The "Full Monty"

The other day Jason left for work, and Elleree came in and asked if she could have a bath.  I said yes as soon as I had my breakfast, I was still in bed.  Then I promplty fell back asleep.  I woke up a little while latter to this.....

Elleree decided to get them both ready for their bath.   I censored it a bit for you.  I personally think baby bums are the cutest things ever!!  Alas, not everyone would agree, some would agree too much, if you know what I mean. Plus I am told that what is on the web stays on the web.  Beckett would not be very happy with me a couple years from now.  Don't think that the real picture isn't going in the blog book, because it soooo is!

I guess I should be grateful that she didn't start the bath and put them both in, right.  Who knows how long they ran around naked, I know I don't.  At least there were no accidents.  I know, I know, as always I am the best mother ever.  I am going to rename my blog to something like crappymom or the worstmomever.  The idea would be that if you ever wanted to feel better about yourself as a parent, you could just tune in here.   

So, I had a full 1 gallon bag of crayon pieces.  You know all broken.  I looked on Pintrest for what to do with them and found this.  Problem is I don't have any mini cupcake pans.  I know who doesn't have a mini cupcake pan?  Soooo I had to come up with something else.  I remembered that like 2 years ago I bought these little "tart molds".  I bought them because my friend Lori had some, and she made the cutest mini pie like things.  That is basically what they are mini pie pans, and we all know how much I love miniatures!

 So I made a ton of crayons.  Truman and Elleree helped sort the crayons and make them. 

 They turned out pretty cool if you ask me.  You didn't, but so what.  My little Sunbeam class didn't know what to make of them.  It doesn't matter because this was my last week with them anyway. 

They put me in the YW as the Mia Maid adviser.  Do you think the girls will like my crayons?  I am going to miss my little primary class!

It's Raining, It's Snowing

The snow finally found us this week.  No school closures, so don't get too excited, but enough to actually stick to the ground.  I decided I better have at least one picture of snow this season.  I mean we do live in Idaho for goodness sakes.

 Elleree was really excited to go outside.  Me, not so much.

 Like a good mom I immediately put on her snow pants and...... oh wait no I didn't.

 She only ever stays out for like two seconds, I'm lazy and don't want to go through all the work. I did turn her hat the right way though.  She has a fifty/fifty chance of putting it on right and she consistently puts it on backwards.  She sure is cute though!

 On a different topic all together.  Cake stands.  I have seen all these tutorials on how to make cake stands out of a plate and a candle stick, or a vase. It has made me want to make one.  Problem is, I am going to make this real for you,  I don't make round cakes.  I only make 9 x 13 cakes.  So when I found this tray, I was like yeah.

 So I made this one out of a candle stick and a tray from the D.I.

 I drilled holes it so I could put ribbon through  it.  What about washing it, you ask.  Well I haven't thought that far ahead.  I need to find water proof ribbon or something, I'm working on it.

 Another project I have been working on are these pendents.  So I found this metal stamping set from Harbor Freight for really cheap and I decided to play with it.

 My (one and only Twin Falls) friend and I have been pounding all sorts of metal.  Stamping washers, bolts, these metal disks. Obviously I still need to practice, but I am getting better.  If I really concentrate maybe I won't spell my kids' names wrong next time!

Pinewood Derby

Dillon is our first in scouts and this was his first Pinewood Derby. 

 We worked really hard on his car. 

 They called his car the Bronco Buster.  It is really a sharp looking care.

 He won first place in the wolf's which was not to bad.  We were pretty happy about that.

This is him with a couple of his leaders and some of the wolfs. 

My Big Day

My birthday was at the beginging of this month.  As is the case with many of my birthdays, I was sick.  I completly lost my voice.  It was no fun.

 My kids are always so helpful at my birthday.  The will open all my presents for me.

 I got this really pretty watch from Jason.  There is a guy at his work that makes them and they are really cool.

Jason makes the best cakes ever.  He made me my favorite, German Chocolate, it was divine!  It was a good birthday all things considered.

 I have been working on this project for some time now.  I made a bunch of E for Elleree's room.  Most were made out of cheap things that I already had around the house.  It was kind of my challenge.

 I quilled this one.

 This one is made of toilet paper rolls.

 This one is made from crayons.  It was kind of fun coming up with different versions.  It looks even better hanging up on the wall with all that beautiful wall paper.

 This is a braclett I made out of fabric covered buttons.  I learned how to do it here.

