Why You Should Have a Dog

I'm all about letting our kids explore the textures of food. I have never had any problem stripping them down and letting the loose, especially on a big plate of messy spaghetti.

But I have to admit having a dog makes cleaning the mess just a little less daunting, as shown below:

This is Friday's dinner post, right at the feet of Hannah. And Hannah does not disappoint, dropping and flinging food all around her, even hand feeding/sharing her food with the faithful pup. I know Hannah is grateful for the hand cleaning before she shoves another fistful of food into her own mouth.

(I know when/if my mom reads that last line she just may throw up a little in her mouth.)

I highly recommend a dog to anyone who has a munchkin with the same table manners as mine.

Blah and then Enlightenment

Lately I have been feeling really 'blah'. I haven't been motivated to do much of anything. When I get this way I look for inspiration from either the scriptures or from a wonderful magazine that my church puts out called the 'Ensign'. I get to read what the apostles and prophets have to say on so many topics, and every now and then I'll find one that was meant just for me.

I've had this June issue of the 'Ensign' since, well...June. And I know I have skimmed through it then, but tonight when I picked it up there was a talk in there that really hit home. The article is entitled "Our Refined Heavenly Home" written by Elder Douglas L. Callister of the Seventy. He spoke of ways that we can make our homes reflect our heavenly home. He touched on the type of language we use, the literature we read, the music we listen to and the type of art we have hanging in our homes. Just by being more choosy in these areas we can make our homes a heavenly home.

I am the worst about having the television on. I don't even watch it half the time, I just like the noise. And I'll admit that I use it from time to time as a babysitter for the kids when I have chores around the house to do. I even used to say that my kids learned their numbers 1-5 because we have a 5 disc DVD changer. Pathetic, I know. In Elder Callister's talk he posed the question,

"Could our society today produce an Isaac Newton or a Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? Can 85 channels and uncountable DVDs ever fill our insatiable appetite to be entertained? Do any unwisely become addicted to computer games or Internet surfing, thereby missing the richer experiences of great reading, converstaions, and enjoyment of music?"

I can tell you that in my house if I keep going the way we are going then there is no way a Newton or a Mozart could come out of here. I have had the feeling to get rid of the television, or at least scale back t.v. time for a long while now. I'm admitting it now that why I haven't done it is out of fear. I am afraid that I will not have anything to do with the kids once they have been snapped out of their digital comas. I read so many other blogs where mothers are having adventures with their little ones and I freeze up with the doubt that anyone would have any fun, or heaven forbid, I wouldn't have any fun.

Theo suggested reading more books and listening to music. I used to love listening to Classical music, and I still do. But there have been times when I want to play my music and all I get is gripe from the kids because it bores them. To lessen contention I usually back off and turn on "Yo Gabba Gabba". Elder Callister mentioned something that is making me change my mind and now I want to be more adamant about having the kids musical horizon broadened.

"If a young person grows up on a steady diet of hanburgers and french fries, he is not likely to become a gourmet. But the fault is not with fine food. He just grew up on something less. Some have grown up on a steady diet of musical french fries."

I love that! "Musical French Fries" Yes!!! Today is all about entertaining the masses with empty lyrics and mundane tunes. I like what Handel said after recieving a compliment after a performance of his famous Messiah,

"My lord, I should be sorry if I only entertained them-I wish to make them better."

If only all performers and entertainers were like this, to make the listener a better person, not how popular they can become. And I am being the enabler by purchasing or listening to these 'musical french fries'.

I want and need to give more to my kids. Of course there will still be some fries on the side, just to keep it fun. But the main course should be hearty and thought provoking.

If you have any fun, educational, thought-inducing and imagination-building ideas I would love to hear any. Starting tomorrow the t.v. stays off.

A Happy Halloween and a Funny Photo

Like a knucklehead our camera's batteries died right when we get to the ward chili cook off party. I managed to squeeze just enough battery juice out to get one shot of Hannah in her Little Red Riding Hood costume. Isn't she adorable! I thought I did have another shot of all the kids together, but apparently my camera gave all it could give and gave out while I was pushing the button as they grouped together for a photo. Ah well, I guess those images will remain in my head at how cute the rest of them were. So in the meantime I decided to just post some other pics of Hannah just because she is so stinking cute!
I got this romper at Target for $5! I love it so much! And look at that bow! Can I use any more exclamation points? YES! She is that precious!!!
This is my all time favorite pose. I got a wig for Emma because she wanted to be Ariel, then she wouldn't put it on and Theo ended up using it for his Pirate costume (which was AWESOME! Sorry, no pics of that either. :( ) But we had a ton of fun with it when I brought it home. Everyone tried it on, but Hannah was the only one who I thought resembled E.T. after Drew Barrymore's character dressed him like a woman. She even has the walk down. It was the funniest thing ever!

