a little bit of 'Eaters' from today

our coach is so cute with those little guys!

 i love these kind of pictures...shows some serious 'umph'

Then, and Then and Now

It's that time again...time to go have a baby.  So, I looked back to my blog post before I left for the hospital to have Ivy...{here}

I thought it would be fun to compare how I looked before Max, Ivy and NOW.  So... I guess I didn't stop to take a picture of myself just as I was leaving for the hospital with Max (I had been waiting for Jeff to get off work for HOURS, so maybe I was just over it!...but this was then...(39 weeks with Max {2006})... 39 weeks with Ivy{2009}(this was 1 hour before heading to the hospital)

(note, I'm wearing the same pants...I guess these are my birthin' pants)

...and exactly 39 weeks with Scarlet {2012}

(same pants...I just dyed them purple because they were sooo dingy!)

but, I'm not going in to get induced until Monday!

Saturday's Tball Game

We were in charge of 'healthy snacks' on Saturday for the Anteaters...Cupcakes are TOTALLY healthy!  especially when the look like ice cream cones and baseballs mixed.  I made these for Jeff one year for his birthday, and took them to ASU for the baseball team...he wasn't too tickled about it.  Thankfully the Anteaters DID enjoy them!  They're fun to make, anyways!

 And Jillonnie and I finally got around to making the cheerleaders some shirts.  Last year, Max was an Oregon Duck, so we made Ivy a shirt that said 'QUACK'...what the devil noise does an anteater make?  anyways, this is what we came up with!

 i {heart} ants

we freezer-papered the words on a plain white Wal-mart T, and then attached some sleeves with some knit that I had.

I think Jillonnie got a picture of all of the kids wearing their shirts; I'll post it later if I get it!

{stud}

St Patty's Week

Seriously,  you'd think that with St. Patrick's day being on Saturday that we would have celebrated like crazy all day and run out of things to do...but Saturday came and went so fast, I barely blinked!  We went to the Stake Show that our Stake puts on every three years sort of last minute, which was fun, but the only real St. Patrick's day thing we did on Saturday was eat Rainbow on a stick for breakfast with our oatmeal!  (oh, some crazy leprechaun DID tinkle in our toilet and forget to flush his green tinkle down...and he may have tinkled in our milk, too...arrrgh!

 Sunday...can't remember...seriously, time is flying!

Monday, Ivy and I did a rainbow sorting, coloring glueing activity while Max was at school...super fun

Tuesday we finally ate the rainbow JELL-O that I started making Saturday!  haha...it was soooo yummy!

A week and a half left...I think I might be losing my mind!  Since when can I not remember holiday activities that we do!?!  I'm totally not myself these days!

reTangled

I had another day of Disney to use before 13 days was up...and since we didn't get to meet Rapnuzel on the first time around (she has her own little area where you have to go meet her) we decided to go today and stand in line to see just her!

Ivy calls her Re-Tangled (pretty sure it's a mixture of Rapunzel and Tangled)
She took about 40 minutes to brush and brush and brush and brush her hair...but she was so worth it!

She gave Ivy a ton of time with just her...asked her who her favorite princess was (and she told her Ariel...haha, there are no pretenses here) she asked about her necklace, she taught her how to Princess Twirl...and gave her some serious lovin'. 

 She was soooo sweet!

I sent Max to school with Lucky Charms in his lunch...

...you know, a fun St Patty's day lunch/treat.  

When I went to school this afternoon to pick him up, my Max wasn't there.  

and this is who was left in his place:

I think he had a fun day at school...

'Best Day Ever!' (for Ivy)

Ivy's big 3rd birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks...(2 weeks and 5 days to be exact...but who's counting down the days?)

She'll turn 3 the day before I get induced to have baby Scarlet.  But I didn't want her birthday to go un-done. Ives is totally into Ariel and mermaids this year, so we thought we'd take just her to Disneyland, go to the Fantasy Faire (which we never do with Max) meet some Princesses (hopefully Ariel), go on the new Ariel ride, and maybe even eat at Ariel's Grotto...My friend and neighbor Michelle had the day off of work, so she came with me to HELP this big-ole momma trek around the park.  (so glad she did!)

We didn't tell ivy what we were doing today, but just that Mom was taking just her somewhere really special for her birthday.  This morning, Max got to go to donuts with daddy, and Jeff took him to school, and then I spilled the secret to Ivy where we were going (this only so that I could convince her to wear Jeans, of course!)

She wore Ariel's colors...and her Ariel necklace.  

Here's happy girl waiting to get on the tram.

