My baby is 2????

My baby turned 2 on Friday (where does the time go). We started out the evening with some dinner at Red Robyn. I am pretty sure they have the best fries. Carter was begging us to have the people sing to her, but we thought they would scare her, plus what's the point of having them sing to a 2 year-old? We then went home for a little party. My parents, Todd and Liz's family, and Karen and Natalie came over for the festivities.

Carter and Ryan at dinner.
Spencer at dinner.

The Birthday Girl at dinner.

I am totally digging the cupcake cakes from Walmart! How easy is to hand a kid a cupcake?! Love it!

Of course Carter had to make his way into the picture.

She got a "Build-a-Monkey" from Aunt Karen and Natalie.

Her annual tea set from my mom.

I just love to look of determination on her face in this picture.

March 20th

What a day March 20th has turned out to be! It's the 1st Day of Spring! (plus 70 degrees! Yea!) It's Cora's Birthday! And, It's Jeannie's Birthday! SO Happy Birthday, Ladies!

Next... Yesterday we had the pleasure of having the Olsen's stay with us on their way to Othello, WA. We all were in heaven! I couldn't figure out who was the happiest, because we all had an extra spring in our step.

We also got to spend Reece's birthday with him! Jeannie has been telling me how he has been planning a surprise party for himself for the last two months. We couldn't let him down! So Jeannie and Kyle dropped Hayden and Riley off first and then drove around the block while we hid. He then came in and we all jumped up and yelled, "SURPRISE!" We then had some dinner, cake and ice cream and then presents! I hope our little, thrown together party lived up to his expectations.

Here is the Birthday Boy when we yelled surprise! ( Look what good parents he has!)

I loved how embarrassed, yet happy he was.

A little birthday cake! That's what she said!(the t.v. in the background)

Cora and her new favorite, Riley!

A special salute on your birthday!

It's a Boy!

We got a dog today! I found this cute little guy on Pet-Finder. Pet-Finder shows you pictures of dogs, cats and other pets that are up for adoption all over the country. He happened to be in Pocatello (a little bit of a jaunt) but, lucky for us, Ryan works there once a week. We called the shelter and they held this cute little guy for us until Ryan could make it over there. They think that he is a Maltese/Poodle mix and a couple years old. He is awesome! He's already house trained and sweet natured. He doesn't bark, chew or jump up on people. He seriously could be my dream dog. We decided to name him Pokey, since we got him in Pocatello.

Welcome to the family, Pokey!

My Newest Project

This is a continuation of last week's project. When I purchased the place mats at Walmart, they came with these "dish towels". I put the dish towels in quotes because they were too square to be dishtowels. After I made the purses, I was looking around on-line to find a pattern to make an apron and found directions on how to make an apron out of a cloth napkin. The towel was a little smaller, but worked. So, here is the finished product...
Here is the Napkin, before...And, after...


Liz was over here yesterday and we made another purse. Here are some pictures of the process if you didn't understand the written directions below. I'm a visual person, so here are some visual instructions.









If you want directions on how to make a napkin apron, click here. She has a few different aprons you can make. I liked the bigger sash from a different apron, so I combined two different aprons to make mine. Happy Sewing!!!!

'Tis Wonderful, 'Tis Fabulous

We made these cute "Place Mat Bags" last year for an Enrichment Activity. I have been wanting to make another one and finally did. These two place mats came together as a deal, so I made two. I will use one for Cora's stuff when she goes to someones house to be babysat and the other I am giving to my niece Julia. I decided that there would have to be something to tell them apart, so I found these little tags that can go onto presents to make the bags different. You could use these bags as a purse, diaper bag, scripture tote, gift bag and so on and so on.

If you haven't made these before and can't wait to make one of your own, here's how:

1. Purchase a place mat that you like and 2 yards of coordinating ribbon.


2. lay the place mat flat horizontally


3. to pin on the ribbon: place the end of the ribbon in the center of the place mat, roughly on the top third. Pin it there and then run it straight to the end of the place mat and pin it there. Lay out the rest of the ribbon leaving room for the handles. The ribbon should loop around and end up overlapping where it started.


4. Sew the ribbon on. When you start at the the end, sew and reverse it a few times to make the connection stronger and then sew to the end. Once at the end, sew and reverse it a few times as well.


5. Once the ribbon is sewn on, fold the place mat in half inside-out so the handles meet up. Sew each edge.


6. If you would like to be done, you could turn it right-side out and be done or you could do one more step to give it a little dimension.


7. While still inside-out, you can pull out each bottom corner to look like a triangle and sew a straight line 1 inch in. Repeat on the other side. This will give the bag a base.


8. Turn the bag right-side-out and you are done!
   

I did both of these in less than an hour. So, it's an quick, easy and inexpensive project. Have fun!

I thought this was a pretty good parody of Twilight. It's a bit long (9 minutes) but worth it. They put a lot of work into it. I also love the song they chose, it's a good fit for Edward and his "mood swings". Anyway... Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day! (I guess)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am a little sad because I can't spend the day with my Valentine. He had to work in Sun Valley this weekend. I was going to drive up there with the kids today and meet him, but the roads are "difficult" (that is the word the web sight uses for the worst driving conditions). I just didn't think it would be worth the drive for one night, so I stayed home. As a result, I thought it would be fun to make the kids a fun Valentine's breakfast.

Here is their heart shaped breakfast. If you close your left eye, turn around three times, chant "Valentine's Day" twice and squint your right eye, you will be able to see that the eggs were supposed to be shaped like a heart as well.It was a Webkinz kind of day. They each got one from my mom and one from us. I don't know all of their names, but I am pretty sure that they are something original like Hearts or Hedgy. I do know that the bear and dinosaur have a little originality to their names. The bear is Forest and the dinosaur is Cocoa.