Ryan’s teacher approached me about getting him some speech therapy. He’s only a young three years old, but he does have a problem with a few letter sounds. He can’t sound out the letter F, he says ‘bake’ instead of ‘rake’, and his V’s sound like D’s. I thought this was probably normal for his age.

I was a teacher before I had Ryan, but by no means do I know anything about speech problems. I asked Ryan’s doctor if he agreed with the teacher. He said yes because Ryan can’t correct the sound when I coach him.

So today was step one of the process to see if he really does need to attend speech therapy.

The hearing test. This is the first step because if there’s a problem here, it explains why he’s having a speech problem.

Todd came with me for moral support since I wasn’t quite sure how Ryan was going to handle them testing his ears. He’s great with his regular doctor, but this was something new.

We prepped him on what was going to happen before we went upstairs to the Audiologist. He was okay with it. So far, so good, I thought.

Then we met the doc and she was so nice and caring. Bonus!

For the first test Ryan was able to sit on my lap and hold the monitor – so he thought that was cool. Another bonus!

The second test was a little more involved though. He had these ear plugs in each ear while sitting in the sound booth. She was on the outside of the booth, with her headset, where she could talk to Ryan and feed him sounds in his ears. When he heard a beep, I had to hand him a block and he put it in a container. Once again, having me in there and getting to play with some cool blocks made everything a little easier! You guessed it…another bonus!

After the doc did the beeping sound test, then there was a test where the computer would say a word and he would have to repeat it, if he could hear it. These words were a wide range of volume - from normal sounding conversation to a quiet whisper.

As a mom, that was just a sweet moment. I hear him talk all the time, but for some reason, hearing him say these words made me tear up! He had to say words like ‘cupcake’ and ‘hotdog’, but I’m not sure why those words made me emotional! It’s a mom thing, I guess! Silly me!

Both tests came out fine. No problems. Our next step is to have Ryan meet with the Speech Therapist so she can assess him. That will be in 20 days.

I’m just glad everything went so well today. The Audiologist said she wished all her patients were as well behaved as Ryan! He was so cooperative and pleasant! That’s my boy!

Me: “Ryan, what were you doing in the backyard?”

Ryan: “I was picking this pretty flower for you, Mommy!”

(Mommy smiles…)

I wish I was talking about the weather, but unfortunately, I’m talking about how the cold and flu season has taken over our family.

It all started at the end of December. Ryan started with a runny nose that wouldn’t quit. Then chest congestion invaded his body, followed by the stomach flu. Wow, now that’s something to talk about right there!

Ryan had the stomach flu for the first time in his life and it wasn’t pretty. Actually, my carpet isn’t pretty. I’m not quite sure what I was thinking when I bought him a strawberry soda from El Pollo Loco that night, but let’s just say I taught myself a lesson. Don’t give your kid colored beverages when he’s sick!!!!

He had thrown up many times that night (in the bowl I gave him for such instances), but for some reason when I went to put him to bed he didn’t quite think fast enough. Before I could realize what was going on, he had thrown up strawberry soda (and the rest of his dinner) on our year-old beige carpet and all down the side of his nightstand.

Was I able to get it all out of the carpet, you ask? Of course not.

Thankfully that was the end of the stomach flu for him and he slept peacefully that night.  We did end up visiting the doctor a couple days later since he didn’t seem 100%, but he just had a cold, nothing worse, so the doc couldn’t really do anything for Ryan. She did say he could possibly get an ear infection as a result of the cold, but that he was smart and he’d let me know.

Sure enough, he woke up screaming at two in the morning on New Year’s Day. Todd and I had only been asleep for about an hour when we were quickly awakened by his cries. Ryan really couldn’t be comforted. He was in so much pain.

We gave him some Tylenol hoping he would be able to handle the pain long enough to get some sleep until morning. He was in lots of pain for about three hours and then finally fell asleep in our bed at 5:30 a.m. Lucky for us, he slept in until 8:30 so we were able to get some shut eye too. That morning the doctor confirmed that he indeed had an ear infection caused by his cold. He was on antibiotics for 10 days and got a clean bill of health today!

He did not get away that easy though! He had so much wax build-up in his ear (apparently that’s a normal thing…who knew?) that the nurse had to use a syringe filled with warm water to flush it out!!! Ryan was such a trooper though. He didn’t look happy about it, but he didn’t complain either! He’s so good!

