PAD-NOS

Pouncing the Bed

2012-02-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to get pictures for a while now of a game Taliesin plays where he will pounce on a blanket or pillow that is sitting on the bed and give it cuddles, and then sneak up on it and pounce again. Tonight, he decided to help me change the sheets on the bed which provided an opportunity to try to get pictures. Alas, every time I pulled out the camera, he decided that it was much more interesting than cuddle pouncing the bed (of course), but I did manage to get a few good pics. :)

Breaking In

2012-02-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

Taliesin managed to lock himself into the laundry room tonight. This was the end result of the adventure.

Wheat

2012-02-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

Ground some flour today.

Looking for a Name

2012-02-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

Justin and I kind of wanted to have our top girl/boy names picked out by the time of the 20-week ultrasound on the 29th, when we should hopefully find out the gender of the new baby (provided the baby cooperates *fingers crossed*). We've got a girl name picked out already but have been having a little more trouble deciding on a name for a boy, so today I went to the library to pick up a couple baby name books. Unfortunately, it appears that several of their baby name books have become lost who knows where- I confused the reference librarian by pointing this fact out- so these three were the only ones that the library had checked in right now. More info on how the baby name search is going can be found here.

Stacking

2012-02-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I stacked a whole bunch of pillows in the rocking chair in order to get them out of the way so that I could vacuum. Taliesin thought this was such a fun game he's taken to stacking pillows in the rocking chair, then throwing them on the floor and pouncing on them.

Kick! (Or Not)

2012-02-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

Spent some time outside today enjoying the beautiful weather and trying to teach Taliesin about kicking balls as well as throwing them. He laughed whenever I kicked the ball then picked it up and threw it at me so I could kick it again. :)

Robins

2012-02-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

Overflowng

2012-02-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

Because Taliesin's toy basket has been over-filled with toys for a while now, I finally gave in and got a second basket to split the toys up- one in his room and one in the living room. Unfortunately, the first one is still full and this second one is also overflowing. I sometimes wonder if perhaps we have too many toys. :)

Little Helper

2012-02-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

Fried Cheese

2012-02-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

Today, I took the paneer that we'd made earlier and fried it up. Exceptionally yummy for snacking on. :)

Homemade Cheese

2012-02-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

Taliesin had a bunch of whole milk that was going to expire soon so we used it to make homemade paneer- Indian cheese (the recipe in our Indian cookbook is very similar to this one).

A Wagon Full of Blocks

2012-01-31T10:24:00.000-07:00

My dad made this wagon and blocks for Uriel a couple Christmases ago. It's been being stored in my parent's garage while my sister was in Afghanistan, and she decided she didn't really have room to take it back with her to New York so it got gifted to Taliesin this Christmas. He doesn't really care much about the blocks, yet, but he loves pulling the wagon around.

$16.40!

2012-01-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

I love it when I can occasionally pull off grocery shopping weeks like this one.

16 Weeks

2012-01-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

The way Justin posed me in this photo actually makes me look somewhat more pregnant than I really do if you were to just see me. Though I am slightly bigger than I was around this time with Taliesin. :)

Kale

2012-01-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

This is our experiment for the week- we used a couple cups of kale in a soup we'd found that looked pretty good. Neither Justin nor I had actually eaten kale before so we didn't know what to expect, but I think I like it. :)

Peek-a-Boo!

2012-01-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

Taliesin loves hiding in the space between the dishwasher and the wall (normally his high chair is stored there, but it sometimes takes a while to get it wiped down and put away) and then popping out to say "Boo!"

A Boy and His Goat

2012-01-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

The only stuffed animals Taliesin really has of his own are some stuffed dogs, and recently he's been having all toy animals say "woof" (except for dinosaurs, which decidedly roar). I decided that perhaps we could expand his repertoire of animal noises by giving him some other stuffed animals to play with and tried to get down a couple of stuffed cats from my stash of old toys. Unfortunately, in the process of getting down the cats, my slightly annoying singing goat fell down, and Taliesin immediately fell in love with it. Consequently, I spent most of the morning listening to this.

Trying to Get the Camera

2012-01-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

Rocking Chair

2012-01-24T08:14:00.000-07:00

New and Improved Original

2012-01-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

It just amuses me to note that the dish soap is both a "New and Improved Scent" and yet the "Original Scent" at the same time. :)

Family Photo

2012-01-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

Justin and I went down to Spanish Fork this weekend for a celebration of his grandparents' 69th anniversary.

Rice

2012-01-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

Silence is golden... except if you're a toddler in which case silence means that Mommy is going to have a big mess to clean up. It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but tonight Taliesin managed to find a 5 gallon bucket of rice which was not quite closed tight, and had great fun taking rice out and spreading it all over the floor (and down the furnace vent, where it made fun rattling noises).

