Alex-isms

Alexander is such a funny little boy.  All of our kids did and said funny things when they were small but the girls love the things that he does so much they wanted me to blog about them so here they are.

Alexander's language:
Fire Place Man (fireman)
Glubs (gloves)
Treasure Hunt Pack Pack (any back pack he puts on his back)
Back Pack Man (Pac Man)
Ssmarshmellows (marshmallows)
"Ouchya go" ball (Out Ya Go)  It's a bowling ball he rolls out the door saying, ouchya go.
"Ouchie" ball  (A pool table ball.) We think he gave the ball that name because he smashed his fingers between two of the balls not realizing how solid and heavy they were.  Now when he talks about those balls the look on his face when he says the word ouchie is too cute.
"And that's the truth of my rules."
"You broke my secret."
"I love my birthdays.  I take them VERY seriously."

Names we call Alexander:
Alexander
Alex
Lex
Xander
Xander Man
and the ones that he likes us to call him:
Sportacus (from Lazy Town)
The Guy (from Spy Kids 3)  when ever I call his name he reminds me that he is "THE guy".

Water Bath or Pressure?

Something I have always wanted to do but am totally terrified to try is canning.  I'm not so scared about water bath canning as I am pressure canning but still I am afraid I will do it wrong and make my family sick because of it.  I knew that I would try it one day so I have attended many classes on caning and I have been buying the proper supplies little by little.  For the last few years I would buy a box of jars and some extra lids when I could (and when they were not completely sold out).  Last year I took the plunge and bought a pressure caner and this year I finally got the proper water bath caner.  I had plans to use these items but for the most part they just sit collecting dust because of my fear of using them and the excuses I told myself to keep from actually taking the plunge in to caning.

Well, the time to take the plunge has finally arrived.  On Monday I found 20 pounds of ground beef at a fantastic price and bought it with the intention of canning it.  I couldn't let this meat go to waste so I watched some videos about how to cook ground beef, dusted off the pressure caner and took out a box of jars.  I had to brown all the meat first and that took forever.  I followed the instructions as best as I could, praying that I was doing everything right and especially that my caner didn't blow up on me.  I was a nervous wreck the entire time.  After 5 hours of work I finally took the jars out of the caner and set them on the towel to cool for the next 12 to 24 hours.  It was 2:30am at that point.  I looked at the mineral covered jars (we have uber-extreme hard water and the little vinegar I added to the water did nothing) with disappointment for what looked like a bust of a first canning job and went to bed.  I could hear each jar pop with a loud sound that I figured could only be a sign I had done it wrong.  I had bad dreams about my canning job all night.  When I went to check on them the next day and test the seals, to my surprise only one jar did not hold a proper seal and all the other jars looked exactly like they were supposed to.  I did it!!  I left those jars out all day so that I could admire my handiwork.  That 19 pounds of ground beef (we ate one for dinner) yielded 12 pints of about 1.5 lb. of meat each.  Satisfied with a job well done, and completely exhausted from the experience, I then packed up the pressure caner and moved it downstairs to the storage room, to be rested for a good long while.  We left the one jar that didn't seal in the fridge so that we could eat it for dinner in a few days.  The texture was not as I had hoped but with spices it tasted just fine.  I am proud of myself for putting up some meat in our food storage.  We have plenty of wheat but no meat so this will be a nice addition.

I thought my canning days were done for the season but tonight I was given a bag full of ripe apricots.  Although I was still exhausted from the last canning experience I couldn't let this opportunity to can some apricot jam go to waste.  I again got out my Ball canning book and looked up apricot jam.  To my relief, this is one that only needed the water bath method of canning.  That should be a snap after what I went through with the meat.  I started preparing the apricots and then stopped to cook dinner.  After dinner I began the canning process again.  This one may have had a shorter cooking time but the set up took just as long.  This time it was only 3.5 hours until I was taking the jars out of the caner to cool.  I was totally nervous.  I got 5 full 1.5 pint jars of jam done and had about 3/4 cup of jam left over that I put into a spare jar and let cool for immediate use.  Again I was not sure of my success.  It didn't take long for the small amount of jam to cool enough to try.  I dipped my spoon in for a tiny taste.  I couldn't believe it...it was perfect!!  It was the perfect consistency, and the perfect balance of sweet and tart.  It tasted great!  All the kids had a taste and they love it too.  I am so proud of myself!

