Eating Boogers

Yesterday Crue came and told me "Tooper's eating his booders". My response was "so, you eat yours too." Then I was thinking that Cooper hasn't gotten to the point of picking his nose just yet (he has found the holes in his nose but luckily hasn't been playing with them lately) and was curious as to what Crue was talking about. I went in his room and Cooper had a bunch of snot coming out of his nose. It was going into his mouth so naturally he kept licking at it. That would explain how Cooper was eating his boogers. I had Crue grab a tissue while I made sure Cooper didn't take his snack and smear it all over his face. Life with boys. Isn't it great?!

Darts?

For Christmas this year, Santa brought a dart gun for Crue and one for his daddy, so they could have fun together. Smart choice. They love them (yes, even Jared has fun shooting people). I'll refer back to this at the end. It's pretty dang funny. My grandpa passed away a couple of days before Christmas. While this is sad, I was kind of expecting it and it's been a good thing. He had fallen and broken his hip and had surgery on it. He was 90 years old. We had a birthday party for him in October and it was fun to see lots of people, especially ones I hadn't seen in years. My grandma has Alzheimer's and doesn't know what's going on. She remembers most of her kids, but beyond that, she doesn't remember anyone or much of anything. I was lucky enough to grow up with my grandparents so I remember all the fun times with them. At the time of his birthday, my grandpa couldn't see (I think he could barely see but not see details so you always had to tell him who you were). He's been in a wheelchair for a while. He's been strong to hang on for so long but he was definitely slowly going. He was starting to not remember things, like some of the grandkids. I was lucky enough to be one of the ones he remembered. When I would see him and tell him who I was, he always said "Oh Kendra!" with a smile and you could tell he knew who I was. I was glad. Sometime after his surgery, maybe a month or so, my dad called to tell me grandpa was having congestive heart failure. According to my dad, his heart was basically just a worn out muscle and not able to keep up with demands anymore. Two days before Christmas, he passed away. He lived a good life. I will always miss him. It was a good thing because now he has perfect health and is in a better place where he can be the fun grandpa that I remember. He also has a daughter that was born while he was fighting in World War II with his first wife (my grandma was his second). He has now been able to meet her and is helping raise her. So while he will be greatly missed here on earth, I know he's doing great things and enjoying being with his daughter. I can't wait to see him again.

Now for the funny part. We went to his funeral in Wyoming (my cousin got married in Las Vegas on Friday Dec. 31, we had a birthday party in St. George the next day, then the funeral in Wyoming Monday). Because he had been in the war, they did a 21 gun salute at the graveside service. I held Crue so he could see (he went shooting once with Jared and between that and his dart gun, he likes guns). After they were done Crue asked, "where's their darts?" Nothing like a 3 year old to bring some laughter for his mom at a funeral. I did get one of the shells from the salute, so that was pretty cool. Jared has one from his grandpa too.

Awesome cookie recipe and blog

I have an amazing cousin, who has an even more amazing wife. She has a blog with her sisters and sister-in-law called Becoming Betty. It has great recipes that they get from all over. It's one of the first places I check when I need to make something, either for dinner, for a party, or just for me. I LOVED the Cashew Chicken Salad. Serious chicken salad goodness. I wanted to make a cookie the other day, one of those just for me times, so I went looking to see if there was one on the blog that sounded good and I had everything for. Then I found it. A combination of two of my favorite ingredients for cookies and candy - chocolate and peanut butter. I've tried the Hersheys recipe for their similar cookie but the peanut butter in the dough wasn't very strong. This one. Won me over. Peanut butter and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Don't let the oatmeal fool you. It was just enough to add some texture but not enough to make it like an oatmeal cookie (although I do like those too, especially with chocolate chips in them). These cookies are seriously amazing. The best part? A day, then two days later (somehow they lasted that long), they were still soft and moist. As an added testimony to the goodness of these cookies, Cooper will ask for them all the time. If I try to have one I have to make sure he doesn't see me or hear the container opening, or he'll be at my feet in two seconds begging for one. He seriously cries if you tell him no. He's just like his mother. If you like peanut butter cookies and you like chocolate chips, you'd better make some of these. And bring me some so I can make sure you made them right. :)

My new "craft room"!

I've needed a place to have my sewing machine up so I can use it when I need it. I can't use the kitchen table because, well, it gets used a lot. I'd have to clean my stuff up every time I gave the kids a snack or it was meal time. I used to have it on a card table in our living room. I had to keep Cooper away from it (sometimes he did good, others, not so good) and it was not very neat looking. Our first kitchen table had been moved downstairs because we had gotten my grandma's old dining table (that expands). I had been using it to cut jean squares for the boys' quilts (those probably won't be done for a while). Jared had cleared a lot of the basement one day so there was a big open area. We had taken the boys' bikes down there so they were out of our hall closet and so they would have more room to ride. We moved the kitchen table so that it's along a wall in the open area and put my sewing machine on it, along with other stuff. I'm so excited!! Now I can work on stuff and let the boys ride their bikes or play in the tents and tunnel down there. They love it and I love that I can be working on some things I've needed/wanted to do and get them done. Here's a picture of my "craft room". You can see Cooper's motorcycle that Santa brought him for Christmas and one of the toy tents in the background.

Here's a shot looking the other way. You can see my table on the right and some of the boys' other riding toys in the big open area they have to ride in. I told Jared he should run on the treadmill in the evenings while we're down there so we can all be together and he wouldn't have to worry about getting up early to run.

I've already gotten things done in the two days I've had my stuff out. I got some jeans fixed and some burp cloths made. I have some other projects I'm needing to do once I get material. I found a pattern for some shoes that I think I have enough scrap material to make for our baby. I'll probably try those next. I love being able to leave my stuff out and knowing that I don't have to clean it up. Or that the boys won't be down there unless they're with me or Jared so I don't have to worry about them getting into it.

Tool Boy

For Christmas, the grandkids on the Little side all exchanged gifts (Crue, Cooper, and Dixie). Dixie had Crue and with a little help from her parents, she got Crue a tool set. It came complete with a helmet (with a strap which his other one doesn't have) and a tool belt. He LOVES it!

I just wanted to throw in this picture of my cute boys. :)