Teach Me to Walk

And Then There Were Textbooks

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:47:00 +0000

So I finally finished the application process for the Bachelor of General Studies program at BYU. I've been "provisionally" accepted to the program--to be officially accepted, I have to take and pass a Student Development class. ("Provisionally accepted" also means that financial aid doesn't apply. Heh.)

So I'm taking the Student Development class right now. I'm learning how to learn again! Whee!

But my study time is taking up what used to be my blogging time. That's why my blogging has been so spotty lately--it will probably continue to be, until I figure out how to re-balance my time.

We Would Never Do a Small Thing

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:38:00 +0000

"We are God's children, and if we ever got that through our heads thoroughly and completely, we would never do a small thing, we would never say a cross word. We would not use bad language. We would not criticize anybody. We would love everyone the way the Savior loves us."
-Marjorie Pay Hinckley

{photo source}

Halloween Link

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:23:00 +0000

I'll have pictures up pretty soon of our Halloween fun, but until then, head over to Kat's blog for some old-timey (okay, not so old) animated Halloween goodness.

Halloween '08

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:50:00 +0000

Yeah, I posted these pictures last year. But who wants to go looking through my archives to see them again? That's what I thought.

So. Last Halloween in review. We put Little Boy in an apron, gave him a handful of Sharpies, and let him have at his pumpkin.

He took it very seriously, as you can see--he always sticks out his tongue when he's concentrating.

And here's the two of us (Isaac didn't dress up). I was a pirate--argh!--and Little Boy was a clown. You can see a little bit of his costume at the bottom of the photo. No face paint for him--he hates gooey things.

This Halloween will probably be a lot like the last one. Light on candy, heavy on "scary" movies. Y'know, like "Ghostbusters" or "Casper". The really terrifying ones.

Oh, and we'll dress up. We have some...different...costumes planned for this year.

Little Boy's First Halloween

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:20:00 +0000

Lately I've been noticing the fact that--duh--Little Boy isn't a baby anymore.

So I was being all nostalgic and looking at pictures from when he was a baby, and I found one from his very first Halloween. He was less than two months old. My mom made him a little orange hat with a green stem on it:

The little punkin. Of course, he couldn't be bothered to wake up for the picture.

Little Boy's Uniform

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:51:00 +0000

Little Boy has two items of clothing that he wears every single day. One is the little hat from his birthday, which I mentioned here.

The other is a pair of Lightning McQueen slippers that I got from a clothing swap at our church. I was going to hide them and save them for Christmas, but he saw me walk in the door with them [he was supposed to be in bed by then. Heh.].

He literally wears them from morning 'til night.

And if we accidentally leave them at Grandma's house, well...I'm sure you can imagine what happens.

Dancing Zombies

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:36:00 +0000

In the spirit of the Halloween season:

Ramalama - SYTYCD Wade robson
Uploaded by 8chris8. - Watch original web videos.

You Have Not Failed

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:37:00 +0000

{source}

"Rear your children in love, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Take care of your little ones. Welcome them into your homes, and nurture and love them with all of your hearts. They may do, in the years that come, some things you would not want them to do, but be patient, be patient. You have not failed as long as you have tried.”
-President Gordon B. Hinckley

Halloween Recipe: Blood and Guts Potatoes

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:57:00 +0000

Doesn't that sound gross? And honestly, I thought this would be a blah recipe--it's just potatoes and mozzarella cheese and ketchup. But I made it anyway, just for the Halloween factor.

And man, was I wrong. These potatoes are delicious. Just trust me on this one.

From Food Network:

Blood and Guts Potatoes

Ingredients

4 baking potatoes
3 balls fresh mozzarella, diced
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup, plus more to decorate

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Prick the potatoes here and there with a fork and put them into the oven, straight on the wire rack, for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on their size.

Take the potatoes out of the oven and let them cool down a little before you handle them. Carefully slice each 1 in half and scoop out the fluffy potato flesh into a bowl, reserving the skins.

Put the diced mozzarella into the bowl with the potato and add the 2 tablespoons of ketchup. Mix with a fork and then spoon the filling back into the potato skins.

Sit the loaded potato skins on a lined baking sheet, and dribble over some more ketchup in a gory blood-dripping kind of way. Put back in the oven to cook for 15 minutes, by which time the cheese will have melted and the potatoes be warmed through.

I'm Back! And an Award

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:32:00 +0000

I've been out sick for the last week or so, but while I was gone, the lovely Kristin at One Day at a Time gave me an award. Isn't that sweet? I love Kristin's blog. You should go on over and check it out.

So here are the award rules:
1. You must post a link to the person who gave it to you.

2. You must pass it on within the next week.

3. You must post a comment on the blogs of the peopel you honor, letting them know you have given them an award.

And here are my award nominees, and the reasons they rock:

1. Pam, from Mom's Mutterings. I always enjoy her posts about her family's historical field trips. And, get this: her cat posts sometimes, too.

2. Kate, from We're Glad! Are You? She writes such heartfelt posts about her life and her family. I've enjoyed getting to know Kate through her blog.

3. Nana's Kitchen. Nana is hilarious. I honestly don't think I've read a funnier blog. And her recipes, well...you'll just have to go see for yourself. Mmm.

These Little Ones

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:24:00 +0000

{source}

“Never forget that these little ones are the sons and daughters of God and that yours is a custodial relationship to them, that He was a parent before you were parents and that He has not relinquished His parental rights or interest in these His little ones."
-Gordon B. Hinckley

Pickin' Punkins

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:27:00 +0000

Guess what--these pictures are from yesterday. I know! Usually I'm blogging pictures from at least two weeks ago.

