Auntie Jj!

Belle's Auntie Jj came for a visit this weekend and we all had so much fun together! We had some fun shopping cart rides down the hall in turbo speed, we went to the Bellingham Farmer's Market and walked around downtown Bellingham. On Friday night we actually played Red Light, Green Light in our home. Haha! We mentioned it as a joke and then we actually played it. Then Trev made J and I race to see who could finish drinking a HUGE glass of water first. Then we challenged Trev to drink the same amount of water, do 20 jumping jacks, run down the hall a few times and do 20 push-ups... all in under a minute! And he did it, with one second to spare. Amazing! You should have seen his turbo jumping jacks - hilarious! And he ran so fast down the hall that a picture fell down. We had a great time being silly and just catching up. We love you JJ and had so much fun with you! Thanks for the visit... come again soon!

One Fish, Two Fish, Pink Fish, Yellow Fish!

Annabelle started swimming lessons this past week! Here she is in her little fish swimsuit.... what a cutie. We've attended two swimming lessons and she has a love-hate relationship with it. She loves playing in the water, but doesn't really like having to do things. For example, she was having a blast climbing out of the pool by herself and jumping into the water holding my hands. However, when we moved on to practicing kicking in the water, she was not such a fan of having to move on to another activity. I was really amazed that she could climb out of the pool by herself! She couldn't touch the bottom of the pool at all and she would pull herself up to her elbows and climb her way out. I shouldn't be too surprised though, since she loves to climb things. :) It's fun to meet the other parents and kids in the class. And it is wonderful to be doing something active outside of the house! Yeah for swim lessons!

Shopping Cart Time

Meal Planning 101

On Thursday night, my friend Julie taught a meal planning class at her house. It was so much fun! We each had to bring two recipes to share and a tip that makes our work in the kitchen a little easier. Then Julie introduced us to her method of meal planning for her family. She keeps a binder (similar to what is pictured above) that includes a list of her family's favorite things to eat, the recipes for the favorites, a meal planning template and more. I really liked her system and am determined to try it for our family. Julie has a website here with product information (she sells meal planning notebooks and an instructional DVD) and a link to her blog, where she shares ideas for cooking. If you click here, you will find her helpful templates.

I'm all about fun organizational projects so I made my own binder. I couldn't decide which of the designs to use as the cover, so (as you can see above), I did both! Luckily, it is double sided craft paper so I can switch them around when I am tired of looking at one of the designs. :) Now, I love to do these organizational projects, but I am not always great at follow through of these projects. So feel free to ask me if I'm keeping up with my meal planning every now and then. Haha! Now I shall go forth and plan!

Waiting for me to get her out of bed

Spring? Are you sure?

Just the other day I was thinking how thankful I was that spring was here. It has still been a mix between cloudy rainy weather and patches of sun, but it was feeling a lot more like spring than winter... until today. I took this picture a few days ago...

And I took this picture this morning...

It snowed for a few hours and we ended up with a few inches of snow! They were huge flakes! Of course, later in the day the sun came out for a while and most of the snow disappeared. Strange, strange weather.

Here is AB looking out the window at the snow. She really really liked standing on the windowsill.

What a joyful little girl we have!

Expensive Eye

I think Belle has expensive taste! She loved carrying my mom's Coach purse this last weekend. Her drink in one hand, a purse in the other... she's all girl!