Megan's vocal debut

Megan is much like me. She bursts out into song several times a day for no apparent reason. She sings because she likes to sing and it makes her happy. The only thing that differs from me is that Megan is so uninhibited that she will sing at the top of her lungs in the grocery store.

The morning we started potty-training, Megan was especially happy for some reason. She started off the day eating her beloved pancakes and drinking juice. Maybe it was the juice that was making her so happy (because I never give her juice), but, whatever the reason, I got out the camera and she showed off her singing cuteness.

Jingle Bells is Megan's favorite song lately. She sings it all day long and requests it every time she takes a nap or goes to bed for the night. It's now a little out of season, but who cares?

Later that day, on the potty, Megan started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." This video isn't quite as cute as the first but I still love it.

... and that's enough to embarrass Megan for decades to come.

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too much cool

My awesome husband got me a smartphone for Christmas. Now I'm cool. I know how to throw stuff at fake birds with my finger. I can cut a virtual rope to feed candy to a monster. I can play word games with my friends. I can check Facebook in about 2 seconds. I can text to my heart's content. So if I go MIA, it's because I'm now too cool for the blogosphere... at least until my phone is no longer a novelty. Now, if you'll please excuse me, I need to go find my phone.

a fixer-upper

I have picked up what might seem like rather strange  hobby for a new 30-year-old. I tell myself it's not that weird because I know other people like to do the same thing. However, I may only be kidding myself, and maybe I am quite strange after all. Either way, I am totally excited and just need to share.

When I was around 10 years old, I asked for a dollhouse for Christmas. I'm not talking about a barbie dollhouse; I'm talking about the wooden kind that comes in a kit and you put it together, paint it, add carpet & wallpaper & little miniature furniture. My parents obliged that Christmas. They bought me a dollhouse kit that I would put together with my dad. They also bought me a few beautiful pieces of furniture. Well, my dad & I never put the kit together and then I left home, got married, and so on. I think the kit eventually was given away. I have always kept the mini furniture in hopes I would one day again be able to have a dollhouse.

As my 30th birthday approached, I thought I needed some kind of project to do... something for me... so I thought about it and decided I wanted a dollhouse. Undortunately, the price of dollhouse kits has skyrocketed in the past 20 years so I opted to buy a used one. I found one online for a great price, which also included oodles of furniture. This house is a fixer-upper. It needs to be repainted and needs some fixing up inside. Doors need hinges, floors need carpets, and walls need paint. So, this year I will start working on those basics, and worry about the rest of the furniture later.

I'm so excited about this that I seriously don't want to do anything else with my extra time. So, here is a picture of my gorgeous dollhouse. I don't know what color/s I will paint it, but it won't be the same by the time I finish.

And, here is the inside: 10 rooms and lots of furniture to boot.

Maybe I'll throw in a couple pictures along the way as I fix it up. I'm excited! Happy 30th birthday to me!

The Many Faces of Megan

A few weeks ago Megan was in a goofy mood, so I snapped a few cute pics. And, please excuse the state of her hair. It was morning and I hadn't done it yet. Enjoy!

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Headwear

Sometimes it is hard to do Megan's hair in the morning. Often she will not sit still for me. Luckily, there is an easy fix. It may get me stares in the supermarket or at church, but at least it covers up her nappy hair.

Just call her Diaperhead.

No, I don't really let her wear diapers on her head in public, but I totally would if it were socially acceptable.

10 randoms

Here are 10 random pictures in no particular order that I would have liked to possibly blog about in more detail. Unfortunately, all you're gonna get instead are pictures and a few words.

#1: For the first month after getting our foster children I almost entirely neglected Megan's hair. This was the most I could do with it, but, obviously, Megan is too young to care.



#2: This is Megan in her cute Sunday dress (bright colors look SOOOOO good on her)-- just before she barfed all over it.



#3: When I finally got around to doing her hair again I tried out this 'do and I was really happy with it.



#4: Here is Megan in a good mood.



#5: Megan thinks that having a diaper on her head makes a really neat hat.

#6: We went to a picnic with hundreds of other kids who have been adopted through our agency. Megan had a blast. (I must admit, I wanted to jump out there myself. Oh, to be a kid again...)



