A New Old Picture

My parents sent me a CD of the pictures they took while they were here in February/March. In addition to those pictures, they put a few old pictures I've never seen on the CD. I am in love with this pictures. It must have been taken when they were here in August last year. Isn't Caden adorable?!?!

Sprouting News

We have little sprouts. I wasn't expecting our seeds to sprout so quickly. The vegetable seed packets said 8-12 days. It was more like 3-4 days. I think we are off to a good start.

A green bean seed

A zuccini seed

Cucumber seeds

To the Parents of:

We got a packet in the mail yesterday addressed to "To the Parents of Alexandra..." from Emmorton. My baby girl is going to kindergarten! Allie was very excited when I showed her the packet of stuff I have to fill out and ran off to tell Jaelyn she's going to her school next year. Registration is May 2. Too Soon!

I have to take Caden to his registration in April for preschool. Too Soon!

On Tuesday, I didn't feel old, but today, I do and I think I might need to cry!

Our Week

Today is Friday. I can't believe Jaelyn's spring break is almost over. The week started out really fun, but it went down-hill fast Wednesday afternoon. I think I wrote about our Monday and our Tuesday. On Wednesday, we met 2 friends (Karon with Eric and Jane with Samuel) at the Baltimore Zoo. It was a beautiful day, partly cloudy, low 60s, not a lot of wind...perfect. We saw all of the animals first. The polar bears and chimpanzees were definitely the favorites. One of the polar bears was swimming back and forth and one of the chimpanzees was playing with a toy right next to the glass. It was fun to see him that close up. We brought picnic lunches and sat at a picnic table in the sun. The kids were hungry. Caden even ate his peanut butter sandwich (I was impressed) and if you are wondering, I had chicken salad. Making peanut butter sandwishes is as far as I'll go. The petting area was closed - big frowns, but we were able to do everything else in the children's zoo. The big slides and bouncy rope bridge were a hit as usual. I took a stroller, but only had to use it towards the end with Allie for running away from me. Caden did a great job of staying with me and Jaelyn was a big help to Miss Karen. She pushed her stroller for her some and then held Eric's hand for quite a bit leading him around the zoo. I've always loved it when our 3-4 year older cousins are around to help me out and that's what Jaelyn was for Karon.



I was totally drained heading home in the car. The kids all slept, but woke up when we got home. I tried to take a little cat nap on the couch, but they wouldn't let me. Caden has had a little cold and by the evening I had a horrible sinus headache and a really sore throat. We didn't do anything on Thursday. I did manage to run 3 loads through the washer/dryer (still in the baskets, though) and got the kids to clean up the playroom by giving them handfuls of money (literally). Other than that, I stayed on the couch all day. Dan brought us home pizza for dinner. I am ashamed to tell you what the kitchen looked like, but it'll give you a good idea of just how terrible I felt. As Dan said this morning when he called to ask if I noticed that the "kitchen fairy" had been here , my sink was to maximum capacity. (isn't he awesome!!! Dan, my kitchen fairy) There wasn't a clean fork or spoon anywhere to be found. I fed the kids on our good breakable dishes last night because all of their plates were dirty. It was BAD and you all know how OCD I am about the house! I went to bed last night when the kid went to bed and I'm feeling much better this morning. My headache and sore throat are still there, but so much better than they were. All the kids are coughing today so I've dosed them with cold medicine. I am ready for summer when it is hot and stays hot. This back and forth with the temperature isn't any fun.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 35th birthday. That's hard to believe. 35 has always sounded old to me. I don't feel old, but I am halfway to 70. Crazy thought, no? Dan bought me exactly what I wanted for my birthday...a case of mason jars! You think I'm crazy don't you, but I have a project for them and I haven't found them in any of the normal stores I go to. I haven't had the energy to go on the wild goose hunt with the kids so I told Dan that's what I wanted for my birthday. He had to go to 3-4 stores before he found them, but he was successful. I also bought myself some new mineral make-up and I'm buying photo albums so I can finally get caught up on my pictures.

