Meet Rosie

Rosie is a Scooba. Rosie is my best friend. Literally. When I am not pregnant she is my good friend. When I am pregnant she is my best friend. It is so wonderful to have lovely clean floors without scrubbing on hands and knees while I have this enormous stomach. Truly.

Rosie was a Christmas gift from my brother Paul. Yeah I'm a bit spoiled at times. I'm a girl-it's allowed. Anyways, she has been a valued member of our family ever since. Except for the time that she stopped working altogether and we had to send her in for repairs. Oh and all those times she just decides she isn't going to do her job for the day. Usually she gets her act together by the next day, but you really never know. However-she seems to have taken pity on me in my cumbersome state because lately she has been doing her job everytime I turn her on.

Look at her scrubbing away. How can you get any better than that? These should be covered by insurance for pregnant women. No, I'm not kidding.

Homemade granola

Last night I made granola. We love granola and lets face it, the stuff is expensive to buy, and ridiculously easy to make. So we make it. Last night's version was of the peanut butter persuasion (yeah I'm on a bit of a p.b. kick right now, what can I say?).

Start with 6 cups of oatmeal. Uncooked please! ;o)

On the stove mix 1 cup of peanut butter with 1 cup of honey and a tsp. or so of cinnamon until well incorporated. You can also add some vanilla-I was out and didn't notice a difference.

Pour your p.b. mixture onto your oatmeal. Yeah it looks kind of gross.

Mix well.

Put in a 250-300 degree oven forever. Ok, not forever, more like an hour or two, stirring every 20-30 minutes. Then turn the oven off and let dry completely.

Remove from oven and don't stop eating until you realize that your kids are looking forward to having this for breakfast. Continue to nibble for rest of night, but not in large mugfuls that you started with. :o)

Update on Kate

Well I had a great appointment. Kate is measuring right around 6 lbs. which would put her around 8 lbs. or so by her due date. A peanut by our standards! ;o) However, ultrasounds at this stage in a pregnancy are notoriously wrong so my dr. said if I am still feeling concerned at around 39 weeks we can still talk about moving things along a bit early. She said she trusts mother's intuition over an ultrasound any day. lol. I'm also glad to say that I am already 1 cm dilated. 10% of the way done! Woohoo!! If I have anything to do with it we will not be making it to our due date at all. :op

Seeing Kate today

I have an appointment this afternoon which will include an in-office ultrasound to check on Kate's size (I have a history of large babies, one of whom got stuck on the way out). I'll let ya'll know how it turns out later!

She dresses herself

Alyssa no longer needs help getting dressed in the morning as you can clearly see.

As long as we aren't leaving the house it isn't a problem, but I'm not sure I'd want to take her in public looking like this. :o)

We had quite a busy weekend. The Soden's came to town to meet Ezri Stime and so we were with them for a majority of the weekend. It was fun but we sure were tired by the time everyone left last night! The girls all slept until 9 o'clock this morning which is of course nice for Mom. The next time we see the Soden's, Baby Kate should be here. Crazy.

We also took a trip up to Burnsville to get our new history curriculum. The beauty of this curriculum is that a majority of the books we need for it can be obtained from the library so it really cost us very little. Now we are just waiting for a book we requested to arrive at the library and we will be all set. Get ready to start quizzing the girls on Early American History!

"Hard at work"

The girls are working on flash cards together. I choose to believe they are actually retaining knowledge when they do this.

From the amount of giggling I keep hearing I'm a little concerned.

When Mama ain't happy....

I think I've been living life with a perpetual scowl on my face these past few weeks (months?). My poor children are probably starting to wonder where their mother has gone. I'm guessing (and hoping) that it is due to pregnancy hormones. I am just such a grump right now. I have no patience, I snap at the littlest thing, and I just want to go hide for these last few weeks. It's really been hard on everyone. This road to getting Miss Kate here safe and sound has been long and difficult and I am so thankful that we are able to see the end of it in sight!

These aren't recent pictures for the most part, but they should convey pretty accurately how everyone in my house feels right now.


When Mama feels like this, everyone else feels like this......

Even visitors aren't spared the wrath of Mom!

Aren't you glad you don't live at my house right now? ;o)

Mt Never Rest

This past weekend was a landmark for us-We finished up the last loads of laundry from the basement. My main goal before Kate gets here was to get caught up on the laundry. I know, for some people that may sound strange, but I am always, always, always behind, and not just by a little bit. By bunches and bunches. I cannot tell you how happy I am to not be folding mountains of catch up laundry anymore. Daily loads I can handle, 5-6 loads at a time, that gets old!

