Anna's Birthday!!

Anna turned 1 this past Sunday!! I can't believe it's already been a year. I know everyone says that, but it does seem like it much went faster with Anna than with Catherine or Will. She is such a delight. We celebrated this past weekend in Union with my family. Anna had lots of fun with her everyone!

I made cupcakes that looked like butterflies, ladybugs, dragonflies, and bumblebees from this great pan Marcy gave me for Christmas. Thankfully I found a strawberry cake mix that doesn't use any milk products. We let everyone decorate their own with icing and sprinkles. The kids had lots of fun with that!

Anna enjoyed 2 cupcakes :)
Sitting in her sweet little rocking chair for her birthday present!
On her actual birthday we didn't have any more cupcakes, so I gave her her favorite treat--a lollipop!
Her newest trick--standing on her own. No walking yet, but we're getting a little more balance.
Happy Birthday sweet Anna! We have loved our first year with you and can't wait to share many many more.

Miss Madeline the Potato

Catherine's class is having a potato pageant today. I think it has something to do with St. Patrick's day and they're studying root vegetables. Our job was to dress up a potato. Catherine thought this was great and has been talking for weeks about what she wanted to do with her potato. She finally narrowed it down to a baby, an old man, or a bunny. So yesterday I told her we had to pick and she said old man. So I went downstairs to get some fabric to make him a nice little vest.

But then she saw the flower material and decided she'd rather have an old lady. So we made the old lady potato a dress, complete with buttons. We used extra buttons for facial features and some string for a mouth and hair. She was also required to have a sash, so Catherine wrote her name on that. (Although the permanent marker wrote through the fabric and it now says Madeline in permanent ink on the kitchen table. Anyone know how to get that off?) I have no idea why she thought Madeline was the perfect name for a potato, but by this point I was tired of dressing a potato and ready to be done. She said, "Why aren't you having fun, Mommy?" as I was getting grumpy. Oh my little crafty girl, this is the one area of life where we are very different!

Losing the Nap

Will is in the transitional stage of needing/not needing a nap. Really I think he still does most days, but since he knows that Catherine doesn't take a nap it's getting harder to convince him he does too. So we're trying the "every other day" approach at this point. On the days he doesn't nap I get him to play quietly by himself for at least 30 mins and then he and Catherine can play together for another 30 mins. I really would like for him to learn to play by himself for the whole hour, but we're working up to it. Some days though, I find him like this. And he thinks he's not tired!

I'm Alive

Don't worry...I'm alive after a really rough and sick weekend. Last week we all had some kind of cold/allergy/sneeze/cough thing. By the end of the week, mine was in my sinuses, my ears were hurting, my throat was hurting, and it really really really hurt in my chest. Like it hurt to drink water, or to eat, or to exhale. And then by Friday evening I started running a fever between 101.5 and 102.5.

By Saturday morning (after I almost passed out on the bathroom floor--why does this happen to me with fevers??) I told Jay I had to see someone because I was so sick. So I went to the CVS nurse. When she asked what was wrong I almost started crying. I really felt so badly that I thought she would tell me I needed to go to the hospital.

Turns out I had a sinus infection, bronchitis, and the flu all at the same time. She sent me home with lots of medication and after 2 days in bed, I started to reemerge yesterday. I feel much better now but still a little tired and worn out. Everyone else in the family is still recovering from this cold and cough, but thankfully no one else seems to have the flu. We all had flu shots and I have no idea where or how I got it. But I am thankful to be feeling better and alive. And I thankful for my wonderful husband who took care of all the kids even though he didn't feel good himself.

Perfect Little Paintings

Check out my friend Angela's great business: www.perfect-little-paintings.com

She does custom art for baby and children's rooms. It's all beautiful! So take a look at her website and give her a call if you want to create a custom piece for you child or for someone as a gift.

My Favorite People

Man, I love these people! I'm so glad I get to live with them and love them every day!

Hair Styling

Some post-bath hair styling, just because they're so cute

Peppers

I find it very interesting how my taste buds have changed as I've gotten older. Things I wouldn't dare eat when I was little, I now love! Jay says he's very proud of me. One of those things is peppers. I remember in high school my dad paying me $50 to eat one strip of a green pepper that was covered in ranch dressing. $50!! And I gagged on it and burped the taste of that pepper the rest of the night. But you better believe I ate it to get my money :)

Since learning to eat and LOVE Thai food over the past few years, I really have grown to love peppers cooked in things. (Green peppers still aren't my favorites though.) I'm also on the lookout for yummy recipes to make at home with them. Last week I tried a new one that everyone in the whole family loved, even Catherine and Will. And while cooking, they actually ate half of the orange peppers off the cutting board.

Here's the recipe in case you're interested: It's from Good Housekeeping.

Beef and Pepper Stir-Fry

1-2 cups of rice

12 oz beef top round, thinly sliced

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp veg oil

2-3 peppers (red, yellow, orange) thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/2 in wedges

1. Prepare rice. They recommend using a quick cooking brown rice. I used white rice and cooked it with coconut milk for some extra flavor. I sauteed 1/2 onion in some olive oil for 2-3 mins, added the rice for 2-3 mins. Then I poured the can of coconut milk (I used lite) in a 4 cup measuring cup and added enough water to make a total of 4 cups. Boil until rice is done. This gives the rice a sweet and sticky flavor. Yum!

2. In bowl, combine beef, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp black pepper

3. In 12-in skillet, heat 1 tsp oil on med-high. Add beef in single layer. Cook without stirring, 1 min. Transfer to plate. (Beef will still be pink in center.) Return skillet to med-high without cleaning.

4. Add remaining oil to skillet. Add peppers and garlic; stir-fry for 4-5 mins until crisp/tender. Add tomatoes and remaining sugar. Cook 3 to 4 mins until saucy, stirring.

5. Return beef to skillet. Add remaining black pepper and soy sauce. Cook 1 min (or more until beef is done to your liking). Serve over rice.

Enjoy! And sorry I'm not one of those fancy chefs who takes beautifully elaborate pictures of their final dish. We ate it all instead.

Bedroom Final

Here's the final bedroom decision. Jay helped me decide which one he liked best. We decided the other was too fancy and more feminine. And Jay said it looked elderly! I disagree with that, but whatever. I do love, love, love the pattern on the curtains and pillows and feel like the room is very comfortable and simple and peaceful for us.

Cleaning out the Garage

I moved all of the strollers, bikes, and other various items with wheels out of the garage to sweep it out and I found the three cutest little people in there! See if you can find them too.

At "Our" Park

Yesterday we headed over to "our" park--Butler Spring Park. We could walk to this park from our old house and is probably the thing I miss most about living there. We grabbed some lunch and went to the park to eat and play. This was the first time Anna has really played at the playground. She thought she was a big kid too and was crawling all around, even managed to give herself a bloody nose! We're looking forward to many more warm days to play at the park.

Wacky Wednesday and Silly Sock Friday

Catherine dressed up for Wacky Wednesday in my 25 year old dance costume. It brought back memories to see her in it! Really she looked more beautiful than wacky, but she thought it was pretty funny to wear something of Mommy's from so long ago. What I really thought was funny was that most of what the other kids wore for Wacky Wednesday (things like striped shirts with mismatched pants) looks pretty much like what Will wears every day.

Today was silly sock day, so she wore one Christmas sock and one Easter sock. Even the smallest things, such as wearing different socks, can make the whole day seem different when you're 5.

I think this whole week's crazy days are for Dr. Seuss's birthday. But I don't know. I always forget to read the newsletter. Regardless, Catherine had fun dressing up.