12 Ways You Know You Have 3 Little Girls

1. You have a load of pink laundry at least every three days.
2. Every tickle fight ends in tears. No exceptions.
3. Your poor ears almost get use to the insanely high pitch shrill that can be heard from little girls all too often.
4. You go through lots of shampoo.
5. It takes at least thirty minutes to get them dressed for the day. Ten of those minutes is spent picking out which bow they want to wear.
6. You have enough drama in your life to be part of a soap opera.
7. You can't walk past the shoe section of any store unless you are prepared to let them try on at least 3 pairs.
8. You get to share your makeup.
9. You always have a hair stylist who is willing to brush your hair. Well, as long as they get to use the spray bottle.
10. To save yourself from some headaches you don't bother buying ANYTHING unless it's pink or purple.
11. You wonder what it would be like to own anything but dolls and dress-ups.
12. You never go without hugs and kisses and know that some of your best friends will always be your girls.

My Two Must Have Summer Products

This is my favorite tanning lotion because you see results in a day and it doesn't have a nasty odor. Plus, it looks natural and is very affordable.

Summer (especially in the desert) means dry skin. Combine that with me running and wearing sandals everyday and I've got some rough feet. I absolutely cannot stand the feeling of dry feet so I'm am more than willing to spend $20 on a lotion that keeps my feet silky smooth. A little goes a long way because I'm still working on a tube I bought the beginning of last summer. Oh, and did I mention it smells wonderful?

What are some of your favorite products to use during the summer?

Oreo Bites

My friend Susan recently introduced me to these tasty delights. I seriously LOVE them!!! They are so good and pretty easy to make.

Ingredients:

1 package Oreos

1 package cream cheese, softened

White chocolate (I used almond bark from Walmart. It was something like $1.77 for a whole brick and I prefer the taste to white chocolate chips for these treats)

Directions:

Smash up the Oreos. If you have a food processor I would recommend using it for this job. I don't so I put the cookies in a ziploc and used a rolling pin. I then transferred them to a bowl and finished the job with a hand mixer. After the Oreo's are as crumbled as you can get them, mix in the cream cheese. Roll the mixture into balls and freeze for at least 3 hours. After they are nice and frozen, dip in the white chocolate. Enjoy!

LOL

Blake and I watched the first part of a great documentary last night called, The Human Face. It was made in 2001 and I think it is way before its time. The movie points out how important face-to-face interaction is and how our society is spending too little time doing this. One of my favorite parts discusses all the advantages from laughing. Blake and I were talking after the movie and concluded that there isn't any better feeling than sharing a genuine laugh with a good friend or someone you love. Not only does laughing together strengthen relationships and bond us closer, it just feels great! In fact, one of the first things that attracted me to Blake was his crazy sense of humor. I knew by marrying him I would never have a shortage of laughter in my life. :)

You might be interested to know that some of the health benefits from laughing found in this great article include:

• Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.
• Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.
• Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
• Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.
• Laughter dissolves distressing emotions. You can’t feel anxious, angry, or sad when you’re laughing.
• Laughter helps you relax and recharge. It reduces stress and increases energy, enabling you to stay focused and accomplish more.
• Humor shifts perspective, allowing you to see situations in a more realistic, less threatening light. A humorous perspective creates psychological distance, which can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed.

So have you had a good laugh today?

World Cup Fever!

GO USA!!!

Look Mom! I made bread!

Isn't she a beauty? I faced my fears today and knocked #5 off my bucket list. My friend Melissa came over to show me the art that is bread making and we had a lot of fun. I am surprised at how delicious this stuff tastes given the fact that the ingredients are 100% healthy. We topped off our bake fest by making a banana cake so you could say we had a tasty, yet productive afternoon.

Thanks again Melissa!

The Hand Dryer Predicament

One of my favorite new hang-outs for lunch is our local McDonald's. They have a really fun and clean play area for the girls and I've taken a liking to their chicken selects.

The other night we went with Blake for dinner. Sadie needed to use the restroom so I went with her. After she was done with her business we washed our hands. I finished first so I went over to the blow dryer made for hands and waited as my hands were blown dry. My hands were just about free from water when I began to notice the dreaded sticky feeling you get when you didn't rinse all of the soap off. This problem is annoying because you don't notice the residue until your hands are pretty much dry. Do you start all over and wash again? You can't just wipe the soap off because the reason you are using that obnoxious machine in the first place is because paper towels aren't being offered. I guess you could use toilet paper but that could make an even bigger mess since the toilet paper in public restrooms is cheap and tears easily.

Ahhh! What a predicament I was in! I decided I would regret not re-washing my hands so I walked back to the faucet, helped Sadie finish up and rinsed my hands once more. We dried our hands together and finally made it out of the bathroom - both with soap free hands.

My Bucket List

I know bucket lists are so last year...maybe even two or three years ago but lately I have been thinking about some of the things I want to accomplish in the next few years. I have a better chance of doing some of these things if I write them down so here goes...

