Real Pets and Sisters

My three year old was watching a show yesterday that had a guinea pig in it. She asked if she could have one as a pet. I told her that she already has a pet, Tootsie. She told me that Tootsie isn't a real pet and that she really needs a real one. I told her that guinea pigs are just pets that people buy their kids when they don't want to buy a real pet like a dog. She just looked at me and sighed. Poor Tootsie doesn't get to be a real pet. :)

A couple days ago both the girls were under the kitchen table playing. They didn't know I was listening to them. I heard my oldest say "I love you so much sister. I will always take good care of you." It was so sweet it brought a tear to my eye. They play so well together and she does watch after her sister. I am sure they won't always get a long but its nice to have your own built in friend at home.

Uno...Dos...

Last night we were trying to teach our oldest how to count to 3 in Spanish. She was getting ready to jump off the couch and she yelled "Uno...Dos...GRAPES!" We were laughing so hard.

Tootsie Kisses

At night my husband likes to lay on the floor and stretch out after work. The girls like to crawl all over him and they wrestle. He was stretching out and yawning really big and Tootsie ran up and as fast as lightening she licked all the way inside him mouth. He was SO mad. She is not called the Brown Bullet around the neighborhood for nothing, she really is super fast. I felt bad for him but I couldn't stop laughing. You know it is going to be a long night when you start out by french kissing a dog. :)

Bye...

Well Jedda went to a new home this afternoon. My husband posted an ad on KSL and he got two calls about her. He met a family in the park by our house and they instantly liked her. Their family dog just died so they were looking for a dog to replace it. They had two girls that were so excited to see her. My husband said he felt bad when he loaded Jedda in their van and she watched him drive away out the window. We feel so sick about this situation. I really hope she is happy and well taken care of. We only had her for three weeks but it was enough for us to get a little attached. Poor Tootsie has been searching the yard and house trying to find her. I think she liked having a buddy (even if the buddy picked on her a bit).

Even though he feel horrible about the situation there is a feeling of peace and relief in our home now that she is gone. She was just too big and I couldn't trust her. So it is nice to just be back to normal. Having a new dog made me realize how much I appreciated Tootsie and how easy she is to take care of. She isn't as needy as Jedda was. She also is better with our kids. Our kids can run up and jump on Tootsie and play with her and she loves it. But Jedda would get anxious and didn't like children as much. I wish the best for Jedda and hope she is enjoying her new home.

Bad Day...

Today has been a horrible day. My littlest one is sick and I can't get her to eat or drink anything. She just looks so weak, it hurts my heart. Then this morning I let the dogs out so they could stretch their legs and run a bit. Everything was going fine and then all of a sudden Jedda freaked out. She started barking really viciously and growling at Tootsie. Before I could get after her she pounced on her. She started biting her neck. Tootsie was yelping for help and both my girls got scared and started crying (my oldest jumped up and out of the way on the couch, smart girl). What happened next I am not proud of but I didn't know what else to do. Jedda wouldn't let Tootsie go even though I yelled so I picked up the nearest thing to me (which was a wooden rocking horse) and started yelling and gave her two hard whacks. She yelped and ran in her crate to hide. Poor Tootsie was so scared she ran to her crate. I had no idea Jedda had that in her, so she has to go. Tootsie was here first and I don't want that kind of aggression in my house. My oldest was looking at me like I was crazy after. She was yelling "Mom you're hurting her! Stop!" I just feel so sick to my stomach that my children witnessed that. We made a bad decision bringing Jedda home and we have learned a lot.

I am having a lot of guilt over giving her back. I feel like she has gotten comfortable here and that she really likes our family. I just feel bad that she has to be passed around again. She really is a nice dog but she just doesn't get along well with other dogs. We asked if she was good with other dogs and we were told yes. I think short term she is good with other dogs. But if she has to share food and attention for too long she doesn't do well. I just feel so much guilt I can hardly stand it.

Seeing Double....

