A Quickie

      When I was a kid my mom would buy dry cereal marshmallows so we could add them to whatever we wanted. But like all great things, they stopped being made. Now, all my children want to do is pick the little mallows out of their cereal and it drives me crazy! I heard a rumor  that stores were going to start selling these little marshmallows and I would check every store I went to, with no luck. Finally, I decided to check on line. Low and behold I found them! Amazon had a dozen 16 oz packs for under 20 bucks! It's been a great investment!

Well, the inevitable has happened. Baby Z has discovered Pepsi. Just like her brother, she loves it best when it's stolen form our fast food cups.

I finally couldn't take it any more and bought myself a super cheap tablet... with Christmas money. But Baby J LOVES it and uses it more than I do.

A single Parent...

well, for three and a half days.
   As a sort of belated birthday trip, J went down to St. George with some of his wheel'n buddies to explore and climb new places. This left me alone with the kids.
   We discussed having the entire family go, but the thought of taking care of and keeping track of two toddlers on a trail gave me a head ache. We also talked about leaving the kids and me in a hotel in St. George while he was out all day. That sounded horrible too. I figured if I was going to take care of the kids by myself, it would be easier at our own house where I could easily get help from family if needed.
   So, here I am. It is 3:02 Sunday morning. J should be getting home in about 12 hours or so.
   Are the kids sleeping?
   No.
   Am I close to loosing it on my third night in a row alone with two small children who miss their dad?
   You betcha.
   I don't know how single parents do it.
   It's comforting for me knowing that J always has my back. He's there when I need a time out so that I don't kill our kids.
   I'm exhausted and emotional.

 I miss my husband.

My 28th

      For my 28th birthday we had some pretty fun things planned. My in-laws were going to take the kids over night and J and I were going to go out to dinner and then go bowling. But the kids had a other plans for me.
      At about 5am Baby Z woke and threw up all over me and the bed. Then at 9am Baby J decided throw on me. So I lined the couch with towels and spent my entire birthday cleaning up throw up and doing laundry.

This is at the beginning of the day. I would sit in the middle and comfort them.

After they fell asleep I was able to get all the gross towels and clothes in the wash.

J was a sweetie and picked me up Joe Morley's on his way home from work.
It wasn't my ideal birthday but I've definitely had worse.

Valentin'es Day

      Before the kids woke up on I hung up valentine balloons and streamers. They loved it!

Then for breakfast I made them pink, heart shaped pancakes.

And before our dinner of heart shaped pizza(which I didn't get a picture of) I took the kids out for ice cream.

30!!

On January 29th J turned 30! In celebration I made him this Jeep cake. It's not my finest work, but it fun was non the less.

2013 Begins

 Baby J loves to do whatever his dad does. Vacuuming is one of his favorites. One day this is what I found.

 I've been trying to find new ways to use things that I don't or can't use any more. I have a few of these travel wipes cases and realized they were the perfect size to store jumbo crayons.

 I've also been wanting to get Baby J some dry erase crayons. So I drew some pictures, put clear tape on it and BOOM! There you have it. A dry erase coloring kit.

I also cut out some pages from some coloring books and put them in page protectors. Baby J likes the bigger pictures better.

My kids love to sit in boxes. One day I found them both inside this little square box.

My kids like their little kitchen best when it's in the big kitchen. J was able to catch Baby Z cooking.

I bought these small camping chairs at the end of summer when they went on sale and the kids LOVE them. They love to sit in them while they watch their shows and have a snack.

    See. Snacking. Hmmm... this could be lunch. Looks like dino nuggets and fries.

My little partners in crime. They love to pull out the movies. I guess it's even more fun when you have help.

Our cute little Baby Z has become quite the model, even when mischievous. This is Baby J's bed with stuff piled on it. Before I could clean it off, Baby Z had made her way up the mountain and when she saw the camera she gave me her best "cheese" face.

Christmas and New Year's Eve

      I just realized that I didn't blog about our Christmas. This year I decided to make my kids their very own kitchen because they love to play in mine. So that was their big Santa gift. Every year I have made my kids a blanket for Christmas. I made Baby Z a denim blanket made form my old jeans and work pants with owl accents. I made Baby J an I spy quilt and cards that match each square so he can spy the images on the blanket all by himself. The kids gave J a gigantic box of kit kats and they gave me a pink tool bag filled with pink tools! I've been wanting my own tools for a while. Sometimes I have to use J's and my stuff gets all greasy and gross.

      After seeing what Santa brought and unwrapping gifts we headed out to Grandma and Grandpa D's house. The kids made out like bandits. Lots of toys and lots of cloths. We then had my famous chicken enchiladas and watched... a movie... I think. I can't remember. But we watched something on the TV while the kids played with their new toys between bites of "chaladas."
     Then we headed to my side of the family for more presents and food. On my side we have started drawing names by family for Christmas. We had my baby sister H. She really, really wanted a guitar. Well J works at just the place for that! So I drove her to Guitar Center a few months earlier to take her pick. I told her to choose a few in different price ranges because I wasn't sure what our budget should be. but we were able to get her her favorite one. It is beautiful. It's a cherry color with a heart shaped sound hole. I played it a little and I love it. I am so jealous!

      Anyway... H had us for Christmas too and gave a gist Certificate to our favorite restaurant, Joe Morley's Barbecue. Mmm... and she included two fun board books for the kids, which they make us read all the time. All in all a good, and tiring day.

Baby Z woke up first and immediately knew where to go. She even knew which stocking was hers!

Baby J needed a little coaxing

Baby Z found Daddy's orange.

The flashlight Santa put in Baby J's stocking was pretty cool.

Santa gave us all a bottle of our favorite drinks. This is Baby J's bottle of Christmas Pepsi. 

Baby J opening and pouring his gold fish crackers.

The kids playing with their kitchen.

     New years eve  was chill, as usual. J made us some steaks and potatoes and we had a bat man marathon. Once again, we almost missed midnight. We couldn't find the remote to the TV (we like to count down with new years rock'n eve). But we made it with about 5 seconds to spare.