Sister Missionaries

Gracie and Ava went to a primary activity at the church on Saturday. It was called 'I hope they call me on a mission." They loved it! Gracie said "It made me want to go on a mission, but I thought they would actually fly us somewhere and back." :-) Gracie got called to the Russia mission (can't remember where), and Ava got called to the Lima, Peru mission.

I must admit that Ava and I compromised and she ended up wearing a dress with Breck's church tie clipped on the front, instead of Breck's church suit like she wanted. Thank heavens when I came to pick her up it looked like she had never taken her coat off so no one saw the tie (cross my fingers)! Gracie was embarrassed. She's all "I don't want people to think that I have a tie too!"

Gender Issues

About 3-4 times a month Breck brings me things like swimsuits, tutus, girl shoes etc.... to put on him. I humor him because frankly I think it is hilarious. This is his most recent ensemble.

On the other hand, Ava insists that she is a boy. If you say something like "That's ok if you want to say your a boy Ava." She will say "I'm not just saying I'm a boy. Heavenly Father made me a boy and my name is Michael." She gets really mad about it. She was crying the other day because I told her I refuse to buy her boy clothes. I told her when she grows up if she wants to buy boy clothes that is fine, but I will not buy boy clothes for my little girl. I explained to her that a lot of girls are Tomboys and that is fine. She got mad and said she is NOT a Tomboy she is an actual boy. She wore Breck's pajamas to bed last night. Ryan threatened to cut her hair like Breck's and she didn't take it as a threat!

How much longer do I have to endure this insanity?

Simple Homemade Pizza

Ingredients:

1 loaf Garlic Cheddar Bread from Great Harvest Bread Company (if you don't have one in your area I feel bad for you and you'll have to make due with some normal French bread).
1 jar pizza sauce
About 3 cups Mozarella cheese, shredded
pepperoni (I use turkey pepperoni, much less fat but tastes the same).

Directions: Do I need to explain? It's so simple I think you can figure it out from here. :-) I do bake at 350 for about 8 minutes.

My kids love this and I try and lather on the pizza sauce just cause that is the only way anyone in my family will down tomatoes.

Family UNplanning.

So I received and read my first of 3 books from Amazon. I'm not sure exactly why I picked the books I did. I just thought they seemed interesting. The books I like to read are usually self-help, true story books. Although I LOVED Harry Potter. Anyway this book is called Family UNplanning and I am still in the process of forming my own opinions on the matter. This man and his wife (who have 9 children they homeschool) believe that God should be the planner of your family (i,e NO birth control, abstinence or the like). I found this pill (pardon the pun) incredibly hard to swallow.

Things I liked about the book: I thought it was spiritually uplifting. He quoted a lot of scripture on how much God loves children. I like how he brought up the point that people are having less children just because it is convenient for them and they are selfish (This is not true in all cases, but is a growing trend in our society).

Things I didn't like: It made my blood pressure soar to consider the idea of God giving Ryan and I as many children as he wants. I know this sounds like a faithless thing to say, but I get pregnant easy and am young, so as I read I envisioned me at the age of 40 (having had children at least every 2 years) with roughly 10 children. I think I would be praying to go through menopause at the age of 40 so that I wouldn't have 11, 12, or 13 children. (They don't believe in permanent sterilization either).

My personal view: I feel that what the LDS church says on the matter is true.

"Children are one of the greatest blessings in life, and their birth into loving and nurturing families is central to God’s purposes for humanity. When husband and wife are physically able, they have the privilege and responsibility to bring children into the world and to nurture them. The decision of how many children to have and when to have them is a private matter for the husband and wife."

We each know what we can handle. Why we are choosing to have the amount of children we are choosing to have. If we are curtailing the amount we choose to have for selfish reasons then I do believe that is wrong.

What are your opinions about this issue? I know everyone has views on this subject.

Jump On It

Have you been to Jump On It in PG? It is fun. We went a week or so ago. The small kid area has trampolines that are so bouncy. It is really fun. I didn't take the camera! :-( Ava wasted no time finding a boy her age to play with. Ryan taught Gracie a few tricks. They have a few bounce houses and tons of trampolines. It is 8 bucks for adults but you don't have to pay to get in. If you aren't going to jump you don't have to pay. Why wouldn't you jump though? (of course I only jumped a bit cause I am paranoid about killing my baby). 3 and under are free.

