Are my kids the only ones...

Who think that glue sticks make great lipgloss? Brooklyn does!

Who thinks that the lines going down the road are race lanes and that all the cars in our lane are on our team racing the opposing lane? Our boys do (especially that Ethan boy ;-)

Who think that intersection lines are an actual finish-line and ask me to go faster so I can beat the other cars? Our boys do.

Or that our mini-van is a race car? Ethan does because he asked me today if it was our race car. "Yes Ethan, it's our race car."

Yesterday morning Ethan climbed into bed with me to snuggle and after a few minutes said to me, "mom, I want my own jet someday." "Oh?" "Not an airplane that people fly in but a jet so I can race the other people and beat them." I told him "I'm sure you will...I'm.sure.you.will."

Life in the fast lane ;-) or maybe it's just life. Either way it makes it interesting.

There are so many things that our kids do that I love, like:

Brooklyn's little valley girl laugh (it is so girly and cute) and how she totes her blanket or doll wherever she goes. How she says "wa-wee" for water and "tank-you" for please-take-what's-in my-hand-away and the way she smells and her sweet kisses. I love how we are sitting at the dinner table at night and Brooklyn hears the garage door open and without looking yells "DADDY!" I love that she loves her little shoes and how everything becomes a bracelet. How she will sit for 30 minutes in the same spot and concentrate on picking her lip. How she hates to be left out and always wants to do what the boys are doing. And even her loud "NITE NITE" and "BYE BYE" are all trademarks of that little girl we love.

I love Ethan's love for life. He tells me almost everyday how much he loves to laugh--and he does. His little giggle is infectious. He is such a bright light and makes us smile. I love how he calls girls "girlo" and how he picks the raisins out of his raisin bran and how his feet are always find us while we cuddling in bed in the morning. I also love patting that little bumbo of his. He loves to live life and is super sweet especially when we are soft-spoken and tender with him. We sure love that little boy with those deep blue eyes.

And Briggs. What a fine little young man he is becoming. He can be very thoughtful and sweet and loves to make you happy (most-of-the-time). He is a great helper, very goal-oriented and has an amazing memory. Yesterday after church he told me that he learned about the resurrection and he recited the entire story of the Saviors resurrection even using details like "mary was crying and didn't know that she was talking with Jesus" and "pilot" and "Thomas." It was so cute (i need to record him telling it).

I love how he will come by and kiss Brooklyn on the head or cheek and say to me "she sure is pretty special." I love how he watches the older kids jumping their scooters and he tries and tries and gets an inch off the ground. I love how he loves to clean the lint trap and start the dishwasher. Yesterday he wrote a note and colored a picture for Cory, who's been away on business; he did it all by himself.

We sent it to him today and he loved it. Here is the envelope he addressed to him ;-)

Those are just a few things I always want to remember.

The best whole wheat bread!!!

I usually buy bread without preservatives and high fructose corn syrup but I don't think the bread companies are going to get our business for a while as I am sold for the time being on making my own and freezing it.

Our family friend has this great cooking blog that I refer to all the time. The other day my sister went on there and decided to try this recipe for whole wheat bread and she said it turned out amazing. I decided to try it out for myself and she wasn't kidding. AMAZING! If you want to read about tips to making your bread even better you can find the whole recipe and tips here (and don't leave out the vital wheat gluten; it is "vital" for a reason!). I highly recommend it. I also thought the tip she put on there about slicing the loaf and freezing it after it cooled was genius as I like homemade bread but it just doesn't last long before it starts tasting old. Why haven't I thought of that before? It has worked wonderful and I just pull out what I need to use that day and it tastes just as fresh as the day I made it! So good.

I also can't wait to try this recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu. I don't know about you but I love Cordon Bleu but it is a pain to make. This recipe takes away so much of the headache and I also thought it was genius. This is definitely on our easter menu for Sunday. Can't wait!

Hope you get a chance to try some new recipes this coming weekend!

