Pretty sure that's not where I left him

I guess he just wanted to play too.

Chocolate Caramel Brownies

Firebirdluver's family has many tasty recipes, several of which have become our staples. This one, however, I have not actually made myself, so I am just copying it off the card. Firebirdluver has made it several times, and it is very tasty. I have been told that his sisters make it even better, so maybe if any of them have some tips or comments associated with it, hopefully they'll let us know.

1 (14 oz) package caramels
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 package German chocolate cake mix
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Melt caramels and 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Mix well. Grease and flour 9x13 pan.

In mixing bowl, combine cake mix, melted butter and 1/3 cup evaporated milk. By hand, stir dough until it holds together. Press 1/2 of dough into pan. Reserve remaining dough.

Bake at 300 F for 6 minutes.

Sprinkle 1 cup chocolate chips. Pour on caramel and crumble reserve dough on top.

Bake for an additional 15-18 minutes. Cool slightly, then put in fridge for 1/2 and hour to set caramel.

I'll say it again...

Christmas is a BLAST with kids. Beeper was so excited about the Eve pillow, his stocking, cracking nuts, opening presents, giving his dad the present he had put together, everything. One of the first things he wanted to do in the morning was check to see if Santa had eaten the milk and cookies he had left out. Santa even left him a note, which he was very excited about.

Oh, and then, when we were out for a drive, he informed us out of the blue that, "Jesus Christ was the greatest gift." Sweet. Must remember to thank Sis. Wood for that.

A very successful Christmas.

Merry Christmas

Thankful Thursday: Gospel Edition

Since it has turned into a month of special edition Thankful Thursdays, it seems only appropriate (especially with Christmas tomorrow and Joseph Smith's birthday yesterday) to finish things off with some of the reasons I am thankful for the gospel.

I am thankful for a boy who, about 200 years ago, had the faith to pray and the courage to stand by the answer he received.
I am thankful for Eve, who understood the need to grow, and Adam who stood by his wife.
I am thankful for Eternal families.
I am thankful for the Proclamation to the World on the Family.
I am thankful for a living prophet.
I am thankful for the scriptures.
I am thankful for Family Home Evening.
I am thankful for the priesthood.
I am thankful for my calling in primary where I get to teach hyperactive kids all about this stuff.
I am thankful for a Savior, the Atonement, Eternal life, and repentance.

Shh... don't tell...

Several months ago we bought Beeper a Wall-E pillow on clearance. I like Wall-E and was happy to find a Wall-E something for him at a good price.

He likes his Wall-E pillow a lot, but has said several times, "Wall-E wishes he had an Eva pillow to play with."

Thank you PIXAR for creating such and easy to replicate character (and thank you firebirdluver for taking the boys into town yesterday long enough for me to finish):

Fleece probably would have been better than fur (not to mention easier to work with), but I worked with what I had. I can't wait until Christmas!

Believing in Santa

When did you stop believing in Santa? Did you ever really? I am just curious, because in my memories of growing up, I recall knowing Santa was just a story, but still believing in him. Does that make sense? Of course Santa was just make believe, but it sure was fun to make believe that's who Mom was talking to on the phone as she got instructions on how to make the hair for the homemade dolls that appeared under our tree for Christmas that year. (No, we didn't actually know that's what she was making. We just knew that those sneaky and strange behaviors like putting yarn in the oven had to be associated with Christmas.)

You have to remember also that we were kids who grew up on stuff like Lord of the Rings and Book of Mormon stories and knew the difference between the two. We knew what fantasy was, and we loved it.

BTW, in talking to my mom about this last year, I learned that they never really intended for us to believe in Santa. According to my mom, when my older sister was about 8-years-old, she actually asked my mom whether it was okay for her to believe in Santa.

So I am always interested to hear what people tell their kids regarding the fat, jolly man and opinions on what age they should know the truth (if ever). I loved this post, from a Jewish family about how Santa is pretty much an unavoidable part of the season for kids. Sometimes it's best to just roll with it. I knew another family who told their kids their presents came from the three wise men (and how making up stories about the three wise men is different than making up stories about Santa, I don't know, but it is a creative way of handling things).