His cold managed to go away, but attending preschool 3 days a week has caused him to get another cold. Poor guy! Not only Ryan, but now Todd has a bit of one as well. Ruby managed to get a tiny one over Christmas vacation, but healed quickly. I, on the other hand, did not. A few days before New Year’s Eve I came down with a cold and had to spend a couple days in bed. I haven’t been that sick in a long time. Luckily I was better and able to go out to celebrate the new year and my friend’s birthday!

Hopefully Ruby and I will miss this round and we can all get back to our healthy lives again! Maybe I should pull him out of school for the rest of his life so he doesn’t bring the germs home? Ha, ha!

I hope 2012 has started off wonderfully for you! Even with all our illness, it is proving to be another great year already!

Once I started crocheting scarves, people began asking me if I could make matching beanies to go with the scarves. Unfortunately, I hadn’t tackled that project – until recently. I figured it was finally time to face the challenge.

Back to YouTube I went. I headed to my go-to crocheter, Teresa Richardson. In addition to learning tutorials on YouTube, she also has a website where you can get the written instructions. From there, I learned to make a crochet shell cap.

It was actually easier than I thought. Once I was finished with the beanie, I felt it needed a little something more. I found a flower on Teresa’s website, www.crochet-mania.blogspot.com, and it looked easy enough, so I decided to give it a try. You can view her flower here. It actually ended up taking me 3 hours to make the flower! Yikes! Anyway, I hope that next time it won’t take me so long.

Here’s the final product!

My first outing with my beanie…

Such a special moment!! Ha, ha! I’m not really a hat person so it did feel a little weird wearing the beanie out in public. After a few compliments from my friends and family though, I began to feel more comfortable about it!

I’m definitely looking forward to making more of these beanies. I’d love to make some other patterns too! Hopefully I can find some time to complete some projects I’ve been dreaming about - after the holidays!

My sister-in-law gave me this wonderful magazine called The Best of Fine Cooking. This particular issue consists of baking tips from the pros and several holiday baking recipes.

When I browsed through the magazine the first time, I was really only looking at the recipes, not the baking tips. As I sit here now and look for the second time, I see how much helpful information is packed into this magazine. It’s definitely a must-read if you’re into baking. This issue is only available until January 31st.

Last Saturday we were having a Christmas potluck at our house for about 35 people. One of the things I decided to make were these cute pumpkin cheesecakes I found in the magazine. They were very easy to make, but I did make one mistake. Below it says to make sure you don’t overbeat once the eggs are added or the cheesecakes will puff and crack during baking. That’s exactly what mine did.

Regardless of my error, they still tasted yummy.

These cheesecakes are great for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so hurry up and give them a try!

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Pinch table salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup pure solid-pack canned pumpkin
2-1/4 tsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 300°F. Line 12 standard muffin tins (approximately 23/4 inches in diameter) with foil liners and coat lightly with cooking spray.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl using a hand-held electric mixer) beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed until very smooth and fluffy, stopping to scrape down the bowl as necessary, about 4 minutes. Add the sugar, vanilla, and salt, and continue beating until well blended and smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently, about 1 minute; there should be no lumps. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating on medium speed until just blended. (Don’t overbeat once the eggs are added or the cheesecakes will puff and crack during baking.)

Transfer 2/3 cup of the batter to a small bowl. Add the pumpkin, flour, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to the small bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until well blended.

Divide the plain batter among the muffin cups (about 2 generous Tbs. in each). Then divide the pumpkin batter evenly among the cups (about 1 generous Tbs. in each). Drag the tip of a wooden skewer, toothpick, or paring knife through the two batters in a random, swirly pattern to create a marbled look

Bake until the centers of the cheesecakes barely jiggle when nudged, 15 to 18 minutes. Set the muffin tins on a rack and let cool completely. Cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 6 hours or up to 3 days.

Make ahead tips…

The baked cheesecakes can be refrigerated, covered for 3 days or frozen for 1 month. Freeze the cooled cheesecakes in the tins in heavy-duty zip-top plastic bags, or remove them from the tins and arrange in airtight containers.

Recently, I crocheted some quick scarves. These were the first items I made that were fast and it was a lot of fun! Nothing like some instant gratification!

These scarves took me about 3 hours, at the most. I get distracted easily!

First, I made one for my hubby.

