O’well

Karly had always had a difficult time saying Noelle. On a lot of her words she leaves out the first part of the word so it can sometimes be difficult to understand what she is saying. It used to be that Noelle was just “well” so some of us just called Noelle “well” just to go with it. But as Karly has gotten older we have tried to get her to actually say Noelle.  Here’s how a couple of our attempts have gone….

 The last few weeks she has done better at saying Noelle if you prompt her to but honestly now that she says it correctly I kind of miss her O’well. I guess she can't win with her Auntie.

Valentines Day 2014

Valentines Day seemed to go by so quickly this year. It’s one of those holidays that if the kids weren’t around I wouldn’t celebrate. Since we did have a few things happen I’ll quickly cover those moments.

Karly went to her first Valentine’s Day party at her preschool on Thursday 13th. She was very excited to share her Valentine’s cards with her friends.

 

Then on Valentine’s Day she and Hope had a Valentine’s Day party at their daycare. Noelle and Thomas both had parties in their classes also. It was kind of a hectic morning so I wasn’t able to get pictures of all the kids.  

As you can see in this one, Karly did not want to participate in the photo session.

I could not believe how much stuff the kids brought home from their parties. This is going to make me sound really old….. I remember being in school and getting a Valentine’s Day card from my classmates that was in a small white envelope and it was a real treat if there was a conversation heart in the envelope.  I put all of the kids candy together and was able to fill up a grocery bag with all the candy, pencils, trinkets, and erasers.  It was a real eye opener!

Here are the cards that Kelly made for the kids to give to their friends.

Thursday night after Kelly and Dave dropped the kids off, I went to get some milk for Hope and found these. They were absolutely fabulous!!! 

Then on Valentines Day I was given these beautiful flowers by my Dad.

All and All we had a great Valentine’s Day holiday here.

Conversation Heart Cheesecakes

I’m so lucky to be on a great negotiating team at work with people that I really do enjoy spending time with. We’re a great group with lots of opinions and although we don’t always see eye to eye we manage to have a great time together while we’re stuck in a room together for hours on end.  Since we had a holiday and day off before our next negotiating session and the following day was Valentine’s Day I decided to make a tasty treat for all of us.

I searched Pinterest for a cute Valentine’s Day treat that everyone would enjoy. I found these really cute Conversation Heart cheesecakes. I had never made a cheesecake and since I love a challenge and baking I thought it would be a great project.

I had this silicone mold with hearts but figured only making six at a time was going to take way to much time so I went and got these cute individual silicone hearts to use also. First I made a graham cracker crust and then put about 2 tablespoons of the crust in each heart. Then placed them all in the refrigerator while I made the cheesecake filling. 

The filling was super easy to make. I used Tyler Florence’s Ultimate Cheesecake recipe. Then I separated the filling evenly into six bowls and then used food coloring in the usual conversation heart colors.

I then baked them in a water bath for about 45 minutes. Once they came out of the oven I put them in the freezer for 15 minutes and the the refrigerator for an hour. The cheesecakes in the first mold I had (the one with six cavities) did not work out very well at all. When I tried to take them out of the cavities they crumbled. They were way to difficult to get out. The ones in the single molds came out really easy. 

  

In the directions the next step was to use red food coloring to write the usual messages you see on conversation hearts. I did a few but I wasn’t happy with the results. My writing just wasn’t looking like the examples and started to bleed so I left the rest of them plain

I thought all of the plain ones turned out really well. The cheesecake turned out perfect. I had plenty to send with Kelly to work for her coworkers that night and took the rest for the negotiating team to enjoy at lunch. Kelly said they were a huge hit with her coworkers and my coworkers also enjoyed them.

I hate finding things on Pinterest that look so good and easy and then you make them and they are horrible. This is definitely one that I would do again. The only thing I might do next time is pick one color instead of so many. I think it got a little overwhelming and some of the colors didn’t seem very appetizing especially the blue and orange.   

Who knew cleaning the gutters could be so fun?

My Dad came over to help me clean the gutters. It was a beautiful but cold day out. Since Hope is the happiest when she is outside playing I thought this would be a great way to get her ready for a nice long nap.
It was a successful afternoon. She loved playing in the water. You’d think it was pouring rain outside with as wet as she was.  She decided to sit in the water and splash until she was soaked

 

Family trampoline fun

It was such a beautiful day that we spent the majority of it outside playing on the trampoline.

The kids think it’s so fun when the adults get on to jump with them. The adults think it’s fun to see how high we bounce the kids. It’s a win win for everyone! 

Here Hope is confused between running and jumping but either way she is having fun.

