Craziness.....

     So, my goal of writing every sunday didn't happen for basically the month of February...it has been just a bit crazy in this household, to say the least!  We tore out our kitchen (still no kitchen), the girls had pink eye, ringworm, the stomache flu (twice), lost tooth, ear pierced, talks in church, Valentines Day and Leap Day.  (You would think with one extra day this month I would be able to catch up a bit instead of get further behind...but that was not the case!)  To catch up a bit on us, here goes...
     Back in July, GP changed out my dishwasher that wasn't working with a pretty neat dishwasher.  The pretty neat dishwasher leaked though.  I happened to look up at my ceiling below the kitchen and wondered what the bubbles were that were forming.  Ran back up stairs and noticed our flooring was coming up a bit...that was when we figured out our kitchen was flooding from the dishwasher...the return water no less. :(  My Mom was here and bravely popped the bubbles downstairs while I bravely held the buckets.  I think she ended up getting more on her then in the buckets.  Pretty stinky!

     Fast forward to February...we finally had some time to change out the floor.  So as we were taking out the bottom cabinets we noticed they had molded pretty badly and were crumbling...which meant new cabinets for me!  I have been wanting new cabinets...but because it was not in our budget to get new cabinets, we had to purchase premade and unfinished.  It's all good though.  Since we took out the top cabinets, we (me mostly) decided to get rid of the little overhang above the cabinets that was a pretty fashionable 80's style, but not so much now.  We have finally finished the drywall, taped and will be texturing and painting this week.  I am kind of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel...kinda.

     This means though, we have half of my kitchen upstairs and the other half downstairs.  I am also doing most of my cooking in the microwave, toaster oven and woodstove.  GP is not complaining to much when the sausage comes out a little rubbery from the microwave...because he knows the only way to really fix this is to finish my kitchen.  I asked Karlee the other day to throw something away in the kitchen and she asked, "The broken kitchen or the one downstairs?".  One positive thing...I have lost 4lbs running up and down the stairs.

     The girls are doing great!  Besides all the little sicknesses...it was a pretty fun month.  They had fun getting their Valentines together and coming home with lots of candies and goodies.  They celebrated their 100th day of school and had a fun Leap day where they dressed up as their favorite book character.

     Karlee dressed up as Fancy Nancy and Shelby dressed up as Pinkalicious.  Shelby firsted wanted to dress up as a horse, but when I showed her how we could make ears and a tail...she exclaimed she would be way to embarressed to have a tail on her bum, what would people say!  They also only had a half day of school, which of course always makes it the best day ever.  Notice the close cropping of the pictures...there was an itty bitty corner in my living room without any kitchen stuff.  I had to put my body at a weird angle to try and maneuver around to get these pictures...Shelby asked me how I did the crouch thing trying to get their picture...she said I looked pretty tricky.

     Karlee lost another tooth.  I went to put that tooth in the jar with her other tooth, but I can't find the jar...I am hoping I didn't use that jar to put food in. :(  Hopefully when the kitchen is back to normal I can find it.

     Shelby is really thriving in school.  She loves doing homework.  She had the letter "h" to work on and when she finished her homework she gave it to me to sign off.  This is what I saw.

She felt that the letter "h" was a little boring so she needed to make it a little fancy.  Just love this girl!

Ramona

The first time we saw Beezus and Ramona, we have said that Shelby is our Ramona.  She finds herself getting in odd messes/siuations, likes to do things her own way and is pretty witty.  Lately we have been struggling with her hair.  It grows VERY fast, but it is very fine.  Needless to say, we have a pretty crazy rats nest to work out every time we brush her hair.  The longer her hair was getting, the tougher it was and we were both dreading the hair brushing routine.  So, the other morning, after about 10 minuites of trying to brush the rats out and many tears later...I put the brush down and exclaimed, "I am afraid the Rats have won the battle and have taken control of your hair!"  We put her hair up in a messy bun and I suggested a hair cut.  We both decided that maybe Rapunzel in "Tangled" was the cutest when her hair was short and brown and not long and blond. 

