M's Birthday Dinner

If the girls are given the choice they will ALWAYS pick mexican for a meal out so we expected nothing different for Matney's birthday. Jared took the picture above so that if you don't have small children you will know/remember what it is like to eat with them. Having a toddler on the same side of the booth like like trying to eat with a giant, squirming octopus wrapped around you!

Yummy dessert!

HK doesn't care about whipped cream or cherries. Her main source of calories comes from cheese...and she prefers cheese dip and chips. We order her a giant bowl of cheese dip and do not expect to be able to share. Little Sister will lick the bowl clean!

Happy Birthday Matney!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Matney!!!!

We had big plans for Matney's birthday weekend - dolphins and the aquarium, a bounce house place, dinner and cake with her best friend - and we spent it at home with the stomach flu.

Matney woke up to balloons all over her floor and the girls were so excited! And the camera was on a funny setting and the pics aren't clear.

Matney's biggest request for her birthday? A Rapunzel dress. Even without family here she got it - thanks MoMo and Amazon!

Mickey Mouse pancakes and FOUR candles!

Happy Birthday from Texas! The girls have learned that any time a box shows up and I say it is from TX there are some seriously great goodies inside!

More princess shoes...even matching purple ones for the Rapunzel dress!

And a giant princess castle to color.

Cake...ok, in this house the excitement isn't for cake it is totally for ICING!!!!!!!!

Like father like daughter!

Our sweet Happy Birthday girl. Don't you like the Rapunzel sitting in the cake?

Matney tried to rest in the new princess castle but HK made that impossible so Mantey picked up her princesses and headed for the couch.

Sweet girl! I felt so guilty about Matney not having her fun birthday weekend. She and HK both were sick but I got it first and worse so I'd never even made it to buy her cake or plates or wrap presents, etc. Jared went early Sat morning and grabbed a cake mix a few other fun things and we did what we could. And in the end? Matney was sad to not see dolphins and best friends but she had a great weekend and said many times "this is the best birthday ever!" She didn't know the difference between and store bought cake and one that we stuck Rapunzel on and she didn't care that we spent the weekend in jammies bouncing at home and not at a bounce place. Special thanks to Jared for saving the weekend while I was sick. He totally made it a fun and special weekend for her with no help from his sick wife.

PANCAKES for dogs?

We had pancakes one day before school and guess who left the pancake mix on the counter? That's me. Granted, it was in a box and in a big zip lock bag but those are no match for a big dog. Max will eat anything. And for your future information, pancake mix plus liquid from dog slobber will not come out of carpet even after steam cleaning.

More projects

I am in love with my kitchen drawers. After living here and having a hot mess of kitchen organization for the past 4 years Jared and I tackled the drawers. We got a $0.50 piece of scrap wood at Home Depot and he cut it down to the sizes I needed. I put them in the drawers and (let it be known I have NO patience!) I hot glued them in place. Now everything is easy to find and no one runs the risk of loosing a finger to a random sharp object. I HIGHLY recommend this for your own kitchen. Cheap and easy! Now if only I could figure out what to do with my cabinets!

Baby Doll Convention

This is what happens when you tell my girls to clean up their dolls. I was cooking dinner, saw them walking around and assumed the dolls were headed to the playroom where they belonged. Wrong. Jared came home to a baby doll convention on the stairs...and two very proud little girls!

LOCKDOWN!

I AM SOOOOO TIRED OF MY GIRLS NOT PICKING UP THEIR TOYS...so one weekend everything they didn't clean up (and they had more than enough time and J and I were helping) got locked in the playroom. And then everything the next day they didn't pick up got locked up....this went on for more than a week. I LOVED the absence of clutter at the end of the night but that playroom looked like it exploded and we were running out of things to play with!

Lucky for the girls I got the stomach flu and couldn't seem to shake it. Last week Jared had to go to work on Friday morning for a meeting and by 8 am I had opened the playroom door and it was like Christmas morning for the girls. I could stay barfing in the bathroom connected to the playroom and they went wild with toys they hadn't seen in weeks. Thankfully, Jared was the hero of the week and was home before lunch and took charge of the girls. I guess my lock down wasn't as effective as I'd hoped - the way they jumped and screamed playing (and the mess on my floor right now) makes me think they didn't learn anything!

Keepin' the romance alive!

We are teaching lessons at our house on keeping the romance in our relationship alive. Jared came home on Valentine's Day to a fabulous sock bouquet, chip stick and a lovely "daddy cake". The way to a man's heart is food and athletic socks!

Isn't he handsome? I know he looks like a gingerbread man but we called it a "Daddy Cake". Notice the extra white eye in his forehead....looks like HK shot Daddy.

Nothing says love like lots of slober. Makes the cake much more moist. HK is her mother's daughter. This was the middle of the day and she's in her jammies. She'll wear clothes to leave the house but the minute we get home she's back in jammies.

Opening valentine's gifts.

Matney looks a little perplexed. I wonder why?!?!?!?

Welcome back, glitter Ellie! Matney has mentioned at least one a week since Christmas how much she misses Ellie the Elf. When Jared came home on Valentine's he found lots of glitter in the garage and coming in the door. Matney couldn't figure out where it came from until she opened her card and found more glitter and note from Ellie. Matney was so excited. Ellie apparently stopped by and signed Matney's card and said she missed her too. Thanks, Ellie! That made Matney's month!

HK's love language - a robot card.

And I win mother of the year award again. I put the Daddy cake in the oven when we took the girls up to bed so that Max wouldn't eat it (he will eat anything left anywhere that he can get to - believe me, we've learned this the hard way many times!). I forgot it and turned on the oven the next day to roast veggies. After 20 minutes warming up to 425 I did wonder what the burning smell was...and I didn't find out until I opened he oven door to a fried daddy cake. I hid him in the garage all day and told the girls that Daddy had taken it to work with him. Someone give me a medal!  

Maximum capacity

I promise blog posts are coming soon. Until then just know that Matney's new big bed has already been invaded by all the princesses. It is a party every day around here!

Cuddle Practice

Both girls are getting bigger beds in the morning and they are so excited. Here they are practicing "cuddles" and we just realized they think they are going to be in the same room/bed. Ummm, sorry to tell you girls but you are still in separate rooms. Mama needs sleep way more than you need to be together! You are sweet though!

We will be back!

I am so behind and I have sooo many pictures to post. Life was crazy busy already and then we got hit with a stomach bug. Poor Matney was throwing up on her birthday weekend. More than once I have thrown away an article of HK's clothing rather than try to get it clean. I seem to have gotten it the worst, day 7 and I am overrrrr it! And Jared called from work this morning and he sounds like he will be the next man down. Just know we have the sweetest, most precious 4 year old ever! And her monkey of a two year old sister is lots of fun too. Pictures soon, promise.