we interrupt blog catch-up to bring you april fool's

For our April Fool's dinner we had chicken pot pie and for dessert we had cupcakes.

Where is the fooling in that you ask?  The pot pie was made with vanilla pudding for gravy, dried pineapple slices for chicken, and candy for corn, peas and carrots.  

I was especially fond of the corn.  Who knew that nuking some Starbursts in the microwave could create such a good "clay" to mold little corn kernels?!?!?  The carrots were also Starbursts and the peas were nuked Airheads rolled into little balls.

The cupcakes were made from meatloaf and covered in purple mashed potato frosting.  We have had the cupcakes for previous April Fool's dinners  so the kids weren't as surprised by them (Luke was - he was obviously to young to remember the last time) but the chicken pot pie was a hit.  

one fish, two fish how will we do this?

We don't do Halloween at our school but they do let the kids dress up for literary character day ?!?!  Go figure.  Anyway, I got a call from a neighbor (thanks Aimee) and she reminded me that the next day was dress up day (bad mom forgot yet one more thing)  The boys had a few ideas of what they wanted to be, none of which we could pull together from our costume box so Derek and I were off to Costume Castle.

We started by looking at the Thing 1 & 2 costumes because that is what Luke wanted to be. Derek was not keen on the $30-40 costume so we bought some blue hair spray and a cat in the hat hat (Nate had mentioned he wanted to be that) and called it good.    After a quick stop to pick up a red tshirt we headed home.

The boys were asleep so I couldn't get kid approval on the costumes.  I made the thing 1 sign on the computer and decided at the last minute that I better make thing 2 because I had a feeling that Nate would be diggin' the blue hairspray and would want to be the same thing.  Let's just say that I'm getting good after all these years of being a mom.  Nate wanted to be thing 2 so we cut up a red sweatshirt so that it would look like Luke's shirt and ironed on the sign.  Score one for Mom!

This was the aftermath during Nate's bath after school.  

playing hookie

It's time for some blog catch up...

A few weeks ago Nate woke up in the middle of the night complaining about some pain in his knee.  It still hurt in the morning (and he never complains about being sick or hurt unless he really is) so we kept him home.  The pain never got better and he was having a really difficult time walking.  This made for a fun day since we still have no downstairs bathroom and I had to somehow get him upstairs to use the "facilities".  It was a bit of a nightmare so it was off to the doctor's office to see what was up.

We were told he had strained some muscle in his leg fairly badly and he should stay off his leg and use crutches when necessary until Friday - if it still hurt on Friday bring him back in. This was not good news since it was on Monday and the thought of keeping a child home all week that was not feeling sick did not appeal to me.  I could already hear the "I'm bored" comments. At least when they are throwing up or have a fever they don't complain or whine much.  Yes, that is my sympathetic mothering skills speaking.

Long story short...we got him on crutches he stayed home 2 more days and by Wed. afternoon he was running around out back and jumping off walls.  And for the two days of non sick school skipping...all I can say is thank you to all the japanese animators that created Pokemon.

i thought i had issues

It seems that Derek has more pressing needs than I do (see previous post for my needs)  After seeing what Derek needs I have decided that I may need to find him some help as well as find out who Mer is and why if Derek is married to me he would need a woman.

1.  Derek needs a woman (see what I'm talking about?)

2.  Derek needs to draw (maybe we can find a tap dancing drawing class to fulfill both our needs)

3.  Derek needs suggestions (I really can't imagine why he would need suggestions - I'm sure I give him plenty)

4.  This one concerns me - Derek needs heartworm treatment (perhaps because of his missionary service in Chile?)

5.  Derek needs God now more then ever

6.  Derek needs emergency dental work (first we need to handle the heartworm)

7.  Derek needs a slap upside the head (this sounds a bit extreme but if he needs it I guess I'll take care of it)

8.  Derek needs to realize that Mer is going through something he can't quite understand (Mer, huh?  Between her and me how could he possibly need a woman - see#1)

9.  Derek needs to talk with someone (you can bet he'll be doing some talking as he explains to me who Mer is.  He better start talking before my mouth is wired shut (see previous post) because I have some words for him)

10. Derek needs to work out his own issues (from the above list it is evident that he has a ton of issues to start working on)

thanks for the giggle allison

I found this idea on my niece-in-laws blog.  Is niece-in-law a legitimate term?  Is she just my regular ol' niece?  Such puzzling questions.

