White Winter Wonderland

About a week ago the weather forecasters were calling for a blizzard. Warnings were issued, schools let out early, and some people went so far as to go to the grocery store and stock up for the storm.

We watched and listened to the wind blow, waiting for the snow to come and bury us as predicted. We waited...  and waited..... and got nothing. Salt Lake was getting pounded and we assumed we were next. So we went to bed, anticipating the white that would await us in the morning.

Imagine how disappointed my boys were to find absolutely no snow in the morning! Jonah was devastated because he wanted to shovel the driveway with Honey Daddy.

Fast forward a week. On Sunday morning when we woke up, Honey Daddy informed me that we got tons of snow overnight! We got about 8 inches! I guess you could say our blizzard was a little behind schedule.

So even though it was Sunday, I let the boys get in their snow clothes and go out for a little while before church. They were SO excited for the first real snow!

As you can see, they got out their sand box toys and were digging and driving their tractors around in the snow. What a pair of sillies!

They had a wonderful time outside. I am not really that fond of snow, but seeing my two boys enjoy it so much makes it a bit more fun for me.

I guess you could say my boys have brought a little bit of the "wonder" back into winter wonderland for their mommy.


Looking for some fabulous blogs to link up with? Visit A Beautiful Mess, Supermom, and Parenting by Dummies.

Thankful for Tons of Turkeys

The imminent arrival of the Thanksgiving holiday has been heralded at our house by the arrival of many, many turkeys!

First, it was my turn to teach our cooperative preschool and I had the letter T. So of course we read my boys' favorite thanksgiving book "Run, Turkey, Run!" by Diane Mayr. Then we made these fabulous hand print turkeys for our preschool craft.

Aren't they cute? I painted the kids hands red, orange and yellow and used them for the turkey's feathers, and then used a shoe for the turkey's body. And of course we added googly eyes and a beak. So easy!

I also made fun turkey themed snacks for that day. I think they turned out pretty well, don't you think?

I used a Nutter Butter cookie and a regular vanilla sandwich cookie. I opened up the sandwich cookie and put the candy corn in between the two halves with extra white frosting to hold it together. Then I attached M&M eyes and another candy corn for the beak. The kids thought they were so fun!

Then today one of my friends made this fun felt turkey for the kids. The turkey body is glued down, but the kids can move rearrange the feathers. They love it!

And of course I have been spending time this week with my two little turkeys. There are days when they definitely deserve to be called turkeys, but they are still my favorite ones!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you enjoy the holiday with family, friends, and of course a feast!

Looking for some fabulous blogs to link up with? Visit A Beautiful Mess, Supermom, and Parenting by Dummies.

Diaper Bag Review- JJ Mode Tote Bag

Recently I have discovered the joys of online shopping! I have ordered most of my Christmas presents online this year because it is so much easier than taking my two boys and expanding baby belly to the store. My boys hate shopping and don't make it very fun for me!

One of my favorite places to shop online is CSNStores.com. They have everything.... bedding, kitchen supplies, toys, furniture-- you name it! It is the perfect place to find a present for that one person on your list who already has everything. I bet that hard-to-shop-for person doesn't have an air hockey table, baking molds,  metal wall art, or a stylish barstool.

When CSNStores contacted me and offered to let me review an item of my choice, I knew exactly what I needed- a new diaper bag! I chose this beauty:

This is the JJ Mode Tote Bag in Blue, and I LOVE it!

Not only is this bag stylish (not black!) and gender neutral, it is well constructed and sturdy. The top of the bag zips rather than having a magnetic closure, which was a big selling point for me. I didn't want my bag tipping over and having all the contents spilling out! I also like that the rounded pockets in the front zip so I don't have to worry about my cell phone, keys, etc. falling out.

There are two larger pockets on the outside with strong magnetic closures, one of which holds a changing pad that is a generous size. The two side pockets would work great for holding bottles. There are lots of organizational pockets on the inside, and I could easily fit plenty of diapers, a bottle, formula, a change of clothes, a flannel blanket, and some toys in this bag. It is a good size for carrying around everyday and is not too bulky. I love that you have the option of carrying it via the tote handles or the shoulder strap, which is adjustable.

 I have to say that if you tend to carry around everything and want to carry around books, toys, etc. for your other children as well as baby stuff, you may want a larger bag. I love that this bag wipes clean easily, and the stroller clips are great! I can attach the bag to my stroller without taking up space in the bottom of the stroller and can easily access all my supplies.

I have never owned a diaper bag this nice! I am looking forward to walking around with this stylish and functional bag when my baby comes in March!

Disclaimer: I received this diaper bag in order to facilitate an honest review. All opinions are my own. Others may or may not have the same experience(s) I had with the company and/or product.

My Beautiful Boys

I love being my own photographer and taking pictures of my boys! If the weather is nice and the boys are having a good day (and by that I mean cooperative), we can dress up and go take pictures. No appointment to schedule, no waiting for our turn, and no uncomfortable smiles.

I know some fun locations nearby for pictures, so when the weather was nice this past week I got the boys dressed and we headed out. I figured I had better get some nice shots of the boys before my belly gets too much bigger and I get less motivated. Who knows, these may be the last shots I do of them before we add their little sister to the family!

I was so happy with how the pictures turned out! I LOVE them. Here are my favorites:

Isn't Jonah handsome?

Eli's smile in the above photo is SO contagious. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

I even got good pictures of both boys together, which as any photographer knows is way harder than it sounds!

