February Thaw

Every year (it seems) we get a week of warm weather. Things start to blossom, leaves poke out, just more green and sunny weather in the 70's. This year's thaw coincided with the kid's winter break. I had great plans but was knocked down with a terrible head cold and hacking cough. Since all my energy went to getting dressed, making meals, and swigging Robitussin all day, we keep close to home, or just at home and de-thawed. Thank goodness the kids could go play out in the back because I had no energy to be cleaning messes.

Any ways, this week I like to think of as God's little way of saying to hang-in-there, don't get too down, spring is right around the corner and then time for summer. The memory of the sunshine, short sleeves and being outdoors helps to get through March, which turns windy and cold. I hate windy, I really do.

Flowers at the park and the plum tree next to our driveway.

Easy, Cheap Valentine Wreath

I wanted to make a wreath out of those cute conversation hearts, but I figured they would dry out and crumble in storage and not last more than one or two seasons. Also, my kids will go to great lengths to acquire treats and I did not want the constant worry of someone breaking their head open trying to reach some stale candy. Only risk injury on the good stuff!
See evidence here:

I spotted these at Walgreens and figured I would try using them instead. $1.99 for 40. I used two boxes and bought a third to replace any that fall off.

Went to Michael's and grabbed a wreath using my 40% off coupon and found a roll of ribbon on clearance for 99 cents. Wrapped the wreath with ribbon, used my glue gun to attach the erasers and
VOILA!

The kids or the ants won't go after this one.

Sarah's "S"

I'm slowly getting around to putting up personal touches and decorating the house. Moving in, giving birth earlier than expected, plus having two year old twins running around like crazy put a halt to anything beyond the bare essentials of house decorating. It took a year to pull out one of our pictures and put it in the living room.

I'm getting my crafty game back on, checking Pinterest and collecting ideas. At Michael's I grabbed these containers of buttons out of their $1 bin planning on using them for some cute Valentine project. I had seen some cute button art on Pinterest and wanted to see what I could come up with.

Well, Sarah saw those pink buttons and wanted me to make something for her. She's learning her letters and anytime she sees "S" she refers to it as "my S!" So that is the shape I decided to use for the picture in her room.

I picked up an 8x10 piece of foam board and glued on a cute piece of scrapbook paper that would go with her room. I found the font I wanted and cut out an S on my Silhouette Cameo and glued it to the paper.

Easy Peasy!

Then lay out the buttons before glueing, making sure they fit along the edges and you can fill the space without overlapping.

I had an old frame from a picture 5 moves ago. I spray painted it and distressed it a little. The I found some matting at Aaron Brother's and there you go! Sarah wanted the flower embellishment and voila! "Her S", as she points out when she goes in her room.

Well, Matthew saw she got her special letter, so in all fairness I promised him he will be getting his M shortly. He went with me to the store to make sure I bought everything I needed. And then I figured I would nip this in the tail and got the supplies for a B, so Braden won't feel left out. They are done and just need to be framed. I'll post pics when they are hung up in the boy's room.

These were so inexpensive to make. I don't want to spend a lot decorating the kids rooms because they grow so fast and will want to redecorate them to a "big kids" room before I know it.

They Exist

I already mentioned in THIS post about our neighborhood parrots. They must have had a good hatching season because the flock seems to have gotten bigger. They have a distinct call and whenever they fly over our house the twins stop what they are doing and say, "The parrots, mommy, the parrots."

For all you doubters of their existence, here is a photo I was able to snap of one in our neighbor's tree. They don't stay in one place long, and blend into the leaves, so getting a picture has been hard. I just happened to already have my camera out one day when we were in the backyard.

What happened to January?

Ok, I blinked and January was gone. Here is what we have been up to since Christmas.

December 27th Louis and I took off for our FIRST vacation without the kids. Make that the second of any vacation since having kids. We had been trying to get away for awhile but between Louis' work and scheduling childcare, it had been difficult. So, the stars aligned and we were able to take three days off and go down to San Diego. Cal was playing in the Holiday Bowl, our fabulous babysitter Whitney was available, so we jumped at the chance.
Bye Bye!

Weather in the 70's, sleeping in, great hotel on the water, no food thrown on the floor while eating, no whining...heaven.

 Who eats outside in December?

The game: The Bears didn't exactly show up to play football but you can't beat the 50 yard line and unlimited refills of Diet Pepsi.

Here is Louis outside the stadium by the statue of Jack Murphy and his dog. LOVE the Bible thumping protestor. Not sure what they were protesting, but reminding us we are all going to hell.

All stadiums need one of these. Do you know how frustrating it is not be able to eat the hot dog bun? And other GF people can have their beer too.

Back home we came to the kids with Sarah outside our room the next morning asking, "Where's Whit-Whit?"Sorry kid, your stuck with us.

We actually went out for New Year's and we able to participate in the Anderson's Mr. & Mrs. 2012 pageant. We came in third (I like to refer to it as 2nd Runner Up) and would of walked away with the title if it hadn't been for the talent competition. You had to have, well, talent. So I told Louis I'm signing up for tango lessons and we'll blow them away next yea. Carter's, you are going down!
For a complete wrap up of the evening, go HERE.

January was back to the routine of preschool, classes, playing with friends. Throw in some fevers, runny noses, pink eye, and it's been a pretty normal month of life with three small kids.

Except for one cold week, the weather has been great and we try to burn energy outside.

I got Louis to make some repairs.

A trip to the dentist for the twins. No cavities! And no crying!

This little guy is climbing and getting into EVERYTHING.

Baking and cupcake decorating!

Hello February!