Poor Jade!

Jade doesn't feel good. Ian had to go to work in the morning so he woke me up to let me know. I went in the livingroom and watched the kids play. Still feeling tired I thought I would just lay down while they played. At some point I fell asleep. I woke up frantic. I asked Teagan where Jade was. He says simply, "Right in front of you.". I look down and she is laying on the corner of my blanket on the floor asleep. Teagan had covered her up with her blanket. She never ever just lays down and goes to sleep. Poor baby!

Bubblegum Castle

Here is the bounce house I mentioned. The kids love it. It's just the right size. Not too small but not so big that it's impossible to put away. We put the balls in and the kids had a blast. Jade was pretty sick but still had so much fun. The name Bubblegum Castle came from Teagan. After they were playing inside for a little while Teagan said that is was their Bubblegum Castle. That they were the King and Queen of Bubblegum Castle. How cute is that?

Christmas Morning

You know usually I snap tons of pictures of each and every little thing Christmas morning but not this year. This Christmas was a bit different. We really simplified this year. I think in the past I've been too concerned about quantity. I wanted to make sure Teagan had enough things to open to keep him excited. Last year I wrapped up small things like cars and bouncy balls. This year we decided on the things we wanted to get the kids and that was it. I didn't concern myself with the number of gifts whatsoever. It was really nice.


Santa brought Teagan exactly what he wanted. That was the Lego Battle Warship set. Jade got the Little People Nativity. Santa must have known that mommy had been wanting that too. From us the kids got a bounce house. It's totally cute I'll blog about that in a bit. I got Teagan a big stack of Level 1 readers. Jade got a potty that she got to open before Christmas but she thinks it's too special to go in. Besides that family filled in with some really great gifts. Thank you everyone!


Ian and I weren't going to do gifts for each other but then we got a big check in the mail we didn't expect so we got a few things for ourselves. I got a jacket and jeans. Ian has turned me on to Ross shopping. I liked going there before but never really dug through the clothing racks. They have awesome deals. Gotta love a husband that likes to shop. I got American Idol 2 for Xbox 360. Ian got about 3 games. I'm not sure exactly what. I know one was Call of Duty 5. He picked out some yummy smelling cologne and a new shirt (from Ross). We did a few small things in our stockings for each other.


Ian and I didn't bother to wrap our gifts we picked out. We did fill our stockings. I never noticed that Christmas morning was usually such a circus but this time it was peaceful. We had a mess but we were not overwhelmed with boxes and wrappings. I had a family member ask if we rushed through Christmas morning to get to Christmas breakfast with my family. No we didn't. Not at all. We usually do but not this year. I'm liking this new simple Christmas and there wasn't a single disappointed child.


Next year I'm going to take it a step further and either bake ahead of time and freeze or give something non-perishable to family and friends. One of my goals for 2009 is to have Christmas done (within reason) by the end of November so we can really take our time enjoying Christmas next year. I'm excited. The marshmallow guns were a big hit. Jade got a little blue dog in her stocking that she just loves. She plays with it everyday. Teagan was so sweet this year reminding us everyday that he knew the real reason we have Christmas, to celebrate Jesus' birthday. That's right sweet boy!

Merry Christmas!

I suppose I should have gotten this up earlier but we've been sick again. Here is a picture that we snapped right before church. Not very professional but the kids are really cute. Don't you love Ian's red tie? He wasn't sure about it but I really like it.

One last gift

Take a look at this but you have got to scroll down to my last post and see the totally awesome guns Ian made. Oh and the unconventional way he watched the kids for me. I had big plans with this gift. It's a bow holder with bows. The bows are attached to the goody type of clippy. I found those to be the best kind that didn't slip out. I was going to make six sets of bows. They would all be different types. I ran out of time and finished this on Christmas Eve. I snapped a picture that night before I wrapped it. The lighting was terrible but you get the idea. I think they turned out pretty great.

Guns as promised

Alright I did not expect how much fun Ian would have making these. He sat down to make the guns two days before Christmas. Teagan helped by bringing him pipe and they would measure out the pieces together. Once he got them together he was so excited shooting me in the kitchen with little marshmellows but that wasn't enough. They didn't look cool enough. He was determined to fix that. I think he did an awesome job!


I don't know why Teagan doesn't look happy. He was thrilled. Most likely didn't want to stop for a photo.


It's getting dark and he is still going!


You can't tell in the picture but he was being totally silly.


This amazing man was watching the kids at the same time so I could make a bagillion cupcakes. Well hmm. Sweetie you can't cage the children!


