today's post

Today it rained, and got cold again outside. Ava screamed and cried at the door wanting to play outside.

I drank my weight in green tea trying to wake up.

Audrey went to school.

I read what seemed like a million books to Allie, and hoped that Ava would stay asleep long enough for me to catch a 10 minute nap. She didn't. 

 I took all 3 girls to the grocery store. (before it rained). That's always a fun experience. I ran into a friend and she mentioned I was brave, bringing all 3 to the store (oh if she only knew how often I have to do this). I'm not sure about brave. Insane, maybe. For the most part it's during a not so busy time of day so we either annoy or entertain the older customers with our antics. More times than not, they find my little princesses charming, even if they are standing in the middle of the aisle, singing random songs too loud or again, standing in the middle of the aisle.

Ava started out my day better than sunshine. She was very huggy this morning. She said what sounded like each of her sisters names and then would "run" up to them with her arms outstretched and them give them a hug. She did it to me, too. OH, SO SWEET.




Sarah

Tuesday April 9

My SIL Gina has inspired me to post something everyday. Many people do this via different projects, some online, some not.  If nothing else, just a picture, or a sentence that sums up our day. Having been intrigued by the Project Life idea ever since doing Ava's baby album in that format, I've decided to give it a try here and see how I do.

She brought her girls over to play today. Hardly ever do we get the cousins (and their Mommas) together outside of family gatherings, and really we should, because they play so well together.

I didn't take any pictures. Several times I thought, oh, that's cute, I should take a picture. And then I didn't. Like when Audrey and Hannah came dressed up like Rapunzel and Cinderella, or when all five were playing on the family room floor with blocks and legos in a circle. Or maybe when they were swinging or doing flips on the monkey bars. I know, I should have taken pictures.

I didn't take any pictures of my first gluten free support group either. I decided to start this group after meeting several people, and thinking, instead of going at this alone, why not get everyone together, swap ideas, encourage and educate each other. So four of us met in our living room tonight, all with slightly different reasons for being gluten free. I'm excited about this group, and hope it's beneficial to all who come.

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Sarah

Outside and Ava is 14 months

Did not even occur to me until I was writing this post about being outside on such a beautiful Sunday that Ava turned 14 months yesterday.

We grilled out for the first time of the season. The kids played outside alllllll day. Ava LOVES the baby swing. Allie likes to push her. Our kids and a handful of their friends broke in the sidewalk chalk on our patio.

Sarah

Ava falls asleep in a box

This girl makes me laugh. She has an obsession with sitting in boxes. Any kind of box will do. As long as it's rectangle shaped, she will try and sit in it. Tupperware, diaper boxes, laundry baskets (in which she takes the clothes out before she sits in them), the toy crate in the living room (she just climbs right in with the toys) and last week she got inside the trunk of her little Minnie Mouse car. I laughed  the day she squeezed herself  into a Melissa and Doug Doughnut set box.  Today, just when I thought I'd seen it all, I went to check on her in her crib during nap time and I found her asleep inside the little canvas tote inside the crib. My little contortionist. I think it's safe to say she likes small spaces.

the other day....

in the doughnut box 

Sarah

laundry detergent

I had one of those moments today.

One where you go, "Oh my goodness I can't believe I did that!" And then run and call the poison control center.

This: 

should not be confused with this: 

It occurred to me today, while fixing supper and standing at the kitchen counter, in front of the dishwasher that was currently washing load two of the day and staring at the little box of detergent packets I'd been using to wash said dishes since Friday, my eyes suddenly focused on the words "laundry detergent." I HAD BEEN USING LAUNDRY DETERGENT TO WASH MY DISHES. I dropped what I was doing, reached for my phone and called PCC. Luckily, it wasn't as big of a crisis as I anticipated but we did use plastic everything tonight for supper, until I could go to the store, buy DISHWASHER detergent packets and rewash that load, and everything else I remember pulling out earlier that day.

A great big hurry is what caused the problem in the first place. As I've mentioned we entertained some close friends Friday night and I ran out of dishwasher packets earlier that day. I didn't want too many dishes left to do once everyone left, so I ran to the store an hour before people arrived to get three things. I noticed that Seventh Generation now made a little clear box in addition to the bag of packets. I will note, I did not go to my normal store, I went to a different one that also sells this brand so in my defense I'd never seen this new laundry detergent packaging before and didn't know they sold them in little packets. There were more in the clear box vs the bag that I had been getting, so I got the box. Again, I was in a hurry.  I flipped it over to make sure it was gluten free and headed to the check-out. I think I stood at the aisle for less than 20 seconds, trying to get back home.

 They are "all natural" but there's a lot of all natural stuff that you shouldn't consume. But just in case this ever happens to you--which I'm sure it won't, because you are of sound mind, and my mind clearly needs a break, the lady at PCC didn't seem concerned and said as long as the dishes are run through a rinse cycle, they should be fine. It's really no different than if it would have left any dish detergent on the dishes in the first place. To her, detergent was detergent.

My husband, who never gets concerned about anything said it was no different than if you licked food off your shirt. I looked at him and he said, "Haven't you ever dropped food on your shirt and then licked it off?" Um, no! I shook my head at him and then I said, "Have you!?" He then reminded me of our Disney Trip. I can't believe I forgot to write this story down in our Disney blogs....

