The Big 4!

Andy and I had so much fun getting ready for Jaben's 4th birthday. It was a couple of weeks of straight preparation, but I wouldn't have done it any other way. He is such a special boy and he deserved every second of our hard work. We had many of his little friends and their families gathered together for a Toy Story themed party

Since every little boy party has to be about the activities, we did a slip and slide, a kiddie pool, and a pinata. The kids also helped Buzz save the army guys in a magnetic fishing game, and pinned woody's sheriff badge on a poster sized image of him.

For the parent's the most important part of any party is the food. That's the reason we made sheriff badge sugar cookies, braided bread, watermelon, and the grand finale of a cake. I actually accomplished my first real birthday cake that developed over a four day time period! Three white chocolate layers were sandwiched together by a dark chocolate ganash and encased in a bright green fondant. Jaben's one request was to have little guys on the top, so here they are in all their glory:

Thank you so much to everyone who helped make his day so special! Jaben will be talking about all of you and his party for a long time!

Let the summer fun begin!

Thank heaven for an awesome daddy for my kids! Andy spent almost every evening the last week, all day Saturday, and a good part of Sunday putting together this nice little project. With a lot of help from our friend Nate, and trying not to get too soaked during the intermittent downpours, we are now the proud owners of a play system for our little ones. I'm still not quite sure who is more excited, me or the kids, but we have already gotten a lot of use out of it. Now that that project is completed, we can relax and have a little fun, hence the bike ride we went on tonight. In the last picture, Kyleah is fast asleep with her fists in front of her eyes.

the beginning of summer...

Words can not describe how much I love summer. Whether that means sweltering heat, a day at the beach, or everything in between, I live for summer time. This year we welcomed it with seed packets and some serious elbow grease as we cleaned out our existing weed patch and attempted our 3rd Cline garden. Our fingers are crossed that this time will be a charm and we will be the proud owners of more than just a few plants. The past couple of years we have had a problem figure out exactly where we planted everything after the ground has settled, therefore we agreed to string it off and label our rows. In Andy's dear mind he envisioned me plunking a couple of paint stirring sticks into the ground and writing on them with permanent marker. He had obviously forgotten who he was married to. I did use the stirring sticks, but only to mount my little signs that are double matted and stamped on with my all time favorite tools: clear stamps. Now, even if my plants don't come up, at least the dirt looks good.

Just another day

Just another day at the Cline house means two little faces peering at me over the bar, a little girl that wants to be held, and a little boy that wants to be played with. These are the blessings of our lives....

Never too young for cute shoes!

Kyleah has already grown out of these adorable shoes, and I have been wondering how to keep them a part of our lives. She wore them so few times before her sweet little feet got too chunky for them. When I saw a layout in Creating Keepsakes magazine with the title "Never too young for cute shoes" I knew it was the answer to our problem. Kyleah loved the chance to play with her pink shoes, and I loved taking the pictures!

Okay, so we got a little goofy. Kyleah is such a happy baby that it's hard not too smile when you are around her. Not too mention those chunky thighs! Got to love them.

The things kids choose to imitate

I could not be more proud of my little boy. He loves his little sister, and is always so helpful in getting my boppy when it is time to feed her. Today, I fed Kyleah while we all sat on my bed and read a naptime story. I then told Jaben to go get in his bed while I changed sissy and put her to bed; then I would be in to tuck him in. When I got to his bedroom, I found him in this endearing pose:

In case there is any question about what he is doing he said that he is "feeding his kitty chocolate nilk". The chocolate part could be why princess Kyleah is such a chunky little thing. She was fast asleep cuddling with her baby while her brother was using her boppy to feed a stuffed kitty:

de-cluttering my life

Andy and I have long been feeling that we are outgrowing our sweet little yellow nest. Our dear children, and their insane amount of stuff, have begun to make this 1500 sq. foot home feel a little tight; so we came to the conclusion that we needed to de-clutter our lives. Or at least the play room that is.

This summer we had a somewhat successful yard sale in the attempts to do just that, and offloaded some major items. One of these items was my great grandmother's sewing cabinet, and the separation was heart wrenching. My supportive husband left this choice completely up to me, as he knows I miss her dearly. However, the sweet item no longer had the machine bolted on the inside, and no way to bolt a new one in. When I placed my new machine on top of it, it only made it too high for this 5'3" lady to actually sew. It had metamorphosed into a rather large, brown, wood item that took up space and held our printer. Therefore, I bid it adieu and sent it off to a new loving home.

Today I am wondering if that decision was the correct one as I toted my laptop into the playroom and set it in the middle of the lightning mcqueen race track, and quickly replugged it in, as the battery no longer works. I then pulled the printer off the storage cabinet from way above my head, praying the whole time that it would not come crashing down. After mercifully planting it on the ground, next to "chick" the race car, I went rummaging through the storage cabinet to find the cables needed to boot it up. Jackpot! I am now connected, and will proceed to print out that one coupon I went to all this work for. Now I ask, is de-cluttering really necessary? Too bad I am a frustratedly anal person that is constantly trying to succeed at this attempt, and also happened to marry someone just like me in that respect. May you all have happy de-cluttering attempts in this new year!