More Fooling Around

Once again, a favorite resource, my Family Fun magazines, inspired this one. I always wanted to do it. I think it turned out pretty cute! Chocoloate Rice Krispie meatloaf and candy peas and carrots. (Those flavored Tootsie rolls did the trick.)

Angela was my little accomplist and helped make the veggies. She was so excited to trick the girls when it was time for snack!

Funny random story. Kassee - Sarah's friend on the left - ate the green peas and they actually pulled out one of her mollars that had been loose! It was so funny. The darn mollar had been bugging Kassee for days, so she was very grateful that she ate her peas that afternoon!

Jacqueline and natalie liked their tricky food!

April Fools Fun

This is a simple enough joke to play, but the girls got a kick out of it. When I made their lunches for them the morning of April Fool's I mixed up what was in the packaging. So in the granola bar package they found teddy grahams. In their chips, they found a different flavor than it was labeled.

Then you sneak in a little message and glue the packaging back together! (O:

St. Patrick's Day Troublemaker

Last year in Family Fun, they had some fun ideas for leprechaun traps that I wanted to try. My girls love trying to "catch" Lucky the leprechaun and see the mischief that he makes when he comes. We decided to try the funny hat trap. Lucky is lured to the gold on top of the hat and climbs the ladder. When he steps on top, the hat gives way and he gets stuck at the bottom.

The sign telling Lucky what NOT to do, tempts him to disobey because leprechauns are full of mischief.

The next morning the girls found green confetti all over and a mess in the kitchen. They were so excited to see if they trapped Lucky. Unfortunately, he got away, but he left golden treats behind.



As he often does, Lucky had to use the bathroom apparently. He always makes a little mess and forgets to flush. (O: (see the green toilet water - the girls' favorite part)

I love this funny mask Angela made at school. (O:

My Valentine's

These were my Valentines to my Valentines this year. (O:

The one above says on the inside, "If so, You're My Hero!" I laughed out loud when I found this at the post office and had to get it for Bob* my super hero!

Valentine's Day 2011

The girls looked so cute Valentine's morning all decked out in hearts. I think Sarah was not happy that I was taking a picture. (O:

As usual, I went to help with the class parties - I love the little parties at school. I led a heart matching game in Angela's class.

And in Natalie's class I helped run the donut eating contest. It was hilarious.



They also made carameled apples in Nat's class. I thought the room mom and teacher were brave for picking some pretty messy activities. (O: But the kids loved it.

Natalie's friend Janie - can you see why they get along so well? They are so silly. (O:

After school, we found daddy's car at his work and decorated it and left little presents for him.



Daddy gave each of the girls a cute stuffed animal.

And I got three of my most favorite things: flowers, chocolate and books!

We ended the night with a nice dinner and a family movie together. (Parent Trap)

I love Valentine's day!

Be Mine

Ahhh, that time of year again. This time I had three girls in elementary school - which equals about 90 valentines to make! I prefer to do something a little more hand made than the ones you get at the store. I take many shortcuts in other areas of my life, but for Valentines, it just feels more special making something. Nothing fancy, mind you.

I found a bunch of foam on clearance at a store going out of business and some cute foam sticky hearts. See what we came up with . . . It was really pretty slick. The cutting took the longest, but we all worked on it while watching TV and it went pretty quick. The next steps were sticking on the hearts, writing names and then I hot glued the giant smarties on.

If you stick out your tongue, it turns out better.



This multi-layered heart design with sparkle hearts was for Angela's teacher.

Welcome Twenty Eleven!

New Year's Eve was lots of fun this year. We invited mom and dad over to celebrate with us. We made the mistake of watching Marley and Me right before they arrived. So we were feeling a little melancholy, but the mood picked up quickly when we ate some of these . . . Frank's* famous ribs. Yum. I could almost lick my screen they look so good! It's not a party without a little Rockband! Frank* got the Beatles Rockband for Christmas and it's been so fun! I catch my girls singing Beatles songs now! We came out at midnight and made some noise. We were surprised how many neighbors came out to do the same. What a fun neighborhood! (o: It was FREEZING so this lasted about 45 seconds.

Thanksgiving at Home!

From NovDecFavorites

Now I know what you are thinking, "How cute - she is praying on Thanksgiving". Yes, she is, but it's not a prayer for what you might think. She is really saying, "Please pick me, please pick me. . ." I don't know how it happened, it probably has something to do with the fact that Kelly was in charge of the games - but the kids ended up playing Murder in the Dark after our Thanksgiving feast. Not your typical Thanksgiving tradition. But the kids LOVED it! Most of them peeked when the murderer was being chosen, but that just added to the entertainment for the adults as we watched.