I had so many good photos that it was hard to narrow it down to these few. Now that is a good photo session!

I just love these boys!

Jumping in the Leaves

In the past week or so the weather has turned a bit chilly! Consequently many of our trees are rapidly dropping their leaves. One evening before dinner, Honey Daddy and the boys went out to rake leaves. They raked up a pile that was big enough and fluffy enough for the boys to jump in!

What could be more fun than jumping in a pile of leaves? The boys were so excited! They jumped in over and over again, while Daddy fluffed the pile back up.

I love how simple things can be so much fun when you have two cute boys to share them with! Watching my boys have so much fun in the leaves made me want to find a pile big enough for me so I could take a turn and jump in too.

We even buried the boys in the leaves, which they thought was a blast.

What a pair of cuties!

Looking for some fabulous blogs to link up with? Visit A Beautiful Mess, Supermom, and Parenting by Dummies.

Boys Play Dress Up Too!

I used to think that dress up clothes were just for girls. After all, what little girl doesn't have at least one princess dress with shoes, necklaces and a tiara? More likely they have a while bunch of dresses and accessories.

Boys on the other hand, just don't like to dress up, right? WRONG!

Now that I have boys of my own, I have discovered that they LOVE to dress up. The hard part is finding fun dress up clothes for boys. I have to say that I think my boys have some of the coolest dress up clothes around, thanks to their Grandma. I don't know where she found all the fun hats and shirts, but my boys can (and often do) dress up as firemen, cowboys, a mailman, a chef, train engineers, construction workers and policemen.

Often when Jonah's friends come over they will break out the dress up tub and get all dressed up and run around playing fireman or policeman. They have so much fun! Jonah and Eli like to dress up and play together too.

During quiet time in the afternoon (when Mommy gets an hour to herself) while Eli is napping, Jonah will often play dress up by himself. I love how creative they get when they have the opportunity to turn into someone else for a while. Plus they are just so stinking cute!

Here is my little chef and his watermelon pizza.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Jonah all dressed up. Just don't get on this policeman's bad side. He can be pretty fierce! I wouldn't want him to give me a ticket!

I have been pondering what to get my nephews for Christmas this year and was thinking that maybe I should find some fun dress up clothes for the younger ones too. After all, my boys LOVE them!

Tickled Pink!!

Monday morning was the doctor's appointment that I have been waiting for.... the ultrasound! Hooray! I love it when you finally get to SEE the little person that has been kicking around inside for the past few months.

Honey Daddy and I were excited to get our first really good peek at our little Honey Baby. I was especially excited to find out if Jonah and Eli would be getting a baby brother or sister.

We decided to take Jonah with us, since he is really excited about the baby and is old enough to hold still for the appointment. It was wonderful to look at our new little one. We got a video of the ultrasound (which I won't share) and some still pictures.

Here is the baby's profile:

Here is a cute little foot! I love that my doctor printed out this picture for us.

As always, they save the most exciting news for last. I don't feel the need to share that ultrasound picture with the world, but as you can probably tell from the title of my post.....

IT'S A GIRL!

So my two boys get a baby sister in March!!! I am SO excited. 

What mother doesn't want to have at least one little girl? I am excited for all of it... the dresses, tights, hairbows, headbands, dolls, accessories, cute shoes and everything! I even have some blankets already made for the baby. I have made many blankets for friends and family, and occasionally I made one that I just couldn't part with.

Even the boys are excited. Jonah told me that he really wanted a sister because he "already has a brother". I would have been happy either way as long as the baby is healthy, but I can't say that I am not thrilled that Jonah got his wish!!


Looking for some fabulous blogs to link up with? Visit A Beautiful Mess, Supermom, and Parenting by Dummies.

Clothing Confusion

I can't believe how fast my boys are growing! It seems that since that I am anticipating a new baby at the beginning of next year, I am noticing more and more that my boys are definitely not babies anymore!

This became especially apparent when I had to do a clothing swap recently. My baby boy, my little Eli can no longer wear 2T shirts. His little belly was starting to show more and more frequently, especially when he was playing. So I had to go get out the 3T tub of clothes and swap out all of his shirts. It makes me a little sad and nostalgic to think that he will never wear any of these clothes again.

It was also nostalgic to pull out the shirts that I still remember Jonah wearing and putting them in Eli's dresser. Wasn't it just the other day that Jonah was wearing these shirts? This week as I dressed Eli in his "new" clothes I had to do a double-take more than once, not sure which of my boys I was seeing at first!

The only bummer about trading out the clothes is that BOTH my boys wear one size smaller pants than they do shirts. So I traded out all Eli's shirts for 3T's, but he still fits in his 2T pants! Actually since we finished potty training and are done with diapers (hooray!), most of his 2T pants have plenty of room in the waist and rear area. So it will be a while before he is ready for the next size!

Jonah is also about ready to move up in shirt sizes. He still fits in his 4T's, but probably not for too much longer! He is going to be needing 5T shirts and 4T pants. I actually just put away the last of his 3T pants while I had the box out, since they were looking a lot like capris (and boys do NOT wear capris!). Good thing we already have some 4T pants.

These boys are just growing too fast for me!

I guess the good news is that when I get clothes for Jonah I know that they will get used more than once! The benefits of having two boys!

And finally, a random shot of the sunset.Why? First of all because it's my blog and I can do whatever I want. Plus I thought it was an awesome picture so I wanted to share, but I didn't really have anything to say about it.