A Party

We are replacing out tile floor with wood! I am so excited. It will be so beautiful! I know that it is going to be a lot of work, but it will all be worth it in the end. So, for family home everning we all worked on ripping out tile. Tsadakah was the funniest about it because she was scared that the broken pieces of tile woulf cut her so she wore her snow pants, hat, boots and gloves. Eliannah was very excited to help and she was not afraid of jumping in. MiKaylah even carried a few pieces to the garbage and that was just so cute, with her being so little.

The next morning Tsadakah woke up with great news: her first loose tooth! She has been waiting for this day for years! Literally! She was adorably excited. She spent all night the next night wiggling it so that it is not very loose! She drew a picture of what she thinks the tooth fairy looks like and she plans to put it under her pillow with her tooth as a gift for the Tooth Fairy.

Mike is going to swing/shift which means that he has 3-12's and then 3 days off and then 3-graves. This was his first week of graves. I decided that I wanted to invite some ladies over o make my favorite things, bows! I had a pretty good turn out! 6 wonderful and fun woman came over and stayed late. We made a few bows but it didn't turn out to be their favorite activity, so if we do it again they wanna do something else. I loved it! I am so GLAD that they came!

Thursday we went to get Tsadakah measured for her tumbling outfit. I luved the lady who makes them. They are all modest. she adds and inch on the front so yo cant see down the shirt when they bend forward and tightened the shorts around the legs too. She was just the nicest lady and gave each of my girls a balletrina figurine to take home free! I think that I am really going to like Dancers Edge!

By this night I was REALLY starting to miss Mike because not only is he working strange hours but he is also doing a side job. He is getting paid well for it so I shouldn't complain but I MISS HIM! He plans to use the money to build a deck in the backyard, he has always wanted to do that!

Although I was alone, I went to the adult social at the church. It was fun! I got to know many new people in the ward that I didn't know before. We had some great laughs too! I was so impressed by the great job that everyone did on that awesome evening. The theme was the Love Boat. There was food and decorations from all over the world. The first counsilor sang in a funny costume. The Relief Society President told a great joke! and there was a very entertaining couples game: The Newly Wed Game.

For our weekend we went to a SethAri Party! My nephew's name is Seth and my brother's name is Ari. It was inspired be a Ben-Anna party. My sister did a great job. The decorations, food and games were all according to the Safari theme.
Eliannah dressed as a Zebra, Tsadakah wore a Kaki skirt white shirt and hat to be a hunter, and MiKaylah was a lion. It was so fun!

The in-laws: Hayley (holding Beckham), Troy, Christopher, and Mike.

One of the games was to shoot toy animals off the banester with marshmallow guns. Actually really really fun!

Also really fun, trying to get the picture of the mallow in mid flight. :)

And what is even more fun than that?

Eating the marshmellows off the stairs afterward. ha ha

MiKaylah made the CUTEST lion!

Just as we were serving the food she pulled the serving plate of "Ants on their Hill" right in front of herself and grabbed a spoon to dig in.

Like I said, Leah themed the food. Mudd and a watering hole, an ant hill, animal crackers, and wild-a-beast stew. It was all so good! Happy Birthday Seth-Ari! XOXOXO

What A Week!

This week has been full of miss hap's! Some of them funny, and some of them sad! laugh if you will, this has been a WEEK!

First, I was doing the laundry and had just finished pouring the liquid tide into the machine. Mike has built me a cupboard above the machines to put the soap and drier sheets etc into to keep it organized. I have to stand on my tippie toes to get it in. So I am putting it back when the lid pops off and I pour about three cups worth of Tide on my head, my eye, my mouth and the floor! I was so shocked at first I just stood there. I didn't believe that it happened. Then I touched my hair thinking that I could maybe squeeze some out and put it into the machine so it wouldn't be wasted. That just spread it further into my hair, which I had just that morning washed, blow-dried and curled! That's when I wanted to cry! But I quickly changed my mind and decided that the whole thing was so ridiculous that I had to laugh! So I walked up the stairs like a creature from the blue lagoon. Literally dripping with the blue gunk! My eye squeezed shut and my arms out to the side to keep tide from dripping on the floor. I had a good laugh about it with Mike and the kids.

Second, the next day I broke one of the glasses that I got in Israel when I was dusting! It was a special dyed glass that they hand blow in Hebron! It is so sad!

