You have GOT to be kidding me

You know what? From now on, if you EVER have one of those moments where you wish you could do something; start a business or open a small shop, any kind of dream in the back of your head....By all means, DO IT. Because, apparently making dreams into a reality is not difficult at all.
Take, for example, this horrible fabric.
Would you put this on a quilt for your daughter? (shocking!) or your son? (Um,... gross)
I mean, who ever is this for? The underground community of dirty quilters? The 'Naughty Needlers'? Where the tatted ladies are cackling at old memories of hookin' up with the UPS dude?
"Oh yeah, I remember when I opened the door in my Mu-mu and asked him if he wanted some lemonade...."
Or better yet, maybe it's for the super-sweet, innocent society sisters. Oh think of the neighborhood gossip on that one. "(gasp!) Now Dotty, I'm not one to judge, but did you look at those young men on that quilt that Fern brought to club this afternoon? Bet Harold doesn't know she's makin' it!"
Such a consumer waste. Once all the Nascar fans have snatched it, it's going to clog all the $2 fabric stores in the U.S for the next three years.

Random Coolness

Very cool plates by Snowden that I saw here.
These are only a few from the series and they are sold individually. Think of how swank they'd look on a table for a dinner party! Um, dinner parties that I never have.....which saves me money because guess how much they are? Hmmm? What would you pay? Well I hope you really love the plate you choose because they are fifty bones each. Yikes!
Trés cool, though.....

And more random things that I would get if it fulfilled a purpose. (Ahem- hello? Apothecary bottles! For Halloween! It is SO not too early to be thinking about that)

Acting Our Age

So there I was two days ago, waking up and thinking about boring things I had to do that day.... and for some reason I got the idea to show this to Elliet. I asked her to come sit on the floor for a second and I went into the bathroom, drew on some eyes and a nose, took a washcloth and layed upside down on the bed and introduced her to it. She was laughing so hard. It was awesome. I sang her the ABC's and we talked about school.... and then we were nearly late after wasting time doing it. Good times.
Anyway, the twins missed it the first time, and this morning Elliet was asking if we could do it again so I got all of them involved. This is when all that baby time really pays off.
Next, fangs with the Cheetos at lunch?

Happiness Held

This is going to be a nonsense post... but I ran out of room on the twins bday post to add frivolity. Lucky you.
As I drove away from the party store on Saturday with my car full of colorful balloons, I began to think about how much I like balloons. I know, so silly to be post worthy but I can't help it. They are like little cheerful souls, happy to entertain by just being there. And when you roll down your car windows just a wee bit, they get all excited knowing the sky is beyond that small opening and can't wait to get out!
Did you see the Shins 'Australia' video where they get set free? SO great. So I wonder... why aren't these given away like flowers? Wouldn't you love a dozen adorable balloons from an admirer? Or even one of these blushing pink pretties? Maybe I am weird and it's a tacky idea. But these pictures evoke the spirit of what I am trying to share. Sweet, innocent and fun.
So if you are feeling blue, I suggest getting a balloon. That's all.

Oh Thank You, Santa

Um, I think Christmas this year will be one of the best.
Maybe if I'm super good, Jasper will be in my stocking.
Too wishful?

Twins Hurrah

Birthday parties have two sides.
Side 1) They are fun! You are celebrating a milestone and surround yourself with friends and highly caloric food. Side bonus: It gives me a reason to do a mini food challenge and try some 'simple' cake idea (yeah, right).
Side 2) They can be a pain because Andrea usually over-estimates what she can do and does not allow enough time to do it.

These are things I thought about as I stood in the aisle at the party store today (yes, on Saturday with the other crazy last-minute planners like myself) and regretted not planning a little better this week. Remember me mentioning I am not great with math? So there I was, waiting for my balloons and adding the total attendees, parents and kids, adding food quantities, cooking time, cake making time, etc. I realized I was just a wee tight in my ambitions.
But hey! I have TV. I've seen how in the end all the stressful and impossible drama magically works out. So off I went and burned through the day.
I will say the cakes were fun to make, but didn't quite look as well as I'd hoped. You know how you imagine nice, smooth frosting and clean edges on things like cakes? Well, the S.S. Lucas has had a rough time at sea...(could be all that whine on board) and it was falling apart. I barely had enough icing to hold the poor lass together. It's chocolate cake! Cocoa Piracy! How bad can it be? (not bad, I must say.... very yummy, me hearties).
And Sadie's cake was even worse. Oh the poor Princess who occupies this dive must be so sad. The handsome Princes probably all joke about the run down eyesore while gulping their ale down at the 'Palace Pub'. Yes, it's a little crumbly and all that, but the gumball bushes are the berries and flags always spruce up an old place. And hey, Sadie loved it so it's all worth it (AND it was pink cake inside. Mmm-MM!)
Dinner prepped, cakes done, I set up the yard & balloons and then I called everyone and asked them to come one half hour later (darn cakes).
But the show worked out! Everyone had a good time (at least I think they did). I like having kids all running through my house. Isn't that sort of a weird family moment that is special? When you have all this energy galloping through your home? I don't know- maybe it's weird but I love it.
Now it's all taken down, cleaned up and put away. Isn't it cool what Mom's do? And I am not tooting my own Mommy horn here, I am merely recognizing that not only do clothes become clean, trash cans go out, bathrooms are sanitized, etc....but we add whipping cream to the special times in our families lives. Cream with sprinkles and cherries and flags with a marching band...or wobbly cake castles and too much lemonade. Mom, if you are reading this, thank you for all your hard work and special efforts. And that one Hula Girl cake you made...I still remember. :)