So, the next morning when we had a bit more time, we cut her hair.  I was a little nervous that she would be sad when we started cutting, since we took off about 10 inches.  But with every snip, she got more excited.  When it was done, I blowed dry and brushed her hair...with out a single rat showing up.  She was so excited and yelled, "We won the war today Mom...no more rats AND I look just like you!"

Well, with the hair cut, we decided she really looks like Ramona now.  The girls were playing in their room, and I heard Shelby say to Karlee, "I am glad you are my Beezus." 

Me too.

Yay for being a girl!

 Last Monday, since it was MLK Day, we got to have a day off from school.  This always makes it a good day...especially when it is a monday and no alarms needed to be set!  So the girls and I had a beauty day.  We soaked our feet and hands, scrubbed them good and polished are toes.  I love spending this time with the girls.  It is so much fun to hear their stories, telling me about what is going on in their lives (Which is actually quite a lot!) and just laughing.

Some funny things the girls have said this week...
*Shelby was having a hard time putting on her tights and couldn't get them up over her knees.  She lamented that she looked like a penguin, took off the tights and threw them at Karlee.  Karlee then said, "You better stop whining Shelby or you will get your tight wearing priviledges taken away!"  I had to laugh...because I have NEVER thought wearing tights were a privilige!
*I was cooking dinner and things got a little smoky.  Shelby came in and said, "Mom, I learned all about fire safety in school, do you need some help in here?"
*Shelby said at the dinner table, "I learned at school it is never okay to eat humans."

Finished one quilt completely and will be putting up the boy version to quilt this week.  That one will go a bit faster.  The extra hand sewing with the yoyo's took a bit longer with this quilt.  Now to just think up a name for this pattern?!?

I got an email from my distributor and she said stores were asking for new Seasons in Patches patterns, so I am going to focus on getting some spring ones done this week.  Have the designs done...just the construction part to do.  Luckily these little quilts come together so quick!

Some things I am working on...

My goal is to update my blog once a week...but when I was thinking about the things we did this week, I realized just getting back on schedule after winter break and having to adjust to waking up at the 6:00 a.m. alarm, having homework, church meetings etc...we didn't do too much else!  We were all so glad for Friday to hit and I think we all went to bed a bit early that night.  We did get a few things done on Saturday...but as of yet, Christmas is still not all put up.  Sunday isn't over yet though...I have a pretty good feeling it will get done tonight!

One of my other goals is to work at least 30 min every night after the girls are in bed on some of my unfinished projects and patterns I am working on.  Here are a few of my projects!

 This pillow was not really a project, but I wanted to use a quilting technique on another project that I haven't really used before, so this was a practice run.  It turned out better then I thought so I made a pillow out of it.  I quilted some fabric for the back and it ended up being a cute little pillow.  Not really my colors...so its up for grabs!

 A new pattern I am working on for The Heart and Home co are some quick and easy baby blankets made from charm squares.  I made a girl and boy version.  I added ricrac for the boys and after they are quilted I will add yoyo's to the girls.  Hopefully by next week they will be quilted!  Need to get a new pattern out!

This last one is a project I started when someone (since it has been so long ago can't remember who) was having a baby girl.  Finished piecing it and hope to have it quilted soon as well.  Maybe I will be ready for when someone is having a baby girl the next time.  ;)

I'm still short!

Shelby likes to be like her big sister and we started a few years ago with waking the birthday girl up by singing Happy Birthday and bringing breakfast in bed. The night before, Shelby kept reminding me that we did that for Karlee on her birthday and not to forget to do this for her. When I kissed her good night, she whispered, "You can bring me cereal, the marshmallow kind, k?". So we woke her up and she was pretty thrilled. The girls don't usually last too long in bed, but really like the tradition! They also know we have presents waiting at the table...so we usually move there pretty quick. She had gotten out of bed and the first thing she did was check how tall she was...and when she found out she didn't grow, she was pretty suprised and exclaimed pretty dishearted, "I am still short!!"

