The way of the check-ups...

Previously, I've blogged this, but as my life still functions the same...We'll blog about it again!
It generally happens that when it's time for a check-up, I usually have to go to the doctor somewhere around a week before and/or after the actual appointment. It happened again.
Last Monday (18th) was Mason's 3 yr and Julianne's 9 mo checks, as you will remember. They both got a flu shot and were a little fussy for the remainder of the week.
Julianne had a fever off and on but I just figured it was all thanks to the shot. Come Friday night, she hardly slept at all. We were both a little grouchy Saturday morning. She cried and cried and cried all morning and nothing I did would calm her down. So, exactly 5 days after seeing the dr., we headed to the doctor. Turns out, she had an ear infection AND bronchlioitis, a type of RSV. Poor baby! Because she had a cough, fever and wheezing, she was deemed contagious until it all went away. Guess she wasn't going to Grandpa Ken's on Sunday! There's other babies there, not to mention lots of kids. Even though Jon was making dinner (for Mason's bday party), we decided that he would make dinner in Logan and I would go to Corinne without him. Thus, Jon missed Mason's first party, and Julianne is now on a 10-day cycle of amoxicillian.


Fast forward to Monday... well, Sunday night actually. Brooklyn got NO sleep and oddly enough, I don't hear her crying. Jon does. I only heard her once and that was because I'd been up with Julianne. SO, she has NO sleep and complains that her ear is hurting. Exactly 7 days after the appt, we're back at the Dr. And she tells that on a scale of 4 Brooklyn has an infection at a 4. It may rupture. So, she too, is on a 10-day cycle of amoxocillian. Luckily, she isn't contagious and can still go to school. As of today, it hasn't ruptured and she isn't complaining of pain. Whew. I wonder if Mason will get one. At least he didn't get one for his birthday!

If he continues to luck out, we may actually be able to stay away from the doctor for a couple weeks. Well, until we go see if Julianne is growing again or not. I won't hold my breath, though....

Mason G. turned 3

The Beloved day finally came. This, however, was from last weekend. Apparently, my kids are bored. Oh well. At least they can self-entertain....or follow each others' lead...or whatever.



Anywho..on to the birthday. Mason got up and I asked him what day it was and he said "Tuesday!" Obviously he got told his birthday was on Tuesday more than once. Although I tried to make it a day different than the rest, I'm not sure it really was. We went to Old McDonald's for lunch, which was fun. The kids were a little disappointed, they wanted chipmunks toys and they had run out. Again, oh well.
Then, we had dinner with the Grandpa's and Grandmas. Pancakes, per Mason's request. He was spoiled on Sunday at my Dad's with his first party, but he was more spoiled last night on his birthday.

My dear sister-in-law was kind enough to go to Ikea for me. Although it wasn't the track we thought it was (who in the heck is supposed to be able to read swedish!!???!! Seriously??), it turned out to be a bridge set, he loves it anyway. He doesn't even realize it doesn't go in a circle. He happily drives his trains back and forth. Perfect!!

Presents and more presents. He also got a remote control Lightening, and I admit it's pretty fun. It only goes forward and backward, but turns randomly. I like to play with it just to watch the kids run around trying to catch it! hee hee....

This is the mayhem on Sunday. Unfortunately, Jon didn't get to be there (story later) but we still had a good time and Mason was still spoiled...

He was so excited about his Steiger (tractor) and dump truck he showed me the BACKS to take a picture...that way, he could still see them!

ANNNNNNNNNNNNNND......da da da da! THE CAKE

Jon's most recent amazing creation....started out like this:


Turned into this:
a Steiger tractor pulling a hay wagon..
Seriously. I have NO IDEA how he does it.

I made the cake, but that's about the extent of my abilities. Thank goodness Jon is so talented. Mason loved it and Jon couldn't bring himself to cut it! I don't blame him one bit. It. Was. Awesome!

So, Happy Birthday, buddy! You are the best!

9 months and 3 years....

I knew Julianne was small. I knew she was usually hungry. But it was all re-enforced at the Dr.'s yesterday. She is healthy, but not growing like she should. In the last three months she's only gained 10 oz. and grown .5 in. Yes. I'm a terrible cow. SO, although she is advancing developmentally, she is not growing like she should. I. Feel. Awful!

Good thing she's so darn cute. Since I'm obviously not giving her what she needs, she now gets a sippy cup with milk in it after I nurse her. Lucky for me, she drinks and eats pretty much everything I offer her. She took the cup from me and just started chugging. {breath of relief}. We're going back in a month to see if it helps. Cross your fingers it does!
So, at 9 months she:

• crawls everywhere
• pulls up to stuff
• cruises on furniture
• can get down on her own
• eats everything and anything we offer
• gets mad if we're eating and she isn't
• must have a bite of whatever is in your hand
• drinks from a sippy on her own
• has 5 teeth
• Adores Mason, she thinks he is the funniest thing ever
• sleep through the night....most of the time
• Simply adores bathtime. I now put her in the tub with the other two because it's just easier than trying to keep her out.
• Lights up our lives.

Mason had his 3-year-old checkup while we were there and he is healthy and strong. He talked to Dr. V, let him look in his eyes and ears and sat calmly while Dr. V. listened to his lungs. He was overjoyed to get a book and a sucker and was SUPER concerned with Julianne's shot (flu vac.). He is so excited for his birthday next week, it's a good thing there will be three parties (between all the family events) because he may just need it to last that long. Mason loves:

• "Woody" movies (Toy story 1 & 2)
• Tractors (any and all)
• His crane and dump truck
• His "Cars" cars
• doing whatever Brooklyn is doing
• eating Chicken Nuggets
• "icing skates" (translation=ice skates)
• His doe-doe Bird blanket (story on that someday)

And we just love him!

