January 21st - February 2nd

I missed a week, so I decided to combine it with this week's post....Here is what we've been up to.

Pet "Snakes" 

      It was raining for a couple days and Hadley and Avery discovered the joy of earthworms. The first day it rained they found a worm which Hadley called her "snake" and decided they wanted to keep him for a pet. (I didn't get any pictures of him. They made him a home in a shoebox, made him as comfortable as possible, with some grass and leaves, and left him for the day. Sadly, when they went to check on him at the end of the day he had met a sad ending. He was dried up, shriveled, and dead.
     The next morning, they woke up at about 6:00 a.m. and ran outside as fast as they could. I could hear them squealing and laughing (which I bet our neighbors loved). I went out to see what all the excitement was about. Hadley looked at me proudly and said, "Mom look at all our pet snakes!" They had taken our dirty outside dust pan and used it as a home for their new pets. They were so excited. I had a little talk with them about how they could play with them for a little while but then they needed to put them back out on the grass so they didn't end up like their first pet from the day before. They gladly agreed. They did not want any more dead snakes. Look how cute they were showing me their little friends. :)  

 My Winter Wreath

    When my sister Thresa came to visit me back in October for her fall break we looked on Pinterest for a project to do. We found a really cute grape vine wreath with burlap and linen flowers on it that we wanted to make. While she was here we made the flowers, then I put it away in a drawer in my craft room and forgot about it. Last week while I was organizing my craft room I found the flowers and decided to spend some time to finish it. I am excited with how it turned out. I think it is very cute. And I am glad I can check one project off my list of unfinished projects I need to complete.

 

Healthy Cookies, Take Two (Paleo Snickerdoodles) 

   After the no-bake cookies from last week, we decided to try another healthier cookie recipe. This time we found a paleo (grain free, dairy free, refined sugar free) snickerdoodle cookie recipe, found HERE to try.  It was a HUGE hit. We loved them. They were slightly chewy and just sweet enough to be a treat (which the girls loved) but had only a small amount of honey and coconut sugar (which I loved) we will definitely add these cookies to our keeper list. Yummy! 

 

 Funny Hadley

   Hadley has a hard time sitting still when she's eating. It drives us crazy. We no longer have her booster seat, so keeping her still while she eats dinner is nearly impossible. She squirms and wiggles, and is often all alone at the table finishing her food LONG after the rest of us are done. Most nights this doesn't bother her a bit, she just stands on the legs of two chairs and sings and sings and sings......(Tobey finally came up with a solution to keep her seated - I'll have to take some pictures and blog about it next week). In the meantime, we all have nightly after dinner serenades from Hads. 

 

 

Moments....

    There are times it's exhausting and frustrating to be a mom. And then there are moments that make it all worth it, like finding a note like this from Avery on my desk (almost every single day). I decided to take a picture of her latest one. She is so sweet and loves to show her love through kind notes and pictures. I sure love that kid.

Silly Sisters

   Hadley and Avery are best friends. They are ALWAYS finding some silly game to play with each other and the sound of their giggles fills the house. This week they were squishing themselves into a little tube that connects to their princess tent. They must have played in that thing for a hour! :) 

 

Field Trip With Paige

   Paige's class is studying California state history this year. They went to visit a rancho replica and I was able to go with her. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot. (Since I am not from California, I don't really know a lot about the state's history).  The kids got to help make adobe bricks, use a lasso to rope a cow (I did not get a picture of that), and even make corn tortillas and homemade butter. Although it was a strangely cold day. As a side note, I know people make fun of Californians for saying that 45-50 degrees is not cold. I have to say, I have lived in COLD places (Fairbanks, Alaska and Rexburg, Idaho) and this is a different kind of cold. This cold is a wet, muggy cold that seeps into your clothes and bones and is very chilling. I used to make fun of the weenie Californians too, but now I get what they are talking about. It is cold. I mean it! Anyway, despite the shivering I had a lot of fun being with Paige and seeing her interact with her classmates.

Making the adobe bricks

Making a corn tortilla

Making their homemade butter. (I love the enthusiasm on her friend Meghan's face, hahaha!)

Hanging out with my girlie!

Saying Goodbye to Old Blue

   We were given a denim sofa bed about six years ago from some friends of ours and it has been a good couch for us. Although, I have to say it is ugly. :) I hid it in my basement in Rexburg, and when we moved here I vowed to get rid of the thing. This week while perusing on craigslist I found a nice, microfiber tan couch that matched the interior of our home much better for a steal of a price and purchased it. We decided to donate old blue to a needy family who has no furniture, so to say goodbye to our trusty, comfortable old friend, we pulled it out into the middle of the room, pulled out the hide-a-bed and had a movie party on it. The girls loved it! And I love that I no longer have a faded, 80s denim couch in my living room! 

 

Random Hadley Shots

   I took this picture for two reasons. First, Hadley is my little shopping buddy. She and I run all sorts of errands together, and she is a great companion. I love having only one kid to lug around with me most of the time (for a few more months anyway). 

   Secondly, Hadley has become VERY particular about which clothes she will or will not wear. She absolutely refused to wear anything I suggest. She wants to be the one to pick our her clothes. A lot of days, I am thankful we have nowhere to go in public - and on the days we do, I just have to let my pride go and just let her be herself. She wore this outfit three days in a row, until I finally snuck it out of her sight so I could wash it. Little stinker! 

 

 These beauties were taken by Hadley herself. She sneaked into my purse when I was distracted and took these pictures of herself while we were driving. They are so funny because the angle makes her nose look HUGE!  :)

Craft Club

   Over a year ago my friend Kris and I started a craft club with some of the women from church. She and I would take turns monthly to come up with a craft for the women to do. We buy all the supplies and have the women meet in our houses and do the craft. Sadly, Kris moved away but I decided I still wanted to do craft club. I love doing crafts and it's even more fun when you have a bunch of friends to do them with you. I am going to start posting our projects. We have made a bunch of cute things. This month since it is Valentine's Day we made these fun heart argyle wreaths. 

We also celebrated Hadley's 4th birthday and had another doctor's visit, but I am hoping to blog about those in separate blogs later this week.