Martin Luther King, Jr.

Lexi learned a song about MLK at her preschool, and then proceeded to sing it at the top of her lungs, over and over again for a good half hour during her 'quiet time.' It might have even been longer than a half hour. She apparently really liked the song. I recorded it for your enjoyment. It's only about 40 seconds long...

Lexi's haircut

Lexi never lets me cut her hair. Only when it's just a trim. But on Wednesday she decided to cut it herself during her quiet time. Oh joy. At least it wasn't an inch away from her scalp. You can see it here a little. there are other pieces that were an inch shorter or so.

Here's another pic. You can see it in front. So, we went to get it fixed...

Here's her hair now. To be honest, I don't like it very much. I always wanted to try this haircut on her, but she never let me. Now that she has it, I don't know... She looks like a foster child. Her hair is too thin to get any kind of volume out of it, and it doesn't compliment her face very well. Maybe I just need to get used to it. AND I can't do all the fun hairdos I used to do either. I tell her it's beautiful of course... and she's grounded from the scissors til she's 5. :)

Lexi LOVES it. Her best friend Rylee has this haircut, so now she can match with her friend. So if you see her, tell her it's adorable. Then I won't have to lie as much when she asks me. :) Does that make me a terrible mother? To hate her haircut? She's still a cutie...

Prom and other things

Our beehives in our ward hosted an 'adult prom' and invited some couples from the ward to attend. It's pretty fun to get dressed every now and again, ya know? I just had to find a dress. I ended up taking out my homecoming dress from high school. I thought there was a big rip in the back, but when I looked at it, it was totally fixable. So I fixed it up and wore it. Brandon still had his tux from the wedding, so we wore it and we had a ton of fun. It's just different getting ready while your date is watching. :)
Lexi wanted in on the action. And we would have taken better pictures, but it's a tad awkward when your babysitter is the one taking them. :)

Laney's room was getting absolutely awful, so I just HAD to clean it. Before and afters. Not pictured- a clothing pile 3 feet by 3 feet of clothes the girls had grown out of and I hadn't put away. Ugh. I don't know where else to put clothes. Storage, closets, etc.

These are out of this world. I feel it was my duty to share this recipe with you. :) Find it here.

Lexi's primary talk

Lexi gave a talk today, and like the last time, I took her to the church on Saturday to practice it. She's a very shy girl and when she gets up in front of people, she gets very quiet and nervous. So we go and practice so she's comfortable. A)It helps to live so dang close to the church and B)It helps to have a key. This wasn't her best attempt, but her little personality was so cute that I thought I'd share. Little kids have so much fun talking into a microphone... The subject of the talk is "The Scriptures are the Word of God."

Christmas '10

I would have posted about Christmas last Sunday- Sundays tend to be my 'blog posting' days because Brandon's gone all day. But last week he got home early from his meetings and I wanted to spend my time with my hubbie instead. Anywho, the Xmas post one week later...

Here are the girls on Christmas Eve with the new kitty. She's a sweetie. She lets them hold her and cuddle her all the time.

I told Lexi that she couldn't come out of her room until we came and got her. And she actually obeyed and let me go in and do her hair before we came out and opened presents. Here are the girls with their stocking loot and new little couches.
Let me explain this present a little- When we bought our van, the people we bought it from had this power wheels barbie car in their garage, and Lexi fell in love with it. They said that the batteries needed to be replaced but other than that it would work, and they were just going to take it to DI anyway. So they gave it to us instead. :) We fixed the batteries and gave it to Lex for Christmas. Man, does she love it. I just wish it weren't so freaking cold outside when she wants to ride it. So anyway, that's why it looks old and sun-bleached. Cuz it is old and sun-bleached...
One of Lanie's favorite toys- this little kitty that meows and purrs. She carries it everywhere now. Coincidentally, it looks exactly like our new kitty, though they were purchased weeks apart from each other.
Lanie's other favorite toy- Special Agent Oso stuff. When she opened it she kept saying "Oso! Oso!"
Lexi's big Santa gift- a new Leapster. She loves it. Santa waited two hours at a Black Friday Walmart Sale just to get it for her. He sure is nice...

Brandon got me a deep-fryer for Christmas, which we've been having a blast with. I love it! I'm sure my waistline won't like it so much- oh well. So, we had a relatively unconventional Christmas Dinner...

