Birthdays and more

We will start off this post with my birthday. I had a wonderful day. It was so much fun. The weather was fairly nice with no snow on the ground, and there were wonderful strawberries in the store. I also was taken out to lunch by my wonderful friends in the preschool. We went to Red Robin and it was a blast. 4 adults and 7 kids. We got a lot of looks like we are insane. Go figure. Maybe we are, but it was fun none the less. Then Eric made me dinner, but I helped because I wanted to. And I made this strawberry cake. The actually cake is strawberry. I think that I need to tweak the recipe a little, but it was pretty good. And it looked really pretty. This is supposed to be me blowing out the candles. I think we had 5 in there. Yes, I am that young. We also celebrated Eric's birthday. From what I know he had a great day too. The group that he was on rotation with took him out to lunch at a place called Global Market. He had an apple brie cheese sandwhich. He came home and said that we needed to make some. Maybe after I am not pregnant anymore. Anyway, he had requested a dinner and pie that are generally more summertime food, but they were delicious. We will definitely be making them again. Here is a picture of the pie. It turned out perfect so of course I had to take a picture. It was a raspberry rhubarb pie. mmmmm....

We also got to celebrate April Fools Day. I don't usually do anything but this year I really wanted to. So this is what I made for dinner.

Eric was a little suspicious, but had no idea what it really was. Porter was so excited to have cake for dinner he couldn't stop talking about it. Also, Eric's birthday was coming up and he knew that so he thought it was for that. He even asked for us to sing happy birthday to Eric, so we did and then he held out his plate for a piece. You should have seen (and I wish I had a picture of) the look on his face when he saw what was really inside. It was utter disappointment as he sadly said "it's a sandwhich." Then he didn't even want to eat it. Poor kid, mom pulls a crazy joke like that on him. So really it was just a sandwhich made in a bundt cake pan and topped with cheese to look like icing. I was pretty proud of myself.

I love that all of these things happen around the same time. Not so good for the weight gain, but I love it just the same. We also had general conference, where we listen to the voices of modern day prophets. Sunday breakfast is always my favorite. Crepes with vanilla yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, mini chocolate chips, and a sprinkle of powdered sugar. With sausages on the side.

With all the nice weather we have been having we have been going outside more. My poor kids. I need to invest in more bandaids and neosporin. We were walking to playgroup because it was in our neighborhood and it was nice, but the wind was a little chilly so we were still wearing coats. Adie had put her hands in her pockets so she wouldn't be cold. The one time I stopped paying attention to her to answer a question from Porter, she totally trips. And because her hands were in her pockets, she did a total face plant into the cement. I felt so bad and almost started crying with her. My poor baby. Luckily we were only half a block away so I picked her up and ran to playgroup so I could wash her off and take care of her. She even had some rocks in her mouth. Her upper lip was all swollen, and luckily she has bangs to hide some of the damage done. This is later that night. So it looks a little better. But she definitley had some scabs to deal with, and woke up the next morning with a sore face.

Porter is getting very artistic. We made mosaics the other day and this is a dragon. There are also two people, fire, and a sheep. See if you can find out where they are. I think he did a good job.

I sure do love my kiddos. They are so silly.

This is how Porter draws people. This is a picture of Porter, Adie, and Dada. See if you can guess who is who.

While Eric was gone, Porter learned how to write his name. I think that he is doing great. He needed a little help with the order for a while, but now can spell it all on his own and he writes his name on everything. I am so proud of him. He is also learning how to sound out words. I can't believe how big he is getting.

I have also been working on a quilt for Adie. I chose the pattern when I was with my mom last summer. This is generally a bad idea because I think that I can do anything when I am with my mom. This has taken almost a year for me to do (granted it was here and there, but there are a LOT of little pieces). But I am pretty happy with the outcome. I still have the applique and the border to put on, but that isn't going to take as long. My goal is to have it done by her 3rd birthday. We will see if that happens with baby coming soon and all. I would really like to quilt it this summer, but again, we will see.

Spring Break 2011

So while Eric has been here doing "dental work" for spring break....(plus one week with a vacation in Fiji),


We have been here,


But I am not bitter in the least can you tell? I think the worst thing about the whole thing is that I have not talked to my husband in 2 weeks. Part of me has gotten used to it. Part of me is kind of angry about it. And the rest of me just wants to get even. I know I need to get over my anger issues, but I am having a hard time doing that when he is half a world away in paradise while I am stuck in Buffalo with two kids that only want dada now, and am 7 months pregnant. Maybe one day I will get over it.

