Kate the Great Turns 3!

When I call Kate "sweetie" or "cutie" or something other than her name, she always corrects me and says, "No, I Kate da Great!" She knows it, and she is so full of personality we almost can't handle her, ha ha. She is wild and darling at the same time, and our family would not be the same without her. These pictures are all complements of my sweet sister-in-law Callie (okay, and Jaren took a few too). Thanks guys!

And thanks Pinterest, for almost every idea I had for this party! Rainbow cupcakes, a fun kids treasure hunt, rainbow candied popcorn, tissue pom poms, rainbow fruit tray, and of course Skittles and Starbursts!

Kate got lots of Toy Story themed presents!

And behold! The cutest bike I've ever seen! It even has a cute little bell! And guess who blew right past it to get to the table and eat her Cheetos from Aunt Avree?

Oh, now she notices it!

A little nervous at first, but she's getting the hang of it.

 

This is where I finally helped Kate blow out the candles after 30 seconds of her spitting on the cake!

And the highlight for Kate was that my parents came up last minute to join in the festivities. My mom just couldn't miss it! What a fun day with family and friends!

Family Fun

I feel like our family is in such a great place right now. Andrew is close to 1 year old, all of my kids are sleeping through the night (well, 80% of the time), and well, I feel like I have jumped out of survival mode and back into doing some of the things with my kids that I want to do. Here are a few fun things we've been up to:
FHE Popcorn Night (Mitch got a popcorn machine for Young Men's so we tested it out the night before)

 Notice our little toothless Marin! She lost both of her front teeth in the last month.

Kate was loving the popcorn machine! 

Last night for Leap Day we had a party. We played leap frog and other froggy games and had pudding parfaits. Ha ha, they aren't much to look at but they were Oreo and Pistachio pudding and they were surprisingly good! 

I have to say, Marin helped me tape together this poster and I had to push aside my OCD and let her not line the pages up exactly perfectly, ha ha.

Obviously this is not all we have done in the past month, but it is all I took pictures of. Thanks to Pinterest and my returned sanity, we have lots of fun things planned for March and April (April is our birthday month, 3 of our family members have birthdays then). Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures!

All You Need Is Love

Thanks to Pinterest, I am turning into one of those moms who does crafty things on holidays besides Christmas. I finally jumped on the wagon last week and there were some really cute Valentine's ideas. Of course I didn't go nuts, but I did a few cute things I want to share. I say I'm not very crafty, but what I mean is that typical "crafts" like painted wood and vinyl stuff, well, they're not really my decorating style so I don't like to make them. But I do like do-it-yourself ideas and I try to do them, but I generally don't have the skills or patience to follow through with my ideas. Or they turn out looking sadly different than the pictures. See this post if you don't believe me. I had a similar experience with trying to make cake pops. Disaster! So I am right proud of myself for actually creating something that looked like the tutorial. These are the little hair clips we gave Marin's friends in the neighborhood for Valentine's Day.  Here is the link: Felt Flower Tutorial

I made these cupcakes in a jar for Marin's teacher and the girls I visit teach for church. I got the idea where I have been getting all of my good ideas lately, my friend Emily Nelson's blog.

 Here is a link to the chocolate cake recipe I used. Not that I think you'll all go out and bake a chocolate cake just because I posted this, but because this is going to be my new go-to from-scratch chocolate cake recipe. It was so easy and so yummy and it doesn't use ingredients that you'd have to make a special trip to the grocery store for. Here is the recipe: Dark Chocolate Cake

The frosting is just a basic buttercream with a tiny bit of red food coloring. I also sprinkled crushed up Oreos on the frosting layers. I did a few more things but they were not spectacular enough to post. We had a fun day. Marin told me it was "the best Valentime's (that's how she still says Valentine's) Day ever!"

Kind of a Friday Confessional

This is not my typical confessional, but my sister-in-law tagged me in a blog post of hers. My answers will be a little like a confessional I guess. I don't think I've ever actually done a tag, it's not my style. But for Nicole, only for Nicole, I'll do it. Here are the questions she asked:

What is your favorite book and why?
Easy. "Daddy Long Legs" by Jean Webster. I have read this book more times than I can count and I still LOVE it. What does that say about me? Yes, I'm sappy. Yes, I like a good romance. If I were at a job interview I would say Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." because I also love that one only a teensy bit less and it's a bit more sophisticated-sounding.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Eek! I'll be turning 40! With that said, I have to admit, I may be looking forward to this phase in my life a little. The one where my kids are still at home, but not babies. "What?" you say? "Just wait until you have teenagers" you say? Sorry, but I'm not the best "baby" mom. I love love love my babies, but I'm kind of a stress case over them. So while I know new stresses will arise, hopefully in 10 years I will be doing some fun things that my sis-in-law Nicole is doing (she is not 10 years older than me, but she had her kids earlier)... like cross-country skiing and hiking while my kids are in school, taking some fun un-baby-friendly vacations with my family, etc. And all of you who are gearing up for a comment along the lines of "enjoy your babies, time flies, it's fleeting, they'll be grown before you know it, etc."-- don't bother. I am thoroughly content with this phase of my life too.

