You deserve a break today...

At least that's what my husband thought!!!
Ever since we moved, I have felt somewhat isolated. As nice as my neighbors are, they are not close enough to just pop in on. If I am lucky enough to be in town getting my errands done without kids, I always feel rushed to get back home because Dan is usually watching the kids. So my social life is pretty non-existent except for the 5-10 minutes of rushed conversation I get with the other moms when we are dropping off or picking up our kids from school. I don't really know anyone at they gym, so I workout alone too.

Except for my blog and emails I don't get much adult interaction. Sooooo, I decided to have a Girls Night Out at my house last Saturday. Dan was so thoughtful. He planned to take all 3 kids to his sister Katy's house overnight, so we could scrapbook all night uninterrupted!

There were six of us (Tami, Bekki, Debbie, Katie, Sophie and myself). Turns out Tami and Sophie used to go to high school together. It was the PERFECT mix of people. We all got along great and had so much fun talking about crafts, mommy-hood, birthday parties and funny stuff our kids do.

I pre-planned and cut out 4 cute Valentines projects for the "girls" to make (some are posted on Paper Capers) and everyone seemed to have fun being crafty! After everyone was done with their projects, we had planned to scrapbook all night, but instead we stayed up until almost 1 a.m. just talking. It was great. I think we all needed it; girl time...adult conversation. I am already starting to plan for our next Girls Night Out.

The next day I slept in. No one woke me up wanting breakfast, so it was nice to relax in the morning. I walked downstairs and admired how clean everything looked. Imagine that I spent ALL day cleaning, and it is still clean the next day. Very strange...very nice! I had a leisurely breakfast and was still beaming thinking about all the fun we had. I did manage to squeeze in a few scrapbook pages in the afternoon.

Dan hadn't brought the kids back yet and I needed to go to the store. Then it dawned on me...Hey, I can go to the store now...without kids...so I quickly got myself together and left.

All in all it was just what I needed. I hope to make this a regular event cause it was so great!

Field Trip to the Library!

Today was library day at Zander's preschool. I went along to help out and to take pictures. They all heard three fun rhyming stories and sung songs too. You can see Zander in the back row of the second photo. They were singing "If you're happy and you know it shout hooray!" Well, he just couldn't contain himself, so he jumped up and shouted "HOORAY!" The last photo is of his class (both 3 year classes went on the trip).

Science Fair Night

Due to the snow last week, the science fair was re- scheduled for tonight. Natalie's project got a lot of good response. Everyone thought it was so clever and of course they loved the photos of her hair sticking up. Here she is proudly explaining her project to her principal. Natalie got a certificate for participating as well as a blue ribbon and a coupon for fries at McDonald's.

Zander is such a hands on kid. He loves to get in on all the action...and is not shy about it! Here he is holding a bubble filled with carbon dioxide, when it pops, it turns to smoke (dry ice). He loved this part and we had to pull him away so other kids could have a turn.
He also liked to see how some of the other kids' experiments worked. Here he is completing the circuit to make the light turn on. If tonight was any indication of what's to come, I think he will love science.

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Not much to report lately. I've been doing a lot of housework and reorganizing lately. Here's a cute photo of Hayden after his bath last night. He loves to play peek-a-boo with his hoody bath towel.

New Year's Goals: Update

Haven't posted on this blog for a few days...I guess I've been busy. I have several new posts on my Paper Capers blog if you are interested. I just posted about how I got started with scrapbooking.

Anyway, we are almost through the month of January and I am trying my best to keep up with my goals, but I'm really discovering that I can't possibly do all of them simultaneously. If I work out more at the gym, inevitably I will be less energetic to get other things done. If I scrapbook more, I neglect other things, like housework, so then our bedroom starts to get cluttered up with laundry. Trying to keep the house clean and fit scrapbooking in after the kids are in bed makes for a very late night and as a result I can hardly get up to get Natalie to school. So only one month into my year and already I am overwhelmed.

On a good note, I have gone out with my friend Anne to see a movie (the Pursuit of Happiness — a great movie, by the way.) I have been spending more time doing activities my kids choose (games, stories, playing outside together) and I have made it to they gym quite a bit. In fact, today I worked out for 50 minutes (cardio) and burnt 420 calories...which should just about take care of that "Bloomin' Onion" Dan and I shared when we went out last night for dinner sans kids.

Fabulous Food Friday

Pumpkin Bake
This is the pumpkin recipe shown in last weeks Fabulous Food Friday...

