Easter Sunday

Its been almost two weeks since Easter.  I almost didn't bother to blog it at this point, but I bought new clothes for Axel and Olivia and I took pictures!  So here it is. 

This bow tie is as big as my head! --Axel

I dressed Axel and Adam matching!  Okay, I didn't really dress Adam.  I know he wears brown slacks and a white shirt so all I did was request a green tie.

When ever people have cute pictures of their kids they always say, "I had to take a million shots just to get one good one!"  Well I took a million shots and didn't even get one good one.  Dang balloons my father-in-law got for the kids, I couldn't get Olivia to focus on anything but that dumb balloon.

This isn't the dress I bought Olivia, but she loved her orange Easter dress so much she wanted to wear it on Saturday and since Kati (her grandma, Adam's mom) had gotten her this pretty blue one I figured we could swap 'em.

And proof that I was there:

Happy Valentine's Day!

So I post MWF, and since Valentine's Day is on Thursday I had to pick between posting a day early or a day late.  I chose a day early. :)

Look at these kids, so happy, so carefree.  This was the first Valentine's day that I actually had a Valentine!  We celebrated by chaperoning the Sweethearts Dance at Bingham High School.

I love this day, despite never having a Valentine until I met Adam.  I'm sure it's classical conditioning, like Pavolv's dog.  How can I not love a day associated with chocolate, good food, chick flicks and chocolate? 

Wanna know what I'm doing to make it a special day this year?  (We have a newborn, we can't go out, plus we decided not to go out on the actual day anymore)  I can tell you because Adam only reads my blog once a year or so. 

I'm making a love song mix CD for Adam and somehow I'm going to put it in his car so its ready to play when he goes to work Thursday morning.

For dinner I'm going to make steak, stuffed mushrooms, fresh green beans and mashed potatoes.  Hot fudge pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert.

I've found that Valentine's day is a lot like New Year's Eve.  Don't expect too much and just enjoy the day for what it is.  A little bit of specialness goes a long way.

What are your plans for Valentine's Day? 

Must be Santa

We took Olivia to see Santa last night.  We took her last year and thought it would be a fun tradition.  Unfortunately we didn't have any church or work parties sporting a Santa, so we had to go to the mall and get ripped off.  Adam told me to remember I was paying Santa's hourly wage and not just for three pictures, so that helped a little. . . just a little. 

I hoped she would smile and tell him her name.  But she very nearly cried.  Every time we could distract her from crying they snapped a pic.  

And dang it!  I forgot to put her head band on.  I was waiting until right before so she wouldn't pull it off and I waited a minute too long! 

Five Favorites on Friday: Christmas Songs

As a child I had an on going battle with my dad.  He probably doesn't even remember it, but to me it was a big deal.  When can I start listening to Christmas music???  (This was before the days of iPods and I certainly didn't have my own CD player, I had to listen on the stereo in the living room so it did affect the whole family)  And I felt like every year the answer changed.  Sometimes it was after Halloween, sometimes I had to wait until Thanksgiving.  One year I wised up.  I asked my dad and the answer that day was after Halloween.  So I wrote a quick contract and had him sign it.  I hope its still around.  I hope I can find it someday.  So funny.

I love all the classics and the religious Christmas songs, but these are the songs I like to jam to on my way to work.  Today I'm counting backwards, bottom to top.  Favorite to favoritest.

5. Mavis Staples: Christmas Vacation.  I loved this song before I ever saw this movie. 


4. Paul McCartney: Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime. I don't know why this song gets so much hate, but I love it (synthesizers and all!)  If you've never seen the video, the angels with sunglasses singing in space it worth a watch, even if you hate this song.  I heart Paul forever!!!


3. The Waitresses: Christmas Wrapping.  Once I had a roommate who told me this song did not feel like a Christmas song.  I said "Maybe not this year, but wait until next year.  You'll learn to love it and when you hear it again it will bring back awesome Christmas memories."  A year later she facebooked me to tell me I was right!  (PS the video to this song is pretty weird, but it was better than the one that just had the lyrics.  LAME)


2. Tran Siberian Orchestra: Carol of the Bells.  This is not the whole song, but I seriously love this montage from The Office, because that's what this song feels like to me: CHRISTMAS!!!!


1. Bing Crosby and David Bowie: The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth.  This song is just so beautiful, and the intro is just cute and touching.  Plus I just love David Bowie. 



And for fun, some of the worst Christmas songs off all time: 

Elton John: Step into Christmas.  I will change the station.  I love me some Elton, but this just went so wrong.

