Leahy Corner

Other Visitors

2012-01-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like finding the perfect kitten is going to have to wait a little due to the arrival of an unexpected visitor.

My mother-in-law was visiting several weeks ago and of as usual brought her 2 shih tzus with her. A couple of days before she had to leave back to Mexico, someone actually stole her girl dog, Rosy. She checked the pound and the vets in town, but no luck. She ended up having to leave for Mexico without her beloved dog. About a week afterwards, the girl who stole Rosy took her to the pound after her apartment complex wouldn't let her keep the dog without additional deposits and such. This was right after we had returned our kitten to her old home. So we got to go pick up Rosy and keep her at the house until my MIL could return from Thailand and come take her dog home.

On top of that, it turns out that she was pregnant. So a couple weeks ago we woke up to the sound of a little puppy in the house. The girls have just loved having a brand new baby puppy. They can't wait until I will let them carry the puppy around with them everywhere they go. As it is, I have to keep telling them to put the puppy back in the box (Rosy gets very nervous when the girls start carrying her baby around.)

Here it is just after being born:

Here's some more recent ones:

It really is quite cute.

On a different note, I also finally learned how to do a fishtail braid. (basic I know, but I've never done it before.) I thought it turned out really neat.

A Brief Visit from Princess #4

2012-01-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

We found her on Craigslist for free and made a special trip up to Tucson to go get her. She was by far everyone's favorite Christmas gift this year. Only 6 weeks old and actually just a little too early to leave her mother, but she adjust well and fast and was litter trained after only 1 day.

She stole our hearts from the start and was so lovable and good with the girls. She spent most of the first couple days in Princess M's lap or arms and once she felt comfortable with our home was bounding all over the place. She quickly learned how to use her claws (she would climb straight up my pant leg in order to get in my arms.) But she was really really good about not scratching the girls. She even would let Little Mouse crawl over and play with her.

After playing with several names, some good, some not so good, the girls decided to call her "Princess." And really, how could she be anything else in this house full of princesses. Isn't she just the most beautiful kitten you've ever seen?

Unfortunately, as you can probably predict from the title of this post (and the way I've been talking about her in past tense) her stay with us did not last very long. Princess M, who has been around cats her entire life, began developing puffy, itchy eyes on the second day. Ironic, isn't it that the little girl who loves her the most, would end up with an allergy to her. After about a week, we made the agonizing decision to give her up. Princess M drove with her to take her back to her mother in Tucson. She cried herself to sleep that night from missing her so much. Her only consolation is that we promised her that we would try again with another kitten.

We're hoping it's just that she seemed to be a long haired cat. Our old cats were both short haired. We've tried some kittens at the pound this past Monday, but they just seemed too feral and hissy to have around the girls (and especially Little Mouse.) I guess Princess just set our expectation so high now. So we're now just waiting for a new litter to show up on Craigslist with a short haired, lovable, cuddle-loving, adorable kitten to try and fill Princess' shoes (without filling Princess M's allergy.) Wish us luck.

Goodbye, Princess! We love you and miss you!

Christmas Recap

2012-01-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

We had a nice quiet Christmas at home this year. Alex's mother, Lynda, came to visit for a couple weeks which was GREAT! The girls just loved every minute they got to spend with her. We celebrated the 4 advent sundays before Christmas and on Christmas day we had a nice relaxing morning opening presents, just being together, and we made up the girls' hair into princess crowns for church. They looked quite lovely!

Little Mouse (who's squeek has evolved into more of a falcon's screech, only higher and more jarring,) had a great morning scavanging any bits of candy she could find laying around. By the way just yesterday she stood all by herself for a full 10 seconds with no support at all. She was quite the star.

Banana Girl has taken to wearing a swimming suit whenever she possibly can: night or day, sun or rain, warm or cold. So she was thrilled with her very own ballerina outfit for Christmas. She models it so well.

This was a present for the whole family, picked up a few days before Christmas, but was still by far Princess M's favorite gift this year.

As it always does, Christmas ended all too soon. We enjoyed a thoroughly lovely New Year's Eve, playing games with friends. The girls actually made it all the way till midnight. And we were very grateful that our new church schedule didn't start until 1:00pm this year.

Loved it! Thought I'd share...

2011-12-11T21:05:00.001-07:00

This is one of my (and my children's) favorite songs. I saw this video on my friend's blog today and since I don't think we share many of the same visitors to our blogs, I thought I would share it on my blog as well.

Watch on Youtube

It really is a great rendition! I hope we are all trying to remember those wonderful gifts we've been given, despite all the bustle of the season.

The Nutcracker

2011-12-08T08:19:00.001-07:00

Princess M's ballet classes put on The Nutcracker each year for Christmas, in lieu of a winter recital. Princess M has been looking forward to this all year. She got to be a Mouse in the first act and a Villager in the second.

She also got to learn a lesson in keeping the Sabath day holy, since we found out 2 weeks before the performance that one of the performances was scheduled for a Sunday. We had a nice talk about it, spoke with her teacher, (who tried to convince us otherwise) but in the end Princess M felt very strongly about not dancing on Sunday. It was a hard choice for her, but she made the right decision. We were very proud of her.

Here's a bunch of photos and videos that we took.

Good News Bad News

2011-11-27T19:07:00.001-07:00

I finally did it and painted my kitchen. It's something it desperately needed, and I've wanted to do since we moved in. It's a beautiful pale yellow now and I plan on getting some blue curtains, towels, etc to accent with. It looks so nice and fresh, and not old anymore. I love it!

As I was painting my last wall (behind the fridge) I noticed a few holes/scratches in the wall that wouldn't hold the paint. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that whenever I pressed the drywall near the holes, a small stream of powder would gush out of the hole, like a pixie stick. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach and showed Alex. After some exploration and removing all the plaster off of the areas where the drywall paper was loose, my wall now looks like this.

At first glance it looked like water damage, which would be understandable since we have a drainage problem on that side of the house that we are trying to fix. Except that the damage fans up, instead of down. And when you look closely the plaster is riddled with tiny holes. And then we remembered the ant problem that we had before we started having the pest control guys spray monthly. And come to think of it, our wall looks just like one of those ant farms you can buy. Sinking feeling deepens.

Then Alex pulled out the baseboards on both this and the continuation of the wall in the next room (where we had seen ants emerge from before.) Sure enough both of the baseboards splintered like rotten wood. Now our stomachs are about as low can be and we're imagining an entire wall eaten away by termites or carpenter ants or some other wood destroying organism. But it's nearly midnight on Saturday, and there's nothing we can really do anymore until we get a professional termite guy in here on Monday to assess the damage. So we just push the refrigerator back into place and go to bed.

We did look up our insurance policy. Guess what is NOT covered by homeowners' insurance.

Keep us in your prayers. We could use some good news about now.

Banana Art

2011-11-27T18:33:00.001-07:00

Banana Girl has made that transition from just scribbles to drawing something; namely faces.

In this second, drawing, you may notice something different. Banana Girl has done something that her older sister, with all her art ability, has never done: she is exploring emotions.

This is a family portrait. The big head is Alex ;), to the right is me, and below me are Princess M & Banana Girl, with Little Mouse in orange up in the upper left corner. When we questioned her about it, this is roughly how the conversation went:

Mommy: "This is Daddy? Is Daddy happy?"
Banana Girl: "No. He's sad."
Mommy: "Is Mommy sad too?"
Banana Girl: "No. She's mad."
At this point, I'm trying to suppress a laugh, and Alex took it a step further:
Daddy: "Why is Daddy sad? Did he lose his game?"
Banana Girl: "No. He's ignoring Momma."
Daddy: "Why is Momma sad?"
Banana Girl: "Because Daddy is ignoring her."

Priceless. Should I be concerned? I think I need to watch my temper better. Apparently all the girls are happy though.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T18:05:00.001-07:00

We had a lovely thanksgiving here. Two wonderful dinners, lots of friends new and old, and just a great time. Unfortunately, no pictures. But I do have a Thankful book that Princess M created in school this week.

"I'm Princess M! I'm six!"

2011-11-13T17:08:00.001-07:00

Well, I've had these pictures ready to be posted for the past week. But I just never could seem to find the time to write. Princess M had her 6th birthday last weekend. Since she was born on Labor day, school was closed for her birthday and she was able to have some friends over for an Elevensies Princess Tea Party. We had to add the Elevensies in because her birthday this year was 11/11/11 (and of course we started the party at 11:11 am as well.) We had 11 dishes at her party, all with 11 items on the plate. I couldn't think of any other way to incorporate 11 into the party.

Here's Princess M blowing out her 6 candle on her 11 cupcakes.

We broke the girls up into a green team and a pink team and had a princess dress up game. The two attendants had to make the most beautiful dress that they could on their princess using green and pink streamers.

The only working camera I had was my cell phone, so the pictures are not very good (or very plentiful either.)

The girls had a lot of fun together, ate a bunch of goodies, and just had fun being princesses for a few hours.

Like I did for Banana Girl, I'd like to take a moment to record some observations on princess M on this, her 6th birthday. At this point in her life, these are her favorites:

Favorite Color: Green. Although closely followed by purple and then pink.
Favorite Toy: At the moment, her purple unicorn pillow pet that she got for her birthday, but I imagine that won't last long. The two new barbies (Rapunzel and Super Star Barbie) have a better shot at staying in the favorite toy lineup for a while. She also favors a few Littlest Pet Shops from time to time.
Favorite Foods: Here's what she would have chosen for her birthday menu, if I hadn't been so busy preparing a friends party: Hot Chocolate & Blueberry scones (which she did get at her tea party), quesadillas with lunch meat inside, ramen noodle soup and rainbow chip cake with green frosting (which she also got at her party).
Favorite Movies: Cars 2. (Not very girly in this genre at the moment. But that's the newest Disney movie out; which is generally her favorite.) She also loves watching "Eloise" Movies, which inspired the title of this post.
Favorite Music: "I Know Heavenly Father Loves Me", "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland, and anything Abba. She also really enjoys listening to classical music. She calls it "ballet music" since that is what they dance to in class.
Favorite TV show: Sponge Bob Square Pants.
Favorite Activities: Swimming, going on hikes, riding her bike, ballet, painting toesies, playing at a playground, playing at friend's homes or with the other kids at school, being in charge, playing battleship, and playing computer games (barbie.com, pbskids.org, and mickey mouse clubhouse)
Favorite Clothes: Anything with a skirt! Hearts and butterflies are a bonus. It's like pulling teeth to get her to wear pants though.

Princess M is our firstborn, and as such is our trailblazer child as parents. Every new phase she goes through is a new phase for us as well. It has always been so exciting to watch how quickly she is growing up and learning new things. And learning new things has always been something that she does very very well. She is so bright (and a little tall for her age) so everyone always thinks that she is older than she is. She is at the top of her class in Kindergarten, and just loves to share with us the new things that she is learning there. She can read several basic words and is getting good at sounding out new words. Before too long she'll be reading all on her own. She just recently learned how to play battleship with her dad, and has picked up very quick on the strategies of the game (and how to taunt and trick her dad.) It's really fun to watch.

Like me, she loves to plan things and organize things to her liking. Also like me, she is very focused and persistent in her ventures. Some may call us stubborn; and maybe we are; but it can be a very good thing when pursuing worthy goals. (I just need to remember to be patient with her persistence; since I know where she gets it.) I hope I can help her to channel all that good stick-to-it-iveness in good directions.

Unlike me, however, she is very artistic as well as smart. The first time she stopped scribbling and asked me how to draw a smiley face, I showed her how to draw a standard face. The perfectionist in her then wanted me to show her how to draw everything, but I pretty much stopped showing her at that point and asked her to draw whatever she saw, however she wanted to draw it. She resisted at first, but very soon she just took off with it. It has been so fun watching how she perceives the world through her drawings. And they get better and better all the time. It's usually very clear too, exactly what she is trying to draw. Her world right now is full of rainbows, unicorns, and very happy people. It's wonderful!

Princess M has always had a love for music and especially dancing. Even before we put her in ballet, she was trying to learn on her own by watching Barbie movies with ballerinas. So often she'll be going about her chores or games on pointed toes, striking a pose on her way. She has developed an appreciation for classical music as well, which she calls "Ballet Music," and which I am very grateful for. Her ballet school puts on the Nutcracker every year for Christmas, and she is very excited to be one of the mice in the show this year. If anyone will be in town the first weekend in December, it promises to be a great show.

Princess M loves to play with other girls, especially those just a little older than her, and especially if they let her be the leader at all. Even so, she also really loves to play with her younger sister and teach her what she is learning in school and ballet. I just love that they play together so well, and seem to genuinely care and watch out for each other. Princess M also just adores her baby sister. She would smother her in hugs and kisses if I let her, and has always been a great help to me with taking care of her. She's very loving and likes to cuddle with us whenever we'll let her. She loves animals and can't wait until Christmas time when we've told her we'll be able to pick out a new kitten. However, I'm not sure I'll allow the name "Hearts" for our kitten, that she has already decided on. We'll see. Maybe I'll have Santa surprise her with a kitten this year. That could be fun.

Princess M is so very precious to our family. I see so much of myself in her, both good and bad. She's beginning to comprehend this big world that she's living in; there doesn't seem to be anything that I can't talk to her about anymore (almost.) I'm so proud of all she is and is becoming, and hope I can be the loving, understanding, and patient mother that she needs me to be.

Happy Birthday Princess M!!! I love you very very much!!!

Halloween Weekend

2011-11-08T18:00:00.000-07:00

We had a great Halloween Weekend last week. The church held a Family Fun Fall Fair Festival Fete Fling Thing (or something like that) on Saturday. The girls jumped on jumpy castles, ate cotton candy, popcorn, and snow cones, went fishing, got "Fairy Eyes" painted on their faces, and just had a really fun time.

Aren't they Gorgeous?

The next day we got all dressed up in our Orange and Purple dresses for Church. Banana Girl even had a Halloween shirt with cats and pumpkins to wear under her jumper.

Our outfits were complete with orange flowers for pigtails (Banana Girl) and spider hair clips (for Princess M & I).

I make girls hair bows for fun, from flowers to bows, to bugs (lady bugs, bees, and butterflies) I've been wanting to try a spider for a long time. This year I finally did it. They turned out pretty cool I thought. Mine had brown legs and Princess M's had orange. They were a hit at church.

Monday brought Halloween. Princess M got to wear her costume to school all day and the other 2 girls joined her after dinner in costume for Trick or Treating at the mall and the park for community sponsored festivals/"safe" trick or treating.

Little Mouse wasn't too happy with her costume at this point. She made an awfully cute jack-o-lantern though.

Princess M went as Rapunzel. We had an old blond wig laying around the house and for the cost of a cheap hair extension ($6) we brushed out the hair, braided the extension into the wig and filled it with homemade flower pins to look like Rapunzel at the floating lights celebration. It's too bad I didn't get a picture when we finished making it. It was quite stunning.

Here's what it looked like after a day at school and trick or treating though.

Banana Girl went as her favorite princess, Cinderella (the one in the pink dress as she put it.)

We had a great time! The girls came home pooped and with a basket full of candy each. (Which Mom and Dad promptly confiscated and now use to bribe them to do chores. What mean parents we are! Thanks for the idea, Nate & Cindy!)

October Randomness

2011-10-23T19:55:00.002-06:00

Just a few random photos.

Here's my fall table center, complete with fresh roses from my front bush. Aren't they gorgeous?!

Banana Girl wanted to cuddle with someone as she fell asleep. Princess M was happy to oblige. It just warms my heart when they care for and love each other.

On the pet front, we finally sold the last puppy. Horray!

Bad news is that Princess M's goldfish that she got from the family fun fair, only 2 day ago, died today. We've been warning her since she first got it that goldfish die easily, but she was still pretty broken up. I walked in the room and she tells me, "Mom, I've been praying to Heavenly Father that my fish will come alive again." And then she burst into tears. What do you say to that? Sometimes the answer is just "No." I may have to go buy a goldfish sometime with her this week.

We did, however, brighten up the day with a little toesie painting.

Our happy fall toesies look like gilded Reeces Pieces. They're great!

Rachael's the Best!

2011-10-12T23:47:00.000-06:00

Here they are: the long awaited family pictures from July! Enjoy!!!

She's a Crawler!

2011-10-12T22:01:00.001-06:00

See Little Mouse.

See Little Mouse Come.

Come, Little Mouse, Come!

See Little Mouse Go.

Good Job Little Mouse!!!

(Pictures Courtesy of Princess M)

Speaking of Small Pox...

2011-10-02T21:20:00.000-06:00

Alex and I have been watching a TV miniseries called "John Adams," that aired some long time ago. Great show, very interesting to see the dramatization of the events that brought about the autonomy of our country. They show the political debates that the colonies went through at that time. It's a miracle that they were ever able to get a unanimous vote, (or 12 of the 13 colonies to all vote for independence; NY abstained in case you don't remember.)

Anyway, they showed the the small pox that was running rampant throughout the continental army and Abigail Adams' concern that they might contract the deadly disease. What a horrible, terrifying disease that was. I guess I always imagined the small pox as something similar to the chicken pox, only deadlier. Oh, no! There was nothing "small" about these pox. No mild little red spots like the chicken pox, but terrible scarring huge pockets of puss everywhere, just like a really ugly winter squash. I can't even imagine having to nurse my own child in such a condition without completely breaking down. Thank Heaven above that that horrible disease has been eradicated!