 Ivy and Michelle on the Tram.

 First thing we did was go to Fantasy Faire...We got Ivy an autograph book and pen so the Princesses could write to Ivy in a little special book.  She met Princess Tiana (all of a sudden, she became a really shy girl, and I could hardly get her to smile.)

 Then Ariel...smile a little better...and less reluctant to give her fav Princess her autograph book

 Then Jasmine..still funky smile, but knew to give her her book right away.

 Then we went on a few rides

 of her choosing...Small World was her first request (i love that ride), then the caterpillar ride (Alice in Wonderland) then the Teacups....yep, she spun Michelle, me and Scarlet (in Utero) around to her hearts content.  (luckily we didn't spin too fast!)

Then we headed over to California Adventure to get lunch.  We saw Mickey on our way...got his autograph (my camera had a weird switch flipped at this point...so my pics are now blurry), went on the new Little Mermaid ride which is FABULOUS

and then went to eat lunch.  Hello fanciest lunch I ever had.  I should have been in my Prom dress.  Ivy was in Heaven there!

 She did meet Ariel again, and mom and Ivy took our pics with her...(camera is really blurry for those pics, sad!)

But we got to meet Snow White: 

Belle:

 Aurora:

 AND Cinderella:

 Princess Sandwich...check out the smile after that!

 After lunch, we did a few more rides (King Triton's Carousel)

 and while waiting in line for a 30 minute wait, Ivy took a nap...do you see why I'm so glad Michelle was there?!?  

We had the BEST DAY EVER...except for not seeing "ra-tangled"  but it was an hour and a half wait just to see her.  sorry.

and i'm spent, in case you were wondering.  

Happy  {early} Birthday, Ivy-girl!

Max's Homerun

Saturday was another baseball day for us...Max got to be last in the batting order, which means that you get to hit a home run EVERY TIME!  woo hoo!

I'm loving this season even more than last year!
ps...please ignore that really annoying mom in the background!  I give her dirty looks every time, but she won't stop!

Devils vs. Dirtbags

This weekend, Jeff informed me that BYU baseball was in town playing the UCI Anteaters (Max's T-ball team is the anteaters, as well).  Rad match-up for our family!  Jeff played for the Y...Max's T-ball team...he could wear his jersey, fun!

I thought it would be so fun to take Max to a game (Jeff takes him occasionally, but I don't get to go, let alone Ivy!)

Irvine is in my 'safe-driving-zone' so I thought it would be perfect...come to find out that the Devils were also 'in-town' playing the Long Beach state Dirtbags.  Now, while Long Beach is a stretch for me to drive to alone (hee hee, I'm a total woosie) it is close-enough...and those darn Devils just have a soft spot in my heart (whether I know any of them or not)

We chose the Devils!

Max wore his Jersey with MOUSSER on the back that ASU gave him back when he was 1 and Jeff coached there (it was HUGE on him back then)  Unfortunately, we didn't have any Devil garb for Ivy...or me, for that matter (stinkin' tummy)

 we practiced the pitchfork the whole way there.  Max got it down:

 Ivy thinks she has it down:

They kids were soooo good!  I didn't expect to stay longer than a few innings (I thought I'd be totally uncomfortable in those hard seats, and that the kids would get restless and bored)

I stashed Popcorn, Fruit Snacks and their special coloring pages in my bag, and we stayed for 11 innings!

I couldn't get them to yell or cheer (they must not be related to me) until the VERY END.  Don't worry, I was hollering at that first-base umpired the whole time.  He was a total Dirtbag...no really, I think he was rooting for them 'cause he made some awefully bad calls!  Anyways, regardless of how much I hollered and cheered, my kids wouldn't do any such thing!  UNTIL...

The stinkin' pitcher kept trying to pick off one of our devils like 15 times in a row...So, I yelled: "Freaking Pitch it one time, Pitch!"

and then my kids were all about yelling that out...I didn't think I had that bad of a mouth...but apparently I need to watch it a little better.  

At any rate we had a blast, we didn't get home until 10:30 (not like me to let my kids stay up even 4 minutes past their bed-time at 8) and even though we left when they were still tied (but in extra innings) the Devils won...LOVE IT!

Thanks for the tix, Jeffer!

Ward Blog Spotlight

We got to be the first family spotlight on our ward's blog...

Since you have to be in the "in crowd" to read it, I thought I'd post it here as well!

Here's us:

Hi HB4th!