Well it's a solution to Jade running off.


The guns he lined up proudly. I attached a bag of ammo(marshmallows) to them. With a little cute note about the only rule being, Have Fun!. Picture was a little smily face in a camo hat.


Too cool! We should sell these puppies.

Update on Santa!

I found out who he was. Apparently he is married to a friend of mine from high school. Mystery solved. What a neat guy!

A bloggin' year in review

Okay although I was fearful it would take too much time I just have to do this one. I will first explain because when I read Ruthanne's I didn't understand what it was. I thought she was just telling us she felt she was a bad blogger but no. It's a game. Apparently I missed the first sentence of that particular post of hers. What you do is take the first sentence of each post and string them together. I started from August when my blog began to the present. It looked like fun so here goes...

Welcome to our family page. I wake up at 3am this morning and I just can't get back to sleep. My friend Kelsey gave me the great idea of printing our family blog annually. It's hot! My baby is going to school. The library has become an important part of our routine. So we started a garden. Oh look our little baby is growing up. Finally our young man got to go to the zoo. These pictures should be next to the word summer in the dictionary. Jade and I had a shopping day together last week. My baby goes to school and I don't like it one bit. I'm back flying again. So Jade is usually not terribly interested in legos except to pull their heads off. After much begging and annoyance from Teagan that I kept insisting on picking him up from school I finally let Teagan ride the bus. Thanks to a little gentle prodding from my friend Olivia I'm taking a cake decorating class. Today we have a guest writer, Daddy(Ian) We are sick. I observed the cutest thing last night. In the midst of all our sickness we had a visitor. As you know I'm taking a cake decorating class. A public thank you to Kelsey for the wonderful meal while we were ill. Today was Teagan's first game. Ian, Jade and I went to my doctors appointment on Friday. This morning I woke up late for the first time since Teagan started school. Thanks for the invite. Look who got student of the month for Kindergarten! As if getting an award today wasn't enough(see post below). We had to postpone Teagan's party due to family illness. It's really hard to believe that our sweet boy is six years old. With the weather cooling off Teagan is finally able to really enjoy his bike. Fun it's my turn! I was busy working on a monthly menu (which I've been avoiding) and Teagan wanted to ride his bike. Check out the picture of Teagan from his first birthday party. Between class parties, birthday parties and Halloween I've made a lot of cupcakes lately. Being a Pest Control Advisor has it's perks. In downtown disney they had this holiday shop. In ode to the season of creepy crawlies I had to show you this. It seems like it took forever to get our pumpkin carved. Well I don't have a lot to write about Halloween. You know I was just telling Kelsey the other day that I wished there was an option to make some blog posts private. Well I'm not at all a fan of Picasso so let's call them Finger Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. Remember this picture? So I'm working on the bills the other day. Rachel has started the Christmas spirit here. Let's talk about Jade. These are just some cute pictures I took of Jade at the park. This is the best picture I could get of Jade at music makers. This is so the picture I'm going to pull out when he brings home a serious girlfriend. I think my favorite part of Thanksgiving this year was the centerpiece that Teagan made for the table. Ian and I are in the bedroom on the computer. You're curious aren't you. Gingerbread Man! We got our tree up pretty early but it took us a good week to actually decorate it. Scrolling back in our little family blog I'm starting to see that Ian's little business trips are really nice mini vacations. You are going to read this post and then you are going to think back to the cupcake incident and you are going to wonder. I like to cook! Today Teagan, Jade and I were playing in the play room. This year I made all the gifts we will be giving. He does I swear!

Wow! Thank goodness I didn't start this blog the begining of 2008 I would be here all night. Yes mine reads like I'm on some sort of illegal substance. Well on to more posts.

Just a yummy cake

This was a cake I made because I had some frosting left over from Teagan's party. I just thought it was pretty for something I slapped together and wanted to post it. No drooling please!

Just before the new year

Here are some pictures that never made it into the blog of when we first started our food storage this year. I think it was July. Anyway I wanted to get them in for future reference. Especially since we will be concentrating on food storage as one of our goals this year. So here they are...

Gingerbread Houses

Well sort of. I started doing these two years ago, I think. It's just so much easier to open a box of graham crackers. Perhaps when I'm older and have all the time in the world I'll make the real thing but for now my kids love doing these. I think the pictures speak for themselves. Okay well they should speak for themselves but I can't keep quiet so I'll narrate.


Teagan does awesome with the pastry bag. First she helped build the houses then we decorated.


