the manor house

This morning for playgroup we went to this huge old mansion that is all decorated for Christmas! Apparently it belonged to the Champion spark plug millionaires way back when the company started. It was really neat. I want to go back with Kent before it closes. There are rooms full of trees and decorations and lots of great Christmas stuff. They've also got a large train set going in the basement.

And wonderfully enough, it snowed last night! I was so happy to wake up to a blanket of snow covering all of the leftover leaves. Ridiculously there were actual school closures this morning! and those schools that weren't closed were all late start by two hours! we only got three inches! I'd think that Toledoans were more accustomed to the snow.

baby bird.

It's like feeding a baby bird. Zeb has taken up an extreme aversion to baby food. He abhors it. He must take after his father because he will eat absolutely anything as long as the texture is to his liking. He has been eating what we eat for dinner, just a little more mushed. I have tried to puree his foods in the magic bullet but he really won't take it due to the consistency. He won't eat his rice cereal either. I have resorted to chewing up my food and spitting it back out for him to eat. Like I said, just like a baby and mama bird. He likes his food to be in small little pieces. What a particular little rugrat. And he loves to puff up his cheeks when he eats! Here he is devouring a mixture of carrots, zucchini, squash, and tomatoes.
The camera flash always picks up the reds in his hair! I don't think that it will appear that red in person when you all see it :)

Cause of Death!!

Today in the lab we discovered our cadaver's actual cause of death. I, for one small minute, wanted to become a pathologist! When we opened the pericardial sac to get to his heart we found a crazy, unnatural amount of blood surrounding the heart. This is a picture of a living patient, so picture all the red blood in the picture as dark brown, chunky almost plastic-like pieces of blood. It was very exciting. But once again... fat got in the way. His heart was so fatty that as we tried to find his coronary arteries, fat and oil were literally dripping off our hands. I will never eat KFC again!!!! I really wish I could take pictures in the lab (and so did my professor). It was a text book example of cardiac tamponade (blood around the heart)!

Merry Christmas Countdown!

I got this idea from a friend (thanks ashton's mom!) and had to alter it a little due to our circumstances, but I think it will be rather fun nonetheless. I love countdowns! and what's better than a countdown till Christmas? How about a countdown to heading home for Christmas?!?! I cut out these little construction paper trees and numbered them starting at 16. That's today! Sixteen days till we board the plane to SLC. On the back of each tree is something fun to do that will help us get in the Christmas spirit just a little bit more!! And to add a little twist I am hiding them all around the house. Kent and Zeb will have to search for them every day in order to see what the day's activity/surprise is. I started a little late but I figure better late than never. I think that it will be a fun tradition to continue. I'd tell you what I wrote on the trees but then Kent will know and the surprise/excitement factor will be nearly eradicated. Can you tell that I have a lot of time on my hands? my goodness! I'm turning into one of those cheesy moms/wives that I swore I'd never be.

favorite things

Yesterday was CRAZY! I cannot believe that I didn't post. I apologize to all of you in utah :) We were running around like banshees all day long. We didn't get home from church till late (choir and tithing) and then we had to head up to the Detroit airport and pick up a BYU student interviewing for med school here today! It was actually a lot of fun! Zeb LOVED the airport and all of the people. Plus it was really fun to help somebody out (especially considering students did the same for Kent last year..thanks Andrew!). This boy we picked up at the airport is married and has a little boy so I'd love if he gets accepted! the more wives and kids, the better :)

Anyway, back to the belated yesterday post. Lately Zeb has had the funniest fascination with this blanket! Thank you to Grandma Oswald (weird that she's Zeb's great grandma!). He will lay on it or sit on it and carefully touch and inspect each little animal head. It's adorable. And it keeps him content in his crib quite awhile after he wakes up. hooray. I can't believe the rate at which he is growing up. It's like he turned into a real boy overnight.

