St. Patrick's Day 2017

St. Patrick's Day didn't exactly sneak up on me this year, but it wasn't on my mental radar either.  The night before I realized I hadn't bought any Leprechaun gold so after a church meeting I had to stop at the store on my way home for some "gold".  We usually use Rolos but this year I went with Hershey Nuggets and the kids didn't mind.

For dinner I wasn't excited about spending  a lot of money on corned beef so I just made Irish soda bread and we had spinach burgers to go along with the bread.  For dessert I made a pistachio cake with a pistachio pudding frosting.  It was better than some of the other green desserts we have had over the years.




Lincoln and Annika didn't want to wear any green so they didn't.  I did grab a picture of every else in green at the tail end of the day.

I know the picture frames are really outdated but there's only so much time in the day!

Critz Farms

Last weekend we visited a local farm for a tour of their maple syrup factory.  The tour was fairly small and just in one room, but it was fun to hear about the process that the sap undergoes to become maple syrup. There were little samples of syrup and maple flavored popcorn.  You could also pay for an all you can eat breakfast, but we opted to eat breakfast at home.  (I knew I couldn't eat my weight in pancakes, eggs, and bacon to make it work the $12 per adult and I didn't want to pay $6 for Lincoln and Annika when they might not eat anything or only a few bites.)  I think this was my first experience with real maple syrup and it is good.  The big kids thought it just tasted like honey, but there was a distinct maple flavor to it.  I learned that the color of the syrup depends on the weather the day it is tapped and boiled.  A darker, richer, syrup is produced when the temperature rises or falls a lot during the day.  When the temperature is mostly stationary and on the cold side the syrup tends to be a light amber color.

We also took a ride to the sugar bush grove so we could see the maple trees.  It was interesting to see the trees with the tubing coming out of them and how it is all collected with the help of gravity.  I just thought the entire process was fascinating.  The wagon ride was cold, but it allowed us to snuggle together.  Lincoln especially enjoyed watching the tractor pull our wagon.

The blue line is the easiest to see, but there were white/clear lines, too.

All snuggled together.  It's so hard to get everyone looking at once!! 

Eden--5 Months

Eden turned 5 months old yesterday!  She is such a joy in our family.  Everyone loves her.  She continues to be mellow and content.  She is so mellow that she hasn't rolled over yet and doesn't really care to try.  She is starting to sit for a few seconds at a time.  She weighs about 14 lbs and is roughly 24.25 inches.  

We love her smile and her laugh.  Lincoln is playing with her more and I love to see them laughing together.  It actually melts my heart to watch them.  She sleeps through the night most of the time.  She hasn't started solid food yet.  We aren't in a big hurry.  I want to keep her a baby for as long as I can.  She is a dream come true!  I am easing her into a sleeping schedule on the days we are home and she is doing really well.  She likes to turn her face into a blanket or hood so I always wrap her in something big and fluffy so she can bury her face.

Here are some--a lot--of pictures of her.  I can't narrow down my favorite pictures.  I probably take more pictures of her than I ever took with any of my other babies.  It's just so easy to snap pictures of her with my phone. 

We'll start with pictures of Eden with Joseph and me.  They aren't great of Joseph and me, but they'll work:

Here are her bigger jammies.  They seem so huge, but the other sleeper was getting too small.

 Here she is telling me a little story.  I love her soft, fuzzy hair!

Stroller ride and more smiles!

Playing with Lincoln in the tent.  I think Edie looks like me in the last picture.  I think Edie looks the most like me of any of the kids.

One silly thing that I do that I just need to document is that I sing to her in the mornings.  When she sleeps through the night I greet her in the morning with the "Good morning" song from Singing in the Rain.  My sisters and I loved that movie growing up.  I change the words just a little to fit Edie sleeping:  "Good morning! Good morning!  You've slept the whole night through, good morning, good morning to you!   Good morning! Good morning! You are a perfect girl, good morning, good morning to you!"  I sing it so much that I catch Rebecah, Lincoln and Annika singing the song to Edie, too!  It's little moments like this that bring an extra smile to my face!!

