Friday Flashback - 30 weeks

Today I am 30 weeks pregnant. Only 10 weeks to go! It's about this point in every pregnancy that I realize I don't have many belly shots, so I actually have a belly shot at this point in every pregnancy. I'm posting them for your entertainment, so you can see how I get bigger with each baby :)

April 2003 - 30 weeks pregnant with Isaiah

July 31, 2005 - 30 weeks pregnant with Katie

August 30, 2008 - 30 weeks pregnant with Baby Boy

(Okay, so technically I look a bit bigger with Isaiah, but honestly, that was because of the shirt--I'm so glad those tent clothes went out of style! I really am as big right now as I was when I delivered with him.)

A different kind of hairdo . . .

I didn't think it phased Isaiah at all that I was spending time on Katie's hair and taking pictures of it when it turned out cute. But he has been complaining that his hair is too long, and I finally took him to the barber shop (one of his very favorite places) this week. Friday, he asked me to gel his hair and spike the front, and when I was done he said, "Okay, now that I'm all handsome, you have to take a picture to go on the computer!"


So here's his moment of fame:

Friday Flashback - Potty Girl

Here Katie is, one year ago. And a year later, I think we finally have the potty thing down! Last year, she was potty trained for a month or so (maybe it was even less), and we eventually reverted completely to diapers. Since then, she has taken more control of the whole thing, and I looked back today and can't even remember how long it's been since she has been wearing panties full time during the day--a few weeks? a couple months? Either way, we are so proud of her efforts and successes!

More Hair

Here are some new hairdos we've tried this week. The first one we did yesterday; it's a slanted part (which the pictures don't show very well) with the top half in upside down french braids, joined in the middle.

This morning Katie asked for braids that went around her head, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try a "hair headband" and see how it worked for us. Next time I do this, I'll make it wider so you can actually see the braid when the hair is down. The first two shots are with the hair pulled up so you can see what it is (two upsidedown french braids, starting from a side part, meeting in the middle at the nape of the neck), and the last is what it looks like normally. Don't mind Katie's stoned expression. She's got a bit of a cold and she's watching a show on the laptop (our motivation and distraction for fancy hairdos).

Yummy food . . .

We've been having lots of yummy food around here due to several events I was required to cook for. Since some of the things were fairly successful, I thought I'd post recipes in case anyone else is as obsessed with good food as me ;)

This Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips is the very yummiest thing I've made, maybe ever (okay, Adam doesn't agree, but he isn't a fruit-lover like me, either). I made it for my Stampin' Up club Wednesday, since it was my month to host, and it was loved by all. I have craved fruit this entire pregnancy, and this absolutely hit the spot, in ways a regular bowl of fresh fruit can't do! Also a big winner at stamp club, I made banana bread since I had some overripe bananas attracting fruit flies to my kitchen. I followed this super-simple recipe, but added a teaspoon of vanilla and a dash of nutmeg.

Today I co-hosted a baby shower for friends and I made Easy Snack Wraps and brownie bites. I added ranch dressing mix to the cream cheese in the snack wraps, but they still needed something, I'm thinking olives. I've made them before and changed the recipe, but it's been over a year and without having made notes on the recipe I couldn't remember what made them so much better.

However, the brownie bites I haven't made before, but I will do them again for sure! Anyone who knows me knows I loooove brownies, but having them in little serving sizes made them even better. Here's what I did: (I made these from a mix, but next time I will use my favorite recipe since they taste so good and I am more comfortable with knowing exactly when they are done.) I made the brownie batter as usual, then scooped a tablespoon-full into mini muffin tins (enough batter for a 9x13 pan made about 4 dozen mini muffins). I cooked them at 350 for about 11-12 minutes. Cooled them in the pan, then on a rack, then stored in an airtight container. To make pretty presentation for the shower, I arranged them on a serving tray, then sifted a bit of powdered sugar on top. Come to think of it, this is the first time I've had brownies without frosting and still absolutely loved them!

Now, some of the yummiest food I had this week isn't mine, so I'm going to have to beg for Haley's recipes for grape salad and couscous salad. Mmmmm . . . I'll keep you posted!

