french braiding attempt #1

I love trying new things with my daughters hair. This morning, before I took her to school, I had enough time to TRY frenchbraid piggytails. Honestly, I've never been very good at french braiding, but I wanted to try. I remember my daughter didn't have enough hair to do anything until she was around 3 years old. So! I took pictures to show that I tried, I really did. =) I think with more practice I might enjoy doing the french braids. Or I could bribe my neighbor Heather with cookies and she'll do it for me. hehehe.

zoo, haircut and a movie!

Saturday was my little sister Lydia's 3rd birthday! For her birthday we all met up at the zoo for a fun crazy time. The weather couldn't have been better, the crowds I could have lived without. I remember last year we met at the zoo for her birthday and it was 30 degrees. We only survived on hot chocolate and layers of jackets. :) Anyway, this year we had more family show up! I think most, if not all, of Kellie's family decided to come. Seems I only see them at the zoo. hehehe. I hate to admit that I don't know them very well, but it's fun to mingle and meet new friends. Here are a few pictures from Saturday. My girls are waiting in the wagon for everyone else to show up. We were there right on time. I hate being late, but I should have realized we were on DAD time. If he says one time, you have to add 30-45 min and that's the time he'll show up. :) That's exactly what happened. love you dad!

Next is a picture of my husband and Amy's husband Randy. We had to be sneaky to get the shot, they did not want to be in any pictures. But this picture is proof that they were very helpful in pulling the wagons around the zoo. Oh! I think our older kids were more interested in finding where they were on the map of the zoo rather than looking at the animals.

This is a random picture to show you some of the family that showed up for the party. :) It's not everybody. :) My dad brought pizza, sandwiches, and a butterfly cake for the birthday girl! We all pretty much met for food and to watch Lydia open her presents, but then we all went our own pace walking around the zoo.

This is just a cute picture I took of my sister and my dad.

I promise I took pictures of animals too!! The black bears were out lounging today. They were probably the highlight of the day with the animals. But that's about it from the zoo. One last random tidbit of information: My sister Amy has 11 days left for a guaranteed delivery of her little girl, unless she goes into labor early. :)

What else happened?? Oh, I decided to cut my hair! I have the before and after shots to kinda show you how much I cut off. This is about as long as my hair gets before I get that itch on the back of my neck to chop it off. I was not very photogenic with the front faced pictures, so they will not be shown. :)

Last of all, we took our girls to see the movie Monsters vs. Aliens. Overall the movie was cute and had some funny moments, but it won't be a movie I will buy. :) In my opinion the movie wasn't young enough for my girls. make sense? yeah it's a fun cartoon, but I don't think my oldest will get it until she's a few years older. BUT have you seen Bolt? I rented it last week and I loved it. My husband and girls liked it so much that we bought it and I think I've watched that movie over a hundred times. seriously.

The last 24 hours

To start, Friday night I met up with some of my old girlfriends from Challenger Elementary. Can you believe it's been 16-18 years since we've seen each other??! well...at least for some of us. Rosie planned it at the Cheesecake Factory, which is really yummy (I do not eat cheesecake, I had the strawberry shortcake! it was delicious!). We had such a great time, talked for over 2 hours, and even planned another "get together" in about 2 months when hopefully more of the girls will be able to make it. It's amazing how much we remember (or as I like to call it, selective memory) from so long ago and most of us have known each other since preschool. I know many are not fans of facebook, but in all honesty, it's the reason we've found eachother and are now keeping in touch. :)

Then earlier today my cute pregnant sister Amy (due in 3 weeks!!) and I met up with our cousin Anna for lunch at my mom's house. I wish we could do this more. I miss my cousin!! and I love it when I see her. But first, here's a CUTE picture of Amy and Mylee wearing silly hats that my mom keeps for the kids to play with. I think she should use it for her profile picture. :) Then we had to have a picture of Anna with all our kids. Why is it so hard for all the kids to look at the camera at once? at least Braden is being cute and giving his sister a kiss.The last picture we are starting as a tradition. My oldest LOVES taking pictures with my camera and she does a pretty good job when she's focused. :) AND it's just fun to take pictures.

Mod-Podge'n Weekend

I love working on projects and having something to keep my hands busy. This weekend I had 2 projects that I worked on. I was determined to improve/fix my girls little play table, and I wanted to make a treasure box for my little sister Lydia's 3rd birthday, which is later this month. Have you used Mod-Podge? I love using this stuff. I used it for both of my projects.

