This Auntie Rocks

Last week, I decided to run into Carter's (real quick, haha) to buy a shirt for Preston for his birthday. And a shirt for Tyler so he could open a present on Preston's birthday too. Then I grabbed another shirt for each boy. Then I decided I wanted to get a few shirts for Valex and Daxsen too.

This aunt has a hard time controlling herself when it comes to spoiling the nephews.

So with my two shirts for each boy (so 8 shirts total) I walked up to the counter. Two things happened. The clerk informed me that socks were on sale. Socks? I told her that I didn't need socks. So she started to tell me just what a good deal it was. I informed her that I'm not the kind of aunt that buys socks. Those are lame and I am not a lame aunt.

The second thing that happened, was I saw a onesies that was to die for! Valex and Daxsen are my little rockstar nephews. If it has a guitar on it, I just can't resist getting it for them. Bonus if I can find the same thing for each boy. This onesie had a guitar on it and said "My Auntie Rocks." Of course I had to buy it for each boy!

Josh had stayed in the car while I ran into the store. I think he was shocked when I walked out with a bag of shirts. I'm so glad he doesn't seem to mind how much I love spoiling (and therefore spending) on my nephews.

Last night, after work, I went to see my sister and the boys so I could give them their new clothes. We both decided the onesies were so cute, we had to put them on a get a few pictures. Valex wasn't into the idea, so I didn't get a picture with both boys, but he warmed up for the camera later and let me take some pictures.

 I'm so sad to see Daxsen get bigger. He is my go to baby when I need to get my baby cuddles in.



Valex hamming it up for the camera with grandma.

Since Christmas at my mom's was such a full house, we didn't get the tunnel out to play that I gave them. But I soon heard just how much Valex (and the cat) loved it. So while I was there last night I asked Vanessa to get it out. Valex immediately dove into it, climbed in and out, turned around in, hid in, etc. He was having a blast. I can't wait for Daxsen to get big enough that they can play together in it. 

When I left, Valex waved at me. Vanessa says he hardly waves to anyone but grandma. He just knows what an awesome aunt I am.

Most aunts would probably wait until maybe Easter, or even birthday's, before buying more gifts. But I know me and I know that before long I will be back with more gifts.

Winter Subway Art

Since I put my Valentine's decor up yesterday, before putting this subway art together, I guess I'll display it next year.

I love how it turned out. I just ordered the Valentine's subway art for the Idea Closet. After that, I'm hoping she'll do a St. Patrick's Day subway art and then I'll have one for each season of the year.

Preston's 5th Birthday

Today we went to Josh's parents to celebrate Preston's upcoming 5th Birthday.

I was so excited to give him this tooth fairy pillow I had made, along with five $1 bills.

I also bought him a couple new shirts. I almost bought the blue shirt in orange (I love buying the clothes in orange), but this blue shirt was so pretty, I bought it instead. I'm so glad I did, its such a pretty color. 

I also bought Tyler a few shirts so he could have a present to open too. Josh says I spoil my nephews, he's probably right. ;)

 When we got there, I was so excited to see both boys wearing their "I'd rather be with my aunt" shirts that I bought them for Christmas. It made my day!

 

Preston smiling for the camera before blowing out his candle. I always get a kick out of his smiles, he tries so hard that they turn out so funny.

Helping Tyler open his present.

 He immediately started trying to put a shirt on, so I helped him. Then he was ready to play again and wouldn't even pause for a picture. 

Preston opening his presents.

Tyler LOVES his grandpa. Josh was trying to play with Tyler, but Tyler just wanted his grandpa. About the time I took this picture, Tyler told Josh "go to nanna." Another funny that afternoon was while Preston and
I were walking back to grandma's house. He stopped to look at a cat and I told him to keep going. When he still wouldn't go, I told him I was cold because I didn't have my coat on. He looked at me and said "It's ok." Then he headed towards the house again.

When you asked Tyler to show you his teeth, this is the face he makes.

Just before we left Preston decided to put on one of his new shirts and pose for a picture. 

Also before we left, Barb gave us our birthday presents. Josh got a gift card to C-A-L Ranch and she gave me this pretty picture. 

Tooth Fairy Pillow

Jessica saw this cute tooth fairy pillow on Pinterst a while back. Since she has a few nieces and nephews old enough to loose teeth, she decided to make them as Christmas presents. When I saw how cute they were, and with Preston's birthday coming up, I decided to make one myself. 

I went over to Jessica's one night and she taught me the blanket stitch. I've always thought it is the cutest stitch but thought it looked impossible to do. I was delighted when she showed me just how easy it is to do. 

I also included a picture of a tooth and five $1 bills to help he see how it would work once he starts loosing teeth. 

