She's Here!

The Babe arrived at 11:44 pm on Christmas Day. She is 8lbs 8oz and 21" long. Mom and Baby are doing great! Here she is:

Pregnancy

Funniest thing I've heard this pregnancy:

• From a 5-year-old: "Are you growing a brand-new baby in there?

Most obnoxious thing I've heard this pregnancy:

• From a grown man: "When are you due? Is it twins?"

Halloween

Here is our official Halloween family picture! Normally Lincoln and I don't dress up. But this year he had a great idea for costumes: Lil' Miss went as Little Red Riding Hood, Lincoln as the woodcutter and, being rather pregnant, I went as the wolf who ate granny. The boys both wanted to be Clone Troopers from Star Wars. (No, they are not Storm Troopers!) Big T wanted to be Commander Cody and Lil' T wanted to be Captain Rex. Since I am not creative or skilled enough to make Clone costumes, I ordered them online and we have had them since August.

Lil' Miss really enjoyed Halloween this year. I thought she would put up a fuss about wearing her costume since the last time she put it on, she didn't feel it was complete without an army helmet. But, when it was time to put on costumes, she happily put on all the parts and pieces without complaint. She also got the hang of trick-or-treating very quickly. She walked right up to the door each time, holding out her basket.

The boys also enjoyed trick-or-treating. Lil' T was the best at saying the appropriate phrases: "Trick-or-treat" and "Thank you." There was however one house that the man at the door was a little scary. He was all dressed up with his face painted and he was yelling. At that house, Lil' T was hesitant to go to the door. When he did go, he placed his pumpkin on the doorstep hoping that the man would fill it for him. That was not to be. The man was letting the kids pick their own treat. After Lil' T realized that he would have to pick out his own candy, he got over his fear just enough to grab a candy and retreat. We only made it around our block before then the boys said they were tired and ready to be done. They're not hard-core trick-or-treaters apparently. Oh well, less sugar for them to consume!

The weather was surprisingly nice considering that it snowed earlier in the week. We didn't need coats over the kids' costumes! Yay! And I LOVE that daylight savings doesn't start until after Halloween! Someone was a genius! It was actually still light out when we started trick-or-treating at 6:00!

Here is a picture of the pumpkins that Lincoln carved for the boys:

They both had to have pumpkins that coordinated with their costumes. Lincoln is so good to be willing to create the designs that they have their hearts set on!

And that, my friends, is "the end" of this post!

'Tis the Season...

...for Halloween!

Every year during the month of October, I try to make a different Halloween-themed treat for each FHE. Here are my ideas for this year:

• Haven't you ever wondered what some of the foods mentioned in Harry Potter taste like? I sure have (and I'm not talking about Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans!) Here is a creative recipe:
  Butterbeer

  

12 oz. (one bottle) ginger ale
36 oz. (three bottles) cream soda
3 T butterscotch ice cream topping

Thoroughly chill unopened ginger ale and cream soda in refrigerator until icy-cold. Refrigerate empty, glass pitcher as well. Once beverages are chilled, in a small mixing bowl or tall glass, stir 1-2 oz. of cream soda into butterscotch topping till thoroughly combined. Pour all remaining soda into chilled pitcher. Quickly add butterscotch mixture to pitcher. Stir till just combined; do not over-stir. Pour over ice and serve immediately. Serves 6.

For a frothy sparkle, dip the rim of each glass in corn syrup, pulling drips of syrup downward with a toothpick. Then dip each glass rim in a mixture of colored sugar. Before dipping, spread the corn syrup & sugar mixture each onto a separate, flat-bottomed plate.


I think I will make some chocolate dipped pretzel wands to go with the Butterbeer. Heather Bailey also has a few other Harry Potter inspired recipes you may want to check out.

