MARCH

March brought Spring Break & what better activity to do during Spring Break than go camping?! Well, at least for Erik & the girls. I had to work, so I enjoyed an evening alone. They had quite the eventful night. Apparently, Jay got sick multiple times in the afternoon upon arriving where she ended up going through all of her extra clothes & had to go "commando" the rest of the trip. Then, Kylie woke up in the night throwing up all over everything. I'm so glad I wasn't their & wasn't aware of it until well after it happened. They still had a lot of fun though.

FIRST DAY

The usual first day of school pics....

This was also my first day back at work, so it was a big day at our house!

CATCH UP

I have so many posts running through my head & just no time to keep up. So, here's a catch up post of what happened during one weekend...

The 11th of December my Kylie turned 10!! My how we love that girl. Even when she's crazy - which is pretty much all of the time! How did I get so old to have a 10 year old? She told me a few times throughout the day, "I'm 10 now mom. Double digits. Do you feel old now?" Why yes, yes I do. Here she is with her Phineas & Ferb pin she got... (She loves that show.)

We love that she's not shy. Sometimes it can be much, but for the most part it's wonderful! We have no idea where it comes from as Erik & I are not very outgoing. She loves life & loves to be in charge. If you've been around her at all you know she can keep you busy all day long with activities made up on the fly. We're so happy she's part of our family!!

The next day the girls participated in a movie. A couple in our ward has a daughter in film school. She was making a short film for her class & needed girls for one of the scenes. They had to be crazed girls at a birthday party. (Not very hard for my girls.) They had a blast!! They actually filmed stuff a couple of weeks ago, but the camera broke towards the end. They had to come back to refilm & my girls were quite happy with that idea.
They loved being "on set" for a day. I came for a little bit to take some pictures & I'm so glad I did! Check out what they did to my girls....

I was laughing so hard! I loved it! (Do you love Kylie's dress EmmaLee?) They had some dresses for the girls to wear, but asked them to bring some more just in case. Kylie was the oldest & they didn't have anything that fit her. All we have is old dance costumes & she chose the lovely pink & white number to wear.

I asked a guy at one point what was going on in the story & he mentioned something about zombies. But, they did not tell the girls that. They just told them to act crazy. At one point they had to dig in & destroy a birthday cake making grumbling noises. Again, I was just laughing! Then, a guy stole a bike from the party & the girls had to chase him. I can't wait to see the finished product. We'll be getting a copy of the film once it's all edited. And I'll probably need to watch it before I let my girls see it just to be sure! ;)

TEETH

Teeth seems to be a never ending saga at my house. At the beginning - it was a nightmare with the whole teething thing. Kylie didn't get her first tooth until she was 13 months old. But, she started teething at 4 months. Now that they're older - it's a nightmare loosing teeth! For some reason it just scares my girls to death. I'm not sure why. Especially since everytime when their tooth finally comes out they remember it doesn't hurt, but they still go nuts everytime. Jadyn especially! There's just no way to describe the torture it is to try & get her to let us pull her tooth out when it's just barely hanging on. It took days of screaming & crying & throwing fits to finally end in Erik just stealing her tooth when she was screaming & had her mouth open.

While up at my mom's house Jadyn had a front tooth just barely hanging on for dear life. She would not let us pull it! She told us one morning, making Kylie extremely upset, that Kylie also had a loose tooth. Which was funny because Kylie kept telling Jadyn it didn't hurt & don't be scared. Guess she doesn't practice what she preaches. Once Erik found out about it though she was awesome. He told her to stand still so he could pull it. It took her only a minute & then stood still - it came out without a whole lot of effort. In fact Erik just pulled it down & it just flipped out of her mouth in the air! It was actually quite funny.

We made Jadyn watch to see how non-scary it was, but it didn't help. She was still freaked out. I'm sad to admit this, but it ended up in us pinning her down & pulling it out. Which of course, as soon as it was out, she was fine & happy. It had to be done, it was literally hanging. And with a front tooth doing that it was just gross. I couldn't look at her pretty little face because it grossed me out - it had to be done!

Here's my toothless wonders showing off their teeth...

Erik told them that if they both lost a tooth in the same day that they would get extra money from the tooth fairy. So, they each received a $5 bill. (Actually, it was all Erik had in his wallet. We don't carry cash. They were lucky - at least he had something since we weren't about to drive into town to find an ATM at 9pm!)

