Beef Taco Casserole

Our new favorite recipe:

(From Campbells)

Beef Taco Casserole

1 pound ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup
1 cup Salsa
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup uncooked instant white rice
1/2 cup slightly crushed tortilla chips
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Cook beef in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until beef is well browned, stirring to break up meat. Pour off fat.
2. Stir soup, salsa, milk and rice into skillet. Spoon beef mixture into 1 1/2 quart casserole. Cover.
3. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until hot. Stir.
4. Arrange chips around edge of casserole. Sprinkle with cheese.

So yummy!

Christmas

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and enjoyed celebrating the birth of our Savior with your families. We had a crazy busy, crazy fun time with ours! I was terrible this year about taking pictures - I preferred to be down in the mix with Conni. Here's a fun little recap of our celebrations.

Christmas Eve: we had a lazy day around the house and stayed in our jammies till after lunch. Then we all got ready to head over for dinner with Dave's family. We had all but one of his sisters and their families with us. Conni loves playing with her cousins and kept walking around snitching crackers and snacks instead of eating her dinner. We played there for a while and then headed over to see my family.

We had the entire gang there for my family celebrations. There were projects for the little kids (crafts) and the big kids (setting up my dad's new tv). The cousins did their gift exchanges - and Conni almost got into opening presents. She was so tired she kept disappearing to the back bedroom with her blanket. She ended up laying in my dad's recliner while Dave and I helped her. But then she would get down and play with her My Little Ponies from her cousins and her new baby doll from Grandma & Grandpa. Then we did our sibling gift exchanges. My sister is a huge U of U fan and my hubby is a huge Y fan. She got us both BYU shirts, but wrapped them in U of U boxes. Very funny :)

Then we let the kids play and we put on the Christmas Carol animated movie with Jim Carry. It was hilarious to watch Conni watch it. The tv was much bigger than she was used to, and she was so tired. We were watching the beginning when Jacob Morley visits Scrooge. She would walk closer to the tv, then get scared and back up to be with mom. But she wouldn't get close enough for me to hold her or console her before she started going closer to the tv again. She did this over and over again - we were all laughing at her :)

We finally left there about 11:30 or so - I was exhausted and so was Conni, but Dave had some caffeine so he was set. We got Conni to bed and Dave was starting to get really giddy.

Christmas morning we slept in till about 9 and then got Conni up for presents. She was only partially interested in everything there under the tree. We started opening a few - which consisted of Dave or me starting to rip the paper, and if Conni was intrigued by what she saw inside she would finish unwrapping it. Then Conni was distracted and wanted some breakfast, so we took a break. It took us about two hours to get thru everything. Conni's favorite gifts were the rest of the plush characters from Toy Story (she already had Jessie), Minnie Mouse slippers (that she wears all the time now), and a Mickey pez dispenser. By the time we finished with all of this, Conni was ready to go back to bed (and so was I!)

We napped till about 2:30 or 3, then we got us all ready to go do visits. Conni did pretty well, considering she was still pretty tired.

Overall it was a fun holiday for us again this year. We were a little disappointed that Conni still wasn't in to opening gifts, but we had a lot of fun spending quality family time together.

The Influence of Mickey Mouse

I have two cute Mickey Mouse stories to share. Conni absolutely loves Mickey Mouse. We watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (MMC) almost once a day - if she gets her way :)

The first story - we were watching the Christmas special of MMC and it had Santa in it. She heard Mickey say they had to go rescue Santa. Conni looked at me and called (very distinctly): "Santa, where are you? Come back! I want to play with you!" Then she helped Mickey solve the puzzles to rescue Santa. Now she calls people all the time - especially her cousin Tini - "[name], where are you? Come back! I want to play with you!"

The second story - we were at Dave's parents for Sunday dinner. We had gone into the front room to have some quiet time away from the chaos to regroup. Grandma Mary had some 3-4 foot pine trees set up with some little birds scattered through the branches. Conni wanted me to get them for her to play with, but I told her they were just to look at, not to touch. She put her finger to her chin, said, "Hmmmm". Then she called, "Oh Toodles! Birds please!" (If you don't watch the show, Toodles is the character that always brings them a tool to solve the problem.) I was so pleased to see her trying to solve the problem and not get upset that I had told her no. She seemed a little put out that Toodles never showed, but she stopped trying to get at the birds too.

Signing

We use a little bit of sign language around the house. We use the sign for "I Love You" a lot - as we wave goodbye to each other when we leave, etc. On the slim chance you don't know that sign - here it is:

Conni has started signing goodbye to us to - when Dad leaves for work, when she says goodnight, when we leave Grandma's - random times throughout the day. But its very hard for a two-year-old to get her fingers to do what she wants them to without using her other hand. Conni's sign for "I Love You" has developed into this:

So close huh! But its so cute to see her sign and she waves her hand too. But she frequently is so busy looking at it herself she doesn't always sign to the person she's talking to! I will try to get some video of it to share too. So if you ever see Conni signing "L" at you, know that she loves you too.

Merry Christmas!

I know I won't be on the computer if at all for the rest of the weekend since we will be together as a family, so I wanted to hurry and wish the few of you out there that read this a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy the time to celebrate our Savior's birth and sacrifice for us so that we can have so much. I am so grateful for this truth!

Merry Christmas!

Little Red Sweater

Conni loves her little red sweater. You can see it in my posts about Making Choices, Christmas Card Pic, and Our Family Pics. Every day when its time to put on our coats, she stands at the stairs and says "Mom, Red please!!!" While this sweater is cute, its not warm enough for winter. So once she gets her red sweater on, sometimes I can get her winter coat over it. Other days - like when we're just running to Grandma's around the corner - I don't want to fight that battle so I just bring her winter coat with us.

Once she has the sweater on, Conni will leave it on all day - and I mean ALL day. She will play in it, she will eat in it, she will nap in it too. Come bath or bed time, she cries when we have to take it off.

Luckily, its a pretty sturdy sweater and its holding up well. We are definitely getting our money's worth out of this one!

I love that she has found her "favorite things" and that she can communicate them with me. Now I just need to figure out how to teach her that its too cold for just a sweater!

