A New Addition to our Family

We have now joined the minivan club! And not only that, we are now a 2-car family!! I don't think I know what to do with all this mobility!

Fingerpainting

Yesterday during her naptime, Maggie discovered "fingerpainting." She spread the "fingerpaint" all over her sheets, blankets, and clothes. She also decided to see what the "fingerpaint" tasted like. I discovered the mess about 3 minutes before my neighbor arrived for me to tutor. Needless to say, Maggie will now ALWAYS wear a onesie underneath her clothes to prevent access to the "fingerpaint."

I think I got a few gray hairs yesterday.

[Somehow we managed to avoid any sort of "fingerpainting" episode when Jared was a baby. Lucky us.]

Maggie Moo

I seriously feel so behind in blogging. Not that anything extraordinary has happened lately, but just lots of cute everyday things. Here are some of the latest goings-on:

This morning after Maggie sneezed three times in a row Jared exclaimed, "She keeps on bless-you-ing!" Funny kid.

About a month and a half ago I started bathing Jared and Maggie together. The move from her little bathtub into the big bathtub traumatized Maggie for the first few baths, but now she loves it, and I love being able to bathe them at the same time!!


I never invested in a double stroller, so every time I have wanted to take a walk (which happens once or twice a week, despite the cold weather) Jared has been a good sport to walk with me while I push Maggie in the stroller (she now hurts my back when she's in the Baby Bjorn for too long). However, I decided this week that perhaps Jared was old enough to "hold" Maggie while I pulled them both in an awesome wagon we recently inherited from some neighbors. Sure enough, it seemed to work! Look how cute they are. (Don't let the looks on their faces deceive you. They really loved it.)


Maggie is almost nine months old now! She has been so close to crawling for a couple of weeks; she gets into the crawling position and rocks back and forth and also digs her toes into the carpet to move forward several inches. I think now she is officially "army crawling," and I have seen her move 6 feet or so in just a few seconds. Here is a video of her doing her latest trick. Oh, how I dread having to keep a close eye on her as she gets better!

Fondue!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love fondue! Well, Alan and I decided to invite all of his family over "just for fun" for a fondue night, only to discover that the day we picked (Feb 5th) happened to be National Chocolate Fondue Day! I think we will make this an annual tradition.

I remembered to take some pictures of all of our lovely guests, but I forgot to take pictures of the delectable food! So sad! Imagine, if you will, the following: French bread, chips and guacamole, broccoli, and apples to dip in the cheese fondue; and strawberries, pineapple, oreos, cinnamon lips, angel food cake, granola bars, and pastries to dip in the chocolate fondue. Heaven!

I love the smear of chocolate on Jared's face

It's amazing that we fit 16 people in our kitchen!!

Chocolate-Raspberry Bars

I don't normally post recipes on this blog, but these seriously are delicious!! I just tried them this week, and now I think I will be craving them all the time!

• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 1/2 c quick oats
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut
• 1/2 c chopped pecans, toasted (opt)
• 1 1/2 c choc chips
• 1 12-oz jar raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour, sugar, and baking powder in large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add oats, coconut, and pecans; mix well.

Press half of the mixutre firmly onto bottom of greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Spoon jam over top; sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture.

Bake 25 to 30 mins or until lightly browned. Cool completely on wire rack.

P.S. My "crumb mixture" wasn't crumbly. I had to moosh the butter in with my hands, and it was kind of tricky to spread in the pan. But it turned out fine! Next time I think I will reduce the amount of butter to make it more crumbly.

Jarey's update

These are mostly for me to remember:

Last night I gave Jared a haircut. When he looked in the mirror afterward, he exclaimed, "It looks like somebody else, but it's really me!"

Lately Jared has been saying, "No, I amn't" when he means "No, I'm not." I guess it fits with phrases like "No, you aren't" and "No, he isn't."

This poor kid has had a hard time adjusting to Sunbeams. Can you blame him? The take away toys and treats and MAKE THEM SIT STILL AGAIN for Sharing Time, right after he's been sitting still for Sacrament Meeting! In December they took the nursery kids in for singing time in the Primary Room, and Jared would cry and cry and cry until one of the nursery teachers took him ALONE back to nursery. This month he has needed Alan or me to go with him to Sunbeams. We are slowly decreasing the amount of time we stay with him.

Jared is learning how to sound out three-letter words! (Again, thanks to Starfall.com.) Lately his favorite thing to do (besides play Candyland) is to have me create three-letter words for him to sound out using our ABC refrigerator magnets.

More Christmas Pictures

Yup, this is the best we could do. We had lots of blooper shots.

Alan and I often have too much fun around holidays and family get-togethers to remember to take pictures! We are horrible! But here are a few from Christmas day.

Maggie in her new hat from Aunt Mimi

Aunt Mandy holding Mags, who is eating wrapping paper

Jared being impatient while I take tags off his tiger slippers from Aunt Mimi

This is a (long) video of Jared on Christmas morning.