Birthday Dinner @ Olive Garden

My mom, sisters, and I got together last night for our traditional GNO birthday dinner. It just happened to be my birthday dinner last night, WAHOO! My b-day is actually on August 10th, but this was the soonest we could get together due to scheduling conflicts :)

We like to meet in the AF/Lehi area since that seems to be middle ground to meet so I chose to eat at the Olive Garden. It was super busy for some reason, but we were able to get in with just about a 40 minute wait. The food was scrumptious and the conversation was fabulous. Seriously, we always have something good to chat about and laugh about. It's so nice to get together with my mom and sisters. It's hard to coordinate schedules and sometimes I think we should just not worry about getting together. But it's always tons of fun when we finally meet up so I'm glad we keep doing it.

We had our waiter take a picture of us with Amy's nice Nikon camera and he STRUGGLED. It took him about 15 minutes and none of the pictures worked. So we asked the people at the table behind us if they would mind taking a picture of us. The guy stood up and said, "I have that same Canon camera (pointing to my camera) so I can take your picture." He immediately changed the setting on my camera and was messing with the lens. He wasn't messing around. He took about 5 pictures and they all turned out the same. For being such a professional, I don't think the picture was too spectacular. I think he could of zoomed in a bit more on our faces :) It was just a funny experience.

After leaving the restaurant, we stood outside and chatted until about 10:30pm. We always have lots to talk about :) Thanks for dinner and for good conversation. I love you loads!

Our picture at the restaraunt. I left Jake lying on the bench because I didn't think he'd be in the picture.

Earlier in the day, I had Ryan help me make brownies. I was licking the spoon and he looked like he wanted a taste. But every time I offered it to him he would get ticked and turn his head. I left the bowl and spoon on the counter and started cleaning things up. When I turned around he had the spoon and was going to town licking it. He must have wanted to hold the spoon himself to have a lick. He got the batter all over his face, of course, and it looked so cute I had to get a pic.

Being Silly

Check out his shirt--I bought this shirt at Babies R Us. It wasn't until after I got home and he'd worn it a couple of times that I noticed motorcycle is spelled wrong. It says "motorcyle." You might have to make the picture bigger to see it.

He wanted to get another spatula out and I wouldn't let him; I was trying to clean up. So here he is being mad that I won't let him get another spatula out :)

Big Shoes to Fill

I was cleaning up the kitchen tonight getting things ready so we could head upstairs and get the kids in bed. I looked over to see what Ryan was doing and he was wearing Jim's shoes. It was so funny--I was seriously laughing so hard.

My camera happened to be downstairs so I snapped some pics. That's his new thing though--he loves putting our shoes on and tries to walk around in them. When we got outside in the afternoons I ask Ryan where his shoes are, and he'll always go and grab my flip flops from the closet and try to put them on :)

Ryan trying to walk in Jim's shoes

He couldn't quite get anywhere in them though :)

Had to post of pic of my little Jake, too. He just waited patiently for us in the swing while we cleaned things up.

He was squinting from my flash, but I posted this pic to show his legs. He's starting to get so chubby.

Earlier in the day, I put Ryan in Jake's bouncy seat. He thought that was pretty fun :)

Soon he figured out it wasn't so fun...here he is whining to get out :)

Lunch & Shopping all withOUT kids!

I was able to go to lunch and shopping without kids with Kristy and Annalisa today. It was fabulous!

Annie got Kristy some hair goods at the beauty supply store so they were meeting so Kristy could get her stuff. Annie asked what I was doing...I just happened to have a dr. appointment so my mom was coming up to watch my boys for me while I went since Jim had to work. Jim usually has Friday's off, but he had a conference this week so they worked this Friday. And my mom is always so kind and willing to help me out with Ryan and Jake. And Ryan absolutely adores Mana so I knew he would be happy and in good hands while I was out.

I had my 6 week (actually 8 week) check up with Dr. Nance in the a.m. Then I met Annie and Kristy in AF to do a little shopping and eat lunch. We ate at Flour Girls and Dough Boys in American Fork. It was pretty tasty. Annie got a pumpkin bar--oh my goodness it was delightful. I'm a sweet fanatic though so of course it would taste good to me :) I also had a 4 cheese panini. It was just ok--it was a little greasy. I would go and eat there again...I just don't know if I would crave it. I would definitely recommend trying it though.

