Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas. We went to my mom's house. Here's Ezra in his Christmas jammies pointing out his hair. Also, check out his mad balancing skills (cereal bar pieces balanced on top of cup).Opening presents at home before leaving for mom's.
It's hard to exaggerate how much Ezra loves books these days. I found him in the middle of the hallway. He saw a book on the floor and had to stop to sit and read it.
My mom lives out in the country, right across the street from my grandparents' old house. While we were there we wandered around the land and went to a place that my mom and her friends used to call the "badlands" when she was growing up where they used to go and find fossils (her grandparents lived on that same land too). Her neighbor leases the land to raise cattle, and here are a few checking us out as we head to the badlands. On another note, we also walked back on the property behind grandmother & granddad's old barn, and found the big tank where my grandmother used to take me to fish. Fun memories.
Ezra didn't last long in the wagon.
Cousins: My sister's three kids, Bonnie, Kellen, and Noelle, and Ezra. This was seriously the best picture I got of them all weekend. Kellen and Bonnie are pretty compliant but the other two are a different story.


We found some fossils! Success!Walking back from the badlands



I found a lion and t-rex in the dollar clearance section at target for Ezra. He loves playing with them and especially growling like them.

Growl from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Toddling from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Kellen and Ezra from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

The second video is nothing special...just a documentation of Ezra in his toddling phase. The third one shows how much fun Ezra had with his oldest cousin, Kellen. Kellen was a great Ezra entertainer. They loved playing together.

January menu

Here's what's cooking in January:

So-good enchiladas (recipe included below)
Spicy Asian noodles with chicken
Cheddar baked chicken
Taco bar
Chicken fried rice
Southwest chicken & corn cakes with avocado cream (recipe modifications: use 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 2 eggs, and 1 can drained mexicorn instead of corn souffle. Add 1/2 cup shredded cheese to mixture. Dredge in panko breadcrumbs and fry in skillet)
Slow cooker beef stew
Jalapeno popper chicken skillet
Old-fashioned chicken & noodles
Pork & ginger potstickers
Chicken crescent rolls
Marinated flank steak
Chicken spaghetti (recipe below)

So-good enchiladas (my friend Amanda gave me this recipe a while back. I started sorting through my recipes and found it...she just had a baby so I am making this and bringing it to her tomorrow.)

1 can refried beans
12 flour tortillas
4 chicken breasts, cooked & cubed
2 cans enchilada sauce
8 oz. shredded cheddar
8 oz. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup

Spread beans on each tortilla. Combine can of soup, sour cream, chicken. Spoon 1/2 cup on each tortilla. Sprinkle cheese, then roll up and put in pan. Pour enchilada sauce over top, sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 35 minutes @ 350.

Chicken spaghetti
My friend Amy gave me this recipe. She hosted bunco at her house a while back and I was lucky enough to sub that night because Amy made this delicious chicken spaghetti. I'll be making this for our next college CBH Bible study when the spring semester starts. Sorry about the text size, I copied it from the recipe Amy sent me and I couldn't get it to resize.

2 sticks butter (just saw this...no wonder it's so good! Haha!)

Onion

Celery

1 cup flour

1 qt. milk

1 can cream of mushroom

4 large chicken breast

½ lb. grated American cheese

Spaghetti noodles

· Boil chicken, pull apart and save broth

· Melt 2 sticks butter in a large skillet.

· Add ½ chopped onion

· Add 2 sticks chopped celery

· Sauté until clear

· Add 1 cup flour

· Gradually add one quart of milk

· Add one can Cream of Mushroom soup

· Pour ½ cup of broth from chicken into skillet

· Add ½ lb. of grated American Cheese (I just use sliced sandwich cheese and tear it apart

· Stir until all melts

· Add black olives, pimentos and mushrooms if desired

· Layer noodles, chicken and sauce

· Heat in oven until bubbly.

Amy's note: I like to pour it into two different dishes and freeze one. It makes a lot and freezes wonderfully.

Almost 17 months

Here are just a few pictures and videos of what we've been up to lately.

