Monday, April 28, 2008

Happy 34th!

Today is my parents anniversary. I am so lucky to have such good examples of what a healthy and happy marriage is. I have never wondered if my parents loved each other and I am so thankful for that. After 34 years, they are still holding hands!
Thanks for everything, Mom and Dad.
I love you!!!

My 10-year old got a hold of my camera!

"say cheese"

Enough of Miles..... let's get some pictures of me!


Future foamer???

Okay, enough of the trains! Let's get back to me! :)

Honor Choir

Paige is in the Honor Choir for her school district. On Saturday they had an all day music workshop. At the end of the day they had a little concert. The fifth graders sang three songs, and then the older grades performed a few songs. Next time you see Paige, ask her to sing you "Things I Learned From A Cow." It's a really cute song.

After Paige's group performed I had to take Miles out into the foyer, he had been good and quiet for as long as possible for a 19 month old! He found a little friend there. They were so cute together. They followed each other around everywhere, and then when one of them would sit down, the other one would sit down and then scoot over as close as possible. She was adorable with all her curly hair. Miles is already quite the ladies man! :)

Another day in the creek.

All the kids love going down and playing in the creek. And daddy loves it too. He is so happy that his kids don't mind getting a little muddy and would rather be outside doing anything, rather than sitting in the house.

There are these pretty flowers growing all down the sides of the creek. (they could be weeds for all I know, but they're still pretty!) Paige was at her friends softball game and Livee had to run back home for a potty break, but I did manage to get a couple of my kids to sit down and pose for me.


Livee's 1st field trip

So Livee had her 1st field trip so that means she finally got to ride on a school bus. I think she was more excited about that, than the actual field trip. Too bad she fell asleep as soon as the bus took off! What happened to the days when the parents got to ride on the bus with their kids? All of the parents had to get themselves to the zoo. When I was in school one of my favorite things about field trips was getting to ride on the bus with my mom. I'm missing out on that with my kids! Anyways... we went to the Fort Worth Zoo. There were so many parents on this trip that most of them were only responsible for their own child. I just had Livee and her friend Codie.
Our first stop always has to be the flamingos. They look fake in this picture, like yard decorations.
The girls loved the Bat Phones. Livee has a scared look on her face because she had just heard on the phone that there are rattlesnakes in Texas.
Just lookin cute with the little elephant statue.
They had a "moment."

These pictures crack me up! Girls will be girls! I think Livee and Codie had spent a little too much time together that day. Did you notice the little argument and the elbow jab? :)














It was a long day. Once we got to the zoo, and the teachers got us checked in and passed out tickets, we only had about 2 1/2 hours to see everything, and we had to fit lunch in there too. I felt like I was rushing the girls through all the exhibits, just pointing out the animals as we passed through. It was a warm, humid day, so we were all worn out by the end of it. Livee slept through the whole trip home too. So much for the excitement of the bus ride!

I can't wait to do it again!!!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Craig Jr.

Miles is definitely his daddy's boy! He loves to get into Craig's grip and take out his radio and flashlight. He wants to do whatever Daddy is doing.... mowing the yard, installing new plumbing, fixing the sprinklers, taking out the trash. Actually one of his favorite things is throwing away his diapers. After we change him he will take the diaper and say "trash" and then we will take him outside to throw it in the garbage, and he is so happy to do it. I hope he still has that good attitude about it when he is a teenager and it's one of his chores! He is talking a ton now and he loves to tell you the different animal sounds. If you call at the right time you might even get him to talk on the phone for a minute or two. He is such a boy too! Always wants to be outside in the dirt or playing with his Tonka truck. He loves to throw everything, if he can pick it up, watch out 'cause it's gonna be flying through the air in a second! It's funny, I never really knew that I wanted a son until I had him, now I can't imagine not having this little guy in our family. I love my Craig and my little Craig Jr.!

Little Smartie Pants!


