Feeling Thankful

So, this post is annoying for two reasons. One, It doesn't have any pictures and I've posted like 5 times without pictures. I know you all miss looking at my kids. Two, it's after Thanksgiving and I'm doing a "thankful" post. In all fairness, I really am feeling thankful. "Why?" you ask? I will tell you...

Brent had to go into work today and missed church because he was there all afternoon. Normally, this isn't the kind of thing that I would be feeling thankful for, but it reminded me of something. As our bishop said to me today "At least he's not unloading boxes of hamburger at a McDonald's" This is VERY true. We had been accustomed to him missing lots of church and working really weird shifts at all hours of the night and day, not to mention the countless calls waking me up in the middle of the night because someone didn't show up for their shift. Since he started working at Stampin' Up! we haven't received a single call that woke us up and this is the first Sunday he's ever had to work. For that, I am extremely thankful.

Gotta love the O.G.

Fact: I am a girl.
Fact: I live in Utah

Based on these 2 facts, I'm all but required to enjoy the classic soup, salad and breadsticks from Olive Garden. Problem is that I don't enjoy standing in line for an hour on any given weeknight to eat soup, salad and breadsticks. Seriously, it's good, but is it really THAT good?

Last week, I was craving me some minestrone from the O.G. and Leslie and I were thinking that it shouldn't been all that hard to make ourselves. With the help from our mom, we found a recipe that is almost exactly the same and every bit as delicious. We had to modify it a little to make it just right. My mom wrote about it on her blog, but I'll post the recipe since she didn't feel like she knew the ingredients well enough to do so.

Ingredients

• 1 cup finely minced celery
• 1 cup finely minced onion
• 1 cup finely minced carrot
• 1/4 cup butter
• can of cut green beans
• can of light kidney beans
• can of dark kidney beans
• can of chick peas
• 3/4 cup sliced carrot
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped onion
• 3/4 cup sliced celery
• 3/4 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1 cup small shell macaroni
• 2 tablespoons parsley
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• pepper
• parmesan cheese
• 3 quarts of vegetable broth
• I also added probably around half a tspn of garlic salt and thyme
• 2 cans of italian style tomatoes
• some frozen spinach (however much you like)
  

Directions

1. Saute the minced onion, celery and carrots in a VERY large soup pot with the butter until very brown.

2. Add the vegetable broth (we used boullion and water)

3. throw in all the cans of everything - we drained everything but the tomatoes - and the seasonings (that is add, everything but the pasta and the spinach)

4. We cooked it for probably about an hour, until the carrots were tender (they take forever) About 20 minutes before you are ready to serve it, add the spinach and pasta

Now, I'm not great at following recipes, so mine was more like a chopped up carrot, 2 sticks of celery, half a bell pepper, half a box of pasta, you get the picture. Ultimately, soup is really forgiving, so it's just a matter of how much you like certain ingredients.

We served it with garlic bread and parmesan cheese and it was awesome! The boys liked it, the kids liked it, it is probably the best soup I've ever had and we made it ourselves! It was such a proud day.

If you make it, let me know how it turns out since I'm totally obsessed with this soup at the moment and I want everyone to love it as much as me.

So THAT'S what those big parking lots are for

I went shopping this morning. It was a sight to behold, something that I couldn't possibly have been prepared for. You see, I've never been much of a Black Friday shopper mostly because my mom wasn't. For my entire childhood and through college, we spent every Thanksgiving with my dad's family in Kelseyville, a tiny town in northern California with a population that must be in the hundreds. There weren't a whole lot of door busters there. We have been spending Thanksgiving closer to home for the last few years and so last year, I thought I'd check out this whole early morning shopping thing. I set my alarm and was prepared to go. When my alarm went off the next morning, it was WAY to early and I slept in for another hour or so and then headed out without any real design or place to go. I mostly just wanted to see what it was all about. I don't think that I bought anything at all.

This year, I was determined. I made my mom drive around to several stores yesterday looking for a newspaper to make sure I had the ads. I had everything mapped out and I was going to be there at 5:00 AM to make sure that I got a particular gift for Jane. The alarm went off, I got up, got dressed, fed the baby and got to the store before they opened. It was a lot of work for nothing. There must have been like 5 Leapsters in the store because by the time I even got back there, they were all gone. These people are die hard, I totally underestimated the determination of an indivual looking for a good deal. Now, it's not even 7:00 and I am left with no Leapster, a massive headache, a stomach ache from eating a greezy (and delicious) hashbrown from McDonald's WAY too early in the morning and the prospect of my kids waking up at any moment. On the bright side, I did get a bunch of half priced socks, which is a lot more rewarding than I had anticipated. I'm not sure I'll be doing this again next year. Oh who am I kidding? Next year, I'll just have to get up at 3:00.

...and Lizzy's awake.

Because I Love You

I have had several people ask me for hair clips for Christmas presents and I'm sorry that I've been a bum and haven't responded much. I have been doing these local art and gift shows this fall and I've been working to get ready for those. That and I'm a total space cadet and I just forget to respond to things. I've decided that when I finish with my shows, I'm going to list what I haven't sold to my friends and family at deeply discounted prices. My last boutique is on December 9th and I'll try to get things listed right away. If you need something before that, let me know and I'll do what I can.

