Sunday, March 30, 2008

Quick house update

No picture on this one, but here is where we stand on our house. We have paint and trim done. Lights are hung. Outlets are all done up. Switches are in place. TV and phone are done too. We still have to have 5 homes completed before we can move in, but we are getting closer. TPTB want the houses done by April 15th, or they will hire contractors to come finish them at our expense, but we (Cameron and I) won't have to worry about that. We are now to the point where the contractors are pretty much left. There are 2 houses that will probably not be ready. Hopefully it won't take long to complete though. So there we are.... I will post pictures when the cabinets and carpet are in. There won't be many posting on the blog until then, because I will be spending a lot of time working. Many thanks to those who are helping out with the house and the girls. We couldn't do this without you......

Easter



Easter is always a good time. The trouble with Vernal, however, is that it tends to be a little bit chilly at Easter. This year with it being so much earlier, it was particularly cooler and a little annoying. On Saturday, we attended the annual XRQ Easter Egg Hunt. The girls came away with just enough candy to annoy me for a few weeks, but not too much. It was fun. Easter Sunday we got up and the girls' found their Easter Baskets then it was tornado-mode to get to church on time. When we got home it was naps then the Easter Egg hunt. They had a blast and Kesslynn quickly learned how to open the eggs. Candy, in her world, is a very motivating factor. I bought both girls matching Easter dresses, because I think it is sooooooo cute. Made them matching bows and called it good. Kairi we got the "Barbie Mariposa" movie and the Doll to go with it. She loves to play with it. Kesslynn we got some of those Tadoodles crayons for little hands. Trouble is her hands are still too little. It is funny to think that her hands are too little for even the little people crayons... Anyway she figured out her own way of using them and loves to color on EVERYTHING with them. Then during their Easter Egg Hunt, the girls also found their very special Golden Easter Eggs courtesy of the Easter Bunny (aka Grandpa Dave) and some more Easter Baskets. I am still recovering.......

SHOOT!!!! BANG!!!!!!!!!

Do you ever have those moments where you just go "I knew better....." Well I recently had one and I now vow in writing that I will never do it again. I tried to cut Kairi's bangs. Crap!!! This is horrible. The problem all started with me saying "Kai lets cut your bangs." I've done this before and it ended horribly then too. I swore I would not repeat my mistake then, but I guess I am a little self-confident in areas where I shouldn't be. Her bangs grow so fast and rather than take her to the hairdresser and pay $12 to have bangs cut I thought I would just do it. I prepare every needful thing before hand and gather her bangs. I gauge them to her eyebrows to find the appropriate length and get the scissors. In the meantime, Kairi lifts her eyebrows and I unknowingly cut her bangs about 1/2 inch TOO SHORT!!!!! Then to make matters worse, I cut them at an angle because Kairi can't sit still for 10 seconds.... so now I had to straighten them out and lost about another 1/2 inch. They look dreadful!!!! AAAaaarrrrrgggggggg!!!!!! So now I am going to let them grow out and she will not have bangs, because I can't stand the upkeep. Her hair is so long and requires so much as it is. Plus it will save us from this incident and the turmoil that assaults my mind every time I see them....


Eggs, Eggs, Eggs, and MORE EGGS!!!!

Easter just isn't easter, without Easter Eggs. This year we had great fun with it too. Kairi and I dyed easter eggs at least twice that I can think of. We had plastic eggs and when I post about Easter, you will see other "eggs" as well.




















I also found the cutest easter egg garland made from plastic easter eggs. All you do is string them on a string to the length you want and hang.... it was awesome and literally took me only like 20 minutes to do. Easy enough when the baby is asleep. If she had been awake, it would have been dramatic.














All in all I enjoyed Easter, and we even incorporated the eggs into the True Meaning of Easter. I also found it on-line and we adopted it to do as a Family. Kairi was all about it. They are called "Resurrection Eggs" you fill 12 eggs with various items that depict a significant thing in the story of Christ's crucifiction and subsequent Resurrection. The last egg you leave empty to represent the empty tomb. Kairi came home from church on Easter and told us the whole story and read to us the story from a paper she got at church. It was very powerful coming from a 4 year old. I credit her primary leaders for impressing this very important story on her mind......

Easter Egging.....

For Family Home Evening just before Easter, I stumbled across an idea that I found ADORABLE. It was called egging. The premise is to fill plastic easter eggs with candy, place them on the lawn of a friend's home leave the little note and run. Never revealing who did it. We decided to do this and had a blast. I will leave the link so any who would like to do it next year can play along. It was great fun and Kairi asked to do it almost every night afterwards....


Happy Birthday Kesslynn




Kesslynn is now officially One year old. Time flies, doesn't it. I can't believe how quickly it has gone.We went from teeny tiny baby at a whopping 6 lbs 6 oz to a teeny tiny toddler (is that what she is now--eeeekkkk!!!) at 17 lbs. Yup she is still teeny tiny, but hey it gives her character. We celebrated with a little family birthday party with cake and ice cream and of course presents. It was short sweet and to the point, much to Kairi's dismay. (She wanted a pinata... mental note: keep that in mind for HER birthday) Anyway her day consisted of sleeping at her usual times and eating at her usual times with the exception of birthday cake for dinner. What can I say.... All in all it was great fun. She made out with a lot of vehicle related toys, as she loves to mimick the noise that they make and drive them around. Trains, cars etc. Her cake was cupcakes, less mess and more eaten. I topped each one with the word "one" in a different language written in icing on some almond bark broken into peices and stuck on the cake. Happy birthday baby girl.

