Janey Quotes

Janey has been saying some pretty cute things lately that I want to write down so I don't forget.

Janey (holding a piece of paper): Nobody can touch this okay Mommy or I am going to freak out!
Me: You're going to freak out?
Janey: Yes...well all freak out...you'll freak out with me to Mommy.

Janey (while watching the Jungle Book): I want to stay in the jungle with you Mommy.
Me: I don't know if I want to stay in the jungle, I think I'll be scared.
Janey: You won't be scared Mommy, I'll take care of you. You'll be happy.
This one was so sweet...she keeps saying all the time :)

Kevin was watching Janey and Russell the other day and relayed the following conversation that Janey had with Russell.
Janey: You have to stop doing that Russell...I love you but you have to stop. It's been a long day!
This one made me laugh when Kevin told me. I don't think I have ever said it's been a long day in front of Janey so I have no idea where she got that one from :)

And just tonight Janey was playing in the bathroom washing her hands which ended up with her washing her hair somehow. More just putting soap all over in her hair. She came out of the bathroom with a soaking wet towel on her head and said to me "I have to wash my hair mommy...there's soap in it. It's all funky so I have to wash it."
It made me laugh that she used the word funky...what a silly girl.

And as for me I got my hair colored and cut. It's pretty drastic but I like it...thanks Katie. Heres a pic. If you don't like it, just pretend like you do :)

Deep Fried Goodness!

What is better than hot chocolate and homemade donuts? Not much! I decided to try my hand at making my Grandmas delicious sugar donuts. I must say they turned out pretty good! Russell was in heaven and kept begging for more! Nothing gets me into the holiday spirit more than baking...I love it, but I do not love how much weight I tend to gain this time of year:) So if you happen to see me gaining a few extra pounds please do not comment on it! :) If anyone wants some goodies I will be more than willing to share.

Our little Princess is 3!

actually...she technically isn't 3 until Sunday but we decided to celebrate today. It was such a fun day! I think that I had just as much fun as she did :) The festivities started last night when Kevin and I decided to make her this...

That's right...we made her a castle cake. It wasn't too hard to do and I must say it turned out pretty darn cute! It was totally worth all the time it took to make it. Janey has been asking for a castle cake for at least 6 months. She talks about her birthday and castle cake multiple times throughout the day. I wonder what will be the topic of conversation now...Christmas here we come!

Making a funny face in the morning. She was super excited when she saw her cake! It was just as good as Christmas for me:) She was just too cute all day long!

Decorating crowns with her princess friends

All her cute little friends...thanks to all the little princesses for helping us celebrate!

Getting ready to blow out her candles. Happy Birthday Janey...we love you!

Wicked

Kevin decided to be romantic and bought tickets to go see wicked (but only after I told him to :) It was so incredible! For those of you who haven't seen this musical I highly recommend saving up and going to it. We went knowing basically nothing about the plot and I loved it that way. I will never watch the Wizard of Oz the same again! Thanks Kevin for an amazing evening!

Goodbye Goldilocks!

For awhile Kevin and I contemplated whether or not we should give our little Russell a haircut. I was reluctant because he had the cutest curls and I knew that once I cut his hair he would go from looking like my baby boy to looking like a big boy. Kevin wanted to cut it because he thought that it was started to look like girls hair. I finally gave in and we started to cut his hair. At first I was mad at Kevin for making me cut off those adorable curls...but when I saw the end result he was so dang cute that I coldn't believe we didn't do it sooner. I kept staring at him for days because he didn't look like my child...he looked so old. We cut his hair about two weeks ago and I think it's almost time to trim it again. I see what my life will be like for the next several years :) I forgot to mention that when we cut his hair we gave him a succor for the first time to keep him entertained. It sure did entertain him but by the end he was a sticky, hairy mess. It was really gross but totally worth it to have him sit still and cooperate :)

This is a picture of his hair right before we cut it.

And here he is right after his first haircut. He sure looks handsome!

Apparently I am an Elephant!

Janey has really been using her imagination lately. It's really cute to see her develop this whole new phase of life. The other day she decided to play a game of "the tiger is coming!" The tiger was outside and was coming to get us, so we would have to run and "hide" from the tiger. Slowly the game changed to Russell being the tiger so we would run and hide from Russell (Russell thinks this is the greatest game ever!) Anyways I was at Costco the other day and Kevin was at home playing "Tiger" with the kids. When I got home he informed me that Janey had assigned each of us an animal. Russell being the tiger, Janey being the lion (her hair fits her perfectly for that part :) Kevin being the bear and you guessed it...I got to be the elephant! Apparently my child thinks I am huge!

