Knife Giveaway from Jaden's Steamy Kitchen

I often look at Jaden's Steamy Kitchen, a blog about food and cooking.  It is a beautiful site, and today she is giving away knives!  You can win any of the single knives in the Phoenix or Fusionwood lines from New West Knifeworks.

The Phoenix Santoku is beautiful and I hope that I win it!  By telling all of you about it, I get a bonus entry.  If anyone wants to enter the contest, just stop by Jaden's Steamy Kitchen by clicking the link above or on the sidebar, and leave a comment telling her which knife you'd like to win!!

Kennedy's First Christmas Present

Well, since she's been born anyway.  She got lots of presents last year while she was still in my tummy.  But this year Grandpa Pitt wanted to get her something that would be hard for us to bring back with us from Texas, so he went ahead and shipped it to us early.  It is a Baby Einstein activity center, and it was an instant hit!  We finally have all the pieces put on and this is the finished product.

She loves it because there are so many different things to focus on.  There's a book and a mirror, a puppet that we can control, things that move, things that make noise, and things to chew on.  She can put her feet on the ground and "stand up" while she plays.

When I put her in it this morning she just screamed for joy for a really long time while she played.  She has been in it for a few hours today and she is happy as a clam, as evidenced by the cute smile in this picture.

Thanks Grandpa for the awesome gift!  Hopefully you can see me play in it sometime soon.  On a different note, she started 2nd foods today and she devoured them!  I also had to include this last picture because it was just way too funny to skip.  It looks better when it's big, so you should click on it to get the full effect.

Thanks again Grandpa!  Christmas is already awesome.

What to Watch?

I need some help.  I am having movie issues.  Last night Brett and I watched The Benchwarmers, which was pretty much the dumbest movie I've ever seen besides Talladega Nights.  Seriously.  Don't waste an hour and a half of your life on that movie.  It was basically John Heder picking his nose, a bunch of bathroom humor, and a bunch of jokes that didn't even make sense.  And then they all ended up with hot girls.  To make up for it, I will probably watch something awesome tonight, like The Prestige.  I am desperately wishing that Dark Knight was out on DVD right now, but since it's not, I would love some suggestions for a good movie that we can watch.  What's your favorite movie?  What's a great movie that you saw recently?

A few of the better movies that I've seen recently were the old version of The Manchurian Candidate, Lars and the Real Girl, and Wall-E.  The last two were very heartwarming, touching movies, and the first was just great.  It was mostly talk (the one action scene is not so great) but it is pretty suspenseful.  Plus I love old blue eyes.  So help me out and give me some ideas for another great movie to add to my repertoire!

Tales From the High Chair

As I put Kennedy in her high chair after her mega  long nap today (4 hours!) I realized that I had not put any pictures of her in it.  As I write this I realize that I am lying to you, because I posted a picture of her watching BYU football in it.  Whatever.  I'm posting these pictures anyway.  We have really enjoyed the Fisher Price Rainforest line, and have 3 different items from it.  I loved the high chair because it came with the nifty tree toy that attaches to the tray and lights up, makes noise, and moves.  It is wonderful for distracting Kennedy while I get her food ready.

As you can see, she was not in a smiley mood because she had just woken up.  Plus, she is fascinated by cameras and can do nothing but look with interest when one is around.  Her eating habits are great though.  Apart from her bottles she eats 3 meals of solid food a day.  She eats cereal in the morning (today it was oatmeal with cinnamon), a vegetable for lunch (squash) and a fruit for dinner (apples).  We are getting ready to move her up to 2nd foods next week, which is exciting because she can start having mixtures of foods and meats.  But the canned meats gross me out, so I'm going to make my own.  If it's not too nasty, maybe I'll do a post on that when I make it.

She loves her food!  She has tried everything in first foods except prunes (because pears also help with constipation and she had some serious issue with those.  I wasn't brave enough to try the prunes after that fiasco) and peas.  I added cinnamon to her oatmeal the other day and she devoured it, as she has done every morning since.  She is also finally starting to sit up for longer than 2 seconds on her own, and she pushes herself up on her knees like mad when she's on her tummy, so I'm waiting for her to break out the crawl any day now.

Complete and Total Plagiarism of Ideas

My friend Noelle keeps up a fantastic blog that I look at everyday to see if there are updates.  She is so creative with her posts, and they are always interesting.  She sometimes does posts in which she writes letters to random people and things, and I am totally stealing her creativeness and doing this myself today.  So thank you to Noelle for her creative spark...I have stolen ideas from you before, and I'm sure I will do so again.

Dear Kennedy,

Please get better.  It breaks my heart to see you sick and sneezing, and to be honest, sucking snot out of your nose is not on my favorites list.  I wish so much that I could explain to you that sleep helps you get better.

Your Mommy

Dear American Visions book,

How I wish that I didn't have to open you yet again to write a paper on Edward Hopper.  At least you have pretty pictures.

A Disgruntled, Ungraduated Student

Dear Lucy,

When are you going to understand that in order for me to throw your foil ball you have to bring it all the way back?  Half way is not going to cut it.  Even if you say please.

Lazy Girl

Dear chocolate cheesecake,

You were so yummy, but now you are gone.  I really don't want to wash that pan.

Chef in the Kitchen

Dear Costco,

I am so excited to go shopping today!  There are some items that we desperately need, and once we buy them from you, it will feel like we will never run out again.  Hallelujah.

Bulk Buyer

Dear Thanksgiving,

I wish you would come sooner.  I want to eat yummy food, make a pumpkin pie, and have people who want to play with Kennedy all the time around.  I want to meet Wyatt and see my family.  Come fast!

Impatient Eater