Halloween Dreams

Chloe was so cute today. She woke up in SUCH a good mood because it was Halloween. She excitedly started to tell us about how she slept in because so she had so many "good dream wishes". When prompted about what her dream wishes were, this is what she said, "

• I had a Gabriela mermaid dream (mixing HSM with mermaids?!). She also mentioned to me that in HSM4, Troy and Gabriela would have Halloween. :-)
  
• Unicorns
• Pegasus ponies
• Jasmine dress-up
• Ariel bride dress
• Sleeping Beauty bride dress
• Sleeping Beauty blue dress

I guess we should consider that a Christmas wish list? The first one will be a little tricky...

Then we went down to breakfast where her Daddy had prepared her special breakfast surprise. You see (warning: we are ghetto parents. W.T. story to follow), she's been pining after this turtle stuffed animal for a couple of months at the Goodwill. Yes, the thrift store. They sell all these beanie babies. Though the idea of buying a "stuffy" (stuffed animal) from the thrift store SHOULD gross you out. I'll admit, it is a kind of gross idea but at this "fancy" store, they have a beanie baby section for collectors and all the beanies still have tags (like brand new tags) and look really new. I'm no idiot, I know if the beanie baby was made in 2000, it has dust build up to say the least so I always make sure that we machine wash it before she can play with it. You're probably thinking pretty much for every little kid, the last thing they need is another stuffy, however, Chloe actually really does play with every single one she owns. Every couple months, her Daddy (Mr. De-clutter) weeds out another gross stuffy that she either doesn't like anymore or is just isn't cute or clean enough to save for her baby sis. And beanie babies really are cute as far as stuffed animals go. Do I sound like I'm justifying buying it at the thrift store? Anyway, so I digress...

A few months ago, she found a turtle one and upon further investigation his name was "Peekaboo". He just conveniently happened to be orange and green. We let her walk around with it for a while and look through the whole section of beanies and then Daddy told her she couldn't get any more because she didn't need any more. It was true and this was a common occurrence from each time we go but this time it was all a ploy. He secretly bought Peekaboo and told me it would be the perfect gift for Halloween morning. The whole way home Chloe was talking about saving up her money for Peekaboo and how we needed to hurry and come back and buy him so he wasn't lost forever. The next time we went, weeks later, she runs over to the beanie baby section and is heart broken that Peekaboo was gone. Unbeknowgst to her...

So now Halloween morning.

Greg puts Peekaboo inside her cereal bowl with a card. She wakes up and he keeps telling her to "Go downstairs and get ready for breakfast". Suddenly she wants to hang out upstairs and watch Tati get her diaper changed. When we finally all head down together as a family, she sees Peekaboo, screams, and starts to hug him. We look at her and she is actually and literally tearing up. She says, "Oh Mommy, you got me Peekaboo. I'm having happy tears." It was so cute and so sweet. My poor w.t. daughter who cries at getting a thrift store stuffy. I guess we should revel in the fact that she has such low expectations--sure makes our job easier.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
(I'll post some costume pics tomorrow. I hope you all will too.)

Chain Breaker

I break chains. I'm a chain breaker. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I'm weak. I've broken them since I was a kid. I run the risk of bad luck, having my friends think I'm not their friends, having my family not think I love them, and it is likely you will get no other notice than this blog entry that I will break your chain. I'm sorry girl who really wanted 36 recipes, but I tried that chain a few cycles ago and I never got even one recipe back which leads me to believe that I'm not the only chain breaker. Sorry friends who send me a "girl hug" and I never pass it on or send the "hug" back. Sorry forwarded important info that won't get passed on by me. Sorry practical joke jack-o-lantern who screams boo at you--you will not be booing anybody else I know because of me. Sorry Mom's who are waiting for an email about how you're a great mom. I mean, I'm sure you're a great mom but a chain email is not the way I will tell you about it. Oh, and by the way, no offense and no mean will or anything but since I'm the weakest chain in the link, odds are I don't have the strength to play any tag either. I mean, if I really like you I might try once (recipe chain) but please don't put me in that uncomfortable sitch again. I don't mind if you play tag though. I might even like to cheer you on and read your posts but I probably still won't play. I'm just too weak and tired. I'd rather just be the honest disappointment and move on. Oh yeah, and slam books always had way too many pages for me. I was probably a slam breaker too--the girl who started as #27 and stopped slamming half-way through.

