Zoo!

On Saturday of EJ's Spring Break, we decided to go to the Zoo. We're glad we did since I swear it was the last warm day we've had since! Above is how Bear rolls in the stroller- kicked back and enjoying the ride.

Check out Birdy's awesome "Scary Spider" face.

I don't know if it was Birdy holding him or being inside a giant egg, but he loved this!

I love that they still do this when they are out walking places.

Birdy got a bird's eye view of the tiger pacing back and forth! We had so much fun watching baby Zuri.

They're scared of the shark, see? Get it?

Farm Day!

Some friends of ours in our ward have a small farm and every year they have a "Farm Day" where they invite everyone to come and see the farm. There are usually baby animals (goats and piglets this year) and the girls have fun. Birdy was brave and even tried milking the goat (above).

EJ declined goat milking, but she was more than happy to feed the horse. Birdy tried out the super-awesome farm equipment.

Bear mostly chilled out and watched the critters and kids until he got a chance to sit on a real, live tractor with his sisters!

Hoppy Easter!

The girls attended 2 Easter events this year- both at grocery stores, and both were (surprisingly) a success. We kicked off the festivities by going to Maceys where they got their bunny whiskers and ears and a bunch of candy after the Easter "treasure" hunt. It was really fun. Then we were off to Grandma and Grandpa's for a sleepover so we could be at Smiths bright and early (8:30!) for doughnuts and an Easter egg hunt in the store.

They had SO much candy spread on the ground in the aisles and they also had hidden a few Easter eggs on the bottom two shelves with "special Suprizes" inside. Grandpa and I prepped the girls to go for the eggs first. They followed instructions so well, they forgot to grab the candy on the floor for a while :) They each got two eggs with coupons for their very own 2-liter bottle of Soda (or as Birdy says, "Thota").

After the fun in Heber we got back to Provo in time for a yummy ham dinner at Cyndi's with Brad and her neighbors, the Ecktons. The ham was really tasty (also those funeral potatoes and bundt cake). The kids ran around like a pack of wild, um... bunnies? and the adults had plenty of time to visit and eat.

Jane had the best seat in the house. She hung around the pre-dinner prep area and got choice bits of ham and strawberries Cyndi was cutting. She was like a little baby bird!

You'd think that would be enough celebrating Easter, but no, we still had the "real" event. Here are the kids Easter baskets (above). Can I just say "thanks" to all those people who hoarded beanie babies thinking they were "rare" and "of value" only to later donate all of them to the Heber Thrift Store? Seriously I've used these brand-new (tags on!) small stuffed animals for Christmas and now Easter. The kids love them!

The result of our egg hunt. We decided to have a lot of fun and we had 2 dozen eggs each. You can't tell so much from the picture but Birdy cleaned up. I think she had like 50% more eggs than EJ. We decided to do mostly the money bunny this year, so most of those eggs are filled with change. The girls are very into money these days and they were thrilled. We cashed in the change for new small Barbie dolls. (Don't worry, they still have plenty of candy from their store hunts and basket stuff!)

Bear likes his new buffalo (named "Roam") and Weebles (have you seen those? They've brought back the classic ones like Grandma had!). Oh yeah- Easter Grass with a baby? NOT A GOOD IDEA. It was gathered and tossed (and the floor vacuumed) within about 5 min.

I completely sympathize with Cyndi - this shot is the best I could manage of the girls in their new (to us) dresses and shoes. Bear isn't pictured because he was napping and besides, we didn't get anything super special for him :)

Baby Bear Photo Shoot

I responded to an ad on Craigslist from a woman who is trying to build up a portfolio and her photography website. She was offering a free photo session for a variety of ages/groups. I responded and we had a session with Bear (hopefully our family session can happen this week- it was cancelled last week because it was too stinkin' cold!). Here are some of my favorite edited shots.

I love this one (above). We are seeing this face/attitude a lot more- not super-giggling-happy, but more quiet, content happy. We see him looking around with this expression a lot more lately.

Look at the fat roll on his legs (above). Love it! I also love how in most of these his hair is messy. It's like that every day, so it is fun that we have the pictures of it!

I feel the same way about Sing-a-ma-Jigs

This is old (Christmas Day- can you tell we just cleaned off the Flip?) but it was too good not to share. Is it bad that I love his little sad face?

Yoga with Bear

Downward-facing Dog

Look at that yummy chubby bubby!

Quick and Yummy Greek Pasta

OK- this one of those recipes that tastes a lot better than the ingredients sound. Every time we make this everyone gobbles it up and DMP and I are suprised that it tastes so good. Plus, it is a true 30 min. meal- start to finish (not one of those "30 min. if everything is already chopped and prepped or you are a pro chef). It reheats well and the kiddos like it. Well, my kids like it- but they are used to eating "strange" food, so don't blame me if your's don't :) Seriously give this one a try- you'll be happy.

Quick and Yummy Greek Pasta

2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes 1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans drained and rinsed (white beans work too)

10 oz fresh spinach (or one pkg frozen, thawed and squeezed)

1 pkg penne pasta (approx 8 oz)- We actually like wheat pasta for this- it works well (no funny taste/texture) and is healthier!

