Yahtzee cards and cooking lessons

Another family game night.  It's been so fun to count on this every Sunday night after dinner.  We even have our favorite games that we tend to play for the occasion.  The Yahtzee card game is one of those.

For Christmas Santa brought each of the kids a different card game.  We have Yahtzee, Sorry, and Pictionary.  They are all actually really fun!  The kids especially love them.  We've pulled each out a few times now.

Britta and River typically will join either Cameron or myself on a team since they're not quite to the point where they can play solo.  It's actually pretty fun that way anyhow.

I love that the games are relatively quick, and have easy setup and cleanup.  The concepts are really simple, too.  Madalyn is pretty good!  Her strategy is evolving.  It's fun to watch her play.

For the treat this week Cam let the kids help make cookies.  We had a lesson in following directions though when Maddy put 1 1/4 c flour into the bowl instead of 2 1/4 c.  Thankfully only one dozen were baked before we realized the mistake.  Unfortunately, adding more flour after the fact made the cookies taste like flour.  Sigh.  Oh well, the first dozen tasted like butter.  They were impossible to pick up, but made relatively tasty cookie balls.

I have such a delightful family.  I look forward to game night, and movie night, and family road trips.  I love finding excuses to spend time all together.  There are so many fun memories, and even more to come!  I'm glad my kids still love it, too!

Twirly Apple

One of the gifts I received for my birthday was from my sister Heather.  She got me an apple corer slicer peeler.  It's awesome.  The whole family loves it!

It's so easy, too!  You just stick the apple on the end of the whirly twirly pole and turn the fun knob.  Before you know what's happened, your apple is all cored and twisty sliced and ready to eat!











My kids especially enjoy it and ask for twirly apples all the time!  I bought a big package from Costco, but am sure I'll be resupplying the fruit tray before too long.  What a great, healthy snack, too!

River, my ultimate apple lover, is probably the most delighted.  I have been surprised though that the girls seem to get more excited about twirly apples than they ever did about regular sliced ones.  It's amazing what a little twist can do for food.

Thanks Heather!  What a fabulous gift!

Happy Birthday to Me!

This year I turned the big 3-0.  Frankly, I was pretty indifferent about the whole thing, and am leaning towards being pretty content with the label of being "in my 30s" now.  I'm pregnant with my fourth child.  I deserve all 30 years I have.

Cam and I have been working on redoing two bedrooms upstairs.  As part of that we are completely refurnishing them as well.  I'd been shopping around for a few weeks, but still had quite a few things on my list to buy.  For my birthday I decided I wanted to drive with the family down to the San Marcos Tanger outlet mall to visit the Pottery Barn Kids outlet.  It was a great trip!  We found the exact bedding I'd picked out online for Maddy's new room, but at a fraction of the cost.  WINNING!

It rained the whole day.  I love the rain.  I felt like that was just another birthday present to me.  Thankfully the weather didn't add to the traffic on our drive (though we opted to pay to take the toll road to and from anyhow).

It seems that things always take a bit longer than planned.  We left a bit later than anticipated, spent a bit longer at the store than anticipated, and got home later than we'd thought we would.  As a result I opted to skip the Friday night session of Women's Conference for our stake.  Sis. Beck was speaking, so I was hesitant to miss, but took comfort in knowing I would still be able to attend the Saturday morning session. After all, it's my birthday and I'll do what I want!

Cameron made a great dinner for the family.  I love that I didn't have to cook that night.  I was tired!  I did manage, however, to run to Babies R Us after dinner to grab a carseat for the baby (I had a coupon that had to be redeemed by the next day).  On my way home I grabbed a slice of banana cream pie cheese cake from The Cheesecake Factory.  Great birthday treat.

I got some nice gifts from family members.  I opened a few in the morning, and the rest in the evening.  There are so many thoughtful people in my life.

Here's to another year of life!  May this one be joyful and uplifting.

Valentine's Day

We enjoyed a very festive Valentine's Day in our home.  We don't exchange gifts, but there's a lot of love and thoughtfulness given and received.

The kids were treated to a lovely heart pancake breakfast.  We topped them off with strawberry sauce and whipping cream along with their favorite: sprinkles.  It's pretty easy to please my crew.  Pancakes are definitely the way to their little hearts (no pun intended... but it's funny anyhow!).

