Halloween 2017

This year Brody wanted to be a whack a mole game for Halloween, except he thought Whack a Brody would be better.  I agreed.

Sammy and Sadie loved the can can dancers on the Small World ride at Disneyland so much that they decided that's what they wanted for their Halloween costume.

The Bonneville Salt Flats with the Family

I made my first trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats during Speed Week. It was every bit as cool as everyone says. I want to go back next year!

The Bonneville Salt Flats (for those that don't know) are found west of The Great Salt Lake in Western Utah, covering over 30,000 acres. The Salt Flats were formed when the ancient lake Lake Bonneville dried up leaving behind all of that salt.

 A few things to keep in mind when visiting the Salt Flats.

-The best time to visit the Salt Flats is in late summer when there is no water on the flats. You do not want to get stuck.
-Bring sunglasses it is incredibly bright.
-Wear sunscreen.
-Bring lots of water.
-Salt will get everywhere so plan to wash your car after your visit.

We brought some things to keep the kids entertained. The kids loved driving their remote control cars and Power Wheels truck in the wide open space. Of course the kite was really fun and they even tried throwing salt balls at each other. I shut that down fast. Ha!

If bringing kids I would also recommend bringing bandages. Sammy tripped and scrapped up her leg pretty bad. The salt is rough and stung her scrapes.

Halloween 2016

You could say we like our treats at our house.

This year Brody wanted to be a Slurpee and Sammy and Sadie little birthday cakes. 

5 on Friday

One
Spring training is in full swing and I couldn't be happier, well if MLB showed more of the Cardinals Spring Training games I could be happier. But really I am so excited for baseball season. Go Cards!

Two
I am obsessed with the Tupperware Modular Mates. I have been working on organizing the contents of my kitchen and pantry for awhile now and I cannot put in to words how much I love these containers! They are the best and free up so much space.

Three
With Sammy and Sadie starting preschool this week I have realized how fast time with my little ones is flying by. My girls are not the easiest, in fact they can be down right hard most of the time and taking them out and about is no easy feat, but I have decided that I want to do more with them. Today we ventured out to the zoo and had a great time! Here is to more adventures with my kids!

Four
I am getting ready to revamp my family's 72 hour emergency kits. What do I need in them?

Five
I have the travel bug right now and wish I was planning another trip to Hawaii.

Sadie and Sammy

And just like that my babies are three years old! And they started preschool today! Where does the time go?

Because of Sadie and Sammy's speech delay, our school district placed them in an early 3 preschool class where they can get the speech therapy they need. Today was the first day. 
Dealing with the girls speech problems has been tiring to say the least. Lots and lots of testing, therapy sessions, working with the girls, etc but the hardest part of all of it has been the frustrations and tantrums because we just have not been able to understand them and what they are trying to say to us. The terrible twos are hard enough without having twins but imagine having the terrible twos with twins who are frustrated because their mom and dad can't understand them. Let's just say I pray for patience on a daily basis. Ha!

The girls were really excited to start preschool and we are really excited for them to get more help with their speech! Oh and an extra hour to myself twice a week.

Om a side note, trying to take a picture without at least one of these girls giving a thumbs up is hard.

DIY Valentine Mail Bag

Last year I made this easy, no sew Valentine mail bag with my kids. It was a hit! In fact, they played with it long after the holiday. it will only take a few minutes to whip up one of these bags.

You will need the following sizes of felt in the same color; 12 x 9, 8 x 9 and 2 x 24. You will also need a pink or red felt heart, a hot glue gun and fabric paint.

You can cut your heart free hand or use a pattern.

First lay down the 12 x 9 sheet of felt and then lay the 8 x 9 sheet on top, matching up the bottom edges (as shown below. With the hot glue gun, glue the bottom edges and side edges together. 

 The top half will then become the top flap to the bag by folding it over.

Now take your felt heart and center it along the bottom half of the flap as shown below. Using the hot glue gun glue the top half of the heart to the bottom part of the flap. Make sure you don't glue the bottom of the heart or you won't be able to get into your bag.

 To make the strap, turn the bag over and glue each end of the 2 x 24 strip of felt to the top of the back side of your bag.

 And lastly take your fabric paint and write mail in the center of the heart. Of course you can write anything you want, perhaps your child's name.

As you can see, my sassy little Sadie loves this bag!  

Halloween Costumes

This year Brody decided he wanted to be french fries for Halloween.

 Brody's grandma made the fry container while Travis cut the foam for the fries and I spray painted them.

Sadie and Sammy love Minnie Mouse so that was easy deciding their costume. Their grandma sewed their skirts and made the cute little pins on their shirts. I picked up black tights and mouse ears and we were good to go.

I tried getting a good picture of the girls but Sammy wanted nothing to do with it (as you can see from her facial expression and body language) and Sadie was too busy trying to eat Brody's costume.

I hope everyone has a great Halloween!

First Grade

I can't believe my Brody is old enough for first grade! I wasn't sad when he went to preschool or kindergarten but first grade is a big deal. He leaves me all day long! It is exciting to watch him grow and learn but I am not gonna lie, it is a little bitter sweet.

Walking in to school this morning he grabbed my hand to hold it. Probably out of habit because after a few seconds he didn't want to hold my hand anymore. I guess I am starting to embarrass him already. Ha!

Brody is most excited for three recesses and of course seeing all of his friends. Oh and taking a lunch to school.

He wanted to make sure to include Sadie and Sammy in his first day of school pictures. Such a good big brother! Just overlook their messy hair and Brody's part that is way too far over ok?

Did I Tell You We Moved?

If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed that we moved. We bought a house in early March and have been slowly remodeling it ourselves. Talk about a lot of work!
We finally moved in at the beginning of June but still have a lot of work to do.

This picture was taken before we moved in. I have lots of plans for the exterior but that will have to wait.

Brody has even enjoyed helping us with some of the renovations.

Before moving in we removed more wall paper than I even want to think about, painted pretty much everything in the upstairs, opened up some walls, built closet organizers, built a wall, gutted a bathroom, ripped up old flooring, sanded and stained old hardwood, new trim and baseboards, a bunch of electrical work, ripped out cupboard, patched lots of holes and so on.

I will show some before and after pictures soon, but I want to finish decorating first.

The kids transitioned to the new house really fast. Sammy and Sadie loved finding fun places to eat before we had our kitchen table set up.

Independence Day

We celebrated our Independence Day with a parade and our family slip n slide party. What did you do?

No Sew Felt Valetine Mail Bag

Hi! Today I am over Summer Scraps sharing this tutorial on making a no sew felt valentine mail bag.
Hop on over and check it out! 

The Results Are In

We got our results back from our twin DNA testing. Sadie and Samantha are identical twins!

I am actually kind of shocked about this. Because the girls had their own amniotic sacs and placentas I was told they were more than likely fraternal twins. This means the twins separated very early!