We had a quiet morning and then Angie and Lexie came for lunch and to play. It was a fun lunch. Angie and I even managed to sneak in 2 games of Sequence (we gave them a game and now she's addicted too). The kids had way too much fun playing. They all love Lexie. Angie offered to babysit for us tonight so Dan and I are going to the Bonefish Grill for dinner. I can't think of a better gift than one and a half hours away WITH Dan!

Anyone want to sing with me?

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to Kelly
Happy Birthday to me!

Sequence

We love the game Sequence! I used to play the kid version with Jaelyn, but she's done well enough that I let her play the grown-up version with me. I never let her beat me, but I do try to only play offensively. If I notice she's about to win, I will block her, but I don't look for ways she can win. Jaelyn normally plays defensively and doesn't pay much attention to her offensive game. I've never lost against her, but it is hard to beat her if that makes sense. We played a game this weekend. She did a great job of keeping her chips concentrated in one area. I got the first sequence and then she got a sequence. We played for quite a while and I finally got a second sequence to win the game. I had her look at her chips and was showing her the places she did really well when I noticed she had a diagonal sequence neither of us had noticed. I went back through her cards and she had beat me 4 turns before I won and we didn't know it. I can't believe she actually beat me without help from Daddy. I'm very impressed with my little Jae (she's decided she wants us to call her Jae instead of Jaelyn or Jae Jae).

Growing Vegetables

I love working in the yard. I've always focused on plants that were pretty instead of trying my hand at vegetables. This summer will be our first attempt at a garden. We bought bush green beans, cucumber and zucinni seeds. Jaelyn and I planted them in a little green house seed starter we bought today. We made little signs for the rows with paper and tooth picks. She wrote out the names. We also planted shasta daisy and black eyed susan seeds. I can't wait to see if anything actually sprouts! After looking at the price of fresh vegetables at the grocery store today, I REALLY hope everything sprouts.

3 Dry Nights

Hallelujah! Caden has woken up dry 3 nights in a row. One night, he even got up at 3 am and went to the potty by himself. I know because he refuses to pull his pants up and always comes to wake me for help. I still have a few weeks worth of pull-ups to make sure this "takes," but I am extremely hopeful.

We have not been as successful with Caden's thumb. He came to me on Saturday and told me he wanted to be a baby and suck his thumb. What can I say to that? If it was a paci, I'd take it away and let him deal with it, but I refuse to cut his thumb off. :p It's one of those things I'm not going to stress over. We'll deal with it later.

The Beginning of a House

Jaelyn and I began her construction project today. We started by duct taping shoe boxes together. We used regular cardboard for the base and roof. I did the majority of the work with cutting and piecing together, but Jaelyn did help with the tape. Next, we mixed water and flour to use as our paper mache glue. It was a fun, messy time and in the end, we have something that resembles our house. Now all Jaelyn has to do is painting, adding windows and doors, building a deck out of popsicle sticks and adding some flowers to the front bed. Do you think I can get away with using it again next year for Allie?

The Thumb Update

I'm very proud of my "big boy." Caden has made it through 2 naps and 2 nights without sucking his thumb. He's getting to pick a new bandaid every day (today is Quincy from the Little Einsteins). This might actually work!

Playing with Play dough

I have hated play doh with a passion for a long time. It leaves such a mess. About a year ago, someone gave me a recipe for home-made play dough and while I don't love it, I don't dislike anymore either. The kids enjoy helping me make it. They even play with it better. Maybe it's because they are older. The mess isn't nearly as bad as it used to be.

I did learn two things when we made play dough yesterday. You shouldn't substitute olive oil for vegetable oil. It leaves the dough feeling oily no matter how much flour you add to it. Also, coloring/scenting the dough with tropical punch crystal light makes beautiful, bright red dough that makes the whole room smell good.

Our Zoe-girl

I've been trying to get a few good pictures of Zoe to share now that she's comfortable with us and lounges everywhere. We've had her almost 3 months and she's definitely part of the family. She even has a ton of nicknames: Zoe-girl, Zo-Zo, Zoester (rhymes with toaster), and Zoe-kins.