Let's Get Physical!

So ok, ok, reference to a song that we all thought was about exercising and it isn't...but she IS dressed like ONJ in her video. Tats was dressed up for my aerobics class as a ballerina but I noticed with all her new crawling that her knees are getting all red and scuffed so I busted out some baby knee pads that I had from Chloe and never used. I don't know if they made any difference whatsoever but she just looked so stinking cute I couldn't resist adding the headband. Hope you enjoy as much as we did.

Here's a video of her crawling. Why don't they ever perform for the camera like they're supposed to?

HSM-3

Tonight Chloe and I went on a Mommy/Daughter date to see High School Musical 3. Here are some pics of us before we left (don't mind my "bangs").


It was so fun! She was so excited all day and picked out her HSM t-shirt that she also decided to sleep in it.

I was worried that she'd fall asleep because the movie started at 7 and her bedtime is usually 7 so I made her take a nap this afternoon whilst I ate ice cream in 2 children taking a nap heaven. Anyway, I digress. Here were some highlights and low lights.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• When Troy and Gabriela kiss (gasp is that a spoiler?), she leans over to me and says, "Mom, they're getting married huh?"
• About 1/2 way through the movie she asked me if she could sit on my lap.
• When Gabriela and Troy are dancing on the roof (gasp, another spoiler?!), she's smiling and eyes all lit up. Then she leans over and says, "Mom, I LOVE THIS movie! Do you think we can come again?!"
• About 3/4 of the way through she says, "I miss Daddy and Tati. Next time we watch this movie, let's bring them."
• We shared a Kit Kat and some Rollos.
  
• She brought her little stuffed animal turkey, "Lurkey" for all the "scary parts" and afterward told me how much Lurkey LOVED the movie. She also mentioned how she should always watch movies with Lurkey so she won't be scared.
• Gabriela and Troy's waltz on the roof-- it was like every girl's dream sequence.
  
• It's like a Disney version of Grease and who didn't/doesn't love Grease? It was even complete with hooplah ending. Loved it!
  

LOWLIGHTS:

• Is it me or was Gabriela like wearing nighties the whole movie? Every time she was dancing in her mini-dresses I was like, "Oh please have like biker shorts on or something." And speaking of low, how low could her v-neck go? Luckily Chloe didn't seem to notice. Not so Disney--then again with Britney's sister getting pregnant and Miley bearing it all, that definition is sure changing.
  
• Troy's dad's hair. Trying way too hard.
• The rocket kid. Was he annoying or what?
• Sharpay in her white leotard. Something about it made me feel uncomfortable. Was it just me?

We had a fantastic time. Her favorite parts were "When Troy and Gabriela were having a little date in the tree house and when Troy and his friend were playing pretend at the gas station." Today all the pretending Chloe has done has been with Troy and Gabriela. Gabriela was a mermaid stuffed animal and Troy was Lurkey of course and they went dancing, to prom, etc. It is really cute. The dialogue is classic too. She is such a girly girl and we love her so much! Oh, and we bought our tickets on line and because we did that (with no service charge), we got a coupon to download two songs from the movie for free. Might want to check it out if you haven't gone already. Chloe picked, "The Boys are Back", and "High School Musical" (of course).

Halloween Service

I had to teach Sharing Time today and made these ghosts for the kids to take home. If any of you are looking for a fun FHE idea. I read this story and made a little activity to go with it. Here's the story: Mysterious Visitors
And above is the picture I used.

Oh and here's the little saying I put with the ghosty. (Thanks Melis)

Making others happy is so much fun. The Service Phantom is on the run. He stopped here to say “Boo”! Now it’s your turn to do it too.

Love, The Service Phantom

Here are the pumpkin cakes we made.
We've started a new tradition to use these cute little bundts as baby pumpkins. I got this rad baking tin from Goodwill of all places (brand new!). It is Wilton brand.
The frosting we used this year was homemade and way too warm so they ended up a little drippy. The store bought kind is the best and if you can chill them for a bit and then get a toothpick and emphasize the bundt lines, it really does look like a pumpkin. Honestly though, if somebody dropped these at my house I would definitely NOT eat them, but we all had fun and it was a good lesson on service.



