Confession

So, yesterday I was watching one of the only 3 TV shows I watch, Chuck, and at the end of the episode, Chuck and his love interest kiss. It was a very intimate moment and I found myself embarrassed to watch them kissing. Not because that is gross (Oooo, their kissing), but because I wanted to give them privacy in "their moment". Isn't that weird that even fictional PDA makes me feel awkward?

What would you do with the last few moments of being 1?

Wear your Snow White underwear on top of your pants, of course. Oh, and you need your purse and baby too.

Beckett's in love

Yesterday, I was doing some errands. As we were driving along, there was an electronic sign that was showing scenes from the movie Cars. Beckett said, "I love Lightning McQueen." Then about a minute later he said, "Lightning McQueen is really cool." Those are probably the biggest sentences he has ever said, not to mention that I could understand them perfectly and that the grammer was correct. And today he said that he loved something else. There is hope that his speech might not be that bad.

February is FREE month

Well, another month has gone, so it is time for an update. At the beginning of the month, I got sick with a cold, which is totally backwards. Moms are the last one to get sick, not the first. Of course, everyone else got sick too. The men of the family fared better than the women. Belle got an ear infection and I got a sinus infection (and a small lingering cough too, grrr).

I would like to take this time to show all you new mothers and soon-to-be-mothers, what happens to your house when you are sick in bed for just 24 hours, like I was.




I will admit to the laundry basket and the stepper and one or two other things already being out, but the rest was all the kids. Consider yourselves warned.

After we were feeling better, we visited my Aunt Karen, up in Idaho over Valentines. It was way fun. My mom and sisters were up there as well. We had a great time watching the Olympics and movies with Karen. Also, Belle slept the best she has ever slept. She sleeps in the basement at there house, in a room with no windows and she can't hear people walking around upstairs. She slept from 9:30pm until 10:30am, after taking a 3+hour nap the day before. I have thought about asking if we can move in, just so Belle can get her beauty sleep.

Matt and I also got a nice tax return this year and so we bought a new computer. It is awesome and so fast. We love it.

Something the kids did this month was build a fort in the living room a couple of times. They had a great time watching movies from it.


The last week of February was freebie week. I found out it was National Pancake day on the 23rd, and so we headed on over to IHOP and got us each a stack of free pancakes. They were delicious.

Then, the next day was the last day to go to the Hogle Zoo for free. I guess they do this every year, from November to February, on the last Wednesday of the month. It was really fun, despite the fact that it was the only cold, wet, rainy, snowy day all week. The kids saw the giraffes, tigers, cougars, and a humongous alligator. That thing was probably 7ft long. Beckett could look away from it. That was one of the animals that he was pretty excited to see and then when he realized that they are kind of scary to look at, he got nervous. So nervous that he didn't want to look away. Maybe he was afraid that if he didn't look at it, it would come after him. I was able to distract him from the alligator by watching this hilarious squirrel that was right next door. It was so funny. It would climb up its fake rock wall on one side of the cage, and jump clear across the cage onto a vine that was hanging on the other side. Then it would crawl upside down on the vine to the floor to go climb his wall and do it again. There was quite a crowd gathered to watch it. I even recorded it, but then when Beckett was watching it after we got home, he erased it. Bummer! It was super cute and funny.




Many of the animals that have outdoor cages opted to stay inside, to get out of the cold (I do not blame them one bit). Thankfully, it warmed up a little bit just before we left and a mama elephant and her baby decided to venture out into the cold. The baby put on a little show and ran around and was just super cute.

After we got home from the zoo, Belle discovered a new trick. She can put coins between her toes. I hope you can see the penny she is put in between her toes. I think she had 2 or 3 of them in there. What a silly girl.

The kids have been super nurturing this month. Belle has been carrying her babies and this giant gorilla around everywhere. She will lay them down and put blankies on them and give them kisses. It makes your heart melt to watch her.

Beckett has also started to show his fatherly instincts. One day I was in the kitchen, and heard Beckett talking to something, playing pretend. I decided to take a peek and this is what I found:

I think he was pretending that Belle's doll stroller was sick and they had to put it to bed. I think I even heard him give it a kiss. Belle was helping him. He used my shirt for a pillow and a hand towel for the blanket. Then they decided it needed some real blankets.

And then they decided it needed a good cuddle, cause that makes everyone feel better.

So, new mommies, there are cute things to look forward to as well.

P.S. In case anyone actually reads these updates, no I have not potty trained Belle yet. I think I chickened out. Hopefully this next month. And the Mazada has now been running great since we bought it, almost 2 months now, so that is a very good sign. And we are probably putting our house up for sale at the end of the month.

Do not try this at home

Last September or October, I read something where, about this mom that lives up north, and she and her son are inside for a good part of the year. Her son is about Anabelle's age or younger, and they love to bake together. He helps her. She said their favorite thing to make together is taking a spiced cake mix and adding applesauce or pumpkin to it to make it a little different and more healthy. She said they have a wonderful time and he is just the best little helper. Well, I thought, "I can do that. Next time I bake something, I will let the kids help me and it will be just like a science class and they'll learn all kinds of things and they will have a great time." I'm sure you all are already shaking your head thinking, "What a sucker?!" and you would be right.
Last November, I gave it my first go. We made my favorite muffin recipe, bran muffins, and the whole time I felt like I was constantly having to tell them not to do something and I was getting very frustrated and upset and it was not fun at all. You'd think I would have learned my lesson. Nope.
I thought after a few months, my kids would have grown up a bit and would be a little more well behaved to help me make the muffins (plus Beckett had been begging me for a few days to go buy eggs so we could make the muffins). I was so wrong. I got them each their own little bowls with a little sugar in it and gave them their own spoons so they could pretend to be making their own muffins and would hopefully let me do my thing. It worked for about a minute and then they wanted to help me stir and help me dump in stuff. At one point, Belle had a 1/2 tblsp. and wanted to help me stir the dry ingredients. When I noticed she had the spoon in there, I tried to take it away, but she was too quick for me and yanked that spoon back, throwing a flour mixture back behind her all over the fridge. It was not a fun science class at all, especially for the teacher.
So, the moral of the story is, don't bake with your kids (unless you are using a packaged mix).

Scrumpscious recipe

So last Saturday, I had the lucky opportunity to attend a class about making easy, simple recipes that are ready in 30 min or less. Here is one that was my favorite and I will probably will do for Valentines Day: Chocolate Waffles. Just follow the recipe on the box, except add only a 1/4 cup oil instead of the required amount. Put the batter in your waffle maker and, presto, an amazing meal. You can top with ice cream and whatever sunday toppings you want. We sampled some of the waffles and they are amazing. I totally recommend them for any special occasion. I think the best part is they are so easy to make. Just sharing the love.

I have cute kids

So my kids did some cute things over the weekend. Belle is going to be the next musical hit. She loves to strum Matt's guitar and she will sing a little tune to her strumming. It is so cute. I will try to record it, but every time I have pulled out the camera to record her, she stops. No joke. I hope I can catch her. It is so cute.

At church yesterday, Beckett got tired of using only one piece of track (silly me for not packing more in the diaper bag). He than got pretty ingenious and decided to take apart all of the big legos that I packed to make a bridge with for his track. After taking them apart, he lined them up to be his new track, which was much longer than the single track I packed. The only problem was that the track kept moving apart and it frustrated him. Luckily the kind couple behind us brought smartees to church and kept him happy.