Me trying to be crafty

I have become addicted to craft blogs since I got my first sewing machine a few months ago.  One of my favorites is Makeitandloveit.blogspot.com.  I made a felt Mrs. Potato Head from that site for Lorelei for christmas.  Unfortunately I finished it last night, so it's in the mail now.  I made teeth and a mustache too, but she didn't get the mustache because I didn't get a Mr. Potato Head hat made in time.  Maybe for her birthday she can get the extra attachments.

I got this idea for a skirt made of my old scarf from the same site, and a fleece scarf for Reagan with big felt bows on it.  Super cute, and Reagan loves it, but the only pictures I have of it are on my cell phone.

I can't find the site where I got this idea, but I made this for Kenzie for christmas.  I hope she likes it.  I also made a scarf for Jordan.  It was obviously my first attempt at anything, so it's not very good.  SORRY JORDAN!!!  When I have my own craft show I'm sure it will be worth millions!  I've made a cover for my sewing machine too.  Next up will be some baby stuff for Stacey.  I am getting much much better, so hopefully Stacey's will be usable stuff!  It always looks so good in my head, hopefully that will start translating in real life.

Santa Cruise

For Nick's work party this year we went on the SANTA CRUISE!  The kids were so excited!  We were greeted by Frosty, Rudolph & a moose.  Frosty insisted on hugs for everyone and they passed out candy canes.  Reagan thought it was great!  Coen allowed them to give him a high five.

Here's the only good picture we got of the North Pole.  Santa was there and he read off the nice list.  Reagan was pretty nervous, but she made it!  So did Coen.  Coen was very quick to point out that Ike didn't.  He must have been added later.

It was a really fun little cruise.  It only took about an hour.  Mrs. Clause was our hostess.  They took us around the resort where they have huge light displays and then on over to the north pole.

It was a little rainy, but not bad, and it didn't stop the kids from wanting to be outside to see all the lights and be close to Santa.  We helped him make it snow- which was really cool!  And then they lit up the christmas tree and had a light show.  Good times!

Merry Christmas!

If I had received the christmas cards I thought I ordered, many of you would be getting this picture in the mail.  But I didn't so you won't.  I am not going to post a letter here, because if you're seeing this, you know what we've been doing all year.  I was, however, very impressed with myself for getting this picture taken- it only took 4 pictures and there was NO screaming involved.  It was awesome.  So feast your eyes on my masterpieces! 

Here is our annual popcorn ball picture!  Ike really didn't like it at first, but as you can see he warmed up nicely!  We made almost 200 this year and hopefully our friends and neighbors will get some!

As sad as this may sound, this is our first ever Santa picture.  The last time Reagan saw Santa she wouldn't get within 10 feet of him, but she had no problems this year and Coen just walked right up to him so that was nice!  We didn't try Ike, he was busy terrorizing another baby.  (The next day he actually drew blood, SORRY Thian!)

This is our 1st Christmas just by ourselves and we're very sad to not be with our families, but have really enjoyed taking things easy and not having to pack!  We're taking the kids on the Santa Cruise this year and are having another family over for Christmas Eve dinner, so we won't feel so alone.

  Merry Christmas to you all!  We love you and wish you joy and health this, and every, year!

Kids Playing

Coen gets way too much girl time!  He has started saying beautiful a lot like "look at that beautiful shadow."  The other day he said "we're going to have a picnic and then get married."H  He does play with his cars constantly though and pretty much has the entire CARS movie memorized.  He comes up with stuff like "focus, speed" and "that I'm talking about" and "he knows my name" randomly.   Reagan is loving playing with him though.  She told me "I have the best brother ever!  He's going to dance with me!"

They love to be the ones to wake Ike up from his morning nap.  I found them like this the other day.  Reagan was reading him a story.  They have been playing so nicely together lately.  It's been very nice!

Our HUGE Failure

SO...   Here is our sugar cookie house.  Someone told me you could make them out of sugar cookies, but obviously WE couldn't.  After about 20 minutes of trying to hold it together, Ike screaming and the kids fighting we gave up.  My frosting was too runny, so I made it thicker, but it was too late.  Also, I think we made them too big.  Anyway, here are the results...

