Here are some of the alphabet cookies we made this week.
Homemade Mayonnaise
1 year ago
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
quiet time
For the past few weeks both my kids have decided that naps weren't needed anymore. We play all morning and by the time lunch is over both David and Jaclyn will need a down time. Most days it means sitting on the couch and watching a movie while cuddling with a blanket other days it means reading a pile of books.
Today they chose to watch a princess movie together.
I think this is great picture because of how similar there positions are.
One of those days
Do you ever have one of those days where you know you should be getting stuff done but don't want too?
Well today is one of those days for me. As I sit here this morning I know that I have approximately 5 or 6 loads of laundry to do. I also have three cakes to design and write a list of what I need to make said three cakes.
I also should vacuum my house and finish the dishes....sigh.
As I write out my list of all the things I should be doing all I can think about is what I want to be doing.
If you ask me today is a perfect day to sit on the couch with a warm blanket and read a book!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Baptizing Toys
Tonight when David was having his bath he started to line up some of his bath toys. When I asked him what he was doing he responded with "I'm baptizing them". I asked him if he had heard about baptizing lately and he told me that he remembered it from family camp with our church (four months ago) and he thought his toys were ready to be baptized like Jesus talks about in the Bible.
Last September when we were at family camp I remember talking to David a little bit about what baptism was but it hasn't come up in conversation since then. So tonight when he brought up baptizing his toys he really surprised me. I think its kinda cool how my kid thinks about conversations and processes them long after the conversation is over.
He also remembers things like "maybe we can go to Toys R Us next time we are in town". Then he reminds me the next time we are in town even if it has been 1-2 weeks.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Just Like Mom
As I sit here getting ready to have my evening cup of tea I was looking through the photos I took this past week and came across these pictures of my kids having tea.
For those of you who know me you will know that I love a good cup of hot tea. I will drink almost any type of tea but my favorite is chai. In the past (and present) the kids like to take my mug after I have finished my tea and drink the last drops. On this day however I made them each there own cup of chai (well, a kids chai anyways: 85% milk and 15% chai.) They loved it!!
I have blogged about my kids and tea a few different times over the years once here and then again here and again here. But since this was their first actual cup of tea, it deserved its own post.
Both Chris and I are also big fans of Starbucks and most of the time when the kids see a Starbucks they ask if we are going there to get "mommy her tea". Sometimes we get the kids a cookie or a special "milk tea" (chocolate milk) there which they both love especially if it is in a Starbucks cup!
This afternoon we were out running some errands and I asked Jaclyn is there was anything else she wanted to see at the store we were at and her response was "no mommy, I need my Starbucks now". I just had to laugh, because she said it so seriously.
You could say that the kids growing up with me having a cup of tea around is starting to rub off on them.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Jaclyn, Barbies and Princess movies
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Octopus Cookies
Do you ever wake up thinking today would be a good day for something fun and different?
I do and today was one of those days. I decided today we would make Octopus Cookies!
Both David and Jaclyn were really excited to make them and so they both helped me in the kitchen with the mixing and the measuring and of course putting the eyes on (with some taste testing of course)
Here are a few of the finished product
I am going to go and cuddle with my kids now as we eat our octopus cookies and watch a movie.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Dog-pile!
Over the past few months the kids have started this new thing where they will dog-pile one another or
anyone else who happens to be on the floor.
anyone else who happens to be on the floor.
For example, when David is sitting on the floor reading a book, doing a puzzle or even playing with toys, Jaclyn will come up and lay on top of his back and pretend to sleep. Sometimes David does the same type of thing to Jaclyn but more often then not it is Jaclyn who "sleeps" on David.
The morning this was taken, David had just put together a large puzzle on the floor. After it was done, Jaclyn said to him "lay down so we can see who's bigger" and of course he agreed. Then as soon as he laid down she jumped down on him and pretended to sleep on him, sneaky little girl. I managed to get a picture of this interaction and then they both started to act even sillier because I was taking pictures!