As for us, we plan to treat the topic lightly. He's seen and heard all about Santa. It's fun to watch Christmas movies. It's a fun story to believe in. But we'll find opportunities (not necessarily at Christmastime) to teach him the difference between "believing" in fun fantasy stories and real faith in real stories that really happened. (BTW, being a big fan of Charlie Brown, he also believes in the Great Pumpkin. We're going to have real fun with that one.)

What about you? How does your family handle holiday legends?

Veggie Trays

I admit I was skeptical when firebirdluver suggested last year that we bring vegetable trays to our friends and neighbors instead of cookie trays. This is the second year now that we've done it, and we have gotten tons of comments (both times) along the lines of, "Thanks so much for the vegetables. That was such a great idea. We get so many cookies, it was a nice change." (Where are our cookies? we keep wondering. Wrong friends, I guess. :-p)

So if you don't like making cookies or you're trying to think of something a little different, I recommend vegetable trays. They are surprisingly popular.

To that guy in the back who's been paying attention and is wondering about the peanut butter blossoms: those were for our Sunday school kids. We have no delusions that nine-year-old boys would be excited at receiving small baggies of carrots from their teachers. A few of them even thought to mention yesterday that they had enjoyed the cookies. I was impressed.

Thanksgiving

Okay, so I've been pretty slack on the blogging lately. I'm just getting around to Thanksgiving.

After our Omaha trip, we stopped at my dad's house in Salt Lake for a week. My brothers and their families dropped by on Friday for Thanksgiving.

And what do Halls do when they get together?

Network, of course! (and eat pie)(btw, Joseph, thanks a lot for showing Beeper that dancing banana thing so many times. He's been singing it over and over and over. Except I don't think he gets the words right. We don't want a jelly bad?)

Christmas Goodies

This week's Spin Cycle theme is Holiday Baking. You know I love making Christmas cookies. We tried a couple of recipes this week, both of which I saw recently on other blogs, and now I am passing them on to you. These are both fairly simple recipes.

These are Hershey's Peanut Butter Blossoms. You can get the recipe from their website or your latest issue of whatever mommy magazine you buy. I decided to make them after Christine's post here. It turned out to be a good one for cooking with kids, like she said. Even little kids can help with things like rolling the dough balls in sugar, unwrapping the kisses while the cookies bake, and smooshing the kisses into the cookies.

We had planned to use some of these for goody plates, but when we were snowed-in this last weekend, it was regretfully declared that we would have to eat them all ourselves and make a new batch next weekend. You can see from the picture how long they lasted. They were very popular. Here's the recipe (stolen from Christine - we used butter too):

48 Hershey's kisses

1/2 cup shortening (I used butter, 1/2 c)

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Granulated sugar

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.

Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on un-greased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into the center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Someone asked me the other day whether I make candy. I had to admit that, sadly, I seem to have trouble even dipping chocolate, so I usually just stick to cookies. I found a toffee recipe that even I can do, though. It involves zero candy thermometers or terms like "hard ball."

I saw this recipe for Saltine Toffee here. The texture is a little different, and it has that slightly salty flavor. Overall we found this to be a yummy way to make super easy toffee (we skipped the drizzle to make it even simpler):

37 saltines cracker squares

1 cup butter, cubed

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1 oz white candy coating

Place crackers in a single layer in a foil-lined 15-in. x -10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. In a large saucepan, bring butter and sugar to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5-6 minutes or until mixture is thickened and sugar is completely dissolved. Spread over crackers.

Bake at 350° for 7-8 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with chips. Bake 3-5 minutes longer or until chips begin to melt; spread chocolate evenly over top.In a microwave, melt white candy coating; stir until smooth. Drizzle over toffee. Chill for 15-20 minutes or until set; break into pieces. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: about 1-3/4 pounds.

