Abby's Princess Tea Party

 We decided to let Abby have a friends party this year. She wanted ALL girls, no boys allowed. So we painted nails, decorated crowns, danced to princess music and had a little tea party with REAL (thrift store) china! The girls got to take home their tea cups and saucers for party favors. We had so much fun!

 Harper getting her nails done.

 Christine, Brenna, and Kae

 Ashley (Cyndy's daughter) and Abby

 Kae

 Rachel (in Abby's kindergarten class)

 I made 3 flower center pieces with leftover tule, and dollar store flowers and foam. Love how they turned out!

 And of course lighting candles outside in Twindy Falls is almost impossible.  But we sang Happy Birthday anyway.

 Ah, There's my sweet girl's smile!

 I'm so glad we decided to finally build our pergola.  It was so nice to have some more shade in the back yard.

 My mom was on Tommy duty.  Pretty sure she loved it.  She tells me all the time that being a grandma is the best thing ever and thanks me for giving her grandbabies.

 And here she absolutely refused to smile for me.  I think all she wanted was the cupcake.

 At least the cupcakes were the easy part! Last year I made a really fancy castle cake. This year, cakemix and princess cupcake liners with coordinating crowns. Boom! Done!

 Brian's cousin, Brian Tanner (Matthew), made this swing for a mission fundraiser.  He even harvested the logs and shaved the bark.

 

One of the consequences of inviting so many little girls is WAY too many presents.  But Abby thought it was the coolest thing ever.  She was so spoiled. 

 

 I'm so glad Grandma Tanner made it! That morning we all went to Ivy Halling's baptism.  Diane visited with family at McDonald's afterwords and joined us at the party latter.  My kids are so blessed to have 2 wonderful loving grandmas.

 Brian wasn't quite sure what to do around all the princessy activities, but he sure does love his Sweetheart Abby.

 And of course you can't play outside without jumping on the tramp.

I made this cute little swing for Tommy.  Here, Eli (Brenna's son) is being pushed by Harper (Christine's daughter).  Eli and Tommy are just weeks apart in age.

Just a swing'n

I made a little toddler swing this week.  Thanks to my dear mother for letting me make it at her house! She pays with kids, I sew my project, it's win win :-)

I hung it from our new pergola tonight.

Spudman 2015

When I grow up

I found a picture Abby made at preschool the other day that made me smile.  Usually, when someone asks her what she wants to be when she grows up she says a firefighter (I told her I used to be one). This time she said mother. I really hope she is someday :-)

Impromptu adventure

Brian came home from work on Wednesday and said hey let's go get some yogurt. I wasn't sure where he wanted to go but getting out of the house and not making dinner sounded like a deal to me. So we got everyone in the car,  grabbed our coupon for Culver's,  and started planning along the way.  So, we ended up with a little food (which the kids apparently weren't that interested in) and took it down to Centennial park in the canyon. We just relaxed, played with our kids, and enjoyed some ice cream. Then we drove to the golf course and ventured across the utility bridge crossing the snake river. We hiked along the trail in the other golf course and took some fun pictures.  It IS spring, but Abby got a pumpkin basket at DI that day, so of course it had to come along.
It was just a beautiful day, and welcomed vacation from our normal busy lives. I love playing with our kids. I love having time to talk with Brian. So grateful for my little family.

Tommy is crawling!

We had my mother, sherry, and diantha over for Sunday dinner last night.  While I was finishing up in the kitchen Tommy went from laying down to sitting all by himself,  twice,  without me seeing him! I recall dinner time distracted mama the first two times he rolled over as well.  Alright,  so I knew he was getting close to crawling and I thought maybe it would happen in a couple days.  Nope!  Right at bedtime, while we were in Scott's room he figured out how to put his hands forward so he could get to a board book.  It was like a little light bulb sparked in his eyes!  He just got so excited and kept trying out his new trick over and over.  Oh boy, was he excited! Of course I was too! ... well, and a bit terrified at the thought.  I took some videos I'm trying to attach. Here is a picture of him getting into his first mess, the magazines and music under the piano. Think I will be moving those ;-)

April Fools!

We have been back in the saddle doing yard work. So naturally Brian has filled up the garbage can with dirt, rocks, and weeds... again. The garbage can was so full it was hard to move. In fact, it was packed with so much Earth our regular household trash was piling up to the side.  Ya,  it was hideous.... and I was pretty annoyed.  You see the same thing had happened the week before,  and when I moved the can to the street it was so heavy I thought it might just fall on top of me.  So I asked Brian to move it the night before so I wouldn't have to worry about it early in the morning. Brian is kind of a do it when I have to the last minute kind of guy. He waited until just before he took Abby to preschool at 8:45.  Our garbageman usually comes before 9. When I looked outside at 10 o'clock the garbage was still there!  Okay, now I was really annoyed.  Piles of trash and we apparently had missed the garbage man!
So,  I texted Brian that he better plan on making a trip to the dump. Grrrr. And ya,  I was sleep deprived and quite frankly not my best self. The truth is the garbage man was apparently playing a joke on the neighborhood. With a big sigh of relief I noticed he came at 11. Thanks for the April Fools joke mister garbage man. I thought about propping up the garbage lid to make Brian think it was still full (he he he)...but my little Tommy needed me inside. 

Next up,  I talked to Brian at about 11 and he said he would pick up Abby. She gets out at 11:30. I thought all was well as I was running around cleaning the house.  They still weren't home by noon so I just assumed Abby had convinced her Daddy to take her to McDonald's.  Then I got a call from her teacher at 12:05 saying Abby was still there! Ah! Seriously?! Did we really miss communicate that? I apologized to her teacher and had Chissy pick her up.  It took me a good half hour to get out there.  Thanks for the joke hun. He had had a client walk in with with a very sad story and had forgotten. He felt bad.  And I felt bad for chewing him out.  Breathe girl!

Abby had learned all about April Fools at school and thought it was the funniest thing to tell me there was a butterfly behind my back. So I would look and she would point and laugh.  She is a doll :-)

My turn!  For dinner that night I told the kids we were having cupcakes! I cooked meatloaf in little cupcake liners and  I whipped up some blue mashed potatoes for frosting.  Of course I had them eat their carrots before they could eat cupcakes ;-) They even got to put their own sprinkles on!  Abby was like,  this frosting doesn't taste very good,  maybe it needs different sprinkles.  So she found some in the cupboard. Scott was like,  mmmm these are yummy! Then Brian  said they were April Fools cupcakes and Abby finally got it. I also made chocolate pudding in mugs and told the kids it was hot chocolate.

Wait! It's not over! Door bell rings. Why hello youth from our ward!  Yes,  my son is greeting you without any underwear on and a mixture of blue potatoes and chocolate pudding smeared all over his face. Oh, you are here to do a service project we were supposed to be prepared for?  Um,  great!  Um, um, um, let's go pull weeds! I think there is room in the garbage can ;-)