Warm Weather

Well this past week Jared decided to sell his little beat-up car (one that we've put as much money into as we paid for it) and get a new car.  He found a great deal on a beautiful Honda Accord and fell in love.  He washes it weekly and cleans it out religiously.  

It's a pretty little car and he's a happy man!

The weather last week was ridiculously nice and we spent mornings and afternoons playing outside and soaking up the sun.  One day was warm enough the the kids Painted with Water!  

They painted on everything, but loved every second of it.  I love when the most simple things entertain them.  And these days I'm pretty uncomfortable so I just sit in my little camping chair and watch them play.  It's a good situation for all of us.

In an effort to make our backyard seem like a cool place to be, I found a playhouse for the kids.  Dallin especially enjoys this new addition to our yard.  He plays in it for hours with different toys and imaginative scenarios.  It's paid itself off already in my mind, plus it was a garage sale purchase!

Another garage sale purchase:  An Easel! The preschool teacher in me just couldn't help myself, and the kids don't seem to mind :)  They loved painting and coloring on it...Elsie especially enjoyed this, but didn't limit her paint to the paper, she decorated the entire easel...

I don't think she cares much for boundaries!

We played and played last week, and with no naptime anymore Elsie tends to be a little bit hot-headed!  One afternoon she threw a giant tantrum, screamed for 20 minutes and then climbed up on my lap and fell asleep for half an hour.  Poor thing doesn't quite know how to handle it all!

Warm weather made for a easy week and a lot of fun!

The Kiddos

Time is flying and though the days are sometimes long, the weeks zoom past and I look at my kids and can't believe how grown up they are!  So here's the skinny on our little family.

Elsie:

-- Wants to be just like her brother and strives to do nearly everything at his level.  She copies everything he says and loves to be his sidekick.  She prefers his cars and trucks to any of the 'girl toys I have given her too. 

Also, she sticks her tongue out a lot...

--Loves Frozen.  She wants to watch it all the time, and it proves to be a good distraction if she wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, or is sick.  

--She's a singer!  She loves to sing songs from the shows we watch, as well as primary songs.  She'll bang on the piano and sing for 30 minutes straight. Also she belts a pretty good "Let it Go!' that always makes me giggle.  

--Playing outside is her favorite thing to do, especially riding Dallin's bike.  

--She loves her milk and drinks at least 3 bottles full every day.  She's a great eater, usually eating everything I offer.  She currently loves corn, beans, noodles, and rice the most.

--She has also decided to boycott naps recently, a sad development in my life but what can you do?  She did collapse on the couch one day this week, but for the most part she just powers through the day and breaks down around 6;30 PM.  The only upside is that she asks to go to bed now and she sleeps through the night pretty consistently.   

--I mostly just cant get over how grown up she is!  She can sit on the swings by herself and she loves to do puzzles and matching.  She talks up a storm and is speaking in full sentences too.  She makes me laugh with how much she has to say, but I love hearing the chatter echo through my house.

She's my sweet little girl and I love the light and spunk she brings to my days!

Dallin:

--Loves to play with his toys.  He is in full imagination mode these days and his toys are his best friends.  He is especially attached to his Transformer, Heatwave or 'Heatbot' as he calls it.  He plays with it all day, brings it everywhere we go, and sleeps with it too!  It's cute to see him use different voices for his different toys as well as tell me what they are feeling and thinking throughout the day.

 

--He loves to be outside and he loves to get dirty.  I pulled out a makeshift sandbox this week and he has played in it constantly, driving his trucks, trains, and airplanes through it.  

--He's still a picky eater, gags on SO MANY FOODS, but is getting a little better about trying new foods.  His favorite things to eat are Waffles, Toast, Baked Oatmeal, Muffins, Macaroni and Cheese and Strawberries...and Goldfish and Raisins, his makeshift trail-mix that he adores.

Also potato chips...

And just the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms...

Did I mention that he gets into things a lot faster than he used to?  I don't know if it's just because I'm pregnant and tired or the fact that he's a 3 year old boy, but I just can't keep up with all the messes he makes! ...Though most of the time he will help clean them up!

--He's a sweet kid who loves to snuggle and he gives the best hugs!  He sings LOUDLY and memorizes the books we read so he can read them back to me.  We do a little co-op preschool right now too that he loves, and is constantly telling me about what we talked about/learned that day.  

He's potty trained (mostly) and he's a big helper around the house.  He's a go-with-the-flow happy kid and I love having him talking me through my days!

What can I say, I love my kids!

Grandmas house

Last week we decided to take a trip down to Grandma's house just to get away and be spoiled :)  Emma and Aliya came up to join us, which made Dallin very happy because "she's the cutest baby in the world!' in his words.  He loved being able to hold her and talk with her.

It was nice weather while we were there so there was lots of time to spend outside playing with Grandma's toys and bikes.

As well as graffiti on her house--did I mention Grandma is the best?!

There was lot of evenings spent cuddling...

