Tree Cookie

Elli and I sat down to read a few books. She has been on a Cinderella kick lately (Daddy is now referred to as her prince) so we were reading about Cinderella's Christmas. In the book, Cinderella teaches us that gifts that come from the heart are the best kind of gift. Therefore, she bakes the Prince tree shaped cookies. This is the conversation that followed...

Elli: "I want to make tree cookies!"
Me: "I don't know how to make tree cookies."
Elli: "you just put the stuff in (making a stirring bowl motion) and you have cookies"
Me: "I don't know that we have the 'stuff' to make them."
Elli: Pops up and heads to the kitchen pantry and starts putting items on the counter "we need peanuts, peanut butter and rice cakes to make tree cookies."



Me: " is that all we need?"
Elli: "yes"

Here is my version of a tree cookie





Apparently I passed the test.



When her Prince got home from work, she said "yay, my prince is home." Then, she said she needed to make him a tree cookie. The prince let her do it herself this time. And for his royal highness he got a special topping of dried apples.




Moments like these is what life is made of.

Orthnernism: Disney-ism

Me: "Elli, do you want some frozen berries in your oatmeal to cool it down?"
Elli: "YES!!! And Elsa berries, and Anna berries, and Olaf berries..."

Thank you Disney for redefining simple words for my toddler!

"Birthday party"

Over the last week, Elli has repeated endlessly

"Birthday party, k?"

"Birthday party, cake, k?"

Luckily about five minutes after I shot this video Karl showed up (during his lunch break) with a cheesecake for is all!










He bought the Godiva one which is gluten free for everyone and a single slice of the s'mores one special for me :)

What a sweet surprise, literally!

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Copenhagen Day Three: "To travel is to live"

Today is a Monday. Mondays in Denmark means lots of (government run) tourist hot spots are closed. So we hit up a lot of random spots, and still had a blast. 

Blu Planet, an aquarium, is one of the newest tourist additions to Copenhagen. Built about three years ago, it is a architectural sight to behold. Honestly though, seeing the building from the outside was the best part. 

 Even though the constant flowing of locals and tourists into the place told us otherwise, this place was small and short coming of our expectations. The most interesting thing inside was the school of fish that are in a cylindrical tank. They swam in a small circle over and over and over; there were the rogue few that rebelled. I gave them a virtual high-five, well high-fin.

 I do chuckle EVERY time I see the under side of a ray.

 The Aquarium experience that filled up 45 minutes of the expected three hours, left us walking around and just enjoying the sights. We stopped for lunch and this was our view. I love it! I think just looking at all the buildings has been my favorite part so far.

 We spent our afternoon at the Hans Christian Andersen Museum. Learning about H. C. (as the locals refer to him) is one of the things I looked forward to the most. This quote made me smile.

 The museum featured many of his fairy tales in three minute summaries with animated scenes.

"The Little Mermaid"

 "The Little Match Girl"

 "Thumbelina"

 Again, these buildings...amazing! This is City Hall. Don't ask what that goofy man is doing in the front!

 Another dose of H. C.

I sat on his knee and asked him to tell me another story, and he rudely turned his head. The nerve!

 What is a trip without a little aerospace. I know we are all shocked that Karl wanted to visit the Tycho Brahes Planetarium. Again, like the aquarium, the facade was the most intriguing part. At least we both appreciate a pretty building.

 I did wish our space loving Reese was with us since they had a scale representation of all the planets. See itty bitty Earth behind Jupiter? That was about it for displays.

 There is so much ingenious public art here. Here there were about five pieces for the kids (young and old) to climb on. Also, notice the cobblestones. This is what 95% of the sidewalks are like. So you are constantly walking on uneven surfaces. It has been interesting with the two pair of shoes I choose to pack.

 Another interesting thing about the city is there are as many bikers and car drivers. Every street corner looks like this. There are also bikes with cabins on the front so parents can tote multiple kids around or pile in groceries.

 Another date night... we were just playing around, our faces don't accurately display the great fun we are having!

" I LOVE MEATBALLS!"

I have raised picky eaters. I am not sure quite how that came to be, but it did. I have tried EVERYTHING! One night when I was at my wits end I did yet another tireless google search for "how to help picky eaters".

I read one article that listed about 8 tips. I had already tried 7 of the 8 items.

The other: Make a rule, for each new food, you must take three bites on three different nights.

"When you take that first bite you’re scared and you’re going to hate it no matter what. But now that you know you aren’t going to DIE from eating that broccoli, you take a second bite to truly taste it. The third bite is the decision bite where you get to proclaim love, meh, or hate"

Simple enough. I made a list each night of what was on the dinner table. Three bites of everything went on the girls plates. The oldest, being obedient, took it in stride. An occasional up turned nose appeared, but once reminded of table manners fixed undesirable behaviors.

Now the middlest, oh the middlest, did NOT take it in stride. There was food being spit out, hands over her mouth, LOTS of head shaking, grunts, tears, oncoming stares from others waiting to be excused. It was PAINFUL for ALL of us. The youngest even starting mocking these undesirable behaviors. UGH!

About 3 weeks into these nightly battles, we turned a little but significant turn for the better. She would put the unmentionables into her mouth on her own, she whined while doing it, but SHE did it. The second time eating ground beef in pasta sauce, she stated, I still don't like it but it is fun to chew. We will take it!

