Mexican Wrestling Match

Witness the fight between Muchas Gracias and De nada... as they battle in our living room in their new masks! Funny stuff!

Viva Mexico!

Jeff and I just returned from a couples trip to Cancun, Mexico. We had a blast!!! But before leaving the boys with Grandma Peterson for a week, we took them on a pretend vsit to "Mexico" right here in Utah....

We took them to see the cliff divers and eat Mexican food at the Mayan and then went swimming at the rec center afterward. We all had a great time and Will kept saying how much he loved this vacation! Too funny!

Then Jeff and I flew off on our own visit to the real Mexico. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort and went snorkeling with the fishes, ziplining and biking through the jungle, lounged on the beach soaking up the sun and perfect weather, played in the waves and did as much of or as little of anything that we wanted for an entire week!! It was so amazing!

We went with 3 other couples which was nice because we could hang out as a group or in pairs or whatever we wanted! It made beach volleyball all the more fun with the group! But walks on the beach were nice with just the two of us...

But I really missed my boys while we were gone. I kept seeing little families just like mine with a mom a dad and two little boys, each 3 years apart in age, and it just made me miss my little family more and more. I almost had a break down on our last night there. Thankfully, the boys were having so much fun with Grandma that they forgot to miss us, although they were very happy to have us home with them again too!

We brought them the above Mexican wrestling masks and they LOVED them, just like we knew they would! They ran around fighting and wrestling in their masks and underwear all day long! They are so freaking adorable!!! It was a fun end to a great vacation!

The story of my Thing one & Thing two...

Twas a very fine morning when Thing 1 left on his way. For today at school they were celebrating Dr. Seuss' Day!

"I wish I could celebrate Dr. Seuss' Day too," said Thing 2 with a frown. To which I replied "well let's get the stuff down!"

"Green eggs and ham for breakfast would be a fine place to start!" So we got out the eggs and broke them apart.

A lesson of what colors combined to make green, was of course part of the plan that was forseen.

Why, it's yellow yolks with food coloring of blue... what a great way to teach this fact simple and true!

Of course, any celebration in our house is never complete, until we've dressed up from our head to our feet!

And where did we get such a costume so clever? I made it last year for Drew and he says he won't wear it again... EVER!


I, however, am not ever too shy, to put on a costume... I don't pretend to know why?

So after our colorful breakfast so fine, we snuggled on the couch and read every Dr. Seuss book we could find.

Then Thing 2 said "I have an idea that's great!... Let's go on a green hunt! Come on, I can't wait!"

We searched high and low, and found all sorts of greens, then we watched "Horton hears a Who!" about a kangaroo who is mean.

Twas a really fun way to spend the day with Thing 2, I sure love being a stay-at-home mom with Willzee-woo!

Sweets & a Sock Hop... just another busy week!

Last night was Drew's Blue & Gold Banquet and the theme was 50's Sock Hop so we all dressed up... like we all LOVE to to do! I borrowed my friend's poodle skirt and the boys were all "Greaser's", which gave Will an opportunity to wear his "Mut" jacket that we got him for his birthday (Mut is Indiana Jones' son for those of you not familiar...). Drew & Jeff made and decorated a guitar cake to sell at the cake auction, which raises money for scout family camp. We ended up buying back his cake for $80. The boys were SOOO excited that we bought back the cake! It was funny! As if anyone else would ever spend $80 for a cake! (We looked at it as a charitable contribution.)

This was our last activity with Pack 4444, as I made the difficult decision to move Drew into the neighborhood scout troop so that he could start going with his friends from school. We have loved our time with Pack 4444 over the past 18 months so it was really hard to move, but hopefully it will be a good move for our family.

On Thursday our neighbor's Becky & Blake joined Will & I on a tour of the Sweet's Candy Factory with his preschool class. It was so much fun! They made you wear funny hats as they took you through every step in the candy making process, complete with free candy samples along the way. My favorite was trying the jelly beans before they put the hard shell on them... they were covered in powdered sugar and so yummy! My next favorite was trying the peach salt water taffy fresh from the assembly line! It was so soft and chewy! We ended up buying a ton of candy as we left... now our house is full of temptation!
I would highly recommend this tour to any parent out there who is looking for something fun to do with their kids while they're off track... it was free and the kids get candy! How cool is that!?!

Mardi Gras!

We celebrated Mardi Gras with Kelly & Danny and their boys last night and it was a BLAST! We started the evening by decorating our own masks and then feasted on the best chicken & sausage gumbo and cornbread ever! As we ate, Jeff entertained us by reading a book about Mardi Gras to the boys and teaching them about the holiday. For dessert we had King's Cake, of course!