First Days of School

Tuesday was Isaiah's first day of Kindergarten. We went for half an hour with him while he was oriented to his class. Here he is drawing a self-portrait that day:

Wednesday was the first real day of school, a full kindergarten day where we actually dropped him off, etc. He looks about as excited as if he were getting a root canal, but he really was very excited (and nervous, but mostly excited):

In preschool, every day I walked him in, said goodbye, and often there were hugs and kisses (despite my sometimes desperate attempt to send him in from the car those mornings that I was still in pajamas!). Wednesday, all he gave me was a flip of the hand over his shoulder as he ran off into his classroom. What a grown up kid!

Wordless Wednesday - Washington County Fair

Muffin Tin Monday

(left 6 muffin cups) wheat club crackers, peanutbutter, raisins, baby carrots and cucumber sticks, deli turkey and colby jack slices, and ranch (mirrored on the right side)

I got the idea to try giving the kids lunch in a muffin tin from She's a Crafty Pumpkin who got the idea from Sycamore Stirrings. They had to share a big muffin tin since I only have one 6-cup muffin tin and split the cups so they wouldn't fight, but next time I might give them each their own 12-cup tin if I can scrounge up enough fun finger foods. Today I just used foods they like and added a couple of things that they've seen before but have been afraid to try. Next time I will be a bit more adventurous and try to put in even more healthy stuff.

Thekids thought this was a great idea! Their first reaction was to just dig in:

and after that, I sat in here posting this, listening to squeals of "I'm gonna try a cucumber!" "Dip that in the peanutbutter!" "Eww! Not in the ranch!" And I even caught an "I love you, Katie" and "I love you, too" as they sat shoulder to shoulder tasting their lunch.

Definitely doing this again. :D

Grassheads

We made these at playgroup a couple of weeks ago (right? or has it only been a week?). I have been amazed at how fast the grass grows. These lovely hairdos were styled only a day and a half after Katie and Isaiah gave them very short haircuts. They are a really fun project and really easy to do. I found directions for them at MormonChic (at the botton of the page in the right sidebar), but all you have to do is type "homemade chia pet" into a search engine and a bunch of sites will pop up with directions. If you check out the MormonChic link there are a million other fun project ideas posted on that page--fun ideas to keep bored children busy!

Side note: Maybe you have noticed that my pictures are not the quality they usually are. For instance, if I had just moved these little grassheads to the kitchen table the lighting would have been better, but getting out the camera was effort enough. I've been lazy, forgive me. Sometimes it's better to have documented a moment or a memory badly than not at all.

It's all about the girly stuff

For the last two nights I have not slept well. Whether or not it is related to the pregnancy, my insomnia is at least affected by it. I sometimes have a hard time getting back to sleep when I wake in the night anyway, but how much harder is that to do when I have a little body doing somersaults inside of me for hours on end?! Last night I got between 4 and 5 hours of sleep, and that was with a mercy hour--Adam getting up with the kids just as I was finally drifting back off to sleep, otherwise it would have been less.


So, did I take a nap this afternoon? No.

I made bows!! Who can resist brand new ribbon just begging to be shaped and wired and glued?! Here's my latest batch:

This is a really bad picture; they really are much cuter in real life. But I had to show you the fun things I was inspired to make after finding this amazing hairbow-making site! I've been making bows for Katie since she was a baby, but nothing I've made compares to those adorable pinwheel bows! They're my favorite. The streamer bow on the top left was inspired by It's A Girl Thing (thanks to Shelli for the link to that site--it's feeding my addiction!).

Can you tell what I've been thinking about the last couple of weeks? Nothing but little girly hair! Here's another 'do Katie and I came up with the other day.

Pretty simple, needed some bows, of course! Now we have some for next time . . .

Our new van

We bought a new vehicle Saturday, a 2006 Kia Sedona minivan. I haven't gotten around to taking a picture, but here's one I found online that looks like ours (without the UK license plate!):

Woohoo! We are all set to fit 3 car seats . . . now all we have to do is buy that third carseat!

PS If you or anyone you know is interested in a 2002 PT Cruiser (in excellent condition), we're selling ours!