There's no fun like snow fun

We went outside today to play in the snow and I was happy to find the consistency of the snow to be perfect snowman snow. It's been ages since I have built a snowman, Darrell has done it with the kids the past few years. It was quite a workout for my pregnant self, and challenging to get the body section on top of the bottom section!

(Oaklen was, of course, a turkey and refused to wear his snow boots and his gloves. Half way through our snow fun, after falling in the snow a couple times, he decided to put on his gloves.)

Here are some pics to enjoy! (Click to enlarge.)

Frankenstein Soup AKA Split Pea Soup

Last night I made Split Pea Soup and tricked Salem into thinking that it was "Frankenstein Soup." He was so intrigued with the Frankenstein green soup with orange eyeballs (carrots) and white fingernails (onions.)

I got him to eat a small bowl of the soup by telling him the story of how I caught the Frankenstein and melted him into the pot. As he ate each spoonful I'd tell him more about my adventure of calling the Frankenstein hotline to find a Frankenstein to capture for the soup. His eyes were so big as I was telling him the story, he ran to the mirror to see if he was turning green like a Frankenstein (since you are what you eat!) It was pretty cute.

This tactic worked really well to get him to eat this soup but I'm sure it was a one-hit wonder. He'll be savvy to my scheme next time around.

Here is the recipe that I used, I got it from Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure. I don't currently own this book so I check it out from the library pretty much every other month.

Split Pea Soup with Herbes De Provence
Serves 4 - 6

1 tablespoon safflower or canola oil
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh garlic
2 cups coarsely chopped onion
1 teaspoon each dried basil, oregano, and rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
1 large bay leaf
2 large carrots, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 large celery ribs, diced
6 cups boiling water
2 cups dried green split peas, picked over and rinsed
.....
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
salt to taste

Heat the oil in the cooker. Cook the garlic over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, just until it begins to brown. Immediately add the onions and continue to cook, stirring frequently, for another minute. Stir in the basil, oregano, rosemary, fennel, and bay leaf. Add the carrots, celery, boiling water (stand back to avoid sputtering oil), and split peas.

Lock the lid in place. Over high heat, bring to high pressure. Lower the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 6 minutes (I cooked it for 15 minutes, as that is what I found works best). For a hearty texture, quick-release the pressure by setting the pot under cold running water. For a smoother texture, allow the pressure to come down naturally. Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow any excess steam to escape.

Remove the bay leaf. Stir the soup as you add the parsley and salt to taste. This soup will thicken considerably on standing. Thin as needed with water or stock.

I found this picture after googling the recipe, it looked just like this.

My mom the clown

Darrell can literally say "My mother-in-law is a clown!" For those of you who know my mom, you'll appreciate these pics...

We had a family Halloween get-together featuring M&M the clown. :) The kids thought it was hilarious! Thanks for the fun time!

Mending tape - clothing label

Salem's school asked the parents to have all of the children's outdoor clothing labeled. Here's what I used...iron-on mending tape! I got a package at NPS for $.39 and it will last me a long time.

I debated on what to use for a while, my mom had labels professionally made for me and my siblings that said our names on them. She would have to sew them on, but I thought it was cool that I had my own name tag. :) I found websites to order similar name tags for my kids but I was too cheap to spend the few dollars. I even found some that were iron-on so I didn't have to sew. My mom suggested using a heavyweight interfacing and then labeling and ironing it on. I intended to do that but then I found the mending tape.

During general conference a few weeks ago, I collected all of Salem's hats, gloves, jackets, etc and started applying the labels. It was a quick and painless process. I just wrote his name on the mending tape with a fine-point sharpie marker, then cut the tape around the name to save as much tape as possible (I could fit three names in the width of the tape.) Then I ironed on the label and it was done! :)

If you need to label clothing, I suggest that you use mending tape!

P.S. - I realize that I'm probably not the first one to think of this. I'm sure there are many moms out there that have done this for years, but I thought I'd just pass along this info to those who still haven't been enlightened. :)

Ultrasound Pictures

For those of you who have been too lazy to figure out the gender math equation, maybe this will be a better hint for you:


Here are the pictures from the ultrasound. They even did some 3D images. They looked at the x,y, and z coordinates and the computer produced a 3D image. The computer finds everything and then the technician has to "photoshop" out all the other tissue etc to find the baby, so that's why it looks like a baby that is not all the way formed. (I've seen random pictures online of 3D ultrasounds and thought they looked creepy, but now that I understand how they do it, and that it's my baby, it looks okay.) Our baby's feet were up cross-legged around his head, so the technician even removed one of his legs so we could see his face on the 3D pics.

