Operation Raincoat

I need your help! I am on a mission to find a camouflage raincoat for Logan. I saw some camo raincoats in the infant/toddler section of my local Super Wal-Mart, but they only had one left in a size 2T, and I need either a 4 or 5T! I just bought Logan some camo galoshes at Target, so he really needs the coat to match! If any of you are planning on hitting your local Wal-Mart soon, would you be willing to check and see if they have any? They may be on clearance at this point.

Here is the info:

George camo raincoat
UPC # 6 60469 05614
$9.86
I need a size 4T or 5T!

I will totally pay you back for the cost as well as shipping as well as be eternally grateful forever and ever! And of course I will probably throw in a nice thank you something as well!

Oh the things a mother will do for her child!

Thank You all!

Photo update

This little blue couch was one of the best investments I made when Logan was little. It has gotten much use...not only from Logan, but from any other little kids who might be over. Even Avery has been taking advantage of it! The Easter Bunny did bring my little miss one of her own, but I don't have a picture of it yet. Anyway...it makes for a very good napping place, as you can see from the above pictures! It's so cute!



Logan is so silly these days! He came walking in to the kitchen the other day all proud of himself because he was wearing Avery's pajama pants.Crazy kid!I can't believe they fit him!



Logan was being creative one day and came downstairs wearing Avery's changing table pad on his back. He informed me that he was being a ninja turtle.



Hello there. Meet Farmer Buckethead everyone. And please tell me why the shirt is always MIA when Logan dons other costume paraphernalia? He cracks me up!

He also came up with a very creative/imaginative game the other day that I had to get on video. I can't figure out how to get the clip actually on my blog, but here is a link to watch it.





Avery has become very interested in feeding herself these days, and it isn't always pretty! Sometimes I am a good mom and let her enjoy herself and develop her fine motor skills, and sometimes the tyrannical, controlling mother steps in and insists on feeding her so there is no mess involved. Obviously this was oone of the good mom times. I just didn't want to hear her scream...it is NOT a pretty sound.

Last Saturday, we hosted an easter egg hunt at our house for some friends and their kids. We have a pretty good sized yard, and it seemed like the obvious way to put it to good use. We had 4 families over for a potluck lunch, and then had the kids go find their eggs. We had 11 kids and 10 adults. We had yummy food,good company, and the kids had a great time finding eggs. Two of the kids went hog wild and ended up with like 20 eggs. This was just fine though, because some of the younger kids were perfectly happy with the first few they had found, and had to be encouraged and helped to find more. I think on average each kid ended up with around 10 eggs each.I was too busy being a hostess to get tons of pictures...I always forget about taking them when I am caught up in the moment, but I did manage to get a few of my kids.





I am getting very excited for the spring to pop up and stick around for a while! I need some sunshine and warm days to get me out of my winter slump! I can tell it's right around the corner!

Rainy Day

So, yesterday I had many things planned for my Monday. I was going to run to the bank to deposit some checks, drop a check off at a friend's (for my ticket for the Stephenie Meyer Book tour in May!), go to Aldi's for milk, and take Avery to get her very belated 12 month pictures taken at Target.

I woke up to the sound of rain pouring on my roof, the rumble of thunder booming in the distance, and the occasional flash of lightning. That just sealed the lazy deal. I wasn't going anywhere or doing anything today. Nope, not a thing! Nada! Zippo! Or Zero, as Logan says lately. I stayed in my pj's until noon, only to change into something not much different...comfy pants and a hoodie! Logan is wearing sweats, and Avery, I am ashamed to say is still in her pj's. We have all had naps, and basically spent the day being ultra lazy. I have a really hard time being productive on days like this.

