Valentines Day!

It was a tradition when I was growing up that as kids we'd wake up to a decorated table on Valentines Day. There was always a valentines table cloth, a little treat for us and the table was sprinkled with conversations hearts and other little candies. I have continued this tradition with my children. I start them off with sugar first thing in the morning and then drop them off at school. I'm sure the teachers really appreciate this from all the parents.

A few weeks ago I was visiting our local Target and came across these mail boxes in their dollar section. I needed something new this year to keep all the kids goodies in and so decided to go with these. I love em'. They will last for many years to come.

Each mail box was filled with a few pieces of candy along with a fun Valentines Day straw.
Last year I came across a package of heart shaped straws and bought them at 90%off. I HATE straws. We can go weeks without any spills at the table but if I let the kids use a straw it's a guarantee there will be a spill. I HATE straws and I hate the mess that inevitably happens because of them. Needless to say the kids were quite excited this morning when they saw there new straws. They could hardly believe that Mom was going to allow them to use them all day long. Lucky Kids.

Breakfast didn't turn out quite as planned this year. Somehow we used all the eggs over the weekend without knowing it. When I went to make breakfast I couldn't. And so we had cold cereal with heart shaped cinnamon toast instead.

Emily wanted a picture of her drinking out of her new straw.

For dinner tonight the girls helped make heart shaped breadsticks.

Along with a heartshaped pizza

and pink lemonade.

(Brayden's been on an antibiotic for 15 days now and still isnt' feeling well.

Just look at those poor eyes.)

Yum.. Yum..

For dessert after Family Home Evening (a lesson on love of course) we each had our very own warm, right out of the oven, heart shaped brownie with a scoop of ice cream on top.

Mmmm mmmm mmmmm!

I bought these foil heart shapes years ago wanting to use them in one my kids class rooms at school. I thought they were cute with perfect perportions for little ones. The package only came with 24 hearts and in previous years my kids classes always had more then 24 kids. It just wouldn't be fair not to have one for each child. I was hoping to use them this year in Hunter's class. However, no homemade treats are allowed in Utah schools. Figures! So I used them tonight and suprised my kiddo's. I love em' and they loved em'. I'm definetly going to look for some more this week and save them for next year.

Madelyn wanted to shine her heart out to everyone. Wishing them a Happy Valentines Day!

Is it Summer?

Starting Thursday afternoon of this past week Hunter has been asking me to take him to the school just for fun, he wanted to play on the playground equipment. Despite the farely nice day we were having I told him we couldn't go after dinner because it would be too cold. Saturday after lunch we finally made it to the school.

Hunter and Madelyn had a blast showing off to mom and the younger kids.
Last time we went to play at the school Emily was to scared to walk the bar by herself. She was quite proud of her bravery this time to do it by herself with no help.

Brayden was excited to get out of the house.

We all had fun running, jumping, yelling, stretching, laughing and just getting the wiggles out. It has been way to long since we've had such a nice warm sun shiney day.

There is a reason this little town is called Hurricane. It is always windy. These past few weeks has been nothing but terribly windy and cold. We have all stayed inside as much as possible. Saturday was a great day at breaking everyones cabin fever. It was not HOT as Madelyn claims it was but very nice and warm. It was a sun shiney day with NO wind. I'm tired of the sickenss going around, the cold, the ear aches and all the runny/stuffy noses. I hope the cold is gone and more sun shiney days are ahead. I am so ready for spring. Bring on the warmer weather.

Valentine Boxes.

Earlier this week I pulled up Family Fun on the internet to help get our creative juices flowing. Years past, the kiddo's have made their Valentine Box at school. This year we needed to make them at home and then take them to school.

Hunter chose to do "Crazy Card Bag".

I think it was the name that grabbed his attention.

I cut out the heart and then he drew the face.

He then cut out hands and feet.

Didn't like the 1st set of hands so he did it again using his own hand as a template.

Pretty smart, kiddo!

Meet...

"Crazy Card Bag"

by Hunter

Madelyn fell in love with the "Love Boat" also found at Family Fun. We cut, cut and cut.

She taped, and taped and taped.

It was finally time to apply the stickers.

and

"The Love Boat"

was finally completed by Madelyn.