I wish I would’ve thought to get the camera out sooner. Kelly and I were having a contest to see who could get the highest and who could touch their toes so I had to get the camera out to capture it all. Here are the results.


I think Kelly was the clear winner on this one. 
Here are some quick video’s of the kids doing their “tricks”. I’m really glad that Kelly and I didn’t have the bright idea of videoing us doing ours!!! 

I think Santa did pretty good this year with his gifts. There has been a lot of quality family time spent on it in just a couple of months. 

Family Trampoline Fun VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

My attempt at being crafty.

At the beginning of the year I decided to stop wasting so much time while I’m at home. Usually on the nights that I don’t have the kids I find myself sitting on the couch watching TV after doing whatever chores that needed to get done. I realized that by the end of the week I had wasted like 10 hours just sitting on the couch.

I decided to make at least one craft a month. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot but with a lot of these crafts come a need to spend the money to get the supplies. So that gives me the time to research what I’m going to make and time to purchase the supplies. If I can’t do a simple project at least once a month, I’ve got issues.

So, for January I found this cute wreath to make for the  or the front door.

I’ve literally made maybe a half a dozen things with my sewing machine. I thought this looked easily enough. So I went and bought some fabric quarters and got to work.

Since I had enough fabric I made three of them. I gave one to Kelly and Noelle gave one to her primary teacher. Since I’m still a “beginner”, I think it turned out pretty well. 

 

I’m the cutest NIECE

 

I’ve been a collector of any clothing items that say anything about “Auntie’s” and I found this one at Christmas time. I had to get it for Hopey. I have a whole photo album full of the girls with their Auntie shirts on. Kelly usually packs the shirts for the girls to wear when they are with me for the weekend. This particular weekend Hope not only had her “I’m the cutest Niece” shirt, she also had this cute one that said “Cute like my Auntie”. I had no idea that Kelly had bought it and it was by far one of my very favorite “Auntie” outfits. 

         

That tu-tu is just way to cute!!! How could you not love that sweet little face in the cutest tu-tu….? That’s what I thought until she got up from her nap. That’s when I found this.

I really wish I would’ve taken a picture when I found her but I was in a hurry because we were late for dinner at Grandpa’s house and I was so upset that I just changed her quickly and left. Hope had gotten a hold of a green permanent marker that Noelle had left on the nightstand next to the crib. She had written all over her face, the sheet on the crib, and on her pants. I was SO disappointed the totally cute outfit was ruined.  On a positive note she didn’t write on the wall, the crib and the ink came off of her face really easily. She’s still pretty cute though……  

Why BUY toy's????

Why buy toys when you already have a laundry basket?

           

Hope does a pretty good job at entertaining herself. Whether that is getting into the cupboards and taking everything out, taking all the clothes out of the drawers of the dresser, finding every toothbrush in the house and walking around the house with it in her mouth, OR finding a laundry basket and riding it, sitting in it, standing on top of it and even throwing it. She has much more fun doing those things than she does with the TOYS that have been bought. Although on this day she had just as much fun riding the laundry basket as she did as sitting inside the dolly's bed.

Happy 9th Birthday Thomas!!

I can't believe that Thomas is turning 9! 

Seriously where has the time gone. He is growing up so fast. In just a few short years I'm pretty sure he will be taller than me.  This picture was taken a year ago and at that time he was only like a head shorter than I me. It's going to be a sad day when it finally happens.

Here are my NINE favorite things about Thomas:

1. He LOVES his Auntie. Without fail no matter where he is or what he is doing he will stop and come, greet me and ALWAYS gives me a hug. When he leaves or I leave he ALWAYS says "Bye Auntie I love you so much". 

2. He is such a great reader and he takes after Kelly for his love of reading. Coming from someone who doesn't enjoy reading and wishes that she does, I'm grateful that he does.

3. He is a GREAT big brother. Not only is he surrounded by sisters at Kelly's house but he is also surrounded by sisters at Ryan's house. He is going to make a great boyfriend/husband.

4. He has a great desire to learn. He loves school and does well when he's there.

5. He adjusts well to change. Another thing I wish I did as well as he does.

6. His sensitivity. There are very few movies that he can get through without a tear. If he hears of someone being sick he needs to know what is happening and when they will be better. Kelly has learned not to share her work stories around him. 

7. HIS CONTAGIOUS SMILE. LOVE. IT.

8. His love of electronics. He is going to take after his Auntie. 

9. His desire to do good and to help those that are in need.  

I love this kid so much!! I don't know what life would be like without him in it. I can't wait to see what this year brings for him. 

Here are a few of his birthday pictures.