Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Happy Halloween!

Adam celebrated his first Halloween by dressing up as a lion and trick-or-treating with his Aunt Annie. I found out that I didn't get a single picture of him smiling in his costume so I'm hoping my Mom did and I can steal some of her pictures. But for now.....here are the best ones I could find!

My little lion cub


I found these socks literally the morning of Halloween in his drawer! I'd forgotten about them and they were perfect for his costume. There are lions at the top and "ROAR" written on the bottoms!

Aunt Annie the Farmer Girl and Little Lion (Annie got a kick out of painting freckles on her face and making fun of me who has lots of freckles....I take great offense to the stigma that girls with freckles are farmers and hicks!!)


He was fascinated (and a little scared) of this skeleton that sang and danced on the front porch of a neighbor. At one point it clacked its teeth together....he didn't like that much.

Playing with his loot

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Visiting the Ducks

There is a park by our house that, unbeknowst to me, has ducks! Lots and lots of ducks....and geese....and swans!! Since my discovery, I have taken Adam there several times for long walks. I'm not quite sure what Adam thinks about the ducks though!


On a side note....this is the tree in front of our house and it has been the most amazing shade of red the past few weeks! I'm pretty sure it's a maple tree and I told Nat that we HAVE to plant some in our future yard someday.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Excuse This House

I sometimes watch a quirkly little local TV program called The Home Team (on KJZZ 14 for those who live in Utah). The other day, one of the hosts read this poem and I really liked it. I am guilty of wanting a perfect house and often have to remind myself that I should be on the floor playing with and reading to Adam instead of worrying about cleaning. I thought I'd share it with all my mommy friends.

EXCUSE THIS HOUSE

Some houses try to hide the fact
That children shelter there-
Ours boasts of it quite openly,
The signs are everywhere-

For smears are on the windows,
Little smudges on the doors;
I should apologize, I guess,
For toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with the children
And we played and laughed and read;
And if the doorbell doesn't shine,
Their eyes will shine instead.

For when at times I'm forced to choose
The one job or the other;
I want to be a housewife-
But first I'll be a mother

Author Unknown

Monday, September 29, 2008

Kid-to-Kid Germ Sharing at Its Finest

I have officially entered the world of kid-contracted illnesses! Adam threw up his "Thanksgiving" dinner (yes, Thanksgiving....Nat's cousin Jason is home from Iraq for a few weeks and his family wanted to make him Thanksgiving dinner since he missed last year and will miss this year too) in his crib in the middle of the night last night. Then, as I was putting the sheet, blanket, and bumper in the wash, Nat heroically made it into the bathroom to have Adam throw up in the sink. About an hour after getting Adam back down to sleep, he threw up again in his crib. So far this morning he has not thrown up but now I'm getting the pleasure of dealing with diarrhea! I love being a mom.

We had lunch last week with my friends and Katie's baby was sick a few days later so I'm going to bet that's where he got it from. So thank you Lexie for spreading your germs to Adam! I guess their mothers shouldn't have been trying to make them kiss. Serves us right.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Murrini Glass Class in San Antonio

Last week I went with my Mom to San Antonio for a glass class where we learned how to make Murrini canes to include in our fused glass pieces. Murrini is difficult to explain so a basic version is this: You take glass and heat it in a torch until it is molten, then you wrap, spread, and layer more glass onto it, then and twist, roll, flatten, shape and then finally pull to get a long piece of glass. Once this piece cools, you saw it into pieces and inside is a miniature version of what you created prior to pulling. It is very hard and very hot!! Unfortunately I never thought about taking a picture while I was working so I don't have any of me, but here are a few pictures of our instructor, Milissa Montini working on a piece.

Heating the glass


Using another strip of glass to "paint" or stripe it onto another piece of glass. This picture is purple because I took it through my special glasses to avoid the yellow fire showing.She stuck another rod onto the other end of the glass and is now rolling and shaping itPulling the glass piece into a rod


The finished rodThis is an example of what the canes turn out like. These patterns were made on a larger scale and then pulled into thinner rods to create small patterns. Each slice of these canes will have the image on it. Pretty cool huh? These are WAY beyond my skill level however.
My Mom and I had a great time together and although I missed my baby, it was so great to be an adult and nothing else! Most of our time was spent in class, but we did squeeze a little time in for sightseeing.

The Alamo
The River Walk in downtown San AntonioThese umbrellas are part of a mexian restaurant we ate at that night

Monday, September 15, 2008

My Little Houdini

When I went to get Adam up this morning, this is what I found.....

I have no idea how he managed to get his arm completely out of his sleeve!

And this is him saying "Why are you standing there with a camera and not getting me up??"

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Eskimo Kisses

I just added a new picture to our header and thought it needed a little explanation. My Mom took this picture of me giving Adam "Eskimo Kisses" on his nose. This was taken about a month ago and everytime I would rub his nose and recite the poem he would open his mouth, scrunch up his nose and eyes and smile so big! Sadly, he no longer reacts that way and I miss it!

I think this is one of those pictures that perfectly captures a moment of my baby's life and will be something I treasure! Thanks Mom!!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Domestic Diva

I've been in a baking/homemade/domestic/frugal kind of mood lately so I decided to try my hand at baking wheat bread and pizza crust from scratch (and without a bread machine or stand mixer might I add!). Here are pictures of my first creations! The pizza was delicious (and yes, it is supposed to be lopsided....can you guess which side is mine and which side is meat-eater Nat's?) and the bread was so much easier than I thought it would be!


I got these recipes off of Allrecipes.com (love that site) and although they turned out great, I have a few tweaks to do. For starters, the bread recipe said to put it in 3 pans but I think next time I'll make 2 loaves so that they are bigger and taller. Plus I've discovered that honey isn't the cheapest ingredient so I'm on the look-out for a different bread recipe that uses less honey....any suggestions?


