count your blessings, one by one

Here are my blessings. God gave me the greatest gifts! He's given me my salvation, my husband, and these great kids! My family is pretty awesome, too! Oh, yeah! And my friends... Gotta lova all of them! God is so good.

Pretty Fairy Princess Kaydence.
Rah, Rah, Rah! Go Kayden Grace!

Beautiful Bride, Kailey... Ummmmm, how bout we slow down, she's growing up so fast!

All of our girlies. Aren't they gorgeous?

And we wouldn't be complete without a runaway fairy bride... That's my girl, Kaelin!

Picnic, Anyone?

I made this quilt with the intent of using it as our picnic blanket. Yeah... The weather's changed, so it didn't make it outside this year. But... We have had two picnics inside, which have been worth it! Last weekend Nana was in town so we had Chinese food on the picnic blanket while watching Olivia. Tonight we had Mac and Cheese (or as Kaelin likes to call it, Monkey Cheese) and watched the new Tinkerbell movie. Love it! My girls get so excited when they see the quilt. They know what's coming when I put it on the floor. I love the little joys in life, don't you?

Sidenote: I don't know what the little smug is, sorry!

The Miscellaneousness of Life

I don't know how a month has gone by with nothing on the blog front. Oh well. Life I suppose has had other plans. Well, here are many pictures of very random events over the past month. I hope you enjoy!

This is Kayden reading her new AWANA book. She's doing so well with her verses. Her teachers are aware of her speech delay and they are willing to work with her. It's been great!

Remember Kayden's birthday dress? I had this pattern for pants, but I just didn't get them done for her birthday. I made these with the left over fabric from her dress. She LOVES them! They are super cute on her, too. I thought they were going to look a bit clownish, but they don't. They look very chic and boutique-ish! She gets lots of comments on this outfit whenever she wears it.


I decided I needed to find something to do with the girls that would keep them occupied for a few minutes at least. I dyed some pasta with food coloring then let the pasta air dry. I figured the girls could make necklaces that they could wear (but couldn't eat!). They loved the idea. For some reason, though, Kaelin is much more coordinated putting the "beads" on the string than Kayden is. Don't you love Kaelin's outfit?? She is very into dressing up as a princess, as you can see. She was making this necklace for Nana Susan when she was in town this past weekend. She got very focused on making this necklace. Don't you love her concentration?

And lastly, this is Kaelin helping her sister put beads on the string. Kayden was much more interested in getting her picture taken.

Up, Up, and Away!

We braved the Balloon Races again this year. I made muffins, got all the blankets ready, had sippy cups filled and ready to go, and the girls warm clothes laid out so we could leave bright and early. As much as I wanted to go, a little part of me craved the warmth of my bed and the comfort of home....And 4:00am is REALLY early in the morning to get up and get the girlies ready! However, life decided to make the decision for me. Kayden woke up at 3:50am with a nightmare which in turn woke Kaelin up. I figured it was meant to be that we go to the races this year. We were ready and out of the house by 4:20am. Fun stuff, huh? Kayden was fascinated by the balloons... Kaelin on the other hand was, well, not so happy to be there. We found out the night before that she was teething, two fat molars! Not fun, I tell ya! So, suffice it to say, when the sun finally decided to grace us with it's presence, Kaelin was done. Ready to go home. Finis! We had some "quality time" with cousins, Auntie, and Uncle and then we called it quits. I had to attend a CPR class right after we left the races, so suffice it to say, it was a REALLY long day for us. To top it off, we almost went to the Camel Races in Virgina City, but, well, that would have been a crazy thing to do, so we all came home and took naps. Much better than smelly ol' camels!

You can see more of the balloon races here.

One Last Hoorah

Yeadon took this past weekend off and it's been great! He needed the break and we all needed some family fun. Yead and I decided to go to Tahoe for our one and only visit of the season. The girls were soooo excited. We stopped at a local corner market store where all the summer accoutrements were 90% off... Yep, I got sand toys, water noodles, and squirt guns for just pennies. The snacks cost more than the toys! Anyway, we made the trip up the mountain and within an hour were looking at the beautiful scene of Lake Tahoe. We drove to the beach where we needed to pay for parking. I was smart. Got cash at the market.... However, the money taker person was not available to break our $20 in order for us to have change for the $8 fee... so we had to "donate" the extra $12 to "Keep Tahoe Blue." Yep, not so smart on my part. Whatever. We loaded up all of our gear and got to the beach. Kaelin, my oh-so-fearless child, ran right to the water without taking off her clothes. Luckily, we reached her in time before she dove head first in the water. The water was not nearly as cold as I thought it would be, which I was very thankful for. We decided to walk out as far as the girls could go, just to see how deep the water was. Not too deep, but deep enough that we made sure that our daredevil wouldn't go walking out by herself. We played in the sand, tried to catch the little fish that were everywhere, and tried to chase the squirrels whom Kealin named "Tika" (for those of you who don't watch Dora the Explorer, this is the name of one of the characters on the show.) Overall, it was a FABULOUS time and we loved every second of it. Maybe next year we won't wait until the end of the season to enjoy the wonderfulness of Tahoe!

You may be wondering why Yead's wearing his shirt while in the water?? Because he's a VERY WHITE man and he would not have been happy with the burn he probably would have gotten.

FYI: If you would like to see a video of our time at the beach, check out this link.

Woven and Spun

We love all things homemade and handmade in our home. I have been SO very productive in that capacity since having my surgery a month and a half ago. Quilt tops, clothes for the girls, gifts for other little girls... It's been a sewing extravaganza in this home. I've loved it! That's one of the reasons the blog side of things has been so quiet... I've been creating!
Auntie Nikki made this pillowcase dress for Kaelin's birthday. She loves it! Whenever she puts it on she says "Aunti Nikki dress." :) I made this dress for Kayden out of a vintage looking skirt of mine. It never fit me the right way, so I thought I'd repurpose it and this is the result. Love it. I used a pattern and had the lining material on hand so it didn't cost a penny to make. Love it when THAT happens.
This is one of my new favorite hairstyles for Kaden. It's a ponytail, turned inside itself, then seperated into three parts. These parts are then braided into three braids and the three braids are then braided together. Soooooo pretty!

Good Morning World!

This was the view at the kitchen table this morning... Fun times, fun times!

Yep, that's Kaelin's elephant towel draped on the back of the chair and on her head. Have a great day!