Best Of The Day

Best Quote: Spencer, when told to put his socks on, "But I can't... I just don't have the energy."

Best Dinner: Beans and Cornbread (Beans here and cornbread of my own design)

Best Tantrum: Josh, who freaked out for 20 minutes when I wouldn't let him eat sour cream strait out of the container. (So instead I put a huge dollop on his beans and he just ate that. Is that a win-win for us? Kinda?)

Best Workout: Changing Josh's poopy diaper (and I really did go work out tonight!)

Best Excuse for Not Picking Up Toys: Spencer, "I can't! I hurt my finger playing Wii!"

Best Retort to Above Excuse: Mommy, "Then use your mouth."

Best... er... Most Productive Use of My Time: Finishing several chapters of the book I'm reading

Best 30 Minutes for Maren: The nap I took while Josh was asleep and Spencer was playing Wii (and apparently injured his finger)

My Four Year Old Is Cuter Than Yours...

I get Spencer's birthday pictures in January because it's so much easier than having one more thing to do in December. Plus, they're always super busy with everyone's Christmas pictures, so it's hard to find a good appointment time. Plus (and most importantly), I can usually find an outfit for him during the January clearance. (Priorities priorities...)

(Side note: Lance calls Spencer's sweater the Freddy Krueger sweater. I guess he has a point, but I still think it's cute. Besides, it reminded me of his coming home outfit.)

Awww.... what a cute baby he was!

And what a cute four year old he is!

Let's Skip Today

Today was not so fun. One of those days where I kinda wonder why I left my career (however brief) in advertising for my (eternal) career in motherhood.

The culprit?


No, those red eyes aren't from the camera. They're naturally that way in this little booger.

Okay, I kid. But really, he was nightmarish today. I'm pretty sure he's teething again, if that's any consolation. And he has a slight cold, so there's another possibility for the little beast that has taken over my little boy. At least that's what I told myself after he hurled a child-size rolling pin at my head. (Scarier than you'd think, coming at you from Rocket Arm Madsen.)

Enough of this; I don't want to focus on the negative. But before I move on I have one more thing to say:

Orneriness, thy name is Josh.

Done.

So yesterday, before Josh turned into a beast-baby, we visited Lance at work. Lance has a pretty awesome collection of calendars growing on his office wall that I wanted to check out.


Not too shabby, but I still think he could use more. (You can still see the wall - in my definition, that's not enough!) Most of the calendars were either free or $1 or less. Nice. (So if you have any extra calendars laying around, send them our way!)

We splurged and had lunch at Panda Express. And by 'we' I mean Lance and I, because the boys would not eat. (They're both going through a rather obnoxious picky-eater-phase right now.) Anything other than mac & cheese, peanut butter, or some sort of processed meat product, and they run screaming from the room. (Until extreme hunger kicks in, and then they will deign to eat something *gasp* I make.)

Anywho, the car was filthy, so we decided to treat the boys (and the car) with a trip to the Rainforest Carwash.

When we moved to Lafayette nearly three years ago the Rainforest Carwash was the only interesting thing we found online about the area. (Besides Purdue, of course.)

Amazingly, we had never been. Spencer loved it - Josh was wary.

Looks like we've found a new pastime for when things get dull (and the car gets dirty).

Doorstop

Isn't this the coolest doorstop ever? I love it. I think it is the first nice-looking doorstop I have ever seen. I wish I had a door that needed stopping. :)

I found it here, via here.

Cake of the Month - Peaches and Cream

I made a new goal for myself this year: to conquer cake!

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know that I have problems with cake. Not that I don't like cake - I do. And I don't have a problem making a really good tasting cake. (No, really!) The problem, my friends, is that I simply can't make that yummy cake actually looks good. See here for an example. (But not here - my monkey cake rocked!)

Cookies I can do. Brownies - definitely. Cupcakes, yes. In fact, I think it's pretty safe to say that I can make most desserts look pretty delectable.

So I have decided that I'm going to make one cake a month for 2008, in the hopes that I will some day be able to make a decent looking cake! Lance has pledged his full and undying support in this endeavor as long as he gets to sample (read: devour) the results.

I decided to use the new cookbook I got for Christmas.


This book rocks! I love it. So does Heidi F., and everyone knows she's the queen of cake making, so I knew this was a good starting point.