 I made one for my friend, for her birthday, too.  They are kind of fun to make.

 I bought this dress on line, and it was shorter than I thought it would be.  I had to make some adjustments. 

I'm not sure it looks very good, but it added a couple of inches to the bottom, and that is all I needed.

It's in the Bag

So if there was any question, two days into the New Year, I have won the mother of the year award.  It is awarded to me for being the first mom to hurt my child this year.

 I was vacuuming and decided that I wanted to vacuum under the couch.  First I needed to get all the crap out from under it, so that is what I did.  But, like the good parent I am I didn't turn off the vacuum while I did it.  Enter Beckett.  He knocked the vacuum over, no big deal, right?  Apparently if you stick your baby hand into the vacuum while it is running, it does the above to it.  Who knew.....I mean really they should have a warning on there, you know like they do on the bottoms of lawn mowers. I mean it doesn't seem like common sense to me. Yeah, maybe I should sue them.  Yeah, it's not actually my fault for not paying enough attention to my son, or leaving the vacuum running.  It's the vacuum cleaner company's fault for not warning me that this could happen. Who is with me. Good grief, I suck, that's why  the mother of the year award is already in the bag!

 Really I hurt Beckett to encourage him to walk.  Since it is hard for him to crawl with his hand like that he has been cruising all over the place.

 He is still the cutest baby ever, with his monster smile.

 I know Christmas is over, but I just finished this garland.  It is made of my old jeans that ripped on me this month, I don't want to talk about why, and my grandma's buttons that I got when she died.

I swear that it really is cute.  My pictures just don't do it justice.

Hike to your death

Jason and all the boys went on a hike at Zion's National Park while we were in Utah for Christmas. 

 I say all the boys but Kimberly, his sister, was our token girl.  She is showing us the place that they were hiking to (I circled it too, just for you).  It's called Angles Landing.

 Grandpa John with a few of the boys.  Not enough bunny ear action going on, if you ask me.

 Here is more of the crew.

 There were some pretty traitorous portions of the trail.  Apparently there is a shear drop like this one on both sides and the only way to go is where I have circled.

 I guess at least they have chains to hold onto, right?

 Yeah go ahead and read the plaque behind Truman.  I'm thinking, and you took our kids on this trail?  What exactly were you thinking?  Especially since Jason is afraid of heights.  (Shhh don't tell anyone)

 A view along the way.

 Thank goodness there were some places to stop and contemplate life.

Christmas 2011

 Christmas was in St. George, Utah, this year.  We spent it with Jason's family this year and we went back and forth on how exactly to work it.  We couldn't fit all of our presents in the car, so we had to split things up a bit.   

 The morning of Christmas Eve we opened all the presents under the tree.  So the kids got everything from Jason and I, and grandma and grandpa that day.

 Dillon got lots of books and was very happy about them.

 Elleree got lots of Lalalopsy toys to play with.

 Truman was entertained by his beyblades.

 After we opened all the presents we set off on our adventure to St. George.  This was the only time Elleree and Truman were not fighting, when they were checking out the Finding Nemo book together.  We arrived there around 6:30 and went to IHOP for dinner.

 Next morning, bright and early, I really mean bright and early.  Jason's family is the funniest ever, they are all grown and yet they still wake up at the butt crack of dawn to open their presents, because they are so excited.  Notice how it was still dark outside. 

 Santa still managed to find my kids and leave them presents though. 

 The house we rented came all decorated for the holidays complete with a Christmas tree.

 Santa even knew that we had a pool, so he brought the kids all goggles.

 The kids were spoiled Dillon got a BB gun and didn't even shoot his eye out.

 Beckett loves stuffed animals, Santa left him a monkey to love on.

 The kids could not be contained in the house for long.  Not with a pool and a hot tub calling their names.  Funny thing was that it was really cold there.  It was only 30 to 40 degrees.  Thank goodness the pool and hot tub were heated.

 The house also had a lighted basketball court, air hockey, ping pong ball, and pool tables, there was also a theater room.

 The yard had a big play set with swings and slides, one hole for playing golf, and a fire pit to warm us up.

It also had a little play house complete with push mower.

 This house had it all. 

 Everyone had a great time and it was really nice to relax and spend time just enjoying each others company. 

 My kids loved playing  with their cousins.  Grandma made cookies and had the kids decorate them.

Beckett just ate the frosting, he seems to be good at that.

It was a wonderful Christmas, and I am glad we chose to do it this way.  We had a great vacation!