Chop, Chop...

This afternoon Dillon had his first haircut. I wasn't ready to have it done yet, but Jason has been wearing me down. I didn't want to face the fact that my baby has turned into a little boy! I took him to a place that specializes in little kids haircuts. Instead of sitting in a chair, Dillon got to sit in a fire truck and he got to watch Elmo while he was having his locks trimmed. He did so well - no tears at all! He looks so much older, but it was time - and as Jason kept saying - he was starting to have a mullet.

Conniver

Dillon is such a little conniver...

Dillon: 'anana (pointing at the bananas)

Mommy: You already had a banana for breakfast and you already had dinner.

Dillon: (again, points to the bananas) Elmo.

Mommy: Elmo wants a banana?

Dillon: Yeah.

Mommy: Elmo doesn't want a banana.

Dillon: (points again) Baby

Mommy: No baby boy, you can't have a banana.

Dillon: (walks away and over to the pantry) cookie?

Bloggerversary

Today is the one year anniversary of my very first blog post and what better of a post to introduce my new kitchen. I have been wanting to post the pictures for awhile and pictures along the way, but someone (cough, cough, Jason, cough) wanted me to wait until people had seen it in person. So... without further ado, I proudly present my kitchen. (to see the "before" pictures, click here and here)

Football Fun

Sunday afternoon we went out to watch the football games. We, along with some of our family and friends, went to a new Irish pub called the Auld Irisher. My little cutie had fun flirting with the waitresses, running around the room we were in, eating ketchup, and most of all sitting on the barstools watching the games with Daddy. And the best part of the day was that my team has moved on to the Super Bowl!

Rach Of Cakes

I have really been enjoying making cakes this past year. Jason has started calling me "The Ace of Cakes" after one of my favorite TV shows and I always tell him that I'm the Rach of Cakes.

The first cakes that I made were Dillon's birthday cakes from his first birthday. I think that it was a good first attempt.

Next came Ryan's birthday cake - his request was for a chocolate cake with chocolate filling and chocolate frosting. So, I made a chocolate cake and filled it with hot fudge. Unfortunately, it suffered an accident and I have no before pictures (and don't want to put any of the "after" ones).

I also made the cake (well, actually cakes) for my niece, Tiffany's, Sweet Sixteen party. This was also my first attempt at rolled fondant. I made what felt like ten trillion (in reality it was somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty) little cakes that were supposed to resemble Tiffany boxes. I was very pleased with the outcome, even though they were supposed to be topped with fondant bows - but I ran out of time for those.

My most recent cake was made this weekend for my mother-in-law's birthday. It was a two tier, four layer cake. The bottom tier was lemon cake with lemon frosting in between the layers (I used store bought frosting that I jazzed up with lemon juice and lemon zest) and the top tier was a chocolate cake with banana filling. The filling was super easy to make and was super yummy. I made white buttercream frosting (I loosely followed the Wilton recipe - but used all butter instead of half butter and half shortening) and covered it with rolled fondant cut-outs. I was super proud of the way it turned out (even though it was far from perfect) and was so happy that it survived the car ride to her house. I don't think that I have ever been so stressed on a car ride!

Sickies

We are all sick. Jason, Dillon and me. Poor Jason has to work today and try to squeeze in a visit to the doctor. Dillon is going to his pediatrician at eleven and as for me, there will be no trip to see the doctor - this mommy has no time - plus, I can usually fight it off. The house looks like a bomb has gone off... but it's just courtesy of Hurricane Dillon and no energy on our parts to clean it up. You would never know that Dillon was even sick - except for the runny nose and occasional cough - that boy is a ball of energy!

Winter Wonderland

Jason went to Tahoe this past weekend and took these awesome pictures. Oh, how I wish I was there to see God's amazingly beautiful creation.

A conversation with Dillon

Dillon: Eat

Me: What Boo-boo? (didn't quite sound like eat and he's never said it before)

Dillon: Eat

Me: (to Susan) Did he just say "eat?"

Susan: Yes

Me: Dillon, do you want to eat?

Dillon: Nods yes and signs more



OK then.

Three Track

Dillon has a three track mind: Drums, Football and Eat

Failure

I am a big chicken. I am afraid of failure.

Our church is putting on a production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" this April and the auditions are two weeks from now. And guess who would love to be in it - that's right, me. But guess who will not be in it because she is a big chicken - yup, me again. I am so afraid of not getting a part that I have decided to not even try to get a part.

I like to think that I have a good (decent?) singing voice. I have sang in several different choirs (one of which was by audition only), sang on worship teams at more than one church, sang solos, been in plays and musicals, but when it comes to this, I am scared of choking. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it's been awhile? I don't know.

I wonder how I will teach Dillon to always try his best at something when I am too scared to do the same. How am I going to teach him to be a strong individual and reach for his dreams when I, myself, lack the necessary confidence to do the same.

A Funny Thing

Jason was throwing away some trash when he saw these people looking up at him:

He plucked them out of the trash and starts asking me where my church bulletin is. I tell him it's in my purse and ask him why he wants it. He tells me that he has seen these people before. And he was right:

Same people, same pose, almost same picture.

My New Years Goals

OK, so I'm really not into the whole "resolution" thing - does anyone ever stick to them? So this year, instead of a resolution, I decided to set myself some attainable weekly cooking goals.

1. Cook at least one meal per week in the Crock-pot.

2. Cook at least one meal from Cooking Light.

3. Try a new meal.

4. Make something tried and true.

Jason is forever complaining to me that I make something for a while and then it seems to disappear and is never seen again. So, I have also decided that when we come across something that we really like, I will type it up, print it and then put it in a three ring binder so that it doesn't get lost in the shuffle.

Happy 2008!

To ring in the new year, Jason, Dillon and I drove out to Lake Havasu to my Aunt and Uncle's house. They were having a big party - partly for New Years and partly because my cousin, Brad, is moving to Utah. We all had a TON of fun - especially Dillon who spent the weekend playing with his little cousin Addison. The two of them are so cute together and played so well! And I was so proud of the way Dillon shared the toys!

They loved sitting in each others high chairs:

They loved playing on the fire place and climbing all over the beds:

They had fun eating together (and stealing food from each other):

Dillon being silly:

We had fun at the party: