Photo Fridays 09.28.12

I grabbed these cute photos of Lily playing with her cousin Bridget last week.

Another Year Older and Wiser

Jonathan's birthday was last week. We had a small cake for him on his actual birthday and then celebrated with family on Friday.

The original plan on his birthday was to go out to eat using a generous coupon for a free entree and dessert. However, the girls were under the weather, so we saved the coupon for our anniversary. Because Jonathan wasn't going to have any sort of dessert for his birthday I decided to whip up a small cake for him. I had quite the time cutting down a recipe to 1/3 of the original size, but it worked out!

For the past 6 or so years I've made Jonathan his favorite cake, German Chocolate. Since we found out about Abigail's allergy I've made it without pecans. Well, I just don't think it tastes the same without the nuts, so I thought I'd try something new. Enter Pinterest and a recipe I pinned last fall for Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake. It was SO good.

The girls were very excited to celebrate their Daddy's birthday.

Seven Years

Jonathan and I celebrated seven years of marriage this past Monday. We had a nice laid-back day celebrating. It started off with me putting Lily back to bed just before 5:00 AM thinking, "Man, it's Monday. But at least I can look forward to going out for dinner tonight." Shortly after falling back to sleep Jonathan gently woke me up, telling me, "I took today off." I easily fell back asleep, looking forward to having my husband around for the whole day! What a perfect anniversary gift.

Our main festivities included a walk around Horn Pond (at least part of it) followed by dinner. The girls get pretty crazy when we get them outside. They love running around and getting into things. Abigail seemed to want to stop every 30 seconds so she could throw a rock into the pond.

Dinner is always an adventure with the girls. They are very well-behaved when we take them out, but they get pretty excited being out-and-about. Lily was probably the craziest. She would give a shrill scream every time she wanted more food. I guess she feels the need to scream so she can be heard in the Kapaldo house (or anywhere else for that matter).

Oh, and of course, I was pleasantly surprised to see the blog "bombed" by it's second author with Jonathan's post. We have been blessed with a great marriage and I have been blessed with a wonderful husband.

Isn't She Wonderful!

It's been seven years since I said "Yes" to Diana. Seven years since I told her I would take care of her in sickness and in health, in the good times and the bad. Seven years since I promised before God, family, and friends that I would love her, as Christ loves the church.

Its been seven years of joys, trials, learning experiences, and happiness! I never knew what could happen in seven years and I would not take them back! What joy these last seven years have been for us. We have three beautiful daughters-Abigail, Sarah, and Lily. I have a loving and devoted wife. So precious is my wife! She has chosen to stay home with our three daughters to raise them and see them develop into God-fearing women. She has allowed me to pursue my dreams and use my talents the best I know how. More importantly, my wife loves Jesus! She lives out her walk with God daily. Diana is an example to me and others of God's love.

I am sure Diana will continue document and fill you in on the specific joys of these last seven years, but I wanted to let you all know that I am blessed to be married to my wife, Diana Kapaldo! She has been a great and understanding partner these last seven years. We have had our trials and hardships! Raising three daughters is not easy! Life has not been perfect, but God has seen us through! The testimony of what God has done in our lives and our life experience has grown us closer to each other and God Himself!

I joyfully look forward to the next seven years! I pray that God will continue to guide us and that we would continue to be molded into His image. I love you Diana and am excited for what God has for us in the coming years!

- Jonathan

What's Cooking: Roasted Chicken

A while back I discovered the Pioneer Woman. I had seen a few recipes pinned on Pinterest. I also saw a bit about her on Facebook. She also has a show on the Food Network, but I've never seen it because we don't have cable. Anyway, whenever I see that she has a new recipe post I almost immediately salivate. I finally tried one of her recipes. It's a simple recipe for roasted chicken.

Modifications/Substitutions: I used only 1/2 cup of butter instead of 3/4. Also, instead of lining a baking sheet with foil I plopped my chicken in my largest casserole dish.