(P.S. Mantha, I just remembered that I promised you that caramel brownie recipe. Stay tuned.)

Thankful Thursday: Little Fish Edition

I wouldn't want Little Fish to feel left out, as long as I'm being thankful for everyone else. He hit six months this week. Has it really been six months already? We're really halfway through the first year?

Dear Little Fish,

I am thankful you're so easy-going.

I am thankful you're so quick to smile.

I am thankful you'll fall asleep on the laps of strangers at church.

I am thankful you want so badly to play with your brother. So badly that even when he squishes you or manhandles you, you think it's a good thing.

I am thankful you can sit up now. Yay!

I am thankful for the way you love to cuddle.

I am thankful you are so good at making it known what you want.

I am thankful for the way you love to explore. You examine things like a little scientist.

I am thankful for the way you like to sing along.

I am thankful you came to join our family.

A new view

Win some Educational Software

Over at our homeschool blog we are giving away some spelling software. This would be useful for anyone with school-aged kids, not just homeschoolers, for practicing spelling and vocabulary lists. Go here for details.

I've always loved Christmas...

But it's even more fun with kids. A lot more fun. Even more so now that Beeper is getting old enough to really appreciate and enjoy the festivities. Look, he's even gotten to where he will get close enough to Santa for a picture. (Notice, though, still not on the lap)

It's amazing how many things he remembers from last year too. He remembers that last year he had chocolate Santas in his advent calendar. He remembers that there were two felt gingerbread houses. And he remembers my nutcracker that I can't seem to find this year.

It's funny how much he loves the "nut cruncher." We read the book. We listened to the music. We have a couple of nutcracker ornaments on the tree. He started pretending he's a nutcracker. He'll put his arms behind his back and and say, "I'm a nut cruncher! Crunch me, Mom!" If you move his arms up and down, he'll clack his teeth.

They have a big creche (nativity) exhibit here in town every year. People from all over the community loan their creches for display. We went last weekend.

Don't let the picture fool you. He is only scowling here because of having to pose for pictures. He actually had a great time at the creche exhibit. He pulled me around the whole room, showing me all of his favorites. He was especially fond of the snow globe ones.

As for Little Fish, he's just happy to be on the show.

Mmm... wrapping paper.

Thankful Thursday: Firebirdluver Edition

Through yet another coincidence, our anniversary also happens to fall on a Thursday this year. Here are just a few thoughts for the man I am thankful for every day of the week:

I am thankful for your ability to fix almost anything. At the moment I am especially thankful you were able to fix the pellet stove.

I am thankful for everything you teach me.

I am thankful for your patience.

I am thankful for your spreadsheets!

I am thankful you did the dishes last night (and for every night you do the dishes).

I am thankful you are willing to work so that I can stay home with the kids.

I am thankful for your smile at the end of the day.

I am thankful for the things you make me.

I am thankful for your help with everything.

I am thankful our boys have you for an example of what a man should be.

I am thankful you would drive to Omaha and back for me (twice!)

I am thankful you put up with my crazy ideas.

I am thankful for your priesthood and the way you guide our family.

It's cliche, but I am thankful to live with my best friend.

And I am thankful your parents gave whats-her-name the cold shoulder so many years ago. ;)

Happy 5th, Sweetie!

Review: Elmo Tickle Hands

I don't know that I ever specifically vowed to never buy my children the latest Elmo toy, but, well, normally we have better things to spend our money on (like legos!) I was intrigued when I heard about the tickle hands, though. Beeper and his baby brother love to play together, but "gentle" just does not seem to be part of Beeper's vocabulary. I wondered if wearing big, furry hands could take some of the claw out of Beeper's enthusiastic tickle.

Luckily, not too long after I had these thoughts, I actually won a set of the tickle hands from someone else's blog. I decided to save them for Beeper's birthday. Now that we've had them out for several days, I thought I'd share my thoughts.