Once when I was recovering from surgery to blast my kidney stones a friend of mine made me this delish dish. I asked for the recipe and now I will share it with you. Don't laugh, but this is one of those quick recipes using a cake mix!

1 yellow cake mix
2 sticks butter
1 can pumpkin pie mix (not just plain pumpkin)

Blend butter and cake mix with pastry blender until small crumbs form. Knead with hands and press half in a casserole dish (or press 1/4 into 2 pie plates). Top with pumpkin pie mix, then add the remaining cake mix to the top. Bake at 375 for 1 hour. See I told you it was easy!

When I made the pumpkin bake, I used a large can of pumpkin pie mix and had about 1/2 cup left over, so I added it to the following recipe for my moist banana bread.

Alyssa's Moist Banana Bread
I made up this recipe when I was first married. A lot of the butter is replaced with applesauce which makes it moist and yummy.

1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cups sugar
2 t baking powder
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
3 mashed ripe bananas
4 T applesauce
2 T butter
2 T milk
1 T vanilla
2 eggs
dash of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves

Mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately, then mix everything together until combined. Add nuts if you like. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

*When I asked Zander if he wanted some banana bread he said "it wooks kind of gross, but I'll try some anyway." After tasting it, he kept asking for more!

I'm gonna toot my own horn!

It's not often that I feel like I actually accomplished something in a day, but today I really did. Not only did I vacuum the upstairs hall, I vacuumed the steps, the family room, rescued a Barbie shoe from the vacuum bag, swept and moped the kitchen, entry and bathroom, cleaned the guest bathroom (even the toilet), polished the kitchen appliances, took out the garbage and recycling, washed 2 loads of laundry, made cookies, emptied, filled and ran the dishwasher, read my kids a story, made a good dinner with all the food groups, cleared the table, and I did all the dishes again! Wow, it was quite a productive day.
It's amazing what I can do when Dan is at the college all day, I don't have to run the kids back and forth to school and Hayden takes two naps.

In the meadow we can build a snowman...

...or two or three!

Today the snow was just perfect for building a snow family, so that's just what we did. Half way through, the kids got cold, so they went inside while Dan and I finished up. Dan and I also had several impromptu snowball fights. We had so much fun playing in the snow today...Later we all warmed up with hot cocoa. Mmmm!

More fun with "Smokey"

Even though we didn't get any new snow, there was still enough on the ground for another sled ride. Smokey took the kids on an adventure in the pasture and then gave them a ride all the way home.

As they pass through the gate, you can see our house in the distance, just beyond the snow topped out building.


Wow! I never thought I would ever see the day where there was a horse in my front yard.

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Snow Cone

For those of you with snow, here is a "snow cone" recipe that a friend sent to me. It just kills me that we are all out of milk and I can't even try this one...if you try it, let me know how it turns out.

SNOW CREAM

12 cups of CLEAN snow (no yellow snow!)
8 TBSP. milk
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. vanilla

Mix this all together (I had to do half of it in my mixer, then add the other half--it beats down)...add more sugar & vanilla as desired to taste...also, I had to add a couple extra tablespoons of milk to make our snow creamy enough (it's real powdery snow). Add food coloring to make it pretty! Put in an airtight container and place in the freezer to set up.

Enjoy!

Walkin' in a winter wonderland

It didn't start out as a snow day, but by the time 7:30 am rolled around , it was clear that school would be cancelled. I am on the phone-tree committee to call people when school closes. Because the decision to close the school came in late, I was on the phone a bit making sure parents got the message.

After breakfast I got the kids all bundled up to go play in the snow. I can't remember too many times where we have had this much snow that actually stuck around long enough to have much fun in, so we really weren't prepared with sleds and such. However, that didn't stop us from
having fun. Here Dan has created a makeshift sled out of a rubbermaid storage container, a hula-hoop and some rope.

After a while, Dan gave Hayden a ride in the recylcling bin.

Zander is always ready for a good snowball fight. Unfortunately,
today's powdery snow didn't hold together very easily.

Here I am with my little snow baby.

After eating cold snow, Zander was more than ready for hot cocoa.

Natalie liked catching snow on her tongue.

My little Snow Angel!

Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sled...