Making Choices

This morning when I was getting ready to get Conni dressed - picking out clothes and hair bows, etc - Conni voiced an opinion. The first thing she chose was her red and black hair bows. Then she chose her black tights. Then when I tried to put her jeans on, she adamantly refused. I pulled out her denim skirt and she excitedly said "yes!" Mom chose the white t-shirt - wanting her to look a little matched - and Conni didn't object. Then Conni chose her sparkly red shoes.

When it was time to go, I went to get Conni her coat and she told me "red" - meaning her red sweater. Well, it matched, and so I didn't feel like that was a battle to fight. Its not the warmest on such a cold day as today, but since Grandma's house is always warm and its not a long drive to get there, I thought it would be ok.

Here are the results:

She wasn't thrilled about getting her picture taken, hence the tears and the little blurries.

My favorite was Dave's comment when I sent him the picture - "2 years old and she already color coordinates better than her dad." So true :)

#200

This is my 200th post! Almost two years after I started the blog. Thank you for following along in our journey and sharing in our adventures!

Sentences

Conni is starting to speak in full sentences! And I can understand most of them!! This morning, she told me, "Mom, help lights tree please?" to say, "Mom, will you please help me turn on the lights on the tree?" Then at Grandma's this morning she said, "Mom, rock me water please?" meaning, "Mom, will you please rock me while I drink my water?" And Grandma understood the whole thing too :)

I sometimes feel like she is taking her time to speak to us, and I know I keep posting about her speech development, but its such a fascinating process! Hopefully I can continue to understand her words and we can work on her grammer skills. Conni still gets very frustrated if she is using her words and I can't understand what she wants, but we also employ the ever-useful "show me" method of translation.

Oh, and as a funny side note: we still have to work to get the "please" and "thank you"s to come out - lots of reminders as we go thru the day. But Conni totally has " 'scuse me" down! When she moves something - say a blanket off the couch - she will say "scuse me blanket". Or when she pushes me or Dave off where she wants to sit, she sweetly says "scuse me Mom/Dad." She also will use it with her various bodily functions :) So at least something of manners is getting thru to her!

What a fun journey!

Christmas Card Pic

Since I was only able to send Christmas cards to immediate family, I thought I would post the pic here to share too. Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season!

Festival pic

As promised, here's our part of the family pic from the Festival of Trees. I don't have time to upload the videos at the moment, but hopefully they make it on here soon. Thank goodness the rest of the Festival wasn't like this! Love my sweetie!

Just a side note - its cheesy, but can you tell we were matching that day? Red festive shirts with white long sleeves, our hair in a half pony and we're wearing matching flower bows! I love having a daughter!

The Festival of Trees

It is now officially Christmas - we went to the Festival of Trees last night! This is one of my favorite family traditions that we have been doing for as long as I can remember. When we were little, my other "mom" Marilyn would come with us and we would go see the trees and then go to Leatherby's after (and spill hot fudge on our nice white shirts - ahh the memories!)

As usual, Conni and I went with my mom, my sisters, my sis-in-law, and the cousins. I had to wake Conni up from her nap after only about 40 minutes, so I was a little worried about how she would do.

We got there and walked in and Conni's eyes got big and looked around and said "Mom, trees!!!" She was so excited! And of course, that made me excited! Conni was good to stay in her stroller. Her cousins took turns pushing her a little bit and I was able to get some video of her reactions to the trees. (Hopefully to be posted later)

After a little while, I could tell she was getting tired because she had less interest in things, but she was still in a good mood and happy to be in her stroller.

Then it was time to go see Santa and get her picture taken. We tried having her walk up to see Santa with her cousin Brad, hoping that would make it less scary for her, but no dice. Brad said "Conni, look its Santa" and Conni starting crying "no, Mommy, no, no!" So as usual, Conni was crying in the family picture with Santa. But we were expecting it, so we all just laughed.

Then we headed home. Conni was so tired - so much to see and such a short nap - but she was very happy. When Dad got home, so told him (with some help) that we saw "trees Dad".

I loved it! This is one of many of my favorite family traditions, and it was great to see Conni start to get into it. I'm really looking forward to sharing this with her as she gets older. Hopefully we can continue to go with the cousins, but if not, it will still be something special for us to share.

Trust me Ernie

Conni didn't want to finish her dinner tonight. The only problem was all she had really eaten was the cheese that went on her mashed potatoes. So we were the mean parents and told her she had to eat something else. As you probably guessed it, the tantrum ensued.

Conni pushed herself quickly back from the table (as she does most every night). We have tried to warn her to be careful or she will tip over, but she still does it. Tonight, however, the chair caught in the grout and backwards she went. The poor girl smacked her head HARD on the tile.

Dave and I starting moving as we saw her tip, but she was still buckled into her booster seat. I got her out and scooped her into my arms and headed straight for her blanket and our cuddle chair. (I'm such a coddling mom!) With some loves and kisses and a sippy of milk, we got her settled down. Then Daddy suggested some comfort ice cream.

While Dave was scooping the ice cream, Conni brought her Ernie doll from Sesame Street into the kitchen. We watched to see what she would do: she took Ernie to the spot where she tipped and smacked her head and jabbered to him. About all we understood was "crash" and "cry" and then she kissed his head. I'm sure she was telling him, "Trust me Ernie, if you aren't careful you will crash and hurt your head and it will make you cry." So cute!

Goings-on of late

I'm sorry I haven't posted much lately. Things have been crazy busy at home. Here's a run down of our goings-on of late.

Conni:

Conni is still growing bigger every day and adding new words all the time. Her recent growth spurt makes it hard to find shirts that are long enough to cover her tummy. I have a feeling this is the beginning of a life long battle. Conni is starting to use three words or more in sentences - like "Dad, jump me please" and "Mommy, help me door" etc. Its so exciting to watch her learn more and more verbal skills. I love right now how she says "Mommy" - so much personality - I'll add some video if I can catch her saying it.

