Oh No....!

We caught Lucy in the lotion AGAIN! Of course it had to be the expensive Eucerin.  Just imagine how the rug, couch, and surrounding blanket looked. What a mess!

What's So Funny?

I was looking through some old pictures and found one that brought back a flood of memories. When my sisters and I get together we can not stop laughing. I guess it has been happening since we were little. I think I am about five or six in this picture. 

What is it with Zoos?

One thing people may not know about our family is that we love zoos. Every place that we live we find a way to go to the nearest zoo. While in Nebraska we have found that we have been to the Denver zoo quite a few times. So with our latest trip we saw a theme developing and I thought I would share. 

This first picture is the summer of 2005. 

This second picture was taken in September 2007. 

And Finally, this picture was taken February 2009. It seems we are averaging every other year.

Can it be done?

Today I am attempting the impossible. I am going "unplugged" for a whole day. I am going to turn off my computer and television and unplug both of them. At least I'll have the phone and therefore will not "fall off the face of the earth" (well, I hope not). 

So here goes my first social experiment. I will have to be creative on how to fill my day. I know that my house has been suffering, maybe I will start there. Has anyone else done this? How did you do? Any tips? You might have to call because I won't be able to read responses (well maybe not until Wednesday).

New Month, New Trial

This month we are again trying to potty train Lucy. Anyone who has attempted this knows how frustrating it can be. So far we have been successful with #2 but we have only been working on it for about two hours. Any suggestions? Ideas? Help?

When I potty trained Thomas it took about 6 months. Once I found his motivation, it worked. When he had accidents he lost television and computer privileges. After that, he was potty trained almost overnight. The only problem is that Lucy couldn’t be more different from Thomas. So I am really up for any ideas anyone can spare. 

Our Picky Eater!

As a mother of toddlers, I am constantly worried that the kiddos aren’t getting enough proper nutrition. I was told by a far off source that if a child is lacking protein, carbs, and/or vitamins they will crave and eat those foods to fill that void. Boy is that off. Needless to say I have a picky eater, a VERY picky eater. Every meal we would put veggies and fruit on the lunch and dinner plate and every meal they would go untouched (unless they floated in the drink.) I tried not to make too big of a deal out of it, thinking that someday she would get curious about the “other” side of the plate. But when I found out that she was becoming deficient and it was affecting her health, I knew I had to take immediate action. So here are some tools that I have used to help solve my dilemma.

“Deceptively Delicious” book—it’s a recipe book by Jessica Seinfeld teaching mothers to sneak in veggies and fruit into everyday “kids” foods. I still serve the green beans with the spaghetti and meatballs but I don’t stress out that they don’t get eaten. The spaghetti is now fortified with wheat pasta, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes and spinach. I LOVE trying the new recipes and inventing my own with the added veggies. In all honesty, the food tastes good and we are finding it fills us up a lot faster than before (we are getting added veggies, too).

“Eat this Not that” book—this book is comparing the pre-prepared items in the grocery store. It is teaching the consumer (me) that just because it looks or says that the food is healthy doesn’t mean that it is (and it tells you why so you can make an informed decision). So now I am taking this book to the store with me and every time I buy a premade dinner, bread or juice. I then consult my new healthy food reference and make the best possible choice. I love it because it brings a new challenge to the food shopping trip and I can still get my chocolate and sugar fixes (and not feel guilty.)

The Snack Boxes—we bought a small Tupperware for each of the kids. We let them decorate it and color them. I then put the boxes in the fridge filled with good choice snacks. Now when the kids want a snack they can go into their box and grab which ever suits their fancy. Each snack is the proper portion size and since I control what goes in there I only put the best in there. I only fill them up once a week so once it’s gone, it’s gone. So when snack time rolls around I am not scouring the cupboards and then settle for fruit snacks or the eighth cookie that day.

I am still in the beginning stages of this uphill battle but I thought I would share some of the things that I have found that works. Do you have a picky eater? Do you have any advice? Let me know what you think?

Cool Song

I thought this was a really cool video. I think Kay is my new favorite artist. I hope you enjoy.

Drama, Drama, Drama!!!

