Secret's Out!

And I mean WAY out. I haven't zipped my pants in weeks, I ate fried grits topped with strawberry jelly and whipped cream for dinner last night, and I've spent most of the last week on the couch. I ate a half a pound of swiss cheese in 2 days, and now can't get near the stuff. I spent two weeks devouring every crunchy vegetable I could get my hands on, and now can't stand the sight of a head of lettuce or a beautiful bowl of steamed spinach (sorry Aunt LoLo.) But pears and oranges...oh my, they're divine, aren't they?

So yeah. Secret's out!

The Passing of a Giant

Today President Gordon Bitner Hinckley passed away, at age 97, from natural causes. He was surrounded by his family.

President Hinckley was and is any amazing man, an amazing soul. He never stopped moving forward. He traveled more than half a million miles during his time in office. Church membership rose from 9 million to more than 13 million. He oversaw the construction of dozens of new temples, all over the world.

He was a man of God. A man with a strong testimony, an unshakable faith. He was called of God to be our prophet, and now he has been called of God to come home.

Bless you, President Hinckley.

Sad Story

So it's been a long time since I posted! Our computer "lost" the video and audio drivers, so we tried to reformat using a Dell "easy button." No go- it froze. We spent all night wondering "What happens when you hard crash a computer in the middle of a reset?" In the morning, we decided it was worth a shot, so then did a full-on re-format. That went fine, but still no drivers, can't get an IP address, and Windows needs updating. So we installed the 105 Windows updates since our version of XP came out, spent 2 hours on the phone with tech support to get an IP address, then went to search for drivers. Installed all of those...and still no movies. Now we're missing a video decoder? Do you KNOW how important movies are to a certain small someone that lives here? Even though she gets one a day, it's really high on her list of priorities! (Does that make me a bad mom? Hope not! We had lots of plans for her- no tv, won't be a picky eater, etc. So of course, she wakes up asking for candy and movies, and will only eat pancakes, chicken nuggets, plain tortillas, soy beans, plain vanilla yogurt, white rice, noodles, and shredded wheat. We tried!)

So, computer is still broken, guest bathroom sink still leaks, Christmas decorations are boxed up but boxes are sitting in the garage, and I haven't vacuumed upstairs in a LONG while.

But...we're healthy, happy, and willing to try again tomorrow!

How are you?

Baba?

Ernie loves to sing songs- we've had to limit her to 4 at naptime and bedtime, just to get us out of there! She loves to sing them in the car, and she especially loves to flip through the Children's Songbook to find her favorites. Since she doesn't actually sing yet, she's learned "actions" and signs to almost all of them.

"Baba" is one of our favorites. She named it herself- Baba means Bob, which is Grandpa A's fabulous stroller. Bob means she gets to go for a walk, so Baba means "walk." So Baba the song means "Pioneer Children Sang as they Walked." Yeah? I love her logic! Check out the video, and please excuse Dad's exciting camera work :o)

Another update on the Ernie front: for anyone involved in Ernie's long love-affair with bees, we're entering a new one: stars. She's finding them everywhere! She can't say star yet, but she uses her little version of "star" from "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She pinches her first fingers to her thumbs, exclaiming "Mama! More!" whenever she finds them. It's pretty cute!

Beans!

Check out The Chow Review for my famous bean recipe. Because life isn't complete without beans (and how else are you supposed to feed 6-8 people for $1.50??)

Rolo Pretzel Treats

I know I already blogged about this, but don't forget these easy treats! This is what we gave out to neighbors, friends, ward members, piano students, etc. It was really easy for Ernie to help, but not so easy for her to see the bags of treats on the table all week. She ended up trying to give a bag to everyone that came to our home, every time they came, in the hopes that after THEY got a bag, she'd get one too!

Beaded Eyeglass Chain

Here is a project I learned from a friend at a "Super Saturday" enrichment activity.

Supplies:
7 strand, .018 diameter, nylon coated stainless steel beading wire (Avalon is one brand), cut to desired length

seed beads and various larger beads for interest- maybe 2 tubes worth? It takes a lot.

2 crimp beads

rubber "eyeglass holders" for ends

Starting at one end, thread one crimp bead, followed by 10-13 seed beads, then one of the eye glass holders. Thread end of wire back through crimp bead, and hold in place while you crimp bead together with needle nose pliers.

Follow with a few larger beads to hide tail of wire, and continue stringing beads in whatever pattern you like. When you come to the other end, thread a few larger beads, one crimp bead, 10-13 seed beads, and the eye glass holder, and thread end through crimp bead and the larger beads. Crimp bead. Use baby nail clippers to cut any wire tails off that are too long to be hidden under the beads.

This project takes about an hour- those seed beads don't take up much space! If you can't find the supplies at your local craft store, try a bead store. They'll even have tubes of pre-mixed beads (this mix was called "Cranberry Fizz" at Beadman.)