February Art

Some of the art projects that our nanny Whitney did with the kids this month. 

Our valentine gift from Emma

A heart hat

Animals made with colored sugar. 

Cooking our First Turkey

Back in November before Thanksgiving Lee's Marketplace had a really good sale on turkeys so I decided to pick one up. It's been in our freezer since taking up lots of room so I decided it was finally time to cook it up. Neither Steven or I have cooked one before, so we were looking it up on the internet and following the step by step instructions. I really had planned to cook it, but in the end I think Steven did the majority of the work. I couldn't stand to clean out the inside or really even touch the thing without getting nauseous. So Steven being the amazing husband that he is stepped in and did the dirty work. I helped by cutting up the sticks of butter and dropping it on the turkey. I should have taken pictures of the whole process, but I didn't think about it until the end when Steven was carving it up. 

 We basically had a thanksgiving dinner tonight complete with mashed potatoes and stuffing. Our turkey certainly wasn't the most exquisite, but I think it turned out pretty good considering neither of us knew what we were doing.

Steven pretending to eat the turkey leg.

Random Saturday Pictures

Our morning started off slow and lazy with watching a movie. Emma wasn't really into the movie, but she was content playing with her stroller and cuddling with her blanky. 

Mason and Steven cuddling on the coush. 

Silly Emma with her blanky. 

Binky Update

We took away Emma's binky almost 2 weeks ago now and it's been okay so far. She has done way better than expected. It doesn't seem to phase her at all at bedtime and through the night, but naps have been a different story. The first 3 days without her binky she had to cry herself to sleep during naptime and then only slept for like 30 minutes. Since then she has been getting a little better, not crying for as long, but still not sleeping as long as before either. Her naps now are about an hour, maybe an hour and a half if we're lucky. It's hard cause she is still cutting her molars right now, so sometimes I'm not sure if she has a hard time napping because of her binky being gone or her mouth is just hurting. She really has been handeling it all really well though, and I'm glad to have one more transition behind us. Our next big one with her will be to move her to a toddler bed.

Emma's New Nap spot

Emma was busy playing in the family room with toys and then ran off down towards our laundry room holding a few toys. I figured she would be right back, but after a couple minutes of her being gone and it being quite I figured she had locked herself in the bathroom which is a common occurrence so I went to check on her. Well I didn't find her in the bathroom, but instead lying in Rosco's bed with her toys just talking to herself. She just laughed when she saw me. She seems to be doing this more and more lately. Such a silly girl.

Backyard Owl

A while ago we noticed that an owl has been living in the tree just beyond our backyard and on the other side of the river. We have seen it several days in a row now, always returning to the same branch. I finally pulled out the camera today to take a picture of it. 

You can see it pretty well here with it zoomed in a lot. 

This is without the zoom. 

We really love all the nature that we get to see and enjoy from the comfort of our home. The kids love to look out of the upstairs window and look for animals. 

Best Weekend Ever

Valentines was Friday and after having a wonderful day Steven got a phone call after dinner and they asked for me so he gave me the phone and upon answering I was soon confirming a massage appointment for myself scheduled for Saturday. That was the first of what would be many surprises. Steven was so upset that the Salon ruined his surprise, but of course I just found it humorous. So yesterday Steven went and did the grocery shopping early in the morning while I cleaned up the house a little before his mom arrived. I'd known she was coming up for a couple weeks now, but I didn't know that it was because she was going to be watching the kids for most of the day and night. 

Terrie arrived around 11, we had lunch, talked for awhile, played a couple rounds of Candyland and then around 12:30 Steven drove me to the K Salon and Spa. While there I got an hour long maternity massage that felt amazing and almost put me to sleep. When the massage was over I went to the front desk to check out, but when she looked my name up in the computer she saw that I was scheduled for a pedicure at 2:00 as well. I just laughed and told her I didn't know what I was all coming in for today since my husband was the one who planned it all and sent me in with a gift card. She laughed and took me back to the waiting room since I still had about 15 minutes before my pedicure appointment. At 2:00 one of the girls came and got me for my pedicure which was also very relaxing. I was finished about 3:15 and when I got to the lobby Steven was there waiting for me. From the spa he took me to the movie theater where we ended up watching the move A Winter's Tale. It was a strange movie, but it didn't matter cause it was just nice to be out just the two of us. After the movie Steven gave me another card, this time it was a birthday card with coupons for dinner in it. He told me I could choose where to go. I had been planning on us going to the Valentines dinner and activity that the elders quorum in our ward was putting on, but on the way home I started to feel a little nauseated and got a headache so I was starting to reconsider my options. By this point I was also starting to suspect that Steven had something else in store for us after dinner and I wanted to see the kids so I had Steven take us home. Once we got home I ran upstairs to freshen up and found that my makeup bag was missing. Of course I asked Steven about it and he responded by giving me yet another card, this time an anniversary card which gave me confirmation that we would be leaving for the night. He had booked us a room at the Old Church Hill Bed and Breakfast for the night and had already checked in and taken all of our stuff there. It was then that I decided we should forego the church activity and just keep the night to the two of us, since that is what he had obviously planned the whole day for. So we said good-bye and good night to the kiddos and we were off to dinner at Cafe Sabor. While we were waiting to be seated at the restaurant I did start to have a moment of anxiety about leaving the kids for the night. It would only be the second time I'd ever left Mason overnight with someone other than Steven and the first time I'd ever left Emma overnight. I knew they would be in good hands with their grandma Terrie, but it was still hard for me to know I wouldn't be home with them. Not wanting to put a damper on our evening I tried to not think about it and just enjoyed the evening. Dinner was delicious, even though I was so full after only a couple bites. My stomach was so full it hurt and I got really nauseous as we went outside in the cold air. I had to try really hard to keep my dinner down as we walked to the car. It was about 7:30 then and we headed to the bed and breakfast. We stayed in the "Autumn" themed room which was a quaint little room that had a huge jetted tub. 

