Science Fair

Brayden participated in his first science fair this year. He was really excited to do it. I think he picked at least 10 different projects before we settled on parachutes. We used four different sized parachutes attached to the same object and saw if the size difference caused them to fall slower or faster. At first I thought it might me a little advance for him (gravity, air resistance, drag, etc...) but when I asked him at the the very beginning what he thought would happen he said the bigger parachutes would go slower because they catch more air and the air slows them down. That was good enough for me. He typed most of the board info himself (i formatted it) and he put every single thing on the board by himself. It took all of my self restraint not to straighten some of his letters, but he really did a great job. The judges thought so too. He took 1st place for the first grade. He was so proud to go up and get his ribbon.

Brayden with Mrs Angel his teacher and his friend Gavin. He came straight from baseball practice so excuse the outfit.

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a great valentine's day this year. I let Tawny pick out a heart hairstyle and this is what she settled on. I was surprised at how well it turned out.

The kids got little gift bags full of little things from the dollar store.

For breakfast we had donut muffins, made from a recipe I found on pinterest. They was so delicious! Brayden especially liked them. I think he ate 5. It's amazing how much he can eat when he likes it.

Brayden also had a valentine's party at school I went to help so Tawny and Ethan came too. They got to decorate cupcakes, but Brayden couldn't eat his, so he chose frosting and sprinkles he knew Tawny would like. Such a sweetheart.

We spent the evening at home and Greg and I got to spend some time together after they went to bed.

Slow Down Little Man!

Ethan will be 18 months in another week. Where has the time gone? It seems like every time I turn around he's learned something new. Here's a rundown of some of his recent milestones:

Favorite Toys: balls, cars, trucks and tractors. he'll even make appropriate sounds for each vehicle and they are each a little different

Favorite Foods: spaghetti, ribs, yogurt and bell peppers

Favorite games: peek-a-boo and mommy monster

Favorite routine: cuddling with mommy in her bed every morning. I lay next to him and tell him stories. If I don't put my arm over him (which I do on purpose sometimes) he'll grab it and put it over his belly and say "there". If we don't cuddle in the morning he is one cranky kid

Favorite animal: doggies, hands down.

Vocabulary: it's really started to expand recently. "pea" (please) "dan-do"(thank you), "go ou-ide" (go outside), bru-da (brother), "dri" (drink), "a-ma" (amen), car, "drut" (truck), "dac-dor" (tractor) and "wu-wou" (love you) are some of my favorites.

He's learned to fold his arms when we pray. There's is something so adorable about my little man when he folds his arms. Maybe it's because his arms are still so short they hardly even cross. Or the big grin he always gets because he's knows he's doing the right thing. Or maybe it's that moment of reverence coming from a crazy little boy, a little boy that was so recently with our Heavenly Father. In some moments I am absolutely certain he remembers and knows so much more that I could even imagine. On Sunday at church he saw a statue of Jesus and was very interested in it. I told him a few times it was Jesus. He smiled, laughed and said "wu-wou" (love you) speaking directly to the statue.

He loves music and loves to dance to it. Sometimes he'll grab my hand and lead to the piano because he wants me to play. I look for any excuse to spend a few minutes playing and that's a pretty good one!

He loves his siblings. If one of them is crying he'll curl up their lap or as close to it as he can get and cuddle with them until they stop.

He's learned most of his body parts- eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, nose, tongue, hands, head, feet, belly, arms and legs. I think we may start on colors pretty soon.

He can pick Greg's truck out from all the other diesel trucks on our street (and there's a lot). When he hears his truck he runs to the door and fusses until I let him outside to see his daddy.

Some things haven't changed. He still loves to eat everything. We tried gardening with him the other day and it was an epic fail. He ate tons of dirt and I'm pretty sure quite a few seeds. He still hates being left with adults other than family (it's getting better but I'm very concerned about nursery). He still throws his plate of food on the ground when he's done eating. He doesn't like to share and screams when he doesn't get his way. But I love every little thing about him.