I baked a baby in the cake and the person who found it in their piece got to be the "King/Queen of the Mardi Gras" and lead the parade!

Fortunately for us all, Jeff found the baby in his cake. He did an amazing job leading us all around the house as we danced to Mardi Gras music. He really played it up and the boys all loved following him around and mimicking his actions! He had us all shakin' our booties on the fireplace at one point! It was great!

Will and I spent the day making the yummy King's Cake. It's not quite the same as the "real" thing, but it's so good, no one seemed to mind that it wasn't authentic.

I am so thankful for my friendship with Kelly and I love that she loves doing these fun little celebrations as much as I do! We make a great party planning pair! We've started some really great traditions together! And to think, it all started with Momschool!

More bragging about my boys...

Drew's elementary school was the lucky recipient of an art grant from the Utah legislature which provided funding for a dance teacher. It's an awesome program that strives to teach kids math, science, English, history and more, through the art of dance and movement. Last night we were able to see Drew and his classmates perform at a special "Gallery Walk" at his school. They did a "dance" with "shape-shifters" (that's what Drew called them... they were just big rubber bands) illustrating all the geometrical shapes they could make with their bodies and their prop.

It was so cool to watch! And I'm such a sucker for cool new ways to teach kids things... I totally started tearing up because I thought it was so cool and such an amazing opportunity for these kids! I just love learning and I know that cool things like this will encourage my boys to love learning too!

Speaking of loving learning... My star reader Will earned his Alphabet Crown at preschool which means he knows all his upper and lower case letters and their phonetic sounds.... well, duh! We already knew that! He's known that stuff forever it seems! Still, it was special to be recognized at school with a special crown:) He's such a smarty-pants, I just know he's going to love school because it all just seems to come so naturally for him.

Great job boys! Keep up the great work!!

My love list...

I've been inspired by Kelly yet again! In honor of Valentine's day, she posted a list of all the things she loves, and I think it was an awesome idea! So, (like most of my ideas)... I'm going to copy it and do a love list of my own:

THINGS I LOVE:

1) Laughing with my family... their laughter cheers me up, no matter what kind of mood I'm in.

2) Running on the treadmill while watching Planet Earth DVD's and listening to Fall Out Boy on my iPod; such a great feeling!

3) Sunny days! Even if it's cold out, I just LOVE the sun!

4) Finding old friends on facebook and going out to lunch or dinner with them to catch up... wondering why we lost touch in the first place.

5) My new neighbors across the street. I couldn't have asked for better neighbors if I'd hand-picked them myself... they are everything I've ever hoped for in neighbors!

6) Snuggling with my boys in the morning before we get up to face the day. A good snuggle-time always ensures a good day! And then snuggling again before bed as we read books together... a good snuggle is ALWAYS welcome!

7) Funny dreams! The ones where you wake up and wonder "what the heck was I thinking?" For example, I totally dreamed I was hanging out with Troy and Gabriella (HSM) in a hotel room while we waited for Jeff's cousin Stacey to have a baby... Gabriella and I even found some cookies that were only 13 calories each, so we ordered them through room-service. I just love crazy dreams like that!

8) Silence... it feels so good sometimes, especially when I'm alone. I think so much clearer:)

9) Singing out loud! It just makes me feel good... even though I have an awful voice... I still just love to sing!

10) Smiling in photos. I've never been a "face-puller", I just like to smile!

11) Scrapbooking.... I love the feeling of finishing a page that tells a story about an event or person. The more photos I can fit on a page the better. I would rather embellish with photos than stickers and such. It just feels so good to put a story together on a two-page spread.

12) Edamame; for some reason I have to eat some every day-- I crave it!

13) Checking off things on my to do list... sometimes I'll even write things down after I've done them, just so I can check them off:)

14) Opportunities that allow you to focus on the positive and wonderful things in life. I LOVE THE POWER OF POSITIVITY!

I could go on and on, but I figure I'll stop at 14 in honor of Valentine's day being on the 14th of February:) But I will add one more thing that I love: I loved writing this list!

P.S. This photo is of the boys in the "Under-roos" we gave them for Valentine's day... I loved them when I was a kid so I thought the boys would love them too... and I was right... Will wore his for 3 days straight until Jeff made him take them off so he could wash them. The red lips are chocolates. So cute! When I was a little girl I always wanted a cute boy to be my Valentine... Now I have 3! How lucky can a girl get!