Absurd Electricity Bill in December

I just LOVE putting Christmas lights all over the house.  It's like living in a fairyland!  (Oh, and I decided to leave up some of the baby shower decor.  Doesn't it kinda look like snow?)  The Frog even got a strand in his room as a special Christmas nightlight.

Cat-Sitting

Our neighbors went out of town for the holidays and we offered to watch their cat.  It was a lot more fun than I was expecting!  I've never had the smallest desire to own a cat (except maybe when I was little)- all I can think about is hair all over the furniture, but Dusty was a lot of fun. (and short-haired :D)

I was amazed at all the places he fit- behind the washer and drier was one of his favorite places to go.  (maybe to get away from the two obsessed children?)

exploring in his favorite room- the junk craft room

Peach loved to follow him around and pet his soft fur.  She only poked his eye once ;)

I was amazed with how tolerable Dusty was of The Frog's constant need to take him places- usually boxes.

Peach loves to walk around "talking" on my phone.  If I didn't know better, I'd think she really was.  Her gibberish is amazing!

Dusty liked to watch what Jay was playing

And try to grab at his player. It was really funny.  (for me... Jay got annoyed)

Dusty and Peach helping to put up Christmas decorations

The 3 kids are watching some cut scene from a video game.  Must be intense...

I can't get enough of this girl, and she can't get enough of her "bankie"

Thanksgiving!

We went to my mom's for Thanksgiving this year.  It was kind of a small crowd, only my parents and my little family.  When we got there, The Frog asked, "where are my friends?"  (talking about his cousins)  It was sad to tell him they weren't coming, but we still made enough food to feed the whole group :)

I attempted my grandma's rolls.  They were good, but not as good as hers.

My mom made the best stuffing I've ever had- from the Test Kitchen Cookbook.

Roasted hubbard squash,

Waldorf salad (I forgot how pleasant this is!  My mom used mayo instead of whipping cream this year.  I think I like both ways!)

I decided we should have a sweet potato casserole, since it's traditional (for Iris), but my family doesn't usually serve one.  It was pretty good, but everyone agreed, it almost tasted exactly like pumpkin pie, so a bit redundant.  I might try them again w/out sugar in the potatoes, and slicing them instead of mashing them.

Turkey, mashed potatoes and 2 kinds of home-made cranberry sauce.  (now do you know why I tend to over-do it? I get it from my mom...)

My mom alllllways makes pumpkin pie from the Libby's can, but this year tried the Test Kitchen recipe.  I like Libby's better, but maybe that's just because I grew up with it...  It was still great though!

We've had a lot of pumpkin pie around here lately, (and Iris isn't a huge fan) so I also brought the Pioneer Woman's blackberry cheesecake.  It was good, but I thought it was too dense and very thick- I noticed after that she calls for a 10" springform pan, and I have a 9".  The simple topping was great.  I think I might try lowering the sugar in the cake and using plain yogurt instead of sour cream sometime... I'll report back.

Here's the crew- minus me (behind the camera.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Peach Speaks

This blog has been very picture heavy for the last long while, and I haven't been recording much of the kids' development.  This won't be the most interesting to read for most of you, it's more for my scientific needs to document data and to be able to answer future inquiries by my kids.

Since The Frog didn't really say anything (even mama and dada were a bit debatable if he understood completely) until 15.5 months, I've been shocked that Peach has already started saying things and clearly understands fairly complicated sentences.  She's starting to get to the point where she picks up a new word each day.

in approximate chronological order:
mama
dada (for awhile she always said "dad")
bye-bye
baby
peckoo = peekaboo
nana = banana
up
dow=down
apple
ppbbb = what does an elephant say?
ow = owl
hi
eye
moo = what does a cow say?
(with an emphatic strain) chEEEEE = cheese
moke = some kind of drink (stems from milk)
gaykyou = thank you
bakey = blankie
ooo (with hands to mouth) = food
wawa = water
ju = juice
baaa = bath
zsyou = shoe (not sure how to write the s in "pleasure" sound)
book (with a very deliberate "k")
"ooo ooo" while slapping her belly = gorilla
puts her finger to her lips and blows = shhhhhh
"no" and points just below her nose = nose

Other cutenesses I want to remember:

When you ask her a yes or no question, she will always respond with either a very deliberate nod and an intent look in her eyes, or she'll scrunch up her whole face and shake it no.  She has very animated facial expressions.  (pretty sure I know where that came from...)

