Merry Christmas!

Toof-less!

For a week or so, Big T has had two loose teeth. For some reason that is just so exciting for me! It's like another case of things that are fun when you're a kid, but somehow so much more fun as a mom. Other examples: Christmas, Halloween, etc. Anyway, I think it freaked him out a bit that I was so excited about his teeth falling out. After all, why would you want your teeth to fall out?!! We kept telling him about the tooth fairy and I made him a little tin to put his tooth in to keep it safe for said tooth fairy. Finally I guess it sunk in and after asking him on several different occasions if I could pull it out, he relented and allowed me to do so. I think I was worried he'd back out, so before he could change his mind (and also before his dad had a chance to come upstairs and watch), I yanked it out!
That night the tooth fairy made good on the promises we had made and left him two dollars! The next morning he came into my room and I sleepily said, "Sure, go downstairs and play on the computer." But that wasn't the correct response to what he was telling me. He excitedly showed me the tin with the money inside and I woke up enough to join in his celebration!

After the success of the first lost tooth, he was much more eager to have the second tooth pulled! So that night, he asked me to pull the second one and this time we got the camera out and shot a little video.

The tooth fairy came through again and now Lil' T often tells us that he has a loose tooth and any day it will come out!

Walker Babe

We have a bit of a walker babe on our hands now. Lil' Miss seems to be following in her brothers' footsteps by learning to walk before her birthday. She's a tiny little thing, unlike they were, so it's that much more amazing to watch her! I tried to get some good video of her walking, but my video assistant (Lil' T) was not really helping, so this is what we got:


It's so fun to have a girl this time. So far, I am having fun doing her hair. And Lil' Miss and I have been playing dolls already! The other day, I asked her where her baby was, and she knew!! She has a few dolls, but the cabbage patch is her favorite so far. She can also find a few other toys. Here is Lil' Miss performing, for once!

Lil' Miss is a little sweetheart! The other night, Lil' T was in trouble (big surprise, huh?) and he got sent to bed early. His dad felt a little bad for him and he was invited back down for scriptures and prayer. As he laid on the floor with the saddest little face, Lil' Miss started walking toward him from across the room. When she got to him, she crouched down to his level and started jabbering to him like she was saying "Oh, there you are! I missed you! Cheer up!" It was so sweet! And then she gave him some nice slobbery kisses! Lil' T couldn't help but smile! She definitely brings a sweet spirit to our home.

October recap!

I have been meaning to blog for too long, so here is a recap of October:

Getting out the Halloween decorations made the boys a little anxious, so we made a Halloween count-down chain out of orange and black construction paper. On each chain we put a silly Halloween joke and then read one each night at dinner. I think it helped the boys (especially Lil' T) be able to see how many days we had to go before the big night.

We love Halloween treats, so every week for FHE we made a different one. The first week we made Ghost Pops. They were pretty yummy! You can't go wrong with marshmallows dipped in chocolate!

The second week we made spider cupcakes! Ooh, spooky!

The third week, we brought back a past favorite: Mousse-Filled Witches' Hats. I had trouble finding chocolate sugar cones, so we dipped our regular sugar cones in chocolate. I couldn't find chocolate wafers either, so I think next year we'll use homemade Devil's Food Cake Cookies!
But the real treat is the mousse! I made extra this time so we could just eat it straight!


Ok, final week! We made mummies out of Twinkies. You take a Twinkie and frost it with white frosting. Then you take a flat decorating tip and make "bandages" on the Twinkie. Finally you add some candies for eyes. The verdict? Too much sugar!!! I don't think I'll try these again. They're pretty cute, but just way too sweet!

Stay tuned for next month's theme: everything pumpkin!

New Menu Items!

Here are a couple of new favorite dinner ideas here at our house:

• Black Bean Tortilla Melt I made a few changes to the recipe. First I added a lot more taco seasoning (maybe as much as 1/2 a package). We decided to skip the salsa and instead top them with sour cream and fresh avocado! I also squeezed a bit of the lime juice over the avocados to keep them from going brown. Last time, I added a bit of ground beef to them and that was pretty good.



• Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs This is the best marinade recipe, ever! The flavor is just so nice! I have an abundance of honey, so I was glad to find a recipe to use it in. I did use it for kabobs, but I don't see why it couldn't be used on bigger pieces of chicken also. For the kabobs, I skipped the peppers because we are not big pepper-lovers. I instead added whole mushrooms to the marinade and they were fabulous! As I put the meat, onions and mushrooms on the skewers, I also put on canned whole potatoes. They are so yummy when the get crispy on the outside. The only problem I had with the recipe is how to keep it from sticking to the grill. Any suggestions?

I hope you enjoy these recipes. Let me know how they turn out!

Music to my ears...

I didn't think it would be such a big deal with my third child, but hearing Lil' Miss say "Mama" just melts my heart!

So it's official, I'm a...

I've had the van and the multiple children for awhile, now, but as of today I also have a soccer player! Today was Big T's first soccer game and it went pretty well. His coach is very good with the kids and just what Big T needs. We have all the gear now: soccer jersey, soccer shorts, soccer socks, soccer cleats, soccer shin guards and of course, a soccer ball. We are set! The highlight of the game was when Big T saw the other team get close to his team's goal (there are no goalies) he hurried and got in front of it and blocked a shot! From then on if the other team even got close, he made sure he was in front of the goal! The game ended up tied, but best of all, he really seemed to enjoy playing! Go Black Dragons!