So on Sunday the couple in front of me at church was using their phone to surf the internet. I was kind of bored so I was watching them. The wife went to a blog that looked exactly like mine. They were called 'The Hansen Crew' and they had a similar picture at the top and the same font and backdrop. I wish I would have had my glasses on so I could have seen the web address. What if it was 'bigmamaJess' or something? If you are friends with the Hansen's I promise that is the first time I have ever seen their blog so I did not copy. I was wearing a Motley Crue shirt at the time I was naming my blog so it just fit. Its funny how small of a world it is. Someone once told me that with all the people in the world there are at least 2 people who look exactly like us. I wonder if I could get those people together and we could pull some fun pranks.....

Today is my birthday. I bought Costco muffins and chocolate milk to go with our breakfast. We either have donuts or muffins for birthdays and always chocolate milk. My sister left a box of red velvet whoopee pies on our porch this morning. My 3 year old is convinced that they were meant for her. She tried to hide them in her room. I told her she can have one after lunch. We will see if she makes it that long.  It has been a good day so far. I can't believe I only have 2 more years until I am 30 :-S

Jedda

Well we survived the first night with the new dog. The previous owners just let her roam around their house all day and sleep on their couch. At our house, you have to be crate trained. We went and bought a crate and I was super nervous how she take it. As we were teaching her to go in I had flashbacks of teaching Tootsie (and all the hours of crying she would do at night in the beginning). On the second night we were crate training Tootsie I didn't hear any crying. I was so grateful I said a prayer of gratitude and felt like we could handle this dog thing after all. When I got up in the morning I found out that my husband had moved her to the garage so we couldn't hear her cry anymore.

I thought that Jedda would have a hard time. She whined when we first put her in and tried to get out but then took a smell around the place and decided it was a nice place to take a nap. Then she never made another peep. I think I could get used to this older dog thing. She is very well behaved. I feel bad for her because I can tell that she is scared and wants to go back home to the house she was raised in. She was raised by a couple and one of them has cancer now and they felt like they needed to simplify their life and wanted her to have more attention. I hope Jedda feels comfortable soon. I wish I could post a picture but things have changed since I did it last and I don't know how anymore.

New Addition....

Now don't get too excited the new addition is my worst nightmare....a new dog. My husband knows a guy who is being deployed so we are going to take his hunting dog. Within the last two weeks I have finally accepted that Tootsie isn't going anywhere and I have grown to even like her a bit. There have been a few stories in the news about dogs being eaten by coyotes. After reading those stories I imagined that happening to Tootsie and wondered how I would feel. I realized that I liked Tootsie more than I realized and would not wish her harm. There was a time that I would not have minded so much, as sad as it sounds. Now don't get me wrong, Tootsie is a sweet dog. But the timing was all wrong. We got her as a puppy just a month or two before I had a new baby. So she has always just been an extra burden. If I didn't have little kids at home to take care of I think I would have enjoyed her company more.

The new dog is named Jedda. She is a 2 year old German short hair pointer. The dog that my husband originally wanted to get but got Tootsie instead. The owner said she is super sweet and a pretty good bird dog. I just hope she is potty trained really well. Tootsie would rather die than pee in my house so I hope that Jedda will feel the same way.

I have no idea how things are going to go and how in the world we are all going to fit in our small car to go anywhere. We are hoping that the dogs click well and become best friends. Tootsie gets along with everything, cats, sheep and all the dogs she meets. My Father-in-law was watching her around his sheep's pen. Tootsie crawled in and laid on her back so the sheep could smell her belly. Then they both started jumping around the pen and playing. He said he has never seen a dog act like a sheep before. So I am hoping this new dog is just as friendly. I think Tootsie is going to like having a buddy and someone to play with. The guy who is bringing the dog over said that another family will take her if she doesn't click with our family. Maybe I could squeeze Tootsie in there too.....Just kidding!

Up All Night

Last night I was having a weird dream. I was holding my daughters bottle and I put it down to do something else. This person walks up and they had the worlds dirtiest hands. The person kept touching the very tip of my daughters bottle. I kept asking them not to touch it but they wouldn't stop. So I leaned forward and started tapping their hand off as hard as I could. Then I heard and "Ouch!What the heck!" I woke up and my husband was sitting up glaring at me. I guess when I started hitting that person's hand in the dream I was hitting my husbands face in real life. He was so mad. I can't imagine being woken up that way!

