A Quick Jaunt to Kentucky

This last weekend we decided to take a quick trip to Louisville. We booked two nights on hotwire at a hotel and loaded up our car for the 4 hour drive. On the way down, Ben surprised me by suggesting we go to the Jeffersonville outlets. What? Ben!? Volunteering to shop!? Yes it's true. And he even gave me helpful commentary when I was trying on clothes at Motherhood Maternity. :) We let E play for a few minutes at the playground there to break up the drive.

When we got to just outside Louisville, we were amazed at all the beautiful mansions with their black painted fences and horse trails. (I'm sure there's an official name for those, but I wasn't brought up in classy Kentucky so I don't know what it is.) At the suggestion of some friends, we ate at the Claudia Sanders Dinner House. (You know, wife of good old Colonel Sanders of KFC.) It was delicious and their rolls were to die for.


That night we went "swimumum" as E would say at the hotel and he had a blast. Even mommy got in the water. Aren't I fun? Then we got up and going the next day so we could see Churchill Downs. It was pretty cold, but the tour lasted the perfect amount of time. I'd love to see a horse race there someday, but probably one other than the Kentucky Derby because I don't have an extra $2000 or so to throw around at the moment, plus the funds for a totally chic outfit and hat to wear.

After the tour we couldn't help but buy E this dumb little horse. We lined up all the horses he could choose from and he picked the white one. We even gave him a second try and he still picked the white one. It kept him happy most of the rest of the day.

After that we made our way over to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. We were pleasantly surprised that they were making bats that day because the website said they don't make them on Saturdays until April. It was like a grown-up Mr. Rogers for me. We got cool mini souvenir bats at the end of the tour. Then we walked through the museum and Ben and E got to both swing Big Pappi's bat as well as Mickey Mantle's.

Outside the factory

After the Slugger Museum, we headed across the street to the Louisville Science Center and got in for free with our COSI passes. E played in the kids area for quite a while but couldn't manage to stay awake once we put him back in the stroller. :) He was out like a light for a long time while Ben and I looked around the rest of the museum.

That night ate at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. It's quite a funky little establishment with great food. I ordered some bean rice bacon cheese mango salsa concoction recommended by the waitress that was delicious and Ben got the jambalaya which was also tasty.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Sam's Club to get gas, and then went inside to just look around, and I tell you it was the classiest Sam's Club I've ever been to. The greeter actually sanitized the cart for us because he was worried about Emerson getting sick. Isn't that sweet? I'll just insert here that Ben bought me a large bag of Reese's Eggs--my all-time favorite, to enjoy back in the room as soon as E was in bed. As soon as we got to the hotel, E started running around yelling "SWIMUMUM! SWIMUMUM!" So we were nice parents and took him swimumum again just to end on a fun note for everybody.

Farewell Little Red

Farewell, little red car. You were good to me. You knew the road from Salt Lake to Logan by heart. You performed admirably in the snow. You got us across the country to move to Ohio. You brought home our new baby Emerson from the hospital. You could be counted on to start most of the time (except for the 3 or so times that you wouldn't for some reason and that resulted in $$ repairs.) You've been my constant through 7 years of friendship. Unfortunately, with our family expanding, you just don't provide enough room to haul us all plus all the baby gear. Plus you were starting to make funny noises again. Even though I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, after we traded you in I talked to my mom on the phone and got a little teary when I told her how sad I was to leave you behind. We can chalk it up to pregnancy if you're embarrassed for me, Little Red.





Little Red, I hope someone will buy you and take good care of you.

Boots!

Some nice people from our ward gave us some clothes that their little boy had grown out of, and with them were these adorable snakeskin cowboy boots. I don't think I've ever seen Ben get so cuted out before. Nor have I ever seen him be so persistent with Emerson when he wanted him to wear them. Even though Emerson was kicking and screaming and throwing a tantrum*(See note at end of post), somehow Ben got those boots to stay on. After they were on and Daddy put his boots on and took him stomping around in the little bit of snow left, E loved them. You wouldn't guess that from this face though, would you?

Please don't judge me by E's wrinkled shirt. I promise I always iron it and this one time it got away from me. But he was at least wearing a sweater over it at church.

