Making cookies...and a mess!

Matthew is such a big help lately. In the morning he helps me add powders to his protein shake, he helps put my clothes from the washer into the dryer (we have frontloaders for both), and today he helped me make cookies for the first time.

We were supposed to have a couple from our ward over tonight (she was sick so it didn't happen) so Matthew and I made cookies as our treat (before I knew they weren't coming). He likes to stand on our barstools and help me with projects lately (I think he just likes feeling like a big boy). He poured the sugars in for me, the baking soda and the salt. I tried to have him help me pour the chocolate chips in, but for some reason he kept wanting to eat them instead. At the end of the cookie making process I gave him the spatula and bowl to lick and boy did he have a great time. He was not very happy when I finally took everything away to get him and everything else cleaned up. He definitely had a great time.

Seriously, who needs a binky when you're eating cookie dough? Apparently Matthew felt the need to add the mess to his binky.

I asked him to give me a cheese and this is what I got. I love those squishy cheeks.

I really love the independence he's showing. He loves playing outside in our backyard, he can entertain himself with silly games and talk in silly voices like me, but he'll still snuggle with me when he gets an owie. He loves to sing and read books and is generally a very good boy even when getting into mischief. He's starting to say small sentences and can pretty much imitate any word we say. Yesterday, he was hiding and then ran out and said, "Here I are." He's so cute and sometimes I can't believe he's ours and how much he's changed in almost two short years. I love the baby stage, but I think I love this stage even more. He wears me out with his energy but every day is worth the craziness. I can't imagine our life without this sweet boy in it.

Here come the 1,2,3s.....1-2-3

Playhouse Disney sometimes plays cute little music videos in between their shows. I kept hearing this cute song about zeros and noticed one day that it was by They Might Be Giants. I ordered the CD from Amazon and we've been listening to it for the last month or so. Matthew really loves it and it came as a CD/DVD combo so now he asks for "songs" when he wants to listen or watch it.



I wanted to expand our "Children's" song collection as I'm getting a little tired of the 1,2,3s. I got an Amazon giftcard for my birthday and hadn't used it yet and decided to go find some more music the other day with my card. I picked up Here Comes the A,B,Cs by They Might Be Giants, Juice Box Heros by Imagination Movers and Catch that Train by Dan Zane and friends. Imagination Movers are kindof a rock band for kids and Dan Zane is more of a folky, groovy kind of feel.


We definitely listen to his music as we're driving to/from work/daycare twice a week so this should be fun and give us more variety. He throws less fits and is pretty good when his music is playing. If you have little kids and need some more music I can vouch for the They Might Be Giants CD/DVD's and I'll let you know how the Imagination Movers and Dan Zane go.

On another note: It's been a tough week accident/health wise for Matthew. He was playing on our bed the other day and did a cheek plant right on the end of our footboard so now he has a bruise line on his face. It's so weird. Matthew caught a cold again and was sounding pretty yucky yesterday cough wise so Jordan took him to our urgent care in Maricopa and found out he had a pretty bad infection in one ear and the other ear also had the start of an infection. I was really surprised because he hadn't been acting too grouchy lately. He had been poking his ear a little bit but not all the time. He's now on ANOTHER round of antibiotics which I HATE!!! After he gets done with his treatment I'm going to take him to the doctor to see if he is going to need tubes or not. I just don't want to have his system immune to antibiotics and this is probably around his 6th time since he was born.

We're off to a crazy week as I have an event this weekend so I'm pretty busy with work, I have book club on Tuesday night and bunco on Thursday night. Jordan is doing the single dad thing on Friday and Saturday. I definitely couldn't do my job without his support and help with Matthew so a big thanks to Jordan!

This IS Ammericcccan Idol.....

I've been watching American Idol since the beginning and usually find my favorite about half way through the year. This year is tough because I don't have my favorite nailed down yet and there are quite a few talented singers. Another great thing I love about this show is that Jordan will watch it with me and we discuss the performances while they are happening. We actually agree with Simon more often than not, even if what he says goes against our favorites.

There are two Mormons that have made it to the Top 10 this season and both are doing reasonably well. There are also a couple of other guys that I think show great potential to make it to the end.

My Top 4 (in no particular order) are:
Brooke White (mormon)
David Archuleta (mormon)
Michael Johns
and
David Cook

I have felt reasonably confident so far that my choices would get through and I've been watching American Idol off the DVR a day or so later than the Tuesday airing so I haven't been contributing my vote. Tonight we had some free time after cleaning so we decided to watch it about an hour after it aired (you only get to vote up to 3 hrs after the show airs).

