the hinckleys

Knock Off Pottery Barn Shelves

2012-02-13T06:53:00.000-08:00

I saw this really cute idea on this blog: Anna White's Ten Dollar Ledges

I thought, I can do that, easy peasy.

And you know what? It actually was.

I love how it looks! And I REALLY love how easily Jamie can get to all her books on the bottom ledge. She is way more into books than Tyler ever was. Several times a day, she'll wander in here, grab a few books, and bring them out for me to read them to her. She loves the mommy and Jamie time, I love the not-screaming time :)

A story of rice krispie treats and a Tres Leches cake

2012-02-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

A few Sundays ago, it was my turn to teach the 8-11 CTR class (I take turns with another girl since its a crazy, enormous class). The lesson was on Nephi's vision of the tree of life and the iron rod. I don't know about you, but the most exciting part of church when I was little (and, lets be honest, to this day) is when someone brings treats. So when I'm the teacher, I make it a point to bring treats.

So what kind of treat fits in with the tree of life?

A tree of rice krispie treats, that's what.

This was not mine. Mine was lopsided and dried out. Also it had M&Ms in it (you know, fruit that is desirable above all else).

So I brought all my lesson stuff to church on Sunday, and I put the Rice Krispie Treat Tree in the church kitchen, and I went into Sacrament meeting. I came back out at the end to get my stuff...and the tree was gone. Just snatched off the plate. The entire thing. Gone.

Not gonna lie, I was pretty mad. The funny thing was, once I told my class what had happened, it actually bonded us together against the treat thief, and we had an awesome first lesson.

The rest of church passed, and I kind of got over it (the entire ward's anger on my behalf helped). I didn't think too much about it until a few days later when I heard a knock on my door. I opened it to find four older boys from the ward accompanied by the scout master holding a cake in a box from Eatzi's and a cookie that said "I'm sorry"

It was well received.

The boys looked super nervous, so I hugged them all and told them this cake was way better than dried out rice krispie treats.

Jamie agreed.

A new addiction, albeit a wholesome one

2012-02-07T17:35:00.000-08:00

Confession: I always thought people who regularly made their own bread were a little weird. Really? You can't afford an $.88 loaf of bread?

Until one day last week when we ran out of bread in the morning, and (not feeling a trip to the store) I thought to myself, I have lots of assorted flours in the pantry, why not just for fun?

Holy. Freaking. Cow.

I cannot overstate how good this bread is. It is the holy grail of whole wheat bread recipes. McKay loves it for his sandwiches. Tyler and Jamie love it for their toast in the morning. And I love it for its soft, chewy, delicious with honey and butter self.

You guys, I'm not kidding when I say I do not want to buy bread ever again. I have joined with the weirdos and I don't care.

Here's the recipe:

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Now the only thing left to do is to try it out with my friend Melissa's heavenly looking Vanilla Bean Honey Butter.

It's probably a good thing I've started running again.

Cars, cars, cars. Ugh.

2012-02-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

So while the red car was getting a facelift at Progressive's car shop, McKay's car decided to die on the freeway while I was driving it back from a student teaching. Let me tell you, losing all driving power and power steering while going 70 miles an hour is terrifying. So we had a weird few days where we had two rental cars at once.

I missed my car.

McKay did not miss his car. Or its lack of an iPod port. It was a sad day when the warranty stopped covering his rental :)

But sometimes our neighbors do this:

2012-02-04T21:20:00.000-08:00

When we park on the street, that is.

Sigh. Big sigh. Angry grumble. Roar.

By the way, thank you McKay for insisting on Hit and Run Collision Coverage.

Sometimes my baby does this:

2012-02-04T21:18:00.000-08:00

after a long morning out.

As long as we're delving into ancient history

2012-02-02T21:55:00.000-08:00

McKay and I took a three day trip into Dallas last August (I know, we live in Dallas. But you can't walk leisurely around the arts district at midnight with a then three year old and one year old.) Our awesome friends took our babies for a few days, and we had an AWESOME time.

All mine

Sushi!

Ohhhh, sore feet after walking miles around downtown after dinner in four inch heels. These shoes were not made for walking.

Recovered. Why is this underlined?

This was so fun to see our city like normal, non-parent people, and also just to get away from responsibility for a few days. Thanks Dallas! Seriously, what's with the underlining?

Halloween!

2012-02-02T21:36:00.000-08:00

Hiccup and Tinkerbell ready to hit the town!

My awesome grocery bags - turned lanterns all lit up.

Our art: T for Tyler and a spider on a web.

Ward Halloween Party=sweet!

Happy (belated) Halloween!

A Halloween Birthday

2012-02-02T20:18:00.000-08:00

We're baaa-aaaaack...for now, at least :)

So, four months late is better than never, right? Tyler turned FOUR (I still can't believe it) this last October, and we had a spectacular Halloween birthday party in our backyard with a bunch of his costumed friends.

We did give them fair warning...

It was so much fun, and I am being super lame just posting pictures without telling all about it because, let's be honest, I stayed up til 3am the night before finishing the treats and decorations, so I can't really remember all of it. Either way, I'm pretty proud of myself for pulling together some sort of blog post, and judging from the pictures (thanks, Eve!!) we look like we had a good time.

We love you, Bubba!

2012-01-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

We are blogging failures! In the meantime, here are our January favorites:

Tyler's new shape puzzles:

This waffle box. Or, rather, Jamie's easy chair.

And our latest addition to the family: Pierre! (Dad: He's alive!!) This thing followed us home from Goodwill. It earns its keep by singing "Hot, Hot, Hot" whenever we pass it, successfully freaking us out at night. And in the morning when Tyler shoves it in my face while I'm still sleeping. Welcome to the family, Pierre!

November!

2011-11-04T07:52:00.001-07:00

(Halloween and birthdays to come - camera cord still MIA!)

Lucky girl Jamie had her 15 month check up yesterday, complete with six shots and blood work. She has been one sad and sick little girl since then. We spent most of the night cuddling in her rocking chair, trying to break her fever. Better one feverish night than polio, right? Today she is still clingy and quick to cry, but she's starting to play on her own again.

One of the nurses gave Tyler a blue tape measure, and he has been measuring everyone since then: I am 72, Jamie is 104, and McKay is 7.

We took down our Halloween decorations on Wednesday to Christmas music. Didn't you know? On Nov 1 it becomes legal to listen to Christmas music at any hour of the day. Or all hours of the day, if you live in our house.

Happy November everyone!!

Quiet-ish mornings

2011-10-24T21:06:00.001-07:00

Every morning, after McKay kisses us goodbye and leave for work, Tyler, Jamie, and I carry bowls of steaming oatmeal topped with brown sugar and frozen blueberries to the dining room table. Jamie reigns over us from her high chair smearing oatmeal on everything in reach; Tyler picks out all his berries, puts them on the table, and carefully spoons out the top layer of dissolved brown sugar on top ("DON'T STIR IT MOM!!!"), eats it, and leaves the actual oatmeal more or less untouched. I sit back in my chair and look out our dining room window, which I would show you if I knew where our old camera's cord was.

Our backyard is magic in the morning. The sun at 7:30 just starts to filter over the trees into our yard through all the leaves.

This is not our backyard, but this reminds me of it. I love sitting there for the ten minutes that Jamie will let me, just soaking in the goodness of green and light and life, thinking about big life decisions that have to be made and diving into some good news:

A friend from BYU whose blog I stalk regularly shared her wonderful idea/goal for this year, and I am doing my best to keep up:

http://alicianstephen.blogspot.com/2011/08/goals.html

I am almost through with Acts now. I'm amazed at how much more sense the scriptures make when you read them more than a chapter at a time. Also at the gems I never noticed before like Acts 17:27-28.

Que soul resonation.

Typical conversations

2011-10-06T08:23:00.000-07:00

Daddy: Tyler, do dinosaurs eat their mommies?

Tyler: No! They eat leaves!

Daddy: Oh, like these leaves?

Tyler: Yeah! And then they turn it into poop!

(At this point, Tyler finished putting an expired driver's license into his "purse", zipped it up, and announced he was going to the store to buy wheels.)

I love this boy.

Practicing our snooty faces

2011-10-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

With the much needed weather cool down these last few weeks (hello, 80s!!), the babies and I have started running again! We've had our double jogging stroller for a year now, but it was always such a hassle dragging it up and down three flights of stairs in our apartment, and as soon as we moved into a house it soared into Satan weather. But now we can use it!

Our route takes us one street north of our neighborhood into a community called Highland Park. This is the Big Deal, the Beverly Hills of Dallas. This is where the rich people live, like President Bush (when they aren't at their ranches or whatever).

For 2.7 miles, these are the lovelies that greet us:

I love it! Even more than looking at the architectural goodies, I love pretending that I live there, waving nonchalantly when we pass people. Of course, we run at 10AM, so most of the people we pass are Guatemalan nannies and landscape day laborers, but hey, it's a good time.

