Double Date Night

I've been absent from the blog world for way too long!  The husband has three weeks off from med school, so we booked it out of town and have just been playing for the last 10 days or so.  It's been fabulous!  And we still get another week to play.  I'm not complaining.

Anyway, did you know that dates are super important to a marriage?  I really believe that.  But with two little kids, med school, family in a different state, and still being fairly new to our city, we don't get to go out very much.  Our dates usually consist of take out and catching up on a TV show that we both like once the kids are in bed.  I love those dates, but it is super nice to be able to get out of the house without kids every once in awhile, too!  Last night we had one of those rare opportunities. (Staying with family means free babysitting.  SCORE!) And bonus last night: We got to make it a double date with some friends who are actually our med school friends and happen to be from our same home town.

When you ask your 16-year-old brother to take a picture of you and your husband, this is what ends up
on your phone instead.  Plus about 20 more of the same kinds of pictures.  

So then you try to take a selfie, but your husband makes this face
because he feels "the opposite of manly" when we take selfies.

And then your brother takes a real picture and it just isn't that flattering.

We went and checked out the Container Park in downtown Vegas because none of us had ever been.  We listened to a jazz band for a little bit, ate some delicious BBQ, checked out the shops, walked down Fremont street, and finished the night with hot chocolate.

We listened to the band while we were waiting for our friends to get there.  I kept telling Tyler that I felt so out of place.  The whole scene just felt way more urban/hipster than I am.  I didn't hate it though!  And honestly, the band was good.

It's blurry.  I know. 

This is a really great picture of the band.

Once our friends got there, we got some BBQ.  It was delicious and pretty cheap, so I was happy!  We walked around the shops, but the only one that we really had any interest in was the one full of Disney paintings.  If they weren't like $1000, we would've come home with one.  But you know, extra spending money and med school don't really go together.

Maygen is a great photographer.

It was still pretty early and our kids were all sleeping, so we tried to check out this new Christmas place that had pretty lights, sledding, and other fun things.  Once we walked past the sketchiest bus stop I've ever seen and safely made it to the Christmas place, they told us it was only open to VIPs until Friday.  Rude!  So we turned around and headed back down Fremont street.

We'd heard that Fremont Street was supposedly more "family friendly" now, but holy crap.  It was not.  As soon as we made it to the Fremont Street Experience part, I felt so uncomfortable.  It was like 9 o'clock on a Tuesday night, but there were some super sketchy things going on.  Not to mention all the drunk people that could hardly walk.  I thought I felt out of place at the Container Park, but that was absolutely nothing compared to how I felt on Fremont Street.  We were there for about 5 minutes before deciding that there really was nothing for us down that way, so we headed back to the Container Park for some hot chocolate.  We hung out under a heater and drank hot chocolate and talked for a little while until it was time to go home.  It was nice to get some adult conversation and be out of the house for a bit.

One of my favorite things about cold weather is hot chocolate.

"Real life" started again before we could even walk in the door because baby Nora was already awake for the first time that night.  She's almost 16 months old and still not sleeping through the night.  It's fine.

Thanks for the fun night, Matt and Maygen! 

Having Kids Was Easier Before I Had Kids: "Chores" Edition

For real.  I genuinely feel like motherhood has come naturally to me, but that still doesn't mean that it's easy.  I could probably base this entire blog off of ways that parenting has not gone according to plan.  And I've only been a parent for three years, so...

One of the many things that I just knew I'd be so great at once I had kids was teaching them how to work and help out around the house.  You train them to do "chores" (I hate that word) from a young age, and then they automatically grow up wanting to help, right?  Maybe in some households and with some kids that's true, but it certainly hasn't been the case with mine!  Don't get me wrong, Em is really a pretty great kid.  But man, she has got one strong personality!  I don't ever want to take her strong personality away, but I so wish getting her to help pick up her toys wasn't such a battle.  It would be so much easier and quicker if I just did it for her, but alas, that wouldn't teach her a dang thing.  At least, it wouldn't teach her a dang thing that I actually want her to learn.  

There are a few things that my kids love to do around the house, so I make sure try to give them the opportunity to do those things as often as possible.  Em likes rinsing her dishes.  It's fine that it takes her forever to drag a chair to the sink so she can actually reach.  It's also fine that my kitchen floor has an inch of water on it when she's done.  She also loves to fill up water.  She's good at that one.