Anyway, Little Boy got to pick out a pumpkin from his grandma's garden yesterday. (Yesterday! Yes!) He had three choices:

[But before we pick, we have to stop for a little cheeeeese.]

Eenie, meenie, miney...

...moe! We have a winner!

He picked the one with the cool scars on it. Awesome. This pumpkin will be one scary jack-o-lantern.

Little Boy Quote of the Day

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:19:00 +0000

Little Boy: "I'm gonna purple comb my brown hair!"

Shyness in Candy Land

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:55:00 +0000

{source}

[Side note: I remember playing this old-school version of Candy Land at my grandma's house when I was a little girl. Good times.]

Little Boy went to his best friend's [okay, my best friend's daughter's] birthday party today. The party theme: Candy Land. Awesome, right? It was pretty fun. All the kids had a good time.

Little Boy said he had a good time, too, but...he's just so shy. Whenever we're in a social situation, he spends more time with me than with the other kids. I've tried encouraging him to go play; I've tried not encouraging him to go play. I've tried putting him in more social situations, but it hasn't seemed to make a difference.

Here's what really bothers me: the fear that it's my fault. Maybe I'm sheltering him too much, but I don't notice it. Maybe he picks up on my nervousness when I'm around other people [family and best friend's family not included].

And I do get nervous around other people. I can remember being just as shy as Little Boy when I was a little girl. Did I somehow pass that on to him?

I'm definitely better now than when I was a kid, though. That gives me hope.

General Conference: A Couple of Notes

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:37:00 +0000

Wow. So does anyone else kind of feel like Elder Holland went on a rampage yesterday? And does anyone else think it was awesome? I loved it.

Also, I really want to start my own "Warm Fuzzies" jar. I have a jar, but I need to get some little fuzzy thingies to put in it...

Yay for General Conference!

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:12:00 +0000

I'm loving General Conference so far. More later.

Quote of the Day: Two Quotes for the Price of One!

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:50:00 +0000

Kaylyn: "Rrrrggghh! [pause] ...that was my soul talking."

Isaac: "Hey, crumb cruncher!"
Little Boy*: "I'm not a crumb cruncher! I'm three."

*Translated from toddlerese: "I'm nah a tum tunchah! I'm fuh-lee."

Bigger than Tonka

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:25:00 +0000

Our local grocery store hosted a Safety Fair a few days after Little Boy's birthday.

There was a fire truck.

A biiiiiiiig fire truck.

I thought maybe they'd let us take a few pictures of it.

But they let us go way beyond picture-taking--they let Little Boy get in the fire truck. And sit in the front seat. And look at all the cool gear and lights.

I don't know about you, but I've never sat in the front seat of a fire engine.

It was probably the best day of Little Boy's life.

They did not let Little Boy go up the ladder. Not that he wanted to--that was Isaac, actually. I got dizzy just looking up at it from the ground. [In fact, I'm getting a little dizzy looking at this picture. Yeesh.]

Frequently Recharged

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:16:00 +0000

[click for source]

"Our spiritual strengths are like batteries; they need to be charged and frequently recharged.”
-Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Our Puzzlers Are Sore

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:28:00 +0000

My parents and sister came back from Utah this summer with a jigsaw-puzzle version of this James Christensen painting. It's a doozy--the puzzle, I mean. They set it up a few week ago, but they haven't made much progress yet.

Most of my family like puzzles, but I stink at them. I'm just not a very visual person.

Some of the pieces. Did I mention it's a doozy?

I'm happy to say that I've actually worked on it a little bit. No one else was. I think they're scared.

My Grandparents Come to Town

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:41:00 +0000

So, the grandparents. I'll introduce you to them.

I only have a few pictures of one night--we went out to eat and the food took foreeever, so I amused myself by playing around with my camera. So they're not great photos. But they're better than nothing.

Isaac & Grandpa. They're probably talking about golf.

Grandma & Mom. They're probably watching Little Boy do something silly...

...yup. Definitely silly.

The Year of the Tonka

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:06:00 +0000

Sorry about the lack of posting. My grandparents were in town last week, and we were off adventuring.

So anyway, Little Boy had a birthday a few days ago. He's three [I know, right?].

Cupcakes = perfect size for little boys' hands.

He got his first balloon ever. He likes to run up and down the hallway with it, looking over his shoulder to watch it float behind him. He hasn't tripped yet.

And...there were presents. Including, but not limited to...

a little wooden train...

and trucks. Lots of trucks. Fire trucks and dump trucks. So many trucks. They're everywhere.

His grandma sent him the little hat he's wearing in that picture--it used to be Isaac's. He wears it all the time now. Pretty stinkin' cute, if you ask me.

Step Up and Be Strong

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:27:00 +0000

“Sisters, now more than ever, we need women to step up and be strong. We need women who declare the truth with strength, faith, and boldness. We need women to set an example of righteousness. We need women to be ‘anxiously engaged in a good cause.’ We need to live so that our lives bear witness that we love our Heavenly Father and the Savior Jesus Christ and that we will do what They have asked us to do.”
-Barbara Thompson

Like Oak Trees

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:29:00 +0000

“Faithful members of the Church should be like oak trees and should extend deep roots into the fertile soil of the fundamental principles of the gospel. We should understand and live by the simple, basic truths and not complicate them."
-Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

{click image for source}

Little Boy Quote of the Day

teachmetowalk@hotmail.com (Andrea) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:01:00 +0000

Little Boy, as I walked into the living room: "Mom! I'm gonna duuuuuuuust!"