Everly's Baptism

Everly woke up Saturday morning with a pep in her step! She skipped and hopped and did jazz hands, proclaiming to the world, "Today is the day!!! I'm getting bapTIZED!!" We laid out her dress and her towel that that the primary president brought over on her birthday. 

We wrestled the kids into the car and zipped over to the stake center so we could take a few photos with her on her special day! She was so excited to wear her new dress.

She is the fourth and final daughter to wear the dress that I was baptized in (and lots of aunts and cousins too!)

We kept things small. While Covid lingers, families are on their own to do baptisms. We invited the Flynns and Guenthers to come and zoomed in both sides of the family. It was short an d sweet!

We didn't get a good outdoor picture because it was raining and cold all day, but Kansas has a way of sprinkling unusually warm days just when you need them. We went back for a reshoot when the sun popped out a few days later. 

I love this beautiful girl!

Pizza Nirvana

 After 20 years of weird, dinner-roll-consistency pizza crust, we have found the holy grail of crusts. 

I am telling you. 

It's crazy delicious.

(Never go back! Never!)

Hamster cuteness

These guys are so cute! We have three: Mr. Nibbles, Jesper and Houdini

Houdini is terrified and never comes out of her cage.

Jesper is moderately terrified and sometimes allows us to hand him a treat.

Mr. Nibbles is the only one that lets us hold him and he loves to stretch out and fall asleep in the crook of an arm. 

Behold the cuteness!

All of that cuteness deserves a story time!  

Cute for cute!

 

These quiet moments

 I think they sense that they shall soon be separated.

Anna sees the world

 The little girls are back in school and we have discovered that Anna has some problems with her vision. At home, everything was up close and individual, so we didn't notice the change. But now that she needs to read the board from her seat and things that are put up on a projector, she's really having problems.

Nurse Amy was giving Everly an eye screening and she passed just fine, but as she was leaving the office, she said, "Your really should test Anna...she cant' see anything!" lol

So she did. And she was right! She really needs glasses!

So we set up the appointment...we went with the doctor that successfully removed the plastic out of her eye a couple years ago. We trust her!

She picked out her frames and a week later...bam!

She can see!

Its been so fun to hear her marvel over the trees and facial features and tell us how glad she is to be able to "read the writing on the walls". I love her happy face!!

CUB5WIN

 Dreams are coming true around here.

Everly is 8!!

Everly woke up on her 8th birthday ready to ring in a new year!! It's got to be better than then last one and celebrating this chickie is a great start. 

She got birthday balloons in her doorway and a big box of Lucky Charms to share for breakfast.  Mark drove all over town to find her an elusive 3rd box of ding dongs to share with her classmates today. Why does there always have to twenty ONE kids in the class??? 

She chose to dine on tinfoil dinners with as much ketchup as her heart desired. It was the best!

We invited the Flynns over for cake and ice cream and she relished in the attention! 

Her favorite rainbow cake is HUGE...so we knew we'd need some help to eat it up,

Although, I'm sure she's planning on having it for her after school snack and possibly a nutritious breakfast...

 She asked for all things Barbie and we didn't disappoint. Fur coats, wedding dresses, little plates and cutlery....mini iphone, ipad and laptop. She was in Barbie heaven. Happy Birthday, Sweets and Beets!

Superhuman

 The girls got some cute wall hangings for Christmas....which I wanted to hang up, but almost died of stuffed animal exposure when I attempted to enter the room. 

You think I exaggerate? 

You know nothing. 

Two days, spackle, paint and 4 trash bags of donations later and I give you....

It's true....

I'm a miracle worker. 

I work the miracles. 

Steamed

 

I'd say Blake got his money's worth out of garagefit today.

Restored

 The kitchen table has seen a lot of action through the years. 

Countless paint projects, nail polish drips, permanent marker streaks, water rings and mindless butterknife notches. 

I always put a table cloth on it...because its a mess. 

Time to strip it down and stain it!

Old:

Thank you, DIY videos!

Taking that layer off is muy delicioso.

All stripped down and pitting on the first coat of stain.

Check it out!! It so shiny!

I just want to lay on it!!

Off to a good start

 The moment Mark brought home the Pooping Dogs calendar last year, I should have known that 2020 was doomed to be a heaping pile of number two. 

Lessons have been learned. 

And 2021 is bound to be better!