Martha Stewart, Eat Your Heart Out!

Well, I'm no Martha Stewart but I'm just going to be a little prideful for a moment. Edyn and Ethan's birthday are pretty close together so ever since Edyn was born we've celebrated the two together. Might as well until we can't get away with it anymore. So this year I decided to be fair and make each of them their very own birthday cake. Ethan has been completely obsessed with Indiana Jones so of course I knew an Indiana Jones cake would be a hit. Edyn, on the other hand, is completely 110% girl and is madly in love with Hello Kitty. So I did a little bit of searching online and found some really cute ideas and this is what I ended up with:



I thought they came out really cute and I was so happy with how they turned out. I couldn't believe that I had actually made them! So this is why I'm not Martha Stewart . . . I am a pretty good copycat but in no way good at coming up with ideas all by myself. Give me a pattern and I'm good to go. Ask me to make a pattern - yeah, right!

Ethan was pretty cute when I started layering the cake. I hadn't quite iced it yet when I decided to take Edyn's cake upstairs to our neighbors to put it into their fridge. Shortly after, I came back downstairs and found that Ethan had gone thru all his lego and not being able to contain his excitement one minute more he had added all his decorations to his cake. When I came in the door he quickly grabbed my hand and exclaimed "Look mom, my cake is all finished!". It was too cute not to take a picture so here is Ethan's version.

Do You Think I Can Dance?

I'm sure my husband is tired of my obsession with dance but . . . whatever. Still going to post this and probably post some more after tonight's episode of "So You Think You Can Dance". LOL. I don't know what it is but I just love watching people dance! It used to be just hip hop, breaking, popping, all that kind of genre but I guess now that I am much older I've started to expand my dance interest and have started to really enjoy watching salsa, quick step, jive and last but not least contemporary. I remember the first time I watched contemporary and thought "Man, that is wack!". But lately I'm really finding myself loving it. It's so different and I find that those who dance it show the most heartfelt emotion. I think it is starting to become my absolute favorite. I guess it all started as a youngster taking ballet and tap and then in my early teens joining a very small dancing/singing group called "Electric Youth" in which we would perform in Malls and smaller functions in and around Southern Alberta. Go ahead, laugh it up! But I'll have you know we were GOOD! Ok, probably not but again . . . whatever. LOL. So I guess if I was to ever be asked what is my life long dream, I would answer that I've always wanted to dance really awesome and be a Professional Dancer. You know, a backup dancer for Janet Jackson or something! So there's a little tidbit you probably didn't know about me.

Anyhoo, just wanted to share with you my two favorite performances from last week's "So You Think You Can Dance". They were the two where I got all goosebumpily and couldn't stop watching over and over again. The first one, the choreographer, Mia Michaels, tried to choreograph what Tim Burton's wedding would be like and since Chad and I love everything Tim Burton it's no wonder why I love this dance.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Little Man!

It's so hard to believe that I have a 6-year old! Well, come to think of it, it really isn't that hard to believe since my little boy acts like he is 16 most days! So here's a little slideshow of some of my favorite pictures of Ethan throughout the past 6 years.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BOY!
We love you so much and hope you have the bestest birthday yet!

FANTASTIC FATHERS!

To the best two dads a daughter could ever have.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

I am so grateful to my own father who taught me and still teaches me humility and obedience. My father has always amazed me with his kind heart and his swiftness to serve. Thank you dad for your quiet and constant example to me and for your unconditional love to a daughter, I'm sure who at times, wasn't exactly deserving of it.

To a Father-in-law who accepted me wholeheartedly into the Wolff family and has always made me feel like I was one of their own. He too is a great example of service and unwavering faith. And there is not too many people who I think could survive a teenage Chad! LOL. Thank you for always being there for our family and for raising Chad to be the man that he is now. It is a true honor to have you as a father.

And last but definately not least, to Chad. You are an amazing father to our two children. I love watching you when you spend time with them and their excitement during their "daddy time". Your children adore you! Thank you for being the best father a child could ever have. How lucky I am to have you in my life!


Robert, William and Chad

Just a Tad Bit Confused

So lately, whenever Edyn gets her swimming suit on she immediately hops to the coat closet and finds some kind of winter boots to put on. When I tell her that she can't wear them and needs to find a pair of flip flops she has a meltdown. Not too sure why she's a little confused and combining the two seasons but then again maybe she's onto something? Could this be the newest fad?! Here in New York I actually wouldn't put it past them. They are known to be very fashionable!

The CUTEST Olympians Ever!

