I love pinterest

I avoided pinterest for about a year, sure I would become absorbed and it would ruin my life.  Once I got over the initial "binge" I've really enjoyed checking it every few days for new fun ideas.

I will admit that right now I'm addicted to all the wonderful indoor play and sensory activities to be found.  A few weeks ago I made the rice sandbox and Alex and Heidi loved it.  Then I found them a day later, digging through our 'eating rice' bucket.

 So I decided to dye to the rice to make things a bit more exciting and help them distinguish between "fun rice" and "food rice".

 Alex spent probably and hour and a half in the new and improved rice bucket yesterday.  While she was shoveling and sorting and burying things I was putting together more activities.  The beauty is how simple they are and yet how wonderfully they entertain the kids for hours at a time!

So whoever invented Pinterst, thank you.  Instead of creating a monster I think you have created a better Mom.

Alex's "friend" birthday party

Monday was the end of birthday season.  We had decided to let Alex plan a birthday party for her friends and Monday was the day.

The theme was "dress up" and Alex started out the day as Cinderella.

Tyler and I rearranged the living room furniture to make a fun fort for the kids to play in. It was HUGE and super cool.

By the time the first guest arrived as Rupunzle, Alex decided she too must be Rupunzle and insisted on being called Rupunzle and not Alex.

Both Rupunzles loved little Tinkerbell Annie to death.

It ended up being her Joy school friends and cousin Toby, but they all played pretty well together and we had a lot of fun.

We tried to break the pinata, and even with a few exuberant pinata hitters, I had to step in after a few minutes and get the job done.  Apparently I made a pretty sturdy pinata.

Alex had a blast and was a wonderful hostess.  The girls played house and giggled the entire time.  The boys were less into the dress up theme and enjoyed knocking over bowling pins the best.  But as much fun as Birthday/Vacation week has been.  I'm so excited to deep clean the house and be a homebody for a week.

Kristen's Birthday 2012

My birthday fell on a Sunday, which for us meant a calm, quiet day at home.  Tyler made me his fantastic french toast, complete with juice, fancy hot coco, sliced kiwi and greek yogurt.  It was the greatest breakfast ever!

After breakfast we got ready for church where Tyler spent the entire time in the foyer with Heidi so I could actually hear the speakers.

 After church we came home and relaxed for a bit before my dear cousin Alyson came to visit, bearing gifts for Alex.  We played with the playmobile Veterinary clinic for probably and hour before I was informed it was time to go.

 Tyler kept accusing me of trying to plan my own birthday (I was secretly afraid no one would do anything and it would be a boring day), but my fears were put to rest when I was ushered into the car for the drive to Kara's house.

 Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the wonderful things that transpired.  There were beautiful decorations and wonderful people, and lots of GREAT food.  Everyone chipped in to get me a fannypack type camera bag for hiking which I am very excited to try out.

 Dinner was FANTASTIC, flank steak over coconut rice, two salads, bacon green beans and my favorite juices.  I barely saved room for the beautiful desert!  The my great sisters had made chocolate bowls, which were then filled with brownies, rainbow cookies and chocolate carmel malt icecream.  Wow!

 We came home, put the kids to bed and relaxed the rest of the evening.  The next day Tyler got me the greatest gift ever.  My little brother Stephen returned from his mission and pushed me back into the photography world.  I'd gotten so used to only taking pictures of my kids that I'd forgotten about things like photoshop and aperture.

 Stephen is always telling me the coolest and latest things about cameras and so when he got a new lens and showed me what it could do, I immediately wanted it!

 The lens basically makes pictures look great.  It allows more light to enter, with a fast shutter speed, making pictures look MUCH better in low light situations.  My favorite part is how much it blurs the objects not focused on in a picture. The depth of field is awesome.

 It's more obvious in other pictures, but the subtle way it makes people POP in a simple picture is just GLORIOUS!

 It turns an abstract snapshot into a work of art, or at least a picture worth looking at.

 I've been over the moon since getting the lens.

 And finally branched out from taking pictures of my feet to see the cool depth of field.

I've moved on to sink faucets, chair legs and fridge doors.

Alex's 4th Birthday!

The day after vacation began marathon birthday weekend.  Tyler helped me decorate the house on Friday night for Alex's birthday on Saturday.  We may have gone a bit overboard because I figured 3 days of partying justified more decorations than normal.

