Reindeer-licious!

Every time I look at these reindeer cupcakes I have to laugh. They are hilariously adorable! I knew I had to make them after I showed the magazine picture of them to Grant and he absolutely squealed with delight. Who thinks up this stuff? People are so creative...I'm glad that I can benefit from that. Christmas goodies...what fun!

Little Ballerina

Grace had her dance recital last Thursday. Her little class was so darling! They did a tap number to "Here Comes Santa Claus" and a ballet performance to "The First Noel." She has been dancing and singing around the house for weeks now, but the funny thing is that she only knows half of "The First Noel." This is the rendition we regularly hear:

"The first Noel the angel did say
hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm fields where they lay.
In fields where hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm sheep
hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel!
Born is the King of Israel!

The outfit chosen by her teacher for her class couldn't have been any poofier and Grace loved it. The matter of her hair was something I was stressing over, but Grace has come to the point where she regularly asks for a ponytail, which is no small miracle. Because her hair is so fine, that was about the only hair-do we could manage in answer to the teacher's call to have the little girl's hair done "cute." We put the pink bow that came with the outfit above the ponytail and she was as fancied up as I've ever seen her.

Pirouette, plie, de cote, and all that.

Grace and some of her "ballet friends" on performance night.

Hugs for our tiny dancer.

She was so excited! Thanks to everyone that was able to be there and to all the rest of you who cheered her on from afar.

O Christmas Tree

It has been such a blessing to have Heather and my parents close by. Living near my parents, especially, is an experience I never expected to have. For the first 9 years of our marriage we lived over an hour from Chad's mother and 3 hours from my parents, so now living minutes from Chad's family and mine is nice change. They can stop by here any time and we can do the same. We can also get together and do fun things, such as our 2nd annual Christmas tree excursion which ended with hot chocolate and gingerbread men at our house. Good times! I made peppermint whipped cream this year to top our hot chocolate with, which everyone really liked, and the gingerbread men are always tasty. I have to admit I ate an arm to go with my glass of water. Where is my self-control??

The victims...

The big debate...which part of the gingerbread man do you eat first? Whichever it is, that first bite is always accompanied by screams of "Ahhhh! Don't eat my (fill in the blank)!"

The grown-up table...ha-ha!

This year's beauty...what a wonderful, green, fluffy, divine smelling tree!

Puh-thetic!

You should have seen me this morning...I was crying by the toilet. Ah, the pathos! I'd finally had it and indulged in a pity party. I've had a sore throat for days now, then it brought some friends to stay named Cough and Congestion. I lost my voice and have squeaked and sqwaked instead of conversed. I haven't slept well because I can't breathe and I can't indulge in NyQuil or anything that actually works because of the bun in my oven. I've had so much lemon and honey over the past four days it's coming out of my pores. (That and I have permanent peppermint Tums breath courtesy of the worst heartburn I've ever experienced in a pregnancy.) You might think that I'd get a pass from morning sickness in light of my other annoying problems, but no. So, this morning after a rotten night's sleep and family scripture study that I vaguely remember involved the Last Supper, I went to the bathroom to heave up my guts. In my hurry to avail myself of the facilities, I didn't ensure that the toilet seat was securely up and it came crashing down on my nose. (I have a fantastic bruise.) That was really...just...it. I sat on the bathmat and cried and felt sorry for myself. I knew I was indulging in useless tears but it made me feel better and helped to clear my sinuses. Plus Chad was so sweet (he's actually always that way but I was extra appreciative this morning). I think this will be one of those moments that will be super, extra funny when my life's history is replayed before the Lord. We'll have a good laugh then; it's actually decently funny now.

Catching Cobras

Merritt wrote a short essay in his best penmanship. It was entitled "How to catch a King Kobra." I thought it was hilarious so I'll share. (Spelling as in the original.)

"How to catch a king kobra.
First get rich.
Sencond buy an unbreakable glass cage.
Third go to where the king kobra lives.
Fourth open the cage.
Fith put some thing king kobras love to eat.
Sixth hide and watch the snake eat the food.
Seventh then close the cage.
Fnaly go home with the snake.

If you want to catch a king kobra this is how to do it."

Here's the ferocious captured creature...I love the alliteration of King Kobra all spelled with "k's"...cobra should totally be spelled with a "k", it looks much more fierce.

It's all in the hats...

