Silly Liam

Yesterday I was at my friend's house and Liam came running in the door and says "Mom, look what I stole! I stole them from Alicia's house." (Alicia's house is across the street).
Me: "What did you take?"
L: "They're in my pants."
Me: "What?"
L: "Look, right here!" (starts shaking his legs, trying to get them out.)
We try and take them out. It's two little oranges that he had strategically stuffed into his pants. I made him go back and ask Alecia for them.



A couple of nights ago we took the kids to see the lights at temple square. We didn't tell them where we were going, we wanted to surprise them. So we get out and start walking around the square and Liam yells "This is it? We drove all this way just to see some stupid lights?" The sister missionaries were standing right there and they thought it was so funny. He did like it after a little while. It did take some time though.

Curls and Cookies

Owen got out of the bathtub and I love his curls just after he gets out. I took a couple of pictures of it. Aw!!

The other night we decorated gingerbread men (and girls). A fun time was had by all. The kids loved putting the candies on. I iced them. Ta-da!

Here is Owen, not so impressed.

Christmas trees

We decorated Christmas trees at my house the other day. We made them out of upside down ice cream cones. Cute idea huh? I only say that because it wasn't mine. It was my friend Julie's. She has cute ideas for everything!

Thanks for coming over and decorating guys! It was fun and delicious.

I'm Back and Black Friday

Our computer was living in the land of the dead for a while, so I haven't been able to update at all. Ah, fall. I love fall. Thus, the fall-ish pictures.
So this year, my friend Julie and I decided to brave the crowds and do the Black Friday thing. She is a seasoned pro, having her list made out, complete with pictures and prices. I know, right? So Cameron and I went to Toys R Us the night before, just to scope out where everything was...do a little recon, if you will. Once we had the store mapped out, it was just a waiting game. Waiting in line, the long, long line. The line started moving and people got a little too excited. Then into the store and...no carts. Oh man, we'll just have to use our arms, I guess. So we start grabbing what we want and we have no more arm room. Julie has her arms full, with boxes stacked on boxes. There is just no room for any more and we need a few more things. Then, (cue the heavenly choir) ahhhhh! An empty cart, all alone in an aisle. Julie was very nice and asked if it was anyone's, but no answer, so we grabbed it and off we went. We got our stuff and were done in record time. Down the aisle to check out, but...denied! The aisle was blocked off. So back around the store into another line. The checkout line. and man was it a long one. We were lucky, because we were in the relative front of the line. I mean this line weaved in and out of the aisles, around the store and back again. It was crazy long. People were getting maniacal looks in their eyes and shouting if someone cut in. They were defending their position in line tooth and nail and some of the crowd were getting worked up to a frenzy. One poor worker guy got yelled at multiple times. There were thinly veiled hostilities shooting everywhere. Now, in the crazed crowd's defense, the worker guy was a little slow, and had no idea what he was doing. I mean, he had a "LINE FORMS HERE" sign in the middle of the line. We waited for...wait for it...Two, yes, two and one half hours in the line to check out. I got home at 3:00 am. Poor Julie had to go back out at 5:00. It was a crazy night, but we saved a lot of money. Yay for Christmas shopping being almost done!! Let's do it again next year Julie!

Come One Come All

I have a new blog. I will still be doing this one, but I am starting to take pictures more seriously and have started a blog for those who would like to look at my pics and schedule sessions and such. The new address for my blog is http://amysshots.blogspot.com. Please come and look and comment, and let people know I'm doing this. I need to get my name out there! Thanks!

Don't turn your back...

So here's my day yesterday.

I had just swept the floor before this...

I swept it about four times after this.

He was "experimenting"! Oh what Kool-Aid can do.

It was just one of those long days.

Haunts and Spooks

Halloween 2009. We had a fun month. We decorated all over the place. I had lots of helpers and I think they had fun decorating and anticipating Halloween. We carved pumpkins too, of course! This one's Erin's...

...Liam's, (he wanted a "mad one")

and Cameron's. He did a really good job. He did lose the tree that was supposed to be on the left hand side, but these pumpkins were so thick, I'm surprised that's all he lost. It looks nice and spooky.

Here's my Tinkerbell, pilot and Luigi. I had to leave this one in because Liam was always posing as Luigi with his one leg in the air and his hands fisted. Silly boy.

My cute little spooks!!

Rainbow Erin

I took some pictures of my nephews today and got some of Miss Erin. I love love LOVE her fashion sense. I thought these were some pretty cute pictures of her. She posed this one herself. "Take a picture of me mom!!

Stinkin' cute girl. I'm not biased or anything!! Love you Erin!

Wrapping Paper Hats

A couple of people have asked me how to do the wrapping paper hats. These pics aren't the best, but it'll give you the idea.
First you get two different kinds of wrapping paper. (I just went to the dollar store). You can just use one if you want.
Then you cut out big squares of the paper, and spray some spray glue on one of the non-print sides. You glue the non print sides together, so it is printed on both the top and bottom.