The package comes with two hands and a DVD that teaches the "Tickle Dance." One hand is just a plain, big, furry red hand. The other hand has two touch points (one in a finger and one in the palm) that cause it to vibrate and laugh like Elmo. It also has a picture of Elmo on the back, and if you touch Elmo's nose, he sings the Tickle Dance Song.

In the beginning, Beeper was wary of this vibrating hand. He would put on the plain hand, but not that one. He did like to put it in the middle of the floor and touch the nose over and over so we could all dance to the song.

Little Fish took right to the vibrating. He loves it if someone runs the vibrating, giggling hand over his back, belly or head. He also gets a big kick out of his brother playing the song over and over and dancing around the room.

After the first couple of days, Beeper's anxieties over the vibrating hand lessened, and he decide he wanted to wear it. It turns out that it is a great way for him to play with his brother, although he has to be reminded (a lot) not to put the hands over Little Fish's face. Beeper really loves running around "being Elmo."

I was initially worried that the hands wouldn't fit him, because the recommended age (I believe) is 1-4. Beeper has monster-sized hands (no pun intended) for a four-year-old. However, they will almost fit me, and my hands are not exactly tiny (where do you think he got it from?) Beeper can wear them, except that he has complained about the one with all the hardware being a bit "squishy" (it's tight - that's why I can't get it on all the way). He does need help putting them on, but that is no big surprise.

We watched the DVD a couple of days ago, and it's just a cute, short thing with Elmo, Cookie Monster and four kids who have obviously had dance lessons doing some simple dance moves. We enjoyed it. However, I didn't turn it off in time, and it was followed by about four commercials for the latest Elmo DVD's, which Beeper insisted on watching. I found that annoying but also not surprising. Fortunately, Beeper has not requested watching the DVD again. He prefers to just play the song on the hands and make up his own dance.

Final verdict: if you find Elmo grating, or you cannot stand to listen to the same children's song over and over, do not buy your child this toy. If, however, that kind of thing doesn't bother you too much, tickle hands can be a lot of fun for everyone. I give it a big thumbs up for the preschooler-baby interactive value. (I would also recommend buying it from Amazon, because every where else I looked, these cost $25-30. Amazon has them for $15, and they are eligible for Super Saver Shipping if you're planning to buy other things from there anyway, and I know you're planning to do a lot of your holiday shopping there. I wouldn't pay $30 for these, but I would pay $15.)

Oh, and you might want to just conveniently lose the DVD when the package gets unwrapped. You know, just in case. Knowing the Tickle Dance is definitely non-essential.

How do you shop for a car?

Up until now, we've only had two-door vehicles. As I'm sure you can imagine, this can be a bit of a pain with two little ones. For some time now, we have been thinking about a four-door vehicle. We even made a move in that direction last year with the Eagle, but never got it fixed up.

The thinking became a little more serious when we had to return the pick-up we've been using to its rightful owner, followed closely by the Bronco braking down down (several times) on our trip. (Fortunately, we were never stranded anywhere. We count ourselves very blessed.) Having borrowed yet another car from firebirdluver's family (car swapping is not unusual with them), we spent a good part of our week in Salt Lake looking at and test driving various cars, deciding what we liked and whether we needed it that badly for that price. (Maybe we're just in denial, having become comfortable in not making car payments for the last couple of years.) We continued to look at cars here last week, searching for just the right deal.

In our search, we noted something we both found odd. We had agreed we would not buy anything we looked at that day, without thinking things over extensively first. We did get a few pushy sales guys saying things like, "What can I do to take you out of the market today?" More than that, though, every single salesperson we talked to (except maybe that kid from BYU who was obviously just there because he had to be and definitely didn't want to spend his morning test driving cars sitting between two noisy kids) seemed surprised and at least a little perturbed that we did not plan to buy a car on the spot.

This made us wonder, is that how most people shop for cars? "Hey, Honey, let's buy a car today." So they drive to the first dealership they see, test drive two or three vehicles, decide which one they like best and start signing papers?