P.S. Love these baby bundts. 1/3 c. of batter in each pumpkin. One pkg. of cake mix makes 12 pumpkins. Love, Julie

My No Style

Am I the only adult who doesn't have a style? I'm looking around at all my friends houses and decore and thinking, "How do they do it?" I remember a conversation with my sister about her house when she was showing me all these changes she was making and I told her (for lack of a better way to describe it and hoping I wouldn't offend her) that I thought her house kind of looked like an Italian restaurant. The funny thing was that she told me that that was exactly what she was going for: Tuscan something. It is a great house and a really pretty house. Just not really my style. I'm never going to have a rooster in my house, fake ivy, or a fluer de lis (let's save those for the Boy Scouts). But knowing what I'll exclude doesn't mean I know what to include. My apartment is a painful mix of thrift store items mixed with hand-me-downs, mixed with homemade attempts to add color or art. A few pictures strewn around (all with different and non-coordinating frames), some plants, a few books and maybe a rock or two for Greg and a shell or two for me. But I long for a house makeover. Call it an unhealthy addiction to HGTV or too many visits to the local IKEA. But here's the problem: my brain just does not work like that. I can't just walk into a room and imagine what it would look like differently. Sure I can visualize a different room arrangement but I can't ever get my mind around different furniture in that arrangement. I am completely decorator deficient. Here's what I've tried. -My friend Amanda told me I should order a bunch of free catalogs and just ideas from there. That was fun but I've moved twice since then and I can't remember all the names and some of them don't deliver to Canada. The problem is that I will see something I like and either just turn the page and forget about it or see the price and dismiss it thinking I could never do it myself. -I started a decore scrapbook (also Amanda's idea) where you keeps bits and pieces of catalogs or fabric swatches or whatever stuff you like so later you can use all these as a reference. This was a cool idea but if Chloe's scrapbook still says she is 3 months old and she's 4, it wasn't really going to happen. My sister recently told me about Amy Butler and told me it was totally my style. How did she know that? I don't even know my style. But when I checked her out, she was right. I love bright prints or bright colors in general.

My Coo-koo Kids

What is the deal with these girls? Tati has been putting stuff in her mouth and just multi-tasking her life away just crawling, hanging out, etc. It reminds of another girl we used to know: her big sis!

Here's Chloe:



Here's Tati:




Funny thing is they are the same age here. Do they look as similar to each other as they do to us? You know how when they hold something in their mouth forever, drool starts to come down the side. So nasty.

Germaphobe

I hate germs!

You guys are not shocked by those words. You know I don't like germs but I've been trying to let go. How do normal mothers react when their babies are eating a park swing? My instinct is to scream and grab her out of the swing but I let her stay AND I took a picture of it. I'm evolving. My mind was going over the benefits of her licking those germs and building her immune system believe it or not. I think I lasted one minute. Then what happened you ask? I quickly took her out of the swing and wiped her mouth off. I said I'm evolving not that I'm an idiot! My house: Let me say for the record, my house is pretty clean but it isn't coo-koo clean. While Tati is crawling around, she is still liable to find some contraband on the floor or even heaven forbid some random food remnant which has migrated from the dining room. In fact just this week there was found (by me) a mystery spot of food gunk on our new area rug. Of course after all my interviewing I have determined that either Tati did it or I live with good liars. Sure I clean a lot but doesn't every stay at home mom with 2 kids--especially when one of them just started crawling? Plus I'm renting, so the thought of what things are here without my knowledge definitely motivates me to deep clean regularly. But I'm feeling consumed with cleaning. I'm wondering if I'm going overboard. So I'm trying to change. What sparked this change? Well a few things but mostly my interaction with Chloe's friend has caused me to change. We'll call her Larea. First a little background on me. I remember growing up and going to my friends house and their mom literally giving me chores to do. Ok, in all fairness it wasn't like my name was on the chore list or anything but if I was over there and everyone was cleaning I was welcome to join in or if I wanted to play with my friends then they HAD to finish their chores first so if I wanted to expedite the process I could just join in. At the time I was just like "whatever". I mean I knew this lady liked to clean but I was a kid so it never occurred to me that it was weird or extreme. Years later though I thought that I'd never make my kids' friends clean. 1. Well the other day when Larea was over, I asked the girls in this super excited voice if they wanted to dust? They were like, "Ooooh yeah!" Larea says, "What's dusting?" So I gave them each a dampened rag and we went around the whole house. I was congratulating myself on how slick I was and how "fun" I made cleaning. The next week Larea came over again said, "I don't want to dust this time." Those were the first words to me when she arrived. Her mom was like, "Huh?" and I just laughed like 4 year olds are so silly. It hit me then that I was Sister Reed. The realization made me freak out and laugh at the same time. 2. Larea was over and she and Chloe were playing. Chloe told me they were bored and wanted to do something fun. I asked if they wanted to help me make some cranberry muffins. What I've learned is: 1) This is not an overnight fix. 2) What's so bad about being a germaphobe? Also, if your child comes over to my house and you leave, there are two things you'll notice. Your child will leave with a hair-do and oh by the way, I'll probably trim their nails.

