Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!  Hope you are wearing green or these little happy pinchers will be sure to get you!

Halloween 2009 - Big Fat Baseball

I found this cute little baseball in my yard.  I quickly got my camera to get a shot of him.  I had never seen a baseball this size in this location before.  

At first, he wasn't too sure about me and my camera.

But a little candy dropped in his spider friend seem to warm him up to us.

And then he let us poke is squashy tummy to make him giggle. 

He ended up following us all around gathering candy from house to house pointing to each house asking if they had candy too.  All loved his fatness and cheered for Boston.  After the night of fun, we just couldn't send him out on his own and decided to keep him for ourselves.  After all, who wouldn't love a big fat baseball?

Pumpkin Patch

We went on a pumpkin hunt to find our perfect pumpkins. 

The children searched long and wide to find their perfect pumpkins.

Oooo, this one is just right for Jake.  So heavy, but determined to make it his.

He placed it in the cart next to Sammy's perfect pumpkin. 

Then Mia found her perfect pumpkin.

And into the cart it went.

Along the way, we picked up this cute little pumpkin.  He sure was a keeper!

Then off to the hay maze to have some fun.  Jake followed them making videos so long, my memory card filled up. 

And of course, the obligatory photo op even though the sun was in their eyes....

And the trip to the pumpkin patch was done and of course, we are eagerly planning our trip next year.

I Spy......Wait! How did it get to the middle of July?

Let's just pretend that time didn't fly by shall we? Ok, glad we are on the page. Sooooo....

Happy 4th of July!!

The 4th was the best weather we have ever had. If only it could always be like that. Not too hot and overcast made parade watching just right. We were lucky enough to be invited to sit up at the house of the sweetest couple in the ward. Right on the main road, lots of shade and good food and friends.

Mia got to be in the parade this year. I got our whole section to cheer loudly for her so when she saw us, she got really excited and waved to us all like a movie star. She was cute and did well.

Sam took a while to get used to the idea of the parade but quickly warmed up when his little friend kept him in constant supply of taffy. She caught them. opened them up and feed them to him just as fast she could. Aww, cute little loves.

Even though the weather was mild, that didn't stop Jake from getting soaked from head to toe during the water fight part. The water fight is the highlight of Jake's year.

After the parade and the picnic, we had the in laws over for another BBQ, fireworks and fun. I didn't take one picture because I was too busy enjoying myself. It was fun!

Mother's Day

Happily, Mother's Day was a nice day this year. The kids were super excited about it this year and it was especially nice that Mia's birthday didn't fall on the same day. It makes for a conflicting day!

For weeks ahead of time, Jake excitedly asked me my favorite colors and what I liked. Mia told me about cards and gifts that she had made in school and drew a new card for me daily. Together, they crafted something special with their Grandma just for me. There excitement about it all was the best part of my day!

That morning, I was showered with gifts and love from my babies. They brought me breakfast in bed. Cereal and toast with honey butter. They brought me card after card that they had made. They gave me the gifts that they made. Three brand new beaded bracelets and a matching necklace were my gift from them. Jake water colored on a photograph of him from school. Mia's cards were darling. Lots of hugs and kisses too. It was wonderful fun!

Church was busy of course, but they brought a sweet little card that Sam colored in nursery with a flower pen that had a cute poem on it. Another card from Mia and Jake from Primary. A sweet Mother's Day medley sung by my Primary kids and red geraniums.

We enjoyed dinner with the in-laws and dessert with my parents. I had just two tags left over from my Piper and Chloe Spring showcase that we perfect to decorate my mother's and mother-in-laws presents.

That night, I got spoiled one more time when Ryan gave me his sweet and loving card and my all time favorite movie, The Italian Job. Go ahead and laugh if you need to, but I love it!

I wish that I would of had Ryan take my picture with my kids but I was so enjoying my time with them, that I forgot to ask. So, even though it's late, Thank you to all my loved ones for a Happy Mother's Day for me!

Twas the night before Christmas...

And these kids were excited!

They looked over the presents with care

being sure to decorate the ones that were bare.

When all of the sudden, an elf came to see!

The kids were excited and to find where he might be.

They ran out the door hoping to find that elf,

but instead found three presents stacked high on the shelf.

With wonder and excitement oh what could it be, the paper they ripped revealing special Christmas jammies for three.

Happily they sat by the Christmas tree

for Mama to take their picture in their new Christmas jammies.

