My kind of pet!

Aubrey received some birthday money in a card from her Grammie last week and promptly requested "to take a trip to Target to see exactly what she wanted." She had planned to make a "polly pocket" purchase but since Alexis came along with money burning a hole in her pocket that she had been earning from reading, she was pursuaded to make a different acquisition. The girls used their money to buy ZhuZhu pets, which are robotic hampsters. (They are actually quite cute.) They were so excited to care for their little pets and I am so excited they don't require any care on my part...that is, except for helping them with housing. I got the girls all excited about making houses out of shoe boxes for their pets. We got out ALL the craft stuff and spent a couple hours together on Saturday afternoon creating the coziest, prettiest rooms I've ever seen a fake pet hampster have. It was SO much fun for me to help them and it took me back to the days I used to do that sort of thing. (I distinctly remember making a similar dwelling for some type of caterpillar once. weird.) "Scoodles" and "Jilly" are happy to be a part of our family now and they appear to like their homes. They are the perfect pet for me. My hands are full enough with my three monkeys and the two extra kindergarteners I am taking care of every morning before school. Getting a real pet is far down the list of things I'd like to do!

Grinding Wheat

We had "Sample Sunday" at church this past week and I was asked to bring in homemade wheat bread. I was talking to my girlfriend about our upcoming getaway this weekend while I was getting ready to grind my wheat and she requested that I document the process...so this is for you, Jenn. :)






Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the bread, but this truly homemade honey wheat bread was delicious! More people should make bread. :) Send me a recipe if you have a favorite. This week I will attempt a braided cinnamon bread...I can hardly wait for the heavenly aroma!

Diapers!

I came across an awesome deal on diapers this past week at Diapers.com. I typically buy them from whichever store I can find the best deal using sales and coupons (which is usually one of the drug stores such as Walgreens or Rite Aid). The online deal this past week was better than any I had seen in the stores for awhile...and they delivered it the very next day to my doorstep -for free! That is what I call great service! I was very happy with my Diapers.com experience and will definately use them again and pass on my recommendation. They offer online discounts, free shipping with a minumum order, and they accept regular coupons from the newspaper, etc. All you have to do is mail them in and they will be posted to your account for your next order. Very cool. They have a lot more than just diapers, too. If you are a new customer, use my referral code: ALYS2395 to get $10 off your first order. Also, for a limited time, you can fill out the rebate form found here http://www.diapers.com/helpcenter/parenting.htm
to get an additional $14 off. Place an order of $50 or more to get the free shipping.(Combining these offers got me several packs of Pampers for just over $4 per pack.)
Happy Shopping!

Spring is here

This is a picture I took with my phone a week or so ago on our afternoon walk/bike ride around the neighborhood. Blossoms are out everywhere now! The neighborhood looks beautiful with the many flowers in bloom and leaves on the trees. Yesterday, it hit 70 degrees here! We wore t-shirts and played at the park. It was great. I've accepted the fact that it is time to get out in the yard again. We mowed the lawn and trimmed the shrubs (my least favorite yard chore) and I am anxious to plant some flowers. We are excited to say that spring is finally here!

Birthday Girl

Aubrey celebrated her fourth birthday this week!
We partied in "Princess and the Frog" style with a frog cake and lots of fun frog/princess games with a few friends. We also went for our traditional birthday photo shoot...and FYI, Kiddie Kandids is gone! They filed bankruptcy! Who will give us an adorable birthday 8x10 for free every year! Who will even take our pictures now? There are no Target photo studios near us, nor are there any "Picture People" that I am aware of. We gave Sears photo studio a try and they did a good job. Down side is that we have to wait two weeks to get our pictures since they don't print them on the spot like Kiddie Kandids. So much for instant gratification. Aubrey is thrilled to be four and is absolutely in love with polly pockets and barbie dolls. She is my "sugar and spice." She can be sweet as pie when she wants to be and can make me laugh so hard at times...but if you cross her the wrong way, watch out! She is a free spirit if I ever saw one. We love her to bits!

A little bit sentimental

Today, Adam and I sold the first tv we bought together! This was the TV we purchased with an accumulation of Target gift cards from our wedding eight years ago this month. It kind of looks like a Monster compared to all the newer "thin" tvs. When Adam hauled it into the house we were delivering it to, the lady there even commented "wow. That is a really big tv." (note that the screen was only 27 inches so it was the width she was referring too and not the massive viewing space. These people had a 72 inch or so flat screen hanging on their wall, so I have no idea what they wanted with our old tube set.) Anyway, while I am glad to have the tv off our bedroom floor, where it has resided for the past several months since our tv upgrade, I miss it...or rather the memories made with it. I remember how we broke the rear-view mirror off our little civic when we tried to stuff it in the passenger seat because it wouldn't fit in our trunk (we were so dumb!). I remember how we used to haul our mattress from our room into the family room to watch movies on the weekends. We'd get Chinese take-out or Cafe Rio and eat it "in bed" while we stayed up late watching movies in the family room and then sleep in on Saturday mornings. Those were the days! (At least the ones when we didn't have to be to work at Discover Card by 6am!) That tv has played hundreds of episodes of Elmo, got me through my labor with Allie, experienced the transition of analog to digital tv, aired numeous historical events such as the swearing in of the first African American President, and so much more. Who'd have thought I'd become sentimental over an old tv? Not me. Not that I'd prefer the old tv to the new one, but I'm just sayin'...
It turns out that it's true what they say about how sometimes the little things aren't so little after all.