Third, the day after that I broke an antique goblet that I inherited from my passes grandmother. I received a set of 8. This was the first one to have broken! I was sad! The rims were painted with real silver. They are beautiful! It knocked over in the cupboard went I was getting something else out.

Third, two days later I was putting my contacts in. The right eye one must have gotten flipped inside out and I hadn't checked for that so it was really bothering my eye. I had moved on to curling my hair so I had un-plugged the glade plug in. My eye was still bothering me tho and I thought that I just needed to rub it to force it into the right place, so I gave it a good hard rub. BAD IDEA! my eye and whole right side of my face started burning! The concentrated perfume from the candle had gotten on my hand! It was a chemical burn! It hurt so bad and my eye was a constant drip of tears. I quickly removed my contact and washed my face with hot water. It was too late though, my eye and cheek swoll up and were red and puffy! Later when that was over I tried to put my contact back in but it still had perfume on it and burned my eye again! Uggg!

Fourth, MiKaylah scratched Tsadakah when they were playing. It scabbed over and we were just waiting for it to heal. Then Tsadakahs clothes snagged it when she was pulling them off over her head and ripped it right off. She was blooding a lot and she was very upset about it! Poor thing. Now she is afraid to take the band-aid off her cheek.

Lastly, on Sunday, I was getting the kids ready for church. MiKaylah's hair turned out so darling that I thought, I am going to take a picture of her before we go to church cause she is just looking so darling! Well, I did get my chance to take her picture, but it wasn't of cuteness! While I was dong Tsadakahs hair she had reached up and gotten hold of the hair putty. She grabbed a huge handful and rubbed, plastered, and worked it all in there.

This is her acting out what she had done after I said, "What did you do?"

There was a darling perfectly matching bow in there which I took out right away to clean in hopes of saving!

This wasn't exactly the easiest hair do to take out and re do with a lot of putty in it!

Look at that face! She is like oops, I'm in trouble! Ok, maybe I did get a picture of her cuteness. She is cute no matter what!Her new thing is that she quickly says "sorry" as soon as she has upset something or someone. even when something is not her fault she with say it in her cute lil sweet voice and you just melt. You can't be mad at that!

Tsadakah also wanted a picture of her and look how gorgeous she is! I was going to take a pic of Eliannah as long as I had the camera out, but when I turned around to get one, she had pulled her hair out! I had not time to take a picture of her after I re did her hair...and MiKaylahs.

Tsadakah went to Regional for the Literature. It was exciting! She had placed 2nd in the school and now in region she also received an award. We are proud of her! Her story was titled, "The Princess and the Vampire." It was a very cute short story. Since then she has actually made another story that is even longer. I think that this has sparked a talent for her that I hope she continues to pursue.

Tsadakah dressed herself for the award night, and it was so hard to allow that. One of the hardest things for me as a mom is letting my kids do stuff like this. My dad came to visit so he could go with us. It was so great to have him! He is so fun with my kids! My mom couldn't be there because she was out of town visiting in Virginia. We missed her. Tsadakah really loved having him there too! It made the whole event more exciting!

Her two friends from school were there because their older sister placed. These little twins are so cute! They just love her so much. You can see it in this picture too. She talks about them a lot too. They wear their hearts on their sleeves. Cuties!

MiKaylah had brought a bouncy ball and enjoyed throwing it and chasing it. we were in the back so I didn't care. It was cute! Then she lost it and got bored. She went into the boys bathroom twice and tried to got up on the stage. Ahhh!

This heart shaped cake I had intended to make for Valentines day, but that didn't happen, so we made it for a congrats cake. She loved it. In Dora there is an episode where Boots has a special day and gets to choose everything he wants. Tsadakah kept saying that it was her special day! Glad to make her so happy!It really was a day of fun for her because she also started her first day of Tumbling which she loved very much!Congratulations Tsadakah! We love you and are so proud of you!

Valentine's Day and more...

This month started with me wondering where January went and preparing for Valentine's Day! Tsadakah got really excited for it and kept asking what we were going to do. When I was little I remember my mom doing the 14 days of Valentines. It was so fun of her. Remembering that made me want to do something special. I didn't officially do 14 days but I tried to do something each day. One day we made heart-shaped blueberry waffles, on another day we made cookies together and frosted them. One day I bought window stickers and let them put them up wherever they wanted. That was a fun day because those stickers kept them entertained for 2 hours! Score for me! I also spent a lot of time trying to make a heart shaped pillow for the couch. It didn't get finished. *sigh! I am dissapointed about this because now I have yet another unfinished project downstairs nagging my subconcious.

