9 months old

^^A big thanks to Dad for helping out ;) ^^

 

^^He adore's his sister :) ^^

This handsome fella is 9 months old today.  He's just the sweetest guy. You can't resist smiling when he comes bounding around the corner and greets you with a wave. He's into everything. Knows how to open kitchen cabinets and drawers, loves destroying his sister's block towers and eating her crayons, but he's just so sweet you can't ever be mad. He's also proving to be taking after his mother in the climbing department (although he didn't beat my record of walking before nine months ;) ). We find him perched on the arms of the couches, climbing out of his high chair (the straps are too small for him! Didn't have that problem with Madeline...), scaling the rocking chair and getting himself onto Madeline's bed. He carries the block you see pictured almost everywhere he goes, even to bed. He crawls with it and it sounds like he has a peg leg/arm(?). His big blue eyes get comments everywhere we go, he's still the biggest flirt and he often out eats Madeline and I. He can eat a whole banana in about a minute. Not cut up or anything. Those six teeth of his know how to chomp! Looking forward to hearing how much he weighs at his doctor's appointment next week :) Luke bud we love you!!!!!!!!

simplified chicken pot pie

 ^^ "Seriously guys, it's good stuff." ^^

 ^^ "Two thumbs up!" ^^

 ^^ "Chicken pot pie!!!" ^^

 ^^ "You guys have got to try my mom's chicken pot pie! It's delicious!!!!" ^^

 ^^ "...my belly is so full I can't sit up straight..." ^^

^^ "What do you mean there's something on my face, mom? I guess it's 

probably because I just devoured your delicious chicken pot pie." ^^

A couple of years ago I gave this recipe a shot. I'd never been much of a chicken pot pie fan, but this seemed different than the typical version so I tried it. I made several changes, mostly having to do with the chicken. I hate cooking meat, especially bone in meat, so a rotisserie chicken was not coming in my kitchen (I'm sure it tastes good, but that's more than I like to deal with (or pay for)).  We've tried boiled chicken and other things through the past year or so, but a can of already cooked chicken is just.too.easy. Of course if you like your meat a little more 'meaty' following the original recipe or whatever else seems tasty would be more than acceptable.  You could easily adjust the amount of carrots, chicken and peas you prefer as well. I could do with more vegetables and my husband sure wouldn't mind more chicken ;)

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

4 C water

2 T minced onion

2-3 t chicken bullion

2 bay leaves

1 1/2 C chopped carrots

12.5 ounce can of chicken breast

3 T butter or margarine

5 T flour

1/2 C milk

1 t dried basil

1 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1 1/2 C frozen peas

Directions:

1. Bring water, minced onion, bay leaves and bullion to a boil. When bullion is dissolved, add carrots and cook until tender. Less than five minutes.
2. While carrots are cooking, drain can of chicken and shred into small pieces. Set aside.
3. When carrots are tender, strain two cups of broth and set aside. Strain carrots from remaining broth. Set carrots aside and discard broth or save for another use.
4. Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat until melted. Slowly add flour until mixed well. Slowly stir in two cups of broth previously set aside, along with milk. Stir constantly until smooth and slightly thickened. Add basil, salt and pepper.
5. Stir in cooked carrots, chicken and frozen peas until well coated.
6. Pour mixture into a greased 9x13 and set aside.

Biscuits:

1 1/2 C flour

2 t baking powder

2 t sugar

1/4 t salt

1/3 C shortening

1/2 C milk (probably less)

1. Preheat oven to 400˚.
2. In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture is crumbly and combined. Slowly stir in milk just until moistened enough to hold together, up to 1/2 a cup.
3. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead 8-10 times. Gently roll to about 1/2inch thick. Cut biscuits with a cup or cookie cutter and place on top of chicken mixture in 9x13. 
4. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.
5. Allow to sit 5-10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

two and a half

Recently Madeline overheard me telling another mom at the library that she's "two and a half" and since then she's been quick to inform others of her age. I'm not sure she knows exactly what it means, but she does know she's going to be three soon. We frequently sing 'happy birthday' and she's practicing holding up three fingers. What a tricky thing to do! Getting that pinky to stay down and the ring finger to stay up. Good thing she has a few more months to practice ;) 

