Why I should learn to just stay out of the kitchen

No these are not chocolate cookies-they are snicker doodles after about an hour in the oven. We are lucky we still have a house.

I am the first to admit that I am not a wonderful cook. I have my basic things that I make and I stick to them because I don't like complicated recipes and I have a hard time cooking multiple things at once and I often get sidetracked and over cook the pasta or burn this, that or the other, but as far as baking is concerned I have always been pretty good at it and I have always enjoyed it. I mean how bad can you mess up a batch of cookies right? Well as you can see from the above picture you can really mess them up if you try hard enough.

As I said in my previous post we had beautiful 70 degree weather last weekend and the kids were all playing outside. When we go outside in our neighborhood the kids tend to flock to each other and they all ended up in our backyard, parents included. So everyone was outside enjoying the weather and the company and I was inside finishing up a batch of cookies to bring out and share with everyone. The timer went off and they weren't quite done so I left them in the oven without resetting the timer and that was the end of those cookies. Someone needed me outside and the cookies sat in the oven for about an hour. Our house smelled like burnt cookies for the next couple of days, but luckily that was the worst of it.

Our Last Snow Day-Hopefully

Don't get me wrong. I truly do love it when it snows in North Carolina, but for every day of school missed for snow the kids have to make it up. We already have two less days of spring break and two less days of summer vacation. If we have another snow day we will run into our Idaho vacation.

However, as far as snow days go this one was the best. On Monday March 2nd, we woke up to about 4 inches of snow. Enough to go sledding. Yeah!!! We started on our neighbors backyard hill, but that was not challenging enough so we headed off into a new area of our neighborhood where they have a huge hill. All of the girls, except Addie, went down it and loved it. Just watching them scared me to death. I was sure someone was going to get hurt. Eliza looked terrified going down, but kept begging to go so I guess it wasn't scary enough. Crazy, Crazy kids.

Not only did we miss school Monday, but they also called school off on Tuesday and had a two hour delay on Wednesday. Seriously people it's just snow. Then in true North Carolina fashion the weekend weather was in the high 70's. I guess you could say our March came in like a lion this year. Let's just hope it goes out like a lamb!!

Sleeping with Curlers

A while back I bought some of the sponge curlers like the ones I remember my mom making me sleep in on Saturday nights. I wanted to try them on my girls hair for Sundays. Ever since then Jaynie has asked me several times to put the curlers in her hair, but time has never permitted. Well last night we had some extra time after baths so I thought lets put in curlers. Let me tell you this is no easy task with four girls. Lillie and Eliza were not about to go to bed without curlers in their hair so I had to do every ones. Even Adeline had to have a curler. Jaynie's was pretty easy, but Lillie and Eliza both have shorter hair so it was a little more difficult to get the hair in. I also used all the bigger ones on Jaynie's head, so I was left with the littler ones for the younger two. We got it done though and they all went to bed with curlers in their hair. Amazingly they woke up with all of the curlers still in tact. With the exception of Adeline of course. Hers lasted about 30 seconds. Jaynies turned out great. I only had to do a little bit of touch up with the curling iron. Eliza and Lillie on the other hand were another story. Apparently the smaller the curler the tighter the curl so Lillie and Eliza both had these really tiny tight curls right next to their head. It took some major reconstructing, but I think the end result was pretty cute.

My Lovable Lillie

Lillie has been full of quotable quotes lately. I wanted to get some of them down before I forgot about them.

The other day Lillie was sitting at the table and coughed. Here is the conversation that followed. (Warning this is not for those with a weak stomach.)

Lillie: Mom I know why I cough sometimes.
Mom: Why do you cough Lillie?
Lillie: Because I like to eat my boogers and when they go in my throat they turn to slime and I have to cough them up.
Mom: Lillie that's gross. You shouldn't eat your boogers.
Lillie: But they taste good.

I warned you. Pretty disgusting, but pretty cute. Leave it to Lillie to not be bothered at all by boogers.

Then last Monday during FHE Lillie started crying. When I asked her what was wrong she said, "I don't want to grow up and not live with you anymore. I will miss you." I am not sure what brought it up, but it lead into a great discussion about Eternal Families. I didn't want her to be sad, but it was cute that she would miss me.

Finally here is Lillie performing a song that she learned at preschool. I hope you enjoyed getting a dose of my very lovable Lillie.