Love this picture. :)

* Referring to the aforementioned tantrum, E has been very wary of change and new things lately. I pulled out a new pair of shoes since he'd grown out of his old ones and he absolutely refused to let me put them on. He went and found his old brown shoes and brought them to me. Then after a few days of seeing them around he let me put them on, no problem. He was also nervous when I pulled out some new jammies and looked and looked for his old ones that were getting so small that his toes were curling up in the little footies. He finally relented when I showed him the cool pictures on the new ones. He also screamed bloody murder when we were at a shoe store recently and were trying some little Nikes on for fun. I think people thought we were horrible, especially when we just laughed at him and put the shoes on anyway. I'm wondering if this is a common thing for kids his age or if it's just an E personality thing.

More Cookies...Blah Blah Blah

Here are the fun Easter cookies I made for the Ward auction. They didn't bring a very high price and were snatched up by the same red-headed child that also bid on (and won) all other baked goods entered. I'm not sure if he gets cookies very often or not, but I'm pretty sure he walked away with about 10 dozen plus some cinnamon rolls. I just hope he appreciated the delicate lemon flavor of the sugar cookies plus the lemon in the royal icing as well as the happy palette of colors that I slaved over for hours. (Don't worry, I know he didn't.)



I guess next year I should do something like weave a basket or sew a wardrobe of baby clothes. I wish I could say I was joking about the baby clothes, but we seriously have so many talented women in our ward that it makes me feel embarrassed when I buy a baby gift instead of make it. But hey, you can't make diaper rash ointment, can you? Or maybe you can...but anyway I'll be honing my crafting skillz if not for the ward auction next year, at least so I feel like a worthwhile human being. :)

Wagon

We love it when Daddy is around to play. He thinks up fun things like convincing Emerson to sit in his wagon and be pulled around. I'm not sure why, but I can't help but maul this little boy with kisses when he's just in a onesie. Maybe it's his pudgy little arms and thighs (which are sadly thinning out!). At least he still has dimples for knuckles though.

Trying to decide if he likes what Daddy has convinced him to do.

"Are you seriously taking another picture of me for the blog!?"

Trying to pull himself. :)

"Wagon" is just one of the many words Emerson throws out during the day. I feel like in the past two months he's just had an explosion of words. It kind of freaks me out sometimes because he'll throw out a word like "mirror" or "toothpaste" that I didn't even know he knew. It usually just makes me laugh and then I have to tell him he's a smart boy. We've been calling him our little copycat. He was actually able to say his own name a week or two ago, but still won't do it without a lot of convincing. I think we're entering into the terrible twos slowly but surely because he's got a defiant little attitude sometimes. We sure love our little man.

Sigh...No News

I had a doctor appointment today and got my hopes up that he would tell me the gender of Baby Christensen. But alas, no ultrasound...so it looks like I'll have to wait until 23 weeks. :( I'm a little disappointed.

FHE

On Monday night, Ben had the Family Home Evening lesson, and he decided to do it on temples. Please keep in mind that when we are having FHE with a not-even-two-year-old it goes something like this:

Me: Emerson, come sit down, it's time for Family Home Evening! (With big smile and excited tone)

Emerson hides on the other side of the kitchen table.

Me: Come on Emerson! Come sit down, please! (Amusement waning)

Emerson peeks out from under the table and giggles.

Ben: Emerson, you'd better come!

Me: Come on! (in annoyed tone) One...two...thr

Emerson runs over at the last possible second and plops down on Daddy's lap.
We sing the opening song with Emerson zoning out and copying a few words here and there.

Me: Ok, it's time to say the opening prayer. Can you show me how to fold your arms?

E: Choo choos.

Me: Fold your arms, please! Here, Bear will fold his arms.

Emerson folds his arms for .5 seconds. We attempt to keep his attention through the rest of the 5-7 minute lesson.

At the end when we were trying to recap, we turned off all the lights and turned on our little ceramic temple and asked Emerson who lives in the temple. His reply: "CHOO CHOO TRAINS!" And he then proceeded to try to drive them on the roof of the temple, almost knocking off poor Angel Moroni. But he did get really good at pointing at the temples and saying "tempo!" and doing Angel Moroni's horn.