I used to sleep soundly and I would wake up in the same position that I fell asleep in. The last couple months I have been moving a lot. I woke up the other night and I had turned completely sideways with my feel hanging off the bed and my head buried in my husbands back. I guess I stole his pillow the other night too. I have no idea why I am all of a sudden moving so much. My poor husband!

Vinegar

I could never say enough about vinegar. You can use vinegar for so many different things. I use it for cleaning all the time. For an all purpose cleaner I mix in a stray bottle one part vinegar and three parts water. It works really well for mirrors. For my shower I combined one cup of Dawn dish soap and one cup of vinegar. Spray on tub and let it sit for a little bit. It is one of the best soap scum cleaners I have ever tried, and the bonus is you can make it yourself and can actually breathe when you clean. :)

I read on pinterest that you can use vinegar as a fabric softener. They suggested adding 1/2 cup to a cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle. I have a liquid fabric softener in my machine so I added it there at the beginning of the cycle. I was a little worried my clothes would smell like vinegar. When I pulled them out to put them in the dryer I noticed they were super soft and just smelled like the laundry soap I use, no vinegar. I guess the vinegar balances the PH of the clothes and makes them soft. It also can kill any bacteria that your clothes might have on them.

I also use vinegar to rinse off my produce when I bring it home. Produce can have bacteria on it from shipping/handling in the store. You mix 3 Tbsp of vinegar for every quart of water then let them soak in a bowl for 5 minutes, then rinse. Once it is rinsed you can't taste any of the vinegar, just the food. It can also help with pesticides on the food. I notice that the produce taste fresher if it is rinsed off in the vinegar rinse. You can actually taste the fruit and not the garbage they spray stray on it. It also kills the mold spours on the food, so your berries will last longer.

I could go on for days about vinegar but I will share just one more thing....today. :) If you mix a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and a cup of water it makes an excellent hair rinse. I use it twice a week. It can help improve the health of your scalp (something about the circulation to the head, can't remember what I read). Yesterday I read online that it can help you if you have dandruff. It also removed the build up that people get on their hair from shampoos, pollution, hard water, all those fun things. So you will have shiny healthy hair and a healthy scalp afterwards. Its worth a shot. :)

Aztec Healing Clay

I like to read reviews online (weird I know). I was playing on Amazon after my kids went to bed one night and ran across Aztec Healing Clay with a five star review. I was reading the reviews and people were saying it is Amazon's best kept skin secret. So I thought I better give it a try.

So the Aztec Healing Clay comes in a bottle with a fine powder inside. To make a face mask out of it you mix apple cider vinegar with it until you get a good paste. Then you put it on your face for about 10 to 15 minutes (don't go any longer than that!). The first time I did it I left it on for about 30 minutes and my face was super red after.

As the mask dries on your face it tightens. After I rinsed it off my skin felt baby soft. It deep cleans pores and can help draw out blackheads. I do the mask once a week. It really is cool stuff. :)

Essential Oils

Lately I have been studying and using essential oils. So far I have learned a lot and have loved using them. There is one in particular that I absolutely love, its called On Guard. It helps boost immunity so you don't get sick. I used it on my two girls and myself and we haven't been sick yet this winter. We had a family dinner over at our house with over 45 people. I used the On Guard on my girls and none of us got sick. I was super excited since my daughter was a newborn and I was worried about her getting sick. I like to diffuse the oils in to the air. We put lavender in on nights when everyone is wound up. Its amazing how fast everyone calms down. I get pretty bad anxiety so it has been wonderful to use the oils to help with that.

This weekend my husband got sick (he doesn't remember to put on the On Guard on himself) and I started filling like I was getting a stuffy nose. I heated up some water in a cup and added two Tbsp. of apple cider vinegar, two drops of lemon essential oil and two spoonfuls of raw honey. A couple hours later I felt better and never got the cold like my husband did. I know that lemon oil and honey help but I tired apple cider vinegar (after reading about it on pin interest) and it worked great. The lady said on pin interest they drink it all the time if they feel an illness coming on. I am not going to lie, it is not easy to drink the vinegar. But if you sweeten it with honey and add the lemon it isn't as bad.