Gender math

Drum roll...we had our ultra sound and in order to announce the gender of baby #3, I'm going to make you do a little math. :)

(Where D= Darrell and H=Heather)

Here are some hints if you don't know the years:
Sqrt[(Baby’s birth year - D & H wedding year) + (H’s birth year - D’s birth year)]

The answer will be the number of letters in the word "boy" or "girl" and then you'll know.

Discoveries

In honor of Columbus Day, I'll give you some of my random discoveries that I've had over the years...

* Buying dental floss and using it every day is cheaper than a dentist visit for a filling.
* Buying name-brand food on sale with a coupon is usually cheaper than the store brand.
* Counting down from 5 to 1 works to get Salem and other children to do something or focus on the task.
* The attention span of a 2 year old is 2 minutes, a 5 year old is 5 minutes, etc.
* Cleaning as you go is easier than setting aside time to do everyday chores.
* Stop and smell the roses, breath in...breath out.
* Reading the Book of Mormon every day will bless your life, even if it's one verse.
* Keeping your gas tank 1/2 full or more keeps stress out of your life.
* The following letters are the same upside down: H, I, N, O, S, X, Z
* Children learn at an incredibly fast pace.
* You never stop learning.
* You don't "save" money by spending it.
* If you think someone's perfect, you don't know them well enough.
* As a new mom, you think why am I so alone? But then you realize that there are thousands of moms saying that same thing.
* Vinegar can be used for almost anything. I have at least 3-4 spray bottles of vinegar in my house.
* You can make substitutions in recipes very easily and it still comes out okay.
* If you are seeking a school for your kindergartner, you must start looking into a school in October of the year before he starts. (Same goes for preschool.)
* Breastfeeding is calming for the baby and the mother, strengthens the baby's immune system, provides complete infant nutrition, and is 100% the best.
* Attachment parenting is a style of caring for your infant that brings out the best in the baby and the best in the parents.
* Children don't care about "new" toys, they'll love a used toy just as well.
* Nutrition plays a big part in someone's health. Instead of popping a pill, look at what you're eating (or rather what you're not eating.)
* You don't have to be a member of Costco to use their pharmacy, or redeem a Costco gift card.
* Hairspray & gel work for most of my hair styles, I don't need to buy all that gimmicky other stuff.
* The rubber-band trick works well for the first few months of pregnancy when jeans start fitting a little too tightly.
* Children love playing dress-up! Halloween is just like any other day at my house.
* Always "google it" before you purchase something online. You can find product reviews and even coupons.
* A mother's intuition (the spirit) is sometimes better than a doctor.
* Those who understand interest, earn it; those who don't understand interest, pay it.
* Paying bills online is fast and easy.
* Renewing and reserving library books online is even easier.
* You can view demo videos on youtube and learn how to do just about anything.
* Wheat is not just for bread.
* After you shave your legs, put baby oil on them, it feels great!
* If your hair is straight or straightened and it's your off day for washing, sprinkle baby powder on your scalp and brush it through. It'll absorb some of the oil in the hair and make it smell good.
* You are in charge of your own happiness.

Zip-it

Have you heard of the Zip-it? I was introduced to this product a couple years ago, and now love it! I got it at WalMart for about $3 and it's a good preventative maintenance tool for clogged drains. You don't use harsh chemicals, it's just a jagged strip of plastic that you stick down in your drain and pull out all the yuck.

I clean our upstairs bathtub drain every few months with this. I like that it's cheap and really easy to use. This is not for those with a light stomach, some of the stuff that comes out is pretty gross, but I'd rather get it out than have it stay in the pipe!

Here's a demo of it:

The end of my KitchenAid era

When Darrell and I were registering for our wedding, he insisted that we register for a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. He said "to be a true Hendriksen, you have to own a KitchenAid." I thought "Whatever, I don't really understand the whole big whoop over them but okay, I'll register for it, I doubt anyone would be able to buy it for us since it's pretty pricey."