Now I guess the goal is simply to have the house relatively organized before Kate's arrival and that is doable! In fact I could probably take a couple of hours and be perfectly satisfied with the state of my home. That is a nice place to be! Miss Kate-We're ready for you any time!!

Saturday evening at home

Mom's on the computer, Papa's downstairs cleaning(?), so what do the ladies do? They play the Wii of course!

I don't know what Meg is doing in this picture, but I find it hilarious!



So serious! She is playing Smooth Moves, which is of course a very intense game. ;o)



I'm not sure what the reason is for the grumpiness on this one. Maybe she is tired of waiting for her turn.



Lissie isn't into video games so much. She is cuddled up on a chair in Mommy's room, eating a sucker and watching a movie.

I'm enjoying the silence. Which of course means I'm in neither of these two rooms. I think I will stay here for awhile!

What you've been waiting for!

Ok, it probably isn't what you've been waiting for, since if you are like me what you are really waiting for is Kate, but in our house this is right up there! Here is a link to Dave Dahl's yearly snow prediction!! http://kstp.com/article/stories/S620722.shtml?cat=3 For those of you who don't want to bother reading it (although I will tell you it is a good read) he is predicting an above average year with around 70-75 inches of snow. Don't you just want to grab your snow boots and go celebrate? Brianna was so disappointed when she saw rain falling outside our windows rather than snow. She is truly a Minnesotan isn't she? ;o)

So there you have it. I know sadly, that a majority of you are cringing at the very thought of winter, but in this house we are are awaiting it with open arms!!!

Macy's Display!

I've actually known this for a couple of weeks but I thought I'd let ya'll know that the Macy's display for this year will be "A Day in the Life of an Elf". We love going down to the display-it has been a tradition since my brothers and I were small and we would spend Christmas Eve Day at our grandparent's house. The 'brothers' (a.k.a. uncles and our dad) would go out and do their last minute shopping while Grandma and us kids (and mom and aunt) would head downtown and see the display. Christmas Eve Day was such a special day and I always wish we could experience it one last time.

This year will be interesting since Kate will be but a few weeks old, but as always we will pack everyone up, head up to the MOA, hitch a ride on the light rail to downtown, and spend an evening at the display. It's absolutely a highlight of the season!

Peanut Butter Cookies

I can honestly never decide whether I'd rather eat the dough or the cookies!

I can do it myself

Every child hits those milestones when they realize they can do something on their own without the help of Mommy or Daddy. Sometimes those milestones are anxiously awaited, and sometimes they are bittersweet. Miss Brianna recently decided that she can do her hair on her own. For me this is bittersweet. She gets up in the morning, brushes her hair, and puts it into a ponytail without any help from me. She is so proud of herself and of course, I am proud of her too, but one of my favorite Mommy things is doing my girls hair. Maddie and Megan are both way out of that phase and now Brianna is getting there too. She still lets me do it when we leave the house and she wants something fancier, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it will be her doing alone. Maybe this is why I keep having girls. What will I do when I don't have any little girl hair to brush anymore?

Miss Brianna-Hair done by Miss Brianna.

Just so you don't think I'm a hypocrite

You may have noticed that I added a Christmas countdown. This does not count toward the whole "no Christmas until after Thanksgiving" rule. It is merely for informational purposes. Please go about your usual business. ;o)

Pedicure!

I've never had a pedicure before but a friend of mine got gift certificates as a gift at her baby shower and invited me along. It was soooo nice. They sat us in these great massage chairs, soaked our feet, rubbed our feet and legs (I hadn't shaved-how embarassing!), pumiced our feet and did our nails. Not a bad way to spend an hour! Yes, I scuffed one of my nails already. Figures.

Not much going on

Sorry I haven't been posting as much. I've been really really tired. I can't imagine why-I'm just as large as an oversized beluga whale. That shouldn't tire anyone out, right?

So what have we been up to? Not a whole lot. The girls had their last day of soccer yesterday, probably a good thing since the parents who had the joy of watching were quickly turning into ice. Yeah, it was a bit on the chilly side. Next week the older two start art class. They took it last year and loved it. It is taught by a homeschooling mom who majored in Art in college, so it is really a great opportunity for them. Stay tuned for pictures of their various projects!

What else? Miss Alyssa finally decided to cooperate and hopped on the potty train full speed! Wahoo!!! She has had only 2 accidents this entire week-nights included. She is so proud of herself and of course lets us know everytime she uses the potty, which is about every 5 minutes-I kid you not. I'm not going to complain though-at least she is using the darn thing! I'm so thankful that I won't have 2 in diapers come November.

