Hallie's Spiderman Birthday!

Hallie with my beautiful sister Laura.

So about a month ago I asked my youngest, Hallie, what kind of birthday party she wanted. Without hesitation my 2 year-old answers, "I want Spidaman berfday pawty". Excuse me, what? "Did you just say Spiderman birthday party?" I asked her. "Yep, I like him 'cause he's naughty!" Apparently this toddler doesn't really know what Spiderman is all about. I try to dissuade her. "Sure you don't want a tea party birthday or something fun like that?" "Nope, Spidaman." Dave was thrilled of course! With so much pink in the house he jumped at Spiderman. "Just give her what she wants!" he told me. So, sighing, my mom and I went to Party City where the store unfortunately didn't dissapoint in the Spiderman motif. We bought hanging Spidey's, Spiderman plates and napkins, table cloth. etc. When I got home and showed what I'd bought Hallie hugged me and yelled, "I yuv it I yuv it I YUV IT!!!" I couldn't have gotten a better response. The only girlie thing I added was pink frosting to the spider cupcakes - a friend suggested that! They actually turned out pretty cute! I used Crows black licorice gum drops for the body, twizzler string licorice for the legs and then used blue piping for the eyes. So here we were on March 12th having a Spiderman birthday party for a two-year old girl. She is somethin' else!

Being Positive!

I try my hardest to be positive. It doesn't always work. When I'm in line at the grocery store I always ask how the cashier's day was too, when I was one it was amazing how many people would just ignore you. I hated that! I try to smile all the time. I try to look for the best in people. That's definitely something that's taken me awhile to be able to do. I try to answer when asked how I'm doing, "Good!" even when I'm not feeling "good". I've found that if I fake it, I usually start feeling it.
I saw the perfect quote from Martha Washington in a fun decorating blog I like to peruse called the Vintage Rabbit. "I am determined to be Cheerful and Happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is not determined by our Circumstance but our Disposition." Isn't that a beautiful quote? Yesterday in Relief Society we had a lesson on looking at our situation and trials and finding something good and positive in it. I loved the lesson! If we remember that we are here on this earth to learn and grow and that we knew and rejoiced in coming down to this earth, I think we could be happier people. Just some random thoughts as I watch The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with my tinies! Have a happy day!

The world premiere of Twilight! (Well for me anyway!)

I'm so excited to see Twilight on Saturday! My mom's hosting a Twilight party with a bunch of friends from the ward. I have to admit it's taken me quite awhile to really get into the books. I read Twilight for the first time almost 2 years ago! I didn't see what the fuss was about then, but for Christmas I got the first and second book (SOOO much better than the first, don't you think?). So now I am finally a Twilight fan! Who wouldn't be with lines like: "If I could dream at all, it would be about you. And I'm not ashamed of it." Or, "Today is the first and last day of forever." Or my absolute favorite make you weak in the knees quote, "Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars, points of light and reason. ….And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn’t see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason for anything." Really? Why didn't I catch that quote the first time I read the book - good grief! So with jammies, some vampire teeth and some good friends, I'll be sitting as close to the t.v. Saturday night as I can. And Dave, bless his heart is watching the kids so I can drool over a blood sucking dead guy - and he hasn't even made fun of me yet! What a hubby!

My two Ballerinas

I know I haven't blogged yet about Chicago! I've been waiting for the pictures from my sister since I forgot my camera and haven't gotten them yet...but let's just say I had a fantastic time and I'm considering going on a no children vacation every year!

So here are my two little ballerinas. Emma has always showed a natural dance ability. I started her out in ballet 2 years ago and she's loved it every since. In fact she loves it so much she is VERY serious about it! Even at 3 she would have nothing to do with the silliness of the other often older, children. She's very graceful and looks quite elegant when she's in her class. Then there's my dear sweet darling Claire. Claire is such a wonderful loving little girl. Is she as graceful as Emma? Well....let's just say she tries her heart out. At first I was a little skeptical when she asked to take ballet lessons. She's much more of an athlete I thought due to her need to wrestle with her sisters every day. But after the first few dances, I'm suprised to say she's doing quite well! She adores Miss Crystal and is having a lot of fun!

China here I come!!!

So my father-in-law surprised us this past Christmas and offered to take any adult back to China with them in May that wanted to go! Uh...yeah! We got the itinerary yesterday - it includes the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, the Temple of Heaven and other places in Beijing. I have to admit I'm a little scared - the only time I've been out of the country was to Canada! Is that a country? ;) We'll be gone from May 16th to the 25th - don't know if we can be gone that long with 3 children at home. Bless my family's hearts. They'll have them for at least a week! My sister Laura, and friend Crystal, have already asked for an empty suitcase so I can fill it with North Face I think? coats and such. Apparently you can get that stuff at 90 percent off.

15 days and counting until I'm in CHICAGO!!!

I am so excited that I get to visit my little sister in Chicago next month! She's lived there 1 1/2 years and I've never been able to visit - Hallie's been attached to the boob, actually still is but that's another story, and I didn't want to go with any children. So as a birthday present to me, my mom bought us tickets!!! 5 whole complete days free from responsibility! No cleaning (although I suppose I'll have to make my bed), no dinners to make, no "mom! can you wipe me!"'s. Freedom. Of course I realize that once I get there they're all I'll talk about!

Little Girls and Snow!!!

My girls have the cutest little friends that live around the corner. They're in the military and their time was up last month unless their father got into some type of medical program that would let them live here at least 2 more years. I was so happy when Emily told me that he got in and they're staying!!! Here's a few pictures of the girls and their friends when we had the big snow storm a couple weeks back.

Cookies and friends!

I like to create fun memories for my kids. It usually involves a lot of work mainly clean-up, but I'm happy to do it. I invited some friends and their kids over last month for a Christmas sugar cookie docorating day. The kids had a blast and I was sweeping up green sugar sprinkles for the next week!

Beautiful picture of Crystal :) and emma's B-day!!!

Well Emma turned 5 only about a month ago...oh well. We had just a family party this year with a you guessed it, fairy theme. The girls dressed up as fairies and we played pictionary with a fairy theme and then watched Tinkerbell. SUCH a darling movie! Earlier in the day Emma got to choose what we did and since Dave got the day off we went to see Madagascar 2 as a family. We don't do that often - in fact when asked what Emma wanted to do on her birthday her only request was a movie with the family and then McDonalds. Shows how much we do either of those things! It was a great day though and I actually got through it without too many tears...

Ahhh, and a beautiful pic of my friend that I promised her...

Public apology to Crystal

I hereby apologize for the oh so attractive picture of my friend (hopefully!) Crystal at my Halloween party. It was Halloween! You're supposed to look silly!!! Love ya my friend!