Big Game

Since all I could possibly care about during the Super Bowl is the food...I hope your FOOD is FABULOUS! Have a Great Weekend!

*Image featured is the Swedish Meatballs from the Food Network's Super Bowl Party Spread.

Pop Pop!

Do your kids love bubble wrap? Well I know mine do. Just the other day we were somewhere and someone opened up a gift and Paige squealed out in excitement, "I LOVE THAT STUFF!" Referring to the bubble wrap, not the present of course. How awesome are these Bubble Wrap Calendars. You get to POP a bubble a day!

Flip-Dee-Doo

I try to keep the BLAGGING (Blog+Bragging) to a minimum, so I'm sorry about this one, but I have to put it on and tell you I'm really excited about it. Paige did her backhandspring without a spot for the first time today at tumbling. She's been working on it all week on my bed and she was so excited to show her teacher. This is something I get really into and kind of hope that she does and likes because it's something I did and loved...yes I'll admit it, I'm one of "those" mom's. I try not to show Paige that I'm too excited about it because I want her to only do it if she likes it and she's excited about it, but inside I'm doing a little "Flip-Dee-Doo" myself.

Heart Wreath

Check out these simple directions for an Easy Heart Wreath. I know I did something just like this back in elementary school with tissue paper. All you need is a foam heart, fabric squares, glue, and a pencil. So cute!

Let's Draw

Help your child learn to draw faces, animals, cars, etc. with these great step-by-step Drawing Books by Ed Emberley. I saw these on Babyccino and knew they were something my 7 year old would just love. I remember having a book when I was little that taught us how to draw cute faces and I loved that it actually helped us non-artistic people draw something decent. My favorite of these Drawing Books is definitely the Great Thumbprint book. I may do some of those tomorrow without the book.

I Love To See The Temple

We had the chance today to go down to the open house at the Draper Temple. I was a little reluctant about it, worried about how "reverent" the kids could really be, but they actually loved it and did really good. I was so glad we went. I am just in awe at these magnificent structures. I cannot believe the detail that goes into them. The kids of course loved the giant chandelier and the mirrors in the sealing rooms. I am so happy we all had a chance to go. Thanks to Mindi for sharing your tickets. I also have to mention cute little Jade. I will say that Wade has a new best friend.

Paper Books

These Paper Photo Books from BHG would make the sweetest and simplest little V-Day Gifts for the Grandparents.

One Fish Two Fish...

Around my house, the Dr. Seuss Collection is legendary. My kids love both the books and the movies. Gabe picked up One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish when he was just beginning to read and I completely credit that one book to the whole reading thing clicking with him. I saw these fun Dr. Seuss Facts put out by CNN first on Kirtsy. They really are interesting so check them out. For example...Did you know that the book "If I Ran The Zoo" contains the first recored instance of the word "Nerd"? And did you know that Yertle the Turtle actually represents Hitler? See I told you they were good.

This Book Belongs To...

Right before I finished college and had my son, I already had a very large collection of Children's Books so I decided to purchase a "This Book Belongs To..." Stamp and mark each of the books. It was the sweetest little stamp with a mouse and I bought a new pen to sign my proud family name in each of the books. I have no idea what has happened to the stamp since, but each time I open one of our books, for some reason I cherish the idea that it is personalized just for us and I love that I did that. Everyone should have a personalized book stamp! Here are couple of very cute ones from The Paper Princess.

Write Stuff

Sorry there is just too much LOVE going around to pass it up. What I love about Valentines purchases is that hearts and love are always in season so really they are good for all year. Something else great about these Love Pencils from The Spoon Sisters is that 10% of the sale will be donated to fight Breast Cancer.

Barbie Love

I've noticed quite the attack on my good friend Barbie lately in the blogging world so I thought I'd give my shout out to her. Barbie, you were my good friend and I'm sorry they don't like you because you are pretty. What's so bad about being pretty? I never remember feeling like I needed to look like you Barbie. My friends, yes I always tried to look like them, but Barbie, no not you. You were just a toy we all played with and liked to dress up. I will not abandon you Barbie no matter what they all say.

Made With Love

Lots of LOVEly cooking supplies at Beau Coup.

Date Night

Mr. L and I had a great date night last night. First we went to the always wonderful Macaroni Grill and then off to the first of our two Operas planned for this year, Regina. For those of you who don't know us, it's probably important to know that my husband is a raging Opera fan. He actually studies it, watches it and listens to it at home. It's become very important in his life. It's really quite funny but it is something I really love about him. He has such an amazing love and respect for the music. Even if it's not the best performance, he finds anything positive he can about it. My review for last night's opera is this... "Weird"! But as usual, I loved getting dressed up, eating out, and spending a night at the theatre. Our next Opera is in March and we will be seeing The Marriage of Figaro. This is a big time famous Opera written by Mozart and all Mr. L could do last night was talk about how excited he is for the night to come. He seriously becomes giddy just thinking of it. I really do love him and love the things he is passionate about.

You Know

You Know You're A Mom When...
You have a nice picture of you and your husband and you feel really weird about hanging it anywhere in the house. I dont' think I've hung a picture of just the two of us since we very first got married and then they all came down as soon as the kids started coming. It's just too weird for me. It's going in a book.