#7: Cousin Oriana came to visit. Here she is with Megan and cousin Kienan.

#8: This would be a picture of Megan holding her little cousin Henry... or a picture of my sister, Jasmin, and I. She flew out here with her youngest son to see me for a few days before she headed back to Bahrain. I can't believe we didn't take any pictures! Boo!

#9: Now that we have a baby in the house Megan likes to do baby things. Sometimes cute; sometimes not-so-cute.



#10: Why are children always so cute when they're asleep...? (note: I love our Swagger Wagon. It rocks.)



That's it. Toldya it was random. Adios.

Awful Waffle

In case you are wondering what will happen if you forget to change out the waffle-maker-plates for the chicken-cooking-plates on your George Foreman, here you have it:

Strangely enough, this chicken was actually quite delicious.

a Tale of Two Toddlers

Once Upon A Time, in the Roberts Kingdom, young Prince T joined the Castle de Megan. Despite her intense cuteness and sweet nature, Princess Megan became a meanie-head.

Princess Megan did not like the new prince. Prince T used her toys, ate her snacks, stole her bedroom chamber, and took the attention of her King & Queen.

The prince and princess both wanted reign in the kindgom. Both wanted the toys. Both desired the snacks. Both wanted undivided attention from the King & Queen. Consequently, chaos erupted.

This chaos forced the King & Queen to take drastic measures in the cookery.  The prince and princess could not be seated in view of each other, as this would ensue screaming and jealousy, so the young royalty was seated as evidenced below:

This screaming and jeaousy continued most every day, all day. There were special moments, however, when the prince and princess actually got along, as shown below.

And, these were the moments the King & Queen lived for.

Easter Bunnies

For Easter this year my mother gave us a set of 3 bunny ears for our family to wear. You see, it was kind of a "tradition" growing up (well, at least a tradition since High School, when my mom found the bunny ears at the store... curse you, Hallmark!).

Every year my mother would make us wear the bunny ears and smile for the camera. So embarrassing. Luckily, those years were before digital cameras and hopefully none will ever make it to the public.

My daughter, on the other hand? She's already public, and she'll continue to be humiliated for as long as I'm blogging. Or Facebooking, for that matter.

Now on with the show.

Jared was able to grab a picture of Megan before church, wearing the ears in her Easter dress. She's not smiling because she had to be bribed with an m&m, and wouldn't stop sucking on it long enough to smile. In fact, I love the expression she is making in this picture.

Later in the day we got another, more obliging shot:

We kept telling Megan that she was "so pretty" with her bunny ears on. (She'll keep anything on if you tell her she's pretty.) Here's another shot with her cousin, Kienan.

As if embarrassing my daughter for years to come with these bunny ears isn't enough, I also placed some on Jared's head and forced him to smile (he is so easygoing and wonderful).

And, lastly, a random from my Uncle Al. Ha!

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3 short videos

These videos are totally random, but they exemplify three things that Megan does best:

1). Slide down the stairs so fast I think she's going to hurt herself

2). Whine for the camera before I even have a chance to take a picture

3). Dance her heart out!

She's a Zoo

Megan has been into animal sounds. Whenever she's upset we can just ask her to make an animal sound, and she usually is happy again. This video was taken well over a month ago, and it showcases her animal-sound-skills. We have a truly talented daughter. If there were a sound-imitating competition for 17-month-olds, she'd win hands down.

And, for the record, I just have to state that this is only the surface of her sounds. She does a lot more, but this was all I could think of to ask her at the time, and she was distracted by the doggies she was hearing in the distance.

This girl is so so so so so so so so so cute. She still has the smushiest, most kissable cheeks ever. We're sure happy she's ours.


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Snow Song

A little something I thought up while eating lunch, dreading my chore of the afternoon:

Sing the following to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean"

Will someone come shovel my driveway?
Won't someone come shovel for me?
I don't want to get out my snow boots
and my jeans will get wet, don't you see?

Sho-vel, sho-vel,
someone please shovel for me, for me?
Sho-vel, sho-vel,
oh, won't you come shovel for me?

