Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Gwen, Thanksgiving, and Asher listens!

Gwen turned two on November 19th. We still had some sickness in our house, so we didn't have a big party. As it was, she enjoyed opening her four gifts (Mrs. Potato Head, 2 books, and a baby doll- plus a card from G&G Hixon) and wearing a tutu all day. She also enjoyed stuffing cake into her mouth, as pictured. We enjoyed having Mom and Dad Hixon there, as well as cousin Ericson.

Gwen is a very sweet child. She has her moments, of course. She yells like a demon monster when she thinks she is being ignored, and she freaks out when her brother gets too close to her sometimes. But she is also a singing, dancing, hugging, communicative, happy little girl. She likes all things girly and sweet. She loves books and she loves playing. She loves the park, and she is finally brave enough to go down the little slides by herself.

On to Thanksgiving...

I want to document this because Dan and I seriously had a hole in our minds where last Thanksgiving should have been. I looked to my blog to fill in the gap. NOTHING. Seriously, how did that happen? Anyhow, our memories were jogged as soon as someone reminded us that it took place at the Stecks house. Right.
So this year it was at Stephen and Rachel's. We (I) made stuffing and an apple pie. The stuffing ended up a little soggy, but it had a good flavor... and the pie was delicious. My pie is not pictured in the spread, but let it be written. I made one.

The food was delicious, the company was awesome, and Jake and Hannah fed Gwen so that I didn't have to. She would have been good with a booster seat, but we are lame and didn't bring one. Three things that I loved were the personalized letters we got at our place setting from a member of the S&R Hixon family (mine was from Jake, and it was so sweet), the cork "thankful" tree that you can sorta see in the above picture (More than one of their children is thankful for the show "Lost"), and the chalkboard featuring a scripture on gratitude (it looked like they changed the scripture at least a few times this month).

(This is Gwen getting love from Hannah and Grandma.)

Lastly, I was shocked by something Asher said today.
He really seems like he is never listening. Sometimes he asks "What you said?" and I have to repeat myself at least three times before he actually tries to listen to the answer. So today I told Gwen to be patient about something, and Asher turned to her and said, "Yeah Gwen. Don't you remember about patience from Family Night? You have to wait and wait with a smile on your face." I was astounded. I hardly remember that lesson, and I really doubted he was understanding it, but it must have gotten into that brain of his somehow.
Now if he could just show her patience by example... that would be something.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

new website love

I'm slightly addicted to Pinterest, but that is not the website I am going to talk about. I discovered this new fun website through Pinterest though, so it should get a mention.

I love Disneyland. I love Pixar. I love Disney movies. I also love fashion. So of course I would love Disneybound. I love the idea of putting together an outfit based on a character, a movie, or even a section of Disneyland. And the way this girl does it is so understated and clever. And cute! Here are some favorites:

Based on a classic princess...


...a classic character...

...and sometimes there are more than one outfit for the same character.
Sometimes there are couples costumes! I think you could wear something like this for family pictures and nobody would ever know where your inspiration came from.

Anyway, it's awesome.
Oh! And there are Harry Potter inspired outfits as well.

If I can get myself to think this way about my clothes, I might not hate getting dressed every day.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

The luckiest girl

Yesterday was Dan's birthday.

First of all, I would like to ask... How lucky am I??

Look at how handsome Dan is. This picture was taken probably a year after we got married, and he still looks exactly like this. No wrinkles, no weight gain, no hair loss. He has some grays, but I think they are cute. You really only notice them when you are cutting his hair anyway. And not many people other than me and his mother have had that privilege.

Not only is Dan handsome, he is smart, funny, spiritual, a great dad, a fantastic photographer, and as I sit here and type about how great he is... he is doing the dishes.

We went out to Oreganos last night while Dan's sister Amy watched our kids. The food was exquisite. And we got dessert because their pazookies are the best dessert I have ever had from any restaurant ever. It was so fun to just sit and converse with him, even if the heat lamps were broken and it was super cold outside.

Dan usually makes my birthdays special. I try to reciprocate in my own way, but it is kind of hard because a) he doesn't like people to have to fuss over him and b) anything that would make him really happy would require a financial meeting between he and I, therefore eliminating the element of surprise. I had the kids make him cards, and I got him the Steve Jobs book. I got him a few articles of clothing and an itunes gift card.
And I made him this shirt.

It is kind of like Asher's shirt, but more apocalyptic and Flight of the Conchords-y. I think he liked it. I laughed as I made it.

Anyway, I love my husband. I always think about how I don't deserve him. I have definitely changed in the looks department, and I have gotten more crazy with kids. But somehow he still thinks I'm awesome. Thank goodness for love being blind, eh?

Thursday, November 3, 2011

This was Halloween

It was an enjoyable Halloween for all.
I enjoyed staying home to hand out candy while Dan enjoyed escorting our children up and down neighboring streets.
The kids enjoyed walking around in their costumes and getting free candy.

I am told that Gwen walked the entire time by herself, and she had a smile on her face although nobody knew who she was supposed to be. Maybe the pigtales threw them off. But believe me, if we would have taken them out at that point, her hair would have been crazy.
And Alice does not have crazy hair.
Anyway, Dan said that people knew that she was cute, and that is enough.
On the other hand, everyone knew who Asher was. Captain Jack Sparrow is notorious. When Asher settled on this costume, it was my dream come true.
Look at him getting into it.

All I made for his costume was his wig. I crocheted different kinds of black yarn that I had stashed in my craft closet, added a few beads, and then sewed them to the top of some pantyhose. Voila. Jack's hair.

And I finally did "finish" Averey's costume. If I wanted to invest any more time in it, it could have looked better, but honestly I was dying on this one. It was so detailed, and things kept going wrong. The fabric was too stretchy and kept getting all out of whack, the model magic dried funky and cracked, and then the resin wouldn't dry... nightmare. Anyway, this is how it turned out. If I ever make another costume like this, I now know how I will go about it.

Oh, and she was wearing my humongous petticoat just for the picture. But honestly it might look better without it.

Just FYI.