What in a Cart?

You must read my cousin Jessas blog after this so you get the next part of this story. Lets just start with all you ladies that have had the pleasure of shopping for hours on end with your children know the perils of having your kids in a cart for too long. Well my cuz and I had officially tuned out the children as we are looking at aisle and aisle of fabric. It was at the hour plus mark when we heard "mommy poo-poo". Your ears pick up on potty words, screams, sometimes violence, but always poop. As we look down we see Elle with her pants down to her ankles and her bare butt hanging "boat style" out the side of the cart. So we go in to panic mode....Did she? Our purses are on the bottom shelf of the cart, We don't see anything, is it possible it could be...No! This was as close of a call I ever want to have a S@*# in my purse. But the fact is it was a false alarm (beside the actual butt out the cart). Now I know my girl Elle is not afraid of her potty business. I dare say very creative. I'm in for a wild ride, luckily she is adorable.

Trading Spaces

This February my cousin Jessa and I did something fun.  First she came to Utah for two weeks and we hung out and did some fun stuff.  Then the girls and I went to San Diego for two weeks. We went to Disneyland and Ca. Adventure.  The girls and I had a blast.  We also did a bunch of sewing for Jessas house which was also "fun". P.S. Thanks Annie (in teacup) for all your help with my little peps!

Maes Nose

One of my favorite things about Mae is her nose.  It is a perfect little button nose.  It is turned up just enough on the end to be adorable.  Even as a baby it was so cute.  So I was freaked out when Mae pulled over our iron bar stool on her face!  These bar stools are super heavy which has been awesome for kids.  I thought her nose was broken and then when I saw the swelling and bruising I was worried she would have to have surgery.  The doctor said nothing could be done until the swelling went down and we waited to see her nose, her sweet perfect nose.  Well luckily everything is fine now, her nose looks the same and I still have her cute little face to go with it!  Man, kids are made of rubber.

February

In February my brother Joel and Sister-in-law Shannon had their sweet baby boy Joshua James.  The girls love him and are so gentle.  Shannon did well and is a good mom.  Ah the good old days, when all the girls needed was a swaddle, diaper and bottle.  Now its different but at least they can tell us what they need, or want, or are thinking, or what they don't want or anything else that can be said! Its funny what we wish away and how fast our kids grow and amaze us!

January

Well in January we had our first "Haircut", and what do they say the first cut is the deepest?  I will not mention names to protect the not so innocent but is was not my girls cutting their own hair.   I was waiting for one of them to think of it but luckily it was an older cousin who showed them the many possibilities with scissors.  Just that day I was finally happy with Elles crazy hair and that night is when it happened.  Oh well, I guess it grows back, and it could be worse and all those sayings.  

Catching Up

Here goes updating 4 months at one time.  It all starts back with Christmas...  Well after all this time what do you say.  It was great fun with our sweet girls.  I loved of course the decorating.  I talked in October about the witches that Nettie makes.  You should see her Santas they are just as amazing.  And once again I can't resist centering my decor around them.

Still Dancing

Well, wasn't I a proud mom a few months back when I posted about how cute Mae was in her dance attire, all pink and leg-warmered up.  Well, boy am I proud now.  Mae had her first dance performance.  Now these are all firsts for me,  you seasoned mothers probably have been through some pretty funny ones.  I expected some wrong turns, a hat malfunction, even crying if necessary, but what Mae gave me was so much funnier.  She stood there with girls on either side just staring.  Not just looking, but she had an expression on her face like, "What in the world are you fools doing?".  Dave got mad at me because he thought she was crying but I could tell she wasn't she just was not going to dance.  My Father in law said I should get a refund on the lessons but I thought it was worth every penny that was the funniest thing I had seen in a while.  I was crying, I was laughing so hard.  And the funny thing is...She was the star of the show without lifting a toe!

Make-Up Lessons

Make-up Lessons, Make-up Lessons for a limited time only Elle has decided to offer lessons on make-up application.  She has many techniques that will get you noticed!  If you are interested just bring any brushes, shadows, creams you would like mixed and ruined.  Although a unique look, we expect her appointment book to fill up, so please book today!  

P.S.  The fees for the lesson are just the price of your favorite cosmetics.

Snow Crazy

If you ever want to feel like a kid again go jump in the snow! My girls and I were driving home on a beautiful day and I thought what the hey. So we got bundled up and headed out. I towed them up and down our street, threw snow balls at them and took some pics. Two hours later and a lot of "snow cones" they finally wanted to come in. That was so awesome I can't wait till they snowboard (but by then they will probably be too cool for mom). Oh well we had fun for now.
My little Elle was having a sweet snow picnic.

Updated

Thank you all who have commented. I got some news. My next little one could take some more time getting here. I got pregnant so fast, too fast I guess, I am no longer prego. But I know my children will come. So with that, thanks again.

On a lighter note, I have two little chicks to keep me busy. Yesterday we played in the snow for two hours. We made a lop-sided snowman and tried sledding without a hill (doesn't work that well). Maybe in a couple more years we will refine the art of snow play. We had a blast! Love my girls!

A Mother

Well, after 7+ years of trying to get pregnant, adopting our little angel Mae, 9 months and 10 days later having sweet Elle. Elle is now 2 1/2 and we are please to announce after 1 month of trying we are pregnant again! That just goes to show how important it was that we have our daughter Mae. Every time I think of how sweet she is, the blessing she is to us, I think about her birth mother "Katie". I am so grateful to her that she had the wisdom at such a young age to sacrifice her own feelings to give Mae a better life. Not because Katie couldn't love her, or wouldn't give her things. But gave Mae instead a mother, a father, a little sister and now another child who will love her. We can not imagine our lives without her. All this because one girl let herself grow in ways we will never understand. That is what I think about when I am pregnant. I am so grateful for the love of a young mother who changed our family.