Reward Night

As I mentioned before, I didn't set any crazy, big, new goals for this year...but that doesn't mean I wasn't setting any. There is always room for improving something or accomplishing something. I just like this little system to keep our family in check. We are setting goals a month at a time. During FHE the first week in January, we set our goals. Throughout the month, we worked on them and encouraged each other. The first Monday in February, we had "Reward Night" and went out for ice cream to celebrate our accomplishments and then set new goals to work on in February. Each of the girls worked hard and completed their goals. I don't think anyone was more excited than Aubrey! (She learned to spell and write her name.) Alexis learned to count from 10-20 in French (she's known how to count to 10 in French since before she was two!) and Allie's goal was to count to five...and she learned to count to six. :) They loved getting their ice cream and they are all working hard on a new set of goals. Alexis has a spelling list of ten challenging words to learn; Aubrey is learning to recognize and write all the letters in the Alphabet and Allie is learning to recognize four shapes. (Easy goal in February...she has "hearts" mastered!) This has been a lot of fun to work on together. The girls are great to encourage each other. It's also a great "filler activity." Whenever we have a minute or two to stall before dinner or at the doctors office, etc., we spend a few minutes working on our goals. Learning new things and improving is envigorating!

(By the way, I take absolutely no credit for Aubrey's outfit. I don't think I even purchased any mismatched part of it! She is wearing crooked pj bottoms, a t-shirt, a Hannah Montana jacket with sequins, brightly colored socks that are almost upside down, and her shoes (which also don't match the socks) are on the wrong feet! (I wouldn't doubt that her underwear was also on backwards.) Perfect to go with her "cotton candy" ice cream (-yuck)! Her tongue was pink for days -she loved it! I told her she might turn in to "Pinkalicious." Allie is sporting a "kak-kak" (aka back-pack), which she absolutely HAD to stuff her blanket into and wear to the ice cream shop. Lexi, (I mean, Alexis,as she prefers to be called) altough dressed normally, is missing her two front teeth, which is a special look of it's own. Kids! They are great!)

The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe Ever!

My friend Heather gave me this recipe at Christmastime and it is fabulous! It is the best sugar cookie recipe I've ever tried. The flavor is fantastic and the texture is perfect! Since it is the month of Valentine's, I suspect many of you will be making sugar cookies. Be sure to give this recipe a try. You'll be glad you did!

Sugar Cookies

3 C Flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 beaten eggs
1 C sugar
1 C shortening
1 tsp vanilla

Cream eggs and sugar together then add shortening. Add vanilla then dry ingredients. Chill dough in refridgerator. Roll out thick, then cut out desired shapes. Bake at 350 degrees no more than 8 min. Leave on pan 5 minutes after removing from oven. Enjoy!

Gone Sledding

We finally headed up to the mountains to go sledding! Aside from a few hiccups along the way (like not having chains and being unable to get to where we were trying to go), we had a fantastic time! We found the perfect place to sled and play. Some friends from a ward in our stake were up their with their ward. We shared the "steps" and hill Adam made and they shared their hot cocoa. The girls didn't stop laughing and giggling the entire time we were out there; with the exception of Allie who was still not convinced that snow was worth being in but finally stuck her fingers in it the last half hour we were there and seemed to think maybe it wasn't so bad after all. It was such a beautiful day that we were too warm in our coats! It was a great day to enjoy the mountains and the sunshine. Growing up, we could walk to a great sled hill just around the corner from our house. Some years we could even sled in our own front yard! Here, it was an all day afair as it was over an hour and a half just to get there. It was well worth it to have such fun with the girls. They really had a great time as you will see in the pictures below.

LOST

It's finally here...season six airs tomorrow!!! I can hardly handle the suspense...what will become of Jack and Sawyer, Kate and Juliet, and all of our friends on the island? Will we ever find out what happened to Claire? What lies in the shadow of the statue??? Tomorrow is the begining of the end!

(It just so happens that tomorrow is Adam and my eighth anniversary. We are both equally addicted to LOST and so have chosen to watch the premiere as our celebration! "I'd be 'Lost' without you babe!")