Jakeity Jake

A little update on my little guy. How cute is he? He is a very happy baby. The only time he isn't happy is when he has an ear ache (which he has had 4 in the last 6 months). But every single time he gets fussy and grumpy, I know there is something going on with his ears and we go to the doctor and yep... ear infections.

This boy loves his hands. He has since he was little (well, younger). He always has his hands above his head and he just turns them around and looks at them, almost mesmerized by them. Then when he learned to clap, it was all over. He claps all the time. When he is happy. When mommy says "clap". When we is crying. He just claps. Today we were driving in the car and the song "Tonight's going to be a good night" by Black Eyed Peas and I turned it up loud in the car (the girls like it) and I could hear Jake just clapping away in back of me.

He likes baby food, but not a fan of regular food. I can't get him to eat anything other than grains (sounds like Ella...oh, no). I am pretty sure it is the texture of things like noodles, cheese, eggs, fruit, etc. We are going to have to nip this one into bud. I am not having two kids that eat like that.

He army crawls everywhere. He has been doing it for a month. He hasn't figure out that if he lifted his belly off the ground, it would be so much easier.

He definitely loves his mom (me :-) Every time he is with dad and I am not around he is perfectly fine and happy. And then the second I walk into the room, Jake starts to cry and get fussy. It happens every time. And once I hold him, everything is okay again. It is nice to have someone love you that much that the sight of them reminds them that they need you and want you :-)

He is really complete joy!

GO. FIGHT. WIN!

I had a wonderful opportunity to help (in a very small way) this courageous woman in her fight over cancer. Her sister emailed me asking if I would create a logo for her sister's fundraising events and create a blog banner for their blog. Of course I didn't think twice about it and this is what we created together. They liked the idea of cherry blossoms because the cherry blossom is an omen of good fortune and is also an emblem of love and affection.

This is her story..... but go to her blog to read more of her miraculous story.

Sarah is 34 years old. She has two beautiful children and was first diagnosed at age 19 with cancer. After removing her stomach, she was cancer free. Her cancer came back when she was 31 and has been living with cancer ever since. At a recent appointment with her oncologist they found out the cancer is growing and that no one with Sarah's type of cancer has lived as long as she has.

Everyone is praying and hoping for the best outcome for her and more miracles. But with all this fighting, her medical bills have been mounting and are obviously becoming difficult to pay. So, her sister and family are going to have a fundraising 5K run in April through their father's farm when all the blossoms are blooming a beautiful.

I can only imagine what it is like to have to fight cancer and have two small children. I think about it quite a bit, what would i do. How much would I fight? Where would i get the strength and will to win? So brave women like Sarah show us that fighting is the greatest act of love. I pray for her and her fight. May she GO. FIGHT. WIN!

Baking Goodness

I found this cheesecake recipe and said... I want to make that. I have never made one before and I am not sure why I wanted to now, but it just seemed like a great dessert to make! Not that I need a whole (or even a half) of a cheesecake in the house. So, when I had a girl night out with friends, I thought "I will make that cheesecake recipe" and I did.

Here is a picture of all 6 blocks of cream cheese goodness baked into a pretty round mound.

Here is the link to the recipe and directions (which I did following word for word).

Bravo me! It really was soooo good. Also, I used oreos for the cookie crust (that was pretty great too).

Popcorn Popping Trees

The other day in class, Hannah's teacher taught them a poem titled "popcorn tree". As soon as Hannah heard it, she said "that's popcorn popping". And she sang the song for her teacher. Her teacher emailed me for the song. Hannah taught her class the song all week. She was so excited to be the song leader.

The girls have been loving the springtime blossoms. Ella rides in the car and points out all the "popcorn trees" or asks "where is a popcorn tree, mommy?" It is so pretty here when the blossoms are out. Two bad they only last about 3 weeks. And those 3 weeks are almost up. So, yesterday we decided to go for a drive and quickly get some photos of the girls with the blossoms.

We had a hard time getting Ella to look at the camera and for Hannah to keep her eyes open, so this is what we got.

