All these things I made

I had this great idea to make everyone's gifts this year and shop less.  Well, I did shop a little less, but I stressed myself out making everything in the last 2 weeks before Christmas.  So, next year I will be either buying everything, or making it all year.  Here are some pictures of my hard work.  Evidence of late, late nights with little sleep.

 Emma's monkey

 Monogramed blankets.  These were really easy, I should have done more of this.

 Mya's blanket.  Well, this one was started before she was born, and I finally decided to finish it for Christmas.  

 I made a pair of these for all of our moms, and my sister who's name I had.

 Kenadi's bed canopy.  (Where did all of her blankets go?)

 Bike Seat cover for Randy, and a leg strap for his pants when he's riding.

Whew!  I think that's it.

Overheard:

  Emma loves to sing while she's playing, walking, sleeping, eating, well...  you get the picture.  So, while she was playing in the living room one day I heard her sing, "Pa rum pum pum pum! Rum pum pum pum! Poker face!"  I hate to admit it, but Poker Face by Lady Ga Ga is her favorite song, and she even knows it's by Lady Ga Ga.  I can only link her even knowing the song from that dance video game we played at our friend's house last Christmas, since we don't even listen to it ourselves.
  Anyway, I have lots more to post and I will do it soon, but I thought I'd give you a little snack before I pull out the big post.  It's been a while!   Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Recognize this Guy?

I've never had a man with facial hair in my life- I like it.  Isn't he handsome?

Our fun cousin Travis came to visit for a night, and they didn't even know that the other one was growing a beard.  Now they're best buds.  Just kidding, but it was fun seeing them both like this.  Thanks, Ash, for loaning us your leprechaun hubby.  We had fun with him!

There is one condition to the beard:  I don't want it to be a permanent thing- maybe 6 months at the most.  Our kids must know the face behind the hair.

Lists

Here are some lists I've been making in my head.  I could actually do a list like this for each holiday, or person, but a shortened version is here.  What are You excited for?  What do You love?  Feel free to add to my list!  I know I could add a ton more, but then I'd never post it.  Here you are:

I am Excited for:
Halloween, (obviously I wrote this before Halloween, but I can't take it down because I WAS excited for it)
Thanksgiving
Christmas
Snow??!! - getting snowed in
the new show on TV called Once Upon a Time
The next stage in life ( don't get any ideas, I am just excited for when we are normal people with a job)
The Cantata ( a Christmas choir I'm in)

I LOVE:
Pumpkins: for decorating, eating, and pumpkin spice candles
Letting the girls brush my hair
Kissing Mya's little dimple
Crafting
Reading
FALL
Evenings with Randy
Fresh baked bread, cookies- the smell of them is almost better than eating them
Cake batter
Early bed time (for the kids)
A good nap
The feeling after a hard exercise
a clean house
dancing
happy, non-fighting children
Christmas music
Music
Singing
Family vacations- car rides with long, good chats are wonderful
Listening to my kids laugh
HOT CHOCOLATE- I drink this every day

I like:
To be on time ( this is rare)

Winning games- raquetball, board or card games, soccer games- ok, I just like to win

To Do:
Stop eating so many cookies
Start Exercising- Again
Figure out how to get Mya to sleep better
Paint my kitchen table
Paint Kenadi's room
Fix it up
Paint her bed
Get carpet put in
Make Christmas Presents

Dreams:
Own a pumpkin farm
Own a small farm with goats, chickens, cows, horses, alpacas
Own a Christmas tree farm
Travel
Take a dance class with Randy and go dancing at least 2 times a month
Be a professional yodeler
Own a hot chocolate shop

Tara's Birthday (month)

Well, you all are quite familiar i'm sure of Tara's infatuation with her birthday and how it basically lasts almost two months. Well, she has insisted that I write a little post to commemorate her birthday. So me being the loving husband that I am will oblige. But first, a few pics from her birthday party.

Poor little Mya, she has no idea what she's getting into by being born into this family. This is just a little taste as to what it's like to live with Tara.

