Ta da!

I have been working on a Happy Birthday banner for the past couple of weeks and finally finished it today. We have a nice long shelf in our kitchen area that I plan on hanging it from when it's someones birthday. (Well, I mean you have to live here and have a birthday. Otherwise it would be up all the time and wouldn't be that special.) I am happy with how it turned out. I was difficult to get a nice picture of it but you get the idea.

While I am here I may as well give an update on the kids.

Lilly is a bit of an odd duck and this makes her a joy to be around. She is a talker like her big sister Bella was at this age. (which is 2 next month) She asks questions and tells me what she wants using complete sentences. She loves to sing and dance and keep her toes clean.

Ayva is enjoying preschool and swim lessons and in her free time she likes to play Zelda and Super Monkey Ball Blitz on the Wii. She is very imaginative and kind but will always speak her mind. (not always a good thing)

Bella is also enjoying school and swim lessons. She is also a tremendous help at times with her sisters. She loves to read to them and lead them in games she makes up. I can't believe how mature she is getting. It really does just feel like yesterday that she was born. Wow.

That's all I have time for today. Thanks for checking in.

Let's go swimming

Today Lilly wanted to try on Bella's swim cap and goggles. Hilarious!!!

In case anybody is still interested.

We had a fun Halloween this year. Isabella was a spelling bee, Ayva was a tooth fairy and Lilly was a lion. I decided that I was going to make costumes for the older girls to save some money and to get a bit more creative than I have in the past. I pulled out the old sewing machine, dusted it off and tried not to let my lack of sewing skills deter me from my goal. (I might have cussed a few times but I never quit) So here are some pictures.

Lilly the Lion. Roar!!

It is hard to tell from the picture but Ayva has a big white molar sewn on her leotard.

Bella's costume was inspired by her new habit of trying to spell out everything she says.

In other news...a few months ago I decided that I wanted to paint our kitchen cabinets. Eventually I want to change just about everything in our kitchen and it seemed logical to me to start with the cabinets. To make a very long process story short, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be but I love how they turned out. Before they were just your standard oak cabinets which the previous home owners had put some s shaped silver hardware on. Now they are a nice cream color with aged bronze hardware. Oh, and Peter put up some trim on the top. Ta da!

A half, and full and a new beginning

Last weekend I ran my first ever half-marathon. I did the Salt Lake City Half with my brother, Forrest. I put in a lot of work over the past few months in preparation for this big event and it paid off. The weather was perfect for the run and the route was mostly down hill, all except for the last mile or so up state street (that sucked!!!). My brother did amazing and finished in 1 hour and 44 minutes. I met my goal of coming in under 2 hours by crossing the finish line at 1 hour and 58 minutes. I would definitely like to run it again and try to better my time. I did learn a few things this time around. #1 - Don't stop running. I stopped to use the port o potty and wished I would have just held it because trying to get going again after you have stopped is very difficult. #2 - Try to run with a buddy who can help you mentally re-focus when you feel like quitting. Running can be so much more of a mental challenge than one may think and it is helpful to have someone who knows when to give you a little push. Over all I am proud of myself for completing this challenge and am now looking forward to Ragnar.

Last week we also celebrated ms. Lilly's first birthday. We had a little picnic for her and invited my family over to join us. She had a good time and enjoyed her first taste of sugar, the cake. I had made some "clean" cupcakes and after sampling one early in the day I decided that I might need a backup dessert just in case nobody liked the cupcakes. (The cupcakes were made with sucanat which is dehydrated sugar cane juice and the bittersweet chocolate so the flavor was a bit strong) So I whipped up a "dirty" chocolate cake with "dirty" frosting and raspberries and boy am I glad I did. Delicious!!! As hard as I try to be a clean eater, every now and then I do need a little dirty. hehe

Along with turning one ms. Lilly got to have a check up with her doctor. We were excited to see that she had reached the twenty pound mark so we could turn her around in her car seat. Although my pediatrician said that the new recommendation is two years before they think children should be turned around. Two years? That's nuts! Luckily the law is still one and twenty pounds so I turned my little Lilly around.

This week also marked the beginning of ms. Bella's soccer career. She is on the yellow hornets team and loves how they get a treat and juice box after every game. Ah, the simple joys in life.

It is very entertaining to watch, well as much as I get to watch while I am trying to keep Lilly from eating rocks and abc gum. Here's some pictures.