Check out those calves.  Dang, girl!

Even little Nora likes to help.  It's no secret that she loves to vacuum.  She thinks she can do it by herself, but she can't.  She helps for a few minutes, and then she just tries to give the vacuum hugs and kisses. While I'm still trying to vacuum.  So obviously vacuuming takes pretty much all day.

She loves her own Minnie vacuum, but she doesn't love it enough to keep her away from the real one.

Nora also likes to unload dishes.  I dedicated one of my lower cupboards to kids' dishes for this very purpose.  Now Nora just needs to learn that everything doesn't actually belong in that cupboard.

I'm still working on this aspect of parenting, but in my 3+ years of experience, here are some things that seem to work so far:

1.  Make it fun.  Easier said than done.  Especially when the jobs take forever and a day to accomplish when kids help.  We race or put on some fun music and dance while we go.
2.  Thank them for being helpful.  I think most kids are born wanting to help and feel needed.  Who doesn't want to feel important?
3.  Don't set your expectations too high.  They are kids.  Of course Em's version of cleaning her room isn't going to be the same as mine.  Heck, my husband's version of cleaning isn't the same as mine either.  


I'd love to hear what works or has worked in your family.  As always, feel free to comment below!

Car Rides Make Me Crazy

I love having kids.  I really do.  But sometimes car rides alone with them give me anxiety.  Or make my anxiety worse, I guess.

We had a great time having my brother here over the weekend, but we had to take him back to the airport on Monday.  After he got out of the car, I turned my phone up so Siri could guide me back home.  Em was sleeping, but Nora was not even a little bit happy to be in the car.  And I'd never been to that airport or driven in that part of the city.  I had to go on three different freeways in a lot of traffic, and ever since our accident when I was pregnant with Em, I don't do well on freeways.  At all.

So, Siri gave me my first direction.  Em, who had been totally knocked out, scared the crud out of me when she yelled, "Okay, Lady!  We are doing that!"  Then after the next direction, she said, "Aye aye Captain Lady!" in the sleepiest voice.  It was hilarious.  Until I realized I'd gone the wrong way.  Even with Siri guiding my every step, I managed to get lost and take an extra trip around the airport again.  Go me.  Apparently I started repeating, "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!" while I tried to find my way out of that extremely confusing airport.  When I finally figured out which way I needed to go, Em asked, "Mom, why aren't you saying 'shoot' anymore? Are we going the right way now?"  Rub it in kid.  Rub it in.  She's already a major backseat driver, and I have no one to blame but myself for that.

On the second freeway, we got stuck in some major traffic.  Just in time for Em to decide that she really, really needed to go potty.  Well, I was going 5 mph and had nowhere to go, so that obviously wasn't going to happen.  Nora was still crying, Em was kicking my seat repeatedly because "kicking is the only way to keep pee pee in", and I was practically hyperventilating because cars were everywhere and I still felt completely lost.  We ended up making it to Tyler's school (which was a little closer than our house) just in time.  He whisked Em out of her carseat and sprinted with her to the closest bathroom.  Thank goodness she did not pee all over her brand new (read:expensive) carseat.

By the time I got home, I felt like I'd run a marathon.  Not that I actually know what that feels like, but I imagine it's exhausting.  We had spent over two hours in the car.  A little while later, I managed to get dinner on the table.  Em said the prayer and made sure to say, "Thank you that Mom could do good and drive us home." She must've known that I needed that extra pick-me-up after our crazy afternoon.  How is it that little things like that make all the crazy stress just disappear?

Sundays Mean Treats

For about the past year, I've been more conscious of taking care of my body and feeling healthier and stronger.  Though I've still got a long way to go, there is no doubt that I've made great progress in the past year.  But, I have one major problem.  My sweet tooth is outrageous.  No, really.  Outrageous.  I blame it on my dad.  I inherited my love of all things sweet from him, but unfortunately, I didn't inherit his incredible running abilities.  It's sad, really.  Overall, I do a pretty good job at not having treats in our house.  Because if we have them, I eat them.  My self control goes out the window the second cookies, cupcakes, and the like enter my house.

