Monday, November 22, 2010

The girls

No, this is not about "those" girls; it's a long-overdue post about Ada and Kate! I keep meaning to post about them and then everything changes. It's crazy! Here is the latest on these two rascals:

Food

Ada: Usually won't eat what I make for dinner, so ends up eating cereal or pb&j more often than not. She does, however, love apples, celery, carrots, broccoli, and tomatoes (phew). She'll even eat lettuce and spinach leaves.

Kate: Doesn't eat much else than honey on toast, zucchini bread, pancakes, and cereal. She could eat pancakes or zucchini bread nonstop. She sometimes eats fruit, but I have a hard time getting her to eat anything healthy. She is a ridiculously messy eater, too!

Temperament

Ada: She is much more mild than she used to be. She is a lot of fun! I'm so glad the hard days are done. She still throws an occasional fit, but all I have to do it throw her in her room and then she's fine. She used to spaz out whenever she didn't want to do what I asked, but now she just sort of sighs and says, "All right." She is impatient and gets bored easily, but I'll take that any day over crazy Ada.

Kate: All I can say is that two is a very difficult age for me. It has made even sweet little Kate pretty terrible at times. She gives in a lot faster than Ada used to, but I still struggle with this one. When she gets mad, she hits or pulls hair. Sometimes she scratches and kicks. I don't know what to do! Suggestions on getting her to stop? She is full of energy. She now refuses to stay in the shopping cart at the store, so shopping is difficult because she wants to run around everywhere. She runs around at church too. She requires a lot of patience (which I don't always have) because she has to do everything herself. She definitely has many sweet moments, though, and is so adorable. She makes Ada laugh all day long. Those two are hilarious when they're getting along!

Funny sayings

Ada:
-She is so silly and makes up silly words all day long. She also likes to make up funny games. She and Kate play one where they start at the couch and then run to hide behind the curtains like they're running from a monster. When they're running, Ada always says, "It's a good thing I cut their shirts off so I can see their belly buttons and nipples." Not sure what to say about that, but it makes me laugh every time!
-She made a Christmas list recently and told me she wanted to leave it outside so it would blow to the North Pole.

Kate:
-She is always full of funny sayings. One day I was playing with her and she pointed up and said, "There's the Palace of Versailles!" I guess she's watched a certain episode of Little Einsteins too many times!
-One time I asked her if she was a boy or a girl and she replied, "Uh, a black boy!" (she was wearing a black shirt)
-While she was eating pancakes one day, she help up a piece and said, "This pancake looks like a Book of Mormon!"
-Once I overheard her in her bedroom singing 'I Love To See The Temple' and when she got to the last line, she said, "This is my Sleeping Beauty (sacred duty)!"

Random

Ada:
-She has a little brood of animals she carries around with her. She gathers them around her plates or bowls whenever she eats so she can "share" with them. Before that, she would do it with a bunch of animal-shaped Silly Bandz.
-She loves to color and draw. She is getting so good. She also writes on her own and tries to spell out words by herself. She usually leaves out a lot of vowels and spaces, so it's hard to tell what she has written. She did, however, draw a picture last month and wrote 'Octobr' at the top. Not bad!

Kate:
-She's learning to use the potty. She has peed many times in it and pooped about three times. I've tried to get her to wear Pull-Ups but she refuses. I can't believe she wouldn't want to wear something that's pink and covered with princesses! I need to get her some real underwear and just buck up. She is eager to go, but often tells me she needs to go after she's already messed her pants!
-She's been done with binkies for a few months. We probably waited too long to ditch them, but I'm glad we finally don't have to worry about that anymore. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be.

These girls definitely are keeping me on my toes. As difficult as they can be, I love them to pieces. They make me happy every day and I'm so grateful that they're healthy, fun, sweet girls.













Weekly Quote 11/22/10

"Grizzly Adams DID have a beard." Good job, Rachelle. It's from Happy Gilmore. I'm not such a huge fan anymore, but that show is full of excellent quotes.

New quote up! Actually, quotes! I couldn't decide between the two, but since they're from the same movie I decided to include them both. They're spoken by the same lady within a minute or two of each other. Best of luck.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Weekly Quote 11/15/10

"You're willing to take 2/8 instead of a quarter? That's awful big of you." is from 'It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'. I'm so impressed that Shanny got this one! I thought that only members of my family would know this one. It's one of our favorite movies and we used to watch it every Christmas. We laugh our tails off!

