Barbies

This past week my neighbor Michelle and I have been sitting outside everyday for hours at a time painting barbies. I saw the idea on pinterest and it is GENEUS!! We have about a million barbies around the house and they are all naked and it kinda drives me nuts. So we painted on swimsuits that won't be coming off with nail polish. I'm not even kidding when I say it has brought new life to these barbies. And I have to admit that it has been fun doing it. Especially with my neighbor. We saw a commercial for Toys R Us for 50% percent off all barbies and Scott (Michelles husband) jokes we will go buy a bunch just to have more to paint.

Here is only about half of what we have done thus far...

Later that night we had a BBQ with the Wakefields and it's always fun.

The girls painted bird houses one day and it was like the best thing. We sat outside and painted for over an hour and they turned out bright and cute. Today we spent the entire day outside working in the yard. I planted broccoli, cauliflower an carrots. Chloe has been learning how to ride her bike with no training wheels this week. She pretty much has it down and can pedal on her own down the sidewalk. But when it comes to braking, she doesn't and just jumps off. Doesn't really work out too good. She just needs to grasp the concept of braking and then putting her feet down so she doesn't fall over with the bike. Lexi has taken over the other bike with training wheels. She looks too tiny to be on it but she can climb on and off and has figured out how to pedal and brake. Both girls are pretty much amazing.

It's conference weekend and we got the first Saturday session in but recorded the second. Tomorrow I am excited to sit and listen to things I know I need to hear.

2 weeks till Hawaii!!!

More Hair STRESS!

Back in the day when my mom went to Cosmetology School she learned how to highlight hair in a cap. Those days are long gone.

She said when the new "FOIL HIGHLIGHTING" came out she was doomed.

She had no where to learn the new technique and no clients who wanted to be tested on.

She would practice on me when I was in high school. But she didn't get far. It takes a lot of practice and multiple heads of hair to get the hang of it and to gain the speed to do a head of hair in an hour rather than 4hours (that was my time on my very first foil client).

She doesn't do much color these days because she didn't keep up with the trend.

Lately I feel like her.

I fear that foiling will no longer be wanted and that the new technique called "melting" or the "ombre" hair will take over. It's very popular. Not every one wants it, but a lot do. AND I NEED TO LEARN IT! I have been goggling and you tubing how to do it. There are so many ways to do it and really for me to get good and not loose my skill with the times It need to get my hands dirty!

I need practice. I need to take a class. I also need to take a color class. There are so many new color lines now and they do amazing things. I was told in school to bleach everything and tone if you need to. So I do and that is what I am comfortable with. And my colors turn out good. But I probably use too many steps to get there.

I FEEL LIKE I AM LOOSING IT!

I can't loose it like my mom. That is too sad. Too much money and time to throw away.

I want my kids to WANT me to cut and color their hair when they are old enough to. I want to do the new trends and styles that will be around when that time comes.

I'm totally getting stressed about it!!!!!

A cousin for the new baby...

I just found out that Chelsea Fredrickson (TJs lil' sis) is PREGGERS!

This is her first and it looks like we will have these babies together.

We are both 4 weeks.

How exciting is that? Now when Mona comes out from Hawaii to help Chelsea she can see my baby too!!

Today I started making my mom cloth napkins for her birthday. Yup, that's what you get when there is nothing left in the world that you don't already own. But I figure she will like it cause its earth friendly and they are cute and I actually want some for my own family. I buy and go through way too many napkins. But I calculated wrong and came home with too little fabric, hence small napkins, and the scissors got carried away and cut unevenly and so now I have 12 napkins that are all different sizes and some not even squares. I'm kinda embarrassed to give her these napkins that look like a 6 year old made.

I got the bike trailer out for the first time today. BEAUTIFUL WEATHER! I took Chloe and Lexi on a ride over to the library. It was a lot farther than I thought and harder. By the time we got there I had sweat marks all over my shirt. Not surprised, I am a SWEATER. When Tallie got home from school we had lunch outside and then had homemade Popsicles in our new Popsicle molds I bought on Amazon. The girls were pretty excited about the "ring pop" molds and actually really liked the coconut milk that was in them. Later the girls went to the Barron's house to play and while Lexi had some "quiet time" in her bed I snuck in a 20 min snooze. When TJ got home we went out for another bike ride by the creek. I LOVE this time of year. The kids played outside until it was dark and then TJ and I hit up some INSANITY. It's been a great day. We also cut back and went down to the basic tv package which means no more Disney Chanel or Nickelodeon and basically all of the other ones. Isn't it sad that I wanted to get rid of the Disney Chanel because I feel like most the shows are inappropriate and I don't want my girls watching them? I do however miss Dora, Mickey Mouse, and a few others that were actually very educational. Oh well. Less TV I hope and we are saving money.

