The Blankie

Lucas LOVES his Blankie. We try and keep it in the crib, but if we are ever upstairs Lucas sneaks in and gets it out. I wash it once a week or so depending on how dirty or smelly it gets. Lucas isn't a fan of wash day and today I snapped a picture of Lucas waiting for his Blankie to be done...






He just watches it and watches it.... And when the dryer dings...




He is much happier. Lucas keep in on his face. He never drags it or wraps it on his legs. It is always covering his mouth/nose.

Lucas also loves him some cupcakes just like his momma! He only gets one after lunch and dinner.... So tonight he took matters into his own hands.






How can you say no that face?






Oops! Both legs in the same hole... But who cares? He has a cupcake.





Love that face.....snot and all. Even better is biz waiting for someone to drop some food.





Really love this boy of mine!

The Face

This is the face Lucas gets every time he throw food off his tray at dinner and Andy says Lucas in the "voice"....


Priceless.

And this is my favorite thing to stumble upon when I go outside...


Lucas' cute little crocs next to Andys basketball shoes.... Both sitting there after an hour of playing together in the backyard. Love my boys.

Valentines 2011

Today was Valentines Day. Typically, Valentines Day is one of my favorite days of the year. I LOVE giving Valentines, cute pink treats and spoiling those I love. This probably stems from the fun Valentines Day my mom always planned each year complete with See's Candy and a Valentine's Basket.

This year I have been Ba-hum-bug about Valentines day. I think it is a mixture of February sneaking up on me and Valentines being on a Monday. I didn't have time to make and treats! So when Andy came home from work a little bit early I wasn't very "festive".

I just kept going about my usual Monday/clean the house routine. When I came downstairs I had these beauties waiting on the table...

My two favorites... I asked why there were two bouquets and Andy replied, "One is from me, and One is from Lucas"

My mood was changing into a little bit more festive. Andy asked where I wanted to go to a late lunch/early dinner. I thought long and hard... and decided on Nordstrom Cafe. I LOVE the Cafe and Lucas needed some new shoes... so off we all went!

Nordstrom Cafe did not disappoint! We all enjoyed our dinner, cookies, and diet cokes! Lucas was excited to see the fish in the kids department, but something else caught his eye...

The Balloons! We put two in his pockets and he was more than excited. Now that he was happy... we tried on some shoes. And I am happy to announce that Lucas has his first pair of...

SALTWATER SANDALS!

We LOVE Saltwater Sandals in this family and I have been anxiously waiting for Lucas to fit into them. I think he looks adorable walking around... can't you just imagine some patch shorts with a navy blue polo with his sandals to church on Sunday? Darling.

And just one more for your viewing pleasure...

Hmmm... I could eat those thighs!

Andy asked if I wanted something... I thought about it and I needed a new pair of Toms. My current pair I wear at least once each day and are looking a little haggard. So we headed to the women's shoe department. As we were there Andy asked if I wanted to try on anything else. I saw the most beautiful pair of Seychelles (my favorite brand) heels and tried them on... and of course they fit perfect and were so cute. Andy asked which ones I wanted (those or the Toms) so I told him he could choose.... And Lucas and I went off to look at Mens Dress Shirts.

When we got home I started unloading the car to find this:

Andy surprised me and bought both.... naughty shamers. What a Happy Valentines Day indeed.

Although a part of me wishes my little monkey still looked like this:

Valentines 2010- Nauvoo, Meeting our Minna and Bompa for the first time.

Check out those cheeks! Yum!

I'm glad I got to share my Valentines with both my boys.

And the best way to end Valentines... The Bachelor.

Happy Valentines Day!

What a weekend!

This past weekend has been BUSY! But we wouldn't have it any other way. It started out with Grandma Jane's Retirement Party. Aunt Julie hosted and provided the delicious food and entertainment. Lucas was ready for bed, but he stuck it out and acted as if he owned the place.

On Saturday morning we got three more children! Our darling nieces Charlotte (almost 8), Amelia (5) and Beatrice (2) spend the weekend with us while their parents went to LA. Life with 4 children is certainly busier, but so much fun. Lucas was in heaven all weekend because he had three older sisters doting after him all the time. We loved the weather... and spent lots of time playing outside.

Cute Bea on the Mickey Mouse walker... she loves Mickey.

Amelia loved Lucas' dump truck, and she and Charlotte played all day.

The girls taught Lucas how to write on the chalk board. Andy and I were so excited. He has never grasped the concept to write, but he just picked up the chalk and started scribbling away. He kept switching the chalk from right hand to left so we don't know if he will be like his momma (right handed) or like his daddy and grandma tracy (left handed).

Lucas has only had apple juice and white grapeftuit so when he found Bea's sippy with lemonade he was VERY happy.

We made it to church a few minutes late.. but only lasted through sacrament. In our defense we had three kids who needed naps and we got a new Bishop so sacrament meeting was almost 2 hours. We came home, ate dinner, and played some more.

Bea and Lucas are best friends. All weekend we would say, "Where is Lucas?" " Where is Bea?" and we would always find them playing together in the playroom. Needless to say he was so sad when she had to leave tonight. He gave her the biggest hug, it was so cute.
My favorite quotes from the weekend...