This little girl, who really doesn't feel like much of a toddler any more, is such a joy to have around. As much as her unkempt hair drives me crazy, she loves it down and she feels beautiful. The headband she puts on herself is just so her I don't even want to fix it (except maybe on Sundays). She's 110% girl down to her very core. Fancy Nancy, Tinkerbell, Frozen, all things pink and princess. Necklaces, rings, 'makeup', gloves (daddy's socks). I love that too :)

Madeline is such a good big sister. You saw that first picture of her feeding Luke, right? She absolutely adores her baby brother. Usually she'll introduce him to strangers before introducing herself. She builds forts out of couch cushions for him and asks him questions (usually gets mad when he doesn't answer ;) ) But she really is great with him.

She's great with other people, too. Loves playing with friends and says "hello" to almost everyone we meet on the street or in the store. She can bring a smile to anyone's face. 

I'm amazed by some of the conversations we have. She's incredibly observant, asking me about the billboards and people she sees from her seat in the car. She recognizes when we're driving past places like daddy's school and informs me when the light is green. 

Lately she's been very into her emotions. If Luke knocks down her tower she'll come to me with the saddest face and say,"Mom.... I'm just so sad..." I'll ask her why and we'll talk about how she could solve her problem and be happy again. She's independent but not to proud to ask for help when she needs it. At least once a day she still needs me to hold her and I hope that never changes. 

Her yearning to learn is contagious. I'm amazed by her steady interest in learning the alphabet. She asks for help writing letters and points letters out on signs and packaging. She definitely doesn't recognize all of them but is often asking for more.  I made a dashed line-letter for her to trace and she did amazingly well and keeps asking for more. She assembled a 46 piece jigsaw puzzle with me twice, back to back. I'm convinced she would have done it a third time but I was losing interest ;) She enjoys anything creative: scissors, glue, crayons, paper, paint, stickers, you name it, she'll do it. 

While she's still VERY busy, I find that all of her "messes" are purposeful. The couch cushions all over the floor? Oh that's just her castle. The plates, cups and bowls scattered across the kitchen? She was making a rainbow. Her imagination knows no limits, and oh that makes me happy. 

I think Jeremy and I would agree that the thing we're loving most about this spunky, curious, beautiful little girl at two and a half is the things she says. I realize this is getting to be quite lengthy, but bear with me. Or stop reading. Actually I'll be impressed if you're still reading ;)

While licking a spoon covered in chocolate muffin batter,"I think I loooooove muffins.... Muffins are my favorite."

"Attention everybody!" *dramatic pause* "Tinkerbell fixes things!"

As we're getting ready to read scriptures,"So what's Lehi up to?"  to which we responded, "Actually, Lehi died a few chapters ago...."

While in the bath, "Daddy, I have a bottom and Luke has a peanut. He's a boy with a beautiful peanut."

Another night while in the bath,"Mommy, why does Luke have a 'peanut butter' ?" (Perhaps we need to work on annunciating "penis" better?)

Pulling onto north Avenue (if you're not from Baltimore, it's known for blue lights, boarded up buildings and loitering  - sketchy, sketch),"ME-OW! This is a classy neighborhood!" She'd recently watch the 'Aristocats'.

Often she'll pull us all into a bear hug and say,"Aw..... I love you guys SO MUCH!!!"

When she's forgotten to say 'please' when asking for something I'll put my hand to my ear and then I usually say 'yes'. One time while I was debating about whatever it was she wanted, she said,"Put your hand by your ear so you can say 'YES!' ". 

"IT'S THE BEST DAY EVER TO JUMP!!!!!" 

"While 'serving me food' one day I mentioned that she was a very good waitress. She thought about it, whipped her skirt off, and said,"Now I'm a waitress!!!" 

Madeline - "I want to take a bath!"
Mom - "Talk to daddy about it I bathed you last night" (leaves room)
Madeline - "Dad, can I take a bath?! Please..... Mommy said, 'YES!' and you didn't say ,'NO!' "

During her prayer one night,"And thank you we could go to the library today, and two parks, and lots of stores, and three libraries, and church, and all the parks and the library..."  (We had stayed home that entire day.... guilt trip?)

