Holidays

I love holidays.  All holidays, especially the small ones.  Yesterday was Dr. Suess day, unless you teach school of have a child in school, I bet you didn't know that.  Dr. Suess day is one of my favorite days though.  Every year we have green eggs and ham, and this year we added in some thing one and thing two cupcakes.

I guess the reason I like the small holidays so much is that I like any excuse to bake and do fun stuff with my kids.  And I really like making food fun.  The other day I made a cake for dinner.  I made the meat loaf in two round cake pans and frosted it in mashed potatoes.  The kids were so excited that we were having cake for dinner, and they loved how fun it was even when it turned out to be real food and not chocolate cake.

So anyway, Dr. Suess day was a lot of fun, we had green eggs and ham for dinner, we made thing cupcakes together, and we read Dr. Suess books all day long.  It was a lot of fun to take some of the cupcakes to our friends too.  They didn't know it was Dr. Suess day... their kids did though.  :)  I must be a kid still.  Now I am looking forward to Pi day.  Should I make a square pie?
I hope that my kids look back on all my silly little holiday traditions with fondness.  I hope that the heart shaped pancakes, thing cupcakes, meat loaf cakes, and candles in all their food on birthday are good memories for them.

The best date ever!

Valentine's Day was seriously hectic for John, more so then usual. He had to work until 10:00 pm, he had a huge project due the next day, and also a huge meeting with one of the College Dean's all looming. So we did something with the kids Sunday night and decided to move our date to another day. John had President's Day off and so we chose President's Day. The kids and I were really looking forward to having a day, a WHOLE day with daddy home. When he gets home at 10 pm every night they don't get much time with me, neither do I. To start out the day we all had breakfast together, Glen made daddy a pancake all by himself. Then John went shopping and I did a bit of house work. We met at John's mom's house at noon where his sister and mother would watch the kids. John took me to the restaurant we went to on our first date and gave me a yellow rose. Then he took me to a book store and told me to pick out tow books. I immediately picked out Jane Austen's complete novels in leather bound, beautiful isn't it? And looked around trying to decide between a dictionary or another classic novel. John brought me a white rose and I decided on another classic novel, The Inheritance, by Louisa May Alcott. (The dictionary I wanted was a lot of money) Then it was on to the movie. He knew I had been wanting to see Tangled with him and so that is the movie he took me too. There he gave me a red rose. Yellow, white, and red, are the color of roses he gave me the day he proposed. After the movie we went swimming with the boys. We all had so much fun. After we got home he gave me the itunes gift card. He knows how much I love music and especially itunes so I can get the song I want and not the whole CD. The whole date was a surprise and I loved every minute of it. Especially sharing a milk shake at lunch. I love how well my husband loves me and how hard he works to help me feel loved. He is such a wonderful man and I feel so blessed. Now I just need to finish the two books I am reading and then I can start on my new books...

Lipstick, and snow men, and other cuteness

First of all I have to tell you the lipstick story. It's my own fault really. It was quiet time and so I decided to lay down for a few minutes, which is all it took for trouble to find my make up. Trouble version 1, Glen, found my make-up case and set to work with his new colors. He used my lipstick and mascara to paint his baby boy doll, his rocking horse, the walls, shoe shelf, carpet, and himself from head to toe. I was so shacked that I wasn't even upset, but I am glad I had the presence of mind to take plenty of pictures. Glen sure had fun. Oh and just a side note, apparently he only likes the dark colors, because he left all the light colored makeup alone.

After the "Blizzard" Glen begged me to take him out to play in the snow. So we got his "Snow boy" suit on and

went to build snowmen. Glen sure did have fun in the snow. He loves it. And I am so glad that his grandma gave him a snow suit last year so he can go play in the snow and still stay warm and dry. Glen tried to eat the snow and discovered that it feels cold and tastes cold. Some one gave me a great idea to put food coloring in a spray bottle and let him spray the snow, so I did and he loved that more then anything.

