More pictures and no more braces!!

Here are some recent pictures of Marlee. You can see she is changing already! Also threw one in of Justine with her braces off!!

July 16:


July 21:



July 23:



July 25:


July 27:


Justine got her braces off! Here is a picture with her retainer in. We'll have to get a better one, but you get the idea:

Quick Baby Update

Had Marlee in to the doctor last Friday. She left the hospital weighing 5 lbs. 11 oz. and 8 days later at the doctor she weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz.! That's 2 oz./day weight gain. Way to go Marlee!! She does like to eat! She is more alert every day and of course, very cute. She sleeps well during the day - we are working on night time. Some nights are better than others. Hopefully we get some semblance of a schedule sometime soon! I will try to get some updated pictures soon...

New Arrival!!

Marlee Laura arrived at 5:10am on July 14th. She weighed 6 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20" long. Her name is a combination of my two grandma's names (Marjorie and Shirley). She caught us a little by surprise as I was scheduled to be induced on July 15th (having never gone into labor on my own in the past). And how fast she came caught us all by surprise!! I woke up around 3:30am on Tues., wondering if I might be in labor. I got up and walked around a bit to see if it would stop, but it didn't, so I got Tracy up a little after 4 and told him we should go to the hospital. We got dressed, gave instructions to Eric and threw a few things together to take to the hospital. By the time we got to the hospital it was apparent that things were going much faster than anticipated. We arrived on the maternity floor at about 4:55am and the nurses delivered the baby at 5:10am about 10 min. ahead of my doctor's arrival! But we're glad she's here and everything is ok.
We got home from the hospital this morning. The kids are all crazy about their new baby sister. It's hard to believe how tiny she is - she's our smallest one yet (she weighed 5 lbs. 11 oz. when we left the hospital), but I'm sure she will grow fast! She has had no trouble at all figuring out when it is time to eat!
Check out that full head of dark hair!! Love it!!

My Grandma's Donut recipe

Here is my Grandma Shirley's doughnut recipe:

2-4 Tbsp. margarine or butter
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. milk
4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. nutmeg

Cream butter, sugar, eggs. Sift dry ingredients. Add alternately with milk.
Roll out (like sugar cookies) on a floured surface about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into doughnuts. Deep fry (I just check the oil temp. on my candy thermometer - it has a doughnut marking on it). It doesn't take long - once the doughnut is lightly brown on one side, flip it over until the other side is also browned. Directly from fryer, dip doughnuts in 1/2 c. sugar and 2 Tbsp. cinnamon mixture. Cool. Makes 3 - 4 doz.

Enjoy!!