I'm planning to set up a private blog and post pictures of all the clips available. It will all be first come first serve, so you'll have to post to let me know to reserve it for you. If you live far away, I'll only charge exact shipping and if you live close, you can come pick them up.

Even if we aren't BFFs (it makes me so happy that I just said that), if you like me enough to take the time the read my blog, you are invited to check out the sale blog :) Send me your email address and I'll send you an invite.

Until then, you can check out my etsy store (link is on the sidebar) to see the kinds of things that I make. Unless I'm ridiculously successful, I think there will be lots of cute clips to choose from.

All my children

Today is a gorgeous fall day here. I took the camera outside to get some cute pictures of the kids.





I couldn't decide which picture of Jane to post, so you all get 2. She is technically sick with strep throat, but don't tell her that. She had a fever and rash yesterday and even though the nurse at our pediatrician's office did everything she could to discourage me from taking her in, I insisted because I was sure she had strep. I always enjoy being right, so I derived a great deal of satisfaction out of it, but at the same time, I feel bad that she's sick. At least there's something we can do about it.



Lizzy is talking so much all of a sudden! It just clicked in her head and now she's a little chatterbox. Some of the things she says are "lolli" which means candy, "zizzy" for Lizzy, she still calls Charlie "baby" and also says "Lilly" which is the name of a little girl her age in our ward. Funny thing is that she pronounces her words very meticulously making sure she gets her Ls and Ts right, with the exception of Zizzy. I don't get it.

The rash around her mouth is from eating cat food, which she is obviously allergic to. Why does she insist on eating cat food?



Ok, so Charlie isnow about 8 weeks old and already wearing 3 month clothes, he's growing like mad. He continues to be the sweetest little guy I've ever met. He's starting to coo and smile, this is the age that it gets really satisfying to have a baby.

For something so small...

...they sure do require a lot of things. My latest purchase (with the help of my mom and her mad Craigslist skills) is this portable swing. The big one is so big and heavy and stationary, as opposed to this nice, small portable one.



Ok, this post might be more of an opportunity to post a picture of my little man. Seriously though, isn't he so handsome? (this is where you are supposed to post a comment about how right I am and he IS so handsome)



This one made me laugh. He looks like he's trying to be such a tough guy. I love Charlie.

Just a Thought

Is it just me, or does it seems as though once a child is aware enough that they hide when they mess their diaper (I'm trying to be gentle with my language here) they should be able to use a freaking toilet?



I sure would like to stop buying diapers for this one. Unfortunately, that day is still probably several months away. Until then, enjoy your time under the desk or behind the couch or wherever you think we don't know what you're doing.

Silly Lizzy

Winter is not good for eczema. Poor Lizzy has been miserable lately and I've been trying so hard to keep her comfortable, but she still scratches and claws. Thank goodness it's cold enough to justify the bunny bags again. I have to put them on her during her naps too because she'll claw herself to bits if I don't. A while ago I went to pick her up out of bed after changing her into jammies and leaving her pants lying next to her and this is what I found...



She really likes to get dressed.

Oh the weather outside is frightful

It has begun. Good morning winter.



Why does my neighborhood get SO MUCH SNOW?! Things I love about where I live: everything except the snow.



At least I have my fire... and my family room is still clean from the party on Sunday, so I decided to take a picture to show everyone how awesome it is. Brent and our friend Jaime, with his mad skills, worked on the wainscoting all week to get it done before we had family over for Charlie's blessing and I love it. I have a painting ordered for over the fireplace and it still needs some more decor (read: a new light fixture), but it will be fabulous.

Bath time

I was running a bath for Jane this evening and had to run into my room for something while the water was still going. I was seriously gone for just a minute and when I returned to the bathroom, I found this...



No wonder Jane was yelling so loud at me! "Get her out, Mom! Her pants are sucking up all the water!" I hadn't realized that Lizzy was also in need of a bath. Seriously, I can't describe in words how much this girl amuses me. Even when she does things that should make me insane, I just laugh.

Ok Lizzy, you win.

Good Times on Halloween

So, my camera is broken, which I don't REALLY mind in some ways because I hate my camera, but I don't have money to replace it, so it's also a drag. In the meantime, my mom forgot her camera here for the week, so I at least have that to document our lives until she returns. I made Cameron take pictures of my kids on Halloween so that we could prove that we dressed our kids up all cute like.



Lizzy was practically born wearing hand me downs. Jane sported this adorable costume when she was this small. Here's a picture of Jane, she was cute too and don't the girls look a lot alike?






This blurry photo is Jane in her kitty cat get up, in case you can't tell what it is. I tried to get her to let me put whiskers on her or something, but she would have none of it.



Charlie wore his costume for about 10 minutes and was in tears the entire time, so I just took it off. Poor baby. He was also lucky enough to get Jane's hand me down sweet pea costume. Aren't he and Leslie cute?



They really did go Trick-or-Treating. I have a photo to prove it. Brent was mad that we made them take the babies our before it got dark, they went out again later as well. Cameron had never been out with Brent on Halloween before, so he had no idea what he was in for. Brent is die hard. He gets the kids all organized in lines in an effort to maximize the number of houses (and candy) they are able to hit before the night is over. Is it bad that he still uses his children to get candy for himself?



And this picture is here just because it's awesome. Lizzy and the stink eye. I love my girl.