I decided to make the Peaches and Cream Cake because it sounded really good.

Now, I had plans for blogging a play-by-play account of my cake making. But when it comes down to it, do you really want to read something like that? (And, more importantly, do I really want to write all of that?)

No. And no.

So here's a pretty mosaic I made of the pictures I took while making the cake. (I even took a self-timed one of me in my Etsy apron Lance got me for Christmas. Yes, I realize I look stupid in aprons. Oh well.)


The pictures aren't in any sort of order because I couldn't figure out how to do that. Okay, I didn't even try to figure out how to do that. But you ladies are all pretty smart, so I'm assuming you probably know what order they should be in. (And if you can't, get off the computer and pick up a cookbook, for cryin' out loud!)

Now I will show you separate pictures of two major challenges I faced while making the cake:

A supremely cranky 16 month old who refuses to wear pants and wants to play in the garbage, and

the dang top to one of the layers stuck to the dang plate I used to flip the dang layer right side up onto the dang cooling rack. Dang. (I know, it was dumb to use a plate. But I did. But only on that layer.) Anyways, it kinda got this crater but I figured it was okay because I could just use it as my bottom layer. In fact, it turned out even more okay because it was a bit uneven (which isn't okay) and so I just trimmed most of the crater off while making it flat.

Anywho, the cake had a whipped cream frosting, which made it pretty easy to put on. (Sticky frosting and I have a sordid decorating history that we will not dwell on at this point.) So, voila! My cake!


Okay, it's a bit lopsided. I think some of that is cake deformity and some of that is poor frosting on my part. Who cares. It's still the best-looking layer cake I can remember making. (Sad, I know!)

And, more importantly (at least to the boys), it tasted great!

President Gordon B. Hinckley

I was surprised and sad when I heard the news last night of President Gordon B. Hinckley's passing.

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I'm more at home with satire and sarcasm rather than solemn, so I'll keep this brief: I know that President Hinckley was a modern day prophet of God. He was a righteous servant of the Lord and a wonderful example of all we should strive to be. He will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.

Today I have particularly tried to keep his teaching of "try a little harder to be a little better" in the front of my mind.

Go here for a more complete and much better written memorial.

Fourth Annual Grilled Cheese Jamboree

Last night we hosted our fourth annual Grilled Cheese Jamboree.

Yes, that's right - a Grilled Cheese Jamboree.

And yes, it is as awesome as it sounds.

We started this tradition with our good friends from grad school. It's a really easy get-together and oh-so-very-very yummy! (Because grilled cheese sandwiches are one of the best foods ever, am I right? Answer: YES.)

In case you want to start your own jamboree, here are the six things you need:

1. Cheese
2. Bread
3. Toppings
   
4. Butter
5. Cooking utensils
6. Prizes
   

Everyone brings a bit of everything and then stuffs themselves silly. What could be better?

So here we go: a glimpse at the 4th Annual Grilled Cheese Jamboree!

I didn't get a chance to take pictures of everything just before we got started, but I did get to take a few shots before everyone arrived. I like to buy unusual cheeses - well, as unusual as I can get at Sam's Club. Remember, the Jamboree is about being easy, not hunting all over town for cheese! This Irish Harp Cheddar. (No, not Sharp - Harp.)

Here's a four Colby combo I found: Colby Jack, Pesto Jack, Garlic & Herb Jack, and Habanero Jack (spicy!)

Meat is a definite must as far as toppings go. Pork was favored this year: ham, salami, and bacon. Mmmmm...

Grilled Cheese Jamborees are not for dieters - butter on the outside of the bread is a must. We have regular butter but then also go a little gourmet with: Sour Cream & Chive, Sundried Tomato (my favorite!), and Garlic Parmesan (Like my little label flags? Just masking tape and tooth picks!)
We also had some random toppings like: Homemade pesto, Spinach Cheese Spread, and Strawberry Cream Cheese (for dessert sandwiches, of course!). Side note: we usually have Nutella and fruit for yummy dessert sandwiches but none of us remembered to bring any this year. Oh the tragedy!

There was a lot more bread than this, but I didn't get a picture of it. But you can see my homemade pitas, which were actually really yummy with grilled cheese!