I have a few things I really like to do on rainy days. One is stay in bed, but that isn't much of an option with children. Another thing I enjoy doing is reading a book, but I just finished the book I was reading for book group, and don't have any others to start right now. I usually feel inspired to bake something, which I haven't done yet, but the day isn't over yet, either! I LOVE to light candles and listen to what I call "rainy day" music. My rainy day music of choice is the soundtrack for "The Last of the Mohicans".(scroll down for music clips) So, right now the kids are having an aftenoon snack of goldfish crackers and water, while I am listening to my "rainy day" music and blogging.

I am ashamed to say I have nothing planned for St. Patrick's Day. I am not even wearing green. I did buy Lucky Charms cereal for breakfast, which I didn't even get to eat since I ran out of milk. Logan had some, and Avery had a bowl of it dried for a snack, and quickly discovered she preferred the marshmallows! There was a game on the back of the cereal box that I cut out for Logan and I to play. It uses the marshmallow pieces for the game pieces. Anyway...we were playing on the floor, and had a hard time keeping our pieces from being devoured from Avery as she came crawling along to attack our markers! It was funny, and luckily, Logan got a kick out of it and laughed about it instead of having a fit.

So, I am off now to finish enjoying my rainy day music.

Do you have any fun "rainy day" things you like to do? If you have "rainy day" music too, let me know what it is! I might have to try something new!

Blanding trip

Well, now that I have been home a few days, and have gotten some things out of the way, I can finally post about our trip to Utah.

Tony's parents got called to serve a mission for our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). They got called to the Ghana Cape Coast Mission. The funny thing is, they won't ever be serving in Ghana. They will be in a little country called Benin.It is entirely french speaking, so Mom gets to learn french!Won't that be fun! Anyway,we were able to go home for their farewell. It was so fun to be with the family. Logan had a blast playing with his cousins. It is so hard when we have to leave. It makes me feel so sad for him that he has to come back home to live like a little hermit child. Logan has so many boy cousins, and they tend to get along really well. Here at home, Logan's closest friends are girls, so it was fun for him to get to be with the boys, and do boy things.



Here is a picture of almost all the grandkids. Avery was napping, so she missed out. And I think baby Garrett was missing as well as Megan. We were lucky to be there for Tony's sister Jody's baby's blessing as well.





One of Logan's favorite things to do is get teased by Uncle Andy. He found Logan a new time-out spot while we were there! All in fun, of course.I had to get pictures. Avery even let Uncle Andy carry her around everywhere, but of course I didn't get pictures of that! I am so glad Logan has Uncle Andy. It makes me sad that he doesn't have his Uncle Derrick too. My brother would have been just as fun as Uncle Andy, so he could have had 2 fun uncles! I miss my brother, especially in times like this when I realize my kids won't get to know him. He was a great brother, and a great uncle.




Of course, Logan spent time doing his faavorite thing...jumping...on the trampoline! He was out there for almost all afternoon after church and dinner. He was having a blast. He even was tolerant of the dog Ruby, jumping up on the picnic table to sit by him. He must have been really distracted by all the fun for that not to bother him! On Saturday night, while at a big extended family dinner, Logan had an accident. He was outside and got scared of the dogs, and while he was backing away in terror, he fell over the tricycle and hurt his ear pretty bad. It was all red and it was even bleeding a bit in one spot.Poor guy. I wish he would get over his fear of dogs. When you ask him why dogs are scary, he says "that because they lick you and I don't want to be licked." Okee dokee.




I can't forget pictures of Avery. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera out much, and when I tried to take her picture, she would come after me, so this is what I would get. I did manage to catch her stealing baby Garrett's bottle though!

Before I end my post, I must mention the friends I was able to sneak in visits with on our way to and from the airport. When we flew in on Friday, we were able to meet my friend Heidi and her family for lunch at Training Table. It's always fun to see her if only for an hour or so! On our way home Monday, we met Heather and her little girl Alexa, who is Logan's age for lunch at McDonald's. We met there so the kids could play. It was helpful for Logan to get some energy out after being in the car for almost 5 hours, and before we were to get on the airplane. The kids were very good on the plane. It was Avery's very first flight! Logan is a pretty seasoned traveler, and loves airplanes. Tony actually held Avery on both flights. That was a nice break for me. She is so wiggly, I think my arms would have been tired. I was able to get some reading in of the book I am reading for book group. Overall, the trip went very smoothly, and it was definitely nice to see and spend time with family. Again, it makes me sad when we have to come home. I really hate being so far away from family!

