Sister Bond

This picture pretty much explains exactly how Ellie feels about her little sister.
From the moment I wake up in the morning until the time I put her to bed she takes every opportunity she can to be with "babe-uh." Within moments of me sitting down, she is right there inquiring about the baby. "Mom, did she kick you real hard?" Every question she asks me about baby is always followed with a happy little giggle. I could spend half an hour on the couch and she is oblivious to everything going on around her including a fun kid show... she just wants to snuggle the babe. Nothing can keep her attention for that long, and it is so boring- just a big belly! Every time I eat something she asks if I was feeding baby, and if baby liked it. She likes to cover baby up in all of her blankets, and pretend that baby is cold and hot. My favorite thing to witness is her girly little giggle when she is playing with my tummy. There are no actual words just a lot of happy noises and humming. I thought/ was hoping that it would wear off. It is still really sweet, but the insisting on a good morning snuggle every day has it's draw backs. Also, her continual trying to access the belly in public or while at church has lead to a few embarrasing moments. She is truly enamored with this baby, and talks about her non stop. I am looking forward to all the help I will receive from her once the baby comes.

The other day when I was headed out she asked, "You’re going bye bye mommy?” "yes honey" "are you going to take baby?” I just had to laugh because of her sweetness.

Jensen loves the baby too, but not nearly as much as Ellie... she cannot get enough!

This picture was my second assignment in my class... dark backgrounds. Thank goodness for dark paint in my bedroom and a timer.

The Rain Fair

The spring fair was anything but springy... it rained off and on and was really cold. Jensen's only request was to ride the go carts, believe it or not this was the best priced ride at the fair.
Ellie was a little too cold to want to do anything... she did want to go down the slide. Luckily she was able to go down during the five minutes they had it open. I felt really bad for the people stationed at this slide because they had to keep cleaning it off. The rain came down for ten minutes then it would take a break just long enough for the workers to clean off the slide... then it was soaked again! I probably would have closed the slide for the day :-) You can tell from the picture how dreary it was outside. Where is the sunshine??

Su Su and Kye Food

My older sister Suzie came to visit me this past week. I finally got to spend some time with her son, who is the cutest kid alive!! Her visit was perfect timing because she is moving to SAMOA in two months! Who get's to move to Samoa? You would have to know my sister to know that of course she is moving to Samoa. She served her mission in Hawaii, and is an islander at heart. We met my aunt Lani and Cousin Dani at the Rainforest Cafe. It is a fun restaurant- a little overstimulating for kids, but still fun. We sat in the monkey booth, where the monkeys came to life about every eight minutes. I was continually telling Ellie that the huge monkeys shaking the trees were just pretend. It was a fun visit.. thanks Lan!
Tubby Time! Cousin tub pictures are the best! Although Kye preferred John over me (crazy I know!) I am still enamored by his happy disposition. He is just learning to walk, and in my opinion there is nothing sweeter than a toddler waddling around. Ellie of course could not get enough of him! She wanted to be involved with EVERYTHING that had anything to do with "baby kye." Suzie was a good sport and let her feed, hold, clean and sing to him before his nap times. He has been the topic of conversation since they left. It was so lovely to have a sister around to make cookies and pancakes with my kids. Any sister's want to move up this way??? Anyone? hmmmm.... let's see... the pacific northwest, or Samoa.... tough choice! So Suzie is out Anyone else?