Back to the topic at hand...go to google and type in "(your name) needs" and check out the first few things that come up.  It can be quite an eye opener.  Apparently, I need to reevaluate my life (especially after I saw the first "need")

1.  Denise needs her mouth wired shut (guess I talk far to much)

2.  Denise needs your support

3.  Denise needs more room for her crazy (who knew I had so much crazy and not near enough room to store it)

4.  I did learn that there are some things that I don't need because I already have plenty of it - Denise has a lot of crap

5.  Denise needs your help (this is surprisingly similar to #2 above - perhaps I am unaware of how bad my life really is since I seem to need so much help and support)

6.  Denise needs to take a page from one of the housewives of the OC (??? What? Am I not schooled enough in Orange County traditions?  I am a bit late on making any plastic surgery appointments, I'm not 50 something trying to look 18, I don't wear low tank tops, painted on jeans and heels to parent/teacher conferences - now that I think about it I am failing miserable with this whole OC thing - where is that book so that I can rip out a page?!?!  Hey wait...I did color my  hair last week - that should give me some OC votes)

7.  Denise needs to shut up!  (Again, strikingly similar to another one - see #1 above.  I must really have a problem.)

8.  Denise needs to be loved  (please see #2 and #5 above - maybe the problem isn't me.  I think it is referring to all of you my friends, family and loved ones...YOU are not reaching out to me offering support, help and love - what is with you people?!?!?)

9.  Denise needs to learn to tap dance (Of course, don't we all need this vital life skill.)

10. Denise needs to exploit her kids to make a few bucks (Oh, maybe that was what was meant by take a page out of a OC housewives book.  Since google told me I need to exploit my kids I guess I better get on it - anyone have ideas?  What will bring in the most cash?,  let's think...)

Thanks Allison for posting this on your blog - it was a pleasant way to waste my first 10 minutes on the computer this morning :)  Also, a big thanks to Denise Richards.  I think it was because of her that I was able to find all the "needs" I was missing in my life.

our american idol

Emily is in the choir at school and she (with 2 friends) tried out for the solo concert (not all solos, some group numbers)  They made it and got to perform Work This Out from High School Musical 2 - another favorite for Emily (please see Hannah Montana in previous post) Disney is marketing directly to my daughter.

Em did a great job!  I would have guessed that she would have been a lot more nervous but she handled herself well and had a great performance - we are very proud of her.

8's not too young

Can you see them?  Look closely...my 8 year old has tats.  A few weeks ago we went as a family to see Hannah Montana (more on that later) and Nate decided to wear these tattoo sleeves that we have in our costume box.  We got more then a few disapproving looks from passer-byes as well as a bunch of double takes with looks of complete shock.  I found it all fairly funny and watched for people to react.  You see, I am easily amused.  Nate played it up, keeping his hands in his pockets so that you couldn't see where the sleeves ended on his wrists.

Now for the Hannah Montana movie in 3-D...Luke, Nate and Derek all fell asleep and I believe Megan was close to drifting off to dreamland.  Emily enjoyed it immensely - it was right up her tweendom alley. Upon leaving the theater Derek assured me that if word got out that he went to see HM 3-D he would have to hand over his man card.  I guess that is why he stayed to dark corners as we exited the theater.

some easter fun

Derek and I found some great easter eggs last night at Target.  I have searched the internet to find a picture of them but I can't seem to find anything.