Tyler and Jamie get so excited for our run every morning. Tyler likes to walk the first block of the route, and he likes to wave at the elderly people walking their poodles. We keep a sharp eye out for tractors and trucks along the way. Jamie squeals when she sees the stroller, and runs to grab a handful of shoes out of her room.

Speaking of shoes, this girl is seriously crazy about them. We keep them in the bottom drawer of her dresser, and she muscles it open, rummages around, grabs a few, puts them on, takes them off, walks around with them, and discards them around the house.

We probably won't ever live in a neighborhood like this, but we can dream.

And plan on trick-or-treating there. Can you imagine the size of candy bars they must give out!?

September, Where'd You Go?

2011-09-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

Our camera had the misfortune of taking a swim in my parents' pool while we were on our California trip, and I hate blogging without pictures! But September went by so fast, and we're still camera shopping (suggestions are welcome!)

1. I started the new semester, and I'm taking (gasp) 16 credits. It's a tad crazy, but if I can get these last few classes in Dallas finished quickly, I can be done with my B.A. by next September, and that thought is carrying me through late night Biology labs. I've been waiting for this since Tyler was six months old, and I'm finally being able to do it! It's funny, when I was in school, I never appreciated the fact that I was in school. Now, I LOVE learning. I love reading for my classes. McKay makes fun of me because I actually read everything and take tons of notes. After three years of only being concerned with taking care of babies, it's wonderful to feel smart and to learn new things. I feel like a real person again! :)

2. McKay had his 28th birthday while we were gone! That was not in the plan, but a couple of sick babies had other plans. There are presents in the works right now, so more on that later.

3. We are finally getting settled in the new house! It's been cool enough to do yard work lately, so we ripped out everything in the flower beds and planted big bushy chrysanthemums, and in the spring, we'll have daisies and tulip bulbs. So cute! We're also finally getting around to making curtains and hanging pictures, all those things that make it homey.

4. We had a huge yard sale this last weekend with our friend Eve and her two kids! I was really glad for the chance to get rid of all our extra baby clothes (four big gray bins of just Jamie's stuff! Ridiculous!), and maybe make a little extra cash. We did get rid of everything by the end, thanks to rabid freecyclers (don't invite them if you aren't prepared for crazy town). I did make a little money, although I just turned around and bought a bunch of Eve's stuff. It was a ton of work, but I'm glad we did it, and our house is looking more and more uncluttered. Flylady would be so proud!

So life is going on. September went by too fast! The holiday season is already here, and we don't even have our decorations out of moving boxes yet!

More updates to come, and hopefully pictures soon!

California Trip, Pictures Galore!

2011-09-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

With the forecast soaring into death zone for way too long, the babies and I fled the state for the rest of August. Not even the thought of a 3000 miles round trip could make us stay!

Oh, so very much driving...

Good bye Texas! This is pretty much how Tyler and Jamie looked for the duration of the trip. Jamie, disgruntled if not screaming, and Tyler gleeful because he figured out how to unbuckle his seat belt.

It always surprises me how freaky a completely flat landscape looks, like the sky is too big without mountains.

We stopped in Santa Rosa, NM for the first night. I have no idea how Tyler and Jamie got so dirty just sitting in their car seats all day, but we had a mandatory bath time. It was well received.

Tyler was SOOO excited about his big bed he got all to himself. (Jamie and her Pack N Play were banished to the bathroom area due to incessant giggling at Tyler at midnight.)

We stopped in Hurricane to visit Robin and her family, and they had a great little splashpad for the kids to run around in.

Another seven hours in the car finally got us to California! Because of the lovely 70 degree weather, we were able to go to the park lots of times:

Jamie glaring at me. Come to think of it, she's glaring at me in most of these pictures. I don't think she likes the camera :)

We brought Chance with us, and Tyler was really excited about walking Chance, until...

Well, it is was fun while it lasted.

Of course we had to stop by the Magic Kingdom for a day!

Two mommies and three babies on Peter Pan!

This was the first trip Tyler had fun on the rides. For the first few years, he was just confused/mesmorized by them. Then last year, he refused to go on any of them, preferring to just watch them. For hours. Sitting outside in the heat, just watching other people go on rides.

Happily, this time, he was excited to actually go on the rides.

Once he figured out the controls, Tyler had the best time on Dumbo.

This is one of my favorite pictures. I love, love, love how much fun my dad and Tyler have together when we come to visit. Tyler is so excited to show Grandpa everything, and Grandpa is more than happy to be led by the hand around Fanstasyland all day long.

Tyler found a book of pressed coins at my parents' house the night before we went to Disneyland, and because of their oval shape, he called them his "disneyland egg monies". He insisted on bringing them the next day, and Grandpa helped him find a few coin pressing machines to make more egg money. Tyler kept the book in his pocket during the day, and got it out to look at while we waited in in lines.

This was so funny. We managed to sneak Tyler on Space Mountain (he's 39.5 inches tall, and the height requirement is 40 inches), and we were so excited for him to go on a fun, fast ride that I totally forgot just how fast it is. And loud. And dark. And terrifying for a three year old. As soon as we shot forward, my heart dropped and I just thought Oh no, this is going to ruin the rest of the day, what was I thinking? Tyler was clutching my hand the entire ride, and because it was so dark I couldn't see if he was scared. When it finally ended, and the lights came on, I glanced over at him. He looked at me, and said "Whoa, that was fast!" in a not-scared voice, and I was so relieved. Then he said "Mommy! We went into space! LIKE WALLE!"

We found the Bug's Life waterpark in California Adventure, and I think it was the highlight of Jamie's day. She had been fussy on and off for the morning, and then full out furious when she developed an awful diaper rash right before lunch. But when we put on her swimsuit and set her free in the little water park, she was all smiles.

Tyler and my dad ran into a few storm troopers on their way to Astro Blasters. I don't think Tyler knew what to make of them.

Whenever I was around, Jamie tried to act like she didn't like Grandma or Grandpa, but the reports are that as soon as I left, she loved to snuggled right up to Grandma and play peek-a-boo with Grandpa. But as soon as I came back, this scowl is all she would give them. Grandma calls it the "mom show", and Jamie is the star.

We were in California for three weeks, and did lots more fun things after Disneyland, but my camera went for a swim in the pool shortly after this, so we don't have any more pictures. But we had a great time, and loved seeing all our family. For some reason, I didn't get any pictures of Kim, Maddie or Macey, but they were over every other day, and Tyler and Maddie had so much fun together. I wish we lived closer so we could see them more! Tyler's still talking about his "other cousins" and Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Richard and Chancie. We miss you guys! Thanks for letting us come visit!

A rebuttal

2011-08-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

So Sebastian DID like one of our dinners last week, as well he should, because it was freaking delicious

Internet, meet Buffalo Club Sandwich:

Yum.

Horatio Thelonious Ignacious Crustaceous Sebastian

2011-08-07T08:12:00.000-07:00

No, not that one.

This one.

This is Sebastian. His dad does construction work on the house next door everyday between drinking a beer and yakking on his cell phone, and for some reason, he brings his five year old son with him. So we invite his bored little boy over to play. Tyler calls him "my best friend Dastin."

They get into all sorts of mischief together.

Mainly tearing the house apart in record time.

And when I snap, I banish them to the living room to watch Wall-e.

And Jamie seizes the opportunity to sneak into Tyler's room to play with all the abandoned toys.

The only problem is that I don't know how to kick him out at dinnertime. The few times he has stayed, he told me he doesn't like the dinners I make and suggested we order pizza instead. So he's banned from dinnertime at our house.

Anyway, some days we have to walk him to the door, put him on our porch, and close the door behind him. Sad, but also sadly necessary.

Anyway, how do you kick your kids' clingy friends out the door at the end of the day?

This pop isn't working, Benny! I'm baking like a toasted Cheese-It, it's so hot here!

2011-08-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hello August!

Today will have a high of 108!

Tomorrow gets even better with a high of 110!

Just two days in and you've worn out your welcome.

Today is the much anticipated 32nd consecutive day over 100 degrees, the second longest streak in Texas history. Now we're all on the edge of our seats to see if we can beat the summer

of 1980, where it stayed over 100 degrees for 42 days!

As exciting as all of that is, it has inspired us to flee the state for the rest of the month.

The Burglar

2011-07-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

Last night was kind of terrifying.

McKay and I had just put Tyler and Jamie down to sleep, and we were in our room working on various things (me, homework, McKay, Angry Birds), when I thought I heard a door creak open somewhere in the house. I didn't think too much of it, and I asked McKay if he had heard anything. He said no, but he stood up and walked towards the bedroom door to go check it out.

Before he reached the door, we heard quick footsteps running down the hall, away from the bedrooms.

Tyler never, ever gets out of bed after we put him down, so you can understand the panic we felt.