The kids had fun eating the candy and we learned a valuable lesson.  Next year we'll buy the kit!

Early Christmas Present

Here's our happy little guy.  He cut his first 2 teeth over Thanksgiving.  Thanks Matt, Lisa & Kids for not killing us for keeping you up all night crying!  He's feeling much better now.  Crawling everywhere, pulling himself up and walking along things, but this is his favorite thing to do...

Ike found his Christmas present early.  He LOVES chewing on the kitchen cabinet knobs.  Thank goodness I didn't buy him any toys, he would have been so disappointed!  He'll chew on them while I do the dishes and look up at me and laugh and laugh.  He's such a cutie!

A Visit With Mel & @ GG's AND Halloween

As previously discussed, I am the worlds worst blogger, so here is my post, which should be two, another month late!  

We went to Papa & Gigi's house to visit Mel and the kids.  It was a blast!  The kids played in the leaves with GiGi forEVER!  They had so much fun!

Mel is one of those super moms and she brought the stuff to make haunted houses.  The kids had so much fun!  They loved bringing them home to show Nick.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much candy actually made it on the houses.

Reagan loves this hat, and follows Ike around putting it on him every time he takes it off.

We took the kids Trick or Treating down Sherman Ave. this year.  All the stores stay open and pass out candy.  The fireman and police are there too.  Coen couldn't figure out trick or treating for the life of him.  He'd stand there looking at them with his bag behind his back and his mouth hanging open and then turn around in circles when they tried to put the candy in his bag.  It was funny.  You'd think this would be an easy holiday to pick up.  Maybe next year.  Reagan really wanted her face painted, but I am not cool and have no face painting skills, so she just got dots.  Sorry sweetie!

We had our friend Lauren come over and help us carve our pumpkins.  She was a HUGE help, since I am not such a great carver of pumpkins and she brought dinner.  She's the best!  She went trick or treating with us too.  And later, she didn't even tell us when we made her sick.  Sorry Lauren!  We love you!

Random

I recently went on a weekend trip to Dillon to spend time with the ladies of the Rahlf family.  It was great fun, and while I was away, the kids got to play.  They went bowling with dad, and had a blast until it was discovered that there were no princess stickers which really put a damper on things for Reagan.  They do love bowling though.

Here's our little man.  We really did pick the right name.  He looks like Uncle Leigh to me.  I see flashes of other people, but the shape of his face and his eyes are very much Eisenhauer.  He is such a happy little guy.  Sooo close to full out crawling.  The kids adore him and are always singing him songs and trying to make him laugh.  He's a good snuggler, laugher, and sleeper.

Reagan's 1st Day of Pre-School

She was sooooooooooooooooo excited to go to school.  She picked out her outfit by herself and told me how she wanted her hair done.  When she woke up and saw her new back pack, she immediately kissed it then went to find her duck one to give to Coen.  She's such a sweet big sister.

The second week of school, she came to me and said, "Mom, I have an idea.  How about you don't walk me to the door.  I can do it by myself."  She must have seen the heartbreak on my face because she quickly amended that to "Okay, you can walk me to the door on Tuesdays, but I get to go by myself on Thursdays."  She has stuck to that.  Every Thursday, she says "I get to go by myself today mom, you stay by the car."

Coen wants to be just like her.  He takes his back pack with him to drop her off and pick her up from school and every time he's so sad that he doesn't get to go with her.  The whole time she's gone, he's asking if we can go get her.

Her teacher says she's the one that likes to make the class laugh.  She likes to make up words, so she'll quietly say something weird and see if anyone notices and if they do, she says it again until everyone is giggling.  She has really learned a lot so far and can now write her name upside down and backwards correctly among other things.  Good job sweetie!

Nick's Birthday

So, it's official, I am the world's worst blogger!  I get overwhelmed and forgetful.  Also, I seem to use this blog as a public forum for mocking my children.  Some of you may think that I don't adore my children.  I'd like to say that my children are the greatest and while usually I only blog about their craziness, they are incredibly brilliant and very sweet.  So here's to trying to remember to blog more often and to talking more kindly about my kids!  (Don't worry though, there will still be a little bit of mocking because that's the way we are and the kids really are funny.)

