Pizza Saturday

We had to switch this week to Pizza Saturday instead of Friday because of Trunk or Treating. I think it worked out better, actually. We had a lot more time to hang out and watch almost the entire movie (and it was a long movie) before Asher wasn't having it anymore. We would have had to start the festivities at 7pm if we had done it on Friday and that just wouldn't have been as much fun. We started off the night making Jack-O-Lantern pizzas:

Asher played with some extra dough at the table while we made the "big pizza" as JR would say:

After the pizza was done, we sliced it up and ate it picnic style upstairs on a Halloween tablecloth. We made a little bed on the floor with a comforter and lots of pillows (the boys LOVED it) and watched "Bedknobs and Broomsticks." 

{LEFT: The Guerrero's snuggling on our 'bed.' RIGHT: The whole setup. Please notice Asher on the floor!}

We ended the night with snickerdoodle cupcakes (the icing turned out much better this time!) and the boys ate popcorn. I have to add some photos of H in his Halloween costume!

I'd say from these pictures that Holden had a good time. I know I did! It's always a good time when the Guerrero's come over! Can't wait until next time.

-Little Wife Power House

The Gratitude Challenge: Day Four

Day four:

I'm grateful for my nephews.

{This was JR and Asher hiding so they could scare their Mom when she got home}

{Sterling and Holden}

I wish I had pictures of all my nephews but sadly, I don't. I love, love, love all of my nephews. JR, Asher, Sterling, Carter, and Jett. ALL BOYS! Can you believe it? My theory is that it's because Allan's mom had seven girls...but that wouldn't account for my side...who knows! My nephews are so much fun to play with. Sterling, JR, and Carter are such great big brothers. I always see them teaching their little brothers things they are already so good at. I can't wait for Holden to get older so he can become friends with his cousins. I know they are going to be great friends and the boys will be great examples for H. 

-Little Wife Power House

Trunk or Treat 2010

Tonight was our ward's Trunk or Treat. We definitely weren't missing it this year since Halloween is on a Sunday so we won't be able to go. Today was kind of an off day in the Anderson household. Allan worked from home today since he was still a little sick and Holden was just so happy that he skipped a nap! He didn't want to miss a second of Daddy time. So by the time Trunk or Treat time came around, H was not a happy camper. We still went and we were really glad we did. We got to hang out with Jenn, Babe and their boys and see some friends. I love Halloween!

{Husband and Holden then Jennifer and Superman...er, Jett}

{Maybe one of my favorite Holden pictures...ever}

{Me and H}

{Holden by the end of the evening}

Holden passed out about 20 minutes before we left and was seriously sacked out. I hardly ever get to hold him while he's sleeping anymore so I really enjoyed it. Holding a sleeping baby is one of the most calming things, in my opinion. He was a trooper even though he was a little cold and a lot of tired. Can't wait until next year when he can toddle around! 

-Little Wife Power House

The Gratitude Challenge: Day Three

Day three:

I'm grateful for my Mom.

Where to start on the most influential woman in my life? Let me just say that when I think of what kind of Mom I want to be to my kids, I think of my own Mom. She is the most kind, compassionate, giving, loving person I know. As she would say, "I'm the kindest person in the world!" (Inside joke - apparently her personality type is supposed to be the nicest personality.) She's always been there to bail me out. She'll always be there to bail me out, I know that. She makes the best food {ROAST}, she can sleep anywhere {a talent she developed over the years having 6 children}, and she loves unconditionally. She is beautiful inside and out - and hilarious! She's the "master of the universe!" Mom, thanks for always being there for me {like when I was two weeks overdue and I came to your house crying and you took me to get a mani/pedi}. I love you x a million and I truly hope I can be as good of a mother to Holden (and our future children) as you are to all of us. 

-Little Wife Power House 

The Gratitude Challenge: Day Two

Day two: 

I'm grateful for my husband, Allan. 

