Chili Dogs

Lorelai finally tried Chili Dogs. Evan won't try them and Lorelai has always followed suit, but the other day she just decided that she wanted them! I know it's silly to blog about this, but I was just so happy! I thought I was going to have to stop putting them on the menu. Anyway, Lorelai is awesome and I'm so glad she discovered how great a disgusting looking food can be.

Thirteen Months

My little toddler! This is a little late (since Reid turned thirteen months on the 17th), but the picture is from the 17th! Reid thinks he is two, but I know better! I love my little guy.

Try it Tuesday

Yummy Mummy Cookies

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 packages (10 ounces each) White baking chips (or white melting wafers)
1 to 2 tablespoons shortening (no substitutions!)
Additional mini chips

1. Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs; beat well. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in 1 cup small chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough 15 to 20 minutes or until firm enough to handle.

2. Heat oven to 350 degrees. To form mummy body, using 1 tablespoon dough, roll into 3 1/2 inch carrot shape; place on ungreased cookie sheet. To form head, using 1 teaspoon dough, roll into ball the size and shape of a grape; press onto wide end of body. Repeat procedure with remaining dough. Bake 8 to 9 minutes or until set. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool.

3.* Place 1 2/3 cups (10 ounce package) white chips and 1 tablespoon shortening in microwave-safe pie plate or shallow bowl. Microwave on HIGH (100%) 1 minute; stir until chips are melted.

4. Coat tops of cookies by placing one cookie at a time on table knife or narrow metal spatula; spoon white chip mixture evenly over cookie to coat. (If mixture begins to thicken, return to microwave for a few seconds). Place coated cookies on wax paper. Melt additional chips with shortening, if needed, for additional coating. As coating begins to set on cookies, using a toothpick, score lines and facial features into coating to resemble mummy. Place 2 small chocolate chips on each cookie for eyes. Store, covered, in cool, dry place.

Makes about 30 cookies (or 26 if you eat some of the dough) ;-)

*If you are using the melting wafers DO NOT add the shortening. I prefer the melting wafers because I think they stay melted longer. The only problem is that you have to go find them in the store!

New monitor

Here's our latest setup. Our home computer still works fine, but since Eric's laptop screen is broken (Evan dropped it on the ground accidentally) Eric has been plugging the laptop into our new monitor. It's a little silly, but I love it. Our laptop is so much faster than our home computer and I can watch shows online without waiting for my computer to catch up with the video stream.
ANYWAY! The point of this post is to show off my new wide screen computer monitor. Nothing fancy, it's very simple, but I love it and thanks to some "value sharing" we were able to buy it and finally return our neighbors monitor that we have had for a few months now. Hooray!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

You have to see it to believe it. A woman is GIVING this dress away as a Halloween costume. All I can say is WOW! This is the last day to enter for the giveaway. So if anyone wants to try to get it go to this link! Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!
Thanks Miriam!

Good news, bad news

The good news: Lorelai is fine.
At about 4:30 this morning Eric woke up and heard Lorelai gasping for breath. She sounded a little raspy before bed last night, but that was it. Eric got her calmed down and breathing a little bit by the time I woke up. I ended up taking her to the ER at the Children's Hospital. If you ever have to go the the ER, 5:30 am on Sunday is a great time to go. I think we sat in the waiting room for two minutes (that's gotta be a record). I have to echo Jessica's praise for the Children's Hospital. Everyone there was great. They said she has the croup which is not super surprising since we heard it's going around, but it is still really scary to listen to. It sounded like Lorelai was choking. The Dr. said it will help to keep her calm. We'll be spoiling her a lot over the next couple of days. So that's the good news.

The bad news is that Lorelai may have been contagious at Evan's party yesterday so I inadvertently exposed 20+ people to croup. Sorry everyone! My prayer is that no one will get it. However, I think the most I can hope for is everyone getting it at the same time. Then we will all be over it in a week! In the mean time, I will be bringing meals around to anyone who gets it so feel free to start placing your orders! Sorry again!