1/2 onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, diced

Greek or italian seasoning (I get the "greek seasoning" that comes in the yellow shaker)

Lots of feta cheese (like a cup- but maybe you could do less- I just love my cheese)

- Cook pasta in a large pot of water until al dente. Don't rinse (trust me- they won't stick once you add the sauce and the starch helps the sauce stick). Return the drained pasta to the hot pot so it stays warmish.

- Sautee onion and garlic in about a Tbs of olive oil in a deep pan until they are soft

- Combine tomatoes and beans and add to the pan. Bring to a boil over med-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 min.

- While the tomatoes and beans are simmering, prep spinach (washing and chopping or thawing and squeezing- whatever)

- Add spinach to the sauce and cook for 2 more min. or until the spinach wilts, stirring constantly.

- Add sauce to the pasta in the pot and toss all together.

- Serve with a generous topping of feta.

Oh yeah, this is vegetarian too. I promise - it is so filling that you won't miss the meat, and it is so good, you won't care that it isn't there. This is something I'd make for meat-eaters and I bet they'd like it. Really, really.

THIS is why her pants all have holes in the knees

That is some good marketing

We try to teach the girls to be objective in their T.V. and advertising consumption. We feel it is more responsible than, say, elminating TV altogether. We also try to avoid channels with kid-specific marketing (like Nick- Disney and PBS are mostly ad-free). We frequently have talks about commercials and their messages and wether or not they are realistic and etc.

Most of those talks go OK and I think they get something out of it. In case you are wondering, I don't expect a 4 or 6 year old to be truly objective about marketing, but we like to have the conversation early and often so they can navigate the murky world of marketing that is all around them all the time.

However, there are two battles I've lost - Pillow Pets and Sketchers. No matter what I say, the girls really, truly believe that Sketchers will make you run faster, jump higher and kick higher. We were at DI and I was looking at shoes and saw a cute, newish pair of white "croc-like" sketcher mary janes for EJ. She was super-happy to have her own pair of Sketchers. Birdy was so bummed. Fortunately, there was a good-looking pair of sneakers that we told her were Sketchers, too. After a spin in the washing machine this girl was running faster and jumping higher than ever before :)

Some of Bear's favorite toys

I don't know why we even bother with the baby toys. This kid likes to play with his sister's things more than anything! Above we have a polly-pocket dress (yum! chewy!)

Magic wands are a favorite. Currently he's really diggin' the one with a sparkly flower and tons of curly ribbons.

EJ is also a popular toy. He likes to climb on her or have her hold him and bounce or just drag him around in general. It's really funny because he's seriously more than half her size!

Last, but not least, we have the play kitchen food.

Best use I can think of for Non-caffeinated Diet Pepsi

Inspired

*** Warning- total nerdiness ahead. I just realized this post about cleaning/organizing my house is probably longer than most posts about my kids****

Cyndi was inspired by Lisa's posts about cleaning and organizing, and cleaned out her toyroom. That in turn inspired me to get going and organize my own house.

I know there are some amongst my readers who like to tease me for my organization and OCD about the cans in my pantry organized by type (veggies together, fruit together, etc.) and with all lables facing forward (you know who you are...) so it may come as a suprise that I needed to organize anything. Wow- that ended up sounding snotty :) awesome.

Here's the thing- I'm OCD about organizing but not when I'm pregnant or have a new baby. I just don't have the energy to do more than just shove things into closets and etc. with a vague idea of "I've got to do something about that." Side note: my cans are still organized by type and labels forward- like I said, I'm OCD and even pregnancy and newborn chaos can't shake that!

So we've been going through areas and rooms of our house and mercilessly getting rid of extra stuff and organizing places for what's left. I took Cyndi's advice and cleaned out stuff like we are moving (i.e. you look at something and say "Would I box this up and move it to another house?" if the answer is no, get rid of it). It worked. My kitchen is a million pounds lighter and my closet is on it's way to getting cleaner. A lot of it has to happen on weekends and etc. when DMP is around because I hadn't realized how hard organizing is with to big kids and one grabby boy but it's happening!

The best and most photogenic of all is my linen closet (picture above, and yes, those are labels on the shelves- I love my label maker as much as my kids). I found 3 tubes of toothpaste, 5-6 plug-in air freshner refill thingies and about 5 toothbrushes. We are set on those things forever now and I wouldn't have known it in the chaos!

So thanks Cyndi and Lisa for the inspiration to shake off my pregnancy/newborn mommy blahs and start working on getting the house back to the way I like it!

Birdy Birthday- Part 2, a.k.a "the Real Birthday"

Here is the birthday cake. I didn't want to do ANOTHER princess dress cake. Seriously- the girls have requested it for at least 4 birthdays in a row. I found this cute idea for turning a Barbie into a mermaid with a fruit roll up. I just adapted it and used a Kelly doll (say it with me Abby "Who wants to lick frosting out of Barbie's Haaa-ir!"). DMP saved my bacon by piping awesome chocolate seaweed and coral- that's all him. Thank goodness I have such a multi-talented guy at my disposal! We reserved the church gym so we could make Birdy's birthday a family get-together. Thanks to the super-slow balloon filler at Maceys, we had a late start, but after that it was fun. Besides, isn't making your party guests decorate a form of "party game"?!? The kids had octo-dogs and the adults ate barbecue chicken sandwiches. Chips and fruit and soda were enjoyed by all.