I put out all of my cutting boards and any type of utensil I thought might come in handy, like: cheese knives, butter knives, pizza cutter, cheese shredder, paring knives, PC Sandwich press, etc.

And of course you have to have lots of sandwich making stations, because no one wants to wait to make their sandwich! Here's our George Foreman grill and our Convection Toaster oven. (BTW: we only use the Foreman grill for grilled cheese sandwiches!)

Here we have the electric skillet, a frying pan, and a waffle maker. Yes, you can definitely make grilled cheese sandwiches with a waffle maker!

Here's Ashley and Maura making their sandwiches. Maura and John came all the way from Chicago for grilled cheese. Yes, our Jamborees are that good! (BTW Maura - I want you to start a blog after your trip to Mexico! Just bite the bullet and do it!)

Elizabeth, Josh, and John enjoying their sandwiches.

Part of any good Jamboree is offering prizes for the best sandwiches. This year's prize categories (and winners) included: Fastest Sandwich Maker (Lance, not pictured), Most Picturesque (John, see below)...

...Gutbuster (Josh, weighing in at over a pound!)...

...and Most International, which was changed at the last minute to Grossest Theme Sandwich (John, with his "A Kid's Nightmare" sandwich). (Yes, those are peas and dates and Dijon mustard.) (And yes, he ate the whole thing!)

We were having so much fun, though, that I forgot to give out the prizes. Dang it!! So I'll be bringing them or mailing them over the next week. (I don't want to ruin the surprise by showing what they are here. But they are great, because the Dollar Spot at Target is great!)

Here's me making a yummy cheddar, pear, and bacon sandwich. Don't judge - it was really yummy!

Josh after seeing John's "Nightmare" sandwich.

Spencer enjoying one of Maura's fabuloso cupcakes. Mmm...

We worked off all of the extra grilled cheese calories with some Wii.

Primary Proverbs - Sweet Success!

If you recall, I have been having a major problem with the wiggles in my Primary class. No, not these wiggles:

(Although I suspect they would give me a whole new set of problems if they were in Primary!) I mean that my kids just couldn't stay in their seats if their lives depended on it. (Or my sanity, for that matter.)

I only had two kids in my class today, but one of them is my worst wiggler and the other is always easily swayed into misbehaving. (Too easily, if you ask me!) But I decided to try out my new... technique anyway. (Okay, let's call it like it is - it's not a technique! It's bribery! But it's sneaky bribery, so I'm okay with it.)

We got into class and the two boys were rough housing and jumping and around and being loud, per usual. I quietly sat in my seat and pulled out the cups with their names on them, my cup, and the candy. At the sight of the candy they immediately sat down and were perfectly behaved. You can tell these kids have been bribed before and know the drill!

I put six pieces of candy into each of their cups and started to talk about the major problem we'd been having of staying in our seats lately. I then explained that each of them had six pieces of candy in their cups that were theirs for the taking at the end of class. (Cheers all around from the boys!) But... I would be taking out a piece of candy each time they got out of their chairs without permission or disrupted class in some major way. Not only that, but I would put the candy in my cup and then give it to my little boys after church! (Gasps! No one wants the younger kids to get their candy!) I told them I wasn't going to go into nitty gritty details, but that I expected them to know how to behave.

Well... I have never had a class so well behaved. I made sure to have three activities where they could get up and get their wiggles out. And there were a few times when I had to remind them that they didn't have to shout their answers, even if they were excited. But by the end of the class I only had one piece of candy in my cup.

I was so proud of them! I think they might have actually learned something in primary today - a major accomplishment for me and for them!

Side note: I wore a white sweater to church today and came home with... a white sweater! Not a single stain or speck of dirt. Another major accomplishment! :)

Essence of Josh

This morning I was in my bedroom putting some things away.

Josh toddled in, looked up at me, yelled "Da Da!", and then smacked my leg with a colossal Joshie smack.

He then proceeded to toddle out of the room with his distinct Joshie swagger.

Yeah, that pretty much sums up Josh.

Rhyme Time

Spencer's latest hobby is rhyming. Everything. All the time.

He talks to himself non-stop and rhymes any word he can think of. Most of the rhyming is nonsensical, but that's okay because most of his conversations (rhyming or otherwise) are complete nonsense.

Spencer: Haha! That ant flew on the plane! Dane... sane...tane... rain... wane... cwayne...