So yeah, it was a very small part of the show, but the image of how they "inoculated" Abigail and her children against the disease still amazes me. The doctor seriously just made a cut in her arm and then shoved into her a wad of puss that he had extracted from one of the huge pox on the man in the cart outside dead of the disease. Well, of course they're all going to get sick from that! And although I read that it was still a legitimate way to avoid contracting the disease; I don't understand how that can be any better than just hanging out with the diseased people and contracting it that way. It was no weakened strain of the disease, but the full blown, active killer that he shoved into their bodies. It just seamed so barbaric.

I'm very very very grateful for modern medicine! And yet I wonder what we do today that people will think of as barbaric a couple hundred years from now.

It's Fall!

2011-10-02T20:35:00.001-06:00

Officially anyway. The days are still hot here, and there's no leaves changing or anything. However, the nights have cooled off quite a bit, and all the monsoon rains have stopped.

Anyway, I picked up some fall decor this week: some mini pumpkins of different colors, a couple winter squash that look like they have the small pox, and several ears of Indian corn. You know, those multicolored ears that are all dried up and last forever, because they are hard as a rock.

They're so pretty, and they make it feel like fall, even though the weather does not. I'm excited to get the rest of the fall decor out now.

However, I read online another thing you can do with Indian corn besides decorate, and I just had to give it a try:

Popcorn on the cob!!! You just spray them with cooking oil, place in a paper sack and put in the microwave until it stops popping. It worked perfectly. My girls loved it! I think we just found a new fall tradition.

Happy Fall, Everyone!

Does that really happen outside of Leave it to Beaver?

2011-09-30T00:41:00.000-06:00

So it's dinnertime and I made the mistake of asking for a volunteer instead of just choosing someone to say the prayer:

Me: "Dinner's ready! Everyone up to the table please! Who would like to say the blessing?"
Both girls in unison: "ME!!!"

Now this is the point where the house would usually erupt into shouts of accusation about who said it last time and lobbying for their case. However, just as I was stealing myself up to break up a fight and impose the iron decision of Mother to settle the issue, I heard this from my younger princess:

Banana Girl: "(Princess M), you can say the prayer if you want to."
Princess M: "Thank you, (Banana Girl)!"
Banana Girl: "Welcome."
Princess M: "You can say the night prayer, if you would like."
Banana Girl: "Thanks!"
Princess M: "You're welcome."

Who are you? and what have you done with my kids? ...And can I keep you forever? It made my night.

Happy Double Birthday!!!

2011-09-25T21:59:00.055-06:00

Yesterday was Alex and Banana Girl's Birthday!

We had a busy day from the start. Alex took the two older girls to the local swimming pool in the morning, while I finished canning our last batch of salsa. (A week ago Saturday we received 125 lbs of tomatoes, that we have been canning into diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and salsa all week long. I'm so glad that is done!) When the last batch came out of the canner, we loaded up the kids and all went to the fair in town.

Here's me and my girls!

Here's the Birthday Girl and Boy! (and the baby too.)

Banana Girl and Princess M rode the train together.

These three rode the Mary-go-round.

Banana Girl rode her first ride all by herself. I was afraid she would be to nervous by herself, but as you can see, she had a blast and waved to us every time she came around.

Princess M and I rode the Farris Wheel. And Alex and Banana Girl rode the giant slide together, but were too fast for a picture. (My camera was taking too long adjusting for the dark and flashing lights.)

We ended the day with presents and cake. (I know the candle is a 7. It's the only candle I could find in the house. She really turned 3. The cake still tasted good.)

Princess M helped me decorate the cake. It's half princesses for Banana Girl, and half boy toys for Alex. (Names have been changed to protect the innocent.)

I'd like to take a moment to record some observations on Banana Girl on this, her 3rd birthday. At this point in her life, these are her favorites:

Favorite Color:Still Yellow by far, but she's starting to say Pink and Green as well.

Favorite Toy: My Little Ponies

Favorite Foods: (Here's what she chose for her birthday menu:) Eggs & Toast, Doughnuts, Daddy Mac (macaroni with cheese and diced tomatoes added), Chicken Nuggets, Broccoli, Apples, and Ice Cream.

Favorite Movie: Barbie & the 3 Musketeers.

Favorite Music: Abba/Mama Mia; Especially "Money, Money, Money", "Dancing Queen," and "Mama Mia".

Other Favorite Songs: "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland, "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", and "Winnie the Pooh".

Favorite TV show: Ni Hau Kai-lan.

Favorite activities: Swimming, going for walks, riding on the back of Daddy's bike, playing with her older sister, and going on errands with Mama or Daddy.

Favorite Clothes: Swimming Suit. When I won't let her wear that, then it has to be a pretty dress.

Banana Girl is my sweet peacemaker. She is very often thinking of other people without being prompted. I love to hear her prayers, because she always includes either her sister or her daddy and often both, that they might have a good day at school, work, ballet, or whatever they are doing that day. She almost always greets us at the door when we come home from somewhere and asks us, "How was school/work/ballet/etc.?" She's the first to give thanks for whoever cooked the meal, and almost never forgets her please and thank yous. She's quick to hand out kisses and hugs, and always lets us know when Little Mouse is crying. She's very patient with her older sister, who is more inclined to lead and direct their play. She will usually let her sister take the lead and do whatever she's told to do in their play. She loves being with her sister and misses her when she's at school. They take care of each other too. I love to see them holding hands (of their own choosing) when in a big crowd or crossing the street.

She is also my singer. Banana Girl loves to sing at the top of her lungs and dance along too when the song moves her. She can't sing "Dancing Queen" any other way than on high volume and top speed as she skips around the living room. She's very good at singing too. She's always been very accurate in her tone. Even before I could understand the words she was singing, I was always able to pick out the song, because she's exactly on her notes. I need to figure out how to get home recorded mp3s on this site because I have some great recordings of her singing Abba. I absolutely love it! It makes me smile just to hear her voice.

As long as you don't catch her when she wakes up from a nap (she's a real bear for a while; like her daddy,) she's usually very happy and is really into silly words (esp. gugie and boogie) and giggling. She loves to climb, as high as she can get. I'm always having to order her off the high stools and stacks of boxes, or backs of chairs. She's not very fond of the puppy (it's too jumpy and nippy for her tastes) at our house right now, but she loves petting the neighbor's cat. I can't wait to see how she takes to a kitten. She loves being a big girl, and is excited to be 3 years old.

Happy Birthday Banana Girl!!! I love you very very much!!!

Alex, I haven't forgotten you, but this post is already way too long. Stay tuned for our anniversary post coming soon. I love you very much!!! and Happy Birthday!!!

Princess M's Art Gallery

2011-09-25T21:35:00.000-06:00

Princess M has always liked to draw. I remember when she first started purposefully coloring (not just scribbling) and I showed her how I draw a smiley face. She took to it right away and started asking me how to draw other things. It may have seemed mean, but I wouldn't show her anything else. I didn't want her to feel there was only one right way to draw. So I told her that she could draw things however she wanted to; and I was surprised when she actually accepted that answer and decided to go draw things on her own. I've loved watching her try new things and expressing the way she sees the world through her drawings. It began mostly with stick figures, flowers, and eventually rainbows as you can see in this picture from June:

Now that she's in Kindergarden she brings how a LOT of papers. A lot are worksheets or coloring pages that she has colored. But my favorites are still her freestyle drawings that show how she's learinging to express different ideas in pictures. Here's my favorites:

These are her ruetines: See if you can figure them out. (Morning: make her bed, eat breakfast, get dressed and got to school. Afternoon: ride a bike, eat dinner, jumping, and ballet. Night: go to bed. and her favorite: to watch movies.)

These are 2 monkeys jumping on the bed

Things she likes: butterfly balloons, sun, sky and birthday cake.

Scary things: Spiders and snakes.

Things she doesn't like: rattlesnakes, bees, and tornadoes.

A self portrait. (I saw this and said, "Wow! someone has big teeth" M replied, "Mmm, that's me." Oops. I tried to backpeddle; not sure how successfully.)

The right side of this is a picture of herself helping someone who fell down.

I might be a little biased, but I just love them!

Roses & Teeth

2011-09-25T20:50:00.000-06:00

Here's a few pictures I meant to post last week, but didn't get around to it.

One of the things I love about the home we're living in now is the many rose bushes throughout the front and back yards. Although when we moved in they were wild, overgrown, and about spent for the season for lack of care. So as part of the massive yard cleanup, we really pruned back all the rose bushes and gathered up the last few roses to put in vases in the house. Here's Princess M with her favorite:

Isn't it gorgeous!!!

I'm sure those bushes were very angry at us for cutting off so much of their hard earned growth, but the first bush that we pruned back 3 weeks ago is now full of new growth and has over a dozen little buds. It's going to be amazing with they bloom; and the rest should probably follow suit not too long after. I'm planning another hard pruning come January when they are dormant and more suited to pruning.

The other exciting picture is this strange one of Little Mouse. It's hard to see, but last Sunday, a lady at church spotted a little white tooth in there. On bottom, to the right.

My Little Mouse is growing up.

Labor Day

2011-09-11T18:03:00.000-06:00

We opened up our home for labor day to host the first, of hopefully many, family game afternoon. We invited 2 families that were old friends and 1 family we had just met the day before. We shared a BBQ, potluck snacks, good conversation, and a game of Settlers of Catan. It was crazy crowded in our little house, but nobody seemed to mind. The adults played games, while the kids played together and with the dogs in the backyard.

And yes you heard me right. There are dogs at my house right now. Those who know me, know that I'm not a dog person. However, my mother-in-law, Lynda has two shih-tzu dogs, who had puppies in Maryland. She stopped by here on her way to Mexico and asked if we could take over the selling of 2 of them. The puppies were so cute that we agreed. If they would stay that cute and little forever, I might allow them to stay, but since no puppy stays little forever...Anyone want to buy an adorable puppy? Please!

Princess M is loving having them here for now though.

6 Months

2011-09-11T10:14:00.000-06:00

Little Mouse will be 6 months old in 2 days. That means she's old enough to start solids in our book. However, I had a really really long work/real estate day on Friday so Alex started her just a few days early. Here's some photos of her first experience with baby food. Apples, I think.

Princess M begs me to let her feed Little Mouse several times a day now. We'll see how long that lasts. She could be quite helpful in that way now.

6 months is probably a good time to record some thoughts on Little Mouse. She's been my most contented baby for the most part. As long as she's in a dry diaper and fed she's happy to sit in her play station and suck on the baubles. She LOVES attention though, and will give big smiles to anyone who will look at her and talk to her a little. She loves her older sisters and they adore her (sometimes a little too roughly, but loving all the same.) She's very patient most of the time with their dressing her and playing with her.

She's rolling over like a champ these days and we had to set up the crib in our room because she's rolling too much to sleep on the bed anymore. She's also pushing herself up on her tummy, and is getting so close to learning how to crawl and sit up. She has the desire to be moving around, she just hasn't figured out the mechanics quite yet. (And I have not tried to hurry it at all. We're going to have to install all those child locks on the cupboards soon.)

She has always been very friendly with other people, but recently she has figured out that babysitters mean that Mom will be leaving; and she has decided to punish them for it. The last 3 times we've tried a babysitter, she has screamed the ENTIRE time! The last 2 times, the babysitters couldn't take it anymore and had to call us to come home early. And yet she doesn't scream when others hold her at any other time. Smart girl!

She's my first baby that doesn't laugh when she's tickled. She still clenches up and holds her breath in shock; but it looks more like torture to her than fun. She does however laugh at things she thinks are funny or startling. How I love to hear her beautiful laugh too.

And last night she slept the entire night non-stop in her crib for the first time!!! I got the best nights sleep than I've had in a long time.

How I love my little Mouse! I love to hold her and squeeze her and kiss her fat little cheeks. I love kissing the top of her head and breathing in that wonderful baby smell from her. I love the way she smiles so big every time I look at her. I just love being her mother!

A little catch up

2011-09-04T16:59:00.000-06:00

Is August really over? Wow time is flying by! Between working real estate, unpacking a house, repairing same house (it was a real wreck when we moved in) taking care of 3 princesses, and starting a new job, time has really flown. Here's the few pictures I found on my camera from the last month:

Princess M started Kindergarten the beginning of August. She's doing great. Here's a photo of her first day of school in her new uniform.

She's practicing to be a professional model photographer. I found her in the kitchen with the camera, showing her little sister how to pose (she would place her hands, lift her arms, and tilt her head to get exactly what she wanted from her sister,) and then step back to take a picture of her subject. Here are some of her shots:

All she needs now is to drop a few lines like, "work it baby" and "love the camera" and she'll be a true professional.

Sweet Moments

2011-08-14T20:45:00.000-06:00

Wow, so much has happened in that past couple weeks. (Hence the lapse in blogging.)

First of all, we had our bi-annual Sherwood family reunion this year in Bozeman, Montana. Unfortunately, I was not able to locate my camera the entire week, so I don't have any photos to post here. However; fortunately, I have 2 sisters who are amazing at taking pictures, and taking lots of them, so I'll post some of the photos they took of our family in the next post. We took the opportunity to have my amazing sister, Rachael, take some professional photos of the kids and our family. She found this beautiful meadow of wildflowers for us to photo in. So far this is the only photo she has posted of the "sitting."

Isn't it wonderful? I can't wait to see the rest.

Anyway, with or without pictures, we had a great time hanging out with family for a whole week, without the distractions of cell phones or the Internet. The girls had a ball playing with their cousins all week! It's amazing how much everyone grows up in 2 years. A great big "Thank You!" to Kurt and Sandy for planning the reunion this year.

Almost immediately after returning back to Arizona from Montana, we found out that one of our rentals here in Sierra Vista had actually been vacant for a month, unbeknown to us. After thinking it through, and doing the math, we decided it would be a good idea to move into it ourselves for a while. So the past week, we've been packing, moving across town, and unpacking again.

The girls have been troopers all week, but the whole process is just exhausting. I came across these two sleeping side by side in the bed one evening. It was just so sweet, thinking of how I can remember when my oldest girl on the left, used to be the baby sleeping in the bed, and how much and how fast she has grown up.

We moved far enough across town to need to change schools where Princess M will attend Kindergarten. Since school started the Monday after our move, the Kindergarten classes were full in the school just around the corner, so we put her on the waiting list in the 3rd spot. So while all the other kids started school, Princess M stayed home. After 2 days of trying to unpack amidst constant bickering between her and Banana Girl, I went ahead and put her in a school across town until we could get a call from the school we wanted. The drive across town twice a day was worth the peace in the house during the day though. And she absolutely loved being in school!

It's amazing how a little distance has helped the girls' relationship too. Banana Girl misses Princess M during the day, and they play much more nicely together at home now. And 2 days ago I got the call from the charter school, that they are creating a new Kindergarten class for all the kids on the waiting list. In the process, they are pulling some of the kids out of the existing classes to put in the new class, including 2 of Princess M's good friends from Preschool. Class starts tomorrow, and Princess M can't wait! I need to remember to take a "First Day of School" photo of her in the morning.

As I mentioned, the older girls are playing much nicer together now. This afternoon, Princess M pulled out her ballet costumes, dressed up Banana Girl, and proceeded to teach her ballet. It was adorably cute.

My 3 princesses sitting side by side.

No Pics

2011-07-17T18:50:00.000-06:00

I really need to start pulling out my camera again. I haven't taken a picture in ages. We went to Colorado for Alex's job for two weeks, visiting family, watching the fireworks for the 4th, and just having a great time; and I didn't ever touch the camera. Little mouse is now 4 months old, and I didn't take a single picture of her 3rd month of life.

What a joy she is though. Overall, she's been a very content baby. She's just now starting to giggle at certain things, and the older girls just love making funny faces, trying to coax out a laugh. They're all really sweet to her. In general, she's happy as long as someone is paying her attention and talking to her. Now that I've said that though, I should mention that late nights are not good for her. Alex and I went to see Harry Potter last night (very good!) and she screamed the whole time we were gone. I felt really bad for the poor babysitter. She just will not go to sleep without me there with her. I do really love laying beside her while she sleeps though. It's so sweet to gaze at a sleeping baby.

The people we've been staying with bought a fairly good sized swimming pool while we were gone. The girls have been enjoying having a place to swim nearly every day. Little Princess and Banana Girl got to attend the Vacation Bible School that our friend was in charge of this past week. They really enjoyed all the activities, and I enjoyed having a few hours to get things done in the morning.

Oh, other great news is that I got my first listing, after starting up real estate again in Sierra Vista. This next week will be plenty busy getting everything going and self sustaining before we leave for a week to our family reunion in a week. (of course that's sure to be the week that everything goes haywire.) We're very grateful to the Lord and good friends for looking out for us.

Home Sweet Home

2011-06-13T15:24:00.001-06:00

Just an update:

The fires are still blazing, but the powers that be have determined that it is ok for us to return to our homes now. I'm writing this post from the computer that is located right next to the bed with my mother's quilt on it. Hooray!
I want to send a big thank you to everyone who expressed their concern and have offered their prayers up in our behalf. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by so many who care for us. We love you all!

