Easter pictures

I had visions of being this amazingly organized mother of two, the reality is what I envision never includes the daily grind of changing diapers, preparing meals, doing laundry, and keeping my house clean. I took these pictures with the intent to turn them into cards for our family and friends but as you can see it is now the first of May and I am just posting them on my blog instead. As it is Makena and Bay are both really sick today so I am just sitting here typing with one hand as I hold Makena. Oh well. I am doing my best at the hardest but greatest job in the world being a mom. Please forgive me if my posts have grammatical or spelling errors, one handed typing is quite challenging.

I love how her hair is blowing in the wind, and the look on her face is so funny.You can really see her two bottom teeth too.

His hair is now short but I still think he looks really handsome in this picture.

I was shocked she left the hat on.In fact she didn't seem to mind wearing it.

This is a common sighting in our house...Bay smothering Makena, and for some unknown reason she loves it.

Easter Egg Hunt on the Farm

This is the first Easter that Candace's coworker Diane has not been in town to throw her giant Easter egg hunt and brunch. When we found out that she was going to be in Singapore visiting some family we were heart broken that we would not be going to the traditional party at her place. Diane is amazing. She loves Easter more than anyone I have ever met. Candace says it is here favorite holiday and she plans all year for her party. Each year she stuffs thousands of eggs and cook hundreds of dollars of food for family and close friends. We have been invited to this amazing party for the last 2 years and have some to really look forward to it as part of our Easter weekend. When I heard that there would be no party at Diane's I was sad and tried to figure out a fun alternative for the kids. There were lots of community hunts but we have learned that they tend to be overcrowded and the kids that attend are usually kinda greedy and its not really fun, its more like run and get a few eggs before you get trampled. I had pretty much given up on going to a hunt on Saturday until the Craig family invited us to a hunt out on their friends farm. I decided to take the kids. Saturday morning we got a dozen eggs together, got some Hershey kisses from Walgreens and met up at the Craig's house. The older kids took the eggs we brought and went to the designated house for the hunt while the little ones waited. Once the eggs were hidden they let the kids loose. Bay was in heaven. He was outside looking for Easter eggs filled with all kinds of Candy. There were tons of eggs, the weather was fantastic. It was a blast. Here are some pictures of Bay and Sheri's son Caden looking for eggs and Bay with his newly found loot!

So pretty

My mom gave me the most beautiful dress for Makena for Easter. I was so excited to bring it home and try it on her and take some pictures of her in it. It is so rare to find a dress that looks vintage but still isn't outdated or funky patterns for a baby. The absolutely loved it and it was adorable on her. Here is the proof. Oh and by the way the picture of her from above I took while she was fast asleep....

Carmela's

My sister Annie I am sure does not have fond memories of the glorious town of Glenns Ferry Idaho, but I have been able to put those lovely memories of us being stranded there for an entire day aside, and actually enjoy visiting the town for one reason this beautiful little vineyard and restaurant called Carmela's. What is great about Carmela's is that it is about half way between our house and Twin Falls where Jeff's parents live, making it a great place to meet for lunch and a nice visit or game of golf in the summer months. A few weeks back I decided to make the long trek there alone with the two kiddos to meet up with Jeff's sister, parents and my brother in laws parents. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny and lunch was great. The kids were cooperative on the drive down and back and we got to celebrate Debbie's birthday. I have to admit that I was pleased with myself and my ability to manage these two rug rats alone without any drama. Here is a picture of us all together before we all went our separate ways.

Sorry I am such a slacker..

Jeff's work schedule says that he only works 9 days a month but I have decided that it is completely inaccurate! He works harder than any guy that I have ever met...with the exception of maybe my dad but I am not sure how you could ever compare the two. With Jeff working or having a class every week he never has the 4 days off that he should. Between our 5 jobs, his classes he has to take to keep up his paramedic license ect..we don't ever see each other as much as we would like. I know that him working is helping us to be in a great position to buy a home so I try and stay positive and muddle thru each day alone with the kids. I am sooo looking forward to spending some time together this summer and going on some family vacations and actually being able to spend time with my husband. For now I will enjoy our dinners as a family, working in the yard together, the occasional hockey game(the one we saw this season) and our pajama walks each night before bed.

foods that should never touch our lips

I came across this article this evening and felt like I should share it.I will defiantly think twice at the grocery store now...

http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-eating-tips/7-foods-should-never-cross-your-lips

introduction to solid foods

We waited until 7 months to start giving Makena solid foods. Her first taste of "solid" food was Brown Rice Cereal mixed with my milk. At first she seemed confused as to the new texture in her mouth but she took to quickly and eats it like a champ. Here are some pictures from her first feeding.

in like a lion

March is here...Where is spring? It was the second day of measurable snowfall and Jeff was working. The kids and I slept in really late, and feasted on Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pancakes with mini chocolate chips per Bays request. He requested a Thomas the train shaped pancake and a snake. The snake was easy but it took some artistic ability to do the train. I was so impressed with my creation I had to take a picture. After breakfast I let Bay go out and play in the snow before it all melted. He was in heaven.

nothing sweeter....

