It Ain't Halloween,

Till someone makes sugar cookies!

Can't Wait For The Movie...

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One Cute Lil' Pain

This boy is very lucky that he was born with dimples. And big blue eyes. And curly white-blonde hair. Otherwise his Mommy would be in the crazy-house by now. As we got close to entering the church today, Porter realized just where he was being taken and decided to run the other way, yelling, "No."

Well, I get him inside and try to put him in Nursery.... yeah right. He clung to me while screaming, "Mama!" The teachers told me to just leave him, but when those baby blues are all teary, he can pretty much get whatever he wants from me. So I stayed for about half-an-hour before I finally got the chance to sneak out. I watched him through the window for awhile and saw him cut in the slide-line, tell the other boys "no" when they tried to go down- he even planted his lil' behind on the bottom of the slide and wouldn't move.

I snuck a peak again at snack time and he was pointing at the little boy sitting next to him and telling him "no" for no apparent reason. The leaders had to push Porter-Pot away from all of the other kids.

He then terrorized my Mom during sacrament (it was the Primary Program today so my mom watched him while I kept gesturing at Piper to sit down and cover-up her panites).

It was so much fun. Yep.

And then we got home, where he continued his rein of terror.

But, he's sleeping now so it all seems so cute and funny.

That is, until he wakes up.

One Reluctant Cowboy, One Punk-Rock Fairy, and One Witchie With Attitude...

Yes, I know. It's been a while.

I've been rather busy and just plain preoccupied. Lots of changes happenin' around here, but I would rather not discuss them right now, thank you very much. Maybe later...

Anyway, since the days till Halloween are dwindling, I decided to take the tricked-out kiddies out for a pre-run of the costumes and a mini photo shoot (Courtney-style). We went to my Auntie's house since it is way fun for the kids and she has some cool landscaping going on back there.

If you remember last Halloween's costumes, I had a theme: Wizard of Oz. This year, the girls wouldn't go for a theme (no matter how much I tried to coerce them), so we ended up with these:

And:

And, last, but never least:

Thanks Leanne for the use of your yard and for entertaining my kiddies with your horse!

And yes, please hold your applause, I made these costumes. Porter's was the easiest since I just had to make the chaps and vest, Adi's was wonderously simple also, but Piper's was a little bit of a pain (it doesn't help that I don't have the patience to read the instructions all the way through so I end up doing a lot of unpicking).

So, there you go, all of my family who have been begging me to post their costumes. What do ya think?

Oh, and here's a video especially for Dad:

P.S. Adi tore the tuelle on the front of her dress whilest climbing on the playground. I wanted to cry. Hopefully it is fixable, though :)

Pillowcase Dresses

While perusing around Etsy one day, I came across these cute little dresses that were literally made from pillowcases. $20 for a dress made from bed sheets? I don't think so! So I visited my local fabric store that has all of the fabric that will make a seamstress drool (I am not exaggerating. Everytime I go I scheme of ways to get $500 just to spend in the shop). But, I digress.

I whipped up a couple dresses of my own (Patterns? I scoff at patterns. No, seriously, I do). Here are the results:


They didn't turn out quite like I imagined they would. In fact, they look like a flour sack cinched around the girlies.

Yet, the more I look at them, the more I like them

So here's the big question: Are they church-wearing appropriate? They would, of course, have a long-sleeved white shirt underneath (they are very into modesty after my FHE lesson a couple of weeks ago).

What do you think? Take the poll on the sidebar and let me know (seriously- I am torn up about this). Anyone can go ahead and click away, I can't get offended by what you think since I won't know who clicked what. And anyone can do it!

Please!!

**Oh, and please don't ask why my daughters have a strange tulle thing wrapped around their head... I try not to stand in the way of their creativity!

It's Here....

Welcome, Autumn!

This is the one thing that I have missed while living in Arizona: the changing leaves. Already the mountains are on fire with orange and yellow- faintly, but it's spreading quickly!

When I was little, our family would drive into the mountains in the Fall and have a picnic lunch while admiring the beauty all around us (I'm pretty sure that I was there just for the piles of leaves and the good food, but the beauty was important too).

Me & My Gramps when I was round-about Pipe's age

I personally can't wait to take the kiddies up to the canyon and let them play in the piles of leaves. Hopefully this warm weather will hold out until we can do that...

Redecorating; Digi-Style

I've been looking for a new way to decorate the girls' room lately that would keep the same colors I've got going on now (I have way too much pink and brown to replace all of it).

Why? You may ask....

Because I enjoy hearing Orrin groan when I bring up redecorating a room, that's why ;)

Anyway, I was shopping at Tangie's Big Birthday Sale when I came across these beauties here and here. I could suddenly feel those long-unused decorating wheels start a'turning in my head (the poor things have rusted).

Wouldn't it be great to do something a little more vintage-y, borderline-Victorian in there? I also have this strange fascination with Emily Post, so I dug up a few quotes from her 1922 etiquette book and came up with these:

I'm going to frame them (probably in white) and hang 'em up (11x14 maybe?). Quick and inexpensive way to change their room!




Oh, and stand-by, 'cause I also bought Tangie's Giddeyup cowboy kit to do some things on Porter-Pot's wall!

Daddy's Boy

Porter is OP's biggest fan. That boy follows his daddy everywhere and likes to do whatever Daddy is doing. He even sits on Orrin's lap for long spaces of times while OP's engrossed in his game of Warcraft. Amazing, I know.

