February - Has been a month full of love!

Well, the month is almost over and I have one more post about LOVE :)

LOVE NOTES!

On Wednesday Dallin took my post-it notes and wanted to write me "something" ?? I just figured he was going to draw me a picture. When he was done writing his notes he told me to come look and I found yellow little post it notes ALL OVER my house . . . in the pantry, on my vacuum, on books, chairs, he used a lot of post-its!!! ;)

I 'heart' - 'LOVE' Mom


I 'love' U

I don't want to take 'em down, they are sweet little love notes from my sweet son!

Signs of Spring

All the flower bulbs i planted in the fall are starting to sprout from the ground!

I am so excited! Spring is just around the corner!

Our backyard is under some serious construction. We are making our garden spot larger. My hubby as been a busy man working in the yard a little bit each day. We have had some nice weather lately and it feels great to be outside.

On my to do list today is to plant a box full of strawberry plants our neighbor gave us. Oh, i hope we can get a nice strawberry patch this year. I love gardening, the only down side are my allergies and my belly is in the way a little bit :) It hasn't stopped me yet from going outside. My Mom always reminds me "By the inch is a cinch, by the yard is hard" it goes something of that sorts, and I am definitely having to take the yard work a inch at a time.

Another little exciting side note. Last night we had a Service gift exchange with a bunch of ladies at church and i was fortunate enough to receive the gift of Four cake decorating classes. I am so excited to learn some more Wilton cake decorating tips.

Well, that is all the good news at our house! Have a great day :)

Acts of kindness

The other day i had done some small thing for Penny and out of the blue she said " THANK YOU, ROCHA MOM" And it made me pause and be grateful for little acts of kindness. I love my blue eyed little girl and hearing the words Rocha Mom from her little voice is music to my soul! I had to write it down and put it on my bulletin board for a simple reminder that those little Thank you's make being a mother worth every sacrifice.

"Be kind. No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted." -Aesop

Words for Mothers to live by

"I never feel so good as when I'm pregnant.
It's the only time a woman can sit still,
and do nothing at all,
and be beautifully productive."
-Maria Riva

A HEART-y Breakfast

It was fun making little hearts with strawberries and it was yummy to the tummy to have french toast with strawberries. We are still love'in it up at our house. The kids are still wanting to make lots of hearts, we have even made mini heart shaped pizza's for the munchkins.

Well, for you curious folks out there here is a peak at my 7 month belly. I no longer have any waist line to be concerned about, it's gone :) All this good food is definitely helping my baby to grow!

We (baby&me) are LOVEing all the yummy food :)

Our Valentine Weekend

We had a lovely weekend. The kids had a nice Friday inviting friends over and making lots of Valentine's, including more treats. My golly gee, we eat way to much sweets.

My motto for our home is "A family that BAKES, plays, & prays together - stays together"

Then i had a date night with my hubby! We had a good evening together! Then saturday morning i had taken the kids favorite stuffed animals and surrounded them with lots of love/goodies. It was fun to be able to tell the kids to go down stairs and they would find a surprise. There little surprises entertained them all morning :) Then off to a birthday party, did some more baking and then off again to our ward V-day party. I was exhausted to say the least and ready to go to bed when we got home.

The best part about my weekend is this:

My handsome son and his good looking father went on a top secret outing on Friday! Dallin was just beaming with joy when he came home and said "Happy Valentine's Mom and Penny" He handed Penny a little flower and told us to come downstairs and see our surprise. He picked it out with his Daddy's help and he even told me the exact amount that they spent while at the store, just a cute little tidbit of information he wanted to share!



They bought this beautiful plant: Azalea's

and some Chocolate ice-cream bars!

I am grateful for Rolo teaching Dallin the importance of love! Dallin knows how to treat a lady, and he has learned it from his Daddy. I am blessed to have two wonderful boys in my life and I love them both so much!

Here is a fitting quote: ". . the best thing parents can do for their children is to love each other."

Thank you for your love!

This is Dallin's V-day card he made for me! A picture of him and cupid bringing me hearts :)

A kiss for you!

SWEETS and more SWEETS

XxXXxx Big kisses & Little kisses XxXxXx

We made Rice Krispie treats today wrapped in tin foil! Mmm Mmm Good! I know i am raising my daughter well when i hear these words out of her mouth while she eats sweets "Yummy to my Tummy" :)

A kiss for you XxXx

"To love is to receive a glimpse of Heaven" - Karen Sunde

Yesterday we did some Valentine crafts and the kids were jumping and dancing with glea to make these little heart guys. I love watching there creative minds at work. Penny insisted that her hearts have hair on top and Dallin made an amazing ROCK STAR. At least from my own Mommy perspective I think there art work is amazing ;) Dallin is at such an impressionable age (5) He loves holidays! Today he had a Valentine's Party with his pre-school group. He had "SO MUCH FUN" he said and he "LOVED EVERYTHING" He was excited to come home and show me all his Valentine crafts he made and received.

