Kisses & Snails

The other day Isabella told daddy to "kiss me like mommie kisses you!"  She tilted her head and then moved it back and forth to show him just what she meant.  "No, do it this way!"She loves to experiment with kissing apparently...because today her thing was lip smacking me like 14 times before bed.  I'll take what I can get because I'm quite certain that in a couple of years she's not going to want to lip smack me 14 times before bed!

Izzie had her cute little friend, Bree, over last week for a play date.  When she left, Izzie exclaimed, "Mom, I want to be black like Bree...I don't like being yellow!"  (Bree is half black...I think Izzie just loves her soft, silky smooth skin).  But she's also obsessed with the black Cheetah girl.  Maybe there's just not enough 'funk' in our whiteness for Isabella Daisy.  

Last week Izzie was thrilled with her new creation:

"Mommie!  I made a fort for all the snails!"

No kidding.  Pretty detailed and lovely complete with a moat.  Or something like that.  The snails are still hanging around their lovely little home aka my front door.  Thank you, Isabella!

Does your camera have bling?

How could I resist? Amy Butler & Sandi Henderson yummilicious fabrics combined to spruce up the otherwise boring 'ole Nikon strap. You, too, can accessorize your big fat black camera strap with this tutorial. I have looked at several 'slip covers' and tutorials, but liked this one the best. For you beginners...straight lines all the way - Easy Peasy. Happy sewing.

The Bad News Bears...is not how it ended

...We didn't get our happy winning season! Basketball is over!  Hip Hip Hooray!  McKenzie & Monson proudly wore their "Jazz" uniform and no one could be happier than me that the season has come to an end.  

Their team struggled....MORE than struggled as they ended up winning only 2 of their 15 games.  The team with the worst record in the league even beat us during the last game!  But I say...hooray, because now we don't have to deal with playoffs.  Although I think McKenzie improved overall and Monson became even more aggressive, if that's possible.  I officially have more respect for the other fellow team moms out there after this basketball season. We're officially done with sports, dance, and piano until WAMU helps us decide if we're staying or leaving...

So I need tips from you photog gurus...why are my pictures so retarded with my VR lens shooting in sport mode?  Should I have been shooting in burst continuous mode so the motion wasn't caught to blur out my shots?  Still a novice....

  

Sheer Glee

No snow for sledding?  No problem!  My grandma would have had an absolute conniption fit if she saw the kids doing this:

I kind of did too... until I saw the sheer glee on their faces and heard the pure laughter.  It's not everyday that they find something they all love to do together.  And it's not the laughter we always hear...

You only live once.  And I have industrial strength carpet.  

[not so] funny story...I dropped my Nikon and now the flash doesn't work.  Pretty cool effect though even if you can't see the glee on their faces.  I promise, it was there.  

Return to Love

I don't remember where I saw this...which blog I hijacked it from - but 

We all need to be reminded every now and then where we came from and that we all have the potential to be fab-u-lous!  

Has anyone read "Return to Love"?

To My Little Valentines'

What we lack on Halloween...we make up for on Valentines Day!  It's a happy, cheesy, sweet holiday and I love everything it represents.  The greatest gifts your Dad and I  can give you, my six little monkeys, is to create a safe environment where we can provide, protect, and nurture...and for Dad and I to love one another deeply as equal partners.  And, of course, to have fun and not take life so seriously.  

I love scouring blogland and copying those creative souls out there...

Like doing Izzie's hair to celebrate the holiday...cheesy?  YES, but darn cute for a three-year-old on Valentine's Day.

...and she walked a little taller because of it

Staying up until 2:30 am to finish your class Valentines 

{Thank you, Becky, for the Mad Libs idea!}

And we can't forget the custom Valentine's sanitizer for the all-important teachers!

And making the brightest, most annoying neon Valentine's cookies I've ever seen...and the biggest mess to go with it with each of you {with the cookie cutters Ama sent you}.

...well, sometimes precious little hands.

big enough to make cookies with Monson...and proud of it.