This is a little clip to show you all why Porter thinks his Daddy is the bomb-diggity:

And here's an extra-special clip of OP's swinging abilities (I had to put this video on since right after I turned the camera off Orrin said, "You better not put this on your blog."

Famous last words.

My New Love...

I have found a new obsession- felt & crochet play food for the girls. I love these felt items

and these crochet ones.

Aren't those the sweetest things that you have ever seen? I'm trying to make some of the felt food, but crocheting is far beyond my ability! I bought the crochet cupcakes and some felt cookies for the girlies for Christmas, but I'm looking for more, so if there is anyone out there who knows how to make these, let me know, 'cause I'm in the market...

A Garage Sale, A Dog-Whisperer and a Mis-Match

The Garage Sale. Adi decided to have a garage sale today. I had to convince her to only do a pretend one in our backyard, but she is still planning on having a real one someday soon.

Piper, the dog-whisperer:

And, last but never least, the mismatch:

This is what happens when Mom lets the two big sisters dress the baby.

And that was our day :)

Park Hopping

Beautiful day, isn't it? Warm, but overcast... couldn't ask for more from the weather, can you?

OP is working overtime today, so I had to find a way to entertain these crazy chillens of mine. What was my grand idea? Park hopping. We've gone to three different parks so far (it is now naptime/ quiet time, we'll see if we go to more after), and it has gone suprisingly well. I did sneak in a visit to the book store and the fabric store, yeah me!

Porter perfected the art of going down the slides by himself, Adi ran from equipment to equipment like a monkey on speed, and Pipes was my little butterfly, doing whatever she felt like.

When I snuck to the fabric store, South Jordan was having their Harvest Days Festival. The girlies got their faces painted, but Porter was ready for a nap, so he chose to just scream (helpful, huh?).

I even took the kiddies over to my old elementary school to play. I sat on the swings and pondered why they still had gravel in an elementary's playground (I also had memories of falling on said gravel when I was 6 and getting pebbles in my knee, which my grandpa kindly offered to get out with his pocket knife)...

*please forgive my lack of pedicure... I am a mother of three, afterall!

I let the girlies dress themselves today- frankly, I get tired of the arguing over outfits!


We had Taco Bell at the park for lunch and Porter got to experience dipping his food for the first time... he leads such a sheltered life!

And my favorite picture of the day....

I think that this one is wall-worthy!

Seperation Anxiety

The blessed day has finally come. Porter is now old enough for nursery.

On Sunday morning, while I was rushing to get the fam ready for 9 am church, I was imagining how nice Relief Society would be without having to try to contain my lil' monster. I could picture just how relaxing it was going to be.

Then we go to church and OP and I put him in the nursery room. He got a little anxious when he saw us walk out, so I stayed in there for five minutes and showed him all of the cool toys.

Then I snuck out.

And he didn't miss me.

I stayed and watched through the little window for ten whole minutes, but he just kept on playing as though this wasn't the heart-wrenching-first-moment-of-seperation that it was.

I continued to check on him throughtout Relief Society and Sunday School, but he didn't once cry.

And you know what? I was a little bored during those "peaceful" moments.

But don't you tell anyone that I said that!

Going on an Adventure, Merrill-Style

OK, so I'm not one for exploring. Everyone who knows me, knows that. I mean, I didn't even like the kids walking around in the tall grass (as pictured above)- that's where tics live, you know.

We went back to Daybreak today and instead of going to one of the parks, we had lunch at one of their "trail" areas. The kids liked the climbing and the running through tall, bug-infested growth and I had a ball snapping pictures. Unfortunately, my camera lens was dirty from a certain little somebody sticking his finger in the lens (Porter), so only a few shots turned out:

We've been trying to teach Porter to fold his arms while we pray. He usually bows his head, but, for some reason, he just hates folding his arms.



And here's my kids climbing the architecture!


And now we are home and it is naptime (WAHOO!).

And no one brought home any tics, in case you were wondering...

Out-Argued by a four-year-old

I was cleaning out my car (yes I actually clean out my car, but only when garbage falls out of it when the doors are opened) with Piper and Porter playing inside. Piper was messing around with the doors when I asked her to please stop.

"Why?" she asked, oh-so-innocently.

"Well, what would happen if I were to shut this door and you two got locked inside?"

"I would just unlock the door." She looks at me as though I am an annoying bug.

"Well, what if you got scared and couldn't remember how to unlock the doors?" I thought I had her (I know, not a very good argument, but I don't do well under pressure).

"Then Heavenly Father would help me."

Game. Set. Match.

She had me there.

P.S. That's Pipe's 4th birthday picture- they turned out pretty darn great. It really captures who Pips is: the curly hair that she demands, the impish grin, sparkling eyes, and the bruises up her arm. Gotta love it!

Mr. Cheese, If You Please

If you asked my girls where they would go if they could go anywhere in the world, their answer would be... Chuck E Cheese. I'm actually learning to like it too! Orrin is worse than the girls there, running around wasting all of the tokens on games that don't give you tickets. I usually focus on the games that have the highest ticket turn-out rate (the prize counter gets ugly if there are not enough tickets for Porter to get a sucker, Adi to get a FunDip and Piper to get something pink).

My personal favorite machine there is the Sketch Artist. I usually look pretty decent in the pics :)