Dad's Birthday

It was great. We went to dinner with the fam at La Ferrovia (gotta order the Spinach Cannelloni, it's the best!) for my dad's birthday. It was cute because my mom said to the grandkids to go give Grandpa a hug. My two girls ran to their great grandpa because they call my dad "Mommy's Daddy". I think it made my dad feel good that he wasn't old enough to be called grandpa.

Solution for Lost Mittens, Make Your Own

The girls and I were at the Ogden Nature Center for a cute little preschool class on the water cycle and heard about this class on Recycled Wool Mittens. I signed up and went last night.
Basically you need a couple shrunken wool sweaters (to close the fibers), some polar fleece, and fun button embellishments and you can sew yourself some handy dandy mittens. The exterior shell is made from the wool sweaters and the interior shell is made from polar fleece (oh so soft and warm). You can find sweaters at thrift stores, your closet, or garage sales. Joanne's just had an awesome sale on polar fleece and I am sure you can round up buttons just about at any craft store or junk drawer in your home. If you would like to watch the demo go to http://studio5.ksl.com/?sid=4456414&nid=61.
***The pattern on the website is set for adults (though I had to measure it against my hand and add a few inches on length). To make children sizes just use a copier and print at 80%, 60%, or 40% depending on the child's sized hand. Katelyn (nearly 4) can wear the 80% printout but it will probably fit her until she is 10.
Katelyn sporting her new mittens:

Adult (blue stripe), Child's (soft grey)


Video link from KSL (Jenny taught my class at the ONC):

Artist Moment

One of those perfect mornings! (Unlike the days when I don't change Sarah's pull-up fast enough and she make feces murals...) We'll just stare at these cute photos and erase those gag worthy memories.

Jeff/Jasmin's Birthday Party

Gotta Love an Awesome cake! Especially when there are two of them (my brother and my neice share their birthdays). Sorry Beck I didn't get a photo of Jeff's Nightmare Before Christmas Cake.

Taking a Walk in Daddy's Shoes

Sometimes I think they can't get any cuter. They kept calling out, "See you later, we're going to work."

Gymnastics Class

We started Katelyn in gymnastics for a few weeks. I don't think we will continue because suddenly the price quoted and the price after all the registration fees and first and last months tuition, etc just sounded a bit much for a 3 year old. She does love it though so...we'll have to see if I cave. They were really darling with her. She stretched, went on the rings, the jumping pit, the trampoline, and what seemed more like an obstacle course. We've been working on backbends at home, and Katelyn begs every morning if she can go to tumbling class. Sarah could not be left out of couse, so we dressed her up and after Katelyn was settled, made a Mommy and Me trip to the icecream store (read 39 cent cones at the drive-thru gas station). She was just fine with her special day too!

My 28th Birthday Party!

On Monday I sort of threw together an impromptu ladies luncheon for my birthday on Friday. I printed cards, dropped them off at homes in my neighborhood and my family, and anticipated a day with loved ones. I made Cafe Rio Burritos with Cilantro dressing and a side of Strawberry Salsa with Cinnamon Sugar Chips (thanks Mel, Becky, and Kim for your generosity in sharing recipes). My sisters made me an awesome cake and icecream and we had a wonderful time catching up with everyone. Nate surprised me by taking the girls so I was able to sit down and visit. They went on a daddy daughter day outing and bought me some fun new clothes. It was one of those special days that everyone surprised me with gifts and so much love and kindness. It's hard to believe I have only known most of these ladies since July. I will forever treasure it because it really was that special. Thanks for celebrating with me!

Oh and Nate also took me out to the Importance of Being Ernest at Hale Theater and I just LOVED it! I didn't know anything about the play beforehand, but it was so fun!!!

Becky-Cake Decorating Extra-Ordinaire

Esther helping me blow out the candles...

Still smoking (should have known they were the trick kind), but we did find out our smoke alarm batteries had died.