French fries instead of Mashed potatoes. And they were dang good. To the left are sweet potato fries which were surprisingly good too. This pic was taken halfway through the meal when we'd eaten most of them.

Dinner was also kinda funny because 1) We didn't have ham. We had steak. Why not, right? It was delish too. and 2)I just kinda made all my dinner faves. A relish tray, with deviled eggs pickles, and olives...
Orange rolls, of course. These are all of our's favorite part of the meal. I have to make a ton just so we have leftovers. The girls eat at least 2 or 3 apiece at dinner. And the french fries and steak made up the rest of the meal. It was so good, but definitely not traditional. I didn't even have a salad.

Brandon also got a breadmaker for me. It not only mixes the dough, but bakes it all too. It's awesome! I just pour the ingredients in and push a button. We have homemade bread all the time now.

Lexi also got Pretty Pretty Princess for Christmas, so we all played a game after dinner. Brandon was a good sport about the jewelry. Haha! I took this picture, and he said, "This isn't going on the blog, is it?" Sorry, babe. He's trying to look contemplative...

It's Lexi favorite game. She gets to wear jewelry and a crown. What girl wouldn't love it? I won, and then Lexi got second place.

This is what I wake up to now. Lexi cuddles with the kitty every morning. Lexi named the cat- Liana. If you've seen Barbie and the Diamond Castle as many times as we have, you would recognize the name. And now that the kitty finally learned how to use the litter box, I like her too. Before, I was cleaning up poop left and right and was regretting the decision. But she's a cutie and we love her.

Merry Christmas!

This n That

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It seems when things are just chugging along, there's not much to post about. Let me try to drum up some events in our lives...

1) Since I had to condescend to get a minivan, I at least got myself a personalized plate. :) It makes me happy. :) And yes, I'm an idiot and put the stickers on the wrong sides. To my defense, they are both 11's.

2) Laney is starting to talk, finally. She has a new word just about every day. Shoes, bow, Hi, No, yes, I go, etc.

3) I'm thinking about changing Laney's spelling on her name. I like Delanie better. I just don't know if I want to go through all the hoops to legally change it.

4) Christmas has been so fun this year! Lexi loves changing the countdown every day, and she tells me all about the Nativity. Lexi has been so good and hasn't touched the presents under the tree once, and Laney couldn't care less about them. And Lexi is so excited for Christmas and Santa to come.

5) Lexi has a new best friend. Her name is Rylie and she lives right next door(as in we share a wall with her family). She and Rylie just play all day long and just switch from house to house throughout the day. It's pretty cute. She's turning into a big girl!

6) Our kids really had fun picking out a Christmas tree for this year. Yes, we're one of those weirdos that have a real tree. We love it though. And the girls had a blast. And we finally got a star for the top of the tree. :)

7) We're one of the few that are not looking forward to 11am church. We have 9am now, and it's my favorite. Oh well. What time church do you like?

8) I love my hubbie. He's a stud. In every way.

9) We got another kitty. We're the crazy cat people now. :) We pick her up today. I'll post pictures when I can. She's a total sweetie and we're excited to play with her. She is so mellow! You've never seen a cat like this. She just sat there and let Laney hold and pet her. LANEY. You know, that crazy almost 2-yr-old who freaks out and loves animals? And she was free. The shelter is running a special thru December, so it was a win/win. :)

10) A few people have asked me if minivans can actually have spoilers. Yes, they can. It is pictured below. It's just at the top instead of toward the bottom. Funny, huh?

11) My incredibly talented sister-in-law created three different Xmas cards for us this year, and I couldn't decide. I loved all of them! So Brandon decided for me. We picked the middle one. Which do you like?
Merry Christmas!!

"Small butt Cassie"

For some reason I like pics where the family is walking away. I have one from last year on my wall right now. It's kinda my thing. I just like it- it's cute, especially with little kids. So naturally I asked Mandi to take a couple for this year. Well, if you didn't know, I have a... well, a ghetto booty. I've accepted the fact that I have a pretty black butt for such a white person. Some things help... darker pants, heels... none of which I'm wearing in this pic.

Anyway, Mandi showed me a few pictures, and I emailed back that though my butt looks pretty huge in a few pictures, they turned out great.

She emailed this photo back to me and said she hoped this helped. Haha! Then she titled it 'small butt Cassie.' Classic. I think I'll put this on my wall this year... :)

It's probably the only time I'll see myself with a small booty...