I became interested in essential oils after reading a book a couple years ago. It was a weird book about a lady that uses them and she has some romantic fling. She used the oils to heal people and she used them to help elevate her mood when the fling wasn't going well. I started researching it after that. Its amazing what you can heal when you get down to the natural basics. Anyways, that has been my new hobby, learning and using the oils. It has been fun so far.

Popcorn

I ordered a popcorn popper from Amazon about a month ago. We have been making popcorn a couple times a week. Our favorite is kettle corn. The recipe is....

1/3 cup of popcorn seeds

3 T of oil (I use canola)

3 T of sugar

salt to taste

We always double it because we like to pig out. But you can use a stock pot to make this, you don't have to have a special popper. But you heat the oil on medium heat for a few minutes. Add the seeds and sugar and stir it real fast so the sugar doesn't burn. Then put a lid on and shake the pot about every 20 seconds or so. When the it is all popped then you salt the popcorn and enjoy.

Tom Papa

The other night we were watching some stand up comedy from a guy named Tom Papa. He is the guy that hosts The Marriage Ref. He likes to talk a lot about being married and children. We were amazed at how similar our lives were. I am totally obsessed with washing hands. I am always asking my husband if his hands are washed. I guess this Tom Papa guy has the same problem with his wife. Tom is also in a family with all girls, even their pets. Hearing this guys routine made me feel a little more normal. :)

I'm not sure if I am really cut out for this whole Blog thing. I don't really have any fun stories to write about. It would have been fun to blog back in my dating days. I had a lot of fun adventures. Now I just stay home and do the same thing everyday. I haven't had anything interesting happen to me in a long time. Not that I am complaining. I like things to be calm, it just makes writing a blog kind of boring.

Scary Thought

So the other night we were watching TV and a commercial came on for a show called Switched at Birth. We started talking about what we would do if that happened to us. I can't even imagine how painful that would be. I don't think I could let go of the baby I have. Then if you kept the baby you would always wonder how things would have been with the baby you were supposed to have. Anyways, normal people don't sit around and think about those things, but I guess I do. It gave me anxiety and I couldn't stop thinking about how horrible that would be.

I read a story just now about a lady who had a baby last month. I guess the hospital switched babies on accident and she was feeding and taking care of someoone's baby. It turns out the nurse didn't check the band on the baby and the beds were switched somehow in the nursery. When they finally made the connection and came in to make the switch the lady who had been breastfeeding someone's baby was mortified. They did test on both the baby and lady because they had swapped bodily fluids.

It reminds me of The Office episode where Michael is getting ready for Jan to have her baby and Dwight tells him he needs to mark the baby to make sure they aren't swapped. This is a totally random post but when we were talking about that show we said that would never happen. Then a few days later I read a story about it happening. Luckily they found the error and fixed it. Well now that we all feel enriched from this weird post we can get on with our day.....

Christmas Day

We did most of the preparations for food the day before so Christmas day would be relaxing. Since I have been married I have been looking for a good Christmas morning breakfast I can make every year. This year I think I found it. It is a french toast recipe that you can make the day before and then bake the morning of. My bundt pan was too small for the recipe so we had it spill over quite a bit. I think next year I will half the recipe so it all fits nicely. We can't wait to eat it next year, it was delicious.

When my daughter woke up we brought her into our room for a few minutes so I could get dressed. She saw the presents as she was walking by and was so upset she couldn't run out there. I thought we had them all pushed over so she couldn't see but she saw one gift and that made her so excited to go out there. My husband was watching her and she kept going really quiet and then she would make a break for the door. When we finally got out there she was so excited and opened the gifts for everyone. We played with her toys and enjoyed just being in our pajamas and relaxing.


My husbands work gave him a honey baked ham so we enjoyed that for our Christmas meal. The rest of the day was spent sleeping, eating and relaxing. We went on a walk in the afternoon and couldn't believe how relaxed we both felt. It has been a long time since we have taken a day just to rest. There is only so much relaxing I can do, so by the time the evening rolled around I was ready to put Christmas away. We only put up a small tree and lights around our door so we were cleaned up in no time. This year was so much fun now that our daughter is old enough to be excited about presents. We can't wait for next year.