Valentines Beginnings

Valentines Day is one week from today. Hunter's class at school is making homemade valentines and writing friendship letters to give to each other. When Madelyn heard about the homemade valentines she wanted to make some too for her class mates. Tonight for family home evening we made the girls valentines. I decided to make enough for Emily's class too. She was so excited to help make them. This will be her 1st Valentines Party in Pre School. I bought a bag of pencils last year after Valentines Day at 90% off. My stipulation to the girls tonight was that we weren't going to buy anything. We had to use what we could find around the house.
Madelyn didn't feel like butterfly's were very appropriate for the boys nor alien's for the girls.
So... we made both.

Thanks Family Fun for the great ideas.

Later this week we will be making there Valentine Boxes that all 3 kids need to have for their school party. In previous years the kids have always made identical valentine bags with their class mates as a project in school. Hunter and Madelyn are so excited to create their own unique one this year.

JC Penny's

This past week my mom mentioned that JC Penny's was going to be having a sale. Being she has one of their cards she gets to go a day early but get the same deal. If her transaction was over $50 she would get $10 off. Wanting to get the $10 off all of us girls went together, Mom, Me, Madelyn, Christina, Hanna and Sheri met us there too. Suprisingly they had awsome deals for my girls. I bought a total of 17 shirts between both girls. Some were short sleeve for this coming summer but most were long sleeve for next winter. Along with there shirts I bought myself a new pair of matching pajama's. This is a picture of all of Madelyn's new shirts with my pajama's. I had already put Emily's in the storage bin for next year. The majority of the shirts ended up costing me $2.09. My pajama's were the most expensive at $5.35 but that was both the pants and shirt.

The checker was an awfully nice guy and let us use mom's card several times to get the $10 off.

My total came to $53.11 barely getting me that $10 off leaving my balance at $43.11

I saved a total of $213.73!

I love these kind of sales.

Primary Changes

I realized recently that I forgot to post a picture at the beginning of the year of our Primary changes.

Hunter is now in Senior Primary.

CTR 8 and proud of it!Madelyn is in CTR 7.
Emily is in CTR 5

Brayden fell asleep on the couch during picture time. He is in Nursery and is LOVING it. As we get close to the nursery door his pace quickens.

At the door he goes in all by himself.

We have no tears or screams for mom.

It's great!

Wedding cake cont.

This morning after I put the wedding cake together I felt for just a moment relief, a weight that was taken from my shoulders. After a few minutes of relief the anxiety came back. Yes, the cake was done and looked pretty good but now how am I going to transport it? It seems like most put the cake together at the reception but being this was my 1st I wanted to make sure everything looked good, I had enough flowers, ribbon and jewels, etc. After putting it together this morning I didn't want to take it apart and leave marks that I may not be able to fix when putting it together for the final time.
So I lined a box with aluminum foil, put the cake in it and had my mom go with me.
I drove while she held onto the cake. I'm pleased to say it was a succes. Despite my worrying of an accident occuring or the cake tipping over while in route or me dropping it or the jewels and flowers falling off.
NOTHING like that happened. It ended up being a very uneventful trip.
Thank goodness.



The cake looked perfect under Tai Pan's lighting.
I hope the bride is pleased. I am!

McKaylee's Wedding Cake

Today's the big day.

My wedding cake day!

It's been a lot of work these past 2 days.

But in the end I'm pleased. I'm a perfectionist and this cake is not perfect.

Although is any cake perfect?

I know what I did wrong with this cake and I know what I would do differently next time.

This was a great learning experience for me.

I'm greatful for the opportunity I've had to make this wedding cake.

Kierra's B.day cake

A little princess, Kierra, turned 2 today.A princess needs a tierra and a wand!
Whats a brithday party without cupcakes.

I hope the little Princess enjoys her cake.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

This month is such a special one, It's birthday time for you....Happy Birthday to you!

The Bosch Center in St. George is looking for someone to come in and demonstrate the different ways of decorating cakes. The store came to ME asking to see my cake portfolio.

Uhhhhh.... I don't have a porfolio.

I love watching shows like Ace of Cakes or The Cake Boss.

The problem I have afterwards is I then start to compare my cakes to theirs.

This is like comparing apple to oranges.

I LOVE their cakes but I am no where near there level and probaly never will be.

I will never own my own bakery with employee's working on different parts of the cake and then compiling them together.

Another thing I've notice while watching these shows is where they work.

You notice those huge tables they have? How about all that fondant they have to work with. I've also notice the expensive tools they have to use. But the #1 thing I've noticed is the lack of kids. You ever notice that?

I haven't seen a single epidsode with a child in the kitchen. Or how about an episode with a child trying to put a dish away, he jumps on the counter to be able to reach the cupboard just as the Cake Boss turns around to see this said child kneeling in the middle of the cake because they're NOT paying attention. Nope! Don't think I've seen something like that.

