Cooking it up!

What do you get when you start with fresh peppers...

Throw them in a pan with onions and saute...

Add in your favorite meat (Beef in my case)...

And throw the some shredded Colby-jack cheese on top?

FAJITAS!

Now I know what you may be thinking. Why is Jeff telling us how to cook. Or for that matter why is Jeff cooking. Well since I have been laid off and even prior to that I have been cooking dinner. It started out by me cooking dinner on Sunday nights. My treat to the family. But with Crystyne being so sick initially with the pregnancy, I have picked up some hours in the kitchen. (Wish they were work hours at a place of employment, but I digress.) Any who, it was either cook or starve for the boys and me.

I wasn't to confident in the kitchen with cooking. But it turns out, that I am actually not that bad of a cook, and not just Top Raman or BBQ burgers. It shouldn't be a surprise since my grandfather and grandmother owned a restaurant and cooked all the time, it must flow in the blood.

Some of my favorite things to cook are Fajitas, Arroz con Pollo (Azteca Style), Breakfast (I love making seasoned fried potatoes with fresh peppers and onions in it.), Sauteed Chicken with Broccoli over white rice and Shish-ka-bobs. I am learning more recipes and I actually find it somewhat relaxing. (Shhh. Don't tell Crystyne, or this could be a permanent position.)

Now if only I enjoyed cleaning up the dishes that much......

Baby check up

This morning I had another Dr. appointment. I gained one pound so I am now just one pound more than I was before being pregnant. I have technically gained thee pounds total, but I also had lost two pounds when I was so sick. So would you say I have gained three pounds? or just one? My uterus is measuring a little small now, which does not surprise me because I'm am beginning to have back pain, like I did with Cooper's pregnancy, so I'm sure Shiloh will sit farther in my back just like Cooper did. Oh joy! How I loved having the back pain with Cooper! Her heart beat was 152 bpm. At my next appointment, at 27 weeks, I am scheduled to go back in for another ultrasound to make sure my placenta has moved up. My Dr. is very positive that it will have moved up by then. He said that it wasn't extremely low at the last ultrasound, so I guess I have marginal placenta previa, not complete placenta previa.

I am 23 weeks 3 days pregnant.

I'm wondering

Now that we have made our blog private, does anyone read it anymore? No one has commented since making it private. So either no one reads the blog, or nothing I write is interesting enough for anyone to comment about.

So does anyone read my blog anymore?

5th Birthday Party

We had Mason's 5th birthday party today. We were lucky enough to get permission to have it at the fire station Jeff volunteers at. I made this fire truck cake. It was my first attempt at decorating a cake. I didn't have the right cake decorating tips, so I made due with what I had. I know, I'm no Cake Boss. I think I'll stick to what I do best, cookies. Mason supervising the cake decorating process all dressed up for the party.
Cooper finishing off the frosting.

Once we were at the station, Jeff and Mason gave the party guests a tour of the fire truck and all the cool tools on the truck.

Then the kids got to sit in the fire truck.

Zachary

Mason with his cousin Hannah Mason's friend Brennan

Jeff-all dressed up with no fire to respond to. Ethan in the fire gear

Diggin' the hat dude


Cooper trying to walk in Daddy's fire pants and boots.

After all the kids who wanted to try on the gear got a chance, we sang "Happy Birthday" to the birthday boy and ate cake and ice cream.




Then Jeff took the kids on a ride in the fire truck.

The birthday boy on his ride in the engine.

Here is the first group as they were backing into the fire station after their ride.

Cooper in the fire truck, telling Daddy to turn on the sirens.

Then we all went back inside to open presents.
Nascar
A cool bubble machine from his cousins Ashley, Megan and Hannah

Happy Birthday Mason!

Today is Mason's 5th birthday! I can....not....believe....it....! Time has gone by fast with this big guy. He has been such a blessing to our family. He is lovable, caring, helpful, and funny. I love him more every day. One thing I love about him is that he will tell me several times a day that he loves me and give me a hug or kiss.

