How many Goldfish does a box hold?

This many...

Of all the ridiculous ideas....

Last night Mike and I smelled something terrible while watching TV. Turns out it was something with the couch. So, feeling like a million dollars last night, I rip all the couch cushion covers off and throw them in the wash, Febreeze the entire couch and head to bed, thinking to myself, "Tomorrow I'll vacuum the entire couch really well, get all the dog hair off and clean under it etc..." It's gonna be great!

Well then today, NOT feeling like a million dollars, sitting on the floor looking at my cushion-less couch thinking, "Boy that was really dumb of me. I kinda want to watch a movie with the kids this afternoon." I did manage to get 2 covers back on and clean up 2 pieces of the sectional and was done. What have I learned from this? Nesting is AWESOME when you can actually finish a project before you lose your steam. Nesting gives you ideas you have NEVER come up with on your own. After almost 8 years of having this hand-me-down couch, I have never, ever, had the stupid idea to take the covers off and wash them. That is what Resolve, Febreeze and other such things were made for. You also can't put freshly cleaned covers on a not freshly cleaned couch! Not only are the covers near impossible to get off, they are even worse getting back on. Oh, and one of the zippers broke on one of the covers. Oh, and now the cushions are a different color than the arm rests and back thingies. Not horrible by any means, but enough that the cushions look awesome, while the rest of the couch looks well-loved and 20 years old. Brilliant, Julie, Brilliant.

What do kids play with when the couch cushions are out of commission for fort building for an entire day? Yes, that is a big deal at our house.

PACKING PEANUTS and a big BOX! I got a package yesterday and after pulling everything out, I thought, "The kids will have a blast with this." Sure enough, they didn't miss the cushions today. I DID.

What else did I learn today? That box really holds A LOT of packing peanuts. It takes a good 30 minutes to clean it all up. These kind of peanuts are better than the styrofoam ones. They don't break, they just squish making the mess stay the same size and not getting exponentially larger. Kids can play with this amount of peanuts and this large box for a whole afternoon and never get bored and laugh hysterically the entire time.

Camera Antics

I've gotten lots of comments on how different Isabelle looks. I wanted to get a cute picture of her where you can see her cute curly hair and just how much she's changed. Who would have thought Mike and I would have gotten a girl that needs mousse?!

Why is is SO hard to just make a normal face every once in a while for a camera? In an attempt to capture what she actually looks like right now, I got this....

So I tried again today, and got this....

Of course trying to get a cute one of just Michael, she jumped in and we got almost decent ones.

She wanted a picture holding Kitty. She has a pretend cat named Kitty. She comes pretty much everywhere, the grocery store, church, all car rides, Gym Care, etc, and it's great. She never gets lost. I don't have to feed her or clean up her poop. There is no extra hair anywhere. Pretty much it's the best pet in the world. Oh, and Kitty is blue....who would have guessed?

(Yes, she's in sweats. It was 53 degrees and raining today)

And then I got ONE, still can't quite see her hair, but it's a cute face, so I'll take it!

Isabelle's New Trick

A week or so ago, I was laying on Michael's floor while the kids were playing around me (yeah, I'm tons of fun these days) and I said, "Alright, nap time for Michael." Isabelle said, "Mom you look tired, can I do it?" Of course I'm not going to say no. So I sat and watched. She climbed into the rocking chair helped Michael up. She read two stories to him. As soon as the stories were over, she flipped his blanket on her shoulder, and muscled him around until he had his head on her shoulder. She patted his back and sang and rocked. It was all I could do too keep myself for laughing. When she was done, she said, "Ok, now it's bed time." They crawled down and she helped him in his bed, tucked him in. He laid right down and we left as she said, "Good night, Michael. Sleep good." They both loved every second of it.

As we walked out, all I could do was laugh. She is so observant! She copies me exactly. I don't know what's funnier to see so many of my mannerisms, or to watch them depicted by a 3 1/2 year old. She has asked to put Michael down every day this week. I really love putting kids down for naps and bedtime about 6 days a week, so I'm not going give it all to her, but man on "those days" it will be nice. :) Tonight as I was leaving for Young Womens, (the kids are rarely in bed when I come home) I asked Isabelle if she could put Michael to bed for me. She lit up like a Christmas tree. "Of course I can mom!" Sure enough, Michael was in bed when I got home tonight. BLISS!!!!

A Perfect Weekend

Mike's best friend from high school, Derrick, and his family went through the Portland temple this weekend. We got in on Thursday evening. Friday Mike and Derrick worked a half day and Missy and I got everything ready to go. Missy arranged for some babysitters for Friday and then again for my kids for Saturday. We did the endowment session Friday night. Saturday morning they were sealed with their three cute kiddos, McKall, Trevin, and Ainsley. It was a beautiful sealing. We went to breakfast with everyone that was there. It was just us, one other couple, Missy's good friend and the missionaries. We went home, had naps, and headed to the river for some boating. That night we had smores on their new fire pit and sat around visiting way too late.

Isabelle loved tubing! She took a ride with Mike and Derrick and Kally, then Missy and I took the girls. Isabelle and I ended up in the river and it was only 53 degrees. It was FREEZING!!!!!!!!!!! Isabelle was crying and I kept telling her to kick and she would warm up as we waited to be picked up. It was so cold! We got back in the boat, and she did NOT want to go again. Mike got her to go back out on the tube, but she blames me for the spill. "I like tubing with Daddy. Mommy makes me go in the water." We went to church with them Sunday morning and then headed home after an early dinner. We were all exhausted, but it was such a fun, perfect weekend with friends.