Parent/Kid Date Night

We are trying to spend more time one on one with our kids this year so we've implemented a monthly parent/child date night. This month I had Tawny and Greg had Brayden and Ethan. Next month we'll switch. We figured for now Ethan is too young for his own night. We all had so much fun. Tawny and I started our date by going to Teddy' Donuts, her favorite place in the whole world, right behind Disneyland. She, of course, picked a frosted cake donut with sprinkles (her favorite).

After that we came back to the house and painted our toenails and fingernails. I let her pick all the colors. I'm glad I didn't end up with the blue nails! I could tell she had a really great time so I was happy.

Greg and Brayden decided to make dinner together for everyone. They made sloppy Joe's. On top of that they even made me chocolate covered strawberries and blackberries. I wasn't there but it sure looks like Brayden had a good time.

After dinner we made popcorn balls together. What a perfect way to end a great night.

Girls Day

I don't have any pictures, but I couldn't skip this. It was too much fun! Last Friday me and my good friend Erica got to go out of town for a fun day together. Without any kids! Our husbands had joined forces and got us both a spa package at a salon for Christmas. so we made a day of it. We got massages, facials, mani's and pedi's. It was so great to relax and not worry about anything. Afterwards we ate lunch/dinner at Kneaders. Then went shopping for awhile, watched a movie and pigged out on In N Out on the way home. It was great to get away for a day.

Indoor Picnic

We had a little stormy weather for Blythe last week, which is pretty rare for us. The kids loved watching the rain, for the 5 minutes it lasted. There was the most beautiful full rainbow. I tried to get a picture of it, but it doesn't look anything like the real thing. The kids thought it was pretty awesome.

We're redoing our kitchen and were in the process on replacing our counter tops (more on that later) so we had no way to cook or run water in the kitchen. So for FHE that night we decided to have an indoor picnic. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows in our fireplace and ate on a blanket on the floor. We all had a lot of fun. Ethan especially loved sharing food with his daddy

Craft Projects

I did quite a few craft projects over the holidays that I think turned out pretty cute. For friends and family this year I made personalized kitchen towels. Most had the family's name and the couples anniversary or kids' names on them. All packaged up they looked like this.

This one was done for Grandma Idris. I used Citrasolv to transfer an image printed on a laser machine onto fabric. It was super easy and they turned out pretty cute.

For other family and friends I did brownies in a jar, which I thought also turned out really cute. And most importantly, super tasty.

I made a few art books for Christmas gifts this year. Brayden got one, as well as a few cousins (Tyler, Auger and Jordan). The applique of the names was a bit challenging for me, but turned out okay.

I also made super cute pettiskirts for the girls (Ackleigh and Jordan). They're pretty easy, but time consuming. But so cute I think they're worth it. The one below is Ackleigh's. I didn't get a picture of Jordan's but she loved it. As soon as she opened it she wore it the rest of Christmas day and quite a few times in the days that followed. I'm so glad she loves it!

Finally a few quick birthday gifts for a friend's daughter that just turned one. A little ruffled skirt that I intentionally made short enough for her to crawl in. My mom said it looks like a miniskirt, but I meant for it to be paired with leggings. It's adorable on her.

An A-line dress. I made it in my head without a pattern so I had to try it on Ethan to make sure the proportions were right. He didn't seem to mind!

Farm Fun

We've spent a lot of time out at my dad's farm this month. Brayden and Tawny got to ride with daddy for a while on a new tractor. Notice Tawny's outfit and matching bear outfit. I told them to go upstairs and put farm play clothes on. Tawny came down in that dress and said ,"I know it's a dress, but farmers don't have to wear dirty icky clothes all the time. I can be a farmer and be cute too. Oh, and Lizzie wanted to come too." Lizzie is her bear. So they went to work in cute farm clothes. She's just so funny.

Lizzie even had a special seat in the tractor

Our two mama cows had babies a few weeks ago and Tawny wanted to pet them. So what did Papa do? He went and caught it of course. He's such an awesome papa and my kids love him so much. I'm so grateful that they live close enough to have a good relationship with him. He's such an influential part of my life and I want my kids to have that same experience.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It captures so much of my dad, especially when you know that context of why he's doing it.

