Heartthrob

So there's a woman in our ward who is expecting her third child and has been having contractions early. To give her some time to rest I offered to take her kids for a few hours every Thursday, they're sweet little boys ages 4 and 2. I love having other kids over, because it means I don't have to entertain my own kids and can get some stuff done. The kids made a huge mess of their room, but it was well worth it and very fun. Talking to the mother a few days later she told me that her boys loved being over here and had a lot of fun. She then proceeded to tell me of a conversation she had with her oldest boy Ryden, it went something like this:

Mom: "So did you have fun at the Dobsons?"

Ryden: "Yeah, I'm going to marry Lynette."

Mom: "You are! Lynette is a very nice little girl."

Ryden:" Yeah, she's pretty too."

We both got a good chuckle out of it. I know childhood crushes and marriage proposals are common for kids, but this is the first for my daughter and it makes me smile. Glad to see someone else sees the beauty in here that I see- even if he is just 4 years old.

"Snow is my favorite and my best!"

Ahhh snow, that beautiful plague of winter that we despise and adore all at the same time. A miraculous thing happened Christmas week- we had freshly fallen snow, the kids had new snow gear waiting to be used, no one was sick, and Michael was home and available so we were able to go out and enjoy it. And enjoy it we did. The stores were practially out of sleds when I went to pick one up- but I found a cheap one that was flimsy, flat as a pancake, and perfect. I was a little worried about how the kids would do on it- but it worked really really well. Although we had new snow gear I need to add that none of us were entirely outfitted just right. Trevor had no boots- I've gone to several different stores in the last few months and not one of them has boots in his size. So annoying. Michael has no snow pants or snow gloves, something I was unaware of until this outting. I do not have a water repellent snow coat- there is a large green one back in Idaho that I always used but have never managed to bring back with me. Lynette was better off than the rest of us with all of here gear, although her secondhand $3 boots left her ankles angry red and freezing. But did this stop us? Oh no- out we went. We sledded down the only incline I have seen in our area for a good hour and played around in the snow. We finished the activity with warm baths and hot cocoa- it was a great day.

Sweet little boy.

See the sled? It was odd- with cut out handles on the side for you to hang onto when you pulled and bent the side up. It was the only one of its kind out there but it got the job done.

3..2...1...go!

No, no Lynette- bring the sled up with you! Fine...I'll go get it.

Male bonding. His face may not show it, but Trev loved the sledding. He would squeal the whole way down and giggle at the end.

The token picture of me- maybe I'll wear mascara next time...oh who am I kidding.

Nice gloves. Yeah, those are mine- poor man didn't have any of his own and those were the thickest we had so we figured they'd last the longest even though they weren't waterproof. They worked for a while- but by the end they were soaked.

Angel in the snow.

Lynette's attempt at a snowman. It wasn't exactly ideal packing snow.

Poor little guy took a faceplant. From this point on he was pretty eager to get home and demanded to be held while we were still outside.

Daddy warming up his cheeks. So sweet.

Little Inspirations

Meet Brittany. She's my cousin. What? You don't see the resemblance? Same nut brown hair, same almond eyes, same olive skin....oh wait maybe not. Well we are family- trust me. She's six months younger than I and we grew up together; playing with one another, shopping, singing- all that good stuff. She's always been a very talented little thing (she was really good at coloring when we were young, whereas my pictures tended to be more picasso-like.) Anyway, she's always been the artist and its fun now as adults seeing how she honed those skills into a become master crafter/decorator. She's got this lovely little website where she's pulled together her ideas as well as those of others for crafts/cooking/decorating suitable for holidays, parties, seasons, and everything else. Its an awesome website that I highly recommend. So I making a post on it because I love it that much. That's all. Okay, so she's also apart of a little giveaway thing on an equally adorable cousin with an equally adorable site who's featuring Brittany this month. What's the giveaway? Brittany will redecorate any room in your house- something I sorely need. My kids room, although functional, is dismal to the eye. The extremely economical furniture I acquired over the years through craigslist/garage sales/and super store sales do not match at all and it drives me nuts. So I'm hoping she could help me out, so I've got this post to get an extra shot on the giveaway. Keep your fingers crossed. And check out her websit- it rocks- seriously..although maybe it would be easier to do that with your fingers uncrossed...anyway, yeah good stuff.

This is just a picture- the actual button is on the sidebar of my blog.

And not to be forgotten... here's Nicole (my equally adorable cousin as mentioned above who's doing the actual giveaway) and the button for her site, again the button is on the sidebar.

And just for kicks here we all are along with my cousin Melanie and sister Kim. I think this was shot in the summer of....2000? We had just been playing in the sun all day at Boise EFY and were dressed up to sing together in the talent show. Please note: Brittany's family were always known as "the Lamanites" to us... I think you can see why. Ahhh memories.

Christmas in Chicago

Okay, playing a little catch-up here, but oh well. I seem to find that the more I'm enjoying myself, the less pictures I take. Here are a few scattered pictures of our very first Christmas home alone. I'll be honest I was kinda not as thrilled about Christmas this year. Christmas to me always meant lots of friends and family and the thought of having a Christmas with just a mere four people just felt so foreign. Silly, silly me- how could I forget how fun it is just to be with my little family. Yeah, its not as loud and chaotic but it was still dang fun. I had to pull out a Christmas dinner all by myself, which was pretty fun. We ate less food than normal just because it seemed silly to bake 6 different pies for only two adults and two kids but I think I actually liked that a lot better- I didn't get the traditional bloated Christmas-hangover feeling I usually get and that was a nice change. The kids were happy as can be Christmas morning- especially now that Lynette is old enough to really enjoy the anticipation of Christmas. Trevor didn't know what was going on, but he was happy anyway. After presents in the morning, Michael made a nice breakfast (a family tradition he's passing on from his dad that I happily addopted), and spent the rest of the day playing with toys, watching new movies, and baking yummy food. It was a good day.

Christmas dinner...mmm..ham and fresh rolls.

Trevor, drunk with Christmas spirit.

Yeah for toys!

Her face just looks so Dobson to me in this picture.

A first look at what Santa left...

Trevor couldn't wait for all this gift opening business to end before demanding muffins.