Her relationship with the kids yo-yo's back and forth between tolerance and fear. She really liked Jaelyn to begin with and was even sleeping on her bed, but then Jaelyn started chasing her and pulling her tail. She even threw her down 1/2 a flight of stairs once (unhurt thankfully). There for a little bit, Zoe was running away from Jaelyn as fast as she could. Jaelyn has calmed down with her now and Zoe is more tolerant of her. She even took a nap in Jaelyn's lap not too long ago.

Allie wants Zoe to like her so badly, but she's mean to her most of the time. She pets her too hard and swats at her if Zoe doesn't do what she wants. Allie has also had a turn throwing Zoe down the stairs. She was carrying Zoe down the stairs this week and I told her to put Zoe down. Instead of sitting her down, she threw her down granny-style, kind of like you throw a basketball. I tried to catch her but my Elasta-girl arms weren't working. I was able to stop her from rolling down the stairs the rest of the way at least. Zoe hurt her back leg and was limping pretty badly. One afternoon of rest under my bed seems to have been enough and she's fine now. Here's a picture of Allie using Zoe as a pillow. Zoe doesn't look very happy.

Caden has gone from chasing her to being sweet to her. Zoe actually likes Caden and recently has started going into his room with him at naps. He says she sleeps on the floor.

Flax Seed Oil - A Miracle Cure???

I've been reading about the benefits of flax seed and flax seed oil in relation to Jaelyn's constipation problem. I asked a friend if she knew where a health food store in the area is and she called me today at the store asking me what I wanted. Thank you, friend. I am now equipped with milled flax seeds and flax seed oil. I gave Jaelyn 1/2 tsp of the oil this evening and she took it right off the spoon without needing me to hide it in something. She had a BM not too long after that (the 2nd today - the first was a result of an overload of benafiber, apples and apple juice). Could this be our miracle cure??? I sure hope so. If not, at least it's filled with good omega-3's so it's not a total waste. We see the doctor tomorrow so I'll run it by her as well.

One Inch

It's not a lot when you think about it (One inch...2.54 centimeters), but it feels like a lot to me. I've been working my bum off, literally, at the gym several days a week. I'm just finishing up my 4th weeks. I got out my measuring tape to see if there really is a difference. I feel like there is, but I need analytical confirmation, not just guesses. I love my tape measure...one less inch in my waist. When you do the math, 4 work-outs a week for 4 weeks, that's 1/16th of an inch per session, but I'm not complaining. I feel really good. This week, I Zumba'ed twice, did an hour long entire body weight lifting class (KILLER) and did Butts N' Gutts. I've developed quite a love/hate relationship with my butts n' gutts class, but I'm going to keep going. I'll update again in another 4 weeks!

A Man to Man Talk

Caden and Allie had dentist appointments this morning. It was Caden's first and he did a really good job. It was Allie's 3rd or 4th and she went to the room all by herself...such a big girl. After the hygenist cleaned Caden's teach (with chocolate chip cookie dough paste of all things...yummy), the dentist came to check him. He noticed right away that Caden sucks his thumb, his left thumb. The dentist got all serious and had a "man talk" with Caden. He explained to him that babies suck their thumbs. He asked Caden if he was a baby..."no." Big boys do not such their thumbs. Is Caden a big boy? "Yes!" Incidentally, Caden and I have this talk often and he always tells me he's a baby. Caden promised the dentist to stop sucking his thumb. He told me several times over the day that he won't be sucking his thumb anymore. That lasted until naptime. He was so tired and started crying that he needed his thumb. I gave him permission to suck it only when he really needed it. I don't know if he put it in his mouth or not. He told me he didn't when he got up, but who knows. I thought it was cute though that he didn't put it in his mouth and instead cried to me that he needed it. At bedtime, he told me he didn't want to suck his thumb and I asked if he wanted a bandaid to remind himself. He did so I let him pick which bandaid he wanted and he wrapped it around his thumb. As far as I know he's sleeping with the bandaid on his thumb now. We might make it all night! We'll see!

Almost Kite Weather

Spring is sooo close (yet so far away somedays). Today was a close day. It is beautiful outside....blue skies, sunny and clear, in the sixties, with only a slight breeze. Caden and I got to Allie's school a little early. Allie's class made kites and were playing with them on the playground. I don't like to let Caden play when the class is playing so I got a kite out of our trunk (they are still there from LAST spring) and let him fly it in an empty parking lot. We couldn't get it up very high, but he had so much fun running back and forth trying to get it up into the sky. I'm hoping we'll have a pretty weekend so we can get out and enjoy some sunshine!

