Valentine Mantel

I love decorating for Valentine's Day! It's the one time per year you can get away with decorating ultra-girly - pink, hearts, glitter, and frills! It's also Hannah's birthday, so it's extra special for us!

I made this Valentine bunting this year with extra fabric from a table runner I've been working on for TWO YEARS! Yeah, it's still not done. I intended to add letters to the bunting to make it say, "BE MINE" but I didn't get around to that either. Maybe next year when I finish the table runner. Uh-huh.

For my Valentine Mantel, I left the white dishes and silver accessories from my Winter mantel and added a bit of red.

Glittery red hearts on the tree branches (Michaels)...

a little heart pillow tucked in the pinecones...

and the red English transferware dishes that I have been collecting for a few year. The pattern is Woods Seaforth. (eBay!)

More pillow hearts I made from leftover fabric. When I was sewing them, Hannah sat next to me and exlaimed, "You're making pillow hearts for me?!" I said, "Well, for Valentine's Day." Hannah replied, "YES! For my birthday!"

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Hannah's Beautiful Bike

Hannah received a Pinkalicious bike with training wheels for Christmas. I think it was probably her favorite present. She always calls it her "Beautiful Bike," as in, "Mommy, can I ride my BEAUTIFUL BIKE? Pleeeeeeeease?!" and "Thank you Mommy for my BEAUTIFUL BIKE!" She loves to ride it up and down our street and is doing pretty well. The other day, Andrew, Hannah, and I went out for a little ride around the street. I gave her a little push and she took off! Then she turned her head back to us and shouted in her sweet little voice, "See ya later, Suckers!" Where did she learn THAT?! I have no idea, but it was pretty hilarious!

M&M Kit Kat Cake

Andrew told me he was too old for a themed birthday cake this year, so I threw together this cake based on his love of M&Ms and Kit Kats. I layered two round 12" chocolate cakes with chocolate frosting, surrounded the cakes with Kit Kats, tied the curly ribbon around to hold them in place, and dumped a huge bag of M&M's on the top! Seriously the easiest cake I have ever made! I think the birthday boy liked it too!

New Beginnings

Tonight was New Beginnings for our ward Young Women. New Beginnings is a program held at the beginning of each year to welcome the incoming young ladies, introduce the Personal Progress program, and get everyone pumped about Personal Progress. With it being close to Valentine's Day, we decided to use the theme, "Fall in LOVE with Personal Progress".

For the refreshments, I made a 3-tiered cake decorated with little hearts in all the YW value colors. The girls introduced the YW values with giant conversation hearts.

Each table was decorated with paper hearts and heart-shaped bowls filled with conversation hearts. We had a great turnout!One of the leaders, Andrea, hand-painted this gorgeous banner on linen (!) to introduce the YW Motto, Logo, and class symbols. It was absolutely stunning!Stephanie made a cute Power Point presentation to teach everyone how to do their Personal Progress online!Some of the girls wrote a hilarious skit about falling in love with "Percy Progress" (a cardboard cutout of Taylor Lautner). They each took turns flirting with/drooling all over him. I laughed my head off! They are just so cute and funny! I love these girls!Our girls are so smart and strong and talented. They make me want to be better in every way! They are also so lighthearted and fun. They do goofy thing that make me think, "hey that's something I would have done as a young woman!" I feel so blessed to get to know them and spend time with them.We ended the night with cake and yummy raspberry punch.

Remember, she's only two years old!

As I was getting out of the shower, I noticed Hannah looking through my jewelry box. When she saw me looking at her, she quickly grabbed something, ran, and hid it under my pillow with a guilty look on her face. I lifted up the pillow and found some of my red flower earrings.

Me: "Those are Mommy's earrings. You need to put them back in my jewelry box."

Hannah: "But can I get some earrings for MEEEEEEE?"

Me: "When you are a little bigger, you can have your own earrings."

Hannah: "Okay! And Hannah can have some pink earrings. And Hannah can have some red earrings. And Hannah can have some green earrings!"

Me: "Yep."

Hannah: "But I really NEEEEEEEED some red earrings!"


Oh boy! She's only two! I thought It would be several years before we started having conversations like this! :) Girls are definitely different creatures than boys!

Happy Rockin' New Year!

We had such a fun time at the Brimhalls' New Year's Eve dance party last year, that we decided to throw one of our own! Bryan really gets all the credit for how awesome it was - he did most of the planning and work on the lights, music, and games. He had a sound system, spinning colored lights and two disco balls rigged up on the dance floor in our dining room and there was lots of yummy food in the kitchen. We had a few families from the ward come, along with the Andersons, of course. It turned out really fun! I think we are going to make this a yearly tradition!

Happy 2011 Everyone!

Happy 9th Birthday Andrew!

Name: Andrew Bryan Anderson
Age: 9
School Teacher: Mrs. Rants
Best Friends: Kai, Eben, Blake, and Tyler
Favorite Food: Brownies
Favorite Book: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo and the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
Favorite Activity: Soccer
Favorite Movie: Nine and The Lightning Thief
Favorite Song: Fireflies by Owl City
Favorite TV show: Jackie Chan Adventures
Favorite Website: Disney's Toontown Online
Favorite Colors: red and bright yellow
Favorite School Subject: Science and Math
When I grow up I want to be: a lawyer and an inventor
I want to go on mission to: China or Japan
What makes me happy: "Good food."
What makes me sad: "Bad food."
What I like best about myself: "I'm good at sports."

IT"S A GIRL!!!

Hannah is going to have a little sister! We are so excited! That makes Bryan's record 4/4 now!

(Profile with hand by her face.)