Then you put it on the little person's head like so...

...and have someone else help you. You hold it on their head while someone else tapes around their head. We used masking tape, but I've seen those colored painters tapes that you could use. That would be pretty cute.

And lastly, you cut off the excess. I would take it off the head to do this, don't follow my example in the picture. Then you can decorate it with whatever you want. I got flowers from the dollar store, but you can get whatever, or just leave it as is. The kids loved them. Erin still has hers! Hope this helps.

My New Fashion Accessory

Oh yes, I know you're all jealous! look at the lines, the color, the absolute fabulosness of it all! You only WISH you had an accessory like this. I bet you all want to walk down your stairs with a load of laundry, talking on the phone and miss a step and fall down the stairs just to get this little number. Don't fight it, just let the en vogue-ness of it all wash over you! I can't wait 'till I see what it looks like with a dress!

What's in a name?

I would like you all to meet Teddy, Liam's friend for a couple of years now. Liam sleeps with this bear. We got him at Bear Lake, Liam's favorite place in the world (besides Grandma's house). Liam decided Teddy needed a friend so we got...

...this guy. After thinking about it for a while, Liam decided to name him. I thought it would be generic like Teddy, right? No, he named him...wait for it...

Line Figure.

Canning

Thanks to a couple of my good friends, I got some canning done this year. We canned diced tomatoes and salsa...
Apple pie filling...

Applesauce...

and peaches. This is only some of what we did. We got lots and lots of bottles of everything. I can't remember exactly how many, but thank you thank you guys!! My family appreciates it lots. It was more fun doing it with friends than doing it alone for sure. Plan on it again next year right? (Falls on the floor in an exhausted heap.)

Savoring every little thing.

So Owen had his very first ice cream cone and it was so fun to watch him savor every bite. Can you tell he loved it?

At least as they get bigger, some of the messes get smaller.

Erin's B-day Party

I know, I know. This is really late. I thought I'd blog about Erin's three-year-old birthday party. It was lots of fun! She invited a few friends over to Grandma's backyard because it's her magical place. We had a little tea party. Julie made cute king and queen cookies. (The pics on her blog are better.) Cute cookies. The kids looooved them.

The butterfly decorated table.

We made wrapping paper hats. Owen liked wearing his.

Here's Jamison getting his hat.

Liam even wore a hat. What a good brother.

I made PB&J, ham, turkey and PB and honey sandwiches and cut them out with cookie cutters (thanks Alicia).

We drank red Kool Aid tea punched up with a little Sprite.

A couple pics of the kids eating.

After they ate, we decorated baskets with lovely silk flowers and ribbons. I used a glue gun to put them on and decorate them and Owen was so amazed, he reached out to touch some of the glue I had just put on the basket and burned his little hand all across the palm. Poor little guy. We wrapped it up and it's looking really good now. That burn kind of put an end to the basket decorating though. He was not happy. The kids loved just playing in the yard. I think they had a good time.

The Good Samaritan

On Monday night we had Family Home Evening and had a lesson on being kind, hoping to stop some of the sibling rivalry going on in our house. So, of course, I told the story of the good Samaritan. I told about the man getting beat up, the two men passing him by and the one man who stopped to help. I asked Liam "What would you do if you came across this man?" Liam says without hesitation, "Run away." So I ask Erin the same question and she says "some strange man is hurt on the road." Um...okay. Liam frantically raises his hand and says "Oh, I know, I know!"
Yes Liam?

"I would pray that I don't get beat up too."

Appearances

The other day I was taking Liam to school. I hadn't had time to get dressed, (although everyone else was! Yay for me!) so I was still in my pajamas, which led to the following conversation.
Liam: Why aren't you dressed mom?
Me: I just didn't have time. I'll be dressed when I pick you up okay.
L: Mom, could you leave your hair down today and not put it in a ponytail or anything like that because I really like it down by your shoulders and you never put it down. (short pause) And can you wear your overalls? I really like them. (short pause again) And can you not wear your glasses, just your contacts, because you look better without your glasses (again, short pause) I know it's hard Mom, but you can do it! Try try again!
Oh man, he's only five and he's making specific requests about my appearance. I'm doomed!

Gone

We have been so busy lately. Birthdays, first day of school, playing hard and working hard. But the biggest change we've had is that we moved. We left our wonderful friends and neighborhood and moved, just a few blocks away. We miss our friends, but love the new digs. we were living in a two bedroom apartment that was roughly 700 square feet. Not much living space for five people. Now we are in a bigger place and love it. The kids have room to play and run around. It's been really good for our family. We went back and played with our old friends and got some cute pictures. Everyone else was climbing the tree, so Owen had to get in on the action.

Baby Lia, getting to be so BIG!! How did that happen?

Cute Bailey.

Liam channeling a monkey.

Our favorite Kora.

Liam (and Kora peeking over his shoulder)

Cute friends. We'll keep visiting. Miss you guys!!