Marla Anson Photography

I realized that I have been baking way too many sweets lately. I made my chocolate chip cookies and had absolutely zero self control in regards to eating them. That was about a week and half or two weeks ago and I haven’t made any cookies since, but I want to so badly, I can practically taste those buttery, chocolatey cookies right now….

Anyway, since I have not been baking sweets, I still have a major sweet tooth that cannot seem to be ignored. Enter, once again, the Jessica Seinfeld “Deceptively Delicious” cook book. She has a recipe for ice cream sandwiches in there that I figured I would give a go at. It’s made with yogurt, buttermilk, lemons and graham crackers and they are absolutely fantastic! I cannot stop eating them, and I don’t feel bad because they are mostly yogurt. I need to make another batch I think…

My biggest problem with the recipe is the freezing times that it gives. The book says it should take an hour and a half for your yogurt mixture to freeze. Wow, was that one waaaaaaaay off. I waited almost five hours for it to freeze properly, and it still could have gone just a little longer. Since I had started making them in the evening, I was up late and couldn’t wait any longer for the mix to freeze to the proper consistency.

So, to overview, ice cream sandwiches; good. Directions on how to make them; bad.

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Icesis had to have surgery today. Poor dog. At least it went well.

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I like yogurt. I like the kind that comes in the little cups at the store. You know, the ones that have too much sugar and have yummy flavors like blueberry and cherry-pineapple. I do have a pet-peeve about yogurt, though. For some reason, it makes me absolutely mental when the companies that make yogurt put the fruit on the bottom of the cup. I HATE it. So much.

I mean really. Why? Why do that? It must save on cost or something. Instead of mixing all the fruit and sugar into the yogurt, they just put some on the bottom and the yogurt goes on top and I guess it saves a couple of cents? Too me, that’s just lazy. If I am paying money for the yogurt, I don’t want to have the to do the work of mixing it myself. The way I see it, that’s part of what I am paying for, not having to do the work.

Speaking of paying, did you ever notice that the yogurt that does have the fruit on the bottom is usually smaller AND more expensive then, say, the store brand that already has all the fruit mixed in? The store brand cups are usually some where between six and eight ounces and the name brand crap is usually four to six ounces. It also seems to be the only kind that you can buy, as well. When I go to the grocery store, if I’m not buying the store brand stuff I REALLY have to search for something that already has the fruit mixed in. What gives??

There is one more thing that really irks me about fruit on the bottom yogurt. It’s the stupidest thing, really, but bothers me none the less. I hate that when you have to stir up the fruit the yogurt gets all over the handle of the spoon. I don’t know why that bothers me so much, but it is probably the one that bothers me the most.

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So, one of the worst things EVER happened. Square Enix released the original Final Fantasy on the iPhone. This is bad for me since video games are terribly distracting and completely divert me from doing things that I really need to be doing. Like taking care of my children. So far I have made it to the Earth Gift Temple.

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Today was SO gorgeous, even I couldn’t ignore it! I’m writing this entry on my deck right now while the kids play with their toys and the dog destroys her birthday presents. I opened all the windows in the house to let the fresh air in and I’ll probably leave the ones in my bedroom open a crack tonight. Hunter and Trent are loving spending time outside right now. I wanted to take them for a walk after lunch today, but I was waiting for Verizon to call. Of course they never did,  but at least Trent took a good nap. I’m so glad Spring is almost here!

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Hooray!

Since we moved into our house back in November, my living room has been a constant source of clutter, which I can’t stand. I believe your living room should be the one room in your house free of a mess. We have a family room that should be full of the build up of living a life with small children. For some reason it makes me a more sane person to have at least one room that looks nice and inviting.

This weekend, I spent the entire time rearranging and cleaning my living room. I am soooooo happy with the results. I feel like a more stable person now.

Update March 10, 2009: I am SO enjoying having a neat and tidy house! I actually want to have people come over and check the place out finally. It’s also putting me in the mood to clean other areas of the house. Today the boys and I are working on the family room, putting all the toys away, vacuuming, sweeping, etc., since we have a play date here tomorrow. There is just something about having the house clean that puts me in a super duper mood.

