Last, but Certainly Not Least

I'm cheating today and using a picture I took a couple nights ago of Jeremy playing ball on the floor with the kids. I have spent most of the month focusing on the kids and myself, but Jeremy deserves a post of his own. He is certainly a major part of our lives and the month wouldn't be complete without him. He is one amazing guy that works harder then anybody I know. He has a fairly demanding job and with a very stressful month he has spent long hours making sure he is meeting his deadlines. I couldn't be more grateful for all he does. His kids love him and can't wait for him to get home each day. Kylie asks every morning why dad had to go to work and then always asks when he's going to be home. Jase enjoys the "rough housing" Jeremy provides and lights up with dad's crazy faces. We are very grateful for his example, his dedication to us and his amazing laundry skills which he uses frequently! We couldn't live without him!!

Dear Spring/Summer

For the sake of my children's wardrobes would you please get here sooner. I am sure I will be cussing you mid July, but for now my children look like they are ready for a flood and I really don't want to go buy them new pants. Thanks in advance for your consideration.

Sincerely Yours,
A  Mom with sometimes Orphan-Looking Children

26 Days Down 2 More To Go

I am slightly relieved I only have two more days to go until I am done with my month of blogging. Some days were easy, some days were hard and some days were lame. Oh well, I will have accomplished my goal and over all it have been fun to do. It definitely made me open my eyes and recognize the little everyday things that go on. I was always on the look out for something I could write about and I learned to appreciate more what really makes up our lives.

Kylie is the featured photographer tonight. She tries to take pictures any chance I give her. Most of the time it's of her feet or the ceiling. This time she was able to capture something in between.  Jase and herself were the focus.

She did actually manage to capture a few really cute ones of the boy.

Also I totally forgot to tell everyone that my friend Marissa was having a BOY. Remember I told how I bought an outfit for her and her husband to open when he got back in town? We are really excited for them! You can read what she wrote about it here.

Sing, Sing a Song

Every.Single.Time. We get out of the car whether it's at home or in a parking lot somewhere Kylie insists on standing up on the arm rest of her car seat and singing a song. She will sing any song she can possibly think of and believe me she isn't shy about it either. Today she spent a good 10-15 minutes out in the garage. I finally just left her out there and she wonder in when she was done. I don't know where she got the idea to do this or why she does it, but then again I don't know where she learns most of the stuff she does.

Kylie's Interpretation

Tonight while I was making dinner Kylie noticed the cut I sustained  while cutting her cousin's hair today. She looks at it and says, "Mom, I can see the cut you got on your finger when you were cutting some hairs today." I said, "I know, isn't it sad?" She looks at me and says, "No, it's happy! Can't you see, it's smiling!"

Guess What Jase Had for Dinner Tonight

or actually what he fed to the floor.

This happens nightly and now that he is on a "feed himself" kick it's gotten worse. After he throws it, he usually leans over the side, looks at it and says, "OOOOOH" then drums on his tray with a big smile. He knows it's naughty, but he doesn't care. And as you can see it makes for a very disgusting floor!

What Goes Up...

eventually learns to go back down.

 Jase still hangs out at the top and waits for me to turn him around and get him going, but he's starting to get the hang of it. He still needs some practice and every once in awhile he'll just about gives me a heartache when it looks like he's going to lean back and sit down. Amazing what a month will do for a kid!

Guess What's Baaack??

Friday I looked out my back door and noticed our huge, giant puddle/swimming pool had finally dried up, but apparently just in time for another rain storm. It has continued to rain for two days now and if it continues throughout the night I think we will be about ready to put in the diving board.  I've also been contemplating starting my own mud bath service. We mind as well take advantage of what we've got, right? 

Dad's In Charge

Today I spent the afternoon in Cedar with my mother-in-law, sister-in-laws and niece having a little "baby shower" for one of my sister-in-laws Olivia. Really we just tied a cute quilt for her and went to dinner. Pretty low key, but really fun. On my way out the door I yell to Jeremy, "You're in charge of getting the picture for today. Take a picture of something that happens today" And this is what he got.

He built a bookshelf  today to put next to our computer desk and Kylie pitched in to help put it together. She loves to dust (which  makes me wonder if she is slightly crazy because that is one of my very least favorite things to do) and took it upon herself to make sure those black shelves were shinin'. I just hope she is more then willing to do that about once a week because around here dust is an inch think in a matter minutes especially on black furniture.

