Saturday, March 24, 2012

Somebody Loves Daddy

Sometimes I find myself envious of how excited our kids are when captain comes home. I completely understand the feeling though; I'm just as excited to see someone other than them by the end of the day. I can't help it, He just makes my days better.


Cecilia loves her daddy. She is always excited to see him, an when he comes home she barks at him till he picks her up.


She thinks he is mighty tasty too.


Happy 29th Birthday Captain! We love you.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Chewy Sugar Cookies

















Ingredients:
cups (9 5/8 ounces) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
cups (10 1/2 ounces) sugar,
2 ounces cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
cup (2 1/3 ounces)  vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
sugar for rolling


Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, or use a silpat.

2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.

3. Place sugar and cream cheese in large bowl. Pour warm butter over sugar and cream cheese and whisk to combine (don’t worry about lumps). Whisk in oil until incorporated. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; continue to whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix.

4. Portion out cookie dough with a small scoop, or use a rounded tablespoon. Roll into a ball, then roll in sugar. Place 12 per cookie sheet. Smoosh with a glass cup to about 2.5 inches in diameter. If you want to go crazy, then sprinkle some more sugar on top.

5. Bake, 1 tray at a time, until edges are set and just beginning to brown, 8 to 10 minutes, Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes.

Notes:
*These cookies do not bake as well if you need to chill the dough. They will be tasty, but not as pretty.
*They keep well for 3 days in air tight containers, after that they start to dry out.

To print, right click on image and open in new tab or window. Then print a full size page.




Sunday, March 18, 2012

Naps, Walks, and Other Spring Activities

Cecilia is now just mobile enough to get where she doesn't want to be.
This is a daily occurrence now that it is really too warm to wrap her up every time she sleeps. I'm just grateful she still is taking 2 good naps a day. Harvey is trying to give up naps. I tried forcing him to take naps, but then he would stay up past 9 pm. I had just accepted my napless son when this happened.
We went for an afternoon walk. I was trying to get Cecilia to take a nice long nap.
Somehow she transferred her nap to Harvey. Did you know naps are transferable?
Cecila was much to interested in the dog leash to have anything to do with sleeping.
We've been enjoying the 80 degree weather here.
I have found it difficult to enforce the "you must wear clothing" rules.
Mostly because I think those chunky thighs are stinkin' adorable.
Does this reaction look familiar? She overcame her grass aversion quickly however, and began chowing down on some clovers. That's my little rabbit.
Ginka loves it when we play outside. It is her favorite place to be. Everything is a chew toy out there.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

kids

Harvey has reached the age where he wants to help and do thing with us. Lia has reached the age of mobility. These  two are trying to drive  me to an early grave.  Out house is subsequently a bit chaotic recently.
Harvey and Lia playing peek-a-boo in daddy's legs. I'm pretty sure Captain had fallen asleep. Also, if you offer Lia a cookie, she will promptly expel whatever is currently occupying her mouth to make room. The same thing goes for ice cream.

Harvey helping me make corn muffins. He never is satisfied with the amount of stirring that needs to be done. He either wants to do WAY more or runs of to ask for a sucker. Also, he wore that shirt for 3 days straight.

Family trip to pick up a new collar for the dog. Lia was SOOOOO thrilled to sit next to the puppy for this trip. Harvey was excited too but he was trying to play it cool.

I'm pretty sure I can use  these photos for future blackmail.

Monday, March 12, 2012

29...


Paint a picture for the house. I'm not quite finished. I caught a  sewing bug this weekend, followed by a baking, cooking, and gardening bug. Captain is home, and that tends to happen when i find myself with help to keep the kids occupied. Anyways, I want to do some shading on those little suckers, but other than that it is finished. YEAY! First goal has been accomplished.

So. Why did I paint an octopus? It was the first thing that stuck me that didn't seem overly complicated. My first idea was a painting of the kids and the puppy. I know, that never would have been finished. I would have loved to paint a person, but wasn't able to pick one that I liked and I reallllly didn't want to paint myself. So, that left animals, plants, and minerals. 

I've always liked fish, and I've wanted to paint an octopus on a shirt for about a year now. This seemed a natural leap for me, even if it was strange to everyone else. I used ordinary craft paint, and a 16 * 20 canvas purchased  on sale at Craft Warehouse about 5 years ago.  

