Ten Things

My sister-in-law Emmy Mom, always does a post on her blog at the end of each month called "ten things to smile about this month". I have always wanted to do the same, but never have. Until now! She challenged everyone to give it a try, so here goes:

Ten Things to Smile about this Month

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1. We moved into our new house!

2. We no longer have Qwest! Now we can call any long distance number that we want on our Vonage phone. And the best part is we kept the same phone number!
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3. My kids have their own park in our backyard 4. The radon levels in our house are now below 3 (they were around 13 when we moved in), so now we won't all get lung cancer.
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5. I bought this fabric . . . can't wait to use it
6. Ethan has a friend
7. Flower are blooming
8. I was able to get Ethan signed up for a wonderful Montessori Preschool for the fall.


9. We only have four boxes in the entire house left to unpack. And we already have lots of the pictures hung up!


10. I discovered today that we now live only 10 minutes from IKEA!

Ethan's Drawings

Ethan has been busy at work, drawing and drawing and drawing. For days he would only color in coloring books. He started with the first picture in the book and would color every picture in order until the book was complete. Then, he used an entire ream of paper writing the alphabet. But just in the last few days, he's turned to drawing pictures. And I just think they are so cute:

Butterfly
Cat and Mouse

Giraffe

Lion

Penguin

Sheep

And of course . . . Thomas the Tank Engine!

My Daughter Babysits

We found out that there are 22 Beehives in our ward. That is the name for the girls from church who are 12 and 13 years old. 22!

Now I know why almost every woman who introduced herself to me said, "Hi, I'm so and so, and my daughter babysits."

Too many sitters in the area and not enough babies. Hmmm, maybe they can start paying me to tend my kids . . .

Gardening and Friendship

Today I worked in the garden for two hours. The weather was perfect and the ground soft. It was fun to discover what plants are growing in my new gardens and I enjoyed pulling the weeds while they were still small. I gardened until my shovel decided it had had a full life:
Perhaps I should invest in one worth more than $1 this next time around. Though this one sure treated me well.

And all the time I gardened, Ethan played with his new friend. This is the second day in a row that Ethan has played with the little boy who lives three houses down. This might not seem like a big deal, but when the doorbell rang yesterday and a little face smiled and asked if Ethan could play, it was the first time that that had ever happened in Ethan’s whole life. Sure, Ethan has played with kids before, but always at mommy groups or play dates. Never has he had a friend who came to our house without his mom to play with Ethan. Ethan was his first choice. And my heart has never felt so happy.

Madeline followed them around and laughed at the funny things they did. She couldn’t really keep up, but they were kind to her and she had as wonderful a time as the two boys did. Just last week I wondered how I would ever get all my gardening taken care of with my two kids needing my attention so much. Now I know how. . . friendship makes all the difference.

Update

We moved while it was pouring rain. It turned to sleet and snow and back to rain. My leather couches had a nice shower and after toweled off looked good as new. Thank you Mom for helping me tape down thick paper to the entire wood floor prior to the wet messy move! And thank you to everyone who helped. We couldn't have done it without you!

Both my kids have been sick but are now recovering. The day before the move and the day of, Madeline had a fever. Ethan’s came later. Along with runny noses and horrible coughs. All are well today!

For days, Madeline had no appetite, we finally were able to convince her to eat Popsicles

We’ve unpacked the entire upstairs and even have some of the pictures hung!

The downstairs is still full of boxes, partly due to the fact that we don’t have enough book shelves for all the books in the boxes.

I LOVE the skylight in the upstairs hall bathroom. I’m surprised how much I love it. It makes the windowless room as cheery as the rest of the house.

We have a park in our backyard that came with the house. The kids are in heaven, and so am I!

This big slide is also hooked to a bar with two normal and one baby swing!

This fun slide came with the house too!

Our radon detector detected the level of radon in our house last night to be close to 13. A safe level is less than 4. Not. Good. We will be taking care of that shortly. Too bad not cheaply. You should get a radon test in your house if you never have.

I love my new house. Even if you remind me of all the stuff I still need to do . . .

The end.

Back in Webland!