Lesson learned:

Update your renters insurance as soon as you move. Had anything happened, we may just have been out of luck, since our renter's policy still has our old address associated with it... I have a phonecall I better make right now.

Awesome Photo of the Fire!

2011-06-12T23:49:00.001-06:00

Check out this photo our friend, Nate Gray, took of the fire:

Be sure to click on the photo to see it full size.

We're Very Grateful Today!

2011-06-12T22:09:00.000-06:00

So upon leaving church today we ran into a roadblock on the way home, diverting traffic off of the highway. The patrolman let us through when we told him we lived beyond the checkpoint. Pretty soon it was apparent why the highway was closed. Here are some pictures we took along the highway.

Apparently someone lost control of a fire in Coronado National Memorial that has now burned over half of the 4750 acre forest. It was pretty cool to see from a distance, until we turned onto our street and got pulled over by a border patrolman. We were only allowed home to gather any pets and check on the people we're living with and then he told us we were being asked to evacuate our homes. Here's a view of the fire from our front porch. Still pretty far away, but close enough to fill the sky with smoke and to get an evacuation order.

We walked through the house, took pictures of our stuff for insurance purposes (just in case) and gathered a change of clothes and any precious, non-replaceable items we could think of, and then we were off to stay at a friend's house on the north side of Sierra Vista. (A great BIG "Thank You" to Nate and Cindy Gray for taking us in on a moment's notice!!!)

news link we're following the update on

It's a wild experience to have to walk through your home and have to decide what is important enough to save and what you can allow to burn if the worst happened. I tell you what; most everything is not important enough to save. There is one thing I forgot to grab that I wish I had. My mom made me a gorgeous quilt when I first left home for collage, which is currently laying on my bed. I do wish I had grabbed that.

Back to the title of my post... I have sooooo much to be grateful for today:

We're all safe!
Once again the Grays for taking us into their already full home for who knows how long
Time to walk through our house and grab a few things
The firefighters, and border patrolmen, and all those who are working so hard to contain the fire and protect the people in the area
The church for encouraging us to always be prepared and have important papers and other essential items gathered and ready to grab in an emergency
A Wonderful teaching moment with Princess M! We've been talking with her about everything that's going on, all the how's, why's, and what we need to learn from this. She's learning to stay calm in an emergency, to decide what is really important, fire safety, gratitude for all the servicemen involved, her ability to pray and ask for help for us and for everyone else in harm's way, (she said the sweetest prayer on our drive away from the house), and so much more. You can't pay for a teaching opportunity like this!
Princess M's sweet heart. She wants to bake cookies tomorrow and take them to the firemen and policemen to say thank you. I think it's a great idea! She also wants to track down the airports where the airplanes came from (that are dropping the fire retardant) and take them cookies too. I'm not sure we'll make that happen, but it's really neat to see her thinking of others.
Everyone's concern. Thank you.
A loving Heavenly Father, who we know is looking out for us and our family!

We'll post an update as soon as we know anything.

Move In

2011-05-29T17:16:00.000-06:00

The past week has been mostly packed full of moving. But after many long days and a whole lot of help from many friends, we are finally pretty much settled in our friends' lovely home. They are wonderful, generous, people to have opened up their home to us like this. We really have been soooo blessed for all the friends we have the privilege of knowing down here. The girls are having a blast playing with their friends' toys all day and playing with all the animals. They have 4 dogs, 2 cats, a bunny, and a bunch of chickens. (Anyone who knows how I feel about dogs can sympathize with me on that account. Luckily they are mostly outside dogs. I can deal with that.) They also have a couple acres, so the girls are able to go out and play on their own without my having to worry about traffic or strangers. Princess M has been loving the freedom.

I've also joined a meal exchange group. We had our first exchange last Friday. It was great! I took 2 freezer meals that we had already eaten a lot and gotten tired of, and 3 jars of the salsa I had made this week, and was able to trade them all for 2 new and different meals, a chef salad to go with them, and a berry pie. The same amount of food that I came with, but all new and exciting things to try. I think I'll make a few more meals and sides for next time.

Our choir sang today in Sacrament (my last time as the choir director in that ward). We sang an arrangement of "Praise to the Man" that my brother put together. We only had 2 people on each part (8 total in the choir) but it still sounded great; and we got a LOT of compliments on the piece afterwards. (Thanks Don!) It was a great way to end my career as a choir director. Next week, we start attending the 2nd ward, which will be fun getting to know new people, but sad to leave behind the friends we've made in the 3rd ward. I wonder how they'll put us to work here. I definitely will be more dedicated to attending ward choir, now that I've been a director and know how it feels to only have 1 person show up for practice.

So, we're busy, but we're doing well. And we're very grateful!

Ballet Recital

2011-05-22T14:59:00.001-06:00

Princess M had her second ballet recital last night. She's been working hard all spring on two different dances with her class. Those little girls are so incredibly cute as they dance across the stage. And Princess M had a marvelous time performing for everyone. Congratulations my little ballerina!

Her first costume for "Blue Tulips"

Her second costume for "Precious Dancers"

After the recital

2 Months

2011-05-18T23:13:00.000-06:00

My Little Mouse is growing up so fast!

This was taken on her 2 month day. She's fairly chubby and absolutely beautiful. I LOVE LOVE to just lay beside her and watch her beautiful face while she is sleeping. Her neck is getting stronger; Banana girl can now "hold" her without causing great alarm. She is beloved by both of her older sisters, who often fight over who gets to hold her first.

Sometime they love her just a little too much though. Little Mouse is often getting smothered by so many kisses that she has to arch her back to try and get some air. I feel bad telling the girls NOT to kiss the baby so much. What's up with that?!

Just this past week she has also started really smiling and I think I've even heard the beginning of a giggle now and then. If you catch her right after a nap, a diaper change, and a full tummy, you're almost sure to be graced with big beautiful smiles just by looking and talking to her. (Come to think of it, that's the best way to get a smile out of me too.) This shot just missed a big one. The best part of having a baby is soon to come! I just love the giggles!!

At 2 months old, her favorite things are being held, talked to, nursing, and sitting in her baby swing. She's starting to suck all over her hand occasionally, trying to get her little thumb into her mouth. I caught her succeeding a couple times too. I'm trying to curtail that one.

Unfortunately, at 2 months old, she has also caught her first nasty cough. Princess M had a really bad one last week, accompanied by a fever; and now poor Little Mouse is hacking something terrible. It's a really sad sound. Gratefully, she hasn't seemed to have developed the fever part. She has spent most of the past two days just eating and sleeping. It's almost like having a newborn again.

Together Again

2011-05-15T15:57:00.001-06:00

Alex got home yesterday from a week long work trip to Colorado Springs. He got home just in time to put the girls to bed. They were thrilled to see him! Especially when he showed up bearing ice cream cones for everyone. It's good to have him home.

Poor Princess M has been quite sick the past few days with a nasty cough and fever. You know your kid is really sick when they WANT to nap...All Day. We've been layering on the essential oils since the first cough showed up and thankfully, it doesn't seem like anyone else is coming down with it. Banana Girl had a little cough for a day or so, but nothing like Princess M's misfortune. And thank Heaven, Little Mouse hasn't gotten sick at all.

I just have to say, I LOVE my essential oils! You feel so helpless as a mother when your little princess is coughing her lungs out and sweating bullets. I can't even give her cough drops, because they are too "spicy" for her. However, I CAN run a diffuser in her room at night with some oils that helped her sleep through the night. Her fever got over 104 which is when I start getting worried. After a cold bath, it only dropped one degree. But a couple drops of peppermint on her feet brought her down to 100 and kept her there. It's a good feeling knowing I can help relieve her suffering.

Not to mention my infant. Before, all I could do was hope and pray that my baby didn't get sick. Now I can hope and pray AND do something to help prevent it. They're perfectly safe for using even on my newborn. It's a very empowering feeling.

Anyway, Princess M is now on the mend and hopefully we'll all be disease free for a long while.

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T17:49:00.000-06:00

I had a lovely Mother's Day yesterday. I woke up to a red rose by my pillow (as did my three little girls as well.) Alex also made a fantastic steak dinner and strawberry shortcake dessert. We also got to share some of the day with some really good friends here in town. It really was great. Princess M made me a hair flower as well as a framed picture of herself. She did a really nice job with them. Very nice day; I love being a Mom.
My own mother is serving a mission in the Palmyra, NY temple. They're having a marvelous time, and setting such a great example for all of their descendants. As I think back on memories of my mother, I get an overall feeling of warmth, love, and admiration. I know I wasn't the easiest daughter to raise. Always thinking I knew everything, and stubborn as a mule. My parents always say that they just backed out of the way and let me do my own thing; but that is not entirely true. My mother has a profound influence on who I've become by the loving example of motherhood that she lives every day.

With each child and each new phase I pass through, I gain more and more understanding of what we put my mother through, and more and more respect and admiration for how well she has fulfilled that role. My mother raised 6 rowdy boys, 1 tomboy, and 1 truly kind and nurturing daughter. (I'll give you a clue; that last one was not me.) And despite the broken windows, toilets, china cabinets, and bones, my mother has not only retained her sanity but managed to shape us all through her love, patience, faith, and quiet persuasion (and a needed sense of humor) into a pretty respectable group of adults (even if I do have to say so myself.)

She taught us good principles, allowed us to make our own choices, and was there to love us through both the good and bad consequences of our decisions. She has never tried to just tell me what to do; but she is always willing to listen and give sound advice when I have finally asked for it (and never made me feel bad, if I decided to ignore that sound advice.) She's gone through some really hard trials, from financial difficulties to even the death of some of her children, but I have never felt her waver in her faith or strength. And through it all, we always know that her family and God are her highest priorities.

I feel this is all very disjointed so let me just sum up: Mom, you're my hero! Happy Mother's Day! and I love you very much!

(Bummer this photo turned out so blurry!)

I Did It!

2011-05-09T16:40:00.000-06:00

I passed my AZ Real Estate sales exam, which means I can reactivate my license in Arizona! Anyone want to buy a home in Sierra Vista?

I was also commissioned to make a birthday cake for a young man in our ward. It's been a long time since I have decorated a cake, so I was pleased it turned out so well. Blogger rotated the picture below for some reason, and I can't figure out how to fix it, so sorry you have to turn your head to see it.

Princess M got ahold of the camera again. One picture she took of Little Mouse actually looked pretty cute though.

1 Month, Easter, and Other Pictures

2011-05-01T22:16:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I'm a little behind. Here's a quick recap:

Little Mouse is 1 month old now. Here's a sleeping (usual view of Little Mouse)

and a wakeful picture (a little more rare).

Princess M and Banana Girl both love to hold and cuddle Little Mouse.

It just warms my heart.

The Easter Bunny came to our house on Saturday morning. I could barely get the girls to take a break from their new mermaids long enough to smile for a picture.

So Easter Sunday we were able to focus a little more on the Savior. And we made these cute flower cupcakes that my brother posted on his blog (Their flowers looked a lot better than ours.) However, Princess M came up with this bunny variation of the cupcakes on her own. She used vanilla chips for the face. If I had had time to plan on bunnies, I would have bought string licorice for the whiskers, but as it was, you take what you can get.

Banana Girl actually let me do something with her hair!!! She only kept it in for 10 minutes or so, but once again, I'll take what I can get.

Look, she even liked the hairdo.

And one final announcement for those who may care: Since taking these pictures, we've received our 30 day move out notice from our landlord, so we've been frantically trying to figure out where we're going from here for the past 2 weeks. We found out that buying a new home is not really an option at this point. However, a couple of our really good friends here have asked us to move in with them in the meantime, and we've decided to take one of them up on it, until we're able to get a home of our own. They have 2 girls our daughters' ages and need some help remodeling part of their home, so it appears that it will be a great situation for everyone. We had lunch with them today, and are looking forward to moving in. We'll send out a change of address by email soon. And so begins the packing of all our stuff...again.

Soapbox Time

2011-04-18T22:06:00.001-06:00

I'm going to post this video at the risk of starting a political debate because I think it hits the nail RIGHT on the head. It's great, check it out.
GPA Petition

Family Portrait

2011-04-17T17:58:00.000-06:00

One of my girls' favorite games is make-believe. Especially pretending to be Mommies; usually with Banana Girl calling Princess M "Mother" and Princess M calling Banana Girl "Dear". This time they included a baby doll to be Banana Girl's daughter, and wanted me to take their 3 generation family photo.

Don't they make a lovely family?

Food Storage

2011-04-10T20:33:00.000-06:00

Princess M and Banana Girl decided to rotate some food storage for breakfast. This concoction consists of spaghetti, flour, and potato pearls (they were eating these by the handful.)

That's what I get for sleeping in...

Fun Week

2011-04-03T23:34:00.001-06:00

Alex Baked!

Alex decided to try to bake a cake from scratch. He found this recipe for a homemade strawberry cake that was so moist coming out of the oven that it fell apart when he tried to remove it from the pans.

Here's how it looked after he fixed it up a little with frosting. Despite its horrid appearance, it was actually a VERY tasty cake. Everyone loved it. I'll post the recipe on the other blog.

We took Little Mouse to the pool for her first swim.

Poor, unsuspecting, warm little girl.

We had a lot of fun. How my girls love to swim. We actually got to go swimming again with some friends later on in the week during the afternoon. Silly me, I didn't think to put sunscreen on, and got a mild sunburn on my shoulders.

I love how babies completely float in the water as long as you hold their head up. It's so cute.

I had a little fun with dinner for the girls on April Fool's Day. We had cupcakes for dinner, and spaghetti and meatballs for dessert. Princess M and Banana Girl were so excited when they saw these coming out for dinner. They were a little thrown back when they took a bite though, and realized it was meatloaf with colored mashed potatoes on top rather than a sweet treat. Even so, they tasted great and the girls ate them despite the initial disappointment. I'll post the recipe.

Girls who ate their "cupcakes" were allowed to have some spaghetti for dessert. Although these hostess cupcakes, covered in piped frosting, strawberry syrup, and malt balls looked really cool, they were NOT tasty in the least. Waaaaaaaaayyyy too much concentrated sugar. I will not be posting this recipe on the other blog. Now if you could soften ice cream and pipe it onto a freshly baked cupcake instead of so much heavy frosting, this might taste better. Maybe I'll try that next year.

We also had a picnic down by the San Pedro river yesterday with some friends, and had a BBQ dinner with some other friends today after conference (which by the way was very uplifting. What great talks we were blessed with this weekend!) Yes, it's been a really fun week for us all.

You know, we've been very blessed to meet some really awesome people here so quickly with whom we've really clicked with as a family, as well as been able to renew some of our old friends from when we lived here before, nearly 5 years ago. I never would have guessed that we would feel so well established and surrounded by friends so soon after moving back here. It's really been quite the blessing; and I'm very grateful for it!

I hate potty training!

2011-03-31T01:07:00.000-06:00

Banana Girl took up finger painting yesterday. I'll give you 3 guesses on where she got her "paint."

New name

2011-03-30T00:46:00.000-06:00

So I'm laying in bed next to our new baby girl, just watching her sleep, and just marveling at how different she already is in so many ways from our other two girls. Not quite sleeping peacefully, but too tired to make a full protest, she slightly struggles against the swaddling that keeps her wrapped tight and begins to make a noise I've become very familiar with: a tiny, discontented ... squeak.

Yep, she squeaks. The cutest little squeak, like slowly rubbing your finger on clean plastic Tupperware, during church (slowly and intermittently, hoping nobody will notice.) It may be the precursor to her waking up and grow into a cry, or she may just squeak a little bit in protest and then succumb to sleep once more. I don't remember my other girls squeaking like this. Maybe I've just forgotten, but I don't think so.

She squeaks all the time when she's sleeping, whenever anything is bugging her. It's a noise that I wake to several times each night, wondering if I need to change a diaper, or feed her, or if I can just go back to sleep and wait for a more serious complaint. A sound I dread when I'm exhausted, but for some reason, laying there tonight, just looking into her sweet face, the squeak was so endearing, so uniquely hers. It made me smile.

And I thought, "What a perfect blog name!" So, I'm thinking from now on, Beebee (which I knew was only a temporary name anyway) will hereby be blog named Squeakers or Little Mouse... or something like that.

What do you think? Will it stick? Anyone got an opinion on a name?

Resolution Update

2011-03-26T20:46:00.000-06:00

I did it!!! I finished scrapbooking 2007; my first digital scrapbook! I went online today and ordered all my work printed into a book. It should arive in the mail in a week or so. I can't wait!

Wow! What a week!

2011-03-26T13:45:00.002-06:00

Hello, I'm back! When I chose the title for this post almost a week ago, it fit perfectly; but somehow I didn't get the actual post written until now, so it's really been 2 weeks now, but oh well. As Alex posted, our newest Leahy was born on March 13th. Beebee (until I can come up with a better blog name) joined our family in the wee hours of the morning while half of the household still slept. One day later and we would have shared a birthday, but I guess she wanted to have her own day. Here's a couple more pics of Beebee on her birthday.

Look at all that black hair!!! Princess M & Banana Girl were both blond baldies; so this has been a fun change.