White Out Weekend

On February 18th we took a trip up North to visit Clifton-Fine in the Adirondack region of New York.  Each year they host a winter festival called "White Out Weekend".  People here tend to get a little tired of the snow by February so I love how this little community holds a winter festival to celebrate Winter and to do something fun to make it through until April.  (We probably haven't lived here long enough to really get tired of Winter so February hasn't beaten us down too much.  This year was really mild so the snow didn't weigh too heavily on our minds.)

We drove about 2 hours to get to this little community to enjoy some of the free activities.  There was a train set up in the "old school house" with coloring, a train table and free popcorn and hot chocolate.

The train display is in the back.

At the public school there were various booths set up with crafts for kids.  Some of them were educational and some were just for fun. There was also a little zoo show with some animals.  I saw a porcupine for the first time in my life.  There was also a roach/beetle of some kind (I didn't get close enough to find out), a snake, and a turkey vulture.  

It was a really mild day with temps in the 40s and 50s.  No coats needed!  Since the day was so warm the curling events were canceled.  We were really disappointed because we wanted to see curling in person.  Outside at the school there were dogs giving sled rides.  If I were any smaller I would have gotten in line!  I want a dogsled ride!  Kimball and Rebecah experienced it for me though.

They get a lot more snow up North!!

Princess Rebecah taking a ride!

Kimball's turn!

Our last stop was the fire station.  They had trucks to explore and a little obstacle course for the kids.  They had to drag a fire suit, throw a safety rope, whack a piece of wood with a mallet, drag some hose, and shoot a football off a cone with a small fire hose.  The big kids AND little kids enjoyed this. 

Annika whacking the wood while Lincoln pulls the fire suit!  

It was actually pretty heavy!

Lincoln was THRILLED to be able to shoot the football with the water!!

Kimball and Rebecah exploring the truck.

Kimball throwing the safety rope.

Everyone had a great time and we hope to find another winter festival next year.

Skiing

Joseph and Kimball took up skiing this year.  Joseph had been itching to learn since we moved here and this year he decided to learn and take Kimball along.  Can I just say that skiing is an expensive hobby?  I'm glad the "boys" can go out and spend the day together, but I did suggest they limit their ski adventures to once a month this year.  (It's a good thing I don't have any expensive hobbies!)  They both really enjoy it though.  Joseph was a little disappointed that the weather wasn't more cooperative this year and the opportunities for skiing were more limited.  We have had about 100 inches of snow which is a lot for most of the country, but it was really a warm winter so the snow we had didn't stick around long.  The ski season is probably over for the year, but Joseph and Kimball are already planning their adventures for next year.

The view from the top of one of the runs.

 

Ready for some powder!

Valentine's Day 2017

We celebrated Valentine's Day on the 13th this year.  Joseph was on call the 14th and we wanted him home for our celebration.  I had visions of taking a picture of all of us in red and pink, but by the end of the day no one was in their original outfits from the beginning of the day.

Dinner was a big disappointment for me, but I just kept reminding myself that I made the dinner for Joseph because I love him and NOT because I wanted to eat this food.  Actually, I liked all of the food except for the mail dish...I made him meatloaf.  I have only made meatloaf one other time in my life and it was 5 months ago when I was going to be gone for dinner and Joseph mentioned wanting meatloaf.  (I find meatloaf very gross sitting in its own grease and simply the idea of it grosses me out.)  When I made the meatloaf 5 months ago I did a good job, too good, because Joseph and the kids raved about it.  When I asked what Joseph wanted for dinner on Valentine's day he said meatloaf so I cringed and made it.  We also had stuffing, roasted carrots, and fruit salad.

Here's my valentine with his meatloaf dinner.  For dessert I made a strawberry dump cake...another dessert with Joseph in mind.  I would have gone for chocolate, personally.  The dump cake was a white cake mix with a can of strawberry pie filling mixed in it.  It was okay, but I didn't think it was anything special, certainly not something special enough for a holiday.  It did have cream cheese frosting on it so that was the "fancy" part of the dessert.

