Hilariously Immodest!

We've been working on potty training with the boys lately. They've been doing remarkably well for how remarkably uninvolved I am most of the time! They will go, flush, wash up and even get dressed again sometimes. Well, this time, Alex never quite made it to the dressing part. I guess he was too tired!

Lucas decided it was terribly immodest for Alex to be naked on the stairs. He put this baby wipe over his brother so he wouldn't be embarrassed later. Too late! I already snapped the embarrassing photo! It was sweet, though.

Beautiful Pleasant View

No, it's not a redundancy. It's the name of our little town. Not only is it the name of our town, but it's the truth! I LOVE where I live. I love my house. I love my yard (except for the lack of fencing :( ). I love my kids and family. I love my neighbors and my neighborhood. I just love life here right now. Yes... I said "right now," even though this post comes after an entire day of blizzard like snow that blanketed the almost completely visible grass with another foot or more of fluffy, sparkling whiteness. As the sun began to break through the clouds this morning, I couldn't help but reflect on the beauty of the nature I sometimes take for granted, yet am surrounded by every day. I absolutely LOVE the snow! Yes, it's cold outside. Yes, I'm ready for spring to come and the sun to warm it up enough for my kids to play outside again without layering up so much that they look like marshmallows. Yes, it's scary and dangerous driving in it. But it's BEAUTIFUL! Take a look:

Experimentation

It's been a bit of a rough morning. Sending Sarah to her room to clean it, then the boys a few minutes later to help her, facilitated a much needed Mommy Break for me. Audrey came into the kitchen a few minutes later, and I smiled at her. She smiled this huge, loving, excited, and extraordinarily adorable smile right back at me. It was then that I decided to try an experiment. For the rest of the day, I'm going to pick random moments throughout the day and just smile at my family. A genuine, sincere, non-joking smile. And see what happens. It brightened Audrey's mood immediately. Maybe it will do the same for the rest of my family. After all, we could all use a smile, right??

Here's Audrey's bright return smile.

Alex must always say "Cheese!" when we ask him to smile for a picture. As a result, his smile is always a little off. Still cute, though!

Lucas thinks it's funny to squish up his cheeks and squint his eyes for a smile. It makes for a good laugh!



And here's me. I'm kinda loving my eyes this morning, so I decided to post a picture of their blueness!

Sarah would not smile for me this morning. She kept giggling and hiding from the camera. Hence the absent picture. Maybe next time.

Another New Addition??

Yep! That's right folks! The Farnsworths are moving up in this world! And no. We are NOT having another baby. We have added a new member to our kitchen family, and I am SO incredibly excited about it! Not only because it's 95% the stove/oven combo I wanted, but because I got it dirt cheap!! Yes... I am the Bargain Queen! Take a look see:

I say it's 95% the one I want. That is because I would have preferred gas. However, our kitchen is not currently hooked up to a gas line, and I found this electric stove for such a great price, that I was willing to settle for electric for a little while longer in order to get the double ovens and major features this one provides. Hooray for bargain hunting!!

We still haven't gotten our refrigerator yet. But we did get a new dishwasher that I absolutely love with help from our home warranty (the one that came with the house gave out on us). Two down, two to go! Wish me luck!

GO CARDS!

Okay. It would have been really nice to see them take it all. Giving up a record 100 yard interception return wasn't helping their cause, and a last minute Steeler touchdown seemed to seal the deal. The first half wasn't that entertaining to watch, but our Cardinals made it a great game in the 4th quarter. We had a few friends over that have ties to Arizona to help us share in the glory of the first Superbowl for the Cards since 1947. The first one ever for the Arizona franchise. It was sad when they lost it with about 30 seconds left to go, but it was definitely fun to cheer them on the entire time. The kids even got really into it and could be caught yelling "Go Cards!" in the other room. Maybe they were just reading each others' faces...

Here's Sarah celebrating by the food. Papa asked her to show off her beautiful Cardinal face.

Alex did really well letting me paint his face. I was completely done in about 3 minutes.


Lucas, on the other hand... He just would not sit still. It took me about 10 minutes to finish his..

What's that black stuff??

Oh... Go Cards!



Audrey was so interested in the face paints. She wouldn't stay off the table while I was painting the Lucas's face...

and she just had to see what the green one tasted like!

After much squirming, and even more touching her face, we finally got hers done. It seriously was only about 15 seconds of actual painting. The rest was grabbing her hands and trying to turn her face back to me. She thought it was a game. But she turned out cute! Sarah loved the heart.
If the kids hadn't had so many Rice Krispy treats, soda, chips and other junk food last night, we may have gotten them all to sit down together for a few seconds to take a picture of all the littlest football fans. But they were way too wound up. Plus, playing with friends is always way more fun than taking pictures! Their new friends Zack and Kenlee were there sharing in the fun. Kenlee really liked Sandy, and Zack thought it was the coolest thing to chase around the other kids with a little roaring alligator puppet on his hand. The other kids agreed. It was a very fun night.