Christmas card 2014

Merry Christmas from the Yoders!                                                 

 

 Our 13 year anniversary is on December 28 ♥♥

Mark has a new job offer to work as a surgical PA at IHC Southern Utah Neurosciences Institute! He has enjoyed working in pediatrics for the past six years, but is looking forward to working with the spinal surgeons Dr. Major and Dr. Stauffer and the neurosurgeons in this new group. He will begin training at the end of January in St. George and once he is established, he will split his time between their offices in St. George and Cedar City.

He has also been busy with several woodworking projects, building Madelyn a desk, and he got himself a vintage Neo-Geo arcade for his birthday. He loves having a little baby to snuggle again.

Melissa spent the first half of the year being pregnant and miserable and the other half of the year raising a darling baby who made it all worth it. Her heart condition (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) improved greatly once Isabelle was finally born. She has still found time to do a lot of sewing, jewelry making for her etsy shop, blogging, and reading. She works hard to keep the family and house running—it is a full time job!

 

Madelyn turned 10 on December 21^st! She is enjoying 4^th grade and gymnastics. She is a very good student and loves to read. She has loved having a baby sister and is the best little helper. She was so excited to watch The Hobbit  last week—she really loves all that nerdy stuff that her parents do. Every Wednesday, she gets to stay up late to watch NOVA. She loves sea animals, art, helping mom in the kitchen and our cat Tiger.

 

Luke turned 5 in September and is in his second year of preschool. (He barely missed the kindergarten deadline.) He is super smart and can read at a 2^nd grade level already. He loves being on the computer, Minecraft, Mario and Luigi, rocks, dirt, swords, guns, tanks and everything little boys are into. He still is a huge mess maker and doesn’t like to wear clothes all that much. He is so funny and always insists that we tell jokes around the dinner table. He likes being a big brother and enjoys running errands with us around town.

 

Isabelle turned 7 months old last Sunday. She was born on May 14 at 12:32 pm, 6 lbs. 6 oz, 19 inches. She has been an absolute joy to our family. She has been such a happy, sweet baby and has the most beautiful round face with rosy cheeks and dark brown eyes. She has the whole family wrapped around her little finger and is spoiled with love. She can sit up, roll over, clap and is very grabby with her hands. She is also quite the night owl! We are really enjoying her and savoring the time we have with our last baby.

We love you all and hope you have a wonderful holiday and coming year!

Pinterest recipes I've tried and liked

The computer with all my pictures on it has a faulty graphics card so I can't update the family blog right now. I am so behind as it is!! Oh, well.

A post I've been thinking about writing anyway is to share some of the best recipes I've found on Pinterest, because they can really be hit and miss. I've made plenty that didn't live up to expectations, but these ones did. (I'm going to use the pictures from the original sources, since I don't have ones of my own.) Follow the links to get to the recipes. They are picky eater approved, and most can be made even while holding a baby!

Pumpkin Spice Buttermilk Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

*Notes: I made this for my sister's mission farewell. It was definitely more work than just using a cake mix, but in the end it was worth it--the cake held up and was still moist a week later when kept in the fridge, and it was SO good. I don't have a bundt pan, so I used a big jelly roll pan. I baked it for 20 minutes. The frosting was awesome. It makes a lot--if you use the bundt pan, you will only need half the frosting, but the sheet pan used it all up.

After making that recipe, I had about a half a small can of leftover pumpkin, so I searched for a way to use it up:

Quick and Easy Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

*Notes: I halved this recipe (because I only had 1/2 cup of pumpkin left) and it made about 8 substantial pancakes. My whole family loved them--even me--and I usually HATE pancakes. The texture was thick, fluffy and a little chewy and the flavor was so good. It uses dry pancake mix as a base, so it's fast and easy.

Green Chili Beef Taquitos

*Notes: This is a very simple recipe--I was surprised how much flavor it had. I used Old El Paso Mild Green Chile Enchilada Sauce and I think I used two 10 oz. cans. It made a lot of meat and the taquitos were devoured. I've made it twice, and I would recommend that you keep the roast in a big chunk and shred it at the very end. The meat tastes better a little dry with some sauce spooned over the top before baking in the tortilla and cheese. If you shred it halfway through cooking and let the meat soak up too much liquid, it gets mushy.

