Madison has asked me to let her do a post on our blog. Here is Madison remembering an exciting moment in her life:
I love to play soccer! At soccer I love to play defense. One time, when I was playing defense, the ball was about to go into our goal, but I ran up to the ball and kicked it away from our goal, but then I fell down. I felt like no one was watching me, but they were! It was a tie,but I had fun!
I am sure when you read the title this is not going to be what you expect to read about but for me it was a very Big Weekend! Ben and I did not go away for Valentine's Day, we did not even go out. We really did not want to. Ben got me a new bed for Valentines Day. After 11 1/2 years of marriage, we finally have a king bed. We are so excited. It was definitely time for the change. Ben surprised me with a bed, mattress cover, goose down comforter, duvet, and 2 sets of sheets. What a good man!
The bed arrived on Friday and I had the bed set and ready to show him that night. We both could not believe the amount of room we had! I kept thinking that we were in a hotel room somewhere. I told Ben that when I was little, I always wanted the "Sound of Music Bed". If you know the movie, you can remember the scene when she is looking for spiders in her bed. She pulls the blankets back looking for them and her bed always looked soooooooo cozy to me. It was huge with thick blankets. I always wanted that bed. I feel like I finally got it. It was a wonderful gift. Here are some pictures of my new bed:
The other big news this weekend is that Logan is now in a "big boy" bed. In attempt to potty train him, I told him he could have a big boy bed if he used the potty. When he used it, he wanted me to make it right then. I went to work. He has loved it and is so excited to go to bed and then to get up in the morning.
As for the potty training, this kid is so funny. I started of Friday morning. He has been showing so many obvious signs he is ready but I have been lazy to go for it. He tells me when he has gone and wants me to change his diaper. He wakes up completely dry! So, I thought I should try this.
Friday was not a good day. He liked wearing the underwear but would not try to go when I asked him to and fought me about it. It was one accident after another. Not a good day.
Saturday, he ran and went on his own one time and again when I forced him but had a few accidents. We were batting 500.
This morning started horrible. He woke up and when I asked him to put underwear on, he was yelling at me that he wanted his diaper and no underwear. He was clearly upset and I thought I needed to make a decision. I thought I would go for it. I made him put underwear on as he cried the entire time. He calmed down and started playing. About an hour later he looks at me with a smile and say, "I stopped it mommy!" "I stopped the pee pee!" I could not believe it. He then ran to the potty and went all by himself. I was shocked! I asked him a few more times if he needed to go and every time he was upset that I was bothering him with it. After 3 hours, he took off running down the hall and went all by himself again! We just got back from church and he went again when we got home. No accidents yet. We still need to figure out how to get him to go #2 but for now, I will take this victory and be excited. I am crossing my fingers that he sticks with it. I will be so excited. My last child potty trained!!! Crazy!!! Wish me luck.
I was going back through some old posts and I remember how often I captured what my kids said. I have stopped doing that and I need to go back to it. They are so funny, I need to share.
Last night we were watching Biggest Looser. Madison LOVES this show. She loves the competitions and she gets so nervous for the weigh-ins. During the "last change workout" she was jumping up and down trying to "work out" and she says to me, "I am so glad that I am fit!" Yes, Madison, I am too!
Logan has been so fun lately. He is always asking everyone if they are his "best friend." "Are you my best friend Ainsley?" "Are you my best friend Madison?" The other day he was talking to Ben and said, "You are my buddy daddy. You my buddy daddy?" Too cute.
Ainsley is still my Ainsley. She is not as silly as the other kids but very smart and logical. She is usually either singing or lying. We are working on it though. The singing volume is getting a little lower and the lying is...well...we are working on it. You can only have so many FHE lessons on honesty right? I do have a funny story to share about her though. Last Sunday in singing time, I was playing a game with the kids that when they get to certain parts of the song, they cannot sing. They just do the motions I taught them. Towards the end of singing time, they were only supposed to sing a couple of things. Strange, I was hearing a solo amongst the 75+ junior primary kids. The solo sounded a lot like Ainsley. I looked at her and put my finger to my lips for her to be quiet and all I got was a huge grin on her face and the volume of her singing went louder. Weird...she was not listening to me. Not following directions. The stake primary presidency thought it was very amusing. I do love my Ainsley though. There are moments that she is so sweet and soft. They are brief but when I see them, I do cherish them. What is this girl going to be like when she grows up... very strong!
