Yogurt

Yes, I am a copy cat. Like my good friend Nichole, I was inspired by the Enrichment we had a few months ago about food storage and using the things that we store and following the commandments.

I am going to the cannery on Tuesday and will be buying wheat (and other stuff, I haven't figured out what yet). Also I am getting a wheat grinder for Christmas from my amazing parents! YEAH!!

Anyway, this is my Yogurt that I made. I was shocked by how easy it was, and by how thick and creamy it turned out.

I took 3 1/2 cups of 2% milk. Heated it in the microwave for 10minutes, to a temp of 185 degrees. (This is the sterilizing part. You heat it so if there is any bacteria it is killed off before you turn the milk into a petry dish for the right bacteria.)

Then I set the milk on my counter and took a bath. When I got out of the bath, the milk was the perfect temperature (115-118). I put 5 ounces of Dannon Straberry Yogurt in a borrowed thermos (thanks Nichole) and then put the warm milk in.

Then I left it on the counter for 8 hours. When I opened the thermos I had thick yogurt.

I was shocked! I am pretty good at burning things, and ruining recipes. I can't get through a batch of grilled cheese sandwhiches without having to throw at least one away, but I MADE YOGURT!!!

I put it in the fridge and then the next day I added a little home made jam (not this home, Sister Grabowski's home) and fed it to the kids. Austin had two big bowls and then other kids had less than half, but that is pretty normal.

Then a couple days later I added a little sugar, frozen strawberries, and bananas and blended it up in the blender. It was delicious!

Pre-school

My baby had his first day of pre-school last week. Ryan is attending the Aberdeen High School pre-school with Layla this year. I took them both last Friday and had a meeting while they played.

At first he cried and then he had fun. After the parents meeting we got to leave. I called Jason as I was driving away and cried and cried.

When did the baby in our house grow up? He is not in the nursery, or in a crib. He is out of diapers (yeah!). He had his first gymnastics class last week. And now he is in pre-school. It just seems like he is still my baby.

Well, I only cried for a little while and then I went to Target and the library all by myself! It was fun.

Today when they were at school I did laundry and then took a bath! I think I can get used to this no kids at home thing.

These pictures were of him before we went to school his first day! Isnt' he adorable!

Daddy Daughter

Friday night our Stake had a Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance Date (or something like that).
Jason took Layla, and I went to help. It was a fantastic activity.
They had lots of games, good food and dancing.

There were a lot of Daddies there and I was impressed that they were willing to give up a Friday night to be with their little girls. Dad's are so cool!

Below I have included a video of Layla and Jason doing the Chicken Dance. Layla is the little girl with the black skirt on who knows how to shake what her momma gave her!!

Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance Date

What a girl wants. What a girl needs.

So I have figured out what I need. Are you ready? Are you sure? I need a wife. I know that I have discussed this with some of you recently, but it is true. I need a wife...I need someone who just takes care of my needs before I even know what they are.

I need someone who picks up, washes, folds, and puts away my clothes.

I need someone to take care of my children while I am at work, or doing whatever it is that people who don't have children to take care of do.

I need someone to clean my house while I am away.

I need someone to make my dinner and have it ready when I get home.

I need someone to clean the bathrooms, change the sheets and do all the of cleaning that just doesn't get done!

It's funny, I know a lot of women feel like they just aren't living up to everything that they feel they are supposed to do...I don't have that problem, I accept that I can't get it all done, I just want to know what I need to do to find someone else to do it all!

Fun Family Date Night

Tonight is Friday night.

That means date night.

Right?

Right?

Um, no. Not at this house anyway.

Tonight Jason went to his parent's to help his dad work on something. That was good of him. The kids and I decided that we needed to do something fun. We decided to have a picnic dinner.

We made sandwiches and used cookie cutters to cut out shapes (thanks Aunt Mandy for the idea and the cookie cutters). Then we made cookies! My sister posted a really simple peanut butter recipe that was easy to let the kids help with. (one egg, 1c peanut butter, 1c sugar 1t vanilla, mix, roll, bake 350 for 10min). YUM!!