Creative Excursions;

The gift of time for yourself!

Today I had a couple hours on my own, without children! At first i always think 'What am I going to do by myself' Then the lists of possibilities start forming in my mind. So, today i went on some creative excursions! I have been wanting to go to a junk store and browse around. It is always fun to look for little treasures! I found a few good deals. I bought a couple darling outfits for our new little one on the way. And I found a 25 dollar item on sale for 4! Great deals always add a little extra happiness :) But, more important than shopping it's nice to have some quiet time for yourself, it is refreshing and it gives you time to clear your mind, so vital and should be a higher priority for Mom's. Just a couple hours a week on your own (not work related) makes a difference!

And just another little random note - I have been blessed this winter to not have had a single cold (knock on wood) I think the secret has been Ester C. If i feel any symptoms of a cold I start taking some vitamin C and it has worked every time! Also, with this pregnancy I have been addicted to making Orange Julius's. So, my body must be staying strong with all the extra Vitamin C! So, if you don't have this vitamin in your Medicine cabinet i highly recommend it :)

A great day for Penny

Penny got all dressed up this morning ;) to go to a friends birthday party! She had so much fun! One of the high lights was being able to plan and make the birthday cake for her friend. Penny has been waiting all week to get to go to a Princess party!

I made a Snow White Princess Cake for her friend. Every cake I make is an experiment and I never know how it will turn out. I was excited about this one! I need to take some Wilton cake decorating classes so I can learn more techniques. At the Wilton website is where I found the idea for this Princess cake I made . . .

All of the little Princesses had a great time at the Party! And they were in AWE with the special guest (Snow White) that arrived at there gathering!

O' it is so sweet to watch our little girls adore Princesses and have fun themselves dressing up like royalty.

I am so glad that Penny is my pretty little Princess!

Made with Love

I have been sewing a Valentine's outfit for Penny and I am DONE! I need to first say thanks to my sewing instructors :) It has been really neat learning how to do some new things, for example - a skirt, collar and a zipper. I thought it was all going to be more complicated than what it was. I especially liked sewing the skirt. Super Easy! Well, even though this outfit has been made with lots of love, my daughter does not want to wear it ;) She knows i really want her to and she has been watching me sew and now her stubborn gene is shining and she won't put it on!

I will need to bribe her with candy or something and then she will wear it! Hopefully, I will get some cute pictures of her modeling her Valentine's outfit. We shall see! I also tried a new hair do on her the other day, with a braided heart! She thought that was cute :) I found the idea at the blog Tip Junkie.

Lucky You!

Lucky you!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you!

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows?
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Thanks Maren for this fun idea/post :)

Groundhog Day February 2, 2009

Groundhog Day 2009: Did the Groundhog See His Shadow?
By Cathy Beers Feb 2, 2009

Its groundhog day 2009! Puxatony Phil, that buck toothed weather forecaster is out of the hole. Did the groundhog see his shadow? Unlike Al Gore's dire warning earlier that the earth is almost so hot it is ready to spontaneously combust, the rather large rodent used his incredible forecasting skills to predict, six more weeks of Winter! The groundhog saw his shadow.

Groundhog Day 2009: Did the Groundhog See His Shadow?

It's unclear if Al Gore has chastised Puxatony Phil, screaming at the little furry creature that no matter what the weather and the consitions actually are showing, global warming is here and we are all going to die unless we stop living our lives.

***

I think that is why Puxatony Phil is so much more popular than Al Gore, even when he gives this forecast. New York brought out a copycat that they call Staten Island Chuck, and he says that six weeks more of winter is the wrong forecast.

Chuck -- "speaking" through New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg -- saw "absolutely no shadow."


Our local Boise Bill also saw his shadow!

Well, here is some interesting info:

This Groundhog’s Day, 2009, Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow!

But did you know that if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow there’s going to be 6 more weeks (44 days) of winter and if he does not see his shadow there is only going to be 42 days of winter left? So why do we dedicate a day to the Groundhog?

So, we can have a reason to eat chocolate pudding and I am excited we get to put cool whip on top for 44 more days of winter ;)

It's a fun event regardless of the outcome! The kids couldn't wait to come down stairs this morning and turn on the news and see Phil the Groundhog. They thought it was pretty cool!

What does Groundhog’s Day mean to you? Referring to the movie (Groundhog's day) what would be your perfect day?

Groundhog Day

Fun info. at this site Groundhog day.org

I am personally hoping that Mr. Phil the Groundhog does not see his shadow. I am anxious for spring time and looking forward to warmer weather. The past two years that I can think of he has been right! Last year he saw his shadow and it was still snowing this time last year. And the year before that I remember starting our garden early and that year he did not see his shadow :)

Tomorrow we are planning on waking up early since I put my kids to bed super early and looking forward to the weather forecast!

