Rollin' again

When Miriam was born, we got a jogger stroller from Target. We chose it basically because it was a tough stroller (meaning we could take it on grass and not be frustrated) and it was priced right. Miriam loved the stroller and her stroller rides. They were her "chill time," and she would just sit back and watch the world go by, and we used it all the time. So when we found out Elijah was coming, we started looking for a doubler. I focused mainly on ksl.com, thinking that used would be cheaper. I found a good deal and snagged it. Then it turned out that I hated it because the shade thing on top couldn't go back and forth and was basically useless unless you were walking with the sun at your back. I found myself pulling the busters backwards more than once because of that darn sun and not going on walks because it wouldn't be fun for any of us. It turns out that my priced-right brand of stroller (BabyTrend) is one of the only kinds that has a moveable shade thing, and it's absolutely wonderful. It can ratchet down to right in front of them with just a slight push. It's so nice! As we go around a corner to face the sun, I flip the thing down and my kids are not squinting and hot. As we turn the corner back, I flip it up and they can see everything again. I'm so lucky that my favorite feature just happened to not be standard on all strollers, although I for one think it should be. SO, I sold the doubler that didn't have the flip-down shade on ksl (for the same price I bought it at and had about ten calls in the first half-hour... I should have tried to make some money off the deal!) and found a doubler that was our exact kind but doubled (also on ksl... gotta love it). HALLELUJAH! We love going on walks again.

On a side note, Brent commented that he really liked having Elijah drinking Dr. Pepper and eating Oreos in the past two consecutive posts, and so I have chosen a Cheetos-eating picture for our double stroller representation.

Perhaps the best possible news in a streak of 100 degree days

Okay, kids, if you haven't heard about the Dr. Pepper deal going on at Albertson's, you're in for a treat! The 12-packs are on sale for $5.29. When you buy 4, it adds up to $21.16. Albertson's has a buy2get2 deal so the end price is $10.58. Dr. Pepper has a deal where if you purchase $20 worth of the stuff, a $10 coupon for any Albertson's purchase spits out with your receipt. Which means you get all 4 12-packs for a grand total of 58 cents! Wo! Then if you want to, you can go back and spend that $10 on 4 more cases of Dr. Pepper, which is precisely what I did, and get another $10 coupon! You can do it as many times as you want through Tuesday at closing and get as many 12 pack cases for 58 cents per 4 as you want. The only thing to be wary of is to make sure the register takes of the first $10 for the buy2get2 thing. But if it doesn't, the cashier can add it on for you. Time to build up your year's supply! This is even better than the Guns n Roses thing which quite frankly no matter how I tried the website was always too busy. But this totally makes up for it! I go in phases of drinking Dr. Pepper, and since it was the only thing that made me feel not terrible when I was pregnant with Elijah, I've been in a drinking phase for a while. I've been planning on cutting back but not now! I have in my trunk right now 12 12-packs of the 12 ounce cans. Cheers!

Where's the beef?

Guess which part of an Oreo cookie is Miriam's favorite? This was on my kitchen floor the other morning. There were similar piles in other parts of the kitchen, as well as in front of the television.















Elijah, however, prefers them whole. This was at a ward party. Eli loved the after-dinner cookie bits the second counselor in the bishopric kept slipping to him.















In other grocery-related news, I revisited the babyfood making business and am much happier with the results. I skipped the grinder and just blended, then scooped it into ice trays (thanks for the tip, Kacie!). It took very little time and very little effort and so far he likes them great. He didn't even shudder on the last feeding of peas, and that's pretty good for him (green veggies have never sat well with him).

And in still more grocery-related news, I bought a pack of hamburger the other day. When I went to bag it and freeze it, it wasn't in the fridge. Nor was it in the freezer already. Nor could I find it in the car, the kitchen, or anywhere else. Nor have I smelled it fermenting anywhere. Obviously I either left it at the store or somebody took it out of my cart on our walk to the car. Sure is a good thing I'm saving money on babyfood!

Already reading

My friend Ginger posted a video on her blog of her little boy reading "Brown Bear Brown Bear" to his baby brother. Miriam saw the video and immediately decided she wanted a movie of herself reading the book to Elijah. When I told her that Eli was asleep, she confessed that she didn't care if Eli was there, she just wanted to make a movie of herself reading the book. So here it is. One of her most-common phrases right now is "I do it all by myself!" I love how it slips in there during the "silver fish" page. Oh, and so you don't get confused, instead of "black sheep," Miriam says "black lamb," and she calls the "goldfish" a "silver fish." So maybe she's not reading the words after all. I still think she's brilliant. At least after seeing Axel's stellar performance and realizing that it was possible...

