Helping Mommy

When we're helping we're happy... This sure seems to be Caden's motto lately. He wants to help do everything. In the past week he has helped me push the grocery cart, pull the meals on wheels cart, vacuum, and sweep. He thinks as long as he has a hand on whatever I'm pushing/pulling that he's helping. He got so excited about the sweeping I let him take over for a bit. It was pretty entertaining to watch him try to navigate sucha long handle, but he stuck with it for quite a while. I put the piece of tinfoil on the floor so that he'd have something to push around.

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

Caden is learning his body parts. When you ask him to, he can point to his head, hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, feet/toes, and belly button. Just be sure to do nose last and be prepared for him to show you where your eyes are as well.

So Comfy

Caden loves to play on our bed. It started nearly a year ago when he would sit there and turn the fan or light on and off with the remote. It has progressed to him liking to run from one end to the other then fall into the soft pillows. He has recently discovered that you're supposed to pull sheets up over your legs. The other day while playing on the bed he decided if the sheets are already pulled up he could try pulling the pillows over himself. He was quite content to lay there, all cuddled in, for about 10 minutes.

Scalloped Potatoes, Caden Style

Ingredients:
5 large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
3/4 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons olive oil (or butter/margarine)
1/3 cup rice flour (or 1/4 cup regular flour)
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Paprika

Directions:
In a greased 2-1/2-qt. baking dish, layer potatoes and onion. In a saucepan, combine the oil and flour until smooth. Gradually add broth, salt and pepper; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thick and bubbly. Pour over potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika. Cover and bake at 325 degrees F for 2 hours or until tender.

Review:
These were actually really good. They were creamy and almost had a cheesy flavor to them without all the dairy. I took them to my parent's house for Sunday dinner and there were no complaints. Since we had to go to church I put them in the crock pot on low for 5 hours, but my sister has tried the oven directions and said those work as well.

Home Organization

Lest you all think Ryan is the only one who ever does projects around here, I figured I'd post about my two recent projects. My parents have been remodeling their kitchen so I've been the happy recipient of a few of the old cupboards. I'm using two of them to keep toys in - one upstairs and one downstairs. I'm so glad to have somewhere to finally put the pile of toys! At some point this summer I'll repaint the cabinets, but for now I just wanted to get them loaded.

I also got a clothes rack for my laundry room, which inspired me to clean that place up a little. I started by rolling out some of our leftover carpet on the concrete floor to give the place a friendly feel. I hung a sheet over the exposed insulation on the main wall which helps give it a more finished look. I'm also adding two new shelves for food storage stuff and I've oraganized and piled better the other misc. storage stuff in that room. After three years of living here its pretty exciting to see that room become more than just a hodge-podge of boxes.

A Learning Experience

We spent about an hour Tuesday afternoon in the ER with Caden. We were at the park with some friends. A few of them had brought snacks, including one ziplock bag of goldfish crackers. The kids were eating and Caden was playing about two feet away. I was chatting with some of the other moms and took my eyes off Caden for a few seconds. He took the opportunity to snatch the bag of crackers and start shoving them in his mouth as fast as he could. As soon as I saw I made him spit out the crackers and washed his mouth out with water. We immediately started for home and the Benadryl.

He started gagging and spitting up in the car on the way home, so I called the allergist who told me to just go straight to the ER since it was closer than home. When we got to the ER the allergist had called them so they were waiting for us with a shot of antihistamine and something else to make him throw up again. He cleared out his stomach pretty good all over the floor, then started doing better. They kept us there for an hour for observation and we are home now. He never progressed to the point of breathing problems so I don't think he swallowed very much. And I've still never used my Epi-pen, so things could have been much worse.

That night he was pretty clingy and had slightly red eyes and skin. The next morning he woke up grumpy, with a rash on the outside of his throat and little sores inside his mouth. I wasn't sure if he had swallowed any of the crackers, but the throat rash would indicate he probably did. Today he seems to be back to normal.