What I've been up to

Thanks to my friend Crystal I have been inspired to start canning...so that is what I have been up to. I have canned pears , peaches, tomatoe soup (thanks Crystal for the yummy recipe) and I made some yummy peach freezer jam! In the next few days I plan to make some applesauce. I must say I feel very domestic. This is my first experience with canning and I have actually really enjoyed it. Thanks to Kevin for helping me...it has been a good experience and it feels good to get some food storage!

This is my yummy freezer jam. I don't know why but those little plastic freezer jars make me really happy...weird I know :) When I first made this jam every thing I ate was planned around it (biscuits, pancakes, toast, etc)...it is that good! Okay enough bragging, I am just really proud of myself!

Happy Birthday Russell

Happy Birthday Russell!!

I meant to post something on the day of Russell's Birthday, but somehow the day got away from me and then so did the rest of the week! I cannot believe my little boy is already 1. We celebrated his birthday while we were in Utah (more on that trip to come). It was fun having family there with us to help celebrate. Russell was a little afraid of the cake to begin with but by the end he had the hang of it and was a big mess! I love the above picture with his crooked little smile. It makes me all happy and giddy inside whenever I look at it. What Russell is currently doing:

walking around by himself. He still falls a lot but he is doing really well!
says na na (meaning no no) which he learned from his loving older sister :)
Kevin and I swear he has said thank you on more than one occasion (he's pretty smart)
Loves to carry around long stick like objects...the wooden spoon is currently his favorite toy
He gets very attached to things as well and lets you know when he disapproves of you taking it away from him.
Continues being the sweetest and happiest boy around!

Happy Birthday Russell...we love you!

Overwhelmed

It has been so long since I have blogged that I feel too overwhelmed to do it every time I think about it. Way too much has happened so this may be the longest most boring post for all of you so feel free to stop reading whenever you want!

For Kevin's birthday we took the the kids to the federal way community center to go swimming. It was really fun, they have a lazy river and a little play area with slides for the kids. It was really fun...we hope to go back soon. Later that night just Kevin and I went back and went wall rock climbing. It was so much more fun than I thought it would be and an excellent workout! Even my finger muscles were sore :) Afterwards we went to the Olive Garden and ate dinner...mmm my favorite!

For the 4th of July we ended up going to Portland to visit Kevins sisters and brother. It was alot of fun and surprisingly Janey and Russell both loved the fireworks. This was Janeys first time witnessing fireworks since we are usually party poopers and put her to bed early! We also enjoyed our tradition of eating breakfast at IHOP. Nothing is better than having a great breakfast and not having to make it!

Kevin had to go out of town for a few days and thanks to my great friends I stayed busy enough to not go crazy! Laurel and I enjoyed a long crazy trip to the zoo but the kids had fun so that's all that matters. I came hope super exhausted but so did the kids! We left at 1:00 in the afternoon and didn't get home until 7:30. It ended up being a lot longer than planned but thats a whole other story! Russell also had a fever while Kevin was gone but luckily it was mild and didn't last too long. Janey on the other hand got sick the weekend Kevin came home and had a fever of 105 (only for a short while) but had an average of 103/104 for about 2 days. The crazy thing is that she didn't even act that sick....she was just a little more mellow than normal. If I had a fever of 104 I think I would die!

For my birthday Melanie was nice enough to take Janey to the Lake and story time so I had some alone time while Russell took his nap...Thanks Melanie! Later we went to the Keg for dinner...I love that place! We didn't do to much but it was a fun day.

Other than that we have just been enjoying fun trips to the zoo, the lake, and the sun in general! Hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as we are!

