Happy Birthday DD#1

My sweet daughter had a birthday yesterday. I think she had a good one. We woke her up at 6:45 to open her presents before school.DS loved it too. Here he's helping her take off the Hello Kitty backpack clip I had tied on the box. It's a pair of shoes in the box--not really birthday present material, but since I had just bought them the day before I figured I might as well wrap them up for her. Her first game for the Wii. She also got a Belle dress and wand (you can see the dress on the right). She really loves this glow board. If your kids like to draw, I highly recommend it. I even had some fun playing with it the night before. I left a message on it for her to see when she turned it on.She headed off to school at 8. I went to McDonalds and picked up a Happy Meal for her at lunch time. I got to take it to her in the lunch room. It was cute to see the other little kids saying "No fair! I want McDonald's for lunch too!"
This picture makes me want to give her a great big hug! Here she is in her new snuggly bath robe. After school we went to Dippidee to pick out cupcakes. YUM! She sat at the table with this cupcake three different times before she finished the whole thing! Their cupcakes are filled with creme--they're divine.

Last weekend we took all three kids to Build a Bear to celebrate their birthdays (they chose that instead of having a party, and I was really happy with their decision!) I'll post pictures of that later. I also need to post pictures of our Sunday drive up to Bridal Veil Falls.

I'll leave you with this last picture of our new kitty, Mosey. We wanted to change his name to Waffle, but we've been using his original name for so long now that I don't know if we'll ever switch it. I call him Mr. Moseby sometimes (if your kids watch Zach and Cody you'll know where that comes from--even though I can't stand that show!).

He has had a hard week adjusting to life with kids and a dog, but he is doing really well now. I think he'll even be friends with Smuckers in another week or so. You know how some cats come running when you open a can of tuna? Well, Mosey comes whenever he hears me typing on the computer. I think he knows he'll get some good lap time when he hears that sound. He has really gigantic eyes too. Unfortunately, the anti-red-eye flash on my camera has the opposite effect on cats. Check out this picture!

First Day of School and Carseat Make-Over

The kids had a great first day of school! DD#1 was excited but DS didn't want to go. He's always been a home-body, but once he gets out he always has a good time. Here's a picture of the two of them right before they left.The look on his face perfectly sums up his feelings about the first day of school : (

While they were gone I went down to Animal Control to look for our Mr. Whiskers, who's been missing for a week. I really miss him. He wasn't a very cuddly cat, but he was so cute and so funny. Needless to say, he wasn't there (Animal Control holds animals for 2 weeks before adopting them out, so if they found him, he would've been there). We figure he either got hit by a car (not super likely in our neighborhood), taken by someone, or he jumped in someone's car or truck and got driven away to somewhere (if you knew him, you know that this is a likely possibility).

I want another cat but I don't want to go through the neutering and all that, so I looked on ksl.com. I found a kitty that is neutered, lives with a dog, and is super cute that the owner has to give up because of asthma. DD and I are going up to meet him at lunchtime. If that works out, I'll post some pictures.

DD's carseat is pink and was getting pretty gross looking. I even tried bleaching the cover, but it still looked gray. Unfortunately, replacement car seat covers are nowhere to be found (they probably want you to just buy a new carseat). I found one cover on Graco's website, but it was totally ugly. So, I decided to be brave and try to fix the problem myself. I went and picked up a $4 fleece blanket at Target and sewed peices right onto the existing cover so that it would still be padded. Here it is!I am so excited about the way it turned out! I think I could do this as a little business, don't you? The actual seat part was the easiest, the armrests were a little trickier. My other kids want me to do their carseats too because hers is so soft now.

I Pretty Much Lived In My Kitchen For Two Days!

I had two friends with baby showers this week (and I was totally excited to be able to help plan the parties!). A few months ago at a church enrichment night someone showed us how to make "cupcake bouquets". I couldn't wait to give it a try! So, I made one on Wednesday for one of the showers and another on Thursday for the other shower. Here is how it all turned out:It was a lot of work--but worth it! I painted and stamped the pot, topped it with a styrofoam ball, used skewers cut in thirds to attach the cupcakes, and added some greenery. My first attempt actually turned out better than the second. On the second try I got a little to confident and didn't let the frosting set long enough before I tried putting the cupcakes on the bouquet. The icing kind of "slid" off of a few on the bottom row. I also had to drive to the second shower which resulted in some smushed frosting on a few of the "roses". All in all, it was a fun project. I'll definitely do it again sometime.

A bunch of us at church put in an order for berries from Bibell Farms in Oregon. They came in a big truck to deliver them Thursday morning. The strawberries were capped already, the blueberries are totally delicious, and they were all individually flash frozen. I split two 14 pound boxes with a friend of mine. I already whipped up a batch of strawberry-blueberry freezer jam on Thursday (I told you I pretty much lived in my kitchen!) I plan on doing some plain strawberry as well, but I had to take a break from the kitchen after all of my "projects" last week!

The Battle of the Bulge

Well, my self-deprivation is paying off--five pounds gone! Yay! Six more and I'll treat myself to a little clothes-shopping spree. Last weekend I "fell of the wagon" for a little bit--I had a delicious frozen s'mores drink (thanks, Kari!), ate an entire bag of toffee peanuts (Yum!) and had some cookies for FHE (that's our family Sunday night tradition). Monday I started back up with the healthy-foods-only and it has been a lot easier because I gave myself that little break. Good luck to me at these baby showers today and tomorrow, though! How do you make cupcakes and not sample some?

Aaaaaah.......Soft, Cushy Couches!

Yay! We got new couches delivered last Friday! Our old couch was purchased about 8 1/2 years ago and served us well, but our family has grown by 3 since then. So, we got this gorgeous couch/loveseat set (they are super soft and recline!) Now there's a spot for all of us--especially if we have company over!

All of the accents in this room used to be brick red, but after visiting the Stampin Up offices a couple of weeks ago and seeing the cool decor in there, I decided lime green was what I wanted. They had a room at Stampin Up for the employees to relax in (the "idea room") and it had brown leather couches with lime green pillows and a big, lime green, shag rug. I was going for that same feel. I picked up the pillows and curtains at Ikea--love that place! Anyway, it's fun to have a little change every now and then.

Only one more week until school starts! I have enjoyed the summer with the kids, but I think we're all ready to get back into the routine of school. I've got two baby showers to go to this week--it'll be lots of fun!