Where is your favorite restaurant and what do you order there?
Red Lobster and endless shrimp or the shrimp platter or crab. Oooh, I love me some good seafood!

What was your first childhood memory?
My dad pushing me on the tire swing at Aggie Village when we lived in Logan (I was 2 or 3). Apparently he pushed me a little too high once and I refused to ever get back on. I don't remember that, but I have fleeting memories of the tire swing that are associated with feeling happy.

What is the most daring thing you have ever done or what are you the most proud of accomplishing?
I would definitely have to say being a mom, although I didn't know how daring I really was when I first embarked on this. That is a subject for different posts though, so with that said, my SECOND most daring thing I've ever done is come to Logan to go to school. Sounds boring, but I was extremely shy in high school and there was not ONE SINGLE other person I knew in the whole wide world who was going to USU. So for me to pack up, move across the state, and hope for the best was big. I'm pretty dang glad I did though. I just happened to share a dorm room with my best friend Ashlee and we had some oh-so-good times for several years (until we both got married). I obviously met Mitch here and we got married. Mitch's roommate Matt met my sister Avree, they got married. My brother Jaren moved up here to school and met a darling girl from Brigham City, they got married. So yeah, I'd say it was worth it :)

Sorry, not going to pass any more questions on because I don't have any friends I think would want to do this who haven't already been tagged.

And that's it!

The Kiddos

This is just a quick re-cap for my journaling purposes of what my kids are like these days. If you are not Avree, my mom, or Nicole, you probably won't be interested in this:

Marin (5)
* Loves Kindergarten, is very into following the rules
* Loves playing Mario Kart with her dad. Is surprisingly good for a 5-year-old.
* Can do a pretty mean cartwheel after taking gymnastics for the last few months
* Loves to dance
* Is the tallest girl/possibly kid in her class
* Told a girl in her Primary class who was crying that "it would be better if you used your words."
* Likes to use big 3-syllable words, but uses them out of context quite often
* Loves to play with her friends in the neighborhood
* Still gets super excited about the toys that come in Happy Meals
* Still gets super excited over lots of trivial things and I love it!
* Is very polite to teachers and adults, thank heaven
* Loves hugs and snuggling much more than when she was a baby
* Will try lots of new foods, but will not try bananas
* Has the most beautiful red hair that looks like it was professionally highlighted
* Is a great little skier and likes to go FAST
* Is very very dramatic. Teenager-hood could be a difficult time :)
* Can make Andrew laugh and laugh just by looking at him

Kate (3)
* Starts every sentence she says with "Actually...."
* Won't let me put even the tiniest rubber band in her crazy curly blonde hair
* Is a little destructive with toys (we call her Sid)
* Describes people she really likes as her "best fwiend"
* Loves to ride plasma cars at "A-Ree's house"
* Eats crayons like candy
* Eats many many more things not intended for ingestion (toothpaste, soap, dirt, hand sanitizer, etc.)
* Loves to dance, particularly spin until she falls over
* Will not, I repeat, WILL NOT wear clothing inside our house
* Loves to sleep in her "goll-bed [girl-bed]", which is short for big-girl bed
* Whenever I leave and come back she says, "You here?! You my best fwiend!"
* Anything she loves she calls her, "Fav-wit color" A typical phrase is, "I wuv it! It's my fav-wit color!"
* She speaks really fast, kind of sounds like Chinese until you get used to it
* She takes 27 baths a day. Loves to eat bubbles (shocker)
* Eats a bag of popcorn daily
* Would eat pancakes for every meal
* Has to eat at the same place at the table for every meal, with the red plastic place-mat that I melted the shape of the crockpot bowl into-- she calls it the "ovo [oval] pwace-mat"
* Loves to sing -- knows every single word to "I Am a Child of God" and "I Wuv to See The Temp-o"

Andrew (9 months)
* Happiest baby ever-- seriously, he used up all of his crying in the first 4 months of life
* Recently learned how to open the DVD player, to his sisters' dismay
* Can crawl anywhere, and does
* Loves to eat paper when he can find it
* Loves to eat all food and wants to feed himself
* Loves the bathtub
* Can only make one sound... "Daa daaa daaa" but says it with every emotion-- sad, happy, mad, excited, etc.
* Growls on cue, and pretty much the rest of the time
* Screams when his sisters do
* Laughs at everything his sisters do or say. I have a feeling this will continue for a long time
* Gets 10,000 kisses from me and actually LIKES it!
* Still likes to be swaddled up tight in his blanky to sleep

Fact or Myth?

