Be my Lil Rock N Roll Queen

I found this outfit the other day and just HAD to get it for Alaina. I think it is the cutest thing, and Alaina LOVES the skirt she kept twirling around over and over, I couldn't get her to stand still. She is my lil rock n roll queen.

On another note, Alaina will be starting dance on Monday!! I am so super excited for her. She is taking an introduction class which will be a combo of ballet and tap. I can't wait to watch her strut her stuff, and the recital will be sooooo much fun!! My little baby is growing up so fast.

Babies Day Out

Yesterday I spent the day out on the town with the kids. Our A/C is still having issues and since the day before I sat in a 98 degree house we thought maybe I should go spend some time in good ol a/c filled buildings. The kids and I first dropped Kurt off at the Phantom shop so he could get his work van and leave for his day. We then went to Target, probably my fave store to waste time at. I bought a new maternity swimsuit since there is a beach trip coming up on the agenda, and I indulged my kids and bought them each a toy. We aren't the type of parents that buy their kids millions of toys, we usually only buy them toys on birthdays or christmas and even then it only one or 2. Our kids don't pay much attention to toys for very long. Anyway, Alaina got a Baby Alive doll

and Emmitt got a rock n rumble car- gotta love clearance sales!

After Target we went for some food, and drove through a quick carwash. A movie sounded like a great way to waste a good chunk of time, keep the kids entertained, and keep Mom cool so we bought tickets for the movie Up.

The kids and I loved it, it was a really cute movie. Emmitt was laughing pretty hard at some parts. Usually when I am out with the kids running errands in town they throw one fit or another but yesterday they were very well behaved! After the movie we went next door to Brookstone Bookstore, and sat in the kids section reading books and playing with the hand puppets. After about an hour or so there we went to Tutti Frutti frozen yogurt and got a small to share. We had raspberry yogurt with fresh kiwi, strawberries, and yogurt chips. MMMMM! Kurt called us when we had just got back in the car and said he was done with his day and ready to be picked up. Perfect timing, the kids were tuckered out from the events and fell right to sleep on the way home. It was a nice day with my babies, and I enjoyed spending a little adventure out with them in the cool! :)

Puppy Play

We are now down to just 2 puppies left from our dogs litter of 11! It's sort of sad walking outside and seeing only 2 little guys. It was pretty funny to go out to feed them and have 11 little puppies jumping around at your feet. They cracked me up. Kurt & I both have thought strongly about keeping one mainly just for Daisys sake, plus their just so cute but she's pretty oblivious to the whole Mom gig. As much as we would love to it would just be more work in the long run so we posted a sign at our local vet for the remaining 2, if they don't get adopted soon up here we'll take them to a safe shelter. Once they are gone I will miss days like this:

This one is extra playful, and I was laughing so hard watching the kids play with her. I think Alaina will miss the puppies the most!

Alaina A Go-Go

I bought this super cute new dress for Alaina, I love her little go-go look.

BEST Chocolate sheet cake

Once again Pioneer Woman is the GREATEST!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE chocolate cake!! We signed up to have the missionaries over Saturday for dinner so I decided to make a nice big meal and make a new dessert. I found this best chocolate sheet cake recipe on Pioneer Woman and decided this was the one. You HAVE to try this if you're a chocolate fan! Warm, fudgy, gooey, maybe I shouldn't have discovered this recipe because this is by far my favorite sheet cake ever!

Combine in mixing bowl:
2 c flour
2 c sugar
1/4 t salt

In a saucepan melt:
2 sticks butter
Add 4 heaping Tb cocoa. Stir together.
Add 1 c boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 secs, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir to cool slightly.

In measuring cup, pour 1/2 c buttermilk.
Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 t baking soda
1 t vanilla
Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350 for 20 mins.

While cake is baking, make icing:
Chop 1/2 c pecans (if desired)
Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in saucepan
Add 4 heaping Tb cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat.
Add:
6 Tb milk
1 t vanilla
1 lb minus 1/2 c powdered sugar
Stir together.
Add pecans, and pour over warm cake.

Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you've just made the best chocolate sheet cake ever!!

WARNING

Some childrens shows may cause dementia in adults.

I've discovered that some kids shows have got to be created with the sole purpose of making the parents nuts! I put this Wiggles video on our Netflix instant for the kids and quickly realized what a big mistake it was. I found myself listening to annoying song after annoying song. Note to self: do NOT rent the kids Wiggles again.

Under Attack

Yesterday after running some errands, I came home to find 3 huge mounds of these buggers on my carpet in my living room! We were under attack from these flying carpenter ants, it was disgusting!! They were all over my rug, the carpet, the fireplace, and my window sills. I was already having a not so good day so this was my breaking point. Whenever I look at a bug or a swarm of bugs it makes me itchy all over like their on me. I called our pest control people and they had a guy serving the PMC area that day so they had him come over to take a look. He told me that the only real way to get rid of them would be to put this gel down and they then take it back to their nest to kill the nest. Not super comforting, but he sprayed inside and out as well. I had already soaked my carpet and window sills in a can of raid to kill them while I was waiting for him to show. I sat in the bathroom since that was about the only safe bug free place while I waited. Emmitt & Alaina were in their rooms taking naps. The ants have disappeared for now but I suspect that's not the last time it will happen. We think their coming in through the chimney since this house doesn't have a closure in the chimney to keep them out.