The Taste of Summer

It's so annoying that my pictures always get out of order. Can anyone tell me how to fix this? It drives me crazy!! Anyways, I'm not going to worry about fixing it now because that takes too much time. We have been having so much fun with this warm weather. The kids have loved being outside going to the park and the zoo and whatever else we can think of doing. The above picture is of Russell "helping" Kevin build a dresser. He was totally into it...it was fun to watch him crawl around and grab all the pieces. Don't worry, we only let him have the big pieces:)

This is a picture of Kevin and the kids on our hike to Twin Falls on Memorial Day. It was so much fun and the perfect length. We only went to the first lookout, but it was just nice to be outside and hiking. Janey had a ball and even walked all the way back to the car from the lookout, I was pretty impressed! After we got home we BBQ'd some chicken and let the kids play in their new pool. It wasn't quite warm enough for pool play but they Janey was dying to get in and once Russell saw her he was freaking out until we put him in as well. They had fun so that's all that matters!

Russell and I at the zoo. The Kids loved seeing the animals. It was our first experience at the Woodland Park Zoo. We went later in the evening so there weren't too many people...it was great! As we were there a bird totally almost flew into my head! We were just walking down the path and I was looking at Janey our something and when I looked forward I saw something coming straight for my head. I ducked really fast and then realized it was a bird. Kevin said it was only about a foot above my head... good thing I ducked! I swear the birds had it out for me that day:)

I just thought this picture of Russell was so cute. He was watching Kevin work in the yard and he was being extremely cute...of course :)

And here is the sweet taste of summer! I love Slurpees and after a little hike we went on at clark lake park it was well deserved. We thought that the trail went all the way around the lake, but once we got halfway around the lake the trail ended! We tried to off road it for awhile but it didn't work! It was a fun walk but it ended up being a lot farther and longer than we intended. Needless to say, we deserved this tasty slurpee from 7-eleven. I love these things and as you can tell...like mother like daughter. Maybe it got passed onto her after all the slurpees I had while pregant with her :)

It's been too long

It's been too long since I have posted. For journaling purposes I am going to list the things that we have done since I last posted.

My Mom and Dad came for a visit at the end of April. My Dad stayed the weekend then went off to work in Canada while my Mom stayed the rest of the week with us. We had a great time weeding in our flowerbeds, planting bushes and flowers and just being together. Thanks Mom for making our yard look beautiful and for taking care of the kids while you were here! It was great...Janey wanted her to do everything, she wouldn't let me do anything for her (sorry mom...but I loved it)!

This past weekend we went to the Rhododendron gardens. It was beautiful and a perfect time to go. Since it was mothers day weekend I got in for free! It was also the last weekend for the other part of the garden, I cant remember right now what it is called. It was beautiful and the kids loved it too.

Mothers day was amazing. Kevin spoiled me as usual with breakfast in bed, taking care of the kids all day and making me dinner. The kids let us take a nap and later that evening we went to Flaming Geyser and walked around. Thanks Kevin for all that you do for me and the kids...you are the best!

On another note, Russell has recently started to crawl. He's not up on his hands and knees but he does a little army crawl. It is really cute and he is pretty fast at getting to where he wants to go! Needless to say I am having to keep my floors swept and vacuumed alot more often then I used to. I guess that's a good thing.

Other than that we are just waiting for summer to arrive so that we can get out of our house and enjoy the outdoors. Cinderella isn't as fun to watch after the 100th time...well I guess Janey thinks it is :)

We Love Thursdays

Why do we love Thursdays? Because it's garbage day! I never knew that I could love garbage day so much...and it's not the getting rid of the garbage that I love so much (although I love that too) but it's the entertainment that it provides :) For the past few weeks my kids have been totally enthralled watching the garbage truck. Every time I hear the garbage truck we run into the living room, sit on the couch and look out the window! The kids are even entertained just sitting looking out the window anticipating seeing the garbage truck. Obviously Russell has no idea what's going on, but he loves to play with the back of the couch and the window...and once the garbage truck has arrived he loves watching it too! To get an idea of how much we love this activity, Janey was praying this morning and prayed for the garbage truck...it was so adorable. If you are ever wondering what to do on Thursday mornings...watch for garbage trucks (or whenever your garbage day is) I find that even I am amused by this activity :)

