Happy Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving. Tyler's parents invited us over for a yummy dinner. Tyler's brother Ryan, brought his 2 dogs up from St. George. Lily instantly became best friends with the Pit Bull. She didn't leave her side the entire day or night. I couldn't quite make out what Lily was talking about, but she defiantly had a lot to tell her new friend. There was a time when Tyler's brother left for a while, and locked his dogs up while he was gone. Lily was devastated throwing numerous temper tantrums, and running around the house crying, "My doggie, where's my doggie?" We finally had unlock the dog, and I don't think I've ever seen Lily so happy to be reunited.

DIY Snowflake Garland

If you are looking to make some affordable winter and Christmas decorations, these snowflake Garlands (similar to my leaf garland) are very easy and inexpensive to make. CLICK HERE for my tutorial and to download my snowflake pattern. Feel free to share it with friends and family on your own blog.

An early Thanksgiving & some good news!

We celebrated Thanksgiving early tonight. As you can see by the gifts below, Trisha-Claus made an appearance at the festivities.

Ella and Cait had fun making and decorating ornaments.

Trisha-Claus gave all the girls cute matching silver skirts. Lily LOVED hers. She carried it around most of the night, until she got tired of carrying it around and finally just put it on.

Lily & Trisha

I couldn't get Lily to take her new skirt off tonight when I put her to bed... she insisted on wearing it to bed.

Speaking of bed and Thanksgiving. I am soooo thankful that my kids are officially sleeping through the night! YAY! They still have a night here and there where they have bad dreams or don't feel well, but for the most party they are sleeping! Not only are they sleeping through most nights, they are going to bed early and sleeping until morning. I know I keep going on and on about it, but I thought this day would never come. I just can't tell you how happy I am. Ella has always had a hard time sleeping for most of her life due to her high anxiety. She finally started sleeping better this Spring... but Lily was still not sleeping through the night. In fact, Lily refused to sleep most of this year, probably because she was teething? Sometimes I don't think she was really in pain though, she just wanted to play during the night. Then, this summer Ella stopped sleeping again as well, due to her case of Roundworm which made her cough all night & her tummy hurt. Well, we think & hope that Ella's roundworm is finally gone & Lily has most of her teeth now. So YAY! Now Tyler and I just need to teach ourselves how to sleep again. We are so used to being up all night for the past Five and a half years, that we have a hard time settling down at night.

Happy 88th Birthday to my Grandpa

I love listening to, and reading all about my grandpa’s life stories. There’s the time he wanted to trick his roommates by telling them a fugitive was hiding in their room... to his surprise there really was. (apparently this was a story he told about his dad... I was corrected.)

Once, when he was young he put a mouse in his teachers desk.

On his wedding day, with just 3 hours before he was to be married, he was flying a plane, trying to pass a test, and didn't know if he would make it to his wedding. He was in the air-force and could only get the day off if he passed his test. This was the only day the temple would be open for the rest of the year. Luckily he passed and was able to hitchhike a ride from an ambulance who turned on his red lights and and his siren so that my Grandpa could make it to the temple on time.

The stories are of course more interesting & detailed when my Grandpa tells them.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Proper utensils

Lily likes to use a fork & a spoon simultaneously to eat her soup.

Here is a picture of her enjoying a bowl of Cheerios. She does not use a spoon nor a fork, but rather a red pen.

Sponge-bob vs. Dogs

In case you haven't heard yet, Lily loves Sponge-bob. She also loves dogs. Which is why I was planning a very cute & inexpensive dog themed birthday party for her. When I asked Lily if she wanted to have a dog birthday party, I expected for her to tell me yes. She didn't, she told me "Bum-bob" [Sponge-bob]. I should have seen it coming by the way she talks about him day & night and by the way she looks so lovingly at him as we pass by his merchandise at Target. So here's my dilemma: Do I go ahead with the cute (and inexpensive) dog themed party I was planning? or do I let Lily have her way and splurge on Sponge-bob plates, cups, & a cake? I try to let my girls choose things for themselves. Sometimes it's hard when I see a cute skirt that I'd love to buy for Ella, but instead she chooses the ugliest piece of clothing available. I really have a hard time spending my money on something I don't necessarily like. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Lily had chosen Strawberry Shortcake or Minnie Mouse... but Sponge-bob? Have you heard him laugh? I know, I'm pretty silly for calling this a dilemma, but we are on a tight budget so spending so much extra money on something I don't like has become a trivial but difficult decision for me. What would you do? Spend extra money on something you don't like to make Lily happy? or have an inexpensive dog party, and hope she likes it just as much?

How do you spell Awesome?

Tyler: How was your party at Katie's house?
Ella: Um, what does Aww (pause) ssss (pause) and um spell?
Tyler: What?
Ella: What does Aww (pause) ssss (pause) & um spell?
Tyler: Awesome?
Ella: Isn't that the coolest word?

Obviously she LOVED the party, thanks for inviting her Jami.

Finally

We finally have a hole! We bought our lot 3 years, 4 months ago... it's taken way too long for us to get to this point, but after a ton of hard work (mostly done by Tyler) we finally have a hole. It's actually a miracle that we were able to get a construction loan since we are self employed & the owner/builders, so we feel quite lucky. Hopefully the rest of the house building process goes faster. We hope to do footings early next week, then we just need our permit from the city so that we can pour our foundation.

Ella to Mom

Ella: Mom, I drew a cute picture for you. Is that nice of me?
Me: Thanks Ella! I think?

Ella draws pictures for me all the time. I'm not sure if I should be grateful for them or scared. I am being eaten by an Alligator in the picture above. Do you see the blood coming from my body into the Alligators stomach? According to Ella the things in the alligators stomach are my bones.



Ella: How do you spell Blue?
Tyler: B L U E
Ella: How do you spell Bear?
Tyler: B E A R
Ella: How do you spell Blueberry?

Autumn Leaf Garland Tutorial

*Just Fixed the links below.

1: Click Here to download my Leaves Pattern PDF file.
2: Print the file, then cut out the leaves.

3: Trace Leaf shapes onto felt. I chose felt in 4 different fall colors. I used a white pencil to trace the leaves onto the dark felt colors.

4: Cut leaf shapes out of felt.

5: Using an embroidery floss, stitch the leaf veins onto each leaf.
I used a gold colored floss which I thought was a little thick, so I pulled 3 strands out of the floss to make it easier to stitch. You could save some time, and use a gold glitter glue or fabric paint to make the leaf veins instead.

6: Decide how you want to place your leaves.
7: stitch leaves to a rick rack or ribbon.

8: Hang your new Thanksgiving garland and enjoy!