Happy Birthday L!!

Yes I know this is a boogery picture...but its soo cute :)

My sweet little boy is 2 today. I swear it was just yesterday that he was stuffing his face with chocolate cake on his 1st birthday and now it is happening all over again.

He is such a sweet boy and we feel so blessed to have him in our family. To commemorate the day of his birth we watched his birth video. We all loved it but L was pretty freaked out by the noises I was making, so we had to fast forward to the baby part which he loved. His birth was a pivotal moment in my life as a woman. After I had him I finally felt like a real grown up mom.

L is such a sweet little mama's boy. He is always very concerned when things aren't just right and loves to help out, whether its cooking or doing laundry he's on it. (just like his uncle Hyrum, who is his twin)

L isn't much of a talker like his sister was at this age, but some of the things that he's learned to say in the past few months and a few that he started saying today are:

bike
mama back
fire truck- gaa guck
fax machine
chicken - kitta kkk
peanut butter - butta brr
get off the computer mama
lock
no
more (today he just started saying more like "mo r" instead of ma)
apple -abm
abby -abm
train
constantinople

anyway, there are lots more...I swear he talks. And for everyone without kids, no he's not daft, he's still learning.

Some of the things he's learned to do this year:

Walk
sleep on his own....yay!
the dishes
play by himself
go to nursery. by himself...yay!
take fish oil
make a sandwich
turn the blender on when mama's not looking
hail a cab

Wow my kid is so smart. (and if you think I'm kidding...I'm not)


He loves to cuddle with his mama and go ni nites....(yes he is still doing ni nites, don't judge us because we both love it still) He always runs to his dadack when he gets hurt and anytime an injustice is done to his sister he lets us know about it.

When I was pregnant we didn't find out what we were having but we were sure that it was a girl. We felt it and KNEW it. So when the moment came to find out we just had a good laugh... I never thought I'd get used to a boy, but now I want 5 more. OK maybe 3 more.

We love you L and are so glad you are in our family!

Canola oil

I'm sure if any of you know me well you will know how much I despise Canola oil. (as well as any vegetable oil or shortening etc)

My friend Kirstin did a post on it tonight and since she is much more articulate than I am here is the link.

It is so frustrating to me that you can't walk into a Whole Foods and buy hmmm I don't know some dried fruit or nuts without finding Canola oil on the label. Why can't they just take some fruit, dry it and stick it in a bag? They've gotta toss it in some insect repellent repellent (yes I know I said it twice), chemically extracted Rapeseed oil...yum yum eat up.

Pick any item in their entire food bar and it all has canola oil in it....even the rice! No matter if its organic or not, popcorn, crackers, chips, dips it all has canola or some type of vegetable oil in it!

The best kind of oil to use are ones that have been around for hundreds and thousands or years. Olive and Coconut are my oils of choice and of course butter. GASP!

Here is a great article about Canola oil

I LOVE Weston A Price!! Its a bit deep so if you don't want to read the whole thing at least scroll down and look at the Processing section.

Here it is in a nutshell:

"The oil is removed by a combination of high temperature mechanical pressing and solvent extraction. Traces of the solvent (usually hexane) remain in the oil, even after considerable refining. Like all modern vegetable oils, canola oil goes through the process of caustic refining, bleaching and degumming--all of which involve high temperatures or chemicals of questionable safety. And because canola oil is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which easily become rancid and foul-smelling when subjected to oxygen and high temperatures, it must be deodorized. The standard deodorization process removes a large portion of the omega-3 fatty acids by turning them into trans fatty acids."

Canola oil is totally unstable and goes rancid super fast which is why they have to process it so much. Coconut oil on the other hand has a long shelf life and can withstand high temperatures.

Oh and coconut oil can be used in place of yucky paraben, lauryl sulfate ridden lotions :)

HUGE update!

Wow! My blogging life has been taken over by facebook. I am sorry to my loyal readers who are sick of seeing Can and I every time you check my blog...which I know is 3-4 times a day.

Facebook is nuts....people you never thought you'd see again, and never wanted to see again are begging to be your friend. I was never very popular in high school but one week into this and I have 111 friends! I feel so special. But mainly I am pleased to see people (mostly the guys who relentlessly teased me) still doing the same old thing only they're fatter and older.....sweet justice. Is that mean? Too bad, cuz its true.

It has been fun to see and chat with a lot of old friends though. Especially ones from my childhood...like elementary school. Also since Cannon served in my ward I know a lot of his old mission buddies and it has been fun catching up with them too.


So first things first...Christmas! We had a lovely Christmas. The kids were cute, Santa came and we enjoyed being together.

L got a trike (thank you Craigslist) and E got an IPOD shuffle (thank you 101 E 75th St) When L saw his trike he was very excited but the thrill wore off when he opened his train set from my mom.

I took 3 pictures but she would not look at the camera,
she was too preocupied with her new bracelet.

The loot

My kids never have candy...well almost never.
I let them indulge their sweet tooth on Christmas
and then when they weren't looking I threw it away. A
Friend asked why "Santa" even brought candy, and I
said it was because "Santa" never listens to me. Here L is
triumphantly holding up his chocolate covered marshmellow
santa....yuck.

Showing off her new slippers

Our time off was really fun and we spent a lot of time out and about. L got a haircut which I'm not happy with...I loved his hippy look. We went to the CMOM, Playgarden, Chuck E Cheese...twice. Oh and we got the chore thing goin...which is AWESOME!!!

The ball pit at Playgarden was a huge hit.

L's new haircut...not such a big hit with me. I went
and got it cut but Can thought the back was too
short and the front too long. So when I was out he
cut L's bangs...sniff sniff. I am now thinking of
buzzing it.

E had her 7th Birthday today...does that make me old?

Birthday celebration at school. She gets so shy when
she is in the spotlight.

We celebrated today at Mars 2112 in
Times Square. It was fun and the
atmosphere was great, but it was such
a RIP OFF!! But the kids had fun and
that's what matters....right?

L was terrified when the aliens came around.

It wasn't any better when we were right up close.

But E was happy with it all....

and L was happy doing what he loves best......
groping mama.

The day ended with a house (apt) full of twelve 6 year olds, one 5 year old, a 4 year old and L. It was nuts but that's why it was only one hour! We love you so much E and are so happy that you are part of our family.


I forgot to add that we successfully killed the class stick bug (ok he was one of many but still we felt bad because really how hard is it to take care of a bug?)