Conni is very excited for Christmas! I don't think she completely gets the whole thing yet, but she loves looking at Christmas trees (both at home and at my parents house). If the lights aren't turned out we get a "Mom/Dad, tree lights please!" She will just sit on the floor and study it. She is also very excited to play with a little wooden nativity set I painted years ago (with Renee and Tami!) We are going to the Festival of Trees this week and I will let you know how she does visiting Santa!

Conni also loves the snow! We went sledding for Thanksgiving up at my grandpa's cabin. She had the biggest grin on her face coming down the hill! We are going back after Christmas again and she is excited! I have a couple short videos I will try to get up too.

Patti:

Patti has a new calling: Young Women's President! I got called the beginning of November and I've been busy trying to get my counselors and get organized. We were finally sustained last Sunday. My former president and secretary were amazing and took care of YW In Excellence last night. I can't say enough how grateful I am for Cindy, Katee, and Allison and for how much they have done for our YW. I am excited with my new presidency and it will be fun to see what we have coming up!

I am keeping busy at work and trying to spend more quality time with Conni. I have also been getting most of my Christmas shopping done - only a couple of people left to buy for! What a relief to be able to enjoy the Christmas season without having to go out and brave too many crowds!

I am very exicted for Christmas with Conni and hope that we can teach her the true meaning and make some lasting traditions and memories.

Dave:

Dave is as busy as always at work, but getting a lot done. He was released as Scoutmaster since I was called as president. He has been an amazing support thru the stresses this last month and he is so wonderful! He is excited with the prospect of Daddy/Daughter night once a week while Mommi does YW stuff. He is also trying to work around the house, but takes plenty of time to spend with his girls too. I have been able to get some fun videos of he and Conni just playing or spending time together the last few weeks and its been great!

Anyway. Hopefully I will get the videos uploaded and share our Thanksgiving with you. It was fun to see most of our families and share in traditions and celebrate everything we have been blessed with.

And, with all the snow that has fallen, I can officially say "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!" I'm so excited!!!!

Flu bug or bad dinner?

Sorry if this is TMI for anyone, but it was a first and there were some cute things I want to remember. If you have a weak stomach, I won't be offended if you stop here. :)

We had a "fun" night at our house last night. Conni woke up around 1:00 fussing and I rocked her back to sleep, but it was a fitful sleep. Around 2:00, I heard her fussing again and figured she might have a low-grade fever and need some tylenol to make it thru the night. (This happens every once in a while.) But when I went in, I was met with a "wonderful" smell.

Conni had thrown up, and she was mostly upset that she had it on her hands. Once I figured out what was going on, I thought for an instant about trying to clean it up myself. But then my gag set in, and I went and got Dave. Since we got married, whenever one of us is sick, Dave always has to clean it up or I make a worse mess. :)

Dave was instantly out of bed and ready to help - my sweetheart! He told me this was one time he didn't mind having a cold cause he's so congested it didn't even phase him. We got Conni stripped down and I put her in the bath tub while Dave tackled her room. Obviously her bed needed to be changed, and she had got some on the floor. Conni also had got some on our rocker - that's where she goes to wait for me when she doesn't feel well.

After I got Conni bathed, she went into her room while I ran to get some clean jammies (of course, this would happen when I haven't got the laundry folded and brought upstairs!) While I was gone she stood in her room jabbering to Daddy, telling him what happened. We got Conni in fresh jammies and got fresh bedding on her bed. Dave had everything cleaned up in Conni's room and went to take care of the laundry.

Conni found her washcloth from her bath and took it into her room. She immediately took it to the rocker and started wiping it down, knowing that it needed to be cleaned up. Then she picked up her dirty diaper and took it to the garage.

Once she was all cleaned up, she was happy and didn't seem to be feeling sick anymore. I was so proud that she recognized that things needed to be cleaned up and that she went right about doing her part. Then we cuddled and I got her back to sleep, and she slept thru till morning without anything else.

I stayed home from work with her and so far nothing else has come up. So hopefully, it was just a bad dinner (chicken) and not a bug. She's napping now and seems to be on her normal schedule. And I am so grateful to my sweet husband who doesn't get upset for being woken up at 2 am to deal with this kind of stuff!

My Little Reader

As usual, Conni woke up before I was finished getting myself ready this morning. As usual, she got out of bed and started playing. I heard her saying "cat, car, dog" and stuff like this. I went in to get her and she was sitting in our recliner reading one of her alphabet books. It was the C and D book - hence cat, car, dog, etc. I was so excited! I love that she loves to read! I know I've posted about her reading before, but it was so fun to hear her "reading" out loud! Hopefully we can keep this love of books going strong!

Minnie Mouse

My cheesy Minnie Mouse. There's a red sweater and white gloves that go with it, but Conni had no interest in wearing those so we took what we could get. She is also wearing sparkling red shoes, somewhat reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz, which she absolutely loves. Surprisingly she sat very still for her face makeup.

Happy Halloween!

Noteworthy Conni Moments

So I haven't done as well lately updating Conni's sidebar of her accomplishments. There's just so much going on! But here are a few I wanted to share.

- Driving in the car the other day, Conni asked for her sunglasses. I handed her the yellow ones and she told me "No mom, green!" I was so excited I almost hit the person in front of us trying to give her the green sunglasses.

- Playing with her barrel of monkeys recently Conni would pull them out one at a time and tell me which color they were. And she was right!

- Conni has the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics Alphabet set. We were playing with them and practicing their sounds. I spelled out her name (luckily the Z works well as a sideways N). Then she asked for Mom and Dad so I showed her the M and the D. We went to play in her room for a while and then we came back to work on dinner. She pointed to M and said "Mom", D and said "Dad", and her name and said "Conni."

- Conni also has the Fisher Price Alphabet Zoo. When we play Mom or Dad will line the animals up on the appropriate letter. We got the zoo out the other day and Conni managed to match up over half the animals by herself using the faces on the mat or the letter on the animals.

- Conni has been fascinated with the snow this week. I told her what it was and she says "Shno!" She was very hesistant to touch it at first. We picked some up on my parents lawn and showed Grandma and Conni was so proud of herself! Then when we came home on Tuesday night, Conni had to get some snow off the car to take inside to Daddy. This morning she had me open the front door so she could look at it on the lawn. Then we went outside and she was brave enough to walk on it. She was so proud!

