two years old!

Anthony and Joshua's birthday's are a day apart so we celebrated them together- rather Joshua got two birthdays (I wanted to make two cakes, just not get stuck eating them both) we had our little family celebration last night and today he got to open his presents and eat more cake. The boys had enjoyed decorating and we got those bottles that shoot confetti out- they thought that was so fun. I can't believe my baby is already two. Now if we can just get him to talk...

my new apron!

Isn't this the most beautiful apron you've ever seen???  My incredibly talented friend Amber made this for me! And it's even cuter on!

I absolutely love the fabric and the design is so adorable. Now when I answer the door rather than seeing me still in my pajamas they'll think I'm wearing a fabulously stylish dress ;)

4 months old!

my fat little baby is growing so fast!

knock. knock.

"who's there?
boo.
boo who?
don't cry it's just a joke!
HA HA HA"

This is what we hear constantly at our house. Ethan is totally obsessed with jokes lately. His other favorites are

"Why did the banana go to the doctor?
He wasn't peeling well!"

"Knock. knock. who's there. police. police who? police turn off the lights when you leave the room!"

And he will start laughing hysterically before he even finishes the joke. It's so funny to see him gain a sense of humor!

and great was the soreness thereof...

So I've been running ever since I had Grant and have lost all but 2 pounds of his baby weight, but I'm trying to lose the 5lbs from Joshua and 5lbs from Ethan (I've been either pregnant or breastfeeding since 2006 so it's not going to come off easily).

But I'm starting to lose my motivation (and heaven knows I will not give up my sweets) so I thought I'd try one of the OnDemand fitness workouts for a little break from running. Most of them were pretty boring- if after the first 5 minutes they're still walking in place or stepping side to side I know it's going to be a waste of time.

Then I saw this Jackie Warner circuit training- I'd just read an article in Health magazine that said those who did circuits in 3- 20 minute sessions lost weight faster than those who did double that time of just regular cardio. So thought I'd give it a try.

Let's just say it works. really well. I can barely walk. I don't think I've been this sore in years. It feels awesome. She works every muscle of your body and doesn't waste time with useless filler exercises. This is my new favorite workout dvd. It's equal to the Firm Tough Tape series (just not as cheesy). So if you're feeling the need to get your butt kicked, check it out on OnDemand or Netflix.

Chinese New Year!

We had a Chinese New Year party last night! When we were in China (I can't believe it's been 6 years!) we bought all these fun dishes and things and planned on breaking them out everytime we had Chinese food. I think this is the second time we've used them ;) I made some of the foods we ate while there, we listened to some Chinese music, made Chinese lanterns and dragons and the boys dressed up in the little Chinese outfits we bought while there long before we ever had kids (I still have a little girl dress that will probably never be worn). It was a ton of fun. We're going to start a tradition of cultural theme nights, it's fun to dress up, listen to music and eat different foods. You can view our Chinese recipes on my food blog.

  

 

Valentine's Cards

 

Ethan has been so excited about Valentine's Day, every day he says "today is Valentine's day!" And yesterday we woke up to about 4 inches of snow, work got cancelled so we played in the snow all morning then made Valentine's day cards in the afternoon.

He had lots of fun coloring each one and there's a little wheel that spins to show different v-day sayings.

I made a template for this card you can download here.

stinky feet time

Whenever baby Grant has bare feet, Ethan takes off his socks and says "it's stinky feet time!" and puts his feet on baby's feet. It's so silly and cute. He loves having "Ethan & Grant time".

 

chunky monkey

I just love this little butterball!
   

Yummy!

I'm kind of a recipe addict. I love trying new recipes, and I'm always trying new ones until I find one that actually works every time you make it. Nothing is more frustrating than spending hours in the kitchen and not having the recipe turn out (I usually try my new recipes on dinner guests so if it turns out bad, I don't have to eat it all by myself!)

So...I'm starting a food blog where I will post recipes that I've tried and that actually work and taste good! All important criteria. If you have recipes you'd like to share, please post a link to your blog site so we can all enjoy! (be sure to check out my link to Joann's Recipes, I get a lot of great recipes from her) I'm doing a cooking class for our R.S. activity each month so I'll be posting those recipes here as well, http://ldsbaker.blogspot.com/

Snow Day!

