Chuck-E-Cheese in Utah

In January we went to Utah for a funeral and two birthdays.  My mom turned 61 and my nephew Mitchell turned 4.  Mitchell's birthday was at Chuck-E-Cheese and the kids has so much fun!

When we first got there Sophie just wanted to sit at the table, play with her tokens and watch the big puppets move on stage.

She finally warmed up and went on some rides.  She loved this party had and wore it for a week after we got home.

Playing some games.

She got lots of tickets.

She had to much fun playing the games that were just her size and going on all the rides.  I didn't get pictures of Brandon and Sara because they were all over the place and moving way to fast!  We all had a great time!  Thanks again!

Eating healthy

Since I started going to the gym again I had to start eating healthy again.  I mean why waste my time at the gym if I'm not going to lose any weight, by eating the same crap I always do?  In the three weeks I have been working out I have lost 5 pounds!  Here are a few of the things I have been eating.

Avocado, tomato, sprouts & pepper jack with chive spread.  Recipe here.  Love this site!

I stopped eating cold cereal about 6 months ago and switched to oatmeal.  Recently I had some blueberries, so I threw them on top and it is now my favorite breakfast.  I probably eat it 3-4 times a week.  Yum!

The skinny tuna melt. Recipe here.  Another one of my new favorite sites.  I have always loved tuna melts, and for it to be healthy- even better!

This is another one of my inventions.  Scrambled eggs with 1 egg and 2 egg whites, cheese, salsa and sprouts on a fresh tortilla.  You can add any veggies you like, this is what I had at the time.  I eat this for breakfast, lunch or dinner and it's so yummy.

I hate dieting, but watching what I eat and making healthy choices is something I can do. 

Skating

Ben planned a fun family activity Saturday night and we went roller skating.  The session was from 7:00-9:45.  We drove separately so I could take Sophie home early and put her to bed.  Sophie did not want to put the skates on and did not want to stand up in them.

We took the skates off and she just ran around and "played" the games.  She didn't eat much dinner, so Ben bought her a pretzel to eat while the rest of us skated.

After a little while Sophie wanted to go out on the rink.  I told her she couldn't go out unless she had roller skates on.  She said, "okay, roller skates on."  We went back to the counter and got her skates back and put them on for her.  She loved it! She skated between Ben and I holding our hands, but her favorite was skating in front of one of us holding our hands.  Ben and I had to take turns since it was so hard on our backs bending over like that.

Sophie even got out there on her own and loved walking in her skates.  Such a fun night!

Fabric flower headband tutorial

Yep, my first ever step by step tutorial.  Are you prepared to be amazed?  

 I have been saving Ben's shirts instead of throwing them out when they get holes in them, so I had this pile laying around downstairs.  You can use any fabric you want.

Here are the other things we used.  Hot glue gun, ruler, scissors, white felt and ribbon

First Sara cut a strip out of the back of the shirt about 2 inches wide.

Then we cut a circle out of the felt about the size we wanted the flower to be.  Start at the narrow end and glue it down in the middle of the felt circle.  Twist the fabric and form it into a rosette, gluing it to the felt as you go.

We did two rosettes for this headband one a little bit bigger than the other.  When both rosettes were done we laid them out on the felt side by side and traced around them with a marker. Sara cut out the felt inside the marker line because we don't want to see the felt on the finished headband.

Then lay the felt down and glue the ribbon down the middle.  Glue each flower down on top of the ribbon and you're done.

I just tied the ribbon under her hair with the flowers a little off to the side of her head.  She loves it and wants more in different colors.  Start to finish maybe 20 minutes.  

D.A.R.E.

The D.A.R.E. program wasn't around when I was in school, but Sara loved it and even completed the soda challenge.  From what I learned at the graduation it is an amazing program and the police do a great job of teaching the kids about drugs and alcohol in a fun way.  They get to see what smoking does to the lungs and what the effects of drug and alcohol use are.  The kids make the decision now (usually before they have been exposed) not to use drugs or alcohol or smoke.  They also learn what to do if offered any of these harmful substances.

While I am a huge fan of this program does the graduation really need to last 1 1/2 hours?  I mean it was long enough listening to three kids read their essays and reading all the kids names while they went up front to get their certificate; then we had to watch the video of the kids participating in the program and the officers performed some songs in a band.  I mean seriously?  It was a school night and after getting ice cream it was 9:00pm.

We have learned our lesson and when Brandon graduates we will send him with a friend or just one of us will take him instead of going as a family.

Sara with her friend Trinitee in their D.A.R.E. shirts before graduation.

Little People

After the craziness of November and December we have been staying home and not doing much.  It has been nice getting back into our routine, even though no one has adjusted well to getting up early again.  I have been doing a lot of cleaning, organizing and purging.  For some reason I don't get the spring cleaning bug, I get the after Christmas/New Year's organizing bug.  I think it's when I am helping the kids put away all their new things I just want to clean and organize to make room for it all.

  Sophia loves playing with her Little People toys and since we have been hanging out at home she has played with them a lot!  I set up her Little People house on one side of the room and the zoo on the other side- with all the animals.  Then I showed her how to load the people in the bus at the house and drive them to the zoo to see the animals.

Taking a break to pick her toes.

And the other one.

Okay, back to the Little People.  Once I gave her some ideas she played for a long time by herself and was more than happy to clean them all up when it was time for lunch.  Love her!

Random December fun 2011

Sophie with Santa at the Festival of Trees.  I don't think she liked him very much :)

Sophia won't sit on our lap anymore when we read her bedtime story.  She only wants to sit in the chair next to us.  It's kind of hard to fit, but she loves it!

Sara had lots of performances this month at different schools and she did such a great job!  She really enjoys performing with this group and has made lots of friends.

Sophie playing quietly with her Zoobles.  She loves the baby Zoobles and has already lost one- they are so stinkin' small!