Daddy with his newest princess

This is my mother-in-law, Lynda. She came to visit us at the beginning of March and has been the HUGEST help both before and after Beebee was born. She brought her two little shiatsu dogs with her and they have provided endless hours of entertainment for Princess M and Banana Girl. Walks to the park nearly every day, playing with the dogs in the backyard, trips to McDonald's for ice cream; not to mention all the times she cleaned my kitchen or helped the girls pick up their toys. She was an absolute angel. She left today to go back to Mexico and will be sorely missed. Thank you so much Lynda!!!

24 hours later after the birth ushered in my birthday. Lynda made the day very special for my girls. She drove them all around town, buying flowers, balloons, and gifts; and then helping them sneak around the house, as they all planned my "surprise" birthday party together. The girls had a ball! Alex cooked me steak and baked potatoes for dinner (one of my favorite meals), my sister made the cake, and we had a lovely party. (I even got out of bed, showered, and did my hair and make up for the event.) Top off the evening with a little Ticket to Ride after the kids were in bed, and it was a great birthday!

Almost the whole party (Alex was taking the picture)

This is my sister, Maryle. She graciously left her own family of 3 children for a week to come help me with my third. She arrived Saturday night from the airport, exhausted from a day of flights, and slept right through the entire birth. Even with 3 midwives bustling around the house and everything. She woke up in the morning wondering why nobody was up and getting ready for church. Once she understood the situation, she woke up the girls and took them to church without us; providing the rest of us another 3 hours of peaceful sleep. What a blessing it was that one adult had gotten some sleep that night! The rest of the week, she entertained my kids and helped them feel loved, while their mother was laid up in bed so much. On top of that, she filled my freezer with a bunch of really yummy freezer meals. Here she is on Wednesday making the most beautiful St. Patrick's Day cookies with the girls. Watch the cooking blog for the recipes that she'll be posting soon. They really were gorgeous cookies! Thank you so much Maryle!!!

Thursday was St. Patrick's day. We all wore our green outfits, with green painted toes, and we tried corned beef and cabbage for dinner that night. (It was pretty good. We loved the veggies and the sauce; I think I'll use a better cut of meat next year though. It was just too spongy with fat for my taste. I'll post that recipe on the cooking blog too.) By the end of the day I had decided that it was time for a trim as well. Maryle helped me chop off two ponies for Locks of Love. This always seems to happen around the time I have a baby. It's just so much easier to deal with a new baby, when I don't have to deal with hair at the same time. Turns out Maryle was around to cut my hair when I chopped it all off after Banana Girl's birth too. This may just become a tradition.

Right after the butchery.

After the professional cut: and touch ups by Maryle at home.

What do you think of my new do?

Friday the chord fell off Beebee, so Saturday we gave her her first bath. She tolerated it ok; can't say that she loved it though. That'll come in time.

Alex recently got a new bike to ride to work on. I picked up a child seat and some helmets for the girls for the occasion. They took their first bike ride together on Saturday. Don't they look so cute in all their gear?

Banana Girl was thrilled for the ride; and promptly fell asleep in the seat soon after starting out. I'll have to remember that for future nap opportunities. ;)

This past week has mostly been pretty laid back after all that excitement. We've been enjoying our new baby and just getting back into the swing of things. We've been so blessed with Beebee. She's the best little baby ever. And she's already learned to sleep through most any noise; a necessity with 2 older sister running around without any concept of volume control. I've been told that third children are usually pretty mellow, and Beebee is determined to prove it. Lynda was joking with me that she didn't believe I had had a baby. She almost never cries and she sleeps for 4 hour stretches day and night. We've really been blessed with an easy start. Let's hope it continues this way for a while.

New Baby!

2011-03-13T23:02:00.000-06:00

Alex: The newest addition to our family arrived this morning at 3am. We called our midwife at 12:15am to inform her that 'something was a-coming' and she arrived soon thereafter. We had enough time to fill the little swimming pool that we were using for the birthing tub and soon after slipping into its warm waters, the baby was born, 8lbs, 11oz.

For those of you that like details, I apologize for the brevity of the post. Perhaps JoDee will wax eloquent on the subject later to the satisfaction of all.

It's the best month of the year!!

2011-03-06T16:37:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I'm probably a little biased, since my birthday falls in this month. Still I've always loved this month. St. Patrick's day is fun (Leahy is Irish by the way, so I can take more pride in the holiday) but most exciting about March is the first day of spring (and Spring Break if you're in school). I just love, love, love seeing the first signs of life after a long winter. The Little green sprouts coming out of a snow covered ground; the crocuses sending up the first colorful flowers of spring; the buds beginning to form on the trees, proving that those dead looking sticks survived the chill of winter and are really teaming with life underneath. All of these things invariably happened in March. (at least they did in Colorado where I grew up.) March is when I start itching to plant a garden and start participating in the miracle of life. It's very exciting!

And my birthday is in March. And my next child's birthday will be in March too. Yep, I'm still pregnant. Not too surprising since the due date is on my birthday. But Banana Girl came 2 weeks early, so it was possible that this next angel could have been a February baby. But not so. She's still in there; and I'm absolutely HUGE to show for it. I got some stork pictures taken last week. They should be ready in about a week to post, so stay tuned.

However, now it's March, my pictures are taken, my midwife is back from her vacation today, my mother in law arrives tomorrow, I'm no longer sick with a cold, and everything is ready for this new baby to enter our world. Ok, Little One! You can come anytime you want now! Really... anytime! Sooner would be awesome! No pressure. I think I'll take some long walks tomorrow... maybe do a few jumping jacks... no reason.

Random Memory Recorded

2011-02-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

Well, this past week, I have no new photos to post, and I can't really think of anything special we did. We did make a temple trip to Mesa, AZ on Friday and Saturday, which was great; especially since I didn't go into labor while I was out of town. Otherwise it was a pretty run of the mill week. So this week, I decided to pull out my list of "50 random topics to blog about" and get some thoughts/past memories down.

This week's topic is "The Story of My Most Serious Injury." I actually even found an old photo to go with this one, that I scanned into the computer.

The date was February 9th, 1998 (how appropriate to blog a past February event this month.) I was in my third year of BYU, and in the first (and hardest) year of my Accounting major. I was living in the Monticello Apartments with some really awesome roommates and a lot of close friends nearby. The BYU singles ward I was attending had an activity to go ice skating at a local rink.

Now, I can ice skate just enough to say, "Look, I'm skating" and that's about it. I can follow the crowd around the circle at a fairly decent pace, but I can't skate backwards or spin, or do really anything other than that. However, that didn't stop me from trying that day. I thought it would be fun to learn how to spin in a circle. Starting to spin was no problem, it was controlling it and stopping that was a challenge. I probably would have escaped the episode with nothing more than some bruises on my back side, except for one fact: the rink was an outdoor, public rink with very little maintenance done to the ice. So there were lots of cracks, bumps, and chinks throughout the rink.

Well, in my novice efforts to spin, I got some good momentum built up just as the blade of my skate hit one of these chinks in the ice. My foot came to a dead standstill, but the rest of my body kept spinning. If you've ever taken a piece of celery and tried wringing it out, you can imagine what happened to my bone. I remember hearing a popping sound just before I hit the ice. And then the pain started searing through my lower leg, anytime I tried to move. I knew I had really messed something up in there. The worst pain I remember is while they were carrying me off the ice; for not only was my leg broken, but I had a heavy skate attached to my foot, torquing the bone, and the people carrying me off, were also wearing skates, which does not make for a very smooth ride. Once we took my skate off, the pain didn't seem to be all that bad; as long as I didn't bump anything.

We went to the hospital, got xrays, and then they cut my favorite jeans off (what a tragedy) so they could put on a full leg cast, from my toes to half way up my thigh. I had a nice (and rare) spiral fracture all up my larger calf bone and a straight fracture across the smaller one. I ended up in that cast and on crutches for 2 months and then in a walking boot for another 2 months. Because of the angle of the cast and how it needed to be elevated almost all of the time, I pretty much lived, ate, studied, and slept on the couch in the picture above for those first 2 months. Once again, the worst part about a broken leg for me, was not the pain, although it did really hurt if I happened to bump into anything, but it was more those times in the middle of the night when I wouldn't be able to sleep because of my leg itching under the cast where I couldn't do anything about it. Those were awful.

What did I learn from this experience? Lots of things:

A little recklessness can cause a lot of pain and trouble later.

Life doesn't stop just because misfortune falls. I was still in the hardest classes of my college career and they weren't going to wait for me to get better. I still needed to study my heart out, go to work, and fulfill my callings in the church. And I'm glad, because staying busy made the time go by much faster and took my mind off of my leg. It was those times when I wasn't doing anything in the night, when my leg bothered me the most.

The church is really effective at how people come out of the woodwork to help you when trouble falls. So often, someone would come and volunteer to help me in ways that I didn't even realize would be needed. And it's OK to accept help from others. Not only does it help you, but it blesses them to have an opportunity to serve.

The human body is AMAZING in its ability to heal itself. Truly, what a complex, genius, amazing gift our bodies are from our Heavenly Father.

After a huge setback like this, there is a lot of joy to be found in the small little successes that will follow. Like only using one crutch, taking a step, or a little hop, or bathing my leg for the first time after the cast came off. Often tragedy helps us realize how blessed we are in the first place.

Those are the lessons I remember anyway, 13 years after the fact.

At the Fair

2011-02-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

A small fair came to town this week, and since we still had Christmas money from Great Grandma under strict injunction to only use for family fun, we decided to take the girls to the way overpriced, money burning, fair.

There was only one little train ride that Banana Girl was big enough to go on. So I rode with the girls to the chorus of "Chugga, chugga, choo, choo" the whole way. She really liked it.

The Alex took Princess M on the Farris wheel, which she has been dying to ride ever since she saw "Charlotte's Web" and the heroine rode a Farris wheel at a fair. By the way, that's the same reason she insisted on wearing a dress to the fair as well. So with her ride on the Farris wheel in a dress, her fair experience was complete.

Banana Girl got to ride down the giant slide with her daddy too, but the picture didn't turn out for that one.
Overall, we had a fun time and stayed within budget. (whohoo!!)

On Saturday we had a getting to know you BBQ with three families that I met recently and we wanted to get to know better. We're all kinda in the same phase of life as each other and all have kids the same ages (who got along very well together, it seemed.) It was a great success, and we hope to see lots more of those wonderful families.

We've also been beginning to look at homes to buy, here in the Sierra Vista area. We've got our eye on one right now, but need to get some ducks in a row before we can move forward on it. We'll keep you updated. Overall, It's been a fun and busy week.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

We had a very busy Valentine's Day this year. Alex was out of town last weekend, but was going to be back in time for dinner, so in keeping with my usual Valentine's tradition, I planned a huge gourmet meal for the evening. And as usual, most of the recipes were new ones that I had never tried before. Although, this year, I let Princess M browse the recipes with me and help pick out the dishes for the meal.

I actually began making things the night before, like the pound cake for the fondue and several of the sauces for the meal that could just be reheated for the actual meal. I also prepped the dough for our heart scones that I planned for breakfast for me and the girls. The scones turned out great, by the way, we'll be keeping that recipe for sure.

After breakfast, and a little clean up around the house, we headed off to the grocery store to pick a few items we needed. I'm really glad we did, because they just happened to have a clown at the store that morning, painting faces and making balloon animals for the kids; as well as chocolate covered strawberries for samples. It was a real treat for the girls. Here's a shot of their cheeks before they got too smeared up.

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen. Princess M was a big help to me this year. She washed fruit for me, and pretty much made the chocolate dipped, stuffed cherries all on her own, with just a little help. She had a lot of fun doing it too. Banana Girl helped me make the mixed berry lemonade (from real lemons and berries). We made a black raspberry swirl cheesecake (that we actually didn't get around to eating until today.) We also had cold raspberry soup; sirloin steak with a tangy, chocolate sauce; fontina scalloped potatoes; and a simple mandarin orange, almond salad. I absolutely loved the way the steaks and potatoes turned out. Those are definite keeper recipes too. It ended up being a very nice dinner that even the girls enjoyed.

We had a chocolate fondue on the menu for dessert, but by the time Alex finally got home from the airport, we had eaten this huge dinner, and cleaned up, it was really late and we were all stuffed. So the fondue will have to wait until tomorrow.

Throughout the day, Princess M had a lot of fun making homemade Valentines to put in our new love mailboxes that I made Alex build for me before he left, and that we painted together on Saturday. She checks them every morning and throughout the day to see if her flag is up, signalling a special delivery in the box. It's been a fun new tradition, that I'm contemplating keeping available throughout the year.

So anyway, we had a lovely Valentine's Day, a very yummy dinner, and we so excited to get our daddy and husband back from his work trip. I think though, that next time I'm 8 months pregnant on Valentine's, I need to back off on the menu. My back was killing me by dinner time and my feet are still sore even today. It was tasty though. (I'll be posting the recipes on my recipe blog later today.) Hope you all had a great day as well!

Gratitude

2011-02-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

Of course they never turn the gas back on when they originally plan, do they? We ended up having 3 days and 2 nights, without gas in our home, with temperatures as low as 50 degrees. Now 50 degrees outside doesn't sound like anything; but 50 degrees indoors all day and night is downright cold. The outside temperatures actually dipped down into the teens here (killing many of the local cacti around town.) Yesterday, we finally got our gas turned back on, and to celebrate we heated up the house, baked dinner in the oven, and I made a batch of orange marmalade on the stove; complete with canning and everything. It was lovely.

Today in fast and testimony meeting, there was a theme of love for the gospel and how it brings people together in service and watching over each other. The city proper didn't loose their gas, but about half of our ward lives outside of the boundaries of where they stopped servicing. Some people even lost their water service too. So there were a lot of calls and offers for help this past week all over the ward. Made for a loving and grateful meeting today.

One thing that really stuck out to me through this ordeal was the power of gratitude. We started a nightly tradition in our home around Thanksgiving time last year. Right before dinner or night time prayers, we all mention something for which we are grateful for that particular day and then we thank Heavenly Father for each of those things in our prayer. Well, it's February now and we are still doing this (nearly) every night. It's wonderful! and I was really impressed by some of the things that were mentioned during those days when we were the ones in need, and probably justified in thinking about the things we had lost or wished for. Over the last couple days, my family was grateful for warm blankets; for the space heater we just happened to buy our last winter in Colorado springs (because you can't buy one now in Sierra Vista. Hardware stores are all sold out,) for neighbors who look out for each other; for Daddy getting to stay home and play with the kids all day; for hot cocoa; and for the opportunity to give our gas to those up north in blizzards who would be much worse off than we were if they were the ones that had to do without.

There's something about gratitude that makes trials easier. We didn't even really feel like it was we had it all that hard. Gratitude brings perspective, that it could be sooooo much worse. We could have lost our electricity too, or water. At least we even had a home to be cold in, rather than being homeless in the streets. And with gratitude we were able to realize all the wonderful things we still had, and still enjoyed. All in all, we passed the time quite pleasantly, while having a small adventure together.

I'm grateful for gratitude.

and for the nice hot bath I was able to relax in after the gas was turned back on.

Even Here In Arizona

2011-02-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my sister on the phone today and hearing about how they have been snowed in for the past couple days with this massive blizzard that seems to be stretching from sea to shining sea this week; and I couldn't help but chuckle a little thinking, "The rest of the nation shuts down with snow, but here in Arizona, I just put on a sweater to go outside. There are definitely some perks to living here."

Well, it seems the joke is on me. The excessive demand for heat in the northern states due to this blizzard has overtaxed the natural gas supplier in Texas, who has decided that our gas company here in Arizona is lowest priority on the list, and is not delivering as contracted. The result: I may need just a coat to go outside tonight, but I also need a coat to sit at my computer and type this. We have no gas, which means, no heat, no hot water, and no cooking. And thanks to clean air laws about building here in Sierra Vista, only the oldest homes have real wood burning fireplaces. (not ours.)

It makes you realize how dependant we are on society to survive. I've always wanted a wood burning fireplace in my eventual dream home, because if the power goes out, so goes the gas fireplace. But after today, I've modified that to an old fashioned wood burning stove, so if the gas or electricity goes out (or both for that matter) you can still heat the home AND still cook a hot meal or heat water. Survive.

So all you lucky people, huddling in your snow packed homes and waiting out the storm; count your blessings: You still have a warm home.

Things I'm grateful for today: 1.We have one electric space heater, so we can warm up one bedroom tonight for us all to sleep in. 2. We have an electric Cocoamotion that will heat up 4 mugs worth of water to the perfect cocoa/cider temperature. and 3. I didn't pack away ALL of our cold weather clothes, when we moved out here.

Don't worry about us. We'll be ok tonight. The radio predicts gas to be restored sometime tomorrow. Let's hope they're right.

Temple Visit

2011-01-30T22:47:00.000-07:00

Can you believe January is almost over? Only one day left until February. Princess M has been begging to put up Valentine's Day decorations, and I've been putting her off by saying not until February. I don't think I'll be able to get to the 2nd without covering the whole house in hearts.

Then end of January, means the end of my turn at teaching preschool every Tues & Thurs. Yea!! I taught my last class last Thursday and am looking forward to just dropping M off at someone else's home for the next couple months. It wasn't hard really, and the kids were a lot of fun; but it was just a constant "To Do" on my mind all Jan & Dec; that I am glad to have gone now.

