"I Do It!"

Lately Analeigh has been throwing tantrums if we try to help her do anything that she thinks she should be doing herself (i.e. - getting dressed, getting in her high chair, etc.). Today, after going to clean the church, we went out for ice cream. We got a bowl for David and Analeigh to share. The idea was that we would fill a spoon for each of them and then hand it to them to eat. Analeigh was not about to have any of that, so she screamed, "I do it!" and grabbed the bowl away from David. We let her have her way and spooned out some for David periodically (at least David stuck to the original plan).

Analeigh's Easter Dress

Analeigh will be getting a new Easter dress this year, courtesy of Liz's sewing company (note to IRS: this is not an actually company, and we make no income from this). It is very cute and Analeigh has loved trying it on during the sewing process. We'll probably put up some photos of her in it at another time, but here is what it looks like hanging on a hanger:



Clarification: the large bow pinned to the collar is for Analeigh's hair.

Ben's Birthday

Ben turned 29 today - a fact that did not go unnoticed by his office-mates. He arrived in his office to find his drawers tapes shut, his stapler taped down, and his phone wrapped up in tape as well. On the plus side, they did give him balloons too, as well as a Star Wars-themed kite.

At home, David enjoyed opening Ben's presents for him - which is good practice for his upcoming birthday in April. Since Ben only got "old man" stuff (i.e. - clothes), David wasn't very tempted to play with the items. David also took the liberty of helping his Daddy blow out the candles on the birthday cake.

Since David and Analeigh are just getting into the whole idea of what birthdays are, David spent the entire day saying "Happy Birthday, Daddy!" multiple times at five minute intervals. This was followed by Analeigh saying, "Happy!" She also joined in on the Happy Birthday song by singing "you," when it came up.

Story Time Pictures

Last week we talked about Analeigh joining our library's story time group. Since we didn't have many pictures to share, we're compensating for it this week.

Analeigh enjoyed coloring with the other kids.



She also enjoyed joining in on the Ring Around the Rosie circle the group does every week.

Look Who's Calling

As part of Analeigh's new kitchen, we decided she would probably need a phone. We had an old one sitting around that we didn't use anymore, so we screwed in on to the outside of her kitchen, as seen below. After a few hours of it being available, we realized the cord was going to be too much of an issue for Analeigh and David - eventually one of them was probably going to end up harming the other with it. So, we decided to turn it into a cordless phone by removing the cord. Now Analeigh enjoys carrying the phone around with her all over the house. And, when we're talking on the real phone, she chimes in with a conversation of her own.

Celebrating Saint Patrick's Day

Though it appears our tradition of corned beef and cabbage is more of an American tradition than an Irish tradition (at least according to Wikipedia), we still think it tastes delicious. As mentioned a few days back, we held off on this meal until we could have some friends over today. We didn't take pictures of our friends eating it, but we did decide to take pictures of the meal itself (corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots, and traditional Irish soda bread - which actually is Irish in tradition):

Analeigh's New Dress

Liz has been on a sewing kick lately and Analeigh has been a beneficiary. Today Liz finished a skirt with a matching top. The flower she sewed on to the shirt came from a pattern found on her new Slice Die-Cut Machine (which she got for her birthday). After some debate, the aqua-colored button in the middle of the flower on the shirt will be changed to a brown button. However, what you see below is essentially the finished product.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Typically, for dinner on Saint Patrick's Day, we have the traditional corned beef and cabbage. Alas, we wanted to invite some friends over, but the most convenient evening to do such is not until Saturday. So, in the mean time, we had a different type of green-themed dinner: green eggs (without the ham). It was sort of like eating breakfast for dinner, except that people don't generally eat peas for dinner - which we did.

The New Kid in Class

David has been going to story time at our local library for quite some time now. Analeigh has wanted to join him, but has not been permitted to do so due to age restrictions. But now, Analeigh is two years old, which means she can attend. Liz tried to take pictures of her during the activities, but kids are so antsy that the pictures turned out blurred (due to them moving so much). So, instead, here is a picture of Analeigh and David by the checkout counter, inside the library, just after story time (and holding somewhat still).

Spring is Springing

Today the temperature actually got into the upper 50's. We decided we needed to take advantage of the warmer weather this week, as we're supposed to get cold and snowy on Friday. Since Ben had to work late, Liz took the kids out to the park after dinner.

David enjoyed playing with the excavator toy - obviously we'll be getting him some sort of machine-themed toy when his birthday rolls around next month.



Analeigh loved going down the slides - she has gotten much more willing to take the risk alone than she has been in the past. She is still working on controlling her speed, but she's loving the thrill of it all.

Happy Birthday Analeigh!

