Sometimes

Sometimes if Dad is going to be working late and my mom doesn't want to clear off the table, we eat on the floor.

Working on the Big Boy

This video goes with the post previous to it.

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Working on the Big Boy

The last few days Jansen has been hard at work repairing The Big Boy. The Big Boy is one of Jansen's favorite trains and he has been pretending like the recliner is the broken down train.

It absolutely delights me.

He's actually really good at letting Natalie help.

Recipe to Share

I baked this the other day and we all enjoyed it very much. The recipe is from Joy the Baker.

Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour (could  use 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat flour)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I did not use fresh nutmeg, just the nutmeg spice I had)

1/4 teaspoon cloves (the nutmeg and the cloves are optional, you’ll just have a less spicy bread)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil (could replace with some applesauce for less fat)

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup grated zucchini

1 1/2 cup peeled and grated sweet potato

1 cup chopped walnuts (I did not add)

1/2 cup dried cranberries (Did not add this either)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9×5x3- inch loaf pan and set aside. Sift the first 7 ingredients into a medium sized bowl. In a seperate, large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix in the zucchini and sweet potato. Add the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Fold in the nuts and cranberries and stir well.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cool bread in pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Loosen the edges of the bread with a butter knife and turn out on a rack to cool completely. Can be prepared 1 day in advance. Wrap in foil and keep at room temperature.

NOTE: It seemed like a lot of batter to me. Everything worked out, but it was almost spilling over the pan I used.

Tried to teach them how to armwrestle. It's a useful skill nowadays.

I think I may start adding a silly little note at the end of my blog posts called REALIZATION. No reason really, just a little way to express my thoughts.

REALIZATION: Today I realized how heavily I depend on lists. I just work well when I have lots of lists going on. They keep me productive and focused and of course prevent me from forgetting things. I got out of the habit for awhile and things kind of went berserk. Love you lists.

Boring Days Folks

"Hold still kids. Let me take a picture of you eating a lasagne noodle so I can put it on the blog."

Yes, life is a little boring these days. Still wonderfully wonderful, just a little boring.

Jansen will not allow me to put any gel in his hair anymore and I just HATE that! It looks so much better with it. I am just not in love with the fuzzy look on him. Choose your battles I guess.

My Little Downward Dog

Today Jansen decided he wanted to exercise with Nate. It happened to be a yoga day in Nate's p90x schedule, and I think Nate was happy to have a companion. I will not do the yoga with him. It IS a good workout, but I get sooooo bored.

Runner's pose!

Reaching...

Grabbing a drink and a quick break:

Let's See...

I get this itchy, bothersome feeling when I haven't blogged in a couple days. So here I am just trying to think of something to record/blog about.

Mind still pretty blank...

I guess I can always start off with stuff Jansen has said recently. I can't remember what we were talking about, but a few days ago he responded to me with, "That really would not be acceptable."

I was belting out the Blue's Clues song (close your eyes and picture it) and he turned to me and said, "Mom, you can't say that. It's not sensible."

And last of all, this afternoon he was telling a friend about trains. He informed him, "They're the most powerful, fascinating machines." I am pretty sure that is a direct quote from some movie he has seen...but I laughed out loud.

Jansen and his friend Aiden are upstairs playing and Nate just informed that Aiden said, "We're making dinosaurs because Jansen is Jesus and I'm Heavenly Father."

I can't get this out of my head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMwhl4IrPNc

You must admit, very catchy. :) It makes me laugh so much.

On a much more serious note, Noah's due date was tomorrow, January 20. All month my mind has been consumed with thoughts of him and the experience, but I am happy and tomorrow does not loom or feel depressing to me. January is such a bleak, cold month sometimes, but this one has gone by pretty quickly and there have been some great things filling the days. Lots to look forward to!

A Mostly Natalian Post

Natalian: concerning or relating to Natalie

I really do feel like I can say it: Natalie is potty trained! I know that making a statement like that is a Pandora's Box, and she is probably going to start having lots of accidents but whatever. She's almost too good. She gets a little chocolate when she goes (gotta wean her off that) and it seems to me that she doesn't let it all out when she is fully capable of doing so. She makes little installments which = more chocolate.

