Holiday Perm-a-Grins

You know those simple things in life that make you smile even just thinking about it? You can't help it...you gotta smile...and you can't stop smiling. There are several things on my Perm-a-Grin list including (but not limited to):

Norah Jones
Avocado-Vanilla Tapioca Drinks
Extra end-of-the-month budget money
Hot tubs

Its one of those things that make me happy cause I don't get these often making them a special treat when I do. Holidays do the same thing because there are some things I don't get unless its the holiday season. Here's my Perm-a-Grin holiday list:

Homemade Capriotti sandwich (turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce on a roll...try it if you haven't)
Christmas smelling candles
Elf ("Buddy the Elf. What's your favorite color?")
Peppermint ice cream
Turning off all lights except a lamp and the Christmas tree

So, this is me signing off....with a perm-a-grin. :)

p.s. Twelve more days until I head to Utah. Another thing that makes me smile.

Arts, Crafts, and Inspiration

A Story
by Bethany

Once upon a time there was a girl named Bethany. She loved to take pictures. She loved to blog. She loved to take pictures to put on her blog.

One day Bethany's camera battery ran out. Solvable problem. Then she realized that her battery charger had gone missing. Unsolvable problem.

Bethany's blog remained unposted.

Then she decided that she was sick of her old post, no new comments, and SEVERE lack of pictures....so, she pulled out the camera phone in desperation.

And now she can blog...at least today.

The end.


So, what was so exciting that I HAD to take pictures from my phone and post them on my blog? OK, honestly...it's probably not THAT exciting. But I wanted to show everyone Eden's art.

We've been having lots of fun the past while and it seems like there's lots of arts and crafts involved. Eden's been LOVING it.

There was a community activity day (Parents as Teachers) where the kids were able to get a little messy. Eden learned to paint. She LOVED it. They squirted a few colors of paint on a paper and the kids painted using a cue tip. She painted this all by herself (except her name of course). My favorite part about this picture was the blue squiggly line that is to the left of her name....see it? She drew that and said, "snake". (The picture is being held on our fridge by an Elvis magnet in case anyone was curious about the scary man in the corner.)

There was also an area with glue and things to stick to it. I put glue on and she would put things on (she did get to use some glue in the end as well). I wrote her name and Eden started to do really good at the beginning (notice the "E"). Then she just started plopping things on the page everywhere.

The only negative thing about this "messy day" is that Eden isn't much for messes (except when she eats and she knows that I rip off all her clothes for the purpose that its ok to get a bit messy). So, every time she got something on her hands she dropped everything and made me wipe it off before she would continue with her art.

Today at the house we had fun with cardboard. I pulled out the tent that I made for Eden a while back and she played for a while. Then she flattened it and laid down on it. I thought "hmm...that could be fun." So, I grabbed a marker and started to trace around her. She only let me do her legs. But then she would find other things for me to trace or tell me to draw something. Then she wanted to color and draw as well. It was fun.
Notice at the bottom I wrote her full name "Eden Emishi Finlinson". I was trying to teach her to say it. She said "Eden", "Mishi", and "Eden Finsin". Not too bad.

This is her drawing. It was after breakfast so I hadn't dressed her yet.Something I noticed a while back is that in her coloring book she'll scribble over it. But I noticed that she's really trying to color in the pictures the best she can. Notice the little circles I drew? She was trying to color each of them.
Also, I've been inspired. My friend's blog posted some crafts she's been working (blog post here) on that came from the blog makeitandloveit.blogspot.com. I love a lot of ideas that came from the blog and I'm determined to increase my craftiness. You should check it out if you haven't yet (and check on my friend's because I honestly think her little girl's sweater dress turned out WAY cuter than the one on the craft blog). You gotta kind of skim through it...there were a lot of things I was like "eh...I could live without that". But then you'll get to a few that look AWESOME and EASY. That's when I felt inspired to create.

