Summer Fun

We had a barbecue last night with our friends, Jared and Melissa, and Dave's brother, Sam, and his wife, Tanya.  The kids had a blast playing in the pool while the burgers cooked.  Melissa's boys are fearless in the water!  They would run and launch their bodies into the pool in a very graceful sort of belly flop. :)  Christopher stayed in the water, for the most part, splashing and giggling and having a great time.  With how hot and muggy it was yesterday, I was wishing I could get in and play too!  Dave cooked us up some yummy burgers, and it was nice to just sit and chat. Thanks for coming and hanging out with us, you guys!  For dessert I broke out the fudgesicles, which the kids, of course, loved.  Naomi was the funniest to watch.  Her first popsicle experience was a whole lot cuter (and messier) than her first birthday cake experience. :)

Hair-dos

I love my Google Reader!  I get all the blogs I read, that have new posts, showing up on my home page.  This handy little device has saved my blogging career!  Now I don't have to go to every blog to see if there's anything new for me to read.  I just open my browser, and there they are!  Very slick.  Anyway, the point of all that is that I just found a new blog to read through my Google Reader.  It gives recommendations, and I go and look through every once in a while to see what there is.  So, I guess while it saves me time, it also fuels the internet surfing addiction.  Oh well, I try and justify it by reading blogs that will hopefully make me a better person, wife, mom, homemaker, etc. (I included the et-cetera since I'm sure there are a lot more descriptions I could add to that list, and probably will as I add more blogs :D).  The best part of blogging, for me anyway, is keeping up with friends and getting a chance to be a part of their lives.  I think it's a great way to keep friendships alive.

I digress.  Google Reader.  I found a new blog this morning - all about hair.  It's called Hair Today, and it got me thinking, about hair of course.  I'm never very good about doing my hair.  I'm pretty much a dry and go kind of gal.  And when I've got a newborn (or not a whole lot of time), I'm a pull-it-into-a-wet-ponytail kind of gal.  I am currently in serious need of a cut, and since you guys were so great about helping me choose pictures, I thought I'd ask for your advice.  What kind of cut should I get?  Trim? Bob? A-line?  Layers?  Short?  Keep growing it long?  Should I color it?  Highlights?  So many choices!  (See my previous post to see how I feel about choices.)  What do you think?

Another thing the blog got me thinking about was Naomi's hair.  Hers is very fine (like mine), but there seems to be a lot of it (like mine), and it is also slightly curly at the ends (not at all like mine!).  It always looks kind of ratty, since all the little baby layers are growing out.  Maybe I should trim the back up so it's all one length.  I think what I need to do is start styling it now, so she just gets used to it.  Then, hopefully, she won't protest (as much) when she's three and we have to do something with it.  Plus, I love little girls with styled hair.  So, if you have little girls, what do you do with their hair?  Any suggestions for me?  

In my hair post, I should add that Christopher "does" his hair everyday.  He wants to look "cool" and spends about 15-30 minutes every day wetting a comb and combing his hair.  After his nap, it's back to total bed-head, but he sure is style-conscious.  He also knows exactly which clothes he wants to wear.  I rarely have to remind him to match his pants and shirt - he does it all on his own!  I don't know where he gets it from.  I'd much rather be in comfy clothes than even jeans.  Must be Dave. :)

p.s.  i don't have any pictures for this post.  i guess i'm too lazy to go find a cute picture of a bow or hairclip or something.  sorry. :)

A Picture

I'd like to thank everyone for their comments on my last post.  You guys have really helped me narrow down my choices.  I don't know if I could have chosen.  I am kind of like that.  When we moved here to Texas, we needed another car.  My birthday present was that I got to choose what we would buy.  I couldn't take the pressure, and Dave ended up choosing for me. :)  I can pick when there are a few choices, but I get kind of paralyzed with too many.  Crazy, I know.  It should be a good thing to have choices, but I guess I like mine limited. :)  Anyway, the top pics were (in order of preference):

10

15

20

29

60

61

I think that I'll probably print all of them, since they're all cute. I'll figure out some cute way of displaying them. Thanks again!

Help Me Choose A Picture!! (Or two, or three...)