Here she is-posing for you all. She is NOT cooperating with picture-taking these days so feel priviliged that she stood still long enough for me to get this.

And for your random viewing enjoyment, here is Brianna, apparently terribly startled to be the subject of a picture. She says hi to a certain friend of hers who she hasn't seen in awhile!

I guess that's all for now!

The twenty-sixth president

Today the girls and I were discussing switching to a new history curriculum. The one we are using is fine, but the girls have recently gotten interested in early American history so I want to take advantage of that. We were talking about the different people and things we would learn about and I was naming some of the early presidents and Meg interrupts me and says "Will we learn about Teddy Bear Roosebell?". Yes, I laughed until I cried. Yes, you may also.

In the tradition of 'fat Caleb'

No words necessary!

A walk in the Arb

Again today I found myself so thankful that we live where we do. We went for a mile or so walk through the Arboretum this evening and it was gorgeous-what a beautiful way to spend an hour or two!
The older girls took turns giving Lissie piggy-back rides. She definitely takes advantage of her "youngest" status. She better enjoy it while it lasts!


I'm not sure what they are doing in this picture but I thought it was cute.

Lissie, very intent on her walking.


Brianna, showing off her new jacket from Auntie Laura.

I have lots more cute pictures that I was going to put with this post but for some reason they won't upload. I guess I'll try again later.

She thinks she's so smart!

This is what I found on my computer this morning-


We, (ok I) have a strict rule in this house about no Christmas in this house before Thanksgiving. No it isn't because I'm a scrooge in any way, it's because I don't like to dilute Christmas. If you start too early it increases your chances of getting tired of it before the actually day. Kwim? However, the majority of my family disagrees with me and tries to slip little bits of Christmas in starting as early as August or September-usually in the form of Christmas songs, but occassionally in other forms as well. Today Maddie drew this picture and counted the days until Christmas (82 days). I just thought I would share her 'rebellion' with you all. ;o)

Making Muffins

I had Maddie try out a new recipe today. Pumpkin Streusel Muffins (recipe will follow). They are pretty good-not with the rich spicy flavor that we are used to in our 'punkin' muffins, but a nice mellow flavor that isn't too overpowering.

I have this not-so-nice side to me that is a bit of a perfectionist, so when my kids bake I tend to want to run screaming from the room because of all the spilled flour and glops of batter that get everywhere. It's really sad, I know and I'm trying to get over it. So while Maddie was making her muffins (and a large mess) I ventured into the kitchen for a few pictures.

Spooning the batter into the tins. And onto the sides of the tin as well. *shudder*

Mmmm...streusel!!

Fresh from the oven.

Don't they look yummy? Didn't she do a good job? :o)

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

1/2 c. margarine (1 stick)
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 can pumpkin
1 c. buttermilk
4 eggs
4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger

Topping
2/3 c. flour
6 Tbsp. brown sugar
4 Tbsp cold margarine

Cream together margarine and sugars. Add pumpkin, buttermilk and eggs. Mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix until moist. In a separate bowl cut together streusel ingredients and sprinkle over muffin batter. Bake in greased muffin tin at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Little Miss Kate

Well after months of wondering and worrying we finally got some good news about Kate. The dilation in her kidneys is no worse and actually appears to be a bit better. Not only that but we finally got some concrete information as to what actually causes this problem. First of all, it is apparently fairly common-occuring in 1 out of 20-30 pregnancies. Second, 9 out of 10 times it is caused by the mothers hormones, the same ones relaxing my muscles giving me such wonderful heartburn (and other things, but I will spare you those details). Those hormones can relax this part of the kidneys causing dilation. In the other 1 out of 10 times it is usually a simple case of reflux, treatable most times by antibiotics. This is information that would have been wonderful to have a couple of months ago, but we are extremely thankful to have it now. We don't have to go back for any more ultrasounds-we just need to take Kate in 7-10 days after she is born to see if everything has resolved itself. Praise God!

We tried to get a couple of pictures of our lady but as you will see she had her hands glued to her face! You still get a good view of her chubby cheeks though!

Look at those pouty little lips!

I am 32 weeks today leaving 8 weeks to go. Saying it that way or saying 2 months still seems like quite a bit of time to me, BUT if you say 56 days until her due date, well then I start to panic a bit! It really won't be long until she is here with us. We are so excited. I know ya'll are too!