Jacob and Jillian

Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

I love celebrating holiday's with the girls, it makes everything so much more fun.This morning both my girls and Jacob woke up to being heat attacked. Savannah's reaction was fantastic, she just thought it was great and made me read what I wrote on her hearts over and over again.

Last night I made sugar cookies and this morning we frosted them for our treat today. Both the girls thought this was great and both the girls were more interested in the frosting then the actual cookies. Olivia would just run her finger over her cookie and lick the frosting off while Savannah didn't even bother getting her fingers dirty she just licked her cookies while still on there plate. I finally convinced her that she could pick them up and actually eat the cookie which was pretty good too. Silly girls, we also went on an outing to our horrid library but that is a post for another day and then had a lovely dinner at home.

It was really a great day with my favorite valentines doing what we do best, hanging out and having fun.

Miss Olive

2012-02-14T13:08:00.002-07:00

This girl never ceases to amaze me with what she can get herself into so I decided to write a post about her.

Olivia loved playing in the toilet which I think is one of the grossest things ever. She finally got over this fascination only to have it rekindled one day while watching me clean the bathroom. As soon as I was done cleaning the toilet in went my hair brush as Olivia also tried to clean like mommy. To join my brush in the trash can as Olivia's cleaning tools is one of our TV remotes and luckily it was one we no longer use. We have now purchased a lock for the toilet seat so that she will hopefully be deterred from helping me clean. Why don't I just close the door and put on a child lock you ask? Our doors have handles on them and Olivia can open all of them, note to self the rest of the places we live will all hopefully have door knobs and not handles.

Another new favorite activity of Olivia's is digging in dirt and moving it to new places. This would be awesome if she did this activity outside but she does in in the house! She gets a spoon out of the kitchen drawer and will then run over to one of the many big potted plants we have in the house. She goes to town digging the dirt out of the pot and onto the floor. Luckily this has only happened on our hard floor and not the carpet.

The way I know Olivia is hungry is she'll stand by her high chair or booster seat and hold onto it and start screaming till I ask if she's hungry. She'll then shake her head yes and produce the most adorable and beautiful smile that melts my heart and wipes away any annoyance I had at her when she was screaming.

This next one kills me! Olivia will dig threw her and Savannah's dirty clothes basket and find all of Savannah's underwear, she'll then put them on her arm like she's carrying a purse or bag and run around the house! When I try to get them away from her she'll run even faster and start screeching in delight, she thinks this is a great game. I have now moved the laundry basket into the girls bathroom inside there linen closet (that door has a knob so Olivia can't open it.)

Olivia is big into kissing right now, she'll lean her body forward and make the "mmmmmmmm" sound and stay like that until you kiss her. Its fantastic.

When Olivia wakes up in the morning or from her nap she throws everything out of her crib. When we go to get her she'll stand there with her hand stretched out and wait for you to hand her each item she threw out and she'll put it back in its designated spot.

If your lying on the sofa or floor Olivia will randomly come up to you and start begging for you to pick her up. She'll then lay on you and snuggle for a bit before she gets back up to play.

When you hug Olivia she'll rub or pat your back. I find this to be so precious.

Olivia loves to play dress-up! She'll wear crowns on her head and have some item of clothing thrown on hap-haphazardly and then play tea party with Savannah, I love my girly girls.

Olivia LOVES the movie Gnomeo and Juliet, she'll sit threw the whole thing and if you even mention the name or she see's your going to put in the DVD player she'll run to the TV and sit right down so she doesn't miss any of the movie.

Olivia has started throwing temper tantrums and she'll stick her tongue out and spit at you. Both these things I find to be quite hilarious especially the spitting but I can't let her know this because I don't want her to keep doing it.

Olivia is smart like Savannah and she is very persistent. She's not quite as patient as Savannah in waiting for the most opportune moment to get what she wants but she will definitely give it the old college try. She'll keep going after what she wants till either she realizes she's never going to get it or I distract her with something else.

I love our little Olive she is a doll, I so enjoy watching her grow up and I miss the days when she was still our little baby. I hope you enjoyed reading all the random things that keep Olivia and myself busy every day, she really is such a nut and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Are You Sure?

2012-02-13T23:33:00.000-07:00

So it totally doesn't feel like winter here. It did snow once and by the end of the next day it all melted and once again returned to warmer temperatures.We had another beautiful day here last week so we decided to go out and have some fun. A bonus was Jacob was home so he got to come play too which made the girls so excited.

Savannah got ready for her last game by practicing her amazing kicking skills and Olivia kept trying to see if she was fast enough to steal the ball from her sister.

I forget why Savannah got to upset but I'm glad I captured the moment because I love her face and her dad is so tender to console her.

Olivia was just so excited to be out and about running around all over the yard.

But alas it was finally time to head back in so off Jacob went with his little buddy (Olivia is a total daddy's girl!)

Lesson Learned

2012-02-07T23:19:00.001-07:00

Olivia had her 18 month check-up this morning. She's right at the 50th percentile for everything which is fine with me since she was always in the 8th or 12th for her weight. She's now 23lbs and I honestly forget how tall they told me she was...the more I think of it they didn't tell me how tall she is, oh well. She got a shot and her doctor and I discussed her recent visit with her Neurologist. We still have concerns with her right ankle which really doesn't have much flexibility and her right thumb is a bit tight as well. This gives us two outcomes when Olivia tries to hold something in her right hand (a rare occurrence anyway) either she can't get a good enough grasp on the object and she gives up or she gets a good hold on whatever she's aiming for and then can't let go. Poor girl, its so sad to see her get so frustrated with her limitations but I love that she still tries to do those things she puts her mind to. Dr Black is sending over 2 referrals, one for an Occupational Therapy eval and then another Physical Therapy eval since she's now older and she's starting to fall behind a bit.
So what does this picture have to do with going to the doctors you may ask? Well Olivia was perfect at her appointment! She sat still and was quite while the doctor was listening to her heart. She didn't move an inch while they looked in her ears, eyes, or mouth. When we asked her to lay down she immediately did so. She's such a good girl so as a reward I got a treat that she's never had, Twinkies. I actually really like Twinkies so this wasn't a big sacrifice on my part. I gave one to each of the girls and of course had one myself and off we went. I then turned around to see how my girls were enjoying their new treat and my eyes swept over a cream covered Olivia. I just burst out laughing! The picture doesn't even do it justice, there was pieces of her Twinkie everywhere. While she was eating it she'd shove at least 3 fingers inside to get to the filling and then I'd hear her sucking and I knew she must have found what she was looking for. I have made a mental note to not give her another Twinkie in the car for quite some time but as least I know she loved her surprise.

A Favorite

2012-01-31T15:28:00.000-07:00

Tent building is a favorite activity at our house.We don't build them that often but when we do we usually center all our daily activities around it so that we're constantly in our tent. We usually have picnics, watch movies, and play games. You'll find blankets, pillows, and anything else soft in the house to snuggle with as well. This past Saturday we decided to have a movie tent watching experience and as always it was a success. I also discovered Olivia's love of climbing up the ladder, if I turned my back for a second she'd scamper up as high as she could go. I almost had a heart attack when I saw she could climb to the very top of the ladder.One of the problems with this is she can't climb back down by herself so she'll sit at the top screaming for you to get her down so she can climb up all over again, crazy girl.

From Savannah

2012-01-21T09:52:00.003-07:00

I meant to post this awhile ago but better late then never right? So I decided I wanted the girls to give Jacob hand-made Christmas presents this year. This way it would really be something from them not just something I bought them and put their names on. I saw this idea and knew Savannah had to make it for Jacob. I asked her random questions about Jacob and then wrote in her answers. He really did love it and we all got quite the laugh when we read it on Christmas morning. I think I might need to make this a tradition to see how her answers change over the years. Here is what I asked and she answered:

My daddy's name is Jacob, he is 9 feet and 7 inches tall, his hair color is brown, he has pink eyes, he is 4 years old, his favorite food is peanut butter, daddy's favorite drink is pink milk, for his job daddy makes pizza, daddy likes to go to the pawn shop to get popcorn, he like to play baby dolls with me, I love it when daddy plays football, what I love most about my daddy is he's funny, I love my daddy.

Some of her answers we actually correct buy many were either her favorites or totally random like what Jacob does for a living, I don't know where she got that from.

Snow Day

2012-01-18T15:53:00.003-07:00

We woke up this morning to snow falling and its been snowing ever since. Jacob is working weird hours so today he was home during the day which is/was awesome because I needed his help with the girls outside. Poor Olivia kept falling down every other step until she finally got the hang of walking in the snow but she still face planted it many a time. Savannah was obsessed with making a snowman and Jacob was the perfect assistant to help her with that task. We also discovered that Savannah has grown out of her snow pants which are the perfect size for Olivia and all us girls are in desperate need of snow gloves. When I was getting the girls dressed to go outside I kept thinking of the movie Christmas Story where the mom is getting Randy dressed and what a huge production it is. Savannah jokingly even said "I can't get my arms down!" I almost died laughing. We had a blast making snow angels and building our snowman. After I make cookies and the girls have a snack we plan to go out for round two. Savannah already tried to sneak out earlier and came in with wet pants and cold feet since she didn't think to put her boots on. Olivia cried when we brought her in the first time so were thinking she wouldn't mind going out again. Fun times are to be had here at our house that's for sure. I really do enjoy the snow as long as I don't have to go anywhere in it and so far I'm not scheduled to leave my house till Friday so I think I'm good.

Soccer

2012-01-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

Savannah is the biggest nut! Today was her first soccer game and she was so excited about it. She woke me up at 5:30 to tell me she had a bad dream and then started asking if it was time to go play soccer yet. Luckily she fell asleep in bed with us for a bit longer but by 7:30 she was constantly asking if it was time to go. Finally at 10:30 she informed me she was ready to leave and had her jacket, hat, and scarf on and all I could do was laugh. She got her team shirt and had fun warming up with all the other kids from both teams. Here she is below with her cousin Avery, almost the whole game they got to play together and you'd usually find them holding hands. We're going to have to teach her that another rule of playing soccer is not holding hands while playing, this lead to many falls and not paying the best attention to where the ball was. They all did great though and it was so funny to watch. By the second half Savannah was getting worn out and by the end of the game she was just walking. A nice perk of this is that Savannah is now taking a nap because she fell asleep during quite time, its exhausting being a 3 year old soccer star after all.

When we got home she was so tired she just sat right in her chair while I got lunch ready.

Then we told her she didn't get to play soccer again till her practice Tuesday night and this was the face I got. Who knew she'd love soccer so much?

What to do...

2012-01-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

So what do I do when I'm having one of those days where I am just at my ropes end? I make cream puffs that's what I do. I will also say they are fantastic and did help a bit in making my day better.

Happy Girls

2012-01-11T15:43:00.003-07:00

So last night Savannah had her first soccer practice and this is the face she makes whenever I ask her about it. Jacob ended up taking her to practice because she kept asking if daddy could take her and watch her play soccer. Jacob said she did fairly well for having no prior experience or knowledge about what she was doing. We went over the basics for her but I guess she kept picking up the ball and taking it to the coaches. Jacob said she ran up and down the field and her face was bright red. She was so excited when she came home and just kept talking about soccer and asking when she gets to play again. The reasons we decided to put her in soccer were because this program isn't too time intensive, they have 3 practices and 5 games. It only cost $20. Her second cousin is also on her team and she loves playing with her. So far I'm really glad we signed her up, so if you want to know what we'll be up to for the next 5 Saturday mornings we'll be watching this crazy girl "play" soccer.

I thought I'd give an update on what Olivia has been up to, she is the same sweet girl who has developed a small temper to match her small frame. I say this somewhat jokingly because this girl can throw quite the tantrum if the mood suites her. I am amazed at the screams she can belt out because she is such a sweet heart. She loves feeding herself, she is still a great sleeper, she has walking down and now attempts to run. She basically leans her upper body forward to help her momentum. She loves to play with Savannah and her favorite game to play is tea party. She loves to dress up already and will usually have a hat or crown on her head. I caught her yesterday in my closet trying on a pair of my shoes, it was one of the cutest, funniest things I've seen in awhile. She is still just an absolute joy and blessing to our family and we fall more and more in love with her everyday.

New Love

2012-01-09T16:10:00.003-07:00

While we were in Maryland I tried to take lots of pictures. I had mentioned to my mom that I sometimes had a hard time getting my pictures in focus and how it was kind of annoying. One day she took a few pictures using my camera and realized how right I was. That is when my amazing mom offered to let me have one of her cameras. If you've read my blog you know what a great photographer my mom is and she has/had 3 cameras so me being her most favorite daughter got to inherit one. I am already in love and have been having fun taking pictures of the girls. Also like many others I love photography, I love having pictures up in my home and I love taking pictures of my sweet girls. When I drive around I look at my surroundings and think of how I could get the best shot. My family is full of photographers so it doesn't surprise me with how much I love it even though many don't know I do. So here is your first picture I have taken with my new camera and I am in love. Thanks again mom, you really are to generous but I don't think I'll ever stop you.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-04T16:26:00.002-07:00

We had such a great Christmas!The girls and I got to spend 3 whole weeks with my family in Maryland and Jacob joined us for the last week and a half, it was just so fun to be with my family. Our days were filled with fun activities and just hanging out and it went by all too quick if you can believe it. It had been a year since the girls and I had been out for a visit and 2 years since Jacob had been so we were all due for some time back east. While we waited for Santa to bring Jacob the girls and I had fun hanging out with my mom during the day, we took the girls to the mall and let them ride the merry-go-round and Savannah got to talk with Santa again.

Another day we took the girls to lunch at McDonald's and and let Savannah run all around the play area.

Savannah LOVED going to the grocery store because they had little mini carts that she could push around and put some of the groceries in. She really was in heaven and asked to when we were going shopping again.

Olivia got worn out and even fell asleep in the car which is VERY rare for her, she has to be beyond exhausted to even consider falling asleep anywhere besides her bed.

On Christmas Eve we made sugar cookies for Santa and Savannah had so much fun cutting out different shapes. When we put the cookies out I thought she would burst because she was so excited.

Both the girls were very excited to find their first present that Santa had brought for them, their dad. Here are Jacob and Savannah after opening presents. Grandma and Grandpa helped Santa pick out a V-Tech computer for Savannah.