Ezra is almost 17 months, and this month has come with a need to be with his mom. This is how we are much of the day...I'm trying to get things done and he wants to be held.
Ezra LOVES to read these days. He will come up to you over and over again saying, "Book? Book?" and bring you book after book and sit in your lap to read. He wants to be in the middle of everything we are doing. He talks and talks and talks, and it's obvious he has something to say, he just can't get out the right words yet. Soon enough though, I'm sure. He adds a word or two to his vocabulary every day, with the most used word this month being "pass?" as in he wants his pacifier.
I have some hand-me-down shoes in his closet from his cousin Kellen and some other friends, and Ezra found these shoes which are about 5 sizes too big.
Sweet picture that dad took when they were here for Thanksgiving.
This month (last week actually) brought Ezra's first real sickness (more than just a cold or runny nose). He had a low-grade fever for days and also had a stomach bug (which he passed along to us). After a few days of just extra clingy and fussy behavior, we saw his pediatrician who confirmed that he also had an ear infection. After a couple days of antibiotics, he is back to his happy self.

These days, Ezra has a lot of ups and downs. When he is happy and having fun, he is VERY happy. But when something isn't going his way, he is very dramatic and throws tantrums. Such is the life of a toddler who can't yet communicate what they want. Although most of the time he just wants something he can't have, like to get in the refrigerator and empty all the shelves or take all the DVDs out of the bottom of the entertainment center.

He has started to communicate even better. He points out lots of things, especially dogs and ducks. He can now sign and say "more," and he can also say "ice," "baby," "bath," and "whoa" which is what I say every time he falls or slips, and he repeats. Some words he tries, but isn't quite there yet--like "oosh" for "shoe." He also likes to clap his hands during "If you're happy and you know it" and do the hand motions for "patty cake." He also takes commands better, like if I ask if he wants to take a bath, he goes directly to the bathtub. If I say it's time for a nap (and he's in the mood), he gets his pacifier and little blanket and walks to his crib. This is great, except it makes it even more frustrating now that I know that he understands a lot of what I'm saying and deliberately disobeys. One of his favorite naughty things to do is play with the toilet handle, toilet seat, toilet water, etc. etc. When I say no he just looks at me and laughs. It is kind of funny, but I have to be the disciplinarian.

His eating is very sporadic as far as what he likes. Since we've gone through a few days of sickness, he hasn't eaten much, but his staples are pasta, grapes, bananas, cheerios, pancakes, waffles, animal crackers, blueberries, green beans, and every once in a while something I make, but he's leery of foods that are mixed together (like a stew or enchiladas or something). He does like chick-fil-a chicken nuggets too, which I guess if you are feeding your kid fast food that is one of the better ones. He is also particular about the order that we put things on his tray. For example, if we put his milk on his tray before his food, and he is really hungry, he throws his cup on the floor angrily. Yeah. That is a lot of fun.

One other funny thing that Ezra does these days: we don't have carpet in our house, just wood and tile, so if there is any dirt or crumbs on the floor, you can tell if you have bare feet. Ezra walks around barefoot all day long, but lately he has started to abruptly sit down and analyze the bottom of his feet to see what is stuck there. It's a little blow to my ego, that my 17-month-old is so critical of my housekeeping skills. :)

Here are some videos...

Eating with a fork from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

These next couple are taken on my iphone. With the iphone, you can flip the view so you can actually see yourself while you're videotaping. Ezra loves to look at himself in the view while I'm taping...that's why he's saying "hi" so enthusiastically.

Hi! Hi! HI! from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Last week our friends Jeff and Elena watched Ezra for a little bit while Chad and I went to dinner. Ezra and their son Aiden are a month apart and are buddies. Everytime Ezra sees Aiden he gets very happy. Here they are while Ezra lovingly pats Aiden on the head.

Besties from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Here Ezra is showing off his skills...signing and saying more, and also saying "ice" which I think he says so cute with a little lisp.

More ice from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

As for the adults in the family, Chad is working working working and schooling schooling schooling. He is very busy. The stomach bug didn't help the fact that he has a paper/project due the day after Christmas. They don't get a Christmas break at Chad's school. One of his classes spans the holidays. I have been working hard to organize and clean the house. I started the "fly lady" system and have been donating and throwing things away like crazy, cleaning and cleaning some more, making to-do lists and crossing everything off every day (today on my to-do list was post to the blog and upload videos. DONE!), and generally just trying to keep a more organized and clean house. It doesn't leave much free time but the house feels a lot calmer and less chaotic, and I'm able to relax in the evenings.

Merry Christmas everyone! I'll blog again after the holidays.

