Jennavieve's First Year in Black and White

//Happy 1st Birthday, sweet baby girl!  

You have filled our lives with more joy than we could have ever imagined.

   May you grow to know and love Jesus.\\

Mallory is 3

I shared yesterday about Isabella turning four, and today it's Mallory's turn.  Never in my wildest imagination did I think my first two children would be born just one year and twelve days apart, right after Christmas!  It's a busy time of year for us, but lots of fun.  Somehow it always sneaks up on me and I'm obviously behind in writing about it.

Anyhow...

Mallory turned 3 last week and we had a fun day celebrating her.  She requested a smoothie for breakfast, cheese chips for lunch {tortilla chips with melted cheese}, and pizza, NOT homemade, veggies and dip for dinner.  We topped it off with strawberry cake.  Mallory is definitely our fruit and veggie lover.  Turning 3 in our household also means being able to chew gum, so she has definitely made her way through at least one pack of gum this week.

What is Mallory like at 3 years old?

-Independent.  She wants to do everything 'by myself'.  She has even started dressing herself, without any instruction, which is very helpful.  She also buckles herself into the carseat, another huge help to me!

-Funny.  This girl has a sense of humor and is pretty quick with comebacks.  She keeps us laughing and makes everything more fun.

-Sensitive.  She can get her feelings hurt pretty easily, but she's also quick to comfort others when they are sad, hurt, or upset.

-BINGO lover.  The girls got BINGO recently and Mallory loves it!  It's really helping her to identify her numbers, so she's having fun and learning at the same time.

-Hugger.  Wow, this girl can give some awesome hugs!  She wraps her arms as tight as she can around our necks and hangs on for dear life.  I hope she never gets tired of this.

We love our girl!  She has fun with her sister, but it's also great to get Mallory one-on-one.  It's during those times that she opens up and talks to us.  We're learning more and more what each of our children needs from us in the way of love and attention.  This parenting thing sure is the hugest learning curve I've ever had!  But, oh. how. worth. it.

Isabella is 4

Our oldest daughter, Isabella, turned 4 at the end of December.  It's hard to believe we've already had her in our family for four years.  She is such a delight to us!  We had a family celebration on the day of her birthday, just a small dinner, cake and some gifts.  The birthday girl requested macaroni and cheese with sweet potato casserole for dinner.  She's easy to please!  She was a little bit sick on her birthday, so didn't really enjoy it, but her attitude was great anyway.

What is Isabella like at four years old?

Well...

- Questions abound.  Who, what, when, where, why, how--that pretty much sums it up!

- Imagination is always present.  Most days she never even wears 'normal' clothes.  From the moment she gets out of bed until she puts on her pj's at night, Isabella is in dress up clothes.  {Thanks, Nana, for keeping us well supplied!}

- Love for her siblings is obvious.  She enjoys being with Mallory {most of the time} and they both play quite well together right now.  I love to listen in on their giggling and chattering throughout the day.  Isabella shows great affection for Mason.  She always kisses him, wants him to be happy, and is interested in everything about him.

- A lover of books.  We could sit and read all day and this girl would be thrilled!

- Game player.  After receiving a few new games for Christmas, we could alternate between the books and games and she would be content.

I could go on with a long list, but said girl just got up from her rest time, so I must sign off.  We are so thankful for our little big girl and look forward to what this next year has in store for her.

Homemade Pasta {A Birthday Gift Review}

Tuesday was my big birthday:  I've reached my 30's!  It's really not that bad.  I guess for some reason I thought I'd be mildly depressed about hitting this new decade, but it's no big deal after all.  I'm thankful for the life I've been given.

For the past few years I've been wanting to know how to make homemade pasta.  Sure, dried pasta is fairly inexpensive, but there has been something appealing to me about making my own.  So, this year for my birthday I requested a pasta maker.  I did some research and most reviews I read recommended a manual pasta maker rather than an electric one.  This is the one that was given to me:

via

When I first looked at it, I thought that for sure I would end up in tears while making my first batch.  Oh, no!  This machine is SO easy to use and I LOVE it!!  Making pasta from scratch does take time, but once I got the hang of rolling it out, it went pretty quickly.  Fresh pasta only takes about 5 minutes to cook, so you do save some time on that end {at least 5 minutes--ha!}.  

How does one make pasta, you ask?  It couldn't be any easier, really.  Mix together some flour, eggs, and water when needed, and you have a basic pasta dough.  I'm looking forward to trying some variations of this, like spinach pasta, black pepper pasta, tomato pasta, etc.  Plus, it will be really fun to make homemade ravioli, tortellini, and other stuffed pastas.

What recipe did I attempt first, you ask?  None other than a classic Fettuccine Alfredo.  It was delicious.

This is what it looks like after going through the pasta maker, pre-cooked.

 

I think she had me take 15 pictures of her eating pasta.

Sorry for the blurry one, but Isabella wanted to show off her long noodles.

Weekend Away

Back around Christmas time, I told Bradley that I really wanted our family to go and visit my parents for a long weekend.  We don't usually take time off to be with them, so our time there is usually 24 hours, which is wonderful, but not long enough.  Since my birthday is coming up next week, we thought it would be fun to visit them around my birthday and get to celebrate with my family.  We had a great time!  AND, to top it off, we were surprised with about 6 inches of snow on Sunday!!  Here are a few pictures of my girls enjoying the snow {I stayed inside with my 6 month old nephew}.

No boots, but plastic bags over the shoes worked just fine.

My older sister and her daughter.

My mom started the snow man construction.

Cousins with their creation.

Nini/Nana with her three granddaughters.

Not the best quality picture, but these are my awesome parents who played in the snow for about 1 1/2 hours!

On Saturday, we had a nice visit with some dear friends for breakfast.  Then, my family gave me the day off!  It was wonderful!  I mostly sat on the couch, just enjoying the company of my family, reminiscing over the past 30 years, and being spoiled.  They cooked an amazing dinner for me, and we ended it with some fantastic cheesecake.  My sister, Sherri, captured some the photo below, and other photos of the birthday celebration, so head on over to her blog to check out the festivities!

photo courtesy of lifeofawife

We just got back home last night, to a clean house {yay!} and I'm gearing up to finish the girls' room, hopefully by the end of this month {only 1 week left!}.  I just need a huge burst of energy and then it's on to painting, sewing, and decorating.  Can't wait to show you the reveal!