Sunday, February 27, 2011

Misc photos

My husband is pretty patient. I don't really think that these colors go very well with the foot hair. Poor soul - he's surrounded by estrogen. What's a guy to do?
My husband hates to get his hair cut. When it gets long enough, I threaten him with letting the girls have at him. Here's their latest creation. Needless to say, he succumbed and got his hair cut as soon as he could get the ribbons and barrettes out.
Our cat - she's not generally very patient. She especially likes to come and lay down on top of your book if you are reading, or in the middle of your game. No matter what you are doing, she wants to be part of it. Unfortunately, during the winter months, our cat gets a little stir crazy and doesn't like to be outdoors in the cold. This translates into unpredictability and crankiness. You never know when she'll actually cooperate or not. My daughter was recently playing with the dominoes, and the kitty came and interupted her play.
Apparentely, she disturbed the game (by lying on top of it) and wouldn't move. My daughter decided to just keep on going anyways...and the cat let her!
Posted by Picasa

Family Visit

We traveled out of town last week to spend some time with family and see our nephew's baptism.  We had the opportunity to write down and share our testimonies for our nephew/cousin so that he can remember our testimonies on the day he was baptized. Here's what our youngest daughter wrote. I love, love, love it.
We had a chance to go to church with my husband's grandfather who will be 95 next month. It was great to see him and spend time with him.

Here are the girls with their great grandpa.


My husband and his grandfather. Aren't they handsome?
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Little dolly

I know. I can't decide if it is wrong or not, but I LOVE that this little girl still trusts my fashion judgement - just a little bit - ( although she's missing her black sweater with the red and pink stripes that ties everything together here). I love that she still lets me fix her hair and help her pick out her outfits. Remember playing barbies years ago? Having kids is SO much better. After our daughter got ready for school on Friday, I just couldn't resist taking a few photos of her darling sweetness.



She let me fix her hair, and we did a braided headband with a messy bun.



I'm so glad she doesn't mind modeling for me either!

Posted by Picasa

Sugar Cookies

A couple of weeks ago I was going through a cupboard and pulled out the cookie cutter container and set it on the counter.
Our youngest daughter saw all of the cool shapes and begged me to let her make sugar cookies.

We did, and then the next day, we started to frost them. I pulled out some frosting tips, and the girls had a blast. They even talked their dad into joining us. He informed us that he had never frosted anything using real frosting tips - we had a blast, and the girls loved taking their creations to school in their lunches each day.


Posted by Picasa

Re-finished piano bench and misc photos

One of our children (who shall remain nameless) was found to have scratched, or should I say etched? their name and several fun figures and designs into our old piano bench. Truly it was in need of a make-over, and their 'artwork' pushed me to that point.
Luckily, my husband received a very cool power tool for Christmas. Sigh. I love power tools. I was saved hand sanding the whole bench. Our child got to assist me in the sanding. She didn't think it was very fun. I'm hoping she learned a lesson. I did...next time, I'll hand paint on the varnish rather than use a spray.
Anyways, here's the bench after it had been sanded down - just before it got re-stained.

Before


And, here we are in between varnish coats.
After


After finishing up with the piano bench, I took some of the stain, and touched up the piano. I'm amazed at how much better it looks - it really needed it. On the down side of this great project, I learned that you have to give your piano about 2 weeks to thoroughly dry if you touch it up with an oil based stain since the stain doesn't soak in to the finish on the piano very well. Just thrilled that the project is done and that it looks good!
An Elder who recently served in our area and just went home

Our silly girls...and their Sunday creation while we were sleeping.
Posted by Picasa

Friday, February 18, 2011

The greatest valentines gift

All this week my kids have been begging me to go to the store.
Our oldest child even gave me a shopping list for her 'just in case' I could make it while she was in school.
It's been a very busy week  - friends invited me for lunch yesterday and I turned them down - I was cleaning out my kid's room and making their beds with their new blankets - re-doing all of their sheets to make it work and stuff.  Lots of laundry, and cooking for my family.
We've also had a friend who has started coming home with them after school - which is fun, but makes me want to get my house organized and a little more presentable.  Today was the first day I had time to make it out.

So, today, I took them all to the grocery store.  We hit the 50% off Valentines section.
I watched my kids lovingly select gifts that they pretended weren't for each other.  I'm not sure where they go the idea, because we don't traditionally do a big gift exchange for Valentines Day.  The girls decided however, that they do.

Tonight at home, they gave each other Valentines (belated) gifts.  They used their own money which they had earned and were so sweet with each other.  Amazing what a pack of gum can mean to a kid.  "I love you, you are the best sister in the whole world" is the correct translation I believe.  It is also amazing that a kid with possibly 50 stuffed animals can be so excited about receiving a special valentines one from her sister.

Yep - my kids greatest valentines gift this year, was letting me see how much they love and care for each other!
Happy Belated Valentines day. 

Thursday, February 17, 2011

LDS Church History Museum

We traveled to Salt Lake last weekend to attend a cousin's baptism. 
The day before the baptism, we took some time to visit the Salt Lake Temple - which was pretty cool.  After we'd done a session, they asked us if we could do some sealings - of course we said yes.  In our faith, we believe that through priesthood power, families can be sealed to be together forever.  Not just until death parts us.  13 plus years ago, my husband and I were sealed together in the Salt Lake Temple as we were married.  While we've performed some sealings vicariously for others, this was the first time that we were able to do sealings in the Salt Lake Temple since our marriage.  It was a great experience - how I love that man! 

While we were busy in the temple, my parents spent time with our girls at the Church History Museum at Temple Square.  They really had a great time.  We got back and the girls had so much they needed to show us. Here they are with grandma and grandpa.   

Our girls learned a spanish dance - yeah - the swishy skirt spanish dance.  Our youngest daughter learned the men's part.  It was so cute.. the music was "La Cucaracha"..and the boy's part involved a lot of stepping.  We made up a whole song about trying to step on the cockroach (cucaracha).

 Our kids also played a fun game tossing tortillas...don't know much about it other than they had a great time!