Ease: The hardest part was waiting for it to be done. This recipe only has a handful of ingredients and basically you slather the bird with butter, lemon, and rosemary; stuff the bird with lemon and rosemary; and roast it - 4.5 stars. It's so easy a four-year-old can do it (or at least she can help):

Affordability: The chicken was only $0.99/lb. Jonathan got a larger chicken than I wanted (7 pounds), but in the end I'm glad. I was able to use leftovers to make a good amount of chicken salad PLUS I made enough chicken soup for dinner this week with two more "dinners" waiting in the freezer for later. This meal is very affordable to make - 5 stars.

Taste: I think the only kind of chicken I am able to not overcook is roasted chicken. This was very moist and easy to chew :). I didn't get as much lemon and rosemary flavor as I expected, but it was still tasty. In fact, when I made chicken soup, I skipped out on using Bell's seasoning like I normally would and it was awesome soup! I'll go with 4 stars here.

Family-Friendly - The girls ate their chicken. Abigail ate ALL of her chicken. Sarah wasn't as enthusiastic about it, but she had some - 4.5 stars.

What's Cooking Rating: 4.5 stars

Ten Months!

Jonathan asked me two nights back, "Did you take Lily's monthly picture?" I responded by asking, "It isn't the 15th, yet, is it?" That is evidence of a long day, folks. Lily was born on the 13th of November, not the 15th.

So here it is, just two days late:

Lily is on the move. She climbs and cruises. Sometimes it seems like she'd rather find a piece of furniture to cruise on to get to her final destination rather than crawl (which turns out to be the faster alternative). She's also using her walker to get around.



Lily still only has two bottom teeth. We've started adding more finger foods though, because she manages fine with only two teeth. Let's face it, she's had lots of practice with random bits of paper she's managed to find on her crawling adventures. She's had cheerios, very cooked carrots, and shredded cheese.

Our almost one year old is also starting to shake her head "no". I'm not sure she's always trying to say "no" but it comes at times when you'd think she was. For instance, she shook her head at me when I put her in the crib for a nap. She also shook her head two minutes into a feeding when she decided she wasn't into it anymore and I plopped her on the floor. Here's another cute video of her "saying no":



So a lot has changed since last month. Lily definitely is seeming less and less baby-like as time passes.

Get Drenched 2012

This past Sunday was our church's annual baptism service - Get Drenched. It is pretty much my favorite service of the year. This year we went to Lynch Park to watch five people publicly proclaim what Jesus has done to change their lives.

The girls didn't quite understand everything that was going on, but I'm still glad they were able to see all that went on.

After the service we stayed for a picnic lunch, playground fun, and checked out a small garden area where we had quite a time trying to get pictures of the girls.

Jonathan took 17 pictures of us here in under a minute. After letting out a sigh on snap number 17 he said, "I think there should be a good one in there". Well, I can't pick one where everyone cooperated, but I sure found some fun ones.

Not sure what Sarah was up to, but she moved around the most.

I'm pretty sure a very loud shriek came with Lily's smile here.

The day started out a bit cool and cloudy, but ended up warm and sunny. It turned out to be a perfect day to watch people get drenched!

A Journey Through Time

I got my hair cut two Saturdays ago. It was a big step for me, because I basically had it chopped off. I can put it behind my ears, but a ponytail is out of the question. It has been so long since I've had my hair short. I took a trip down memory lane via school pictures and my hair doesn't seem as bad as I made it out to be, but some of my "styles" sure were funny.

Cute pigtails and messy bangs

Look at that cute kindergartener

I think the hairstyle is as wild as the shirt

My eyes are puffy from all the crying I did when my Mom made me get a haircut right before this picture was taken.

This was in Hawaii, where Mom let me where my hair long.

Another Hawaii school picture

I don't have a picture, but imagine this hair style, even shorter, but still with a puffy headband strategically holding back half of my bangs. I was pretty cool.

