month of love

January is a now a thing of the past. I am sooooo glad I like February so much better! The month of love!  So why not talk about love the whole month? For instance I love looking through this web-site the pictures are beautiful and I love the clothes. It doesn't really matter that there is NO way I could pull off half of these lovely ensembles.  I still love them just the same. The dress below is one of my favorites.  I'm pretty sure I need it and the shoes to. 

cuppy cake

Please tell me I am not the only mother who has neglected to bake a birthday cake while in labor for her infant still in the womb. For the soul purpose of presenting it to that infant as she makes her way into the world on her "birth" day.  Ellie and I had a conversation the other day and it went a little like this. 

Ellie- Does my Birthday always have to be on May 1st.

Mom- Yes it does

Ellie- Why can't I have a birthday on May 1st and then change it to a day in July.

Mom- Why would you want to change it to July?

Ellie- So I can have presents and a cake again. {she is pretty clever}

Mom- You can't just change your birthday. Your birthday is the day you were born.

Ellie- Ohhh.... I see! So the day I came out of your belly in the hospital is my birthday.

Mom- Yep you were born on May 1st so that is your birthday.

Ellie- So was there a cake waiting for me with candles to blow out? {with excitement}

Mom- Well...not really. {feeling kind of bad...she was so excited}

Ellie- Was there at least a little cuppy cake with a candle? {with desperation}

Mom- Sorry... no cuppy cake. Babies can't blow and you were a month early and....{Interuption}

Ellie- Mom, but it was my birthday {with frustration}

Mom- I'm really sorry but your first birthday really isn't until you turn one. Mom's don't think about those things when they are getting ready to have a baby. Sorry :( {at least this mom doesn't}

Ellie- Fine...whatever.. But I really do think babies would like cake not just milk when they are born. {with disappointment}

I guess life is full of disappointments. Apparently discovering that as you made your grand entrance into the world and there was not even a glimmer of a cuppy cake for you to lay your newly born eyes upon is a very big one. Who would have thought?

yummy goodness

When it looks this wintery outside make this recipe for dinner and warm up with it's yummy goodness. 

White Chicken Chili 

1- 16 oz of sour cream

1- large can of Swansons chicken stock

3- cans of white beans

2-can diced chopped chili's 

1- glass jar of La Victoria salsa verda

1- tablespoon of white cooking wine

Cook chicken breasts with cooking wine and garlic salt.

Chop chicken breasts into cubes and add to mixture above.

Add shredded Monterey Jack cheese, Avocado and Tortilla chips to your liking.

{add these rolls to make it extra yummy}

Rolls

2-cups of warm water

1/2 cup of sugar

1-package of dry active yeast

put warm water sugar and yeast in bowl mix together let it sit for 10 minutes

add to mixture

2-eggs well beaten

1/2 cup of melted shortening {not oil}

5 1/2 cups of flour

{Stir in flour a few cups at a time if your doing it by hand it makes it easier.} 

Let dough rise in bowl for about an hour.

Melt a cube of butter

grab a small hand full of dough pat flat like a pancake

Fold it in half and dip into butter

put the rolls so they are touching into 9x13 dish.

Let them rise for another hour or a little longer.

Cook for 20 minutes at 375.

These rolls really are easy and they are so yummy.

{don't let them rise for long or they will turn out doughy....believe me I have done it}

This is one of my favorite winter meals. To all those who wanted the chili recipe sorry it took me so long to post it. And thanks to Ali who gave me the recipe and the tasty little cafe that was so kind to give it to her. 

wow! there is no way!

