Hijacked Blog...

"HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELANIE DEAR, HAPPY DAYS WILL COME TO YOU ALL YEAR, IF I HAD ONE WISH THAN IT WOULD BE. THAT I COULD BE THERE TO WISH YOU A HAPPY BIRTHDAY PERSONALLY."  on February 24th :)

Melanie Alice (Blue) Chambers,

I want you to know how much I love you and am so grateful you are my sister.  I admire you in so many ways...1. You are such a great mother and wife. 2. You are a SUPER great sister and friend. 3.  You have such a strong testimony.  4.  You have a great excitement for life.  5. You love to exercise, eat healthy and take care of yourself.  6.  You have dealt with your diabetes without complaining. 7.  You are a great artist. 8.  You don't judge others. 9.  You are a good listener. 10.  Most of all YOU are my FAVORITE little sister.  I hope you have a great day of celebrating with Brad, Chloe, Ezra, Lola and Mom and Dad.  Too bad I can't come and surprise you this year.  I Love You!

Love,
Em

Lola Belle Chambers

The day started with this classic shot, those are monitors under Mel's gown, not alien feet.  Below is our little chunk.  Her face is a bit bruised as it was a lot of work for the doctors to her out.  First we saw the big cheeks and everyone said this baby is big! then they wiggled her out to the waist and she was stuck there for about 10 seconds and we were all waiting for the moment of truth..and then out she came.  Later in the day Chloe asked me how we know that it is a girl now?  That led to a puzzled look from me and ended with me saying "she doesn't have a weenie like Ezra." That seemed to satisfy her but I am wondering if I just failed as a dad.

 Isn't she perfect?  9lbs 1oz is the biggest of the 3, born at 8:19am.  She is eating well and is very content to be bundled up tight and held.  She looks a lot like what we remember Chloe looking like as a new born and will have to post some pictures for comparison.

 These two sure are proud of their little sister.  Chloe yelled with excitement when we called her this morning to tell her that it was a girl.  I don't think it set in until I said, you have a new little sister.  She is so happy and can't wait to start playing with her.

We are so happy she is here and healthy.  Mel is doing great, loving not being pregnant anymore and having Lola to hold.  We can't believe that we have 3 kids now and are so grateful for the new addition.  More pictures to come in the next few days.

a beverage, a book, and a big belly

This is the most delicious obsession of mine. It's called frosty hot chocolate. It's loosely based on recipes I have seen online. Mine is 1 cup of milk heated up with 2 packets of diet chocolate mix. Then you pour that in a blender and add ice and blend away to your desired consistency. I like the crunchy ice (like a snowee from summer) and then top it with cool whip and the must have mini chocolate chips. So good and pretty much no calories at all. Mmmm...I want one right now.

 Ezra loves these sunglasses.

 As you can see. This is the middle of the night when we check on him.

 And as further proof...another night.

 Thank goodness my cute friend let me borrow all of her cute church dresses so on Sundays I felt like i was a hip whale. Here i am almost 38 weeks.

 I asked for a sample of turkey and the store and this lady said, "oh you must be hungry..." Um..or maybe I just want to actually taste the turkey before I buy it.
At church a lady asked me how many babies I was carrying and a guy said, "whoa you look ready to pop."
Little do these people know I technically have 2 weeks left but by the grace of heaven I am able to deliver at 38 weeks. Hallelujah.

 I wanted a cute pregnancy photo to remember these times. This is what we came up with. I think it's cute in a strange basketball naked tummy hug kind of way. Chloe is beautiful.

 He makes me laugh.

 Some awesome friends tended our kids for an extended amount of time we we could go out on a date and just walk around Bed bath and Beyond.

 We ate some amazing vietnamese food.

And the book is called Unbroken by Laura Hildebrand. Read this book. It's amazing and to say it's a page turner is an understatement. I read it in 3 days. Amazing true store of this survivor of WWII in the South Pacific.