This time the caners are going away until the next season but with my new found excitement I am going to look in to buying a dehydrator.  I can still put up food with it but without all the fear.  Here's to building our food supply.

Funny Little Man

Alexander has always had a very good vocabulary and been very good at communicating.  I don't think he ever did "baby talk".  I love talking to him because the way he talks to me is so mature that it is hard to believe such a little boy is speaking to me.  If I say a word to him and he doesn't know what it means he will ask me what the word means and then try to use it in a sentence.  It is amazing to watch.

I just have to share my most favorite thing he said recently.  It isn't so much what he said but the way he said it that just makes me laugh every time.

Alexander and Megan had some friends over and the friends wanted to go play in the snow out in the back yard.  Megan quickly got her coat, boots, and gloves on so that she could play in the snow.  Alexander didn't want to take the time to put any of those good winter items on.  He didn't think he needed them.  I let him know that without shoes and a coat he would get very cold, very fast and it wouldn't be fun.  He again assured me that he was a big boy and he would be just fine.  His older sisters tried to plead with him too because they know that I speak the truth.  He insisted on playing the way he is and went out the door with a smile and a, "see you later Mom."  His sisters looked at me with a dumbfounded look and I just said to them that he would find out soon enough what we were talking about.  They just shrugged and resigned to wait.

Two minutes later the back door opens.  Alex steps just inside the door and stands there with this serious look on his face and doesn't move a muscle.  He looked at me and matter of factly said, "Well, THAT was a bad idea."  He told me that it was cold and that it was not a good idea to go outside without a coat and shoes.  Without another word he walked into his room to get the right winter items on and then went back out to play.  I laugh every time I think about it and now when someone makes a mistake and they feel silly we just look at each other and say, "Well, THAT was a bad idea."

I love that little man sooooo much!!!

BRAVE new hair style for Megan

Lizzie LOVES doing fun hair styles on Megan.  This has to be one of my favorite.  Lizzie takes drinking straws and ties Megan's hair to them.  She puts a scarf on Megan's head to keep them safe while she sleeps (this is an overnight hair style) which Megan loves wearing.

In the morning she takes the straws out and then separates the curls one by one until Megan has a full head of spirally hair.

Fresh out of the straws.

She calls it Merida hair, after the princess character in the Disney movie BRAVE.

Color her hair red and she would look a lot like the character Merida.

Before                                                      After
This style shortens her long hair up a ton.

As you can see Megan just loves this hair and it looks so cute on her.

Roller Derby Opener

Rebecca is in full swing with her Color Guard team this year.  They have been in a few parades but tonight they took their parade routine and made it a lot longer so that they could perform for the pre-show entertainment at the local roller derby.  I went with them and watched and man are they good! It was so fun to see Rebecca smile the whole performance.  She really loves what she does.

Rebecca and a few of her Color Guard team
dressed crazy for the roller derby performance.

Rebecca rockin' the show!

Tiny Tim Salad

CJ has been experimenting for a while now with hydroponics.  He loves to grow all kinds of plants from seed and has had some great successes and some unfortunate not successes.  He says he learns from every growing experience whether it turns out good or not.  About a year ago he bought a hydroponic grow kit on the internet and started growing food indoors.  The goal is to be able to eat fresh vegetables year round.  For a long time he hasn't had much success because hydroponics has a huge learning curve.  

Tiny Tim Tomatoes

This week however was different.  In a small hydroponic unit that CJ built that we have in our upstairs living room window he is growing some Tiny Tim tomatoes.  They are supposed to be the world's smallest tomatoes.  As you can see by the fully grown ripe tomatoes in my hand I would have to agree with that claim.  The cool thing is that these tiny little tomatoes pack a BIG punch.  They are very flavorful and its hard to believe how small they are.  We all love tomatoes so much that CJ has many different varieties growing or waiting to be grown and I can't wait to try them all.