- Dave and I alternate nights as to who does Conni's bath and gets her ready for bed. Last night was my turn. I got her ready to get into the tub, but when we got into the bathroom, she pushed me away. Then she said "I want Dad, bath." So Dave did Conni's bath. I love to hear her sentences!

The Latest on Conni's Eczema

We're still working on getting the eczema cleared up on Conni's hands. She has this really bad habit that when her finger starts to heal she picks the scabs to the point that her finger is raw and bleeding. Here's a little of what it looks like (and unfortunately this is on a good day).

So we would wrap her finger in a bandage - especially when it was open - and just slather it with neosporin.

This worked for a few days. We managed to get the open sores to scab and start healing quite nicely. Then my smart little bug figured out how to get the wrappings off. We even tried taking the wrap down around her wrist. We tried using a finger splint. We got very creative.

(On a side note, as frustrated as I am that Conni doesn't leave the wrappings on, I am impressed that she would study what we were doing when we wrapped her up and figure out how to get them off again. Not all were as easy as just sliding the wrappings off her finger. )

We went back to the dermatologist yesterday and he really didn't have anything else to offer. The steroid cream he prescribed for us hasn't really touched it. Conni has scars on several of her fingers from all of this. (If that doesn't push the guilt meter right on up!)

The only thing that we have been using the last little while that seems to have any effect is this cream that my mom found:

Right now, we are applying it every hour to two hours while Conni is awake. Kudos to Grandma who has the brunt of this task during the day. We keep trying to help Conni understand not to scratch and we talk about her "pretty fingers". She is very patient while we work on her hands and never pulls away. She is starting to help put the lotion on too which is cute!

We are a little concerned what effect our harsh dry winter will have on her hands. We just keep committing ourselves to moisturizing and maybe we can get this cleaned up soon. We have found, in general, once we get a spot to heal completely, it doesn't tend to come back in the same spot. I hope this is true with her hands too!

So if any of you know little ones with eczema like Conni's, I highly recommend the Gentle Naturals cream!!

Sleeping Spots

Every night we put Conni to bed in her toddler bed. Every night, when we come upstairs to go to bed, we go into Conni's room to put her back in her bed. We never know where in her room we will find her asleep. We can't figure out how to get her to actually sleep in her bed.

But anyway. We went in on Sunday night and this is what we found. No - we didn't turn the lights on to take the picture - the flash on Dave's phone is just this good.

I guess she still wanted to be rocked to sleep and so she did it herself!

Two Cute Mini-Stories

Yesterday, Conni did two cute little things that just made me laugh with her thought processes:

1. I stubbed my toe on the kitchen table leg. I bent in half and kind of growled in frustration at the pain. Then I kept working around the kitchen. Conni got off her stool and went and stood by the table leg. She stomped her foot and then growled like I did and pulled a frustrated face. Then she went back to her stool and kept eating her snacks.

2. We have some swim diapers left over from the summer. Rather than throw them away or whatever and waste money, I figure I'll just use them up. I put one on Conni after her nap yesterday and she insisted that I put her swim suit on her. Then she was upset that we didn't go out and get in the water. I let her wear her suit for a little while and then I finally convinced her to put on normal clothes.

I love how her little mind works!

Esthers on the Windows

Renee - thanks for reminding me I didn't explain this :)

My grandmother had a beautiful picture window in her front room. She spent hours cleaning it - making sure there were no streaks or smudges. It was beautiful.

Then her friend Esther showed up and told her her front window needed to be cleaned. She started pointing out all the spots my grandmother missed or smudged.

So now, whenever someone in my family is cleaning the window, the smudges are call "Esthers".

Cute Videos

Here are some cute videos I've been meaning to post for a while.

Washing Windows



Paiting our Nails



Dancing on the Ceiling



And, for Aunt Michelle,
The Napping House
(Book by Don and Audrey Wood)

Successful Doctor's Visit

Unfortunately, our family is all suffering from colds right now. I took Conni to the doctor's office yesterday to check for ear infections. Sure enough, she is starting one in both ears and has an eye infection. So time for antibiotics and eye drops.

But the "big" news for me is how well she did while we were there. I told her when we loaded in the car that we were going to go see Dr. Lee and get some medicine for her. She called "Doctor Lee" a couple of times on the drive up.

When we got there, she stayed by my side to check in, then went to play with the toys. She played quietly even though it was a long wait to go back. Then when it was our turn, she walked right on back to the scale and climbed on with a little help from mom.

After waiting patiently while the nurse took her temperature, Conni headed back to the room we normally wait in. She explored a little while we waited for the doctor to come in, but for the most part she again waited patiently in the chair.

Then when Dr. Lee came in, Conni knew that she needed to be up on the table. So she asked me to put her up, then she laid down and waited for Dr. Lee to check her out. She stayed on the table just waiting the whole time Dr. Lee was in with us.

After getting our prescriptions, she waved and blew kisses and said thanks to Dr. Lee. Then we checked out. The best part - as we left the office there were lots of people still in the waiting room. Conni told each of them goodbye and waved as we walked thru. Most people told her goodbye as well and waved.

I am so happy that going to the doctor is not a traumatic experience for Conni! She knows what to expect and knows what is expected of her. We have a great doctor and nurse and they give her great care and attention. What a blessing!

Prayer #2

We had another neat but simple prayer experience one night last week while we were getting Conni ready for bed. She was playing on her bed while we read stories and scriptures. Dave was kneeling to the side of her bed and I was sitting in the recliner. We asked Conni if she wanted to help Dad say family prayer.

Conni got off her bed, then knelt next to Dad and folded her arms and closed her eyes. Then she very reverently helped Dad say family prayer.

So simple, but such a sweet moment. To me it was like a painting you see at Deseret Book or something - Dad and daughter kneeling together at her bed in prayer. I live for the little things like that!

Conni's Cousins

Conni is very blessed that we are able to see most of her cousins on a regular basis. Conni loves her cousins too! She has big brothers that take such good care of her. Here are two cute examples.

