The MANY Wonders of Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser

I recently heard that a magic eraser could not only be used to take scuffs off walls and baseboards, but that it could also be used for removing paint dings on the outside of one's car and scuffs from shoes. I was eager to test this out. So, tonight I'm looking at my girls' shoes thinking, "Those are disgustingly dirty" when I remember the tip about the magic eraser. Voila! It totally works! And, I did witness my mom remove several paint dings from her car doors just the other day. Oh Magic Eraser, how I love you! What would life be like without you? You have removed marker, crayon and pencil from doors and walls, scuffs from walls and baseboards, and now ... given new life to my girls' shoes!

Pair of shoes after the magic eraser appear left while a dirty pair awaits its turn on the right.

Hilarious

Cody emailed this link to me the other day.

Family Decals

Photo Shoot

At the end of May I was so incredibly happy to have my good friend, Angela Liddle, take pictures of my girls. Thankfully I had my mom on board to help manage the chaos of photographing three little girls. The pictures turned out so well! I couldn't be more happy! Angela is an AMAZING photographer if you're ever looking for someone to take pictures of your kids, family, newborn (she did Eliza's newborn pictures too), seniors, and she also does weddings. She really took the time to get some great pictures and put everything she had into keeping their attention - no small task! And here is what we got!

Pictures

Liza, Liza, Liza

This little peanut turned the big ONE on July 10th! I stare at her stunned by her transformation into toddlerhood at least ten times a day. Where did the time go?! Oh yeah, that's right, I wasn't sleeping. Hmmm ... :)

I have been enjoying Eliza so much. She is still wonderfully squishy and yummy to kiss on, gives the cutest little cheeser grins, loves attention but is also happy to do her own thing, is a great sleeper now (a big H-O-O-R-A-Y for that one), looks ridiculously cute walking about, is getting the cutest little teefers in, and is starting to say a few words, which also gets me clapping and laughing and jumping up and down like I'm a little kid. Funny how that happens - I mean, the way we revert to childlike behavior when we have children, complete with being silly, feeling a need to take daily naps, the throwing of tantrums, and requests for treats. It makes me feel like I fit in at home ... but I digress. So, back to little Liza.

She enjoyed a little party with the Lloyd family (Brandon and Amy and kids and Stephanie sans kids who were in St. George that weekend, plus Granny and Oma & Opa). She donned a more serious expression for the occasion, which you will see in the pictures. She didn't need any assistance from us. It was like she was born to dig into that cake!

And then a couple short weeks later she took her first steps at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Her cousin Quinnlan was the first one to witness this and point it out to me. Some of my siblings and their kids were in town for a visit so they shared in the moment. I wish I had had my camera with me! Eliza was all smiles and was giggling with pride. We all clapped for her and she joined right in, applauding herself! She very quickly took off from there. I knew it would be a great blessing once she learned to walk because she has been so eager to keep up with her big sisters and would show visible frustration at her lack of independence, though she was a very fast crawler!

She says, "boo" for peekaboo, which often sounds like "buh", and she says, "hi" and "bye bye"(both of these she does most often with a play phone in hand, and she has said "go" for goat, has made attempts at "doll", and regular says "mama" and "dada."

Here are some pictures and videos taken since I last posted. Can you believe all the hair?!

In a Nutshell

Let's be honest, I stink at updating my blog. So, here's a post about some things that happened in March, April, May and now June ...

Cody: Celebrated his 30th birthday in March

Ashley: Celebrated my 28th birthday in April and got glasses for the first time in my life. Either the pregnancy with Eliza caused the change in my vision, or that's just when I started to notice it. At any rate, my hair is darker and my vision is no longer 20/20 since having her. I'm pretty happy about the hair color, not so happy about my eyesight. Incredibly happy about Eliza. :)

Afton: Also got glasses. Her vision is way worse than mine, poor thing. Over the past year I noticed her straining to see things, she would ask where something was and it would be right in front of her, and then she started crying that she couldn't see the pictures when I was reading stories, etc. So, in to the opthamologist we went.