Birth
One year

Two years

Three years

Four years

Five years

We will be having a birthday party at the fire station this Saturday with his friends and some of his cousins. We wanted to have cake on his actual birthday though, this is the cake he wanted for that.

Strike a pose

Last night our YW group had a "What Not to Wear Modesty Fashion Show". There were 12 models who all dressed in ways that are not modest or other non-appealing "trends". We had everything from tight clothing (the model was wrapped in plastic wrap) to plunging neck lines (the model wore a really low cut dress, with an undershirt on too and put a (clean) plunger down her shirt). We had a fashion show hostess, who introduced each model with a clever little poem stating why these trends are not OK.

I was the tattoo model. Jeff drew tattoos on me with washable marker. Here are a few of the tattoos. Jeff is so proud of his work, he thinks he missed his calling in life as a tattoo artist.

Flame sleeves

Arm band with the name "Rick" in the heart. You know my ex boyfriend who I thought I was going to be with forever....yeah, we broke up two weeks after getting his name permanently inked on my arm.

Cooper and Mason had to get in on the tattoo action too. They got to have this cool tattoo put on their arms.

Potty Training

Just after Jeff was laid off, we decided to potty train Cooper. What other time would we have to potty train him together? Cooper has done really well! He had just a few accidents, the last one being almost three weeks ago! Cooper will now go in and go potty by himself without being reminded (even the pooping too sometimes). He has been wearing underwear at nap time for a week with no problems. We are now out of pull ups, so we are going to see how he does at bed time, he wakes up dry 6 out of 7 days a week, so we'll see.

Awww no kids in diapers. Finally. For a while anyway. This is the first time we have not had a kid in diapers in 5 years. It's so nice.

Crib

A while back I got an email from Baby Center saying that there was a major crib recall. This is the picture that was on the email.

Sure looked like our crib, so last night I checked into it further and the notification said that ALL cribs with tubular metal mattress-support frames from this certain brand were recalled. Sure enough our crib was recalled. In the email it said that the manufacture has gone out of business so to take the crib back to where you bought it and the retailer would either give you money back, store credit, or exchange the crib

This is what the notification said can happen: The crib's tubular metal mattress-support frame can bend or detach and cause part of the mattress to collapse, creating a space into which a baby or toddler could roll and become wedged, become entrapped, or fall out of the crib.

Here are some pictures of what can happen. Yikes! Not something I would want to happen while my baby is in the crib.

Today we took the crib back in to Shopko and the customer service gal tried to give us the run around saying: we don't handle recalls. Are you sure your crib is part of the recall? What is the model number of the crib? What is the name of the crib? (Me) I don' know, the crib is in our vehicle, would you like us to get that info for you? Well, when did you buy the crib? (Me) In 2005. Well we stopped selling that brand of crib in 2002. (Me) No you didn't. Then after re-looking at her recall notification she realized that they were selling that brand of crib in 2005. Gee it looks like IF your crib is part of the recall that we can only give you $100 for the crib. (Me) So I'm suppose to replace my crib with $100, I don't think so. Then she looks at our boys are says, well do you even use the crib anymore? Are you really going to need to buy another one? (Me) Yeah! I am pregnant and will be needing a crib in about 4 months. During this whole time of her trying to give us the run around she also called several different employees up to the CS counter to get their take on the whole recall. To say this lady was a pain would be an understatement. After she asked us again what crib exactly we had, I remembered that I did have the original receipt, so I asked if that would help her figure out what crib we had. Yup it would. She then confirmed that our crib was part of the recall and that Shopko was suppose to take the crib back. She said that they could only give us store credit, but since we had the receipt, she could give us the full purchase price back, not just the $100! Yeah for keeping receipts!