Here is one of the days. I gave these candy bars to the girls right afterschool. It was fun to excite her. They all loved it!

On the actual day of Valentines we didn't go out to eat because it is always so crowded. But this year we did get each other nice gifts. I got Mike 2 shirts, jeans, and a hoodie. He got me 2 purses and a new diamond ring! It was a wonderful day!

The girls had made cookies and I had this idea from BHG to make them into a valetntine card. I wish that I had taken pictures to share. we gave them to their church classes. We were planning on doing it at church but that turned out to be Stake Conference, so we drove them around on the day of. It was fun to see how happy it made everyone, which made my gilrs happy. One little girl who isn't in Kindergarten yet was extatic because her older sister had come home from school with a bunch. She just loved having one just for her!

Tsadakah did get a chance to do her own Valentine craft envelope to put the valentines in and that made her so happy! I think that she did a beautiful job!

I totally had a great Vday and I hope that all of you did too! xoxoxoxox

January's Accomplishments

1) So I started January off by taking pictures of our house! It was pretty fun and it motivated me to clean it! :) I wanted to take pictures of the house from exactly the same angle that I took them when we were doing the walk through of the house before w bought it. This was my idea of a fun before-after. It is cool to see all of our work. We have really put a lot into this house and it has only been 6 months. I am proud of it. Mike has already made even more improvements since I took the pictures.

2) I dabbled in altering the kids clothes. You know like making flairs into skinny jeans and taking in things that just weren't fitting right. My intent was to revamp their whole wardrobe, but I soon ran out of steam on the project. Whew! I still have some things that I would like to do but I am not going to put pressure on myself by having a dues date.

3)I made BOWS! My new obsession is making them. There are so many cute ideas out there and as soon as I master one style I am searching for another. In January I made a lot of bows and made the fun into play dates so that I could do it with my friends! I am such a grand Tom Sawyer!

These are the many that I made specifically to go with my girls church dresses. All red and black. There are 15 in all. I might add that I have spent a bit of money investing in this new hobby of mine. When I got into scrap booking I acquired my stuff slowly and bought only what I desperately needed or what was on sale, but for these lil babies if I have wanted it, I have bought it.

These are just some of my others (much more to come next month). Mostly silk flower ones but I never spent much time on them in the past so it seems new enough to me. I love the rosettes! They are an all time fav of mine. I have to admit that while I am making these I am having flash backs of the 80's. I became fashion conscious just as they were going out and I was really sad about that. :( I love the era's style! So I say long live the 80's, forever may they rein!

4) Had Kevin and Michelle Gilbert over for a visit. It was delightful! Its fun cause were were dating at the same time, engaged at the same time and married within a month of each other so they are a great couple to hang out with. They have 2 cute boys that the girls liked playing with. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures, but I did make a new table cloth for the event!

5) Fell in love with myfitnesspal.com and lost 10lbs! Don't be jealous, Ive gained back 4! arg! anywho...check it out and download the app! You will be glad you did! It is amazing! It is everything anyone could need to reach their fitness goals. (the 4lbs has been from a week that I didn't use it)

6) Made this darling mini event scrapbook!

I realize that Mother's Day is months away, but I had this drive...see my SIL had a great resolution to do one project a month (mostly from pinterest, but to finish unfinished projects first) This was so great to me. I wanted to finish all my half projects by March 30th. I thought that a goal like that would keep me busy enough that I would avoid the winter blues, so far it has kept me stressed enough to not sleep at night. That's just great!

7) Visited Devin and Becky at their new house, saw their new bundle of joy and took her infant shots! It was a fun trip and she was so amazing after having a C-section. She made us cinnamon rolls and was a perfect hostess! Thanks Becky!

I loved doing these pictures and I worked hard on them. It was great because I really had to learn how to use my new photoshop from Christmas. Becky is a great mom! She makes a cute bow to match each outfit every morning! She is so excited to have a girl!

8) Got contacts. It is harder than I thought, but I have it now!

9) Fake snowed some pine cones for next year.

10) Nursed everyone back to health. We all got pretty sick and it seemed to last forever! Tsadakah hasn't been sick for 3 whole years, honest! But she got it this time. She slept a lot of the time. I learned a lot about sickness. Hopefully stuff that can keep it away next time, like staying warm, and eating the right kinds of stuff and avoiding the wrong kind of germs.