McKay grabbed a big polka dot umbrella, and I grabbed some curtain rods, and we hovered in our doorway, hearts in our throats, hands shaking, torn between grabbing our babies and hiding from whatever or whoever was in our house, and charging down the hallway with our makeshift weapons. McKay yelled a few times down the hall to the rest of the darkened house. I became very aware of the fact that all our hallway light switches were where the footsteps had gone towards, along with our cell phones, knives, hammers, and anything else that might have been more useful than a $5 Walmart umbrella against a robber, and why oh why did we move so close to downtown?

As we stood frozen in the doorway, Tyler peeked his head out of his bedroom across the hall to see what was going on. I snatched him up and pulled him behind me.

"Momma?"

"Tyler, shhh."

"Momma, I gotta go potty."

"Shhh, Tyler...wait, what? You have to go potty?"

"Yeah, I get out of bed, I go potty."

"Tyler, did you just get out of bed to go potty, and then run back into your bed?"

"Yeah, I run back into my bed."

All the tension and adrenaline just whooshed out of us as we realized what had happened. Tyler had, in fact, gotten out of his bed, cracked open his door, and then ran back into bed when he heard us coming. (The raised foundation of our home plus the hardwood floors makes it hard to tell exactly where the footsteps are coming from.)

Rest assured, we did still search the rest of the house, just in case. And Tyler trotted happily off to the bathroom. I spent the rest of the night researching the best way to handle break ins, and I am happy to report I learned nothing useful but I am now freaked out of my mind.

Our Park Buddy, Mr. Clemens

2011-07-28T08:21:00.000-07:00

"Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand."

--Mark Twain

TuTu & 'Stache Bash!

2011-07-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

(Get ready for a picture bonanza...)

Last summer, when Jamie was born, she came in a trio of Hinckley cousins:

Jamie: June 24, 2011

Megan: July 9, 2011

Grant: September 24, 2011

So when Kendy and her kids came to visit right in the middle of all these first birthdays we decided to have a big joint birthday party for all three babies.

All the girls the night before making tutus for party favors, while all the boys went to a Ranger's game.

All our guests with their respective accessories:

Mustached boys

Tyler took his mustache-wearing very serious.

Tutu'd girls

Pretty Birthday Girl!

Each birthday baby had a cake: the girls got initial cakes with pink icing tutus, and Grant got his very own mustache cake :)

Some party decorations! (That didn't actually get printed out in time, but I thought they were so fun)

We played Pin The Mustache On The Grant and Pin The Tutu On The Jamie and Megan.

Birthday girls in their tutus watching the older kids playing party games

Tyler was SOO excited about playing the games

Oh well, Grant's armpit is just as good...

Birthday girls bored with the games and trying to break into the forbidden upstairs.

Water balloon toss outside!

Tyler was horrified that we were breaking the water balloons, and held onto this red one for twenty minutes, scowling at everyone who threw theirs.

Jamie did not join the water balloon toss, but she was so happy to be outside. She hadn't been feeling great that morning, and she was so happy to get to crawl around on the deck.

Cake time! The lineup...

And they're off!

I regret to report that Jamie is no stranger to cake. She knew just what to do with this slice. Megan watched her cousin in awe. Or disgust, I can't tell :)

The babies weren't shy about their cakes:

Grant developed an interesting technique. He dipped a pretzel stick into the icing over and over before diving in with his hands.

Jamie and Megan kept showing each other their fist fulls of cake and then looking under their plates for more.

The rest of the kids liked the cake too, although they were pretty adamant that the girls should only eat the girls' cakes, and the boys should only eat Grant's cake. Any deviation was quickly ridiculed.

A birthday-suit bath was mandatory after all that cake!

Thanks for coming everyone! We had a great time, and we are all are ready to sleep until their second birthdays next year.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2011-07-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

We had a nice family dinner over at David and Marie's new house last Sunday to celebrate Grandma's birthday.

As per tradition, we brought a cake and let everyone else feed us dinner:

Grandma received lots of love and hugs and several presents from her grand-babies, including fake flowers, a butterfly catcher, and a hand colored picture frame :)

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Feasting with the Prophets VII

2011-07-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

Week #7: Heber J. Grant

Favorite Dessert: Figgy Pudding

This week was a really fun one. Here's some fun facts on Heber J. Grant:

1. The J. stands for Jeddy, which I first misread as Jedi and got pretty excited, and then I reread it correctly.

But...

Then I looked at this snappy picture of President Grant:

And then saw this uncanny resemblance:

Coincidence?

I think not.

From now on (in my book, at least), he is President Heber "Jedi" Grant,

So...we didn't actually learn much about Heber J. Grant (kind of let that part slide...), but Figgy Pudding was a big fat hit. Our visiting cousins from Virginia were so so excited about eating Figgy Pudding, and even Grandpa put on the Muppet's We Wish You A Merry Christmas in his office.

Amid "Won't go. Won't go!!" 's, we whipped up this winner from Paula Dean herself. Someday, we'll try the real Heber J. Grant recipe from the Lion House Cookbook, but you can never go wrong with a recipe from Queen Dean.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups chopped dried pitted dates
1/2 cup chopped dried figs
2 cups water
1 teaspoon baking soda
7 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
2 1/2-ounces dark chocolate, grated
Butter, for coating ramekins
Whipped cream, for garnish

Sauce:

2 cups brown sugar
2 cups heavy cream
14 tablespoons butter
Fresh figs, quartered, for garnish
Vanilla ice cream, optional
Whipped heavy cream, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Add the dates, dried figs and water to a medium saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the baking soda. Let cool for about 5 minutes, then add to a blenderand puree.

Using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs and beat well. Fold in the flour, the pureed date mixture and the chocolate.

Put the mixture into 4 buttered, 1-cup individual ramekins, filling halfway or slightly under. Put in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Prepare the sauce by stirring the sugar, cream and butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Simmeruntil the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the butter and stir until incorporated.

Remove the ramekins from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes. May be served in the ramekin or unmolded onto a small serving plate. With paring knife cut a cross in the top of the puddings for the sauce.

Pour the sauce into the cross in the center of each pudding, then pour more sauce over the puddings and it allow to soak in slightly. Top with fresh figs and vanilla ice cream or heavily whipped cream. Serve warm.

Soooo delicious. This is the first one that I have been tempted to do again. McKay said this was the best dessert I've ever made, and since he loves everything I make, that is telling indeed.

Earth

2011-07-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

We were coming out of a restaurant downtown last week, and we looked up to see the Dallas skyline right there in front of us! (Partially blocked by a parking structure, but still!) We told Tyler all about the different buildings, but all he had eyes for was the moon that was sitting so nicely right in between towers. Or, more exactly, "the Earth. Like in Wall-e."

A little more questioning revealed that in Tyler World, moons are crescents. Earths are circles. And that is that.

Downtown Outings

2011-07-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

Our new home is so close to downtown Dallas, and we love love LOVE driving down there to see what's going on. It's so fun, because we spent most of last year moping over the fun things going on down here because we were too far away to come down every week. I cannot wait to get over to the farmer's market again, and to see some shows in uptown, and just park the car and stroll around the historic district.

I took Jamie and Tyler to the Museum of Art last week for the children's day.

We played with the door beads until the guard told us to stop:

Made some art:

which may or may not have been eaten by Jamie:

and then headed outside for a courtyard exhibit from the Dallas Zoo. Hot hot hot!

Yes that is a boa constrictor around her body. Tyler was ecstatic.

"Mommy! Mommy! Do you see that big snake?!"

"Yes, I see the snake, Tyler."

"No, Mommy, the BIG snake! BIG snake!"

Gross.

Tyler loves going to the museum, and I know Jamie enjoys it. She's getting be not so much a baby anymore. Just in the last few weeks, she has started walking full time and jabbering in a very conversational way. She has words for Mama, Dada, and Tyler, and yes, although I don't think anyone besides me and Tyler know how to interpret. She is turning out to be such a fun, sunny little girl (when the world is going her way), and it makes me smile. When we decided on the name Jamie, I just thought it sounded like a name for a fun, happy, sunny, pretty girl.

And my Jamie is all of those things.

2011-07-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

Yeesh. What a whiny post.

Go watch How is Babby Formed. It's my magic cure all for grumpy days.

Moving Right Along

2011-07-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

I've always liked to stay busy. If I don't have things to stay busy with, I get anxious, and then I start watching daytime TV. No bueno.

But this last week or two has tested my fondness of productivity. There is just soooo much to get done. I feel like if I just sat and spaced out for an hour, something awful would happen, like I'd have forgotten my children somewhere, or I'll miss a school deadline. I move from one task to another like a crazy woman until I just drop around midnight. For example, today:

8:00 Breakfast and morning routine with the babies

9:00 Grocery list making

10:00 Grocery shopping

12:30 Lunch and naps

1:00-4:00 School, school, school during naps

4:30: Babies awake, cleaning and playing

6:00: McKay done with work, school, school, school

And somewhere in these last few hours of the day, we need to plan a primary lesson for tomorrow and finish a birthday cake to take to dinner tomorrow night.

I am my own taskmaster, and I am relentless. I'd love to blow everything off for a few days and go play in San Antonio, but I am horrified at the thought of missing anything.