Just chattin'

I overheard Miriam playing in the corner the other day. She had her hand up to her ear and she said, "Hi Nana. Doing good. I love you. See you next time won't you sing with me." I asked her if she would like to call Nana. "No, I already talked to her on my pretend phone."

What more could I ask for?

I love being a mom. I adore my kids and I have so much fun with them. I also selfishly love being the one that they turn to when they're excited, hurt, happy or sad. I love being able to be with them all day every day because I get to see every little thing that they do and really know what's "normal," versus what's not and that they might not be up to par. And I love being the one that they cling to and want to be with. Tonight Brent and I went to the second round of Harvest Days Heartthrob, Midvale's form of the always-popular Idol singing competition, and we got a babysitter for the evening. To make a long story short, the babysitter called midway through the concert and said, over his screaming in the background, that she couldn't get Elijah to stop crying. I immediately came home to a sad little boy and a justifiably frazzled little babysitter. Thankfully Miriam had slept through the whole ordeal. Eli isn't hard to calm down usually, so I knew something was up. Even after doing everything for him, he was still tense and worried. I finally decided to just stay home rather than go finish out the concert and said "I think I'll just stay with him." As soon as those words were out of my mouth, the little guy took a big deep breath and his entire body completely relaxed. His binkie-sucking started to be more relaxed rather than panic-stricken. As the babysitter walked out the door (thankfully she just lives down the street and it was light enough for her to walk home), he smiled at me and his eyes started to roll. I almost cried. All he needed was his Mama, and I was the lucky one who got to be everything for him. I sat and rocked and sang to him until he was completely asleep, his binkie finally falling out of his mouth and his little hand finally growing limp after grabbing my finger the whole time. As I kissed his fuzzy little head for the hundredth time, I thought OH I JUST LOVE BEING A MAMA!

Cow Appreciation Day!

I'm so glad I stumbled upon an article about this or else I may have missed it! And that would have been tragic! For those who for some reason may have missed my blog post last year, Chic-fil-A gives away FREE CHICKEN SANDWICHES to those who are partially dressed up as a cow, and FREE COMBO MEALS to those who are fully dressed as a cow. For more info, go to www.CowAppreciationDay.com. See you at Chick-fil-A!

Update...

Last night Eli shuddered and gagged on his homemade babyfood dinner. Sigh. So today we opened it all up and put it in the blender. OH IT WORKED SO MUCH BETTER! If there is a next time, I'll skip the meat grinder all together and just focus on the blender. It would cut the time down dramatically. Plus, with the added water, it made a lot more than I had before. I didn't count the containers, but it's feeling more worth it. We'll see if I ever feel like it would be worth my time and money to buy more food and mash it up for the kid. But see how happy he was? Sometimes all it takes to get some real recognition is to feed the kid a gloopy meal so he realizes how good he normally gets it!

It might not be worth it

Today for the Fourth, I kept trying to think of something we could do to celebrate, but every time I stepped outside it was too hot to think of packing two kids up and going to the park. So I took Miriam to Macey's to get some groceries and picked up a pizza on the way home. I declared that we were going to have a party at home instead of going to the park for the party. Miriam immediately ran into the front room and yelled "SURPRISE ELI!" Apparantly every party is a surprise party. She handed out pretend party hats, frosted everybody's pizza with pretend frosting, and threw pretend confetti into the air. No matter how many times we told her that it was America's birthday, she kept yelling SURPRISE and HAPPY BIRTHDAY at Elijah. Anyway, lately I have been trying to find ways to live more frugally and thriftily. After spending more money on Eli's food than on the other three of ours put together last week, I decided to try my hand at making my own baby food, being more independent in honor of Independence Day. Some of you, I'm sure, are aghast that I've ever bought store-bought baby food. Others are shaking their heads now thinking "OH PAIGE WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!?!?" On our Macey's trip, I purchased some sweet potatoes, as well as some frozen veggies that were on sale. After everybody was in bed I got things boiling in the kitchen. The sweet potatoes were cake. I mixed them up just like normal, but added a bit more water. They were fast and easy and made quite a bit. The peas, carrots, and beans weren't quite so easy. After boiling them, I put them through the meat grinder twice and then used the hand mixer. They're still pretty chunky and I'm not sure if Eli will be able to eat them. Well, he's actually not that picky so he probably will. Still, I don't know if I didn't boil for long enough or if I should have blended... Anyway, I ended up with 24 little servings of veggies. Normally priced, this would have cost about $12. I saved $6, but I spent $6, along with an hour and a half or more of time that really is pretty precious. Verdict: I'll think about the sweet potatoes again, but the others weren't worth the time or effort. Now I know. And knowing is half the battle. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY EVERYBODY!
Below: Miriam and Elijah at the surprise party. Thankfully, it was a lot more fun than it looks.