Olivia was quite smitten with Mark just like Savannah is. She'd crawl all over him and run to him when he'd come home from school or where ever he'd been.
The Thursday after Jacob got there he and Mark got to go on a tour of the Secret Service Training Facility which they both loved and had so much fun doing.
Also while we were there we celebrated mine and my dad's birthday's, I always love being home for my birthday. We got to eat at the Cheesecake Factory (my favorite) and my brothers, Jacob, and I got to go to the movies.

After Christmas we took the girls to the DC Temple to see the lights and the Christmas Tree's in the Visitor's Center. Savannah has a very deep love already for the Savior and was very excited to see the large statue of Christ in the visitor center. When we were leaving she kept asking to see Jesus again.

On New Year's Eve we all hopped on the Metro and headed to DC to visit some of the museums. Savannah thought it was the coolest thing to go on the train and she loved going to all the museums.

Olivia of course had a good time being pushed around in her stroller and she even got to see quite a bit because there is glass around most of the exhibits so she could see almost everything from the comfort of her stroller.

The weather on New Years was amazing we put jackets on the girls just in case it got too windy but it was in the high 50's.

Our first stop was the Natural History Museum and Savannah loved looking at all the fossils and animal exhibits.

We then headed over to the Air and Space Museum (Jacob's favorite) and checked out all the airplanes. They have an exhibit where you can walk through an old plane and Savannah made us take her threw twice.

We then headed over to the National Art Gallery which is my favorite, they were doing renovations on the galleries I love to walk through but it was still fun and it really is one of my most favorite places to be.

We got to visit with family and we went out to eat, we went to movies, played games, ate lots of food, and just had a wonderful time. I'm so lucky to have such a generous family and one that loves me and my little family so much. As always it was hard to leave and while being there I was reminded of all the things I miss while I'm living away. Its a good thing we can visit once an awhile.

Happy Days

2011-12-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

My days are always happy when I'm in Maryland, I love being here. I love that I grew up here and I miss it when I leave. Its not just my family that I miss its the actual state. I miss all the green, I really miss the beach, I miss going to museums, I miss all the people, I just miss it. I love coming back to visit and we always have so much fun. This trip is no different, the last 4 days have been filled with playing, outings, reading books, coloring, decorating the Christmas tree, and seeing Santa again. Our flights out were so much better then I anticipated. I once again flew out with both girls by myself since Jacob couldn't come out as early as we were. I beyond love flying with Savannah. She is the most amazing flyer hands down. She doesn't throw a fit, she stays with me, listens, and is so excited the whole time. She is just a joy to travel on a plane with. Olivia had me a bit more nervous because she is in the stage of life where she hates to sit still. The night before our flight I kept telling Jacob I was so nervous I thought I might throw up. Oh and as a side note the night before our flight Savannah threw up chocolate all over my mother in laws white carpet, our furnace blew up literally, and the girls both woke up repeatedly. Anyway back to our flight, Olivia exceeded my expectations greatly and only threw a fit during out layover in Salt Lake because she wanted to get into things she couldn't while walking around and the last hour of our flight into Baltimore. She basically just screamed because she hadn't slept all day and was done traveling and was just beyond tired. She fell asleep on the way to my parents and was so passed out she didn't wake up while being taken out of the car seat or while having her shoes or coat taken off. She slept all night in her pack-n-play which was another worry of mine because Olivia is very particular about where she sleeps. She only likes to sleep in her bed which is very annoying to be honest. She only threw a fit twice the next day about having to sleep in the pack-n-play and now she goes down just the same as if she's in her own bed. Its a huge relief and just plain fantastic. Savannah has become quite smitten with my dad and whenever he's home you can typically find them doing something together. They watch movies, play air hockey, read books, and when we go out to eat Savannah asks to sit next to poppa. Its very sweet to watch. Olivia really only wants me all the time which is a bit tiring and it makes me very excited for Jacob to join us. I can't believe how fast our trip is already going and soon enough it will all be over but I'm trying to enjoy these happy days in Maryland as much as I can and we'll see how much we can squeeze into our stay.

Jump Time

2011-12-06T13:16:00.001-07:00

So we went to Jacob’s work party last night and it was fantastic! This is the first time they’ve had a party where the whole family could come and it was just so much fun. There was something for everyone and our family had a blast. I didn’t get any good pictures because we were all running around so much I couldn’t get anyone to sit still long enough to get a picture in focus but these 3 are suitable enough. The girls loved the trampolines, Olivia wouldn’t let me hold her while we were on them at all. She was content to try bouncing on her own and walking around and falling over a lot. She’d just giggle and squeal and had a permanent smile on her face almost the whole night. Savannah loved jumping and playing in all the bounce houses they had too. Her favorite was the one shown below with the slide. She and her little friends she made had a blast running up the steps and all sliding down together over and over again. She also really enjoyed running down the long trampolines into the foam block pit. Jacob’s work also provided dinner so we had pizza, sandwiches, veggies, chips and tons of sodas and water. After going to these parties for the last 5 years I can say this one was my most favorite and we all loved every minute of it. Thank you Woodland Manufacturing for a great night.

Quite Time

2011-12-03T18:39:00.001-07:00

I started quite time at our house and I absolutely love it as does Savannah. Some days she even asks me if its quiet time yet. Her quiet time starts when Olivia takes her afternoon nap (yes Olivia still takes 2 naps and sleeps from 7:30pm-8/8:30am, I know that I am quite lucky with this.) Anyway back to Savannah while I’m putting Olivia down for her nap, Savannah goes to the bathroom and gets in her bed. She then has to stay on her bed for 45 minutes. I give her a drink and some books that she can look at, if she gets up at all I add 5 more minutes to her time. I have come to love this and have questioned why I didn’t start this sooner. I honestly think Savannah wouldn’t have taken so well to quite time if I had started sooner. Savannah needs to understand why something is happening and she needs to feel in control like its her doing and she is finally at an age where I can reason with her. The way I explained quite time is its not nap time and she does not have to take a nap (at least 2 times a week she does end up falling asleep.) She is allowed to have her door open but I do close the door to the girls hallway so some of the noise I make is muffled. I tell her what I’ll be doing so that she knows I might be making noise and I tell her when the timer goes off I will come and get her and that she will then be able to get out of bed. I tried to make quite time not seem like a punishment and I also explained that mommy is having her quite time too. I rarely have to add more time, sometimes I do have to remind Savannah to whisper because she’s reading her stories to loud. Overall quite time has been a huge success and it allows me to clean up from the morning of playing and I can usually work on a project, catch up online, or read a book. Also it calms Savannah down for the afternoon and gets her ready for the evening. I love quite time.

Couldn't Wait

2011-11-29T13:15:00.001-07:00

So Jacob's work used to sell these rocking horses and haven't now for quite some time. They had a few lying around and said whoever wanted one could have them. We totally jumped on that because hello its free and rocking horses have become one of Savannah's favorite toys. She's come quite a way from the days where I couldn't pay her to even touch one. Clearly Olivia does not have the same fear because she and Savannah now fight over who's turn it is to sit on the rocking horse. Savannah will drag it all over the house to whatever room she's playing in and Olivia is content to just sit with her feet propped up or she's start rocking herself back and forth while trying to make the horse move. I'm glad we didn't wait till Christmas to give this gift to the girls because I'm having so much fun watching them play with it now.

What I Know

2011-11-28T06:42:00.001-07:00

Its 6:30 in the morning and I'm wide awake, I've been in one of my reflecting moods again and I kept writing this post in my head so I thought I better just get up and do it. There are many people who think those who believe in God are weak and naive and they feel sorry for us that we've been coned into believing in a religion. But the same is true of how I think of them. I feel sorry for them that they are left going through this life believing there isn't a God. That they have let the world convince them that they are weak and naive if they do believe in a loving Heavenly Father. I do believe in God and I am in no way weak or naive. I can't imagine how lost I would feel if I didn't know that there is a God. I would be terrified living my life if I had no knowledge of a life after this one. I would be terrified of death if I though after my life was over there was nothing. I know life isn't perfect, that we have hardships and that is a reason people question if there is a God. I think its a way we can tell there is one. What would be the point of being here if we didn't have trials? If life was perfect it would be so boring. I look back on my life and I'm grateful for all the things that have gone wrong, that are considered trials because they've helped me become the person I am today. I have learned things about myself that I would never have known. They have helped me grow closer to my Heavenly Father and they have taught me to rely on him. I could see how that might not be the same with others, I'm a fairly optimistic person not necessarily while I'm going through my trials but as a whole I think I have a very positive outlook on life. This might make some think I've never really had anything really bad happen to me and I would have to agree with them. In comparison to some I really haven't had anything horribly bad happen in my life but in comparison to others I have.
So what brought on this jumble of thoughts? Well its because of the man standing on my right.

This is the last picture I took with my Grandpa McCombs back when I was pregnant with Olivia. I did get to see him once after when Olivia was 6 months old but sadly didn't get a picture with him. My grandpa died last Monday and this past week has been spent reflecting. I was incredibly busy this past week what with Thanksgiving on Thursday and I was hosting it and feeding 14 people. I quite enjoyed how hectic my week was because it only left minimal time for me to remember that he had died and then I didn't spend the whole week crying. I'd just tear up every now and again as I remember something about him or realize that I wouldn't be able to attend his funeral which is starting in half an hour. It is times like this why I am beyond grateful that I know there is a God, that I know there is a life after this one, and that I will see my grandpa again.
My grandpa was one of the VERY few people that I allowed to call me Jill really my dad is the only other person I can tolerate using that name. Whenever I'd come to there house I remember seeing my grandpa sitting in his room and as soon as he'd see me he'd start rocking his chair to help him get up. He'd come right out and give a smile that said to me, you've been missed and I love you so much. Watching him interact with my girls was a real joy. I could tell he didn't always know what to do with them but he loved watching them and he gave them the same smile he'd give me. My grandpa grew up in a time where dad's weren't as involved so he wasn't either but he was always present. I knew how much he loved me, I could see how he adored my grandma. I remember him taking us out to eat, I remember the sense of pride he'd have when he'd introduce me to people. I remember the good things about him and that's how I want it to stay, that's how I'll talk about him to my children. I love him and I miss him but I know we will meet again.

Choclate Pudding + Olivia

2011-11-21T16:59:00.001-07:00

Equals a huge mess and lots of fun. I'm glad I took her shirt off or we would have had an even bigger mess to clean up. She did love every minute of it though and I loved watching her.

Book of Mormon Video

2011-11-16T08:00:00.001-07:00

So my brother in law posted this video on his facebook page, now I rarely watch video's that people post but I thought I'd give it a try. I'm so glad I did, I think its a great description of what the Book of Mormon is and what members of The Church of Jesus Christ believe.

Easy Peasy

2011-11-03T11:06:00.002-06:00

I found an easy project to work on and I was so excited to finally have time to do it. All I needed was some bottles ( I just happened to have some Pepsi glass bottles that Jacob was so kind to let me use), puffy paint or you could use a hot glue gun, and spray paint.

I made designs on the bottles using the puffy paint and let it dry overnight just to be sure. Then I spray painted them white and voila! Now I have four cute bottles that I can leave alone like this or put something in. I also found a wood box that one of Olivia's toys had come in so I whipped out another can of spray paint and turned it green and then wrapped a piece of ribbon around it. I love how it turned out and even Jacob complimented me on my project. I think the whole project cost me $3 since I already had the ribbon, bottles, box, and my sister in law let me use her white spray paint, you really can't beat that.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T21:50:00.002-06:00

Halloween was SO much fun this year! Savannah was a butterfly and Miss Olivia was a ladybug. Since we don't live in a neighborhood anymore we headed to Jacob's sisters and went trick or treating with all the girls cousins. Savannah was so funny, every time she'd go to a door she'd yell trick or treat in her slurred way and then yell thank you as she's running from the door. Then she would proceed to give me the cutest face while gasping and saying, "Look it! Look what I got!" Olivia also got in the Halloween fun and would take her candy from the bowl and put it into her basket. They were both so good and Savannah was so excited to run to all the houses. When we decided we were done Savannah followed right behind us and didn't even complain that we were done. I was so proud of her, now we'll have to see how the coming days go with not eating too much of her candy.

Fall Fun Part 2

2011-10-29T21:32:00.000-06:00

Savannah couldn't wait to play in the leaves again so out she and Jacob went. He buried her in the leaves and she had fun getting herself out. She also sported her new Boise State shirt thanks to Old Navy and there buy one get on free deal. She and Olivia will now match when we cheer on our beloved Bronco's.

Fall Fun

2011-10-28T08:36:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a super fun day because we got to hang out with two of our favorite people Lynsie and Avery. The kids had a blast playing in the leaves and running around. I do love fall but not having to rake up all the leaves that are in our yard.

Family Pictures

2011-10-21T08:27:00.000-06:00

So last night my sister in law Sarah took some fantastic pictures of our little family and I love what I've seen so far. She was so patient with the girls and kept trying to get some good pictures, it was inevitable that one of the girls would cooperate while the other would not. Here are the ones Sarah finished working on so far and I hope you like them as much as we do. If you live in the Boise area and need pictures taken and someone to take them for you here's a link to her site, I know she'll do a great job for you because everything I've seen of hers is always fantastic.

Good Deal of the Day

2011-10-17T08:54:00.002-06:00

Ok so I get daily emails from this site called Freebies to Deals. One of their deals today is for a Belle Disney Princess Doll for $5.99 with free shipping. Savannah won't be getting hers till Christmas but its never a bad idea to start your shopping early. Here is the link and when you go to the Mattel page I had to search for Disney Princess Dolls and the Belle you want is on the very last page and is the very last one pictured. Happy shopping to you all, it really is a great present if you have little girls or know of someone who does. Savannah already has a Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty that she got as gifts from Birthday parties and she loves them.

Olivia Favorites

2011-10-09T21:48:00.003-06:00

These are pictures my mom took during her visit back in July for Olivia's birthday. I already posted my favorite pictures of Savannah here and now its Olivia's turn. Oh how I do adore this little girl, she is so curious and she loves to play. She is almost always smiling and she loves to dance and sing, you can usually catch her multiple times during the day swaying back and forth singing to herself.

Here I caught her while playing in the family room.

