Build A Bear

My wonderful brother Alan sent Lily a gift certificate to Build-A-Bear for her birthday. Not only did he include enough money for Lily to make a bear, but he included enough money for Allie to get one too. Since the closest Build-A-Bear is in Utah, we waited until we were on our way back from camping to go. Because of that my pictures are very limited since I was using my camera's memory (Stupid memory card!) Thanks Alan for the great gift!
After asking Lily about ten times if she was sure she wanted a Zebra we let her go to the stuffing machine. Since the machine was loud, Lily kept giggling nervously. However, she LOVED stepping on the button to fill up her Zebra.
This shows Lily putting the heart in the Zebra.
In order to fluff up the animals fur you have to give them a "bath". You step on a button that shoots out air from the shower heads while you brush the fur. Lily loved this part. After we had finished and were looking for clothes, she had to go back and give it another "bath!"

This is Lily holding her finished Stripey Zebra. You got to name the animal. Lily isn't so good at understanding naming things so we listed a bunch of names and she picked that one.
Here is Allie with her monkey. I picked the monkey because I always call her my little monkey.
Thanks Uncle Al!
These three pictures were so you could get a really good view of the animals and their outfits.

Say cheese!

So far these are the best pictures we can get of Allie's smile. She is so fast! If she even sees a camera she will stop smiling and put on this fake smirk. She has already learned the "cheesy smile!"

This is her real smile, but I only got the side of her face so still can't really see it :(

Smirk! Smirk! Smirk!

Two Months

Allie turned to months on August 20th. We were camping so I didn't get to take a cute picture. Now that we are home, I've had the chance and here are her two month old pictures.

Wow, that was a bright flash mom!
I will smirk but not smile!
Look at the rolls on my legs as I wave hi!
Aren't I the cutest thing ever! (This is my favorite shot I took. She just looks so happy and relaxed!)

Blessing Invitations

I love showing off my scrapbook stuff. So here are the blessing invitations I made for Allie. The dress on the front is supposed to be a blessing dress. Can you tell? The week before I went camping I worked really hard to get all 20 of these done, so that I could hand them out to the family instead of mailing them. I got them done with no problem, however I managed to leave them on my craft table instead of taking them with me. What dumb luck huh?!

Snake River Roaring Youth Jam

On August 9th we took Lily to the Snake River Roaring Youth Jam. It is this cool little festival that the Idaho Falls Art Council puts on every year at the greenbelt. This year I forgot my camera, of course! So I only have a few pictures of Lily's completed projects. If you have never attended this with your kids, you should really check it out. Lily has a blast!

Home Depot always has a little area set up where you can build something with your kids. Last year it was a boat. This year it was a football shaped stool. I asked Lily when the day was over what her favorite part was. She said,"Hammer, hammer with daddy!" Russ helped her hammer hers together. The people there even gave us a stool to take home and build for Allie! Along with the wood project, you also get a Home Depot kid size apron. Lily likes to play "super hero" with hers.

This art project was to build a fairy princess house. Since we had just made a fairy princess this craft was perfect for Lily. She kept putting her fairy princess in it. I forgot to get a picture of that before I through this away. Oh well!

Some other activities Lily did are:

• xtreme xylophone
• create an ocean (she made a goldfish)
• finger painting
• Hoopalicious! Hula-Hoop Yard! ( She played with different sized hula-hoops. Lots of giggling there!)
• Fancy Faces (Lily got two hearts painted on her cheeks. Dang it! I forgot to get a picture of that too.!)
• Whimsical Mobiles
• Crazy Collage Bookmarks
• Paper Caper Duckies
• Bubble Trouble

This isn't even all of the activities! We skipped some because they were too hard and we were on a tight schedule. Check out this website for more information! http://www.idahofallsarts.org/youth_jam.html

Hope to see you there next year!

Allie Rolls Over

Back on August 11 Allie decided she wanted to give my mom a birthday present. She rolled over all by herself! I had lain Allie down on her tummy for some tummy-time. She squirmed and I saw her start to go up on her side. In my mind I was like "No way! She is only 1 1/2 months old!" But my little monkey proved me wrong. She flipped right over onto her back. I then decided this had to be a fluke. So I put her on her tummy again. She promptly rolled over again. Since then she has done it a handful of times. Allie can't roll from her back to her tummy yet, but she sure has tried. She gets up onto her side but just can't get her arm out of the way. My mom was quite excited for the present Allie gave her even though she didn't get to see it! :) And of course I haven't been able to snag a picture of this yet, hopefully I will soon!