I guess date night can be fun even without my favorite date.

Jason's BIrthday Present

For Jason's birthday he got Guitar Hero for the Wii. He loves it. He has had his Dad, brother and sister over to play with him. He has even beat the game on the easy level. Although he says that they medium level is "kicking his butt".

And, yes, that is a new TV. We did not buy it for Jason's birthday, but we may as well have. It is mostly for him anyway. It does fit better than the other one did.

Anyone who wants to come over and play with him is more than welcome. I tried once and, excuse the language, I sucked!! Maybe I would try again if someone else came over and sucked too!

Boys will be boys

We have a whole in our back yard that fills up with water. Then we have a tiny pond in our back yard that frogs can jump in and play. Now we have a little boy who thinks that those frogs are his pets/friends. Ew!!!

It's Official

Okay, I am not sure what "it" is, but it is official.

We no longer have a nursery. We have had a nursery in our home for the last seven years, and we dismantled it today. Crib is in pieces, stars and moon border peeled off wall, star and moon shelves off walls. I am sending my baby clothes to friends who are expecting. No babies welcome here (at least anytime soon). (I mean to stay, please feel free to bring your baby over to visit, just take him or her with you when you leave!)

Ryan has been back and forth between the crib over the summer and we finally took the plunge and took it down. He is old enough to sleep in his big boy bed. I was the one who had such a hard time with it.

We are not sure yet what the plan is for that room. Austin suggested it be the "upstairs toy room". We will see. I am just proud that I finally let go and let it happen!

More Zoo pics

When I did the zoo post originally, the computer was being weird and wouldn't upload the pictures. So here are some more pictures of the Cape May Zoo.

The ferry

After we went to the Cape May Zoo we took the Cap May Lewes Ferry across the Deleware Bay. We got to drive our van right onto the Ferry. (Yes, I do understand that that is the definition of a Ferry, I just wanted to tell the whole story.) It was an 80 minute ride. It was very fun! I get a little motion sick, and it wasn't great, but it wasn't too bad either. The view was pretty. They had seats in varios different places that we could sit in and relax. There was a little shop and an indoor bar and an outdoor bar. We will do it again someday.

Cape May Zoo

The weekend before school started we decided to take a overnight trip. Some friends had recently taken a little trip so we decided to copy them. We left home on Friday morning and drove 2.5 hours to Cape May New Jersey. While there we went to a zoo.

It was a pretty little zoo, it took us two hours to see everything in it, but that was just perfect for our family. We got to see lots of fun animals. The zoo is in a forest, so there was shade everywhere. And, the best part, it was free! There was also a large playground near by that we will plan to go to next time.

A Day of Firsts

Today is the first day of school. This is Austin walking outside to catch the bus. We waited for 37mins. One of the other mom's volunteered to drive to school.

And ofcourse, the bus finally showed up.

I decided to go jogging. I had loaned my double jogger to a friend. I drove to her house, got the stroller from her back yard. Moved all the seats around in my van. Squeezed the stroller in the back. Got home. Put both kids in the stoller.

I pumped up all the tires. But wait, one won't hold air. It is flat, even after I pumped it up three times.

So anyway, I walked on the treadmill this morning in the hallway upstairs. Not the same, but still better than no exercising! And Jason said that he will fix the tire so that I can try again tomorrow.

Hopefully Austin will have a better first day of school than I had first day of exercise!

New Hair

For those of you who haven't seen me, this is my new hair. I can't get the old hair pic off my camera, so you will just have to trust me.

This is one of two ways that I do it. This is the flip out way, I usually curl it under. I like it.

Not too much going on here

Ok.
So my computer is still not going on line.

So I am still stuck using the laptop.

So I cannot download my pics.

So I cannot blog.

Yes, rationally I know that this is not true, but I also know that posts are more fun when there is something to look at. That way you are also distracted from my bad grammer and boring life!

