Cookie Day!

What is Christmas without cutout sugar cookies? Nevermind that I don't even like sugar cookies, or icing, or sprinkles all that much, but it's a quintessential Christmas tradition, and I had to make cookies with my kids.

Of course, not being a Christmas cookie fan, I didn't have good cookie cutters. OK, I do have a nativity set that doesn't really look like a nativity set, and besides, I wanted the tree and candy cane and stocking - you know, the true meaning of Christmas ;). So I spent quite a bit of time trying to find Christmas shapes. Finally found a set of 100 shapes (all seasons and holidays, not just Christmas) for $10 at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, so we were all set to make cookies.

So, we invited friends over to help make and decorate Christmas cookies Tuesday. The kids all helped make the dough (I have four different recipes, so I picked the easiest one, for which I actually had all the ingredients). Silly me, though, I forgot that the dough needs to chill for an hour before rolling our, so we had a bit of dead time. But that gave Isaac and Ben a chance to run around and burn off energy, and we also had time for lunch.

After lunch, it was time to roll out the dough and cut out the shapes. Isaac and his best friend Ben participated for a bit, but then they got bored, so they played while Audrey and Zach (Ben's brother) used the cutters. They had so much fun!




Then it was time to decorate. I like the ease of tub frosting, but I love the look of royal icing. So I made the icing, and added food coloring, so we were all set to beautify our fun Christmas shapes. The kids had a blast decorating their cookies! Zach ate them as soon as he decorated them, Ben and Isaac decorated all of theirs, and then started eating them, and Audrey just wanted to look at the pretty cookies, and clean up messes as they happened. When she was all finished, she ate the icing and sprinkles off her snowman, so we had to redo it. She still hasn't eaten an actual cookie.





Quentin slept through the entire process.

Welcome winter!

The great thing about kids is their excitement over snow. No matter how yucky it is to drive in, or the hassle of shoveling, or the freezing temperatures, kids love to play in the snow. And somehow their excitement catches, and I go outside and enjoy pulling them in the sled, or throwing snowballs, or sticking my tongue out to catch snowflakes. Or the best backyard snow activity of all, building a snowman!

Here's our first creation this season:

Advent in the Herford home

Growing up, I don't recall our family or church celebrating Advent. I don't recall Advent calendars or wreaths, lighting of candles, or even a basic countdown to Christmas day. Somehow, even without Advent traditions in our home, we learned about Christmas and what it really means for us as Christians.

I may sometimes decry the materialism of Christmas, but let's face it - I love getting gifts. My kids love getting gifts. And that's OK. I just want them to discover that giving is fun, too. I love decorating the tree (a pagan tradition *gasp*), but beyond just making it pretty, we can make it significant.

So maybe as I raise my kids, our tree becomes less perfect in its display, but more perfect as I spend time with the family making it our own. The conversations that we have while decorating, buying gifts, and wrapping them can be about what Christmas means to us. But one thing I've learned about myself is that good intentions don't always work the way that I want unless I'm very intentional in the execution.

So I've decided to give in to Advent traditions, and create an Advent tree for the kids. Each day will include an activity to prep us for Christmas. One day, we may learn a Christmas carol, another day we may wrap gifts, and another day we may create pieces for the nativity. I am hoping that this will give me focus as I teach my kids about Jesus's birth, and what we're really celebrating.

S'Mores, anyone?

The Herford household produced a very special treat this Halloween - the most scrumptious S'more ever! An energy-filled graham cracker, a delectable chocolate bar, and the squishiest marshmallow combined to produce this divine dessert:



Here are the individual components:







Don't you just want to gobble them up?

Quentin Matthew

How'd we come up with that name? It's not very common, we realize, and certainly hasn't been mentioned to any friends or family as a possibility, so where'd it come from? And what happened to Luke?

About 3 weeks before Quentin was born, we decided that the boy name we'd picked (Luke Nathaniel) just didn't fit with our other kids' names. So it was back to the drawing board. We revisited the master list that we'd created while pregnant with Isaac, and started narrowing it down again.

Here's our list of baby name criteria:

1) two-syllable
2) non-shortenable
3) great meaning
4) not in the top 25 names, but still recognizable

If we really loved a name, we'd be willing to compromise on any one of these, except the no-nickname rule.

One problem was that I'd had Quentin on my list, but Monte had Quintin on his. I don't like Quintin, but he preferred it to Quentin (yes, there is a difference - Quintin rhymes with safety pin, and Quentin rhymes with ink pen. If you can't distinguish between those two words, I pity you). Plus, we had discarded it early on due to meaning anyway (they are both derived from the ancient Roman name Quintus, meaning 5th). We like names with significant meanings, and neither name would work for a first or second child.

This time around, we still couldn't agree on the E vs I, so it was again discarded. Add in the fact that Monte liked the name because it could be shortened to Quinn or even Q! I am actually OK with using Q around the home, but i am not OK with Quinn, especially since it's growing in popularity for girls. And Quentin is the more accepted version in America.

So three weeks before he was born, we revisited the name. I had convinced Monte that Quentin was a better option than Quintin, but I still was hung up on the not-so-meaningful meaning. Until I remembered that this child would be the fifth member of our family, so the meaning actually worked for this child, but wouldn't again. So all that was left was to figure out a middle name.

So that's when we called our moms to find out what other name options were for us. Monte's parents had not considered any other names for him, and Mom was going to name me David Michael had I been a boy. I don't particularly care for either of those names, so we were stumped. About 15 minutes later, Monte walked into the room where I was on the phone with Mom to mention a possible middle name. As he walked in, I asked him about the name Mom had just suggested - Matthew. That was the name that Monte was going to suggest, so it was perfect. Plus it means "gift of God" so that more than made up for the rather prosaic first name.

I can't imagine him with any other name now. And it has the super coolness factor like Monte. So that's how we came up with his name. He's not really named after the shuttle bus driver named Quintin, nicknamed Q, that Monte once knew. Yes, that put the name on his real-life radar, but it was on our list first. And it's not even the same name. But we do call him Q!

Busy fall

After a few false alarms, I went into the hospital October 3 for a scheduled c-section. Seriously, if one has to have a c-section, that's the way to do it. I was well-rested, I didn't have to go in at an obscene hour, and it was over so quickly. Monte and I had time to get before pictures, he was able to run and get snacks, I worked on Sudoku puzzles, and it was just a relaxing morning before the surgery.

Of course, as with any surgery, there was concern about the procedure. I hate needles and knives, so I was not looking forward to getting poked and sliced open. But the nurses and my doctor and the anesthesiologist were so nice and reassuring. I walked into the OR at 11:40, and a mere 25 minutes later, Quentin made his entrance into the world.

He was the goopiest baby I've had, and also the biggest, weighing in at 9 lbs 2 oz. He was 22 inches long, with a 15 inch head circumference. I am so thankful for c-sections. Have I mentioned that before?

A nurse brought him to me fairly quickly so that I could kiss him, and then, after a few more tests and a little wipe-down, she brought him back so I could hold him. He was only half an hour old - I've never been able to hold my babies that soon after birth. He stayed with me as I was wheeled into recovery (I have no idea where Monte was), and then he was placed in the bassinet, in the recovery room with me! I was able to start nursing him at an hour old, which is almost unheard of with c-sections.

I was so worried that I wouldn't have a great birth story with this one, since it was lacking the elements of surprise I'd had with the other two. But I wouldn't have wanted this one any other way. It was perfect, and so is Quentin Matthew Herford.

See how relaxed we are?



Proud parents


Loving siblings


Super cute baby

My preschooler

Today was Isaac's first day of preschool! It was only an hour long today, instead of the full 2.5 hours, just to get kids warmed up to the idea. One parent was allowed to stay, since both parents would have made the room too crowded and overwhelmed the kids. So Monte was the one who took him.

Monte said that Isaac did really well - he sat and listened when he was supposed to, he got along with the other kids, and seemed interested in everything around him. He even talked to the girl in the class :)

So here are some pictures of my big boy:







About the only person who was not excited for Isaac to go to school today was Audrey. She cried as Monte and Isaac pulled out of the drive, and then continued to cry as she wandered around the house. She finally gave up searching for him, crawled into bed, and promptly fell asleep.

And just because she's so cute and silly, here's a picture of her today:

Preschool orientation

Tonight, Monte and I attended the parents' orientation for Isaac's preschool. We received the handbook, turned in the multitude of required forms, and met the teacher and some of the other parents. We are really excited about him starting school next week, and tonight's meeting really confirmed that this school would be a good fit for him.

There will be 11 kids in his class, 10 of them being boys. I feel so sorry for the girl and the teacher! But Isaac will love having boys to play with.

Pictures!!!

Four weeks later, I have my CD! I picked them up at my appointment tonight. The problem with waiting this long to get them is that I have no recollection of what most of the pics are. There are some goofy angles. So I'm just sharing the recognizable ones, since I'm sure you don't really care about the size and configuration of the umbilical cord.

A lovely profile shot:

Thumb in its mouth!

Long legs:

Little foot:

And of course, the super cute face!

I love odd numbers!

Yesterday was my ultrasound, so I was able to see pictures of my beautiful baby! Everything looks really good, and the baby is big. It weighs 1 lb 2oz right now, which is larger than Isaac and Audrey were at this age.

The baby is measuring 12 days bigger than expected, so there was a lot of talk about moving the expected due date (October 16) up a couple of weeks. Eventually, the doc decided that we'd leave the due date as is, but she'd be more flexible in scheduling the c-section (she normally will not do it more than 10 days ahead of the due date). Considering my history of early big babies, we decided that October 3 was a reasonable date. So I finally have a baby born on an odd date! Still in an even month and year, but at least the date is odd! That's assuming that this baby waits until the scheduled time to arrive.

The office has the 4D machine now, so we have silly putty pictures of the baby. Usually, Monte and I have been able to guess the sex based on different features, and we thought it'd be even easier with the 4D, but we can't tell. Our guts are still telling us BOY, but we're not confident enough in that to give up the search for a girl name.

I'd post pictures, but I forgot to get the CD from the ultrasound tech. I'll have to stop in next week and pick that up.

The new disposal

It's all fixed! After only 7 trips to various home improvement stores (BTW, Godwin is the best!), we had everything we needed to complete the project. I won't even mention the number of hours spent on it. But it is done.

It's really nice having a properly functioning disposal again, with properly fitted pipes and a properly installed switch.

The only downside is that the disposal claims to be at least 60% quieter than standard disposals. With the water running, I can't hear it working! That will take some getting used to, but it is so nice!

The kitchen stink

So we finally got around to the looking at the kitchen plumbing, and figured out much of the stench issue. We discovered that the connector from the disposal to the drain pipe was leaking, and realized that we had a bad seal. The smell was from the buildup of nasty drain water sitting under the sink. Gross. So Monte cleaned that all up (sometimes pregnancy nausea comes in handy!), and headed to the store to find out how to fix it. Nice, easy $.99 fix for a new seal.

So he brought the seal home, took the drain apart, and discovered the disposal flange (hidden under the drain connector and seal) had a small hole. Well, a seal isn't going to fix a hole in the disposal, and it's not just a replaceable part of the disposal. So we headed back to the store to get a new disposal (we'd looked at them a couple of years ago, knowing we'd have to replace ours soon, so at least we didn't experience sticker shock).

Unfortunately, the connector on the new ones is a different size than on our old one, so we had to run back to the store for new pipe fittings. Also, since the previous owners cobbled everything together, the wiring wasn't exactly the way it was supposed to be, so we also picked up some liquid-tight conduit to run the electrical wires to the switch. Oh, yes, we also needed a cable connector to connect said conduit to the disposal. But apparently, it needs to be threaded, so it was back to the store to get a threaded connector to join the cable connector to the disposal. We are seriously sick of home improvement stores at this point.

Hopefully Monte will have the kitchen sink put back together by the morning so that I can run the dishwasher!

Oh, the stench is gone. Yea!

In case you don't believe me

This is what Isaac turns into when I get out the camera -

I can't get enough of this face!

I know I have another child, but he always goes into freak mode when I get out the camera. So for now, I'm just showing off this gorgeous girl of mine:

What a conundrum

We find ourselves facing a childless weekend for the first time in a loooong time. Monte's mom has invited the kids to her house for the weekend, so we get the house all to ourselves. I think I'll use the time to sleep, and Monte will try to catch up on schoolwork. Cast your vote for other fun stuff we can do (see sidebar)!

Just for Ken

Audrey is such a girl!

I had Audrey's 18 month pictures taken yesterday (and no, I never did get her 1-year pics done, in case you're wondering), so she wore a pretty dress. When I changed her out of it, she picked it up, held it against her with one hand, and stroked the dress with the other. It was so cute! Where did she learn such a girly move???

New pictures

Here are more pictures of my adorable children

Isaac giving his ducky a bath -


Audrey getting a bath -


Audrey and Isaac playing golf -


Audrey watching a video -


Isaac giving Audrey a ride on his Gator -

Stinky kitchen

So my kitchen has been smelling bad for the past few weeks, and I knew that I'd have to tackle the fridge soon. But when one feels as ill as I have been, one does not want to expose oneself to the toxic fumes emanating from there.

Since I have been feeling much better the past few days, I started the process. Well, nothing in the fridge was really as rank as I expected, and it really wasn't a torturous undertaking as far as the cleaning went. But the kitchen still reeked. I noticed the stench most when running the dishwasher or disposal, so I've been using baking soda, vinegar, or lemon juice liberally with each run of the disposal, in an effort to eradicate the foul odor. That lasts about two hours, and then I'm forced out of the kitchen again. I've run the dishwasher empty with only baking soda, and that actually made it worse.

Nancy suggested that the culprit is a gunked-up hose in the dishwasher. That sounds likely, but that sounds like an absolutely disgusting job to clean or replace it. I'll have to take the kids out of the house while Monte works on it :)

It's really hard to prepare food in a nasty-smelling kitchen on the best of days. Throw in an already queasy stomach, and all bets are off as to whether or not it's a Taco Bell meal.

Our fun Easter weekend

Our plan was for Monte to take off from work Friday afternoon, and then we'd head over to his parents for the weekend. Saturday was Christian's birthday party, and Sunday was his parents' anniversary, so we were planning on dinner out Saturday night.

Didn't quite work out that way. Monte woke up early Friday morning vomiting. Not fun. I spent the morning tending to him. Then at around noon, as I was preparing lunch, Audrey started vomiting as well. So as I was cleaning it up, I of course felt sick, too. No lunch was eaten that afternoon. So the three of us spent the afternoon sleeping and vomiting, while poor Isaac, who was finally feeling better, was left to his own devices.

OK - so we delay going for a day. Not a huge deal. Except that what I had was more than just morning sickness, and more than just a stomach bug. Somehow the two combined are exponential in their effects. I puked 13 times in 10 hours, leading me to believe that I was seriously dehydrated. I placed a call to my doc, who sent me to the hospital for IV fluids. Supposed to have been just a couple of hours, but 13 hours later, I was finally home again.

I slept much of the time in the hospital, which was really nice, but I sure did miss my family. It didn't help that I was on the birthing floor, so I kept hearing babies crying, and the older siblings yelling for mommy.

Sunday was a day of rest for us all, and was much needed. Isaac was still a little too wired for us, but really, he's been so good through all of this.

Now it's Monday - Monte is back at work, I'm feeling much better, and I have a mountain of laundry waiting, a stack of dishes (how? we haven't eaten!), and a ton of disinfecting to do.

Pictures

I was told that I need to post more pictures here, so here they are! Just for you, Ken.

Bedtime - Audrey likes to be in Isaac's bed when we sing and pray.


Audrey thinks cleaning the toilet is funny!


Audrey getting into my scrapbooking tote - she likes my pens


Isaac and Audrey watching a video


Nice follow-through, Isaac!

Update on life

Anyone who cares enough to read my blog already knows this, but I am pregnant! Another baby in this crazy house. The baby is due October 16, so will likely be scheduled for the 2nd. The first thing Karen told me was, "Don't pick Kira up from school!" I wasn't planning on it, until . . .

Bec asked me to shopping for maternity clothes with her. Yes, she's pregnant, too! She's due September 30, so she might be asking me to watch Kira after school for a bit. NO! I won't do it! I think we need to set up a schedule with Grandma Nancy :)

How exciting to experience our pregnancies together, but now we can't get our toenails done for our birthday this year.

Another snow day (we are in Michigan, after all)

We've had more cold weather, and more snow. Here are some fun pictures from the past week:


Bec came and watched the kids while Nancy and I went to a movie. They made a snowman!




And of course, a snow day is incomplete without a snowball fight!