you'll never guess how many...

For having been such a bad baby- she sure has turned herself around.  she is so much fun. and she's almost ONE!  insane.    Her hair and eyes are going to be EXACTLY like mine.

and you'll never believe how many teeth she has.  It is OUTRAGEOUS.  take a guess.  I really don't think you'd guess correctly.

14!  yep.  FOURTEEN!!  our little t-rex.

have anybody else's kids had fourteen full teeth before their first birthday?!

I mean- really. look at them.  We have to brush and floss them!

two fab cold and blustery day recipes

I've got to blog these recipes so I have them on file!  we had them for dinner last week and I LOVED them both.

1/2 pound ground chicken or turkey
1 onion diced
1/2-1 envelope of onion soup mix
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
1 c water
3 cups beef broth
3-4 carrots peeled and cut small
1 med zucchini chopped small (with skins)
1 med yellow squash chopped small (with skins)
1 bay leaf
1 cup prepared barley (I used the quick cook stuff)

Boil veggies in beef broth and bay leaf for 10 minutes.
Saute meat with onion.  When cooked through add 1 cup water and soup mix.
Add meat and can of tomatoes to soup mix. Also add prepared barley.
Simmer all together another 10-15 minutes until veggies are tender.  Add more water/broth if needed.


Light Wheat rolls.

1 pack yeast
1 1/3 c warm water
1/4 c white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 cup melted butter
1/2 egg beaten
1.25 cups wheat flour
1.25 cups white flour

I just dumped everything in my bread maker and waited through the first rise section.  Then I removed the dough- rolled out the rolls- and let them rise another 30 minutes.

bake for 12 minutes at 400.

brush lightly with butter as soon as they come out of the oven.

Here are the instructions of you don't have a bread maker!

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Mix sugar, salt,  melted butter, egg, and whole wheat flour into yeast mixture. Stir in all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough in bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

I have become a tooth fairy.

I think this is as much a rite of passage for me as it is for Zeb.  It's these little things - like your first born losing his first tooth- that make you realize just how fast time flies!

The tooth was lost at the church Valentine's dance over the weekend.  Luckily the tooth fairy left a note stating she'd found the tooth at the church.  I'm inclined to believe it's still passing through Zeb's digestive tract.

what i LOVE.

                                                                   Oh- valentines day.

 a day late.  my 14 loves.  where I go on and on about what I love.

I ♥ my nerdy husband.  We really are the best of friends.  I love that he loves this valentine I sent him.  We really are two peas in a pod.

I ♥ waking up on holiday mornings!!  there's something about themed candy and a random reason to celebrate that makes me smile from the inside out.  Bring on the commercialized holidays. I'll eat the seasonably colored m&ms every time you make them!

I ♥ my miracle of a body.  Sure I have some crappy teeth and imperfections- but I love it.  I love that it does what it does.  That it can replicate DNA, build proteins, grow babies, turn my food into energy, and run 13 milers!  it truly is a miracle.

I ♥ teaching sunday school at church.  Teaching something always gives me such a better understanding of it.

I ♥ Russians.  The time I spent as a missionary in Russia was some of the greatest time of my life.  Sometimes when I think about those wonderful people and experiences- it makes me miss it so much my heart hurts.

I ♥ 'Marie's Candies'.  It's this little chocolate shop in an old train station in West Liberty, Oh, that we stumbled upon on a little roadtrip last year.  And Kent had a box of their chocolates shipped to me for Valentine's day :) what a good man.

I ♥ adventure.  And I love that kent does too.  I'm getting the itch to do something crazy soon.  If you have any good ideas- let me know :)  I'm really hoping (and praying) for an adventurous assignment from the air force next year!!

and honestly- I ♥ the AIR FORCE!  holy smokes.  this is such the perfect thing for us.  The blessings we've received  the experience Kent is getting, the friends I have,  and the future that AWAITS is. so so exciting.

I ♥ my family. I say it every year- but I've got the best.  Husband, kids, sisters, parents, in-laws, cousins, aunts and uncles.  The best church families, the best families away from family.  I've got it all.  And I realize not all people are so blessed :)

I ♥ my testimony and my ability to be on the constant road of conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's what brightens my day and lightens my way.

I also ♥ the Book of Mormon.  Ammon and Alma are my current favorite people.  Something about their work as missionaries is so inspiring to me right now.

I ♥ my kindle.  it is amazing.  How great to be able to read in bed and NOT get up to turn out a light.  To NOT have to tire out your arm and change positions when you turn a page?!  and how great that I can just check out all of the greatest new books FROM MY HOUSE?!  no more late fees or lost books under the couch.  pure heaven.

I ♥ our ice maker.  Water tastes so much better in a water bottle- freezing cold- full of ice- after a good workout.  and I don't know what I'll do when we leave our perfect ice maker. 

I ♥ my life.



And to see the life I love-  here's a pictorial representation of our Valentine's day.

I woke the family up early to get the festivities started- so if everybody looks a little tired- it's because they are.

cool new hot wheels coloring books from the vday fairy (aka me). and a terribly annoying and really funny valentine's card from nanny annie. I hope the batteries go dead soon!!

