Pendleton

Mother's Day 2013

2013-05-13T15:59:00.001-06:00

I hope all you moms had a great Mother's Day yesterday. I did! Justin watched the kids on Saturday for me to go to lunch with my sister and mom. After we did some shopping and had a fun time. Justin had the house all clean for me when I got back and some gorgeous bright pink roses.

Molly got me a cute gift from preschool. It's a shopping list to put on the fridge. Oh and I forgot the girls got me some yummy chocolate dipped strawberries! Delicious!

I helped the girls make cards for grandma. It was kind of last minute, but they were so excited and had so much fun making them.

Presenting their cards to grandma.

Me and my mom with the kiddos.

After we made cards for grandma, the girls decided that they needed cards for themselves. They were so proud of their cards.

My cute boy.

He's getting so big! Look at those teeth. He now has 8!

In a couple of weeks he will be 1. It went by way too fast.

Also, Happy 8th Anniversary to my sweetheart today :) I love you Justin! We are planning on dinner and some shopping tonight. Should be fun.

this and that

2013-05-07T13:06:00.002-06:00

Is there anything more precious than a baby's bum up in the air while they're napping? I don't think so. Especially when there's a little bull dog on the bum :)

We had our friends over for Cinco de Mayo. I made cafe rio chicken, cafe rio salad dressing and for fun we had strawberry daiquiris (virgin of course; made in our ice cream maker). Everything was delicious. Seth and Coleen, we are going to miss you when you move! Thanks for all the fun and yummy things you brought too!

Recipes here and here. Justin even dipped the edges of our glasses in sugar. So fancy.

I sewed these 30 strips together. It took me several times of sitting down to do it, but now they're all done. Isn't it fun fabric?! I'll let you know later what I'm making...

If your kids don't play starfall.com on the computer, you should do it with them! My girls love playing it together and I think it's great too.

Artwork display

2013-04-30T10:42:00.000-06:00

I have been wanting to make a little place for Molly (and Ali) to display her artwork somewhere and I finally got around to doing it. I had this piece of wood that was for another project that I obviously never used. Oh well! It's perfect for this.

While the project was simple, I was surprised that it took me as long as it did. But I guess that's how most things go. Anyway, I sanded the wood, and put a few coats of paint on it. I had everything on hand for this project, which was very convenient.

I hung it right under the girl's window. It seems a bit low to me, but it's perfect because it's right where they can reach it to hang up their pictures.

Molly has been talking about animals this month in preschool if you didn't figure that out yet ;)

To make the letters, I have these cardstock letters in this cute font that I trace around and then just cut out. No fancy machinery, although it would have been nice to have a silhouette or cricut! Then I modpodged them onto the board. I couldn't decide if I wanted to put a word/words on the board, but finally just went with "art". Pretty basic, huh? It works.

I painted 5 clothespins pink (per Ali's request) and then modpodged some scrapbook paper on top that I had on hand. Then I hot glued them onto the board after measuring and penciling in where I wanted them.

Now they can color pictures on their little table and then hang up their masterpieces!

Ta da! All done. Time to move on to some other projects.

P.S. I had my sewing machine tuned up this past week from the sweetest, cutest old man (I think he is probably 80!) that has a sewing machine repair business. My bobbin was having a few issues and I have no idea if the machine has ever been tuned up before. (Oops) Anyway, he said there was a TON of dust around where the bobbin sits. No wonder! Happy Mother's Day to me, from me :)

Jackson at 11 months

2013-04-29T15:53:00.002-06:00

Jackson will be 1 in just under a month now. It's hard to believe. he has hit some fun milestones this past month.

This was the first time he went on a swing! I'm sure it would have been earlier, but my parent's swing set is gone so we tried it at the neighbor's house a few weeks ago. He clearly loved it! (We should have a new swing set in 3 weeks! Yay!)

