Strollin'

This cute boy is surrounded by girls during the day so he naturally plays with girly things. All the boys did though! It's so cute to see them being sweet with their babies. Usually the boys would pick up and snuggle their baby and then drop or throw it on the ground. Boys! 

On Thursday Zeke was having fun pushing his baby through the house. He's very concerned that his baby is strapped. 

Walkin' around! 

Sometimes obstacles get in your way! 

Time to pause to give baby a kiss! 

Nail Polish!

On Thursday I decided to paint the girls nails with some new glitter nail polish I picked up at Fred Meyer's. 

I had the girls sit at the table and then I just kept going back and forth between then. Ella got pink, Logan got pink, Ella got glitter polish, Logan got glitter polish, Ella got a clear top coat, Logan on a clear top coat. 

Then I had the girls sit there while I painted my nails so make sure they were really dry. Before they got up I had them blow on them just in case. 

Zeke was pretty sure he needed to blow on his nails too! 

Pretty girls...pretty polish! 

Brown Pony!

 Brown pony is over 30 years old and still going strong. You know they made stuff better back then! 

Zeke had fun riding around on him last Sunday at Ga-Ga & Pa's house. 

Of course 30 years ago you wouldn't have seen me sitting on brown pony talking on a cellphone! 

If you want to check out a comparison of Ella and me on brown pony click here. 

March Date Night!

Last Saturday morning we went out to breakfast at The Station Bistro in Auburn. My SIL Becky works there and we had gotten a deal on Restaurants.com. We met Ga-Ga & Pa there so they could take the kids overnight in order for us to have our date day/night. 

After breakfast we did a little shopping at Target, Verizon and Harbor Freight Tools. Then we picked up the movie Last Vegas at the Redbox. When we got home Michael played on the computer while I work on another page in Zeke's quiet book. When I was finished we started the movie. This movie is SO funny! Hilarious...a must see...go rent it! The funny thing is during the movie Michael got called into work. Sound familiar? He got called in during out date night in February too. The funny part is he wasn't even on call this time. His co-worker that was on call had just gotten in a car accident so he was unable to take the call. Michael had to leave and go take care of it, but thankfully he was back in time for us to finish the movie before we went to dinner. 

We had reservations at The Melting Pot in Tacoma! 

I love this place! We usually only go once a year since the whole experience with the 4 courses is pretty spendy. Sometimes we'll go for happy hour which is a screaming deal and you just get cheese fondue and chocolate fondue. The thing about The Melting Pot is I can't do fondue at home so I don't mind paying for it. 

Part of our date was also supposed to be me going to a salon in Bellevue to have a make-up consultation. This is also on my personal goal list along with updating my style. Well...the make-up consult was going to cost $100 for one hour and it wasn't going to include any make-up. I figured that I could do some research online to find out some application tips. Pinterest to the rescue again! I found a site that gave instructions on how to apply eyeliner for different types of eyes. I also spent some of that $100 I was going to use on the consult and got some new make-up. It's been fun playing around with different colors! Oh...and I wore my shirt that I refashioned! If you want to see how I changed a dress into a shirt click here. 

I got the classic dinner that came with a little of each different kinds of meat. Teriyaki Marinated Sirloin, Chicken, Pork Loin, Shrimp (I had already put 2 of the shrimp in the cooking pot) and another kind of beef. 

Cooking pot filled with yummies! 

Now Michael stuffed himself on all the previous dishes, but I saved more room for dessert! The Flamin' Turtle is A-mazing! So good...looking at this makes me want to go back just for dessert! 

All the fixings for dipping! The brownie bites are to die for! 

Ella's Quiet Book!

Not sure if I ever mentioned this, but Ella's first quiet book got stolen. Jen borrowed it for Logan to use on a car trip and someone smashed in their back window and stole the backpack it was in. Creep! 

Since we are going to Disneyland later this year I wanted to make sure she had one and I need to make one for Zeke too! 

The first page is her flower petal page. 

She can count the petals and then store them in the flower pot. 

