Elbow Cheese....The rest of the story...

Okay so some of you might not know about Elbow Cheese. Let me enlighten you about this! First of all elbow cheese is located at ones elbow and extends halfway up ones arm. This term was first coined by Aunt Jeni one day a few years ago when talking about getting older and how older women have what we affectionately call relief society arms. Which lead to the the flap of skin on your elbow being called your elbow cheese.  Sam made elbow cheese famous as he squired the need of comforting himself by rubbing any unsuspecting woman's elbow cheese while sucking his thumb. He is very determined and will wiggle his little hand up your sleeve if you have on 3/4 length sleeves. You know he likes you if he does this to you so it is a good thing! Dad just thought it would be fun to make up lyrics to Grandpa Harrison's favorite Christmas song and then get him to sing it. There are plans for a music video featuring Sam. However production is very slow going.

Cooking with Sam

Today I needed to change our dinner plan since I haven't been to the tortilla place yet and we need those for bean and cheese burritos so I opted to switch it with pizza. It's Sam's favorite. Here is our conversation.

"Mom what we havin' for dinner?"


"I think we'll have pizza."

"Pizza? Really! Yea! I want to help!"

"Okay you can help me."

"Yea! High Five mom!" Then he gives me a hug.

He kept telling me that he was in charge and how Dad was going to tell him thank you for making dinner. He as pretty funny.

He's such a willing helper!

Here's our pizza recipe.

Pizza dough

1 1/2 c. Warm Water
2 Tbsp Yeast
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Oil
3 C. Flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add salt oil and 2 cups flour. Beat dough. Knead til smooth. Do not allow to rise. Divide into thirds (we just use all the dough in 1 pan cause we like our crust deep) Place on pizza pans and smooth out to desired size. Place in 550 oven and bake 5 minutes (can freeze crust at this point) Spread sauce over pre-baked crust and add toppings. Continue to bake about 10 minutes at 450. When thawing crust thaw about 1/2 hour and prepare as usual.

Pizza Sauce
8 oz tomato sauce
1Tbsp. parmesean cheese
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oragano
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. season salt
1/4 tsp. dry onion
1/8 tsp. sugar

Mix all ingredient together. Makes enough for 2 pizzas.

Cheese pizza, the only kind in Sam's book :)

Happy Birthday Sam!

Wow Sam is 4! He's getting so big! Here are some of his favorites.

Color: Light Green
Food: Pizza
Book: any
Friends: Bracken, Dakota, Ben, Nathan
Thing to do: Play Kirby and ride his bike


We got to spend Sam's birthday with Grandma and grandpa Harrison. We had such a fun time! We got to roast hot dogs and do s'mores in the back yard, play in the dirt with the tonka trucks. Grandma and Grandpa gave Sam green balloons at breakfast and he just held those for a long time where ever he went!

He did let us tie them to the chair so he could go out and help build a fire. Cause who can build a fire without little boys?

Aunt Jeni helped him frost and decorate his own cake which turned out like a cute green Dr. Seuss cake.

He was so excited to open his presents and for once he was okay with us taking pictures! Progress I tell you!

As you can see we have the green trend going on here :) Happy Birthday Sam! We love you!

Easter!

Happy Easter!

It's been a good Easter here at the Marshall household! We were able to go to Grandma and Grandpa Marshall's for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Dinner was fantastic and the Easter Bunny that goes to Grandma's house likes to put candy and money in the eggs so Zach and Sam made out like bandits! They both had lots of fun. We enjoyed going to church today and being reminded of the Atonement and of the resurrection of Jesus. I loved talking about the Plan of Salvation and how we don't have to sorrow so much when our loved ones die because we know that there is life after death and that through the sealing power we can be eternal families! What joy and peace that brings to me! I love to look at the earth beginning to wake up and the flowers and trees are starting to bloom and grow. Such growth and renewal reminds me that it's my time to grow and to recommit myself to do the basic things that will lead me to eternal life so that I can be with those that I love.

I guess it's time for the obligatory Easter pictures of the egg hunts and the new Sunday ties. Enjoy!

Volcano!

The past couple years the elementary school has put on an art night. Last year was lots of fun so when Zach's teacher asked me if I could help with the second grade's project I was excited to do it. (plus I thought it'd give me a mental vacation from blue and gold) In the beginning it was supposed to look like a 2nd grade volcano worksheet on the wall where they label all the parts of the volcano.

No problem I thought. Paper on the wall with 4 other parents to help. We'll be done in no time! The next week came and the location for the volcano changed. Now it was to be half in the library and half in the hall. Oh okay I thought. We can do that. It will be a little bit different but we can do that. Then I heard about this dragon they had built and the kids had made all the scales for it, cool idea I thought.....then I saw the dragon.



and then I started to freak out! On to plan B C D and F. All that Friday I worried and I stewed and then I figured it out! Wait until Josh gets home and the kids are in bed and then he'll help me figure it out! So figure it out we did.

We built us a little frame....


covered it with chicken wire and filled the chicken wire with plastic grocery bags and then brown bulletin board paper, construction paper hands, and crate paper.....