Boys and their balls! He LOVES balls. He loves to chase them and whack them with his hands or with a bat or anything else that he can use. It's amazing how long he can entertain himself this way! Oh and he finally started to crawl. A few days after he turned 10 mos. old officially.

He is pulling himself up to everything! We put the legs back on this activity table and he pulls on up and loves to play.

He loves to read books. He was given this book as a baby and it has lift the flap pages. He loves it!

He loves to throw things. He loves the game of him throwing it and you picking it up :)

He loves any kind of baton/wand, etc.

He finally says, "Mama"! This is very exciting for me. He's said "Dada" forever, and in the past couple of weeks has figured it out.

He is recently a cuddler. He will lay his head on your shoulder for a few seconds at a time. Sometimes longer if you're lucky.

He loves his daddy. He gets sooo excited when he comes home after work. He throws a fit if Justin can't hold him right away.

He loves to play on/in the dishwasher.

He loves dogs.

He loves being outside.

He loves the tub. He loves to splash.

He has gotten his top 4 teeth this month. The 4th just broke through last night I think.

He loves to pinch. I have bruises and scrapes on my arms/neck from him. We are trying to teach him soft!

He still loves to say uh oh and hear himself talk and/or sing.

He can wave hello.

Tulip Festival

2013-04-29T11:10:00.000-06:00

On Friday night we had the chance to go to Thanksgiving Point's Tulip Festival. We had never been before and were in for a treat.

They handed out these cute tulip bingo sheets for kids to do/look at. The girls had a fun time looking for each color of tulip on their pages.

Of course, it was beautiful! The little creek runs through and there are a couple of bridges.

We went with Justin's parents, his brother Brad who just graduated from BYU (which is why they came down for the weekend) and his brother Scott and his wife Brooke.

Here we all are.

I am in love with all of the spring trees that are in bloom right now. The pinks and whites--so pretty.

Our cute little bopper.

And Molly mushu.

Last but not least, Jackson!

I'm so glad we ended up going. There are 4 miles to go through and we didn't make it very far at all since we had dinner reservations, but we got to enjoy it for an hour. If you haven't been, you should go! I think it's going through this weekend.

Job hunting

2013-04-16T11:35:00.000-06:00

We are still actively looking for a job for Justin right now. When I say we, I really mean him. But you know what I mean. Anyway, I'm just throwing it out there that if you want us to come and live by you, now is the time! ;) If you know of any attorney friends or family near you, you can get us their contact info and we can explore any possibilities there might be. He is most interested in civil litigation, but he is open for other areas of law as well. That was my mini sales pitch, ha.

Justin's cousin called him a couple days ago with a lead where he lives, in Houston, TX.

We could live here! (This is Houston) Maybe. But you never know. It is most likely that he will find a job here because he has passed the bar here and you have to pass it in each state to practice, but he has applied for jobs in a few other states as well. The University of Utah law school generally networks with places out in the west, but as you know, it's usually more about who you know. Justin has been applying to jobs and meeting/networking with attorneys, but so far nothing has materialized.

(P.S. He currently has a job, but they may not be able to keep him too much longer. Unfortunately he is the low man on the totem pole and the easiest to let go of. But we will keep you posted.)

P.P.S. Can we all agree that finding a job is usually the hardest job? Sheesh.

What they've said

2013-04-09T16:08:00.000-06:00

Last night I was getting dinner ready to put on the table.

Ali: Thanks for making me peas, mom!

A few nights ago I was asking the girls to clean up.

Molly: Mom, you treat us like Cinderella every day.

Me: Are you kidding me? Go talk to your dad!

Justin straightened her out and explained the differences.

Molly: If you didn't want messes, you shouldn't have had kids!

I was doing a workout video one morning (Post-natal boot camp with Lindsay Brin)

Ali: Mommy, your workout clothes are BEAUTIFUL!

Liebster Award

2013-04-04T09:37:00.001-06:00

My younger sister nominated me for this Liebster award, so here goes.