Shelby opened presents from us and from Grandma and Grandpa Jensen. She has been wanting a pillow pet for ages, but I have never gotten her one, so she was pretty excited and thrilled to open that present...Karlee was almost as excited as she was!

Later that night, we had a family birthday party and Grandma, Da, Ethan, Bry and the Butners came over. Shelby wanted French Toast for dinner...so that was pretty easy for me, except I did almost smoke everyone out when I cooked the bacon.

She wanted a Tangled Birthday cake...but I revised it a bit and made a cupcake cake. Shelby was pretty excited to see it...but later that night she asked me if I was going to make her "real" cake the next day, "Because, Mom, those were only cupcakes".

 When I put them to bed, I told about the story of her birth and the events of that night. I think that is my favorite tradition we do on the girls' birthdays. Nicole is always on my mind, especially on their birthdays...I am so grateful to her and because of her, I had a little girl turn 6! It is amazing how time flies, it does seem like just yesterday I heard her first cries and held my little Shelby for the first time.

Christmas 2011

The girls have been anxiously awaiting Christmas Eve all week, because thats when they know the fun begins! Some of my family traditions for Chritsmas are a nice family dinner and a nativity program and that is something that I have carried on with our family and hope that my girls will carry that same tradition on to theirs. The girls helped make alot of the dinner and were so excited to set the table with the Christmas dishes. Shelby ALWAYS takes a long time to eat, but she was actually done before almost everyone because she new what was coming next! Karlee asked what time it was and I said it was almost 7...she said, "Mom, it is way past our bedtime, we better hurry up!" Usually they are not so worried about bedtimes! We finished up dinner and dressed the girls up for the Nativity.
Karlee was Mary. She takes this job really seriously and was so cute holding Baby Jesus.

Shelby was our sweet Angel. Later, when we read a story about the Animals Christmas Eve, she got really excited when they talked about angels and exclaimed, "Thats what I am!"

The girls got to open one present which is always new jammies. They love jammies and are actually pretty excited to get these! The girls sprinkles reindeer food on the snow and we read the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" I was on the last few lines when they hear sleigh bells and Karlee had me finish the book fast so we could turn off the light. The girls both wanted us to get our things done quick because they knew Santa couldn't come until we were all in bed. I love that my girls still believe...it makes everything so magical and I love the memories that we are creating!

We had to wake the girls up....yes my girls love to sleep! We had church to go to, so we woke them up about 6:30. Karlee jumped right up, but Shelby had a little tougher time waking up.

The girls were pretty excited to see what Santa brought and what was in their stockings!

Karlee got a Walk & Giggle doll.

Shelby got a Leapster. Karlee got one a few years ago and she still plays with it quite a bit and doesn't share too well with Shelby. Shelby wrote in her letter to Santa she wanted a Leapster because "Karlee doesn't share hers".

We got the girls ready in their new Christmas dresses and went to church. They had a beautiful musical program. Really made a special start to the rest of the day!

We then had everyone come to our house for Christmas. It was so nice to have everyone come over and have the whole Pearson family together. We also got to have Joe and Twila Butner, Cole's parents, and Ray and Jeanette Sanborn, Betty Lou's sister and brother in law there as well.

A Prince's Castle

Halversen Photography Preview: Temple

I think I am going to make to use this idea with each of my girls favorite temples...came across this and had to share!

Mothers Day

Mothers Day started a little early this year. When Karlee got off the bus, the bus driver handed her something and she ran to meet me. She was so excited to give me her egg planter she made for me for Mothers Day. I asked her why the bus driver had it and she said she was so worried she might break it, so she had the our bus driver hold it until she got off the bus. So, of course that about made me cry. She was pretty proud of the face she drew because she thought it looked just like me. She also thinks that trimming the "hair" is going to be pretty cool. She wanted to put it on my window sill so that when I wake up, that is the first thing I see every morning.

Sunday was kind of a crazy day with meetings before church. I was a little sad the primary kids didn't sing during sacrament. The meeting was really good though. I really look forward to that, probably because I spent so many years wishing I had children singing to me.

