"Nini gone gone"

After months and months of trying to find a "good time" to take Morgan's "nini" (binky) away. I finally bit the bullet and just did it on Monday night. She's been sick off and on all fall and I didn't want to take it away when she already felt crummy. I was prepared to be up and down the stairs all night calming her, telling her it was o.k., and that she was a "big girl" now and didn't need her "nini". After our normal bedtime routine of stories and songs, I layed her down in her crib and that's when she usually starts asking for her "nini". I ignored her and tucked her in and tried to give her her bunny and baby doll that she sleeps with but since she didn't have her "nini", she threw them at me. So, I quickly left the room and that's when the real crying began. She cried and cried, so about 15 minutes later I went into her room to reassure her that I was still there, I talked to her, put her blankets back on and then left again. After another 15 minutes of hysterical wailing I went in to reassure again, at this point I wasn't sure it was ever going to stop. At one point she was standing up frantically searching for it all through her covers and saying "wherego?" (where did it go?) So, after an hour of long hard crying she finally quieted down for a good 10 minutes but started up again with a little whimpering and then off to her deep slumber. She woke up in the middle of the night crying and I went in to put her blankets on her and she went right back to sleep. The next morning she woke up happy but didn't remember that she didn't go to bed with her "nini" and one of the first things she said was "wherego" with her palms facing up. Nap time yesterday was a little whimpering, and bed time was more wailing for only 3o minutes. So I really think that it went better than expected. With her strong personality I thought for sure it was going to be a lot worse. I think we still have a few more nights of "crying it out". In the long run I'll be so happy not to have to take it with us everywhere, making sure it's always with us, and even more happier to no longer getting up in the middle of the night looking through blankets and crawling under the crib searching high and low. BYE BYE "NINI"!

Giving Thanks

We had a wonderful quiet Thanksgiving. We usually don't ever go anywhere and this year it was no different. I always used to be so sad that we couldn't be together with my family or Jeff's family for a huge get together, but over the years I've grown accustomed to it just being our little family and a simple, but hearty Thanksgiving dinner. With whatever job Jeff has had over the years has required him to work the day after Thanksgiving or on Thanksgiving day.

Our Thanksgiving morning was relaxed with a simple breakfast of gingerbread muffins, thanks to Wasatch woman magazine, and lounging in front of the T.V. watching the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. Morgan and Ian played so well together and I was able to make my apple pie, sausage stuffing and get the Turkey in the oven without interruption. We watched movies and ate pie after dinner and were so grateful to all be together in the comfort of our nice warm home.

For Family Home Evening last week Jeff printed out a paper with blank spaces that we were to fill in over the week of things that we were to be grateful for, we had a follow-up this week and it was amazing to see SO MANY things, that we have in our lives to help make us more comfortable. I am truly grateful for so many things in my life that I can't even begin to name them all. I love this time of year, and even though the Christmas season can get a little hectic it's so nice to be able to reflect upon the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and the ultimate gift that he gave us all.

Different Personalities

I love it that both of my children have their own unique and individual personalities. We have so much fun watching our little Morgan grow up and change everyday, and we often hear ourselves saying "Did Ian do that?" "I don't remember Ian saying or doing that?" Of course he could have done some of the things Morgan is doing and it's just because it's been a long time ago that he went through some of the things that she is currently going through. For instance I remember Ian being a fairly clean eater, hardly ever dropping any food on the floor and very minimal cleanup required. Morgan is another story, I learned only after my 3rd plate broke that I shouldn't give her food on a "normal people" plate. I know your probably thinking, duh? But, I honestly didn't think that she'd throw her plates on the floor on purpose. She also loves to dump food off of her plate onto her tray and then throw her plate onto the floor. Forget the cute plastic plates with compartments to keep her food separated. She'd rather dump it all onto her tray and smoosh it all around. And then there's her "nini" (binky), we only let her have it at nap time or bed time, but toward the end of the day she gets really whiny and starts asking for it. I remember Ian liking his binky but not nearly as much as she does. We took it away at 18 months and had only a few nights of crying at bedtime for it. We are almost afraid to take Morgan's "nini" away because of her love of it. Morgan throws a tantrum easier than Ian ever did. Morgan is a big tease and likes to hide things and say "where did it go" although it's not that clear it's more of a "wherego". Ian cuddled, and Morgan scratches and hits and pulls hair (really hard), and only cuddles when she's sick, sad or tired. Morgan likes to undress herself and hates wearing her shoes, Ian always kept his clothes on. Morgan likes to yell really LOUD. Some of that comes from Ian's taunting.

I love that we are all unique sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father and that he loves us all individually. I'm grateful to my Heavenly Father for trusting me to be the mother of two adorable wonderful children. It's truly an awesome responsibility.

Pumpkins

So what do you do when you have an afternoon off of work? I did this:

Baked my pumpkins that we grew in the garden this year. I'm always in the mood to bake with pumpkin in the fall, and I've never pureed my own pumpkin before, so I thought what the heck, I'll give it a try.

After an hour and a half of baking

I scooped it out of the shell and pured it all in several batches

this was after I squeezed all the water out of it

I was left with two quart sized bags.

Later that night we made these:

Pumpkin Smoothies - unfortunately they didn't taste all that great, so I won't post the recipe.
And the next day I did it all over again with the second pumpkin and skipped the smoothie part! Now I'm in the mood to bake something pumpkiny. Pumpkin chocolate chip bread or cookies anyone?

Toys 4 Sale

Ian has been bugging me for years to have a garage sale. It's a daunting tasks to me to go through ALL of our stuff and to decide what to sell, and belive me we have or I guess I should say Jeff has WAY too much stuff. So when the neighbor kids had a garage sale to sell some toys, Ian got really excited at the thought of having his own garage sale. He took the whole week to go through all of his old toys and books and mark everything with prices. Jeff made him a sign and he set up a card table and waited patiently for kids to come by. He made about $5.50 in about an hour (thanks to the neighbor kids and a parent who he got the garage sale idea from).

She's 18 Months Already?

Our little Miss Morgan turned 18 months old. I have been really anxious for her to go to nursery because it's so hard to sit through a class when they are that age. We've been going in a few times here and there just to make the transition a little easier. Her first Sunday went without a hitch, and hopefully it will last. I know that some kids do o.k. at first and then not so good later on, so I'll continue to hold my breath. I can't belive that she's old enough to go to nursery, oh how the time flies by WAY TOO FAST.

Halloween

We had a fabulous Halloween. I had the privlage of feeding this historical figure:

A hearty breakfast of pumpkin pancakes with apple cider syrup:

Then we went to Ian's school for the Halloween parade. Morgan enjoyed listening to the fun halloween music and watching all the kids parade around the school gym in their costumes. Jeff worked on his halloween spook house all day. We usually set it up at the church for the trunk-or treat but due to the wind that day he needed something to tie it down to, so he decided that our house would be the best bet.

I took the kids to our ward trunk or treat and around to a few houses in the neighborhood, and we were home before it was completly dark. It was a great day!