Easter.

This year our "Easter Photos" came from our own couch instead of my parents entry way. Which is where they've been taken for the last 6 years. I guess I could have gone over there and set my camera up and taken them just for the sake of tradition. But that's no fun if my parents aren't there. It was slightly chaotic, but I've come to expect that from remote control photos.

It's becoming very evident that Gus has a stopping point with his sisters. (And this might be my favorite photo in a long time)

He also got new top siders for church, but wore them for about 12 minutes and they rubbed a blister on his heel. So he refused to move. They seem like the most perfect church shoes to me. immobilizing.

I could eat these two up...

I hope your Easter was filled with lots of ham and cadbury eggs!

love love

lovers you

Valentines day is pretty awesome. Not because I am spoiled, (i am.) Or because I've got a lotta love in my life (i do.) Mostly because it's a day of candy and baking. And I pretty much live off of candy and making a large mess in my kitchen.

So on Valentines Day it's a perfect excuse to make donuts. I do love donuts, and these were freakin real good.

We* crafted valentines for school friends and donuts for Uncle Hunter. We* frosted cookies and colored more pictures. It was a pretty great day to be a stay at home mom.  **(we meaning, I crafted the valentines and they wrote their names on the back, and I baked the cookies and let them frost a few. I'm not that patient of a mother...)

(Gus was there, but he still is blowing snot bubbles. And I don't like taking his picture when he is covered in snot.)

Then when I had scrubbed the walls of all the flour, Kevin came home early with flowers and fixed dinner. He never fixes like a real dinner, he's pretty good at pizza and scrambled eggs. But this was like real deal fancy dinner. He should cook dinner more often. dee-lish.

Kevin helped the girls make me the largest card they could think of. The inside was covered in their handprints. Which is pretty fantastic. 

It took us 3 days to come down from the sugar high of Friday, but it was well worth it. Thanks Tall Friend for making it such a great day. He put thought into the day, took effort with the girls and made me feel loved. Well done Brimhall, well done!

love love

You win December

I feel like once I survive the month of December and reality of the vacation settles back in, I get all sorts of sad. I get sad because the busyness of the holidays is over. The social outings are done with, the rushing to and from are gone. And you are back to life. Back to early bed times, early mornings. Back to school and regularly scheduled dinners.
Who am I kidding. I love all those things. I love the routine of things, I just need a few projects to keep myself busy and distracted until the sun shines. I'm working on a few knitting projects that doesn't involve hats, but rather giant, giiiaannnt, knitting needles and yarn I make myself. I've got a few thousand photos to go through from the last year, and a stack of recipes I'm anxious to try. But I'm slow to move on any of those things. I find myself dodging balls being thrown at me, little girls on quiditch brooms zooming past, or my sweet husband picking up all the things that are about to be tossed out again. I am fully engrossed in this life of mine and still trying to recover from one hell of a December.

Gus battled pneumonia from Thanksgiving until... well I'm pretty sure it's still lingering. Shortly after the X-rays and antibiotics, he decided to learn to run. And ran straight towards the only wooden chair around and split his eye open. We survived the 3 stitches like champions if I do say so. And I say "we" because those stitches are really hard on mom's. Somehow I was there holding his head down while Kevin and the nurse held him down elsewhere. Why did I have to be the one he looked at while they stitched him up? I changed positions with the nurse after the first stitch. I was much better down at his feet. After I clipped his stitches out a week later, he got himself a mean case of pink eye that luckily stayed just with him and not the entire family. By the time Christmas came around I was delighted to just have him in one piece, fully functioning.

But before Christmas could grace us, the flooding happened. The girls bedroom started leaking and the roulette game of where it was coming from began. Luckily the dishwasher was the culprit and an easy fix. But oh the smell of wet sheet rock goes really well with Christmas candles and cookies baking. deeeeelicious.
During the week of Christmas and on through New Years we bounced back and forth between my family and Kevin's and the girls to Trevor's. We were busy and then busier, then real freakin busy. But it felt like it all stopped suddenly and just like that holiday's were over.
And I'm real excited about that.

oh hey

OK.
So it turns out I didn't blog in December. Eh. I could have and probably should have. But then in the last weeks of 2013, I found myself getting all indigent and saying to myself, "no, go the whole month without a post" aaannnnd I'm not exactly sure why. Like I felt some need to protest; why and for what? I dunno know.
Mostly, all my creative energy was busy elsewhere. It was knee deep into a few dozen skeins of yarn and varying knitting needles. I feel like I knit Christmas this year. But seriously, I did. I gifted 17 hats, 2 sets of hand warmers  and 2 scarfs. And that doesn't count all the times I had to unravel a hat, or the times Henry helped. Such a helper that one.
This blog was not alone in it's neglect. There was all that Christmas crafting I was gonna do, and then didn't. Or the baking list that I pretty much didn't even attempt, aside from a couple batches of caramel. I'm pretty sure I didn't even snap the shutter of my dslr until Christmas eve. Not even for a photo of all the knitting!
I was busy. Knitting.
...
......
So it turns out, I got a little manic with the knitting. I'm seeking professional help.