But in three weeks, summer term is over, and I'm taking it relatively easy this fall, so until August 11, I'll dream of simple times like unpacking Tyler and Jamie's room. (Yes they are still stacked to the ceiling in boxes. Embarrassing.)

Oh! And decorating the new house! Heaven.

Oh, what? Our children? Yes, we still have them. Here's some last day in our apartment shenanigan pictures when we unearthed a bag of Fat Tuesday beads:

This girl is a full fledged walker now! These hardwood floors gave her poor knees just the motivation she needed.

Not only for flashing crowds, these beads are also for impromptu dance parties!

Hinckley Update:

2011-07-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

We made it into our new house!

However, we've been waging war against it since then. Let's just say that cute old houses are still old. And landlords who are reluctant to clean are (surprise!) reluctant to repair.

We are gaining ground on the house, though. After lengthy and individual battles, we now have electricity, running water, a working water heater, and a bathtub that can be turned off.

Now if the washer drain could be unclogged and the bathtub could give us something besides scalding water and the lights in the living room would work, we'd be in heaven...

More to come when the sky stops falling!

Packing (dun dun...dun dun...)

2011-06-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

I just filled up ten boxes with all the stuff from one bathroom.

We're going to need more boxes.

We Give

2011-06-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

Due to popular coercison by grandmas, here are some pictures of the new house, freshly dusted and de-cobwebbed, de-bugged and de-all disgusting things, and ready to move in:

Big living room with big, sunny windows and a big cozy fireplace.

Our yellow kitchen! Doesn't it look so cheerful? Yes, those are our washer and dryer in the kitchen, thank you 1940's for designing that.

A dining room! So luxurious.

And the bedroom count-off!

One

Two

THREE!

It has lots of character, for sure. Example: a hallway spot for an old style phone. Everytime McKay walks past this, he puts on this pinched, nasally voice: "Hello? Hello?"

YES THOSE ARE POT RACK HOOKS WOO HOO

Tyler has dubbed this the green house (it's a brick house with green trim). He has fun exploring it and re-discovering rooms that he had forgotten where there.

But nothing really compares with ordering pizza while you wait for the water people to show up.

Birthday Girl

2011-06-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

We started the special day off with a birthday banner, of course:

Tyler helped me write the letters, and Jamie unrolled half a mile of ribbon around the living room, and I let her, because, you know, it was her birthday.

We had a lovely morning at Sprouts, picking up THREE pints of blueberries for our freshly turned one-year-old girl, and sampling all the bulk yummies.

Birthday Lunch! (Diapers following this feast were unusual.)

After naps, and after daddy came home, we started a new birthday tradition (thanks, NieNie)

Balloons!

We wrote birthday wishes on all the balloons:

and then let them go.

Our wonderful friends had us over for dinner, cake and games. We brought (what else?) a blueberry topped cake for Jamie:

Tyler couldn't help himself, and he helped Jamie blow out her candle.

Jamie picked off and ate each blueberry very meticulously

before diving into the cake-y goodness and demolishing it.

Happy Birthday Jamerson, we love you!

1

2011-06-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my beautiful baby girl:

Our family would be lonely without you. (I'd say less crazy too, but who are we kidding, Tyler is the crazy king)

New Home!

2011-06-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

Cross your fingers. Our days of apartment living may be over.

We are the proud home renters of a brick red, oh-so-cute ye olde home in Dallas with:

Fabulous wooden floors
A Dining room!
Count 'em: THREE bedrooms
Big backyard
GARAGE
2 miles from McKay's work
Not an apartment

And we will be moving in as soon as we can rid it of its not so cute qualities. Apparantly no one has lived there in a year or so (one failed sale and several months of overpriced rent--like 30% more than other homes in the neighborhood), and the landlord is...reluctant to help clean it out.

But after six hours of exhausting house and yard work yesterday, I am kind of in love with the results.

No pictures til it's done though!

We move in one week from Saturday. Wish us luck because I haven't even started packing yet.

Jamie A. C. Hinckley

2011-06-20T18:59:00.000-07:00

Loves ripe, delicious blueberries:

Down to the very last morsel that her dainty little baby fingers can find

Ms. Jamie A. C. Hinckley does not love stinky older brothers who think blueberries are not for eating, but for launching like a cannon out of his mouth.

Feasting With the Prophets VI

2011-06-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

Week #6: Joseph F. Smith (remember the F!)
Favorite Dessert: Custard Pie

Unfortunately, me plus polygamists equals frowny face, so it's best to just leave the prophet life facts alone until we get past the Manifesto (which actually happened during Joseph F. Smith's presidency. Hurray for monogamy!)

So while his life will remain a blank for me until I can calmly deal with the idea of polygamy, we will enjoy this gem:

This is Joseph F. Smith and his freaking enormous family, with lots of grumpy faces and one ray of sunshine just to the prophet's right:

I love this kid. Makes me happy everytime these ol' polygamists get me riled up.

On to the dessert!

Custard Pie

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg white
2 1/2 cups scalded milk
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
2.Mix together eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Stir well. Blend in the scalded milk. For more yellow color, add few drops yellow food coloring.
3.Line pie pan with pastry, and brush inside bottom and sides of shell with egg white to help prevent a soggy crust. Pour custard mixture into piecrust. Sprinkle with nutmeg.
4.Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on rack.

It actually tasted a lot like flan, only less delicious. We did top it with caramel sauce, so it was pretty delicious.

Run On

2011-06-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

I am a runner.

Except for the fact that I have not regularly done so for almost two years now.

I sheepishly admitted this to McKay last week, and out of that conversation grew a new summer goal:

We will be running a 5K this summer! (And hopefully a 10K later if we love it.) I wanted to join the Dallas Running Club so we could get 8 races for the price of one, but for some reason McKay was not as excited about running seven more races.

I Think I Love You, Dallas

2011-06-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

Dare I say it? I may like where we live afterall. I've been dreading the summer for the last few months and moaning about the impending months of yucky, sticky, stuck-inside-all-day days. Someone had the sense to give me a talking to about dealing with the heat, and I think I've discovered the key:

1. Obtain a car. You ain't going nowhere in this heat without wheels and a/c.

2. Open your eyes! There's a million and one indoors air conditioned (and free!) activities for kids to do in this city during the summer, because (duh) everyone has the same problem: it's hot!

3. Get out the door in the morning, because, simply put, Jamie missing her nap is worse than staying home. Plus, it's cooler at 9AM than noon.

Following these rules, our summer is off to quite a fantastic start. We are working with the heat and going swimming, visiting ponds and finding cool fountains. We're also researching every week to see where all the cool kids are going. Here's just a few for all you cooped up mommies:

storytime everyday at the library

$1 kids movies every Wednesday morning at Cinemark

shows, parties and music every Thursday afternoon at the mall

kids workshops every first Saturday at Home Depot

Free kids carnival days at the museums

We aim for an outing a day, and Tyler and Jamie are loving it. The most exciting phrase in our house right now is "Tyler, can you find your shoes?" Even Jamie knows that shoes=fun times.

All in all, this is shaping up to be a really good, really busy summer. I can't believe it, but I think I love Dallas in the summertime.

Dear Mavs:

2011-06-09T13:58:00.001-07:00

Please pull it together for the next two games because this is all McKay has been doing for the last week:

This one was when he realized I'd been taking pictures of him in his underwear.

(See, I told you I'd crop it out.)

I absolutely love her when she smiles

2011-06-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

With the arrival of her top two teeth, Jamie has developed an adorable gap toothed grin:

Not to worry. Until her big teeth grow in, Jamie is in good company:

Danielle from ANTM:

Condi

Frodo:

And, of course, Madonna:

Big Night Out

2011-06-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

McKay and I PAID a babysitter for the first time ever (shocking, I know!) McKay sent me on a scavenger hunt all over north Dallas to find out where we were going for our anniversary.

(in rush hour, mind you...I was on the edge of my seat as we crept forward in bumper to bumper traffic) Eventually, we arrived at our destination:

The Melting Pot!

I've been wanting to go for years now. I was so so excited.

So delicious. So full. I didn't feel hungry until two days later.

May 6 (our own day of infamy)

2011-06-06T06:19:00.000-07:00

Here's the tally:

5 moves
4 cars
3 homes
2 babies
1.5 bachelor's degrees
1 little peck on the lips that stuck us together forever*

*it really was little because I hate kissing in front of other people and everyone was staring at us--yuck.

Assistant Bakers

2011-06-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

Leftover fondant from the wedding cakes plus cornstarch, a rolling pin and cookie cutters, and voila! A happy three year old! Tyler happily ignored the rest of the cookie cutters and made haunted houses over and over. He is an October baby, after all...

"Mom, stop taking pictures."

"Mom, put this fondant in your hand

and come play with me!"