Peek-A-Boo!

This was a very triumphant moment because it was the first time we were able to catch this fool on tape. I know I'm biased but come on! SHE'S SO CUTE!

You know you want some!

I'm sure. This totally looks like I staged this shot. But no, this is my fall table and I really did make this delish dessert/bread. This is probably my most sought after and revered recipe. Doesn't it look so good?! I got it from a lady in CO. I LOVE IT--but I love everything almondy. During this time of year, you can hoopty it up with a cup or so (I like lots so sometimes 2 cups)of chopped, fresh cranberries. I'm also waiting to add some chopped almonds to the mix. Basically without the poppies, it can be a general sweet cake base for lots of desserts like ice cream or fruit. With no glaze, it would be a to die for strawberry shortcake. But ok, I'm getting ahead of myself. Try the basic first and then you can pimp it up yourself. We call it "Cakey Bread" but here's the real name:

Almond Poppy Bread

3 c. flour
2 ½ c. sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 ½ c. milk
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/8 c. vegetable oil
1 ½ -2 T. poppy seeds
1 ½ tsp. butter flavored extract (optional)
1 ½ tsp. almond extract
Glaze:
¼ c. orange juice
¾ c. sugar
½ tsp. butter flavored extract (optional)
½ tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. almond extract


For bread: Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, milk, vanilla and eggs. Once mixed, add vegetable oil, poppy seeds, butter flavoring, and almond flavoring. Mix for 1-2 minutes with electric mixer until all combined. Grease two bread pans or one bundt and pour in mixture. Bake at 350.

For glaze: Mix ingredients and then put on top of bread (duh). I like to use a basting brush to coat with the glaze.

p.s. I've tried to sub applesauce for the oil and it just isn't as good.
p.s.s. Tell me if you do a variation of this that I should try.

Roll With Me Here

So I always forget to mention some of the funny things this canucks say. Tonight was a doozy. So I have to share. Nobody says "roll" here as in bread product. They all say "bun". Sure, it is a hamburger "bun" or a hot dog "bun" but when you have a bread ball with dinner, it is definitely a roll, right? A dinner "roll". Nope, here it is a bun. A "dinner bun" sounds bizarre, right? At the ward party, they served chili and buns. I thought it was a weird like chili sloppy joe party but no, that just means you get a roll with some butter. The weirdest one though is for cinnamon rolls. They say cinnamon "buns". It gets some getting used to but I felt like at least I was understanding everybody but tonight I was reminded of just how American and frankly how childish I really am. I was at church waiting forever for an interview and surrounded by all these old people. It was getting late and we all had been waiting for a while when token foyer joker starts to say, "When are we going to get a treat?" and things of that nature to the secretary in charge of the order. Anyway, token joker starts talking to all these people also waiting about all these junk food items that apparently sounded really great to him at the moment. First he's talking about donuts, then cake and pie and then he starts going to cinnamon rolls--but he says "buns". Here's a little taste of it. This is two men with their wives next to them all the while straight face:

"I could really go for some buns right now."
"Oh yeah, that sounds good. My wife's buns are great!"
"Sister So and So makes some really delicious buns."
"Yeah, her buns are fabulous!"
"Yeah, but not as great as Sister Other So and So's buns..."

