pretty city, pretty day

We buckled the kids into the car this morning at 8:30am and rolled north to Savannah. We had our second appointment at the midwife center. Today was ultrasound day, and we thought it would be fun for the kids to actually see Baby Quattro. As soon as the lady squirted the ice cold jelly stuff onto my belly, Stella Belle declared, "EW! I'm never going to the doctor when I grow up." And Dean kept making sure with the lady that this was NOT the kind of jelly that people eat. Other than that, it was a beautiful experience and I cried tears of joy at the sight of this little life.

Other highlights of the day included: coffee shop full of art and cool people, Mellow Mushroom, perfect weather, tears of joy, hugging.

snap shots

Happy Sunday! It's cold and rainy in Georgia today. We've been finishing projects and starting new ones to make way for Baby Quattro. Why don't you take a look at Baby Quattro. Take a good long look.

I snapped a few pics with my not iPhone phone while I was getting dressed and Stella Belle was begging me for lipstick. I don't remember what getting dressed was like without people begging me for lipstick. Hope you all had a refreshing weekend!

number seven

Little Dean turned seven on Wednesday. That's right... SEVEN. We had a few of his favorite friends over for lunch. (Beauty of homeschooling #462... birthday parties at lunch on a Wednesday). He requested one thing for his party... STAR WARS. I'm not sure if I can express with mere words Dean's obsession with Star Wars. It's disturbingly adorable and weird and cool and not cool and fascinating and... well... like I said before... no words.

Anyhoo, the party was super fun and lunch was delish. Happy Birthday, Dean! You are a treasure of personality and joy. May the force be with you.

date day

Saturday was so much fun! Charlie's parents kept the kiddies all day... that's right ALL DAY! We usually do night time dates so we only have time for dinner and a movie. But a daytime dates are the BOMB! We did everything that we never get to do with the children in tow. Date day included: trying on clothes in a fab clothing store, quiet conversation and laughing at adult things in a coffee shop, book stores, museums, more laughing, bicycle stores, dinner, dessert, driving with the windows down.

Date day did NOT include: children's menu, taking kids to the potty, interruptions, movies in the car, Target. Our children are the coolest and cutest... but date day was much more fun without them.

valentine's day

Our Valentine's Day was filled with sugar and chocolate and more sugar... and dancing and cards. I told a friend that I'm going to start calling it "I can't believe my kids just ate that" day.  We had gluten free vanilla donuts for breakfast, then some chocolate then bags of candy at a Valentine party then lunch then cookies then... you get the idea. So they basically had the best day ever. Charlie and I did too. We'll do more romantic celebrating this weekend. We have a date planned. Hope your Valentine's day was sugary sweet!

the one i love

On the eve of lovey dovey happy heart day, I would like to declare this: I LOVE CHARLIE TURNER. My goodness. I've loved him ever since the first week of my second year of college. He was in the lobby of my dorm playing a guitar and he smiled at me as I got on the elevator and I fell in love. The end.

I sing/rap this song by Maroon 5 (My Love is Like a Stereo) to him daily. The words make us laugh really loud. Our kids just look at us. True love.

If i was an old school fifty pound boom box

Would you hold me on your shoulder wherever you walk

Would you turn my volume up before all of the cops

And crank it higher everytime they told you to stop

And all i ask is that you dont get mad at me

When you have to purchase mad D batteries...

Keep myself inside your head like your favorite tune

And know my heart is a stereo that only plays for you

make your own tortillas

I've wanted to make my own flour tortillas for a while now. I put it off because it takes a long time and makes a big mess... until today. I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe (find it HERE). Her recipe calls for lard. LARD, people. I couldn't bring myself to use lard, so I used organic coconut oil instead. Fact: I did go into a grocery store and look at lard. Then I saw someone coming around the corner and I put the lard back on the shelf really fast because I was embarrassed that I was looking at lard. It just felt wrong... and nasty.

I also replaced the all purpose flour with rice flour. The first few crumbled and burned and I may or may not have whispered a few curse words. They got better as I went along. While I was verbally abusing the gluten free, lard free, crumbly tortillas, Charlie picked the meat off a rotisserie chicken and heated some black beans. We topped it off with fresh avocado, sour cream, green salsa and pepper jack cheese. It was so good. There are not even words.

 So get to work! Make yourself a dang quesadilla.

belly

Baby Quattro is growing! I'm feeling lots of kicks and movement. I'm also rearranging everything in our whole house. Call it nesting... call it what you want, but if I don't get some new knobs on the cabinets in our laundry room I'm going to loose it! O.k. maybe I've already lost it. Anyway, pregnancy is fun this week and very exciting. Happy Thursday!

how to make a necklace

The girls wanted to make something with clay, so I thought homemade beads for a necklace would be fun. I was right. And since the process took a few days, it taught them (and my "them" I mean "us") a little about doing things orderly and patiently. Here's how...

Step one: Choose your clay. We chose air dry clay because we had it on hand. Baking clay may help speed along the process.

Step two: Roll small amounts of clay into a ball. I stuck the end of a paintbrush into each ball to create an opening for our necklace.

Step three: Let the clay dry and harden for three or four days. Again, baking clay might dry much faster.

Step four: Paint your beads. We used acrylic paint and clear fingernail polish for a shiny finish.

Step five: Keep an eye on your painted beads because your son might load them up on the back of a truck and try to haul them off.

Step six: Cut fabric into strips and slide your beads on. Tie a few knots in between if you want to space them out.

Step seven: Finish your necklace. I sewed my fabric scrap to a stretchy jersey knit fabric (like t-shirt fabric) and tied a pretty bow. Since the necklaces are for my girls, I wanted something they could get on an off easily without my help. Stretchy fabric is perfect.

Step eight: Wear on your birthday.

stella belle and her big birthday

We named our third child Stella Belle which means "beautiful star." (That's Belle... with an E on the end... not an A like Stella Bella... some people say it like that. Rude.) Since the day she was born she has truly been a bright and shiny little star in our world.

We started her birthday with presents and breakfast cupcakes (also known as gluten free blueberry muffins with homemade whipped cream on top).

Then we braided ribbons in our hair and she played babies in her super clean room... cough, cough... while I set up for our picnic.

We ate lunch outside. Homemade pizzas, waffle fries, fresh squeezed lemonade and chocolate chip cake. Best day ever.

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday to you, Stella Belle! You are a remarkable, adorable, endearing little star.