2012 Resolutions

It was fun and fulfilling to set my own goals/resolutions in 2011, so I think I'll do it again this year. And just like last year, I've taken my sweet time trying to figure out what they will be.

1. Continue on my weight loss journey. It was a HUGE deal to loose 60 pounds last year, but I still hope to loose a bit more. I still haven't ever set a final goal, I am just going to trust my body to tell me when it is done. So for now, I'll just say, I'd like to loose another 10-30 pounds.

2. Exercise. Yes, I think this does need to be a separate goal. Exercise is what has helped me loose so much weight. I'm sure I could have lost weight just changing my eating habits, but not near as fast. I've also come to terms that I will probably have to exercise the rest of my life just to maintain once I hit my goal weight. I'm hoping at that point, I'll be able to cut back and not have to exercise as much. But still, I know that if I don't want to put the weight back on, exercise is key.

3. Get a handle on our finances. I know I'm overstressed because of all the upcoming things in the next few months, but I think if I had planned ahead better, the stress wouldn't be so bad. In 2010, I was paid ahead on all our bills so I didn't have to worry about them through the winter months when life gets crazy. I didn't do that last year and now I'm wishing I had. It has been so stressful, I even put off my own birthday presents! (But they will be here soon enough.) Then, I just want to spend less and save more. The cruise is just over 3 months away and I still need to pay a little bit more to get it paid off (which I think I'll be able to do in about 2 weeks). Then I just need to turn right around and start saving for excursions and souvenirs.

4. I want to cook more at home. Its so much healthier and cheaper. Well, actually we don't eat out a lot. Our problem is more that come dinner time we have no dinner menu and therefore no groceries. So then we rummage around in the freezer for elk streaks or frozen pizza. Steak is not my favorite thing and even I can get sick of pizza after a while. So I'm going to work harder at planning out weekly menus. Thanks to Pinterest, this is so much easier then it used to be. And when Josh is back to working out of town, I want to be better about cooking for myself and not eat cereal in place of dinner each night.
5. Don't be so wasteful. I am so bad at buying stuff for meals and either over buying what I need, or forgetting what I bought and then it goes to waste. One night we decided to make Pizza Monkey Bread. I was worried I wouldn't have enough pepperoni, but I found 4 packages! (Two of them were opened and half gone, so it was more like 2 new packages and 2 partial used packages.) Another day, I called Josh at home to check for cream cheese in the fridge. I thought I had some, but wasn't sure how old it was. He found two, BOTH were expired, one of which expired in February 2011. I need to find a better way to organize my small kitchen so this doesn't keep happening. I don't want to throw anymore food away. Already we've been working on this. I can't believe how much cheese was in my fridge! We've been working hard to use up what is the fridge before doing any grocery shopping. Next I need to move on to my cupboards and what horrors of waste lay there.

6. I follow a blog that has participated in this 40 day challenge. The first year she got rid of 40 bags of junk in 40 days. The 2nd year she completed 40 craft project in 40 days. So I'm not really sure what the whole idea is, or if this is something she made up on her own, or found on a different blog. But the point is that my house needs dejunked. So I want to try and get rid of 40 bags or boxes of stuff, but I'm giving myself all year to do it. I'm hoping to get in a yard sale this year and that will help me get rid of a lot of stuff. If not, there is always the DI. Or the garbage can.

Chinese New Years 2012

The day after our New Year's party I got a text from Jessica saying that they had so much fun the night before, they wanted to celebrate Chinese New Year too. So last night we went to Andrew & Jessica's for a (mostly) Chinese dinner.

Jessica and I had found these cute hats in the city and decided to buy them for everyone.

Andrew, being the character that he is, wore his through all of dinner.

Kim & Brandon making a Chinese pose for their picture. 

The dinner table just as we're sitting down to eat. It was all so delicious!

Ham Fried Rice

Bulgogi, which is actually Korean, but Andrew thought it sounded good, so we had it too. I get nervous about trying new stuff, but when I saw it cooking, I recognized it as something my mom used to cook. 

I was in charge of dessert and decided to do something more Americanized, Raspberry Lemonade bars. 

Of course, the wontons were the best part of the meal. We had sausage wontons and cream cheese wontons. I ate just as many at dinner as I did before dinner while they were cooking. I was stuffed by the end of the night!

I love dinner parties at Jessica's because she always has the cutest decorations.

The girls each got a hat, chopsticks and a fan. 

The boys each got a hat, chopsticks and a Chinese finger trap.

Josh was determined to eat with his chopsticks. He did eat quite a bit with the chopsticks, but about halfway through dinner I noticed he had switched to a fork.

 I am more of a fork eater, but did try out the chopsticks for a few bites.

I feel so blessed to have these friends be a part of our lives.