It has been one HOT summer so far, at least it feels that way being in the last part of my pregnancy and having no A/C. That's one quick way to make a pregnant woman more irritable stick her in a non air conditioned house for the summer. LOL! We had the A/C guys come out today to see if they could fill up our unit with freon but they didn't have nearly enough so they will be back out by tmrw or saturday to fix it for us. Apparently the unit has a leak so the coolant is bone dry. Boy will I be glad when they fix it for us!! The house stays about 85-95 during the day without it. :(

As for everything else were surviving. Kurts been busy which is good finance wise. Emmitt starts soccer next month, and were looking into dance for Alaina. They will hopefully also both be in preschool starting next month as well. Pregnancy's still going good. I went and bought one of those maternity support belly bands for working out in. Being at the last months of my pregnancy working out is putting alot of pressure down low so the band really helps relieve my stomach and lower back. I had my rhogam shot today so we are set and I am ready to have him here already! :)

Scary night

A couple nights ago we had a very scary experience. Kurt was working a late night, as usual in the summer, and I was home alone with the kids. Emmitt was taking a shower and Alaina was sitting at the counter eating her dinner, when I heard a knock on the door. It wasn't coming from our front door but the back door, that leads right into the kitchen which was where I was standing encouraging Alaina to finish her food. The only people we've had come to our back door is our neighbor Bob Karr. The back porch light wasn't on so all I could see was a man standing back there and waving through the glass at me. I figured it was our neighbor so I went to the door and opened it. As soon as the door was open I realized I have NO idea who this man is, and suddenly a scary sickening feeling came over me.

The man was petting my dog and acting very strange. He was staring at the ground when I opened the door and started acting very very weird. When I opened the door and realized I didn't know this person I asked him if he was looking for someone. He just stared at the ground and shrugged his shoulders. Then I said, "Do you need help with something?" He responds, "I was invited here." Then I am really starting to freak out and my heart is pounding a mile a minute, red flags are going off in my head. I just say, "Well I don't know you and I think your lost so you need to leave now." I closed the door and lock it and tell Alaina to follow me. I went into the bathroom and tell Emmitt to turn off the water and get out of the shower. All of our windows are pretty much open due to the fact we have no A/C and I'm prego and dying in the heat! I walk back over to the back door and turn on the porch light and peek out, I can't see the man but there's a corner that you can't see from that location on our house. So I go into Emmitts room to peek out his windows. The light is off in Emmitts room and I creep up to the window directly looking out onto the back porch steps. Sure enough the creepy man is still just standing there petting my dog! (Daisy is no help! What kind of freakin guard dog is she??!!) I am really scared now because a normal person who really did make a mistake would have left by now. I grab the phone and call Kurt. I explain what's happening and he tells me he's going to call my neighbors and have them come over.

Kurt calls me back after he talk to my neighbor and tells me that Bob Karr is headed over. I am sitting in the hallway with my kids trying to be as quiet as possible and out of sight. I hear Bob Karr come around the back of the house and say something to the man who is still outside my home. Finally Bob comes back and knocks on the door. I open it to find my neighbor shotgun in hand, he tells me good thing we called him and that the guy was crazy and if Bob didn't have his gun the man would've tried to fight him. He told me he ran him off and gives me the description of the vehicle the stranger was driving and the license plate number so I can call the local sheriff. I called Kurt back and told him what Bob said, and then called the sheriff to explain what just happened. I then realize that I am shaking and have been since I closed the door after talking to the stranger. I call my Mom to tell her whats going on because I am still alone and at this point terrified. (We have no form of weapon in our home to protect myself with) My Mom tells me she's sending my Dad over. I call Kurt back and I am crying now at this point because I live in the middle of nowhere I am so dang terrified for myself and my babies. My Dad shows up with my brother and their weapons, my Dad was really fired up and luckily the stranger was not still there because my Dad would have killed him.

When Kurt finally got home, it was a huge sigh of relief and I just started crying from the experience. We had the kids sleep downstairs with us for the following couple of nights. We filled out a report with the sheriff, and put some more curtains on our windows. I still feel uneasy when it gets dark though. There were definitely angels watching over me and my kids that night though because that man could have attacked me. I know better now than to answer the door. Living up here made me lax in that factor so that was a reality check for me. We are being watched over.

Stars & Stripes

Our 4th was really nice. We started off attending the ward pancake breakfast which started at 8 am. The primary kids sang a couple songs and had the kids all wearing white t shirts w/ roses. I love watching my kids sing with the primary, their just so cute!

