Friday, November 11, 2011
Ode to the Microwave!
Just this past week, as I was trying to get dinner ready and was heating some broccoli in the microwave, I discovered after 10 minutes that they were still frozen. Thinking that I had not set the time right, because previously I had started the time without putting them in the microwave, I put them back in for another 10 minutes. They were still frozen, after this we quickly realized that our microwave was not heating up. So for the past few days we have not had a microwave and can I just tell you what a pain it is. I never realized how much I use the microwave, it is one of those appliances that you don't really appreciate until you don't have it. I just don't think I could have survived back in the days when they didn't have microwaves, or kitchen aids, I don't think I could bake or cook without my kitchen aid. Unfortunately I think that is why they don't make these appliances to last, because they know you will buy another one when you microwave breaks. We have only had this microwave for a year and a half and it is already dead. Our previous microwave that we got from Craig's apartment before we got married, lasted for more than 3 years of us using it, plus however long it was in the apartment before that.
The funny things Lucas says!
The most common thing Lucas says is, "That's silly". You will tell him something and he will look at you and say, "no, that's silly" and then give his funny little fake laugh, that Craig says reminds him of the Vicini the Sicilian off of "The Princess Bride."
Awhile ago I asked Lucas if he wanted to help me bake, he said yes, and so I said, "alright, Lucas, let's do it." So now when I tell Lucas we're going to go do something, he will look at me and say, "Let's do it mommy." There will even be times when he will look at me and say something completely random and end with, "let do it mom." I have to admit it is pretty cute!
Lucas likes to take his backpack with him when we take Craig to work. This is mainly due to Craig taking his backpack to work. The other day we had just dropped Craig off at work and were on our way home when Lucas (holding his backpack) looks at me and says, "I want to go to work mom". I tried to tell him that he is too little to go to work and he gets to play and do fun things instead, but he was adamant about wanting to go to work. I told him he could wash the dishes with me, that is work, suddenly he was not convinced he wanted to go to work.
He is also obsessed with the school bus. I think this is because his friend, Cooper, rides the school bus. There has been a couple of times when Lucas is saying his prayers he will pray for Cooper to be safe on the school bus.
Last week I was in the kitchen washing the dishes, Lucas found his roller backpack that he takes on the plane with him. He comes into the kitchen and tells me he is going to the airport to get on an airplane. I asked him where on the plane he was going, he said to the airport to get on an airplane. It was pretty cute!
Awhile ago I asked Lucas if he wanted to help me bake, he said yes, and so I said, "alright, Lucas, let's do it." So now when I tell Lucas we're going to go do something, he will look at me and say, "Let's do it mommy." There will even be times when he will look at me and say something completely random and end with, "let do it mom." I have to admit it is pretty cute!
Lucas likes to take his backpack with him when we take Craig to work. This is mainly due to Craig taking his backpack to work. The other day we had just dropped Craig off at work and were on our way home when Lucas (holding his backpack) looks at me and says, "I want to go to work mom". I tried to tell him that he is too little to go to work and he gets to play and do fun things instead, but he was adamant about wanting to go to work. I told him he could wash the dishes with me, that is work, suddenly he was not convinced he wanted to go to work.
He is also obsessed with the school bus. I think this is because his friend, Cooper, rides the school bus. There has been a couple of times when Lucas is saying his prayers he will pray for Cooper to be safe on the school bus.
Last week I was in the kitchen washing the dishes, Lucas found his roller backpack that he takes on the plane with him. He comes into the kitchen and tells me he is going to the airport to get on an airplane. I asked him where on the plane he was going, he said to the airport to get on an airplane. It was pretty cute!
A new thing Lucas can do!
Lucas can put on his own shoes. I know what your thinking and yes he puts his shoes on the right feet, amazing!!! The other day Lucas said he wanted to put his own shoes on so I said okay, knowing I would have to help or take them off and put them on the right feet. To my surprise he put them on the right feet. Thinking this was fluke, a day later I let him put them on again and sure enough he did it again. We're pretty sure that he is doing this by knowing what way the Velcro goes on his shoes, not that it matters because it is really nice, I just tell Lucas to "go get your shoes and put them on," and sure enough he does it.
Grilling in November!
We had a couple beautiful fall days last week! Since we wanted to take advantage of this wonderful weather and we know these beautiful fall days are numbered, we pulled out the grill for dinner. I had everything we needed for one of our favorite meals Tikka Masala, so yummy! We were grilling in November and it was well worth it! Lucas also had an opportunity to run around in the leaves that had fallen in the front of our house.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Lying = rrroar!
The other day I asked Lucas, "Are you stinky?" Lucas, "No, no stinky", Me, "Lucas are lying? You smell stinky" Lucas, "Rrrrrrroar" as he runs around in a circle. This also lead to Lucas being a monkey and elephant. And just for the record yes, he was stinky!