Some funny things about Kesslynn Leigh Winn:
1. She loves vehicles- cars, trains, motorcycles, trucks
2. She loves steak and potatoes
3. She has 4 teeth 2 on top and 2 on the bottom
4. She loves her blanket and sock bunny
5. She is still very hairless
6. She loves to help vacuum and sweep the floor
7. She doesn't like to be told "no"
8. She loves to sing the "Girlfriend" song with Kairi
9. Kairi is her hero, she must wake up Kairi if she is awake
10.She enjoys being naked more than I would like.....

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Morning Routine


I, like most women my age, have a morning routine. Shower, makeup, dressed, hair etc... Well Kairi has picked up on this routine and mimicks me like most kids her age. Anyhow, Kairi has her own way of doing things, and as you can see she is definitely her own person. This is her version of doing her makeup. I DID NOT let her go out in public like this, but she would have thought that she was the most beautiful girl in the world had I let her..... I am glad that she accepts who she is. I hope it sticks.....

Happy St. Patrick's Day


Kesslynn loves to eat writing utensils..... crayons, markers, paints, pens, pencils,etc. You name it I have pulled it from her mouth. As you can see, I was a little late on getting this marker away from her. Right after a bath too. Dang it!!! Luckily, for me though, it cleaned off really easily and we are no worse for the wear. However it did bring a bit of the "irish" into my night!!!!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

*** My Creative Side ***

I managed to eek out a few craft products this month. I am pretty proud of myself, considering that I and the brood have all been ill. So now in all their glory here they are.....






This I did for Valentine's Day for my Visiting Teaching ladies. I did something similar last year, but since I have all new ladies, I could recycle this idea. Perfect!!! Anyhow it was easy enough to do. I picked up some terra cotta pots from DI for probably .35, picked up the sucker from The Little Sweet Pea (if you know Vernal, you know what I am talking about--- the greatest little candy store with the nicest ladies to boot!), bought "Oasis", spanish moss, the pitchfork thing and card from a florist and had some pretty ribbon on hand. The rest is pretty self explanatory. Stick the foam in the pot. Hot glue the spanish moss on top. Stick the sucker in the center. Tie on the bow. Place the card. Voila!!!! I love it and it was so cute!!!









This Kairi and I did for Valentine's Day for fun! I got this out of last years Family Fun. I found the shirts at Wal-Mart on clearance for a dollar. Picked up some puff paint in the craft section. Then all you do is dip their finger in the paint and press onto the shirt to make a heart shape. Make sure there is something in the shirt to catch the excess paint, or you'll have the design on both sides. Kairi's shirt is supposed to be heart shaped. Kesslynn's shirt is just a cute chain. I like them both. Kesslynn's little fingers were to short to make her own hearts, so I did it with my fingerprints. I think they turned out sooooo cute and both girls love them.










I picked up this idea from a sister magazine to Family Fun, called Wondertime. It also was very easy-- if you have Photoshop. I picked up these plates from the Dollar Store. I thought that they were fantastic for this project. I set up a white towel in our living room, and got silouette pictures of each of the girls. I isolated them in photoshop turning them to black and white beforehand. This made it easier to isolate the face. Then printed off a rough copy on regular paper of the silouette. I took cardstock in a chosen color and cut the silouette out of it by taking my rough copy and taping both together and cutting them both out at the same time. Then I used Modge-Podge to secure it to the plate. I'll never be able to use the plates, but if I hang them on the wall they will be a beautiful addition and a treasured keepsake. I love them.

Hope you enjoy at least looking at what I did. It was fun and if you get the inkling. Go ahead and try it!!!

{Favorite Things}

So sometimes I find myself online, with nothing to do and I like to "window-shop" blogger style. I love to hi-jack other blogs and pick their blogs to see if I can find interesting places to go or things to buy. Mind you I spend WAYYYYYY more money in my head then in real life (which is good!!!), but I love some of my more recent shopping finds of all varieties. Some blogs I frequent have links to other interesting places, and so I click on the ones that are interesting. Some things I find from links in an email I have recieved. Such is the case with the two links I will highlight tonight....

Blurb

Blurb I found while blogger hijacking.... What an awesome idea, much easier to highlight so much in such an easy way, instead of having to re-upload your pictures, one by one, to get the book you want. Plus they accomodate up to 400 pages!!! That is awesome!!!! I would really rather do that for a family yearbook, and someday I probably will. Until then look and dream---right!!!!


The other one I came across as a result of looking for the perfect gift for Kesslynn's first birthday coming up. I got this link in an email and decided to check it out....

Oompa

I am kind of REALLY weird about the toys my kids get. I like the quiet toys or the classic toys. I am not a fan of all the electronic toys or anything that makes a lot of noise. If it is wood I like it. Call me whatever you will. Anyhow, I stumbled across this site and they have a HUGE variety of these types of toys. Perfect for little hands and making life happy for a mom who would like quiet toys. I know I am weird, but I am happy in my world and that is what matters.

Scentsy

Okay the last thing is not something I found on-line, but I love it none the less. My friend, Nichole, bought this for me for, well I'm not sure. Anyway, it is a dream!!!!! No candles, no ghosting on the walls and many, many, many wonderful smells!!!! I love it!!! Anyway, if you are up for it you should definitely check it out. Currently playing in my Scentsy warmer is "Black Raspberry Vanilla."

So check out these things and let me know what you think......