I was only for a couple minutes!

What is it about the age of 2 that attracts mischief? Is it the sense of curiosity, adventure, play, or just so that we as parents learn patience? Either way I am learning to find the joy in those little moments. Today I was online booking our trip to Victoria, BC in March; and it only took a couple minutes. But in those short little minutes Kiera managed to empty out the entire linen closet. Towels, Blankets, Band-aids, Air mattress; everything! When I rounded the corner Ethan was right there with her all curled up on the mountain of softness. But he escaped the scene when I ran to get the camera. Doesn't she look comfy?

Trying to Revive the Artist in Me

Today I decided to break out my long lost easel and try to make my hands remember how to draw. It has been a loooong time since I have pulled out my charcoal and it was obvious too. I printed out a couple pictures of the kids that I planned on using for a piece. I took them with the intention of portraying a spiritual message. See if you get anything out of them. These warm up drawings are what I came up with. I can tell that Ethan's portrait was the one I started on because my strokes were tighter and I wasn't as warmed up and relaxed as I was when I started Kiera's. Hopefully the next time around I can smooth things up and make my lines a bit more defined. I really need to be drawing more because I can tell that I am loosing my touch quite a bit. My mom has been pushing me to draw and today I finally took her up on it. This is for you mom. Below are the pictures I took of my work. Hopefully there will be more in the NEAR future.

A Moment to Count my Blessings

Kiera has found a new use for the plastic bins that we keep her toys in. She and Ethan giggle as she crawls underneath and peeks through the plastic back at him. It is pretty fun to watch. Kiera's imagination is growing more everyday. Today she went and got her angel wings out from her play clothes bin and said "I am going to go fly up in the sky and the birdies fly too." I just love being a mom and am so grateful that Dan has a job that allows me to stay home with my children. Today Dan's work laid off more employees and he e-mailed me later this morning letting me know that both him and his brother survived and are still employed. I have lots to be thankful for.


Ethan is so happy ALL the time. I am very luck to have had a baby that seems to make everything easy and pleasant. He is the one who when I am starting to feel blue or stressed makes it all go away with a simple toothy grin. I love my children so much and am honored that Heavenly Father trusts me with these precious spirits.


I have received several requests that I need to put up more pictures of myself so today I decided to take a few. It is sort of tricky to take a good picture of yourself while holding the camera just feet away, but I think I managed alright.

What is all the giggling about?

Last night I heard Ethan and Kiera laughing and laughing back in Kiera's room. So I went to see what was going on. This is what I found. I love that they are playing together. It is fun to watch them chase each other around the house and Ethan has started to watch Kiera more and when he sees her doing something he tries to copy her. Today I went visiting teaching and on the way Kiera started to kick her feet up and down, up and down and I turned to check on them and saw Ethan with the biggest smile on his face and he was doing the same exact thing. Both their little legs were bouncing up and down, up and down in unison. It was so cute. But here's the video that I got of them playing last night.

Click Here to Watch

My Sewing Addiction.

I've been keeping busy with a couple sewing projects lately. I was hired to sew a skirt for a friend of mine so she would have something to wear to her brother's wedding and since I was already at Joanne's helping her pick out the pattern and fabric I decided, "why not get something for me too." So that is where it all started. I swear I get stuck in that store every time I go in, and I always get more than what I intended to. But to justify my purchases; I plan on making a dress for Kiera and a matching skirt for myself for Easter. So in reality, I am just planning ahead right? Ha ha.
I am just about finished with this one. I just have to finish the top edge and it will be done. But I just thought it was too cute not to take a picture of it now. I made the belt reversible so I could wear it with some of my other skirts too.

Just Plain Cute

Just some Really cute pictures of some Really cute kids!

I Love My Babies!

The Table and Chairs are Done!

Dan and I finally finished the kids table and chairs that we've been working on since New Years. Well we still have to do some touch up on them but they are now in the house and are being used! They turned out so cute and I love that they match the rocking horse that they sit next to. Kiera seems pleased also (you can probably tell by the look on her face).



Can't you just see the joy on that little face! It makes me so happy to see that she loves it. Now we have a place to sit and draw together.

Date night or should we say Family Night

On Friday we decided to go to the Everett Imagine Children's Museum. They have free admission every third Friday of the month from 5:30-9:00 p.m. We had a lot of fun and plan on going again when it isn't as crowded. Kiera had the most fun and it was hard for her to leave when it was time to go. When we got to the car we asked her what she saw and the one thing that she remembered the most was "the cow." We don't know if that is because that is one of the things she saw on their website before we went that night and she was concentrated on that one thing or if she just loves cows. Anyway, we got lots of photos of her exploring. Ethan played with a few things but the museum was mostly geared towards older kids so he just stayed with daddy and watched all the action going on with ALL THE PEOPLE! It was very very busy.


Here's mommy and Ethan posing for the camera. Ethan was more interested in the linking blocks than he was in Daddy and the camera. But you can tell by the look on his face that he is having fun.


They had an animal clinic room when the kids could pretend that they were veterinarians and they had little kennels and a wash table and x-ray machines and stethoscopes and a computer and keyboard. Anything you could think of being in a real animal clinic they had only kid size. Kiera had fun putting all the animals into one kennel so they could all sleep together. She even gave them a blanket to sleep with.

There are three floors to the museum but the top floor was closed when we went so we'll have to go back to see what's up there. Downstairs they have a bunch of huge classrooms where they set up workstations with crafts and blocks to play with. These blocks were cool because they stacked up inside of each other.