In lieu of a Christmas card

I used to do Christmas cards. I don't anymore. I figure that since most of the people I would send a Christmas card read my blog on a regular basis, y'all know what's going on in our lives, probably even more than what you would learn from a card. So, Merry Christmas from the Montandons! Here's a few pictures I snapped this morning of Ezra in one set of his Christmas PJs (yes, he has more than one pair of Christmas PJs...they're just so cute!).

16 months

Ezra turned 16 months a few days ago. He is turning into a little boy before our eyes. Here are some things about Ezra lately:

-He is pretty dramatic lately. He is in a clingy, needy phase, and if I am doing anything around the house and not paying attention to him, he is right below me, grabbing my legs and not letting me walk anywhere, wanting to be held.
-He is sleeping well...12 or so hours a night, still two naps most days. Lately he has been waking up earlier than I would like (before 6:30) so it has worked a couple of days in a row to go in and tell him it's still night time and to go back to sleep (it is, after all, still dark outside).
-He loves to say new words, but his favorite these days is "BYE" over and over again, especially if Chad is leaving for work or we are going somewhere.
-His little personality is developing...when we go out to the grocery store or run errands somewhere, he loves to play shy with anyone who wants to talk to him, squinting his eyes and smiling really big and then hiding his face in my shoulder, and eventually saying "hi" to them over and over again.
-These days he enjoys an audience. If he sees that he can get a laugh out of you, he will act really goofy and weird. I'm sure he inherited that directly from Chad. Ezra has been hanging out a lot by the Christmas tree, because the Christmas tree room is also his play room. I thought about not putting ornaments on, but then I decided it would be fine. Most of my ornaments aren't really breakable or something I would be devastated if they got messed up.
One day he just got in his chair and looked at the pretty lights on the tree.
My dad came to our house for Thanksgiving.
One day I was in Ezra's room straightening things up and getting his laundry, which is kept in his closet. He saw the hangers and the little shoe shelf and decided that would be a nice little spot to sit. There is a video below, but I thought his proud little smile in this picture was so cute.

A couple of videos: I tried to download this one with the videos from October, but I was over my vimeo limit so I had to wait. This is from the same trip that Chad and Ezra took to Palo Duro at the end of October:

Ezra's first hike from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

In the Closet from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Monthly menu-December

It's been months since I've posted any menus or recipes, and I'm sure no one has noticed, but I have decided to start posting them again, if for no other reason it is an easy way to refer back when I am planning another month's menu. When we got back from camp I was excited to cook again but soon got in a rut. I realized that I didn't like the menu planning part. I actually enjoy grocery shopping, especially if I get to be alone. So I came up with a solution: plan once a month, shop every week. I bought myself a dry erase month calendar at Target and now I write down not only each daily meal but also our other commitments. Here is my menu for December. Many of these you have probably seen on my blog before. Also, most of the time I don't write down a side dish--I just alternate between a roasted veggie of some kind (asparagus when in season, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc.). I love getting ideas from other websites and blogs, so maybe I can give someone else an idea to get out of a menu planning rut. Oh, also, I am going to put a star by the recipes that I think are exceptionally good.

12/1: *cheddar baked chicken (thanks Hollie for this delicious recipe!) and corn spoonbread
12/2: Slow cooker Sloppy joes and sweet potato fries
12/3: Pizza (I got an idea from my mom to buy the frozen bread dough loaves and use it as the crust; just let the dough rise as usual and roll it out to fit your pan or pizza stone. Also, we love Newman's Own marinara sauce on our pizza) I have instituted Friday as homemade pizza day in the Montandon house
12/4: Mexican crock pot chicken tacos
12/5: take-out for lunch, leftovers for dinner
12/6: Thai lemon beef served over rice noodles
12/7: Don't know yet
12/8: *Cheddar chicken chowder with biscuits (frozen)
12/9: Leftovers
12/10: Pizza
12/11: *Marcella Hazan's roast chicken with lemons and roasted vegetables
12/12: Take-out for lunch, church class party
12/13: Southwestern chicken and corn cakes with avocado cream (using the roasted chicken from Saturday on this and 12/14's meal)
12/14: *Sesame noodles with chicken
12/15: Potato bacon torte
12/16: Sticky chicken
12/17: Pizza
12/18: Spaghetti
12/19: Takeout for lunch, leftovers for dinner (are you seeing a pattern for Sundays here?)
12/20: Cayenne-spiked drumsticks (these are from a weight watchers cookbook and they are yummy. I couldn't find the recipe online so I will post it later).
12/21: *Creamy chicken enchiladas
12/22: *Marinated grilled flank steak
12/23: Orange chicken with brown rice (from the Best Light Recipe cookbook, will post recipe later)
12/24: Pizza
12/25: ????
12/26: ????
12/27: ????
12/28: ????
12/29: Almond-crusted chicken
12/30: BBQ Sausage (no recipe: buy smoked sausage, grill, use STUBBS and only STUBBS barbecue sauce)
12/31: Pizza

Happy planning, cooking and eating!

