kiddos

Took a few pictures of the kiddos today. I have been feeling guilty that we have ten times more pictures of Roman as a baby than Finn. Happens with every second child I am told.

necessity is the mother of invention

I am on the enrichment committee at church. We are having super Saturday tomorrow and I am supposed to bring a Christmas treat.
So candy cane kisses and leftover cookie dough
became this
And they actually taste really good!

The left over cookie dough came from this.
Roman's I finally stayed in nursery the whole time all by myself celebration cookies! It only took a year, but he finally stayed. He wasn't excited about going, and it took a great deal of talking into, and he took Monkey with him, but he did it. I asked him what he wanted to do to celebrate and he said make cookies. So make cookies we did. Good way to get rid of Halloween candy too. We'll soon see if he can make it two in a row...
And in other cooking news, I made stuffing from the crock pot blog for dinner last night. It was so good! I'm eating leftovers for lunch as we speak. Cooked a ham in my other crock pot. You just may have to put up with my love of this blog and her recipes for awhile. And if you haven't checked it out you seriously need to!

I heart my crock pot

Or should I say pots, I have three. Three different sizes of course.
I came across an interesting blog awhile ago but have never explored it much. This girl decided to cook with her crock pot every day in 2008. 365 days of using a crock pot.
After telling some friends about the blog yesterday I was intrigued to check it out. I couldn't stop looking back at all her recipes. I now have a huge word document of recipes to try!
And the best part, her last post was about cooking a turkey breast in the crock pot!
Turkey breast has go to be my favorite food. Well turkey buns actaully. Warmed up with cheese. Cheese you say, I know it sounds ridiculous. But don't knock it till you try it! I love turkey buns so much I have given up all together on eating turkey on my plate. I go straight for the turkey buns. I even go so far as to bring my own buns and cheese to family events where turkey will be served. I think it drives my family and Brad's family crazy.
So check out the awesome crock pot blog! And if you have any awesome crock pot recipes send em my way!

Oh my!

It's an Amy Butler Christmas!
Usually I am a stickler for the rules - the American rules that is. Christmas does not take center stage until Thanksgiving is over. We will be celebrating American Thanksgiving, but I think I am all about Christmas after seeing Amy Butler's new free patterns! Check em out. I love the felt pillow, although white would never last around my house. And the felt stockings and tree skirt. Looks like I am in the market for some felt to combine with my love of Amy Butler and polka dots! She also has those red polka dots that would look just as great as the green!
Kid in a candy store moment for me, just go with it!
In other news, my quilt for the help baby Mia give away is well on it's way. Amy Butler fabric of course! And there will be some other cool stuff we are giving away too. Keep checking back!

I'm too tired to think of a title. That is why I am blogging instead of cleaning my house.

Make sure you check out the link on my sidebar, for Stephanie's quilt give away. And check back soon, I am working on my quilt for a give away.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of a few things I made recently.
I actually made this black apple doll before Finn was born, but never got around to taking a picture of it. Silly I know, two boys and I am making a doll. She is all for me. Get the pattern here. I added shoes, pigtails, sleeves, and a collar. My mom did the face for me. If I made another one I would make the limbs a bit bigger. The seam allowance is so tiny. I am afraid the limbs would fall apart if a little girl played with it much. I think I would try tracing the pattern onto my fabric, sewing on the line I traced, and then cutting out so I could leave a big seam allowance. Make sense?

I had the pieces for this pillow cut way before Finn was born, but couldn't finish it until we named him. Brad was kind enough to take him for a bit a few days after we came home from the hospital so I could finish it. It was silly, but it was nagging at me, I just had to finish it and couldn't wait any longer!
The front.
The back.
Got the pattern and idea here. Just drew my own letter cause the ones they had were much to frilly and girly for little Finn.

I am dying to attempt this cute Molly Monkey pattern. Sadly it will have to wait until after Christmas at least. Too many thing on the list to sew for Christmas.

halloween fun

Here is my little monkey. He REALLY didn't want to hold still for pictures. So I did what any good mom would do, told him no trick or treating if he didn't let me take a few pictures.
He had a lot of fun. He kept saying "happy tal-ween" to everyone we passed. And he did a sweet monkey dance complete with sound effects for anyone who asked.
And little Finn was a polar bear - a polar bear because his bunting suit has ears. He actually fell asleep just as we were leaving, so my mom came out with me and Roman and Brad and Finn stayed home. But he did have a cute little pumpkin hat he wore around all day. Here he is with it on for a Halloween party we went to a few weeks ago.
After going all out as the incredibles for our Halloween party I didn't get around to getting cool costumes for me and Brad to wear tick or treating. This is how creative I was - a nurse and a finishing carpenter. Not at all lifelike or anything!
There were tons of parents dressed up this year. Must have been because the weather was so nice. Lins and Derek had some good costumes, and Ali and James were adorable. I loved James' costume because my mom made a skeleton costume for us when we were little - just painted bones onto black clothes. I am sure Lins will put up pictures soon if she hasn't already.
And I LOVED the Williams family's costumes! Scroll to the bottom to see the whole family.

