So very RANDOM...

My friend and collage roommate tagged me with this:
I have to list 11 Random things about me...

• I love to make people feel at ease and so I don't try to have my house perfect... really!who lives in a perfect house?!?
• I love to bargain shop. It gives me kind of a high to know I saved money on stuff we "need".
• I hide treats from myself, hoping it will help me not eat more junk.
• I love to run. When ever I see someone running I analyze their style and compare it to my own. Weird I know.
• (Don't be grosses out) I have a thing with clean ears. I can't stand it if my kids have wax or stuff in their ears. My husband is always saying, "Stop it, leave us alone." 
• I love slippers. At my reception I wore fuzzy pink slippers under my gown.
• My least favorite chore is dishes but I like cleaning bathrooms.
• When I get into a good book I just read and read and read. (My house is a mess, the kids hang in p.j.s, and everyone eats cold cereal for a while). I do read fast, so no one starves for long.
• Baking is fun for me, cooking not as much. Hooray for sugar and spice!
• I love to play dress up! I'm always game for a tea party where we get to don shawls and English accents.
• I have a childhood fear of moths.

I have to answer 11 random questions from her...

1. How did you meet your husband? On a blind date.

2. What is the first thing you do in the morning? Groan... then pray

3. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Garden!!!

4. What do you do to relax? Read

5. How long does it take you to get ready each day? 30 min if I don't have to wash my hair, 1 hour if I do.

6. What is your favorite thing about your house? An arch way in my newly remodeled bathroom

7. What kind of toothpaste do you use? Whatever's cheap

8. If you could live anywhere, where would you live? Where ever man sweet heart takes me

9. Do you recycle? yup

10. What are your favorite pair of shoes? Chaco sandals

11. Have you ever broken a bone? several

And now I have to tag 11 of you... 

Its actually kind of a fun tag (so don't you want to be a good sport and play along)

1.Ang

2.Shawna

3. Jessica N.

4.Melanie

5. Roxanne

6. Lindsay

7. Danae

8. Bridgette

9.Sherri

10. Trulee

11.Jessica S.

Your questions:

1. Your pet peeve? 
2. What's your favorite feature about yourself? (don't be humble... name one thing that is great about you?)
3. Do you bite, file or clip nails?
4. Do you lie to the dentist when he asks about your dental habits?
5. If you were an animal, what would you be?
6. Favorite movie quote?
7. If you had to eat the same thing for dinner for a week, what would you choose?
8. Which side of the Velcro are you most like? (The clinging soft or the catchy scratchy)
9. Favorite childhood cartoon?
10. Right now, would you rather have a mug of cocoa or a smoothie?
11. Do you have a phobia?

Random I know... but fun!

Sharing something good!

When we were in school, I had a friend who would call me when ever she found a great sale on meat or such. She helped me feed my family on a tight college budget. I really appreciated her thoughtfulness.

Well, along those same lines, when I find something great I just have to share it. (My son is allergic to peanuts, so it's sometimes hard to find granola that he can have). We love granola, so I started trying make it a couple years ago. I am an instant results kinda girl and it was a lot of work for something that was gobbled up in about five minutes. Then I found you can make it in about five minutes on the stove top! It tastes great, doesn't spill in my oven, uses up ingredients that need to be used, and is EASY!

My "recipe" is never the same twice... but you might get the jist of it. I've used leftover homemade syrup, that was too clumpy, as a sweetener. Once I used an apple that the kids took one bite out of and didn't finish. I had a box of Grape nuts that NO ONE liked and threw some of those in until they were used up. At first I followed recipes and then I just went nuts.

You can adjust ANYTHING to make it more or less healthy...
4-ish T Butter (margarine, or oil)
2-3 C Oats
1/4 C ?Honey (or syrup)
1C Bran cereal (I use the "crumbs from frosted shredded wheat... you know the stuff that no one wants to eat).
1/2 C Nuts of any kind
A handful of fruit of any kind (Shredded apples, blue berries, raisins, craisins)
3 T Brown sugar (if you want it sweeter)
3 tps Cinnamon

(Or there are tons of "stove top granola" recipes on line... and I thought I came up with it! Silly me!)
I melt the butter a little in a frying pan. Use a food processor on the nuts and oats and then throw the whole thing in the pan. Toss it around for about three to five minutes (until you smell the toasted oats). And that's it. It's one of my "we're late" breakfasts (when I still want to make it). I'm telling you... it beats stirring every ten minute for an hour in the oven!

The two of you who are granola-a-holics... (you know who you are) Let me know if you try it!

11 down, an eternity to go!

Today is our special day!

I so love this man!

Conn-man's Birthday!

Shhh! Its a secret... My little Connor turned four yesterday!

We love our little Conn-man!

This kid adds such a spice to our lives!

He can eat too!

Look out ladies, he's got a killer smile!

He is so brave and looks pretty good in shades!

Once I got started, I just couldn't stop.... look at all these cute pictures of my little man!

Oops... Oh well

You know it's early when you are doing the girls' hair and you grab the Windex bottle instead of the water spray bottle.

We were also running behind, so I didn't have time to shampoo it out. Just rinsed her pony tail with a little water, threw in a ponytail holder and called it good. (That particular daughter was responsible for cleaning the bathrooms and didn't get it done... hence the Windex just sitting on the sink next to the hair-doing stuff). At least she smelled like she'd cleaned the bathroom.

Too Tall

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Ours was amazing and SO busy! I have a million pictures to post, unfortunately  they are all on my mom's camera... so not yet.

So. back to business. My nine-month-old is off the charts tall. I didn't give it much thought... just a "Nice, another tall Bingham." and that was about it. I guess I should have known this was coming when the nurses couldn't fit his foot on the infant foot print paper when he was born. The other day it occurred to me as he was pulling things off a cupboard (that most babies wouldn't be able to reach yet) that there is a reason babies are "usually" a little more little.

As I watched him bounce in his crib I wondered how long it would be able to contain him. The mattress can only lower so much. He can reach my kitchen table (which is about three inches taller than the standard height)  without effort. His long arms are quick and very skilled precision grabbing machines. He maneuvered himself OUT of his walker the other day. (As in stood on his toes and pulled himself out and onto the floor. Ahhh!) Nothing is safe with this age, I knew that, but I am surprised at how high I am having to move things already!

The pediatrician said once, "Its a good thing they are so close to the ground." Well this little guy isn't as close to the ground as the run of the mill kid. As little Q is starting to totter around, its no wonder that his forehead is decorated with little purple bruises.