Dance, dance, dance!!!

My mom and dad just bought a farm (just as in months ago!) But they just moved in a few weeks ago. This means they packed up the house that they have lived in for 21 years! The great thing about this is that my mom found a few "treasures" that wouldn't have been found for who knows how much longer. One of them I told her I wanted. To bad to the rest of my sibblings. Althought they probably don't even care, that is until I said I have it now they will all want it! (If you know my family well you know how funny, and true that is! I love them!) Anyway my mom found this really old tape of songs that are sung mostly by children that teach really cute things like honesty, frienship, and loving family. I loved them when I was a kid and as soon as my mom started naming songs I could sing them back to her because I still know the words. (I am one of those people who if you learn it to music you NEVER forget it!!! Hence the reason I still know all the primary songs I have ever learned!) Anyway... getting this tape in the mail has been very nestalgic to me! I found a cord that will let me hook this little old walkman up to our dvd player and we can listen to them on our surround sound. (I don't have a tape player in my house.) I am trying to figure out how to hook it up to my computer and how to use the soft ware to burn them on to a cd. I am a computer dummy so it is quite a stuggle!!! But I am hoping to get it figured out so I can make coppies for my sibblings and probably Allison since she knows the songs from her childhood also! Anyway this whole post was to show off how cute my little girls are dancing to these songs that I love. They even had to put on their "dancing" shoes. Claire was here to dance with Hayden and a little boy I watch part time Kade was dancing with Amelia. They were having lots of fun. I just caught the tail end of the dance fest!

Today...

I thought today was a good day to make Allison's prize for winning my recipe contest. I talked to her about it a few days ago and told her I had thought of making her a loaf of bread. When she told me she would have been just as excited if I had said $100 I thought "hey if my bread is worth $100 to her I will opt for the bread and still feel like a hero!!!" So today was the day I had a little help!

Don't you just love the cute aprons my girls have! Santa brought them in their stockings! They love them and put them on any time I put my grandma's old raggedy one on. (Don't worry Allison Hayden didn't make your loaf. I just let her play with a piece of dough and she is happy for hours!)

The finished product! As soon as I took this picture I wrapped a loaf and ran to to Allison's house while it was still pipping hot! One of her girls met me at the door (Janelle!) Telling me her mom wanted her to have the loaf. I'm smarter then she thinks I am though! I love how much her whole family loves my bread. It makes me feel appreciated. (It doesn't hurt that when I make bread I might as well not make dinner because that is all my kids eat too!) Oh and today I made a double batch for kind of selfish reasons. I knew I was going to be sharing some and I still wanted to have lots in our house!!! YUMMMM!

This is Hayden showing you where she puts her bread! (In her mouth! This is what she does to me every time she is telling me she ate something!)

Pay it Forward take two!

I am reposting this because when I posted it before someone accidentaly posted 3 comments... so she is still my #1 on comments and I will still have 2 spaces!

I saw this on my friends blog and I wanted her to make me something... So for selfish and fun reasons I am posting this! This is how it works.... The first 3 people who leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise! (I guess it depends on who is responding.) BUT in order for you to leave a comment on my blog and get a gift from me you have to leave the same message on your blog. (Which means you will be giving 3 gifts to others too!) Get it? The first three who respond will be the lucky ones! Good luck!!!

The Winner is!!!

Ok a few weeks ago I did a recipe contest.... I had a few entries, they were all very good. My kids really enjoyed trying them and loved getting to vote on their favorites! It was pretty cute how excited they would get and they would ask me every night if this was one from our contest. It was lots of fun! Anyway there is a winner! It is Allison's Southwestern egg rolls. WE love them! Thanks and your prize is in the works!

***Edit***

Here is the winning recipe by Allison Bevans!

2 chicken breads shredded (I used canned this was faster)

1 can black beans

1 can corn (I used frozen since I don't buy canned)

2 cups monterey Jack, pepper jack, or Cheddar cheese

Then in the food processor put 1 cup spinach

1 green or red bell pepper

1/4 cup cilantro

2-4 T chili powder (depending on how spicy you like it, we used 4 and it wasn't hot!)

1-2 T cumin

1 T lime juice

1tsp salt

Chop till all combined

Mix with the chicken mixture

Put scoops of the filling into tortillas and shallow fry them. (use toothpicks to hold them together) Just fry till brown on both sides. For a healthier option they can also be broiled in the oven till crispy. (we tried both ways and I prefer the broil method because my tummy doesn't like fried things very well.)

