Christmas 2011

We spent almost 2 weeks in Utah for Christmas - weirdly, there was no snow anywhere the whole time! Immediate family on both sides are all still there, but this may be the last year that we're so lucky.

The boys made quite a haul even though we tried to keep it simple. 1st Brother got 3 different Lego sets, inherited an old Nintendo DS player, got more Leapster stuff, etc. 2nd Brother got 2 different Lightning McQueens, his own Curious George since the boys fight over the one we already had, a Leap Frog computer and more. They also got new pajamas and a light gun each:

For our Christmas/10th anniversary present to each other, my husband and I decided to take a trip to Florida. It was also a big gift from a number of family members who cared for the boys while we were away from Dec. 26 - 31. Babysitting really is the best present you can give parents of young children, whether it's for an evening or a week. The absolute best.

It would have been exquisite to be anywhere while only having to look after ourselves, but enjoying the 80ish degree weather in south Florida was especially nice. For most of the trip, we stayed in Key Largo at a small resort called Kona Kai. They only allow people ages 16 and up (!) and were extremely helpful and great.

Here's their beach/dock area with kayaks and paddleboats you can take out whenever:

Sea kayaking (at last!). We've tried to go twice before but didn't because I was too pregnant in one case, and a storm ruined our plans in another.

The pool and hot tub:

That door in the foliage led to our comfy little room:

We had some great meals around Key Largo. For the record, the best were breakfast at Made 2 Order and dinner at Ballyhoo's.

We were not impressed with Key West, the southernmost of the islands that make up the Florida Keys (Key Largo is the northernmost). It was a 2+ hour drive with some lovely scenery, but Key West itself was crowded with cruise ship people and felt like Fisherman's Wharf. We waited too long to have a mediocre lunch, then toured the Truman Little White House, converted military housing where President Truman spent 175 days of his presidency working/vacationing.

The tour was interesting, but I was distracted. There was a chubby white kid in our group around 9-years-old wearing a shirt that said, "Cool story, Babe. Now go make me a sandwich." I wanted to strangle his parents for allowing (probably encouraging?) him to wear it. Then there was this mouth-breathing typical tourist guy wearing a shirt that said, "I know, I know, I'm awesome. Let's not make a big deal out of it." He and his portly gal pal were being very affectionate with each other, to the point that our guide said, "We need to get you two a room!"

We did the obligatory alligator farm visit and fanboat ride. It was fun, and I was glad we did it since we didn't see much on our night walk in the Everglades.

Baby alligators!

Here's my husband in the backyard of Vizcaya, a rich guy's former winter estate that is now open to the public (including LOTS of engaged couples, quinceanera girls and others with their professional photographers). I discreetly barfed into a ziploc bag before we went in - more on that in another post.

A few other memories:

-Our trip started out in a bad way at midnight at the Hertz rental car counter. Despite having a "reservation," we were told there were no cars available because people had extended their rentals during the holidays. But we could be added to the wait list and be FIFTY-FIRST in line (?!?). Lifetime boycott, y'all! We ended up getting a car from Budget but not without a good amount of run-around from them too. We got to our hotel at 2:00am.

-We were walking down the street in Key West when we heard a LOUD gunshot kind of sound, and then there were some bird feathers fluttering down from the sky. A local came out and explained a pigeon had flown into an electric transmitter again. Ha! It was like some sort of Looney Tunes cartoon, but more fatal for the bird.

-It was a little morbid, but I regret not buying a little shellacked alligator head from a gift shop we visited. They also had bins of little alligator feet.

Ornament Favorites

I always enjoy decorating our Christmas tree each year (which has to be fake since I'm allergic to the real ones - sad). That's because our ornaments hold so many memories - I got one each year growing up from my parents and grandparents, and we've picked one up on major vacations. Here are some of my favorites:

There are so many great vacation ones. Like Cayman Islands lady, dancing wooden pull toy from Germany and the Unicef hummingbird from San Diego:

Henry VIII from London might be my absolute favorite if I was forced to choose. The Buckingham Palace guard is pretty great too:

Many stores in Chinatown have machines out front where you put quarters in and get a prize in a plastic bubble. Several of them contain Winnie the Pooh cell phone charms, and you can collect him in different outfits - below are caterpillar, seagull, hamster, grasshopper, gnome, and ringmaster Pooh. I started buying them ocassionally for 1st Brother when we'd go to the library, then decided to put them on the tree (he wasn't that interested in the actual toys once they were out of the machine and the bubble):

I got my husband the Meatloaf ornament since he's a fan, the Ralph Wiggum keychain was on major clearance when the Orem Media Play was going out of business and functions nicely on the tree, and I'm so glad I didn't give the Michael Bolton ball to my friend as I originally intended. He would have thought it was funny, but I probably think it's funnier:

I found this fantastic mini nativity scene ornament in a store on Polk Street:

The LDS Manti Utah temple where we were married is lovely as an ornament - thanks Grandma!