We woke up this morning to several inches of snow! It snowed while we were in Florida and one other time there was a tiny sprinkling so this is the first "real" snow we've seen this winter! It is light fluffy powder too, the boys had so much fun playing in it. Finally starting to feel like winter now that it's almost February!

smarty pants

Ethan's been reading small words since he was two, but now that he's three he's really starting to get the whole reading thing so I finally sat down and recorded him reading a few books. I print the books from starfall.com and DLTK . We also got the your baby can read dvd's a few months ago which he likes to watch in the car.

He loves doing homeschool and if you tell him something 2 or 3 times he'll remember forever. He can locate almost all the u.s. states, knows the pledge of allegiance, the first 8 articles of faith, all the apostles, the planets, and is a pro on the computer- he loves pbskids.org and starfall.com. and he's on a dinosaur kick so he can identify quite a few of them and will tell you random facts like "birds are pterosaurs". He constantly amazes me with the things he picks up even when he's running around the room like a wild monkey and I don't think he even hears a word I'm saying.

Disney

We had a great week in Orlando although the weather was crazy cold the first half of the week. The first day wasn't too bad, we went to Animal Kingdom and were pleasantly surprised when we went on the safari. When we went last April it was ok but the animals were far away and hard to see, we figured it would be even worse since it was so cold, but they were all out and really close to us, there was a giraffe and rhino that were less than 3 feet away from us. It was awesome. The lines were so much shorter too and it was a really pleasant trip despite the cold. It's so fun to see Ethan get so excited about seeing Mickey Mouse and Lightning McQueen.I ran my 5k on Friday morning. I was a bit nervous since I just had a baby and had bronchitis the last few weeks, but I finished in 40 minutes. Not much compared to what Anthony does all the time, but it was pretty good for me. Saturday the boys ran a 100 meter race, it was cold and rainy and they were crying at the end. Ethan did really well but kept looking back to see where Anthony and Joshua were. Anthony ran the full marathon then walked around the parks for another 4-5 hours that evening. We also got to see our good friend Tracey who did the goofy- half marathon and then full marathon the next day.

Of course just as we were getting ready to leave the weather turned beautiful again. But it was a fun trip. It's fun to see the kids enjoy it more each year as they get older. Now it's back to unpacking and getting settled into real life again...

Happy New Year!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years! It's always so fun to get everyone's Christmas cards and see how families are growing and changing. We had a nice quiet Christmas here with just our family. The boys had fun opening their presents- Ethan of course tears right into it and starts jumping on all the bubble packaging while Joshua tears one tiny piece off at a time and places each piece on the table before tearing another piece off. Ethan & Joshua are obsessed with Thomas the Train and they each got a little portable track and trains from their cousins that they play with nonstop. They also got sleeping bags from their grandparents and Anthony and Ethan have already camped in the backyard twice. Anthony also got them the cutest little bathrobes, Joshua looks so adorable tromping around the house in it. I got some new photography gear and a new computer with a large screen so I can actually see the pictures when I'm editing them.

Grant is getting to be such a chunky monkey. My other boys were always below the 25th percentile for weight, not Grant. He's in the 95th! This little chunker weighs 13.8 pounds and he's only 2 months old. He's already starting to outgrown 0-3 month clothes. It's nice to finally have a baby with cute little fat rolls!

We're still getting unpacked, it's going to take me forever to get everything in it's place, and even longer to take pictures, but I did manage to get a picture of the living room- the only room that's 90% unpacked, and since we're getting ready to go to Disney World I'm sure it will be July before I get any other pics posted. Anyway...here are all the pics from December...

Sold!

It's official, We've sold our house! It was really a great first house and we're going to miss it- especially the view we had from our deck. We'll be moving into our new house tomorrow, it's in the same city just a few miles away. Kind of sad to see the walls bare and hear the rooms echo. I'll post pics of our new place once we get settled....back to packing!