Party Time!

This week has been fun - Becky came over on Wednesday to hang out and we had fun - then the boys came and met us for lunch! Weather has been beautiful so we have spent our afternoons outside and playing. The kids are loving digging in the dirt and playing with neighbors. Choir was on Wednesday also and we are getting close to concert season again. I really enjoy singing with the choir and I am really looking forward to the concerts!

Friday, Eileen's friend Morgan came over to spend the night. The girls had a blast playing together and stayed up late coloring and playing. They get along so well together and Morgan is such a nice girl. Eileen really loved it! They played all the next morning together and then Morgan had to go home. But Eileen is looking forward to having her come over and play during spring break.

Saturday afternoon - while my piano was getting tuned (YEAH!!!!!) I took the older kids to the thrift store for some shopping. We actually found a nice one and found some really cute stuff - unfortunately I over estimated Eileen's size on a lot of them - but she will grow into them eventually! Got lots of new pants and shirts for Aaron (who is too tall for everything he has even though it's all still too big around the waist....) and Mommy even found a couple things. The poofy dress below was one of our finds - and Eileen loves it!
It's funny how you often hear your self reflected in the words of your children. On Saturday during baths - I was helping Aaron and he was washing behind his ears. He sat there cleaning them for a minute then said "There we go" in the exact same inflection I would say it in - cracked me up to hear my cute little mimic! Aaron is also in a "Mommy has to do everything for me - Daddy is not allowed to help me at ALL!!!" stage.... It's nice to be loved - but it can be a tad exhausting too :)

Evie has a couple new favorite things to say now - this week she has been saying "Uh-oh" a lot. The funniest part is that she will do something like this a lot - pick up her plate look at it - hold it out - say uh-ohhhh - then drop the plate!!! LOLOL we're trying to let her know that the uh-oh comes AFTER the 'accident'!!!

A lady in our ward asked me to prepare a musical number with her daughter for a single adult fireside - she and i practiced this week and sang tonight at the fireside. Her daughter has a beautiful voice and it was a lot of fun to sing with her - it was easy to blend with her and she's just a really nice person. The musical number went well and so now we are doing it again for Easter Sunday in our ward. :)

Runny Noses and Running Kids

We've had some sick kids all week - with noses running freely - but in the true spirit of kids - that doesn't slow them down at all. I managed to have a sore throat and some congestion for a few days, but we all survived with the house in one piece. On Saturday the kids met the kids who live (at least part time) at the house on the other side of us - and they have a little girl about Eileen's age - so the girls happily spent HOURS playing together outside and running through a hole in the fence between the two yards. They enjoyed themselves so much that Eileen had a TOTAL meltdown when we told her she had to come in and have dinner. She was so upset that she didn't even want to help make cookies and barely enjoyed watching the Barbie movie after....

Evie has learned the noise the camera makes when it turns on and immediately looks up and says CHEESE!!!!! every time, so it's impossible to get a candid shot of her anymore! LOL

Aaron is so fun right now (except when he's in the middle of a ROYAL PAIN sized tantrum) he is so sweet and loving. We were out together - just the two of us and he says "i love you mommy" and i say "I love you too Aaron" And it's so sweet and simple and perfect.

While Eileen was in the middle of her meltdown on Saturday, Anna in one of her not-so-rare moments of thoughtfulness and kindness traded plates with her so Eileen could have her favorite plate. It just warms my heart to see those little acts of kindness and love - and she is so good at giving them. She also said some very sweet prayers this week while we were sick - "please bless that my nipples (sniffles) will go away and bless that aaron's nipples(sniffles) will go away too." Ahhh - the sweet loving innocence of a child.... :P

Eileen is officially down one more tooth - she has lost 5 and has one more that is well on it's way out - I can't believe how big my baby girl is getting!!!

Welcome Home Baby!!

That's right Dan is home and our family is whole again. I have learned some things in the last 2 weeks....

1. That I am less likely to be miserable with missing him if I keep myself busy.
2. I am better able to keep busy if I assign myself jobs.
3. The kids can be motivated into doing their chores with dry erase markers and treats.
4. The kids all want daddy desperately when he's gone, then want me when he comes back
5. Little girls need daddy's.
6. Little boys do too - even if they don't want to admit it.
7. The Lord will strengthen me - as long as I don't sit around moping. :)
8. When you least expect it - prayers are answered.
9. 2 weeks is WAY TOO LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My dad was in town for a few days this week - the kids enjoyed seeing him - and I enjoyed having some adult conversation - he was working most of the time - but since we are a bit further away now - we will take whatever we can get. Plus his coming motivated me to get the spare room cleaned up - finally.

The kids were great this week - they did all their cleaning up and everything (with out too much fuss) and earned themselves a special occasion - with cookies, and a movies. Plus they got to mark off their done chores - which was a reward by itself. :)

Evie has a favorite book - it's a cookie monster book - and since it's only about 6 pages long - she actually sits still for the whole thing. I try and do a cookie monster voice when i read it to her - and I think that's her favorite part - because sometimes she will just pick up the book and walk around with it while making grumbly 'me want cookie' type noises - it's soo cute!! She is really starting to talk alot now. She can point to and name all her face parts, and has a few other words she uses regularly. She's a lot of fun when she isn't cranky because she misses daddy. :)

Week One

One week down - one to go. We survived the first week and even had some fun doing it. We managed to keep ourselves busy with friends. The kids were all (except Evie) sick Sunday night - so Monday we all stayed at home while mommy did laundry. The kids were all bouncing off the walls by the afternoon, and didn't throw up again during the next day. So Tuesday, Eileen went back to school and the rest of us went to the little preschool group we are doing with some other ladies in the ward. The kids have been loving it and since all the moms are there to help it has been pain-free, plus once we finish the preschool stuff - it morphs into a play date. :)


I told the kids at the beginning of the week that if they did all their chores during the week and did their extra chores on Saturday, then they could choose a treat to make and eat Saturday night. So they faithfully and even excitedly did all the work I asked of them so they could mark off their chore chart. (HAHA - it's amazing how much easier life is for me when they do this stuff with out me having to ask them 5 or 6 times a minute.....)

Wednesday, my visiting teacher came over to watch the kids for me so I could go to choir - and she brought her 3 little boys with her so the kids had fun playing and watching a movie and I had a wonderful time singing.


Thursday Becky and family came over and we all had pizzas and fun. The girls really get along well together and they all had fun playing and making their pizzas.

Friday was a big day for Eileen. She had her first sleep over with a friend from school. After school - she went there and spent the night and I picked her up the next morning. She had a lot of fun, and was very well behaved. She told me all about how much fun she had and all the things their family does differently (mommy, they don't like catsup - but they still have some)

Saturday rolled around and we did all our cleaning and playing, then Grandpa stopped by to let a friend borrow the red truck. Then he stayed and played with us for a bit then took us out to dinner at a place called Casa Bonita. It had Tex-Mex food and a wild west diving show... don't ask - i didn't see it.... we were seated in the back corner - but Grandpa walked the girls over to watch it. They got a kick out of it. It was a fun place and the food was good. Evie ate more of it that all the other kids combined. They they had sopapillas. Then of course the promised treat for all their hard work and cooperation this week - they got to have pudding and watch a movie.... are they spoiled or what!!! :)

Go figure - but in all of this we still managed to miss Dan, but at least we weren't bored and self-pitying the whole time :) Just one more week to go....