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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Road Trip

A quick day trip to the Kansas City Temple Open House with my good friend Puan and her two girls plus my three kids. We originally planned to go to the open house about two weeks ago on a Friday but it didn't workout. We had to reschedule the whole trip. I was getting a little bit worried that we wouldn't make it to the open house but we managed to work it out. We weren't able to get tickets for the Open House but everyone told me that they weren't checking tickets. So, we decided to take the chance and hope for the best.

This was the plan of the day:

Kansas City, MO Temple Open House
Liberty Jail
Penguin Park
T-Rex Cafe

The new temple is so beautiful. The drive up to Kansas City is so easy! I still can't believe that we have never driven to Kansas City before. Hello, I spent the first seven years of my life living right outside Kansas City. It's been ten years and our first trip up north...lol. We told the kids to keep an eye out for the temple. I had been told you can see it from the expressway. Sure enough, the kids were eager to spot the temple. The kids kept saying that whoever saw the temple first would be able to go into the temple first. Leah is really obsessed with the idea of being the line leader...lol. Anyways, Logan spotted the temple first and wanted me to give him a dollar.

Mobs and mobs of people were at the temple grounds. Everyone told us, the tour takes about 45 minutes but it was more like 2 hours. I was surprised how many people were not members were taking the tour. Long lines everywhere but it was worth it. They had us start in the Stake Center and watch a movie. Leah thought it was funny that the temple has a pool inside...opps! I had to explain to her that it was a baptismal font and not a pool. The inside of the temple is really beautiful.

I feel so grateful that the kids were able to take part of this great experience. The boys loved the celestial room. After the tour, they had cookies and water. All of the kids came away with a great experience. Puan and I talk to them for a long time about what they enjoyed the most about the temple and it turned out to be a great experience.

Puan has a super nice camera and has a lot more pictures of our trip to Kansas City. Hopefully, she will send me a copy and I will post them later on.

After the temple, we decided to head over to Liberty Jail. I forgot how small the visitor center but it's been a long time since we last went to the Liberty Jail. The missionary ask if anyone had any questions and Leah raised her hand. She asked about the "key" but she just said "key". I'm so proud of her, she should of phrase it in a question instead of a word but she didn't know any better. The kids took all of the pictures inside the visitor center. Afterwards, I had to bribe the kids to stand in front of the sign. I gave them all a dollar and told them they could spend it at the lds bookstore...too bad everything at the store was overpriced. They came away with nothing.

I decided to take the kids to Penguin Park, it's an old park that I used to go to as a little girl. The kids had so much fun. Massive amounts of kids everywhere but it didn't slow down the kids. They had so much...it was hard to pull them away but we managed to leave after an hour and half. At this point, it was close to 5:30pm. I asked if the kids wanted to go straight home or go to T-Rex Cafe. Of course, they all wanted to go out to eat.

By the time, we arrived at Legends Outlet mall which we all enjoyed. We couldn't find parking anywhere, the place was packed solid. This isn't your regular outlet mall, this place is down right fun. We finally made it to T-Rex Cafe but we found out that we had to wait 65 minutes to eat. The kids really wanted to stay and wait. A big mistake if you ask me but the kids loved it. The food is so overpriced but they did come away with these really cool dinosaur bones drinks. Sadly, we waited to be seated, we waited for our food, and we waited some more to check out. We didn't leave until 9:00pm.

Wow, where did all the time go. A long story made short, we didn't get back home until almost 12:20am. Luckily, as soon as we left the parking lot. The kids were fast asleep. We did managed to get pulled over by a state trooper that followed us off the interstate to tell us that my van's headlight was brunt out and not working. We had to drive all the way home with my brights on. Puan was suppose to drive us home but she only got about four hours of sleep the night before and couldn't keep her eyes open. So, I had to drive home for the last 2.5 hours.

Overall, we can't wait to go back. So much to do but not enough time. I still can't believe we were gone literally all day long. We might go back in a couple of weekends before the new baby arrives. Leroy doesn't want to go anywhere when the new baby comes. I think he's being a chicken. It can't be too hard to do things with a newborn. Don't they sleep all the time?

Friday, April 27, 2012

Ten on Friday

Wow, where did all of the time go? I have been way too busy to blog, so I'm going to cram in two weeks worth of random things about me, the kids, and whatever else pops up in my head.

