Demarie's Doll House

So, for Christmas, the girls got a beautiful doll house, completely furnished (it even came with a piano). Well, this sparked Demarie's imagination, and she immediately went to work creating her own dollhouse! I thought it was pretty creative!

A shelf with a toy box full of toys (there is even an American Girl doll in the toy basket), a window with stick window panes, and a big screen tv mounted to the wall. If you look closely, you can tell that they are watching the Little Mermaid.

A view of the inside. There is a bed with a beautiful paper blanket and cotton ball pillows, a rug, and table and chairs. There are even dishes and yummy food on the table.

Guess which doll house gets played with the most? :)

How to Survive With Your American Girl Doll

If you are reading this post and have not went through the American Girl doll experience with your daughter, be so grateful!!!! Not only are these dolls very expensive, but their outfits and other accessories cost more than what I spend on my own daughter's clothes:)

If you are reading this post and have a daughter that is obsessed with the American Girl doll dream, be so grateful!!!! These dolls are adorable and you can order them to look like your daughter. I have to admit, I get excited when my daughter asks me to help her put on one of the doll's outfits or to comb her hair. I've watched Demarie's imagination go wild with her new friend.

So, if these dolls and all that comes with them are so expensive, how do you live the American Girl doll dream and still survive with money in your wallet? That was the question that I asked myself as I watched my daughter flip through the magazine and ask if she could get this outfit or that. Suddenly, I had a great idea! I have two bags stuffed full of baby clothes in my garage. Would it be possible to alter them and make my own American Girl doll outfits? So, my daughter and I rummaged through the baby clothes and picked a few outfits that didn't look "babyish" (because her doll "is NOT a baby! It is an American Girl doll!")

Here are my finished projects so far:


Every American Girl doll needs a pair of warm pajamas to cuddle up in at night, right? This was my first sewing attempt to make pajamas from a 0-3 month sleep and play outfit. I even managed to whip out some matching warm slippers so that her feet don't get cold (an essential for Las Vegas!). I wish I would have taken a before and after picture of the outfit!

With Spring around the corner, I just knew that Demarie's American girl doll would need a new Easter dress. Here is the before picture of a cute 0-3 month dress that Preslyn wore when she was a baby.

And here is the after picture... a beautiful spring Easter dress! I was pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to take the dress apart and making it into a completely different dress!

I wish the picture was better, but here is a view from the back. Not sure if you can see the purple flower buttons, but I did have to point them out just to show that I actually made button holes!!! The best part of the whole project: My daughter LOVED it! The second best part of the whole project: It was FREE!

SEA WORLD VACATION

So, one friday morning in March, I woke Demarie up in a panic! "Demarie, we slept in!!!! You are going to be so late for school!" She popped out of bed and started getting ready as fast as she could. When she was all ready, I looked at the clock and said, "Oh! We are so late! I guess instead of going to school we ought to load up in the van and drive to California to go to Sea World!" Demarie and Preslyn were so surprised and excited! Broyden imitated them jumping up and down cheering too. I guess he figured something exciting was happening! We had packed the van the night before when the kids were in bed, so after breakfast, we headed to California for a fun family adventure!

I would like to say we had an "amazing" time, but as soon as we pulled out we all got sick! In fact, we were all so sick that the following week I was diagnosed with tonsillitis, Demarie got bronchitis, and Broyden had double ear infections and a major cough. Preslyn pretended to be sick because everyone else was and when we were all starting to feel better, she got so sick too! Even Aaron wasn't able to escape it! However, despite the sickness, we did have a GREAT time! Here are a few pics from our quick vacation...

WATCHING SHAMU... SO EXCITING! WHO DOESN"T GET CHOKED UP WATCHING THIS SHOW!!!! IT WAS WORTH IT, JUST TO SEE THE LOOK ON MY CHILDREN'S FACES!

SHAMU AND BABY SHAMU TAKING A MUCH DESERVED BOW!

WAITNG FOR THE SEA LION SHOW

I remember walking past the carnival games at the fun parks growing up and begging my parents to win me a prize. Then. I had a friend in high school that worked at Lagoon and she told me how the games are totally rigged to make it harder to win. So, when we walked past the basketball hoops, I was stunned when Aaron forked out the money for 3 shots to win a stuffed animal. He just couldn't resist the temptation of proving that he was a good shot! We all held our breath, and $15 later, Daddy pulled through with a teddy bear for Demarie and a stuffed Shamu that was as big as Preslyn!

Family pic with the... Sea Lion?

SMILE!!!! LOOK LIKE YOU ARE HAVING FUN!!!