I don't mean to sound negative but I am SICK of going to the emergency room. I was privileged enough to make another visit yesterday (Sunday) just as church began. It turns out that my silver ballet flats don't have very much traction when it comes to black ice. So after sitting down in sacrament meeting for about two minutes we decided to make a bee line to the ER. Luckily I only came away with a sprained wrist, but that doesn't take away the pain. Under normal conditions they would prescribe some feel good drugs but because of Aloysius Hector the III (the baby) I have to brave this arm with over the counter Tylenol, (an unenthusiastic, yeah.) So I would post more about this unfortunate event but I am one handed and I need to elevate my injured appendage.  

Need a pick me up?

Any time I am feeling down I think, "if only I could have someone there to pick me up." I think this is my answer. I hope it makes you feel better too! There are some more funny videos at Failblog. Just make sure you click on the G-Rated stuff.

It's Unofficially official!

James accepted a job offer in Texas! Yeah! The best part is they don't want him to start until the summer so, we will have time to sell the house and have a baby. We are really excited about it and can't wait for the warm weather!

Here's to do it yourself!!

Toilets get a bad rap because they handle all the stuff that we don't like to think about. In reality, as long as they are clean, they are not that bad. When our toilet started to run a month or two ago I thought, "oh great there goes another $100 to the plumber." Now, I know the plumber has to make a living too, but January is not the month to have to call a repairman. So I got brave, did a little research, and found out that toilets are an easy and simple mechanism. It just took about 15 minutes of reading, cleaning and repairing. It didn't even cost a penny. So now I feel like I can fix anything, and our toilet doesn't run now. 

"It's Morning!"

Every morning our little Lucy wakes up in the best mood. The first thing she says is, "it's morning" and then she todles into our room and says, "Mama, it's morning. Dada, it's morning." We love her cheerful, happy spirit!

Wow, What a Month!!!

I can not believe that this month is almost over. I have been super busy so I have neglected my blog, I am sorry. December is a busy month for everyone, but it seems to have hit me hard this year.

Grades were FINALLY posted on the 22^nd and I am happy to say I got straight A's. A Brittany first. That is not to say that there wasn't a lot of sweat and tears involved, because there was, but at least the final grades were worth it! 

So I was going into Christmas pretty excited, that is until Thomas opened three gifts and all of his stocking stuffers a week before Christmas. That was a stress beyond belief but we survived that too. On Christmas Eve we told the kids they we are having a baby and they both wanted to sit next to the baby while we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Christmas was going well until I ended up in the hospital at 7 a.m. with the stomach flu. Our family was shown the true spirit of Christmas as a family in our Branch brought over Christmas dinner and several people offered to watch the children, even on Christmas. But that was only a little detour from our Christmas celebrations.

I think the cutest part of this all is when I came home from the hospital Thomas wanted to see the new baby. The next 5 months are going to be long for him. 

Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know I have not disappeared. I have just been very busy and I plan to be more attentive. Thanks for reading and let me know how your holidays turned out. 

But, to end on a better note, I have been feeling the baby kick! Yippee!

Our Chocolate Fiesta!

On Friday, the 28th, we had a blast at our house. 

We pulled our our chocolate fountain and had our annual Chocolate party. 

Our guests brought food that ranged from strawberries and bananas to cheese and bacon. We played a few games and had a good time visiting with our friends. 

Next to Thanksgiving, our chocolate party is our favorite part of November. 

Chocolate, Chocloate and more Chocolate!

In Celebration of my Chocolate Fiesta on Friday I want to share a story with you that will get your taste buds salivating!

A guy found a bottle on the ocean, and he opened it and out popped a genie, and he gave him three wishes. The guy wished for a million dollars, and poof! There was a million dollars. Then he wished for a convertible, and poof! There was a convertible. And then, he wished he could be irresistible to all women... poof! He turned into a box of chocolates.

What's that?

Lucy was at my feet reading books while I was cleaning today. In her animal book at every page she would say, “What’s that?” and I would respond a monkey, bear, dog, etc. She knew all of the animals, but asked anyway. So when she got to the crocodile I responded saying, “it’s a bird.” Lucy retorted, “No mama, that’s a Cayman. Caymans live in the water.” I was quite taken back; I think I was about eighteen before I knew about Caymans. What a little smarty!