My Latest Sewing Project

It has been awhile since i have taken out my sewing machine to work on anything. But the other day Hannah kept talking about how much she wanted a stage for her puppets (that she had just made). I mean I heard about it for days and when I told her I would work on one for her, she made me commit to a day it would be finished and then proceeded to tell everyone her puppet stage would be ready to use on Saturday. So, I figured I better get on it. I talked about an adorable and easy Puppet Stage awhile back on my blog, so I thought, I better sit down and make it.

It really wasn't hard and the best part is I already had most of it done since they were drapes for a closet we had at our old house. I love when you save things and you don't know why, but then you find the perfect use for them.

So, here is our puppet stage. I loved how it turned out. Now for the sad part. The girls hardly use it. Oh, well. Someday they will.

Activity Day - Articles of Faith Egg Hunt

Tonight I had my girls go on an Easter Egg Hunt. They were hunting for candy eggs and Articles of Faith eggs. I have six girls and so I got 36 plastic eggs. I printed out the articles of faith and cut them up into "somewhat short" segments. I stuck several segments into half of the eggs and put candy in the other half of the eggs and then hid them around the church building.

I told there girls to go find all the eggs and when they got back, we would go and split into two teams. We placed all the AofF segment strips into a pile (and then they got to keep the candy to eat) and which ever team could put together the most AofF the quickest would win.

the girls had a blast on the hunt and really enjoyed the competition of putting together the Articles of Faith. And they did a great job.

The Thrill of the Leprechaun

This year, I decided to do something cute for St. Patricks Day since Hannah came home from school and told me that leprechauns leave green milk and footprints.

So, this morning when the girls came downstairs it was like Santa himself had visited. They were so excited to see the little green footprints. Hannah yelled "the leprechaun came to our house. She followed the footprints to the fridge and found green milk. She ran around the whole house to see if he went anywhere else (I kinda wished I had done more, but next year). She kept saying "we have to find that little rascal."

Ella loved the footprints and kept saying "two green footprints".

Next year, I will have to do more. I didn't think it would get the response it did. Thank heavens I did a little something. Holidays are always more fun when you have kids (and even more fun when they are in school, because you feel like you have to do things since they talk to their friends about it).

Great Meal

Last night I made a surprisingly great meal. First off... I have wanted to make homemade bread for some time now, but have always been nervous, since I have never done it. But then I found this recipe and let me tell you. it is awesome and awesomely easy.

All you need is water, flour, salt and yeast. And it is just as easy to make (and my hands hardly got dirty too).
Here is the recipe and seriously it is a super asy way to bake bread.

Also, I love soup. So I wanted to make a minestrone soup for the first time too. I took this recipe from Tyler Florence and adapted it a bit to make my own recipe. Here is it and it too is great.

Ingredients

2 cans vegetable stock
3 tablespoons crushed garlic
1 cup salad pasta noodles (the mini-mini rigatoni noodles, the kind you can use to make necklaces)
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp sage
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp thyme
3/4 pound sweet Italian pork sausage
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2 celery ribs, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 zucchini chopped
1 bunch of green chard, chopped
mushrooms chopped
1 potato, chopped
1 (28-ounce) can crushed plum tomatoes
1 bay leaf
2 (28-ounce) cans cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 bunch fresh parsley leaves, finely minced

Parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top
and bread

Preparation

Brown the sausage, add garlic. When completely cooked through add all the vegetables and spices and cook for 15 mins on medium heat until softened.

Then stir in the crushed tomatoes, bay leaf, cannelloni beans, and vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

Then pour in the salad noodle pasta and cook until the noodles are done. If you need it to add more water add about a cup more or until the desired consistency.

Garnish with parmesan cheese.

NOTE: I cooked the soup for a long time mostly because I was trying to keep it warm. I don't think it mattered how long it simmered, but definitely don't put the pasta noodles in until about 15 mins before you are ready to serve (so they don't cook too long and get mushy).

the image and bread recipe came from Artisan bread in 5 mins

Jetter Photography Logo

Nelson from Jetter Photography contacted me to create a new look for his photography business. He was such a pleasure to work with and it was fun to work with a male client (I don't get a lot of them, but welcome them all the same :-) HIs challenge was to create a logo that spoke to his female audience and wedding photography (since most of his clients are women), but still have a masculine "touch". I love the color scheme we came up with and the look of his new logo and marketing materials. The blue and orange accents against the brown.. is so classy and eye-catching.

