The Story on Morning Glory

• Walking.....as in not strolling.......not sitting in a high chair.......just walking. 
• Being outside.....and walking outside.  But not in the grass.  Crossing the border between our concrete patio and the yard is like a entering into the abyss.  And it's only to do cautiously, slowly, and for very short periods of time.
• Banging everything......and walking around banging everything.  He loves to carry around his plastic baseball bat and bangs it on the floor while he walks.  He carries around his plastic golf club and bangs it on the floor while he walks.  He carries around his ladle and bangs it on the floor while he walks.  And if he's on the floor for a millisecond, he's found something to bang while he's there. 

• Throwing food over the edge of the high chair to signal to me that he's done eating.  I guess that's what happens when I decided that I didn't want him to throw food, so if he threw food twice, meal time was over.  Well now he just waits until he's full, throws a piece of pasta over, and looks at me like, "Ok, mama, done!"  And he is!
• Throwing toys, balls, puzzle pieces, blocks, books...ok, throwing everything!  Most of the time he throws something and then laughs soooooo hard!  He thinks it's hysterical!  And it kinda is...
• Feeding Vincent goldfish crackers.  He'll sit on the floor with his snack trap full of goldfish and place them very intentionally on the floor all around him so Vincent can eat them!  And they both love it!  Who knew the snack trap would be so bonding!
• Throwing the paci into the crib after naptime.  When he wakes up and we pick him up, he keeps his paci in as long as possible.  But we'll stand right by the crib and tell him to "Just throw it in there!" And he giggles and smiles....and throws it right back into the crib for next time.
• Watching people leave out of the picture window in the front.  As soon as someone walks out the front door, he walks right on over to the window and stands there until they've driven off!  And he knows that's where he can watch for Dada to come home.  Cutie!!!
• Saying Uh-oh!  And saying it a lot!  Uh-oh means pretty much everything.  It's not just what we say when we drop something.  We say it all the time.  Just walking around the house...."Uh-oh!"
• He knows exactly what things mean!  No, I'm serious.  If I say, "Jack, you want to go take a bath?"  He gets up and goes straight to the bathroom!  "Jack, time to take a nap!"  Straight to the bedroom.  "Jack, time to eat!" Into the kitchen! 
• Going to pull Monk out of the crib for a snuggle.  Jack LOVES Monk!  I mean loves him.  If you even mutter Monk's name, he heads straight for the bedroom, reaches through the crib slats, and pulls Monk out to snuggle with for a minute. 
• He does the same thing with his paci!  But he's sneaky about that.  He knows paci belongs in the crib, but every once in a while, he'll be in his room, all quiet...and sure enough, I'll walk back to check on things there he is, just sitting in there (ok, walking around in there) taking a few drags from the paci.

Raise your hand if you loathe store bought tortillas? 

Um hum, that's what I thought.  They're so not good.  They taste exactly like cardboard.

But, there is nothing in the world better than a freshly made tortilla, right?  I, personally, could eat about a million of them.  There is nothing like it!  Fajitas made on anything other than a homemade tortilla are less than appealing.  Thank goodness for Central Market, right?  (Strange, that's not the first time I've ever written that.)  It's the perfect fix.  You get your homemade tortillas in your own home to make your own homemade fajitas! 

Tonight I wanted to make fajitas.  Yum!  I knew all I had were cardboard tortillas in the fridge, so a stop to CM was a must!  Only things that are a "must" sometimes become a "can't" when you throw a 1 year old in the mix.  Jack's teething like crazy right now...random bouts of sobbing, refusing to nap, throwing his food to Vincent instead of eating it...good times.  So, basically he's eating only grilled cheese sandwiches and blueberries (because it's the only thing he'll eat instead of tossing) and napping whenever he wants to.  And today he chose to nap on the way home from the zoo.  Which was when I wanted to go to CM.  So, home we went and a conundrum I was in.  I couldn't do the cardboard tortillas.  So.............I turned to the Pioneer Woman. 

Ree Drummond is pretty darn amazing, and she knows how to do anything.  Including making homemade tortillas.  And she should.  She's amazing. 

