Today I am loving...

I love it when others share random amazing tips, things they love, or a grand new idea. So I thought I would share the something I am loving right now. (and hope to continue sharing things I love!)

This cook book.

 

It was a wedding gift and I have no idea who gave it to me. (If you are a reader of my blog I am sorry I don't remember but just know that I am loving it!) At first, since there were no pretty pictures of yummy food, I tossed it aside and didn't bother using it. It looked boring. But then when I needed to do a better job of fixing dinners on a budget I decided to give it a try. 

I have made so many yummy dinners from here. With a lot of them I already have most of the ingredients and just have to get a couple of things. They are for the most part very quick to throw together. (Alot of them start very similar but, don't worry, they don't all taste the same!) Along the sides of the pages there are notes and stories from the authors that I love reading. They give good ideas and tell the inspiration for that recipe. They also have the book set up to where you can make a batch of something, use part of it for dinner and then freeze the rest to use later in a different recipe. 

Love this book. I use it every week. Especially with how expensive food is these days this book has been fabulous! I have not quite made everything in this book but I am sure on my way! 

Spring Break

This week was Cole's spring break and my family's spring break back home. My mom, dad, and little sister Alyssa took a trip up here to visit Kansas. Here's some snippets of their visit. 

They got in way late Saturday night so the first we saw them was at church Sunday morning. 

Cade reading with his Grandpa. Cade loves books! 

Playing at the park. He has found his new love-dirt and rocks.

We visited the Oz museum. You have to do that if you're in Kansas right?

We went to the small zoo here. As small as it may be, it had some pretty cool animals! 

I had mentioned to mom that I wished I had a way to teach myself more piano music to add to the 2 songs I already know. Someone in her ward was getting rid of a keyboard so they hauled it up for us. I am way pumped. Cade is too... 

Cade had fun bonding with his Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt. It was such a fun visit! We are so glad they were able to come! Thanks!!

Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign

We started teaching Cade sign language around 10 months. He made his first sign, more, at 12 months. Since then he has picked up quite a few signs. It has been great for us because he has been able to communicate what he wants instead of throwing a fit. He uses multiple signs daily to ask for what he wants or needs such as: milk, water, eat, more, book, kitty, and bath. 

For example, the other day Cade took a late nap so we thought he would stay up a little later than usual. We got caught up watching American Idol and it was about an hour past his bedtime. Toward the end of the show Cade came up to us rubbing his chest (the sign for bath-Cade takes a bath everyday as a part of his bedtime routine). He was telling us he was ready to go to sleep. It was SO sweet! We hope when he's 5 he is still telling us he wants to go to bed rather than the other way around!

Along with teaching him signs about his wants, we have also taught him other signs he can use to show us what he sees and what he likes. Right now Cade is REALLY into kitties. One day he saw a kitty outside the window in his room and started doing the sign for kitty. Since then we often find him pointing out his window doing the kitty sign in hopes of seeing another one. 

It's been difficult to catch him "in the moment" doing the signs, so in order to get them on tape we have to ask and prompt him to do particular signs. Cade's been at us for weeks to get these up so his grandparents can see how much he's learning!

Some of the first signs he learned

Bath time Signs

Animal Signs

Other Random Signs

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!

Evolution of Transportation

The Roll

The Scoot

The Flop

The Crawl/Spider Crawl

We Have a Walker!!

Am I the only one that does this?

I found a HUGE spider in the sink. ( probably any sized spider is too big for me) Like pets, I am not super into spiders. So I did what I learned from my mom. Put a cup over it and wait for dad/husband to come home and take care of it.

FYI: Over the years my mom has done a fantastic job of overcoming this fear and can now get rid of many spiders on her own. So with mom's leading example, I have until I become a grandparent to start catching my own spiders. Perfect.

Puppy Love

I am really not a pet person. I don't particularly enjoy pets. Not enough to want one. Yes they are cute, funny, sometimes helpful. They can be endearing to be around...but only in small doses. I loved the cats we had growing up, but I knew I could play with them when I wanted and then mom and dad would take care of their needs. I guess I don't really become attached enough to want to take care of them the way a pet should be taken care of. Children, yes. Pets, no.

With that said, Cade loves animals. Out of the few words he can say, kitty and puppy are two of them. He loves books with puppies and kitties, commercials with puppies and kitties, and playing with the real live thing. It seems like most of the people we visited over the holidays had either a kitty or a puppy. Cade loved playing with them. If they were not already attacking him he would chase them around. When they were attaching him he would reach for them asking for more.

I have a feeling that one day, which will probably come faster than I think, Cade will come to me earnestly asking for a puppy. How am I going to resist that?