Happy 4th of July

This year for the 4th, we went down to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Their HOA puts does a small parade through the neighborhood each year. The kids can ride their bikes behind a fire truck - Dan and I weren't up for this and I doubt the kids would have lasted long either because of all the hills, but we hung out at the end location and got arms (instead of cheeks) painted, and had snacks and got to check out the fire truck. After we went back to my parent's house to swim and have lunch.

If all that wasn't enough to exhaust Dan and I.... I mean the kids.... after we went to hang out with our friends the Walker's to play and have some AMAZING food. All in all, it was a fun day, and we all collapsed at the end of it!

It was also neat to have a chance to talk to Eileen about what this holiday is about. Trying to explain to her about freedom and how blessed we are to live in this country. Last night while looking at quotes about Freedom, I came across some really interesting ones that really got me thinking. So here for your philosophical pleasure is one of my favorites. It really got me thinking about how freedom was perceived by our fore fathers and how it is perceived by many today.

There are two freedoms - the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought. ~Charles Kingsley

I hope that I can teach my children the true meaning of Freedom, and that they will grow up understanding that with the freedom to choose, comes the responsibility to choose wisely.

Bottle Rockets

Eileen has been talking for months now about building a rocket. We told her that since Grandpa is rocket scientist, he could build one for her, but it would talk a LONG time. She was growing impatient (asking every day if it was done) when Dan came up with an idea. So they went to Lowe's for some parts and spent the afternoon building a bottle rocket. Then for Family Home Evening, we all went outside and fired off the bottle rocket until the air compressor no longer had enough oomph to get it launched. The kids had so much fun launching it and getting wet.

Happy Birthday Anna

Well this has been a crazy week! The grand finale being yesterday which was Anna's birthday. We have spent the week visiting teaching, partying, and exhausting our selves.

Aaron has become very curious lately. He has figured out how to un-screw lids and has taken every opportunity to get into thing and then cover himself in them. Between scrubs, and diaper rash cream (see pic!) he now has the softest skin ever!!!! Soft as his own back side (as Dan said)

I had my first ever Pampered Chef party...one person came.... :) (THANKS DIANNA!) but we still had a fun time making a VERY yummy chocolate and strawberry cake!

Thursday Night, we went down to my parent's house to celebrate Anna's birthday. My dad took off the next day for a reunion and we wanted to celebrate with him before he left. We swam in the pool, grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and had lots of fun. The girls always love getting to see their Grandparent's and their Aunt and Uncle. Anna really got into the whole opeining presents this year. She would open something and then say "Oooohhhh I REALLY like this!!!" She got some really cute clothes from her Great Grandma Penny, a purse from her Aunt and Uncle and Princess sheets and "The Grouchy Ladybug" game from Grandma and Grandpa.

Friday night, Dan and I went to the temple and bumped into an old friend. It was nice to see her and chat with her again. It was also nice to have a night away from the kids :)

Saturday was Anna's birthday and party. We got up in the morning to get some cleaning and chores done. After, some of Anna's friends came over for water fighting, jumping on to the love sac and eating pizza, cake and ice cream. I let Anna pick her own cake mix and she picked pink! Pink cake mix, pink frosting, pink sprinkles, pink ice cream and pink plates and cups. LOL! She has never shown such a pink obsession before, but now it seems to be her favorite color! All the kids seemed to have lots of fun. Anna especially! After the party was over she wanted to play with EVERYTHING!! She got a fun bingo-type game, a tea set, a book, bubbles, finger paints and side walk chalk, and sunglasses and a princess towel. She also got a pair of earrings from Great Grandpa Francone (which she is VERY excited about) and a couple necklaces and bracelets - one set of which came from Grandma and Grandpa Jones. Mommy and Daddy are boring - we just gave her a blanket for her bed. Daddy set up the bunk bed for the girls in their room so Aaron can sleep on the trundle bed after the baby is born. She was less than thrilled until she realized what it was for! Now she loves it! :)

A friend from the ward also dropped off a couple of her old Cabbage Patch Dolls which the girls have been playing with non-stop since then. They are loving diapering and changing their clothes and such.

Sick = Boring...

We had a rather uneventful week. When I got Aaron up from bed Tuesday morning he was wheezing so we took him in to his doctor and they sent us home with our very own nebulizer and some meds. He's still a tad congested, but generally feeling MUCH better and no more wheezing. Well shortly around the time Aaron started getting sick - so did I. So Aaron and I have been stuffy and icky feeling all week. We haven't gotten to see any of our friends or go anywhere (other than the doc's office.) I also had a check up on Wednesday. The girls got to stay at Grandma's and play while I took Aaron with me. Then we all had lunch together.