Marshmallow and Toothpick Construction

Jaelyn came home with modeling clay and toothpicks the other day to "build" things for her homework. She's been "teaching" Allie and Caden how to build things with her supplies ever since. Today, I got out the toothpicks and our left over hardening marshmallows from Thanksgiving and let everyone try their hand at building something. It was fun and I didn't worry too much if a few marshmallows got eaten instead of built with because I'm going to an Arbonne party at a neighbor's house tonight...oh, I'm bad. Dan, I promise, they only ate a few!!!!

PS Jaelyn and I worked together on her construction project.

Allie's Faux 5th Birthday

I promised to write about this a week ago and haven't gotten around to it. When my parents came in February, they brought part of Allie's birthday presents with them. My mom wanted to be here when she opened them and they won't be back until a month after Allie's birthday. We baked a couple (marbled yellow and chocolate) and iced it with buttercream frosting. We finished it off with sprinkles and 5 pink candles. Allie was very excited to get to have cake 6 weeks before her birthday and to open her birthday presents. She LOVES her new princess leotard and jacket. She's worn them to ballet and gymnastics every week since.

February's Photos

Sorry I'm a few weeks late posting this. Here are our photos from February. I have been bad about grabbing my camera.

Pork Chops with Mushrooms and Thyme

I made this recipe one night last week and it was really good. Dan said it was even better left over.

Pork Chops with Mushrooms and Thyme

2 5-oz boneless, center-cut pork loin chops, trimmed and pounded to 1/4 inch thick
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, minced
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup dry vermouth (I substituted unsweetened apple juice)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1. Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Add the pork chops and cook until browned on both sides and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to serving plates; tent with foil to keep warm.

2. Swirl oil into the pan, add shallot and cook, stirring, until soft, about 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften and begin to brown, about 2 minutes. Add vermouth (apple juice) and cook for 15 seconds. Stir in mustard, thyme and any juices that have accumulated from the pork, cook until the sauce is thickened and slightly reduced, 1 to 2 more minutes. Spoon the sauce over the pork chops and serve immediately.

I served it with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. Next time I'm going to use chicken breasts instead of pork.

Jaelyn's Story

Jaelyn had to write a story for homework today. She was given four scenes to put in order. They were a girl tripping over a cat, the girl with a hurt knee, the girl with a woman cleaning her knee and the girl with a bandaid on her knee petting a cat. Here's her story:

One day Sam fel on the cat. She hrt hr ne. Momy is helpg hr. She is bedr. She is not mad at the cat. The ind.

Translation: One day Sam fell on the cat. She hurt her knee. Mommy is helping her. She is better. She is not mad at the cat. The end.

Journals of My Heart

I wish you all lived closer so I could invite you over to have lunch and to show you the package I got in the mail today....my journals. Many of you have been reading my journals on our website and now our blog since before we adopted the girls. Dan and I spent hours and hours in February compiling all of my journals from 2003 through 2007 into a Word document. We sent them to a publisher and had 4 books printed (one for us and each child). I almost cried when I opened the box today. They are perfect. The kids don't have baby books (well the girls do, but I hardly filled them out), scrap books or life books. My hope is they'll think what they do have is better....400 pages of my heart felt feelings about them and my sharing our daily antics, their development and achievements and our silly and sad times. The books don't have pictures so my newest project is compiling a DVD of my favorite pictures from those 4 years to put in the back.

So...if you are ever at my house, please ask to see my new books because I would love to share!

One Fine Day

Today has been a really good day. It started with Caden waking me up to show me his dry pull-up - the first since I posted about it last. Everyone cooperated this morning and Jaelyn even made it to the bus stop on time. Next Dan got home for exercising (he took the day off) and I got to take a shower without someone barging in every 60 seconds to ask me a question. I know that doesn't sounds like a big deal, but a nice relaxing shower is key to a good day for me.

