I posted a recipe a while back for pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. We LOVE them! But, they were a little heavy and looked weird and lumpy. So today when I made them, I added a cup of water to the recipe ... HUGE DIFFERENCE! They were light and fluffy and looked like those in the picture above when they were done. Very cool. So I thought I better share that piece of information. Enjoy. Here is the revised recipe:
1 pkg spice cake mix 1 15-ounce can pumpkin 1 cup water 1/2 bag mini chocolate chips
As expected, our December was COMPLETELY INSANE! So, I haven't blogged for a while, and I HATE trying to catch up on a ton of stuff. So, let's make this quick and painless, and I'll try to do better at keeping current.
First of all, our kids' orthodontist does a drawing a few times a year where the kids get to guess how much of something is in a jar and if they come the closest, they win the jar and its contents. Well Austin (without any help) guessed that the jar contained $85, and guess what ... it had $84.81 in it. So we had one very excited 11-year-old on our hands. He's saving his money to see if a Wii game is developed for the Percy Jackson book series.
Jackson performed in the Christmas Carol musical at school this year. He worked very hard at rehearsal for almost two months and had a great time performing for the school as well as two evening performances for family and friends. Way to go Jacks!
While I was out Christmas shopping, Dave and half the neighborhood took advantage of the first big snowfall and made a great big snowman. It looks pretty FREEZING to me, but they said they had a great time and couldn't wait to show me when I got home.
T.J. (previously a little frightened of the jolly old fellow) got acquainted with four Santas this year ... and didn't suspect a thing. We had a little scare with one of them when T.J. asked for a dog. After asking Santa to clarify with him, we discovered it to be a stuffed animal dog he was after. Phew!
Right before Christmas, we wrapped up our BYU football season with a Las Vegas Bowl party. Thankfully, the Cougars took care of business and we had a great night with family and friends. Kati even came all the way from Washington D.C. to cheer the Cougars on with us ... or maybe she was home for Christmas. Something like that.
The kids were as hyper as can be by the time Christmas Eve rolled around, and I wasn't about to cook anything, so we headed out to dinner at Wingers and off to Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was a pretty cute movie, and the kids LOVED it.
The obligatory Christmas Eve kids in pajamas in front of the tree picture. Man I have cute kids.
You might say I'm a bit of a spoiler on Christmas. Even if it's little stuff, I like a lot of presents to open. I just think that's the funnest part ... watching the kids' reactions and seeing them all excited. I love surprising them. Austin and Jackson's favorite things were their new Wii games. They've been BEGGING for Madden 10 and Super Smash Brothers Brawl FOREVER, so it was fun to see how happy they were.
Dave managed to surprise me (very hard to do) with a few things, including some new weights and a Borders Books gift card. I'm excited to go browse a book store ALL BY MYSELF and not worry about looking for a used copy of the book on Ebay like I usually do when I find something I want to read. I had asked for an elliptical for Christmas but couldn't wait and got it a few months ago ... Merry Christmas to me! I LOVE it. I got Dave an Olympic size bar and 260 pounds in free weights for his bench we got a few months ago. He's wanted a bench and weights since we got married I think, so it was fun to see how excited he was about that.
London and T.J. had a really fun Christmas morning. These two had some pretty simple requests: a horse stuffed animal and a dog stuff animal. Works for me. They were really excited about their Alvin and the Chipmunks stuffed animals as well. And T.J. of course was ECSTATIC about his Bendaroos. Those things have turned out to be funner than I thought, so I might have to take back all the making fun I did of them ... but probably not. We got the Toy Story Mania Wii game and we spent our Christmas vacation playing that. We even had Grandma and Grandpa Morton over for New Years, and they loved playing it. That game is a lot of fun! Jackson is the master champion at all things video game in our house, including the Toy Story game, but I'm slowly whittling away at his high scores. I'll get him.
We found a great sledding spot on the golf course in Eagle Mountain, a nice long hill with some jumps, and NO ONE was there. Perfect.
Dave apparently thinks he's still a kid. We heard about this jump for days:
Somewhere in the middle of all that, we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. I couldn't be happier about that. Dave turned 35, and he's handling that pretty well. We spent time with family and friends, played games, had fun, and ate and ate and ate. We saw a lot of movies:
Melanie and I took all nine kiddos to this movie, and we still managed to laugh all the way through it. Don't underestimate this movie. It's funny.
We really liked this one. Morgan Freeman was AMAZING as Nelson Mandella, and the story is incredible. Great movie.
We've seen this one twice already, and it is definitely entertaining. Great movie. It made me want to go back and read the Sherlock Holmes stories.
This one is our absolute FAVORITE movie we saw this season! We saw it two weekends in a row. Actually it's the best movie either one of us has seen in a really long time. Great story, great acting, excellent message. We HIGHLY recommend it!
A new road just opened up by us called Pioneer Crossing. T.J. and I were on it the other day when he asked where all the pioneers were. I explained that they lived a long time ago and talked a little about the pioneers to him. He said, "Well, if the pioneers are dead, how can they be crossing the road?"