1. Tomorrow, we're making a day trip up to Kansas City with my friend Puan and the kids. It's going to be van load full of fun. Let's hope, I'm a little bit worried about spending so much time sitting in the van. I'm really hoping that they don't swell up on me like they did the other day...ouch not too much fun! We're heading up for the Open House of the LDS Kansas City Temple plus we're going to stop off at the Liberty Jail Visitor Center plus with a stop off at the T-Rex Cafe for some Dinosaur digging fun. It's about 3.5 hours each way so it's going to be a very long day but it will be worth it. This might be the last trip that we might be making before the new baby comes.

2.  The past couple of months, I have been wanting to put something up in my laundry room. I finally found this sign on Etsy. I had it custom made to match the colors in my house. So, one more project off my list to do. It's a nice touch.
3.  Logan received the Terrific Kid award! His teacher nominated him because he always listens to his teacher and does exactly as he is told to do. Way to go, Logan. I just wish he was as obedient as he is at school. He wasn't too happy about having to get up in front of the whole entire school to receive his award. His teacher told me that he was giving her the death look all the way up to the front of the stage. He hates to be in the spotlight.  
 4. My little tomboy is starting to turn into a girly girl but she's still tough. She loves going to the beauty school to get her hair cut. You should of seen her walking around the beauty school...all smiles...literally walking around it like she owned it. Here's the trick, to get your daughter to sit still during the haircut. Just ask for one of the doll heads. Leah spent the whole time brushing and playing with the doll head while the girl cut her hair. Leah was perfectly content. So, after the hair cut. I decided it would be fun to head over to the nail saloon at the school and get her nails done. She thought she was all grown up. Too bad, the nail job didn't last to long. Don't go to the sand park after getting your nails done. Bad idea!
 5. Yippee, Soccer is finally over for Leah. Isn't she so cute! This Spring season was very different from the Fall season. A different coach plus all new girls except for Morgan. Leah was really shy at the beginning of the new season but it wasn't too long before she was back to her full force. Leah's coach told me that she was the best player on the team. Go LEAH!!!! No fear, this girl doesn't hold back. She's running up and down the field. If she gets kicked or knocked over...she doesn't cry. She just gets back up and goes for it. The boys aren't too sure if they want to play soccer again but Leah wants to go back to in the Fall. She also, wants to do dance but I'm not a fan of dance. I think it leaves to many girls with body issues.

 6.Sewing, Sewing, and sewing...I decided to be a little bit crazy and sew some fitted diapers for the new baby. I'm not sure if I'm going to actually use cloth diapers but I thought it couldn't hurt to have some on hand. You never know when you might run out and need an emergency stash of diapers. I found this really cute pattern online and decided to give it a try. They turned out super cute and so easy to whip up on the sewing machine.

7.  The boys only have about four more weeks left of school. The last day of school is May 21st, which is so early but it will be good to have so much easy laid back weeks before the new baby comes. I can't wait to be able to sleep in, I'm getting so tired of waking up early to get them off to the bus. The boys have tons of field trips and end of the year class picnics. The time is going to be flying by fast!

8.  This week, I'm officially 32 weeks pregnant. I'm looking at 6-8 weeks before the new baby will be here. I did managed to pick up some more baby clothes at a garage sale. I even found some really cute vintage baby dresses. I really want to hit up some more garage sales but I can't seem to find my debit card which isn't a good thing because we're going out of town tomorrow morning. Ok, back to me...my feet did swell up once this week, I'm having so discomfort that must be coming from Braxton Hicks, and it's so hard to get comfortable at night. I can't wait to be done with this pregnancy.

9.  I'm working on my scrapbook calendar for the baby's first year, I did managed to get all 12 months done but I still need to go back and add all the finishing touches on each page. At least the basic calendar pages are done! I managed to run out of glue sticks so I will have to pick up some more glue and hopefully get it all done by next week. Also, back at Christmas time, I forgot that I made these journals for the kids for the year of 2012. I'm going to try to finish out...filling out all of the pages and get the pictures printed off to put in their journals.