LuAnn’s Whole Wheat Bread (with my adaptations)

*Makes 4 loaves

5 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 tablespoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
2 cups white flour
8-10 cups whole wheat flour [I used pastry flour]

Lightly spray bread pans with cooking spray and set aside. Mix the water, sugar, oil, yeast, salt, gluten and dry milk together in the bowl of an electric mixer or by hand. Add the white flour and mix well. Continue adding the whole wheat flour until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl and the dough is soft but not overly sticky. Knead for 10 minutes until a soft, smooth dough has formed. Using oil or cooking spray to grease your hands and countertops, form the dough into 4 loaves. Place the loaves into the bread pans and cover with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let them rise until the dough has risen about 1 1/2 inches above the top of the bread pan. Place the bread pans carefully in a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees and bake for 38 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn out the bread onto a wire rack. Let cool completely before placing in bags to put in the freezer.

girls, frills, and more...

Here are some fun pictures I got to take last week.

Love little girls and frills....

I got the opportunity to take pregnancy pictures of my neighbor Susie; baby number 5. It was a good time!

Moon Landing....

I wish....

Briggs has kind of been on one today.

Not listening very well. Back-talking. I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about. Normal kid stuff that drives me crazy. Lots of whining, warnings, and time-outs. He is also holding fast to that oldest brother bugging syndrome where he bugs his siblings and they respond with lots of screaming followed by his laughing and his continuation of the bugging. Ugghhh....

After my shower I went in the boys room to check on them only to come around the corner just as Briggs pulls down his pants to moon...yes moon, Ethan and Brooklyn (I am sure I haven't heard or used that word since high school) . Really?!?! I asked him if someone has done that to him and he said no. Where do they learn these things? I texted Cory this morning and he thought it was hilarious. It must be a boy thing.

Then earlier this morning he spilled grapefruit juice on the floor and instead of wiping it up he gets down on the floor and starts slurping it up...um hum...slurping. Where is my civilized sweet boy? Just shortly after the mooning incident he kneed Ethan in the arm and Ethan was crawling around and tripped Brooklyn who has a big line down her right side of her face and two little cuts. My goodness. I know we taught our boys better than this. Ughhhh....again.

I had had enough and finally put him in time-out for 5+15 minutes because he kept saying "no" to me, and every time he did again I added a minute (he should know this by now as this is about his 3rd or 4th time with extended time-outs). He finally stopped saying "no."

I have felt like I have constantly on him this morning and after getting upset a few times already he knew I was really upset around lunch and he started rubbing his eyes and he told me that he can't always remember what I taught him. I felt bad. I will try harder to be better today. He said he'd try harder too. So far so good.

Only 7 more days...miss you hun!

Ut oh...

Sorry to post so much about Ethan but he had an eventful day. This morning was turning out to be gorgeous. We got up. I actually exercised (a big accomplish for me lately ;-) and then we got ready to go out and enjoy the sunshine (something that we haven't seen in a few days). Ethan hoped on his bike and headed out to ride. I noticed he wasn't wearing a helmet and he came back in and put it on.

As he left our driveway and was headed down the street he went to turn his bike around and crashed. He was crying and I knew he was hurt by the cry. When I ran over to him he wouldn't stand up. He refused to walk on his left leg. After about 10 minutes more of crying and trying to have him stand up I concluded he probably broke his leg. I called my friend Erica to see if she would watch Briggs and Ethan (which she did so willingly) so I could take him to the doctor. We spent over 4 1/2 hours at the hospital (a bit ridiculous if you ask me) and came home with a dark green cast on his left leg all the way up his thigh. He had a toddler fracture on his tibia bone (the same one that briggs had when he was 2 1/2).

What a bummer!

While in the hospital one of the nurses asked him a question and he asked her why his leg wasn't gone? It was pretty cute. He was so good today; my little buddy. He got about 10 stickers, a spiderman easter egg, Iggy the Iguana stuffed animal and 2 popsicles and got to ride around in the hospital in a little kid wheel-chair (which he loved!) When the nurse asked him what kind of popsicle he wanted she gave him the options of orange, red, or purple. He thought for a minute and said, "yellow...a lemon one." We both smiled and she gave him the options again, and though he wanted lemon he finally decided that orange was close enough to yellow and was satisfied. He did remarkable well missing lunch and his nap and only sharing a bag of pretzels with me until almost 4:30 today. I was so proud of him!