Enrichment night success!

I better write about my enrichment night last week. I haven't had a chance to do much since then, because we were in Utah for the week-end. I am home now, and trying to cross things off my list of things to do.


( By the time I got to the refreshment table, there wasn't as many cupcakes left, but you get the idea.)

I have to say that the evening was FANTASTIC! I am so proud of all the women who worked so hard and put in the time to practice for this program. We had a few rough spots along the way, and some frustrations too, but in the end it was perfect. The music was beautiful, the words were touching, and I know the spirit was there so strong. A friend of mine was so worried about her performance because she says she always botches it when she performs. The night of the program, she nailed it. It was perfect!I was so proud of her! All the songs were perfect, especially the choir numbers we were so worried about. It was the best they had ever been that night.

While I didn't have any major parts in the program, I did have a few chances to step in for people when needed. At our rehearsal the night before, I got to fill in for a girl who had to get home early. She was singing the song called "Hold On" with another girl, and I filled in for her so the other girl could get her practice, and so we could continue on with the timing of the program. It was really scary, but fun! I haven't had a solo like that for a long time! I also filled in for the first part of the program on the actual performance night for one of the narrators who had a last minute doctor appointment and was running late. And, I guess I also had my choir directing debut when the choir director had to be out of town for a funeral the week-end of a big practice. Boy that was an experience, and I really really appreciate choir directors now. What a tough job! Anyway...I did sing with the choir,so I sat up on the stand with everyone during the program. It was so neat to look out at the faces of everyone there, and not recognize a lot of them! We extended the invitation for this evening to the Young Women, Activity Day girls, and any other friends, neighbors and family. We had a great turnout!


( I know this picture is dark, but it really shows how great of a turnout we had!)

After the program, we moved into the cultural hall for refreshments of cupcakes, ice cream and punch. I made a really yummy recipe for Cookies and Cream cupcakes. Too bad I didn't get any! I will have to make them again another time. We had enough tables and chairs set up for 50 people, and had more than that, so people were sitting on the ground along the wall, standing in groups, or had extra chairs in circles to chat. It was so much fun to see everyone really visiting and enjoying themselves. I think the punch got refilled about 4 times, and we ended up with close to 2 dozen cupcakes left at the end of the night. The ice cream didn't last long however!

I was so truly appreciative of the women who participated in the program, from singing solos, to playing the piano, organ or cello, to narrating, or just being a choir member. It couldn't have happened without each and every one of them, and I am really so grateful! I will always be. I usually try to write thank you notes to everyone who helps with enrichment nights, but I felt like these women needed something more than just a note. I decided to be "crafty" and make them a nice gift that they can keep and hopefully remember the experience by. I made some vinyl lettered blocks. I couldn't think of a quote from the program that I liked enough, but I came across this other saying, and I really liked it. I made 24 of these blocks, and I also had yellow sunflowers and red gerber daisies as well as these pink and orange flowers. If I were to make something like this again, I have ideas of how to make them a bit better, but otherwise, I think they turned out really cute.



Overall, it was a great evening, but I am glad it is over! Now it's on to planning the next activity!

Dr. Pepper Cupcakes

For those of you who read my post a while back about my caffeinated beverage indulgence, you may find this amusing. I came across this recipe, and I might just have to make them! It might be a very good way to use this interesting drink. And, while I don't really have an occasion to make them for, I may just have to do it. Just because. It just seems like the right thing to do.Ha ha! And you may or may not also know about my latest cupcake obsession.So it just makes that much more sense. They do look kind of cute and tasty, don't they?



You can go HERE for the recipe.

I will post about my latest adventures soon!