We put on a "play" of sorts for FHE earlier in the month. It was grandly titled "The History of Thanksgiving!" It involved the wearing of hats for everyone except me, cuz I was the narrator and what kind of hats do they wear? Chad was a pilgrim father (isn't he so long-suffering!) and Grace was a pilgrim child. She's holding a baby because that's Oceanus, the baby born during the Atlantic crossing. (It's not that SHE had the baby...the children played WITH the baby. Let's get that straight.) Anyhoo, Grant is Chief Massasoit and Merritt is Squanto. He really liked being Squanto because he thought the name was cool. So, I don't know how much they learned about the first Thanksgiving, but we ALL learned that construction paper hats make everything more fun.

In Focus

One of those "branded in my brain" memories is when, at age 5, I walked out of Logan's Standard Optical with my brand-new glasses. They were blue plastic, which my father fondly told me brought out the blue of my eyes. Dad, I've seen my school pictures...yikes! Oh well, I wore them with all the confidence of a 5 year-old who believed she looked pretty because her daddy told her so. But I digress, back to my story. I walked out of the store, took a look around me and exclaimed in surprise that there were trees on the mountains! Who knew? Prior to that point in my life, mountains had been big brown blobs. What a surprise to find they had definition and rocks and bushes and trees.

Grace came home with a note a few weeks ago...it was from the school nurse. She'd failed her eye exam. Sigh! I called a gal in my ward whose little guy wears glasses, hoping to get a referral for a local doctor, but alas! She takes him to see a specialist in Salt Lake City, no luck there. I looked up our provider list, randomly picked a name, and called but got the answering machine. I don't like business answering machines - I figure if they want my business they should answer the phones...I'm picky like that. Anyhoo, I chose again and this time hit the jackpot. Not only did they answer, the doctor turned out to be a great guy who totally put Grace at ease and made the whole process fun (minus the dilating eye drops which Grace hated and which made her declare between sobs that she wanted to go home!). My little gal did not want glasses, she said they were bad for her eyes, but Dr. Jensen (who wisely asked what her favorite color was) took us out to the kids eyewear section where everything was at child-level and presented her with a pair of pink glasses to try on. It was all over from there. We tried on about five pair before she settled on one and from then on she couldn't be budged. And I did try to budge her because I had a sinking feeling that she'd picked the most expensive pair in the store, but, as Chad noted, if it means she'll wear them then it's worth it. And wear them she does; Grace has been a very conscientious eyeglasses owner. Plus, I got that warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from doing right by one's child when we walked out of the store and she declared, "I see trees! I see bushes!" Not too bad, and (taking a leaf out of my father's book) I tell her that she looks beautiful in her glasses, and she does.

Tired Musings

My children don't care what the clock on the wall says...they follow their own internal clock. Daylight Savings Time may be over and the clock may say 5 am, but Grant's little eyes popped open at what he thought was 6. Grace followed close behind at 5:15 and then Merritt at 5:30. We made everyone stay in bed until 6, but nobody slept including Chad and I who had to deal with each child in turn plus one potty break. Lack of sleep makes me think rather randomly...it's a sort of "stream of consciousness" thing.

I've been really hungry lately. I guess it's make up for 6 months of not eating much of anything. For a while, cereal and I were not friends. That was such a tragedy! It's no good to be on the outs with cereal...it's the world's easiest food...instant gratification in a bowl. We are now buddies again and I am currently in love with Corn Chex. Yum. I also have a thing lately for milk, eggs, and bananas.


Grant is irrational because he is tired. He doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.

My dreams have been really bizarre. Last night I dreamed my feet were swollen and my toes looked tiny and pudgy and weird. My feet were also really, really white. They kinda looked like beluga whales. I don't know why I'm worried about pudgy feet, they've only been puffy once so far. And why was The Love Boat theme playing in my dreams last night? How about this one...I dreamed I was a little Italian grandmother and my son was Chef Pisghetti from Curious George...only he wasn't a nice chef, he was some kind of mafia king pin and when I tried to turn him in to the police he shot balls of electricity out of a hair dryer at me. Amazingly, I was extremely agile and he missed. All this happened to the theme of Miami Vice. (What is up with the theme songs? I didn't watch Love Boat or Miami Vice back in the day. I was actually deeply resentful of Miami Vice because it replaced a cop show I liked where the main character had a mustache and was cute. I don't remember what it was called. My brother Chris watched Miami Vice though. Why did they think Don Johnson would look good in pastel t-shirts and white pants and a white jacket? The 80's were weird.) Oh, I also dreamed that Chad brought home a new-born baby! He was so excited because he'd saved the poor little thing from harm and adopted it the same day. He thought I would be thrilled but I was just confused because we were three months from having another baby and what on earth would I do with all these babies? Pregnancy makes for odd dreams.