This has been a real learning experience for me. I'm still trying to find the right balance between keeping the kiddo safe and letting everyone else (and him) live life.
*I learned I can never be too careful, particularly now that Caden can roam and reach food on his own but can't understand the difference between safe and unsafe food.
*I learned that I need to figure out a way to carry the Benadryl with me.
*I learned why I'm told to carry the Epi-pen everywhere, a few minutes or seconds can make a huge difference.
*I learned I haven't been being completely paranoid when I worry about him.
*Most important, I learned that if I'm uncomfortable with something - even just a little - I should do something about it. I could hold Caden, ask for the food to be removed, or simply leave.

Novell Children's Discovery Park

Yesterday afternoon we met some friends at the Novell Children's Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove. Since most of the parks around here are just grass and a few slides it was kind of fun to explore this one acre park and playground. Caden spent most of his time climbing through the wooden castle or swinging. Yes, he's wearing his swimming hat. His green one from last year is a touch small. I'm shopping for a new one.

Mini Me

Ryan was working on the tiller last night (the gas tank was full of rust, the carburetor was clogged, the fuel pump was broken, the engine head gasket was blown, and the valves needed work). He very patiently let Caden help him. Kiddo would bang the screwdriver against the side of the engine then twist it back and forth like he saw daddy do with the wrenches. Every time Ryan stepped back to examine the machine, kiddo would do the same. When Ryan changed positions so would Caden. Occasionally kiddo would look over to make sure he was still doing exactly what his daddy was doing. We definitely have a little tinkerer on our hands.

The Harvest Begins

Mmmm.... fresh spinach salad. Don't you wish you lived at our house? Our spinach started producing last Monday, and on Saturday when the snow all melted we decided to pick some. We'll have salad nearly every day for the next 6-8 weeks.

I Love to See the Temple!

One of Caden's bed time songs we rotate through is "I Love to See the Temple." He's never shown a real affinity for it, but today in nursery we were singing it and he attempted to sing along. My heart just melted when I realized he recognized the song.

Spring Snow Storm

This is what we woke up to this morning. Looks like Saturday will be spent helping our backyard neighbors pull out their trees.

Corn... please?

Doesn't he look like he wants some? I know I want him to have some. Corn chips, corn tortillas, corn starch, powdered sugar, baking powder - just the top of my list of things I'd like to reintroduce to his diet after a successful trial of corn. Too bad he failed the corn trial we did last week. He failed miserably. The poor kid cried for two days while he worked it out of his system. Oh well, better luck next time I guess. Oranges are next on the list to be challenged, just as soon as I work up the desire to torture my toddler again.

*The picture was taken back in February during a playdate at a friend's house. They have a play kitchen and Caden spent the majority of the time walking around with the plastic corn in his mouth.

Spring Planting

Better late than never, we planted our peas and onions last night. It was truly a family affair. I handed Caden his shovel and rake (an Easter present from Grandma and Grandpa Scherbel) and he promptly sat down to dig in the dirt. He stayed there while we prepared the soil and planted the onions - nearly 30 minutes! He is such a good daddy's helper. The camera battery died and I had to take Caden in for his bath and bedtime so I didn't get a picture of the peas, but they take up about twice the area the onions do. After tilling, leveling, and planting, Ryan spent another hour and a half working on getting more sprinkler pipe in. Too bad the weather will preclude much progress the rest of the week.

Delayed Reaction

Today there were a lot of sustainings in church. Caden thought it was cool and wanted to participate, but he was just a little behind.

"All those who can sustain ____ please do so with the uplifted hand."
*Congregation raises hands to the square*
"Any opposed may manifest it by the same sign."
*Caden rasies his hand high above his head*

Five times in a row our little boy opposed, and was so pleased about doing it.

Project Day

We are making some major progress on our sprinklers. Ryan got up early to beat the rain and rent a trencher. We marked all the sprinklers with flags, used spray paint to mark where the pipes will go, then Ryan went at it with the 1,200 lb machine. The thing made quick work of our digging and in less than two hours we had the majority of our trenches dug. Unfortunately, the rest will need to be dug by hand.