It's Coming up!!!!

The thing I love most about Thanksgiving is that it is one holiday away from Christmas!!! I love everything about Christmas, especially the tree. This year I have decided to do something new. Instead of bringing out all of our normal ornaments I have decided to make my own. Now we have had a pretty tight budget this month, but I was able to make all of these ornaments for about $5 TOTAL. I bought some oranges and apples and dried those out (needless to say, our house has been smelling Fabulous!!!!) and glued a few nuts together. So now I am up to about $4. I bought a remnant of fabric for a dollar to accent the ornaments. I had the buttons and string and made a button garland (it was going to be popcorn, but could you imagine the mess.) I made the little "gingerbread men" out of cinnamon, applesauce and Elmer's glue. Finally, the giant star tree topper--I made from sticks found on the ground in the park. So now I am all ready to decorate the tree. Sadly, I won't be doing that until the 29th of November, but I will post and let you see how it turns out. The only thing I want to add are some candy canes, but I will wait until we are on next months pay check. So what do you think? Have I given you any ideas? I was even thinking of picking up some pine cones and putting those on the tree too, but I think I will wait and see how it looks. I don't want to overload  the tree. (a little side note: This is just a sampling of the ornaments I have made. I actually have a ton of each. I couldn't take a picture of all of them because the apples are still drying out.)

I finally did it!!!!

I was inspired by my friend Shaye. I have made myself six shopping bags to use while grocery shopping. I have gone to the store with them twice now and I LOVE them. I just keep the bags in my car and pull them out when it is shopping time. Once I have brought in my groceries I hang the bags on my door so I can't forget to put them in my car. I no longer have to worry about the tons of shopping bags that fill up my cleaning closet. 

Making the bags were so easy to make that I am embarrassed that I was so intimidated about making them. I found the pattern here at the green bag lady's website. And the best part about it was I didn’t spend a penny on the bags. I used thread that I already had and the fabric was an old shower curtain (which made SIX bags, one with an extra pocket.) 

The kids love having a job to bring the bags into the grocery store and I really feel like I am helping out the environment by not wasting the many plastic bags. I have felt like I have needed to do this for a long time. I am glad that I have FINALLY taken a step to improving the environment. 

I get mixed responses from the checkers at the store. The first girl thought they were brilliant, beautiful and that I should sell them for $5 a piece. Another checker kept trying to put my groceries into a plastic bag, and I had to keep taking them out of the plastic bags and put them in my eco friendly repurposed bags. It irritated be at first but I will try to get use to impatience.

 I highly recommend everyone taking the step to make and use these FABULOUS bags. I tell you what, if you want some bags but don’t know how to make them, I will GLADLY make some for you—only if you promise to use them. I think they would make wonderful Christmas gift, too.  

The Joys of a Democracy

I don't know if there are any American Idol fans out there, but I know I watched the show religiously. This kind of reminds me of the recent elections. Sometimes we can feel this way when the one we root for doesn't prevail. I guess I am happy I was rootin' for the winners. Enjoy the drama!

Banana Butternut Squash Muffins

Yum and Double yum!!!! This was a hit at my house. I have been scouring the Internet to find butternut squash recipes for more than just soup. Did you know that you can take just about any pumpkin recipe and subsitue butternut squash? So that is what I have been doing. This recipe organally called for pumpkin but I swapped it. So try it, it is worth it!  

Banana Butternut Squash Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

2 ripe bananas, mashed 2 eggs 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 1/3 cups butternut squash puree 1 cup white sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3/4 cup raisins or chocolate chips(optional but make them yummy!)

DIRECTIONS:Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a muffin tin or line it with cupcake papers. In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, eggs, oil, squash, and sugar. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pie spice and cinnamon, stir into the banana mixture until just combined. Fold in the raisins and walnuts if desired. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Add powder sugar frosting if desired. For the Powder sugar frosting, mix about ½ cup of powder sugar with about 1 tsp to 1TBSP of milk.