Alex woke up and walked up stairs to discover a table full of "party animals" and the special cereal she had chosen for the day "lucky charms". How appropriate.

She got green milk in the special birthday glass and before she was done eating she began to open presents from grandma.

In the background you can see the adorable barbie dress Grandma knitted and the much needed underwear.

Heidi seems to have a thing for birthday photo scowls.

Heidi, March 17th 2011. Alex's 3rd birthday.

Friday Alex had "helped" me make the mermaid cake she had requested.  She rolled the fondant into little plant circles and poles and later when she saw I had "dressed" barbie in frosting she asked why. "So she can be modest" I said.  "Oh, she must be a Mommy mermaid" Alex said.  Note to self, be more diligent about toddler modesty.

Alex (and Heidi) loved the old camera I had covered in Sugru to make kid proof.  She promptly took a terrible picture of me and then walked all over snapping pictures of things.

Despite all the time and expense put into her quilt she wasn't over the moon like I had hoped about the new blanket.  In fact she refuses to sleep with it on her bed. grumble grumble grumble.

We all got dressed in our new green St. Patricks/ Alex's birthday shirts and headed back to Salt Lake for the activity of the day.... The Children's Discovery Museum!

Unexpectedly there was also a parade going on at the Gateway mall (where the museum is located) and so we got sucked in and watched bagpipes and dogs and floats for almost an hour before pulling ourselves away.

The museum was FANTASTIC!  If we lived any close I would buy a pass and go once a week. There was a huge ball hive where we spent the first 30 minutes pushing balls into suction tubes and down pipes before we wandered and found the real Gem of the museum.

There was a giant room filled with a tiny kids eye view village.  I have vague memories of going to the Denver kids museum as a child and LOVING the tiny grocery carts and store.

This was also Alex's favorite part and she spent most of her time at the check out counter either paying or doing the ringing up.  There was a huge water play area, a house, farm (complete with horse) gas station, and construction area.  There was a little kids play area that was fenced off and inside that a tiny kids play area also fenced off and next to that a Mom's nursing area hidden away.

After almost an hour we had decided to explore the rest of the museum, but the kids wouldn't have it.  The upstairs looked super cool, but more geared to older kids and so we finished up back at the grocery store.  Michael and Danielle came to join us which was so kind of them, and then took us out to lunch for a Alex, Danielle, Kristen birthday meal.
 We went to the fantastic Market Street Grill and had one of the most delicious/enjoyable eating experiences ever.  The food was sooooo good and I have to say that it was probably the nicest and most delicious meal I've had at a restaurant since my Dad used to take us out to fancy places when he was on business trips in Utah.
  We took the TRAX back to our car which was Alex's favorite part of her birthday she said.  We saw the train coming and ran as fast as we could to the stop (Tyler carrying both kids).  We wouldn't have made it but a nice man walking by saw us running and pushed the door button at the last second.  We slid through the closing doors and sat down laughing and heaving as the train took off.  When they announced the Temple Square stop Alex wanted to get off so badly, but we needed to get home for her party.

The girls were exhausted by the time we got home.  Heidi just lay on the floor.

We had planned on letting Alex open her big present the minute she got home, but she just wanted to sleep on the couch.  Too Much Fun!

We finally got her up and she enjoyed her doll house (made possible by Grandma Asay) for a little while before family arrived the for the party.

Alex has learned how to pose for my pictures, unfortunately this means no more cute and genuine smiles.

Everyone liked the doll house,

and Barbie's hair didn't catch on fire.

Kate had set up a treasure hunt for Alex, with prizes to be found with each clue.  She LOVED it, and every treat on the way.

After eating off Hello Kitty's face, bow and buttons she graciously "shared" with Heidi, who is always more than happy to take Alex's leftovers.

I had games planned, but Alex just wanted to run around with Archie and be wild.

Heidi tried her best to keep up.

Alex loved all the gifts from wonderful Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and Mommy and Daddy.

Alex had helped me make the big 4 pinata, but we decided there had been enough fun for one day, and to save it for Monday.

The day ended with a few new books  to open after Uncle Stephen graciously played Barbies with Alex (THAT is the kind of guy you want to marry).  The kids went to bed fairly easily, and reading, after a LONG and wonderful day.