Happy Valentine's!

Finally...my Valentine post! Tyler did this special dinner for me a couple days early because when he has a surprise, he seriously can't handle waiting. Personally I'd prefer for him to wait...but he makes sure he does something else for the actual holiday...so it just means I get more gifts! :-)

First, he presented me with this (I cropped out the top part since it was personal):

After I signed the "form"...he escorted me to the front door where I found this:

Then he gave me a Menu (he had printed online menus for a Chinese Restaurant, a Pizza place, and Steak Express) for me to pick where I wanted him to place our order:

I was then escorted out to our van, where I saw this:

Some of the pictures have a blur spot...I didn't notice it til I'd already taken a few pictures...I'm sure it's from Addy's dirty little fingers!!

After we were seated, Tyler gave me this (I was thinking maybe he'd ask me to marry him again...but when he didn't...I realized that he'd probably have been too afraid of what the answer would be this time, haha!) :

Oh and he picked the ring out himself, which is what I wanted...and he did absolutely perfect. It cost way more than I would have liked him to spend...but he told me not to worry about it so I'll just be grateful!



Tyler had the video screen set up in the van but the movie kept skipping and stuff after the first 5 minutes, so we ended up moving the romantic set-up into the living room (this was a late dinner so the younger kids were all in bed but we let Shaylee stay up long enough to take a couple goofy pics).

This one is kind of funny...it looks to me like we are holding on for dear life.

It was a perfect night, and even though this post was pretty late...I wanted to document it. I also recieved roses and chocolate in the mail the next day...a sweet "I love you " book & card the day after that...I'll stop gushing now. Tyler did great this year. He'll have a hard time ever topping it. All I did was write him a poem (it wasn't half bad!) & give him a Willow Tree statue of "Promise". It reminds me of Tyler and me!

*I forgot to add...the dinner date was a pajama date/sleepover (the perks of being married!) so that is why Tyler is in his awesome Grinch pjs and I'm in my favorite "Minnie Mouse" pj bottoms!!


Here is what we did for Shaylee's class for V-day...I got the templates from Martha Stewart's website. I was too lazy to do the earbuds though. Cayden was okay with just doing super hero cards for his class...thank goodness...because you KNOW I procrastinated making these until like 10 p.m. Thursday night!! I had Tyler cut out the templates while I cut out the colored paper...I gave him a little crap about not cutting very perfectly but luckily he didn't take offense :-)

Family Photo - Bloopers and all!

So, Tyler's mom bought all of her kids & their families sweaters for Christmas so that we could take a picture to give to her. It only took us almost 2 months but we finally did it! So here they are...our bloopers and all! Anyone with kids should be able to appricate the humor in the multiple shots...IF they've ever tried to take a family picture...especially with their own camera & tripod instead of a pro! I'm too lazy/busy to edit my photos 90% of the time...I'm in the "it's good enough" stage of life :-) I can't wait to post about V-Day in my next post...since it's been more like Valentine's WEEK for me!

Notice Addy's cute belly in the above picture?

Gotta move quicker than that honey!

I think this one is my favorite.


This one turned out pretty good, too.

Since we don't get enough "couple" pics, we figured we better take a couple now, too!

Look at all those "innocent" faces! :-)

"Superstar"

Addy has discovered the "pick my nose & show what I found to mom" stage.

Some January & February pictures

Wow it's been too long since I posted on here! Here are some pictures taken over the last few weeks.

During the kids' naptime today, I hemmed some Corduroy pants for Shaylee, and appliqued a flower on some polka-dot corduroy, then appliqued that to a $3 shirt from Target, then straight-stitched around the flower, THEN zig-zag stitched around the polka-dot corduroy. Since I already had the two fabrics in my "stash" & got the pants for free...$3 was my total for this outfit! I TRY (doesn't always happen) to do a project each day during naptime...but half our house is packed up to move so it's been frustrating lately. Hopefully we'll be moving in the near future so that I can get my sewing stuff organized!!

On Friday nights the kids take turns picking a movie & watching it in their room. Sometimes they build a fort on their bunkbed to sleep in, and sometimes they snuggle on the floor!

We've all been sick around here...& this picture of Addy & Cayden fully expresses how they feel!

I can't get enough of this little guy. He seriously melts my heart!!

Do these guys look like they are up to no-good? Ya, I think so, too!

Just look at that face! Don't you just want to chew on those cheeks? His skin is SOOO soft!

Christmas 2009

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas...we did! Thank you to all our family & friends that helped make it special!

Here we are in our Christmas pj's!

A quick picture before church last Sunday...it was COLD (Texas cold...not Idaho/Washington/Utah cold)

I LOVE Zach in these pj's! Thanks Aunt Stephanie (Garry)!