Conni and Brad walking from Grandma Bonnie's to our house. Brad insisted on holding her hand and helping her get where she needed. Brad and his brothers take great care of Conni.

On the other side of the family is Spencer. This is at Sunday dinner - he wanted to take care of Conni and they found a Disney book to read.
Sorry its not bigger - I was trying to be inconspicuous in the corner.

I love that Conni is so close with her cousins. I love that we have most of our family close by. Conni's best friends are her cousins - she sees them and plays with them more than any other little kids.

Happy Halloween!!

I know that it is still September. But can I tell you how excited I am for Halloween! It is one of my favorite holidays - second only to Christmas. I already have my decorations up at home! (A week earlier than normal since I'm hosting book club.)

Conni has had fun investigating the decorations. I have a tole-painted Frankenstein and a witch on the wall in the kitchen. Conni likes to go tell them all sorts of fun things and blow them kisses. I think she thinks Frankenstein is a pirate, because she keeps telling him "arrrr".

Anyway. I know its early, but let me be one of the first to wish you all "Happy Halloween!!!"

Cute Pics

While making Conni's mittens (see post below), Conni was her usual happy self. She waited patiently while Mom and Grandma used this curious machine to make the mittens, then she wanted to check it out.

Then when we came home and we were showing Daddy how they worked, Conni was all for wearing them.
Funny side note - the mittens are quilted like hot pads. Once Conni got both mittens on, she jumped off Daddy's lap and went over to the stove like she was cooking dinner. Then she took them off and went back to playing. Just some cute and happy side notes to our otherwise emotionally stressful weekend :)

Thumb Sucking and Eczema - the mittens

Conni has had eczema spots on her hands for probably about six weeks now. We have been using the steroid cream that normally works, but Conni tends to scratch and pick at her hands. Here is what they look like at their absolute best. They are normally covered in scabs:

Conni is also a chronic thumb sucker. Ever since we took away the Binky in February she sucks her thumb.

This last week we went to the dermatologist to see what our options were. He said that I was doing everything right (which was great to hear), but with her sucking her thumb she was losing too much moisture from her hands to prevent the eczema. He gave us a sample of a stronger steroid cream to try for her hands and suggested we continue trying what we need to get her to stop sucking her thumb.

We have already tried about everything we could think of or that had been suggested to us to help Conni stop sucking her thumb. We understand why she does it, but it is having such a drastic affect on her hands that we decided we needed to take drastic efforts.

My mom helped me make these "mittens" for Conni to wear when she goes to sleep:

Conni doesn't fight us to put them on, but she certainly isn't happy about wearing them. It is heart wrenching to hear her screaming to take them off. The good news is that she only screamed like that Saturday night. Sunday nap was a little rough. Sunday night, while she was still upset about wearing them, she seemed to accept her fate and only fuss a little more than normal.

So far, as long as we tie them tight enough, Conni hasn't been able to take them off her hands. This morning when I took them off, she immediately put her thumb in her mouth. I finally had to threaten to put the mittens back on to get her to take her thumb out.

I feel like such a mean mom. I wish I could get Conni to understand the consequences and choose to leave her hands alone and let them heal. We know that until Conni stops sucking her thumb, we will have to struggle with eczema spots on her hands. I know that I am not hurting her, but it sure wears on us to hear the anguished cries of our baby. But for now we are going to continue and see what happens. We just have to get her to stop. I know that she can overcome this, and soon enough it won't be a big deal. I just hope our nerves - Mom's, Dad's, and Conni's - can survive the trip. I'll keep you posted!

Family Pics & Conni 2 Yr Pics

We went to JC Penneys last Saturday and got our family pictures and Conni's 2 year pictures. Conni was good for a bit, but when she was done, she was DONE! Thanks to Grandma Bonnie for doing Conni's hair and coming with us to wrangle Conni.

As a side note - sorry the pictures are a little grainy. We didn't get the cd from JCP this time because they jacked up the price to $160!!! If you want a cd of your pictures - don't go there - we won't be going back.

Thumb Sucking - Help!

Conni has become a thumb sucker. Ever since we took away the binkies in February. At our dentist appointments today, the dentist encouraged us to get her to quit sucking her thumb as soon as we could.

With that in mind - I need help! We have been trying things off and on for several months. We have tried the bitter nail polish, vinegar on her thumb, bandaids, just asking her to stop sucking her thumb (which sometimes works). But the biggest problem is at bedtime. She can't seem to fall asleep without her thumb.

I'm taking a break from researching to type this post and I haven't found anything I totally love. If you have any suggestions, will you please share?

Wish me luck!

Communicating

I am so excited that Conni is starting to communicate! Its starting to be more than just random words.

Grandma Bonnie came with us today for family/Conni bday pictures. (The pictures were cute, but Conni didn't want to be there. I'll share those later.) When we got home and got out of the car, Conni saw Grandma's car parked in front of our house. She told me her words for "grandma", "car", and "bye", and then gave me a big kiss and hug. I asked if she wanted to go for a ride with Grandma in her car to Grandma's house. She grinned and said yes, then told me and Dave goodbye. Grandma took Conni to her house to swing and Conni was the happiest girl.

I know that soon enough I will miss her jabber. She went into the office with me yesterday and would pick up my office phone, jabber, then say goodbye and hang up. Then promptly repeat. But, I love that we can communicate with each other and avoid more tantrums cause I understand her. I am so excited!

Look out Tacoma

I just wanted to share some exciting news from my friend Katee. She received her mission call yesterday and she is going to Tacoma Washington!

Katee is going to be an awesome missionary! I have loved getting to know her and having the chance to serve with her. She is one of Conni's favorite people and we will miss her very much while she is gone. The people of Tacoma are very blessed!

Congrats Katee - we are all very proud of you and excited for you!

