Doctor's Visit: Four year/15 month check-ups.

Xander had his four year check-up today. He did very well. He is not shy at all like his brother and did everything they asked of him (which is the opposite of what Brandon did at his but he's getting better!) He stood on the scale which clocked him at 39.6 lbs. His height was 41". He did a great job with the vision exam covering each eye when told and reading the symbols. They did a hearing test, pricked his finger for a blood sample and he peed in a cup. He's such a social little guy. He enjoyed every minute of it. When the doctor came in she asked him to sing his ABC's which he happily did and then counted to 11. When she needed to check his "privates" he giggled so much she had to ask him to relax and take some deep breaths. He said "I can't when she's doing that!" (Oh, boy!) He stood on one foot and walked with one foot in front of the other. He did a great job today and I was very proud of him!

We didn't get any shots for either of them today. David and I have done some research and will do some more but we've decided that for right now, for our children, we're not going to get anymore vaccinations. This is something I will continue to research but for now that is our decision. We've been on an alternate schedule of only one shot at a time for a while and then stopped altogether. Isabella has only had a couple of shots.

Isabella had her 15 month check up today. Her weight was 22 lbs. Her height was 30 inches. She did a great job, too, although she didn't have to do much except cooperate with the doctor. Isabella did tell the doctor "thank you" when she gave her a stick. I was proud! lol She's getting to be such a big girl already. She's not a baby anymore! I bought her some cute straw cups and she loves them already. I was putting her shoes on today and realized they were too small. Her little toes were hanging over the edge! How does that happen?? One day they fit fine and the next they're way to small! I took her to get a new pair in a bigger size after she went to the doctor wearing her too small shoes! It amazes me that they are growing up right before my very eyes!

Xander's 4th Birthday!

Xander had his 4th birthday on Friday, the 22nd. He was very excited about his beach party and sand castle cake. I was up until 2:30 am the night before working on his cake. It was definitely worth it though to see his little face the next morning when he saw it! He loved it! It was a hot day but it wasn't too bad in the shade or by the lake. The kids had a great time and were so wore out by the time we got home that all three of them took a nap!

Xander got to choose where we would go for dinner and of course he picked Ci Ci's (his and Brandon's favorite restaurant!) They sang happy birthday to him. He tried to act shy but he loved the attention. He and Brandon got some tokens to use in the gameroom and had fun playing air hockey. Birthdays are so special when you're a kid. I love making them special for my children. :)

More pics coming soon...

Fondant: Really I'm Curious!

With Xander's birthday coming up, I've been checking out a lot of different cake ideas online. We're going to go with this fabulous sand castle cake since he's having a party at the beach. I found a mold for chocolate shells that I am in the process of making. I plan to use processed vanilla wafers as the sand. I'm sure mine will look every bit as fabulous as the one in the picture! :)
I have to say I love the look of the more-recently popular fondant cakes but wonder when too much is too much. There's so much more you can do with fondant than regular icing but what about the taste? the texture? I don't think I've ever really eaten a cake with fondant that wasn't, well, gross! Some of it just seems like such a waste. A few decorations you can just pick off but what about those cakes that are covered in it or have great big decorations made out of it? For example, this lovely two-tiered birthday cake that I found on http://www.cakepicturegallery.com/. It looks amazing but can you imagine trying to eat it? I was looking at another site http://www.thecookduke.com/ which has a recipe for fondant and instructions on how to make it.
Here is the recipe:

1 tbsp. unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup of cold water
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 cup of light corn syrup
1 tbsp. glycerin
2 lbs. 10x confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp. of white vegetable shortening

I do have to admit it makes a pretty cake. Maybe the "homemade" kind would be better than the commercial kind as the website http://www.thecookduke.com/ suggests. What do you think? Do you like the new trend or the old fashioned cakes better? Really, I'm curious! Do you like the fondant for its looks? Do you eat it? Leave me a comment.