I guess it is time to update. Well, we have been very busy with Thanksgiving. The one thing I am grateful for is the health of my little family. This past four weeks my friend Mindi and I have worked with many volunteers to do a Marrow drive. What that means is getting people who are willing to literally give of themselves to help save a life. It sounds like a cliche, but it has been amazing. There is a nine year old girl in our ward with leukemia and we, along with others, have been trying to help her family. If people knew how easy it was, my hope would be others would join. In case you want to know more...marrow.org. This has reminded me of how important we all are to each other, we survive sometimes through the kindness of those around us. We all have challenges and we need to not judge. Amen sister!

Witches

Well, its after Halloween and I can finally write a little about the actual holiday. I would love to talk about my witches. OK, although both of my grandmothers made dolls I'm not really a doll person. I can appreciate the detail. but somehow my whole decor for Halloween centers around these "ladies". These witches are made by a local woman who is a true artist by nature. Nettie hand pours and paints all of the witches and then makes incredible dresses out of new and vintage fabrics ( I'm a sucker for fabric of any kind especially vintage). They're all one of a kind and have bobbles and potions hanging from them. The first two of these was given as a gift from my wonderful mother-in-law, Lis. At my front table you are greeted by the "Pumpkin Witch" who loves obviously pumpkins.



Then on my bakers rack the "Kitty Witch" (a.k.a. crazy cat lady) swings ready for any stray to jump up and have safe refuge with her and her feline friends (mostly black).



Next in my dinning room we have the woodland witch who likes the creepy crawlies and all matter of wild creatures. My girls got so excited to bring out the witches and it was so nice to not have gross stuff that they are scared of.



This year I had Nettie bring her witches to my house so my friends could buy some and Mae was so excited she wanted a picture with them, she looks almost the same size.



Also this year I had a "Witches Night In" party. It was so fun everyone came dressed in a hat, cape, or as themselves. We just hung out and exchanged spells. It was our first annual, can't wait till next year.



Lastly just a reminder, no matter how tempting, do not eat the witches treats, it's always a trick!

Spooky

This is our poopee house at night. Our little pink mummies can't really say spooky, I think poopee is funnier anyways. If it looks like Elle's wrap is on fire, it's just an illusion. Happy Halloween!

Guilty Pleasure

Our family has a guilty pleasure. Its Halloween. When I say Halloween I mean we go crazy. Our front entry you might get eaten by a giant Spider. At night there is a black light and strobe too.






When you come inside there is garland but not shiny holiday fluff, its black with orange and purple lights.

We replace our entryway chandelier with black light bulbs and drape it with "cobwebs".

Not to mention every surface (that the girls can't reach) is lit, draped or decorated. I think we need an intervention, but we really like it.

I was going to write this long story about our trip to Cali and Disneyland, but honestly I'm not that much of a writer.  I really think Elles faces says it all in this picture at the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki room.

Mae's third birthday sure was fabulous (thats a fancy word for great!).  She really wanted a mermaid party but it just wasn't warm enough.  So as I brainstormed through Target thinking mermaid, mermaid, mer-wait, down on the bottom shelf lay my answer at $1.69.  Thank you Fancy Nancy!  

We had the most delectable, smallest buffet you have ever seen.  With fondue and hors d'oeuvre (thats fancy for small).  The girls just went for it with lemonade and ice water they could pour and play.  

And with monogrammed cupcakes for the little darlings.  Everyone felt special (& fancy).

Fancy parties call for fancy sparkle candles.

But best of all was the fun our little three year old had.  I can't believe I'm so blessed (thats fancy for lucky).

Living Every Little Girls Dream

What a time of year with school starting and starting new classes, like Ballet. Well we live in a place in Utah called Utah County. Living in Utah County has several good things but also some challanges. Not the obvious ones like traffic or 90% Mormon, (no offense it does cause some challanges). But the ones you won't think of like schools not taking kids 8 days early to start school, or brand new schools already having trailers to house all the students. Lets talk about dance class. We are in a valley with not much else around counting Salt Lake (The Big City), so when you go to buy, lets say size 9 1/2 tap shoes you might be going, calling and looking online in 7 different stores. Then you get to try on the wrong sizes and have your daughters freaking out because they want ballet flats and taps so you promise at the next store. You also don't want to be late purchasing your items. Even the dance studio is sold out! Finally we just drove to San Diego (we were going anyways). We learned a lesson about living in an area where you better be prepared, even for dance class. Look at the results of all our work!

And now our oldest ( LOL, at 3), can live every little girl dream of being a balleterina!

The Apple of our Eyes

Ok, I am a realist. I know it is only Pre-Pre K but look how cute Mae is on her first day of school. And she had a friend to go with, Double cute!

Dreams Really Do Come True

This is personal but I wanted to write about it. About eight years ago I got this old poster frame from one of the fun centers. It was dark green and black with Gothic painting and roman numerals on it. As we moved around we dragged it too. Dave voiced his opinion of it many times. Basically he didn't like it, so I would defend it stating my vision of a fairy tale castle with a little girl looking at herself in it. Finally I repainted it, put a mirror in it and as I was getting ready to hang it I had it leaning against Mae's bed, I look over and she is looking at herself. At that moment I realized how suddenly things happen and when you look around dreams come true and hopes are fulfilled. Thats why hope is so important. So I decided I had to have a reminder of this so I had the girls pictures taken in it! Dream Big!