Happy President's Day!

You will never guess what just happened...I am standing here in the office putting Maren to sleep- and I hear the garbage man. Am I the only one that panics when they hear the sound of the garbage truck?  Every time he comes down the street I think  "Did I remember to put the garbage out??!!" and most often the answer is yes. TODAY HOWEVER, I panicked and then panicked even more because I HAD NOT remembered to put the garbage out! and then the most remarkable thing happened- the Garbage Man was suddenly walking up my driveway, grabbing my can, and emptying it- CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?  I layed Maren down and scoured my house for a treat to give him when he came back down the opposite side of the street...I found some M&M's and wrote him a little thank you- seriously, that just made my day! What a nice guy!!

My Happy Maren is just about crawling. She can get up on her knees and rock back and forth- but then drops to her tummy again and scoots to where she wants to go.  She has been eating everything! She is so happy to be around her siblings- they make her laugh...and sometimes cry :) 

 Speaking of them making people laugh- Here are Addison and Laynie making themselves fat. They think they are so hillarious!  They stuffed their clothes with other clothes (the ones they were supposed to be picking up so I could do laundry) and then laughed and laughed at each other.  After family prayer our song was "we are a fatty fat family."

We had a nice weekend that consisted of a little shopping- Old Navy had some amazing deals!  A new haircut for me- woohoo!  I feel like a new woman!

Kelly's scout auction was Saturday night and it was a huge success- they had some great donations and made over $3000 for the scouts to go to camp this year! Just for the record, my cake pops went for $55 :)  We also bought a big beautiful white chocolate raspberry cake that we shared with friends and family after Sunday dinner!

How was your weekend?

More Mustaches for Valentines Day!

 This year I tried something new for Valentine Breakfast...gone are the days of pink heart-shaped pancakes, noooo...Let's go for TWICE the fun and flavor (and at least twice the calories) and do heart-shaped cinnamon rolls!!! (once again, thank you pinterest!) Here some pics of the process:

 I rolled the dough from each side towards the middle, cut it, and pinched the bottom to form the heart shape.

 I was a little scared that they wouldn't hold their shape after rising/baking, but...

 THEY DID! and not only did they look great, the tasted SOOOO good! (my mom's recipe, so anyone who has had her cinnamon rolls knows exactly what I'm talking about.)

 And now for some of the more personal Valentine's wishes that were given this morning; one from Laynie:

 (I love you Addison, I thought you would like a Valentine)

Is that heart-melting or what??

And one for me:

Dear mommy, I love you. But I am so sorry I was ignoring you. I promise I will try to do better. But I love you. And you are my favorite person in the world. Please Please Please forgive me thank you.

triple love, (your only son) xoxo Addy

Also melted my heart.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Hailey had her Valentine's Day party at school on Friday and gave all her friends the Valentine above- thanks Tania for the cute idea...the kids love it and Addison and Laynie want one just like it with their face to give to their friends!

And while we're on the subject of Hailey, here is a picture of her on Monday...curls relaxed a little...and wearing the new outfit that Nana gave her. Could there be a cuter girl?

Weekend Highlights:  Kelly spent Friday  snowboarding with Logan at Mt. Spokane, and Friday-night SNOWBOARDING with the scouts at Mt. Spokane...I didn't feel that sorry for him when he told me on Saturday how sore he was.

I spent Friday volunteering in each of the kids' classrooms! and feeding my latest addiction of Downton Abbey (a PBS Masterpiece Classic...it's delightful!!)

Saturday Kelly took me on a date to PF Changs with Blayre and Ryan...then back to our house for Rootbeer Floats and movie night! Life is good.

Curly vs. Straight

 Last night the girls (Minus Maren) slept on rollers.  I have fond memories of doing this as a child and remember loving the results...as one who NEVER had any sort of curl to my hair whatsoever, this was a dream come true for a day!  Well, as I pulled the rollers out of Laynie's hair this morning, her reaction was less than ecstatic- in fact, I would have projected her reaction as something to occur if I were to ever SHAVE her head...tears, screaming, threats, pleas, etc.  It wasn't pretty. At last I convinced her to put a few ribbons in and call it good as we needed to leave for church.

 We managed to take a picture right after church before Laynie DUMPED a bucket of water on her head...yes she did.

 Cute and cold....

 You would never guess that just hours before she was a screaming, tearful, disaster.

In the middle of her tantrum, Kelly played counselor and had Laynie do art therapy...the picture above is her rendering of her morning experience..

"This is my example for me" (with the curly hair girl crying and scribbled out)

 In other news, I tried this recipe for soft pretzels...HEAVEN!  It brought me right back to the streets of Germany! The kids loved them...so they will have to become a regular at the table at our house.

Weekend Highlights: Everyone took turns feeling nauseous...Hailey was the only throw-upper though, so that's a plus.

Logan(Kelly's brother) was kind enough to stay late after work on Friday to make Kelly and I teeth-whitening trays, so come the cruise (in exactly 4 weeks!!!) we will have tan bodies and white teeth...here's hopin :)

Kelly built me shelves in the Laundry room for some major food storage baby!!

And we had an extra-good fast Sunday testimony meeting today...

How was your weekend?