Memory Lane Monday: 5 Cousins

I like how this picture just shouts "SPRING!" Even though this picture is outdated, I still display it in a frame above the computer desk. It was taken a few years back when there were only 5. Come next month, there will be 10!

Our week of Spring Break is here and we're so excited to spend it with 3 of our cousins. Tyler-man (above) and his two little brothers, Boyd and Monte. The kids are "over-the-top" excited! I'm excited to spend some time with my sister and my mom. So thankful.

I considered leaving my computer tucked away. No blogging. No facebook. No email. Just visiting and being together. I'm pretty set on it... but I do have to show my Mom and Sister my new scrapbooking software-it's too good NOT to share. I'll just have to get it out for that. :)

Enjoy your week everyone!

What's around the next corner on Memory Lane?
See you next Monday!




From This Front Porch

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Be With You

Okay, here's one more to go along with the last one. Then I have a MLM post ready for Monday. That's all for this next week! We're off to enjoy Spring Break!

See you later!
Alison

Little...

This 12 x 12 page took me about a half an hour to do. Everything is contained on my computer... no mess, no cleanup... What's not to love?! Oh, and Costco prints 12 X 12 scrap book pages! Can't wait to try it!

Alison

Meeting Grandpa!

Little Lita got to meet Grandpa Larry! He came through for a night on his was to see Ryan and Jeannie last week and then came back here on Sunday to stay for a few days with us. I love how she's checking him out in the above pictures. She does this now whenever someone is holding her. Maybe she's entering that aware and observant stage. It is so sweet. Sometimes we can even coax a smile or "goo" out of her. Love, love, love that!!!

A picture with all the kiddos below...


Thanks Grandpa for coming and for all the special time together! Looking forward to being together this summer,

Alison and family

In Print

Remember the card above that I made with my new Stampin' Up software, My Digital Studio? My next step was to print out the cards with my printer. I wasn't happy with the card that I printed out so I looked at ordering cards from the Stampin' Up website. It turned out that they were going to cost me almost $2 a card. Yikes! So my next option was to order cards from Costco. I wasn't sure at all what they would turn out like but when I got them I was very happy with them!

Below is more fun with MDS. I had these printed at the Costco Photo Center in our local Costco and they turned out great!

Yay for COSTCO PHOTO! It's not quite as convenient as printing right on my own printer but it is the closest store to my house and the price is right. I just can argue with that...

Happy sp-RING!



These cupcakes have a story...

The first full week we were home with our new little baby was a week of adjustments and setting new priorities for me. It also happened to be one of the busiest weeks of my year. One of the "events" of the week was Kyla's half birthday at school. You know, the celebrations they have when their birthday happens to be in the summer monthes. Anyway, it had been set up way back at the beginning of the year that she would celebrate that week and she had signed up to bring in cupcakes on Thursday, the 24th of February.

I didn't have any cake mixes in the house but I had it written on my grocery store list. As the week rushed on, I realized I was not going to make it to the store. Finally on Wednesday afternoon, the thought hit me that I could actually make cupcakes from scratch! Turns out I had all the ingredients in the house for both the frosting and cupcakes. When Kyla got home from school we made the cupcakes and frosting. After study that evening, we decorated them. And then I breathed a sigh of relief for the 100th time that week. Another huge accomplishment that would have been only a little detail in my "before baby" life.

The cupcakes were a hit. Luckily she brought home several uneaten ones so I got to try one. They were so much more moist and dense and delicious than the box made cakes. They were so easy to make too! I immediately decided I would not buy cake mixes anymore but just make my own.

So I posted the recipe here if you would like to try them.

*Enjoy!*

1 Month Old!

...on March 14th. I think we did this video the 15th...


I Have A New Boss


No longer do I get to make my own decisions and do my own thing.

I can't even think for myself anymore.
I have a new boss.
This new boss tells me when I can sleep and when I can eat.
This boss tells me how long I can spend at the grocery store and whether or not I will get to finish my last errand in town before I need to head home.
She lays around all day while I work from sun up to sun down.
Sometimes she stays up all night and expects me to stay up with her.
She gets pampered while I clean up all the messes.
Everyone talks softly and sweetly to her and she turns around and screams at me.
She demands food.
She demands sleep.
She demands undivided attention.
Sometimes she wants noise and sometimes she wants it completely quiet.
Sometimes she wants activity around her and sometimes she wants to be left alone.
And she won't tell us what she wants, we're just supposed to figure it out for ourselves.
She can be emotional and moody.
She scolds me when I eat things she doesn't think I should eat or go places that she doesn't think I should go.
She makes me drop everything I'm doing and answer her every beck and call.
And sometimes I don't get around to answering her right away, and that doesn't make her happy! Not at all!
She makes it difficult to keep up with my daily routine like showering, running kids to school, making meals, helping kids with homework, etc. because she thinks her needs are the most important.
It's funny how she just came into our house one day and took over.
She can be bossy like that, this new boss.

