The Traditional Picture

 Every year the photo that I insist on taking ends up being awesome.  I don't know what is happening with Rocky's face.  She said that her mouth was full of apple so it was hard to smile.  I love my babies.

Rocky gave me this picture that she made in class with a lovely poem.

I looked at it and it totally freaked me out.  I guess it proves my mother's instinct because I told her that I felt like there was something a little strange about it.  She said that she didn't have time to finish so one of the high school students drew the face.  It just goes to show you that moms really do only like the stuff their kids make.  I love the rest but I hate that face.  It  makes me laugh thinking of some high school student sitting there with a pencil trying to draw on a first grader's Mother's Day card.  I am waiting until she goes to school tomorrow so I can bury it in the recycle and never look at it again.  I bet if my kid had been the high school student I would think it was adorable.  That's motherhood for you.  

Master Gardeners

 Rocky and Daisy have actually been a big help this year in our little garden. 

 Rosy, not so much.  She's  enthusiastic but also the mortal enemy of anything that is actually trying to grow.  I am not sure if this is her smile or a warning to plants everywhere.
The peas are giant and we just got the tomatoes and peppers in.  This year we added a Rosemary bush and I hope that it will bless the land of Spencer View  long after we leave. 

After all that work Rocky had to recoup by listening to some tunes and basking in the rays of the sun.  A neighbor asked me if she was okay because she was kind of being sulky.  My response was that she thinks she is a teenager.  Now that she has her iPod shuffle she is really pulling off the ruse.  I try and  remind her that she is 7 but like a typical teenager she just rolls her eyes.  She plays the part well for 20 minutes or so and  then she gets restless and will go back to playing with the kids.  I guess you have to work yourself into it.

 Daisy is  growing up fast too and the training wheels are officially gone.  She is so proud of herself.  She keeps at a cautious speed which sometimes makes for more accidents but along with the falls she has upped her girl power and will bravely bandage her own wounds. 

Rocky participated in the Fiesta at her school.   This year they performed the Kalinka   Malinka which is apparently a traditional Russian dance.  On the way there she told me that she had seen all the other classes  dance and that her class was the very best.   I admired her confidence but was sure that every kid felt the same way.  Nope, we watched the whole thing and her dance really was the best.  The whole school seemed to know it and the crowd was going wild.  All the dances were cute but Maestra Field's class stole the show.   I feel bad for Rocky that she is having all these great moments at such an early age.  First after the Vitamix she hit the plateau for Christmas, then she had probably the best soccer coach she will ever have, and now  she has hit Buena Vista fame and she is only in first grade.  What is she going to do with the rest of her life?

 Rosy got me this Gerbera Daisy plant for Mother's Day.  It is perfect because it is my favorite flower in her favorite color.  She didn't have any money so when I was looking at tomato plants at Jerry's Home Improvement she went ahead and picked herself a few.  What else could I do but buy the plant?  If you can say anything about Rosy it is that she always gets what she wants in the end.

Soccer

 Both girls begged to participate in spring soccer and with a few papers signed we entered the world of organized sports.  I wasn't that  thrilled with the idea because the two girls had rotating practice  schedules and games so we had soccer pretty much every day.  But once we got into it I found that they were having a really great time. 
Daisy played on the kinder team, Thunder.  She did a good job running after the ball.  As soon as she got close to it she would stop and take a few steps back just so she wouldn't accidentally touch it.  She was really proud of herself so Brandon and I didn't  feel too bad about how hard we laughed every time she would run away from the action.  She was fun to watch because even  though she wouldn't  ever  touch the ball she was still completely focused on the game.  She was right there with the other girls playing  as hard as she could. 

 I am not sure if she has sports in her future or not.  I think it is a little too early to tell, but I can say for certain that she really rocked those little green shorts.

 Rocky's team, Shimmering Blue Tigers FC was a little more intense.  Her coach used to coach the Oregon State women's team and he was just as good with the little girls as he was with the college students.  She learned a lot and took her games seriously.  She is fun to watch because she is so earnest in whatever she is doing.  In  the last game she scored a goal and I may have choked up a little bit because of her bashful pride in herself.  I'm not a competitive person and I don't really even know how soccer is supposed to be played but I was so proud that she has learned so much.

