Moppet Togs

Alright, so some of you may already be familiar with this consignment shop but thought I'd give you all a heads up about their big semi-annual sale (once in spring and once in fall)... anyway, the girls have HOARDS of clothes and shoes (and I was thinking of either trading them in at Other Mothers or trying Craiglist) to get some more ca$h and saw that this company is currently taking consignors for it's sale that is mid-March (March 19-21) but you have to register to be a consignor by next week. You get 70-80% of the sale price of your items (which you set) and MT gets the other portion... I've never sold with them but think I'll try it out and thought I'd pass it along to any others out there that might want to take advantage of it too :) **if you do decide to be a consignor - I'd love it if you put me as a referral - so I can keep more of my sales percentage :) **

Here's the link to their site that gives all the info about consigning and the sale dates...
even if you don't have anything to sell - it sounds like it's a place to get some nice kids clothes/toys without paying retail!

anyone have any experience with this company?? I'd love to hear about it if you do...

9 months and counting...

As I wrote the title for this post, I had visions of comment after comment asking if that was a "sneaky" way of us having some news to share -- so let me put all speculating rumors aside and declare that NO... I am not pregnant - LOL

It does make reference to my little girlies -- I finally got them in for their 9 month appointment yesterday (even though they'll be 10 months next week.. oh well..)

All is going well with the both of them. Here are the stats:

Aubrie: 17lb 15oz and 29.5 inches
Lexi: 17lb 2oz and 29.5 inches

so this is the closest they've been (in regards to weight) to each other... Aubrie is usually at least 1-1.5 pounds heavier but it looks like ol' Lex is catching up!

Still just the best little babies one could ever hope or wish for! They both got their top 2 teeth on the same day (so a total of 4 teeth busted though about a week and a half ago!) and they have found that they really REALLY like graham crackers :) They've been interacting more with each other and "playing" together... it's so fun to watch!

As I was looking through their photos (trying to get organized to make a 1 year montage of them) I realized that most of the photos I had of them were "posed" so I've really tried to make a conscious effort to catch some snapshots of everyday life (because although I love the cute posed photos, I want to remember these small moments that pass too quickly!) They both have learned to climb the stairs (have a cute pic of this - gotta go find it tho -- ) and they love to get into the dishwasher - yikes! Regardless, they are the absolute funnest babies ever! Enjoy some "everyday fun" experienced over here on any given day...

my "bad boy" husband

So something quite interesting was brought to my attention this past week... that I'm married to a "bad boy"! and with those words being in quotations -- you know it's serious! We're talking mullet wearing, guitar playing, and "combs in the back pocket" cool!

So let the story begin....

John grew up in a very small town in Alaska and since being on facebook he has been able to reconnect with most of the kids he grew up with. One of these friends wrote me an email directing me to her own blog post that she made a while back and thought I'd find it funny (and I did!). After reading it I asked if it would be ok to share bits of what she wrote along with the photos and she was more than happy to oblige :)

(preface: the original blog post was about how they didn't have any stores in Valdez to buy the "big" earrings that were all the rage in the 80's and so she made her own by cutting out pictures of earrings from catalogs and glueing them onto cardboard -- (quite creative, I must say! LOL)... below is taken from her blog...)

"...I had a whole jewelry box full of these cardboard babies, but I don’t remember wearing them. Except around my bedroom. Like some middle school fantasy dress-up diva.... I did have a pair that I thought were scandalous. And I thought it would be really "Suggestive" if I ever wore them (they said "Soft Shoulder" and were road sign ones), so I just dreamed about wearing them and having a boy ask me if my shoulders were really soft. Oooh, the excitement of that question was almost too much for my 7th grade mind. And the boys I dreamed about were Troy Fenner, Matt Kiser and John Vogt. They were the boys with the coolest mullets and the combs in their back pockets. Now that my daughter is in Middle School I watch her like a hawk. Mostly, to see if she's as weird as I was and also to see if she likes the "Bad Boys" like I did. I am so afraid, she does share my DNA, you know!! These photos were taken in 1988, when I was in 8th grade. They are of Matt Kiser, Lance Komkoff and John Vogt."

John is on the far right in both photos... and were from their 8th grade yearbook.

as I was telling this story to my friend, she matter of fact stated... "well, that's what attracted you to John in the first place - that he was a "bad boy" with his long hair and earring (and that he wasn't a member of the LDS church)."

YIKES! she was right! I guess I'll be much like this gal when the twins are in middle school to see if they too, are drawn to the bad boys -- let's hope not because I don't think their dad will stand for it! LOL

Happy Valentines Day

hope you all have a fun time celebrating with your loves :)

There's several of us sick over here so not sure how much celebrations will be occuring... :(

a Valentines Box?

hmmm... now what could that contraption be that Seth is posing with... Would you beleive his Valentines Day "box"....
His class was having a contest and would be judged in 3 areas...(1) funniest (2) most "valentine-ish" <-- is that even a word?? oh well... and (3) Teacher's Favorite he came home with grand plans (and design) of a man bending over and you put the valentine in the back of his head and then he "threw it up" out of his mouth into a bowl... yeah, I had to shoot that one down... but I told him that dad might know how to construct it... he didn't. So then they decided on a Battering Ram (ok.. not even sure that's how it's spelled...) so they went to work on it.. the posts weren't made big enough so in the end it didn't "ram"... Seth was so sad. So on the morning of the party, he was going to leave empty handed... when I suggested that it sort of looked like a Mechanical Bull.. and why not tweak it to be such! He was thrilled... so we hurried and put the final touches on it and his Mechanical bull Valentines Box was ready! He ended up taking 2nd in 2 of the categories - he would have like first but said everyone thought his was pretty cool....

