the latest craftiness

Occasionally I'll do something crafty. I like to document these occasions since they still feel rare for me. But as I'm discovering which crafts I enjoy and which I loathe, I'm getting better at doing them more since I've stopped doing the kinds of crafts that make me want to rip my eyeballs out.

And on that pleasant note, here you go.

I bought this shower curtain and bath mat at Target the night we moved here and it helped ease some moving jitters to have one room in the house look a little lived in. I loved the pictures on it and I decided to paint them on some canvases to hang on the wall. I started around last September and finished in February or so. It actually only took about half an hour to paint a canvas, it was just weeks between each one getting done... But, now they're done and I love them. They'll probably get moved to the kids' room when we move (because we'll likely only have one bathroom) but they'll match perfectly there too.

Which one is your favorite?

And then, a couple weeks ago, Amy sent us this adorable hooded towel she made which matches perfectly! Anna loves wrapping up in it and being a "big orange burrito." Thank you Amy!


And the to finish the bathroom, I hung a ribbon to hold all of Anna's hair bows which I'm a little OCD about keeping in order.

While I was redecorating the kids room (which involved buying them new blankets and a new curtain- nothing too fancy) I made a heart shaped pillow for Anna from some left over pink fleece I had and the remnants of a pink flowered fleece blanket that had been used for another project. It turned out really wonky, so there's no picture. Even Sam admitted it looked a little pathetic. BUT, I used the scraps to make this little outfit for Anna's doll.

I think she likes it :)

And finally, I made these cupcakes for our little Joy School "graduation" party. I always thought graduations from any school before high school were ridiculous, and had any of us been more solemn about it, it would have been. Instead, it was mostly just a fun party where the kids got to see pictures of themselves and then go crazy at the excitement of being with each other and getting to eat these cupcakes I made. Thanks to Claire for making the cute crafty hats! Anna wore hers to our visiting teaching visit this morning and again while she ate her leftover cupcake after lunch :)

a spring break

In April, I took the kids to Utah to visit my parents for a week. Traveling was not fun. Layovers with 2 kids are nightmares. Being delayed 2 1/2 hours because a luggage cart runs into your plane is only now laughable because a friend from Texas happened to be on our same flight out of Phoenix and she helped me manage my kiddos as they dissolved into over-tired oblivion in the middle of the airport. But enough complaining. Here's the fun we had:

We planned our trip to be there while my sister-in-law Rachel and nephew Elliott were visiting and Elliott was SO excited to see Anna and Levi. I can still hear his little voice asking for them whenever he couldn't see them.
"Anna? Wevi?"

Levi and Bridget showed affection by grabbing each others faces. We didn't get to see as much of Karen and her kids as we would have liked since they all got nastily sick :( Karen did give us two of our favorite books for birthday presents though! Thanks Karen!



We visited Temple Square and then the zoo

Gotta love an ipod touch

and baking chocolate cake (I just can't get enough of this cake)

Levi was so happy to be riding a bike like the big kids. Though while outside his eyes started gooping up. We thought it was allergies but when it didn't clear up, we took him to the doctor. He had pink eye and an ear infection. Luckily, the pink eye medicine sample guy had come to the instant care center that morning, so we got plenty of eye drops for the whole family and some antibiotics for Levi.

I was happy to have a visit from my beautiful and fun cousin Martha (who I absolutely adore), her kids, and my great-Aunt Shirley who was impressed that Anna knew what a cowl neck was.

Another memorable event was going swimming at the Springville pool. Anna was simply giddy with glee. (She has been asking to go swimming since February, at least. We kept telling her that we'd go when it got warmer, but that wasn't really working for her, so I told her that when all the trees have leaves on them, we'll go swimming. She went on the back patio a couple weeks ago and said, "Mama! The trees have leaves! It's time to go swimming!") She literally giggled for the entire hour we were at the pool and swam and splashed and played her little heart out.

And the next night we got to eat dinner at Brick Oven with Sam's brother Jacob and his beautiful fiance Lauren. Though Anna acted really shy for most of the time, after we left, she couldn't stop talking about Lauren and how "she is a good job at soccer" and how she is going to marry Uncle Jacob in the temple. We are all so happy that she is joining the Cosby family.

My favorite part of the trip was how little whining I heard from Anna! There are just too many fun toys and games and attentive relatives at Grandma's house to ever have to resort to whining. In the evenings, Rachel and I enjoyed watching North and South, talking, and seeing pictures from Mom's trip to Israel. It was nice to spend some time with her and get to know her better. Despite all the inconvenience and sickness, it was well worth the trip and was a much needed break for me. Thank you Mom for letting us come and and relax and have fun!

she's 3!

