sunday in pictures

I can't keep my boys out of the fridge. Or the the pantry. You can see Max pouting on the floor after I pulled him out. No smiles in these pics as both boys were OVERDUE for naps. Ian is finally walking (of his own free will). He has been a bridge-the-gap walker for a few weeks, walking only when there are no walls or furniture to hold on to. Now he is letting go and venturing into wide open spaces. Brave boy. It's a rough world out there.

messes by max

Max's morning schedule:

8:00 a.m.-making floor art with barley (while mom feeds the baby).
8:05 a.m.- drawing all over the walls with a ball point pen (while mom sweeps up the barley).
8:10 a.m.- dumping out tortilla chips and dancing on them until they are sufficiently crumbled (while mom changes the baby's diaper).
8:15 a.m.- getting strapped in the car by a frustrated mom to go to the store (because if he manages to make a mess at the store they have to clean it up, not me).

The afternoon went better. Max played in his sandbox while the baby napped and mom watered the garden. Unfortunately Ian is down to one nap a day, and it does not overlap with Max's nap. This gives me no time to plan my black and white halloween party, make costumes, or mail halloween cards to Max's four grandmas. I have made it a tradition to mail cards with photos to the grandmas (who all live far away) every holiday. I usually buy them (from the dollar bin at Target), but decided to make them this time around. More evidence of my black and white obsession, I suppose.

shoplifting

The first time I shoplifted I was in the 7th grade. I was at the mall with my friends, and we were chatting and perusing the jewelry at Claire's Boutique. We left and headed to The Bon Marche (now macy's). I reached out to inspect a shirt and noticed I still had a bracelet from Claire's on my wrist. I almost threw up. My larger-than-life conscience propelled me (in a sweating tizzy) back to Claire's where I discreetly restored the bracelet to its spot on the rack.

Now Max and I shoplift on a regular basis. Max gets his shoplifting gene from his father (sorry to out you honey), who, as a child, spent time in jail for stealing candy from the local convenience store (it was a small town). Max always manages to grab things off the shelf and hide them until we get to the car. Last summer I made several trips back into walmart after finding not-paid-for goods on Max's person. For some reason I never discovered the booty until after I had already loaded the groceries into the sweltering car. Pregnant and sweating up a storm, I jogged back inside each time with Max on my hip. "Do you have a return?", the greeter would routinely ask. I loved to see the shock on their face when I replied "no, we stole this..." as I rushed past them to pay for the bar of soap or bag of chocolate chips that Max managed to make off with.

Today Max shoplifted a foam owl visor from Joann's. I let him wear it around the store because it kept him quiet. He wore it right through the check-out, without the cashier noticing the big Joann's tag hanging off the side. I made it almost all the way to the car before I realized our crime and rushed back in to fork over $1.09 including tax.

creative outlet

Cooking has always been my creative outlet. I stayed in the cooking dorms my freshman year of college because I knew cooking my own meals would provide much needed satisfaction and stress relief. It did. All through college I dreamed of dropping out and going to culinary arts school. I also started a ridiculously large collection of cookbooks.

My life changed dramatically a little more than a year ago. Allergy tests confirmed that Max is allergic to wheat, dairy, eggs, and nuts. I threw my beloved peanut butter away. I learned VERY quickly that it is impossible to cook without wheat, dairy, and eggs. Impossible, that is, to cook anything that tastes good. I no longer cook for enjoyment. I cook for survival.

Now that my cookbooks are collecting dust in their permanently closed position, I have been in search of a new creative outlet. I am not crafty. I don't scrapbook. I don't have time to take a photography class. I do, however, have a new sewing machine. I finally pulled it out today. I decided to start making Christmas ornaments. I plan on adorning my tree in soft, child-friendly ornaments for the next few holiday seasons so as to minimize my holiday stress level. My first attempt: matryoshka dolls. I made them out of a toddler dress I found at a thrift store (that makes them cheap and environmentally friendly, right?). Next on the agenda: owls.

weekend pics

It went from summer to winter overnight. Our house got down to 74 degrees last night and I almost froze to death. I woke up shivering. It's amazing that we go from sweating through the night in an 80+ degree house to breaking out the down comforter in one day. It almost feels scandalous, like someone robbed us of our warm weather.

While most people are raking fall leaves, we are power raking (pulverizing?) our grass so that we can plant winter grass. One of the things I love about Arizona is being able to look at green grass year round. Although ours isn't always that green (I've vetoed J-P's attempts to fertilize...if they use it to make bombs, it's probably not healthy for my grass-eating lads).
Max decided he wanted to help rake the grass. He kept saying things like "Max a rake a grass, daddy...there, all nice and clean daddy...Max a rake a grass, just like daddy." Ian got his first taste of dirt. He didn't like it.

disneylandia

I've been dreaming about taking Max to Disneyland since the day I found out he was growing inside of me. I visited the magic kingdom every year during my childhood, and it filled me with uncontainable excitement . For me, it truly was the happiest place on earth.

For Max...not so much. He cried about a gallon of tears. He was terrified of all of the characters and most of the rides. He tugged on us the whole day and said things like "how about a go home now...", "mommy, turn the light on!!" (during dark rides), "Max a scared, mommy."

