Sunday Pictures

I decided to take a couple of pictures of the kids before church today. Some were more cooperative than others.

Yes, Avery has our family's second "black"eye. She and Jett were dancing a little too rough and a rather aggressive spin move ended badly. She actually hit her nose, which turned the whole bridge of her nose green and now its a lovely shade of yellowish-gold. Compliments her outfit quite nicely.

all of my kids have eye lashes that would make any latisse user jealous!

The girls are my living dolls. I LOVE church. I tell them that all week long, I let them pick out what they want to wear. Sunday is MY day to dress them. Today was a gold theme. They each got their hair curled....love doing that also. And then I let them pick out jewelry and perfume. I think they are the only 3 and 5 year old that wear dangley earrings to church!

my handsome oldest boy....was NOT into getting his picture taken. Kept saying "This is so lame, mom."

"Y" cake

Duce had his BLUE and GOLD scout banquet on Wednesday. It is the 100th birthday of the scouting program, so the boys were in charge of decorating a cake with their dads. While at school Tuesday, Duce sketched out exactly what he wanted his cake to look like. He wanted chocolate and strawberry layers (so that is what is under the frosting) and a big Y on the front, decorated with chocolate chips. It turned out pretty good! He now wants a Y cake for his birthday, but with a picture of Tyler on it, too....hmmm...we'll see.

FINISHED

Last night, I finished the girls Easter dresses

....now on to a hair bow or something...I must MUST do more floweres!

My first official dress

I have always been envious of my mother and her amazing seamstress abilities. Even my little sister Leah has turned into quite an amazing sewer. (she's even made a few wedding dresses!) I look at other people's blogs where they showcase their crafty talents and I long to be able to do even a fraction of what they can.....and then yesterday....I was cleaning out some old storage bins in our basement and I came across about 135 yards of fabric that my mother bought for my wedding. Only my little niece Laken actually got a dress made out of it. The rest has been neatly packed away for the last (almost) 10 years. So I decided to do something with it. I decided to make my girls their Easter dresses. I don't like tooting my own horn but TOOT TOOT TOOT! Now, don't examine the seams too closely. It's certainly not perfect, but as close to it as I've ever gotten. I made Avery's dress over the weekend from a modified pattern I came across. Then I added the flower collar, which is my FAVORITE part. seriously...couldn't be more pleased with it.

Valentine's Dinner at Home

OUR VALENTINE'S DINNER at HOME (yes, Tee is wearing a pink skirt. He insisted...demaded to put it on)

This was the star of the evening... COCONUT SHRIMP with PINA COLODA dipping sauce. Shanda did a great job "butterflying" the shrimp.

Along with the shrimp. we had wings, broccoli, and salad. All the kids have mustaches from their crystal light drinks! Avery and Jett liked the wings, but passed on the shrimp (whose kids are those??) Duce at a man's portion of everything. Josie started off just eating the batter off the shrimp and then realized she actually liked the shrimp. Tee only ate his broccoli. He missed his nap today, so he went to bed before dinner was actually over.

The love of my life and my one and only VALENTINE!!! (he told me to sit my pregnant self down, and he did the dishes!)

Now these two...this was take 127...they just could not get a normal looking kissing picture! All the kissing was not missed by the kids, who were screaming in the family room "KISSY KISSY....OOH they're KISSING!"

The kids enjoying their dessert. I made this last year. DELICIOUS! A puff pastry bundle with chocolate bar/kisses inside topped with fresh whipped cream and chocolate ganache! I also made these little jello-y trifle-y cup things, but we were all too stuffed to eat them, so they will be saved for another night this week.

Family Valetine's Dinner Out

Our local Applebee's gives you one free kids meal for every canned food you bring in...BARGAIN for our family. I sort of feel guilty about getting so many meals for free, so I brought in extra cans. On Friday night, we took the kids out for our little family Valentine's dinner.

The kids really were so well behaved. We even had a woman come up to us and compliment us on our kids! (she caught us on a good night!)

Jett was loving his lemonade, so he thought he would love my lemon....guess not!

Valentine's presents

My church bag is littered with tiny notebooks, mini scriptures, and pencils. I'd like to carry just my stuff, for once. I've had these little canvas totes for awhile. The kids took them occasionally, but everyone was always grabbing the wrong one...plus they seemed to plain. So I searched around for a simple fix and came across this cute raw edged applique idea. So for Valentine's day, I added these onto the kids totes (in their favorite colors), so they can tell whose is whose. I hadn't planned on making one for Tee, but he saw what I was doing and immediately hooked one on to his arm and trotted off, so I figured he should get one, too. I'm going to put little notebooks and pens, along with some candy to give to the kids.

black eye and big belly

ATTENTION: It's taken 8 1/2 years of child rearing, and we finally have our first official black eye. Josie and Jett were rough housing and Jett manage to hit her in the eye with his head. Who would've thought that my Jo Jo would have been the first to get a shiner.
Josie stuffed a football under her shirt and said, "Look, mom. My belly is big like yours."

another snow storm, another day in the snow

MORE FUN IN THE SNOW

Duce and Jett working hard to carve out their igloo

Teeter Totter

Ahh....nothing like a good old fashion snow ball fight!

Jett abandoned his snowman, so Avery took over and decorated him.

Tee turns TWO!

TeE TuRnS TwO!!

Josie, Tee, and Avery helped me decorate chocolate cupcakes for Tee's birthday. Once the sprinkles were all applied, they took turns licking the leftover sprinkles off the plate....and yes Tee is wearing a pink dress. When he woke up this morning, he asked to put it on. Actually, he demanded to put it on, so I obliged the birthday boy.

There is a big snowstorm slamming our part of the country, so we've been snowed in all day. But Tee didn't mind. Having the kids and Tyler home all day from school and work on his birthday was just fine by him.

"Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Tee. Happy Birthday to you."

Last night, we went to Wal-Mart to let the kids pick out a toy for Tee. We found this little plush riding horse and it was love at first ride! We put it in the cart and he rode it the whole time we were at the store. I thought he was young enough that once we got in the car, at it was out of sight, he would forget and I could wrap it up for him to open on his birthday. Boy, was I wrong. As soon as he got out of his car seat, he ran right to the back of the van, demanding his horse back...so he got an early present.

IN ACTION!