Grease Monkey

When I think I need a project to work on, I think, "Oh, I'll go to JoAnn's and make a pillow." When Michael thinks he needs a project to work on he thinks, "I'm going to buy an Audi." 

So, he does.

His dream when our kids get to be driving age (or years before since that's how long it'll take) is to have them rebuild the car they are going to drive. That's their right of passage to drive. Poor poor Scarlett is going to know more about cars than her future husband. Yeah, that's you Chandler.

 It's not very often you marry a doctor, a mechanic, a mountain climber, a carpenter, a computer wiz, a repairman, a do-everything-yourself-er and they all happen to be the same person.
What can I say, I'm a lucky girl...

...and the owner of 4 cars. No, you didn't count wrong. There are only 2 drivers in this house.

And this is not one of them.

Scarlett's Birthday #3

I'm pretty sure Scarlett has watched every single Care Bear episode ever made...old school and new. So, this definitely warranted a Care Bear 3rd Birthday Party! Plus, I was super excited to actually do stuff that I've pinned to Pinterest. 

Playing pin the belly badge on the Care Bear. Nice placement, Scarlett. Very nice.

Gettin' our grub on. Yummy cheeseburgers, hotdogs, watermelon, chips, and pasta salad. 

Playing after eating devouring nothing but chips.

Trying to break the indestructible pinata. Seriously. 6 kids. 1 bat. Not even a dent. 

Chandler with a cedar plank + box cutter + some tearing + 5 more kids with a bat + 15 minutes = CANDY!

 

Blowing out the candles, with a little help from the wind.

I was so happy with how the cake turned out! (Not so happy while sticking those dang sprinkles to the sides though...sprinkles were everywhere!) When I finished, Scarlett was so excited she had to show Michael, "Dad! Come yook (look) at my cake! You say, 'Oh, WOW Car-yet (Scarlett)!'"

Opening presents! This is serious business that even the babies had to see what was going on!

This one picture pretty much sums up Scarlett—wearing her Funshine Bear dress + ALL the dress up things + the monster helmet she asked for (not the pony one, or the ladybug one, or even the unicorn one...she had to have the "red monser one") + candy. Happiest 3 year old ever!

 Happy Birthday, my not so Little!

Duckies!

Conference has to be one of my favorite weekends. What's better than "going to church" in your PJ's? 

Me: We're not going to church today, we're going to watch it on TV!

S: We're not go to church? Church on TB!

M: Yeah! So fun, right?

S: Church at our house!?

All during conference she kept slapping stickers on our foreheads and calling us prophets and princesses. [sigh] We've got some work to do...

Conference is great. But being inside on the couch for 8 hours on a weekend can give you a bad case of cabin fever. So to the duckies we went!

Scarlett thought the dock was a boat.

And August thought he was pretty awesome.

 

Well, because he is. 

Happy Conference weekend! What talk should I re-watch first?

Easter Egg Huntin'

Michael was gone all Saturday helping someone move, so I dyed Easter eggs with Scarlett. Michael always hated it anyways. And Scarlett LOVES it!

Fast forward to Saturday night. 10pm. Scarlett comes out of her room and August is still crying.

S: Mom? I want a torie (story)

M: No, Scarlett! Go to bed!

S: I want a monser torie.

M: Okay. Fine. Once upon a time there was a naughty little monster who wouldn't go to bed. Then, the next day the Easter Bunny didn't come. The End.

Michael asked me later why she went to bed so sad mumbling something about how mommy hurt her feelings and the Easter Bunny. Oops.

She also woke up Sunday morning really sad that the Easter Bunny wasn't at our house (she thought he was coming for a visit). But sure enough, he came while we were at church! Scarlett was SO excited!

 

Sad attempt at a family picture mid-day, camera on the grill, Scarlett's already stuffing her face with candy, and August wants a nap. Oh the memories we'll have.

8 month August-isms

He's a cuddler. He'll climb up you to hug you. And he's always got a smile for anyone willing to talk to him.

He rarely makes cute, "awwww", freshly-heaven-sent baby noises. He prefers to communicate by grunting and growling and bababa-ing, which is usually summed up with some sort of growl. He might be part pirate.

Whenever we'd grab August's hands to do a sit up (~3 months), he'd straighten like a board and stand instead. So, we got him a jumperoo for an early Christmas present...and he loves it! So much that he sometimes falls asleep in it.

He's a climber. I guess it comes from him liking to be upright and standing. He figured out the full on crawl the day before Valentine's. He also decided he would pull himself up onto anything and everything he can find.
And then fall over...and over and over and over.

  

Barricades are no match for this terror! Making dinner takes twice as long. If there is something anything to climb over, August must conquer it (that includes anyone laying on the floor). Then, I have to get him down before an emergency room visit ensues. And this happens approximately every 9.8 seconds.

But he sure is a looker, isn't he? Man, he's going to have the ladies throwing themselves at him.

Good thing he as an overbearing, mothering,
bossy-pants big sister to beat them off. 

They are such different souls, but it so much fun to watch them together.
Scarlett loves playing with/torturing August. 

And it's super cute. 

Most of the time.

Little faces.

 This little one can pull quite the face. She's always made funny faces, as evidenced here and here. 

But these new ones take the cake.

Points to anyone who noticed the play-doh face before I pointed it out!

Showin' how to chow down an animal style in-n-out.

"What chocolate?"

And the best for last! You might want to zoom in on this one.

The picture Scarlett drew may or may not be what you think it is. For the record, it's a dinosaur.

And to even out this post, here's some August face...smothered in broccoli...not growing moss.

Come Follow Me (UPDATE)

*If you want a PDF copy, 

please visit my Etsy store!*

I am super grateful for whoever put this on pinterest! You guys are awesome. I really didn't expect this kind of reaction. I figured family and a few friends would respond, but my inbox has been overflowing with emails from people across the country! However, that also means a ton of people are visiting our family blog (not that people looking for a YW journal would be creepers...but still). 

*So, instead of pinning my blog, PLEASE pin the Etsy listing!*

So, the new Sunday school and youth lessons for 2013 are completely new! Our stake asked me to design a  young women's journal for the new curriculum/theme for the year. 

Each month circles around one topic (ex: January is the Godhead, February is the Plan of Salvation), so each month has it's own set of pages.

We put the pages in binders, each girls's name on the spine, and the "title" pages for each month in page protectors (then they stick out a little more and serve as dividers).