Sickness and Injury

It seems we are plagued in this family with issues.  On Sunday, middle of the night, Jenna woke me up and was hot all over.  She had come down with a fever.  She slept all day Monday, and by Monday night, Mackenzie had it.  Today, Tuesday, Mackenzie has been sleeping all day and Jenna, who seemed to be on the mend, is also sleeping, with a low fever.

Then, while preparing dinner, Alan had run down the street to recruit a neighbor for something, when Sierra decided to play with a couple bees swimming in a bucket under our hose out back.  She was stung.  At that moment, Mackenzie was no longer under the influence of medicine and started crying hysterically. 

Thank goodness for big sisters, because with Sierra on one hip, Mackenzie pulling on me and crying, and a pot of boiling water and noodles on the stove, I needed help.  Mason ran down the street to bring Alan home.  What will I do when he goes on travel in a week????  Calgon, take me away!

Mackenzie is asleep again.  Sierra is still requiring attention.  Dinner is off the stove now, but who will even eat, when half the household is asleep or in pain?!

A day in the life...or rather, a 5-minute stretch...

Cakes for Everything

So, Alan and I have gone back and forth over the idea of someday having a bakery.   In this bakery, we thought we would make fancy cakes, German style bakery items, vegan pastries, etc.  We were hoping for a real specialty kind of line.  This all stemmed from our creative genius when it comes to the girls birthdays.  We keep learning new techniques and improving on our skills.  That is why we volunteered to make the graduation cake for Jenna's preschool graduation this year.  There were 44 kids graduating.  That means we had to plan for upwards of 200 mouths to feed.  We've never made so much cake!  There were three classes involved: Baerengruppe (Bears), Loewengruppe (Lions), and Tigergruppe (Tigers).  We wanted a way to represent all three groups, and have enough cake, and not be too difficult, AND be delicious to boot!  Well, after scouring the internet for ideas, I drew up some rough sketches, showed them to the preschool director, and we were off and running.  The cakes cost a small fortune to make, because we used almost all organic ingredients, and we used Valrhona chocolate, which is quite expensive, but excellent tasting.  We also bought five new cake pans, a large fondant roller, a special spreader for the dirty icing, posts and divider plates for multi-layers, and the learning curve continued to expand.

Day 1: Make fondant in several colors and different amounts - white, black, orange, gold, yellow.  Start cutting out pieces from fondant.  Time so far - 4 hours.  When Alan came home from work, baking commenced.  Baked six 12" rounds, six 8" rounds, and four ramekins.  Time for baking - 8 hours.  A nice long 12-hour day.  Cakes were stored unstacked in our fridge and our neighbors.

Day 2: Make Oreo cookie buttercream filling for cakes.  Retrieve all cakes and begin stacking layers.  Make regular buttercream frosting for dirty icing.  Dirty ice the cakes that needed fondant.  Roll out the fondant and cover cakes.  Time - hours!!!  When Alan came home, he rigged up the posts and plates.  Made chocolate and orange-colored buttercream frosting.  Put small stacked cakes on top of large cakes.  Continued with icing decorations, and began applying all the details.  Finished most of the details.  Time - 7-8 hours.  Another long day.

Day 3: Redo tassels I had done a week in advance, because the licorice snapped from being bent.  Reengineered a solution for graduation tassels.  Rolled out gold fondant and made mortarboards for graduation caps to rest on cakes.  Put everything back in refrigerator, with plans to assemble mortarboards and tassels at graduation site.  Time: roughly 3 hours.

Pre-delivery pictures:

Post-delivery pictures:

End result: Most of the bottom tier of the lion remained, but that was all.  The mortarboard, tassels, and everything but the posts and divider plates were devoured.  The feedback was that they looked fantastic and were delicious!  We even captured pictures of people taking pictures.

Our prognosis:  Way too much time and money for this effort, although it was fun.  It would not likely be a lucrative business.  Better we just stick to doing it for our kids.  Sigh...