She was quite curious about the camera and wanted a closer inspection.

Here is our happy girl talking to her sister.

Something Olivia and Savannah have in common is screaming. Savannah is now over that stage but this was a favorite activity when she was this age as well.

My beautiful blue eyed girl loves sitting in this pink rocking chair and its just right for her.

Olivia continues to amaze me with everything she's picking up and learning. She's trying to talk more and has mastered "no", "uh-oh", "nana" for Savannah, "mommy", "dadde", and "g it" for get it. She is a fantastic eater and an amazing napper she still takes two and they average 2 hours each. Plus she sleeps threw the night 7:30pm-7:30am or later its fantastic the only draw back is she only likes to sleep in her bed so it can be a problem if we're somewhere else during nap or bedtime. She's almost walking which is so exciting, she has 7 teeth and is working on 3 more molars that are almost in (they're taking forever!) Olivia is skinny and tall she only weighs 20 lbs and she's 29 in. Olivia is so laid back and just an easy going girl, she also adores her big sister and wants to do whatever she is doing and be wherever she is. I don't know what I did to deserve such a fantastic kid but I'm glad she's mine.

Waste Not Want Not

2011-10-09T11:45:00.000-06:00

So do your kids go through phases when they really love a certain food and then that love seems to fade? Both my girls do this hence I had to get the creative juices flowing so I wouldn't waste a bunch of yogurt. I typically have a smoothie for one of my meals during the day or as an evening snack and I use yogurt in them. Both the girls would beg for one of my yogurts when I'd pull it out of the fridge so finally I bought them some of their own because I was tired of sharing. Once I finally got them their own they then decided that yogurt wasn't so great after all and suddenly I had an expiration date looming ahead and a desire to not waste what we had. Enter my brilliant to me idea to turn our yogurt into popsicles. I won't lie they are a pain to get out of the container, I wish I had a popsicle mold and then I would have used that with hopefully a better outcome. Anyway they're a hit and I was proud of my little accomplishment to not waste what we had.

True to its Name

2011-10-08T16:18:00.000-06:00

So I normally wouldn't post about this but I'm so impressed that I just had to. I got a bountiful basket today, I've always been satisfied with my baskets but today I was totally impressed with how much was in it. In our basket we got the following: 8 lemons, 8 apples, 2 apple pears, 3 plums, 1 pomegranate, 2 peppers, 36 small potatoes, 2 bags of carrots, 4 heads of broccoli, 9 bananas, 1 bag of grapes, 7 ears of corn, and 1 head of lettuce and all I paid was $16. It was a perfect start to what has been a perfect day. If you haven't heard of bountiful baskets or want to know if they have any where you live click on the link above. We usually only get 1 basket a month or every month and a half but every time we do get one I'm not disappointed and we can get new to us food so it makes us broaden our taste buds which is always nice.

Outside Adventure

2011-09-26T09:47:00.000-06:00

We finally had a nice day so I decided to take the girls outside for some play time. We all had so much fun, Savannah insisted on wearing one of her dress-up outfits which was fine by me and Olivia played on the blanket and sat on our rocking chair. Near the end Olivia was done and ready for a nap which she totally let me know by throwing a mini fit. It was a great afternoon and I'm glad the weather is finally allowing for more outside time.

One Word

2011-09-12T16:15:00.002-06:00

and that word is Pinterest. I'm in love, if you know what it is you'll understand what I mean and if you don't know what I'm talking about you better google it.

Happy Birthday Savannah!

2011-09-11T10:51:00.000-06:00

So this post has tons of pictures because we just had Savannah's 3rd Birthday Party! That's right my baby is 3, the time has gone by way too fast, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I have a 3 year old. Savannah is your typical girly girl so we of course had a Pinkalicious Birthday party. Have you heard of the book? Its one of Savannah's favorites next to Fancy Nancy.I made all the decorations cause that's just something I actually enjoy doing. I probably set up for her party for at least 4 days, once I'd get something finished then I'd hang it up. Every morning when Savannah woke up she'd run into the living room and kitchen to see what new things there were to see. Then she'd climb in bed with me and say, "Thank you for my birfday, its so beautiful!" We had over all of Jacob's family and some of Savannah's little friends, this year Savannah even got a bounce house for her party. It was a hit.

We still had the pom poms hanging from Olivia's birthday so we left those up and added a pink garland which is just yarn and I mad a fabric banner.

I attached flowers where each flag met and had pink ribbon along the top and used the same yarn on the light to hang with the banner.

This was my splurge item, I found these cute lanterns at the party supply store by our house, my favorite part about them is you can use a battery to turn them on instead of using an outlet so you can use them anywhere.

In addition to the fabric banners I also made ones with scrapbook paper and cut it into circles and strung it with more pink yarn.

In addition to the yarn hanging from the light in the kitchen I also hung some from the light in our living room.

I copied the idea I had for Olivia's birthday and hung ribbons from the window in the kitchen.

I found this cute sheer ribbon with flowers in it and used that to pull the curtains with and I used it around some of the glass containers on the food table.

For me no party is really complete till you add flowers, I love flowers. I saw these cute things in our pantry and Jacob got quite a kick out of it when he asked me why I had used cheese graters as flower holders and I told him I didn't know they were cheese graters when I decided to use them. I think they're perfect.

Here is our yummy food table, we had pink and green food to go along with the book. Our pink food was our junk food, we had pink whoppers, pink marshmallows, and oreo's with pink filling. Our green food was more healthy, grapes, cucumbers, and broccoli. I also made this yummy strawberry mint punch.

We also had yummy pink cupcakes because that's what starts all the mess in Pinkalicious anyway.

All the kids loved the bounce house and even Olivia got a turn inside.

Savannah was so excited when we were all singing to her, she even sung along and blew her candle out and everything.

My cousin's wife Cheryl even got Savannah a Pinkalicious doll, Savannah held her while we read stories and she slept with her as well.

This is a dress-up dress she got from my mom, Savannah put it on as soon as she could and she's been wearing it all day today as well.

Savannah is such a joy, she can make me want to rip my hair out but she's still a joy none the less. I have loved being her mother and feel so blessed to know her. I love her curious nature, she is determined, inventive, smart, so silly, very tender hearted, imaginative, fearless, and just plain old fantastic. I cherish each moment I have with her and look forward to seeing her grow up as well. I can't imagine our lives without her.

Hot Springs Pool Equals Lots of Fun!

2011-08-30T15:52:00.002-06:00

We went swimming last night and it was a huge hit! We ended up going with two of my cousins and their families. We decided to get Savannah a life jacket even though it isn't really a life jacket. It helps her float as long as she's moving so we took that opportunity to teach her how to swim as best a almost 3 year old can. She did fantastic and Jacob and I were so proud of her. Olivia also had a fun time which we were not sure of when we set out for our pool time adventure. Olivia has proven time and time again that she does not like water unless she is in the bathtub. She kept sqwaking when we first got in the water but once her other cousin joined in the fun she was extremely happy to be in the water. It was a fun time to be had by all that's for sure.

Fair Time!

2011-08-30T13:49:00.002-06:00

Its that time of year again for the fair. I love going to the fair! I don't really love how hot it is when your there but man oh man do I just love everything else about it. Plus now that we have kids it seems like its even more fun. Savannah and Olivia had a blast watching all the people and looking at all the animals. They had a butterfly exhibit which Savannah had a blast with, she kept trying to find all the butterflies and she wanted to hold all of them. They had sting rays you could touch, Jacob did but Savannah got a bit too scared. The girls loved the petting zoo! Savannah wanted to pet every animal and Olivia mauled a poor rabbit but it didn't seem to mind too much. We all had yummy fair food for dinner which is probably my favorite part cause we all know how much I love food.

Here are Jacob and Savannah looking at all the pigs, Savannah kept pointing out all their butts and she thought this was the funniest thing she'd ever seen.

Here is Olivia checking out some cute ducks.

I think this may be one of my most favorite pictures, Savanna just seems so grown up as she walks along side Jacob checking out everything at the fair. It was a great time to spend together as a family and we had so much fun.

Savannah Favorites

2011-08-17T20:51:00.011-06:00

I love when my mom comes to visit for many reasons. I of course love spending time with her and having her interact with the girls but I also love that she always takes the best pictures of her granddaughters. I'll be honest too and say that I did take two of these pictures of Savannah that are my favorites, of course using my moms amazing camera which I am also jealous of. I swear its almost impossible to take a bad picture with that thing. Anyway, these were taken around the new house and are just a few of my favorites of Savannah. I'll do another post soon of some of my favorites of Olivia.

Here Savannah is lounging around, waiting for Jacob to come home.

I LOVE Savannah's profile, I just think its perfect.

This is hands down my most favorite picture of Savannah. It captures her perfectly, she's in one of her most favorite dresses and she's showing off that beautiful smile of hers.

I took this after she'd had some "ecial milk" for those of you who don't speak Savannah that would be special milk which also means strawberry milk.

Here she is sitting underneath one of the trees on our property.

This picture cracks me up! I love her stare and the flower in her mouth is just hilarious. She definitely got her photogenic personality from me that's for sure, there are totally pictures of me like this when I was her age.

A Few More Pics

2011-08-17T16:52:00.006-06:00

Here are just a few more pics from Olivia's birthday, complete with both girls taking swings at our cupcake pinata. Watching all the kids taking swings was so fun, they all loved it.

Here are pics of Olivia trying to blow out her candle and then the after pic of her enjoying her cake. She loved it which was fun cause Savannah could have cared less when she had her first piece of cake.

Just thinking about her party makes me smile, it was a great day.

Fire Station Fun

2011-08-12T14:12:00.009-06:00

So as most of you know we recently moved to a new town, for the most part I LOVE it but I have been irked by a few things and its kind of turned me off. Last night though they totally redeemed themselves. They held there annual Fire Station Open House where they also gave us free hot dog, chip, drinks, and ice cream. I loved it because for one I didn't have to make dinner, two it was a free activity, and three they had kid friendly activities too so Savannah and Olivia had a blast!

Here is Jacob with the kids all enjoying their free ice cream, Olivia took mine and once she had it in her hot little hands there was no way I was getting it back from her.

Savannah somehow ended up with ice cream everywhere! I'm talking about her mouth, forehead, arms, and all down her dress.

Here is Miss Olivia enjoying her strawberry ice cream.

Savannah was SO excited that she could actually get inside the firetrucks. She wanted to see everything that was in them and just loved every minute.

So the reason I love this picture so much is because of Savannah's expression and pose. It totally reminds me of something I would have done at her age and probably did do.

Here is Savannah in one of the bouncy houses they had at the Fire Station. I seriously didn't know how we'd get her out. She had so much fun playing and she did so well too. They had another bounce house that was an obstacle course and climbing wall that lead to a big slide and she rocked it!

I'm so glad that I happened to drive through downtown the other day to see the sign in front of the firehouse promoting this activity, it was fantastic and so much fun.

Water Park Fun

2011-08-11T15:39:00.003-06:00

Here are the girls when we were getting ready to leave.

Savannah had goosebumps all over her when she finally got out of the water, she stole all our towels trying to warm up.
Savannah and her friend Donaven, they're just to cute!

Today we got to go to the water park with the Baker's and it was oh so fun! They've invited us tons but for one reason or another it never worked out till now and I'm so sad it took us so long to get to go. Savannah had a blast! She LOVED the wave pool and would just lay on her back riding each wave. She had fun in the kiddie section exploring the toys and running in and out of sprinklers. She was so obedient and stayed near me the whole time which made the experience even more fun. The only time she was a stinker was in the parking lot when she realized we were leaving. The whole ride home she kept asking me to go swimming again. Olivia on the other hand does not like being in the water unless she's in the bathtub. Every time her toes would get wet from a wave or if she got a bit wet from some spraying water the child would start whimpering or just flat out crying. I find it a bit confusing but whatever she'll get over it one day. All in all it was just a fantastic way to spend our day and I hope we'll get to go again before the season's over. Thanks again JaNeil for letting us tag along with you it was totally a blast.

Parade Fun

2011-08-09T00:34:00.004-06:00

We went to one of the neighboring towns parade the other morning and had so much fun! The girls just loved every minute and we got to go with one of our good friends so that just made it even better. Now Olivia did end up throwing some fits and just plain old throwing up later that afternoon but that morning she was a happy camper. She waved to all the people in the parade and made sure to squealed at them as well. When ever the people in the parade would throw candy out to the kids I'd have to tell Savannah to run and get some, she'd only grab one piece at a time and then run back to my lap. I think she was terrified she was going to get run over by either a person, car, or animal. It really was just a fun time and I love that the girls and I have fun things to do like this and fun people to share those experiences with.

Olivia Turns One!

2011-08-03T22:14:00.006-06:00

Its amazing to me that Olivia is 1. Where did the last year go? I truly have no idea. Its been a fantastic week with Grandma McCombs coming to visit and of course a birthday party. Some quick stats on Miss Olivia, she now weighs in at 18lbs 10 oz and has moved up from the 6th percentile to the 12th. She is also 29 inches and that puts her in the 62nd percentile for her height. She should be starting physical therapy here in the next few weeks and we are super excited about that. Olivia is also getting yet another tooth so she's now up to 5 with 3 on top and 2 on bottom. She's very vocal when we are out and about but is pretty calm while at home. She loves talking to other babies too. She loves playing with baby dolls and she loves to try and feed you, she's just so tender and sweet and just plain old fantastic.

I had lots of fun getting ready for her birthday and of course had very high aspirations for all the things I wanted to do as usual. I had a bee theme but you really couldn't tell by my decorations at all.

I had pom-poms over the kitchen table and this cute bee garland hanging from the light fixture.

Fun ribbons hanging in front of the window.

Then in the living room I had a banner with Olivia's name and then pictures hanging up. The pictures were from her birth till now and they were hung up with clothes pins on cute ribbon.

We had a pinata for all the kids and lots of yummy snacks. Olivia got tons of cute clothes and fun toys. She loved her cake and even tried to blow out her candle. The cutest is when we were singing to her, she looked like she was conducting the music. Overall it was just a great day and lots of fun. We can't believe our baby is already 1 and it scares me to think how fast she's growing up.

