Random stuff

Just thought I'd write about a few things that took place this month. I'm finally going to turn this blog into a book so I really need to do better at posting things I want to remember, since this is the only type of journal keeping I do. This is my baby Easton. Oh Easton. He hangs around girls all day so it was only a matter of time before this was to happen. Yes that is lipstick all over him. And yes, he knew exactly where to put it. The girls got play makeup for Christmas and Easton got into it and gave himself a makeover. He was so proud of himself too. Porter was horrified over it, but I just had to laugh and take pictures.

Woo Hoo Steelers! They are going to the Super Bowl. We are having a big Super Bowl party at our house this year! The day after the playoff game Brynlie had to dress herself all in Steeler gear to show her support to her dad.

This month, Porter's Grandma June passed away. We were all sad about this and surprised because it was so sudden. The funeral service was really nice. I didn't get to see much because I was in the hall with Easton but I did get to see most of her great grandchildren ( my kids and their cousins) get up and sing I am a Child of God. It was really cute and I'm sure Grandma June loved it. Here is just a couple of pictures from the funeral. I love this one of Easton. I don't know why but it is so funny and cute to me.

Rylie and Brynlie and Savanna.

Easton loves to be outside. He gets so excited when he gets to go out. He especially loves four wheeler rides. Porter takes the garbage down to the road with the 4 wheeler and Easton has to go with him every time or he cries. I love this picture of him all bundled up. Ya gotta love the hat!

My kids are super bored and really tired of the snowy weather. Brynlie always asks to clean and of course Easton has to get in on the action too. Here I have them cleaning my windows. They make the hand prints so why not have them clean them too.

Our basement flooded again. I was so mad when I walked downstairs and saw all the water and even though we had most of the stuff off the floor from last time a bunch still got ruined. So I started throwing stuff away and putting other stuff in bags for the D.I. and I got rid of a ton of stuff. I was saving it all for a garage sale but we've had it down there for 2 years and haven't done a garage sale yet, so in my anger about the water I just got rid of it all. So back to the point of this story. I brought all of the stuff I was getting rid of upstairs and of course the girls had to go through it all and they found an old play camera. So they were setting up photo shoots with different things they found in the bags. I had to put one of the pictures on this post because it was so funny. Here is a beautiful picture of the model Brynlie. Rylie was the photographer. I feel bad I don't have any pictures of Rylie but most of this stuff happens when she is at school.

Here is a picture of Brynlie after her sledding accident. This was just minutes after but it looked a lot worse the next day. Porter had the sled hooked to the back of the 4 wheeler and was going fairly slow but they had hit a bump in the road just right and flipped the sled and Brynlie scraped her face up. She cried for a little while then got back on. I do have to say that I love living where I do and my kids being able to do all these fun things that they wouldn't be able to do anywhere else. They love being outside.

Valentine craft re-do

I absolutely hated the last valentine crafts I did. They were really bugging me. I was about to throw them away and start all over but then I remembered how long it takes to cut out the letters so I figured I would just redo them. The 'be mine' craft that had all the smudges on it I finally put new paper on it and was really careful when I inked the edges. It looks so much better. I also tried out these stacker blocks and I liked how they turned out. I did add a tulle ribbon to one of the blocks after I took the pictures and it looks really cute. These stackers are fun because you can stack them different ways and I have so many more ideas for different ones.

I also refinished my love letters. Before I hated the paper on the 'L' and I hated the flower embellishment on the heart. So I redid it all. Is redid a word? Anyway, I like this a whole lot better. I'm still working on my xoxo letters, but they should be done before February.

I found a new blog that I love and it has so many cute ideas. You can buy their stuff or she lets you copy her ideas, I just have to give her credit for the idea. You'll have to look at the stuff it is so cute. www.ideacloset.blogspot.com

The Destroyer

We call our baby the 'destroyer'. He gets into everything! Everyday my kitchen is a disaster. My girls never bothered much when they were babies and I never had to do much baby proofing. Easton gets into the drawers and cupboards all day long. I have locked up what is dangerous but I haven't been able to find anything to stop him from getting into my drawers. When he gets in them he takes everything out. This first picture is him after he took all my towels out of the bottom drawer and he is trying to put them back in a different drawer, wadded up of course. This was actually a pretty mild day. He usually has all of the canned foods out on the floor. He also likes to stash treats. He'll come up to me and when he wants something to eat he'll just say "mmmmmm". Then I'll give him some of the baby puffs or cheerios or his new favorite fruit snacks. I always just assumed he ate them but he has been putting them all over the place. I'll find them in pots and pans or in a measuring cup or in the seat of his Buzz Lightyear bike. He has even put them in the cat's water. He just thinks he's funny and runs and giggles when I try to get mad at him. He does the same thing at everyone else's house to, so beware if I come over.