And for the record the weather really hasn't been that bad. I did snow the first couple of days, but nothing stuck and then it has been pretty warm since, like in the high 40's low 50's. I think even one day it got up to 57. Yeah, we didn't wear jackets or anything that day.

Porter has been way into superhero's lately. So while doing spring cleaning we found the superhero kit that my mom gave Porter for his first birthday that we never opened. He wore it for several days straight and jumped off of everything in sight trying to fly. But we had to talk about what superheroes do because he kept trying to beat up Adie's babies. We'll get there.


Adie has been my little helper in the kitchen. Especially when it comes to chocolate. And she has to lick the spoon. I don't blame her.

One of the days we went with a friend to the East Aurora Explore and More Museum. It was so much fun. The kids played for probably 4 hours and would have loved to stay there longer, but we needed to go home. The had a whole section dedicated to droping balls from different heights on tracks to see how far they go. My favorite part was the probably 8 yr old in the picture that kept trying to do it all by herself and telling all of the 3 and 4 years olds that they were being selfish.

Adie playing with Valorie, one of her best friends.

This was fun, Porter played in a boat catching fish. His favorite though was the construction zone in the back and he spent most of his time there. But I didn't get a picture of it.

We played outside as much as we could. This is one thing that they did. They made a "road" by putting all of our rocks in the little place inbetween cement slabs. We also had to discuss the difference between rocks and bunny poop as it seems one has been living in our back yard for a while. Here is hoping it won't eat all of my plants that are just barely coming out of the ground.

We also rode bikes. Adie is learning how to pedal which is a lot of fun. But she gets really frustrated quite quickly when her legs don't do what she wants them too. Hhhhmmmm.......I wonder where she gets that from. In this picture she isn't just looking down, she is pouting because she can't get it to go as fast as she wants.

We also had a baby shower for a friend. We did a brunch and it was a blast. Can you tell these girls were ready for food? After it was over we stayed and played for a good portion of the day as both of our husbands were out of town.

We did do a few other things that I didn't take pictures of. Like we went to see Tangled at the cheap theater, which is fun because that was the first time they have ever been to a movie theater. Both of them loved it. I thought it was cute but had a part that I didn't really think was necessary and made that part a little more scary. But it ended up being ok. I just covered my kids eyes.

We had several play dates and invites to dinner at friends houses. I am glad that my kids eat wonderfully for other people even though they don't always for me.

We also had a date night where we went to Red Robin for dinner. The kids ate almost all of their food, again a suprise for me. And were well behaved for the most part. We even shared a milkshake. Then we came home and watched Megamind because Porter has wanted to watch it for a while now. It wasn't the best. A good idea and nice moral, but really not my favorite movie.

I have also been able to catch up on a lot of projects that I haven't been able to finish. The front to Adie's quilt is almost done. Pictures to come. And I will be doing some scrapbooking this week. I wanted to do spring cleaning but realized a lot of what I have left requires heavy lifting and I just can't do that on my own.

On another note, Porter is registered for Pre-K and learned how to write his name this week. He still needs a little help with the order, but gets all the letters right. He also has to show everyone that comes over what he can do. What a smart kid. He will do just fine in school, it will be me that has a hard time.

I also had a doctors appointment this week. The doctor is getting worried about how big this baby is going to be. He said that I am measuring good (right on what it is "supposed" to be) but that I need to be really careful. I was kind of thinking well I measured two weeks big with Porter and about a week and a half big with Adie, so I think I am doing pretty good. But I am also not a dr. I have only gained a little more than 10 lbs., but I guess that isn't really a good indicator. So we will see. We may have another induction for this one if it is going to get too big. I have an ultrasound this week so we will see what they say.

Everything...

Well, I have been debating for a long time whether I should play catch up or not. I've decided this will mainly just be pictures with some captions and subtitles. I just know that if I don't do it now it won't happen with all of the recent and upcoming events not so far away.

Christmas

For Christmas we got to spend some time with Eric's family in Brigham. It was fun to see so many people. Some of them had never met Adie, so that made it even more exciting. We loved seeing the mountains again....we really miss them. Here's hoping that we get to move back to the west to be closer to family and the mountains.

Porters favorite thing to do at grandma and grandpa Nielsen's house was to help feed the horses and to ride them too. He loves animals. It is too bad his mama has such bad allergies or maybe we could have animals some day.

