The Love Plate

Last night we had dinner with a SUPER fun and awesome family, the McFaddens. They have 5 amazing kids and their home is just full of life, love and energy. They were the first people to come and introduce themselves to us when we moved here and they've gone out of their way to make us feel at home since.

Anyway, I wanted to write about a tradition they have that really touched me and that I want to start in our family. I don't know how often they do it but at dinner they bring out a big plate decorated with hearts known as the love plate. One person is given the love plate and then everyone takes a turn saying why they love that person. The only rule is you can't repeat what someone else says.

Well I was the very lucky girl to get the love plate last night. I'm still kind of blown away by the sweet things that were said about me, especially by the children. They haven't known me very long but the things they said were so thoughtful and sincere. Here is a little sampling of the ego boost I got last night. (some of these are paraphrased because I can't remember everything they said but this is the gist of it)

13 year old daughter: " I love Becca because she's really giving. I'll never forget how the first time we went to meet her she gave us cookies. I also like that she's so happy all the time."

10 year old son said, "I love Becca because she's not shy. She's just really friendly and she isn't afraid to talk to new people."

7 year old daughter: "I love Becca because she's really generous and I like the way she spends time with her girls like when she made that bracelet with Teya."

4 year old son: "I love Becca because she's really fashion-ish." (he said more stuff after that but I couldn't remember because I was laughing so hard at the fashion-ish remark!)

Jeremy and Becca (the parents) said nice things too about me being down to earth and that my eyes reflect light and happiness. I can't tell you awesome it is to hear someone say something like that to you. Having the love plate seriously made my whole night and thinking about it continues to give me a lift today.

I guess it made me realize how important it is to give out compliments freely. I think positive things about so many people but I don't always take the time to tell them how wonderful they are. From now on I'm not going to hesitate. If I think someone is generous, friendly, kind, or even fashion-ish, I'm going to let them know!

Brinley's first haircut

I was hoping to grow Brinley's hair out into long luscious locks, but as you can see from this before picture, the mullett was starting to takeover and I knew something had to be done.

Luckily my friend Laura also happens to be a hair dresser who makes house calls! We had her come over, plugged Brinley into a baby Einstein video and things went as smooth as could be.

You can see from the glazed look in her eyes that she was totally into her movie and oblivious to everything else that was going on.

We also decided to cut some little bangs. Something I swore I'd never do with my girls since I hated mine so much as a kid. But I don't know, She kind of had them naturally anyway and they just seem to suit her.

Finished from the front

Cute sligthly stacked look in the back

Still happy with her new do the next day : )

My Kind of People!

On Saturday morning our friends called us to see if we wanted to drive out to a coastal town called Portsmouth to get some breakfast at their favorite local restaurant. As I listened to the invitation I was thinking, "Wait a second, they want to drive an HOUR to eat breakfast?! THESE ARE MY KIND OF PEOPLE!" I take my food very seriously, and apparently so do they. We got dressed and picked them up and listened with giddiness as they described the mammoth size portions and amazing food combos offered at the Friendly Toast, where we would be eating.
The place was packed, but so worth the wait. When we finally got seated my taste buds were dancing as I scanned the menu with such fine offerings as Almond Joy waffles and M&M pancakes. I finally settled on the Caribbean waffle, which had toasted pecans in it and was topped with caramelized bananas. Total food ecstasy, let me tell you. Taber got huevos rancheros that were out of this world, Laura and Brandon got some amazing house specialities and the girls had some chocolate chip pancakes. We all kind of swapped around and sampled everything. So so good.

After we were completely stuffed we decided to walk around and check out some of the cute shops downtown. Portsmouth is right on the coast and has a very fun New Englandy feel to it. We looked at an art gallery, played in a toystore, and even found a new hat for Brinley.

I was amazed at how well the girls did just window shopping. They really stayed entertained and enjoyed the afternoon with us.

At one point we ran into a gallery with some really cool historical displays. Taber and I are readng 1776 right now (He's much farther into it than me) So it was cool to see some of the things we've been reading about.

On our way home we drove by the ocean so Teya could see where Ariel the Little Mermaid lives. She had to get out of course. It was pretty cold but she made Taber take her all the way to the water so she could sing to Ariel.

And the great thing about going with friends is we could actually get a pic with the whole family.

We didn't end up getting home from our "breakfast" date until 4 in the afternoon. : ) Still it was the best unplanned outing we have done in awhile. Laura and Brandon are really spontaneous and I'm glad they called us because we love getting out and seeing new things (and eating amazing food!) and we definitely wouldn't have found those places without them!

Friday Foto: Man's Best Friend

Man's Best Friend has a best friend too.
Teya lovingly refers to it as "baby Monty" :)

Celtics Fan Wannabe

On Wednesday night Taber got some tickets from work to go see the Celtics play the Miami Heat. I don't think we realized how intense Bostonians are when it comes to their teams. We were used to the Timberwolves games where people came to hang out, not necessarily watch basketball. Totally different story with the Celtics. From the minute we walked in the stadium and beheld the sea of fans donning green jersey's we realized that we weren't in Kansas anymore. My blue shirt was like a flashing sign that said, "I'm from out of town, shun me!"