My dream is to live somewhere close to our church, the library, the kids school, and the grocery store. I would walk or bike to all these places and never use a car. This place exists in Sun Valley, Idaho. Kirksville Mo was a good one too. For 3 years we only had 1 car. Brad walked, biked or rode the bus or trax to the U and work for 2 years. He walked everyday to med school even in below 0 temps.  Let's just say, we're not afraid of public transit or "working" to get where we need to go. I even road my bike to my teaching job out in Copper Hills. A mere 16 miles each way. I can tell you, once I did that, and ran a marathon, I was thought to be a little "extreme". Once I decided to ride the bus to the big UEA conference downtown Salt Lake. Little did I know the reason for said conference is to get free things. Like free textbooks. Here I am, hauling my textbooks on the bus afterward. Brad and I both grew up with dad's who rode the bus and embraced it. So, it's safe to say i'm a parent who wants to teach her kids about  protecting the environment in any little way we can. And embracing a healthy lifestyle. Enter...our bus adventure.

We live right where the bus drops people off. Ezra loves seeing the big bus stop, though rarely does anyone get off, and Chloe asks to ride it all the time. So, as I am the parent of "making-dreams-come-true!" We went on a bus adventure. I researched our little route (30 minutes) got the pick up time, and then we waited. I had no excuse because the weather has been gorgeous and the baby is still safely inside me. 

Little did I know that the day we chose to ride the bus was Rosa Park's day. February 4th. We got on and there was a white sheet of paper covering one of the front seats and it said, "reserved for Ms. Rosa Parks." 

I gave Bluebird the camera for part of the way just to see what she'd take pictures of. And, you can bet we moved around from seat to seat to seat. $1 well spent.

So, I bought this purse this summer (after lots of trips to the store which Brad loved:). I had to have the perfect bag. This was before I knew we were pregnant and this was just gonna be my big mom bag. You can see it wasn't really big enough, the top never zipped shut, but it had some niceties to it and now...it's broken. I've never needed/wanted a bag so bad. Never had a diaper bag with the last two so I guess I will be buying a sweet diaper bag for this little person.

1. C-section finally scheduled. I am 2nd on the list because they dragged their feet scheduling me.

2. Amazingly 3 good people watched Chloe and EZ while I had to go to not 1 but 2 doctors offices to complete one appointment. It was a snowy day too.

3. I am 34 and 1/2 weeks today and Chloe and I looked at her baby book. I was so cute and tiny being pregnant with her. Holy cow this baby has taken over my body. I am large and in charge. That's for sure. But My Brad loves me and encourages me and compliments me so couldn't ask for more.

4. We've decided if you want to find out what the baby is, upon delivery, then you have to actually call us. No texts. This baby deserves more than that! And if no one calls maybe we will keep it's gender concealed until it's 5 like some crazies did in the UK.

This inspires me. See if you can pick out where it's from in one of the next few pictures.  I love the colors, the shapes, the scatterings.

Before EZ was born we went on a little getaway to St. Louis as a little family of 3. This time we went on a little getaway to Bloomington. We stayed in a hotel, ate at a restaurant, swam, played at the Children's museum, visited some terrific friends, and finished with Beauty and the Beast on the big screen. Which was "magical" according to Bluebird. I can't believe we will be a family of 5 soon.

 This little guy loves his trains.

 She loves to play pretend in every way.

 Discovering the camera.

 He loves the water too.

 I have this same picture of Chloe when she is 2. Oh, Discovery Children's Museum of Bloomington. We love you. You have seen us/me through moving to B town through EZ's birth and numerous afternoons of getting the energy out.

 Oh Yes, I am pregnant and beautiful.

 Seems like I only get comments when I post food. So...look at this delicious go-to soup.
I can make this one off the top of my head so it's a winner for everyone.
Homemade Chicken Noodle with homemade super easy noodles.