Easter Weekend

I guess since everyone else is posting about Easter I might as well...it's really the only news I would have to write about. We had a fun Easter...it was just us but it was really good. Friday we went to an Easter Egg hunt with some kids from the ward. Saturday Kevin took Janey to Kent Station to an Easter Egg hunt. Russell was asleep so I stayed home and made sugar cookies to decorate later. Janey and Kevin got to Kent Station a little late but it ended up being perfect. They were in the last group of the 0-3 year olds and only had to wait like a minute before they could go look for the eggs. The next group had a line that was super long, so I'm glad they didn't have to wait forever! Sunday we enjoyed going to church and after church Kevin let me enjoy a nap...it was wonderful! After we woke up we looked for our Easter baskets. I was finally able to hide Kevin's in a spot where he couldn't find it! That's the first time...usually he finds his right away and I am wondering around the house looking for mine forever! After that we ate dinner, skyped family and decorated cookies. It was a wonderful weekend and I am grateful for every opportunity to be with my family and learn more about the Savior. It has been fun to teach Janey and I am amazed with how much she understands! I hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter as well. I will post some pictures later

I want the sun back!

We had the most fabulous weekend. Having 70 degree weather equals a very happy family! We were outside as much as possible and loving every single minute of it! Today Janey kept asking to go outside and play on her swing set like she has been doing the past few days. We ventured outside, but I guess I am getting old and it was too cold for me so we went in after only a few minutes! I kept wishing that somehow the sun would magically appear and I would be able to put my shorts back on and play all day outside. I am ready for that 70 degree weather to last for a few months :) Here are a few pictures of us enjoying the weather!


I love this picture of Janey. She was looking at some people playing by the Lake, but she looks like she is posing and knows she is all that!


My two boys...they are the greatest!

7 months old

Our sweet little boy is 7 months old today. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by! He is such a sweetheart and makes us so happy. I took some pictures of him yesterday and can't believe how big he looks in them...he is just too cute!
Here are some things that he has been doing lately
1. Rolls everywhere, who needs to crawl when you can get to where you want by rolling!
2. Loves to play/jump in his jumperoo...and squeal.
3. Thinks he needs to eat whenever we are eating (even if I have just fed him).
4. Makes all of us smile all the time :)
5. Loves to play with toys
6. Loves to read books (especially when Janey reads them to him)

We are so grateful to have such a happy/sweet boy in our lives!

Snow!

I can't believe how much snow we have been getting this past weekend! It was beautiful to watch the snow fall, but I am sooo ready for Spring! I did get some great pictures though of Kevin and Janey playing in the snow. Janey was having the time of her life...she was laughing so hard as they were standing in the snow and the snow was getting all over her, it was pretty cute!
Besides the snow we had a great weekend. Kevin's mom came to visit, it was so nice having her around. Janey just had a ball showing off and playing with her. It was sad to have her go...we sure enjoyed having her here!
In other news...I am trying to potty train Janey so if any of you have any tips or tricks up your sleeves, please share them with me! Wish me luck!

Which is more worth your money?

Which would you think is the better deal, a sticker book containing 100 stickers for a dollar or two stickers for a dollar? It seems pretty obvious right...the sticker book with 100 stickers in it, that's what I thought! Awhile ago I bought Janey this sticker book thinking she would have fun with it. I have since regretted making this decision and now think that two stickers for a dollar would have been the way to go. She has definately been having fun with the stickers...but a little too much fun. I am finding them everywhere! She wants to play with them all the time and is pretty good about not putting them on things she is not supposed to, but they get dropped on the carpet and end up on the bottom of my shoes, all over my clothes, etc. So a warning to all you mothers out there who are thinking about buying a sticker book...I recommend buying just one sticker they can play with for awhile and then be done with it! :)

Getting things done

Kevin and I have been in the mood lately to get things done around our house. For those of you who don't know, we have been fixing up our house since the day we moved in 3 1/2 years ago. All the doors have since been replaced, including the garage door. All flooring has been replaced with the exception of the family room which had new carpet put in right before we moved in. Popcorn ceiling has been scraped, all walls have been repainted at least once, ceilings painted, new light fixtures on almost all lights. We even knocked out a wall to create one big room with our kitchen and family room and Kevin being an amazing do it yourself guy created a beautiful mantle for our fireplace! Needless to say we have been pretty busy since we moved in and are getting anxious to get EVERYTHING done and just enjoy it. So why is it that I keep adding new projects to our list? We recently upgraded our cable package so I now get HGTV and Kevin tells me I have been watching it too much because as of late I have a million new things I want to do. I have recently rearranged many rooms, gone through closets and decluttered, made Kevin help me repaint our bathroom (it is so much better now!) This last weekend we spent the whole day rearranging cupboards in our kitchen. It took forever but I don't know how I lived with it the way it was for so long. Needless to say, even though Kevin tells me I watch too much HGTV I know that he is secretly grateful that I do:) It just feels good to get rid of all our junk and live a little more simple. I will post pictures later, for some reason it's not cooperating right now.

