Mike turns 30 (for real this time) and I decide to use the "awesome wife" skills I knew I had buried somewhere. And in return, the iphone is mine.

But first, I'm going to back up 2 months, because, holy cow, time flies.

I decided to sign up for Kiwi Crate.  Which is like a monthly subscription for children's crafts.  Includes all the supplies and my children love creating and getting mail and lately they have been begging *me* to draw things instead of using their own little hands, so I thought this would throw them into more artistic confidence and possibly allow me more time to breathe and/or deal with bleaching the bathrooms more often.

Yeah, it's pretty fun.  Our first month was spy themed and we took some more time to learn about real agents and practice our sleuthing skills.  I'm not sure Mike ever fully understood why the children were following him around, hiding behind couches, made-by-them periscope in hand, giggling all the time.  But that's what spies do.

(April's month's theme was Earth Day.  We made our own paper, guys, and it was awesome. To justify this fun little kit, I tell myself these are teaching opportunities that I wouldn't have otherwise thought of.  So, I taught Mitchell and Ali more about caring for the earth and we planted some (bulb/annual) flowers which have since probably frozen over since I thought the "last frost" ended sometime in April and did not anticipate a snow storm May 1.  I mean, really.)

And then, briefly forgetting how tempting scissors and long hair are, I literally turned around and found Ali chopping her hair off.  I was RIGHT THERE.  

It wasn't too bad, thankfully.  I didn't have to take her to the local salon to fix anything.  I did ask her if she wanted to get a haircut and she replied "NO!"  Like she always does when I suggest anything except eating (more) chocolate cake.

And then Easter.  Always fun.  I made my mother a little basket and I was especially pleased on how darling it was this year.  I practically made up my own version of applique (hello heat 'n bond and a buttonhole stitch) because I just have no idea where to even begin the traditional version.

I asked my mom to teach me last year.  She said 'yes' a little too quickly, and pulled out a pattern we designed and started giggling.  "This will be so good for us.  You will see how practically insane and not simple (like you think) you draw" Thanks mom.  "Great," I said.  "Bring it on," I said.  And then I gave up almost instantly.

But anyway.

Cute, right? Needle-turned applique can be learned another time. (another year).

And then Mike and I bought Ali a beautiful fancy dress and mom knitted her a little bolero. It's adorable.  And now, she refuses to wear anything else to church which means she's looked exactly like this for like 7 weeks in a row. Princess hair and all.

Adorable.  How can I resist that little face?

Thankfully, "It's for Church only" was something Ali readily accepted.  However, this girly girl has lost all interest in any sort of pants and spends most days trying on dress after dress and asking me to re-do her hair 50 million times.  And also she likes to paint her nails.  And by that I mean paint her own nails which gets kind of messy, but I'm such a push over.  She just likes to look beautiful at all hours of the day which is something I, quite frankly, do not really understand.  And she owns one necklace and refuses to take it off.

"Ballerina hair!"

Our "yes days" evolved into every imaginable day you could imagine.  "How about a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, Mitch?" "No. Not today" "I thought we were having a 'yes day'?" "We're having an orange day!"

This is what an "orange day" looks like

And then they decided to be darling one night and Ali asked if Mitchell could "cuddle" her instead of going to his bed. 

"You want to sleep in Ali's bed tonight?"

Mitchell: "Yes, she's my best friend."

Ali: "Mitchell is my prince!" While hugging his neck so tight I'm not sure if he could even breathe.

Me: "Okay, but you have to be quiet."

And guess who had to go in there about 530498 times? Yes.  I did.  The complaints were only from Mitchell and ranged from "She won't stop putting Jessica (her baby doll) on my head!" to "She's trying to pick my nose!" 

And Ali just laughed and laughed (and laughed and laughed).

So, because Mitchell refused to go to his bed, and Ali refused to let go of his neck, I ended up lying on her bed too, singing songs, stroking hair, and repeating "no. go to sleep" 1.5 million times.  Mitchell was asleep in 5 seconds, and then Ali took another 2 hours or so to finally get the memo and dose off herself.

And then, (yay!), they were up at 6am sharp just like any other morning.  

