Charlotte Cuddles

Charlotte is a little Mama's girl! I love it! We can sit and cuddle all day.  We usually spend a total of 

30 minutes a day sitting on the couch cuddling, doing nothing but that! I love that she can sit still and loves to cuddle. Isn't she adorably cute:)

She got to tired to hold herself up and leaned forward and laid there for a good 10 minutes. 

Silly Girl!

Green Berry Smoothie

I made myself a Green Spinach and Berry Smoothie for lunch the other day. It was delicious. The girls asked for some and I shared. Little to my surprise they loved it. Zoie had one cup full and Charlotte had about a baby food jar size. It was great! I'm glad they enjoyed! Looking forward to those summer smoothies with the girls!

First Day of Spring

According to the calendar, Wednesday was the first day of Spring. I originally planned on getting a flower or something else to plant with the girls and make it a tradition, so we can watch it grow and such, but since the weather said it was going to snow the next day, didn't think it was worth it, only to have it die.

Instead, we made spring paper chains and necklaces. It was a lot of fun! I love the time I get to spend with the girls. We have so much fun and learn so much about each other.

We also spent most of our day outside, because we were lucky to have the sun out. It was still a little chilly, but we had so much fun. We played catch, chased balls, kicked balls, red light green light, looked at clouds, picked tiny flowers, had a picnic, jumped off things and so much more. It was a fun-filled day and I couldn't be happier to have spent it with my girls! (pictures of our outside fun to follow in next post)

Tea Parties and Shapes

A couple weeks ago we had a huge snow storm! Yep that's right it's March and we had a snow storm! Man when will my spring be here. I am tired of this cold weather! One day soon, hopefully sooner than we want, we will be out west in the Sunshine and no snow!

Anyway, after we made snowmen and snow angels, we came inside and did our best to warm up without power! It was freezing! The girls managed to enjoy themselves.

Zoie had a little tea party and Charlotte played with some shapes. I'm very grateful they can play by themselves for a while. I love my girls!

yes she is wearing my beanie! It's so cute on her!

She'd rather eat the shapes than match :)

Daddy & his Girls

Watching Shows

Reading Stories

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Drizzle

Ryan loves to bake! He has started to take on the challenge of making cheesecakes. It's been fun. He made his first cheesecake in January. It was a Triple Chocolate Cheesecake. It was delicious.

This last weekend he made a White Chocolate Cheesecake with a Raspberry Drizzle and let me tell you it was amazing! It was so tart and I loved it! He is having so much fun. Isn't he the best?!

Doesn't it look delicious and fancy!

* remember this *

"Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world simply by being there for each other."

-- Carol Saline

While we were skyping with Aunt Shelby 

Charlotte wanted to cuddle with Zoie.

They cuddled for a good 5 minutes

Nail Time

We went to Las Vegas to visit my family for Thanksgiving. We had so much fun. While we were they my sister, Shelby painted Zoie's nails. Shelby had just finished nail school a couple months before then. Zoie loves to get her nails painted. Aunt Shelby painted them pink and put sparkles on them and Zoie was in heaven. She showed everyone her sparkly nails.

We came home and she was so disappointed that the polish started to come off and she wanted them "fixed" as she puts it. So I told okay, go get the nail polish and I'll fix it for you. She looked at me and said, "No, want Aunt Shelby fix it." We went a full two - three weeks before she finally accepted that Aunt Shelby wasn't going to be able to fix and let me do it. It was so funny and cute. She loves Aunt Shelby!

Look, I'm Stuck

As Zoie and I were painting this morning, Charlotte was left to play by herself. A few minutes into painting I hear this little cry of help.

Charlotte managed to crawl underneath our chairs and get herself stuck!

She is so stinking cute!

Zoie's Musical Talent

Santa brought Zoie a harmonica for Christmas in her stocking. She loves it. The first couple of weeks, she played with it non-stop. This is a video I took in January of her playing her harmonica. Enjoy!

She has since then learned to play it right! This was so funny. I love how excited she got when she figured out how it made noise. I love how she gets excited over the littlest of things and enjoys every moment life brings to her.

Library Time

I do my best to take the girls to the Library in Lexington where Dad works at least once a week. They love to go and play and read, but mostly because they get to see Dad. We usually go on Thursdays and that's his long day. So it makes it even more special for the girls.

The other week we went and the girls just sat and played by themselves and with each other for a good 30-40 minutes. It was the sweetest thing ever!

Valentine's Day Letter

February 2013

Family & Friends,

                Happy Valentine’s Day! Another year has come and gone and it’s time for my colorful, festive, Valentine’s Day Letter.  It has certainly been an incredible year in our home.

Ryan is still working at the local library in the town over in the Children Story Time and Craft department as well as the Reference Desk. The kids absolutely love him and look up to him a lot. He has improved the program and has increased the interest of reading books to the children. In April, Ryan was released from the Bishopric in one of the SVU student’s wards. It was great to come back to the family ward, and once we came back we were put to use. Ryan is now serving as the Young Men’s President. He enjoys the challenge and improving the young men in our ward. But the most rewarding job he has is being a Dad. He loves to come home and know that his girls are waiting to play and explore. He recently got a Kindle Fire for his birthday and has been spending time with Zoie on it, helping her learn her alphabet and improving her fine motor skills.

