MIA = Long Update

I know I've kinda been MIA lately! I have a good reason! I have some awesome news, but wasn't able to share it until I got something taken care of today! So I knew I had to keep myself off of the blog so that I wouldn't blab! You wanna know what it is?

I got a job! An awesome job that still allows me to stay home with my kids, but also allows me to cut back on child care quite a bit. I've really been struggling with child care lately. My kids weren't enjoying the other kids, and honestly, neither was I. I think it was just childcare in general. I've been doing it for 3 years -- since Maisey was 9 months old. It was getting to be really overwhelming. My sister emailed me a few weeks ago about an opening for a blog writer at her company. She asked her boss if somebody from out of state could apply, and since most of the work is done online, he said yes. So I applied, and as you can imagine, I got the position! It really is so nice. I can do as much or as little work per week that I want to. I can work from my house, my mom's house, the airport, ANYWHERE that has Internet. So, even when on vacation this summer I can still be making a little extra money! It really is the perfect job for me!

The hardest part about all of this is letting some of my child care families go. All of the babysitting I do is part time. It's all crazy hours and I've had a hard time juggling all of it. But some of the families are our friends too. So it was hard breaking the news to them. But I did it! After days of stewing over it, I made my last phone call this morning, while staying home from church with my sick little man!

It is such a relief to have an end in sight! I am only keeping one little boy on hopefully through the end of the year, and my goal is to be completely done with child care by then! But this one boy is pretty easy and him and Maisey get along really well. I can take him anywhere with me! So it really won't be that bad! I am very confident that these decisions that Shaun and I have had to make in the last few weeks are what is best for our family! I am just so excited about it all!

Ok, on to the rest of of the updates!

I love March! Really, I love the St. Patrick's Day meal! Corned beef + cabbage = YUM! I love coming up with ideas to make an all green dinner! This year we are having the missionaries over and an investigator family. It's going to be so much fun! I made this cute little frame for our mantle. I really do feel like we are a LUCKY family!

While Maisey goes to preschool, Gagey gets to play with his friend Hudson and Hudson's baby brother Brody. (Maisey's teacher's kids!) Gage is OBSESSED with Brody. He sleeps in his car seat so I started putting him on the table so Gage couldn't bug him and Gage found a way up there! So now he goes on the counter. Don't worry, Angela! He is always supervised!

Ever since Maisey started preschool, her creativity has sprouted! It's so fun to see her come up with different ideas. They had a music week at preschool a while back and her teacher let them play her violin and guitar and clarinet. Maisey found a couple of toys to make her own violin!

Gage got this little train for Christmas that has each letter of the alphabet on each of the train cars. Maisey put the whole thing together in the right order! She is getting so smart!

This little guy hasn't been feeling too well this week. He has let us cuddle him and rub him more than ever. He is really starting to turn into a little boy and not such a baby. I can't believe he is going to be 2 next month! CRAZY!!!!

Maisey got in to my makeup! When she saw herself in the mirror she was really sad that it was all over her face, so she wiped it off and tried again! Lucky me!

Gagey does not like getting in his car seat or getting out! Getting in is seriously a wrestling match. I have to pin his legs down with a leg, push his chest back with an arm and *try* to buckle him with the other hand as quickly as possible. It's quite the process. But by the time we get home he doesn't want to get out. He just sits in there and re-buckles the top part of his seat. Well, after church last week, I left him in the car like usual so he could re-buckle and I ran our church bags inside. I came back out to get him and found him in my seat! Isn't he so handsome?

I spent the first week of the month stocking up on our food storage. Safeway had some awesome sales, so I ordered coupon off of ebay and got us all stocked back up again until next year! 80 boxes of cereal and 60 boxes of fruit snacks should do! With the cost of coupons it all cost less than $20! I even got Shaun in on it this time! It was nice to have a little help!

I'm teaching a cake decorating class to the YW this Wednesday. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing, so I decided to practice a little bit! I made this for a birthday party!

Here is part of the birthday party that we had last night! We had a Birthday Bunco Bash for Shaun and three other friends of ours that have birthdays this month! It was WAY fun!

I got each of the birthday people balloons with yummy treats tied to the bottom and their name going down the string! They turned out pretty cute!

This was the raspberry vanilla cake

And this was the chocolate cake that I made. They were both yummy! Any one want to guess how many sticks of butter is in both of these cakes combined? It's a pretty gross number, but I'm sure that's why they tasted so good!

Here were the birthday guests of honor! Shaun, Jenn, Jay, and Mike! Happy Birthday you 4!

We have a lot of stuff coming up in the next month or so. We are going to Sunriver this weekend, Shaun's going to Tennessee, we are celebrating Gage's birthday, and I am going to Utah! It's going to be crazy busy but we like having fun adventures to look forward to! Stay tuned for updates on our busy lives!

February Catch Up

These are pics from last month that I never got around to posting! Like I said, it's been a little crazy around here lately!

