Toy Rodeo

The kids were playing rodeo on the teeter totter the other day and wanted to take pictures of their adventures.  I gave them my camera and told them to have fun (and of course be careful with it  =).  I'm so glad they were able to capture some of the good times they have with one another.

Fancy Clothes

 Today was a Civic Holiday, but to be honest we were too pooped to go out and play.  So instead, we did a little photo shoot.

 Our girls.

 Our boys.

 The blues.

 The oranges.

 The pinks.

 I just love this family (Hiram had to take a little snooze).

 These kids are so sweet, but poor Hiram didn't get to sleep long enough.

 The 15 year newlyweds.

 Leonard loves Jennifer!  I win!!

 All in a row.

 Momma's boys.

 Daddy's girl.

My kids tease me that I'm a shutterbug.  I just can't help it.  I love these people that I get to share my life with and I just want to capture every moment!

Soccer Engineers

Noe and Kaleb are participating in a free soccer camp this month that their friend's dad is coaching.  Each athlete just needed to provide their own ball and cones.  Noe found another fun use for the cones.

Soon after Kaleb joined in on the engineering fun!

With frosting on top!

 I have seen a few beautiful "rose cakes" online and thought I'd try to make one myself.  My birthday was a good excuse to eat some cake!

 My kids thought it was a great idea to eat some cake too.

 Even Leonard was willing to help me out.

 Make a wish.

 I chose a pink & orange color scheme for the roses as well as the cake layers.  Originally, I wanted to cut each layer in half so it would look like 4 mini-layers: pink, orange, pink, orange.  However, after I first plunged the knife in and stuck it through the bottom, I decided 2 layers is good!  I made 3 batches of frosting for this- the white for the crumb coat and the 2 colors for the roses.  Unfortunately, it wasn't quite stiff enough and the roses on the sides all d r o o p e d.  (One day I will take the Wilton cake decorating classes from Michael's!)  It still tasted pretty good though.  I really wanted strawberry and peach ice cream to go with it, but I had to settle for a banana- strawberry and orange-pineapple-mango-peach.

 The birthday festivities also included Leonard spoiling me with one of my favorite dinners- fish tacos!  If you haven't tried them yet, I know they sound weird, but they are OH. SO. GOOD!  Corn tortillas, flaky cod, cheese, cabbage, pico de gallo, and a yummy lime- cilantro vinaigrette- yum!

 I also got a few gifts: a new hair waver, wallet, belt, and swimsuit.

Leonard and I also got to go out on a date.  We saw Brave and it was really cute.  (Check out my friend Jenny's post about it.)  I definitely had a great day!

My favorite number

Whenever I'm asked to pick a number between 1-100, I always choose 37.  I don't know why.  Maybe it's because I grew up in the 37th Ward of the Las Vegas East Stake.  Maybe it's because both 3 and 7 are two of my favorite numbers.  Maybe it's because 3 + 7 = 10, the perfect number.  Like I said, I don't know why it's my favorite number, but it is and today I'm 37 years old- woo hoo!

It's Mario BROS

Gavin's latest obsession is Super Mario Brothers.  He loves playing the game on the Wii and has become quite good at it.  I don't feel so bad for the time he's clocked on it, since his occupational therapist said it's good for his fine motor skills.  So he's not wasting time on video games- he's doing his therapy, ha ha!  But you know Gavin, his imagination is amazing!  He's always telling stories now of Mario and Luigi's adventures together.  He's even made each of us a character:  he's Mario of course, Kaleb is Luigi, Noe is Princess Peach, Teague is Toad, Hiram is Yoshi, Leonard is Bowser, and I am the girl Koopa (but we're the good Bowser and Koopa, ha ha!).  However, it's not "Mario Brothers" it's "Mario BROS"- check the box!

ALOHA-HA

 For Hiram's 9 month pictures with puppy, I decided to put him in Gavin's old Hawaiian outfit.

 Then I put Teague in Kaleb's old outfit.

These boys sure look cute in hand-me-downs.  Teague LOVES Hiram!  I think sometimes Hiram thinks he loves him too much, ha ha.  It is so cute to watch them play together now.

Poison Ivy is NOT nice!

 Two weeks ago, Kaleb showed me a black mark on his arm and asked if I knew what it was.  It looked just like someone ran a magic marker down his forearm, and I had NO idea what it was.  He had been playing in the woods at the park with the neighborhood kids, so I was worried he got into some poison ivy or got bit by a weird insect or something.  I told him we'd keep our eyes on the mark to see if it changed.

 Sure enough, the next day it was swollen, red and starting to blister.  We took him to the doctor, and she had no idea what the black mark was either, but said the reaction to it was a typical skin allergy reaction such as poison ivy.  She gave us a steroid cream and promised us the rash would get worse before it got better.

 Yes, it did get worse!  The red swelling and blisters spread all over both arms, his legs, his face, and a couple spots on his tummy.  His right cheek swelled up so bad that it looked like he was a chipmunk storing a golfball.

 We took him back to the doctor and she gave him a stronger steroid pill to take.

The swelling has gone down, but the blisters have started seeping and just look awful.  These pictures aren't half as bad as it got.  He is a trooper though and is taking it all in stride.  Hopefully, he will feel better soon!

BeNeLux

We had 9 glorious months with Leonard home for parental leave.  But alas, all good things must come to an end.  Len went back to work in the European division, but this time he is in charge of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.  His first week back coincided with Belgium's national holiday so he got to go to the Belgian Ambassador's residence for a little reception.  I opted out this time, but I did have him drive me through Rockcliffe Park to see the home.  I think it's so charming!

Fashion Show

 When I was a little girl, I loved to play "dress up" in my mom's clothes.  Well, Noe and Karly played "fashion show" in Noe's dance clothes (and princess dresses and regular dresses).

They even put on make-up: turquoise eye shadow, magenta blush, and fuchsia lip gloss- lovely!

7th of 12 = 92%

 So I didn't quite reach my goal in July, so I didn't treat myself to a piece of the Willow Tree Nativity.  However, I think 92% is still pretty good and I did treat myself to a little Christmas treasure while we were in North Pole, New York.

 The in-house artist at Santa's Workshop is Lorrie Mandigo.  She was painting some tree toppers while we were visiting the museum.  Leonard suggested I should get one (he's so good to me), so I did!

 Check out The Painted Santa to see more of Lorrie's beautiful work.

I love this little guy and might have to add something similar to my Santa collection someday!

the big FIVE

Have a happy 5th birthday Keegan!