Especially glad it's over because February is the last month before I'm due to bring this new princess into the world. And I'm starting to feel it too. It's time to cut down on the "To Do's" and concentrate on getting ready for this little girl to take center stage. I had a little hiccup last week at my mid-wife appointment, that didn't really scare me per say, but that made me think I was going to have some additional challenges to overcome with this one. Due to a malfunctioning blood glucose reader, we began to think that I had developed gestational diabetes. After a day of buying supplies and groceries, and looking up diabetic diets to get this thing under control, so I wouldn't have to be transferred to an OBGYN, my midwife discovered the error in the tester. And after a couple days of self testing my glucose levels before and after meals with my new (free after rebate) blood/glucose tester, I can now sit here in front of my computer, eating ice cream and drinking my fruit and sugar tea confident that my body is still processing sugar just fine. I could have stuck to that diet for a month and a half if I had to; but as it is, I'm very grateful I don't have to; because I really do love my carbs. (and my sugars too for that matter.)

Speaking of carbs, we just had one of the most amazing desserts yesterday at P.F. Chang's. It seems that every restaurant has their version of a double or triple layer chocolate cake that just looks heavenly. However, I'm always hesitant to get it because it's such a gamble whether it will be really moist, rich, and wonderful like it looks, or dry and disappointing. More often than not, they seem to be the latter, so I usually resist the temptation. Well we gave in at P.F. Chang's yesterday, and not only was the cake moist and wonderful, but it was also laying in a bed of deliciously tart raspberry sauce and garnished with wonderful fresh berries. Really, it was amazing. It's a good thing we don't have that restaurant here in Sierra Vista, or I would be there all the time just for dessert. If you live near one, you've got to give this dessert a try. Mmmmm. Suddenly, my fruit tea seems a little bland.

We were there yesterday actually, because we were in Phoenix for Friday and Saturday, visiting my Aunt and Uncle and attending the Temple. The Mesa Temple really is gorgeous I must say. It's so majestic and stately, especially being one of the older, large temples. We couldn't help but chuckle a little at the inscription in the stone above the front doors that said "The Arizona Temple." At the time they built this temple, there's no way they could have foreseen that there would, before too long, be many temples in Arizona. Especially at with the new smaller temples and the ability we have now as a church to bring them to the people at a much quicker pace. No, this was one of the first, grand, very large, and majestic temples; and they probably thought it would be "The Arizona Temple" for a long, long time. It really amazing to see the intricate and ornate details that went into these earlier temples. I don't really know the history of the Mesa Temple, but it must have taken some time to build. It's gorgeous. And as with any temple, it's always so rejuvenating to "come home" to the temple and escape the world for a few hours. What a marvelous blessing we've been given!

It was also really nice to spend a little time with my Uncle Wayne and Aunt Sue too. They're so gracious in opening up their home to us; and my girls love them already and are looking forward to visiting again. And I must say I'm so envious of her growing season too. Not only does she get a wonderful climate in Phoenix for growing her own oranges, lemons, pomegranates, and almonds, during the summer, but she gets a nice long winter garden season too for broccoli, and spinach, carrots, etc. She never has to stop growing things for the winter. I've always admired how self-sufficient, and healthy they have become with their use of the space and time given to them.

Well, my ice cream is gone, and my tea has gone cold. This post must be more than long enough for one day. Goodbye January...let's make room for a month of hearts and valentines. (I think it's going to be a lot of fun this year!)

New Years Thoughts

2011-01-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

I know that January is now almost over, but I have been thinking about what kind of goals I would like to have for the coming year. And they say if you don't write down your goals, then they are just wishes. Which is true; I'm trying to remember what resolutions I had last year, and the only one I can remember is to write in my blog every week (and I only remember that because I blogged about it. ;) Which on a side note, I was not perfect in my goal last year, obviously; but I did get much better at it than I had been in the past. I'll count that as a successful failure in that respect then.) So you can ignore this post if you want, it's mostly for my own benefit. Although it'll be nice to know I'll have some accountability for my resolutions at the end of the year, since I'll not only remember them, but everyone has read them too.

Obviously the most pressing roles I have now are those of a wife and a mother. Being 7 months pregnant, and starting to struggle a little more with getting off the floor and hauling this big belly around, I've been thinking more and more about how things will change around here with a new baby in the mix. 3 kids is a big change I understand: They will now out number us, in the parent/child ratio. And Banana Girl is 6 months younger than Princess M was when she was born. I don't remember having any jealousy issues or resentment of the baby with Princess M, but I'm a little worried about how Banana Girl is going to take the change. She's still very clingy and even gets jealous of the attention we give Princess M. So I guess one of my new years resolutions is to spend some one on one time with each of our children each week, to help them know how much I love each one of them individually.

Resolution 1: Mommy/daughter date night each Wednesday with one of my girls, and one on one time with the other 2 sometime during the week.

We started doing our Family Home Evenings more regularly last year (Frankly we were terrible at it until we told Princess M that allowances would only be handed out after FHE each week. Now we have a little girl who is great about reminding us to have FHE.) Anyway, I'd like to perfect that and not miss a single week this year. So far we're right on track. I also want to add a little more planning/family counsel to the beginning of FHE and more time at the end for a significant activity each week that the kids could look forward to (rather just a board game and then go to bed.)

Resolution 2: Family Home Evening every Monday night; starting early enough for a significant, fun, activity and including family planning/counsel at the beginning.

As a wife, I know that Alex is wanting to be healthier with his new years resolutions. I have 2 nights a week to cook dinners (Alex has 2, Princess M has 1, then we have date night & leftover night) and although I know I can't commit to always cooking healthy (why are the best tasting foods also so not good for us?) I do want to try to improve the health of our meals as well.

Resolution 3: Cook one meal each week that would be considered Very Healthy. (Using my Healthy cookbooks for help if needed.)

Resolution 4: Do my hair and make up everyday.

This is two fold. One, I've found myself falling into the homely house wife look, now that I don't go to work anymore (sometimes staying in my jammies all day), and I know Alex appreciates it when I make an effort in the morning. I want him to enjoy seeing me when he comes home. And two, I just feel more put together and ready for the day when I take the time to spruce up in the morning.

On a personal note, I have a few things I'm working on. Alex bought me a guitar for Christmas (isn't he great?) so I'd like to learn how to play this year; at least a start. I want to get to the temple more; and I've started making some progress on my scrapbooking again (now that I've figured out how to do the digital scraping.)

Resolution 5: Learn to play 10 songs by the end of the year really well (including at least 2 lullabies).

Resolution 6: Visit the Temple every month.

Resolution 7: Finish scrapbooking 2007, 2008, and 2009 and get them printed into books.

Well, that's probably enough resolutions for one post. As for my blog, I still want to keep writing once a week like I resolved on last year, however, I want to start including more journal posts centered on my thoughts, rather than just a summary of each weeks events. Not that I want to skip the events; this is the only journal I have now, and will be the basis for future scrapbooks, I just want more of my thoughts and feelings and convictions included for future generations to get to know me better; like a journal.

I guess that makes Resolution 8.

Road Trip (Part 3): Christmas & New Years in Utah

2011-01-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

For the last week of my trip I met up with my dear husband and darling kids in Utah at my brother's house. Don and Tami very generously let us stay over a week, from before Christmas until New Years. It was so great to spend the time with them and their family for so long.

Recognize these, Lynda? Alex's mother gave the kids these cute fuzzy ear muffs. Banana Girl loves hers so much, she still wears them around the house as a fashion statement, whenever she finds them.

We all got black & red Minnie/Mickey jammies for Christmas eve this year. Here's me and my girls hanging out on the couch Christmas morning. Is it just me, or does Minnie look pregnant too?

Alex sporting his new jammies and reading.

Princess M and her cousin A, who is just a little older, were thick as thieves the whole week. In fact we hardly saw her from sunup until sundown, while we were there.

Banana Girl with her gift from her sister. It's just a little Winnie the Pooh figurine from the dollar store, but Princess M bought it with her own money, and Banana Girl loved it best. (Now if I could just find a way to keep a pair of pants on that girl...)

We got to spend a couple nights at Great Grandma Kidman's house and with Jared & Maryle's family. We also took an evening to go see the lights on Temple Square and share some hot chocolate & appetizers at Denny's. Denny's gave us a private room to contain all the kids. It was really a lot of fun.

After ringing in the New Year with games, movies, and family; we took off the next day for home again. It was sad to say goodbye, and we're so grateful to everyone that hosted both me and my family over this whole trip. It really has been quite the adventure; and just so good so see so much of the family.

We're finally now getting back into a rhythm here in Sierra Vista again. I've been called as the Ward Choir Director, and am busy trying to figure out all that I need to be doing. Alex is out of town this week with work again. So it's just me and the girls for a little while. They really are good girls most of the time though. I appreciate how much they are willing to help me out. I've really been blessed. I need to remember that when I start losing my temper; which happens more often when Alex is gone.

Road Trip (Part 2): Colorado

2011-01-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

We took a couple day break in Colorado with my brothers' families. We spent a lot of time just hanging out together and enjoying each others' company.

Here's two of my beautiful nieces, who were thick as thieves. We had just enjoyed a tasty spaghetti dinner and they were reading books together on the recliner.

I can't believe how big this girl is getting...and I don't mean Rachael. Aren't they both gorgeous!

Apparently there was a new Verizon store grand opening, where they were giving away ALL of their phones for free. The whole Colorado crowd had new Droid (or similar) phones. So this was a common view while we were there.

It was great to see everyone again. All too soon, we had to be on the road again. This time our final leg to Utah!

Road Trip!

2011-01-09T16:18:00.002-07:00

I was gone the last half of the month of December, which may explain a little my remiss in posting for a while. Alex's mother generously offered to load us the use of her car for a while, seeing that she just bought herself a brand new Lexus and wouldn't be able to drive them both back to Mexico. Catch was that I'd need to fly to Maryland and pick it up to drive back to Arizona. Being a little sporty car, there is no room for car seats in the back, so I would need to go alone, while Alex stayed home with the kids. My gorgeous sister, below, so obligingly agreed to meet me in Baltimore and help me drive the car back.

We planned the trip for just before Christmas to coordinate with her husband's time off school and the trips we would both be taking anyway to Utah with our families for Christmas. So we met in Baltimore, spent just a little time with some of Alex's family out there. We got to see my twin nephews who were born a couple months ago. They are absolutely adorable! I can't imagine the work that must go into caring for twin newborns. God bless their parents; I'm sure it will be so worth it all in the end.

Next we drove up to upstate New York, where my parents are serving their mission in the Palmyra Temple. It was wonderful to see them again. We got to attend a temple session with them the first night we were there, which was wonderful!

We followed that up by meeting up with my little brother, Mike, at his place of work, for some awesome buffalo wings and a little karaoke. I haven't seen Mike since the last family reunion, so it was really a treat (and hopefully we'll be forgiven for taking our missionary parents to a sports bar.) And who knew he could sing so well!! You should hear his Johnny Cash! It's amazing! I got to sing a duet with Mikey too. "Summer Lovin'" from Grease. We rocked the house!

We spent the weekend with them, played some canasta, visited the local Amish goods store, toured the Christmas lights, and enjoyed another evening with Mike and his girlfriend, Amber. Maryle and I also sequestered ourselves for a few hours to make Mom our Christmas present. Since she couldn't take her wall of pictures of her grandkids with her on her mission for lack of space, we created a family tree for her on corkboard for her to pin wallet sized pictures to. It was really fun working with Maryle, and how our ideas melded into the final product, which I think turned out awesome!

From there we drove to Maryle's home in Indiana, where we met up with her family and caravaned together to Colorado. Watching Maryle be reunited with her family made me really start to miss my own sweet little girls and loving husband. We got to talk everyday on the phone, and that helped a little. I couldn't wait to see them all in Utah though.

Gingerbread Houses

2010-12-22T11:10:00.002-07:00

A couple weeks ago we made a gingerbread house for the first time in our family. The girls had a lot of fun doing it, and I think more candy went into their mouths than on the house. Here's the finished results:

Princess M also go invited to a Christmas Tea Party this year, where they made their own little gingerbread (or graham cracker) houses.

Now we just need to help Banana Girl understand why she can't just go eat them whenever she wants.

Princess M goes Barber on me

2010-12-22T11:10:00.001-07:00

Last week, after being thoroughly scolded for using her scissors on her toys, and having her scissors confiscated, Princess M found mine and decided to fix her "bangs in her face" problem for both herself and her little sister.

She actually cut a fairly straight line, since she cut them off all the way up to the hairline, so I haven't tried to "fix" it at all. Besides, what can you really do, besides just keep their hair pulled back for the next couple months.

So I guess, Banana Girl now has had her first haircut. She definitely didn't need it yet, and she lost some of her beautiful curls in the back, but I tried to find a lock or two on the floor that I could save for her scrapbook. She's had a hard enough time growing the hair that she does have. Now she looks more like a boy than ever. I'm going to have to dress her in pink everyday.

When sisters find the camera

2010-12-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

Gila Valley

2010-11-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

We did it!! We finally got out to visit our new temple. New in that we just moved to the area, and new in that this temple didn't exist when we lived here last. Although it's a 2 hour drive to The Gila Valley Temple here is southern Arizona, it's still closer than the 3 hour drive to Mesa that we used to have to make. Close enough to do in one day, without being completely exhausting. What we used to do is stay with my Uncle Wayne and Aunt Sue in Mesa for the weekend to break up the drives a bit. And you know, we probably will continue to do that quite a bit still, just because we love visiting them so much. Be expecting a call from us soon, Wayne & Sue.

But it was still very nice to visit the new temple and feel the Spirit there. It's a beautiful temple, very small, and yet just as majestic as all the other temples I've been to. It always feels like coming home whenever I get a chance to visit the temple. No matter if I've ever been in that particular temple before or not. The love of our Heavenly Father is so strong there. I feel so grateful to live relatively close to a temple, that we can visit on a regular basis. And I'm very grateful to our friends, the Harrises for watching our kids for us, so that we were able to attend. It's truely been a very spiritually fulfilling week.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

This year we felt very blessed for Thanksgiving. Despite having just moved here, and not really knowing very many people, we actually got two invitations for Thanksgiving dinner. The first came from our neighbor, Miss Roberta, a very dear old lady who has taken us in and become like a grandparent to our little girls. She invited us to have lunch with her and her family at Golden Coral. We had a great time, and tried to pace ourselves on the food, knowing we had another dinner to attend at 6:00.

The second invitation came from our dear friends, the Harrises, who we've known for a very long time, and we're very happy to be living in the same town with again. Desi and her family put on an amazing spread, that was both delicious and beautiful. We felt very lucky to be in attendance, and had a great time with them.

Here's me with my girls (and pumpkin pie) on Thanksgiving.

While playing with all the kids, Alex started this story about how the Winnie the Pooh bear, that our 2 year old was playing with, was really a secret undercover dark lord syth, or something to that effect. The story took quite the hold of the rest of the evening and blossomed into a saga. Here's the youngest Harris showing off Dark Lord Pooh with his newly fashioned black cape.

This year in preparation for Thanksgiving, and inspired by the many gratitude talks in the last General Conference, we began a new tradition that will hopefully last throughout the year and not just this month. After sitting down to dinner, and before saying our blessing on the food, every person at the table has to say one thing that they are thankful for. This is something my family always did before the Thanksgiving feast my entire life, but we were hoping to make happen more than just once a year.

At first we wrote everything down every night in a "Gratitude Journal" and the first couple nights all the "big" bases were covered (i.e. family, gospel, home, food, etc.) However, as the days progressed (and we lost the journal) it evolved a bit. Now we still say what we're thankful for each night, but it's more a review of that particular day and something specific that we are thankful for that day, like making cookies, or climbing trees, or feeling the baby kick. And not only do we say what we're thankful for at the table, but we're being sure to thank Heavenly Father in our dinner prayer for every thing that was mentioned that night (no matter how silly it may sound to thank Heavenly Father for My Little Ponies.)

At first it seemed a little contrived and trite, and honestly, the tradition probably wouldn't have made it, had Princess M not really loved it and reminded us to do it every night. But now, I LOVE it!!! At the close of each day, we all have a chance to think over our day, count our blessings, and discuss them with each other dinner. I've already noticed how my daughters (even my 2 year old) are more aware of their blessings and thankful for them. A couple times this week, Princess M has stopped in the middle of playing or watching a movie, and turned to me to tell me something that she is thankful for. It's very humbling to see how she is internalizing Thanksgiving this year. I'm very grateful to her for her role in establishing this dinner tradition. I hope it sticks forever.

We have so much to be thankful for! There is no way I could even begin to name the blessings that my Father in Heaven has extended to me. I only hope that I can learn to be more appreciative and find ways to show that appreciation in turn by sharing those blessings with others. I love Thanksgiving for its yearly reminder of how ungrateful I really am. And I'm grateful that God has called prophets in our day to guide us, and to help us recognize God in our lives, and know how we can be more grateful children. I pray for help in bringing His Spirit more into my life; so I may be reminded of how blessed I am, guided in raising my family, strengthening my weaknesses, and used as a tool to bless others by His directions. Maybe then will I be able to even begin to truly show my gratitude and not just voice my "Thank You."

