"God, will you be my friend"

Laurie and Mom rode to church with the girls and I tonight since Dad and Doug had to milk. On the way home, it was snowing a bit and the rode was a little slippery. At one point Laurie, who was driving, went around a corner and said "Whoa!". Marissa pipes up from the back and asks whats wrong. Here is how the conversation went from there...

Mommy: "It's a little slippery out."
Marissa: "Is there ice on the road?"
Mommy: "Yes a little bit, but Aunt Laurie knows how to drive good in the snow so we are ok."
Marissa: "What does ice do to the car?"
Mommy: "It makes the car slide, so it can't go straight and sometimes it can make it go in circles. But we are going slow so we are fine. When its snowing like this out, you can't go too
fast."
Marissa: "But God can go really fast right? He can run super fast even on the ice right? When I get big, I wanna run fast too...Maybe we can run fast together? Me and God can run fast and be friends. Do you think we can be friends? God, will you be friends with me? He said no!"

(Note that she never waited for any responses!)

Mommy: "Of course God would want to be friends with you, He loves you!"
Marissa: "Oh, ok..thanks Mommy!"

I love this age group! I'm sure it will get better with every step and this will be a phrase I continue to use, but for now...I love this age!

Sooo loved!

The girls have about a 1/2 million stuffed animals...ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit! But regardless they do have a lot. However, no matter how many they have, they still drag a bunch out everyday and play with them. They will even dump the big Rubbermaid container that they are all in so they can find the "perfect" one that is located on the bottom of the bin. They will spend hours playing with them and loving them up. No matter how many they have though, there is always that special one that can never be replaced. Madalyn has 2 puppies that she would be lost without. They go everywhere with us and if we forget them for some reason, you can be sure we will be turning around to go back and get them. Marissa has a horse made out of the same material and by the same company that she sleeps with at night, but this little guy...

...has to be one of the most loved of them all. We lost him for about a week and he seriously is irreplaceable. I felt so bad for Marissa, but couldn't do anything but wait for him to show up again. We searched the house and finally one day he did just that...showed back up. Notice the treatment he gets versus the other stuffies on the couch! LOL

Continued...

Here are some more pictures from last nights birthday cake endeavor. And just because I know he will kill me later....
(and he was concerned about how his hair looked...!)

Happy Birthday!

This morning I got up and told the girls that it was Grandpa Benedict's birthday today. Marissa quickly suggests that we should make him a cake. I told her we had to check with Grandma and make sure she didn't already have plans to make one. Grandma said no, so Marissa jumped right on that opportunity. She raided my cupboards and took all the stuff she wanted. We wen to Doug's parents to bake it since we had to help them set up Dad's new toy anyhow. The girls had a lot of fun making it. Here are some pictures...

Now if we can just get them to be patient about the eating part! They want it right now, and Dad is milking. I keep telling them its his cake so we at least have to wait for him to come home!

Just in case...

Just in case anyone was curious and wanted the recipe for that bread we made...here it is!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup bread flour
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 2 cups quick cooking oats
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 10 cups bread flour

Directions

1. In the mixing bowl of an electric mixer, stir together 1/2 cup warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/4 cup bread flour, and yeast. Let grow for about 5 minutes. It will bubble almost immediately.
2. Measure oats, 4 1/2 cups warm water, whole wheat flour, salt, 2/3 cup sugar, and 2/3 cup oil into the mixing bowl. Mix on low speed with a dough hook for 1 to 2 minutes. Increase speed slightly, and begin adding bread flour 1/2 to 1 cup at a time until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Humidity determines how much flour you need before the bread pulls away from the edge of the bowl. It is normal for the dough to be sticky.
3. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover with a damp cloth. Let rise in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
4. Divide dough into 6 pieces. Shape loaves, and place in greased 8 x 4 inch pans. Let rise until dough is 1 inch above rim of pans, usually 1 hour.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F ( 175 degrees C) for 35 minutes, or until tops are browned. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 115 | Total Fat: 2.6g | Cholesterol: 0mg

Homemade Bread

Those of you that follow me on Facebook, probably have caught on by now that we have Pizza night once a week, usually Friday and at least one of the pizzas are topped with hot buffalo wing makings. We started out buying crust and making the rest ourselves and then switched to making homemade crust. Well that got me thinking and I started searching for a good homemade bread recipe that didn't require the use of a bread machine since I don't own one. I found one on allrecipes.com and thought I would give it a try. My mother- in-law and I got together on Thursday this week and threw a batch together. One batch makes 6 loaves so we just figured we would split it. I should have had someone take a picture of us making it. We had a lot of fun, but 6 loaves ends up being a lot of dough to hand mix and knead. They turned out great though!

So great that this is all that is left of one loaf! I love the smell of baking bread.