So I started off with the little table because it would take the longest. When you look at the pictures below you'll see my motivation with this project. My girls love to draw everywhere and I was tired of looking at the doodles on the table. :) I ended up tracing and cutting a lot of hexagons on a mix of papers. Since it was a beautiful day outside I ended up taking my table project outside to piece together with mod-podge. I knew it would take a while to put together, but I did not expect it to take 4 hours. In the end the table looks great (so far 3 layers of mod-podge on top) and I got a sunburn. I should've known better, I burn way too easily. Anyway here are the table pics.

BEFORE

AFTER

My next project was for my little sister Lydia, who is having her 3rd birthday at the end of this month. I've made a few of these boxes for family and they are easy to make. Last December I made one for my other little sister Leah's 4th birthday and she LOVED it. All you do is trace, cut, mod-podge. :)

BEFORE

AFTER

Disney On Ice

We took our girls to Disney on Ice this weekend. All I can say is the girls really enjoyed it. I thought it was great for little kids, but I was expecting something different. They started off with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisey and Goofy who were going on a safari. So the first story was Lion King.

Then Mickey and gang came out and decided to take a walk on the beach, which introduced Ariel's story. This was one of my favorites. :) They had these starfish outfits that made me laugh (picture below) AND the way they portrayed Ursula was one of my favorite parts.

Next they did the story of Stitch, which was really cute. My oldest loves the movie. But in the ice skating it focused more on the love story between the older sister and her boyfriend.

Then Mickey and gang came out and decided to head to London where they did a number with a song from Mary Poppins. I'm probably missing something...or a movie they featured that I've already forgotten (yup that memorable for me).

I do remember the last movie they featured, it was Peter Pan. My daughter has never seen the movie. I think they just wanted to show tinkerbell, who really wasn't in it. My daughter knows Tinkerbell from her new fairy movie. I wished they had done something with the fairies, but it's not a girls disney on ice. They did have Peter Pan flying around

Overall it just wasn't what I expected. Some parts were really cute and creative, while others you just shake your head wondering WHY! It's great for kids and even better if the kids are familiar with the movies they feature, but I don't know if I'd take them back next year..maybe the next year after that. The things we do for our kids. :)

Just some fun pictures

My dad emailed me these pictures a few weeks ago, and I wanted to share. I love this kind of photography, it's fun and creative. =) Hope you like them as much as I did!

My latest project

I do not have any pictures for this, but I wanted to share my latest project this week! Between my girls and myself being sick, this is what I've been working on. To make a long story short, my daughters are sharing a room now. Not only that, but I have converted the crib into a toddler bed. :) My baby is only 20 months, and I figured she has to learn eventually. This is only the 3rd night, but the last 2 have been great! My baby idolizes my oldest, and they help each other out. AND neither of them have gotten out of bed during the night, which is HUGE for my oldest and for a baby in a toddler bed. So far so good. The only problem I've run into is they want to play until they get too tired and the floor is usually covered in clothes and books. Oh and nap times during the day are a little tough, but I'm still working on that. What did I do with the other room? I'm keeping it as a play room. Somewhere they can make a mess and have fun. I may hide a few of my things that have been hiding in my office downstairs, like my sewing machine. I just hope this works!

My Valentines Date

I've been meaning to post about Valentines for a few days. I've even had the pictures up and waiting for me to write about. I HAD to share my delicious chocolate strawberries that my husband got me the night before Valentines (notice that 2 are already gone. :D). yummy. I know it's silly, but I look forward to these every year. I would like to point out that I shared with my daughters, but they only picked off the chocolate.

Usually Valentines is just an other day for us. Maybe flowers (always the strawberries!) or a card, but that was the extent. This year was fun. We did something different, something we've never done, and a whole lot better than sitting at home twiddling our thumbs. I had no idea that Thanksgiving Point had a dinner and dance on Valentines. I only came by it by chance when I was looking up something different on their website. THEN I was shocked that my husband liked the idea of a dinner and a dance. So I bought the tickets and found a new dress.

My brother in law came up to watch the girls for the evening. When we arrived at the barn, it was decorated, they had a photographer waiting for the free picture, and a table just of candy. Almost felt like I was at prom. haha. They had a jazz band playing, which was really nice. We sat at a table with 3 other couples. The dinner was surprisingly good.

The dancing was my favorite part (despite what my husband says). Little history: growing up, my sister Amy and I would dance together for fun all the time. I was always leading, never really followed and that's the pattern I've fallen into. Even in dance classes, since their were never enough guys I would eventually be leading. SO dancing with my husband was a lot fun. Honestly he got frustrated cause he wanted to lead. I tried sooo hard, I just don't know how to turn it off. I was focusing soo hard on not leading that I probably was. I love to dance, but my husband wants to lead. What am I going to do? :D We tried many times, but I failed miserably. It didn't help that the dance floor was seriously crowded. You would think that with as many years as they've done this Valentines Night they would have figured out that a large dance floor is best.