Happy Birthday Sadie & Luke!

Our little twins turned FOUR yesterday. I thought it would be fun to put up a few pictures from their younger years. This explains why I am posting so late today. I got sucked into looking back at all the experiences and got a little distracted. I will admit that I feel exhausted! Having twins is a lot of work and looking at these photos of them as babies reminded me of how tired I was most of the time.
I remember thinking when they get to this age (four), I'll be past all the 'baby' stage and it will get easier...which is mostly true. But I think parenting just has it's seasons of calm and chaos and the weather may vary, but it's still unpredictable.... incredibly beautiful and occasionally annoying.
But what a joy they have been to our family! Sadie has been such an energetic (!) ray of sunshine and smiles. She is so happy to be doing whatever, happy to help and happy to cause trouble. I hope I can help her funnel that fire for good as she grows up.
Lucas is a special boy. After Jacob's passing, I needed a boy and he has been my little gift. He is gentle and sweet and emotional. I just can't kiss him enough and am grateful for these kids every day.









This photo made me laugh. They still do this with food and make those faces in the process. It's super fun picking up after it, too.












Sadie is mischievous and I wouldn't put it past her to guess she is thinking about throwing that rock at something or someone.












Yesterday was a fun day for them. First off, the twins came down to breakfast with the kitchen decorated with balloons and streamers (Dad, I was not fast enough beating them downstairs to blast the Beatles Birthday Song.... but your tradition continues!). Then last night we had a little family Birthday Party. Scott's parents and Sister Amy with her husband Fritz joined us. It was great fun and the food was yummy. Fritz and Amy brought roasted Pork with mashed potatoes and I took a stab at making molten chocolate cakes. Yes... us adults did nicely. :) Mary Jane made the kids a fun Birthday cake, on which they each put four candles (And Elliet added four for MiMi (Mary Jane) as it was her Birthday, too). We had a wonderful dinner and conversation, yummy dessert and the kids opened their presents. MJ made each of them an outfit (which Sadie promptly put on her head here) as well as some great toys. I must say, this group of Leavers are always good at giving the kids presents. Fritz & Amy have a knack for giving cute clothes or cool games/toys. I, on the other hand, am a selfish giver. I wanted to give Luke this cool Pirate Ship I saw last November, but he already had enough Christmas toys so I waited until now. It was so fun ripping that out of the box this morning.... It has little cannons that hide under the floor.... and they shoot out the side of the boat! And you can drop the sails or have the little scallywags walk the plank and..... um, Luke loved it. We played with it so long Elliet was almost late for school. Happy Birthday, Twins!
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARY JANE!
Folks, I would like to take a small moment of your time to acknowledge this amazing woman who is my Mother-in-law. She is so special and fun and a fabulous 'Mimi' to the kids as well as to me. We love you, MJ! Thank you for all you do for us and the wonderful example you are!
And for those of you waiting my cake reveal, that is for their Birthday Party on Saturday night... hold tight!

Teach A Fish To Build A Dresser (right?)

I am a pretty smart person. But there are some things that are difficult for me to learn ....like algebra, physics or punctuality. Perhaps it's the teaching approach, and not me. Perhaps?
My point is, consider the greatness of Ikea. I love their clever designs and secretly enjoy assembling their furniture because of it's brilliantly engineered execution AND instruction technique. Form and Function. Pieces and a picture book.
Those assembly 'cliff notes' are the greatest. The little man with his friendly talking bubbles are all I need. All I have to do is LOOK to see what goes where and what comes next. None of this tedious reading and explaining. Gobba-gobba-gobba...
Plus, it's like a little game to look at this disaster spread all over the room and guess what will go where. So... would someone explain why math can't be taught the same way?
Anyway, I am obviously still getting around to some of the kids room projects. Much was hinged on getting this dresser for Luke. Now his clothes can go in there, his toys can go where his clothes were, I can empty they playroom and move other furniture in there.... the Leaver Rubix.
Do you remember that picture frame I painted white back in, oh, JANUARY!?! I know you've all be on the edge of your seats on closure for that one, but guess what... I found some mirror paint and painted the glass (trying to achieve and antique look- no go- the stuff is bumkus) and in trying to place it back in the frame, I broke it. Genius! So here is what I've done so far: hung it up. Empty. Waiting for something clever to enter my brain and give it use. I could do the typical and make it a board to pin pictures or something, but is there anything else that would be interesting? All I have come up with is filling with velvet and then put a cut silhouette of Sadie in there as art. Hmmm.
And don't waste your breath. I already tried placing my signed photo of Rob Lowe inside....It doesn't fit. (sigh)