The recipe:
Cook about 2-3 chicken breast in about 4 cups boiling water add 1 chicken cube. (I use reduced salt) My mom's delicious chicken seasoning trick is sprinkle poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, a little celery salt, and some dried onion in there. Makes great broth and very flavorful chicken.
Shred the Chicken. (I had done this step earlier in the week and used the chicken for 2 recipes.win.win
Strain the chicken broth
Bring the broth to a boil. Add 1 more cup of water with a boulion cube or a can of chicken stock.
Add 3-4 cut up carrots
Add 3-4 stalks celery
Cook till tender.
In a saucepan, make a rue using about 1/4 cup butter melted, add 1/4 cup flour, then add about 1-2 cups milk till thick. Add to the broth. Stir. At this point add some salt, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1 Tbsp dried onion, and pepper. (if it's not thick enough add some cornstarch mixed with water till you get it the way you like)
Meanwhile,
Noodles:
2 cups flour
3 eggs
2 TBSP milk
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of baking powder.
Mix to form a dough. Flour your hands and knead the dough till it's not sticky (keep adding a little flour) These noodles are so fool proof! Roll out with a rolling pin on a very floured surface to prevent stickage later. Slice noodles with a rolling pin. The recipes say to let dry but really, who has time for that, when you want chicken noodle soup you want it now. So...let them dry while the other stuff cooks or prepare them earlier. These noodles cook immediately when you put them in the soup. If you let them dry they retain their noodle shape. If you have to stickily put them into the hot soup they still cook fine and add some funky shapes and dumplingesque quality to the soup.
Once you add the noodles the soup is ready to go in about 5-8 minutes.
Try this...it's really good.

Amazing..

Something about a red, red grapefruit inspires my creativity. I will paint this.

And this too...
It's January 11th in this photo...January 11!! Stay please. If there are no mountains I'd prefer no snow. Though, I have to confess, I do love winter once it's here in full force. These teaser days are confusing.
And, why not make some homemade donuts. These actually turned out really good and they look pretty good.
I halved the recipe, thank goodness. Brad is out of town and we did our fair share of eating donuts. Here is the recipe if you want to give 'em a try:

Here is the full recipe:

4 1/2 cup to 5 cup flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 eggs beaten

Combine all of the above

In another bowl:

1 cup milk

1/4 cup canola oil

2 Tbsp. Orange Juice (I used a fresh orange)

4 tsp. grated orange peel (I thought it would be better with maple so I just used 1 tsp. maple flavor and 1 tsp vanilla flavor. If you were doing the full recipe you would need to double that)

Mix the wet into the dry and add just enough of the remaining 1/2 cup flour to make a soft dough. Sit in fridge for 1 hour covered.

Take out and roll on a very floured surface. Use a donut cutter or, if you're like me, just cut a circle out and then a littler circle out to make a no brainer donut shape.

Oil for deep frying. I used a combo of peanut oil and smart balance canola oil. Cause if you're having donuts why not fry them in something partially "healthy". Yeah right.

We topped with a maple glaze, powdered sugar, and a chocolate ganache type deliciousness. Next time I am certain the sprinkles will make their appearance.

Give these a try. Easy and delicious.

Happy 8 years.

We were married 8 years ago!

Tonight we celebrated with the kids. Brad and I ate by candlelight while the kids ate at their little table. They were eating at "steak and shake" and Brad and I at a much better "pretend" restaurant. I made romantic red velvet cupcakes with this amazing cooked cinnamon buttercream frosting which was delicious. We just talked and talked and acted like we were on a real date. It was awesome. Afterward, we all sat down and watched our wedding video which we hadn't done, really, for about 6 years. Chloe was mesmorized. This was a very special anniversary. One to remember.

The best part of the anniversary, though, is probably that Brad is upstairs getting them ready for bed. Finally, 31 days of nightfloat December are OVER!!! Man, I have not liked night float and am very grateful that he won't ever have a job where he'll be there nights. Thank you internal medicine clinic:)

It's been a terrific 8 years with lots and lots of UPs!

Love you My Brad.