Disneyland!

We just got back from a couple wonderful, (and exhausting), days at Disneyland. We decided to go all out and splurge on this trip, which was kind of fun, and very unusual. First, we stayed at the Grand Californian, which has bunk beds for the kids! We spent the first day at the pool, where Allison swam with Daniel, and Natalie went down the waterslide about 50 times.

A big treat: The girls actually napped in their bunkbeds, so we stayed up to watch Fantasmic and the firework show! Super cool!



We did dinner at the Blue Bayou; (Pirates of the Caribean). Another treat!


Everything... including the carousel looks so cool at night!
Breakfast was one of the best times. We ate at the Grand Californian's Storyteller's Cafe. (We had lunch there the day before and saw Stevie Wonder!) It has a buffet character breakfast, and hardly anyone was there. So, we were able to have lots of time with each of the characters, and the girls LOVED it! They got to march around and play while eating... what kid wouldn't?

This trip also marked a milestone for Allison. She crossed over to some of the grown-up rides, including the rapids and Soarin' over California. I guess she grew-up a lot this summer! Overall, we had a blast. I'll leave you with a little video. (Mostly for grandma!)

Computer Trouble

I have so many things to post...

• a project I've been wanting to do with Allison for a while
• A sewing project I did ALL BY MYSELF!
• a project Daniel and I did for our bathroom

I could go on... but, sadly my computer is not doing well! I think it might be the usb port. I can't print anything or download pictures. Where is that husband of mine? Luckily, not fighting the fires. We're off to Disneyland for a few days, (sleeping at the Grand Californian where they have bunkbeds for the kids!) But, I should be back to blogging soon...

Happy September!

It's almost that time!

Ok, my friends... I am getting so excited about fall! (I know, I know... big surprise!) I have September 22 marked on my calendar, and am already planning the day. Pulling down the fall bins, decorating the house, decorating cookies... I sure hope it cools off enough to let me at least wear jeans that day!

In the meantime, I may have to sneak a little fall trip in earlier. In our recent issue of "Westways" magazine, there was an entire page devoted to planning your day trip to Oak Glen. I have the most adorable pictures and fond memories of our last trip there, and can't wait to do it again. Apple picking, fresh mountain air, an old schoolhouse, and quaint boutiques. This may have to be our fall kick-off, as well. Don't you just love traditions?

Heat Wave!

How do you keep cool in this heat? For the Yeh's, we do the slip n slide outside, and crafts inside! Today we cut from a magazine, and did another color sorting activity. We raced to see who could find an object of a certain color first, and then cut it out and glued it under the appropriate color name. I can never throw away the cute Pottery Barn Kids magazines, and they have so many fun colors! I still had to do the cutting for Natalie, but she tried... and her favorite is the gluing, anyway!

Help!

So, I have a little problem! I made these adorable tiles with some MOPS gals this summer, and decided I wanted to display them rather than just having another set of coasters. In my head, all looked well. I wanted to hang a bar with 3 ribbons coming down, and 3 coasters on each. I found a towel rack to use as the bar, and some fun ribbon from JoAnn's. I also know how to sew now, so at least I can sew the ends of the ribbon into a loop. So, what's my problem?

HOW DO I GET THE TILES ATTACHED TO THE RIBBON?!?!?

Any ideas are greatly appreciated! Thanks, my crafty friends.

Learning to sew!

Remember my New Year's resolution? (By now, you've probably forgotten your own, so I don't expect you to remember mine?!?!) I wanted to learn to sew! I had my one bummer of a lesson from JoAnn's in January, but never touched a sewing machine. Determined to follow-through with my resolution, I recently called a friend who sewed her own wedding dress! Our first project... curtains to replace the doors in the girls' closet.

While I didn't help much, I did learn a lot. And, I did practice sewing on the scraps. We decided to put pockets on the bottom of the curtains for the girls to hide random things in. I think they turned out so cute! The best part? They match my window valance that was actually a pillow case on clearance at Ikea. These curtains were also on clearance, as they no longer make this color. I was super excited to find them! I included a picture (above) which just shows the cute clearance rugs I found for our new laminate floors. Below is the window valance, and below that the curtains. I can't wait to practice s'more!