Reaping the rewards

In my last post, I told of how rough dinner was on Wednesday night. I am super excited to report that Thursday was the exact opposite! Conni was the most well behaved child for us on Thursday. She did what she was asked on the first or second try. When it was time to make dinner, she happily turned off Toy Story (her current favorite movie) and went upstairs. I was making waffles, and Conni wanted to help. She kept following me around with her stool so she could reach up to do what I was doing. So that I could actually get the waffles cooking, Dad helped Conni measure water and stir it in her bowl (so cute!)

Then when it came time to eat, she sat right down, and folded her arms and closed her eyes for the prayer. Then she ate with good manners and asked for more. She ate two whole waffles - which right now is a record! After dinner she asked Daddy to read stories to her. They had some good daddy/daughter time while I ran to an appointment. The rest of the night went as spectacularly - no tantrums or anything! She went down to bed without fussing and everything.

Hopefully as we continue thru this "two" year we will have more positive days than negative. We are working on helping Conni use her words to tell me when she is upset. My favorite thing is when she is winding up for a tantrum and I ask her a question or give her another option she will stop mid-whine and say "hmmm" with her finger on her lips. So cute!

One Patient Daddy

Much to my chagrin, Conni has totally learned how to play me. When she starts crying and won't stop, she gets laid in bed. (Normally we only get tears when she is tired.) I leave the door open and tell her she can come out when she has stopped crying. Most of the time, a few minutes later she emerges from her room with a grin and is cheered for "no more tears".

Last night, Conni didn't want to sit down to dinner with us. She started to really get into it, so she was laid down. After a few minutes, we could hear that she was calmed down, so Dave went into her room to get her to come eat. She started getting upset again so we gave her a couple more minutes. Then Dave went back to her room and she was playing. She still didn't want to come eat dinner though.

Well, I was frazzled for the day with her "terrible twos" attitude, so part of me just wanted to let her stay in there so Dave and I could have a nice dinner together. But my smart sweetie was ready for the "battle of wills". He brought Conni to the table and strapped her into her booster seat. She proceeded to scream and cry and shove her plate away from her. Dave and I ate dinner and tried to have a "normal" conversation over the noise. Then I got ready and left for our ward book club. Conni was slowing down at this point, but still throwing a tantrum and refusing to eat.

When I got home from book club I found the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned. Turns out that Conni continued her tantrum for about another 45 minutes. My sweet Dave didn't want to just leave her sitting at the table, so he cleaned the kitchen to help keep his head about him. Dave finally took Conni's plate from the table and Conni asked very nicely for a peanut butter sandwich. She ate that and then she and Daddy had some play time.

I know that we will probably have another battle for dinner tonight, but I am so glad that Dave chose to show Conni who was in charge. I hate that I am weak and give in to the tears. Seeing Dave's success has really strengthened my resolve to try harder. I have always known that Dave was a stubborn guy, but this time it worked to my advantage :)

Thanks sweetie for being such an involved Dad and having patience when I can't seem to find any!

The Black Eye

My little toddler is a very active girl. I still can't believe how big she is. Well, as all toddlers, she is still kind of clumsy.

On August 2nd, Conni was playing and was running down the hall to the playroom with some toys in her hand. She tripped and fell, and came up bleeding. The best we can figure out is that she landed on one of the toys and that's what cut her eye.

The cut wasn't too bad, but as it was right over her eye it bled pretty badly and started to swell right away. Luckily, we didn't have to get stitched. But, Conni did get a pretty good shiner! Here are some pictures:

A little bit after it happened - once she was calmed down

Later that night

Later that night - a different shot

She was very patient when we needed to clean it off and sat very still when we needed to look closely at it throughout the day. She also didn't seem to let it slow her down. Once she was all settled down she was off chasing her cousins and playing some more. The next day her eyelid was a beautiful shade of purple.

Conni has a small scar now, but already it has started to fade. I am very grateful that it wasn't worse and she is still such a healthy, happy little girl!

The New Playground

My dad, with help from my nephew Brad, decided that he needed to build a swingset/playground in his back yard. He started it several weeks ago and we have been walking around the corner to check his progress and test his new additions regularly. This is the current state. If you know my dad, you know he will always be improving something on it. From these pictures he is still working on getting flags and a captains wheel.

It had been great having such a nice and private playground almost quite literally in my back yard. (For those of you who may not know, the cinder block wall to the left of the small slide is my back fence.)

Thanks to Dad for building something so much fun, and thanks to Mom for letting him! And thanks to you both for letting us come almost every night to play when I need to get Conni tired enough to go to bed!

The big kid swing

(There is also a bucket/toddler swing around the back side)

Mother/daughter time

The playground

Cute Miscellaneous Pictures

Just a few quick snapshots of Conni doing what she does best - being cute!

The Diva

Rough-housing with mom

(There is a cute video on Dave's phone I'll post when I can!)


My kitchen helper

Helping Penguin watch a Disney clip

(This is the same penguin that she used to be terrified of.

Now they are best friends!)

Click here for the penguin story

Swimming with the YW

Last week for our YW activity we went swimming at a neighbor's pool. We couldn't stay long and I didn't think Conni would want to get in the pool, so I didn't put Conni in her suit or take a towel or anything.

Well, we got there and I figured she would like to dangle her toes in the pool. She practically jumped off the edge trying to get in the water! Luckily my girls and our leaders love Conni. Rebecca took Conni around and let her get used to the water. Then the girls would take a few turns with her too. And Cindy had a little floater there that she let Conni have a turn in. Yes, she is in her clothes, but look how happy she is! I felt like a ditsy mom, but Conni sure had a good time!

We went swimming again last night with the girls and this time we were prepared. I was in the water with her this time so I didn't get any pictures. We borrowed a life vest from my sister, but Conni hated wearing it so I let her be in the water without it. Once we figured out a way for her to hold on to me without feeling like I was actually holding on to her, we did really well! Looks like I need to sign us up for some swim lessons next year!

July

July has been crazy! The month just flew by and I realize I haven't done much with the blog. So here's the few things that have kept me busy.

My grandpa was in the hospital most of the month of July, and so my mom was spending a lot of time up there. Luckily Steph was able to come down and spend time to help with the house and the kids - thanks so much Steph! Then grandpa passed away on the 25th and we had his funeral that week. I miss him, but I am glad that he has been released from his suffering. I have so many wonderful memories and I learned so much from him.