Did the other side so they could label it....



and there you have a half of a volcano that is worthy of such a dragon!

Flying Squirrels

I love how kids can come up with all sorts of fun things to do once we adults announce that there as been enough screen time!

Zach asked me the other day if he could get in his pj's. Kind of a random request from him but okay. I was making dinner and we weren't going anywhere so I gave him the green light. Well monkey see monkey do and Sam appeared with his pj's on too. Next thing I hear is "Mom where's the yellow tape (meaning masking tape)?" I help them find it then go back the concoction that I have cooking on the stove.

Bang! Thump! "Boys what are you doing?" I ask in my most motherly you might be in trouble voice.

"Just being flying squirrels mom." came the reply.

Now for the visual!

Look Who We Saw!

So while driving on the main road in the middle of a little town we saw this.


We of course had to pull over and take advantage of the photo op!

Kites!

It was really kinda blustery on Sunday and we needed something to do so out came the kites. It took us about 10 minutes to get them untangled but then we were ready to go! It was fun to watch the boys hold on to their kites after we got them up in the air. A perfect thing to do on a Sunday afternoon!

Did we get lost?

I knew I had been neglecting my blog but I hadn't realized it had been that long! I promise I haven't been abducted by aliens or even gotten lost in the amazon! I'm still here doing the things that I do every day. I was looking at the calendar today and realized that there are only three more weeks of school! It sure doesn't feel like that! Hum Where should I start? Maybe spring break would be a good place to start! Josh took a couple of days off during spring break and we headed to Grandma's house. It was cold but we had a lot of fun. Aunt Jeni and her frined Tiff came up with a treasure hunt and the boys loved it! Here's a few pictures.










They had some pretty fun bounty





One of the main reason's we went was to run a race together! We ran the Gunnison Valley Spring Run off. Everyone one ran... Okay at least a little :) Here's a few pictures!






More to come!

Our New Addition

The day was sunny, bright, and warm. The perfect combination in early March for some time outside. Since Sam and I had been inside all morning doing our normal morning chores like starting laundry, switching laundry and folding laundry, I decided after lunch we should spend some time outside.

I checked the progress of the Tulips and the Crocus' and the Siberian Irises in the front. Plus found the green of some Iris' thinking about starting to grow. Sam was next to me because he's my little buddy and is with me most of the time. He found a piece of bark and we talked about how that kind of bark was the skin of a tree and not like the sound a dog makes.

Sam soon found his bike and was riding it on the sidewalk in front of the house when he discovered to his delight the perfect little stick! The next few minutes were spent throwing the stick up in the air and saying something about birds eating. I finally figured out what he was saying and told him it wasn't a good idea to throw sticks at birds because they don't eat sticks and then if they got hurt by the stick we won't be able to hear the birds sing pretty songs for us! That was met by a thoughtful "Oh".



Soon it was time to go in and the stick got to come in too. That is when it became part of the family. It was no longer just a stick, it was "Baby Stick" and Baby Stick cried. Baby Stick took a nap all wrapped up in a favorite red and blue Elmo blanket. Even Mom got tho hold Baby Stick and help it stop crying. Baby Stick took another nap and sat on the kitchen chair while we had a little snack. Soon it was time to go get Zach from School and Baby Stick was forgotten, until dinner. I mentioned to Daddy about it and Sam perked right up and had to tell Daddy and Zach, just like a proud papa, all about Baby Stick!

New Skills

Sam today learned a new skill! He decided that it was time to get out his bubble machine. He discovered that the batteries were dead. He looked around in the closet for a minute and came up with a little screwdriver. Sure enough he was able to get that screw undone and then we had to charge batteries (thank goodness for rechargeable!) Then he needed to try out his skills on his dinosaur. Fine motor skills are good right?

A little creative outlet

It seems like I always have to start a project in December just to add to the fun of the season. Let me explain... The year I was pregnant with Sam I started painting an accent wall in the living room. It was only painted about 3 or 4 feet high when Christmas rolled around! See that lovely green color behind Josh? That was Christmas morning!

Maybe I've learned a little bit since my project wasn't as ambitious as that one was. I was given a jelly cabinet that goes perfectly by my front door. It has two drawers and then a two door cabinet underneath it. It gives me more space for our gloves and stuff then the old microwave cart did. The only problem with this cabinet was that it was the wrong color green. I liked the color but it didn't go with my living room. Here is a before picture with my helper! I was really excited to get into my project that I forgot to take a really good before picture.


And here is an after picture...

The cabinet is painted the same color as my accent wall and then I put stain that matches the railings. I'm so excited about how it turned out!

I moved the microwave cart downstairs at the bottom of the stairs and the kids found a new use for it. Take a look!

Both Zach and Sam crawl into the bottom of it and then they fight over who's turn it is... Well I'm glad I could provide a great hiding spot for them!

Once there was a snowman....

Once there was a snowman snowman. Once there was a snowman tall tall tall!


In the Sun and Rain in it melted melted melted until it was good enough to eat!



Melting snowmen are a delicacy and should be thoroughly enjoyed!