Have you seen an episode where a wee little one climbs upon the table and grabs a fistful of frosting off the cake? Or how about an episode where again a wee little one pushes a chair to the counter to pick up some figurines that someone has spent HOURS on making with fondant. Becuase these figurines are now dried when the wee little one drops them on the counter they break into a few pieces? Nope! Don't think I've seen an episode like that either.

Don't get me wrong. I do love my kids! I just wish I had a place to make the few cakes I make without all the distractions sometimes.

I want this job with the Bosch Center.

I want to be the one doing their demonstrations.

I have been given many opportunities this month is putting together a portfolio.

I have my 1st paying birthday cake this week. It's for a little girl turning 2.

This saturday I have a baby shower cake due.

The last saturday of this month I have my 1st wedding cake also.

The wedding cake is the one that has me on pins and needles all ready!

Besides these 3 jobs I've aquired this month, January if FULL of birthdays for our family.

I am going to use this month to build my portfolio.

The above picts are of the cake I made for my dad's birthday this past weekend.

It was way fun and I think the best cake I've done so far.

Preschool Letter "N"

This week was my turn to teach preschool again.

The letter of the week was "N" with our theme being nursery rhymes.

The kids enjoyed gluing Noodles to their letter N.We currently have 5 little piggies at our house. Brayden is obsessed with these funny creatures.

The 1st thing he asks for in the mornings is to go feed the piggies. ALL day long he talking about our pigs and wanting to go outside to see them.

When I saw that my theme for the week was Nursery Rhymes, The 3 Little Pigs came instantly to mind.

To begin our morning I had the kids paint 1 piece of an egg shell pink that I had already cut out.

We tied our piggy noses around our face and then made a "wolf" puppet out of a paper plate.

While reading The 3 Little Pigs to them I had the kids acting the story out using their piggy noses and their wolf puppet.

The 1st little piggy built his house out of straw (spagehetti noodles)

and the wolf huffed and puffed and blew his house down.

The 2nd little piggy built his house out of sticks (pretzels)

and the wolf huffed and puffed and blew his house down.

The 3rd little piggy built his house out of bricks (nibs and white frosting)

and what a suprise... it didn't matter how much huffing and puffing my little piggies did.

Their house could not be blown down.

It was a fun day teaching The 3 Little Pigs Nursery Rhyme.

New Years 2011

Kory's side of the family was pretty large when we got married 9 years ago. Now 9 years later the family seems to have almost doubled in size. During the holidays the family takes turns alternating Thanksgiving with the Heaton side to the in-laws every year. No one seems to go home for Christmas. I think it's too many kids with too many gifts to haul and our families are getting big enough to hold Christmas by ourselves. So that my mother in-law can still see everyone around the holidays she throws a New Year's Eve Party for any one who can attend.

Now living closer to family we were able to ring in the New Year in Alton, Ut.

To say it was cold was an understatement. It didn't get above 10 degrees until the day everyone headed home. That afternoon there was no snow fall, no wind, the clouds even parted and allowed the sun to shine. It was a whole whopping 16 degrees outside. Being eveyone had mostly stayed couped up inside all weekend the kids were getting a little cabin fever.

Uncle Dustin came to the rescue. He pulled out some sleds and even tied one to the back of his 4 wheeler. Being the roads were caked with snow the kids could go sleding on the road in front of Grandma's.

. Uncle Dustin gave anyone who wanted a pull around the block with the 4 wheeler.

This 2011 New Year's Family Party was a little different and more special than in years past. 8 years ago Grandma and Grandpa Heaton had 7 grand babies born. The 2 older boys were baptized the end of summer. The 3 girls that were born in Dec. made the choice of being baptized together in Alton on New Year's Day. The last 2 grandson's will be baptized in May of this coming year.
Some how I missed getting a picture of the 3 beautiful little girls.

Kyle, Seth, Hunter

After the baptism and before dinner the boys had a good time playing with Pokemon Cards.

Alecia, Madelyn, Ruth

The girls had a great time being silly with one another.

Plenty of food.

Grandpa Heaton and Emily.

There were pleny of little boys running around. Can you imagine how much fun/trouble these boys had together? One of the cousins stepped out of the picture just as I took it, hence the once empty seat. Little stinker!

Despite the cold, cold weather we had a great time spending the weekend with our extended family.

We hope that maybe in April/May we can have Seth and Hunter baptized together. We'll see.