A quick funny

I know I should be blogging about Christmas and I will when I have a moment to download pics, but I just wanted to share a quick Erin funny.

As I was putting on my make up this morning Erin was with me chatting away. As I was putting on concealer she asked me" Mommy whats that?"

"It is concealer Erin"

"Why are you putting it on?"

"I am trying to hide the red blotches on my face" (This pregnancy is doing something weird to my skin)

She watches me for a moment more as I rub it in "Keep trying mommy, don't give up."

Books

I have a bit of an addiction. It is called reading. This might not sound like a bad addiction but believe me any addiction can be bad. You see when I read a book the world around me can fall apart. My children are fed and only sometimes dressed when I am reading a book.

With that being said I have made modifications to my love of reading so I can be a better mother. Before I begin a book the house must be clean, I must have homemade freezer meals in the freezer to feed my family and there must be absolutely nothing important happening in the next few days (depending on the length of the book.) Thankfully most the books I read only take a day or two.

Anyways the reason I am writing this is because my mother asked me to do a post with some book reviews because she can never remember the books I have recently suggested to her. So I am going to post some of my favorites (at least most recent favorites) right now.

First my favorite book at the moment is The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. This is an excellent book filled with so much good and adventure it makes me want to burst. It is about a girl who lives in a small mining town. It is prophesied that the next princess (the girl who will marry the prince) will come from this town. So all the girls are pulled out of the life they know and must attend a Princess Academy to learn how to behave like a princess. Between a very mean head mistress and bandits who take all the girls for hostage, Miri (the main girl) must figure out how to save them all. Okay the book is much better than what I just made it sound like. I really even think boys would enjoy it if they could get over the title. It has a subtle hint of fantasy in it which makes it thoroughly magical. Other books I would suggest by Shannon Hale include The Goose Girl (it is a series), Book of a Thousand Days, and a non young adult book called Austinland.

Next on my fav list at the moment is a series called Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. These are not young adult books may I first say. but they are excellent. They are in the fantasy genre but would fit beautifully with adventure. These books are filled with magnificent twists and turns. I say magnificent because the more you think about the twists and turns the more you like them and the more meaningful they become, unlike other books (Dan Brown cough cough) where when you think about twists and turns the less sense they make and kinda ruin the book for you. I am not even going to give you a synopsis of these books because I can't even come close to giving them justice. just take my word for it, they are well worth it. Other books by Brandon Sanderson are Elantris, and Warbreaker.

Next I am going to talk about an author who has never let me down. Each time I read one of her books I am thoroughly impressed. There have been some movies made from some of her books and to that I say boo! The movies are very unimpressive. The author is Kate DiCamillo. My favorite book of hers just might be The Tale of Desperaux (remember the movie is blah the book is Rah!) As I would suggest any book written by her some of my other favorites are The Tiger Rising, and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. She also wrote Because of Winn Dixie which is a very fun and good read as well.

Okay I have probably rambled on enough for one post. But there are many more I would love to share with you (if anyone cares). I am also always looking for another great book to read so let me know what some of your favorites are.

Next to review: Artemis Fowl, Stargirl, and Fablehaven.

Nov Catch Up

Okay So I have been a bit of a slacker and a ton has happened in the last few weeks so here is 5 blog posts in 1. Are you ready for the blog marathon? Warning: if you are hungry I would suggest waiting until after you have eaten something yummy.

First: the other day I was looking at my girls and I was once again blown away at how beautiful their eyes are. I am sorry the pics are a little fuzzy, but I just had to capture the moment so I can remember their shinning eyes forever.