Then stories about Jesus were read by their Dad

and reverently they listen about where Jesus laid his head.

The stockings were hung and the cookies were left,

then sweet little children danced off to their beds.

Soon all was quiet in our cozy little house,

the children were dreaming of Star Wars and cars,

make-up and jewelery and a new sparkly blouse.

That Santa we love slid down the chimney real quick,

and left presents for all, that good St. Nick.

"Merry Christmas" he laughed as went back to his sleigh,

and before we knew it, it was soon Christmas day.

The children were happy as they found their new loot,

and that Sammy we love was too darn cute.

Star Wars and treats found by our oldest boy,

cars and books for our baby boy.

Make-up and jewelry made this princess happy

and Santa even gave us our own Guitar Hero!

Then off to Grandma's we went through the snow,

for more Christmas presents and warm breakfast too.

More family we visited, we think they are nice,

then home to play Guitar Hero more than twice.

A Merry Christmas it was with our little friends,

but before we knew it, the day came to an end.

One by one we went off to bed,

with smiles and kisses on each little head.

Then Mama and Daddy crawled into their bed,

"A very Merry Christmas it was!" we each had said.

And a Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Snowmen At Night

We made our cute snowmen neighbor gifts today. Why not earlier? Procrastination? Possibly. I have had the items needed to do these for a few weeks now. But even then, I really think it's because every year, we delivered our neighbor gifts for my Mom a day or two before Christmas. So I have to say it's tradition!

These snowmen are simple to make and look so cute. So, if you haven't done any neighbor gifts this year and you are feeling guilty for not getting them done, here's a simple idea that is sure to please.

Snowman ready to march out at night.

The note says:

"Use me for a decoration

'til the time is just right

then pull off my hat and

I'm a cold drink of Sprite!"

How to Make a Soda Snowman:

• 2 liter Sprite
• Package of size medium boys, white socks
• Festive material (one yard did 12 snowmen)
• Googly eyes
• Orange foam for noses
• Your brightest blush

Simply slip the sock over the soda to make the body. Cut a strip of festive material roughly 9 x15" and glue short ends together and slip over top of bottle to make the hat. Tie a ribbon around the top of the bottle attaching your note then cut slits at the top of the material to make fringe. Tear a 1"-2" piece and tie around the snowman's neck. Next, simply glue on the googly eyes and carrot nose and give your snowman a quick dusting of blush and it's good to go!

And if you are feeling extra festive, the book "Snowmen at Night" is one of my kids favorite books and would make a cute addition to this simple gift.

Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving 2008

This year, we celebrated Thanksgiving at Teryn's house. I would say that she is quite the trooper since she is still dealing with her back injury. By the end of the night, she was quite sore and very happy. She just loves to be surrounded by family and enjoys hosting parties.

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner with all of our family favorites. Throughout the dinner, random family members stood up and told silly Thanksgiving jokes. Afterwards, we had a basketball tournament, a pool tournament and a Guitar Hero tournament complete with prizes worth up to dollars for the winner! I came in a close 2nd place at the basketball tournament with 5 out of 10 shots made only to be outdone by Brianne at the last minute with her amazing 6 out of 10.

Mom and Dad weren't with us this year. They went to North Carolina to surprise Sharmyn. Her husband Jon put the whole thing together for her. Isn't he thoughtful?? Mom and Dad flew in late Monday night. Sharmyn was sound asleep when M&D woke her up. She was so stunned, she couldn't even register what they were doing there. We missed M&D and I can't help but be a bit jealous that they got to go see her. Sure miss Sharm and Jon.

I found a few random photos on my camera at the end of the night. Not surprised to see the photo of Chelsea and Lauren biting Jake's head.

Teryn has a small ride on four wheeler that she lets the kids ride in the house. It was the hit of the day for the Little's. Sam even understood how to push the button to make it run. He spent the better part of the day running into walls and doors with it. Fun times!

There was even a picture of me playing Guitar Hero and how I loved playing Guitar Hero even though Ryan was ruthlessly making fun of me. However, this photo was taken from Mia's height showing really only my ample backside. We won't be sharing that photo anytime soon.

Not only did we get to celebrate Thanksgiving with my side of the family, we got to have dinner with Ryan's family on Sunday. It was delicious! Sharon makes the best turkey ever. Yum-o! Lucky us!