Other fun observations. The age range was from early 20's to 80 year olds. I loved watching the older couples get out there and dance. Some ladies had elegant prom like dresses others were wearing something you would see at church. :) The band started out great. At first they played big band music, but it progressily got worse. I was hoping for the big band music the whole night, but then they started playing rock or just something that reminded me of a high school dance. The two that were singing with the music was one guy that thought he could sing the high notes like one of the Bee gee's or Michael Jackson, and a girl that I swear sang like it was karaoke night. Oh well, could have been worse right? Overall I would go again, but with more friends. =) Anyone interested for next year?

Valentines on my mind

I know this is a silly post, but Valentines has been on my mind. It's hard not to notice when hearts and candy are everywhere you look. But honestly, I love this time of year. =) Here are a few reasons why I love Valentines.....(in no particular order). Wow looking at this list it's mostly edible. haha.

1. Sweethearts Candy. I love conversation hearts, they are simple, fun and tasty! But I must admit that I pick out my favorite ones first..the WHITE ones. Do you have a favorite color? my girls have already fallen in love with these candy hearts.

2. Chocolate Strawberries from my hubby. Every Valentines instead of flowers I get these beautiful yummy chocolate dipped strawberries from Cummings Chocolates. I LOVE them and look forward to them every year. =] Aren't they cute?? they come in an egg carton. lol.

3. Cinnamon Lips are addicting. I'm already addicted to cinnamon flavored candies, but it's only at valentines that Sweet's Candy makes the cinnamon lips (at least that's what i've noticed). Ohhh sooo good and when they are in the house I have a hard time saying no when my hand inches closer to that bag of delicious cinnamon flavor. YUM. Now my girls love them.... =]

4. Valentines with my daughter! This is the first year I picked up Kids Valentines for her!! I'm soo excited. Remember growing up we would make the valentines boxes from shoe boxes? and decorate them just the way we wanted to take them to class and show everyone? I remember being nervous about giving certain friends valentines....ahh the memories. I love doing all these kiddie things with my daughter. I just have to remember it's for her and not for me ;).

5. This year I already have a date planned with my husband for Valentines. =] Usually it's just another day for us, but I stumbled onto this fun activity that's happening Valentines Day night. We're going to try a Dinner and Dance! I already have the babysitter lined up, and we're going to do this. The last time my husband and I danced was...well it was a long time ago, so this should be fun.

6. Valentines Activities with my kids! I found this fun sweetheart jewelry kit when I was at Target. My daughter can not wait to open it up and make Valentines bracelets.

That's all I can think of right now...do you have any fun things planned for Valentines? or something you look forward to this time of year? =]

Randomness....what my girls are up to.

I just felt like blogging, and the only thing I could think of to write about are my girls!! of course, since my family is the center of my life. =) So here's the latest.... (this picture is on my fridge, sorry it's a little fuzzy)

My oldest is 4 and still in toddler bed. We would love to put her in a twin bed, but she still has a hard time sleeping in her own bed, in her own room. 90% of the time (in the last 2 years) she ends up sleeping on our floor by morning. Before we get her the "next" bed, I really want her to learn how to sleep in her own room. So this week we are trying something different...being a little creative...call it an incentive. ;) It's only been a few days, but here's what we started. If she sleeps in her own room all night she 1: gets to watch a movie in her room the next night. (she loves our portable dvd player, and watching movies in her room). 2: I've made calendars on her door where she can put a sticker on each day. 3: If she sleeps in her own room for 2 months then we will get her the big girl bed. Since we started this 3 days ago she has stayed in her room all night. I just hope it lasts. What else...she LOVES preschool. She's always asking when she gets to go to school again.

My youngest, she is 19 months. What can I say? she's in that cute, needy, moody stage--tantrums are starting. =) I think she takes after my husband...she gets mad if things don't go exactly the right way, her way. It's funny, she is really pouty and mad at him all the time for some reason. I just laugh. When my husband comes home from work she is literally running to the door to meet him, a hug and a kiss, then she wants nothing to do with him. lol. She loves her dad, but I guess she's learned that she can get what she wants a lot easier from her mom. =) AND she has an interest in potty training! She always wants to sit on her potty and I'm more than happy to encourage her. She's only been successful twice, but if I'm persistent and let her practice it will come. It has too. I do not want to miss this window of opportunity. When my oldest was around this age I was working and wasn't very patient when she showed interest. And I lost that window....she wasn't fully potty trained until she was 3, almost 4 years old. I am determined to not change another diaper in 6-8 months. Ok, I'll just cross my fingers and hope. Other than that, she likes to try on all my shoes and then hide them somewhere.

Love my girls.