Oh well, they always say that they'll remember you were consistent, right? Well I guess we'd better work on that and/or figure out how to incorporate choo choo trains into every lesson. :)

Family Campout

Last weekend Ben had the idea of a family campout in our front room. It was big fun and a much-needed little break from feeling sick and moping around.

E was pretty nervous about the tent at first, but then we gave him his own flashlight and his bear and he was good. He even went to sleep with us sleeping right next to him (we were able to shove his pack 'n' play in there next to our queen-size air mattress.) I wish I could tell you that the air mattress was comfy, but I cannot. It's much better than sleeping on rocks when you're really camping, but I'm afraid it doesn't cut it when there's a real bed just up the stairs.

Oh well, the sore back subsided throughout the rest of the next day and we had fun. E enjoyed reading train books with Dad by flashlight and thought it was pretty cool to have breakfast in the tent.

Deep Thoughts

As I was whipping up a chocolate cake today (don't judge me...the baby wanted it, wanted it badly) I realized one of life's mysteries:

As you get older, your egg cracking skillz decline.

It's like a bell curve, really. When you're really little and ask to crack eggs you kind of crush them and your mom has to pick out all the shells. And maybe you even fight with your brother and they kind of end up all in your hair while wearing a ballet costume and you both get sent to your room to "Wait until Dad gets home" (shudder). Not that I know what that's like...

But then you get a little older and you start doing tricky things like cracking them crisply with one hand and brag to your mom (who is now hopeless at cracking eggs) that there are zero shells in whatever you're making.

So sadly, at my young age, I'm again at the bottom of the bell curve. I tried to crack 3 eggs and got bits of shell in the batter from each one. Don't you worry though, I picked them out. Do you think it's possible I just bought a bad dozen of eggs with shells that are a little challenged? I hope so.

Also, another thought/pet peeve of mine lately:

Why do so many recipes lately declare that you must serve the dish with a "crusty french bread and salad" for a really nice dish? I mean, what if I want a moist soft bread? With maybe steamed vegetables on the side? I guess it negates whatever effort I've gone to for the main dish and it is no longer nice--but thrown together, sloppy, and incomplete. If I ever state in a recipe on my blog or at ward cooking club that it must be served with a crusty french bread, you have permission to at least roll your eyes at me. Serve it with whatever the heck you want. I won't judge you. And if you've stated this before, just know that I love you still and don't hold it in any way against you. It's just those annoying cookbook writers that I'm talking about.

I Can Do Stuff

Here are the cookies I made for Joni's baby shower that I told my mom and sisters so much about...they kind of resemble onesies, don't they? I used my beloved Cookie Craft book once again. I may not be crafty or creative, but darn it, I can bake.

Recipe Blog

I made some delicious lemon scones today and I posted the recipe on my family cooking blog. Yes, I actually updated it. Gasp! I also put the recipe up for the parfaits from Joni's baby shower. No, that wasn't yogurt, but I wish it was as healthy. :) Click here to go to the cooking blog.

Snow!

We've gotten dumped on here lately. Ben really wanted Emerson to come play in the snow, so we got him all dressed up and he looked thrilled. I know he was inside though, because he hearts his boots.
We tried to find a shovel-like tool for him to copy Daddy, but all we had was this sand sifter. Plus, his mittens don't have any thumbs so I had to teach him how to hold it between his two paws. I was giggling the whole time, trust me.

Momentarily clamping his "shovel"

Then we did some serious sledding down our friends' hill.

E was terrified, but it was fun!

Winter, I Hate You

Winter, I hate you. Release us from your cold, snow, and sickness! I don't know what all this talk about global warming is, but maybe you should catch on. You've caused us to have a trip to the ER, multiple doctor visits, a car accident, and insanity from being stuck inside every day while we try to conquer disease with our sorry immune systems. Please go away. We've had enough. We want to go and play at the park and see other people without feeling guilty we've passed something on. And, I admit, it would even be nice to be able to send E back to nursery even though there are countless germs. He just needs to be reasonably healthy and not coughing his lungs up to go back. I don't ask much. Please?