Smothered Italian Chicken with Buttered Garlic Spaghetti

*Notes: I omit the onion flakes (only because I never seem to have any), and because the spaghetti sauce I usually have on hand isn't basil marinara sauce, I add basil flakes instead. I've made it with penne instead of spaghetti--so just use whatever pasta you happen to have. It is YUMMY. A family favorite. Next time, I should add some sauteed mushrooms to really take it over the top.

Oven Baked BBQ Chicken

*Notes: This is one of our new all-time favorites. It just uses a bottle of doctored up, store bought BBQ sauce--I usually get a small 18 oz. bottle of Kraft Original. Unless you are cooking a dozen pieces of chicken, it makes enough sauce for two recipes. I pour half over the chicken and store the other half back in the BBQ sauce bottle. I've found that boneless, skinless chicken thighs stay juicier than other cuts, but make sure they're trimmed of all fat and gristle.

I only use half the amount of oregano the recipe calls for, and because Lawry's seasoning salt makes me have some sort of allergic reaction, I use 1 tsp. Montreal steak seasoning instead. Last time I made this, I cooked it in a slow cooker instead of the oven (on low for 6-8 hours or 4 hours on high) and shredded the chicken to serve on those hard rolls you buy at the bakery. It was absolutely delicious.

Peach Pecan & Goat Cheese Salad

*Notes: I made this for a potluck and it was a big hit. You can buy a bag of candied pecans (sometimes with dried cranberries added, which I think is what I used) by the salad dressing at the grocery store. You can also substitute feta cheese for the goat cheese. It's served with poppy seed dressing. It made a huge salad and the entire thing was eaten--which is saying something.

Strawberry Cheesecake Salad

Notes: I omitted the bag of mini marshmallows and everyone was still wanting to lick the bowl clean. An excellent potluck dish. I might just make it for Thanksgiving.

Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits

*Notes: I'm rarely on top of things when it comes to side dishes, but these are something I can make with common pantry items. They are done in about 20 minutes and are full of cheesy, buttery, garlicky goodness. Yum yum yum yum yum. I omit the cayenne pepper.

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken and Broccoli over Rice

*Notes: This makes enough for two meals and is one of Madelyn's favorite things that I make. I am a huge fan of slow cooker meals. It does used canned soup--for best results, I've found that using Campbell's Healthy Request versions of Cream of Chicken and Cheddar Cheese soup makes a big difference in taste. Also, I don't have Cajun seasoning, so I just use a pinch of paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper and oregano.

Garlic Alfredo Sauce

*Notes: I actually found this recipe on allrecipes.com first--it makes double the amount that this Pinterest recipe does. (And it uses garlic powder instead of minced garlic). But if you make double, that means you can save half of it to make Pasta Primavera with sauteed mushrooms and shrimp, steamed broccoli, carrots and penne pasta. I have made this so many times I have the recipe memorized. My pin of this recipe has 747 repins and 72 likes--so join the crowd and try it out.

Crock Pot Beef and Broccoli

*Notes: We love the beef and broccoli from Panda Express but this is just as good, and cheaper. I use beef short ribs instead of chuck roast, and they come out incredibly tender. I reduce the amount of soy sauce to 1/3 cup (and use low sodium) and reduce the amount of sesame oil to 1/2 tsp. That stuff is so potent--I think a tablespoon would be way too much.

Loaded Baked Potato Casserole

*Notes: Instead of using raw chicken breasts, I use chopped, leftover dinner ham (so then it has ham AND bacon. Yes.). And I use 1/3 cup heavy cream or half and half in place of the olive oil, and instead of cutting up potatoes I just use a bag of thawed country style hash browns. This is what Mark refers to as "man food".

Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup

*Notes: This is a convincing knockoff of the Olive Garden soup. It is worth a trip to the store to pick up the ingredients you might not have, like the gnocchi (potato pasta--like little dumplings). My family loves it but Mark and Madelyn prefer mini gnocchi or the big ones to be cut in half.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

*Notes: The only cookie recipes I bother with anymore are from Sally's Baking Addiction. She has developed them so that even up here at 6,000 feet, the cookies are thick and fluffy--something I struggled to achieve for years! They are amazing with just semisweet chocolate chips, which is the way I usually make them. Do allow some extra time, because the dough has to be chilled for 30 minutes before baking. Double the recipe and freeze little balls of dough and you'll thank yourself later. (These are awesome pick-me-ups for new mothers. And husbands. And everybody.)

I have 514 pins on my Recipe Pinterest board, so I'd better start testing out some more!

4th grade, so far

 Madelyn is done with her first quarter of 4th grade already. Sheesh, time flies.

I went to her parent teacher conference a couple of weeks ago, and her teacher Mr. Carter said that she is doing really well in all her subjects--even math--which is rather surprising. (Her math homework causes epic amounts of drama and suffering. For her and for me.) The only area of improvement he had to suggest was her "behavior", as in "She gets frustrated easily and is very emotional. Is she like that at home?"

"HAHAHA! ONLY SINCE DAY ONE!!!" I wanted to shout.

But really, aside from some playground drama and the boy that sits beside her driving her nuts, she is doing well and having a good year. She has a lot of book reports and projects due all the time, which is annoying, but I guess that is what school is about. She is reading at a 6th grade level!

 

 I dug up her old school photos from K-3rd grade. It's fun to see her in different glasses and various stages of tooth gappiness. (I know that is not a word, I made it up.) She has lost three more teeth in the past couple of weeks--two of them at school two days in a row.

 We agonized over an outfit for 4th grade school pictures, but I'm glad we went with her yellow dress. It is very "Madelyn" right now. Last year, her favorite color was turquoise, but now it's yellow. (I love it, too.) I can't believe how grown up she is. She will be 10 years old in two months!! Gah.

 I scanned in some of her recent drawings, depicting all her favorite Halloween things--the Grim Reaper with a bloody scythe, a vampire jack-o-lantern, and a haunted house with a zombie, several witches, another grim reaper, "voodoo heads" and several disembodied flying eyeballs.
She has a flair for this sort of thing.

She is still in gymnastics, still a good little helper with baby Isabelle, still loves bossing Luke around (although when she can manage to not be too bossy, they play together well), still sleeps with the cat on her bed, still likes to dilly dally and procrastinate and nerds out about science, NOVA, sea creatures, Doctor Who (Eleven is her favorite Doctor) the Harry Potter and Hobbit movies and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. I'm always catching her reading past her bedtime, or in the morning when she's supposed to be getting ready for school.

 I'd write more, but I've got to go force her to stop playing Minecraft and go to bed. She is on fall break and can't be bothered with "normal bedtimes", or "not having ice cream for every meal". Oh, to be young again.

Luke is 5!

Luke had a birthday 2 1/2 weeks ago. (*cough* Someday I will have an up-to-date blog...)

He now goes up to people and says, "I'm 5, and I'm going to be Wolverine for Halloween." About half the people he says this to think he's going to be a wolverine (the animal, as opposed to the X-Men character) and are like, "huh!"

He is Mr. Personality, this boy. He has recently started asking about 200 questions per day. Here's a sampling:

"Why do we have faces?"
"Why do we have clouds?"
"Why do we have grass?"
"Why is everything made of atoms?
"Why are there zombies in video games?"
"Why is iron super strong?"
"Why do we get zapped by lightning?"
"Why does fire turn us to dust?"
"What does poop taste like?"

Most of the time, I don't have good answers for any of these questions. I don't even know how he comes up with this stuff.

And here's some memorable quotes from the past month:

"Look at my cookie face! It's scary. I hate it. It looks crumbly."
(As I'm dropping him off at preschool): "Some kids are a vampire, and some kids are nice."
"Look! It's the Captain America flag!"
"My dream is to have all the marshmallows and pizzas."
(taking off his clothes after preschool): "Well! I don't need these anymore!"
(picking up some jewelry I was making): "Why do you need earlashes?"
"I'm going to pest this fly!"
"S is for sarsaparilla."
"I love salt because it tastes like sugar. I love sugar because it tastes like even more sugar."
(After I sneezed): "Mama, you bless-you'd all over me."
(Handing me something while shopping at Jo-Ann's): "Put this in my inventory."

