The Little Chef

One of Brody's favorite things these days is "helping" and watching me cook. If something is on the stove he stands on his tip toes and begs for me to pick him up. Once he gets his way he'll smile and stare at everything going on. I ask him things like, "Should I stir it, Brody?" and since he doesn't talk he'll just nod his head yes. He gets the biggest kick out of it because he thinks he is helping me so much.

It doesn't matter what is cooking or where it is being cooked, Brody wants to be a part of it. If something goes in the oven Brody will stand at the oven window and press his nose all the way up against it to watch whatever is baking.

Last night we had beans and sopapillas (perfect for this dang cold weather the last few days), and Brody had to watch so I put him on the counter and he watched me roll out the dough for the sopapillas. A few weeks ago we made a cake for my mom's birthday and Brody sat on the counter then too. He watched as each ingredient was put in the bowl and then was lucky enough to have his first experience licking the beaters! He LOVED that part. It doesn't surprise me that he is so interested in what is going on in the kitchen because he loves to be in the middle of everything, but I am surprised that he does so well. When he gets to be on the counter he doesn't try to take a dive off, he'll usually stay just where I put him, and he does really well at not putting his hands into everything.

Maybe, just maybe, we have a future chef on our hands!

Seriously? Snow?

Dear Snow,

I know that each year you are bound to come, but let me tell you a few rules on snow ettiquette. One, there is a time and a place for you. It is not on this day October 28th. October 28th is part of FALL. Not winter. We are supposed to be enjoying the leaves crunching under our feet, carving pumpkins, and getting ready for Halloween.

Two, we are in Arizona. Not Maine, Vermont, Colorado, Utah, or any of those other places known for getting lots of snow. I repeat....we are in Arizona!!! Granted, we do live in an area of Arizona that gets snow, we do NOT get it this early, or at least, not usually.

Third, although some people may enjoy you, you aren't my favorite thing. I prefer the sun and warm days. However, I do realize that inevitably you will come but if I could put in one request....I would love for you to come on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. That's it. That shouldn't be too much to ask. I mean, you can't really have Christmas without snow, but after that I have my snow fix. I'm done. I don't need you anymore. This area does need moisture, but could you send the rain instead. I can deal with rain, I even like rain most of the time, but you snow...you can come as little as you want.

Sincerely,

taytum

Cutest little Girls

Okay, so do you remember when you were young and used to watch all the older kids? You know, the older siblings and their friends, or kids in your church, or even just older relatives? I seriously remember looking up to some of the girls my mom would teach at church and think I wanted to be just like some of them.

Well, last week was homecoming here and when I took Brody to the parade we ended up sitting with my Aunt Gina (said like jenna), she had some of her grandkids with her. At one point Kennedy and Avery ended up sitting by me on some steps and I could hear them talking. When I glanced over at them they were both staring at me. I said, "What are you two saying?" Both of them immediatley said, "nothing!" I tried coaxing them just a teeny bit and finally Avery burst out, "We said that you always look so FANCY!" I just about died laughing. I don't know what made them think I looked fancy. I had my hair pulled up and I did have pearl earings in, but I didn't look special by any means, but for some reason they thought that I did.

I have to say that those two little girls kinda made my day. I think that was quite the compliment!

Official Owners

This fine piece of dirt you are looking at is officially ours! That's right. We are the very proud owners of our very own piece of property!

It may not look like much, but we couldn't be more excited. We now own a little over an acre of property. Its a little more than we wanted, but we got a good price and we have been looking for over 3 years for something.

Trevor has been out on a tractor leveling and digging trenches and all of that hard stuff, while I have just sat back and pretty much watched. Brody LOVES to ride the tractor with his daddy. He also has really liked just getting down right dirty by playing in the loose sand!

Being in the small town that we are, we have people constantly driving by to be nosy and see what exactly we are doing. I guess you'll just have to wait and see!

Biggest Mess EVER!

The messes Brody creates each day just keep getting messier and bigger and much more of a pain to clean up, but the worse one ever just happened this last week.

In our kitchen we have all the cabinets locked with safety lock minus a few drawers and the cabinet under the sink where the trash can is because it can't be locked. Brody is allowed to get in the drawers, and I haven't had to worry about the cabinet, because he just doesn't ever try to get in it.

Well, the other day Brody was playing in the kitchen when I was in the living room and I heard the cabinet open. Sure enough once I walked in there he had the dishwasher soap and the regular liquid soap out. He loves bottles and arranging them, but I don't think its the best idea to play with cleaners so I took them away and told him no-no. Brody the proceeded to throw a little fit. He ran down the hall crying and yelling the whole way. I chose to ignore the tantrum and walked back to the living room. Just as I have sat down and started back to organizing stuff, I hear the crash.....

You see, under the sink not only do we store our trash can, trash bags, and soap, I also take the oil or grease we use when we cook and I pour it into a big V8 can (which is like 52 ounces) and then eventually throw it away.....so the crash I heard wasn't my trash can or soap, it was a full 52 ounce can filled to the top with oil spilling all onto my floor!

Oh my gosh! I cannot even express the panic I felt. Brody was covered head to toe in old cooking vegetable oil! My favorit shirt of his possibly ruined along with one of his cutest pairs of jeans! I just got mad. I kept saying, "Brody, this is a big no-no!"

I stripped Brody of his clothes and began pulling every paper towel left in the roll and throwing it on the floor in the hopes of seeping up some of the oil. Brody is now screaming at this point because he knows I'm pretty upset and I keep sitting him down in the same spot so that he won't track oil everywhere else. I call Trevor and ask him to please come home now and help me. All he can hear is Brody screaming and the panic in my voice.

Why the panic? Well, at the edges of our laminate wood floor we never finished it off under the cabinets. I realize that the yucky oil is not only all over the floor and Brody, but it is now sliding underneath these floorboards onto the old linoleom! I can't start a wash because Brody won't sit still and I can't stick him in the bath because there is WAY too much oil everywhere that I have to try and get up!

Luckily, Trevor was close by and he was able to come home and save the day. Brody is near hysterical and his breath is catching in his throat because he has cried so hard. While I start a bath and the wash Trevor does his best to get all the oil up, and then he has to move the stove and dishwasher so he can pull up the flooring to get the oil underneath. He begins to clorox every single board he pulls up and the floor underneath while I scrub Brody.

Trevor got the harder job for sure, but when Brody got out of the bath he was still cleaning and I had to try and keep that busy 14 month old boy out of the way. We finally stuck him in his high chair with crackers and yogurt melts and while Trevor kept spraying the clorox I began to mop the floor on my hands and knees to get up the now greasy crap that was tracked through the dining room. Once Trevor was done he had got the oil all cleaned and the underneath floor clean, but the grease was still evident so I had to get new mop water and clean that half. The worse part was I had to work my way forwards otherwise I would be in the grease myself, so I would mop a spot, wait for it to dry, and then go forward and mop more.

So one to two hours after the initial spill it was all cleaned, Brody wasn't crying, and my house didn't smell gross like old food. Someday it might be a funny story, but its still a little too fresh in the memory to be funny yet.