age three

I decided to do a little comparison tonight of my girls at age three.  I didn't dig too hard for pictures, but these are the ones that I compiled.

I was shocked to look through the pictures of Meredith and see how much Olivia resembles her.  I don't think you can really tell it in these two pictures of Meredith and Olivia (because Olivia gives her cheesy photo face).

Love these girls!

the melted ice cream cone cake

Meredith chose a super-simple melted ice cream cone cake for her birthday.  It was one of the easiest birthday cakes I've had to do.  (I won't lie, I try to gear my kiddos toward easy cakes on Pinterest.)  She wanted white frosting for the cake and sprinkles for the ice cream cone.  

I made a simple ganache (seriously, it tasted like chocolate gold):

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup chocolate chips

Put the chocolate chips in a bowl.  Heat the whipping cream in a small sauce pan over low heat until tiny bubbles begin to form on the sides and it begins to steam.  (I didn't have much luck with the bubbles, but it was steaming.)  Pour the cream over the chocolate chips and DO NOT STIR for 1 minute.  Whisk the chocolate chips and cream until smooth and let it sit for a few minutes.  

For the "glob" of ice cream, I found some brownies in the freezer, thawed them and formed them into a ball.  I poured the ganache over the cake, held the little cone on top for a minute, and sprinkled some rainbow sprinkles on top.

Glad you had a great birthday, Meredith!

slight exaggeration

Each school day, the girls have to complete their memory work.  It includes all subjects with things like history dates, grammar rules, scripture verses, word definitions, random important information, etc.  There is a rotation so that they are reviewing things about once a month and practicing new things on a daily basis.

Currently, Claire has some definitions that she's working through.  There are probably about 15.  She has to read through them at least 5 times when she does her memory work.

In light of this info, here is our most recent conversation regarding memory work:

Claire:  Mom, these definitions are taking forever to get through!
Me:  There aren't that many.  Just work through them.  I'll go through them with you once or twice if it would help.
Claire: No...I can do them...they just take like 2 hours to go through!
Me: Two hours?  I don't think so.
Claire:  (sigh) Well, they take at least 5 minutes!!!

We don't exaggerate around here at all.

meredith is nine

Our sweet Meredith Ann is nine years old today.  She is celebrating her birthday all weekend.  Yesterday, we went to our church's roller skating party, my mom took her birthday shopping, and we ate her birthday dinner meal.  She requested a pork shoulder on the grill, salad, honeycrisp apples, homemade rolls, and punch.  It was delicious.  

Today after church, her friends (Winter and Rose) are coming home with us for the afternoon, and their family will join us for cake and ice cream after dinner.  She's thrilled.  

At nine years old, Meredith continues to be extremely creative in her love of arts and crafts.  She also loves babies and asked us to have another for her birthday.  (Amelia then asked for twins for her birthday.  We denied both.)  Her sense of humor has completely emerged this year, and I find her absolutely hilarious.  She gets along with pretty much everyone and is the most obvious peace-maker among our children thus far.  

She continues to have an obsession with knit pants and a hatred for jeans.  She wore jeans for our entire family photo with Josh's family in 2011 and again for the family photo in 2013.  I'm not kidding when I say that those are the only 2 times she's worn them in the last 2 1/2 years.  At least we have photo proof.  

Her hair reaches her waist at this point, and her plan is to donate some of it this year.  She's excited to spend some one on one time with me this year as I do some occasional weekly studies with the girls once they turn 9.  

Meredith,

We love you more than you can imagine!  Your love and compassion for others is obvious and admirable.  It is a joy to have you as part of our family and watch you grow.  Happy birthday, sweet girl!

b.i.f. thirty

For beginners, this is what Liv's hair looks like when she does it herself.

Conversation between Olivia and me today:

Me: Olivia...did you know that I love you?
O: Yeah.
Me: How did you know?
O: Cause I take a nap.

Well, it certainly helps. :)

Christmas cookies

Lots of little hands made Christmas cookies this year.  My mom came over, and we spent an entire day making hundreds of cookies to donate to a local charity fundraiser.  We kept a few for ourselves and may have eaten one or two or twenty-six that day.  

b.i.f. twenty-nine

Somebody got goggles for Christmas.