Planting a tree!

Tiana's class had a field trip today! We walked to the library and planted a tree to help celebrate Arbor Day! I am thankful that she'll still hold my hand as we walk down the road. They were able to plant a Lilac tree!

Then they were able to spread mulch around the tree!

Ta Da!!! The planted tree!!

Getting a hug from Ms. Gilmore and her dear friend Reagan!

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day!

I love getting the mail at Christmas time, but the rest of the year it usually just has bills. Well, I went out to get the mail and this is what I received!! A letter that Tiana wrote at school and sent

to me! It made me so happy that I just wanted to bawl!! What a sweetie! My favorite part is that she said, "I already know you love me!" I really want my girls to know how much I love them! She signed it Sunshine, because that is what I always call her! I LOVE being a mom!! A little bit warmer of a note than the last one I posted!

Tis the Season

One thing of the many things I love about spring is the opening of Yard Sales!!! I love to go and find the killer deals!! Last weekend I was able to go to a few. I didn't find major deals, but I got some clothes Larisa really liked and at .25$- $.50 you just can't really go wrong!! I also bought this tree thing! I asked her the price on it and she said that she paid $100 and she then asked for $5! I thought it was nice!

Of course I had to take the garlands off! I added a spring one on, and put it in my entry. No it's not a Christmas tree, it is covered in Ivy!

I bought this little cutie at a thrift store for a few dollars -

I added some clearance flowers and ribbon and hung it on my fence! It just added a little color.I also found these vases at the dollar store. I love the simplicity and just makes me happy.

Okay, you're probably thinking, why would you buy that old beat up thing! Well, it was .50$ and I thought it would be good for my sewing supplies - I'll post it's transformation when I am done!

Chicago

I had a great opportunity to go to Chicago and see my very dear friend Lora. Lora and I met in my ward in Utah and instantly became great friends - I call her another sister! She is wonderful and I love her and her family so much! She has 8 children and they are all wonderful and I feel blessed to also have friendships with her children and husband. Her daughters have been a great example for my girls and her son Jeff was in scouts with Chris. Our families went on vacation together before we moved and it was an absolute blast - lots of laughing! Well, Lora and her daughter, Amanda, had an opportunity to go to Chicago with Amanda's dance team and they invited me to go and stay with them. It was so good to see them! It was wonderful that it felt like no time had past since we were last together (Could it be that we still talk several hours a week?) We had a good time visiting and then went to sleep. We woke up early in the morning and hopped on the train to watch the girls dance at the Jeoffry School of dance, it was awesome! Amanda is a beautiful dancer! The studio was amazing. It had 2 walls of windows overlooking Chicago - beautiful! They also had a pianist who played lovely music for them to dance to. We watched for awhile and then Lora, another mom and I jumped on a cab and went to Harpo studios. Lora and I watched all of these excited ladies in line to see the show. We just got pictures infront of the studio and decided after looking at the cars in the employee parking lot that it would be a great job to work for Oprah! We then jumped back on the cab and did some shopping! We then watched the girls do some more dancing - so fun! We grabbed lunch with the girls and then headed to Navy Pier! I loved Navy Pier! I LOVE water and loved looking at the lighthouses on Lake Michigan - I am so excited for summer!! Then we headed to the art museum. There was so many beautiful things to see! We then went back to the hotel. The train was packed!! I was standing by the door with a guy who rocked and talked to himself and on the other side was a young guy who sang to his ipod the ENTIRE time! I thought, "Please don't crash train, I don't want to die sandwiched in like this!!!" We woke up in the morning and it was time to say good-bye! It was short, but so much fun! I forgot to take my camera into the city so I only have pictures of us in the hotel room. I'll blog pictures sometime when Lora sends them to me. I was thankful that I didn't get lost on my way home. I am not a big fan of city driving by myself, but I put on my brave face and made it! I stopped at an outlet mall on my way home and found the girls a few items for summer! It is always so good to come home! Fun to be back as family again!

Two of the roomies!!! It was fun because I knew one girl from my old ward! They were all such wonderful girls!
This is Amanda. Tiana loves Amanada, and Amanda loves Tiana! Amanda gets a kick out of Tia and laughs at almost anything she does. So what does Tia do? She is in constant performance mode for Amanada. It is very fun to watch! Tia was not thrilled that I was going with out her. She wanted to see Amanda, and she doesn't like it when I go! So she made me these sweet little notes to take with me -

My favorite is her highlighting the tears from crying that I was leaving. Do you think she has the guilt trip down???? It broke my heart, but I decided it was okay for me to go. She did fine without me! Chris took good care of her and it was no nice to come home to a clean house! Thanks also to Ms. Gillmore who gave her a big mommy hug when she got to school!

The Hunt!

After we had our yummy Easter dinner and the girls did the dishes, we had an Easter egg hunt! The neighbors came over and joined us and it was so much fun! We did it a little different this year and everyone had their own color egg to find - it kept it nice and even! We had a few odd eggs that were bonus eggs! Chris hid them in the yard and it took them awhile to find their eggs. They had so much fun!

The hunt is ON!

Easter

We had such a wonderful Easter Sunday! Larisa gave the youth talk in Sacrament Meeting. She did such a great job! It was so much fun to watch her write and prepare it all by herself! She did such a great job! Tiana gave a talk in primary and she did a great job too! I think they both learned a little bit more about the atonement! Elder Holland gave such a beautiful talk at conference and I feel like it has really helped our family feel the spirit in our lives this season.

The girls kept asking if I was going to make them Easter dresses again this year. They really wanted me to. Larisa said she wants me to make her one every year forever! When I saw some cute dresses in the store I mentioned that I could buy one for the same price and be done and Tiana said, "But, they wouldn't have as much love in them!" So what do you do after that? You start sewing. This year they picked out the fabric and we had fun trying to figure out how they would look!

