March Highlights in Pictures

Isn't she cute?

Daddy jungle gym

Miss Sydnee

We were hoping that Maren would not like her bare tummy touching the floor and would learn to crawl normal. She still did her army crawl and ended up with a pink belly.

Can you tell who Maren looks like?

Addy with her St. Patrick's day feast

Maren loves her sunglasses

This smile melts my heart!

Snowy day off of school

My two Mia Maids and their cakes

Maren crawled under her saucer and got stuck, she wasn't very happy about it

March the Highlights

I'm feeling rather boring lately. Not bored, but boring. I feel like I just don't have anything good to write about and that I'm just a boring person. Then I remember that this blog is my journal, well one of them and I'm really recording the events of our lives. I'm not writing to impress or entertain anyone, although secretly I hope I make people laugh occasionally. Anywho, here are the highlights of our family life for the past month.

• Addy had a day off of school and it snowed all day. She and Sydnee had fun playing in the snow.
  
• For our Mia Maid activity we taught the girls cake decorating, it was a sticky, fun mess.
• Ben had a root canal and a crown put on (not so fun)
• We had our Relief Society birthday party, which was lots of fun. We played Hollywood squares. The "celebrities" were former relief society presidents, either general presidents or ward presidents. I stepped out of my comfort zone and played the part of Mary Ellen Smoot. We also played the game where you match the sister with her childhood picture. It was a great party.
• Another Mia Maid activity, we made little wall hangings with pictures of Jesus Christ, President Monson and the temple.
• My friend Amy was able to go to Hawaii and I helped watch her boys, they are hilarious little guys.
• St. Patricks day came and we had a green dinner. We had green omelets, green pancakes, hash browns and sausage, and green milk. Maren also cut her 3rd tooth.
• Ben and I were able to sneak away for a lunch date, thanks to my mom. We celebrated his birthday a few days early with lunch at Tucanos. Yummy!
• We celebrated Ben and his brother David's birthday with his family and had a yummy turkey dinner.
• Ben's birthday was on the 21st. We had a fabulous steak dinner with all the fixins and a carrot cake for dessert.
  
• On Monday the 22nd, it was my dad's birthday and my nephew Parker's birthday was on the 20th. We had a FHE dinner/party to celebrate the three birthday boys. It's always fun to get together with the family.
  
• Maren hit the 8 month mark. She can now go from laying to sitting quite well. She also learned to pull herself up to standing at the stairs. and now she can pull herself up to almost anything. I'm in trouble now!
• On the 27th we went to our ward's Easter egg hunt. It's starts at 12 noon on the dot, if you're late you miss the whole thing. This year we arrived 10 minutes early and before I could find Sydnee's age group, it was over. I tried to catch up to her group, but by the time we got to their designated area, all of the eggs were gone. One little boy who had more than he was supposed to shared a few, but she still only had a few in her basket. That was kind of a bummer. After the kids empty the candy from their eggs, they get an egg with names and addresses of people in the ward. The papers are for prize eggs. We went to houses in the ward and collected our prizes. The kids always love getting their prizes. I didn't get a single picture of the egg hunt this year, it was over way too quick.
• Maren cut her 4th tooth (they're all on the bottom) She also bit my finger and took a chunk of skin and made me bleed.
• Sunday the girls wore there new Easter dresses. I didn't get pictures of them, I should have taken pictures before church. By the time we got home, Maren had spit up on hers and was ready for a nap and the other two had gotten chocolate on theirs. Oh well, maybe next time they wear them, I'll get one.
• Tomorrow our Laurels will be running the YW activity. All of the leaders will be going to a session at the temple together. I'm really looking forward to this.
• Thursday, the last day of the month, we will be going to Salt Lake as a YW presidency for the workshops they host.

Well, there it is, March in a nutshell!

Has it already been 7 years?

How could this little thing turn into

This grown up girl?