• Another idea that inspired me comes from Family Fun Magazine:

Forked Eyeballs

2 (11-ounce) bags white chocolate chips
12 doughnut holes
Semisweet chocolate chips
Tube of red decorator frosting

1. To coat a dozen doughnut holes, melt the white chocolate chips over low heat (and keep the chocolate warm while you work). With a fork, spear each doughnut hole and submerge it in the melted chocolate to coat it, then gently tap off any excess.

2. Stick a semisweet chocolate chip with its point cut off onto each doughnut hole, cut end first. Place the forks (handle side down) in a mug and allow the chocolate coating to harden.


3. Use a tube of red decorator frosting to add squiggly veins radiating out from the pupils.



I know they're a little gruesome, but that's part of the fun of Halloween, right?

• I have seen variations of spider cupcakes all over, including the ones we tried last year.
  Spider Cupcakes
  I want to try something like this, this time. Wouldn't they be yummy made out of red velvet cake?!!
  
  

• And last, but not least I think that Mousse-Filled Witches' Hats will be a Halloween staple at our house. (Honestly the mousse is my favorite part!) They have been requested again.
  
  Mousse-Filled Witches' Hats

1 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream, divided

1 cup milk chocolate chips

4 squares (1 ounce each) semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 teaspoon shortening

1 package (4 3/4 ounces) chocolate ice cream sugar cones

Halloween sprinkles

12 thin chocolate wafers (2 1/4-inch diameter)

1. For mousse, in a small saucepan, bring 1/2 cup cream to a boil; remove from the heat. Stir in chocolate chips until smooth. Transfer to a bowl; cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

2. In a small mixing bowl, beat the remaining cream until stiff peaks form; fold into the chocolate mixture. Cover and refrigerate.

3. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt semisweet chocolate and shortening; stir until smooth. Dip pointed tips of ice cream cones a third of the way into melted chocolate; roll in sprinkles. Refrigerate until set.

4. Just before serving, spoon mousse into cones. Top each with a chocolate wafer. Invert onto a serving platter.

Serves 12

As I was looking for pictures and recipes for this post, I found this site you might want to check out. I might have to try the Vampire Bites in addition to the other delectable treats I have planned!

It's a ...

I'm still having a hard time believing it! How perfect is it to have 2 boys and then 2 girls?!! I am really looking forward to using all of Lil' Miss' baby clothes again. Of course, I think there will definitely have to be some matching outfits added to the mix.

We've had a hard time naming this child. Usually it is decided just as soon as we know the gender. I think this time, though, we struggled because we really love Lil' Miss' name and we had a hard time thinking of one that is as fabulous! We're pretty decided now, but we've left it a little open-ended. We want to wait and see when she is actually born. So, when is she due? She is due January 9, 2010. We pretty much expect her the last week or two of December because the others all came 2-3 weeks early. Maybe she will surprise us, though and wait until her due date! Only time will tell. Hopefully she will not surprise us and be born on Christmas, though.

Lil' T was the only one that was disappointed that we're having another girl. Big T is such a sweetheart and has been saying since the beginning that he hoped Lil' Miss would get a sister. I think that Lil' Miss needs a sister because right now she has her daddy wrapped around her little finger and she is at risk of becoming extremely spoiled! Part of it is she is just such a sweet girl! Whenever she hears the garage door open, she runs to the door saying, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" And if it is Dad, she gives him the biggest smile and hug! Who wouldn't melt at that?

Summer's Finally Here!

It looks like the weather is finally cooperate and give us a little sunshine! I'm all for rain, seeing as we live in a desert a little moisture never hurts. But a soul can only live under cloudy skies for so long! The kids keep asking if it's summer yet. Now I can say, "Yes, it's finally here!" But don't worry we haven't let the weather hold us back. Here's a bit of what we've been doing:



I'm not sure who told Big T he could get big, but that's just what he's doing. He just finished his first year of playing soccer and his first year of elementary school. I swear that I'm not old enough to have a child doing these things! After all I still look twelve! He was just starting to get the hang of soccer when it ended. Ok, I confess, he's a bit of a dreamer on the field. It's true what they say about the apple not falling far from the tree (somewhere my mother is giggling to herself). But he REALLY enjoyed kindergarten. His teacher was fantastic and I cannot believe how much he has grown academically.

