N is for Nest

I know.... They are super cute, huh!?We made Easter Egg nests tonight. So fun and super easy. Cameron is in charge of a snack at preschool for the letter N, so this is all I could think of. N is for Nest. First things first, we started off with a rousing debate on why Tyson couldn't help me until he washed his hands.

I won.
I know I have seen these before, but I couldn't find any kind of recipe online, so we winged it. White almond bark, Chinese noodles, and candy eggs. I melted half the block of almond bark (which will burn in the microwave if you look at it wrong, so be careful) and mixed it with one big bag of Chinese noodles. Then tablespoon-ed the nests out and had the kids kind of shape them and add the eggs. That's it. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy (this is Cam's new favorite phrase. Well, that and "okey dokey artichokey." Sometimes he uses them together)! I think the nests turned out cute, and the kids loved making them. In the next few days we are going to make our "Hooray! Spring is here!" Melted Snowmen. I'll post when we do it, especially since I have half a pound of white almond bark left over.....

Patrick's, Pinewood, and Pictures

Take a deep breath. It's going to be a long one folks. My favorite holiday! Yes, Lucky the Leprechaun visited. He drank our milk and used our toilets, dyed our dinner green, he literary threw gold coins all over our yard (for more on this, talk to Mom and Lis...they saw him!). We woke up to this note, lots of chocolate gold, candy, and books! We LIKE this leprechaun.
We did our first Pinewood Derby! Tyson and Trent were psyched! They researched car designs on the web for the shape. Tyson wanted it to look like Upgrade (for all you Ben 10 fans out there). Trent cut it out, but I made him let Tyson do all the sanding. Tys really did help with every part of his car, except for when Trent decided late the night before that they needed a smoother top coat of varnish. I found him in the garage, eyes watering from the fumes, spraying nearly an entire can of clear coat on the thing. We had various discussions on why derbys are about learning woodworking skills and having fun with Dad and NOT about winning. Evidently, many men in our ward feel this is up for debate. I am over cub scouts for our Primary, so I made really cute certificates for all the boys with a fun award for each of their designs. Tyson got the "Best Ben 10 Alien Annihilator." It took the Primary President and I three hours to come up with 13 awards....

Okay, Aim. Why the feet pic? Well, ROSEANNE (insert growl here) tagged me. And we all know Aimee feels guilty if she doesn't do this stuff, so send it her way. I love you, so I'll do it. The point is, if you are tagged, no cleaning up or whatever, just go take a picture of that room or person, or thing..... Snapshot of your life.
#1 Favorite shoes. Their comfy and easy.
#2 Kitchen Sink. No my back splash is not grouted yet. But he did buy the grout. The thing about being married to a contractor...everyone's projects take priority over yours. It stinks, but it pays the bills.

#3 Favorite Room. This isn't really my favorite room, but it's my favorite spot. I love to sit in our loft and read in my chair. Love it! Someday, Trent will build a desk and some huge bookcases to house my out of control book fetish, and then this will be my favorite room.

#4a What are the kids doing right now? My favorite part of this is that she has taken off her pj pants after we have tucked her in and replaced them with a princess skirt.

#4b See the ratty old blanket he's snuggling with. He's had it since the day he was born and it's falling to pieces, but if you even suggest putting it up, he gets teary. I love My Sweet Boy.

#4c Cam has his falling to piece baby blanket too. They're so sweet asleep. And so quiet.....

#5 Self Portrait. This is me scowling because we all know how Aimee feels about pictures of herself. I must really love you Roseanne.....

#6 Your bathroom. I know...white walls...ugh. Someday (you hear that word a lot around here), I'll paint....Well, no. I'll pick a color and Mr. Perfectionist Painter will paint.

#7 Your closet. Insert evil laugh here! Thank you Ikea. The reason the middle door is missing....Ikea is cheap. Trent had to glue one of the panels back together because the glass is too heavy for the frames. It's down in the garage waiting to be brought back home.

#8 The refrigerator. Yes, we do need that much honey butter. Yes, we do go through a lot of apples. Yes, Kaylee would starve without all that yogurt. No, the margarita mix is not because we are drinkers. Trent is a big fan of smoothies.

#9 Laundry Room. I know my machines don't match. Our washing machine died a year ago, but why replace the dryer when it works just fine? I love my counter. Usually, it would be covered in folded clothes, but I was dog sick yesterday, so nothing got done.