Who knew that having a baby would make you want to do all these old-timey things? It's lots of fun though!


Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The Smell of Autumn is in the Air!


We have had stormy weather and cooler temperatures the past few days and I LOVE IT!!!

I can't wait for Autumn to actually be here so this post is designed to urge Mother Nature to hurry up and get done with Summer so that Autumn can be here with all it's crispness, vivid colors, sweaters, hot bowls of chili and soup, warm bread, and the many pumpkin spice candles I'm dying to burn, (I should probably mention football and basketball season for Nat's sake too)!


Did I mention that I LOVE AUTUMN???

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

12 Things You Should Not Do to Your Husband


I found this on a blog called Biblical Womanhood that I sometimes read and thought it was a good reminder of how we should and should not treat our husbands. I don't know about you, but sometimes I get so caught up in mothering my 9 month old I forget to be a wife and best friend to my husband.

"Gracious ladies, enter here. Vicious man-haters, beware. Camilia Brown is in the house, and her words are health to the homemaker, but hateful to the rapacious feminist. Camilla is part of the league of gracious, responsible lady bloggers, and the following is from an article entitled “12 Things You Should Not Do To Your Husband.” Read at your own risk:

1. DO NOT treat your husband as one of your children. You are not running the household he is. So no matter how busy you think you are or how many tasks you might have to perform at once you should not address your husband in this way: “Honey come here! Do this! Hold that! Grab this! Deal with this or that!” Now I am all for asking our husbands for help when he is available to give it, but bossing him around is not becoming to a wife. We must conduct ourselves as his help meet and not treat him as if the reverse were true.

2. DO NOT act as if you are more spiritual than he is. I honestly have a hard time with women who act as if they are the spiritual leaders of their family; as if they are doing all the spiritual reformation in the family while their husbands are busy with other pursuits and just tag along with regard to spiritual matters. We’ve all heard women say things like: “Well God told me this is the best for our family so I had to take the decision, because my husband is not there yet... I am praying for him though!” Even if it were true that a woman might be more spiritual than her husband, this attitude is a usurpation of the authority that God has given the family. There is never room for this kind of behavior in a Christian home. Honestly, my thoughts are that women who set themselves up as spiritual gurus in the family and brag of being more spiritual or knowledgeable than anyone else have proved themselves to be the contrary.

3. DO NOT talk over him and in a gathering DO NOT talk more than he does. If he doesn’t talk much than talk even less. It is just not becoming to women to do all the talking as if they speak for the family.

4. DO NOT complain about him to others. Don’t make him look foolish in front of anyone and don’t talk about his weaknesses to anyone.

5. DO NOT compare him with other men. You married an individual with different qualities, different style and vision. He is not like anyone else. He is the man that God has given you the task of loving and serving, and you should consider it an honor to be able to carry out that duty. Note to unmarried ladies: Make a list with the qualities a future husband MUST have to avoid your being totally dissatisfied. If it was not that important before you got married don’t nag him or be dissatisfied about it after you get married.

6. DO NOT nag him continuously about a matter. Did you hear the expression? DRIP! DRIP! DRIP!? I don’t like it when the children come even close to being drips, so I am sure no husband would appreciate it either.

7. DO NOT make him feel he doesn’t measure up to your expectations. Encourage, don’t criticize and most important...be content!

8. DO NOT be afraid to bring to his attention sins that he should deal with or concerns that you might have in regard to his conduct. It is a wife’s duty to encourage her husband in his spiritual growth. While it is not the wife’s duty to assume the role of her husband’s conscience, she is the closest to him and can encourage him grow in ways that others cannot. Our husbands must trust that we are help meets to them and that we are honest and sober minded in our reproof.

9. DO NOT always speak your mind. This doesn’t mean we should not have an opinion, but most of the time it is better to hold our tongues rather than “state the facts.” Choose your words carefully in soberness, patience, and love. This does not mean that it is wrong to be open with your husband about your concerns or being honest when he asks our opinion. There is a greater respect and trust that your husband will show toward your opinion when you find this balance.

10. DO NOT seek out parallel lives with him. Become acquainted with whatever job he does and get involved if possible, even if by just listening to him talk about it. Don’t think about your husband’s pursuits in terms of: HIS career, HIS hobbies, HIS this, or HIS that. I hear women say: “Well he is busy with his pursuits and I with the children.” Yes we have different roles but we work together towards the same goal: to Glorify God in every area of our lives. You can’t be a proper help meet for your husband if you are not involved in everything he is doing whether you are interested or not.

11. DO NOT become too busy to listen to him or do things for him. When you start to have lots of children it can become really easy to do this, but remember you are made to be a help meet for him.

12. DO NOT let your appearance go because you have married him now. Make yourself pretty for him. Yes he loves you no matter what, but you made sure that you showed him that you care enough to look nice for him before you were married, you should care more, not less, after he actually becomes your husband. It is not a matter of keeping his affections, but rather continuing to give him all that we have to offer. 5 minutes a day is all it takes."

While I agree with most of these, some of them (specifically the one about not talking more than your husband) seems a bit over the top. The ones I have taken to heart are to not treat him as one of my children, to take an interest in what his interests are (ahhh...this is a hard one for me! I try to act interested about sports and politics but it's sometimes hard!!), and not to let my appearance go (why bother getting dressed and putting on make-up if I'm home all day on the floor with my baby or cleaning??.....but I should!).
It's good to be reminded every now and then that I'm not just a mother. I was a best friend, girlfriend, wife, eternal companion, and yes, even lover first! (wink wink)