Happy Birthday Lydia!

I can't believe Lydia is 9 now! Her birthday was on a Sunday, but on Saturday I took her shopping - for 2 hours! She picked out her birthday outfit, got some new shoes, and then got to pick out some accessories at Claire's. She picked out some giant hair clips, a chunky ring and some hot pink and black zebra print fake nails. That night she got to open her first present so we could play it! We love RockBand and the Lego version is fun and family-friendly.
She really wanted to have a cook-out for her birthday dinner, so we were going to do that on Saturday after some yard work. After getting the yard work done and being outside for awhile, we realized it was way too windy (yes, it is a little windy here). So we went with her second choice, French bread pizza.

Sunday after church her primary teachers stopped by with a balloon and a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream "just for her". She had been looking forward to this treat for so long and made the ice cream last for several days. Later she got to open the rest of her presents: some "grown-up lip gloss", monogrammed note cards, a new DS game (she asked for a girly one with fashion, style, etc.), a tote bag with a peace sign on it, a Beatles CD with some of her favorite Beatles songs on it and lots of cards and love from grandparents. She loved getting her own chocolate bar and gift card to go shopping with!

We decided to go ahead and have the cookout Sunday night since the weather was cooperating. It was nice and simple - hot dogs, chips, soda and toasted marshmallows. It was fun to use the fire pit for the first time this year and to just hang out.
A few facts about Lydia at 9:
- She is very creative when it comes to writing stories, telling stories, or "telling stories"
- She is learning to enjoy piano lessons and hip-hop dance class
- She is a phenomenal reader and gets lost in books very easily
- Her room is always messy
- She often helps out without being asked - emptying the dishwasher, sweeping the floor, etc.
- She loves to talk!
- She loves 80's music and peace signs
- She loves to sing
- She is still my "rough and tumble" girl
- She has amazing faith and a powerful testimony of her Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ

Lydia in her birthday outfit - shirt, shorts and shoes.

Just for Fun

Here is a picture I love of Felicity doing her homework. She has done so well in school this year, and has particularly grown in Math.

More Girls in the Kitchen

On Sundays where Shawn is gone and I have meetings, I have just enough time to drop the girls off at home after church, leave them to their own devices for lunch, and then get back to the church. The last time this happened, they asked if they could make a cafeteria for lunch. I was hesitant - visions of arguments about who gets to do what or who gets to be what - dancing in my head. Against my instincts, I let them go ahead and do it and they had a blast - got along and everything! That is what they did again today - making a menu board on the white board, setting up a card table in the kitchen as the lunch counter, taking orders and serving each other peanut butter sandwiches, quesadillas with sour cream and clementines. Are they creative, or what? And it keeps them busy :)

Tonight the girls were all still in a cooking mood, so we just rolled with it. Felicity started out by browsing through a Rachel Ray kids cookbook we had and wanted to make a batch of her famous 5 minute fudge. Well, we didn't quite have the right ingredients, so we had to settle for the regular old-fashioned Fantasy Fudge from the marshmallow creme jar. Yummy!

Then it was time for Brinner - that's breakfast for dinner. We decided on waffles with eggs sunny side up (some like their eggs on the waffles, other prefer them on the side, I prefer them not to touch.) This is how Evie likes them.Felicity tried out one of those Rachel Ray recipes - a fruit and yogurt parfait made with layers of vanilla yogurt, clementine slices (substituted for mandarin oranges), rice crispy cereal, and crushed pineapple. I'll admit, I was skeptical about the rice crispies - hello, soggy! They did get soggy, but it wasn't too bad and was a yummy accompaniment to the rest of the meal.Lydia helped me mix up the waffles and poured them into the waffle iron. She thought it was pretty cool to beat the egg whites into stiff peaks.
Evelyn set a beautiful table with our white tablecloth and white dishes. She even put the napkins in the cups just like they do at fancy restaurants. Notice the little notebook she has out to take everyone's orders and she assigned herself the role of "bussing" the table also. I don't know if you can see them very well, but next to the milk and o.j. are 2 little pieces of paper - one is the menu and one is directions for passing the menu around the table. She also wore her apron and made herself a little name tag (hiding behind the cup she is holding). My girls are so cute! We all enjoyed the tasty meal and the time together, practicing our good manners (one of Lydia's Faith in God goals) and complimenting each other on the fine meal we had made together. I love my girls!

Just for Mom

Here is a picture of Lydia's knee. There are 3 little black stitches, but the steritape hadn't come off yet, so it is hard to tell. I'll see if we can get a better pic tomorrow.

Easter Dresses

The girls finally got to wear their new Easter/Spring dresses last week. For some reason, I have discovered that we have the best luck finding dresses for the girls at K-Mart - they are a good length and a good price. Felicity found hers this year at T.J. Maxx when we were shopping with Grandma Karen and Aleah.Here you can see how they all measure up to one another - Lydia is nearly as tall as Felicity.Evelyn liked the silky feel of this dress and the ribbon around the waist.This is a dress like Lydia has "always admired" on other girls, but it "looked expensive" and so she is thrilled to have one of her own (for a whopping 10 bucks).Felicity liked the tight-stretchy-ruched top on this dress (I forget what it's called) - and it has her favorite color, green, in it.My three beautiful girls!

Girls in the Kitchen

The girls have really been enjoying doing more in the kitchen lately, so here are some pictures of them at work. I think we were getting a dinner ready after we had gotten a bunch of produce from a co-op program we have here, Bountiful Baskets.Evie and Lissy working side by side at the sink.

Evie cut some strawberries for us.

Felicity whipped up some ants on a log.

And we can't leave Lydia out, she helped set the table this time.

Freezer Meals Group

Through our Relief Society I have been participating in a freezer meals group where we meet once a month and swap meals that are ready to go. I love it! Of course, figuring out a meal that is relatively easy to make in multiples and that freezes well is a little tricky, but I love having meals ready to go on those busy nights where I need something quick or don't really feel like cooking. So far I have contributed my great-grandma's Swedish Meatballs with rice and our favorite Sweet and Sour Meatloaf from my friend Denise at BYU. Here are my meatloaves ready to go:
In fact, I like it so much, I've even started making extra of some meals and freezing part of it for another night, or freezing individual portions for the girls' lunches. They are thawed by lunch time and ready to re-heat. If you want to check out some of our yummy recipes, they are here at Freezer Goddesses.