Happy Valentine’s Day

 

Normally I don’t do much for Valentine’s Day.  I’ve restricted holiday celebrating to just the fall ones – Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  However, the rest of the year seems like such a bummer with no good holidays to celebrate.  So, I decided to make the smaller holidays, well, bigger.

Last weekend, the boys and I made Valentine’s cookies.  I wasn’t really looking forward to it as I’m not much of a baker but I had SO much fun with them.  They were so cute and creative.  Henry slathered so much icing on his cookies, it was dripping off the edge.  He spread the excessive icing all over the cookies again and again, licking the butter knife in between.  Too funny!  Needless to say, nobody but Henry ate his cookies.

This year, I decided to make Valentine cards for Henry since I just got a Pazzles (die cutting machine).  Some of those Valentine’s you can buy at Target or Walmart are just awful.  Plus, the school won’t let the kids bring candy anymore, crazy huh?!?  So, I decided it would be better if we just made something super cute to make up for the candy embargo.

I saw a great tutorial at Craft Monkey for little boys' Valentine’s.  Of course you could use the idea for girls too, but I thought it was great for my little monster. 

I took a picture of Henry in the backyard and printed it up from my computer.  I used the card option in Elements.  Then, I cut out 25 mustaches on my Pazzles and put them on the card with glue dots.  I bought the foam hearts at Michael’s and used glue dots again to secure the picture to the heart.  I tried double sided tape but it didn’t adhere at all.  Since the kids can’t have candy, I figured it would be fun to pull the mustache off the card and wear it for fun.  I’m sure his teacher is going to love me for this one.  Anyway, I hope its a hit. 

I had so much fun making Valentine’s decorations etc. this year.  I’m definitely going to try to keep the crafting up for the next holiday – President’s Day, watch out!

Christmas, better late than never

 

Yes, I am finally getting to my Christmas pictures.  But, as I said in the post title, better late than never!

We celebrate Christmas at our house on Christmas Eve.  I love to make Christmas Eve dinner.  Its so much easier than Thanksgiving!  We do the traditional prime rib and all the trimmings.

 

I know I look like a dork here but he wouldn’t take a picture of the food without me in the picture – bleh.

All the immediate family came over.  I do love the holidays because we are all able to get together, talk, and have fun at least a couple times a year.

Julia and her Deda

Cade and Henry playing as usual

 

Me and my brother

The kids got so many presents this year.  I thought we kept the amount down but all the relatives bought them so much stuff.  They made out like bandits.  It was like hyenas attacking the sick wildebeest.

We got the boys a bunch of camping gear for scouts.  We wanted to get them stuff they could use throughout the year.  Almost every Christmas they get a bunch of toys and 2 weeks later they are all broken.  So, this year we got them useful presents.

Cade was so sweet and got Victor an awesome tool belt.  It was such a thoughtful gift as he is always fixing something around the house.

I made some capes for the boys based on my friend Lynn’s awesome tutorial.  You can see it below.  He’s wearing it while riding his new bike in the house no less.

Julia was into everything.  She obviously didn’t know what was going on other than there was lots of pretty paper to rip up.  We did get her a baby doll in a stroller.  She was SO cute with it.  I love to see her play with and nurture her baby.  It really brings home to me how important it is that I am able to be with her everyday and how she is modeling my mothering.  It makes me feel so blessed.

 

It was an awesome day but I must say I’m glad all the Christmas craziness is over.  Now, its time to do some Spring cleaning!

I love to see the Temple…

Before Christmas we went to the Temple to see the lights.  I had never been there during Christmastime and was really excited to go!  It was so beautiful.  The Temple is already beautiful, but it was extra special at Christmas. 

There were two really beautiful nativity scenes set up on the lawns.  The lights were amazing.  My camera does not do them justice.  Unfortunately, it went a little wonky so most of the pictures I took there didn’t turn out so great.  But, the beauty of it is in my heart.

We decided to go to the Mormon Battalion afterward since it was pretty close to the Temple.

 

I had never been there either so it was a real treat.  We went on a weeknight and there was nobody there.  It was amazing!  I loved the movies and the themed rooms.  So kid friendly!  I love how they made the story so interactive.  It was like being at Disneyland.  Because nobody was really there that night, the boys got to try on all the cool gear the soldiers wore.  They had a ball.

We got there pretty late so we couldn’t pan for gold or look at the brick making equipment.  I’d love to go there some Saturday and then explore Old Town too.

We had a wonderful evening starting at the Temple and then learning all about the amazing pioneers of the Church.

Christmas Knock-offs

 So, I’ve been reading some awesome crafting blogs lately.  I’ve been inspired!  I love it when people share their thoughts and ideas on blogs.  What a wonderful way to share some great ideas with us lesser crafty folks!

