Snowman Daycare/Playdate

My incredibly talented and good friend, Molly, decided to do a little drop in babysitting over the Holidays.  Well, in true Molly fashion it wasn't just a drop off and let your kids watch TV the whole time.  She went all out with a theme for each day, games, treats and lots of fun activities.  I came along to help out and join in all the fun.  I believe she may even do it again throughout the year, cause every momma needs a little break once in awhile, right!?!?
Anyway, here are some of the fun things we did.  In no particular order...

First, a little playing in the snow {shaving cream}.  The kids LOVED this!  What child doesn't want to dive into a big pile of white goo?

Then onto a little Arts and Crafts time.  Snowman style.

Lola's seemed a little down, but cute non-the-less.

Next, making a tasty treat.  Snowmen cupcakes.
After that a little "Frosty The Snowman" cartoon to finish the fun up.

See what I mean, darling!

It was also great fun because the kiddos got to see each other all together again since last school year.
Tommy loves playing with these fun friends and we don't get to hang with them enough!

Thank you, Molly for hosting such a fun play date for these crazy kids.
A great memory to add to the books and possibly a new tradition in the making?

Tommy's Christmas Program

Tommy's new Preschool this year puts on a big Holiday show for all the families to enjoy.  They must have learned a good 15 songs for it, complete with props and actions.  Too cute, right!  He was beaming with joy to preform for the rather large audience, and we all loved it!

Now I just need to figure out what to do with that sparkly shirt he made. 

Happenings

We got a little after Christmas present.

A Couch!  It's been a long time coming, 9 years to be exact.  It's a great addition to the family and now we can all fit on the couch at once!

Lola got herself a new "Big Girl" bike!  Thank you Aunt Yaya!

I cut bangs.

Tommy is starting to sound out letters and make words.  He is learning so much in preschool and comes home every day so excited to learn more!

Our pew at church, on a good day.

Lola's hair honestly has it's own personality.  Never telling what it's gonna do!

I found some of the coolest bowling chairs at a local thrift shop.  They reside perfectly in the new play room we are working on {pics to come}.

Sneak Peek at the playroom.  Yes, that is a swing in the house.

Lola had her very first visit to the dentist!  She did great and everything looks good.  Let's hope it stays that way!

Neighborhood kids building forts in the front yard.  We are outside lots with this beautiful weather, I don't know how we survive in the summer, honestly!

The common cold has seriously hit us.  Boo!

The crazy huge vine in the back yard finally got too big to stay on the wall.  This will be a crazy huge project to clean up.  Someday, right?

Anyway, lots of fun, a little bit of crazy and a whole lotta love around this time of year!  Peace.

Children's Museum of Phoenix

This past weekend I was lucky enough to have Tyler working on projects all around the house so in order to keep him happy and the kids out of his way we went on a little field trip out to Phoenix.  I thought I had a groupon for the Children's Museum {found out once we were there that it was for a completely different museum, lame} but alas, did not.  So we payed our overpriced way to go inside for a little afternoon of fun.  I really do love this place!  I wish I could recreate piece's of it in my own home, I'm just crazy enough to TOTALLY have a noodle forrest in my living room!

Here are a few of the fun pictures I was able to capture from the day.

The Trike Wash:  I love the reflective glass they have here.  I would build an entire house with this kind of glass as my windows!

This fun little fabric forrest was new to me.  I loved being able to find and make all sorts of different sentences with all the words.  So darling!

The Noodle Forrest: an all time favorite!

Max was having a great time at the race track.  He was right in everybody's way, but he didn't seem to mind.

Tommy was taking his cashiering job very seriously! 

Search and Find:  another cool idea I want to recreate in our home somewhere.

The giant tree house fort thing.  The kids could walk all around this thing for hours.  As could I because it's big enough for adults.  A huge plus!

Max was loving the 3 year and under room, he would press a button and the doggie picture would bark at him.  He was in heaven {even though he really hates dogs}.

This was fun to play with the sand and see the colors changing from underneath, however, I would NOT want this in my home.  Sand is not my friend!