Xander's turning four. I think I'll make him a wallet...

So Xander's going to be four soon. He's very excited (so is Brandon) about the upcoming birthday celebration. They have been counting down the months, weeks, days since Brandon's birthday. They pretty much share everything so they delite in each others gifts and look forward to shopping for each other. The other day David and I were amused in the car while Xander went over his "list" with Brandon of what he would like for his birthday. It was LONG! He's a goof-ball and sometimes gets carried away with his list of desires. In our quest to raise them as loving responsible servants we seem to be falling short on the "do not covet" part. Anyway, we plan to have a nice birthday for him without going too far overboard. He's going to have a little party at the beach with his friends and then another one with his cousin a week later. He's all about the Bakugans these days but he has enough of them. I ordered him a Leapster 2. He likes to play with his friends so he'll be excited. Brandon has a wallet and Xander doesn't so I think that he will be excited to have one of his own. I looked at some online but I think I'm going to attempt to make him one myself first. I'll have to let you know how it goes!

Ten Reasons Why I love Being a Mom!

It's no secret. I LOVE being a mom! It's something I've always known that I wanted to be (even though there are times when I want to pull ALL of my hair out)! I wouldn't trade motherhood for anything. I love my munchkins and could probably come up with 100 reasons I love being a mom but I'll just stick with these 10!

1. My kids say and do the cutest things (she went and climbed up on this bench all by herself.)

2. Watching my munchkins "grow up" is the best feeling ever!

3. My children are entertaining (and so darn cute!)

4. My kids make me laugh (laughter is good therapy!)

5. The awesomeness of watching them learn new things!

6. They put the ~*magic*~ back into the holidays!

7. They love the zoo as much as I do!

8. They get so excited about their birthdays!9. Dressing them up is so much fun!

10. They're so cute when they're sleeping! :)

Keeping Busy on these Lazy Summer Days

Today is Saturday. During the summer, days of the week don't seem to make much difference to me. With the exception of FLOCKS, David's weekly softball game and church on Sunday it seems like everyday has pretty much the same since the craziness of camping, traveling and VBS are pretty much behind us. I have to say I'm enjoying lazy mornings and no schedule but I don't want to waste the summer so I've been looking for cheap or even FREE activities to do with the kids. Today I went to a FREE "Mommy and Me" Creative Movement Class with Isabella at Absolute Dance Company in Avon Lake. I had to get up at 7:30 a.m. (which is very early for us!) and drag Isabella out of bed at about 8:30 a.m. She was happy enough to take a bath and get dressed but once we got to the dance studio she decided to clam up. She was clingy and insistent on finishing her bottle of milk. She didn't really start to get comfortable until the last 10 minutes and then she was more into checking out the music player than dancing. She did hold my hand and run around a little bit with a gorgeous smile on her face that I could only see because of the walls of mirrors around us. My friend picked us up with her daughter who is only a couple of months older. She was in no way shy or timid when it came to exploring the place and getting her groove on! She and Isabella will be getting into all kinds of mischief in the years to come, I'm sure.

The Early Childhood PTA here in Avon Lake is a great resource for finding things to do in the area. I highly suggest to new parents (and experienced ones) to join their local early childhood PTA. When I first had Brandon I had no idea such an organization exsisted. I thought PTA's were only for "school-age" children. One of my favorite things about the ALECPTA is the beginning of the year social where I get a FREE identification card for each of my munchkins every year. It's nice to have and it's fun to see how they've changed from year to year. Next week we will be going to an activity at the library and a street fair both in neighboring cities that I learned of through this organization. I've met many people since I joined but only one person I would actually call a "friend."

Most of the people I've become good friends with since we've moved into the area have been through our church. My children have made some good friends, too. Our church has been a great resource for activities and events as well. We very much enjoy our small group and look forward to serving in the church. Our church is about ten minutes away from where we live. People come from all around to attend our church so we meet people from all different areas. I've often thought that we are right where God wants us to be. I know that he has a plan for us and I'm excited to see what that plan will bring in the future.