Then I found out, as I emailed many of you, that I only had a job thru the end of July. So I spent all my computer time researching and applying for part-time jobs. I had lots of interviews - thanks again to Steph for making herself available to watch Conni while I went to these! Then on the 26th I finally got a job offer for a position I was very excited about. I'm now working for a company called Wize Solutions as their office admin. I have had to increase my hours that I work, but Wize has been very upfront that they would be willing, once I'm trained, etc, that I could only be in the office a few hours and do the rest of the work at home. I am so grateful for this opportunity and I know that my Heavenly Father has been watching out for us and leading us where He wants us to go.

The rest of my time has been spent with Conni and family and trying to help out with the kids as much as I can. Conni loved having Justine and Joseph down, and she would ask to go over to see them almost every evening. My dad has been buiding a playground/tree house adventure in their back yard, and so we have had to keep testing everything out for him. I will have some cute pics and videos of this to post eventually too.

When I write it all down, it doesn't seem like I have had much going on, but I guess its all been very emotional stuff. But we are doing well and I have had several experiences this month that remind me how much my Heavenly Father loves me and that He is watching over me.

Then this Saturday my baby turns 2! These years are flying by and I am loving being a mom. I will post some fun videos/pics from her bday this weekend. Stay tuned!

Role Playing

Conni has started to get the concept of role playing! On Wednesday, she got her plush Minnie Mouse and was carrying it around the house. We got out her doll's sippy cup and Conni would give Minnie some milk. Then we were playing in her room. She recreated her bedtime routine with Minnie: she read some stories, put Minnie's milk by her bed, put Minnie in bed, put the blanket on her, and then gave Minnie a kiss goodnight! Then she insisted that we turn out the lights and she closed the door.

I love to see her little brain figure things out! She's such a cute little bug :)

Grandpa (Longer Post)

My Grandpa has been sick lately, and it has got me reflecting. Since this is just as much my journal for myself as anything else, I wanted to post some of my favorite memories of my Grandpa. I'll try to keep the stories short, but a lot of them are really funny :) And some of them won't be funny to anyone else, but I sure enjoyed taking a minute to remember!

Bucket Lid Frisbees:

My grandpa had a body shop in Murray. He bought the house across the street so that they could take care of his mom. One day, after Grandpa had retired, he invited me and my sisters outside to go play Frisbee. Well, we didn't have any Frisbees, so Grandpa breaks out the 5 gallon bucket lids. We were playing in the courtyard area in the center of all the garage bays having a great time. Then one of the lids broke a window in one of the bays. We looked at Grandpa mortified at what had happened. Grandpa started to giggle and told us to aim for the windows ON PURPOSE! We had so much fun! We finished breaking all the windows and went back to tell Mom and Grandma what had happened. Come to find out, Grandpa was getting the windows replaced the next day anyway, so might as well have some fun!

Lace on a Gunny Sack:

We stopped at my grandparents house after we had been out trying to find a dress for an upcoming dance. We weren't having much luck, and my grandpa wanted to help. After sitting there for a few minutes thinking about it, he offered to go get a gunny sack, and he would sit down at Grandma's sewing machine and add a row of lace at the bottom. Then if that wasn't long enough, he would add another row. (My grandpa is a very mechanical man, but the thought of him sewing was a little ludicrous!)

Hiking at the Cabin:

My grandparents have a cabin in Big Cottonwood Canyon just below Solitude. Its a great place to be in the summer to get away from the heat. One day we were up and Grandpa wanted to take us hiking. I was in high school, and I'm not much of a hiker, so I didn't want to go. I had worn sandals on purpose thinking it would get me out of the hike. But, Mom insisted that me and my sisters go hiking with Grandpa. So we headed out. I have no idea where we went. We kept finding all this "trails" that were probably more just animal paths. Grandpa said we were fine and we could go that way. Then we came to a "No Trespassing" sign. Grandpa giggled and said that it didn't apply to us, and that we could go on thru. I looked at Sarah a little skeptically, but knew that we needed to stay with Grandpa. So we did, and soon enough we came out to a road, without incident. I love being in the mountains with Grandpa and the history he shares and the knowledge he has of nature.

Grandpa's Shop:

I mentioned above about my Grandpa's auto body shop. When I was little we would go visit him at work. I remember the orange chairs in the waiting room. He also had a soda machine stocked with the half-size soda cans. He would give us each 50 cents and send us in there to get one every time we visited. I felt so grown-up getting my own soda!

Jokes:

My Grandpa has a great sense of humor. The only problem, is that some of his best jokes he learned in the navy and are not suitable for my young and sensitive ears. I love to watch Grandpa sit in his chair and watch the wheels turn in his head. He will giggle and then shake his head and then think some more. Then he will call me over to his side, and start giggling again, and tell me the cleaned up version of his joke. Half the time I didn't get them, but it was just funny cause Grandpa and the other adults were laughing so hard.

The Purple Billy Goat:

When we were younger, my little sister was quite gullible. (I'm sure I never was - ha ha). Grandpa used to always try to convince her that there was a purple billy goat that lived across the street with the chickens. We would all tease that we could see it, but Steph never could. Then when Steph finally got her contacts, we stop by to "show" grandma and grandpa. She looked out their picture window and said "Grandpa, I found the purple billy goat!"

I could go on, but I just wanted to share a little bit about how fun a guy my Grandpa is. He is very special to me and I love him!

Beating the Heat

We got a little kiddie pool for Conni to splash in. Here's a cute video of her enjoying it.

And yes, I know that her swimsuit is not quite long enough to cover her adorable little tummy. This is the 24 month suit that looked like it would fit her that we bought last year. She can wear it a few times and then we'll break out the 3T suit. Its just too cute :)

Hair Bows

I have been making these hair bows for Conni for a few months now. I love how they look in her hair. I am thinking of making them to sell on etsy.com and I would love to know what you guys think.

They are about two inches in diameter and I am thinking of selling them for $5 a pair. Would you pay that? I would also have the option for custom colors as requested.