Give it up for the Rookie

I am officially changing my name to quilterella...not to be confused with bakerella(I haven't baked anything that I am particularly proud of). This super adorable quilt was sewn by MOI, and I have to give myself props because my mom didn't help!! Ok ok, she was actually here when I finished it and she did help out with the binding...but I did the sewing. I am notorious for handing projects over to my mom when they get too complicated, she is the true quilterella! Aside from random church projects this is my first machine quilt. I have done plenty of tie quilting in the past, but I like that this blanket is free of the little yarn nobbies. I have no idea what quilting style this is, there is a box sewn within each square. If you know what it's called, you can fill me in. A special thanks to the late night quilting party members... may I someday quilt as well as you!!
Of course there is always a sad story to accompany any great success I have. One whole day after completing the quilt it was RUINED by popcorn grease. My children are very proud of the fact that they are capable of preparing their own snacks; and brought over a freshly popped bag of popcorn to show me their achievements. Yes, you guess it... the quilt was sitting next to me, directly under the bag that was being held up by the wrong end. Luckily it was the Movie Theater edition so it contained extra butter... the bright orange kind :-) I reached for the closest thing I could, which happened to be a Kleenex to try and get the grease out. After washing it over and over and soaking the spots with Dish detergent- it is ready for baby. I learned a valuable lesson of not leaving freshly sewn baby blankets kicking around. Hopefully I can get the crib skirt and sheet made before she arrives. This collection is seriously to die for... there are so many cute fabrics- check out this line (the pictures above don't really do it justice). I am thinking I am going to need one for Ellie's bed, because I haven't seen fabric this fun in long time!

Photography Class

I am taking a photography class, and one of my questions is how to take pictures without shadows. Clearly my question wasn't answered on the first day ;-) I know the best pictures are in the shade, but my kids were playing in the sun. Lucky for me I live in the land of overcast, but I took these pictures on the one day we had sun. A woman in the class told me you just can't take pictures at noon- there has to be a way! Hopefully by the end of this class I will be producing some photo's shadow free. For all you photographers out there...how do you eliminate shadows while playing in the sun? Flash compensation?... whatever that means!

For all you Dora Watchers

Brian Regan cracks me up!! My sister is in town and showed me this You tube clip that I haven't seen yet. I am always up for a good dose of Brian. I was laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe. Where does this guy come from? SOOOOO funny! If you haven't seen Brian Regan- you should spend some time on You tube watching him, or rent a DVD... you won't be disappointed!! This might be a tad more humorous if you were in the middle of watching Dora.

Visit from Nana & Papa

YAY for spring break!! My kids were so excited for their Nana and Papa to come into town. We had a lot of fun and miss them already!
Ellie was so excited to have her Nana around. How great for a three year old to have someone else besides her mom get her dressed for dance, do her hair, read her stories, and put pretties on her nails...

Jense had a blast with his Papa, and especially loved playing racquetball.

The boys did some car maintenance....
Papa received his fair share of "sweet ones" from Ellie....

I wish I lived closer to my parents. It's so difficult for me to try and explain why Nana and Papa can't come over more often. Ellie was so sad when she woke up and they weren't there. Jensen has been asking if he can pack his "soup case" so we can go to Utah. I really do have the BEST parents on the planet. Thank you mom and dad for all of the fixing, ironing, and cleaning you did for me!! Come back pleeease....

Rascal Flatts Concert

Last weekend my sister in law and I went to a concert. Our husbands surprised us with a fun night out. We went to eat, then headed off to the concert. It was such a fun night! I forgot how much I enjoy concerts. I didn't know I was going until a few hours before, so I was really excited. Taylor swift opened.. she is a little ball of energy! I got tired just watching her. My favorite part of the evening was when Gary LeVox (lead singer) was singing "My wish." He took a little girl from the audience and walked her across the stage and let her sing the song with him. It was really touching... both my sister in law and I were crying our eyes out. It probably didn't help that we are both pregnant. Here is a link to the performance... someone posted it on Youtube.

Crazy Weather

I was upstairs when I heard my son tell his sister in a very excited voice..."Ellie, it's snowing!" I was thinking to myself, "he has some imagination." When Ellie started to scream, I had to go to the window. Sure enough.... SNOW! It's way past the snowy season in my book. Can you tell she dressed herself for the snow? I like her choice of shoes.


Luckily, later this week we had a really warm day and the kids were able to play outside. They rode around the backyard for hours. I am definitely ready for more days like this!!

Mr. Man

I cannot find my transfer cord ANYWHERE!! I have been looking now for about four days. I have a pic for my last post- nothing exciting, just a soda can. Hopefully it will turn up soon. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of the J dog. We went to the park last week to feed the ducks, and I snapped some darling pic's- which are trapped in my CAMERA. These pic's were taken by my friend Rebecca, I love them!

