Babble

This week, Olive started babbling. Her first sounds were "da da da," except it sounds a little more like "die, die, die." (You have to be a little patient...babbling begins halfway through the video.)

This week was wonderful! Kevin finished his final exam on Tuesday. He got his Christmas present early (Starcraft 2) since he won't be able to play it once school starts back up. He spent a whole day playing it. And I'm totally okay with it. He needed a day to do whatever he wanted.

I am rushing to make a quilt contest submission for Joann's. The prize is $5K, so I thought, why not? (I realized that the quilt I made months ago for it was slightly smaller than their minimum size--hence the rush now.) So I am trying to hurry and make it with the remaining scraps. It's called "Pocket Full of Posies." I will add a picture as soon as I have one. It is basically a basic block with fabric flowers. I'm not sure it is grand prize material, but it has been fun to make nonetheless!

I also entered another contest--Scharffen Bergen's Chocolate Adventure Contest. They had me at hooked at the mention of first prize--a trip to NY, anyone? (HELLO?!?!?!?). I submitted a chocolate-chunk gingerbread cupcake with apple cider mousse.

We fly out to Utah Thursday morning! And we are all soooooooooooooo excited!!!

Olive's Growl

Olive loves it when we growl at her. We mostly do it when we pretend to eat her tummy, but I've noticed she loves it no matter when we do it. We have made a habit of doing it frequently because she loves it so much. So it's no surprise that she has come up with a growl of her own. I was really surprised to hear the sound come from her. I have no memory of a baby doing something like that so young. Kevin calls it her "Slingblade" voice. I think she sounds like a demon. Especially when she did it all through church today... It's really cute though, she just wants to be like her weird parents! It's only a matter of time until she has mastered Kevin's velociraptor screech!

Kevin has his last final on Tuesday--hallelujah! His first two exams have been nightmares. Each student takes the 4-hour exam on his own laptop which requires downloading the test software. With Kevin's first test, the cursor would occasionally move to the middle of the page so it made a mess of things. Kevin was so understandably frustrated! With the second exam, it started doing it every 30 seconds so he ended up having to do his test handwritten--also frustrating since it's difficult to keep up with how fast the brain is going! The tech people looked at his computer for a couple hours and couldn't figure out what was wrong so they basically shrugged their shoulders and told him "good luck." One of his study buddies has an extra laptop, though, so he was nice enough to volunteer it for Kevin to use for the final final. Keep him in your prayers! It is going to be an interesting first semester!

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving was a busy day for us in the kitchen! Kevin and I had never made a turkey before and it turned out to be delicious! I get to use my turkey skills again this Saturday for our ward holiday party! Here is Kevin carving up our delicious sage-roasted bird!

The missionaries showed up at 8 am. And the lemon ricotta pancakes did not disappoint! I already have plans to make them again. True to their words, the missionaries watched movies all day. I think they had a good time. Oh and one of the elders said my cooking was better than his mom's. We won't tell which one said it...

We have Elder Sims (SLC), Elder Ames (St. George),

Elder Escobar (CA), and Elder Kitchen (SLC), all reacting to the final scene in "Inception."

Reaction to "Bridge to Terabithia." Only a slight

exaggeration!

My friend, Suzi, makes these darling hats! Want one? You can e-mail her at tooteroonie@hotmail.com or go to her shop here.

Kevin and I both now have church callings! Kevin is the Sunday school president, and I am primary secretary. It is great to be in primary and I daresay that Olive is in heaven in there! Kevin's calling is great too--very convenient for someone who is busy with school.

Olive has been screeching a lot. It sounds like a car peeling out. See for yourself:

It may be really warm here (74 degrees right now) but I know that many of ya'll have snow. So I am sharing my Christmas wassail recipe. I used to dislike wassail but a co-worker at the bank brought this on his treat day and I changed my ways. Since I can't make any, make a batch for me and let me know how it is!

Christmas Wassail

4 qt. water 8 allspice berries

3 C. granulated sugar 1 (12 oz.) can frozen orange juice

1 cinnamon stick 1 (12 oz.) can frozen lemonade

10 cloves (whole) 64 oz. cran-raspberry juice

In a large soup kettle, combine water, sugar, and spices. Bring to a boil for ten minutes. Remove spices and add juices. Reheat and serve. (Can be adapted to a crock pot. Also, sometimes I only put in half the sugar and it is just as good.)

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Game Plan

With all the cooking that is going down on Thursday, I am going to need a good breakfast. Plus, our guests (hungry missionaries) are going to be here all day (watching movies), so they may need something to devour early in the day. The solution: lemon ricotta pancakes. You can get the recipe here. Don't they look (and sound) amazing? Kevin says it isn't breakfast without breakfast meat so I'm sure there will be bacon too.