One of my Favorite Things

As far as I am concerned these are a Summer must-have for kids between the ages of walking and when they can buy their own shoes and here are the reasons why:

• They are 3 dollars and 50 cents
• Sometimes they go on sale  2 for 5 dollars (which happened today)
• There are a million different colors to choose from
• They are from Old Navy. One of my favorite places to shop for the kiddos
• They are easy on and easy off. Very convenient!
• And last, but not least they are super cheap which means I don't care if they get trashed.

If you haven't tried them I highly recommend it. I discovered them last summer and it was life changing!

Thank You Maruchan

for being the brilliant minds behind Ramen Noodles, my daughters most requested lunch meal. You only take two minutes to make in the microwave, your fun to crush up in the package, and you are dirt cheap. I only wish you had ANY nutritional value at all and not so much sodium so I wouldn't feel quite so guilty feeding you to my kids 3-4 times a week!

It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

Ahh... I'm really hoping it's official spring and we are not just being teased. It's beautiful out there today.

We celebrated by going to the park! It was so nice to get out and let the kids run around. We've been cooped up way too long. Kylie has gotten over her fear of the slides and loved running around with her friends. Jase loved climbing around the equipment and watching the other kids. I think he secretly wished he could keep up with them. Maybe that will be motivation enough to get him walking before summer.

Who Can Resist

giving a kid a sticky, messy sucker

when they give you a SMILE like this??

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is the whole reason we came. It's my mom's birthday and she turns the big 5-0. (I'm sure she will appreciate that)

All growing up anytime we would ask her what she wanted for her birthday or Christmas she would always tell us, "All I want is socks" and it would frustrate us so much. We would hate it when she said that. So this year we got her 50 pairs of socks and spread them all throughout the cabin and hid two gift cards in two different ones. She had to go around and gather them all up until she found the cards. Now she can't ever say she wants socks again because she has more then enough to go around!

Jase loved chasing the balloons

And all Kylie wanted to do was pop them. She would sit on them and cover her ears at the same. It made it hard to keep the balloon under her.

 The whole crew who came to celebrate.

I have to eat my words a little bit because in the end we were able to surprise her with an awesome surprise. One of her really good friends from Utah flew in early this morning rented a car and drove up to the cabin. My dad had it all arranged, we all knew about it, but we weren't sure if our mom knew. Like I said, she somehow knows everything. We were kinda nervous because like I also said she hates surprises, so we weren't sure how she would feel. Turns out she had NO clue about this one and loved the surprise. It was so fun to watch her as she opened the door and see her friend standing there.  I hope my mom had a wonderful birthday! We sure had a good time celebrating with her.

For the Love of the Cabin

Today was relaxing. We spent the say just hanging out together. Everyone attended church in the morning except for Jase and I and baby Alex and Erin. Jase's little cough blew up into a full blown croupy cough and a fever. He was not feeling well at all and he sounded terrible. I feel so bad every time he coughs. I know it has to hurt and his breathing seemed so shallow.

If you know Jase you know he is not a cuddlier, so when he is willing to just lay down on you and fall asleep you know he isn't feeling well.

Kylie absolutely loved baby Alex. She constantly asked to hold him. She thinks he was so special and is very willing to accept the roll and his favorite girl cousin, so far.

We went for a little walk around the neighborhood later in the day and found these little wagons. Kylie thought they would be fun to play on and thinks Grandma should get some for their backyard.

We love to visit the cabin. It had provided many fun memories for us and a great place for our family to spend time together. Kylie loved the bunk-bed and thought they would be so fun to sleep on until it was dark in the room and she claimed she could see scary shadows, then she didn't like it anymore. We also love Maize the moose that hangs above the fireplace. My uncle made out of paper mache and it's really cool. When Jase looked up and saw it for the first time he got the biggest grin on his face. He loves to look up at it.

Non-Surprises, Snow & Mud

Last night we drove down to Show Low to surprise my mom for her birthday. Actually we would all like to think it was a surprise, but somehow my mom knows everything. Nothing can be kept from her. She hates surprises as it is so we don't plan many for her and when we do, they never work out. Poor us! Oh well, it's so fun to be here anyway.

