The Answers!

So I just thought I'd post which picture was who!! Thanks for all the guesses!
The newborn pics I think were too easy, cause everyone who guessed, guessed right. They were, from top to bottom, Hannah, Lillian and Sophia.
The bath towel pics, only one person got them right! From top to bottom it is Lillian, Sophia and Hannah.
It's crazy how fast they grow up!!

Can You Figure it Out?!

One of the biggest comments we get about our three girls is how they all look alike!! When Sophia was born, we thought she was a little bit different looking from the other two. When we look back at pictures though, sometimes they are a little hard to tell apart!! The cool Google face feature even has a tough time telling who is who!! So, what do you think? Are these pictures of the same babies, or if they are different, can you tell which one would be Hannah or Lillian or Sophia?






How about with these cute bath towel ones? Can you tell who is who?










Let me know what you think! And I can let you know who is who!:)

My Labor Story

Time in general seems to fly by!! With three little girls now, time is really flying! So although Sophia is already over 2 months, I would still like to share my labor story!
We decided to be induced. On that day we were to call at 6 a.m. to see if there was room. They said there wasn't at that time, but to call back at 9 a.m. We were a little bummed, but just stayed in bed. I couldn't sleep cause something noisy was going on outside, and I was thinking about whether or not I would be going in to have a baby that day. Then about 30 minutes later they called back and said they had an unexpected discharge, and that we could come in! So we got all ready and left!
When I got there, they hooked the belly band thing up to me to see if I was having contractions. To my surprise, they said I was having contractions 3-5 minutes apart, and I couldn't feel any of them! I was also dilated to 3 c.m. A little while later they hooked up the I.V. which hurt! And then started the patosin(sp?) drip at about 9 a.m. My contractions continued on the very low does, but now I could only feel the contractions occasionally. I was kind of worried, cause I thought if I couldn't feel much, it was going to be a long day! I was progressing though. And then at noon the Dr. came in and broke my water. This is when the pain really started to come!! I got some nubaine(sp?), which didn't take the pain away, but let me rest in between contractions! And a short while later I started to push! Sophia Grace was born at 2:10 p.m. Only two hours after my water broke! She was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 21 1/4 inches long! By far she was the easiest labor! The Lord was really gracious!
So now we are a family of 5! What a blessing!

Pinatas have come a long way!

One of Lillian's requests for her 4th birthday was a Pinata! We were able to go to MI for her birthday this year to also celebrate my mom's birthday, which is only 2 days before Lillian's. The first step was for her to choose a pinata, which was a task because of the variety!! She decided on a Disney Princess Castle. And, then the cool thing about this pinata was that you didn't have to hit it with a big stick to break it open! Instead, there were a bunch of strings on the bottom where one string would open the trap door that would let out all the candy! I didn't know how it would go, but it was fun to watch the kids each pull out a string to see if the candy would come out! Even a little bit suspenseful!! I think Lillian was pretty pleased at the whole thing:)

The Two biggest reasons why I haven't been blogging!

So, I've been a bad blogger!! I can't believe how much time has past since my last post!! Oops!
I think I have two good excuses though:)
The first one would be that I got pregnant! As of today, I am 38 1/2 weeks. The first 6 months I struggled with nauseousness, and that was tough! It's amazing how fast the time goes though, and how you push through! I couldn't just lay around and do nothing, cause I had Hannah and Lillian to take care of! It will be interesting to see how the change is between 2 kids and 3!
The second reason I haven't had much time to blog would be because this year, we decided that we would home school Hannah for kindergarten! It was a big decision that we went back and forth on, but I am glad for the decision we made. It's been an interesting journey! Some days do go better than others:) She is actually doing a public school online using k-12 curriculum. She has a teacher we can go to when we have questions, and who checks in with us once a month. There are also optional monthly outings that we have been able to go to as well. We got to tour the MN state capital building, visit a volunteer fire station, and we got a tour of an Outback steak house and eat lunch there!! The curriculum was free, which was a bonus, and the online set up they have worked great! There are goals to work towards each quarter, which helped me a lot! She has met all her minimums as of now to move on to next year, so when the baby comes we will be set!
As far as pregnancies go, this one I have been the busiest by far!! I was also able to exercise for the majority of it, which was the first time that's happened! I figure since the baby is so close to coming, I should post something, and then be ready to post pics of the newest addition to our family whenever the baby decides to arrive:)


Hannah on her first day of kindergarten.

State Fair 2009

We had a lot of fun at the state fair this year!! Since the girls are older, we lasted 8 1/2 hours this time!! We were all pretty worn out by the end! The girls did the little farm hands exhibit again. They did kids rides, which they loved!! We ate a bunch, and the highlights were cheese curds, a peanut butter cup shake, the apple cider freezies, the chocolate rainbow ice cream, the dole whip, and fries (that's what I can remember!). We also made it on the Kare 11 news at 4 by just sitting in the audience! It was a lot of fun! Also, after making it to the fair many years, one thing I had never done was ride the giant slide! That was my goal this year, and I did it! Going down the slide was so much fun!! Hannah also loved it, but Lillian to our surprise didn't enjoy it that much. Maybe she'll like it better next year!