It is snowing like crazy, but I'm okay with that. I was getting tired of all the 70 degree weather in November...that's just not normal. Besides, I'm hot! Now it is cold and I am finally comfortable. It's all about me people!

I have two new front tires on my car, so that is good. I barely made it up my driveway a couple of times last year, but now I'll look like those drivers in Jeep commercials just plowing through snow banks and junk.

I think I might be full. I ate poached eggs for lunch. I decided to try and make a poached egg in the microwave today. Do you know they explode? I didn't know that either but it sure was interesting to watch.

I've been learning Dutch - sorta. I've been indexing baptismal records from South Africa in the 17 and 1800's. South Africa used to be a Dutch colony. I know that "gedoop" means baptism and "kinderen" means children and "geloofs" means beliefs and "moeder" means mother and "vader" means father. That should have been a clue to Luke Skywalker don't you think...Darth "Father" and all that? It wouldn't have been such a nasty surprise if Luke had known some Dutch!

It's time for me to lie down...my tired musings are tiring me out.

Happy Food Finds

I made some mystery dinners this week that were really good. I thought I would share, cuz it's the nice thing to do. The first is cornbread. I haven't always been friends with cornbread, but have come to really like it as I've gone along in life. It is a tricky thing to make though, because it can be dry and then it is no fun. This was moist and delicious...I think the buttermilk makes the difference.

Cornbread (from Tasty Kitchen)

Ingredients

• 1 cup Cornmeal, Fine Grind
• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Sugar
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• 10 T. Melted Butter (5 oz. by weight)
  
• 1 whole Egg
• 1 cup Buttermilk

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare an 8×8″ glass baking dish with baking spray.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a medium-sized mixing bowl.

Melt the butter in a pan. Pour the buttermilk into a glass measuring cup, add the egg and whisk to combine. Finally, add the melted butter to the wet ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

Top with butter and honey and serve hot!

Next comes the soup. I took a picture...the soup is way better than the picture. My additions are in red.
Cream Cheese Chicken and Vegetable Soup from My Kitchen Cafe

2 tablespoons butter
1 yellow onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 cup diced carrots (about 2 regular carrots or a handful of baby carrots)
3 cups chicken broth
2-3 potatoes, peeled and finely diced (I like to leave the peels on red potatoes, if using them)
1 cup milk (more if needed to thin the soup later)
4 tablespoons flour
1 (8 oz. package) regular or light cream cheese
2-3 (about 1 pound) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and diced (I used rotisserie chicken)
1 tsp. garlic powder
dash of cayenne

In a large pot, melt the butter and add the onion, garlic, celery and carrots. Saute, stirring often, for 3-4 minutes, until the veggies are slightly tender and the onions are translucent. Add the chicken broth and potatoes. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. In a liquid measuring cup, vigorously whisk the flour and milk together until smooth. Whisk the mixture into the soup, stirring quickly, and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until the soup begins to thicken slightly. Stir often to ensure the soup doesn’t burn. Soften the cream cheese in the microwave until it is very soft/melty. I usually place the unwrapped cream cheese on a plate and microwave it for one minute at 30% power. I like it really, really soft so it doesn’t leave lumps in the soup. Add the cream cheese to the soup in small tablespoon-size pieces. Let the pieces sit in the soup and warm through then whisk or stir the soup until the cream cheese melts and mixes in well. Add the cooked chicken and heat through. Season with salt, pepper garlic powder and cayenne. Serve.

Finally, a pasta dish.

Citrus and Pepper Fettucine Alfredo (adapted from a Tasty Kitchen recipe)

Ingredients

• 1 pound Fettucine Pasta
  
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 1½ cups Heavy Cream
• 1 pinch Nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons Fresh Grated Lemon Zest
• 1 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• Salt To Taste
• 2/3 cups Freshly Grated Parmesan Or Romano Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to boil. When the water is boiling, add 1 Tablespoon of salt along with the pasta to the pot. Stir well. Cook according to package directions until al dente.