Time keeps flying by around here. Addy turned 7 just two days ago. I remember the day she was born so clearly. It's hard to believe that she's been with us for 7 years. Addy is such a good kid. She is very kind and usually quite happy. She is very sensitive to others feelings. She can tell if I'm having a bad day and will try to cheer me up. She loves reading. She loves reading! (Yes, I know I repeated myself, Addy really loves to read) We can't keep enough books around for her. She is reading on a 3rd grade level and loves chapter books. She reads most books in one or two days. Addy is a great helper and just an all around great kid. Ben and I are so lucky to have her in our family. We only give the kids friend parties every other year starting at age 5, so Addy was thrilled to be able to have a party this year. She wanted a princess party with some of her friends from school. The girls came dressed up like princesses. They played games, ate pizza, went on a treasure hunt and ate cupcakes. I was amazed at how much noise six little girls can make. It was a great party and the girls had a lot of fun. I'm glad we get next year off though.

February Photos

February...The Highlights

February has dragged on forever. I've been feeling the winter blahs for a while and haven't felt like posting. I saw some tulips coming up today and some freshly planted pansies. This gives me hope that spring is actually going to come. So I'm in the mood to blog today, so I'll just write about the highlights of the forever long month.

• I've been working on my photography skills and I have a great "photo shoot" with Sydnee, Maren's shoot, not so good. I'll keep trying.
• Sydnee gave her first talk in primary. They asked her to bare her testimony through art. The theme for the month is Jesus is my savior and redeemer. Her first picture was of President Monson, I tried to get her to draw a picture of Jesus. She finally told me that President Monson was easier to draw. What a sweetie!
• Valentine's day is not one of my favorites, but we managed to have fun anyway. We had a great homemade dinner the night before and we gave the girls cards and treats. Addy and Sydnee had lots of fun at their school parties also.
• On Presidents day I was able to spend some girl time with my mom and sister. We had fun shopping at our favorite little stores.
  
• Ben and I went on a date and found that we still like each other (okay, so we always have liked each other, we just don't get to go out very often) We had lunch at Cafe Rio and shopped for Addy's birthday.
• I took Sydnee to register for kindergarten. I can't believe that in 6 months she will be going to school.
  
• Maren hit the 7 month mark. She can sit up by herself, army crawl and scoot all over the floor and feed herself fruit puffs. She also graduated to a bigger carseat. No more baby bucket for her.
• We went to the Jazz game. Ben received a nice little package of ticket from one of the vendors at work. We had free parking, a fabulous free dinner at the top of the energy solutions arena where we ate like kings and queens. The club had an amazing view of the city and the food was super yummy. The girls were given Jazz bear umbrellas. We watched the first half of the game, the kids were too worn out to stay for the whole game.
  
• Sydnee went to the grocery store and fire station for her pre-school field trip. She had a great time and I was able to visit with some of my old friends from my ambulance days.
• I have been exercising every day, except Sunday and reading my scriptures every day. I definitely have more energy and I'm able to get more done. So far, Turbo Jam is my favorite workout. I also love the Wii fit, I'm a calorie torcher!
  
• And finally, Addy turned 7 on the 26th. She was so excited and happy. All of the kids in her class sang to her and made birthday cards. We had a great birthday dinner and cake. The next day we had a princess party for her.
  

Just For Fun

Can you guess which baby is which? In order from top to bottom: Maren, Addy, Sydnee. Can you tell they are related?

Then and Now

Addy has always loved the piano. When we moved in with my parents 5 years ago, she would sit with my mom while she would play or else she would play the piano herself. Now my mom is teaching Addy to play the piano. On Tuesday afternoons, Addy walks to Grandma's house after school for her piano lesson. She struggles with wanting to practice what's in the books, but she is getting better. It is so much fun to hear her play and to see how excited she is to learn. Thank you Grandma for teaching Addy.