Ian loved it and didn't stop pointing, yelling, and dancing the whole day. Watching him go crazy in the Tiki room made the whole trip worthwhile. Hopefully his enthusiasm will rub off on the firstborn.

We had a fantastic time catching up with friends, cousins, and watching general conference with Nona. Ian watched it a little too close. He LOVES TV. Max is in love with Nona (his great grandma), and hasn't stopped talking about her since we got home. His new favorite phrase (blurted out at random throughout the day): "How about go a Nona's house?" I respond with: "We'll go to Nona's house another day." "Uh, how about go a Nona's house another day, mommy?", he continues...and then changes the subject to the whereabouts of the garbage truck.

sunday

This afternoon J-P held the sleeping babe while he read his favorite Louis L'amour book for the 87th time. Every time I ask J-P what he wants for Christmas, birthday, father's day...his reply is always the same: a Louis L'amour book. I don't understand his addiction, but I'm grateful that it's cheap paperback books and not video games.
Tonight J-P read story after story to the pajama-clad boys while I made pumpkin cookies. I make pumpkin cookies at least twice a week in the fall, just to make sure we get our fair share of vitamin A. I blame my pumpkin cookie addiction on my sister-in-law Amie, who shared this recipe with me a couple years ago.
Also, I would like to publicly thank all the dads of mormondom who babysat last night so we women could partake of some much needed spiritual enlightenment. My heart is full and I am bursting at the seams. I can't even express how much I loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk. If you missed the broadcast you MUST hear this talk. I will link to the transcript when available, in the mean time go here to listen to/watch his talk.

lentil soup and potty training

Here are the haps today at chez scoville...

The activities: endless reading of curious george, chasing the baby, building towers, racing trucks, potty training (revisited), and breaking up fights. There is no sharing on max's agenda.

The menu: Lentil soup, homemade whole-wheat bread, peaches, and strawberries. Lentils are my favorite legume and a whole blog post should be dedicated to them. I'll have to do that later.

The arrival: A new sewing machine. An accidental ebay purchase. Yikes. Happy early birthday to me, I guess. I suppose I deserve something special, the big 3-0 is looming around the corner.

The milestones: Ian started pointing and repeating a few sounds. "Mmmmm" as I am feeding him. "Uh dah (what's that)" when he points to something. "Ma-ma-ma-ma" when I prompt him. Melts my heart every time.

morning light

I am not a morning person. When 5 a.m. rolls around, I am paralyzed by a combination of low blood sugar and lack of sleep. I try to pry my eyes open when Ian starts crying, but I swear they are glued shut.

Enter amazing husband. I nudge (sometimes shake, kick, push...he's a deep sleeper) J-P and he pops out of bed to rescue our early riser from his crib. They watch the sun come up together everyday. Good thing he is a morning person.
I take over bath and bedtime duties because J-P starts slowing down around 7 p.m. After our story-song-prayer ritual, I put Max into his crib. As I'm putting him in, I say "Max, I love you sooooo much." To which he responds (every night) "I love daddy sooooo much!" I'm starting to wonder if J-P is bribing him with candy in the morning while I'm sleeping. One of these days I'll have to get up to see what they do with J-P in the morning that has them both wrapped (as tight as can be) around his finger.

salmon cakes

When Max wakes up in the morning, he rubs his eyes, yawns, and says "how about have salmon cakes for din din mommy?" Salmon cakes are always on his mind. He brings them up throughout the day at random, but when 4:00 p.m. rolls around he starts chanting "SALMON CAKES...SALMON CAKES...I WAAAAANT SALMON CAKES." Everyday. Without fail.

I give in and make them at least 3 times a week. Luckily for us, salmon has not been placed on the do-not-eat-because-of-mercury list. I'm really missing tuna. And sushi. Anyway, I don't use a recipe. Partly because Max has a strict diet, but also because I haven't found one I like. This is what I usually put in them:

14 (or so)oz can of Red Salmon (pink salmon is "garbage" according to my father, who said that it sits on the dock all day to rot while they rush to can the red salmon)
a few mashed red potatoes (I usually microwave them)
one small zucchini, grated
a small finely diced onion (white, yellow, green..whatever)
a couple cloves of garlic (pressed)
1/2 red pepper, diced
2 egg yolks (max is allergic to the whites, whole eggs work better)
1 tsp lemon juice (maybe more? i don't measure)
1 tsp soy sauce
a few shakes of seasoning salt
fresh parsley (i rarely have this on hand)

Mix well and form into patties. You can add flour (or something to help it stick together) if you want. Roll patties in bread crumbs (or not), and fry on each side in a little bit of olive oil until browned. Here is another family's version. There is no wrong way to do it.

p.s. i separate the bones, skin, and gunk...but they say it's healthy to keep it in, more calcium and omega 3's.

p.s.s. the salad we had with it the other night was just a mixture of fresh corn (grilled is best), diced tomatoes, diced cucumber, and black beans (rinsed) tossed with a little olive oil, lime juice and lot's of fresh,chopped cilantro. and salt.