Adie's favorite thing was to play with baby Trent. She just adores babies and wanted to do everything with him. I think she sat here holding him for a good 10 min before anyone started to worry if she was going to drop him. I remember being like that when I was little. And she was just totally content with holding him and watching everyone else. Hopefully a good sign for the upcoming baby.

This is what Eric did for almost the entirity of the "vacation". He got in a skiing accident Christmas Eve day and couldn't move. Fortunately he was willing to bring his decrepit self into the living room for Christmas for his kids.

We were also able to get together with my family. Every family was represented out of us siblings. We were just missing Sarah, Ali, Andy, and Mom and Mike. The twins aren't in this picture because they were already in bed, but it was amazing to have so many people together. Amy and I are both pregnant and due a week apart from each other. We'll have to see who delivers first, or maybe they will be born on the same day. It was fun to see everyone there too.

Porter's Birthday

In January, Porter turned 4. I can't believe how big he is getting. He starts pre-k next year and is starting to learn how to read. I can't believe it. He wanted a Buzz and Woody party, so this was the best idea I could come up with for his cake. Although after the second year in row of him not eating any cake and only eating the ice cream, I have decided that he doesn't really like cake. So next year we are going to do an ice cream cake.

We had a fun birthday party for him with his friends. We did a pizza lunch where the kids made their own, and I just made some for the adults. Then we played a couple of games like, pin the parts on Mr. Potato Head, pass the present, etc. Just simple games. They had a lot of fun and I had fun doing it. Luckily Porters birthday is right around Martin Luther King day so he always has a holiday to celebrate on.

He was so excited about these presents.

Chinese New Year

Even though we are not Chinese, I really like celebrating the holiday by making a Chinese feast.

This was after we ate, but there was definitely plenty of food. We had Long Life Noodles, egg rolls, pork loin, steamed pork buns and several dipping sauces. It was really yummy but we should have had someone over to help us eat it. There was TONS of food.

Valentines Day

We are not usually into a whole bunch of stuff for Valentine's Day. But I thought it would be fun to have a delicious special dessert just for me and my honey that day. These are molten chocolate cake. But I cooked it a little too long so it wasn't so molten, but it was still yummy. And Eric got me a present that I wasn't expecting. He got me a 10" chefs knife. It is amazing and I use if for everything now. I love having an amazingly sharp knife that cuts through everything like butter. Then Eric got himself and handy knife sharpener so that we can keep it sharp. What a great guy.

I also tried my hand at cake balls and decorated them for the holiday. They were so yummy, and easy to make. It was fun. Then we gave them to our friends.

Lately

The kids have absolutely loved building tents lately. So for fun we have been having picnics in them and doing other things in it. It has been fun to play with them.

I finally took my last certification test in February and have felt this overwhelming sense of freedom since. So I finished some projects that I have been working on for a while now and just haven't had time to go back to. The first was to make aprons for the kids. They were so excited and wanted to wear them for the entire day. It was fun and easy. I'm glad they like to use them.

I also finished their growth charts but haven't taken a picture yet. I am quite proud of them and the kids like them too. I did a separate one for each of them just so they can have it when they have kids and can keep track of it on them. We'll see if that actually works out. But I had fun making them.

That's Right....

You guessed it friends and family. For those of you who didn't already know. We are expecting baby number 3 around the middle of May. Although Eric and I are hoping for the beginning of May because that fits nicely into our schedules, and according to past babies, we just might get that luxury. But we will take baby whenever it comes. The funny thing about it is that when we started talking about having more kids, I remember saying to Eric, "May would be a good month have a baby someday." Thinking of springtime and how I love opening windows again. This defintely wasn't my plan for this baby, but that is how it worked out. Lucky me. Now I will only be big and fat in the winter when it doesn't matter so much and can start exercising outside again after baby is born.

Once again we want it to be a surprise so we did not find out the gender of the baby. My motherly intuition tells me that it is another girl. I have been right with both kids so far, so we will see if my luck hold up.

This has been the hardest pregnancy for me by far. There has been a little more worry about different aspects of this baby that resulted in a lot of testing, thanks to all of you who babysat for me. Now that that is over I just have a lot of aches and pains that I didn't have with the other two. But I also didn't have two kids when I was pregnant with them. I just have to rest a little more and watch my activities so I don't strain too much (which is sometimes really hard to do).
Other than that everything is going well. Just look for new pictures of baby when May approaches.