We are also members of our local YMCA which is a great place for me to have some "me" time! I love to take the kids to the Childwatch and know that they are safe and having a good time while I work out. The boys have taken several swimming and sports classes there with mixed results. The older they get, the more they seem to get out of them. They will begin Pike 2 on July 25th and Isabella will be a Shrimp. She's taking her first swim class! I will have to get in the water with her but I'm sure it will be fun. I never did anything like that with the boys but I'm looking forward to having some alone time with Isabella. She doesn't get much of that since she's the third born!

There are many more resources for activities, even here in Northeast Ohio. We are members of the zoo, have a wonderful library, parks and beaches. I'm looking forward to filling up the rest of our summer with lots of trips and taking lots of pictures! These little munchkins are growing up so fast and I know the summer will be a distant memory in no time...

My First Cucumber!

I picked my first cucumber out of my garden yesterday! Looking forward to lots more. I have a ton of stuff growing in my little 8x8 plot. Most of it came up on its own. Over the winter we throw all of our scraps into the garden to make our own compost. This year I tilled up the garden, added humus from the city and then planted my seeds. Later I noticed that there were all kinds of plants growing up that I didn't plant! Many of them were unmistakably recognizable such as tomatoes, peppers and some types of squash which I have not been able to identify yet! My tomato plants have been growing like crazy. I've already gotten plenty of tomatoes, strawberries, radishes and raspberries this year. I was about to get some spinach and romaine lettuce, too, but a groundhog beat me to it! I'm working on putting the fence back up around my garden before I lose anything else. I think that there's enough of the plants left that I should still get a good harvest of lettuce and spinach this year. I very much enjoy gardening. There's nothing like eating something that you've grown yourself!

I try to use only organic products in my garden which can sometimes be difficult to find or expensive. Lately I've been using Whitney Farms Organic plant food, insecticidal soap and outdoor insect killer. I also like their organic lawn weed killer although I did notice some brown spots in my lawn after using it. It did help with the weeds but I pretty much have a weed-lawn so even after using two bottles I still had weeds! Everything seems to be doing well after the rainy start that we had. Lately I've been watering a lot because we haven't been getting much rain at all.

We've been here for four years now June 22nd. Every year I plant a little more and change a little more in the yard. I've been quite pleased with the changes. Every year I learn a little more, too. I always say I'll get everything just right just in time to move! At least I'm learning and getting lots of practice. Someone is going to get a very beautiful and fruitful yard someday. In the meantime, I'll enjoy it :)

Sunscreen. What to use? What to use?!

Feeling very frustrated with all of the information out there about sunscreen. I've studied several lists of the "best sunscreen" and still don't feel too comfortable slathering it all over my munchkins when we go out. I do so only because I'm more afraid of the alternatives. I do my best to find the one's with the least health concerns. Those are usually the natural/mineral suncreens. They are free from Vitamin A/Retinyl Palmitate which may actually increase your chances of getting skin cancer! The EWG (Environmental Working Group) which claims to "work to protect kids from toxic chemicals in our food, water, air and the products we use everyday" has a "best sunscreens" list. Even their list contains sunscreens with "low" and "moderate" health concerns. Unfortunately, the EWG also reports on their website, http://www.ewg.org/, that the FDA failed to finalize their 1978 sunscreen safety standards. As a result, there is a lot of confusion about what is safe to use and what is not. Europe seems to be way ahead of us on this one. Their website has some very interesting articles if you're interested in reading more. I have to say though that even if the FDA did finalize their safety standards I don't know that I would trust them. The FDA has approved many things I wouldn't use on my kids. I've chosen to go with Aveeno's Mineral Block and Abaca Botanicals Mineral Block and hope that I'm not doing damage to my family's skin in the process. What do you use?