Yester-day we had a meeting at the school to figure out what classes Paige will be taking next year at the Jr. High. Her teachers recommended that she be placed in all Pre. AP classes. I was concerned about the amount of homework she might have. I want her to still have time to be a kid! So I talked to all 3 of her teachers and they all said they don't think Paige will have a problem keeping up and that she shouldn't have a ton of homework. So we will see how that goes. She also picked her electives, choir and theater arts. I can't believe she is going to be in Jr. High already!!! I'm a little bit freaking out about it. My little girl is growing up. I am sad about that, but I am so proud of her! Her teacher tells me that she wants to clone her, so that all of her students can be like Paige. I know she will be fine at the new school, I just don't know if I will!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Yuck-O!!!

We had a major yuck in our house today. It involved a 19 month old boy.... We'll call him *Johnny. He had just gotten out of the bath and was streaking around the house when it happened. Let's just say the incident involved the freshly cleaned carpet, and an emergency dash back to the bathtub. I can't give any more details than that! (Way TMI!) I am so glad Daddy was home to help with the aftermath! Thanks to the newest member of our family, Bissell, our carpet looks good as new. After another good scrubbing, Johnny was good as new too. :)

*Name has been changed to protect identity of guilty party.

Monday, April 21, 2008

TMJ?

Zoe has been complaining about an earache but she didn't have a fever and it doesn't hurt all the time. I took her to the Pediatrician and she said her ears looked perfect, no infection. We talked for a little while about what else it could be and the Dr. thinks it is TMJ. She has always been a teeth grinder when she sleeps, and she also clenches her jaw a lot while she's sleeping. I guess a lot of people with TMJ think that it is their ear that is hurting because it is so close to the jaw joint. I made her an appointment with the dentist, so we will just have to wait and see what he says. Right now she needs to sleep with a football type mouth guard, and if she has pain we give her Motrin. It is supposed to work better than Tylenol for this because it is an anti-inflammatory. If anyone has any experience with this please let me know. Thanks.

Update: Zoe's Dentist agreed that it is the TMJ thing. She has to try a new mouth guard to sleep with, and she is not supposed to chew gum, or eat anything that makes her jaws work hard, like well done steak or chewy candies. I need to keep a journal on when she has pain in her jaw, ears, neck, or back. It hasn't bothered her for the last few days, so hopefully she won't have any. She has another check-up in 2 weeks, and then the Dentist will decide if she needs to see a specialist.


Paigee's new invention.


Paige ran in the house yesterday and told me to come quick and look at what she had made. She calls it a "swi-mock" half swing half hammock. Works pretty good for her, I'm just not sure how comfortable it is. :)

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Our week in review.

Monday: It was a pretty windy day, so Livee's asthma was acting up. She got to come home from school early. You can tell she was really upset by that. :) I am glad she can finally do the nebulizer by herself. We used to have to hold her tight, with her arms pinned down and she would scream the whole time. Now she comes and tells us if she's wheezy and then she goes and does her treatment.
Tuesday: We had activity days. I teach the older girls and my neighbor across the street teaches the younger girls, so we just combined our groups and they are learning a really fun Spanish dance to perform for their moms. I think we had about 15-20 girls over. A lot of fun, but a lot of giggling and screaming going on!

Wednesday: Livee decided she wanted to help with the yard work. She got some scissors out, and started trimming the weeds. I think Daddy felt a little guilty after that, because the next day there was not a weed to be seen in our yard! :)That night I had a Home & Garden party at my house. It was a lot of fun. I met four new neighbors and we are already talking about having a neighborhood party this summer. Thursday: I went to Enrichment Night and I was so glad I did. We had a dinner and then we went to different rooms that were all decorated to represent a different time in Jesus life. It was really special, and the Spirit was so strong. It was just what I needed! We were having thunderstorms that night and the girls get a little scared so they were in my room for a little while until the storm died down. Then we tucked them back into their own beds. This is what a found a little later. Zoe and Liv cuddled up together... so sweet.