So tag! Your it! Now you do it. Go take a few pics and post.

1. April

2. Kari

3. Amber

4. Courtney

5. Kellie

6. Melissa

Even if I didn't list you, you should go do it anyway. Because you LOVE me! This means you Emily, Leona, Stacey, Macy, Jen, Mom, Mary....I could go on and on.

Embace Life

My sweet friend sent me this link. Watch it. It's only a minute long and worth every second, especially if it gets you to buckle up. I imagine the only reason you would read this blog is because we know and love each other. I have been in enough car accidents and had friends and family in enough accidents to know I never want to lose someone I love that way. Buckle up.

Buckle your kids up. Drive safe. Because I love you and too me your are worth way more than the few seconds it takes to click it.

http://www.embracethis.co.uk/

Seuss-ism

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~Dr. Seuss

Happy Birthday a date late Dr. Seuss!

Tender Mercies...

I'm thrilled, jumping out of my chair, hoping up and down, and yes, even doing the happy dance. Maybe I'm being a bit premature, but it's possible...probable even...Kaylee might be....POTTY TRAINED!

After all the suffering (and I mean the long, drawn out, months on end kind of messy, disgusting suffering that can come with potty training a boy), Miss Kay was pretty darn easy. The first week I did the pull up thing. (Insert annoying "You are WRONG!" buzzer sound here). The pull ups gave her a terrible scabby rash on her back. So, I sucked it up and we went cold turkey. She's had a few accidents (I thought for sure she would be a stickler on the whole #2 thing). She's even had episodes of begging for her diapers, but yesterday we spent four hours at the Dinosaur museum and she stayed dry! She got up this morning and happily did her thing! She yells/mumbles, "Mommy I go to potty!" every time she needs to use the facilities. I am in bliss....

Especially since yesterday stunk. I don't know why. Nothing totally terrible happened. I was just crabby and crying all day yesterday. It's nice after a day of wallowing in your own self pity and loathing to wake up and realize, "Hey Dim One! You have a wonderful family, remarkable friends and neighbors, a spectacular husband and brilliant children. You live in a nice neighborhood in a gorgeous house your beloved built just for you! You're Heavenly Father loves you and blesses you!

Suck it up and BE HAPPY!"

I think I will....

What to do?

I registered Cameron for kindergarten yesterday and Kaylee for preschool. All my kids will be in some kind of school next year.... What will I do if Cam and Kay are in school at the same time (this is very unlikely, but possible)? I'll have two whole hours to myself twice a week! The possibilities......

Back Splash Rant!

I am so excited to show you all how wonderful and beautiful the back splash turned out..... But I can't. It's not done, and it won't be done for probably three weeks.

Trent has been anticipating a big cabinet job for a bakery down in Provo that is expanding to a location in Draper. We are super excited about it! However, the day Trent was going to pick up all their materials they called and said they had to get a few more bids to please their investors. Trent told them they wouldn't find anyone cheaper. (Big commerical cabinet shop = employees, building rent, advertising, tools, utilities, etc.....EXPENSIVE. Two guys building cabinets out of my garage...hardly any overhead....CHEAPER! Probably almost half as much if I go off of our experience with the cabinets in our house. Trent didn't have time then to build all our cabinets, so we hired a commercial shop.... Let's just say more expensive doesn't always mean better quality, it just means more money. Plus, when I say two guys building cabinets...I mean two perfectionists.) They thought they would have 35-40 days to build these cabinets, now they are down to just two weeks (insert image of Trent disappearing behind garage door in slow mo, loud vault-like sound bangs followed by a whooshing noise as door shuts and seals).

On the upside, I got over being wishy washy and decided on a color for grout. Thanks for all the suggestions and votes. I spent probably three hours looking at back splash photos on the Internet, trying to decide what to do. Then I went over to my cute friend's house and inspected her back splash. Hers is a little different than ours, but still close to the same stone tile and so, so pretty. If we just had done the limestone tile without the glass insets, I would totally agree with the vast majority of votes and gone Mocha, but since I love the glass insets and want them to pop, we picked a color a little darker than the Biscuit color. It's pretty much the same shade as the tile, a titch darker, but isn't white and won't look dirty all the time.

I have to say, I am very lucky to have such good friends with such immaculate taste. Thanks girls!