So this is the crib we got to replace our old one with. We still had to fork out some dough (but not as much as we would have if we didn't have the receipt) since cribs have gone up in price in the last five years and there weren't any cribs for sale for the price that we paid in 2005.
I am really happy with the outcome even though the lady was a pain. This crib is way nicer than the one we had and I really wanted a darker crib to better match the bedding I want to get for Shiloh's room.

Moral of the story: Keep your receipts until you get rid of bigger priced items like a crib, even if it has been 5 years since you bought it. It could save you some money.

Fire 9 family BBQ

Sunday was the annual Fire 9 Family BBQ. They always have fun things for the kids to do. Bounce castle shaped like a fire truck.

A pinata filled with lots of candy.

They also had water balloons for the kids.

Slip and Slide

Can I just say that my husband is so creative?! He came up with this idea for a slip and slide. He used some extra sprinkler parts and a tarp and there you have it, a slip and slide. We invited the Patsfields over for some fun. I'm not really sure who had more fun, the kids or the adults watching the kids trying to figure out the slip and slide.

Mason's first attempt.

Mason showing Ethan how it's done.

Ethan's first attempt.

Mason decided to try it without the tube.

Then it was time for some fun in the sprinkler.

Movement

Jeff felt Shiloh move for the first time on Friday night. I on the other hand have been feeling her movements for about a month. Her movements are getting stronger and more frequent. I am grateful they are not strong enough to wake me up in the middle of the night yet. I know that day is coming.

Ahhh....freshness

I love love love fresh fruit! Especially when it comes straight from the garden. Here's the strawberries and raspberries I was able to pick yesterday and there are plenty more that will be ready in the next day or two.

Shelf

We have had this shelf for quite some time now. It is part of our computer desk and file cabinet set. When we moved into our house, we painted our night stands and now use them as end tables in our living room. So this shelf became Jeff's night stand until we got our bedroom set this last February. Since February this shelf has sat in our spare room, empty and unloved. Yesterday I cleaned out a bin of pictures and other misc. things Jeff used to have in his office at work. I figured out that I had enough books, pictures and other things that I could display them on the shelf. Now the shelf sits in the room with the computer in it. I am really happy with the results and I've always thought that the spot I put it in needed something there.

The funny thing is that I don't think Jeff noticed it yesterday when he got home from work. I guess being away from home for 14 hours can make you a bit oblivious to everything around you.

Poll results

I am not surprised by the results at all!

22 for girl.

6 for boy.

What I am surprised at is that there are 28 people who read my blog. I would have been surprised if there were 10 votes. I really didn't think there were very many people who would be interested in what I blog about.

Boy oh boy it's finally...

a GIRL!

Her name will be Shiloh Crystyne Borders

We are totally excited to have a girl. I can't believe I'm saying that. I've never wanted a girl. Girl's scare me.

Here's some of the ultrasound pictures.

Gender party

As I said in my previous post, we had an ultrasound at our appointment yesterday and we were able to find out the sex of the baby. We heard about this gender party idea from one of Jeff's former patients. The idea is to have family and friends come over dressed in blue or pink depending on what they think you are having. Then when the time is right, or in our case, once everyone got here, we handed out cupcakes. Inside each cupcake was either a blue or pink jelly bean, so when everyone eats their cupcake, they will know what sex the baby is.

Here's the sign Jeff made for the front door.

All the cupcakes. The ones with chocolate chips on them were the two the big brothers decided were theirs.

Mason was rooting for a sister, Cooper a brother. Well at least we know one of them would be happy.

The grandparents and what each of them were rooting for.

My brother Jared. He's so cute.

Dana Lynd, Maryanne Watson, Rusty Lynd

Ben and Nicole McCombs, Rhiannon Leppert, Jessica DeGroat (in back)

Jeff's dad, sister-in-law, and mom

Jarom and Crystal Watts


And the verdict is.......

a GIRL!


While I was frosting the cupcakes, Mason told me that the Holy Ghost was told by Jesus to tell him that he was having a baby sister. It made my heart melt, knowing myself at that time that he was getting a baby sister.