Silly Gavin...

pacifiers are for newborns! Gavin will be turning one year old next month and he just barely started sucking on pacifiers. We tried everything we could to get him to take one when he was a little baby, but he just wouldn't have it. Suddenly he wants one! So funny. Maybe it'll help him sleep better at night?? Gavin is getting ready to walk. He pulls himself up to couches, bathtubs, etc. and walks along them. However, he can't seem to hold onto the church pew. Yesterday he fell twice at church and bonked himself pretty good. See the bruise on his poor little forehead? He's got a matching one on the side of his head that you can't see in the pic. I felt like I deserved the "Bad mother of the year" award yesterday, letting him fall twice. Anyway, back to walking...he now pushes away and balances for several seconds. He's growing up so fast.

Super Student

I was going through my pics to upload a new apron to my etsy site (didja like that shameless plug?) and saw this one I took of Kevin with the kids a couple of weeks ago. I got a little sad because I miss Kevin. He is studying his diligent little heart out every second he gets. This has been a pretty intense semester for him and so we haven't seen as much of him between all of his different responsibilities. But the time we do spend with him is sweet. I had to get this shot of all the kids huddling around him. They sure love their daddy. Only two more weeks of this semester and then we get him for the whole summer!

And He's Up...

Gavin has been pulling himself up for weeks now. He follows the kids around the house and wants to play with them so bad. Cade and Myla are usually really good at involving him.
This is Gavin standing at the bathtub wanting so badly to be in there with Cade and Myla. I try to get him in but bathing three kids at one time is a challenge. I usually come out soaking wet.

Gav's little feet.

Yesterday I went downstairs and he was half way up them! He about gave me a heart attack. I didn't know he could climb the stairs. I am having a hard time keeping up with him!

Tiny Footsteps Preschool

My sister-in-law, Jamie, and her friend, Lisa, are opening a preschool for the 2009-2010 school year. We are so excited for her (and Myla is excited to start school there)! They are offering two classes:

Preschool (3 -4 year olds) - 2 days Mon./Wed. 9:00 a.m.-11:15 a.m. $60 a month

Pre-K (4-5 year olds) - 3 days Mon./Wed./Thurs. 12:00p.m.-2:00 p.m. $80 a month

Click on the button above for more information regarding their curriculum. They are registering now, so hurry before spaces fill!

That Kid!

I don't know if it's just because he's my third child, so I'm not paying as much attention, but this kid is growing up so fast! I can't even keep up with him anymore. He is one speedy fella. He just started pulling himself up to the couch and the toy box and the bath tub. Anywhere Cade and Myla are he wants to be. Usually they are so sweet to include him in their play. (The only time Cade has a problem is when Gavin destroys his train tracks and eats his trains.) He is eating regular food and won't even touch the baby food. The second Kevin comes in the door Gavin scoots his little body over to him as fast as he can. It melts my heart actually. This little boy is such a blessing in our lives. Here are some pics of him that I took today. I just can't get enough of his face!

This is one of my favorite things that he does...he kneels and plays with toys. I just love watching him.

And The Toilet Won

Personally, I think our toilet has had it out for Cade for awhile and it finally socked Cade a good-'un.
Let me tell you the story of how the toilet beat Cade....literally. Let me warn you, this is not a terribly exciting story. But I must document, for posterity's sake, what happens when YOU DON'T LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER! Okay, ahem, now that I've got that out of my system...

One night, while taking a bath, the kids drenched the floor. Again. Like they always do. Drenched. Soaked. Wetter than the Mississippi. They do this by taking turns getting out of the bathtub, then streaking through the house naked and running back to the bathtub full force. I think they get some kind of thrill out of it. Is this indicative of future events? Oh, I hope not. Anyway, after the, oh, HUNDRETH time of telling them to stay in the bathtub (I just want them good and clean, sheesh!) I finally grab Cade on his return streaking trip and tell him we are putting jammies on now. No more bathtub. He breaks free of my grasp and goes running into the swampy bathroom, when "Crack! Thump! Squeeeeeeeeeel!"

He slipped right into the toilet and got quite the little shiner. These pics aren't the greatest and they don't do the bruise justice. It swelled right up. Anyway, of course, I didn't want Cade to get hurt. I spend most of my day trying to prevent my kids from injuring themselves or each other, both physically and emotionally. It makes my heart very sad when my kids get hurt. But I will say this, Cade hasn't gone streaking since and it's been a couple of weeks since this happened. Life is all about learning, and sometimes we have to learn the hard way.

