HANS?

On his hilarious blog, my friend, Joel, shared this video. I seriously haven't laughed so hard in a long time!

As you may know, the boys in my house are BIG Star Wars fans, so I've had the opportunity to watch several "bits" of the films. Sadly, I probably couldn't recount the plot any better than this girl did.



Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Sarah Palfreyman Photography

My good friend (and very talented photographer), Sarah, has just launched a beautiful new website showcasing her work. Check it out: http://www.sarahpalfreyman.com/

(You can see my sweet little Hannah in the "BABIES" section!)

Spotlight

Logan was spotlighted in Primary yesterday. They asked him a few questions so that everyone could get to know him better. Here are some of the more entertaining ones:

Q: "Logan, what do you like best about Primary?"

Logan: "My shoes." (We bought Logan some "new" church shoes at the thrift store last week for $3.00. As you can see, he loves them!)

Q: "What do you like best about school?"

Logan: "My backpack." (See pics in last post. Ü)

Q: "What do you like best about your family?"

Logan: "My Dad."

Q: "What food do you dislike the most"

Logan: "Hot dogs."

Q: "What do you want to be when you grow up."

Logan: "Six." (lol!)

Q: "What would you like best about going on a mission?"

Logan: "Growing up."

Transformation...Saturday

I know, I know, you're supposed to post your transformations on Tuesdays. It sounds much cuter! But I'm going to go ahead and do it now cause I'm so excited about our new floor!

Here is our master bedroom "before" with old dirty blue wallpaper and old dirty blue carpet. Lovely! A while back we ripped down the old wallpaper, patched the walls, and painted three walls in a warm cream color ("Desert Fortress") and an accent wall in "Milk Chocolate." Yummy!

Last week we decided to pull up the old carpet. Guess what we found - a beautiful hardwood floor! We were so thrilled! It's in great shape too! I think we will only need to do some minor touch-ups on it! I think it makes such a difference in the room; it really warms it up!

So what do you do with a beautiful hardwood floor? Put a beautiful rug over it, of course! (Everytime I tried to get a picture of the rug, these two characters managed to steal the spotlight. I seriously have about 20 pictures of them making faces in front of the rug! Too bad they're so camera shy, huh? )Okay, here's the rug. After being very "responsible" and "grown-up" with our tax refund (paying off a credit card, buying tires for the van, fixing rain gutters, etc.), this was our one "fun" puchase.
So here is the master bedroom so far! It's a work in progress...but I think it looks a lot better than it did! We could still use some new curtains, maybe a headboard and nightstands, and some wall art above the bed...

Now if only we could do something about our "dresser."

Birthday Scrapbook

I know I already posted pictures from Hannah's birthday party, but I also wanted to share these "scrapbook" pages I "made" for Hannah's baby book. Ü

Presidents Day Preschool

Today was our turn to have preschool at our house. After introducing the topic to the boys, I started off with a few questions:

Me: "Who is our President right now?"

Brigham: "President Monson!" (Good job, Lisa!)

Me: "That's true, President Monson is the President of our Church, but who is the President of the United States?"

Wesley: "Barack Obama!"

Me: "That's right! And what does a President do?"

(Lots of blank stares)

Wesley: "He gets all the presents?"

Me: "Close. He is the leader of our country and he makes important decisions for our country to make it better." (more blank stares)

Me: "What would you do if you were the President?"

Brigham: "Nah. I want to be a nice ninja. And a doctor like my dad."

Gavin: "I like chicken. And I dip it in ketchup!"

Wesley: "I would drive cars around. I love Lightning McQueen!"

Logan: "I don't want to do this."

So we moved on. I told a few short stories about some of the presidents, then we talked about the presidents pictured on our money. I gave the boys a pile of coins for them to sort. That lasted a few minutes, but soon the table became an air hockey table and quarters were literally flying across the room.
Then we did a science experiment. What cleans a dirty penny best: milk, soapy water, or vinegar and salt? The boys were pretty excited to see the vinegar mixture make the pennies bright and shiny before their eyes!We finished off with a craft - Abraham Lincoln's log cabin made from popsicle sticks. President Lincoln (a penny) is peeking out the window!

