Oh, the things a 2 year old learns!

(this is Macie's favorite way to watch TV these days)

On Friday Macie and I were at the store. I said to her, "Macie, remind Mom to buy stamps, o.k.?" She said o.k. A few seconds later I put a bag of licorice in the cart. (I should probably add that I usually don't buy licorice).

When we went to check out, Macie was helping me load the groceries and she picked up the licorice and said, "mom, can I put the stamps up?" I was confused, but then finally figured out that she thought the licorice was stamps because I had picked them up right after I told her I needed stamps. I giggled and told her what it really was.

We ate the licorice on our ride to Pocatello this weekend, and today when I was cleaning out the van with Macie, she found the bag of licorice and said, "Mom, can I have a stamp?" I giggled again. We had the talk again, but I still don't think she gets it. So if you offer my child licorice and she looks confused, just know that I am a terrible mother who thinks it's funny. :)

And this would be Macie doing yoga. She found this place mat and happily said, "Mom, it's a yoga mat just for me." She's been doing yoga ever since - she'll probably be sore today if she's anything like me.

The other night before we went to Malad she and I were having a talk about her new cousin Kameron. She said to me, "Mom, will Kameron's bum look like mine this time?" We obviously don't see too many "boy bums" around here!

Macie can always make us laugh! We love her!

Babies R Us

Well, not really us...I'm not making an announcement.

We just had a weekend full of really adorable babies. Grandma and Grandpa Wakewii's goats had babies 2 weeks ago. The girls all LOVED chasing them around...do you notice which one of my children is missing in action? Surprise, surprise.

Why do goats eat clothes?

The little bugger almost took me down...all right, maybe I panicked a little when it jumped in my general direction, but who wouldn't? (My 2 year old daughter wouldn't, that's who). Let's just add that one to my always growing list of embarrassing moments around farm animals in Malad.

Then we went to Pocatello for the baby blessing of this adorable little guy. I am a sucker for brown eyes, and he melts my heart every time!

The cast

Maddie got her cast on last week. The night before, Maddie said to me, "Mom, are they just going to mail it to us?" To which Jeramy kindly replies, "No Maddie. We have to go to the hospital again and they have to give you like a million shots." Instant tears. Gosh, I love when he does that.

(The girls may have got a little bored waiting for the doctor)

I was surprised how fast they got the cast on her. She chose purple before even seeing her options. She was 100% sure she wanted purple. She also wanted to take the permanent marker to school and let 27 first graders draw all over it. The mean mom said no. Mabye right before it comes off. Maybe not.

She really enjoyed when we put it in the bread bag for her to have a bath. It was giggles all around with her and her sisters!

We are 5 days into this cast thing and doing fine! Good news, too - she only has to wear it for 3 weeks, not 6. :)

The battle of the bowls

When Jer and I got married a million years ago, he came with a few "household supplies." (Just like when you adopt a dog, right?) The fluorescent green blow up chair quickly went the way of the dumpster, but I hung onto these:

I was told right from the start that the Chili cups were pretty much sacred and I wasn't allowed to use them, or even hold them. You'll notice the plural on Chili Cups. To hear the story of how 2 became one, click here These Wakewii boys are a little crazy about their "family heirlooms."

Well, one day we had Jeramy's brother and his family here for breakfast and he was digging through my utensil drawer and found the spatula. "Jeramy! You stole mom's spatula???" Jeramy quickly said that it was given to him, but you could sense the tension in the air. I am surprised my (second) favorite spatula didn't "disappear" when they left.

Another time when we were in Malad, Jeramy's mom started talking about this Betty Crocker cookbook she used to have, but hasn't seen in years. I stayed silent. My husband just might be a thief.
On our last trip to Malad, Jesse was given their old couch to help fill up their new theater room. We really didn't care, but Jeramy had to take advantage of the situation and point out that "Jesse gets everything. He got the Buick, he got the LaZBoy recliner, etc." So his mom asked what it was he wanted. Jeramy already had it thought out. "I want the refried beans bowl."

