The Living Room

I’m sure you all have been wondering where I went. Well, I haven’t gone anywhere. But we did have some company. My mother-in-law came for a few days to play and then the day she left, my mom came to work! And work she did. I’ve been wanting to paint but just haven’t had the time to get started. So mom came to get us going. Thanks mom! I took the beautiful bird house border down in the living room and then mom painted (and prepped) the walls… and the fireplace!! Hooray!! If I had known that the fireplace was going to be as time consuming as it was, I would’ve done it anyway. But that’s not the point. The point is, it took forever! And it’s still not done, but two sides are (it’s a four-sided fireplace). I will work on the other sides as I get it done. Anyway, I am so happy with it, you can’t even imagine!!!

Before…

Sorry, I forgot to take really good befores, so one is half primed, but you at least see the color, the other has a beautiful statue that Emma made in front, but you see the lovely brass color.

After…

The brick itself is white-ish, the brass received some black spray paint. I love, love, love it. It looks so sharp, especially with the color of the walls!

Before, I’m sorry, again, not a ‘true before’ because we’re working and it’s not quite put together, oh well.

After…

The walls look green-ish in this picture, they’re really not. It’s a taupe-ish color, with a grey undertone. Must be the sage sofas? Or my camera? Or your eyes?

Anyway, thanks again to Mom for coming and working like a dog for THREE days!! Also, she motivated me to rid myself of roosters. (they were all over the kitchen). The kitchen is done painting now, but I haven’t taken any pictures yet.

Also, we have hung pictures and stuff, I’ll get more pictures up, but I doubt we will ever be ‘done’.

My Tree

A friend of mine asked me to paint a tree on her daughter’s bedroom wall. I was thinking, a black or white tree, similar to what you see on pinterest all the time. When I got to her house for ‘a consultation’ she had something different in mind. She wanted a tree, a real looking tree. LOVE! I’m not quite done yet but just have to share my tree with you. After 12 hours of painting bliss, this is what I have so far. I probably have two more hours left on some leaves and then, done!

Anyway, I’ve been having fun. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty cute and (hopefully) what she wanted. In other news, found this picture, taken by Kaylee. I’ve got to start hiding the camera better!

Just one more for today…

Just have to do one more post today because my new programs are sooo much easier to use! And, for Mom and Dad and Jen, ALL of my zoo trip pictures. Please enjoy.

Little Photographer

 

I’m really just making this post to see if I’ve finally fixed my little problem uploading pictures. Eli took these self portraits the other day. My camera is covered in sticky guck.

Playdate

We had some really strong winds on Tuesday. Yesterday, Kaylee had a friend over and they spent about half an hour at the window watching a crew cut down our neighbor's tree. Or, what was left of it, a huge limb had fallen, thankfully barely missing a car and the house! Anyway, our little friend decided she didn't want to cut down trees when she grew up because it was too high. She'd rather be a cowgirl.
Sorry for the state of the pictures, they look blurry in blogger. I am trying to use Windows Live Writer to publish but I cannot publish a post with pictures, only words. I don't know. I'm getting help from their tech support, slowly. Any one know the program and have any advice?

Michelle's Gift

So, a wonderful friend of mine had a bone marrow transplant last year at this time and we went to her one year birthday party Saturday night. I made her a little gift to celebrate this special day. I have not made anything like this since high school and this is quite a bit more complicated than anything I had done before, but, thank you pinterest, I found a tutorial. The birthstone for March is aquamarine and the birthstone for June (her actual birthday) is pearl. So, I combined the two and made this pendant. It was a ton of fun and I hope that it reminds her of her strength and journey.

Kaylee

So yesterday we ran to Old Navy because the girls needed some new leggings and Old Navy has them on sale this week ($5, reg. $9.95, not bad). Anyway, this morning Kaylee, of course, had to wear some of the new leggings. She selected the pretty blue ones with the lace around the ankles. She took meticulous care getting dressed, let me do her hair and even brushed teeth without me reminding her. Then she said, "Mom, maybe one of the boys at school will be in love with me because of this", then she pointed to the lace around her ankles. I was speechless. So I offered to take her picture because, come on, she's cute! And, a little obsessed with boys. Yes, she's four.

Eli had to get in on the picture action too. Sorry, Emma had already gone to school. (Yes, in her new leggings.)

The Almighty Update

Well, the time has come for another huge update. I will try to be brief. The rest of February was great. Emma's school had their 50th Anniversary this month and did a big carnival celebration party. It was insane busy but the kids had fun. The girls got their faces painted, Kaylee did not want her picture taken but Emma, of course, did. She's a ladybug.

The girls wanted to have some of their new friends over for a dance party one morning so we opened our doors to 11 girls and blasted some music. I tried to take some pictures but ended up with only two. However, have to document our party.

