Brotherly love

Last night, Tristan went down to put the kids to bed and B hurried and hid something that he was looking at.

"What do you have there?" Tristan asked.

"Nothing." said B.

"What is it?"

B finally revealed this lipstick. (Which has been missing from my drawer for quite some time by the way.)

"Where did you get this?"

"I found it at school."

"Where did you really get this?"

"Outside."

Note to self-have a FHE on honesty again.

"What were you planning on doing with it you girl?"

"I was going to wait until C fell asleep and then draw on his face."

One of those moments where you are trying not to laugh while explaining that this probably isn't the best idea. This kind of lipstick does not come off very easily, so Mr. C would have a great time going to his first day of the high school preschool if he had lipstick all over his face.

We also came up with a solution to not having papers taped all over the boy room. Magnetic paint. Tristan did this last weekend and he did a great job. The lines look good and it actually works. No more tape marks on the wall (in theory anyway).

Now, I need Mothers day ideas. Note: If you are my mother-in-law or mother you need to stop reading this post right now. (In reality this is probably the safest place to keep secrets from them). I usually try to be creative and do something homemade but I am drawing a blank this year.

This is what I made last year. Online I ordered a giant playing card set then made each of the grand kids answer questions about themselves, like their favorite past time, game, movie, book, etc. etc. Then each card had the answers to the questions. I thought it turned out cute. But it is kind of pain to get everyone to answer.

It's so hard to buy something useful/meaningful for people who can buy anything for themselves.

I did buy my mom one of those hot/cold cooler bags from Sams for my mom. But I have no idea what to get my MIL or grandmas. HELP!! Any ideas? What are you doing this year?

It's the little things...

Hopefully I don't bore you today, but when I woke up this morning I kept thinking of a few things I wanted to write down.Little thing #1) C had his second soccer practice/scrimmage yesterday. It was the first time they played another team. The kids were having a heck of a time getting the ball into the goal and kept overkicking. C had control of the ball and made the first and only goal of the game. It was a priceless moment when he realized what he did. He had a huge smile on his face and wave his hands up and down in victory. He had to come tell his cousin that he made a "score". That was awesome. Go Mr. C.

Little thing #2) I was laying in bed yesterday morning, trying to the energy mustered up to get out of bed. Capri was being very active. I mentioned to Tristan that I wish the boys would be patient enough to feel her move. Especially if this is the last baby. Every time I get them to try, they get bored very quickly. We heard the kids get up and made them one by one come lay by me and they each got to feel her move a lot. (Well T wasn't still quite patient enough. He is still convinced the baby is outside and not in my tummy). It was a sweet moment. Even though they think she is practicing to be a Kung Fu master when she comes out.

Little Thing #3) Last Saturday we were getting ready to go to zoo, and were asking the kids what their favorite animals were. T said "monkey" as clear as can be. You might be thinking that this a very small thing. But not for T and his speech therapist. She worked for months to get him to say "monkey" instead of "onkey". Apparently he would say it when he was good and ready. She is a client of Tristan's and she was very happy when Tristan told her what he had done. We thought we would never see the day.

Little thing #4) My Grandpa is in the hospital this weekend. He went for a walk and somehow got dizzy and fell down. Some neighbors helped him and he fractured his neck, bruised his face and broke an eye bone. He is lucky to be alive and I'm lucky to have him for a grandpa. Being prego you develop a new appreciation for getting older. Your body just doesn't feel the same or do all the things you think your body should do.

Little thing #5) B bore his testimony in church a couple of months ago and this is the gist of what he said, " The other morning I woke up singing church sings and it made me feel good and I knew the church was true."

Am I being a softie?

So, on Mondays and Thursday I get up early so all of us can be out the door by 8 to take T to preschool. T was laying on the couch and saying he was tired this morning. (Not something he usually does)

When we were walking in he was declaring he did not want to go to Creskool! He sometimes does that but is usually fine by the time I leave.

Today he was trying to hide behind my back and had tears rolling down his face and his little chin was quivering in sadness. I gave in. I took him home. Now he loudly playing hi-yaw games with his brother. I guess when he is this little I'm not teaching him that every time his chin quivers that he gets out of doing anythng hard. They are only little once after all. Would you have made him stay? In my defense his woke up with a bit of a cough and runny nose.