(BTW, we did take business cards from every salesperson we talked to so that if we went back, we could work with that person again and they would still get credit for the sale.)

Most sales people we talked to did try to pull numerous subtle and not so subtle things on us. I recommend reading this website, and for used car shopping this version by the same guy, before shopping for a car. The only two who didn't have me spending the next two days telling firebirdluver, "You know what else he did that was sneaky..." were the aforementioned BYU guy and a saleslady here in town (Disclaimer: this is not meant to imply that all salesmen who went to BYU or all female salespeople are honest, upright people just trying to make a living.) By the time we met the sales lady at the Toyota dealership here, we were quite surprised that she just showed us the cars we wanted to see, didn't try to pressure us or manipulate us into buying a certain car, didn't try to sell us a bunch of bogus add-ons (aside note: fireburdluver wants you to know you should never buy anything from Brent Brown in Orem/Provo). Even she was annoyed, though, when we didn't buy anything right away. (We went back the next day and ended up buying something different.)

The only thing she did do that was either skeazy or she was a complete ditz about it was the interest rate. When in negotiations, she was told that we were pre-approved by our bank for a 6-something-percent interest rate, but would like to do better if we could. She said, "Oh, sure." Shame on us for not paying more attention. I guess we had come to like her by that point and were off-guard. It wasn't until we were almost through signing things firebirdluver noticed, "Woah, this interest rate is way more than I was pre-approved for." Both the saleslady and the finance lady claimed that that was because it was an older car and this bank they were using was pretty much the only bank that would approve a loan on a car that old. We did eventually manage to get everything worked out, though, with a lower interest rate from our bank and the contracts re-written and everything.

To me, it begs the question, if you have to have such a high interest rate on an older car, why not just buy the newer car at the lower interest rate, because the payments end up close to the same anyway? Firebirdluver wanted to ask, if you're going to give us a 9% interest rate anyway, why shouldn't we just put this on a credit card instead?

All's well that ends well, right? The winner, btw, was a 2002 Toyota 4Runner, which we seemingly bought just in time. (We really appreciate the loan of the car, Sammi and Amir, but the half foot of snow we got yesterday made us thankful to be back on 4-wheel drive)(and it has a tape player)

Omaha Trip Highlight Reel

Some of these I had hoped to add to the other post, but I could only find one camera that day. Here is a journal of our roadtrip in pictures:

Fossil Butte:

Cabela's in Sidney:

Firetruck museum:

Omaha Zoo:

The Children's Museum - everyone had a great time here, even Little Fish. They have a very cool baby room, which is something I've never seen before:

Train Museum (Durham) - someone donates a humungous tree every year for Christmas. We were fortunate to be there when they were decorating it:

SAC museum (the Apollo shot is just for you, Phredt):

Quilt museum - Unfortunately, they can' let people take pictures of the quilts. Firebirdluver did get some great shots of the sculpture outside and of the building itself. Everything there is designed to look quilty. It's very cool:

Museum of military vehicles:

Thankful Thursday: Beeper Edition

Beeper turns four today! Four seems so much older than three. Then again, it is 33% bigger. Four is so much more big kid. Four is so much closer to school age.

Since Beeper's birthday happens to fall on a Thursday this year, I thought I would celebrate by listing some of the reasons I am thankful for him.

Dear Beeper,

I am thankful for your squinky-eyed smile.
I am thankful you are so quick to apologize and to forgive (usually).
I am thankful you are such a great traveler.
I am thankful you love your brother so much.
I am thankful you are so good at expressing what's on your mind.
I am thankful you like to make friends everywhere you go.
I am thankful your dinosaurs and robots like to have tea parties and go camping just as much as they like to eat/shoot people.
I am thankful when you want to snuggle on my lap.
I am thankful you enjoy helping out.
I am thankful to be your mom.

And I am thankful you are turning four, because, let's face it, three was pretty tricky for all of us.