Hair Stress

So here it is Tuesday night about 7:20. I have Chloe and Lexi in the tub. Tj has just left for scouts. All I can think about is going to bed as soon as I can get the kiddos into bed. I get this text from this girl Emily asking "Are we still on for tonight?" and I am thinking "Who is this Emily?" I am about to text back telling her that I think she has the wrong number. But then it hits me, its a hair client (Marilyn Boucher's sister) asking me if I am still good to color her hair tonight, as in 10 min. CRAP! I 'm pretty sure she forgot to give me a remind me text about this color she always sets up 3 months in advance and I had never written it on my calendar. And no, I could not tell her we would have to reschedule because she was driving in from MAGNA, which I think is a little over an hour away, SPECIFICALLY to get her hair done by ME! I scramble to look through my colors just hoping that I had colors for her. Not Really. I'm now calling my neighbor a street over (who is a hair dresser) if she has the shade of colors I need. She does. I quickly get the kids out of the bath and try and tidy up the living room as I pass through. My sink is full of dirty dishes and the dishwasher is full of clean dishes. I grab a huge bowl and throw all the dirty crap in it and hide it in the laundry room. Along with everything else. The doorbell rings. She comes in and asks to use the bathroom. While she is in there I take off running through the backyard and through the neighbors yard and to the next street over and down the street to Krissa's house. I hand her $10 and take the color and run home. I grab shampoo and hair stuff I had bought earlier that week that was still hanging out in my car (to make it look as if all that time I was missing I was just down in the garage getting stuff out of my car) I rest a few min to try and stop huffing and puffing. I calmly go upstairs. After our consultation on what she wanted to have done, turns out I didn't need the color after all. The kids went to bed (except Lexi who thought she needed to stay up with me) and it turned out to be one of my best color jobs ever. WHEW!!!

Now I am ready for bed

Number 4...

I AM PREGNANT!!!!

Happy day

Little black lambies

There is something about those little black lambies that just tug at my heart strings.

I wait all winter to see them again and I just happened to see them at the perfect time.

I usually first catch glimpse of them so tiny and black and stumbling around in the field.

But this time I'm pretty sure they had just been born. They were super tiny, wrinkly, jet black and perched in a pile of hay, not even standing. Literally I think they had just been pooped out!

I LOVE IT!

Their tiny cuteness however doesn't last long. With in a day or two they are standing, wobbling around, getting bigger everyday. And just a short week or two later they're fur is lightening up and they are almost triple in size.

Before you know it they are full size and one huge cotton ball.

But thats okay, because there are always more lambies to be born.

I'm not sure what it is about them that make me want to pull my car over and just stare and repeatedly ask the girls "Can you see them, aren't they so cute?". One of these days TJ will come home to a little black lamb on my lap in the backyard.

Maybe I love them because they remind me of my own babies.

How they start out soooo tiny and wrinkly and pure and so cute.

It's no wonder why the Lord always talks about sheep, gathering and herding them, sacraficing them and calling them perfect. He is my Shepard and we are His flock. I am my children's Shepard and they are my flock and I don't want them to stray just like the Lord does not want me to stray. We all have a responsibility to do our very best, and when we fail, to ask for help and forgiveness and then to get back up and try again.

Here is one of my all time favorite poems:

Twas a sheep not a lamb that strayed away
In the parable Jesus told,
A grown-up sheep that strayed away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.

And why for the sheep should we seek
And earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger when sheep go wrong;
They lead the lambs astray.

Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Wherever the sheep may stray.
When sheep go wrong, it won’t take long
Til the lambs are as wrong as they.

And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today,
For when sheep are lost, what a terrible cost
The lambs will have to pay!

-C. C. Miller

Free Doughnuts!!

Today we hit up Krispy Kremes for some free doughnuts.

We just had to show them Tallie's report card and WHALA! They were beyond excited and it's cute to see them play "Doughnut Shop" at home with their hats and box.