11 things about me:

1. I love strawberry poptarts! It's the perfect thing to go with a bowl of cereal.

2. I like to crack the knuckles on my fingers and in my neck. That sounds gross writing it out, but it feels good when I do it! ha.

3. I enjoy swimming, but I have a hard time with the initial getting in part. Every time I kinda cringe inside as I get cold/wet. So yes, I'm a wimp.

4. I learned how to knit when I lived in Provo and knitted a scarf when I was a receptionist after college. Now I don't remember how :(

5. My favorite color is probably green. I tend to always go for that color when picking things out, especially home decor stuff.

6. I'm kind of obsessed with finding a good deal on things. I'm not necessarily a couponer, but I feel excited if I find something awesome for an awesome price.

7. I went and saw the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang a couple nights ago with Justin. He loves the movie and I can't say that I love it, but the musical was really fun and entertaining (better than the movie if you ask me; Justin would disagree probably!).

8. I like somewhat different book categories. I like Jane Austen era and some romance, but then I also like suspense/murder mysteries and chick lit too.

9. I like to keep tabs on the people I know. It's just kind of an innate thing. But I'm not on FB. I just like knowing what/where people are in their lives.

10. I always thought it would be fun to have a craft blog that has a million subscribers. But after several months of following blogs, I decided I could never handle the pressure! So now I just look up to them and borrow their ideas! It's a much better plan.

11. I think my feet have grown. I used to always be a size 8, but lately I feel like I've had to go up to an 8 1/2. Maybe because of having 3 children? I've heard that from a few people. But it's weird.

Here are Emily's questions I have to answer:

1. My favorite go to recipe is probably italian crock pot chicken.

2. If I could change one aspect of my life right now it would be that we had our own house! But I think you already know that :) Oh and that Justin had a new job. That's one in the same kinda though.

3. A regret from my childhood is that I wish I would have tried dance longer. I think I was really young and I guess I hated ballet. I wish my mom would have tried putting me in something else. But that's ok.

4. I'm a dog person for sure. But now I could tell you that I honestly don't really feel like I will ever need or want one! I always thought I would since I grew up with a dog, but now that I'm the mom, I'm kind of over it!

5. One of my favorite memories is eating a ton of food and strawberry daiquiris in Cancun on vacation with my family several years ago. It was an all inclusive place.

6. One of my favorite book characters is Elizabeth Bennett. Who doesn't love her? I never get sick of the story/movie. She has strengths and weaknesses, but she works them out.

7. My least favorite day of the week is....I'm not sure. It depends on the week! Usually one of the middle days I guess. Monday is fine because I'm ready for a new week and who doesn't love the weekends?

8. I'm probably most like my mom (out of my parents). I have similar personality traits as her and similar hobbies. Physically, more genes are more like her side of the family vs. my dad's.

9. An article of clothing that I have owned the longest is my black PLT sweatshirt from high school. It's from 2002 and I just can't give it up.

10. My favorite ride at Disneyland is probably Space Mountain or Splash Mountain. But let's be honest, they're all pretty fun!

11. One of my favorite children's books is "Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon". I got this book from the RS president of my Provo ward at a baby shower when I was due with Molly. It's a really cute story and my girls love it.

Now I'm supposed to nominate people, but I don't think I could come up with 11 people who would do it! So, if you'd like, go ahead and answer the questions! It's pretty fun.

Easter 2013

2013-04-01T12:35:00.003-06:00

Easter Morning

They were all successful finding their baskets! And pretty excited by the contents.

Dressed for Easter

Molly was so funny. I told her to put her hand down but she thought it was too bright. The sun was behind them, but they all have a bit of a cold, so I guess it really was hard for her to see!

Giving their brother kisses. Of course Jackson had to find something to chew on ;)

These were the best pictures I could get of Jackson. He was quite interested in the grass and pine needles.

Miss Alison is getting to be so grown up. She is pretty good at pulling her cheesy faces, so this isn't the most natural smile, but hey, it is a smile. We'll take it.

