Cricut Machine

I give the girls an option every year to get a large gift or have a birthday party with their friends. Their birthdays are 2 days apart so we usually combine their parties. They almost always choose the large gift. This year they wanted a cricut paper cutter (and we got a great deal on one). We only have one cartridge, and it doesn't work without a cartridge, but I can see how it will be tons of fun once we get a couple more. I really like it! It will be great for school projects as well.

Anyway, as if that wasn't enough, cricut has come out with a CAKE DECORATING machine. How cool is that? It cuts frosting sheets and fondant. I'm in love. Anyone want to go in on it with me someday?

Cricut Cake Cutter

Personalized M and M

My Mother-in-Law mentioned on Sunday that I hadn't blogged in a while. Yes, this is too true! I have been way to busy to think about blogging, but I do enjoy it, so here I am back from my blogging vacation with this fun site I found.

How fun and unique would this be for a wedding or anniversary?

Personalized M&Ms

Cute Baby

I was so excited to get my hand crocheted photo pod in the mail. When it came, it looked like a giant hat, really... it looked like a hat for the jolly green giant. No offense to giants of course. We tried and tried to stretch that thing around cute little Halle, but it would not stay and her poor little toes were getting stuck in the holes. It really did not live up to any of my expectations. So basically $30 crumpled up and flushed down the toilet. Unless of course, you know any giants who would like to buy it. It's probably more for babies that are just born and have their legs all curled up to their body still. She was only 2 weeks old though. Sheesh!

As a bonus, I did find $100 in my camera bag from Christmastime, so I guess I came out ahead.



Luckily, her Mom was showing me a cute gift someone made her (the tutu) and it worked out better than the pod idea. Poor baby probably hated me by the time it was all over. She was a good sport!


I'm jealous of all of her beautiful black hair, isn't it lovely?!

Vinegar, the Wonder Cleaner

We use vinegar for almost every cleaning task in our house... bathrooms, kitchen, dishwasher, mopping, laundry, washing fruits & veges, etc etc... It's super cheap, costs about $5 a year and we put it in spray bottles in every bathroom and in the kitchen. We store 6 or 7 gallons in home storage because it's easy to get and so inexpensive (around $2 a gallon at Walmart).

I did a search last night to see how much to put in laundry loads and I came across this article from Reader's Digest. It's truly amazing the 173 uses for vinegar. The smell is very strong, of course, but the best part is your kids won't be breathing in harmful cleaning chemicals ever. If they use vinegar to clean the temple, then it's good nuff for me!

Reader's Digest Vinegar Article

New Look

I hope you like the new header. I had a designer do it for me. Her name is Amy and her company is Green Lily designs. I follow her blog because she has such fun things and I love to look at them! Her design work is so great and she was super patient with me. Now if I could only figure out how to take off that black box behind it, I'd be in business! The pink is going to change tomorrow to a darker color :).

Red Winter Beauty Princess Costume Giveaway

It's time for another giveaway! This time it's at Mom Reviews and I'm giving away a Winter Beauty Costume. You'll love the new design. This dress would be great to give your child as a Valentine's Day gift or just for a fun dress up!

Baby Pods

I saw these on Stephmodo. Aren't they darling? They are "pods" that are crocheted. I had to have one for my photography supplies, don't you think? I got the last off white one, but I'm loving the green one too.

Don Wanna Lose You

With our 2 year old's birthday coming up on Friday and preschool coming up in the fall, I have been waxing sentimental. He is moving up to a toddler bed and it will be the first time we have taken the crib down because there will be no baby to fill it in the near future. We keep waiting until my health improves to have our last child, but I am impatient and most likely it's going to be a long space in-between our last 2 children.

Anyway, it gives me more time to spend with our youngest when the older children are at school. He's my little buddy and loves to go out and run errands. Right now, his favorite thing to do is puzzles and he will sit for a really long time putting each one together. Some of the puzzles are really hard for his age, but he seems to catch on really fast.

He has been very clingy to me lately. If someone wants to help him with something, he won't let them, and says, "Mommy do it!" If someone is sitting next to me he squeezes in so he's touching me more than they are. There was someone crying on TV and he said, "He's crying cause he miss his Mommy". Today he was sitting on my lap with his sippie cup of milk and he leaned his head back on my shoulder and said in his sweetest voice, "Mommy, I don wanna lose you." I said I could never lose him because he's my boy and that seemed to calm him a little. When I asked him if he would stay two for me he said, "yeah" because I don't want him to grow up too much.