The whole time, I'm like trying to be serious and not laugh but it's like I'm in 7th grade again and I can't hold it in. I finally had to excuse myself to the drinking fountain for a break and a giggle. Good thing I was all alone. If Greg had been with it, I'm sure we would've just lost it. I don't call it "The Crazy North" for nothing.

Scootaloo

Happy Canada Thanksgiving Day. Thought I'd add some new pics.

Tati is ALL OVER THE PLACE but not in the way it sounds when I'm saying that. She isn't crawling persay but more of a backwards scoot thingy. She goes after toys, explores and even gets stuck under the couch. It is funny and cute. It also makes me sad though because she is growing up so fast. So here she is stuck under the couch:




With her favorite toy, the bowling pin. They come from this dumb game that taunts you while you try and bowl. She can be crying like crazy and all you have to do is say, "Where is your bowling pin?" and suddenly she is laughing. It is pretty hilarious. It came in a pack of six so we have them all in funny places like the diaper bag, the car, her room, etc.


And here is a total Tatiana personality shot. You can zoom in and see her little teeth. She is so smiley and happy. At least during the day.


P.S. We had our first frost on Saturday and all our plants and flowers all officially died. And all the fall leaves have all fallen down now too. Outdoors is starting to look really pitiful. Scary thought that winter is just around the corner. And Chloe's cousins are still wearing tank tops in CA and AZ. The injustice of it all.

Before & After

You ever notice how every time you see a "Before" picture, the person looks all sad and the lighting is like awful and then for the after, they have a smile, make-up and great lighting? That is especially true for those mineral make-up infomercials (Maybe ProActive is the worst). Well, this one wasn't really planned but it turned out great that way. Chloe just had her first, real haircut. By real, I mean she actually went to a hair place. Previously in her life, either I'd trim it or my sister did it. I had been telling her for a while that she needed a trim because her hair was taking over our lives. She woke up ratty and unless there was some major hair-do intervention (which we regularly scheduled), she looked like a coo-koo bird. She was a little resistant to the idea because as all the disney movies will tell you, princesses have LONG hair. So I was surprised when she approached me randomly one day and said, "Ok, Mom let's get my hair cut today." We talked about how much we could cut off and she said she didn't want it shorter than her shoulders. So off we went. She was so cute and so grown up about it. She was just chit chatting away with the hair cutter guy about her Halloween costume and how even though her hair will be to her shoulders she'll still be a princess and how now she can look like Nancy Drew because she is a detective and super sleuth too [I watched the new teenie Nancy Drew movie and she actually watched it with me. If you know Chloe you know that is a major shocker. We also recently found this cartoon with Christopher Robins little sister, Darby, who is a super sleuth with Tigger and Pooh. She's got her detective kit (a magnifying glass and pretend camera) and just goes around "investigating" everything and looking for clues. It is fun. Honestly it is a nice break from ponies and princesses.

The Before:


And the After:



Her hair is so bouncy and fun now. I can just brush it and it falls all perfectly. Plus, with the new layers, it awakened all her cute little waves.

Frisbee Golf

Or FOLF as it is sometimes called. I remember once upon a time my friend Heidi was telling me about frisbee golf and I laughed at her thinking she was joking. Surely it couldn't be a real thing. Golfing with frisbees? Come on. Well, it is real and I've finally done it. I'm not really a golfer and luckily neither is Greg (aside from the expense, neither one of us really has the patience for it) but we both enjoy throwing a frisbee around quite a bit. Greg is actually really good at frisbee. It is one of his secret talents. So a friend of his here let him borrow some fancy "discs" and we were on our way. Usually in most cities, if you know where to look, they have a course set up. Oh, and did I mention the course is FREE?! Of course you do need some frisbees but even if you don't have the official ones (which are pretty cool), we did see people with just normal frisbees too. Here are the basics of what you'll need to know before you go.


The frisbees have names. Some of our faves were: The Marauder, the Sting Ray, and the Tee Bird. Ok sure, they have their official names too: there is the long range, the middle range and of course the putter. It was funny to see some people actually have these really fancy hip bags full of their frisbees and before each move they make they are like riffling through their bags and deciding which one to use.

Chloe with the Marauder.


Me with the Tee Bird. I don't know if it was the reference to Grease or what, but I LOVED this frisbee.