The kids are so funny sometimes I just have to laugh!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Ice Cream Maker
One of the things that we got for Christmas was an Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Sorbet & Ice Cream Maker. All four of us were excited about getting it for different reasons. The kids now think that we can make ice cream anytime which means they can have ice cream cones all the time. They also wanted to learn how ice cream was made. Chris and I were looking forward to experimenting with different recipes and hopefully perfect a gelato recipe and blizzards (because who doesn't want a ice cream blizzard in the summer)
We made a lemon sorbet! It was really easy to make. The machine comes with a recipe book and most (if not all) of the recipes are really simple. As well as the machine is easy to put together, just one piece to fit into the middle and then a lid! Once all the ingredients were in the machine we turned it on and put the timer on for 25 minutes and waited. The kids stood on chairs almost the whole time watching it get thicker and turn into ice. David called me over many times to see how it changed and was starting to look like ice cream!
I didn't manage to get any pictures of the kids watching the us make our first batch of sorbet, however I did manage to get a picture of their first bite of it.
As you can see David thought it was sour but still really enjoyed it.
Jaclyn's facial impression was priceless. This was the first and only bit she ate of the sorbet it was just to sour for her.
I along with the rest of my family are looking forward to trying many new ice treat recipes. In fact today we bought some vanilla bean to make a vanilla bean gelato recipe that Chris found.....yummy!
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Toilet Tales
My oh so dependent daughter tonight had a bit of a fall.....into the toilet.
This evening when she was getting ready for her bath she striped down and sat on the toilet to pee.
Something I have always felt as a good practice for my kids to do before bath time, after all who wants to have a bath with pee.
OK back to my story, after Jaclyn was done peeing I asked her if she wanted some help off the toilet and into the bath. Her response was "I do it myself". Somehow, while getting off the toilet, her one foot slipped and she was in the toilet up to her chest.I have no idea how she managed it, even after watching it happen...
I should also tell you that within seconds I picked her up and put her into the bath. Once in the bath she said to me "mommy, I fell in the toilet, I have pee on me I need to wash it off".
So maybe the whole no pee in the bathtub plan didn't quite work this time...oh well.
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Happy New Year!!
Yesterday afternoon David and I were reading a book about holidays, when it came to New Years he asked if that was the holiday we were just having.
Earlier that morning we had changed over our calendar and we had talked about starting a new year now.
He was even more curious why in the book they were wearing party hats and hanging a banner for
New Years and we hadn't done any yet today, it was 2pm in the afternoon.
So I looked at him and then to Chris and said well then we better get ready for our New Years party. We pulled out some paper and started making party hats and then we made a banner, blew up some balloons. Then we made a pudding pie (because you can't have a party without dessert), and of course, both had to change into "party outfits." Then, after we were all ready, the party began.
We played some fun music and danced around for quite a while until the kids started to get tired, so we had snacks in the living room and finished off our party with pudding pie and tacos. Both David and Jaclyn told us multiple times that this was the best New Years day party ever!!
We even managed to get a picture of Chris and I together
Happy New Year Everyone!!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Christmas Morning
This is a few days late however I still wanted to share a little about our Christmas morning this year.
Because the kids and I got sick the week of Christmas our morning started around 8:30am with the kids waking up and then we went to the living room.
Opening stockings
David was really excited for Jaclyn to open the gift that he picked out for her. It was a Toy Story Barbie!
David checking out the Toy Story 3 Lego that Jaclyn got him.
Jaclyn was so sick that we had to stop opening gifts for awhile so that she could just cuddle and both the kids rested for a bit before starting up again.
Here is Jaclyn at then end of the morning half sleeping on the couch watching their new Tinkerbell movie.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
my sick little girl
My little girl has had a long week. On Monday I saw the signs of a cold coming on and then by Tuesday it was full blown. On Tuesday evening after I put Jaclyn to bed she woke up within 30 minutes of falling asleep. She was crying and having a hard time breathing.
Over the next two hours she slept very little and was coughing and wheezing.