Here's her gardening page. The carrots are in the ground, but the other fruit and veggies are stored in the basket. 

Such a bountiful garden! 

Cupcake page! 

The cupcake tops can be stored in the cupboard and the oven door opens so you can bake. 

I didn't stitch the top of the oven so the cupcake bases can fit in there. 

Tea party page! 

I used some black stiff sticker felt that I had to put on the back of the tea set. 

Velcro helps keep them in place. 

The cups and the saucers come off as well and the spoons and tea bags can be removed from the cups. 

Ella asked for another scary girl page, but I just couldn't bring myself to make another one. Too creepy! If you don't remember you can click here.

Instead I did a felt doll set! 

What girl wouldn't want a pink armorie filled with goodies! 

There are also accessories behind the mirror! 

Casual outfit with smart phone! 

Formal outfit with roses! 

Summer outfit with ice cream!

Prom dress with purse! 

I need to buy some more velcro so I can finish up the cover and then I'll be done. I love making these books! So many ideas and so much fun! Felt really is a wonderful thing to work with. Just a little imagination, a hot glue gun, sewing machine and Pinterest can get you a long way! 

I'm A Winner!

Logan and my friend Rachael's daughter Kendra both go to Happy Hearts Preschool. They were having a silent auction so I bought 5 tickets from each of them. The school had a whole bunch of baskets made up that you could "bid" on. Things like...Family Fun, Games, Garden and many more. I put my name down for the Cookie basket. I desperately needed new cookie sheets. The auction was on the 17th and that night I got a text from my friend Wendy saying that I won!!! I was so excited. It's funny because I had prayed about it since I did need the cookie sheets and I know that I could have just spent $10 on new cookies sheets myself, but this way the money went to help the kids get a new playground. God even cares about our little needs!

Here's my beautiful "basket"! 

Here's everything spread out! 

3 piece cookie sheet set, baking rack, mixing bowl, flour, white sugar, powder sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, 2 cookie mixes, peanut butter, Reese's chips, gel icing and 3 different containers of sprinkles! So fun!!!!  

New Seating Arrangement!

Even though Zeke is sitting in a booster seat at Ga-Ga & Pa's house he's still sitting in his high chair at home. Last Friday I decided to take off Zeke's tray and move him up to the table. Logan normally sits at the end of the table, but I don't watch her on Friday's. I think on Monday I'll just move her chair right next to Ella. We'll see how long that lasts before they are separated! 

When Zeke saw me taking off his tray he was quite upset with me, but then once he realized that he was going to get to sit up to the table he thought that was a-okay! We've also been giving him a big boy cup more and more. And yes...the milk in his cup did end up getting spilled over!

Our family of 6 fits perfectly at our table! Daddy had already gone to work! 

Later in the afternoon when it was me, Ella and Zeke I decided to sit in Jack's spot to be closer to the kids. I asked Zeke if he could fold his hands so we could pray. I had never actually asked him to do this before. Ella wanted to pray...now if you've heard Ella pray it's the cutest thing. Hears an example of how she'd pray...Dear Jesus, thank you for my food, Owen's food, my fork, Owen's fork....where's Owen's fork? Jack's food, Jack's milk...my milk...hey I didn't get any milk! My chicken, Zeke's chicken, my ketchup...Zeke doesn't like ketchup! She's adorable, but as you can imagine prayer time takes a while. On Friday she was praying and Zeke was folding his hands. I was peeking him and Ella prayed about his chips. Then she noticed that he only had one chip instead of chips. Of course her pointing this out made Zeke think...CHIP! So he reached for his chip and then went to take a bite. Remembering we were praying he decided to just hold onto it, but then he realized he wasn't folding his hands. He went to fold them again, but then realized he would crush the chip in his hand. In order to keep his chip safe and abide by proper praying and folding hand rules he took his empty hand and squeezed it shut as hard and he could. It was THE cutest thing ever! This kid just cracks me up! 

The Grown-Up Army Game!