It was fun to watch the watch the X-games a little here and there over the weekend. I found my self saying "wow...there is no way" quite a bit. I mean... come on a double back flip on a snowmobile...really that's possible? I guess it is. ...pretty insane. And how big they go these days snowboarding/skiing really is pretty amazing also. Canyon loved watching the Flying Tomato= Shaun White take double golds in the half pipe and slope style. (When an event such as the half pipe comes on times tables homework comes to a screeching halt. Maybe that's where part of his excitement was stemming from. :)
Thank you X-games for the weekends entertainment.

blue skies

I don't mean to brag. I don't mean to boast (I'm pretty sure I just quoted the beastie boys?) but today when I look outside all I see are blue skies. Beautiful blue skies just right for an afternoon stroll. One of the top 5 reasons I love living where I do.... absolutely no Inversion! Sorry to all you Wasatch front rangers down there who have to breath in ample amounts of soot and smog every time you step a foot outside. I feel bad for you...really I do.  Head up to the mountains it will make you feel better :)

Yep I did.... ha ha... it just came back to me.  

"I don't mean to brag I don't mean to boast but I'm intercontinental when I eat french toast".  

Beastie Boys

browsing and beaches

Browsing Anthropologies new getaway collection has me wishing. 

Wishing I were wearing this whimsical little number or any of the other lovely items on an exotic beach somewhere like....umm... Fiji. (oh! and I would be all golden and toned)

Wishing I could lay reading  a book cover to cover on that exotic beach.

Wishing I could justify spending 38.00 dollars on this headband.

I will keep wishing because in 2.5 hours I will be snuggled up in my warm winter wear. Snowshoeing with 2 good friends, 7 energetic children and a baby lucy in tote. So it's not exactly relaxing on a beach in Fiji. It is pretty much the exact opposite but it will still be great right? I will be spending the next 2.5 hours wishing that it will be. (not Fiji great but great)

lucy + dad

I was looking through some old pictures the other day and found this one. I LOVE it so much!  I don't know why I didn't notice it much before. Lucy is such a daddy's girl. Anyone who has seen how excited she gets to see him can testify to this. It looks like a year ago he was still her favorite. I love how she is nuzzled up against him on a sunday afternoon. Some things never change.

her gifts in life

I have mentioned before  that Lucy has a gift for fake laughing. Well her fake cry is also pretty extraordinary. She is probably better at these two things than anything else in life. Ok...ok... maybe she is a little incy bit  better at raising her eyebrows on demand but that is it.... I promise. 

(pictures taken one sunny november day)

reality check

(goodbye holiday house)

The holidays have come to an end. That means no more Fa La La La La, surprise goodies on my porch, stockings hung with care, or the glow of the Christmas tree. It means saying goodbye to staying up really late, sleeping in every day and eating more jelly bellies, christmas deserts, and other scrumptious foods than I thought was humanly possible.  It means I am missing the excitement and wonder that filled the house, my holiday honey being home on a 2 week break, lucy whispering santa...santa....santa, snowboarding any day I felt like it, and spending more time with family and friends. Now I have January to look forward to and January is not my favorite. What happens in January anyway? Something should to take away the hum drum. I need some things to spice up this month that starts the new year. Any ideas?

Ellie wished for a wowii robotic panda. (random I know)

Canyon wished for a new snowboard.

Lucy loved opening and peeking into her presents. She was so fun this Christmas!

the holiday escape

It is hard to find a nice hill for sledding where we live, but we were determined. So we headed on a drive to find ourselves in a new development. We only had to move a couple orange cones to get in so it was a GO. The snow was very deep and there was some shrubs to overcome but instead of walking the top you  could drive so that was a huge bonus. I was waiting at the bottom for the pick-up when i noticed a development security vehicle at the top of the hill slowing down to take a gander at us. I shouted out the warning that we were going to get busted and when my partners in crime reached the bottom they were thrown in the back of the get-a-way car along with the sledding paraphernalia in no time flat.  We sped out of there never to look back. That gandering, holiday sled busting guard never had a chance. I was pretty proud of our little families ability at escaping. We were so smooth. 

holiday houses

Ellie = The house of many paths 

Canyon = Modern masterpiece
Mine= quaint cottage

Shane = Condo /Hotel.  

