It's So Warm!

Never did I think I would apply the above words to 52 degrees.

Alas, I have become climatized. I suppose that it was bound to happen. I hadn't realized such a thing occured until I stepped outside earlier this week, said afore-mentioned phrase and then heard on the radio that it was 52 degrees.

Ah, well...

Anyway, the weather was kind enough to give us a few good outside days (it is supposed to snow again tonight) this week, and we sapped every bit of sunshine possible out of them.

Porter and Piper got down and dirty in their "garden" (thanks Nana for sparring some precious space), Adi bossed them around and tried to improve their green thumbs, nnd Momma got to cook dinner in peace and quiet without three little chickies chirping at her feet.

At least until Adi convinced Piper to climb the ladder down the five foot window well and then Ad shut the metal cover on Pipes and left. But that's another story in and of itself...

At Least Someone is Enjoying the Laundry...

This is one of my kiddos favorite past times: jump in mommy's big pile of laundry that she has organized into neat piles before she actually can start folding them (and yes, I organize them first into whom the clothes belong to, than into sub-categories: pants, shirts, pj's etc. Then the socks go into one pile, the underwear another... why am I sharing this? Sounds like a bad case of TMI).

Please don't judge me by the way I do laundry.

**Hopefully there isn't anything too embarrassing showing in these pics**

Oh my YUM

My mommy and I got one of these little lovelies from a girl in the neighborhood for valentines, and I just about died when I took a bite of one. I have honestly never tasted anything this yummy before. They are so moist and so, well, yummy. What's the big secret? The inside is a combination of cake and frosting mixed together then dipped in chocolate.

Is your mouth watering yet?

Check out the recipe here... I think I'll be making these for FHE treats Monday!

Prepare to be Jealous...

Porter has his quirks... quite a few of them, actually. He pretty much won't eat anything except cereal, fries and hot dogs (no joke here), he relishes in making his sisters scream, he has to change his shoes at least ten times a day, etc. You know what I'm talking about.

The one thing that saves me from pulling my hair out everyday is this:

Porter loves to sleep. Loves it. Usually there are no arguments when bedtime and naptime come around. Occasionally he even throws himself into bed and cries until someone turns on the fan, turns out the light, and fills his bottle with his precious water (which he only gets when he sleeps... this could be one of the reasons he enjoys sleeping so much).

Have you ever hear of any other almost-2 year old who does this? I know my girls definitely didn't (p.s. you can't hold this against me since I went through heck with the girls and their sleeping habits... actually we are still fighting this issue of theirs).

Will You Be My V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E?

Thank goodness we have Target to make our V-Day go smoothly (and only for a few bucks)! And yes, I did make make these lovlies... they didn't actually turn out too well (I think the yeast has seen better days), but they're edible and made with love!

Happy Valentines Day everybody!

Another clip of the kiddies...

Ever wondered what a typical day in our household consists of? Let me show you:

Piper in her own lil' world doing what she does best, Porter mimicking his sissies, and Adi writing away about something that it utterly important to her and has to have her mommy spell it all out for her.

So now you know.

Sidenote: I had to bring the Porter-Pot to Adi's class V-Day party today. I was sweating it... but fortunately, he found the iPod as enthralling as his sis did...

Teachin' Him Early

I recently realized that I have not posted any pictures or videos of Porter-Pot lately... and too be honest, it is because the kid is such a stinker that I can't get a decent photo of him. He goes into stealth mode whenever he sees my tiny, pink camera; that or he just screams no at me and runs away. He has really taken to the "terrific" twos.

Anywho, OP taught our boy something that is completely essential to any guy's education:

That's my boy!

Craft Away, Adi Baby!

Adi's birthday. Crafts. 12 little girls. Me. Orrin and Porter hiding in the basement. Pizza. Cupcakes. Butterflies. Face paint. Stickers. Glitter. Ribbon. Sprinkles. Frosting. Clay.

Oh my.

The party was Saturday at 11. Why so early? The girls got to make their own mini pizzas out of Rhodes Roll dough.

To of my Activity Days girls came over and painted the little girlie's faces. They did a really good job on Pipes.

The girls decorated foam bookmarks with glitter pens and foam flower stickers.

They played with some good ol' fashioned clay (Adi's favorite part of the party).

The girls frosted and decorated their own mega-size cupcakes (not too many of the girls actually ate them, however).

Adi-baby blew out the candles on her errr, creative cake (it so did not turn out the way that I had pictured it in my brain).

And after Adi had some help opening gifts (I think she only opened one or two of her own presents), the girls all went home with a brown paper sack full of their home made goodies and these babies (Play-Dough).

Luckily, one of the other moms stayed and helped me out, or I definitely would have been completely overwhelmed, instead of a bit overwhelmed.

I did learn that my girl Adi is a bit on the shy side. She didn't do much talking once the big crowd got there, although once it dwindled down to just three friends she turned back into her usual loud, screaming, playful self.

And I learned that Activity Day-age girls are even harder to control than six year olds. I think I caught a glimpse of my future.

*gulp*

Ok, ok

so I am a bit behind on posting. Everything seems to have caught up with me and I am currently swimming in chores and obligations (not to mention my latest book). I really hate it when people expect me to do stuff.