Playing at the Park

2012-01-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

It was such beautiful weather today, we went and played at the park. Alas, Taliesin seems to have re-developed his fear of the swings that we had conquered over the summer, which rather limited what there was for him to do, since the sandbox was all muddy and there were puddles on the slides.

Melted

2012-01-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

All the rain we've been getting has completely melted away the snow.

Cinnamon Scent

2012-01-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

One of the most annoying things about pregnancy for me is the hormone-induced bloodhound nose that makes it so that everything smells about 100 times stronger. My kitchen was smelling funny and I couldn't figure out why, so today I gave in and covered up the smell with a cinnamon scented candle.

Snowscape

2012-01-17T08:53:00.000-07:00

Date Night Pizza

2012-01-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

Looking Like Spring

2012-01-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

Labeled

2012-01-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

Taliesin loves hard boiled eggs. If I label them with a crayon, I can boil up a bunch at a time to have on hand, and then store them in the original carton without getting confused which are raw versus which are cooked. :)

Please

2012-01-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

Evidently in reference to this sign, which is now missing from their yard.

Empty Swing

2012-01-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

This swing looked lonely with no one using it on such a nice spring-like afternoon.

Before and After

2012-01-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

Nothing like pregnancy for making you feel grateful for all the energy you used to have before. :) Christmas, combined with near-constant fatigue and frequent nausea for the last 8 weeks, plus Justin and I getting sick with a stomach bug last week, not to mention Hurricane Taliesin leaving a path of chaos everywhere he goes, all combined to make getting my living room cleaned and vacuumed today really feel like a heroic feat of epic proportions.

Adding to that epicness, I took down our Christmas tree by myself with the help of a toddler, and though the "after" picture doesn't show it, since I took it during a short break from cleaning, I also rearranged the furniture so it's back in its original pre-Christmas tree configuration (which looks basically like this- except with a different couch and no bookshelf by the door).

I think this calls for celebration... maybe some extra-butter popcorn and a strawberry smoothie? ;)

Rolling the Football Down the Hill

2012-01-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

Playing Outside

2012-01-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

Fluffed Up

2012-01-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

Fortune Cookie Says...

2012-01-07T17:21:00.000-07:00

Today, I just really didn't have the energy to cook dinner, and I proposed that maybe we could use some of the money built up in our "fun" budget and go out for dinner instead (theoretically the fund is for date nights... but we've had neither the time nor the energy for a date night in quite a while now). Justin, being the amazing husband that he is, agreed and took me out to dinner at Panda Express. This was the fortune in my cookie- and it's probably even true, since payday is this coming Friday. ;)

Big and Little

2012-01-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

Stirring the Laundry

2012-01-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

He decided it needed mixing.

Attempts at Organizing

2012-01-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

A while back I saw an idea linked on Pinterest for keeping sheets more organized by storing them inside of their pillowcases. I thought it looked worth doing... mine never quite turn out as neat looking as the original picture (and I still can't figure out why or what I'm doing wrong) but it does, at least, keep all the sheets and pillowcases from the set together, and it does fit in the drawer slightly better. :)

Baby Portrait :)

2012-01-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

Went in for the first prenatal appointment and ultrasound today. The doctor confirmed the baby's due date as July 13th and we got this fun picture to take home with us. :) You can see all 3 of the ultrasound photos here.

Grapefruit

2012-01-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I've been really craving a lot this pregnancy (and which has been helping to settle my stomach in the mornings, oddly enough) is pink grapefruit.

Blurry Kids and a Piano

2012-01-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

Taliesin and a friend of his discovered during church today that upright pianos have little hollow spaces at the back that are perfect for standing inside. :)

Note: Because I'm like 2 months behind in posting, and picture taking in November and December became increasingly sporadic as morning sickness and excessive fatigue set in, I'm just starting with January's pics for the New Year... I'll also be eventually posting up stuff from November and December as well for those who are interested, but for now, we'll just start fresh with the New Year. :)

Snuggles for Clifford

2011-12-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

11 Weeks

2011-12-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

If you look really hard, you can sort of see a little baby bump. :)

Frosted

2011-12-20T16:14:00.000-07:00

Homemade Pasta Sauce

2011-12-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

I cooked up some pasta tonight then realized that we were out of spaghetti sauce so decided to make up some of my own: Olive oil, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, Parmesan cheese, and just a touch of Balsamic vinegar. Simple, and very yummy! And Taliesin gobbled it right up too. :)

Triscuits and Guacamole

2011-12-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

Red Berries and Snow

2011-12-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

Alphabet Soup

2011-12-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

2011-12-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, I offered a walk to Taliesin before looking out the window and discovering that (in contrast to yesterday's blue skies) snow was falling. He begged and banged on the front door, and obviously couldn't understand why I'd changed my mind, so I decided to bundle both of us all up and head out into the snow. See the smile? I think he enjoyed his snowy walk after all. :)

Blue Sky and Bare Trees

2011-12-01T15:52:00.000-07:00

Toddler-Sized Seat

2011-11-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

Taliesin discovered this evening that the step stool is just the perfect size for him to sit on it!

