A Cake for Chemists

Our friends, Tom and Becca, both have birthdays this month, so they had a party last night to celebrate both of them. I offered to make a cake for them. Becca teaches Chemistry, and Tom is finishing up his PhD in Chemistry. So I thought it would be fun to do the Period Table of elements.

I thought about doing a sheet cake with the periodic table, but that didn't seem like as much fun. So, I made 118 cupcakes, and color coded them into their different groups. I even made 5 different kinds of cake to give a little variety.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the cake, there were several "chemists" in attendance, and they enjoyed creating equations and eating their favorite elements. Arsenic was one of the first ones to get eaten, because when would anyone ever have a chance to eat arsenic and live to tell about it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM AND BECCA!!!

Not on my list today!

My brother and his family are coming to visit this weekend, and Quinn's parents are coming on Sunday, so today I made a list of all the things I need to get done before they come.



Cleaning up a mess like this certainly was not on my list today. But this is what happens at our house when a two year old is left unattended while I feed the baby!



It's a good thing Clayton is cute, other wise he would be spending every day stuck in his crib from now on while I feed the baby. I must have been blessed with an extra dose of patience today because I laughed when I saw this mess rather than getting really mad and frustrated at the kids! Too bad that doesn't happen every day. I found out later that Clarissa was the one that pulled off all the books from the bookshelf. She told me she was going to read all of them. Do kids ever learn to pull one thing out at a time and then put it away before getting something else out?

Better get back to cleaning my house.

Daddy Daughter Dance 2011

Quinn and Clarissa have gone to a Daddy Daughter Dance the last 3 years. It has been a fun little traditon, and they both love it. I wish I had a standing date with this handsome guy every Valentine's Day, but that's what happens when you have 3 kids. Luckily Clarissa, and soon Sarah, can enjoy going out with their Dad. Clarissa talks about the dance all year long, and is very excited when it finally comes around. For the record, Quinn does take me on dates, it just doesn't work out to go on Valentine's, but I am happyto share him with my daughters!

This year Quinn got a few Dad's together and they all took their daughters to the dance together. Here are a few of the little girls they went with. They went out to dinner first and then to the dance. Clarissa's favorite parts were eating dinner and learning a special new dance with her dad.

Sunday Pictures

Yesterday we decided to take some pictures of the kids all dressed up, we had dressed them all in red or pink for Valentine's Day. I know, it's kind of cheezy, but they were cute! This was Sarah's first time wearing a dress. It is not easy getting a good picture of all three kids, so here are teh best ones.

Clarissa Explains It All

Clarissa: Mom, I want something to eat.
Me: What do you want?
Clarissa: I want something that’s round and crunchy, and that you dip in milk.
Me: A cookie?
Clarissa: Yep (with a great big smile; it was right before dinner time)
Me: We aren’t going to have cookies right now, plus we don’t have any milk.
Clarissa: Well, we can make some!
Me: How do we make milk?
Clarissa: With ice and water.
Me: Ice and water?
Clarissa: Yep, and flour!

This is coming from the same girl that asked me if we could have hot dogs for dinner one night. And when I told her we didn’t have any, she said I could make some. I didn't ask her how I would make hot dogs, that may have been an interesting answer.

Apparently in her eyes, I’m able to make everything. If only it were that easy!

Sarah - Two Weeks

Sarah is two weeks old today. It’s amazing how fast time flies once they are born. She was only 2 days early, and it felt like the last few weeks of my pregnancy were taking forever, since Clarissa was 3 weeks early, and Clayton was 10 days early. No matter how anxious I was, I had to keep telling myself that this baby wasn’t ready to make its grand entrance yet! I was definitely right about that.

I woke up Thursday morning around 1:30 A.M. with a very light contraction, but they kept continuing, so I knew that this would be the day. By the time we got to the hospital, it was about 4:45. We got checked in and ready to go, and our nurse told us she would love it if our baby was born by 7, that way she would have had 3 babies born on her shift that night. I didn’t think that would happen for her, and she’s probably regretting that request now. Things progressed rather quickly, and I kept telling her and Quinn that I was feeling more pressure. She finally went to check me again, and was quite surprised to see the baby’s head. She kind of freaked out, and ran to the hallway to yell for help. (My on-call doctor still hadn’t left her house.) A couple of other nurses ran in and delivered the baby. One push, and Sarah was born at 6:21 A.M., just an hour and a half after we walked into the hospital. Sarah wasn’t going to wait around for any doctor to roll out of bed to deliver her; she just came when she was ready! The nurse was fairly new, and wasn’t hoping to deliver a baby without a doctor that night; she seemed quite shaken up by everything. Luckily the other nurses were close by, and everything turned out great.

We have been loving every minute with Sarah. Clayton is still learning how to be gentle, and that she doesn’t need to play with toys yet. Clarissa is very willing to help, and will hold Sarah every chance she gets.

Fun with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Randy

Quinn's parents have been so generous with their time, and have taken the kids to spend the last few days at their house. As you can tell by the pictures below, the kids are being spoiled and been given a lot of special attention.

Yesterday they went to a Children's Museum, and had a blast.

Today they went to the mall and rode the carousel and play in the play place. My kids absolutely love riding carousels, and are in heaven every time.

As you can tell by Clayton's face, this carousel ride was not a disappointment! I love this picture of him, I could stare at it forever. He always makes a face like that when he is so excited about something, it is my favorite, and it makes me really miss him.

Quinn and I have both really enjoyed having a couple of days with just Sarah to get to know her, get some rest, get some work done, and keep up on our house. Quinn has been able to work at home, which has been so helpful, something that can't be done with two other kids always wanting his attention. It has been amazing to us how much different it is, and how much more time we have seemed to have with just one little one around. However, we miss our kids like crazy, and can't wait to see them tomorrow. I hope they are ready to come home, even though we aren't quite as exciting as grandma and grandpa. If for nothing else, they are probably excited to see Sarah again, they both adore their baby sister.

Introducing...

Clarissa and Clayton's new baby sister!!!


Sarah Ann Peterson
Thursday, January 6th, 2011
6:21 A.M.
7 lbs. 11 oz.
21 inches

Clayton is not sure what to think!

Clarissa is exstatic, she got exactly what she wanted!

Quinn and I are very grateful for Sarah to be a part of our family.

Clarissa Explains It All!

Today I caught Clarissa doing something she was not supposed to be doing, and she knew it. I talked to her about it and she said:

"I don't like it when you tell me not do things I know I shouldn't be doing."

And another time I was also talking to her about doing something she shouldn't be doing, and she said:

"how did you know what I was doing? I was turned so you couldn't see me."

Today I continued to talk to her about being good, and doing what she knows she should do. And, of course, her response made me chuckle.

"Mom, you're sometimes not my favorite creature!"

I was expecting her to say "mom", I wonder what kind of "creature" she thinks I am? Maybe it's that I have a humongous belly still!

Since I haven't had the baby yet, I thought I would post some belly shots. I don't think we had really even taken any of me since yesterday.

My due date is this coming Saturday, and we are surprised I have gone this long, our other kids were early and here by now. I guess this little one just isn't ready yet. We are excited for whenever he/she decides to join our family, and really hope that it is this week.

Reverence

Rather than reposting this same story, I'm just going to put a link to Quinn's mom's blog about a story that happened with Clarissa and Quinn on Sunday. Clarissa sure makes us smile and laugh, even if it is during church when we are supposed to be reverent.