Sure enough, when it was Thanksgiving time (we were still engaged) and we had our annual Hendriksen family Thanksgiving dinner, all of Darrell's aunts started bringing in their KitchenAid mixers into the church to use for mixing & mashing the potatoes! I was amazed that they would literally bring their heavy duty mixer just for that, couldn't they use an easy-to-transport hand mixer? I figured there must be something cool about these mixers.

Later in January, while at work, my boss & co-workers asked me to step into my executive boss's office. There on the desk was a huge wrapped wedding gift. I opened it up and it was the KitchenAid mixer that we had registered for. I couldn't believe it! My mouth dropped open since I didn't expect such a large gift from them. (The standard wedding gift at my office was a basket full of various odd & ends & kitchen gadgets.) My executive boss, who was a single lady and could afford such a gift, just looked at me, smiled and said "you deserve this." That was a nice pat on my back.

I've grown to enjoy the KitchenAid. I liked being able to go get another ingredient from the pantry while the mixer is still mixing. The dough hook is, of course, great for making bread. It has served my family well for over six years.

This past year and a half I have tried (desperately) to make bread for my family. I've always wanted to make bread regularly and am now I'm doing it, but I still would like to perfect my technique and get a nice fluffy whole wheat bread. With my KitchenAid I could only put in a maximum of 6 cups of whole wheat flour (8 cups white flour.) That meant I could only make 2 small loaves of bread at a time, and I'd have to be making bread every few days.

I bought a huge stainless steel bowl($1 at DI) and started making bread by hand so that I could make 6 loaves of bread instead of just two. (I'd freeze 4-5 loaves.)

My family had outgrown our 4 1/2 quart KitchenAid mixer and I wanted something bigger. I was introduced to the Bosch Mixers and fell in love. (Sorry KitchenAid.) I watched a video comparing the Bosch to a KitchenAid for making bread and the Bosch won victoriously. I immediately wanted a Bosch mixer but since they were pricey I needed to "save up" to buy the mixer. (I thought that I'd do that just like Darrell did to save up for his guitar.) I made a spreadsheet (who knew?) to figure out how much I needed to save and entered the info whenever I made a few extra dollars (selling things, birthday money, babysitting, substituting a dance class.)

I was holding out for a brand new model, but this weekend I found a refurbished Bosch Mixer with a warranty from a reputable local store so I decided to purchase that one instead of saving a lot more money for a new one.

I put my KitchenAid up for sale on KSL and Craigslist and sold it today. It was a little hard for me to let go as I was giving the mixer to the lady who bought it. It's an end of an era for me. It was my learning mixer, and I've had fun memories with my boys making food using the mixer. I feel old now that I've upgraded to a bigger mixer, I'm in a new stage in my life.

I feel like I'm still a "true Hendriksen" even though I no longer own a KitchenAid, hopefully the family won't disown me. :)

My quest for bread perfection still awaits me, but I feel that I'm getting closer all the time.

A kid after my own heart

Salem is a kid after my own heart...
I was being lazy this morning and the boys came in my room to wake me up instead of vice versa. They climbed on the bed to snuggle for a minute then Salem quickly rushed out of the room. (I thought he was going to go get dressed for school.) He came back ten minutes later and still had on his pajamas. I was just starting to get out of bed to start the day so I told him to quickly go get dressed too. He started to get upset and then showed me what he was doing.

He made a math worksheet for us to do while snuggling in bed! He said "but we have to snuggle in bed and do math before we get dressed!" How could I say no to that? Two things I love...math and snuggling! We snuggled for another 5 minutes and did our addition. I was impressed that Salem even figured out that 11 + 12 = 23. Salem is also like me and likes to stall and dawdle, right Mom & Darrell? :)

Afterward we rushed to get ready and were greeted downstairs with delicious French Toast made by Darrell. Ah, how nice! :)

Whole Wheat Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Anything is better with chocolate! These cookies are whole wheat but they still taste great, I don't know anyone who would turn these down.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mix together:
1 egg
1/2 c canola oil
1/4 c butter
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c honey

Add:
1/2 c water
2 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t cloves
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda

Then add:
1 c zucchini
2 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour*
2 c quick oats
1 - 2 c chocolate chips

Spoon & shape into golf-ball sizes. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. They will come out fluffy and delicious! :)

* Whole wheat pastry flour can be made by substituting a little bit of corn starch for whole wheat flour. Use 1 tablespoon of corn starch for every 1/2 cup of ww pastry flour. Example: I added two tablespoons of cornstarch in my 1 cup measuring cup, then filled the rest with whole wheat flour. Then I added one tablespoon in the 1/2 cup measuring cup and filled the rest up with ww flour. (1 1/2 c ww pastry flour = 1 1/2 c ww flour - 3 T corn starch.)
If I've confused you enough, then you can just add white flour instead, or just use all whole wheat flour.

