50% Sugar and 50% Spice = 100% London

May 23rd, 2010 London turned 4 years-old.

(Don't hate on my cake. Cake decorating is harder than it looks. I think I'll stick with cupcakes.)

It was a day filled with grandparents and gifts.

 Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Mosely

Great-Gramma Sue and Great-Granpa Eddie



After Nana helped London set up her new tea set she shows London how her Dora book can sing the words while she reads them. London calls this book her "video game book" because when you choose a song a picture dances on the screen.


Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds gave London coloring supplies and another huge coloring book. This book is of Tinker Bell (who is London's favorite) and came at good timing because she is almost done with the Disney Princess coloring book I got her a couple weeks ago. If we don't have pictures to color, I start finding new original art work on the walls.


All of London's great-grandparents and grandparents know her well and showered her with all of her favorite things. I've hardly seen her all week because she's busy having tea parties or cutting and coloring something or reading her new books.

Porter was really proud of the Belle dress-up gown he chose for her. London wanted to wear it to church, but then changed her mind. (Boy did I dodge that bullet.)


To go with the dress up theme, Olen and I got London a variety of real clip on ear rings I found at one of my favorite thrifts. They are really fancy and sparkle so I thought London would love them. She didn't.



The Play-Doh ice cream shop was a huge hit. Porter was feeling "too old" to play with Play-Doh, but he did kindly offer to show London how it worked. They weren't heard from for over an hour and then Olen and I were treated to custom ice cream creations.


I sure am crazy about my Ellie Mae. She is growing up so quickly. I miss my tiny LaLa baby who would sing to herself as she fell asleep in her crib, but I really enjoy getting to know the little lady London is becoming. She is so smart and has such a sharp memory I have to be careful about the promises I make because I will always be called on them. Sometimes she asks me questions that I don't always have the answers for and her reply is always the same, "Humph. It must be a mystery...it is a mystery." Sometimes London is a mystery to me and maybe one that I will never solve and that makes life with London exciting.

My number one girl in the kitchen: London is always by my side ready to measure anything messy or crack the eggs or use all the dish soap washing spoons. She still sings to herself and I couldn't love it more.

Gila Valley Temple Open House

Road Trip!

On May 14 and 15 we traveled to Safford, Arizona to walk through the Gila Valley Temple. We met up with Olen's brother Haskel and his wife Valerie and their kids and Olen's parents. We decided the two and half hour drive home would be a lot more fun if we could hang out with family in Safford for awhile, so we stayed at the newest hotel in town and enjoyed seeing the small town swell with tourists. Our hotel was completely booked and you should have seen the lobby during the morning's continental breakfast! (Think: National Lampoon meets Relief Society.) Porter and London loved swimming with their cousins, Clancy, Seneca and Slade and I loved closing the door on our hotel room knowing that it was my day off from house keeping. Olen went to school at Eastern Arizona College (in Safford) and we have friends who live in town so we spent time catching up and walking down memory lane before heading home.

I am so thankful for Temples and the blessings that come into my life because of them. In one of the rooms we stood as a family under a radiant chandelier and I felt the most physical feeling of peace as the sunlight bounced off the mirrors and illuminated the room. I don't wonder what Heaven will be like.

Seven Months Old

On May 16th, 2010 Daisy turned seven months old.

She can sit up all by herself.

She uses the big girl high chair to eat solid foods.

She hates carrots.

She loves applesauce and bananas.

She tries to hold her bottle on her own, but hasn't quite figured it out yet.

She has enough hair to form into a little curl on top.

She loves bath time but hates having her face washed.

She wants to crawl so bad but rolling everywhere is working out just fine.

She cries when something is taken away that she wasn't done playing with.

Daisy's favorite new trick is spitting on demand. It's completely adorable and hilarious and she totally knows it because it has earned her late bedtimes and extra cuddles as we all watch and laugh.

No Wii for me.

Porter disappeared for a while on Sunday afternoon then came to the family room to announce that his marble circus was officially open.

Here's what was under the "big top".

Porter spent his own money to buy a roll of duct tape a few weeks ago and has been finding all sorts of new uses for it. He spent hours making this marble shoot using one piece of duct tape at a time.

See? Here's how it works:

The marble is positioned at the top like so.

Then with a little push it travels down the middle of the shoot to the slide.

Then around the corner. Notice how he built up the sides so the marble wouldn't fall? Genius.

Porter and London have been making this bigger and better and holding marble races that reward the winner with a toy of their choice.

I know right now Porter doesn't understand why Olen and I will never own video games in our house, but I think someday he'll thank us.

Baby Bumbo

I have been meaning to purchase a Bumbo chair ever since Chris and Katie bought one with Asher and I saw how amazing they are. Now that Daisy is eating solid foods but isn't quite ready for London's high chair, I thought the Bumbo would be the perfect fit. Well, think again.

 I slid Daisy in the new chair and fed her and cleaned her up and then went to lift her out but took Daisy and the whole chair with her! Daisy's thighs were locking her in place and she wouldn't budge. I called to Porter for help holding the chair while I popped Daisy out. We were laughing and Daisy was thinking our new game was such fun.

Good thing I kept my recipt because I think Daisy is ready for London's high chair now.

Father and Sons means Mother and Daughters

I said to London, "Daddy and Porter are going on a boy campout so let's have a girl party when they are gone. What should we do?"

"Watch movies and eat chocolate!"

