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Friday, January 28, 2011

4th Birthday!


Happy 4th Birthday Breanna! You are such an awesome daughter, sister and friend! We love you and are so happy you're in our family.

At 4 years old Breanna:

-Can write her name
-Is working on her numbers and ABC's
-Likes basketball, soccer, football, playing tag, chase, riding her bike (with training wheels on).
-Likes Diego, Dora, Backyardigans
-Likes dinosaurs a lot lately
-Loves to paint, work on preschool worksheets, doesn't really like coloring unless someone else is doing it with her.
-Likes to trace
-Started volunteering to say prayers at meal times, family prayer and even in Sunbeams at church!
-Loves listening to the radio in the car
-Very important to know that she's big and getting bigger all the time, when she eats healthy food.
-Loves her brother SOOOO much. Always touching him, she wants to hold his hand, touch his hair, push him in the right direction, get on his nerves, etc.
-Wants to be in charge
-Always wants to win the race, be first, etc.
-Sings bedtime songs with me at night and tries to rub Ethan's hair or tickle him, like I do for her during songs.
-Sometimes closes her eyes during prayers, sometimes rolls around the room or hops around while praying.
-Loves getting notes from her Grammy on the dry erase board
-Tries to come up with silly names, Grammy says, "See you later alligator", breanna says, "bye crayon" to Grammy.
-Doesn't like to talk to many people, pretty shy unless she knows you and wants to talk to you.
-I persuade her to say hello, goodbye, or just anything polite, doesn't work all the time.


I'm really tired and need to go to bed, this is what I can think of now, but I'll have to post more later for our journal :)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Stickers

Every morning Breanna and Ethan play with each other for on average 20-30 minutes before they start screaming MOMMY, DADDY, MOMMY, MOMMY, DADDY, to let us know they're awake.

This is what they did the other morning...


Monday, January 24, 2011

Happy New Year

Our New Year's Eve consisted of going to bed VERY early, but.....

The kids and I made New Year's Eve crowns and shakers during the day. Before we put the kids to bed we watched pretty awesome fireworks in London on YouTube, did the countdown and yelled, "Happy New Year's" while they shook the noisemakers.

They thought it was a pretty awesome party....I'm so glad young kids have NO expectations yet, they think anything you do is pretty cool :)

PS- Breanna has lately been doing this cheesy smile literally when we take a pic they say cheese and her real smile turns really cheesey! It'll make you smile :)



Monday, January 17, 2011

Western Stock Show - "Super Dogs"



Getting ready to go to "Super Dogs" show at the Western Stock Show with Grammy and Grampy. She found everything that she could to look like a Cowgirl :)

Ethan wanted to be like big sister and dress up too! What a cute cowboy!


Saturday, January 15, 2011

Cool Cat


Ethan and Breanna were babysat by my sister Monica a couple weeks ago. Uncle Jeremias gave Ethan a "present" that he and Breanna fought over the rest of the day....a Bandana.

Ethan looked so hilarious and cute with it on. He didn't want it off either...he would pat his head and cry if it was off.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Great Idea - Got this from another persons blog.....

ROB DON'T READ THIS!!!!!!!!!





I'm excited to try this out!!! Rob and my first date was on Valentines Day in 2004....WOW!! So, that's 7 years ago on this V-day!! Since, we both FORGOT our own WEDDING anniversary this year, maybe I can take the lead and shower him with love and fun for our other anniversary! So, the rest of the post is copied from other blogs with this idea, but if you haven't heard of this (I hadn't), then I thought I'd share it with anyone else interested! If you're going to try it let me know and tell me how it goes! I will let you know how it goes for us!





14 days of valentine’s....... (GOT THIS FROM http://www.onelovelylife.com)

"If you’ve never heard of it before, the 14 Days of Valentine’s is.... Basically, from February 1st through the 14th, you come up with a small act of service, small present, or token of love to give to the person you love. The goal is completely selfless giving with NO expectation of reciprocation. So often, you can completely surprise the other person who isn’t expecting 14 Days’ worth of love and presents. You want nothing more than to make the other person feel loved, cared about, and appreciated. None of it needs to be expensive or over-the-top, though you can take it as modestly or as extravagantly as your budget and desire dictate.

WHAT THE 14 DAYS OF VALENTINES ARE NOT:

1. This is not a vehicle for you to dump guilt on your Mr. Wonderful if he is not the romantic type. If you are a guilt-dumper, change your ways or your are not allowed to play.

2. This is not a contest. There is no competition to see who comes up with the best ideas. All ideas are free for the taking. In fact, I encourage the sharing and taking of ideas. Your only prize will be a deliriously happy Mr. Wonderful (or Mrs./Miss....you get the idea).

3. This is not a build up for gifts. Do not expect a gift. This is for you to completely shower your Love with pure love. Completely selfless. You do not automatically deserve jewelry for doing this.