T.I.T.

It is that time again! I love Tuesday's because I get to share awesome recipes and I get a bunch in return! Thanks Elena for getting us all started on this! This past week we went camping so I have THREE dutch oven recipes that I tried and ended up LOVING! Now don't stop reading there if you aren't going camping for another year, because you can cook all of these in your regular oven. You just need a dutch oven. If you don't have one....shame on you! Go buy one!

Barbecue Chicken Deluxe

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 Tbsp. liquid smoke
1 Tbsp. hot sauce (I skipped this so Lily would be able to eat it)

Mix the oil, liquid smoke, and hot sauce together, then marinate the chicken in a refrigerator in the mixture for at least 2 hours (overnight is best). (I put mine in the cooler and it worked just fine!) Turn the chicken occasionally to insure even marinating. Brown the chicken with a little oil in the Dutch oven, using medium bottom heat with 15 to 19 coals(375 degrees if you are doing it in the oven). (I would add more coals than it says. Reason being is that my food never cooks as fast as it says it should. Just a suggestion!) Turn the chicken to brown both sides. When the chicken is browned proceed as directed below.

1 cup barbecue sauce
12 slices of cooked bacon
1 to 2 cups of grated cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese

Pour the barbecue sauce over the chicken, then place 2 slices of bacon on each chicken breast. Top with grated cheese. Cover and cook, with 1 (bottom)-to-3 (top) ratio, for 10 to 15 minutes or until the cheese melts and the sauce is hot. Serves 6.

***We of course halved this recipe and everything worked out well. One thing we are going to change next time, is to add a slice of onion to the chicken. We both thought that would make a great meal even better!***
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Breakfast Hash Browns with Bacon

1 1/2 packages frozen hash browns
1 lbs. cooked bacon (crumbled)
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced green pepper
3 Tbsp. butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Garlic powder to taste
1 cup grated cheese (I add more)

Cook the green pepper and onion together in the butter, until tender. Mix the onion and green pepper with everything but the cheese, then place it in a greased Dutch oven. Cover and cook with 14 to 18 coals (350), with a 1 (bottom)-to-2 (top) ratio, for 30 to 35 minutes or until the potatoes are browned. Sprinkle cheese on top and cook for 5 minutes more. Serves 6.

***Use at least 20 coals when you cook this. The hash browns won't cook if you don't. This recipe is awesome in the oven. Russ has me cook it at least once a month. Yummy!***

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Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler

Fruit Base:
6 cups of fresh or preserved peaches, peeled and sliced
6 tbsp. flour
1 1/2 cups sugar (if using preserved peaches, use less sugar)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp. lemon juice
4 Tbsp. butter

Mix together the peaches, sugar, nutmeg, lemon juice, and flour. Place in the bottom of a well-oiled Dutch Oven, (Instead of oiling the dutch oven I lined it with tin foil. Much easier clean up this way!)then dot with pats of butter. Top with the Sweet Biscuit recipe below.

Sweet Biscuit topping:
2 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients until blended, then cut in the shortening, a little at a time, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in the milk, then mix by hand just until the dough holds together. Do not over mix or the biscuits will not be flaky. Roll out the dough onto a floured surface to about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thickness. Cut with a biscuit cutter, then place them on top of the fruit base. Brush the tops of the biscuits with butter and sprinkle with a little sugar. Bake with 16 to 20 coals (375 in the oven), with a 1 (bottom)-to-3 (top) ratio, for 17 to 25 minutes. Rotate the lid and oven while cooking. Serve hot with ice cream or whipped cream. Serves 8 to 10.

***I didn't roll the Sweet Biscuits out. I made a small ball in my hand and flattened it. This made for less clean-up! It worked out perfectly.***

I hate technology!