This craft took them about two minutes to make; they were in such a hurry to finish so they could play with the Star Wars toys at playtime. Remind me never to let a three-year-old boy build me a house!

Post-Valentine Pay It Forward

Last week, I recieved these ADORABLE felt fortune cookies from my friend, Diana, as part of a Pay it Forward post on her blog. Aren't they the cutest?! Now it's my turn to "pay it forward."

"The Pay It Forward Exchange is based on the concept of the movie Pay it Forward. I will send a handmade gift to the first three people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join the PIF exchange. All the gifts will be made and posted out sometime within the next month. How exciting to not know when your surprise package will arrive! What you need to do in return is "pay it forward" by making the same promise on your blog. This Exchange is only open to those with active websites or blogs. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PROMISE TO POST THIS SAME 'PAY IT FORWARD' MESSAGE ONTO YOUR BLOG, WHICH MUST BE ACTIVE IN ORDER TO PLAY. YOU WILL PAY IT FORWARD TO THREE PEOPLE WHO COMMENT ON YOUR BLOG. I'd love for you to join me! Will you? Other comments are welcome, but only the first three will be my Pay It Forward recipients."

Have Fun!

Valentine's Day Breakfast

For Valentine's Day breakfast, I made the kids heart-shaped berry pancakes (Bryan was on-call). The kids also got to open their Valentine's Day love package from Nana and Papa! Thank you, Mom and Dad!

Andrew turned up his nose: "I HATE all kinds of berries!" (Who doesn't like berries?!)

Logan loved it all! I can usually count on Logan to eat whatever I make.

I was so excited to give Hannah scrambled eggs for the first time, but she didn't want anything to do with them! She wouldn't even touch them! She did like the pancakes and berries though.

Happy Birthday, My Little Valentine!

A year ago today, Hannah was born - the most precious Valentine's Day present ever! She had a pretty rough start, but she has brought us so much much joy from the second we saw her!

Now look at my beautiful one-year-old! It's amazing to see how much she's changed in such a short time.

We had a little birthday party for Hannah on Friday.

Hannah didn't waste any time diving into her cake.

I think it's safe to say she liked the cake.
Happy Birthday, My Little Valentine!

Valentine Baking

Well, the cupcakes turned out okay after all. After the train wreck, I was able to salvage some, and the rest I just scraped off the frosting and re-frosted them. I figured, since I couldn't even make it across the room with the cupcakes, how on earth was I going to make it across the street to Andrew's school?! So, it was back to the original idea of putting each one in a plastic cup with M&Ms in the bottom for stability. I wish I could take the credit for this ingenious idea, but like most great ideas, I found it on the Internet.

All 23 cupcakes (we did have one casualty) made it safely to Andrew's classroom yesterday. They were a big hit!

Earlier in the week, I made this chocolate bundt cake with chocolate ganache and raspberries for Bryan's Sunday School meeting.

(P.S. Take a look at the little beauties next to the cake - glass snack sets from the 1950's that I found at a thrift store this week for $0.50 a piece! They are so pretty! I only have three sets, but I am planning on stalking the thrift stores and Craigslist for more. I absolutely love them!)

On to Hannah's Birthday cake! I probably went a little overboard on this one, but I am just enjoying all the girliness so much; I wanted lots of pink, and hearts, and ribbons! Besides, a girl only turns ONE once! And NO, a powdered sugar tornado did NOT blow through my kitchen. Why do you ask? I don't think it is possible for me to bake anything without making a colossal mess!Here's the two chocolate cake tiers with their pretty pink fondant. (Don't look too closely! This was only my second fondant cake, so please ignore the boo-boos!) My Mom and Dad gave me cake and fondant tools for my birthday this year. Thanks so much!

Adding the fondant "ribbons."

Me, putting the fondant bow together! (Thanks for the way cute apron, Nancy! I love it!)

