Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Gibson's to-do list




Last night before going to bed, Gibson wrote out a to-do list for today.

He's been working on it all day long.

I love lists. I make them all the time and receive lots of satisfaction as I cross each item off one by one. I think Gibson may have the same enjoyment.

I love how Gibson is sounding out words and writing them phonetically. Love this stage in his life!

{His list}
Watch TV
Play
Clean my trophy
Go to School
Go to Art Class
Read Books
Ride by Bike
Play with Creed
Go to bed

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Happy 2nd Birthday Creed



Seriously? Creed is 2? Oh, the past two years have flown by. Creed is the happy thought of this house. We all love him.

We had a small party with grandmas and grandpas and the aunts/uncles and cousins who live local. He loved the attention, opening the gifts and blowing out the candle. He was a bit sleepy since he hadn't had a nap that day and was asleep before his guests even left but it was certainly a celebrated day for a fabulous little boy.

A few things about Creed at age 2.

Had 6 teeth at Christmas. Has 20 now. {That's 14 teeth in 3 months folks}

Likes: Apple Juice and his Blankie {tee-tee he calls it which I think is after Gibson calling his blankie "fi-fi"}, Brds {angry birds}, Playing the iPad, Swings, his trike.

Favorite Toy: Trains and Cars

Favorite Color: Blue {it's the only color he knows}

Favorite Food: Really anything, not picky but loves Dino Nuggets with Ranch and Ketchup, Rice, Olives. Really, anything he can "dip" he will eat. Fruit fanatic. Loves Raspberries, Strawberries and Kiwi

Favorite Show: Super Why, Elmo and Word World {1st kid to actually watch Sesame Street}

Wishes: He was big. Acts like he is and is heartbroken when brothers leave for friends house and he is forced to stay home.

Hates: Getting his diaper changed. Unless you call him "puppy" and then he'll crawl over and let you change it. Nursery. Milk. {weaned himself off a bottle and milk at 14 months}

Working on: Sleeping in his own bed, for the entire night....work in progress.

He is: a DADDY's boy! Prefers Jared over me anytime. Comes to Jared's side of the bed in the night and crys for dad when he's hurt.

Learned how: To crawl out of his crib at 12 months. Pedal a trike at 26 months and say "East" and Nin-non {Gibson}. The Joys of talking to himself {he'll cry out East for at least 10 times and when not answered he'll say "what" and then proceed with the conversation.












For Creed's birthday dinner, I made it simple and made Ham and Cheese Sliders served with chips, pasta salad, watermelon and drinks. For dessert we had this yummy "fried" ice cream that always gets rave reviews so I thought I'd share the recipes for the Ham and Cheese Sliders and the "fried" ice cream.

Ham and Cheese Sliders

Ingredients:
For the sandwiches:
24 slider rolls {I use ones from Costco that come in a 3dz bag for @$3)
24 slices honey ham
24 small slices Swiss cheese
Mayonnaise

For the sauce:
1½ tbsp. yellow mustard
8 tbsp. butter, melted
1 tbsp. finely minced onion (or 2 tsp. dried minced onion)
½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Poppy seeds, for sprinkling

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Split the slider rolls and spread the insides lightly with mayonnaise. Fold a slice of ham to fit on each slider bun, and top with a slice of Swiss cheese. Replace the top bun to assemble the sandwiches. Place the sandwiches on a baking sheet.

To make the sauce, combine all ingredients except the poppy seeds in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Drizzle the sauce over the tops of the slider buns. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Cover with foil and bake 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Remove the foil and bake 2 minutes longer. Serve warm.

I've found that you can change up the meat and cheese combo for more deliciousness. We've tried Turkey and Cheddar and it was yummy as well.


"Fried" Ice Cream

1 cube butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups rice krispies
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

DOUBLE THAT.....yeah, I know that means 2 cubes butter:)

Melt butter, stir in brown sugar and stir until dissolved. Pour over the rest of ingredients and stir until everything has the butter/brown sugar goodness on it.

Pat half down in 9x13 pan, Cover with 1/2 gallon of ice cream that has been softened a bit {I put on gloves and just use my hands for this part} and finish off with the remainder of the topping. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until you are ready to serve.

Delicious with a strawberry syrup drizzled over it {strawberries and sugar blended} or I imagine it would be divine with caramel or hot fudge as well.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Cheering for BYU!


A few weeks ago Jared took Gibson to a BYU basketball game. I think they were in the nose bleeds and I think Gibson spent the majority of the game playing the iTouch {bless the iTouch} and eating his fruit snacks he snuck in, in his jacket.

However, attending that one game has made Gibson to worlds biggest BYU fan! It was mentioned that the BYU game is tonight and cheers erupted along with the "can we have a BYU party?"

Who am I to say NO to that? Being the festive person I am, I went to Reams, scooped out all the blue jelly beans in the bulk bins as well as the blue and white robin eggs, grabbed the last 3 Jones blue soda's and made up a batch of some caramel corn adding blue food coloring.

I got the idea for the popcorn as well as the recipe from Our Best Bites. I would have done her other party favors but I ran out of time and well, I'm just too lazy to dip chocolate just for the 5 of us!

One tip for making the popcorn. Use the gel food coloring that you can find in the cake decorating aisle at Wal-mart or at Michaels, etc. The runny stuff you find near the cake mixes is just garbage. My first batch I dropped at least 25 drops of the runny food coloring into my mixture and it still turned out gray. The second batch, I used just a dab of the blue gel stuff and it turned out beautiful.

So GO BYU Cougars! We're rootin' for you to make it to the Elite Eight!

Friday, March 11, 2011



in case you are wondering, the ER isn't very busy on a Friday afternoon. The wait time is minimal, the staff isn't burned out yet and and crying children get lots of attention from the nurses.

We saw the inside of the ER for the first time today. I actually pat myself {or my children} on the back because we've kept clear of it for 6 years! Knowing how rough and tough my boys are, I think this is a pretty good accomplishment.

Creed fell at the park as he was climbing the stairs to slide down the slide. He hit perfectly on his forehead and it cut it right open. 20 stitches later, a few stuffed animals, a motorcycle and a new Buzz Lightyear sippie cup and he was up and about.

Jared was with him while he got stitched up, I was in the lobby melting at the sound of hearing my baby cry in pain. So. glad. Jared. was. there.

As I walked out of the ER with my baby boy now sporting what will certainly be a scar, my heart was full. How lucky we are that it's only stitches. Just a few days ago, my sisters best friend walked out of the ER with empty arms. Her 4 month old died of SIDS. Heartbreak.

You can read more about her story here.

It's amazing how things are quickly put into perspective when you look outside of yourself. So many others are facing the unimaginable. So many others are facing what I never will have to.

What I am pretty sure I will have to do is see the inside of an ER again. With 3 boys, I am certain, I haven't seen the last of those curtained rooms.