Happy New Year!

I just wanted to make one last post in 2008. Today is a great day to reflect as the year comes to a close and to set some new goals for 2009. My goals are nothing new. I am hoping to lose 20 pounds so that I can get back to my weight before I had Eli 3 years ago. I want to eat healthy by eating more veggies & fruit. So far I have lost 3 pounds this month. I hope I can keep it up. I also want to get rid of the excess clutter in my home. I am realizing that simple is better & more peaceful. I just streamlined my Christmas decorations and freed myself of 2 boxes of stuff. Now I just need to tackle the rest of the house! I am also making some financial goals. I want to have money saved, especially in these times of uncertainty. What are your goals for 2009? Do you have any suggestions to help me accomplish mine? Here's hoping you have a great year ahead of you!

I'm Dreaming of a ...

White Christmas!

Eli enjoying his first real experience playing in the snow! He was so excited to have his own snow clothes!

Joe, in his usual style, getting ready to throw a snowball!

Young Woman's Medallion

Sarah recently earned her Young Woman's Medallion in church. Earning this necklace is comparable to a Young Man earning his Eagle Scout award. Sarah had to complete 42 goals in 7 different areas and 70 hours in projects. Some of her favorite projects were making an eye spy quilt, making a scrapbook for her journey to Black Belt, making a scrapbook that showed 1 year in her life, & also helping out every Monday to teach younger children Karate. Way to go Sarah!

My Little Artist...

This post is for my daughter Heather. I have noticed that each of my children are so different from each other & each one of them has different interests & talents. Heather loves art. It is her favorite class of the day. She actually mentioned that she would love to be an art teacher because her art teacher makes class so much fun. I just wanted to post a few of her drawings in honor of her & to let her know how proud I am of her & how much I Love her. She makes life so much more fun & interesting. One of Heather' favorite quotes..."If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail."
It is a picture of a boy going to school.

Heather loves cats & this is a drawing of a Snow Leopard.

My Little Girl is Going to her First Dance

The Back of Sarah's Dress.

Mom showing Sarah how to pin on the boutonniere.


Sarah's got the hang of it now.

Sarah & her Preference date. She was brave enough to ask a young man to her first dance!

Collecting Christmas Ornaments

When I was a little girl, my Dad came home one night with some Hallmark ornaments. He told us that our family was starting a new tradition & that every year, the day after Christmas, we would each pick out an ornament at the after Christmas sale. Each year when the excitement of Christmas was over, we looked forward to picking out our new ornament that reflected something that we liked or that we had experienced during the year. This was my ornament that my Dad gave to me in 1977 from Hallmark that started the whole tradition. When I got married & left home, my collection came with me so that I already had special decorations for my tree.

Now that I have a family of my own, we have continued this tradition. The only thing that has changed is that we buy our ornaments before Christmas because each of our children have ornaments that are part of a collection. I love this tradition because each Christmas my children love to decorate the tree and reminisce about their special memories. Leave a comment & share one of your family traditions.

Sarah's ornament for 2008! She loves dogs. She was born in 1992 and started collecting these when she was a little girl. The first ornament from the puppy love series dates back to 1991. One year for Christmas, we went on Ebay & bought the remainder of the set so that her collection would be complete.

Heather's ornament for 2008! She loves cats and she has been collecting Hallmark's mischievous kittens since they first came out.

Joe's ornament for 2008! He always chooses the ornament that has flashing lights & sounds. That is Joe's style. This one has light sabers that light up & it repeats actual phrases from the fight.

Eli's ornament for 2008 because he loves trains!

Angelina's ornament for 2008. It represents her 1st Christmas.

Christmas Traditions

When I was a little girl, my Mom made Christmas stockings for my 2 brothers & I. I loved my Christmas stocking. Not only did my Mom make it, but it was different from any others that I had seen. Also, the center block of the stocking was from the same material as my brothers. So even though each one was unique, they were connected by a common thread. When I married my husband, he decided that he wanted one to match mine. So my Mom made him one. Each time a new child was added to our family she would make another one. My brother's families also have carried on the stocking tradition and each of their children have one. We all have a center block that is from the same original material. Please comment below & share what your Christmas stockings are like & why they are special in your family...

Kimball, Rochelle, & Sarah's stockings

Heather, Joe, & Eli's stockings

Angelina's stocking for her 1st Christmas
Thanks Mom! We love you!

