Just Like Daddy!

Sophie- red tie, Sage- silver tie, aren't they handsome?

Good job color coordinating.

The other morning (like the bead head?) I heard giggling in the other room and knew they were up to some kind of mischief, the next thing you know two handsome young men came walking in, all dressed for work. They announced "we're off to work now, we'll be back soon".

Too cute, they play dress up in my clothes often, but this was a first in Paul's clothes. Shhh, he'll never know after a quick ironing :)

They love their dad.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Do I have enough m & m's on my temple cookie?

I'm back. One bad thing about having a big family is when one person gets sick, we all get sick (not always but often, isn't it nice to share?). At least it didn't last long. Plus, we had a big primary activity that snuck up on us, so we've been quickly preparing for that. The children each brought home a FHE (family home evening) packet to share with their families. It was a trick to put together 100 flannel board type stories in a few days while not feeling well, but we were blessed and pulled it off- others made temple cookies to decorate & "forever family" fridge magnets, it turned out great! Also, it's the open house for the beautiful temple in our area. We've had the privilege to help with that so I've had some neat opportunities to usher, serve, & tour. What a blessing to have this in our area and I love looking out our back deck to see the temple up against the mountains. The dedication is this Friday.

We had an all green dinner tonight

It was delicious, if I say so myself. The kids helped me make our green cuisine- Pasta w/ Pesto yummy recipe below, all green salad, green parsley garlic bread, fresh squeezed limeade, and lime sherbet w/ kiwi for dessert. It was a hit, even with my picky eaters.

The best part of today is being the first day of the year warm enough to wear these.

Because last week we had a day like this. (This is what happens when you have big brothers, they dare you to run out in the snow barefoot for a full minute. They dared Trevor but Sophie and Sage couldn't let Trevor have all the fun. Brrr)


Pasta with Pesto
from Family Fun

1 1/2 cups of tightly packed, washed and dried basil leaves
1/2 cup of walnuts
2 chopped garlic cloves
2/3 cup of olive oil
2/3 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1 pound of spinach linguine or fettuccine
Parmesan cheese to topping dish

Directions
Chop the basil leaves in a food processor or blender.
Add the walnuts and chopped garlic cloves. Process until finely ground.
With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil.
Next, pour in grated Parmesan cheese, salt, and black pepper. Mix and then set aside.
Cook pasta according to package instructions.
Drain and toss with the pesto in a serving bowl. Top with more Parmesan cheese. Serves 4 to 6.

I used Farfalle (sm. bowtie) noodles instead of fettuccine, and I would add only 1 large garlic clove instead of 2, too strong for the kids. It's delicious for anytime of year!

First Kiss...

Never thought I would be typing this already. Sophie proudly claims she doesn't like kisses, only from mom & dad before going to bed, and only if there has been no signs of sickness throughout the last week, or any signs of germs whatsoever. She also cancels all goodnight kisses if she has been sick or has chapped lips, scratch on her face, dry skin, you name it, for our own safety of course, and makes up for it with an extra big hug, so sweet. But Sage...

The other night I was reading with my kids a short Chicken Soup story. Afterwards, we were chatting about the story and the topic, dating/playing the field and kissing. Then, giggly Sage said that she had been kissed. "Gman" kissed her the other day at recess, on the lips! Woa, Kindergarten kissing. Trevor's first and only kiss wasn't until 2nd grade (she [his classmate] kissed him). Now they're in 4th grade and it's totally taboo. And I remember playing "kissing tag" in our neighborhood when I was little, good thing I was a fast runner but some of the boys were faster, and I was older then 5.

But Sage... already kissed... We had a short chat on how kisses are special and probably should be saved for when you're older, her biggest question was "why?", although she agreed to tell Gman the news about kisses. I'll be sure to pop in on a few recesses. Who knew I'd be posting her first kiss so soon. Any other kindergarten kissers out there? You'll find cute "Gman" in the slide show below, they're great friends.

Happy Birthday A, it was so fun celebrating with you!

"Pinkalicious"

Our little readers- Sage won't put down a book until she's got it.

Funny how she's dressed just like the girl in the story she chose, not planned

btw, If Ihad read this book before hand, I probably wouldn't have bought it (no offense to the author). The illustrations are great and the story is funny, but the disobeying part, my girls thought it was a little too funny. I'll post our favorite books sometime soon.

Sophie discovered a new found love- Basketball! She has carried this ball around all week, I even found it under her bed while she slept :)

A true athlete, a little dusty w/ cute windblown hair, my brown eyed girl. She just came in from beating Nick at basketball ;) I should've taped it! Nick was so good to help her score.

Her poses always crack me up.