spring is here!

oh this weekend was a good one. we welcomed spring with a bath in the kitchen sink. kendall was in heaven and thought she was being treated to her own personal swimming pool. she splashed and squealed the whole time she was in there. 

that baby chub. it's slowly going away and i am trying my darndest to just hold on to it. i mean, that double chin and that tummy. 

when james got home friday afternoon we went for a walk around the block and then did a little yard work. mostly he did yard work and i did my best to keep kendall on a blanket and dirt out of her mouth.

brooklyn put on her 'work boots' aka snow boots and wanted to help her daddy every second she could. she was in charge of gathering sticks. then, she got bored and decided to get out some bird feed that we have and she filled up about a hundred cups and slowly spread it around. i think the birds will be hanging out at our house for a little while. 

and because i'm so lucky, i got to have two my sisters come spend the weekend with us. they offered to let us have a date night and i jumped on it. brooklyn and kendall loved having those aunts all to themselves and james and i enjoyed a night out. we ended up ordering out and eating in our car in the parking lot at the temple but it was the best!

we got home and the girls had a fashion show ready for us. red carpet included. it was adorable and i only took crappy cell phone pictures. i'm so sad about that.

kendall as tinkerbell.

brooklyn 'designed' her own dress out of paper, stickers, and marker drawings. she was so happy and proud of her work.

 because we have one o'clock church this year, james and i have decided to take advantage of our mornings before church to put together good meals, watch movies, and FINALLY make sourdough pancakes. i can't believe it took us this long to finally make them, but we did, and they were delicious. the picture obviously doesn't do them justice!

church today was a nightmare, and here is the picture beforehand to prove it.

kendall made it halfway through sacrament meeting and then turned into a monster. needless to say, after sacrament meeting i took that grumpy girl right home to take a nap in her crib. and nap she did. thank goodness. i was sad to miss my other meetings, but i would have been in the mother's lounge with her screaming at me anyway. i think we may be growing some new teeth. poor thing.

the week ahead is looking good. we have a few fun things planned and we're hoping to stay healthy and we're going to take advantage of james not having class this week. yay for a new week!

h a p p y  m o n d a y 

park day.

ahh... today was awesome. that sunshine really puts a hop in my step. it was the perfect day to go to the park. but not just any park, the castle park. james and i have been telling brooklyn for awhile now that we'd take her to it and we just haven't. today was the best day to do it. so, we picked up chels and ellie on our way over there and enjoyed a couple hours of sunshine, castle park, and wood chips. brooklyn loved every second.

the park was so big and there was so much to see, she kind of just ran around the whole time. she hardly stopped to do anything. it was like she couldn't fit everything in that she wanted to do. oh that girl.

ellie loved being outside. annnd, how cute is her sun hat?

after a couple hours, we headed home for lunch and a nap. brooklyn was hungry and pooped. right after her nap she was ready to be outside again. so she got to enjoy the sunshine for a little bit longer. when james got home, we piled in the car and headed for salt lake. again, with chels and ellie in tow. we hit up city creek and trader joes, and then over to james' aunt pam's to go through her record collection. chels and i had so much fun going through all of her old records. we found some gems. i can't wait to listen to all of them, even the christmas ones!

our night still wasn't over after that. we then headed to kearns to go visit james' grandparents. it was nice to visit (and eat candy). brooklyn loves grandma's "princess house" and all her dolls. she even convinces grandma to get in the princess house with her. 

and ellie bean couldn't miss out on it this time. she was itching to get in there (and be smothered by her much bigger cousin).

we got home exhausted and happy. it really was a great day. one for the record books. we got to spend time with family, the sun was shining all day, and i came home with fresh flowers...

and this awesome vinyl.

h a p p y  h u m p  d a y 

p.s. and a BIG HUGE happy birthday to my SIL KENZ! we love you tons! (and we'll be over later to give you your present!)

spring is here.

we brought in the first day of spring nice and early with a trip to coalville (if you're ns alum, then plan on coming to the 100 year celebration on the football field may 9th!). brooklyn got to spend it with grandma and auntie hay until i was done doing what i was doing. including taking a two hour nap.

grandma gave her a little spring pick me up with a fresh coat of pink polish on her little fingernails. 

whit and liv arrived home the same time i did and then it was a house full. whit did my hair (thanks ween!) while the little ones destroyed grandma's house. they played babies, colored, climbed on the couches, and destroyed everything in sight. good thing they have such a patient grandma.

my cold is ten times better than it was two days ago, i found i passed my glucose test (though my iron is super low), and we have a the weekend ahead of us. we are happy campers over and so so so happy it is now finally spring!

h a p p y  f r i d a y 

parks.

park day. that's what we deemed our day yesterday. it was full of sunshine, parks, sand in our shoes, a long nap for brooklyn, and a nice day of relaxation for me. it was a perfect spring day. even though the parks were crowded, due to spring break, brooklyn had a blast and i thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and watching brooklyn explore and look like such a big kid.

we hit two parks before her nap. we even got some cookies at cutler's and then called it a good first half of the day. brooklyn kindly allowed me to put her to sleep while we watched les mis and then once her eyes were shut, i headed outside to my "brooklyn's taking a nap so i'll take my books/phone calls/to do's/sun bathing office". yep. my office in the sunshine. gosh it was nice. as much as i enjoyed the alone time, i couldn't wait for brooklyn to wake up and come outside with me to enjoy the sunshine. 

she did.

two hours later.

girl was tired.

so she ate some of her lunch out on the tramp with me (it's not my office anymore once she's awake. it becomes the tramp again. got it?. k good.). in just her diaper and a onesie, this girl was happy happy.

