Aladdin

Today was our last major painting day at my friend Hilary's.  We painted for 4 days and i am happy she let me have creative liscense over the kids rooms.  But that is not what this post is about. This post is about my future little Roger Ebert.

Hilary put the movie Aladdin in for the kids to watch.  They have never seen it because its not one of my favorites and we don't have it because it is "in the Disney Vault." anyway...Bridget fell asleep and Lucas watched it intently from beginning to end and on the way home we asked Lucas what it was about and this is what he said...

"Oh, it was about the Holy Ghost and he lives in a teapot and he is blue.  I know in Sunbeams they said you can't see him, but I saw him in the movie and he gives you 3 wishes!"

Nathan and I are trying to hold in the laughter when he finishes with...
"Did you know Satan was in it too, and he turned into a snake?"  "That was a very weird movie but I know that tonight I am going to ask the Holy Ghost for my 3 wishes during my prayers."

I had to ask at this point "Lucas what are your 3 wishes?"
He said "I can only tell you one, because you only get 3, but I wish that I could spell fireman all by myself!"

I told him to save his wish and that I would help him after dinner. So cute!

Reading and Stripes

I usually need a quiet time activity around 4:30pm because my kids are wired and running and turn onto banshees at that time, but today they had their own quiet time at 9:30am. Yes AM!  It was weird and cute at the same time, so I pulled out the camera to take pictures of the cuteness and realized EVERYONE was in STRIPES. Totally unplanned, but now I love it and will have to pair them all up like this again.

Bridget prefers to read her books up-in-side down.

Scarlett prefers to read on her knees.

Lucas is very particular, he tries to sound out EVERY word.

Very very Quiet. Remember SSR in Elementary School? That made me hate reading.  

(Being forced to sit sustained silently and read all at the same time...yuck)

Scarlett also likes chewing the corners to mark her spot some people fold down the corners, but not this girl.

Amen!

Hahaha. I'm just kidding. Can we be done?

Not without a kiss!

That's it I'm outta here! Notice Lucas and Scarlett's mouths?  Must be a red head thing. LOL

It has been really fun having 3 kids, I love it!

24 degrees - YGG - Obsessed

Something is wrong with this picture...

and this one...

maybe this one too...

Today we were back to our usual tricks getting up at 8am, running some errands and hitting a total of 6 stores before 10:30am.  I missed these Saturdays more than you know, but what I love the most is my kids shouting from the top of their lungs songs from our FAVORITE kid show. Yo Gabba Gabba.  Laugh or cringe if you want this is our show and has been for 3 years and it has solved so many problems in the house when it comes to using an inside voice or an outside voice. etc. For instance if you have a biting problem in your house Yo Gabba Gabba has a song for it!  Just one reason why I love it any way.

I had so many errands to run today because I have a new Obsession and its Felt.  I love it. In fact I have about 8 yards felt not including the 67 sheets of it in my felt box, and oodles and oodles of this...

My poor family has had to stay in pajamas because I can't pry myself away from the sewing machine long enough to sort it, wash it or let alone fold it.  Nathan has been picking up the slack because many things haven't been getitng done, partly from sewing, and partly because I have been with Chrystal and Tara Cleverley (my new friends) sewing into the wee hours of the morning because of this obsession.  I used because 3x there. Haha. Anyway we have been so busy working on things for their shop and I have been working on birthday presents that we all needed a break.My eyes were hurting, and my fingers from all of the hand sewing!

So our families met up at the rec center for a fun night of swimming and it was so fun.  My kids had a blast and Lucas went down the huge slide twice!  He also told me that he needed to pee in the pool but was afraid to because Grandpa Horn told him if he ever peed in the pool Grandpa would throw him over the fence into the neighbors backyard and he could never swim again.  So that is why he yelled across the walkway that he had to "Pee right now" to me. Hahaha.

Just a peek into what I have been doing, looking at that felt food reminded me of...

I will leave this with you to enjoy. :)

Our "Just cause I love you day..."

Which was observed on Saturday...

We helped the Porter's rearrange their furniture since that is my favorite thing on earth, next to my family, my husband and of course painting! :)

When we got home the kids walked into the kitchen to their surprise...

Nothing too fancy for obvious reasons, but it was special to us. Lucas kept asking what he did that was good so he could do it more to have surprises everyday. Hahaha.

The kids got to open the mail they had begging me to open...

Those 3D pop up cards are from Grandma and Grandpa Horn.  The kids wanted me to tape them on the wall so they" could always see the picture standing." Hehehe.

They picked out their treats and then we had a little lunch took naps and then went on a little treasure hunt because that is how I roll.

Scarlett ate 9 Hershey Kisses before we realized how messy they were! 

Nathan and I exchanged our conversation heart love letters to each other they were silly as usual and then I made a meal that Nathan picked out of my Cooking Light Magazine.  It was simple and the recipe is HERE. If you haven't cooked with Orzo before this is a good recipe to start with. Delicious!

I loved our fun little "Just cause I love you day." It also gave me a reason to make this...

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake.

Hope yours was as special as ours!

OMG

Did you forget my other blog?

Toddler Boredom Busters

Well shame on you!  There is a HUGE giveaway that ends today and I think you should enter!  Lots of stuff and gift cards!  Get on over there and enter!  Tell your friends too!

My Surprise to Her

This is Nathan, I know people don't like hearing from the husbands but I thought - who cares I am still writing this...

While Valerie was doing the dishes a package arrived...

