Poor Naked Baby

I took Chester to get his summer haircut yesterday. I'm still trying to figure out what to tell the groomer to do so this time I just said "shave him down". And that's what they did! He looks like a naked mole rat. So sorry Chester. And then it has been unusually cool these last few days. He has got to be freezing. I had to laugh when I picked him up because he had bows in each of his ears. It's pretty obvious that he is a boy (especially after shaving off all his hair) so that puzzled me. I guess that's why they put the BLUE bows in. Poor doggie. We laughed at him all day until he finally scratched those dumb things out. Next time I'll try leaving about an inch of hair on his body so he doesn't look so scrawny.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Michael turned 41 today :) YEA! I think this day is funner for the kids than him. They get so excited to have cake and blow out the candles so he sits through the little celebration to make them happy. To him it's just an ordinary day. Brianna had the idea to get him an ice cream cake this year (yummy). Chelsea made him his favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and the kids also got him his one of his favorite drinks (vanilla cream). We just wanted to show him how much we love him and the best way to do that is with food (right?).

Watching airplanes

Cord has been obcessed with airplanes lately because of an episode of his favorite show (Bubble Guppies). He watches the airplane episode almost everyday. Whenever we get in the car he asks, "Are we going to the airport?" Today I had a day that I wasn't sleeping or have any plans so we headed to a spot by the airport to watch airplanes. We just sat on these rocks as the airplanes flew right over our heads and we could see them land. One nice thing about a busy airport was that there was a plane almost every minute. And Cord played "airplane" as he jumped off the rocks and flew around. I love days like this and wish we had more. After our plane watch, we went home to pack a picnic lunch. Then we took Chester to the doggie park for a picnic. It was a fun "mommy-and-cord" day.

Shades of green

Happy St. Patricks Day! I had to work last night so I was happy to see my babies dressed in green (especially Cord). I wouldn't want anyone getting pinched. Daddy did an awesome job protecting them. He said that "Cord is to little to tell people that he has green in his blood". (a little McKelleb humor).

Mars Needs Moms

I really wanted to see this movie so I made Mason and his friend go with me this afternoon. We saw it in 3D. I'm so amazed at how far animation and 3D have come in the last few years. It was a really cute movie with a big tear jearky ending (not as bad as Toy Story 3 but I couldn't stop the tears). It was fun to chill-ax for a couple of hours.

Popcorn

One thing I truly miss about my Ivins home (besides the neighbhood) is my tree in the front that had beautiful purple buds in the spring. We were surprised to see this tree with pink buds coming out. It's almost as good as my other home. I love looking out the front window to this.....

Getting settled

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. We were able to move everything out of the old house and Chelsea spent the whole day helping me clean. She is such a hard worker. She never once complained and worked hard for the 7 1/2 hrs we were there (and she did a great job). It felt good to complete that part, close the doors for the last time, and hand in the keys. We have had a lot of good memories in that house and it has been a good place for our family for the last 2 years. I always get a little sad when we leave a house behind but look forward to staying put for a LONG time. We are throwing out the boxes this time (YEAH!) Now onto the next phase.....unpacking. (insert big sigh here) As we are getting settled we are discovering things we really like about this house and things that we can't wait to change. The first thing I did was to take down all the UGLY lace curtains that they so kindly left for us. Mike kept telling me to take pictures so we could have before/ after pics after we remodel but I didn't. I do regret not taking pics of the lace creation was in the living room, but I did take some of the bedroom windows. I couldn't decide whether to burn them or donate them. I decided that someone might want them and took them all down to the DI (3 big trash bags full!)

This is just half of my garage right now. It's so overwhelming everytime Mike and I try to clear things out. I just don't know where to put stuff and we have thrown a lot away :)

Now onto a few things that I really love about this house: Starting with this gas fireplace. It actually produces heat (unlike our last one) and I love having a fire in the background. I have had it on several times in the morning or evening and love sitting by it.

This is one of the first things I have hung (little something from home). I don't think this is where it will stay because I'm not ready to hang things yet, but it looks good here.

This was an unexpected surprise, a doggie door in the wall of the dining room. It leads out to a dog run on the outside of the house. I have LOVE, LOVE, LOVED this feature. Chester can come and go as much as he wants and all the poop is contained on the side of the house. We had no idea this was here when we bought the house.

We are excited about the pool and Mike has been busy learning about all the upkeep that is required. It's too cold to use, but we are looking forward to a wet summer.

I'm also enjoying the family room/ loft that is upstairs. It is another place to go and hang out. Mike has found a home for many of his books that he has been moving around. I'm hoping that one day we'll be able to get a nice sectional sofa to go in here. It was nice that they left this big screen TV.

We have a lot of plans to make this our home and to make it show our personality. It will be a long work in progress but we have lots of time!

Parent game

Today was the last basketball game that Brianna preformed at. They took a minute at the beginning of the game to honor the 8th grade members of the team along with their parents. They have had a great year and have an awesome teacher. When Brianna told me about the event I was teasing her about wearing sweats, my glasses, no make up, etc. She begged me...."Please mom, no socks and sandles". I sure was tempted :)

Intruders

This is what I walked into when I got home from work this AM. I guess they thought they were under attack.

Student of the Month

Brianna was nominated for Student of the Month by her geography teacher. We got to go to a breakfast this morning where they presented the students with their award and a license plate holder (which her daddy promtly stole). It was a fun way to start the morning. She also had 2 friends (Maddie and Lai) that were nominated. She must hang out with some high caliber people :)