The best room downstairs was by far the "construction room" The ENTIRE room was filled with these white foam blocks that were covered in a sort of pleather material. There were kids making full sized igloos, chimeneys, giant towers, and kids were burying each other in them. There were sooo many of these blocks. It almost made me wish we had a room full of them too. Kiera could have stayed in there for hours! It was lots of fun.

This isn't a very good picture but they had a glow in the dark room that was all black light. Kiera is putting these glowsticks into a peg board on the wall. It was pretty neat but it was a little too crowded to stay in there very long.

Daddy and Ethan. Aren't they sooo cute!

They had a IMAGINE AIR airplane that was equipt with a pilots seat with all the controls. They had passenger seats and overhead stoaway bins, flight attendant station, and Kiera's favorite Luggage compartment. It was really cute! The kids could talk over the intercom up to the pilots chair, and could fly the plane. What fun!


Similar to the Portland Children't Museum, they too had a "water room." It would have been a lot more fun if some of the parents would have controled their older children better. They were getting everyone wet and being very roudy around the little kids. It didn't make it very fun. Oh well, maybe next time. At least I got a couple pictures.


And last but not least, Kiera's beloved cow! It was inside a red barn and the teets on it actually squirt water into the bucket. It was funny to see Kiera crawl right underneath and automatically go and pull on the teets. I don't remember anywhere she would have seen that done before. Perhaps she had see some other kids do it first and I was just too slow to see.

We will definently have to go back again on a slower day so we can spend more time exploring and taking our time instead of having to worry so much about letting the other kids have a turn. It was a fun Family Night/Date Night. Oh and we went out to eat at Burger King! Got to love them Kids Meals!

Nap Time Treasures

The funny thing about life is that you never know what to expect. This is especially true with kids. You never know what is going to happen in a given instant and they always seem to surprise you when you least expect it. I know I am making it sound a bit more exciting than it really is but I personally found it very funny. Kiera has been finicky about naps lately and most days she just plays in her room instead of sleeps during nap time. But today was different. She actually slept after a couple hours of playing. I went in to check on her and she was where I least expected her to be. She was asleep on top of the changing table. Blanket and all. She didn't even wake up when the camera flashed. She is so stinking cute!

Morning Cuddles

This morning Kiera was watching sesame street alphabet and Ethan kept trying to get a hold of the VCR. Kiera went over and grabbed him around the waist to pull him down. I thought for sure that Ethan would struggle out of her hold but no, instead he sat there and watched it with her; and she kept her arms around him. It was cute so I got a couple pictures. i love to watch these two play together now. Lots of times I also catch them underneath the kitchen table just playing and laughing together. It is their little fort I guess. Hopefully I can catch some pictures of that soon.

Winter sickies.

We stayed home on Sunday since the kids are sick. They've been under the weather since after Christmas. Ethan is actually on a nebulizer now with albuterol and Kiera started antibiotics today for an ear infection. No fun. They've both been sick with diarrhea, fever, cough, runny nose you name it they've had it. Ethan even threw up twice and had a major blowout on the way home from Grandma and Grandpas house. That was not a fun experience. Both Dan and myself got a bit of the flu too; but it seemed to pass us pretty quick. It is just hard to watch my kids when they are sick. I want to do anything to make it all go away, but I can't. It has made me appreciate our health a lot more. We've been very lucky. I know lots of other people experience lots worse things than the flu. I am thankful.

Christmas in Portland

The day after Christmas the weather lightened up and we were able to travel to Portland to visit Dan's parents and his brother with his family. The rain melted all the snow so the roads were clear. We had lots of fun and enjoyed the trip. This is a family picture taken in front of Grandma and Grandpa's tree. Kiera showed off her Christmas dress for the first time in their ward since our ward was canceled the two previous Sundays. She looked so cute! I found a red button up shirt for Ethan so he'd be festive as well.


One of the highlights from our trip was a visit to the Portland Children's Museum. Kiera absolutely loved every minute of it. It's not everyday you can run around touching anything and everything you see without getting in trouble for it! It was fun to watch her get so excited over and over again. When you walk into the museum you are greeted by a alligator lying on his back waiting for you to brush his teeth. Here's Timmy and Kiera on dental duty.


Next was a room full of water. This was by far the favorite place to be. There were little plastic over coats for the kids so they didn't end up soaking wet by the end, and there were ducks, boats, fountains, and wheels to turn the water off and on with. It was lots of fun! So fun in fact that we made another trip to that room before heading home.




Kiera playing with magnetic blocks on the light table inside the "Forest room" It was filled with trees and stuffed animals that the kids could carry around and hide in the trees. It was pretty cool. I got lots of ideas for when we have our own house and build a playroom!



There was a room especially for kids 2 and under. Ethan had a ball climbing around and pulling himself up on things in there. He also had fun with the squishy blocks that I had to keep getting out of his mouth.




Next door to the toddler room was a giant dig pit. It was filled with recycled rubber bits that looked like rock. Ethan only went in there to pose for a couple pictures because he kept trying to eat it. Kiera loved digging with the shovels and pushing the tonka trucks around. Daddy we need a sandbox!




Kiera was in heaven. There was So much to explore!

Then it was back to the water room. There were lots of other rooms that we visited but we decided we'd rather play then spend the entire time snapping pictures. We'll definently have to go back again.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for such a fun trip! It was fun to see cousins too. The next time we all get together Ethan and Mary will probably be running around together. I know Timmy and Kiera had fun together. They were always asking where the other was and were together constanly except for sleepy time.

By the end of the trip everyone was exhausted. Both Ethan and Kiera zonked out on the way home. aaaauh.... what cute babies. Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa for letting us come. We're glad the weather held up while we were there.