Teagan was telling Aunt Nancy all about something. We have so much candy left over and sadly I can't remember what I did with it.


Isn't Teagan's house adorable? He did it all by himself this year.


We finally go Aunt Nancy to join us for something fun. Thanks for coming over.


Jade's house. I didn't think she would be interested at all but she took the time to spread her frosting on and then covered it with M&M's before licking it all off again.


After she was done building she went and watched a movie.


My house. I liked it. Next year I'm going to build a huge one.


I had so much fun with Teagan. Thanks for being such a great kid!

Santa knows my name!?!?!

He does I swear! It's a funny story. Read on. So Friday Teagan is having a party at school. I pull up and park in front of the school. As I'm getting Jade out of her carseat I see Santa Claus and another man drive by in a dark blue truck. By the time I get Jade out and get my stuff together Santa is crossing the lawn. I'm headed straight toward him and he says, "Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas Mande!". What the!!! Santa knows my name! Made stranger by the fact that I have no clue who this is. I'm trying to make eye contact with the best Santa I've seen in a while and still I have no idea who this is or how he knows my name.

I finally ask the school nurse who seems to know him. She tells me his name is Chris. I thought she was messing with me but she was serious. Chris Peters. Okay I have not a clue who Chris Peters is. I mean I know this is a small town and a everyone knows everyone but he used my first name. Teagan who usually rejects the "unreal" santas is totally excited by this one. Freaking me out further. All the kids run up to him and give him a hug. I'm ready to tell him what I want for Christmas just to cover my bases.

Today I ask Amanda Hartman because she knows a lot of people. She tells me that I know who he is. Does her best to explain but I'm clueless. I tried to look him up in the yearbook but there is no Chris Peters in any of my yearbooks or Ian's. So I'm pretty sure that Santa has changed his last name to Peters and this whole thing about me knowing him from highschool is to throw me off the trail that this was the real Santa and he knew my name. Hopefully because I'm on the nice list.

Christmas Sneak Peek

This year I made all the gifts we will be giving. Well Ian and Teagan are going to make the marshmallow guns but they were my idea. Does that count? Not I guess not. For families this year I'm giving cupcakes. I ordered pastry boxes to put them in. I think they will turn out pretty cute. I'll post some pictures after I make them. I'm not big on surprises. As I said before I don't think anyone in my family actually reads this. Hopefully I'm not ruining Christmas by posting this. If you are fearful I will ruin your surprise please click the little X in the upper right hand corner and wait until Christmas. So here is what I've got so far.


I did these photo books the last two years as well. They recap the year in pictures. I do them for all the kids Grandmas and Great Grandmas. I made five of them. They are all different paper combinations. This is the only one I did with this ribbon. I really like it but it's expensive. For another only I used a silky ribbon which didn't come out as nice. The rest I just did plain old curly ribbon. Cheap and really cute!


This idea I got from Rachel. It's a magnet board. I did two of them for our nieces. Everything on them is a magnet. Even the big daisy. They can take off their name if they want and put up something else. The coolest part is I just got the pan from the dollar store and I already had everything else. Adorable!


This is kind of a mini version of the photo book for my brother and sister. Pictured is Scott's book and cookies. Melissa will get cupcakes but Scott is in Tennessee and cookies ship much better than cupcakes. At the end of the little book is a little Christmas letter recapping the year.


These are also magnet boards but for the kids Grandpas. Great Grandpas will get goodies. Most likely cookies. I did these so I could replace the pictures through the year. Hopefully I will actually remember to do that.


Last but not least are marshmallow guns. We had a lot of people on our list that could appreciate this gift. Yes a lot of boys in our family. This is not one Ian made but it's the same pattern. Hopefully they will make these Monday so I can make some ammo bags made up and get them wrapped. Did anyone else do a homemade Christmas? Tell me about it. I want to start now for next year.

Babies

Today Teagan, Jade and I were playing in the play room. Jade was being really cute and silly. I was down on my knees at Teagan's little table watching Teagan put together legos and she would climb up my back slide down and say weeeee. After that I started playing with her and tickling her. She would laugh so hard. I asked Teagan if we should have more babies. He said, "YES!" Followed by, "We would already have one but the one in your tummy died." Very matter of factly. Not mournful. I thought for a second and pointed out that we wouldn't have it yet. It would have been born in April.

