Final Ballet Class

Today was the very last day of Emmaline's ballet class for my preschool a la carte program. Parents were allowed to watch today. It was a blast watching those little girls have so much fun! And since it is Halloween, they were allowed to wear their costumes to class - which is handy since Emmaline is a ballerina for Halloween anyway!

Rating: 5 Pixie Dust

What I'm reading

Well I was "tagged" for a blog game - these are the rules:

Rules:
1. Get the book that's on your nightstand (or whatever you happen to be reading).
2. Open it to page 56 and find the 5th sentence.
3. Post the next couple of sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.
4. Do not go and find your favorite book; it has to be the one you are reading now!
5. Tag five other people to do the same.


The only book I have on my nightstand right now is a Logic Problem book. I LOVE logic problems. So does my mom! She'll tell you all about how I used to swipe her books and use up her puzzles first! HAHA!

Page 56, sentence 5 reads: As they approached the tree, the five realized that their guesses had been wrong -- it was a money tree, and what they had believed were green leaves were in fact crisp freshly grown $100 bills!

Oooohhhh! I can't wait to solve this puzzle and find out what happens!

Rating: 3 Lollipops

Upsizing

Well a sad day has come. BOTH of my girls in diapers have moved up a size! I put Imogene in a size 3 a couple days ago, and today I moved Liliana into a size 6. How did this happen? Why are all my babies growing so quickly??? Emmaline actually wore a size 3 diaper until she potty trained! With all her problems she was pretty small though. Luckily when I did the great diaper deal back in July - I did grab a bunch of size 6 diapers (a size I didn't think we'd ever actually use) so it was no problem grabbing the size I needed without having to go to the store! I'll give away a secret though - Liliana will be getting big girl panties for her birthday in January. Shhhhhh, don't tell her!

Rating: 3 Fireballs (why do they have to keep growing???)

Jack-o-Lantern

Tonight for Family Home Evening, we decided to carve a pumpkin. This morning we went to the store and picked one out. The girls managed to choose a "Charlie Brown" pumpkin, because it had lots of "character" (including not being able to sit up straight).

We let Emmaline draw where she wanted the eyes, nose, and mouth, and then AJ cut it out. During all this, Liliana wandered away to go play - we were too boring for her. Once we were done carving, we put the candles inside, lit it up, and turned out the lights. We called for Liliana to come see. She took two steps into the kitchen, got this "look" on her face - and backed away into the family room! Even when we turned the lights back on, she would not go near it at all. We must have done a good job making a scary face after all. What do you think?

Rating: 5 Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses (that I can not find at any store and when I finally found them at Target, they were sold out!)

Vegan French Toast

Whenever I am trying to figure out a dish that is normally unsafe for Emmaline, I turn to the Vegans. Those guys really know what they are talking about most of the time. All you have to do is google: "Vegan ______" and you can usually come up with a decent recipe that is free of dairy and egg. They do like to use soy a lot but usually it is just soy milk so we replace it with rice milk.

Anyway - tonight I decided we were having breakfast for dinner. Sausage, homemade hash browns, orange juice, and french toast. "Surely the vegans have a french toast recipe!" I said, as I typed it into google. And sure enough up one came! It looked yummy. Instead of egg, you use mashed banana, rice milk, cinnamon, and vanilla. Well - it was yummy. But it was NOT french toast. It created a soggy mess of bread - that once cool, at least created a mass rubbery enough to take bites of. The girls both loved it - since they've never had french toast before they had NO idea what they were missing.

So there you go - the vegans cannot be relied upon 100% of the time! Now that I've tried it their way though, I have a few ideas up my sleeve that I'm thinking of trying, so stay tuned.

Fun Fact: I just did the math and our meal cost us $1.63 for the whole family.
Sausage: $0.00
Hashbrowns - 1 lb. potatoes at $0.38/lb
Orange Juice 1 quart - $0.25
French Toast ingredients - ~$1.00

Rating: 3 Fireballs (will we never have french toast again???)

Trunk or Treat

Last night we had a Trunk or Treat at church. Emmaline was really excited to go and Liliana had no clue what she was in for. We are lucky that Liliana loves to dress up AND she loves to put things in bags and carry it around. Halloween is right up her alley!