Oct 08 General Conference Activity Packet

I found out last April that someone makes activity packets for each LDS General Conference. I googled it and found the one for October 2008. Here is the link to download it if you'd like.

It's fun for the kids to do, as well as teens and adults! :) I think I'll use at least one page and give to the primary children as "homework." If they bring the paper back the following week then we can put stars in the jar.

Random Spiritual Thoughts

I feel like my blogging life has been slowing down and I'm not really going to change that. I've been getting into routines at my house and I just don't have time to sit at the computer as much as I used to.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say some random spiritual thoughts. I often get things in my head and don't really do much with them, so here goes...

1. Heavenly Father answered my prayer and guided me - We, as a primary presidency, have been trying to think of some sort of reverence game for sharing time & singing time. We have a small primary (about 16 kids on a good day and that's 50% attendance) but we still have reverence concerns. We saw some cute ideas on various websites but it just wasn't really clicking for me. I went to the temple to do an endowment session and happened to say a prayer to help me know what to do for primary. By the end of the 3 hours, I had received ideas to figure it all out. I was really excited that I got a "double whammie" I went to the temple plus did my primary homework. (I often spend 1-2 hours searching online for sharing times ideas when it's my turn, then end up doing something that I found within 10 minutes of my search! I was glad that I didn't even have to go online about this, I liked what I had.)

The idea for the reverence chart:
"Reach for the stars" and "Be a STAR in Primary!"
STAR
S = Sitting
T = Thinking
A = Attentive
R = Reverent

I made a poster with a boy & girl on it with stars at the top of the poster. The boy & girl are on some fishing line (thanks Candace) and whenever the children are reverent the boy & girl reach higher for the stars. If they reach all the way to the top and "reach the stars" then two children get to pick stars from a bag and put them into a jar. Once the jar is full of the stars we will have a "star party." Star party could be flashlights with papers with holes in them, with star shaped food, and maybe a few other star-themed games. (I'll have the Faith in God boys & girls help me plan it.)

Not only did Heavenly Father help me with the idea, but he helped me with the material too. I found some perfect glittery star ornaments at Michael's to use that were $1.99 for 12, and I even found a star shaped jar at the DI for $.50!

I presented the idea on Sunday with a fun sharing time using the teachers in a "star fashion show." We had Wiggly Wanda, Sleepy Sarah, Reverent Rosie, Distracted Darcy, and Talkative Tiffany. They all entered the room walking down the "red carpet" and I talked about each character. Afterward, the children lined up in front of Reverent Rosie and I gave them a star sticker.

(If any of you want more info about this, just email me or comment.)

2. Institute Class - Darrell and I are taking a married institute class. It's only twice and month so it's a doable date night for us. There is a different keynote speaker each time. So far we've only been to one and it was a great class. It was taught by Scott Anderson who has done many EFY conferences and is a marriage counselor. Things I learned:

• Pre-existence - We obviously had choices since we chose to follow Jesus Christ. That also meant that we were tempted too. Brother Anderson called the pre-existence the "Great Singles Conference" since we were all single and were so excited when Heavenly Father presented the plan for us to come to this life for an opportunity to become like him...married for eternity.
• Harmony - What exactly is the definition of harmony? According to Merriam Webster definition #4 it's "an interweaving of different accounts into a single narrative." That means that if you want to have harmony in your marriage, you need realize that there are two different accounts that are trying to become one. Husband and wife are different and in order to have harmony you need to recognize those differences to make it beautiful.
  
• Beam in your own eye - Whenever there is an argument, instead of trying to change the other person, think about changing yourself. When Brother Anderson and his wife have a disagreement he says "You know honey, we're having a difficulty with [this situation], I'm frustrated because I do [this], I will try better to do [this instead.]" Then his wife says the same thing about herself. Later they compliment the spouse the great job that he/she is doing.
  

