This is how I have a "girl's night out"....

I went over to my mother in law's house last night for a girl's night to eat some taco salad for dinner and then watch a movie. Since all of the chick flicks we wanted to watch were too long we ended up watching an action movie with a lot of fighting and killing, oh my. The movie was called "Timeline" and it was the first time I'd ever seen it, probably the last too. Too much killing in it for me. I was the only one there with my kids so we had to set them up with something that would make them happy while we watched our movie. It worked until the last 30 min or so then they started coming in asking for things. By the time the movie was over I just wanted to hurry and get the kids in their pjs and home to bed so I didn't get to chat with the girls as much as I would have liked. Oh, I long the day that my hubby will be home and I can have a "real" girl's night out....not to mention DATES! :)


My sisters in law, Jenna and Shauna. And of course me. My mother in law took the picture but she didn't want to be in one, lol.

This is where Jack was for most of the movie. He wouldn't let me put him down and he didn't want a nap either. So he was happy eating cheerios on my lap. I also got him a cookie that he wanted to hold on to all the time but never wanted to take a bite.

Jack had to stay with the girl's downstairs. See how thrilled he is (lol).

Garrett nice and cozy on Grandma and Grandpa's bed upstairs, ready to watch "Wall-E"

Nikki all set up to play online games on the laptop in the kitchen. She was so into it that she didn't notice me take a picture.

100th Day of Kindergarten Valentine

On February 8th it will be the 100th day of Kindergarten for Nikki. So the "Parent and Me Project" for February was to decorate a heart and to glue 100 items on it. So last night Nikki and I picked out all the items she would use. Things from pasta noodles, to buttons, to stickers, to cheerios, to beads, to safety pins and rocks, etc. This morning Nikki colored and designed the heart all by herself. The only thing I helped her with was gluing them on. She is quite the artist!

Finished the heart and now it's time to wait for the glue to dry.

Nikki with the finished heart, already to take to school to be hung in the Kindergarten hallway. They will also be having a little party at school to help celebrate this momentous occasion. And of course, they'll be doing some counting to 100 also. Happy 100th day of Kindergarten!

Three reasons to make me smile

I cut up an apple the other night and Nikki took a stool over to the wall by the table and got up to eat her apples on it. Then of course, Garrett followed. It was a "Kodak" moment :)

One day I found Garrett sitting here in our pantry. He had found a container of Cheerios from the diaper bag and took them to his spot to eat them. That is a big box of Potato Pearls and he loves to sit in that box. Don't worry, the potatoes are actually in a tightly closed bag.

Jack playing in his johnny jumper with one of Nikki's birthday balloons.


I can't wait until Jack is in this kind of mood again. He has been sick since Sunday morning. He threw up 3 days in a row and today he is just wanting to sleep. And last week he went through getting a new tooth in (#6). Poor baby! I feel so bad when he's not feeling good and there's not much I can do. But I have been so thankful that he is the only one that has been throwing up. So far, nobody else has gotten what he has. I'm grateful I've been well enough to take care of him because I have actually been fighting a cold the past week, which is pretty much gone now. If I thought I was getting cabin fever before, now I'm really getting it as I've been trapped in my house since Saturday! So glad I went over to my brother's house on Friday night. I think it helped me get through this week. I finally watched "Ironman" with them and I thought it was really good! I'm also grateful that that same brother went to the store and bought some groceries for me on Monday. What an awesome brother I have!
Oh, and thanks to Mom for visiting me last night and bringing rolls. I wish you could have stayed longer but even the little visit helped.
"I will survive!" "I will survive!" ;)

Garrett's appointment

Garrett finally had his post surgery check up with his cardiologist this past Wednesday. His doctor listened to him and did an echo. Everything looks and sounds great. One of the first things the doctor said was that he looks a lot pinker. I did notice that he is more active and that he no longer coughs when he runs around. Garrett seemed to always have a cough no matter what time of year. So it's nice to not have to worry about his cough anymore. I guess the doctor was a little surprised by that. The doctor wasn't expecting his heart condition to have anything to do with the cough. Garrett won't need to see him again for another 6 months or so. Yay!

I'm how old?

Oh, that's right...27. Believe it or not there were several times throughout this last year that I actually forgot how old I was. I know, pathetic. I think I was thinking more about how old my kids are rather than myself. Keeps me feeling young, ha ha. Not that I'm feeling old though.

My yummy birthday carrot cake Laverne (Mom) made for me.

I think Nikki was happy I was getting sung to on my birthday because she told me they were supposed to sing to me in primary today but they didn't. I told her I'm not one of the teachers so they didn't know it was my birthday. I was just in there to be with Garrett.

Blowing out the candles shot.

My sisters and me.

The apple of my eye, Curtis :)

This will be going in our bedroom. This is from my mom in law.

A new book to read. Thanks Grandma.

