Merry Christmas!

Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

Grateful

I know Thanksgiving was last month, but I'm feeling so grateful this holiday season. Especially for my family, I'm so lucky to have my two girls and a wonderful husband. I also am very blessed to have wonderful parents who live close by and are so selfless, and some pretty cool brothers and in-laws too. And I'm grateful for good friends, near and far, I really do know some quality people. And I don't know how often I can say this, but I'm grateful for trials that make you realize how very much you do have, and help me to appreciate these things that much more. Hope everyone is having a happy holiday season and holding those you love a little closer. :)

Overheard...

On our way home from Chili's, it was dark outside.

Annie: I spy with my little eye, sum-ting...black!

Natalie: Is it the whole world?

Annie: Yea! It is!

Happy Halloween!

And...Happy November, can't say I'm too sad that Halloween is over. :) It was fun, but seemed to be never ending with all the parties and such! Annie is our little ladybug, and Natalie is a Barbie Musketeer. Pretty cute! James and I were the original mouseketeers, which was totally lost on our babysitter and nieces and nephews, guess they're a little young to know anything about that!

Three's A Charm

Our sweet Annie turned three yesterday. I have pretty much been thinking of her as a three year old for the last 6 months, mainly because of her height and vocabulary. But now it's official! We are so glad that Annie is a part of our family, we love her so much!


She's one of a kind, our Ann girl. Her favorite color is red, she is going through a Barney phase right now, she's a champion whiner, loves to pretend, loves her sister (except when she's being teased by her),


loves nursery and preschool, loves jam sandwiches (just jam!), chocolate (like her daddy), does some great donkey kicks but still can't do a somersault by herself, loves to paint with watercolors, is scared to go anywhere by herself, sings in the car, and makes us laugh every day...multiple times.

Happy Birthday James!!

So James' birthday was actually yesterday: 10/10/10. Pretty cool, huh? I feel pretty dang lucky to have such a great hubby. I don't like getting all mushy on blogs really, but I'll just name one thing I love about James: he's just so very nice to everybody. He really is the most thoughtful guy I know, a cut above the rest. :)

And he is a fun guy to go to Disneyland with, and eat giant corndogs with, have you tried these at Disneyland?



If you know James at all you will know he's a big fan of chocolate (to put it mildly). I made him a Coca Cola Cake for his birthday, it was really good, if I do say so myself. Check out the recipe on my cooking blog.

Annie Got A Haircut

And I think she looks really cute.

Annie's First Day of School

Annie's turn has finally come. I'm so excited about Annie's preschool teacher this year...she's awesome! She homeschooled her four boys until the 8th grade, and now they're all grown up so she does preschool out of her home. Annie was so excited when I picked her up today, and she has yet to put down all of her little projects she did today. Yay Annie!!

First Day of Kindergarten

Natalie was so excited to go to school today, she must have asked me 10 times this morning if it was time to leave for school yet. Unfortunately, school was only 1 hour today, and I was with her the whole time. When I told her it was time to go home, she looked at me and said, "What?! Already?" Tomorrow is really her official first day, I know she's going to love it!

Labor Day

We spent our Labor Day with cousins. My girls love their cousins...a lot. I barely saw them today. We also consumed about a million calories, what is with three-day weekends and stuffing your face? Blech! What a way to bid Summer goodbye. I'm so ready for you Fall. How did you spend your Labor Day?



By the way, the girls crawled in to these themselves. My 5 year old and almost 3 year old do not sit in high chairs anymore...if only I could contain them that easily.

By the Way...

I cut my hair. And colored it. Hallelujah!

Before: bland, boring, yucky ends



After: blunt ends, styled, more put together

One Sandy Chick

I have one girl who tells me she doesn't want to go to the beach because she doesn't want to get sandy, and another who...

Basket Liner Tutorial

Go check out my basket liner tutorial over at Noodles & Milk! Sabrina was also nice enough to do a feature on my Etsy shop, Honeyjane. Pretty exciting!

Grandma's Dress

My mother, Natalie's Grandma, is an amazing seamstress. She taught me to sew when I was about 10 years old, she made me Easter Sunday dresses, she made my wedding dress...just very talented. She pays attention to detail, so her end products are impeccable (wish I had inherited this!). I was amazed by this dress she sewed Natalie for her fifth birthday. It's gorgeous, and we both love it. Thanks Grandma!

A Party Fit for A Princess

Natalie has been planning her 5th birthday party since October last year. Every week, it was a different party - a butterfly party, Chuck E. Cheese, Barbie Three Musketeers, etc. Finally, the last couple months she settled on a Princess Party. So we decorated in pink and purple (Natalie is all girl!).



The girls decorated their own crowns with foam stickers as everyone arrived. These crowns are just foam sheets cut in the shape of crowns, hole punched in the corners, and elastic threaded through the holes and then sewn securely.



Natalie made this rainbow decoration for the party, so of course I had to find a place for it amid the pink and purple. Turned out cute, I think.



For the party favors, I just took plain brown bags and glued scrapbook paper to the front to make them pretty. I filled each one with crayons, a notepad, a pencil, a japanese eraser shaped like a high heel and some candy.





I got Natalie a special birthday crown from Claire's to wear to the party. All the girls came in princess dresses...so cute!



Princess Annie



While the girls colored princess pictures and finished up their crowns, I had two Young Women from our ward come and paint the girl's nails, put makeup on, and put stick-on earrings on(Thanks Brynn and Cass, you're the best!!). Then, I took a picture of each girl after their makeover.





For snacks, I had mini bagels with strawberry cream cheese, yogurt stars from Trader Joe's, Kettle Corn, and pink lemonade.

After makeup, we went down to the garage to play Pin the Crown on the Princess, and The King Says (Simon Says). The girls waited so patiently for their turn.





"The King says everybody smile"



Candy for everyone, we didn't want anyone to feel bad for not winning!



Then, back upstairs for cake and ice cream. The cake was supposed to say "Happy Birthday Natalie", but this is what we got...oh well!



Caught ya Ann!





And then opening presents, all done!



I thought this picture was adorable.



I think the girls had a great time, I'm happy with how it turned out and can't believe my little girl is five years old!

This Little Girl

Is not so little...she's 5. Happy Birthday to our sweet girl, we love you, Natalie.

I Love to see the Temple?

Typical Annie, scrunched up face for the camera.



Typical Natalie, her posed open mouth smile (maybe she wants us to think she's laughing?).



Ah, that's better, a smile from our Ann girl



Word to the wise: if you want to go see the temple on a Sunday (at least the Newport Beach temple), just know that the grounds will not be open and you'll have to peer at it from behind the gate! Oh well, it was still nice to go see the temple.

Happy 4th

How was yours?