He is always trying to show all of us up. :)

Christmas Cards 2008

I had good intentions of mailing off Christmas cards like in years past I really did....but it never quite got it checked off my Christmas to-do list.  I don't know if it was because I blew it off to spend days boarding with my holiday honey and kids, make gingerbread houses, or going sleigh riding. Maybe it was because I spent to much holiday time visiting friends and family, seeing movies, baking and napping. I would like to put full blame on my 12 year old address book containing all the mailing addresses to most of my loved ones. It is in hiding at to this day can still not be found (that's what I get for not having a digital address back up I guess). For whatever reason it was, or a combination of many, Christmas cards were a bust this year.  We already had these done so I decided I would throw out a belated Christmas message to all of our wonderful friends and family.  We hope you all had yourselves a Merry Little Christmas This Year!  Next year I will rule at sending out Christmas cards and it will be checked off my to-do list early...just wait and see.

**if any of you would please e-mail me their home address to monniecox@gmail.com I would love it! I need to start a new address collection**

holiday moods

My kids have been in the best moods lately. Every day at school is "the best day ever" and the overall mood in the house is plain old jolly! With treats to nibble on all day, a paper chain link to cut off, and freshly fallen snow who can blame them? Christmas is in the air! Even adults like me can feel it now, so it must be pretty thick. Sometimes I wish I was five again and could past time waiting for Christmas by throwing on my best dress up garb, some wings, a reflection contest medal and bounce around the house to Christmas music.  Instead I will settle for checking off my Christmas to-do list  while watching the magic of Christmas in my kids care-free lives. It makes my to-do list worth it.....every bit of it!  Speaking of that to-do list. It is pretty much done. So today I think I will be care-free for a few hours and hit the slopes with my holiday honey. It is a Christmasy thing to do! You all should try it and get your Christmas ON. 

Swiss Miss Dance

Ellie did a little ballet performance at Swiss Christmas Days.  Although the place was so packed that you could not move an inch and hot, really hot and extremely stuffy. It was fun to be at a Christmas community event, kick off the holiday Christmas season and see Ellie up on that Christmas stage doing her thing. She was counting down the days until she could wear her very beautiful ballet outfit and dance on the stage. (literally counting down like she is doing now for Christmas) Stage freight...nope she loved every minute of it!  Oh and isn't it amazing what a little mascara can do to my 5 year old. I feel like I have seen her in the future now. Shane and I have decided after looking at these pictures that she can't wear mascara or lip gloss until she is 18. 

My mom and Stephanie came up for the show. Stephanie 

bought that pretty flower for Ellie. What a nice Auntie!

Ellie with her friend Jada. How cute are they? They defiantly 

can't wear makeup and leave the house together until they are 21!

These two girls think every waking hour together just isn't quite enough. 

Ellie wishes they were sisters on a regular basis. 

Sweet moves Ellie!

lucky me

We went to Shane's Christmas work party the other night. They had a drawing for some prizes. And Shane won this beautiful Kitchen Aid mixer... so lucky me because really it's mine. I am the true winner. I am so excited!  Baking for Christmas has just become wonderful!

supersonic

Lately I have this yucky head cold thingy. Today is by far the worst.  I feel like my head just might explode.  Lucy is the only one left around to take care of me. The only problem is she is getting a case of the sickies too so she is not much help. If only her cuteness or her squeals near supersonic frequencies could heal all. That would just be lovely. Happy Holidays Everyone!

the spin park

On our totally and completely necessary road trip to southern Utah during Thanksgiving we found the coolest park. It was so innovative. Full of unusual contraptions to play on that the kids loved. Spinning seemed to be the theme, lots and lots of things to spin on. Shane would get Ellie spinning so fast on some of the contraptions that a crowd would form. The good news is she only fell on her face a couple of times due to the dizziness. Why she would insist on still spinning and spinning faster and faster I will never know. We came here about 100 times in-between activities before we left for home. I felt like they deserved it after being forced to a back of a cave. :)

no permanent damage

Are we mean parents if part of our Thanksgiving fun includes taking our kids into a cave and telling them not to be scared because inside there are only trolls, cougars, and witches bones? All the while Ellie is putting on her bravest face hugging on to Canyon telling him "Canyon we have to be brave. All it is... is regular old darkness and regular old monsters" They both claimed to not be scared but every time Shane growled they could be found clinging together like taffy to braces. We got lucky and all made it out unscathed with no sign of permanent psychological damage. Lucy was oblivious to this act of inhumanity sleeping away in the pack. So we are not really that mean. We only tease and torture the older children.