New quote up!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Weekly Quote 11/8/10

"Your aim would suggest otherwise." is indeed from Ever After. Well done, Shan! I used to watch that show quite frequently. It's now been years, but I still love it.

New quote up!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

This recipe was posted on a friend's blog. Though I really hate the name of these, I'm very partial to pumpkin and cream cheese and just had to try them! I made them for my parents' Halloween party last week (there's a picture on the previous post). I'll post the recipe as it was and then add the changes I made.

2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cups solid pack pumpkin puree
2 eggs
3 cups flour (I use slightly heaping cups in MA)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice (or ½ T. ground ginger, ½ T. ground cloves)

Preheat oven to 350ยบ. Lightly grease baking sheets. Combine the oil and brown sugar. Mix in pumpkin and eggs, beating well. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, 1 tsp. vanilla, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix well.

Drop by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets (I fit 12 on an industrial cookie sheet). Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cookies will spread quite a bit, but if they seem really thin, you may need to add a bit more flour. Let cookies cool completely; then make sandwiches from two cookies filled with Cream Cheese Whoopie Pie Filling. It’s usually best to let them sit for a few hours after putting the sandwiches together so the filling can set a little bit.

For filling: Beat 3 egg whites until white, fluffy, and thick. Add 8 oz. cream cheese, softened. Mix until smooth. Add 2 tsp. vanilla, then 4 cups powdered sugar; mix well. Add 4-6 more cups of powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached (total of 8-10 cups). I like the filling to be somewhat thick, so it doesn’t slide out of the cookies when put together.

Yield: 18 pies.

I added lots of extra flour at the beginning, so they didn't spread much. They were super thick and then I loaded them with filling, so it was difficult to fit my mouth around them when they were done! So tasty though. I was a little nervous about a filling with raw eggs, especially since they'd be in the car for a time while I ran errands on the way to my mom's, so I left out the eggs and added 4 T of butter. I kept everything else the same, though I didn't measure the powdered sugar. I just added a bunch and whipped it really well until it seemed about right. I will definitely make these again!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Fall

Fall has fast become my favorite season. I love everything about it! Here is what we've been up to since September or so:

-Midnight 5k to prepare for the Dirty Dash. I don't like running in the heat, but I love running when it's cool. This 5k was especially nice because it rained for the first half or so. It was my first real race and I beat 30 minutes, so I felt pretty good about myself.


-Ballet. Ada has been anxious to take dance, so we signed her up for ballet with her friend Ellie. I think she looks adorable in her dance clothes. It is so funny to watch these little girls!




-School. Ada LOVES preschool. I threaten to keep her home if she's being naughty, and it works every time. She loves her teacher and all her classmates. I'm so glad she's having a good time.






-Visit from my sisters. They both came to town at the beginning of September. It was so nice to be with everyone! We went out to eat, played games, stayed up way too late, and had a barbecue/b-day party for Abby and my mom. This is the cake that Emily and I created. We were too lazy to add a crumb layer before frosting, so it's not nearly as pretty as we'd hoped.



-The State Fair. The girls got to go twice in one day! Tyler took them in the morning while I went for a run, and then we all went back in the evening. They loved the animals and the rides.





-Air Force Ball. Tyler's dad was in charge, so we went to support him. It was fun to dress up and eat a fancy dinner. Thanks to Rachel for lending me an outfit!


-Baking! I LOVE fall food and I've been indulging in way too many sweets. I'll post the recipe for these behemoths on Thursday.


-Many Halloween festivities! We got to dress up a lot this year. We dressed up for the Ward party, Ada's friend's party, my parents' party (I told my mom I'd dress up if she did. Needless to say, the girls were the only ones who dressed up), trick-or-treating, and Tyler's parents' party. Ada also got to dress up for her preschool party.

Ada's darn wig wouldn't stay put









Tyler took the girls trick-or-treating in the rain. They were so excited to wear their rain coats and boots and to carry their umbrellas, but after a while they just got too cold. Kate's hair was soaked when they got home!



Tyler catching hot dog pieces in his mouth. Eww.


Watch those hands, Judice!



"Is that bad?"

This is what our Halloween costumes looked like this year:

-I'm Minnie...


-I'm Snow White...


-I'm white trash...


-And I'm Judice!

Don't know what I'm dressed as? Check this out: http://tysqui.blogspot.com/2010/09/judice.html

Happy Halloween!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Weekly Quote 11/1/10

"Look, my dear! A little frog!" is indeed from Moulin Rouge. I have to admit that I love that show. New quote up!