Then Kevin and I will run around like the proverbial poultry with our heads cut off as we put together the dinner menu:

*Sage Roasted Turkey with Cider Gravy

*Mashed Potatoes

*Creamed Corn

*Banana'd Yams

*Green Beans

*Cranberry Orange Jello Salad

*Angel Food Cake with Berries and Whipped Cream

We bought a 16-lb turkey to ensure plenty of leftovers for the most delicious "day after" sandwiches ever. We had these last year when Tita (my stepmom) made them for us with her leftover turkey. She is from El Salvador so they have a little bit of her culture in them. They are incredible! I think Tita cooks two turkeys every year now because her sandwiches are so popular. I'm just saying--if you are looking for something to do with your leftovers, this is the way to go!

You will need:

French rolls

mayo

mustard

fresh cabbage or 1 package of cole slaw mix

1 C. vinegar

2 C. water

2 C. tomato sauce

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

salt, to taste

1. To assemble the "curtido" cabbage topping, mix together the cole slaw mix with the water and vinegar. Set aside.

2. In a saucepan, heat a little oil and saute the green pepper, onions, and garlic. Add tomato sauce and turkey leftovers. You can do more/less tomato sauce depending on how much turkey you have. Add salt. Once that is heated up, you are ready to assemble your sandwiches.

3. Open the French roll and spread each side with mayo and mustard. Fill with the turkey tomato sauce mixture. Use tongs to top with some of the pickled cabbage mixture (let the vinegar water drain--you don't want a soggy sandwich). You can add tomato slices too if you want.

Mmmmm. I am hungry just thinking about them. And it starts making me think about another of our El Salvadorian favorites...pupusas....

Jabba the Hut, Fun-Size

I decided it would be apropos to take a picture of her in the "diva" outfit from Aunt Shan when she was acting like one.

We went to her four month appointment on Monday. She is in the 75-90th percentile for her weight and height. She is right at 75th percentile for her head. She now weighs 15 lbs. 2 oz. and is 24 3/4 inches long.

We also got the green light for solid foods. I have been feeding her a little bit of rice cereal all week and putting it in her bottle. Kevin and I decided to give her some sweet potato baby food yesterday. She made some faces, but ended up enjoying it.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

...at least inside my house. The weather has been in the 70's so it isn't feeling like holiday time at all. But I decorated this week! I made a fresh cranberry garland for our alpine Christmas tree. My first project began with a couple of ingredients:

And ended up with this:

It will be interesting to see what happens to the fresh berries...hopefully I won't end up with a craisin garland. It is quite a simple tree. When we decided to go with a skinny alpine tree, it looked funny with most of the decorations I had collected over the years. So I haven't really decided what to do with it. But I feel a lot of pressure to do something awesome with it, probably because my mom always has the most incredible trees! I will probably save that project for next year, though.

I added a couple of stockings to my etsy account. And they sold within a couple of hours. And the buyer wanted a matching round quilt for a small table tree. Here are my items:

And I am sooooo incredibly proud of myself! When the client said she wanted a "round" quilt, I almost died! I have never attempted anything involving curves. I had a phobia about curves! And the bias binding scared me too! It just didn't make sense in my head how it would work. I knew I was avoiding something I really should know how to do...but I just put off learning it as long as possible. I actually think the trickiest part was creating the pattern piece with my homemade protractor (pencil and string). I am very happy I know how to do this now! (Thanks for helping me on the phone, Mom!)

Happy Anniversary!

It's hard to believe that we got married seven years ago. Where did the time go? It was such a blustery day; I don't think I will ever forget the weather. I have to laugh at my "fashion" whenever I look back. And even though I would make some different choices about the occasion today, I would never change the groom. I am so lucky to have Kevin. A passage from Jane Eyre pretty much sums it all up: "No woman was ever nearer to her mate than I am: ever more absolutely bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh."

And I laugh at the people who made negative comments when we were dating. We frequently heard, "Just wait... (insert cynical comment about how things will change...)"

Breakfast

I have to share an AMAZING breakfast recipe. It is light and healthy, not to mention TASTY! I make it about twice a week for me and Kevin. My mom made this for me in the days following Olive's birth and I just loved it. It is really quick and easy!

Cold Oatmeal with Lemon Yogurt and Apples (makes 2 servings)

1 C. oats

1/2 C. milk

1/2 C. lemon yogurt

1 apple, diced (I prefer Granny Smith)

1. The night before, pour the milk over the oats in a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it soak overnight.

2. In the morning, stir in the yogurt and diced apple pieces until combined well. (I find that usually half of the apple is plenty.)

3. That's it. It really is that easy.

Kevin gave Olive a wedge of leftover apple to lick/slobber all over. She loved it.

Cute dress from Grandma and Grandpa G!