Put the butter and cream in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, until the cream has reduced almost by half. Add the nutmeg, lemon zest, black pepper, salt, and cheese. Stir to combine, taste, and adjust seasoning as needed.

Combine pasta and sauce. Serve with additional cheese or topped with chicken. Whatever floats your boat. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

They're all yummy...enjoy!

A Rainy Halloween

There is candy in every nook and cranny of my house it seems. We went to Heather's work for a big party complete with games and rootbeer floats, plus trick or treating from desk to desk and office to office. It was so fun - thanks for the invite Heather! On Friday it was time for the annual trick or treat bonaza at Chad's work...
more candy followed by pizza and soda for lunch provided by the boss. Sweet. Saturday morning was spent with Sann Dee at yet another Halloween bash...games galore, a cookie decorating station, and a magician! I was surprised that the kids were still excited about trick or treating Saturday night, but they were and they needed all the enthusiasm they could muster to face THE RAIN!












I must say that I've been spoiled by the Halloween weather we've enjoyed the last four years or so...fairly mild and DRY! What a bummer it was to watch the seven day forcast and see that rain cloud smack dab on Saturday. We bundled up as best we could against the elements and spent an hour outside trick or treating our immediate neighborhood. (I wasn't willing to venture far in case someone needed the potty (i.e. Grant) or in case someone got too cold and/or tired.) Even only walking the length of our street, the kids got plenty of treats. Add that to their two-day haul and their bags were full to the brim...even after my late night purge when I got rid of all the really weird looking stuff! It's going to be a long, long while before they make their way through it all - especially since I'm the candy Nazi and will only let them have a little bit each day. Oh well, their teeth will thank me!

Pumpkin Carving 2010

We gathered up our pumpkins (three from the garden and two store bought) to carve them for our FHE activity. The kids were all excited, more for the finished product than for the actual gooey, scraping work that makes Merritt gag every year. I like cleaning out the pumpkins...it's sort of satisfying to me for some reason. Anyhoo, they got their hands dirty, which is all part of the fun, and designed their own faces. The pumpkins turned into very fine jack-o-lanterns. I love Halloween!



We figured it was a bit too much work to carve 5 pumpkins at once, so we focused on the kids' masterpieces and then worked on ours after they all went to bed. It turned into a fun, improptu date. I made a vampire jack-o-lantern while Chad got super creative and carved his to read, "Trick or Treat."

Happy Halloween!!

A Sower Went Forth To Sow...

We read the parable of the sower as found in the Gospel of Mark last week. The discussion that ensued was so wonderful and interesting. We talked about how the sower (Christ and those who follow Him) was good and the seed (the gospel) was good, but that the soil (our hearts) was not always what it should be. Sometimes we are hard hearted and won't accept what is taught, sometimes we are choked with the cares of this world and don't hear what is taught, sometimes we think the word does not apply to us and thus it falls by the wayside, sometimes we get excited about what is taught and resolve to apply it, but then we get busy and burdened and do not continue in faithfulness. Sometimes, though, we get it...we really receive the word and change and grow! It is all up to us.

Chad took Grant's doodle board and drew two trees, one with tiny roots (to represent the seed sown in stony ground) and one with roots that were deep and true. He showed it to the children and we talked about how, when the winds blow (i.e. hard times and temptations), only those with deep roots will stand tall and strong. Then Merritt took the doodle board and said, "What about this?" And he drew the sturdy tree's roots reaching out and grabbing hold of the roots of the tree that was struggling. "We can do this, right?" he asked. I wanted to weep. We can do that! We should want to do that! I'm grateful that Merritt intuitively understood the principle found in D&C 81:5: "Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees." I'm grateful for children who teach me, who are small sowers of gospel truths in my life. I'm grateful we can reach out and help one another when hard times come. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have every day to make the soil of my heart a place where the words of Christ can take root and grow.