We had some family pictures taken recently, and I'm trying to decide which one(s) to print. I need your help! Which one is your favorite?

p.s. the clarity is better on the original file

Crafting Fun

So I thought I'd do a little blogging while I'm waiting for the next load of laundry to finish drying.  I guess I have succumbed to the blogging addiction. :)  I was doing a little babysitting this morning, and actually planned ahead!  To keep the kids occupied and entertained, we did a little craft together.  I got these cute ideas from a site called Kids Craft Weekly, which I love, love!  The projects are just up my alley - quick and easy prep, and nothing spectacular expected from the kiddos - just fun creativity.  Most of the projects even use things you would have around your house.  Bonus! 

These ones that we did today are flowers in flower pots.  The "flowers" are made from pipe cleaners, muffin holder thingies (I'm sure there's a proper name for them, but I don't know it), and cotton balls.  For the "flower pots" we put construction paper over the cups, and then the kids decorated them.  We filled the cups with rocks (the site has a lot of different ideas on what you could use to fill the pots, and really, we could have gotten a whole lot more creative if "we" (read children) had the patience!), and then inserted our flowers.  I think they turned out pretty cute!  The best part for the kids was finding the rocks outside.  Luckily it stopped raining for long enough for us to go on a rock-finding expedition.  :)

Well, that's the dryer.  Wish me luck with the laundry!

Happy (late) Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!  What a great day to remember our moms, and how much they've done for us, and also to get a little lovin ourselves!  Aren't moms the best?

My mom is so loving and supportive.  There have been lots of times (even as a "grown-up") that Mom could fix whatever was wrong - just a hug and a smile, or a listening ear, and she could make everything right again.  She's so smart, and is always learning and trying new things.  I really love you, and look up to you, Mom!  I hope I can be like you when I grow up! :)

I've also gotten the opportunity to call a new woman, "Mom".  My mother-in-law, Stella is also a great example to me of a wonderful mom.  She has taught David so many wonderful things, and I know he is the wonderful man and husband because of the way she has taught and raised him.  I love our chats together, and how she has welcomed me, with open arms, into their family. I love you!

It's kind of crazy to me that I am also celebrating being a mom on Mother's day.  I look at my beautiful, precious children, and I am amazed that I have been blessed and entrusted with their care.  It's nice to have a day to recognize the things that I do.  I love being a mom, and wouldn't trade it for anything!  I'm glad I have such wonderful examples, both in my family, and the women around me.  I try to learn from and emulate all the good qualities I see.  Happy Mother's day!

This is the picture Christopher drew for me for Mother's Day.  It's a big monster eating two little monsters.  (Dave did the writing :D)

Outside fun

I haven't taken as many pictures of Naomi as I did of Christopher, so here are a few of just her.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  :)  It's easy to get cute pictures, since she's so adorable (but I'm not biased or anything!).

I had to include one of Scout too.  He's growing so fast!

She loves trying to be a big girl, and doing anything that Christopher does

And, of course, my cute Christopher

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I thought it would be fun to celebrate Cinco de Mayo as a family.  Christopher had never done a pinata before, so we put one together.  We had fun wrapping the gooey newspaper around the balloon.

Second layer

After the first two layers had dried (we probably should have done three, but since we started on Saturday, we didn't have enough time), we painted our creation.

Christopher was so excited when Dave hit the pinata so hard that the candy went FLYING!

He wanted to keep hitting it, even though the candy was all out

The stash

The demolished pinata

For dinner, I made Tamale Pie (which doesn't actually have any tamales in it), which was delicious, if I do say so myself. :)  I'll post the recipe on This Mama Cooks.  Afterwards we had a nice Family Home Evening lesson on Joseph Smith.  What a nice Monday!

The PERFECT man...

My birthday was about a week ago, and I have to say that I was totally spoiled.  Katie, Melissa, and Holly took me out to dinner, and then we watched a movie over at Katie's house afterwards.  We had a great time!  Click here to see pictures.  I got a lot of great gifts, but one in particular is pretty awesome.  Holly got me a card, with a PERFECT man to grow.  No jokes!  Here are just a few of his qualities: great cook, also does the dishes, bulging biceps, always brings chocolates and flowers, and he's hot and rich!  There are even instructions on how to grow him.  He needs a bucket of room temperature water, and about 10 days.  I'll keep you posted on how it turns out. :)