Aaanndddd..... my wonderful, handsome husband had a birthday! Many of you know that Timothy was born on February 29th. So this year, I was excited that he actually got to have a birthday. However, he was out of town. Boo. I decided to go crazy on decorations so that when he got home (late) on his day of birth, he would be surprised. He surprised me by coming home two hours earlier than I had planned. Good thing we had some friends stop by for an impromptu party! Here's my sweet eight-year old sitting at the kid's table.

As it was Timothy's eighth birthday we thought it would be fun to get a group of friends together to go to the temple for baptisms. So, we headed to Mom and Dad's for a little sleep-over party. It was lots of fun and a great weekend. We then continued on to Calgary to meet my new, sweet little nephew Deacon and play with cousins. I am disgusted with myself that I did not take a single picture of Baby D, but I sure did look at him a lot!

Road trip!!

We took the kids to one of my favorite places in Calgary, the zoo! Dad has taken up a little retirement hobby job which proved to have some sweet perks that weekend! We got to take the kids to the zoo in a party bus! It was nice like a limo, with two large tvs, a light show and sweet sound system. The kids felt sooo special! We braved the weather and headed out to see the animals. They just opened their penguin exhibit and it was uber cool. The penguins are so close that you can touch them (although they ask you not to), and Eli even got splashed with water when one tried to jump out of the water. So amazing, I'm still in awe. I love the zoo. Go, if you haven't seen the penguins yet.

Of course, everyone had to have their picture taken as a penguin. And because Jen and the baby didn't brave the cold, I will post a lot of pictures now of the kids and the animals and the kids by the animals.

And now I'm tired of uploading pictures. Does anyone know an easier way? I can only do 5 pics at a time and then have to drag them one by one to where I want them. And every time a new set uploads, I have to redo the whole post, moving pics and correcting spacing. Anyone? thoughts?

Lunch!!

Lately I have been so in love with my kids. Not that I don't always love them, I just have been enjoying them so much. (Am I a terrible mother? Please tell me I'm not the only one who has days where you just count minutes till bedtime and you hardly even look, really look, at your kids...) Everything they do and say cracks me up. For example, today, Eli and Kaylee were eating lunch after preschool and Eli was just covering himself with tomato sauce and he was shoving food in his mouth and it was pretty gross. But he was so cute and just enjoying his food, I couldn't resist a few pictures. Please note, the first one is graphic. Sorry!

He was just in the middle of asking for more. Yes, he does have more on his plate and still yogurt in his bowl. He just loves food.

Kaylee is much more lady like. But it's hard when you shove the whole thing in your mouth! We're working on it. ;)

Sorry about the lighting, I was too lazy to close the blinds on the doors.

Eli

Well, since the last post was dedicated to my beautiful girls, I figured it would be okay to dedicate this one to my handsome man-child. Eli is definitely two now. He is fast, inventive and crazy. It has been especially hard to keep him reined in these last two weeks as I have been recovering from my appendectomy. But he sure is cute, and that makes up for it all. Kind of. Anyway, here's just a couple of pictures I've been quick enough to get this week.

Nothin's better than a box, some trucks and Daddy.

Having some technical difficulties turning this picture. I thought I had, but I guess not. Oh well. Eli loves to wear Kaylee's pink Dora shoes. Everywhere. And his lion hat. But now, he has to put it on himself and rarely allows adjustments.

Something weird is going on because I turned this one too. Anyway, found the kids like this yesterday while I was switching a load of laundry. Who knew a laundry basket could be so much fun? This little boy gets spoiled by his big sisters.

One more thing, for the past three years, Kaylee has been receiving speech therapy, for free, from the Scottish Rite (they're like the Shriner's only they offer speech instead of medical). Anyway, as some of you already know, I try to help out with their fundraisers as often and as much as I can. This week they had their annual pie auction. I had signed up to make a couple of pies a few weeks ago and by golly I'm not one to let a little surgery get in my way! Timothy was a huge help in making these beauties.

Chocolate Cream Pie with Strawberries. Mmmmm. I looked even better in person. Plus, it was made from scratch, which always makes everything better.

And Reese's Peanut Butter Pie. Yummm. Between the two of them we brought in around $150 for the clinic. Hooray for pie!

Dreams

At dinner tonight I was telling the girls how great their Daddy is. I married the best man on the planet. He is a wonderful husband and father and my very best friend. He has been especially wonderful this past week and has been taking excellent care of me. I was telling the girls to find themselves a man like Daddy. (No, I don't think it's too early to teach them what qualities to look for.) Anyway, after our little conversation, Timothy started asking the girls some questions and their answers were so cute I had to grab a pen. FYI, Emma is 6 years, 6 months, Kaylee is 4 years, 9 months and Eli is 2 years and 1 month. (Not that we asked him any questions.)

What will your husband's favorite toys be?

Kaylee: Race cars and spiderman.

Emma: Legos. And he will like to build big towers and stuff.

What will you husband's favorite color be?

K: White and black.

E: Really, really dark black.

What will his eye color be?

K: Blue. It will be the blue family.

