Ramblings

I haven't been motivated to blog since Arek's birthday so this is a modge-podge of posts I've been meaning to blog about.  

First, we had a wonderful Easter.  The girls woke up early enough Easter morning to do their Easter bunny egg hunt before 9 a.m. church (and we still made it on time!).  They had a fun time finding eggs, even Kallie once she realized they were filled with m&m's, jelly beans, and stickers.

Julie usually is the last person to change out of pajamas,
but for some reason she was the only one NOT in jammies before the egg hunt

Love her morning-hair look  :)

Immediately after church we headed down to spend the afternoon with Arek's brother's family, the girls' only cousins that live relatively close.  They had so much fun and played so hard with their cousins that I think  it took them two days to fully recover.  

'62 Corvette Model
Arek loved the model car kit I got him for his birthday.  He worked on it for several hours every night until it was finished.  

Day 1 - the engine

Day 2

Day 4 ( I forgot to take a picture of day 3) - Complete

Arek was so determined to finish this model that he kept us up until 1 a.m. to finish applying the final decals

Looks so good!

The details on this kit was crazy... there were 148 pieces of parts to paint, decals to add, and pieces to assemble.  He's already been online to create a wish-list of more level 3 models he eventually wants to build 

Up-cycling holey jeans
All of us have holes in the knees of pretty much every pair of jeans we own.  They all have patches, too.  But when I got a hole through the patch of one of my jeans, I knew it was time to through them in the pile of "jeans to cut up for a jean quilt".  Then I remembered an idea I saw on pinterest of adding lace to jeans.  I did a test-run on a pair of Julie's holey pants (if it didn't work, I was going to throw them away anyway).  I love how both turned out... they are my new favorite pair of shorts to wear

Julie's new shorts cost $0... the lace was from my mom's stash

my new shorts cost a grand total of $2 for new lace from Hobby Lobby... happy day for the pocket book

In-house Tents
Arek is the new scout master in our ward.  He loves this calling although it keeps him super busy.  He went on an overnight campout last weekend and Julie was so sad she didn't get to go (Arek took her on the "boys" campout last year that he does with his brothers every summer and she still talks about how much fun it was).  So we set up this temporary tent in the girls bedroom that we take down for naps and bedtime.

We bought these clamps when I made a quilt while pregnant with Julie...
so glad they finally have another use

 Then on Sunday we set up our little 4 man tent in the living room (it look up all the empty space between the couches, computer desk and t.v.) and the girls played in it until bedtime.  We'll definitely have to do family camp trips on the weekends this summer, if Arek isn't took camped-out from his monthly scout camp-outs and week-long camp trip.


I'm sure that's enough pictures for all of you for one post.  I'll try to be better at updating more frequently to keep them shorter.

Happy Birthday to Arek

Yesterday was Arek's 29th Birthday.  One more year to go before he's out of the roaring 20's and into the... whatever the 30's are  :)  The girls and I tried to make it a great birthday for him (albeit simple) and I think we accomplished that.  Here are some of the highlights once he got home from work:

Dinner: Crepe Fete!
     Complete with bananas, nutella, powdered sugar and cool whip.  In hindsight, I wish I had gone ahead and bought strawberries as well.  To cut the sweetness, I made myself an egg to eat on the side... I think after eating the crepes and then the cake Arek was wishing he had had an egg as well

Mmm delicious!  Can you see the nutella around Kallie's lip? :)

Gift: 1962 Corvette model kit, level 3.   
How Arek does these, I don't know.  I for sure don't have the patience for them

Julie helped me make the banner during Kallie's naptime

Homemade chocolate cake, peanut butter frosting as the "glue" between layers, chocolate frosting and cut up reeses sprinkled on top.  Yes, it was very rich, but oh-so-good!

Blowing out the candles

Happy Birthday, Arek!  We sure do love you!

Early Easter

This weekend my good friend Brynn got married.  I was so glad to be able to attend her wedding and meet her new husband.  She looked absolutely radiant.  The ceremony and reception were held in a barn (a very nice barn) just a mile or two away from my in-laws, so we got to spend some time with them.  Then my family was having an early Easter dinner since my sister leaves this week for her next semester at BYU-Idaho, and will miss actual Easter, so we got together and had yummy ham, potatoes, rolls... all that good Easter food.  The girls were so happy to play with both sets of grandparents.  Since we were down, we did Easter egg hunts with both families.  Here are some of my favorite shots from the fun and busy weekend:

Higgs:

I love how much Julie loves to help Arek and, likewise, how much Arek loves having her help him

Kallie and Grandma Higgs building the stackable

Time for Easter Egg Hunt #1: Ready, set, go!

Kallie taking a break from finding eggs.  I love the barn in the background

It's hard to see, but Julie is so excited to find yet another egg.  Her expressions crack me up 

Despite Kallie's scowl, they were having a good time; it was just really bright outside

mmm... mmm, M&M's and jelly beans :)

 Glads: 

Grandma Glad and Julie dying eggs.  Arek is the only person in our house who will eat hard boiled eggs, so the most we ever dye is 2 or 3.  Julie was so excited to be able to dye lots of eggs with her grandma.

Don't you think they look like twinners?  I suppose that's because I look like my mom, and Julie looks like me :)

Easter Egg Hunt #2

Once Kallie discovered yogurt raisins in these eggs, she didn't want to put them into the basket

Finding the loot with Aunt Dani

I'm so looking forward to this week, sharing the Easter story with the girls.  Julie loves watching the New Testament videos on lds.org, so I think we will do that a lot while we discuss the importance of Easter.  My favorite thing to do on Easter Sunday is open the 12 eggs that go through the last few days of Christ's life with scriptures and items that symbolize each scripture, ending, of course, with the last egg being empty, and the scripture reading "He is not here, for He is risen."  LOVE that activity.  I'm thinking/hoping Julie is more interested in it this year.  Either way, though, I am excited to celebrate the Atonement of the Savior and his triumph over death.  

Happy (Early) Easter to you all!

Mourning Winter

I think my girls may be the only girls who are actually mourning winter.  They are loving being able to play outside and at parks, watching all the flowers bloom, and breaking out the shorts and sandals, but I often find them dressed like this:  

Then Julie asks why she can't wear these outside, and when we can have hot chocolate  :)