Luck O' the Munchkins

Hey, look at that...Im almost caught up! We are all the way to St. Patricks Day!

This was Zacks version of a leprechaun trap this year.

 Little clover cutouts leading to a cup with a fake piece of Gold on top. 

Brylee must associate the leprechaun with someone like Santa. She had to draw him a picture.  

She was disappointed when the leprechaun didnt take it with him. I tried to explain that leprechauns arent as friendly as Santa. He really out-did himself last year, so the kids were expecting more. I assured them that its was really unlikely that the leprechaun would do that to us again. Mama leprechaun gets tired of all the hoopla. When she was a little tyke, all St. Patricks day was, was a day to wear green or get else you get pinched. If you were really sneaky, you could hide your green, gets falsely pinched and then pinch the pincher back 10 times. That was it! Still though, the leprechaun did turn over a stool or two, left them some Andes mints as a consolation prize in their cup, and a note explaining that they really should quit trying to trick him, because he's much too smart for that.   

But, I didnt want them to be completely disappointed, so I took another tip from my friend Pinterest, and made some rainbow waffles.  

 They didnt come out all that empty handed after all. They got their green treats and milk that turned magically green too.

Hopefully next year, the leprechaun will be able to scale back even more. Gradual declines in holiday fluffiness sound like a good plan to me. But look at how happy she is!

The never ending project

Im a blogging maniac today! Might be because I am finally done with my second semester of classes, and I get a whole week off for spring break. That, and its fast Sunday, so I have to divert myself from snacking. So... this post is a little past and a little present. We took the plunge to finally replace our cheap, cracked vinyl tile throughout the kitchen and sun room. The kids jumped all over the opportunity to do demolition. I loved the free labor. This started February 21, and we really did peel off each individual tile! My free labor quit half way through. You get what you pay for I guess. 

They also enjoyed the opportunity to get to do their graffiti on the old tiles.  

Madi made use of the box from the new floor underlayment and made a slide down the stairs. 

So we decided to go with a laminate wood flooring. After several stops at different places, and lots of indecision, we went with this "Brazilian coffee" color from Sam's Club. Love the color, hate that it shows every speck of dust! It does clean up easily, but I have to clean it all the time! 

After seeing the floor next to the railing, I decided we needed to re-do the railing to match. You can see the old railing in the last picture, and here is the new look... 

So now its April 13, and although we arent completely done, we are pretty close. 

We got a big rug with a thick pad so the kids still had a place to sit and lay down on. I would still like to add some padding underneath, but it works for now.  

As a side note, our 15 year old fridge finally bit the dust in the middle of all this construction. Here is the new one. I think it matches the floor better anyway, although we werent exactly planning on that additional expense at the moment.  

 I feel like this project will never be completely finished. It is taking forever and its so tedious. It just keeps growing! Once we got to the carpet, we realized that there was a whole other board nailed underneath the tiles which made it unlevel to where the carpet was. Pretty much that meant pulling off the tiles was a huge waste of time and energy. When we got to the tiles by the front door and the bathroom, we just ripped off the whole board and it made it level. SO MUCH EASIER! Then when we took the toilet and sink out to do the bathroom, we ended up having to make adjustments to put them back, since the wood raised the floor up higher than it used to be. We also ended up having to buy a new faucet for the sink. Still waiting on getting that put back together. The baseboards where the carpet was didnt have the extra shoe molding on it, and because the carpet was a different level, we ended up having to take them all off and then replacing them to be level throughout. We also have to still add some shoe molding to the areas where the carpet was. We are wrapping up a few other things too, like caulking, puttying and paint touch up work. All this in addition to sanding and refinishing the railing, which was a lot of work (and mess) in itself. Now that I look at it all, I am actually thinking I need to re-paint the walls in a different lighter color...and the stools look too orange next to the floor, but these things will definitely wait! See how this is a never ending project? 

2 other works of progress were feeling left out, so they wanted their picture added too...

Even with all this work, these ones are the best reward!

February

February always brings with it the schools annual Father Daughter Dance. Alissa was happy to be the only daughter on the date this year. I love this picture of her. 

She was either showing off her nails, or just being silly here. I think it was the latter. 

Of course they had a great time.

And we cant forget about Valentines Day. 

The girls always become envious when I get flowers, so this year, Daddy got them some of their own. I thought it was pretty sweet and thoughtful myself. It took them a while to realize the tulips were for them, and not that I actually unfairly got 2 bouquets this time. 

Brylee was of course excited to get a bag full of Valentine candy. Thats our little sugar addict. 

This was the extent of our Valentine breakfast....pink heart pancakes. I tried to make heart shaped bacon, but it failed....miserably. Pinterest lies sometimes. 

And this years edition of Valentine boxes for school feature a castle, a robot and of course, a minion. Pinterest is still good for some things. Turns out Brylee didnt actually need a box, but she was happy to play princess with her castle. Each one of these eventually fell victim to the dog. Looks like we have 2 sugar addicts in the house.

Madi made sugar cookies with the kids when we went out. Most of the pictures turned out blurry and with silly faces. Thought about posting the whole lot of them, but then decided to go with one decent one each. 

Looks like Zack was M.I.A. for the pictures.

 can I just say, I love that we have two girls old enough to babysit and handle all of this now. Its AWESOME!

Christmas...in April

No, we didnt actually celebrate Christmas in April. I used to be so on top of things...so punctual...so caught up! What happened to me? Well, it is what it is. Im going on 4 months ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy. Heck, lets be honest...I have a hard time remembering what happened last week. So your going to get the short and sweet version, where we skip all the middle stuff and go right to the end. 

First off, the Christmas Eve P.J.'s. I have really been wanting some stylish footie pajamas to take me back to my childhood...when I used to remember things. 

Even Jovi got a new outfit, since she outgrew last years. Shes a pig. Actually she looks more like Yoda, but she is supposed to be an elf. And she is soooo happy about it too! 

Now for a quick highlight of some of the favorites. (Guess Im not actually skipping all of the middle after all.)

Alissa made the good list again, so Santa brought her what she asked for...a saucer chair like Madi got last year. Now she can stop hogging Madi's.  

Brylee really loved the Vet kit that Katelin picked out for her. 

Zack wasnt expecting this one, but when I saw (and heard) it, I could resist getting it for him. This little minion actually talks, laughs, burps and farts. Isnt that against all of Gru's house rules? I love his satisfied smile. 

Our giraffe lover got a new giraffe for her room. She preferred it be real, but I already have enough poop to clean up around here.  

My mutual BYU fan brother hooked us up with this super soft and warm blanket. We all still fight over it.  

Now we skip to the end. Here are all of Katelins gifts. She really loved the new I-Home. (If only she would use it to wake her up in the morning). 

Brylees gifts... 

Zacks...I wasnt thrilled about the toy gun, but Dad and Madi thought it was a great idea. I had to remind him to stop pointing it at people a few times. Hmmmm....

(Minion not pictured here) 

Alissa's. 

Madi's. That box behind her contains a new desk for her future finished basement room, and the book she is holding is actually a secret box for "hiding her candy". She actually asked for it in those terms. :) Its hard having younger siblings. But I wouldnt know. 

And Ours (which is mostly family gifts).