Eileen and Anna got to spend the night down at Grandma and Grandpa's playing with Aunt Sandi and Uncle Jon. They had a blast!!! They got to go swimming, play with an EZ bake oven, go on walks, watch a movie, sleep in a tent in the living room and play with the dog Mojo. While they partied, Me and my boys went out for dinner at Kenny's Burger Joint and then went to look at new vehicles.

Saturday was chore day and "get ready for Father's Day" day. :) Then for Father's Day, the girls and I got up early to make biscuits for Daddy for breakfast. The girls punched out flamingo, palm tree and butterfly shaped biscuits just for him. Then we went down and had dinner with my parents and Sandi and Jon. Now I just need to sleep for a week.... :)

NIGHT!!!!

School's Out For Summer!!

So what does that mean for a family that has no kids in school???? - Not much.... :P Dan did get 3 days off between the end of School and the start of Summer School - that was nice. :) But now he's back and life is back to the same routine. We did manage to have some fun and get stuff done around the house though. :) Tuesday we went down to my parents house to swim and have dinner. The kids just loved seeing their grandparents, and Sandi and Jon and Mojo. Anna and Eileen just LOVE the pool. They love playing and splashing and swimming around in their tubes. Aaron got put into his little floatie and liked it ok, but it wasn't his favorite thing in the world. I think he would have prefered more freedom, but mommy is still too nervous around pools! After we had hamburgers and hot dogs and played some more!

We also went to the spray ground again this week. We met up with some friends there and had lots of fun splashing around with the Tolberts and the Alcalas. Aaron LOVES the spray ground. He is so funny to watch and to play with.

Saturday was chore day again. The girls had completed all their chores for the week and so were able to do some extra work around the house to earn some money. All 3 kids had lots of fun cleaning and helping out. After earning their money, seperating out tithing and savings, they decided that the wanted to spend some money. So we went to Walmart to look around the toy aisle. Eileen had decided that she wanted a "Littlest Pet Shop" toy and so she looked until she had found one she liked in her price range and very seriously determined that the butterfly one was exactly what she wanted. Anna wandered around looking at things and picking out things that were WAY out of her price range before finally settleing on a "Princess ball" that she has hardly let out of her sight since.

Right before lunch, Aaron got his hair cut. He has been needing a bit of a trim for awhile now, so Dan pulled out the clippers, sat him in his high chair and we buzzed him. Not totally, but since his hair is so fine and so fair it looks like we did. He looks so much nicer now - but older too... :(

Sunday was the normal cranky kids and tired parents! I sat in Nursery with the kids today to help out and Anna and Aaron loved having me in there with them. It is always fun to watch them interact with other kids. Then after church, we enjoyed a yummy dinner and Dan and Anna and Aaron made a YUMMY peach cobbler for us all, and then enjoyed licking the beaters!

Chores????

So we decided to try something new this week. We started Monday night and set it up for Family Home Evening and have been going all week. We have started a system of chores. The girls have a few chores that we expect them to do every day. If they finish those chores, then on Saturday, they have the option of doing extra chores to earn spending money. They can earn up to their age in dollars. So after making sure the girls made their beds and cleaned up their toys each day, we all spent Saturday morning working around the house. We had a list of chores they could help with and how much they were worth. After the morning was over we payed the girls and helped them put their 10th in to tithing and another 10th in to savings and the rest into spending. We gave them 3 little jars each (haha, I'll post pictures once I make them cute!) All in all it's worked so far and the kids are actually excited about doing chores! :P
We also went to the spray ground on Momday with a bunch of people from the ward. The kids had a ball and (despite my best attempts at putting sun screen on them) came home sunburned - except Eileen. We also came home exhausted!!! :) Other than that, we kept busy all week and tired ourselves out in the normal ways!

I have decided that I don't like libraries as much when school is out. Friday we went to the library and it was a ZOO and there wasn't even story time this week...think we may have to make a different day our library day...

Popsicles!!!!

We've had a fun week. A busy week, but a fun one. On Memorial Day, we did NOTHING!!!! Daddy was home and we went no where and just spent all day cleaning and playing at home. It was sooo nice! No commitments, nothing. Just having fun being together. We had a water fight for Family Home Evening and then the kids got a real treat - Popsicles!! We don't eat stuff like that much, so the kids LOVED it! Below are some pictures of them enjoying their popsicles.