She has been really obsessed with barbies lately. The Easter Bunny found these and knew our girls would love them!

I put curlers in the girl's hair the night before and Molly went and found this headband to go with her dress. She has perfected "the pose". Not sure where she saw the hand on her hip, but it works!

Showing off her cute flats. I found these last year on clearance for like $4 and I knew that someone needed to have them! They have a bow on the end and a cute little peep toe. She gets lots of compliments at church with these :)

It was about 75 degrees here on Easter and so beautiful. It really felt like spring. Mainly we are so grateful for the real meaning of Easter-the Resurrection of the Savior. I love this time of new life and growth around us. We are so blessed!

I have to mention one last thing. Last night (on Easter) we were getting the kids in their pjs and just kind of cleaning up a bit. I went in to check on Ali in her room to see if she was ready for bed and I found her in her bed, blanket on, animals next to her ASLEEP! I don't think she has ever done this. I thought she was just joking at first, but her eyes stayed shut! It was quite the week and she didn't have a ton of naps. She's an early bird too. She was clearly pooped!

More egg hunts

2013-03-31T21:06:00.002-06:00

This past week has been really fun for us. It was spring break for Molly, so she didn't have school all week. We got home from WY on Monday night. Tuesday we had some good friends come and play from out of town. Tuesday night my brother came with his two girls. My girls always ask when they get to see these cousins. We have had so much fun playing with them! They left yesterday and it was sad to see them go. And we missed Becky, my sil, and the new baby, but we understand why they couldn't make it! Besides Becky and Romy, we missed my sister Emily and her family who are in WI.

We had a fun Easter party Friday. My mom got them all a present in these cute bags. (They are from Micahel's, in case anyone wanted to know) They each opened an outfit.

Then of course we had an easter egg hunt. We were so glad the weather was nice so we could do it outside in the back yard.

Jackson found some eggs and enjoys the candy!

Molly was victorious finding eggs!

And of course, so was Ali.

I promised a Princess Sofia party for the girls while Lexie and Shay were visiting. Here they are wearing their crowns, watching the sleepover party episode. They were so cute! They were all glued to the TV.

We also celebrated Justin's birthday with this side of the family.

Saturday morning we hit our 2nd easter egg hunt. It was a free one that we did last year too, in Cottonwood Heights. Wow. Can you see all the people? Molly and Ali were in different age groups, so we had to split up to go with them. I wish I would've taken a picture of Ali because you would have seen how successful this was. Molly got scared about 10 seconds before the siren went off for them to go and ended up with about 3 eggs. Ali had her eye on an egg that another kid took and from there she lost it. I'm not sure if we will go back again next year...

But, our neighbor called who's friends with my mom and invited them to her easter egg hunt since some of their neighbors were out of town. How nice! A time for my girls to try again! This one was much more successful for both of them.

Here we all are by their pond in the back. They were smart and had kids 0-2 start first, then added each year from there one at a time. I thought it was genius. My kiddos were super spoiled. I almost wondered if the Easter bunny wouldn't bother since they already had gotten so many eggs already!

Birthday dinner

2013-03-31T20:44:00.004-06:00

For Justin's birthday I surprised him and took him to the Roof restaurant downtown for dinner. We sat right next to the window and this was our view! It was so beautiful.

When I made the reservation they asked if we were celebrating a special occasion. I said it was my husband's birthday but he probably didn't want to make a big deal of it. She asked if they could have a sign and I thought that would be perfect!

The food was delicious and I have to say that the desserts may have been the best part of the meal. Our server informed us that there are 25 choices! Can't go wrong there! The whole thing is a buffet, but it's a really nice, fancy buffet. I have only eaten here a couple of other times, but one thing I really love is that they have someone playing the piano while you eat. The lady who was playing played a fancy arrangement of Happy Birthday once or twice while we were there and some other fun songs from memorable movies, musicals, etc. We had a really fun time!