I have started a few other goals as well. Today marks the 3rd week of jogging. I'm about 50/50 jog/run on a 2.5 mile course. I've started taking photos of food to post up here and make into real printable recipes. You'll notice a new tab up at the top for finding said delights easily once they are posted. I have 3 scriptures memorized and am working on the 4th. It is Exodus 33:11 if you want to memorize it too. Really easy, just 2 lines. We have also had 2 FHE nights. I KNOW!! 2 in one month. It's crazy. 

That should be everything so far. I have plans to make a little sidebar thing if anyone wants to follow along with some of the less personal tasks, like running, push ups and scripture memorization, but not like neck waxes because seriously I don't know any other female who needs that. We will see though. 

Also. I'm going to start compiling my dreams for the goal, but what I want to know is if you all want to read about them. They are pretty crazy. For example last night:

We had met in a parking lot to catch up. It had been a long time since Maili and I had seen each other. It was dark, her car was white. A man approached to speak with us. Maili was snatched, they tried to get me, but I made it to the car. I was trying to drive away, but something was wrong with the pedals and the snatchers were able to keep up on foot. The steering was messed up and I wound up running. I reached the school, and found a ransom message. They wanted 2 million. Really? Who did they think I was? There was no way I could pay that, so I set out to find her. I was trying to find someone to help asking everyone I saw. One lady thought I was crazy. She had me lay down on a cot and gave me some tranquilizer. It went into my thigh, like a bug attached to a string burrowing. Amazingly I had spend the last few years building up an immunity to anesthesia via bug. Instead of knocking me out, it merely numbed the pain from the attack. As soon as the nurse left the room I ran off, there were stairs involved. Many Many stairs. Finally, I reached the top where I lived. My roommate answered. She also though I was crazy. She had never heard of Maili and was convinced I was hallucinating. That is until the showed up to get me. I ran into the bedroom and she stalled them at the door. Frantically I braced my body against the frame to lift up off the floor. It almost worked. Then they had me. HELP HELP HELP!

My dreams tend to run along that line. Not that I wake up screaming from all of them, but there are lots of bad guys and fighting or chasing and schools. So if you want to hear them I will type them up otherwise I will keep them to myself. 

So! Wish me luck for next month.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Friday Snapshots

We had a regular day yesterday, full of regular activities. Yet somehow, we wound up with 50 photos to share. I edited it down a bit, but still, that is a lot of photos for a regular type of day.

 
We started with a bath. It was originally Harvey's bath, but then Lia wanted to get in on the fun.


Harvey really enjoys having his baby sister in the bath with him. Mostly they ignore each other, but sometimes they windup playing.

Particularly when one has something the other finds fascinating. That white thing is a plastic washer from the squirt bottle.

This squirt bottle to be precise, and yes, I did get wet.

Another thing that makes our lives exciting these days is the fact that Ginka is no longer afraid of Chloe.

This leads to a barking/ Hissing match several times a day. Neither one is willing to back down. Neither one is technically allowed up on the counters, but that really doesn't stop them. The both just hop back up when we aren't looking. It doesn't help that I find these encounters all sorts of amusing.

Eventually Chloe runs off to a Ginka free zone, i.e. the top of the fridge or the front room. Ginka finds this to be unfair. She thinks she should be able to go every where the cat does, particularly my lap.

Harvey has a new shirt. He LOVES it. It makes me happy to make him things he likes. He's worn it two days in a row now.

So that was our Friday. I hope everyone is having a nice weekend!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Cha-Cha-Changes

We had a busy weekend finishing little projects around the house.


First up was installing the new rods and curtains I had made. If anyone is interested in a tutorial on how to sew up lined curtains let me know. The curtain rods are a bit of a hack. The rods I had were too short so I picked up some dowels from home depot to lengthen them. Captain just screwed the finials onto the dowls and installed the rods like normal.


Harvey's closet received some hooks to hang coats, hats, and backpacks.  We mounted the 1*4 with drywall screws to make sure it would hold up to Sir Climbs-a-lot.


Lastly, I installed some hooks on the pegboard in the kitchen. My drawers were getting crowded and it was frustrating to close them, but then I had an Ah-ha moment. Actually, it was more of a well duh moment, use the pegboard as it is intended. I just went to the hardware store and picked up a kit. Apparently these kits work as well for spatulas as they do for screwdrivers.

I hope you all had a productive weekend as well.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Baby Nerd Bibs


My favorite baby bibs to date that I've made. I think I need a wookie t-shirt now.