Instead of costumes I made the cupcake pops I talked about in an earlier post. Here is the link to make them. They were fun to make, but I don't love how they taste. They are okay but I would rather waste the calories on something else! But a few of the people around town that I took some to loved them. So at least I know it was just me and that they turned out good this time. If you going to make them try styrofoam to poke the sticks into while they dry, it worked like a dream. And it would be a cute way to display them at a party or something.

One last picture. Here is what Roman tricked his dad into letting him have for breakfast the day after Halloween. Maybe that's why it is trick or treat!

I caught martha disease.

We had a little Halloween party on the weekend. And I caught Martha Stewart disease. I went a little overboard with the decorating of my tables and food, complete with little tags for each food item with silly Halloween style names. But I love Halloween! Here are some pictures so you can see what a big dork I am. Some of the food we had: witches brew soup (taco soup), bones (bread sticks with knots in the ends), mummy fingers (pigs in a blanket), and bat wings ( BBQ chicken wings).

Eye balls, compliments of the Martha Stewart Halloween spectacular I happened to see one night while switching through channels. Radishes and olives. They looked cooler in real life.
Severed hand punch, also looked cooler in read life.
Roman caught a little of the Martha disease too - he wanted to help decorate and put the little pumpkins up on the canisters all by himself. He was so proud of himself and kept admiring them all night.
The good stuff! Halloween popcorn from Kernels. Love this stuff. Mini chocolate cupcakes and spider cupcakes. Sugar cookies. Caramel apples. And tiger ice cream.
Here is a closeup of the caramel apples.
And the sugar cookies. I love the Wilton color flow icing mix. Fun to decorate with, but it doesn't taste as good as butter cream icing.
See, I told you I caught Martha Stewart disease. Don't worry it was short lived, I am back to living in my pajamas in a messy house and eating leftovers for dinner.

And because I love Halloween I guess I can add one more picture. I can't believe I am going to put up a picture of my seven week post baby haven't gotten on the treadmill yet can't stop eating Halloween candy legs in tight red spandex. But here you go. Our family Halloween costume. Roman had the pjs - they are a few sizes too small now, but we squished him in them anyway. My husband is the best husband in the whole entire world for getting into red tights and stuffing his belly for me! Thanks Brad!

bake to baking

I was about to say earlier this month, but it was actually last month - where does time go? I made a new york key cheesecake with key lime sour cream topping for my sisters birthday. I love any excuse to use my shinny red springform pan! I know the whipped cream little dots look a bit silly, I was in a hurry. But it was very yummy if I do say so myself.
And speaking of cheesecake, here is a recipe I would love to try. Strawberry cheesecake.

For Canadian Thanksgiving I made 2 pumpkin cheesecakes. One for each family dinner. I have to thank my aunt Shannon for this recipe. In our family it is known as pumpkin dessert - but for those who have no idea what pumpkin desert is, pumpkin cheesecake is the best way to describe it. Brad hates pumpkin anything so I made him his favorite, banana cream pie. I don't absolutely love pumpkin, but fall isn't fall without pumpkin dessert.
The other day I mixed up a big batch of sugar cookies and today I cut them out and baked them. Sugar cookies are my all time favorite. They are waiting in the freezer until Halloween gets closer and they can get decorated. So no pictures yet, but I will share the recipe. Got this one from Lindsay and it has become my number one sugar cookies recipe. It is very yummy. And it makes a pretty small batch - but you can easily double it too. Just make sure you don't cook them too long. Nothing is worse than a burnt sugar cookie!

Bake @350 F for 6-8 minutes. I do 6 min in my oven.
2/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp milk
1 3/4 cups flour

Cream shortening and sugar. Add egg, beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Mix dry ingredients and add along with milk.
Chill one hour. Roll and cut. Bake. Enjoy.

I just add everything but flour in my kitchen aid and mix it. Then when Roman hears it and comes running to help there is only the flour left to add. He still gets to help, but less mess for me. And the cookies turn out just fine.