Jackson at 10 months

2013-03-31T20:31:00.000-06:00

This little boy is now 10 months old. Time continues to fly and I can't believe my baby is almost 1! He has 3 teeth and I can see a 4th coming in on the bottom and it looks like 3 up top have just poked through or are just about to. So lots of drool, snot and teary eyes unfortunately.

But he still is a very happy boy! Last week in church he was passed around in class and a sweet widow in our ward (LaRae) called me after church to tell me that she thinks he's the happiest baby she's ever seen and she thought he was so cute! She was so sweet to call and tell me.

Like I already mentioned, he is crawling now (about a week) and he loves to play a game where he lifts his feet up while sitting and holds his arms out and balances himself. It's pretty funny! He used to do the same thing on his back. He really wants a 6 pack at an early age ;) He LOVES balls. He loves to throw everything on the floor and say, "Uh oh." He loves his sisters and is thrilled to see his daddy come home from work. He is very vocal and is a screamer, but that seems to fit the mold of our children. Everyone still says he looks just like his dad. And he does look an awful lot like Molly when she was a baby.

A couple of weeks ago I put him down for a nap and I came in to find this:

He fell asleep sitting! Ha ha. It was so cute I had to take a few pics of it with my phone. He has gotten really good at sitting himself up and we learned that it was time for the mattress to be moved down in the crib!

Justin turns 30

2013-03-27T08:45:00.002-06:00

This past weekend we went to Wyoming for a little r&r. Sunday was Justin's 30th birthday and he was able to get Friday and Monday off of work. Molly has this week off for spring break and so we left last Friday after Molly's preschool was over.

We hid some eggs and had an easter egg hunt.

We let the girls go first and started with the youngest, Reese and Ali.

Then we let Molly and Laney join.

Ali had a little bit of help from her daddy.

Molly found an egg buried in the chair and a half.

Pretty excited about all their eggs!

Getting all the candy out of the eggs.

Everyone was able to come except Justin's sister Sunny and her family. So we are 3 grandkids short in this picture.

Then we did a little egg hunt for the two little boys, Jackson and Paxton.

Jackson started to crawl while we were there!!

And Paxton started walking! It was quite the eventful weekend for the little boys :) Paxton is about 5 months older than Jackson. Aren't they cute?

We celebrated Justin's birthday and here is my "hole in one" rice krispy "cake" for Justin.

All of the family singing to Justin.

Someone needed a haircut. This is Justin's brother Mark.

Check out the mohawk!

Don't worry, it didn't last long. Poor Mark! Nice and short again.

We also went and saw the mountain goats on the way to Jackson as you start to drive up the canyon and looked at all the elk off the highway at the elk refuge. The girls loved playing with their cousins it was nice for all of us to get away for a few days.

We hope 30 is a great year for Justin! Happy Birthday honey!

St. Patrick's Day 2013

2013-03-19T10:33:00.003-06:00

On Sunday morning we found some leprechaun footprints leading a trail to some Lucky Charms cereal. The girls were so excited that Lucky came. He left the note above with the cereal.

Usually we wear green and eat Lucky Charms, but I found a cute treasure hunt on a blog that I thought the girls would like. Found here.

Here's Molly finding a clue.

Getting a little help from daddy.

Finding the treasure!

They found the treasure! I love Molly's face! The treasure was little bags with skittles and some chocolate gold coins. Let me say, it doesn't take much to make little kids happy and excited. I laminated the clues so I can use them in years to come. I liked the treasure hunt because it has you go places that pretty much every house will have (the fridge, by books, a window, door, tree, etc.). Now I'm getting my Easter stuff out. Too bad it will only be up for a couple weeks. Oh well.

Irish Dancing

2013-03-16T08:35:00.005-06:00

My cousin's daughters are Irish dancers and they are really amazing! We went and saw them perform a few months ago and they are so talented. The news did a story on them last night. They have four daughters who dance and the two oldest are going to World's, which is like the Olympics for them.

Check out the story/video!

