Greatest Toy Ever

Mason and Kendal have been entertaining themselves now for the last several minutes. Mason has one half of the box and Kendal the other half. She just now took a break to do a little light reading.

Birthday Girl!

Best birthday to date, and it's only 8:30 am!! Maybe my thirties wont be THAT bad! Thanks to FABULOUS friends who broke into my house at midnight and drug my bum out of bed, dressed me up like a princess, gave me wonderful gifts, and treated me to breakfast at Denny's!! My little heart is overflowing with love and happiness. Love you all so much!! Thanks McCall, Kacey, Britt, Kylie, Dez, and Em. Feel so incredibly lucky to have each of you in my life! And thanks to my very best friend of all, my hubby. Way to keep a secret! Thanks for the cute note and awesome present you left me this morning. I love you more than words.

Frosty the Snowman

Just a lazy Sunday evening with some INTENSE watching of 'Frosty the Snowman.' We LOVE the Christmas classics!

Busted!!

I have GOT to stop under-estimating this little whippersnapper! Caught in the act...with her hand in the candy jar!

Can I Get a HALLELUJAH?!

Ok...I got us all up back to speed. I documented the highlights of the last several months!! Hooray! I backdated them, so for those of you who care to read, you will have to back-track. Here are the dates: 8/31, 9/5, 10/8, 10/31, 11/23, 11/29, 12/6, 12/7. And there you have it.

Whoopsie!!

I volunteer in Addie's class every other Wednesday morning. When I walked into class and she ran up to hug me, I noticed something.  She accidently (I think?) put on one of Mason's snowboots and one of her Ugg boots...and here is the best part. They were on the wrong feet!! Oh dear. I did make her switch them to the right feet at least. Silly girl!



Williams' Gingerbread Activity

For FHE Cody came up with the idea to do a gingerbread house. That is exactly what we did. A special shout out to Rudolph, Santa, and the Abominable Snowman. Lookin' good boys, lookin' good!



Once Again...

...I have utterly & COMPLETELY followed my usual theme of "All or Nothing." My blog has fallen to the back burner, which is so disappointing, because I would like to keep this as a family journal... Dang it! I have had so many posts I have wanted to blog about. As the list builds I feel a little more overwhelmed, so then I do what I tend to do best. Procrastinate!! I am renewing my effort to try and be a better historian. So... on that note, more to come!

Here's some for ya.... I SERIOUSLY need to do something other than play with the iPad!

It started out like this......


...and RAPIDLY declined from there!!

Temple Square Lights

We visited the lights at Temple Square... and it was CHILLY! We got to see the Christus and the Nativity as well. And we only lost one child once. Addie.



Girl Scouts

Among other things, Addie is now a Daisy Girl Scout! My friend Marie started the troop for some girls in our neighborhood. They meet every other Thursday at her house and do lots of fun activities. Here are some pictures of their first award ceremony.

Halloween

The pictures tell all. It was a very happy Halloween around here!

Henoch-Schonlein Purpura...WHAT!

Addie got diagnosed with something called Henoch-Schonlein Purpura as well as Strep throat and a UTI. She didn't act sick in any way until Saturday evening she started to complain that her feet hurt and she couldn't walk well. I didn't think much of it, thinking maybe she had a blister or something. By the time we had got home from Ogden that night, both of her feet and ankles had swollen so hard and tight that she just cried.  She had little pinpoint bumps all over her legs and bum. So nurse Amy decided it was time to high-tail it to the after-hours care. The doctor seemed to know right what it was even though it is rare, but was very surprised that she hadn't acted sick otherwise, because HSP usually follows an infection. He tested her anyway and found her to have Strep throat and a UTI! WHAT?!! Poor girl didn't exhibit a symptom! Anywhoo... she was fairly tender for a few weeks and the swelling worked its way up to her knees. She seems to be just fine now and missed out on the other scary symptoms of HSP, such as gastrointestinal bleeding and arthritis for up to 6 weeks. Little blessings, tender mercies.  Here are some pics a day or two later. I wish I would have thought to take some the night I took her in...U-G-L-Y!
FYI HSP symptoms are swelling caused by a vasculitis (leaky vessels), arthritis, purpura or pinpoint bruising, GI bleeding, and kidney issues. Thank goodness we missed out on the big ones.

Best.Cookies.EVER.

For those of you who haven't tried a super recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies...here you go. They are easy, quick, and DIVINE!

1 boxed spice cake mix
15 oz canned pumpkin
1 bag chocolate chips
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Dash or 2 of ginger
1 tsp vanilla
Mix all ingredients (do not prepare cake mix...just dump in). Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

My own little twist is the spices. Some reviews said to add pumpkin pie spice, but when I looked over here at jubilee it was $6.50 for a SMALL bottle! No way. So I fiddled with my own concoction. Reviews also said they got all sweaty and soggy when stored in an airtight container, so I tried putting mine in the fridge last night. So far the first 5 cookies I have eaten this morning : ) were perfect!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My Little Missionary!

One of THOSE days..

I started off today feeling overwhelmed by our disaster we call a house. I can never have it all clean at one time...if even for a few hours. If the kitchen and living room are clean, the bedrooms are a mess and vice versa. So I started by getting some laundry in, then swept and mopped the kitchen floor. As I was just picking up toys, I noticed Kendal behind me leaving a trail. Some dirty clothes down the hall she pulled out of the laundry basket, the DVD cases off of the tv stand all over the floor, she dumped ALL her toys out of her toy basket in the living room, kitchen cupboards and drawers open. AAAAAAHHHH! Ya..she alone is a full time job. What nearly sent me into tears was when Addie spilled her cup of milk at lunch, which then drained down two of the barstools and onto my freshly mopped floor. This was all followed by Kendal throwing the remnants of her ketchup-covered chicken nuggets on the floor as well. (this seems to be a favorite pastime of hers at every meal) Wow. I am trying to remember that this time will pass and I will be so sad when my kids aren't in the little stage anymore, but for the time being...it's not easy! Just nobody drop-in to my house unannounced for a visit for about 10 more years. Otherwise you may need a tetanus shot!
I have been meaning to post about Addie and Mason's first big days of school, and I will get to it...as soon as my house is clean!!

School Days

My two oldest babies started school this fall. Every mother says it, but here goes anyway... I just CANT believe they are old enough to go! Time truly flies. Addie is in Mrs. Carpenters kindergarten class and Mason is in his 3 year old year of preschool with Teacher Megan Phillips.

Mason Cash- 3 year old pre-school



Addie Belle- Kindergarten

Kendal Morgan- "wanna-be" student