Easter Cookies

This morning Justin asked me if I would make some cookies so that he could take them to his home teaching families (we won't give him a hard time about going on the very last day of the month) and I've been anxious to use my new Easter cookie cutters, so I made these buttery shortbread cookies. And just to gild the lily I dipped them halfway in melted chocolate:

Aren't these cookie cutters adorable?

Almost as adorable as my little helper

Am I the only one that's noticed that lately a lot of my posts have been food-related? All I can say is, I'm seven months pregnant, so food is on my mind a lot-- especially sweets :)

Just Had To Share...

This is my new favorite treat-- Haagen-Dazs' newest flavor-- Lemon ice cream. Not to be mistaken with lemon sorbet or sherbet, this is pure, creamy, lemony goodness. Back when Snelgrove's was around they had a lemon ice cream that was my absolute favorite, so when I saw this at the grocery store I jumped on it, and it did not disappoint... in fact, I think it's even better than Snelgrove's.

If you like lemon like I do, this is a pint of heaven!

And Chelsea is my girl-- she LOVES it too :)

On sale at Fresh Market this week!

Easter Dress

Is anyone else a little sad that Easter falls on Conference weekend this year? I love Easter and I love Conference and I want to get all I can out of both, so it's a little bit of a bummer to have them all squished into one weekend. Well, since the kids won't be wearing their new Easter outfits to church next Sunday, I had them wear them yesterday. I just love those bright spring-y colors.

An Easy Project

Siena has a birthday coming up next month, so I have been looking around for a cute outfit for her to wear for her birthday pictures. I came across an adorable number/age t-shirt at Sassy Babies, which I think is a pretty popular trend right now, but it was $25! I don't care how cute it is, that's a bit extravagant for just a t-shirt that will be worn for one special occasion, and I knew I could make it myself for half that, if not less... So here's my attempt at Siena's birthday t-shirt, made in about 30 minutes and which cost me $8 ($5 for the t-shirt and $3 for the iron-on bling-- I had the fabric scrap from a previous project). I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Pretty cute, right? Now we are just waiting for a really nice day weather-wise so that we can go to a park and take some pictures... coming up in a future post!

The gift of a second language

Last night Brighton's school had an orientation for parents of kindergartners who will be starting the Chinese Immersion Program this fall. Brighton was asked to participate and give a short demonstration of what they have learned this year.

Waiting to start

He introduced himself and talked a bit about his school and family, in Mandarin Chinese, of course

They sang a couple of Chinese songs

And performed a traditional Chinese ribbon dance

I don't know how to write this without sounding a little bragg-y, but of course they were trying to impress these nervous parents, so they picked the best students (3 boys and 3 girls) out of the 50+ kids who are in the program. The kids did a great job, and what can I say, I was pretty proud of our little Chinese-speaker :)

The best dollar spent this week

So I found these satin eye masks at the Dollar Spot and I thought it would be something the girls would have fun with.

They were definitely a hit!

And I am not exaggerating, Siena fell asleep in about 30 seconds after getting in bed with hers on:

I did take them off after they fell asleep so that they wouldn't accidentally strangle themselves in the night or run into stuff if they got up, but it was sure cute/funny to see them sleeping with them on.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The kids being silly all decked out in green

I tried out Ina Garten's fabulous recipe for Pasta, Pesto and Peas, and what a pleasant surprise, the kids loved it!

And we also had green jello jigglers, green grapes, green apples, broccoli, and green powerade and soda to complete our St. Patrick's Day dinner

I'm not exactly sure what we are celebrating, but it's fun to have an excuse to wear green and eat green food. Happy St. Paddy's Day, everyone!

First Sleepover in the "New" Bedroom

With the Miller cousins in town the kids could not pass up an opportunity for a sleepover. There wasn't a whole lot of sleeping going on, but they sure had a lot of fun.

Siena and Reagan all snuggled together

Ellery reading Chelsea a bedtime story

We had some pretty hungry kids in the morning

Chelsea and Brighton were especially excited to have their very special visitors with them in Primary the next day.

Grandma Yarn's Funeral

Saturday was Grandma Yarn's funeral. It was a beautiful celebration of her life, and despite sad circumstances, it was wonderful to be together with all of our extended family.

Great-Grandma Yarn

Great-Grandma Yarn (Justin's Grandma) passed away yesterday. It's hard to believe that she is gone when looking at these pictures from just two weeks ago when we took the kids to visit her and Great-Grandpa.



She was a very special lady. She had a very unique talent of making every one of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren feel like they were her favorite... even the ones that just married into the family, like me. We love her and we miss her.