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=24420812&nid=148&title=layton-sisters-on-their-way-to-olympics-for-irish-dance&fm=home_page&s_cid=queue-4

Go Mckenna and Danielle!

to be completed...

2013-03-12T13:57:00.002-06:00

In addition to many perks here at the house, one big one is that my mom is a magazine hoarder. Yep, she is. But she gets great magazines that I like to read, so lucky me! In the past few weeks she brought home this one pictured above, Quilts and More. They have some really, really cute things in these magazines, but it costs I think $6.99 for one issue! Yikes! I don't have that kind of money for magazines. But my mom does, so I reap the rewards.

See this cute table runner on the front? I love it. I think it's so cute and I've already collected some fabric to make it. I just need to get about 3 more things and then I will have everything I need to make it. Maybe spring will come if I just make it? This week has started to warm up and I think it's around 55 outside right now! Wahoo! We'll take it. I am sooo done with the storms and snow. Luckily most of it has melted away.

Oh, the Places You'll Go

2013-03-07T14:28:00.002-07:00

Have you read the Dr. Suess book, Oh the Places You'll Go? It's a really good book and I think it is the last book he wrote while he was alive. Anyway, I feel like we (meaning my little family) are in the part that talks about people waiting. Waiting for this or that or whatever. I try and try not to think of us as waiting for something or anticipating a life change, but lately I feel that way.

Justin is looking for a new job right now so we have put house hunting on hold for now. There are several reasons for this. He doesn't really love the work he is doing and he doesn't see himself there long term. Instead of finding a job later on when we already have a house, we decided he should find something now since it might influence several things with the purchase of a home. The market is definitely better than it has been, but it is still pretty competitive in Utah and add to that the fact that Justin has only had just under a year of "real" experience as an attorney. There are still plenty of attorneys with more experience looking for jobs.

While we definitely feel lucky/blessed that we have the greatest set up here in the basement with my parents, we definitely want to be in our own place. Trust me, I am pretty sure I will cry for a couple weeks after we move because my mom is so helpful to me. But still, I have a hard time not having my kids in real bedrooms with closets and doors. We really don't have many choices of where to put Jackson, so he is with us in our room, but he is the lightest sleeper. We pretty much tiptoe in at night and hope we don't wake him up. I can't wait to get ready for bed with the lights on in our own room!

When we first started looking for a house, we set a deadline for this summer before Molly starts kindergarten, but now I'm not sure if that will happen. I plan on starting her at the elementary school I actually went to. I thought it wouldn't be good for her to start and move schools, but I've since decided that she will be in kindergarten and really it won't be a big deal at all. She makes friends wherever she goes and I don't see her having a hard time making an adjustment. She changed preschools this year after a couple of months and was totally fine, so I'm sure it will be the same if it comes to it.

While I know that owning a home isn't the easiest, I look forward to us learning and growing together as a family and relying on each other to get through the trials while being happy with our successes. I don't consider myself a major planner, but I do like to have some plan for sure and although this isn't exactly how I pictured things, we really do have SO much to be grateful for. I don't want to sound ungrateful. I love that my parents have been a big part of my children's lives so far and that they have such a close relationship with them. I know we will miss them when we leave.

I know we have accomplished some great things while we've been here. Justin graduated from law school and we've had 2 more children while living here. We've been to some neat places and tried new things.

I do know that things will work out and I might even look back and think how easy or simple things were when we lived here. I sure hope so! Do you ever feel like this? I'm sure you do once in a while too.

P.S. I should probably say that I was up with Jackson 3 times last night as opposed to him sleeping through the night. So please don't judge me too harshly. Since I use this blog as my journal, I decided it was ok to have a more "real" post.

More taggies

2013-03-05T11:30:00.002-07:00

I did it again...and I probably will in the future too. I made some more taggie blankies for gifts. This time I used leftover scraps and I am really happy with how they turned out. I have never done a version like this, sewing squares together, so it was fun to mix it up.

