Karlee turned 3!

My baby girl is 3.  She is my favorite 3 year old.  She is so sweet and so kind.  She is also, so 3.

She is quite the manipulator, and the queen of stalling.  She will come up with 30 reason why she cant do something like go to bed, take a nap or eat her dinner.  She is thirsty, needs to go potty, her mouth is too cold for hot dinner, her eyes are too tired to look at her food.  She need to sing a song, she needs a hug.  The girl knows every excuse in the book.  I have NO IDEA where she gets it from.  haha that is a lie.  She gets it from her mama.  I am the first queen of excuses.

She has also learned things like spitting, throwing things, taking off her shoes where ever we go, yesterday she took off her pants while we were out to dinner.  She says things like, mom dont throw me down, if I try to hold her hand, or mom, dont hit me, if I try to pick her up.  She is so much like me its scary.

When she gets nervous, she always says, Mom, I need hugs.  I love her.  She tells me, oh mom, this is going to be good, when she is excited about something.  She knows she had a birthday, and she still keeps saying when asked how old she is.... Im going to be three.
She corrects people when they say the yellow fish... no thats a tang, and the pink one is anthius.

She looks after Zane.  If he is getting into trouble she come and finds an adult and says, hey.. wheres zane?  which means, zane is doing something he shouldnt and i saw but i am not going to be the one to tell on him.
She doesnt like to leave the house until she knows Zane is coming with.
Every saturday morning she asks her daddy to snuggle with her on the couch while they sleep and watch cartoons.  Its cute so that helps that allen spends the morning sleeping.  He gets a pass.  She loves to snuggle with Allen and watch the fish at night too.

For her birthday we had a back yard party with all the cousins.  Allen built a new playground and they all came over to play on it.  There were several crash's and a few bumps, but Briggs got the worst of it with a door handle to the eyebrow and a trip to the emergency room.  (he didnt end up needing stitches but it was a bad one.)  Jen made Karlee's adorable Toy story cake.  We all loved it.  Especially Karlee.   Girl just loves CAKE.

She got a new helmet for her bike, some barbies, a couple new swim suits and tons of other great stuff.  She is spoiled and i love her.  Happy birthday cake Karlee bug.

random goodies

Warm- and warmish weather really brings our family to life.  I feel like a new person when we can just get out side and play.  Here are a few random goodies from lately.
-Grandma and Grandpa Allen are leaving on one of their adventures for the next 3 weeks, missing mothers day and Karlee's birthday.  So we went up and visited with them before they left.
Karlee picked out a fat elephant with dangling legs, and Zane picked a sparkly rock to give to Grandma Allen for mothers day.
They gave Karlee her birthday present since they were not going to be here... and we played with it for a while in their back yard.  Its a bubble fan.

The other day I stopped by DI, to see if there were any good finds.  I found one of my favorite friends, Kenzie and a couple of night stands.  Kenzie was there doing the same thing.  Great minds think a like.  Anyway, for $15 I got some awesome night stands (super ugly).
I hurried home and refinished 1 of them before Allen got home from work.  I knew I had to or they would go straight to the garbage.  Turns out he loves them just as much as I do. 

Above: Before

After!!!!  I love the blue.  They will be so cute in our bedroom.  Now i just need to put the handles back on and paint the other one.

My sassy Diva.

Karlee is such a girly girl.  Diva is her middle name.  No, its Montana, but it should be Diva.

Fancy nails, cheetah flats, and putting on a concert in her bedroom for her barbies.

(instead of taking a nap)

HAP HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Last week was an entire week of celebrating Allens 26th birthday.  He doesnt ever really mention his birthday too much so I always try to make it a big deal.  Because it IS a big deal.  I love him and I love celebrating that he was born!!!
We went out to dinner, a movie, shopping, to the gym ( he made me go with him at 9am on his birthday?)  he wanted to buy some tree's for the back yard, went to Park City for Sunday brunch at Stein Erickson Lodge, and just spent lots of time together as a family.  I love my husband and I am so proud to be his wife.  He is a great example to me and our kids.  He loves us and takes good care of us.  I love to tease him about getting old, but truth is.. I love him more every day and he just keeps getting sexier with age.
This week he was told by different people that he looked like, Abraham Lincoln, and .... oh shoot I cant remember the second one but it was some other tall dark haired, bearded person from a long time ago. Whoever it was, people just love Allens beard.  So do I.

PS- Allen is not a fan of cake, or sweets really at all.  So there was no birthday cake.  (dont tell anyone but I saw him eat a piece of cake while we were at Stein Erickson)
Karlee probably doesn't even really believe that it was his birthday.  Birthdays are nothing with out cake for that girl.

Zane and Baby Buffulo

Karlee talking to the baby goats " Hi little goats, whats your name?"

One of our Tree's we picked out. 

Family Time.

Lately the only thing on my mind is trying to find balance with my family.  I have been struggling to feel like I am using my time appropriately and that I am giving enough attention to my kids. 

I feel like this last week has gone better. 

I made sure to plan time for school, plan time for cooking dinner, and plan time for my kids.  I know this doesn't seem very hard for some people but for me it is a huge challenge.  After work, my kids are usually napping.  I have worked my hardest to clean up the house, study for school and get dinner started during this time. The last 5 days seem to be going great.  I have been spending plenty of time with my kids, and I have still been working hard on my school work.

I decided that I needed to make the basic things into a family event.  We went on a picnic to the park on Sunday.  We ate dinner on a blanket in the front yard yesterday, and then went for a walk with duke around the block.  We met some new neighbors, and got a little exercise too.  (We live on a steep hill.. walking around the block is a challenge) 
None of these things took very long and didn't require much prep work.  I feel like if I keep that in mind when I am struggling to find balance with my family I will be much more successful. 
Little, easy things can make all the difference.  

This was on Saturday, we went to Chili's for lunch.  way better than going for dinner.

Cutest

This guy has the cutest little bum i have ever seen.

2 kids in the tub

Rub-a-dub-dub.... 2 kids in the tub.

BB Bunny

About a week ago my dad took Karlee and Zane to Spero's farm to see the baby bunnies. And then we came home with one.

I know I have a history of bringing strange animals home (baby chicks) but who doesn't love a tiny fluffy baby bunny. We named her/him Cinabun!

Zane gets mad....

Karlee still likes me to help her eat her dinner. She is so lazy. Zane doesn't want help doing anything and since he doesn't talk yet, this is his way of showing you he wants to do it himself. Of course Allen pulled out the video camera and he stopped doing it. So the first time I asked him if he wants help he doesn't care, but you will see how he reacts every other time I touch his spoon. Funny kid. I thought he was pooping or going to pop a blood vessel in his face. This is now his reaction every time you try to do something for him.