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

Katelyn graduated from Nursery into Sunbeams this week. Sarah was rather distraught with being alone in Nursery but I believe she will soon grow to love her independence. Katelyn's cute teacher, Jana, made little goodie bags for the kids welcoming them into her class. Inside was a picture of Jesus, stickers, crayons, and a rubber CTR ring (choose the right). Katelyn had her ring on for about 3 minutes and decided to "help" Sarah go potty. She reached up to flush the toilet just as the ring slipped off her finger. This was Katelyn's first experience with self frustruation. She could only be mad at herself and boy was she sad. We had her "earn" her replacement ring with good deeds around the house and picked up a spare, just in case.

Once There was a Snowman...

It's been snowing like crazy these past few days so we decided to take advantage. While Nate was shoveling the driveway, the girls and I started a snowman. It was rather shabby looking at that point. Nate came over with his tooth scuplting skills and created this masterpiece.

The girls and I decorated with carrot, black rocks, scarf and hat. We may have taken a few baby branches off the tree but they went to a good cause. Afterwards Nate went after the sidewalk and we girls made ourselves some treats. First we made snowballs from the falling snow and added lime and grape flavoring for some homestyle snowcones. Next we (read Katelyn and Sarah) ate all of the chocolates from the windows of our advent calendar. We finished off our sugar indulging with a frothy cup of hot cocoa and marshmallows. It was quite the morning to be sure.
Sarah couldn't part with her carrot (we found a suitable replacement). I guess they didn't just have straight sugar for breakfast.

Salt Dough Ornament FHE

Salt Dough Ornaments
1 C salt
4 C flour
2 C water
Adjust flour and water as needed to create cookie dough like consistency. Roll out and use holiday cookie cutters to create designs. Use straw or the likes to create hole for ornament string. Lay on plate and microwave for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes to harden. Decorate with glitter, markers, paints, stickers. Allow to dry. Thread with string and hang on Christmas tree.
****For those really ambitious crafters add food coloring to different segments of dough and you can sculpt your own designs.

This has been a fun tradition my mom used to do with us when we were little. This year we used alphabet cutters, stars, bears, flowers, and hearts. It was an interesting concoction. The girls LOVED it and I think Nate was having just as much fun!

Ropelato Christmas Party

My Grandpa is headed to PA for the holidays so we moved our family Christmas Party up to the 5th. We had our delicious classic dinner of lasagne prepared by my grandpa and loads of fun with games. The kids dressed up for a nativity and we exchanged gifts. All in all a very fun evening. Thanks Aunt Dawn and Mom for all your prep work.

Opening Gifts



Nativity-(if you couldn't tell there are a lot of great granddaughters. My dad's section alone is 8 granddaughters to 1 grandson. Fitting for all the solo daughters and loads of sons from the generation before).

Get Together with Dental Buddies

Katie and Joey were in town for Thanksgiving so we threw an impromptu reunion at our place. It was fun to see how much the kids have grown and hear the updates on what's been happening in the last 18 months.

Amber (Cassidy), Stacey, Katie, Lisa
Cody, Nate, Joey, Spencer

Aubrey, Tucker, Cole, Will, Cassidy, Luke, Katelyn, Sarah

Gingerbread Houses for FHE

Hmmm...we may have to sharpen our house making skills but we had fun anyway. Nate and Katelyn did their best to fix my decorating mishaps. The Thompson's house was just plain awesome.

We're back...

Sorry for the lack of blogging. Sickness and holiday festivities have wiped me out. Here's a photo collage of some of our endeavors:

September

1st Hike for the Girls (Mount Ogden at top of Snowbasin)

Missionary Moments in Ogden(Elder Matt Pierce was our hometeacher in Maryland)

My first "fancy" fondant cake...probably the last

Fall Cleaning (they really are great helpers)

Track star days are coming Katelyn PR 1/2 mile, Sarah PR 1/4 mile.

Worms (and clearing out the crazy growth of parsley)

If Katelyn is potty training, so am I!

They go to bed in their own beds and this is what we find in the morning...

Teeter-Totter for Two

Last Swim of the Season at Home


October

Leaves with the cousins

Meowy!

Carving Pumpkins

Trick or Treating to Grandma Starley

Sisterly Loves


November

First Snow at Home

Thanksgiving with Grandpa

Merry Christmas from Ropelato Grandparents

Headed to the Nutcracker Ballet

Double pony rides by Daddy


ANDDDDD....we're expecting our third little GIRL May 1st!