Miles wasn't bothered by a little thunder and lightning! :) -unfortunately my battery died right after I took this picture so I wasn't able to get a pic of Paigee sleeping that night.
Friday: Miles had a Dr. appt. to recheck his ear infections. His infection is gone but there is still a lot of fluid in his ears. The Dr. said that he has twisty ear canals and it makes it hard for fluid to drain out. I have to make him an appt. with the ENT to find out about ear tubes. :(

Saturday: We had such a fun family day! We went to Costco to get some steaks for Livee's b-day dinner and had fun going to all the different food sample booths. The girls love doing that! Later we went on a bike ride/walk to the old Justin park. The weather was so nice and the kids love doing anything outside. It really was a perfect fun day!

Today: After church I made the kids pose for some pictures in a field by our house that has some wildflowers growing in it. Later family came over for Livee's B-day dinner. We had steak, mashed potatoes, and homemade banana pudding for dessert. Livee told Uncle Cody later that she was born on April 9th and April 20th that's why she gets two birthdays. :) Oh, I also got to try my very first crawdad (or is it crawfish?). My neighbor brought a whole bunch back from a weekend trip to Louisiana. I thought it was pretty good. Thanks Colleen!

YYY

Monday, April 14, 2008

In Love.....

with my new steam cleaner...... and with my man who's doing the steam cleaning!
It's kind of a hassle moving the furniture all over the place, and it's more work than having a professional do it, but we got the same results, and way more cost effective! Miles doesn't mind all the furniture in random places around the house. One of his favorite things is watching the photo slide show on the computer, so he loves having his climber so close to the pictures on the wall.
Before:
After:
I would normally never post a picture of the spots on my carpet, but they're gone now, so I don't mind doing the before and after thing. I am sooooo happy, may carpet looks brand new! I love it, love it, love it! Thank you Craig for the steam cleaner, and for the muscle power! :)

Livee and Carys' Sleepover

These girls had so much fun the other night. We didn't get to pick up Carys til about 8:30 so they didn't have a lot of time to play that night. They came in and got their Jammie's on and we made cookies and then we went to bed around 10:00. They didn't even complain, they just crawled into bed, I gave them a kiss, turned on the moon and then they were out!
Amelia, Carys did stay in bed all night, maybe she can cross of the "W" :)
The next morning we got up and went and got donuts. It was so fun! Since Carys had been gone on her trip I think these two have missed each other. They were inseparable..... even in their sleep.

Friday, April 11, 2008

I have housework ADD.

I start in the kitchen and then I need to go to another room to put something away, and then I start cleaning that room, which leads to putting something away in another room.... and at the end of the day I end up with a houseful of partially cleaned rooms. Arrrgggg! Why do I do this?! I need a little of Letti's and Amelia's clean house OCD. :) I'm trying to get it all clean so that I can go and get a steam cleaner, and come home and clean the carpets. It's all done now, but I think there is probably a quicker, more efficient way to clean house. So, if anyone has any good cleaning tips or if you know of a really good steam cleaner, let me know.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

My Livee


Happy Birthday Livee!
Yep, we've had her for 6 years already. Time flies!
She is such a fun, funny girl. Today Craig and I took her out to eat and she was telling us that a Jaguar is the fastest animal in the world, it can run 50 minutes an hour! Before we went to dinner we dropped off the other kids with Uncle Bobby, Uncle Tad and Iya. Bobby asked her if he could take her out on a date tomorrow. She just started giggling and said no. So on our way home from dinner, I asked her why she didn't want to go on a date with him,
Livee - He's too old.
Me - I think he wants to take you out for your birthday.
Livee - No Mom, he's too old.
Me - Livee, he wants to take you shopping.
Livee - But, I already spent all my money.
Me - No, he wants to buy you a present.
Livee - But it's not my birthday tomorrow. He's too late.
Me - It's okay you can still go tomorrow.
Livee - But it won't be my birthday tomorrow!
(Craig and I just start cracking up because she is so serious and so worried that she can't go birthday shopping when it's not her birthday.)
Livee (giggling now) - I just don't know what you're saying. I don't get it.
She just could not understand the whole date thing, and then shopping for a present when it wasn't her birthday just made it even more confusing for her. :) One more funny story from today: Livee loves wearing dresses so I got her 2 new dresses. One of them she loves. The other one... she opened it and then kind of put it to the side. Paige and Zoe wanted her to try on the dresses and she said "I don't really like that one". Paige talked her into trying it on to see if she would like it when she was wearing it. She put it on and said "um, no." So I'll be returning that dress tomorrow. :)