And I am now the proud owner of the "refried beans" bowl. I have been told that nothing but beans shall ever rest in this bowl. I also learned that this bowl is, well... vintage. It was a hand me down from Jer's great grandma Thorpe when his dad moved out.

Is this normal behavior? I don't think I've stolen anything from my parent's house, have you?

Easter dresses, a few weeks early

Sew...I've been sewing again. I got the pattern for these dresses on sale for a whopping dollar (regularly $15). I was originally making one for Lindsay, but it fit Maddie, so I had to go buy more fabric for a dress for Lindsay. She was pretty ticked when Maddie got the dress that was for her out of the fabric she picked out, so I bought more of the same fabric. At that point I figured I may as well make one for Macie and call it Easter dresses. There ya have it.

I just love the picture in the middle of Maddie. "Hello, teeth!" Oh, and of course, she's showing of that arm of hers. She's just loving all the attention - she even got a card with $5 in it from Grandma...keep this up and she might just break another bone!

Have you ever had one of those moments in your life when you really want to cry, but you know you have to be brave? You are pulling it off great, until you see your mom? Maddie just had her first one of those moments, which means I just had my first one of those moments. Sometimes it really just hits me hard that I'm her mom!

Yesterday I was up at my mom's and we were outside trying to decide where to go for lunch. I had left my phone in the house. When I came in I noticed I missed a call from Maddie's school, so I listened to the message, "Madison got hurt at recess. We think she's all right though. We gave her an ice pack and sent her back to class. Call us when you get this." My stomach sunk and I was nervous. (and I'll admit it, a little mad that I wasn't going to be going to lunch). I called the school and they finally tracked her down in the computer lab. They patched us through and immediately I knew she was hurting. It didn't take long for her little voice to start to shake. I said, "Do you want me to come get you?" And the floodgate of tears broke, "Yeah." So I sped (as fast as a mom driving a minivan dares drive) down to her school.

She came trotting down the stairs, said nothing about her wrist, but immediately started talking about the class store they had today. So I figured she was all right. (and, well, the growling of my stomach made me a little annoyed that I came to get her). We went home and I called the doctor, but he said she sounded fine, too. He said to call in the morning if she was still complaining of pain though.

All night she whined and whimpered and, we kept telling her to knock it off. She got up twice in the night and...we weren't very sympathetic. First thing in the morning she came in crying that it really hurt, so I made an appointment to take her in.

The doctor examined her and said that it looked like just a sprain, but he told us to go to Primary Children's new outpatient hospital in Riverton for x-rays - just to be safe. He put a splint on her and we went right over for x-rays.

(splint #1)
The hospital was awesome! Macie was having so much fun in the waiting room that she didn't want to leave!
(the waiting room at the new hospital)

Maddie was brave for her x-rays and the tech said, "So, I need to call your doctor to see if you need to stay here or go back to him." I said, "Oh, he said for us just to go home and he'd call later." I'm staring at Maddie's x-ray at this point and I say(because I am an expert x-ray-reader, "There's nothing wrong, anyway." She looks at me - the all-knowing mother- and politely says, "Um, there is something wrong. I need to call your doctor." Sure enough, she had "cracked" it in 2 places! So back to the doctor's office we went. They put her in a more 'heavy duty' splint with a sling.

Macie was pretty concerned about it all.

We did take her to In and Out Burger - her favorite - for being so brave.

She gets her permanent cast on Thursday.

She's still thinking this is all pretty cool. I caught her looking at the calendar trying to figure out when she gets her cast off...I think that she realized this might not be so much fun in May!

This is the first broken bone in our family - even for me and Jeramy!