I have been keeping myself busy. I spent half of last year pregnant. Crazy, isn’t it? Once the baby arrived, life got extremely busy. I am still the Head Volleyball Coach at the High School and I still teach fitness classes at Gold’s Gym. The girls come with me to practice. Zoie loves to get on the court and play; she has the best defensive position. Charlotte spent most of her time in the ball cart “handing” mom volleyballs. J They also come to the gym and spend a couple hours at Kids Play. Zoie loves it and spending time with her friends there. It took Charlotte a while to enjoy it and be away from mom, but she eventually got over it and has a blast.  I am currently serving in our wards Relief Society Presidency. I have loved every minute of the craziness.  I also started a little hobby of collecting old furniture that no one wants and turning it into something new or just fixing it up a bit. I refurnished a dresser for the girls’ room and a mirror for the living room. My favorite part of the craziness though is being a mom to two beautiful girls, Zoie and Charlotte. These two are quite a handful, and bring a lot of personality to the home. I love to help Zoie learn new things and teach Charlotte the basics of life.

Zoie became a big sister in June and then turned two in September. She did a lot of growing up in a couple of months. We couldn’t believe how much she grew up. She started to talk in complete sentences, annunciate words better, and doing things on her own. She has always been an independent girl, but man she became even more so then. Zoie loves to explore and learn new things. Her excitement for something so small is what keeps her going. She enjoys to be outside and being active, playing with her friends, playing with stickers, playing in her kitchen, helping mom cook, being a “mom” to her pony, playing with daddy, and spending time with her little sister. She loves being a big sister and having someone else around to play with, even if Charlotte can’t do much now. We love her energy and unique personality she brings into our lives.

Charlotte Leigh is our newest addition to the family. She was born on June 28^th. She weighted 6lbs 9oz.  She is such a sweet little girl. Charlotte has the most delicate features. She hasn’t been around long, so she is figuring out how her little body works and this new world she is living in. She loves to eat, sleep, talk, get attention, rolling over, being with her big sister, and smile! Her biggest accomplishment this last year was rolling over. At first she only rolled over in front of Zoie, but once she got the hang of it, she rolled over for mom and dad. Charlotte’s favorite thing to do is playing with her big sister. Her face lights up with excitement and worry. J God definitely knew what he was doing when he created second children. Charlotte is very very tolerant of Zoie. We are very grateful to have added little Miss Charlotte to our family and love the peace and joy she brings into our lives.

This has been a wonderful year for us, filled with lots of exciting new things. We have had our trials as well but these experiences have brought us closer to one another and closer to the Lord. We hope that as this next year passes our lives and yours will be filled with love and the spirit of our Heavenly Father and his beloved son, Jesus Christ.

Can't you tell their sisters?

This is a long time coming post and I don't know why it's taken me 8 months to post, but here is a picture of Zoie and Charlotte at about 1 week old. Can't you tell they are sisters! Oh the similarities! It's great...I love it! These are also the pictures I have on my newborn wall.

"Newborn Wall"

Yesterday I posted on my little afternoon project....my girls blessing dresses in shadow boxes. Today, I found a place for them in our little apartment --  in our little hallway. I call it my 

"Newborn Wall"

This is next to a window. I also put similar newborn photos of the

girls "smiling" with their name, birth date, and weight next to their

shadow box. You can tell these girls are sisters! 

I love this wall! 

I'm so glad to have finished a project this weekend. It is my goal to finish one project each weekend.

I have a lot of unfinished projects and ideas that need to be done. Wish me luck! 

What will next weekend bring us?

Blessing Shadow Box

Have I got a project to share with you! I am very excited about this project and was even more so when I thought of this idea.

One day while browsing around on pinterest. I saw a post someone did where they put their wedding dress in a shadow box. I loved that idea and plan on doing that to mine someday.

If you didn't know I made both of my girls blessing dresses. I decided to make their dresses for a few reasons. First, it was cheaper. Second, it's something special from me. Third, each girl will have their own to pass down to their daughter (if they so choose). With all that being said, it was a difficult and stressful process making their dresses. I love how both turned out and how each dresses fit each girls personality.

After each blessing, I hung up the dress in the closet and that was that! I didn't want to just pack up the dresses or leave them hanging up in the closet. I remember watching the movie, "The Other Sister" with my mom a while back and in the movie the mom has all three of her girls dresses in a frame hanging up in their entry way and my mom mentioned how that was a good idea. So, I took that idea and did it for my girls blessing dresses and personalized each one.

Here is my process:

I traced the letters on scrapbook paper, cut, and mod podge the paper to the letter

Purple for Zoie

Yellow for Charlotte

Then I pinned the dress to the back and placed their 

letter with the dress. 

I absolutely am in love with how these turned out. It was so simple and easy to do. I love how each one matches their personality; from style of dress to the designs of the paper. I love it! 

Someday, when they get married and have kids of their own they can take their Shadow Box with them (well....maybe...if I can part with them and accept that they aren't little anymore). Who knows, maybe it will be my little keepsake. :)