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I’m chilling in bed with the kids today watching movies. Garrick walked into the room and saw Trent violently hugging Hunter. (It’s a good thing the fatty is so sturdy.) He told Trent to be gentle and then grabbed Hunter for a hug. At this Trent jumped up, put his arms around the baby and announced “NO! MY HUNTER!” and kept saying it until Garrick let go.

Sure made me feel good.

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First off, I will start this post by saying that I have a terrible flaw in that I am indecisive and sort of a major push over. Not a good combination when it comes to parenting.

That said, today I took the kids to a play date. We were the only ones to show, but it was still a really nice time since the host has twins Trent’s age. It got to be time for them to eat their lunch and I asked her how she got her kids to eat vegetables, since Trent eats none. She told me how her one kid won’t eat any veggies, but the other one is pretty good about it. She has a system where she brings out the the veggies first. When the kids finish that, she brings out the meat. Once they eat the meat then she brings out the starch.

I watched her bring out the veggies and the kids just ate it. I resolved that I would try this method for our own lunch time once I got home. We drove back and I set Trent up at the dining room table and made him a small amount of corn. My plan was to give him a PB&J after he ate it. Instead he refused to eat any corn at all, not even to try it. I then decided to dig my heels in! He wasn’t going to get another course until he ate some corn! Finally he said he was done. So I figured we should stop fighting over the stupid corn and go try and take a nap.

Nap time was another disaster, which is a story in and of itself. Suffice it to say, I was determined to continue with my experiment again at dinner time and right on to the next day for breakfast and lunch if need be. I knew it was going to be very difficult, but I was feeling very adamant when Garrick got home and told him of my plan. He agreed.

Dinner time rolled around and I again presented the corn, much to Trent’s dismay. I also gave him a plate of the dinner Garrick and I were eating, a pasta bake which came out pretty good. He wouldn’t touch any of it and dinner dissolved into a mess of crying, screaming and tantrums; the magnitude of which Trent had never before reached. Thank goodness Hunter was being so good during all of this.

By this point I was starting to second guess myself. Should I just buckle and let Trent eat something he likes, cereal maybe? Or should I stick to my guns? Garrick made the decision for me, saying it was time for some tough love since we have been letting Trent have his way for so long. The entire night was then Trent screaming. I was cleaning the kitchen listening to him in his room calling for me. By this point I had totally cracked, but Garrick was standing firm on the issue now. I even came up with the suggestion of just offering the same vegetable with every meal in hopes that Trent will try it, but that didn’t fly with him. I was also thinking to myself that maybe we should just go back to the way were doing it before, presenting him with food, and making sure there is at least one thing that he likes on the plate.

Now I felt really awful. And stupid. All because I was so enchanted by two kids sitting nicely eating vegetables at lunch time. Poor Trent couldn’t control himself after not having lunch or dinner in addition to being tired from no nap. I don’t want Trent to have melt downs and tantrums, but I don’t want to let him walk all over me either. No one ever said parenting would be easy…

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Last year I signed up for the March for Babies walk, but couldn’t attend because of extreme pregnancy. This year I fully plan on doing the walk! I am looking for sponsors, so if you want to help out babies become one of mine!

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My birthday was last month and I just got my birthday present from my Dad yesterday. He got me this cool thing called an AeroGarden. It just came in the mail a couple of days ago and today Trent and I set it up in the kitchen. I think we will have a lot of fun watching my new herb garden grow! I’ll have fresh dill, parsley, two kinds of basil, mint, thyme and chives for the next six months or so. Pretty exciting!

As the plants start to take off I will try and update the blog with pics. Something that I am really jazzed about with this thing is that they do a garden starter tray. The send you this tray with sixty six spots for to put your own seeds and then you can plant them outside. I won’t be doing that this year, but in coming years… Might not be a bad idea once I get my garden in the ground.

Update March 7, 2010: We have removed a dome off of our first plant pod this morning; purple basil!

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