Today I had to get out of my "funk" and get out there and RUN. Somethings happens to a girl who wants to be pregnant and who is hanging out with pregnant people. I start to loose my energy and slow down like they do. I have not run nearly as far or as fast as I was just a couple months ago and I am so sad. I am not even pregnant and yet I am slowing down like I am! I had to get out there myself and not cater to anyone else. It's like I am at the bottom all over again and I have to work my way up. It is frustrating to me that not long ago running was fun and of course it was always hard (depending on how you push yourself) and running double digits was not a big deal and I felt good doing it.

4 miles is hard right now.

And It's a very slow 4 miles.

10 min miles hurt for 4 long miles.

I was doing 8 min miles for 13 miles.

It's only up from here right??

Today I started my tomato, basil, chive, and pepper seeds indoors. I don't have much faith when it comes to seeds so we will have to see if that works out. In a couple of days I will put broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and maybe potatoes in the ground. TJ also went and bought a new peach tree and a cherry tree. I am very stoked!

I have finished almost all of my spring cleaning: baseboards, blinds, grout, cabinets (inside and out), the garage, every ones closets (with spring clothes), the laundry room and detailing my car. I still have the dumb windows to do and the fridge. I made my very first Spaghetti Sauce from the garden tomatoes last year, I made 65 meatballs for the freezer and 150 chicken nuggets. I just ordered really cool Popsicle molds and silicone squeeze pops on Amazon.

Tallie is getting tons better at reading and at actually wanting to read. I have started working more with Chloe and beginning to read. She now knows about 10 sight words and can read them when we find them while reading. I just registered her for kindergarten and I CANNOT believe she is already going. Lexi is starting to recognize her name on paper and can help me say the letters in her name when I point to them. She also can count to ten. The girls have started getting an allowance. They each have 3 Manila envelopes on a metal ring: tithing, spending, saving. They get paid every Saturday. They get paid their age per month and we break that up weekly. We help with the tithing part and then they decide what to put in savings and spending. More often than not they put the most in savings. Good girls. They sure are motivated to do their jobs now.

I woke up sick

This morning I woke up sick, well actually it started early this morning at about 3am with a stomach ache. I have had diareah and have been so nauseous when I stand up (and no I am not pregnant). I didn't get out of bed until 11 this morning and then I went straight to the couch and there I sat until 4 o'clock. Good thing my girls are easy and can feed themselves and keep themselves busy and are very good at watching a WHOLE LOT of T.V.

Yesterday I was so productive: I cleaned 5 window blinds (still more to go), cleaned the outside of the deck and front door, had dinner going in the crock pot, made a batch of black bean brownies for the freezer, worked on my freezer dinner list for when we leave the girls for Hawaii, I swept and moped the floors, did 2 loads of laundry, picked up leaves in the backyard, ran 4 miles, and schooled the neighbor kids in "knockout".

Today I did nothing except melt into the couch.

I hate days like today.

First timers on the slopes

So we finally thought that this year was a good year to finally start teaching the girls how to ski. Not that I really want them to be skiers by any means because I really want them to be tiny snowboarders. But because snowboarding is hard, especially for the very first time to be on the slopes, we decided it best to try them on skies first. This way they can get used to the whole idea and then we can switch them over. I get so excited thinking about our family in the future going boarding together. It was something I did with friends growing up but never with family, especially my parents. My best friend growing up always went with her dad and I just thought that would be awesome. Plus I think it is a good idea to be able to do something with your kids when they are older that THEY think is cool that can always involve the whole family. I think it would have been so AWESOME to go snowboarding with my mom growing up.

The girls did pretty well for their first time. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. They had fun and say they want to do it again. That is what we were looking for. Whether they would like it or not and want to pursue it. Too bad I have never skied before in my life so I have not the slightest clue as to how to teach them. Enter in TJ (who knows how to do just about everything). Hopefully next year we can put them in ski school. Which means I should probably start saving up.

I mean do they make any smaller skies????

Lexi just sat on the sidelines and cheered. Next time I will be more prepared and bring some snacks along.

Flights BOOKED!

Yesterday we booked our tickets to Hawaii!!!!

I can't believe that we are able to go again....and so soon after our first trip!

Thanks to TJ's most generous parents with money (for Christmas) towards flights and for the free flight accumulated from TJs work and of course because we will have a free place to stay while we are there we financially are able to go.

I am so excited!

TJ and I started INSANITY (workouts) to get ready.

Last night I played against Tessa's team for our basketball tournament.

It was so fun to play against her and guard her.

And believe it or not my team won which means we are in the playoffs next week.

I wish that it wasn't almost over because it has been SO much fun.