An Escapee

Somehow Amy escaped out the front door without anyone noticing. What followed was several minutes of panic. Kenny was downstairs watching the end of the Jazz game. Amy went to join him. Several minutes later Amy was tired of the Jazz and went upstairs. No big deal. However, she figured out how to open that front screen door and found her way outside, across the street, and into our neighbor's yard! After a few minutes of no footsteps above Kenny comes up the stairs to see what mischief she is into. But Amy is not found in the house - anywhere. Luckily it didn't take him too long to check out our neighbor's yard. There she was playing in a puddle in her purple-footed pajamas. Wish I had a picture. Her pajama feet were soaked. Luckily, nothing else happened. It was a little lesson for us to keep our screen doors locked :).

Amy's Big Girl Bed

We finally did it! We found a toddler bed for Amy. My parents, Kenny, and I went to Draper to meet my brother for dinner and, being the naive IKEA shoppers we are, Kenny and I thought we could "stop on the way" to see if they had any cute, inexpensive beds. Bad idea. My parents stayed in the car with the kids since we thought we'd be pretty quick, but IKEA is pretty smart. They leave the toddler/baby section to the very end of the upstairs showroom - and have pretty cool stuff to look at along the way. An hour and a half later we emerge from IKEA with a darling toddler bed . . . and a shelf, easel, kid table and chairs. If it wasn't for the fact that my parents were in the car we could have easily been there for several hours! But I love Amy's bed. She's still getting used to it as am I. We set it up Sunday night and she could not fall asleep in the bed so we put her back in the crib and then moved her to the bed once she was asleep. Last night she actually slept in her bed but it took four or five times of putting her back in bed until that happened. I'm getting used to her being able to emerge at 11 pm after I think she's down for the night.
Our weekend with my parents was great. They came on a whim with a Delta last minute deal. It was great timing as my mom turns "the big 5-0" tomorrow we could celebrate with her while she was here. For her birthday dinner we went to Teppanyaki Steak House, which is actually Kenny's favorite restaurant. It's pretty much a Benihana's. It's the best of all worlds as we can get steak, seafood, and sushi AND be entertained during the dinner.

Arizona

Kenny and I (and the kids) spent
most of last week in Arizona celebrating his birthday and his dad's. It was great to feel the SUN for such an extended period of time! Both of his brothers live in AZ and his parents and some family friends came out for the festivities as well. Amy discovered Nemo and 101 Dalmations on the ride down there. Since then all Amy does is ask for Nemo. I think we'll have to get her a little fish of her own. Ian was a charmer the whole trip. I can't believe that a baby can be so good! We had a great time visiting with family, watching the Diamondbacks, celebrating birthdays and of course eating lots of food, especially my cousin Shannon's potato salad and mango salsa. Amy played with cousins non-stop and had fun riding a scooter with her daddy.

PS - background came from cutestblogsontheblock.blogspot.com. Don't know if this is the one I'll keep, but at least it's a little more exciting than before!

Digital Scrapbooking

In my search to find a cute background for our blog I discovered digital scrapbooking, and ever since I've been hooked. I'm still a novice but I'm having a lot of fun with it. It's something I can do without making a huge mess and I can do it quickly. I have a lot to scrapbook! In the three weeks I've been working on it I've finished almost 40 pages - so I'm getting caught up with our years and years of pictures. I think half the fun is finding free digital scrapbook kits. Here are some of my favorite sites:

http://www.theshabbyprincess.com/
http://www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com/
http://www.peppermintcreative.com/

They have some really cute free stuff. But be careful, it becomes an obsession fast! And I'm still looking for my blog background!

St. Patrick's Day Menu

I love traditions. And, I love trying to think of all the different family traditions I can start. Today is St. Patrick's Day. Thus, we will have food of all the beautiful shades of green. Not very original, but at least it gives me something to do today.

Here is our menu for the day:
Breakfast:
Green Applesauce
Green Oatmeal

Lunch:
Green Fruit Roll-up
Green Capri Sun
Leftover Pizza (I slacked a little - not green).

Dinner:
Green Fetuccini Alfredo
Green Salad
Lemon-Lime Kool-Aid
Lime Sherbet
Mint Oreos
and whatever other green items our friends from the ward bring to our little FHE.

Amy and her alphabet puzzle

Milestones

Obviously, I'm not very good about posting on my blog. I couldn't believe how many of you have had your blogs for years! I truly am a novice. A whole cyberworld was opened up to me :). I'm still a little overwhelmed by all of it. I don't even know how to comment back to all of you who commented on my post. So, I'm really not trying to ignore you all I am just clueless! We had a big day on Saturday . . . two little milestones that I'm excited about. Kenny and I were getting ready to run errands on Saturday. I told Amy (extra loud so that Kenny could hear and do what I asked) to go put on her shoes. To my delight, she went and got her shoes and even successfully put one of them on! It was so exciting. Then I was about to change her diaper and I asked her if she wanted to go sit on the potty first. I didn't really think she would . . . but she went to the potty and tried to sit on top of it . Now, the lid was down and she was fully dressed, but the fact that she understood what I suggested made my day!