Baking class

A couple of weeks ago, almost a month, really, I was asked if I would host the oldest group of young women in the ward for a baking night.  I had signed up on a sheet at the beginning of the year to offer to work with the girls and their leader took me up on the offer.

I was a little excited because one, I love to bake; two, I love to be in charge; three, I made the girls cute little aprons because I'm now an obsessive sewer.

Anyway, when the night finally got here, back in September, Ross had mutual and was with the boys.  My mom and dad came out to our house, got all three boys and took them on an adventure.  To the mall.  They rode the escalators, got a Mrs. Field's cookie and rode the little train around the main level.  A win-win for everyone.

At our baking night we made three things all at different levels of difficulty.

Easy: Nutella filled puff pastries
Intermediate: Chocolate chip pumpkin blondies
Hardish:  Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles.

There were four girls and two leaders who were able to come and the girls really did a good job baking up a storm in my kitchen.  Thank heavens also for my double ovens.  They came in pretty handy.

While our stuff was baking and chilling, we sat down at the table and had a little lesson about what different ingredients in baking do to your creations and why it's important to follow a recipe before you start to modify a recipe.  We also talked about writing your own recipes.

It was a lot of fun.  I had a great time.  I'd love to do it again.

Bowling isn't for babies

This past weekend it was UEA break.  That means no school for anyone on Thursday and Friday and Uncle Willie had fall break which gave him the entire week off.  When I asked Elliott what he wanted to do with his days off of school he only had one request.  To go bowling with Uncle Willie.  So, we scheduled our "play date" and on Wednesday as soon as we picked up Elliott from school, we headed to "All-Star Lanes" to bowl.

With a bunch of old ladies.

It was apparently the end of the old lady league afternoon and once the 55 and older crew headed out, we had the whole bowling alley and arcade to ourselves.

We had so much fun.  And, we will definitely go back.  It was the cleanest, brightest, bowling alley I'd ever been to.  How do I know?  Because Quinn kicked off his shoes and in nearly two hours of crawling around, his socks did not turn black.  Ten minutes of crawling at church turns his socks into a black mess so this was a pretty big deal.  And, they even had bowling shoes small enough for Wyatt which made his day.  And they were Velcro, which mean he could do them himself.  Even better.

What was a bigger deal?  Even though they had bumpers in to keep their balls out of the gutter, the boys both beat their Uncle in bowling.  It was pretty funny, especially considering that Elliott is left handed and everything he does is a little out of whack and considering Wyatt cannot lift a bowling ball and even got it stuck in the gutter a few times...with the bumpers in place.

Quinn had a great time, too.  He spent most of his time in the arcade, crawling around and pushing all the buttons on the wheel of fortune game he could reach.  He also tried, almost successfully, to pick up a 14 pound bowling ball.  That kid is super human I tell you what.

Anyway, we had so much fun.  As THE MISSION approaches and our time with the big skinny uncle is fading away, we want to spend as much time with him as we can.  Bowling was a pretty good way to spend an afternoon and nothing makes me happier than seeing that almost 19 year old brother of mine spending time with my crazy boys.

My baby loves me!

I've been super tired lately.  It probably has something to do with the fact that I'm never in bed before 11:30 these days and I'm usually up around 6:30.  And I have three young children.  And my house is big and messy.   And there is a lot of laundry to do.  And, because I've decided to make almost all the Christmas gifts I'm giving this year and that takes a lot of time.  And, because I'm taking two online classes right now.  And, and and....

Anyway, it's been one of those weeks where if I get the chance to sit down, and it happens to be quiet, I'm out like a light.

Yesterday after we got home from dropping the brothers off at school, I sat down in a chair next to Quinn's box of toys to watch him play.  And I fell asleep.  I couldn't have been out that long but I woke up to the feeling of my hand being patted.  Upon opening my eyes, that sweet little baby of mine had brought me his blanket, it was on my lap, and he was rubbing my hand like I rub his when I rock him to sleep.  When I looked at him, he smiled a sheepish little smile, laid his head on my lap, and then crawled off to keep playing with his toys.

Man alive!  I love that kid.

some people say they look alike.

My boys are clones.  They look like each other.  They look like brothers.  They also look a lot like their dad.  Like, often an uncanny resemblance of their dad.