Analeigh is officially two years old today. As such, she gets to choose her favorite meal. Since that happens to be macaroni and cheese with hot dogs, we made that for lunch. Typically we would wait to make the special birthday meal until dinner-time, but macaroni and cheese just seems to be more of a lunch-time meal. However, we did spice it up a bit by adding peas, thus increasing its nutritional value.



Liz made Analeigh a princess crown cake. We tried to see if she would be willing to "wear" it by standing under it while Liz held it. Analeigh was not in the mood for such jocularity. However, David was more than happy to step in.



Here are a couple of closer looks at the cake:



Finally, the highlight of the lunch hour - singing "Happy Birthday" to Analeigh.



Analeigh ended up only wanting to eat the LifeSavers, but that is her choice - she's the birthday girl after all.

Opening Analeigh's Presents

Analeigh awoke bright and early this morning, much to our dismay (since we didn't get to bed until after 1:00 a.m.). Even though we weren't super-giddy at the prospect of getting up, we decided her birthday was enough of a special occasion to warrant getting up with her so we could see the excitement on her face as she opened her presents.

First, the obligatory video of Analeigh and David running into the living room to open presents.



David helped Analeigh open most all of her presents. Many were crates filled with all sorts of play food. There was even a tin of chocolate chip and sugar cookies.



The food then was placed in the kitchen, on shelves and in the fridge.



Then Analeigh got to open up the gifts from her grandparents. She got a check from Ben's side (to help pay for college/mission service) and more kitchen utensils (pots, pans, and dinnerware) from Liz's side.



Even David was given a present to open. His grandparents got him a road roller, which caused him to laugh for joy, as he loves his many construction vehicles.



After the presents were opened, the playing began. David and Analeigh loved sharing the kitchen (although David would sometimes push his sister out of the way, even while acknowledging that it was "Ana's Kitchen."



Analeigh proceeded to pour herself hot chocolate from the kettle, after having seen her brother do the same thing.



Analeigh also made herself a sandwich out of felt food. We're still working on helping her realize she isn't really supposed to eat it.



Finally, Ben and Analeigh shared their first ever "hot chocolate" party together.

Analeigh's Amazing Birthday Gift

Hold on to your hats, the mystery is about to be revealed!

A few weeks ago we mentioned having obtained an old entertainment center and stated we would be turning it into a gift for Analeigh's birthday. For those of you thinking that we would be converting it into a play kitchen - you were absolutely right!

For those of you who wondered what the winning guesser would receive as a prize, we're happy to announce that Sarah Burrell is the proud recipient of a free download of any picture from our blog. No, your eyes are not deceiving you, you read that correctly - Sarah may right-click her mouse on any photo and download it to her computer for future viewing - absolutely free!

Now, back to our play kitchen. First off, we have to give credit to two websites from which we took our inspiration: Craftster and Making Do with the Not So New.

If you ever consider making one of these yourself, here are a couple other examples: Sutton Grace and Cupkateer.

As you may recall, we started out with this:



Our finished product looks like this:



We'd like to note that we were able to do the entire conversion for less than $30, which is impressive considering most play kitchens you can buy at a store, like this one on Amazon, cost over $100.

We spent the last two weekends painting the entire entertainment center white. We were able to get some basic white paint at Wal-Mart and two gray 8oz sample paints at Home Depot (since we didn't need much paint for the stove/oven).

We took the shelves out and painted them separately, thinking it would be easier to do that way and then just slip them into place after. However, we failed to calculate how poorly paint sticks to fake laminate wood. Since the paint doesn't have anything to grasp to, it just forms a coat that is easily pulled off when it is scratched. Thus, last Saturday, when we put the shelves in, we screwed up a good deal of paint. Also, because Ben wanted a straight edge for the gray of the stove, we used some blue painter's tape. Normally such tape comes off of paint very easily - which would have been the case, if the white paint had had something to grab on to. In hindsight, we should have sanded the entire thing first before painting it so the paint would have something to hold on to.

With rain forecast for all this past week, we had to move our operations indoors and do all the work while the kids were asleep. This resulted in a very late night last night trying to catch up on painting by running both of our box fans at top speed. We did not get to sleep until after 1:00 a.m. this morning. But, at least the kitchen was done in time for our daughter's birthday.



While a jigsaw would have been ideal for cutting the hole for the sink, we just used our drill to cut holes in a big circle until a hole opened up. In the following picture you can not only see how much sawdust was created in our living room, but you can also see how much paint was pulled off in the process of trying to reinstall the shelves after our original painting efforts.



The sink is composed of a mixing bowl we bought for a few bucks. We got the faucet from one of Ben's co-workers, Tara, for free. All we had to do was use some CLR on the faucet and it was as good as new.