Zoo Fun

2011-07-21T19:40:00.003-06:00

My friend Jennifer and I decided we needed to get together to do something fun and what better place is there then the zoo right? We both have 2 girls and they are all right around the same age. All the kids had so much fun seeing all the animals and playing on the slides. Savannah even sported her princess sunglasses all day, she was pretty cute. Savannah's favorite animals were the giraffe's, kimono dragon, lions, tigers, and penguins. I was so proud of Savannah too, she was perfect all day! The poor thing had to walk the 3 hours we were there and never once complained, she always held onto the stroller or walked right next to me. She was obedient, kind, and just all around perfect which made the day even better.

Here is my angel playing at the tiger exhibit.

Savannah actually fed a goat as well. If you know her at all this is HUGE!

Here are Savannah and Maddie, they've been friends since they were born and always love seeing each other.

How could I not include a picture of Miss Olivia. If you look close you can see her top tooth and the other is just coming in. She also has the two bottom teeth as well but she keeps them pretty well hidden with that tongue of hers.

It was just a great day with great friends. Plus Thursday's is half off admission and both the kids were free. Its a good deal. They also have a butterfly exhibit going on right now but the line was soooooooooooooooooooooo long, did you catch that it was soooooooooooooooooo long that we got out of it. I know Savannah would have loved it but oh well maybe next time, my mom is coming tomorrow so we might try to go while she's here too. Maybe for Olivia's birthday next week...all kinds of ideas are forming in my head as I write.

Sand vs Rock

2011-07-19T08:04:00.003-06:00

So how many of you remember or know about the parable between the wise man and the foolish man? The wise man built his house upon the rock while the foolish man built his on the sand. When the water came in the foolish man's house washed away while the wise man's stood firm. I've been thinking about a lot of different things lately so I have a whole mess of thoughts in my head. They mostly surround my family and what I want for my family. I feel like I bounce back and forth between the wise and foolish man, that my foundation is sometimes built on the sand and its being washed away. Do you sometimes feel that way too? I'm a busy person, I like structure and I enjoy being productive but sometimes I wonder if I'm busy with the best things. What am I really doing to fill my time? I remember when I was working and I'll just make it clear that I have always hated having to go to a work place and have what some view a real job. To toot my own horn though I am a fantastic worker! I always put everything into my job, I go above and beyond, and I'm always thinking of ways to do even better. When I've had a job outside of my home I've felt productive while working and when I've come home. You only have a limited time to get stuff done if your working away from home all day. I feel like I've had more days since I've been home that are putting things off because I can always do them tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, being a stay at home mom is a 24/7 job, you are always on call and you rarely get a brake. It is also the best job I've ever had and the most challenging and fulfilling. Last night I was lying in bed for quite some time thinking about all this. I really am happy with my life, I'm so blessed to have an amazing husband who loves me and works so hard to take care of me and the girls. I am beyond blessed to have 2 amazing children who are constantly keeping me on my toes and teaching me new things. I have what I need in this life. My goal though is to start building my house on a rock, I'll still be busy and productive of course doing things I want and need to do but I want to do better at doing those smaller things that are so important but seem to get pushed aside. I want to get back to where I felt I was on top of strengthening my family, that we read the scriptures daily both individually and as a family, we had family home evenings, we work out, we spend less time watching shows as Savannah calls them and more time doing activities. I know I'll still go between building my house on the sand and rocks but I'd like to be getting closer to the rocks then the water.

Best Week Ever!

2011-07-10T22:04:00.004-06:00

This past week has been fantastic! My youngest brother Mark came out for a visit, his first time back to Idaho in 4 years. We were so excited that he got to come especially Savannah! When we went to pick Mark up at the airport last Monday Savannah just ran to him and wouldn't let go until she had to get in the car. That is something she's only done with Jacob so Mark felt pretty special. We did a few fun things but most of the trip was spent running errands and going out to lunch. It was just fun to have him around, to see how our family is and for him to spend time with the girls. Saturday was our big day of fun, we started out the day going to Black Canyon for some more swimming and playing in the sand. The water was warmer then it was last week but it was still pretty cold. We went earlier in the day too so there weren't as many people there and it was just way fun. We all took turns going in the water with Savannah, her phrase of the day was, "you want to go swimming me?" If she was walking towards you, you could bet that's what she was going to say. Olivia once again hated the water with a capital H, I really think that's funny to because Olivia loves taking a bath. As soon as I started walking towards the water with her I could tell she was getting nervous and sure enough when I put her feet in the water she started screaming! She did have fun playing with the sand and kept trying to eat it. Overall it was a really fun morning.

In the afternoon the boys went shooting, Jacob was so excited to take Mark he had been talking about it since I told him Mark was coming. Two of my brother in laws went too and they all had a good time. Mark even shot a few things, Jacob was proud of him and Mark said he had a lot of fun. When they got home we had dinner and then headed down to play some mini-golf and to let the boys drive go carts. This was also Savannah's fist time playing mini-golf. We'd help her hit the ball and then once she was near the hole she'd pick up her ball, put it right on the edge of the hole and then hit it in. It was pretty funny, her favorite part was actually looking at the water. She's also really been into her butterfly/fairy wings so she had to wear them while we were there too. About halfway through golfing she decided she didn't want to wear them anymore but I didn't feel like carrying them so we put them on Olivia. When we took them off to get her in the car at the end of the night she kept trying to find them and was pretty sad we took them off her. After golfing the boys rode go-carts while the girls and I cheered them on. Savannah was spitting out a constant stream of, "woo-hoo's, "that's my dad!", "its Mark", and "yeah!" the whole race. Even though she didn't get to ride she still had a blast.

Tomorrow we take Mark to the airport and I'm not looking forward to it. Whenever I have family visit its so bitter sweet. I love seeing them but the time always goes by so fast and then they have to leave. I won't have time to be sad though cause Tuesday night I have 3 of my nieces and their dog coming to stay with me for 4 days. This will be an adventure not because of my nieces (they're fantasticly wonderful!) its the dog...Olivia is terrified of dogs so this will be her time to get over her fear. Plus its a little wiener dog, how can you be scared of that? It is probably the same size as her though, she's pretty little. Then after the girls leave I have my mom coming the next week for Olivia's first birthday. Like I mentioned before July is the best month ever! Stay tuned for all our adventures this month cause we're going to have lots.

2011-07-05T22:24:00.003-06:00

We had a super fun 4th of July, we started off going to the Middleton parade which was so fun! Savannah had so much fun. She loved seeing all the horses, cars, and firetrucks. She would clap and cheer for anyone that went down the road, it was super cute. She didn't do so good at getting the candy that people would throw at us. There were quite a few kids and she just wasn't aggressive enough to get any. Some of the kids were nice with the prompting of their parents to share some of the candy they got. After the parade we went to the car show and walked around for awhile. After that we headed home to rest up because later that night we went to pick up my little brother Mark from the airport. He came out to visit for the week so we'll have more on that later. Then that night we took the girls to see the fireworks in Middleton, one word...AMAZING! They were so good we all had so much fun, Olivia and I had to watch from the car because we were so close and they were a bit loud and Olivia refused to wear her ear phones. Savannah kept saying wow and yelling "look it!" after every one. Over all it was a fantastic 4th of July and this week should be just as fun while we hang out with my brother. Hope you all had a great 4th too.

Eleven Months

2011-07-03T07:37:00.004-06:00

Can you believe that in just eleven short months Olivia has gone from this to this?

I can't! Its just gone by so fast, even faster then with Savannah it must be because there are two of them. I'm amazed by all the things Olivia can do, she can now pull herself up and will even start to walk along the sofa. She has finally fallen in love with her dad, she loves to play with Savannah, she always wants to eat what your eating, she sleeps through the night, waves, has 3 teeth, loves to play with her toys, can play by herself, has started throwing mini temper tantrums if you take something away from her, and so many other things. We love Olivia so much, she is such a joy. Olivia is so tame in comparison to her sister and they really are a perfect combination. Olivia still loves to be held and cuddled most of the time too which I love. She still takes 2 naps which I find to be heavenly since Savannah started taking only 1 at six months. Its so fun to see how different and similar both are girls are and I can't wait to celebrate Olivia's first birthday at the end of the month, time really does just fly by.

Saturday Adventure

2011-07-03T07:23:00.002-06:00

Well yesterday we decided to take the girls to Black Canyon for some swimming and just some plain old fun. The girls had a great time and Savannah was beyond ecstatic by the whole afternoon. The water was pretty cold, Olivia who loves water screamed when we put her in so she actually never really got wet past her feet. Savannah on the other hand braved the cold water with whoever would take her in. She took turns going in by herself and walking around or getting in Olivia's pool toy and having us pull her around. Savannah and I built towers in the sand and finally we moved our spot into the grass to get some shade, poor Olivia was just turning red (don't worry she didn't get a burn.) When it was time to go Savannah was so disappointed but comforted by the fact we said we'd come back again. Overall it was a huge success and I'm super excited to go again.

A New Favorite Activity

2011-07-03T07:20:00.003-06:00

This is how you can find Savannah a lot these days. She always wants to color and ever since daddy brought home a roll of paper she wants a huge piece to draw on. Yesterday we made and outline of her body and she got to color it in. Do you remember doing that in elementary school? I know I do. Even now she's asking me go color, she's such a cutie.

Newest Happenings

2011-06-27T14:56:00.007-06:00

Well I think I'm finally getting back into our normal routine...maybe. I plan on changing some things up around here because with the move and getting settled we fell back into lazy stay at home all the time and watch movie people. I hate that. I mean don't get me wrong I love those kinds of days just not when there every day. Plus I know my kids don't like it either. I've been inspired by a friend of mine to become more active and to make a summer schedule of sorts. I think what I've decided will work best for our family is to have themed days. Savannah does really well with having structure so I'm planning on having a specific activity we do each week on a specific day. I need to get my plan done like tonight so we can actually start but today we went to the park and had a picnic.

I was really impressed that Savannah actually went down this slide, its really high. For a reference point you can see like 3/4ths of the slide behind Olivia in her picture (as a side note she's gnawing on a carrot). It was a fun outing, Olivia had a blast on the swings. She seriously started going with her belly laugh as soon as I put her in the thing and didn't stop till I took her out. Savannah made a friend and just followed her around and tried to do everything she was. The girl didn't seem to be annoyed by her and was actually excited to see if Savannah could do the things she was able to.
I've also done a few projects, first we made paper chains again because two of our most favorite people are coming to visit in July.
Yup, my mom is coming for Olivia's first birthday at the end of July and my youngest brother Mark is coming on the 4th of July for a week. Savannah LOVES paper chains so it was kind of an easy project to decide to make to get ready for these visits. I got the idea though to put pictures of my mom and brother at the end of their chains so Savannah could understand a bit more why we have them. Our new favorite morning activity is taking a chain off, I have to admit too I like having the visual reminder of how many more days I have to wait till they get here too. For this next project I copied a friend.
These are prayer sticks. I think my friends turned out so much cuter so I might redo mine but I am in love with the idea. I made a stick with each persons name on it so now we just pull out a stick when we need to say a prayer. The person's name that is pulled says it, you also keep the named pulled till each person has had a turn and then you put them all back in again. I love this idea. Have I already said that? Savannah goes through phases where she loves to pray and then refuses to pray. I think and hope that this will make it fun for her and will just be a fun thing to add to our routine. My last project I made was a new shirt for Savannah.

So I know its a tie shirt and girls don't wear ties but I think they're so stinkin cute and she's my kid so I'll put her in whatever I darn well please. I love it. I included the 4 steps it took for me to make the shirt. I'll be honest and say that Savannah's only worn the shirt once, in the summer it is almost impossible to get her to wear anything besides a dress. This girl is infatuated with dresses and she pouts if you try to put her in anything else.
Well there you have it, we're going on outings, making projects, and getting ready for two visitors. My life is crazy sometimes but I usually do it to myself and I really wouldn't have it any other way.

Update on Olivia

2011-06-14T21:00:00.008-06:00

Well we met with the neurologist today to talk about Olivia. It went as well as could be expected which was a relief. Olivia did in fact have a stroke while I was pregnant with her. There is a fancy medical term for what she is diagnosed with but I forgot it as soon as I was told what it was. I know I'm a great mom right?! The good news about this is she has a very mild case and has pretty good usage of her right side all things considered. We'll get her set up with a physical therapy evaluation to see how intensive her therapy will be but her doctor said it might even be a case where we could do exercises with her at home and just check in monthly to evaluate her progress and get new exercises when we need too. We'll have to wait though to see what she'll need. As far as why she had a stroke we really don't know why it happens we just know it does. Olivia is expected to walk and to be able to run as long as her therapy goes well. Her right ankle is pretty stiff so if she doesn't improve then she could loose the use of it. She also might have to have some sort of leg brace to assist her in walking. Olivia has just started pulling herself up onto things and Jacob and I have already noticed a huge improvement with how she uses her right hand. We're assuming that this will also be the case with her foot once we start doing exercises with it. Another piece of good news is that our doctor said that in every case he's had like this the child has never had another stroke. Also once Olivia is older she'll need an MRI to see how much brain damage she has, because her case is so mild her doctor is assuming that she has a fairly small brain tissue scar. What really made me happy was that he was so impressed with her progress and all the things she was already able to do. There are still a few things we have to keep our eye on like her limb development to make sure one of her legs isn't shorter then the other because that could lead to other problems down the road. Overall we really did get the best news for the situation. I loved that the neurologist said that she has no idea there is anything wrong with her and that's how Jacob and I plan on treating her. Olivia has already shown us how well she can adapt and do the same things any other kid her age can do. We feel so blessed to have Olivia in our family. She is just such a joy, she is one of the happiest babies I've ever seen, and we just love her more then words can express.

"We're Hooommmme!"