I had a dentist appointment at 10:30 and contrary to the rest of the general public, I love going to the dentist. I love the scraping and the polishing. It feels so good afterward. I'd go once a month if the insurance would pay for it.

I got home from that, fed everyone lunch and then left Caden with Dan while I took Allie to school. Working in her class is always fun. The teacher was doing pre-kindergarten conferences today to discuss readiness with the parents. Academically, she's meeting or will meet all the prerequisites for kindergarten. Behaviorally, Allie still has some issues, but they aren't anything that's abnormal for a 4 year old. Miss Barb laughed because lately, Allie has been pulling her "I'm nervous" or "I'm shy" routine when she hasn't wanted to do something. Allie is so NOT nervous or shy about anything. All in all, she'll be just fine to start kindergarten in the fall. I wasn't really worried about it, but it's nice to get input from her teacher who sees her in a different setting than I do.

After clean-up duties, we headed home to get Jaelyn off the bus. We did homework and had dinner, then I checked the kids into the gym kid's area and took a Zumba class. It was my second with Angie and I did much better this time. I can do the basic dance moves without a lot of trouble. It's all the shaken' that's a problem :p, but I'm going to get there.

Now for the TMI portoin of my post...Jaelyn did come home wet from school, but she got poop out without any problems this afternoon and stayed dry the rest of the day. Allie (who I don't think I've mentioned has gotten lazy and has been having poop smears in her underwear too) had a perfect day as well. I've started putting all the Polly Pockets into time-out and Allie does not like to lose her Pollies! Caden as usual had a good pottying day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another dry night.

And now, I'm going to curl up on the couch with a bowl of 100 calorie, fat free popcorn and watch TV!

$1,000.25 Saved With Upromise as of today!

I'm so excited. I've been watching the amount grow closer and closer to $1000 over the last few months and today, it finally went over. We registered with Upromise after we adopted Jaelyn and Allie and then added Caden after he was born. We've mainly saved money with the cashback from our Upromise credit card. I know $1000 divided by 3 kids won't pay for much when the kids are in college in 15 years, but if we can just pay for a semester's worth of books for each, we'll be happy.

School Projects

Jaelyn brought home instructions for her first big school project yesterday. She has to construct a replica of the outside of our house. We can use anything we want to make it: modeling clay, shoe boxes, popsicle sticks, legos. Thinking about how we'll do it reminded me of the Kennedy Space Center my mom helped me make when I was in 4th grade. It was so cool. We even made the shuttle frame out of tooth picks. For ours, I'm thinking we'll use shoe boxes and then maybe paper mache to cover and smooth everything out. We can use popsicle sticks to build our fence and deck and dye sand green to glue on as our grass. That sounds like fun, yes? I seem to remember my mom making some sort of concoction like icing, but that dried hard to use on the ground and the sides of the building. I'll have to call and ask. We need to get moving on it though because it's due in 1 month.

When Will My Life NOT Revolve Around Poop?

And yes, I'm serious! I'd always thought you got your kids potty trained and then you didn't have to worry about it anymore. We've struggled with Jaelyn and poop for as long as I can remember. Part of the problem is constipation, but I think a lot of the problem is that she just doesn't want to put in the time to sit on the potty. We've hit a bad point again where the benafiber, apple juice, prune juice and apples aren't working. Not only is she dealing with slight constipation, but since she doesn't want to go potty, she's also having pee issues - not big accidents, just damp, stinky underwear. I've talked to her doctor about it in the past and I've made another appt for Good Friday. I'm hoping she can give us something stronger than benafiber that'll help make everything easier on her and me.

Making Me Smile

On Hannah's Prayer, I start a topic called What Makes You Smile every month or so. It's a chance for us to share the fun things about our kids. Here's my answers one day this week:

Dan has been making me so happy by alternating nights reading to the kids. He's been working long hours, some nights not home until the kids are getting ready for bed. Even on those nights, though, he's offering to give me a break and sits down to read the latest chapter to the kids.

Allie just disappeared up the stairs. She came down in her ballet leotard with a tiara on her head and tinker bell slippers on her head. A princess ballerina! She loves to dress up and dance. Lots of times when she responds to me, she says "yes, your highness" only she pronounces highness "hind-ness" like she's calling me a butt. It always makes me laugh and she doesn't understand why.