Today she went and I exclaimed, "Yea! We love pee pee!" (I know, embarrassing, but I wanted her to know how happy I was). She looked at me and said, "And I love chocolate!" I'm in trouble.

I was sitting on the computer today sneaking some peeks at blogs and when the guilt became too much, I ran upstairs to see what the absence-of-fuss was all about. I saw this. She's reading her scriptures. Sure she doesn't have pants on, and sure there is disgusting snot coming out her nose, but she's looking at the scriptures for crying out loud. I abandon her and she turns to the Old Testament for support. I don't feel quite so guilty anymore.

And apparently yesterday this hippo:

Got hungry for Nate's beloved Jade plant:

Because I found her stuffing its leaves down the hippo's artificial throat. In the wake of her destruction she left this on the floor:

I disciplined her with an alternative. And in case you are already thinking it, I looked A LOT like that girl on the cover when I was her age.

As for Jansen, he had us laughing the other night when we had to tell him that they are not "girl cheese sandwiches," but "grilled cheese sandwiches." He must have women on the mind because he also told me today he "doesn't know what kind of female train" he wants to color. I don't think he has any idea what the word means.

As I was putting him to sleep two nights ago I said, "Jansen, Daddy and I are so proud of you."
LOOOONG PAUSE. "Sometimes," he says.

I Couldn't Resist

I couldn't resist buying this shirt for Jansen while I was at Target the other day.

I mean, it is a picture of my son!

Christian and Julie

Christian and Julie...doesn't it sound like the name of a company that sells fine cookware and tableware? Like Williams and Sonoma or something? Christian is actually Nate's brother and Julie is his adorable wife. They stopped in for a visit this past weekend while Christian was doing some work in the area (they live in Salt Lake).

About these cookies...when Nate and Christian were growing up in Cincinnati they used to go to Busken bakery down the street from their house all the time after school. They loved to get these yellow smiley face cookies. Christian made a stop at their old home in Cincinnati while he was out this way and had to grab a few of these cookies that they still make, just the same as they remember 'em!

I love Julie! She's just so fun to be around.

Like a couple of girls in high school:

I needed some Italian food from North Market, so we stopped and had lunch here on Saturday.

Thanks for coming guys!

Preschool and Pretzels

Jansen has joined a co-op preschool and this week it was at my house. We learned about the letter O. We made pretzels and shaped them into O's. They are a little more like bagels, but really tasty. I included the recipe at the end of this post...definitely a fun thing to do on a cold winter day!

Personal Pretzels
1 TB yeast
1 ½ c warm water
2 tsp salt
¼ c honey
1 TB sugar
4-41/2 c flour
1. Heat the oven to 425. Line 2 baking sheets with tinfoil.
2. In a large electric mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the salt, honey, and sugar and stir well. Blend in the flour at low speed, then medium. Knead about 5 minutes. (I did this all by hand since I don't have a mixer.)
3. Divide dough into 16 equal parts, make shapes, and put on tinfoil.
4. Bake for 13-15 minutes.
5. Mix 1 TB cinnamon with 4 TB sugar, melt some butter.
6. When pretzels are done, remove from oven and apply butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture.

A Little Privacy Please?

I should probably give the girl a little privacy.

But I just wanted to report that things are going much better!

Time for a Trim and Potty Training Woes

It seems like Natalie's hair grew several inches overnight. When I was looking at it today I got that urge to cut it...and you know when you get that feeling it's hard to ignore. Before I knew what was happening Nate was getting started on it in the bathtub.

That lasted about 2 minutes...

And then we moved to this station:

It definitely needs help, but I don't care much right now. It's usually in pigtails or something anyway.

Feeling frustrated about potty training. It was going so well, and today I let her go to church in underwear because she really really wanted to and I was so tired of fighting with her (we had done it all morning...sound familiar? Why are Sunday morning so contentious!) I left her in Nursery for awhile and then went to check on her and found her with urine streaked tights. I whisked her away and cleaned her up (I'm so glad I grabbed an extra skirt)...this time I put underwear on her and then a Pull-up...I dropped her back off and went to finish subbing the Sunbeam class. Awhile later they brought her to me and she had pooped her pants!!! Grrrrr.