A Colorful Scavenger Hunt

I have lots on my to-do list today, but no appointments on the calendar. So, I decided to start the day with a walk to the park! But, I've also had this activity on my summer to-do list, so I thought today would be the perfect day to try it out!

It's very simple, really... I just took some egg cartons, and colored the bottom of each egg a different color. On our walk, I asked the girls to find different objects to sort in their tray. Allison said, "Is this like a scavenger hunt?" Why, yes it is! We had lots of fun! I LOVE my new camera!

Yehbie Update!

We had another perinatal appointment this morning! Awww... I love Saturdays! There was no waiting, and the technician offered to let us have a 4-d view! Look! There she is! Oh... did I mention we're having a girl?!?? We decided to find out after our last appointment, since there were very different concerns with girls than boys with this kidney problem.

We had a different doctor see us this time, and she once again reiterated that this problem was much more common in boys. Anyway, she was also very optimistic. Unfortunately, the kidney is still large, which means it probably will be once the baby is born. However, she thought the baby will not need to go to the NICU, but just have a special ultrasound once she's born. We'll see from there. I am believing God for a miracle. To Him be the glory! Thanks for your prayers and concern.

Be Funky!

Look what I found... another fun picture site! Three reasons I like it:

1. It's FREE
2. It's EASY
3. It's FUN!

Honestly, I have spent all of about 5 minutes on the site. (The girls are doing a craft with the spaghetti I dropped on the floor, and I should be making dinner!) Instead, I am blogging... I hope you have fun, too. The website is www.befunky.com. Go be funky! Here are a few more examples:

Yehbie's Nursery

It's HERE!!! No, not the baby. My new camera has arrived... hooray! And, it was FREE! HOORAY! Can you believe it? What a blessing! I did not want to spend more money on a camera. I just tried it out a few minutes ago, and it works great. Of course, there's always a learning curve, but it functions very similarly to our last one.

So, I was wondering what I should take a picture of, first. I decided I would show you Yehbie's nursery! We finally got rid of all our carpet in the bedrooms and put in laminate flooring, so I decided to make the room back into a nursery when we brought the furniture back. My favorie part is our new red Ikea circle rug for the room. I am starting to get super excited! And, the girls just love playing in there. They still call it their play room, but I keep reminding them it is Yehbie's room, now! Here it is:
BTW, if you love the print above my nursery, I ordered it rom Jeanne Winters over at Inspiring Ideas. You can find her button on my blog, and she will take you to her Etsy shop! She has lots more prints, and they are all AWESOME!

Recycled Lunch Box

Look at this cute lunch box I found on Family Fun... can you guess what it's made of? A milk carton! I thought it was pretty cool... and could be used for lots of things, besides lunch! You can get step-by-step instructions here. We do our part to recycle, but other than that I'm not a huge "go green" fan. I just thought this looked like fun. I bet my girls would love to decorate it! I'll let you know if we get a chance to try it...

Colored Ice

Bath time is always a nice time of day... the sound of giggling girls, the smell of clean toddlers, and the thought that bedtime is next! We've done our own bathtub paints before, but decided to do something a little different this time... Colored ice cubes for the bathtub! Really, they're just food coloring and water frozen into ice cube trays.

Good: * the girls thought they were so much fun
* they were easy to make and easy to clean-up

Bad: * you have to remember to make them in the morning so you can freeze them
* the bathtub water looked black afterwards, (but still didn't stain or leave a mess!)

On another note, we should be getting our new camera by Thursday! Woohoo! Hopefully that will get me back into my blogging groove.

Fall Napkins

We ran out of napkins the other night, and I had a little debate going on in my mind... is it too early to pull out my "fall napkins?" Really, they aren't all that fall-ish; no leaves, no pumpkins, just fall colors. I decided I couldn't resist. And, besides... I had baked chocolate chip banana bread which is truly a fall food. I needed some napkins to match! Aren't they cute? I just love napkins!