Even the dog got a stocking from us filled with toys and some treats from my sister. It was a good year. :)

Christmas Eve

We had a busy Christmas Eve. We went to my husbands sister's house for lunch. There were lots of people there and lots of food. We had a good time visiting. They have a big fluffy cat and our toddler followed the cat around most of the time and tried to play with her. She called the cat Gilbert. That is the name of a cat in a cartoon she likes to watch.

After we ate there we headed over to my parent's house for a dinner. It was fun and of course we had good food. I don't think my family has ever been together without some kind of food involved and it is always delicious. My Dad usually reads out of the Bible but this year he showed us a couple videos of Jesus' birth. Then we went on to the talent portion of the night. Our little one started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star but when she realized everyone was watching she stopped and ran out of the room. She is so loud at home but is pretty quiet in public.

It is tradition in my family to sing a couple Christmas songs. I was in another room feeding my baby and was listening to my family sing. It was fun to hear the laughing and how off key everyone was. I am so glad that my daughters get to make memories like I had growing up. I am glad we are still doing some of the same traditions and creating new ones of course. :) Someone brought in some musical instruments and the girls enjoyed making music and running around. We were so grateful we got to spend time with both sides of the family this year.

Family Night

We had a good night this last week visiting with family. My husbands little brother is in the military. He had a couple days of leave so he got to come and see us. We miss their family so much and wish they lived closer. They have a little girl the same age as our toddler. They ran around and screamed and laughed most of the night. Their little daughter was speaking Japanese and our little one kept looking at her funny and saying "what you saying?" It was fun to watch them play together. They also had a baby just a few months ago. Our kids are so lucky to have cousins the same age that they can play with. It was fun to eat and visit.

Christmas Week

It has been a long time since I posted something. A couple weeks ago I wrote a post and then tried to post it and my computer turned off. That is just my luck. We have been doing a lot of baking and eating lately. I made a couple batches of white chocolate popcorn for my neighborhood gifts. It turned out great but it super rich. I ate a little too much one night and had a stomach ache because it was so rich. Here is the recipe.......

2 bags of microwaved popcorn...popped

1 bag of white chocolate chips

handful of M & Ms

couple handfuls of pretzels (my favorite part, I love sweet and salty together)

a handful or two of mini marshmallows

pour a little bit of milk chocolate chips in a bowl for melting and drizzling.

I popped the popcorn and poured it into a bowl so I could scoop out the good stuff and leave the seeds. I melted the white chocolate and poured it into a bowl with the M & Ms, pretzels and marshmallows. Mix it up and dump it over the popcorn. Mix it up and dump it on a cookie sheet. Then I melted the milk chocolate and drizzled it over everything. Put it in the fridge for a few minutes so the chocolate hardens and then you are ready to go.

I have a few more recipes to post later. :)

I'm Back!

Its been a while since I have been on here. I finally had my baby. It feels so good to not be pregnant. Everything with the delivery went well and we are home safe and adjusting to life as a family of four. Our new baby is super sweet and the perfect addition to our family.

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is tomorrow. This is my first year cooking Thanksgiving dinner by myself. I am excited to see how it all turns out and I can't wait for the smells to fill the house tomorrow. I think the only bummer I have about this season is not being able to go shopping on Black Friday. My family lovingly named that day the Turkey Rumble. I love the shopping, waking up early, being with family, running to get the deal and sometimes fighting the crowd. Last year was a quiet year and we got all we wanted but the year before started out a little shaky. My nephew wanted to come with us so we let him come. We got to the two minute press and this lady shows up and cuts to the front. She just set a chair out and then went and sat in her warm car until they opened.

When the store employee comes to open the door the line always presses up against the door. The door opened and I went to start running and that same lady grabbed on to my coat and pushed me back. She wanted us all to walk calmly through the door (which takes all the fun out of it). She shoved me pretty hard so I said "let go of me hag." My nephews face went pale and he stood there because he is a good boy and thought we would be in trouble. I grabbed him and pulled him forward into a run. It felt good at the time but I felt bad later. Not only was I a bad example but I really hurt that ladies feelings. She recoiled and just stared at me. Hopefully I am better behaved next time.

I am excited to set Christmas decorations up this weekend. The holiday season feels like it is flying by.