Next: have I mentioned Lily has started gymnastics. I might would say she is a natural. She loves it and does very well. I had started her in a mom and tot class but no one else ever showed up so they moved her to the preschool class. Her body isn't quite ready to do everything the 3 and 4 yr olds are doing but I am amazed at how well she is keeping up. (My father expects to see Lily in the Olympics someday)Here is one of those cute random moments that I love. Erin has a plush flower and decided to sleep with it one night. When I peeked at her before going to bed myself I laughed and thought Erin is growing a garden in her bed.One of the biggest events of this Nov. (if not the biggest) was James' 30th birthday. I know I can't believe I am married to such an old man :). Anyways I decided it ought to be a bit more special than the average b-day so here's what we did. First James received 30 presents for his 30th birthday. (Granted a package of socks was separated to make 3 presents and a box of popcorn was separated to make 8 presents etc. it was still pretty exciting.)Present #30 was pretty cool though. It was a childhood dream come true, a train to wrap around the Christmas tree.I also made James his favorite dinner. Navajo Tacos. And instead of a birthday cake I made sugar cookies then decorated them to look like his favorite game "Settlers of Catan". If ever you are in the mood to play the game give James a call he would love it!The day before Thanksgiving we had some old friends visit from out of town. So we gathered a bunch of us together and had a game night. It was so much fun and full of great laughs. I took a few pics of the games but I am not happy with any of those pics so you will have to settle for some of the snacks we had. First James loves cheese, so he put together this way yummy cheese board.And I love chocolate so I made these Chocolate Almond Cheesecake bites. Just the thought of them makes me drool (I am serious, I have never drooled over a food until I met these little guys, mmmmmmmm)And last but most certainly not least, THANKSGIVING!!! Okay I am pregnant so my life is revolved around food at the moment (if you haven't already noticed). So I am afraid you are only getting pics of food for this portions of the post. This was my first year hosting and cooking Thanksgiving dinner. James' parents and brother came so it was a small but good group. I am very pleased with the way it turned out. So step by step here is what I made:

Cranberry slush drink (a tradition at my families thanksgiving dinner) It is super easy and yummy, just freeze a cranberry juice, slice it up and add sprite. YummyI made this little appetizer (another Baird tradition) to snack on. A spinach artichoke cheese dip. Again it was yummy.This is my favorite way to eat Broccoli. I swear I ate it at my Grandma Bairds once and that's is where I discovered it, but no one else I talk to seems to remember it there, so who knows. Anyway I just steam broccoli add some ranch dressing, peanuts and raisins. I love it.This is my mothers famous dish and a Thanksgiving staple to me. Sweet Potatoe Pie. While it has enough butter, brown sugar and cream in it to be a dessert, we eat is a side dish.And here is my favorite food. Mashed potatoes, just the thought of them makes me melt. Here is what I add to my mashed potatoes to make them so delicious: butter, buttermilk, ranch mix, chicken bullion, garlic, salt(not to much the bullion adds near enough) and pepper. I also add some regular milk if it needs a little more moisture.Here is the first turkey I have ever made. It was so tender that it fell apart as we moved it from pan to platter. It was super easy. I just stuck a whole onion in the cavity for flavor, basted it with olive oil and put it in a roasting bag. Easy and delicious.Now for pie. Yes glorious pie. James' fav and one of my favs is Coconut Cream Pie so it naturally made its way onto the menu. And yes is was as good as it looks.I also made this Carmel Pecan Pumpkin pie. Oh I was excited to try this, but then I was a little put out. I think the nutmeg I used was to old and gave it a bit funky of a flavor. Of coarse after I found this recipe that adds cheese cake to the mix and sounds even yummier, so next time I try this I am using that recipe.When all was said and done this is what the table looked like. Well I need to go eat something now. I am hungry again.
Hope you all had as great of a Nov. as we did. I am now getting super excited for Christmas!

Kids say the darndest things...

I think 4 year olds are just about the funniest people on earth. Erin has me laughing all the time. I really need to be better about writing these down, but today she had me laughing so hard I had to share it. James was asking her about school at breakfast so this is how their dialog went.

James: So what poem are you learning in preschool this week Erin?
Erin: Its about a turkey with big feathers that runs away just before Thanksgiving.
James: Oh can you tell me how it goes?
Erin: On it's feet.

It still cracks me up. It's like Erin was setting James up for the perfect joke, but she was completely honest. I just love how 4 yr olds view the world.

Halloween

I know I am a bit late but here are some Halloween pictures finally. After trying all week to carve pumpkins we finally did it Friday night (better late then never right?) We gave the girls markers to draw their faces on then James and I carved their faces. We had to do some interpretive carving.


James and I used patterns to carve our pumpkins. I did a witch looking into a crystal ball and James did a mummy. He was so proud of his mummy and I admit I liked it better than mine, but his favorite moment was when we had trick-or-treaters admiring the mummy than ask what the other one was.Now for the important stuff; costumes. Erin decided she wanted to be Little Red Riding Hood and on the same pattern she picked was a really cute Little Bo Peep pattern, so I made that for Lily. I think they turned out super cute (although I am not sure it was worth the stress)

I hope you all had a great Halloween. We still have a bowl full of candy so if you get a sugar hunkering come on over (please I think I gained 5 lbs this week)

Quick prep for Nov.

