Who needs chicken nuggets when there's ranch?

Yep, as you can see, all of the nuggets mommy so carefully broke apart so as to make it easier for her little monkey to eat, were UNTOUCHED as Claire went to town on the Ranch. Guess I shouldn't have given her the "dippy."

What a ham:

Crafts, Crafts, Crafts

Recently, I've been kind of obsessed with making crafts. Here are the latest ones I've made:

Magnetic recipe card holder/note holder thingie...some people put "RECIPES" on the block down below the metal board, but I'm just not into vinyl unfortunately, and I also want to use it for other things. (This is the craft we're gonna make at the cabin, girls!)

Quilted shoes. This picture does NOT do them justice. These are for my friend Natalie, and her baby, Siena, that will be born in July. Yes, that's a while from now, and I was supposed to not show these to her, but I did anyway... They are SUPER easy and you can do them in a variety of different fabrics, etc.

Pincushion. THIS one is hard. Well, it's not hard if you can sew, actually. I did just fine with the piecing together of the fabrics until I had to sew the side strip to the circular top and bottom pieces!! Fortunately, Megan was there to help, and after unpicking it like 3 times, using a million pins, I was advised NOT to pin it and that was WAY easier. Anyway, I'll probably make more and perfect them bc let's be honest: look closely and you'll see how many mistakes I made!! (I made this out of the leftover fabric from Claire's quilt)

Anyway, next project? Ready?

"Baby Booties" by Heather Bailey. It's a free pattern you can get on her website AND you can see an online gallery of the booties tons of people all over the world have made with this pattern on Flickr!

Ok and these girl ones are to die for, aren't they??

I definitely can't stop doing crafts. It's a disease...

Upon trying this recipe, you will NEVER make Bisquick waffles again!!! (unless you're crazy, of course)

Are you sick of hard-as-rock, way too dense waffles? I can just never seem to get them right, and I've tried a lot of different recipes. Well, I don't have to try ANY more. I found a SUPER EASY, delicious one, that is light and fluffy and has that great chewy texture...you know what I'm talking about--that spring when you pull off a piece. Man, I have such an incredible vocabulary. I should really be a food critic...

Anyway, here it is: And it only took me 4+ years to discover it was in the Essential Mormon Cookbook by Julie Badger Jensen, RIGHT under my nose (well, right in my cupboard all these years...)

Best Waffles Ever.

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup butter, melted

In a bowl, beat eggs. Add buttermilk, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and melted butter and beat until smooth. (I mixed it really well--you don't have to worry about "overmixing" with these!)

Cook like you normally do! They were wonderful even though I used that powdered buttermilk stuff too! Yield: makes about 4 cups of batter or about 4-8 waffles, depending on the size of your waffle iron. Mine is really big, and I halved the recipe so it made about 2 waffles.

PS. The other recipes in this cookbook are amazing too...

Weaning = No Fun.

Today I dropped her last feeding (the nighttime one) and it's really depressing. I know this may sound cheesy or weird to those of you who don't/haven't nursed a baby, but I love nursing her and feeling that closeness and that bond. But apart from that, the WORST is the feeling that she is now growing up, and soon she won't need me anymore.

That is my fear. I'm having a hard time thinking about how she will grow up, leave home, not talk to me every day, not give me a hug every day, not depend on me anymore. I don't want her to be a teenager one day and maybe not like me all the time, or care about me. I don't know if any of you feel or felt that way about your children, but I find myself having this same fear all the time. Am I crazy?

And dropping breastfeeding is yet another part of letting her grow up.

OK, I think I'll go cry now...

All I have to say is...

There is a God. And he is against the Obama healthcare reform plan.

Claire's First Birthday (Gollaher Party)

Why have one party when you can have TWO? Well, I didn't realize that a child's FIRST birthday was such a momentous occasion...I guess I'm just out of the loop! Anyway, we celebrated Claire's birthday yesterday with my side of the family, and it was really fun!

Some pictures of the event!

So I actually decided I'd be a good mom this time, and make her a cake! I don't know why I didn't think of that before! Crazy. Anyway, we call her "Sweetie Bug" a lot, along with all of her other millions of nicknames, so thought a "BUG" themed cake would be appropriate :) I also made it with the most delicious frosting on the PLANET!!! (see frosting recipe. It is to DIE for...especially if you love whipped cream as much as I do, in which case, I'm not sure anyone does, but maybe...)

Aren't the bugs SO CUTE??

Here's the birthday girl with cousins, Becca and Kiera and Mommy. They got her some REALLY cute tights, bibs, plate and fork and knife set, and some really sweet homemade cards! Thank you girls!!

Becca was so cute with Claire!

Uncle Jay and cousin Lauren...being themselves...yeah

The Barnums! Soon Heather will have a cute little boy!

Kristin & me!

Daddy & Claire

Grandpa & Grandma with Claire... she got an awesome set of bath toys from them! I'm so excited to put her in the bath with her new toys tomorrow! (after she gets her food in her hair and everything, that will cause me to have to bathe her a couple of times, of course...)

Thank you for a wonderful time Grandma and Grandpa!! And thank you to Barnums and Colemans for coming! It was so fun!

Claire's First Birthday (Taylor Party)

Finally, I get to post about this--I was waiting until BOTH birthday parties happened, and they were within 2 weeks of each other due to Jordan's crazy work schedule!

Anyway, on Claire's birthday, we headed over to Jordan's parents' house and had a wonderful time celebrating with them! Here are some great pics of the event:

I like to call this one: "Calvin Claire" terrorizing the world...

And she gets her Hobbes from Auntie Camille!

And a Little Mermaid card that, when you open it, sings "A Whole New World." She liked that!

And here is the lovely Auntie Camille. Claire also got a Cabbage Patch doll from Grandma and Grandpa!

Um, this picture of Sam is just TOO CUTE. In a few months we'll be celebrating his 1st birthday too!

Claire with Mommy. LOVE her face here, haha!

Claire with Daddy!

Grandma brought home a BIG balloon from work :) Claire loved it!

Singing Happy Birthday! Daddy helped blow out the candle.

And then, there was the CAKE. This video is a MUST-SEE :) Ha!

And some pictures of the cake-eating occasion :)

Posing like a monkey, of course...

"What?" "I'm eating."

I think Sam is jealous...

But I'm sure he was happy to share the tub afterwards with Claire!

We made individual pizzas!

And then, of course, we had to top off the night with a game. That's MY idea of a GOOD TIME! Thanks for turning one, Claire :) And thank you Grandma and Grandpa for such a wonderful party and Camille for staying in town for the event! You guys are awesome!