Caden pretended to fall asleep while I was reading to him before nap. He let me carry him upstairs, put him on the potty and tuck him into bed without a peep and then he didn't yell when I closed his door like he normally would have when the game ended. Instead, he went to sleep.

I haven't seen much of Jaelyn today since she's at school, but she did make me happy this morning by getting dressed without a fuss and by eating all of her breakfast without me constantly redirecting her back to her plate.

More Exercise News

Cardio Press was designed by the devil. I'm sure of it. I took the class on Friday and it nearly killed me. It was an interval class with 4 minutes of cardio followed by 4 minutes of weight training followed by 4 more minutes of cardio etc, etc and continuing for 60 minutes. By the end, I could hardly move I was so tired all over. I must say though, that I'm going back!!! My new goal is to make it through that class doing everything the instructor does. I fudged a lot by skipping reps and not using the step during cardio. Oh, and so you don't think I'm a total weakling, I was not the only one about to die at the end of the class!

Saturday, I tried Zumba taught by my neighbor. I've heard she's the best Zumba teacher around and now I know why she's skinnier than a twig. She shook things I didn't know were possible to shake. Oh my! It was loads of fun, but none of the dance classes I've taken in my entire life prepared me for Angie's Zumba!

My Health Assessment

I met with a personal trainer this morning at the gym to give me some guidance on how to meet my goals. I know, this is so exciting to all of you, but if I write about it here, I have to commit to it! Basically, I'm not trying to lose weight. I want to build muscle, develop more flexibility and flatten and tone my abdominal muscles. Not too much, ya think? She took some measurements and made me stand on a scale (I didn't like their scale. It was 4 pounds heavier than mine which my mom says weighs 3-5 pounds over her doctor's scale. Hmmm...). She had this cool machine that you hold with your arms straight out. It sends some sort of pulse through your body and gives you a body fat percentage based on how fast it takes the pulse to go through you. Kind of cool. 20% of me is fat, which is average now that's I've gotten home and googled it. The plan is to go to the cardio classes and add in some weight training (free weights). I still love the Zumba class. The Butts and Gutts class is a killer, but I've survived two. I'm trying out a class called Cardio Press tomorrow which is supposed to be an awesome cardio workout plus techniques used in Ultra-press with is a barbell workout class. All in all, I'm really happy with this gym. Dan has decided to go to the Y and is meeting with their trainer on Sunday to come up with a fitness plan for him.

20/25 and No Strabismus

Caden's opthomology appointment was today. Even though it was during naptime and he was obviously tired, he was still a big boy and did exactly what they said. He was checked out by the nurse and the doctor before and after they dilated his eyes. And the final diagnosis is that there is no strabismus. They didn't see any drifting. His vision is 20/25 which is very age appropriate for a 3 year old.

Visitors from Home

Thursday morning, I got Jaelyn off to school and rushed the rest of us to the gym for Allie's dance class and my first "Butts and Gutts" class. Caden went into the playroom like a champ and didn't even bother saying bye to me as he busily found toys to play with. Allie went off to ballet and tap class and I went off to pure torture. I haven't been made to do things that made my muscles burn that badly since Skip the Whip was my colorguard instructor in high school. He might have been a lot of bad things, but he sure knew how to get us (well some of us) in shape. Anyway, an hour later, abs, butt and legs feeling like jelly, I got Allie and Caden, zoomed through a McDonald's drive through and headed for Baltimore and the airport!

We had almost perfect timing and just had to wait a few minutes before we saw Baba and Grandpa standing there waving at us! Yea! We had a really fun visit with them. We didn't do too much as far as out and about, but we played some Uno and Sequence. We managed some shopping outting for toy sprees which left all the kids happy and Baba with a well used mastercard :p (or was it a visa??). I also managed to avoid cooking quite a bit. Take out is always so much easier. Dan and I got 2 nights out. One with friends for a dinner and a movie and one night on our own for shopping, dinner and a movie. We even threw Allie a faux fifth birthday party. I'll post about that later. All in all, it was a nice relaxing visit. We are already counting the days down until my parents come back in May to spend 3 weeks camping near us.