I love starting off a holiday with a special breakfast.  It really sets the tone for the rest of the day.  The kids have been looking forward to Valentine's Day for weeks.  Maddy was really surprised that everyone didn't have work and school off.  After a second she said, "Oh!  I know why!  It's because of the work and school parties, right?"  Yeah... that's it.  I would have laughed if Cameron's team at work had a Valentine exchange party.  No such luck.

A bit later in the day I sat down with the kids to assemble some valentines to pass out to their friends.  They were simple enough that everyone was able to participate.  They were pretty cute, too!  My mom actually sent the set to us.  I'm so glad she did!

All the foam pieces were pre-cut.  They were able to put heart stickers on the fronts to decorate.  I then helped them tie a silver bow on the top.  Once they were all complete we decided who the valentine was for and the appropriate child (or children) would sign his or her name to it.  Ta-Da!  Valentine's are done.

The kids were so excited to pass out the valentines.  They didn't even want to stop and make cookies!  I had planned on making sugar cookies with them, but figured we could do it another time.  They ran outside to play with friends and pass out their valentines as soon as school let out and the other kids were out and about.  Oh to be a kid again.

For dinner I made the kids heart-shaped pizzas.  They were fun.  They would have been even more fun if they had been ready in the 5 or 6 o'clock hour instead of the 7 o'clock hour.  I had some errands to run, and as a result the kids' dinner treat was delayed.  It was okay though.  The kids still enjoyed them, though bedtime ended up being at 8:30pm instead of the usual 7 or 8 o'clock.

After the kids were in bed Cameron and I had our own little Valentine's Day party.  We did fondue.  I had been craving it for a while.  Typically we save fondue night for when we have guests over because it's so tasty, and easy to do in bulk.  As a result, I prepared way too much food.

We had beef tenderloin and shrimp to fry in the oil.  We had grilled asparagus, blanched broccoli, carrots, and french bread cubes to dip into the parmesan dip (my absolute favorite!). 

Then came dessert.  I found a fabulous recipe for chocolate fondue.  You take some cinnamon sticks and simmer them in a cup of cream in a double boiler for about 15 or 20 minutes.  Then you add 7 oz of good quality semi sweet chocolate and a generous pinch of chili powder.  You stir it over a gentle heat until it's smooth and mixed.  Be REALLY careful not to burn it.  I have burnt more chocolate fondue than I have NOT burnt.  It' takes careful attention and low heat.

Again, we had way too much dessert.  I cut up (amazing) strawberries, we had pound cake, marshmallows, macaroons, and I almost cut up an apple but caught myself in time.  It was all so good!  I was glad I was able to heat up the chocolate the next day to have more as we barely dented the spread Valentine's night.  Unfortunately, I went to reheat the chocolate a second time that evening as well and I did, indeed, burn it.  I cried.  Yes, I'm definitely pregnant.

About 31 weeks in the Belly.

Valentines Day seemed like a good time to take another picture of my growing belly.  I am about 31 weeks along
I figure I'll just post all the pictures we took, repetitive as they may seem.

I'm feeling pretty good at this point.  Not great.  Not horribly awful.

Per the week by week books out there, the baby is around 4 pounds right now and about 19 inches from head to toe.

This baby really likes to wiggle still.  It's hard to sleep when you feel a little person exercising inside your belly.

Heartburn is a problem.  Moving is also a bit of a challenge.  It's hard to sit down if I ever plan on getting up again -- which more often than not I do.

I am also really really tired most of the time.  I especially feel myself running out of gas in the early afternoon.  I never really am able to refill either.  This makes cooking difficult.  I have a great menu all laid out, but I have a hard time making myself follow through with anything that has to be started in the evening.  I need to get some crock pot items on the menu so I can do that while I have a bit of energy in the morning after I make breakfast (usually pancakes as of late).

Anyhow.  Yeah.  Still gestating.  9ish weeks to go!

Bee Attitudes

For Christmas my grandma sent us a fun little card game called "Bee Attitudes".  A few years back Gordon B. Hinckley, the prophet of our church at that time, gave a talk and outlined principles that were then labeled as the modern day Beattitudes.  The Beattitudes are: Be Reverent, Be Helpful, Be Honest, Be Brave, Be Kind, Be Loyal, and Be Happy.

The card game is a take off of that lesson.  There are a bunch of different cards with pictures of "Bees" on them.  The bees are acting out each Beattitude.  There are also cards that are called "Stinger Bee" cards.