2011-06-12T16:56:00.002-06:00

This is what Savannah says every time we get close to the new house. I love that she remembers the way and knows when we're almost home. Now our new home is new to us but its technically not our home. Like I've said before we moved into Jacob's parents house and will be living here for the next 14months while his parents are in Zimbabwe. We've made a lot of changes to make the house even more child friendly and to help save my nerves. By that I mean we've used a lot of our stuff so if my kids do something to it I don't freak out as bad as if they did something to my in-laws stuff. The three biggest changes are that I repainted both the girls rooms and the girls bathroom. We also turned their formal living room into an extra storage room for furniture that we weren't going to use like our kitchen table and their dresser. That's the second entry way picture with the table in front of the door, I was pretty happy with how that turned out. My most favorite thing in this house is the bench I made for Olivia's room, I think it turned out way cute. I've done tons of little projects to make the house look like ours and to function for our little family. We're so grateful to Jacob's parents for letting us live here and we're still sometimes amazed that they trust us to take care of their house. We've been here a week now and we all LOVE it! I told Jacob yesterday in the car that this is the happiest I've been yet in Idaho. I never thought I'd like living out here, we went from a city with 80,000 people to one with 3,000. But I'm already in love and I hope the next 14 months go by kind of slow so I can enjoy the time we have here. I of course miss our old house and having our friends so close by but it hasn't been as hard for me to leave as I thought it would. I think its because I am so happy here already and I know that this is what's best for our family. The girls have transitioned VERY well, Olivia has only had a few problems with sleeping but they're already starting to work themselves out. Our new ward seems really nice too and Savannah didn't have any problems going to her new class. She just walked right in and fell into her usual routine and didn't even look back to see if Jacob or I was there. When we went to pick her up they said she was great so we were very pleased with how well she did. It seems the only negative which isn't really a big deal is the extra time it takes to get some places but soon enough I know that won't even matter. Overall we're all really happy with this move and are excited to see all the new adventures that it brings for us. Here are some pictures of the new house, if you put your mouse over the picture it will tell you what your looking at.

On a different note, on facebook I posted that Olivia is being scheduled to see a neurologist because of some issues we've noticed with her right side. As she's getting bigger and becoming more active Jacob and I have just noticed that she really doesn't ever use her right side. She'll push things over to her left side so she can use her left hand and she won't eat with her right hand at all. Her right foot is also almost always balled up and rarely relaxed. I mentioned this at her doctors appointment on the 3rd and after some basic tests her doctor decided to refer us to a neurologist. He suspects Olivia may have had a stroke sometime and that's why she doesn't really use that side. She's progressing along really well and you really wouldn't even notice there was anything wrong just by looking at her. She has her appointment on Tuesday and we're not really sure what we'll be doing at this visit but I'll keep you all updated. So far I don't really have any prodominent emotion regarding this. I think I'm just taking it one step at a time and I'm waiting to see what we find out. There is a chance that it could be something more serious but I'm really not even entertaining that idea. We'll most likely have Olivia go to physical therapy to have her work on using her right side more. Anyway, there you have it so I'll write more about it when I know more.

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-09T19:42:00.003-06:00

You know I'm going to be honest...I don't always like being a mom. Shocker huh? As a whole I love being a mom but sometimes when I'm in the moment I think to myself what was I thinking wanting to have kids?! They can be so frustrating, stubborn, unreasonable, exhausting, time consuming, and so many more things. But then you have moments where they are so loving, tender, silly, forgiving, sweet, and just plain perfect. I have always wanted to be a mother which I think I've mentioned before on here. I love having this job and it is a full time job believe you me.

I love how Savannah likes to read us stories. How she'll randomly break out into song and start twirling around the house. I love how she will go into my closet, put on a pair of my shoes, one of my shirts and then proceed to put on any jewelry she can find. Where she will then come out into the living room proclaiming how beautiful she looks. I love when she holds my hand and tells me how much she loves me. I love when she says she wants to snuggle, or asks us to lay down with her at night. I love when I hear her pray and how excited she gets when its time to read the scriptures or is she sees a picture of Jesus. I love her outgoing personality and her determination.
I love how Olivia is very much the opposite of Savannah. I love how she does things in her own time. I love how content she is. I love her beautiful blue eyes. I love her throaty laugh and how she waves with such excitement. I love how when I hold her she grabs on to my shirt and lays her head on my shoulder. I love how when she cries I don't get annoyed because it just sounds so pathetic I just want to grab her up in my arms and make everything better. I love how she looks when she's asleep, so peaceful and beautiful. I love how excited she already gets about things just like I do.
I love both these girls so very much and I love that I am able to be their mother and I only hope that I do a good enough job more times then I do a bad job. Here are some of my most favorite pictures of the girls so far, I hope you like them as much as I do. Oh and my biggest mistake in making this video is that I put Olivia being born in June...her birthday is July.

Time Out

2011-05-06T12:48:00.002-06:00

So I decided to take a time out from packing and painting. This week I've packed up the girls rooms and a good portion of our room and painted the girls new bathroom. So my time out is a project, I know it might not sound like a break to some of you but for me it is. I inherited a coffee table a few months ago because I knew I could find some use for it. I finally decided that I really wanted to make it into a bench but so far its just been sitting in my garage for like 5 months. So this week I decided to start working on it! I have a basic idea in my head where things are going to go in the new house and I finally decided that my bench would end up in Olivia's room. I picked out a pale yellow to paint the table (I used golden maize spray paint from Lowe's) and some super fun fabric to cover it with. The paining has gone great and I'm actually all finished which is nice. Now all I have left is to get a pad to put on top of the table and I actually need new fabric. I know I said I got some really cute fabric the other day but I didn't get enough! I now bummer but now I can use that for pillows which I'm really excited about and I'll just go get some more fabric and enough of it this time to cover the bench. I think its going to look great when I'm done and I'll totally share pictures with you when all is said and done.

And so it begins...

2011-04-29T09:38:00.003-06:00

In 4 1/2 weeks we're moving! Its crazy and I know the weeks are going to fly by. I had grand plans of being so prepared and in my head I already visualized a good portion of our stuff out of our house and moved into our new house. I know I still have time to be quite organized with this move and that I will have quite a bit moved over to our new place before June 1st. That's our goal, we will have everything out of our old house and into the new by June 1st. I think one of the reason's I'm having a hard time getting motivated to start packing is that I have such bitter sweet feelings about us moving. I know this is a wonderful opportunity for our family. I'm really excited to move too, I'm one of those people who actually like moving because I love decorating a new space. I also really like packing when I can take my time because I like going threw our things and deciding if we really need some of the things we have. What am I sad about? I'm going to miss being in our first house. I'm going to miss all the friends I've made here. I know I won't lose them as friends but I'm also realistic and I know it won't be quite the same. We all lead busy lives and have different things going on. I won't be able to just run a few houses over and play a game or watch a movie. We won't be that far away but now getting together will have to take a bit more planning. I'm also comfortable here. I actually really like change, when I know its coming that is. I almost crave it like I'm sure most of us do. I usually end up feeling like my life has become stationary, like I'm not moving along my path and am stuck where I'm at. Like I've done everything I can where I've been. That's how I've felt lately, like I've grown as much as I'll be able to here and now I need to move on to the next place to grow a little more. So now to the title of the post, and so it begins...Today I start packing. My eyes fill up with tears just typing the sentence and letting the words sink in because it makes it even more real.

Big Girl Food

2011-04-27T20:50:00.002-06:00

Tonight Miss Olivia was given a real treat. Pieces of broccoli, asparagus, and yellow squash. She LOVED every minute of it. You would think I gave her ice cream or reeses pieces. It was fun to watch her devour her food and to see the huge smile on her face when I would give her more. I think we'll be giving her more real food from now on since it was such a huge success.

Easter

2011-04-26T10:22:00.006-06:00

Savannah was so excited Easter morning to find out what goodies were left for her. She actually made out quite well! Saturday morning she got to go on an Easter egg hunt with all her friends from church. Then Sunday morning she got to see what the Easter bunny left for her. He gave her 6 books: Llama Llama Misses Mama, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Llama Llama Mad at Mama, Pinkalicious, Purplicious, and Goldilicious. We've been reading them non-stop since Sunday. I also made Savannah a coloring book that she can use dry erase markers with so it's a fun toy for her to use during church. She also got a ton of candy because I always buy too much because I'm scared I won't have enough. I never seem to learn that lesson, oh well. After church we headed over to my sister-in-laws for Easter dinner and had a great time. I was incharge of making desserts so I made a banana cream pie, a chocolate cream pie, and a berry pie all from scratch crust included. I know I'm amazing. I thought my favorite would be the chocolate cream pie but it wasn't, I was not happy with how it turned out but oh well. I think my berry pie was amazing and everyone seemed to like the banana cream pie. I didn't eat it cause I don't like banana's in my pies and banana's make me sick ever since I was pregnant with Olivia. Overall it was a great day and we had lots of fun.

Now this picture that I decided to throw in is from Monday morning. While I was getting ready for the day Savannah kept running in and out of my closet and when I finally went to check on her in the living room this is what I found. Savannah sitting in her rocking chair wearing one of my skirts as a dress and wearing a pair of my shoes while she watched a movie. She's so fun. Also yesterday I was just having an off day. I kept wishing Jacob would call or send me a text telling me he loved me or that I was so pretty. Instead I got Savannah who walked into my bathroom and with a gasp said "mommy you so cute!" It made my day and was just what I needed. Savannah is totally a hand-full but she is also one of my most favorite people and I couldn't imagine my life without her.

Swings and Slides

2011-04-19T15:14:00.002-06:00

We had some very nice weather over the weekend so we decided it was time for a walk to the park. This was Olivia's first time in the swing and she LOVED every second she spent there. As soon as I started pushing her the laughing and huge smiles began. Savannah had fun swinging with her sister and going down all the slides. Overall it was quite a success.

Oh So Busy

2011-04-11T09:39:00.002-06:00

So I feel like I haven't posted anything in forever and even though I've been super busy doing things I haven't known what to write about. There are changes going on in the Jefferies household and they seem to occupy all my time so I've decided to finally share our news over the internet since many of you probably know our big new anyway. We are moving. Its not a big drastic move, we're only going 30 minutes north of where we are now. We are moving to a new city though and it will be quite a change. I'm really excited though and I've been really excited since we decided to make this move in January. Let me tell you our story...Jacob's parents decided to serve a mission and knew that they would either have to sell their home or find someone to rent it. Couple missions are anywhere from 18 months-2 years. At the time they were waiting to find out where they were going and when they would be leaving Jacob and I were making quite a few changes ourselves. We decided in November that we wanted to put our house on the market. Jacob's job has been a huge blessing and has provided for our family but we knew he needed something better and that our options were limited due to his lack of education. He applied for a job that would take us out of state and he was also considering going back to school (also out of state) so that he could work in a field that he enjoyed more. Both options are still on the table and we most likely won't know which path we'll take until later in the year. In the meantime we knew we wanted to sell our house now and just get that done with since we would have to sell it anyway. Jacob's parents found out they were going to be serving their mission in Zimbabwe, Africa and that they were going to be gone for 18 months and that they were leaving in February 2011. Jacob's sister and her husband were living in his parents house at the time and would continue living there till the end of May but after that they needed someone else to live there till the 18 months were over. Enter our little family who knew they didn't have much longer in their home and was in need of a place to live. After quite a lot of thinking we decided that we would move into Jacob's parents house at the end of May once his sister and her husband moved out. Our house was put on the market and we currently have an offer on it which the bank will hopefully approve. Regardless at the end of May we will be moving out to Middleton where Jacob grew up and living in his childhood home. Ever since we decided to make this move I've been quite excited about it, actually wishing it was May so we could be moving in and getting settled. Once a decision is made I have a very hard time being patient for it to finally happen. Hence the time between me meeting Jacob, getting engaged, and then getting married was only 4 months. So why have I been busy? Well Jacob's mom was very kind to me and said that I could paint and do what I wanted to make the house our home so I have been busy this past week painting. The room we are putting Savannah in was quite an undertaking. Each wall was a different color ranging from light brown, dark brown, striped, and a deep red. The ceiling, trim, built in bookcase and doors were all also painted either a light or dark brown. It took an entire gallon of primer to just take care of that room alone. Olivia's room also required the walls to be primed due to it also being a darker color. Both the girls rooms were then painted a VERY light pink and the ceilings were both painted white, along with the trim, doors, and bookcase in Savannah's room. Those two rooms alone took me 4 days and I ended up having help 1 day for a few hours which was nice because Jacob and his sister painted the trim, doors, and ceiling for me. Jacob and I really wanted to get the girls rooms done before we moved in so that it wouldn't be as big of a transition for Savannah when we moved. Their rooms will for sure be the first things we unpack as well. Savannah already knows which room is hers and always tells me how beautiful it looks and how she loves her pink room. I'll post before and after pictures once we're all done. If I end up painting anything else it will most likely be after we've moved in or during the in-between stages. Now we just have a few things left to finish the girls rooms and then I get to start packing up our house little by little. We also wanted the girls rooms painted and finished because we plan of moving boxes over now and storing them in the girls rooms so that when the big moving day comes we won't have as much work to do. So there you have it, that's what we've been up to painting and packing and more of the same. Jacob and I are both excited to move I think I'm a bit more excited then he is actually but we're also sad to be leaving the friends we've made here. We've lived in our house for almost 4 years, we brought both of our girls home to this house and have had so many wonderful memories here. We are of course though excited for the memories we'll accumulate over the next 15 months while living in Middleton. As a side note I find it amusing that we'll be living there, it seems that I keep getting further and further away from where I pictured myself being. It just goes to show that we don't always know what's best for us and that the path we end up being led on can be even better then what we imagined.

Bookmark

2011-03-21T23:01:00.002-06:00

I love my friends craft site she has TONS of ideas that she's found from other blogs of different projects that she wants to work on. I check it every now and then because I inevitably get tons of ideas of projects I want to work on. This is one of them. I fell in love with these bookmarks and one night after I had the girls in bed and Jacob was at mutual I went to work making them. I followed the directions from this site but made a slight change. She just hot glued hers together which if I had done that mine would look a bit nicer. I sewed mine to make it a bit more sturdy. I'm glad I did too because when my bookmark isn't in use Savannah decides to make it into a headband.

One More

2011-03-21T22:55:00.002-06:00

Oh how I love this girl, lately I've been reading more while Savannah is having independent play time. One of her new activities is to copy me and to start reading with me. I love it! Her favorite book to "read" is The Book of Mormon. We have a family version that has pictures and she insists that we read that every morning during breakfast. I love that is has regained her love of books, for awhile there she pretty much lost all interest in reading. That phase is over now and I'm happy it is because I missed reading books with her and having her ask for "one more pease."