We finally have Internet up and running in our new house! I have spent the last long while catching up on everything I like to read on the web. It has been a crazy week . . . to say the least! Moving in the pouring rain with sick kids might have had something to do with that!

I have lots of updating to do, but not right now. So if you want something new to see, check out my last week's worth of pictures on my photo blog. I posted all of them tonight, but took each one on the day it says it was posted.

I. love. my. new. house.

Life is good. My kids are recovering from massive colds and the house is no longer filled with boxes (well, the upstairs is box-free anyway . . .)

More updates and fun pictures to come . . .

All my bags are packed
I'm ready to go
I'm standing here inside my door
Waiting for my realtor to call and tell me he has the keys to our new house and that we can go in.

No, I'm not anxious or excited at all, why do you ask?

And in related new: I ran out of boxes! I have resorted to stuffing the last of the things into plastic sacks.

I will soon be without Internet, so farewell for now . . .

Saturday Night Treat

Oh, how I wish I could have a treat. . .

Yummy!

Chemical Engineers

Fact: Chemical Engineers can fix everything (because they know everything)!

I didn’t used to really believe this fact; I just thought it was a line Chemical Engineers like to play up. But after being married to one for over six years, I am now a believer!

Last night, Todd fixed my broken lens! What I thought was a break, actually turned out to be the two main pieces of the lens popping apart. I looked at it for a long time before he got home and couldn’t figure out how it even went together, but Todd looked at it and fixed it in about five minutes. Thank you honey, thank you SO MUCH!

Honey, when you took apart my broken washing machine a couple of years ago, and I saw springs literally fly out from it, I doubted you. I am now officially sorry that I ever did! You did fix the washer, using every spring (without the instruction book) and it worked like brand new.

I won’t doubt you again. You can fix anything! I guess you were right (yeah yeah, you knew you were), because you’re a Chemical Engineer. ;)

Broken

I dropped one of my camera lenses today and yes, it broke in two. And yes, I cried. I have very bad luck with my camera it seems. Less than a year ago, Madeline got a hold of it and flung it onto the tile floor which broke the pop and external flashes. I dished out money to fix the external flash, but the pop flash is still broken. And now my favorite lens is broken too. I have two others, but my favorite one is busted. Right now I feel like retiring from my lovely hobby of photography. But not because I don't love it.

I suppose the money I've been saving to buy stuff for the new house just might go towards a new lens now. (Because of course I really wont retire my hobby, I just like it too much!) Good thing it was my nifty 50 and therefore not too expensive.

sigh . . .

I've been a little bored today. I just can't pack. one. more. box. Not today. I need a break! But there isn't much to do when all your crafting items are packed or about to be packed. And when all your bake ware is packed as well. . . and the kids are happily watching their one show for the day.

So, I have been wasting some time looking through all the stuff on the cutest website ever. Love the rose storage bin. Love the toothbrush holders. Love just about everything on it.

If you're bored too, go here!

March Recipe

Chicken Pizzaiola with Mozzarella and Pepperoni

From the editors of Cook’s Illustrated: The Best 30-Minute Recipe

Serves 4

3 cups tomato sauce (24-26 oz. jar)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and ground black pepper
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
20 slices pepperoni
(Serve with cooked noodles)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Spread tomato sauce into 13x9 baking dish.

2. Spread parmesan into shallow dish. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Working with one breast at a time, dredge in parmesan. Press on parmesan to make sure it adheres. Lay chicken in baking dish, smooth side facing up.

3. Place chicken in oven and bake 15 minutes.

4. Increase oven temperature to 475 degrees. Mound ¼ cup of mozzarella on top of each chicken breast, then shingle 5 slices pepperoni over cheese. Continue to bake until cheese melts and until thickest part of breast registers 160 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 5-7 minutes. Serve with the sauce over noodles.

Variations:

Chicken Pizzaiola with Provolone and Capicola: Substitute 1 cup shredded sharp provolone for mozzarella and 4 slices capicola for pepperoni.

This family-friendly recipe can accommodate any of your favorite pizza toppings like cooked crumbled sausage, sautéed peppers, onions, or mushrooms, or sliced olives.