Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

So I was watching Bobby Flay lose a Throwdown making Chicago Deep Dish Pizza and I thought, I want to try that. So I did. I ate way too much and was hurting afterward. That being said, I spent all morning wanting another piece. Here's the pictures of the Pizzas I made, but they won't be the last.

Dentist Time!

Now that Violet is 3 years old we took her for her first dentist exam! She did awesome:) Not a huge shocker since she is one of the only children I know who when I tell her we are going to the doctor she gets so excited and talks about it nonstop! I think she is just so curious and wants to touch everything(she may come by that naturally-her like of doctors and wanting to touch everything!). Anyways, like I said, she did great. She watched me have my teeth cleaned first (which only interested her for about 5 seconds) and then explored the rest of the office. I'm not sure that the office staff quite knew what to make of her though:) Several of them said, "wow, she has a lot of energy!". I'm still not sure if they were happy about that or if that was their way of saying-"hey lady, reign in your kid!"(which is a little difficult when someone has their hands in your mouth. I was just happy Violet opened her mouth when it was her turn and didn't bite down when they put their fingers in her mouth! I did realize during the exam at how literal a 3 year old is. When they would say, "open wide", she would. Then it would be too wide and the hygenist would say "too wide, close it". And she would completly close her mouth. So I finally had her do what I did and sat there with my mouth open the way the dentist needed her too. (the things you do for your child!) The other thing that she loved playing with was the little water fountain on the side of the chair where you rinse your mouth. After playing with that while I had my teeth cleaned and drinking a ton of water, she had to stop THREE times while her teeth were being looked at to go to the bathroom! So, what I thought would be maybe an hour trip to the dentist, turned into an hour and a half trip! I'm just glad she told me and she didn't pee in the dentist chair....Always a silver lining:) The dentist prognosis: Her baby teeth are great-all 20 of them! She does not have any space between them though so when her big teeth come in she will probably need some type of orthodonics to help make space...fun times ahead:) But we don't have to worry about that until probably around 12 years old.

Welcome Baby Ezekiel

Ezekiel Edwin Schmidgall was born on 3/17 at 3:17AM to our good friends Joel, Nina, and big sister Ella! We are so excited to have another little boy in our lives and believe great things are in store for this little guy! It was confirmed when we read Ezekiel 3:17- “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from me, pass it on to the people immediately.” Wow! That gave me the chills when I read it! Congrats Joel, Nina, and Ella! He's a cutie:)

Happy Birthday Bo & Taylor!

Bo and Taylor are 2 of our favorite kids! They both have birthdays in the same week, so their mommy planned an awesome combined birthday party-Pirates and Fairies! It was the cutest thing ever and "mommy Laura" (that is what Vi calls her) put a LOT of work into making an awesome party for both 1 year olds and 3 year olds!

Here are some fun pictures from the party:

Guess Who's WALKING!!

Owen has been taking a step here and there over this last week. It's usually one step, he realizes he's not holding something and falls. But on Sunday(3/15) he started walking across the room! I think we counted a total of 8 steps before he would fall. On Sunday he was 10 months and 1 day old too:) And as you can see from the video he is super excited about it especially when we all clap!

Owen's 9 Month Photo Shoot

My good friend Nina is so talented and blessed with the gift of photography! I always treasure the pictures she catches of my kids. She truly has a way of capturing their personality! Plus it is always fun to have someone take pictures of your children who are a part of their lives and love them so much! Nina's love for my kids definetly comes through in the pictures she takes of them!!

This is Owen's George W impression!

Violet needed a few shots of her so as not to feel left out:)

Growing N Going

Both Violet and Owen had their well-visits to the Pediatrician.

Violet weighed in at 33.6# and is just over 3 feet! Violet is in the 90th percentile.

Owen weighed 20.6# and is 29 1/2 inches long! Owen is in the 50th percentile. He also has gained about 1 1/2 pounds since his procedure, only a month ago. He is loving to eat all kinds of things!! He also got his first tooth this week! And I think we are only days away from walking! He is cruising around on his push toys and holds on to anything he can to move himself along:)

Owen is also a HUGE fan of the dogs! I always find him laying on them and kissing them. They are so good with him crawling all over them.

Here are a few pictures from our tea party! Violet has been asking me to have a "real" tea party and asking me if her Mom Mom was coming over. So I decided to make it quite grand and give her a real tea party (we even used the real china!-what's the point in having it if it sits in the china cabinet all the time!). We sent an invitation to Mom Mom and Violet asked me every day if it was time for her tea party yet?! Violet's Great-Great Aunt Pat was also able to join us and Violet had a great time with her as well! She kept asking me "what's that girl's name?". So, we had tea sandwiches, tea cookies, chocolate covered with sprinkles Strawberries, eclairs, and of course tea. Mom Mom brought Violet a "Pink Princess Tea Recipe" book. It is super cute and has lots of recipes for kids tea parties. Both Violet and I dressed up too:) Violet in her purple tutu with matching headpiece and me in my pink floppy hat, and of course we both wore white gloves:) We all had a blast and I don't think it will be too long til Vi is ready for a real tea house!