My great-grandma made these skates and the snowflake:

Probably my most memorable one from growing up is the felt-y cat from 1981. It can function as a bank and is sitting in a red bag that says, "A Pet Bank From Santa." Weird but memorable. Also high on the list are the mini Cabbage Patch dolls with hands that clip to the branches. I think my mom's friend made them for me and my sisters?:

And finally, here's the angel who sits on top of our tree. I got her off eBay a few years ago:

Chicken Rolls

These are easy and delicious, just what I look for in my dinner recipes:

-8 oz. chive and onion cream cheese
-2 cups finely diced or shredded cooked chicken
-Salt and pepper to taste
-1 tube of 8 refrigerated biscuits (Pillsbury, etc.)
-Sliced almonds or stuffing mix, crushed (if desired)

*Preheat oven to 350. Combine cream cheese, chicken, salt & pepper in a bowl. Stretch each biscuit out to make a larger circle, place 1/8 of the mixture in it, then fold it over and seal the edges (so it's a taco or turnover shape). If desired, press each one lightly into the almonds or stuffing mix. (Or I like to serve them with a side of stuffing). Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

How It's Made

One of my favorite shows to watch with my kids is now on Netflix Instant Queue: How It's Made. It's just what it sounds like, with footage of various items being manufactured and a voice-over explanation of what's going on. You know, like the awesome ones Mr. Rogers did. (My sister let me know you can still watch some of those at pbskids.org/rogers/videos).

The rain boot episode is the one I remember best. They had this machine with several pairs of metal legs sticking out as if people were lying down inside. The legs started at the knee and ended at the toes, which pointed out like Mary Poppins when she flies. It was a memorable image.

Bearded Beanie

I saw this bearded beanie in Real Simple magazine and laughed out loud:
Wouldn't it be weird to let your kid wear this at the park while bystanders tried to puzzle through what's up with his face?

Burlybeard.com also has a Santa combination, or a beard-only option that hooks around the ears - ha!

Halloween 2011

We were lucky to go to Utah for Halloween again this year. We checked out Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point with some cousins (lots of fun although 2nd Brother was grumpy):


We also went to the Vineyard Garden Center in Orem to pick out pumpkins and enjoy their home-made attractions (love that place!):

 

 

With the only other cousin on my side - the boys love her:

 

As a bonus, there's a train that runs alongside the garden center. I think 2nd Brother liked it even though he covered his ears:

 

We visited a Grandma we haven't seen for awhile:

 

Here's a better look at the costumes: Wolverine and Andy Warhol. Only a few people got the Warhol costume without explanation, but I'm still glad I followed through. We did about a dozen houses in my parents' neighborhood, and then both boys said they were done (what? I thought 1st Brother would realize more houses = more candy, but he didn't seem to care).

 

Nana's jack-o-lanterns. The ones with the googly eyes were especially great:

 

Back at Oakland airport:

 

Favorite Halloween Books

2nd Brother is kind of understanding Halloween this year - my indoctrination seems to be working! I couldn't be happier that he has been requesting to have Goodnight Goon read to him at least once a day lately:

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich is another great one - very clever with fantastic pictures:


In a Dark, Dark Room might be too dark for really young ones, but 1st Brother really liked it starting around age 4:


I had to buy Ghosts in the House after Pepper recommended it:


The Hallo-Wiener is hilarious:


Although it's not technically a Halloween book, The Charles Addams Mother Goose has that feel because of its awesome illustrations:


The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark boxed set is waiting patiently for when the boys are a little older - I loved these growing up.

Reunited

After 5 years of sitting at the front of the congregation as a counselor in the bishopric - almost the whole time we've had kids - my husband has returned to sitting with us on the bench at church! The boys are usually pretty good, but it's nice to have back up now. His new Stake Executive Secretary job is still demanding, but requires less on Sunday than being a counselor did. Yes!

(For anyone who is confused by all this lingo, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are asked to serve in various positions in their local congregations/areas without pay, from pianist to teacher to the equivalent of a pastor).

