Alex took pictures of Elli while I was at work

Elli loves lady bugs!  That's what she's looking at on her thumb.

So beautiful.  My Elli and my zenias.

before n' afters

Before

After:  I found this frame at the swap meet for $1.

 All it needed was a little love. Now it just needs a picture!

Before:

After:

Before:

old pics-- my Elli was so little!

After:  Got them off a week ago!  Only the top ones though, but that's good enough!

Before:  My Mom saw this really amazing antique bed at a thrift store and told me about.  (for Elli)  So we went to look at it and we only had to pay $7!!

After:I love this bed!

Before:  I've had this dresser for years, and with a new paint job(and some wood glue for the drawers) it's good as new! (for Elli)

After:  (Try not to notice the marker and pencil all over the dresser, I was too lazy to clean it before the pic ;)  Elli is a busy girl!)

is it just me...

Or do my girls look like angel's when they are sleeping?

I sure think so!  And it sure is Heavenly when they are both napping at the same time!

Random Trinity conversations

Me:  "Your hair is getting so long."

Trinity: "I know! it will probably be as long as Rapunzels some day!"



While driving to my mom's house:

Trin: "When I'm a mommy, I'm not going to eat chicken or pork or beef!"  (which means she wants to be like her mommy. just the way it should be)

Alex:  "Well, you still have a long time till you're a mommy."

Trin: "Ya I guess so.  Till I'm like 60 or 24, then I'll a have a baby."

24 sounds ok to me :)

{my happy list}

LOVE this idea Jes!


in no particular order..  

1. the sound of my girls laughing together

2. spring time in Mesa, driving with the windows down, smelling the orange blossoms

3. sitting next to Alex on the porch swing while the girls are napping {or playing happily}

4. rain/thunder storms

5. kissing my girls cheeks after they wake up from a nap {so WARM and SQUSIHY}

6. Christmas morning

7. "I love you mommy."

8. when Alex tells me I'm beautiful

9. reading a good book {without interuption}

10. reading books with my girls

11. fresh sheets {with fresh shaved legs}

12. putting my feet up after my house is clean

13. getting home from work

14. a good run

15. being pampered {haircuts, pedicures}

16. picking then eating from my garden


now it's your turn-- what makes YOU happy??

a little bit monster, a little bit white trash, and a little performer.

a little bit monster

All who know Eliana, know that she is indeed a very busy girl. Yesterday morning, while I was getting ready for church and still needed to get the girls ready, Elli decided to lock herself into the spare/guest/someday baby room.

This would be no big deal since all of the doorknobs in my house are easily opened by a hard turn even if locked... all but this door that is. Cutting corners when building our house, the contractor must have run out of the "can be opened even when locked!" knobs, because this door has a knob that is more along the lines of "cheap as you can go, but will stay locked, for outside doors!" This must have been a random left over because it does not match the keys that go to any other door in our home..

Anyways, after about 10 minutes of trying to instruct/coax/plead with Elli to unlock the door with no luck, I knew it was time to test my break in skills. I was feeling pretty relieved because I had just closed that window a short time before and knew I didn't lock the window. So, screwdriver and Dora bathroom stool in hand I went outside to break my sweet little monster out of her predicament. A bent screen and few scratches later, I was able to climb in the window and rescue my little angel. Since she already mastered locking, I showed her how to unlock the door if something like this ever happens again-- which hopefully it doesn't.


a little bit white trash

Trinity's favorite dress up lately is a little bit ris-kay. One of her friends has a "showing tummy" dress up and since Trin didn't, she created her own.
The past month or so, Trinity has turned into a wild little thing. She used to be so shy and only sort of calm silly that it's such a surprise to me sometimes how crazy she gets. Somedays I wonder what happened to my normal little child, but it is fun to watch her grow and change. This video is mostly for Kalli, so she can see what a weirdo her niece is. But this video doesn't do her dance moves justice, cuz she sure can shake her hips!



a little bit performer

Although this performance is a little less soothing to the ears than her debut(see "natural born performer" from Jan 09, I couldn't get it to link!), is still shows how this girl loves to entertain.
We have this wonderful keyboard that plays songs all on it's own-- some days I can't decide whether it was inspired by God or by the Devil. This entertainment lasted around 30 minutes, and then Alex and I had to end it because the singing at the top of her lungs and "Jingle Bells" and "When the Saints go Marching In" for that long was starting to make my head pound.

A perfect rose

Trin and rose strike a pose!


Elli smells rose..




big brown eyes..


more big brown eyes..


Trin wanted to take a couple pictures too..



This rose is now enjoying it's happy new home in a vase on the middle of my kitchen table-- and I'm enjoying it too!