She's adorable, and joined mom and I for girls night/business night/any excuse to get out of the house and eat chocolate ice cream with out sharing night and we went to sushi.  She demanded to sit next to grandma, and then stole my menu.

I keep telling mom on all these business nights, that meags & me will be famous in 3 months (according to the fortune cookie we got on (another) business night).  And then we were featured on the editors page of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, which I am so excited about, and I think we're on our way!

That's our bird, people.

And I'm finally (sort of?) figuring out we have to design holiday things 8 months or something crazy before the holiday.

Which basically means I'm drawing reindeer in April.  This is insane.  And I have to listen to Christmas music with the blinds shut to even attempt it.

And the sun usually wins, which is why it is May, and I'm still (trying) to draw reindeer.

After watching Aladdin for the 80th time, Ali sings "where they cut off your ears, they don't like your face! It's barbaric! but hey, it's home" and sang that at church Sunday.  She's not a quiet child, so that was just awesome.  I don't think people realize it's Disney since her dictation is better than her pitch.

And I love Les Mis.  And was listening to it constantly until Mitchell asked me, "Do Captains wear their shoes?" "what? um. yes.... Captains wear shoes" and then Mitchell sang, "Come on, Captain, you can wear your shoes"  and I realized Les Mis can't happen while the children are awake, because the lines after that little part, are *even worse* for a 4 year old to be singing.

Seriously, the looks I get from people.  Probably the same look you all have on your face right now.

And then, yes, the man turned 30.  I decided to throw him a surprise party which is the single most stressful thing I have ever done.  

1. I don't keep surprises really well.  I get too excited and start asking questions like, "do you like surprise parties?" 

2.  I don't throw parties.  

3.  I really don't host anything fancy ever. 

and 4. Mike finds out every time I plan any surprise ever. 

So every time I got the urge to say something stupid, i.e. "do you want a surprise party for your 30th?" I'd counter it with "I got you the best present ever!" 

Which was a briefcase, and yeah, he found out way before his birthday.  I couldn't possibly keep 2 things a surprise.

And then I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, and he wanted dinner and a movie.  The standard date night package. Fine. I asked him what movie he wanted to see "Jurassic Park 3D" and then I was glad it was all a hoax, haha.

My plan was to coax him up to Bountiful for chinese but he wanted Costa Vida.  Which I started panicking because dinner had to last exactly 1 hour so I could fake a migraine before the "movie" (and Mike doesn't like wasting time, so Costa Vida doesn't last longer than 20) and so I coyly (I'm so proud of myself here) said, "oh look.  Applebees.  I didn't know they had one here"  I don't even like Applebees, and I did know one was there, but was pretty sure Mike didn't realize it, because he loves microwaved steak that place.

And like magic he says, "Oh! Great! Lets go there!"

Awesome.  I told the waiter it was his birthday, and we had a surprise party and we needed our food no earlier than 6:40, and he looked at his watch that said 6pm and had a little bit of a panicked look on his face.  He came back around 6:20, and told us the steak was burned to a crisp and they have to microwave cook another one.  He winked at me and I tried so hard not to laugh.  And my husband totally bought it.  "oh that's fine, man.  We're good"

And then we ate, and I faked a migraine, and Mike was so surprised! I still cannot believe I pulled it off.

I coordinated a "manly" theme.

Look how awesome these invites are.

We had a photobooth and completely embarrassed him with all our "favorite" memories.

And then my phone of 4 years started ignoring phone calls from everyone, so an iphone seemed like the most logical gift (right?!) for mothers day, and I LOVE IT.  Draw Something is now something *I* do, and is not overtaken by Mitchell who started 18 games with random people, with random doodles (and every game with my mother, sorry about that).  He's darling because "I KNOW HOW TO PLAY THIS GAME, MOM!" was only partly true, since he can't read.

And I'm so proud of these little cards I made for my primary class.  And after I colored one, my mom had to have one too, I thought.

Taken with my awesome iphone that only mom is allowed to touch (it's worked so far!)

These kids drew me 100s of green pictures (my favorite color!) for Mother's Day and Mitchell learned how to write "I Love You" which completely melted my heart.  Love my little family.