Thanks Patrick's Day

So, you guys know I totally love the holidays. Well, St Patricks day kind of snuck up on me.
Monday night Maddie called me in to her room and said, "Mom, I want to make a surprise treat for my sisters. I want to get gold coins and leave a trail to a treat." I was all for it and went to 2 stores looking for gold coins the next day for her. No luck. (Isn't this supposed to be a lucky holiday?) At that point, I gave up on the holiday.
I woke up with a terrible cold the morning of, so that totally didn't help.
I did manage to make these cupcakes which I've been dying to try, and because they were green. My kids didn't like them. I'm not sure I liked them all that much, either. :( And I did make some green jell-o that went well with our....cough cough...Del Taco. (In my defense, I was really sick!!)
But my favorite part was Lindsay being sooo excited that it was "Thankspatrick's day" I corrected her about a million times, and she still didn't get it right.

I have already decided next year I will do better. I have loved reading all your blogs with the fun things you guys did, and I found this site and I already printed off the bingo cards, and I will be throwing an awesome party for the kids next year...start buttering me up now to get on the list of invites!
Maybe I should just pretend that tomorrow is Thankspatrick's day, eh??

What's for dinner?

For those of you who know me well, you know that I am a gourmet cook...pause for laughter from those who really know me...did I leave out an important word? Let's try that again.

For those of you who know me well, you know that I am not a gourmet cook. I despise cooking and find our family over at the Del Taco way too often. So, when my mom gave me a newspaper article about slow cooking a few weeks ago, I thought, "I can do that." I thought I would share our favorite recipes thus far in my cooking adventures. I'd like to start by thanking Jennica for supplying me with all those foreign spices and such so I didn't have to buy a million new spices to try out a recipe. I seriously would be standing in the aisle at the grocery store eyeing over the $6.00 bottle of whatever it was I needed and think, "I know Jennica will have it, and I only need a teaspoon." And every time, she did!

I got these recipes from here. 365 days of slow cooking. This lady spent the last year of her life using her crock pot every day! Wow. Not all recipes are meals, some are amazing treats and sides, but heck - I'm impressed! I can't even say that I use my kitchen everyday, let alone cook in it! (K, maybe that's an exaggeration, but just a little one).

Recipe #1 (I put the link for those who want to venture off my blog and see the picture, but I'll list 'em here for you who don't want to leave my blog)
Cashew Chicken
Serves 4-6

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thigh tenders (don't use chicken breasts)
1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup cashews
Combine flour and pepper in resealable food storage bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with flour mixture. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. Place chicken in slow cooker. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3 to 4 hours. Add cashews and stir. Server over rice.
Wakewii family review: I knew the girls would freak out about the nuts...but they didn't. Maddie was scraping the bottom of the pot, and Macie quickly learned where I kept the extra cashews in the pantry and was found all week touting them around with her. This recipe got 5 stars from all of us. (Except Lindsay, but these days, she won't eat).

Recipe #2
Beef and Broccoli
Serves 4-6

1 lb roast, sliced into thin strips
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp water
Fresh broccoli florets (as many as desired)
Place beef in the slow cooker. Mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, oil, and garlic together. Pour over beef. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours. Combine cornstarch and water in a cup. Add to slow cooker. Stir well to combine. Add freshly steamed broccoli. Stir to combine. Cover and cook for 20 minutes longer on high or until thickened. Serve over rice.
Wakewii family review: Maddie was gone this night, so I don't know about her. I made this one because it contains Lindsay's 2 favorite food (I used steak strips) and broccoli. She wouldn't even try a bite. Jer and I loved it. I even made ham fried rice - and there was ooohing and ahhing by all at my mad skills there! Jer said it wasn't as good the next day, the broccoli sucked up too much of the sauce.

Recipe #3
Cafe Rio Chicken and dressing
5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thawed
1 sm bottle Kraft Zesty Italian dressing
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
3 cloves minced garlic

Mix all ingredients except the chicken in a bowl. Place chicken on bottom of a greased crock pot.
Pour mixture in bowl over the top of chicken. Cook on high 5-7 hours. Shred chicken with a fork and reserve juice to pour over chicken when serving.
Wakewii family Review: Wow! This one was loved by all! I didn't do a whole 5 pounds, so I just adjusted the amounts for what I used. Everyone loved the dressing the most and we found ourselves pouring it on pretty much everything for the next few days!