Well, about a week ago at dinner he was really on one. The boy could Not Be Quiet. Rhymed words kept spewing out of his mouth. Lance and I kinda played along just to humor him. We thought it was really funny that when we said "Eat your soup, stinky..." he replied "Pete". Now that's bizarre, coming from a four year old boy who is quite enamored with potty humor.

(I mean, c'mon - "Eat your soup, stinky Pete"? It's so obvious what the rhyme should be, but Spencer never got it. Perhaps we are doing something right as far raising him goes.)

Well, the dinner continued and Spencer was loving all of the rhyming. Now, I saw The Princess Bride in high school and college about 238 times, which is the only reason I can give for the horrible mistake I then made. I said:

"Stop that rhyming now, I mean it!"

To which I knew Lance would naturally reply;

"Anybody want a peanut?"

Which he did. (He replied, I mean; he didn't want a peanut. I don't think.)

Spencer just about fell off his chair. He laughed so hard he could barely breath. It was obviously the funniest thing he had ever heard in the 49 months of his life.

Lance and I were quite pleased with ourselves. We were quite hysterical, right? Little did we know that this would come back to haunt us. Daily.

Yep, Spencer now has a new catch phrase: "Stop that rhyming, now, I mean it! Does everyone want a peanut?!" (I didn't say he said it correctly!) He says it over and over and over and over until I just want to scream and scratch my ears out.

And it's not just at home. No, Spencer lurrrrves to show off his awesome rhyme in stores and while I'm visiting teaching and all sorts of places. I would bet anyone $20 that his primary teacher will get an earful of it on Sunday.

And it gets better: Josh loves hearing Spencer say it. He giggles and laughs and totally eggs him on. And of course Spencer obliges. Over and over...

Stop that rhyming, now, I mean it! Does everyone want a peanut?
Stop that rhyming, now, I mean it! Does everyone want a peanut?
Stop that rhyming, now, I mean it! Does everyone want a peanut?
Stop that rhyming, now, I mean it! Does everyone want a peanut?
Stop that rhyming, now, I mean it! Does everyone want a peanut?
Stop that rhyming, now, I mean it! Does everyone want a peanut?
Stop that rhyming, now, I mean it! Does everyone want a peanut?
Stop that rhyming, now, I mean it! Does everyone want a peanut?
Stop that rhyming, now, I mean it! Does everyone want a peanut?

Gah!!!!

If I hear that once more my ears will bleed.
A new hobby for Spencer is what we need.

GAH!!!

Mark Lives In IKEA

You know of my lurve for IKEA, so of course a post on Sk*rt with the word IKEA attracted my attention.

Here's what I found: "Comedian / Filmmaker Mark Malkoff's New York City apartment had to be fumigated. All of his friends have tiny studio apartments. Hotels in New York are insanely expensive. Left with few living options, Mark thought it would be fun and make an interesting video to move into an IKEA store where he'd live and sleep for a week. Never in a million years did he think IKEA would go for it, but miraculously they have agreed."

I've already watched a few of the videos and they are great. I know what I'll be watching the rest of the evening... :)

Button Bouquet

I am in love with this button bouquet I found on Etsy. Isn't it so cute? It would look perfect on my mantle during the dull days of February!

Vindication

When you tell your child to not do something because they will hurt themselves/break the toy/whatever, is it wrong to feel a little vindicated when they still do it and hurt themselves/break the toy/whatever? And if you do, does that make you a bad mom?

If so, I'm a bad mom.

And that's okay.

Today Spencer kept jumping from the big chair to our couch. Our conversation went a little something like this:

Me: Spencer, stop jumping on the couch.

Spencer: I'm not jumping on the couch. I'm jumping from the chair to the couch.

Me: Grrrr...

Spencer (jumping again): Hahaha!

Me: SPENCER!!! Don't jump on the furniture anymore!

Spencer: Why not?

Me (in my head): Because I freakin' said so!

Me (out loud): Because you will hurt yourself.

Spencer: No I won't!

He jumps, misses the couch just a little bit, and bangs his ear pretty hard on the hard part of the couch.

Spencer (screaming as if he has ripped his ear off rather than just bruise it): AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

Me (in my head): Hahaha!

Me (out loud): Come sit on my lap....