Conversations with Eden

Attempting to explain to Eden that another baby is on its way...a little difficult...but it's been funny.

Conversations with Eden:

Me: "Eden, where is mommy's baby?"
Eden: (points to my belly button)
"Wah-Wah....crying."
(Shares her sippy cup with my belly)
"Poopy. Change."
(Wipes my belly with her hand)
"All better."

Me: "Eden, what should we name the baby?"
Eden: "Rock.....Trash......Hands."

Well, looks like we've got 3 suggestions for baby names. Hmm...dunno if they're gonna make it in the runnings.

I'm Horrible at Keeping Secrets...

Better Late than Never

Happy (late) Halloween! We went to our ward's carnival and trunk or treat which was a lot of fun. Tyson walked and played with Eden during the carnival...I was helping with the primary's booth of "shoot the ghosts on the wall with Nerf guns"...quite the popular game!

We unfortunately didn't get too many pictures...these are the best we got.

Eden the Indian and Jack the "JACK" o' Lantern...get it? Ha!

At the carnival Eden got her face painted (I mean, an indian has got to wear some war paint). She just sat there nice and still while they drew a flower on one side and a heart on the other....AND she never touched it after!

Pumpkin Carving and the Zoo

I'm loving this time of year. I don't usually get much into the "Halloween Spirit" or even care for the changing of the leaves on the trees. But this fall has been a lot of fun with friends! It helps that Eden is getting so active, loves pumpkins, and dressing up. But there are so many trees here in Kansas City that you can't help but love to watch the colors change and the whole world look like a different place (no offense to Utah where we live in a desert...just not the same).

We bought a pumpkin for Eden (because she's obsessed with them) and carved it with a bunch of friends (Tyson's study-buddies and their wives). Here's Jimmy, Seth, Tara, and Tyson stabbing away.
Eden inspected the pumpkin to make sure daddy's pumpkin carving skills were up to par.
Here's everyone together with our pumpkins (look at our little shrimpy pumpkin on the end!) But Seth and Tara (with the giant pumpkin) created a witch. Natalie and Jimmy made Wall-E. And Tyson (I admit I didn't help at all) did an angry faced pumpkin.

I also went out with some other friends of mine. We went to the zoo (where Kansas City residents get in for free during the months of October and November). I love the zoo...always have and always will.

Here's Eden and an otter.
Here's Drew and...some kind of bird that would try to peck at his hands through the glass.
Here are the kids...didn't get any pictures of the adults. Jack, Eden, and Drew are buddies (most of the time) and we try to have play group with them once a week.

And of course there are more pictures that I wanted to put on her...but didn't. If you'd like to see them....go to my picture blog tysonandbethany.blogspot.com.

Creativeness, Madness, and Sickness

So, for the 3rd or 4th or 5th time since living in Kansas City....I'm sick. Congestion, fever, achiness, the whole bit. Pity. Eden's even learned how to "play sick". She gets in my bed, puts the covers over her, and says "sick".

Beyond THAT I've had some fun with food! My friend Eliza taught me how to make and jar apple pie filling! I haven't yet tried making the actual pie, but I hear amazing things. I went over to her house and spent several hours making jars of goodness. And I was proud.
Then today I decided to play with my food. I was making lunch for me and Eden...we had some bananas and apples that needed to be used...so I had a good time. I found these little fun treats (bug-a-pillar banana dude and oozing apple monster mouths) on picky-palate.com. Her's look cuter than mine...I just rushed through mine...but I'm still proud.
Eden was a little frightened of eating the bug at first. I had to touch it first and show her that you eat it. After that she took it all apart before eating it. I think it helped her be less afraid when it didn't look like a bug. The first time I've ever seen her back away from a banana!
And I had a good time with the apple mouths. They were really quite tasty. And even though this crazy, mad-woman picture definitely shows my unattractive side....I'm still proud of what I've done...even when I'm sick.