Technology...

Mac makes it so easy even a two year old can do it! HAHA

(Marissa was sleeping, but she knows her way around better than most people I know!)

Everybody's doing it...

My girls have become 100% addicted to my little pony. I ended up having to buy a rather large plastic container to contain all their ponies. They spend a lot of time making sure everything is set up just right and then reenacting their favorite parts of the movies. I love watching them play make believe. They get so wrapped up and its as if they entered Ponyville!

Fellowship

I took the girls ice skating today. Marissa has only been once before and Madalyn has never been on her feet, only carried. I stopped and picked up Aubrey's girls so they could go and then proceeded to the rink. We went at 2pm, before school was out so that it wasn't so crowded. Most of the people there were families who homeschool or aren't in school yet. It was so much fun. It took us at least a 1/2 hour for me to get all 4 kids plus myself, laced up and ready to go. After about 2o mins, my toes were freezing and I was praying that the girls would want to go in and exchange their skates for their boots again. Sure enough the Lord answers prayers! We went in and I put them and myself back in our boots. So much better! The kids went back out and played on the ice with their boots, which meant I could watch from the sidelines and chat with the other moms. I met quite a few young home schooling moms. It was neat to hear about what works for them and what doesn't and the differences in what worked for one kid and what didn't. I shared my fears and concerns and they all agreed that they had them in the beginning at first too, but there is no way they would switch to sending them anywhere. I'm now excited. Marissa starts in the fall. I already have the majority of what I need for her. I'm planning on using ACE at least to start off. Doug and I were both home schooled using that and we are both comfortable with it. Seems like everyone I have talked to uses a bunch of different curriculums. So we will see where it leads us. I was leery of going today by myself. Its outside my comfort zone...however, I'm glad I went and I'm sure we will be visiting again!

Ladybugs...

Some of you may only know me through the internet world, while others have known me for years. Regardless to the time frame, many may now know this about me....I HATE LADYBUGS!

You know how come people can't stand snakes? Other's can't handle the sight of a mouse or other rodent. Me, I would take a spider over a ladybug any day! I know I know, I'm weird. But seriously the things are nasty and they make my skin want to crawl. I turn into a little girl when I even think one is on me or going to get on me. Its awful!

So today, I was getting the girls ready for the day. I was brushing Madalyn's teeth when Marissa exclaims that she has found a ladybug. Sure enough there it was crawling across the linoleum in the bathroom. She points it out to Madalyn who is more on my side when it comes to them. She hasn't crossed the line to liking bugs of any kind really yet. So anyhow Marissa proceeds to pick it up, which really makes me start crawling. Without even thinking, I became the evil parent...

Me: "Marissa, put that thing down."

Marissa: "Mommy she is nice! Wanna see?"

Me: "No I don't, please keep her over there with you! You know where ladybugs really like to go?"

Marissa: "No, where?"

Me: "They love to swim. Since all the water outside is gone you should put her in the toilet."

Marissa: Without even hesitating she dumps her in the toilet and says "There ya go!"

Me: "You should probably flush her so she can be with all the rest of her friends."

Marissa: "Have fun lady!" ...as she flushes the toilet.

I know I know, I'm horrible! I never even thought about it, it just came out! So yeah, there is my bad parent deed of the week. I'll leave you with this picture which seriously leaves me feeling like I have bugs all over me! Have a great night! ;)

Best buds

The girls have quite a few best buds...Here is Madalyn sharing a nap with one of her furry friends.And of course their bestest buds are each other...most days anyhow!

Options...

I know I have mentioned before that July 10th 1010, all 4 of us are standing in my twin brother's wedding. I have my dress, but we have been having trouble finding dresses for the girls that are reasonable and match. They are in two different departments now so it makes it a little tougher. A friend of mine found these a while back and grabbed them for her girls which have now outgrown them. She offered to loan them out to me as an option for the wedding. Here are the girls in them.

Carseats...

There are a lot of things no one told me about when I was expecting Marissa. Most of the things are awkward to talk about about or "protocol" had changed since those I knew had had babies and therefore felt that there was no sense in saying anything. One of the biggest things that no one ever told me about was the stress level that over takes me when its time to get a new car seat. Common sense would tell you that when you go to the store all the seats have been tested, passed and therefore are safe to place your child in. However in most cases, the tests they do are not "pass or fail" but instead just placed on a level of better than...or worse than. On a few tests especially one they did a while back on infant seats, they withdrew their results because the test done on a vehicle going 65 mph and hitting a cement wall head on. Many of the seats were launched from the vehicle on impact, separating from the base. However they withdrew their findings and did not recall any seats stating that it was a pointless test because "most" crashes don't take place with that kind of intensity. After I happened across that, I do a ton of research on our seats before buying new and refuse to just go and get what looks comfy or what is cheapest. Of course I'm going to try and find one in our price range, but we are talking about our kids safety! Both of the girls seats are due to expire this fall. We were planning on getting them seats for their birthday. However both girls have decided to put a damper on that and go through growth spurts, putting them past the last strap placement in their current seats. We currently have Madalyn in a Alpha Omega 3 in 1 and Marissa is in the Cosco Apex. We went shopping in Utica and found the seat that we have had our eye on. We wanted to look at fabric options in it and do some price checking. Based on reviews we decided to go back to our main brand and go with the Graco Nautilus. We found prices we couldn't pass up. The girls got to pick out what color they wanted. Marissa decided on this one....

