Spring Weather

I've been MIA for a couple weeks. I won't bore you with the details, but I am back in action. I am pretty excited to post my 2nd Chopped dish. But until then, I'm gonna talk about the weather.

See, someone needs to tell the weather that the first day of spring is here. It is still a little chilly outside. Although it is nicer up here than it was in Provo- it is definitely not as nice as it is in California this time of year. In fact today it was WINDY! And not just an, oh that's a nice wind, let's fly a kite kind of wind. No, it was a holy cow is that a tornado? wind. Pretty Windy. And it has been hailing. I have to admit, it is pretty cool to watch.

While it was storming outside, Brooke and Lily watched through the window. Those little turkeys make me laugh.

They better stop messing with the blinds.

One of the best things about Spring-time is the Flowers. Especially tulips. I really like tulips. Imagine how excited I was to get these from my wonderful hubby.

It made my day. Actually it made my week.

The Dentist and Other Goodies

Yesterday Brooklyn went to our new dentist for the first time. She did wonderful, and I was so proud of her. She wasn't quite brave enough to sit in the chair by herself, but she did sit on my lap and let the Hygienist look in her mouth. It was a "fun" visit so no cleaning this time. The hope is that in a few months we can go back and have an official cleaning. But, her teeth looked great- no decay and no visible problems.

Dustin, on the other hand, didn't have such luck. He endured a cleaning and then was told he needed to come back to get 3 cavities filled. I told him he was trying to keep up with me. (I have an appointment later this month to take care of 3 cavities)

Fun times at the dentist!

So we celebrated with a trip to my friend Heidi's cookie shop Sweet Valley Cookie Co
It is an adorable shop! You can buy cookies, soups, and drinks. They also have cards, jewelery, toys, and other cutesy stuff for sale.
Heidi was so kind and gave us some delicious cookies. The Brookie is my favorite- brownies and chocolate chip cookies mixed together, how could you go wrong?
Then we picked up a couple boxes of girl scout cookies - I had to support the girl scout troop!
We won't tell my dentist.

Chopped

There is a TV show called "Chopped" where the contestants are given different ingredients and they have to create dish using those ingredients. You can add what-ever else you'd like, but you have to use the ingredients given to you. On Sunday we were invited over to our friends house for dinner and to play chopped. The rules were to make an appetizer using the following ingredients:

When I saw the bacon, I first though of Pioneer Woman's Stuffed Jalapenos, but was at a loss as to how I could use the onions and rolls. The onions made me think about a broccoli casserole dish my sister-in-law makes. I decided to take a spin off that dish. So I cooked up all the baconChopped it up

Then I grabbed broccoli, cheese and cream of mushroom soup
Cooked the broccoli for just a couple of minute in a pot of water

Melted the cheese and soup together, then I threw in a couple of onions.

Mixed the broccoli, bacon, and soup mix all together

Then I took the crescent rolls and used a pizza cutter to make triangle shapes

And spooned a little bit of the broccoli mixture on top

Cooked it in the oven 375 for about 15 minutes and it was good to go.

This is a picture of the 4 different entries. They were all really good. My favorite was the top right, Emily made a southwestern flavor, which worked very well with the bacon and onions.

If I had the chance to do it again, I'd probably cook the crescent rolls for a little bit before I added the mixture. I think it was overcooked. But it was a fun appetizer.

The Judge. He said we all won.

Oh dear. Don't worry mom, the can isn't open. I think Lily liked the cold feeling of the can.

Kid's Fair

Boise had a Kid's Fair today. My friend Emily and I planned on going for the past two weeks. I was so happy Brooklyn was better so we could go. It was nice to get out of the house, and it was super nice to see the girls have fun. I also love entering all the free drawings. Don't knock it. At the Boise Christmas Show I won a free Miche bag and shell. (I'll post about that soon. I love Miche)

I had to take a couple pictures of the girls while we waited for Emily to pick us up

We got there as they opened the doors. Which is a good thing becuase that place got busy fast!

The kids had fun on the blow up toys (is that what they are called?)

This picture is super blurry, but I was very proud that Brooklyn went down the slide all by herself.

Meeting fun animals

And of course the princesses. They love the princesses!

Flu Update

Going on day 3 of the flu in the Lawrenson house. Brooke is still on a water/Gatorade diet. She ate 4 crackers yesterday but threw them all up within 30 mins. However I am confident that she will show dramatic improvement today. In fact I just saw her smile for the first time in 3 days!

Where I have spent 90% of my day.

Don't judge me-I know I look terrible; I am functioning on very little sleep.

After being sick for 2 months, Hubby finally went to the Dr yesterday! The Dr said that his throat looked terrible. Mr. Dlaw was like, "Tell me about it, I feel like there are razor blades in my throat." They tested for strep and it came back negative. The Dr ended up giving him some penicillin and nose spay. If this doesn't kick it, he will have to go back to do more tests. Let's hope the penicillin works. I am ready to have a healthy house!