And here are his business cards.



thanks Nelson for letting me work with you on this fun project.

Sprinkles' Trays

Cupcakes are so cute and fun to decorate, but such a problem to transport and present in a cute way. They have a few options, but nothing I have been in love with until now.

Sprinkles (of course) has designed the perfect cupcake carrier. It is their cupcake tray. I love it and the colors to choose from. This is the perfect way to showcase and transport your cupcake creations.

Chores are fun to Do!

I mentioned in my last post about chore charts I had made for my girls. Hannah is finally at an age where she can take on certain responsibilities around the house. We also decided she needed to start learning about and paying tithing. In order to pay tithing, you need to start making money. So, we decided to start giving Hannah an allowance based on doing chores and certain things during the week. If she does them (and fills up her weekly chore chart with stickers), she gets a $1.

Here is what i did. I downloaded this cute weekly chore template (she has many other free adorable templates) and included our own personal weekly to-dos and chores. I attached them to these cute clipboards I got at HomeGoods and bought some cute little stickers. And waa-laa. Cute chore charts that the girls are so excited about.

NOTE: If you notice at the top, "staying dry through the night".... this isn't one of the things she has to do to get a $1. But I wanted to include it to help her feel motivated to do it. And if she does stay dry all week, she can go to the store and pick out a toy.

New Developments

We have had some new developments in our household this last week.

Ella for about 2 months now has been more than strong-willed about not going potty in the toilet. She has wanted nothing to do with it. But about two weeks, Ella started following hannah into the bathroom to watch her go potty. I just figured it was nice exposure and gave me a second while they "played" in there.

Well on Thursday, Ella came out of the bathroom and said she wanted to go. I said "potty" and she quickly said NO. Then on Friday, she came out of the bathroom and said "i wanna go" and I said "POTTY' and she said YES. I was more than excited and she quickly got undressed and sat on the potty. At first she didn't actually go potty. But she kept trying/pretending (literally about 12 times in a row).

This is what she would do each time....
1) Sit on the toilet (may or may not go potty), wipes herself and as she flushes the toilet she say "go away stinkies", washes her hands and repeats again and again.

We have made a little progress each day and this new development will change my life. I am so excited.

Also, tonight for family home evening, we talked about responsibility and tithing and introduced allowance. I bought Hannah and Ella some clipboards with a daily/weekly chore chart. If they do their chores all week and fill their paper with stickers, Hannah gets $1 and Ella gets a lollipop. One of the responsibilities Ella has is to try a new food. Tonight we told her she can put a sticker on her paper if she eats a strawberry and without any hesitation she ran to her plate and took a bite of her strawberry.

Now you might say, no big deal. But this girl does not eat new foods. She does not eat anything unless it is chicken nuggets, peanuts, go-gurt or cereal/crackers. I mean nothing else. She has never tried a strawberry before and tonight, she just picked it up and ate it. I couldn't believe it! I was beyond giddy. She was so excited to put a sticker on her paper that she ate a strawberry! I am soooo happy. Here's to more night like this!

Jake is becoming a great eater. He is getting the mushing and mashing down with his gums and teeth. I love being able to put him in a high chair and letting him feed himself little pieces of food. He has also learned to clap. He loves to clap. I say "clap Jakie" and he does it every time. It is always so great to see my kids learn and develop. It gives me so much hope and excitement.

Hannah went to a birthday party the other week and they visited the planetarium. She loved it. She has been talking about planets and the movie they saw and continually asks to go again. So, I told her she could invite two friends and we would go back. So, she invited two friends from school and all four of us went to the planetarium and then to ice cream afterwards. It was fun outing with my girl and her friends. Hannah has a genuine interest in astronomy. She really likes to learn about planets and constellations. Last night, she begged her dad to take her outside to see Mars, since she learned at the planetarium that she could see Mars in the sky that night.

