7 minutes of heaven...

I found a recipe I liked for the 7 minute frosting I wanted to make. It is from one of my favorite cookbooks called cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans. Martha's baking book used 6 egg whites- I wasn't trying to make icing for an army, so I went with the recipe using two egg whites.
It is pretty intense- you have to beat it over a double boiler for 7 minutes. Mine wasn't 160 yet, so I beat it two more. My arm was tired from holding the mixer like that! I looked over and Annika had done this:

She doesn't normally do stuff like that, but she does normally get all up in my personal space while I am trying to make icing, so I was impressed she was being so quiet.

It is as yummy as it looks. Travis and the girls prefer thicker icing, so I also made their favorite kind- cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Beat it for about 10 minutes and it becomes so fluffy. No pics of those, but they were yummy. Here are the cupcakes with the 7 minute frosting on them.

Today we made a craft. We made little penguins. It was from "Your Big Backyard." It was really fun, but you pretty much have to do everything. You'll notice Annika added extra glue just for fun all over its face. She really likes to squeeze the glue.

Fall Fun

We took the girls to a church festival close to our house. So it is a preview of Halloween. I LOVE their costumes. I have never been a huge fan of costumes, but I think they look so cute!

The girls made these "Listening Ears" at church on Sunday. Aren't they funny? Imagine if our kids really had ears like that- I might make some for Travis, too! :)

There is Olivia working with hers on. You'll notice she wrote her name in cursive on her ear. I think that it is funny that she did that, too!

7 minute icing

Well, I have been craving 7 minute icing for years, but because my major was microbiology, I can't bring myself to eat it. I found this great site that answers all of kinds of questions about eggs. I know this is random to post, but it was a good site. http://www.eggsafety.org/f_a_q.htm#4
After reading this, I feel like it is probably pretty safe. I am sure I will attempt it in the next few days. I will let you know how it turns out and if I don't eat it all out of the bowl, I will take a picture.
Also, since this is random- be sure and throw out all of your old toothbrushes. If any brushes have bristles sticking out to the side, ditch it. My mom (a dental hygienist) came and made me throw out 8 of our favorite brushes. They aren't that much- and you will spend way more at the dentist for not having good hygiene. We recently got some at Wal-mart we like. They are Veggie Tales. I really like the brush and the girls do to! I better go brush the Nerds off the girls teeth.

This has been a weird day. You know the days you just can't get out of a funk? They don't happen all that often for me, but today was one. I have been with the girls all day everyday for a while. Travis went out of town for 5 days and then he has been swamped with work 7 days a week since. The only time I have been without the girls was to go to the rodeo with Travis- but it was almost bedtime, so it doesn't really count. I LOVE my girls and I am beyond blessed to be able to stay home with them. I know many people want to and can't, so I am eternally grateful! They are such beautiful gifts from God and are really such sweet girls. But the selfish part of me, just needs an hour or two with a friend or by myself. And I don't mean after they go to bed, I mean during the day. I feel better just having said it (mostly). Hopefully I will wake up tomorrow (to Annika laying outside of my door making noises too early, but actually not coming in so she can claim she didn't wake me) refreshed and ready. That is a hard part of living here. Since not many people have really close friends, this is a normal way of life for them. Not for me! I had decided I would go see The Duchess tonight after the girls went to bed. For some reason it isn't on here- it is on 25 min. away, but it doesn't start until 9:45. I think I would not like myself in the morning for going. Ok, enough complaining. Sorry.

I did make this for fun while ago. It was so quick and fun! I am sure I will make some changes, but for now this is how it will be. Now I just need a picture to insert! :) While making it I have been listening to Colbie Caillat. Someone had her playing on their blog and I like her music. Thanks to youtube, I heard quite a few of her songs. Off to take a shower and beg for a better attitude...

Last one I promise!

I can't wait to be back in AR! We have a countdown going, although we have currently been distracted by the countdown to Chicago. Look how young the girls look! They grow so quickly! I can't wait to be driving down that gravel road to my parent's house!

And two and a half years later...

And here is Annika. There was no running around the block after her. And no, I am not getting sad to not have a baby. I love looking through pictures and everyone knows 2 is my favorite age. I am sad I missed a lot of that with Olivia b/c I was so busy with Annika, but I can see some of it when I look at pictures. Oh, my sweet girls. I love them!

A flash back

Sweet Olivia's first few minutes in this world. I was so happy to not have any more pain! I think I could have run around the block with joy!