I did one that is a 6 patch and the other is a 9 patch.

There is some cotton fabric, flannel and minky, so you can't go wrong. They are soft! Oh and fleece on the back.

Perfect for little hands to grab and rub.

Welcome baby boy(s)!

And a big welcome to my new niece!! My brother Ryan and his wife, Becky, had this beautiful baby girl last week on February 26th! Romy, we are so glad you are here! You are adorable. Look at her cute bow hat! She and Jackson are 9 months apart to the day.

Jackson at 9 months

2013-03-04T13:45:00.002-07:00

Jackson is 9 months old. He is still a happy guy. No crawling yet. But he is a roller! He figured out that he can roll and get what he wants, so there's no need for crawling. At least yet anyway. He has these 2 teeth on the bottom and is getting a 3rd on the bottom right now.

He still eats almost everything we give him. He wasn't a big fan of olives though. Can't blame him there. I don't like them either! He's eating broccoli here. Alison loves broccoli too. We lucked out on that! Molly is better at eating her veggies too since Ali really seems to like them. Gotta love peer pressure.

I swear by sleep sacks. My kids always throw their blankets off, so these have been very helpful. He pretty much wears his jammies most days and we give him a bath at night and change him into new jammies! I know, awesome mom!

(So you can see my hair)

And in case you don't see me and didn't know, I went to the dark side! I decided to be brave and try a dark brown. Everyone has been really nice and complimentary about it, but it's not like people are going to come up and say, "Wow, that looks ugly!" So you can be honest and tell me what you think. It's fine, but I don't love it and most likely I will go back lighter. Always fun to have a change though! And you never know until you try.

Jackson's stats at 9 months:
Height: 75%
Weight: 25% (19 lbs.)
Head: 56%

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

2013-02-26T11:49:00.004-07:00

Justin made us some DELICIOUS pancakes for breakfast this morning! He said he happened upon the recipe on mine or my mom's computer and thought we needed to try them.

Yummy! They were super rich, so we couldn't eat too many. Good thing because it didn't make a ton of batter.

Here is the yummy cream cheese drizzle/syrup you put on top. They take a little bit of time to make, but they are worth it. Original recipe found here (with better pictures too!). Give it a try this weekend! You will not be disappointed :)

Valentine's 2013

2013-02-19T09:23:00.002-07:00

The Saturday before Valentine's Day the girls went to a Valentine's tea party at Pottery Barn Kids. I convinced Natalie to sign up her daughter Emery too.

First, they went around the table and had all the kids introduce themselves and their special friend (a doll, stuffed animal, or whatever they brought with them). Ali was pretty shy introducing herself, so Molly helped her.

The best was when my niece Emery introduced herself as "Miss America"! Ha ha. It had everyone laughing. Her daddy calls her that so she figures everyone else can too!

After a Valentine story and cookies and juice, they got to do a little craft. Have you heard of Kiwi Crates? Well they had one of these crates for each kid and inside they had all the stuff to make a wand.

Showing off their pretty wands!

Molly, Ali and cousin Emery. Or Miss America I mean!

They may have had more fun just playing with the furniture after ;)

We had a fun Valentine's day. We attempted heart shaped pancakes for breakfast (we used a cookie cutter but the batter seeped out. Oops!) We took out valentine's to our friends and the girls got a little lalaloopsy house for their mini lalaloopsy dolls that they were thrilled with!

Here the girls are making these cute valentine flowers with grandma! My mom makes them every year.

more tantrums and funny comments

2013-02-07T12:35:00.000-07:00

I thought Ali might be over her daily meltdowns and tantrums, but it seems like they are back these days. They deal with one of two things which are equally funny.

The first is trash. If she has a granola bar or any type of food with a wrapper or packaging, she thinks she needs to keep the trash. She handed me her trash in the car the other day and I threw it into the trash while I was filling the car up with gas at Costco. She starting freaking out and bawling and asking for her trash back. I told her I couldn't get it for her since it was in the big trash and I was NOT going to dig it out for her. It took me a good 10 minutes to get her to calm down so we could go into Costco. Yikes!