Halloween

Halloween 2008 was a fantastic and busy day. We were so lucky that the kids didn't have school that day. (I am more than sure that their teachers were thrilled too.) We started the day off by giving the house a good cleaning. Wahoo! Aren't I a fun mom??? Then it was time to carve and paint pumpkins. Mia was fascinated over pulling out all of the pumpkin guts. She helped me get every last seed out. We carved a quick cat and called it good while the kids busied themselves painting their pumpkins. Well, Sam painted his pumpkin and himself. I can't figure out how he got so much paint on him in such little time. He got banned from the project after five minutes. Funny guy kept looking at his hands quizzically wondering how they got so many colors on them.

We decided to go to Gram Sharon's house early. It's tradition to have Jack-o-lantern pizza with them. Mia was concerned about the pizza. She immediately said that she didn't want any. She didn't like Jack-o-lanterns. It took us quite a lot of convincing that it wasn't really a pumpkin, just pepperoni pizza. Finally, she said that she would eat some, just please take the Jack-o-lantern off and leave the pepperoni. She's a quick one I tell ya!

Here's Little Red Riding Hood skipping her way to through the woods. She likes to pose. I loved the red cape with the pointed hood made out of red corduroy lined with a sweet little floral print. The pattern was from the Martha Stewart Kids magazine from years ago. (Love those magazines. Wish that Ms. Martha still made them!) It was quick and easy to make although one instruction made it so a seam was showing in the hood. I had to really think about how to make it not show. It was simple solution. I laughed at myself for taking so long to figure it out. Under the cape, she wore her old Dorothy dress I made two years ago. There was no fooling anyone though. They were confused at why Dorothy was wearing a red cape. Oh well. I thought she looked cute and she skipped everywhere she went just like Little Red.

Guess who picked out Jake's costume this year??? Can you guess?? He was too excited about his "commando suit with digitally printed camo and fake muscles!". He loved it and that is what really matters.

And this little bear was wondering why he got woken up early from his long afternoon nap. And why did mom insist on drawing on his nose? And why does mom want me to sit here?? These pictures remind me of Jake in this same costume. He wouldn't sit long enough for me to get a picture. The only difference from Sam and Jake was that Jake needed his binky and Sam need to hold candy.

Trick-or-treating is always a hit. The weather was perfect!! I can't remember a single Halloween that we could just wear our costumes without the rest of our winter gear. It was really pleasant.

The kids and their loot.

Sam figured out quickly that they were handing out candy but only went to every 5th house. Not because he didn't want more, he was just too busy eating it. He came home with less than five pieces of candy in his little Spider bucket.

The kids and I snuggled in to watch "Nightmare Before Christmas" and we went to bed late happy, warm and just a bit sticky.

"Pumpkin Pouch"

I felt like a last minute, impromptu adventure for some festive pumpkin picking. I rounded up the kids and headed on out to Pack's Pumpkin Patch (or "pouch" as Mia calls it) and the weather was perfect and punkins a plenty. Of course the kids had a grand ol time begging to come back again soon to pick more and BIGGER pumpkins!

Mia found the perfect pumpkin for sitting on. Gotta love the pose and the smile. She is so into that these days.

Samalicious thought that was a great idea and set off to find all the pumpkins that were just his size to sit upon.

We searched all over the patch finding our perfect pumpkins for us. I was in love with the flat wide pumpkins (I think they are called Cinderella pumpkins?) but they were so incredibly heavy and I had a limited budget to work with. I did find a tiny little one way back in the back of the field so I got to claim it for me. Mia picked a perfectly round white pumpkin. She's my girl! I love me some white pumpkins.

Sammy wandered the field following the kids until he found his perfect pumpkin. Just his size and a bit heavy for him. I loved watching him pick it up and declare "heavy!" as it drops only to pick it up again working hard to get it into the stroller. He knew what to do. That pumpkin was his perfect pumpkin! (I am brilliant and took the video sideways. I always do that! But doesn't his gravely voice sound so cute?)

Jacob enthusiastic as always, ran around picking up pumpkins here and there. He found his perfect pumpkin, the biggest in the bunch of course. He's a goofy kid. I like him.

The big kids played in the hay maze while Sammy and I checked out. We ended up with 31 pounds of small pumpkins, the smallest amount by far in that line. The person in front of me had 149 pounds worth of pumpkins!

So even though it was busy at the "pumpkin pouch" it was a perfect night for the kids and I. They can't wait to paint and carve them!