Band Aid: Do They Know its Christmas.  Pretty sure snow in Africa has nothing to do with poverty and every thing to do with climate.

New Song: Christmas Shoes.  If I was dying I would not want my child running around town buying shoes, just sayin'.

What songs do you love or hate?  I'm sure I've forgotten some good/awful ones!

Five Favorites on Friday: Gift Wrapping

When I was a kid I loved wrapping gifts.  I would even wrap them for my dad.  I folded the edges over, used double sticky tape, made perfectly mitered corners. . . the works.  Now I have a bit more to wrap and so I'm not quite as meticulous, but I still love new ideas and making the presents look pretty.

Brown Paper
Just ask for paper instead of plastic next time you're at the grocery store and you can save a lot of money on wrapping and still look chic.  Here are some fun ways to doll it up!

Source: mondocherry.blogspot.ca via Kimberly on Pinterest

Source: ideasmag.co.za via Kimberly on Pinterest

Make Your Own Bows
As a kid I pretty much stuck to curling ribbon or stick on bows, but these homemade bows and pompoms are super simple and add a little more creativity. (I know, I know both of these examples also use brown paper, but they could go with anything.  The above two pictures not so much)

Source: nicepackageblog.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Source: craftycpa.blogspot.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Cute Gift Tags
I love finding free printables on the internet.  And I love older more traditional looking gift tags.  These are some favorites I used on presents last year.

Source: mygirlthursday.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Source: domestifluff.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Source: domestifluff.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Charms
Use small inexpensive ornaments in addition to a bow to add a little something special.  I found some snowflake ornaments at Target two years ago that I like to add to presents.  Its almost like a little extra gift that they can keep and add to their tree.  This year I plan to use these as well as left over snowflakes (A few ornaments go a long way because you don't want to add them to every present, that diminishes the uniqueness)

Great photo, I know!  I'm sure the questions about my camera will come flooding in.  NOT.

Ribbon Alternatives
Just like with bows, don't feel stuck with your same old same old.  Try something new or unusual.  I love these solid red and white wrapped gifts tied with rick rack or wired garland. 

Source: readjame.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

So what's your trick for fun and different gift wrapping ideas?  I better get on board with my wrapping.  Gifts this pretty deserve to be displayed for a while!!

Ornament Swap

So back in October I signed up with the Living in Yellow and Dreaming of Dimples ornament swap.  I was so excited and I told Adam about it.
"Are you sure that's really a good idea?"
"Yes!  It will be so fun!  Why?"
"You're not always the best at following through. . . "
Oh snap!  My own husband.

But I did follow through!!  I might have mailed it a day late thanks to Veteran's day closing the post office on the day it was due, but I got it done.  I did not flake out (like I often do)

Here is the ornament I sent:

I am no photographer (so that probably means I'll never be a popular blogger) and this picture took me like a hundred tries to get and its still just okay.

When I asked Brook at One Feisty Family if they had a theme she told me they collected all of their ornaments over the years and so almost anything would go.  We'll be able to do that someday, but since we've only been married for three years that would be a bare little tree!  I thought this mistletoe was just gorgeous and hopefully could add a new memory to their family Christmas tree.

I also got an ornament in the mail from the Domestic Diva's in Training!  I decided to try something new with my tree this year and I got some fun felt and straw ornaments from IKEA, made some felt ornaments of my own, and got some red bead garland from Wal-Mart (thanks to a gift card Adam won at work! Woot woot!!) Let's not talk about how I miscalculated the length of the strands and almost ended up WAY over buying (I read 18" in stead of 18'.  I was one seriously confused girl in the Wal-Mart Christmas isle for about five minutes) The ornament that I got from Mary and Angela fit in with my new rustic/handmade/vintage theme.  Its a gorgeous creche and so I centered it (especially since my tree is small and it was quite large!) and had fun putting a star above it to complete the scene.  :)

Can you see the star above the right of the creche? 

Still missing is the star I'm going to make for the top.  It will be on my design blog tomorrow!

So Christmas has come a little early to our house, but I'm kind of relieved to not have to worry about it after Thanksgiving! 

Five Favorites on Friday: Thanksgiving Recipes

Here are five recipes I LOVE that you can use for Thanksgiving dinner.  I'm not usually allowed to bring the most important parts of the dinner so I haven't tried recipes for turkey, stuffing, rolls, that sort of thing, so they aren't your usual stars, but these are recipes I have made and love and wanted to share.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts 
I brought these to Thanksgiving dinner last year and they were a HIT!  I thought I hated brussels sprouts until I had them roasted and it changed my mind, so maybe give these another go if you're feeling adventurous.