Tomatillo Creamy Café Rio Dressing

1 package Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch mix
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup mayo
2 tomatillos (peel outer skin layer)
1 clove minced garlic (1 tsp of pre-packaged stuff)
1/3 bunch cilantro, chopped
½ tsp lime juice
1 sm jalapeno (seeds removed)

Put all ingredients into a blender. Add extra mayo if dressing is too thin. Refrigerate.

Those are all that I've tried thus far, let me know if you try these, or any of her other recipes!
And just to show you how ambitious I'm feeling tonight, I just planned our meals for the next 12 days! In case you care, here's the list- in no particular order - I don't want you to show up on a day that sounds good:
Creamy Italian chicken
Taco soup
Beef and Broccoli
Tacos with rice
10 grain pancakes with bacon
hamb. pie with GREEN mashed potatoes and GREEN jello for GREEN day
veggie burgers, fries and potato salad
homemade chili with tortillas
lasagna
ham with aug raten potatoes
cashew chicken
cafe rio chicken

I do believe you just survived my first - and probably last - recipe post. Congratulations!

Toddlers vs. Teens

I am the caboose in my family. Most of my siblings are dealing with teenagers and that drama, not potty training and jr jazz basketball. They constantly tell me to enjoy my girls now, because in a few years, it's going to be a lot harder.
This past week my sister in Florida has been posting on her blog about how wonderful it is to have teenagers. I'm pretty sure that if she were given the choice to be 17 again, she'd totally take it, so I believe her that being a teenager is wonderful - to her.
Tonight I was talking with my brother in North Carolina and I was telling him about my awesome FHE for tonight. He said, "That's why it's great to have teenagers - all we have to do is read an article from the Ensign." And I got sad. That's it? No fun games, no pictures to color? That's it?

Tonight Lindsay was in charge of the lesson. (Which means I am in charge of the lesson). She chose to teach us about Moses. (Which means I chose to teach about Moses). I searched and searched for the perfect lesson. I finally realized that heck - I didn't know that much about Moses. So I googled him. I found this awesome idea from Rabbi Shraga Simmons (I can't find the link now).

Here's how FHE went down tonight.
We started with Lindsay wrapping a baby in a blanket and putting him in a basket and she told us why Moses' mom had to do this and who found him. Then we talked about when he found out he was really a Hebrew and when the Lord told him that he had to go free his people. Then we talked about the 10 plagues.
1) Lindsay poured water into a glass pitcher that had red food coloring in the bottom (turning the water to blood)
2) Then she hopped into the room like a frog
3) Next she came in again and threw bugs at everyone (she and I used the Cricut earlier in the day and made them)
4) She pretended to be a wild animal and ran around the room
5) Then she (the wild animal) died.
6) We all got "itchy" and scratched. (Boils)
7) For the hailstorm, she ran into the room and threw marshmallows on the floor. (which everyone ran and ate...not sure that was a bad plague)
8) We kind of skipped over the locusts - we were all hopped out from being frogs and still eating marshmallows.
9) Lindsay turned off all the lights for the darkness
10) and well, Jeramy is the first born son, so we had to kill him off.
Then I led the Hebrew people into the kitchen where I told them about the parting of the red sea. Lindsay and I had gone to the Dollar Store and bought a blue table cloth and hung it over the door. We had to part it and go through to be safe.
Then we colored pictures and watched "The Prince of Egypt."

I love family night. I will be sad when the day comes when my kids roll their eyes and say, "Mom, I am not hopping around like a frog, can't we just read from the Ensign?" I love how excited Lindsay has been all week about her lesson. I love helping her get it ready.

So sorry parents of teenagers...tonight, toddlers win.

