milestones

Some important developments have come about in Grant's young life. He has always been completely fascinated with balls, trucks and bikes.  His proclivity for these things has only grown as the weather has gotten warmer. He wants to be outside all the time. He wants to throw, bounce, kick and watch. When we are driving, he points out every truck ("guck"). Every truck. There is a little boy across the street who likes to shoot hoops in his driveway. Grant will stand at the window and watch him for really impressive stretches of time.  Cori gave him his first batting lesson a little while ago. The boy was on cloud nine.

A couple of Saturdays ago, we were all chillin in our PJs. Cori and I were working on getting breakfast made. Grace and Grant were wandering in and out of the house. We were keeping an eye on them to be sure they stayed on the deck. As we were getting ready to sit up to the table, we realized that Grant wasn't around. He wasn't on the deck either. We found him sitting in the neighbor's yard, facing the sunrise, basketball in hand. Cori called out to him, "How's it going bud?" Grant waved and said, "Bah!" (Ball) It was so darn cute. 

The most significant incident occurred two nights ago. We had just finished up with family prayer and all the good-night loves and kisses. The remote was in Grant's reach and he picked it up and took it to Cori. Then the following conversation ensued:

Grant: handing Cori the remote, bah bah (Grantese for basket ball)

Cori: Basket ball?

Grant: nodding his head, heah. ('yeah' with out the 'y')

Cori: looking at the remote You want to watch some basket ball?

Grant: huge smile Heah!

Cori: looking at me with firm resolve. I gotta make good on this. We have to watch a little. 

Grant: climbing into Cori's lap with the expression of one who has just died and gone to heaven.

Cori: turning on the playoffs with the expression of one who has just died and gone to heaven.

"The beach is that way"

I wasn't raised in a sports family. Sometimes these kind of obsessions don't make a lot of sense to me. But I get a feeling that I've got a lot of balls, cleats, stinking laundry, practices, games, and possibly a really big truck in my future. 

a small victory (though you can guess how this one ended)

the rest of our weekend

Dad brought some paints for Grace. They made lots of projects.

We went to the park.

We visited debate square. I love how Grant is holding that dandelion like it is going to kill him. He is such a boy.

Speaking of dandelions, Grace picked about 5 thousand and shared them with everyone in sight.

Dad mowed our lawn. Doing yard work in a dress shirt is a quintessential characteristic of my father.

We tried to visit two museums which were closed. But on the property of the Stevenson County Historical Society Museum is a big magnolia tree that was in bloom. I love these trees.

Dad and Grace did some cooking out of her cook book.

Then Dad and I made an early trip to the airport this morning and he is on his way to South Carolina. Thanks, Dad, for fitting us into your itinerary! We had a great weekend.

Some news

My Dad is here for the weekend. He had a layover in Chicago and decided to make a weekend of it. We are so happy to have him with us! 

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On our way out to pick Dad up yesterday, the kids and I stopped to do some shopping at a h-u-g-e outlet mall. It takes precisely 50 minutes to get there from our house. This is a dangerous discovery indeed.

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"How would you feel if I told you that you could be having unprotected hanky panky by the middle of October?" This was my doctor's greeting when he called me yesterday afternoon. It was his way of saying that my body is finally normal! Six months, and we can try again.

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We had a really great outing this afternoon. We drove about an hour west to Galena, a small historic town that boasts the home of Ulysses S. Grant (Civil War general and 18th President of the United States). Then we drove across the mighty Mississippi to Dubuque Iowa just to have a look. Making our way back across the river, we passed into Wisconsin for about 3 minutes. We finished the outing with butter burgers and custard shakes at Culver's. (And mom, we are taking lots of pictures!) 

A pretty home in Galena

Dubuque Justice building

sleepy girl

image diary 4.20.09

Blessings

Warmer weather at last, and rain! Things are starting to get pretty green around here. The kids are able to play outside more and more, and Cori has started investigating golf courses. We even put our seedlings outside a few days this week. I'm rather looking forward to not having our garden in our kitchen.

A permanent nursery leader was called in our ward today. As she stood up to be sustained, Cori and I looked at each other and in unison whispered, That poor woman!  Grant did better today. He cried for a little while, but calmed  down after about 20 minutes. Cori and I stayed far away and got reports from other people who stuck their heads in for us.

Grant's growing vocabulary. It is making everyone a little happier.

My Cori who takes care of me in every way. He is currently unloading the dishwasher whilst I dabble about on the computer. He has a lot on his plate yet always looks for ways to help me with my load. I'm so happy being married to this man.

two of a kind

Except that in Grant's case, I finally became a parent and put kids books in reach.

Grant, yesterday

Gracie, 10 months old

Enchurritos

This is a family favorite that I find myself making often. So, for posterity's sake I'm making a record of my method.

One of the best things about Mexican food is that it is a handful of ingredients that can be put together in any number of combinations. My family lived in So. California during my pre-adolescent years. There is a heavenly fast foodish Mexican place there called Miguel Jr's. When Cori and I were living in LA and my mom came to visit us, we spent 2 1/2 hours crawling in traffic along the 91 to get to Corona just to eat at Miguel's. It is really that good. Anyway, at Miguel's they have what is called the 'garbage burrito'. It is pretty much everything on their menu wrapped into a tortilla, then drenched in enchilada sauce and cheese. It would take me a week to eat it.

I can't really compare what follows to a Miguel's garbage burrito, nor to anything from any of our other favorite Mexi places. But it is a fun burrito/enchilada thingy that is kind of turned inside out and that my kids think is fun and that gets them to eat some vegetables. 