The adventure is not over yet. Jadyn's other front tooth is loose. (I hope she looses it before Christmas!) She has now lost 3 teeth in the past couple of weeks. Kylie's other bottom tooth (the one opposite the one she lost) is loose as well. Fun times!!

CHEFS

I have found the trick to getting my girls to try something new at dinner without throwing a HUGE fit!! The trick is to have them HELP cook! Sounds simple right? Well, it is. As stated in my previous post - my girls are obsessed with cooking lately. We've been recording the 10 Dollar Dinners show on Food Network. The host is the recent winner of The Next Food Network Star. We like her at our house & are loving her new show. We've tried two of her meals now & have been happy. The first one we tried was her North African Meatballs with Couscous & Glazed Carrots. I've never even heard of Couscous before! So, this was a stretch for us. The girls were so excited to help & were actually a huge help to me!

Here's the girls hamming it up.... Kylie's making her studeous chef face & Jadyn's actually just laughing! (And yes, I made them cook in their PJ's.)

Here's the finished product....

I would highly suggest this meal. It had a bit of a bite to it which I loved. It was yummy & very good for us to try something out of our element!

I did omit a coupe of things from the recipe though if you try it out. Obviously, I don't keep wine around my house, so I just didn't use that part. It still turned out great I think. Also, if you're not a fan of spicy things I'd use maybe half the amount of red pepper. (We used the full amount.) I also didn't use the dried dates in the Couscous & it ws just fine.

Jadyn even asked for seconds! Erik wasn't the biggest fan, but he doesn't care for beef much anymore. I tell ya - this diabetic apetite is gonna kill me. He doesn't like anything anymore. Oh well! At least it's under control.

Last night we tried her Chicken a l'Orange & it was pretty darn good! Check out her site for some good recipes.....

10 DOLLAR DINNERS

BON APETIT!!

FIRSTS

This post is late in so many ways!! And contains two very non-related topics, but here it is....

Last weekend was the first time I was able to meet my newest nephew! Little Memphis D Hallows was born on July 29th weighing in at 8 lbs 5 oz. Congrats to Rennie - oh & Luke :) - on the newest addition to their darling family!

I was waiting on pins & needles for this little guy to show up. And he was just as cute as expected. As his mom would say, "He's a little Dude!" And he is! Here's a pic of Kylie holding him...

As stated above his name is Memphis. I've told his mom for months that his middle name needs to be Raines. But, she didn't go for it. I, however, will still be calling him Memphis Raines! :) (It's the name of Nicholas Cage's character in Gone in Sixty Seconds & is one of my favorite movies!)

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We had another first just a few days later. For the first time EVER I allowed my girls to make cookies all by themselves. Sure, it was no bake cookies, but still a test of my patience since I'm a control freak. I really did nothing but stand in the background & make sure they were measuring correctly & not burning themselves on the stove top.

Here's the final product...

They did so well!! They were just divine & didn't last long! My girls are obsessed with cooking lately (thanks to the Food Network shows we watch). They're always wanting to cook & I figured this would be something easy to start with. We'll see what they can graduate to later on. For now, this was great!

FLASH BACKS

I have done some major catch up. I just posted a ton of stuff. As always, read what you want. There's lots! Just trying to catch up the month. I'm also attempting to add some videos for the first time. We have...

1. The Summer Girls.

2. Jadyn riding her bike with no training wheels!!

3. Kylie saying the pledge at her school.

BIRTHDAY

Here's the pictures from my previous post about how my birthday began. (Click

HERE if you don't know the story.) This is what my car looked like when Stephanie got ahold of it.

I have to say how sweet she was. Most people won't get this, but on one of the windows she wrote "I Love You Mail-Butt-Knee". Mail-Butt-Knee was the silly way my dear friend Sarah used to write my name when we were in high school. She passed away a year after High School and my family all knows how hard that was for me. We still make little comments about her & remember little jokes & it was so sweet of Steph to put that on the window! (And Mimi even gave me "prizes" that day! *Another Sarah saying that Mimi always tells me.) Anyway, It took some serious work to clean my car & my nails were blue & red for days! But, it was fun!


While we were locked out of the house we took some silly pictures. What else can you do? Here's my girls being mad at the door..



Kylie was too busy laughing. Here's some more silly pics & Jadyn's just sums up how we felt about the whole morning!