Supeh Beah

The title of this post translated is "Super Bear". We were going a bit crazy inside yesterday, so luckily Super Bear paid us a visit. Plus he brought Emerson a neat-o cape too.

This is how the two of them bond; Emerson chews on Bear's nose, and Bear smiles happily while he does it. This endearing, self-comfort bonding strategy results in Mommy washing Bear often.

This is my favorite picture.
I have no words for this face.
Daddy was really good at helping bear fly around.
And then, all of a sudden, Super Beah and Super E morphed into puppies and hid under the table.

Wow, it WAS a fun day.

Tower of Terror

If you can't tell from this post and a few previous posts, the most exciting thing we do around here lately is go to the grocery store. Emerson loves to unload the groceries. When I turned around after putting things away in the fridge I found this:

I really wanted to get a picture, so I told him to not touch while I went to get the camera. I had visions of broken glass and chili sauce all over the floor.

He was a good boy though and didn't touch until Mommy was back downstairs and then he insisted on stacking the peanut butter (also termed "dip" for apples) on top of everything else.

He wouldn't be persuaded otherwise, so I rearranged a little and helped him stack it on top. And here he is clapping for himself and saying "Yay dip! Yay dip!" (I'm pretty sure he thought the chili sauce was ketchup...and who could blame him?)

And here he is inspecting the foundation of his ingenious tower.

He was extremely offended when I had to dismantle his tower to finish putting the groceries away. But don't worry, the choo-choo trains (read= trens), namely Thomas (read=Tabos) were close at hand to console him and toot his worries away.

Love This Book

Every year around Valentine's Day my mom would read us this book, Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli. When I got married, I bought a copy for myself and I got to read it to Emerson last night. I love this book. It sounds cheesy, but it makes me teary at the end every time. You should check it out!

Choo-Choo Train Track

Oh, have I mentioned that Emerson loves trains? Like, loves them so much that he refuses to eat lunch or dinner? Even with trains watching him eat? Even with Mom pretending the trains are eating too?

I love this picture because it's obvious that the piano keys are supposed to be train tracks. I thought it was quite clever.

If you look closely you can see his little lips pursed saying "choo-choo!" And if you can't see it, well then I'm sure you can imagine it.

Proof That I'm Fun

In these horrid winter months I end up feeling like a bad mom because we hardly ever go anywhere or do anything and Emerson is constantly sick. But here is proof that I did, at one time, build a fort for E and his choo-choo trains.

He also enjoyed pretending he was a dog.

See, I'm fun sometimes. You'd just never know it to look at me. :)

Coming Out

According to most ward members I've happened upon in the last week or so, I'm already "out". So I guess this just makes it official. :) We're having a baby! I'm about 14 weeks now, (although the ultrasound was taken at 11 weeks). Baby #2 is supposed to arrive around July 30th. Yay for heat, humidity, and cankles. I can't wait.


Emerson has no idea what's coming.

Dip

Emerson absolutely adores "dip". He'll eat most anything if he can dip it in either ketchup, ranch dressing, yogurt, or sour cream. He was thrilled to death when I stocked up a few weeks ago and took the liberty of finding all the ketchup bottles in the grocery bags and lining them up. Then when I had the fridge open to put the other groceries away, he weaseled his way in and grabbed the bottle we already had open and added it to the lineup.

Then he would knock them all down.

And carefully stand them all back up again.

Then he proceeded to make his finger "hop! hop! hop!" from bottle to bottle.

It's the little things in life, isn't it?

Kudos to Necco

You know how I mentioned that I wrote to Necco complaining about the new flavors? THEY WROTE ME BACK. And as Ben so kindly pointed out, I didn't really wrote a formal letter--it was an e-mail form on their website, for heaven's sake, and it was kind of more of a rant...but not a mean one.
Here's what I wrote: Please bring back your original Sweetheart flavors! I purchased a bag of the new ones and was sorely disappointed. Every year I look forward to the good ol' Necco Conversation Hearts around Valentine's Day, and this year my family and I were sadly disappointed with the new fruit flavors. Most importantly, my favorite kind, the white mint ones, are gone. :( So again, I implore you, bring back the original!