He is looking forward to smily faces and names being drawn on his cast. I am hoping that in the next week he will begin to walk on it. I think he finds a lot of strength in the fact that Briggs has been where he is now. I think tomorrow we'll bust out the video's of Briggs in his cast. That should be a good time.

Until next time....

You are looking at....

...the newest member to ride a two-wheeler (no training wheels!!) It constantly amazes me how fast he picks up things after watching his older brother (potty training at 2 1/2 and riding a bike at 3 1/2 vs. Briggs' age 4 and 5).

This past tuesday we were all outside enjoying a beautiful evening and and I decided to bring out the bribery. I told Ethan that if he would try riding his bike with no training wheels I'd give him a Pez candy (I'd already taken them off and he was pretty upset). Cory asked me if I should be using bribery and I assured him that I most certainly should ;-)!! And I'm proud to say it did the trick! He took off and has been a riding machine since then.

I've said it before but the boy loves bikes and speed. This past Saturday night we went on a family bike ride down to Creekside and then on over to Rita's for a free italian ice in celebration of the first day of spring. Ethan rode on our tandem bike that hooked on behind mine; it was his first time and he loved it! He especially loved when we got to go down the big hills and go really fast! He cracks me up!

A hard heart....

This morning I was asking the boys to make their beds and tidy their rooms before they got to play and then the whining started [gritting my teeth]. It lately has been from Briggs but not today...today, Ethan was the culprit.

Whining and crying and whining and crying. And so I did what any good mother does...I tried to ignore it. Well, you know as well as me that that only last so long...especially with Ethan. If he isn't acknowledged and heard then he pushes the issue harder and louder. This morning was one of those mornings.

After being firm with him and asking him to finish his bed by putting his pillow on (I'd helped him with everything else) he started into the saddest cry and while holding his chest said to me "you need to ask for forgiveness, and give me a hug....you hurt my heart." "No Ethan, I didn't hurt your heart...I just asked you to finish making your bed." "No, you HURT my heart and you need to ask for forgiveness and give me a hug." Two words:

Milking it!

Our little boy....

So, tonight I went out with a friend and when I came home I asked Cory how the kids were and if they did anything cute. He told me that after the boys were in bed that Ethan kept coming out of bed and crying down to Cory that "Briggs was bugging him" (funny side story. That is Ethan's new phrase that Briggs gets a lot of mileage from creating and that he says no less than 20 times a day. One night while Ethan was dreaming I heard him yell out several times, "Briggs is bugging me!" and when I came in Briggs sat up and said "I wasn't bugging him, I was sleeping." Ethan was asleep.) Anyway...tonight Cory said that after the 3rd or 4th time he got firm with Ethan and told him he needed to take care of the issue with Briggs and get back into bed and this is how the convo went down....

Ethan started to cry the most sad cry and said to Cory, "you hurt my heart....you have a hard heart like Alma the Younger....and I have a soft heart and I want you to have a soft heart forever....because you hurt my heart." Really?!? How do they come up with these things? Cory sat down and talked to him and just explained our bedtime expectations and asked Ethan if he talked softer if that would help. He said yes. Then Cory told Ethan that kisses would help soften his heart (those are hard to get from Ethan) and Ethan freely gave him some; and Cory loved that! What a sweet boy. Cory's heart was definitely softened by that little boy.

It is amazing how much our children teach us each and every day.

Feelings...

A few weeks ago Ethan learned about feelings in pre-school. I got a good little chuckle out of some of his responses below.

And this last week they learned about rhyming and Ethan's teacher made a rhyme about each of the kids in the class to see if the class could guess who she was talking about. Here is what she wrote about Ethan (I thought it was pretty cute!):

Ethan is full of

Spunk and pizzazz!

Laughing and giggling

and all that little boy jazz!

He has grown so much in preschool!

Dinner kisses...

This is the face of a little girl who LOVES to give kisses at the dinner table. Often as many up to 10 or 15 in a matter of minutes. We can't resist her and give in to those yummy fish kisses! Can't imagine our life without her!!

