Summer's Finally Here!

It looks like the weather is finally cooperate and give us a little sunshine! I'm all for rain, seeing as we live in a desert a little moisture never hurts. But a soul can only live under cloudy skies for so long! The kids keep asking if it's summer yet. Now I can say, "Yes, it's finally here!" But don't worry we haven't let the weather hold us back. Here's a bit of what we've been doing:



I'm not sure who told Big T he could get big, but that's just what he's doing. He just finished his first year of playing soccer and his first year of elementary school. I swear that I'm not old enough to have a child doing these things! After all I still look twelve! He was just starting to get the hang of soccer when it ended. Ok, I confess, he's a bit of a dreamer on the field. It's true what they say about the apple not falling far from the tree (somewhere my mother is giggling to herself). But he REALLY enjoyed kindergarten. His teacher was fantastic and I cannot believe how much he has grown academically.

He still cracks us up, though. The other day he was looking for something in the kitchen. He found it in what he termed the "Crazy Ellen." What he meant to say was "Lazy Susan," but I think I prefer "Crazy Ellen!"

Lil' T is getting big, too! He just celebrated his 4th birthday, but I feel like he's already been 4 for awhile. He was sweet to share his Hot Wheels cake with his cousin, who was born on his 1st birthday. I think she might have preferred a girly cake, but hey, cake is cake! Lil' T is looking forward to preschool this fall. I'll admit that I hold preschool over his head saying things like, "Well, preschool boys can buckle their own seat belts" and "Preschool boys can put on their own shoes." It's probably wrong of me, but it seems to motivate him. His preschool teacher may not know what hit her, but hopefully he'll do ok.

Lil' T has always been an independent spirit. It wasn't long after we moved into our house that he felt perfectly at ease riding his bike around the block alone (unfortunately his parents were not at all comfortable with that considering he was only 2!) So his latest escapade should come as no surprise, right? While we were at Big T's kindergarten graduation, we wanted to get some pictures of the graduate outside the school. While Dad was taking those photos, Lil' T just vanished! One minute he was there and the next just gone! We looked all over for him and even had some help in our search. As I checked the playground, I feared the worst: he'd gone into the parking lot and been hit by a car. Little did I know that the reality was possibly worse. He had actually crossed the parking lot AND the street in front of the school to get to the van because he thought we'd left him. When I shrilly asked him, "You crossed the street?!!" he calmly replied, "I waited for all the cars to go first." Well at least he has some sense. And for the record, I have never left my children anywhere!

Lil' Miss is such a bright spot in our lives. She is constantly learning new things, which is what she is supposed to be doing. However, her new-found knowledge and experience comes with a price: she is becoming quite stubborn! She is opinionated about what she wears and is starting to want to dress herself. She's given up the high chair and is sometimes "too big" to sit in a booster. The funny thing is, she's not big at all. We still can't put her in a forward facing car seat. And I've been joking that hopefully there is not a "You Must Be This Tall" sign to enter nursery because I'm sure she wouldn't qualify.

I was worried that she wouldn't be girly because people told me that she'd probably be a tomboy with two older brothers. I shouldn't have worried because my mom says that our family has a "girly gene" and she definitely got it! Often when we get ready to leave, she can't go until she grabs her purse, even just to go out in the backyard. She's really into shoes right now and I love watching her dress up in my dress shoes. But her two brothers do have an influence on her: she enjoys playing with their vehicles and and eating an occasional shovel-full of dirt! I guess she's well rounded! She sure loves the boys. Her new word for them is "guys" and she just lights up when she sees them!

Well, this post ended up being WAY too long. To sum up, life is good right now. If we can just avoid that darn swine flu, everything will be great!

Miss Independent

I don't know if all third children are like this, but our third child thinks she is at least as old as her brothers! (Even though she is only 16-months-old, not to mention she is maybe the size of a 12-month-old!) She is in a climbing phase right now. Honestly, she is behind when the boys started to climb, but, you know, it might have something to do with her size. We're still waiting for the poor girl to be able to ride in a forward-facing car seat! Maybe by her next birthday! Oh well, her size seems to add to her cute-factor.

So back to her climbing skills: if you visited our home, you might think you were in a diner at closing time. (It does seem fitting since I happen to have a sign in my kitchen that, in fact, says, "Mel's Diner.") The reason you would make such an assumption is that we keep our kitchen chairs up on the table for safe-keeping. Really it's for her own good! Besides the risk of falling, I really don't want to encourage table dancing!

The kitchen chairs are not all she climbs. She also climbs toy bins, toilets, couches, church benches and also our swing set! Here is a video of our daredevil-in-training enjoying her newest skill:

We may have to discuss with her the dangers of drinking and sliding, however:

Post St. Patty's Post

So, what do you do with leftover corned beef? If you're "lucky" enough to have some left over, here are two ideas for the day after St. Patrick's Day:

• Confetti Corned Beef Hash (I must confess that I leave out the green peppers! That is a taste that, even though I'm technically a grown-up*, I have yet to acquire.)



• Reuben Paninis I'm actually making these tonight. I had my sweetheart cut some thin slices of corned beef last night (the electric knife worked nicely for this!). I'm going to put the corned beef slices on some dark rye bread with provolone cheese slices, sauerkraut, and thousand island dressing. Then I'm going to grill them in my panini maker. So easy! If you don't have a panini maker, a George Foreman grill works fairly well.
  