Olive's 4 month appointment is on Monday. I am hoping that we can start introducing some solids! She is starting to wake up in the middle of the night so I think she needs some rice cereal! We'll see. I'm also excited to see how much she weighs. My guess is 17 lbs and Kevin's is 19.

Olive has so many clothes that fit all of the sudden, I am panicking. I don't want her to just wear them once before she outgrows them. Luckily, she has also been a slobbery girl so I usually end up changing her outfit in the middle of the day. Here she is in a cute little dress from Aunt Ruth:

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is next week! I am really excited--all four missionaries from our branch are coming over for dinner. Or should I say for the whole day? The last time they came over for dinner, we showed them our movie collection. Anyone who has seen our movie collection knows that it is ridiculous. Coincidentally, the missionaries are only allowed to watch TV/movies on Thanksgiving and Christmas. So they were all pretty excited when we invited them over for Thanksgiving and told them they could spend the whole day if they wanted. One of the elders started calculating how many movies it would be possible to watch. Ha ha ha, they are so funny. I am excited though. I am going to try and put up Christmas decorations the day before.

I am so grateful for missionaries and the sacrifices they make to be here. It's a tough area here, I think. Poor things, there are a lot of "Mormons aren't Christian" people around. I saw a car the other day with not one, but TWO anti-Mormon bumper stickers. It really makes my blood boil! I think what is most bothersome is that it is ALWAYS other religious groups that are doing it. They spend so much time, money, and energy in causing contention--totally "un-Christian" if you ask me. (How is that for irony?)

4 Months Old

Olive is 4 months old today! I thought it would be fun to see how she has changed even in such a short amount of time! Here she is, not even one day old!

1 month old...

2 months old...

3 months old...
And now, 4 months old!

Fall Weather AT LAST!

It has been deliciously chilly in Florida. Or should I say chilly FOR Florida. Up to this point, we have had the AC set to 75 degrees. When I woke up this morning and kissed Olive's fat cheeks, they were a little cold. I checked the thermostat and it said 68 degrees inside! Wow! I was actually really excited because Olive has some "warmer" outfits that I was worried about her not being able to wear. So this week, we had a splendid fashion show!

Cute corduroy romper from Aunt Sonia, Uncle Wendell, and Justin. It looks incredibly comfortable to me. Do they make it in my size?

We love this striped sweater outfit from Alexis! Olive was so excited, she decided to show off her robot moves!

She remarked that wearing the hood made her feel like an ewok character from Star Wars.

A nice warm little dress from the Hale's. (Sorry to interrupt the important conversation you two were having.)

And she finally fits in these jammies from my mom. That ought to keep those ears warm!

There are a lot of dresses that Olive fits in all of the sudden, but I am starting to worry that there are not enough Sunday's to wear them all multiple times!

I think Olive is teething ALREADY. Or at least she is getting pre-teething pains. Let's not talk about that.

I have been working on some birth record stitcheries. I hope they will be an excellent item on etsy. A search didn't yield many comparable items (and certainly not as cute, if I can toot my own horn). The quilts I sell are obviously higher ticket items so I am hoping the lower price will result in my first sale soon! I will post pictures soon!

We got Olive a new car seat. We had bought the old infant one from craigslist for $25--which should tell you why we were eager to get a new one. I'm actually glad we didn't pay full price for a new infant carrier just to find out we didn't like it. The new one is a convertible one, so she should be able to use it for a long time.

Doesn't she look cute in her hat? This was one of my "most anticipated" purchases from when I was pregnant. Ever since I saw my cousin's baby (Penny) wearing a really cute one last December at Grandpa's funeral, I had decided it would be my mission to find something darling like it.

We went to an amazing Italian market for lunch today. I am accustomed to getting lots of comments about Olive, but the hat added something a little extra I guess. I had two different sets of people tell me that Olive was cuter than any of their own grandchildren. While I appreciate the compliment, I felt a little bad. They didn't need to compliment Olive at the expense of their grandchildren!

Kevin has been living at the library (as usual) but we are counting down the days until finals! We will be in Utah for 3 weeks. We can hardly wait!

Kevin got a book on building polyfoam puppets. (Can I just say how much I love that my husband enjoys arts and crafts!) When we lived in NY, he really wanted to attend a puppet-building workshop, but it was just too pricey. He just started, so there aren't really any pictures to post...

Spooky Halloween!

I love Halloween! And because neither of us is working, we had to be extra creative without the budget to go all out! We bought Olive's costume: a cute "Princess Leia" Star Wars costume. We decided to be her nerdy parents, which wasn't a stretch.

Our church's branch wasn't doing anything for Halloween so we decided to crash another ward's party!

I think Kevin looks hot in his glasses. He looks like a secret agent from the '50's or something.

And Olive just looks so cute in her costume! It was a little big, so we rolled up the sleeves. We like seeing her with hair, don't we?