Laverne gave me the apple with Curtis' picture, a journal, a necklace, and a package of notecards that match the journal. Thanks Mom!

My gift from Nikki that she made all by herself. On the way home from church she said she needed someone to take her to the store to buy me a present for my birthday but I told her she didn't have to buy me something. Plus we don't go shopping on Sundays. I told her she could make me something, so that's just what she did and I love it :)


For my birthday this year we had lots of my family and my husband's family come over to my house to have cake and ice cream and visit. It was a great time and I had a wonderful birthday. Thanks to my moms for being in charge of everything :) I also had the pleasure of talking to my husband on the phone in the morning before going to church and he sent me some things via email for my birthday. I loved them. Thanks babe! I love you!! Oh, and another gift I received was a BIG Twix candy bar from my brother Stillman and his family. Yummy! Thanks bro!!

Nikki's 6th Birthday

Yesterday was a very busy but exciting day for me and one little girl. It was Nicole's 6th birthday! We started out the day with baking cupcakes for her class at school. She and Garrett both helped me frost and decorate them. After Nikki got on the bus to school it was time for me to do some last minute gift shopping and getting balloons. By the time I got back home I just had enough time to change a diaper and head over to the school to take the cupcakes to Nikki's class. It was so fun for her. She was also excited to show her friends her younger brothers. When school was out we raced home to bake her cake and finish cleaning up, wrapping presents, and eating dinner (well, most of us...Garrett slept instead). About a half hour before party time we decorated her big heart shaped cake. Both of us did the frosting and then I let Nikki put on her own decorations and candles. By the time everyone arrived here we were just waiting for one more person.....Curtis to join us via web cam! It was so exciting for all of us when he was able to see everyone here and they could see him. It was nice to have him participate since he missed Nikki's birthday last year. We had most of my family there and my in laws. It was a great party. Happy birthday Nicole!

Christmas Eve slideshow

I finally got the last slideshow from Christmas time finished. Had to get it done before Nikki's birthday. Most of these were taken on Christmas Eve, the first few are from earlier that week. I spent Christmas Eve day at my in laws helping them get ready for Christmas and then went to my brother's house in the evening. We ate lots of yummy food, had white elephant gift exchanges (one for adults, one for kids), and helped the kids decorate cookies for Santa. It was a great day!

One Month After Surgery

Today it has been one month exactly since Garrett's surgery and as you can see he is all smiles and doing great! He'll get a check up with his cardiologist in a few weeks. It was difficult getting this guy to pose for me. He kept swinging his arms around, so you can tell he has plenty of energy. He is also now down to one medication, which is one "baby" Aspirin a day and luckily they are orange flavored and chewable so he doesn't mind taking it. We are so glad to have this surgery over with!

Our Early Christmas

Our next slide show is our early Christmas with Curtis. We had emailed a letter to Santa asking if he could come to our house early since Curtis wouldn't be here on the 25th. This year we celebrated our Christmas on the 16th and Santa was happy to oblige. It was just as fun and magical for them as if it really was Christmas day, even though we were the only ones celebrating that day. Nicole finally got her bow and arrow that she's been asking for all year. That was from Santa. She also got a Princess sleeping bag and an apron that I made her that is princesses on one side and Tinker Bell on the other. Garrett got some cool Buzz Lightyear wings from Santa. It even has buttons that he can push and it has recordings like on the movie "To infinity and beyond!", etc. He LOVES it! He also got a Toy Story sleeping bag and an apron that I made him that has "Cars" on both sides. Both of my kids like to help me cook sometimes so I thought they would enjoy having their own aprons. Nikki also gave Garrett a toy dinosaur and she gave Jack a ring stacker toy. Jack got a toy train from Santa and a walker from us. Curtis got a new VCR/DVD player (he bought it so we could use it before Christmas so it wasn't under the tree.) I had to help Nikki decide what the kids were going to get him so I decided since we didn't have the game "Uno" that it would be a good one. I know, I can't believe I've gone all these years without having "Uno" in our home. After all, I grew up with it as our family favorite. We would always play it. We also found "Hook" on dvd for him (really for all of us). Then I got a snowflake necklace from Nikki and a new cd player that I can hook my zune up to. I finally don't have to blare the speakers from the computer to be able to listen to music in the kitchen. Oh, and then I bought a cd for both of us, Taylor Swift "Fearless". I love her!
That same morning Curtis's parents came over and gave us a gift also. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" on dvd and a bunch of goodies to eat while watching it! We didn't do much the rest of the day since my stomach just wasn't feeling right all day. We had even planned on going out to eat for Christmas dinner but I didn't want to chance getting sick at a restaurant so Curtis ordered Domino's pizza instead. And even though I thought I might regret it I ate the pizza too. Luckily nothing happened and I was fine the next day. So it was a very nice Christmas and great to be able to celebrate it with Curtis home this year.