Whenever the doorbell rings our dog barks and we always say, "It's OK Isabelle". So after the 4th time this weekend Bea turn to the dog crate and says, "It's OK Isabelle" in her sweet little voice. It is amazing to me how much kids catch on.

We left Andy at church because he had to teach his 10 year olds and when we got in the car Amelia asked how Andy was going to get home. Then she replied, "Oh duh, he'll catch a taxi".

Andy was picking on me about where all the ice cream went (he ate it all) and so we took a vote to see who everyone thought ate it. When everyone voted Andy he asked, "girls who have you known longer, me or Jillian?" implying they should side with him since they known him longer. To which Amelia replied, "what does Knowing andy longer have to do with who we vote for?" oh the innocence of children, we all got a good laugh. Amelia is the same little girl who said she wanted to be a Teenager when she wanted to grow up on her primary spotlight form. Hilarious.

I am excited to take bath tonight and relax! Life with 4 kids is crazy, I don't know how my mom (and dad) did it!

Just call us Johnny Appleseed

So we watched Food, Inc for FHE. I know, it's probably a raging liberal film with several biased opinions, BUT they do make some good points. Our overprocessed foods are probably not always the healthiest options and our meat and vegetables could be coming from better environments.

Needless to say we didn't know what to eat on Tuesday morning. So after some research we decided that as a family we could improve in some areas. For the first time in my life I went to Whole Foods..gasp. I just figured it was overpriced and for hippies. I actually enjoyed it, and I have to say I ate the best tomato of my life today. Seriously. I will say I had some evil looks from passerbys since I didn't bring my own bags.... Baby steps people, baby steps.

We made 10 goals as a family where we could eat better/healthier. Here are a few:

1. Plant a garden.... we have been wanting to do this anyway, but now have got the wheels turning. My grandpa always has the best garden and to this day I cannot eat any plums that aren't from his tree.
Here we are planting all the seeds....



All the seeds planted.... We put them out all day, water, and bring them in. This is called Seed Germination. Once the seeds take to the soil and sprout we will plant them outside.... And hopefully enjoy the fruits of our labor.




We planted Tomatoes, Carrots, Peas, Squash, Watermelon, Green Beans, and Jalapeños. No we don't eat jalapeños regularly, but they grow really well in the Las Vegas climate, so we are giving it a whirl. So we'll keep you posted on our garden.

2. Make homemade bread- I know... crazy right? I looked at a dozen bread labels and couldn't find one without a processed something or other. I went to Sur la Table and bought some bread pans... bought organic whole wheat flour and made two loaves today. It only took 1 hour from start to finish and it is TOO DIE FOR! It has no sugar in it... plus Lucas LOVES it. Since he eats bread at every meal we needed a healthier choice. It was so cute, all night long he would walk to the counter where the bread was and go on his tippy toes and try to reach it.... then when he couldn't he would point and grunt. So... I will make bread every week. Small sacrifice go make.

3. Eat more vegetables that are in season. We had brussel Sprouts tonight because they are "in" season. They actually tasted pretty good! Even Andy liked them.

So there you have it. We are total granola, orangic eating family. But don't worry dad.... we are still republican!

If we ever have too much money we are going to buy a ranch so we can have free range chicken and cows.... but who ever has too much money?

Wish us luck!

Carwash

Today has been a LONG day.... I have neglected house chores all weekend (PS my weekend started Thursday) and the house needed some TLC. Lucas was my big helper by taking a 4 1/2 hour nap so I could get my butt in gear. I organized closets, did 10 loads of wash, cleaned the kitchen, bathrooms, floors.... you name it, I cleaned it. Oh, and I ironed shirts this week for Andy.

Needless to say when Lucas woke up from his nap we needed a fun outing to get us both out of the house. Our car has been neglected for the last few weeks as well, so after cleaning it out we went to the carwash. Lucas LOVES going through the carwash and is fascinated by the water and he loves the air dryers.

Today I let him pick out a treat that we could share while we waited...

He chose a Kit Kat, one of my personal favorites. Lucas will now say "Hi" to anyone he can see. He said "Hi" to the man in the carwash, all the people waiting for their cars, the cashier in Terrible's, and all the guys drying the cars. I think he had everyone smiling :-)

He also watched our car to make sure it was still there. The best part about Terribles? They vacuum carseats so they are Cherrio free! Lucas was very excited to get in his clean carseat.

Between the chocolate and the new car freshener we were both in a better mood!

Gym Time!

Today we went to our first Mommy and me Gym Class. I'm not sure who had more fun... mommy or Lucas. I got a work out, that's for sure! The foam pit was quite the process getting out of. Lucas was a bit skeptical at first, but was LOVING it towards the end. I can't wait to see how he reacts next week when it isn't so "new".

Wouldn't you know Lucas found the Balls and Hoop first... just like his grandpa.

This is the parachute....definitely the highlight. Although next time I'll remember a tic tac :-)

Of all the fun things to play with this was Lucas' favorite favorite. He would jump on it, climb on it, roll off of it, you name it. I would take him off to play other things... he would climb off my lap and go back to the "Half-Mushroom"...

And here are all our gym (/church/playgroup/everywhere we go) buddies!

Can't wait for next week!