About half way through making the rounds around the parking lot, Liliana really got the hang of it. She knew if she held out her bag and said, "tee-tee" that people would put things in it! She would NOT let go of her bag for anyone and was struggling to carry it by the end. The bonus for us is that about half the candy that they got wasn't safe for Emmaline, so AJ and I had to sort it out of the basket and keep it for ourselves. Bummer.

Also another fun tidbit - this very kind, yet odd, older lady in our ward was handing this out for treats:

Yes - those are pill bottles filled with animal crackers. VERY odd indeed. This is the part where I brag on Emmaline. She observed that it didn't have a label to check, so she wouldn't be able to eat it (not that we would have let her anyway). Good job Emmaline!

Rating: A bag of assorted Halloween candies!

Rolling Over

Imogene just rolled over! She is 3.5 months and successfully rolled not only from back to tummy, but also tummy to back. She rolls onto her side all the time when laying on her back, but this time she struggled and finally made it over her arm. I of course ran to go get my camera, and by the time I was back, she had rolled back onto her back. Good job Imogene! I wonder if she'll be like Liliana and roll everywhere she wants to go?

Rating: 5 Pixie Dust

Politics and Christmas Gifts

What do those have to do with each other? Not much actually. It just so happens that I am going to talk about both in the same post!

Every Friday night, AJ and I have date night. We don't actually go outanywhere. We just put the kids to bed and then do something fun together. Sometimes watch a movie, play a game, read a book, make something (we did paint by numbers once!). Anyway, this week we decided we had a few things we needed to do without the interruption of kids. So, I made smoothies and we sat down and got to work.

First order of business was talking politics! We reviewed who the candidates were for everything and made our selections (Bob Barr (Libertarian) for President, and a mostly straight Republican vote - except for a couple Libertarians sprinkled in at the local level). Then we reviewed our State and County voters guide. Did you know Colorado is looking to get rid of an obsolete law in their constitution regarding the sale of impure alcohol (moonshine)? (referendum N) Turns out the only arguement against it is that it will eliminate the "historical character" of the current constitution. Seriously - that is the best they could come up with???

Anyway, after deciding our individual positions on things, we moved onto Christmas. We sat down and reviewed what things we already had in the gift closet, what the girls would probably like, and what we could afford. The hard part of having kids of all the same gender is deciding on gifts! By the time it gets down to Imogene, we already have everything - but we finally came up with some ideas. Each girl gets:

Three things from Santa (a la the Three Wise Men)
Small stocking stuffers
A gift from the parents
A yearly Christmas ornament.
They will also be able to pick out things from The Present Store for each other, but we don't make a list for that.

Liliana's birthday also falls just after Christmas so we made our list for that as well. When my parents come to visit in a couple of weeks, we hope to leave the kids with them and go finish all the shopping (hint hint Dad and Mom!!!). It is a relief to have it all decided on. I'd list what we are getting, but then what would I have to say at Christmas???

Rating: 5 Lollipops (for doing our civic and parental duties all in one night)

Recipe Review: Chipotle Chocolate Chili

I got the recipe for Chipotle Chocolate Chili from the girls over at Our Best Bites. I was a bit skeptical but noticed that all the ingredients were allergen safe (baking cocoa doesn't have milk or nuts) so I decided to give it a whirl. I also didn't have any chipotles but I did have some dried chili pods so I cut one in half and allowed it to simmer with the chili. The verdict:

AJ: The chili was good. I didn't taste chocolate-y. I like that it was thick and hearty.

Bethany: I loved that it was an easy allergen free recipe with no need for special substitutions. Always a bonus in my book. It was very tasty and very filling. It was also simple to make - from start to finish it took just under and hour.

Emmaline: There's chocolate in this soup??? WOW!!!

Liliana: "Ahhhhhh!!!!" (more please)

Rating: 4 Lollipops (yum!)

Moments in Time

Sunday morning, Emmaline woke up and came into my room. She and Lil were playing on the bed while AJ and I tried to get just a few more minutes of sleep. Suddenly Emmaline says to me:
"Look what I can do mommy!" and she turns around, flips up her nightgown, and starts flexing her butt cheeks. I just about died laughing.

And since someday Emmaline will hate me for telling that story, I'll share one that is a bit nicer.

Yesterday Emmaline and Liliana were playing and Imogene was napping. There was no TV on, no computer - nothing. It was quiet, peaceful play. Emmaline looks up at me and says, "Mom - why is it so quiet!?"

