Happy Birthday

(4th birthday)

This year it was a little touch and go for her birthday. For starters her pop was in the hospital recovering from pancreatitis (sorry no pics). Her birthday was planned for Saturday and his release date from the hospital was Friday. I wasn't sure how 14 little 4 year olds running around the house was going to go over. But he told me not to cancel. What a dad!

Saturday morning when she woke up she puked all over the wood floors and I made 14 phone calls and moved the party to Monday. After a quite weekend passed we woke Monday morning to 3 inches of freshly fallen snow! At the end of MAY give me a break.

Not sure what we were gonna do since we had planned a Mermaid and Pirate party for the back yard. We crossed our fingers and went to work. Six hours later we had a house full of very happy 4 year olds and 2 completely exhausted out adults.

(party prep team)

(she was very specific about having a little mermaid cake. thanks to her grandma it actually looked like one.)

(the treasure hunt)

(they fished for clues in the deep blue sea)

(scavanged for "gold"- chocolate coins and "jewels" -ring pops at pirates island)

(the clues lead them to a hidden pirates chest filled with pirates booty popcorn,
sandy candy- huge hit, and all of the birthday gifts)

The kids ate pizza and capri suns on beach towels that we laid out in the mermaid lagoon. Needless to say the party was a huge hit, and the great part about it is, I can reuse the decorations for our boys party in December! Happy Birthday Darling.

Remembering Mom

I loved mothers day this year so I didn't want to leave it out. We started the weekend with the walk for the cure. Chad's mom grandma Dixie died 8 years ago from breast cancer. Since then we've walked. The streets and sidewalks were smothered in pink. Inspirational to say the least, and no his mustache did not slow him down... We finished in good time. After the race we had a delicious french toast brunch at our place after with the whole clan. Living close to family is awesome.


On Sunday I felt extra loved. My girl beaded me a bracelet in Sunbeams, and my boy had his picture taken in his Sunday best. Then the UPS man gave me flowers. One great weekend!

relaunch

(glorious st. george - March 2010)

I am seriously delinquent in my random babbling it's been something like 7 months since I have posted anything new. So here is what you've missed. Every day I'll try to add a blast from the past.

Lunchtime conversations

Its been a cozy week. Chad had surgery on Tues. to remove his gallbladder and so he has been home from work recuperating. That meant lunchtime all together which very rarely happens in our home. On Thursday this is how the conversation went.

Fin: Dad thirty-one is so old is that why your tummy is so big... I can only say llellow (yellow) right when I'm 31... We learned about Jesus in primary, at the bottom of his church there were lots of opossums (apostles).

Then tuck pulled a finger full of poop out of his diaper and wiped it on the table.

photo shoot

This was the first photo shoot that I have done since being in Utah.
What a great way to start. These kids are beautiful.

The Holy Ghost

I was listening in on a conversation that Fin and Tuck were having after lunch. She said while twirling a hula hoop,

"Do you want Holy Moly, or The Holy Ghost Tuck."
" Holy Moly." said the boy

"But the Holy Ghost whispers to you in a small small voice." She told him.

Intrigued by their conversation I asked,

"What does he say Finley?"

"He says that princesses are alive, and that the Little Mermaid is so real mom... she is."

Easter with Family

This was our 1st Easter near family and
an Eastery Weekend it was indeed.

Friday was the Easter Basket hunt, and Lasagna Dinner (so scrumptious) at papa Joe's and Grandma Ginny's
Saturday was Easter Egg Dyeing, baskets, egg hunt, and Delicious Ham Dinner with my parents.
Sunday the Easter Bunny came in the early morning and surprised the kids with treats, and then it was off to Aunt Donna's for Easter brunch, and another Easter prize hunt.

By Sunday afternoon the kids had had enough I even heard one of them say to their mom, "please mom, no more Easter."

Coveted Easter Lion
grew to enormous proportions when submerged in water

Last Supper

it was a good feast

we ate, we talked of the holy land, we dressed up
i love easter

Dinner was in the front room. We still don't have curtains. The neighbors are Muslim. Wonder what they thought?...