This is what you're aiming for:

The problem is that you can't always see it because trees are in the way. You're supposed to make each basket in three tries but it was more like 6-8 for us. Maybe with practice.


If you take your kids, pack a lunch and just let your kid throw their frisbee over and over while you and your husband compete to see who is better. We just strolled little Tats around with us too.


Here is more or less what our course looks like:


These are a few options for throwing your frisbee:

The Kid Throw:





The Master Throw (notice the concentration):


The Horse Shoe Throw:

Just like you're playing "Horse Shoes". This was my Dad's throw of choice because it is so much easier on the back. Be careful not to be too vigorous ("he's so vigorous father, very very vigorous"--name that movie) because you will be sore.

Then there is me. The Wonder Woman Throw. For some reason everytime I take my turn, somebody watching falls to the grass in hard laughter. Mostly that somebody was my dad or husband but some randoms got a kick out of it too. Good thing my skin is so thick. How else was I supposed to get the needed strength to throw it super far?

We did about 6 holes the first day and then we did about 5 the next time we went. We just start at the number we left off on and eventually we'll do all 18 holes. It was really fun and I would highly recommend it for a family activity. We may actually break down and buy some fancy frisbees.

If you're bored and want to watch a silly documentary about frisbee golf, check this link. It reminded me of a movie that my husband and little brother would make.

LOL

What is so funny? Why is everybody laughing? And why are they all laughing out loud? Couldn't you just laugh to yourself quietly? I mean if I'm going to Laugh Out Loud, it better be something so funny I want to slap my booty. But then again, this is the cyberworld and things here are all messed up and weird.

I think the problem is that people either are afraid of how their audience will view them. Or they are talking too extreme and mean and want to soften up their "mean-ness" with a "lol". It is like the days of yore when we'd throw down the ole "J/K" everywhere. "You stink. J/K!" and of course the ole smiley face is always a nice addition too. "You're the worst friend! :-)"

Ok, let's supppose something funny does happen and it does cause you to laugh. Is it really necessary to publish the fact that it made you laugh to everybody else? And if so, why use a dumb acronymn like "lol"? It's not even a complete sentence! As a matter of fact, when I see "lol", the last thing I want to do is laugh. I'm more apt to throw my shoe at something. (Notice the lack of a 'J/K', ':-)' or 'lol'?! That means I'm serious. And I'm not laughing.)

So to all of you "lol-ers" out there, shut up and stop laughing out loud. So next time try: "IGOTI" (I'm Grinning On The Inside.) or "IJPMP" (I Just Peed My Pants.) or "OCIRMS" (Oh crap, I Ruptured My Spleen.) or whatever.

If you want to really read some annoying acronymns, check out this link.

p.s. (added at a later date) I should have mentioned that Greg is the co-author of this post. Thus that extra push of passionate writing was his.)

Double Time Annette

So I go to this community aerobics class held in the basement of this random church. It is filled with a wide array of women of different ages and different bodies. I swear it is like an episode of Seinfeld in there. I can just picture Elaine making comments or going home and talking to Jerry and George about all the characters in this class. Normally, I stay on the right side with the other "young" people that I know and that told me about the class to begin with but unfortunately I was running late this week and ended up in the middle next to "Double Time Annette". I'd heard about "Double Time" before and of course she does stand out because whatever the teacher tells us to do, she does two or four. Whatever speed the teacher does anything (even stretches--which I'm pretty sure is bad for her) Annette is faster, bigger, stronger. From my side of the room, I would only notice Double Time when we would like rotate around the world. But this week, I was directly behind her. I mean directly. It was intense. I mean, here I was trying to figure out the aerobic line dance that Joyce my teacher was talking us through all the while Double Time is well double timing the line dance. Plus, it, isn't like she's super coordinated or super quick at catching onto things either so she was just kind of trying to catch onto the routine but at the same time she can't let anybody else be faster than her. So it was making me laugh but I couldn't really like fully laugh because she was RIGHT in front of me. So I'm holding in my laugh, mesmorized by her double time-ness, trying to listen to the teacher, trying to aerobics line dance AND trying not to look at any of my friends at the same time. I got a really great abs work out though. See how it sounds like an episode from Seinfeld? Don't you wish you were here? I wonder what secret nicknames people give me.