Grace's Cooking Show: Rice Pudding by Grace

Hi my dear fans. The show was very fun to make. I hope that all my fans like it too. See if you can sneak a peek at my lost tooth in my video. I think I might make more cooking shows, or not. See for yourself.

Burps From Kate, by Melissa

Kate doesn't get too many opportunities to sit down and write out a good article ... So I thought I’d cut her a break by giving her a helping hand. That's just what Moms do!

All three of the kids have been sick this week and have consequently missed the entire week of school. Wing's training in Rocklin, California with his new job and I'm the sole care taker this week which has not been super easy. Anyway, today I decided it was time to get out of the house and have some low intensity fun. I took the kids to Hallmark and the kids spent their allowance on some new Webkinz and Kate bought a doll with purple hair because "purpa" is her favorite color.

As we were leaving Hallmark, Kate clearly said, "Go Target?" It took me a moment to comprehend what she had just said, but when I clarified with Kate by asking, "You want to go to Target?" she yelled, "Yeah!" in a very enthusiastic hoarse sounding voice. Unfortunately for Kate, we were headed to Sweet Tomatoes for some cold fighting soup, but she was quite understanding and was willing to wait.

Sweet Tomatoes is Parker and Grace's favorite place to eat. Just smelling the yummy soups brought smiles to their pale faces. Kate was the happiest while eating blue Jell-O topped with a good helping of ranch salad dressing. Needless to say, Kate is very skilled at making fear factor type foods.

When we were all full and our colds were satisfied, it was time to saddle up the troops and head towards home. All was well with Kate until I pulled into the driveway. When she realized that we were at home and not at Target she was noticeably upset and made sure that I knew exactly how she felt. Whew... It was hard to calm her down. But, I am proud of Kate's shopping sense. After all, Target is one of my favorite places to shop!

Kate has also been very brave this week. In spite of her ear ache and croupy cough, she has managed to spread love and cheer throughout the house. She has a little dog that is a tad smaller than a fist. If you press the button on the little dogs belly its cheeks light up and the words, "I wuve you, woof-woof!" can be heard. She has named her dog, Puppy and carries it with her everywhere she goes. Kate and Puppy have many things in common. For example, they are both very sensitive. She only has to pat Puppy to make him tell her that he wuves her. Each time Puppy speaks Kate says, "I wub you too!" with added emphasis to the last syllables. Now we know where Kate is hiding because she is constantly telling her little Puppy that she wubes him!

This little puppy has been quite a blessing to us the week! Now Kate is repeatedly saying, “I wub you, Mommy” and expects to hear a, “I love you too, Kate” each time. It’s so fun to hear her say, “I wub you, Barker” and, “I wub you, Gacee” accompanied by little smiles and reciprocated words.

I guess that one week alone with three sick kids isn’t that bad after all.

This picture was taken by Grace. She's a great photographer. Kate's mimicking her Dad's funny faces! It also appears that she has been into Mommies lipstick again.

Amanda took this picture at Disneyland this past April of 2007. They were playing hide and seek and Kate just got busted. She has an adorable little half screaming laugh when she gets surprised. It's one of my favorite sounds!

Yucky Blucky Veggie Pie, by parker

My Mom made a Veggie Pie. I like most vegetables. I thought it would be yummy. So my Mom cooked the veggie pie for dinner. I took a BIGHT.............. and ................. DUN-DUN-DUN. Turns out I didn't like it, but I didn't tell my Mom. Because I didn't want to hurt her feelings because I'm a good kid.

The next day at 3:30p.m. I went to my friend's house and I ate dinner with my friend. So when I got home my family had the Veggie Pie again and I didn't have to eat it or tell my Mom that I don't like it. I was lucky. I nick named it ...

YUCKY BLUCKY Veggie Pie!

(Oops, my Mom says it's called Chicken-Pot-Pie. But, I don't care. It's still YUCKY BLUCKY Veggie Pie!)