But still, I totally wasn't expecting a reply. Here it is:
January 25, 2010

Dear Ms. Christensen,

Thank you for writing to Necco, I wanted to personally thank you for all of your input on our new Sweethearts. They are a great US made product and I am glad to hear you are a longtime fan. Over the years, our number one product requests have been around producing a more flavorful and softer product. Sweethearts have been America’s favorite Valentine’s Day candy for over 145 years now and we needed to ensure that Sweethearts continue to delight people of all ages.

It’s never easy to change something that hasn’t been changed for a very long time and we appreciate your support as we continue to come up with new flavors and ways to say I Love You. Here’s more information about all of our exciting changes:

Our new softer Original Flavors now include: Green Apple, Blue Raspberry, Strawberry, Lemon, Grape and Orange. The color of the hearts were changed to match the flavors so people could tell what flavor they were eating before they even tried them. The new expressions on the Sweethearts were chosen by over 10,000 Americans at mysweethearts.com back in the summer. The complete list of the top new sayings includes both contemporary expressions like Tweet® Me and Text Me and beloved classics like “Love Me” and “Sweet Pea.” The packaging was changed to make the product easier to find at shelf. And our little 1oz boxes are now slightly smaller with no window, to be more sustainable and easier to handle for tiny kid hands. The back of our 1oz boxes was also changed so that kids could write in their To/From names in pencil.

If you are looking for something to share with the little girls in your life be sure to check out our new Sweethearts Dazzled Tarts with flavors including: Pink Lemonade, Wild Berry Grape, Sour Apple, Watermelon, Extreme Tangerine and Blue Raspberry. These new Sweethearts are dazzled and have crowns and shoes on them!

So, thank you for your feedback and please stick with us. Let us know what you think of our other Sweetheart products. Also, check our www.mysweethearts.com for free recipe ideas and craft projects.

These stores still have the old flavors.

Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar, 99 Cent Only, Freds , Odd Lots, Wakefern, Sav A Lot.

Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,

Theresa Denis
Customer Correspondent

And don't any of you dare to run to Dollar Tree and buy them out before I can get there.

Valentine's Day Rules to Live By

I know it's a bit premature, but as I was shopping around today for Bunco prizes, I thought about how much I LOVE/hate things about Valentine's Day. I came up with the following rules:

(*Editor's Note: After some research, I have discovered that Necco and Sweethearts are now the same thing. Necco screwed up their flavors and made them fruity. Don't worry though, I wrote to the company begging them to bring back the original.)

1. The appropriate brand of conversation hearts to purchase are the Necco brand, Necco brand only. The icky imitation "Sweethearts" brand is nasty and tastes like bottom, and the cool blue hearts they advertise on the packaging do not, in fact, exist. And the giant ones are even nastier. Plus there aren't any white mint hearts and everyone knows they're the best.

2. Gigantic cards are the coolest. They're more meaningful too. I remember this one year that Ben bought me a giant card and it was my favorite.

3. A box of chocolates is a good one if it doesn't need a map. You know what I mean. You shouldn't have to steer clear of any particular chocolate if it's from a quality candy store like See's. Whitman Sampler=vomit.

4. Sugar cookies and little white heart shaped cakes are a necessity around Valentine's Day. It's not truly the holiday without them. And they MUST be made with white cake mix. And they can't be topped with anything crunchy like conversation hearts. Simple pink or red sugar sprinkles will do.

5. The most favorite class treat handed out with cool valentines are Blow Pops. These are the only acceptable sucker to hand out ever. Not the yucky cherry suckers with white printed writing on the front.

6. This is the only time that bold shades of pink and red are acceptable together and you are considered "festive" instead of a "faux pas".

7. Candygrams are no longer a threat in adulthood. Remember how scary it was to get one of those in Jr. high or high school with mysterious handwriting? You never know who is stalking you...

8. Roses are a necessity.

9. Sending homemade valentines to grandparents is a necessity. Grandma Draper always made the coolest valentines with lots of layers and stickers and on the very last one was a little heart-shaped pocket with a $5 bill in it. I'm SO doing that when I'm old.

