Sunday will be...

...Awesome!

Because I just made the cutest little lap flannel board with cute little pictures for Audrey to play with during Sacrament Meeting. 

No more wiggly, jiggly, whiny, hitting-her-brother, fake-crying little girl. Right? Right?

Inspiration struck me whilst holding my little preschooler in the last 15 minutes or so of Sacrament Meeting. It was the moment of: 

"Mama, I'm hungry!" 

"It'll be time for Nursery soon." 

"Yay! See ya later!" 

"No, it's not time yet. After the prayer." 

"Awwwwww!" 

"Do you want to go to Nursery?" 

"Yes!" 

"Then be quiet and play with your Doodle!" 

*Pout!* 

*Sigh!*

It was then that I recalled in the recesses of my mind that there were other mothers that I had observed patiently and serenely giving their children church magazines or coloring books featuring Captain Moroni and the Stripling Warriors. These perfect little angels would quietly look at the magazines or color in the books (completely in the lines, of course) and never complain or get carried out screaming by their furious-faced parents.

Hey! Can't I have perfect little angels too? Darn tootin', I can!

I printed out pictures, letters, numbers and shapes on cardstock. I colored the ones that were black and white and then used self-laminating pouches to seal them. (You can't be too careful with a drooly one-year-old in the family.) A little double-sided tape and a small square of felt, and voila! I had a cute little "quiet activity" for my daughter.

The alphabet, courtesy of Microsoft Word fonts...

Numbers 1 - 10, also courtesy of Microsoft Word fonts...

Shapes, courtesy of Microsoft Word clip art!

The Nativity! It wasn't until I finished laminating these little pictures that I realized that I was missing the star... maybe I'll just have her use the star from the previous group.... :)

And Noah's Ark. Unfortunately, this collection is missing Noah, of all things! I'll have to dig up a cartoony picture of a bearded man at some point.

I anticipate an amazing Sunday in which I can listen to the speakers, come away inspired and spiritually filled, while my two children behave themselves. It could happen...

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy!

I just completed THE most satisfying project TO DATE!!! It was fast, fun and looks more sophisticated than it really is. (The hardest part was setting up my brand new sewing machine which took me the better part of an hour!)
When my father saw it, he said, "I thought you were going to make one of those."
I was taken aback, "I did."
He seemed taken aback himself, "You made that?"
"Yes."
"Well, that's clever!"
Woot! I'd consider that a compliment!

Anyway, without further ado...

My little girl! Yes, I helped make her.. but that's not what I'm talking about today.

My little girl and her brand new tutu! That's right! A tutu!

You can't tell in the picture but the tutu is made of baby pink and lavender strips of tulle.

I found the tutorial here, though, it was so easy, I didn't need to look at it again after the first time. Total time spent (not including shopping for materials) was about 30 minutes, give or take.

Is there anything prettier than a little girl and her first tutu? Any tutu for that matter....

Audrey Moments Inspire Such Joy!

Audrey was playing with her Mr. Potato Head. After a while, she took off all the pieces until it was just the potato part and this is what she said:
"Look! It's a Naked, Scary Mr. Potomus!... Look, he's naked, he's naked... He looks like a poop!"


Audrey was talking on one of her pretend phones. She offered me the phone and told me to talk to Dad (who was out in the yard working on putting in new gates). I told her that she could talk to Dad, but to let him know I said to hurry up and come back inside. This is what she said:
"Hurry up, Dad. You wanna come inside. It's so cold and chilly outside. Your hat will blow away!"


Playing in her room, this "argument" drifted down the hall and into our room. Her voice as she said this became increasingly loud, somewhat snotty and sing-song.:
"Yes... No... Yes!.... No!.... Yeeeeesss!.... Noooo!..... YeEeEeSsSs!!.... NoOoOoOoO!"


Ben blows his nose at which Audrey gives a soft scream of surprise.
"Daaaad!"
"Dad needed to blow his nose."
"Well, don't blow it loud on my ears!"


Audrey brings me the twisted, crumpled headband part of a broken crown.
"It's a piece-a-crown.."

Whimsy Attack!

I had an attack of The Whimsy recently. To make my children's room fun and visually appealing, I made tissue paper poms to hang from the ceiling.

Though I certainly can't compete with Martha, these were easy and fun to make. They don't have to be perfect and they're so cheerful!

I hung them with ribbon and, due to tall 3-year-olds, I had to put them quite out of reach. 

I played with density and shape a little and got some interesting textures and sizes out of it.

In an effort to make a different shape, I came up with a fluffy butterfly effect, so out came my puffs, pipe-cleaners and googly eyes and I made this critter:

Childhood should be magical. Imagination is blooming in my daughter and, all too soon, these little frillies will be too silly or childish for her. My hope is that, when she's much older, perhaps with her own children, she will remember the fun and silly things her Mom did and find joy in bringing The Whimsy to her family!

A day at the Zoo

My family and Shy's family took a trip to the Hogle Zoo recently. I had never been, but I had heard some nice things about it. So off we trotted up to SLC with the kids vibrating in their seats in anticipation of they knew not what.

The exhibits were relatively small for the most part, which was nice for taking pictures. I'm not sure how the animals felt about it, but I'm not one to superimpose my human perspective upon those minding their own business. The pictures were fun to take, though.

This one rather reminds me of my father... or my husband... can you guess why?