The one thing I cannot get rid of is Sunday Night Treats.  I do usually try to make them a little healthier by substituting ingredients in the recipe, but last night, I didn't even care.  I made cookies, and I made them right.  And they were so good that I'm eating them as I type.  See what I mean? If I have them in the house, I eat them.  As much as I love all the deliciousness that comes with Sunday Night Treats, I maybe love how much Em loves to help even more.  Oh, and I also love that her "help" doesn't make it take ten times as long anymore! There are some up sides to my baby growing up.

This recipe is one my mom got from a friend a lot of years ago, but we just recently started making it in our family.  It uses oat flour, so it almost tastes like an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie (another of my faves!) with the texture of a basic chocolate chip cookie.  Plus, it uses a mix of semi-sweet and milk chocolate.  Divine, I tell you.  Absolutely divine.  

Next time you need some easy, homemade, delicious cookies, you have to try these!  

Ingredients

1 cup butter                               2 cups flour

1 cup sugar                                2 1/2 cups oats (to grind into oat flour)  

1 cup brown sugar                    1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs                                        1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla                               1 tsp baking powder

                                                  12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips 

                                                  4 oz Hershey bar (or just use milk chocolate chips like I did)

Directions

Cream together butter (softened), sugar, and brown sugar.  

Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix.

Using a blender or food processor, grind oats into oat flour.  (Measure before grinding.)

Combine flour, oat flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well.

Stir in chocolate chips and Hershey bar (grated).

Roll dough into balls about the size of a golf ball

Bake at 375 for 8-9 mins

If you make these, let me know how they turn out!  And above all, enjoy!

The Grasshopper and My Little BF

I took entomology my last real semester at BYU.  Hated it.  My professor (who was actually a grad student) completely traumatized me during the first week with a grasshopper.  Before that class, I just thought insects were gross.  Now they're gross and terrifying.  But hey, at least I can tell you how to classify them, right?

Fast forward to last week.  We are pulling out of our church parking lot after our ward Trunk-or-Treat party, and Em and Nora are buckled in the back. Tyler is putting our CrockPot in the front passenger seat so he can take the other car to go study.  I see something jump in the car when Tyler opens the passenger door.  I throw the car in park, and he starts looking for whatever I swear I saw.  Something jumps; I scream and jump out of the car.  (I totally left my kids in the car.  Good thing I put it in park.) Eventually, Tyler managed to get the culprit - a grasshopper -  out, and I managed to convince myself to get back into the car.


About three minutes into our drive home , Em says in a very serious voice, "Mom, we need to have a talk."

"What's up, girl?"

"Mom, you didn't need to scream like that.  That adorable little grasshopper was my friend."

"Your friend, huh?"

"Yes.  He just jumped in the car because he wanted to tell me a secret."

"Oh yeah? What'd he want to tell you?"

"He said, 'Tell your mom not to be afraid.  I'm just an adorable little grasshopper.'"

"Oh."

"So next time, Mom, you have to promise me that you won't scream like that.  Screaming is not necessary."


She had a point.  But it's probably going to take more than a three-year-old telling me not to scream to undo my entomology trauma.  I do love how our conversations are changing and maturing every day, though.  Whether she's giving me advice about bugs or she's asking to borrow my shoes, this girl really is my little best friend.

Why "Truly Tessa"?

Oh hey.  I'm sure if you're here, you already know me.  But I'm Tessa.  Once upon a time, I had a family blog that was basically kid updates.  I was terrible at keeping up with it; it felt like one more thing on my never-ending list of things I had to do.  A few months ago, I got the feeling that I should start blogging again, but I didn't want to spend time playing catch-up on my old blog.  I knew I'd give up on that again anyway.  I wanted to start fresh.  I also wanted a blog that was more me.  You know, for posterity's sake.

Will this blog include my kids? Absolutely.  I'm with them almost all the time, so they really are my life.  Plus they're hilarious and adorable, so there's that.  But I also want to include other things.  Like my successes and failures while I try to be healthy.  And my super important views on all of my TV shows I watch while my husband studies.  All. The. Time.  And new recipes I try or old recipes I love.  And my parenting trials and triumphs. And my favorite tips and/or products.  And any attempts to be crafty (which I'm not).  And so on.  This blog really will be Truly Tessa.  And I'm excited.  I hope you'll join me!