I think I have had the girl's do this pose almost every year! It is so fun to see the girls grow each year!

You're never to old to twirl!! What's the point of having a full dress if you can't twirl?

Eggs

We had a lot of fun coloring Easter Eggs! The colors were very bright this year! Such a fun tradition! (Although I don't care for the smell!)

Do you love Chris' Shirt?? Is it loud enough for you? He picked it up in Las Vegas and said he found the perfect souvenir! Can you believe I haven't accidentally splashed bleach on it yet! I think he like my reaction when he wears the shirt more than the shirt!

Pet Hotel!!

One thing that makes me really happy is when children use their imagination and play so creative. Tiana is great at this. She went to her friends house over spring break and they built a hotel for their Littlest Pet Shops. They had a blast!!! They both Love LPS and they each have quite a collection! They spent a day together at our house too and played creative all day long. It makes me happy !!

The Girl's Favorite Dinner

My girls are always excited for dinner, but this is the dinner that they get the most excited about! They love this smoothie and then to have warm baked bread. I only had 1 cup of white flour, so the bread was a little heavy, but my family still managed to go through an entire loaf of bread. It is actually a pretty healthy dinner, at least for me! Here is the recipe-

Triple Threat Smoothie

1 banana, peeled and chopped
1 kiwi, sliced
1 cup Strawberries (I use frozen out of season)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries (I use frozen out of season)
1 8oz peach yogurt
1 cup ice cubes
1\2 cup Orange juice

Mix in blender until smooth

Honey Wheat Bread

2 TBS Rapid Rise Yeast

1 tsp. white sugar

1/2 cup warm water

1 (12oz) can evaporated milk

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup melted shortening

1/2 cup honey

2 tsp salt

2 cups whole wheat flour

( I usually add more wheat than White)

3 cups bread flour

2TBL butter

Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 c warm water (set aside)

Combine milk, 1/4 cup water, shortening, honey, salt and wheat flour in a bowl. Mix in the yeast mixture. Let rise for 15 minutes. Add white flour and mix/knead until dough forms a ball. Mix in mixer for 80 seconds or knead by hand for 10 minutes. Place dough in buttered bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until double. (about 45 minutes)

Punch down and divide dough in half. Roll each half to remove the bubbles. Shape into loaves and place in buttered 9 x 5 bread pans. Butter the tops of the loaves and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 30 minutes. Place a small pan of water on the bottom shelf of oven. Heat oven to 375. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until tops are dark golden brown. Butter tops again while still warm. Slice and enjoy!!!

Now in case you were worried that I was going to start eating healthy - Look at what we had for dessert!

Snow Spring Break!!!!!

Yea! Hurray!! Monday started the first full week of Spring Break!! I was so excited to wake up and put on my Capri's, take a nice walk in the forest, maybe even drive out to the beach!! You have to LOVE the warmth of spring break!! So I looked out the window to see the new green just starting to pop - and what did I see!!!! SNOW!!! What??? I'll say it again! What???? I guess I understand now why half of the state is in Florida! I will have to say, I am a little bummed!!! We were really going to do yard work this week, sorry those little weeds are frozen in!! I will have to say it was a beautiful snowfall, just not how I was planning on spending the break!

Why am I thinking about Christmas?

See, it really was a beautiful snow!

Hanging in there pretty bulbs, it's coming!!

We just turned on the pump to the pond - surely the freezing weather was over!!

So, what do you do to pick up your spirits? Why you build a snowman!! We really didn't get to play in the snow very much this winter because it was sooo cold. So we gathered our winter gear and trudged out into the white world!!

We all had a great time!

Larisa, looking like a teen!! Wahhhhh!

Little smiley!! She then did a wacky photo shoot with the snowman - making him be Santa snowman and sitting on his lap, hugging him, shaking his hand and so forth!
Thankfully the snow melted quickly, but the snowman are STILL standing!
Look, Look, spring is really coming! Yea!!

Next year - I'll go see my sister in Texas!!

Having Fun!

I had fun putting together a few spring things!

I put this on Piano and It just adds a little bit of spring

I bought the vase at the dollar store and filled it half way with green moss. Then I bought the flowers 1/2 off and the moss held them in place. I had ribbon sitting around and just tied it on. Very simple-very basic, but I love it!

I found this bird nest with eggs at Pier 1 import and I just had to have it!! It was a little pricey for me - $5, but it just made me feel so springy. So I needed a place to display it! I bought a candlestick at the dollar store and copied an idea off of a blog and glued and wrapped jute on it! I'm ready for spring - Come on weather - get ready!!!

Third Grade Performance

Tiana had her Third Grade Music Performance. They did such a great job!!! They learned a lot of songs about different artist. They sang about their lives and different facts about them. It was very cute! Tiana has been singing a lot of them at home and she really has a beautiful voice. Her shirt is one that she painted in a Seurat style for her dance in Seurat song. She was so much fun to watch! I love being a mom!!

Tiana had a part in the program. Her part was:

"Monet preferred to paint outdoors,

he probably thought it would get him out of doing chores!"

Doing the Seurat dance!

Tiana and her friend Reagan. She is so happy to have her in her class this year!

State Qualifier

Tiana had her OM competition and the did a great job. They had a lot of problems with their set coming apart. They handled it well and they didn't get frustrated and got it fixed only with a few seconds to spare before they were penalized. They did such a great job in their performance. They all said their lines loud and clear and were so cute! They have a second round of judging on impromptu and they said they had fun and did a great job - we were not aloud to watch this! They took 5th in this and they took 8th overall. They should feel proud. Third grade is the youngest team and they were up against a very large bracket! Way to go Tia!!

Tiana's team and coaches.
Getting ready to perform!