(the above picture has nothing to do with my post. It was actually supposed to go in my last post, but somehow got missed. Isn't it so cute?) I guess I was due for a round of "I'll teach you a lesson" after I bragged about all my cooking successes in my last post.
Monday was a great day. My students were well behaved and didn't give me any grief. I was able to find a used sit and stand stroller in excellent condition and got it for a great price. I got home and felt like cooking. Plus, it was going to be the first day in a week that Blake was going to be home for dinner. I wanted dinner to be good. Since I hadn't actually planned anything to make that night I got looking around my kitchen and noticed a pile of sweet potatoes sitting on my counter from 2 weeks ago. I thought about making the traditional mashed sweet potato dish with the marshmallows on top, but Blake isn't a huge fan of that so I decided to make sweet potato fries. After finding a yummy recipe from my favorite cooking website I got to work. Peeled the potatoes and started chopping them into french fry shapes.
Where I promptly almost cut my finger off with a knife. I should have called it quits right there.
Brooke's reaction was so cute. She was very concerned and went off immediately to find me a band-aid. She never did find one, but did find her Easter basket, so she was happy. She also found an almost empty jar of cream-cheese frosting in the garbage. She was insistent that I let her have it and since I was preoccupied with my finger and the fries, I was not really at the point of caring: my "patience o'meter" was slowly climbing.
Fix the finger and onto the coating of the fries. I obviously didn't read the recipe very well because when I looked closer I only had like 3 of the ingredients needed to coat the fries before baking them. I quickly got Brooke in the car and we sped over to my in-laws house to raid their cupboard (oh, and I had left the oven on pre-heat and was praying the house wasn't going to burn down in my absence.) I found most of the ingredients at the in-laws (Brooke of course pitched a fit because we weren't staying there) and went home.
Upon further inspection of the recipe, I realized I mistaken "cumin" for "curry" and grabbed the wrong ingredient. At this point I want to throw the dang fries out into the yard for the birds to eat. I decide to make the coating for the fries with the 3 ingredients I had in the first place and just see what happens. At this point I finally pay attention to my child who is sitting quietly at the kitchen table with her can of frosting and several play plates from her kitchen downstairs. She is happily spooning what is left of the frosting onto these plates and then putting them in her Easter basket. She informs me that she is also "cooking" Do I really care at this point? Oh and did I mention it is also close to 7 pm by this point, no one has eaten dinner, and I still have the chicken to cook because the fries were only supposed to have taken 15 minutes. And Blake still isn't home either. AND Brooke has taken her "frosting cooking" activity to another level. She has emptied the entire drawer full of silverware and put all the pieces in her Easter basket WITH the plates of frosting so now everything is dirty and must be washed.
The timer beeps and what do those dang fries have the audacity to do? They burn!!! Beyond frustrated, I put the chicken in and decided that these fries don't deserve an easy death of being thrown in the trashcan. I am still going to eat them. On to making the honey-lemon dip (at least that will be good). I open my fridge to find out the yogurt (which is the main ingredient for the dip) while although is white in color, is actually flavored vanilla and not plain. Again, I decide to just go for it and make the dip with the vanilla yogurt. Surprisingly, the fries and the dip weren't that bad. Not great (like if I had actually followed the recipe) but not terrible either.
Oh and Blake never showed up for dinner. And Brooke never ate any of it--she was probably too full from all her frosting she ate. Go figure. I wallowed in my grief that night by eating a bowl Lucky Charms.
Monday was a great day. My students were well behaved and didn't give me any grief. I was able to find a used sit and stand stroller in excellent condition and got it for a great price. I got home and felt like cooking. Plus, it was going to be the first day in a week that Blake was going to be home for dinner. I wanted dinner to be good. Since I hadn't actually planned anything to make that night I got looking around my kitchen and noticed a pile of sweet potatoes sitting on my counter from 2 weeks ago. I thought about making the traditional mashed sweet potato dish with the marshmallows on top, but Blake isn't a huge fan of that so I decided to make sweet potato fries. After finding a yummy recipe from my favorite cooking website I got to work. Peeled the potatoes and started chopping them into french fry shapes.
Where I promptly almost cut my finger off with a knife. I should have called it quits right there.
Brooke's reaction was so cute. She was very concerned and went off immediately to find me a band-aid. She never did find one, but did find her Easter basket, so she was happy. She also found an almost empty jar of cream-cheese frosting in the garbage. She was insistent that I let her have it and since I was preoccupied with my finger and the fries, I was not really at the point of caring: my "patience o'meter" was slowly climbing.
Fix the finger and onto the coating of the fries. I obviously didn't read the recipe very well because when I looked closer I only had like 3 of the ingredients needed to coat the fries before baking them. I quickly got Brooke in the car and we sped over to my in-laws house to raid their cupboard (oh, and I had left the oven on pre-heat and was praying the house wasn't going to burn down in my absence.) I found most of the ingredients at the in-laws (Brooke of course pitched a fit because we weren't staying there) and went home.
