A Very Happy 3 Year Old

This little girl has been begging for her birthday for many months. All summer long she would tell complete strangers, "it's my birthday." She is smart. She figured out really fast that if she told her Aunt Monette that it was her birthday, she would get a little treat. She worked that one.

She loved all the attention today and knew all the details. Quite the birthday diva.

She was thrilled to have a party with her friends. Since she turned 3 on the 3rd it was her GOLDEN birthday so we went all gold.

Rather than cake we had pumpkin and chocolate whoopie pies. Oh my. Turns out she just wanted candy. Oh well.

The kids love hitting a pinata to pieces. It was full of gold chocolate coins, of course.

We love Quinn and are so grateful she is part of our family. She makes all of us happy (unless she is in Quinzilla mode - destroying some little project or thing that belongs to someone).

Quinn loves to pray. She she comes up with some great things to add to our family prayers. Today for example "Bless Teague to not be hit with a basketball." ?

Quinn loves her friends. She is very social. But we are working on sharing at the moment.

Quinn loves to watch shows.

Quinn is very concerned about anyone that is hurt - especially Kenyon.

Quinn really loves her brothers and sister and wants to be just as big. She thinks she can wrestle, play hide and seek, soccer, and scooter just like them. She doesn't mind being with me but she really loves to be with them. And they are good sports about having a little shadow. But watch out she might steal your candy or chapstick and not even be sad about it.

PS Thanks to Jane, Kristine, and Egan for all the party help. If you want lots of good party ideas on any theme - email Kristine. But she should start charging. Brilliant. Egan can design anything - she always saves the day on my invites. And Jane is an awesome photographer despite my really crappy lighting in my house. And she did lots of my errands. Hooray for being off track. :)

No Sugar Day 2

Guess who turns 3 in half an hour? I will post about her tomorrow. She kills us daily. I wish I kept a better record because she says some of the funniest things.

But to the point of the post...

This is hard. But hooray for people joining me. It definitely makes it easier. In fact, I have to try so hard to be encouraging and motivating to the kids that I can't really worry about how much I would love a handful of chocolate chips or any of their candy in the cupboard (which why am I keeping that?).

One of my favorite blogs that motivates me to be healthier is Word of Wisdom Living. You should read it if you don't. Every week he offers a new challenge. This week it was perfect. It was about the power of friends. I am grateful for awesome friends and family who are trying to make their lives healthier even when it is hard.

Today felt harder than usual. Because I was starving the entire day while I sat in a dumb hospital waiting room. The only option was free Lorna Doone's in a basket or a junk in the vending machine. I did bring a baggie of veggies with some hummus. But I thought we would be done before 7:30 pm. Wrong.

Kenyon had a 30 minute little procedure to stitch up an open wound on his knee. Simple really. But no...we checked in at 12:30 and left at 7:30. All I wanted was some M&Ms to get me through that.

Then I came home and just made a gazillion whoopie pies for this little darlin's birthday. And that was tempting. Someone please come eat them tomorrow night. I can't be left with all of them.

Today I am thankful for awesome friends who take care of my kids for way more hours then they wanted to and all the kind offers of meals and help and prayers. Thanks.

Come on...Try it with me!

Sugar-Free November - 1 MONTH!

For all of you who are saying "Good idea but I can't do it (or don't want to)"... Come on. If I am going to try it then you can too. And you get a free pass on Thursday because it is Quinn's Golden Birthday!

Seriously, I know this will be hard. And Gavin is even more addicted but he is willing to try.

We decided to approach it as an experiment. How do we feel? What difference does it make? Can we do something hard (I know that is kind of lame in the scheme of hard things but it is hard for us)?

I have been thinking about this challenge for months now and thanks to Jane, I am forced to commit. So now I am challenging you. You can make your own rules but make them good. I say at minimum: no candy, cookies, desserts, pop, treats. You decide. Things loaded with sugar. I am not studying every label. You can have one free serving of a treat once a week. So probably not 3 brownies on Sunday night - just one.