In other exciting news, a family friend came down today to help install our garage door opener. As I type this I hear wonderful clanking sounds beneath me that signal something bringing me one step closer to parking my car in the garage!

Read me a story

Caden loves books. If he can corner you, he'll have you read every book in the book basket. Randomly throughout the day he'll jump up from what he's doing to run and get a book for me to read to him. Its as if he suddenly remembers they exist. The other day I read one book to him, then told him I was busy and would read more later. I didn't think much of it when he took the book back to his room, but when I walked by 5 minutes later I found him in the middle of the floor with all the books scattered about him. He was reading one of the books to himself, complete with pointing to the pictures as he talked about them.

Gotta love KSL Classifieds

The last 24 hours have been crazy busy with bargain hunting.
Tuesday afternoon I picked up an IKEA Ceiling Swing that had never been used for 43% off the retail price. That is going to my neices who will love it. It looks sort of like a small hammock. Then I raced down to Spanish Fork to pick up this great swing set for Caden! I think he's going to love having a slide and swing right in our own back yard. I've been looking online for a while now, and this was the first one I saw in our price range that I liked.

This morning, Ryan called and sent me claiming free sod over in Lehi. I loaded up as much as I could lift - those rolls are heavy - and came home. If there is still any left when Ryan gets home from work he may go pick up some more. We have plenty of places to put it and every little bit helps. Finding good deals can be kind of addicting.

Am I in Trouble?

Silly mama, thinking she could lay in bed for 10 more minutes. Even though Ryan had fed Caden his breakfast he was apparently still hungry. He dumped the entire box of Rice cereal and was throwing it in the air like confetti. He was giggling, until I walked in and said, "oh, Caden. What have you done?" Then Ryan walked in and a concerned kiddo gave us this look.

Caden has learned how to open the pantry door and pull stuff off the shelves. That handle must be lower than the others in the house because he doesn't seem able to open any other doors. Or perhaps is just a matter of not really caring to open the other doors. After all, there is food behind this particular door. I guess its time for the next level of childproofing.

Mmmm... Waffles

For as long as I can remember my family has had waffles on Sunday morning while we listened to General Conference. It was extra special this year because Em and Bill were here with their girls and were able to participate in the tradition for the first time in a long time. Caden loved sitting up to the bar like the big girls and eating his rice flour pancakes. Doesn't he look too grown up?

After breakfast the kids played while the adults attempted to listen to Conference. Have you ever tried to listen to speakers with three excited children running around? Lets just say I'm glad the talks all come out in the Ensign next month. The kids did sit quietly for President Monson's talk, so that was nice.

A Living Prophet

A few weeks ago in church the speaker shared a story from his mission. He was talking with a man on the street and shared the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is led by a living prophet who speaks with God. The man got excited, talking about how great that would be to have that direct access to a message from the Lord specifically meant for us in our day. He asked if the Prophet shares these messages often, and the missionaries responded that every month the Church publishes a magazine with a message from the First Presidency. The man said, "Great! What is this month's message?" The sheepish missionaries had to admit they didn't know.

I've thought a lot about this story in recent weeks. I think its easy to forget just how amazing our Church organization is and how important the messages are from our leaders. I'm hoping to watch Conference this weekend with a renewed focus on listening to the speakers and identifying the message from the Lord they are sharing.

More Wedding Pics

I'm pretty sure these are the last of the pictures from Kalina's wedding that I'll post. Enjoy!

What'cha Eating?

If Caden has something in his mouth and I'm not sure what it is I ask him to open his mouth to let me see, then I demonstrate by opening mine wide. He's figured out that it should go both ways. When he sees someone eating something and he wants to know what it is he sticks out his tongue. Most people return the favor and stick theirs out as well. Here he is successfully getting Grandpa to show his tongue last week at the wedding luncheon.