What the cowboys have been up to lately . . .

I feel like it has been forever since I have given an update on all of my little rascals (even though I just updated you about Leo like two days ago). Anyway here is what has been going on lately:

LEO CURTIS

• We have no idea what color is eyes are going to be. Benson and Griffin both had very blue eyes by six months, but Leo's change on a daily basis-I guess we shall see


• Leo has lots of blond hair on the sides and the top of his head-but virtually none in the back. I guess we may have to shave him one more time. Perhaps more will grow in once he learns to sit up.


• He can roll from his tummy to his back and back to tummy. Smart kid.


• He loves baby food, he eats WAY more than the other boys ever did.


• He is almost exclusively bottle fed now, sad huh? He loves the bottle and tries to hold it himself sometimes.


• He loves to suck on his feet.


• Still no teeth, but I am thinking any day now.


• We are head over heels for this kid.

GRIFFIN BISHOP

• This kid is nutso. We say he is either over the moon happy or the world is ending. Ahh the joys of a three year old right?


• He has recently developed fear. The other night he was screaming bloody murder in his bed because he claimed there was a snake outside. Turns out it was the hose, I guess that was a pretty legitimate fear.


• He still won't pedal his bike, even though he knows how. He says he prefers to "step" instead.


• This kid lives to visit the Dinosaur Museum and the Farm.


• He can dress himself and undress himself and put his shoes on! Hallelujah!

He learned how to smile normal in pictures too! I guess we better get family pictures again!

BENSON KEITH

• He is four. I am not that crazy about age four.


• He constantly tells me things that I need to buy that are on tv. This morning it was "Mom, you need the Cedar Pro Mist Mop. It will really help our floors shine."


• We are practicing riding a bike without training wheels if that isn't the craziest thing you have ever heard!? Am I seriously old enough to have a kid be doing that? (Don't answer that).


• He can ride a scooter really well.


• He has learned how to lie and throw really awesome fits. Gotta love that one eh?


• This child also lives for our visits to Farm Country. We go at least once a week and he loves to milk the cows. A future farmer in training I hope.
  
  

Benson has also started playing soccer. His team is called the Transformers. He is a pretty good little player. Their first game was the cutest thing I have ever seen and I was pretty shocked at how well they did. He lives for soccer now and I can convince him to do anything or eat anything if I tell him it will help him be a better soccer player. For the record, he is wearing shorts in this pic-even though you can't really tell. :)

I sure love these boys but I think we are all suffering from a severe case of cabin fever. We need SUN! I am really looking forward to the summer and playing my guts out with these kids. No doubt that we will spend lots of time at the farm!!!!

Making Baby Food

I got a few comments from ya'll about how to make homemade baby food. I am certainly not an expert, and often wonder how anyone ever parented without google. Either way, here is what I do to make delicious baby food for Baby Leo (and it is delicious, I have tried them all).

So far I have made, apples, plums, bananas, pears, avocado, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes and today I will be making green beans. Here are the steps I take . . .

1. Buy produce/supplies. You will need the fresh produce of your choice. Some items like peas or beans can be frozen. This will save you the nasty step of extracting the vegetables. Pay attention to price. Sometimes with out of season fruit, it may actually be cheaper to purchase a few cans of baby food, especially if it isn't your baby's favorite. You will also need freezer safe ziploc bags and several ice cube trays. You also need a masher/food processor/blender/mill of some sort. I have the kitchen food processor/blender-one of my favorite kitchen items.

2. Prepare your produce. Peel, slice, whatever the food requires. And then cook the food. Some produce (i.e. bananas, avocado, plums, peaches) do not require cooking. You can steam/microwave/boil. With boiling or microwaving, be sure the water just barely covers the fruit/veggies you are cooking. I do something different with each, and if I am making a bunch at the same time, this becomes a time saver. You can be microwaving sweet potatoes or frozen peas, steaming carrots, boiling pears and processing bananas all at the same time.
3. After the food has been peeled and cooked- it is time to process it. Add it to your food processor with water-if you used water to prep or cook the food, use that water in your processor. Just add a little water at first and add more to get to desired consistency. If you will be adding rice cereal, you may want to make it more runny. But you can also add water when you serve it later. Also, don't be afraid to add spices. If your baby has been breastfed, they are already experiencing spices anyway. I added cumin and cinnamon to the sweet potatoes, cinnamon to the pears, onion powder and a pinch of salt to the peas and avocado. Use your imagination, but don't overdo it.

4. Next pour the processed food into ice cub trays and freeze it. You can mix if you want, but I prefer to keep them separate and then mix when I serve it to Baby Leo. Make sure it freezes all the way before trying to take them out, but try not to let them go over night because they will get a little freezer burned.