Upon further inspection of the recipe, I realized I mistaken "cumin" for "curry" and grabbed the wrong ingredient. At this point I want to throw the dang fries out into the yard for the birds to eat. I decide to make the coating for the fries with the 3 ingredients I had in the first place and just see what happens. At this point I finally pay attention to my child who is sitting quietly at the kitchen table with her can of frosting and several play plates from her kitchen downstairs. She is happily spooning what is left of the frosting onto these plates and then putting them in her Easter basket. She informs me that she is also "cooking" Do I really care at this point? Oh and did I mention it is also close to 7 pm by this point, no one has eaten dinner, and I still have the chicken to cook because the fries were only supposed to have taken 15 minutes. And Blake still isn't home either. AND Brooke has taken her "frosting cooking" activity to another level. She has emptied the entire drawer full of silverware and put all the pieces in her Easter basket WITH the plates of frosting so now everything is dirty and must be washed.
The timer beeps and what do those dang fries have the audacity to do? They burn!!! Beyond frustrated, I put the chicken in and decided that these fries don't deserve an easy death of being thrown in the trashcan. I am still going to eat them. On to making the honey-lemon dip (at least that will be good). I open my fridge to find out the yogurt (which is the main ingredient for the dip) while although is white in color, is actually flavored vanilla and not plain. Again, I decide to just go for it and make the dip with the vanilla yogurt. Surprisingly, the fries and the dip weren't that bad. Not great (like if I had actually followed the recipe) but not terrible either.
Oh and Blake never showed up for dinner. And Brooke never ate any of it--she was probably too full from all her frosting she ate. Go figure. I wallowed in my grief that night by eating a bowl Lucky Charms.
On my list of things to buy this time around was a rocking chair. Blake found one for me at a garage sale and I was thrilled! It's in great shape and when we got it home I used my new Kirby fabric attachment to give it a nice shampoo (
Okay, on to Brooke. She has been so funny lately! A few weeks ago we were at my in-laws house and she comes around the corner dressed with my FIL's hat and work gloves. She announces, "Okay, I'm ready to ride the tractor with Pinch!" Like out of the blue she says this. 
In this pic she's wearing TWO skirts and a dress-up shoe. Whenever she gets dressed up she will come stand by you with a huge grin on her face, waiting for you to compliment her on how pretty she looks.
Also a few weeks ago I took Brooke to FINALLY get her first haircut. I didn't cut very much off. Just enough to even out the sides with the back. Brooke was actually so excited to go get her hair done, but she was SO SERIOUS while sitting in the chair. 
Some more funny things: Brooke can sing the ABCs and can say most of the Pledge of Allegiance. She comes with me to work with the scouts and we say the pledge each week. I had no idea she was learning it until one day, out of nowhere, Brooke puts her hand over her heart and starts reciting it.
We are going to have a boy!! We are excited and surprised and I'll admit even a little nervous. I am used to princesses, dress-up, and playing with dolls. I don't know anything about boys! But we are excited for this new little one and are even more excited that everything on the ultrasound looks healthy and normal. Maybe a little too healthy. This baby is measuring a week and 3 days ahead and is already in the 80th percentile for height and weight. This bumps my due date to Feb. 3 (if he keeps measuring this way) and I am praying I go early and do not have a giant baby.
ready to five high-fives
Also Blake continues to dazzle me with how handy he is. We've had a perfect spot in our yard for a sandbox but never got around to building it. Blake was watching Brooke a couple of days last week and I came home one afternoon and found he's built it all in one day! Brooke loves it. Finally she has something fun to do in our backyard. Sadly, since it took us all summer to get it built there are no sandtoys to be found. But she's pretty content with random objects I've found around the house to use instead.
And finally, Brooke came up from watching 101 Dalmations the other day saying "I'm hungry mother, I'm hungry" It took me a while to figure out that it is a quote from the movie, and that she wasn't actually hungry.
But for now, Brooke is loving taking baths in the sink! She also sleeps with one of Blake's socks on her arm so she doesn't get tempted to unwrap her bandage. 
On Saturday I met two of my favorite friends in Park City for some shopping. Sarah, Sandy, and I have known each other for a long time. We were bridesmaids at each other's weddings, we have seen each other through some really hard times and some fun times like missions and babies. Now, we are all pregnant at the same time and due within a few months of each other: December, February, and March. Sarah lives in Alaska now and so when she was down for a quick weekend trip we couldn't pass up the opportunity for all of us to get together.
Brooke and Monroe
I was also able to pick up some shirts for later this year :)
Usually I wouldn't post pics of what I bought, but I wanted to compare how much I bought for Brooke and how much I bought for myself (which was hardly anything: a new tank, work pants, two shirts and a big sister book for Brooke) and I spent almost the exact same amount on each of us! Crazy! I wish adult clothes were priced like kids. But now, at least, my shopping bug is out!