3. Pray for something better - I just got done listening to the audiobook by Sheri Dew entitled If Life Were Easy It Wouldn't Be Hard. The book is a collections of different thoughts. One of the chapters talks about prayer. Have you ever been praying and asking Heavenly Father for either this or that? Never thinking about another option? She brought up the point that maybe God has something better in store for you. She told the story about Joseph Smith asking for something better.

After he had looked over the table he said, "Lord, we thank Thee for this Johnny cake, and ask Thee to send us something better. Amen." The corn bread was cut and I received a piece from his hand.

Before the bread was all eaten, a man came to the door and asked if the Prophet Joseph was at home. Joseph replied he was, whereupon the visitor said, "I have brought you some flour and a ham."

Joseph arose and took the gift, and blessed the man in the name of the Lord. Turning to his wife, Emma, he said, "I knew the Lord would answer my prayer."

This thought of praying for something better has never occurred to me, so now I'm going to start doing that. It has been such a struggle for me to make Salem's "life decision" regarding which school to attend and every decision I've made has not made me feel 100% excited. I couldn't figure out if Heavenly Father had answered my prayer or not. I felt a "stupor of thought" so I figured that my answer was no or to keep searching. Now I have learned a little more how to pray and hopefully this will help me in the future.

The Burger Waffle

Have you ever tried to make veggie/bean burgers only to have them fall apart? Well, we have and it's a challenge to get the right consistency to make them stay together.

Darrell and I came up with a great idea...cook the veggie or bean burgers in the waffle maker! We use our traditional waffle maker (not the belgian waffle maker since we have both.) The end result seems to make it more sturdy to hold in your bun or even just on your plate. They might be able to hold up the test to an outside BBQ grill once they are cooked first in the waffle maker, then later reheated on the grill for a party.

We don't really have a recipe since each time it's different. It's kind of like making meatloaf, just throw whatever in there and it'll be good.

Here is a list of types of ingredients that we have used:
Beans - pinto or black, but I'm sure you could use any kind of beans. (I usually start with dry beans and cook them speedily in my pressure cooker.)
Grains - Bread crumbs, oatmeal, cooked rice/wheat/barley/etc.
Cheese - Just a enough to make it tasty
Egg - sometimes we have used an egg to hopefully gel the food together, but you could also use ground flax seed.
Spices - Montreal Steak Seasoning, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic, onion, whatever.
Condiments - Worcestershire sauce, A1, Vinegar, whatever.
Vegetables - You can either add whatever pureed or chopped veggies to the burger batter, or wait until afterward and just add it to your sandwich.

If you really need a recipe, there are a ton online. Just start with a basic recipe and make it your own by adding whatever is in your fridge or pantry. Enjoy!

Quaker Sale

The Quaker sale is happening tomorrow through next Tuesday at Albertson's. This is the time that I stock up on my Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (Oatmeal) for the year. It ends up being $1.50 on sale or $.90 with two coupons if you buy 10 Quaker items.

The coupon I have is $3 off when you buy 5 Quaker items. I found this in last week's Harmon's ad, or this week's Dan's ad. It's a manufacture coupon.

I've done the figuring and this is cheaper than buying a 25 or 50 lb bag of Oat groats and rolling it yourself. (Plus you'd need to have an oat roller, that costs about $70.) (Rolling it yourself would probably keep more nutrients though.)

I'm going to buy 10 42oz canisters of Old Fashioned Rolled Oats: (Hopefully if they don't sell out.)
1 canister = $2.00
Buy 10 canisters and get it for $1.50 because of the Albertson's Sale
10 * $1.50 = $15
Use two coupons and save $6
$15 - $6 = $9
Price per 42 oz canister
$9 / 10 = $.90

Here is the link to the Albertson's weekly shopping forum:
http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100502
Or here is the direct list:
http://pinchingyourpennies.com/coupons/store_sales.php?id=UT_Albertsons_Sep10_Sep16

I try not to get suckered into buying the rest of the Quaker stuff because most of it is just junk and you get the best deal by just buying the Old Fashioned Rolled Oats. Last time they did the quaker sale I was so excited that I wrote a poem:

The Quaker Sale by Heather Hendriksen

Twas the night before the quaker sale when all through the house
not a scissor was cutting or clicking of the mouse

the coupons were clipped, stacked neatly with care,
in hopes that the quaker sale soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of granola bars dances in their heads

and DH and I settled down to talk over the news
I told him of the savings we'd accrue with the chews

More rapid than eagles his happiness came,
And he whistled, and shouted, like it was a game;

"Now, coupon! now, savings! now, preferred savings card!
Pinching your pennies has not made it hard!"