Upon hearing the toiled flush from the living room while Jeremy was in the bathroom, "*gasp* Daddy pooped!! Daddy pooped in the toilet!!!!! Yay daddy!!!!" (Can you tell we're coming out of potty training? ;) )

She was looking in the mirror and i asked her what she was doing. She replied,"Oh just looking at myself because I am BEAUTIFUL!"

Changing the preset radio stations in the car while I was nursing Luke she finally settled on one and said,"Ooooo excellent."

As I'm tucking her down for quiet time,"Thank you mister mom!" 

"Goodbye, have a good luck!"

Madeline we love you! Thanks for making this parenting journey such a joy :)

two things I hope I never forget...

First, this beautiful little girl who spent most of spring in a Christmas dress. Black velvet bodice, big poofy skirt. The works. I don't know how because it's getting HOT. But every day without  fail she requests it and wears it even when her hair is dripping with sweat. Such a girl :)

Second, watching the relationship of this brother and sister develop. In particular I'd like to remember that right before I took these pictures Madeline asked if,"Please mommy, can you leave so we can play?"

I'd probably be offended if it wasn't the sweetest thing to watch from around the corner.

It's amazing how long the days can seem and then little things like this happen and it seems to melt mostly away. Luke will be five months old tomorrow and I can hardly believe it. The days are long but the years sure are short.  Long, exhausting days, sometimes I-think-I'll-explode-days, but I wouldn't change it for a thing.

garden update

^^see that tiny green speck? That's our first little sprout of rosemary! 

I think I'm most excited about the rosemary plant. mmm....^^

Our little garden is growing! It seriously makes me so happy. I can't believe how well it's doing. We aren't exactly green thumb people, but I'd like to be someday. And this is giving me hope. If you remember last month we planted some cilantro and basil. They were doing so well that when we bought pots for transplanting them we got some other seeds as well. 

We now have cilantro, basil, oregano, rosemary and chives. On Sunday I put some green onion bulbs(? is that the right term? I'm telling ya I know nothing about this gardening stuff.) anyway, put them in some water because I'd seen on pinterest they continue to grow in just water. Well Jeremy thought I was crazy so he made me plant one in dirt too, and booya, my water ones are growing faster :) 

We also have three plants outside thanks to a friend in the ward. She gave us a thyme, sage and tomato plants which are also doing well. Jeremy and I have been talking a lot about what we see in a garden someday. You know, the kind you put in your yard not in pots. I'd love to have a greenhouse with lots of flowers, but I suppose... the food plants are the ones we'll tackle first. That's all a long ways away, though. So for now we're enjoying our happy little garden windowsill. 

on stages and phases and the cute things little miss is saying these days

Parenthood is kind of funny, in that as soon as you think you've figured things out, something else hits; growth-spurt, teething, sickness, vacation, daylight savings, etc. (So really funny was a poor word choice, but twisted feels too... ominous...?) Just one of those things throws off everything and it feels like normal, whatever that means, will never return again. But it does, just in time for something else to arrive and turn your world inside out and upside down. It's not just sleep schedules that make parenthood a roller-coaster, there are phases and stages galore. Good stages and bad stages. Biting, screaming, hitting... you get the idea. But it's all just stages. Ask any parent, well any parent who isn't currently living life in a less than desirable stage, and they'll assure you, nothing lasts forever. It's hard to believe when you're sleep deprived or there are teeth marks in your shoulder, but before you know it that phase is just a memory.

I hate to admit it, but we've been fooled again. We were blissfully enjoying our angelic pre-terrible-two-year-old, assuming life would remain in this state of happiness forever. Let's just say we were a little premature in our sigh of relief that little miss wasn't going to come close to the terrors we've been dreading. She sure had us fooled. 