Redheads

2011-05-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

Poor Jamie has inherited my hair. The color is fantastic (we've got ginger pride), but the texture is bordering on crazy. My mom always loves telling me that I had a red afro when I was little and that it took half a can of hairspray to pull it back into a ponytail.I always thought she was being ridiculous, but we can literally tell the weather by how Jamie's hair looks when she wakes up:
At least I had dry California air working with me; Jamie's got all the Texas humidity working against her.

Wedding Cakes

2011-05-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

Last night was my first wedding cake job!

(Well, the first one for a straight couple. But that's a whole 'nother story)

I was really happy with how it turned out, but most of all, I was happy with all the things I learned about the process, like if the wait staff at the reception hall doesn't speak English, you're probably in trouble.

The groom really really likes Big Red soda, which I had never heard of before. The bride asked me to make the groom's cake like a can of Big Red. It kind of commemerated their first date, where they had Big Red and chocolate covered strawberries. I got a can to reference as I decorated. Of course I tried it. It was pretty gross, like carbonated syrupy candy. I don't understand the fixation. But the cake did turn out pretty cool:

The Big Red cake was ready to set out when I got there, so I put it on the cake table while I worked on the wedding cake. As people started trickling into the reception, they COULD NOT leave the cake table alone. "Wow, look at this cake!" "Oh, that's a CAKE?" "Cool, Big Red! Did you make this?"

My favorite part was the groom seeing the cake. He was SO excited, he hugged me. I can only hope every client ends up this happy :)

Skillz

2011-05-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

Jamie mastered the art of clapping yesterday, and has been celebrating by, well, clapping for the last 24 hours.She may or may not have learned it from the intro to Friends, which she and I watch together and snuggle when she wakes up from naps before Tyler.

I have no comment on that.

Waterfalls

2011-05-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

When I ask Tyler if he is ready to take a bath, his little hazel eyes light up and he yells, "Yeah! A bath!" and he dashes to the bathroom, shedding shoes and clothing on his way. Bubbles and toys come out, and it's a good time.

Until it's time to wash his hair, which apparantly is the toddler equivalent of waterboarding.

But we found a way around the torture today:

Thank heaven for "waterfalls"

Ladies and gentlemen...

2011-05-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

I hold in my hand:

A double double...in Texas.

Om nom nom.

Can they live side by side peacefully? I don't know if our freezer can handle this.

We Love Texas, Yes We Do

2011-05-19T12:01:00.001-07:00

My feelings about the lone star state have pretty much mellowed over the winter, but with the summer creeping up on us, I'm feeling the need to stock pile reasons I love where I live. Last week's storms presented this first spectacular reason to me:

And these pictures don't do an ounce of justice. For some reason, when it storms here, the clouds hang really low in the sky, and you feel like you could just reach up and scoop a handful of sunset out of the sky. Lover-ly.

Auf Wiedersehen

2011-05-10T21:41:00.000-07:00

Until next week that is. Crazy times are here: finals, interviews, wedding cakes and babies in there somewhere. Blogging will commence after the insanity of the next nine days.

In the meantime, enjoy these sideways pictures of my beautiful baby girl's newest trick.

I love her expression. Don't. Move. A. Muscle. I might fall.

Rain, rain, go away...

2011-05-04T16:51:00.000-07:00

It's not snow, but the weekend's marathon-o-storms made our drafty apartment too cold for little feet. What to do?

Tyler did his very best to keep Jamie away from the fire, having learned from sad experience that hot things are not good to touch. (Don't worry, I was policing the policing)

Feasting With The Prophets V

2011-04-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

Week #5: Lorenzo Snow

Favorite Dessert: Yorkshire Pudding

Apparently, the writers of the news article didn't seem to think it was a problem to list Yorkshire Pudding as a dessert. Neither did I, until I realized:

Yep, that's roast beef and gravy. Not a dessert.

So I looked ahead at some of the other prophets, and things like oyster stew and boiled wheat (what the) are popping up everywhere. To keep the dessert train going, we'll be replacing those weeks with fun alternatives.

This week, we were watching Julia Child making a crazy chocolate cake and laughing at the weird things she used to say ("It's smells chocolate-y." "It's so shiny!"). Later, I was sitting at computer, stumped at what to do for dessert the next day, and I remembered Julia's cake, and thought it would be fun to try. And so, six hours later:

Raspberry Chocolate Genoise Cake!

This is a three layered unleavened cake, filled with chocolate creme fraiche and raspberries, topped with whipped cream, covered in a chocolate shell, topped with chocolate ruffles, and dusted with powdered sugar.

I am not going to post the recipe on here because it's just ridiculously complicated, but here's the link to it:

If nothing else, just go to it and listen to Julia talk as she bakes. Totally worth it.

Easter!

2011-04-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

Easter was pretty low key this year. We kept it contained to our ward's Easter Egg Hunt and big potluck brunch, a big Easter dinner with family and friends, and Easter baskets a few days later.

Wait, that doesn't sound low key at all!

At our church's egg hunt, where they had 700 eggs hidden for like 30 kids. The women who run our primary are amazing.

Baskets were (of course) forgotten in our rush to get there on time, so we had this lovely number instead.

Tyler and Evelyn reveling in their loot.

Big news: Jamie let Grandma hold her for a half hour. And she smiled for most of it! Anyone who has gone through separation anxiety with a nine month old knows that this was an Easter miracle.

Tyler and Jamie were supposed to be posing for Easter picture. I guess handfuls of candy and eating the flowers work, too!

We had a pretty fantastic Easter program on Sunday. Normally, I don't seem to hear much of the speakers because I'm in and out with Jamie and Tyler, but I got to hear all of the youth speaker's talk, which was one of the sweetest talks I've ever heard. I don't even know this girl's name, but her love for the Savior just beamed out of her as she spoke about his death and resurrection. Her emotions more than anything reminded me what Easter is all about: Christ overcame death. And because of what he has done for us, everyone can too. All of our loved ones who have died will live again because of the atonement. Thank you, girl, for reminding me!

Happy Easter, everyone!

The newest member of the Hinckley family

2011-04-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

Except for a short stint last summer, we have always been a one car family, all through our almost five years of marriage. No more!

Introducing, his own words, "Tyler's new, big, red car!"

We love the space, love that it is a Toyota and we love love love that it is not a minivan. (No offense to all those minivanners out there.)

Visitors from the West

2011-04-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Eatough flew into Dallas for a quick business trip last week, and we packed as many fun things into those 48 hours as we could: Tex-Mex, Wall-e, crazy thunderstorms, and of course:

The Angels came to play against the Rangers, so we had to take my dad to see L.A. humiliated. But...

here's my dad on the phone with my mom, and they are both laughing because the Rangers got spanked on their own turf.

Tyler shook it off like a trooper:

Cracked some peanuts for Grandpa to eat (none for Tyler, thank you)

And conned Grandpa into going outside the stadium to look at the trolleys.

Watching Wall-e, and quite ready for bed. Thanks for playing, Grandpa, we miss you already! (And happy birthday yesterday, too)

Life and Stuff

2011-04-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

I found this platoon of oranges in our living room during naptime one afternoon, lined up in orderly fashion and watching Finding Nemo.

Tyler was not pleased to wake up and find them at ease in a bowl in the kitchen.

In other news, it hailed like crazy last week:

McKay braved the the hail to gather specimen. I could hear him outside yelling "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

That was a week ago, and we've had two big storms pass through since then. Tyler LOVES watching the lightening. During the storms, he stations himself on the window sill and alerts us everytime a bolt cracks across the sky. "Ooh, that was a BIG lightening!"

Monsoon season has arrived!

Feasting With the Prophets IV

2011-04-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

Week #4: Wilford Woodruff
Favorite Dessert: Cherry Nut Cake

Wilford Woodruff didn't seem to have an overly active sweet tooth, but he did lead an interesting life. He was likely the first fly fisherman in the Rocky Mountains, and he was the prophet to whom the American Founding Fathers appeared:

"Before I left St. George, the spirits of the [Founding Fathers] gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. Said they, “You have had the use of the Endowment House for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us. We laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy, and we never apostatized from it, but we remained true to it and were faithful to God.” These were the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and they waited on me for two days and two nights. . . . I straightway went into the baptismal font and called upon Brother McCallister to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and fifty other eminent men, making one hundred in all, including John Wesley, Columbus, and others."

So cool.

Wilford Woodruff Cherry Nut Cake

Cake:

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups buttermilk
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped
1 cup walnuts, whole
1 pkg. candied cherries

Filling:
1/2 cup butter
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup corn syrup

Preheat oven 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 9 inch cake pans; set aside. In bowl of mixer, cream sugar and butter until fluffy. In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add to sugar and butter mixture alternating with buttermilk. Fold in nuts. Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean. Invert cake onto wax paper and cool. While cake is cooling prepare filling. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, melt butter. Add sugar, milk, and corn syrup. Cook until a soft boil stage or 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. Once filling has reached soft boil stage, take off the burner and beat until golden and thick enough to spread. Spread filling on first layer of cake (not on sides). Sprinkle whole walnuts and candied cherries over filling. Place the next layer of cake on top of the walnuts and cherries and repeat the process.