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Even Better

2010-11-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I just posted a picture nearly exactly like this one, but if falling asleep during a meal is cute, sleeping while eating at the same time is even better.

She was so exhausted, and yet so hungry as well. You can't really see it in a picture but get this. Without once opening her eyes, she would bob her head, fall asleep, Alex would touch the food to her lips, she would open up, chew the food, and resume sleeping. It went on for about 10 minutes. It was great. We tried to get it on video, but I'm not sure we got it working in time. Bummer.

Other Randomness from the week

2010-11-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

We had some fun painting our toesies in a rainbow of fall/thanksgiving colors. (Thank you to Rachael for the photo choreographing idea; although I wish we had turned off the flash.)

I don't know why I think it's soooo cute when they fall asleep in the middle of a meal.

Alex's brother generously sent us a new computer this week, carefully packed in PINK packing peanuts. Princess M thought they were the most wonderful thing she had ever seen. Feeling in a generous mood, I allowed the girls to play in the mounds of peanuts. Here's Banana Girl "swimming" in them.

They really had a ball, but the cleanup was a real beast! I don't think we'll be doing that again.

Here's my beautiful princesses in their fancy Sunday dresses, that I finally go them to wear today!

You know they make these dresses so adorable, but I can never get my kids to wear them, because they get doomed with the verdict of "Scratchy" on the inside. The only way I could get my girls to keep them on today was to let them wear a knit t-shirt/onesie underneath to stop the scratchies. Princess M had to wear a shirt and skirt underneath the outfit to make it acceptable to wear.

And finally, just a few fun pictures I love that show some princess personalities:

RIP

2010-11-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

The other day we finally held our funeral services for our decapitated toys. Here are the girls in their black veils ready for the service.

It ended up being a double funeral, since in the time between Sweetie Bell's demise and the service, poor Mulan also suffered ungluable decapitation at the hands of our other daughter.

All the mourning toys arrived in proper black attire (ribbons). The service started with a prayer, several eulogies were said by the ponies attending, and the remains were laid to rest in the kitchen trash can. Many hand-picked flowers adorned the event and were buried with the deceased(s). The ponies had a party afterwards, complete with funeral potatoes, cake, and punch.

Rest in Peace, Sweetie Bell and Mulan! We're remember you always. (Especially now that you are immortalized on this blog.)

The Lord Giveth, and the Lord Taketh Away

2010-11-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

This past thursday was Princess M's 5th birthday. She got to spend the morning with her friends while Alex and I went on our trip to Mexico to sonogram the baby. So her first gift of the day (besides the cookies she received at our friends' house) was the knowledge of a baby sister on the way. She jumped for joy, for she so wanted another girl. It was late afternoon when we finally got home from that adventure, so Alex took the kids swimming, while I quickly prepared the rest of her birthday festivities. On the evening's agenda was a fantastic crepe dinner, followed by a "rainbow, spider, barbie cake" (by request: she couldn't decide between princesses and halloween for the theme,) and of course opening presents. We took quite a few pictures of the festivities for all to enjoy:

Princess M brought me a Barbie Movie (Magic of Pegasus) and wanted Barbie's "Most Beautiful Hairdo" for her birthday. This was my best effort to mimic the animated hairdo.

All of M's spider rings adorn this barbies skirt.

Crepes were on the menu: both dinner (i.e. broccoli & cheese) and dessert (fruit and creme.) They were fantastic.

Princess M, about to blow out her candles.

The large exciting present of the evening.

Banana Girl modeling another of one of M's gifts. She had a hard time accepting that it was not her birthday too.

However, like it so often does, tradgedy struck soon after the celebration in M's world. The very next day, M was playing too rough with her new mini my little pony, Sweetie Belle, and snapped her head clean off. After a whole weekend of intensive care (and a lot of super glue that was just not enough for the poor pony) she was declared officially dead at 8:05 pm this evening. To help the poor grieving family/owner cope with the loss, I was appointed to be the funeral home director and prepare for the upcoming funeral tomorrow (it was too late to do it tonight due to one little girl being up past her bedtime.) So out came my crafting skills to create an appropriate casket to carry our poor deceased friend safely to the land of all dead toys (the kitchen trashcan, and thus to the dump.) Here's a picture of the body all laid out in the casket, ready for the services to be held tomorrow.

We'll be sure to update you all on the funeral soon. Stay tuned.

Trip to Mexico

2010-11-11T22:25:00.001-07:00

Alex and I took a trip to Mexico this morning. We parked on the USA side, walked across, went into a building about a block away, stayed over and hour, and then turned around and left back to the States. Why you might ask? Well for one reason: they have a great and inexpensive radiologist there.

It was really a lot of fun. The radiologist took his time inspecting the baby from every angle and talking to us the whole time about what they are looking for and why and how they can rule out the scarier genetic disorders by what they see in the ultrasound. It was really comforting to watch him examine our baby and say "No Down Syndrome.....No spina bifida....No hydrocephalus..." Everything looked perfect, healthy, growing well and just as it should be. Not to mention the ultrasound machine had the clearest, decipherable picture, I have ever seen with my pregnancies. I could actually tell what I was looking at the whole time, and really enjoyed seeing my baby from all angles. Alex said that the actual screen was even better (I was watching a tv to the side.) It was a lot of fun. I chose a nice facial shot to post here, although it doesn't show the body very well.

And of course, what we all want to know:

Yep, that's right. We've got a 99% assurance that we'll be welcoming another beautifull little princess to our family. We already pretty much know her name too. It's been picked out since Banana Girl was named. Quite a change for us, since we couldn't decide on names for either of our first princesses until we had to write something down on the birth certificates. (Of course if it had been a boy, we already have a name picked out for him too. We're very prepared this go around. But that name will have to wait for a future child.) It's very nice not to have to say, "it" or "the baby" anymore. It seems so much more personal to refer to her as "her" and "she."

On top of that it was also Princess M's 5th birthday today!!! But that's for another post when I get the pictures downloaded. Suffice it to say that it's been a very fun, very busy day for all.

Do's all around

2010-11-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

Alex was gone all week on a trip to Alaska with his job last week. To celebrate his homecoming on Friday we all got dressed up with fancy hairdos before heading to the airport.

Here's Princess M new do: a sort of french twist covered in hair loops sporting a brand new flower clip.

This is a very momentous occation for Banana Girl. This is her first hair do EVER!!! (At the airport I slipped 2 little ladybug clips onto the piggies just before Alex showed up. She wouldn't keep them in very long, but they sure were cute while they lasted.) Up to this time her hair has been too short (or nonexistant) to do anything with at all; except for the beautiful curls at the nape of her neck. So to avoid the mullet look, we just didn't do anything with her hair. But finally, after 2 years of waiting, her hair will pull into baby pigtails. Horray!! Look out, Mamma has some fun hair time coming with this little one.

Another momentous occation to note. I let Princess M do my hair for the first time. She was very creative, and very proud of her work when she was done. It pulled a little, and there were some bugging fly aways around my face, but I managed to keep the do in all day long until after she went to bed that night. She probably says the same thing about my hairdos. ;)

Halloween 2010

2010-11-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

Well, here they are, just a little late: our Halloween Pictures. With Halloween being on a Sunday this year, we didn't do much on the actual 31st except for make a special dinner full of fun spooky treats including dinner in a pumpkin, bandaged hot dog fingers, deviled eyeballs, and my favorite meaty skull to go with crackers and cheese (sorry no pics of it though.)

Kids did their trick or treating the night before at the Church's Trunk or treat party. It was a whole stake event so they came home with PLENTY of candy for sure. We also ran into some old friends we haven't seen in over 4 years at the event, so it was really nice for all. Alex had fun with the kids carving our two pumpkins (a cat and some hearts) for the night. I thought we took some pictures of it, but I guess not.

I love the look of glee on their faces as they eat the candy!

M the Mermaid has adopted this pose as her standby for anything princessy, complete with tilted head, standing on one foot, hand wave, and the pointed toes. If you say, "Say Cheese" she strikes the signature pose.

"Trick or Treat!!!"

Movie Critic

2010-10-24T17:34:00.001-06:00

Princess M had just finished watching a movie when the following conversation took place:

Mom: M, so what movie did you watch?
M: Monsters vs Aliens.
Dad: Who won this time?
M: Monsters...again!
Dad: Well, when are the Aliens going to win?
M: Never, the monsters always win.
Mom: That doesn't seem fair.
Dad: Yeah, the monsters should learn to share and let the Aliens win now and then...
M: Daaaaddd.
Dad: Would you like playing a game with someone who never lets you win...
M: Daaaaddd.
Dad: Shouldn't the Aliens get a chance to win and destroy the world sometime?
M: DAD! But then it would be PG13!

And there you have it.

Belated Birthdays

2010-10-17T22:46:00.001-06:00

Banana Girl and Alex share a birthday, which just happened to be the Saturday that we moved to Sierra Vista. As a result, although not forgotten, their birthday did get severely neglected and pretty much ignored for over a week until we were settled in a bit. Here are some pic from the birthday party, when we finally got around to celebrating.

Here's them blowing out the candles: 2 for Banana Girl turning 2, and a token one for Alex.

Banana Girl definitely figured out the whole opening presents talent this year.

Happy Birthday my darling 2 year old and my dearest husband! Sorry for the delay this year.

Found some pictures

2010-10-17T22:30:00.000-06:00

Before we left Colorado Springs, we held a BBQ for all our friends and family in the area in order to say goodbye (and to use up a bunch of freezer food that we didn't want to pack for the move). It ended up being a lot of fun and quite a good number showed up. Many brought side dishes to add to the feast and weveral really helped us out with the grills and grilling part of it all. It was really nice to just relax and hang out one more time with all the people we cared about before loading up the van and heading out. It gave princess M a chance to play with all her friends and say goodbye too. We sure miss you all.

Here's quite a few photos from the event.

Sierra Vista!

2010-09-26T18:42:00.003-06:00

We arrived to Sierra Vista, AZ on Thursday afternoon. Alex found out on Friday morning that he did indeed get the job we moved down here for. What a relief! Since then, we have found a place to rent and have begun to unpack and get things settled in.

Just wanted to let everyone know that we made it safely and that we got the job! Our thanks to all those that helped see us off in Colorado and know that we miss you!

Apple Farm

2010-09-12T22:28:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we took our second (and I guess last) annual trip to the Pick Your Own Apples Farm. Our good friends the Schroeders organized the trip this year and it was really fun spending the day with them. We had fun trying the different apples that were currently ripe and trying to hunt down some decent Gala apples, which were all of our favorite and yet mostly gone from the trees.

This was Banana Girl's first time (on foot that is) and I can't say she was too thrilled. She loved eating the apples, but the weeds that we were trudging through were often half as tall as she was. Doesn't make for a happy camper. Princess M had a great time, especially being with one of her best friends. They had a hard time not picking every apple that was within their reach.

The farm we chose to visit had great apples, but they were not doing hay/tractor rides this year, so afterwards we visited the neighboring farm, just to have a ride. The girls really loved it. It was a very full day, and I was glad to get home and sleep when it was all over.

Setec Astronomy...

2010-08-25T23:13:00.010-06:00

For those of you who recognize the movie reference, doesn't it make you want to go watch the movie right now? For those who don't, "Sneakers" is a really fun movie from 1992 that's kinda like a mix between Mission Impossible and The Burbs. In looking up this quote, I found a whole website devoted to lines from this movie. There were a LOT of good one liners in that film; it made me smile to browse them.

Anyway, you may be wondering what I'm getting at here. "No More Secrets, Marty." We've been living with some big ones for quite some time now and it's time to let them all out of the bag:

First off: Alex is (almost for sure) getting a new job. He'll actually be doing exactly what he does now, except that we don't have to worry as much about his contract disappearing and taking his job with it (Always a concern with government contractors.) The job security itself is worth the change, but it should also really open up his future horizons as well. We're very excited about it. This secret has been driving the secrecy of all the others. We didn't want to say anything until we had a firm commitment just to be sure it was really for real; but that was supposed to happen a month ago, and now due to some technical glitches, it looks like it'll be another month until we have it, at which point I may only have a week to pack. So I say to heck with waiting, I'm going to start packing now and risk the slim chance that I'll have to unpack in a month (it's complicated). Not to mention that since they released me from my calling today, everyone has pretty much been guessing that we're moving, and the secret is pretty much out of the bag anyway now.

That leads me to our next secret: We're moving. The job requires us to move back to where his company is headquartered, in Sierra Vista, AZ. This is where we moved from when we came to the Springs, so it's not an unfamiliar location to us. That takes all the trepidation out of moving. We're very excited to see some of our old friends again that we left behind; but we're also very sad to leave behind all the friends we made in our 4 years here. A very bitter/sweet decision.

We've already given away our twin kitties to a new loving home. (They didn't take the trip well last time, I didn't want to put them through it again. and besides, the home we're moving into may not allow pets.) It was very sad to say goodbye to Artemis & Krinkle; especially for Princess M. They've been part of our family for her entire life. She cried for several days when I first broke the news to her, but by the time we gave them our last hugs, she was already looking forward to the day when we'll be able to go to the pound and pick out some new little kitten.

I've promised Princess M a going away party for her to say goodbye to all her friends before we go. She's very excited about it. She's actually been taking the news very well. She's sad about leaving her friends, but she believes us when we tell her she'll make new friends. She likes to wonder out loud about what will change when we "move to the desert." I think she's expecting to be living in an old western movie or something with cowboys and cacti.

And our last big secret: I'm pregnant. Due on my own birthday in fact. How cool would that be? No, we don't know if it's a boy or girl yet. I haven't even seen a midwife yet due to secrets 1 & 2. There have been a lot of things in life that have now been put off until we get to Sierra Vista; like visiting a mid-wife. Morning sickness has not been too bad; I shouldn't complain. I know so many who really get it bad. I'm just exhausted; ALL of the time. It's like that feeling you get after spending an entire afternoon in the sun running a garage sale or something. You don't feel like you worked very hard, but the sun just leached all your energy away and any desire you might have had to do anything afterwards. That's how I feel everyday, all day. Not so bad, considering I could be puking everyday; but for someone like me that thrives (I mean really thrives) on getting stuff done, it's really hard to not be able to bring myself to do anything. Packing is going to be loads of fun in this condition. I can't wait until this blows over.

You know, I just read recently that the 4 biggest general stressors in life are 1. Relationships 2. Finances, 3.Health, and 4. Careers. Let's see, how many of these are in upheaval for us right now: check, check, check, and check. So am I stressed? A little; probably more than I feel. Actually I think I'm still in shock. Ask me in a month, and I'll probably be out of my gourd. At least I can talk to people about it now. No more secrets...it's a relief.

Mexico

2010-08-25T22:55:00.011-06:00

Well, We're back.

We just spent a little over a week at my Mother-in-law's home down in Mexico. It's a beautiful place just outside the small town of Chapala, which is a beautiful lakeside community up in the mountains not too far from Guadalajara. She bought this run down old, but beautifully architectured home and has been restoring and remodeling it for the past year or so. It's looking really nice too. She's finally to the point of landscaping the yard and putting on the finishing touches and it's very exciting to see all that she has done.

She also has a little motor bike that Alex has always loved driving, and the girls had a blast taking rides on. I do believe that was one of their favorite parts of the whole trip. We also took a day trip to Guadalajara and visited a lot of the street vendors there. So many fun crafts and talents, and native art. It was really fun to explore. Most everyone also took a day trip up into the mountains (to pay some taxes actually, but I understand the views were amazing.)

Other than that, it was just really nice to lay back, enjoy the removal from our daily grind, and have some time with the girl's Grandma Lynda. Banana Girl lovingly calls her "Pamba." We'll see if it sticks. She was a wonderful host, introduced us to some great local food, and even took me with her to her monthly Bunco game with a delightful group of other expat ladies that also live down there. It was really fun.

Our last day, we took a whirlwind trip to the beach to let Princess M get her feet wet a little before leaving. I wish we had taken both girls earlier in the week, but now we have some more ideas of things to do next time we come to visit. It was really sad to say goodbye. We're all going to miss Pamba and hope she will come to visit us before too long.

Grandparents in Town

2010-07-18T21:10:00.003-06:00

My parents and Grandmother came to town for over a week. Which meant that all the family in town got together just about everyday to be with them. We had a great time chatting, playing games, going geocashing, bbqing, and just being together with everyone. Here are a few events we had cameras at:

Hiking in Garden of the Gods.

Ok, it was more of a casual stroll, but still fun for the kids and a picnic lunch at the end.

Cow Appreciation Day (July 9th) at Chick-fil-a

They gave you a free meal for every person that dressed up as a cow. We had fun making our costumes and then actually going out in public in them. Great food too!

Cake

2010-07-18T21:02:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks back, I was asked to make a cake for one of my good friend's baby shower. It's been a long time since I really had fun with a cake, so I decided to pull out the old decorating kit and really go all out. With a jungle theme and a little surfing on the internet, I came up with some ideas that I got pretty excited about. I was very pleased with how it turned out; although it was a little bit fragile. Big hit at the shower though!

Here are some details if you care to browse:

Missed last week.