He loves to torture his sisters and is always trying to get their barbie stuff and mess it up. He also has an obsession with the laundry room. I think because that is where we put the cat food and the cats litter box. I usually try to keep the door closed but sometimes it gets left open. I have caught him in the litter box plenty of times. He likes to get the litter scoop and I have found wonderful surprises all over the floor. He also likes to put all of the cat food into the cat's water. Needless to say I am trying to do better at keeping the door closed. This little boy keeps me busy all day. Its no wonder I can't get dressed until the afternoon. I wouldn't trade him for anything, though. He always keeps us laughing all day long.

Valentine crafts

These are the valentine crafts that I have finished so far. I am working on one more, but that won't be done for a couple more weeks. When I can only work on them a few minutes a day it takes a while. So this first one is my version of subway art. I have seen it everywhere but it is usually done with vinyl. Since I don't have a vinyl machine I thought I would try it on the computer and print it on cute paper and then mod podge it to wood. I think it turned out pretty cute. I have a couple of subway art projects in the making for the kids rooms.This one turned out o.k. When I was inking the edges I dropped the ink pad on my 'm' and I was too lazy to re cut the paper so I left it. One day I'll fix it . Good thing I only do crafts for myself and not try to sell them because I wouldn't make any money with all my mistakes.

This one turned out just o.k. too. I'm not sure I like the paper I used . Well just the paper on the 'L' is bugging me. I'm also not quite sure about the embellishment either. The heart looked like it needed something so I added the flower but now I'm not too sure. Anyway, more to come.

Christmas crafts

I finally got all my Christmas crafts done. The ones I had started anyway. I have a ton of other ideas but I can't get them done now because I'm working on the coming holiday crafts. I actually had the joy letters done early December and my reindeer finished, but my sleigh and the snow letters were just barely finished a few days ago.

I know one of these reindeer is a girl and girls don't have antlers but she didn't look quite right without them.

These reindeer and sleigh aren't entirely finished because I wanted to get some type of collars and reins for the reindeer to they could look like they are hooked to the sleigh. Finally my snow letters for January. I'm in the middle of making a cute little penguin to go with these but since I have to do everything when the kids are asleep, crafts are not really my priority. The snowflake is actually glittery along with the white part of the letters but you can't tell in this picture. I am almost done with my Valentine crafts so I will have to post those soon.

Brynlie's Birthday!

I uploaded my pictures in the wrong order so I'll have to tell about Brynlie's birthday backwards. Brynlie turned 5 on Jan 4th. I can't believe it! She'll forever be three years old to me. With her birthday being so close to Christmas, I always end up planning her celebration at the last minute. She usually gets the short straw when it comes to her birthday and she has never had the huge celebrations like Rylie gets. I feel pretty bad about this and always think I'll do better. But this year came and she told me she wanted a Super Mario Brothers party. This was a few days before her birthday and I knew I wouldn't be able to find anything for a party like this without ordering online and there wasn't time for that. So once again I feel really bad and we try to make up for it. Her birthday was on a Tuesday so Monday we took her bowling in Preston at the good ole Pop n Pins.

Some of her cousins were able to make it to the bowling party. It was a open invitation type of thing since this was so last minute. We just told people we were going bowling and if they wanted to join us they could.

After bowling we all pitched in for pizza and went to Jordan and Suzanne's house. They were nice enough to let us do this at their house so we wouldn't have to go all the way to ours. The kids have tons of fun playing together and Brynlie got lots of presents. She ended up getting a nail polish kit so of course they had to try it out in the room that Suz has all her nail stuff set up. Here they are at the nail table painting Brynlie's nails

Seth had to get in on the action too and he did a good job.

The finished product.



Okay, so the day before the bowling party was the day we had her cupcakes. We weren't going to do anything on Sunday but then we didn't know if anyone could come bowling so on Saturday (again last minute) we decided to have people come up for some cupcakes and ice cream on Sunday. My parents couldn't make it and my sister Mindi lives an hour away so we knew she wouldn't be able to make it last minute. But a few people on Porter's side were able to come.

Brynlie got a lot of Liv doll stuff and I think she had a pretty good birthday. She was a really good sport, even though she didn't get her Mario party. She is not a complainer and we are very thankful to have Brynlie in our family and we love her very much.