My Little Backseat Driver

This child has so much personality, I often wonder how her little body is able to contain it all. She is always doing something to make us laugh. She is definatley the family comedian.
During our busy and full lives, I so enjoy our precious "alone" time in the car while Maya and Kai are at school. Addie is so talkative and funny when she is strapped in that seat and it is just her and I. She is always cracking me up. I swear she has the sense of humor of an adult. Her delivery and timing is genius.

Watch out Ellen....here comes Addie!

It is VERY rare to catch the "true" Addie on video. Usually the second the camera is turned on she wants to see herself and so whatever she was doing is done. So I know this little clip is a gem....

Oregon Food Bank

Our date with Maya this month was to the Oregon Food Bank to do some volunteer work. We had a blast and hopefully helped Maya realize just how blessed our family really is.

Scooping 2lbs of beans into a bag can be quite the workout. Way to go Maya!

Maya stuck at the bean scooping for quite awhile, but when her arm got too tired she started inserting bean instructions into each bag.

What a great experience! Thanks for watching the other two munchies so we could go, Nana!

Those little green rascals snuck into our home again this year leaving a trail of green ribbon that led the kids on a hunt in and around the house, looking for their treasure.


We rarely have sugary cereals in our home so the kids were SUPER excited to see that the Leprechauns had left them a box of this deliciousness...

The little buggers snuck into our fridge and dyed our milk green!!!

They even snuck into Maya's lunch box...

Maya and Kai's teachers received these...

We ended the day with a lovely picnic dinner of corned beef with lots of green veggies. It was such a beautiful, sunny day so we started our picnic outside, then quickly realized it was a bit too chilly and so we came inside, made a fire and had a picnic indoors.

I know that St. Patrick's Day is not the most popular holiday's of the year, but I think that is what I like about it the most. There was no stress, no gifts, no parties, no time crunching....just good ol' fashion GREEN fun with my family. Any chance I have to make everyday life a little more exciting and fun for my kids is so thrilling to me.

Leprechaun Trap

The kids wanted to attempt catching the Leprechauns that sneak into our home every year. So we brainstormed and came up with this Leprechaun trap. Our fingers are crossed!

School Auction

After a TON of hard work and planning, Byrom Elementary finally had the school auction last weekend. It was SO much fun!!!! Anthony and I got to have a nice dinner together all while visiting with some good friends. We even got some killa deals that were up for auction.
AND, since Steph is a celebrity around here, she was so gracious and agreed to be the Emcee for the event. She did an amazing job!!! She even auctioned off a tour of the station, with her, that went for $550 smackers!!
Thanks so much Steph!

Emmalicios Turns 4!!!

Emmalicious turned 4 last week and the Campbell's invited us to celebrate with them at the bowling alley!

Then, we all went to the Cheesecake factory and celebrated some more with the rest of the crew...




Happy Birthday Emmalicious!!! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Chef Party

Maya is totally into helping me cook and bake lately. So it was only fitting that she asked for a Chef Party for her birthday. In years past she has usually wanted a princess theme so it was nice to be able to invite some of her boy friends for a change.
My incredibly talented mom sewed these aprons for the girls. The boys had a simple apron that went around their waist. They were made from some tea towels that I had found at Target that already had the cupcake on them....SCORE!!!!
I created the name circles in photoshop and ironed them on.

Maya was so excited to wear the apron that her cousin Kate (who is only 8 years old, mind you) made for her in her sewing class. SO CUTE!!!
I ordered her hat online but they only came in white, so of course, I HAD to dye it pink...

Some of the "hired" help. I found these aprons at Target and bought them for Mom, Cheryl, Saralyn and myself as a thank you for all their work. The picture was taken before Saralyn got there.


Each kid got their own chef's hat to decorate and wear...

They then got their own pizza dough ball to roll out and put on the toppings of their choice...I don't think Addie's pizza ever made it to the oven. She loaded it with cheese and mini pepperoni and then ate all the toppings off.

While the pizza's were baking we went outside for some pinata fun...

And then the kids came in and watched Maya open her presents. This girl got SPOILED!!!...

The creator of webkinz made a killing off of Maya's birthday. She LOVES webkinz!...

After presents everyone got to frost and decorate their own mini cake...

Finally, because eggs are such an important part of baking and cooking, we went out back for a super fun egg hunt...

We had such a fun day. Maya felt like a princess and had so much fun with all of her dear friends.