We decorated our Christmas tree tonight. It was wonderful. This is the first year that Glen and Benjamin have been able to help me. Glen helped put on a few ornaments and the gifts to Christ. He also helped daddy put the Angel Moroni on top of the tree. Glen favorite part was all the pictures of Jesus and the Angel Moroni on top. He loves Jesus and angels and wont hesitate to tell you that Jesus came to America and there were angels. (His favorite Book of Mormon story from 3rd Nephi 17:24) This year the boys got special ornament. Glen got a sea horse since he is crazy about horses and going to the aquarium. And Benjamin got one that looked like a gift tag and said smile because I cherish his smiles so much.

Benjamin, my sweet smiley boy, loves hats. He will put one on, take it off. For quite awhile he will do that on again and off again game. Then he will bring it to me so I can play and he takes it off so I can put it on. He also likes to put hats on other people. I just love this picture of him. He is holding the hat, so cute and smiling his sweet little smile that I love so much. I just can't get enough of his smiles

Happy Valentine's Day

How to make rice crispy treats.

Step #1 melt the butter and marshmallows together.

Step #2 Pour in the cereal

Step #3 Mix the cereal and the marshmallows

(oooh, yummy)

Step #4 Enjoy the fruits (or in this case, the treats) of your labor.

This year for Valentine's Day we made crispy kisses. We made rice crispy treats and then used a small lightly oiled funnel to shape the treats. After they had cooled I wrapped them in foil and taped a strip of paper with Glen's name on it to the top. They looked like large Hershey's kisses and were a hit.

New Christams Traditions

This year John and I started a few family traditions. I wanted to take an angel from the Angel tree to have the opportunity to help others, we were going to start this tradition next year, but somebody dropped a jar of money off on our doorstep that allowed us to start this year. This year we chose a little boy age 2 and went shopping. It is easier for me to shop for little boys since I have two myself. After a stop at kid to kid and Wal-mart we had gotten what this little boy needed and a few things he wanted. I felt good being able to serve another and I am grateful for the money that allowed us to do so.

This year I wanted to wrap gifts in newspaper to save a bit of money. That is how it started anyway. Glen had so much fun coloring the paper for the gifts that I want to do it again next year. I think this tradition will continue while my kids are small, and maybe longer. I want to get plain paper next year so the pictures are clearer. To tell the truth I had fun coloring the wrapping paper with Glen.

Merry Christmas (yes I still say Christmas)

Halloween

After we went Trick or Treating we headed to Grandma's house. All the way there Glen asked for a treat. When we got to Grandma's house he ran off and found his treat. He had found an apple. Yay for healthy treats. Glen is a turtle, he didn't like the mask se he just had his shell. He had so much fun trick or treating.
Benjamin was a tiger this year. He got to wear Glen's costume from last year and it was pretty big on him. I called him the saggy baggy tiger. I love his little nose and whiskers, they are so cute.

John was a zombie we spent a lot of time getting his outfit properly ripped and dirty. He was pretty dirty and smelly by the end. His favorite part was the brain flag. If you aren't geek enough to know he is a zombie from the game "Plants vs Zombies" one of his new favorite games. Here John is trying to eat his friend James's brains, some friend ;)

I surprised John with my costume. I put on his USSSA umpire uniform and trick or treated as John. Most people couldn't tell who or what I was, it was mostly to make John smile, which it did.

We had a great time dressing up and going around the neighborhood as a family. I am glad that Glen prefers apples over candy and that he had fun. He was even saying trick or treat by the end of the night.

Pioneer Day parade

Yes, I still call it Pioneer day. I'm so not into the whole politically correct thing, politics are dumb anyway.
So Friday we all got up early to go to the Pioneer Day parade.
I know it's blurry, I tried getting him when he was on the run.
Glen sat on Daddy's shoulders for a bit so he could see better.

His favorite part was the bands, but he liked the float with the dogs from the humane society, and the floats with girls in pretty dresses. Grandma says he is just like his dad.
"Gee mom, there sure are a lot of pretty girls here." -John on his first day of kindergarten =D

Hooray for pretty girls!

Glen was so tired after the parade he fell asleep in the car, how cute is that, using his hand as a pillow. I couldn't resist.

Glen wants to tell you about the parade.