The game is simple.  You start with the youngest player.  She draws one card at a time.  She can draw as many as she'd like, but if she doesn't stop before she draws a "stinger bee" card, she has to put all the cards she drew that turn into a discard pile.

The very first time we played Britta drew about 10 cards from the pile, but then got a stinger bee card.  I'm not sure she really knew how to play at that point.  She was pretty upset that she had to discard her hand.  She burst into tears.  Thankfully as other people got stinger bee cards on their turn as well she realized it wasn't something to cry about.  By the end of the game she was laughing hysterically anytime one was drawn.

After our first round we paused for refreshments.  Razzleberry Pie!  YUM.  There's something about warm berry pie with vanilla ice cream that makes everything wonderful.

I thought for sure the kids would be DONE with one piece -- they usually are.  However, if we hadn't run out of vanilla ice cream I'm pretty sure they could have polished off the entire thing.  Mmmm..... pie.

After our treat the kids were eager to play a few more rounds of Bee Attitudes.  They had a blast, and it was so much fun to sit and play with them.  The giggles and squeals were definitely a highlight of the day.

It was even hard to fake disappointment when I drew a "Stinger Bee!" (Though I did my best)  The kids still thought it was hilarious when that pesky card came up.  It seemed to be even funnier when Mom drew it.

I was frankly a bit surprised at how enjoyable the game was.  I didn't have high hopes for it at first glance.  I'm glad we pulled it out though!  I'm pretty sure that won't be the last family game night that includes the Bee Attitudes.

Now that's my kind of Glucose Test!

At around 30 weeks of pregnancy it is common to have what is called a Glucose Tolerance test.  In the past what I've had to do is drink a disgustingly sugary orange drink about an hour or two before going into my prenatal appointment.  I then have my blood drawn and they send it into a lab to see how my body did in processing the excessive amount of sugar in the allotted time.

I hate that drink.

This time around I was just told to eat a big breakfast with pancakes and orange juice and then go in to have the same blood draw test.  This was more like it!

I made Mickey Mouse pancakes with goggles (yes, per the kids' request), and as an extra sugary treat I made orange julius.  My dad use to make orange julius for special occasions when I was a kid.  Now it is my turn!

I really like the recipe because it's so simple!  I use 6oz or so of frozen orange juice concentrate.  The costco orange juice concentrate comes in 16oz containers, so I just cut a piece of the concentrate off right in its cardboard container.  I then peel off the cardboard and weigh the concentrate on my kitchen scale (best kitchen tool EVER).  I then put that into the blender along with a cup of mink, a cup of OJ and about 1/4 c powdered sugar.  I put in a tsp or so of vanilla, and about a dozen ice cubes.  Then I blend.

The drink is still a bit tart from the oj concentrate, but that's how I like it.  The kids were expecting a smoothie the first time I made it, so they weren't very impressed with the sugary orange drink I presented them with.  However, everyone but Maddy has come around and we all enjoy our Orange Julius drink on occasion.

The blood draw went fine -- even if the midwife's assistant did leave an ugly bruise behind.  The test results were normal though, and I'm good to go!  Overall a much preferable experience this time around.

The belly at 29 weeks

I've been trying to take a few more pictures of this giant growing belly I have.  It truly is amazing.  Inconvenient and uncomfortable, too, but most definitely amazing.

These were taken at 29 weeks and 4 days.

Baby is healthy, and energetic, and growing rapidly.  I've been pleased that most of the growth seems to be occurring in my belly.  It's funny that from behind it's hard to tell I'm pregnant at all.  Even from the front it's hard to tell.  It's when I turn to the side that the truth is obvious.

It's been a lot of fun how excited the kids are to meet this kid.  Britta draws numerous pictures of it daily.  Baby is mentioned in every single prayer in our home.  The baby is constantly referenced in every day conversation.  Maddy asks me all the time whether the baby is asleep (usually the answer is "yes" when she asks).  It's just so much fun.

My hormone levels are definitely still a challenge.  I've never felt so all over the place.  I'm not a crier, and boy oh boy have I done my share of crying this pregnancy.  Thankfully my family has been very supportive.  I am able to get a ton of rest when I need it.  And boy have I needed it.  I sometimes wish I could take a nap that lasts the rest of the pregnancy.  I have about 10 weeks to go though.  I'm finally starting to get to all the fun projects I want to do before the baby's arrival.  Yeah, we'll see which of them actually get done.