There we were, our little family of five at the California Grill, one of Disney Worlds Signature Restaurants. Dinner was fantastic and dessert had been served. Jeremy ordered a blueberry something or other. It looked fantastic. A few minutes later, I look over at Jeremy, and he's got his red polo shirt pulled up to his mouth and he's licking or sucking something off of it. Quickly and discretely as possible I tell him to stop it!, trying to get his attention and trying not to make a scene. He realized quickly what he was doing and began laughing and then trying not to laugh. One of those shoulder shake laughs you get when you're in church or public and you shouldn't laugh too loud. I too was laughing and still asking him from across the table, "What were you doing!?" He had no good response, other than trying not to let the blueberries stain his shirt. We both still laugh out loud when we think about that moment and how he just couldn't let any of that blueberry sauce go to waste. 









Sarah

Happy Easter

We got to celebrate Jesus today with Grandmother and Grandpa at our church. 8:00 am service continues to be hard for us to make on time. We came home and had brunch; Made to order omelets, blueberry muffins that were gluten and dairy free, tropical smoothies, coffee and tea and fresh fruit. The girls found their Easter baskets, all right in a row in front of the fireplace. I appreciated that he didn't give them any candy. A game for their leap pads, a big bouncy ball and Ava got a play phone. G&G gave them baskets after brunch and before we hurried off to Joe's.  They loved all the little books and toys so much they didn't notice the lack of candy in those baskets either.
After a lunch of delicious ham and all the fixings we spent the afternoon at Joe and Lynn's. They have so much fun playing outside on the swings, blowing bubbles, riding tractors, etc. And of course, Grandma orchestrated an egg hunt. This year Audrey had pink eggs, Allie purple and Ava orange. They each had a certain number to find. We were exhausted at the end of this holiday weekend but so very blessed all the same.

Random thoughts and tidbits:
I decided this might be the last year I could dress all the girls alike without a fight, so I went for it.
There wasn't enough budget left for Momma a dress so I bought a scarf and called it good.
Jeremy is wearing the same shirt from last year. He's frugal like that.
Audrey has a random string of curly/crimped hair as she had a small side braid in the day before. We got home too late the night before to put rollers in and got up too late this morning to  straighten it.
I found their identical shoes at Target.
Ava did not have it in her plans to pose for pictures so I had to bribe her with jelly beans.

we purposely didn't use fine china as we had to leave almost immediately following brunch. So, festive paper products this year. Jelly beans in little mini muffin cups on top of flowers, bunny bait in our striped popcorn bags and placemats to color for the kids. 

Sarah

Gluten Free Bunny Mix

You can search bunny bait on Pinterest and find many examples. I was inspired by a few of them.

I added bunny ears from a template provided by nobiggie.net, added a white pom pom for a tail to the striped favor bags from Party City to make a container for the bunny bait.

The mix is just a white chocolate covered trail mix but this one is gluten free. I realized way too late that I was  short one bag of M&M's and did try it with Starburst tropical jelly beans. I did not like it as well so I opted to just be short M&M's. I served these at Easter brunch and took the rest for family.

Gluten Free Bunny Mix
Rice Chex (2 cups)
Glutino pretzel sticks (2 cups)
Skinny Pop popcorn (3 cups)
1/2 of a bag of white chocolate melts from Guittard
gluten free sprinkles (I didn't have any spring sprinkles so I  just used a variety of colored sugars)
1 pkg holiday milk chocolate M&M's.

Sarah

Easter Eve

Years ago my Aunt Carol did one of the smartest things she's ever done. She moved her Easter gathering from Sunday morning to Saturday night, insuring that no one would have a conflict and everyone could come.  I don't know how many years it's been this way but I do know that her grandkids were my kids' age when they ran around and picked up as many plastic colored eggs as they could.

Easter eve always means a visit to Aunt Carol's house and my hometown for supper, visiting with family and an egg hunt. Even though the weather was a tad bit chilly, it didn't stop the kids from playing outside. My Aunt arranged for this car that had been rebuilt to look like a radio flyer wagon to come and give rides, etc. This was Ava's first egg hunt and she was more interested in walking down the drive way than picking up eggs.

My contribution to the food this year: Bacon deviled eggs. Um, yes. They were awesome. Add bacon to anything and it becomes impulsively addictive. I normally don't make deviled eggs. I just don't have the patience to sit there and peel them all once they are hard boiled.  And darn, I didn't have a fun egg plate either. And I would have known that but it's been years since I've made eggs. But it won't be years again. These were delicious. Eggs and bacon go together naturally so a little mayo, mustard and green onions and you've got yourself a very proud egg.  I got the recipe from  myrecipes.com. Super easy. Totally worth the patience building exercise I endured while peeling them and then trying to use my easy accent decorator to fill them but the bacon and green onion kept clogging the fancy tip. So there were only a few that were fancy. And if you were wondering, no that didn't stop people from eating them. I didn't bring any home. Not a crumb of bacon was left on that plate. 

 Everyone checking out the car made into a Radio Flyer wagon.....

 Egg hunt time!

 getting a little distracted, Ava checks out Allie's scooter.

 And then heads down the driveway again...

a rare occurrence. I'm always behind the camera! It was tough taking pictures of three little girls going in three directions for the egg hunt so I asked my Dad to take some too. With me? My cousin Penny, and I don't believe we've ever had our picture taken together, so it is truly a rare picture.

A highlight of my day: holding my little niece Olivia. Isn't she so cute? I could not believe how much she'd grown since her newborn pictures at my house. I just love her. And when we got in the car today Allie said to me, "I like baby Olivia Mom." She was pretty infatuated with her too.

Audrey and Allie love to take their scooters and ride up and down the long driveway. They were excited to play with their cousin Skyler and a few neighborhood girls. We are so thankful for all the work Aunt Carol puts into buying goodies for the eggs, filling all 90 of them and doing that year after year. Not to mention making the majority of the food.

Now, off to steam Easter dresses, set the table for brunch and finish the Bunny Bait bags.



Sarah