I love my little gentle boy and cuddle bug. I hope he stays that way for a long time, even after he's 3! Happy Birthday Buddy!

Thinking BIG

Wouldn't this 19 inch digital photo frame look stunning on my wall? Since I pay $50-$100 to get a large print of our family every year, this will pay for itself in no time, don't you agree?

STOMP

Last night we went out to dinner at Four Season's Hot Pots in Provo with Steve's parents, one of our favorite hole in the wall type Chinese restaurants.

Then after that, Steve's brother and sister in law gave us tickets to Stomp for Christmas and we went with him and his family as well as Steve's parents. It was a blast! Basically what they do is take common construction site objects and make amazing beats and music using things like garbage cans, brooms, plastic bags, as well as their bodies having a clapping and slapping frenzy...you get the picture...

There is no talking, but they make it really funny in parts. I think I'm 1/2 deaf now though as it is REALLY loud.

We enjoyed it and it was nice to go out and do something fun!

All You Need is Love

I saw these Beetles finger puppets on a post on Twitter (from etsy). Hee Hee, they made me laugh out loud! Someone out there is very creative.

Cinderella Princess Costume Giveaway on Tea Rose Home

I love the blog Tea Rose Home. It's a sewing blog and I'm not very good at sewing, but I love the projects she does. Sachiko takes something inexpensive and makes it look fancy. She's amazing! I have decided to try out being a sponsor for My Cute Dressups on her blog and we'll see how it goes. To kick off, I'm doing a giveaway for a FREE Cinderella dress here: Tea Rose Home so check it out!

Also, on the radar, new styles of dress up clothes coming February 1, just in time for my birthday!

Blentec, My One & Only Love + Green Smoothie Goodness

After 9 months of using my mother's 1970's yellow and brown blender for fruit smoothies every day, I was in total shock and awe of my new toy that came in the mail yesterday. I used it last night and I was so impressed! It turns off automatically when it is done and has a 2 horse power motor, neigh...

I sold a bunch of my kitchen appliances and used a credit I had for Christmas to buy this puppy (I even made $150 more than what the blender cost me). It was well worth it and I'm excited to make dairy free ice cream in it! It also does whole food juices, grinding wheat and grains, smoothies, hot soup, bread dough, fondue, salsa, shakes, dips, and so on.... I have a lot more room in my pantry as this replaces a lot of big appliances.

I did find a great deal on it. It's usually $399, but I found it for $319 with free shipping at EverythingKitchens.com

My neighbor also gave me a good recipe for a green smoothie. I thought it would taste, you know... green and earthy, but it was good! The girls drank nearly my whole smoothie if that tells you anything.

3 cups fresh squeezed oj. I used the kind in the carton.
1 POUND of spinach (whoa baby!)
1 banana

I'm going to try to add ice in the next time I do it, because it taste's better when it's cold. You could probably drop the oj to 2 1/2 cups and do 1/2 cup ice.

Blend...

Anyone want to come over and have a blending party with me :).

Christmas with the Grumps

I'm not sure why, I'm sure I've raised them better, but our kids just don't get excited about things. Like when we told them we were going to Disneyland they just stared in confusion at us.

This Christmas was no different. While they got a lot of exciting gifts, there was no shouting, there was no jumping up and down. The best we could get was a feeble smile and a thank you. It's not that our kids don't like what they got, they just aren't excitable like I remember being when opening my presents on Christmas.

Hilights were an American Girl doll, a baseball set, puzzles, and a doll stroller. And glitter balls. After all the hundreds of dollars that were spent, it was the $5 glitter balls that took the cake. Go figure.

The baseball set was a big hit with our little slugger. Now he can stop using the rolling pin and any other like item as a bat. I'm not sure why, but I have this weird affinity for jammies with the feet in them. I call them footie jammies, not sure if that is the correct term. Anyhow, when I see my kids running around in them for a minute I'm reminded how lucky I am that they are still young. Maybe secretly I think they'll stay that way forever and not become teenagers.



We also had the kids make gifts for each other which was fun. M. made K. a Dora pillow and matching blanket, hand sewn.