Our Tree

My beautiful candy canes...bread dough filled with raspberry filling...just wish I'd added the yeast & water so that they would have actually risen. That's what I get for trying to bake with an incredible head-cold (I discovered my yeast with water in it's bowl by the sink AFTER I got all done shaping the bread)!

Our gingerbread houses (Cayden's on the left, Tyler's, mine, and Addy's in the middle, and Shaylee's is on the right)

The kids trying out their new wagon!

Cayden loves his new Indiana Jones Wii game!

Santa brought Shaylee this beautiful art set with drawers and a built-in easel! The first thing she painted with it was the Earth.

My new track suit & running shoes - this pic was taken around 7 a.m. with no make-up so be kind...) Normally Tyler & I try not to spend much money at all on eachother but this year we gave eachother a bigger budget...I can't believe how perfect Tyler did (I got him a watch and made him a Notre Dame blanket that I promised to make like 2 years ago!?) !

Tyler opening his watch

Tyler's blanket that I made - I made it out of jersey fabric...the main part is a rib knit which is SO stretchy so it was a PAIN to sew a double layer...but I think it turned out good and Tyler loves it!

PJ's from Grandma/Grandpa Sanderson & Nicole

One of Shaylee's gifts from the Grandparents & Nicole, too!

She loved her "baby" doll...unfortunately the other pic of her holding it turned out too blurry to post

One of Addy's Santa gifts...unfortunately she can't reach the pedals, but she still likes it!

Things that have made me smile so far today:

*I love you's from Tyler on:
the Event Reminder Alarm of my cell phone
the bathroom mirror
the white-board in the kitchen
the screensaver of our computer
the passenger side van window
the rear van window
& a heart on the passenger side mirror

*Shaylee trying her best to be patient while helping Cayden get some cereal for breakfast

*Cayden's graham cracker "gingerbread house" that he made in school today

*Addisyn giving Zachary big, snot-running-down-the-nose kisses

*Zachary's laugh

Craft Projects & Recent Pics

Since Zachary was born, I try to avoid going to the store that often, even though shopping (or in my case usually just window shopping!) is something I love! It just gets a little crazy juggling the the baby & toddler...especially in the smaller carts that they have at my favorite stores...Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and Hancock Fabrics! Anyway...I also gave up naps about a month ago because I REALLY needed time for a creative outlet (even more than I needed sleep!?)...which right now is mainly sewing. Here are some recent pics I've taken, and projects I've completed! It feels good to start accomplishing projects that I've bookmarked on the internet! I'm the QUEEN of bookmarking projects...I have a "to make" list that would take me about 10 life times to finish!! I never used to take photos of projects I've made but I'm thinking of starting another blog just for my crafts...so that I can put links to the tutorials I used. Not only then can people have easy access to the projects they like on my blog, but I can have easy access to the tutorials so that I can make the same projects again in the future if I wish!!

Babylegs...I'd never heard of them til recently, and I found a free tutorial to make them out of knee socks...much cheaper!!!

I bought some fleece to make a blanket for someone's new baby...the birdies on the fabric were SO cute that I HAD to make Addy some pj's out of the extra!

Addy fell asleep standing on this sterilite container...what a funny girl! Oh and luckily she only sucks her thumb when she sleeps!

Shaylee is a great helper!

Here's a table runner I made for my mom from another free tutorial (using freezer paper as a stencil...her table is longer than mine so it looks like a funny length here on my table! (I purposely made it so it wouldn't hang over the edges of her table)

Here are some corduroy pants I made the same way as her fleece birdy pj's (I used some of her other pants as a pattern...you don't even have to cut them)! The material was half off & it only took 1/2 yard so they only cost $1.50 to make...pretty economical I'd say!

Some people call these baby tents...it's basically a recieving blanket with ties on it! I used cotton on the outside & brown fleece on the inside...& I couldn't help adding cute jumbo ric rac on the outside! I cut my fabric to be 38 inches square. This keeps baby Zach nice & warm...now he doesn't wake up as much when we have to run to multiple stores in the cold air!

Here's me and my new accessory. No not the baby...the scarf (although he's even cuter than the scarf)! I used a free tutorial..it's just 4 inch squares sewn together...it's jersey knit (t-shirt fabric)! It's so soft & not TOO warm so it's perfect for people who feel like they are choking when they wear turtlenecks or scarves!!

This is the back of Addy's new Paper Doll Dress!

Don't you lOVE the pockets?? I bought this pattern from lilblueboo for only $6...you can find a link to her blog on the right side of my blog. She's also wearing the babylegs I made her since it's starting to get cold outside!

My mom sent the kids these beautiful church outfits! How did I end up with such cute kids??

Last but not least...here's the Zach Attack! I just love his little smiles, & when I kiss him he turns his head & tries to eat my face! As tiring as it is to have babies...I'm so sad that they grow up so fast!