A Great Man has Left our Midst

I want to pay tribute to a great man. The oldest LDS apostle Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin passed away in his sleep at the at the age of 91 Monday night. How many of us who witnessed his October 6, 2007 General Conference address will ever forget that moment of brotherhood and humanity at it's best? As he stood trembling uncontrollably at the pulpit trying to finish the remainder of his talk, his fellow apostle & dear friend Elder Russell M. Nelson came & stood at his side to steady him so that he could finish his address. Sarah, having just turned 16 & being able to date, fondly remembers his most recent address, "Come What May, & Love It". He talks about learning to laugh and he tells a story about one of his daughters going on a blind date. She was all dressed up & waiting for her date to arrive. A man came to the door that seemed rather old but she tried to be polite and introduced him to her family and grabbed her coat & headed out the door. Before the car pulled away she realized that the man was not her date, but that he had come to pick up her sister to babysit for him. Elder Wirthlin talks about how they all had such a good laugh over that story. Even his daughter who could have felt humiliated & embarrassed laughed with them. I just want to leave you with this bit of advice from his April 2005 address, "Who can tell what far-reaching impact we can have if we are only Kind?"

A Day of Thanks

We had a quiet Thanksgiving dinner here at home with our little family. Kimball cooked our turkey on the BBQ, which has been a long standing tradition in my family. It was nice having the turkey on the grill because then we had oven space for the pies & rolls that we made. Eli really wanted a pumpkin pie because he had seen one on an episode of Disney's Imagination Movers. So I made a pumpkin pie and Kimball made an apple pie. Eli is an extremely picky eater, so I was doubtful that he would like the pie. He was so excited all day to see the pumpkin pie. He kept asking if it was ready. However, one little taste and he decided that he didn't like pumpkin pie and that was the end of that conversation.

Our neighbor invited our family over to shoot some arrows. He had purchased this set up the year before at Cabela's. I was home making the mashed potatoes, so I missed the photo op. Here is Kimball & the kids having fun with some of their best friends, our neighbors across the street.

Kimball

Heather

Sarah

Joe

The intended target

Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins & Blessings

I came across this recipe while Kimball was serving in Afghanistan for a year. It instantly became a favorite for my kids. I can't tell you how many times I made this little treat while Kimball was away. I still make them when I have bananas that are going bad and it brings back memories. It reminds me of all of the blessings & love that my family received while Kimball was gone. Many good people stepped up and took care of our family. I know my Savior was near and kept our family safe & healthy. Just like the poem about the footprints in the sand, I felt him carrying me often. Every Monday the Young Women of our ward came over to watch my children for 2 hours so that I could have a break. I shared this recipe with many of them because it became one of their favorites too.

Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 to 3)

1 egg

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 c sour cream or vanilla/plain yogurt

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat mini muffin pans with cooking spray. In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients. Stir together. In a mixing bowl combine the mashed bananas, egg, melted butter, sour cream/yogurt, vanilla, and milk. Mix together until well blended. Add the dry ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. Fill each muffin cup with a tablespoon of batter. Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes or until the tops are slightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and repeat with the remaining batter. Makes 36 mini muffins.

Snowflakes are Like Children...Each One Unique

I remember as a little girl, making snowflakes with my Dad. I always thought he made the prettiest snowflakes with little hearts and other shapes. One Day Joe was bored and I suggested that he make snowflakes. He had so much fun, that we decided to have a family snowflake night for Family Night. It was fun to see everyone's creativity. Mom didn't make a snowflake because she was making milkshakes. If you like the Frosty's that are served at Wendy's, then try this:

Use Breyers ice cream Vanilla Fudge Twirl and add some milk. You can add some chocolate syrup for a little stronger chocolate taste & blend. Yum!

Sarah's Snowflake

Heather's Snowflake


Joe's Snowflake

Dad & Eli's Snowflake

When life gives you beets...

...make CHOCOLATE beet cake!