These are some scrapbooking pages that I've done this week. Eileen has been scrapbooking with me while the other kids nap. She sits in my lap and tell me where to put each picture and which papers to use and where to put the cute little embellishments. It's been fun doing this together as mommy/daughter bonding time. Plus these are about the only pic I took this week, so I figured I'd let you see the more interesting versions! :)


So Tuesday was Eileen's Last day of Preschool (yes I took pics of this, but they aren't all that impressve and I'm gonna scrap them later!) Eileen had tons of fun. We did a little party with ice cream, and gave them their little certificates of completion. She's had so much fun doing this, but is so sweet and optimistic about the changes that will happen for next year.

Wednesday we spent the morning at our friends house and got to make YUMMY pizza's for lunch! (Lori - AWESOME idea, the kids LOVED it!!)

Thurdsay we met Dan at school for his BPA end of year party for the students and had fun running around, and eating more pizza. (though not as good as Lori's)

Friday was Library Day!! The kids LOVE going to the library. They love looking at books and choosing books to put in their bags. They love being read to and "reading" to me. After we went to the playground to play and eat lunch and met Lori and Evonne for a nice picnic. The kids love getting together with friends and running out their excess energy!! (haha, I like it too for that matter!)

Saturday was our Stake Enrichment Conference. It was AWESOME!! I was asked to be part of a musical number for the opening part and was so glad I went! The spiritual uplift was incredible and even though the kids (and Dan) missed me all morning, I think they will find them selves glad to find a mommy who is in a much better mood! :P

Today of course we had some great lessons and speakers in church and I'm so grateful for these opportunities I've had to 'fill my lamp' and to prepare for another week.

This is the last week of school for Dan and we are looking forward to a week off before he starts Summer School.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Ok, so Dan's birthday is on the 19th. The day of, he took the day off work and we spent the day playing together and just relaxing. We walked around the pet store with the kids and laughed as they got excited over every animal they saw. Then we spent the afternoon playing together and making daddy's cake. Finally we had a few friends over that evening for cake and Ice Cream. Dan and Eileen tried to make a pinata together for the kids to whack at during the party. They had a rough start of it, because they couldn't get it to dry, but eventually they just used it with its one layer of paper mache and it worked since most of the kids were under 8. They played with water balloons and just had lots of fun!

Saturday we celebrated again with my parents by spending the morning on the boat. Dan, Eileen and my dad were the only ones brave enough to get in the cold water. Dan took Anna and Aaron out in the tube (which was ok with Anna because she wasn't actually 'in' the water)

Today we got a new Bishop, since the old one got called into the Stake Presidency. It was a really neat experience and a great Sacrement Meeting....I just wish I could have heard some of it.... I think that we are the ward joke now. Today during the Sacrement, Anna and Aaron bonked heads pretty good and started crying loudly. After about 10 seconds Dan and I couldn't get them calmed down. We exchanged glances, picked up all 3 kids and walked out. Everyone in the ward (ourselves, the Stake Presidency and the Bishopbric included) were trying VERY hard not to laugh out loud. We were quite a sight. Me with a girl in each arm and Dan with Aaron.

It's A.......

GIRL!! :) This one was less of an exhibitionist that the others and kept her legs tight together making it hard to see for awhile. Finally the tech was able to get a clear view and the verdict was that it's a girl! Eileen was literally jumping up and down when we told her. It was so cute!! The Tech and the Doc both said that the baby's development looks normal, Mommy's size is just right and so far all is going well. Here is the little one's profile from the Sonogram.

Cute Ears

So about a week ago Eileen came to me and told me that she wanted to look like Vivi. (Vivi is a little girl who is a friend of ours) It took me a few questions to figure out what she meant. Eventually she told me that she wanted her ears to be pretty like Vivi's (Vivi's ears are pierced.) So we talked about pierced ears and how that worked and what it meant, then I asked her if she really wanted to do it. She said yes. I wondered how long this would last. Well, she talked of almost nothing else all week. So tonight for Family Home Evening we talked about what the prophet has said about piercings. Who should have them (girls, not boys) and how many earrings (only one pair) were ok. Then we packed the kids into the car and went to the local Claire's to get my little girls ears pierced.

Eileen was soo good. She sat patiently and still while they marked her ears and then the ladies pierced both ears at once. Eileen just sat there and smiled. The look she got on her face when she saw them in the mirror was just priceless. The picture doesn't do her justice (I couldn't seem to catch the really excited faces she made on film) She was soo excited!! So cute and so brave. She decided on a course of action, got permission, and followed through. Now we just gotta care for them!