For starters, about half the people I know that do this try to incorporate the number of the day into the gift (i.e. TEN fingers to give you a massage, Dinner for the TWO of us, SIX ways to say ‘I love you,’ etc.) I’ll leave the clever wording up to you, but here are some ideas to get you started…

Love notes and tokens:

A handmade, old-fashioned valentine *bonus points for using doilies
A small container of “things I love about you”
A handwitten note or poem
A small booklet made with some of your favorite memories together
Hearts decorated with “I love you” in different languages posted all over
Homemade Valentine’s crossword puzzle (make your own here)
A valentine’s playlist for their iPod (you could match the number of songs to the date)
Gifts or Presents:

Everything for a movie night in or out (popcorn, a DVD, tickets, movie treats)
A date to get their favorite treat out (gelato, bakery treats, etc.)
Hot chocolate (you can even include heart-shaped marshmallows)
Bubble bath or Massage lotion
A favorite Valentine’s candy
Framed picture of you or your family for their desk
A book or photo album
Homemade coupon for something they need or want (Let’s go pick up ____ )
Acts of Service:

Shoulder rub or foot massage
Making the bed
Packing a special lunch (bonus points for heart-shaped things)
Cleaning up a bedroom, closet, or rooms around the house
Taking care of a nagging errand/task the other person has been meaning to (or needing to) get to
Polish their shoes
Changing a habit (I know one friend who promised to turn the lights off when she left the room for a week–her husband was so grateful)
Homemade Food and Treats (I could go on forever here):

Brownies, cookies, or other treat cut into heart shapes
Molten lava cakes
A cherry (or other) pie decorated for the occasion
Heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast
A favorite or indulgent food you don’t eat often, served for dinner
A special Valentine’s dinner (always my day 14 present) *bonus points if you include candles and something nice to drink

Here is a link for more ideas: http://scarehaircare.blogspot.com/2009/01/14-days-of-valentines.html#links

(THESE ARE IDEAS FROM THE ABOVE BLOG:
Feb 1 - You Have My One Heart - heart shaped chocolates (Dove) in cute red/pink/white takeout box. Heart decoration over his mirror. Box and decoration for $1 each at Target.

Feb 2- For just the Two of Us - invitation in calligraphy on nice card stock to my homemade valentine dinner. Include menu and two candles, and bottle of sparkly.

Feb 3 - The Three necessities for our next date night - 2 movie tix and a box of Red Vines.

Feb 4 - Four Beautiful Children (and one cute wife)- head shots of the kids and me taped to the inside of his windshield. I might even write with lipstick on his windshield

Feb 5 - Five (x2) fingers - massage lotion from Bath & Bodyworks

Feb 6 - Six candy bars in a candy gram - things like Big Hunk, Twix, Sugar Daddy etc. No, I am NOT telling you what I am writing!

Feb 7 - Seven freshly made orange or cinnamon rolls. Hide the rest for later.

Feb 8 - I'll love you for Eternity (Eight on its side). This will be a home made Valentine card.

Feb 9 - Nine Items for Breakfast in Bed - 3 egg omelet with spinach, mushrooms and feta (that makes 6), sourdough toast (7), orange juice (8), broiled fresh pineapple (9)

Feb 10 - 10 - Ten Things I Love About You written on beautiful card stock and propped on his pillow to find when he gets home

Feb 11 - Eleven Reasons we are grateful for our dad and husband Family Home Evening. The kids will be involved with this one. I'll let them run with their imaginations and each come up with something.

Feb 12 - Twelve Hugs and Twelve Kisses. Hershey's Hugs and Kisses (12 each!) in another cute little takeout container. DH shares all chocolates with the kids. As long as it isn't dark chocolate, I have no problem abstaining.

Feb 13 - Thirteen Ways To Say I Love You on Post-It Notes. Start researching languages now. Make sure you write down what language it is. If your DH speaks a foreign language, be sure to include that one in the thirteen languages. Be silly and go for pig latin. Be creative with drawings of ASL signs. Write it Korean/Chinese/Japanese if you know the calligraphy.

Feb 14 - A letter expressing how much I love him and a note to remind him to meet me for dinner at a certain time.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Thinking of Having Kids? Do this 11 step program first...

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.


2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.


3. Go home.


4. Pick up the paper.


5. Read it for the last time.



Lesson 2 - Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...



1. Methods of discipline.


2. Lack of patience.


3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.


4. Allowing their children to run wild.


5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.



Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.



Lesson 3 - A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...



1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)


2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.


3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.


4. Set the alarm for 3AM.


5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.


6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.


7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.


8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.


9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)


Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.



Lesson 4 - Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out...


1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.


2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.


3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.


4. Then rub them on the clean walls.


5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.


6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?



Lesson 5 -Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.



1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.


2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.



Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6 -Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.


Leave it there.


2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.


3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.


4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.



Lesson 7


Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.



Lesson 8



1. Hollow out a melon.


2. Make a small hole in the side.


3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.


4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.


5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.


6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.



You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.



Lesson 9


Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.



Lesson 10
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.



Lesson 11


Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.










PS- I love my kids.....but thought this was HILARIOUS!!