Metta sending Kent off to work.  And wiping snot all over his uniform!!

Metta spaghetta all decked out for the day.  Much more fun to dress her than the boys!!  and look at her HAIR!!  it's sitting down! and parting!!  no more chimpanzee baby hair!!

 She's the best one to take pictures of right now. So dang cute. and so many facial expressions.

we had a valentine's party for Ike's co-op preschool.  Lots of great food and fun games.  For his v-day box he chose footballs and cupcakes.  Those two things perfectly describe this kid.  He just glued them all over and was happy as can be :)

I 'mustache' you to be my valentine.   Ike would only put is on in the corner.  And nobody else was allowed to see it on him!

his pal dalton

 ava's 'don't eat pete' candy.

 and miss quincy.  who looks like quite the natural with a mustache.

Just a zillion pictures of miss metta.  11 teeth and 11 months old.  

she's my best eater yet.  her fave food is broccoli.  but she's turned into a scavenger.  She eats a couple of bites and then throws them all on the ground.

and then demands to get down and finish her food off the floor.   little detritus feeder.

she's a lot of work right now.  she loves the upper stairs- which are impossible to be baby gated.  and she loves to eat garbage.  and she's got a cold. which means she wakes her self up with a cough every hour at night.  kids are hard work. ugg. I'm tired.

this girl has a big personality.
big=loud
big=into everything
big=constant jabberwocky
big=yells and hollers across the chapel at familiar faces during sacrament meeting.

zeb-a-leb.

For Christmas Zeb got a very cool personalized Star Wars coloring book from his cousin Ethan!  We finally got it all filled out online- and printed it.  Zeb is taking his first flight as a Padawan.  You upload a picture and then make some adjustments and a 'lookalike' Zeb is put in the book!   I think it's a pretty close match actually :)

Zebbo loves it.

This past week at school was Zeb's 100th day of kindergarten!  we got to go in and celebrate with him for part of the day.  They did stations around the school with all sorts of '100' themes.  Here he is with his 100 fruit loop necklace.  My friend Amber took a bunch of pics for me of him!  I am so blessed to have such a great friend around him every day.  It sure makes sending him off to school every day a lot easier!

On Ike's birthday Zeb had a little bit of a hard day.   I think he was pretty jealous of all the attention and gifts Ike was receiving!  I at least let him lick one of the cake beaters :)

He discovered his first loose tooth this week and told me he was so excited for "the tooth fairy to leave him a penny"!  I was so excited about his financial expectations.  They were quickly raised when I overheard his pal, Magnus, telling him that the tooth fairy left him FIVE DOLLARS for his first tooth.  Our tooth fairy isn't quite as affluent- but I've decided a penny may be a little too stingy.

I can't wait for this little munchkin to get old enough to babysit!!  He's our rule following/law abiding child and he'll be the perfect little responsible babysitter!!  just five or six years to go :)

"Dad, this is the best day EVER!"- Ike

Ike leaned over to Kent yesterday and said that very thing.  "Dad, This is the best day EVER!".

Happy 4th, little rugrat!  When we asked Ike what he wanted to do for his birthday he had two requests.  "I want delicious rolls" and "I want to go bowling".

Delicious rolls come from Texas roadhouse :)

we even stuck him on the saddle and the servers gave him a big 'YEEHAW'.  He was so nervous :) and it scared Metta so bad she was sobbing.

Although she cheered right up when she got a hold of the cinnamon butter :)  DISGUSTING.

And then we went to the Air Force Base to go bowling!   Bowling on base is great.  Cheap, no waits, and super family friendly!




Ike was just so happy to be there!  and with his dad nonetheless.  Somehow this weekend ended up as Kent's 'golden weekend'.  That's when you get the Saturday AND Sunday off.  They are pretty rare :)

Ike was so excited he knocked down the fluorescent alien pin.  He was jumping all over the place.





I took a lot of pictures of him :)

look at his cute little bum- and his cute little shoes.

We opened presents all day long.  One at the restaurant, one at the bowling alley, and a few at home.  This kid is super loved.  And he loved EVERY gift.  Thanks to Nannie Annie, Gramps, and Grandma Pat and Grandpa Brent.  This kid was happy every moment of the entire day!

He got some really cool power ranger hot wheels from gramps and was pretty darn excited.  What's better than that?  a racecar and power ranger all in one!  So we got out all of their  old tracks and had some fun!

 Sunday we did his cake and one last gift from us.  He told me he wanted a 'boy' cake.  I found this one on some parenting website and it was a hit!! I think as long as there was no pink or purple he was going to be happy.  It was the easiest cake I've ever made (the fish cake and train cake I'd done in the past were a little tougher).!  It's supposed to look messy and dirty so any mistakes just blend right in.

The kid licked frosting off half the cake.

I took a zillion pictures.

Our little Ike is absolutely wonderful.  Really- he's so much fun. Happy, kind, sharing, and always wanting to laugh.  I'm pretty glad we've got him!