About this time last year...

My sweet friend Dedra bought this for Annika. Olivia loved it and she squeezed into it instead. Annika was a little shy with trick-or-treating, but you can see she quickly learned what a fun little game it was! Today she said," I want Halloween." She knows costumes and candy are involved, but beyond that she doesn't know when it is or what it really it. So cute!

Easy Does It

First of all, why did I use that title? I don't like little sayings like that. My dad used them a lot when I was little. It is on my list along with "simmer down," "calm down," "quit horsing around," and many others. But this is easy, so I want to share. I have been wanting to make my blog cute for a while. There are hard ways to do it, but there is also an easy way to do it! Thank you to Allison for sharing! (you can see her site- The Nelson's over to the side)

First I made my header picture in Photoshop. There are tons free sites to download really cute digital scrapbooking stuff- paper, images, ribbon, etc. Some of my favorites are Shabby Princess (shabbyprincess.com) and Summer Driggs (http://www.summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/), but they are all over the internet. Some sites are better than others. You can usually find like "freebies" or "downloads" that are free. Ok, so after you make what you want, you save it as a jpeg and then in the edit part of blogger, you just enter it in your header. There the option of inserting a picture. It took me a while to figure out the exact size to fit in the box from my blogger template. Mine is 648x343 pixels.

Then you can go to this really cute site- http://thecutestblogontheblock.com/index.php They have premade templates that are so easy to download. They are so cute! You could change it all the time b/c it is so easy! Down the left side just click on backgrounds. Then when it opens you can select "3 column backgrounds" Those look really good on your blog. They have really easy directions. Again, back at your edit page, you just insert their html code under one of the gadgets. So easy and fun! Good luck with it!

Here is a picture of the girls at a historical working farm we went to. I will post about it later! I love this picture though!

Yummy, Yucky, Yummy!

Here is the first yummy! Olivia did so well at piano and learned all of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, so she got a yummy Jerry Queen (that is what she calls it) popsicle as a treat. They are so good- but they aren't on the menu- you have to ask for them.

Here is our yucky picture! My mom sent the girls each a Halloween box. (this is actually the second time she has sent them a Halloween box). The girls love her boxes- they are really fun. Here is one funny thing she sent.

Travis had a business meeting all day today and then they went to a nice dinner afterwards. He brought me a piece of Key Lime Pie. It is so good! I am eating it now! It made me think of Kenny Chesney's Key Lime Pie song which reminded me of a comment someone made on one of the football sites he reads. Somehow it came up that Kenny Chesney isn't as tall as he claims. And someone else said, "She thinks my step stool's sexy." It still makes me laugh. Hope you get a laugh too! (not at his height- just the song title...oh, I'll just let it go!)

Heavy Weight

Well, after I wrote that blog the other night I headed to the shower. This is often my only place to think during the day. It is a time that I pray for people- just because it is quiet. I felt like God was wanting me to change my thinking about Olivia's dental appts and other upcoming things I was worried about. These appts, although not fun, are just a few days of her life. I need to instead focus on all of the fun things she gets to do on a regular basis. That's how kids think- she isn't dwelling on her appt or her upcoming ones, so why I am so worried? So I am trying to see the girls having fun during the day and be thankful that God has blessed us with fun days- as many people don't get those days. It is drastically changed the way I look at things and removed the burden I was carrying. I am so thankful God spoke to me. And I am thankful that Jesus says to leave our burdens with him. He'll take them and give me a lighter one. That's exactly what he did.

a lot- part 2

Long blogs are hard to read, so I broke it up. :)

Olivia loves to tell jokes. They never make sense and she ask me the other day why I don't laugh after them. There is nothing to even remotely laugh at. Travis bought her a joke book a while ago, but she doesn't quite get it. I know it will click one day. She is really good, however, at telling stories and does all of the time. The other day Annika told her first joke. But she called it a joke story and even started with "Once upon a time..." She also told a her first short story, "Once upon a time there was a booty in the jungle." This was funny. Watching a two year old talk is just amusing. I love the way they pronounce stuff.

Olivia got a flat friend in the mail from a little girl named Ema in the Czech republic. Olivia drew a picture of herself on card stock and sent it over there and Ema sent hers here. We take Ema's person she drew around with us and take pictures. Then we make a scrapbook and send it back. So far, Ema's been to the store, our house, church, and the dentist. Hopefully she will make it to dance and gymnastics.