Last year I blogged about this at the end of Nov. This year I will do it before Nov starts so all who want can join. Each day we do something different to remind us of our blessings and give thanks . With this we donate a small amount of money to a jar. For example if you are thankful for electricity give 2 cents for every light bulb in your house.
At the end of the month it is a good chunk of change and we use that to help bless someone else's life. This year James' family is going to provide Christmas for another family instead of doing a gift exchange so it will assuredly go to help out in that cause. Here is a link to the blog last year so you can review it and see if it is something you and your family would like to do. I know it made Thanksgiving mean a lot more to me last year.

Ever had one of these days?

So I just got around to cleaning up the Sunday paper (I know terrible). But I browsed the comics and saw this. I laughed and nearly cried at how true it feels some days.
(Dad is asking how her day was if you can't read that. Also I love the baby trapped in the playpin, poor kid. You should be able to click on the picture and it will focus better for you so you can truely enjoy oll the funny little things in it.)

I Need Help

I feel like I am a good mom most of the time. I feel like I generally have exceptionally well behaved children, but we have one big problem: BED TIME!
Let me start at the beginning. Erin has for the most part been a wonderful sleeper, but when Lily started climbing out of her crib at 18 months the whole bed time thing began to get difficult. I tried a few different things for a few months and nothing really worked. So I have been putting Erin to bed in our bed and Lily in their room, then just moving Erin when we are ready for bed and it has worked semi well, but Erin has started playing in my night stand and jewelry box etc. She has broken or lost a few to many things for me to be okay with the situation any more. Both girls are also taking longer and longer to go to sleep and there have been many of nights recently when I would love to go to bed but can't because they are still awake.
So a week and a half ago (after major bed time melt down for me) I decided things needed to change. I called my mom and sister and got their advice and decided to go with this idea:
1- I put them down in the same room
2- I sit in there until they fall asleep
3- No talking is allowed by me or eye contact, I simply put them back in their beds.
(I already have a very consistent bed time routine including prayers, scriptures, song etc)

I feel part of this not working is because I am not sure about what to do about little things, like knocking on the wood, rolling back and forth non-stop etc. I have tried holding them in place for a minute after they have this type of disruptive behavior but they could care less (Lily thinks it is a game).

In the week and a half the only progress we have made is they no longer scream potty off the top of their lungs for 45 min and this process takes 1 1/2 hrs as opposed to 2 hrs. I am afraid I am losing my patience and cannot continue like this.

Children have been going to bed in the same room forever and falling asleep so why can't we figure this routine out at my house?

Any suggestions PLEASE!

A Great October Weekend

What a fun weekend we had. We did all sorts of fun Halloween things and fall activities.

On Friday the girls and I and a group of moms and kids from the ward went to the Benson Grist Mill for their pumpkin walk. They have lots of fun little things for kids to do. The girls decorated cookies and fished in the fish pond and trick or treated at the vendors. We had fun with the neighbors and finished off with a fun little hay ride.

I was impressed with Erins cookie. They had run out of all decorations besides the licorice and she kept asking for something to make the eyes and nose on her cookies. After me telling her there wasn't anything she figured out a solution.

That night for dinner I needed to practice a recipe I am doing at a pampered chef party so we had a Yummy Mummy for dinner. It was yummy and I think it turned out pretty cute as well.

Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. It sure was fun to walk and see all the pumpkins. They had a big corn field in the middle that Lily loved to run through. (Erin was to afraid because James kept telling her there were monsters in there.)

We also got the wood on our garden beds re-weather proofed to make it through the winter and picked our 1 pumpkin from the garden.

I sure love this time of year and all the fun activities there are to do.

Fall=Baking

Something about fall time makes me want to bake. Maybe its all the fresh fruits and veggies just yearning to turn into magnificent creations, maybe its that the house is cool enough to have the oven on, or maybe it is something just engraved upon the womens genetic pattern. But whatever it is, it has me entangled in its fun right now.

First off I am in love with soup. We are eating quite a bit right now (no one is complaining though). Thus far I have made chicken noddle soup with homemade egg noddles, cream of veggie soup and minestrone soup. I think on the menu for this week I have chicken tortilla soup. Mmmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Cream of Veggie Soup.

I am also doing some canning. I am still learning and don't want to jump in head on yet so I only did peaches and grape juice this year. I did peaches last year so this year my new adventure was the grape juice. I got 14 quarts of grape juice and we are flying through it. It is yummy.