Ta-Dah! The finished cake! I hope the birthday girl likes it!

AAAAAAAAUGHHHHHH!

It's 2:00 AM, and I just ruined the 24 beautiful Valentine cupcakes I made for Andrew's class party tomorrow...I mean, today. I just finished putting the last candy heart on the top and was carefully carrying the pan to the dining table, when one tipped over. It was like a horrifying slow-motion domino effect and they all came crashing down.

I'm going to go cry now.

College...or No College?

Andrew and I had a very important discussion about his future today over breakfast:

Andrew: "Mom, how much does college cost?"

Summer: "It's pretty expensive. When Mommy and Daddy went to college at Weber State, it was about $2500 a year. But that's a pretty cheap college and it will be much more expensive when you go to college. Daddy's medical school was about $20,000 a year."

Andrew: (eyes popping out of his head) "Do you think I could get a scholarship?"

Summer: "Sure! If you keep working hard and doing well in school like you do."

Andrew: (thinking for a moment) "Well, my plan is to be on Deal or No Deal before college. Winning the million dollars would definitely help!"

Yeah, we like watching Deal or no Deal at our house. I know it's old news, but it was so fun watching this girl win the million! The re-run of this episode was on TV the other night. Don't tell anyone, but I was seriously in tears because I was so happy for her! She's so stinkin' cute!

Part II - Curse You, Ohio Winter!

The fun continues!

So...Bryan was driving the van to work the other day...wait, let me back up a bit...

Bryan was driving home from work in the Escort last week, when he hit a GIANT pothole. Ya know, the ones that could almost swallow your car whole - Cleveland roads are famous for them! He wasn't able to swerve because of the cars on either side of him, so he hit it hard and knocked the wheels out of alignment, or something. Now it makes a lovely knocking sound when you drive.

SO...not wanting to drive the injured car until we could get it fixed, Bryan drove the van to work (the day after the whole gutter incident, by the way). On the way down the hill on our street, he hit a slippery spot and tried to brake, but van didn't slow at all (Did I mention that the van is in desperate need of new tires? We've been putting it off and putting it off for a couple months now)! He hit head-on at full speed into a large snow bank, and smashed the front bumper (that's not gonna be cheap)! He was also hopelessly stuck in the snow.

While trying to dig the van out, a truck pulled up and the man inside asked Bryan if he could use a hand. He gratefully accepted, and the man helped tow the van out of the snow bank with his truck. Bryan surveyed the damage on the fron of the van and then thanked the man for his help.

Man: "You're welcome. Do you have anything to tip me with?" (what?!)

Bryan, a little surprised: "Um...I'm sorry, I don't have any cash with me."

Man: "I'll take a check." (WHAT?!)

Bryan: "I don't have a checkbook with me either."

Man: "Well, you said you lived close by, right? You could go home and get me some money." (Are. You. Kidding. Me?!)

Bryan, being the sweet guy he is, came home, found our last $10 bill (the one we were going to buy toilet paper with), and gave it to the man. When Bryan told me the story, I was floored! I know times are tough right now; maybe the guy really needed it. If so, I'm glad we could help. But whatever happened to helping out your neighbor and random acts of kindness? I don't know. Maybe I've got it all wrong.

P.S. Now, nobody go out and buy us toilet paper! We just got our tax refund and Bryan's paycheck comes this week, so we are fine!

Curse You, Ohio Winter!

Have you ever had one of those days where things just don't go right, and then, just when you think it can't get any worse, it does, and then it does again, and then it does again? That's how yesterday was. Well, I guess it actually started the day before yesterday.

Summer and I had just laid down to bed when suddenly, there's a loud scraping coming from up on the roof. In Utah, I would have been worried, but out here it's a normal occurrence once or twice each Winter as the snow that has piled up on the steep roof finally breaks loose from the shingles and slides down onto the ground. The first year we lived here, the snow broke loose and caught the heavy, ice-filled gutters on the front of the house, ripping one side away from the house and down. The gutter subsequently swung out away from the house, and then back like a giant pendulum, slamming against the front side of the house and missing the front bay window by just inches. That repair cost over $500, and that's with me doing the work myself. Anyway, this year, I thought the snow had just come down and I didn't worry much about it - at least not until the next morning.