Olivia has also started Suzuki piano lessons. It is really neat. We go one night a week and then practice at home. This isn't my strong point. It makes me wonder how in the world I am going to home school. Annika finally learned tonight that she has to do something else during practice. Banging on the keys while Olivia is trying to play just won't work. (This was her first lesson. She learned some things on the piano while it was closed first. She does not have a proper piano hand here- they were working on something else.)

Travis went to Denver to his annual meeting. He interviewed with Auburn, TCU, and UCA. He is going for a campus visit to TCU sometime in the next few weeks. Ft. Worth sounds really fun. Although God will have to overcome some major hurdles in the housing market for us. Why did I call them hurdles. Like God has a hurdle. While Travis was gone, he left me a note for each day and fun surprise. He is so sweet! He left me pretty stationary, some really yummy apple juice that I can't think of the name of now that was in cute little glass bottles, candy pumpkins, and IBC rootbeer. Yum!

It is good to have daddy back!

We are going to Chicago with my mom in a few weeks. I can't wait. Olivia, Annika, and I are going to meet my parents there and go to the American Girl Doll store. The girls are SO excited! I have to admit I am too! Chicago is my favorite big city and it is just fun to go somewhere. And even though I'll be traveling alone, it will be easy to do one flight. (Hopefully everything will go well) And it will be a warm up for traveling to AR two weeks later for Thanksgiving.

I am so excited to go to LR. To get Olivia's teeth fixed and to get our hair cut. The girls haven't had their hair cut in 11 months and I haven't had mine cut in 8 months. Can't wait! Also, it means I will have Olivia's dental appts here behind me and her dr appt where she is supposed to get 6 shots! We are picking two to do now and the flu shot. I am not sure who should get their shots first. A with one or Olivia with 3? Hmmm.... Anyone want to take them for me?

I need to post a recipe, too. I will see what I posted last time. Although, it is late, so those will have to wait for another day!

a lot- Part1 teeth

Oh, a lot of things have happened since the last post. If only the computer would post all of the blogs I make in my head. This will be random, but since I haven't been good at keeping up with the girls' calendars, I need to keep stuff somewhere.

Olivia is getting her first permanent tooth. Hopefully it will be much healthier than her others. She has had reflux since she was a baby- which explains a lot of issues she had as a baby. But it wasn't diagnosed until she was 2. So her teeth got a lot of acid they shouldn't have-resulting in a mouth full of unhealthy teeth. If things go as I expect, around $2000 will have been spent in the past two months. I can say how much it has cost b/c he has given us a prof. discount since my step-dad is a dentist and some of it has been done in LR with no charge. So it would have been way more. All of her molars have decay. Right now, three crowns (we got one today and get two in three weeks), three pulpotomies, one root canal, one huge filling. She still has one more crown to get in LR and three more cavities that will hopefully make it until LR. If she gets a little cavity, it goes straight for the root b/c there is nothing to stop it. I am not fond of this and would like to have a few words with her pediatrician in Fayetteville who missed some pretty obvious signs.

FYI- to properly brush your children's teeth- you should not use toothpaste. It is simply there to give them some flavor (until they can use the fluoride kind). So you lay them in your lap and use a wet toothbrush. Get along the gum line the best you can and do it everyday! Then floss. It quickly becomes part of the routine, so it isn't a big deal. In the mornings, they can brush their teeth themselves with toothpaste. Olivia's days of gum, fruit snacks, and anything chewy are gone. Thankfully she loves her "metal ring" that she got today. She even showed the lady at Kroger.

Annika is doing well. She is slowly adjusting to laying still, not singing, and not trying to watch TV while I brush her teeth. The past three days she has had a wild look in her eye. You can see it from across the room. I can't believe I had forgotten what it looked like. It was on her face everyday as a younger toddler until we beat it out of her. Kidding. Mostly. :) Of course, we didn't beat her, but she did get her fair share of spankings. Hopefully it will pass in a couple of days.

The girls have rediscovered computer games. Annika is getting to play for the first time. I think Olivia started at 18 months. They are cute playing them. It has actually been really helpful b/c Annika is constantly trying to take Olivia's baby doll. (she has her own, exactly like it! But that is not good enough.) They don't play long, but it is a good distraction sometimes!

