Since I brought it up...

I thought since I'd mentioned I dressed up as a pregnant woman for Halloween as a kid I'd post a picture of myself last year. And yes folks, this one is real! This was about 5 weeks before they were born (Lila was a ballerina, Johnny was a baseball player, and Abby & Zack were a baseball.)

It says 10 lbs 34 inches, but it was really about 14 pounds and 38 inches by the end!

Little Pumpkins

I have to get a little sentimental here. This is one of my favorite Halloween pictures of all time. I put it up every year and remember the days when the most stressful thing in my life was the fact that Rindi's braids were so much longer than mine!

6 years old

Rindi (on the right) and I (on the left) are as close as two cousins could ever be. She's seen me at my best and my worst and loved me right along through it all. To simply say that she is either my cousin or my best friend, doesn't do our relationship justice. She is both, and so much more. Really more like a sister. I remember the days when "Rindi & Emily" were two words that didn't really get said separately. Whether it was singing "I'm on the top of the world" (by the amazing Carpenters) from the tippy top of our special tree, writing embarassing Reader's Theaters, or playing homemade Double Dare, we were always together. Now that we live miles and miles apart I still see her influence in my life every day. She's an amazing friend and so, like every Halloween when I remember these pumpkins... I miss you Rins, Happy Halloween!

P.S. Stay tuned for LOTS of exciting Halloween pictures!

A little too scary

Black food coloring does come in handy sometimes! Lila and I made spider cakes for the ward primary party tonight. Here's a few pictures for those of you who were sitting on pins and needles waiting for them! My cake was a little too scary though. Out of the 7 cakes there, it was the last one picked for the cake walk. Oh well!

My cake

Lila's cake

She frosted the whole thing by herself (with great concentration.)

Don't worry, her cake didn't go to the church!

Have your cake...

Since I'm posting cake pictures I thought I'd add in a few of my past favorites.

This was a ladybug cake I made for our cute friend Emma's birthday party a few years ago.

This was the little cake Lila got to tear into for her first birthday party.
(And yes, she is wearing a coconut bra and grass skirt.)

And drum roll please....

Here is our infamous Volcano cake for Lila's first birthday Luau.
Smokin' isn't it!!
And it tasted as good as it looked!

Black Milk vs. White Milk

I like to give my children the illusion of choice. So while getting food for Lila, I will frequently give her list of things that she surely won't want and only one or two choices that she might actually eat. For example, at breakfast the list might be, "Lila, do you want to eat carpet, diapers, dirt, cereal, or pancakes?" This has been working very well.

This morning as I was bringing out the milk to put in Lila's cereal I asked, "Do you want black milk or white milk with your cereal?" To my surprise Lila replied, "Black milk." I thought she was kidding and tried to give her the white milk and she got quite upset. Fortunately for me, Emily keeps black food coloring on hand (I don't know what for either). So we whipped up a batch of black milk and Lila loved it.

How do you take your milk?
	Black
	White
pollcode.com free polls

"No, Say Thank You to ME!!"

Lila made dinner a few nights ago. When I said "mmmmm I LOVE sloppy joes" she said "No Mom! Say thank you to ME, I made the sloppy joes."



Thank you, Lila. I wish you'd make dinner every night...

Play-DOH!!!

It recently became clear to me why Hasbro steered away from the traditional spelling of Play-Dough in favor of the Homer Simpson style Play-DOH!

It went something like this:
"Lila! Lila! Lila! Oh my GOSH! Lila! Ohhh Man! Lila! What are you doing?"
"What, Daddy, what are you saying, Daddy?" She comes and sits in my lap. She was standing on this pile of Play-doh methodically messaging it into the carpet with her feet.

(click on the picture to see it full size in all its glory)

Meanwhile, Emily comes down the stairs and then ducks her head back around the corner.
"Daddy, what is Mommy doing?"
"She is laughing, why don't you go ask her what she is laughing about?"
Emily, was able to compose herself and helped pull what we could out of the carpet.


Fortunately, Hasbro has "How do I remove PLAY-DOH compound from carpet, upholstery or fabric?" in their frequently asked questions (FAQ). I guess we will have to wait and see if it works.

P.S. Lila has recently being yelling "Ohhhh Man!" when she gets really upset about something breaking or something not going her way. I had been wondering where she picked that up. I guess it was from me.