I sent her a dozen of Sharri's Berries.  The entire family devoured them before we left for dinner! Haha.

Then I wanted to make this anniversary special because its the 5th and all so I took her to a restaurant that both of us have talked about but have actually never gone to called The Melting Pot.  We ordered like it was our last meal and enjoyed every dip - did I mention it was a fondue place?  It is.

In fact we were so busy the only picture she took was this one - 

That was dessert...is was on flam be!  Then she gave me this box.  I opened it and loved the gift she gave me.  It was really neat to see us as children and through our engagement and then dating and then to each year of marriage where she summed up the year in a Top 5 - highlights Letterman style.  It was great.  She was very surprised when I pulled out my present to her. (we never exchange presents on our anniversary but this year was special)  I picked a hotel downtown for us to spend the night in and day in and she teared up and said..."I wish we could go tonight, but I have activity days at 7 in the morning tomorrow!"  Classic Valerie.  So I told her that I knew that and said I was saving it for restaurant week in Denver so we could go out again and actually have a night out on the town!  So after that I took her to Flat Irons, to her favorite store - where we bought her a new dress just for the next date we have (in two weeks.) I think she loved this surprise.

I really feel lucky to have met Valerie when I did.  Even though I had to fight to get her, I am glad I won.  She is the most compassionate and loving person I know and such a great friend to others.  She is truly a service oriented person and really hates to be last, and I love that about her.  She is very competitive and strong-willed and lucky for me our children who may look like me are turning into her and I wouldn't have it any other way. This year in general has been a challenge for us in many ways and she has taken it very well and has never been upset about anything.  

We are a perfect team who can accomplish anything and I love her for that.

She is a great woman and wife and mother to our children and as she teaches them and watches them grow I can see the happiness in her eyes and that is why I married her, she isn't a settler, she is a doer, and she never ever settles for second best.

Happy Anniversary Valerie Dear.

My Surprise to Him

Our 5th Anniversary was Friday February 5th.  I wanted to suprise him so I asked my friend who is a real photographer to make up some story about how she needed test shots for a website she was launching and prefferably wanted people she didn't know.  Nathan (who is usually up for anything) was really excited.  We took a bunch of photos, and then he asked when we could see them.  She abruptly told him he couldn't that he had to pay for them and that her fee was an obscene amount...I think she said $400 a session.  He went into immediate shock and then asked about prints and said her basic package was $650, and that she didn't do CDs. The entire way home he was talking about how she would never make any money because she'd cost a small fortune just to print photos.  I tried to keep it in but I just laughed and said I know, maybe she will learn soon about the economy. It was so hard to keep this secret.

So while my friend was editing and working on our photos, I was working late at Chrystal's to get the scrapbook of our lives together, because that was the real present.  Baby pictures, funny stories and our courtship all in one book...then I printed pictures from anniversaries past and put them in the book.

This was very hard to do because Nathan is home and always around me! So I would send him to the store on an errand or make him take the kids for a walk - stuff like that.

Well, I get the book done, wait at Target for her to meet me there and hand them over (it was a very covert operation) and finally get it all together.  It looks awesome...here are the best of 30 shots...

There are a few more, but I just couldn't get over how much younger we look in these pictures than we did in our engagement pictures! And I love our engagement pictures!  I think it's because the fashion and hairstyles are much better this year than they were for us five years ago.

I just wanted to say that I am grateful that Nathan never lets me settle for an ordinary life.  We have been lucky enough to have many adventures and good times together without having to spend a lot of money.  I love that we don't have to go on a huge vacation or theme park to show ourselves how much we mean to each other. We say it and mean it everyday. He is my perfect mate and I can't imagine anyone better for me than Nathan.  He tries hard to always make me happy and there is never a day that goes by where I don't feel loved 110% by him.  Some days are hard, but that is life and even though I may feel upset or angry about something he is the one who is there to make sure I am not alone and that what ever needs to be conquered we can always do it together. He is such a great person and friend and I love him a lot!

Its been a fun and exciting 5 years and I know the next 5 will not only fly by but will be an adventure!

No one loves me more than this guy!  

Happy Anniversary Babe!

What the heck...

After nap today I asked the kids if they wanted to go swimming and Bridget shrugged her shoulders and said "What the heck." So then I pulled out the bathing suits, and tried them on the kids and Bridget's 2T was not modest for a public pool and Lucas's was mid thigh length. Scarlett's 12 month suit was so tight she screamed while I was taking it off! So we went to Target bout the kids new suits, Lucas a 5T, Bridget a 3T and Scarlett wore Bridget's 2T from last summer. They look great... 

Wait...okay that's better!

 Except when I was putting on Bridget's she asked where her dress went. On her old suit she had a skirt on it. Before I could answer Lucas said to Bridget "Bridget, you just have to deal with it, you are not a little girl anymore!" She took a big breath, sighed and said alright, I'll try to grow up." 

 So to the pool we headed...

As you can see, they got rid of the ghetto Butterfly slide! Now it's an Alligator Slide!

Scarlett was cautious, but happy to be playing with Lucas and Bridget and DADDY!

Both of the older kids took to the water like fish!

Neither of them needed or wanted to be near us, they were everywhere in the pool.

I bought them water balls and goggles and they thought it was so fun!

Scarlett liked swimming and splashing!

We were there for 2 hours, and then it was time to hit the locker rooms.

Some kids were pretty attached to their goggles...

I love the pool and the fact that the kids are not scared and want to stay all day.

On the way home Lucas told me that Anna needs to join him next time we go!