The eggs have prompted us to have a night time Easter egg hunt.  The eggs are all dark colors with a single band of reflective yellow through the center.  I believe there are 24 eggs in a pack (already full of candy) and 2 flashlights.  The kids can search the backyard in the dark for the eggs and if I can pull it together I may turn it into a Saturday night movie night in the backyard.

Target had a bunch of cool plastic eggs - some with nature designs on them like rocks, water, grass (these would be great for older kids because they would be much more difficult to find & we all know that one of our jobs as parents is to make things incredibly hard and frustrating for our kids)  They had some that looked like tree bark, other eggs that had sticky stuff or hangers so that you could hide the eggs up off the ground - there is a whole aisle of sneaky egg stuff.

calling all creative kids

I got an email for this contest today and thought I'd share with those of you that have creative little Picassos under foot.  I know my kids will think this is fun - maybe yours will too.

my mailbox is smiling

Yeah for good mail!  Kristi sent me this package full of fun ribbon - I love it!  Thanks a bunch Kristi.

luck of the irish

Bring on the green lunch it's St Patrick's Day.  Our traditional St Patty's lunch consisted of green packaged goodies and a sandwich roll-up with a spinach tortilla , meat and...

green mayo.  Nothing yummier then green mayo.

The leprechauns snuck into the house and set the table for dinner, leaving behind a wealth of chocolate coins.

We had a rainbow of fruit (yes, I did forget to buy green honeydew or kiwi)

And of course we had our favorite Irish meal - corned beef and cabbage.  The cabbage ended up a bit too mushy because dinner was planned for 6pm but we ended up not eating until about 8pm.  Derek got held up at work and the kids did not want to have St. Patty's day dinner without him (I thought that was cute of them) so we all worked through the hunger pains until Derek could get home.

Happy St. Patrick's day from the Baker's

more house jive

We spent a few days pulling out the old flooring to ready the house for the new dark wood floors that were being installed.  We ended up doing hardwood throughout the downstairs and up the stairs (I haven't taken pictures of the stairs yet)  We are really happy with how it has turned out.

Our next flooring adventure is carpeting the upstairs rooms and hallway and tiling the bathrooms.  We have to take down beds, bookshelves, etc. before we rip up the nasty carpet that we currently have.  It seems like a big project at the moment so we haven't been moving as fast as we should be but we really need to get on it.  The carpet is picked out and the company installing it is ready to move when we say go we just need to do it (I do not want workers in my house again)

some house updates

The finished entertainment center...

One of the features we love is that the tv is mounted to the back of a false wall in the unit.  The tv can be pulled put past the doors and moved around so that everyone can get a better view or so that I can watch cooking shows while in the kitchen.

a little blog catch up

My roadshow recovery program is moving along so I finally have a bit of energy and am able to download photos and update the blog.  It helps that Nathan is home from school today unable to move his leg without a bunch of pain so I am pretty much confined to home except for a trip to the doctor this afternoon.

Let the blog catch up begin...

happy birthday grandma wood

never been my strongest skill

I saw this typing test on a friend's blog so I decided to try it, knowing full well I would be horrible at it. I would be curious to know what a good score is (i'm sure it is not 42 words a minute)

42 words

Speed test

happy 38th

I have great birthday plans in my head for Derek, who is celebrating 38 years today, but they'll all have to wait due to the beast we are calling Roadshow.  My blogging birthday wishes will have to suffice for now...Happy Birthday to the most amazing person I know.  Derek is one of the most near perfect individuals I know and I am glad that he is mine, all mine.

Happy Birthday Derek!

missing in action

Road Shows... 

Derek - High Councilman over it

Denise - costumes 

Megan - in it

Emily, Nate and Luke - patiently (most of the time) dealing with it

This is why there is a serious lack of posts - life is basically revolving around road shows.  They are next Friday and Saturday and we are crossing our fingers that life at the Baker home returns to normal.

a media marvel

I love the kitchen but I am pretty dang stoked about this little beauty.  We can now finally use all the space that was in this recessed area.  

I am excited to have the tv behind closed doors. I realize that it's the thing to hang the flat screen on the wall but I have issues (surprise, surprise) about the tv being hidden - it makes me happy.