Jaclyn has had asthma for some time and when she is sick it acts up even more. At one point after I had settled her and she was sleeping again. I was sitting in her room with my hand on her chest praying over her when I felt her stop breathing three different times. I have never seen her do this before so I called my husband (who was at a meeting) and told him I needed to take Jaclyn into the hospital to find out why she was having difficulty breathing. He came straight home and my girlfriend arrived at the same time to sit with David.
After getting to the hospital we waited for about an hour and a half before we saw the doctor and by then her breathing had started to settle back to normal. After seeing the doctor we found out that she needed a stronger inhaler to add to the first inhaler that she was already on. Her asthma gets really bad when she is sick and right now with her cold her asthma is bad. I guess I should get use to with two kids with asthma.
I got her home that night and we started right away on the secondary inhaler which helped with her breathing almost immediately.
Unfortunately, this isn't the end of the story, because since Tuesday night, she has had a fever that has been getting worse over the last few days. Last night her fever got as high as 103.2 F. I managed to get her fever down to somewhere between 100 F and 101 F with a cool bath. Today when I was getting her ready for another bath she had a rash on her lower back and hips so I again took her into the doctor to get her checked out. It turns out that she now has a ear infection that is the cause of her high fevers. So now she is on a medication that should help her feel better soon.
Hopefully Jaclyn will be able feel better now that she is on the right medications and be able to enjoy Christmas in two days.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Toilet Training Up-Date
Well as I wrote in a previous post call Last Diaper I was starting down the path of potty training my daughter. I thought now was a good time to give an update on how it is going.
On the day that I started her training she was a little grumpy to start, which I thought was because she was just not in the mood to go on the toilet. It turned out that she was getting one of her two year molars. I was however not going to put her back in diapers. For one thing I like the idea of once they are in underwear then they don't go back into diapers and second I had No more diapers, so she had to wear underwear.
By the end of that first day I had done two loads of laundry and Jaclyn had not once gone on the toilet.
This in fact went on for the first 10 days of her toilet training.
One thing I do in the initial stages of toilet training is I set up a toilet station in my living room. I find that I am able to get them comfortable on the toilet while watching a movie or reading books and then relax enough to go. That just wasn't the case for Jaclyn. She would sit on her toilet for an entire movie and then get up without doing anything.
I would remind her to tell me when she has to go pee and I would take her again. But NO, what she would do is come into the kitchen after sitting on the toilet for over an hour (I should say that it was her choice not to get up off her toilet for a break during the movie, I always offered) and tell me that she was peeing. Yes not that she had to go pee but that she was in the process of peeing. So I would clean up my daughter, my floor and get ready for another load of laundry. Did I mention that this was on going for the first 10 days, not once did she go on the toilet.
There were points where I was really frustrated with how stubborn she was being. When I would talk to my mom about how Jaclyn was acting my mom would just laugh and say "she sounds just like you". Then my husband would say things like she does have control over her body. When she is ready she will be ready.
While I am HAPPY to say that she woke up one day and when I said "OK Jaclyn, its time to go on the toilet" she didn't argue instead she went right away and has been every day for the last 13 days. She has been accident free throughout the days and most of the nights.
Yes, I understand that most parents who read this will just shake their heads at me and say 10 days in nothing. But for me when my son was so easy this drove me crazy.
Yay for no more diapers!!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tassimo Canada Home Brewing System - Review
I grew up in the city and have spent the last 10 plus years going to coffee shops on a regular basis. I became accustomed to the luxury of going to almost any coffee shop the I wanted and ordering myself a cappuccino, latte, chai or just about any other speciality drink I wanted. Well, recently my family moved to a small town that doesn't have any of the coffee shops that I have had with in minutes of our home in the past. Don't get me wrong, I love living in a small town, I just wish it had a Starbucks.
So imagine my excitement when I was given the chance to review a Tassimo Canada!
I was delighted that I would be able to make all the drinks that I love right here in the comfort of my home.