Next to our house is an empty lot. Our neighbor, who is our home builder, is hanging onto that lot in hopes that one of his children will want to live there someday. In the meantime, he uses the lot to grow a huge garden. It is wonderful! My children like to help him plant the seeds and we reap the benefits of all of his hard work. One night he dug up some beets. I despise beets, but I knew my husband liked them so I graciously accepted his offering. I fully intended to cook them, but since my husband and I had only purchased canned beets neither of us knew what to do with them and they ended up going bad in the meantime. Since that time, my neighbor is always giving us beets because he "knows how much we LOVE them!" Every time, I intend to cook them and every time, they go bad and I throw them away with guilt. Imagine my surprise (horror) when my doorbell rang and I found a pile of about 50 beets on my porch. My neighbor smiled and waved at me...because he knows that I LOVE beets. This time I decided I couldn't throw them away. I wanted to end the guilt. So I found this...

CHOCOLATE Beet Bundt Cake

1 cup butter softened, & divided

1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar

3 eggs

4 (1 0z) squares semisweet chocolate

2 cups pureed cooked beets ( 4-5 beets)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

2 Tbsp Cocoa

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips

confectioner's sugar

Cut off the top & bottom of the beet. Peel & chunk it. Put the beets in a pan and just barely cover with water. Boil until tender. Place in blender. Puree and add a little water as needed to thin it just so that it can blend smoothly. Use the water that you boiled the beets in. Puree.

In a mixing bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and the brown sugar. Add the eggs; mix well. Melt the chocolate with the remaining butter; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. Blend the chocolate mixture, beets and vanilla into the creamed mixture. The mixture will appear slightly separated. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, & cocoa. Add to the creamed mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into a greased & floured bundt pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then remove from pan. Cool completely and then sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.

***This cake is very moist. Those of us that are familiar with the taste of beets, can still taste a hint of beet flavor. All of my children enjoy eating it and don't taste the beets. It takes some time to prepare the beets. But if you are looking for a way to add veggies into your children's diet, this is one way to do it.

My son Joe...

... has been on my mind lately. He amazes me. Everyday he bravely leaves the comfort of our home and goes to school. In a world where everyone is trying to fit in and be like everyone else, Joe stands apart in many ways. Joe was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome 2 years ago. Over night everything changed for him. He is no longer in charge of his body. His brain is & it compels his body to do things that many of us would rather not do, especially in public.

One morning 2years ago he awoke with vocal tics. All of the facial tics (eye blinking, nose twitching) that seemed like nervous twitches finally made sense to us. I knew right away that he had TS. I am going to talk openly about TS in my blog. Joe wants it that way. It is a part of who he is. The more people that are aware of TS, the more misconceptions can be dispelled. We want Joe to be accepted in every way and that means accepting that he has TS. Like many fellow sufferers of TS, Joe is bright and does amazingly well during school despite the fact that his tics are battling for his attention the whole day. He is very social and has many friends that are accepting of his tics and to that I am grateful. However, the last several days have been hard for him. His tics are increasingly getting stronger and more noticeable. He can no longer quietly hide them. When he comes home from school they explode on the car ride home and drive him "crazy".

My only prior experience with TS was (1) watching a show about someone with TS who was in a courtroom trial for being fired from his job for uncontrolled swearing. (That tic affects about 6% of the TS population) (2) A cousin of ours has TS (3) A young man when I was in college shot himself to death in front of a nearby LDS temple and he had TS.

TS is a genetic disorder but the gene responsible for it is unknown. No blood test or brain scan can detect TS. They think that Dopamine is improperly metabolized and that is what causes the unexplained twitches, jerks, and other sounds and vocalizations. Although one can stop the tics for a few moments, it is like holding in a sneeze...eventually it will come out. The tic that you have today will not be the tic that you have tomorrow,...they are constantly changing. There is no cure for TS and there is no one medicine that is known to help everyone with TS because everyone is different. That is why we choose to not medicate, because it is all experimental and there are adverse side effects. TS is a neurological disorder that also can cause ADHD and OCD, both of which Joe has. If he does something with one hand, he HAS to do it with the other. Many sufferers of TS have what are called TS storms. They have to work harder to get control of their emotions and their tempers.

I know of very few disabilities that are joked about like TS. You can find many videos of so-called people with TS on you-tube. I ran across one the other day on accident and it was disturbing. I was also in church one Sunday and a man was making fun of an old high-school teacher who had TS. It was hurtful. I should have said something to him but what could I say that would make him not feel as lousy as I was feeling? It made me sad for my little Joe.