Tara also hooked us up with handles for the fridge and the oven, as well as oven and stove knobs, all for free. And, since we don't drink coffee, Tara also donated four Folgers lids for "burners" on the stove. We screwed the lids down and drilled holes in the knobs so we could secure them with nuts and bolts.

For the oven we moved the hinges to the bottom so it would open like an oven door. However, due to the previous fiasco with painters tape, Ben decided to save time (and thus sacrifice quality) by eyeballing the paint job for the "window" on the oven door.





We were given a number of free kitchen utensil toys from a member of our ward, who wasn't using them anyway. Liz also sewed some food items using felt. Liz's parents also pitched in some toy pots and pans from IKEA. We wrapped those items up for Analeigh to open, as we'll discuss further in our next entry.

More Ghosts

Not to be outdone by Analeigh's White-Out induced ghost hands, David decided to play in our flour bucket today. While Analeigh was napping this afternoon, Liz decided to begin work on her birthday cake for tomorrow. David, with apparently no other entertainment available to him, decided to pretend to a bulldozer and an excavator, using the measuring cup in the bucket. While he kept himself fairly clean (compared to the mess we know he is capable of), he did end up fairly pale in the end.

You Look Like a Ghost

Analeigh was digging through Liz's scrapbooking supplies when she stumbled upon an amazing discovery - White-Out! Analeigh decided it would be a good idea to color on some paper using this amazing liquid. In the process of creating her art, Analeigh poured White-Out on Liz's desk, spilled more of it on Liz's chair, and dripped a goodly amount onto the carpet below. Liz spent a good part of this afternoon cleaning up the mess with nail polish remover. In the meantime, since Analeigh decided to create her art in the finger-painting style, she now has ghost hands!

A Hectic Day

Liz is on our Ward's Relief Society Meeting Committee and thus works hard to plan and prepare for their monthly activity. This month involved the cooking of food, which was made difficult by children who did not feel like being obedient. In the end, just before leaving to go to the church, Liz spilled a large pot of potato soup, thus sealing the fate of a very hectic day. Ben sent her off on her way to church with the rest of the food and cleaned up spilled soup (what a wonderful husband he is!).

Then Ben made a banner on the computer and had the kids help color it. Ben explained this banner was going to be a present for Mommy. David and Analeigh then decided to wrap presents of their own for Mommy (using the computer paper they had pulled out of the printer and crumpled up earlier in the day). They left their presents resting on the top of Liz's chair, for her to open when she returned. David gave her a blue car and Analeigh gave her a pickup truck. Liz was very happy with the surprise awaiting her this evening.

Felt Food

In preparation for Analeigh's birthday (and the ultimate mystery present, that seems to have already been guessed), Liz is making play food for Analeigh. While we were able to obtain some used play food from Goodwill, Liz found a blog, called Playing With Your Food, devoted to the creation of felt food.

Below is a bag of potato chips. Also are all the fixings for a sandwich: bread, lettuce, tomato, cheese and bologna.

Matching Bags

A long time ago Liz inherited a large quantity of fabric from women in our church. Among Liz favorites was a couple of canvas fabrics that Liz describes as "delicious." She's been day dreaming about what to do with them for a very long time and finally decided to make tote bags out of the material.

During this same time period, Analeigh is starting to become quite the little girly-girl. Most recently she's taken to carrying around bags like their her own purse/handbag. So, to encourage this behavior, Liz decided to make a matching bag for Analeigh out of the same material (Analeigh's is the smaller of the two bags, of course). The purse will be another one of Analeigh's birthday presents, on top of the mystery gift we mentioned a few weeks ago.

Pancake Feed

Tonight we went to the Kiwanis Club's Annual Pancake Feed. Given David's recent love of pancakes, he was quite giddy to get there. We were fortunate to score four free tickets, so we didn't have to pay $2.50 a plate. As an added bonus, we went near the end of the event, so we also got to eat seconds for free too.

The Big Three-O!

Liz is now officially 30. And what better way to celebrate the occasion than with a delicious chocolate cake, topped with strawberries.


Liz also ordered the Slice Die-Cut Machine from Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores' website. Alas, the machine is not scheduled to arrive until tomorrow. On the plus side, it will be like having two birthdays.

Over the Hill

We have had our futon placed in front of our sliding door since the day we moved in years ago. However, we left enough room between the window and the futon to allow us to open and close the blinds. Because of this, it has long been a temptation for our children to climb "over the hill" to get behind the futon. In trying to break them of this habit, we recently moved the futon even closer to the wall, to provide no room to squeeze in to. We knew we'd lose the ability to open our blinds, but we figured it would only be a short time before the kids gave up on their hiding place, after which we could move the futon back out again.

Alas, the smaller space has created an increased desire in our children to climb behind the futon. So much for out-smarting them.