Each year we give our kids small Valentine presents and this year was the same.  I forgot to get pictures of the big kids with their presents.  We gave Kimball some "vintage" football cards from the early 1990s.  He loved them, especially when he found a Bo Jackson card in one of the packages.  Rebecah got a "How to Draw" book and she loves to practice drawing animals.  A few months ago Rebecah got a Ty Beanie Boo stuffed animal when she was going through some medical tests and treatments that weren't fun.  Ever since then Lincoln and Annika have been eyeing her Beanie Boo so we gave each of them a Beanie Boo of their own.  (Can I say that I think they are a little ugly with the huge eyes?  I'm not sure why they are so popular!) We gave Annika the pink elephant, "Sugar" and Lincoln a panda, "Valentina".  They LOVE their Beanie Boos.  

This is a classic picture of Annika and shows just how "spicy" she is.  She love, love, LOVES to carry around bags.  

Here is Lincoln with his Boo.  He is in his pajamas.  We have to dress him and Annika in multiple layers so they don't get cold at night.  Lincoln is wearing his "fancy" pants.  That is was we called them so he would start wearing them.  Lincoln LOVES Frozen and is obsessed with the characters.  He loves Sven and Olaf, but also likes to carry around Rebecah's Elsa and Anna dolls, too.

Here's my sweetest valentine.  She is a dream come true.   

The morning of Valentine's Day I made white chocolate cranberry scones for breakfast and they were a big hit with the big kids.  Lincoln and Annika didn't really care for them, but they rarely want anything other than milk and a little cereal for breakfast.  I also gave the big kids special Valentine cookies and a Valentine in their lunch boxes.  The school also did a Valentine gram fund raiser so I bought them each a Valentine gram as a surprise.

Eden--4 Months

Eden turned 4 months on Sunday, February 12th.  I can't believe she has been with our family for 4 months. She really lives up to her name--delight or delightful. She brings us such joy.  She continues to be a sweet, mellow baby.  She is just so content.  I have never seen such a chill baby, but I am extremely grateful that Heavenly Father sent us a perfectly wonderful baby.

At Eden's doctor appointment on Monday, February 13th she weighed 12 lbs 7 ounces and she was 24 inches long.  She is about the 25th percentile for her weight.  She is right between Rebecah's and Annika's weights at this age.  Rebecah was a pound heavier and Annika was a pound lighter.  It's interesting to compare their growth.

Edie has started laughing and it's so fun to make her laugh.  She isn't really rolling over yet...I think she is too chill to care about rolling.  She is sleeping through the night about 1/3 of the time.  She had a cold/cough for a while this past month so that set back her sleeping through the night.  She almost always sleeps through the night after days when she is awake most of the day.  She went from sleeping almost constantly when she was first born to sleeping just a few hours the entire day.  One would expect her to get grumpy from not sleeping, but she rarely gets grumpy.  Anyway, I thoroughly enjoy the nights she sleeps through the night.  She is sporting a small bald spot on the back of her head, but what can I do when she sleeps 12 hours on her back.

She handles tummy time like a champ and will hang out on her tummy for 45 minutes to an hour multiple times a day.

Rebecah is still my right hand woman.  She is so good with Edie and Edie loves her for it.  Edie also loves her daddy as the photo shows.

Annika is in the cheesy smile stage but she loves to pose for pictures:

I just love this beautiful girl.  Here is Joseph with his two small girls.

The rest of these are just random shots from the last month.  

Eden still hates bath time so we always snuggle in her towel after her bath so she can calm down.

When Lincoln and Annika were born a good friend sent me matching pink/blue snow suits for them.  I don't feel like I have gotten enough use out of them so this time around I'm using the pink one for Edie's bedtime jammies since we tend to keep our house on the cool side.  She is always toasty warm when she sleeps! 

We sure love this sweet girl.  I love her dark fluffy hair and the way she is so vocal when she's happy.  I wouldn't trade her for the world!