Father/Son Campout

A couple weekends ago Kevin took Cade on their first Father's and Son's campout with our ward. I sent the camera with Kevin with the firm instructions to take pics of all the fun. This was their very first one! It had to be documented. So, based on the pics that Kevin took (and from his own commentary about the weekend) this is pretty much what happened:

They drove. Both are happy and excited to go!Cade wee wee-ed on his first shrub. A momentous event for any boy I'm sure. Well, I'm not sure. Moving on...Cade slept. For like 14 hours. Kevin said he slept most of the time. He came home with a pretty bad fever. Poor kid.
Cade threw rocks in the river. Knowing how this kid loves throwing rocks into water, I'm sure this was his favorite part. If he had stayed awake to roast marshmallows, that might have been his favorite part.

Kevin drove home, while Cade slept...with juice and cookie in hand. That kid is talented. (I think Kevin is pretty talented too, taking that picture while driving. )

So that concludes the first Father/Son campout. They both came home sunburnt and tired and sick. But they were glad they went.

Not Quite June Cleaver giveaway

Not Quite June Cleaver is having a great giveaway for those of us who love fabric, spring, books, etc. Click on the image to take you there. I want that green fabric. I hear an apron calling me from the fabric.

The Secret Stitch Shop!...and giveaway

It's finally open! A couple of friends and I have joined forces to open The Secret Stitch Shop on Etsy. What do we sell? Super cute aprons and sweet nursing covers at affordable prices. And it's just in time for Mother's Day. (By the way--we are offering FREE SHIPPING until May 15th! Also, just in time for Mother's Day!) Aprons have made a comeback and are cuter than ever. So check out the shop. If you see something you like, go ahead, buy it. :) We'll be adding new items weekly, so check back often! If you see something you like and someone buys it before you, let me know and I'd be happy to make another. Or, if there is something specific you'd like (one made to match your kitchen decor, for example) email me or leave me a comment with a way to get in contact with you. I'll definitely take custom orders.

In celebration of our grand opening, we are having a giveaway down at The Secret Stitch Club blog. What are we giving away? An apron, of course! Jill made this loverly apron. It's bright and cheery and perfect for all the spring cleaning and Easter baking or just for laying around watching TV or walking to the mailbox. What? Who does that? Not me! :)

So head on over the The Secret Stitch Club blog and enter.

Muu-uud

That's how Cade says mud. He turns into a two syllable word. He does it with a lot of one syllable words, actually. Dad is day-ad. Mom is mo-om. Egg is ay-egg. You get the idea. So the other day the kids played in the muu-uud. They made their own. They toted water from the hose out into the middle of our "yard." Then they toted the mud back and forth to...well, I don't really know where. I think they just like shoveling it into pails, carrying it around, sloshing it all over themselves and each other and me and the side walk and then abandoning the muddy pail for a different toy. I was outside taking pics of my aprons to sell on Etsy (more on that to come in the next few days!) so I took a couple of the muddy kiddos. This is what I mean about sloshing it all over themselves. Her whole front side is drenched.

Cade and Landon fixing the mower. I love this pic. So cute! They all play so well together. We are lucky to have the Picketts right next door.

Braden having some trouble with the Hulk toy. I love that look on his face. Hey, it is the Hulk...of course there's gonna be trouble.Whew! Hulk finally gave in to the power of the Braden.Cade being so proud of his mu-udy hands.

What Marriage is all About

Cade: Mom, I know that place. [He points to the picture of the Mesa Temple we have on the wall.] It's the temple.

Picture by Richard Webb (no relation) who also took the photo that we have on our wall. He's awesome! Look for him at local Deseret Book stores.

Me: You're right Cade. It's pretty, huh?

Cade: Yeah, and I'm gonna get married there.

Me: [Shocked because I didn't think we had really talked about this yet.] That's a good idea, Cade! [We're all about good ideas lately.]

Cade: Yeah, and then I'm going to have Captain Crunch and fruit snacks all I want.

And that, folks, is what marriage is all about--sugar cereal and fruit snacks. :)

Down at the station...

For FHE this week our cool neighbors, the Picketts, invited us to go on a ride on the lightrail. They finished the lightrail a couple of months ago and we had been thinking about taking the kids, so this was perfect. We rode the the middle of Phoenix, then hopped on the opposite train and rode back home. Cade keeps asking to go on the "faaaaaaast" train.

McMillans
The Picketts

Jill and Elsie

Kev and Gav

This is a pic of all of the kids waiting for the train. We had to do something to settle them down. They were pretty excited to be at the train station.

Dino Kev

Another reason why I love Kevin: you can almost always find him out playing with the kids. They love him for it. Here he is doing his trademark Velociraptor impression.

Another giveaway to tell you about...

One of my favorite blogs, Make It and Love It is having another cute giveaway! This one is for little Myla-aged girls. I'm so hoping to win!! Check it out here.