St Patick's Day

2011-03-18T10:49:00.003-06:00

So I've never really gotten into St Patrick's Day before, I of course wore green to make sure I never got pinched at school but that was about it. I have no recollection of my mom doing anything special for the day and really why would she? Now that Savannah is older I've really been wanting to make more family traditions that Jacob and I can do with the girls, you know since Savannah will actually have some idea of what's going on. So this year I of course made sure we were all wearing green but I also decided to make green food. I know its kinda gross and my green food coloring was neon green so most of our green food was more yellow green then actually green. Over all it was so fun though and Savannah thought it was so cool that our food was "geeeeen" we're still working on our pronunciation. For dinner we had green four leaf clover rolls, green quinoa, and fantastic turkey chili! The ones in green have a link to the recipe as a side note. The rolls were by far my favorite and they were pretty easy. Oh and I also made a green cake cause hello you have to have dessert and of course a green one.

Jacob got home a bit later then usual because he had to work late and he really wanted to watch Darby O'Gill and the Little People (its an old Disney movie from 1959.) Since it was getting close to bedtime we decided to have our own little drive in and put a blanket down in the living room and ate on that while we watched the movie. Savannah really like it which kind of surprised me because non-cartoon movies don't always keep her attention. It was a great St Patrick's Day overall and I hope you all had a fun one too.

Its time for...

2011-03-18T10:35:00.006-06:00

So I'm a pretty organized person, I have quite a bit to do actually with getting things done around the house, interacting with the girls, things for my church calling, and just making me time. I've noticed also that Savannah is a bit like me where she does better if things are structured. Before Miss Olivia arrived I had a schedule that Savannah and I would follow but as my pregnancy continued and I got bigger and bigger I let the schedule slide because basically I was too tired to follow it. Now that things have been settled for awhile I thought it was about time to get our schedule back up. This time though I though I'd make one that Savannah could help with and that was easy access for her so she could see it. I wrote down our schedule on the computer and used different fonts for each thing we had planned. I printed it out and taped it to another scrap book paper. That way I could easily remove an item as our lives changed and new things came up or needed to be taken off. I then put it into 2 page protectors and sewed them together. Then along the outside edges to hid the three ring holes I sewed on some fabric. Some things on our schedule are always at the same time like naps for Olivia and lunch but depending on when we wake up breakfast changes times along with when free play is and when we pick items out of our activity jar. Also dinner changes a bit depending on what time Jacob will be home. The nice thing about having our schedule in the page protectors is that we can use a dry erase marker and write down the times of our activities and then easily wipe them off for the next day. Overall it was an easy project and we all love having it.

Pi(e) Day

2011-03-18T10:22:00.004-06:00

So I always get upset with myself when I see people blog about how they celebrated Pi(e) Day cause I ALWAYS forget, but not this year! Luckily I happened across someones facebook status and I was reminded that 3/14 was pi(e) day so I quickly made a pie. Now I love making desserts but pies intimidate me because I'm never good at making pie crust, usually I buy one to be totally honest. Since we only have 1 car buying one was out of the question so I had to make a crust from scratch. We were also invited to my sister-in-laws for dinner and she is a pie crust goddess, I mean they really are that good so I was a bit intimidated when I called her and told her I was making a pie for dessert. Plus my other sister-in-law was going to be there with her family, needless to say I was glad we left before we had dessert so I couldn't see there reactions to my pie. I did get feedback though that my pie was fantastic and that the crust was there favorite part *envision me with a huge smile on my face. The pie crust was from my favorite cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks and here is a link to the recipe if you want it. The crust really is that good and if I can make it they you can make it too, it also wasn't a one time fluke cause like I said I've now made two. I hope you all had a fun Pi(e) Day and if you forgot put it on your calender now so you'll remember for next year.

Happy Girl

2011-03-16T10:33:00.007-06:00

So today Savannah said the best words to me, "mom I loooove my surprise!" Today she once again picked going swimming in the tub as one of her activities from our activity jar. I decided to spice things up a bit with a project I'd been wanting to do. So today I quickly made her some bath paint I ended up using some clear hand soap I already had and next time I do want to get the dish soap to see if there is a difference. I noticed that the hand soap seems thicker and wasn't as easy to just mix by shacking the baby food jar. It turned out great though and Savannah played in the bath for over 30 minutes and that's because I made her get out. I had to promise her she could take another bath when Jacob got home so she could show him her new surprise.

Another fantastic thing about these paint are they clean up great! I swear my tub is cleaner now then before Savannah even took her bath.

New Favorite

2011-03-12T08:11:00.003-07:00

I've been addicted to decorating sites lately. I keep looking for ideas for projects I can do for the house or girls and of course sites that offer great deals on different products. In my searching I just happened across a super fun site called zulily . They have all kinds of deals and most start at 50% off. Today I ended up getting this
I'm so excited to get them and hang them up in Savannah's room. They're a set of eight cards so my plan is to hang them up along a string or ribbon with clothes pins. It'll be a nice reminder of rules and chores Savannah already has and they're just so dang cute!

Messy Eater

2011-03-11T14:04:00.005-07:00

Jacob fed Olivia last night…and yes that is food under her right eye and above her left.

I did it.

2011-03-07T08:52:00.002-07:00

So I have been working on something for the last 6 months or 7 really. When I first had Olivia I stopped into my old office after one of her appointments to say hi to all the girls. One of my good friends there Lisa asked if I had time to read a book. She wanted me to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, now I'm not a great reader by any means but I do really enjoy it once I find a book I like. I tend to get quite absorbed in it actually to the point where I have a hard time getting anything else done. So I told Lisa sure I can read it while I'm nursing I can multitask after all and away I went with the book. Yeah...so 7 months later I finally finished! This is the first book I've read since having Olivia. Oh and yeah, so I hardly read any of it for the first 6 and a half months. I actually read about 3/4 of it in a week and a half. I told you I get obsessed once I really get started. Now I want to get my hands on the second one, I had to put it on reserve at the library so now I'm anxiously waiting for them to tell me I can come get it. As a side note this is not a happy go lucky book it can be quite intense and a bit graphic at times but I just couldn't wait to see where the story would take me next. I really did enjoy it so thank you Lisa for letting me borrow it and now I'll work on getting it back to you it don't worry it won't be another 7 months.

Surprise!

2011-03-07T08:28:00.008-07:00

So yesterday was beautiful! You were given a brief glimmer of hope that spring was in fact on the way. So needless to say I was quite surprised this morning when I woke up and found this.

Savannah on the other couldn't wait to get dressed so she could go out and play for a bit.

Let the Countdown Begin...

2011-03-02T13:20:00.004-07:00

Do you have those people in your life who aren't technically part of your family but you wish they were? People you tell your kids are Aunt or Uncle so and so? Well Jacob and I do. We have a few good friends that we call Aunt and Uncle even though they aren't technically related to us. One of them is Uncle Fun aka Clayton. Clayton is one of Jacob's best friends growing up and we just love him to pieces! Clayton has lived with us twice for short periods of time and always comes to family functions. Clayton left in August to go to Iraq and we have been lost without him. Luckily we have his fantastic wife to hang out with so that makes it a bit more bearable. Well in just a few short weeks Clayton will be coming home for his 2 week leave so to commemorate such a special event Savannah and I had to make a paper chain.

I realized how much I love paper chains over Christmas. I made a countdown to Christmas and our upcoming trip to Maryland. Savannah loved getting to rip off a piece of the chain each morning. It isn't positive exactly when Clayton will be in the United States, it just depends of when he can get a flight out of Kuwait. We do know he'll be leaving Iraq on the 20th and his 2 week leave starts once he's touched American soil. Needless to say we are so freakin excited especially Jacob, I think he's been just lost without Clayton...

So like I said before let the countdown begin!

Prepared

2011-02-28T08:20:00.002-07:00

Now I'm usually a slacker when it comes to being prepared for Sunday lessons in Relief Society. I know the teacher will tell me the high points of the lesson and I always get something from them but I always find reasons not to be prepared by reading the lesson myself beforehand. Not this week! This is my new thing I did, I actually read the lesson being taught in Relief Society. Since it was the 4th Sunday the lesson was on a talk from this past General Conference. This month it was The Three Rs of Choice by President Monson (you can click on the title if you care to read it.) I was quite grateful that I read the talk on my own because Olivia had a hard time in class and I ended up in the hall for 90% of the lesson. Two of my favorite things said in this talk are first, President Monson made a reference to Alice in Wonderland. He was talking about the part where Alice comes to a fork in the road and asks the Cheshire cat which path she should take. His response is fantastic, he says, "That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn't matter which path you take." President Monson then said, "by choosing our path, we choose our destination." Its so true though isn't it, I think that when we know where we want to be, have an end goal in sight it totally effects the decisions we make because we're working towards something. My other favorite thing said in the talk was also by President Monson, he said "Eternal life in the kingdom of our Father is your goal. Such a goal is not achieved in one glorious attempt but rather is the result of a lifetime of righteousness, an accumulation of wise choices, even a constancy of purpose. As with anything really worthwhile, the reward of eternal life requires effort." I love having a reminder that I can't reach my goal overnight. That its fine if I stumble along the way because its not just one moment that will determine my fate but what I've done over my lifetime. What a comforting thing to know that if we do our best, we always try to better ourselves and those around us we'll be ok. That yes we will make mistakes and not always be kind but we can repent and try to do better the next day, we just need to learn from our mistakes and try not to keep repeating them.

Domestic Diva...That's Me.

2011-02-20T15:42:00.004-07:00

So its week 4 for doing something new but this isn't exactly something new for me. When Savannah started eating baby food I made it instead of buying jars. A good friend of ours got us a baby food maker so I was a food making machine. I loved making Savannah's food because I knew exactly what she was eating and what was in it. I also think it really helped her to be a better eater or at least to be open to eating a wide variety of things. Now with Olivia I get to make food all over again, which I do find somewhat amusing because I never though I'd be in the kitchen making my babies food when I can just buy it already made. This morning I made Olivia some more pears and I decided to introduce a new fruit which is blueberries. I hope she likes them...we shall see.

Now this here is a first for me. I made cinnamon rolls all by myself from scratch! Now I've made them with friends but I was usually watching not making. All I have to say about them is they are freakin fantastic! I can't stop eating them so I'm pretty glad I've started working out too cause I'm going to need it.

Miss Olivia 7 months

2011-02-16T12:35:00.003-07:00

Here she is people, my almost 7 month old she has a week and a half left of being 6 months. Time has flown by and Olivia is growing up just so fast. She loves eating and is a really good eater too, her favorites include: green beans, peas, squash, sweet potatoes, applesauce, and pears. She can sit up and only falls over every once and awhile and she started army crawling yesterday! She's well on her way to following in her sisters footsteps (Savannah was crawling at 6 months and walking by 10!) Olivia is the direct opposite of Savannah which I'm very thankful for or else I'd really have my hands full. We just love Olivia to pieces and can't wait to see what she'll do next.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T14:43:00.006-07:00

Valentine's day this year was just perfect! It started on Saturday when I was leaving to go to the store to pick up a few last minute things for a project I was working on. While I was getting everything together Jacob told me I should pick up some flowers for myself since I'd been bugging him about getting me something. I don't know if he was serious or not but I went ahead and got myself a dozen yellow roses. I love them! They are next to my sink and I put some next to my side of the bed. Its amazing how they brighten up the house and my mood whenever I see them. On Valentine's day I decided to do fun projects with Savannah so we started out by making cards for all her little friends and of course we had to make one for Jacob. She had fun coloring and helping me pick out paper to put on each card. It was pretty cute to watch her hand out her Valentine's.

Next we had to have a fantastic Valentine's day breakfast so we made buckwheat strawberry chocolate chip pancakes with buttermilk syrup and of course powdered sugar. All I will say is they were to die for! Poor Olivia just keep staring at each bite I'd take just hoping I'd decided to share with her. She had applesauce with brown rice instead and seemed quite content.

A friend of ours had invited us over for dinner and I was in charge of bringing rolls. I looked in the freezer to see if I had any Rhodes Rolls cause that's what I usually do and low and behold I was out! So what do you do but make your own homemade rolls. That's right people I made homemade rolls and for my first time they weren't that bad. Next time I think I'll cook them for just a bit longer though.

So the afternoon is ticking by and Jacob still wasn't home from work...finally at almost 5 he shows up (an hour later then usual.) When he walks in Savannah runs up to him and waits for Jacob to pick her up like he always does but instead he bends over to kiss her and I can tell there is something in his shirt. I of course get so excited cause I know he got me a present and I can't wait to find out what it is. I was actually just putting the finishing touches on his present so I went to the other room real quick. When I came back I was looking around and didn't see any sign of a present finally he told me to look in the Pantry and there it was...The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook! I follow this gals blog and am just in love with her. When Jacob and I were at the store 2 weeks ago I saw her cookbook and told him how much I wanted it and he remembered. I seriously almost cried because even though I had asked him to try and make this year a little special (we hadn't really celebrated Valentine's Day for the past 3 years) I didn't really think he'd do anything. It was amazing to see how this simple gift just melted my heart and made me realize even more how much I love this man.

Now around 5:30 we headed to our friends for dinner and had AMAZING dutch oven! I'm not joking I had two servings of dinner and I didn't even get a picture of the peach cobbler we had with ice cream, once again I had two helpings. We stayed and hung out cause I wanted to watch the Bachlor, I know I'm addicted to it now! We'll addicted is a bit strong but I'm totally into it and I just started watching 2 weeks ago. Jacob ended up taking the girls home and putting them to bed. After I got home we heard a knock on Savannah's door at almost 10, I went to see what she wanted and as soon as she saw me she gasped. She then grabbed my hand pulled me down and wrapped her arms around me, she patted my back and told me she loved me. I asked her what she needed and she asked me for more milk. I had her get back in bed and she gave me her cup, I gave her a kiss and told her how much I loved her. She looked at me and said "I love you too mommy." I almost cried right then and there. I got her milk and took it in to her where she once again told me she loved me and said night. It was just the best Valentine's day ever because I was able to spend it with 3 of the most important people in my life.

