She put what in her mouth?

Yesterday at my routine prenatal exam, the midwife intern was unable to feel the baby's head with her hands and so we did an ultrasound to make sure she wasn't breach or transverse.  Seeing the ultrasound was awesome.  Baby is indeed head down, already in my pelvis, which is why the midwife intern couldn't feel it.  We saw baby's two fists and the umbilical cord.  It looked like the cord was in her fists and then she moved her fist to her mouth.  So cute to think that she is 'playing' with what is in the womb to entertain her.  But what is she doing biting the cord that feeds her?

In the photo of the ultrasound, the dark circle is her eye socket.  Her fist, holding the umbilical cord, is located right under the word FACE and is in her mouth.  We're at week 39, so if this pregnancy finishes like the other 4 (which is what I'm expecting), anytime this week we'll get to welcome her!

Boise Idaho Temple

Last July, our temple closed for renovations.  Oh how I've missed it.  I've written about it here.  The temple is right next to the interstate, quite a sight - especially at night when the lights are on.  But during the construction phase the exterior lights were off.  I was so happy to see them turn on again at the beginning of October!

Now we are in the Open House phase - until November 10.  Last Friday I got to take the tour twice - in the morning with my husband and children and in the afternoon with a friend from chorus and her children.  Can I just say how beautiful it is!

The Entry, with 2 Carl Bloch paintings (there are many of his paintings throughout the temple).

 The Baptismal Font, with stained glass 

and murals depicting Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery being baptized and confirmed.

 The Sealing Room, with eternity mirrors.  

Sabrina says this is the most beautiful room in the entire temple.

The Celestial Room

On the 26th of October, Sabrina and 3 of her friends (the Mad for Music String Serenaders Quartet) had the opportunity to play at the open house in the reception hall.  The had weekly practices for a month before hand to prepare 30 minutes of church and classical music.  We invited Ryan's parents to come and tour the temple and hear them play, so that day Ryan, Roderic and Hyrum got to tour the temple as well.  Leo was really sad when he learned that he missed going to the temple with them (it was during nap time).  Just imagine his exuberance at being able to go to the temple the next week!  "I going temple? Hurray!" complete with jumping.

The cultural celebration will be held on November 17 in the Taco Bell Arena on BSU campus and the temple will be dedicated by President Monson on November 18.  The temple will reopen on November 20 and I have plans to go twice that week because there is no school for the children so Sabrina will be able to babysit for me!  My goal is to attend the temple at least 3 times before Beatrix is born.

We're Expecting! It's a Girl! We're Entering the Weekly appointment phase!

I have not yet officially announced my pregnancy on the blog, which is pretty funny, since we started telling people very early in this pregnancy (we told our children during week 6).  Now I'm 35.5 weeks along.  I took Leo with me to my first appointment and recorded the baby's heartbeat on my digital voice recorder.  He would say, "Baby?  No!  Choo-Choo!" whenever we listened to it.

To do something different this pregnancy, Ryan convinced me that we should have an ultrasound at 20 weeks and find out the sex of our baby.  It took a lot of convincing.  At the ultrasound appointment, the technician was looking all over and took lots of pictures of the baby's parts.  Very unceremoniously she said, "And you're sure you want to find out the sex?"  "Yes," we replied.  "It's a girl," she said and kept moving on.  It was not as exciting as finding out when the baby is born and they put him or her in your arms, for sure.  Ryan, being the engineer, asked, "How often are you right?"  To which she replied, "I've been wrong 3 times and those were all at the beginning of my 11 year career."  So we're pretty confident that we're having a girl.  Sabrina, Roderic and Hyrum are all so very excited to have a little sister.  Leo is still coming to grips that it's a baby and not a train.

With this being my 6th pregnancy, my body remembered very early on what a pregnant woman is supposed to look like and my belly popped out at about week 12, forcing me into maternity clothes.  I was also very tired early on, taking naps daily.  In fact, that was the clue that had me convinced I should take a pregnancy test.  Every day during spring break, I got so tired about 2pm I just had to fall asleep.  I've been sleeping a lot (and yet still not enough!).

So, the anticipated due date is December 7, which is a short 4.5 weeks away.  I can hardly believe it.  Roderic was born on the due date and the rest have come 2 or 3 days before, so we're expecting that again.  Yes, we have a name picked out.  Beatrix Beryl.  No, we don't have a boys name picked out so that ultrasound tech better be right!

Peanut-Butter-Filled Cupcakes

Each week during Sabrina's violin lesson, I thumb through the latest issue of Everyday Food magazine (when I'm not playing Sudoku on my Kindle Fire).  They have some really good recipes in it. (some I've copied down and tried: Simple Crepes, Quinoa Cakes, Pecan Chocolate Chip Pie, Gingerbread mini cakes, Blueberry-Orange cornmeal muffins, Curried Chicken Potpie)  Last week I was especially grateful that I passed my recent Glucose Tolerance test, so I could try this one out.  I made them for Family Home Evening last night and they are delicious, especially if you like chocolate and peanut butter which I do.  The peanut butter filling is also good on graham crackers and with Nutella on bread.  Yum!  I'm toying with the idea of sending these in for Hyrum's birthday snack at Kindergarten, so I can have another excuse to eat them.

