Nicole is 7 (going on 16)

Has it really been 7 years? Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. Nicole has been really looking forward to her birthday. She had her jewelry privileges taken away several months ago for lying and being sneaky. We told her she could have it back when she was seven. She may have gone a little overboard with it. She wore my earrings (which she lost), a necklace, 2 bracelets, and she wanted to wear my wedding ring. I obviously didn't let her.

We started off the day with doughnuts and Danimals yogurt drinks for breakfast. Then she went to school (wearing new clothes from Grandma Debbi) and I had lunch with her in the school cafeteria. I brought macaroni and cheese with blueberry GoGurt and fruit punch from Panera Bread. She was in heaven.

After recess, we had brownies in her class with all of her friends.

After school, her BFF, Meagan Paxman came over to play for a little while. For dinner we went to The Old Spaghetti Factory with my parents and grandparents. Again, she had macaroni and cheese. There was a man working for tips going from table to table making balloon animals. The girls each wanted a cat and Tyler wanted a dog. They were all thrilled and it was fun to watch. Finally, we came back to our house for cake and presents. Nicole got a lot of Monster High stuff which thrilled her endlessly. When we tucked her into bed that night, she told us that this was the best day of her entire life.

Mission: Accomplished.

12 Loooooong Years Ago...

... I met my husband. We were forced on our first date and our friends joked that we would probably end up getting married and we would have to name our first child after them. We did, so we did. Lucky for us, they were both named Ben, and so is my husband, so our firstborn child bears the middle name Benjamin.

I will be forever thankful to Ben Cobb and Ben Boruchowitz for making us go out and changing my life forever. Thanks guys.

Benamin, Imaluvu.

(October 2000 - BYU Homecoming)

(July 2012 - Seattle)

I love that we still do the same exact pose. Some things shouldn't be messed with.

My thoughts on Fall

I love fall.

I should edit that statement.

 I love when we have had a really hot August and then September comes and there's still no rain but the nights get cold and I get to wear my boots and I don't have to shave my legs every day. We had a hot August and now September is awesome. It rained once, in the middle of the night, but it is still dry during the day. I don't have to send my kids to school with rain coats or umbrellas. I can leave my windows open all day. I can still do my hair and go out in public without it looking like a drowned rat by the time I get home. It's great! Here's a few things that I absolutely love about the end of summer/beginning of fall. And one that I don't much care for.

Father's Day

I love Father's Day. It's such a wonderful day because I get to think about how many wonderful memories I have with my Dad and what a stellar father he is. I also get to spend some extra time thinking about whatan amazing man I'm married to and what a great father he is to our children. 

I remember going on Daddy Daughter Dates with my dad when I was a kid. We went ice skating, to the movies, to arcades, to the park, out for ice cream, and a million other things. We would make up songs in the car and come home with inside jokes that we still enjoy today. My dad is amazing. He is such a wonderful example to me and I am thankful for him every single day of my life. I am sure I don't tell him enough (because I get too emotional) but he really is the the greatest Dad in the world.

This year, I made a couple of things for the Dad's in my life. For my dad, I made this:

My kids called my dad "Grandpa" for a little while, "Papoo" for a little while, but Diego is the name that stuck. His name is John. Why Diego? If you're asking, you obviously don't have small children. Dora the Explorer (the most obnoxious cartoon in the history of the world) has a cousin named Diego. He's an animal rescuer and they go on adventures together. So, Nicole is Dora, Tyler is Boots, Tori is Isa, and my dad is Diego. They go on adventures all the time. Their favorite adventures are:

-checking mousetraps in the basement

-riding the tractor or 4-wheeler

-swinging 

-boating

-fishing

-collecting treasures on the beach

But sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate or something else gets in the way, so the adventures are things like eating a bowl of ice cream together or doing a puzzle together. Whatever they do, they love their Diego and I do too.

For Ben, I made him this:

It turns out that painting on the bottom of my kids' feet is easier said than done. I saw a similar idea on Pinterest and then made it my own. 

I love to see Ben come home from a long day at work and have the kids tackle him with hugs and kisses. Then, almost immediately, they ask him if they can play Candyland, Uno, Go Fish, Mouse Trap, Sorry, Hi Ho Cheerio, or any of the other million board games that we have. Even if he has had a long day at work if he's not feeling very well, he makes time to play at least one game with them. They look forward to their game time with Daddy and I love seeing the joy on their faces.
 Ben recently moved offices and had 3 very empty walls. I was very sneaky and went to his office on a Sunday and did this:

I'm going to do a really awesome Neil Patrick Harris poster on the 3rd wall, but that's not done yet. Anyway, I love the dad's in my life and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful relationships with both my husband and my father. These gifts are small, but hopefully they know that there is love involved.

Kindle Cover

I love my Kindle, but the covers are so expensive! I decided to make one myself and I'm thrilled with how it turned out.
I went to the library and bought a hardcover book that is a little bigger than my Kindle. It was $1. Well worth the investment.
Then I went home and ripped all the pages out (except the front blank page). Yep. I've ALWAYS wanted to do that to a library book.

Then I cut a rectangle the size of my book out of foam board. Then I cut a hole out of the middle the size of my Kindle. Cover it in scrap fabric and glue some elastic at the top and bottom to hold the Kindle inside.

Then cover the inside of the book cover in fabric and glue the foam rectangle to the back cover. I put a band of fabric on the front and back covers too, just to make it pretty.

Crayon Art

I actually did one of the many projects that I have on my "Pinterest To-Do List" today. I'm pretty excited with how it turned out. Note to self: cheap dollar store crayons melt better and faster than the expensive crayola ones.

Tori's 4th Birthday

While Tyler's 8 years seem to have flown by, Tori's 4 short years have been some of the most difficult of my life. Having 3 kids is so much more work than having just 2 of them! I cannot imagine my life without her. She has taught me so much about life and about myself. She gives me "lucky hugs" (which involve a running start and extra squeezing) that absolutely melt my heart. The "lucky kisses" are a bit more awkward. It's a very tight lipped, firm, eyes-wide-open kiss that lasts 30 seconds or more. But I love them. Happy Birthday, Victoria. I love you more than words can say.

Tori got to celebrate this year with a group of her friends. Aubrey, Lilia, and Scout from her group of church friends. Shaylene, Marissa, and Bella from her group of school friends. They had lot of fun at her "Jelly Bean" themed party. I know, it's a strange theme. All year she has been telling me that she is going to have a "Halloween" birthday. I thought that was a fun idea and I already have lots of decorations I could use. Then, a week before the big day, she tells me that she wants a jelly bean party. Lucky for me, Easter was just a week or two before her birthday and jelly beans are cheap and easy to find. They played pin-the-banana-on-the-monkey, had a butterfly shaped pinata (filled with little bags of jelly beans), decorated cupcakes, and played with her toys. 

We celebrated with the family a few days earlier. She didn't want a cake. She asked me to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies instead. (see recipe at the bottom of this post) She also had a party at school. By the time all of the parties were over, she thought she had turned a new age with each one. We had a little talk about how she's not actually 6 just because she has had that many parties. She is such a sweet girl!