We're the Mousser Family!  We moved into the ward 3 1/2 years ago from Arizona where we'd lived since we got married.  Here's a little story about how our family got started:

Jeff and I met at BYU our Junior Year, weeks before he decided to transfer from playing baseball for BYU to playing for his home town Arizona State University.  We dated for 3 weeks before he moved to Arizona for his senior year, while I (Autie) stayed at BYU to finish my degree.  I graduated in April, and immediately moved to Arizona where I had a job lined up to be a Personal Trainer, and to live with his brother and his family.  Jeff was still playing ball for ASU and it was so fun to watch him pitch weekend after weekend!  About a month after I moved to AZ, the Major League Baseball draft took place...and Jeff got drafted to play by the Minnesota Twins.  Super cool, huh?  

Unfortunately for me, we weren't married yet, I had just moved to Arizona to get ready for our Wedding in July...and he was moving to Florida,( and then who knows where to play until September! (dang!) ) So, I stayed in Arizona, because I had a really good job, while he went and threw some K's in Florida, and then a few weeks later in Eastern Tennessee to play for the Twin's Farm league, the Elizabethton Twins.  (don't ever go there).  He got a weekend off to fly up to Seattle (where I'm from) for our wedding, and then the two of us flew back to Tennessee where we had our "honeymoon".  Haha.  (Rather, I watched Everybody Loves Raymond, and wrote ALL of my Thank You cards, while he played baseball all day every day!)  

Anyways, He did get released after that first season, so he came back to Arizona to coach at ASU, and I continued to be a trainer.  Max came along while Jeff was coaching, in 2006, and some of my favorite memories are sitting in the stands behind the dugout with my little Maxer-man, yelling at the ump, and watching some really good baseball in the good ole' desert!

After a few years, Jeff was finally offered a job as a part-time scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks covering the 4-corners.  He did so well, that after 1 season, the offered him a job to cover Southern Cal!  (woohoo...Max turned 2, we found out we were expecting Ivy, and we moved to big- bad-California all in the same month!)

So, here we are, I get to stay home with my two kiddos, which I love to do so much.  I also run a craft blog with Jen Schumann, which is so fun and allows me to craft to my hearts content!  {click here} to check it out!  Jeff has a job that he loves to go to every day, which is so important.  So, while he does work a lot, and it's mostly just me and the kids, especially during the baseball season, he LOVES his job, and enjoys doing it!

Max is 5 1/2 and he is in Kindergarten. He reads like a stud, plays T-ball with a couple of his friends, and is a really sweet kid.  He has a contagious laugh, is helpful around the house, and is so sweet to his little sister, Ivy (most of the time).  His favorite scripture story is when Nephi builds the Boat and loves to sing Primary Songs.

Ivy is turning 3 on April Fools Day (and that's no joke)...She is a little sassy-pants, girlie-girl who will only wear dresses by day, and nightgowns by night, and she loves to have her hair in braids.  She loves to 'read stories' by herself, and actually does a really cute job making stories up to go along with the pictures, she loves playing with Play-Doh and coloring, and anything Princess (hello...every other girl in the ward)  Ivy's favorite scripture story is, and I quote "about the mean guys and the nephites and Jesus in the scriptures."  She also calls the Book of Mormon, the Book of Stormin'...she's so fun.

AND, we're expecting baby Scarlet the day after Ivy turns 3!  I'm scheduled to be induced Monday, April 2nd, and we're so excited to see what she looks like, and to meet our newest little love!

We love our ward, and can't wait to get to read little blurbs about the rest of the families on this blog!

Tball strikes again!

Yay!

It's T-ball season for Max again...which means a whole lot of hootin' and hollerin' from me, and a ton of pictures on our blog of just T-ball.  :)

I might be a little like my mother-in-law when it comes to baseball.  haha

We have a really fun team this year, with a lot of friends, and some fun families that we don't know yet.  Our team mom is RAD, and totally on top of things.  love it!

Here are some pics from our first game!

The boy's banners:

 Max's Pennant:

 Warming up

 River, Talan, Max and Cade...It's so fun to have all four of these boys together on the same team!  (Fun for mom's at practice!)

 Jillonnie had this cute idea to put their names on their helmets with our Cricuts...i love them!

 Here's our Maxer before his first at-bat:

 and here he is with his tough-guy face on:

 First at-bat

 Sliding into home

 and playing in the field.  

Max did so good today, there is a huge difference between his first game last year, and today!  No crying, not pouting, no getting mad...just a big kid who's starting to know whats going on.  I love it.  There may have been 1 tackle involved...but it is the first game!  haha

We're so excited for more Ball Games!