About a week later, a meatball in red sauce lay on the middlest's plate. This is the third time she must take three bites. After staring it down for five minutes, the middlest bravely put it in her mouth. Then next thing we know, the second and third bite are being digested. Then, just then, the angels looked down on us, sang a hymn and the middlest shouted "I LOVE MEATBALLS!!!" She was so proud that this proclamation was shouted over and over. We all celebrated. I even teared up a little. Then the rest of the meatball was consumed!

She loves meatballs, she wants me to cook meatballs again soon. This is a big deal people! She has never liked beef before this day.

Three bites, three times... it works in this house!

Going Gluten Free

We have finally bit the bullet (again) and Reese is on a Gluten Free (GF) diet. I have toyed around with the idea for a few weeks. It is a tough lifestyle to acquire. There is no good time to dive in head first. I didn't want to deal with the repeated disappointment of off-limit foods.  

Reese has always had loose stools. But for the last few months they have been frequent and painful. She would spend 30 minutes in the restroom at one time, several times a day. Once school started I thought things had gotten better. I didn't ever hear about the tummy pain so I thought it was gone. I found out that really she had just learned to deal with it. She no longer looked to me to ease the pain. But after a few emergency car ride stops and missed bus stop pick ups, I realized I needed to make change for this lovely little. 

We are just experimenting with elimination diets. We have no official diagnosis. But I do know that until Reese was 18 months old she was pretty sensitive to gluten. 

We are making this fun. I am letting her explore foods that I previously avoided like fruit leather. This is not elimination, it is elitist (at least that it was I am leading her to believe). Just check out this massive GF brownie a local bakery had for her.  She is a happy camper. She never really got to have brownies before, but in my effort to show her life goes on while GF, she is getting all sorts of treats. 

Within three days of being GF, the stomach pains have gone away. She woke up the third day with the above belly rash; detox, maybe? Either way it came and went in two days. Her stools are slowly firming up, but the frequency is much less and so is the pain. Do I dare say it is a success? We are only a week in, so I am holding my breath for now. 

We are learning as we go what it means as a whole family unit to have one member that is GF. For now, breakfast and lunch is free reign for everyone, but dinners will be completely GF. This is an adjustment for some, because this family loves to chow down on bread. 

 In the meantime, Karl will covet all the gluten he can get his hands on. 

Funny Food Faces

I have realized I am sucker for a baby covered in food. I almost go to grab for the camera when one of my babies is a human napkin.

Here is my collection of Elli covered in all types of food...

Some Reesey Poo Food Faces...

Lastly, Brady Boo Food Faces...

If you feed a baby some beets

If you feed a baby some beets, she may sneeze

If she sneezes, you may notice your dog licking the wall

So then you get a rag to wipe beet splatters off the wall, while you do that you may not be able to see the baby.

While you may not be able to see the baby, she may choose to help you clean the beets off her tray.

If she chooses to clean the tray she may do so by wipe her hand all over the tray.

If she wipes the tray 'clean', then she may ask for more beets.

If she asks for more beets, you may just give her another spoonful.

Owl Blanket Project: Six Months

Well, I am a few days late posting this, but my baby girl is six months old! Look at how she has grown...I had a hard time snapping this picture this month because she was rolling all over the place.

-Her biggest strides came this month in hand control. She know reaches straight out for the object she wants to touch. Her favorite thing to grab, hair! Brady and Reese have been at the receiving end quite a bit. I love it though because when I hold her facing me she grabs with both hands and it is just like a little hug from her, I look forward to my hugs after her naps.
-We had a interesting month in the breastfeeding department. Her weight gain had slowed down last month so I spent some time with a lactation consultant to get everything back on track. In the previous month she only gained 2 ounces, but after the consultant got everything fixed Elli gained 10 ounces in one week!
-Since I didn't have as much milk, Elli has stopped sleeping through the night. She still sleeps on average 6-8 hours, but definitely not through the night, but it is okay because she needs to calories.
-A day before she turned six months, she got to try solid food. She did the best out of the three girls. I believe this is due to the fact that she takes medicine nightly so she is used to different taste. She has tried sweet potatoes, avocado and bananas. I think bananas are her favorite.

My two favorite things about this video: one, she uses her thumb to suck the food down, Brady did the same thing and I think it is so clever and two, how she would be eager for the next bite.

All Dolled Up!

The school had a Gala for fundraising that I decided to attend 'stag' with some of the other moms. So Karl was taking care of the girls, and they decided they needed to get fancy too.

Let's start with the fancy mommies...

Hanging out with all these beautiful women, I was honestly shocked by the number of people that came up to me and commented on my shiny belly! It was a lovely evening of dining, and auctions. But most importantly it was a lovely evening of time with the girls. Here is one of the pieces of art, inspired by Andy Warhol, the school auctioned off.

The kids did a self portrait. Here is Brady's.... 

 And Reese's...

I forget the artist inspiration behind this one but the class also painted this one.

There was lots of other beautiful kid made art, pieces you would find in an art gallery. One piece made by the upper elementary kids went for about $1300!

So while I was off celebrating artwork at the Gala, Karl had a great evening with two of his lovely ladies. For those who are familiar with the Fancy Nancy series will really appreciate the night's events. First the girls got fancy through their own eyes, including (and not all pictured) fancy shoes, boas, hats, jewelry, Karl's grandma's clutch purses, legwarmers...And of course Daddy sported his fedora!

Well, in the Fancy Nancy book  the family gets fancy to go to "kings' crown" restaurant. So Karl treated the girls to the closest thing...Burger King. They loved it!

Then they continued onto ice cream!

 Can anyone say "ice cream coma"?