After church, I heated up leftovers, fed the kids and GOT TO TAKE A NAP! That was the nicest thing my girls could of done for me. They played really quiet so I could actually have a nap...whch hasn't happened for months. So, what a great day I had!

Karlee then came home from school today with a little ceramic painted dish...so she placed it next to the egg planter on my window sill...I am getting quite the collection on my window sill, and I couldn't be happier.

Saint Patrick's Day 2011

This morning, before the girls got up, I mixed some green food coloring into the milk so when they had their cereal, it got to be green. Karlee was excited to see the milk...but of course, Shelby wasn't. She explained that if she doesn't like to even wear green, she REALLY doesn't like to eat green things that shouldn't be green. She went on to comment, "Great, my poop is going to be green too, huh?" I explained to her that this was fun and she needed to enjoy it...

While they were eating, I got out their green shirts. Shelby explained that she doesn't feel beautiful in green, but when I showed her that the shirt had a little sparkle and bling to it...she said it will do.

Karlee was excited to wear green today and see if her friends were wearing green. When she got home, I asked if they did any fun things today. She said that a Leprechaun named Rumpelstiltskin came and "trashed" their classroom. She really didn't explain to me how the room was trashed, but it sounded more like it was funny, and not a bad thing. I asked where this Leprechaun was from and she told me he came from the magical land of Maryland. I asked her if they had any green food for lunch, and she said they had some healthy food that was green, but of course she didn't eat that.

For dinner, we had chicken alfredo and I only made the noodles green...I could tell Shelby was almost pushed over the edge in regards to green by dinnertime.

Tikki Tikki Tembo

Karlee has been practicing and practicing for this school program since the day they first heard the songs in Music. It has been fun to hear her sing at home, but even more fun to watch the program. (We finally understood what the songs were about!)

She got to be a fan dancer, so she felt pretty special. I forgot to get our video camera ready and so tried to take a few videos with my camera...I can't seem to post those...so if I figure it out, I will post the videos.

It was so funny to watch her the rest of the performance. After the fan dance, she went into the stands. She was in the middle group, smack dab in the middle. Pretty much all of the kids just sang and didn't move much, but of course Karlee didn't. She was dancing around, throwing her arms in the air, shaking her hips and singing as loud as possible. Maybe she thought it was suppose to be like "Glee"... Afterwards, quite a few parents came up to say how much they liked watching Karlee's performance. :)

Yellow Snow....

On Saturday, the girls were playing outside in the snow with Gene Paul and having a blast. Shelby actually outlasted Karlee, which is not normal. After awhile Shelby came in very excited to tell me that "Daddy made me some yellow snowballs!" She was having so much fun playing with them and she wants to keep them forever...

So, of course, my first reaction was, "What!?, What do you mean, yellow snow?!" Shelby said she would bring them in to show, but I didn't think that would be a good idea. I asked her how Daddy made the yellow snow and she said he made "yellow" balls with his hands...and that is when I remembered she can not say her "L's" and figured she was meaning to say "Little". Phew!

Um, I think I look a little ridiculous...

Karlee and Shelby have been asking me to learn how to do girls hair since I usually do there hair with my old standby of the quick ponytail. So we found a blog with a lot of cute styles and Shelby and I decided to try one. After about 8 rubberbands, holding her head at weird angles and 2 cute bows, I said "Tada! Look in the mirror!" I was obviously kind of excited about it...

Well, Shelby looked at her self for a bit and then said hesitantly, " Um, I think I kind of look ridiculous."

Dance Recital

The girls had such a great time at their dance recital. It was Shelby's first recital, so the energy and excitement level was pretty high!

Her sassy pose.
Can you see the excitement in her face!!

Karlee always like to know exactly where we are sitting and spends most of the dance waving and looking at us! :) So cute!

The girls were so excited about the flowers. We gave them flowers and so did Grandma and Da.

Happy New Year!!