Late in the afternoon, our neighbors stopped by with their horse Smokey and asked if the kids wanted to go on a horse drawn sled ride. Natalie was ready to go, Zander had just been out playing and was cold, but we talked him in to staying out a little longer. Smokey is 20 years old and is great with the kids.
This is a more accurate picture (taken without a flash) of the time of day we were out. However, due to the fact that there was a lot of motion (riding on sleds) I had to use my flash which ironically, made everything look darker.

And they're off. The boy in the back is one of the neighbors.

After a while, Dan came out with Hayden so he could join in the fun!

Zander was a trooper and even though he was cold, he hopped up on Smokey and let Hayden ride in the sled for a while.

Weee! They don't look very excited do they?...I think they were paying more attention to the horse in front.

Here's what I've been up to lately...

Natalie's Science Fair Projcet on Static Electricity:

When I first heard about the Science Fair at Natalie's school, I was a little bit apprehensive. As a student, I never participated in one nor had I ever been to one. I don't even think our school had one. I had no idea what a science fair project was supposed to look like or how I was to go about finding an experiment that a kindergartner would be interested in.

Then one day as I was combing Natalie's hair before school, I noticed that she had an unusual amount of static. Her hair was flying around like nobody's business. Then I said to Natalie "hey, we should do your science fair project on static electricity." She thought that was a great idea and even when I asked her about other possible ideas, she said she wanted to do the static one.

Now as a kindergartner she was pretty much just along for the ride, so to speak. I wanted her to participate as much as possible, so it was my job to pretty much figure this all out. After school we conducted our own little experiment and I documented everything with my handy camera. Natalie drew a picture of a girl with static fly-away hair, I typed up the required components of the "scientific method" and the rest is history. We will take it to school tomorrow and on Thursday night we will attend the Science Fair and see what all the other kids came up with.

So, what have you been up to lately?

Sleeepless in Boring

Last night was one of those nights where you are thankful they are few and far between. We stayed up to watch SNL and just as it was starting, Dan carried Zander back to his own bed. He has been making it a habbit of falling asleep in our bed...mostly because Hayden cries a lot at bed time and it's hard for poor Zander to get to bed. As soon as SNL was over we tured off the t.v and lights and tried to sleep...Until Hayden woke up screaming. He has been doing this for about 2 weeks now where he will wake up anytime from 11pm - 1 am and just start crying and screaming. Since Dan and I had been up with him all week we were both tired and so we decided to bring him in bed with us. After about and hour of squirming around, Hayden finally fell asleep. I was in and out of sleep myself, so I was glad when his moving stopped. I don't think I was asleep for more than 2 hours when Natalie came in crying with leg pain. After I finally came to, I fixed her a hot water bottle and grabbed the "leg lotion." Once she was back in bed I rubbed her legs with the lotion and that seeme to help. I got this baby massage lotion from Origins at Natalie's baby shower and it has been a life saver for her leg pains.

Now that Natalie was better, I hopped back in bed, fell asleep, only to be woken again by our smoke detector. Boy, that is not a fun sound to hear at 4 am. Dan and I both jumped out of bed and did a search upstairs and down, no fire or smoke, so we went back to bed again. Only an hour or two passed and Zander came in looking for his Woody doll that he left on our bed. After I felt around in the dark, I found it and he stumbled back to bed. 7:30 rolled around and the kids were ready to start the day...we were not ready yet and stayed in bed for another hour. Needless to say, we didn't make it to church today...

Now Hayden is screaming again and I shoud go hold him. This reminds me of when he was colicky for the first year. His screaming is really starting to grind on my nerves...wish me luck!

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Some friends of ours just had their first baby, so I put together this Diaper Changing Survival Kit. Included are: gloves, a clothes pin (for the nose), a face mask, antibacterial hand gell, wipes and duct tape (Dan actually used some duct tape on one of Natalie's diapers when the velcro tab ripped off!). I put everything in a tackle box so it is manly enough for the new dad to use. All they need are diapers and they are equipped to handle any diaper disaster that may come their way.

Fabulous Food Friday

Dinner to Go

This is the meal I made for friends who just had a baby.
Included is Ham Stuffed Chicken smothered w/ cream cheese, Green Salad, Cheesy Soup w/Star cheese crackers, Pumpkin Bake and Sparkling Grape Juice.

I made enough for us to have dinner too, so I only had to cook once! I also made sure to bring everything in containers they could either throw away or keep so they wouldn't have to worry about returning dishes.