Lollipop Photography Logo

I finished another fun logo. And of course why wouldn't it be fun, the name is fun. Lollipop Photography. I love the colors and the simple, yet modern and fun look. I also create her business cards. Nicole was a pleasure to work with and her photography is just wonderful. This was a "sweet" job, thanks so much!

Activity Day - Recipe Finder

Last night for Activity Days, the girls started their own collection of recipes. I purchased cute recipe boxes at the Michaels and some cute recipe cards. I brought all my recipe magazines for the girls to look through. The girls were to find recipes that looked good and copy them onto the cards so they could start their own recipe collection. The girls had a blast flipping through the pages and learning about reading recipes along the way.

Such things as what the oven temperature is, unsalted vs. salted butter, tsp vs tbsp, etc. I told them girls if they go home and make one of these recipes and then tell me about it, I would sign of you of their Faith in God requirements.

I also, made a cake for dessert and gave the girls a recipe card for the cake to put in their own box.

I am attaching the cake recipe... this is a definite keeper. This cake is so moist and chocolate-y. One of the best cakes i have ever had.

thanks!

Thanks so much everyone for the great advice, stories and support. The blog world and blog friend are a great source of help and ideas... which I why blogging is so wonderful. I really appreciate all your comments and help.

This is what I learned:

1) so many people have kids that wet their beds and many, many until 8-10 years old. I was surprised by that. Bottom line is that there isn't much I can do until the kids grows out of it. I can keep trying different things, but not to be disappointed or frustrated, so I am going to keep trying, but not worry so much.

2) I know I am not the only one with a picky eater... there is pretty much one in each family. I just need to be more strict and not give her as much of "her" food as she wants. She won't starve, which is what everyone says... so she just might have to go a little hungry until she decides to eat more than crackers, go-gurts and peanuts. Now, don't get me wrong, I am going to let her eat, but she can't have food all day long (only specific times during the day (meals and structured snack times) and she gets to choose 2 foods she wants at mealtime and 2 foods that the family is eating.

3) Lasik - GET IT DONE. So, i have a consultation for next week.

thanks again everyone. You are the best!

Thanks image is by George Chen Creative

Q&A

I've got questions and hopefully you've got answers. I am coming to all you to help me with two big problems I need help with. Please share your experiences and lesson-learned, so i can get past these challenges in my life.

PROBLEM #1
My 5 1/2 year old still isn't potty trained at night. She sleeps so hard that nothing wakes her up. She has even wet her bed and slept in until 9:30 the next morning. So, even letting her have accidents doesn't wake her up. What am I to do? I have tried waking her up before I go to bed and she does wake up dry (most times), but is that really teaching her anything or just making me feel good that she is dry the next day.

PROBLEM #2
My 3 year old won't eat anything. Her diet consists of cereal and crackers, go-gurts and milk and peanuts. I used to be able to get her to eat chicken nuggets, but that is it. She always says she is hungry, but will only snack on crackers and cereal and I am tired of feeding her garbage and always having her always telling me she is hungry. I need her to eat more and better... it seems like she is eating less and worse each day.

QUESTION - Who has had Lasik surgery? I am thinking about getting it and would like to know everyone's experience and opinion.

Any advice from all you moms/women out there would be greatly appreciated. I am at a lose and need to get past these childhood problems. Thanks!

Colorful Eye Candy

I have been lucky enough to have visited Denmark several times (thanks to my in-laws serving as Mission Presidents in Denmark) and every time I went there it was shopping heaven. Seriously the cutest stuff and fairly on the inexpensive side (at least back then). There is this one store called Sostrene Grene... it was probably my favorite store ever. The cutest stuff stuff for every part of your life and insanely cheap prices. I am sad to not have it here in the states.

Well, the other day I came across a company called Rice and of course it is from Denmark. Again adorable stuff for the everyday. If only we had something like this in the states. Love it all... I got lost in their website because everything was so fun to look at.

so, if you want so pretty eye candy and an excuse to waste time... take a look!