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.)

A Very Church-y Weekend

We just came out of a great weekend.

Friday night Mom took Claire to her ward Luau.  Blake and I went to his Elders Quorum volleyball night at the Church.  Anson was awake the whole time so I didn't get to play (which honestly I'm not bummed about since I can't remember the last time I played volleyball) but I did get to chat with ward members who were there and get to know our ward family better.

Amanda came with us Saturday morning to the temple so that Blake & I could do a session together.  That's my first session since Anson was born.  Several ward members were there for one of our young men who is about to leave for his mission so it was extra nice to be in a session with people you work with and learn with and care about personally.  Afterward we had some snacks, took pictures, and walked around temple grounds.  I remember walking around the outside of the temple a lot as a little girl with my family.  I hope my children learn to love being at the temple, too.

Because of the Temple this family of ours is sealed together forever; Thanks to A for baby-sitting!; Touching the temple walls

And then we went to Fenton's Creamery in Oakland.  There's a reason why Fenton's was featured in Pixar's last movie "Up".  The food was good.  And the ice-cream was the best I've had.  Yummy!  Fenton's is going to become a tradition.

Saturday afternoon & evening Mom & Raimo took Claire and Adrian to Happy Hallow.  Saturday night we went to a convert baptism in our ward.  His conversion story is really powerful and the spirit was very strong through the whole service. His life before was pretty opposite from everything the Church teaches but he's on fire with enthusiasm for the gospel and a hunger to learn more.  Our ward is pretty excited.  It has reminded me that sharing the gospel is important, even to people who you would never expect.

And Sunday Blake and I both led discussions for our 5th Sunday meetings.  Blake led the discussion for the adults from the conference talk by Robert D Hales about our duty to God in raising the next generation (Click HERE for the talk).  He had a panel of ward members of varying stages in life and a couple young adult children.  I led a discussion for the youth about guy/girl relationships based on the April issue of the New Era (Click HERE for the article).  I had questions on the board and had the youth come up with the answers themselves (with guidance) and we talked about heavy stuff like why we don't date before 16 and getting physical, but also some fun stuff like "Why do girls giggle?".  Both discussions went really well, which is great because we've been working on them both together for the past week and a half for our companionship study. 

It was a very church-y weekend but, you know, we're really happy going into this week.  I love this Church and the restored Gospel.  I love how the Gospel strengthens my family.  I love how the Gospel makes me happy.  I'm thankful for a living prophet and apostles who continue to give us guidance to apply that gospel more directly to our lives.  I'm thankful for a loving Heavenly Father that provided us a plan to return to him, and for a loving Savior whose sacrifice & atonement makes it all possible.

Anson 3.0

Anson is 3 months old!  And he's had a busy week trying to prove that he's getting bigger.  This week he has:

• moved up into 3-6 month size clothes
• smiled at himself in the mirror
• pushing up constantly with his legs
• developed a gurgling sound in the back of his throat to "talk" in lieu of his cooing
• brought toys to his mouth to slobber on
• rolled over back to side in both directions
• drooled enough to start wearing bibs
• chewed on his first frozen teething toy, and
•  nearly laughed when we tried to tickle him (sort of an "a-a-a").

Exhibit A: 8/17/10 Anson got his toy to his mouth all on his own for the first time!

Exhibit B: 8/19/10 Semi-rolling and throaty talking. (warning: the clip is 4 minutes long - sorry, I didn't take the time to edit it down.)

He makes his throaty sound first thing in the morning to let me know he's awake and ready to play or any other time he wants to "talk".  And when I make that sound back at him he gets excited as if to say, "Now we're speaking the same language!".

Next we're working on training to take a bottle and actually getting out audible giggles...

Abra Cadabra

tyydyy7yuyy7ufrfy

Presenting the magnificent magician CLAIRE!

Don't ask me what she's saying after "Abra Cadabra"...   And if I'm not spelling that right either, sorry...