Oh, how did my kids get so big????

the no tardy party

Crazy hair parade is today!!!




And, of course, Mason couldn't be left out.....

and Julianne feels about like this,
come mid-morning naptime....

Baker's Delight

Meet my coconut cake. Yeah. I'm a little proud. :) I'm not a huge-over-the-top fan of coconut, but Jon loves it so I thought I'd give it a try. Jon was content and debated making another today.
I love layer cakes, but making them is a trick for me. I never know how much frosting to put in the middle. Thus, the middle doesn't quite have enough and the top has WAY more than in needs. However, the frosting had coconut extract in it too, so I figure it all balanced out.
As for me, I like coconut, but I've decided I prefer it to not be toasted. It looked cool, though.

Coconut Cake (America's Test Kitchen)
5 lg egg whites, at room temp
3/4 c cream of coconut
1/4 c water
1 lg egg, at room temp
1 tsp coconut extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 c cake flour
1 c sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
12 tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened and cut into tbsp pieces
1 recipe coconut frosting (see below)
2 c sweetened coconut

1. Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly coat two 9-in round pans with pam and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Whisk the egg whites, cream of coconut, water, whole egg, and extracts together in a lg bowl until combined and set aside.
2. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a lg bowl. Beat in the butter, one piece at a time, with an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, 2-5 minutes.
3. Add 1 c of the egg mixture, increase the speed to med-high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 45 seconds. Add the remaining egg mixture in a steady stream and continue to beat until the batter is combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed (the batter will be very thick).
4. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted unto the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes.
5. Let the cakes cool in the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Run a paring knife around the edge of the cakes to loosen, then flip out onto the racks. Remove the parchment paper and let cool completely.

Coconut Frosting:
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp coconut extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
16 tbsp unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
1/4 c cream of coconut
3 c powdered sugar

Stir the cream, extracts, and salt together until the salt dissolves. Beat the butter and cream of coconut in a lg bowl with an electric mixer at med-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Reduce the speed to med-low slowly add the powdered sugar, and beat until smooth, 2-5 minutes. Beat in the cream mixture. Increase the speed to med-high and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 4-8 minutes.

Toast coconut and gently press to outside of frosted cake.

On a side note, the ice rink is almost ready! Brooklyn is anxious to give it a whirl and I'm pretty excited, too. Last year, I couldn't b/c of the baby, this year, I'm hoping to have at least one successful run.

gifts.

We had a pretty great Christmas and I thought a blog was needed for some of the gifts. The pic of Julianne is just 'cause she's so darn cute. She's finally cut her 4th tooth (it only took her 2 months) and is crawling on her hands and knees. She pulls herself up to stuff and today she stood unassisted for close to a minute (at least it seemed like that long). I can't believe she's 8 1/2 months already. How in the heck did that happen??? oiy.

Anywho...on to the post.
Mason got quite a collection of tractors this Christmas and he loves them all. If he gets one out he gets them all out. Plus he got a collection of tractor t-shirts. Let's just say deciding what to wear is a little more complicated than it used to be :). Now what to get for his birthday???
Brooklyn was in heaven when she unwrapped this baby. She's been asking for one since she played with her cousin's. I figured, why not. She Loves it!. We've used all the mixes that come with it so it looks like we'll be moving on to cake mixes in the closet.
This is the maiden voyage. Mason cannot be left out of anything. He loves it, too although it's hard to share sometimes. Sucks being the oldest, I guess. I wouldn't know :).
Mixing and mixing. We absolutely HAD to use the spoon that came in the box. It made life more....interesting.

I must admit the final product wasn't too bad. I didn't try the cookies, though. She loves it and eats it, so that is all that matters :).

{sigh}....when did they get so big?




scroll down. I'm in another bloggy mood :)

Crafty...

Christmas was great. Unfortunately, having 3 kids opening presents during mass hysteria - twice - doesn't foster many pictures. Let it suffice that we are spoiled and loved. New Year's was good. Half the party went home by 10. Kids were asleep by 10:30 and the last of the party left at 12:01. Jon and I played Dr. Mario until 2. e.x.c.i.t.e.m.e.n.t. BUT....
New Year's Day brought the crafty bug to the Hibshman household and boy was it fun!
Cousin Melissa had this great idea. Sister-in-law Katie had a desire and shared. Mother-in-law Carole and I played and had a blast.
This is the second one I made. It has since acquired a frame (thanks again!) and looks great!
This is my first attempt and I gotta say, I'm pretty pleased. Aren't they fun? They're super easy, too and cheap. We {LOVE} it! :)
Here's the collection of all our handy-work. Carole's "Spring" and Valentine's....
and Katie's Valentines and "Spring". Can you sense the theme? Katie has her own house to decorate these days... :) It was way fun and I'm totally addicted. Just today I made one for Brooklyn's teacher. All it needs is a frame and she will get to take it to school. A little belated Christmas gift. :)
Proof that I was there and successful.
What would a craft excursion be without a little mess? We had fun, that's for sure!
Carole hard at work.
Katie, debating placement...it turned out well, don't you think?

What a perfect way to spend a snowy day... Thanks girls!