A day in the city

We had planned a fun-filled weekend in Pocatello, but it was postponed until further notice. Jeramy had already taken the day off work, and Maddie didn't have school, so we ventured into the city of Salt for a day of fun. We started at the Gateway Discovery Museum. I have been wanting to go there forever, so today was the day. It was PACKED!
Get ready for picture overkill...

Maddie loved the Garden at the start with the balls. For the last half hour we let them choose where they wanted to go and she spent her time there. I don't know why I don't have any pictures of her there. (?) And for my facebook followers, you'll notice the flower in her hair. A big thanks for Suzanne's comment that "bees don't sting flowers, they kiss them." We are no longer afraid of being stung by a bee because they think her flower is real.

Lindsay loved the play house - and once again, I didn't put any pictures of it here. She was the perfect age for everything there and ran from one thing to the next.

And sweet little Macie. Life is always an adventure with a 2 year old. Notice the first row of pictures, she's packing a grocery basket. It was her favorite. The last picture on row 1 is me telling her it was time to move on. Pictures 1 and 2 on the second row is us trying to calm her down. The helicopter calmed her down, but when she found the blocks, all was well again. When we said it was time to go back downstairs (where the grocery store was), she RAN back to the grocery store and found a basket. When she would see me coming, she would run the other way for fear of being told it was time to go home. When it was time to go home, I was "that mother" who tried bribing her to keep her calm, but it didn't work. Holy tantrum. We exited quickly.

We still had 3 hours of parking validation, so we rode traxx to temple square. You would never have guessed that it had snowed all morning - it was a beautiful day! I included all 3 tries of our "perfect pictures." I have so much respect for photographers! AND I am so grateful for digital cameras! I just love the last picture with Macie's booger nose. I had told her "Look pretty for me."

And this picture made my day! This is us looking up at the sign on the front of the temple that says, "Holiness to the Lord." About a month ago we had a FHE lesson about the man who made the sign...and they all remembered it!
And last but definitely not least....we found spring at temple square. :) I had to stop and just enjoy these flowers and wish it was my flower bed.

Mike Teevee is at our house

Who is that, you might be asking yourself? Well, we recently watched the OLD Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. (The new one freaks me out, but now that I've watched it again, the old one freaks me out, too - but that's a whole different blog post). Mike Teevee is the little boy obsessed with TV.

Lindsay refused to watch TV when she was little (yes, I know she's only 4, but Maddie came out of the womb watching Baby Einstein). As of late though, she's a bit obsessed. Keep in mind, we don't have cable so her viewing options are a bit limited. But it's to the point that she freaks out if she knows we're going to miss her "shows". Even just now, the neighbor boy just asked if she wanted to play outside. I thought she said no because she was a little nervous because she doesn't know him that well, so I let it slide. When I closed the door, she said, "Mom, I couldn't play, I would miss Aurthur." Ew.

Curious about her "shows"? At 2 it's Clifford, 2:30 Martha Speaks, 3:00 Aurthur. Then the mean mom turns it off until 5 where she watched Curious George and 5:30 is her absolute favorite.....The Brady Bunch. Yes, that's 2 and a half hours of TV. Some of you might be saying, "Holy cow, that's a ton of TV" and some of you might be saying, "Seriously, that's it?" I will admit that from 2-3 is my favorite hour of the day because Macie goes down for her nap and I am totally left alone, and 5:30 to 6 is when I make dinner, but I hate that everything in her little life revolves around TV and that I let it. Example: last week I was at the scrap booking store. I had wondered around and picked out 4 pieces of paper. I was about ready to go pay when she demanded that she needed to go potty, so I asked the cashier where the bathroom was and I said, "I'm just going to set these papers here." Lindsay took her sweet time in the bathroom and I knew it was getting way too close to 2:00. When we finally emerged from the bathroom, the cashier had put my papers away. I knew it would take me a good 5 minutes to find my papers again. Rather than face the wrath of an upset Lindsay when we were late for her "shows" I left without paper. How lame is that??

Well, it's now 3:30 and so I was just informed it's time to go outside and play. Too bad I'm blogging...no fresh air for you!!