I guess this is payback for me though. When I was 3 or 4, my neighbors (who read this blog-sorry Valerie!) tried to get me to go to Bonneville's high school preschool. Those are actually probably some of my earliest memories. I remember being so shy that I would sit there and not participate in anything. At least he's not that bad!

Ammon T-Ball

I was wondering if anyone knows anyone coaching Ammon T-ball this year. B & C both want to play. Let me know if you know of anyone. Thanks!

I don't know what I want for my Birthday.

First of all, Happy Tax Day to all! This was us at tax dinner last year at Ruby River. We are eating there tonight too. I know today is either insignificant or depressing to most, but for our family we are excited for New Years Day 2009! We get our daddy back. This tax season actually went pretty well. I didn't stare at the clock between 5-7 every night. I might have to move T's bedroom lock to the outside of the door, because he now unlocks the door and shouts, "I don't want to be in troubles!"

I actually get into my own little groove and do my own little thing. Now I might actually have to share the TV at night. JK! It's worth it to have my sweetie back. I did inform him that Tuesday night will still be The Biggest Loser night. (He hates all reality TV).

He watched some of the night when Bob got all emotional because he wasn't training the Tongans anymore. Puh-lease! With his stress he thought that was ridiculous. Is that really the biggest thing you have to worry about?
Anyway, my Birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks and my mom and my hubbie have been asking what I want. I don't know what I want. Do you always have a list waiting of things you want? Are you easy to buy for?

What does it say about me? Do I really spoil myself and buy myself whatever I want? I don't feel like I do that. Have I lost all interests being a mom and taking care of others? I feel like I still have hobbies and things that I enjoy. Or am I just satisfied and content with life? I hope so.

Anyway, do you have something you have recieved or own that I should want for my Birthday? The only things I can think of are a deck and a keyboard-neither of which are really in our budget.

What should I want for my Birthday?

Real life at the our house...

Just you know, life isn't all cute pictures and craft projects around here. They are just more fun to blog about. Today C said his chest hurt and he pulled down his shirt to show me this:

What happened to him? His little brother either seriously needs his nails clipped or this is the only way he has learned how to defend himself. And I thought girls were supposed to have all of the cat fights.

More Easter fun...

I really enjoyed Easter this year and all of the fun projects and Springy things. It's just a stress-free and fun holiday for me. I'm kind of sad to see it end.

We made Easter nests out of clay and twigs (another Family Fun idea). Here I have to enjoy the peaceful moments when my kids like each other. If any of my backyards neighbors were out today you could hear all of my kids fighting because I was trying to be a good mommy and play their new Easter game with them. Why bother sometimes? But, here is a peaceful moment.

A great playdough recipe:

1 c. flour

1 Tbsp. cream of tarter

1 Tbsp. cooking oil

1/2 cup salt

1 c. water

coloring

Cook over medium heat until dough leaves side of pan. Knead until smooth. Stays soft in tupperware or plastic bag. Dries on carpet so it can be vacuumed up. (It does stay soft. We made these a few days ago and they are still not completely dry.)

I thought this was a great robin's egg Easter color.

We made the youngest wear the pink shirt.


I got a Star Wars egg dye set on clearance last year. Nothing says Easter like Darth Vader.



Who needs fluffy dresses? These guys got robot arms and crasher cars. The Easter Bunny also got too many tips from frugal blogs and ended up with waaay too much candy. Tristan thought maybe we were supplying Easter for the whole first grade.
Now we are getting ready for a delicious ham, potatoes, and jelly bean jigglers dinner. Complete with one of our favorite dessert: Strawberry Shortcake! This recipe tastes like something you would get a western dinner or something. The cake is nice and hearty. I'm not a huge fan of the Danish dessert/angel food cake version. We like this one. And anything with pudding and Cool Whip has to be good.

Strawberry Shortcake

Shortcake:

2 1/3 cups Bisquick Mix

1/2 cup milk

3 Tbsp. Sugar

3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 425. Stir Bisquick mix, milk, sugar, and the butter until a soft dough forms. Spread into an 8x8 pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted comes out clean; cool slightly.

