Carpet in the basement!!

Oh HAPPY DAY!!! We finally got the carpet installed in the basement and I am in LOVE! I love love love it and am so excited to get the ball rolling on putting our house back together! I can't wait for the older girls to have their new room (Lexi is so cute because she keeps saying "I can't believe I will be getting my OWN room!) She already has her own room! I'm beyond excited for the little man to get his own room and for me to have my room back and to actually decorate a little boys room! I can't wait to get the garage cleaned out and things put back in order and for my treadmill to be up and ready for me to run on it! For Family home evening tonight we played duck duck goose in the big empty basement and it was so much fun! Everyone was being silly and we couldn't stop laughing! And speaking of laughing, Kasen has started to giggle and its so darn cute! For whatever reason he thinks its super funny to have his clothes changed. He just giggles when you take his clothes off. Such a funny guy. Oh and Tallie has started Piano Lessons! She had her first lesson last week and she said she loved it and loved  doing her homework (theory) too. Her teacher is a girl in the neighborhood who is 17 maybe and comes to my house (a dream for me) and only charges $8 for a 35-45 min lesson. It's the best set up and I can't wait to start hearing some little ditties from Tallie on the keys. And I should mention that I did have to bribe her to take lessons with a pair of high heels. Her idea. But hey whatever works right?

Valentine's Day

This is what I woke up to on Love Day. 

Petals right outside my bedroom door, down the hall to the kitchen and all over the counter. On top was a lovely love note and a bag of twizzlers. I LOVE it when TJ writes me notes and tells me how much he loves me. I seriously love love love my man. He makes my heart smile.

He came home from work with a Kinect game system (he sold the Wii) and the kids were so happy. We had had a pizza and game night with Becky and Rob and they have one and we obviously thought it was so awesome because now we own one. He also secretly showed me the tickets to Disney on Ice. I am so excited to take the girls. They have been asking about going to DisneyLand a lot lately, we have multiple families in our ward who go 1-2 times a year, EVERY year. Personally I think that means they have no imagination. Do and go somewhere else. Expose your kids to something new if you have the money to take family vacations every year. Anyway, since we can't go because all of our money is in the basement right now, I really wanted to take them to see the "Magic" before they get old and their magic wears out. They will LOVE IT!!

 We had our annual Valentine Tea Party and this year we invited Tessa and the kids. We all dressed up fancy, had a dance party and played Valentine Bingo. I love this tradition we have. I'm not sure how Kasen will feel about it when he gets older. 

We had pizza for dinner (my mom always made pink mashed potatoes and heart meatloaf) and then we played some Kinect sports and Just Dance to end the night.

Dates and such

I love this little man! He is smiling a lot more now and starting to coo and make sweet noises. He had his 2 month check up (at three months old) and he just barely is making the charts. He weighs almost 12 LBS and now wears 3-6month clothes BIG BOY compared to my girls that is. They never wore their actual size clothing. His stiff neck (he favors his right side) is getting better. We do a lot of tummy time and we always roll his head over once he falls asleep and we always make him check out the action from his left side so that his tight neck muscles loosen up. He is doing awesome at sleeping and even gave me a full 12 hours the other night. He has a little bit of a cold right now so sleep is not as great now but I hope he will go back when he feels better. He got his shots and for the rest of the day he was cranky and just laid on my shoulder and whimpered like a puppy who had a thorn in his foot for the rest of the day. Poor  guy. He can roll from his tummy to his back and he has super strong legs. He has one more check up for his hips to make sure his sockets are deep enough and then the cardiologist at 6 months and then I hope we will be in the clear. He got his first dose of mom being super busy with hair appointments and it was hard because he was off schedule and grumpy and cried a lot. It's days like those that I just want to give up hair together. But I can't. It's good comfort to know I have a job if ever there was a time I needed one to support the family or anything. So I have to keep up my skills. I have more appointments this next week and then hopefully a break for a little bit because I hope to be finally caught up. I ran 4 MILES TODAY! Feels silly to say that like its a lot but once again I am starting at the bottom and working my way up. I am just super amazed at this body I was given. Our bodies are so amazing. I mean just 3 months ago I was in critical condition, receiving 12 units of blood and on a respirator and not doing well to now here I am running and doing Insanity workouts everyday. I have been blessed and so very lucky to be here. So I will continue to run and keep my body healthy because it truly is a gift from God.