(Sadly, the cake did not survive long enough for me to take pictures of people enjoying it.)

Out in Them Thar Hills

2011-04-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

Last week we headed south of Dallas to a little town called Ennis, outside the Dallas metroplex and in the country. This town is what I pictured when McKay first told me he was from Texas: giant water towers, rolling green hills, places like Bubba's BBQ, and cows and horses everywhere. This is where they hold the annual Bluebonnet Festival.

Big welcoming banners over Main street.

Munchin on the state flower. Don't tell the sherriff.

We have official verification from posting these pictures on facebook: these kids are cute!

I loved Ennis! We're starting to look around the Dallas area for a place to put our roots down, and (gasp!) get a real house. I'm sure I'm romanticizing the Texas country, but I can see Tyler and Jamie running around in bluebonnets every spring, and riding their bikes down country roads in the summer. I'd probably hate it after a year, being stuck in the country with hospitals and family and Walmart more than ten minutes away and being eaten alive by bugs, heat and humidity every time you step outside.

But can you blame me for wanting to look out my kitchen window and see this?

April Tree

2011-04-14T07:40:00.001-07:00

Bird's Nest

Among the trees
Is a bird's nest,
And in the nest
Her three eggs rest.

And in each egg
--Hush, you'll be heard!--
There lies asleep
A tiny bird.

H.N. Bialik

Feasting With the Prophets III

2011-04-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

Week #3: John Taylor
Favorite Dessert: Applesauce Cake

This was our first sugary dessert! President John Taylor was known to have a sweet tooth: in fact, he was a big reason that the sugar beet industry started up in Utah. Regular sugar was too expensive to import from the U.S., costing almost $1 per pound to transport. So the Utahns tried their hand at processing sugar beets into refined sugar, which didn't turn out well. But we got an Applesauce Cake out of it all and Sugar House, Utah, where (funnily enough) my friend now lives and works in a bakery.

Applesauce Cake Recipe:

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup chilled applesauce
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Cream butter or margarine with sugar. Add applesauce; beat well. Stir in flour, soda, and spices. Add nuts and raisins.
2. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8 inch square pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 40 minutes, or until done. Serve warm.

We topped ours with cream cheese frosting, and it was delish.

Come One, Come All

2011-04-08T21:36:00.000-07:00

Our good friends invited us along to the CIRCUS last week.

I don't think I had ever been to an actual circus. I was so excited that when someone flagged us down outside the parking lot and threw pamphlets in our car I just assumed it was a helpful parking attendent giving us programs.

Thanks for ruining the circus, PETA.

Regardless, we had a really fun afternoon. It was kind of a low budget circus, so the death defying acts were really quite terrifying, either because the eqipment didn't seem safe enough or the circus folk weren't good enough. We were pretty sure someone was going to die in front of us.

These silver spandex guys fell so many times, it was so scary.

This guy is a contortionist. McKay thought it was cool. I thought it was kind of gross.

Oh, by the way, we rode an elephant.

An elephant! Yes, our fun was their misery, but what fun it was! Just kidding, this elephant looked pretty happy to me. He got these huge snacks everytime he dragged another passel of kids around the ring.

I felt a little silly up there with all the little kids: I think I was more excited than Tyler. He kept asking where the elephant was, so I'm not entirely sure he knew what was going on.

Dancing elephants!

This girl gave up part of the way through the elephants dancing. A circus is no match for jetlag! (This was about 48 hours after our plane landed from California.) Speaking of jetlag, we all followed suit and crashed when we got home.

Building Cathedrals

2011-04-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

It's been one of those weeks. Rather, one of those months where the runny noses and dirty diapers and tantrums never seem to end. Feeling rather sorry for myself and my lost 20's, I wiled away naptime googling "tired of being a mom," hoping to find some sympathy. Instead, I found this:

The Invisible Mother

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this??Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock?, Where's my phone?, What's for dinner?'I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature -but now, they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe.I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.

2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.

3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.

4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.

No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder, one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.

Living Room Tree Updates

2011-03-30T15:35:00.001-07:00

December

(We let the tree recover from Christmas during January)

February

March

Cousin Time!

2011-03-30T15:01:00.000-07:00

Tyler doing his GQ photoshoot at the cemetary. Cousins! From left to right: Macey, Maddie, Annie, Noah, Adam, Jamie, Tyler Everyone except Annie, but I thought my kids were really cute here. The rest of the cousins were too, of course, but here Tyler isn't squinting and Jamie isn't chewing on anything except her hands. Mommies and Babies. Jamie mauling her brother.
Quality cousin time :) I really want to take a picture of these two in 10-15 years doing the exact same thing.

Family Pictures!

2011-03-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

The whole family! I think it has been three years since these people were all together in one spot. Everyone should move to Texas so it'll happen more often.

Eatough siblings: Robin, Kim, Katie, Lauren, Kristen, Richard.

Little girl in pink polka dots=happiness.

Tyler insisted we take a picture of this leaf.

Happy babies! Just kidding. You can bet they were excited to drive to the cemetary after this.

Flight #1

2011-03-29T22:11:00.000-07:00

Our flight started off promising, if nothing else. McKay actually got bereavement leave for four days, so that was a nice surprise. I was still slightly scarred from flying alone with two kids back in October. Having two adults would help things along, or so I thought.

Anyway, Tyler and Jamie had a great time waiting to board. Tyler alerted everyone that there were in fact airplanes outside the window. Jamie munched on Tyler's breakfast while he wasn't looking.

(Happiness ends here.)

The actual flight was pretty awful. We were shoved in the last row by the bathrooms (which smelled AWFUL) and the engines (one of which completely blocked Tyler's window), and someone's dog, which was drugged and shoved under McKay's seat. It stank so bad. The flight attendents were mean and not helpful, and when Jamie went nuts being confined, they kept telling us to sit when we tried to walk her around. It was almost three hours of smelling stinky dog or stinky, hot bathroom, keeping Tyler entertained and belted in, and holding a screaming baby, all while the others passengers sighed and stared and the stewardesses scolded us for being horrible human beings.

Do not fly American Airlines!

Debbie*

2011-03-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

Grandma Sandi was not a normal grandma.

She was feisty. She was a full-blooded Sicilian, and like Vizzini says “Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.” She got offended when we didn’t call often enough, and she let us know. She followed our blogs and Facebooks avidly, and left long messages on both, always in all caps lock, like she was so excited to be talking to us that she was shouting.

She was fun. She went to Kenny Chesney concerts and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat productions. She always wore a crazy Santa hat on Christmas morning. She took me to get manicures before every homecoming and prom, and we’d talk while she got a pedicure. She let me practice driving her car before I got my driver’s license because I couldn’t drive my stick shift yet. She kept me filled in on all the family drama when I moved away after high school, and made me dozens of scarves and blankets because she was sure I would forget to dress myself properly and freeze to death outside of California.

She was everyone’s Grandma. All our friends growing up knew her and called her “Grandma Sandi,” not “your Grandma.” She made the best spaghetti this side of the Atlantic, with meatballs, sausages, chunky sauce and garlic bread. She taught me how to crochet and cook and she introduced me to musicals and old movies. She made me feel important, which was something vital to the third kid out of six who sometimes felt lost in the shuffle.

She passed away two weeks ago, and it’s still weird to think I can’t pick up the phone and call her. Even when my sister Robin and I were trying to figure out who to call and ask what the funeral plans were, my first thought was to call Grandma. I miss her, but I know that she can walk now, and she is with her family and friends that she hasn’t seen in decades. And now she gets to meet Elizabeth Taylor, too, which probably just thrilled her to pieces :)

Love you Grandma, and we'll see you in a little while!

*When I was three, I started calling her Debbie, and no one knew why. I don't remember ever doing it, but I still called her Debbie sometimes for fun.

Feasting With the Prophets!

2011-03-13T21:13:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I came across a website called "Feasting With the Prophets," a website with all the prophets' favorite desserts. I mentally shelved the idea until the holidays were over and life calmed down a little bit. Well, holidays were over three months ago (although our presents to the Eatough family are still sitting in our closet and patiently awaiting a trip to the post office. Seems to be a pattern here, doesn't it?) , and life is about as calm as it will ever be around here, so it's time to get our prophet feast on!

Week #1: Joseph Smith

Favorite Dessert: Johnny Cake w/ butter and syrup

Joseph Smith's family ate Johnny Cake so often that one of his children, when asked to bless the food, prayed "We thank Thee, Lord for this Johnny Cake, and ask Thee to send us something better. Amen."

We forgot to take pictures from that week, but it was yummy. A little plain, but Joseph wasn't exactly dining with kings during his turbulent life.

Week #2: Brigham Young

Favorite Dessert: Buttermilk Doughnuts

Brigham Young learned to make these doughnuts as a young man while caring for his sick mother. Later on, in Utah he ate two or three of these every morning during the "second course" of breakfast, which took place after the morning chores were done.

Tyler was itching to dive into this sugary goodness all afternoon while we baked them. He was soooo excited when it was finally time to eat.