He still cracks us up, though. The other day he was looking for something in the kitchen. He found it in what he termed the "Crazy Ellen." What he meant to say was "Lazy Susan," but I think I prefer "Crazy Ellen!"

Lil' T is getting big, too! He just celebrated his 4th birthday, but I feel like he's already been 4 for awhile. He was sweet to share his Hot Wheels cake with his cousin, who was born on his 1st birthday. I think she might have preferred a girly cake, but hey, cake is cake! Lil' T is looking forward to preschool this fall. I'll admit that I hold preschool over his head saying things like, "Well, preschool boys can buckle their own seat belts" and "Preschool boys can put on their own shoes." It's probably wrong of me, but it seems to motivate him. His preschool teacher may not know what hit her, but hopefully he'll do ok.

Lil' T has always been an independent spirit. It wasn't long after we moved into our house that he felt perfectly at ease riding his bike around the block alone (unfortunately his parents were not at all comfortable with that considering he was only 2!) So his latest escapade should come as no surprise, right? While we were at Big T's kindergarten graduation, we wanted to get some pictures of the graduate outside the school. While Dad was taking those photos, Lil' T just vanished! One minute he was there and the next just gone! We looked all over for him and even had some help in our search. As I checked the playground, I feared the worst: he'd gone into the parking lot and been hit by a car. Little did I know that the reality was possibly worse. He had actually crossed the parking lot AND the street in front of the school to get to the van because he thought we'd left him. When I shrilly asked him, "You crossed the street?!!" he calmly replied, "I waited for all the cars to go first." Well at least he has some sense. And for the record, I have never left my children anywhere!

Lil' Miss is such a bright spot in our lives. She is constantly learning new things, which is what she is supposed to be doing. However, her new-found knowledge and experience comes with a price: she is becoming quite stubborn! She is opinionated about what she wears and is starting to want to dress herself. She's given up the high chair and is sometimes "too big" to sit in a booster. The funny thing is, she's not big at all. We still can't put her in a forward facing car seat. And I've been joking that hopefully there is not a "You Must Be This Tall" sign to enter nursery because I'm sure she wouldn't qualify.

I was worried that she wouldn't be girly because people told me that she'd probably be a tomboy with two older brothers. I shouldn't have worried because my mom says that our family has a "girly gene" and she definitely got it! Often when we get ready to leave, she can't go until she grabs her purse, even just to go out in the backyard. She's really into shoes right now and I love watching her dress up in my dress shoes. But her two brothers do have an influence on her: she enjoys playing with their vehicles and and eating an occasional shovel-full of dirt! I guess she's well rounded! She sure loves the boys. Her new word for them is "guys" and she just lights up when she sees them!

Well, this post ended up being WAY too long. To sum up, life is good right now. If we can just avoid that darn swine flu, everything will be great!

Miss Independent

I don't know if all third children are like this, but our third child thinks she is at least as old as her brothers! (Even though she is only 16-months-old, not to mention she is maybe the size of a 12-month-old!) She is in a climbing phase right now. Honestly, she is behind when the boys started to climb, but, you know, it might have something to do with her size. We're still waiting for the poor girl to be able to ride in a forward-facing car seat! Maybe by her next birthday! Oh well, her size seems to add to her cute-factor.

So back to her climbing skills: if you visited our home, you might think you were in a diner at closing time. (It does seem fitting since I happen to have a sign in my kitchen that, in fact, says, "Mel's Diner.") The reason you would make such an assumption is that we keep our kitchen chairs up on the table for safe-keeping. Really it's for her own good! Besides the risk of falling, I really don't want to encourage table dancing!