You may all remember that she posted a little questionnaire for me on my birthday last year, so I thought it would be a good idea to copy her idea and post one for her. I think it's time you all got to know her a little better.

1. How old are you now? 24, according to the candles (no, they are not saying 42!)
2. What is your favorite food?  Um, I'd still have to say spaghetti.  I also love a good bowl of stew or soup with artesian bread to accompany it.
3. What's the craziest (PG rated) thing you've ever done? Maybe I'd have to say... wow, how to choose?  Um, probably jumping off a 65 foot bridge that I'm sure cracked my tailbone when I hit the water.
4. What would your dream vacation be? A food/history tour of Italy.  Or maybe a food/hiking trip of New England.
5. If you could choose anywhere to live for a year, where would it be? Italy, Norway, Denmark, or Austrailia.  Probably I would choose about 2 or 3 years for those places though.
6. What do you want to be when you grow up (or at least when kids don't require your constant presence)? I want to have a pumpkin farm, with a patch that kids can come pick their own pumpkins, a corn maze and a farmers market. That's for the fall season.  Then I'd want a Christmas tree farm where people come chop their own too.  And maybe I'd want to be a Dr. on top of that.  Maybe own some horses and a place for people to bored their horses, with an arena...
7. Who is your favorite person in the whole world?  This is definitely loaded.  Good thing I don't need to think about this one, but it's my dearest husband.
8. Who is your hero(s)?  Steve Jobs.  Just kidding.  My mom- she isn't afraid to do totally new things and be good at them.  My dad because he always talks positively about my mom.  Entrepreneur bloggers amaze me too.  Randy amazes me with his patience, except in the middle of the night when he's asleep, he's pretty grumpy then.
9. What did you use to do for summer jobs?  Well, first I worked at shopko, then at a fish cannery in Alaska, then at a ranch/resort in southern Utah bordering Zion National Park, then I was a CNA at a nursing home and also worked at the Olive Garden.
10. What is one goal you have for this next year?  Become fit and run another 1/2 marathon.
11. What excites you?  The holidays.  Doing family activities.
12. If you were an animal what would you be?  I don't really go around thinking about what kind of animal I'd like to be.  Maybe a gazelle.  Since they're graceful, free, and run fast.
13. What is your favorite movie? White Christmas.
14. What is your favorite quote?  Right now it is: "Why not?"
15. What is your favorite hobby?  Crafting in general makes me happy.  And reading, and playing sports and winning.  Oh, and making good food.  Sorry, I'm not the kind of person who can choose just one thing.
16. What has been your greatest adventure? Marriage.  Not even kidding.  This includes everything that came with our marriage- children, Oklahoma, school, just the relationship part...  Now, You CAN'T post this until you put at LEAST one normal picture of me on here, Randy.

Ok, here's a pic of the Tara that you all know and love.

Well that's a few things about Tara that you may not have known. One thing I have learned from being married to Tara is that I just always need to expect the unexpected with her. She always amazes me with her many talents and I know I take them for granted way to often. I am very lucky to be able to call her my wife. I love you Tara! Happy birthday (month)!

Birthday Month

Well, it's that time of year again.  Yes, the best time of year- my birthday month.  Oh, and Emma's, and my sister Kayla's and my niece Sadies, and my Grandpa's... at least 2 of my cousins.... Yea, it's a big month for birthday's.  But lets not forget the most important one- mine.  Just kidding.  Kinda.  Well, I'm going to dedicate this post to Emma and her birthday.  Randy can do mine.  Hint hint.

First, I wanted to show you this picture of Kenadi sleeping in the closet.  She decided that she wanted to sleep there one night and we said yes, because we figured she would move to her bed since it was so uncomfortable.  But, no, she slept there all night.  Amongst the shoes.

 Emma LOVES trains, cars, trucks, princess things, dressing up, etc.  So, I took her to the Thomas when he came through town.  She was so excited to see Thomas.

 Emma loves Mya and Kenadi.  She is a good big sister to Mya.  A little overwhelming, but all with good intentions.  =)  Most of the time.