Yes, it is true. I hate technology. Okay, I don't hate it, I just am mad at it right now! Here is the deal. I go on a wonderful week vacation with my family to Zion National Park. I have all these awesome pictures I am excited to scrapbook and blog about. We come home and take just one more picture before loading them on to the computer and guess what happens. You got it! My pictures are gone! We aren't really sure why. All we know is that the camera is telling us that the memory card needs formatted. What the heck? We've formatted it like three times right before this happened! We are in the process of finding ways to recover these pictures. So far nothing has worked...hence the reason why I hate technology.

Calling all campers!

Russ and I are going camping for a week! So much fun right?! Yes and no. I don't know how to plan for this. My family didn't go camping when I was growing up. I want to girls camp, but you don't plan the meals for that! Nor do you have to keep a three year old occupied at girls camp. I have already asked my SIL Leslie for help, and I know she will come up with great suggestions. However, I know that a lot of my friends that read this blog go camping a lot. So I am coming to you begging for help. If you have any suggestions on meal ideas or ways to entertain a three year old for a week, PLEASE leave me a post! If you don't, I will start bugging you individually! Uhhh....sorry for the threat, but I need ideas!

Oh, I am pinning this to the top of my blog, so remember to scroll down to look at new posts!

Oh so busy!

I have been incredably busy this week. I've been wanting to post a bunch of fun stuff that has happened, but I just haven't had time! Maybe tonight if I get all my 100 Relief Society invitations made, and I get all our packing done for camping, then I will post some stuff. If not.....you won't get to hear from me for a week and half!

T.I.T.

Okay, I must not be able to read directions or something. I messed up AGAIN on my meal! However, I was able to rectify this mistake. Just a note to all of you....bottled alfredo sauce needs to heated up BEFORE pouring it over pasta. I got this recipe from my visiting teacher. She brought it to me right after having Allie. She didn't have a name for it, so I named it for her. Hence the lame-o name! Marci's instructions are in creme, what I changed on the recipe is in black. On to the awesome recipe!

Marci's Spicy Pasta Dish
Ingredients:

• Penne Noodles (1 1/2 boxes)
• chicken breast (2)
• tomato (3)
• green onions (1 bunch)
• 2 cans Classico Alfredo Sauce (Bertolli)
• Cajun spice
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions:
Sprinkle chicken with cajun spice, salt and pepper. Bake chicken at 350 for 30 mins. While chicken is backing, cook noodles. Drain noodles and put in a large serving bowl. (Unless you are very talented and can perfectly time your noodles to be done when your chicken is done, you need to cover the noodles to keep them warm) Cook Alfredo Sauce. Pour sauce over noodles. Chop tomato and green onions. Add to pasta. Cut chicken into cubes. Add to pasta and mix well. Enjoy!
Servings: Not really sure on this. However, we were able to eat 4 bowl fulls and still had atleast half left over.

Brush in Hand!

I've decided that Lily will be a hairdresser when she grows up. Why you ask? Because she is always brushing my hair, her hair, or trying to sneakily brush Allie's hair. We got her a doll with brushable hair which has kept her away from us for now but who knows for how long. Of course when Lily asked me to take a picture of her recently she grabbed her brush and brushed her hair for the shot!

Awesome hubby!

Russell is such an awesome hubby! Everyday he comes home from work and takes Allie off my hands. She LOVES to snuggle. So I rarely can get anything done because she demands to be in my arms the whole time. Russ loves to take her though. He always is offering to take her so I don't have to hold her all the time. I think she is becoming attached to him as well, because at night lately she will only calm down when he is holding her. I couldn't resist taking this picture of Allie snuggling up to Russ.

3 year old check up

Yesterday Lily had her three year old check up. It went really well, especially since she was well behaved! She weighed 32 lbs, and was 37 1/2 inches tall. This means she is chubby for her age, and average height. I still don't get where these numbers are coming from because her 3T clothes are WAY to short for her and baggy in the waist! Weird huh?! Anyway, the doctor asked if she could do a bunch of things that showed whether she was on track mentally and physically for her age. She of course was. According to the doctor I have a very healthy, but slightly chubby three year old! Oh well, we can't be perfect in everything can we?

Milestone for Lily

Lily hit an awesome milestone this week as well. For the first time ever, I was able to pull her hair back into a ponytail. It looked really cute for about four hours, then it fell out. I didn't have the desire to put it back in, so she walked around with these crazy curls sticking out of the back of her head! Here is what her ponytail looked like.

