Ice Cream Mustaches

Piper has been getting up early in the mornings and making her and Adi's beds, cleaning up the entire room and saying her morning prayers. WOW! I thought she deserved a bit of fun. Adi was rewarded also since she is usually our go-to-girl. If you need to find something, you ask Adi. She will find it.

Anywho, on Saturday the girlies and I had a G.N.O. (for all you who do not speak Hannah Montana, that's a "Girls Night Out"). We hit the Carter's store (awesome deals right now- if you have one by you, you have to go!) where the girls got a new spring dress for the next day. Then we mosied on over to Children's Place where I swooped up a bunch of clearanced hair thingys and the girls talked me into getting them these sunglasses. (Whit- Adi had to have hers since they "look just exactly like Aunt Whit's"... what do ya think?).

The girlies got to make their own creations at Cold Stone (it took FOREVER for them to choose what they wanted) and then they gobbled them up on a table outside. Mmmmm... ice cream on a 45 degree day. Yummo.

We had a conversation ranging from the new Demi Lovato song (Piper), to whether there really is such a thing as an electric chair and does it really kill people (Adi), and all the way back to who the most famous singer in the whole wide world is (Adi again).

Interesting, very interesting.

Porter's B-day, Part 2

Porter had a Cars birthday (mostly because mommy found a bunch of Cars stuff on clearance at Target and Walmart).

Nana and Papa's present (the thing is huge! it extends all the way to the ceiling!)

Here's my baby girl following in her momma's footsteps

P.G. really wasn't too sure about everyone singing to him...

But Daddy helped him out (I accidentally made the contrast a bit much on this photo, but I'm really not wanting to fix it right now)

Opening gifts.

Porter's new bestest friend, my cous Jarren.

Sorry for the quick post, but I don't have much time this morning and I know if I don't do it now, I probably won't get around to doing it!

Happy Day, My Boy (Part One)

*sigh* Who gave this boy permission to grow up anyway?

Drumroll, Please...

Well, we've done it. Learned all of the Articles of Faith, that is. This video is a bit on the long side, but it's worth watching. I caught a few golden moments on here that you have just got to see...

Yeah, Adi and Piper! How did they do it? REPETITION!! Every night for almost a year we would say them. A lot.

Did OP and I get tired of it?

Yes.

Was it worth it?

Definitely.

Luck of the Irish, to ye!

How to catch a leprechaun (Orrin's trap idea... mine was more ornate, but the girls only wanted to do Daddy's):

We did catch something....

(The pic is blurry, but it was too cute not to share)

Here's what our little green fella did in retaliation for the kids trying to catch him- nothing was done to Mom and Dad since leprechauns are afraid of Daddys:

You can't see Piper's Irish footprints because her head was cocked at a funny angle when I, I mean the leprechaun, left the tracks. Right after he stamped her, she rolled over and rubbed her cheek. *Sigh*

And here's the nutritious breakfast he left for us (I had to practically force the girls to drink the green milk. Turns out, it tastes just like white milk).

Don't get pinched!

Farm Country

Saturday, OP and I took the kiddos out to Thanksgiving Point's Farm Country. So much fun, and not too bad of price... good way to spend the day!

Porter, Pipes and OP loved petting all of the different farm animals; the goats, horses, ponies, cows, sheep, etc. Adi and I weren't so enamored with the ides- I hid behind the camera and Adi just kind of hung back, looking at the grass and the barns. Poor little city girls! I did snap a pic of Adi petting the one thing she didn't mind touching:

And you can see how thrilled she is about it :)

Porter's favorite part? The "Mooooos!" or cows, if you don't speak Lil' Man's language. As soon as he saw them he took off at full speed toward them, mooing all the way. Orrin had to keep grabbing him because he repeatedly tried to climb into the stall with the Jersey.

The kiddos even got to feed the animals. Once again, Porter and Piper loved it, while Adi got about a foot away from the pony and then just threw all the dried corn on the ground at her feet and squealed. Piper picked the food up and fed it to the poor, starving animal. Everyone within view had a good ole laugh over that one!

*Sigh* We always knew it would come to this...

We convinced Adi to do a pony ride. She wasn't exactly thrilled, but she didn't jump off the pony either.

Porter rode also, but he was so concerned about the riderless pony behind him that I don't think he even really enjoyed it.

Our little cowgirl, however, ate it up. She even tried no handsies (until Mommy told her she was going to fall into the horse droppings):

It was a good day.

M.I.A.

Let me explain where I have been: well, I've been doing exactly what I always do. Nothing has changed except I can't seem to remember to charge my camera's battery so that I can document our daily funness.

I apologize.

This video is mostly for my sis (I finally got around to posting it), but I hope more than she will enjoy it.

I am going to go plug in my battery right now so that I can snap away at today's adventures!

That Boy O' Mine

I'm pretty sure that I have mentioned what a fun little terror Porter has become these days. Emotional tirades, constant stubborness, and vicious biting is all included in this adorable boy's day (the first ten minutes he is awake, that is). But with these new little adventures comes the most exciting part of raising a little person: the never-ending expansion of their minds. Every day this boy learns something wonderful and new. From new favorite books (Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?) to new dangerous places to climb and play (and new ways to make his mom scream in terror). He also discovered just how much fun Cup Of Noodles are:

I was trying to convince Porter of the merits in eating dinner since he seems to think that it is optional these days :)

And This Is Why I Don't Have Any Family Pics...

Porter screams for Daddy and the girlies just plain won't look at me. Ahhhh!

We went to the Gale Center yesterday (it's kind of a mini museum with hands on stuff for the kiddos to do... oh, and it's free. Wahoo!), and I was bound and determined to get a group pic. Didn't even come close to happening! The kiddos weren't cooperating at all, OP wasn't any help since he wanted to look at the displays and I couldn't get my camera to work in the dark lighting.

It finally came to a point where I could see that I was ruining the whole experience with my insistence, so I gave up and focused on picking up all of the rocks Porter was dropping in the mining area (the elderly volunteers get a little upset when the kiddies mess anything up so I was in panic-mode cleaning up after them).

The kids and OP had a great time and I left with a headache. Oh, well, maybe one day I'll learn to just enjoy the moment :)

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...