I was so excited to get my Tassimo Canada that I had my husband check the post office almost every day, just to see if it was here. The day before I received my Tassimo, I was at the store and I looked at some of the options that I could make with my new Tassimo Canada. I was delighted to see that there were so many different options available to chose from STARBUCKS®, NABOB, MAXWELL HOUSE, TWININGS and that's just to name a few. I knew that I would be getting some to test out with my Tassimo to try but I wanted some options so I bought the hot chocolate, latte and chai mixes.
I was very excited the next day when I stopped at the post office and was able to pick up my Tassimo Canada!
When we got home to open the box I am not sure as to who was more excited me or my son. My son was excited that we had a special machine that could make him and his sister hot chocolate, I was excited for pretty much every other drink!
I was first impressed with how small the Tassimo Canada was, it fits perfectly on my counter and I was also impressed with how easy it was to set up. The initial cleaning and set up instructions were clear and the Tassimo Canada came with two water filters.
After setting up my new Tassimo machine my family waited patiently for me to start making our new drinks to try. My children chose the hot chocolate, my husband had the latte and I had a cappuccino. We were all pleased with how quickly the drinks were made and how tasty they were.
That evening my husband and I made the chai and were both happy with the beverage of choice that evening.
I also had some friends over to test out my new Tassimo Canada and together we tried a few different variations and our favorite was the chai with a splash of eggnog.....so yummy!!
If you are still looking for a gift for the someone on your Christmas list who likes speciality drinks from coffee shops or you are looking to spoil yourself this holiday season I would recommend that you buy a
Tassimo Canada. This is a great Home Brewing System that I know my family will continue to enjoy for a long time. In fact my husband is trying to figure out how he can convince me to let him take it to his office at work.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
David's Top 5 Favorite Things about Christmas
I know that I am biased, but I have some amazing kids. Sometimes they really surprise me in the conversations that we have for instance the other day I was talking to David about Christmas, and during this conversation I asked him what his favorite thing about Christmas was. After a moment of thinking it through he just started listing things in order and gave me his top 5 favorite things about Christmas.
1. Decorations
2. Christmas Music
3. Making/writing Christmas cards
4. Giving Presents
5. Getting Presents
I am proud of my son that on his top 5 list for Christmas that getting presents is number 5!!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Book Review - Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room
I was recently sent a copy of Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room, written by Nancy Guthrie to review.
Book Summary:
How many Christmas mornings have you found your family gathered around the tree with presents beautifully wrapped and a scrumptious feast on the table - but with hearts that have not been prepared to truly take in the wonder of God's becoming human? Not this year.
Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room, a family Advent devotional from Bible teacher and mom Nancy Guthrie, is designed to bring your family together during a season that is often too much about programs and presents and simply not enough about Jesus. Along with devotions for every day in December, this resource includes popular Christmas carols and discussion questions that will draw your elementary through high school age kids into the conversation, transforming this time together from a dry lecture into a treasured family experience.
My Review:
I really appreciated how in this book, each devotional portion is shorter. This is so that when I am reading it with my young children they are able to keep focused, and I believe that the same would go for families with older kids. There is also scripture throughout each devotional, which is something that I find very important. I find I am able to read a devotional all the way through when there are Bible verses through out and not just someones opinion. There are also some great discussion questions to get your families conversation started.
For those families that are wanting to keep the conversation going there is a section called: More from the Bible - This section gives a deeper look into other sections that relate to the devotional that was just read.
Throughout this book there are sections where you are able to write out discussions and prayer request that as a family you can look back at and see how God in working in your life.
Another bonus with this book that I appreciated was the music that was brought in.There are some classic Christmas hymns that are written throughout, with Nancy giving the history of where the that particular hymn comes from and how it relates to the devotional.
I also appreciated how this Christmas Advent devotional goes through all 31 days of December and not just the first 25 until Christmas day. Recognizing that the birth is not the end of the story is something that needs to be developed as I work through the meaning of Christmas with my children.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and I am excited to go through it as a family during the Christmas season.
---------------------------------
Tyndale House Publishers has provided you with a complimentary copy of this book for me to review.
I am not required to give a positive opinion but I am required to give my honest opinion.
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Funny misunderstandings
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