Can you tell by the erratic way I write that my brain is all over the place? It really is.....I had a dream last night that Jackie was pregnant again....yikes, and that Breck was a block of ice that my nephew Perry was taking to the movies. Nuts!

Garden Primavera Fettucine

Ingredients:

1 package fettucine (12 oz)
1 cup fresh cauliflower, chopped
1 cup fresh brocolli, chopped
1 small red pepper, cut into thin strips
1 cup yellow summer squash, sliced
1 cup zucchini, sliced
2 cups Alfredo sauce
1 teaspoon dried basil
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:
In a large saucepan, cook fettucine according to package directions, adding vegetables during the last 6 minutes. Drain and return to pan. Coat with alfredo sauce and sprinkle with basil.

I buy 2 packets of Alfredo sauce by the taco sauce seasoning and then just make those according to their package directions.

This pasta is actually really good. You can't beat the smell of fresh red pepper. YUM!

Happy Valentine's Day!

It is feast or famine when I blog I guess. Enjoy it while you can. ;-) We did a few fun things this Valentine's weekend, one of which was making a flower arrangement out of tissue paper and pipe cleaner. I wanted real flowers from Costco, but this whole arrangement cost about $2.00 so I told Ryan forget the real flowers this is much more cost efficient.

Still not sure what Ryan and I have planned for Valentine's celebrations. I just want the Wisconsin Cauliflower soup from Zupa's. That would make me happy. I did order 3 books off Amazon too and told Ryan that was my Valentine's gift. They totalled about 20 bucks in all. Not bad. We also did an FHE lesson for Valentine's last night. You can check it out here. We also made cookies. This was yet another baking nightmare that I don't wish to discuss at this time, but here are a few that turned out. I don't bake. Have I ever mentioned that before. I cook, but I don't bake!

Gracie lost a tooth at school on Friday. Now she looks goofy, but cute.

By the way.......did I mention I'm pregnant? I thought this would be a good day to let ya'll know. 7 years ago today Ryan and I found out I had had a miscarriage with not just one but two sweet babies. Talk about a horrible Valentine's day. So today I am grateful to be in the place that I am at, 3 healthy kids with one on the way. God has a way of blessing you 100-fold after sad things I think. (picture's upside down...sorry) So I'm due August 26th. Finally I get to have a baby in good weather. Maybe the postpartum blues won't be as bad since Fall is by far my favorite time of year.

I'm so glad I'm past the halitosis stage. You know the stage where you can't brush your tongue without almost vomiting? I am almost past the "Is she just chubby or is she pregnant?" stage. So that is nice. Although, I'm actually both chubby and pregnant.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Valentine's day!

Ava Is A Preschool Girl!

How long have Ava and I waited for this day? F-O-R-E-V-E-R! Ava has sat through 2 years of dropping Gracie off at preschool and now over 1/2 a year of dropping her off at Kindergarten. I was going to register her for the Fall but found that they had 2 openings for this year, so I signed her up now and for the Fall. I am so excited for her...and me. She is out of my hair T and TH 12-2:15. Breck is in a nap at that time so it is just me. What a refreshing feeling! She will be going 3 days a week in the Fall. The teacher describes her as "Ms. Happy."

She kept talking about her friend the first day of class I finally said "What is her name?" She was appalled....she's like "It's a BOY!" Of course, how could I forget my little Tomboy would make friends with a boy. I have only admitted the price to my mom, because frankly it is ridiculous. But as my mom reminded me I am investing in her future.

Finally Gracie's B-day Pics

I really didn't take a bunch. The cake looked like crap and I never ended up taking one of the Hello Kitty doll but here are a few. Here is Gracie's gift from mom and dad. She was thrilled with the "wrapping paper."

Gracie's birthday hat from school.

Her birthday candy in her mouth matches her birthday dress.

I give up

I have tried a bunch of times to upload Gracie's birthday pictures to the computer and they just won't, so I am forced to blog without them.

Gracie turned 6 on January 25th. We went to the Olive Garden and spent close to $60.00 on our family of 5. All because Gracie wanted an Ollie the Olive cup. It was fun though. Ava, Breck, and I made her a lemon cake with white frosting and sprinkles. I ruined it by not letting it cool enough before spreading the frosting. When will I learn? She had enough birthday money to go to Build a Bear and buy a Hello Kitty doll that she named Hello Kitty, of course.

I can't believe my baby is 6!