Having a son with TS has been a blessing for me. I am now aware that there are many children that struggle with various conditions that we might not be aware of. If I see a child that is misbehaving, I try not to think "what is wrong with the parents". I am trying to be less judgemental. I am trying to raise my children to be accepting of those with differences.

Cornbread

I never really enjoyed cornbread it was so dry and crumbly. Then I got this recipe from a friend. This one is so moist and yummy. The recipe called for shortening, but I prefer the ease of liquid oil. It also asked to be cooked at 350 degrees, but that took for ever, so I bumped up the temp. to 375 degrees. Sometimes I don't have sour cream & I improvise with plain 0r vanilla yogurt. It changes the taste slightly but I still like it. Only my "selective" daughter can taste the difference. She prefers the sour cream.

The Best CornBread

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup sour cream

3 Tbsp oil

2 eggs

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl & then add the wet ingredients. Mix well & pour into a greased & floured 8x8 pan. (sometimes I am lazy and just grease it) Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until the top is golden, & firm, with no jiggles.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

I have always loved using the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe because of the finely ground oatmeal and the chocolate chips. However, I love peanut butter and I wanted a cookie that was similar but that contained peanut butter. I found this one on the internet and now it is our new favorite. One day I was out of flour and I had already started making the cookies, so I used Bob's Red Mill 100% Whole Wheat Pastry flour instead and no one noticed a difference in taste. Pastry Flour is a really fine ground whole wheat flour. I actually double this recipe and freeze them in several gallon size ziploc bags and we take them out and put them in school lunches and they last for several weeks. Since we follow the feingold program I have to use chocolate chips with pure vanilla, no artificial vanillin because my son has reactions to foods that contain any chemicals. The chemicals in the food causes his Tourette tics to be worse and they also send him into what I call, "little rages". My favorite chocolate chips are pictured above.


Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

1 1/2 cups oatmeal

2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (or combination white &/0r Wheat)

1 tsp. Baking Powder (I use Rumford aluminum free)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt (I use redmond sea salt)

1 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp Vanilla (seems like alot)

3/4 C Peanut Butter

2 large eggs

6 oz Semi-sweet Chocolate chips

6 0z milk chocolate chips

8 oz grated chocolate (I omit this extra time-consuming step usually)

Pulse 1 cup of the oatmeal in a blender until fine. Stir remaining dry ingredients together. Beat the butter and the sugars until fluffy. Add the vanilla and the peanut butter and mix. Then add the eggs one at a time. Gradually add the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. You can chill if you want to , but I don't want to wait. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes depending on the size and desired crispness of your cookie.

EnJoy!

This One is for You

Sometimes it is easy for everything to be about the kids, especially since I have five. I want to dedicate this post to my better half and let him know how proud I am of him for earning his Black Belt. I love you , Sweetie!

Here is an action shot of the board breaking segment of the test.

Receiving his Black Belt from his instructor.
I love this picture. I hope I am as fit as several of these black belts in my old age. (I guess I better get exercising first.) The lady in the bottom corner continues to teach to this day. She is a fourth degree black belt.

Black Belt Test October 2008

Recently Sarah & Kimball tested for their Black Belts in Kyuki-do. They have been taking classes for about 3 1/2 years. We will be posting a movie shortly. However, these are some of my favorite pictures of Sarah from the test. For those of you that don't know Sarah very well, she is shy. However, when she puts on her karate uniform, her shyness leaves. Her studio knew that she would be doing self-defense moves one -on -one with another partner, so a fellow female classmate came to help Sarah with this part of the test. When the testing board called her up, they decided that she would be better suited to demonstrate with a black belt and they chose a testing board member's son. Sarah always hates it when the boys that she demonstrates with pretend that she is inflicting pain. So that is why we love the picture below. Is that a smile of pain or enjoyment from having a girl throwing you around on a mat? You be the judge.

Look what we did today!

My neighbor told me that her children that ate fresh food right from her garden when they were infants, were her least picky eaters. So I decided that I wanted to make Angelina's food from fresh, organic produce. This book has all of the instructions. Each batch only takes 30 minutes to make. It really is easy. This is a batch of squash that I made & it smells wonderful and tastes great, unlike the watered down tasteless version in the jars. I would even eat this food myself. This is Angelina's first experience with baby food and she loved it!

If you're like me...

you wonder what in the world is making your diaper bag so heavy.

Well now I know the truth. My 9 year old rock-loving son has been stashing his collection in my diaper bag.