You Know You're A Little Bit White Trash...
When you finally catch a cute picture of your little boy who screams the second he steps into any sort of picture studio, and then you look down to find a Giant Gross Black Goober thing on the bottom of his shoe. Honestly!

Boo Boo Kisses

These cute Kisses Bandaids from Perpetual Kid have got to work almost as good as the real thing right? Well, probably not, but they still might help.

Flowers For You

Isn't this Valentine's Button Bouquet fabulous? I thought it would be fun for kids to do their own (much smaller version) of this and tie a ribbon around it.

Dean's parents made it home from Chile. We are all so happy to have them back with us.

All Dressed Up

I have 2 Operas and an important Wedding coming my way so of course I needed a new dress. What do you think? And with every new dress comes a new pair of shoes. There is no way I have time to order these shoes because I need them by Friday, but I'm heading out Monday in hopes of finding something just like them because I love them.

Spring Has Sprung

To hope for, dream about, and celebrate Spring, (yes that's what I have to do in order to make it through these next few months in this freezing town), I would like to create one of these pretty Fabric Flower Garlands as seen on Creature Comforts. You can get the tutorial Here.

You Rock

So I'm on a serious lookout for an acceptable Boy's Valentine for this year. Gabe will have nothing to do with anything involving hearts, love, the color pink, or flowers. The thought of Valentines Day itself is almost too much to bear for him. Last year we made Cell Phone Valentines for the class which he was able to handle. I would like to avoid the store bought Character Valentines if at all possible. Not that I think anything's wrong with them, but I would much rather make something. I'm leaning towards these Rock Candy Valentines from Family Fun that look like IPods. Gabe insists, however, that they have to be done in blue for the boys and green for the girls. Any ideas out there? Send them my way.

Jab!

Note To Self...After not exercising for about 10 years, don't think you can participate in a class like this and NOT pull something. Ouch!

Welcome Home

We have an exciting week ahead. Grandma and Grandpa are returning on Thursday from their 18 month mission in Chile. The kids are so excited to see them. We have really missed them. This is what we will be working on this week.

Rah Rah Rah!!

Paige was in a Cheerleading clinic this week with her cousin Katelyn and a few of her cute little neighbor friends. They performed at the high school basketball game tonight and did so great. I have been holding off on the whole dance thing with her just because I'm not sure I'm ready to get into it all, but I really love watching the little girls perform. They are so dang cute!

Go Team!


Cheerleader Friend


Cute Cousins


Cool Legwarmers

L.O.V.E.

Valentines Day on Etsy (They've got some great stuff over there. There is no way I could post everything I love. If you've got some time, go over and just type in Valentines.)

*Valentine Mailbox, Glycerin Heart Soaps, Love Banner, Love Candy Print, Sweet Alphabet Tags

Picture Perfect

Gabe has been begging and begging for a Rubix Cube. Santa actually brought him a small special edition one in his stocking and I don't know what "Santa" was thinking because it's all wrong. I thought this Photo Rubix Cube was another cool idea.

Mini Clutch

I really have no use for a laptop seeing that I never really leave the home much and my computer works just fine, but this little baby has just given me a reason to find a reason to buy a laptop. I guess the HP Vivienne Tam Mini Laptop has even been spotted in some of the Spring runway shows carried as a designer digital clutch. Gorgeous!

Silhouette

I'm sure you've all heard Stephanie Nielson of Nie Nie Dialogues who was recently in a plane crash with her husband. Well, if not she's quite famous around the blogging world and if you haven't yet, read her story because it's very inspirational. Anyways, Stephanie just won an award for the #1 Home of 2008. I have found something in her home that I absolutely love... These fantastic Silhouettes she created of her family to hang over the mantle. To create them, Stephanie first takes a profile shot of each family member, carefully cuts them out, paints each one black, glues them to white paper, and frames them. She does one every year so that they can see how the kids grow. They are so beautiful to me. I have found me a project!

Mad Scientists

As this time of year rolls around, I am determined to make it through the next 3 cold months without me or the kids contracting the Winter Blues. I will be searching for crafts, products, anything that I can get my hands on to keep us all busy and happy. I saw this book We Dare You first on Cookie's Daily Finds, and it is picking up some rave mommy reviews. The book is a collection of easy-to-perform science experiments geared towards elementary aged kids. It would be great to have even when you've got to come up with an experiement for the Science Fair. We Dare You contains 200+ experiments using everyday items found right in your house. You can pick it up at Target, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.

Cozy Scarfs

As of yet, I am not a knitter. I would very much like to become one and my mom and my friend Becky are determined to get me on board because of all their cute ideas and projects, but until then, I love this simple No-Knit Scarf. All you need to know is where to buy bulky yarn and how to tie a simple knot. It's as easy as that. Hey, I think I can even manage that! When looking over the directions, it actually reminds me of how you would ponytail a little girl's hair. Very Cute & Cozy!

Big 30!!

That's right, today's the Big 30 for me. Thirty and Flirty! Did you ever see that show with Jennifer Garner where she wished she could be "Thirty and Flirty"? I don't really feel "Flirty" but whatever. If I do anything today, it might have to be this. I've never been one for jumping out of something and possible plummeting to the ground (I'm not that daring), but a nice little ride in the sky might be nice. Of course I'll have to travel somewhere warm as well where I can actually do it. Does anyone have one I can borrow? It has to be a cake!