I love the four gigantic (they really are gigantic) drawers.  I love that our Guitar Hero guitar boxes, DDR mats, video games and controllers all fit in one drawer - no more video game jive everywhere (do you hear the angels singing?)  The other drawers hold blankets, board games/crafts, books, and a multitude of other goodness that a family of 6 needs while lounging in the family room.

Picture of the finished entertainment center coming soon.

granite and handles

It was fun to finally see the kitchen take shape when the granite went in and the hardware was put on.  We are loving the kitchen.  We have a ton more space (I even have empty drawers and cabinets)  We love the easy clean up of the granite, especially compared to the tile we had in the kitchen before - I really have an aversion to grout lines!  

I will put some finished project pictures up once the floor is in since these pictures are still without appliances.

I love this sink.  You can't really tell from the picture but it's huge.  Notice my cute little colander of limes?  My neighbor dropped them off to me to brighten my kitchen.

finally

We have had some major issues with being able to post to the blog - not knowing how to work our Mac adds to the equation.  Derek informed me last night that we should probably try to learn more about our computer instead of only using it to make funny videos with photo booth. Does he not know that we bought the computer just to look at it's beauty :)

Here are some kitchen update pictures.  These pictures were taken after the painting had been done.  Even though the kitchen has been done for a week or so the floor still looks the same as in these pictures.  The flooring will start going in this Monday and I can't wait.  It will finally feel like we have a new usable space.

lots of love

Happy Valentines Day.  We started the day off with a Valentines breakfast of  heart shaped doughnuts from Kripsy Kreme, strawberry milk and strawberry yogurt.  I also blessed the kids with a beautiful rendition of a made-up Valentines song while they ate - musical talent at it's finest.

I sent the kids off to school with their traditional Valentines lunches which consist of a multitude of red foods - turkey wrap in a sun dried tomato/basil tortilla, red jello, red gatorade, strawberries, frosted sugar cookie, and pringles (because they come in a red package)

The boys took Valentines to share at school.  I had started them yesterday afternoon but only got about a 1/4 of the way done before I had to put them aside to help with homework. Sometime around 12:30 this morning I remembered that they hadn't been finished. After a temporary bit of a breakdown I got to work. The whole time I kept telling myself "thank goodness that only 2 are in elementary school"  I do not miss the days of putting together 100 valentines - 40 seemed so much more reasonable this year.  I never got a picture of the Valentines (my card is full)  We took pop rocks and made a "you rock/happy valentines day" label.

Not sure what fanciness I will pull out for our Valentines Day dinner.  I am sure you will all be on the edge of your seats with wonder.  Does Kraft Mac n Cheese seem appropriate for the holiday?  With a little food coloring I think it could fit the bill.

To close...a little love shout out to Derek, Megan, Emily, Nathan and Luke - love you guys!

kitchen & entertainment center

These pictures are of the painting nearing completion.  This was about a week and a half ago (if I am remembering right)

Work gets started on the entertainment center. 

You can see our old armoire in the middle of the floor.  We have had it forever and I can't say that I am sad to see it go.  It did not hold near enough stuff and I was sick of looking at the knotty pine.  It's so nice to be able to update.
The new space will hold so much more - I can't wait to have it done.

so official

I am in love with these.  They are so fun!  I found them while checking out the How About Orange Blog.  I can't wait to start sending some.

kitchen - day creepy

So this picture totally creeps me out.

This is our kitchen all wrapped up and getting a fresh coat of paint.  This plastic beauty was up for a couple of days and all I can think about when I see it is some cheeseball, spooky movie.  I can picture a bloody hand sliding down the plastic - it has that look to me.  It's like the shower scene in Psycho - note to self...don't see creepy movies they stay with you forever.  Everytime I would walk by the plastic I had to tell myself that there was no killer or dead body on the other side -yeah, I kind of have a weird imagination, what's it to you.

why?