The kitchen chairs are not all she climbs. She also climbs toy bins, toilets, couches, church benches and also our swing set! Here is a video of our daredevil-in-training enjoying her newest skill:

We may have to discuss with her the dangers of drinking and sliding, however:

Post St. Patty's Post

So, what do you do with leftover corned beef? If you're "lucky" enough to have some left over, here are two ideas for the day after St. Patrick's Day:

• Confetti Corned Beef Hash (I must confess that I leave out the green peppers! That is a taste that, even though I'm technically a grown-up*, I have yet to acquire.)



• Reuben Paninis I'm actually making these tonight. I had my sweetheart cut some thin slices of corned beef last night (the electric knife worked nicely for this!). I'm going to put the corned beef slices on some dark rye bread with provolone cheese slices, sauerkraut, and thousand island dressing. Then I'm going to grill them in my panini maker. So easy! If you don't have a panini maker, a George Foreman grill works fairly well.
  
  By the way, I forgot to get thousand island dressing, but it is easy to make: mix together 1/2 cup mayo, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup sweet pickle relish and a pinch each of salt and pepper.

*Funny story: A couple of weeks ago, at Mutual, I was making sure all the young women had a ride home. Some of the girls were in the gym with the boys when I checked to make sure they had a way home. While I was in there, one of the 16-year-old boys said to me, "Wait, you're a leader? I thought you were one of the girls! How old are you?" I told him and he said he would have guessed 12. I don't even look date-worthy and yet I have three kids!

But there is a silver lining: one of my girls said "Wow! You're young!" So maybe she thinks I'm just a bit cooler 'cuz I'm still in my 20s! One other upside to having a baby face? When I'm 40, I'll just be starting to look like I'm in my 20s! Maybe Lil' Miss and I will look like sisters!

Luck o' the Irish!

I love to make holidays special and fun for my kiddos and St. Patrick's Day is an excellent holiday to have a little fun! My mother-in-law always did fun stuff on St Patty's Day and my husband has requested that I follow some of the same traditions. So here's the menu for dinner tomorrow:

• Corned Beef
• Boiled Cabbage
• Shamrock Jell-O Jigglers (these are creamy)
• Green Rolls
• Green Punch (Lime sherbet in Sprite)
  

I cook my corned beef in my slow cooker with enough water to cover it. I usually don't add the spice packet because the fam doesn't care for the flavor it adds.

The roll recipe I've linked to is a great one for the bread maker! It is a family favorite! I just add green food coloring to the ingredients at the beginning. When the dough is done, you form three small balls for each roll and put the balls in a muffin cup. They end up looking like a shamrock. This trick comes from my mother-in-law.

I think I may play some leprechaun tricks on my kids. This blog had a fun idea I may try! I also might make a craft tonight with the kids for FHE. This one looked fun!

Eat what Mom makes!

So yesterday we went to Stake Conference (and it wasn't too bad!) and the Stake President issued a challenge to all the primary children: "Eat what your mom makes!" To which Big T responded, "Oh, great!" (Wow, that does a mom's heart good.) The theme of the conference was "Love at Home" and kids eating their dinners will definitely aid in family harmony! The Stake President also encouraged parents to expose their kids to a variety of foods because who knows what they may have to eat on their missions. Variety tends to happen around here because I get bored making the same things over and over. I've been trying some new recipes, as usual, and I'm ready to report:

• Tuna Noodle Casserole: I loved eating Tuna Casserole as a child (I know it sounds crazy!) and lately I came across a new recipe that kind of mixes it up a bit. And the best part? My kids will eat it! The hubby really likes the hint of lemon flavor.
• Herb Crusted Salmon with Spinach Salad: I had no idea that I liked salmon! I've always been afraid to try eating it or making it, but this recipe made it sound so simple that I had to try it! I like it so much that I made it for dinner on my birthday. Unfortunately the kids are the biggest fans, but I am prepping them for their lives as missionaries, right? (By the way, I don't buy all the fresh herbs, I just use Italian style breadcrumbs.)
• Cheeseburger Chowder: I thought the kids would really like this recipe because it has "cheeseburger" in the name, but Big T informed me, " If it's in a bowl, it's soup and we don't like soup." Well, OK! That's too bad because they are missing out and this is tasty!
• Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole: A few weeks ago I was at the grocery store with the two little ones and they were giving free samples of this. Lil' T seemed to really like it, so we gave it a try. I haven't ever been big on this dish, but I really liked it and the kids seem to like it too. Here's the recipe:

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

3 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz. sour cream
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1 ½ cup Ritz crackers, crushed
¼ cup margarine, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Combine first four ingredients, spoon into lightly greased 7x11” pan.

