How to Play in the Pantry

Lizzy: Okay Jordan, today we are going to learn how to play in the pantry. We've already opened the child proof doors, so the hard part is done.

Lizzy: First you stick out your arm and grab a can.

Jordan: Like this?

Lizzy: Yes, very good.

Food Network

My doctor's office has the Food Network on all the time. It has been inspiring, to say the least. So at home I've started watching clips online from the Food Network. It helps me be a bit more excited about cooking. And it really does keep my attention because I will use these recipes and tips in my real life! It also keeps my kid's attention, I don't know why. One thing that I really wish I did better at was cooking. I wish I WANTED to cook. Lately I've been hating it.

This is Baked French Toast. YUM! We usually buy wheat bread, but I've decided that I like white bread better for french toast. This recipe, actually, calls for French bread! Go figure.

I made myself a placemat to keep my planner! It is so cute. I was thrilled to have a reason to buy some of the ADORABLE fall fabric that they have at JoAnns. Now my desk looks significantly neater because it looks like my planner, cell phone, camera, pen, and grocery list actually belong on the desk.

Looks less cluttered. Got to love that!

Lizzy is 3

Lizzy had a little birthday party in September. She's 3 now. She was a bit worried that we were telling her that she has to answer "3" instead of "2" when someone asks her how old she is. Zeke, being playful, said "How old are you? Five?" So Lizzy started answering "5" for a while.

A couple of Lizzy's friends came over and they had cupcakes. Actually, we are in November now and Lizzy STILL talks about her birthday cupcakes. She talked to my parents on the phone last week and told them about her birthday and her cupcakes.

Lizzy had a spotlight at preschool. So I was given a school assignment. That felt rather strange having been out of school for a few years. Using cardboard, fabric and pins, I made a poster of a bunch of things she likes. She loves dolls, snow white, Shrek, apple juice, and brownies. Actually since the cupcake birthday, she hasn't been asking for brownies anymore, come to think of it. She also likes the "Popcorn Popping" song, thus the picture of popping pop corn on the right.

Earlier today she said, "Wait a minute. I have an idea! I want more apple juice."

She had picture day, too. Here she is all dressed up and her hair done really cute:

Jordan is starting to enjoy books. And by the way he is walking now. He just decided to. Today we had our first snow. Morgan put him down in the yard, Jordan took a step and fell into the snow, then crawled back to the house as fast as he could, crying. Getting the kids ready to play in the snow takes longer than it does for the kids to actually play in the snow. Especially if they run back in crying.

Halloween 2011

Jordan wore the monkey costume that Lizzy wore last year.

I LOVE the tail in the back. It's just so perfect trailing out and wagging behind him.

Lizzy was a LADYBUG! I saw this cute costume on Etsy months ago and ordered it. It's been sitting in our closet since then.

It's going to take a couple of pictures to show you everything on her costume.

The Etsy costume came with the headband (in the first picture), the red tutu with black dots glued on, and the wings. I bought a red turtleneck and black pants that she can wear for the rest of the season.

Lizzy liked trick or treating, except for the dogs. So many people have dogs. So every time we knocked at a door I had to hold her up in case there was a dog. She got lots of candy. The best was a full normal sized package of peanut M&M's. YUM. Oh, and Lizzy got a little bite-sized BUTTERFINGER! She gave me a bite and it was soooo yummy. And we went the extra mile this year and got chocolate for our trick or treaters! It's significantly more money. A good $20 instead of $8. I personally think that the chocolate candies are soo much better than the sugar ones like lollypops or jolly ranchers. I was glad, too, that we had extra Kit Kats. I haven't had any of these candies in a long time. I never buy them. It feels like a sin to buy them. I think I'd like to list my favorite candies now:

1. Butterfinger

2. Reeses

3. Kit Kat

4. Peanut M&M's

5. Snickers

I can't think of any more. I probably won't be able to think of any other ones until I see them at the store or the next Halloween comes around. I really don't ever buy candy! Or go down the candy aisle. Nevertheless, the above candies are my favorites.

Pop Kins

Can you guess what "pop kins" means? If you peak ahead to the rest of the pictures then you'll figure it out. =)

We went to a nearby pumpkin patch! Lizzy picked out a small pumpkin and we got one for Jordan, too.

Aimee gave us some baby boy clothes and one of the items was a pumpkin-orange footsie pajama! Oh it is so cute. And you can tell by the above picture that it matched the pumpkins just perfectly.

In Utah there are lots of corn mazes. This was a free corn maze that was more like a walk. So we walked through the corn maze with the kids. It felt like Bermejo - except it was corn stalks instead of sugar cane.

Then the time came to decorate the pumpkins. Jordan had some car stickers and Lizzy had some cupcake stickers to put on their pumpkins.

Lizzy and Jordan played and played with the stickers, but as you may have guessed, by the end of decorating the pumpkins, the pumpkins had no stickers on them.

Julie came by and she got to decorate a squash. =) I LOVE having Julie nearby.

Our little frog and monkey

Jordan playing with a box. He put it on his head.

Lizzy putting on her beautiful red dress. She loves to dress up. She changes her shoes several times a day. I put a couple of new shoes in her drawer when I was going through her clothes. She found the shoes and was SOO excited that her drawer graced her with new princess shoes. These are shoes that my mom bought for her but have been too big for her until now.

I forgot that we had this cute frog outfit for Jordan. So I put it on him and Lizzy wanted to wear it. I convinced her to wear the monkey outfit instead. These are not their halloween costumes, but Jordan will probably wear the monkey outfit for Halloween. The frog costume is a bit small on him.

Jordan has decided to walk! He knew how for a while but he preferred to crawl. Last week he decided he would walk. So now he walks around more than crawling. When he gets going fast he squeals really loud and flails his arms. It's really fun to see. =)

This morning I showed Jordan how I can flare up my nose, and he looked at me for a moment and then burst out laughing! He loves it.

Here was the first day of cold about a month ago. We dug out our jackets and we've been trying to stay warm since.

My store has been doing fantastic! I can't be more pleased. I sell from 2 to 4 things a week. Which is great. At the moment things are leaving my store faster than I am putting them in. I suppose it will balance out soon enough. I've also been buying cool things from Etsy with my earned money. I finally bought my zen garden and I got a cool pumpkin welcome sign to put on our front door!

I am going to take pictures of my sewing room because we've done some rearranging! I bought some shelves to store my fabric and my fabric is wrapped on little bolts. You'll have to see it.

We moved our couch downstairs to the play room. Now I can sit comfortable while the kids play. =) The only toys upstairs are the toys that they bring up. So it feels cleaner up there. Very nice!

There are lots of new pictures so see at the link on the right. Click on "Jordan" "Elizabeth" and "2011" to see new pictures.

Jordan's TV Adventure

Jordan struggled and struggled to get the chair next to the tv. Then he struggled to sit on the chair by first standing on it and then arranging his little legs. Once he had successfully done that he proceeded to turn the tv on. And off. And on. And off. And on. And off...