Homemade Valentine's

With Ella's birthday so close to Valentine's Day, I had to get the valentine's Day cards finished early, so I could focus on Ella's birthday party preparations.

This year we did too different valentine's day cards. Hannah is taking the ipods to school to pass out and Ella is take the suckers.

Here is where I got the idea for the ipods. And here is where I got the idea for the suckers.

And if you want to download a page with 12 of the ipod dial and menu all on one sheet. Click here.

Our Favorite Place

We went to Disneyland last weekend. Our favorite time to go is in September and January. The crowds are light and the weather is usually great. This time was no exception. It was sunny and 75 degrees. So, beautiful. Although the nights still can get really cold. Here are a few pictures of our trip. Not much to share as far as exciting events or moments, but Disneyland is still Disneyland and we love it there!

Oh, one moment I do have to capture. We were watching World of Color and after the show we were waiting for the crowds to leave. We were right by the water and Chris told Hannah to look over the edge of the railing and she dropped her stuffed unicorn into the lagoon. She went hysterical.... really hysterical. Now, I have to tell you. This is a little purple and white unicorn that she got from a McDonalds Happy Meal a year ago. For the past 4 months, she has been sneaking this unicorn to school with her in her coat pocket. She has become very attached to it and so when she dropped it... it was all over. She had lost her friend.

I on the other hand was so shocked and taken back by her reaction that I just hugged her and laughed. It was crazy how she reacted and just unconsolable. I tried so hard not to laugh, but I was trying to not look at her so she couldn't see my insensitivity. Finally, I was able to reason with her and told her I would look for it on ebay and maybe I could get her another one. This calmed Hannah down and made her come to her senses.

I wouldn't normally do this (say if her sister and her were fighting or goofying around and she dropped it), but it was a 100% accident and with her reaction, I could tell she really cared. So, I looked on ebay and lo and behond... someone was selling this exact McDonalds Happy Meal unicorn from a year ago. As a side thought.... this is why I love ebay, you can find anything and I mean anything.

One Board Down

Awhile back, i posted about the pin board I made for all our Disney pins we have been collecting from all our trips to Disneyland. Well, after a year, we have finally filled the board up and I had to make another one. We have one board filled and our working on the second.

The older the kids get (and the more obsessed with trading my husband gets), we are starting to collect a greater amount of pins each time we go to Disneyland. It used to be that we kept 3-5 pins for the board. Now, we are putting 20-30 pins on the board at a time.

I have to say, these boards are one of our favorite things in our house. They represent family memories, happiness, togetherness and entertainment (both past and present....(the girls love to look at them and find the hidden mickeys are find their favorite princess). I am not sure what we will do with all these pins, but they definitely will be around for a long time. We just love them!

Sick Little Girl

The week after we got back from our vacation to Utah (the week after Christmas), poor little Ella got sick with a killer bug. She slept for 2 days straight. I mean she was awake for 2 hours a day (not consecutively) each day. She just slept and slept and slept and when she wasn't sleeping, she was throwing up. I felt so bad for her. She definitely was not her self. I had to capture this picture of her with her "best friend" her duck. This duck by the way has been with her since the day she was born. So, cute even if she is sick as a dog.

Activity Days - 13th Article of Faith

I got this idea from someone that emailed me about any ideas I might have based on the 13th Article of Faith. I didn't have anything for her, but she shared with me she was going to do a scavenger hunt based on "seeking" for things. I thought... that sounds like a great idea, so I took her idea and came up with this activity,

To start off, we talked about the 13th Article of Faith especially that last portion about seeking after good things. I told the girls they were going to go on a scavenger hunt and seek for clues. I hid the following clues around the church building. I would give a clue and have the girls go find the envelope I had hidden and bring me back the envelope. The envelope had another clue about one thing the girls should be seeking for. They guessed what it was and then we would discuss that item for fully. Each time the girls participated, I throw them candy (which really got everyone to participate and it became a GREAT activity.

here are the clues:

1) To find where the envelope is hidden "seek for me by some keys". (piano)
Inside the envelope the clue was "You do this at the beginning and the end of each sacrament meeting."
ANSWER: Seek after good music.
DISCUSS: what type of music we should listen to and what types we should avoid.

2) To find where this envelope is hidden "seek for me where you can "check me out" (library)
inside the envelope the clue was "I should make you a better person when you turn my pages."
ANSWER: Seek after good books
DISCUSS: what type of books we should read and which ones might not be appropriate or good for us.