From NovDecFavorites

I don't know what this game is called. Pile on uncle Kelly, perhaps. It was a huge hit too.

From NovDecFavorites

Awww - Gracie is so cute, I could eat her up.

From NovDecFavorites

I brought a little turkey hat craft for the kids. It made for some very cute pics.

From NovDecFavorites

Cute Corbin. (o:

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The cousins! What a rare treat that I hope we don't take for granted! Our kids are starting to develop friendships and memories with their cousins. This is the first Thanksgiving we've spent with family in years. It's such a hard time to travel, but not when the drive is 15 minutes!

From NovDecFavorites

Cameron is such a sweetie. Ever the loyal BYU fan, he wrote BYU on every single one of his feathers. Poor Cam got sick just minutes after I took this picture. We must've played one round of "murderer" too many. (o;

From NovDecFavorites

Snuggle time with aunt Em. We love our families.

We also got to enjoy a fun visit with my family, but apparently I didn't take any pictures. I think we mostly sat around and munched on leftovers and talked about the day.

It was a good, good day.

4th of July Show

From Blog Favorites #3

Bobby* loves to put on a show with his Costco firework packs! This year we invited the Andersons to join us. It was so fun getting to know them a little better and having some fun company for the show!

From Blog Favorites #3

Angela's set up for the show. (o:

From Blog Favorites #3

Dominic helping hand the fireworks to Bobby*. The kids loved reading and saying the funny names of the fireworks.

Whirlwind Trip

Just about 30 hours after I landed in Salt Lake, I was headed back to Oregon, on the road this time. But before we got on the road after the funeral, we needed some sustenance. I was thrilled to squeeze in Costa Vida AND Training Table in my short visit. After a long day, this turkey bacon sandwich, pink lemonade and cheese fries made me feel so happy and warm inside. I miss this place. Bob* and I frequented Training Table in our college days and I think I've always ordered the same thing. Why mess with a good thing?

Andy has this face a lot in my pictures.


Around 5 or so, we hit the road with full bellies and a full tank of gas. Our goal was to make it to Boise that night. But the roads were not looking good so we wondered how long this trek before us was going to take. It had snowed all day and the roads were terrible in the morning to begin with. Good thing we pressed through it anyway. We were pleasantly surprised to see the roads improve quite quickly in northern Utah and into Idaho. (Although mom was driving and said the wind was terrible - pulling on the car.) We made pretty good time. It was so fun to be on a road trip with mom and dad and Chrissy. Kind of like the olden days, only Chrissy is grown up now and Russ and Andy were missing. We had a lovely time talking about the funeral, hearing about mom's family growing up, memories of her grandma that I'd never heard before, listening to a book on tape "Where's My Jetpack?" and doing "Coke or Pepsi?" surveys from a book with that title. It was so fun hanging out together and getting to know each other even better. I am so glad I got to do that road trip and would love to do that more often! (Minus the funeral part.) Chris and I also stifled giggles when mom got mad at dad for this and that or when dad did something funny. Good times. Thanks for being my backseat buddy Chris!

We also got to be roommates as well. Mom and dad were sweet and got us our own room! Too bad we were so pooped from the emotional day and we got to the hotel so late. We talked up the partying we would do, but once we got ready for bed I don't remember anything but turning out the lights.

The next day, we got an early start because we heard another storm was coming through the Gorge that might close it down. We did NOT want to be stuck in the Gorge - we wanted to get back to Portland. So we headed out around 6 or 7 (pretty early for us considering we got to the hotel around 11). The roads were actually quite good all the way until the Gorge - where the storm was dumping snow like crazy. It wasn't very cold though, which was nice - sort of. So rather than dealing with ice, we were dealing with driving in a foot deep of slush. It's probably just as hard or worse than ice because it makes the car drive really wonky. Chris and I were white knuckled in the back sighing and squealing every once in a while - driving my parents crazy. Hey just like when we were little! This is how much snow there was in the Dalles when we stopped for a break . Pretty eh?

We took a nice picture, hopped in the car and realized we were stuck! Chris and I mustered all our superpowers and did a nice photo shoot below. What you can't see in the picture is a nice man who thought we were totally nuts - waiting for our photo op to be done so he could come over and help us really get the car out. Chris and I gave it a good effort, we loosened it for the guy.

Well, after a long day of driving on crazy roads we made it back and we had a wonderful welcome from Bob* and the girls. We were relieved to have made it through before the roads closed, which I think they were later that night. Happy New Year's Eve to us!!