Birthday Season Has Come to a Close

So, we've finally wrapped up birthday season.  Mason just turned 9.  Mackenzie turned 6, Jenna 5, and Sierra 3.  It is amazing to us how far the girls have come.  Here are pictures from their respective birthdays, as well as their cakes.

 Mason ordered a brownie pizza with pepperonis (ingredients: brownie, red buttercream frosting, white chocolate cheese, and smushed Starburst pepperonis)

 Mackenzie and Sierra celebrated age 6 and 3 together at Pump It Up.  Glorious fun!

Mackenzie picked a vampire bat cake, and Sierra obsessed about having a crown for her birthday, so we made her lots of crowns on cupcakes.  Aren't they a good match together?  Bats and crowns?

Jenna celebrated 5 years in ladybug style this year.  The cupcake was her school treat.

The tiered ladybug cake was from her party, and was heaps of fun to make!  Lots of fondant!

The Cats Live On

Back in June 2009, we bought a home in San Diego.  We thought this would be a positive move for us.  In many ways, it has been.  But in other ways, we have endured terrible sadness.  A couple years ago, we lost our youngest cat, Blaze, to a busy street.  It was unthinkable, and sometimes unbearable.  This past spring (2012), Molly, our beautiful, long-haired black cat succumbed to old age.  She woke up Mason in the morning, who then came and found us.  As a family, we all gathered around Molly, who had crawled under Mason's bed, where we talked to her, pet her, comforted her, and comforted ourselves, as she heaved her last sigh.  In less than three years, we had lost two of our pets.  We buried Molly in our backyard, way up on the hill, in a very sunny spot that we know she would have loved. 

Today, we said goodbye to our remaining cat, Tom.  Within a couple of months of Molly's death, Tom started losing weight, and just didn't seem like himself.  We've watched him slowly wither away.  We have lavished him with love and affection.  Even the girls have jumped in on it.  But, the pain became too much for us to watch, and too much for him to endure.  We had a vet come to the house today, to help us say goodbye to Tom and give him the peace he deserved.  It has been an emotional and heart wrenching experience, but we know it needed to be done. He was suffering greatly.  Tom will be buried later today, near his friend, his sister, and sometimes his enemy, up there on the hill in our backyard.  Together again. 

The girls, Alan, and I will continue to share our fondest memories of the cats that we have loved so dearly, as we experience a new phase in our lives.  A life without pets.  May the memories of our well-loved cats live on forever!

(Pictures from top to bottom: Tom, Blaze, Molly)

Molly and Tom - Together Again...See the Love?

Tooth #6

Okay, so it's been a year since I blogged.  I need to try to do this much more often.  There is so much going on in our lives that it would certainly be worth sharing tidbits!

Anyhow, today's post will be a recap of...today only.  Mason and Mackenzie are out of school, while Jenna and Sierra are in their last week of preschool.  After taking M&M on some errands, we came home and decided to play a game together.  They picked the new Angry Birds card game we received from a friend.  We successfully played the game a first time.  They asked to play again.  While I was looking down, shuffling the cards, they were wrestling over a piece of the game.  Next thing I knew, Mackenzie was standing there screaming hysterically.  There was blood in her mouth and on her hands.  Mason was very subdued on the floor.  All I can say, based on what they told me, is that Mackenzie might have leaned forward as Mason's thumb or other finger tried to push her away, and somehow pushed the front left tooth (which was loose, btw).  Mackenzie thinks she swallowed it.  We couldn't find it anywhere.  We looked.  She was so scared.  I told her not to worry.  It would come back out in her poop.  That shifted her sobs to giggles.  Thank goodness!  Hours later, no tooth has been found, but a nice letter was written to the tooth fairy, in hopes that the tooth fairy would understand and still make a visit.  :-)

To date (June 27, 2012), Mackenzie has lost six teeth!  Mason has lost seven.  Hmmm...