Enchurritos

1 lb ground meat I made this last night with turkey and no one seemed to notice...

1 packet taco seasoning We like Taco Bell

1 14.5 oz. can beans I usually use refried but regular pintos or black beans work too

1 19 oz. can red enchilada sauce. We like Old El Paso

4-6 flour tortillas, depending on their size

2 cups grated cheese

produce to garnish- lettuce, cilantro, peppers, tomatoes, lime, whatever your kids will eat

hot sauce and sour cream

1. Cook meat and prepare according to taco seasoning directions.
2. Add beans, heat through and stir until evenly combined.
3. Pour a portion of the enchilada sauce onto a large plate or dish. Cover the bottom of a square baking with some sauce as well. 
4. Using the sauce on the plate, cover both sides of a tortilla with enchilada sauce.
5. Spoon in some of the meat and bean mixture

6. Add in some cheese
7. Roll tightly and place in the square baking dish
8. Repeat until you run out of the meat and bean mix, or until you run out of room in your baking dish. If you are smart, these two things will happen at the same time. I almost always have some meat and bean stuff leftover.

9. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the rolled burritos. If you have any cheese left over, you can sprinkle that on top too.
10. At this point, you can either throw it into a 350* oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese in the center burrito is melted, OR you can put it into the fridge for a while. I love this meal for busy days. I make it in the morning and then have a worry free evening. From a refrigerated state, it takes an extra 10 minutes or so in the oven of course. 
11. While it is heating through, prepare a plate of toppings. 
12. Serve up some hot burrito on everyone's plate and let them top it as they will. It will make 6-8 servings. 

time for bigger pants, or gracie's bright future in plumbing

grant attack

A little glimpse of life with Grantigus lately.

Grant always gets super grumpy when he is on the brink of development. He's been using more words lately and now I think he is to the point where he knows exactly what he wants and he almost knows exactly how to tell me about it. It's the 'almost' that gets him frustrated. Instead of trying and doing it wrong, he will just point and whine. In the pictures above he was trying to ask me for his fire truck box. I was trying to make him use his words. 

A sampling of his favorite words lately:

Daddy

truck

watch

couch

touch

amen

book

a host of sound effects for his toys

yeah

no (he just shakes his head. I'm glad he hasn't started saying the word.)

ball

He doesn't use them all the time, but we hear him use these and other new words in correct context often. I need to be better about not reading his body language all the time and helping him ask. He is just so good at whining... not to mention that when he gets what he wants he instantly transforms from what you see above to this:

Who could resist?

Things that make him really happy lately:

playing with his dad

cars, especially trucks

pasta

cucumbers

his blanket

being outside

following Grace around all day

snuggles and songs before bed

giving big kisses

books

The Wiggles

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter! We hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Here is a peek at our day today.

Our church services were a little different than what we usually get on an Easter Sunday. We had regional conference. It was broadcast from Salt Lake and we got to watch it in our own building. It was very special. The conference included 61 stakes from 8 different states. It was like a mini general conference. Among those who spoke to us were Elder Oaks and our prophet, President Monson. 

Grant went down for his nap shortly after we got home from church. When he woke (that is to say, when I rudely woke him), the festivities began. Instead of putting out baskets we did a treasure hunt. We talked to the kids about how living with Heavenly Father again is the biggest treasure we could hope for, and how he has given us clues or directions to help us find our way home to Him. Then we made clues that led them to different places in the house where their gifts were placed. For example, the clue 'pray always' led them to the foot of Gracie's bed where we usually have our family prayers. Their dyed eggs were hidden all along the way. The kids carried their basket around and filled it as they found their treasures. It was really a lot of fun. I think we'll do this again next year.

Cori and the kids coming home from the walk I sent them on so I could get everything set up

the clue 'exercise faith' led to surprises on the tread mill

The final clue 'feast on the word' led to our Easter feast. And, yeah, if it looks to you like we should have invited at least 10 people over to help us eat all that stuff, you're right.

Grace: post-feast 

Grant being his usual jovial self

In other Easter news, we had a couple of miracles this last week that are worth mentioning. 

I went to the temple on Tuesday. This, in and of itself, is not particularly miraculous. But the way the whole day came together felt like a miracle to me. Sarah, my friend in Rockford, watched the kids for me. After dropping them off I made it to the Chicago temple without a single wrong turn. I had never been there before and negotiated the northern suburbs of the windy city all on my lonesome. Those of you who really know me can appreciate how unbelievable this is. I made it just in time for the session I needed to get into. Being there by myself lead to special contemplation and inspiration. I even made it back in time to return a fraction of the favor done for me by my friend. Sarah had to run to a doctor's appointment and I watched her little guy until her husband came home. The day was my Easter miracle.

Grace had a miracle of her own. Last weekend, we transplanted some of our seedlings into our patio garden. The garden has holes to grow certain things upside down. It is supposed to be really great for tomatoes. We put our cucumbers and peas in two of the four holes. The hanging plants were a little too tempting for Gracie and she plucked out a cucumber seedling. Her response to Cori's reprimands was that if we put it back into the hole and prayed for it that Jesus would help it grow back. What else could he do? Cori poked the seedling back in with its comrads and he and Grace said a prayer. The plant looked pretty darn dead for the better part of the week. Cori thought he would turn this into a different kind of lesson for Grace: there are some things that can't be put all the way right- so it is better not to do them at all... etc. etc. But then, the shriveled stem produced a new leaf. Pictured in the upper left of the picture above. The plant had NO ROOTS when Cori stuck it back in there. Our Heavenly Father is so kind to give her this special and simple answer to her prayer.