Happy Birthday Anna!

Going to bed as a 2 year old

Waking up as a 3 year old!

Anna turned 3 on May 3rd-- her golden birthday! Anna knew for weeks that her birthday was "coming up," and was very excited about it. Cake was #1 on her birthday priority list. Out of all the pictures I showed her, she narrowed it down to a jeep cake and a castle cake, and the pink castle-- "like Grandma Becky's castle"-- won. When we asked Anna what she wanted to eat on her birthday, she said, "Cake!" When we asked her what she wanted to eat for dinner, she said, "Cake!" When we explained that we would eat the cake after dinner, she said, "I just want cake." Finally, after showing her pictures of food we could make for dinner, she chose silly face pizzas on english muffins-- and cake. Finally, we asked her if she wanted any friends to come over on her birthday and she asked for her two friends from Joy School (her preschool) to come.



On her birthday we woke her up with balloons, which is Stay family tradition. Then she opened a present, a strawberry outfit from Grandma Ruth, which she wanted to wear immediately. She had Trix for breakfast and couldn't get enough of the tissue paper balls we hung from the ceiling.

Anna was excited that her Trix matched the tissue balls. She's blowing a noise maker that has a cardboard butterfly on it. These are the "butterflies" she's referring to in the video earlier in the post.

For the rest of the morning, we opened and played with presents. We went on a walk to the playground. It was a beautiful, warm sunny day and we all enjoyed playing in the sand and in the swings. After lunch we mixed up Anna's birthday cakes and then the kids napped while I finished baking.

Thank you Grandma Ruth!

Anna's one toy present (aside from a book). We've all been getting check-ups lately :)

Thank you Grandma Becky!

Singing a song after licking the cake beaters

Once Sam got home, I finished up the cake (which was much harder than it looked) while he cut up some veggies and fruit for dinner. Then our friends arrived and the party began! Anna had a blast eating and playing with her friends. She got to eat as many Cheetos as she wanted and couldn't have been happier. Then we sang and blew out candles and cut into the now dangerously sagging castle. I'll have to remember that you can either have a yummy cake, or a sturdy cake. We all enjoyed the yummy cake and Anna was super excited about her castle, so I'll call it a success.

silly face pizzas

The sagging castle :)

This is the face Anna made when I asked her to smile. What a goof!

Once the kids were all sufficiently hyped on sugar (in addition to their cake and ice cream they each ate one of the sugar cone spires which is like sugar spread with sugar dipped in sugar....yuck) we sent everyone home and put the kids in the bath. Anna didn't fall asleep for a very long time, so I think she had a very happy birthday :)

And now, because this post isn't long enough yet...here are some things about Anna being 3.

• She has switched from saying, "Yep" to everything to saying, "Nope." Even as she's doing what I'm asking her to, she's saying "No" to it. I guess this is what being 3 is all about.
• She loves to make up nonsense words, make silly rhymes, and sing silly words to songs.
• Anna loves to "read" books by making up words while looking at the pictures. Sometimes the words go along with the pictures, other times the words are mash-ups of stories we've read recently, lyrics to songs, words from the scriptures or Articles of Faith. I LOVE listening to her do this and I can't wait until it translates into her making up real stories.
• She's potty trained*
• She's way more active than she used to be. She can't get enough of jumping, running, and climbing. She can climb most playground equipment now.
• She talks non-stop and likes to explain things to us. She will tell us, "It's my turn" and then proceed to tell us everything she's thinking about (usually a book she read, toy she played with, or little movie she saw that day).
• She's learning the art of the tantrum and can throw herself on the ground with all the passion of a Gothic romance novel
• She loves her brother and we often find books and toys and blankets in Levi's crib in the mornings that Anna deposited there for his entertainment the previous evening, often after he's already fallen asleep.
• She sometimes has imaginary friends. The name "June" comes up often when she's playing by herself, and sometimes, "Jackdilly and June"
• She likes having friends. Almost every time we go to the playground now I will overhear Anna going up to someone and saying, "Hi! My name's Anna. What's your name?" and it makes me smile every time.
• She still loves and needs her mommy and while it drives me crazy sometimes, most of the time I'm happy to have any bit of little girl I can get because she's growing into a big girl SO quickly!

Happy Birthday Anna! We love yooooou...... THIS MUCH!