The other thing is that I would have to come up with a name for my store. I have some crocheted afghans and stuff I would sell too. So I was debating the name "PattisProjects" for my store. What do you think of that?

Please comment and let me know what you think. I would really appreciate the feedback!

Conni wearing her cute bows

(such a cheesy girl)

Bow colors I've made so far

Top and Bottom of the bow

Such Good Friends

Tini has been down this weekend with her family visiting. She and Conni are such good friends. Mom and Steph and I were in the family room visiting. Then we heard the girls laughing really loudly and screaming in delight from the back bedroom. My mom went back to investigate and she called for Steph and I to bring a camera.

We get back to the bedroom to find both girls in one bed, tickling each other. They were pretending to be asleep, then waking each other up. They were laughing so hard and so were we!

Girls Camp Skit

Here's the video of my girls doing their skit up at YW camp. I'm sorry the vid is so shaky! Enjoy - they worked hard on it!

Conni's Headboard

I picked up some vinyl letters from the dollar store. Dave suggested we put Conni's name on her headboard. It was a super cute idea, and this is how it turned out!


Conni loves her letters. We are working on learning ABC's and helping her recognize her name. She will lie on her bed on her tummy and trace the letters. She points to them and says her version of "Conni". Its so adorable!

Finished Deck

Dave finished our back deck a while ago, but I kept forgetting to put up a picture. Here's our cute Conni posing on the steps after we were playing with sidewalk chalk. Thanks for your hard work sweetie - we love the deck!

Girls Camp

We survived girls camp! I'm finally getting a minute to sit down and relive it all. I will have some videos to post later - right now I'm having software issues.

Our camp this year was a stake camp. Our theme was "There's No Place Like Home" based on the Wizard of Oz. Our ward was the Cowardly Lions and the value of Faith. So we focused a lot on faith and courage.

We went to stake property just east of Park City called Aspen Ridge. It was really pretty there. Again, once I get the software fixed, I'll try to share some pics.

The youth leaders headed up on Monday and ran the Provo River. Ok, they floated lazily along. But it sounds like they had a fun time. Our amazing Balmforth family (Cindy, Lee, and Katee) also went up Monday and set up our tents and the rest of camp. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

The rest of us headed up Tuesday. We had a total of nine girls, including our youth leaders. The weather on Tuesday was great. Clear and warm, but not hot. The girls got set up and we had a fun afternoon. Katee had prepared a neat faith walk for us to do Tuesday evening. Each of the girls were blindfolded and given an egg. They were told it was something that was precious to them and that they needed to take care of it. Then the leaders took one or two girls each and wandered them around our campsite, providing distractions and obstacles to overcome. Our goal was to get them to give us their egg. I tricked one of my girls in to giving it to me, and she was so trusting I felt really bad. As we were leading the girls around, it started to lightly rain.

Then we gathered the girls together and had them sit on blankets and take off their blindfolds. Then it started to hail! Katee and Cindy had gotten a life-size stand up of Christ for the girls to look at while Katee shared her message. Unfortunately though, because of the weather, we had to cut it short. The hail was the size of small marbles! So we got the girls back to their tents and tucked them in for the night.

Wednesday was pretty, but cool. It was breezy most of the morning. We did some crafts and played some games. Then we got word that there was going to be really high winds. So we had the girls hang out in their tents starting around 1:00. Then it started to rain. Really hard. And the wind blew even harder.

Cindy gathered the girls on dinner duty and we made dinner. In the rain and the wind. Just like the pioneers. It was very cold! One of our leaders had decided to stay in the tent and just skip dinner rather than get wet and cold. One of our girls Jordan noticed this and took the initiative to make her a plate and took it to her tent. I was so excited to see them serve like this! We got everyone some food and then we all ran for our tents to eat. I headed to my car to try to dry out my clothes and get warm.

We went around and checked on everyone and told them they would have to continue to stay in their tents for the rest of the night because of the weather. These poor girls - in their tents with hardly anything to do from one in the afternoon until Thursday morning! The storm continued to increase in intensity, and then it started snowing. It got down to 21 degrees Wednesday night! I'm excited to say that my girls are troopers and they all remained relatively positive considering what we were going thru. We all had an increased appreciation for what the pioneers had to go thru.

Thursday came bright and surprisingly warm. We started to dig out from a couple of inches of snow and try to get everything dried off. The girls survived the night pretty well, with only a few of them getting very cold. I was very grateful to have Dave's winter scout sleeping bag so that I somehow survived that cold night!

Thursday we did everything we were supposed to do on Wednesday - stake games, skits, another devotional, etc, as well as finishing some crafts and our testimony meeting. It was a great night and I was excited to hear how the weeks events had strengthened the girls.

Friday morning, we packed up bright and early and got ourselves home by about noon. The girls stuck with it and got everything cleaned up that needed to and then we all went home for a nap.

Somehow I still managed to get myself very sunburned - to the point that my nose blistered! Someday I will learn how to camp without getting dehydrated or sunburned. :)

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but this was camp in a nutshell. It was definitely a harder year in terms of the weather, but I think we were all able to get something out of it and to grow stronger.

I am grateful for the chance I have to serve in YW. It can be difficult at times, but so much fun too! I am grateful for my mom for teaching me to love YW and camp, and for taking Conni so that I could go. I'm grateful to my sweet hubby Dave for letting me go and supporting me in my calling. I'm also grateful for the great women I serve with in YW. I could not have made it thru camp without Katee and Cindy - they did all the hard work and I hope they know how much they are appreciated!

Conni's Pillow

Dave and I got a new bedset and we ended up with some extra stuffing from one of the pillows. I decided to make Conni her own pillow. We went to the fabric store and Conni chose her own fabric for the pillow case. It was so cute - she carried it all over the store and everything.

I finished up with camp stuff so I had some time today to work on it. Here's how it turned out! Conni loved it too. As soon as we got it out, she laid down on it and started snoring. Then she ran to her room and got her blanket and continued snoring on it. We tried to get some video, but Conni lost interest and asked to watch videos instead.

I know that it does not match her blanket at all, but she chose it so we bought it!