"That's my girl."

Friday, May 7th Olen and Porter left for Father and Son's overnight campout and my girls and I began our Mother and Daughter's girl party. Olen and I look forward to planning these moments with our children as much as they look forward to making them happen. These are the kind of memories that will keep us glued together when life tries to tear us apart. The more memories we make, the stronger we can be.

Olen took his camera to capture all the amazing boy-things they would do on their campout. Then left it in the car the whole weekend. We'll have to imagine together the tent they set up, the tin foil dinners they ate, the wind that almost blew them over and the massive amounts of cream soda they drank.

While the boys were away, the girls did play.

I surprised London with a Disney's Princess coloring book that she's still coloring page by page to this day. We colored and played the games on the activity pages together until our hands hurt and we were tired of moving Daisy away from rolling on our pages.

We made cheese pizza (London's favorite) and ate all the candy and watched all the movies London requested. I fell asleep through parts of them, it was more of a Curious George{slash}Care Bears{slash}Barbie induced coma, I think.

Then we advanced on to the pinnacle of the evening: Makeovers.

First I did London's makeup and explained what each product was and how it was used and where. Daisy watched us and babbled to the beautiful baby in the mirror. Then after London had deemed my makeup application skills acceptable she began the beautifying process on me. I was really brave and let her use anything she wanted, except for the mascara. I saw that wand coming straight at my eye like a javelin and had to shut it down. I got a little worried when she was applying bronzer to my forehead and saying, "Whoa mom. You look really freaky. I need to fix this." Then she licked her little pointer finger and start scrubbing my forehead till my skin hurt like an Indian burn and talked to herself, "Oh that's more scary." 

"Nope. That doesn't work. You look really freaky mom."

"That's okay, love. Do you like it?"

"Yeah I do." she says while nodding her head and laughing like an evil genius.

When the boys came home we swapped stories of windy nights watching falling stars and early mornings eating leftover candy for breakfast. Olen couldn't believe I let London use my makeup and I couldn't believe how bad they smelled. The girls wouldn't have had fun at the boy campout and the boys wouldn't have had fun at the girl party, but we all had one thing in common, everyone needed a good scrub down after they were over. 

Happy Birthday Blog

Two years ago today our little family blog was born.

What's a birthday without cake??
Allow me to introduce you to your new favorite summertime dessert. Who am I kidding, this may be your new favorite anytime dessert.

One day London and I were eating strawberries and fruit dip. Have you ever made fruit dip by mixing a block of cream cheese and a tub of marshmallow fluff? You have not lived until you do. So there we were eating this dip without the strawberries and I had the thought that what this dip really needed was some cake. And maybe a few strawberries could come along for the ride.

So I put together this recipe.

A Trifle Bit Like A Trifle 

Yup, came up with that name all on my own! You'll see what I mean as you read on.

1 vanilla cake mix

2 or 3 blocks of cream cheese

2 or 3 marshmellow fluff

strawberries, sliced

strawberry sauce or extra berries to puree

Easy peasy: Make the cake mix and bake then allow to cool all the way. (The first time I did two rounds and stacked them. The second time I made a 9x13 and cut the cake in half horizontally to layer. It was tricky but I liked the thinner cake layer better.)

Mix cream cheese and marshmellow fluff till smooth. Refrigerate while cake bakes and cools.

Puree berries. The first time I used the sauce and the second time I made a berry puree. We liked the puree best.

Slice strawberries. I bet rasberries would be equally as awesome.

Assembly: No matter what shape you baked your cake, as long as you do this pattern you’ll be good to go - Cake, cream cheese fluff mix, berry sauce or puree, layer of sliced strawberries (optional) then repeat.

Refrigerate at least an hour to allow the fluff to set up and the puree to sink in.

I actually liked it better the next day for breakfast.

It doesn't look so pretty because this was the pilot cake but I guarantee you, it tasted beautifully.
We decided we liked it better when we left the strawberries off of the cake and served them on the side of each piece. See which way you like best.

 

Guess who loves cake?

Five and Six Months

When Porter was five months-old I took him to get his picture taken as a Mother's Day gift for his grandmas. When London was five months-old I thought it would be fun to have her picture taken to match the 10x13 picture of her big brother. Of course I can't stop this tradition now! So on Daisy's five month-old birthday we went back down to the studio for her picture.

I love to see my kids at this stage and how they are all similar, but very different. Even at five months I can see each of their personalities in these pictures.

At five months old, Daisy likes to be on her tummy because she can see what is going on around her better.

She laughs when tickled and cries when a loud noise scares her.

She knows that when I swaddle her in her blanket and give her a paci that it's time for sleep and will bury her head to the side.

She reaches for things, but hasn’t quite figured out how to work her hands yet to grab.

She rolls over from back to tummy but not tummy to back, and still only from the right.

She growls at you when she wants to play and it is irresistible.

She cries if Olen leaves the room without taking her with him.

At six months old, Daisy blows bubbles and spits to entertain herself.

She tastes baby food for the first time (apples and carrots) and likes it.

She rolls over from tummy to back and back to tummy.

She uses her legs to push herself up when she is laying on her back. I don't let her do this much because I don't want her to rub off her hair in the back.

She will reach and grab anything within arm's length and try to eat it. Her favorite is paper and ear rings.

She reaches up and kicks her legs wildly when I say, "Come here" and pick her up.

She weighs 17.8 pounds.