Topping

1 Cup milk

1 pkg (4 serving size) vanilla instant pudding

1 tub (8 oz) Coop Whip, thawed

Combine milk and pudding in a large bowl. Beat with wire whisk until well blended. Gently stir in 1 cup of Cool Whip.

Put topping on cake and add sliced strawberries and more Cool Whip.

Enjoy!

Hope you have a wonderful Easter. I'm so grateful for Christ's atonement and that I can return to live with Him someday with my family.

Ivy league... here we come!

So, these outfits were a little more "preppy" than I normally dress my children. But at $3.81 for all three pieces at Sam's Club I couldn't resist. I thought that was worth it for the church pants alone. Now, will someone tell me to get off of the computer and get scouts ready please?

Another Easter treat...

I know, I know- you think all I do all day is make special treats. It's not true. Really, it's not.

But I found this on Bakerella (see blog list at the bottom) and had to try it. I have to admit, I thought it was going to be a flop. It was a little on the medium-difficult level. Maybe that is just for the domestically challenged, but I thought it was a little hard.

I used both white chocolate and regular chocolate and candy melts. The candy melts didn't work as well. Once I got the cute giant sprinkles on them, I thought they actually turned out Ok. The taste? It's a little too dense and on the sweet side for me but the kids liked them.

Here are the recipe for the basic instructions for cake pops.

And the Easter eggs (just don't compare what they were supposed to look like to mine)

Have you joined Kidvantage?

We joined Kidvantage at Sears awhile ago, but today was the first day I actually used it.

It's free to join, and if you wear out any kid clothes or shoes, you can get a new one of the same size for free. I've even heard of someone bringing in a bag of socks, and they've replaced them. This might work well if we work the system, because when one is too big, the next one is the right size.

When we joined they told us they could look up old purchases by our phone number if you lose your receipt. (Which of course I did). Today she told me that they usually need receipts for the non-Sears brands. It takes a little organization but it worked for me. And if you watch for sales you can usually get things cheaper than Wal-mart or Payless anyway. Today I got C a pair for Levi's for $9.99 and shoes for $15.

Now if ony it worked for shoes that were lost. C somehow managed to lose one of each of both of his current shoes. Don't ask me how. He has been wearing mismatched shoes, boots, and Sunday shoes for quite awhile now. I'm sure we'll find them soon now that we got a new pair. He has to pay us $2 for these. Dad told him next time it would be $15.

B's old shoes:And his new ones:

Welcome to grilling season!

So, what does a Idaho family do when it is 46 degrees outside? Grill hamburgers of course!

Happy Spring.

Need a different Easter treat besides sugar cookies?

So, I copied Krista's idea (again) and this is what we made yesterday. The ingredients may sound a little odd, but they were actually really tasty and easy to make. We are making them for part of den meeting this week.

Edible Easter Nests

1 -11 oz bag butterscotch chips (I measured bulk chips in my glass measuring up)

1 - tbsp butter

3/4 c - chunky peanut butter (I used creamy)

3 c - marshmallow creme (about 1 1/2 containers)

1 - 12 oz package chinese noodles (I used a 9 oz. bag)

coconut

green food coloring

jelly beans

*Melt and mix first 4 ingredients. Stir the noodles in. Lightly grease muffin tins and drop spoonfuls of mixture into the cups. Form cups like nests with your fingers. When they have cooled, fill with green coconut. Garnish with jelly beans and other Easter candy.

Can't find Little Inpsirations?

I know some of you read the Little Inspirations blog that I have in my blog list. I made a new blog list her blog and for other creative people (love them or hate them!).

Scroll two miles down my blog list to find this list. When you think you've gone too far, keep going.

I bought size 6 diapers.....

Potty training. Is there anything on this beautiful earth that is worse? Ok, so I started thinking that C still wears diapers at night and T still wears diapers full time. I'm not going to have three kids in diapers! I refuse.

So, I started with T a little before his 3rd Birthday. He would produce when I took him every hour. He would still have accidents but he wasn't afraid to do either job in the potty. Well, two months later if I don't take him every hour (which he hates) or if he happens to need to go in between the hours, he just goes. Am I getting anywhere? Will I still be taking him every hour when he's in high school? Is he getting trained or am I getting trained?