Anyway, I do promise to get pics of Adi's rollicking b-day party (twelve little girls vs. me), but until then, here's a pic that my little sis snapped of Piper while she was here.

Let me set up this photo. Piper hates shopping. Hates it. Whenever I leave the house, she begs me to stay home with someone. If no one is available to stay home and she must accompany me, she whines thewhole time asking to go back home. It is not fun.

Anyway, while Whit was here, Pipes was dragged from one crafty store to another. Poor girl was ready to have a breakdown. Then mommy remembered her iPod and Nana found her "noise-cancellaction headphones) and Piper was quiet as a mouse the rest of the shopping trips (which were many). Here she is chilling in The Quilted Bear:

She even fell asleep once or twice. Sometimes, you just gotta love modern technology.

My Girl

Can you believe it? My baby girl turned 6! Ahhhh! I'll post more about her party and all about my baby girl, but for now, I'd like to review Adi's birthdays with you:

*Sigh*

Why Am I Taking These?

I had an appointment for Adi to go and get her 6 year old pictures professionally taken. Then Adi-Baby had the wonderful idea for Mommy to take her pics instead. I have to say that I was a bit flattered.

After our mini-session, I was just plain frustrated. I don't have one of those awesome cameras that take the absolutely perfect pics... so I tried to Photoshop a bit. Hmmmm....

I'm thinking that we're going to head back out tomarrow (nothing like procrastinating until the last few days)...

Which one is your favorite? Seriously, I need some help choosing the one :)

Totally Tagged

1. From your list of blogs, pick 1 blogger that you know or knew from AZ.

2. Tell a 2-sentence brief history of where you know them and how.

3. Describe them and their blog in 3 cool words.

4. Tag 4 bloggers you know or knew from AZ.

5. Click on the featured blog below then comment to invite them to come see yours.


My choice (drumroll please): I have quite a few peeps from AZ, but I'm gonna go with my lil' sis Whitney Lee.

Our history: Whitney and I have a long past of complicated relationships and overwhelming emotions. We are sisters after all!

Words to describe her blog: HER NEW HOUSE!

And I now tag: Whitney ('course), Marissa, Mommy and Lindy.

I'll be watching ladies.

Party Planning

In an earlier post I had pleaded with you all to help me think of some ideas for Adi's craft party. Thanks everyone for your ideas... I tried a few out on Adi, but apparently this is Adi's birthday and she already knows what her and her lil' friends are going to do. Not only has Adi set her mind on some pretty crazy things, but she has Piper backing her up.

Adi: Mom, I want to make some clay statues and paint them and bake them and then everyone can bring them home.

Me: Why that is a fun idea, why don't I just buy some colored clay and you and your friends can build things with it? Then they can keep whatever they make...

Piper: Mom, remember this is Adi's party (she is mimicking Orrin here. Did I mention that OP is on their side too?).

Adi: Yeah. And then you can buy some wood and Dad can cut us out whatever we want, like a unicorn or bee, and the we can pain them and then put some glitter and ribbon on it and....

Piper: And then we can get some fairy dust (we've been watching Peter Pan)...

I will spare you the rest of the details.

I'm proud that I am raising younguns with such a strong (stubborn) personality. Adi and Piper both know what they want and it is a difficult thing to persuade them away from it. This will definitely come in handy when they are older, but for right now....

Well, let's just say that my tongue has some huge bite marks in it and I'm still in negotiations with the two Party Planners, trying to get some realistic activities for this looming party...

Why Do I Bother?

What do you think of when someone says "Sacrament"? Probably something like hymns, reverence, talks... etc. What do I think of? Potty breaks, a lot of shushing, bag searches, and hiding one's head when two little girls yell out "Don't eat Pete!".... seriously, that was my life yesterday.

Porter was actually very well behaved, he pretty much just hung out with Dad and played with his gum. His sisters, on the other hand, had me growling by the time we left. Where did these out-of-control hooligans come from anyway? They used to be very well trained-errr, I mean behaved- in church, but lately their actions have spiraled out of control to the point where I am threatening "no lunch and straight to bed" unless they just sit still and color.

I like to blame it on our new time change (11 o'clock, which is lunch time and naptime), or on the fact that we have sacrament last (definately inconvienant). But, at the end of the day, it all comes back to me. I have to ask, what am I doing wrong? Perhaps I am turning a time of worship and reverance into a time of mommy trying to furitively entertain and keep quiet at the same time? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's it...

Oh, well, at least it wasn't my one of my kids who screamed out "SHUT UP!!!" during the prayer (his poor, poor parents)...

Did you know that I am the mom of conjoined twins?

Well, don't be too surprised, because neither did I.

I was watching a documentary on Discovery Channel about a set of conjoined twins from Mesa who share a heart (check out their blog here) the other day and I'm pretty sure that it inspired this little game of the girls.

Adi was asking all sorts of questions while it was on, to the point that I finally asked her to please just watch and perhaps the TV would be able to answer her (it had been a long day, ok? Don't judge until you have sat through one of Adi's inquisitions).

Five minutes later, Adi and Pipes came hopping out like this.

And then they fell.