Ready for Church ~

I would like to announce that YESTERDAY December 5th, 2010 we were ALL ready for church on time...
I only forgot that we had to drive over there, so we were a little late (like 2 minutes) but we made it before the prelude music was over... I took a picture of the kids to Remember this Occasion... (hopefully next year we are on time MORE because our time changes to the later slot)

 My sassy little girl Hailey ~ Not only were we on time, we also had Nursery Snacks in BOTH Nursery Classes (yes we have an older and younger nursery and I have a kid in each class... that is reason alone for you to pray for me) And that is why she has the little tangerines in her hot little hands... Notice Matt in the background telling me we need to go...

And Little Landon... my FAVORITE Little boy! He is such a sweetie! I just want to kiss his little cheeks ALL DAY LONG!! Let's GO GO GO is what he said after I snapped this photo... SUCCESS for Sunday!

Lowe's Day ~

Matt took the Kids to LOWE'S the other weekend, and they did a "Lowe's Build and Grow" Project... 

Hailey made this Snowman Gift Card Holder with Help from Matt and Landon.

They got a certificate, an Building Apron, Safety Googles, a patch, and the Finnished Project!

Hailey LOVED it!

And she LOVES wearing her Safety Goggles just for fun too! :)

THANKS LOWE'S for FUN PROJECTS for the kids!

And YES she is wearing a pink skirt over her outfit for the day...

she dresses herself now... OH JOY!

Reindeer Ornaments ~

So Grandma Bird is doing an "Old School Tree" this year and putting up homemade ornaments that her children have given her throughout they year. She called our little family and requested that we make some for her this year to put on her tree. I wanted to make the ornaments something that would show how big the kids were in 2010, but I did not want to do just a lame picture frame or something. I had to think outside of the box... (and let me tell you, that is hard for me... I REALLY like the little box I live in)
So I remembered doing Hailey's hand print her first Christmas and turning it into an Angel, and I thought ... A Hand print Ornament would be SO cute!! After a little research I saw a Reindeer Hand prints Activity I was SURE I could turn into an ornament. I found it on Family Fun (click for the site).
Here is how I made it my own~

 I went to Michael's Craft Store and grabbed all this crap... MOST of you might have this at home...
(my mother would) Red Pompoms, Googly Eyes, Tiny Bells, Green Ribbon, Brown Pipe Cleaners and Brown Foam for the hand print...

 And if you follow my blog you TOTALLY SHOULD have a STOCK PILE of this... Aleene's Tacky Glue is my BEST friend. I went with the QUICK DRY because I was working with kids... AND I opted for the toothpick to help put on the glue... a little bit goes as L O N G way...

 I put the nose, the eyes, and the ribbon with the bell on the THUMB finger...

 Then to personalise it I decided to write our names and the year. I just used the glue again for the names then put glitter ALL over it... I ended up using BLACK SLICK puffy paint for the year before I sent them off... notice the tail at the top, I just free-hand cut it out of felt and glued it on as well!

TA DA... I added the antlers, BOWS for the girls, and string to hang them with on the tree... I hope they look good on Grandpa and Grandma Birds Tree . . .

Christmas Books From Grandma ~

My mother (Grandma Andersen) sent all her grand kids a SPECIAL SURPRISE this Christmas Season.

Each family received a Christmas Basket with 24 wrapped gifts.

Each night of December the kids get to choose ONE gift to open together.

 These little gifts are Christmas Books, and let me tell you my kids LOVE them already...

 The Christmas Basket and the Wrapping Paper matched SO CUTE!!

 Hailey picked the first night, and Landon picked the second night...

Our first little book was about Santa's Elves's. Last night our book was The Little Drummer Boy and Landon LOVED when we sang the song and drummed with out hands on the book.

Grandma, you NEVER cease to amaze us!

This has taken place of our scripture reading at night because LET'S FACE it, the kids are not going to sit through a book AND 5 verses of the scriptures...

LOVIN' this new little tradition! Now I better find cute wrapping paper, my job is to re-wrap them every year for the kids to enjoy over and over...

I wonder what Book we get to read tonight!!

WHAT'S UP WIT DAT?

HA HA! Does anyone else watch Saturday Night Live and get that skit? I LAUGH EVERY TIME... anyways
My "What's Up Wit Dat?" question today is ~

ARE ANY OF YOU OTHER BLOGGERS OUT THERE HAVING PROBLEMS UPLOADING PICTURES?? FREAK I have like TWO backlogged posts that I just need to upload pictures too... UGH! Please let me know this is a blogger problem and not just a Melissa Bird problem... (which I can just ADD to the list of all my other problems...)

Sleeping Beauty ~

Matt and I were walking to go to bed the other night and we caught Sleeping Beauty like this...

 She was sound asleep on the cold hard floor without a care in the world.

It reminded me of when I was a kid and I would lay in the hall of my parents house trying to sneak a peek at the TV. The adults always stayed up longer and I wanted to be a part of the fun. No one wants to go to sleep when there is still fun stuff going on right? Gotta love times like this! :)

Thanksgiving OVERVIEW ~

Since it was my very First Thanksgiving, my mother asked me to take pictures of everything for her to see... We had a GREAT Thanksgiving, and everything tasted SO good! THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT EVERYONE! :)
Here are the pictures mom...