I have a magazine obsession.  At various times in my life I have tried to stop my magazine habit but I always end up back at the newsstand browsing through all the glossy pages that call out my name.  I currently subscribe to a few favorites...Martha Stewart Weddings, Creating Keepsakes, Simple Scrapbooks, Craft, and Make.  I also have a subscription to Blueprint.  This mag has been a favorite for the last little bit - I love it! 

So the problem?!?!...I just got a postcard saying that Blueprint was no more and I would not be getting any more Blueprint goodness in my mailbox.  Why???  Doesn't everyone love this magazine as much as I do?  Such a sad day.

On an unrelated note...I cannot get spell check to work on Blogger.  Anyone else having this issue?

it's taking over

The fun continues beyond the kitchen.  

We spent one evening ripping out the rest of the flooring in preparation for the start of the built-in entertainment center.  It was fun to rip up the flooring and see some of the old cream colored linolium (no clue how to spell it) we originally had in the house. What were we thinking?

kitchen- day ???

With all the rain we had and the renovations coming to somewhat of stand still during the downpour I have fallen way behind on the kitchen updates.  I am unsure of what day we were on at this point but let's be honest - people only want to see pictures, no one cares about the day.

After all the cabinets went up they came back down and everything was taped off in preparation for painting.

welcome baby carter

I am finally an aunt on my side of the family.  I was an instant aunt when I married Derek - there are 44 nieces and nephews on Derek's side of the family.  My family was at a huge disadvantage with my kiddos being the only off spring.  Finally, it has changed - kinda.  My side will never catch up to the Baker's unless a lot more babies are born and they aren't going to come from me (there's a challenge for my siblings) but we now have a Wood family cousin for my kids to play with and I am now an aunt on my side.

Carter Harrison Wood was born this morning at 12:30am.  We are so happy to have him here. Congrats to my brother Ryan and his wife Katie.

VOTE!!!!!

Today is the day.

just trying to survive

I think I have hit my limit of how many days I can live without a kitchen.  Our life seems to be continual chaos and I have to admit the thought of staying in bed all day instead of getting up to face the mess seems nice.  I do not want to sound ungrateful - I am so glad that we are getting the kitchen and flooring done but the process is making me crazy.

Progress has been made in spite of all the rain we have been getting.  Although I have cursed the rain a few days (yesterday especially) I am glad we have had it.  I love driving around and seeing all the green rolling hills in our area - it's beautiful!  Back to the progress...the cabinet doors are all painted and most of them are up.  I have pictures but haven't gotten them downloaded yet.  I have been trying to avoid the computer during the day since it is downstairs and there is so much kitchen work going on - the noise and smell is a lot to take.

Most of our hardware is here.  We are waiting on delivery from a few more stores.  We got the hardware at Restoration Hardware and no store had all of what we need so we had to have it shipped from 4 stores.

I gotta run out and get the kids to school.  I will try to post pictures tonight.

rain, rain go away

The kitchen has come to somewhat of a standstill because of all the rain we have been getting.  We still have workers here everyday but they are usually here for less then an hour and they are doing little things like electrical or putting up trim pieces.  We are grateful for the rain but we will be pleased when our sunny California weather returns so that we can get moving on the kitchen.  I am anxious to have running water and a stove.

a fond farewell

We got the call from my mom Sunday night that President Hinckley had passed away.  We are saddened at his passing but a smile creeps in when we think of him being reunited with his sweetheart - I am sure it was a joyous reunion.

We are grateful for his leadership and counsel all these years.  Our kids know no other prophet (although he was the 3rd prophet in Megan's life span - she is just too young to remember Pres. Benson and Pres. Hunter)  We are grateful that we got to hear him speak 2 weeks ago at our Stake Conference (broadcast to numerous Stakes in Southern California)  We will miss his voice at General Conferences (his last conference messages can be found here, here and here but know that the Lord will continue to speak to us through a new prophet.

somewhere over the...

After dropping off the kids at school today I came home to this beauty high above our house.  It made me smile!