Queen of Bedhead

Every morning, Annie has a sweet case of bedhead (and after naps, too, come to think of it). This morning she was feeling particularly fluffy.

Four Cuties

I love this picture with the girls and our close friends Dave and Holly's little girls: Inez and Gwen.



And while we're on the subject of Dave and Holly, I think I'll put in a little plug right now for Holly's new Etsy shop Aye Querida, she makes adorable skirts for little girls and at a completely affordable price.




So head on over and take a look around!

For a Nursing Mother's Enjoyment

My friend Annie has requested lazy bloggers to update their blogs so she has some entertainment while feeding her adorable newborn. Well, I did happen to have a rather amusing thing happen to me yesterday. I just want to start out by saying, I have the best intentions when it comes to baking bread, and without fail, my three or four attempts have failed miserably. I would just love to be one of those people who whips up a batch of rolls in the morning and has them hot out of the oven just in time for dinner. But so far, the only thing that comes close to this in my house is Pilsbury Grands, which I have even been known to ruin. Well, yesterday, I decided to make the attempt again, I decided to make French bread. I whipped up a batch, and things were looking good, the dough wasn't too sticky and it smelled like bread, always a good thing. So I put it into the bowl to rise. I took the girls out for a quick trip to Joann's, came back, checked on the bread, and...it looked exactly the same. No rise, not even a little bit. I called my mom, she told me to put the oven on at 150 and stick it in there. I did, checked about a half hour later, and...flat as a pancake. So I call my mom back, she says it's either one of two things. The yeast is no good, which I decided was not the case, since it seemed to be working just fine when I started the bread. Or, too hot of water killed the yeast. Bingo! The recipe called for hot water, well, not knowing how hot, I put near boiling water in. Yep, killed it.



Okay, so here's my dilemma, it's 5:30 and that was my dinner. I was going to make a stromboli thingy out of the bread. Well, I whipped up some mac n' cheese for the girls. Then, I came across something I bought on a whim awhile ago...hamburger helper. Never tried it in my life. I thought, hey! Why not? Got the hamburger helper going for James and I. It looked a lot like this:



And tasted a lot like it too. Not going to be buying that anytime soon. My R.S. president came by and said, "Mmm, something smells good!" I told her I would not tell her what it actually was that smelled good, she could just think I had cooked something extremely yummy. Anyway, that was my bread failure #4. But I am not giving up! I'll let you know how attempt #5 goes.

Random Projects

Before I left for Utah, I was working on a couple things.

I wanted to organize Natalie and Annie's clips, so I decided on this fabric and am going to put ribbons on it for the clips to attach to. It's harder to find the right color/size ribbon than you would think! It's just a picture frame with the glass taken out and fabric and batting attached.



I've been working on this doll quilt for a few weeks, here and there. It's actually more finished than this picture, but I didn't want to take another picture until it was completely done. This is a great way to learn how to quilt, it's a small quilt that you can finish in probably 3-4 hours, so you really see the quilting process quickly. I did a sew along that was on Sew, Mama, Sew! You can get it here.



And just some fabric that I got in the mail, I thought it was really fun. It's from the Hello Betty line.

Pictures

Head on over to Christy's blog to see some pictures of the girls. Christy was kind enough to offer to take pictures of the girls when I told her we needed some of Annie. I think they turned out really cute, I can't wait to see the rest!

New Fabric

So I'm in Utah with the girls and my Mom. We went to one of my favorite quilt shops here, Elaine's, and I got some really fun fabric for a new baby blanket. The designer is Valori Wells and she has the cutest blog. Find it here. The fabrics I chose are from her line Urban Flannels. And I'm going to do a ric-rac border in hot pink. Can't wait! I wish I had pictures to post, but I'm not on my own computer, I'll post some when I get home. I also have some other projects I've been working on that I'm really excited about!

Eat your Veggies

I'm trying to get my girls to eat more vegetables, especially Annie who is a big fan of spitting things out of her mouth. So I was so excited when I got an idea from my friend Melissa, a "green monster shake". And it totally worked, so I thought I'd pass it on to anybody else who might have trouble with giving their kids enough veggies.