Bobcat Teeth and Random News

Merritt was awarded his Bobcat badge last night. He earned it a month ago, but was sick on the night of pack meeting and so missed the awards ceremony. It's all good, though, this month is as good as last...especially since he got bobcat teeth. His den leader presented him with the teeth...

which he then used to grab his badge out of my hand. It was supposed to demonstrate the perserverance he had shown in getting his badge, and the determination he would need to finish his Wolf badge requirements, but I don't think he got that out of the ceremony....he was just excited to have Bobcat/vampire teeth to wear all night long. Now he wants to be a vampire for Halloween...sigh!
I really didn't know much about the scouting program before I was called to serve in the Webelos den three years ago, and I am so grateful to have had this calling as it has prepared me to be excited for Merritt to start Scouts, and to help him properly. It really is a neat program!

In other news, I was at the doctor today and she said at the end of our visit, "I'll see you in two weeks." Huh? Are we really to that point? Hooray! Of course my next visit includes the dreaded glucose test, but not for nothing have I given up sugar! I shall pass with flying colors!!

The Night We All Became Fire Breathing Dragons

I love mystery dinner night...I dearly do. Sometimes, however, it yields interesting results. I found a recipe on the Pioneer Woman Cooks for Corn Chowder with Green Chiles, and since we have weekly soup night, I thought it would be a fun one to try. The recipe contained an ingredient I had never used before...chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. The dear Pioneer Woman described them as "smokey" in flavor so I didn't think twice about adding them in. Well, chipotle peppers are "smokey" if by "smokey" you mean smoke coming out of your ears or the smoke that follows fire breathing! Grant, of course, didn't try it - which was probably good because it would have put him off soup in particular and dinner in general for the rest of his life. Grace put the spoon in her mouth and pulled it right back out. Chad managed about 3 or 4 spoonfuls before he devoted himself exclusively to his bread. Merritt ate around 5 spoonfuls, which was amazing, but he also chugged three glasses of chocolate milk to do it. I was the only one who finished the bowl, and that was because A) I always feel the need to eat what I cook - especially when it is a disaster (am I punishing myself?), and B) this pregnancy has brought about a high tolerance for spicy food...go figure. The funny thing is that the soup would have been delicious without the "smokey" chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (even Chad agrees on this point). I think I'll give this soup a rest - let it fade into our memory for a bit - and then pull it out again and make it sans smoke.

Have your Ghost and Eat it Too

October is such a fun month for Family Home Evening Treats. Case in point...


These are "Boo Cups." Aren't they darling? They consist of crushed Oreos, chocolate pudding, more crushed Oreos, and then a whipped cream ghost with mini-chocolate chips for eyes. I just whipped up some cream, added powdered sugar and vanilla, then scooped the whole she-bang into a ziplock baggie, snipped a large-ish hole in one corner, and piped out my ghostie. Chad and the kids were impressed by the look, but they said they tasted even better. Sweet.

Yum! Ghosts are delicious!!

Welcome October!

We had our "welcome to October" family party on Friday. It began with decorating!

We then pulled out our box of Halloween costumes to see what would fit. (Fingers crossed!)

Hallelujah! Merritt still wants to be Megatron, Grace still wants to be a princess, and Grant liked the pirate costume...and everything fits! (Minus having to roll up Grant's pant legs.) We are set!

Next came the pumpkin harvest. We went out to the garden and each of the children picked the pumpkin they liked best.
They are all smiles...soon the pumpkins will be too!

Then I made "cheater" donuts (it's just refrigerated biscut dough rolled out a bit and cut with my handy-dandy donut cutter, then fried and glazed - easy and cheap...next year I will try the real thing) and white cheddar popcorn...


And finally we all gathered downstairs for a "spooky" movie, which gave us all a good excuse to munch goodies and cuddle.
Welcome October, you wonderful month, you!

Old School Detection and Cake

The Sunday before our ultrasound, Chad and I had some friends over for dessert. Brother and Sister Green are fantastic people; he's a farmer and the kind of guy who'd do anything for you, she's the sweetest lady you'd ever be lucky enough to meet. They have five grown children and Brother Green has guessed the gender of his grandchildren correctly since he started using what he calls his "test." He gets all excited every chance he has to test out this method and asked if he could do it on me. I was game so I made a cake and we had a wonderful chat and then...the test.

Unfortunately I have no pictures of this most wonderful smelling cake, but I can direct you to one and the recipe. Simply go here, you won't be sorry you did. I made mine into a bundt cake, rather than four little cakes, and so cooked it for 55 minutes. It was received with raves and Brother and Sister Green needed very little coaxing to take some home for FHE treats the next day. One of the ingredients, cardamom, is a bit expensive, but I thought it was really fun to try it out and now I have it on hand for other things.