Bunny Slippers

2011-11-28T15:33:00.000-07:00

Taliesin has grown decidedly jealous of my bunny slippers, and in this picture is trying to take them off my feet so he can have a turn playing with them. Time for a more generic pair of slippers perhaps.

Reading Books with Grandpa

2011-11-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

Justin's parents are visiting us for Thanksgiving. Taliesin is still very wary of strangers, but finally warmed up to Grandpa enough to read some books with him while sitting reassuringly close to Justin.

Birthday Cake!

2011-11-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

Today Justin and I finally got to enjoy our birthday cake! There are 3 candles on one side (3 tens for me) and 9 candles on the other (2 tens and 7 ones for Justin). Happy birthday to us!

Reading Stories

2011-11-23T15:24:00.000-07:00

Debrox

2011-11-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

An explanation as to why I spent a good amount of my birthday today in the doctor's office (again) and will be spending more time there tomorrow and ended up with lots and lots of Debrox can be found here. Also, inner ear issues combined with morning sickness? Not happy.

Spring...

2011-11-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

Had a doctor's appointment today and saw this sign hanging up in the bathroom. Given the snow all over the ground, this greatly amused me. :)

Playing in the Snow

2011-11-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

Taliesin's first time out playing in the snow! Last year he was too little to be able to enjoy it at all. This year... well, he enjoyed it until he fell down and got it on his hands. :)

Neverending Laundry...

2011-11-19T15:01:00.000-07:00

Birthday Cookies

2011-11-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

My visiting teachers came over and gave me some yummy cookies for my birthday!

Coming soon!

2011-11-17T16:27:00.001-07:00

I'm afraid my blog has rather fallen by the wayside in the busyness of the last month. I've been taking pictures, they just haven't come off the camera yet. Never fear my faithful readers (all 3 of you...), updates are coming soon!

Gone!

2011-11-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

The last time I walked past this park there was an old large building right in the area with the orange fence now around it- a very old church building, I think. I don't exactly miss the building, but it surprised me that it suddenly wasn't there anymore. :)

Cloudy Gray Skies

2011-11-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

Shredded Paper

2011-11-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

A Christmas present that I was working on making today created this lovely pile of shredded up paper.

Feeding Daddy Dinner

2011-11-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

Dog Hat

2011-11-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

Taliesin seems to have decided that Spot's purpose in life is balance on top of his head, so he can then shake Spot off... and repeat.

Riding on Daddy's Shoulders

2011-11-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

Balloons and String- What Joy!

2011-11-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Further experiments in preparation for attempting the previously referenced ornaments. Taliesin thought the balloon and string combo looked so fun that I had to wait until he was down for his nap before I could accomplish anything further. :)

Plethora of Pumpkins

2011-11-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

Up the Hill

2011-11-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty good example Taliesin walking around these days... looking everywhere except where he's going. Sometimes he gets so excited about pulling a toy on a string that he'll just walk right into walls and door frames. Luckily, so long as he stays within the defined parameters of where he's allowed to play, there are a lot fewer such walking hazards outside.

Parallel Lines- Take 2

2011-11-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

Incidentally, this picture partly explains my having been so remiss in updating the blog- I've been a bit too tired and rather sick to get much done, let alone blog updating.

Helicopter Seeds

2011-11-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

Possible Good News

2011-11-06T18:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is what it looks like. :) Because I took the test like 2 hours before Justin woke up and results are supposedly only valid for 20 minutes, I took a picture so I could confer with him whether or not I ought to go buy a second test on Monday so I could make sure the faint line there on the right wasn't just my imagination. Unfortunately, I appear to have forgotten to take any other pictures today, so you get to see pictures of results twice. :)

Experiments with Balloons

2011-11-05T18:48:00.000-06:00

I've got a crafty project in the works to make ornaments using balloons, craft glue and string. Unfortunately, the only balloons Walmart carries are rather too large to be ornament size (the top size is fully blown up), so I was experimenting today with ways to make the balloons somewhat smaller.