 Emma loves dancing.  She watches Kenadi in her dance class, and can't wait until she's old enough to go too.  They dance around the house together, it is so cute.

 For her birthday we took her to the zoo to go ride the train and see the animals.  The girls love the zoo.

This is our happy Emma and Kenadi, on the zoo train.  She loved it. 

 I decided to try fondant this year.  It was my first time making it and using it, so I didn't expect it to be perfect, and it wasn't.

 Emma loved her cake so much that she had me set it on the table close to her so that she could watch/guard it all day.  I had to give up worrying about it because it was A) her cake after all, and B) she drove the cars around on top, stuck her finger in the side (right where I covered it up with lots of green grass), and it made her so happy to mess with it.  No one was eating it but us anyway, so I let her play with it for the rest of the day.

 Happy 3rd birthday Emma!  

Growing girls and a secret word

This is my new favorite song:  cute music, words seem to apply, and I love her wings she wears in the video. Hope you like it like I do.

Ok, I have hidden a secret word in this post.  Comment below to guess which word it is.

A sweet friend made our girls these tee-shirts.  They say :" I am the big sister" "I am the middle sister" and "I am a frog".  Just kidding.  I crack myself up.  It really says "I am the little sister".  Did you guess?  Aren't they adorable?

 Oh, they are growing too fast!

 THIS happy girl finally learned how to ride her bike without training wheels.  She LOVES it.  Now the bike is too small for her.  =)  She doesn't know that though.  So, she insisted on riding for a half an hour in the rain today.  She would have ridden longer, but alas, it was time for lunch.  

 A few times we have been convinced that Mya was teething.  However, I wasn't prepared for it and didn't have a teether in the fridge for her, so I decided to use butter.  If this isn't red neck, then I don't know what is.  Alas, she wasn't teething.

 I have a few first day of school pictures that I've been meaning to post for a while.  The one above is Kenadi's first day of homeschool.

 Emma's first day of Joy school.

 Emma's other first day of school.  No, she just really likes to dress up like her sister.  I haven't posted on here or announced it or anything, but we've decided to homeschool Kenadi for this year.  We are so happy with this decision.  There are quite a few reasons why we did this, but #1 being that our school district has mandatory all day kindergarten and I felt like that was way too long for her to be gone during the day at that age.  She needed more influence at home than she did from people at school.  She likes homeschool too.  We stay busy for sure.

Here is my happy baby.  She crawls all over the place, makes huge messes now, and is so proud of herself.  Such a happy happy girl, but a VERY bad sleeper.  

OK, can you tell me what the secret word was?  It is one I don't think I've ever used on this blog- that should give you a hint.  Oh yea, and I don't know if I even used it right.

Some finished projects.

 Ok, well, I'm never done with these projects (Randy and the girls).  Seriously though, remember our green kitchen?  I did like the color, but was ready for a change.

 And our blue bathroom?  It got a Rapunzel makeover before I finished it off with a new coat of paint.  The girls LOVED painting the walls just like Rapunzel does in the movie Tangled.  Kenadi even painted herself with long hair and lanterns in the air.

Well, the blue became grey, which I LOVE.  It goes so well with anything, and brings a little sophistication to our tiny bathroom.

The kitchen became blue and dark blue.  I don't think that this picture gives you true color though.  Oh, but it's close enough.  I do like the blue, but wish that the dining room was a shade lighter.  I go back and forth liking the shade, and then wishing for lighter.  I have decided that I like color a lot though. I like seeing that it's blue, and having the brightness that it is.

My moss covered H.  I had to BUY this moss.  Crazy that a girl from Oregon would go out and buy moss.

I got this adorable crochet book for Christmas and I've been loving it.  These little guys are gifts I've made for other people's kids.  Olie the octopus,

 Ellie the elephant- she's dancing by the way,

and Pete the penguin.  Aren't they cute?  Now it's time to make some for my kids.  They've put in their orders and have been waiting patiently.

Now, let me give you all a heads up that these projects have been over the corse of about 5 months.  So, I definitely don't have a high turnover rate.  Just so you know that I'm not THAT on top of things.