Peanut-Butter-Filled Cupcakes

• Cooking spray
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup water
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat 12 (I made 18 from this recipe) standard muffin cups with cooking spray, then dust with cocoa, tapping out excess. In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Using a mixer, beat in eggs, buttermilk, oil, and water on medium until smooth, about 3 minutes.
   
2. Divide batter among cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes and let cool completely on rack.
   
3. In a large bowl, using mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and peanut butter on high until fluffy, 3 minutes; fold in marshmallow topping. Transfer to a zip-top bag and cut off one corner to make a 1/2-inch opening.
   
4. With a melon baller, scoop out center of each cupcake base and set aside (these pieces will plug cupcakes after filling). Hollow out each cupcake a bit more, discarding eating crumbs. Fill cavities with peanut butter mixture and replace plugs. (Refrigerate in an airtight container, up to 1 week.) To serve, dust with confectioners' sugar. (I didn't feel like dusting with confectioners' sugar.)
   

Camping Success!

Last year on Labor Day weekend, we tried to go camping to Shafer Butte.  Here is the post I never published about that experience.

Sept. 3, 2011.  Camping Fail

Our kids decided that we hadn't done any "real" camping this year because we never had a fire lit or cooked s'mores. They refused to acknowledge the fact that we spent more nights in sleeping bags in July than in beds. So we planned a camping trip for this weekend. We made a reservation for Shafer Butte, which is 18 miles up the road from downtown Boise, a 1 hour drive from our house.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to camp overnight, but we learned valuable lessons, like:

Firewood is necessary to build a fire.
It is cool in the mountains when the valley is hot, so Leo needs a jacket.
Moms need to be able to see. It's not an option to forget glasses and contact lens solution.
Packing for a camping excursion must be done before it's time to leave.
Children need to help their parents pack.

I didn't want to repeat the experience. at. all. All week, Ryan kept mentioning that he'd like to take the family camping, but I didn't really think he was serious.  I sure wasn't.  I am not getting comfortable sleep on my own bed, so why would I like to try to get some sleep in a tent?

Well, Friday morning, he was bound and determined and I found it was futile to resist, so I spent the day working to get ready.  I knew our neighbors were going camping on Friday night, so I asked if we could join their family. (Already better than last year, when you camp with others, what you forget, they most likely have.)

Sabrina had a tennis match, so we couldn't leave until 6:30pm.  We arrived at Ten Mile campground (9 miles beyond Idaho City on Highway 21) about an hour later.  The fire was already going (another perk of going with another family!), so the hot dogs cooked up quickly and we ate.  The kids did some exploring at the nearby creek.  We set up the tent, ate s'mores and JiffyPop, sat around the campfire enjoying the beautiful scenery and talking with the other two families that were sharing our group site.  I slept terribly.  There was a cool rainstorm in the middle of the night that woke us up, although we all stayed quiet so we didn't know others were awake until the morning.

Leo loved sleeping in the tent.  And playing in it while I cleaned up the sleeping pads and bags.  Hyrum loved playing IN the creek.  It was a good thing he had a change of clothes to wear.  Next time I'll have to remember our swim suits and sandals for that campground.  Roderic loved adding wood and pine cones to the fire.  Sabrina wasn't too thrilled about going, she had planned on doing all her homework on Friday night so she wouldn't have to do any the rest of the long weekend.  The s'mores made it worth it.  Next time I need to remember the HOT COCOA for breakfast!

Thank you Egberts and Thorntons for helping me have a positive camping experience so I'll want to do it again with my family!

Explained

So our neighbor's cat has been spending a fair amount of time in our yard.  I haven't found any poop, so I'm not overly concerned.  I figure we have mice living under the wood pile on the side of our house.  We found evidence of mice earlier this year (prepping for paint) when we moved the pile away from the house and next to the fence.

I now believe it is not mice that has the cat spending so much time at our house.  We've got a cotton-tail instead.

A whole lot cuter than mice, but are they as destructive?

First Day of School

8th Grade!

She is attending Treasure Valley Math & Science Center again for half the day (Biology, Geometry and Earth Science) and then Les Bois for the rest (Choir, World Studies, Orchestra and PE/Health).  She is on the tennis team, and prefers playing doubles.

3rd Grade!

He gets to pick up Hyrum from Kindergarten every day.  Said his teacher is the BEST because she gave MOM homework on the first day of school, not him.  He didn't really care for the homework on the second day of school, though.

 Kindergarten!

August 27, 2012 was Hyrum's best day ever!  He started school!  Interestingly, he has said that every school day since has been his best day ever.  I hope he continues his enthusiasm for school.  Wearing his backpack starting at 9am (when school starts at 12:30pm) can be dropped, though.