A Tooth Story

It has been a long, long time since we posted anything. Jenna turned 4, Sierra turned 2, Mackenzie turned 5, and Mason is just nineteen days from turning 8. But, in keeping true to trying to post an occasional big event, we wanted to write about Mackenzie's tooth. On June 5th or 6th, she showed us that it was loose. This was shocking, considering Mason didn't get her first loose tooth until almost the end of kindergarten! Anyhow, Mackenzie has been wiggling it a great deal. Today, she wiggled it so much that she was afraid she would swallow it. For dinner, we had to make soft food, and even that was not enough. She was so afraid of swallowing the tooth, because it appeared to be hanging by almost a thread, we told her to grab hold of it and lift it up. When we tried this suggestion with Mason, it was usually met with panic, drama, and whining. Mason never tried this. Mackenzie, on the other hand, grabbed the tooth, lifted it, and that was that! The tooth was between her fingers and no longer a disturbance in her mouth. She lost her first tooth on June 9th, 2011, just nineteen days after her 5th birthday, and months before starting kindergarten. Wow! Will post a picture soon (if we remember)!

Funny Interaction

Jenna (3) and Mackenzie (4) are conflicted about whether or not they can be friends when they're sisters, too. We've told them that they can be both. Often, we hear them arguing, "you're not my friend!" Thank goodness they haven't tried to not be sisters yet! :-)

Anyhow, today, they had a most amusing interaction. Mackenzie came running to me, all upset, and said, "Jenna said I'm not her friend anymore!" I assured Mackenzie that Jenna would change her mind shortly. (She usually does.) Mackenzie must have gone back and relayed this message to Jenna, because a few moments later, Jenna came and found me. She then said, "Mommy, I won't change my mind!" Alan, who was nearby, and I had to stifle our laughter. One of life's amusing and short-lived moments in a household full of drama! (From left to right: Mackenzie, Sierra, Jenna)

Hurray!

I know it's been ages since I posted, but the big news of the day, and this is how we'll remember, is that Sierra, at 19 months, is attempting to potty train herself! She went three times today on the potty, and the last time, after her bath, she came and said "Potty!" to me. I took her, she went, and we were all so proud! Yay!!!!!!

Growing Too Quickly

Sierra turned six months this past week. She weighed in on the Wii Fit at a whopping 16.6 lbs! (I was holding her, of course.) A couple weeks ago, she started doing the military scoot, or so it seemed. But now, she is doing her own version of the crawl, which apparently is identical to the first crawling demonstrated by her mom back in the early 70s. Ha ha. She gets up on all fours, pushes off with her toes, lunges forward, and goes down on her stomach - flat. It works. She went chasing after a ball yesterday. She almost went out the front door a couple of times. She found the cat food. Mmmm...yum. Too bad her coordination about getting food to her mouth isn't so great.

One afternoon, we were all hanging out together, playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Sierra was on the floor in front of us. All of a sudden, our game abruptly ended. We looked around and there was Sierra, on the floor with her hands wrapped around the Wii console itself. Oops! None of the other girls crawled this early!!!

Sierra and Her Sisters

Sierra is already three and a half months new, if you can believe that. Of course at this age, they change constantly. She smiles all the time. She is rolling over all the time now. She still has blue eyes and one adorable dimple. Her hair is growing longer quickly, and she has plenty of it. She is as pale as Jenna is dark. The solo picture is maybe around a month, and the group picture puts her close to a month and a half. It's a keeper! And just in case anyone wondered? There will not be a Bice boy. Alan recently told someone after being asked where they could "buy" one of these that "it is a discontinued item." It is time now to watch the family grow together, and do the best job we can to raise them well. Stay tuned, and if you missed the Potty Buzz, be sure to scroll down the page. It's a recent event, but was posted before some birthday updates.

Mason Turned Six

Mason celebrated her 6th birthday this year with her classmates from kindergarten and a few other friends at the local playground (now walking distance from our new home). We downgraded from Chuck E. Cheese (her 5th birthday) to Costco pizza. Ha ha. She insisted on an Ariel the Mermaid cake. For the first time ever, we bought the cake. We were in process of moving and did not have the time nor resources to make Ariel. She didn't seem to mind the store bought cake. Whew!