Thrifting

I was told this week that "Bee in my Bonnet" should be my middle name. That is exactly right. Once I get a project in my mind I can't rest until I finish it. Oh man do I have a project.

We recently moved into a new home which we LOVE, love, love. I have spent the better part of the last month unpacking all of our stuff. It takes me forever to unpack. This house is bigger than our last, so on top of all the organizing now I have empty rooms to fill (not that I have to or even should furnish them). At any rate my brain is on overload trying to find new treasures to fill the empty space.

So come on in and see what I have found this week.

Strawberry dish for the kitchen windowsill 25 cents Thrift Town

Heart shaped wooden dish for keys 60 cents Thrift Town

Yellow Tractor Tee 50 cents Thrift Town


Colorful knit throw for Tucks crib $2.25 The DI

Fabulous Turquoise Vintage Sofa from Robert Redfords Sky lodge in Park City: FREE off Craigslist
Needs some serious TLC, sanding, staining, steam clean
It's the kids favorite spot in the house.

Last but not Least... My beloved Baby Grand. The piano was free but there was $190 in moving fees to get it to our house.
I have had this piano since I was 12 years old. Chad thinks it looks like a piece of junk which it might but I love it anyway. I grew up practicing hundreds of hours on this piece of junk and now our children will carry on the legacy.

The piano bench was my most recent find. $30-
I picked it up Friday from one of my favorite vintage shops downtown. I think it's perfect.
We plan to sand them both down and refinish them in a dark espresso finish.

Happy St. Pat's

If a sneaky little leprechaun leaving sugary cereal for you to find in the morning doesn't make a kid happy I don't know what will. I was talking to Chad about this breaking and entering business the night before. If you think about it, there is a lot of breaking in and sneaking around that goes on when you have kids. First there is Santa, he breaks in through the fireplace. Then there is the Leprechaun, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy all tiptoeing around the house in the middle of the night.

It's all about Dino's around here.

Our boy LOVES dinosaurs. This was dinner the other night. Quite frankly this could be the dinner scene any day of the week. The morning starts with a little Dinosaur train on channel 11. The afternoon is spent chasing his sister around the house with his T-Rex.

On occasion we make it down to the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point. The first time there he was a little overwhelmed. The sound effects scared him so bad he didn't want to get out of the stroller. Not so tough after all. I told him.

The kids with a favorite cousin Drew.
Drew is the best kid seriously!

Oh the deception

If you know Chad you know that he love baseball. He plays softball every chance he gets. We have gone to a number of his games and the kids love to yell at him from the stands. I told Finley that we were going to see her dad today at work.

Oh mom, that is gonna be so much fun! I'm gonna say, "Hit a home run dad!!!" He's gonna be so happy.

Apparently Fin is still under the impression that her father plays ball for a living. I called Chad and told him we won't be coming up when we get to his office. I can't bring myself to disappoint her.

I like pink skin

On Tuesday we went to Target. As we were strolling down one of the aisles we passed by a black man (there are very few in Utah) and this is what proceeded to come out of Finley's mouth.

Mom that man is black, he is so black. Mom, I don't like black skin. I only like white skin.

Oh boy, did she really just say that...even worse did that man really just hear her say that. Yes he did.

I was not clever enough to come up with some quick little comment to diffuse the tension building in aisle 3. I just booked it around the corner took a deep breath and asked her some more questions.

We talked about skin color and that people come in all different colors. We pointed to various models we found on packaging. We talked about being nice to every one no matter what they looked like. The first thing she said after our little chat was, " I don't like my skin, it's just skin colored. I don't like skin colored skin. I just like pink skin, and not black skin either."

When I get older

At breakfast the other morning Fin said;

When I get older I will say please, and thank you. Right now I can just say, "I WANT MORE MILK!!!"

A couple of months ago I woke up to this site. When I asked Fin about it she said that they were all feeling a little bit too sick.

Boxes Boxes Boxes

We are excited to be settling into our new home. Finley says she misses her old house with the tall stairs in Portland, and her best friend Isabelle. Moving is tough, even for 3 year olds, but we really lucked out finding such a great place. We love our new abode! Can't wait to fill you all in on the details. For now we have loads of boxes to unpack.