Lucky You!

I have seen this on a few blogs and finally decided to join in on the fun...hope you do too! :)

{Lucky you!}The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!}

No Clever Title

I have never gone to a Salon/Spa to get a manicure/pedicure. Lately I have really been wanting to get one. Does anyone know of a good/inexpensive place to get a pedicure? If you do let me know....and if anyone wants to join me you are more than welcome!

GWL

What does GWL stand for you might ask? It stands for Great Wolf Lodge. We were able to spend an amazing night and day there this last Thursday! It was incredible to have a little day of summer in the middle of winter. For those of you who don't know, the Great Wolf Lodge has an indoor water park that is heated to 84 degrees....Heavenly! It's a small water park but they have everything you need to have fun and feel like it is summer. It took Janey awhile to warm up to playing in the water but she loved it. Russell loved it from the beginning...so much to look at and hear, what baby wouldn't be in heaven? Kevin and I have always had a hard time remembering the name of the Lodge but after spending almost 2 days looking at the back of Janey's life jacket with the initials GWL on it...it is now imprinted in my brain what it stands for. Afterward we continued on to Portland and spent the weekend with Kevin's sister. We were able to see her new twins be blessed. It was a wonderful weekend...hope you all had a good one too!

Best cinnamon roll ever!

The other day I decided to make cinnamon rolls and I must say they turned out delicious!

The recipe is supposedly the actual cinnabon cinnamon roll recipe. I think it even kind of
looks like the cinnabon cinnamon roll, what do you think? I was pretty proud of myself and
just thought I would share that. If anyone wants a cinnamon roll come on over....but you
better hurry cause Kevin and I are eating them pretty fast!

Things I Love

Okay, so these are a few things that I LOVE that my kids have been doing lately.

Janey:
1. Walks around saying Honey Honey trying to get my attention. I am no longer Mommy, I am honey and Kevin is as well. Yesterday Kevin left for Choir practice and Janey was yelling to him the whole time bye honey bye honey...it was so cute!
2. She is really starting to communicate...it is so much fun to see what she is going to say. She comes up with something new everyday. And she is quite the entertainer. She is always trying to make Kevin and I laugh.
3. Her favorite phrase right now is "so annoying" I guess I say that a little too much. I have realized how careful I need to be around her these days :)
4. She is the cutest little mommy and takes such good care of Russell. She is always entertaining him and making him laugh....I love it!

Janey has also been very "princessy" lately. She loves to dress up and wear pretty dresses and necklaces. Here she is playing with my pop beads from when I was little!

Russell:
1. He is just the sweetest boy ever. He is always all smiles and so lovey. It is so much fun to play and cuddle with him.
2. He is learning how to get around. He somehow scoots himself all around the floor.
3. I love how his face lights up when Janey is around. He loves watching her and is already trying to mimic alot of things that we do.
4. He LOVES his solid food. It is so great to watch all the little milestones that he is making.

These are just a few things that I love about my kids. Of course I have a million more but I won't bore you with those.

He is just so sweet and so cute!

I'm cheap

Janey woke up with a little red mark under her eye on Christmas morning. I thought that she had just scratched herself and that it would get better. The next day it seemed to be all purply-red in the corner of her eye...it was very wierd. I finally decided to take her to see the doctor this past Tuesday. The doctor informed me that she had an ear infection and prescribed antibiotics and eye drops for her. I went to get the prescription filled and found out that the eye drops would cost $30 after insurance. I don't know about the rest of you but that seems pretty pricey to me and since I am so cheap I figured that I would wait to see if her eye would just get better. Of course it didn't and yesterday morning I walked in to get her out of bed and her poor little eye was glued shut and red all the way around! I felt horrible, so I quickly ran to wal-mart....but I am still to cheap to buy the expensive prescription so they phoned the doctor and he finally sent them a prescription that can be filled in generic. It took almost all day to get that done but it was only $5 instead of $30. I know,I am horrible to be cheap at my daughters expense. We gave her the eye drops yesterday and she already looks so much better. Its still red, but it is much much better!