I think Bray missed Halloween 

& Christmas cookies... he's celebrating all of the holidays with his creations:

Do I see a Santa and a Halloween cat in there?

Part of my Valentines to you, cute kiddies:

And making you breakfast for lunch--whole wheat banana chocolate chip heart waffles!  Gotta get some healthy mixed in on this 'sweet' holiday.

I love you all to the sky!

You are what keeps me going day in and day out... 

{YOU are what gets me out of bed in the morning...whether I want to or not!}

Will you all be my Valentines?

xo,

Bedtime Stories

Our normal tuck-in routine isn't complete without cuddles, songs and stories.  Lexie and Izzie each need separate bed time with mom and if I'm not home to tuck them in, then I most always am awakened by one of them...uaually Lexie...to the tune of  'MOM' screamed at increasing intervals until it awakens me and a few others two rooms and a hallway away (somewhere between 1:30 and 3 am, roughly).  Needless to say, I make sure that I do my cuddles with them even if it's before bedtime so WE don't have that rude awakening. 

At bedtime Isabella stopped me as I was done with her extended tuck-in after the inevitable princess and witch story she tells me every night (which always ends in ..and they lived happily ever after).   She stopped me and I could see her trying to think of something to say (trying to buy more time, smarty pants) and finally said, 

"Mom, I want to talk to you about Jesus Christ."  

"Sure, Iz, what do you want to know about Jesus?" 

Iz:  "Did he have hair, eyes, ears and a mouth like me?"  What about chin, armpits and legs?" 

She went through EVERY body part...including the privates...cause she's Izzie.  So in the end she had no doubt that Jesus has a body like her.  I talked to her about what happened to him and how he died for 'Izzie'...and was nailed to the cross.  I went through the whole resurrection in basic terms and then asked her if she knows what will happen when she dies and she replied, 

"When I die will I have nails in my hands and my feet just like Jesus?"  

I love the three-year-old mind.  Sometimes a simple story needs repeating several times before it sinks in with a child.  Oh, how relieved she was to know that she won't be nailed to a cross--but how excited she was to tell her Daddy & Lexie all about it.  Through the eyes of a child.

Big Scouts Little Scouts

It's funny how you offer suggestions on how to run a program a little better and voile!  New calling!  (Okay...I know that's not how it really works).  Truth be told...it was a sad day for Curt when he had to say goodbye to his calling as Gospel Doctrine Teacher to be Cub Master --he LOVED teaching.  And he was GOOD at it.  Really good.  And I'm not biased. Okay, maybe a little.

As he got all spiffed up in his uniform for the first time...and then put on his new really UNforgiving zip-off-into-shorts Scout pants that looked really more like a 1980's parachute ensemble... I just chuckled.  Actually, I pretty much laughed out loud.  He should have taken me shopping with him!  It felt like I was sending another one of my little boys off to scouts...neckerchief, socks and all.   Good thing I didn't let him out that door with the white tennis shoes he originally had on.  The fashion police really would have been all over him!  It doesn't look so bad here even though it adds 15 lbs.  

His first order of business?  The importance of wearing a clean and full uniform correctly.  Who better to demonstrate this than a Colonel in the Marine Corp!  At every Pack meeting we have a 'best dressed' award...it's really for the boy that is correctly dressed.  It's a tough thing to achieve, apparently!

Monson receiving his awards

Curt does such a great job as Cub Master and is Mr. Organized.  I think he's returned some necessary tradition back to Troop 609 and has some great plans for those 20+ boys!

The Blue & Gold  Dinner last week was a huge success!  It was a cowboy theme complete with sloppy joes and all the fixin's, and the favorite annual cake auction.  The leaders really did a great job this year...did I mention it was drama-free?  The best kind!  Brian Lamoreaux did such a fabulous job the last couple of years as auctioneer; it's now his permanent duty.  I think this one went for $100.  Not too shabby! 

We went with the cowboy theme with our cute little boot cake:

Monson's artwork...starring himself as a cowboy outlaw.