And mornings snuggling and reading books in her bed...Little moments that I cherish from my childhood that my children get in theirs.  

Also, there was lots of puzzle-making!  Luckily Aunt Kathryn came to help, though I don't think Elsie was much help at all.  

Also at grandmas house there are endless popsicles.  Elsie discovered this quite early on in our trip and was found pulling the freezer open yelling 'POPSICLE!!!" at least 4 times a day.

We shopped and played and read and talked and it was so fun to go visit!  And then the kids slept the entire trip home...which just topped off  a wonderful week!

Thanks Grandma for all the good times and for giving me a break too!

Family Vacation!

We always try to plan for a little family vacation in February because that's the time of year that I get really tired of living in Idaho.  This year, in an effort to save Jared's time off...and the fact that my pregnant body isn't up to much of a trip, we made it a staycation weekend!  

One afternoon we took the kids to a Play Place in Rexburg and let them play there for a couple hours.  They loved climbing in the tubes and tunnels, but their favorite thing was the rides.  We didn't put any money in, but they played in the helicopter for almost an hour pretending to fly and land and save people.  

And the Horse was a hit too.  They would hold on to the reins and say "Yee Haw!" at the top of their lungs.  It was great entertainment. 

The next day we took a little day trip down to Lava Hot Springs.  They have a indoor splash park full of warm water and lots of things to play on.  We had a blast!

It took Elsie a while to warm up to all the noise and splashing, but eventually she was diving into the water almost as much as Dallin.  

Dallin LOVED the slide, and did it probably 100 times.  This is the first year where he's really been into that sort of thing, so it was fun to watch him.  

He also loved jumping off the edge of the pool into the 12 inch-deep water.

We had a really great time as a family and spend the entire afternoon there swimming and eating and swimming more!

It was nice to take a break from the normal errand-ridden, day-to-day life we normally lead on a weekend and have a bunch of fun with the kiddos.  

Staying home made it pretty stress-free and I got to sleep in my nice comfy bed with all my body pillows I use to make myself comfortable!

The next day was Jared's birthday, 32 years old!  Woot woot!  He got a lot of exciting presents like Yard Tools and Crystal Light...as well as a present he decided he'd rather return (picked out by me...Have I ever mentioned how hard it is to shop for him?!)...but we had a great day.


  I think the kids had most of the presents opened before they brought them to him...but they had a great time!!

He's working really hard to lose weight and win a Work Fitness Challenge right now so for his Birthday Cake we did these little chocolate chip mug cakes--they were delicious and didn't leave half a cake leftover for me to binge on :)

Happy Birthday Babe!  You're amazing!

A Few of my Favorite Things

There are a couple of things in my life that I am just loving, and I thought I'd share the love!

1- The Good Weather!  I'm just relishing in the sunshine that creeps through my windows in the morning and the 'warm' 30 degree weather that gets us outside almost every day.  The kids love to explore the mud in the garden.

One day was 50 degrees and sunny and we couldn't help but have a little winter picnic,

 popsicles included!

I don't know how long this sunshine will last, but we're taking full advantage of it while we have it.  Here's to hoping we don't get 3 feet of snow in June or something as payback!

2- Our Piano!!!!  A family nearby was getting rid of their piano for free, so we took it!  I was so excited to get it for free I didn't really care what condition it was in.  Here's what it looked like when we got it. It's big and kind of eclectic...

When we got the piano, it echoed when we played it, it was out of tune,  and a couple of the keys didn't make any sound, also the pedals didn't work.  So I called around and found someone to come tune it and check it out. I was mesmerized by the whole process of tuning, it was crazy to see the piano all taken apart.  

We found an old stale cookie and a hot wheels car inside it, not to mention a

 plethora of dust bunnies! 

 

The Piano Guy said it looked like the piano was built in 1905 and all of the strings except 1 was original to the piano.  He fixed the pedals and glued back together a couple of broken keys and then spent about an hour tuning it.  He was kind to let Dallin use his play tools to 'fix it' too. 

When he finished, he sat down and played a little classical number.  The sound echoed through the house and filled it with the most beautiful sound, our piano actually sounded like a piano!!!  I was thrilled!  He was great to help and it was worth every penny I gave him!  After that, Jared and got to work on the exterior. We scraped all the tape off the keys and cleaned all the dirt from them too.  Then we dusted the piano and polished it with a special scratch-removing polish.  It took some time, but the final result was beautiful!!

The kids love to pound on it and sing songs, and I'm loving the chance to play and learn again (What are the notes on the bass clef again???)  It's been such a wonderful addition to our home!

3- The last thing I am just absolutely loving right now is my orchid!  Jared got it for me randomly one day and it is the best flower gift in the world!  It doesn't need too much light or attention, and only needs to be watered once a week...therefore I can keep it alive! 

 There's something about having a living plant in your home...I keep it in my kitchen and makes me smile amongst the early mornings and the dinner chaos.

Anyway life is beautiful and I'm grateful for the simple pleasures that fill the everyday!