2010-06-20T22:27:00.005-06:00

Because I was gone... having fun... with my daughter... in California. My nephew got baptized a week ago, and Princess M and I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to go see family, celebrate a baptism, and spend a day at Disneyland while we were so close.

Here's M with her airline ticket right before boarding the plane.

And here's a shot M took of the parade in Disneyland.

I let her take pics on the digital camera, while I used the Flip camcorder. I need some time to edit those, so I'll have to post them later. (Besides, I'm having trouble loading video to this blog; it may take a while.)

It was Princess M's first visit to Disneyland (I've been using the trip as obedience incentive for a long time now.) We went with my brother's family that lives there, who also happen to have a daughter just a little older than M (as well as older and younger siblings). We only had time for one day, so we only got single park tickets. I was so disappointed to find out that the restaurant where you can dine with the princesses was actually in California Adventure Park, not Disneyland. So we had a lot of fun, rode a lot of rides, saw a lot of really cool characters, played with cousins, but were not able to find a single princess all day long! Even the parade, that we went out of our way to get right up close to, was princessless. They had Mickey and friends, Alice in Wonderland, and Mary Poppins, but not a single tiara in sight. There was NO WAY we were traveling to Disneyland and not letting Princess M talk to a fellow princess.

Finally, at 7:30pm we discovered a small attraction nestled away up in the corner by Toon Town called the Princess Fantasy Fair. Upon entering, we realized we hit the jackpot. Rather than being a "ride" of sorts, it was more like a wedding reception. Only it was one princess after another in succession that you waited in line to stand by, talk to, and then take a picture with. M got to see her princesses at last! And just in time too. Not 5 minutes after we were done, all the princesses gathered up their skirts and left. The attraction had closed for the day. Thank Heaven we got there in time!

I'll try to get the video upload working. M's first ride on the teacups was a blast! She kept wanting to go back over and over. And yes, she LOVED It's a Small World! You know, it's not half bad either when you're with a 4 year old who is having a great time!

What I didn't enjoy was the price of food there. OUCH!!! Seriously?! $5.00 for a 1/4 cup of macaroni and cheese that is so bad even my 4 year old won't eat it! Come on! My father and brother arrived in town around dinner time and very graciously met us outside the park with Little Caesar's Pizza. What a lifesaver!

It really was a lot of fun, especially being with my family, and their knowledge of the park and how each of their kids went out of their way to help show my daughter a great time. They are totally awesome!

The baptism was wonderful! My nephew J is quite the special boy, just so full of love and energy. It was great to be with family too. I found out that apparently everyone in the family, but I, knew about my parent's call to the Palmyra Temple mission. I'm so excited for them! We may have to go to visit the Hill Cumorah Pageant next year.

Aside from a few tantrums, we really had a wonderful week, and it was sad when it came time to fly home. REALLY sad (did I already mention tantrums?) ;) Thank you Art and Julie for putting us up for the week. You have a wonderful family, and we can't wait to see you all again.

Ballet Recital

2010-06-07T08:21:00.004-06:00

Princess M had her first ballet recital on Friday. She's had so much fun with ballet the past couple months and was thrilled to perform on stage for everyone. Unfortunately, Alex had to leave town for a business trip, so he didn't get to see her dance. I commissioned my brother John to come and record the performance on my flip camera. He graciously agreed and even picked up a bouquet of flowers for me to give to her after the performance. As luck would have it, the ushers forced him to stop recording 10 seconds into the dance. Apparently they were selling videos of the recital outside. Well, since I was not about to pay a ton of money to buy a 3 hour video, just to see my daughter dance for 2 minutes, I had Princess M do a second performance of her dance at home afterwards, which we recorded. I discovered that you can't turn my flip for a tall shot and just turn the video in editing; so please excuse the sideways shots. (You live, you learn.) Enjoy the video:

Oops

2010-06-07T08:19:00.001-06:00

I just realized the video of Princess M singing didn't load correctly when I posted last. I updated last week's post and it should play now.

Love at First ... Sound?

2010-05-30T22:53:00.003-06:00

Yes, it's true. I've fallen in love. (Alex, I hope you're not too jealous.) I didn't mean to; I wasn't looking for it. It just happened.

In a way, it's Alex's fault. He just had to sing 4 little words tonight, "Somewhere over the rainbow." It wasn't even what he meant to sing, since I had just been talking about the new lullaby that I sang to M tonight from that classic film, "An American Tale." Yep, he meant to sing "Somewhere Out There," but then again he mixes his songs alot; and I love him for it.

Well, his mixup got me to thinking that "Somewhere over the Rainbow" would be a great lullaby too; and I already knew most of the words. And not too long ago I heard a acoustic jazz version (Nora Jones like) of the song that I just LOVED, but I couldn't remember the artist. So of course I had to get on the Internet and google it.

That's when it happened. I found a forum talking about several of the different people who have recorded that song. WOW! I had no idea so many people have done a version of Judy Garland's classic. In fact, did you know that it has been deemed the undisputed BEST movie song of all time? And in WWII, along with "White Christmas" it was determined to be the song that best represented the United States? Interesting... back to the forum.

There I was browsing some of the artists mentioned; thinking, "No, it wasn't Jamaican... No, it wasn't a guy... No, it wasn't Cher... Wait... Eva Cassidy...now there's a name it just might have been." I found a Youtube video made to her song and began to listen. Although it wasn't the exact version I was looking for; it was the same style, and most excellently done. Incredibly done, in fact; and that's it. I fell in love. There were a whole bunch of Youtubes done of some of her other songs, and the more I listened, the more she has climbed to one of my very favorite artists. (You should look up her rendition of "Danny Boy". WOW! I'm listening to it now, and I've got goosebumps. In fact, hold on.. I have to listen... I'll be right back.)

Ok, it's done. I can continue...

I'm a pretty focused person. I came from an intensely focused family. We Sherwoods are great at getting things done, because once we start, it's very, very, hard to stop before it's completely done. However this intense focus has a few drawbacks too. I can't multitask worth anything (don't get me talking while I'm driving a car); and "Just a minute... I'm almost done" could really mean 3 more hours. (You know, we honestly believe it's only going to be just a few more minutes... it's amazing how fast those hours fly when you're so focused.)

And yet, there are a couple songs out there that speak so completely to my soul, that I have to stop whatever I'm doing, close my eyes, and just listen, and feel my soul swell as I drink in the beauty of the music. Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," The Mormon Tabernacle Choir's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," Sarah Brightman/Andrea Boccelli's "Time to Say Goodbye" and her "Pie Jesu." Those immediately jump to mind. This version of "Danny Boy" may just have joined those ranks for me.

I would place her sound in my untrained ear as similar in style to Nora Jones(I love Nora!) and yet a little more pure in tone like Sarah Brightman (I love Sarah too). Not that she's new in any way. I think I read that she died young in the late 90's. It's just that I'm now discovering her music for the first time; and yes, I'm in love. (I really would love a cd... hint...hint...Alex)

My Parents are joining the Blogging World!

2010-05-16T21:55:00.003-06:00

My sister just posted this, but for those of you who may be interested, but don't follow her blog, I'm announcing it again. My parents are preparing for a mission and have decided to start a blog for those of us who would like to follow them in their adventure. Check it out at http://topoftheforest.blogspot.com/

I'm excited to see where they will be called to serve.

Isn't it truly amazing what we are able to do these days to keep in touch? How very exciting it will be to follow a missionary couple through their sorrows and joys, successes and disappointments, and in their journey doing the Lord's work. My Dad has often told me that he wished he could be a fly on the wall and watch as I went through many of my life experiences. Now we really can, in a small way, participate through these instant media available to us.

This will be my Dad's 2nd mission and my Mom's 1st. I really hope they will write regularly despite all the time constraints of missionaries. What a fantastic living journal this would be. In any case though, I just know they will be fantastic missionaries. Whatever mission they get sent to will be very lucky to have them!

Oh, for reliable technology!

2010-05-02T21:07:00.007-06:00

So a while back our camera stopped downloading. After a while we figured out it was the memory card. So we bought a new one, and yeah, we had success downloading again... to Alex's computer. But when I tried to save them to my computer, the new card froze up my entire screen...permanently. Had to remove the card and hard shut down my computer; every time. Meanwhile, we've been taking pictures, having fun things I want to blog about, and even specifically taking pictures just for the blog; but have not figured out how to conveniently get them to my computer for uploading to the blog. I tell you what, when I do get the system working again (need to buy a new card...again) then I'm going to have one long post to upload. Here's one recent event I'll throw out while we all wait. Last Friday was our ward's talent show and Princess M decided after we got there that she wanted to get up and sing a song for the ward. She was thrown on the program at the last second to get up and sing a cute little song that her Grandma Lynda taught her, "Sing a Song of Sixpence." It was really adorable, and she did a really great job, all by herself up there on stage (she's fearless!) Well since we hadn't planned on this performance, we of course, did not have a camera or my new flip with me. A great big thank you to the Mullis's for posting a bunch of pictures of the talent show on their blog, so I was able to get a picture of the event! (Thank goodness I brushed her hair before going to the ward activity!) Although I don't have a recording of the talent show performance, I do have a video of her singing the same song for an ecard to her Grandma Lynda. Enjoy!

A Quick note before bed

2010-03-21T21:54:00.002-06:00

Has it really been an entire month since I last posted anything? I guess so. I've actually taken several pictures in that time that I intended to post and blog about, but then I had some issues with my computer reading my new memorycard, and then I just got swamped with work. Things have finally let up a little, and I just had a really sweet bedtime with my oldest daughter.

Usually bedtime ends up in an arguement and threats on what will happen if she gets out of bed one more time... but not tonight. We had a pajama party tonight after putting the baby to bed. We pulled out the old foot spa and gave each other pedicures and watch a cute movie together. Then after the usual bedtime routine, we read a couple fairy tales together (red riding hood and jack & the beanstock) and had the sweetest little talk about what she's going to do when she grows up and gets married. Apparently when she marries Prince A (another little 4 year old in our ward) he's going to build her a house right next to mine so she can still come visit me with her kids, and it's all going to be up on a hill. Oh and she's asked me to go talk to his mother about it, because they are going to be moving to Alaska soon and she wants him to know that she's going to marry him.

And then she said goodnight and just went to sleep. No fights or anything. It was really a time to treasure.

I'm very grateful tonight. Gratefull for my beautiful and sweet daughters. Grateful for the priveledge of being their mother. Grateful for the quiet, sweet moments that we can share when I'm not too worried about getting back to work. Grateful that we'll be going to the airport in the morning to pick up my wonderful husband; I've missed him so. Grateful that Banana Girl did so well on her first day in nursery today. Grateful that she's old enough to go to nursery. And grateful for little girly giggles that come so easily from both of my girls when I take the time to be a good mother.

We have our challenges just like everyone else, but really... Life is Great! and I'm grateful.

Changes are afoot

2010-02-21T21:49:00.002-07:00

If you're a member of our ward, than you already know what I'm going to blog about today. I got a new calling today. I had to say goodbye to my class of 10 year old boys and girls (Or in their words, I was "fired"), which I must say I'm really going to miss. They are a really good group of kids; smart, participatory, and really a lot of fun to teach. They're at that age when they're old enough to really understand doctrines and ponder different issues, but they're still young enough that a lot of what we talk about is still "new" to them, and they still volunteer to help and share their ideas, and participate. And the lineup of lessons for this year is from the Old Testament; so a lot of really cool stories that someone else is going to get to explore with them. It makes me just a little sad (even though I must admit I dreaded preparing a lesson every week; I'm not going to miss that part.)

My new calling is actually not that far removed from the old, and yet so very different. They've asked me to serve as the second counsellor in the Primary presidency. I know enough to know that I SHOULD be overwhelmed right now; but the fact is that I don't know enough to actually be overwhelmed...yet. I haven't served in a leadership position in the church since I was a Mia Maid in the class presidency; and I'm pretty sure this is going to be just a little bit more involved.

So right now I'm in a little cloud of "sure whatever"ness. I got to meet the rest of the presidency today and they're fantastic women, with whom I'm really excited to be working. We got to attend a stake leadership meeting today and I've got meetings starting to line up with the old second counsellor and the new presidency and such. And overall I just have this sense of impending responsibility that I just have no idea what to expect, and there's just no way to even imagine what this will entail until we just start doing what we need to do.

So I'm going to enjoy these couple days of calm before the storm of responsibility and schedule demands. I know the Lord is in charge of this Church, and if this is where He wants me to serve Him, He will help me to do the best I can, and then make up the difference through His infinite love and understanding of His children. There's a lot of peace in the knowledge that this is His work, and I just need to be a good tool in His hand.

I'm grateful for my incredible husband, who already has shown immense support and confidence in me. I truly am blessed to have him by my side. Truly, Life IS Good!

What do the following have in common?

2010-02-19T13:36:00.003-07:00

Applesauce smeared into the carpet
Cat poop on the love sac
Hairspray on the computer
Crayon all over the tv screen
Broken Christmas ornament
Cat pee on my clothes
Cat itself completely soaked in Hairspray
Broken lightbulb (still in the socket)
Lost computer mouse
Ruined surprise for a handful of birthday/easter/christmas presents
Not to mention screaming fits & tantrums

Can you guess?

They are all things my precious Princess M has accomplished in the past couple HOURS! Not days...not weeks...HOURS!! I'm so mad, I can barely write this without steaming up the room. All I can say is she better stay quiet in her room for a nice LONG time this afternoon.

"Mommy, can I have a candybar?" Yeah right!
___________________________________________________

Update: We can add stolen candybar to the list now too.

A Prayer to Remember

2010-01-30T23:49:00.002-07:00

"Dear Heavenly Father,
We thank thee for this day. Please bless us to have a good night sleep. And bless all the food that we have, that we won't die. And bless that our toothpaste will last a long time until we can get new toothpaste. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

We really don't have to worry about any vain repetitions with this princess. And really, what more do we need than good sleep, enough food to eat, and clean teeth? Not much. It was just perfect.

I wish I had a working camera!!

2010-01-24T22:28:00.002-07:00

I braided Banana Girl's hair for the first time today!

Now I know you're glancing above at the picture at the top of this blog and thinking, "What hair?" Well she's got this tuft of hair about the size of a quarter that grows right at the base of the back of her head, where her neck begins. And it's about 2 inches long. How weird is that?

Yes, I know, my cute little baldy, actually has a mullet. Should I be ashamed for her and chop it off? No, instead I braided it in church today when she was distracted enough to hold still. And being, tiny & frizzy, it stuck straight out. The 11 year old girls next to me couldn't stop laughing. Poor girl. Mom's already getting great enjoyment at her expense.

Wish you could've seen it.

What are they teaching these kids?!!

2010-01-24T20:56:00.003-07:00

So we always ask Princess M about her primary class lesson when we're driving home from church. She usually doesn't remember a whole lot, except maybe the main idea of the class, and then we're able to talk to here a little about the topic too. This weeks conversation is worthy of recording for history.

Mom: "M, what did you learn in your sunday school class today?"

M: "I don't know...Mmmm...maybe... about Jesus."

Mom: "What about Jesus did you talk about?"

M: "About how we need to follow in his footsteps and he lives up in the clouds, only we don't know which cloud he's on. And you need to watch out for the aliens up in the clouds too, you know like in Chicken Little, because they're flying up there, watching us, and could come jump down on us. They want us to follow them, but we want to follow Jesus..."

That's the main jist, although she went on for 5 minutes on the subject of Aliens. Must have been some sunday school class!

Things I'm learning in 2010

2010-01-10T23:30:00.002-07:00

1. Just Quit (sometimes.) It's ok to stop in the middle of a project. Tomorrow is another day. And hey, it could even wait until next week. (This is a hard lesson for me. I'm very much a one-track-minded person.) Some things are just more important.

2. Basic Math: If it takes 10 minutes to drive to the church, and 5 minutes to load all the children and things into the car; getting in the car at 1:40 will NOT get you to church in time for the 1:30 meeting. (Oops)

3. 2 Days, not just 1. When Alex leaves me on a business trip, I need to not plan anything on either the day he leaves, OR the day before. I'm learning that I start mourning in anticipation of the departure. How silly is that? In any case, I neither have the energy or the mental capacity to handle much on those two days. Then reason and practicality will set in, and I'll be fine. (4 more days and he'll be home!)

4. Kids are smarter than you think. I seem to be relearning this every other day. Today Princess M memorized the first article of faith in very little time. It's so cute to hear her say "ThEternal Fadder"! Only 4 and already quoting scripture; they grow up so fast, don't they?

That's it for now. I'm falling asleep as I write this, so I'm going to take lesson 1 to heart and go to bed.

For those who may be wondering: Banana Girl had her doctor's appointment this week for her 16 month checkup. Apart from having to get 5 shots (poor thing!) we were thrilled to see that she has jumped from the Zero percentile (not even on the charts) for height and weight up to the 60th percentile in just 3 months. The doctor would still like to see her gain a little more, but at least we can all breathe a lot easier now, knowing that she is not starving, and seems to be making up for lost ground in the growth department. Yeah!!

Ok, good night.

Now what?

2010-01-03T22:03:00.003-07:00

So this is the part in the blog when I'm supposed to say, "Wow! what a busy holiday season this has been. I can't believe how long it's been since I've written. Let me just post all the pictures of the holidays and get caught up quickly."

