Sparkle is Back!

This morning we had a big surprise when we woke up.

Sparkle was back and she made breakfast!  She made elf sized chocolate chip pancakes, elf sized chocolate covered donuts and elf sized powdered donuts.

She must have worked really hard on it!  Her face and apron were covered in flour!

I had to wake the girls up, so it wouldn't get cold.  They were very excited!

Cadence isn't used to being up so early--8:00:-)

I think the chocolate chip pancakes were their favorite.

Hot cocoa--yum!

Story LOVED the peppermint tray!

After the girls finished breakfast, they decorated ornaments for our Christmas countdown.

They decorated the front and I glued the activities on the back.

Fun morning!

Thanksgiving 2013

It's hard to believe today was our fourth Thanksgiving in Nashville!  We woke up and watched some of the Macy's Parade and then just hung out at home.  This afternoon we went on our annual Thanksgiving Day hike.  It was pretty cold, so we were all bundled up.  I thought the girls looked pretty cute!  Story looked like a bag lady with her nature bag, bug catchers, binoculars, leggings-skirt and boots and that hat---the cutest bag lady I've ever seen;-)

 

 We went hiking at Radnor lake and we saw lots of wildlife!  There were deer, woodpeckers, ducks, chipmunks and turkey!

Coda just hung out in the Ergo the whole time.  Her face was pretty cold, so I covered her up and she had a nice little nap:-)

The girls all took their binoculars and nature bags.  Lots of discovering to do!

Cadence played tour guide most of the hike.  Her sisters didn't appreciate her commentary, they thought she was being too loud.  They wanted to see more wildlife!

At the end of the hike is when we saw the turkey.

They're kind of hard to see in these pictures, but there were five of the roaming around.  I was glad we weren't having turkey for Thanksgiving, it would have made me sad to see these guys out in the wild and then to be eating one of them!  Luckily, there weren't any pigs around because the girls did have ham:-(

We came home and made our Thanksgiving dinner.  I didn't take any pictures, but it was yummy!

I did get these pictures of Coda having her Thanksgiving feast.  She was being a messy eater!

 

It's hard not to think about our days in the hospital during this time of year.  Thanksgiving 2010 was spent in the hospital.  Today I am thankful we're all healthy and happy!

Discuits No More!

So, about 10 or 12 years ago Devon and I were hosting Thanksgiving or Christmas at our house.  I attempted to make my Nanny's yeast rolls.  They didn't rise.  Trent, Devon's brother, called them discuits.  They were very flat like a disc, so I guess discuits was a suitable name.

Since then, every couple of years I try to make them and the same thing happens--they rise in the bowl but when I get them in the pan- they don't rise and you don't end up with big fluffy rolls--you end up with discuits.

 I just knew they were going to turn out this year...look at my cute little helpers...

 

Booya!  No discuits this year baby!  We've got rolls-big fat and fluffy ones!

 They tasted as good as they look!

Coda the Drinker

Tonight we gave Coda a sippy cup for the first time.

 She really liked chewing on it!

 Even the handle tasted good:-)

 These last two pictures don't have anything to do with Coda drinking, but they were also from tonight and they were too cute not to share.

I was working on the laptop while Coda slept next to me.  Out of the blue she propped her foot up on the computer--sweetest thing ever!

Story loves this baby!

Vitamin D?

Yesterday at Story's three year checkup the doctor said she was Vitamin D deficient.  He prescribed her some, but on the way home we talked about other ways to get it.  Lyric knew it came from the sun, but its freezing, so she isn't going to be spending much time outside.  We talked about how rice milk and soy milk are both fortified with it and we needed to see which one had more and that is the one she would try to drink most of the time.  We buy both- the girls and I like rice and Devon likes soy.  I told her we needed to do some research to see what foods its in.

This afternoon I made us smoothies.  When I gave it to her.  She said, "Does this have Vitamin D in it?"  That's my little Story Bell!  I'm going to be getting that question every time I give her food.

Ear Doctor?

Today Story had her three year check up.  We saw the eye doctor, lung doctor, the heart doctor and the oncologist.  Tonight, she said, "Hey, is there a such thing as an ear doctor?  Because we should see one...  We've seen every other kind of doctor!"

Yes, Miss Story Bell we have seen lots of doctors, but I'm pretty thankful we didn't have to see the ear doctor!