Home grown lettuce.

We also got to eat of the different varieties of lettuce that he has growing in his larger hydroponic unit in the basement.  These are the first plants to produce food from that unit and it was really fun to ask the girls to go down stairs and get some lettuce for dinner.  We ate the lettuce for dinner for a whole week in the form of lettuce wraps, salads, on hamburgers, and BLT sandwiches.  He has a melon growing in the unit now and I hope it fruits as well because I really love the idea of fresh fruits and veggies year round.

Drivers BE WARE!

This year Lizzie turned the big 16!  She could not be more excited to be 16.  The first thing we did on her birthday was to go to the DMV and get her learner's permit.  Technically you can get them when you turn 15 in Utah but we didn't learn that until a few months ago and she wanted to earn the money for the fee herself and then she had to wait for slow poke mom to take her to the DMV.

Anyway...here she is...Utah's newest driver.  She has been driving the neighbor kids around in our go-kart for a while so she feels very confident in her driving abilities.

Bitter-sweet day.

She didn't wast time getting behind the wheel.

She quickly found out though that driving a real car is much different than driving a toy one.  She is hoping to get in to the same drivers ed class as all her friends.  I don't mind teaching her but drivers ed is required here in Utah.  Just don't say that I didn't warn you about her being on the road now.  lol

Sweet Megan

CJ came home from work today and was talking to Megan and Alexander about their day.  He was headed down stairs to check on his plants when the kids got excited about being able to play downstairs (they aren't allowed down there alone because they tend to make rather large messes with everything BUT their toys.)  CJ was trying to tell them that he was only going to be a few minutes down there but Alex kept jumping and singing in excitement that CJ had a hard time getting his attention and had to raise his voice.  Sweet little Megan pipes in and takes Alex by the hand.  She looks at him and calmly tells Xander, "Daddy just got home from work and he's tired.  Let's wait until he's rested and then he'll play with us, okay Alex?"  It was just so out of the blue because normally she whines right along with Alex when she doesn't get what she wants and this time she was just so grown up about it.  It was a melt your heart moment for me.

Anatomy and Physiology

   I was at the home school store the other day to buy a reading program for the two little ones.  Just before checking out Alex spots a book on the human body that has very detailed pictures and a simple explanation for every part of the body and just goes crazy for it.  I was looking through the pages with him answering his MANY questions of, "what's this...what's that" and could see the excitement in his eyes.  I thought the book was well done with the detailed yet simple pictures so I got him the book.
   He is so funny to watch!  He has gone through every page of the book numerous times now and has learned what each picture is and where it is on his body so he is telling me now what the body parts are and what their function is.  He will just randomly walk up to me and point to a part of his body and tell me what it and it's function is.  For example, today he was in the middle of the room moving his arm up and down.  I asked him what he was doing and he told me that the little nerve in his brain was working because it was telling him to lift his arm up and down (we had just looked at the nervous system last night and he learned what the neurons in the brain do.)  It is so fun to see him so excited and eager to put his new found knowledge to work.
   I began by just telling him the basic parts like brain, arm, muscles, bones, etc.  Now he wants to know the individual bone names, the difference between the large and small intestine (he likes to tell me at meal times that his food is going to take it's long trip now in his intestines...lol) the different parts of the face and inner ear, etc.  He is just devouring that book and I am so amazed at how quickly he is actually learning the info that is in that book and not just being interested in our "guts" like most little boys would be.  I don't know that he will be a doctor when he grows up but I can safely say I really think that what ever career he chooses it will involve knowing the inner workings of the body.
   Of course, he could end up as a professional golfer too.  He is just as obsessed with golf as he is the inside of the body.  We'll see...only time will tell.

