Quote

Jake: "Grandpa! Eat me! Eat me! [pause] But don't eat my toes! They are yucky and gross."
Grandpa: "Why, do you have toe jam?"
Jake: "I don't know."

Messes and a Scripture

OK, I am a proponent of natural peanut butter. I think it's a good idea not to add the hydrogenated fat and sugar (duh!). Still, the container makes it seem so easy to "simply stir" the natural separation of oil and peanut butter that occurs. Wrong. It is a workout that takes the better part of 20 minutes to do, makes a HUGE mess, and leaves me wondering if it's really worth it. What you don't see in this picture is the globs of pb on the table. Lovely. But you get the idea...

Here's our little pumpkin enjoying her little macaroni with spaghetti sauce. Yum! She totally ate it up. If you have leftover zucchini from your garden, which you are bound to if you have a garden here in Cali, steam and blend it or just grate it, then freeze. I threw in frozen grated zucchini from last year and Jake never knew he was getting a healthy dose of veggies in his sauce. (Inspiration came from the cookbook Deceptively Delicious--check it out, but not from our library. I have it!)


I was reading Jake a story while he ate some wheat thins. He started chewing on one and said, "Wait just a minute." He chewed a bit, swallowed, then said, "Ok, now it's not too loud!"

We were driving and Jake must've been hot because he informed us that he had a "beaver." A fever, Jake? "Yes, I have a beaver." 

A couple of months ago we had an FHE lesson on this scripture, and memorized it as a family. Since then, at very random times, Jake will quote it. Today was one of the random times, and I had him do it for the camera. Pretty good for a little guy! Thanks for the action ideas, Jacqui!

Here's Alisa clapping and waving. Today she repeatedly waved and said bye bye when we left the park. So sweet!

How cute is he???

This morning I have an early morning headache. I told Jake, and he said, "It's ok, mom. I can help you. I'll give you a blessing!" Then he came around behind me (I was sitting on the floor) and put his hands on my head. If that wasn't cute enough, he said, "Oh! We need dad's keys...where are dad's keys?" Dad's at school, Jake. "How 'bout your keys, mom?" What a sweetie!

Haircut, Easy Recipes, and More Randomness

Well, here it is! Finally the beginning of my new life. Ha. Just kidding. Here's my haircut. Don't mind our messy room! I should've taken a before picture. She cut about 6 inches off.

We're in trouble now! Alisa figured this out on her own. She must be a second child! With Jake, we were moving his arms and legs for him to get him to crawl. With her, we're like, "Oh, now she's crawling! Oh, now she's walking!" It's just different the second time around. Don't worry, she's not really neglected. Just more independent. ***Warning*** Video contains brief nudity.

Jake, as usual, is funny as ever. We gave Alisa a half of a banana to see how she'd do (usually we cut it up). She was stuffing the whole thing into her mouth, which was quite hilarious. Jake looked over and inquired, "Does she have a big ol' chunk?" It was said so seriously that I had to laugh. A big ol' chunk? Guess I have said that...

Two or three times now, out of the blue, he has told us, "I don't want to get baptized. Just mom and dad get baptized." We assure him that he can't get baptized for a long, long time anyway.

Lastly, the recipes for last night's din-din.

Mexican Pork

1 pork shoulder or butt roast, or are those the same thing?

minced garlic

hot mexican chili powder

kosher salt

Stab the pork several times on all sides (violent, I know). Fill holes with garlic (about 1/4 t. in each). Rub whole thing with 1-2 T. hot mexican chili powder and 1-2 T. kosher salt. Put in crockpot on low for 8 hours. After maybe 6 or 7 hours, shred pork and put back into juice in the bottom. Serve on warmed corn tortillas with sour cream, a squeeze of lime, shredded cabbage, and salsa if desired. 

Berry Cobbler

2-3 packages frozen mixed berries, thawed (can add sugar if you want...you don't technically have to thaw them)

1 vanilla cake mix

1 cube butter

vanilla ice cream or whip cream

Put berries in 9X13. Cut butter into cake mix until crumbly. Sprinkle over top. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream or whip cream.

Bad Mommy Moment

Alisa got a sunburn on her poor bald head and her arm. Ouch! Bad mommy. I even bought sunscreen the other day, but thought I was doing a good job of keeping her in the shade!

I had a wonderful and crazy day today. I was feeding the missionaries tonight and was going to prepare simple Mexican pork, only I woke up and realized I didn't have one of the 4 ingredients. So Jake, Alisa, and I ran to the store before 9 am. Then I watched my friend's 4 kids and Jake was in heaven playing with them all! I must say it is quite a difference to have 6 kids in this little two bedroom house. They stayed for lunch (I sent their mom to the store with just the youngest... I had a compassionate moment! It's hard enough to shop with two kids!), then ended up filling up the little pool, stripping naked, except for the 6 and 8 year old kids, and having a ball. They eventually were all wearing Jake's swim trunks and shorts, sliding down the toddler slide into the pool, skating on the water skateboard in the pool, playing rough, making mud, etc. You get it. Boys. 