Maeryn: Maeryn also got glasses, just not prescription glasses. I took her to Claire's in the mall because she was understandably upset that Afton was getting glasses and she wasn't (the doctor said she'll need to be watched closely as her eyesight should catch up with Afton's, though he was puzzled as to the extreme difference between the two at present). She, of course, picked out the most standout pair in the store.

Both bubs are enjoying another big change: bunk beds. Funny thing is they most often end up in the same bed, so I suppose we could have just replaced their queen with a twin. They are funny, those two.

Eliza: There have been lots of changes with our little peanut. She has her two bottom teeth now, has gone from army crawling to crawling on hands and knees (though she still army crawls when she's concerned about getting to something quickly - she's FAST), pulls herself up to standing and walks along furniture, seems to be catching on to the meaning behind "dada" and "mama" which Cody and I are thrilled about, plays peekaboo, waves sometimes, loves to clap, and tries very hard to keep up with her big sisters. The most exciting change for me is the fact that she decided of her own accord to stop nursing at 10 1/2 months. I tried pumping but had little success since I don't have a good pump and I think I started trying to pump too late in the game, after she had already drastically cut back on her feedings. Then I tried formula which she absolutely refused to drink, so then we went straight to whole milk and she LOVES it. And just a few short weeks from now she will turn one! I can hardly believe it. The one last change I'm still waiting for is for Eliza to consistently sleep through the night. She is generally a very easy-going baby, but she is not the best sleeper, and she is a terrible sleeper when she doesn't feel well. So with her teething lately she's been up a lot, which means I've been up a lot. And man am I ever exhausted! I'm beginning to wonder if it's possible to wake up feeling rested, but that's another subject I could go off on forever, so I'll stop now. :)

And aside from those changes, let's see ... Cody is really loving his job, which is wonderful. I've been spending a lot of my waking hours editing a friend's book, which I have thoroughly enjoyed. I know, I love editing AND crunching numbers - weirdo. The bubs continue to crack me up with the funny things they say. In fact, I think I'll have to dedicate a post to that subject, because I've got a lot of good ones to share. We've been enjoying the nicer weather, going on picnics and spending time with friends, swimming at my parents' house and just generally having a good time. I admit that most of my life is still a blur because more often than not I am basically sleep-walking through my day. But that aside, things are good. We all have our days, right? But I'm pretty happy in general.

So, here's to a mega post since I don't post often enough. Enjoy the long lineup of pictures. And if you get sick of looking at my adorable children, then by all means, move on to another blog! :)

Adorable Afton

I caught this funny video of Afton the other night. She is a zany, crazy little redhead and sometimes she just cracks me up - when she's not making me pull my hair out! The beginning of this video is just Afton being her Afton self, but wait for the second half. The impromptu interview turned out fabulously. :)

Lark Rise to Candleford

I know, I know, I don't blog for forever and then I blog about something silly like a TV series rather than my life. However, I just finished the final episode of this lovely series, and I have to spread the word. I am SO sad the show was not renewed for another season, but I read every article I could find about the cancellation (I understand that now I sound a tad obsessed) and the controller of BBC-1 said they decided to end the show while it was on top. I guess I can appreciate that - it's always sad to see a show sort of fizzle out. But the article that made it all make sense to me was one quoting a key actor in the series as saying that the cast was unsure as to whether or not they would want to continue without the writer/deviser of the series. Apparently he had no plans to continue on after the fourth season and I think that is why they ultimately made the decision. That I can completely understand.

Now, let me tell you why I love this series. It's got it all - it is incredibly well written, the characters are compelling, it has an amazing cast, the production quality is high, it has some great romance, it shares many wonderful life lessons without being overly cheesy, and it is CLEAN. It is everything good TV should be and rarely is. I loved it so much that I bought all four seasons and have happily been passing it around for others to enjoy. I had to buy it so I could share it and so I could have it to rewatch myself in years to come.

If you're looking for something good to watch, this is it!