Someone Thinks I'm Cool

Actually, I don't know how cool they think I am, but for now at least, I'm going to let it go to my head. My friend Sherry (mother of some of my most adorable former preschoolers) awarded me with this:

Now, I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that in order for all of my friends to know about this sweet little award, I have to post it on my own blog. I wondered, does it seem vain to tell everyone that she thinks I'm "Kreativ"? I don't care. I think the real question is, will anyone believe that she actually "awarded" me... Her blog is private, and I might just be making the whole thing up because I'm starved for attention... Amy can you back me up?

See, the way it works is (the train moves not the station)...

Upon accepting my prestigous award, I am to list 6 things that make me HAPPY and then send on the award to 3 more "Kreativ friends" (copied directly from Sherry's blog)...

I seriously sat here for 10 minutes trying to come up with inspiring and exciting things that make me happy, but the list in my head started to sound like "sunsets, walks in the rain, laughter" ... you get the picture.

So, I'm going to list 6 things that made me happy today:

1. Talking to my sister on the phone.

Quote from Jen: "What does it mean when people say, 'I blog'? Does that it mean they get paid for it?"

2. Shopping at Target with Tom while Addison is at Amanda's eating Pigs in a Blanket.

Tom makes joke that makes me roll my eyes. Lady in aisle laughs at joke. I laugh at lady laughing.

3. Amanda's cute girl, Emma.

I walk in the door and Emma (3) takes my hand and walks to where Addison is sitting and says, "There's your kid." Go here to read more funny Emma.

4. Having Tom understand me.

When I say, "I'm going to strip the paint off Addison's dresser and stain it," I actually mean, "could you spend all day Saturday stripping the paint off Addison's dresser and staining it?"

5. Impulse buys which are later returned.

I went to Target twice today. The first time I bought 2 pairs of earrings (cute) and 2 wall hangings (not so cute). I bought the overpriced wall hangings because I was at Target and wanted to just buy things. I love to just buy things. I returned them (during the trip with Tom) and feel happy that I was impulsive and responsible.

6. Feeling crafty enough to make bean bags for the playroom.

I don't know that it will ever happen, but tonight I found the pattern, and I am thinking Addison will love them in camoflauge.

And now my awards go to:

Liz: For finally blogging

Amy: For being my only blogging family member

Ellen: Because she needs to update

Thank you... and good night.

It Doesn't Take Much

I was watching my friend Amanda's kids the other day, and when she dropped them off at my new house, I was telling her about wanting to put some herbs in the box window in my kitchen. I was so excited about it. She looked at me and said,

"It doesn't take much to make us girls happy, does it?"

I've been thinking so much about that since then. I really think it's true. Our guys might disagree, but I think it's because the opposite it true, too. It doesn't take much to make at least this girl sad.

On most days, if I can have a happy son, clean house, healthy dinner cooked that everyone enjoys, time to read/knit/watch a show, I can go to sleep feeling like all is right with the world.

But give me a hurt child, cluttery house, dinner out of a box that no one even liked, and arriving at midnight with a list a mile long of things I didn't accomplish, and I can't imagine how I could ever survive another day.

For today, my simple things have me happy. New friends at church (for me and Addison), house still pretty clean from Saturday's efforts, grilled quesedillas and corn/avocado relish for dinner, finished a book, and will watch the closing ceremonies of the Olympics with my family.

It doesn't take much...

Cuterate...

I know Addison is a little too old for me to have a running list of cute things he says, but the other day he came up with a doozy that I had to record...

We were getting ready to watch High School Musical: Get in the Picture, and Addison asked me if we could have Rice Krispie Treats (our favorite). I said no because we had just gone to In-N-Out Burger for dinner and I felt like we had been eating garbage all day. He responded by saying,

"That's okay. I just thought it would be fun to eat our favorite treat and watch our favorite show together."

Well, by then I had been thinking about the Rice Krispie Treats myself, and he responded so sweetly, that I said,

"All right, but I don't think it's fair to use your cuteness on me to get your way."

To which he replied,

"Maybe I should start teaching lessons in Cute-rate (Cute + karate) to kids with moms that say no."

...He might be too old for it, and he hates it when I tell him, but I still think he's pretty dang cute.

San Francisco - From Addison's Point of View

When Dean and Amy were here (our ONLY visitors so far!), we went to San Francisco. I had no camera, but Addison took his. We did a lot of the same things we've done before there, but he had a different take on things than I do...

Self portrait on the ride up to the city.

Portrait of a young Indiana Jones.

This was a huge chess set on display in China Town. I love the reflection of Addison in the glass.

Addison was excited to have found the real "Waverly" Place.

Interesting Chinese characters.

Flowers near Lombard Street.

Another self portrait.

View from the bottom of Lombard Street.

Waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the trolley.

Alcatraz.