More teeth loosing adventures!

So, this actually happened a couple of months ago, but I just never got around to blogging about it!
I'm not sure why, but it seems like loosing teeth for Hannah, so far, has been kind of dramatic. And this last time was no exception! We were at a friends house, and the have a ledge upstairs where you can look over it and see the downstairs. Kids love to play here! Hannah was peeking over the ledge, and holding herself up, and some how slipped and banged her teeth right into the ledge!! She was not a happy camper!!! She was bleeding and crying. I felt bad for her! We called her dentist though, and they said it should be ok, and that her teeth were probably close to coming out if hitting made them that loose. So after she calmed down, we took her home, and blessedly one of the teeth fell out while Bill was reading to her before bed. The other tooth was super loose, but we just left it alone! Then about a week later, while we were in MI, I pulled Hannah's shirt off so she could hop in the bath, and randomly the other one fell out too! Hannah was an early teether, and they say if you get them early, you tend to loose them early! She has now lost 6 teeth at only 5 years old and has another loose one now! I hope the rest of them just some how come out easier than her first ones have!

My first 5K!

Last week I did something that I really thought I would never do! I ran a 5k! I never thought this would happen, cause I am actually not really a fan of running! It's hard to run for long periods of time! A couple months back though, I started going on the tread mills at the Y to change up my routine. It took me weeks to even get up to running a mile straight! Then I moved to running on their indoor track. And running a mile here or there. Then some girls asked me if I would be interested in a 5k. Since starting to run a bit, I thought maybe I would try one at some point, but didn't know if I could do it so soon! The two girls who asked me to do this particular 5K also went camping at Lake Elmo, so we all went for a run together. It felt like we went forever, and it was only 2.25 miles! Then over the 4th of July in MI, Bill and I went for a run and went 3 miles. I ran two, then walked for 1 tenth of a mile, then ran the rest. So I figured that it could be do-able to do the 5k.
It was an experience! The race was right in down town Minneapolis. Hundreds and Hundreds of people ran! We started in the middle, and at first it was even hard to get pace, as we were passing people, and people were passing us! Andy, who was also running with us, even stopped to get cheese curds!! And then caught back up with us! At first it was kind of fun, with all the people, and the excitement of running, but then it started to get tough! I was glad to make the one mile marker! It was really nice to have Bill and other friends push me to keep going! We made it to the bridge we had to go over, and I was really wanting to stop and walk, but I kept going!! Then we got pretty close to the finish line and my feet were even starting to go numb!! But Bill and Andrea told me to keep going! I'm like, "but it hurts!!" But they were like, "you can do it!" And finally, I crossed the finish line in about 38 minutes!! I ran the whole entire thing, and didn't even stop once to walk!! It was a very tough, and very fun experience! I can now say I ran a 5K! I'm not sure if I'll do one again, I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

A week of grillin!

When Bill had his week off from work, he thought it would be cool if he could help out with cooking so I wouldn't have to do it all, which I thought was really nice! So I thought it would be a good idea if he grilled! I don't really grill, and he loves to do it! So here is what we ended up grillin.
Pork tenderlion, which turned out awesome on the grill! He cut a slit in it, put garlic in the slit, then slathered the whole thing with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Steak, which was in honor of Father's day!
Burgers
Brats
Grilled chicken sandwiches (which also turned out really yummy!)
And, Kabobs! We have never done kabobs before, and they turned out good!
We also did corn on the cob a couple times, cause Bill and the girls love it!
Is was a fun week to try this, and a good change up for our menu!
Thanks Bill, for being willing to grill all that week!

4th of July 2009

We went up to MI this year for the fourth. I also had my 10 year class reunion! I can't believe I have been graduated from high school that long!
We had a fun time! We went to the parade, which the girls loved, and they got a ton of candy!! Also, the first people to come down the parade route were the, "give every kid a flag" people. Hannah and Lillian thought it was pretty cool that they got there own little flag to wave!



We also did the Ishpeming fireworks at night, which were really nice. My dad took Hannah to ride on a pony, which see enjoyed! And, she also loved riding on the 4 wheeler too!
Here is a picture of us while we were waiting for the parade to start....

Dance Camp

This past week Bill has had another week of Mandatory unpaid leave, so we decided to sign the girls up for a dance camp, since he would be around to help get them too and from! The girls LOVED it!! It was for 4 days, 2 hours a day, and was through Spirited Feet. They learned dances, and had story time, craft time, and snack time. On the last day, the last 15 minutes of the time, they performed the dances they had learned! It was so fun to go see!! Hannah did a wonderful job, was serious about getting the moves right, but also was having fun!! Lillian was cute! She new most of the moves, but got distracted by the fact that there were people watching her! I was so glad we were able to do this for them!

