to tell you the honest truth

a collection started and FYI

I've started a collection of vintage pyrex in the prettiest of colors....AQUA!  I know of a couple secret places that have small stashes of this stuff, so I've been going every couple weeks to snatch up another dish. Time to go again!  It sure has made it a little extra fun to do some cooking and baking!  The other day I made a couple things:

Chocolate Chip Cookies!  YUM!

 

And a chicken salad recipe from Pioneer Woman!  mmmm.

There is a similar post on my NEW BLOG, so if you go there too, don't be surprised to be seeing double...sort of. 

Which leads me to the FYI part.  You know, For Your Information.

Basically, To Tell You The Honest Truth will be my personal, family style blog.  I'll probably update it every couple weeks or so.  You know, the Birthday Party, the Pumpkin Patch, etc, etc....stuff like that.  Anything that has to do with my crafting, sewing, etsy shop, collecting, baking, photography, etc., or anything that is cute or fun to look at, will be posted on my new blog, A Little Sweetness.  An occasional post of family will probably occur as well.  This blog will be regularly updated at least 2-3 times per week.

Pretty much what I'm saying is, I'll mostly be posting on my other blog, so if you want to see what I'm up to on a regular basis, especially in the crafting realm of my life, go there!  :)

Hopefully you'll all pop on over! 

Tasha

"i have my cake! i'm 4 now!"

When we brought home a big cake from Costco for Austin, that's what he said...."i have my cake!, i'm 4 now!".  Even though his birthday wasn't until the next day.  It made us laugh.  He had been talking about his birthday for months and months.  Every toy or lego magazine that came through the house was repeatedly looked through as he pointed and explained to us the things he wanted for his birthday.  For literally months he did this.  No other child of ours has ever been so obsessed about a birthday.  Not like this.  Austin is hilarious.  He says very funny things all the time.  He also throws some pretty awesome tantrums that usually test our patience skillz to no end.  Nevertheless, we love him to pieces. So, we couldn't help but go a little "all out" for his birthday with how excited and eager he was to turn 4.   We didn't have a big party, it was more about the goods and the cake for him.  We had a few neighbor kids over and kept it simple with cake and ice-cream.  We had a couple tears from the birthday boy with so much excitement, but other than that...a great little party for our little man. 

The cake idea was inspired by my sister's awesome star wars cake she made for her son and Austin did want one JUST like it.  I had all the good intentions in the world to make him one just like it, but I copped out in the end and snagged a cake at Costco when we were there doing the shopping.  When I brought it home, Austin did say to me, "why didn't you get me a star wars cake?".  I felt like a terrible mother even though I did have plans to decorate it with star wars action figures like my sister had done.  I was so worried about it, but he seemed pretty happy with the result.  Austin LOVES clones and Darth Vader!  We found the cool Vader candle at Party City which I think was the perfect touch to the cake.  Anyway, enough of the cake saga!

Here's Trista's homemade Star Wars cake!  I love the glowing light sabers! 

Here's some close ups of Austin's

C-ya!  Me and Aussie are off to get some of that leftover cake!  mmmm!

sympathy o.k.

Would have liked to have made this, but not really happening these days.  From nanaCompany.  Love her things!

I cannot believe I am this close to my due date!  We are hoping it is because she is a super laid back spirit and is busy daydreaming and not noticing the date.  Anyway, your sympathies ARE allowed at this point!

Earlier today I was thinking, hmmm...which is worse, me not in labor yet (or cuddling a newborn already) or Natalie not knowing the gender of her baby!??!  I cannot decide, but both are worth your sympathetic thoughts.  I seriously feel for ya Natalie!   

SO..........what happens from here?  My doc gets back into town today at some point, but I can't get into the office for a visit until TUESDAY (remember it's president's day on Monday, so he is not in!), MY DUE DATE.....the girls at the front desk told me to be there at 9 am on Tuesday and I will pretty much be pleading my doctor for a delivery that day.  I have no doubt that he will get this baby show on the road, so...........I'm pretty much hanging in there until then. 

My ultra sound was interesting on Wednesday because the pictures were less clear, kinda blurry.  She said it was because the bones have calcified now so it is harder to see things.  It was amazing the difference from just last weeks ultrasound.  The baby is DONE! 