After the pancake breakfast we came home and went swimming as a family. Emmitt busted out all his tricks, and Alaina was surprisingly timid in the pool this time. She didn't want to jump around at all. She'd climb up on the ladder like she was going to jump in and then she'd just slowly climb back in the water. We swam for about an hour then had lunch and took naps. At about 2pm Kurts parents came over to swim with the kids so Kurt & I could sneak out for a date. Kurt and I went to the movies and saw Transformers 2. It was pretty good, definitely not as good as the first one. A little too racy this time around. After the movie we grabbed a bite to eat and went home to our babies. We decided to skip the fireworks this year since we'd just have to go back off the hill again in order to watch them, and stayed home and enjoyed the evening together instead. It was a nice 4th of July, and we hope you all had a good one as well!

Emmitt William

Just a couple new pictures of my little man.

Best Buds

Thursday July 2nd we took the day and went to our friends the Westmorelands house in Lancaster. Christine and I worked together at Black Angus about 6 yrs ago, and we've been friends ever since. Our kids LOVE eachother, and what makes it nice is their paired up in age. Emmitts bestfriend is Ryder, and Alainas bestfriend is Kayden. We're working on a playmate for their boy Mason....Maddox will just be a little more farther apart in age than Mason! LOL!! It's funny how we both had boy girl boy.

The boys are the same size which is rare for them to find other boys their size, their big guys. So when we get together they take full advantage of having someone their size to play with, by this I mean wrestling matches! :)

The boys were having a ball wrestling on the floor, Alaina & Kayden tried to jump in a couple times and then realized that probably wasn't the best idea. Kayden and Alaina were walking around the house with their "babies" singing, "MY Baaaaby." Over and over again. It was very cute. I love that my kids have someone their age to play with, they always have a ton of fun together. And I get to hang with my best gal pal! :)

Don't worry Mason your playmate will be here soon!

Lainie Bug*

I did a little mini photo shoot of Alaina the other day. I was actually trying to get one or two good pictures but the girl can't hold still for more than 2 seconds! Then she started getting cranky because all she wanted to do was watch her movie and not take pictures anymore.

She is my little baby, she's got me wrapped around her finger. She's such a softy compared to Emmitt, but I would assume that that's the normal difference between boys and girls.

She LOVES to play Mommy to her baby dolls, puppies, other kids, etc. She loves to help cook, to color, play dress up, and sing and dance. My fave things she says are: chocolate, i love you too, aww thanks, and my mommy. The way she pronounces these little phrases is the best! I love having a sweet little baby girl like my Lainie Bug.♥

Have I mentioned I'm a rabbit? :)

I LOVE salad!! Probably my fave food of all time, I could eat it at every meal for the rest of my life and never get bored of it. This recipe is a salad although not the leafy green kind but still very healthy!! Props to Biggest Loser again, man I love that cookbook! Keep in mind the recipe itself makes only one serving so dbl, triple to however many servings you'll need.

Hot N Cold Brown Rice Salad

4 oz grilled chkn- chilled and chopped
1/3 c chopped broccoli
1/3 c red bell pepper (I don't like bell pepper in salads so I sub'd for tomato)
1 Tb Italian salad dressing (I used Bernsteins restaurant recipe)
1 Tb balsamic vinegar
3/4 c brwn rice
salt & pepper to taste

Grill Chicken chop and place in fridge. In the meantime, cook your brwn rice. Chop all your veggies. Place in a bowl with the chkn and add your Tb dressing and vinegar. Toss to coat. Once your brwn rice is done add to the chkn mixture and add another Tb vinegar/dressing if desired. Serve immediately.

I love brown rice so I thought this recipe was really good! Although I have a preference of brwn rice. I have tried several brands and have found that Uncle Bens tastes the best! Hope you like it. :)

ABC easy as 123

In the mornings after breakfast we've been doing learning time with the kids. Since Emmitt & Alaina aren't currently enrolled in preschool we try to find ways of still keeping them up. I LOVE the noggin website for kids, they have a bunch of activity packets involving the alpahbet and numbers, math, colors, shapes, etc. The packets are done off of kids fave characters like Dora and Blues Clues. My kids love doing learning time, especially Emmitt. Alaina is not quite on the level where she can write letters on her own yet but she does great at counting and coloring. Emmitt is really smart, anything he puts the effort into he can pretty much accomplish. He can write his full name on his own, and he is awesome at the alphabet and his numbers. I can't wait till he starts kindergarten I love seeing him learn new things. I enjoy doing the learning time just as much as the kids because it's a great bonding time for us.

Emmitts self portrait page.

His fill in the missing shapes page.

My smart little guy!

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Almost there

27 weeks pregnant and ready to be done, it actually seems to have gone by pretty quickly. I keep wondering if I'm going to have this baby early because he seems to have been dropping and I have a good amount of pressure down low. I guess we'll see when the time comes. I am grateful that this pregnancy has been so smooth sailing. I can still keep up with my turbo kick which is nice! While taking this picture Emmitt so sweetly told me, "Mommy your getting fat." Nice buddy....real nice. :) I told him "No that's baby Maddox." He says, "Ya I know but he's getting so big like fat." Gotta love the innocence of children. It's ok my pride will come back eventually..lol! 3 mos to go.