More camping!

This past weekend we got to do our second camping trip of the summer! This time we just went to Lake Elmo. We got to camp in the modern camp ground, and that was cool! For the first time in our marriage, we camped where there was running water and flushing toilets! 4 other couples came, and three other children, two of which were babies both under 6 months of age. The weather was nice, as it didn't rain at all! Hannah enjoyed riding her bike to the near by park. I got to go for a run with two other women, and I also went for a bike ride. The girls waded in the water, as the water was still pretty chilly! I pretty much stuck my feet in and said no thank you! There was lots of good food, fellowship, and campfires! It was a fun weekend!

Fun Shirts!

I actually bought these shirts for the girls when we were in FL, almost 3 years ago! They were really cute, and I figured that the would eventually grow into them!! And finally they have! Hannah's says, "I'm the bit sister." And Lillian's says, "I'm the little sister."

Memorial Day Camping 2009!

This year we went camping at Sakatah Lake state park near Faribault, MN. It was a nice time! 50 people went this year! The food was so good! I was so full after every meal! Bill got to do some fishing, and caught a fish for the very first time! He even cleaned it and cooked it! I even tried it, and it was pretty good! Hannah even tried her hand at fishing a bit. She only caught some see weed though:) Bill and Hannah also got to try Geo cashing. They also got to do a couple of bike rides! I biked to the ice cream shop in town that everyone went too! They had kids cones for 50 cents! I got a reece's pb cup flurry though! It was a nice bike ride. 3 miles one way, and the trail was nice and flat! The weather was really great! It did rain the first night and morning, but other than that, I can't complain! The campfires were great, and so was the company! It was a very nice camping trip!

The coolness of coupons!

Today I went grocery shopping! And, Target ended up paying me one penny to get some Kraft Mayo! It was on sale for 1.99. I had a target coupon for a dollar off, and a manufactures coupon for a dollar off. That is two dollars off total, cause they take both coupons for the one item, hence them paying me one penny! Pretty good deal if you ask me:)

the Carnival

West St. Paul days was this past weekend! It's funny, cause the carnival ends up being so close to our place! The girls can see when the trucks arrive, and slowly see as they set up the rides, and see when the rides start to go! For several days they asked, "when is it going start?!" And, "can we go on the rides?!" This year was fun cause my mom was here the same weekend! And, she said she wanted to take the girls to the carnival!

Here is Bill and girls on the slide

This is my mom on the train with the girls!

Hannah in a helicopter


And here is Lillian fishing!
We had a fun time! We could walk there, and didn't have to stay long! And, we also got some cheese curds....Yum!
There also was a parade! This is always fun for the girls! They love catching candy! This year it was a little chilly, and windy!! But fun just the same!

The Carrot Cake

Here is the first carrot cake that I made from scratch for my niece Lyla's baby shower. It had home made cream cheese frosting, and turned out pretty yummy.

Lipstick eggs

This is just a picture of the girls having fun with lipstick eggs, or a.k.a., robins whopper eggs. Blue works the best! I even had fun with it, but didn't think a picture was necessary:)

The pizza I made

The other week I tried something I never had tried before! I made a margarita pizza! It was the first time for me to buy fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil! I made the dough, then brushed it with olive oil, then put the tomatoes, basil and mozzarella on top. I think it tasted pretty good. Not exactly the same as I have had at restaurants, but not too bad.

My First attepmt at bread!

Ever since Bill and I have been married, (which will be 7 years this August!!), he has talked about Easter bread! He lived with his grandparents for awhile when he was younger, and every Easter, and only on Easter, his grandma would make this delicious bread for him. I always said, sorry hun! I've never heard of it! Also, I love to bake, but bread is the one thing that I had yet to tackle. My mom tried to teach me once, and I helped make dinner rolls before, but never on my own had a made a loaf of bread. I think it's the whole let it rise thing! What if you don't let it rise enough, or what if you let it rise too much! I have been able to tackle pizza dough, though, and that's pretty much on your way to making bread! Any who! This year, because of facebook, Bill "over read" his sister and Aunt talking about it, so he joined in on the conversation. There is something special about the bread in that you need the seeds from the pits of cherries to make it! And, his Aunt Char had some that she ordered from Greece, and graciously said she would send some to Bill and his sister, along with the family recipe! I was pretty nervous to try this, since it was bread and all! But, I did it! And, it actually turned out!!! And was edible!! And, Bill was right, it is really yummy bread! It was an adventure for sure!! I'm just kind of glad that his family says that you can only make it at Easter time:) Although, it would be kind of nice to make more, cause like I said, it was really tasty!

Also, Bill made a video about this bread making experience:) You can check it out on his blog.