Fun Fact

Here's a little fun fact some of you might not know about me: I am allergic to walnuts. (And, to a lesser and not as consistent extent, pecans.)

Not horribly allergic; if I eat one I don't swell up and die. (Obviously.) But I do get something just as annoying - canker sores in my mouth.

So it's not a horrible reaction, but it does present an interesting dilemma when faced with yummy food that has walnuts in it: eat it and endure the consequences or practice some self-control and not put myself through the pain.

Sometimes I know that the food will be worth it - like pralines. So yummy! But other times I'm presented with food that I've never had. How do I know if eating it will be worth the pain? On one hand, it could be the best thing I've ever eaten in my life. (Don't laugh - it could happen!) On the other hand, it could be gross or, even worse, just mediocre. And then I have go through the pain for nothing. And trust me, cankers can hurt!

What predicaments life presents me! What quagmires! What quandaries! (Another fun fact: I really like Thesaurus.com.)

Tonight at bunko I didn't face such a complex problem - I didn't know there were walnuts in the food. Heather hosted, and she had made some mini bundt apple cake thingies - tre cute and very tasty looking. Without even thinking I took a bite - yum! It wasn't until the 2nd or 3rd bite that I realized there were chopped walnuts in it. Doh! No worries - the cakes were canker worthy. And I've already got three cankers in my mouth and no regrets to prove it!

Shoe Love

I saw these shoes on Oprah the other day and fell completely, utterly, and madly in love. They're Christian Louboutin, very haute couture. (Read: EXPENSIVE!)

I love the bows. You could wear just about anything, and the only thing people would notice would be your shoes. (Perfect for when you're very pregnant, right?) ((Although heels and pregnancy - not so much in my book.))

The only problem (beside the crazy price tag) is that I would have nowhere to wear them. Not exactly church shoes, and my list of fancy-dress parties is exactly one per year. (And even then it's not quite that fancy!)

Plus, I'm pretty sure Josh would pull the bows off or destroy them in some other way. Or maybe throw food on them. That's just his thing.

But the shoes are so... pretty. If I could, I'd buy them, put them on a pedestal, and just stare at them all day.

Does this make me weird? (Answer: Yessiree.) But do I care? (Answer: Nope.)

Take That, Salad Dressing!

Apparently our salad dressing needed to be put in it's place. (Had it been mouthing off? Forgetting their place in our dinnertime condiment hierarchy? Who can say...) So Josh decided to show it who's boss once and for all.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Then he decided to show off and take out three with one blow. (I love how pleased he is with himself!)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Primary Problems

So here's my problem - I spent all of primary today telling my kids to sit in their seats. Seriously, every other word out of my mouth was "Sit in your seat!" It was rough. I felt kinda defeated and I don't think the kids heard a word of the lesson.

These kids are seven years old - do you think that's too young to expect them to stay in their chairs? I don't think so. I mean, I have lots of activities during the lesson, so it's not like they have stay sitting at full attention the entire time.

So here's my idea. Next week I'm going to bring a paper cup for each child with their name on it. In each cup I'll put 5 pieces of candy. Each time they get out of their chair when they're not supposed to, I will take a piece of candy out of their cup and put it in mine. They will get whatever's left in their cup at the end of the lesson.

What do you think? Will it work?

Letter Perspectives

I found an ad for Letter Perspectives in the back of this month's Real Simple.

Isn't that so cool? I actually did a project just like this in my high school photography class. (Only it was with my initials. And my teacher didn't believe me at first when I told him I didn't have a middle name. And once I convinced him, he told me to use the letter D. Then my friend decided that the D must stand for David, and thus I was Maren David Roper for the remaining 6 months of my high school career.)

I really want this one:
Only, I really don't want to pay $160 for it. So I think I'll try to do it myself. Hey, if I could do it in high school I can certainly do it now. I think I'll take the pictures and put them in individual black frames above our office door, which is in desperate need of some type of decoration.

Excellent. A new project!

Juno

Lance and I watched Juno last night.

Verdict: I loved it!!

It was so well-written and the acting was great. Plus, it was just so different from anything else that's been out it in a while. I keep thinking about it, which is a sure sign that I liked the movie. (Unlike other movies that are just okay: I tend to forget I've even seen them.)

Go here to see the trailer, and then go to the theater to see the actual movie!