WATCHING THE DOLPHINS SWIMMING AND EATING

SEA LIONS LIVE... PRETTY HILARIOUS SHOW!

DEMARIE BOUNCING ON THE TRAMPOLINE

MOMMY AND DEMARIE CLIMBING WAY UP HIGH!

Our favorite show was the Dolphin show... so AMAZING! We even came back the next day to watch it again!

Sometimes it got pretty hot waiting in the sun.

This was Preslyn's way to keep shaded and cool!

It was EXCITING to be one of the first ones to see the new SHARK exhibit! Opening Day!

This picture definitely sums everything up!

The Gardening Bug!

I've got the gardening bug again! We went to Star Nursery and picked out some flowers and tomato plants. I love Star Nursery! It's like going to the zoo, except instead of animals, we look at plants:) We did stop and visit with the turtles in the water pond. There are three of them and each of the kids "adopted" and named their own turtle. What a great way to have a pet! Now, whenever we go to Star Nursery, we can say "hi" to our pets while the store takes care of them for us:) I miss my gardening plot at the old house, but we will make due! I dug some big holes and filled them with good soil and planted our plants. Hopefully, we can turn our backyard into a beautiful garden someday!

I miss my gardening plot at our old house! For now to make due, I dug a few large holes and filled them with good gardening soil. Someday I would like to take out all the dirt around the perimeter of our yard and turn it into a beautiful garden. Someday.... Hopefully this year we will at least get tomatoes!

Broyden loved helping me! He is a natural dirt-lover!

Garden Club and Muffins for Mom

One of the teachers at Demarie's elementary school put together a "gardening club." The school was able to arrange garden plots in the courtyard and the children have planted a beautiful garden. Once a month they meet after school to plant different kinds of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. They read books about gardening, draw pictures and write about different topics related to gardening, and even get to sample produce they helped grow!

One month, they each got to take home a cup of soil with a seed of their choice to grow at home. It was a tough decision trying to decide what seed to plant.

Demarie with her planted seed... a flower.

Here is a picture of Demarie with her classmates. I wish I could help out more at school, but it is so hard with the little ones. Demarie is learning so much and has become an amazing reader and writer. She writes chapter books all the time and even has her own series... The Outer Space Fairies.

In March, Demarie's elementary school had Muffin's for Mom before school. It was fun to go and spend some time with Demarie at her school. I can't believe how much she is growing and changing! Oh, how I wish I could just stop the clock!!!!

Sledding On Mt. Charleston

I know, I know! It's May and I'm posting snow pictures:) I got a little behind on blogging so I thought I would catch up on a few things we did over the past few months. These pictures were taken in February on a day that school was out. We went up to Mt. Charleston with some friends from the ward and had a great time sledding and playing in the snow. Our kids haven't really had the opportunity to be around snow that much so they loved it... sort of! Until they realized how cold snow can be:)

Preslyn trying to dig in the snow. She had a hard time moving in all her snow gear!

Demarie with her friends Alexis and Katrina... trying to build a snow fort!

Demarie posing on the sled... don't let her smile fool you! She wasn't too keen on the sledding part! She preferred to just play and build in the snow.

Poor Broyden. Just because he is the only male child in our family, he got designated as Aaron's sledding partner... and if you know Aaron, he can't just take it easy! Needless to say, after a few runs, Broyden wasn't too fond of the sledding idea either!

Posing in all their snow gear!

He either had way too much fun and fell fast asleep, or he got tired of not being able to move in his snow suit and decided to take a snooze to ease his frustration!

This just makes it harder on our decision of whether or not we will ever move back to Utah! We can enjoy the snow a few times a year, and then drive a half hour back to our homes and enjoy the warm sun... all on the same day! The best of both worlds:)

Playing with Preslyn

Preslyn made this hat at a Mommy and Me Preschool class at the library. We go to storytime and then the class or play at the park on Thursdays. She loved wearing the final project!

On Friday mornings, Preslyn gets to have a special play date with her friends. We take turns hosting the play date at our house. This is Preslyn with her friends Ellie and Kelsey. They all get along so well. One day they wanted to play outside. We have a nice grassy area, a climbing toy, and lots of different cars/bikes and balls to play with, but they found the one spot in the grass that was dirt and wanted to dig and play in the dirt!

Broyden loves joining in the fun too! One day they were playing dress-up. They all came down stairs to show off their pretty princess dresses. Broyden had a pretty crown too! Later, he wanted me to put one of the dresses on him, but Aaron won't let me post that picture:) It was pretty cute though! It's so cute to watch Preslyn interact with her friends:)