He hasn't once recognized that he needs to go beforehand. I know I've done this twice before, but they both pretty much got it around the age of 3. T has no indication that he will be getting in anytime soon. But, I also think we were given T to learn something. Probably patience. He slept through the night later, he talked later, he just generally requires more love and patience. I also swore that after being the first girl in my family to not be a valedictorian, that I wouldn't compare me children to each other either.

You really wish people would tell you that you should never say what your kids will be like before you start having them. My SIL had a big issue with snotty noses, and then had a daughter with adenoid problems. Unless she wanted to wipe until her nose bled, she had to learn to live with a little snot.

I thought people who had kids approaching 4 and weren't potty trained weren't even trying. Now I might be one of them. I used to think that you could make goals for your kids, but the problem is that they have to participate in reaching those goals. What if they don't care?

When you are three, you can start going to preschool, swimming lessons, tumbling etc. But not if you still crap your pants on a regular basis. Should I give up? Swallow my pride? Do you have any amazing potty training tips that works that helps them recogonize or care that they need to go? What about bed wetting? I started a chart yesterday where if he stays dry 30 out of 40 nights, I would buy him the bat cave. He woke up wet.

I told myself that I would never reach the time when I needed to buy size 6's. C has been squeezing into 5's at night for years. But the time has come that I bought size 6. Thanks for letting me vent.

Your hair is the color of tomato soup!

Ever since a few years when I told Tristan I was pregnant a few years ago (and then a month later, the joke was on me-Surprise!) I've kept April fools day pretty low key. This year my Family Fun happen to come on the last day of March and I had two hours to read it while the kids played at Blast Off.

They had a lot of really cute ideas. The first thing I did was put food coloring in the bottom on their cereal bowls, then when they added milk=Ta-da. Coloful milk!
Here is B-semi-amused. C-who hates being laughed at in any way, said, "I hate this day!" when he discovered his colored milk. It's really hard to have a kid who is ultra-sensitive in this way. Especially when he says funny things!They thought it was much more fun to make a tricky dinner for daddy. Here is his dinner of "fish sticks, ketchup, and peas." The fish sticks were sugar wafers covered with Peanut Butter, then dipped in crushed cereal. These were actually really tasty. The peas are Airheads, and the ketchup was jam. And of course, who doesn't want a worm sticking out of their apple.

When you opened the chips, you actually got carrots! Ha Ha

And of course, the orange juice was jell-0. Hope you had a great April Fools Day. I know I did because April is the best month of the year. (At least the second half!)

Did you buy a bunch of Progresso soups?

So, if you bought a bunch of Progresso soups on an Albertsons deal a few weeks ago, I discovered a way to use them. Of course, with if you are like me with couponing, sometimes the selection isn't the greatest by the time I get to the sale, but it's still such a good deal that I can't pass it up.

Hence, the "Flaming" Cheetos that I got for 29 cents that no one will eat. Anyone in need ?

This was the case with the Progresso Chicken Corn Chowder. Not the yummiest on its own, but would still taste good if you were starving. Anyway, I have a lot of Chicken Corn Chowders.

Last night for dinner I went to make "Cowboy Spuds" (basically browned hamburger in cream of chicken soup, on top of baked potatoes, loaded with other toppings) as my mom used to call them for dinner. But, alas I discovered that I was out of cream of chicken soup. Instead of reaching for the frozen pizza or heading to Arby's, I decided to see what I could do with this soup as a subsitute for cream of chicken.

First, I browned a combination of ground hamburger and turkey (that is the only way my husband will eat turkey). Browned sausage would probably work well too. Then I whipped up some cream cheese with my hand-mixer and added the soup to this and heated through. Then I added the cooked meat. (If you are vegatable puree hider, this is great place to add pureed cauiflower)

Put this sauce on top of baked potatoes, and add your favorite toppings (cheese, bacon bits, butter, etc.) All of my kids ate this up and I was so happy to find a way to use these soups. I think this would work well with any cream-based soups. It might also work for a stroganoff substitute on noodles or pasta.

I know-it's not a "pretty" food but it tasted good. All of my kids ate it up.