We were suppose to make it to a birthday party for "Grandpa Hallows" that afternoon, but I was too beside myself with stress. (Of course, totally my own making.) Plus, Erik was gone most of the day with his dad. (Turns out he had fractured his hip. He's in rehab right now. He had to have surgery. He's hoping to get out of rehab this weekend. We're also hoping for a speedy recovery! Unfortunately, he HAS to get back to work!) Erik got home in time, thanks to his brother Ron, that we were able to go to the temple with my fanily later in the afternoon. We started a tradition a few months ago to attend every 2nd Saturday. This month it got switched to the 3rd Saturday - because of Valentine's. Mimi got sick, so Mimi & Papa couldn't come. That was YUCKY! But, it was still fun. I love being able to do sealings with our little group. SO NEAT!! After the temple we headed to Cafe Rio for dinner. A HUGE THANK YOU goes to my sister Stephanie for making that all possible. She watched our girls & the Hallow's kids at my house so that we could go. She ROCKS!! The day ended on a high note. Thanks again EVERYONE!!

GO BULLDOGS!!

We have a nephew that plays football for Queen Creek High School. Last weekend our girls participated in a cheer clinic with our niece Ciara. It was a great idea I thought for a fundraiser & our girls were beyond excited to hang out with the cheerleaders & to be able to cheer for RJ. As part of the clinic the girls got to perform at the football game on Friday night. It was so fun. Here's a few pics...
Jadyn & her "buddy"...
Kylie & Ciara's group with their "buddy"...
The Parkinson girls...
This was the only picture that turned out somewhat decent of the players I took. RJ is #34 in the middle. He was one of the team captains at this game.

HAIR

This past week has been a hair changing extravaganza at our house. We're trading hair cuts for dance lessons with a lady in my ward, so all 3 of us girls went in for some much needed hair remodeling! The girls were dead set on the idea of getting bangs. Which - I was not happy about. Just the maintenance & the hair constantly on your face, etc, etc.... is not my cup of tea. I despise bangs, but I let them choose what they wanted. They turned out cute, but I just have a weird fetish I guess you could say with bangs.

So, here's the pictures. Please keep in mind that they look A LOT better in person. You would think that since my husband is a photographer I'd have awesome pictures of my kids. Quite on the contrary. Since he takes them all day long - he doesn't like to take pictures any other time. I end up taking the pictures & I'm horrible at it. I cannot for the life of me get a decent picture of Kylie lately. Oh well - at least you get the idea.

Kylie's hair...

Jadyn's hair...

Now, as for me, I've never done anything drastic with my hair. Even when I do go in for a hair cut I always end up looking the same.

I am just hair/fashion challenged in every way! I always want a change, but never go for it.

I've never had my hair colored - only highlights.

I've had my hair cut to my shoulders twice in my whole life.

This time I didn't even tell her what to do. I told her to do whatever she wanted. After all, it's just hair - it'll grow back right?

Now, here's my hair...
I like it a lot. It's just strange to see it on me.

HANNAH

Last weekend I took my girls to see this Hannah Montana movie. They were dying to see it & it was only suppose to be out for one week. So, after looking online last Friday I noticed it was still playing even though it was already over the week timeline. At 5:00pm I saw it was showing at 6:00pm. Kylie was in the tub relaxing & I hurried her out of the tub to rush to the movie theaters. It was actually quite comical the way were rushing around to get their on time to get decent seats. Only to show up & the theater was barely half full.

Anyway, the funnier part of this story is when the movie first started & the first time she came out onto the stage (it's basically the concert with a few backstage stuff) I started to CRY!! WOW! Something must be wrong with me - nevermind that comment we all know there really is something wrong with me. I was just so excited for this young girl & what fun she is having in her life right now. I wish I would have tried to do fun stuff like that when I was younger. Let me clarify, I wish I would have tried to be some silly back up dancer. They have the best job!

It's funny to me as I get older how I catch myself crying at silly things. I cry all the time when I see someone having a fun time or receiving something they really deserve. I definitely cry every Sunday night as I watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition & find it so bizarre that many people don't watch that show. I think it's the best show ever. I love seeing people's stories & reactions when they receive such a wonderful gift that they truly deserve! I cry during great movies, too. The beginning of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat gets me everytime. When Donny walks out into the gym around all the kids - I ball. During Phantom of the Opera when Christine (Emmy Rossum) starts singing "Think of Me" - cry, cry, cry! So, just thought I'd share these off the wall thoughts.

P.S. - I haven't forgotten about ratting some of you out. That's coming soon. Along with some tags. I've been tagged by 2 people, so I got some typing to do.