Art Studio: Max was cracking me up in his oversized smock.  He was walking all around the room not sure what was going on.  Finally we were able to direct him towards the paint and then, of course, we couldn't keep him away from it.  Needless to say, we didn't spend too much time in this area, due to Max' screaming to paint more!

A very creative moose in the Art Studio.  I love taking something and presenting it in a unique way.  This was made from sweaters and wood sticks.  Loved it!

One last group photo that I was trying to make look artsy {the random guy I asked to photograph it must not have had my same vision}.

Because everyone loves a good Ugly Sweater.

Last weekend we had the fun opportunity to go to our ward Elders Quorum "Ugly Sweater" Party.  Although we did not win any "Best Sweater" prizes, we still had a great time dressing up and enjoying a night out with good friends and lots and lots of laughter!

Took Polaroid pictures, sweet.

Played some "Minute to Win it" games, awesome.

Made some sexually inappropriate conversation. {look closely at the detail on Tyler's sweater}

...and just had a joyfully good time.  Thanks Mindy for throwing a great shindig and for letting us "High Priest's" join in all the fun.  I'm a fan of the Ugly Sweater theme.  Try it for your next Holiday party, it will not disappoint!

Instagram October

So if you didn't already know, I'm kinda addicted to my iphone!  I could {and do} spend way too much time on it, searching my apps, checking my Facebook, Pinterest, Houzz... you get the idea.  However, my main obsession has got to be Instagram.  I'm hooked.  It's basically the only way I take pictures anymore.  My poor {might I add, lame} old camera has since got the boot.  So to catch the ole' blog up to speed, here's the month of October through the eye's of an Instagram.

Enjoy.





If you are also on Instagram and would like to follow my feed, my username is mimimade.  I'd love to follow you too!

Keep it Local

My close friend's business has been spotlighted on the i heart mesa blog.  Go on over HERE to check it out and enter for a chance to win some cool stuff!

Seriously, head on over to enter.  HIS shop is awesome and he can make just about anything, check em' out!

A Welcome to Fall Living

It's here!  Even if the weather is still in the 90's, I don't care, Fall is here.  If I wait for it to get cooler I'll miss the whole thing.  Anyhoo, here is a little recap of the past weekend we had.  Did I mention how excited I am that it's October?

Tommy's Preschool Art,  Maxers impression on Lola's arm

Mr. Daredevil, Tommy's Birthday dinner at El Charro

Building Tommy's first set of Lego's

Costco trip, We made the decision to go to Disneyland in November with Tyler's family.

Our Christmas gift to us.

Playing with new hair style's at Bunko, Watching General Conference on my small computer.  {I need a new one before the next conference!}

Love him!  Sorting and organizing a ton of the kids clothing while listening to Conference.  Been on the to do list for awhile.  Feels great to have it done!

Met at my friend Jill's house to hang and eat dinner during the Priesthood session.  Here's some of the cute kiddos.

After putting the two little's to bed {while Tommy and Tyler were still at the ASU game} I cuddled up into bed and watched a movie that I wanted to watch and did a little journaling.  It was heaven!  Tommy got to go to the ASU game with Tyler for the first time this season.  He loved it, and we won!  Bonus!

My first taste of Pumpkin pie this season!  First of two slices and many more to come!  Some of the little cousins hanging out together at Grandma's house in between conference sessions on Sunday.  We didn't stage this photo.  They were all sitting there on their own.  Too cute!

My nephew Cooper, age 7, was taking notes during the morning and afternoon sessions of conference.  These were some of his notes.  I just thought it was the sweetest thing ever!

Where we found the babies getting into trouble.  The craziness we endured during the afternoon session while trying to keep all the children quite.  We didn't get much out of that session, or at least I didn't.  But still nice to be with the family and feel of the spirit together.

Later Sunday evening we headed over to Spencer and Tiffani's house to share dinner with them.  It was a decent enough night to sit outside and let the kids play on some of the bikes and such.  I even took a little stroll through the neighborhood on Tiff's cruiser.  Then we threw all the kids into their massive shower.  After which we went to Granny and Papa's house to go for a little visit.  The last picture is of Thomas sitting in my bed next to me as I was journaling.  He wanted to journal too and I love watching him draw and come up with such cute little pictures so I was happy to have the company.  

A great way to end an amazing weekend!