10.  Okay, Leah wants me to play a board game with her. So, I'm off. She loves to play card games and board games. She also loves to win! She's so competitive!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Baby L's Blanket

A couple of days ago, Logan expressed interested in making a baby quilt for the new baby. Sunday morning, we had a lot of time available. I wasn't planning on sewing on Sunday being that I had been sewing all weekend long. We don't go to church until the afternoon. Well, one thing led to another and next thing I knew Logan had pulled out all of my sewing boxes and was going thru all the fabric. He found some fabric that he wanted to use...it's cow print and hello kitty. He found this really silky satin pink fabric and he wanted to use it as the back fabric for the blanket. I thought for sure that I had some batting up in my closet and it wasn't long he was climbing up my closet shelfs. He found it. So, I decided to try to make a "go as you go along" quilt. You literally sew all three layers at the same time, adding a strip a fabric at a time. Logan did a really good job ironing all of the strips. He did sew on the sewing machine a couple of times. He doesn't have a lot of attention span so I ended up sewing a majority of the blanket. I trimmed up the blanket and this morning I added the bias tape to finish up the quilt. When, Logan finally made it home from school. He found the quilt completed on the living room couch. He picked it, right up and was rubbing it against his face. He also had a big smile on his face. I'm so proud of my little guy, He picked out all of the fabric, designed the quilt, decided on the order of the fabric, and did all of the ironing. Logan's just like his Grandpa Nichols. He loves to create things with his hands. Yesterday, we drove by the Wishing Springs Gallery and saw the word "studio". He wanted to know what the word meant. I told him it's a place you can take lessons and create art. He wants me to sign him up for lessons. Anyways, the blanket is a little bit on the small size so I'm going to us it as a changing pad for the baby.
Ironing, an important part of making the quilt!

The finish product!

Logan wanted the back to silky satin fabric.


The finish project equals one happy boy!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Crafty Weekend

What to do, when it's raining outside and the boys are away camping for the night? Well, it's time to pull out the sewing machine and get busy creating stuff for the new baby. Leah did a great job of staying out of my way which meant she was in my bedroom watching a movie and she even went to bed at 8:00pm. I decided to stay up late and finish up a few sewing projects. I made the new baby a cute diaper cover with lots of ruffles. It's so cute. Plus, I decided to make a nursing cover. You can't see if very well but the fabric has cows all over with it. The cows say "moo" all of over. Kinda funny if you ask me, I'm going to be feel'n like a diary cow in a few months if you know what I mean...lol.


The kids are obsessed about everything being even among the kids. I can't make something for the baby without making something for the boys. They have been complaining that I haven't sewn anything for them in a long time. I decided to pull out some cute Flannel I picked up at the associate store and I whipped up a pj set for Logan and I managed to make a pair of pj bottoms for Landon. I still need to finish making the a top for Landon. He boo-hoo about not having a top. So, If I can find sometime this week, I will work on his top.


Logan decided this morning he wanted to make a quilt for the new baby.  We decided to make a "go as go along" quilt using two inch strips of fabric. It has cows and hello kitty fabric. The back side is that pink satin fabric. We're half way done with the quilt. You sew all three fabrics together at the same time. Anyways, I will finish it up with some bias tape on the edges. I'm thinking about using it as a changing pad and not so much as a quilt. Logan loves it. He picked out all of the fabric and came up with the pattern and size of the blanket.

Close up view of the blanket!

Landon took this picture of Leah outside. We accidently forgot to give her this purse from her Uncle William. It's been up in the closet for the past couple of months. Thanks, again Uncle William. It was filled with a little notebook plus pencils with her name on them. She loved it!

Easter 2012

Easter Slideshow:



Highlights:
*Easter Egg Dyeing
*Easter Egg Hunts
*Spending Time Together as a Family
*Landon and Logan both won Easter Bunny Baskets at the Carnival
*Logan and Leah both had their faces painted as Bunnies!
*Spending time reflecting on the Savior

Cons:
*Coming down sick over Easter Weekend. Nothing worse than dealing with Allergies and Cough!
*Consumed way too much sugar and chocolate...lol!

How big will I get???

It's amazing how big my belly has grown in less than three weeks. I'm huge, I had been measuring on the small size but I'm sure that I will be on the bigger size at my next appointment which is on Tuesday. The baby is getting so big, it's hard to get to sleep at night and she's a strong kicker!
31 weeks-Huge Belly 

29 weeks-Super Cute Belly

The kids are so excited about the baby. Look at Logan's face, the little guy is busy sewing a baby quilt for the new baby. No name yet, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be Lydia Rose.  It's amazing how much the kids love the new baby and she's not even here yet. 