3)To find where this envelope is hidden "seek for me on the wall" (artwork)
inside the envelope the clue was "I am made up of brushes and strokes. I am pretty to look at."
ANSWER: Seek after art and cultural activities
DISCUSS: what how art and cultural activities can strengthen our spirit and uplift us

4) To find where this envelope is hidden "see for me where girls go in two's" (I put a "Friend" magazine with the envelope in the girls bathroom)
inside the envelope the clue was "These people should uplift you and make you a better person."
ANSWER: Seek after good friends.
DISCUSS: what types of friends we should associate with.

5) To find where this envelope is hidden "seek for me where it is cold." (freezer in the kitchen)
inside the envelope the clue was "not only do I taste good, but I am good for you."
ANSWER: Seek after good food (and drinks)
DISCUSS: the word of wisdom and healthy eating.

6) To find where this envelope is hidden "seek for me near a "basket" (by a basketball hoop in the cultural hall)
inside the envelope the clue was "I can make you fit, make you laugh, make you friends and make you learn"
ANSWER: Seek after good activities
DISCUSS: how we should be engaged in good activities and what those might be.

7) To find where this envelope is hidden "seek for me where i can make you loud" (microphone)
inside the envelope the clue was "I come out of your mouth and are nice to hear."
ANSWER: Seek after good language.
DISCUSS: what good language is and the things we shouldn't have come from our mouths.

If you need more time to fill, I also printed off a crossword puzzle and word search based on the article of faith, found here. Look under puzzles.

This was a super easy activity, but I think one of the best yet as far as learning important things. The girls really participated and had a lot of fun. Overall an A+ activity.

Christmas Photos Part II

Here are the rest of the photos from Christmas. The girls were supposed to come into our room when they woke up, but I could here them outside our door saying all the things they saw. I quickly ushered them into our room until we were all ready to go and I could get my camera ready.

The best part of Christmas morning was letting the kids open their gifts and play with each gift. Usually we are with so many cousins and aunt and uncles that the kids open a gift and then everyone has to wait while we watch everyone open gifts. The kids don't get to play with gifts until it is all over with.

But this year, the kids opened a gift and then opened it out of its packaging and played for a bit. I loved it. It was fun to see them play and enjoy and have fun. It meant it took awhile for us to finish, but that is okay. Christmas can last all day.

The gifts Hananh asked for this year from Santa (and got) were a unicorn pillow pet, glow in the dark silly bands and a Baby Alive doll.

Ella didn't ask for anything, but her big gifts were a Disney Princess Castle, a penguin pillow pet and Tinkerbell figurines.

Jake had a Toy Story christmas. He got a lot of Toy Story items. He has loved them almost since birth. He got a figurines set and has been carrying Buzz, Jessie and Woody around every day since Christmas morning. We don't go anywhere with out them. He even sleeps with them. He knows them all by name. And whenever he sees Buzz he says "ee ee ee an eeyon!" which translated means "to infinity and beyond!"

It was a great Christmas. Now onto planning Ella's birthday party and valentine's day.

Christmas 2010 Part 1

These are the kids Christmas outfits. I meant to get a better official photo of them together, but it didn't work out. So, here they are in all their happiness and laughter!

I just realized I haven't posted any pictures or stories of our Christmas. We took off to Utah right after Christmas day that I didn't have time to post and then life just got crazy. So, here are the first of my christmas photos to share. These are of their Christmas pajamas and Christmas eve.

The kids were so excited for Christmas this year. Hannah kept saying we have to go to bed, so Santa will come. The girls left out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. And Hannah wrote an adorable note to Santa thanking him for visiting her, her sister and brother and cousins and for leaving toys! How thoughtful is she?

It was our first Christmas at home. We usually travel and have Christmas with grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. But not this year. We stayed home and it was wonderful! We had a nice Christmas eve dinner. We opened up our pajamas and read the nativity while the kids acted the story out with their Little People nativity set. It was a little chaotic, but we got through it and then put the kids to bed.

Chris and I stayed up until 2 am wrapping and assembling presents (mind you we hadn't wrapped anything prior to Christmas eve) and in fact, Chris stayed up 2 hours later than I. The kids were nice to let us sleep in until 7:30 am.