Green Monster Shake (this made enough for my girls, James, and I)

1 1/2 cups orange juice
1 ripe banana
1 cup ice
fill up rest of blender with raw baby spinach

My girls loved it! And I tried it, and you really can't taste the spinach, it was yummy. Let me know if you try it and it works for you too!

As Good as it gets

If you're looking for clutter free countertops, you don't want to come to my house! But, after cleaning my kitchen this morning, I thought to myself, "This looks pretty good, and it's about as good as it gets." So I decided to take a couple pictures of my kitchen.

I love my kitchen window, I never close the blinds. I think it would look cute with some cafe curtains, don't you?



This is where I spend a majority of my time in the kitchen. Baking center/cutting board/sink/knife area



I cross-stitched this little doodah when James and I got married, I know it's hokey, but I like to cross-stitch, right Beth? Although, I haven't done it in a really long time, actually.



And, here is my island on a good day. What can I say? It is the perfect place for things to go that don't have a place. The never ending piles and clutter, I just can't seem to shake this bad habit. It is the bane of my existence. Okay, that's a little dramatic, but still.

Curls...kinda

Having one o'clock church, we have some extra time in the morning. So, why not try curlers? After much coaxing, crying, and dirty looks, I got Natalie to try them. And, it was kind of fun, but not quite as curly as I was picturing in my mind. It did make her hair look extra full though, kinda Marilyn Monroeish.

Little Posers

Natalie has started posing for nearly every picture I take of her. And Annie says "Cheeee" whenever she sees the camera pointed at her.

Ballet Bag

I whipped this up today. Natalie started ballet/tap and she needed somewhere to put her shoes, so this is what I came up with. It was fun, and done in about 1 hour (that was with seam ripping a couple times for stupid mistakes). She loves her ballet class, but hello! There is a recital in June and her costume costs $60! What? Come on now, that is a rip off! Let's wear a leotard and skirt and call it a day, I mean, she's three!





The inside, with a cute little pocket.

The Beach in January

It has been really warm this week, so my mom and I decided to take the girls to the beach. Well, we went just as the sun went down, so it wasn't quite as warm as we anticipated. Luckily, I brought jackets and towels and we ended up having a blast. Whenever I go to the beach I always wish I went more.

Big Bear

This is how we felt about our five hour drive to Big Bear:






But it all ended up pretty darn fun!

Christmas Day

Yes, I know I have been a horrible blogger as of late. We had a great Christmas, it was so relaxing and it was nice to have the whole family around. And now the Christmas tree is down, Natalie is back in school, and we finally have a walker (yay Annie). It always comes and goes so fast.

May your Holiday be filled with Joy!

Love,

the White family

Santa Pictures

A friend of ours invited Santa to her house, so the girls and I were able to go over and enjoy pictures with Santa. As you can see, Annie had a great time! This is exactly what Natalie did when she was this age, but I just had to get a picture of it before I took her off. Mean, but I have always loved that picture of Nat. Natalie, on the other hand, loved seeing Santa. She gave him a big hug and probably would have sat on his lap the whole time if he had let her.

First "real" haircut

This is the first time I've had someone else cut Natalie's hair. It was in serious need of a trim. I told the lady shoulder length, or just below, but she did it a little shorter. I think it turned out cute though! And it's nice and healthy on the ends now.

Before:



After:

What's been keeping me busy...

*Going to Utah for Thanksgiving and visiting with James' family. His sister, Laurie, was kind enough to run in a 5K on Thanksgiving Day with me, so I did it! And I only walked for maybe 3 minutes, I completely ran the first and third mile, Laurie kept me motivated!
*Upon my return, I immediately became busy with making sure Enrichment night happened for 50 people, I had three days from when I got home, and luckily an amazing committee. So glad that's over.
*Decorating for Christmas, I love it, especially the tree. Natalie had a great time helping out with the ornaments this year. So there are about 20 ornaments on the bottom branches of our tree, I didn't move them because I thought it was so cute, and of course, just the right height for Annie to grab them off.
*Trying to get my now 14 month old to walk, she'll take a few steps, but she is convinced crawling is the best way.
*A fun sewing project to give away, I'll post pictures after I actually give them away.
*Just enjoying my girls, we have a lot of fun together. More posts to come with pictures.