Well, I guess I could say New Year's Eve was so exciting and fun I forgot to take pictures, but actually, that was not the case. We did have a fun night...but because the last few weeks have been so busy, both girls were pretty tired. We played Candy Land and then they went to bed...at 7. :)
We stayed up and played a few other games and barely made it to midnight...how did we get so boring sooo quickly! So my New Years Resolution is to get out a little more and have fun! We have gotten to be quite the homebodies!
A few of my other New Years Resolutions are...
Be nicer to everyone.
Only eat chocolate on Sundays
Exercise everyday
Eat better
Do more with the girls
Go on more dates with my husband

I have already kind of messed up on the first two listed...but will get back on track by tomorrow...promise!

Squirting....

Hum, squirting requires a post all on its own. Being that we live in Wyoming, we have to drive long distances for just about everything and usually between the towns which can be up to 100 miles apart there is next to nothing and sagebrush between them. Girls have to learn the art of squatting...and yes, it is an art because the wind also blows here constantly, especially with nothing blocking it. So this summer, we taught the girls to squat.
During our last camping trip, Karlee came running to me and said, "I have to squirt!"...and I said, "huh?"...and she said, "I really have to squirt now!!"...being that I looked a little confused...she finally said, "Mom, you know, when you have to go potty outside...I need to pretend I am sitting on the toilet and "squirt" my potty out."
So, now, if anyones happens to be traveling with us in this great state of Wyoming, and my girls have to squirt, you will understand!

Joy School!

Shelby couldn't wait for her first day of Joy School. She got to join in at a few of Karlee's joy school lessons before Karlee went to Kindergarten, and so she knew she was going to have a great time! Trista Covill and Ollie Geddes are the other little kids that get to do joy school with her and they really play well with each other. Shelby felt like she was such a big girl today and loved writing her name and cutting and pasting. It makes me a little sad that this is my last year with Shelby...this time is going too fast! Please slow down!

First Day of School!

Karlee has been so excited for her first day of 1st grade. We got to go and see the new school and meet her new teacher, Mrs Jackson. It was fun to see all the fun things ready for her to do that first day. The playground is extra cool and I am sure that will be her favorite thing she gets to do everyday. You can just see by her face how happy she is to bere! I hope she is always this excited about going to school and learning!

She was so excited about this school outfit. She picked everything all by her self, right down to the shoes! Gram Pearson gave her some money for her birthday for a new outfit, and it was fun for her to look at all the different clothes and pick out her favorites. She even went up to the counter to pay for them herself!

It was a little easier saying goodbye this year...especially because I enjoy having the one on one time with Shelby...but man, I miss this little girl and her sweet smiles during the day!

Labor Day Weekend!

I LOVE Labor Day Weekend...it has become our tradition to go camping and get our firewood for the winter. Now, I know most people might think gathering wood isn't the funnest chore...but I do love the smell of freshly cut wood, being outdoors, and by Labor Day, there are NO BUGS!! That is probably my favorite part. The weather is usually pretty beautiful as well!

Kilee, Neil's daughter was able to come up and spend a few days with us. She helped watch the girls a bit so I could help with the wood gathering...mainly I just get to carry around the measure stick and carry the small pieces to the trailer to load.

GP doesn't quite trust me with the chainsaw yet, but, honestly, I don't trsut myself with that as well either.

We ended with up with a pretty good load, and had to come back up a few more days to finish. We don't block it up till we get home, so we can load it quicker and get more wood in a shorter amount of time.

While we were loading the wood, we saw a deer walk by...it is amazing how unafraid they are...but then again, it isn't hunting season yet. It seems October 15th hits and there is not a deer insight then. :)

Usually by the end of the day the girls are so exhausted. I had gotten the girls into bed, Karlee first, and was working on Shelby, when I saw Karlee like this, completely fast asleep. Oh, such an angel! (I think I only say this when she is sleeping!)

Campfire time is also a favorite thing about camping. I love to hear the crackling of the wood, the breeze through the trees and telling fun ghost stories...note the FUN part. Scary ones don't quite work right now because then the girls will not go to the camper by themselves, even if it is only feet away from the camper. Hot chocoalte and marshmellows are a must!