Cute dress from Tom, Carly, and Jace. And she is showing off her thunder thighs!

I am still working on projects for Marcus Brothers and made a cute little stitchery for their website. (Hope you like it, Clare!) I just need to add another dot to complete the colon in the time.

This week, I am going to share my delicious chocolate mousse recipe. It is really rich and good by itself, but I love using it as a fruit dip! It's really great with strawberries, pineapple, apples, etc. You could also use it as a filling, or probably even a frosting on cupcakes!

PERFECT Chocolate Mousse

10.5 oz of your choice of chocolate (we love dark!)

1 gelatin packet

4 large eggs

1/2 C. sugar

2 C. heavy whipping cream

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Or if you're like me, you can make one by putting a glass bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Stir the chocolate frequently until it is almost melted. Remove from heat and continue stirring until chocolate is completely melted.

2. In a small saucepan, combine 3 T ice cold water with the gelatin packet. Heat over low heat, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and sugar together well.

4. Once chocolate is melted, combine with egg mixture while stirring. Add gelatin next and beat well.

5. Place this bowl on a larger bowl of ice so it can solidify a bit.

6. Beat heavy whipping cream until stiff. Gently fold in chocolate until fully combined. Chill for 1-2 hours.

You will dirty a lot of bowls, but it is a tasty treat!

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

I am sooooo going to rock your world with this recipe (courtesy of my mom)! We made this for dinner tonight and it was incredible, not to mention just FUN. I was going to save this recipe for next Sunday, but the missionaries came over for dinner and I figured they probably don't eat out of pumpkins too often. It is surprisingly easy and seemingly foolproof. I hope you will try it!

You will need:

1 medium pumpkin

1 box Zatarain's jambalaya rice mix (mild)

1 kielbasa or other comparable sausage, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 lb. shrimp, peeled

1 1b. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces

½ C. celery, diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Using a sharp knife, carve a circle around the pumpkin stem to create a lid. (Make sure it is big enough that you will be able to scoop dinner out!) Scrape and clean out the gooey insides of the pumpkin. Place the pumpkin on a cookie sheet and place in the preheated oven while you prepare the rice mix.

2. Assemble the rice mix according to the box instructions—add the meat and vegetables to the water as it is heating to a boil. Continue following the instructions. Once the rice is done, remove the pumpkin from the oven and add the rice mixture inside. Place back into the oven and continue baking until the pumpkin flesh is soft inside (test with fork). ENJOY!

*When I made this, the pumpkin had been in the oven 45 minutes by the time the rice mixture was ready. When I took the pumpkin out of the oven, I realized it was soft enough. I ended up just scooping the rice mixture into it, placing the pumpkin top, and letting it steam for a few minutes. (Which also reminds me, I had to bake the pumpkin minus the top since it was too tall...hence the mismatched pumpkin/its top).

*When served, make sure you scrape up some of the pumpkin with your dinner. It is super delicious!

We opted to paint pumpkins instead of carving them this year. (Too messy!) At the time, Olive wanted to be held--so I attempted a simple "Nightmare before Christmas" character (Jack) on mine. (We only had red, yellow, green, or blue paints to choose from--so my coloring is odd-looking...) Kevin made a freaky clown. Then you have Olive's pumpkin. This is what happens even when we try to "be her arms" and let her dictate where the paint brush goes. It reminds me of when Mikey transformed his blank cloth doll into "Swamp Thing." Good times!

This week, Olive almost brought me to tears. (In a good way, don't worry!) Kevin got her laughing and it was such a delight to hear that sound come out of her. As soon as I realized what was happening, I ran for the camera. And luckily, I captured the tail-end of it!

Despite this “fun” development, it was the week-of-a-thousand-curse-words (not to be confused with the quilt-of-a-thousand-curse-words). Alright, maybe that is being a TAD dramatic. But the fact remains, I got hardly anything accomplished in the vein of quilting. (The house is clean, though, so I can't fully complain...) Here's the problem:

Olive likes to be held. Period. Olive likes us to hold her in a standing position. Olive likes us to assist her to a seated position. All variations of holding her. None of these allow me to get much else done. SO, I got to thinking that I needed to find a contraption that would allow her to sit and stand (and allow me to get stuff done). I enlisted Craigslist to help, and found this jumperoo! I think it will do the job! I tested it out while creating the grocery list yesterday. I think we found success! I had to take a little break and get this on camera. It is so funny to see her jumping around already!

This is what happened ten minutes after putting Olive in the jumperoo.

The Teddy Bear Family Tree quilt is slowly coming along. The appliqué leaves and framed pictures have been ironed in place and just need to be stitched on. I am going to use dark thread so the contrast will make them stand out more.

Olive's $3 Halloween shirt from Walmart. It says "wickedly cute" on it.

My $3 shirt from Walmart!