I was proud of him in those moments. At first I wasn't sure why but now I think I'm proud that he is willing to talk about it. I'm also proud of us as parents that he feels safe to talk about it. I'm also surprised. From the time we lost the baby until now seems like a very long time. I think life stood still there for a while. Yet from right now I would still have four months to go. Things are now back to normal. I'm finally excited about life again. Amazing what hormones can do to you. Odd that my excitment for crafts, projects and just life in general returns with my hormones finally leveling out.

I'm sorry if this post is sad for anyone. It's not meant to be at all. I just wanted to be sure to record what kind of little man we have in Teagan. I want Jade to know that her fun personality makes us want more children. Lastly I want our future children to know that they were wanted very much by all of us.

Chicken Noodle Soup

I like to cook! No that is not true, I love to cook! On my own terms of course. I'm not always thrilled about making sure that dinner happens everyday. The having to do it part really hampers my creativity but hey the family has gotta eat. I love my sniff and throw in the pot method. It's hit or miss but so rewarding when it works. My proudest achievement is a totally yum sweet and sour sauce from scratch. No base recipe and it not only worked it was the best sweet and sour sauce we've had. Don't ask me how I made it because I have no idea. Ever since Kelsey brought me chicken noodle soup when I was sick I've been on the hunt for the perfect recipe just for me. I finally have it.



Chicken Noodle Soup

4 cups chopped, cooked chicken
3 cups chopped celery
1 1/2 lb. chopped carrots (me likey carrots)
1 onion chopped (I use yellow)
2 Tbsp butter
8oz-1lb noodles (you choose your noodliness)
24 cups water
24 tsp. chicken bouillon
1 tsp. dried marjoram
1 tsp. ground black pepper
2 bay leaf
2 Tbsp dried parsley
I throw in California style garlic salt about well. About 1 Tbsp.

Boil chicken while chopping your veggies. I used chicken breasts and thighs. I like the light and dark. In the biggest pot you've got melt butter and saute celery and onion. Add chopped chicken, carrots, water (note about the water-I strained the water I boiled my chicken in and used that. It added so much flavor), bouillon, marjoram, black pepper, bay leaves and parsley. Simmer. Add noodles cook until your noodles are how you like them. I love color when cooking. I get totally excited about it. I call Ian in and make him look at how bright the veggies look. I'm strange I know but hey you gotta get excited about something in life.


I started with a base recipe for this one, added some stuff and cut down some things to our taste. The original recipe called for 1/4 c. of carrots and celery which left jade wanting more. We like lots of veggies in our soups. This recipe here made dinner, about 6 cups left in the fridge and two large freezer bags full of soup. I'm lovin' any recipe lately that gives me leftovers I can just pull out of the freezer and serve. It does freeze well. The noodle texture is slightly different but we like it. They taste much like dumplings. My favorite noodle I've used so far was manacotti I had that was almost two years past it's best by date. I just smacked it on the counter in a plastic bag and threw them in. So good! Really thick noodles!

Christmas singing at school!

Teagan was very excited to sing Christmas songs for everyone. I either forgot my camera or it died so Sheri Edler let me use her to take some pictures. Thanks so much Sheri. It was pajama day and I could not get Teagan to wear a pair that fit better. Cute boy!

JELL-O

You are going to read this post and then you are going to think back to the cupcake incident and you are going to wonder. Does Mande watch her children? Should we call in some sort of social help for this family. Yes I do really. I would say much more than many moms you know. Not that I'm judging them trust me. I'm just constantly paranoid about something dangerous my kids could get into so they are not usually out of my sight for long. I wish I would relax a little actually. Yet even with my constant worries these things still happen all the time.


I'm in the bedroom doing who knows what. I can't remember now. Jade is with me and then she leaves the room. No biggie. I'll check on her in a minute. Well when I do I find her covered in pudding powder. Okay so you see the discarded pudding boxes next to her. Well that is not what the mess is from. It's from a commercial size bag of pudding. Only marked with Jello Pudding and a brown and white image of pudding. Not appitizing looking and not clear to a little one that can't read.


There was a grocery bag on the counter containing two 3oz. boxes of pudding a box of cake mix and a 28oz. bag of chocolate pudding mix. She pulled it down and must have assumed the big boring looking bag of pudding mix was something good too considering the other boxes had yummy pictures on them. She got it open by piercing the bag with her little fingers. It had 5 puncture wounds.


I took the bag away from her and before I could turn away to get the camera she started licking the ground. Please tell me why every place I live has indoor/outdoor carpeting in the kitchen. I believe it's a curse that follows me. While I snap pictures and laugh she has created a nice pudding puddle on the carpet. Luckily it cleans up pretty easily. Easier than Jade did. She smelled great though.