I couldn't have asked for a better husband and I really mean that. We are so perfectly suited for each other. We balance each other out. I'm high maintenance, he's laid back. I'm organized, he's...less organized. The list could go on. Most importantly though - we love each other to the max. He's such a great father. I know he's going to be such a great example to Holden as he grows up. It's important to me that Holden has a good father figure and someone who will always be there for him no matter what (besides me) and there is no doubt in my mind that Allan will be both of those things. I love how he makes me laugh when I'm grumpy. I love that he always puts our family first. I love that he always raises his eyebrows when he smiles in pictures and he rolls his eyes when I say, "Let's take another one with your eyebrows lowered." I love that he's the smartest person I know (and I honestly mean that). I love that he works so hard for our family (gone for 12+ hours each day at work and school). I love that we get to be together forever thanks to the blessings of the temple. I look forward to the future and what it holds for our family...probably not the ten kids Allan wants :P. I love you, Allan - to the moon and back. 


-Little Wife Power House

The 30 Day Gratitude Challenge

I have to start the gratitude challenge with: 

I'm grateful for my son. 

The first picture was one of the first times I got to hold my sweet baby boy after he was born. The second picture is one of his newborn pictures that we had done 5 days after he was born. I saw this idea on my sister's blog {My Montessori Moments - check it out if you ever need great ideas for teaching your young ones!} and she got it from another blog. I think this is such a great idea - especially with Thanksgiving coming up. I have so much to be grateful for. This 30 day challenge should be a breeze :P. The only trick will be remembering to do it every day! Our family will be reading it on Thanksgiving Day as well (thanks, Lori!). Hopefully I can get my busy husband to do it, too. Spread the word! I'd love to see this on my friends' blogs!


-Little Wife Power House 

holden's version of talking

I could listen to this forever. I love listening to him talk. He sometimes even "sings" with me when I sing to him. Holden has also entered the "soprano stage" where he squeals at a high pitch over and over again. It's kind of a game we play. He squeals, I squeal back at him, and so on. I'll do anything to hear that high-pitched squeal because it cracks me up :P. 





 Enjoy!


-Little Wife Power House

Pancake Breakfast 2010

This past Saturday, the Guerreros hosted their annual Pancake Breakfast and we had a blast! Lori really should look into party planning...she is that good! She made pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin/chocolate chip muffins...there were pumpkin donuts, juices, games for the kids - all of the elements of a great party! The rain even *mostly* held out for it! I'm not sure how Holden felt about the rain...

{Allan's makeshift umbrella}

{My adorable nephew, Asher}

{"Say Halloween!"}

{Lori is really talented!} 

{Some of my favorite people :P}

{JR popping a balloon to get his prize.}

It was a great time with family and friends. We can't wait until next year! Thanks for having us Lori, Robert, JR, and Asher! We love you guys! 

-Little Wife Power House

rollin' Holden

Holden rolled from his belly to back for the first time at two weeks old - it was more of a fluke, really. Gravity did most of the work and he hadn't done it again until 3 nights ago. I heard him crying and when I went in to check on him, he was on his back! I was a proud, proud momma. I was clapping and smiling and saying good job and he was proud of himself too, you could tell. He had a huge grin on his face and was just so happy. He's been doing it pretty much non-stop since then. Every time I go in to check on him, he's rolled onto his back. He won't sleep on his back, mind you. It's actually becoming kind of a problem because where he used to just cry for 5 minutes and go to sleep, he's now rolling over. I have to go in and turn him back over so the whole process starts over. I've had to nurse him to sleep a lot lately which I don't want him to get into the habit of needing that to sleep. Hmmmmm....what to do? 

I wanted to actually see the rolling, not just the end product so Allan and I put him on his stomach in his crib last night and BAM! He showed off for us! It was great to see how hard he was working and how strong he is. It's the best seeing him do new things and make progress. 

-Little Wife Power House

dun dun dun...cloth diapers!

This is probably going to be lengthy and completely my opinion on the subject. I'm sure everyone has different opinions and has had different experiences with them and I'd love to hear all about them! 

Before I had Holden, I was reading one of those celebrity baby blogs and she was just raving about cloth diapers. I was (of course) instantly motivated and wanted to try these once Holden came! I went to the Happy Heiny website, used my 20% off code from the blog and purchased six cute cloth diapers. I was excited to use them in combination with disposable diapers - I just couldn't see myself being a cloth diaper mom 100% of the time, and I was right! Here are the pros and cons I found this week as I experimented with cloth diapers: 

Pros: 

1. Save $$$ in the long run

2. Very soft on the tooshy

3. Last for years (up to 35 lbs)

4. Not wasteful - the "green" choice

5. Can be used for multiple children

6. Cute patterns/colors

Cons:

1. Hard to tell when wet

2. Not the best or travel

3. Wash every day

4. Bulky

5. Up front cost (I paid $100 for 6)

6. Messy (at least when they go #2)


Absorbent is kind of in the middle for me. They are absorbent but only once I double packed the insert. 

