Tiny Little Miss

Makelle is such a tiny little thing. This really hit me today as we dragged out the old Halloween costumes and I discovered that her costume from when she was 6 months old still fits her. Not like, "oh it was tight, but she was able to squeeze into it." I mean full on, a little loose in the front still, length fits different since she can stand up and walk now, but otherwise it's a perfect fit.



Should I be concerned?... grow Makelle, grow.

Vegas Vacation

Last week Caleb had a training for work in Las Vegas. His company put him up in the Four Seasons , a super nice 5 star hotel, with a killer view.


My mom was kind enough to take our children for 4 days and I tagged along with him. It was the longest we have ever been away from them, and I have to say it was weird not having two little kiddos. The first day I slept in, took a hot bath, read my book, watched Man vs. Wild (it is my new favorite TV show lately), worked out in the fitness center and it was only 1 o'clock in the afternoon. It would have taken me a full week to find time to myself to get all that done at home :) So relaxing!


At night we were able to hang out together. We went to dinner and a show and somehow ended up spending our entire evening with senior citizens. After a night out with his coworker the first night, we wanted a break from all the noise, lights, smells and sights of the strip so we ducked into a Denny's where I am certain we were the only ones not getting 15% off our bill that evening. Afterwards we went to the Frank Caliendo show, which we had read extensive reviews about ahead of time. What we neglected to consider is that clean, comedic impression shows on the Las Vegas Boulevard apparently don't appeal to anyone within at least 2 decades of our own age range. He was hilarious though, and we had a blast.

It was nice to get away for a little while and enjoy sometime together without the demands of home and kids and work etc, but coming home we were so excited to hug those little guys, I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Beauty Salon

Makelle is PURE GIRL! She loves accessorizing (rather scary for a tom-boy of a mom, but we'll survive :) So this week we bought her some nail polish and she got her first manicure. Caleb held out all the bottles for her to choose from and she of course instantly grabbed the pink, glittery one. (How does she know?) So we set her up and painted her fingernails pink for her.


For the most part she sat perfectly still and helped blow on them when they were drying. I told her to hop down and go show Daddy and she ran over to him grinning from ear to ear saying, "pitty, pitty!" (Meaning pretty, pretty.)

Then she immediately ran back and handed me the bottle sitting on the table, grabbed the paper, set in on her lap, and started saying, "mo, mo" while frantically signing more. So naturally we followed it up with her first pedicure. If anyone sees her this week, be sure to compliment those nails, because boy girl, is she ever proud of them.

Fun on the Farm (err... garden?)

My parents let us plant some stuff in their garden and my grandma gave me an old pressure canner. The result has been learning a lot about cooking and storing tons of produce. We have bottled enchilada sauce, chili, white chili, tomatoes, green beans, and pears... so far. I have also frozen some bags of corn, carrots, pesto and zucchini. As well as dried plums and pears. We eat fresh fruits (from the wonderful Bountiful Baskets program) and veggies all day everyday, and I absolutely LOVE it! Here are some of the highlights of our abundant summer.


I was pretty focused on helping to can the green beans and apparently not being a very attentive parent.





As kids living on the farm, I still remember 'corn days.' There are several steps in getting the corn from the field to the freezer and everyone was always assigned a job based on age and ability. That combination always left me as the 'scraper.' My job was to take a butter knife and scrape the old cobs to get off all the little pieces still clinging onto the sides. This year, I decided to impart my extensive knowledge of corn scrapping onto Corbin. He lasted through about 1 1/2 ears before he got bored and wandered off. But don't worry, Makelle was more than willing to pick up where he left off. She also worked as an unofficial and unwanted taste-tester who ate massive amounts of corn, indigestible by her little tummy. Lovely.


The kids were pretty excited about this gigantic carrot that grew (I guess you really should thin those things out :)



Last year my parents gave me a juicer, which we LOVE to use for all sorts of veggie and fruit juices. In combination with our trusty blender we have been enjoying lots of healthy (and not so healthy) smoothies. Some of us clearly show our love of a good concoction more than others.


We have also enjoyed massive amounts of fresh picked, made from scratch recipes. Our favorites include spaghetti sauce (Corbin thoroughly enjoys squishing the tomatoes), salsa, roasted veggies, grilled veggies, flavored ice cream, pie, stir fry, homemade yogurt and tons of different salads.

Or Not...?

We thought Makelle was growing up and becoming a big girl starting nursery. Then that night we went up to my parents' house for a family dinner and they had the baby swing out for 4-month-old Wesley. She must have thought it looked pretty great because not only did she climb in, but she sat there rocking long enough to fall asleep. Pathetic, yet cute.

Our Big Little Girl

Makelle turned 1 1/2 and went to nursery for the first time. She is a clingy little Mama's girl, so we weren't sure how she'd do, but she loved it! Corbin held her hand and walked her down there (I think he was as excited as we were and definately more so than she was :) and when we got there the toys weren't even out yet, but she ran right in with the other kids and literally never even looked back. So weird to have two kids old enough to go to classes, we are turning into less and less of a young family.

Beat the Heat

We have no central air at our house, but we do have a pool. Thus, we went swimming probably 3 or 4 times a week all summer long.


Not a bad life.