What is not to LOVE about this KID?!

Enough said!

I Love you, Cuddle Bear!

(Sssshhh, don't let him know I told everyone his pet name :))

My Beautiful Lily Girl. . .

I love her and I am so grateful to be her mommy! She fills my life with sunshine and my heart with joy :)

Alex's Cheesy Smile & Dancing

I Loooove this new cheesy smile Alex has going on! It's sooo hilarious! What is not to love about this kid?!

Alexandria loves music and dancing. Here's a clip of her getting her groove on :).

Valentine's Day PARTY!!!

I really love to celebrate the holidays with my kids no matter how big or small they are. It is a great excuse to spoil the kids and stuff them with lots of sweets and goodies you wouldn't normally give them! This year, I wanted to make Valentine's Day fun and extra special for the kids, so I made a few exciting plans :) (We celebrated on Friday with the daycare kiddos.) I started hyping up Lily for this day a few days earlier to get her really excited. Come Valentine's Day morning, she was super hyper! She wanted to tell everyone (even people who called) "Happy Valentine's Day! I love you!" For breakfast, the kids got treated to chocolate iced doughnuts with sprinkles. This was a big hit and a great way to start off the day! Alex loved hers so much it was gone in literally two minutes!!!Then we did a really fun art project. I cut out big heart shapes from wax paper and used a paint brush to spread dilute glue over the surface. Then the kids stuck on colored tissue paper squares to make a suncather.
Later, I painted the kids hands and let them put their handprints on heart shaped cutouts ( I tried to get their handprints to resemble hearts as much as possible!) to give to someone special! Lily loves anything to do with messy, so she was thrilled with this craft!


For lunch I made grilled cheese sandwiches and used a cookie cutter to cut them into heart shapes ( a big hit!)



Then after nap, it was PARTY TIME!!! We had these cute little sugar cookies with heart faces on them, as well as, pink iced sugar cookies with heart shaped sprinkles, carmel popcorn, muddy buddy chex mix and pink strawberry flavored milk.


THEY LOVED IT!!!!

It was a very rewarding day! The look on their faces said it all! I can't wait for St. Patty's day and Easter next! Whoo hoo!

Moments Like These. . .

Remind me that little pieces of Heaven and tranquil moments do exist on earth.

Birthday Shout Out!!!

I just wanted to wish a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear beautiful cousin Amanda! (Lily's middle name is from her!) I love you so very much cousin and I just want you to know that you are the most genuine person I have ever met! You are so nice to EVERYONE and you are one of those few AMAZING people who can always find the good in people no matter what. You are so loving and caring. You are definitely someone that I have always looked up to and have wanted to be more like. You are so strong and have such a positive outlook on life. I cannot wait for you to have babies, so I have more of you to love! I really hope your day is as special as you are and I hope that you remember that with each year that passes, you only grow more beautiful!!! We all love you very much and hope the wish you make this year comes true! XOXOXOXOXO!

10 Things I LOVE About You. . .

In honor of the upcoming Valentine's Day, I wanted to express some of the things I LOVE about my family!

LILYANA. . .

10. Your crazy high note contagious laughter.
9. The way you love to help, even though you are not really :)
8. Your enthusiasm to learn new things.
7. You love to share your snacks with your sister.
6. The way you run to me with a new drawing and say excitedly, "It's for you, Mommy!"
5. How you refuse to watch any movie that isn't Barney, Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty and how you are so content to watch them over and over again.
4. When you see me laying down, you cuddle up next to me and say, "I want to lay with you, Mommy."
3. They way you cheerfully announce, "Good morning, Mommy," every single morning without fail; even when it is super early and I don't feel it is that good, but it really helps turn my grumpy, tired mornings into good ones :)
2. They silly way you dance around your room.

And the number one thing I LOVE about you. . .

1. You cannot go to sleep unless you get a hug, and a kiss and we say " I love you," in sign language. I love this and it makes my heart feel so warm and content. I look forward to this moment every day! It brings me such joy to share this ritual with you! I LOVE YOU!

ALEXANDRIA. . .

10. The soft, adorable, baby way you say hi and then hold your hand up to your ear like you are talking on the phone.
9. You love to lay your head on the kitty's fur and suck your thumb.
8. You are so cute (and annoying) when you find Lily's PJ's in the laundry basket and "steal" them to drape over your neck. Then when I "steal" them back from you and put them away, you somehow manage to find them and open her drawer to get them. Then here you come strolling back down the hall with them hanging from your neck again!
7. You love to cuddle and be held and loved on.
6. The way Lily can put her face close to yours and say anything and you think it is the most hilarious thing ever! That is the only time you laugh your hardest.
5. When I turn music on, you immediately stop what you are doing and this huge grin spreads across your face. You look at me excitedly and then you start bopping and swaying to the beat.
4. You love to find and eat lint from the dryer. (Gross, I know! I do not encourage this, but it is so funny!)
3. You steal my sonic drinks and then get so giddy about sucking from the straw.
2. You have been such an easy going, fun loving, patient, happy, baby!

And the number one thing I love about you. . .