That's what I should be writing right now, except for one problem: I have absolutely no pictures. I spent the past couple hours reading everyone's blogs and then went to my photo folders to see what I could post, only to find Banana Girl's tooth as the last and final picture on my computer. Then of course I remembered: my camera is broken (not recognizing the memory card anyway, so it might as well be broken, since I can't take a picture.) So yeah, snow...no pictures. Christmas...no pictures. My entire (almost) family gathering for the holidays...no pictures, New Years...you guessed it...no pictures.

How do you blog without pictures? How am I supposed to think of something to write without some sort of visual cue? You mean I actually have to think now? I don't know if I can handle this.

And yet, I made a resolution this year to write in my blog every Sunday (Happy New Year Everyone!!!; and yes, I do want you to hold me accountable for this) since this blog is really my only venue of journal writing anymore (hey take what you can get; I was even worse at writing in an actual journal.) So think of something I must.

You know, it really is a shame that we don't have a single picture of this Christmas and New Years. My parents and maternal grandmother came out to Colorado and stayed with us in our home; as well as my brother and sister's families from out of state (although they stayed at my other 2 brother's homes here in the Springs.) We had a blast with everyone and really had a fantastic Christmas.

You know I take that back, almost my entire family was not here. It seemed that way, because there were so many people around, but in actuality only 3 of my 6 brothers, and 1 of my 2 sisters were accounted for. That's only slightly over half. Although, I guess it's not improbable that Marty and Scott could have dropped by in spirit to say Merry Christmas as well. So we'll say 7 of 9. Still, Art & family & Mike, we wish you could have come as well. Hopefully we'll see you soon.

You know, that is really the best part of Christmas. I didn't hardly bake anything this year. I didn't send out goodie plates. I didn't send out Christmas cards; I did very little present shopping (thanks to couponing and such, I was done shopping waaayyyy early this year.) Heck, I didn't even put all the decorations completely up; the top half of my tree still doesn't have working lights on it. You know, I can't even really think of what we DID do; all I remember is being busy all December. However, we did have LOTS of family around, we talked, and laughed, and ate, and played a lot of games; and that made Christmas great! I loved it!

Oh, I remember a few things I did! I did make our Christmas pjs this year. Princess M and Alex picked out the pattern after Thanksgiving; and now we're all sporting new flannel skeleton pjs. Yep, skeletons. They're pretty cool, if I must say so myself. (Although I only finished the pants in time for Christmas; the shirts are still pending.)

And I did color my hair again. The roots were getting pretty long against the nice orange/blond color, so I went dark again. Now, I'm a nice, dark Burgundy. I'll post a picture when I get a working camera again. I like it a lot better than the orange. Thanks for your help, Maryle!

Oh, and one more thing: while in the sewing groove, I made myself a new purse! I found the pattern while waiting to cut my pj fabric on black friday (madness)and was able to find everything I needed to make it before my number was called. I made some modifications to the pattern to make it perfect for me (I LOVE pockets and compartments) and it actually turned out great! I love it! It's strong, functional, really cute, and just everything I've ever wanted. I'll see if I can get a picture to put up as well. Who needs Gucci?

One highlight of Christmas was reading the new chapter in my brother Don's book about our childhood here in the Springs. He's been collecting memories from everyone in the family and spinning them all into a biographical tale that has just been hilarious and fantastic to read. I've only read two chapters so far, and I understand it's still a work in progress, but I find myself looking forward to the next one like a Harry Potter novel.

It's dawned on me that our childhood, growing up in Palmer Park with 9 kids in the house was really NOT the normal childhood. Every American boy or girl did not have a state park at their disposal to play in; a pig-spitting, marijuana growing neighbor, take regular trips to the ER as a normal course of childhood frolicking, or even simply have 8 other brothers and sisters to entertain, annoy, and even endanger each other. Heck, I lived it; and I still love reading about it. Of course it doesn't hurt that Don is a great story teller. Even so, I think it's going to be a great book. Keep up the good work, Don.

New Years was a lot of fun too. Some of our friends in the ward (with a girl Princess M's age to boot) invited us to a New years party. Actually we were thrilled to get a couple invites this year; thank you everyone; and were sad to have to choose just one. But Princess M actually stayed up all the way until midnight and beyond. Banana Girl thankfully was able to sleep the night away in an unused room. The food was really good, the friends fantastic; and we stayed up way to late laughing into the night. Who knew that catch phrase could be so hilarious?! I learned a lot of things I never knew before about these people. Perhaps it was better that way. ;) It makes me smile to think about it now.

Well, I think that's enough rambling for one night. I know it's pretty daunting to read without pictures. I'll see what we can do about this problem. Till then, Happy reading!

It took a while but...

2009-12-15T00:41:00.002-07:00

Why did I run and grab a camera when Banana Girl started screaming in anger? (I think I like that name better than "Toddler A"; it sounds much less clinical) Anyway, back to my screaming girl...

Because it's a perfect view of her new tooth!!! Yes, she finally cut her first tooth after 14 months of life. Isn't it cute?

Christmas Around the World

2009-12-15T00:18:00.002-07:00

Not too long ago, our ward had its Christmas Party; themed "Christmas Around the World." We enjoyed ethnic dishes from all over and various families entertained us with songs, dances, and stories from their missions or native countries. I was asked to present something from the Czech Republic for about 5 minutes.

Well, it just so happens that our party was held on December 5th, which is the eve of Mikulas (St. Nicholas Day) in the Czech Republic a very big holiday, and what seemed to me the beginning of Christmas there. So I told the story of St. Nicholas and the holiday traditions associated with it in CZ while Alex, Princess M, my brother John, and 3 of his kids acted it out for us.
In short, on the eve of Mikulas, the Angel brings down St. Nicholas from heaven by a golden chord, and he goes about looking for little girls and boys. If they've been good that year, they get candy or toys in their boots when they wake up; if they've been bad, they get rocks or rotten potatoes; and if they've been REALY bad, then the Chert (devil) will snatch them up in his sack and take them down to hell. "You better watch out... you better not cry..." Seriously

It was short, sweet, and kinda fun I thought. M made a fantastic Angel; and she loved doing it! My nephews remembered their parts perfectly. And I was so proud of how my St. Nicholas costume turned out (I threw it together that morning. Santa let us borrow his beard for the play.)

Speaking of Santa, he, of course, made an appearance at the party. He told a story explaining the symbols of Christmas and how they all teach of Christ. It was really cool. And can you tell how excited M was to see him there?

He came bearing gifts too. Not only did each child get a candy cane after sitting on his lap, they each got a large plush teddy bear as well. It was a huge hit!

Bribed with candy and a bear, we even got a decent picture of Toddler A on Santa's lap without any tears.

Tuesday Traditions in the Making

2009-12-14T23:52:00.004-07:00

Ever since a little before Thanksgiving, we were visiting family here in town (2 of my brothers live here in the Springs as well) and saying what a shame it was that we all live 30min or less away from each other, and never take the time to hang out. We decided to start making an effort to get together every Tuesday afternoon/evening for games and simply getting together. Although we've missed a couple, for the most part, we have kept to our weekly date. And now rather than catching us by surprise, we're now looking forward to it all week.

At some point in one of these evenings, I walked into the livingroom to find Princess M and 3 of her cousins sitting around a card table playing cards.

I think it was supposed to be a version of Go Fish, but it struck me as very funny, because I swear they looked like they were hussling each other in a game of poker. My mind's eye saw this:

Aren't they a little young for that? Yes, yes they are.

Mud Hike & Thanksgiving

2009-12-14T23:44:00.003-07:00

The weather warmed up mid-November so we all went out for a hike in Palmer Park. We didn't anticipate that the trail would be completely muddied up from the melting of the snow. We still had a bunch of fun, picnicing on the rocks and slip sliding on the trail.

Due to scheduling conflicts, we celebrated Thanksgiving on Tuesday this year with my brothers' families. The food was fantastic; the family was even better; and we were able to just relax and eat leftovers on Thursday. It was really nice. More time to prepare for Black Friday, right?

My Princess is now 4 years old!

2009-12-14T23:28:00.002-07:00

Princess M turned 4 in November. Her daddy came home from a business trip on the morning of her birthday and we spent the day in Denver at the zoo and doing things as a family (with a few surprise gifts for her when she got home.) She had a party with a few of her friends a couple days later. They all got to dress up in tiarras and tutus, and be princesses for a couple hours together. It went really well I thought. And M had a blast! Here's a slideshow of the events.

October Wrap Up

2009-12-14T23:10:00.002-07:00

Notice anything different?

We had a little fun with hair dye/bleach. Princess M was thrilled because now we both have "matching" blond hair. Personally I think it looks more orange; which inspired my Halloween costume for this year:

For Halloween we spent the evening across town with Kurt's family. Princess M had a blast trick or treating. She ran so fast (and hard)between houses that she broke the heel off her glass slipper. Oh that didn't stop her in anyway though. She just ran barefoot house to house. (It's a good thing the weather was quite warm this year.)

Toddler A was just thrilled to be able to run free outside. She made a much cuter pumpkin than I did, I must say.

Melt my heart!

2009-11-09T21:21:00.002-07:00

I was putting Princess M to bed tonight, and we were chatting about how her Uncle John was my brother; and she was at first insistent that we "are only allowed one family, and not two."

So I explained, how when we were little, we lived together with all her other uncles and aunts, with her grandma and grandpa, and when we grew up and got married we all moved out and had our own kids; and when she and Baby A grow up, they're going to get married and have kids, and they will be each other's kids' aunts.

We've talked about this before, but tonight a whole new realization entered her little mind, "Mom, when I grow up, am I going to leave your house?" As soon as I said yes, she burst into heavy sobs, and I couldn't console her for a full five minutes. "But I want to stay with you!" and "But I want to live with you FOREVER!" She was simply beside herself in anguish.

Explaining that she wouldn't always feel that way, made no sense to her, and I wasn't about to lie to her and say she could stay forever. Finally, she accepted the assurance that she could stay with us as long as she still wanted to.

As humorous as it was, it was also very touching that she loves me so much. I'm sure it won't be long enough for me before she's counting the days before she can move out on her own. Oh, that they could stay so sweet, and innocent forever!

Yeah! All caught up!

2009-11-09T09:51:00.003-07:00

Baby A has teeth! with braces...

ok, so maybe she's still toothless, but this sucker was really cute on her.

The other day, M really wanted to eat breakfast outside. Never mind that it's near freezing out there. Whatever floats your boat...

October Pictures

2009-11-09T08:06:00.007-07:00

Early in the month, we had fun driving to an apple farm and picking some apples as well as a pumpkin for Halloween. The farm had 30 rows of trees and about 15 different varieties to try. There were some emptied trees, but, to our delight, we were able to sample most of the apple types before deciding on the 3 we wanted.

Princess M liked the Rome Beauty and we liked the Fuji and Golden Delicious apples.

They had a tractor pulling a trailer with some bales of hay on it that we rode a few times for M. It only circled the orchard, but was fun nevertheless. We decided we'd finally use a gift card for dinner at Macaroni Grill. On the way there, M kept asking how much further it was til we got to Macroni Girl... which kept us in hysterics.

We held a family home evening on the armor of God. Here's M in her makeshift armor.

The ward held their annual Fall Festival which was a great success as usual. Princess M went as (of course) a princess.

Baby A went as a pumpkin.

There were all kinds of great activities for the kids, including some of M's favorites, trunk or treating, bobbing for apples,

a cake walk,

and face painting:

Alex was out of town, so it was just us girls for the ward party.

Here's another round of surprise pictures we found on the camera, courtesy of our budding photographer M. I deleted a lot of them, but we decided to keep these ones because they show an interesting perspective of the world from a child's point of view (and height).

It snowed early in October. Baby A got her first romp in the snow. She was thrilled to be outside, one of her favorite things, and very curious about the white stuff all over.

A few touches, though, and her fingers froze. She was definitely done and ready to go inside.

M, of course is an old pro at playing in the snow.

After the snow, we had a freezing spell for about a week. It was sooo cold in the house at night. We found M sleeping under every blanket she owned. (We pulled out the mega warm blanket for her bed after that.

I also found Baby A in her crib, not knowing what blankets are for, in a wet diaper and clothes, just shivering like crazy. It was so sad! We bought a space heater for her room that very day, and now she sleeps through the night like a champ! I should have thought of that earlier!

I had a couple hair color dyes laying around the house. Finally decided to try one. When put up to a vote, M saw the blonde and was so excited for Mama to "match" her that we decided to attempt the platinum blonde. I had my friend Nicole over to help me and we had a great time. But the color was a little different then expected.

The new color inspired me to be a pumpkin just like my baby for Halloween.

And the whole family:

M had a blast trick or treating. She outran the boys, even in her high heels; and broke her first heel to boot. Baby A was content to just walk by herself outside.

b

September Pictures

2009-11-08T16:44:00.005-07:00

Ok, I finally have all my cameras, memory cards, and pictures together in one place and can finish the month sum ups. Here's the highlights from September:

M is becoming quite the little mother. She mimics everything I do with Baby A with her own dolls; and when she can, wants to do everything for her sister as well. Here's a few pics of her "putting Baby A to bed":

I just LOVE the look in their eyes as they are looking at each other. Can they love each other like this forever? Please?

If you remember the recent post about M's friend problems, here's the pics of when we caught her with a butcher knife, trying to cut through the fense to her "friends" on the other side.

Don't worry, she's over this drama now.

September in Colorado means the Labor Day Balloon Festival.

Balloons inflate and take off in the very early hours of the morning, while it's still nice and chilly (if you're lucky and the weather isn't too cloudy or windy for them to take off at all.) We got there this year in time for the second wave of balloons to inflate and take off. It's so beautiful to walk among all the inflating balloons in a sea of fantastic colors.

They let you get right up close and watch the whole process:

And it's always exciting to see one takeoff into the sky.

M is becoming the photographer of our family. I think she got a shot of every balloon that dipped down to touch the lake. Most of them were pretty good shots.

Here's the whole family:

Baby A took her first steps! And before we knew it she was running.

Baby A turned 1 year old in September! I can still hardly believe it. Here's a couple pictures with presents:

And of course the very own personal first birthday cake:
Before:

After:

Alex shares his birthday with Baby A. Unfortunately we didn't get a single shot of him on his birthday. It sad to be so overshadowed by such a beautiful little girl!

Cheese!!!

2009-10-11T19:28:00.004-06:00

I've recently discovered the beauty in a little milk gone sour. Growing up, we had a lot of milk go sour from thoughtless kids leaving the jug out all night long, and as far as I remember, we always just threw it out. Well, later in life, I learned that real buttermilk is milk gone sour, but it wasn't until recently that I started investigating this prospect of actually using spoiled milk. (I absolutely abhor to waste food. We actually eat all our leftovers in this house: usually.)

Well, not too long ago we had a little milk go sour and I decided to use it. I googled all kinds of sour milk recipes and we had some really yummy pancakes. And in the process, I found many articles on the "safety" of using soured milk. I was very surprised to learn that sour milk is tons safer to consume that fresh milk right from the cow. Apparently, there are 2 ways to remove bacteria from raw milk. One is to pasteurize, and the other is to let the milk sour. It seems the acidic environment created by the souring process kills all of the bad bacteria. So with this mental block out of the way I was determined never to throw out milk ever again; and in fact, I get a little excited now when some milk starts to sour.

Then last week, we got behind on drinking and I had an entire gallon go sour. we used a cup on a cake recipe, but there was so much yet to use (and if you wait too long, the flavor is not as good.) I decided to try my hand at cheese. I had a recipe for cottage cheese, and did some more googling on cheese making, and decided to make my first cheese a hard cheese rather than a cottage cheese.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures of the process, but it was relatively easy. You take milk that has gotten to the "chunky" stage, heat it in a double broiler until the curds separate from the whey (remember Miss Muffit?), cool a little, add salt, and then pour through a cheese cloth to remove all the curds from the whey. Depending on how much whey you drain out, your cheese will be soft curds for cottage or ricotta cheese, or harder like mozzarella. I hung my cloth to dry for a few hours and pressed it overnight, and in the end, I got this from a little less than a gallon of milk.

There was also over a half gallon of whey left over from this process. Most of the recipes I saw said to just throw it out or feed it to the chickens; but I was determined to find a use for it. It's a shame to throw it out because it's just loaded with proteins and other great stuff from the milk. After a little more research on the internet I found some great ideas. You can use it to boil noodles or potatoes in, or even better, use instead of water in making soup or instant potatoes or gravy. I'm very excited about this not wasting thing!

Tonight, I made my first dish with our homemade cheese. I made Italian for dinner, so I chopped up some cheese, cherry tomatoes, and sprinkled with basil and balsamic vinegar (a caprise appetizer we had at Macaroni Grill once and just loved: only they used mozzarella.)

The homemade cheese is blander than mozzarella, but it worked very well in this dish. We all enjoyed it, even my girls. I understand it's also very good in any dish you might put tofu in, because it soaks up all the flavors of whatever it's in. I want to try a Thai stir fry next.

Next batch I'll add a bit more salt to cut the bland and I want to try adding some flavors to the curds before draining the whey. Maybe peppers for a pepperjack experience, or just garlic and herbs. Mmmm. I can't wait for another gallon to go "bad."