Cheesy S'mores

I've been doing pretty well this year at having a decent snack every afternoon for Christian when he gets home from school. I've even made a few special treats like homemade peanut butter cups and muddy buddies. If he doesn't get a snack within 10 minutes of walking in the door he is "STARVING" and cannot make it until five o'clock for dinner. So a couple of days ago he walks in and I start to get out the ingredients to make some quick nachos. Yum, tortilla chips and Tillamook cheddar cheese. (I LOVE Tillamook cheese.)

I almost fell over when I heard Christian's question. I am not making this up. He said, "Mom, are you making s'mores?" S'MORES!?! After I picked my jaw back up off of the ground I said, "Christian, what do we usually make with cheese and chips?" His response, "Oh yeah, NACHOS!"

In his defense, I had hidden the bag of chips on the very bottom shelf way at the back, and the bottom shelf is usually our graham cracker shelf. So maybe he didn't see the cheese in my hand, or notice it was chips instead of graham crackers. But I still think that was a pretty funny question. :)

I might just have to tease him next time we have nachos and tell them they are NOT nachos, just cheesy s'mores.

One Day at a Time

The other night Jessica was tugging on my legs while I was standing next to the hot stove making dinner. So, I asked Christian to put her in the family room with her toys so I could finish. He came and got her and I didn't think anything about her until 30 seconds later I could hear her fussing. I walked into the family room to see Jessica stuck in this basket - she was not happy about that at all! I just started laughing and Christian said something to the effect of he put her there on purpose so she couldn't bother me in the kitchen.

But she cheered right up when Christian and Declan came and sat beside her so we got a quick picture.



This week was my turn to teach for Declan's preschool. Here he is enjoying cutting up lots of paper with scissors today. We have a really good group of kids that play really well together. We also put together puzzles and made maracas today.




Jessica cracks me up! She has never really sucked on a binky, and has always preferred to just chomp on them when she finds one. (Maybe because she started teething at such a young age) I finally thought to take a photo the other day of her with her binky. She has the nipple wedged in under her tongue so she can chew on the top part of the binky without using her hands. So silly!



And here's a quick shot of Jessica walking towards me. It's getting harder to take a picture of her because as soon as she sees the camera she wants to get it. (Maybe so she can wedge it in her mouth and chew on it, ha ha!)


We're enjoying life one day at a time around here.

Countdown to Christmas

Yes, you read the title right, we are counting down to Christmas already this year. Only 94 days to go! (I am just a little crazy when it comes to Christmas) I don't like to feel stressed and rushed at the end of the year so I like to plan early. I think this year we are going to focus on a lot of handmade gifts so I need to get started early. I'd post some cute ideas, but then some of ya'll would figure out what you're getting for Christmas and that would spoil all the fun.
For anyone else that would like to get started early, Flylady has a great Holiday Control Journal to help plan for Christmas. (Click on site index on the left, then Fly Lady's Control Journals near the top right)
I've also found some other great Christmas sites if anyone else out there is as crazy as I am. Here they are in no particular order:

christmasgifts.net/Christmasblog

organizedchristmas.com

christmasorganizing.com

buynothingchristmas.org

christmas-cookies.com

What Can I Say?

What can I say? Jessica is just like Christian and Declan were at this age and loves to climb in, on, under and through everything she can. Here she is coming out from the tiny space under the television.

Wow, a whole month!

I cannot believe I have let a whole month slip through the cracks like this. I promise I have been taking pictures, hopefully I'll get them up soon. Here's an extremely quick recap of July and August:

*HUGE wonderful family reunions on both the Olsen and Hedges sides of the family. (See Matt and Jayna's blog for some great pics)

*Our stake split again and we are now in the new Maricopa 7th Ward

*Christian has now lost two teeth and the replacements are growing in rapidly

*Christian started first grade, and Declan has started pre-school

*On Declan's first day of pre-school when I quizzed him about what he did all he would answer is "I had fun and EVERYTHING!"

*After 8 months, our battle with our health insurance is still not over

*Jessica can walk, but prefers to crawl, because it's faster

*Andy is now the super-troop leader for the boy scouts

*We went camping with the Baker side of the family and experienced lots of rain! (That's an understatement)

*Our niece, Shaylin, turned 2 years old

*Our niece, Linley, arrived just over 4 weeks early!

*We celebrated Becca's birthday in July and Christian's birthday in August