Reading

I am currently reading These is my Words by Nancy E. Turner. I’m only 2/3 through it, but it is easily becoming my favorite book. Yesterday I couldn’t put it down and I admit I let Ethan watch shows during Madeline’s entire morning nap so I could keep reading. I only feel slightly guilty. Then during their afternoon naps, I read the entire time. This is so not like me. That book made me bawl AND laugh yesterday and today it took all I had not to read it when my kids were awake! I even forced myself to stop reading and do a little laundry during their naps today. My goodness, you should pick it up, but only if you have time enough to not put it down!

The Favorite

This is Madeline's favorite tub toy:

It doesn't matter how many toys are in the tub, Madeline finds the starfish and holds it the entire time she's in the bath. She doesn't seem to care about the cute duckies or balls or boats or cups (we always have A LOT of tub toys), she just only ever wants her starfish!

Madeline

Madeline is 14 months old today! I can't believe how fast she is growing up.

This March has been a lot better than last March when she was just two months old and SCREAMED with colic ALL DAY LONG for the entire month.

Now she only screams when Ethan gets her excited and they have screaming/laughing wars.

Her favorite pasttimes are eating and feeding her baby dolls their bottles.

Playing

Madeline found herself a necklace. Never mind that it’s actually a Frisbee. It’s pink and she LOVES it. She puts it around her neck every time she spots it in the toys, then does a little shoulder shrug while cocking her head.
Madeline finds unusual amounts of joy in throwing this beach ball around too. She throws it and then looks straight up at the ceiling trying to look for it.

Wow, static hair!

Ethan loves to run pushing his trucks around the house. He goes amazingly fast and can usually be heard singing the following while running, “trucks, truck, trucks, I love trucks!”

Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

My sister-in-law, Carrie, asked me for this recipe a couple of days ago, and since it's so good, I thought I'd post it here for everyone to enjoy. It's especially good on taco salad with avocado and tomato, but would be delish on plain salad too.

Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

Freshly squeezed lime juice is key for flavor here.

5 T. fresh lime juice
1 shallot, peeled
1 jalapeno chile, stemmed and seeded
1 small garlic clove, peeled
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Process lime juice, shallot, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, cumin and salt in blender until shallot and garlic are finely chopped, about 15 seconds. With blender running, add cilantro, then oil, and continue to process until smooth and emulsified, about 15 seconds. Done. SO EASY!

Party Food

I made these little delights for my sister-in-law's baby shower. I like how they turned out:

The other food for Laura's shower was just as picturesque:

Orange rolls, puff pastry with crab dip topping, fresh fruit and fruit dip.

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Delightful party with delightful food.

Welcome Spring!

Welcome spring, I’m glad you’re here. I love this time of year, even if it makes my nose run and my ears and throat itch! I still love it. There is something so wonderful about little green flowers poking out of the ground. Especially when it’s my favorite flower: tulips! I love tulips and can’t get enough of them!

Daffodils aren’t half bad either!

Madeline's Outside Adventure

Madeline had her first experience scooting on the grass this week. All the times we’ve been outside in the past, she either couldn’t scoot or she just stayed in the stroller or in my arms. But this time I put her down on a blanket and watched as she ventured out. It only took one hand on the dry dead poky grass to make her burst into tears! She held her hand out like she had just touched the worst thing in the whole world! It was rather funny, actually, but I felt bad because I could tell she REALLY wanted to explore. Then an idea came to me:

SOCK ON HAND!

Problem solved! It didn’t take long and she was scooting all over the backyard, picking up sticks and tasting rocks . . . bleh! But she figured out fast they taste horrible and luckily only put one in her mouth. She LOVED being outside and could have stayed out much longer if it hadn’t been time for dinner. What fun!

Our GREEN Day

Kids in green Ethan said, “If Daddy’s not wearing green, I’m gonna pinch him!”

My shoes of choice for the day

A lovely table setting of green for our green food . . .

Mmm, like green muffins. Don’t those look appetizing? And GREEN JELLO of course, with whipped cream tinted green. We also had pesto pasta and green salad.

Sigh, we’re so festive!

One of My Favorite Things

One of my greatest joys is listening to the laughter of my children. I don’t think there are very many things that make me feel happier than watching their little noses touch while they’re playing and chasing and making each other laugh like crazy. Hearing their laughter is the best!!

March Recipe

Better late than never! After trying several recipes and having no luck finding anything I’d like to pass along, I finally found this. They were quite good and super easy.

Huevos Rancheros
From the editors of Cook’s Illustrated “The Best 30-Minute Recipe”
Serves 4-6

8 (6 inch) corn tortillas
2 TBLS vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
2 TBLS unsalted butter
8 large eggs
1 (15 ounce) can refried beans
1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup salsa
2 scallions, sliced thin

Heat oven and toast tortillas: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly brush both sides of each tortilla with oil and sprinkle with salt. Spread tortillas out over baking sheet (some overlapping or hanging over the edge is fine). Bake until tortillas are lightly golden on both sides, about ten minutes, turning them over halfway through. Remove tortillas from oven and turn oven off.

Cook eggs: While tortillas are crisping, preheat a 10-inch skillet over lowest possible heat for 5 minutes. Add 1 TBLS butter to hot skillet and melt, swirling to coat pan. Fry 4 eggs at a time, seasoning them with salt and pepper. Cook covered until desired doneness—about 2 minutes for runny yolks, 3 minutes for soft but set yolks, and 4 minutes for firmly set yolks. Slide eggs onto a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat with remaining 4 eggs.

Top tortillas and return to oven: Spread refried beans evenly over top of each crisped tortilla and sprinkle with cheddar. Return the tortillas to the oven for beans to heat through and cheddar to melt while you prepare the second batch of eggs. The oven is off, but the residual heat from toasting the tortillas is enough to gently warm the beans and melt the cheese.

Add eggs and garnish: Remove hot tortillas from oven, transfer to individual plates, and top each with fried eggs. Garnish with salsa and scallions before serving.

Reading on a Sunday Afternoon

Happy Birthday Bro!

Happy Birthday Eric!! I would call you and wish you happy birthday over the phone today, but I heard a rumor that you’re too busy spending the day at Disneyland!


For the record, I have the neatest and nicest and best brother there ever was. We were just little kids a few seconds ago, weren’t we? Playing the funnest of games. And now I can’t believe you’re 30!! Anyway, thanks for being so great. You’ve always been one of my best friends. I hope I get to see you and your family sometime this summer. In the meantime, Happy Birthday from me!!!

Living in Utah

Here is Ethan's observations about living in Utah:

"In Utah there are so many cars, and so many diggers, and so many airplanes, and SO MANY churches!"

An Ethan Funny

This morning while getting dressed:

"Mom, I'll wear this shirt today and this one tomorrow and this one . . . tolater!"

More From the Week of Fun

We went to the Children's Museum at The Gateway. It's really cool and the kids loved it. Here's Ethan, Kate, and Madeline if you look closely, peeking out from a tube at the Construction Site:

Kate and Ethan also enjoyed swimming in Mimi's tub:

The Draper Temple Open House was incredible. Madeline loved the chandeliers, Ethan loved the bus ride to the temple, and I thought it was one of the most beautiful temples I've been in.

And Madeline is now 13 months old! When eating, she insists on holding food in each hand. If she eats one cracker, she wont eat the one in the other hand until she gets a new one for the open hand . . . hmmmmmmm, I guess this way she'll never run out of food!