I have tried several recipes for Spaghetti Carbonara and have enjoyed all of them. I continually found, however, that they were oily and had a lot of onions. I saw this recipe and decided to try it and it is now my favorite one. Plus, it is lower in calories so why not make it instead! Ben even likes this one and he does not enjoy pasta stuff.
1 egg plus 1 egg white
2/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese (you can use Parmesan but the cheese flavor is less pronounced. I used the freshly grated Parmesan from Costco and it was very good)
1/4 cup fat-free evaporated milk
2 TBS mayonnaise
2 oz Canadian bacon, chopped
2 slices bacon, chopped
3 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp pepper
1/3 cup white wine (I usually just get the cheap white cooking wine and it still tastes good.)
Salt
1 pound spaghetti (Any long, thin pasta such as linguine or fettuccine will also work)
1. Bring 4 qts water to a boil in large pot. Process egg, egg white, cheese, evaporated milk, and 1 1/2 TBS mayonnaise in food processor, or blender, until smooth; leave mixture in food processor.
2. Cook both bacons in large non-stick skillet over medium heat until fat has rendered and bacon is browned, about 7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to bowl; set aside.
3. Add garlic and pepper to fat in pan and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in wine and simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat, cover and keep warm.
4. Meanwhile, add 1 TBS salt and pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta cooking water, drain pasta, and return to pot. Toss pasta with remaining 1/2 TBS mayonnaise until coated.
5. With motor running, slowly add wine mixture and 1/4 cup hot pasta cooking water to egg mixture and process until smooth and frothy, about 1 minute. Immediately pour egg mixture over hot pasta and toss to combine, adding reserved cooking water as necessary to adjust consistency. Stir in crisp bacon and season with salt. Serve.
I was at the park last week and a few of my friends were talking about this recipe they had the night before at a church event. I had to try it and I really liked it. Very, Very Yummy!
Cake Ingredients:
1 (18.25 oz) package lemon cake mix
1 (3.4 oz) package instant lemon pudding mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 TBS lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 eggs
1 cup Sierra Mist or 7-up
Glaze Ingredients: (I doubled the glaze! YUM)
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon peel (zest)
2/3 cup sifted powdered sugar
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix & pudding mix, then stir in the oil, lemon zest and lemon juice. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the lemon-lime soda. (But do not beat it too much. Just mix it in.)
3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes then invert onto plate.
4. Pour glaze over top of cooled cake. If you like glaze, double the glaze recipe. Yummy!!!
I served this with vanilla ice cream but I think it would be good with whipped cream or cool whip. It is also good by itself though. Enjoy!
I have not posted in a long time so I thought I would give an update. We are doing well. The kids hate going back to school but I LOVE it! My mom felt it was time to say goodbye to her piano so we have taken on a project. The piano was purchased by my grandparents in 1960 (used). Since then it has been painted green and then brown. Ben stripped and stained it for Mother's Day a long time ago so the paint looks beautiful. The keys, not so much. Ben is rekeying the entire piano. It will look really nice when it is all done. As we took the piano apart, we decided to look up the serial number to see how old the piano was. We found that is was built between 1900 and 1905. Crazy!!! Here are the pictures of where we are at right now. I will post updates soon.
I made this last night and LOVED it. It can go with any kind of chicken you make. It is like a little spicy sweet and sour sauce.
1/2 cup mustard
1/4 cup apricot jam/jelly
1/4 cup mayo
I know, it sounds strange but was really yummy. If you like mustard at all and if you like sweet and sour, you will like this combination.
