Jeanne came to dinner

My friend Jeanne and her son came over for dinner.

I made cilantro chicken served on brown rice.

Our boys enjoyed playing and we enjoyed having adult conversation.

the Count Down

My husband is coming home. 

Not forever yet, but for r&r. 

We made a chain to count us down to seeing daddy again. 

Matching Swimsuits for Matching girls

I found these matching swimsuits, almost more leotards than swimsuit.

They were so cute we had to do a photo shoot with the twins.

two darling girls

They actually rolled and around and smiled and cooed. All while its in the middle of winter.

the size on these suits are 12 months- yet they fit my almost 6 months old right now.

I guess I'm going to need to purchase a new swimsuit for actual swim season.

I doubt these suits will still fit come May.

bubble Bath

Jan 21

"I have a beard- just like daddy"

Al has discovered the fun of playing with the bubble during bath time. He had fun making beards for himself and showing me that he can be just like daddy. Cute stuff.

Talking to Daddy

With daddy deployed we only have Skyping.

Everyday we look forward to his call. We 

gather around the computer to talk to him.

WE LOVE YOU!!

Getting Organized

I've been all about organizing. It all started with putting the Christmas stuff away and trying to get it to fit and be organized. I then started organizing some things in my closet. From there I wanted to organize my cupboards. I have been frustrated with our cupboards. thave ey are narrow width, narrow depth, and very tall with only three shelves. I end up with a TON of unused space. Over the 3 years we've lived in this house I have slowly been trying to *cheap* solutions to my unused space.

First I have been collecting the containers of the Costco brand Kirtland Signature Chocolate Covered Raisins and Almonds. They are all so useful. I pulled them all out. The flour container is from the Costco brand Kirtland Signature Animal Crackers. I put in the smaller containers: long grain rice, lentils, cracked wheat berries, and whole flax. I have a goal to use more whole, unprocessed grains. I figure if they are handier I'll be more likely to use them.

My husband wants to save jars for various uses, but in the mean time they are taking up a TON of space and leaving a TON of unused space. I cut out hard cardboard to create a second shelf. All of these use to take up two shelves and a half. Yeah I have shelf space again.

I did the same with these awesome 60's glasses. They use to take up a bunch of space in the back of this shelf. These cups are just awesome but not for everyday use. To store them I used the cardboard to stack the smaller cups on top of the larger cups.

Spice cupboard. This is metal stack-able shelves.

I had multiple boxes of fiber bars. I decided to combine them all into one box. Cut a whole in the bottom side, taped the side closed.

I had a bunch of boxes of Jello and pudding. I took the long heavy cardboard boxes (granola bar and fruit snack boxes from Costco). I organized in the box according to type and flavor. 

Cut up this box as a tea bag dispenser. I've had the boxes in there. One box for each type and it was a mess.

Would you be interested in how I made it.

I used the gallon ziploc bag box. Four types fit across, and the height is the same as a tea box.

FIRST:

measure out the four sections, and cut lips out for each section.

SECOND:

cut out the back side on three sides and tape up the ziploc punch out door. 

THIRD:

Measure out cardboard for the inside dividers. Make them the same height and depth of the box. You'll need three of them.

FORTH:

Tape, I used packing tape, the board standing up on your divider markers inside the box. 

FIFTH:

Place tea bag packages inside box in the dividers. Close the box, tape the top on the punch out lip. It will be just enough to hold it closed so that it can stand up without falling out the back.

SIXTH:

Place labels on front above each cut out lip so that you don't have to pull out a bag to know which flavor is which row.

5 months

My girls are getting so big.

They are now 5 months old.

4 1/2 months

2 Jan 2012

4 1/2 months

Look how big the twins are getting.

Christmas Day 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS, even if it is late.

Christmas morning we went to church at 8:30am. Then we came home and opened a few presents.

We took a break while my brothers' went to their ward.

 The girls were so adorable in their plaid taffeta Christmas dresses.

Happy birthday Uncle Rex. As the norm we had a birthday/ holiday gathering for Rex and for Grandmother Dorothy.

 My parents had a full house. Lots of family and many more friends.  Rex is such a popular kid and every year his Christmas Night Birthday party is very well attended.

Merry Christmas