My sister (also a Registered Dietitian) and I have been wanting to do a post about this for awhile now. We collaborated on this and here is what we came up with:

I am not saying this to brag, but to let you know that I feel like I have the credentials to make a post on this. I am a Registered Dietitian (a.k.a. Nutritionist) and I have a Master's Degree in Nutrition Science. Since becoming a dietitian, I have been amazed at how much nutrition misinformation there is out there. In the newspapers, TV, Internet-- and especially on social networking sites such as Facebook, I have been bombarded with inaccurate, misleading, and often downright dangerous health information. What is disturbing about the misleading information on Facebook, is that it comes from our "friends"-- and a recent study about health behaviors reported that most patients believed health advice from friends and family over health professionals. So here is some advice from your friend who is also a health professional on how to sift through nutrition information. It's in my favorite format-- a list:

1. Does the information have references? If you are reading an article and they are spouting statistics left and right with no references, either in the article or after, you need to be wary. Especially if the statistics are outrageous. Testimonials DO NOT count as references. Here is a perfect example: A recent article I read on the Paleo diet website says this: "Gluten causes gut inflammation in at least 80% of the population..." Then there is no reference. In fact, the article contains ZERO references. I did a little research on the website of the American Gastroenterology Association and their 2011 Position Statement estimates that it is more like 1 in 100 (or 1%) and they have a bazillion references to back it up.

2. If the article has references, what are they? Are they trusted professional organizations (i.e. American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, American Dietetics Association, Professional (peer-reviewed) Journals, Universities, etc.)? Which brings me to my next point--

3. Who sponsored the article? Is there a conflict of interest? If Tropicana Orange Juice sponsors a study that finds that drinking juices with Vitamin C cures cancer (that is obviously bogus but you get the picture) then you need to think twice before accepting the information.

4. How many studies reached the same conclusion? In the academic world one study means nothing unless multiple studies continue to get the same results. One study's nutrition information should not be what you are basing your health behaviors off of.

5. How many participants were in the study? Were there 10 or 1,000? Small studies often do not contain enough participants to reach valid conclusions or statistical significance.

6. Does the information violate all known biochemical or physiological laws? Let me explain. I think everyone should have to take a basic biochemistry or human physiology course. Just knowing basics about how our bodies function can help us. Take this example for instance: A fad diet claims that we can lose 10 pounds in 3 days. In order for us to lose 1 pound of FAT, it takes a negative energy balance of roughly 3,500 calories. So is it really physiologically possible to burn 35,000 calories in 3 days? No. If you lose that much weight it is because you are dehydrated. See? Basics.

7. This goes along with #3, but is the organization who is giving you the information trying to sell you something or get YOU to sell something FOR them?

8. And finally....Does it sound too good to be true? Then it is. Promise. Pinky swear. Cross my heart.

If we would all be a little wiser with what we choose to believe, there would be a lot less nutrition misinformation available. Just because you find an article in a magazine or newspaper or hear something on the evening news doesn't make it true. Be careful what you believe (and especially what you act on) when it comes to nutrition. Your health depends on it.

Friday Confessional #6

First of all, I would like to thank my sister-in-law EmRee for the one comment my last post got, ha ha. Next, on to confessional. I really shouldn't tell this because it really brands me as the super-nerd I am... but oh well.

I do the newspaper crossword puzzle every night after my kids go to sleep.

I love crossword puzzles and I am getting much better at them. My newspaper recently announced that they won't be doing a Monday paper anymore. Apparently it is not cost effective for them to distribute a Monday paper (small town). I will admit, my first thought when I read this was, "Dang, no Monday crossword puzzle." Because, you see, I can usually finish the whole crossword puzzle on Mondays since they get harder as the week progresses. About Wednesday is when my skill level is passed up. But guess what? The Monday crossword puzzle gets sent ahead of time on Sunday now. You know what that tells me? Hooray, I must not be the only geek in Cache Valley!