We're planning on watching the movie Groundhog's Day and having a yummy treat with chocolate pudding and graham crackers crumbled on top with a Ground hog topper. If we will be having six more weeks of winter we will put cool whip on top for more winter snow and if not we will look forward to soon be playing in the mud and dirt for spring time!

Happy soon to be Ground Hog Day :)

Carefree and Spunky children

LOVE song for the month of February

I love the lyrics to the song "Lucky" by Jason Mraz singing with Colbie Caillat. At the end of this post is the music video you can watch.

The lyrics:

"I keep you with me in my heart"

"I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend!"

"I'm lucky we're in love in EVERY WAY!"

I really like the melody :) It's a sweet love song!

Anyhoo,

Valentine's Day is just around the corner! I was just looking at posts from last year and I can't believe how fast time has gone. When we first started this blog it was March 2007! And my o my how the kids have grown. There are some cute pictures of the little ones! Penny has grown up so much! I don't want her to grow up, I want her to stay my baby forever :)I have almost finished sewing a Valentine's Day outfit for Penny for this year. The picture above is from last year :)

I have been trying to find some more Valentine ideas and I looked at what I posted last February, here is the link: IDEAS in 2008 I made pillow cases last year and the kids have loved them.

A new fun idea i found for this year - LOVE BUG cookies!

I love Holidays ;)

Having fun while exercising, is that possible??

The other night it was past the kids bedtime and the kiddos had way to much energy!! So, we decided to have them do some FUN EXERCISES and they had a GREAT time!

Our little D. ran up and down the stairs fifteen times, Penny was hilarious to watch do push ups and in about twenty minutes they were ready for bed. It was quite entertaining to watch them! Since that night they can't wait to do more exercises! It's amazing how much kids will do when you make things FUN for them ;)



On Monday the Sun was shining and we had the blue sky to enjoy. My kids were beginning to wonder where the Sun had gone! We have had a couple of weeks of bad inversion. On Sunday one of the Primary kids said a sincere little prayer! He asked Heavenly Father to make the Sun come out and shine and right after church the Sun started to peak thru the clouds :) Heavenly Father hears the smallest prayers and the child had truly been missing the sunshine!Monday we were anxious to go outside but it was still freezing cold! So, we decided to take some dried bread outside for the birds and instead of playing outside the kids enjoyed bird watching from inside the house. They would get so excited every time they would see a bird! It was a nice way to enjoy the outdoors but stay inside and stay warm.

Scrabble Tile Pendants

My sister found this link for these pendants and she made some for family members and I absolutely love mine and want to make some more! Yesterday, I went to D.I and bought an old scrabble game so I could make some and I have more than plenty to share! I would like to have a girls craft night in February and make these! At this link you can find the Tutorial for the scrabble pendants -MAKE&TAKES

For all you local gals if you would like to join a little craft night making these pendants at my house, give me a call or leave a comment! I have also been wanting to make some fudge for Valentines so that can be our chocolate dessert for the evening ;)

You can also buy these single pendants at this ETSY SHOP TOO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!

Positive Changes

I have mentioned in a previous post how i bought a book called "Accountable Kids" And it gives you a great program to teach your kids responsibility, hard work and helps with getting rid of negative behavior and creating postive changes. We are starting at a young age to teach our kids that work makes us happy and when the work is done then we have quality time together! I can't express enough how great this has been! I have started my own little chore charts before but nothing solid. This program is creating POSITIVE CHANGES!! Our house is completely clean by nine in the morning the kids are ready for the day! They have been washing dishes, unloading the dish washer, laundry, sweeping, wiping off the table and chairs after every meal, making there beds in the morning, scripture study and prayers etc. So far I have been successful in teaching them that it is fun to do it TOGETHER rather than me just doing it by myself. I really can't believe how well it has worked for my 5 & 3 year old, it takes consistency on the parents part, which is usually what I struggle with, but so far so good!

So, Accountable kids provides boards and cards for the kids chores that are already pre-made but the down side is that each set is thirty dollars! I am to cheap to spend that so we made our own. Yes, it was time consuming to get it done but definitely worth it. I only spent twenty dollars verses $60.After all the morning chores were done this morning the kids recieved a star ticket to choose something they want to do. Now, you set family rules, like no fighting, whining, or if you don't do the chore you do not get a ticket. They need to earn there rewards! The daily chores teach them that they are a part of the family and have a special part in completing there tasks. Parents and children decide what they can use there tickets for. They can have a friend over, watch a cartoon, paint, computer games etc. This morning the kids wanted to play with there styrofoam zots that you can make things with like guitars, crowns, animals, it is a cool little kid craft. Then when Dallin was done making his guitar he had a BLAST groovin to some James Taylor music. We love blasting the music at our house and have some fun dancing :) As you can see in the pictures below :) So, great news to report for ACCOUNTABLE KIDS!

Penny even got up on the counter to bust some moves by the stereo!