Also - out of all my boys - he is the only one who really enjoys reading... We've been going to the library lately and a few weeks ago he brought me his "pile" of books.. I tried to tell him that 10 was too many for us to keep track of and he should just narrow it down to 3-4. He insisted that he could read them all before our next trip.. so I conceded. Well, turns out he thought he only had them for a week (like at school) and so read ALL of them in a week!
crazy boy.. I wonder how many nights he stayed up reading these to prove me wrong - LOL

How it all started....

16 years ago today was the beginning of "John and Shandy"....
It was a Wednesday night and I had just gotten back from Young Women's (I was 17) and I was writing in my journal before bed. It was just a little after 9 and the phone rang. I answered it and the voice asked for Shandy. I answered "This is she..." and then the voice on the other end mysteriously changed to be one with a Mexican accent and he proceeded to say that his posse and him were going to be riding into town in his low rider and wanted to know if I would go along on a date. I then had to ask who it was - LOL.. he said it was "John... from McDonalds" (we had worked together at McD's but I had been in another relationship at the time and he got wind that we had broken up and so jumped at the chance to call me :)
I accepted his invitation and on Friday night he picked me up in his Maroon Ford Tempo. After we got into his car he started fiddling with his ear and I was like "what are you doing?" and he said "oh, putting in my earring... I didn't think it'd go over too well with your dad." (now my boys will never be allowed to wear an earring but.... my Johnny sure looked H.O.T. wearing a little gold hoop!!!) So that was the beginning of US... 2 days later he stuck a homemade valentines in my mailbox and has been such the romantic ever since!

Here were some old pics of us from some of the dances he took me to back in high school (I was a senior and he was a freshman at BSU)...

please excuse all of the dust! I didn't feel like redoing them... but enjoy a blast from the past :)

Resident Pervs and Long Hair

So Shandy and I went to an early Valentine's Day party on Friday night. They did a quiz on how well you know your spouse and we ended up tying with two other couples for first and after a gruelling match of paper, rock, scissors we won the grand prize. First of all, let me say, the paper, rock scissors game was quite impressive. I was up against a dude named Keith and he and I threw the same object like probably 1o times in a row before I changed my strategy and beat his rock with my paper. It was odd. Anyhoo, one of the items in our gift bag was red velvet covered handcuffs which was appropriate since we both answered that if our love life (meaning whoopee - their words, not mine) were a holiday it would be Halloween - full of tricks and treats. So, I guess it's official, we are now the resident pervs of the ward.

Moving on...

While in Nebraska over Christmas, Shandy and I went to see Twilight again. I was admiring how nice Edwards hair was and thinking I'd like to climb up into it and take a nap. I mean the dude has awesome hair and I say that in a totally non-gay way.

I then started to lament my own male pattern baldness and how I would never be able to have a thick head of hair again. Don't get me wrong, I like shaving my head. I think it works for me. With the military for the last 12 years, I've had to keep my hair short. At first I wore a high and tight and then as the bald spot got bigger, I just started hitting it with the bic. It wasn't always like that, though. From 88-91, I rocked the mullet. Business up front, party in the back. My mull was fierce. When Shandy and I first started dating, my hair hung down to my jaw line.

I then started to think about the boys. I have been giving them high and tights for years now.

In fact in the above pic, they were due for a haircut. I started to realize that I was cheating them out of the opportunity to have bushy, unruly hair. Just because I have to keep my hair short doesn't mean they have to. I had a talk with them the next day and told them that basically, I wouldn't cut their hair again unless they wanted me to. I told them they could grow it out and do whatever they would like with a few stipulations:

1. They still needed to look respectful. The hair can grow out but I don't want them to look like girls

2. They would have to take care of it and keep it clean and not look like a bunch of grease balls

So far they are all enjoying the new follicle freedom. August and Seth are letting their tops grow out but have both requested a little trim around the ears. Ben has yet to request anything. We'll see how it turns out.

we did it...

alright, John and I give in... after multiple requests, we have joined the ranks of fellow facebookers... It's quite confusing (for all of the 5 min. I've been on it...) so if any of you guys have any tips on navigating... please share! Also, I couldn't help but post this vidoe that I found on my friend (Amber's) blog...

Inspiration....

I don't how many of you guys are followers of Meslissa's blog 320 Sycamore but I HIGHY suggest running over there right now and reading todays post!
She has a guest "speaker" - Susan (who was my RS Pres. when I lived in Nampa) and she is such a positive, uplifting person and she has some wise words about how to have "Special Time" with your children.
John and I have done something similiar (but lacking a few of the key steps to the formula she has laid out) ever since the boys were super little and we've always just called it "Mommy/Daddy Time"... but I'm eager to implement this Special Time to its fullest potential!

Also while you're there - spend some time looking at her past posts... I have gotten soooo many ideas and heads up on deals from things she has posted :) she is also the master at decorating on a budget and finding things to "transform" at the dollar store! She really is one talented gal :)

Superbowl and a newborn :)

uhhhh.... can you tell which team we were rootin' for?! John has been a giant Steelers fan since he was 4. seriously... and we were excited that that they made it to the superbowl this year! Those last few minutes of the game made john's blood pressure raise quite a bit but we were thrilled with the ending!

We had some friends over and enjoyed good food, good friends and a good football game! There were 10 kids here (actually that number isn't hard to get to considering we have 6 of our own - LOL) but everyone enjoyed themselves....


Switching gears here.... I haven't done any photography since the weather turned (since I don't have any studio lights and am definitley more of a natural light gal) but a friend (who just had her little boy last week!) asked if I'd take some photos of him... here are just a couple of what we got today using the light coming in from the windows :)