 We spent the day on the 4-wheelers in the snow and mud.

Kylie loved the snow! She thought it was so fun to play in. She threw snowballs and made snow angels. Somebody had suggested we make a snowman, but Kylie immediately shot that idea down because we didn't have a carrot and you can't make a snowman without a carrot!

I think she loved "skateboarding" the best. Good sledding hills were few and far between, but we found a little spot with not too many trees and went down a few times. Kylie hitched a ride down anytime she could and even thought she would like to go down by herself until we got her all seated on the sled ready to go then she realized that would be way too scary.

Mud flew everywhere while riding the 4-wheelers. We were covered in it. I think for about every 5 minutes we were on them it took the boys about an hour to clean up. Everything was a mess. We had a great time though. That's definately one of our favorite things to do up here.

Valentine's Day Party

Today is a beautiful day!! The sun is shining. Our car windows were rolled down while running errands, Kylie was blowing bubbles out of hers.  I can't imagine living back east and experiencing 70+ inches of snow. Those folks are amazing to be able to handle that. I am definitely a fan of my no-snow (or very very minimal snow) city!

Kylie had her Valentine's day party at pre-school today. We worked all week getting her valentines ready. She wrote her name on all 40 of them which gave her lots of practice. She is great at writing it. She came home with quite the loot just as we were getting low on Halloween candy. Awesome! I don't think she really understands what Valentines day is, but loves a good party and if candy is involved she's all over it!

Also I had such a good time today with my friend Marissa. She went to the Dr this morning to find out  what the gender of her third little baby is, but her husband is out of town. So, I made her a card and she took it with her and the nurse stuffed the pictures in the card telling them what it was and then she seal it up not letting Marissa know what it was either. Then Marissa brought it over to me, I looked at, saw what it was and we went shopping. She picked out a boy outfit and girl outfit and then left while I paid for the appropriate outfit.  I brought it home, wrapped it up and now they will have a fun gift to open when she goes to pick her husband up at the airport tonight. I will let you know at a later date what the gender is as soon as she knows, of course and has had a chance to blog about it. I love surprises and I love to be apart of them! It was a such good time!

I'm excited for the weekend. The Parade of Homes have started and our neighborhood is filled with cars. I hope that means they sell a ton of houses and especially the empty lot next to us!

Suggestions Anyone??

I pass by this lovely piece of furniture every single day of my life. It was given to Kylie by my family for her 2nd birthday and she absolutely loves it. She plays with it every single day.  But look at the poor thing. It needs some serious help. I mean, stenciled bunnies, come on people. Not to mention my sister wrote on it in permanent marker "Amanda's kichen DUH" Needless to say it's in need of a serious makeover! My problem is I am not one of those people that can "see the vision." I can't look at something and immediately know what to do with it, that is why it has sat like this for a year and a half now. So, my question is what should I do with it? What color should I paint it? I need something that can handle the wear and tear (and sometimes grimy hands) of a three year playing kitchen and a 14 month old slamming it's doors continually. So, lets have it. What would you do?

Special Delivery

There is nothing better in the world then receiving an unexpected package in the mail especially when it's full of treats. Kylie and Jase received a special Valentine's package from Grandma and Grandpa Hansen today and they were so excited!! Kylie kept saying, "Are these all for us? I am so excited!! How did they know I would love this?" Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for making their day! That was very thoughtful of you.

Rain, Rain Go Away

come back again when my yard is finished!!

Usually I love rain. I love to be cuddled up inside while the rain is just pouring like crazy outside. I would especially take the rain over snow any day, but lately all it's doing is adding the huge muddy mess we have outside. And now that our side yard is partly finished we have a nice swimming pool and squishy thick mud everywhere. Kylie either wishes it would freeze over so she could skate on it or every time she sees it, it reminds her that she would love to get her pool out and swim. Too bad it's just too warm to skate and too cold to swim.

Ulterior Motives

Kylie and I spent the morning making Valentine sugar cookies. I knew she would love helping me. I am not a huge sugar cookie maker. I think they take lots of work and a really long time to make, but we had such a good time. Of course flour was everywhere, frosting and sprinkles were spread across the counter, but it didn't matter. We had a good visit just the two of us while Jase slept. We talked about anything and everything. She's one funny little girl if you didn't already know that.  While we were decorating them she kept saying things like, "These look AWESOME!" "I love this one!" "That one looks so pretty Mom, good job!" with an outrageous amount of enthusiasm. 