Owen has been begging Michael to teach him how to play Axis & Allies for quite a while now. A little over a week ago Michael took down the game and played with him using the little maps. This makes no sense to me since I've never played the game, but that's what he said. Last Saturday Owen's persistence paid off and Michael played the whole game with the boys. 

I was in the next room making soup and bread for my Stampin' Up Party that was happening later that night. I was busy doing things and I felt bored for Jack! The poor kid picking the United States as his country and from what Michael said that is the most boring country to play and you are the last country that gets to go in each round. Poor kid! Each countries turn takes forever...I mean at least 10 minutes. 

Surprisingly Owen only tried to quit once and that was about 30 minutes before the game was over. He did tell us that he's not going to let his kids play this game until they're 12! In all the whole game took 2 1/2 hours!!!! Michael did great! He never got upset at the boys and they did have fun. Michael said it was a bit tiring because he was having to do everything. You'd think that know that Owen knows what's involved that he wouldn't want to play again for a while....nope! He's actually asking more often now! 

Keepin' It Real!

The social media world can be such a deceiving thing. People will only upload photos that make them look nice. They'll only post about good things like what's for dinner or the latest and greatest family outing. That's not all bad really, but it's also not completely true. Life is ugly sometimes and the normal Monday - Friday grind can be brutal. 

I want my blog to be real...the good, the bad and the ugly! I've been quite open about our struggles...miscarriages, unemployment and my depression. I like being real! 

Logan's mom Jen just recently heard someone say..."I want my house to be the kind of house that when people come over they don't feel bad about there house". I'm sure I paraphrased that wrong, but the point is the same...I don't want my friends to come over and see my house as this pristine museum and then think that I have it all together. My house isn't and I'm not!!! 

I want my friends and family to see my house for what it is...lived in! I don't spend all my time cleaning and picking up after my kids. Don't get me wrong I don't want my house to be a pig sty either! I am thankful everyday that God has given us a house to live in and home to raise our kids. So we do take care of it...don't worry! 

All that to say...our house was a mess!!! It was seriously in need for some spring cleaning. I don't know if it's the nice weather that lite a fire under me or if it was the sun shining in that just put a spotlight on all the stuff that was dirty! On Thursday we didn't have anywhere to go so I got started cleaning and just kept going. Sweeping and mopping was the big thing that I was most proud of accomplishing. Not just normal sweeping...I moved the couch and the love seat and shook every rug that I could and lifted up and swept under the ones I couldn't. It took forever and my hand was killing me by the time I was done, but it felt so nice! 

And this was all the crap that was lying around on the first floor of house! 

For crying out loud...you'd think a pack of wild animals live here...oh wait I have 4.5 kids (including Logan as the .5) so I guess they do! :) 

Swinging!

Last week when we were having some sun I went outside with the kids so we could take advantage of it. All of them wanted to swing. 

It's so nice to see the sunshine on her face. That's my favorite feeling in the spring time...it's still cold, but the sun can warm your face.

Zeke has kind of forgotten how to sit in his bucket swing. He seems to think that he should lean forward instead of sit back. It looks terribly uncomfortable, but no matter how many times I move him back he won't stay there.

All the kids wanted to be swung of course so I was pushing Zeke from the front and then I would grab the girls legs and pull them and then let go instead of pushing them from behind. Ella didn't like it too much, but Logan thought it was great fun!

I absolutely love that my camera does this all on it's own when I take a bunch of shots at the same time.

Play Time!

Last summer Zeke was still too little to do much outside. He wasn't walking yet so he really only enjoyed swinging in his bucket swing. This year he is going to have so much fun!!! 

On Friday night we played outside with the kids for a long time. I put Zeke on the slide and then Daddy caught him. 

I thought he was going to freak out, but he LOVED it! He even would push himself to slide down. 

One time I put him up so he could slide down, but he decided he wanted to stand up and explore the clubhouse. Then I decided he should learn how to get up to the clubhouse on his own. 

I walked him to the back side and showed him the ladder/stairs. 

He literally climbed the whole thing by himself! I love that his cute big ol' tushy is sticking out there! 

Almost there! 

YAY!!!