The theme was "Ocean Mermaid" - mostly because we LOVE anything mermaid at our house, and mostly because we had a lot of ocean decorations left over. Cousins Abby and Lauren were a lifesaver when they took over organizing the kids into games. It didn't take as long as I thought to play the few games I had planned!

After dinner we did our craft. The kids all loved the fuse beads and worked hard on their masterpieces. The Mom's even got involved with helping! I love how in the pic above you can see the little kids (Jane and Mallory) being entertained in the background. They weren't into the fuse beads for some reason...

After a long, long day of birthday fun, Bear finally pooped out. I had to take a picture because a) check out his belly hanging over his pants- poor thing! and b) he never, ever, ever falls asleep anywhere but his bed and sometimes car seat. I had to document it!

I think Birdy's favorite part was when everyone sung to her. Check out that cute grin!

Birdy + Tangled Doll

Here is some video of Birdy and her new Tangled Doll. It seriously took DMP about 10 min. and a pocket knife to free her from her packaging. A direct quote "Since she got out of her tower, someone apparently came up with a new form of restraint..." Also, notice her adorable lisp. I do hope she grows out of it someday, just not any time too soon.

Here are some videos from that process & Birdy thanking Kate and Matt (and "Baby Amelia" as she's known 'round these parts). They are short (and pretty cute/funny):

Birdy Birthday- Part 1

Birdy's birthday extravaganza encompassed two days - her "real" birthday and the day we had her party. Part 1 covers the "real" birthday- although she was convinced that the birthday party day was her "real" birthday because there was cake.

She got to open a present before EJ went to school in the AM and she choose Aunt Kate and Uncle Matt's. It was a Tangled doll (her name is NOT Rapunzel). She was by far the favorite present of the day. She still plays with her daily. She is about as awesome as you can imagine a doll with 18 inches of hair can be for a four year old. I have some pretty funny videos around freeing her from her package that I'll post as soon as DMP helps me upload them! Lunch was McDonalds Happy meal at the birthday girl's request. She was given the option of McDonalds and Pirate Island. I think she went with the Happy Meal for the toy and to play at the playland. DMP and I didn't feel like eating McDonalds so he went to In-N-Out and brazenly walked into the Playland eating area with his bag o' goodness. Other Mommies scowled in disapproval, the daddies just looked jealous.

Birdy got to open other presents throughout the day. It was the best idea I ever had- each present is special, she gets to play with them and as soon as she gets bored she gets to open another. EJ gave her a Liv doll. She's wanted one since EJ got hers for Christmas. DMP and I gave her the new Barbie movie and Bear gave her a "Groovy Girls" doll and gum. The gum was probably her second-favorite after the Tangled doll.

Dinner was pizza, bacon and "Thoda". I don't know what it is about my kiddos, but that is the same thing EJ ordered on her 5th birthday- go figure. After dinner, we boogied out to the best dollar theater ever to see Tangled. We missed it in the "real" theater so it was the first time for everyone watching it. We loved it (of course). The day wasn't all happy, though. See the super-cute hair pretty in all of these pictures? Cyndi gave it to Birdy and it was her favorite (and mine) and this was the first time she got to wear it. We lost it at the theater. So sad!

Other than that one sad moment, it was a fun and awesome fourth birthday for our girl!

It's a brand-spankin' new month...

All right folks. It's a new month now and I'm going to take a big, deep, breath and let it out slowly and just let March go. Thanks in big part to General Conference, and the fact that I think I'm finding my mommy groove, I'm going to move forward with courage, confidence and optimism.

Because, really, I have a lot to be optimistic and confident about. DMP doesn't have a job (yet) but he is seeing a lot of positive movement on that front. He has gotten interviews for nearly everything he's applied for. He is waiting on an offer/no thanks on two positions, and he's had first interviews for two more. He is applying for new stuff all the time, so it is only a matter of time before SOMETHING happens, right?

We have been so, so blessed during this uncertain period. Thanks to a larger-than expected tax return, we have more in our bank account than we've had in over a year. Our cupboards (and freezer) are full and we are able to eat well. Thanks to the many fun, free activities at our local library and etc. and our annual passes to Thanksgiving Point and our new Pass of All Passes (Thanks Mom!) we are able to have lots of fun as a family. Coupons and Internet deal sleuthing means that I can slowly build up EJ and Bear's summer wardrobe (when will they stop growing already!).

To top it off, we have an amazing family who supports us and are praying for us. Sure things will be a whole lot rosier when we know where DMP is working and whatnot but in the meantime we are so very, very blessed!

Oh, and the picture? That's just to show off my pretty girl. I hate posts without pictures :)