Basketball Jones Camp

I always feel so bad because Addison is so into sports, and I just am not. I'm interested in him being interested in sports, but the poor kid has no help from me when he has questions about the rules, or scoring, or playing of any particular sport. Even if he never gets into playing anything in particular, I really should start encouraging and participating in this interest. Would it kill me to watch a basketball game on TV? ... I hope not.

Good thing he is interested in singing High School Musical songs and re-enacting Newsies scenes with me while we're driving in the car so that we can bond. (I'm totally going to let his girlfriend read this when he is 16).

Too bad Clint's not nearby anymore to take him for manly days of He-Man movie watching and motorcycle riding. I promise I'll do better.

Display of my commitment to do better:

Addison went to a basketball camp this week - his first sports camp ever.

He had such a blast. There were 3 groups divided by age called ACC, Pac 10, and Big East. I'm sure these names mean something to some people, but not to me. Anyway, Addison was in the ACC group and his team was Wake Forest (sadly, I just had to google that to make sure it wasn't Lake Forest... just in case I had been hearing it wrong all week). They played from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM everyday with lots of drills and games, etc. Addison was beat by the time he got home- sore muscles, tired body- but every day he said he couldn't wait to go back tomorrow and he wished the camp would last for a month! He was such a trooper and I am so proud of him for working so hard. Way to go Addison!!

Addison and one of his best friends here.

Watching the teenagers play their playoff game.

They did this at the end of every day. Everybody claps together and comes in to a big huge huddle (seriously, stop... I don't know what it's called... a huddle, right?). I was always worried Addison was going to get smushed in there.

This was his coach. He was a super nice guy. Very patient with all of these crazy kids.

Pretty Luscious Cupcakes

This is the recipe for the amazing cupcakes. There are chocolate and vanilla, and they are both delicious. Thanks Jenny!!!

White Cupcakes

1 white cake mix (with pudding in the mix)

1and1/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup butter melted

2 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

vegetable cooking spray

1. Beat first 6 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer justuntil dry ingredients are moistened. Increase speed to medium, andbeat 2 minutes or until batter is smooth, stopping to scrape bowl asneeded.

2. Place paper baking cups in muffing pans, and coat with cookingspray; spoon batter evenly into baking cups, filling each two-thirdsfull.

3. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes outclean. cool in pan on wire racks 10 minutes; remove cupcakes frompants to wire racks and cool completely.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup soft butter

3 oz. soft cream cheese

16 oz powndered sugar

1/4 cup cream of coconut (or heavy cream)

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond flavor

1. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixeruntil creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speeduntil blended. Increase speed to medium, and slowly add milk andvanilla, beating until smooth.

Chocolate Cupcakes ( The recipe calls for a German Chocolate cake mixbut i am going to try a regular chocolate cake mix)

1 chocolate cake mix ( pudding in the mix)

16 oz. sour cream

1/4 cup melted butter

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

vegetable cooking spray

1. Bead the first 5 ingredients about 3-4 minutes.

2. Put baking cups in muffin tins and spray with cooking spray. Spoonbatter into cups until 2/3 full.

3. Bake at 350 for 25 min.Cool the same as white cupcakes

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Prepare Vanilla Buttercream as directed, (don't use cream of coconut,use whipping cream)Microwave 1 cup.dark chocolate (recipe used Nestle Chocolatier DarkChocolate Morsels), until melted. Gradually add melted chocolate toVanilla buttercream until smooth.

Happy Birthday Tom!

Because of my lack of camera, I'm going to do some blogging catch up (Thanks for the pictures, Hannah!). When I was in Utah, Tom came to visit for the 4th of July. His birthday is on the 8th, so I wanted to celebrate it while he was there. I called his sister Cathy to see about organizing a party. From now on, I'm calling her whenever something needs to be planned... "Hey, it's Addison's birthday, I was thinking about having a party" or "I noticed Christmas is coming up..." I didn't even have to ask. I just mentioned the idea and she organized her whole family. Tom's sister Jenny was our gracious host. I wanted it to be a surprise, and it totally was. In fact, even after we got there and he saw the party going on, we had to explain, more than once, that everyone was there for him. It was pretty funny.
Eric and Emma came with us to the party. The 3 kids did a great job of keeping mum about it being for Tom. I was a little worried.
...Up to no good, I'm sure.
Jenny made these cupcakes that were AMAZING! You can tell by looking at this picture... Tom is like.."Have you ever tasted anything like this?!?" and I'm trying to count how many are left to make sure I get at least 7 more. The truth is, all of those cupcakes were gone by the end of the party and most people only had one. The 4 of us at the table (Cathy, Jenny, Tom, and I) kept eating half of a cupcake thinking, "I'll just have another half", and then we'd sit and talk for a while and see that someone else had eaten a half and left another half, so that had to be finished off. The cycle continued until we had each eaten enough half cupcakes to fill a bakery.
Happy Birthday Dear Tom...