Now, to the test. Brother Green had me lay on my back and then he pulled out a thick needle on a long string. This was dangled over my stomach where it bounced and wiggled for a bit (enough to make me think that maybe I was incubating an alien or kittens or something) and then started to swing back and forth in a line. "It's a boy!" declared Brother Green with a smile. "I'm six for six, so you'll have to call me and let me know what the ultrasound shows." Then he packed up his tester and left.

After we walked out of the ultrasound and back to the waiting room to sit and wait for the doctor to see us, Chad whipped out his phone and texted Brother Green to let him know he was now seven for seven. He was delighted and I was left wondering...how in the heck does that all work anyhow?

What Is It?

The ultra sound tech asked if we wanted to find out the gender of our baby. We'd discussed the matter and decided that, since we'd never done it before, we'd find out this time around instead of waiting til the end. How strange it is to tell people we are having a boy and yet have no baby to show. I definitely prefer the big reveal after the effort of labor, but knowing we're having a boy beforehand will have it's benefits eventually I'm sure...at least it cuts down on the number of names we need to consider.

Grant's reaction to our news was, "Whatevs." I mean, how excited is a three year old supposed to get about a baby he can't see yet? He'll be excited at the end because he does love babies. Merritt shouted, "YES! Boys rule in our family!" And Grace? Poor Gracie burst into tears. I was devastated by her sorrow. She threw herself into my arms and declared, "I'm boring of boys! I wanted two girls!!" I explained that we would be the two girls in our family and she answered, "Then I want THREE girls!" As she cried, I cried because I couldn't help think of how wonderful my own sisters are and how she would not have the same experiences of friendship and support that I have known in my life. (Chad and I both feel that this baby I'm carrying now will be our last...mostly because if I were to get pregnant again, I'd probably end up in the hospital since my health has been progressively worse each pregnancy.) Grace asked me why I was crying and I told her that I was just sorry she was so sad. Then she exclaimed, "But I love you!" and we hugged again and things got better afterward. Today she still wishes the baby was a girl, but the disappointment is not quite so keen. In my mind, this whole scenario is another vote in favor of waiting til the end to find out a baby's gender. I don't think she'd have cared nearly so much that the baby wasn't a girl if we'd been able to put a warm and wonderful bundle into her arms. Oh well! Maybe the ensuing four months will be helpful in this scenario by allowing time for Grace's emotional adjustment. Regardless of the drama, however, we're very pleased to be adding another boy to our family.

Happenings

The dinosaurs had a meeting in Merritt and Grant's room...
they had secret affairs to discuss. All I heard was "Rar, grrrr, roar, snarl, snuff, growl!"

Grace started dance class this week...
I've never seen a little girl so excited to be a ballerina. She's learning tap as well - the shoes are adorable!

And A Birthday.

We decided at some point to cram September with birthdays. We hadn't even finished Chad's birthday "cake" before I was making more cake for Grant. Yeah, and that cake was hilarious. The frosting seemed the perfect consistency until I spread it on; then it dripped and the 3-layer cake tipped, and the whole thing looked ridiculous. Good thing Grant is only 3 and way more interested in blowing out the candles!Grant was very excited about the whole cake and candle thing, he kept bouncing up and down on the couch in anticipation. With great gusto he blew out each candle one at a time. The last one was proving a bit tricky though. I think he felt like he needed some leverage because...
he put his hand right down on top of the cake and blew that candle out! The poor chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting was already lopside and mashed on one side where I tried to prop it up and now it had a fine hand print. I'm good with that though, cuz it was hilarious!

We had a fine time opening presents. Grant was very excited about every single one (he even carefully examined the clothes) and Merritt and Grace were very excited to assist him in opening them...they were very *ahem* "helpful". Don't mind my big pregnant self in this picture!

He got blocks (oh the towers we have made and wrecked!) and chocolate from Heather. I asked him, "What is this?" referring to the M&M's and Grant answered "This is yummy!" The Dinosaur Train set was a big hit, as was the tiger airplane, the dump truck with MORE M&M's, and finally, the Toy Story Rex.

The thing squawks ridiculously when you squeeze it, which made Grant laugh hysterically.
Which, of course, makes all the noise worth it! Happy Birthday Grant! We love you like crazy!