My tip for the day

I wish I had something super exciting to share tonight, but in truth it wasn't really a blog worthy day. I spent the morning running kids to school and working out. I did some light house cleaning in the afternoon and then decided I really needed to finish the dress I started sewing a couple weeks ago, which is still hours away from being done. The biggest excitement of the day came around 6:30 when I was just done whipping up some pancakes for dinner. A realtor called and asked if she could show my house. Of course I was happy to let her come, but then she asked if they could come in 30 minutes. So ya, I had 30 minutes to clean up a national disaster. It wasn't perfect, but I think the kids and I did OK.

Anyway, that's not at all the point of this post. What I wanted to share is a quick and easy way to clean your diamond ring or earrings. (I noticed this afternoon that my ring had a bunch of junk all over the underneath side of it) When Josh and I were first married and living in Rexburg I worked with a lady who's husband is a jeweler and she told me once to use toothpaste and a soft bristled toothbrush to clean my ring. I don't have to tell you that it should not be the one you are currently using to brush you teeth, right? Anyway, that's something that I've always remembered and it works great. It's cheap too.

So there you have it. My tip for the day. If you already knew that then I'm sorry. I've got nothing for ya.

*Update*

Still dreaming about that sunshine over here!

April Day

We have been so spoiled lately with gorgeous weather, but today felt like April. It was drizzly and cool and not much fun at all.

We tried to stay in good spirits though by dreaming about warm sunshine and swimming pools.

Is it just me or does she suddenly look ridiculously big?

I will tell you one thing that has me feeling cheery. This is Josh's very last week of school. FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES!

9:18 pm

The kids have been in bed for exactly 7 minutes. Which is exactly 1 hour and 11 minutes past what my sanity can handle.

Joni, the soup and bread were delicious! You were my hero today. Elizabeth and I would both like the soup recipe. I'd ask for the bread recipe, but you already know that home made bread and I are not friends.


Take a deep breath

Tomorrow is a new day.



I'd like to request no smashed ice cream cones if at all possible.

What would you do...

Your at the grocery store and the kids start asking for ice cream. You tell them that if they are good in the store than they can have some after lunch. But, on the way home you realize that there isn't time to do lunch and ice cream before one of the kids has to be at school.

Do you?

1. Just say "Sorry I guess we will have to have ice cream after dinner" and deal with the whining. (Or do your kids not whine?)
2. Still do lunch and ice cream and figure a few minutes late to pre-k is no big deal.
3. Consolidate and do both.
   

Heck ya, we had ice cream for lunch!

(And a few strawberries, because we were done with two minutes to spare.)

Berry tossed salad

Betty made this salad for us a couple weeks ago. I loved it so much that I asked for the recipe and made it with dinner tonight. Of course I added craisins to it, because I happen to think that everything tastes better with craisins. Anyway, it's pretty much salad heaven and you should try it!

Livin' on a prayer

For Christmas I got Josh tickets to see Bon Jovi and Tuesday night we were finally able to cash in on them.



I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but this was my first ever "real" concert. (stuff at the fair doesn't count.) I wasn't sure how much I would love it, since I have a very low noise tolerance, but I actually had a great time and knew more songs than I thought I would.

The very last song of the night was Livin on a prayer and since our kids think it is pretty much the most awesome song ever, I recorded it for them. James has already watched it on my phone about a million times. I was going to post it for all of you, but I think you will like this version a lot better. Enjoy!

I'm a Mommy

Now that Easter is over I think I'm suffering from sugar withdrawal. I've had a headache for the past 3 day. Thanks a lot Easter Bunny

Actually our Easter bunny is pretty cool. He brought the kids a huge tub of vintage Legos (ie. they came out of grandmas attic) He even labeled one of the Legos with our last name so that we would know for sure that they were for us.

Samm is in heaven! She is the one who has been begging me to get Legos. And Josh had fun showing the kids what to do with all their treasures. See that white tub behind James. That was completely full.

On a completely different note. Macy and I were playing a game today called "Are they a boy or a girl?" We started of course with Macy. Not only is she a girl, but she's a BIG girl. Bubba is definitely a boy. And I am neither a boy or a girl. When I asked her "is Mommy a boy or a girl?" she shook her head no and said "Mommy a Mommy."

At least I'm not a stinky boy.

Here is what I love about spring...

I can feed the kids lunch and then send them outside to play while I eat my lunch without a certain little one standing next to me asking for bites. Or, if Dad was home she would just stand there with her mouth open, point to it and say "aah, aah, aah." It's kind of cute.

Of course I love other things too, like all the pretty flowers popping up everywhere and the baby horses we see everyday on our way to school. Ooh, speaking of babies. Do you know my brother Keith? He and his wife Natalie are expecting their first baby! I'm on a pretty good streak right now of getting the gender right, so we'll see if I can keep it going. I think it's a boy.

Did your kids do a million Easter egg hunts this weekend? We did. But that's OK because I happen to love Easter egg hunts. Another great thing about spring. One of our friends took these pictures for me.

She's pretty serious about this egg hunting business.

Notice I'm pointing Macy in the direction of the chocolate.

How cute is this!

And Maybe this is weird, but spring makes me feel more feminine. Or at least I feel the desire to be more feminine. I love to wear skirts. I wish I had more spring dresses. And today I was inspired by Bloom to put on some makeup. Now I'm going to make a goal for this week to actually fix my hair and put on a little makeup every day. Even a barn looks better painted. Right Jenn?

I hope you too are enjoying spring!

I see you

And you!

Spring dresses

When Samm was 4 she went through a phase where she refused to wear pants. "Pants are for boys" she said. So all winter long she wore skirts with thick tights. Macy has suddenly decided that she only wants to wear "pippy dresses" and the frillier the better. So, I decided that the best way to spend our time in the sunshine this year would be in some cute smocked sun dresses.

If I wasn't so impatient I would have smocked some fabric myself, but I didn't want another "project" to work on, I just wanted results so I went and bought some fabric that came already smocked. It does cost a little bit more, but it was worth it. And I caught it on sale.

Samm's dress took me a little bit longer than I would have liked, but I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

Macy's dress was a piece of cake. Not only did the fabric come already smocked, but it was also already hemmed. All I had to do was sew up two side seams and attach some ribbon for the straps. The whole think took less than one hour.

I also bought some yellow fabric to make another dress for Macy, but the smocking was too tall and the lady at the fabric store said "I would not recommend cutting it. You'll have to fold it over to fit her.(I didn't even ask her opinion, she just offered it.) " Well, guess what? It is totally possible to cut smocked fabric. I just zig zag stitched across the whole thing, than I did it again just to make sure it wasn't going to unravel, and then cut across the top. And, I was able to use the ruffle part that I cut off as the straps.

We call it her Dora dress.