At the Qquirrh Mountain Temple Open House, there was a player grand piano playing hymns as we exited the temple. T.J. wanted to know who was playing the piano, so of course Dave told him it was a ghost. T.J. wanted to know, "Dad, is it the Holy Ghost?"
T.J. was changing himself out of his wet swimming suit today and into his pajamas when he took a few laps around the living room completely naked. I chased after him and said, "T.J., you can't run around naked. Get some clothes on!" He gets all indignant and says. "Mom, I'm NOT naked ... I have sunscreen on."
T.J. came running up to me this morning and said "Mom, I want to play knock-knock joke." I said, "Well good luck with that. You should probably wait until your father gets home becuase he's better with the whole knock-knock joke thing." T.J. said, "No I'll do it." I said okay, and he ran off. So a few minutes later there was a knock at the door. I answered it and it was T.J. laughing hysterically. I was a little confused and said, "What's up T.J.?" To which he responded, "We played it mom. We played knock-knock joke, and it's so funny." Apparently knocking and then laughing when people answer is now called "playing knock-knock joke."
London wanted me to buy her a new movie at the store today and I told her "no." She, of course, started in with the "Why not?" and "How come?" and all of that. So I just said, "London we don't have enough money to buy every new movie that comes out!" So she said, "Well, why don't you do some jobs and save up your money?" To which I responded, "London, are you serious? You want me to do jobs and save up my money so you can have a new movie?" She said, "If you work hard mom, you could do it."
I told T.J. the other day that he had to clean up some toys he had gotten out before he could have the piece of candy he wanted. So I said, "Come on, let's just hurry and clean it up. I'll help you." So he comes over for a minute and we pick up a few things and then he just walks away. I said, "Hey! Where are you going?" And he said, "You don't need my help mom. You're a big girl. You can do it all by yourself."
T.J. always wants me or Dave to lay by him at night while he falls asleep. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. Tonight, we were busy with other things, and T.J. was in there calling for me, "Mommy, come lay by me." I said, "T.J. I can't right now but I love you." So he said, "No Mommy, don't love me ... just lay by me."
I think my kids might be getting a little too much "election" exposure this year. We were at Partyland the other day having fun looking at costumes. Dave found a Barack Obama mask and put it on. London was not amused and told Dave, "No Daddy! Don't be him. He makes bad choices." You got that right London.
T.J. got into trouble yesterday and I got after him for it. He says to me, "Don't get mad at me or I'll call you a big red chicken." Huh?
I've been thinking about going back to school, and we were asking the kids what they thought about it the other day. So Dave says to Austin and Jackson, "What do you think mom should be? What should she study in school?" Austin gave some perfectly reasonable responses like "teacher" and "writer." Jackson says, "Mom, can you be a really famous football player?" You bet Jacks. You know what Dave's response was? "Jackson, have you ever seen mom run?" How rude!
So T.J. is pretty much potty trained, but we're having a few issues with number two. So, I walk into the room today and clearly caught him in "the act." So I say, "Uh oh T.J. Guess what?" And he says, "Uh ... I don't know. Maybe you smell something?" I definitely smelled something.
I went to put T.J. in his car seat the other day, and he said it was too hot. I said, "I'm sorry. What should I do?" So he thought about it and said, "Can you blow on it for me?" So I did, and then he said it was only warm and happily got buckled up.
Austin needs to have a wart burned off his finger. Jackson happens to be an expert on the subject after much experience a few years ago. So he reassures Austin by saying, "It doesn't hurt too bad ... maybe like London scratching you about 5 times .... or maybe 10." Thanks Jacks.
In the midst of a Saturday full of errands, we agreed to take the kids to McDonald's to play on the playground and have some lunch. They were all excited, but I think London most of all. She jumped out of the car at McDonalds, ran over to me, and in her most dramatic fashion ever said, "Oh thank you mom! I just knew we were a happy family."
We always tease London about eating like a bird, and she really does. But it may be getting a little out of hand. Last Sunday when I handed her the sacrament tray of bread, she said matter of factly, "No thanks mom. I'm full."
The week of London's 5th birthday, Austin, in family prayer, makes a heartfelt plea that London will "understand the reponsibilities of being 5." What a good brother. Now if someone could just explain what these "responsibilities" are ... maybe I'll ask Austin.
Jackson broke the personal, family, and possibly world record the other day by thoughtfully saying in his prayer NINE TIMES: "Please bless us to have a good time." Wow! This kid is seriously concerned about having a good time.
London was playing her computer game this morning and after passing off a level, she was really proud of herself. I was happy for her and told her "Wow! Good job. You are really good at that." She was really excited about her accomplishment and my praise and exclaimed, "Mom, I did such a good job. Maybe I should be in a parade."
I posted a recipe a while back for pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. We LOVE them! But, they were a little heavy and looked weird and lumpy. So today when I made them, I added a cup of water to the recipe ... HUGE DIFFERENCE! They were light and fluffy and looked like those in the picture above when they were done. Very cool. So I thought I better share that piece of information. Enjoy. Here is the revised recipe:
