BLOG UPDATE: Christmas 2013

We had a fantastic Christmas 2013!

1) We picked out the perfect Christmas tree:

2) We decorated it- always a blast! I'm pretty sure this was Rob's first time putting the angel on top. He is freaked out of heights so it was a BIG move for him!

3) For Christmas Eve dinner we had a lovely "We 3 Kings of Orient" dinner with all manner of middle eastern & oriental goodies & of course gold crowns too. (Here you can see a super-fun, super-speed video of our dinner that my dad shot) 4) And of course there were the obligatory Christmas Eve gift opening of new jammies!

5) And Christmas Morning was mellow, lovely, and relaxing! (You can also see this cute video of the book Syd wrote & Rob illustrated for the Grandpas Christmas gift)

 I sure do love these people!

Happy 4th 2013!

We've had a fantastic 4th of July this year! 

We slept in (a dream come true these days!), ate shaved ice, made tie-dye shirts, enjoyed the classic KFC, & watched fireworks with friends. It was relaxing and just what we needed. I hope everyone had a lovely day too!

Happy Birthday USA! 

P.S. Past 4ths : 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, & 2008 (been bloggin' for a long time!)

Rob's Birthday Day!

This handsome fellow turned 6 this week! We took the day to celebrate him & all his coolness!

We ran some party planning errands & did some grocery shopping with one of his besties Robby.

We had sushi for lunch with Scott (which has become a Carter Child tradition) & spent a decent amount of time drawing awesome pictures (Rob's favorite activity)!

And then capped the day off with hours at the new Provo Rec Center swimming with a lovely group of friends.

All in all I think this special guy felt as loved & adored as he really is!

Sunday Family- May 12th

Happy Mothers Day All!

I'm just going to say it: Mother's Day is hard for me. Every year I tell myself I'm going to focus on the positive and let my short comings (which are vast and many) go but somehow the negativity  sneaks up on me. Thankfully, despite me getting a little down Scott & the kids made me feel so special- a Mother's Day corsage, flower bouquets, a nap and a long bath, No-Bake Cookies,
a nice long family walk, hugs, kisses, drawings and kind words.

I have to admit that I miss my own mom every Mother's Day too. It just isn't the same without her and every Mother's Day I wish she was here. Hug your mama's a little tighter today because it's so hard when they are gone. We did go visit her headstone today and sat out in the lovely sun chatting about her and all her awesomness. It was a nice cap to the day. I'm endlessly grateful that I have a fantastic mom-in-law who makes me feel like a daughter of her own. She raised one heck of a son and I love her for it!

Hope everyone had a great day and has a great week!

P.S. And the Olivia Carter No-Bake Cookie Recipe can be found here!

P.S.S. And for the joy of seeing how little my littles used to be here's Mother's Day 2012, 2011, 2009, & 2008 (Apparently I really didn't like 2010 Mom's Day because I posted nothing!)

Sunday Family- March 31st

Happy Easter everyone! 

I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter. We sure did! We had church- which was lovely and a fantastic reminder of what we, as a family, celebrate Easter for. And the boys had handsome matching ties and Syd & I had matching bows in our hair. That's right... like a BOSS!

We did do Easter baskets, but I am kind of anti-tons of candy (I know, I'm such a bah-humbug sometimes) and I usually use it as a way to buy them things they need anyway- flipflops & new tie. But they also each got a game and some other goodies. Linc got a sippy cup & socks because seriously, he's one, so he's easy to please.

And we also did the Easter egg dying fun! I tell you these kids just get more fun the older they get and the more they can do- which is so fun and makes activities like this so much more enjoyable for me too.

This next week is Spring Break- we thought about taking a trip but it didn't work out but now I'm kind of regretting it- I want to get out of the house! So, who knows, maybe we'll figure something small out! Hope everyone else is doing well!

Happy Birthday to my First Born

Syd Star, my first born.

I know this beautiful soul was meant to be mine. She, like her dad, was meant to level me. To ground me. Just a touch of Sydney's hand in mine brings me back from the clouds of stress and disorganization I am flying on. She reminds me of appointments. Of assignments. Of directions. Of plans. And I remind her of drama. Of everyday beauty. Of individualism. Of creative disorganization. Of having fun. We are two halves of one whole of mother-daughter love. Sydney reminds me of my much adored mom, my bestfriend. She is so much like her. And I believe perhaps we are a cyclical whole of mothers and daughters. And I imagine years down the road Sydney is going to have a creative, messy, late, passionate daughter. And I'll smile knowing, that she'll be the other half to Sydney's whole like she's been for me. And I was for my mom.

On this your 7th year I wish you love and joy and friendship and books. I wish you giggles with your brothers and tickle fights with you daddy. I wish you sunshine and snow fights and little crushes on boys. I wish you creativity and expansion and spirituality and learning. Always learning. A striving for more in all of your life and yet a contentment with each and every moment. Happy Birthday Soul Sister and Delightful Daughter. My female compatriot in the Carter Clan. We ladies gotta stick together!

Sunday Family- March 17

 
Happy St. Patrick's Day to Some of my Favorite People!

We had a fun day- Lucky Charms and green milk for breakfast & before we went to church we made a little trap to catch a leprechaun. We caught one but he escaped- the kids LOVED it! And of course we all dressed in green.The we capped the night with a fantastic dinner.

Though with fantastic dinners come WAY TOO MANY dishes. They are all sitting in the sink &, while I will regret this tomorrow, they are going to stay there until then. But I decorated the table and made cute drinks- Sprite with green juice ice cubes and rainbow sprinkles on the rim. 

This upcoming week we have Sydney's birthday. She is off the hook excited and we have some fun plans. She's a little hard to get to pick what she wants for her birthday or what she wants to do for her birthday because she isn't obsessed or really into anything- she's obsessed and really into EVERYTHING. So, check back to see her birthday party- as always, it's gonna be a 7 year old rager!

Hope everyone had a great day! 

P.S. Past St. Patricks Day Celebration: 2008, 2011, & 2012

Valentines Day a la Carters

Just look at those kids... Can you believe I have three of them? It only blows my mind when I see them like this, all crowded together in a picture. Then I think, "Seriously? I'm responsible for three lives." Anyway, Happy Late Valentines Day from us! 

Here's how the kiddos Valentines turned out- we chatted about a TON of ideas but these are the two they decided on. Hooray, they were a hit:

I also made a little Valentines breakfast for Scott & Rob (ewww... ketchup on eggs) and a Valentines lunch for Syd-Star (what kind of mother picks through a huge bag of M&Ms to find all the red ones? A crazy one, that's me).


Hope everyone had a most excellent day filled with people you love and lots of chocolate.
Because frankly, that's what makes the world go 'round.

P.S. Past pictures of the cute Carter children on Valentines: 2012, 2011, & 2010
And past home-made Valentines: 2012, 2011, 2009, & 2008

Between: A Love Note to My Valentine

Dear Valentine, 

That's you over there. The one more than an arms length away with all that sleepy progeny between us. And sometimes that happens. In day to day life, stuff worms/whittles/winds its way between us. Vying for space and attention.

Not just our sweet churbic lipped babies, but piles of dirty diapers lie between us. And dinner that needs to be made. Work and phone calls and owies that demand to be kissed. Wrestling that must be had & iPads that need to be played on. Dishes that desperately need to be washed sometimes stack up between us. Dreams tugging at each of our sleeves. Hobbies and habits and holy moments. Tiny demanding hands. I see us gaze longingly across the sea of both important and unimportant things between us.

But, you and I, we take the time to make moments each day where there is nothing between us. Sometimes it's just those few seconds curled up next to each other while exhaustion tugs on our tired eyelids. And we just sit and be. Just me and you. You and me. Nothing between.

Happy Valentines Day, love. And because no interaction between you & I can go without at least one PG-13 proposition: I can't wait until you get home and tonight we'll be sure to have some time with nothing between us. Nothing... 

XOXO, L.

HOW TO: Resolutions

I honestly love New Years. It is one of my favorite holidays. It has all my favorite things- fireworks, kissing, staying up late, eating tasty appetizers, starting the year off fresh. What's not to love?

This year, under the direction of my SUPER friend Brook I was a bit more thoughtful about my resolutions. For me it has now become a 5 step process & I'm here to share it with you friends (please note: this is more touchy-feely/spiritual/conceptual than I tend to get here on the blog but go with it I promise you won't regret it):

Step 1: PUT YOUR PAST YEAR TO REST
I had, at a conscious and unconscious level, wanted to and sorta had been doing this but I didn't really know how to do it in any pragmatic way until Brook sent a link to me (here) of a work sheet you can fill out that helps you kind of look at your past year- the good stuff, the sucky stuff, disappointments, and triumphs. And, oh boy, did it help.