The second is flushing the toilet. She has been very concerned since potty training that she wants to flush the toilet. Yesterday she forgot to flush after she went and Molly walked in about 10 minutes later to use the bathroom. Molly comes out and Ali starts into meltdown mode saying, "Molly flushed my poo poo! I wanted to flush my poo poo!" Is that comical to anyone else?

Here are a few other gems from my girls.

Ali: Mom, we don't love you, but we love you now.

Grandma to the girls: Guess what? Your cousin Elise is starting potty training!
Ali: No! Elise can't be potty training! I'm potty training!

Molly a couple months ago in the car: I don't want to marry when I'm big.
Me: Why?
Molly: I don't want children.
Me: Why?
Molly: Because I want mommy and daddy.

Molly driving with us in the car last week: I see a cop car! Put your heads down!

Valentine rosettes

2013-01-30T14:50:00.001-07:00

I had a few places that I thought would work for my valentine rosettes that I finished. I decided on this wall. Check out what was hanging there (pic above). We put these pictures up right after we moved into my parent's basement. I've known for a while that I should really take these down and do something else, but I also know that we will be gone soon, so I haven't had a ton of motivation!

I decided it was perfect for my rosettes to go there!

Here they are.

Didn't they turn out cute? I got the paper at a cute scrapbook store called the Pink Daisy in Holladay. My mom had the doilies and the tag. I had leftover scrapbook paper from a past project that I used to make the small hearts. Anyway, they sure make me happy!

To be honest, they are sitting on the floor right now :( I hung them with duct tape, but obviously it didn't hold so well! I got the idea here, and she used painter's tape. I tried that first, but it didn't seem to hold well either. Then I tried duct tape, but it was a no go too. So now I'm not sure what to use, but I will figure something out!

Jackson at 8 months

2013-01-28T15:31:00.001-07:00

Jackson is 8 months old now and continues to be loved by all of us. Molly loves to sit and hold him and be a little mommy to him. He loves to be entertained by his sisters!

A big milestone this past month is that he sits up by himself!! Yay! This is one of my favorite things because then they can play with toys and start learning to entertain themselves, as opposed to being held all the time to stay happy :) He still loves to be held, though.

Just yesterday morning he started to clap his little hands all on his own! We haven't been showing him or trying to get him to do it at all. I'm not sure where exactly he picked it up, but it's adorable! He was clapping his hands so Justin and I were clapping too and cheering for him and he looked at us like, "Why are you so excited?" It was pretty funny. He had no idea he was doing a trick!

Still loves to drool and play and keep his family smiling! He still eats all day long. This has been a big change from my girls. I don't remember them eating all the time! But he certainly does. He is not a fan of vegetable baby foods anymore (can't totally blame him there). But he still likes the fruit kinds and any table food we are eating. I haven't given him anything that he didn't eat! He's tried beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, pastas, grains, meat, you name it!

Valentine's pillow

2013-01-25T13:52:00.002-07:00

I made this Valentine's pillow this week from a pattern I bought on clearance a couple years ago from a nearby quilt shop. It's isn't very big, about 8 1/2 in. by 9 in. When I first finished it, I wasn't really all that excited about it, but I liked it more once I added the ribbon. It's pretty cute now, right?

Here is the back. Fortunately, I had all the fabric and ribbon on hand to make it.

Here is the pattern. It came with the cute pom pom trim and I think I only paid like $2 for the pattern with the trim. The directions were a bit odd, but it worked out in the end.

This cute little boy was watching as I took pictures today.

And since I know you are all awaiting my paper rosettes that I talked about in my last post, here's a sneak peak. I actually had them almost finished with the rest of my Valentine's decor, but it was total overkill! It was too much with everything else I already had in that location, so I took them down and I'm trying to find a better place for them to go. I need to add a few finishing touches and then they will be done.