Week Three

2011-02-09T10:52:00.004-07:00

So if you can't tell which you might not be able to, I gave Savannah a haircut! So what's new about this? Well two things actually, one Savannah has never had a haircut before and second, I've never cut hair before. Her hair was so long in the back but oh so thin so it just looked stringy and not cute. So this morning while trying to do something else beside put her hair in pigtails again I just grabbed some scissors and away I went. I don't think it turned out too bad, she now has a cute little bob that I can still get in cute pigtails and I think her hair looks thicker which is a nice change from looking kinda bald in back. Now we'll have to wait and see what Jacob says, it took quite a bit of convincing to have him agree to having it trimmed and I took a bit more off then just a trim. Oops.

The Girls

2011-02-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our latest trip to Maryland in January.

Week Two

2011-02-07T10:51:00.002-07:00

So this past week was crazy! I won't lie I wasn't perfect at this new thing I did but I also think I did a pretty good job with all the things I had going on. I started working out that's right I work out now. I've always been fairly slim but if you read my post awhile back I did just turn 30 and I have now given birth to 2 kids. We'll just say that I don't exactly have the body I did when I got married 5 years ago. You also read correctly, Jacob and I just had our 5 year anniversary on the 4th. Since we've gotten married and had two kids I've gained 34 lbs and I want it off! From last week's post you know that we've started to be more conscience of what we eat but now its time to put in the work. My goal is to work out 6 days a week but I know that sometimes it just won't happen. Last week I worked out 3 of the 6 days so this week my goal is to do better. Working out showed me even more how out of shape I am and it got me quite excited to actually work out and I actually want to which is a first. I think it just took me a bit to find something that I actually like doing and that I wouldn't mind doing on my own. So I'll totally keep you posted of my progress because even though this is a new thing I stared this week this will become a habit and something that I do on a regular basis.

New Thing Week 1

2011-02-01T10:56:00.002-07:00

Ok, if you read my earlier post I decided that I want to do 1 new thing a week. Then after reading a comment left by a friend I decided not to always limit myself to just a week to do 1 thing. Like if I want to do a bigger project I can allow myself more time. Anyway this new thing is ongoing but I started it last week and I'm really excited about it. Jacob and I decided that as a family we wanted to eat better. Now as a whole we ate pretty good but there was definitely room for improvement. We decided to eat 6 smaller meals a day instead of 3 large ones and in all honestly I didn't even always have 3 meals. Also we just wanted to have more well balanced meals. So this week we had:

BBQ chicken and pineapple quesadillas on multi-grain tortillas which I found on this site
Taco Salads with turkey meat and the regular toppings
Arbono rice with steamed carrots, broccoli, and corn, and cherry tomatoes and avocado with Broiled lemon chicken
Spaghetti squash with marinara sauce
Buckwheat pancakes

Its all be so delicious and freakin fantastic. Its just been nice to still eat what we like but put healthier spins on them.

Six Months

2011-01-29T08:43:00.003-07:00

Time goes by way too fast! Olivia is now six months old, it feels like she just joined our family and its already been 6 months! Olivia is doing great, she can roll over both ways which in turn means she is all over the place, she grabs everything, she always smiles whenever she see's Jacob, Savannah, or me of course. She loves to play with her toys, she is almost a pro at sitting up, she puts everything in her mouth, and yesterday she had her very first taste of cereal! Here are a few states as well, Olivia has finally doubled her birth weight and is now 14lbs and 7 oz and she is also 26 1/2 in long. She is in the 20th percentile for her weight and in the 80th for her height. She is just progressing right along and I can't believe how much she can do they just grow up so fast.

Copy Cat

2011-01-24T05:48:00.002-07:00

So whenever I read another blog I usually end up getting ideas of things I'd like to do or I realize something I should probably work on to improve myself. This has once again happened. I was reading my friend Mary's blog and she made a new years goal to do one new thing a week, it can be anything but just something new to her. I've had fun reading about what she's done the past 3 weeks and I have come to think I would like to do the same. I feel complacent and a bit board with my life. Now don't get me wrong, I have plenty to do sometimes too much to do but I feel like I personally have hit a wall and I'm not growing. I want to grow. Therefore I have decided to do one new thing each week. Sometimes it will be just for me other times it will involve the girls and or Jacob. It might be a big project I want to work on that I haven't gotten around to starting or something small that's just new to me. So thank you Mary for inspiring me to be a little better and to finally getting around to doing new things. I'll even try to blog about it like you but I don't know if I'll be as good about posting each week like you.

A First.

2011-01-20T15:09:00.002-07:00

This afternoon my mom and I took Savannah to her first movie! We went and saw Tangled. Have you seen it? Its so cute I totally already want to watch it again. Going into this my mom and I were a bit nervous I mean if you know Savannah you know she doesn't always have the longest attention span but she did great! I mean don't get me wrong, she didn't sit in her seat the whole time but she was quite and watched the whole thing. She showed the appropriate emotions at the appropriate times and it was just all around a fun time. And yes that is a pacifier in her mouth and yes I have given them back to her while on this trip and yes I know that its counter productive but its also saved my sanity.

Isn't she just the cutest, she's wearing her new dress that she got from my friend Jenny. She looks to die for adorable in it!

To Grandmas's House We Go

2011-01-18T07:21:00.002-07:00

So far the girls and I have had such a fun time in Maryland! We're a week and a half into our trip and still have a week and a half left. I know its a long trip. The girls and I miss Jacob like crazy but we're all still happy to be here. This is a the view outside my parents dining room this morning, can you believe they canceled school for this! Those of you from Idaho probably can't believe it, neither could I.
So far our trip has been really laid back. Since its pretty cold it has kept us inside a lot and my mom has been sick for the past few days so that also keeps us home. Its nice to just spend time together as a family though and let everyone just see the girls and what they do and who they are. The boys always brag if Savannah will snuggle with them while watching a show, Jordan won this time.
One of Savannah's favorite activities at my parents has always been playing their piano. She loves to go into the living room and just play and sing, its pretty cute although she can get pretty loud.
Olivia LOVES the high chair! She is so happy to sit in it and play with toys. She just loves being the same height as everyone else and that she can actually see what's going on.
Both the girls have gotten to see their great grandparents and they of course fell in love with Olivia and all her smiles. They also couldn't believe how big Savannah was from the last time they saw her back in April. Savannah and Olivia also got to have a play-date with my friend Jenny's kids even though Savannah didn't really care if she played with them till it was time to leave. Her girls though loved Olivia which was pretty cute to watch. This week my mom and I are also going to take Savannah to her first movie, Tangled. Wish us luck, I'm hoping she'll actually sit and watch the whole thing, I'll have to bring lots of treats to bribe her with. I'm a good mom huh? Well that's the update so far, look forward to hearing about more adventures that we'll be having this next week and more pictures of course.

Just thinking...

2011-01-15T20:18:00.003-07:00

So I got to see one of my really good friends tonight. I've been friends with her for what seems like forever, I think about at least 16 years although our families have known each other for much longer. It was fun to think back on how we used to be and what drew us towards each other to become friends in the first place. In our younger years we would not look like best friends by our outside appearance but deep down even then we knew we were kindred spirits. I realized what I love about this friend and all my friends for that matter is their sense of independence and confidence in who they are. Now that's not saying they are always independent and always confident but for the most part they are. Also they're typically optimistic people. I mean who really wants to be friends with someone who is always seeing the down side of things!? Its not a high maintenance friendship either, we can go months without talking to each other but we're able to pick up right where we left off as if we've never been apart. I love this. My reason in talking about this is I've really though hard tonight about who I was as a teenager. It was definitely not my finest hour. I like to think of myself as this nice sweet girl who was so good but I wasn't. I mean don't get me wrong I was these things except I was also a stupid teenager. I was mean to people, I hurt people, and I made stupid choices. I don't really know why I'm sharing this but for some reason I think I just wanted to put that out there. I want to admit as I'm sure you all already know that I'm not perfect. That I have made and continue to make stupid choices. That I try to learn from my mistakes and that I try to be better then I was. I'm sorry to anyone I've ever hurt. Its amazing how wrapped up in yourself you are as a teenager. At least I was, I didn't see how the choices I made really effected others and that things I did really hurt those around me. I would never go as far to say that I wish my life were different but I do sometimes wish I could go back and change some things. That I could be a bit more thoughtful and make some smarter choices. I still want to end up with the things I have now but maybe I could change how I got here? Not a lot just a little bit. Sorry if this doesn't make any sense, my thoughts are a bit scattered and half of you have probably stopped reading this. Like I said I really was a good person and I think I still am but I think we all have regrets and things we wish we could change.

C-A-P-S Caps! Caps! Caps!

2011-01-10T13:46:00.003-07:00

That's right I went to my first Caps game! (Can you tell I'm in Maryland?) It was way fun and I got to go because my youngest brother Mark was a sweet heart and gave me his ticket. He was also sweet enough to volunteer to babysit both the girls, don't worry my dad helped too. My mom and I had a blast hanging out and going out to dinner, the line at the restaurant was ridiculous with all the people trying to eat before the game plus all the other down town visitors. I also had the best ice cream ever while at the game, I mean for reals it was so stinking good! It was fun to cheer for the Caps and they even won which made it even better. I've started to like hockey more because my brother Mark is really into it and he and my parents go to a few games each season. I totally like watching it in person versus on TV because I can actually see the puck and that makes it a bit more fun. I think I'm going to have to find a way to get Jacob to take me too some Steel Head games when I get home.

The Big 30

2010-12-28T10:19:00.002-07:00

That's right people I turned 30 on Sunday! I know are you having as hard a time as me believing this? I remember when I was young thinking how old people were once they turned 30 and now that's me. I also remember being a youth and thinking that the people at church with kids had to be so old, I was wrong. I totally don't even think I'm 30, I had to double check my math to make sure the number was correct...it was. I totally had this preception of how I would be and what I should do once I was a "grown up" and now I've come to realize that its a bunch of crap. I can be whoever I want and do whatever I want. I don't have to fit into some mold of how I think I should be just because I'm a certain age. I will say some of my tastes have turned a bit more sophisticated from my teenage days and years as a 20 year old. I now shop in the woman's section instead of the juniors department. I don't wear shinny lip gloss, I've graduated to shinny lip stick which I LOVE! I bake more complicated things for dinner or dessert (if you had my cheese cake on Sunday don't judge me, I know it tasted like total crap and I was mortified that I actually made you eat it. I've made better.) I've become more domestic, like making play-dough for Savannah, working on sewing projects, and having dinner on the table almost every night and I'm talking about more then just cereal and milk. I will say that on Sunday I thought I was losing my mind. I was so forgetful and I realized that slowly I'm going to turn into this women who can't keep things straight and forgets things all the time. I hate that but I'm seeing that there really isn't anything I can do about it and did I mention that I hate that. Overall turning 30 wasn't as traumatizing as I thought it might be, I'm not super excited about it because it means I'm getting older. Although it brings me closer to other things like my children growing up, new adventures for our family and so many other things...so turning 30 was ok because I'm still me and deep down I think I'm really only like 23 tops.

Christmas 2011

2010-12-26T14:51:00.003-07:00

This Christmas was the best! We sent Christmas Eve in Middleton with Jacob's family and spent all day Christmas at home which is the first time we've ever done that. It was so fun waiting for Savannah to wake up, yes she actually decided to sleep in that morning so Jacob and I were actually waiting for her to get up. Savannah's big present this year was a bike from Santa and her reaction was priceless. We had a hard time getting Savannah to focus on opening up presents, she just didn't want to get off that bike. Then all day she would just sit on her bike while holding her puppy or watching movies, it was really cute.
Jacob was excited because I got him Sherlock Holmes and that is a movie he kept saying he wanted but never got when we were at the store. I love his facial expression I took the picture at just the right moment to get the full effect.
Olivia managed to roll and wiggle herself under the tree and kept trying to pull on the branches and grab the lights. It was so cute cause she was just so happy and looked adorable. She even did a pretty good job opening some of her presents.
It was a super low key Christmas at our house but it was a nice. We had ribs for dinner which Jacob cooked to perfection and we even had Jacob's little brother over for dinner! I felt like such a grown-up. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

There is Always Hope

2010-12-24T07:52:00.002-07:00

So I never win things but one of the sites I like to follow has given me hope. This women always has giveaways and I'm not talking about crappy stuff I mean nice stuff people! Plus I love seeing all the other things she has to post. She has fantastic recipes, everything I've made from the site has become a new favorite and yeah...I just love it all. One of the giveaways she has going till December 31st is for a super nice HP printer which would be freakin awesome if I won since mine is broken. It kinda makes my church calling hard since I need to print stuff out at least 1x a week. Thank goodness for nice friends who let me use theirs. Anyway if your in the market for a new printer or you just want to enter so other fun giveaways check out this site and here's the link for the printer giveaway. Hope your day is fabulous!

Amazing Deal for Moms

2010-12-18T14:58:00.003-07:00

My friend was oh so kind to tell me about an amazing deal she found on her friends blog, its for a free nursing cover or sling! You do have to pay shipping (2-11 days) and I decided to get the exchange insurance thing they offer because I've never had a sling and I want to make sure it fits right. So I got a sling, matching leg warmers, and bracelet for $20 instead of $74. Merry Christmas to me or maybe it'll be a present for Olivia...decisions decisions. Here is the link check it out.

Miss Olivia

2010-12-18T14:21:00.002-07:00

I can't believe Olivia is already 4 1/2 months! I remember this time last year we were getting ready to go to Maryland and we're just telling our families we were expecting another baby. I am so proud of Olivia and love her to pieces. I love her personality and how mild mannered she is compared to her sister. I remember thinking how easy Savannah was and she really was a good baby but oh my goodness, Olivia is an angel. She loves to smile and giggle especially at her sister, its so great to see how much these girls already love each other. Olivia is also growing like a weed, we just went to her 4 month appointment and she is 13lbs 7oz which puts her in the 30th percentile for her weight. She's also 25.5 in long which puts her in the 80th percentile for height. I love my tall skinny girls! Olivia can roll over both ways now and talks up a storm! She is so loud sometimes, something she learned from her sister. Olivia sleeps pretty good through the night but sometimes wakes up a bit too early, like 6 o'clock early. Naps are a hit or miss, sometimes she takes good ones and other times she doesn't its a work in progress. Olivia is also called Mini-Jacob she looks just like him except with my nose. She has also discovered the joy of eating her toes and playing with her feet which I love because Savannah never did that and its just so dang cute. Olivia is the biggest blessing we received this year I can't imagine not having her in our family. She is just my favorite Olivia and that's all there is to say on the subject.

