Flame

Today Diva’s preschool class went to the fire station. 

Munchkin, of course could not be left out. 

By the way, Diva has a boyfriend.  And by that I mean a boy…who is a friend.  But they are especially close and he is especially smitten with her.  And of course, I don’t blame him.  Oh and he has a twin.  An identical one.  I suppose if she doesn’t like one she can choose the other.  The twin is also quite taken with Diva but tends to show more self restraint.  As in he doesn’t pick her up in giant bear hugs and kiss her on the cheek and hold her hand and play with her hair and compliment her outfits.  Yeah. 

I kept a close eye on this boy today and watched how he, if he wasn’t seated next to Diva, would get up and deftly make room to plop down beside her.  He would stare at her and smile at her and giggle with her.  I’ll admit, it was quite amusing.  And if I’m being honest, Diva didn’t resist the flirtation much. 

I’m mildly alarmed at the depth of this relationship but I figure, only two months left. 

But COME ON.  They are only FOUR!!!  This is NOT supposed to happen.  Not yet.  I mean, we were on a PRE-school field trip to a fire station.  For crying out loud!

 

I’m in trouble.

Masking

The other morning Diva spouted off a dream she had that night.  It involved my sister reading a sunshine book, then Heavenly Father took the sunshine away but it wasn’t really Heavenly Father it was a bad guy.

Then the bad guy started to chase Munchkin and Diva around the house and into the closet.  He had a mask on.  They were frightened.  They screamed, “Nooooo noooo bad guy!”

And then the bad guy took the mask off and it was just daddy.  Phew.

I love kids’ dreams!

Just to clarify, Hubby has never and will never chase the girls around the house while wearing a mask.

 

Bday and stuff

Munchkin had a party last night at my parents’ and had a blast.  Then this morning as Hubby told her we were celebrating again with Nee Nee and Papa tonight, she asked, “Am I gonna be four?”  Uh no.  Imagine if kids grew up that fast.  It’s already fast enough!

 

I bought a basil plant the other day.  My thumb is so far from green it’s not even funny.  It’s black.  Pray for this one.  I love me some fresh basil. 

                              

                                 

Left is after the flash (sooc) right is without the flash.

Awhile back my dad gave me his old external flash.  I didn’t touch it for the longest time.  I was scared of it.  I had no idea what to do with it.  Then I found the manual online, read through most of it and then looked around online on how to bounce the flash.  In the picture of Diva the flash is turned backward facing at a 45* angle above my head, bouncing off the white wall behind me.  I’m enjoying learning more about it.  Bless Diva’s heart, I took so many pictures of her today and she was the perfect little model. 

I shared this picture on Facebook but had to blog it as well.  Diva was furiously drawing away and then brought this picture to me explaining, “See Mommy?  She’s saying, ‘Oh my GOSH!  My apple is growing!!’”  I laughed and laughed and laughed.  We’ll have to frame that for sure.

Oh March 16th my little nephew, Ace, was born and I was able to visit him and snuggle him and inhale his scrumptiousness.  My sister absolutely rocked that labor.  Something like 20 hours (early labor took awhile) sans epidural.  And the most amazing thing?  She didn’t make a SOUND.  Not even during pushing.  I know right?  Her hubby took a video of her during a contraction, when she was at 9.5 cm and I couldn’t believe it.  The only signal she was in pain was her slight increase in breathing rate.  CRAZY.  Seriously nuts.

Me, circa 1988, 89?

I found this picture the other day while searching for something else.  I had a good chuckle.  Like mother like daughters. 

 

Miss Three

3-26-11

 I had really great intentions.  I wanted to doll up miss Munchkin and take cutesy pictures of her frolicking in a field of dandelions. 

But then I realized that is not how she is.  At all.  She’s dirty 80% of the time with a white-blonde mass of unkempt hair.  I spend every morning combing, brushing, dressing, pleading, directing and assessing until I get her to the point where the general public will not think she lives in cardboard box on the street.  And then, as if we had passed through some strange, dirt-filled vortex, I find I am holding a child that doesn’t even remotely resemble the girl I spent so much time on earlier that morning.  By the time I come to this realization, I just plain don’t care anymore.

 

So instead, I decided to capture the essence of M.  I want to remember how she always was and not my idea of how she should have been.  She’s a smudgy, messy, fiery little hurricane of independence.

 

Exactly three years ago today I started this blog; anxiously anticipating the arrival of my little 6 lb 12 oz peanut.  And she came.  Right on schedule.

And tomorrow we shall celebrate!

Nutty

*I posted this on www.sisterlysecrets.com but the stuff is so good I had to share it twice.  *

I have a new obsession: making almond butter.

I really dislike the taste of store bought almond butter. But I’ve made several batches in the past few days, added different ingredients and it’s DEElicious. Better than peanut butter.  (Never thought I’d say that)

Today’s batch?  Dark chocolate cinnamon.  Oh.my.gosh.  It’s straight-out-of-the-bottle-with-a-spoon delicious. 