Bouldering around outside the Cave.

many many houses

Ellie has a lot of stick-to-it-ness (does that make sense?)  when it comes to doing random past times. This started at a young age. The first pastime I can remember was puzzles. When she was two she would work on puzzles for hours every day. The things she has chosen to do for hours has changed over the years. It was drawing people for a while. They easily numbered in the hundreds possibly thousands covering notebook after notebook. Then laying out outfits on her floor. Matching different pants shoes and shirts and skirts together. Sometimes she would be in her room for so long I would have to check to see if she was still alive. Then came the writing phase. We are still in full swing with this one. She gets a notebook and for a couple hours she will write words. Following me around the house asking me how to spell things. I guess she has learned to mulit-task her random pastimes.  Now along with writing words she draws houses, colors them and then cuts them out. I really should have kept a grand tally on how many so far just for fun.  This is Ellie with all her beautiful houses. She did these all in one morning. She has been on the house drawing kick for about a month now and so many many houses have been drawn.  

This house drawing lady also got  a cute new hair cut.

question

UPDATE:  I fixed my blog feed! There should officially be no more weird detours to Shabby Apple. I should have put this out there long ago.   

Thank you Steve you are pure genius!

To all the computer nerds or smartie pants bloggers out there I have a question. This has been bugging me for a while so it's high time I figured it out. Why is my blog address linked to Shabby Apple? For instance if someone has a blog feed that lists the last time a person blogs and they write my address it doesn't go to my blog it goes to Shabby Apple web-site.  So to anyone who can help me solve this mystery or just come up with a solution I would be very grateful.   Thank you!

Little Lucy Fall 2008

A couple of days ago I was below empty. The fumes got me to the gas station.  I filled it up to the brim and the grand total was  doot....do.....do... $36.50.  It was AWESOME!  A road trip to celebrate is totally and completely necessary.  

Rice Crispies

Sequence of Events

1. Feeding Lucy rice crispies on my lap on a sunny morning, listening to music, ellie drawing houses near by. My morning was good!

2. Gigantic sneeze comes out of no where. (Lucy is on my lap facing me eating rice crispies)

3. About 10 rice crispies stick on my face

4. Ellie is hysterical, on the floor, laughing so hard she can't breath which causes Lucy to bust into her fake laugh that she is rather good at.

5. I give them both the...this is not funny, did that just really happen, blank stare (trying not to laugh). Even though I wasn't ready to admit it right then. It was really funny.

6. This makes Ellie laugh even harder and Lucys says "RRR..... EEE" which I am convinced meant sorry.

7. Then she picked them off my face and ate them, while I laid their still in semi-shock (it was quite relaxing).

8. Ellie continued to laugh at me for the rest of the day saying "Remeber when".

9. Lucy gave me about 100 kisses, hugs and high fives that day and she was quickly forgiven.....my day was good.

the fort

When we built our house we decided to build Canyon a fort bed thingy. In the middle of construction we realized we could take it to the next level (literally). Why not? So the three level fort was born.

LEVEL 1. The little hide out under his bed.
This is where video parties regularly take place, neighborhood Mario Kart tournaments are held and where Canyon and Ellie sleep side by side EVERY weekend night.

LEVEL 2. This is where his "real" bed is.
This real bed also is conveniently used as a place to test out new tricks from the third level and a helpful means to get to the third level. It is also commonly known to be a house, store, hospital, cage what ever their little imaginations strum up.