Becoming self-reliant

Becoming self-reliant and developing a food and financial reserve in case of an emergency or disaster has been on our mind a lot lately. This has also been a frequent topic of conversation with family and friends. My sister, Nicki, has done a lot of research on food storage and has a lot of information to share. I guess she got tired of all my questions :) because she started a blog devoted to home preparedness. (Just kidding. Nicki is very patient and is very willing to help others out.) Sometimes it seems overwhelming, but she helps break it down so it seems doable. Check it out to get more info on the topic.

Lemon Cream Cupcakes

What is it about lemons that make it really feel like spring? Technically, they ripen in the winter, but for some reason lemons are in the same category as Easter and bunnies and orange blossoms and pleasant weather. Growing up we had three lemon trees in our yard (my brothers and sister could tell you stories about the havoc they have wreaked with those lemons). So lemons were always in abundance and my mom always made lemon bars and fresh lemonade. Mmmm. I love lemons. Anyway, I had a bag of lemons waiting to be used, so today for a family dinner I made Lemon Cream cupcakes with a Lemon Cream Cheese frosting. They are so yummy and I wanted to share the recipe. Both of the recipes are adapted from allrecipes.com.

Lemon Cream Cupcakes
1 c butter, softened
2 c sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 c sour cream


In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add lemon peel and vanilla; mix well. Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream (batter will be thick). Fill paper-lined muffin cups with 1/4 c of batter.


Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove towire racks to cool completely. Frost.


Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 c butter, softened
1 c confectioners sugar
2 Tbl lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest
2 1/4 c confectioners sugar


Cream butter and cream cheese well. Add 1 cup confectioners sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix well. Add the remaining confectioners sugar to achieve the consistency you want. Frost cupcakes!


* I doubled the frosting recipe because I knew I wanted to frost the cupcakes with the large star tip, and that always takes more frosting. And, I hate having half a package of cream cheese just sitting in my fridge. It always goes bad. I also added more lemon juice, but that's just a personal preference.

Cade couldn't get enough and as I was frosting the cupcakes he kept asking me to put a "star" on his finger. I couldn't resist everytime because he'd stick his skinny finger out and say, "Pleeeeease Mommy" and then give a cute little giggle when I did. So, any moms looking for some bonus points with the kids make some "cuppacakes." (I'll admit it, I am...the bonus points always seem to go to Daddy.)

Book & Apron Giveaway

We are having our first giveaway at The Secret Stitch Club. We are giving away this new book by EllynAnne Geisel, The Kitchen Linens Book. It's a sweet book that includes tons of projects and recipes and even a vintage transfer pattern for kitchen towels.

Along with the book we are giving away an apron made from a vintage kitchen curtain. It's really cute! Go here and enter to win by leaving a comment. What's better than free?!

Spring has Sprung!

And it'll only last a few weeks, so we are taking advantage of it while we can. We spend a lot of time outside lately. The kids think it's summer and that we should be wading in the pool and eating popsicles. I did give in on the popsicles, but no pool yet. :)

Finger-lickin' good

So cool in his shades.

I just love this picture. Check out the hint of the chocolate from the popsicle..reminds me of a mini 'stache.

Gavin loves the outdoors too...he loves to eat the grass and the leaves and the hard ball thingies that drop off the tree and hurt my feet.

We get to play with our cool neighbors, the Picketts, a lot. In fact, it's just not as fun when they aren't outside with us. Today they all climbed in this big box and colored it to look like a ship. I cracked up when Cade asked, "Mom, will you fly us? You have big muscles." Yeah, not that big Cade. :)

We were lucky to have some pretty baby girls join us outside today!

Elsie is a cutie!

Just check out that little pout. I'm thinking Gavin will definitely have his hands full in a couple of years. :)

Cake Wrecks

I know, I haven't blogged about anything substantial in awhile. It's coming, I promise. :) In the meantime, you have to check out the Cake Wrecks blog that I just found through my time-wasting blog surfing last night. Apparently it's pretty popular, so you may already know about it and I'm the last one to know. Yeah, that's probably it. Anyway, Kevin and I spent way too much time last night laughing through all of her posts. Granted, it was pretty late and things go two ways for me when it's late--Christie the Grumpus or Christie the Slap Happy Loon emerges. Last night the loon came out.

Here, just for a taste (get it, taste...I'm so punny. Hmmm, I must still be tired) check out a couple of cakes that she posted (remember, these are professional cake decorators). All pictures from Cake Wrecks.

Some cake decorators take their orders a little too literally:

Guess you can't guess what these people wanted on their cakes.


This order was for a black high heel. High heel, not hill!

Seriously, do they even think while they are decorating? They must crank out so many they don't even read what they've written.

And one of my favorites:

What 5 year old doesn't want a rabid wolf mauling sweet little piggies on his birthday cake? I'm thinking about forgoing the Go, Diego, Go cake in favor of Big Bad Wolfie on a Rampage for Cade this year. Think he'd go for it?