The American Girl doll


Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Yes, it is a miracle, we all wore red this year despite my husband's near hatred of the color. He had nothing green that was not in the laundry.


While Christmas has come to an end I'm still listening to Christmas songs in the car just hoping it will last a little longer!

Recent Reads

This has been a strange book month. Some were really good, some were ok, and others were disappointing.



I loved this book, perfect for capturing the Spirit of Christmas.



Next on the list is Inkheart. I actually really liked it although it started off kind of slow and I was confused about what was going on. About a quarter through the book it got exciting and the rest was good. It was kind of Harry Potter/Fablehaven-ish. I found it on the "clean" list at the Provo Library. There were a couple swear words though. Apparently it's a trilogy, I did not know that... as well as a movie.

(no photo available)

Third, Fine Old High Priests. This is one we're reading for our neighborhood Book Group. I wasn't that thrilled about it at first, but it worked itself out and it was quite a good book with a good message about friendship and religion.



Fourth, Map of the World, from Oprah's Book Club. It was so intense I couldn't sleep at night after reading it and I had nightmares about the story line. The book was extremely well written and exciting, but it's one of those books where I wanted to re-write the ending. I had been so invested in the book I felt let down at the end. The (bad) language in it is terrible as well, be warned. I don't know, I think if I had the chance to unread this book I would. Haunting...

Fun in the Snow

The first snow is always so fun. The kids went outside to build an igloo and came back in about 30 minutes later with their red cheeks and shivering and decided to build a mini igoo! They forgot to bring their scarves back in and now they are outside growing icicles.

Kids Christmas Outfits

My mother in law gets Christmas and Easter outfits for her grand kids each year and this year's outfits were so adorable!



The poser.



We're just glad he's wearing a tie.


Love the black skirt!

Christmas Dance Recital

The girls had their December dance recital this year at a new dance studio called Academy of Ballet. We originally chose it because it was next to the hubby's job and he could shuttle them home, but his office has now moved to Salt Lake. It's a nice studio, but I miss Kim's dance studio. It was a little more fun and not so serious for the little ones. This was like a pre-recital to get ready for the real one with real ballerinas in the Spring. Our oldest daughter does well at ballet so we thought this would be a good place for her.... we'll see...

I {heart} Disneyland

We had a lovely time in Disneyland. It was lovely because it was rainy and we didn't have to stand in line and it was lovely because we had 5 days together with no interruptions, no work, just fun. I really wanted to go to Disneyland once during the Christmas season to see the decorations and the rides. It did not disappoint. It was lovelier than ever.


This is what the baby looks like after a long day of driving. We got him undressed and in his PJs without a peep. He loved everything at Disneyland, even the Matterhorn. He was quite the trooper! The only thing he didn't care for is seeing the characters up close. We had to force him to be in the pictures with them!


Love the mouse ears and Mickey's toon car.


Grandma gets sick on the tea cups.


Little Boy Heaven.


Little Girl Heaven.


Wish Lists...


Disneyland Christmas Parade and Fireworks. This is Princess Ariel and prince Eric. I love Ariel's dress!


Dinner at Ariel's Grotto is a hilight. If you wonder how rainy it was while we were there, check out the girls jeans, wet up to the knees, but nary a complaint we heard! They weren't able to wear their princess dresses this time to the dinner because the rain was so bad, they would have been soaked through and freezing. M.'s boots got ruined because they stayed wet for 4 days and mildewed. She said her feet were dry though, the rest of us didn't have that luxury.

Spelling Bee Buzz

Ok, so I'm a little late on the blogging thing. I have a good excuse though: I was selling at 3 holiday boutiques, a vacation to Disneyland, and a site My Cute Dressups, ebay, and Amazon stores that quadrupled Christmas sales from last year.

We were SO proud of M. who won her 3rd grade class Spelling Bee and then competed in the school-wide bee. If you know how shy she is, you know this is a huge accomplishment to stand up in front of the whole school with teachers and actually say something into the microphone (I think she was the shortest one there.... sorry, you got that from me). She did extremely well and beat out at least 1/2 of the competition, even older kids. There were 9 students left when she got out. The word she missed was "quarantine" which she spelled, "courantine".

It was a proud moment for our family seeing her up there (she's the one up at the microphone)!