To the top of the aisle! to the top of the wall!
Now shop away! shop away! shop away all!"

Happiness according to Oaklen & Salem

Happiness ...this is what Oaklen & Salem would write about if they did a happiness post.

According to Oaklen
Happiness is...
* Finding the fridge lock accidentally unlatched
* Eating...almost anything
* Hearing mom or Salem say the word "rhombus"
* Being able to pull or hold mom's hair
* Holding hands
* Taking my shoes off
* Talking on the phone with Grandpa
* Pretending to make waffles with the kitchen set and wooden blocks
* Looking at pictures of Oaklen
* Being able to turn on the hose and get soaking wet
* Getting my own drink of water from the bathroom then spilling half of it on the floor
* Daddy playing the dancing song on his guitar
* Getting into the van and sit in my chair all by myself
* Singing "Jesus want me for a Sunbeam" or "I am a child of God"
* Humming as I eat
* Playing on the playground
* Trying to ride Salem's tricycle
* Watching the water pour into the washing machine
* Someone chasing me
* Showing my belly button
* Dreaming about orange garbage trucks
According to Salem

(I asked him to fill in the sentence "Happiness is...")
Happiness is...
Love
Joy
Feelings
Kindness

(Here are other things I thought of for Salem...)
Happiness is...
* Mom & me time
* Riding the bicycle with Dad
* Riding my scooter
* Coming up with cool activities
* Looking at pictures of Salem
* Playing Starfall or Sesame Street
* Reading books
* Learning new signs (sign language)
* Doing math
* Being able to wear anything I want
* Dressing up as a character
* Eating bananas
* Going to the library
* Doing the activity for Family Home Evening
* Helping mom make food
* Eating goldfish crackers from Aunt Marie & Uncle Neil
* Snuggling in my blanket

What's new?

When someone asks the question "what's new?" It's often hard to think of something that's new for me or my family. Well, today we have answers to that question.

1. New Car - A van actually. Since our family is expanding we needed a bigger car and Darrell convinced me that we needed to get one now instead of waiting until I'm hugely pregnant to test drive the vehicles. We sold our Honda Civic last Thursday (Darrell almost cried, it was a good car) and ended up buying a Honda Odyssey the next day on Friday night. I searched many different car websites and ended up finding our deal through Overstock.com Cars. If you're in the market for a used car, check out Overstock cars, I found deals on there that I didn't find anywhere else. We were espeically excited to purchase our van at this certain dealership because now we get lifetime oil changes there for free and they'll even clean & vacuum it too!

2. New Garage Door Opener - Our 20-year-old garage door opener has been on the fritz for months and we almost always have had to manually open it. It wasn't such a bad thing since I got out of the car to shut the door in nice summer weather, but because we opened it manually, the garage wasn't as secure as we wished. We saved up our cash-back bonus award and got a Sears gift card to get the garage door opener for free. We of course bought it on sale too at the the Labor Day Sale. Darrell spent most of the day out in the garage installing the new garage door opener. I'm amazed with what he can do! We opted for the opener with the lifetime warranty and all the bells & whistles so now we're set for life. Yeah! :)

3. New School - Salem started kindergarten today. Darrell, Oaklen & I went to take him to school at 8:10 in the morning! I was surprised that I didn't get emotional this morning, no tears. (I must have gotten that all out of me when I cried in the checkout line at Shopko a month ago when we were buying him school supplies.) He was excited and had a good day. One funny thing he said to me as I picked him up and we were getting into the van was: "I thought she was going to teach me like 30 + 30 or something, but she didn't." :) I hope he has a wonderful time in kindergarten. He may not learn as much as he hoped but we can make up for that at home if he's interested. He's learning at such a fast pace that I'm amazed. My hope is that kindergarten will be a good social learning experience.

