I can't believe she's still just three.

Olivia colored on her sister's doll with a dry erase marker. After lecture the consequence decided upon was that the marker is going in the trash. This was met with much wailing and desperate pleas.

"But MOM! I put all my love into that marker. And you just want to throw that away???!!!!"

"Okay fine - if you don't throw it away, when I grow up I'll give you 50 bucks."

Where on earth does she come up with this stuff???

Sopapilla Cheesecake

I made this for dessert tonight and Aaron declared it "one of the best desserts he's ever had". (He claims he has commitment issues which is why he will never declare something truly the best he's ever had... to which I replied, 'You don't have commitment issues, you proposed to me after four weeks!!' .. to which he replied, "THAT'S AN ISSUE!")

Anyway this is going to my new go to dessert for parties, showers, etc. So easy, cheap and yum!

All you need :
2 rolls of Pillsbury Crescent rolls (I used store brand, and you could use three if you don't want to stretch it so much, but 2 worked for us)
2 packages of cream cheese (I used Nufatchel or whatever it's called)
1 c. of sugar
1. T vanilla
melted butter
Cinnamon sugar

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350. Unroll and spread 1 can of the crescent rolls on the bottom of an un-greased pan. Combine softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. I used an electric mixer. Spread mixture over crescent rolls. Unroll and spread remaining crescent rolls over mixture. Spread melted butter over the top and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

It smelled so good I couldn't wait for it to cool off before digging in. It was delicious while it was hot. Then a couple hours later, cleaning up the kitchen, it had gotten cold... and it was still delicious. I'm actually continuing to type right now just to keep my hands busy so I don't find myself back in the kitchen polishing off the pan....

*found the recipe on pinterest from this blog. http://myellowumbrella.blogspot.com/2010/10/sopapilla-cheesecake.html

right now

A snap shot of our life right now...
Nathan is an amazingly wonderful little baby. And not quite so little. He's already about 13lbs, and 24 inches long. He goes four hours between feedings. Sometimes 6 hours at night. He coos, and goos, and makes the cutest little sounds I've ever heard.

Olivia's all time favorite thing right now is watching her daddy play Zelda. She sits next to him with her own controller and pretends she's helping him. It's the cutest thing ever. And for book club this month we are reading The Hobbit. I thought it would be fun to read with Olivia, not sure how she would do, but thought I'd give it a shot. She loves it. We have been reading it at night before she goes to bed.

And then my sweet little Abigail. She wants to do everything herself. If you open a package, juicebox, whatever, before handing it to her, you will suffer her wrath. Which usually involves screaming of, "ABBY DO IT!" And so Abby does it. I tell her I love her constantly. To which she constantly replies, "No you don't." And I say, "Yes, I do. I love you more than (insert anything lovable here)" to which she replies, "No you don't!" And my heart breaks. I know it's just a game to her, but I worry about my "middle child". The other day she got her microphone and started singing. "Abbeeeee looooooost..aaaaaaaaaaaaabeeeee loooosst..."
I said, "Oh pretty song, Abigail!" And she said, "No. Sad song. Abby lost." What on earth am I supposed to make of that??

That mini heart attack when your baby sleeps for longer than 5 hours for the first time.

The panic gripping your chest as you tiptoe to where he sleeps and try to assess if he's breathing, without waking him up.

The wave of relief wash over you as he takes a sudden deep, noisy breath.

The clarity of mind you have throughout the day after getting 6 solid hours of sleep for the first time in months.

Oh the emotions of having a 5 week old around.

Proud wife.