But really, it's our own fault. Who thinks a child who is twenty-eight months reserves the right to never test the boundaries a little? Never explore the limits of her curiosity? Which are all good things when you step back from the make-up covered bathroom and resistant bedtime routine. All things she needs to learn; things she can't learn from a book. And isn't that what we're all doing? Learning, growing and trying not to make the same mistakes twice. It just feels more frustrating when you're dealing with someone three feet tall who's embracing her independence for the first time ;) I try to remind myself that we're all happier when we step back and let her learn, grow, explore and exercise her independence. It may take a little longer, but avoiding a tantrum is worth it. Safety first, of course.

All that being said, she still is truly a wonderful girl. And she's been reminding us of that with all the cute things she's been saying this past month.  So have yourself a chocolate chip cookie (that's what I'm enjoying - told you I can't get enough of them!) and read all about what little miss has to say:

- While jumping on the couch cushions she'd arranged across the floor, "Want to jump with me? Come here Luke!"

- Noticing my the freckles on my arms, she inquired,"Why you have sprinkles on your arms?" I explained that they were "freckles" and showed her that there were more on my face. She responded,"Silly mommy! Sprinkles on your face!!!"

- Any time Luke is crying more than a little, "OH MY GOODNESS LUKE!"

- During a family home evening lesson on President Monson,"That's our prophet, he has EARS!" (Which is funny because he's kind of known for his ears ;)

- As soon as Jeremy walks in the door from school she often asks,"How was your test, Jer?" We've decided Jeremy has too many tests.

- In the above picture she had just said,"Please can Luke come in my tent mommy? And please can I have a blanket? And please can I have three books? And please can Luke have his squeaky giraffe? ....thank you mommy." And my heart melts...

- While getting dressed for church one Sunday morning she invited me to come to nursery with her. I explained that while she goes to nursery I go to Sunday school. And ever since she's made it very clear that she doesn't want to go to Sunday school, she wants to go to nursery. "You go to Sunday school mommy, I go to nursery." Sounds like a good plan, Madeline. Why didn't I think of that?

- Trying to throw something away but the trash wasn't in it's typical spot under the sink. She turned around, found it, chuckled a little and exclaimed,"What the heck!?"

- Again jumping on the couches, we over heard her say," Silly Madeline... jumping on the couches... hahaha"

- Jeremy asked her to close the fridge after she'd gotten her milk out and she said,"What? What you talk about...?"

- Asking me something about a "wama" one morning. I had NO idea what she was talking about until she said, with all the sass you can imagine coming from one little girl,"His name is KUZCO!" (as in she wanted to watch the llama in 'The Emperor's New Groove')

- One day every time something good happened she'd say,"Mommy that's TASTIC!" (fantastic)

- Pressing a silk flower to her nose, "Smells like something's burning..."

- I asked her if she wanted to help me scoop some cookies, to which she of course responded, "YES!"  I asked her to get our little cookie scoop out. She didn't see it in the drawer right away but did notice the ice cream scoop, did her little chuckle and while holding it above her head said,"Oooooh.... that's a good idea..."

- She was getting frustrated that her crayons kept rolling towards her, but they were on a slanted surface so I explained that gravity made them fall. "Well shoot..." she said.

- Any time Jeremy is kissing or tickling me, she runs over says says,"Stop doing mommy! Jer stop!!!!"

- Jeremy was with the kids in the living room but he was on his computer and not paying very close attention. Luke was laying on the couch and Madeline had been doing something else. Jeremy looked up when he heard Madeline saying,"This just isn't working!" She had Luke laying across both arms and she was holding him above the couch (thank goodness). "This just isn't working!" And we're glad it wasn't working!

- And lastly, my favorite from our little collection. During the middle of my family home evening lesson she pointed to my cheek and shouted,"THERE'S A LADYBUG ON YOUR FACE!!!" Not the most clever way of getting out of family night, but boy do kids start young. Can't wait til she's a teenager ;)

I'll never get tired of saying it, so you'll never be done reading it: I love you Miss Madeline! I love you even on the days you drive me crazy. Because at the end of the day, nothing can ruin the love I feel for you when I hear the sweet sound of your laughter or watch a smile cross your face. And if that wasn't cheesy I don't know what is. Happy Monday.