The dip is a MUST!!!

1 avocado

1 cup ranch

2tsp lime zest or lime juice to taste.

I just cut the avocado in half and smooshed it out of the peel into the ranch and stir all the ingredients together. YUMMY!!! Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Larry!

Today is Larry's 33rd birthday! I am sooooo glad that he is part of our life! He is a wonderful husband who tends to me more then I would have guessed or asked for in many ways, he is a great dad who loves his children. The girls cry if he isn't home before bed time to tuck them in (this is a new ritual that I LOVE as much as they do!) He plays with our kids in such a fun way, and is their hero because he can fix EVERYTHING! He works so hard to provide for us and is a wonderful man all around! We are so lucky to have him! He supports me as mother, in my calling and in my hobbies. I couldn't ask for more! Happy birthday to my wonderful hero! To those who don't know I bought him a new tv for his birthday. I was pretty proud of myself because I got a great deal on a wide screen HDTV! I gave it to him a few days early because, after he had done a bunch of shopping on line for a tv and comparing brands and stuff (then I went and bought one with out him knowing) he started shopping for something else on line, and then told be if we were going to buy it we needed to right away because it was going off sale... So I gave him his gift early so he could decide which one he wanted. We stuck with the tv. (I got a great deal at Costco! Gotta love the 2 year warranty!) Oh and please excuse the fingerprints. You can tell we have 4 little children who don't keep their paws off of anything! I didn't even see them till I posted the picture! I also made him his favorite cake. German chocolate. I make it for him every year! This year a few weeks before his birthday he was home teaching and the Mom of the family he was visiting was making a German Chocolate cake and she makes her frosting from scratch! (I always buy mine in a tube) Anyway she let him taste it and he came home telling me she makes the best German Chocolate in the WORLD! So I got her recipe so I could make his cake extra special. Now he won't ever settle for less! Any thing for my wonderful husband! Love you Larry!!!!

Hayden's "game"

Hayden plays this really funny game with me lately. She will "cough" really really fake but she will cover her mouth and everything but she will give a little cough and then tell me "momma, me otay" so I will very concerned say, "oh are you okay?" She always says "yeah." So now I have started as soon as she "coughs" I will say "Oh are you ok?" the will happily say "yeah!" She knows I have caught on. Every time someone else coughs or sneezes she will keep asking you if you are ok until you answer yes. It is very cute and funny. Some times she will do it over and over just for fun. She cracks me up!

Valentines Day!

Our special breakfast on Valentines Day!

I made these cream cheese and raspberry jam sandwiches for lunch!

This was our "red" dinner! Sorry my lasagna got a little messy when I scooped it out of the pan!

Happpy Valentine's Day!

Ok it isn't actually Valentines Day yet. But today was the last day of school for my boys and they had their parties. I just had to share Brock's Valentine holder because it cracked me up! They are jelly bean guys. I told him "I love your jelly bean guys hat!" He said, "It isn't a hat it is my Mohawk!" LOVE IT!

Here is Ethan's just to be fair. Very cute too!

Last year after Valentines Day I had a few people request I post what I was doing ahead of time because they wanted to do it too... We love to have "theme" dinners around here. I do them for most of the little holiday's that I don't do much else for. On Valentines Day we have "red" dinner or Pink as it usually turns out to be for some of it. Everything on the table is red. I like to do something with a red sauce (spaghetti, lasagna, or stuffed shells), beets, strawberry milk or cherry 7up, Oh and when I do the french bread I die the butter pink with food coloring and spread it on there before I toast it in the oven. Then the bread turns pink. Oh and there is always some red Jello involved! I have turned mashed potatoes pink, as well as Alfredo sauce. This is always fun. I turn St. Patrick's dinner green! They love it and it makes it fun for every one! Have fun!

I also make them all a special cookie that I frost their names on. This brought a lot of controversy last year when I wouldn't post Larry's cookie. HA HA! But They love seeing their name on a big cookie just for them.

Pay it Forward!