Combine crushed crackers and margarine, sprinkle over chicken mixture.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

It's so easy, but so yummy!

Hope this gives you some ideas for dinner! Let me know how you like these recipes!

Lil' T-isms

Lil' T just cracks us up! He has such a great smile and loves to be silly and make the rest of us laugh. He says the funniest things, too. Here are some examples:

• We took him skiing on Saturday and he was not at all into it! At lunch he told us, "I'm not here for the skiing, I'm here for the eatin'!"


• After lunch he started to put on his ski boots, so we asked him if he was ready to ski again, to which he replied: "I'm going for a hot dog!"


• Later at my parents' house we decided to soak in the spa and Lil' T saw the spa chemicals and said, "Those are for the hot dog man. Grandpa looks like a hot dog man!"


• Then last night, he woke up in the night because he had knocked his covers off. He came into our room crying, "Big T is breaking my feelings 'cuz he won't put my blankets back on!" I went in to help him and Big T was sound asleep. I don't think Big T was trying to be rude.

Lil' T is also quite the songwriter. Here is his most famous ditty performed by him with a little backup from Big T:

American Idol, here we come!

Happy Birthday Week!

This is a shout-out to my amazing sister who celebrates her birthday today. This is our favorite week of the year because today is her birthday and Thursday is my birthday and Saturday is Valentines Day! Our mother aways made it such a special week and as a result I still love Valentines Day because of all the great memories. When we were little girls, Mom was constantly asked if we were twins because we were about the same size. She always told them, "No, they're two years and two days apart." The truth is that Julie was actually due on my birthday, but graciously decided to come two days before so that we could each have our own day and make it into a week-long celebration! Good work, Sis! I love you so much and I couldn't ask for a better friend than you!

XOXOXO

I love to make holidays special for my kids and I've had a request for me to share my Valentines ideas, so here they are:

For a special Valentines meal, I'm going to make a pizza, but instead of making the dough heart-shaped, I'm going to make the toppings heart-shaped! I did this a few years ago and it turned out really fun. I bought tiny heart cookie cutters at Roberts and used them on pepperoni, Canadian bacon, sliced mushrooms, and sliced zucchini. Here are a couple of pictures of my creation:













Cutting out all the hearts was a little tedious, but this year I may let my kids help!

I'm also going to make a fun drink. I bought heart-shaped silicone ice cube trays at Target in the dollar area and I'm going to freeze red Kool-Aid in them. At dinner, I'm going to put the red heart ice cubes in raspberry cream soda. My kids will love this!

For dessert I'm going to make the best dessert ever! Have you ever had molten lava cake? There are several restaurants that make it, but it's not hard to make at home. I use a recipe I found on Kraft's website. I love this cake because it is kinda like a brownie on the outside and hot fudge on the inside! YUM!











Last time I made them, I used custard cups, but this year, I'm going to use my silicone muffin pan and make a more kid-friendly serving size. Also you may not want to look at the calories-per-serving (and a serving is actually only half of one) for the custard sized ones! OUCH! But I don't know if calories actually count on Valentines Day!

So, I may be crazy, but I want to host a Valentines party for Lil' T this week. We're going to make individual heart pizza (made from refrigerator biscuits) and I'm going to make heart-shaped raspberry muffins. To make heart-shaped muffins (or cupcakes) you just put a marble or a small ball of foil in your muffin cup between the cup and the liner. I thought about making cupcakes for about two seconds, but as Big T's school teacher said, "Cupcakes are the devil!" They're just so messy and we're talking about preschoolers at this party.