I'm a Big Kid Now

2010-12-11T19:02:00.002-07:00

So when I was younger I wasn't a picky eater but I definitely didn't like everything. I was your basic kid and in my mind there was kid food and grown up food. I can now say that I like grown up food. Yesterday I made broccoli cheese soup and it was fantastic! All I was missing was a bread bowl to put it in, I'm actually making those tomorrow. I know I'm so domestic huh?! If you knew me in college I bet your surprised by some of the things I do.
Needless to say it turned out great and was such a nice dinner for these cold winter nights we've been having. You know your wishing you had a bowl of this soup right now.

Best Seat Ever!

2010-12-11T17:27:00.002-07:00

Olivia LOVES sitting in the sink! I put her here all the time when I'm getting ready in the morning. Even when she wants to be held and will cry when I lay her down she won't cry if I put her in the sink. I wonder what it is that she loves so much...I'm thinking it has to do with the mirror. Its really cute to see her look around and just be happy. I also plan on totally taking advantage of this seat till Olivia grows out of it. Isn't she so cute!

Its a Wonder...

2010-12-02T17:07:00.002-07:00

I love this pie. Its light and refreshing but yet goes with the holiday season. This is the third one I've made this week. Now don't worry I haven't eaten all three but I've had a piece from each. Its a wonder I haven't lost more of the baby weight. This is a Cranberry-Pomegranate White- Chocolate Mousse Pie. I know doesn't it sound to die for! I got the recipe from this site but I used cranberry-pomegranate juice cause our store didn't have just plain pomegranate juice. The link is also a new favorite site of mine, thank you Mary for sharing it with me. I also made these yummy cookies. Savannah can't get enough of them and lets face it I can't stop eating them either.

Are you making any fun holiday treats? I have definitely gotten the bug for baking and I just can't seem to stop, I just need to start giving away more treats. I end up eating them all and then I decided to give some away so I have to end up making another batch...its a vicious cycle.

Snowmen and Swimming

2010-11-24T12:30:00.007-07:00

So Savannah has become quite the little movie watcher just like her dad. I liked this when I was at the end of my pregnancy with Olivia because I was so tired all the time I just wanted her to leave me alone. Sad to say but also true. Now that I'm not pregnant and have a bit more energy I decided to make Savannah and activity jar. When we need help thinking up something to do we pick something out of our activity jar and off we go. So yesterday we had our first snow fall. Now it really wasn't much but it was enough to get Savannah all excited.

She let me get her all dressed up finally and off she went. I won't lie her favorite activity was eating the ice off our screen, gross I know but so funny to watch. I kept waiting for her tongue to get stuck like in A Christmas Story. She didn't actually make a snowman mostly because I didn't go outside with her. We have cute little footprints all over our backyard and she keeps asking to go back outside.

So after Savannah's outside adventure we picked out an activity from our jar...swimming in the bathtub! Needless to say Savannah was oh so excited cause she got to wear her cute bathing suit and she loves playing in the water.Overall I think Savannah had a fun day, and I felt better because we didn't watch so many movies. A cute side note, she kept pretending she was "me mar" you know the Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Oh how I love this girl!

Our Special Guest!

2010-11-23T13:00:00.004-07:00

So we were very lucky to have a visitor come see us, one of my best friends from college, Mary. Mary and I haven't seen each other since I got married almost 5 years ago so this was a long overdue visit. She was able to stay for 4 days and we made sure to do lots of fun things like go to Cafe Rio one of our most favorite places to go when we lived in Utah. It was fun for Mary to finally meet the girls and see where we live and all that good stuff. So off the girls and I went last Monday to pick Mary up from the airport and then headed over to Cafe Rio for lunch. I ate an entire chicken salad, its been a long time since I've had Cafe Rio and I have missed it dearly. After lunch I took Mary over to one of my new favorite stores, Renewed Expressions. Its a second hand store but you'd never be able to tell because everything is sooo nice and the store is beautiful. With a quick stop at Walmart next we then headed home and hung out the rest of the night. For our activity that night for Family Home Evening we played hide-n-seek. It was so much fun, Savannah and Jacob kept counting while Mary and I would hide. Savannah just thought it was so much fun and didn't want to stop playing, every time she'd find us she would just squeal with delight. Tuesday was nice and low key we ended up baking two different treats and watching fun girly movies while the little girls took their naps.
On Wednesday we dropped the girls off at my sister-in-laws and Mary and I went to the temple. It was so fun to go together because we hadn't been together since we lived in Utah.
That night we just hung out because Jacob had Young Men's so we once again got to watch a fun girly movie. On Thursday we ran a few errands in the m0rning before Mary's flight. It was such a fun 4 days and I was so sad to see Mary leave, I teared up a bit as I drove away from the airport. It was so fun to see a friend who I haven't gotten to see in years.

A Must Make Time For Project

2010-11-10T13:15:00.005-07:00

Ok, I had lots of plans for today. Savannah's music and movement class, clean the house, play with the girls, make some treats, and of course make something fantastic for dinner. Its now 1:15 and I've done none of that except play with the girls and I also made this!
Now mine will of course have pictures of my own family but how cute is this! If you go to the HowDoesShe? link you too can find out how to make this super fun calender for next year. Oh and I forgot the best part is its FREE, you only have to pay for shipping so I spent $5.67 on my own super cute family calender for next year. You can also put birthday's and other important dates on the calendar so now I don't have to transfer stuff over. Needless to say I'm super excited and now I'm off to play some more and snuggle up with the girls since we're all still in our pj's. Actually Savannah just put on a dress because she's watching Sleeping Beauty, you know so she can spin around too and look like a princess. I do love my girly girl.

Brussels Sprouts

2010-11-10T08:31:00.006-07:00

So a little while back my cousin's wife introduced me to Bountiful Baskets. Now I had heard of it before in other areas but I didn't realize that we had one here. So when Cheryl asked me if I wanted to share a basket with her I was totally on board. About every two weeks we end up getting a basket with all kinds of different local fruits and veggies. This past week there was something in the basket I've never had before...brussels sprouts. I was a bit hesitant about them because since I've never eaten them I had no idea how to even prepare them.
I found a fantastic recipe online and I have to say I'm totally a fan! I'm for sure going to be making this again and Jacob even took seconds which is saying something.

I'm obsessed!

2010-11-05T14:18:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm totally admitting it...I've become obsessed with doing craft projects and looking for new fun craft sites. My latest projects I did yesterday with two of my sister in laws. Here for your viewing pleasure is project number 1 which I got the idea for from this site.
I'm really happy with how both the Maryland shirts turned out which actually surprises me. It was the hardest to cut out and I thought with all the curves it just wouldn't work right. I ended up making both the girls Idaho and Maryland shirts because hello we have to represent both states. I think the problem I had with the Idaho shirts is they were a dark pink and I used white to make the state. Because I used white fabric paint I had to do multiple coats and I was just so excited I don't think I waited until each coat was 100% dry before applying my next one. I would recommend using a lighter shirt color with a darker paint because then you only have to do one coat. That is obviously what I did with Savannah's Maryland shirt and it turned out the best. For Olivia's Maryland shirt its a green shirt with the same color paint for the state and that one also turned out really good. Another problem I had making the shirts was with my wax paper, I did what the tutorial said and my wax paper did not stick to my shirt at all. Now I don't know if it's because I buy the cheap wax paper so there wasn't enough wax to make it stick or what but I ended up using double sided tape and it worked out ok.

My second project was a quite book that I found on this site. I love this project because it was so easy and Savannah lOVES her book! I've already decided that I'm making her an ABC and numbers book as well as a colors one during nap time today.

So excited! You'll see why.

2010-11-04T11:27:00.000-06:00

So now that the cold weather has come I'm stuck at home. We only have one car and a motorcycle, Jacob is a sweet heart and will sometimes ride his bike still even though its not the ideal weather for it. Needless to say I've been trying to fill my days with playing with the girls, getting chores done, and of course doing craft projects. Today I hit the jack-pot with new craft project ideas thanks to my friend Stephanie. She posted this link, which will now give me quite a few project ideas to get me ready for Christmas decorating at my house. If you don't know I love to decorate my house so holiday's are perfect for me because I get to change things up a bit. Anyway I hope you enjoy looking at all the fun ideas like I did.

Thank You Grandma Jefferies

2010-11-03T19:14:00.000-06:00

Why does she get a thank you? Well because of her we got three super yummy treats and we all know how much I love treats! I only have a picture of two of these treats but trust me they are all fantastic. First we got lots of apples from her apple trees so what did we do with them you ask? Well I made home-made apple sauce! This was a first and was lots easier then I thought it would be, plus it tastes so freaking good! I'm without a picture of this one but trust me it looks great and tastes even better! What else did I make with all the apples we inherited? Well two yummy apple pies!
The scary part is that when I looked at the pie today half of it was already gone and yesterday Jacob told me he still hadn't eaten any. I think I need to have a bit more self control. So now you know two of our treats but what's the third you might be thinking...well I'll tell you! Home made doughnuts! We went over to the in laws on Monday night for FHE to have some fantastic soup in pumpkin (recipes will be shared once I've obtained them) and to die for home made doughnuts! Since so many were made each family got to take some home with them, I was quite thankful although I've been realizing that I've been eating way to many treats lately and I should probably be scaling back a bit.
As an off topic side note, totally look forward to my next post. It'll have two super cute projects that I'm making with two of my sister-in-laws tomorrow I can't wait to show you all!

Pancakes!

2010-11-03T18:56:00.000-06:00

Savannah is such a riot! She is always making me laugh with the different things she does. She's like her Grandpa Jefferies where she becomes obsessed with something for a few weeks and then become obsessed with something else and so forth. What is she obsessed with now? PANCAKES! I mean she asks for pancakes all the time. I finally made a huge batch for her because she kept asking me for them and I got tired of making them. Now I have them on hand so I can just grab one out of the fridge and heat it up for her. I also don't feel bad giving them to her because I make them from scratch and they're actually pretty healthy.

Halloween

2010-11-01T08:52:00.000-06:00

To start the fun Halloween festivities I decided to make these fantastic caramel apples. I mean they really are aMAZING! I attempted to share one with Jacob and was not super successful. Thank you again Stephanie for sharing this wonderful treat. Next on the agenda was a fun filled weekend of trick-or-treating which started on Friday. We had our ward trunk-or-treat so we got the girls ready and had to make some modifications. So our original plan was to have Olivia be an award winning pumpkin, Savannah a baby chick, and Jacob and I were going to be farmers. Well we got Olivia dressed no problem I mean how big of a fight can a 3 month old give you honestly. Savannah was a different story. I'm thankful we didn't buy the costume we wanted to put her in because she pitched a fit when we put her in it. It was kinda comical how much she hated this costume. In the end we let her choose between the chick costume and her fairy wings. She chose the fairy wings so in 5 minutes I threw together clothes from her closet with these wings and put some make-up on her. The make-up was her favorite part up until she started getting candy. Overall it was a very sucessful evening and Savannah had a blast, Olivia ended up

falling asleep on me while I was handing out candy. Also something funny was when the kids were going around to all the cars there was a boy in a Spider Man costume behind Savannah and Jacob. Needless to say Savannah wasn't a fan and kept trying to run away from him because she was scared. It looks like she might be a wuss like her mom, I really am trying not to make her a scardy cat like me. On Saturday night we went trick-or-treating again with all Savannah's cousins. My sister-in-law invited us to a fair at the elementary school near her house, they had all kinds of games and another trunk-or-treat. We arrived a bit late for the trunk-or-treat but Savannah got to play all the games and they gave you candy for playing so she was happy. After that the kids all went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. I didn't go out with all the kids I stayed at my sister-in-laws to hand out candy and stay home with Olivia but apparently Savannah was quite the candy horder. She'd go up to the doors and take a handful of candy from the bowl. Then when they'd tell her to just take one she wouldn't listen (big shocker there), its a good thing she's still little and so dang cute. The more I think about it its kinda these people's falut that she took more then one. I mean who lets little kids take candy right from the bowl, of course they're going to take more then one. If you want them to have one piece give them one yourself. Anyway when it was time to go home she was so hyper she kept running around the car and then the whole way home she carried on a conversation with her stuffed dog, it was pretty funny.
On Halloween I decided I'd be a little festive so I made ghost pancakes for breakfast and made a special Halloween dinner. Savannah thought it was awesome and kept saying "Look it! Look it!" like I didn't know what I had made or something. I got the recipe for dinner from this site. I wouldn't say its fantastic by any means but Jacob and Savannah both liked it and it was a fun way to celebrate Halloween. Also yes Savannah is in her pj's while eating dinner, she's obsessed lately with wearing her pajamas, its a rare thing these days to see her in real clothes.

Just for fun I thought I'd throw in a picture of Olivia. I've started putting her in the high chair when were in the kitchen. She loves being with us and its perfect for when I'm making dinner because she loves being higher up and being able to see what I'm doing. She's such a sweet heart and I love that she's smiling more now its the best.

Sharing

2010-10-26T16:17:00.001-06:00

So I decided that I need to share all these yummy treats I'm making because I'm eating way to many of them. These are the pumpkin cream-cheese muffins I made yesterday, there were 24 of them and I alone have eaten way to many so Jacob's parent's and grandparent's will be the recipients of some of these fantastic muffins. Plus I wanted an excuse to use these cute tags I found at this site. What's my next goodies giveaway you might be thinking...well you can see it here thanks to Stephanie for sharing. Needless to say I'm in a creative mood and others are benefiting from it, sorry if you don't live near me you'll just have to drool over the pictures.

Fall Goodness

2010-10-25T17:18:00.000-06:00

I really do like the start of fall, pulling out the sweaters and hoodies, drinking hot chocolate, and seeing the leaves change. I decided to make these amazing pumpkin cream cheese muffins thanks to my dear friend Mary who introduced them to me. I messed up on the topping, I got a bit distracted because Olivia woke up right while I was making it and forgot to add the butter. Never-the-less they turned out great and I think I've already had like 4 today and of course I paired it with a nice cup of hot chocolate. Yeah for fall!