Two Funny Comments

**I know posts without pictures are lame, but I wanted to remember these two stories.

I picked Abby up out of her bed yesterday and lovingly said, "How's my girl?" She looked at me and smiled and then said, "I'm daddy's girl." 

Garrett walked in the room last night and saw "The Biggest Loser" on TV. He very enthusiastically said, "I LOVE this show." Greg and I both kind of chuckled and then Garrett followed with , "One night I watched this when you guys were sleeping. It's a good show." Uhhh...I honestly don't think I've been to bed before 9 PM since probably elementary school, so the likelihood of Garrett actually watching it while we were both asleep is slim to none, but it still made us laugh. 

Imaginations, Idiots, Etc.

Who ever knew an old stadium seat could be so exciting? Garrett and Abby found this at my parents' house last weekend and their little imaginations soared! It was part of their spaceship, a train engineer's seat, and my personal favorite--Grandma Jan's beauty shop chair.

"Look, Mom! I'm an idiot." Direct quote from Garrett. Enough said.

Only a dad would give his little princess her own sippy cup of Diet Coke. Seriously, Greg?
(Disclaimer: I do my best to feed the kids healthy foods and drinks when I'm in charge, so I try not to stress too much about this kind of stuff when it happens.)

We are finishing our basement and the kids love to play downstairs while mom and dad work. On this particular night, I was actually enjoying working down there and kept thinking about how nice it is to work together as a family on a project and how rewarding it is to let the kids be a part of it. Greg had to leave for Scouts and I just needed to finish vacuuming one room with the Shop-Vac. Garrett and Abby were playing with some dry paint rollers and I figured they would be fine for 5 minutes...I'm sure you see where this is going. I had no idea a 3-year-old and 2-year-old could figure out how to open a bucket a primer, but they sure did. The little stinkers! Thankfully, I checked on them before they could do too much damage, but they still managed to make a pretty good mess. All of my earlier thoughts about rewarding and fun family projects flew out the window and were replaced by naughty words I had to keep inside so they wouldn't be repeated by sweet little mouths.

I asked them why they got into the paint without asking mom first and Garrett answered, "We just needed a little paint for our fire truck. But, don't worry, it's all right."

Something New

We have five nieces. Each one of them is beautiful, precious and absolutely perfect. Our family wouldn't be complete without them and we love them so much. This week, we got something completely new--a nephew for us and a boy cousin for the kids. Garrett has held his own pretty well with all of the girls and makes a dashing Prince Charming while the girls play princesses. As much as we love our girls, it's going to be pretty great for Garrett to have somebody to play pirates and baseball with.

Here is little Owen with his proud (and very tired) parents.

There is nothing better than snuggling with a newborn...and then handing him right back to his mama and going home to get a full night of sleep. 

In other news...Gracie and Abby both happened to have their matching dresses on at Grandma's house today. Aren't they cute?

We had fun skyping with Brett and Chelsea today. The kids all gathered around the computer and played "Giant Squid" with Brett.

Here is the "tentacle."

And he's down...

I just love little Ella...I look enough like her mama that she loves me, too. She always gets a big smile for her Natty and melts my heart.

We left the beloved Snow White dress home, but Abby had no trouble finding something else to dress up in.

Garrett is our ice-cream lover (just like his dad) and didn't want to miss a single drop.

 We also loved skyping with Brian, Cathy and their darling girls. Garrett and Annabelle had a blast showing off their toys via the WWW. The best part was when Cathy asked Garrett for a taste of his ice cream and he told her she would have to figure out how to get out of the computer first.

It's hard to have family members far away, but we are so grateful for the technology that makes it easier to stay close. 

February Fun

We've been having a fabulous February around here! Abby is rockin' it in her tutu/cowgirl boots and Garrett is a master bubble blower.

Abby got this Snow White dress for her birthday and she is in love! She wants it on every morning as soon as she wakes up and then asks to watch Snow White so she can sing and dance along. She also loves to accessorize with bracelets, headbands, tiaras, high heels, cowboy boots, etc.

We had a great Valentine's Day! I have always loved Heart Day (even when I was single) and think it's a great opportunity to celebrate all kinds of love--not just romance. Greg and Garrett spoiled Abby and I with beautiful flowers! Watching Garrett run in and give his flower to Abby was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen.

We knew the kids would be getting plenty of candy (like the ring pops they are eating in this picture), so we got them new paints and stickers instead. They enjoyed testing them out while I made dinner. 

No Valentine's Day celebration would be complete without heart-shaped Jell-O Jigglers!

A blog I absolutely love posted the suggestion to set a "fancy" Valentine's Day table. It honestly took me maybe 10 extra minutes to set this up, but the kids loved it and it made the day seem extra special. Greg got home from work just in time to eat dinner with us for 15 minutes before heading to Scouts. (Who has Mutual on Valentine's Day? Clearly a woman didn't plan that--haha!)

My sister and I copied this idea from another favorite blog and made these fun envelopes for our families. We left little notes and surprises in them for everybody in the days leading up to the BIG DAY. I love all holidays and think any chance to make life a little more exciting should be capitalized on!

Phillips Family Pictures

My friend Candi took pictures of Greg's family for us last month while everybody (but Matt) was home. The Wilford and Jan Phillips family isn't the easiest group to photograph, but she did a good job. We are obviously missing our favorite Spanish Elder, but nobody knows when the whole crew will be together again, so Jan decided just to go for it. 

You may notice my children inherited their father's ability to mess up a good picture by goofing off or not looking at the camera. Sorry about that.   

Happy Birthday Dear Abby-Cakes!

We had a great time celebrating Abby's 2nd birthday last week. 

We enjoyed a little lunch at the BK Lounge.

We got pizza for dinner--Abby's favorite!

Abby (and Garrett) enjoyed opening a few presents.

Our little hoarder was thrilled for some more stuffed animals to add to her growing collection.

The highlight of her birthday was getting her very own Princess bag and play Princesses--just like Annabelle's.

We're not sure who was the most excited about this little 4-wheeler.

We branched out this year and had birthday skookies in place of the traditional cake and ice cream. A great new tradition!

We had a little "beach party" on Sunday to celebrate with our families. The coconut cream cupcakes were a huge hit. Click here for the recipe.

Abby had to wake up early from a late nap to celebrate and was a bit overwhelmed with everything. She was quite serious for a good spell and hardly cracked a smile.  

Check out the princess dress and cowboy boots--classic Abby!

Abby is one lucky little girl to have so many great people in her life who love her. Thanks to everybody who helped make her 2nd birthday one to remember!