Grandma and Grandpa enjoying their donuts (doughnuts?)

Tune in next week for John Taylor!

Sunshine and Strawberries

2011-03-13T20:38:00.000-07:00

Our little bay window area has become our favorite part of the house in the last few weeks. We throw open both windows and watch the world outside. We get the sunshine, fresh air, new environment without having to put pants on (on Jamie, at any rate). It's the perfect height for Jamie to hold onto the ledge, peek outside and shriek at people walking by (then we duck so they don't see us spying on them), and Tyler counts the cars, tells me what they are and what color they are, and then he tells me stories about what the squirrels outside are up to.

We get our snacks ready, take them over to the little corner windows and park it for an hour or two. (On this particular day, Tyler had a leftover Mickey Mouse cookie from a birthday party that week, and Jamie had strawberries. Yum!)

Sunny Days

2011-02-22T20:40:00.000-08:00

We've had a nice streak of warm days, and we're taking advantage of it to break out of the house! There's a nice big grassy area in our complex next to the road where we've been sunning ourselves the last few afternoons after naptime.

I've been trying to upload a video for the last few weeks, but blogger is not having it. Jamie is CRAWLING. She is super fast now, and we've had to relearn how to babyproof a house. She waffled back and forth between walking and crawling, and for a while we thought she was just going to bypass crawling altogether. But she's an expert now, and tries her best to keep up with Tyler on their escapades.

January

2011-01-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

Things just got a whole new kind of crazy around here.

So here's a quick update on our little family. Still alive! Just really ridiculously busy!

Somehow, we neglected to mention that last summer McKay was hired on by Match.com. They have been a great company to work for so far! I started school right after the holidays! I'm about 3 semesters away from finishing my BA in History Teaching through BYU's online program, which I'm really excited about. My cake decorating has also exploded into something I can hardly keep up with! Good for business, but not so good for blogging.

Tyler is a sunbeam now, which is just ridiculous to me, since he's still my baby boy. He loves it though, and he just thinks his teacher, Sister Eager is amazing (which she is, by the way; somehow, she manages to keep three 3 year old boys in check for two hours every Sunday). Tyler was a champ at potty training. It really only took a few days before he got the hang of it, and it was only a few weeks before he didn't need pullups at night. He's very proud of his underwear collection, which features all the Pixar characters, and he's quite disdainful of diapers now.

He is becoming more imaginative and curious all the time, and he wants me to pretend with him that we are airplanes or Wild Kratts. He is SO active, and it's hard to keep him from going crazy in our little home, so we go for walks in the morning. His favorite part is when we sit by the street and watch for semitrucks ("Macks" from Cars), taxis ("tracksies") and tow trucks ("Mator", who else?). He'll be starting preschool this year, and hopefully soccer too!

Jamie is seven months old, and is turning out to be a miniature of Tyler. She LOVES her older brother, and is so frustrated that she can't do everything he does. She likes to grab onto his shirt and tries to catch a ride as he runs by. She is sitting up, rolling over both ways, and is just about to start crawling. She's doing the cute little rock that tells me all the things in our home at knee level are in danger. We decided to take away her binkie this week because she was waking up so often at night because she kept losing it. She had a rough night or two, but she is officially binkie free now! I think I'm more upset about it than she is, because now I'm not sure what to do when she acts fussy :)

She eating more solid foods, and she's developing a bit of a diva personality, which I probably encourage more than I should.

Here's out Valentine's Day photoshoot that I told myseld we'd send out as Valentine's Day cards. (Yeah, right.)

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-28T21:40:00.000-08:00

Hope your stockings had more than toddler feet in them!

Haul out the Holly

2010-12-02T06:29:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas tree came out late this year - TWO days after Thanksgiving, unfortunately. Of course, we didn't actually have a tree until then. However late it was, we had fun putting it up!

This may have been the best day in Tyler's memory. He was SO excited about putting the star on the top of the tree. It looked great, but only after we messed around with it for twenty minutes. (How do normal people keep the star on the tree? We had to tie it up with yarn and nail the other end of the yarn into the ceiling.)

The rest of our decorations are coming, but Christmas is being overshadowed by the potty training hoopla over here. More to come on that when it actually starts to move forward.

Thanksgiving!

2010-12-02T05:50:00.001-08:00

Yes, we all actually sat down for Thanksgiving this year!

The Hinckley shrimp tradition was alive and well.
The fried turkey made an appearance.

As did a French Silk Pie,

And an Apple Pie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

(pre-dinner Grandpa wressle)

Our Odd Children

2010-11-27T19:05:00.001-08:00

Did any of your babies like to be upside down?

Did they throw a fit when you bring them right side up?

Ours does.

Jamers

2010-11-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

Can you believe Jamie is FIVE months old? I can't.

Her newest accomplishment: mastery of rice cereal.

She was so excited, she had a hard time waiting for each spoonful.

In fact, she couldn't keep her hands off the spoon.

Or out of her mouth to play with this new yummy stuff.

She eventually just took the spoon from me, and tried to feed herself, with mixed results.

She is so cute, I couldn't bring myself to ruin her fun. What pretty little girl you are, Miss Jamerson.

This is Why I Yard Sale:

2010-11-23T17:23:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has been in a Joann's knows how pricey home decor fabric can be.

Whole box: $5

Most of it is red and gold, so I see Christmas decorations galore!

Our Fireplace

2010-11-15T14:37:00.000-08:00

Miss October:

And Miss November:

(Just the fireplace, not Tyler)

I think I'll keep this up year round and just change the leaves/embellishments depending on the month. I'll have to do it during Tyler nap, though. He kept rescuing the bats and the raven from the trash can when I threw them away at the beginning of November.

First Hand Me Downs

2010-11-15T14:15:00.000-08:00

We likes our boys to be boyish, and we like our girls to be girly, so there's not much overlap between Tyler and Jamie's wardrobes.

Except for these boots.

Of course, I can't find a picture of Tyler in them when he was little. But let's just celebrate the fact that it is now cold enough to wear boots and jackets and hats.

Goodbye, Summer! Don't let the door hit your on you way out!

Update: I found it, but I still wanted to publically celebrate the beginning of our six month break from humidity. Woo!

Tyler's Car Party!

2010-11-15T13:49:00.000-08:00

So, I think the lesson here is to never, ever have a birthday party on a Saturday morning, because if you do, everyone you invite will have a soccer game, a play group, or a babysitting job to be at. Thank goodness for cousins and grandmas, or we would have had a very empty park!

Even so, we had a really fun morning:

We had cars from Cars:

A Pinata:

And so much FOOD:

Jamie was such a good sport and stayed in her Car seat the whole time:

Well, we had a lot fun anyway.

And we all got like five cupcakes a piece, so not a bad day.

Free Holiday Cards!

2010-11-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Have any if you heard about this offer from Shutterfly? Fifty FREE holiday cards! All you have
to do is write up a blog post about your favorites from their website, and why you like them (thus, this post) and you're golden!

The only problem is that there are about 500 different designs to choose from, and envelopes too. Normally I'll just go for the cheapest (but still cute) one available, but now I have to actually decide!

I think I like this one the best. It has enough photo spaces for each member of our family:

But these are the runner-ups. I love the multiple pictures again, and the Santa belt is so cute.

Hanukkah

Decisions, decisions.

The funny thing is, they also have cards for Thanksgiving, which is a holiday that normally doesn't earn a card send-off, but if they're free, hey, why not? They've also got Hanukkah cards fr my Uncle Freddy and Aunt Joy.

Go check it out here!

This is Halloween

2010-10-31T20:37:00.000-07:00

This is Halloween!

Halloween!

Halloween!

La, la, la, la-la-la, la, la......

California Trip #3: Disneyland!

2010-10-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

Our last trip to Disneyland was just past Tyler's 2nd birthday, and it was spectacular!

This trip at 3 years old....

We still had fun. We just had to find out what Tyler wanted to do.

For example, Tyler did NOT want to:

Ride the rides.

Or get too close to Buzz or any other large characters.

However, we found he DID want to:

Chase this boy's bubble gun bubbles.

WATCH the rides. For an hour.

Run around in this water play area in California Adventure. We were here for 90 minutes!

Miss Annie Skyy loved it too, but just watching her crazy cousin get soaked.

I think Tyler's favorite part of the day was spending time with Grandpa Eatough. They watched the Pixar parade together, went on rides together (that he refused to go on with me, by the way) and ate lots and lots-

-and LOTS of kettle corn. Grandpa made sure Tyler was actually able to fall asleep clutching the remains. What a pair.

Oh, well. We are now experts on navigating Disneyland with three-year-olds.

California Trip #2: Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

Who knew a Petting Zoo could be so danger-ridden?

Beware of the ill-tempered goats!
and surly sheep!
They jump Grandpas,
corner three year olds,

and eat baby socks.

Yes, they ATE JAMIE'S SOCK.

Actually nibbled it off her foot, chewed it up and swallowed it down.