I wish that the sun would just melt it
or the white stuff would just disappear.
For it was my new resolution
to not shovel snow this whole year!

Sho-vel, sho-vel,
someone please shovel for me, for me?
Sho-vel, sho-vel,
oh won't you come shovel for me?

I did not forsee this snow coming.
12 inches is no tiny thing
I think if I shovel for too long
my arm will be broke in a sling.

Sho-vel, sho-vel,
someone please shovel for me, for me?
Sho-vel, sho-vel,
oh, won't you come shovel for me?

want some cheese with that whine?

It has been exactly one month since I last blogged. Mostly, I think, I have nothing to say. Life just goes on and sometimes I don't feel creative enough to make it exciting. In order to blog, I have to think of something fun that has happened, or take cute pictures, or say something in a creative way. My creativity has been lazy lately.

I will attempt to get my groove back.

In reference to my excuses for not blogging, I mentioned that I haven't taken cute pictures. That is not entirely the case. The problem is that as soon as I bring out the camera, Megan begins to whine. She starts whining because she wants to look at all the pictures on the camera. I can't even take a picture before she starts wanting to look at them. So, in lieu of taking pictures of Megan doing cute stuff, I get pictures of Megan whining to see the camera, as evidenced below.

You can't see her hands in this picture, but she's signing "help!"

"Mom, we're at the church, and if you don't give me that camera, I'm going to throw a fit right here on the floor and make a scene!"

"Please, mom? I'm asking nicely..."

"Now I'm NOT asking nicely: give me that camera!!"

I guess we never should have shown her pictures on the camera. Oh well. At least I got a blog post out of it!

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HAPPY!

So, I was complaining to my awesome sis-in-law, Jenny, about how Megan never smiles for the camera. Jenny told me that when she had that problem, she just said "HAPPY!!" as enthusiastically as she could, and then the smiles would come a-flowing.

Well, I put it to the test. And thanks to genius Jenny, Here is Megan HAPPY! (and so silly, too)

It's easy to catch her happy while she's eating. Duh... who's not happy while they're eating?

This one really cracks me up because she looks like a little alien (she pulled out her little hair do thingies) and she doesn't actually look happy, but she's laughing like crazy.

We love our silly, happy baby. Love her so much.

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boycott

During Girl Scout cookie season I treat my family to a yummy carton of Samoas Dreyer's Ice Cream (Edy's Ice Cream to those of you in the East). In one word: YUM.

A couple years ago I noticed that Dreyer's changed their ice cream sizes. Where you used to receive 2 quarts, they packaged 1.75 quarts for the same price. Then, tonight at the grocery store when I picked up my long-awaited-for ice cream flavor, I noticed that the cylinder was now smaller and only contained 1.5 quarts. And, again, for the same price. Needless to say, I slapped that puppy right back into the store freezer and bought something else.

Now is when I say "WHAT THE HECK" for two different reasons which infuriate me.

#1: Do they think we (their customers) are stupid? Honestly, do they think we won't notice that the ice cream container keeps getting smaller and smaller? Do they think that we don't read the volume printed on the foods we buy? Do they think we will still buy it? I know that I won't. I'm done with Dreyer's. Not only is this offensive to me, but also it makes me lose all respect for the company. Yes, I know we are in a recession, and I know that all companies need to cut costs. But, Dreyer's/Edy's... why must you insult me? I would respect you much more if you just hiked up your prices like everyone else. It makes me upset that, instead of being honest about it, you insist on trying to trick us all. Shame on you, and "WHAT THE HECK!"

#2: I looked the situation up on Wikipedia and apparently these ice cream changes were not so recently made. In fact, the change from 2 quarts down to 1.75 quarts was done back in 2002! Why, then, did I only notice the downsize a couple years ago? (and, no, it's not because I'm stupid... I noticed right away and it aggrivated me). I have to wonder if the ice cream I received in 2008 was really made before 2002???? Does ice cream sit around for 7 years before it makes it to the store shelf? And, then again, I just noticed tonight the change from 1.75 quarts down to 1.5 quarts, and that change happened 2 1/2 years ago! "WHAT THE HECK!"

If you can't tell, I'm a little worked up about this. From now on I'm buying other ice cream.