Ugh (1) High school and (2) curly bangs

This was in college, I didn't want curly bangs, but was too uncomfortable with no bangs, so I straightened them - just the bangs.

How I've been wearing it the past 7 years, plus or minus an inch or two.

And now...the shortest it has been in quite some time.

Another First - But Not for Lily

Sarah had her first trip to the Emergency Room last night. It was a normal crazy night of getting the girls cleaned up for bed. This time though, I hadn't made Abigail's bed (it was laundry day), so Jonathan took care of that while I tended to Lily and Abigail. 

Sarah was quietly minding her own business on the floor in her room when Jonathan moved the bunk beds, causing the unattached ladder to fall over, right onto Sarah's little head. I didn't think it was a big deal until I saw the wound, and then it started bleeding. I thought we'd need help, so our good friends came over to get Sarah to the ER (we didn't think she'd be into holding a towel on the wound to stop the bleeding). Thankfully, though, things were stable enough for Jonathan to take her on his own.

According to Daddy, Sarah was very brave. 

She now has three staples in her head. I'm hoping it isn't too hard to keep her from wanting to touch/scratch at it for the next 10 days. We'll see!

First Day of School

Yesterday was Abigail and Sarah's first day of homeschool. The plan is to do basic ABC's during Lily's morning nap and then do more phonics and beginning math for Abigail during Lily and Sarah's afternoon naps.

We had a good solid 90 minutes of school this morning. Toward the end I could see it was getting to be a bit much for Sarah, who became very antsy. Overall though I think she did very well.

This afternoon Abigail played with counting bears her Daddy used when he was a kid. Then we tried doing basic addition. Followed by quiet reading time. The afternoon was a bit more challenging because Lily fought her nap. I'll need to give Abigail quiet activities to do when this happens in the future.

Like last year I'm really hoping to use this year to get a better idea of what we'll do once Abigail starts kindergarten. Really we only have two options (1) public school or (2) homeschool (private school is out of the question). I think (1) and (2) both have their pros and cons. We just need to figure out what is best for us, and I will rely on our experience, advice from other homeschoolers I know, and God's leading.

Fish Funeral

Last night Abigail's fish died. We gave it to her for her third birthday. This fish never really got a name and not a whole lot of attention from the girls. The idea was to teach Abigail responsibility, but I ended up feeding him (Abigail had a generous pinch) and Jonathan cleaned the tank (not that we'd ever consider letting her do that).

Anyway, this morning Jonathan asked me what I wanted him to do. I wanted him to flush it, though he thought I meant in secret. Cue the impromptu fish funeral with the girls.

A few cute phrases were uttered when he first let them know the fish died:

Abigail : I think he had a tunny ache because he drank too much water (yesterday Jonathan took some water out to make it easier for the fish to reach the surface, so she thought the fish was to blame for the loss of water).

Sarah : He died
Abigail : No, Sarah, he's DEAD.
Sarah : He died
Abigail : He's DEAD.
I tried explaining that they were saying the same thing, but gave up on it.

When Jonathan mentioned to the girls it was time to flush the fish Abigail insisted he wanted to stay in his home. We convinced her the toilet was a better idea.

We got to the bathroom where Jonathan began to pour the contents of the tank. We soon realized the fish wasn't coming out without some sort of assistance. We sent Abigail away for a plastic spoon. First she came back with a metal spoon. Then she went back to the kitchen and came back to us with a plastic fork declaring, "he won't care, he's dead." 

In the meantime, Sarah wanted to rush to the kitchen to get us a plastic spoon (they like to fight over who gets to help). I got her to stay with us by letting her know that her job was to flush the toilet. Once Jonathan was in place Sarah manned her station and took her job very seriously. There was a pour, a scoop, and a flush and he was gone.

Oh, and I forgot to mention how many times Abigail said she wanted a new fish (oh, and a dog on top of that). We'll be taking a break on pets for a little while.