Case in point.

My super sessy husband circa 1997.  Senior in high school.  Debate team.  Model UN.  Giant glasses.

My one year old.  At the fabric store late one night last week.  Wearing my moms glasses, which look giant on him.

Foodie Sunday

I may get struck down by lightning for saying this, but I do not like General Conference Sunday.  I am a creature of habit and routine.  A day where everyone is sitting around without routine, in their jammies just doesn't work for me.  My boys are crazy like caged tigers, fighting and yelling and burping and farting and throwing and crying.  My husband just wants to watch football all day.  I do not like sitting at home and being required to watch church on tv.  I would rather go to three hours of church instead.  In our house, the television is hardly every on and yesterday it didn't get turned off.  I guess to most it's not a big deal, but yesterday I felt like I was in the eye of a tornado hurling me towards a sever panic attack.

But, we had good food.  I figured that since we were going to be home all day and since my mom wouldn't be holding our weekly Sunday dinner that we at least should eat well.  And well we did eat.

On Saturday I made caramel popcorn with one of our new favorite recipes and Ross, Elliott and I devoured nearly three microwave bags worth of the delicious corn in a matter of minutes.

For Sunday, we decided to do a brunch of liege waffles.  These bad boys are my new obsession and we've had them two weeks in a row.  They are so filling and yummy and absolutely rich and decadent that I think I'm good for a month or two.

 

Wyatt and I had ours with Nutella and berries and whipped cream.  Ross had his with fresh peaches and cream.  Even though Elliott loves them, he chose not to eat his yesterday and starved until dinner.  

For dinner, we had another one of our favorites.  It's a copycat recipe for the California Pizza Kitchen Lime-Tequila pasta.  It's also absolutely rich and decadent and I ate so much I got a bit of a stomach ache after.  But, when you only eat it 3 or 4 times a year, it's okay to indulge.

Yes, our day was spent in heavy cream calorie heaven. Almost makes up for the tornado.

Quinner:: 13 months

Little squisher, you've been one for a whole month, can you believe it?  It's pretty exciting and it was a busy four weeks.  We've got a lot going on in our house right now, especially on Thursday after school, but minus a strong dislike for being buckled into your car seat, you seem to take it all in stride.

When you come into a room that I'm in, you say, "Hi mom!".  When your dad gets home from work, you say, "Hi dad!".  When trying to get either brother's attention you yell, "Eeeeyutt!"  That works for Uncle Willie, too.  When you are headed out on your own exploration mission you crawl a few feet away, turn, look at me and wave, then head on your adventure.

You can do the actions for itsy bitsy spider and know the sounds (even though you won't always perform them) for: dog, fish, snake, and squirrel.  You like to dance to music, bang pots and pans, and read books.

Oh, the books.  There is one shelf of kids books in the family room and every day, at least six times a day, you get yourself to the shelf, pull all the books off, and will sit for 30 minutes or so looking at all the books.  A couple are your favorites and it's fun to watch you.

We don't worry about you on the stairs anymore, even though you did fall on Friday.  Minus that, you can go up and down by yourself with ease.  You can go Grandma's stairs, too, so that's pretty good.

 

A couple of weeks ago, you were being grumpy at me so I grabbed my phone, or kindle (can't remember anymore) and opened up YouTube to show you a Sesame Street video.  Well, I've created a monster (just like Elliott when he was your age) and if you see a phone, or a computer, or anything you think should play one of your shows, you have a cow.  The last week in particular has been pretty bad and I've had to leave the computer put away and off, and only look at my phone when you are asleep because you go nutso.  And, two weeks ago at church, we didn't make it through the third hour and dad and the boys found us on a couch in the foyer watching Will I Am sing with the Sesame Street gang.

You love your dad so much!  He is your best buddy.  When the weather is decent, I love for us to be outside when it's time for Dad to come home because you can hear his truck as soon as he pulls onto our street and your ears perk up like a little dog.  Then, as he gets closer, you go up on your knees like a meerkat and then, when he pulls into the driveway, you screech and crawl to his truck as fast as you can.  Once dad is home, you are his for the night, never too far out of his sight or too far from his arms.  He is your best jungle gym and it makes me happy.

Now, we just need to get you walking before you ruin any more pants.