I ordered 40 lbs of chicken from a distributor out of Spokane. I ordered ground beef from them in January and loved it too. It's so nice to have a freezer full of ready-to-go meat at such a cheap price! I spent a whole day trimming and portioning the chicken! We have already used it several times!

I helped my mom sell her car and buy a new one! We did them both in the same day! It worked out really well, but it was a little stressful. I was kinda sad to see this car go! This was the car that I took my last road trip in with my dad. Maisey was only 2 months old and Shayla and Christina joined us on the crazy adventure! It was sure memorable! So I wanted to post a picture of the car!

I like looking at the snow from my window. It only lasted a couple of hours, but it was sure pretty!

We took the kids swimming at the KROC center! They had a great time!

Gage was really cold by the end and it was SO late so he was tired. But I wasn't complaining that he wanted to cuddle.

For FHE we played Don't Eat Pete! I used to play that game when I was like 10! I remember it being so fun so I decided to find a copy of it online! My kids L.O.V.E.D it! We played with m&m's the first time because that's what I used to play it with but since then we've played with raisins, grapes, and cheerios! They ask to play it all the time!

Also, Gage broke his crib! :( See around his crib? There is no border. There is no Fat Head left on the wall. And the canvas decoration that was up has been taken down. Obviously Gage doesn't approve of his mom's decor choices. We had to set up Maisey's old crib in his room. He has been sleeping a lot better in the new crib though!

So, there you go! I think I'm all caught up now!

Hungry

My guy is a tank! He loves to eat! Today he took that eating to another level! By 3 pm he had eaten green fabric paint and blue smelly marker! YUM!

Getting Use of the Bibs!

I bought Maisey a new pair of snow bibs this winter, hoping we'd be able to use them at some point. Well, today we had another snow storm but this time 1/4 inch actually stuck! You better believe that the kids got all dressed up and played out in it until it melted.

Here's proof:

Happy Snow Day!

Egg-Cellant!

3 words:

It was Delish!

Egg-cident

We are having the elders over for dinner tomorrow night. It's one of their birthdays. He requested a chocolate cake. I'm made my friend's famous recipe tonight. I was using my kitchen aid. It was going. I cracked an egg. I accidentally, or should I say eggcidentally, dropped the egg shell in the bowl while it was mixing. I went to turn it off. I pulled it forward, turning it faster, smashing more egg shells into the batter. I spent forever pulling out tiny ity bitty egg shells. We'll see how it tastes tomorrow. Hope I don't find any crunchy pieces!

I wouldn't expect anything more from my week though! More to come. . .

Missionary Decapitation

When Uncle Ryan was getting ready to leave on his mission 2.5 years ago, we bought this missionary magnet for Maisey. He lost his arm within 5 minutes after he was paid for.

Today, Maisey and Peyton were playing with him and he accidentaly got dropped on the floor.

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His head fell off. Tragic? No.

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This is what Maisey said:

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Well, at least it was more humane.

I asked Maisey where she learned that. She said from Ramona and Bezus. Bezus teaches Ramona how to eat gummy bears -- head first, beacuse it's more humane of course.

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That girl is tooooo smart! (Maisey, not Bezus)

a glimpse into my life

- today is laundry day. i just folded my clothes. 6 hoodies and a cardigan. i'll give you one guess as to what i wore to church on sunday.

- gage is getting a tooth. enough said.

- maisey is going through some crazy phase where her potty training habits have regressed, a.lot.

- i'm joining the local gym tonight. kinda nervous. big commitment.

- we had a snow storm today, at least that's what the news said. snow was falling but not sticking. i wouldn't go straight to storm.

- gage likes to touch himself and say ball when getting his diaper changed. today it went a little too far and i had to clean poop off his pudgy hand. gross, i know.

- shaun got a little promo at work. he is now assistant to the team lead, or as dwight would say, assistant team lead. either way i'm proud of him.

- maisey is playing wedding with her friend and keeps calling him babe.

- and i'm so glad michelle is finally off the bachelor.

More Valentine's

The kids and I (ok, mostly I) had fun preparing Valentine's for the kids' friends. My friend Sharon came over one night and she worked on a Valentine's project and I worked on the treats for the kids. Here's what I came up with.

Marshmallow pops from Maisey (she even wrote her own name)

And heart rice krispy treats from Gage. I only ended up dipping a few in the chocolate.

For dinner on Valentine's day we had heart shaped pancakes with strawberries and whip cream and heart shaped Jell-o jigglers.

And for dessert, we had sugar cookies! Yum!!!

After dinner we let the kids open their gift from mom and dad.

Gagey couldn't believe what he saw! He doesn't show excitement very often but he ripped that Mickey out of the bag and gave it a big kiss, with out any prompt to do so. It was so fun to watch!

Maisey soon discovered what was in her bag! Minnie!!!!!

Gage took his Mickey around to everyone to kiss! He was in L.O.V.E.

We said good night to grammy,

then headed to bed, where our new friends received lots of love

and cuddles!

Hope you all had a great day too!

My Valentine's

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Love,

The Grimmett's