• Be in the audience of a talk show. I don't really care which one.
• Beat a video game.
• Take a major road trip across the country to see all the sites and our families.
• Plant a fruit garden.
• Bake bread from scratch. I'm really scared of this one but there isn't anything better than warm homemade bread smothered in butter so I think getting past my fears would be worth it. Or maybe I'll just ask for a bread machine for Christmas...
• Run a marathon.
• Sew something. Nothing too hard though. Maybe some cute blankets for my girls.
• Read all of Jane Austen's books at least twice.
• Compete in some type of tennis tournament. Maybe doubles with my man?
• Take my girls to Seattle. I know they would love Snoqualmie Falls and the Pacific Science Center.

Why I deleted my Facebook account

It's been exactly one week since I deleted my Facebook account. I had been thinking about doing it for awhile but I finally took the plunge last Friday. I have to admit that it was a little scary but so far I don't have any regrets. In fact, it has been a little liberating. Here are a few of my reasons for saying goodbye to wall posts and pokes:

• I have run into a few friends from my past recently and we had nothing to talk about! I already knew how many kids they had and they already knew where I lived and my husband's name. What should have been an exciting meeting with an old friend turned out to be awkward and boring. I realize this can be a consequence of blogging but I'm not done. :)
• This hurts my pride a little to say but I used the word friend very loosely on Facebook. There is no way I have 342 people whom I can call true friends.
• I shouldn't care what the people I barely knew in high school are up to. Shouldn't is the key word there.
• I thought a lot about what I would be missing if I got off Facebook. I was worried I would be "out of the loop" but I finally came to the conclusion that I would survive. I am confidant that I will eventually find out about all my newly pregnant friends.
• I don't think I was addicted to Facebook but it's easy to spend a lot of time browsing pictures. I have been on the computer much less this week.
• Facebook brought unnecessary drama into my life. I would worry that so-in-so would get offended if I denied her friend request because I barely knew her or I would find out what a messy and inconsiderate husband my friend had through her status updates. These are not things I want to be worrying and thinking about.
• Status updates are interesting. I like them when they are funny or interesting but there is a fine line between being informative and sounding conceited.

Don't get me wrong, Facebook is a lot of fun. Do I think less of people who are on Facebook and do I think everyone should delete their account? Nope. Not at all. This was a personal decision for me and in no way am I advocating the distinction of social media.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

My babies

Taco heaven

I miss lots of things about living in Washington. I miss all of the the green, the lakes, the city and tons of the restaurants. One of the restaurants well, fast-food establishments that I miss is Jack in the Box. Oh, how I crave their Oreo milkshakes! One of my favorite meals is their 2 for 99 cents tacos. Whenever I travel to a state where a Jack in the Box is located I make sure to eat there at least twice.

Well imagine the joy I felt when a friend told me that Burger King sells tacos very similar to Jack in the Box!!! They aren't quite the same but they are delicious and they will definitely hold me over until I can get the real thing. They are a little more pricey costing $1.29 for two but the extra 30 cents is well worth it - the grease stains on my shirt are proof.

In case you were wondering...

I just deleted my Facebook account.

I'm not cool anymore

I must be getting old because I just don't understand these styles the young people are sporting now:

Off the shoulder shirts. I don't know if I want to live in a world where it's cool to look like you are an extra in a Jane Fonda workout video.

I get why the ladies like Justin Bieber. I just don't get why he wears his hair like this. This look looks good on no one. Sorry boys.

Is it seriously cool to wear neon colors again? Wow. I don't really mind this one so much. I'm just more shocked that people are wearing such bright apparel once more.

Skinny jeans. While they might look good on women who have a cute figure these things should never be worn by a man. I have a hard time believing the young ladies find this look even remotely attractive.

Ear buds in ears at all times. This one is more of a pet-peeve of mine so I'm going to put my feelings on the subject out there and you can do with it what you will. By walking around a public place listening to music you're basically saying, "I don't want to be bothered by anyone so leave me alone." How anti-social can you get? Now if you are in running clothes, I'll let it slide.

What am I missing?

Let them eat cake

I've been trying to get back to my pre-Jane weight and I thought the best way would be to buy a cake stand and make sure there is a cake in it at all times. It has worked pretty well so far.

Cake is only good when it's moist. Really moist. So I have searched the internet and my cookbooks for the best cake recipes. So far I've made carrot cake, banana cake (thanks Melissa!) and chocolate cake. They have all been DELICIOUS!!! The next on my list is this red velvet cake. Can't wait.

After the red velvet cake I'm out of ideas. I need recipes that can stay outside of the fridge since the whole point of me making cake is so I can show it off on my counter. So do any of you have great cake recipes? Me, my family and my muffin top would sure appreciate it.

No boys allowed!

So baby #3 is a girl! We just found out yesterday. We decided to wait until we found out what we were having before we told anyone that I was pregnant. It was kind of fun that way. Plus it seemed like the first half went pretty fast. I'm due the end of February and I can't wait to see if my genes can pull through this time.