Dandilion Fluff

2011-11-04T18:36:00.000-06:00

Blurry Boy with Blankets

2011-11-03T18:42:00.000-06:00

He had been doing a cute pounce and cuddle thing a little bit ago, but stopped as soon as I got the camera out. Of course.

Temple Grandin

2011-11-02T15:27:00.000-06:00

Justin and I went to see Temple Grandin speaking over at the university this evening. He asked me to get his picture with her while she was autographing one of his books. :)

Melted

2011-11-01T17:32:00.000-06:00

I need to learn to stop putting things on top of the stove even if none of the burners are in use- if something is baking in the oven, the burners can still get hot enough to melt cheap plastic bowls.

Skeleton Costume

2011-10-31T17:28:00.000-06:00

Even if we didn't go Trick-Or-Treating we still dressed him up as a skeleton. Unfortunately, I never managed to get a better picture of Taliesin in his Halloween costume- the rest turned out blurry.

Fractals

2011-10-30T05:28:00.000-06:00

Red Leaves and Blue Berries

2011-10-29T04:55:00.000-06:00

Enjoying Some Good Daddy Time

2011-10-28T04:48:00.000-06:00

Of course, the reason he's so happy here is because he invented a new game to keep Daddy from being able to study.

Hanging Up

2011-10-27T17:10:00.000-06:00

I hath successfully used a drill to hang something up! It worked much better than last time I tried ;)

More Gold and Red

2011-10-26T17:07:00.000-06:00

Falling

2011-10-25T17:05:00.000-06:00

Playing in the Leaves

2011-10-24T17:20:00.000-06:00

Going Down the Slide with Daddy

2011-10-23T17:16:00.000-06:00

Swinging

2011-10-22T17:10:00.000-06:00

Red and Yellow Leaves

2011-10-21T17:03:00.000-06:00

Sunshine Through Yellow Leaves

2011-10-20T16:59:00.000-06:00

Crossing Bridges

2011-10-19T16:53:00.000-06:00

All Bundled Up

2011-10-18T16:43:00.000-06:00

For his birthday, I gave (am giving?) Justin a pair of really nice leather gloves to help keep his hands warm while he bikes. Because it's been really cold recently, we decided it would probably be best if he got his birthday now instead of waiting until mid November. :) He says they really help.

Drastic Measures :)

2011-10-17T15:46:00.000-06:00

(I generally tend to stay behind the camera instead of in front of it, so I don't really have a good before picture- this one is from back at the beginning of July, and it had actually gotten a bit longer since then).

Our family seems to have picked up lice somewhere (theory is I probably got it from riding on the bus)- and a strain of lice resistant to OTC treatments), at that. :( Unfortunately, long hair and nit combing don't particularly go well together- the first night I used the lice treatment, it took 3 hours to use the pesticide shampoo and have Justin comb through it. So... I had a neighbor come over and she cut my hair short. She actually did a really good job of it, considering that we just used the ponytail method and Taliesin was so distressed by what was going on that he insisted on sitting on my lap while she was trying to even the haircut out- you can imagine how well that worked. :) I wouldn't have chosen this length on my own, but I have to admit that I'm really liking the fact it only takes me a few minutes to do my hair in the morning... if I can figure out how to style it, I may keep it at this length.

Sagebrush and a Pink Flower

2011-10-16T15:28:00.000-06:00

Ducks

2011-10-15T15:25:00.000-06:00

Ride 'em Cowboy!

2011-10-14T15:02:00.000-06:00

It's been so nice to have sunshine again after all the rain last week that we took a walk over to the further away park a second day in a row.

Pouring Sand

2011-10-13T14:57:00.000-06:00

Today we went to a park that we don't go to often, since it's a bit further away, but it has a toddler area sectioned off (ages 2-5) which means that Taliesin can climb and play without having to worry about being run over by older kids. Normally he loves the chance to climb or play on the swings, but when we showed up today, Taliesin decided that what he most wanted to do was sit outside of the sandbox and pour sand onto the very tips of his shoes so he could watch it fall off. This activity actually kept his attention for a good 15 minutes or so, until other kids showed up and started playing on the playground equipment, which suddenly caused the playground equipment to become interesting again. :)

Black and Orange Butterfly

2011-10-12T09:43:00.000-06:00

Pushing the Stroller

2011-10-11T09:28:00.001-06:00

Okay, I admit it, this is a cheat... I didn't actually take the picture. Though I did specifically ask Justin to take it for the purpose of my PAD. :) We've been babysitting a little boy who is about 2 months younger than Taliesin, and today we all went to the park to play since there are less toy sharing and attention-demanding issues there. Unfortunately, we don't have a double stroller, so Taliesin got put in the Snugli. He enjoyed helping to push the stroller.