4. New schedule - With Salem now in Kindergarten we have a new schedule. For months I was preparing for all-day kindergarten but last week they changed it to half-day because the enrollment was suprisingly high this year. I was bummed that they changed it but I'll just have to live with it and I'm sure things will work out fine. Since he's home by 11:00 each day, I've got to figure out lunch for the three of us. It was so nice this summer to just go over to the park and have the kids eat lunch there every weekday. I can't even remember what I used to do for lunches before summer!

I was planning on taking that same institute class that I took fall & spring semester, but now I can't because I have to go pick Salem up at that same time. We can still do story time at Barnes & Noble and go to the library twice a week so I'm thinking that the schedule won't be extremely different.

5. New wardrobe - The cooler weather is fun and gives me good nesting feelings. I need to change around Oaklen's clothing to switch to fall gear. It was nice for Salem & Oaklen to share some clothes this summer, there were many shirts & shorts that fit both Oaklen & Salem (or at least Salem convinced me that they fit.)

I'm not excited about sock weather. It's time to put away the sandals (I already put away my white ones of course) and get out regular shoes. Sock laundry is my nemesis and it's been so nice to only have a few pairs of socks once in a while in the laundry pile.

My belly is expanding and the baby bump is starting to be more like a pregnant belly rather than a frumpy blob. I haven't gotten out the maternity clothes yet but I need to soon. I conveniently have a couple shirts that are the maternity-shirt-style that are trendy right now that I wear often to make me feel more comfortable. I'm hoping that because I will be pregnant during the winter months instead of the summer that I can wear more of my regular clothes since sweaters & sweatshirts are a little more roomy. We'll see.

So, that's my list of things that are new in my life. What's new with you?

Salem's 5th Birthday Pics

Here are the pictures of Salem's birthday. He had a fun day, his dad made him breakfast in bed and he got to open up some of his presents in the morning. He played with his new roller skates, read his new books, and played his new board game.

A few days before we made him an origami crown out of newspaper, he wore it most of the day.

I made a whole wheat chocolate zucchini cake for his birthday. The recipe doesn't have any eggs in it so I let the kids lick the bowl & paddle. A few months ago Salem and I came up with the idea to make a Lego cake. It turned out pretty well, and I made cream cheese frosting to make it taste even better. When we thought about making a cake a few months ago, Salem wanted me to make two - one for him and one for President Monson (since they share the same birthday) how cute huh?

That night was a fun family party. He was blessed to have many family members there and more cool presents too! Thanks to everyone that helped make his special day! (A special thanks to my friend Alecia for letting me borrow her camera for the day since ours was broken.)

Enjoy the pics... (click on the image to view it larger.)

Happiness is... Part VIII

Happiness is...
* Fresh garden tomatoes eaten like an apple.
* Oaklen climbing into my "nest" when I sit cross-legged on the floor.
* Salem learning how to do math.
* Salem writing and counting up to 100.
* When the city comes to pick up the bulk trash each year.
* A clean section in the basement.
* Changing into a t-shirt & pajama pants after a long day of wearing a dress or skirt.
* The silence after the kids have been rambunctious right before bed and then suddenly asleep.
* Smiling when you answer the telephone, even though you don't know who it is.
* Holding Oaklen's hand almost all night long.
* Chocolate dipped grapes - fresh from my grapevine.
* Finding a seedless variety of grapes amongst the plethora of seeded grapes on my vine.
* Sleeping-in on a Saturday morning then waking up to breakfast in bed and the kitchen already clean.
* The little dance my boys do when Darrell plays a certain song on the guitar, it always makes them start to move.
* Listening to audio books in the car.
* The boys talking to my belly and saying "a-waw-boo baby." (I love you baby.)
* Thinking of silly baby names with Salem.
* Playing board games with Salem out on the porch.
* When the batteries die on certain toys.
* Getting a new camera and learning all the cool functions.
* Watching my boys have such a fun time at Lagoon.

4 more months...are you ready?

Salem's 1st Christmas - 2003


Oaklen's 1st Christmas - 2006

Four more months until Christmas, yeah!

I told Salem that there were 4 more months till Christmas and then he wanted to know how many days. I didn't want to figure it out at the moment (Sorry Carl if you're disappointed.) so I googled it and found some websites with a countdown application:
http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/xmas_cnt.htm
http://www.emailsanta.com/clock.html