Hello again :) So the kids have been miserably sick 3 times since Lily started school 7 weeks ago... I was warned by all that this would happen. Luckily, Dustin hasn't gotten it and I only got it once. Lily is just loving school and Derrick loves his Little Gym class. My mom drove my Grandma Peggy down for a quick visit (she flew into my mom's from Illinois) and she finally got to meet Derrick. It was a great visit but way too short!

My brother and sister in-law just moved to Colorado Springs, CO and we decided to rent an RV and drive there for Thanksgiving this year. We are going to pass through Salt Lake on the way out and drive through the Grand Canyon on the way home. I'm so excited as I've never been to the G.C. before!!!

Holidays are coming up so fast I'm starting to feel the pressure to start gearing up for them! I know Christmas will sneak up before we all know it. I'm really getting back into sewing so I'm sure there will be lots of homemade gifts this year :)

That's all for now. Love to you all!

Lily's First Day of Preschool

OK, so obviously I'm horrible at blogging. But this is so blog worthy! :)


So, Lily had her first day of preschool today. She missed Howdy Day on Tuesday because she had a fever Monday, but she recovered in no time! She was so cute standing in line waiting to be checked in. Then once she met the teacher and got her name tag, she went to play at the table with all the pretend dishes and food... that is so Lily :) They did rug time and sang a song and then said goodbye to the parents. I hung around outside for a bit and then peeked into the window after 10 mins and wasn't even phased of my absence. I picked her up at 11:45 and they had just started a quick sharing time and Lily was sharing her duck named Dee Dee. The name of the class is Darling Ducks, so they will be learning about ducks for the first two weeks. She will normally go every Tuesday and Thursday from 9am-11:45am, but the teacher said all the kids starting melting down about 10:45ish, so we will pick her up at 11am until October. Here are some pictures of this special day!





Checking in...

Meeting Mrs Nita

Cheese :)


Playing in the classroom




Rug time


Still rug time

So long story short, she loved it so much that she keeps asking if it is Tuesday yet!

I love making baby food!

Yes I am being serious :) I have a couple of awesome books on it, it is sooooo easy, and I feel better knowing *exactly* what my baby is eating. Iam trying to move to an all natural, whole foods, and as much organic as possible kitchen. I know that I won't be 100% perfect, but I would really like to start living more naturally :) Wish me luck!!! My two new food bibles are: Feeding the Whole Family, by Cynthia Lair, and Super Baby Food, by Ruth Yaron. I'll be posting my successes here.

Ham and Potato Soup

Ham and Potato Soup (I give this 5 stars!!!!!!)

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup diced cooked ham
3 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste
5 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk

Directions:
1. Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.

2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.

3. Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.

(my source is www.allrecipes.com)


I'm sure this can have many, many variations!

Hello again...

Ok, it's been forever!!! The kids are running me wild... and then not sleeping, so life is a bit tough lately. This shall pass soon I'm sure! On the kiddie front: Lily's word of the day "hangerbug" = hamburger. I made a turkeyburger for her tonight and she kept saying "I'm eating the hangerbug bun"... too cute! On the Derrick side: Wow, he is everywhere and into everything, and he isn't even properly crawling yet... just a lazy crawl/dragging thing that is so adorable! And after months of the "teething process", I think he is really about to cut his first tooth! Can't wait for that to be over!!! Mom is in Hawaii for her brother in law's wedding and I'm dying that I can't call her whenever I want! Come home Mom!!!

New Pics!!!!!!

Ok, now that almost all the sickness has left this house (for now) I can get to posting some pics :) Enjoy!

"Mom, what have you done to me..."

A day in the life of....



At the aquarium

Helping Daddy put the smoker together

Coloring time

Happy time



At Vasquez Rocks... and all the subsequent pictures too...

Sick, sick, sick...

Sorry it's been a while since my last post... First Dustin was sick, then I got it (and still have it, it has been two weeks), then Lily got it last Tuesday and now Derrick has it. The cycle is complete. I had to delay my trip to the Bay Area to see my family and friends but I'm hoping we can make it up next week. I haven't seen my sister in 7 months and I miss her and her family horribly! I am also in the middle of a big project, stripping a wallpaper border from the nursery... I've tried everything and nothing is working, so I've bit the bullet and I'm getting quotes from contractors.

Today Derrick is 7 months old. He is getting so big! He rolls everywhere and is starting to army crawl. He is also very vocal. He talks and talks (baby talk) all day long. He says dada, but not directing towards Dustin. If you ask him where is Dada, Mama, or Lily he will look at that person, which is so cool!

Lily-bean is just as cute as ever :) Her vocabulary amazes me! She is correcting me constantly when I do baby talk with Derrick. She is so literal now, it's hilarious. It's hard to joke around with her because of this... A cute example of this is the other day our nanny, Miss Arpy, was telling Lily how smart she is. Arpy asked asked Lily if she drank "smart juice", to which Lily replied very seriously: "No, I drank applejuice". I love being a mom!!!

P.S. For those of you who didn't know, yes we are blessed to have a nanny who comes twice a week for a few hours to help out with the kids... yes, I know I'm spoiled. The best thing with that is being able to go out and have one on one time with Lily. She is still having a hard time adjusting to baby brother :)

I really don't like it when Dustin leaves...

His annual ski trip with his dad... I love that they have this time together, but I hate it when he is away. I'm lonely and it is soooo difficult to sleep. End of thought...

Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Herb Sauce

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com (my favorite online cookbook), and it was simply delicious! I did use milk instead of cream, and chicken broth instead of wine: and I doubled both of those for more sauce. I also added some onion sauted with the carrots. Enjoy!


1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup minced carrots
1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin medallions
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon beef bouillon granules
2/3 cup light cream
1/4 cup dry white wine

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook carrots in oil for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add pork, and cook until lightly browned. Remove only pork, and keep warm.
In the skillet, stir together flour, basil, parsley, pepper, and beef granules. Whisk in light cream, stirring until thick. Stir in wine. Return pork to pan, reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Happy Valentine's Day

It was a lazy day... I love those... don't get enough of them :) I finished putting Lily's crib together yesterday and she wanted to sleep in her new room last night. So I hesitantly decided that it was okay. Of course she had a major melt down and freaked out as Dustin and I were heading out the door on a date. So we let her stay downstairs with Dad and Linda, thinking she would go to bed shortly... we got home at 11:30 and there was Lily, awake on the couch and Derrick passed out on Linda. At least they both went to bed immediately. Lily also gave me a run for my money tonight at bed time... it was a long arduous process, but I won, eventually, and she was asleep by 9. Not too bad when you consider that Lily is still pretty introverted and hates change. I figure we can have Derrick out of our room in 2 weeks, YEAH!

Lily's new room

The furniture is being delivered today for Lily's new "big girl" room... although we are still keeping her in a crib because she likes it. I will post pics later. She also knows I am typing right now and she wants me to type about the granola bar she is eating for snack :) TOO CUTE!

A good day

Today is my birthday... and instead of focusing on that fact that I'm now in my mid thirties, I'm going to focus on the love I have for my family! Lily woke up and told me Happy Birthday, but then of course immeadiately said "I want to see what's inside (the presents)". Then she sang me the birthday song. I cherish that sweet girl! And Derrick was in quite a good mood too! Lily and I had our first real tea party, with applejuice and elmo crackers. It was a good day.

Everyone's doing it, right?

Okay now... I guess I have to jump on the "blog wagon"... I have to admit that I have had this blog for a couple of years now... I just never did anything with it. I'm not sure how good at it I will be, or how often I will update it, but here goes nothing!!! :)