She was so excited about her ponytail!

Can you believe her hair is that long? It really doesn't look that long most of the time.

Three milestones for Allie

Allie has hit three major milestones. She is growing so fast! This has become my place to record events that I would like to someday put in Allie's scrapbook. That is the reason why I am writing some of these potentially boring details on my blog.

Milestone 1: About a week ago I felt horrible about making Allie to wake up long enough for her to take about 3 gulps worth of milk. She just wasn't interested in eating during the night. I decided to let her "sleep through the night". The next night I fed her around 9:30 and she didn't wake up until around 4:00. According to doctors this is considered "sleeping through the night" because it was six plus hours. Since then she does the same thing, if I get a good feeding in before putting here down for the night.

Milestone 2: Sunday night Allie woke up needing a change of diaper and also needing to be fed. After changing her diaper Allie became very awake and happy. I decided to let her play for a bit. Soon after I made this decision Allie laughed and smiled for the very first time. I don't know how to explain in words, but I knew this was her first real smile. It wasn't a gassy smile. It was open mouthed grin from ear to ear with a little giggle! Since that day I have been able to get her to replicate it a few times by cooing at her. Poor Russ has yet to see it! (Serves him right for sleeping while I feed Allie)

Milestone 3: This one is just for laughs. Monday I put Allie in her swing so we could eat dinner. After dinner she began to fuss, so Russ went to pick her up. While in the other room, I hear Russ yell,"Jewelle come help me". Russ was the lucky one to discover Allie's first true "blowout". It was up her side and all over her pretty clothes. I cleaned her up, and Russ got stuck with the lovely duty of washing the clothes out. It makes me laugh that she is almost two months and has just had her first blowout. I think Lily did it the day she was born! Hehehehe, just kidding.

T.I.T.

Well, Try it Tuesday did not go so well this week. Just to remind you, I try out a recipe before Tuesday, if it is good I post it. If it isn't good, I post a tried and true family favorite. This week you get a family favorite. Here is why. I found this recipe in a magazine for stuffed peppers. I was really excited because it just sounded good. So, I cooked up dinner. I wasn't feeling well so that should have been my first clue to just let Russ cook something. But nooooo! I wanted to have my T.I.T recipe tried out. Anyway, we pulled out the pepers and I was getting Lily's cut up when I snuck a taste. I about broke my teeth on the rice! It was hard as a rock! I dug a little deeped into the pepper and tried some more. It was a little softer, but not much. I grabbed the recipe when Russ asked,"Was the rice supposed to be cooked before hand?" Of course it was! Did I do that? Nooooo, I wasn't feeling good remember? Well, since we didn't really have anything "fast" to make for dinner, we choked down the "slightly raw" peppers. Russ said they tasted good and we should probably make them again. I thought they were disgusting, and since I am the cook this recipe went in the trash!

On to my real T.I.T recipe. I got this recipe from my mom. I think she got it from her mom, who got it from her mom. That would be my great-grandma! Anyway, everytime I make this for a party, I get requests for the recipe. I love to make this dip because it is so easy! Growing up we didn't just eat this with veggies. We would eat it with crackers and chips as well. So it is very diversified. Hope you enjoy it!

Dip
1 cup sour cream
1 cup salad dressing
1 tsp dillweed
1 tsp onion salt
1 tsp bon appetite***

***(This spice is hard to find. You have to look for it in the "gourmet spice" section at somwhere like Smith's or Albertson's. Sadly Wal-mart and Winco don't carry it. By the way, it is kinda expensive but the shelf life is forever, so you won't end up throwing away money because it goes bad.)

Lily funnies!

Lily has said/done two cute things the past week.

1. I forgot to put Allie on a changing pad on Friday while changing her dirty diaper. So of course she peed on the carpet. Lily saw this and said,"Allie, you in big trouble! You go sit in my chair! You in big trouble!" (By "her chair" she meant the time out chair!)
2. While nursing Allie I heard Lily talking to her stuffed cow. I didn't pay attention because she always does this. After awhile, I finally looked over at Lily and listened to what she was saying. She was telling her cow to eat! She had pulled up her shirt and was trying to nurse it! Silly girl! (Rebecca, at least you child isn't the only one who does this! Maybe it runs in the family!)