She loooves the tubby :)  If you mention anything about a bath in her presence, not even necessarily to her, she starts making her way upstairs and let's you know she's going up.

If you ask her "where's your blankie?"  She will immediately go find it- and she always knows exactly where it is.  She also asks for it when she gets hurt and immediately calms down once she gets it.

Peach barks and (more often) pants like a dog when she sees any representation of one- including her pretending older brother.  (He often refers to himself as "the dog" to express himself.  As in "the dog wants this" or "the dog can't say sorry because dogs don't talk, mom".)

She lately loves to walk around with a tissue and try to blow her nose and offer to blow other peoples' noses for them.  If you let her blow yours, she says "gaykyou!"

She loves to feed other people and takes it quite personally if you won't accept her slimy offering.

She loves to play peekaboo and getting chased.  She also requests "this little piggie" by touching her stomach and saying "wee wee wee".

She is sooo stinkin' cute and so easy going- happy to speak gibberish with strangers and flash a smile.  We also love that she loves her older brother sooo much and is very forgiving when he's a bit too rough with her.  We just love her to death.

First Snow!

The Frog is actually old enough to enjoy play dough now!  I'm going to do a play dough recipe review, soon.  Cooked vs. uncooked.

We got our first snow storm!!  It was basically melted the next day, but The Frog was really excited to get out there.

Peach didn't know what to think of it.  She was so bundled, she could hardly move.

Isn't she sooooo stinkin' cute?

She finally looks all chubby- like babies are supposed to look! :)

Funny Sleeper

The Frog goes through phases of requesting to sleep in odd locations- under the bed, in the crib, and in this case, squeezed in between the bed and the wall, on top of a pile of stuffed animals.

LRH Baby Shower

One of my best buds from Stanford, LRH, just moved to Provo with her husband (he just started teaching in the Y's Econ department) and she's expecting her first baby- a girl, in December.  One of our other friends from the Stanford singles' ward has moved here as well, and the two of us threw her a baby shower at my house.  It was so fun to plan and I think it came together really well.  Because L and her husband read a TON of books, I thought it would be fun to do some kind of literary-ish theme.  I picked "Nursery Rhymes"

Invites

I sooo wanted to think up some really clever rhyming think for the invite, but we were pressed for time.  We ended up changing the date, and only had 2 weeks to plan.  Invites have to get out quick! :)

All our food was Nursery Rhyme related.  These were "Patty Cupcakes"

We served several kinds of herbal tea with real sugar and cream and the teapot said "I'm a little teapot".  I bought some fine china teacups and saucers from the DI.  (Something I've wanted a reason to do for a long time.  Now I really want to through a tea party!)

Humpty Dumpty Deviled Eggs

3 Blind Mice Cheese and Crackers

This one was a stretch, but Old Mother Hubbard goes to the "fruiter" (something I wish I could say regularly) and so this is her fruit platter

I'm a little teapot all steamed up! (hot water for tea)

Jack and Jill-Fetched water (cold water)
and in the background there are
Peter Peter mini-Pumpkin Pies

I love an excuse to buy flowers :)  Sam had some really cute nursery rhymish decorations that just added that last cute finishing touch.

Here's another one, thought it looks more like Beatrix Potter, it's a goose!  And a cute one at that :)

Here's the whole table.  I made those ubiquitous tissue paper poofs and doily poofs and attached them to my light.  Then strung sewed paper stars and hung them behind.

I was amazed by how many nursery rhyme books were at the library and I checked out about 30 of them to make a free, easy decoration on the mantel and behind the food.

The whole room.  I also sewed a paper doily garland and hung a few more tissue paper poofs.

These were game prizes- some of the DI teacups full of Hershey Kisses: "Georgie Porgie, Pudding and Pie, Kissed the girls and made them cry.

One of our games was a "baby makin' contest".  (hehe) LRH got to be the judge of which she would like to be her own most.

My sad contestant.

We decided this one would have been great, except for the creepy face. 

The winner!

Sam- my co-hostess and the momma-to-be!

"Writing down" gifts in my spreadsheet.

writing in the book of nursery rhymes

Since LRH has a love of poetry- especially silly poetry and haikus, one of our games was to rewrite a nursery rhyme as a haiku.  LRH picked her favorite.  Then we wrote them down in the front of a book of nursery rhymes for LRH to take home.

Jack Be Nimble party favor candles

Thanks for letting us plan such a fun party, LRH!  Good luck with the new babe :)