Doesn't this guy just need a cozy pillow?

This one seems to be plotting a Great Escape of some sort.

This was one of the zoo's most recent additions. I don't know what her name was, but she was adorable!

We also went by the penguin enclosure. The penguins were nesting and therefore rather dull, themselves. While we were staring at them, though, a seagull decided to land in their little swimming pool and paddled around to the delight of everyone watching. I'm still somewhat surprised every time I see a seagull in Utah. I hope I never get blase about it.

The primates were certainly stand-outs in my mind. Their soulful eyes and faces full of character were fun to photograph.

Some pictures I just wasn't able to get a really good shot in. The gibbon holding a gibbon stuffed animal was super cute, but the fencing just kept getting in the way.

This little primate was fun to photograph too! 

A new breed of primate was spotted at the Hogle Zoo: Primus Mountainus Goatus! They also seemed to be docile enough to be allowed to free-range through the zoo like the Peacocks.

One of the male parents of the Primus Mountainus Goatus, indentifiable by it's distinctive facial ruff.

Grammy said I could probably enter this one into a contest of some sort... what do you think?

The Impassable Stairway.

The unique viewing area for the giraffes was exciting. Audrey got to go up to the second level and see a giraffe eye to eye. By the time I made it up, the giraffe got camera shy and wandered off. I'm just glad Audrey got to experience something so fun!

I was whispering into Henry's ear the same phrase over and over again. For some reason, he thought it was absolutely hilarious! He had a great day at the zoo and everyone else did too!

Brought to you by, Another Audrey Moment

Audrey: I want Tinkerbell, a fruit snack and water.

Dad: That's quite a list of demands.

Audrey: I want Eveyfing.

Re-purposing a Tea Set

Audrey got a cute little tea set for her birthday this year. She has been using it on a regular basis and has offered us many cups of tea, soup, chocolate milk and even Audrey's Secret Recipe Chocolate Soup. The recipe is so secret, she doesn't even know what's in it. When asked, she claims it doesn't have Chocolate OR Soup in it.

Audrey has also caught the re-purposing bug. She must be spending too much time around her mother and Aunt. :)

A few days ago, she came to me while I was innocently working on my computer and said:

"Look at my BOOBIES, Mom!"

Yeah.

I really don't think I can add anything to that. She pretty much said it all.

Nun's Puffs and Chocolate Cocktails

Who ever heard of a relaxing Mother's Day. Not me, apparently. Instead of lounging in my bed, receiving breakfast in my repose, I was up early frantically stirring a hot pot of sticky dough. Shortly after I realized that it wasn't going to behave EXACTLY like the recipe said it would, I took it off the stove, separated it into muffin cups and popped it in the oven.
The result were a dozen light, crispy and hollow puff balls.

I had made these once before a little over two years ago. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to sprinkle sugar on the dough before putting the pan in the oven, and all I had to serve them with was honey. Not too bad, but not very exciting either. So, this time, I was prepared.

Strawberries and Cool Whip! They were excellent! As light and airy as they were, I walked away from the table feeling over-stuffed. It was probably all the strawberries.

Mr. H isn't a fan of strawberries, so he enjoyed a banana.

After Sacrament Meeting, the ward handed out a nice little poem and chocolate for the ladies. I can always get behind a little chocolate.

We had a veritable herd of family come over for dinner. Barbeque Time! Hamburgers and Hot Dogs were on the menu. (I made a variation on Ric's Fresh Relish for the hot dogs. Cucumber, Yellow Bell Pepper and Purple Onion finely chopped! Yum!)

I put together a little gift for the visiting Mom's.

                                        

Chocolate Cocktails!

After setting them up on the table, I very carefully explained to the nieces and nephews that the tempting little treats on the table were for their Mom's and if they considered having an inclination toward even thinking about touching them, I would visit them in fiery vengeance and destroy them.

After the hustle and bustle made their way back to their homes, we rounded out the evening with a rousing game of Phase 10 in the dining room.

Like I said; not remotely relaxing. It did have it's enjoyable moments and I STILL have leftover chocolate. You almost can't get better than that.

Happy Birthday, Hank!

Happy 1st Birthday to Hank!!

It's rather amazing to realize that I've managed (with a lot of help) to get this little guy through his first year. He's cautious, sensitive and loves cuddling with Mom. He hasn't had much to say so far: "Dada", "Aah-Dee", a rather pitiful attempt at "Mama", though he has developed a rather loud tongue pop, which everyone finds greatly amusing and makes Dad proud.

Papa entertains Henry's foot while he waits for the, thus far unknown, joy of CAKE!

He was a little unsure at first when we gave him the cupcake. He seemed to be trying to glean from our expressions whether we were having him on! (Take note of his left hand through all the cake-eating.)

Hmm...

Not too bad...

OH YEAH!!

It was all about the frosting, which some would argue is the best part. :-)

Just look at that tongue!

This just about says it all!

Henry needed a lot of encouragement with the gift opening part of his birthday. He really didn't get why I stuck a blue box in front of him with an expectant look on my face.

It didn't take him long, however, to get really excited when he saw a TOY inside.

It was all about the hammer. A man and his first tool. Such joy!

(The one sad note is that Audrey was not in attendance at her brother's birthday. She, unfortunately, had a major meltdown at dinner and went to bed early.)