All Things Halloween!
We had a pretty crazy week full of Halloween events and activities! Our child is still high on the sugar! We had a Halloween lunch, with hot dog mummies, scary mouth apple slices, creepy string cheese fingers, and bread stick bones, with pumpkin soup! We also decorate sugar cookies! It was work, but way fun and Lucas seemed to enjoy himself (can't you tell by the pictures).
Our first trick or treating experience for this year was at the athlete museum on campus. Lucas was a maniac! We finished on the lower level, trick or treating and he wanted to turn around and do it again, until we told him that there was candy upstairs, and then he was willing to go upstairs, saying the whole time, "candy, candy, candy...", I gave Craig the look of, "what have we created". Needless to say Lucas had fun and learned about Halloween (complete strangers giving me candy!) all too quickly. They also had games and it was fun to be able to watch Lucas play them, because last year he didn't really know what was going on or how to play the games. We had his picture taken with the Nittany Lion, as you can see dad is holding him, as Lucas kept his eye on the lion.
Trick or treating at the museum was only the beginning, we also had Trunk-or-Treat with our church, so more candy for Lucas. At first he didn't want to go, but as soon as we told him we were going trick or treating he was more than willing, but disappointed when we got there and found out we were having dinner first, which was not what he wanted to do.
We didn't just trick or treat to celebrate Halloween, we also had our traditional Halloween meal (on the Sunday before Halloween). I just have to say after four years of baking our pumpkin carmel cheesecake, I have finally nailed it. The one we had on Sunday was hands down the best one I have ever made! I found that the key is the homemade gingersnaps, the store bought ones just don't cut it! The whole meal was yummy, our dinner in a pumpkin was really good, we added a few extra ingredients this year and cooked it for a longer period of time. The only issue were the rolls, that I have baked half a dozen times, but for some reason beyond me I cooked them at a higher temperature and burnt the bottoms, if I only knew what that one mistake would lead to I would have checked the recipe. Later that evening as I was cutting the black bottoms off the rolls I ended cutting my fingers. Stupid! Can I just tell you it has been a long time since I have really cut myself and boy did that hurt!
We also did some pumpkin carving, Lucas wanted a scary face! Lucas also opened up the package from Grandma, thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Lucas was thrilled, he loved the candy, of course, and we had a hard time getting him to pay attention to everything else that was in the bag.
Lucas was a shark this year, it was pretty cute. I taught him the theme music to "Jaws", so when you asked him what a shark said Lucas would do the theme music to "Jaws". While we were out trick or treating on Monday a lady looked at him and said, "are you a crocodile, no you're an alligator...." Lucas looked at her and said, "no, shark." Like duh lady. The lady didn't hear or more likely didn't understand what Lucas was saying. But for those of us that knew what Lucas was saying it was pretty funny!
Lucas once again out did all the older kids, he just kept going, till the end, he started and was off, we even had to slow him down a couple of times to stay with the group, Lucas was not interested in this at all he wanted candy and knew what he had to do to get!
Our first trick or treating experience for this year was at the athlete museum on campus. Lucas was a maniac! We finished on the lower level, trick or treating and he wanted to turn around and do it again, until we told him that there was candy upstairs, and then he was willing to go upstairs, saying the whole time, "candy, candy, candy...", I gave Craig the look of, "what have we created". Needless to say Lucas had fun and learned about Halloween (complete strangers giving me candy!) all too quickly. They also had games and it was fun to be able to watch Lucas play them, because last year he didn't really know what was going on or how to play the games. We had his picture taken with the Nittany Lion, as you can see dad is holding him, as Lucas kept his eye on the lion.
Trick or treating at the museum was only the beginning, we also had Trunk-or-Treat with our church, so more candy for Lucas. At first he didn't want to go, but as soon as we told him we were going trick or treating he was more than willing, but disappointed when we got there and found out we were having dinner first, which was not what he wanted to do.
We didn't just trick or treat to celebrate Halloween, we also had our traditional Halloween meal (on the Sunday before Halloween). I just have to say after four years of baking our pumpkin carmel cheesecake, I have finally nailed it. The one we had on Sunday was hands down the best one I have ever made! I found that the key is the homemade gingersnaps, the store bought ones just don't cut it! The whole meal was yummy, our dinner in a pumpkin was really good, we added a few extra ingredients this year and cooked it for a longer period of time. The only issue were the rolls, that I have baked half a dozen times, but for some reason beyond me I cooked them at a higher temperature and burnt the bottoms, if I only knew what that one mistake would lead to I would have checked the recipe. Later that evening as I was cutting the black bottoms off the rolls I ended cutting my fingers. Stupid! Can I just tell you it has been a long time since I have really cut myself and boy did that hurt!