Easter 2013

Easter this year was pretty low key.  I am on the HOA board so I was asked to help with the neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  CJ helped Alex in his age group area and Rebecca helped Megan in her age group area.  As you know, public Easter egg hunts are NOT my favorite.  They never go well for the kind, considerate kids and only the rude kids who knock over the good kids get any eggs (because they usually take all the eggs.)  This year there was a new low in the neighborhood hunt.  Lizzie and Dakota were helping me announce the rules to all the kids and parents.  We asked all the parents to stay behind the lines and let the kids hunt for eggs by themselves.  Lizzie was telling one group these rules when a dad got angry with her and told her he was going to help his kid and she couldn't stop him.  She asked him politely to go back behind the line.  He got so angry with her that he took out his cell phone and threatened to call the police.  She was so good.  She just looked at him and told him to go ahead and call.  He hung up the phone, gave her dirty looks and just walked away (back to his kid no less) so she let it drop.

SERIOUSLY??!!! A grown man was asked to follow the rules by a 15 year old and he gets so mad he threatens her with the police.  I still can't believe it.

Megan and Alex looking at all those colorful eggs.

CJ waiting with Alex.

Anyway, the Easter bunny left a basket for the family.  They had fun eating the candy.  We did our traditional Resurrection rolls.  After church CJ and I hid plastic eggs in the back yard for all the kids to find, even the older girls.  Each kid had one golden egg to find along with their other eggs.  They had to look hard but it was worth it.  The golden eggs had $5 in them.  The kids each took turns after that re-hiding the eggs for everyone else.  That is one of their favorite Easter traditions.

General Young Women Meeting

This year our stake received tickets to attend the General Young Women's Meeting in the Conference Center in Salt Lake.  I jumped at the chance to take my girls to this meeting.  Watching it at home is a blessing but watching it in person is indescribable.

 Unfortunately Rebecca had a Winter Guard performance so she couldn't go with us.  She really wanted to be there.  Dakota and Lizzie had a really good time.

After the conference I took the girls to the City Creek Center Mall for a little chocolate by the fountains.

A rare selfie on the way home in the parking garage elevator.

Royalty

Just for fun we took the kids out for a treat.  We took them to Burger King for dinner.  I don't think we have gotten the crowns for a long time so tonight we all got crowns and ate dinner as the royal family.  Some of the family are paparazzi shy but here are some pics of our fun evening.

Spring is in Bloom

Even though there is still snow outside spring is blooming inside.  We have started many plants for the garden and they are doing great.  Even CJ's Desert Rose plant is blooming.  It just looks so happy in here.

My favorite spring bloom though is our new apple tree.  We have always wanted to grow fruit trees so this year we picked up our first fruit tree...an apple tree.  Not just any apple tree though.  We have always said that if we got an apple tree we wanted to get a multi-apple tree so that we can have more than one variety of apple.  Our beautiful new apple tree has honeycrip, granysmith, and gala apples on it.  There were a few grafts that were not labeled so there is a chance of one or two more varieties on our tree.  I can just taste the apple pie now.  Mmmm mmmm, can't wait for the harvest.

Against our blue walls the tree looks like it is outside already.  For right now its blooms are safe and warm inside.

Sea Pearch

Dakota has been working hard after school twice a month all year long on her underwater robot.  She has been excited for the chance to build and compete with her robot and today we got to see the competition.  It was during school so only Megan, Alex, and I were able to go.  Her team did well.  It was very exciting and BYU TV was there filming the competition and taking interviews of the event.  Dakota's group from the Jr. High was the largest group there by far.

Megan looking down from the balcony where we watched the competition from the best position.

Dakota modeling her Sea Perch (under water robot).

After the competition the kids were treated to some displays by companies that specialize in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields which is what this competition is supposed to be cultivating a love for.  We saw demonstrations of fire power from torches, aeronautics, a 3-D printer (my favorite), medical advances and more.  I don't know who was more excited and interested in all of the displays, the kids or me.  I wish they did things like this when I was in school.

Fun at the Park

Just a beautiful day today.  Couldn't resist taking the little ones to the park.