Recipe Here

Savory Sweet Potatoes
If your family is down with trying something new, give these a shot.  But just to be safe, don't replace your traditional sweet potatoes with this recipe!!  Make both, duh.

4-5 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2-3 T butter
salt, pepper, nutmeg, garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne (if you're feeling frisky!) to taste

Boil sweet potatoes until soft and drain.  Add butter and mash them however you like (hand mixer, stand mixer, old fashioned potato mixer, what ever floats your boat!)  Add seasoning to taste.  (sorry if you're like my mom and want exact measurements, but I'm doing this from memory and I've never measured before.  Plus sweet potatoes can come in such a variety of sizes it would be hard to know exactly the volume we're working with here.)

Sweet Potato Casserole
This is a little more traditional take on the sweet potato.  If you're used to the marshmallow kind, try this just once PLEASE.  You will be converted.

Recipe Here

Cranberry Sauce
I remember one year my dad and brother were in charge of cranberry sauce for some reason.  Where was my mom?  I don't know.  The point?  They didn't follow tradition and made cranberry sauce from scratch.  Why not?  The recipe was on the package.  Hot dang!  It was good and seriously easy.  It never hurts to try new things (disclaimer: not always a true statement)

Recipe Here

Hot Turkey Sandwiches
This recipe is for the day after.  My husband had never heard of such a thing and so maybe you haven't either.  This works best with homemade bread, whole wheat or whole grain if possible.  You just don't want to be dealing with a wimpy little piece of store bought bread, it will never hold up.

1 slice of bread per person (or more if you're a second helping type)
Leftover gravy
Leftover turkey, shreded

Mix turkey and gravy together and heat over medium low until hot.  Pour over your bread and enjoy!

What are you in charge of bringing to Thanksgiving dinner?  This year I'm in charge of the sweet potato casserole.  Mmmmm, so hungry just thinking about it!

Fall Bucket List: Update!

For a minute I was worried I wouldn't do anything on my Fall Bucket List.  But I'm looking back at it and I've already done a lot of them!

In the same order as they were originally written (which was just random, as they came to my mind)

1. Visiting Logan
Adam and I took Olivia to visit her friends Porter and Paige while we hung out with their parents, James and Tiff!  We all had a great time playing at the park, going to the zoo (and getting accused of not paying. . . weirdo) and eating lots of yummy food and Halloween candy!

The kids thought it was fun to play with the leaves, so we just piled them up for some photo ops!

And then we started making it rain leaves!

2. Thanksgiving Point Cornbelly Maze
For the first time in a long time, Adam and I went just the two of us.  It was so fun!  We did both corn mazes (which you can read a little about here)  We also got hot cocoa to share, kettle corn, and Adam shot a pumpkin at an old car and rode a mechanical bull.  The only thing we didn't do was the Haunted Maze.  I won.

3. Farmer's Market Downtown
So we didn't go to the one downtown, we went to a closer one with fewer vendors.  Even so I think we were too late in the season for basil, which is what I really wanted!  Last year we went in September I think.  This year it was almost the end of October.  Everyone had potatoes, apples and pumpkins.

My belly looks so much smaller than my Halloween pictures!  Its crazy what two weeks will do. . .

4. Make a roast chicken.
We did this with Tiffanie and James, but since I pretty much made the worst chicken ever last time I cooked one, I feel the need to really redeem myself.  Plus: leftovers for enchiladas.

5. Take Olivia trick-or-treating in her Halloween costume.  
Done!

6. Buy and carve a pumpkin.
I think we bought like 6 pumpkins.  Adam carved one, Martha carved one.  I realized I don't really like doing that.  At least not at night.  After finally getting Olivia to sleep it just isn't the relaxing way I want to spend my night.  Maybe next year, during the day light hours!  But we did go to our favorite little pumpkin patch and Olivia loved it.  She's obsessed with pumpkins.  She calls them "pumpkin me".  I have no idea why.

Its too much to ask a child to look at the camera AND smile.  This was the best we got!

7.  Our annual Halloween party with Andrew and Martha.
Yep!  My little bro Kenny lives in Utah now and he got to come up and hang with us too.  No good pictures though.  Lady bugs aren't very good at holding still.

8. Teach kids how to make butter.
This is a Thanksgiving activity, I'm so excited about it!

Woo hoo!!  I've done all but two!  I feel like the next two weeks before Thanksgiving are going to fly by.