Bless Lily's heart, she is a doll. I wonder if she somehow knows that Brooklyn needs most of my attention. She is just wonderful!
On a happy note, Hubby and I were able to watch Modern Family last night. Possibly the funniest and best show I have ever followed. Last night's episode was hilarious. It was nice to laugh!

The Flu

We had our first experience with the stomach flu today. It was miserable. But there are a few things I am grateful for:

#1. Brooklyn said she wasn't hungry last night, so all she ate was oranges. This morning she drank a glass of apple juice before the vomiting began. This made the clean-up not too bad. (Sorry if that was TMI, but man I was really grateful!)

#2. Brooke quickly understood the concept of making it in the pot.

#3 Pull-ups that caught the accident she had today.

#4. Disney channel. Timmy time, Mickey Mouse Club House, Agent Oso, even you Handy Manny- I love you all

#5. The 3 different flavors of Gatorade we had in the house. The Dr. said to giver her a teaspoon of Gatorade/water mixture every 5 minutes. When she kept that down for 4 hours I could give her 2 teaspoons at a time. (She finally made it to 4 hours at 5pm today) I put the Gatorade/Water in different color mugs and every 5 minutes I asked Brooke what color she wanted. Poor thing was so thirsty today!

#6. Lily who was an absolute doll and played very well while I held Brooklyn. Poor little Lil has a runny nose and is teething her molars so life can't be pleasant for her. But she really was wonderful today.

#7. Both my babies were in bed at 7pm. Here's hoping they sleep peacefully and through the night.

Little Sapling Toys

About 5 minutes after we walked into our new apartment in Boise, there was a knock at our door. We opened it to meet our neighbors across the street, carrying a delicious dinner and some dang good cookies. They have 2 little children, one a year older than Brooke and the other a year younger. We quickly became good friends.

They introduced us to some of the neatest toys I have ever seen. They own and operate a toy company called Little Sapling toys. All of their toys are adorable and unique.

Their wooden teethers are some of Lily's favorite.

I love the rattle, it is my favorite. Lily likes it too, a lot. But I think I like it more.

I love my girls!

The alphabet blocks are awesome!

Yes, Brooklyn isn't wearing any pants. I am lucky she is wearing a shirt! I have about a million pictures of her I can never post becuase she is shirtless. Her inability to keep clothes on stresses us out. Especially her dad!

Their business has become quite successful. They are now one of the top selling toy shops on Etsy. In January, I was hired to work with Customer Service email/requests as well as help with their social media. One of the things I am doing in the social media realm is writing articles for their blog, LittleSaplingToys.blogspot.com It has been a lot of fun to dust off my writing skills and I have loved researching different topics about children. My first article was posted today, entitled The Power of Make Believe. If you have a minute to spare, check it out :)

I am very excited about my new job, and especially happy to be working with such good friends!

July 2010- January 2011

July 2010

My sister Heather stays with us for a few days with her 2 little girls. We have a blast!

Dlaw graduates POST, and my parents come to visit.

We enjoy all the amazing parks around our house

August 2010
We love Boise! Mr. Dlaw loves his work and I make some amazing friends.

We discover the coolest splash park ever

I set up booths for Usborne Books. It is fun to start working the business again

We find a fun little lake with a sandy beach- Brooklyn LOVES playing in the water

Lily enjoys sleeping in the shade

September 2010

I schedule 12 Usborne shows. My business grows, and I set up a booth at the St. Luke Women's Show

I run my first 5 K. I love it, I am hooked! The camera ran out of batteries, so Dlaw only got a shot of the finish line before I got there. Probably is a good thing because I looked tore up.
We go to the Western Idaho Fair. We all had such a fun time. I love that Mr. Dlaw gets 2 days off each week! It is the first time in 5 years that he doesn't have to work 6 days a week.

Brooklyn starts preschool with our neighbor's little boy.

They quickly become good friends

October 2010

Lil's heart murmur is gone, so we don't have to go back to the Cardiologist.
Our good friends and neighbors move. I cry a lot. Hubby gets moved to graveyards. I cry more.

Brooklyn enjoys her first Halloween where she understands what is going on. It is hilarious! She loves playing with her friends.

November 2010

I love holiday season. The girls get bigger and love playing together

Brooklyn adopts a tiny pumpkin as her pet. She loves building a "tower" and putting the pumpkin on top.

Brooke also gets a crush on her friend Carter. I think it's cute. Dlaw isn't happy.

December 2010

We enjoy our first Christmas alone in Boise. It is wonderful.

I make Christmas cookie plates and we have the best time delivering them

January 2011

Dlaw gets moved off of graveyards starting Jan 1. I do the happy dance for a week straight. He also has "comp time" that he has to burn. (Basically it is paid time off) He works a total of 8 days in January. Good thing, because our entire house was sick for the whole month!

Lily starts to crawl ALL OVER THE PLACE

She is so stinkin cute!

Brooklyn rode a bicycle for the first time