During the night, I hear Logan crying, so I get up to find Summer bathing him in the tub. I look at my watch to find it's 3:00AM, and I shoot her a perplexed look. "He threw up" she tells me, "all over. EVERYWHERE." (Summer says,"Memo to me: In the future when your child is crying for a hug in the middle of the night, check to see if he is covered in vomit BEFORE hugging and kissing him on the head! Just, eew!)

Later that morning, Andrew is also sick, throwing up multiple times, and both Summer and I feel nauseated most of the day. Oh, I almost forgot, Logan and Hannah both had several blow outs each during the course of the day.

Anyway, back to the story - I got up and looked out the window only to see our rear gutters demolished across the back lawn. "How can this story get any worse," you might ask yourself. Well, as the ice-filled gutters fell from the back of the house, they fell right onto the power line supplying the house, ripping the large metal conduit from the electrical meter, bending the meter housing, and strewing a live power line across the driveway. As a little added bonus, it broke the lines going to the garage, so that the garage no longer had electricity. We called the city to come shut off the power, but they said that these repairs would be the responsibility of the homeowner, and that the city doesn't cover any of it. Great!!

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure those power lines are not supposed to be laying across by backyard!

(sarcasm implied). So while we're waiting for the power company to come, I figure I'll just get some of the ice/snow moved away from the gutter so that we can get them off the power lines once the electric company comes. I stayed three or four feet from the wires at all times, but began shoveling some of the snow away from the gutter. After about 10 minutes of moving snow, I stuck my shovel into the snow to move another load and several sparks fly up into the air. Luckily, my hands were holding the fiberglass handle of the shovel and I didn't get shocked, but it was enough to convince me to rethink my plan to remove some of the snow.

After three or four hours, the power company showed up and shut off the power. I went out and started yanking on the gutters, trying to get them out from underneath the heavy snow and ice. In the process of yanking them out from the snow, my left hand slid along one of the aluminum edges, slicing into the finger. I started dripping blood across the driveway, examining the wound as I went inside to get some gauze.

It looked fairly deep, and I felt it would likely benefit from a few stitches, however I didn't want to pay the $50 copay to spend 4 hours in the waiting room for a resident to throw a few stitches in my finger. I dug into my first aid kit, pulled out some betadine anti-microbial wash, some lidocaine, and some suture. Then, I washed it out, numbed it up, and put in a couple of stitches. It should be good as new in a few weeks.

After the finger incident, I got back to work cleaning up the mess. After removing the gutters, I ran to Home Depot and blew $180 buying supplies to repair the mess. At around 8 PM, I finally finished replacing the conduit & wires, and re-wiring the garage. ("I held the flashlight!" - Summer again.) By then, we had been without power (and thus heat in the house) for several hours, and the kids were freezing! We called the power company to come flip the power back on and they tell us they can be there at around 12:30 AM. Again, GREAT!!!

I go in the house to rest... in the dark.... and wait... and wait.... and wait. Just before midnight, the guy shows up, takes a look at the box, and tells me he doesn't see an inspection tag on the electrical meter. "I'm not supposed to hook you back up until you get the job inspected" he tells me, matter of factly. I explain that we have a 11 month old baby inside that's not only cold, but sick, and that there's no way we'll be able to get an inspector out after midnight. Fortunately, he had a little sympathy, and he reconnected the power. We talked for about 20 minutes while he reconnected everything, and he turned out to be a really nice guy. I'm just really grateful that he turned the power back on. It was a life-saver!

Anyway, I still need to put together and hang a new set of gutters for the back of the house, but at least we have electricity. After all the drama, I guess the old adage still applies, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." If that's the case, I'm I freakin' MUSCLE MAN!!!

So I saw this video of a kid who got sedation for a dental procedure, and it was hilarious. Both Summer and I were laughing so hard. It's great.