Tooting My Own Horn, by Melissa

DISCLAIMER: This posting consists of me heavily tooting my own horn. (Don't worry, it's not the stinky kind!)

Guess what? I am celebrating a major Weight Watchers achievement today! At precisely 10:03 am, I hit my 10% weight loss goal. I've been working on this for 17 weeks now and I'm just ecstatic! This bring my total weight loss to 23.6 lbs which is above and beyond my initial 10% goal. I received a major award, the coveted cooper key chain (yuck, I wanted silver) and the 16 week "way to stick to it" gold charm. WATCH OUT BIGGEST LOSER, HERE I COME!

I want to thank all of the people who helped me receive this award ...

Family and friends-Thank you for the inspiration. Thank you to everyone for the compliments and long distance thoughts of love. All of my friends and family are so very supportive and boost my confidence in ways you cannot imagine.

WW support buddy-It was a great feeling to realize that I am worth fighting for and find the support I needed to back me up. The last 2-3 weeks have been very frustrating in terms of weight loss and I hit a small plateau that didn't help. But, while talking with my friend Becky Hogge, who is doing Weight Watchers with me, I realized that I am worth fighting for and I don't want to coin myself as a quitter.

My hubby-Wing helped me realize that I deserve to feel good about myself and care enough to do something about it. So I started tracking my eating habits, reduced my sodium intake, ate my veggies and milk portions and it really paid off. I'm just tickled to share this moment with him!

Diane and Amanda-Thanks for the Weight Watchers scale. I weigh myself 2 to 3 times a day. (I know, that's a bit obsessive.) I even weigh myself before and after going potty 'cause it's amazing how much that stuff weighs and it makes me feel instantly skinnier. Plus, I am able to check my progress on a daily basis which helped me to know what foods are best for my body. YOUR THE BEST SISTER and MOM EVER!

Parker, Grace and Kate-Thanks for wrapping your arms around me and saying, "Look Mom, I can touch my fingers!" It was also nice when they warned me of sabotage over the Christmas break when we received yummy goodies from our friends. I now know that eating yummy goodies is not how you win the Biggest Loser competition.

I love all of you tons and tons,

The "Skinnier" Melissa

P.S. By the way, I only have 12 more pounds to lose and I will hit my life time healthy weight goal. Then Weight Watchers will be free because I will be a LIFETIME MEMBER! If you thought this post was a little braggy... wait until you read that one. Yipee!

From Santa's Lap, by Melissa

Oops! This post is a little late... Better late than never, right?

On December 15, our family attended the Heritage Ward Christmas Party. It was loads of fun! All of the primary children participated in a nativity by wearing costumes and singing special songs they've been practicing in primary for the past few weeks. It was beautiful and all of the parents just loved it. It was also fun to see a whole bunch of "Marys" and "Josephs" in the crowd of children, but for some reason the many "Baby Jesuses" didn't fully participate. Sound familiar?

We also sang carols and I must admit that the Butler table was one of the loudest. I won't say that we were the most harmonious, but we definitely were heard singing, "Three french hens" to the Twelve Days of Christmas song when it was our turn. We laughed our bums off all twelve times too!

Santa was a big surprise, especially for Kate. He came ringing in right behind her and her eyes just lit up as his bowl full of jelly passed her. Remember that Kate won't go to nursery alone, but when she sat on Santa's lap not a tear was shed. Parker and Grace were very proud of her!

NEW YEAR'S DAY, by Parker

Well my new year was like this.

1st. In the morning Amanda and I played Stunt riderit's on Thrilleville ( its a video game) we made it tothe top level 10.

2nd. My family ate crepes.It was yummy.

3rd. Manda and Mellisa played thrillville. they weregood.

4th. We ate chili and cornbread, Grandpa's favorite.

5th. We played card games sutch as Cash-n-Guns andLoot.

Then it was midnight so I yelled HAPPY NEW YEAR