Anyway, Jake was a good little babes and slept the entire time Mana was at my house. Mana took Ry out side to play for a bit. And Ryan was so kind to take a nap for her (I think she caught a little shut eye with him, too). I think the boys were pretty good, thank goodness.

It was so nice to get out of the house and run errands by myself. It was good to see Annie & Kristy too. They are always so fun to chat with--good times always. I think I should be able to get out of the house by myself every Friday. It's imperative to my mental health, heehee (no really). Thanks for the good times chicas...until next time :)

Me, Kristy, and Annie

Had to have a picture of course. This one happens to be in the breezeway of Kohl's, haha.

The Moon

Jim's parents brought up his telescope when they came up for his promotion ceremony. He immediately set it up and looked at the moon with his beloved telescope that he thought was broken. Not sure what I was doing, but I didn't get a look at the moon when he set it up the first time.

He busted out the telescope again tonight so we could have a look at the moon. It was pretty cool--looked just like cheese, haha.

Jim checking out the moon

He made the funniest faces while he was looking at the moon. I was laughing so hard :)

Ryan playing in the water while we were looking at the moon. He knows he's not supposed to mess in the water--we've told him a million times to stay out of it, but he sure doesn't.

Playing with the hose...naughty boy, curious, but naughty :)

When we said his name, this is what we got--looks like the cat that caught the canary, huh.

Then he tries to be cute when he knows he's in trouble

Bringing us rocks as gifts...maybe so we're not so mad at him for messing in the water and getting all dirty.

FYI--I usually get really mad when he messes with the hose and in the water while we're trying to water plants. BUT, at Ethan's party Marcia Eyre told me she wishes she would have lightened up when her kids were little (I was getting mad at Ryan for scooping up dirt from the sand box and pouring it all over Em and Joe's grass. I let him, well I don't stop him, from doing this at home because it's just not worth the effort. But I didn't want Em & Joe to be mad at me for letting Ry do this at their house.) Anyway, I think about what Marcia says a lot and I try to lighten up. However, I don't want Ryan to think he can just do whatever he wants either and not get in trouble. SO, I was trying to "lighten up" a bit tonight and I let Ryan play in the water and mud while we watered plants tonight :)

Magic Potion

Awhile ago, I posted about bathing Jake in lavender baby soap and using lavender baby lotion to help calm him down at night. Donna Mangelson left a comment about giving her little girl catnip and fennel from the health food store when she was a baby and suffered from colic. I didn't think much more about it and life went on.

Well, last Saturday Jake was really crying and I was at my wits end. I had Jim look up how to help colic on the Internet and it said to use catnip. I remembered Donna's comment so I told Jim we should get some catnip. Jim wanted to go to the pet store and get some for Jake. I felt better getting catnip from the health food store than the pet store. So I called the local health food store to see if they carried catnip and fennel for infants. We were in luck! I sent Jim down to get the goods immediately.

I wasn't sure if the serum was helping much. But, after giving him a dose or two everyday since Saturday I think he has improved a bit. When we were in Levan on Tuesday, and my mom noticed that he wasn't crying as much. My dad was a little concerned that we were giving Jake catnip though. It always makes people ruffle their eyebrows when we say that's what we're giving him. It makes me laugh. It's our magic potion :)

Hopefully Jake will eventually out grow the colic (I'm crossing my fingers). Doctors say that it usually goes away by the time the baby hits 3 months...I'm counting down the weeks. Until then, we'll give Jake his catnip and fennel to help soothe his tummy. Oh, Ryan has had a taste or two as well. The serum is also for teething :)

Thanks for telling us about the magic potion Donna--it has truly helped our little guy and helped me keep my sanity :)

Jake's magic potion

A few drops of this...

and it makes Jake happy. This is Jake after he's had his morning dose of catnip--makes him smile immediately :)

My little Jakey "talking"

Hanging out and being a good baby

Tub Time

Ryan has always liked tub time. Even when he was a newborn, he would kick and kick in the tub--he rarely cried. When I tell him it's time to get in the tub he RUNS to the tub to get in.

When I got him in the tub today, I had him turn over on his tummy so I could wash his back side. I've tried to get him to go on his tummy before, but he freaks out like I'm trying to drown him or something. But today, he actually stayed on his tummy. Then when I'd tell him to get on his tummy, he'd turn over and kick and kick. He finally realized it's not so bad to lay on your tummy in the tub.