Way back in the spring a friend of mine was watching Martha Stewart and was introduced to this little gem of a blog. Bakerella. Gem. Does anyone remember watching Jem and her Hologram band? Okay, back to the topic at hand... Bakerella and her super cool cupcake pops.
So Jen and I made some. With vanilla cake and icing. Turned out not too bad. But I would seriously love to learn how Bakerella gets hers to look so good and so smooth. Then I tried to make some myself with the only cake mix I had on hand. Cherry chip. Disgusting. So I gave up and just coveted that Bakerella coud make hers taste so good. But then October came around. And I thought little orange pumpkin pops would be so cute. Then I saw Bakerella's Halloween pops. And I was exctied. Then I remebered my huge failure. And I said no way. But then my sis in law Rhonda and her sis in law Lindsay made some. Chocolate with cream cheese icing. And apparently they were pretty dang good. So perphaps I can be tempted to try again. We will see. In the meantime check Bakerella out, make your own cupcake pops and tell me what you think, and what worked and what didn't! She has some dang good cupcake recipes on her blog too.

I'll leave you with one last cake.
Here is the diaper cake I made for my cousin's wife's shower and their cute little girl Brihanna. I think that is how they spell it. She was born the same day as Finn. Who by the way is 6 weeks tomorrow!
He was weighed and measured today. 23 1/2 inches long and 11 lbs 10 oz. So basically he grew 2 1/2 inches and gained 4 lbs. Which doesn't seem like a lot to me. But I have retired all his 0-3 month pjs. We think he is longer than Roman was at the same age. Yippie for me and my gigantic children. If I walk with a hunch back when I am old it will be from lugging my children around. But they are so cute so Iguess it will be worth it!

thankful for...

Thankful for a healthy baby boy. Thankful his cold is finally gone. Thankful he is taking a great nap right now!
Thankful these little brothers love each other so much already. Roman likes to share his toys with Finn while I am not looking.
Thankful for the priesthood in my home. For an amazing husband who honors me, his kids, and his priesthood. And for being able to have my amazing husband bless this cute baby boy.
We blessed Finn a little over a week ago. (I'm a little slow at getting a post up!)
Thankful for fun family times at the zoo. And fun times shopping with Val and Kate instead of Brad and Roman - much more fun to go with the girls!
Of course I wasn't thinking and didn't get pictures of Roman with his cousins at the zoo. The cousins he is so excited to see all the time. We are thankful for them too. And great aunts and uncles for out kids. Here is Brad and Finn and uncle Bryan and Jonas. Jonas was born 2 weeks before Finn. Their sister Rhonda had Eli about 2 months before. And brother Bob will add the fourth boy this year around Christmas time. I am sure these 4 little guys will be driving us crazy in a few years when the family is all together!
Thankful my great husband didn't get mad at me when I dropped the camera at the zoo and broke the lens. Thankful he is buying me a new lens.

Thankful for great friends. Friends who even though we don't see each other hardly at all anymore are still great friends. Like Andrea. She is one of the most generous, genuine, happy people I know. And I am not just saying that because she sent me the most adorable baby gift for Finn! But that brings me to my next thankful, thankful that if you look hard you can find adorable clothes for little boys among the piles and piles of cute girl clothes out there. Like these cute boots and hat, with matching pants and shirt that I got in the mail yesterday from Andrea.
(Silly to add a thankful for baby clothes I know, but I just love baby clothes!)

Thankful for General Conference. To hear such inspired men teach us. Thankful for our prophet. Thankful the talks can be found on the internet and in the Ensign - a must have with Roman running around the house yelling and banging toys during every session.

Thankful that I am finally doing one thing right! There have been a few talks over the last few conferences about focusing on your children, leaving the housework and just enjoying them. I am glad to say this has always been the way I do things. But my mom may say it is because I am lazy! Still at least I am on the right track somewhere.

Thankful that blogger lets me save posts so I can come back to them since I started this post on Monday and am finally done it on Thursday!

my little finn

It's been just over 2 weeks since Finn was born. It's been a fun 2 weeks. He is such a sweet little guy. I don't want to jinx myself, but so far he has been a pretty great sleeper. I can say this without feeling bad because Roman was NOT a good sleeper. I mean he is no Lily or Laken, sleeping through the night since they were born. But I only have to feed him one or two times during the night. And he naps by himself! Roman had to be held all the time to sleep. Hopefully it continues. What I would like not to continue is the spitting up. Well actually is it not so much spitting up, more like drenching me and himself in puke. A whole feed comes up sometimes. And sometimes he pukes so much it comes out his nose. And totally at random. Sometimes when he is asleep, sometimes right after he eats, sometimes while he is eating, and sometimes awhile after he has eaten. He seems to have a really bad gag reflex. And he is super gasey. Both of which appear to contribute to the pukiness. But what can you do. He is happy and is gaining weight. So we will just have to hope he grows out of it sooner than later.
Roman is more out of control than ever, but he is two and a half, so no big suprise there. But he LOVES his baby. Baby sinn, no F's for Roman. He kisses Finn all day long. And he shares all his most favorite toys with his baby. I'm so glad he loves him so much already.
I have had a few emails from people who will not be named asking, well actually more like demanding more details. So here goes...