Grape Juice (Sorry couldn't get a good pic)

Of course this is also the time of year for sweets. I have made apple crisps, hot fudge, and really cute cup cakes to "Boo" neighbors with. I really want pumpkin choc. chip bread, but James isn't a fan of pumpkin so I am afraid I would eat it all myself. But ohhh it sounds yummy.

Spider and web cup cakes

I am still waiting for my spaghetti squash to ripen (I am really starting to worry it wont), so I can eat it all up. It has been fun having a garden this year, everything is yummier from your backyard.

My tummy is excited to see what else I am in the mood for baking. What have been some of your fall favorites? My tummy also loves new ideas.

Imagine...

Imagination could be Erin's middle name lately. Her mind is going so fast and coming up with funny new things all the time. She comes home from preschool and tells me about the tiger that attacked. She draws pictures of our family and puts tails on us because we are doing the "Chicken Dance". The things she comes up with amazes me everyday.
She does have one ongoing imaginary world though. In this world she is the mom. She is married to a boy named Enri (she kept writing the letters to her name out of order so I finally told her that she was writing Enri not Erin, she informed me that Enri was her husband.) They have 9 kids together (some days it is 4 boys and 5 girls and other days it is 5 boys and 4 girls). She has told me all of there names. I will attempt to give you some of them: Asheila, Deedaa, Nii, and Leeni. She has a baby doll named Cassie but she isn't her baby she just baby sits Cassie. Erins children have many of the same rules as she does but they have a few other rules as well like they can put as much sugar onto any cereal they want.
I guess I ought to be flattered that she wants so badly to be a mom and much of what she does as a "mom" mimics me. Sometimes unfortunately it shows me some of my faults as a mother (maybe that is fortunate though, so I can work on them.) I do love this girl and I can't wait to hear what she comes up with tomorrow.

School

Erin started preschool at the end of Aug and has been loving it.


I am afraid Lily misses her terribly though while she is at school. So today Lily came up with a brilliant idea. I was up stairs and heard Lily come up and say "school". I turned around and this is what I saw.
She is to dang cute.

Boy or Girl

Just a quick update. We had our ultrasound on friday. The baby is wonderfully healthy and well. I was amazed at how far ultrasound technology has come just since Lily's. Best part was I didn't have to have a full bladder (all you moms understand). Best they looked and the lips and nose and could tell that there was no cleft lip/pallet etc. I thought that was amazing. Well I will stop rambling and tell you what you really want to know. It is a GIRL. Yep girl #3. I guess we just know how to make perfect beautiful girls.

Disappearing Act

I know it seems I have disappeared. It sure feels like I have. As many of you know I am pregnant. My due date is Feb 9th. (the day after Erin turns 5!) We are excited and a little afraid of having 3 children. Erin has said she wants a girl baby, when we told her that we kinda wanted a boy baby she decided that we would have both a girl and a boy baby (Thankfully only one heart beat was found) but this morning Erin informed us that she likes boys now and would like a boy baby. I guess we just have to wait and see. Anyways I thought I would let you know. I will update again when I don't feel like an alien invasion is happening within my body.

June's Joys

What fun the Month of June is. It has always been one of my favorite (probably because that's when school got out and its my b-day), but I love this month for many other reasons too. This June has lived up to my expectations, here are some of the things I love.
1: Roses. I have 8 beautiful rose bushes and they are so beautiful this time of year.

2- Gardens. I got my first vegetable garden planted this year and I am way excited.

3- Little Lily. She turned 2 this month. She is getting so big(in her mind at least) and just dang cute. I love my little Lil.

Her b-day cake was a ball. Balls are her favorite thing in the world.

4- Family vacations. my whole family( Mom, Dad all my siblings etc) went to Yellowstone. It was a blast. We stopped by bear world in Idaho as well.

Mammoth hot springs was a bit of a hike(which Lily did by herself). But it sure was beautiful.

This is artist paintpots. I found pools of red, orange, green and blue. (Another little hike that Lily did too.)

Boiling mud

Old Faithful

Lily and cousin Ivy playing while waiting for old faithful.

Some family pics at Yellowstone.

I sure have enjoyed June.

Thanks to a wonderful family that made a fun vacation, thanks to Sweet Little Lily for turning 2 and Thanks to my Father in Heaven for beauty and nature all around.