  By the way, I forgot to get thousand island dressing, but it is easy to make: mix together 1/2 cup mayo, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup sweet pickle relish and a pinch each of salt and pepper.

*Funny story: A couple of weeks ago, at Mutual, I was making sure all the young women had a ride home. Some of the girls were in the gym with the boys when I checked to make sure they had a way home. While I was in there, one of the 16-year-old boys said to me, "Wait, you're a leader? I thought you were one of the girls! How old are you?" I told him and he said he would have guessed 12. I don't even look date-worthy and yet I have three kids!

But there is a silver lining: one of my girls said "Wow! You're young!" So maybe she thinks I'm just a bit cooler 'cuz I'm still in my 20s! One other upside to having a baby face? When I'm 40, I'll just be starting to look like I'm in my 20s! Maybe Lil' Miss and I will look like sisters!

Luck o' the Irish!

I love to make holidays special and fun for my kiddos and St. Patrick's Day is an excellent holiday to have a little fun! My mother-in-law always did fun stuff on St Patty's Day and my husband has requested that I follow some of the same traditions. So here's the menu for dinner tomorrow:

• Corned Beef
• Boiled Cabbage
• Shamrock Jell-O Jigglers (these are creamy)
• Green Rolls
• Green Punch (Lime sherbet in Sprite)
  

I cook my corned beef in my slow cooker with enough water to cover it. I usually don't add the spice packet because the fam doesn't care for the flavor it adds.

The roll recipe I've linked to is a great one for the bread maker! It is a family favorite! I just add green food coloring to the ingredients at the beginning. When the dough is done, you form three small balls for each roll and put the balls in a muffin cup. They end up looking like a shamrock. This trick comes from my mother-in-law.

I think I may play some leprechaun tricks on my kids. This blog had a fun idea I may try! I also might make a craft tonight with the kids for FHE. This one looked fun!

Eat what Mom makes!

So yesterday we went to Stake Conference (and it wasn't too bad!) and the Stake President issued a challenge to all the primary children: "Eat what your mom makes!" To which Big T responded, "Oh, great!" (Wow, that does a mom's heart good.) The theme of the conference was "Love at Home" and kids eating their dinners will definitely aid in family harmony! The Stake President also encouraged parents to expose their kids to a variety of foods because who knows what they may have to eat on their missions. Variety tends to happen around here because I get bored making the same things over and over. I've been trying some new recipes, as usual, and I'm ready to report:

• Tuna Noodle Casserole: I loved eating Tuna Casserole as a child (I know it sounds crazy!) and lately I came across a new recipe that kind of mixes it up a bit. And the best part? My kids will eat it! The hubby really likes the hint of lemon flavor.
• Herb Crusted Salmon with Spinach Salad: I had no idea that I liked salmon! I've always been afraid to try eating it or making it, but this recipe made it sound so simple that I had to try it! I like it so much that I made it for dinner on my birthday. Unfortunately the kids are the biggest fans, but I am prepping them for their lives as missionaries, right? (By the way, I don't buy all the fresh herbs, I just use Italian style breadcrumbs.)
• Cheeseburger Chowder: I thought the kids would really like this recipe because it has "cheeseburger" in the name, but Big T informed me, " If it's in a bowl, it's soup and we don't like soup." Well, OK! That's too bad because they are missing out and this is tasty!
• Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole: A few weeks ago I was at the grocery store with the two little ones and they were giving free samples of this. Lil' T seemed to really like it, so we gave it a try. I haven't ever been big on this dish, but I really liked it and the kids seem to like it too. Here's the recipe:

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

3 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz. sour cream
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1 ½ cup Ritz crackers, crushed
¼ cup margarine, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Combine first four ingredients, spoon into lightly greased 7x11” pan.

Combine crushed crackers and margarine, sprinkle over chicken mixture.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

It's so easy, but so yummy!

Hope this gives you some ideas for dinner! Let me know how you like these recipes!

Lil' T-isms

Lil' T just cracks us up! He has such a great smile and loves to be silly and make the rest of us laugh. He says the funniest things, too. Here are some examples:

• We took him skiing on Saturday and he was not at all into it! At lunch he told us, "I'm not here for the skiing, I'm here for the eatin'!"


• After lunch he started to put on his ski boots, so we asked him if he was ready to ski again, to which he replied: "I'm going for a hot dog!"


• Later at my parents' house we decided to soak in the spa and Lil' T saw the spa chemicals and said, "Those are for the hot dog man. Grandpa looks like a hot dog man!"


• Then last night, he woke up in the night because he had knocked his covers off. He came into our room crying, "Big T is breaking my feelings 'cuz he won't put my blankets back on!" I went in to help him and Big T was sound asleep. I don't think Big T was trying to be rude.

Lil' T is also quite the songwriter. Here is his most famous ditty performed by him with a little backup from Big T:

American Idol, here we come!

Happy Birthday Week!

This is a shout-out to my amazing sister who celebrates her birthday today. This is our favorite week of the year because today is her birthday and Thursday is my birthday and Saturday is Valentines Day! Our mother aways made it such a special week and as a result I still love Valentines Day because of all the great memories. When we were little girls, Mom was constantly asked if we were twins because we were about the same size. She always told them, "No, they're two years and two days apart." The truth is that Julie was actually due on my birthday, but graciously decided to come two days before so that we could each have our own day and make it into a week-long celebration! Good work, Sis! I love you so much and I couldn't ask for a better friend than you!