Fine Whine

This could be it's own post but I'm trying to carry a little of the conference spirit over so I'll water it down a bit. But seriously, lately Luke has been such a whiner. It's a good thing he is so cute and melts me easily, otherwise I'd be giving him bread crust in a closet. Is it the age? And if he wants to add some cheese to the whine, he'll toss in some devastated acting skills. Aren't toddlers fun? But I love him so. So now you have an explanation of his not-so-cheerful countenance displayed here.
We have a family tradition where we make crépes on Conference Sundays. It's a happy time! It's sugar and white flour! It's syrup and whipped cream! Elliet decided to skip using the fork all together. And Sadie, as you can see, graced us with her best costume. Quite fancy, yes?
And Luke.... well, he was there.
Tomorrow the twins are turning four. FOUR! I can't believe they are that big already. I wish I was more motivated to throw some big whahoo- but I am not. I think the most energy I'll exhort will be for their cakes. And that will have to be a surpreeze to you because I hope I can make what they are asking for.
Pretty good weekend overall. Elliet had her first soccer game on Saturday. Did I mention she is the only girl on a boys team? And acted a little like it unfortunately, to the dismay of her father. But it was windy and a bit overwhelming on that huge field with painted lines and rules. They got spanked. I think the final score was 0-14? Ah well. It's all for fun.

Baby Hungry

What?? Me??? Are you kidding? I am so not baby hungry (reasons coming in the next posts) but my little nephew Graham does get my mouth watering just a wee bit. Jess' friend just took a bunch of photos of him and I could not resist doing a little aunty-bragging and share. Is your mouth watering just a little?.... he is SO cute!

My Weekend "Sucked"

Last week was a little busy for me. If you are reading this, then you read before how we had just returned from Spring Break and I had Enrichment on Thursday. Got through that (and it was great) and Friday I packed up the kids and the four of us drove to Utah for a few days.
We weren't on the road more than an hour when I had this happy scene in my rear view mirror.
Don't worry yourself, I held the camera and just aimed...c'mon now, what kind of Mom would do that? "Look! No Hands!"
So in go the headphones to enjoy the scenery. I love watching the landscape change and even got a beautiful sunset. Thanks, Paragonah!
Saturday I met Julia at Cody's new Cross Fit Gym and did a slice of a work out. And the title is right: I was 'cross' with the 'fit' because I could barely bend over for two days. Very cool place though. Then we hurried home, ate lunch, pulled a 'Matinee-Mom' and dragged everyone to Horton Hears A Who. My Mom, Marty & Jess (with cute Grahammy), Cody & Julia with their two and us. Then after dinner we put them wild kids to bed and watched Dan in Real Life. Is there a rule for too many movies? Didn't think so.
Sunday was a chill day. Seriously. We woke up and found this everywhere. Three inches of new snow! And no church because I had a bad sore throat. Oh no! I must recover for THE show tomorrow night (What? Did you forget my trip destiny!?)... so we had a lazy day, made a great dinner and coconut cupcakes (Hey- just doing my genealogy and sharing with both sides of the family).
Then Monday comes. Went to IKEA with ALL the girls (Go Jess!), got more of the BEST GRANOLA EVER at Great Harvest. People of Provo, you don't know how good you have it. It is the yummiest. By 5:30 our family friend/babysitter comes and North I go to pick up Rich for Vampire Weekend. I won't bore you with a play-by-play. But was the entire trip of over-energized kids, getting a little sick, loosing feeling in my back end, enduring snow again all worth it? OH yes. I'd do it all over again. Super small venue, one person between us and the stage. We were RIGHT THERE and they sounded incredible. Rich and I jived like giddy school girls and it was pure happiness. I love my brother and we so bonded acting like free spirits. Good times.
It was so nice to spend time with everyone. I loved it. Thanks to them for making effort to hang out. Big loves!
We came back yesterday and resumed our normal activity of me yelling at my kids to please bring down the noise levels and be kind to each other. Home sweet home.
(And Elliet did it, not me... but I like her way of thinking)