LEVEL 3. The Secret club.
This area is where meetings are held secret plans are strategized. Where Lego projects are built, snack stations are set up and where the web-kins and other animal friends reside. A reading corner is even up there....so they claim. (we have no trees big enough for a tree house sad enough...so can you blame them?)

So what is there not to love? Well....where should I start. Dirty Scuffed up walls, Popcorn seeds from all those video parties tucked in those hard to get to places in the hide out. Constant pleas from two siblings who want to sleep in the little hide out EVERY night (are weekends not enough?). A bed that is NEVER properly made. Sheets that are no stranger to the dirt and grime of multiple children making their way up to LEVEL 3, not to mention the crumbs that find their way from the snack station to the "real" beds sheets on a way to regular of basis. Then there is the secret club. This place truly is a secret because I rarely make my way up to LEVEL 3 to check it out. I would like to think that they take some pride in their clubhouse and it remains in at least an 8 year old standard of cleanliness (is that so much to ask?) Yet I know the harsh reality. There are times it can't look pretty up there. There have been moments of time that I have wanted to tear the 3 level fort down, pretend it was never born and create a traditional bedroom free from the downsides listed above. In the end I suppose the benefits outweigh the negatives and so the fort remains. It probably will for sometime due to the fact that Ellie already has big, I mean gigantic plans. As soon as Canyon out grows the fort bedroom it is all hers and she knows it.

the morning dance

As of lately, our morning routine has been set in stone.
1. Breakfast
2. Music
3. Dance till you can't dance no more
I think Ellie has been dreaming of this day since Lucy's birth. The day when all her wise training on what it takes to be a true lady would pay off. The day when Lucy would be her best girl friend. The day she would be spinning and dancing on every square foot of our house, with Lucy right by her side, while she blasts the song Connected off Barbie and the Diamond Castle. (louder than I ever thought possible). This dreamy long awaited day has arrived .....it has arrived.

p.s. I have heard the song Connected so many times it is slowly growing on me or has brain washed me I'm not sure which.

happy face

This happy face has to be one of my favorite things.
I am already missing the fall colors behind that happy face. boo hoo!

flush it

I thought we had lucked out! I thought Lucy had skipped right by the toddler toilet fascination. She just never found it intriguing.....until now. I heard her humming around in the bathroom today, happy as could be (I guess Polly in the Potty produces extreme happiness). It could have been worse. Polly was spared from the dreaded flush and pet bunny survived. This little miss thinks she is so funny now that she knows how to flush. I don't think it's that funny but today she learned to snort like a pig and that really is funny.

little spooks

My little spooks 2008
A very indecisive Ellie finally settled on a ROCKSTAR
A very committed Canyon has gotten comfortable with being a VAMPIRE (this is his third year in his 8 short years of life)
A very cute Lucy was given the opportunity to be the recycled BAT ( Ellie's old costume)

Canyon "Mom I have green teeth this year so I look totally different"


Ellie " I am so excited to trick o treat my stomach is tickling me"

Lucy " Everyone keeps calling me a boy in this bat costume... I want to go home"

Lucy got mad that everyone kept calling her a boy while trick o treating. She refused go to another door and let it happen again. She sat in the middle of the street with her legs wrapped around her black bucket eating her loot. The night was over for her. She high tailed it home with her four pieces of candy. I thought the necklace and the black fingernail polish would make her a cute little girl bat.....guess not.

The kids and their favorite trick o treating side kicks.

The trick o treating ended but the night was still young. We had places to go. Shane was a old school Rapper and I was a witch. I don't know why but I didn't get any pics and Shane was lookin pretty sweet. I would say almost identical to Run D. M.C. Everyone looked so good but I would have to say that our friend Brandon stole the show being Rod Kimball from the movie Hot Rod. It was the greatest! I laughed so hard especially passing him on the highway riding his scooter on the way to the event. He had the works the stash the scooter and best of all the stunts! If you need to see just how uncanny the resemblance is click here.

Thanks for the fun party Ali. We had so much fun!