Rainbow Chili + Our Halloween Costumes

One Halloween tradition I carried from my family was to have chili on Halloween night.  I know that's not super original, but it is a really easy dinner and very filling for cold nights hitting the pavement.  I knew I had most of the stuff for chili on hand, but I did grab a can of black beans while I was getting supplies for apple cider (and hot dang!  Cinnamon sticks and whole cloves are expensive!  I came up with a poor girl's apple cider recipe and I'll share that soon).

Chili is great because its one of those things you don't really need a recipe for.  I did want a little guidance on spices so I looked up a recipe on allrecipes and this is the one I referenced.  It also inspired me to add celery, something I never thought of before.  Adam and I participate in a food co-op every couple of week and so I had a ton of vegetables needing to be used up and I just started throwing stuff in.

And it looked like all the colors of the rainbow, hence the name

All mixed together and cooking

1/2 red onion, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 yellow squash, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced (I don't know what kind I used.  It was from the co-op last summer when I cut and froze them.  I do know it was spicy but not a jalapeno.  You could use a jalapeno though, if you like that amount of heat)
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cans beans, drained and rinsed (I used one can small red and one can black)
2 cans tomatoes (I used one can of crushed and one can of diced.  I knew the other vegetables would give plenty of chunkiness so I wanted to reduce that a little by using some crushed)
2-3 T chili powder
1 t cumin
2 t oregano
salt and pepper to taste

I cooked all the veg in a little bit of olive oil and salt until they were soft.  Then I added my beans, tomatoes and seasoning.  I stirred it all together and let it simmer on low for an hour.  Right before we went trick-or-treating (we ate after because Olivia is so small we wanted her to get out before the big kids) I turned it off but left it on the hot burner (electric stove, which I hate, but was good in this situation) for kind of a slow cooker effect.  It was still really hot when we got home an hour later. 

(No pic of the finished chili.  I think you have all seen chili before. . . )

And here we are after trick-or-treating.

Blogger Barbie, Lady Bug and Billy Idol

Olivia got really into it and so we didn't stop at three houses, we did probably 15 or so.  She learned to say trick-or-treat when she knocked on the door but of course refused to do it any of the times I tried to video her. 

I was Blogger Barbie.  You can tell by my colored denim, fall boots, cardigan, red lips and top knot.  Of course I'm Barbie so I had to go with blue eyeliner and purple shadow.  No one asked if I was dressed up (probably because they are my real clothes and my real hair) and so I guess they just assume I wear blue eyeliner during the week.

Adam was Billy Idol, a blast from our past four years ago.

Hope you guys had a great Halloween as well!!

Kids have some pretty morbid views on death. . .

If you're dead you don't get to go anywhere!-- Ty, 4

They will use your skin to make another person.-- Max, 5

No, they take your hair to make a wig.-- Hope, 7

Only if you donate it.-- Me

Yeah, I'm going to donate my hair and skin.-- Hope

All of this conversation occurred with out my prompting.

Pumpkin Butter

Have you heard of this stuff?  If you have, and you haven't told me. . .  I don't know if we can be friends anymore.  Basically pumpkin butter is like pumpkin pie jam, and contrary to the name it doesn't actually have butter in it.  One minute I was playing on Pinterest, having never heard of pumpkin butter and an hour later I was whipping up a batch on my stove top.  So easy and I had all the ingredients (except apple juice, which my MIL had.  The benefits of living with parents).

So far I've used it to make pumpkin french toast and as an apple dip.  (I've eaten two apples dipped in pumpkin butter just while writing this post) On cinnamon swirl bread toast?  I would probably die of happiness.  Topped on pancakes or muffins?  The possibilities are endless.

Ingredients:  (I followed this recipe exactly except I didn't have any mace, so left that out)
1 (28-oz.) can pumpkin puree
3/4 cup apple juice
2 teaspoons ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmege
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan.
2. The recipe said to bring it to a boil, but all it really did for me was blow up bubbles and splatter my kitchen with yummy smelling orange goop.  So I kept the lid on the pot, cracked with a wooden spoon to let the steam out.  I stirred it every minute or so for about 45 minutes.  It was only supposed to take 30 minutes, but maybe I had it turned down too low or maybe keeping the lid on made it take longer.  Still the yummiest thing I've ever eaten.

I put some in small jars to give away with this tag and the recipe for pumpkin french toast.  I used the pumpkin clip art from this site. When I printed it out I just folded it accordion style into thirds with the pumpkin on the top and put a small hole in the upper left corner to tie it on.

This is pretty much the best thing I've discovered this year. 

