse.

My Favorite Pumpkin Cookies

These are my favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I don't make them very often because Dave isn't a big fan of pumpkin and then I end up eating too many. They sure are yummy!

Pumpkin-Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
½ cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup pecans
¾ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:
Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg, pumpkin, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, and then stir these dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture. Add the pecans and chocolate chips.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets and bake in a 350-degree for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool and serve.

Yield: 4 dozen

Why?

I took this picture a few weeks ago of Jack, but he makes messes like this often. I always wonder, "Why little boys are so messy?"
Right now his shirt is splattered with brownie dough. I guess I should learn to take his clothes off when he eats or at least put a bib on.

Little Tap Dancer

Kate started tap dancing lessons yesterday. We are switching her to a dance class closer to home (I've been taking her to Bountiful since we moved). At the new class they do half an hour tap and a half hour of ballet. We searched all over yesterday and finally found her some new tap shoes. She has been wearing them almost all the time. But, there are a few downsides to it -- 1)she can't wear them outside 2) she can't do up the laces and 3) she keeps taking them off, so I have to tie them a million times a day. At least she'll get some use out of them before she grows out of them. Her new dance teacher is the sweetest, bubbliest lady I've ever met. The little girls in the class eyes light up while she is dancing with them. It is really sweet and Kate loves it!

Grandma and Grandpa's New Floor

Last weekend we helped Vaughn & Marianne install their new floor in their kitchen/dining room/hall. We all (including Jack) helped scrape the cardboard backing from the old linolium off of the floor. Then Vaughn and Dave installed the new floor. It looks great!

The Greatest Bath Ever!

Kate got her cast off of her leg yesterday. Hooray! Last night she had the greatest bath ever. It's been such a pain to bathe her for the last five weeks since she broke her leg. Last night she actually wanted to get in. It was very refreshing!

Kids

I got out the camera this afternoon after Kate got all dressed up and here is the result of our "photo shoot."

Kate is wearing her much loved Cinderella dress and her princess hair (thanks Ethan!) . She has finally come to grips that she can only wear one dress-up shoe with her cast on. At least it matches -- all pink!

Jack was trying to pose just like Kate I guess. He's holding his favorite thing -- a ball!

Jack the Monkey

Jack has been doing some crazy things the last couple of days. Yesterday I got out the shower and he was standing by the toilet with his pants pulled down and the potty-training seat on the toilet and then he flushed the toilet. At least he didn't take his diaper off.

Then yesterday afternoon I was downstairs doing laundry and I heard water running. I came upstairs and Jack was standing in the bathtub with his clothes on playing in the water with a cup. So, now I have to make sure that the bathroom door is shut. I already have to keep our bedroom door shut so he doesn't ruin the computer.

He is starting to talk more now -- well, now he's saying actual words. He's been jabbering forever. But now he says ball, bus, toodles (from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Disney Channel), and few other things. He says mom constantly. I think he just likes the sound because he doesn't always want me.

Recent Pictures

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Here a few recent pictures. I took the kids to Wheeler Farm last week and they loved it! Now everytime we pass a park Kate asks if it is a farm too. There is a picture of the kids on the bus stop bench in front of our house too. Kate did get a haircut a few days ago, so she looks cuter now than in those pictures. If anyone has tips on doing semi-curly wavy hair let me know. I obviously have no experience with curls!