How often have I been using them? 

I've been using them about 50% of the time (sometimes more, sometimes less). It has helped me stretch out my disposable diapers purchases and I'm loving that!  

Want to hear about how I dealt with #2 diapers?  

I'm giving all of the details so beware. I filled up a bucket with water and soaked the #2 diapers for a while. A pair of tongs selfishly gave its life to the cause. Thank you, tongs. I just didn't want that much poop in my washing machine, made me cringe. Once it was soaked, I sprayed it with spray-and-wash and stuck it in the washing machine. The bucket was immediately emptied and rinsed out. The diapers came out of the washing machine with no stains! It was a miracle! Cleaning #2 diapers is the equivalent of cleaning an outfit that has fallen victim to an "explosion." 

Any leak problems?

Well, let me preface this with Holden is a super pee-er. He pees through disposable diapers and apparently cloth diapers too. I found that the times he would soak through would be during nap time or during the night. My solution: double packing the absorbent inserts. It makes the diaper the teensiest more bulky (they're already very bulky so it didn't really make a difference). Once I did that, I had no problems. 


Other brands? 
Bum Genius
FuzziBunz
I haven't tried either of these but I've heard good things about both of these brands. If any of you have used them or have used other good friends, please comment! 

Is it worth it?

Yes. I think if you are a SAHM that is home a lot during either the day or the evening then it is totally worth using them when you can. It was not nearly as much work as I thought it was going to be. Holden hasn't had many poopy diapers in them (as I was typing that he had a huge one...I jinxed myself!!) 

Here are a few pictures of my cute diaper model:

{Work it, work it! I love how he is "showcasing" the diaper!}

{Love the monkeys}

{See? Bulky.}

Are you pro or anti cloth diaper? 

Hope this helps! 

-Little Wife Power House

sensitive skin

{All of Holden's skin remedies}

This will be a terribly boring post for most people but this is something I wanted to keep note of to hold over Holden's head later in life :P Just kidding!


     1. Corn Starch: Thanks to my wonderful MIL who shared this 
        little trick with me. Corn starch gets rid of heat rash! 
     2. Olive Oil: for the top of his head and dry ears
     3. Baby Powder: tried this to keep the area under his many 
        chins dry but it irritated his skin.
     4. Lotrimin/Neosporin/A&D/topical cream/Oxistat: all for 
        under his neck
     5. Calendula Cream: for his entire body (minus his neck and 
        armpits)
     
Plus fragrance free everything. Holden, I must really love you! ;)


-Little Wife Power House

growing up too fast...

{Holden already has a goatee! And he dyed it purple! The wild years begin...:P}

{Silly time}

I don't feel like I have very much to write about today so I'm just going to post a few pictures. The only update I have is that Holden laughed out loud (actual laugh - not squeal) yesterday! It's times like that I wish I had a video camera (add to wish list). It was the cutest thing ever. We have to get him to do it again since Allan was at work...I was bouncing him on my shins and laughing at him and he started laughing too! 

{nom nom nom}

-Little Wife Power House

Halloween Party

Casey and Joe had their annual Halloween Extravaganza on Monday. Pumpkin carving, yummy treats, prizes...what's better than that? I love this time of year. We got to put Holden in his Halloween costume a little early! So fun. 

{Holden and his Aunt Jaimie. Both are decked out in their Halloween best!}

{Joe getting all of the pumpkins ready to carve. Their house looked great!}

{Husband loving on Holden}

We decided not to do the Zombie Party at our house again this year for a few reasons:

      1. I don't have time to plan it.

      2. Things are a little tighter in the money department 

      3. Last year's party wasn't the biggest hit (in my opinion)

Maybe next year if those things change and I have time to come up with fun activities for the party we'll do it again. It was fun getting together with friends but we basically just chatted in zombie costumes :P. We are going to the Pumpkin Patch in Flowermound this weekend with Mindy, Levi, Aiden and hopefully the Bigleys. We also get to go to the Guerrero's annual Pancake Breakfast Saturday morning! What a fun weekend I have to look forward to!  