My "substitute" doctor predicted around 7-ish lbs., so we'll see.  My doctor hasn't ever given me this kind of prediction, so I was interesting to hear a guesstimate.  I am measuring between a 34-35.  I think that is the only reason why I have been mentally able to handle going FUUUULLLL term, because I figured maybe she just has needed the time to grow more and that is the most important, that she is ready and healthy, not that I do what I can have the baby just because I want to be done.  I mean it's not like I will be pregnant forever or something.  HOWEVER, at this point, she will be fine so I know it's okay to ask the doctor for some help!  :)

Hope you are all having a Happy Valentine's Day!  Pete brought me some red roses and some See's chocolates.  Perfect.  I also tried making some cookies from the Bakerella blog, but they weren't so great, but the kids ate them anyway.  That's about it around here! 

     

christmas '08

The boys were awake at 5:20, but I held them off until 6:00.  During this time, I helped Taylor finish his homemade heatpacks for his brothers.  He is such a thoughtful person.  The boys were so excited and hoped to get a new memory card for their game cube.  Instead, they were surprised to get a Wii!  Pete and I had no idea how cool this system is.  I am thinking of getting Wii Fitness after the baby is born!  The biggest surprise was the dirtbike though, something the boys and Pete have been talking about for about 5 years.  So far they are taking turns getting rides from Pete.  It will take some time and instruction for Caleb and Taylor to be able to ride on their own.  Isaac and Austin both got new scooters.  Austin also got his first bike and Isaac got some rollerskates.  He's been wanting some for awhile.  :)

Caleb and Taylor on the Honda XR 80. 

Taylor playing Wii Sports...I think he is boxing. 



Austin with his Spiderman Jet!



Isaac with his rollerskates on!



Pete also surprised me well, even though I told him not to because I am spending extra on the baby's room.  He's a very sweet hubby that way. 

Although we had so much fun with the presents this year, I think one of my favorite things about Christmas this year is that Austin keeps talking about the "new big star in the sky" that appeared when baby Jesus was born.  It is amazing what things they remember and what means the most.  With the older ones, it is nice to see their faith and testimony of the Savior increase as we talk about the true meaning of Christmas.  It is a magical time of year when the Spirit of Christmas is in our homes.  Pete explained to the boys that if you take off the "m-a-s",  you are left with the "Spirit of Christ". 

Here are some snow highlights:

Austin inspecting the snow on his mittens.


















Austin wasn't too happy after his super fast sled ride with Dad!




Taylor trimmed bushes out of the way for a sledding path!



My little stud.



Caleb is such a sweet older brother, helping Austin get ready to sled.



Having a blast!



Pete and Isaac crashed. 



Caleb and Austin.

  

I had such great intentions with treat making this year, however with my growing belly, some days are just not good.  I seemed to be able to have enough strength for standing for making one treat at a time and by the time I felt good for more treat making, my other ones would be being eaten and acquiring that "day old" taste.  I also kept forgetting an ingredient or the store would be out of something or the snow just kept us indoors.  Anyway, not too successful giving away treats even though I actually made things a few different times.  We managed to share a couple plates and I did take a picture of my dipped pretzels!

We also took NO PICTURES of our evening with Jeff and Julie and their kiddies the day after Christmas.  We feasted on Cheddar Potato Soup, Spinach Cranberry Salad, Cheese Fondue, Spinach dip and Chocolate Fondue for dessert!  This was so much fun!  The boys (big and little) all got crazy with the Nerf guns as Julie and I chatted while doing a little crafting.  We are good at tuning out noise.  :)  A fantabulous evening!!!

Here's also another craft I did this season:

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!  (Sorry for the super long post!)

baking and making

BAKING

On a rare occasion I have the urge to make cinnamon rolls.  And by rare, I mean rare, like once every year or two.  It's more the dough making, sticky hands part I really don't care for, not the eating of the cinnamon rolls.  Although it pretty much consumed about 5 hours of my day, the results were fabulous!  I made some that were extra gooey, some that were less gooey and I also did a batch of plain rolls.  I also made some icing.  I left for a doctor's appointment right when my last batch came out of the oven.  When I came home, all the boys (including the very oldest and largest of them all) had made themselves sick from eating so many cinnamon rolls and rolls!  A whole plate of cinnamon rolls were gone!  At least we didn't have to come up with anything for dinner! :)  Pete thinks I should do this every few weeks, so I guess he was pretty happy.