2 NO MORES

Today, I made two startling discoveries that have led me to almost :) totally ban to products from our house. The first one is of less importance, so I will start with it. Whoppers, or whoffers, as my girls call them. They boast of the outside of the box about being lower in fat than other candy bars. They only have 7g of fat for 18! What a deal! Oh, wait, does that also say 7g of sat. fat? Yes, it does. The third ingredient is partially hydrogenated oil. Code word for DO NOT EAT THIS. I recently read an article that was talking about the need for looking for those words b/c you are basically poisoning your body. Hydrogenated oils lower your good cholesterol and increase your bad cholesterol. They are going in the trash tomorrow after the girls and I each have our last whoffer- for at least a while.

My girls have been on Miralax for quite sometime. They both have trouble with, well, pooping. We have tried multiple things since they were babies and miralax has been the only thing that has really worked. The past couple of weeks I started worrying some about it. I don't know why b/c we have used it for so long. I did some research today and found that dependency is not the real issue. But you actually absorb some of it and it can cause autistic-like problems. It has a name and I can't remember. I am purposely spreading out Olivia's upcoming 6 shots as to avoid the slight chance of autism (usually in boys and more of a risk at an earlier age), yet I am daily giving her something that could cause the same problem? I think God put this in my mind to look up- I am so thankful. We will now be trying to increase our fruit and veggie consumption. I do this daily anyway, so I am not sure where I am going to add anything. Olivia likes 2 fruits and they others I have to force her to eat. So, we will go back to trying benefiber and praying God will help them out!

I saw a sweet old lady hit a car in the Kroger parking lot today. I thought it was funny that she purposefully parked so far away and still hit a car. I felt very sad for her. It was an old car and she added some of her red colored car to the front. Spruced it up if you ask me. She looked at it and got back in her car and sped off. I felt sad for her and prayed she wasn't so upset that she caused an accident. She probably got home and forgot all about it. :)

Olivia got new bitty baby stuff today with her birthday money. She was so excited. Annika- not so much. She sadly went over and looked in the box it was shipped in and was kind of digging around and said, "Where's mine?" It will be ok in a few days. Olivia is going to be a great mom. She has already pretty much got it down.

I have a growing concern. My body. Annika (for the first two years and three months) of her life was very good at keeping me in shape. I carried her around for EVERY nap - two a day at first and then one a day- for at least 20 min a day. I walked her and held her. You know she has always been in the 98th percentile for height and weight, so she toned my arms quite nicely. Now, she just lays down in her bed. For that I am grateful. However, I do miss the daily workout. I am about to go spend some time on our elliptical machine and do a few weights. (I am purposefully not saying how long or how much!) I doubt I can be motivated enough to do the same arm workout as what she gave me, but hopefully I can at least keep them somewhat tone. We'll see.

I am realizing that sitting here typing this is not getting me anywhere. I did my inhaler an hour ago. I am not sure that it is still going to help once I get on the machine. Shoot. I guess my burning chest will give me a reason to stop. :) Better get to it!

Wednesday

This morning Trav woke up with a fever. No fun. Thankfully he cancelled his class and moved his flight to Friday. I am hopeful Olivia and I don't get it. I think Annika already had it. We had gymnastics this morning and of course my girls are the best in each of their classes. :) Annika easily is in hers b/c the kids in her class are younger. It is amazing what a couple of months difference can make in gymnastics. I love to see her little chubby legs in her leotard. Too cute! Olivia is learning a lot of tricks that she also likes to try at home. However, I prefer that she just do them at gymnastics b/c it is way safer with mats all around you! Then we went to Sam's Club. Sam Walton would not approve of our Sams. I won't go into details.

I got an e-mail that the PBR (which I think stands for something like Pro Bull Rodeo) is coming to Columbus next week. Some of you may not know this about me- I LOVE rodeos. I mean a lot! Esp. the bull riding part. Tickets range from $10-$200. I am really wondering what folks that actually like the rodeo would be able to pay $200 for tickets. I may have to wander down that way and find out. I called to get tickets today (the $10 ones) b/c I couldn't get them where I wanted on the internet. The guy was really nice and gave us $25 for the price of $10. What a deal! I may even be able to get cotton candy while we're there- another of my favs. Do they sell cotton candy at the rodeo or just beer? Hmm. I am super pumped and you can bet there will be pics about our date! Yee haw! There are apparently 45 bull riders. I need to make a big sign so I can appear on TV. If you have any ideas for signs, let me know. I am guessing it should use the PBR letters in it somehow. It is too bad that my cowboy boots are in LR. Shoot.