10. Home-cooked special meal by hubby vs. eating out? I'm still torn. Eating at Beniamino's special restaurant in our teeny-tiny apartment was heavenly, but you can't beat not having any dirty dishes around.

E's Trip to the ER

After a very long weekend, we're happy to report that Emerson is slowly getting better from whatever nasty bug he caught.

He started vomiting Friday afternoon and continued with that and diarrhea until late Sunday night. We weren't terribly concerned with the regular throwing up on Friday and Saturday because last time he had it he bounced back after a day and was fine. This time, he was totally lethargic and laid around (which is so NOT him) all day Saturday and was very difficult to rouse on Sunday. He was so out of it that he wouldn't drink anything and threw up every time he had something besides a little bit of water. After calling my parents and talking to them about how weird he was acting, we called his pediatrician and then decided not to wait around and went to the ER at Children's hospital.

We got there around 4:00 pm and didn't have to wait at all. They took him to triage and prepped him in case he needed an IV. We were taken to a room and proceeded with X-rays, blood work, and 4 attempts to get an IV in him over the next 6 hours. Finally, on the 5th try, they were able to get an IV in his head. I cannot express to you how grateful I was to see that needle go in. It was terrible to see Emerson in that state, and to have to hold him down while he was thrashing and yelling out my name, but I can tell you that I received strength beyond my own abilities--not just to be able to hold him down, but to not vomit or pass out myself with that needle going in. It was so reassuring to see that bag of fluid dripping into his little dehydrated body, and I was so grateful to the staff and the blessing that modern medicine is.

After about half an hour, they moved us to the ER Observation Unit to stay overnight so they could keep an eye on him because they weren't comfortable sending him home yet. The nurses there were great as well. Ben ventured out around 11:30 to get us something to eat, and I held Emerson while he continued to sleep. He woke up periodically and shouted my name and I calmly tried to reassure him. It was scary to see him so vacant and disoriented, but I was so glad he was finally getting rehydrated. After Ben got back, we settled in for a long night. We sort of slept for awhile, but then E woke up enough to realize there was something in his head and tried to pull it out, so I had to hold him the rest of the night until the morning when he passed the PO fluid challenge and they could remove the IV.

When he woke up and was truly more awake than he'd been in two days, he said "Daddy" and pointed to him and wanted to be held by him. :) I guess he had finally had enough comfort from Mom and was ready for an adventure. We knew he was feeling better when he was crying for yogurt and would eat a few Cheerios between long sips of Pedialyte. They removed his IV and sent us home around 11:00 a.m. E slept for about 5 hours (which concerned us a little...we were hoping he wasn't relapsing) but wasn't vomiting or having diarrhea anymore, so we figured that was a good sign. He woke up around 4:30 and started talking about cars and choo choos, so that was also a good sign he was on the mend.

After such a long weekend, the three of us slept very deeply last night, and we're glad that Emerson is very slowly but surely getting back to normal. As much as I tried not to, I got very worried about what would happen if we didn't have our little Emerson anymore. We've thanked Heavenly Father every single night since he's been born that we have him and it's never grown mundane or routine--we mean it with all our hearts, but this ultimately small experience has made us cherish our little boy even more and realize once again how blessed we are. And luckily, at this point, we won't have to picture life without our little E.

Hot? Hat?

There's this small boy who lives at my house who has been rather difficult to get outside. He's been nervous about the snow unless he has his handy-dandy (or footy-wooty?) boots on, and he flat out refused to come outside yesterday to go to the store and was pointing outside saying "HOT! HOT!" I replied "No honey, it's not hot outside, it's COLD!"

I'm a genius.

I realized he was saying "Hat! Hat!" (Oh!...that's why he was patting his head.)

Don't worry, since then I haven't tried to drag him outside without his cool hat firmly atop his head. It just frames those little cheeks so nicely. And he's been perfectly compliant (when it comes to going bye-bye) ever since Mom picked up on what he was so politely requesting. It must stink sometimes to be a little kid and have everyone misunderstand you. I'll have to remember that in the future.