So I am running a Marathon

I never thought I would actually say those words, but it is official. I am running the High Point, NC Marathon on May 2nd. It still makes me nervous to say those words. I have played with the idea of doing one ever since my half marathon, but I couldn't find a good one that was close enough or soon soon enough. I really wanted to do the Teton Dam Marathon but the timing isn't going to work out this year. Luckily a friend of a friend found out about this one in High Point and everything just fell into place. The timing is perfect and it is just a half hour away so we don't have to spend money on lodging. My two running buddies from that half decided they were in too and that was that. We started our training with just 11 weeks before the race so our first big run was 10 miles, but it went really well. I was afraid I had lost everything from my half training over the holidays, but luckily my legs still remembered how to run long distances. We did 12 last week and felt great. It is really funny, but when I was training for the half the 10 and 12 mile runs about killed me, but when you run 12 knowing you are only half way there it seems much easier. It's all about perspective I guess.

The most exciting part of my training is my Valentine's Day present. Whit took his birthday money and bought me a Garmin Forerunner 305 (obviously he didn't buy it just for me :). For those of you that run, you have to buy this thing-TODAY!!! It will change your life. I took it out on our 12 mile run and it told me the pace I was currently running at and my average pace as well as the distance. After my run I came home and plugged it into the computer and it tracked my route and told me how fast I ran each mile and tracked my elevation. It even told me what the temperature and wind chill was. I don't think anyone should run without one of these babies. Seriously if you are a runner check it out!!

Sweetheart Run

For Valentine's Day this year we were looking for a cheap date and our friend told us about this Sweetheart Run that a local running store was sponsoring on February 13th. It was free so we thought sure sounds like fun. I know we are so full of romance, but it really was a lot of fun. We did it with two other couples and then afterwards we all went out for burritos and some yummy desserts. There's nothing like hanging out with good friends and eating good food all while wearing spandex and short shorts. What could be better than that?

Brownie Camp Out

Another big event during Grandma and Grandpa's visit was Brownie Camp for Jaynie. We decided to send Jaynie without me because Grandma and Grandpa were here. I was nervous to send her alone, but Kim and Cortney, her second mothers, were going to be there so I knew she would be fine. I think deep down I wanted her to have a hard time without me, but she didn't. She loved it. She even said her favorite part was cooking-imagine that. I am very grateful for Brownies. Jaynie has had such a great time and is learning so much.

There were 21 girls that went, so maybe I am glad that I wasn't there :)

Here is Jaynie with her Leader, Miss Jan.

Grandma and Grandpa's visit

While Grandma and Grandpa were here we were able to go to the Children's Museum and the Zoo. Two of the girls favorite activities. The girls got pretty lucky this week. Because of the inch of snow school was cancelled on Wednesday so we all got to go to the Museum and then Friday we went to the zoo so they got to miss school again. Whit even took the day off Friday so it was a great family outing. We had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa, and like always we were really sad to see them go. When I dropped them off at the airport Eliza started crying because she thought we were all going on the airplane to Idaho. That made me cry. All I could say is, "I really wish we were."

The Children's Museum

What a perfect moment. It doesn't get much better than this.

This is the house that Grandpa built. Too bad he can't fit in it:)

The Garden Park at the Zoo

My African Explorers off tracking elephants

Grandma and Grandpa were able to be here for the coldest day in February and the warmest day in February. We had a lazy Sunday afternoon in the sun.

One Snowy Night

It started snowing in the evening on Whit's birthday and since it doesn't happen very often we decided we better take advantage of it, so we let the girls bundle up and go out before dinner. This was actually a beautiful snow fall with really big flakes. Usually the snow falls while we are sleeping, so it was fun to watch it come down like it did. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for bringing the snow with you from Idaho!!

Happy Birthday Whitney!!

I know I am behind again. What can I say it has been a crazy month. I will get caught up soon I promise. Our month started with Whit's birthday. Whit turned 31 on February 3rd and he was lucky enough to have his parents visiting for the big day. Lee and Carolyn arrived on Monday the 2nd and spent the week with us. I wish I could say I had big plans for Whit's birthday, but unfortunately it was kind of boring. We did get a snow storm that evening though so the girls thought that was pretty great. We had a mini birthday party where we had yummy cake and Whit got to open presents. Whit got an iron for his birthday. He is such a lucky guy, he got just what he asked for. For the last little while every time Whit would be ironing (no I do not iron for him-I am a terrible wife) he would say, "All I want for my birthday is a new iron." Be careful what you wish for babe!! I think he couldn't have asked for anything better for his birthday than to share it with his parents. Thanks Mom and Dad for being here. Whit we love you!! You are the most wonderful husband and the best father. Thanks for being so great. Happy Birthday!