Then at our solstice celebration we wrote down a word from this past year that encapsulates perhaps the hard parts of the past year (that's when I picked the word SURVIVAL to describe 2012 because while I love it, the first year of a babies life if survival-mode for the mama) and then we burned the little pieces of paper in essence eliminating that hard time and having a clean slate for new times to come.

It was fantastic to put 2012 to a close. Something I have never done it in such an organized way, but I plan on doing from now on.

Step 2: PICK ONE LITTLE WORD
This is also a concept Brook taught me (I told you she's SUPER) & she did it much more justice on this post from her blog (go read it now). But I'll tell you in my lack luster words- it's the idea of picking ONE WORD to encapsulate your goals for this year. Maybe the word just comes to you, but for me, I looked at the goals I had for this year, the things I wanted to get done, changes that needed to be made, meditated on it, prayed about it, & then came to my word. Which, my friends is REVOLUTION. There are a lot of things that need to be revolutionized in my life. A complete upheaval in some parts, but there are quiet revolutions need to happen everyday also.
This is also something we celebrated at our Winter Solstice party too. Other words that people picked were: Light, Whisper, & Today. So, what I'm saying is you can pick ANYTHING. If you decide on one & wouldn't mind sharing post here- I'd love to hear it.

Step 3: PICK A PHRASE
In my case I picked a scripture that happens to completely encompass the things that I want to work on this year (seriously you guys, I take the fact that I found this, as a sign that I'm focusing on the right things, right now). It is "Establish a house. Even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." Now your phrase can be anything- long, short whatever but, for me, already, 7 days into the New Year, it's become a mantra.

Step 4: MAKE AN INSPIRATION BOARD*
I've had an inspiration board above my computer for a long time. When I was a teenager it was more like an inspiration wall (like complicated, angsty wallpaper). But I love the idea of doing something a little smaller this time (mine is a 16x23 inch pin board) that focuses solely on what I want to accomplish/how I want to feel during this LUCKY 2013.

I'm sure we've all done this before, so you all don't need instructions but take a look here at my friend Meagan's board (her's is huge & blocked into sections) and here's Brooks board (her's is on 12x12 scrapbook pages & covered with lovely pictures from magazines). They can be as full as you want, sectioned off, colorful- whatever you need. For me, I needed it to be clear, focused, straight lined because, as you all know I'm not that way AT ALL.

* NOTE: I actually have a Pinterest board too & I love having both. Mostly because I need my physical board to be REALLY clean and clear & I like being able to add to my Pinterest board as I go along. I have things on my Pinterest board that are more practical too. Things like: dying my hair a funky color, seeing the Red Woods, camping, having adult dinner parties, taking a great family picture- things like that. You can check mine out here.


Step 5: GET YOUR BUTT IN GEAR!
'Nough Said.

There we go. I guess the point I want to make here also is that you don't need a New Year to do this (though it's an excellent starting point) but you can do this any time in any way that works for you. I'm sure there will be be updates here on the blog & I want to hear about your New Years Resoltuions.

Do you love New Years? 
Do you have traditions when it comes to your resolutions? 
What are some of the things you want to accomplish in the nest year? 
Has anyone picked their word/phrase yet?

Christmas Eve & Christmas Morning

We had a lovely quiet Christmas with just our family. Pretty much everyone in the family was going through some degree of sickness so we played it cool and laid low.

Christmas Eve we had a lovely "Family Night" where we talked about the symbols of Christmas & read the Nativity Story. We let the kids open a gift that night of new jammies and we also included a journal & colored pencils for them to start drawing/writing in each day.

We took the morning slow- blissfully sleeping in. Then we slowly opened our stockings (my favorites part), hung out, & enjoyed exchanging presents.

Then as soon as we were done, the kids busted out the Lego sets we got each of them. It's the one thing the both asked for and they were ga-ga over them. And this was Reason #498 that I love Scott: he can sit and put together millions of tiny pieces for hours without mentally breaking down like I do.

I spent the day feeling gross, off, & tired so my final Christmas gift from Scott was order Chinese food dinner rather than having me cook the big elaborate dinner I had planned. And that's Reason #262.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!