Evan's Party

What a fun party! Evan has so many great friends and we're so glad they all got to come wish him a Happy Birthday! Evan wanted a Mushu party so we went with an oriental theme. We had so much fun picking out candy from the Asian Market. We had Pocky, Chinese rock candy, Jelly (little Japanese jell-o shots), and some little cookies that looked like eyeballs.

Here is Eric judging the Rice Relay Race.
Here are some friends watching Evan opening presents. I thought the girls were being so cute!
The cake. Here is Mushu! Eric made the face out of chocolate melting wafers. Evan ate the whole face!
I think Evan liked the cake. ;-)

Happy Birthday Evan!

See how he's grown! This is Evan's first birthday.

Here's my big 5-year-old! He's so spoiled!
We went to McDonald's for dinner. Originally he said he just wanted a peanut butter sandwich, but as soon as we offered "Old McDonald's" he jumped at the chance!


Evan is 5! I can't believe it! He was JUST BORN! He is so big and smart. I love his stories and the way he can make me giggle at anything. He has just started the joke phase and I wanted to share. Evan and Eric made it up and I'm sure many of you have heard it, but for those that haven't...

Q: Why did the hen cross the road?
A: To get away from the cat.
Q: Why did the cat cross the road?
A: To get away from the dog.
Q: Why did the dog cross the road?
A: To get away from the alligator.
Q: Why did the alligator cross the road?
A: To have a FEAST!

Evan tells it better so next time you talk to him ask him to tell you a joke!

Try it Tuesday

Lime Chicken Tacos

1-1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts (I usually do 4-5)
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup chunky salsa
12 flour tortillas (6 inches), warmed

Sour cream, shredded cheese, and shredded lettuce, optional.

Place the chicken in a 3-qt. slow cooker. Combine lime juice and chili powder; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours until chicken is tender.

Remove chicken; cool slightly. Shred chicken and return to the slow cooker. Stir in corn and salsa. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve in torillas with sour cream, cheese and lettuce if desired.

Side note: Sometimes this recipe has excess liquid. I usually just take the chicken out of the crock pot with a fork or slotted spoon.

Halloween Cookies

Baking season has begun! Chelsea brought over the sugar cookie dough and the kids had a great time cutting, baking and decorating. They were so cute!

Lorelai decorated her cookie then ate all the candy off.
Evan ate his so fast I barely got a picture!

Pete

Here he is! Evan's new buddy, Pete. They finally stood still long enough for me to take a picture! We are so glad that Evan has a nice neighbor to hang out with. In the past we have had to drive somewhere if we wanted to play with friends, but now all we have to do is walk across the street!

New Words

"Uh, oh!" is the new phrase. Reid says it while he throws toys out of the bathtub, throws food on the floor, etc. It's still cute enough that I can't be mad when he does it. He has also started playing with the word "NO". Luckily, he doesn't know what it means yet!

The Hays'

Over the course of the last four years Eric has had the chance to interact with many Senior Missionary couples. This week he said goodbye to Elder and Sister Hays, a couple that the whole family became attached to. They are from Magna (Eric's hometown) and Elder Hays actually grew up with Eric's uncles. We got to have dinner with them last night and enjoy the beautiful spirit that radiated from them. Lorelai thought she had an extra set of grandparents! The missionaries in the church do such a great job and we appreciate all the missionaries that are out there right now spreading the gospel. I never realized how vital senior missionaries are to the Lord's work. Senior missionaries spread the gospel WHILE they perform essential service that helps the church function and grow. I'm so grateful that we have had the chance to get to know some of these great people. You are doing a great job and we love you.

So sleepy

My hard working hubby crashed on the floor yesterday. He used a stuffed puppy for a pillow. Our neighbor Emma put the blanket on. Poor tired guy!