Cheesy Soup
This is such a yummy comfort food

1 Can cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Can Cream of Celery Soup
1 Can Cream of Potato Soup
1 Can of Cheese Soup
1 lb of Velveta, cut into cubes
1/2 cup half and half
3 cups milk
1 packet of Knor Vegetable soup mix
Mrs. Dash to taste

Mix all ingredients together and stir frequently in a slow cooker on high for 2 hours.

Ham Stuffed Chicken
Chicken Breasts (one per person)
Ham, (I chop mine into fine pieces in the food processor)
Swiss Cheese (I used Swiss cheese slices which melt better)
Salt and Pepper
Poultry Seasoning
Garlic Powder
1/4 cup Chicken Broth
Cream Cheese, softened
Thyme, parsley

Butterfly the chicken breast and place cheese and about a tablespoon of the ham in the middle, fold sides around the filling and place face down in a baking dish. (seam side down) Repeat for remaining chicken. Pour 1/4 cup chicken broth into dish. Sprinkle seasonings on top and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Make a mixture of cream cheese, parsley and thyme. Divide and spread on top of chicken and bake an additional 15 minutes. When taking this to friends, I let them bake the last 15 minutes so their food is nice and hot. (Garnish with chopped chives).

Dad's Cancer Fight

As many of you know, my Dad found out last week that his prostate cancer is back. He just met with the radiation oncologist today for several hours and learned what is in store for him these next few months. He will be receiving radiation treatments every day, but all who are involved seem very optimistic. Please keep him in your prayers during the next couple months.

The Basement Project has begun!

After rolling another load of pink insulation down the stairs, Dan and Aaron were ready to get to work. You can see Tami and Alexis are down in the basement watching all the excitement.

Aaron helped out by cutting the insulation to size.Then Dan stapled it all together with some rope to hold it in place.

Dan tried to hang himself in the basement but didn't realize the rope is supposed to go around the neck, not the pocket. I guess he will have to finish this project after all!

Brotherly love! After inhaling insulation for 4 hours, the two workers became confused and the result was not pretty. One thing that is pretty are those gloves Aaron is wearing. It takes a real man to wear my floral garden gloves as work gloves.

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Say Aaaaaaah!

Today was Zander's first dentist appointment. He did great. The dentist would ask him a question and in true dentist form would try to pick at his teeth while Zander answered. Zander gave him an earful and had fun telling the dentist all about his penguin "Happy Feet" that he brought with him.

We're Back

Over the weekend we took a very quick road trip to Seattle. My sister Toni who works at the downtown Portland Marriot Hotel on the waterfront got us a sweet deal on our hotel. It was so cute when we pulled in, Zander said "Is Attle here?" It took me a while, but I figured out that he was wondering when he was going to see Attle (Seattle)!!! So cute (I think he is still confused.)

After checking in I got all cleaned up and changed the kids into some fresh clothes. We had plans to meet my mom's uncle and cousins for dinner. It has been many many years since I had been to Uncle Rob's house (I think maybe Jr. high or younger). My Grandpa, who passed away about 7 years ago, lived in Tacoma, so whenever we came up to visit, we always spent time there.

We had a wonderful visit over dinner. My mom's cousins Rod and Anita joined us as well. Melinda, another cousin, was a super hostess and she even whipped up scrambled eggs as requested by the kids. After dinner Melinda brought out Lefse (a yummy Norwegian dessert), ice cream and caramel filled waffle cookies our family in Amsterdam sent over. They were a favorite for sure.

I'm not sure how much the kids will remember our time with family, but it was so great getting everyone acquainted. I really enjoyed hearing all the family stories and learning more about the times when they lived in Japan as missionaries. Wished we could have stayed longer, but the kids were getting tired and it was past time for bed.

In the morning after breakfast we drove all of about 2 minutes to IKEA! I hadn't been to IKEA for a few years and was so excited to go. We are getting a store in Portland near the airport, but it won't open until summer. IKEA is so much fun, but it is a huge store, so it takes a long time to see everything. I dropped the kids off at the play land for free childcare up to an hour. We rushed around picking up things along the way. I was mostly interested in storage boxes for my scrapbook room, but was excited to get a few things for the playroom as well. I got these leaf canopies for a reading area and this treasure box to store dress up stuff in. I also got some nifty kitchen utensils and storage jars. Dan got some ideas for furniture for the basement project too. Soon the kids were hungry so we left in search of a restaurant. We found an Asian buffet and had a late lunch/dinner and then got back in the car for the 3 hour drive home.