We made our annual trip to Tubbs Hill for Nick's 30th.  This time though, we went to the little cove we love so much.  I got the kids all ready and excited to be in the water, but it was pretty cold- until we were leaving and by the time we got back to the car is was nice and hot.  Oh well, we still had fun.  Reagan is turning into quite the rock climber.

I made a german chocolate cake from scratch and it took me forever, and then had technical difficulties with 2 batches of chocolate frosting, so I ran to the neighbors to borrow some and went to put it on and it had expired in 2004.  So, I finally had to just make a buttercream frosting, which I thought detracted from the cake and he didn't get it until about 8:30, poor guy.  The kids bought some trick candles and were sooo excited to use them, but they all blew so hard, that the candles never came back on.  It was kind of sad, but they loved the cake and being with Dad all day, so it was still fun.  

I was going to have a surprise party for him, but I couldn't decide if he'd like it or not on the big 30, so I didn't do it.  Then I found out that the day I was planning was the day of a BIG game and he would have hated missing it, so phew, I chose correctly.

So, this is very late, like more than a month, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY Nick!  We love you!

Ike's blessing

Smiling for pictures is getting much easier for Nick in his old age, haha.  I don't think Ike really looks like himself in this picture, he looks more like his namesake, but here they are- 2 of my main men.

Papa, GG & the fam.  The kids were much more interactive this time.  Coen was being quite the little entertainer right before this. 

The grandmas.

Stacey & Reagan.  

I think Reagan was in heaven with all Matt & Lisa's boys there to play with and lots of people to do her bidding.  Stacey can always be persuaded to color with her.

The blessing circle.  

We love you all and are very thankful you all took the time to come and be with us to bless Ike.  We are very lucky to have such great family and to consider them friends too is a great blessing to us.

Washington D.C.

We went to D.C. for Dan & Jordan's wedding, but I don't actually have any pictures of that, so here are the pictures I do have...  We got to see my cousin Drew & his wife Aimee Friday night at the reception & Saturday afternoon at the mall.  It was awesome to catch up with them, I haven't seen them in several years.

Here's 2 of my favorite men!

We got to spend lots of time with Tony & Mel thank goodness!  It really was tons of fun.  We got lost and almost missed the wedding, but luckily Nick has crazy insane race car driving skills and we made it with about 5 minutes to spare.

Here's the back of the white house... personally too close for me right now, but one of the things you've got to see while in the nations capital.

This is Jordan's back yard.  It was amazing!  Formal gardens with a fountain, outdoor fireplace, rock terraced yards... Beautiful!  Thanks to her family for hosting us so graciously.  They were a lot of fun!  

We all drove to Cincinnati Saturday evening and to our horror we found that the shark festival in West Virginia I believe had been cancelled.  Mel and I were forced to cry the rest of the way home.

The reception in Ohio was fun!  It was great to see old friends and eat fantastic food.  Tanner made the most beautiful arrangements of silverware I have ever seen.  It brought tears to my eyes.  I'll post a picture later if I can find one.  Thanks to Dane and Jordan for getting married, so we could go to D.C. and thanks to George & Lori for an awesome time!

Tim & Stacey Visit

Unfortunately these are the only pictures I have of Tim & Stacey's visit.  As you can see, the kids adore Stacey, but who doesn't?!  We had a great time!  Most of it revolved around food.

We did go to the beach and out to dinner.  Tim & Stacey went golfing (which for some reason they didn't want to do with our kids) and hiking up mineral ridge.  Thanks for coming guys!  We love you and think you should move here!

Back By Popular Demand

I know, I know it has been a million years, but with a broken keyboard it was just waaaaay to hard to update!  So I'll try to catch up in the next day or so.  I don't have any pictures of Oma, Opa & Dallin's visit, but I would like to point out that they had no car troubles and they didn't get sick, so it is NOT hazardous to your health to come visit!

The kids and I drove down to Utah with Oma & Opa.  We got to see Tony & Mel before they moved to Colorado which was wonderful, because I love Mel and I just don't get to see her enough.  (I love the rest of them too!)  Then we stayed for almost a month at Nanie & Poppy's house.  Kenzie, Tati & Hanna were there too.  Here are some pictures of our good times.