 Tonight Tallie and I went on our date and we hit up the nail salon for some PEDICURES. I thought she would really like it since she is always wanting to play Fancy Nancy at home and making foot baths. We had a good time (hopefully since it was an expensive date for the both of us). Chloe also got her date with dad for Feburary. They went to IHOP for lunch and then to the candy shop to load up on sweets. Hopefully once summer hits our dates won't be as sugary because we will be able to do things outside. 

nighttime songs

For the past few nights I have been tucking Lexi into bed and singing songs with her before I say goodnight. I just feel like I need some special time with just her. We get face to face and we sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"  "I Love to See The Temple" "I Am A Child Of God" "ABC's" and any other primary song that comes to Lexi's mind. She is so cute because she is such a good talker and she knows all of the words. It just melts my heart. And she obviously looks forward to that time of night too because at dinner when I asked her what her favorite part of the day was she said "I love my nighttime songs". AND I LOVE MY LEXI!

Free man!!

Kasen is cord free!!! It may not be the decision that the doctor ordered but we feel it's the right one and that the heart monitor is no longer serving a purpose and may be even causing more problems....a semi flat head for Kasen. Since he has always been plugged into the wall it has been hard to carry him from room to room and so he has spent quite a bit of time just laying around which has caused a flat spot. I will deal with the doctor when she calls and questions us as parents but we feel good about our choice and confident that Kasen is doing just great! It feels so good to have my baby all to myself and to walk freely around my house. I love this little man and the smiles and joy he brings to our lives. And I really love the sleep he is giving me!! And because he has been sleeping from 7pm to about 6 am and then  back to sleep till about 8 am I have started early morning runs again with Becky and yes it's cold out and we come home with frosty white eyelashes but man it feels good to be out again!

Weekend in St. George

Here are the only pics we took while in St. George. The weather said it would be 65 and sunny but low and behold it was 50 and rainy. It literally rained the whole time we were there. Just our luck. BUT it was still fun. We got in late and caught the end of a movie in our hotel room and then went out for breakfast the next morning and then hit up the hotel pool. It was cute watching Tallie give Chloe and Lexi swim lessons and having them kick from one side of the pool to the other. After we checked out of the hotel and went to lunch. We drove up to Dixie Rock and I stayed in the car with Kasen (it was still drizzling and hiking with the heart monitor on would be a hassle) but TJ took the girls up the rock and they climbed around and went in caves. We also went bowling and then out to dinner. Because of the rain we didn't play outside or go the park and be in the sun which was the whole reason for going on our little vaca but we all had a good time.

Warmer days

January is finally over and I think the freezing days of below 10 degrees for the high are gone(hopefully).

The fog and inversion are gone and we can finally breath again and so we WENT OUTSIDE!

It was about 35 outside and it felt so nice and the kids got some much needed energy out. I even went out in my flip flops and my toes loved seeing the sun again.

Lexi's date with dad

Lexi finally got her date with dad and she was in heaven picking out her ice cream and endless toppings at Yogurt Bliss.

When Chloe gets ahold of my phone

These are some self portraits Miss Chloe took of herself on my phone.

These might be good to have later when she is a teenager...

Potato stamping

Not sure where this came from but every year we potato stamp to decorate the kids bedroom doors. It's cheap and easy fun. Tallie and Chloe have also been asking a lot to sew so I taught them how to hand stitch tiny felt hearts and then stuff them. The red one was Lexi's and I was so impressed with her!! I just pointed and she would stick the needle in and pull out the other end and repeat. I've got a list a mile long of beginner sew projects for kids that I found on Pinterest and I am sure we will go through them all since they think it's fun to do and I like teaching them.