For a game, I'm going to make heart-shaped beanbags out of red, pink and white felt. I haven't decided exactly what we're going to do with the beanbags, but it will definitely involve tossing. At the end of the party, I'm going to send a beanbag home with each child. And what's a Valentines Day party without Valentines? I'm going to have each kid bring some to share. We'll decorate red paper sacks with stickers for them to collect them in. Luckily I have a good stash of Valentines stickers from my scrapbook supply hoarding days!

One last V-Day idea I'm using this year: last month at Target in the Dollar Spot (man, I love the Dollar Spot!) I found small metal mailboxes. They even have little flags! I bought three of them, one for each child. So far I've just let the kids play with them and they've really enjoyed writing each other notes and just playing with them in general. But for Valentines Day, I'm going to put a special valentine in each of them just to let them know how much they are loved. I may also make my husband write his own special notes. We'll see!

I hope these ideas inspire you. I bet you are more creative than I am, so good luck and happy Valentines Day!

Not much of a blogger...

So, I guess I'm not a very good blogger. I go way too long between posts! It's not like I'm busy or anything. I mean 3 kids, that's not challenging at all, right? j/k! But I have needed a little time to get back on track after the holidays, especially memory-wise. I thought I was doing better and then today I forgot that I was going to watch my friend's little boy and I wasn't home when she brought him over! What kind of friend is that? I thought writing things down would help, but it only does if you remember to write them down and then read what you wrote! (Minor details.)

So it hasn't just been the kids that have kept me busy. I have been working on a few projects, several of them have been sewing projects. The first project that I recently completed was Lil' Miss' bed skirt. I've only had the fabric bought and cut out since last spring (I think). It took me awhile to find the ribbon I was dreaming of to finish it, which ribbon I found at Wal Mart of all places. Now I need to move on to the matching valance for her window. I already have the fabric and the curtain rod, I just need to do the valance. (PS My sweet sister made the adorable crib quilt for Lil' Miss before she was born)

Another recent sewing project was lengthening a skirt that I've had for awhile. Do you ever have skirts that are almost long enough, but just not quite there? I especially feel the need to set a good, modest example now that I am in YW. Anyway it's better now.

And one other sewing project that's kept me a bit busy was making invitations to our YW New Beginnings. Our theme is "Becoming the Girl of Your Dreams" and it will kind of be like a slumber party (the girls are even supposed to wear PJs), so we wanted to have the invites be little pillows. I got volunteered and it only took me about 3 hours to make 24 little pillows with pockets to hold the paper invitation with all the info on it. (I think it took me just about as long to get the paper invites the way I wanted them!) (The doll is just to give you some perspective on the size of the pillows. The other pillow color combinations were a little cuter, this was just the one that was left over.)

OK last project: decorating above my kitchen cabinets. Actually there was no sewing involved, really just shopping. We have the best home decorating store nearby! You can honestly spend hours there and still not see everything! And the prices are quite reasonable. Several months ago I bought some serving dishes there with the intent of actually using them for food. I really loved the color of them and left them out on top of the cabinets to store them. Then on Saturday I saw some square plates at Tai Pan that coordinated and I had to have them! Too bad I was really there looking for something for my mantle in my family room. I think I'm going to have to take another female (besides Lil' Miss) with me to fulfill that mission! Anyway I really love the way my cupboards look now. The blue really makes me happy! (I know you are all shocked because you thought that pink was the only color that I got excited about!) I'm not quite finished with this project. I think it still needs some greenery or something, but it's a good start. So the next project for the kitchen will be to make valances to replace the ones our home's previous owner left. I already have the fabric and an basic idea, I just need to research how to go about getting the look I want.

So there you have it. It's just too bad that things like cooking and laundry and changing diapers and cleaning and helping with homework, etc. seem to take precedence over fun projects. Oh well, it comes with the territory, I guess!