Gee I don't know - maybe because nobody is stealing toys, pretending to be a puppy, or diving off the couch yelling, "Wahoo!" - But that is just a guess. . .

Rating: 4 Pixie Dust

Dairy update

Well I avoided dairy for 3 weeks with Imogene and then put it back in my diet and the verdict is that she seems fine! She seems a bit reflux-ish from time to time when I eat bunch of dairy, but other than that I think we're okay!

Rating: 5 Lollipops

Punctuality

I have finally figured out the very simple equation for how to get out of the house on time. In order to find what time you need to start getting ready to go:

15 mins. x (number of people leaving)

So in order to get myself, and the three girls out of the house by 10:30am I have to account 15 minutes per person - meaning we start finding shoes and socks, changing butts, going potty, finding coats, etc at 9:30am.

I wonder at what point I can start subtracting minutes based on the age of the kids...

Rating: 2 Lollipop

Frosted Mini-Wheats

I have been feeling a bit anxious lately because there hasn't been a good cereal deal in a long time and I am down to my last 20 boxes! EEK! Those will only last us about 2.5 more months. Anyway - just my luck that this week there is a great deal at Safeway for Frosted Mini-Wheats. AJ and the girls are all big fans of them so I was thrilled!

The Possibilities

So far I've gotten 36 boxes for $10.92 +tax

If you have a Safeway in your area - this is an EASY deal for you to do too.

The Details

The unadvertised promotion is buy 3 boxes of *flavored* Mini-Wheats and get a $3 coupon when you check out. At http://www.coupons.com/ there are NINE coupons (update: as of 10/17 those coupons are no longer there - dang rotating internet coupons. Try this link instead - you should be able to print 6) that you can print out for $1 off 1 box. Some of the coupons are deceiving because they have pictures of Rice Krispies or Raisin Bran or whatever, but they say on them that they are good on ANY Kellogg's cereal. That site will let you print 2 times - so a total of 18 coupons right there. If you have more than one computer in your house - you can do it again.
Depending on where you live in the country, the Mini-Wheats are on sale through Tuesday for either $2.22 or $2.50 per box.

The Steps

So here is what you do (obviously make adjustments to the scenarios if your boxes are $2.50):

Transaction #1
(3) $2.22 Mini-Wheats - $6.66
- (3) $1/1 coupons
____________________
Total: $3.66+tax
Receive a $3 coupon

Transaction #2
(3) $2.22 Mini-Wheats - $6.66
- (3) $1/1 coupons
- $3 coupon from Trans #1
____________________
Total: $0.66+tax
Receive $3 coupon

Transaction #3
(3) $2.22 Mini-Wheats - $6.66
- (3) $1/1 coupons
- $3 coupon from Trans #2
____________________
Total: $0.66+tax
Receive $3 coupon

Rinse and Repeat.

Now go my Coupon Padowans and conquer this deal!

Rating: 4 Lollipops (I'd give it 5 except I prefer getting free cereal)

Bedtime Stories and Knock Knock Jokes

Last night at about 2:45am Emmaline crawled into bed with me. I know she gave a reason why but I was asleep and can't remember what she told me. About 10 minutes later I heard Lil. She apparently saw that her bedroom door had been left open so she was just sitting at the top of the stairs babbling away. I put both girls back in their beds and we all went to sleep. Then around 3:45am Emmaline comes running into our room, "Mommy mommy!! Lil is downstairs!" Apparently Emmaline had gotten up to go to the bathroom that time and Lil decided to exit the room as well. Normally we have a gate at the stairs but last night we forgot to shut it. I went and looked, and there was Lil downstairs just sitting by the front door! I went and retrieved her, put her back in bed, and locked the gate this time! Oddly enough the only child that wasn't up in the night was Imogene! Oh the irony.

As for the knock knock jokes - Emmaline is learning how to tell jokes! Obviously at this age they aren't funny to anyone but her - but here is a sample:

Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Banana
Banana who?
Banana that crossed the road!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA

Rating: 3 Pixie Dust

When life gives you grapefruit. . .

There was a great deal this last week at Sunflower for grapefruit - .10 cents each! We bought 200 for $20 and produced 3.5 gallons of juice and 12 quarts of segments. If we had bought the same amount already made at the store it would have cost us between $50-$60. Not bad!