I did a little interview with her earlier today:
Favorites
color - pink and red
number - 6
food - tomatoes
restaurant - Chuck E. Cheese
song - Grumpy Gus and Our Song
website - nick jr
best friends - Carys, Emma, and Hannah
school activity - Creation station
primary song - Scripture Power
scripture story - all about Joseph Smith
She wants a red Slug Bug when she turns 16. She wants to be a worker at PetSmart when she grows up. She wants to get married in the Justin Temple. :) She wants to marry a tall boy with brown hair and blue eyes. He needs to be funny he needs to be a missionary and he's going to be a train engineer. She wants to have 3 kids, triplets, all girls named Allie, Paige, and Delaney.
Livee's All-Time Favorite Joke:
Can you spell I Cup?
P.S. Thank you Grandpa Doc for the cute swimsuit she has on in the picture. We took her to 2 different stores trying to find the perfect thing to buy. She LOVES her new swimsuit!!!

LIVEE

LIVEE IS THE COOLEST TODAY CAUSE ITS HER BIRTHDAY!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIVEE!!! LOVE COUSIN CASEY

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

I know, I'm a slacker!

Miles is finally an official part of the family picture wall. Why do I put off such simple things?! It took me like 15 minutes to do it. Oh well, at least that is one thing I can check off my list for a little while, until the pictures are all outdated again. Darn kids... growing and changing so fast!!! :) Gotta love 'em!

Monday, April 7, 2008

UH-OH!

Or as Miles would say OH-HO.
I walked into my bathroom yesterday and this is what I found. It's true if your kid is being to quiet, they're up to something!
I got out a baby wipe so he could clean it up himself.
He did a pretty good job. I think he had as much fun cleaning up as he did making the mess.
Oops, he noticed some marker on his hand.
When Miles was still tiny, Craig was holding him and said, I hope when he gets bigger he's a wild kid. I said yeah, because you are going to be at work, and guess who gets to take care of the wild kid? :) He said he meant that he wants him to like playing outside, and likes to get dirty, and is adventurous, and not afraid of things. Well he got that! So, whenever Miles is jumping on Daddy's tummy, or getting into his work bag, or digging in the fireplace, or eating June bugs, or coloring on the walls.....etc., I laugh and then I remind Craig of his wish and tell him to go take care of his wild son. :) Except, of course most of the time Craig is at work. Thanks Craig!

a little catch-up blog

I haven't been blogging much lately so here is a quick update. Paige and Zoe got the results back from the dreaded TAKS test. They both passed with commended scores. Paige only missed 2 questions on the whole test and Zoe only missed 1. They were both really worried about it (especially my little worrier Zoe) so they were happy to find out they passed! Livee is an expert bike rider and is now riding her bike to school with her sisters almost every day. Craig and I also found a punishment that works. All we have to do is mention that they might not get to ride their bike the next day. They've only been grounded from them one time, but it worked! Miles is talking so much now. He is very polite too, now he is saying please and thank you.
On Saturday it was such a nice day. We went to the creek in our neighborhood and hiked around for a while. The girls loved looking for fish and Craig taught them how to skip rocks. Miles was only interested in throwing the rocks. Later we went to Grandpa's house. The girls watched a movie upstairs, and Miles wore out his grandpa. He would not let him out of his sight, and made Grandpa carry him everywhere.

And finally the unveiling of the pottery. They had so much fun making these!