1. You are ALWAYS smiling! If you are sick, hurt, or tired, it doesn't matter. You always have a smile to share with me. First thing in the morning until bedtime you are smiling, smiling, laughing. It brings a smile to my face every time and brightens up my day! I LOVE YOU!

MICHAEL. . .

10. You love the Raiders and you are a loyal fan, even though everyone makes fun of you for it.
9. You go out of your way to help other people and always volunteer to do so.
8. You cook dinner because I am always too lazy to do it :)
7. You play with the girls when they want you to, even though I know you would sometimes rather just relax and watch your show.
6. You encourage me and support me in the things I like doing and the decisions I make.
5. You ALWAYS give me massages when I ask for them, even when I complain when you want one and I purposely don't do a good job. ( I hate giving massages! lol)
4. You always let me pick the movie when we go to the theater even when it is your turn to choose. (Not like we get out that much anyway! It is easy to forget! But I know you remember and let me do it anyway!:))
3. You listen to me rant and rave like a lunatic sometimes, but you love me and put up with me anyway.
2. We share the same dreams and goals to be a family for eternity.

And the number one thing I love about you. . .

1. You love and work so hard for your family. You promised me from day one that you would always do what it took to take care of your family and you have held strong to that promise. We have surpassed many financial struggles because of your willingness to sacrifice yourself. I am truly grateful for you and all that you do. I am so blessed to be married to a man who holds the love for his family above himself. I LOVE YOU!

Dress Up

Lilyana has been really into dress up lately. She will pick out an outfit for her and then things for the other girls to wear. Her current favorite has been her pink princess dress complete with crown, pink high heels, and wand. She has been pretty bossy lately, so considering, I think it is pretty fitting. Watching all of her Disney princess movies probably hasn't helped much with her "I am a princess" ideas either. Anyway, she and the girls were playing dress up the other day and I snapped some cute photos.

"Please help me save my life."

Lily was coloring at the table and having trouble getting the cap off of one of her markers. She was asking me for help followed by something I couldn't understand at first, so I kept asking her to repeat herself. Finally I realized what she was saying. She was saying, "Mommy, please get this lid off my marker and help me save my life." Then when I took the cap off for her, she said, "Thank you, Mommy, for saving my life!" I had to laugh out loud. I have no idea where she got the whole "you saved my life" thing, but it was pretty amusing. That girl always has the funniest things coming out of her mouth.

25 random things about ME

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. Most of my closest friends I have had since the 5th grade.

2. I am terrified of turning 30. It is my scary age.

3. If I could, I would have as many kids as possible before I got too old. (Like the Duggar family:)

4. I am completely obsessed with the TV show LOST and I never miss an episode.

5. I really wish I could play the guitar. I have always wanted to so bad.

6. I used to be able to ride those carnival spinning rides over and over again, now just looking at them makes me want to puke.

7. I LOVE Jean Claude VanDamme. :) Hunka hunka!

8. I hate driving to unknown places alone. I usually will mapquest my route in advance and drive there before (if I can.) I also have to ask for directions over and over and over again!

9. My absolute favorite color is PINK.

10. I almost drowned at a water park twice on my 11th birthday. Still very embarrassing.

11. I used to be able to remember every face and name and now, I can't remember the name of anyone new to save my life. I just pretend I know and then ask Michael later who it was. (Shameful, I know)

12. I have always dreamed of becoming a professional ballerina or dancer.

13. I love my family and friends more than they will ever know.

14. I was in LOVE with Lance Bass back in the NSYNC days. Now I find out he is gay:(

15. I am a huge romantic.

16. I want to travel the world when all of my kids are grown.

17. I thought the Powerpuff girls were the coolest through my senior year of high school.

18. I am not very big on politics and have never voted. (sorry)

19. I hate sports...yes, all of them.

20. I love the ocean but I hate swimming in it. Too cold and I am afraid of what is down there.

21. I freak out in tight or confined spaces or when I cannot be in control of myself.

22. Biggest fear is suffocating.

23. I wouldn't mind if all of my children were girls.

24. I love scrapbooking and photography.

25. I never cried or got upset when a famous person died until Heath Ledger. Then I blubbered.

I tag: Alison, Becky, Sharron, Elise, Nicole, and Liz. Have fun!!!

Valentine's Day Cookies

Sunday, while the guys were watching the superbowl, the girls (my mom, sis, Lily, Alex and Me) got together in my mom's spacey kitchen to make some yummy cookies and brownies in honor of the upcoming V-day (Cameron joined us later.) Needless to say, Lily was super excited and couldn't wait to get started. She helped herself to everything because I guess we were taking too long to get started. It was a lot of fun spending time together and icing and decorating cookies. Lily's favorite part was putting on the sprinkles. Alex enjoyed the spoonfuls of icing that grandma gave her. A tub of icing and 8 containers of sprinkles later (almost emptied thanks to Lily) we had some cute heart shaped cookies to devour! YUMMY and very sprinkley!
My mom and I each made one especially for our sweeties. They, of course, loved them and couldn't wait to taste them! Michael loves sugar cookies, so he was very happy :) I love him!

Lily stuck her arm in a cookie and got icing all over it. No problem for her, just another excuse to lick off the icing! Such a goober!