Random pictures

100 glasses for the 100th day of school

racing down the stairs on Sydnee's woobies

Miss Sydnee

Maren's first time in the exersaucer

Sydnee received a letter "S" notepad for Christmas,
she decorates with them a lot, especially windows

What a cute smile!

The Talent Show

Addy's first grade class had a talent show last week. Addy's teacher is so great, she has the kids participate in little programs all the time to build their confidence. The kids in the class shared artwork, played the piano, some did karate and others danced and did flips. It was fun to watch. Addy wrote a poem called someone is kissing. It was really cute.

Someone is Kissing
Someone is kissing and I don't know why?
Maybe they are missing each other.
I don't know why,

I still don't know why?

What a cute girl Addy is, she sat down and came up with this poem all by herself in just a few minutes, it made me laugh a little. She did a great job, she spoke a little too quietly, but so did all of the other kids. It was a great way to boost the kids self esteem. The bratty child I spoke of in an earlier post sat next to us and coughed all over Maren. His mother told him to cover his mouth once and that was it. He whined and talked through the whole show. If my child were coughing, I would not have sat by a small baby, oh well, I guess his mother just isn't as considerate as I am. ;)

Friends

Sydnee loves Maren. As soon as Addy went back to school, Sydnee became the second mom around the house. She loves to help me with Maren. She especially loves to pick out her clothes, fetch diapers and play with her on the floor. Sydnee is very helpful, she watches Maren when I need to get ready to go somewhere. The other day I needed to get ready to go visiting teaching, so I put Sydnee and Maren in my bed with the TV on. They snuggled up and were content while I showered, it was great. I love how they smile at each other and how Sydnee talks so sweetly to Maren. I hope this friendship will continue as they get older.

6 months old already?

I can't believe how fast time is flying. Maren turned 6 months last Sunday. She is growing so fast, she is a solid little chunk. We went in Friday for her checkup, here are the stats:she weighs 18 lbs. 11 oz. and is 28 inches long. She is such a sweet girl. She came down with a little virus this week (I blame it on the bratty child at the talent show) but she has still been happy and smiley. Maren loves rolling around the floor, pulling off her socks, and eating. She is definitely a Yancey. Maren is a momma's girl. She loves everyone else, but mom is the best.

Mmmmmm Carrot Cake

Sunday I made another recipe from my book, gluten free carrot cake. Normally gluten free baked goods are dry and gritty, but not this one. It was super moist and tasty. There was no grit, my parents even claimed they couldn't tell it was gluten free. It had a thick layer of cream cheese frosting, it was the perfect touch for the not too sweet cake. I will definitely be making this one again! I didn't take any pictures because we just couldn't wait to dig in. Here is the recipe for this super yummy treat.

The Chinese Dinner Store

We've been trying really hard not to eat out often. Instead Ben lets the girls choose the menu and they cook together. The girls call restaurants the dinner store. Addy and Sydnee take turns playing the waitress/hostess, they make menus and take the orders. Last Friday it was Addy's turn to choose. She chose a Chinese themed menu. We had sweet and sour chicken, lemon chicken and egg drop soup. Since there is a recipe in my cookbook for the soup I was allowed in the kitchen to help. The recipe for the soup is super easy and it turned out great. The recipe calls for frozen corn and all I had was canned, but it still worked. It looked and tasted just like the real thing you get at the dinner store. Here is the recipe. Our sweet and sour sauce recipe is a top secret recipe from one of the best restaurants. It is so yummy. I will post it when I can find it.

I can't see.....

The fog was really thick when I took Addy to school. This is the view from our sidewalk this morning. I'm praying for a storm to blow all the gunk and fog out of the air. Just one more reason why January is so blah.

Chicken Fat

When I was in kindergarten we would exercise using the chicken fat song. I had forgotten about it until Sydnee came home from preschool the other day and told me about the chicken song. I found a web site that has the song on it. What a fun little blast from my past. If you're interested the song can be found here.