(Pictures below from the B&B's website cause we didn't take any)

Steven had brought and set up everything from rose pedals to put on the bed, candles around the tub, sparkling cider and strawberries in the cooler, the Ipad to play music on, etc. He really had put some serious thought and planning into this evening and I was really impressed about everything he thought of. It was a great night spending some alone time with my hubby of almost 9 years while the kids had a good night with grandma. I had a hard time sleeping and getting comfortable there and a couple times I woke up really disoriented and wondered where I was. By 6 o'clock I was pretty wide awake and had a hard time trying to go back to sleep. At 8:30 they served us breakfast in our room which was delicious and nice to eat without being interrupted by kids. 

When we were done eating we packed up and headed home since I was anxious to see our kids and see how their night went. Terrie said they were good and both slept all night. Terrie hung around with us for awhile and stayed for lunch due to Mason's insistence while also trying to wait out the storm we were having. I felt bad that we didn't get to spend much time with her, but I'm so grateful that she was willing to give up her weekend to drive up here and watch our kids so that we could have this awesome weekend together. We really owe her big for this one, thank you Terrie! Also, have to give my amazingly, thoughtful husband a HUGE thank you for the wonderful surprise. I am one VERY lucky lady to have married such an amazing guy! Love you Steven!

Valentine's Day 2014

In years past I haven't really done anything for the kids on Valentines Day, but this year I wanted to get them both a little something. While the kids were finishing up their breakfast I got their gifts out. 

Mason was super excited to open his present!

He got a new game for the Wii, called Just Dance Kids. 

He also got some Angry bird gummies

and a new Valentines book along with some more candy. 

Then it was Emma's turn. 

She also got a Valentines book about  Elmo and Love. 

With the look on her face I wasn't sure she approved of her new book, but despite the look she did seem to like it. 

She got some Jolly Rancher gummies

along with some other candies. 

She also got a couple new shirts that you can see rolled up in the little bucket next to her. 

Of course she was most excited about the sucker she found in her bag. 

These are my best attempts at taking a few Valentine Day pictures of the kids. 

Emma with her cute pig tails. 

Being a silly girl and not wanting to hold still for me. 

I asked them to give each other loves and this is what I got. 

This is one of my favorites!

and then she escapes from his hold on her. 

Mason my little flirt in training! 

This morning I had an OB visit that the kids came with me to.
They were being cute sitting on the chair together waiting patiently for the doctor to come in.

When we got home I was posting the picture above of the kids hugging each other on Facebook and just got done writing about how cute they were together when I turned around to find this....

I totally caught her red handed eating the chocolates that Steven had given to me! She was already on her second one and when I tried to take the one in her hand away she had a complete fit so I gave her back half of it while giving the rest to Mason who then wanted some too. She is such a little stinker, but with such an innocent face I couldn't help but laugh. The girl takes after me what can I say. 

These are bracelets for Steven and I that our nanny Whitney helped the kids make for us. I thought it was so cute and sweet of her and them. 

Happy Valentines Day! 

Hope you eat your chocolate before someone else finds it and eats it for you!

The Ups and Downs.

I was busy cleaning up the kitchen when I looked over to find Mason reading a book to Emma. 

He can't really read yet of course, but we've read our books so many times that he practically has them memorized. This one in the picture is also just a picture book. He is showing her what the pictures are. Love these tender moments between them.

Then later today we had the not so tender and cute moments like when Mason showed Emma how to draw on herself with a highlighter! She was very distraught when I told her that was a "no no" and took the markers away. I'm grateful they weren't permanent markers at least!

Mason obviously didn't have as much on his face, probably because he was to busy encouraging his sister to write on herself.

After their marker incident was over and the evidence had been washed away they went back to their safer activity of reading books.

I just love these kiddos so much despite all the ups and downs that we have. At the end of the day I am so grateful they are mine and that I get to be present for all those ups and downs that we have together. They are my pride and joy and I don't know what I would do without my two little peas in a pod.