Tradition!

Did the title of this post just get a song stuck in your head?  Because it did in mine.  I'm practically dancing in my chair.

Something about this time of year makes me want to have more traditions.  Its so fun to be a new family because you get to start things now that your kids will remember and look forward to forever! We don't have a lot of them, but we make new ones every year.  Some are Adam's, some are mine, some are ours!

• My cousin Cait started a new tradition of hot cocoa, doughnuts and a scary movie on Oct 1.  Next year, I'm taking that one!

• Buy pumpkins at the small local pumpkin farmer near Adam's childhood home.  (We live like five minutes away from there now.  I assume we'll have to do away with this one if we move out of state. . . )  This is one we got from Adam's family.

• One we started this year is pumpkin french toast bake on the first day of Fall Break (I think Fall Break is a Utah thing, so if we move out of state maybe we'll just do it on the Saturday before Halloween)

• Chili on Halloween night!  This is from my family.

• Crepes for breakfast on Christmas Eve morning.  This is one I started the first year we were married.

I'm sure there are more, I just can't think of them right now.  They're a little Halloween centered and I'm guessing that's because we celebrate Halloween on our own (or with my brother and his wife) instead of visiting one family or another.  It allows us to do more of our own thing.  I don't have any traditions for Thanksgiving (except the obvious huge dinner).  But again, its hard to start something when you're not really in charge.

So what are some of your favorite traditions?

10 Years of Barbie

What are you going to be for Halloween?  I'm surprised people still ask me this.  Maybe its mostly the kids I nanny, I'm too tired to put a face to the question.  In any case, the answer is the same every year: Barbie.  Some kind of Barbie.  The awesome thing about it is that its pretty much the easiest costume ever, if you're blonde.  I wont pretend my body type fits Barbie's, but with a little bit of hot pink lipstick and blue eyeshadow, I think I can pull it off.  I wish I had pictures for you for all the years, but its hard to track down tangible photos from the time before digital cameras were common.  (Some years I guess I didn't dress up, or else I can't remember)

2001: Doctor Barbie

2003: Skier Barbie

2004: Bedtime Barbie

2005: Rich Widow Barbie

2007: Army Barbie

2009: Shopper Barbie (looked pretty much the same as Pregnant Barbie, except I didn't have a baby bump. . .)

2010: Pregnant Barbie

 

2011: Mom Barbie (original, I know)

So the big question: What kind of Barbie can I be while I'm pregnant, with out being Pregnant Barbie again?  This may be one of life's questions with out a good answer. 

Fall Bucket List

Okay, first, is there a better word than bucket list?  Because no one is dying come Dec 21.  Fall Fun List?  Yes, let's go with that one.

Every year I really look forward to fall.  I have all these romantic ideas, like picking apples or collecting fall leaves and then. . . fall comes and goes and none of these ideas really happen.  So now I'm making a concrete list of things I want to do when the weather cools so the season doesn't pass me by.  I am my father's daughter.

1. I want to visit Logan.  Specifically Tiffanie!  I just love Logan in the fall.  Its got that small town feel and its a little cooler than Salt Lake and I feel like there has to be somewhere you can pick apples here.

VIA

2. Thanksgiving Point's Cornbelly's corn maze.  Adam and I have gone together every year for the past 4 years, even before we started dating!   This will be our fifth time going.  And we'll still have a fight about whether or not we're going in the haunted maze.  I will win and I will not go.  Adam might go alone.

VIA

3. Farmer's market downtown.  Two huge bunches of basil for $3, does it get better than that???  This year I will not let unused basil go bad.  I'm making and freezing my pesto for future use. 

VIA

4. Make a roast chicken.  It just smells like fall when you have a bird roasting in the oven.

VIA

5. Take Olivia trick-or-treating in her lady bug costume.   How many houses can a 1 year old handle?  We're thinking 2 or 3.  I'll be honest, this is more for us than for her!

Lady Bug costume by Carter's from Costco

6. Buy and carve a pumpkin.  Adam and I go to the same little pumpkin patch every year.  Its where he got his pumpkin as a kid.  Its a small house and the same man has been growing and selling his pumpkins for years.  Support independent local farmers!

VIA

7.  Our annual Halloween party with Andrew and Martha! 

Its Tigger, Barbie and Minnie Mouse!!  (Olivia, Kimberly and Martha)

8. Teach kids how to make butter in a jar.  I loved doing this as a kid.  I want to teach the kids I nanny and I want to teach Olivia's cousins at Thanksgiving dinner.

VIA