Blueberry Tea Bread

Another winning recipe from my cookbook! Yum!!! My bread took almost twice as long to bake as the recipe said, but it turned out really good. I pulled it out of the oven just before Addy got home from school. The recipe has tea in the name, so we had to have a tea party while eating it. Okay, it was actually a hot chocolate party since we don't drink tea. My sister brought the girls color changing princess hot cocoa mix (wow, that was a mouthful) from Disneyland. It's been sitting in our cupboard for a really long time, so I figured it was time to bust it out and drink it up. Sydnee chose purple and Addy chose pink. Ben even joined us and brought his doll (Maren) with him. Maren enjoyed fruit puffs during our party. I'm going to give this recipe 4 1/2 stars out of 5. If you yourself are a glutard, then check out the recipe here. P.S. A glutard is the name we have given to those with celiac disease.

Life Tastes Good Again

When I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2007, I was quite devastated. I love bread, a lot. Ben used to make me homemade bread every weekend and it was heavenly. When I got the bad news, I went through my own little grieving process. My mother in law took me to a store that specializes in all things gluten free to help me get started. She bought me a cook book called "Life tastes good again" its written by two local ladies. Neither one of these ladies has celiac, but they have family members that do. I have been to a few of their classes, and so far I have tried lots of their recipes. Their recipes are great, I haven't found a bad one yet. After watching the movie Julie and Julia, I was inspired. I don't like fancy french food, and Julia Child's recipes don't quite fit my gluten free (GF) diet. I have decided to make every recipe in my GF cookbook over the next year and blog about them. I think I'm boring and I run out of stuff to write, so hopefully this will help. I am also working on my personal progress with the young women. I figured this would be a great project to work on. As I write this, I have blueberry tea bread in the oven. I'll let you know how it turns out.

The Bible according to Fisher Price

Yesterday after I dropped Addy off at school, Sydnee asked if she could play with the tinker toys. I said yes and she returned with the Little People Noah's ark. I asked her if she knew the story about Noah and the ark. I thought this would be a good teaching moment. I told her the story of Noah, she asked if there were trees next to the ark. I told her that Noah used trees to make the ark. I continued to tell the story while she was playing. When I told her that the rain had stopped and the dove brought back the olive branch, she then asked "Is that when they took the top off?" I was a little confused. Then I realized what she meant. The top of our toy ark comes off so that you can play with the animals inside of it. I had a hard time not laughing. I had to explain to Sydnee that her ark is just a toy and that the one that Noah went on looked a lot different.

A new year, a new blog

I don't know why, but January always leaves me feeling blah. Whenever I feel blah I change something. Usually it's the length of my hair, however since my hair is already quite short, I can't do that. There isn't a whole lot more to change, at least not quickly. So, I decided to change my blog. Wow, you say. I know, it's a huge life altering change, but for now it's helping the blahs. I always have liked the saying about little girls... Sugar and spice and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of. Well having 3 girls at home reminds me of all the sugar and spice, but there is also some naughty and not so nice moments. I decided to change the title of my blog to go with our life with 3 girls. Since this is my journal, I record the nice and the not so nice things so that one day I can look back and laugh and learn from this. So here is to the new year and making changes!

I bet you didn't know.....

I bet you didn't know that there are many different tooth fairies. I also would bet that you don't know that they are all different colors. Addy has a friend named Sariah who told her all about the tooth fairy. If you put your tooth in a glass of water, the tooth fairy will reach in to get it out and the water will turn the color of the fairy. After much coaxing (bribing) we finally got Addy's second tooth out. She is quite the drama queen when it comes to pain. I finally just grabbed it and pulled it forward and it popped right out. Addy wanted to try putting her tooth in water. Lo and behold, Sunday morning she found a glass of red water on the table with a dollar sitting next to it. We had a red fairy visit our house. Addy was very happy. I was thrilled because the tooth fairy didn't have to worry about waking any little girls up or being caught. So thank you Sariah and Thank you Kim (her mother) We now will keep watch for the colored tooth fairies.