Bread Sticks

 I am not sure what kind of restaurant Chef Coozine is going to be but if  these two ever achieve their dream bread sticks will be on the menu.  I am much more likely to agree to making them these days now that I have two aproned  apprentices to do all the work.  

Rocky Turns 7

 If you are  turning 7 the obvious thing to do would be to dress up like a flower princess and bake a pink camouflage cake.    You may not even know that such a thing existed but that would just prove your lack of a cool Grandma who sends inventive cake mixes to her granddaughters.
I see amazing birthday cakes that moms make for their kids on Pinterest all the time.  I have made a few in my day but the thing I have learned is that birthday cakes  take a lot of effort  and mine usually end up looking like they were made by a child.  The obvious solution came to me and now my kids make their own cakes.   They love doing it and I don't have to make up excuses on why they are lopsided.

The obvious exception to the cake making rule is Rosy.  She is no longer allowed to be within 4 feet of any kind of food preparing process.  When I look at her face in this picture I almost feel bad...almost.  I will just say that she worked hard to earn her banishment.  Maybe we will try again in a few months when she turns 3, but for the time being, the outskirts is where she will stay.

 Rocky is a child that came bouncing from the womb and hasn't stopped jumping since  the day she was born.  Lucky for us a jumper's paradise just opened in Eugene. In the hour we were there Rocky was able to do something that up until this point I didn't believe could happen, she was jumped out.
They sprang,  bounced,  and  popped over a giant room full of trampolines.  They flipped and dipped  into the foam pits and in a hilarious moment that I will forever regret not video recording  they played some dodge-ball with their dad.  Due to my condition I had to watch from the sidelines but because I was there just to witness  it was easy to see that my birthday girl was  in heaven.

 We also made a stop at  the Rhododendron  garden for an impromptu photo shoot.

For her birthday she received soccer goals, an apron and cooking supplies, and an  iPod shuffle.  For dinner  she was given the option of any food that she wanted.  I told her I would cook anything or that she could pick any restaurant in Eugene.   She picked Ramen Noodles...the dried ones that you make at home.  At first I wanted to sway her to something else and then I realized  that she had basically picked the easiest and cheapest meal in existence.  Who was I to argue?
There was just enough time for cake and then they headed for bed. 

Rocky is confident and fun.  She is a strong leader and takes care of her sisters as well as all the kids  in our complex.   For her birthday treat she handed out the miraculous invention that combined her two favorite treats, Blowpops.  She likes listening to music, reading, cooking, and playing  soccer.  Her greatest love is listening to and telling stories.  She is enthusiastic and  charming  and I can't imagine my life without my little buddy.

Dinner Party

 We have never really hosted a dinner party.  We have met up with friends for a lot of potlucks and also had the missionaries over a bunch of times but that hardly counts.  It took Brandon some time to convince me to allow it to happen.  My concerns were  that we don't have any space and that we don't have enough dishes.  He swayed me to his side by picking two of the nicest families we know to invite and by promising to do the cooking.   We had two returned missionaries that had served in Spain and the meal was comprised of authentic Spanish cuisine. 

 The seating was tight and the dishes were mismatched but the food was excellent and the company delightful.  I know this sounds silly for a mom of three to be saying but I actually kind of  felt like an adult.  Kind of.

The Simpsons

 Cambria sent us a Flat Stanley doll so that we could show him around Eugene.  We took him around some cool places and crossed the border into Springfield so that we could show off the new  Simpsons  mural.  Good ol' Matt Groening  himself announced in an interview that our own dear  neighbor is the Springfield that inspired the show and gave the city permission to claim it.  Rosy fit right in.

Rocky brought this note home for our baby.  It will probably be awhile until he can read it  but it gave me a laugh.

Translation:  The Baby Dinosaur
To: Isaac   From: Rocky
I love you Isaac.  Just  so you know don't kick mom's tummy.
To: Mom - Mom hang in there okay.

To Remember

 It has been a few months since we had a bath picture so I figured it was time. 

 I also wanted to remember how much  fun we have popping popcorn on Friday nights.  The anticipation is priceless.

 And I never wanted to forget that one time that  my husband looked like Don Quijote. 

It's all about the memories.