(16-month post for Ezra coming soon.)

Where's your bellybutton?

Where's your bellybutton? from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

November so far

November hasn't been quite as eventful as October was, but Ezra has been up to a lot. First, he has started learning to feed himself. It's messy, but he has to learn sometime. He prefers dipping the wrong end of his spoon into his food and eating it that way. Hey, whatever works. Sweet boy.
Sometimes, you just have to get the food in your mouth FAST.In the front of our house is Ezra's play room. Most of his toys are in there, and his chair and a small TV with a built-in DVD player. When Ezra wants to watch a DVD, he walks in the blue room and sits in his chair. He is mesmerized by Praise Baby and Baby Einstein, so I really have to be conscious about limiting his watching. But, it is GREAT for when I need to clean up in the kitchen or do any housework really, or if I need to make a phone call. He is silent.
Ezra seems to be doing new things and saying new words every day. At 14 months, he learned to walk, but it took another month or so for him to be really steady, and to be able to stand up again from a sitting down position without crawling over to pull up on something. He says lots of words, mostly repeating what we say, but some of it is identifying objects and people. "Hi" and "Bye" have become favorites, along with the waving. If he wants us to play with him (chase him) sometimes he'll say "Getchyoooo" or "BOOOO!" His comprehension is really good. I can tell because anytime I say anything about changing his diaper or brushing his teeth, interrupting whatever fun thing he is doing, he runs away from me.

BYE from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Ezra can read! from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Using a spoon from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

As far as the other two people in our house, Chad is super busy with his job and school. He is taking 3 master's classes right now, which he has never done before, so his workload is pretty heavy. The good news is that he just registered for his last two classes in the spring, and then in the fall he will do his "capstone experience," whatever that means. I am finding myself pretty busy these days too, hence the lack of blogging. There is always something else that needs to be done. I like the writing part of blogging, but the picture uploading takes forever and it's not one of my favorite things at all. Anyway, we are doing well. I am excited about the holidays and started decorating for Christmas tonight, although I will wait until I have more help to put up the tree. I guess I'll just put the ornaments on the top half so Ezra can't reach them.

That's it for now.

Trip to Tyler

We went to Tyler last weekend to spend time with Chad's parents since we won't be making it there for the holidays. Thursday night Chad got canceled at work, so we decided to leave in the evening, hoping that Ezra would just sleep the whole way. Well, he fell right asleep when we got on the road, slept for about 4 hours, and then was awake for the last 3. We got to Tyler at 2 AM and Ezra did NOT want to go to sleep. So Chad was up with him for most of the night, and I took over around 5:30. Then Ezra was up for good at 6:30. Lovely. Friday was my birthday so Chad and I got to go out to dinner while Gramme babysat. The rest of the weekend was spent with family and friends, and in between, Ezra fell and busted his face (Friday) and then had 102 fever (Saturday). After the poor kid had a couple days to return to normal, we jumped right back in the car and drove home. This was the 4th weekend in the past month and a half that we have been on the road, so we are VERY glad that we are staying home for Thanksgiving and not going out of town again until Christmas. Other than the rough start Ezra had, we had a great visit in Tyler and as always we wish we could have spent more time with everyone.

Ezra after his face plant :( (sorry, I forgot my "real" camera so these pictures are from my phone)The dump truck was a hit...anything that Ezra can put something in, and then dump it out, he likes.We went to Mercado's for my birthday. This little boy never met an ice cream he didn't like.

A couple videos...

Ezra tries to play the pitch pipe from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Chad's mom has a little chihuahua named Max that Ezra really likes. He is actually pretty good with Max, probably because the dog can outrun him, but even when Ezra gets close enough, he doesn't pull his tail or anything like that. Max is very sweet with all the grandchildren and puts up with a lot from them.

Chasing Max from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

The rest of October

I've been out of town every other weekend for the past month and a half so there is quite a bit to catch up on.