After Cheryl got back we stayed and chatted while our kids played for another two hours. They helped clean up the toys (thank you!) but I was still feeding the missionaries so I kicked it into high gear to really clean, vacuum, mop, do dishes, bathe the kiddos, etc. It was nuts. I worked non-stop for quite a few hours. I somehow managed to finish making some burp cloths for a friend's baby shower tonight at 7. 

Anyhow, the missionaries came, dinner was great, and we even had dessert! Bad, I know. But it was scrumptious! I'll post the recipe. Simple. So that went fine. They left after 7 and I got the kids down. Scott came back and I left. I felt like I had worked miracles tonight pulling it all off, but I got to the shower for little Brooklyn and realized I had given her the boy gift I intended for another friend on Saturday. How embarrassing! She kept the burp rags, but really, the boy jammies I had to take back! How sad. Just when I thought I was so awesome, I failed. Ha, ha. Oh, well. No one knew me at the shower anyway, so it wasn't too embarrassing. I was just the girl who came late and brought a gift for the wrong gender. 

I still haven't gone into the kitchen. I think all the dishes are waiting for me... again! Scott had to go back to lab so I hurried home from the shower, to my relief, and am now rambling on and on.... look out, dishes, here I come!

Summer Time

Well, it's not summer time but it feels like summer here. I think it's been in the 80's and it's beautiful! This may mean that I will be suffering through a very hot summer, but it is so nice now that i can't complain! Thanks, Grammy and Papa Crane, for the bubble gun for Valentine's Day. Jake loves blowing a pile of bubbles, then smashing them!

Jake feeding Alisa a Healthy Choice Bar. Yum! She cringed at every bit, tasted it, then was ready for more.

Big girl! Notice the teeth! 

Here she is practicing to be like Aunt Jenni... very concentrated, with the tongue.

After a run in the morning. She already has good oral hygiene! Her daddy must be a dentist!

I took these trying to get her to show me her teeth. No more snaggle-tooth! Yea! We can go get a family picture taken now! Ha, ha.

This morning was funny. She was sooo tired and falling asleep in her high chair before we went running. I got her out to try and wake her a bit while I got Jake ready to go. She laid her head right down on the floor. I walked into the bathroom, and a couple of minutes later she came crawling (slowly) in, got to the doorway, and laid her head down again! Poor thing! Once she was buckled into the stroller, she was out like a light. 

Cheesy grin!

Jake kicked me in the stomach as I was trying to put on his jammies. I was really mad and just gave myself a time out for a minute. When I went in to talk to him, we had a very adult conversation...

Me: Jake, you kicked me in the stomach. [pause...waiting for an apology]

Jake: I certainly did. [I didn't understand what he said]

Me: Jake, you kicked me in the stomach. [another pause...waiting]

Jake: I certainly did. [totally straight face]

Me: You certainly did?

Jake: Yes, I certainly did.

Well, I couldn't help but laugh. I tried to hide it but he saw through it. He said sorry, but he was laughing the whole time. What a stinker! 

The other day we were buying tomato plants and herbs for the garden. Jake was a bit rambunctious and there was a nice man at the store trying to distract him. He asked Jake if he had a dog at home. Jake said no but he had a horse. The man was impressed. So he asked me if we really had a horse. Then Jake said, "He's name is Bullseye!" Yep, we have a TOY horse (thank you, Papa Crane!) that Jake named Bullseye after Woody's horse on Toy Story 2. I must say that he debated between Bullseye and Spirit, but Bullseye won. That's about the closest we will get to having to a pet... sorry, Jake! 

We're sitting at the table and Jake randomly says, "Maybe Abby is Corbula in Spanish." Yeah, maybe. Ha, ha.

Pink Eye

Before I forget, can I just say that Jake is Obsessed with sword fighting? Everything imaginable is a sword. Sticks, sword fight. Bowling pins, sword fight. Carrot sticks, sword fight. Utensils (any), sword fight. Cantaloupe rind, sword fight. You get it. I am usually Peter Pan, as Jake prefers to be Captain Hook. 

The bad news is that Jake has pink eye(s). Both of them. The good news is that now he is past the contagious part of it, so the doctor says. He LOVED going to the doctor because he got a sucker and got to pick some stickers. The doctors and nurses laughed when he picked the Disney princess stickers! No surprise to me. He also wanted pink shoes and loves my make up. Too much mommy influence! 

Here's Alisa with her beloved Zebra. She gets so excited when we give it to her in the crib, and always promptly bites its face. 

Jake with the beloved Diego bandaid. He claims he got it for Christmas from Grandma! (He thinks most things he got for Christmas or his birthday. Even yesterday at the dr. he was reading a book from the office and told them he got it for his birthday. Almost swiped it, too!)

Alisa and her beloved bottle. She is down to nursing one time a day (mornings only). Thanks for the cute jammies, Jenni.

Jake being sick with Grandma.

Here's a view from Redlands, back by a friend's house. Gorgeous!

Update

Jake's sick. He's had a fever off-and-on for about a week. Stayed home from church. He now has goopy eyes that look like pink eye. Alisa has a fever. She's had a runny, stuffy nose for a few days. We are laying low. I am reading Life of Pi and CANNOT put it down! It took me two weeks to get to page 85 but now it is so intense. Gotta go read it. Bye.