Myself and three other moms get together once a week and take turns teaching our kids a preschool lesson. Today was my last turn since summer is pretty much here and with the Olympics approaching us in early August I decided to give a lesson on the Olympics. So we learned what the Olympics are, who is involved, what the flag means and so much more. We then ended our lesson with our very own mini Olympics full of forwards, backwards, drinking straw, balloon, feather, and egg races. All I have to say is these kids were so darn CUTE today! It was a moment I sure wish I had video taped. Nevertheless, I have this little picture of the four of them with their medals and Olympic flags they made. The boys crack me up in this picture. Christopher, the boy on the far left, his smile is total cheese and Max, the boy on the far right, is saying "yeah, that's right . . . I'm an Olympian." See, aren't they all so cute!

WARNING - A Sight For Sore Eyes

So guess what I'm doing today? Or should I say, supposed to be doing today! Uggghhh, I just completely cleaned the house on Saturday and here it is not quite 48 hours later and it truly looks like a tornadoe swept through our place. I don't know what it is about Sundays but for some reason this happens each week. So here goes nothing - diving into the piles of laundry and who knows when I'll return! Oh how I loathe laundry! And it doesn't help that I have children that love to change their clothes 5-10 times a day! Hmmmm, a magic wand would be really nice right about now.

Ooooops! Didn't Plan on this Happening!

Well, what do you know?! It was around 10 p.m. and I decided to tweak our blog a little bit and update some of our calender before going to bed. Guess what?! It is now 1:45 a.m. and my entire blog has had a makeover. Geesh, why do I do this to myself? Anyhoo, I'm kinda liking the new look. Who knows, I might wake up in the morning when I'm more focused and realize I wasn't thinking so clearly that late at night and will have no idea how to put it back the way it was. What I did enjoy about my 2 a.m. morning . . . everyone was asleep and there was absolutely NO-ONE asking me for a single thing! LOL.

AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!

Lately it seems my life revolves around parking! I'm so tired of trying to find a spot to park where I won't get a ticket. So today, and the reason I'm bringing this up, is because I'm sooooo stinkin' mad right now and need to get it off my chest or it's going to pester me all day, maybe for a few days!

So we have a family moving out of our ward today and they had a ton of food that they weren't planning on taking with them so I told they that I would take care of it and make sure it got to someone who needed it. So this morning I head out to drop the food off. When I get to the home of the family I think needs it there is nowhere to park and I really can't park too far away because the box weighs a ton and it's kind of hard to carry that and make sure that Edyn stays close by. So I pull up to the house and park right on the corner. Yes, I know I'm not supposed to park there but what do I do when there is nowhere to park and I'm carrying a ton of stuff. So I do it anyway, get Edyn out, unload the food and try and make it through the front door without dropping the food. The inside door is locked and so I call the family to have them let me in. This is 9:26 a.m. So I take the food upstairs and really I should have gone back down to move the car but the mom of the family wanted to chat and get some things off her chest. So no problem except that I've forgotten about my car problem. So I stay for awhile and 10:15am rolls around and I hear the street cleaner outside her window. CRUD! I'm just hoping that it isn't for the street that I am parked on. So I gather my stuff and Edyn and we say our goodbyes and the whole time I'm hoping that there is no ticket on my car. Get outside and sure enough I've got a ticket. WAIT A MINUTE! I've got two tickets on my van! Grabbed them and guess what! They were given at two different times. The first was at 9:26am (which if you remember me already noting that it was 9:26 when I let myself in the first door and called the family to let me into the second door) and this ticket was for parking too close to the cross walk . . . $54. So, did this ticket giver watch me park, watch me struggle with my daughter and the enormous box of food and then show no mercy and plop a nice little ticket on my van? Or am I just that unlucky! The second ticket ($42), even though I hate to admit it, but I did deserve it as I didn't pay attention to the signs and the times of street cleaning! But honestly Jersey City, you don't need to clean the same side of street twice a week! Uuuuuuugggggggghhhhhhh! This has royally peeved me since we first moved here. I know there is nothing I can do about it except for continually struggle to find a parking spot where I won't get dinged. It just really bites that I had the intention of doing something nice for someone this morning and now it's going to go down as a bad experience. And yes, I do know I was in the wrong but I still am mad about it! Oh and one last word for Jersey City, why don't you use the ticket money I've given you over the past 3 years and fix your pothole roads! OK-I feel a little better.

A POTTY FIRST

Since we've potty trained Edyn I really haven't taken the time to really teach her how to get on the big potty by herself. I'm usually the one that takes her in there and lifts her up to plop her down on the toilet. This has become rather annoying as when she desperately says "pee, pee!" I've got to drop whatever I'm doing immediately and attend to her. So the other day, to my surprise, I was in the kitchen making dinner and saw the light on in the bathroom and thought I had heard someone playing around in there. I dried my hands off and walked to the bathroom door to find Edyn, with her pants down to her ankles and the step stool scooted up to the toilet. As soon as she saw me, the biggest grin came over her face and while raising her arms up in the air she exclaimed in delight "TA DA!". Just one of those moments that melt your heart.