I’ve wanted a Christmas Advent calendar for AGES but couldn’t find one that I really liked until I came across one I loved at Land of Nod.  Unfortunately, the picture is no longer available but I basically looked at the picture of it and did my own.  Here it is:

 

A good friend at Church held a crafting activity in which she showed us how to make a Thanksgiving advent calendar.  I used the same concept for this one.  I embroidered the “Merry Christmas” on a separate piece of felt and then attached it with the snowflake stitch on my machine.  I was too nervous to put it on the big piece of felt because it required moving the hoop.  I figured if I messed it up on the scrap piece, no big deal.  However, it turned out great and it wasn’t crooked!

I had so much fun doing this and my kids just loved getting their candies out of it every day. 

Ode to my husband, the unsung hero

Okay, this post might make you physically ill, but I’m going to do it anyway because it needs to be done…

I am so grateful for my wonderful husband!  Many times in our marriage I have wanted to beat the crap outta him.  Nothing we do is ho-hum.  We are either desperately in love or wanting to claw each other’s eyes out.  That being said, the usual marital disagreements are few and happiness is the norm.

When I made the decision to stay home with the kids, he wasn’t jumping up and down but was supportive.  He told me he would support whatever I wanted to do.  Our household income took a hit, my degrees started collecting dust on the wall, and my student loans still need to be paid back but, he wanted me to be happy.

Now, when I have those horrible days when my daughter uses me as a punching bag and teething ring, while my mouthy teenage boys won’t stop asking, “what’s for dinner?”; when I want to give up and go back to work, he BEGS me to stay home.  He tells me how important I am to the kids.  He tells me what an impact I am making in their lives.  He reassures me that my brain has not permanently turned to mush and that he thinks I am the most beautiful, most intelligent, and most wonderful person he’s ever met.

When he knows I am really down and feeling particularly under-appreciated by the lil’ monsters, he encourages me to take a nap or go out to lunch with friends or go for a massage (yes I know I’m lucky) while he watches all the kids.  He doesn’t make me feel bad about it or expect anything in return.  He doesn’t make me feel guilty.  He does these things willingly.  If he’s at work and I’m having a rough day, he’ll stealth call his parent and ask and them to come over to help me out.

He will run to the store when I ask him.  He will even go to Target or Walmart after a 10 hour day of work because he doesn’t want me to be overwhelmed.  He gets up every morning he’s home with baby girl so I can sleep in.  Most Saturdays you can find him at The Wild Animal Park with Julia and the boys (if they’ve been behaving).

He compliments my cooking every time I cook something even when its disgusting.  He tolerates my staying up late at night reading with the light on even though he’s sleeping.  He is uber smart but thinks I’m smarter than is.  He’s super spontaneous, making middle-of-the-day trips to Disneyland or wherever suits my fancy.  He also has an AWESOME sense of humor.

Whatever I’ve been through to be where I am now and to have such a wonderful person who loves me so much, was TOTALLY worth it.  I felt it was important to show my gratitude to an amazing individual who doesn't get much credit and who doesn’t ask for much.  He is truly the man of my dreams and I am utterly thankful for him.  And, I am not exaggerating one bit!

Thanksgiving Family Style

I love Thanksgiving.  I get to spend time with my family and there’s no mad feeling of shop, shop, shop like Christmas.  Don’t get me wrong.  I like Christmas too but its definitely different than Thanksgiving. 

Everybody helped out this year.  My mother-in-law made potatoes and rolls, my mom made all the pies and helped me with everything else, hence the high five photo.  It was so relaxing and fun.  My mom took Julia on a walk in the morning to tire her out, which was great because she slept for a looong time while we were cooking.

Just my immediate family came, which always makes the holiday cozy and fun.  We even had the opportunity to take pictures of 4 generations of women!  Sorry boys.

Both my grandma and I made deviled eggs because, for some reason, everybody absolutely loves them.  Although, it was hard keeping the men away from the eggs until dinner.  We finally gave up.

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Everybody had such a lovely time visiting and eating.  What a great day!

 

Halloween and the Pumpkin Princess

Yes, I know I’m posting about Halloween in December!  I was going to skip Halloween pictures but how could I do that to this cute face?  We were going to dress her up like a skunk (very fitting because she can be the stinkiest kid) but decided to go for Pumpkin Princess.   Everybody dressed up including me.  It was so much fun!We went to the Church for the annual trunk or treat.  It was so packed.  Three wards attended this year.  It was craziness.   I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many little kids in once play – not even Disneyland.

Julia had lots of fun trick or treating.  She was a little nervous at first but got the hang of it.  The boys took off in the parking lot so we couldn’t get that many pictures of them.

Our car

 Pretty bold just reaching into somebody else’s car…

Brooklyn is such a doll.  I love her smile here. 

Daddy trying to pose for a picture holding a squirming, candy seeking child.

The elusive Mr. Cade passing out candy.

They had an awesome carnival inside.  Kids were running all over the place!  One guy dressed up like a monster from Where the Wild Things Are.  The costume was amazing.  Julia would not leave him alone.  She’s completely afraid of strangers but not afraid of monsters.  Huh?

The trunk or treat event was a blast as always.  I loved seeing everybody’s costumes knowing the adults would dress up too.  It was a super fun night!