Let's see. Last week we went to Dutch Wonderland with The Lee's. It was tons of fun. The weather was perfect. We got there when it opened and left when it closed. Cost just a little bit more than two trips to the movies and was WAY more fun. I would recommend it to anyone with little kids. It took just over an hour to get there from our house. We will definately be going there next summer if anyone is interested.

I have been working. I am doing more day shifts because it is so much easier on my body. But that means I am away from home more. But it also means that I am nicer when I am home.

Jason turned 31 last week. He got Guitar Hero, which he has been playing non-stop since then. As soon as I can find USB cord for camera I will post those pictures!

That is about it. Nothing too exciting in our neck of the woods.

Wii!

We finally got a Wii. We wanted to get one for Christmas, then when we couldn't find one we decided that we would find one for Austin's birthday in April. We still couldn't find one.



One day during our family reunion Jason and dad went to buy a PS3 for Dad. I told Jason that he should look for the Wii and if he found one he should buy it. Well, he found one!! We love it. The kids really like playing, and Jason and I enjoy it too.



I need to take some pictures of us playing it. The pictures with this post of the ones at my mom's house while my family was in town.



We know why they call it a Wii!!!

Journey to the Movie Theater

Something inspired me this week to take my kids to the movies. Maybe inspired is the wrong word...maybe posessed is more appropriate.

Anyway, the plan originally was to go to a matinee on Thursday afternoon. Then Jason made plans, so we decided to go Thursday evening.

This is how it went...

6:05 Daddy gets home, everyone is already sitting at the table inhaling dinner.

6:20 Everyone running around looking for shoes. Mom yelling. Dad yelling.

6:30 Everyone in car, buckled and ready to go.

6:40 Movie starts

6:50 We get to movie theater
Did you know that 3D movies are more expensive to get into? Fortunately we only have to buy four tickets, so it ONLY costs us $43. Thank goodness we are too late to buy snacks!

6:51 Perfect timing we missed all the previews. We are just in time to rip the plastic off our attractive 3D glasses and put them on to watch the show.

6:55 Ryan is crying and saying he wants to go home. Doesn't want to watch the movie. Doesn't like the glasses doesn't like the dark.

7:00 Layla needs to go potty. Ryan needs to go potty. Mom takes both kids to potty. Only Layla can go.

7:15 Austin needs to go potty. Dad takes Austin potty.

7:20 Mom bribes Ryan with gum to sit quietly and stop whining and saying he needs to go potty.

7:30 Layla needs to go potty. Dad takes her.

7:45 Austin needs to go potty. Dad takes him.

7:55 Scarey part of movie, mom screams, Austin throws 3d glasses two rows in front of us. Fortunately we have a few extra pairs because neither Ryan nor Layla are wearing theirs.

8:10 Austin has to go potty. This time we just make him go by himself.

8:12 Mom starts to get very nervous because she sent her 6 year old to the bathroom by himself and he is not back yet.

8:12 30secs Austin is back, phew!

8:30 Movie ends. We all survived. No one was murdered by an angry stressed out mom. We made it. And it was a pretty good movie.

Moral of the story: Don't take your kids to the movies until they can go to the potty by themselves without you worrying that some creepy stranger is going to steal them. Or maybe just always go on your own with your spouse so you can eat junk food for the same amount as it would have cost to bring the kids!

Swimming

These are just such fun pictures of Austin and Mikayla, my niece, jumping off the wall at Grandma's house and into the pool!

End of the Drought

The first picture is of my entire Richards' family. My parents have five kids, and 14 1/2 grand children.


Next picture is of mom and dad and us kids making funny faces.

Maybe some of you have noticed that there has been a drought on the Crowl Family blog...maybe some of you haven't. Well, it is finally over. My family was in town for three weeks so I spent every spare second there playing with them. Then I had to work a ton last week to make up for not working while they were all in town. Then this weekend my computer stopped working. We finally figured out that I can use the laptop....DUH!!

New checks

We moved into this house in January of 2004. SO we have been here for four and a half years. I finally decided that it is time to get new checks. I found this cool website that lets you make checks out of your personal photos. These are two of my new check pictures. I think it is so cool!