ABC's

Wee-Haw!

We have swings!!! Not sure if it means swing or that's just what you do on it...but Megan sure is crazy for her "Wee-Haw"! Matt worked hard this weekend to get the swing set up and the girls are thrilled. Now maybe we will be able to get through the summer! :) More pictures HERE.

Happy Birthday

(Sorry, I tried and tried and couldn't get this picture to rotate the right way...so you'll just have to turn your head)

Today our baby turned two years old. She is a big girl now!! I noticed it just a few days ago when I decided to put her hair up in pigtails. She looked so grown up (and cute)...

We had a nice, simple celebration with our family tonight. Megan loves cupcakes and she loves m&m's even more. So I thought that made a perfect combination for her birthday treat. She was in heaven! She did a great job blowing out her candles all by herself (which is the way she prefers to do most things these days!).

Yummmmm!!

Megan had no trouble at all opening her presents. Her sisters didn't even get a chance to help her, she knew just what to do.

Here are a couple of videos of Megan playing with her new toys. We got her a swing (and we'll hopefully get a swing set up this weekend to attach it to) which she was thrilled about. She also got a couple other little toys and a sprinkler toy from Grandma (Thanks! We will try it out soon!).

Swingin' with Dad

Dancing with her new toy

Prom

So far since moving to Indiana, Matt and I haven't missed a prom at his school. Which makes this year the 5th we've been to. (Can you believe it's been 5 years?) This year the theme was "Starlit Paradise" so it was all decorated with a tropical theme. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to show you our pictures over the years. Some I definitely like better than others but oh well, here you go...

2010

This year we doubled with the new band director and his fiancée. Before the dance, we went to an Italian restaurant in Valpo called ZaZa. If any of you locals are looking for some good authentic Italian eating, we recommend the place....yummmm.

2009

Ok, so I honestly can't remember what the theme was from last year but it had something to do with under the sea and destiny (your guess is as good as mine from looking at the picture). I didn't think I would be going to this prom since Megan had just had surgery but since she was doing so well and my mom was in town, we got to go.

2008

This one's my favorite...okay maybe not. In case you couldn't tell, I am nine months pregnant with Megan in this picture (Remember this?). Either that, or I had a few too many of those giant lollipops beforehand:) The theme was "Sweet Escape".

2007

The theme this year was "The Time of Your Life". This prom and the year before were both in Culver. Since then prom has been at the high school.

2006

Aaand last but not least, our first prom together. This was just a couple months after Lauren was born. We went all out our first year. Tux and dress, corsages, etc. When we went out to dinner they thought we were high school students. But we had a lot of fun. The theme here is "Arabian Nights".

Marshmallow Fondant

I've gotten a few questions about the fairy cake I made for Allison's party. I don't know how interested anyone is, but I thought I would share the recipe for making the fondant for the cake. I hadn't ever worked with fondant before, so it was purely experimental but I was surprised with how easy it was to work with...like play dough. This marshmallow kind is supposed to be better tasting than regular fondant, too. I don't think I have even tried eating regular fondant before though, so I couldn't tell you. To me, it was just sweet (marshmallows + powdered sugar...what do you expect?). I found this recipe online...somewhere out there. By the way, this makes quite a bit. There was more than plenty enough for the fairy cake. So for anyone feeling adventurous...

Marshmallow Fondant

2-10 oz bags MINI marshmallows

1 1/2 bags powdered sugar (3 lbs)

4 Tbs water

1 tsp clear vanilla (I just used regular vanilla)

1 tsp butter flavoring (optional)

Shortening (to coat your hands with to prevent sticking)

1. Spray a large microwaveable bowl with Pam.

2. Put marshmallows in the bowl, add water, stir, and microwave for 45 seconds on high.

3. Stir and continue microwaving in 45 second intervals until completely melted, about 3 minutes total.

4. Add flavoring and stir. Pour one whole bag of powdered sugar into the bowl and mix with a spoon. (This will take a bit of effort to mix it all in)

5. Grease your counter with Pam, pour remaining 1/2 bag of sugar on the counter, making a sugar barrier around the perimeter. Pour marshmallow mixture onto the middle of the sugared counter (so there is a circle of powdered sugar around a big blog of marshmallow goo).

6. Grease your hands with shortening. Fold in the remaining sugar (about 2 minutes). (It's okay if you don't get ALL of the sugar mixed into it. There will be some extra on the counter.)

7. Once the sugar is mixed in, start to knead, about 3 minutes. If it sticks, sprinkle a little remaining sugar underneath.

8. Once it is smooth, coat in shortening and double wrap with plastic wrap. Store in the fridge.

Hopefully that all makes sense. It can keep in the fridge for a while. I made mine a couple days ahead of time to make things easier when it was time to make the cake, but I think it will keep even longer than that. When it's time to pull it out, it will need to warm back up to room temp again before you can work with it. You can microwave it on low settings for short amounts of time until it is easy to work with.

*Important*: Use plenty of cornstarch on your counter to prevent sticking when you are rolling it out. The biggest problem I had was that it kept sticking to the counter. You can also use shortening, I think. I'm not an expert, remember. But I do know you don't want it to stick to the counter. Trust me on this one. Also, don't forget to coat your hands with shortening if it is sticking to your hands.

Store the decorated cake at room temperature...not in the fridge.

Have fun!

The Fairy Party

I don't know about the rest of you, but things like birthday parties stress me out!! This was our first birthday party and I must say, it did turn out pretty well. But I sure was glad when it was done and over with :)

Allison really wanted her friends from school to come, which means if you send invites to school, you have to either invite the whole class or all the girls (or boys) in the class. Since there are ten girls in her class we decided that was plenty enough to work with. So for anyone else...I apologize that we didn't invite you all, but our house is only so big! She ended up with five girls from her kindergarten class, which I think was just about right. Of course, Lauren and Megan were there too.

For her theme, she picked "Fairies".

We made fairy invitations....

Fairy wands...

Fairy wings...

Fairy games...

Fairy cake...

And in the end, we beat a fairy with a stick. Ok...maybe it was a butterfly. But pretty close. It took a good whack from Matt to finally get that thing open.

All in all it was a fairy fun party. Whew....

For more pictures, you can visit our picasa album.

Happy B{earth}day

This year for Allison's birthday we decided to grant her wish and give her a party--the kind where you get to have friends over. Since Matt was in Florida on Senior trip over her birthday, we didn't do that until the next weekend. But we did have a small family celebration just before her birthday where she got a new BIKE. Her old bike was getting pretty small for her (considering she got it for her 3rd birthday :)

Since her birthday is on Earth Day (April 22) I thought it would be fun to take the girls out to the park with their bikes. They rode on the trail a bit and we took a few moments to climb to the top of the hill and sit and enjoy the earth (this part was Allison's idea). We played a game of "I spy" and had a nice peaceful sit. Afterward we put the bikes away and played on the playground then went home. It was a simple but fun afternoon.

Catching up...

I know I'm a slacker but I haven't given up yet. Stay tuned...a bunch of updates are coming your way soon!

Cottage Meeting

We had cottage meeting at our house tonight. Basically that is when we invite anyone over that wants to talk about religious type topics. In the past we have had topics like faith and prayer. Tonight it was Come Unto Christ. Matt did a video with the music from the oratorio that he played in when he was at Ricks College (long time ago). It is on youtube but is unlisted, so it is embedded here. Hopefully it is big enough to read the words that go with it. Click here to view from youtube (little bigger and easier to see).