5. Once frozen, take them out of the trays and place them in a freezer safe plastic bag. Write what is on the bag and the date. Most of the websites I checked said that the food would be safe for four months in the freezer. The best part about using ice cube trays is you get a smaller portion. This is perfect for your babe who is just learning how to eat food. Also perfect for the baby that is a little bit picky. Say your baby's favorite food is bananas (like Leo), you can add a little banana to one of their least favorite (like peas for example).

6. When it is time to feed baby, take out the desired amount and microwave it. I microwave 3 cubes for about 45 seconds. Some foods heat up differently, so be careful of that. Always check the temperature and stir it well so there are no hot spots. Add more water if it needs to be thinner, or rice cereal or whatever. Place a bib on that baby and let them go to town!

I think that is all. Hopefully you give it a try. It will save you a ton of money (It cost me 78 cents to make 25 servings of organic carrots for Leo) and is even a fun project to get your older kids involved in. If you do it, let me know how it goes!

Also a Baby Leo update:

Leo is almost six months old. He can roll from his back to his tummy, but is generally content to just roll side to side. He loves toys and is learning how to blow bubbles. He is constantly making sounds, baba, mamama, and clicking. Sooooooooooooo cute. He is on his last day of antibiotics for his last ear infection. I took him into his well check and he had an ear infection-I didn't even know he is such a good boy. He has a mild allergy to pennicillin-so he has to take a different antibiotic that cost 3 times as much. Awesome. He weighs 13 lbs, 2 oz which puts him in the 5th percentile, so he is a tiny tike but is the 80th percentile for height. Since taking his meds though, his appetite has tripled so I am thinking he will start chunking up now. He takes two long naps during the day and one short one before bed. He sleeps from 7:30 pm to 7:00 am. He loves to get his diaper changed and look at himself in the mirror. His favorite food is bananas and plums. We just love our little guy and are so blessed to have him in our family. He is such a calm and content baby, he makes me want another one, dangit!

Shopping!!!!!!

This past weekend was our Annual Poulsen Girls Shopping Trip in Park City. Yes, I capitalized it because it is a monumental event and something I look forward to all year. We generally do this in late fall and buy clothes for the winter, but since we haven't had a trip in two years (Mari got married one year and I was extremely pregnant last year) , my mom decided we better do one in the Spring and we all agreed. So the Boise gals drove down to Utah and we met up in my swagger wagon to drive to PC to do some damage at the outlets. Leo joined our excursion this year, I don't think any of the girls minded. He is pretty awesome.

The first night we shopped the "upper shops," well, basically we spent like 10 hours in Banana Republic. We laughed a lot. For the record, I did not buy the hat I am wearing in this picture.

I almost bought this one though.

My sister Meesh is so hot.

Meesh's goal on the trip was to buy items she wouldn't normally buy and also not to spend more than $10.00 on any item. She succeeded. She bought one shirt with jewelry drawn on it (a necklace). Hilarious. She did not purchase this awesome shirt though, I don't know why. Truth is she could buy ANYTHING and look good in it, it's pretty disgusting really.

After shopping, we headed to Cisero's on Main Street. It is a delicious Italian restaurant. We all order something different, eat it for two minutes and then pass our plates so we all get a taste of everything. We have been doing this for years. Here is Garth, I mean me, enjoying the pear salad. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Wendy really liked the ravioli. She sure eats like a pig don't you think?

Meesh and Marianne enjoying the Cizookie. It's a giant cookie with ice cream and it's delicious.

Ooops. How did this picture get in here twice?

Grandma feeding Baby Leo some whipped cream. Oh man, I could eat that kid up.

The best part about this restaurant is it is almost always empty so you can be as loud as you want. Always you get to write on the tablecloths. And, there is a club downstairs so you get to eat dinner to the base thumping! Ye-ya!!

Mari has the hook-up with sweet houses in PC, so we stayed in a ginormous house that had sweet pink carpet. The best part was the hottub. Wen, Meesh, and I even ventured out into the snow and back in the tub. It was freezing and treacherous, but we are just cool like that.

I figured out how to work my self timer and we had fun taking pictures with it. I am one lucky gal to have so many great women in my life.

See the pink carpet? Here we are getting ready for day two of shopping. We shopped all day and got some killer deals. I may or may not have ended up with the most bags at the end of the day?! Hey, I just had a baby and need some non-maternity clothes. We also hit up Cafe Rio for lunch.

Yay for Girls Trips! Aside from Meesh's stupid phone not being able to sync with the Bluetooth in my van (she had the soundtrack downloaded for the weekend), the weekend was a giant success. Plus I didn't even wet my pants this time, so that was good. I love my sisters. And my momma too.