Intro to Claire & Anson and Okonomiyaki

I found a website recently with foods Japanese kids like to eat and found Okonomiyaki. (okonomiyakiboy)  I vaguely remember eating it, but not often so I was excited to try it.  You know me.  I love trying new recipes, and I love Japanese food.  And... SUCCESS.  It's easy and we all liked it.  It's a dinner version of a pancake with veggies in it, but the fun part is the faces.  I used a hard boiled egg for the eyes instead of cheese and added slices of clementines for ears.

Claire thought her boy looked like her (I tried to make the hair longer...)  When she was eating she kept saying, "Mmm!  I'm yummy!  Claire is yummy!" 

In other news, Claire & Anson are starting to play together already.  So far they don't play long together and I can't leave them alone together quite yet, but I'm so pleased they like to hang out together. 

This is just so typical of both of them.  Anson is pretty happy to chew on his hands all day long.  And Claire loves to pretend to sleep and makes beds for herself all over the place.  Earlier I had to remind her not to jump on her bed so she found a solution - she made one on the floor.  That was fine with me.  And Anson thought it was hilarious.  This went on for quite a while that afternoon.  Claire and I watched these clips when I imported them and we both were laughing together at them.

Car Stories #1 and #2

Now that Claire is becoming more skilled in verbal expression talking to her during car rides is more interesting.  I'm going to start numbering the car stories and keeping track on this blog.

Car Story #1: 

Claire said, "Mommy!  Mommy!  Look, I drew a picture!"


Knowing that she didn't have anything to draw on or draw with I turned around to figure out what she managed to get her hands on.  She was pointing to the window.  She has drawn on the window before with slobber from sucking on a finger and she just watched a cartoon where a kid breathed on the window and drew on the moisture so I started reminding her that we don't draw on the windows, please. 

And then I saw them.  Chunks. Of boogers.  Then I changed my lecture to how boogers go into tissues and nothing else. We especially don't draw with them.

Car Story #2:

The McDonalds around the corner from us got torn down and rebuilt.  Even though we don't eat at McDonalds it's been fun to watch the progress of the tearing down and building.  Now the Golden Arches are hung on the building so there's no denying what it is.

So Tuesday as we were driving past again Claire says, "Excuse me, Mommy.  I have a question to ask you." (Yes, we've been working on the excuse me lately so I was very pleased.)

"Yes, Claire?"

"Mommy, will McDonalds help us find the way to Jesus?"

After Blake and shared a silent laugh I explained that McDonalds probably doesn't help us, but we can read our scriptures, and pray, and have family home evening, and go to church, and those are the ways we learn about how to get back to Jesus.

Then Claire started rambling about "The Plates".  I was thinking she might be talking about the golden plates of the Book of Mormon but Blake thought she was talking about real dinner plates.  He was right.  Claire told us we all have plates and that Jesus will help us take them to Heavenly Father's house so we can all eat together.

I'm not sure THAT story is in the scriptures, but I'm glad that the way back to God is a matter of interest for her in any case.  :)

Anson 4.0 and September, too

Anson is now 4 months old.  This new version of Anson almost sleeps through the night, blows "raspberries", is much better at getting toys to his mouth, and as of TODAY rolls from his stomach to his back.  Here's some pics.

Row 1: Brother & Sister; being entertained by toys long enough for mom to eat dinner

Row 2: Smiling on his 4-month b-day; blowing raspberries 
Row 3: somehow moving without rolling over yet

Row 4:  What Anson looks like most of the time - hands in his mouth

September has been fun.  I'm still trying to make the most of maternity leave so we've done a few fun things.  Here's a fly by review via photos.  Pictures say a thousand words, right?

BOWLING NIGHT!

A picnic bento dinner at the Rose Garden

Sweet potatoe fries and dessert at Saturn's in Santa Cruz

And the month isn't even over yet!

I See Mommy Cooking... Again.

Saturday evening Claire had just woken up from a nap and came into the kitchen while I was cooking dinner.  Blake came home from a meeting and Claire ran to the door to greet him and give him a big hug.  Then she promptly ran back to me and said, "Mommy!  It's just like the movie!"

This comment puzzled me so I asked which movie.  After trying to tell me which one and me not understanding she finally started dancing and singing at the same time, "I see Mommy cooking...".

Haha!  She was right!  It was just like our family music video.  So all three of us started singing our song and dancing in the kitchen all together.  No cameras rolling this time, but still lots of fun.  I can't wait until Anson is old enough to start singing and dancing with us, too!

(Go back to my earlier post CLICK HERE for the link to the movie if you missed it the first time.)