I've been testing out cloth diapers all week so that's still to come :P

-Little Wife Power House

Lazy Sunday

I love Sundays! They are the most enjoyable day of the week, in my opinion. The Sabbath (to me) means worshipping God and spending time with family. Today was stake conference which meant we got out of church at noon as opposed to 4:00 PM! Yay! That meant we got to come home and spend lots of time together. I gave Holden a bath, we did tummy time while Allan read a story to Holden, we napped. Nap time with Holden is the best:

{Together now: AWWWWWW}

{"Enough with the pictures, Mom!"}

{"The Giving Tree was his friend?!"}

{"So that's what a tree looks like..."}

What a wonderful day. I would live days like this over and over again if I could...


Later this week: my experiences with cloth diapers. 

Happy Sabbath!

-Little Wife Power House

Baby Gap is dangerous!

I love Baby Gap. Their clothes are SO cute and great quality. Some of my favorite onesies are from there because they are just so soft and I don't have to worry about the fabric irritating Holden's skin. We went to Gap today to buy Allan some new pants. We had a Groupon for $50 and since the pants were 40% off (and we HAD to spend the entire $50), we ventured over to Baby Gap. I can never just get one thing but we did pretty good - only got two things! And boy are they adorable. Just look at this hat and mittens!

{I can't wait until it gets cold enough for Holden to wear this!} 

We also got Holden's Christmas PJs. I love cable knit sweaters so this was perfect. I know it looks huge, it's 6-12 months but the 3-6 was only up to 17 lbs and Holden is already almost 14 lbs so I have a hard time seeing him fitting into the 3-6 size come the end of December. Here are his Christmas PJs:

Adorable, right?! I can't wait for Christmas. I already know this Christmas is going to be the best one yet because we have Holden here with us. Every Christmas will only get better from here on out. 


-Little Wife Power House

Holden's 3 Monthday, Cont.

{Holden and I had a photoshoot on his bedroom floor. I'm in most of the pictures so I'll just post this one of his cute face!}

GiGi and Robert joined us on Thursday for dinner and cake for Holden's 3 month + 1 day birthday :P. We had to do it a little late because Allan couldn't get home in time on Wednesday. Just wanted to post a few quick pictures!

{Holden passed out before we even had dinner so we just took a few quick pictures and put him down for the night. This boy loves his sleep!}

-Little Wife Power House

cinnamon rolls

These are some seriously yummy cinnamon rolls. They take forever to make though, so set aside a few hours {They are sooo worth the time!} This time, I made them as far as cutting the rolls then put them in the fridge overnight. Nothing beats a hot cinnamon roll in the morning with lots of icing! Just set them out for an hour or so before you stick them in the oven if you decide to go the overnight route. 


BEFORE:

AFTER:

RECIPE:


Sweet Rolls:
Heat the following over medium: 
     2 3/4 cups milk
     1/2 cup sugar
     1 cup butter (2 sticks)
     2 tsp salt
When butter has melted, take off of heat and add 2 eggs that are lightly beaten. I temper the eggs (add a little of the hot butter mixture to the eggs before mixing them all in so they don't cook). 
Let mixture cool to 110 degrees (use a candy thermometer). 
Add 2 TBSP yeast, let the yeast mixture sit for 10-15 minutes. Yeast will bubble. 
Put yeast mixture in mixing bowl and add 4 cups of flour (use kneading attachment on mixer). 
Then add another 4-4 1/2 cups of flour. Knead for 8 minutes until dough is stainy sheen.
Allow dough to rise for two hours or until doubled.
Roll out dough to desired thickness (I did about 1/4 inch), brush with melted butter, sprinkle cinnamon/sugar mix. Roll dough up and cut into rolls with floss or thread. Let rolls rise an additional one hour. 
Bake at 400 for 15 minutes (my oven takes about 17-18 minutes to get the middle cooked through).

Frosting for Cinnamon Rolls:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
4-5 tsp. milk
     *I doubled the frosting because I like a lot!*


ENJOY! 


The Bigley's came to visit us (and to take a few cinnamon rolls off our hands) today. Sterling was so sweet with Holden. I can tell he's going to be a great cousin! Holden LOVED being held by Sterling! 

-Little Wife Power House