Ezra's spot...we make the papasan chair into a big bowl and he sits there with toys and books. He can spend a lot of time there, and now if we put an ottoman on one side and slide the chair up next to the couch, he can climb down himself too. On Halloween we went to Trunk or Treat at church. Ezra's costume was a hamburger. He did a lot better in it than he did in the dress rehearsal the other day (see a previous post). He walked around saying "hi" to everyone and taking candy from whoever would give it to him.
A lollipop for each hand...a boy after my own heart.
Ezra with his best bud Aiden aka Yoda (I think Aiden is a little jealous of Ezra's dumdum)The last weekend in October I went to Arkansas for my cousin's wedding and the boys were on their own. Chad decided to take Ezra hiking at Palo Duro. Though I know it wasn't his first choice, he documented very well. Thanks honey.




This video is sideways but I thought it was cute.

Solo hike from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

15 Months

Ezra is 15 months old today! We just got back from the doctor and he is 21.5 lbs and 31 inches long.

A LOT has happened in the past month. For starters, he is finally walking! He is able to be steady on his feet for a while before losing his balance. We're still working on getting back up without pulling up on something.

At 15 months...
--He is a lot more verbal. He can identify furry four-legged things as either "daw" or "kee kee," repeats "thank you" and Chad and I are pretty sure we heard him say "NO Ezra" this afternoon...wonder where he got that from? He also says "milk," "dadDY", "mama," and "hieeeee" (you'll see that in one of the videos). He "talks" pretty much constantly, from the minute I get him out of his crib in the morning. He is also great at giving kisses on request.
--Along with the talking, he points at everything. Many of the pumpkin pictures I took last week were of him pointing at something. It's cute to watch him point and talk, like he is really trying to show us something, or get us to take him somewhere.
--Ezra is a GREAT sleeper. He still usually takes two naps a day and sleeps for 12 hours a night. He is also much better about his flexibility. We can run errands or be out later at night, and he is so interested in everything that he tends to not notice that he is tired.
--I am 90% sure he is left handed. In the videos you can see that he holds everything in his left hand, and when he eats or if you hand him anything, he almost always uses his left hand. I don't know how early you can tell something like that though.
--He is so sweet and friendly. He always smiles when people talk to him when we're out in public and today he started waving and saying "hieeee" to strangers. In the past month he has stayed with two different sets of grandparents and has loved every minute of it. He loves Bible class. We still haven't gone through much separation anxiety or stranger anxiety, and for that I am thankful.
--He's still pretty picky about what he eats, but if you serve him non-suspicious food, he is a great eater. He eats pasta and string cheese at least once a day, lots of fruit, green beans or corn, waffles or pancakes, and scrambled eggs on a regular basis. If you offer him a food that he doesn't want, he will squint his eyes and put his fists up in front of his face: a formidable barrier to getting that weird food in his mouth.
--He is so fun to play with and read books to, but he is also great at playing by himself. His favorite things to do are pull all the tupperware out of that cabinet, play with his magnets on the refrigerator, and put small things in other, bigger things.Ezra in the morning...this is my favorite time of day with him. Ezra is a hamburger for halloween. This was a costume I found that didn't have a hood or anything he had to wear on his head, and when I tried it on him, he was okay for a little while...It's really a very cute costume. :)
Today I put Ezra in a sweater that my dad got for him right after we found out we were having a boy. I remember thinking, "It will be FOREVER before I will be able to put my little boy in this 18 month sweater!" And yet, here we are.

I take a lot of videos...most aren't worth sharing, but I thought these were funny. Apparently, Ezra thinks I talk on the phone a LOT (which I don't, because he is constantly trying to grab it from me) and that when I talk I say "Hiiiiiiii." So lately, he'll pick up pretty much anything and "talk" on it. Makes me laugh. He is a lot more into imitating us these days, and I guess being on the phone is what he picks up on from me. The third video is just one of Ezra playing with Chad. He gets so high-energy when he plays with Chad, and it is the cutest thing. He loves to be "gotten" and chased, and in this case peek under the chair. Enjoy!

Talking on the hair dryer plug from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Talking on the diaper bag from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

More playing with daddy from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Month 15 was the best month yet...I can't wait to see what happens in month 16 with our precious little boy.

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

We had a good day taking pictures in a pumpkin patch at a church here in town. Compare with last year, where I took approximately 80 pictures that were a variation of this: And here are this year's pictures. I took almost 200 and I realize I have a hard time narrowing down. I also realized I have a hard time putting the subject of my photo anywhere other than the left 1/3 of the frame.