11) Studied Responsibility. Tsadakah got all A's but her teacher said she could improve on her responsibility. I have to admit that I have been taking charge of her responsibilities. So I read an article on how to improve your child's Responsibility (babycenter.com) and the #1 thing to do is be a good example. That is when I realized that I am not! I know where she gets it from! mwa! I started to analyze myself and think about where I am lacking, which is a lot! It all comes down to accountability! I have learned so much about this topic now. I went through my Personal Progress book and took notes on all the things that were to strengthen accountability. Boy do I have my work cut out for me! Not only am I working on my NYResolution, trying to finish my projects by March, and unsuccessfully balancing my time around my newest obsession hobby, but I am also trying to become more responsible. Is it any wonder I'm not sleeping?

When February first came I was like wait where did Jan go? I didn't finish all that I had intended to do. I have failed to do so much! But then I looked at all that I have done, (keep in mind I am also potty training) and I feel like I am doing pretty good. When I look back at all that has happened I actually feel that January has been a very long time indeed.

But I think that I have been losing sight of my NYR and I am going to go back to basics. I need to simplify and learn to let things go so that I can be sane! May Feb be filled with LOVE and no more stress!

Eliannah Is So Funny

Eliannah is so funny! She is always laughing and seeing life on the silly side. she has a great sense of humor, but some of the funniest things she says, she doesn't even understand why they are so funny. She will repeat them just because she knows that they made me laugh so hard.

For Martin Luther King Jr day I got out my paper dolls for the girls to play with. They were having a great time looking through them and the clothes that the dolls came with (its the whole family) Eliannah said, "Who would wear these clothes, they are horrible!" hahaha I personally am a fan of the styles from the 1950's, but apparently she is not.

Loving sister. Eliannah is beginning to develop herself as an older sister. she is now doing things more and more with just MiKaylah. Like when Tsadakah is at school. She is loving and fair most of the time. Whenever MiKaylah takes something from her she cries but she never fights back or hits. I am proud of her for that!

In her hand is a tiny purple elephant. She loves it. It is her favorite toy right now. She gt it for Christmas from her cousin Asher. She tells everyone about it when they are around. "This is my purple elephant. I got it from Asher-boy!"

One of the other cute things she is doing right now is telling us what she wants us to say. "can I have a cookie? say 'Yes, darling!" Everything ends with "darling."

And best of all, when she's excited, she runs. She runs in circles when she is waiting for me to finish MiKaylahs book and read her favorite book next. (Its: Rainbow Fish) Or when she is going to get a treat or get to help with making some cookies.

She's my little firecracker. We love her dearly!

Tsadakah's Awards

Tsadakah has earned some great awards in the last few months! I am so proud of her! The first is one that is given out every month to children who have been "builders." The theme at the school for this year is building up instead of tearing down. Tsadakah was chosen and recognized in November. I love the nice things that were said about her. She really is kind and good and sweet. She always wants to do what is right. That is why she is my angel baby!

Then in January I was informed that she has won the Inspirations contest in the Literature category. She received second place for K-2nd! Wow! I am so proud! There was a third place awarded so I know that she didn't win as a default that there were only 2 entries.

The day she was to get her award I got a sitter and took my camera so I could take a picture of her getting her award at the assembly in front of the whole school! She was so excited! Well unfortunately the power was out for all of Tooele county that morning and the assembly was rescheduled for the following week.

Well that day came and I was so distracted by other things that I forgot that it was her day to be at school (she goes every other Wednesday) so I didn't get her to school until after the assembly was over!!! I felt Horrible! Really I felt like the worst mom. I kept saying sorry over and over.

Her amazing teacher recognized her in front of the class and gave her the award, ribbon, box of markers, and box of colored pencils that she had won. She came home totally excited and happy. All the kids said nice things to her and made her feel special! I was relieved that I hadn't ruined her life.

She is going to the regional competition on February 17Th. I will be sure to be EARLY and with my camera! :) We are so proud of her efforts and her hard work!

Tsadakah is very interested in fashion and art and cooking. She is so cute! I was making bread sticks to go with our dinner and she decided that we should make them like cinnamon rolls. She made this one all by herself! Isn't it good for a girl of 5! I was so impressed that I had to post it!