Okay, so maybe no one was really shunning me, but I definitely wished I had at least worn something green! It was awesome being there though. The Garden is an impressive venue, and the Celtics did not disappoint. The game was tied or within a few points the whole time but the Celtics pulled it off, even without Pierce. We also learned some valuable things about sports in New England. Such as, Don't talk on your phone during the game or the fans might kill you (happened to a guy near us.)


It's cool being in a city with such great teams. I'm excited to watch them play again, although next time I'll try to dress more like a real fan : )

Chatter Box

Teya is a talker, just like her mama. She chatters all day long with so much expression in her voice. It sounds like she's trying out for a play the way she annunciates and emphasizes her words. I guess the dramatic gene has spread to her too ; ) People always tell us she sounds like a little teenager, it's really pretty funny to listen to. Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the things she's said lately that have put a smile on my face.

When we were driving out to New Hampshire we stopped at a Super 8 hotel our second night. When Teya walked in she took a quick survey of the room, then spread her arms out in joy and exclaimed, "I just LOVE our new house!! It's so beautiful Mom!" We tried to explain that it was just a hotel room but she said, "No, remember, you said our new house was white and LOOK! The walls are WHITE! I really love our new house!"

We got a good laugh out of that. If she was that impressed with a Super 8 hotel room it shouldn't take much to please this kid!

When we went to meet our neighbors across the street, Teya couldn't take her eyes of the father, who is going bald. I guess Teya hasn't really had a lot of contact with bald men because she was pretty confused. We were trying to get to know them and make a good impression but Teya just kept staring with big eyes. Finally she interrupts our conversation, points to his head and says,
"Daddy, why is his hair like that?"
We were both blushing and trying to laugh it off like, "oh hahaha, what a silly little girl" But she kept talking and pointing,
"See LOOK DADDY! His hair and your hair are different sizes!"
I was kind of mortified but the guy and his wife just started laughing and he said, "Well that's a nice way to put it."

She definitely isn't shy when it comes to talking to grown ups either. We were at a dinner party the other night and there were lots of snacks out. Teya was sitting by the snack table and one of the men came over and started munching on chocolate covered pretzels. As she watched him put one after another in his mouth she finally piped up and said,
"Excuse me, if you keep eating those your tummy's going to get sick."
He just smiled and said, "Okay" Then kept right on eating them.
Teya watched a little longer than said,
" I REALLY have to tell you this, you shouldn't eat all those treats, you're going to get sick!"

I don't think he was expecting to hear that from such a little person.: )

And my personal favorite, The other day she was upstairs playing by herself when she randomly yelled down the stairs, "MOM, I NEED YOU TO BRING ME LOTS OF FOOD SO I CAN HIBERNATE!! JUST GRAB SOME GRAPES AND BANANAS AND BRING THEM TO MY CAVE!"

I really have no idea where that came from but I definitely got a good laugh out of that girls imagination!

Local Gems

This past weekend Taber and I took the girls out in search family friendly fun in our area. We took the suggestion of one of our friends and went to an indoor activity center called Imajine That. Now, as a mother of preschoolers living in cold areas, I have been to a lot of indoor kids museums and playgrounds. But this one is definitely one of the best I've seen. Not only was it really clean, but it had awesome stuff that BOTH Teya AND Brinley could enjoy. Usually the indoor playgrounds seem geared towards 5 and up, but this one was ideal for toddlers and preschoolers. I loved that I could let Brinley loose and she could handle all the stuff really well without needing much help. They had a really cool climbing structure/jungle gym, bounce house, music room, dress up/stage theater, kids grocery store, art center, and on and on.

The girls had a blast and Brinley pushed right through her nap tme without even a yawn, We will definitely be visiting that place again!

We also found the COOLEST Movie theater/restaurant called Chunky's Cinema Pub . I seriously cannot tell you how much I LOVED it! It's basically a movie theater and a restuarant in one. You go sit down at your table with your menu. Movie starts. When you're ready to order you press this little pager thing and a waitress comes out with her little glow in the dark pad and takes your order. For near the same price as popcorn and drinks you get a whole meal!! It was so cool because we rarely take them to restaurants because they get bored, and we rarely take them to movies because we don't want them to bug people. But by combining the experiences we did both without one problem! The movie kept them entertained and the food kept them quiet. So so awesome. We saw Alvin and the Chipmunks and even though I had low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much the girls loved it. They were laughing their heads off and Brinley was dancing like crazy in her chair.

Here's a pic from the web that shows what it looks like inside. Most genius idea EVER!

So those are some of the fun places we've discovered so far. It's always cool when you find a little gems like that so close to home!

Friday Foto: No Longer a Baby?

I wasn't ready for this.
I was in denial for awhile.
Teya slept in a crib till she was 2 1/2!
I just assumed Brinley would do the same.
But she has a big sister,
And she wants to do everything big sister does.
Including sleeping in a big girl bed.
It's been a week now, and she's been sleeping in there every night.
It's amazing, she stays in there all night
and doesn't get out till I come to get her.
This milestone made me a lot sadder than I thought it would,
Especially when I put the crib away.
I guess that's the way things go.
But I'm still calling her my baby. ; )

House Tour

A few people have asked for a picture tour of our new place so here you go. We are still figuring out decorations and such but this is what we have so far. We are really loving it here. The weather is beautiful, we've had some snow but it hasn't dropped below 30 so coming from Minnesota it feels pretty warm! Our neighbors are so nice and our ward is awesome. Hope you enjoy the pics!