Ethan loved the little cow until the mama cow started mooing. He completely freaked out and wouldn't go back in the corral.

Brayden actually did pet the calf, but was so quick I didn't get a picture of it. I think it's mostly because of his allergies, but he's very wary around animals. I think he just hasn't had enough experience. Hopefully now that he's older and his allergies aren't so bad we can start to work on that.

Another random picture of Ethan. This is his first ice cream sundae complete with sprinkles and whipped cream. I'm pretty sure he was in heaven. He loved every last bit of it.

Soccer

Both Brayden and Tawny are playing soccer this year and having so much fun! They are in separate leagues so their games and practices are all at different times in different places. It's made it pretty interesting to fit it all into our schedule, but we've made it work with the helps of some friends.

Ready for their first game

Brayden is really getting into it this year. It's definitely a lot more physical than last year. Last game he jammed his thumb pretty bad. But is loving it and doing really well.

Tawny is pretty clueless but is so cute to watch. Once she steps on the field she starts smiling and it pretty much never leaves. At least she always kicks the ball the right way. Her main concern before her first game was that she didn't have a green hair thing to match her uniform. Luckily I know my little girl and had made a quick hair bow the night before. So she was super happy.
Ethan's pretty good at the games and he loves to play in the goals afterwards. Such a cutie!

Washington Trip

I hate when I get so far behind on my blogging. I don't know if I should catch up or just start where we are now and skip the last month. I decided to go back because January was just too memorable to miss.

I'll start with a random picture of Ethan. We have this oversized ottoman that he loves to push around the house and use as a step ladder to reach everything he's not supposed to. So recently I've been turning it upside down when I can't watch him super close. Now he likes to fill it with toys and climb inside to play. I don't mind because it's much safer than using to climb on the counter (true story. I found him on the kitchen counter one day. Let's just say my heart just about stopped.)

On January 7th we got a call that Greg's Grandma Idris wasn't doing very well and probably wouldn't be around much longer. We all felt like it was important to see her again we made and impromptu trip up the Washington for a few days. I am so glad that we did. We were able to spend a few days with her. We all loved it and she seemed to enjoy having family around. Brayden and Tawny were really sweet to her. As Tawny would say, "It made my heart smile" to see how kind they were. Tawny told one of Greg's aunts ( I think it was Aunt Shawna or Aunt Ellen) that we came up to Washington to "help make Grandma Idris smile". When we said goodbye to Grandma Idris on Wednesday Brayden gave her a glow stick bracelet that he had to play with in the car. We later found out that Grandma Idris was still wearing it when she passed away the following Tuesday. These are all just little memories that I don't want to forget.
I didn't have the privilege of knowing Idris for very many years. But I was able to spend quite a bit of time with her while we lived in Washington while I was pregnant with Ethan. Me and my kids loved picking raspberries with her. Another time she made bread with Brayden and Tawny, made them their own individual mini loaves and let them keep the pan. Two years later and my kids still ask me to make them a "Grandma Idris bread" (a mini loaf) when I bake my weekly bread. She was constantly giving, and lived every moment cheerfully. She was a true example of charity, the pure of Christ. She had a way of letting all those around her know they were loved regardless of any shortcomings. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to spend what little time I did with her and wish I could have spent so much more.

While up in Washington we also got to spend time with Greg's family and had so much fun. Brayden and Tawny really love their Aunt BrittanyJo and all their uncles. I think sometimes they love them a little too much to the point of smothering them! They rough-housed with Chase and played Wii with Anthony and Chase. They also loved playing with their cousin Auger. As usual, when I vacation I am awful at taking pictures and missed all of these moments. But I didn't manage to catch a few.

Eating a snack at Grandma Idris'On night we went to BrittanyJo's basketball game. We had so much fun! coloring together (well, Tawny colored and Ethan ate the crayons)