I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday September 4th - my due date. My doctor asked me if I wanted to be induced that evening. He was on call all night, and he wasn't sure when he could schedule me for an induction after that. I kinda wanted to wait and see if the baby would come on his own, but the idea of maybe having to go a week overdue was too much. So in to the hospital we went. I had been having contractions all afternoon, slowly getting stronger, but not too bad. I was dilated to a 3. I asked for the epidural. The epidural cart was all set up and ready to go. Dr. Browne broke my water at 8:30. Immediately the contractions got stronger and stronger. He ordered the pitocin drip. The nurse and I tried to talk him out of it. No go. He went to help with a c-section and said he would bring the anaesthesiologist back with him. They offered me morphine. Thinking like a patient and not a nurse I said okay - you will see why that was a bad idea in a moment. Of course it did nothing. Things went okay for awhile, contractions got stronger and stronger. But I just kept thinking about that epidural. Then contractions got really bad. C-section wasn't over yet. Nurse was really nice, but kept making stupid comments about how surprisingly hard my contractions actually were. You think??? They got even worse. But because I had the stupid drip I had to be in bed with the monitor on. All I wanted to do was get out of bed and try to move around to help with the pain. I couldn't have the nitrous gas because I had had morphine. I was at a 7, then instantly to a 10. Doctor came running in apologizing, he didn't think I would go that fast. I had to start pushing. I cried like a 2 year old. I couldn't breath, it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. So then I panicked. Two nurses were trying and trying to help me catch my breath and pay attention to push. And I couldn't control the words coming out of my mouth. I am sure it was hilarious to watch! I said the classic I can't do this! And then the ever popular I want drugs. All the while knowing what I was saying was ridiculous. Not sure how long I pushed, somewhere around 5 minutes? Through about 3 contractions. An hour and 36 minutes after breaking my water little Finn was born. 10:06 pm. It was all such a blur, and still kinda is when I try to think about it. I suppose that is a good thing!
It wasn't as euphoric as Roman's birth. It was harder to enjoy. It was more like work. When the nurse asked if I wanted him I actually said they could put him under the warmer before I held him. I was so exhausted. My body was in total shock. In a way I felt a bit cheated.
But it was a safe smooth labour. I was fine and he was fine. Brad was there to help me. I had that amazing feeling when they handed Finn to me. And I got to cry - for some reason I love to cry when I hold my baby for the first time, such a good release. So all things considered or course it was a great experience.

Kudos to those of you who do it without and epidural. But I had one with Roman. It was heaven. And I had my heart set on one with Finn. I mean sure, now that it is over and I did it I know I could do it again, but I just don't see the point when I could have the drugs!

So here we are over two weeks later. And I am totally loving being the mommy to my two little boys. And because no post is complete without pictures, here are a few.

baby baby

Finn Stewart Davis
Born Thursday September 4th at 10:06 pm
7 lbs 11 oz, 20 7/8 inches


My three boys

Roman meeting Finn - and loving him.


My gorgeous little boy


More info and pictures to come when I can bring myself to put him down and Roman has had enough mommy time.

still waiting...

No baby yet. I had strong contractions all day on Thursday, but nothing came of it. I can think of 6 people who have had babies before their due date this summer, 3 of them due after me! What can I say, I guess I like my babies overcooked. But I'm actually feeling pretty good, considering my due date is Thursday. And I am now hoping he will not make an appearance until Wednesday at the earliest. My parents are moving my little sis to Edmonton today and tomorrow, and they are the best choice to watch Roman while we are at the hospital. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and I think he will set an induction date in case I go over. So we will wait and see, not much else to do right.
So can you guess what I have been doing while not having a baby? In my defense, Brad has been working days and going back to work after Roman is in bed every evening for the past week and a half. So I need to keep myself entertained somehow. I considered not posting pictures, because after Lindsay's last comment I think I may give her a heart attack. But here is what I have been sewing.
Tote bags for my mom. She wanted something to use at church. Tons of patterns and tutorials floating around I am sure, but I just kinda made up the size as I went along.
Crayon rolls. Have been wanting to make one of these forever but just never got around to it. I am still on the enrichment committee at church and we are planning for a Super Saturday. This is one idea I had that we might make, so I needed samples. They were so easy! Would this interest anyone for a Super Saturday project? Started with this tutorial, and added length on one of them to fit more crayons.

And last but not least, some new friends for the baby's room.
I got the book Sock and Glove awhile ago with a Chapters gift card I had. I feel in love with the elephant pattern. I am even more in love with him now that I made one. Then I just kinda made up the giraffe and the lion. Not so sure about the lion, but Roman seems to like him. Roman says I need to make baby a monkey now so baby won't take his monkey. So I guess I'll get right on that!