Flip flop cookies

Summer is coming to an end! Today I saw Halloween candy at Ralphs, and yesterday Christmas stuff at Costco! While it's way too early for both, the Halloween candy did excite me a little. (Halloween = fall = Yehbie!) But, Christmas in early August?!?!? Apalling! Anyway, we decided to make some flip flop cookies for our last Bible Study brunch, and as a last hoorah for summer. Nutter butters are so awesome! In October, we will use white candy melts rather than purple, and black licorice cut into circles... Instead of flip flops, we'll have ghosts! Stay tuned...

Pudding Paint

I'm pretty sure I've blogged about pudding paint sometime in the past... but, once again, I'm running out of pictures, so I need my hubby to come home and help me. (And, I need our new camera!!!) Anyway, this time around was much more successful due to one factor; we did it outside!
Inside = stress.
Outside = fun!
Of course, if you leave the mess too long, you may get ants!!
Happy (and yummy), painting!

Garden Stone

My dear, sweet friend Kelly got me a garden stone making kit for my birthday, and I've been wanting to do it with the girls, ever since! It had to dry for 48 hours, but it came out great! I should have taken a picture of the final product to show you. Anyway, I can't decide if I should let the girls paint it, or leave it au natural! Hmmm... Either way, it was a fun project!

Homemade Corn Dogs

So, it was one of those nights... nothing prepared for dinner, and Daniel was gone; what to do? I stared at the freezer, and then noticed a pack of hot dogs, but no buns. Believe it or not, I have never made hot dogs for my girls, but I did have that pack in the freezer for just such an occasion.

Because of the lack of buns, I decided to try corn dogs. How fun, I thought! I also had zero fruits or veggies, but went with tater tots as a side. My girls didn't like them the first time I tried, but it had been almost a year, so I thought I would give it another shot.

Ok, now nobody told me that oil doesn't boil. I waited, and waited, and waited... finally, I stuck my first hot dog in, and it was instantly black! Yikes! Smoke filled the room. Oops.... I turned the heat way down, but the others still "cooked" in seconds, leaving the dough underneath to still be doughy. Lesson learned...

Overall, it was still a fun experience and I can't wait to try it again, now that I know what to do. The best part??? The girls actually loved both the corn dogs and the tater tots! In that way, I would say it was a success!

Spin Art

We always have fun when grandma comes to visit! And, the girls always look forward to checking her suitcase for goodies. (To say they are spoiled is an understatement!)

When grandma came 2 weeks ago, she brought "Spin Art," as well as an art case. Art? My girls? Needless-to-say, they were quite thrilled. They've been asking to do spin art again every day since.


THANK YOU, GRANDMA!!

Bubble paints

I'm back, I'm back! Oh, how I wish it were because we got a new camera. Daniel dug out our old camera, and he has to download pictures for me... and, they're not very good! But, at least it's something! Good news: we should be getting our broken camera replaced for free, since it was so new. Yay!!! Bad news... I'm not sure when. We have to wait... I guess I can learn some patience!

Pictured above is Allison doing some "bubble painting." I got the idea from some blog... sorry, I don't remember where now! But, basically you add food coloring to the bubbles, and they're suppose to make colored circles on your paper as they pop. I don't know if mine wasn't strong enough, but the bubble circles were very faint. Of course, Allison just had fun doing it, so I would recommend it!

I have a few more pictures downloaded, so I should be able to blog a few more times before the new camera arrives. Until then, here is a list of a few of our activities the last few days, (for which we have no pictures!)

• 4 mile hike this morning enjoying this awesome cooler weather!
• trip to Scandia, again enjoying the cooler weather, and especially having fun racing down the giant slide!
• taking the girls bowling for the first time... did you know they have ramps for little kids that are so awesome? Natalie bowled over 100!! We then went to BJ's for dinner, and the kids ate so well. (a miracle, for Natalie!)

It's good to be back... I've missed you!!!