how did we live before the internet?

Seriously, what did any of us do before Google and the internet? It is 4 PM and I just figured out to cook for dinner...and I realized after I started that I'm one ingredient short (Lipton dry onion soup mix)... I don't want to go to the store, so what do I do? Google it and find a recipe for it. I have the 3 items on hand, so my problem is solved.

Want to find ways to make practicing sight words with Michelle fun? I google it and find tons. Need to know what "fast mapping" is? Google it...and then get more info from my friend Shannon who is a speech language pathologist. Have some ravioli that I want to cook in a new and different way. Look for some recipes online. Don't know the meaning of a word and can't find my dictionary (or the word starts with r and for some crazy reason my dictionary doesn't have the whole r section!), look the word up online. Seriously, how did we live before this amazing invention? And these are the more trivial things. Using the internet, I keep in contact with friends and family all over the globe. I store and share photos. I blog and record these silly musings, memories and moments in time. What an amazing invention this is! Well, I better get back to that dinner I'm cooking.... Enjoy your time on the internet.

our cute crawler

Gabrielle has been scooting around on her belly for weeks. And she would do push ups over and over and then rock, but couldn't quite do the combined arm and leg movements together to crawl. But on Wednesday, she pulled it together and crawled a short distance. Each day she has gotten a little better and she can now crawl across the room. Watch out world, here she comes! It won't be long until my sweet baby is running! (so sad and exciting!) Interestingly, what motivates her to crawl is almost always food. (Sometimes toys will interest her enough to crawl, but usually she rolls or scoots to them... crawling gets her to her food. She loves to eat!)



Here she notices the Cheerios and gets into crawling position.


Here I come!


Moving forward...getting closer to those cheerios.




Almost there... the next photo I took (but I didn't include it on this post) shows her stuffing a couple of cheerios in her mouth.

sisterly love

There are definitely challenges as a parent, but there are also some sweet moments. I love watching the relationships between my three girls. Michelle and Ella are truly best friends (which comes with some arguing, but less than might be expected.)


The girls adore their baby sister. And the feeling is obviously mutual. Look at these sweet photos of Michelle holding Gabrielle and Ella helping Gabrielle sit up.

field trips/

This was a fun week for us. I went on two field trips. On Thursday, I took a half day off to go on Ella's preschool field trip. We started the day by going to McDonalds for breakfast and letting Ella play for awhile (after dropping both of her sisters off at the babysitter's and school). Then we went to Sweet's Candy Factory for a tour with her preschool class. It was fun to see how the different types of candy were made and to sample some of the candies. Ella did not like wearing the hair net though. I think it was good for her (and for me) to have a little one on one time. I think we need to do that more often. She was so excited to have me stay home with her and do things with her.

Then on Friday, I left shortly after school ended so I could go on Michelle's after school program field trip. (Fridays are short days and at least once a month her after school program takes a field trip. I usually have to stay at work and plan for the following week, but I worked hard this week to be ready so I could go with Michelle.) We went to the Classic Skating/Fun Center in Sandy. The kids had a great time going in all of the bounce houses and slides. They tried skating but none of the kindergartners really knew how. It was fun to get to know her friends better and to watch her having so much fun. She told me over and over this weekend, "I love you, Mommy, because you came on my field trip with me."

On Saturday, one of the preschoolers in Ella's class was having a birthday party. So we headed to Jungle Jim's for the party. Ella started off really shy. She was so happy to see Bryce and Sylas and to ride several rides with them. Then she was ready to ride more rides and play some games on her own. She was really happy that she was invited to Kiana's party.

While Ella, Gabrielle and I were at the party, Alfredo took Michelle out to lunch and spent some time alone with her.

In other big news, Alfredo put the trampoline back up last weekend and the girls have spent hours this week jumping on the tramp. That's the first thing they do every day after getting home. They love their trampoline!

100 things

I got this from my friend Stefanie's blog. Thought it might be kind of fun to try.
These are 100 things everyone needs to do before they die. I am at 48 out of 100 (just like you Stefanie, but lots of different ones! :)).
Everything I have done is in bold. Things I do not want to do are in italic. Things I have not done yet are regular. (things with a star are things I haven't done yet, but really want to.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii**
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland /world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (I don't sing well!)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning(sure wish I hadn't!)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (I've been there, but not walked to the top!)
18. Grown your own vegetables(I'm no good at this!)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (I think I did, but it may not have been a total eclipse, so I won't count it...it was in high schol)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
t31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise **
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors(some of them at least)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (sort of..not fluent so again I won't count it)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke(again, I don't sing well)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa**
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling**
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China*
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen *
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching **
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp **
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (for how long? I had some of my favorite childhood toys until a few years ago, but they are all gone now!)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
l71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (been on a motorcycle as a kid...but it wasn't speeding)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book **
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem**
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. <Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee<
100. Read an entire book in one day

hooray! it's st. patrick's day! (and teeth)

We didn't do much for St. Patrick's Day. But I did dress the girls in green and braid green ribbons into their hair. And I made cupcakes with green frosting. I took a picture but I looked at it and thought, what a boring picture. There is nothing exciting about the cupcakes other than the color green. I thought about making green eggs and ham for breakfast, but decided my family probably wouldn't eat green eggs. :) But here are a few pics of our St. Patrick's Day outfits.

Gabrielle is so excited to try to feed herself. (And her first two teeth are coming in! They are still just little white spots on her gums, but they are definitely coming! And speaking of teeth, Michelle lost her second tooth and 3 more are loose.)
In this photo she is reaching to grab a couple of cheerios.

Success! Cheerios are in her hand.

Hooray! The cheerios are now in her mouth! Look at her celebrate! Doesn't she look delighted with herself. What is especially great is that I really was just snapping away and these 3 shots were in order, the process of getting Cheerios into her own mouth.



Ella in her St. Patrick's Day outfit.

fun in the car

Michelle and I spend an hour to an hour plus in the car each day. I've begun to hear the refrain "I'm bored" fairly often. So I've been trying to make it fun. Here's what I've come up with so far...I would be happy for any suggestions.

We play the ABC game. You know the one. You look for each letter of the alphabet on signs, license plates, etc.

We play "I Spy with my little eye". One person finds something and gives a brief description and the other person tries to find it.

Since in math she is learning all of her shapes and solids in English and Spanish, we practice finding things that are various shapes and solids. She is amazed at how many rectangular prisms there are. Cones are much harder to find.

We play rhyming games where one person gives a word and we take turns thinking of other words that rhyme. Or we will think of a letter of the alphabet and list words that start with that letter.

We listen to music and sing along. I haven't really tried listening to books on CD with her, but maybe that's something I'll try.

We have a DVD player so sometimes she watches a video. Or play her Leapster. Some days we just talk about her day. (Well, every day we do that. But sometimes she is more talkative than others. Some days she wants to "do something". And really, I figure she has been in school all day and then in after school program for an hour or more. I'm sure the last thing she wants is to then sit in a car for 30-45 more minutes. So I try to oblige.) And I feel like it is fairly quality time with her. We have some good talks and laugh and try to enjoy the time together. But I'd love any other good ideas of how to occupy the time while I"m driving.