Chillin' with Nanie

S'mores with Poppy

Getting ready for the pool.  I have another picture of Reagan when she was about 18 months and she is wearing the same googles and crying her eyes out.  It is so sad/funny.  I'll post it when I find it.

These cuties are a month and a half apart.  Hanna kept taking Ike's binky.  It was pretty funny!

I had to take away Coen's race car markers after he drew all over his face.  It took a couple of days to get it completely off.

We went to see Stadium of Fire for the 4th of July which was lots of fun.  Coen HATES the Jonas Brothers.  I spent that part of the show walking around with him under the bleachers.  He did love the fireworks and the airplanes & helicopters that flew by.  Reagan liked the Jonas Brothers enough to sleep through their performance.  Ike just sucked really hard on his binky the whole time.

We got to see Great Grandma & Grandpa Cardon while we were there & Stacey & Chelsea stopped by too, so that was tons of fun!  I also got to catch up with some old friends which is always nice.  It was great to see you Cassie & Ali!  I had the kids pictures taken while I was there too, so we stayed plenty busy.

Happy Fathers Day

To our fathers:  We are greatly blessed as parents to each have such amazing examples of fathers in our lives.  Thank you for everything that you have done and for everything that you continue to do for us and our family.  Each year that passes and each child that comes into our lives helps us to better understand how incredibly lucky we really are.  It seems a sad trick that it would take so long to really understand, appreciate, and love our fathers so much.  We hope you have a great Father's Day and are excited to see you both soon.  This little family owes so much to you.  We love you!

Happy Fathers Day Nick!

We woke him up with breakfast in bed (and just a little bit of screaming before then) and then kids sang him 'I hope they call me on a mission.'  Then they all snuggled up for a picture in which everyone is smiling including Nick & Ike is not trying to scratch off his face.  I can now die happy!

We gave him his presents after everyone had taken a bath & we're about to make pizza bombs for dinner to go with the dirt cake for dessert.

I love you Nick!  You are the greatest husband a girl could ask for & the best father for our children.  They love you so much!  Everyday, the highlight of their day is watching for you to come home.  I never believe that I could love you more and then I do.  Everyday.  You're patient with the children when I want to kill them & are so thoughtful.  You make us laugh everyday & we couldn't imagine a world without you!  Thank you for loving us!

Tony & Mel

This was the best one I could get with all of them.  Ike looks a little crazy, but at least none of them are crying as in subsequent pictures.  We were ecstatic when Tony & Mel said they wanted to come and see us!  Unfortunately like Dane & Jordan they had a rocky start.  Their car engine stopped working just outside of Butte, MT & the tow truck started on fire taking them back into town.  Luckily a good samaritan let them use their car and the trip that should have taken 5 hours took 12, but they got here.  Yeah!

These pictures all in the wrong order, but this is them playing at the park the right before they left for home.  I think the second day they were here it rained so we took them to Cabelas which is always fun & had a picnic in our living room, which wasn't.  Then we grilled these huge steaks and for some reason my children decided to eat meat and ate almost an entire one by themselves.  I don't understand them at all!

Here's a great park we found recently with water features and a regular playground next to it.  It was so fun!  Soren & Lorelei jumped right in.  I think Reagan got her feet wet once or twice & here's Coen drinking the water, that's about as close as he got.  The big wimps.

Monday we went to the  beach & had a picnic.  Nick met us there unexpectedly which was lovely.  We had a great time until it got cold.  We went to the park downtown and then the beach on Wednesday too.  It was tons of fun!  We were all pleasantly surprised how well they entertained themselves without drowning or trying to kill each other.  We were unpleasantly surprised at how hard it is to keep track of 3 children at a busy playground.

One night we got a babysitter, yes just one & she survived, and we the the Whitehouse to eat.  It was fabulous!  Especially the sea bass & the baklava (I hope I spelled that right), sadly the belly dancer wasn't performing that night.   We were so sad to see them go & hope they will visit again someday after such a rocky start.  I forgot to mention that Soren also got 2 ear infections & strep throat.  So they had a rough few nights.  Thanks for coming!  We love you!  Come again soon or just move here.  If I can convince Nick to dig out our basement you could live with us!  Hope the move goes well.  See you in DC!