While I gather up all the blog posts of the last month, along with a farewell to 2013; I can't forget that, I mean, I did keep 3 small children alive and well.

Ok, if we're being honest, Kevin did that.
love love

Happy Halloween!

Ok, so Halloween was last week, but whatever. We are still trying to come down from the sugar high... It's been a doozy.

The Incredibles.
Stella convinced Ruby to be Dash and not Violet, because you can't have two Violets. Obviously.

and then we had a dragon. Who was the cutest wobbly dragon I ever did see... lets pretend he's not holding a hairbrush ok? He likes to throw it really hard across the room.

Thank goodness we survived another Halloween...
love love

Easter

I didn't do much in regards to Easter this year, it's all part of my silent and useless protest with Pinterest. (It's ruining holidays!!!!) A simple basket, some peanut butter eggs which I have lost all self control on and bubbles. (Aren't bubbles totally necessary?) But photos of the day have nothing against overzealous holidays, plus we've been standing on the front stairs for years taking photos. So here they are, the annual Easter photos!

--ok so they are wearing the same thing as last year... still extra cute though, right?--

--we will take the any hours Micall and TJ can give us when they come to town!--

 --these boys, dreamboats I tell you--

 --they are real cute together--

 --duude, gus, what's going on? and ruby, can you sit still?--

 -- ahhhh --

-- sometimes i get freaked out that i have 3 kids... -- 

 -- but they are really cute...--

--you guys like my commentary? I fell like I should just be hash tagging instead...--

love love

Mystery Dinner

I'm not sure how long my mom had been planning the ultimate feats of strength for after Christmas but it was time well spent. We were all invited to the mystery dinner and all of had no idea what she had in store. 9 different events: Jart Toss, (we decided that a Jarts are a jumbo dart) Milk Bottles, Pool, Velcro Darts, Ring Toss, Bean Bags, Nerf Archery, Football Toss, and a Car Race.
These are a lot trickier than you think.


The final scoreboard...



Henry was very supportive

 Those milk bottles... Rigged.

I hit that bottle twice! And it wobbled twice, and didn't fall over!! ROBBED.

Surprisingly, the girls were the best cheerleaders.

Dreamboat.

I'm no pool shark.

Even with all the prep work, Deb hadn't mastered the events...

Kevin has excellent form for the ring toss.

The grumpa face!

Congratulations TJ on winning the first annual event! Well done!!!

Luckily I have an entire year to work on my skills. 7th place is pretty sad...

love love

Also did you notice that I got a new camera lens for Christmas? Excuse the flood of photos...

Oh yeah that...

Remember when we were so excited for Christmas, for the holiday season? Now I'm so excited to have it over, to have the clutter gone, the treats off the counter, and nap time to resume. I guess I have officially entered motherhood. I'm just as excited for the holidays to be over with as I am for them to begin.
That being said, we had a glorious holiday season. Seriously. It was a blast. So busy with so many fun things. I was thinking about all the events and if we could cut any of them out next year, ya know to make it more relaxing, and I wouldn't. I wouldn't change any of it.
In classic Tehmi style we celebrated Christmas for days, days and days.  Between all the extended family parties, immediate family parties, Christmas Day, and the day after when Santa arrived at our house, I was making myself proud. All of those events happened one day after another for a week. The girls were a little bummed out when they didn't get to open presents on December 27, when Christmas had officially ended. I was completely relieved.
We tried to be mellow about Christmas this year, tried to keep things simple and not go overboard. It never really works out when we do that. Kevin spoiled us. He will tell you that he really tried not too; maybe next year we should define mellow for each other.
Also, I still haven't mastered the participate in the party, hold a newborn and take photos skill...
so sorry...

And yes, that is all the photos I took of our Christmas Days. Sorry Henry that I don't have any other photos that documented your first Christmas, you got a box of diapers and a rattle. Next year kid, next year your gonna score.

love love