Last night my darling husband was honored at a banquet, along with about 20 other students. They were all inducted into Rho Chi, which is basically pharmacy's super cool smart kid club. He is in the top % of his class - I don't remember the %, 10? 15? Something like that. Anyway sitting there with him last night was fun, but so meaningful to me. I know my husband is great. But I know his greatness alone could not have gotten us to where we are. As his dean addressed us, I felt a whisper telling me how aware the Lord is of us. The year Aaron applied to LECOM was the hardest year to date for him to get accepted. It was ranked the 4th most competitive pharmacy program in the country that year, based on the fact that 1,800 students and applied and less than 150 were accepted. When I think of that whole process - from the time Aaron felt like pharmacy school was the next path he wanted to take - to where we are now - I know we have not done it alone. Aaron worked full time. He did two years worth of science classes in one crazy year. He took the PCAT with only a few weeks of science classes behind him - and he freaking nailed it! Anyway, I'm bragging on him a lot right now - but really it was made very clear to me that we aren't doing it alone. That we were guided here, and have been blessed all along the way.

So as decisions come up as to where to go next, and we begin to worry about where or if he'll get a job - I just have to laugh. Would the same Power that led us here, and sustained and blessed us here abandon us now? Of course not. On this Sabbath day, I am feeling full of hope and faith about the future. Whatever and wherever it will bring us.

(This is including getting me through the next few winter months with all my babies!)

My favorite hobby

I love to read what google searches people did to find my blog. It always gives me a little chuckle. One that keeps popping up is, "just pee in your diaper".

This leaves me wondering, is just one person searching for this over and over again? Or is this a common thing to google? And I have said it before to my children, but I don't remember ever blogging about. Perhaps I did. Person googling this, did you find what you were looking for?

One that popped this week, "Is Opie a scrabble word?". Hm.. Is opie a scrabble word? Good question. *googling the question myself* No, no it is not. But I can see how this brought my blog up. We love us some scrabble around here. And we're Opies. But after googling this myself, the first seven sites that come up answer your question. Why would you click on the blog to answer this question?? Sorry for disappointing you by not having the answer to your question, but hope you enjoyed my funny stories.

Another common search that brings people to my blog, "mommy I puked". I just don't even know what to say. Sorry to the poor person dealing with that right now.

And finally to the person (people) who find my blog by searching "our little opie family" 508 times last year... the address is wonderfullifoflaurenopie.blogspot.com  How complicated is that!? ... Very I know. I've struggled with wanting to change the title of this blog pretty much since its inception. Suggestions??

Life with three kids. How's the adjustment going? The above picture does a pretty good job of summing up my emotions. I kid, but really as I was uploading these pictures I realized I have no pictures of Abigail. Cue mommy guilt. She is going to have "Middle Child Syndrome" and it's going to be all my fault!

But I need to tell the story of the first two pictures. This is the result of what happens when I try to sneak away for 10 quiet minutes. Any mom of young children know there really is no such thing as 10 quiet minutes. In fact 5 quiet minutes should alarm you. But no, I selfishly cleaned the playroom and gabbed away on the phone with my best friend. As I returned upstairs I literally couldn't believe what I was seeing. Is that an empty water bottle on the floor? Did they really open a water bottle and dump it out. Oh no... they didn't just dump out ONE water bottle... they emptied about 36! All over the living room, entry way, and stairs. The carpet was soaked. They knew they were in trouble so they didn't even fight going to their room. And I went to mine to get Aaron, so I could crack up. As in laugh my head off. Yes, that is how I deal with these situations. I find the humor. Which is good for staying sane, but not so much for discipline. You definitely don't want your kids going around thinking it's funny to waste things like bottled water. So I sent Aaron in to deal with them while I tried to keep my laughter out of their earshot. They cleaned it all up, and it hasn't been spoken of since. However, I will randomly crack up laughing every time I think about it.  I mean it's just so ridiculous! What could possibly go through children's heads when they do things like this? Olivia clearly knew she was going to get in trouble - and yet it didn't stop her. And really, it was wrong. But could have been much, much worse. I know I would not have been laughing if it was the cans of soda they decided to play this game with. Or if they dumped the water on the laptop, camera or other non-water friendly items that were around.

The next picture is of Olivia sledding. We have a fun little hill right outside our door. Liv had a blast sledding down it. Then the next day it melted, and we splashed in the mud puddles. And now two days later, it is like a blizzard out there, and I'm sure our pile will be back by morning. The weather has been crazy this winter. And I love that we have had some random warm days to help us stay sane.