Join me? 1 Month (Thanksgiving Weekend is off. Just go for it.)

Couple links Jane sent me to help motivate. Here and here

Halloween Robbers

This year we went with the robber/burglar theme. Someone in my family may have been concerned that I promote this type of behavior. Clearly, I do not. But the kids thought it was fun and such an easy costume. Way too late to make it happen, I realized that Kenyon and I should have dressed up as police officers. That would have been perfect but I don't think of things in good time.

It was a very successful Halloween for candy. Thanks to my friend and trick-or-treat partner Jen (who always has great ideas), my kids gave up HALF of their candy to the Air Force to be used in care packages for soldiers. Brilliant. And then my sister Jane (who also always has good ideas but a little more challenging) challenged us to go sugar free for November. My kids agreed to the challenge but we are all totally scared. (we are allowing one treat a week and the weekend of Thanksgiving off) I am putting this out there in hopes that it will keep us accountable. But trust me - the fact that I have 4 bags of Halloween candy downstairs is KILLING ME!

PS - our family definition of sugar free for November is not as crazy as truly sugar free. We are just eliminating treats, candy, cookies, pop, etc. Traditional dessert and treat type items. I am not studying every label and doing stuff life that. Maybe some day.

Our Halloween Tradition

For a whole year the kids talk about this Mystery Halloween Dinner. Saying that they love it is an understatement. They might like it more than Christmas. Well, maybe not but it is very close. They count down the days. They love the surprise. They love the names for all the food.

On the menu this year:
Mummy Heads (Chicken Pot Pie inspired from this )
Crunchy Skeleton (veggie platter - Egan's creation)
Pumpkin Brains (apricot jello with green grapes mixed in - Egan)
Candy Corn (tortilla pizza created by Jane)
Bug Juice (green gatorade, 7Up, gummy worms and dry ice)
Forked Eyeballs (pumpkin spice cake balls)

This year - an added surprise were the Surprise Balls. Another family tradition but typically at Christmas but kids love them anytime.

My sister posted this dinner as well as other amazing parties on her blog - Attend. Check it out. I love her blog and all her ideas.

And big thanks to Egan and Jane who really made this dinner a success but did not get pictured. :(

Cross Country - A New Adventure

Teague joined the Jr. High Cross Country team this year. He loves it. He runs miles after school every day with his team and then does crazy circuit and ab workouts. He has worked so hard and made some great improvements.

Out of all the boys in grades 6-9, he made the Varsity team (7 best runners).

Yesterday they competed at the State Championship run in Herriman. And it was a hard, hilly course. His team took 1st. He was a little disappointed with his run but he really did great and he has 3 years to make some great improvements.

He loves this so much that he even used his own money to pay for spikes.

A Sisters Trip to Seattle

I don't know if I am blogging yet. Kind of having an blogging identity crisis. Or maybe it is more than blogging. I don't know. But I did just get back from an amazing trip to Seattle with my sisters and my parents. Dreamy weather, packed schedule, beautiful sites, good company and really incredible food. Sounds like I am exaggerating. But it is all true.

- a mini favorites party (we all brought 6 of one of our favorite things)
- paddle boarding on the Sound
- a walk around Lake Union and Green Lake
- tennis
- lots of shopping
- home cooking
- yum pizza from a Wood Fire Tuscan food truck
- Pike Place Market
- Kubota Gardens
- UW Volleyball game
- a visit to a few of our old stomping grounds
- a birthday party to beat all birthday parties

Thanks to Kenyon for letting me go and doing double the work for a bit. I bought the family white bread as a treat for while I was gone. They didn't even miss me they were so happy.

And thanks to Jane for being the photographer. Otherwise this post would not exist.

And thanks to the greatest parents. They are awesome hosts, tour guides, cook, and company.