Now Anna had heard her sister talking about this for the last week and a couple of days ago, she decided that she wanted pierced ears too. So after Eileen was done we asked her if she was sure about this and she yelled YESSSS then hopped into the chair and proceeded to bounce around like crazy while they readied things. She sat still long enough for them to put the dots on her ears, then mommy helped hold her head while they did both her ears at once too. She sat there, and then about 20 seconds after they pierced them, she started crying. So momy held her for a minute and we showed her the mirror and gave her a sucker and she was happy. 10 minutes later she had forgotten them. LOL So now my little girls have pierced ears and they look so grown up to me I can hardly believe it! We let them run around the play area for awhile and then went home where we cleaned their ears and sent them to bed. Now mommy is headed to bed after an exhasuting day!!

Life.... yiippie! :P

Ok, so this was one of those crazy busy weeks where nothing really happens.... Preschool was at our house this week for the last time (YEY!!!!!!) Which meant that Tuesday and Thursday were "exhaust mommy" days. Wednesday was our usual play date. We had a blast as always and enjoyed the company of friends. And Friday we went to the library. We met some friends there and then went to the playground for lunch and fun. Needless to say, we all went home tired, but happy!

I made a decision this week with potty training Anna. After trying unsuccessfully to potty train her for the last 7 months (or so) I decided that all poopy panties, and wet clothes and somewhere between 1 and 3 accidents EVERY day, that it wasn't worth it. I decided that for my health and hers that I wasn't going to do it any more. So we are un-potty training Anna. She is back in diapers. She can have a diaper change if she wants one, and she can use the potty if she asks, but until she learns to tell us when she needs to go, I'm not going to do it. She knows how to use it, but if she doesn't want to, i'm not going to push it. I figure that eventually she will want her panties and want to be a big girl and she will make the decision, and until then, I am going to wait..... What prompted this change of heart? A childrens book that i picked up at the library called the 'Princess and the Potty'.

Saturday was fun as usual. We always LOVE having daddy home. Daddy and Eileen decided to make a pinata for Dan't birthday.... so far we have a half paper mache- ed ballon that won't dry on our counter top, but Eileen is VERY excited and so now we're hoping this works....

By the way, these pics are just totally random pics from this week with no relation to what the blog post is about... but hey, they're cute!

Conversation of the Day...

Well, really there are two of them... Both with Eileen. :)

Daddy: Eileen we need to stop and get gas
Eileen: Why do we need to stop and get gas?
Daddy: Well, because we are out of gas.
Eileen: Are we out of gas or almost out of gas?
Daddy: Well, it's on empty, so we are out of gas.
Eileen: Then how are we going?
Daddy: ok so we have a little bit left...
Eileen: So you were wrong and I was right!!! :)


Conversation number two...

Eileen: Mommy can you get this out of the plastic?
Mommy: ummm, ok I'll try.
(opens it up and one of two pieces comes out)
Mommy: How's that.
Eileen: Good... but you were supposed to get the ball out too!

My Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, I woke to the traditional yummy heart shaped biscuits for breakfast. The kids of course had helped making then and Eileen was so sweet as she handed mommy the biggest one! I then got to walk outside and see the gift that Eileen and Daddy had spent ALL afternoon on Saturday working on. Eileen would help carry things and help dig, and come in and tell mommy how she was being Daddy's big helper with my "surprise dirt!" She even came in so excited about the pill bug she found in my "surprise dirt." Don't worry, I got more than dirt for Mother's Day. I got the beginning of my retaining wall in our back yard! Dan and I have a list of improvements we would like to make in the back yard eventually, and this was one of them. It's so exciting to see our yard becoming what we have dreamed for it! ...Now if I could just get something to grow in our garden....

The primary kids sang today at church. Eileen was so cute up there. every time they sang "I love you" she would reach out and point to me. Dan also spoke at church about mothers and motherhood (making me sound good) at one point, he quoted someone suggesting that kids should show their love for their mothers often by throwing their arms around them and saying "I love you" Eileen immediately dropped what she was doing and did just that!

Now for the fun. I asked Eileen some questions about me and here are her answers....

What's your mom's favorite dinner?
Eileen - Dutch babies (that's what we had for dinner tonight....)

What makes your mom happy?
Eileen - Me cracking the eggs for her (once again she is talking about making the dutch babies...)

What's the nicest thing you've ever done for your mom?
Eileen - Me reading books to her (she wanted to say the same thing as the last question, but I made her come up with something different)

What's your favorite thing to do with your mom?
Eileen - Play games, read books and snuggle

What's the best Mother's Day present you could give to your mom?
Eileen - a flower (and she did give me a flower! A lovely yellow weed flower from our yard!)