I have to admit, my original plan was to make these cookies so I could frost them in my most favorite frosting in the whole world, strawberry flavored frosting! Like I said I am not a cookie maker. This usually isn't something I love to do, but today was fun and I am glad I did it no matter what my motivations were.

Property Value

This is the view I now have from the big window in my bedroom. It's of the brand new park our builders have been working on for a few months now.  They built a Parade of Homes home in our neighborhood and have worked really hard to make the neighborhood more appealing to buyers.  I love what they have done and I think the park looks amazing!  It even comes fulled equipped with a splash pad for the kids. Rumor has it they have live bands booked to play down there during the Parade. I love where we live. I love my house and love my neighbors. We are truly blessed!!

Oh No You Didn't!

I went in to get Jase from his nap this morning and found this on the floor...

and a bare bumb in the crib! It's a dang good thing it was only a wet diaper! But this better not be the start of a terrible stage I have only heard nightmares about from other moms. I am hoping it is only because I put him down without his pants on!

What's Yours Is Mine

The kids had a good time with their cousins tonight. Jeremy's brother Jon and his wife Amy brought their kids over while they went to dinner.  As I have mentioned before Jase has a cousin that is a week younger then him but about a whole head bigger. (Well, maybe not quite, but close.) They haven't had a chance to play much together lately so I was curious to see how they would interact with each other. They did really well except when it came to the coveted binky. Who knows how much spit and drool and whatever else was shared. Germs are all the same when your family, right?

Growing Up Is Hard To Do

Kylie had a rough day at pre-school today. It was pass off day today and when it was her turn to pass things off with her teacher she froze. Her teacher said it was all stuff she knows, but she just wouldn't say them for her. Kylie certainly isn't a shy girl, but her teacher says she has a hard time expressing herself. I am not really sure why. Maybe it's a lack of confidence. I know when I work with her at home sometimes she won't even attempt to try. She just tells me she can't do it and that's it. I asked her teacher what we can do to help her and she says just continue to work with her and really over-exaggerate when we praise her so she feels really good when she gets it right. Kylie and I had a good long chat when we got home today and she felt really bad she didn't try harder. She felt even worse she didn't get the treat that went along with passing her stuff off. Maybe that will motivation enough next time to try harder. It's tough growing up and being a big girl sometimes!

What Goes Up...

doesn't always come down!

Jase has mastered the stairs. Well, going up anyway. He hasn't figured out how to come down nor has he even attempted, which I am grateful for. He just hang out at the top squawking and  squealing until someone comes to get him.

P.S. I forgot to mention that Sunday was the one year anniversary of when we finally brought Jase home from the hospital. In a lot of ways that feels like forever ago, but at the same time I can't believe it's really been that long. I sure do love my healthy little boy that may not walk until he's two!

Kylie and the Counter Top

are BFF!

Or at least that's what Kylie thinks! There is some kind of magnetic force or something that makes it so that girl can not stay off the counter. I swear I tell her 10 times every meal time to "Please get off the counter." Today I turned around from the microwave at lunch only to find her making "snow angels" on it!! I'm afraid it's a lost cause.

Project 28

Alright, folks I am kinda bored of the same old, same old blog posts about only the "big things" that go on in our lives so I have decided to take on a challenge. It's called Project 28. It's an idea I got from Studio 5. It's a concept about capturing the true, day-to-day moments of our life by taking a single picture every day for a month.  This concept could also be taken farther and become Project 365 for everyday of the year or Project 52 for once every week. I got wise and chose to do it for a month and got even wiser when I chose the shortest month of the year! I am hoping to capture real everyday "little things" that make up our life. Not that our lives are extremely interesting or too entertaining, (and this could turn into a huge bore-fest on my blog for the next month) but I have decided I would rather risk having a few lame picture in hopes that maybe I could capture some pretty great ones also. Now if only I had photography skills...

Here is a picture to start us off. My sister Amanda came to stay with us for the weekend and Kylie finally talked her into playing the Lady Bug Game with her today. We love the Lady Bug Game at our house and it was fun to play it with her.