See how grown up she looks? First grade, here comes Mason!

Mackenzie Turned Three

For weeks prior to her birthday, Mackenzie could talk about nothing less than her monkey birthday. We had decided to make her a monkey cake, hence her monkey birthday. She was very excited for this day, although she did NOT want to celebrate at school, only at home. Regardless, she was not unhappy to have cupcakes at school or to wear a crown commemorating her special day. She especially likes wearing dresses. What a girl she is!

For her birthday, she received roller skates, a ukulele, and many other nice things. Although she cannot ride her skates alone yet (and we haven't practiced in many weeks), they are definitely entertaining. We are also waiting for her to begin jamming on her beautiful, bright yellow uke.

Potty Buzz

Every once in awhile, Jenna expresses a desire to sit on the potty. We always encourage it. A couple weeks ago, such a desire was voiced. I helped her set it up with the potty seat. She sat, did nothing, wiped, got up, and repeated the sequence a couple more times before finally flushing and putting away the potty seat. I returned to the office, because I had been working. Jenna did not reappear. I went back to the bathroom. To my surprise, I found her struggling to lift herself back up out of the toilet. She had opened it and sat back down, without the potty seat. Subsequently, she fell it...literally...butt first. She never made a sound to indicate this problem. When I pulled her out, I merely stuck her in the shower to hose down her entirely wet backside...just in case.

This past Friday, Jenna had a poop of such magnificent proportions in her pull-up, that I threw my hands up in the air and said "Enough!" We switched her to big girl underwear, and by today, Sunday, she is going potty almost every time, with fewer accidents, and a definite pride of success in her eye. Yay! Almost back to one in diapers!

More later on Mackenzie and Mason's birthday, as well as our recent move into a bigger house.

It's a...

Some of you followed our daily saga on Facebook, but for those that did not, here is our last birth story.

Forty weeks came and went. We expected that. Both Mason and Mackenzie were born two days after their projected due dates. Why should this one be any different? (Jenna doesn't count, since the circumstances surrounding her birth were very different.) So, two days later, when the baby still didn't come, we were kind of surprised. But, it occurred to us that both Mason and Mackenzie were born on Saturdays. So, maybe we were meant to be four days late - April 25th.



That theory, too, was wrong. Each day become more unbearable. Each night, we went to sleep. Each morning, we woke up, disappointed. Then, the antenatal testing began. Baby's healthy, baby's comfortable, fluid is fine, come back in two or three days if the baby still isn't born.



The baby's grandfather (Papa) who was visiting and helping with the girls could no longer remain, after extending his trip an extra week. One week after the projected due date of April 21, he flew home. Still no baby, but another round of antenatal testing and one night of false hope, when contractions began, but were not regular enough.



As we watched April come to a close, we lost hope for our children to have birthdays in March, April, May, and June. We were now guaranteed two May birthdays, and no April baby.

Eleven days late, on a Saturday, no less, May 2nd, to be precise, the real contractions began. This time, they left mom breathless. After about four hours of them, they became quite frequent. First, the call to a friend went out, to help with the girls. Then, the call to our midwife followed. We told her it wasn't urgent, but it was definitely happening. When she arrived, I was in the bathroom and had asked Alan to start the bath. I moved from the toilet to the bathtub, and it was there I remained, despite plans for a birth in the living room. :-)



Not long after our midwife arrived (maybe 45 minutes), I swore to her that I was ready to push. She reminded me that I had done this before, and if I felt that urge, she was not inclined to check, because I know my body. She was right. A few pushes later and...we had ourselves a baby girl! She floated out into the tub, behind me, as I was on my hands and knees. Alan caught her, and the midwife watched before preparing to care for both the baby and me.



The birth went as smoothly as we could've hoped. By about 8 PM, we were all resting in bed, eating dinner, and sharing our new little girl with her big sisters.



Three weeks later, we decided on her name: Sierra Kelsey Bice. It was "voted" on by her sisters, her dad, and her mom. Here is a picture shortly after her birth.



