A Fun Memory!

My friend, Becca, just had a fun, fun party for her 4 year old.
It looked like so much fun that I think I might steal the idea for
either an upcoming 7 year old party or an upcoming 4 year old party!
(Hope you don't mind, Becca!)
Here is the link to her cute party idea:

legrandbecslittlelaings.blogspot.com/2009/03/fancy-nancy-party.html

And it seems like I always feel less than adequate when it comes to cute,
creative stuff...but then I remembered this cute dress-up tea party we had
for Aubrie a few years ago. So I thought I would post the pics and share
this fun memory!
I am inspired to throw some fun, creative parties this year!

We told the girls to wear their lovliest tea party dresses.
When they arrived, we let them pick out hats, purses, and gloves
from our dress up chest.

This is the table, complete with lovely decorations that
I found at Savers! I took pics of Aubrie and Mikaela in their
dress ups and put the pics in those 2 old-fashioned frames.

This is the dress-up chest.

We used our princess tea set and it made really cute place settings
for each girl. They even had their own name cards.

This is the fancy finger food that we served.

These are our fancy finger food servers! Connor and Mikaela and
their cousins, Bailey on the left and Tiahna on the right.
They were told to use fancy, proper words and british accents, if possible!

This is the Tea Cup cake and the mini tea cup cakes!

Here is a close up of the cake.
I actually baked it in a Pampered Chef batter bowl!

And what could make a 4 year old Aubrie happier than a pair of
shiny orange sandals from Grandma Suzi?!?!?!
NOTHING!

Finally!

I would like to take a moment to thank my awesome hubby for getting things done!
Nothing would ever get painted or hung on the wall or put together
if he didn't either do it or get everything ready and then tell me to do it.
This is a project that's been waiting for me to do it for months.
Matt finally put the pictures in the frames and then called me downstairs
to tell him where I wanted them hung on the wall.
I think it looks great! Thanks, Babe!

Cutest kids ever!! I might be biased, though.

Important Warning for Women!

I came across this and knew I had to share!

My thighs were stolen from me during the night a few years ago.
I went to sleep and woke up with someone else's thighs. It was just that quick.
The replacements had the texture of cooked oatmeal. Whose thighs were these and what happened to mine? I spent the entire summer looking for my thighs.
Finally, hurt and angry, I resigned myself to living out my life in jeans.

And then the thieves struck again. My butt was next.
I knew it was the same gang, because they took pains
to match my new rear-end to the thighs they had stuck me with earlier.
But my new butt was attached at least three inches lower than my original!
I realized I'd have to give up my jeans in favor of long skirts.

Two years ago I realized my arms had been switched.
One morning I was fixing my hair and was horrified to see the flesh of
my upper arm swing to and fro with the motion of the hairbrush.
This was really getting scary - my body was being replaced one section at a time.
What could they do to me next? When my poor neck suddenly disappeared
and was replaced with a turkey neck, I decided to tell my story.

Women of the world, wake up and smell the coffee!
Those 'plastic' surgeons are using REAL replacementbody parts - stolen from you and me!
The next time someone you know has something 'lifted', look again -
was it lifted from you?

THIS IS NOT A HOAX.
This is happening to women everywhere, every night.
WARN YOUR FRIENDS!

P.S. Last year I thought some one had stolen my Boobs.
I was lying in bed and they were gone! But when I jumped out of bed,
I was relieved to see that they had just been hiding in my armpits as I slept.
Now I keep them hidden in my waistband.

(Thanks to Priscilla for letting me borrow this!)

Smorgasboard

Now I understand why people do posts called "our month in review", etc.
I haven't been very attentive to my blog on a consistent basis,
so I need to do a "catch-all" post. Please bear with me!

Lately, Emma has taken it upon herself to empty the trash. Does this mean I've actually taught them something?! I love it when they think chores are fun!

She found this Dora hat in the snow box and put in on herself!

Emma has decided that she is much too big for her high chair anymore.
So she sits at the counter with the big kids, thinks she's really neat,
and makes a humongous mess!

This is my cute little mommy-in-training. I love moments like these.

Hannah playing our "Wii Sing" game. Or is it Hannah Montana?!
Can you tell that Kyler is singing, too?

We finally talked Aubrie into cutting the stringy ends off her hair.
What a cutie! She wants to cut it even shorter next time.

Can you tell who this pancake is supposed to be? Mikaela asked her dad to make a Goofy pancake and he did! Matt, I'm totally impressed!

The cutest girls in the whole world, ready for their dance performance!

Can you tell what this is?

It's getting bigger...

Connor is building the world's largest (and only)...

PYRAMID OF SMARTIES!!!!

(and you thought there wasn't anything to do in Circleville.)

Remember Me?!

I have felt relatively uninspired in the blogging area of my brain lately.
Maybe I just needed a break after the holidays.
Or maybe I need to get off of Facebook ocassionally...

Here are some pics of our holiday!

Gotta love Christmas jammies!

Our cute kids waiting patiently on the stairs before the "big reveal"!

Emma's new slide!

Hannah's new ride! (I think she likes it!)

Connor...pleased with his gifts!

Christmas chaos...my mom was able to be with us, too!

More chaos...I didn't think this room would ever be clean again!

This picture was too cute not to share! Emma loves Hannah's jeep, too.
And apparently, clothing is optional when driving a Barbie jeep.
Actually, for Emma, clothing is always optional.

I Can Sew!

I did it! I sewed my mom an apron for Christmas
and it only took me a month...well it actually only took me about 6 total working hours.
But I had to either wait until Emma was asleep or
Matt was home to keep Hannah and Emma from "helping" me.
I am excited to find another project to start!
Any cute, easy ideas for an amateur seamstress?

Christmas Cookies!

My mom and I have a tradition of cookie and candy making at Christmas time.
And now, that tradition includes the kids. We had so much fun and made a huge mess!

Notice that Emma has more frosting on her face than on her cookie!
That's my girl!

Winter is Finally Here!

Yes, you read the thermometer correctly...7 degrees!!

This is what we woke up to on Sunday morning.
It wasn't a ton of snow, but we were just excited to get this much!

The kids were so excited!
They had a hard time waiting until after church to play in it.

I had to post both of these pics of all 5 kids because the 1st one is so cute,
but Emma wasn't looking.
In the 2nd one, she was saying "kitty" as she watched a cat walk by...
it was so cute!!

Christmas Tree Hunting!

On Monday night, we went hunting for a tree to go in our basement family room.
It was snowing up the canyon and the kids were thrilled!
(We haven't really gotten any snow yet this year)
The bigger kids were so cute and helpful with Emma and Hannah.
It was a little slippery in some places,
so they held their hands and made sure they didn't fall down.

And while my hunk of a man was busy cutting down the tree...

the kids were participating in this productive activity...

Hey, somebody has to teach Emma how to catch snowflakes on her tongue!!

Here we are decorating!

Emma loves decorating, undecorating...she's not picky, as long as she's involved!
(thanks to Mikaela for the shot of my backside!)

And here's the finished product!!!
I know what you're thinking...that it strongly resembles something you would see
on a Charlie Brown Christmas special.
But it started to get very cold up the canyon,
so we just cut down the best thing we could find!
We like it!
And here's a tip...if you get a tree with VERY sharp needles,
your 3 year old and your 18 month old are less likely to take the ornaments off!
Go figure.