This is what Austin did for quite awhile...no one really was into the helping, but that's ok.

MAKING

I am eager to get going on a new Christmas quilt!  A quilting blog called Crazy Mom Quilts (sorry...remember I hate doing links, but it's in my sidebar!) has got me wanting to test out a new pattern.  It should be pretty quick so the goal is to have it done by the time other Christmas decorations come out.  These are some new fabrics, mixed with some that I already had.  I kinda want another green and another red, but we'll see.  I think it will be cute either way.   I really have a polka dot obsession, but oh well.

Don't worry, I haven't completely slacked on my red and aqua quilt.  I have all the blocks done, but I figured it could be on hold for now! 

 
C-ya!

fun times

Isaac turned 6 on Oct. 21st! 

We celebrated this past Sunday with cousins, aunts and uncles and had a great time.  The boys were SUCH a huge help getting the house, food, and decorating done for the occasion.  We prepared Cheddar Potato Soup, Rolls, Veggies and Beau Monde Dip, Fruit Kabobs, Beanie Weanies/Little Smokies (whatever you call them), Jello-Jigglers (that we never ate!), Lemonade, and some fun cupcakes.  Everyone helped get the cupcakes done and the kids also enjoyed a craft.  Picture time wasn't the most productive, but I still managed to get enough.  I got a few of Isaac on his new bike on Monday...it's a tad big for him, but he has no problem riding it and hopefully this one will be good for a few years!

Pumpkins!

Last Night we also enjoyed carving pumpkins together.  Pete made up some of his famous fry bread, but no pictures of that since we were busy munching it down!  Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out how to photograph the lighted pumpkins in the dark!  Oh well, you get the idea!  They all turned out really cool! 

Now onto some more halloween fun this weekend!  Have fun and be safe!  :)

a yummy sunday

We had such yummy food on Sunday I couldn't help but take pictures!  We also really enjoyed making the food together which makes it fun and memorable too.  I like starting my posts off with a picture, so here's a good one to get you looking!  ;)

***************************************************************************************************************************

To start off the day we made SMOOTHIES, which everybody loves.  They are super fun and easy to make and the kids pitch in on this one every time.  I am the head smoothie-maker though.  :)  We get this awesome bag of frozen fruit from Costco called Spectrum Blend...it has peaches, white peaches, blueberries, strawberries, honeydew, and pineapple.  We always add a banana, a little milk, some sugar (not too much), some low fat vanilla yogurt (a few big spoonfuls) and this time we added some apple and a little of our Kern's Nectar Guava juice.  They were fabulous to say the least!  Pete made us rolls with sausage patties and cheese.  MMMM!!

For dinner Pete and I made Chicken Pot Pie.  There are several steps so we like to make it together, it goes faster.  It's not as bad as you may think though because we just use those Pillsbury pie crusts and they really are good!  We use carrots, celery, onions, and chicken in ours.  Everyone pretty much likes this one, although Taylor picks out the celery.  Not a lot of pictures of this one...we actually make two so we have leftovers.  It's soooo good!  I do the chopping while Pete does the cooking part.  As you can see, I made the beautiful heart....on the other one I made an "H".  I know I am so gourmet!  :)

Then we made our Strawberry Shortcakes for dessert!  These are super delicious!  This time we just used store bought whip cream, which was still great, but Pete's homemade is really better.   I chopped up the strawberries while Pete made the dough.

I really loved taking pictures with my cute polka dot dishes...I am sure you will see more of them in the future!  :)

Couldn't leave out this picture of Austin having a sink bath, I know I posted a very similar one a while back, but it just makes me laugh the way he sticks out his tongue to taste the water!  He has been getting frequent kitchen sink baths lately since we still have one area of the yard that is all dirt!  I hate it!  Can't wait to get some grass planted for the summer!

The End!