This is what I've been up to

My friend is celebrating her 18th anniversary today with her husband.  I am babysitting.  It is a ton of fun with a perfect little baby.  He is 2 1/2 months I think.  He is just so cute!  Anyway, I wanted to take some pictures of him for my friend (she said she need some for her birth announcements).  Then I remembered that I had just crocheted this cute little pumpkin hat and I just had to try it out. 

I've been crocheting a lot lately.  Mostly baby stuff and smaller projects.  I have a better chance of actually finishing them if they are small.  Anyway,  maybe when he wakes up I'll have him model the other baby hats I've finished.

Cooking with Hazel

This past week it has kind of felt like fall!  Amazing for Texas this time of year. Usually it is still about 90 degrees. and sticky.   I feel like the Lord is answering our prayers for rain, and the cooler weather is a definite plus.  When the seasons change I want to start eating soups and breads and bake more.  So to celebrate the first week of fall, Hazel and I made chicken pot pie!  I wanted to make everyone their own pie.  Hazel had the idea of using my animal cracker cookie cutters to add animals to the tops.  What a creative little girl!  It was fun to bake with her.  Next time though, I'll use smaller bowls.  The individual pies were still a bit much food.   

Things I've learned about grocery shopping

1. Don't take your kids grocery shopping with you.  My older children don't like to go anyway, so that's no problem.  But Hazel loves it.  However, I hear a lot of "I want" and "can we get?"  Although I must say, that Hazel is good at making choices if I say you may choose this or that and if she sees something else she wants and I tell her she must but this back if she wants the something else, she chooses just one, and even reminds me if I accidentally let her get more than the one item.  (it's usually a treat: ice cream, smoothie, cookie, etc.)
2. Go shopping later in the evening at a store that actually has a closing time (not open 24 hours).  When I walk into Super Target at 9:35 pm (I go then because finally the kids are in bed, and I know the store will not be crowded; I really dislike crowded stores) and the nice lady comes on the intercom every 5 minutes to let me know that the store is closing at 10:00 pm, I know that a) I have to hurry to be able to get everything I need and b) I will be leaving the store at 10 pm.  Sometimes I end up wandering the store for way too long and waste a lot of time when I am at a store that is always open.
3. Don't go shopping when you're hungry, stressed, depressed, rushed, or bored.  First of all, I always end up buying all the junk that I don't need and shouldn't buy.  When I do my big shopping, I am usually good about not buying lots of junk food or fun food/stuff because I've just eaten.  My problem is later going to the store just to satisfy a craving for Newman-O's ( seriously really good and way better than Oreos), or when I am stressed.  I end up with 3 bags of Junk, instead of just the cookies, my wallet is lighter and I am heavier.  Not good.  So this rule helps you save money and lose weight (theoretically - I'm still working on this).
4. Use reusable shopping bags. I love bags anyway. And shopping bags is another way to feed this small obsession.  The great thing about my green bags, besides all the "green" reasons for using them, is that I can put a whole cart's worth of food into 4 bags, instead of the 20 plastic bags.  And they don't roll around in the back of my car. It only takes me 1 or 2 trips to carry everything back into the house rather than either cutting off the circulation in my arms from trying to carry 18 bags at once, or making 10 trips from the car to the kitchen to get all the food into the house.
5. Carry cash - leave the plastic at home.  When I only have cash to pay for my food, I am a lot more careful about my shopping choices.  Helps to keep on budget, and minimizes the junk that finds it's way into my cart.

What have you learned about grocery shopping?

"We went on a date - a fun date."

Tonight Hazel and I went on a mother-daughter date. 

We called some friends and their moms and we all went to the Austin Ballet's production of Peter and the Wolf.

 

The girls thoroughly enjoyed it.  They cheered, they were a bit afraid of the wolf, they loved the way the duck danced.  After the performance, we met the dancers.  Hazel especially loved the cat. Hazel and her friends were dancing down the side walk afterward.

Then we went to dinner at Kerby Lane Cafe.  And we went for gelato at Central Market afterwards (nothing better than Central Market's bubblegum gelato).

Tracy Aviary

One of the outings we went on while we were in Salt Lake was visiting the Tracy Aviary. It is a small fun little place in the park.

We had lots of fun. Maddy came with us.

We saw some cool birds. We went to the bird show. There were a bunch of trained birds. The best was the golden eagle. I think the aviary has 3 or 4 golden eagles and at least 2 bald eagles. They are such powerful birds. When you see them up close they are pretty awesome.

I would definitely recommend going to the aviary. And when you get done, you can go to the playground and play, or run through the sprinkler park, or ride the ferris wheel at the mini adventure park, or have a picnic, or feed the ducks, or canoe on the duck pond, or go for a run around the park (nice place to run), or just lay on a blanket under the trees. My kids would have been happy to just be at the playground every single day.

The rains came down and the floods came up

Last Sunday our Stake held a fast for rain. Well, we now have some rain. Heavenly Father really has answered our prayers. A great side effect is better temperatures (around 85 rather than pushing 100 degrees). I love it.
Another nice blessing is the lesson we've been able to teach our children about the power of prayer and fasting, that Heavenly Father does hear us when we pray, and he gives us the things that we need.

These pictures are from a lightning storm we had a couple weeks ago. There wasn't any rain, just lots of lightning. And though it looks like it hit the fence right in front of me, it didn't. And it was dark not day time. The lightning just lit up the picture.

These two pictures were of the same strike (I love the rapid fire shutter on my camera:) But we did decide to go in soon after. The house behind us (that white one in the middle in these photos) was hit by lightning a couple nights before these pictures were taken. And 3 houses on our street have been hit as well. (one strike left a gaping hole in the front of a house down the street.) I think we must be on a slight hill. Anyway, we went in.

Glowing in the Dark

These are the funnest jammies ever!I saw them at walmart a couple weeks ago and got them for Hazel... just because...(Do you need a reason to buy cute jammies?) Anyway, I thought the little heart applique on the front and the heart shaped bones were cuteness enough. Then I put her in bed...
They actually really glow!!! And glow very brightly! Enough to light up her face under the covers! So check your walmart...$7 is a steal for fun, cute jammies. (I also saw some very similar ones at Gymboree tonight. but they didn't have the applique, and I can't vouch for their glowiness.)

EDTA: they also come in boy black that glows, as well as in sizes for infants!