Pop Bottle Science

A few years ago my mom gave Michael a book about pop bottle science for a gift.  We used it a lot but then it got put away somewhere is the closet of death.  While we were cleaning it the other day we came across the book again.  On this particular day we had just gotten home from church and had about an hour to kill before going back for the church potluck and Jack wanted to try something.  We decided on this balloon one, because it was simple and didn't take much time and also because I had everything we needed handy!  You will notice that they were very excited but then when I put the balloon on everyone stepped away in fear of what might happen.  Needless to say we did this more than once that day!

In the blink of an eye.....

 Newborn

 One

 Two

 Three

 Four

 Five

 Six

 Seven

 Eight

 Nine

Today

HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY OLIVIA LAURYN!!

To a very special little girl who has such an amazing spirit and loving heart we could not imagine what the last 10 years would have been like with out you.  We thank God everyday for our pretty princess!! 

Wordless Wednesday--What is the right way to eat Ramen Noodles

Spring In The Middle Of Winter???

The weather yesterday was perfect!  I am not sure how warm it was, but we were outside in jeans and t-shirts so I think a little over 60 degrees!!  It was perfect that the kids got out of school an hour early because of conferences!  We got to spend a couple hours playing outside and we had tons of fun! I even took the opportunity to wash and hang out some blankets.  Not very often do I get the chance to use my clothesline when there is still snow on the ground. Today is going to be a little cooler, but the sun is shining and the kids have the day off from school so I think we are going to be able to get outside and play again!!!  Happy Friday!

Fondant a Love, Hate Relationship

This is a cake I made last week for a friends son.  He wanted Toy Story, specifically Toy Story 3 because his favorite character is Evil Dr. Porkchop.  When doing a cake I always try to search the internet for ideas.  For this all I came up with was either you have buy the characters or make them out of fondant.  I have had VERY little experience with Fondant.  I have used it a couple times on cakes, but more to just cut out circles, or letters or somethings.  I have never tried to really make something out of it.  I have used homemade and Wilton store bought as well, and I agree with what most say....store bought tastes just awful.  Plus I have to go to Wal-Mart to get it and I don't always have the time to drive 20 miles to get it.  Also, it comes in rather large packages.  Last time I bought it and used not even a 4th of it.  So, I did my best at making fondant characters for this cake.  I had some technical difficulties with the fondant, and learned that I am really not that great at doing hands and faces!!  My fondant dried out waayyyy to quick while I was working with it so I need to address that. However, all that mattered was that this great little guy liked, which he did!! Afterall, you only turn 6 once!  Today I shall begin to attack a baby shower cake ordered by another friend.  Again, there will be fondant..... I have spent some time researching fondant though this week and hopefully figured out where I can improve the things I had trouble with.  Hopefully.  Wish me luck.  You will know how it turn out if you see a picture of it in a few days!

Even After All She Had Been Through!

I took this video of Alexis the night they arrived.  Even after a hurried trip to the airport, her first plane flight and horrible, long, snowy trip to our house, she was still in a great mood. Mom was sitting over by her and Alexis though that Grandma was the best thing ever!!

Of Course There Would Be A Blizzard!!

 Happy Baby!

 Jack and Lexi!

 Ummm, yeah this plasma car is totally cool!!

 Jack feeding Lexi

 Carter feeding Lexi!  She was such a good sport!

 Best Buddies!

 Aren't we just the cutest bunch!

 Livy and Lexi

 Michael reading to Lexi

 My family, Melissa and Lexi, my brother Todd, my grandma and grandpa, and my mom!

 My dad reading Carter's favorite books to him.

 The kids hanging out at the pool and Uncle Todd's hotel.

Alexis taking a rest on Uncle Todd before her big flight home to Colorado

Two weeks ago we had our first major blizzard of the season and OF COURSE that was the week all of my family was coming to visit.  The last time we all tried together in Iowa was 4 years prior and that time there was a blizzard in Denver that trapped my sister at home there and my brother and his wife at the airport there!  At fist Melissa's flight was cancelled and she re booked for Thursday from Tuesday.  But she was going to rent a car and was mom's ride up here so I sent Jason off in the blizzard to retrieve mom from Des Moines.  He had been on the road less than an hour when my sister called and said she had gotten on a flight (she had been on standby).  She wasn't even packed so she was running around trying to get ready because she hadn't found out with much notice.  Since I had already gotten Alexis' diapers, food and formula I figured if she forgot something we could survive.  Mom arrive around 1 in Des Moines but her a Jason had to wait around til 4:30 for Melissa and Alexis.  Oh, and we had decided at that point that Melissa was not going to rent a car due to the weather, but she had planned on renting a carseat with the car (cringe) so now we had no carseat.  I could have sent one, but remember Jason was already on the road.  So I called the Ankeny Wal-Mart and had them pick out the carseat I had seen online, put Jason's name on it and put it at customer service for him to stop and get.  The whole afternoon I was frantic that Melissa's flight would get cancelled or redirected as the storm got worse.  As it got time to land I called Jason and begged!!!! him and the others to get a hotel and not try to drive back.  Long story short, 4.5 hr of blizzard driving later they made it home.  I have never been so worried in my life!!  After that we enjoyed a fabulous rest of the week with our house guests.  It was so nice to have a baby in the house again!!  Alexis was a perfect angel the whole time and the only time I ever heard her really start crying was when Uncle Jason was changing her!  She even took to us all right away, even though I had warned the kids she might not like us at first.  We had not seen her in six months!  My brother and his wife arrived on Thurs and we all just enjoyed some wonderful family time together!  Of course as usual the time went too fast!