No longer living La Vida Loca

It's my birthday. I am 36 years old today. Here are some of my favorite things as of right now at 36 and some other tid bits about me. (I think my interests have changed a lot over the last 8 years or so.) Some may recall my 28th birthday party where we had a bounce house, a pinata, and bbq for grown ups. 

I am still young at heart. I would still bounce in a bounce house (and did 3 weeks ago.) 

I love sweets. Preferably cake with butter creme frosting. (cookies & candy are good, too.) 

My favorite food is still popcorn. As in typically I would rather have popcorn more than dinner. Some like pizza, some like Mexican food, mine is popcorn. And recently I got my amazing popcorn popper and shortly there after found the perfect way to make it take just how I like. Mmmm. 

\This leads to crazy kernels all over the place, though.

My favorite thing to do is sleep hang out with my 2 sons. They are so fun. Cody makes me laugh every day. And worry and laugh again.  Caden has the biggest grin I have ever seen. His eyes are so full of love and searching for new adventures and learning all the time. 

My favorite man is my ah-maze-za-ing husband Cody. He is the best. He is silly and funny and loving and kind. He has the patience of  a saint. 

I love my family. I have 2 pretty awesome step-daughters, too! 

Stephanie on a motorcycle

My current favorite animal is Mouse. That cat rocks! He waits until Caden is asleep and comes in and sleeps on the other side of me. He is so funny. He is a cuddly cat and even tolerates the daycare kids. 

My favorite date is going to the temple with my husband. (This is a recent favorite. Like a really new favorite,  but it is the best.)  I also still love going to the movies, but don't take me to dinner before the movie. I don't want to fill up before I get my popcorn!

I would go on but you are probably bored with all this self love and happiness I am sharing here and I think I hear a baby calling me. 

Thanks for reading. (I like comments, too!)  

Here is a happy picture to leave you smiling today...

Cody, Edward Cullen, Mariana, and the back of Cadens head!

Toothy Grin

I love this toothy grin! 

And blue eyes

and did I mention the grin? 

 Nine months old! 

Oh Crafty my Craftiness & Such

I am a stay at home mom who does a small daycare out of her home so she can stay home with her kids. Mine are the awesome little boys you see all over this blog. 5 years old and almost 9 months. Currently the day care kids are all young. Under 2. (There are 3 of then so I have a total of 5 kiddos, 4 of whom are under 2 years old.)

I love Pinterest. As I discovered it and that there is always too much to be discovered there I decided I wasn't just going to look at these fun foods or crafts I was going to make my relaxing internet time into something. So I peel my lazy bum from my comfy computer chair and do crafts and projects with the kids. I cook and bake for my husband and kids. (Ok, I admit it, I bake for me.) But like all these stay at home mom preschooler blogs and fancy home cooking ladies I am not a great step by step poster. If you are my facebook friend you might have noticed my album Pinterests and other Stuff I have done. This is where usually the finished products get posted. I am human I like it when people "like" my stuff.

Not all of the things we make or do are from Pinterest. Some I make up myself. Some I find in magazines, etc.  I know this is already probably too many word for our short attention span blog reading word so with out much more here are some of the things we have done. Enjoy.

Spider paper plates 

Sun-catchers

A new Egg-cellent reading game 

Each egg has 2 letters on the large part of the egg. like -at. The small side has  different letters around it. Like C  H  M. So he spins the egg to a new letter to make new rhyming words. He is holding Pit which he changed to Sit and Lit.

Hanging Shamrocks for St. Patricks Day. 

this would have been a lot longer post of pictures. but I somehow deleted all the pictures off my phone when I thought that I uploaded them to the computer.

Day of Free

I bought a coupon book with a Groupon (which as you may know is a coupon.) So I used a coupon to buy a book of coupons for Free Stuff for half price. Also just before Valentine's day I bought 5 $1 Valentines booklets that kids can pass out to other kids. Each one had 12 coupons for free stuff.  On Presidents day we decided to have a fun Free Day!

McDonalds for the kids and Arby's for me! Yay!

 Then off to the Kiddie Park! Fun and free! Big Cody has been telling me how lame this place was for years. he has really been talking it down. so I was not expecting much. It was great! (If I had been expecting it to be great I would have been let down, though. Ha!) They have 8 kiddie rides. We had a free pass for unlimited ride. Lil Cody had a blast! Caden even got on the Merry-Go-Round. And K the 11 month old from daycare rode the spaceships with Stephanie.

From the Kiddie Park we went on over to the library to get some free books and movies to watch at home. Lil Cody loves the lil kid computer and since most parents don't realize you are suppose to sign up for it he almost always gets to get right on it. tee-hee-hee. 

After that we went back to McDonalds for free ice cream cones. 

Then that night we went to a movie for free with a coupon.  It was the Alamo Draft house so I did break down and buy a yummy dinner. (It was on a special value, though!)  Yay! 

It was a fun day of saving and playing! 

The birthday boy

Dinosaur Train Birthday (with a ton of pictures!)

Lil Cody has been loving the Dinosaur Train show from PBS on Netflix so he decided he wanted a Dinosaur Train Birthday Party.  I did some Pinterest research and created a prehistoric party for my little 5 year old! 

We started with some Grub. 

Prehistoric Fishing. Pretzel rods, dip into blue cream cheese and then the gold fish. 

Carnivore Treats, Gummie Bears

And for the Herbivores, fruits and veggies. 

I was able to get a great deal on dinosaur costumes so we had 6 costumes and 3 hats for the kids to dress up in. 

And the drink. (Apple juice, with 7-Up green food coloring and sherbet.) 

The kids actually drank it and loved it!  

They loved the reading tent. Looking at books and playing around. 

Almost done with the set up. 

For a game we blew up a bunch of balloons. and put them in this nest. The kids got to pop the balloons and find little dinosaurs in the "eggs." They also were not afraid to pop the balloons. 

Egg fun. 

When the kids first got here we had them decorate dinosaur nest/bags for all their dinos and pinata prizes and candy. 

We had a pinata and yummy cake and ice cream. 

And the Dinosaur Train. . . 

Cody loved his Dinosaur Train daddy made for him. after the pinata kids rode back to the house in the train. 

Random picture of our popcorn machine. Edible Volcanic Ash. Mmm... 

Thanks to all our friends for coming!