 The KID FRIENDLY table setting ~

 TURKEY MEAT!!

 The Roaster we cooked the Turkey in ~

 Matt cutting up the Turkey ~

 The Sweet Potatoes/Yams... the marshmallows were old, and they did not melt very well, but they TASTED OH SO GOOD!!

 Mashed Potatoes! YUMMMMM

 Green Bean Casserole

 Stuffing ~

 Rolls ~

 And you can see the Strawberry Jello Pretzel Dish here. We just lined up the food on the counter and helped ourselves ~

We all ate VERY well! What a wonderful Thanksgiving treat! :) And we have leftovers for DAYS!!

THANKFUL ~

My heart is FULL...
Full of Thankfulness for ALL my blessings.
I am Thankful for so many things...
~ My Husband
~ My Children
~ My Parents
~ My Siblings
~ My Friends
~ My New House
I could go on forever...
~ My Kitchen
~ My new Oven that cooks everything SO perfectly
~ My new Microwave that makes my life SO easy
~ My washer and dryer AND the fact that they are INSIDE my house
~ My Vacuum ( if you had the Dyson Ball you would feel the same way too)
~ My cars that are PAID off and RUN
~ My DVR... it makes me a better mother...
MAN we are SO lucky. We don't even know.
I don't think it is a bad thing to be Thankful for "worldly things" as long as you know WHY that is something to be thankful for... all these things and MODERN conveniences make my life just that much easier and give me more time with my little family.
But one of the things I am MOST thankful for is the Gospel in my Life. Cliche I know, but really...
Without the Gospel I would not know the true happiness of all these things.
Thank You Heavenly Father for EVERYTHING!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

The First Thanksgiving ~

Sorry, this is not a post on the Pilgrims and Indians... this is a post about MY first Thanksgiving Day...

As in I am going to be making my very first Thanksgiving Meal ALL BY MYSELF...

Some of you are probably wondering WHY I have not done my own Thanksgiving Spread in the past. Thanks to parents being SO close we have always been covered when it came to Thanksgiving Dinner. Matt and I decided a few years back once we get OUR HOUSE that we are going to celebrate the Holidays HERE. We are SO glad to have a home and our little Family, and that is what I am MOST Thankful for this year. So here is what we will be celebrating with...

 Turkey ~ I opted to cook it in the oven after a conversation I had with a very nice African American couple at Win Co... as long as I put enough butter and baste that baby I will be fine they said...

 Stuffing ~ Matt requested his mothers recipe... I hope it tastes as good as when she makes it!!

 Mashed Potatoes and Gravy ~ Thank goodness I have made THIS one before!

 Green Bean Casserole ~ I hear I can not really mess this one up...

 Yams ~ my mom makes the BEST yams. And I did not get canned yams... I am making them from SCRATCH! AHHHHH...

 Sparkling Cider ~ Martinelli's to be exact... yeah I got a 4 pack!!

Rolls ~ I have seen my mom make them for years... hopefully that helps... AHHHH

 Strawberry Pretzel Jello ~ Have you HAD this?? Google it. Make it. Then THANK me later...

Apple Pie ~ And to END our Feast Matt requested Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream... I can do that too. So there is a little hope we will have some food on the table!
I LOVE Thanksgiving. Family. Fun. Love.
I am excited to have my first Thanksgiving at our new home.
(PLEASE PRAY FOR ME TOMORROW!!!)

Baby Baker Shower ~

Two of my FAVORITE people are having a little lady in just a few short weeks...

I went to her Baby Shower this last Saturday and had LOTS of fun, and took LOTS of pictures.

Congrats to Spencer and Lauren Baker...

Morgan is ONE lucky little girl.

 A collage of most of my pictures... Oh, but there are MORE on her sisters camera...

 Here she is READY to open some Presents ~

 Me holding an ADORABLE Plush Baby Blanket ~ I think Spencer's Aunt made it!

 And this is what you get when you leave Megan and me in charge of taking pictures! :)

When I found out they were having a December Baby I saw this onsie and I could not pass it up! Landon gave it to his future bride... (Landon and Morgan are betrothed as long as they both turn out OK... Landon is a month short of being two years older than Morgan, so it will be PERFECT... he'll get home from his mission and she'll graduate and then they will get married!) ~ You think I am kidding don't you....

 I LOVED this picture... Lauren you are a BEAUTIFUL pregnant woman!

 This is the Snugly Soft Blanket Lauren's mother made for sweet little Morgan!

 Thank You Lauren for the picture!

 And that was an overhead view of the Gifts... she was ALMOST done opening them...

And this picture I could not pass up... the BRAUN Sisters...

Lauren, Kim, Allison, Emily Staci and Kelli sitting on the floor.

It was a GREAT Shower. The food was FANTASTIC! There was a quiche that was SO yummy... as you can see by Megan's Picture... 

SO GOOD! Oh, and I won one of the games (I tied with Emily, Lauren's little sister)

They had us guess which body part for the baby we thought Lauren would want...

hers vs. her husbands...

I guess hanging out with them alot helped me out!

I am SO excited for this little one to come, I NEED a baby to hold!!