Happy Birthday Alice!

Alice had a fun birthday. We opened presents after her nap when she was in a really good mood. Here she is opening up a book from Aunt Becky.

 Look! I'm actually in some of the pictures!

 Stacking boxes from Grandma DeeDee and Grandpa Ken.

 I love her face in these next few pictures.

 Stacking bowls with a little ball on top from Grandma Nean and Grandpa Boyd. Alice loves the little smiley face ball that came with this toy. As a matter of fact, she is playing with it as I write this post. She thinks it's pretty silly.

 Dinosaur Train books from Grandma Nean and Grandpa Boyd. I have to say these were a big hit, especially with Elsie.

 Even Elsie got a present! She was a little sad that everything was all for Alice and was so excited when we pulled out a present just for her. (Thanks Mom)

Lace up patterns! Elsie works on them and tells me all about how she is sewing like Mommy.

 Finally Alice gets to open her present from Mom and Dad.

 A new carseat! It might look like a boring present, but Alice loves sitting in it. She climbs in it and demands toys like a little princess on a throne. She still fits just fine in her old carseat, so it will still be a little while before we put this one in the car. That just means she has a longer time to play with it in the living room. :)

 Alice with all her presents (minus the book from Becky which somehow missed this picture... I think Elsie had stolen it and was looking at it.)

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to..."

 After a dinner of Alice's favorite food (meat and more meat), we brought out the birthday cake.

 Lots of messy cake pictures. Alice tried to shove as much of it in her mouth as she could as fast as she could. I think the cake was a big hit.

 Mmmm, tasty birthday cake thumb...

Happy Birthday Alice!

Twelve Months

One year old today! How did that happen? Alice's walking has taken off today. I guess she decided that she's one year old now, and one year olds need to walk everywhere. She is crossing the entire room to get to where she wants to go before falling down and crawling. She has a total of nine teeth with a tenth about to pop through any day. Four on bottom, three on top (with one on the way), and two back molars on the top. She is in a hurry to get teeth so she can eat all the yummy food we have. She still loves to eat and out eats her sister at every meal. She has developed a very diabolical laugh and will throw her head back and cackle like an evil genius when she thinks something is silly. She is still very loud and likes to speak her mind. She can say Mama, Elsie, hi, uh-oh, and a mimics a lot of our words.

We love you Alice! We're so glad you came into our lives one year ago!

Snow day

For Katie

I wish we could go out for our walks again.

I wish I could take Olivia for a few hours and give you a break.

I wish we didn't live states apart.

All I can give you right now are these funny videos and hope that you can watch them and laugh for the 8 minutes or so you spend with them.

Don't Carpe Deim

Do you remember a while back ago when I wrote this post about not loving every minute of being a mom?

I opened my email this morning and had a message from my sister with a link to this article about how we as mothers should not Carpe Deim, but rather Carpe a couple of Karioses a day. It's like she read my thoughts and wrote them out in a more eloquent form.

And here's a picture of Alice with cute hair.

Shirt number two

This one came together a lot faster. Already having a pattern measured and cut out and knowing how to work my sewing machine saved a lot of time. I was super proud of the fact that I saved the big logo on front and the little one on the sleeve.

Can you tell which shirts Alan loves and wears to death? Elsie was equally as excited to have new "Go Cougars" shirts. We are a true blue through and through family.

My New Toy

For years my mom tried to teach me to sew. She picked out simple projects, tried to get my friends to do it with me, made them Personal Progress goals... I went along with her for a little bit, but never had much enthusiasm for it.

Plus, I hated her scary machine. The foot pedal squeaked as I pushed it down and I never knew exactly where it kicked in. The slightest push sent it flying into super fast mode. It resulted in me pushing down as slowly as I could... SQUEEEEEEEEEEEAK-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD as the needle started flying and I screamed and closed my eyes. Yeah.... her machine really freaked me out.

Fast forward a good 10+ years and I've purchased a machine of my own. It's new, quiet, and the foot pedal doesn't make a sound. It has an adjustable speed lever so it won't take off on it's own. And I've had driving lessons, which I think is a good precursor to learning how to operate the foot pedal.

It has been up and running for a full 2 days now, and I'm happy to say that I have completed my first project. I followed the 90 Minute Shirt tutorial and it only took me a day and a half to finish it. Alan gave up one of his old ratty shirts to be my test dummy.

The seams aren't straight; I don't think it was even cut straight to begin with. The two sleeves are hemmed with different stitches. The BYU is off center because of how the pattern fit onto the shirt. And I couldn't be prouder of it.

They crack me up

Me (to Alan): "I'm going to go take a shower, and then we're going to get workin'!"
Elsie (from the couch): "What? We're going to eat a pumpkin?"

Go Alice Go

Not really getting it, but have a great time...

Tired and grumpy, but making progress...

First steps!

2011 in review

Here are some of the highlights from 2011
-Alice was born!
-Gallbladder surgery (and lots of whiny posts)
-Elsie turns 2
-Creativity project part 2
-Alan graduates from BYU
-Alice was blessed
-Saying goodbye to Provo
-The big move to Wisconsin
-She said He said 
-Alan's Epic work
-Potty training Elsie (twice)
-Family visits (a lot)
-Alan's business trip
-My second 5K
-Hair cuts
-Halloween
-Thanksgiving
-Christmas Christmas Christmas
-Anniversary #4