early morning magic

we sent brian off with his usual diet coke and kisses wednesday morning, only for him to return seconds later with big news. news that sent me running camera-in-hand through the front door. a fine dusting of green had sprung up while we were sleeping. thin blades of grass were reaching for the morning sun all across our yard.

we have a yard. we have a yard with growing grass. it's almost too good to be true.

happy birthday & congratulations

stolen from chelsea, taken by lydia

it doesn't seem like that long ago that i met my dear chelsea at the youth museum. we talked about our crawling baby boys that were born the same week, compaired developmental milestones and their terrible sounding coughs. we talked about photoshop, dslr cameras, and digi scrapbooking. we talked and talked. i gave her my number and she told me that i could check out her photography on her blog. on your what?

i did check out her blog thing, but she lost my number. we ran into one another in the diaper section of walmart and again at the chic-fil-a playground. we finally decided to stop fighting destiny and just be friends. so we are. we're friends. the good kind- every time we get in the car levi asks if we're going to chelsea's house.

in the short time we've known one another, i've watched chelsea's hobby grow into a successful photography business. today she launched her pretty new blog, and i feel like i should be putting lei around her neck or something.

happy birthday & congratulations!

a few things we'll be celebrating today

 

cirque du suggie

there's a few states between my siblings and i, but the same highway connects us all. john & tiff both made their way through the virgin river gorge, down the cajon pass, and into the driveway of our little brown house this week. inside they found three little kids strung out on excitement and a couple adults eager to welcome them.

our fun filled week was kicked off with a short visit from tifftastic and rachalicious. there is no pictoral evidence of their visit. i'm not sure you'd want to look at pictures of grown women in pajama pants playing cards, killing dr. mario viruses, and eating brownies anyway. sleep is expendable whenever tiff is around, so i was grateful for a few days of recovery before john & liz came out with the beautiful izabella.

my kids thought she was the funnest little play thing. they dressed her up, offered her every toy in the house, and raced her around in the walker. their efforts were rewarded with giddy baby noises. katrice called my house just after we'd finished dinner. she was looking for tiff. i informed her that tiff was home in utah, so she talked to john while i text tiff. katrice hung up on john when tiff called her. it was funny chain of events that left me feeling very connected to my siblings. katrice is good sticky glue.

if you live off the same interstate as me, please stop by and visit. you might have to work, but i'll make you this casserole. which will totally make up for it.

 

toy room before & after

when we purchased our house there were three separate living room type areas. one we use as a living room, one a dining room, and last but not least is the toy room. besides the kitchen, it's my favorite room in the house. like our other home improvements, this room was a family effort.

the credit goes to:
bookshelves- brian & levi
rug- $10 ikea find
toy organizer- ikea (assembly by tiff)
dress up coat rack- home depot
millions of toys- lovely friends & family
paint brush & pallet- brian & marisa
art work- mia & miley

the brush and pallet were inspired by this pricey set from pottery barn kids (by 'inspired', i mean totally ripped off). brian is super handy. all i have to do is explain what i'd like and he cuts, sands, and nails it to life. he put 350 pipe cleaners together to make paint brush bristles- genius.

the girls artwork could be my favorite possession. when they come home from school with a new project it feels like getting an unexpected package in the mail. the monkeys are also proud of their display, constantly dragging unsuspecting guests into the room to showoff their work. the clips allow me to easily change projects out as new construction paper pretties come home.

to answer your burning question: yes, of course the toy room is always this strait.

too good not to share

the best kind of company is on their way to my house, so i should be cleaning, but this was just too good not to share.

we went on a family date night to see UP!. the more i think about the movie, the more i love it. the storyline is amazing and the characters are so very lovable. it was action packed- it held our attention so well that brian and i didn't notice our mischievous two year old duck between the seats in front of us and make his giddy way to the other side of the theater. i don't know that i'd recommend it for young children- miley(4) was pretty freaked out a couple times, but mia(6) loved it. like wall-e, the big picture is over the heads of little people. but for adults the beautiful images tell a story about what truly matters in life.

take some tissue with you to the theater and don't say i didn't warn ya.

(our next family date night will be to see this- of course!)

this, i got right

brian reading levi 'goodnight moon' in san diego

books are my favorite part of our sleepytime routine. there is something magical about 'goodnight moon' and the other stories we all know by heart. how books calm my normally spastic son i will never know. i've made my share of mistakes as a parent, but fostering their love of reading i got right. below are some of the titles cherished by our family and the quotes from them that keep me smiling.

favorite of favorites
goodnight moon- 'goodnight noises everywhere'
joseph had a little overcoat- 'you can always make something out of nothing'
where the wild things are- 'and it was still hot.'

girly must haves
olivia- 'i love you anyway too.'
fancy nancy- 'because there isn't a fancy-or better-way of saying that.'
i know a rhino- 'because they live with me.'

for fun
hand, hand, fingers, thumb
there's a wocket in my pocket!
panda bear, panda bear, what do you see?
how do dinosaurs eat their food?