A camping we will go...

We are headed off to a fabulous evening of bbq-ing, smores, camfires, and tents.
It has been WAY too long since
A. we went camping and
B. Jeff and I got a night alone.
This will take care of both of those!!
I am so excited!!

Conversation

I am a talker. Anyone who knows me well knows this.
(Well, I am a person to person talker. Talking in front of people, not so much.)
I think I've passed this lovely trait on to Weston. This boy loves to talk. And boy oh boy does he have a lot to say.
It's so fun having a little friend to talk to all day long. It makes the fact that he's growing up not quite so hard. Mostly. ;)

Here's a conversation with West from last night:
Background - Weston fell off the playground at the park. From pretty high. He hit his head, landed on his arm/shoulder, and scraped his shin really bad. Yeah, not my proudest mommy-moment. I feel absolutely horrible.

So here's what Weston told Jeff about it:

J- What did you do today?
W - I go to the park. I falled down from really really high.
J - Oh no! Did it hurt?
W - Yes.
J - Are you okay?
W - Yes. I okay. I falled and hurt my guns. But my guns okay, they are strong.
See my strong guns. GRRRRRRR!!! (while flexing his arms and shaking them)

Oh I love hearing what this kiddo comes up with...and that he's okay after all!

Dear Self,

I just thought I would let you know that you are doing a pretty good job. Sometimes, okay, a lot times, you don't think so. And a lot of the time you worry unnecessarily and stress yourself out. But I am here to tell you that things usually turn out for the best. Life is really good and yours is pretty darn great. You just need to remember that every so often.
Play with your boys. Give your hubby a kiss. Call someone you love. Read your scriptures. Find someone to serve.

Love,
Me

Quilt Giveaway

Enter here for an incredible quilt giveaway from Liz of Pigtails and Snails. It's an original quilt design and oh so darling. I LOVE her quilts!!

Also, Dana, of Old Red Barn Co. is doing a 6 week quilt along. I am trying to follow along as best as I can...but having a 3 week vacation in the middle means my quilt *probably* won't be done on time. But at least I'll be trying! I am SO thrilled to start my first quilt ever!!!

I am already so addicted to fabrics stores, fabric, and sewing. (All thanks to my wonderfully crafty mom!!) So this is the perfect jump into quilting for anyone who has ever had a desire to quilt but doesn't know where to start.
Good luck!

It's all in the name

What is it about names that gets me going?
I LOVE to think about names, to come up with lists of possible children's names, to pair them with middle names, to mix and match, to hear other people's name ideas, to go type in names on nymbler.com and see some fun options I hadn't thought of, to read baby name books, to read about celebrity baby names, I could go on and on.
Maybe my husband will finally have a sane wife when we're done having children. Maybe.
I'm not expecting. Really I'm not. But it is just so much fun.

The best, most awesome moments are when a name just magically fits together and you know it is one you could really hear yourself calling a child. Or when you give a suggestion that someone actually really likes and wants to use. And even better, still, is when you and your husband actually agree on a name waaaay ahead of time so you know there won't be much discussion at all.
Umm, yeah, that last one will only happen for us if we have a girl.

So. Does anyone else have this name obsession...I mean quirk.
It's a quirk. That's all.
Is anyone else quirky like me?! ;)

A good day

Today was a really really good day.
Nothing outstanding or fabulous to make it good, just one of those days.
The kids did really well together, got over frustrations quickly, said sorry, listened when they were asked, K & W actually stayed in the backyard when we played outside., you know- just little things like this all day long that made it great.

Here are a few of the memorable moments:

We played hide and seek. It was hilarious. They just wanted to look for me. So I hid over and over and over again. The last time I hid they started looking and then got sidetracked and played instead. So I was stuck until I said "hey, where's mommy? Come find me, please!!" Then they laughed and giggled and thought it was so funny that I was still hiding. What a hoot.

Music time. I said 'Hey, let's do music time' and no joke, Tave started patting his legs and said hello. (Our music time always starts with the 'Hello' song and tapping our legs.) So I have a musical genious. ;) Not really, but it was seriously cool that he recognized what I was talking about. That or a really really really big coincidence.

When Shar got home from work we had about a half hour to chat, hang out, and check out the amazing deals she got at Kohls. I love my sister. And I love the time we get together. I also love when she tells me about fabulous sales...see below

We went to Kohls and got a screaming deal on Tave's birthday present. (his party is tomorrow so it's okay that we didn't shop yet!) Most toys at Kohls are 40% off right now and then I had a 30% off your entire purchase coupon on top of that. Like I said, awesome awesome deal. I love it when that happens!!

We also got Weston some underwear. He's kind of been showing interest in potty training. We'll see what happens..I'm not pushing. I was planning on giving him underwear for his b-day in June, and then starting once we got back from Texas. So we'll see. It was so cute to see him in little boys' underpants. To say he was excited would be an understatement! It was one of those I-can't-believe-my-baby-is-such-a-big-boy-now moments.

Weston & Tave's favorite thing to do with Jeff is be thrown in the lovesack. It's a nightly ritual and it always gets us all laughing. Wouldn't you know- West decided Mommy had to be thrown in too. So Jeff did. And it was pretty darn fun.

And last, but not least, my dear sweet hubby did the dishes and clean up for the night and then he even made the cupcakes for Tave's party. I don't know what else to say besides: I love you, Babe, you're the best!!

After all that, I'd say the day wasn't just good-- it was absolutely, positively fantastic!!

Flowers

These were delivered to our door today.

We loved sticking our noses right in the middle and breathing in the lovely spring scent.
We gazed at the gorgeous blooms and talked about our favorite colors.
We gave the little bear a squeeze and tickled his tummy.

I think it's safe to say we LOVE them.
Thank you, thank you David.
This was a wonderful surprise and we feel so spoiled!

Scattergories

I LOVE games. Love them.
It is always so fun to sit down with family and friends to play games.
I love the laughter, the funny stories, and just being together.
Scattergories is one of my all-time favorites. So when my friend, Amanda, sent me this email version of Scattergories I thought it'd work great as a post as well. So, here ya go!
If you want to 'Play' just do a post of your own but you have to come up with words that start with the first letter of YOUR name!! If you want to get really into it...you can time yourself like the official Scattergories...
Have fun!!

1. What is your name: Nicole
2. A 4 letter word: Nice
3. A boy’s name: Nathaniel
4. A girl’s name: Nya (our girl when we get one!)
5. An occupation: Nurse
6. Color: Navy blue (did you know that there are only 2, YES 2 colors that start with N?? I looked it up in Wikipedia because I was curious...I could only think of Navy blue. Interesting. Here is the complete list of colors with their color swatch. Cool, huh. PS apparently Nude is not a color;)
7. Something you wear: Nylons
8. A beverage: Nestle Quick
9. Food: Nectarine
10. Something found in the bathroom: Nose cleaner outer thingy (for babies)
11. A place: Norway
12. A reason for being late: Nodded off
13. Something you shout: NO! (especially if you're my 2 year old!)