And Madalyn decided on this one...no surprise there!
I can't say enough good about these seats. They excel in their safety ratings and the price isn't bad. They will be the girls lasts seats now. Unless the State of New York ups the booster age into their teenage years! LOL We are already at 8 so I can only imagine... LOL Doug and I both feel pretty strongly on extended harnessing anyhow so who knows how long we will keep them in one. This seat can be used till they hit 100lbs, so we have a long ways before we have to worry about it. Marissa will be 5 in May and she is still harnessed and will be until she doesn't fit anymore. The seats are built great. Very sturdy feeling and they utilize their space very well. There are two storage compartments under the arm rests so they can stash toys or stuffies. The cup holder is in the arm rest so its not taking up extra room. We gained about 2-4 inches in the back seat of the Vibe. We both feel really good about our purchase and feel like the girls are super safe in their new seats. I LOVE to do research, so if anyone wants any help researching car seats for their little ones, I have a few websites that I use quite often. I can also lead you to the safety tests that they have done on particular seats. Ok I think I'm done rambling! I hope you guys are all enjoying the beautiful day God has blessed us with today!

We made it!

Doug and I have been married 5 years! That might not seem like much, but in today's day and age I think its a pretty big feat! Doug's parents gave us a gift certificate to Texas Roadhouse...so we couldn't just use the money to pay bills ;) She included babysitting and so Friday on our Anniversary we took off for Watertown. We went to the mall and browsed, got a snack and then went to see The Blind Side. It was a really good movie! I highly recommend it...although it was really long! Then we went and picked up a few things we needed and headed over for dinner. Its been at least a year since we have been out alone and it was really nice. Although a couple times we found ourselves feeling guilty and missing the girls. We still prefer to go out together as a family, but it was nice to have just the two of us for our Anniversary. Now here is to another year together!

I'm back!

It has been a rough last month or so for out house and I deeply apologize for the lack of posts. I was doing so well with them! Holidays are always a blast but always seem to bring with them busyness. It started out the week before Christmas when my mom came and spent 4 days with us. The girls definitely enjoyed her being here as did I. We stayed up late, played lost of games, and did alot of talking. Most of which I don't get the opportunity to do when its just me and the girls. (People may start wondering about me if I start talking to myself!) We had our annual Christmas Eve party and had close to 30 people at our house including kids. We had a blast! Catch phrase was that game of the night I think. Then of course Christmas came and it was a blast this year. The girls were so into it! Although they got swamped with gifts and I didn't think we were ever going to have them all opened! They kept wanting to play with what they had just opened so the adults would open theirs. That didn't last too long before all that was left was the girls gifts! We spent a nice quiet day at the house with Doug's parents and sister. It was really nice and we had a good time. Doug's brother and sister in law arrived on Saturday after Christmas with their two boys. The cousins always have a lot of fun when they are together. My brother and his fiance, my sister and my mom showed up Sunday evening...just in time for Madalyn to start puking! She never acted like she was sick and I started wondering if it was just all the commotion and lack of schedule that had gotten to her. Everyone left Monday morning and Madalyn was good to go. I thought we were out of the woods by Tuesday when no one else had gotten sick...boy was I wrong. I came down with it on Wednesday morning...so thankful it was Doug's week off! Marissa came down with it Wednesday afternoon. Poor Doug had two of us going at it! We were both on the mend by Thursday morning. Doug came down with it on Friday. He was on the mend by Saturday. I'm tired just thinking about all that!

Its been super cold up here in Northern NY! The girls keep wanting to go out and play and I'll be honest...Mama is a chicken! I finally took them out yesterday afternoon although it was 0 degrees out. But at least it wasn't 15 below! We stayed out for about an hour. The dogs chickened out in 30 minutes and asked to go back in. Mommy was ready to go back in then too! I started bribing them after being out for an hour. They came in when I told them we could have hot cocoa! LOL So I don't have any pictures of our fun in the snow...there was no way I was taking my gloves off! I will post some pictures soon though!