Dreyer's/Edy's: you no longer have my loyalty. Yes, I do think you have a good product, and I especially like your lower-fat options, but you have betrayed me! I do not like products who betray me. Our relationship is over. Too bad for you, because I like ice cream.

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Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

It is so hard for me to catch Megan doing something cute on video. Most of the time she stops the moment she sees the camera. So, this time, I tried to hide as I videoed her dancing, but it didn't work out too well. She still saw me, and I made a fuzzy video.

Ah well. Enjoy a cutie Christmas Dance.



Merry Christmas, ya'll!

Chicken Yummy inMaTummy

So, I could not decide what I wanted to eat for my birthday dinner. One of my favorite restaurants in the whole world is this place called Bombay House. Mmmmmm. The Indian food there makes me so happy. However, when weighing my decision of where to go out for my birthday, I decided against going to Bombay House. The reason? I can make it myself (kinda).

I decided to make this scrum-diddly-umptious dish the night before my birthday (Wednesday). I have made Chicken Tikka Masala a few times before. Each time, I have had to tweak the recipe. I still don't have it perfect, but it's pretty dang good.

Here's my recipe, in case you're drooling after looking at that picture.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients

Marinade
1 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
4-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

Sauce
2 tablespoon butter
2 clove garlic, minced
4 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons garam masala spice
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
1. Marinade: In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and salt. Stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat a grill for high heat.
3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side. (or broil on broil pan in oven... about 4-5 minutes)
4. Sauce: Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic for 1 minute. Season with cumin, paprika, garam masala, and salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Notes:

1.) I used to cook this meal with Basmati Rice. However, I decided that it's too much work to do it this way. Now I just do regular white rice, and, honestly, I can't tell that much of a difference.

2.) Next time I make this I will double the sauce.

3.) This recipe is very non-spicy. If you want it spicier, you can sautee a bit of jalapeno with the garlic, or just add more paprika.

4.) In the picture, I forgot to add cilantro. The cilantro adds a lot of flavor.

5.) The naan you see in the picture is naan that I bought (from Wal-mart)! I then added olive oil and Za'-atar (which my sister brought me from her home in Bahrain) and warmed it in the oven. Holy Yummsters.

6.) I realize this is the second post in a row about food. Let's just be honest. I like food.

Best thing of all: I got to eat one of my favorite meals for a fraction of the price! Yippeeee!

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The Great Food Search

Around 8 1/2 years ago, my husband Jared returned from a church mission to Ecuador. While there, his taste buds grew accustomed to new foods which he loved. Since then, we have tried to find restaurants which serve Ecuadorian food.

We have lived in Utah for all 7 years (this month) of marriage. Unfortuantely, we have no knowledge of any Ecuadorian restaurants in the state. Back in 2004 we went to New York City. We were sure that, of all the cities in the United States, there would surely be an Ecuadorian restaurant there. We were were shocked when we found nothing.

Finally, a couple weeks ago, we decided to take the problem on ourselves. Jared found a recipe online, the key ingredient at a nearby ethnic food store, and we went to work. We had fun cooking together, and even more fun enjoying the grub.

Here is the finished dish: Arroz con Menestra de lentejas y carne asada. The lentils (menestra) have yummy ingredients like red onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, garlic cloves, cumin, achiote (the special ingredient), and cilantro. The rice was cooked with onions & garlic.

Was it good? You be the judge.

Jared said that he still wants to try another recipe of menestra (this one was good, but a little less flavorful than for what he was hoping). We also have plans to try another different Ecuadorian dish.

The best thing of all? The whole meal was healthy. I felt so good after eating something in which ALL the ingredients were fresh & healthy. If only I could make food like this every day...

... maybe we should just move to Ecuador.

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Just a couple videos

To all family and friends who live too far away to enjoy the hilarious-ness of our daughter, these videos are for you. Nothing too special, but just a little cuteness to get you through the day. Enjoy!

11/10/10


11/10/10

Introduction

My name is Megan. I am 13 months old and I am a proficient multitasker. I can read a book, suck on a toy (the metal part, of course), be cute, and poop- all at the same time.