And she's the sweetest little thing EVER to have around, even if she is a little bossy at times.
She happens to be the best boss I've ever had with the exception of 3 other little bosses I've had over the years. *smile*


Enjoying *almost* EVERY moment with "my new boss",

Oh Ireland!



There are only two places I want to visit someday outside of the Great Ol' USofA and North America as a whole... Ireland and Norway. I may never have the opportunity but I really enjoyed seeing this video the other day. Ireland is part of my history. I think it's beautiful. I look at this day as a day to remember something of my past and share the traditions, beauty and our history with my family.

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be at your back.

Saturday Morning UNO



The kids love to play UNO together or as a whole family. They think it's fun to play the skip, draw four, draw two and reverse cards on each other. Sometimes it gets out of hand. Mostly they just have a good time and I love to hear them playing together!


Due Date!

Babies Due Date came and went a couple Saturday's ago. I intended to blog about it but haven't gotten around to it until now...

So on Saturday, March 5th, I had had a rough night with Melita and Randy had to get up early and go to work. I finally got Melita to sleep in bed next to me not long after Randy left for work and I was really hoping that the kids would let me sleep in. It must have been a couple hours later that I woke to the sounds of activity in the kitchen. I though "Oh good, the kids are getting themselves some toast." So I laid there and enjoyed looking around at my sweet little one sleeping soundly next to me on the bed (picture above) and then I looked across the room on the wall and saw this...
The baby chain hangs above the changing table in our room and I was reminded that today was the real due date and thankful again for her early arrival. Still 20 links left on the chain! She had already been in our arms for 20 days! :)

When I finally got up to head out and see what was up in the kitchen, I saw this note on the door...
Ahhh, how sweet! It turns out my oldest daughter had the idea to make me breakfast in bed and with some help from her brother and sister she made these biscuits from The Pioneer Woman Cooks...

She ended up making them with half whole wheat flour and Almond Milk instead of Regular Milk (for Colter who is allergic to Dairy) They brought me a hot biscuit into my room with butter and honey on it.

Then I came out and fried some eggs which we enjoyed with more biscuits.

Now as I type this I realize more than a whole week has passed since then. I took out my camera this past Saturday and realized that I hadn't taken a picture ALL week. I guess life has a way of happening and it happens to happen rather quickly at times. It's hard to believe that Melita is already a month old as of yesterday. Time to go snap some pictures...

Who Can Build A Mountain?

I love my sisters blog post today. Pictures and poem by her. Check it out here and feel inspired to face a new day... I am! :)

I am getting caught up so more posts to come here on From This Front Porch. Oh, and did you think I forgot about my Country Kitchen Recipes Blog? Well, I didn't. I have a new recipe to post there on March 20th, the FIRST DAY OF SPRING! It's coming folks!

All for now,

Memory Lane Monday: Remembering Japan

Our thoughts have been with those in Japan recently as we read and watch the devastation and destruction that has unfolded in "The Land of the Rising Sun" these past days.

I went back to April of 2008 for these pictures of when Randy visited Japan for work. His time was spent mostly in Nagasaki and in Imari, a more rural area in Southern Japan. He did spend a little time in Tokyo as well (above). The picture was taken from the top story of Japan's tallest building "Sky Garden". To see more the rest of his pictures that I posted back in April of 2008 click here.

The picture below is one of my favorite pictures of all time. I love how he captured the beautiful mountainous countryside of rural Japan as he was speeding by on the highway.
I can't even begin to imagine what these poor people are going through and what their country is experiencing right now. My heart goes out to them. My little problems seem so small and insignificant in comparison.

What's around the next corner on Memory Lane?
See you next Monday!




From This Front Porch

Grab my button and take your own walk down memory lane every Monday!
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My New ♥♥♥♥♥



So here is my first My Digital Studio creation. So far I ♥♥♥♥♥ the software! I am getting better all the time at editing/creating while nursing. ;)

Our internet has been down most of the last 3 weeks. It hasn't been such a bad thing... So, I've been spending some time with My Digital Studio and I think I found a new ♥♥♥♥♥, did I mention that already?