FOUND IT!!!

Yes, it's true! Fanta Red Cream Soda does in fact exist. After my last post about it, I decided to contact Coca-Cola one more time. I emailed this time, and I received a quick response that I could find fountain Fanta in the US. Well when I asked where, they responded it was no where close to me (I'm still not convinced it's here). They told me that Canada distributes it. I was so excited because Canada is not that far away. I decided to call a grocery store to make sure before I go driving up there. When I asked the guy at the grocery store if they sold that type of Fanta, he said "yes." What?? I couldn't believe it. I convinced him to go to that aisle and make sure that it actually said "cream soda." I'm sure he thought I was crazy, but the Fanta here is also in a pink can. After finally convincing me that he did sell it, I told him that he totally made my day (again... crazy lady pumped about soda). Anyway, my sister in law went to Canada, and brought back three cases for me!! Bless her heart! I am sure they were cursing my name when they were hauling them back to the boat... sorry guys! Needless to say, we will be making a little excursion to Canada soon. I have a friend from Canada (the sweetest person on the planet) that probably knew all along that they sold Red Cream Soda Fanta there... Sarah... why didn't you tell me girl??? Actually they call it Mousse- and it doesn't say red, so you are off the hook.

It is so delicious!! I am officially satisfied!! Oh wait... nope nope... now my quest is to get a Cafe Rio here. They do not franchise yet, but maybe someday. I guess there will always be something... why did I have to think of that delightful salad? I have tried to make home made ones- they're just not the same.

A huge Thank You to Chris and Beth for bringing back my favorite childhood beverage!!!

The Man of my Dreams

I know I just posted about John and his note passing in church, but he keeps surprising me with sweet reminders of why I love him so much! Maybe if I keep giving him mad props through my postings, the cuteness will continue. I came home from a girls night out last weekend, and this was hanging in my garage. What I love about this picture besides the poster, is my ironing board- that hasn't moved in years!! Does anyone else keep their ironing board in the garage... or just me...the non-ironer? John has always been great at leaving me notes, and doing random scavenger hunts for candy bars, but hanging a poster in the garage is a whole new level of John thoughtfulness. This week has been fun because of all the cute stuff he has done. Yesterday, he brought home a bag of goodies for me...what's another bag of twix for my pregnant self? Then tonight, he had the kids ring the doorbell holding daffodils for me. I was happy for the flowers... now I just need to teach my kids that it is OK to pick some flowers, but some need to stay in our backyard. This was a common occurrence last year. Every time he mowed the lawn he sent the kids to the door with flowers. The look on their faces is priceless when they hold out the flowers. They are well trained in the art of pulling out any flower that crops up, and proudly bringing it to me. Come to think of it I think the daffodils bloomed yesterday. I think they mostly like the ringing the doorbell part, I will have to think of something to replace the flowers, so we can enjoy some in our backyard. Or maybe I will just have to plant more because they are so cute when they bring me the flowers!

Funny how a post about how cute my husband is turns into a post about how cute the kids are...he he- Love you JB.

Ok- so what are some cute things your husbands do for you? Or if you are a husband, what are some sweet things you have done for your wifey?

Bach's Birthday and Visit to the Band

Jensen's piano class went to a local junior high to listen to their band. In the Suzuki method, the kids learn through listening. The band played many of the songs that were familiar to the kids. I was so impressed with their skill level... I left totally wishing that I had been in the band. Hmmm.. what instrument would I have played? Afterward, the kids explored through the room checking out different instruments.

Jensen loved sharing his musical toy with the class. Sharing day is great because they get to play two songs, and take a bow. I can't get enough of his proud little face when he is introducing his song.

Bach's Birthday party was on the same day. The day wouldn't have been complete without "Mrs. Treble" and "Mr. Bass" party hats. Jensen keeps reminding me, "Mom, Bach lived a long long time ago." Yes, yes he did!