Slop, Sloppy Joes

I didn't like Sloppy Joes growing up. I'm pretty sure the few I ever had were some sort of Manwich thing. But this recipe, with nothing out of a can, is easy and delicious:

Home Made Sloppy Joes

-1 lb. ground beef or turkey
-1/4 c. onion, chopped small
-1/4 c. green pepper, chopped small
-1/2 tsp. garlic powder
-1 tsp. mustard
-3/4 c. ketchup
-3 Tbsp. brown sugar
-Salt and pepper

*Brown beef, onion, and pepper in pan over medium heat and drain liquids. Stir in rest of ingredients. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve on hamburger buns.

And for all you youngsters who don't get the title of this post, watch this:

The red step stool

I recently read The Parenting Breakthrough by Merrilee Boyack, which has some fantastic advice about teaching your kids to work and be independent. When I read about her 3-year-old son making his own peanut butter sandwich, I realized it was high time that 1st Brother start making more of his own food. I just needed a step stool so he could get at the cereal, frozen stuff, microwave, and dishes he needs. I found the one above at a Chinese dollar store-type place on Irving (around 24th Ave I think?). It's tall - it hits me at my knees - and is made of plastic so it's very light weight and easy to carry. I think it cost around $8, and I love it very much.

I craft

You know who's not crafty? Me. So when I do anything remotely crafty as I did for my friend's baby shower in August, I have to blog about it, even if I only have shadowy pictures to show for it.

Since this is my friend's first baby, I thought it would be nice to capture advice from the invitees. I created cards in Word asking for specifics like baby girl name ideas (she wanted them; it wasn't that she had decided on a name and I thought she needed help ;) ). I also left space for favorite kids' books, great stores/websites, recommended baby products and parenting books, and the best overall parenting advice. I printed them on blank 4x6 index cards and did a double hole-punch, then held the cards together with 2 book rings. I stumbled upon some cute paper plates at Safeway and cut front and back covers from them and glued on a title. And voila! A cute little packet of advice cards.

6 years old

1st Brother turned 6 in August, the Saturday before 1st grade started. In the morning, he found his presents by following clues I taped to his door while he slept, then ate his special Trix breakfast cereal:

Star Wars Lego sets were big this year. He also got a Darth Maul Lego watch, the Robo Champ Lego game, 3 Lego Hero Factory guys, Clone Wars figurines, a toy telescope, Kung Fu Panda video game, and some Spider Man books:

After having big parties 2 years in a row, I told him he could invite 2 friends to a movie for this year's celebrations. That is how I got forced into going to a morning showing of The Smurfs. The animation was cool, but it was too long, and I hated how they had to make Neal Patrick Harris learn a valuable life lesson from the Smurfs--whatever. But it wasn't about what I liked; the boys loved it and ate a pack of Sour Patch Kids each.

I came across the movie poster in Spanish--hee hee! Los Pitufos!

We went to Yerba Buena gardens afterward and had corn dogs and chocolate milk, then 1st Brother opened friend presents and they all ran wild at the playground for awhile. After that, it was home for the Baskin Robbins ice cream cake (expensive but SO delicious!) with one of the friends and his family.

The day ended with the usual 6:45pm swimming lesson (which I have since taken him out of because he's such a good swimmer after 8 months). Some other things about him at 6:

-He's very good at reading

-Sometimes I say he's already a teenager because of the sassy back talk he can dish out, but he's also often thoughtful, helpful, and obedient

-He loves being with friends--I can barely keep up with all the requests for play dates

-He has major goofy, class clown tendencies (my fault)

Don't Eat Pete

The family reunion my father-in-law's side has every 3 years happened the first week of July near Helena, Montana. I came up with a few things for the kids to do, including a game to help them recognize their great-grandparents and the 7 children they had. Here's the game board (with peoples' names removed for the Internets). I also included the flags because of the part-American, part-Canadian heritage the kids have, and I added a Free space:

The game is based on one my mom taught us years ago called Don't Eat Pete. You need one marker placed in each square to start (we used Nerds candy). One person is "It." He/she steps away while the rest of the group decides which square can't be eaten. "It" returns and starts eating the Nerds one by one until he/she reaches for the candy on the forbidden square. At that point, the group yells, "Don't Eat Pete!" and the turn is over.

The game is very flexible: you can customize the number of squares on the board, the pictures, the words the kids say, and the markers. I used pennies for a church class once and let the kids keep the money they earned. Or I had some craft pom-poms or removable pencil eraser tops as back up at the reunion in case the kids were eating too much candy.

The kids did like the game, but you know what they liked better? The mini fish pond (bamboo skewers, yarn, and a clothespin for the rods with 2 open blue folders taped to a table for the pond). They kept asking for more even when I was out of prizes and was clipping silly things to the lines. It's hard to beat a classic, I guess!

Best frozen pizza

These pizzas from Costco are the best frozen version I've ever had. And they're $9.99 for 4 of them; hooray!