Smiles on the Faces of Those I Love

Hello!!

Lost tooth #3, and then lost it again. It's hiding somewhere in the house :)

    Xela is a self-proclaimed scientist and it suits her well. Not only is she always asking questions of who, what, when, where and why, measuring and counting things makes her excited. I try my best to answer her questions, yet I don't have a brain that enjoys storing endless facts about the world around me. Wow! Lucky me! I married a man who has an unnatural talent for that. It seems like once a day I am saying to her, "I bet Daddy knows that. Let's ask him when he gets home..." Xela has now formed the theory that Daddy is smarter than Mom and points that out frequently. We all have different talents I guess :) Xela just adores Joe.  He a the hero in her eyes of strength and wisdom. I love it!

I love this little haircut on her! I think I'm getting pretty good at girls hair too :)

Charlotte is so excited that she can jump with 2 feet! She is just soo cute! We still cuddle often and she is very forgiving and generous with her family. Today Xela asked Charlotte if she could finish her dry cereal in the car we had from dropping Joe off early in the morning. Charlotte politely said, "No." Xela asked me what she could eat and I told her I didn't know since lunch was over and we had to run errands. Charlotte excitedly and helpfully said, "You can have my cereal!"

Love that little happy face. My shadow in the kitchen!

     Anne usually loves to be where her sisters are, but that doesn't always work out for cooperative playing :) so she shadows me all over the house when not entertaining herself. She is willing to help me with most things I ask. She's very proud of herself for being able to climb up a few stairs and turn on and off lights.  She just got over a 1-2 week cough and we're happy she's about back to normal. She was the object of my seminary class two weeks ago when I had to bring the girls with me because Joe was out of town. She threw up right as it began which I had to clean up. When I asked the seminary students what they learned at the end of class, one Young Women said that she didn't realize that a child could have so much energy after throwing up. To which she threw up again, this time all over me too. ;) For the record, when she asks for peanut butter-that is all she wants. Don't bother giving her bread. She'll think you're odd. :)

I love to make this man laugh!

     So for my birthday, after looking at over 100 restaurants with healthy options, I was so full and tired, I didn't know if I even wanted to go out. I stopped my search.  By the time Joe came home I thought we'd just give our new city a try. It has a pretty hoppin' night life. I picked up our babysitter (who did such an AWESOME job with the girls) and Joe and I strolled a couple blocks North. And in my typical kill-as-many-birds-with-one-stone approach, we tried 3 different restaurants ordering different courses at each one. It was hilarious, at one of them, after we had paid and were about to leave, the owner asked it we had ever had a 'fried twinkle.' Oh, boy. So much chemical and preservative junk in those things...and YES, we did try it. It tasted like a fair, if a fair could taste like anything...:)

     But the picture of Joe was where we ate yummy Bruschetta. They brought me this kid-like cup because I asked for no ice in my water, and they brought Joe water in this big alcohol cup with the words "Lift Bridge Brewing". So fitting for my bridge engineer! I think he might get asked that question the most by people. There is an old lift bridge crossing the St. Croix river from MN to WI. And people often ask him one of two questions, "Is that bridge safe to cross?" or "Do you know when they are going to get approved to build the new one?" I'm getting pretty good at answering those questions myself because people ask me too, hehe. I took a picture of him with his cup and he thought I was weird. Ahh, the joy!

And the 20 week belly.

     If you happened to miss the announcement, you can watch the video in the previous post to see it. Feeling good, I'd have to say. This was the 1st Trimester out of all of the pregnancies that I actually gained weight! And also have not been "crazy" with hormones. No more feeling bi-polar and that is the best thing about it. I attribute it to eating all of the things D&C 89 says to, and in the manner it says. That is the best, simple, FREE, health program out there. I felt so well, not sick and not very nauseous at all, that I was able to eat and therefore gain some weight. I get tired here and there, but that comes from moving to and unpacking in a new house, not to mention mothering 3 little delights.

     The ultrasound went great and we are going to be surprised with this one. I don't care which gender we have (or else I would have found out, like with the 3rd). I am getting used to girls and would be delighted to have another one! If I had a boy, I feel I wouldn't know what to do, though I would be excited for the new adventure!

Here we are making a homemade apple pie.  Though Joe and I share the duty of doing dishes since we have no dishwasher, he did a whole big load in exchange for the apple pie.

I don't usually measure, but here are a list of the ingredients:

Crust:
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
Salt
Coconut Oil


Filling:
Lots of organic apples
Sugar in the Raw
Cinnamon and Nutmeg

It was the best pie I've ever made. The syrup in the bottom was more thick the day after. The whole wheat pastry flour is a milder taste then it's red counterpart and we use that most often. It takes a little getting use to, but it so good and healthy. Coconut oil looks like lard at room temperature and is softer to work with. It wasn't taste noticeable in this one. Some of our dishes come out a little on the Hawaiian side :) Coconut oil is non-carcinogenic when heated and is nutritious unlike other vegetable oils.

     With the new house projects slowing and am able to put my feet up more and relax. Joe begins his new 6 month rotation with construction before returning to the bridge office and is looking forward to helping a bridge actually go into place, not just designing and computing.

Until next time!
Jenni