Ryan on his tummy in the tub

Having a blast kicking in the tub on his tummy :)

Ryan also likes to drink his tub water. I tell him over and over that it's not good water and doesn't taste good, but he insists on drinking it. Yum--hot, soapy, dirty water :)

Playing in the tub

Such a Good Little Helper :)

For the last 4 weeks or so, Jake has struggled with colic. He'll cry and cry and cry and nothing soothes him. Usually I get so frustrated that I just lay him down and go about my business.

Today, Jake was having one of his crying fits. I'd fed him, changed him, burped him, rocked him...everything I could think to do to make him feel better but he kept crying so I layed him on the bed while I folded some laundry. The crying must have been bugging Ryan cause the next thing I know he is up on my bed trying to shove a binky in Jake's mouth. Maybe Ryan was just being a nice brother and sharing his binky because that is what soothes him when he is sad :) I thought it was quite comical so I had to get a picture.

Ryan trying to give Jake a binky. What a nice brother--so good to share his beloved binky!

Still trying

Thought he had it...but it soon fell out :(

Jake didn't end up taking the binky and Ryan soon gave up trying to make him take it. It was a nice gesture though--and so cute of big brother Ryan.

The Corn is ON!!

My mom called me Monday afternoon and said the corn was on and we could start freezing it. Wahoo! SO, the boys and I went to Levan today to start freezing corn. I didn't think we were going to be able to do any this year. My mom is leaving for a trip to Alaska on the 4th of September and things are kind of busy this coming week, and I definitely can't do corn by myself :) Needless to say, I was really glad we were going to get to freeze some corn.

The morning went really well and we were loaded up and on the road by 10:15am. Grandma was still getting ready when we got to Levan so we played, etc. while we waited for her to get ready. Grandpa was already busy husking corn. We had to get lunch for the boys and ourselves so we didn't start the corn process until about 1pm.

My dad picked and husked the corn. My mom and I HATE the silk so we sat and picked nearly every piece of silk of each ear of corn. Then we blanched the corn for 4 minutes followed by an ice bath for the same amount of time. Then we cut all of the corn off of each ear. We mixed the corn with a bit of salt and sugar and then bagged it into individual bags.

We ended up with 39 quart size bags of corn. It wasn't too hard either...just time consuming and kind of hard to do when you have two little kids to take care of while you're trying to freeze corn :)

My dad's tomatoes are also coming on so we had bacon and tomato sandwiches for dinner and an ear of corn. YUM!

I'm glad we were able to go down and freeze corn with my parents. It's always fun to go down and I know Ryan has a good time. I'm pretty sure we'll have another corn freezing party when the rest of the corn is on.

Ryan had some yogurt for lunch and I let him feed it to himself for the first time. He ditched the spoon and started eating it with his hands--holy mess! He had yogurt in his hair, on his arms and hands, and all over his face.

Eating the yogurt with his hands

And licking it off of his hands

The corn! We did a whole wheel barrow full--I didn't get a picture until my dad was already half way through the husking process.

Some of the corn ready to have the remaining silk picked off. My mom is cutting the corn off of the cob. I have this way cool tool from Pampered Chef that is for cutting the corn off of the cob. It worked GREAT! I would highly suggest getting one if you are going to freeze corn. I have a good friend that is a Pampered Chef consultant if you are interested in getting one.

Can we say multi tasking? I nursed Jake while picking silk off of the corn :) Grandma thought it would be a great picture for the blog, haha.

My dad was in charge of using the vacuum thing to get all of the air out of the bags. We actually bought this tool last year but we never got around to freezing any corn. This is the first time we've used it. It worked great on the first two bags we vacuumed. Then my dad had to take it apart and grease it up for it to keep working. Thank goodness my dad is so handy!

Yes those are band aids in the picture. I cut my finger using my handy corn tool. Not a bad cut, I just didn't think blood would taste very good in the corn. Plus, salt kept getting in my wound and that really hurt.

Some of the finished product in the freezer

My mom took the boys outside to play while I finished up with the corn and cleaned up the kitchen. It's so much easier for me to work while she takes care of my boys. Thanks Mom!

I had dressed the boys a little too warm. It was cold, rainy, and over cast when we left Spanish. It was quite nice in Levan so my mom had to take Jake's clothes off while they were outside.

He's getting so big--he weighed 11.13 lbs. when I took him to the Dr. last week.