I saw this on my friends blog and I wanted her to make me something... So for selfish and fun reasons I am posting this! This is how it works.... The first 3 people who leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise! (I guess it depends on who is responding.) BUT in order for you to leave a comment on my blog and get a gift from me you have to leave the same message on your blog. (Which means you will be giving 3 gifts to others too!) Get it? The first three who respond will be the lucky ones! Good luck!!!

Recipe Search!

A few weeks ago I posted that I was looking for recipes to try out on my family. I am kind of board with all the same things.... Anyway I have had a few entries and we are loving them! I am hoping to try a few more!!!! I thought I would repost since it is now under my old posts. If you have any recipe's either leave them as a message or email me! Thanks!!! (as a reminder no fish! Just about everything else we love!)

Mohawk

Those of you who know Brock, know that for several years we have spiked his hair. He loves it. "Probably because the first time or two I did it we were in Prineville and my Brothers made a big deal about how cool it was. Ever since then he insists on it being spiked!) Anyway Last Sunday I spiked his hair for church as usual and then Monday morning he woke up with what I call "Bed head" and I realized it kind of looked like a Mohawk. I told him it looked cool. (He just grunts when I say it.) But apparently his teacher and several other people mentioned how cool it looked at school. Since then he won't let me do anything to change it. Only tonight it was hair cut night at our house. He was getting shaggy around the ears! Anyway He wanted me to be sure not to cut the Mohawk off! So I promised him I would just trim the top and not cut to much off just so it wouldn't flop over.... (I only left it 1/4 in longer then usual.) But I think it will spike well and he will be happy! Funny how my 6 year old is obsessed with funny things like that already.

Amelia's 5th Birthday!

Sorry not all these photos are in order! I spent a lot of time trying to get them in the order I wanted them in and I just gave up! Anyway Amelia's 5th Birthday was a lot of fun!

This is Amelia with her Barbie cake! She loved it! It was so easy and fun to make to!
This is the dress up jewelry Amelia got from Grandma and Grandpa Davis.

These are the most time consuming gift I have ever given to anyone ever!!! I made this Barbie furniture. My Grandma Nola had made a set for my little sister when we were little. (I had played with them a lot too!) When my Grandma passed away in October I told my mom there was only one thing I hoped she would find while cleaning out her house and it was the pattern to the Barbie furniture! Luckily she found it and luckily I hurt myself 2 days after Christmas and had to sit for all or most of the day for a few weeks because, if I hadn't had to sit I would have felt guilty sitting and sewing for so many hours. I figured it took more the 16 hours to do the chair. (The plaid takes forever!) But I think the couch took just as long and was much bigger! So it went faster! I loved doing it though. I thought of my grandma a lot and came to appreciate all the time she put into all the things she had made for us to play with. What a wonderful gift that it was! I hope Amelia appreciates them (I HOPE My sister does too since she doesn't have to make them for her kids!!!)

My mom made Amelia all these beautiful Barbie clothes! Amelia loves them!!! She put this pretty wintry one on this morning along with a pair of ice skates that came in a box full of tiny things my mom sent with the dresses. I heard Amelia saying "she is showing her Children of God how to ice skate."
This beautiful Wedding dress my mom made is made out of some of the scraps of my wedding dress! She even made a cute veil! (Of course this was the first one Amelia had to try on her Barbie last night when she opened it!)This blue on has a really cute matching cape! LOVE IT!

Here is the cake! (this is the one I couldn't get to move!)

Here is all the rest of the dresses my mom made for Barbie! Amelia is loving it and in HEAVEN! (Don't tell but Ethan is having fun with it all too!)

Here she is opening it!

The little boy I watch, Kade, came to her birthday party and gave her this and she loves it! She often sticks two Barbies in the handle and bounces around with them! Funny girl!

Here is the Barbie car my mom sent with it all!! Oooh Barbie Heaven!

5 years old!

5 years ago our first little girl was born! She was a beautiful blessing to our home! We have loved every minute of her being in our family! She has been a daddy's girl but her mommy's little helper! We love this little girl! I will miss her in the fall when she goes to Kindergarten!

Here is a picture of Amelia just minutes after she was born. She was born at 1:30 in the morning!

6 weeks old!

6 months old!

1 year old! Princess in pigtails!

2 years old! (This seems like last month!)

3 years old!

4 years old!

5 years old (forgive me but I haven't taken any nice photos of her yet! I will very soon!)
Happy birthday beautiful girl! We love you!