Valentine's Day

When the girls got up on Tuesday morning I reminded them of what day it was. You would have thought it was Christmas. Abigail ran all over the room jumping and shouting, "It's Valentine's Day! It's Valentine's Day!"

They started off Valentine's Day decorating heart-shaped sugar cookies with my (I mean our) friend Jennifer.

Then we decided to dress up in Valentine's Day wear for a mini photo shoot:

Jonathan and I started a V-Day tradition once we were married that we have stuck with. Instead of going out to dinner he makes a special meal and I make a special dessert. I figured the girls wouldn't be interested in what he was making, so I fed them and had them ready for bed by the time Jonathan got home.

The girls were greeted by a Daddy bearing gifts. They were so excited to each get a flower and special Valentine's Day card from Daddy. I got flowers and a card too :-)

We put the girls to bed and Jonathan started cooking. I even managed to get Lily to bed. And, wouldn't you know it, Lily slept through dinner! No one had to eat and hold her at the same time! It was a special, quiet dinner where we were able to have a great conversation. Oh, and did I mention that dinner was awesome!? Jonathan made coffee crusted rib-eye, a recipe we found on Pinterest.

For dessert we had red velvet cake pops (another Pinterest find). They were very yummy.

All in all it was a great Valentine's Day-much better than last years' when we were hit with the stomach bug!

Three Months!

Lily is three months old now. I was changing her this morning and thought, "Wait a second, what is today's date?" I realized she hit 3 months and had to change her for her onesie picture:

Lily loves to smile. She also loves to stick her hands in her mouth. She's reaching for her toys now and she tolerates tummy time better than before. We see more of Lily's beautiful blue eyes during the day as she is spending less time napping than when she was younger (I feel silly saying "when she was younger").

Nighttime sleep is not going so well. It seems that all three girls went through a phase where they just did not like sleeping in their crib. Abigail spent a lot of time sleeping in our bed. Sarah spent time sleeping in the swing. Right now Lily will start in the crib, but oftentimes will end up with us or in the swing. If I remember correctly, this issue got better once the girls went through "sleep training". So, anywhere between four and six months.

The girls still love Lily :-) Sarah is actually spending more time with her, which I'm happy about. She'll crouch down in front of Lily in her bouncy seat and say in a sweet, high voice "Hi Lily".

Lily is getting so big! I'm interested just how big she is, which we'll find out in a few days during her checkup. Happy three months Lily!

Photo Fridays 02.10.12

I have been really bad about taking pictures lately. I did manage to snag two of Abigail and Lily though:

My Birthday!

I turned 30-something at the end of January and thought I'd do a post of our weekend celebrations.

On Saturday we went to a local restaurant for lunch. By signing up for their emails we were given a free entree and dessert for my birthday. Who can pass up that kind of deal! The girls were great and the food was great. Here are some pics from my phone's camera (sorry for the poorer quality):

On Sunday we went over to my parents' for cake and ice cream. Jonathan made me a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. It was made from scratch using my awesome Christmas present from him-my Kitchenaid stand mixer. Abigail wanted to decorate it, which basically just involved putting 30-something candles on it :-)

It was a pretty low-key weekend, which is how I prefer it!

Sarah's New Hobby

Sarah recently discovered how to dress herself. Yes sometimes she'll put her pants on backwards and sometimes I have to help her pull her shirt over her head, but for the most part she can do it by herself. Now that she's developed this new skill she's decided to do it multiple times a day.

Here's what she wore today, as recorded by my phone's camera:

Outfit 1: The Inside-Out Bathing Suit

Outfit 2: Big Sister's Jammies

Outfit 3: Lunch Attire

Outfit 4: Afternoon Casual Wear

Outfit 5: Big Sister's Dress (the dress big sister wore earlier in the day)

Outfit 6: Bedtime Jammies

It can get frustrating having to pick up discarded pieces of clothing as the day goes on, but my Mom said it best, "At least she has clothes on."

What's Cooking: Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Ever heard of Pinterest? I've mentioned it a few times and really like the site. There are so many unique craft ideas and recipes I would never think to google. Last night I decided to look at recently pinned recipes and saw this one for Creamy Chicken Taquitos. I'm not a big pinner, and only try to pin things I am likely to try out. This recipe was something I had to try out as soon as possible.

Modifications/Substitutions: I didn't use cumin or green onions. Instead of fresh cilantro, I used dried oregano leaves.

Ease: This was so easy to make. I especially liked the fact that these were baked, rather than fried. The hardest part about making the meal was dealing with my two older girls who kept coming into the kitchen. This recipe gets 4.5 stars for ease.


Affordability: This recipe was pretty affordable. Like always the chicken was on sale. Other ingredients were affordable as well - 4.5 stars.

Taste: Jonathan and I loved these. They made for a perfect treat to eat while watching football. We gave it 5 stars for taste.

Family-Friendly: One reason I wanted to try this recipe was because I was convinced that the girls would love it and eat it up. I was wrong. We really had to push them to eat theirs for some reason, and they didn't finish. Abigail told me she thought it was too spicy. Maybe I would use some cheese other than pepper jack. For our girls though and the way I made them, I'm afraid this recipe will only get 2 stars.

Photo Fridays 01.20.12

I cannot believe it is Friday already and that a whole week has gone by since I've made a post.

Lily has been smiling a lot lately, but now I have actual digital evidence. She's pretty generous with her smiles, but gives most of them to her big sister Abigail. Quite often Lily will smile at Abigail, who then bends over laughing like it's the funnies thing ever. Then Lily will smile again and Abigail laughs even harder. So here she is, our smiling Lily: