richie's birthday!

well, today is richie's birthday, and since i wanted it to be special, i actually got myself out of bed at 6:30 this morning and made breakfast before he had to leave for work. he had requested that i make these really yummy cinnamon biscuits, that i've made several times, which he is rather fond of. i really like them, so i thought i'd share the recipe! they are pretty simple, and really delicious, so here you go!

Sweet Cinnamon Biscuits
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk (or i use sour milk made with like a tablespoon of vinegar mixed with enough milk to make 3/4 cup)
8 tbs. butter, softened (i actually use light margarine, it's already soft, and has no cholesterol!)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

1. combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a med. bowl and mix well. stir in vegetable oil. add buttermilk and stir just until blended.
2. knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. roll dough into a 15x8 inch rectangle.
3. preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9-inch round baking pan lightly.
4. spread butter over the dough. combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle over the butter. roll up rectangle, jelly roll fashion, starting from one long side. pinch seam to seal.
5. cut the roll into 1 1/2 inch slices. arrange the slices, cut side up, in prepared baking pan. bake until lightly browned, about 15 to 20 minutes.

they are really yummy served with some pancake syrup on the side, and with some fruit. enjoy!

the results are in...

i had my ultrasound this morning, and they say that we're having a baby girl! lucy had been saying that she wanted another baby sister, so i guess she's gonna get one! we're incredibly excited now that we finally know what we are having, and kind of relieved seeing as how we already have a ton of little girl clothes and such.

lucy's birthday

Lucy turned the big 4 on wednesday, 23 july, and we had a party for her this afternoon with family and friends.

I made her a really cute cake (if i do say so myself), for the occasion.

She got some really cool presents including a new fish tank (but no fish yet, i'll have to make another post when we get them), thanks brittany and caleb, and a new bike complete with tassles, a horn, a basket, and a helmet. she also got a little makeup kit from grandpa (mostly lip gloss and fingernail polish, which lucy used to paint her own fingernails all by herself without me knowing), and new carebear that she just can't put down for a second. you can see it in the basket of her bike. she also got some really cool puzzles (both she and jayne love puzzles) that jayne seemed more fascinated with than she did!

here she is on her new bike.

she's my big girl! and there's me in all of my pregnant glory...

it was a good day!

fun

so, richie and i decided we would do a puzzle together for fun. richie had given me a couple of 500 piece puzzles for christmas a couple of years ago, and we never got around to putting one of them together. we started working on it sunday evening, and we worked on it for 2 or 3 hours every evening until we finally finished it wednesday night. i was up until 11:30pm working on the last section of it, and i was so proud of our work when we were finally done, that i just had to post a picture of it! it's a picture of some castle somewhere, but i really like it. yay for us!

i see you!

i had borrowed a suitcase from my friend, brittany, for our trip to washington a few weeks ago, and i still haven't given it back. Lucy was playing with it this evening after dinner, and as it got quiet, and i couldn't hear her making noise, i went to find her. in the living room, i found the suitcase, and i looked at the front of it, and this is what i found.

silly girl...

boy or girl???

i had my sonogram on tuesday, and everything looks good. The doctor couldn't tell if the baby is a boy or a girl, so i have an appointment in 2 weeks with a specialist to have another sonogram. maybe he'll be able to tell! i did get a tape of the ultrasound, though, too bad i don't spend a lot of time looking at sonograms, or else i'd be able to say what i was looking at. i could at least see the little heart ticking! very cute...

our trip to washington

Well, we left for our trip to Bremerton, Washington on the 28th of june, and we drove for about 36 hours in two days. It was a long trip, but it went by quickly. It was absolutely beautiful up there, i hadn't been back there since before i got married, about 6 years ago! The weather was perfect, in the 70s about every day, and we got to spend a lot of time outside. Jayne had a hard time sticking to her potty training while we were there, but now that we're home, she seems to be doing well again. i don't know how that works, but i hope she keeps it up! It's definately good to be back, though. We took 3 days to get home this time, and the girls really enjoyed getting to stay in 2 motels on the way back! Lucy and Jayne did so well while we were traveling, they only really bickered a few times, and were in good moods. Now that our trip is over, the next thing we have to look forward to is the sonogram next week. i hope we can tell if the baby is a boy or a girl!

We went to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington, and there was a kids section where there were slides, and the kids could feed goats. They had a really awesome aquarium, and Lucy loved the beluga whales (but i didn't get any pics of the whales).

The reason for our trip to Bremerton, was to celebrate my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. For the occasion, me and my sister-in-law (with the help or my sister and my mom, and our friend, tana) made a cake for them with yellow roses on it (my grandma's favorite). It turned out very nice, if i do say so myself!

While we were in washington, we got together with some other family from washington, and some from idaho, and colorado, and spent the day at Long Lake in Port Orchard. The girls loved playing in the sand, and swimming in the lake.

We all had such a good time hanging out and spending time with family and friends in the beautiful weather! See how happy i am?