Holy Cow, It's going to be a long 8-9 weeks before the baby gets here! I can't even bend over without seeing stars. I'm just taking it easy around the house and sewing a ton of stuff for the kids and the new baby.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Ten on Sunday

1.  Getting back into the groove of things, the past week has been super busy for the whole family. All three kids have soccer games, cub scouts, playdates, and endless amounts of stuff to do! Logan started on this quilt a while ago but he started to grow tired of it. I decided to put away and give it some time. The little guy has a short attention span...lol! Anyways, yesterday we had some down time and I decided it would be a good time to pull out and work on it. Logan picked out the different squares and picked out the design of his quilt. We're about half way down with the top of the quilt. Hopefully, we can get this project done before the new baby comes. Logan is really happy with it. I'm thinking about applique on his name on the quilt. I'm really proud of my little guy. He also painted a picture of huge flower in art class. It turned out really good. Logan is all hands on and creative. I wish sometimes it would rub off on his older brother but that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon.
Logan's 1st Quilt-Half Way Done!
Working Hard On The Sewing
2.  Leroy moved all of my crafts and scrapbooking stuff out to the garage. I decided to be brave and face it. I managed to throw away two huge bags of trash, downsized four books, and reorganized all of my sewing stuff. The garage is looking a lot better but if I could only talk Leroy into getting rid of some of his stuff it would make the garage even better.

3. Now, while I'm talking about scrapbooking. A couple of years ago, I did a lot of regular scrapbooking. I'm now focusing on digital scrapbooking but I realized that I still have a ton of supplies. I decided it was time to focus on my old scrapbooks. All of my scrapbook albums were in pieces. None of the books were put together. So, I had to sort thru all of the scrapbook pages and get them placed in the right order and books. This took me all afternoon. I still have a bunch of pictures printed out and I'm going to start working on finishing up all of the pictures that I have printed out. I really want to get this done before the new baby comes. I'm not working out anymore, I'm finding myself with a little bit too much time on my hands. So, I'm going to start working on this, a little bit each week before the baby comes.

4. Some how, I didn't realize that Easter is coming up very soon. I have nothing prepared or ready for the big holiday. The kids want me to make an Easter Bunny cake plus I have to make Easter Bunny cookies for Leah's preschool class. So, this week is going to be all about preparing for the big Easter celebration. We usually dye eggs, resurrection rolls, Easter egg symbolism lesson, plus I picked up tickets for the POA Easter Egg Hunt. We have so much going on, I'm going to have to stick to some type of schedule. If I want to get everything ready. I'm just exhausted just reading my list to do.

5.  The boys had dentist appointments this week. Landon has six cavities but he only needs to get one of them filled. He has one on his permanent tooth. Logan has three cavities on his premanment tooth. Landon has to go back this week and get his one tooth filled and Logan will go the following week. My boys have great teeth...ya right. Anyways, not much I can do about it. It's just genetics!

6.  I'm huge, this past week the baby has moved head down. She use to kick me on the sides but now she's kicking me up top. I did have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. I managed to gained 4 lbs...opps! It's hard to be good while on vacation with the family. I'm still measuring a week behind so maybe I wouldn't end up with another jumbo size baby...hee hee. I did pass my sugar test and I'm not anemic. The baby should be here in 10-12 weeks. Hopefully, in less than 10 weeks. A girl can hope right. I don't go back for another three weeks. My pregnancy is super boring at the moment. It's a good thing but it doesn't make a lot to talk about. Leah and the boys are always hugging my belly and trying to feel her kicking. They always want to know if she's sleeping or kicking. It's surprising how much the kids love the new baby already. Leah's super excited about being able to pick out the baby clothes. She wants to dress the baby but not change it's diapers.

7.  We hired someone to come and paint the house. Leroy's schedule is pretty busy with work and all. So, we decided to hire someone from church to paint the outside and inside of the house plus he will stain the deck. Yippee, I can't wait for it to be done. I'm in no condition to be climbing up on ladders or painting.

8.  Leroy is going to help one of our neighbors with his car, inexhange for free landscaping services.

9.  My favorite room in our house is the sun room. it's like being up in the trees. The trees are starting to come alive which means green pollen is everywhere. My nose is killing me. I tired to take the kids to the park but we had to live after a little while because I couldn't stop sneezing. I can't wait for the pollen to die down and go away. I did managed to weed a bunch of my flower and garden beds. I need to get busy and plant some tomato plants.

10. I feel really blessed this week with great friends. I had a lot of people calling me this week about this and that. It's nice to know that people are thinking about you.