Time's up

We can't give Zeb back. The most lenient of the safe haven laws expired today for little Zeb! He is six months old! I can't believe it. We can no longer just drop him off at a police station or hospital with no questions asked. He is officially ours for keeps. We were going on a trial basis and we lucked out with such a good rugrat!
Here he is enjoying baby Einstein (at five am last Sunday after peeing in his pajamas and sheets and losing all interest in sleep). He loves to stick his legs in the air while he's watching. Maybe it's from when he watches me do pilates! When my legs are in the air he is very content to just stare. During the other parts he gets fussy. He laughs hysterically when we all do lunges at the mall walking group. He thinks it's so funny to watch us from his stroller bob up and down.

this is INSANE

I read this today and my mouth stayed in a dropped postion the entire time. I can't believe it. Some of the numbers they give are SHOCKING! I don't think that people know what they are eating most of the time. Mom, you'll love this.

The 20 worst foods in America

Nativities galore!

The stake here does a huge "interfaith nativity/creche exhibit" at the stake center every year for Christmas. It is AMAZING! They have hundreds of amazing nativities from all over the world that are donated by people in the stake and community.

My favorite is the one pictured to the right. I think it is from Africa. I love that they have lions, zebras, and elephants at the manger scene with an African Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

This morning we went and volunteered as hosts! I'll be honest, I had a lot of fun. We had the very first shift from 11-1 and nobody came so we (six fun women from the ward) just got to talk and walk around and enjoy ourselves. There are some great pluses to being at home with the rugrat and not working all day! I absolutely loved it. Kent and I are doing a shift tomorrow night together as well. Hopefully the Saturday night one will be lots busier than this morning.

Most everybody left their kids with a sitter (hooray for Cynthia) but I did bring the little rugrat along cause I thought he would just nap. He DOES not nap if there are people and lights and music around! He giggled and laughed a lot and then crashed immediately when we got home. He did fall on his head though. It has been happening a lot lately because he wants to reach for something while he's sitting up. When he reaches, he topples. He looks a little roughed and bruised up, but I'm sure it's good for him. This picture is for you Laney, since you only want to see Zeb. No more pancake mixes, I promise.

favorite thing...

Today has been a most ridiculously busy day. I've enjoyed it immensely. I really like having all the hours in my day blocked out with a purpose, even if the purpose is something regular like walking group, enrichment meetings, or hobby lobby.

I was out and about lots longer than I had initially planned so I went straight to school to get Kent before I made it home to make dinner. This meant we had to come home and figure out what we were going to eat. Luckily we had my current favorite food in the world!!!! when I find something that I love, I can't help but tell everyone that I know about it. Yet another purpose for my blog.

Hodgson Mill's whole wheat buttermilk pancakes. They are absolutely delicious. The texture, consistency, flavor, and everything else is just splendid. I used applesauce instead of oil and so they were low fat too. I love the texture of whole wheat. I must have Grandpa Howell taste buds or something (although growing up I would cry when he forced us to eat his whole wheat mac and cheese).
I'm not sure if they sell them out West (they are made in Illinois) but I highly recommend them to everyone.

early Christmas present to me :)

Yes, by the broadast of terms (and some of the more stringent ones), I am an environmentalist. I feel that we, as God's children, have a stewardship over Earth. Regardless of the severity of global warming and melting ice caps, we still have no right to be wasteful or overtly cavalier about our consumption of fossil fuels.

After a friend mentioned she had started using reusable grocery sacks (thanks em f.) I decided it was a noble endeavour and that I wanted to do the same. I have been searching for some inexpensive bags ever since. I located my bags this week at Meijer! Oh, how I adore Meijer. Sometimes I just go to walk around and look at things. I love the foreign foods aisle. But back to the point. These bags were oh-so-inexpensive and if any of you Utahns want to halt your improvidence and do your little part, just let me know and these can be part of your Christmas present too:)

Zeb will not lie down.

I think that he's teething again cause he is being so darn particular. He will only sit up. and he's drooling like a leaky faucet. It's all fine and good except for the fact that he can't get himself into this position. He'll get all frustrated and try to sit up from being flat on his back or stomach. It looks like he's trying to do sit ups and can't! The whole sitting up thing started about three weeks ago and now he's a real pro. Plus, I think that he's quadrupled the amount of hair he has in that short time. Less than three weeks until he makes his Utah debut. He's pretty excited. We are working on a few more tricks that hopefully will be perfected by the 18th.

z loves the snow

Last night was Zeb's first real snowfall! at least where the flakes were big enough to count as snowflakes and not just flurries. We stuck him out on the front lawn for a bit so that he could enjoy it! His reaction was so funny every time a flake landed on his face or head. I think that he enjoyed it immensely.