40 degrees and rising...

This morning when we woke up the sun was shining. I got up, we made beds, had breakfast and headed out for a walk/bike ride. While talking with Cory this morning he said it was nice outside. I didn't realize it was the low 40's and frigid. It really felt like fall. I could smell wood burning stoves and it was definitely hat and glove weather. But we headed out anyway. The boys rode bikes and I pushed Brooklyn.

Destination....my favorite abandoned house.

It is so close to us that I thought it would be fun to re-visit and of course I couldn't leave behind my camera.

We only stayed a few minutes before heading home. Cory was home early from work before heading off to a doctors appointment and stopped to pick up the boys in the truck. They loved riding in the back.

When I got home we were reminiscing how we used to do that all the time as kids. Our parents would load up the truck and put us behind to sit on the goods, or I remember just jumping in the back of the truck at my grandparents ranch and headed here or there...good memories! It is fun to watch your kids make memories like you did as a child.

I guess the next thing we need to teach them to do is hooky-bob ;-) Did any of your dad's take you as children? Mine did and those were some of my favorite memories. And you don't even need a truck to do that one!

My first car-accident

So, a few weeks ago (March 3rd) I was in my first ever car accident...a real fender bender and I hate to admit that it was my fault. I was stopped at a stop light behind several other cars. I had two of my young women with me, how devastating to have other peoples children in my car when it happened, and we were on our way to mutual. As the light turned green we were going through the intersection and I noticed in my mirror that there was no one in the right lane so I put my blinker on, looked over my shoulder to double check and when I turned my head back it was too late, her bumper was right there and I slammed on the brakes and hit the back of her car. I hadn't seen that she stopped for a car in front of her.

It is amazing how much damage 15 mph will get you. Approximately $5,600 dollars plus a citation from the officer! Grrrr....

I'm just so thankful that no one was hurt and grateful for insurance who takes care of all the dirty work! I was also thankful for my friend Erica who was not far behind me, who picked up my girls and dropped them off at church and who came back to stay with me until after everything was taken care of. What a good friend. I am also grateful that the lady I hit was so nice and understanding. I just never want to go through that again.

After the initial shock of Cory finding out that I wrecked his car, he knew how bad I felt and the next day sent me flowers. That was really nice of him. There was a mix up and they sent me the wrong flowers so these are the first ones I got...

Pretty, but not what Cory intended to send me, so a few days later the flower shop sent these. So I've been enjoying all the beautiful flowers on my tables! Unfortunately I've also realized that I'm allergic to Lilly's and they kind of stink....although they are beautiful. Anyway, I appreciated his thoughtfulness and his patients with me.

Spotlight: Briggs

This month I'm spotlighting Briggs. Boy is he growing up to be a fine little young man. He is so much fun. Here are some of the things that he's done that I want to remember and that I think he'll enjoy reading when he is older....

A few random things he's into:

He just started being pen pals with Noah Wolford, Landon North, and Risa Blacker and

likes to color pictures for others. (we'd love to do it with cousins as well--the more the merrier!)

He is starting to read really well. Just starting in February we have had him read in the scriptures and he can read several verses without much help. It is so fun to see him grow and progress. He can also read books like the Cat and the Hat without much help.

He loves to practice basketball in our basement and play on his team (the Sixers).

Says "Oooohhh, you're an angry elf" if someone is mad (it is pretty funny unless he says it to me and I am the angry elf ;-)

He loves anything Star Wars.

He likes to take pictures with our camera and does a pretty good job at that; these are some pictures he took a few Sunday's ago.

Cory looks really enthused doesn't he?!?!? I love Ethan's little face!

Love these with me and Ethan! They totally capture his little personality!

He is definitely a child that needs a goal to work towards in order for him to act and be his best.

Primary Spotlight: Feb 21: (this was our convo:)

Briggs: "Today I was spotlight in primary"

Me: "Oh, cool, did you think to yourself that it was sounding like you?"

Briggs: "yeah, I said to myself, this is my spotlight!"