More updates about Mackenzie's third birthday and Mason's sixth birthday will come in time - sooner rather than later, this time!

Is Deb Pregnant or What?

After 40 fast, but sometimes long weeks, we have reached the projected due date, April 21st, for the last baby to enter this family. However, as of this morning, the baby is still firmly packed inside mom's tummy. Alan, Deb, and all the girls are anxiously awaiting the baby's arrival, as is Papa, who is still with us after two weeks, and will stay until the baby makes its appearance known to the outside world. Here are some pictures as the pregnancy has progressed.

Wow! It's Been 3 Months!!

Where in the world has the time flown? We intended to post an update after Jenna's birthday, which was March 20th, but that doesn't even begin to account for the two months prior. Sometimes, life really does get in the way!

So, we'll start with Jenna's birthday anyhow. She turned two back in March. We celebrated with a small family party and a "kitty cat" cake (orange, to look like our cats Blaze and Tom). Jenna couldn't quite figure out the blowing out candles bit, but she had no trouble unwrapping presents.

This was a big milestone birthday for all of us, considering she was born ten weeks preemie. She had her 2-year physical and was on all the charts, with her highest marks going to her head size. (Pretty normal for all the Bice girls.) She's talking now in near sentences. She loves puzzles. But the favorite pastime for her and especially her two big sisters is to ride bikes.

Yes, Mason has learned to ride her bike without training wheels. Hurray! The freedom it has given her is absolutely amazing. She can ride in sharp circles, up and down bumps, pretty much anywhere we let her go. Her only downfall is when she hits water in the road. She had a pretty good fall this past week on some water, but we hope to get her back on her bike quickly. She's asking for a kickstand now, so we don't think she's been deterred. She took her first "bike ride" with her dad. It was about a half mile to a friend's house. She did great! Since then, she's been riding longer and longer rides with her Papa, who is here helping with the kids (who had a two-week long spring break). Mom needed lots of help, as the due date for Bice Baby #4 has rapidly approached.

Mackenzie is also a pro on the bicycles. We purchased a bigger bike for Mason, and gave Mackenzie Mason's first two-wheel bike, putting the training wheels back onto it. She motors around the neighborhood like it's second nature, although she gets nervous going down hills. Up hills, however, she has the endurance of a true athlete. She has learned to pedal faster and can motor right up a hill like it's effortless. Maybe we'll take the training wheels off even earlier for her.

Lest we forget, Jenna attended her very first day of preschool, with big sister, Mackenzie, just before spring break. She was a little confused that she didn't just drop off Mackenzie and leave with mom, but in the end, the teachers reported that both girls had a great day! They played together, ate together, there was no crying from Jenna, and it was deemed a success. Jenna is returning to school today, with Mackenzie, for the first day back after the break. Hopefully, it will be another success.

With that said, we've added some photos for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Catchup Time

Gosh! Has it been months since we posted anything here? Let's see, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's. Yikes! Thanksgiving was quiet. We celebrated at home, with just the five of us. I guess you couldn't really call that quiet, but we relaxed, and enjoyed our favorite feast of the year!

Hanukkah arrived, and for the first year, all of the girls were interested in lighting the candles and singing the peppy little Hanukkah song that has become our song of choice for the holiday. Of course, a visit from Santa was what really got to the girls. They were all excited about him coming, but Mackenzie was petrified that he might actually come INTO the house. You see, Mackenzie saw Santa one night, visiting a neighborhood home that was lavishly decorated. He invited her to sit with him and she freaked. She didn't want to be anywhere near him. He is a scary guy to a two-year old! Jenna wasn't too thrilled either, but we did manage to get her in his lap, although she was whining and reaching for daddy the whole time. Mason did not see Santa, because she went to a nativity slide thing (whatever that means) with some friends.

When push came to shove, the Christmas tree was small, not much bigger than the menorah, but the girls were happily rewarded with presents from Santa. Jenna was a pro at unwrapping. Mackenzie still asked for help. Their personalities are definitely blossoming.