*Experienced moms: watch for a post later this week with me begging for how to make her more potty independent!

another princess

Just have to say that Kate Middleton looked absolutely beautiful and radiant today. I would donate a kidney to get to wear that dress for a day.

princess

This is not what Anna wore to church for Easter, but I don't have a picture of that, so this will have to do. Anna wore this to church last week and her hair ended up in these perfect ringlets that day (with a little help de-frizzing from me) and everyone she saw called her a princess. To which Anna would reply, "I'm not a princess. I'm just a girl."

"will you ride a school bus, daddy?"

That is what our dear sweet Anna asked Sam when he told her he was going back to school. And he just might take a bus from Lincoln Labs since they've got a free shuttle to his soon to be Alma Mater, MIT!

That's right, my incredibly talented, smart, hardworking husband earned (and prayed) himself a spot (one of 50) in the MIT LGO program, which is a dual degree program to earn a Master of Science in engineering and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management. (FYI- LGO stands for Leaders of Global Operations)

What's that you say? Why yes he did get accepted to both THE BEST engineering school in the country and the #3 MBA program in the country. Needless to say, I'm more (....much much much more...) than a little proud of him, and extremely grateful to our Heavenly Father for this wonderful blessing.

So far we've both been to some open house meetings where he got to meet his future classmates and I got to meet their wives, fiances, and girlfriends. We're waiting to hear whether we got in at married student housing. We (and by we I mean Sam) have filled out all sorts of financial aid forms, planned out two years of coursework, and tried to figure out the best time to move.

We're so excited to have this opportunity, and though it will of course be a lot of work and sacrifice for the both of us, we have no doubt it will be well worth it.... if for no other reason than that we'll get to dress Levi in this awesome onesie.

these people have obviously never interacted with a child

Because if they had, they would know that no one under the age of 6 can resist neon toe nails, boy or girl, especially if Mommy is having so much fun with it first.

happy birthday levi!

Levi then

Levi now

Levi is 1!!!!

The last year has gone by so quickly, and though I loved cuddling with little, tiny newborn Levi, I am very excited to have almost-toddler Levi storming around the house and making us laugh at every turn.

The day before, Levi had his 1 year check-up. He's 21 lbs 9 oz which is 25-50th %ile for weight and 28-30 in tall (...I forget...) which is about 75 %ile for height, and he certainly looks long and lean right now compared with a few months ago. After the doctor, we brought cupcakes- which Anna also helped me make- to our playgroup.

Anna made this card for Levi. It says, "Happy Birthday Levi" and she wrote many of the letters all by herself, and the others I held her hand while we made them

Anna drew the picture on the front. It's a pink spiral birthday cake with yellow candles and red sprinkles. There's also a little balloon just left of center.

We kept things relatively simple (aside from way too much baking for one day) for Levi's actual birthday. I hung up our "happy birthday" banner and Anna helped me wrap up Levi's presents. Grandma Ruth sent some adorable clothes and PJs and fun helicopter (which is teaching us how to take turns...) and then I bought a few kinds of puffs. It looked like quite the pile and Anna was very excited to have a party.

Birthday morning

Birthday afternoon


Birthday evening

The beloved helicopter

Our cake was the cake from this recipe with Ina Garten's soul-healing peanut butter frosting. It's definitely ranks in the top 10 cakes I've ever eaten. I gush over every piece, and I'm not even really a cake person!

Once Sam came home, we ate dinner, sang, and opened some presents. Anna got some PJ's too and loves them. They're her new running clothes, which, if you've read the last few posts, you know is quite a big deal. Levi loved his cake, though he was much more tidy with than Anna was on her first birthday. Still, we can't eat the left overs in front of him without him yelling and reaching for it.

Levi loved his froggy card

Levi has always been and continues to be a very happy boy. He loves to play with toys and take things out of their containers. He laughs all the time, especially at his sister. He plays pat-a-cake, and peek-a-boo all by himself now. He'll pull absolutely anything over his eyes and then pull it away to hear us say, "Where's Levi? Peek-a-boo!" He's a speedy crawler, but can't stop squealing with delight when we pull out the walker. He loves to chase after Anna, cars, balls, and Mommy. He loves to clap and give high-fives. Levi loves tickles and cuddles and gets lots of both. But the thing Levi is known for at church, playgroup, and what people comment on wherever we go is how happy and easy-going he is. He is a wonderful, peaceful boy to have around and I can't wait to see him learn and grow during this next year.

Happy Birthday Levi! We love you!