(Towards the end, the goats seemed increasingly bent on seperating me and Tyler, so we didn't stay long.)

Tyler spotted the flag atop the hay bale castle, so he had to scale it and point it out to the world. Kristen joined in the fun.

Also, do you see the fake-worn out spots in her jeans? They are all Texas-shaped. I think she wants to move out here with us.

Our best attempt at a family picture. Do you know, we don't have a single picture with all four of us yet?

Lots of Eatoughs!

We helped Grandma and Grandpa pick out pumpkins, and harrassed Kristen and Richard at their respective posts (they both have afterschool jobs there). Fun times!

Eatough Cousins

2010-10-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

The three newest Eatough grandbabies:

Jamie, Annie and Noah

Adam and Tyler taking a bath at Grandma's house, with Annie Skyy wishing she could play with bubbles too:
All the grandbabies (minus Maddie!):

Jamie, Adam, Annie, Tyler, and Noah:

Tyler and Adam (and Aunt Kristen) dancing to Yo Gabba Gabba:

Jamie and Annie napping at Disneyland:

We love our cousins!

3

2010-10-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

How have three years gone by so fast?

This boy is silly,

But he owns our hearts.

Happy Birthday, Bubbas!

Texas State Fair

2010-10-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

You can't live in Dallas and not go to the Texas State Fair! McKay and I took the babies a few weeks ago, and we had a fabulous time:

A nice lady by the entrance gave us coupons to get in for $1 each (instead of $15!), so we had lots of extra spending money to try fun fried foods, like Fried Frito Pie, Fried Lemonade, and Fried Smores.

We had a good time, even though a sheep ate Tyler's paper cup at the petting zoo.

A Name and a Blessing

2010-09-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful girl was blessed in church yesterday:

Ms. Jamie Addison Claire Hinckley

He was joined by our bishop, our home teacher, a few friends, and McKay's dad and brother. We are so lucky to be in the church, to have our little babies blessed by the priesthood so early in their lives. It's also a wonderful reminder to us as parents that we are not her only parents, that Heavenly Father loves her as well and is watching over her with us, and helping us to know the best way to raise her.

McKay gave her a beautiful blessing, and she didn't cry (unlike Tyler who yelled all through his). According to her grandpa, McKay's dad, she grabbed the pinky finger of the man holding the microphone for McKay and held his hand all through her blessing, and that is so like her. We are so happy she is in our family. We already can't imagine our life without her sweet little smile.

PS: Our couches look really gross in that picture, but remember, we just had them cleaned last week in the great poison ivy purge of 2010.

More Cakes!

2010-09-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

We have dinner every Sunday at McKay's parents house with the rest of the Texas Hinckleys. Every Saturday night, Marie and I plan out dinner over the phone, and I'm always assigned dessert. Not that I'm complaining. I definitely get the fun part of the family feasts. Sometimes I bring banana rolls, sometimes giant chocolate chip cookies, but most Sundays I bring a cake.

Here's a few from the last month or so:

Last night's Strawberry Cake:

Edison's Birthday Duck Cake, a BIG hit with Edison, Evelyn and Tyler, who had a very hard time not touching "Duckie":

Young Women's Mini-Wedding Cake:

This wasn't a Hinckley Sunday Dinner cake. Cindy asked me to make this last week for a YW activity about temple marriages, just to tie in the refreshments to the theme, and it was really a fun project. It was about 18 inches tall, and the layers were 8 inch, 6 inch and 4 inch. It was great practice for whenever I feel up to starting my cake business again (scary!)

A Nothing Week

2010-09-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

We did nothing last week (except discovering Sufjan Stevens! I love his music for Sunday mornings). We spent it recovering and hiding from the rest of the world.

Here is a photo tour of our messy house, courtesy of Tyler on a rainy day at some point last week:

The rain comes down in buckets here, and we watch the rooftop waterfalls from our little window cove.

Tyler's half-clothed self.

Bam-Bam (Lightening McQueen)

Jamie, who has recently discovered that her hands are delicious.

Mommy taking the camera and ending the shenanigans.

Don't Mess with Texas...Seriously!!

2010-09-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

There is a cute little creek that runs by our apartment, and last week, Tyler and I went exploring and collecting autumn-y leaves, acorns, and rocks. Unfortunately for us, these are three things you do not want to pick up, bring home and put all over your house for decorations:

We are learning the hard way that Texas wants to kill us. McKay had a small breakout on his leg, Tyler has a few patches on his arms and legs. I have some on my arms and legs, and at some point I must have touched my face, because I look like the elephant man. Thank goodness Jamie doesn't have any on her! (And you'll see the lengths we are going to to prevent that.)

Apparantly, the oil from these plants is what causes the rash. You can't spread it by scratching an already existing rash, where the oil has already sunk into your pores. You can only spread it by spreading the oil. The oil is potent up to FIVE YEARS after it has rubbed off the plant, on ANY SURFACE (especially cloth surfaces like clothing and carpet) unless it is broken down by something like dish soap. Because I brought the plants in our house, it's EVERYWHERE. We could keep getting infected every few weeks for five years!

Operation Destroy Oil:

Don't wear anything more than once without washing it

Change and wash bed sheets everyday

Shampoo carpets

Wash with bleach any surface that has been touched by plants

Wash hands frequently with dish soap, and always before touching Jamie or her clothes

I had to go grocery shopping last night, and I was hoping I could dash through quick enough without anyone seeing my swollen, rashy face. No such luck. Everyone was sneaking stares. The cashier started listing home remedies like garlic and banana peels.

I was so mortified. I just wanted to yell to everyone in the store:

Is it fall at your house yet?

2010-09-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

Sundays are for:

2010-09-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

1. Beautiful children in their Sunday Best

2. Apple Basket Cakes and Birthday Wishes

3. Grandma Griffin hugs (and bribing her with ice cream so she'll let us in)

Did you know...

2010-09-10T07:09:00.000-07:00

...On September 7th:

Buddy Holly was born

The German Blitz began

Evan Rachel Wood was born

Atlanta, Georgia fell to Sherman in the Civil War

Gloria Gaynor was born

Queen Elizabeth I was born

Tom Everett Scott was born

Guillaume Apollinaire stole the Mona Lisa

Julie Kavner was born

Tupac was shot

Tyler, Jamie and I sent McKay on a TREASURE HUNT with all these fun birthday facts:

And he won the best prize ever, to be redeemed if it ever stops raining here!

27

2010-09-07T06:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, you crazy man.

A few of our favorite things today

2010-09-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

This face, that can't hold still enough for pictures today:

This face, that is starting to smile and laugh:

and these chunky thighs. Who doesn't love baby rolls?

Happy Fall!

2010-09-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

Texas doesn't really give up its death grip on summer until mid-October-ish, but it did celebrate Spetember 1st with a wonderfully cooling storm, which by itself was amazing, but when we peeked outside, we got this too:

Happy Fall, everyone!

Tyler and Jamie

2010-08-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

I love how these two are starting to play together! Tyler asks to "hold it," and likes to give her kisses and hugs. Jamie, who would complain if anyone else tried to hug her like Tyler does (these are near smothering hugs), just smiles her silly little smile at him, and makes little happy noises. She loves her brother! When she hears him talk, she twists her head around trying to see him, and if he wakes her up, she just smiles. (Just so you know, when I disturb her sleep, it is not a happy time.)

Arts and Crafts for Mommies

2010-08-28T14:38:00.001-07:00

If you check out the links I have on the side bar here, most of them are crafty blogs. I am ADDICTED to them! U-Create, Make It Love It, All Things Thrifty, I check them all everyday, and more often than not, I come away from them with a few new ideas. I have a folder on our computer full of to-do projects. I rave about them so much that I've got McKay's mom hooked too. She doesn't have babies to get up with anymore, so she can stay up until 2 AM blog-hopping and perusing and idea collecting. Lucky!

Anyway, I did finally get one finished:

These are animal alphabet blocks, and they're on the wall above Tyler's bed (just out of reach!).

They are already doing their job! He's been so interested in them, and has been picking up on the letters fast! Now if we could just get him to look at some of the other letter beside S (snake), W (whale, or "fishy"), and B (buggy-fly).

Everything's Waiting for You

2010-08-19T08:11:00.000-07:00

McKay's new work schedule has him working on Saturdays, but now he has Wednesdays off. Perfect for exploring downtown Dallas and checking a few things off our list!

There were four HUGE sheds full of produce stands from all over Texas, and from out of state too. There weren't a lot of people there, since it was a weekday morning, but I hear Saturdays are really crowded here. Can you imagine how HOT it would be?

The vendors had free samples of their fruit, and offered bites to anyone walking by. Tyler got the hang of it really fast, and helped himself to mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, watermelon, canteloupe and whatever else he could get his little fingers on.

We also visited Fountain Place, which is a cool little plaza between skyscrapers in Dallas that has this:

and this:

Tyler wouldn't go near the shooting fountain unless Daddy was holding him.

What a fun day!