E: Blue

What is his name?

K: Prince Arine (anyone know where this name comes from? I don't. Maybe a movie?)

E: Timothy!

What will your first son be named?

K: Peyton

E: Josh

First Girl?

K: Diamond

E: Judy. Then Crystal. Then Lexia. They will be triplets.

What color will your house be?

K: Blue. Because I'm still living at your house forever!

E: Dark, dark red and light, light yellow.

What will be your dog's name?

K: Creasa, she will be small like Wicket and they will be in love and chase each other around. (Don't tell her Wicket's only going to be around for another couple of years!)

E: I'm not going to have a dog. I'm going to have 40 cats! No, I'll have 3 poodles.

Where will your husband work?

K: He will work for me and he'll bring me lots of money! (Where will he work?) At the store!

E: He'll pay the bills. He'll work at Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. No, Disneyland! We'll get lots of money because lots of people go there and it costs lots of money!

Where will you work?

K: I'm going to do the dishes. I will do nothing when I have a baby.

E: I'm going to be a stay at home mom!

What temple will you get married in?

K: One that's 50 miles away and we'll have to take an airplane because it's a long drive.

E: Washington, D.C. (She saw a picture in the Ensign.)

So sweet! Love my babies!!

My face hurts

I have developed a bajillion cold sores, my body's natural reaction to stress. But these are bad. Apparently my body does not like surgery or having a tube shoved down my throat or something. It is protesting. I have a small hole that I can eat through, but it's not pretty, believe me. In fact, I'd like to prove it to you.

It's a little bit blurry, sorry about that. Or maybe that eases the pain a little. Anyway, that's all for today. Hopefully I will be a fully participating member of my life soon enough and I will have something fun or exciting or cute to tell you about.

My Adventure

I have no pictures of this adventure, you probably wouldn't want to see them, even if I had them. But I thought I'd share my week with you. Wednesday, about midnight (so, technically Thursday?) I woke up with some serious stomach pains. I honestly was wondering if I was in labor and was going to be on that show "I Didn't Even Know I Was Pregnant". I didn't sleep pretty much the rest of the night and was in pain all day Thursday. I figured that I was experiencing the flu bug that's been going around. But when I couldn't move all day, I started to think it might be something else. My sister suggested something more serious and so I did some research. A couple of hours later I was sitting in the ER getting an IV and prepping for a CT scan. So fun! If you have ever had a CT scan on your abdomen you know what they do. If you haven't, consider yourself lucky. NOT FUN. Anyway, I sure did have appendicitis. I got to the ER about 7:30pm and after quite a wait to get in and get a bed, I went for surgery at about 3am. It was a long, long night. But, I got to have my first surgery, which, I think, is something to brag about! Everything went well, I guess, and I am home, resting and trying to recover. I was kinda wishing they were going to let me take it home, you know, just for kicks and giggles, but the nurse said that was gross and so she checked the box that said I didn't want it. Without even asking! And then she had already said it was gross, so I couldn't go back and tell her I wanted it. Oh well. I have never seen an appendix before, let alone my own, and thought it would be kinda cool. Next time I guess. *sigh* Anyway, that is my adventure for the week. Needless to say, I am going to have to take a break from my diet experiment as I am not cooking for myself and I'm barely even eating. I will try again when things get a little better.

Just a quick note

While Emma did homework tonight, Kaylee and Eli played happily under Eli's bed. It's funny to me how well Kaylee plays with both her brother and her sister. When she plays with Emma she is such a big girl, I almost forget there's 2 years between them. When she plays with Eli, she gets right on his level (sometimes even fighting over toys). He loves it. Anyway, I was helping Emma and I heard "Mommy, come and find us!". This is what I discovered.

In other news, (I will be brief) a friend of mine was telling me about a 'diet' (I don't like the word diet because it suggests temporary to me, it's definitely a lifestyle change thing) she has been on for several months. It really piqued my interest so I borrowed the book from her and have been reading it. It is called ' Live Right 4 Your Type' and it is based on blood type. Very interesting, if you like that sort of thing. Anyway, I decided to give it a try to see if I see any benefits. Today was day one of my, at least, two week trial. This afternoon we made homemade granola bars, just for fun, and they were delish! I put in chocolate chips because they were called for, but that was a cheat for my blood type. Next time I will not put them in mine. But they are fine for the kids.

I also have to tell you about dinner, then I promise not to post about every meal I eat. I was just pleasantly surprised, that's all. So, my blood type suggests very little meat as well as tomatoes. I made a classic tomato-meat sauce for the family for dinner (as well as Cesar salad, but I'm also avoiding most dairy) and this is what I had.

I sauteed garlic, onion and celery (I needed groceries, this is what I had on hand) in some olive oil and put it over my whole wheat noodles and my 'salad' which was just romaine lettuce. I really, really liked it. The kids thought it was gross, Timothy was not interested, but I enjoyed it. So, that's good news, right? Wish me luck!