I can't help but love these photos.I cannot believe how much joy these two little angels give me. The best part is that they love each other too.

6 months

As I have mentioned before I am a bit behind with my posts. At 6 months Makena was almost 16 lbs and 26 inches long. She was in the 50th percentile for both weight and height. She still seems to outgrow her clothes overnight, she loves her brother, favors her mother and has discovered her daddy and is loving him now too.She hasn't had solids yet and as you can see she doesnt appear to be wasting away. She is nearly crawling already,and is mobile enough on the floor to get to what she wants. We introduced her to her johnny jump up wich we just call her jumparoo, she loves it and really gets moving in it as well. It is fun watching her grow and develop, its just going by entirely too fast for me.She is a sweet baby girl that brings great joy and laughter into our home. Makena being cute as she models her grovia owl cloth diaper
New swimsuit that my friend Naomi gave us.I couldn't wait to see if it would fit.
Enjoying a little naked time after her bath. She loves the freedom of movement.
Check out her rolls and her sqishie tushie. Love the baby chub
Her adorable hat our friend Julie gave us as a baby gift.
Enjoying her johnny jump up in the hallway.

bath time and bathing suits

Odd title for a post I know but this is what we were up to the other morning around our house. I decided to see if this adorable bathing suit that my friend Naomi gave us would fit Makena. As you can see it did and it is adorable on her. I most excited that she has a little room to grow in it as well. Bay decided since I was taking pictures that he needed to have me take some of him so here are the ones of him and the two of them together. Oh how he loves to look at "his girl" and she loves to look at him
Clean and cute kids.Oh how I love the smell of my clean babies.
Makena showing off her new moves. She is so close to crawling.It will happen any day now.
I couldn't resist putting a headband on her that matched her swimsuit.
Bay making funny faces for the camera as usual.I can't believe how much he looks like his cousin Xander in this picture
His bubble beard or goatee. He thought having the bubbles on his face was hilarious.

catching up again....

I apologize for neglecting my blogs to the few of you that actually look at it, but being a mommy of two with a husband who is only home every 3rd day is quite exhausting on this lady.

Valentines Day was wonderful this year. As usual Jeff spoiled me rotten with thoughtful little things meant to help me relax and unwind such as: foot cream, bubble bath and chocolate.Normally Jeff doesn't do flowers because he hates to buy things for me that only last temporarily which I totally get but I absolutely love having fresh flowers in my home.I am always excited to receive them. Our kitchen table made it look like it was Christmas morning on Valentines Day. Just to show you how ridiculous it was that we got so many cards gifts ect I had to take a picture. Thank you to both of our wonderful families and friends for the thoughtful gifts.We really appreciate each and every one of them. We had a yummy breakfast Valentines Day cooked by Jeff the master chef. That afternoon we took Bay to the dollar theater to see the Muppet's movie. After the movie we took a family nap. For dinner we had heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's and watched a movie we rented from red box which I cant seem to remember what it was not. All in all it was a great day full of loving memories and fun. Our goodies and gifts to each other and from others...we loved every last bit of it. The Valentine Bay made for his Daddy. Notice the huge amount of googly eyes.
My twist on a heart attack...I incorporated part of Jeff's Valentines Day present on the door with all the hearts.He loved it!
Here is the Valentine that Bay made for us while he was over having a play date with his cousin Emma. Can you tell that Jeff's sister Candace is a teacher? We loved that he made it himself.
I had to include this picture because it made me laugh. Makena grabbed the ribbon of Bays Valentines Day balloon and just chewed on it and stared into space.

Bays Valentines Day mailbox

My mom called me the other day and told me this great valentines day idea my sister found on pinterest that she was doing for her son Eli.The idea was to make a special Valentines Day mailbox with your toddler. You can make it out of something as simple as an old shoe box that is decorated with stickers and paper or you can do what we did and buy an expensive mailbox kit.Once it is decorated you explain to your toddler that every morning they get to come out and check their mailbox for a love note and a treat. Every night before bed I would write down something I loved about him on a heart shaped piece of paper and place it in his mailbox with a hershey kiss. It was fun to see Bay run into the front room first thing each morning to check his mailbox. I loved seeing his excitement as I read him what I had written on his love note. Once I read him what I had written on it I put a glue dot on the back of his letter and he would put it on a big red heart on the side of our fridge.I wanted to make sure he could see all the notes on the fridge, and it allowed him to show his daddy each morning his new love note for that day. It was special for both of us.As you can see he loved it...We will be doing this next year for both kids.
The alligator mailbox Bay chose.
Posing with his mailbox
As you can see he loved the special attention from me.
The heart on the fridge that we glued all his love notes to. I love that I got a picture that captured his excitement as he checked his mailbox each morning. I am doing this again next year for sure