The obligatory "see how you've grown" pictures:

Wordless Wednesday

I-80 with kids (where to stop between Salt Lake and Omaha)

One of the biggest tips for long road trips with small children is to stop often. It's much more enjoyable for everyone if you take two or three days to get there stopping every couple of hours than if you try to get as far as you can in one day. We found all kinds of interesting places to stop going to and from Omaha. Here they are, the free and not so free:

Fossil Butte National Monument - This is just a little off the beaten path, but we found it to be worth the extra time. We had figured that if we left Salt Lake first thing in the morning that we would hit Fossil Butte just in time for Little Fish's first feeding. It worked out just right, and we ended up spending about an hour there. Beeper was talking about it for days afterward. "Let's go back to the fossil museum. That fossil museum was the coolest place ever!" (What can I say? He's got rocks in his blood. It runs in the family.) The monument center is free and located near Kemmerer, Wyoming, exit 18 going east or exit 66 if you're heading west. There are lots of fossils to see, a short film, and activities for little kids like crayon rubbings and stamps. We were the only people there that day, so the ranger spent a lot of time talking to Beeper. He even got out a huge suitcase full of puppets of the different animals they have fossils for, and he and Beeper spent quite some time playing with them and talking about them.

Little America (exit 68) - We stopped here on the way home. This is the very first Little America hotel. It is a good-sized rest stop with nice bathrooms, a little playground and a good place to eat. Most people stop for the cheap ice cream cones. I don't recommend stopping for the gas. We found it to be more expensive than other places in Wyoming.

Rawlins - Historic Downtown Rawlins is supposed to have some nifty things to see, like an old jail (National Historic Site), but we were there on a Sunday (a cold and windy Sunday) so we didn't see much.

Sidney, Nebraska (exit 59) - We picked up a little booklet proclaiming the many things to do in Sidney, but we always end up spending an hour (or two) in the Cabela's and have yet to see any of the rest of the town.

Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles (exit 237) - This ranks right up there with Fossil Butte on the list of "great things to do for free." Four old guys started restoring military vehicles, and the collection has grown and grown and grown. It's huge now. They will even let you get inside two of the tanks and one of the helicopters. They are also eager to tell you all about their collection. They told us currently they are working on putting together a MASH diorama. Being fans, we'll definitely have to check that out next time.

Kearney (exit 272) - For all the times I have driven under it, I have yet to go in the archway museum. From the little booklet we picked up, it looks pretty cool. We had planned to stop this time, but we got there just after closing. Instead we checked out the Firetruck Museum a block down the road. They were just closing too, but they let us in to look around anyway. It was $6 per person to look at a collection of old firetrucks from across Nebraska and a whole ton of firetruck toys. They also had some kid activities, but I questioned whether it was worth the price. Then again, this was another one Beeper was talking about for days afterward.

Grand Island truck stop (exit 312?) - You'll have to forgive me if I get this wrong. I think it was actually one exit east of 312 that we stopped at, which is not labeled in my atlas. I believe it was the same exit as the Mormon Island Recreational Area. This wasn't really a planned stop. We needed a nursing break and pulled into this truck stop that had a few vehicles out front to look at. Included was a train car (trolley car?) that turned out to be a sort of visitors center. There was a nice elderly lady inside who gave Beeper about a dozen packs of Kool-aid and informed us that Hastings, Nebraska is the home of Kool-aid and hosts a "Kool-aid Days" festival every August. She also gave him a coloring book of sites to visit in the Black Hills. We gleaned several ideas for some future trip.

Lincoln Quilt Study Center - This isn't so much a quick stop as a place you'd want to spend a few hours at. Even though they can only display a small portion of their collection at a time, we found it to be very interesting and worth the time.

Strategic Air & Space Museum (exit 426) - At $8.50 a person, this is another one to spend some time at, not really a quick stop. If you have the time, though, it is definitely worth the money. There are two hangers full of cool jets, space stuff, and fun stuff for both kids and teenagers.

(A two-and-a-half week trip is going to take a few posts to cover. I'll try and keep it interesting for you.)