Rating: 4 Lollipops

First Laugh

There has been a couple times lately where Imogene has been so close to laughing but just couldn't get it out. Well this morning she did it!!! I was singing that song from Cinderella "Bibbity Boppity Boo" and she was smiling and cooing and all the sudden let out a big guffaw.

This helps support my theory that children with siblings laugh sooner. It took us forever to get Emmaline to laugh and it was hard work whenever we wanted to get it out of her. I think she was 5 months old the first time we finally squeezed that laugh out. With Liliana it was super easy - she was 4 months old. Now with Imogene we weren't even trying and she popped out with it at 3.5 months!

Rating: 5 Laffy Taffy

Thank You Wendy's

I discovered a couple days ago that the Wendy's Jr. Hamburger is safe for Emmaline to eat - at least according to their website. Usually the problem at most fast food restaurants is that they like to hide soy flour in the bun. So today we went to Wendy's and for the very first time ever, my child had a hamburger from a fast food restaurant just like a regular kid. How cool is that?

Rating: 5 Lollipops

Cell Phone

If you are one of the lucky few people of the world who know my cell phone number then you are no longer lucky. I have a new cell phone number. So if you are one of the lucky few people of the world that have my personal family email address, AJ's cell phone, our home phone, or my IM screen name then you may contact me in order to find out my new super-secret digits. It is a sad sad day that the number I have owned for 7.5 years is no longer mine. Let us have a moment of silence.

This message will self-destruct in 1 week.

Whoops

So on Tuesday night I accidentally ate something that had dairy in it. When Imogene spit-up all over my shoulder on Wednesday morning - I rechecked the ingredients on what I had eaten and realized what I had done. So yesterday I loaded up on the dairy - we even ordered pizza for dinner. So today if there is a problem - I think we should start seeing it. Tell you what though. After 3 weeks with no dairy - suddenly overloading your system with it is NOT easy on your guts. The good news though is that in just 3 weeks of being dairy free, I got 3 lbs away from my ideal weight and the jeans that I bought just a couple months ago are starting to fall off of me - I don't even have to undo them to get them off and on!

Rating: 1 Fireball (mad at myself for making that mistake)

Yogurt Yogurt Everywhere!

Oh the irony that I am dairy free and there was a stellar yogurt deal this last week! Albertsons was doing a promo where you buy 10 participating products and get a $5 catalina (that's one of those coupons that spits out at the cash register at the grocery store). Well Yoplait yogurt was participating and was 10/$5!!! I did the very obvious math and realized it was a freebie! I also had some coupons for some other products as wells so I did 16 transactions total. Sadly no pictures because all the yogurt went straight into the freezer.

136 Yogurts
10 canisters Bread crumbs
8 cans of soup
6 boxes Cereal
32 bags Frozen Veggies
_________________
Total: $5.25+tax
and still have 1 more $5 catalina.

Rating: 4 Lollipops

The Dentist

Has anyone caught on yet that we accidentally overestimated our flex spending and now we're scurrying to use it up? We have new glasses on the way too but I'll save that for another post . . .

Anyway - yesterday we all went to the Dentist. When I say "all" what I really mean is that AJ, Emmaline and I went and Lil and Imogene hung out in the waiting room while we took turns going in. I confess that AJ and I haven't been to the dentist in a long time. In fact if I'm really being honest here - we haven't been in at least 10 years. Please do not shame us - we know we are bad. Luckily things aren't TOO bad. We both have some work to be done though. Sadly I have the first two cavities of my entire life - thanks for the great enamel mom and dad! The dentist also noticed that I still have one baby tooth and a molar that never came in - thanks for the "great" genetics mom and dad.

Of more interest is Emmaline of course! This is her very first time at the dentist. She was so excited to go. In fact she was so excited that I threatened her at naptime that if she didn't stay in her bed I wouldn't let her go. What kind of parent am I??? She did great and thought going to the dentist was fun! She doesn't have any cavities so it was a very positive experience for her. I'm just surprised that she could stop gabbing long enough for the dentist to get a peek inside that mouth!