On New Year's Eve, we went to a friend's house for a small party. There were seven children and ten adults. Not bad numbers. The girls tried their hardest to stay awake, just for the fun of staying awake (since they didn't really understand New Year's Eve). We ended up leaving before midnight, after the younger two passed out between 10:30 and 11 PM. What troopers! Mason was in bed and asleep by 11:45 PM. Just missed it! The two of us finished folding laundry at 11:55 PM, chatted, looked at the clock, smooched, and said "time for bed!" We feel so old some days!

Finally, after a long winter break and lots of sleeping in, we had to resume our daily routine. The older two went back to school, Alan went back to work, and Deb and Jenna went back to running errands and dropping everyone off/picking them up each day. Amazing where the time goes.

Anyhow, enjoy all the pics until next time!

Baby Bice Four

For anyone who is remotely interested, this is one of the best ultrasound pictures we've ever seen for any of our children. This one, of course, is still cooking, but should arrive mid-late April. ACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Word Play

Last week, I (Deb) was in the car with Mackenzie and Jenna. I had just picked up Mackenzie from preschool, and we were on the highway, headed down to Mason's school for the next pickup. On the shoulder of the road was a truck (a tow truck, I think). From the back seat, I hear, "Mommy, is that a *uck?"
"Oh! A teh-RUCK?" I asked.
"Yes. A *UCK!!" (said much louder)
"A TEH-RUCK!"
"Oh-KAY!" said with emphasis from the back seat.
Turns out, Mackenzie doesn't pronounce "tr" words very well. She substitutes an "f." You can't be angry, because she believes she's saying it properly. It's also hard not to laugh.
A couple days later, Alan was home with Mackenzie and Jenna. He was reorganizing a bottom drawer in the kitchen, full of kid-friendly dishes. Jenna, in her usual form, was foiling him every step of the way.
"You're getting on my fricking nerves!" said Alan playfully to Jenna.
Mackenzie, who was at the table, heard this and said, "Daddy, is Jenna getting on your *ucking nerves?"
What's a dad to do? Keep laughing. We are!

Halloween

The leadup to Halloween was definitely most exciting for Mason this year. We contemplated her costume for more than a month. At one point, she said she would like to be R2D2. We thought that was cool. But then, she decided on Ariel the Mermaid. Much more conventional. After a couple weeks insistence, we purchased Ariel the Mermaid, with hair and shoes, to boot. A couple weeks before Halloween, Mason went to a birthday party and needed a costume. We found her devil costume, complete with horns and pitchfork. She had worn it two (?) years ago in Germany. It still fits. Imagine that, for our little pipsqueak. From that point on, we were informed that she would wear the Ariel red hair with her devil costume for Halloween. Fine fine fine. But, on Halloween day, Mason's school said they could come with funny hair. She planned to wear her wig, but at the last minute said no. We put eight ponytails in her hair instead. That night, she also opted out of the wig. I told her she would have to make next year's Halloween costume, because the outlay of money was a bit much for a costume that was never worn. Fortunately, it can still become dressup clothes.

As for Mackenzie, she was not at all interested in dressing up for Halloween. We asked her if she would like to wear a fairy dress. She said, "Oh, yeah!" Then she followed that with, "No. I can't." What????? For school, the best we managed was an orange Halloween bat shirt. For trick-or-treating, she refused to remove the bat shirt, but Alan successfully got the fairy dress (sans wings) over the shirt, so she could join in the fun.

Jenna was agreeable to most everything. For the afternoon, she was a ladybug. By evening, she was a turtle, and a real ham about it! Jenna fell asleep on Alan's shoulder while out trick-or-treating, but fun was had by all. Enjoy the pics.

One last note - Mason entered a coloring contest for the first time. It was held at the local library. Her pumpkin picture won her a real pumpkin. The pictures were voted on by age group. Our little girl has won her first contest! Yay! They equated her rendition of the pumpkin to Indian corn. We're certain that wasn't her intent, but she was excited. So, here's a picture of the winning pumpkin, as well as our carved pumpkins. The skeleton face was on the pumpkin she won.