Now, I just need to figure out how to print my cards on my printer. But for now I better head to bed before my little one wakes up for her nightly nursing.

Hope all our doing well. I look forward to catching up with everyone again!

Hugs and all,

All About Melita Lauren

Here I sit with my sweet baby sleeping next to me on the couch. Like someone said recently about me "You've waited a long time for this..." It's true. I never looked at Maya as being my last baby and I really don't think Randy did either. We always thought we would probably have another child but for the past six years we have always felt like the time just wasn't right... we were maxed out.

Over and over I would tell myself that, likely I wouldn't have more kids and that I needed to move on with life and just accept that. I did accept it many times as I argued with myself but the longing would always come back again... I am so SO thankful now to have this little one and thankful for the timing of having her. It's a time our little family will always cherish in our hearts for the rest of our lives.

I wanted to write about her name and how we chose it. Before we ever knew we were having a girl, I started thinking about names. I had lots of boys names in mind but was having a hard time coming up with a girls name that I liked. Both Randy and I have one sister and the thought came to me one day that we should somehow combine their names "Melinda" and "Aleta". So the name "Melita" was born. I asked Randy about it and he really liked it. It turns out the name means "sweet as honey". I like that too!

All of our kid's middle names are after their grandparents- Kyla "Jean", Colter "Steven", and Maya "Judy". The only grandparent we had left was Grandpa Larry (Lawrence) to name our little one after. I have always liked the name Lauren for a girl and that is the feminine name for Lawrence, Larry, Loren. So we decided on Lauren for a middle name.

Then we had an ultrasound and found out she was going to be a girl so... Melita Lauren it was!

Here are some of my favorite pictures taken by Randy and I these last 2 weeks. The above picture was taken 2 Sundays ago. Do you like her little bow? It was made by our friend Wrena. Thanks Wrena for the bows for all three girls! They are so cute!

Another picture from that same Sunday of all 4 kids together. And another one of Melita with her eyes open (below)

She likes to sleep on her tummy (below) for her naps. At night I swaddle her and put her on her back in her bassinet. She sleeps till about 3 o'clock most nights. I really enjoy those hours of uninterrupted sleep because after her 3 o'clock feeding she doesn't always go back to sleep very good. I'm lucky that I can take naps during the day though so can't complain.

We are seeing those eyes more and more as the days go by. She is mostly content and quiet. She does hate two things so far... her bath and her car seat. The kids really don't like to hear her cry very much so hopefully they get used to her crying all the way to school. Better yet, maybe she will get used to her car seat and bath and she'll stop crying. :)

Lots of kisses from Maya. She thinks she is pretty lucky to have Melita all afternoon to herself...

After coming out from doing laundry one evening, I found this... heartwarming...

Colter can't go to school without holding his sister in the morning...

She had her 2 week appointment on Tuesday. She was up to 8 pounds and had grown and inch. Sometimes I feel panicky when I realize how fast she is going to grow and change. I just want to hold onto this little new born baby sweetness and dependence for a long time. I know the months will fly by to fast. So, I remind myself to enjoy every moment. That's all I can do...

Kyla's Work and Play

Recently Kyla took part in the Science Fair at her school. The collage above shows her doing her experiment. The experiment was to find out how salt and sugar affect the freezing time and temperature of water.

Below is a collage of her putting together her Science Fair Board. A big part of the project is how you present the project and tell others about it...
She found out that salt and sugar both slow down the freezing process and that both salt water and sugar water have a lower freezing point than plain water. Salt was much lower. She participated in her school Science fair and in the County Science Fair last week where she received a red ribbon.

I remember doing science fair as a child too and really enjoyed doing it with my family. It was fun to do it with Kyla and I suppose we'll have many more years of doing it now.

Have you or your child ever taken part in a Science Fair? What project did you do?

And, here is another activity that Kyla participated in recently...


Can you tell I'm just having to much fun with these collages? :) I recently got "My Digital Studio" from Stampin' Up and am so excited to try it.

All for now,

Welcome Home Little One!

We arrived home from the hospital on Wednesday, February 16th with our new little bundle. Mom and Maya were here waiting for us. The laundary was all done and the house was all clean. WOW! Thanks Mom! It wasn't long before it was time to go get Colter and Kyla at school. They were SO excited to come home to thier new baby sister.

It's two weeks later now and they still want to hold her... "MOM, I ONLY GOT TO HOLD HER TWICE TODAY..." *smile*

Love these little ones,