 He keeps us busy. This is a fort daddy built with some couch boxes we got from our neighbors.

 I love that he still sleeps like this.

{1 week old}

 

I'm pretty sure that he is brainier than all the kids in his preschool--unless any of them can read at a 1st-2nd grade level like he can. If he had just been born 3 1/2 weeks earlier, he'd at least be in kindergarten right now.

He has such an active mind (and body--he's so wiggly) that he's always on the computer. He likes zoning out on YouTube, but he also likes educational sites, too and is a whiz at all the physics games on www.hoodamath.com like Red Remover.

For his actual birthday, he woke up sick. The whole family had a nasty cold that slowed us down for a couple of weeks. He felt okay enough for me to take him out to the park (his cousins Emery and Nora came) and to get ice cream. He brought his new favorite Mario and Luigi plush dolls and they had the time of their lives being sent down the big slides and going on the swings with Luke.

 He helped decorate his cake and we got a pizza and RedBox movie for him to watch that night. But by that time, he was feeling worse (he had thrown up his lunch from coughing too much) and had a fever. NO FUN! But he is a tough, resilient little kid.

 2011, 2 years old

He had his 5-year checkup and got his kindergarten shots while he was at it. He winced and said, "Ow!" but that was it. When Madelyn got her kindergarten shots, it took three people to hold her down. He is just so much more even keeled than she is. Here are his stats:

Weight: 36 lbs. 4 oz. (18th percentile)

Height: 3 feet, 5 inches (26th percentile)

Dr. Dowse said, "Well, he's growing at his own pace." He is wearing size 4T and size 9 shoes. When he listened to his lungs, he was still a little sick and he confirmed that Luke still has reactive airway disease (a type of asthma). So he's supposed to take Singulair every night in the hopes of preventing him getting too sick this winter. And he still pronounces his L sounds like Ws, so we're working on that.

Likes: lounging in his undies, taking baths, chewing on paper/cords/toys/clothes, Minecraft, Spongebob, Angry Birds, Super Mario Bros., pizza, Crispix cereal, making messes (STILL!), staying up late, sour cream and onion Pringles, chocolate, books, coming into mom and dad's bed at any hour of the night, "because it's comfortable", Queen, his sisters and YouTube cat videos. His favorite colors are green, black and blue and his favorite letters are W, F and and Q. He loves Anna and Elsa from Frozen. He insists that we tell jokes every night around the dinner table.

Dislikes: Getting dressed, wearing shoes, not having his requests/demands fulfilled immediately, strong food smells, Isabelle's mush (he can't stand to even look at her if she's eating her baby cereal), haircuts and getting bossed around.

He is still particular about a few things, like he MUST be the one to push the "off" button on the kitchen timer, and he MUST be present every time you get out of the shower, so he can push the button on the faucet to catch the water, and he MUST be there when the garage door opens, so he can run out and hop in the car with you and drive into the garage, and then he MUST be the first one to enter the house.

Oh, and he MUST help to feed the fish. He has developed a liking for the taste of fish food. And for cat treats. 

 

 Caught in the act eating the kitty treats...

 He's never had any cavities! It did take him a few years of going to the dentist before he'd actually let them do anything to his teeth, though...

He enjoys going out and about.

 "Look ma, I'm a burrito." (He calls me "ma". Most of the time it's "mama" but said so fast he just skips the "m" and says "ma'a".)

 ♥ baby Isabelle

 Thanks, grandma Carolyn!

 

He finally stopped wearing Pull-Ups at night. I'd bought a package of some 7th Generation brand, and they were this unbleached tan color, and he took one look and refused to even put them on, because they looked "old" and has just been wearing undies ever since. I should have thought of that sooner!

 With Maria, Emery and Nora on his birthday

 He is just an all around great kid, and I'm so lucky to have him!