Rating: 3 Sugar-free Candies ('cause they're better for the teeth and all)

Family Home Evening

Three weeks ago I decided that it was about time we start having Family Home Evening. So far for the last two weeks - as soon as Emmaline hears that it is a Monday, she instantly asks if we can have Family Home Evening again. How can you deny her?
Based on the kids' ages - we've kept it really simple. We sing a Primary Song (Emmaline picked Popcorn Popping the last two weeks so this week I told her I was picking I Love to See the Temple). Then we read a couple of stories from the board book we have of the Book of Mormon. Then this is where it gets really exciting. For an activity - we play Ring Around the Rosy! The girls love it and they aren't quite ready for a good game of Chinese Checkers or Trivial Pursuit like my family used to play. Someday! Then for a treat - we each got to eat TWO marshmallows. Please try to hold back your envy. It was Emmaline's idea and she was thrilled with it. Silly girl.

Rating: 2 Peeps (cause they're really just marshmallows you see)

A Formula for Dinner

One of my favorite quick and easy meals to cook for dinner is basically "Meat Helper" using rice instead of pasta. It is such a basic formula and I can mix it up easily.

1 lb meat of your choice (chicken, steak, ground turkey, ground beef, etc)
1/2 onion
Veggies of your choice (about 1/2 to 1 lb depending on your veggie and the size and such)
1 1/2 cups rice (I use regular white rice - cook time will vary if you use other varieties)
4 cups water
4 tsp bouillon (your choice - chicken, beef, vegetable) You can also just use stock - just use 4 cups and don't use boullion
Spices

In a large skillet fry the meat and onion. Put in all other ingredient. Bring to a boil while stirring, then cover and reduce heat to low. Let it simmer (untouched!) for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit for at least 5 minutes more with the lid on. Stir and mix in some milk (or rice milk) if you want it a bit more creamy.

Variations:
Spanish Style - Ground Beef, 2 cans tomatoes, corn, chicken bouillon

Enchilada Style - Ground Beef, 1 can tomatoes, 1 can black beans, replace half of water with Enchilada Sauce, chicken bouillon

Asian Style - Ground Beef, or Steak, mushrooms, broccoli, celery, beef bouillon, soy sauce

Indian Style - Chicken, yellow squash, red pepper, green beans, curry powder, chicken bouillon, use coconut milk in place of milk

All-American Style - Ground Turkey, mixed veggies, powdered ranch dressing, chicken bouillon

Fajita Style - Steak or chicken, Peppers, fajita seasoning, beef bouillon, add fresh tomatoes at the end.

Refrigerator Delight - Any meat you have thawed, any veggies you have left over the fridge, chicken bouillon, basic seasonings like garlic powder, salt, pepper.

Rating: 4 Lollipops (I love a cheap, quick, healthy, and easy dinner!)

Kmart Super Doubles!

This week K-Mart is doing Super Doubles on coupons! That means that any coupon up to $2.00 is doubled. So the highest would be a $2.00 coupon being worth $4.00. NICE! So tonight after dinner, we all went to K-Mart together. The kids did surprisingly well and it helped us kill time until bedtime.
For $7.85+tax I came home with this:

1 Crest Kids toothpaste
1 Gillette Shampoo
1 Gillette Hydragel
2 Dove Shampoo
3 Suave Deodorant
2 Sunsilk Shampoo
2 Sunsilk Spray
1 J&J q-tips
3 Herbal Essences Shampoo
5 packages Schick Dis. Razors
3 bottle Pert
2 bottles Resolve Carpet Cleaner
2 bottle Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner
3 Endust Sprays
2 Pledge Furniture Wipes
1 bottle Fantastik
3 Juicy Juice juice boxes
1 Bumblebee Tuna pouch

Retail Value was $128.37 so I saved 93%!

I've also been working an Albertson's deal this week but I'll show that one off when I'm done with it. I've been going everyday!

Eye Doctor

Today AJ and I both had eye appointments. We haven't been in 2.5 years so the time has come! I'm not sure why we thought it was a good idea - but we scheduled our appointments for the exact same time. AJ took Lil with him and I took Imogene and Emmaline with me. Luckily Imogene slept in the sling the whole time while they examined my eyes so that was good. Emmaline, on the other hand, was good - but full of question after question after question. Liliana apparently just wanted to touch things. The nurses thought she was adorable and were putting glasses on her. Don't they know that girl destroys things????


And since that is a boring post., I'll share something cute and cuddly - the newest picture of Imogene.




Rating: 1 Lollipop