Later I spoke with my friend, who happened to be in the room when they were doing the spotlight, and when Briggs and one other boy were left standing she said that he was looking around and got really excited and when the primary leader asked Briggs where he wanted to serve his mission, he didn't miss a beat and said, "Africa!" It was indeed his spotlight and he was thrilled!

Jokester:

Knock knock

Who's there?

Onion

Onion who?

Onion make your bed!

(Sometimes you just have to laugh at those ones ;-) or ones like this:)

knock knock,

Who's there?

cup

Cup who?

Filling my glass up with water

But his personal favorite:

How do ducks learn to fly?

How?

They just wing it

On being a brother: The other day while playing outside Briggs said to me, "I'm so lucky to have a little sister!" Likewise she is lucky to have such great older brothers!

Grandma Hansen and Mindy...do you recognize the adorable jacket? I've gotten so many compliments on it! Thanks!

(March) The other day we were outside and the boys were racing each other down the street, Briggs on the 4-wheeler and Ethan on his tricycle. I had to laugh as Ethan would try to pass Briggs, Briggs figured out that if he swerved that Ethan couldn't pass him. It was so funny to watch. And if you know Ethan I was surprised that he didn't scream and get upset; though it did bug him that Briggs was doing that (as a side note I think Ethan is pretty close to loosing those training wheels.) Anyway, I was thinking as I was watching the boys play and laugh together, just how fun it is to have two rambunctious boys who will grow up to be great friends.

My lucky day: 2/24: Today Briggs got his booster shots for kindergarden and it was unexpected. They happened to have a little time after Brooklyn's doctor appointment and we thought we'd just get it done. When he learned that he was going to get shots he started freaking out...literally! He cried out for 5-6 minutes and it took 3 of us to hold him down. I felt so bad. But almost immediately he stopped crying when the shots were being administered because he realized it wasn't so bad. As we were walking out of the doctor office he said to me, "I guess you were right mom...it wasn't so bad after all," and later in the car, "today must be my lucky day" Oh, yea, in what way? "I got my shots for kindergarden and now I don't have to get any more shots."

Never give up: The boys have really been into the Olympics and today (2/25) Briggs said to me, "I told myself, I want to be the best at skiing ever!...and ice skating too." I used this as an opportunity to teach him about how these athletes spend years and years working hard and never giving up and that is why they are successful. Later that day the boys were playing with our LiteBrite (doesn't that bring back memories if you are an 80's baby?) and Ethan was getting frustrated and I heard him say to Ethan, "what did I tell you Ethan? [pause] Do you remember? You never give up...if at first you don't succeed, try, try again." He cracks me up!

March:

The Soda-pop exchange: So, the convo went down something like this:

Briggs: Ethan, will you watch my soda and don't let anything happen to it while I go to the bathroom?

Ethan: Yes

(Briggs goes to bathroom while Ethan drinks his soda...Briggs comes back)

Briggs: ETHAN!!! I told you not to let anything happen to my soda!!!

Ethan: (so innocently) But I didn't let anyone touch it!

Briggs: (a bit exasperated) But Ethan, you did...you drank my soda!

I got a BIG kick out of the whole exchange!

The Mailbox mix-up: The other day Briggs was watching a video of his cousin Ronin, who was getting his first tooth pulled. He decided that he wanted to color a picture for him and send it to him. The next morning he came in and told me that he sent his picture to Ronin. My response, "Oh? Did Daddy help you?" "No, I just did it myself." So, I asked where the letter was. He told me he mailed it. So I asked him if it was in the mailbox and he said yes. (I'm thinking this is the cutest thing ever) so I asked him if he would mind going out and grabbing the letter. He did and when he brought it back in I saw that he had put it in an envelope, but did not seal it, and there was no address or stamp. So cute! I explained to him how sending a letter worked and that I'd help him get it sent off. Oh, the innocence. I loved that!

The Love Letter: The other day during Briggs' quite time he came up to me and told me that he wanted to write a letter to his "Best friend Risa" and this is what it said:

Girls watch out. He's starting young ;-)

He is such a wonderful little boy! Sooooo glad he is our family!