Every week they have a new theme and tonight's theme was songs from the year they were born. It started out pretty slow and Brooke, David, and Michael's performances were good, but not stellar, but will definitely get them through to the next round. David Cook was the last performer of the night and BLEW ME AWAY! I love old school Michael Jackson songs and he took Billie Jean and re-worked it into a rock song. Seriously maybe the best song of the whole season so far. I watched him performance twice already and I'm going to keep it on my DVR for awhile in case I want to visit it again. I can see that song being a single on the radio today. He's now made me a fan and might be inching closer to being my favorite of the season.




I did finally vote tonight...even though I loved David Cook I know he is safe this week so I voted about 20 or so times for Brooke White. She's up there as one of my favorites - she's sweet, so talented and Mormon so I have to support. She can play the piano by ear (learned tonight from her vignette), plays the guitar, and has a pretty interesting voice. I can see her making albums like Alicia Keys but with a different twist. I do only take my support so far so if she starts bombing she's off my list.

It'll be interesting to see who gets booted tomorrow night. I think it will be Chikezie or Ramiele. If you haven't started watching tune in and make your vote count!

BTW-for the record Jordan does not vote for this show. He just likes to watch and comment on the performances. I am the only one in this household that makes an impact on the shows outcome. :)

Easter.....and our March goings on

We've had quite a busy March. I was out of town on a work cruise for 9 days (Feb 29-March 9). Jordan did a great job holding down the fort and being a single dad. I got home late on Sunday and suffered from motion sickness/vertigo for about a week. My friend Heather (we grew up together) and her husband Michael and their son James came to visit us on March 14th and we had a great time going to spring training baseball, eating out, shopping, and letting Matthew and James play together. It was so great having them here and we hope they had a great time. The pics below are from Heather's blog - she took some great ones!


We were a bit worried about Matthew and his sharing skills, but he did really good with James and cried when they left.


Two little boys naked as can be getting ready for bathtime.


They had just woken up from naps and wouldn't sit still to take a pic so I scooped them up and took a pic with them. It was St. Patrick's and Jordan was the only one that didn't wear green.


James loved the grass in our backyard and didn't cry at all.


Loving our squishness.

I took them to the airport the morning of the 18th and then dropped Matthew off to daycare and went to work. After work we did laundry and packed as I headed up to Utah after work on the 19th with Matthew for a work trip which we extended through to the weekend. My parents watched Matthew on Thursday while I went to visit some vendors for a big project I'm working on. I picked up Jordan from the airport afterwards on Thursday. My niece and nephew came over Thursday night for a sleepover and helped entertain Matthew Friday while I was visiting some more vendors and Jordan was working from my parents. They colored Easter eggs and went to the Layton park to feed the ducks. Although Matthew I guess ate more bread than he fed the ducks!


It was really fun hanging out with family as we don't get up to Utah as much as we would like and it's even better when work paid for my plane ticket. Friday night we went over to my sister's and played Rock Band with their family and my brother and sister-in-law. It's great when we play as Matthew can be as loud as he wants to be. He even was pretending to sing and rock out and cracked me and my sister up. He was closing his eyes and tilting his head back. I so wish I had a picture, hilarious.


Saturday, Jordan and I went to the temple on a well overdue trip. I got sick in January when my whole family went so it was nice to finally get to go. It's hard getting away on the weekends especially since we/I have been traveling so much. We picked up Taco Time (my favorite - crisp bean burritos) on the way home and changed and then headed to Horton Hears a Who with my parents and met my oldest sister, my brother-in-law, my niece and her son, and my sister's grandkids (are they my grand niece and nephew?). Anyways, it was cute - not up to par with Pixar movies but pretty cute. Matthew did pretty good and just got restless at the end. We came back and ate dinner and then just hung out since all of us (me especially) were tired. My sister Laura came over and played with Matthew who of course stayed up way too late!


Sunday we went to Laura's ward for sacrament and then came home and packed up. Around 2:30 everyone that came over showed up. We had about 18 people. Not all the siblings came as they were doing things with their families. My mom does an annual Easter Egg hunt with plastic eggs with $5 bills inside so it was fun going outside to find them. Everyone gave Matthew their empty eggs for him to put in his Easter basket. We had hid the colored real eggs around the house earlier in the morning so he definitely figured out how the Easter egg hunt worked. So cute!


We had a great time and hopefully things will settle down a bit. It's been so crazy around here with my being gone so much. Jordan has been a trooper putting up with me and my crazy work schedule. I have some really fun work projects in the works so it's exciting seeing things evolve and finally get the go ahead to do projects that I wanted to get started on 3 years ago when I started at Isagenix. Jordan will be posting pics later from the weekend.