More about Paul

The tooth:

Trying to be a big boy!

The first cereal.  Move those hands!

This stuff  might be okay.

Being silly with John’s Halloween mask.

Cute picture playing on the couch.

Funny boy doesn’t like tylenol.  He pretty much made this face during the first time with rice cereal too.  Like, what are you putting in my mouth!

Kackleberry Farms

We took the kids out Saturday for some fun autumn activities at a place called Kackleberry Farms.  The weather was a little overcast but we decided to go ahead and go early.  Good idea, it wasn’t crowded so we just moved from activity to activity with no waiting!

The kids standing out front.

How tall are they this year?

Fun duck race with a water pump.

John on the saddle.  He did not like this at all.  We told him he had to smile for a picture before we would let him off, and this is what we got!

Ruthanne was a little better.

Ruthanne got to feed Elmer the cow and also hold a chick (no picture of that one).

They will be hanged!

At a dead end in the corn maze.

The corn blaster.  Even Luke had to have a go.

Me & Paul hanging out.

The cow train.

The Haystack jump.  All the other kids seemed to disappear when Ruthanne & John played, so more fun for them!

The hayride.

Ruthanne being a pain in the behind.

The kids still have fond memories of the day even though the end of the day was spent trying to keep yellow jackets away while we ate a little food.  And, despite the fact that Ruthanne was standing on a hay bale and got ants all in her shoe, sock, and pants leg. 

4 Month Appointment (at 5.5 months)

I finally found a pediatrician and took Paul in for his 4 month appointment, just a little late! He is officially a very big boy! He was 21 lb 13 oz and 29 inches long. They said he was over the 95th percentile for both, I looked online and the 95th percentile is 20.5 lbs and 28 inches. The doctor was impressed with his size (of course the doctor was a little thing, I could have made just about two of her, Ruthanne may be close to her height!).

Paul can sit up a bit, can roll from back to tummy but often gets his arm stuck under him, and has one tooth (and working on the second). We will be starting cereal soon, I bought some Saturday but then couldn't find the baby spoons, so I need to keep looking. I'm not sure he will be impressed, he thought I was a little crazy trying to give him grape flavored tylenol (for his two shots) and we know that tastes way better than rice cereal!

Catch Up

I thought I would get caught up on my pictures.  I will go from most recent to older. 

Last night Luke went to his first ball (I stayed home with the kids).  He said the invocation of the ceremony.  Doesn’t he look handsome with his dress blues, bow tie, and mini metals?

Pictures of the kids from yesterday.  Paul can sit up a bit, unfortunately he doesn’t get to practice much with all the hardwood all over the main living areas.

Paul with the monkey again.  Man, that monkey is shrinking!

Pictures of our projects over the past couple of days.  We have been stuck inside with all the rain, so we found some things to do.  We made sugar cube pyramids since we learned about the Egyptians and pyramids this week.  I also stole an idea from Emily and bought a spooky gingerbread house.  We made this Thursday and sometime Friday morning Ruthanne noticed there were some candy corns missing (they are missing off the roof in the pic).  Guess who was the culprit?  JOHN!  Guess I will be buying some candy corn today to replace them!

Luke made me take a pic of his dinner Thursday night, we had breakfast, eggs, grits, and corned beef hash (something Luke likes). 

This was a picture of the kids helping me make flatbread pizzas Monday night.  We made pizzas out of leftovers.  Ruthanne had macaroni and cheese pizza, John had pepperoni pizza, and Luke & I had sloppy joe pizza. Oh, and this picture shows our new kitchen table.  We bought it off craigslist, it is from germany.  I thought it was ikea furniture from the picture, but this is way bigger and sturdier than that.  We love it and can now more comfortably sit at a table together, even Paul!

This is from a week and a half ago.  The kids camped out under the table to color and sticker.

The next few pictures are some I took while we were in Salt Lake City during conference.  During the Saturday morning session Paul and I walked about and it was pretty quiet outside.  I got a few pictures of some things I liked.

These next two are probably from 2-3 weeks ago.  Just pictures from around the house.

Whew, I think that about did it!  I need to stay caught up, this takes forever!  Oh, and I also updated my recipe blog with a few recipes from recent meals.

Awesome Bread!

I found this in another blog here the other day. Since I was making soup tonight (cream of tomato, America's test kitchen recipe) I decided to give it a go. It was AWESOME! So good! The recipe is below:

Super Easy Skillet Bread
2 cups flour
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2-4 T. butter
optional mix ins: cheese, bacon bits, green chilis, cornmeal, taco seasoning...use your imagination
Stir together the dry ingredients, then stir in the milk until a smooth batter forms. Place an oven proof skillet (I used an 8x8 pyrex dish) in the oven while it's heating up and put the butter (I used all 4 tbsp) in. Once the butter is nicely melted and bubbly, pour the batter into the skillet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown. You may either slice it into wedges to serve, or simply tear off hunks. I put in about 1/2-1 cup of shredded colby jack and it was way good! So, this is not that great leftover cold (may reheat all right). You can also cut the recipe in half and do it in some smaller containers (I used some corningware last night).

How I make Pizza

I feel like I have perfected pizza making so I thought I would share my method.

First buy a pan like this or this.

Next buy frozen white bread loaves. I find these at Walmart made by Rhodes, but Kroger also sells a generic. You can similarly buy pizza dough from the bakery at Publix.

Start making your pizza.

About 4 hours before dinner, get out your frozen bread dough. Put it in a loaf pan and allow to defrost and rise. You can warm your oven a bit to speed up the process. Once you dough has risen, work it into a round shape. I roll it out for a while and then I start stretching with my fists and fingers. Just try not to pull it so thin it breaks. Spray your pan with non-stick spray, spread your pizza dough on it (you want it fairly thin), and put it in a 400 degree oven. Now watch your dough, if it starts forming bubbles, pop them with a fork. When it starts to get just slightly brown, pull it out of the oven.

Now for the toppings. Put on your sauce, a little cheese, your toppings, then a little more cheese. Throw it back into the oven and wait for the cheese to get just a slight bit brown and bubbly on the edges, at least 10 minutes in my oven. Pull it out and slice. You have a nice crispy crust and we really enjoy it. If you come to my house on Friday night you are almost always guaranteed to see us eating pizza!

Cinnamon Pork

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com when I was looking for something new to do with some pork tenderloins. I found this recipe and I think it turned out pretty good. I had made cookies just before and then plopped this in the oven and Ruthanne (my non-meat eater) said what smells so good? And, she followed through and has eaten a slice both times we ate it this week.

Here is the recipe (with my modified instructions):

* 1/4 cup soy sauce
* 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons sherry (I just used a splash of balsamic vinegar)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried minced onion
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 pinch garlic powder
* 2 (3/4 pound) pork tenderloins

I mixed the marinade together in a 8x11 pan and then plopped my tenderloins in there too and flopped then around a few times to get marinade all over. I let this sit in the fridge for about 4 hours, then baked in a 325-350 oven for about an hour. I let it cook in with the marinade and then we used the juice over the rice and pork. The cinnamon adds a different but good flavor. Luke thought it was a lot of different flavors together, but I really liked it and it was really tender.

Cute Dolls & Patterns on Sale

I think these dolls are so cute and she also sells the patterns so you can make your own. Anyhow, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday she is having 50% off to celebrate 5000 sales on etsy. I already have John & Mae, but I think I will be buying Butterbean and some doll clothes.

www.bitofwhimsyprims.etsy.com