We had a great time Trick-or-Treating. We went to my parents neighborhood since ours is still under construction. There were so many people there that really got creative with their decorations, and even a few Haunted yards, one in particular scared the be-jee-bers out of the kids. It was one of the best Halloweens to date. I hope everyone had a great holiday as well!

Driver's Ed 102

Okay, Part II of our education on driving safely. I swear, if I believed in past lives I would have thought I was a Driver's Ed instructor. Or maybe it is my calling in this life. Who knows.

Anywho, next lesson:

It doesn't matter if you can still see when it is twilight outside, you should still turn your headlights ON. People may not be able to see you!

I have heard people say, more often than I would like, that they can see just fine and they don't need the lights on. It's not a question of whether you can see or not, you have to be sure that everyone around you can see you as well.

A few months ago my mom picked me up for some party we were both heading to that started in the evening. The sun was going down and people were starting to turn their lights on. But as we were pulling out of my neighborhood my mom pulled out in front of a car who did NOT have their lights on, therefore she did not see him. I freaked out as the person had to slam on breaks to miss us. This is a classic example of why you should have your lights on, even if you can "still see".
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It's quiz time!

In a previous post what did I call the left hand lane? And no cheating!

Oz's Birthday Cake

This is my latest creation. My sister's son just celebrated his 2nd birthday and she asked me to make the cake. I knew it was going to be a pirate party so we came up with a skull and crossbones. It's a chocolate cake with my cookies 'n cream filling.

She had the idea to make the eye sockets deeper so we could put candles in the cavities. It was a really cool effect when it was lit up. I wish I had a picture of that, but I forgot my camera at the party, just take my word for it...it was AWESOME!
I even made little individual cakes for Oz and his friend Parker shaped as treasure chests. These were really cute too, and really easy which is what I loved about them.

Cemetery Fun

Beautiful, isn't it? When we were younger we didn't take your conventional nature walks. If we were in the mood for outdoor adventure this was our destination. We would take the trail through the woods behind our house that would put us out here at the Mobile Memorial Gardens Cemetery to feed the ducks at the pond. (I don't find this morbid in any way.) I always enjoyed coming here with my mother when I was young and also when I was older whether for personal reflection or time-filling recreation with friends.
I brought my girls here to share my childhood memories of the place. We brought bread to feed to the swans and ducks. To my surprise there were several seagulls there as well, even though I don't remember there being any seagulls here when I was younger. The word must have gotten out that there was people here throwing free food.
This was the furthest Emma got from me, and only once. As soon as the ducks started coming closer for the food she came running and screaming towards me and permanently attaching herself to my leg.

The turtle population has really taken off as well. I remember the rare occurrence of spotting a turtle, but that day we say several, even baby ones. That was super cool for the girls.

This huge oak tree is right beside the pond. We had so much fun climbing on this when I was younger. It's a kid magnet. Miriam saw it's climbing potential right away and as soon as she ran out of bread she headed straight for it.
I wanted a picture of my girls sitting on the limb, but Emma was still glued to my leg at this point. Miriam loves, LOVES holding Hannah that she couldn't resist holding her while she sat there. I assure you that Hannah was wearing a full coverage shirt, the choke hold Miriam has on her has pulled her shirt up to make it resemble a pink halter. Not the case, but still that is one cute belly!

Sinful

I think my subconsciousness know when I am trying to loose weight and it comes up with all these decadent mouthwatering sinful creations that I just simply cannot deny myself of making. I don't know if anyone has had a Double Doozie before from the American Cookie Co., but they are DELICIOUS!!! They are a piece of cookie sandwich heaven. The problem was one day when I realized that they are very simple to make. Now I make Double Doozies almost every time I make cookies. (When you know how to make them this way is there really any point in just having plain cookies anymore??? I didn't think so.) I've made chocolate chip with chocolate frosting Doozies and white chocolate chip with vanilla frosting. The picture is of my newest thing, chocolate white chocolate chip Doozies. SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD! I did take these to a party, so don't think I sat there after taking this picture and scarfed them all down, all though I was very tempted.

I highly recommend making these. Simply make your favorite kind of cookie and let them cool. Pipe or spread your favorite kind of icing on the back of one and then place another cookie making it into a sandwich. I recommend eating these with your eyes closed, it enhances the flavors. Enjoy!