Roll in the Dough

 Rocky loves Buena Vista and it truly is a great school.  One of the reasons that they have so many cool programs  is because they are constantly fund-raising.   We live on a pretty tight budget so as  a family we aren't all that great about participating.  We said no to the cookie box delivery, wrapping paper, and the silent auction. We did participate in the Box Tops, the jogathon, and the Papa's Pizza coupons.  Since Rocky sold one coupon to me she was entered into a raffle to 'Roll in the Dough'.  I found the raffle ticket in her backpack and gave her instructions to put it in the jar.  She told me later that she accidentally put it in the wrong jar but somehow it made it in and she, miracle of miracles, was drawn.  They wrapped her in tape and she had 20 seconds to roll in dollar bills. 

 The kids were chanting her name and it was pretty much the most exciting event of her life.  She came  out of there with 11 bucks.  You would have  thought it was a million if you had seen her huge smile.

 Daisy and Rosy were also pretty proud.  If you look closely in this photo you can see that Rosy brought her iPod.  It is a toy Barbie phone that she carries around everywhere she goes.  It shows you how much kids model their parents  because any savvy kid knows that she should have at least demanded a Smartphone in her imagination.   She gets by just using the free wifi that she can access at home and at the library  and  mostly uses it to look at pictures of baby animals.  She also makes  a surprising amount of calls to her Oma.  The front side switches between a pretty saucy picture of Barbie and a menu screen and the back side has a sticker of Jesus.  This came in mighty handy the other day when she and the little Muslim girl that lives in the next building  were fighting over it.  They both said it was theirs but Jesus ended up being the deciding witness.  She wants to take it with her everywhere and then spends  most of her time dropping it and making her pregnant mom retrace  her steps back into Costco to find it.

Easter

This is the only photo that I took of Easter.  Bummer.

Cravings

 Believe it or not but in the early days of this pregnancy I didn't want to have anything to do with sweets of any kind.  During the holidays I craved only salt.   I wanted to eat Lay's Potato Chips, but only the original  kind, and sweet potato  fries.  I thought that it would bode well for the pregnancy until the second trimester brought incredible desire for sugar.  It wasn't just sugar though, it was specifically for Little Debbie Snack Cakes.  The girls and I have gone through a box of  almost every variety, which is depressing because if you have ever taken a chance to look at the display there are a ridiculous amount of choices.  I can't figure it out because other treats don't seem to work.  I mean,  we did  polish off our usual Easter Cadbury Mini  Eggs, but other  than that I am mostly looking at long boxes of individually wrapped  processed crap.  What I must actually be craving is some kind of preservative because it could be found in every variety.  Almost immediately after I eat my Cosmic Brownie or Zebra  Cake  the heartburn sets in and I vow that it will be the last box that I buy and then a couple hours later I am checking to see if there are any more  in the cupboard.  I read somewhere that pregnant women crave what their bodies need  and I liked that  idea.    Then I  heard a mean  doctor on  the  radio who  said,  "If  women actually craved  what  they needed  they would  all be making  grocery runs for broccoli."  She was  probably right.  The good thing is that usually after I binge on something I usually don't want to eat it  again  for a couple of years.  Hopefully that holds true, although now I have three little human beings  in my home that  have developed a taste for junk food and have  also learned that it doesn't take that much convincing  to get their mom to buy it.  It took me several years to move away from  processed foods and just one tiny pregnancy to throw me back in. 
On the better side I have also eaten a lot of avacadoes which the internet says is a super food and you can always trust nutrition advice that comes through Pinterest.   I have also gotten addicted to Dave's Killer Bread made into grilled cheese sandwiches.  Brandon just rolls his eyes when I start pulling out the cheese  for my morning hit.
As far as the rest of the pregnancy has gone I will just  say that everything has been harder.   I  am not sure if  it is because I am older or because this one is a boy, but I have been more sick, more tired,  and my body creaks like an 80-year-old  rocking chair.   The good news is that since  this is number 4 the stretch marks have already been a part of my body and that Rocky and Daisy will sit with me and feel the baby move.   I  think  that is  one of  the most interesting  things  about  pregnancy and I love to have my little buddies to share it with.
This  photo was taken clear back  before Easter so I am even bigger now.  I would estimate that the belly is about 1/4 baby and the rest is cream filling.