I used a super bulky yarn from Michael’s craft store. The yarn is called Loops & Threads – Cozy Wool. It’s not the rough, itchy kind you can’t wait to get off your skin, it’s super soft. I really wanted a manly color, so I went with Granite. I used a size N crochet hook and did a half double crochet stitch throughout. The yarn was so thick, it worked up quickly.

Next, I made one for my friend, Jennifer.

The yarn I used for Jennifer is also from Michael’s. I just fell in love with this color for Christmas. The color is exactly what you think – Red. It’s called Loops & Threads – Charisma. Also a very soft and cozy yarn. I used a double crochet stitch with a size K hook.

These two scarves were a lot of fun to make. I need to make one more for my mom. I’m going to use the same yarn as Jen’s, but in black. Fun stuff!

Can’t wait to show you all my latest project!! It’s adorable! Coming soon…

A few weeks ago I had the urge to try knitting. I had some left over yarn from Ryan’s blanket, that I crocheted, so all I had to do was buy some knitting needles and then I was ready to start my lesson.

I browsed through my knitting book I bought when I was deciding to knit or crochet, but that didn’t help me 100%. I’m a visual person so I headed on over to YouTube for some knitting videos, since I needed some extra help.

I decided to practice the basic knit stitch. Things were going so well, I ended up with a scarf! White wouldn’t have been my first choice in colors, but I didn’t want it to go to waste.

I wasn’t very excited about the color and one part towards the end was a tad wider than the rest, so I didn’t think I’d ever actually wear the scarf. I didn’t even put the fringe on it for a few weeks! I also thought about putting some flowers on it, but I don’t know that I ever will.

I must say knitting is very relaxing to me though. When I crochet, I think I tend to have a tight grip and sometimes it makes me tense.

But don’t get excited knitters!!! Even though I thought that knitting was relaxing, I feel that I’m truly a crocheter. I couldn’t wait to get back to learning some new crochet patterns and stitches!

Up next I’ll have a couple scarves I crocheted for my hubby and my friend!

Happy Thanksgiving from my little turkey!

I want to start by saying – I LOVE this time of year!!!

Yesterday Ryan had a feast at his preschool and we were all invited. They started off by singing and reciting a Bible verse. So cute!! You can always tell who the older kids are because they aren’t afraid to raise their voices. Ryan isn’t one of the older kids! He just kept smiling and waving at us the entire time. Handsome boy!

All the parents brought food and we did a whole lot of celebrating by eating together! I made corn crispers and they were pretty good. Ruby wants me to make them again in the future. The school has a sign-up sheet and then provides us recipes to make for the kids, parents, and teachers. It turned out beautiful and the teachers did a great job decorating.

Here we are enjoying our time together. Ruby was lucky enough not to have school, so she came along too.

A little playground action after our meal. I just love how Ryan is looking at the camera from upside down!

Today we’ll be heading out to a buffet dinner for our Thanksgiving meal. We pretty much eat out for Thanksgiving every year. It’s always nice to have a home cooked meal, but nice not to have any dishes to clean up afterwards! I think I’m a little nervous to make a turkey for some reason. There are so many ways to do it and so I guess I find it intimidating!

Unfortunately, my grandma was admitted to the hospital Wednesday evening so she won’t be able to come to dinner with us. It seems like she always gets sick around the holidays or someone’s birthday. I sure hope she feels better soon!

I’ve been browsing the deals for Black Friday online. I really checked out Best Buy because I wanted to know why people were camping out in tents since Tuesday morning (or earlier) for electronics. They do have a lot of great deals. The sale actually starts today and a lot of the items you can buy online. I’m not sure that I’d want anything so badly that I’d camp out for it. I guess everyone is different!

Happy Thanksgiving!! We  have so much to be thankful for in this life!!

Wednesday nights Ryan attends AWANA at church where they memorize Bible verses and learn more about Jesus. Before church we were practicing his verse for the week. Here’s how the conversation went…

Mommy: “All Scripture is God-breathed…(2 Timothy 3:16)”

Ryan: “I got it! No need help!”

“All Scripture Him breathe through His nose!”

It was adorable because he was so serious! I was laughing and crying at the same time. That’s my sweet boy!

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As part of his homework he had to draw 3 pictures. It’s so cool to see him actually forming pictures when he draws now. There’s still a lot of scribbling, but he’s thinking about what he’s going to do first.

He had to draw Cubby Bear, a cherry tree, and The Most Delicious Peanut Butter Cookie Stand.