We also did some pumpkin carving, Lucas wanted a scary face! Lucas also opened up the package from Grandma, thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Lucas was thrilled, he loved the candy, of course, and we had a hard time getting him to pay attention to everything else that was in the bag.
Lucas was a shark this year, it was pretty cute. I taught him the theme music to "Jaws", so when you asked him what a shark said Lucas would do the theme music to "Jaws". While we were out trick or treating on Monday a lady looked at him and said, "are you a crocodile, no you're an alligator...." Lucas looked at her and said, "no, shark." Like duh lady. The lady didn't hear or more likely didn't understand what Lucas was saying. But for those of us that knew what Lucas was saying it was pretty funny!
Lucas once again out did all the older kids, he just kept going, till the end, he started and was off, we even had to slow him down a couple of times to stay with the group, Lucas was not interested in this at all he wanted candy and knew what he had to do to get!
A day off! Yeah!
I have this list. You could call it a "bucket list" of sorts. It is a list of all of things I want to do while we are living here, back east. We have managed in the last three and half years to put a check mark next to several things. One of things that has been on this list since the first year we moved here is the Hershey's Amusement Park, though I have been to Hershey numerous times, never to the park. When we first moved here I got pregnant with Lucas, and then we had Lucas and he would make it difficult to ride the rides. Then the biggest factor is money, it is really expensive (especially on a grad student income!!!). The stars finally aligned and the heavens smiled down on us and Craig and I were able to go in October! I am still amazed at how perfect it all worked out! I just want to say, "Thank you!", "Thank you soooo much" to those who watched Lucas and made it so Craig and I could go! We are so grateful!
On the way to Hershey there is this car hop place, the "Red Rabbit", that I have always wanted to try, but they have odd hours, and we are usually on our way home from the temple when we drive by it and it is late and we are very tired and don't want to stop. And yes, it too it on my "list". On the way to Hershey we stopped for lunch, and it was pretty good. We had the "Bunny Burger".
As we were driving to Hershey we were a little worried about the weather, especially since the weather forecasts here are not always accurate. Though it said it would be in the high 50's and sunny, it was not. It was overcast, but still fairly warm. I was determined to go, I felt that if we didn't do it now, it would never happen! We made it to the park right when it opened, dressed warm, and (having just taken dramamine) we were set and ready to go. Craig had a list of all of the ride we wanted to hit first, just in case they were shut down due to the weather. I was a little nervous, roll coasters are not my favorite, but Craig was excited and it was something I wanted to experience so we did it. Can I just say, Wow! That was so much fun! They had some pretty neat roller coaster rides, on one you went forwards and backwards, on another you went from zero to 72 mph in about 2 seconds, which was crazy! Our favorite one, was the one where your hanging and the track is above you head. The first couple of hours there were no lines we walked right up the rides. Unfortunately this didn't last the entire night, but we were able to go on most of the roller coasters without waiting too long. The other ride I enjoyed was the tram that went through the park and outside the park around Hershey the Factory, it was interesting! We ended the night having dinner at the "Outback". We have never been here, but had a coupon so we went, it was way better than I was expecting, I loved there baked sweet potato, oh so yummy! And their bread was amazing! I would be willing to go again, if only for the bread! Check and Check off the list.
On the way to Hershey there is this car hop place, the "Red Rabbit", that I have always wanted to try, but they have odd hours, and we are usually on our way home from the temple when we drive by it and it is late and we are very tired and don't want to stop. And yes, it too it on my "list". On the way to Hershey we stopped for lunch, and it was pretty good. We had the "Bunny Burger".
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| Pay no attention to the lady in the car who was probably wondering what the heck Katie was doing. |
As we were driving to Hershey we were a little worried about the weather, especially since the weather forecasts here are not always accurate. Though it said it would be in the high 50's and sunny, it was not. It was overcast, but still fairly warm. I was determined to go, I felt that if we didn't do it now, it would never happen! We made it to the park right when it opened, dressed warm, and (having just taken dramamine) we were set and ready to go. Craig had a list of all of the ride we wanted to hit first, just in case they were shut down due to the weather. I was a little nervous, roll coasters are not my favorite, but Craig was excited and it was something I wanted to experience so we did it. Can I just say, Wow! That was so much fun! They had some pretty neat roller coaster rides, on one you went forwards and backwards, on another you went from zero to 72 mph in about 2 seconds, which was crazy! Our favorite one, was the one where your hanging and the track is above you head. The first couple of hours there were no lines we walked right up the rides. Unfortunately this didn't last the entire night, but we were able to go on most of the roller coasters without waiting too long. The other ride I enjoyed was the tram that went through the park and outside the park around Hershey the Factory, it was interesting! We ended the night having dinner at the "Outback". We have never been here, but had a coupon so we went, it was way better than I was expecting, I loved there baked sweet potato, oh so yummy! And their bread was amazing! I would be willing to go again, if only for the bread! Check and Check off the list.
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