she rolled around that tramp and cuddled on my lap for a good half hour while she ate that tiny little granola bar... and i may have had a few bites too, nonetheless, she takes forever to eat. but who could blame her. she probably thought that when she was finished, her mean mom would make her go inside. not the case my darling daughter. we stayed outside for most of the day.

and when james got home, we quickly had our dinner of turkey burgers and baked beans, and raced out the door to enjoy the last few hours of light.

brooklyn insisted on getting in her 'ween', so james hooked it up and let her relax in there before we hit up the last park of the day.

she loves her 'ween'.

the air turned very chilly while we were exploring the last park. we hurried to do and see what we wanted so that we could jump in the warm car and head home. brooklyn really could've stayed there all night. she loves to be outside. what kid doesn't? won't she be sad when she finds out she has to go to the dentist today before she gets to step foot on a playground. but maybe, just maybe, that visit to the dentist will earn her a popsicle... a sugar free one. eh, who are we kiddin'... a good ol fashioned popsicle! if... she's good at the dentist.

spring + snow

first things first... did anyone else experience that crazy awesome thunder/lightening/hail storm on wednesday night?! holy moly. it shot james and i right out of our bed. the hail was pounding our bedroom window and with the thunder booming right behind it we were sure brooklyn was about to awake from her slumber. we laid there silently enjoying the boisterous booms and crackle of the hail...no brookie sounds. she didn't wake up until about two minutes after the storm ended. that stinker. 

anyway...

thursday was productive. i'm chalking it up as quite productive. getting my hands on a good book that i want to read desperately really gets my bum in gear. i have this thing about guilt in the back of my mind every time i sit down to read. so to turn off that guilt, i give myself a to do list and when it's done, i get to read. it works out so well for me. i'm like a five year old with a chore chart. a chore loving five year old that is.

the day started with big heaping bowls of hot oatmeal. per brooklyn's request. 

i ate quickly and got to working on a few things on my to do list. brooklyn takes forever to eat her breakfast so i really can accomplish a lot in that window of time. 

after breakfast, tub, and teeth brushed, we were out the door to run some errands and meet james (yet again) for lunch. 

 (this girl's facial expressions...i just love 'em.)

i had planned on getting some fresh flowers for my house on wednesday but it just didn't happen. so, they were part of our errands yesterday and they are just brightening the place right up. 

brooklyn kept begging to go outside and jump on the tramp but it was just so darn cold that it just couldn't happen. so i kept her entertained with some easter stickers, the peter cottontail song on repeat, and a few dance parties in the living room. 

dinner off the menu just didn't happen, so we ate panda express. who could complain about that? not me. it was nice not to have a kitchen to clean up for one night. brooklyn was happy to eat chow mein until her heart was content.

 (there's that face again)

i ended the night making some hair ties that desperately needed to be made. fifteen minutes later, boom, done. so easy, cheap, and cute to boot. 

our first day of march madness has james ahead of me by 2 points. dang it. i'm not good at picking the upsets. 

spring rain.

remember how i said i wasn't going to have a productive tuesday? ya well that happened. and then a repeat happened yesterday. i soley blame the weather for yesterday. as happy as i was to see the rain (we fertilized our grass on saturday and were on our knees beggin' for some rain), it definitely put me in a funk/haze all day. ok not all day. i did make my bed, straighten up my bathroom, vacuum two rooms and the stairs, made dinner, and picked up after brooklyn for most of the day. it sounds way more productive than it looks. for reals.

every morning/day/afternoon when i get ready, brooklyn takes her spot atop the toilet and plays with anything she can get her hands on. this girl is busy. i'm usually dripping with sweat by the time i'm done doing my make-up and hair because i've exhausted all my energy taking things away, helping her off and on the toilet, handing her harmless objects to chew on, and using my cat like speed and reflexes to catch her if she starts to go down. it is a work out. 

yesterday, she went number one on the toilet. she was pumped, and then promptly asked for some toilet paper so she could finish her business. what a crack up.

i really didn't think we'd end up leaving the house to deal with the drizzly weather, but after a lunch of cheesy bread, almonds, and oreos, i was itching to get out. as luck would have it, the library notified me that my book on hold was ready to pick up (i'm still number 45 for my other one, but use to be 160). perfect excuse to get out of the house for a minute, breathe in the fresh rainy air, and also wind brooklyn down for a nap...which she took in the car, in the garage, for the next hour. it was perfect. she woke up happy as a clam and let me take some pics of her.

(this one turned out funky, but it shows her new thing: she says 'hand' and then she wants to lead you somewhere) 

after the photo shoot, we watched aladdin for a minute and then brooklyn destroyed the house some more while i tried to clean it up. james came home and took her outside to play while i made dinner: gorgonzola shrimp. love it. try it. 

after dinner, we ventured out to run some errands and ended up spending most of our time in the easter aisles. brooklyn was in heaven. we found some good festive stuff, along with a few cute easter basket stuffers and we headed back home. 

the sky was so cool when we got home and the rain was just dripping a tiny bit. it felt so good to be outside in clean fresh air, not to mention, it was warmer than it had been all day. it really started to pour right before we went in and brooklyn loved it. she wanted to touch it and let the rain drops land on her face. the world through a child's eyes. {sigh} 

james scooped us up some heaping bowls of ice cream, topped with caramel and pecans and declared that we were watching a movie down in the man cave. it didn't last long but we sure enjoy the cozy family time we get down in that tiny little room. brooklyn loves snuggling up next to us and mostly not watching the movie. she would rather climb all over the futon and throw james' xbox games all over the place. that sweetheart. 

spring, we're glad you're here. thanks for the rain. please don't bring snow. more rain i can handle. snow, i can't. we're excited for your green grass, bright flowers, and warmer temps. we'd love for you to stay until the end of may, but then, it's summer's turn. you understand.