You’ll need:

-2-3 cups Raw almonds

-Food processor.  I attempted almond butter in my (Amazing, Awesome, Spectacular) Blendtec and while it can handle peanuts just fine, almonds are a lot more difficult to process so it overheated.  Boo.  So I said, “Hey mom, wanna buy a food processor?”  And enticed her with the idea of fresh almond butter every week.  (yes, it lives at her house but I visit almost daily.)

-1 1/2 c. melted 60% cacao chocolate chips.

-1 tsp. salt

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-1-2 tsp grapeseed oil (or coconut if you don’t mind that hint of coconut flavor)

-2-3 tsp cinnamon.  I LOVE the taste of cinnamon so I probably put about 4 tsp. in my batch today (and still not as strong as I wanted)

-2-3 Tbs. turbinado sugar.

-Patience.  Yep, just when you think your almond butter is finished.  It’s not.  Keep going.

First step, spread your almonds onto a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10 minutes at 325* F. Let cool for 10 more minutes.

 

 

Throw your cooled almonds into the processor and press start.

 

After about one minute it should look like this.

 

After two minutes.

 

Three and a half minutes.  Not done yet.

 

Six minutes.  Don’t stop!

 

Ten minutes.  Ahhh….beautiful creaminess.

 

Now, melt those chocolate chips and grapseed oil in a glass bowl over a saucepan with almost boiling water. Remove when chocolate chips are almost fully melted. Or, you could even throw the whole bowl of unmelted chocolate chips into the processor and let it go.  It will melt as it mixes.  Cool right? 

And try to keep sneaky fingers away.

Dump chocolate into your almond butter along with all other ingredients.

Voila!

And while you’re so engrossed in watching this concoction come together you’ll turn around and see this:

Oh my.  She’s like the chocolate Joker.   Note to self: Never leave melted chocolate bowl in the vicinity of an almost three year-old. 

 

Enjoy!

Puzzling

 

Someone tell me I’m not alone.

I hate puzzles.

I find them to be boring, tedious, frustrating and overwhelming.  Yes, even the 24 piece kind.  Maybe that makes me stupid.

My younger brother could spend DAYS working on 1,000+  piece puzzles.  For me that would be pure hell. 

So imagine my dismay when Diva and Munchkin began to foster a love for these annoying little pieces of cardboard.  And imagine my pride when I realized they were good at it.  So not like their mommy.  Then Hubby took them to the store and bought them multiple sets and it kept them occupied.  Pretty sweet right?

But then…

“Mommy, can you help me do this puzzle?”

Crap.

The Bee’s Knees

Diva’s cousins are in town.  They have been having a blast! Ninety percent of their time is spent outdoors, playing, jumping, swimming (yes…swimming!) and peeing on the ground.  Oh wait. That was Munchkin.

My adorbs little niece.

And whilst they played their little hearts out, I decided to take some pictures of bees.  

     

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And now for a funny story.  Diva was begging me  for some “Cheercho’s.”  I finally consented and was pouring her a bowl and all the while Diva was whining, “I want some CHEERCHO’S.”  (whining is the BEST.)  Diva’s 4 year-old cousin, Luke, was watching her and then stated very matter-of-factly, “They are not called Cheerchos.  They are called TRAY-YO’s.”

Hilarious.

Spring is in the air

Why yes, we HAVE been enjoying the delicious weather. 

                            

Thanks for asking!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Random.Org pulled up #13 as the winner.  And skipping Morgan because she doesn’t count, that gives me Jill!

Woohoo Jill!  Way to go!  I’ll drop it by sometime this week!

Thanks all 15 of my readers.  haha.  It was fun to read all those nice things about me (even though I was joking.) 

Giveaway!

I know, right?  A giveaway?  Seriously Carly? 

So once upon a time about 4.5 years ago, I was perusing an internet message board for LDS moms.  I came across a thread for newish moms and thought, hey these girls are cool, I’ll “hang” with them.  We ended up moving our little group of moms to a private online forum and the 14 of us have been friends ever since.  We “talk” just about every day.  I’ve met almost half in person (We live all over the country!) They are all so awesome. 

Weird though.  I know.  Who does that?  I do.

Anyway…two of these friends and moms are Kate and Sara.  They started their blog www.ourbestbites.com  almost…what..three years ago and have become wildly popular!  Hooray!  I am so happy for them. 

And guess what?  The other day I received this in the mail:

I am absolutely in love with it. Not only does it contain many favorite recipes from their blog but also forty NEW, awesome and totally delicious recipes as well.  It’s bright and colorful and cheery and beautiful.  Just gorgeous.

Aaaaannndd I’ll give one to you (I bought extra!).  For free.  Cuz I’m cool like that. 

Just leave a 250 word comment explaining in great detail all the things you love about me.  You’ve got two days. 

^Kidding about the 250 words.  In case you didn’t know. Just leave a dang comment.^

Another Day

at the beach.