I did a little search, found her recipe and got started!  I followed her directions, but halved the recipe, since I'm cooking for a family of 3 and she cooks for a family of like 6 or something.  I also used Crisco instead of lard.  I didn't have any lard on hand, believe it or not.  And...it...was...so good!  I followed her advice and rolled my tortillas super thin, but think  I might go a little thicker next time.  I used my cast iron skillet and it worked perfectly.  Once you are past the resting phases, it goes really quickly!  I probably did my half of a recipe in 5 minutes, rolling out one while one is in the pan.

The best thing was the soundtrack of the sobbing, tearless 1 year old who only wanted all of my attention...not wanting to take a mommy break for a few seconds at a time.  A 1 year old who didn't want juice, didn't want his paci, didn't want his talking bear, didn't want his magnet toy, didn't want Monk, didn't want the ice he's been chomping on to ease the teething.  He wanting nothing but mommy holding him.  And to be outside.  It was a rough 5 minutes in our house. 

But we made it through and the tortillas were fab and totally made the meal!  And I'll be making my own tortillas from now on, thank you! 


I stole this pic from the Pioneer Woman's website.  She does great pics and you should totally look at her recipe of pictures.

Here's Pioneer Woman's tortilla recipe:
Homemade Tortillas



Prep Time 1 Hour30 Minutes
Cook Time 10 Minutes Servings 16 Difficulty Intermediate

Ingredients
■2-½ cups All-purpose Flour
■2-½ teaspoons Baking Powder
■1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
■½ cups Lard Or Vegetable Shortening
■2 Tablespoons (additional) Lard Or Vegetable Shortening\
■1 cup Hot Water

Preparation Instructions:


Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large wooden bowl. Stir together.
 Add spoonfuls of lard or shortening (use 1/2 cup PLUS 2 tablespoons), then use a pastry cutter to combine the ingredients. Cut mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Slowly pour in hot water, stirring to bring mixture together. Lightly knead dough 30 to 40 times, or until it becomes a cohesive ball of dough and is less sticky. Cover with a tea towel and allow dough to rest for at least an hour.

Roll into ping pong size balls, place on a tray, cover with a tea towel, and allow to rest for another 20 to 30 minutes.

When you’re ready to make the tortillas, head a dark or cast iron griddle to medium/medium-high heat. One by one, roll out balls of dough until very, very thin. Throw tortillas (one by one) onto the griddle. Cook on each side for 20 to 30 seconds, removing while tortillas are still soft but slightly brown in spots. Remove and stack tortillas, and cover with a towel to keep warm. Serve immediately or allow to cool before storing tortillas in a container. To warm, nuke tortillas in the microwave, or wrap in foil and warm in the oven.


Helpful tips:

* Make sure the water you pour in is very warm.
* Allow the dough to rest, both after kneading and after forming into balls.
* Roll out very thin.
* Get the heat right on your stove: Too hot, and the tortilla will burn in spots. Not hot enough, and the tortilla will begin to crisp before you can get it to brown. I get my stove between medium and medium high heat; that seems to do the trick.
* Use a dark griddle or cast iron skillet to brown the tortillas.
* Cook just long enough to lightly brown the tortilla in spots; don’t cook too long or tortillas will crisp. You want them to be soft and pliable when you serve them.
* Finally: Have fun! And enjoy them. They’re absolutely scrumptious.

One LAST first birthday post...I promise...just indulge me one more day and I'm done!!

Today we went to get 1 year pics done!  Of course, last night, Jack was up from 3-5am and then decided to not take his morning nap this morning.  So I had no idea what to expect from him when picture time came.  He's working on getting some molars in and they've been quite beastly. 

But...we ended up with some super cute ones!!!!

 A few days out of each week Jeff gets to come home on his dinner break, which is just great.  Makes the day go by faster for him...and it a great break for me!  I've been struggling to figure out how to actually cook dinner with a curious 1 year old walker in my house!  You can't leave him alone...he'll get into something.  He won't stay put...he is not a fan of the exersaucer anymore.  And the only things that entertain him for longer than 30 seconds are the naughty things!  Like playing in Vincent's water bowl or sticking tiny fingers into plugs.