I think Nathan's expressions clearly sum up life around here. In a "what the heck is going on" and a simple "waaaahhhhhhh!" kind of way. He is a great little baby though. He likes to be rocked to sleep. He eats every 4 hours on the dot. (Or watch out.) And he is very, very loved by his big sisters. The funniest thing to me is when he is crying and Abigail will go up to him and say, "Don't cry Baby Boy - watch this." And then she makes a funny face by sticking her fingers in her mouth and sticking out her tongue.

Resolute.

I love new years. And making resolutions. And setting goals. I just love trying to be better than I was yesterday. I usually aim big, and fall short, but in the end, I think I wind up a bit better than I was if I never set the goal in the first place. I don't know how many times I set a goal to run a marathon, or a 5K or whatever... hasn't happened yet, but I still ran more than I would have if I never set that goal. But this year? This year, with our new family of 5... I have low expectations for myself.

My main goal this year -- stay out of the mental hospital. Don't sell my children on Craigslist. Shower at least 5 times a week.

So far, so good!

Okay so really... those might be a little too attainable. And since for me setting a goal to run a marathon = running for 3 weeks... a goal of staying out of the mental hospital, might equal a nervous breakdown of some sort that only requires minimal hospitalization. So I'm going to aim a little a higher...

This year I'm focusing on education. I want to learn stuff. I feel like my brain has atrophied since becoming a mother. I'm thinking I'm going to take an open yale course. I want to learn about the French Revolution for some reason. I watched Les Miserables this week, and even though that movie isn't even about the French Revolution, it left me wondering about it. So goal 1 - Complete an Open Yale course. 

Right now my house is in disarray. Complete disarray. I've used the excuse of wanting to cuddle my baby, and being worn out from traveling that I haven't done a darn thing since I've been home. So starting tomorrow I am going to kick it into gear with house cleaning. I want to follow the Creation Plan Cleaning Schedule. I've used it before and it worked for me. So I'm going to jump back into that tomorrow. Goal 2 - Have a house cleaning routine.

After having my third baby in less than 4 years I'm currently 50lbs heavier than when I got married. Yikes! Poor Aaron. I literally had to do the math in my head just now to figure that out and it's more depressing than I thought. I would be thrilled to lose 25lbs and keep it off this year. I would be over the moon to lose all 50lbs... and I guess sticking with my reach for the moon style of goal setting... Goal 3- lose 50lbs this year.

Olivia is so stinking smart. She already knows all of her letters and their sounds. So this year I want to teach her how to read. I also want to teach her to count to 20. She gets all confused after 13.Goal 4 - teach Olivia to read and count to 20.


Abigail is no dummy either. I want to start "mommy school" with her this year as well. She knows a few letters, and all of her colors, so I want to work on her number and letter recognition. Goal 5 - Teach Abigail all of her letters and numbers.


My only goal for Nathaniel is to continuing nursing him for 12 months. And read to him every night. Not really aiming very high here... but I can't think of anything else, and since I had goals for my other children I don't want to leave him out.


And then of course there are the spiritual goals. I want to read my scriptures and say my prayers every day. I want to be better about reading scriptures as a family. I would love if we could start next year already in the habit of regular family scripture study.

2012 is going to be a crazy year. Aaron starts rotations this summer. I'm not sure where it will take us, but I know for sure we will be back in AZ by November. So another goal of mine is to travel a whole lot less in 2012 than we did in 2011. After going to NJ right after Nathan was born, then flying to AZ shortly after that, I'm ready to just stay put for a while. Although I've said that before...

Three kids

Somehow having three kids makes me feel like I have a hundred kids. I don't know how this one little person exponentially upped my workload, but he did. It's probably compounded by just not being home. We are loving the time with friends and family and the sunshine... but missing daddy like crazy.

Like crazy, crazy. The sunshine feels wonderful, but my husband's arms would feel 1000x better. Wah wah wah.

Olivia loves her little brother. SO MUCH. Abigail's warming up to him. She basically ignores him, or tortures him... And my 2 seconds to update this blog are up. Such is life these days.