Visiting Teaching Message

My visiting Teaching companion and I have a new sister to visit. She isn't active in the church, but allows for people to drop by and say HI. We have yet to catch her at home, but we always leave a goodie/treat for her. After I saw this adorable idea at Martha Stewart, I knew I was going to do this as my visiting teach treat this month.

I altered the circle label to match the message of the month and even more specifically for a sister how doesn't come to church.

If you would like to use this altered circle label, you can download it here.... if not, use Martha's and enjoy!

Cookie Decorating Party

Here are the details of the cookie decorating party we had over Christmas break.


Here are the boxes I put each of the girls cookies in and sent one home with each girl. I got the boxes in the Dollar Spot at Target (6 for $1 - awesome!) The bells I got in the Dollar Spot 8 for $1. And the wooden spoons I got at Target 3 for $2.

Here is a look at the cookie masterpieces! Beautiful!

The dessert I served. Donuts, ice cream and chocolate sauce with crushed candy canes. Most of the girls didn't like the crushed candy canes. I have come to the conclusion that peppermint is an older kid "food".

Here are the gifts the girls got to choose from. Most of them were $1-2 gifts. I was going to do a yankee swap with the gifts, but thought they were too young for that and there might be some hurt feelings. So, I had the girls pick numbers from 1-12 and then the girl that choose #1 got to go pick the gift randomly marked with the #1. and so on and so on until all the gifts were chosen. Then we opened them. The girls loved watching each other open the gifts and see what they got!

I bought paper chef hats and had the girls create cupcake liner flowers and then used stickers to put their name on each hat. They were so cute. Check them out here.

These are the invitations I made for the party. I used magnet sheets to print the invitation and then attached a cookie cutter and some ribbon and each girls name. Easy, cute and fun!

A picture of the spoons before I put them on the boxes.

Here is the kitchen all set of for the party. I made the pom-poms and kept them up all Christmas break. They were so cute and festive and easy to make.

Thanksgiving at the OK Corral

Quick recap of a trip we made during Thanksgiving. I don't want to get too far behind.

While we were visiting Tucson during Thanksgiving break, we took a day trip to Tombstone, AZ. It is a cute little western town with a lot of authentic stores and buildings and places of interest. It is also the spot where the shoot-out occurred at the OK Corral. We went and saw the re-enactment of the altercation and learned a lot about this once booming town. It was a cold day there, but we had fun and learned a lot.

Cute Friend!

Hannah has this friend, Claudia, that she has been friends with since they were 3. They did dance together and were in the same preschool class. They haven't been in the same class since preschool, but they do go to the same school and we try to make sure we do things with her periodically to keep their friendship alive.

Well, Claudia was over the other day and she wrote this cute message on our wipe board. I read it later that day and fell in love with this little girl even more. So darn cute. I had to take a picture, so we will always remember Hannah's cute little friend Claudia!

Friends and Neighbor Treats

This year I decided to do the assortment of Christmas goodies on a plate. Who doesn't love a variety of yummy treats. I spent two days in the kitchen and then we spent 2 1/2 hours delivering these plates to our friends and neighbors. As you can see... we did chocolate dipped pretzels, chocolate dipped Mint Milano Cookies rolled in crushed candy canes. My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe with holiday M&Ms, homemade frosted sugar cookies and Paula Deen's Holiday Whoopie Pies. Those things were so good! And a Molasses Cinnamon Pecan English Toffee. It was a lot of work (but what isn't a lot of work when you are make 20 of them), but worth it in the end and always a fun way to make the home feel more Christmas-y!

Christmas Performances

The girls had their school Christmas performances. I love seeing them up there in their sunday best so happy to sing to every one. Hannah had been practicing her songs for weeks singing them around the house. She sang them so much the Ella knew the songs by heart too.

Hannah all dressed in gold kept telling everyone that she looked like an angel (which she came up with all on her own). But she did look like a pretty angel all in gold and glowing with happiness. Hannah's class sang "Must be Santa" and "He'll Be coming down the chimney when he comes."

Ella's song was a complete surprise. I hadn't heard her sing it at all. When she got up there she was so happy to be on stage, but her singing was very shy and quiet. She loved seeing her little brother in the crowd. Once she spotted him, she yelled out "Hi little buddy". She performed two numbers. One was with her class singing "Happy Christmas Bells and the other was a little snowflake number from her dance class at the school.

I seriously love these two with their happy smiles and fun-loving nature!