What's you mom's favorite primary song?
Eileen - How Firm a Foundation

If your mom had a million dollars, what would she buy?
Eileen - A pet fish (a what!!!!????? that's one pampered fish!!)

Gotta love the sweetness and wisdom of 4 year olds!!!

Hair, and Hugs

This week started out fun. Dan had an in-service day, so he had a couple meetings, but was able to spend some time with us. We all went down and met him at Gatti Town for lunch. The kids LOVED it and LOVED even more getting to ride in the little train as we left. We then got our hands stamped and came back for dinner! They both loved getting to watch movies as they ate and getting to eat Mac and Cheese!

The next day I woke up and found Eileen and Anna at the table and Eileen had a stack of note paper that she was coloring on. As she sat there, she explained to Anna that she was coloring Hugs for Great Grandpa Francone and that she had to be careful and make them extra special for him. (So Grandpa, I have a ever growing stack of Hugs and pictures that Eileen has drawn especially for you and wants to give to you!) She is so sweet!!! Both girls have been on a hair-doing kick lately. Eileen has discovered that she can do Anna's hair as well as her own, and Anna wants to do mommy's hair at least once a day! (Mommy has a lot less hair now - OUCH! - but it's so cute!!) I found Anna one morning with this adorable hair-do courtesy of her sister! (note that you have to click on it and see it close up to get the full effect!)

Aaron found the swing this weekend. He needed a bit of help to get up on it, but then he was ectatic!!! He just hung there grabbing the grass and giggling! Aaron was also my big helper. This morning as I was getting out the broom to sweep up breakfast, he got VERY excited about sweeping. So i handed him the broom and he pushed it around the floor for a few minutes before Daddy made him stop to get his diaper changed!!

And the Rain, Rain, Rain, Came Down, Down,Down

This has been a rainy week for us and the kids just HATE being cooped up indoors!! They love being able to play outside. Monday, it rained all morning and so we decided that we would go splash in the puddles for our FHE activity. After songs and scriptures, we got decked out in rain boots and went to find some puddles. Aaron was a bit hesitant at first. He wasn't sure what we wanted him to do, but once he saw his sisters splashing, he was very excited! A half hour later we came home with 3 soaked kids and threw them in the bath tub where they got so splash around even more!

The kids are growing up fast!! Eileen has learned how to put pony tails in her own hair. She will go get one of my pony tail holders and put her own hair up, then she finds all her bows and clips and stands in front of my mirror and puts them in her hair. It is so cute!! :) And of course, she loves it when I take her picture. She also loves reading. When she gets up in the morning, the first thing she does is come out and find a book and lay on the floor reading her books. (most of them she has heard so often, that she has them memorized!)

Anna is so funny, she can't seem to decide if she wants to be just like her big sister or different from her. She goes from wanting to do everything Eileen is doing, to wanting everything different in a blink of an eye. But I guess part of toddler-hood is changing your mind every 3 seconds.... :) She is slowly getting better at potty training, though she still needs me to tell her when to go, at least she goes when I ask her to...usually....

Aaron is so much fun! He follows his sisters everywhere! He loves playing outside in the dirt and on the slide, which means he also likes the newly formed mud a bit too much!! He loves to talk and is getting pretty good at making his wants known. The only problem comes when he can't have what he wants.... He's also getting VERY good at tantrums! (which means that mommy is getting pretty good at ignoring tantrums!) He also loves being read to, but only by daddy! He is such a daddy's boy sometimes.

Yesterday, in the morning, we took the kids to the play area at the mall for a bit. (We figured this way we might keep the mud off our newly vacuumed and swept and mopped floors for at least an hour!) During nap time I was to meet my mom and sister to take my sister out for Manicures and Pedicures. Eileen didn't want me to leave her behind, so I brought her with me. She was soo interested in everything. She wanted to see exactly what the ladies were doing and examine everything. She picked out the polish for all of us. Finally when I was done and we were waiting on my Sister to be finished, I asked if they could do a kids pedicure on her. She was SO excited!! She sat there on the edge of the huge chair swinging her legs and talking to the lady about everything she could think of. She was very certain just how she wanted things done and got her toes polished to match mommies. So here is the final shot, our toes after we both got our little pedicures. Not something that will be a regular occurance (I hardly ever get them either!) but something that we enjoyed, my mom and sister loved having her there and watching her with her inquisitive nature and sweet spirit, and it was a nice girl bonding afternoon.