She's got her own book

Ya know how we call our baby girl Lou Lou or lulu how ever you want to spell it?

And ya know how we also some times used to call her little lady or ladybug?

Well there's a kids book about her, see..........

It's Lulu the Lady bug!

My sister found this book (I don't remember at what store) and said she just had to buy it for her. It's a pretty cute book. Lulu loves it!

Thanks Auntie Kim

The Emerald Beauty

With C's Graduation comes the Grad Party. I've known about this "Party" since C was in his first year. I saw/heard other fourth years at the time talk and prep for it. It all seemed so stressful and not that fun to me. We are "home bodies" as some call it, we just like to stay at home and be with each other. We don't go out and "party". We're old :) and we get tired and want to go to bed early-ish. So this whole stay up all night to celebrate C graduating Dental School seemed kind of daunting a little, to me anyway.

I knew I had to find a nice cocktail dress and get all fancied up. I can't remember the last time I got "fancied up". I knew it would take time and money to find a dress and shoes and whatever else we women have to do to get fancied up. So really I was not way excited to get to that point in his school where I had to worry about the whole process in getting ready for the Grad Party, this stuff is just not my thing I guess. Maybe some day I'll get into it all.

Now, to clarify, I'm not saying I don't like to get fancied up. What girl doesn't like to wear lots of make-up and a pretty dress and high heels and feel beautiful? We all like that, it's fun. I just don't like the process it takes to get to that point. The shopping the shelling out of lots of money for one night, you get the point. I'm not a fashionista, I'm not a shopper, I'm cheap most of the time :)

The only other thing about this party that I'm excited for, besides getting prettied up, is a romantic-ish night out with my hubby with no kids! If you call watching his classmates get totally wasted romantic? But, no kids allowed, that's the fun part for me.

Anyway...

C has been paying "Class dues" since he started School and about 95% of all that money he's paid for dues go towards this Grad Party. At the party we'll enjoy nice appetizers and a fancy dinner and music and dancing but most of the money will go towards an open bar, lovely! (We don't drink, as most of you know) So we'll be ordering juice, Sprite and virgin whatever we can and we'll still not get our money's worth, oh well.

About two years ago I was out shopping with my sister Kim when she and her husband came through town and stayed with us for a night or two. We were in a store called Charlotte Russe and we were hitting the sale racks because we're both "Poor student Families" and that's what we do, hit the sale racks.

Out of the corner of my eye I see emerald green in a silky fabric. For those of you who know me, know Green is ME. So I investigated and found it to be a lovely looking emerald green, to the knee, and almost modest cocktail dress. My heart raced as I realized it was in my size. Then I check the tag thinking it's going to be way out of my range I'm sure. Price crossed out, after price crossed out, the final sale price read $8.00! You read that right EIGHT dollars! What? That could not be right. So I tried on the emerald beauty and it fit perfect and I loved it. I bring it up to the cashier thinking I totally read it wrong and they are going to read off some high price. BUT nope, eight dollars plus tax was what I forked over for this Beauty of a dress. It was on sale, on sale, on the clearance rack that was also on clearance apparently. I bought it thinking "What in the heck am I going to wear this for? I don't go to Cocktail parties ever. We don't hit the local bars or go out to really fancy restaurants ever. What the heck am I going to wear this dress for?" But I didn't care that I had no reason to buy it or wear it because it was only Eight dollars. Then I remembered "Oh yeah Graduation Party!" Yay, I had a reason to wear it.....in two years!

I worried that I might not get back to that size after baby number three, but luckily I have reached my goal and that goal was to be able to fit into that dress comfortably and I can!

So you want to see my eight dollar emerald beauty?
Okay so my Mom asked to see pictures of my outfit so this post is for her mostly but I had to tell the story of how I came to own this dress.

Anyway here it is....The pictures don't do it justice, that's how it goes though.
My favorite part is that little sash across the waist, very cute.

Since it has no sleeves and since I have chosen to wear only modest clothing I knew I'd need a shrug to go with it. After just a couple of shopping trips and few stores I found this nice simple shrug that was just what I wanted to cover me up but still show off my dress.

It's very simple but just what I was looking for.

All of a sudden I felt a reason to get new shoes for the event. Tall, cute, black shoes, yep that's what I needed.

Hmm this all of a sudden became kind of fun to me. Spending money on myself, it's kinda fun.

Thanks to my sister who told me about this amazing website with tons of shoes for %50 or more on clearance, I got these beauties.

Simple yet elegant.I needed tall shoes as I am almost a foot shorter than my husband, four inch heels will only scratch off a tiny bit of our gap.

Then the jewelry.....that was a challenge. I don't really ever wear jewelry but I was informed you can't go with out jewelry for an event like this! Sorry, I didn't know. So with some help from my friends I found a nice necklace to go with the dress and I'm sure I'll just wear studs of some sort in my ears (Pearls probably) I'm not a huge ear ring wearing type of person, they hurt my ears after just a couple of hours. And maybe I'll sport a bracelet as well, we'll see.

The whole outfit....Pictures of me in the outfit will just have to wait until the actual evening of the event.

The hardest part about this shopping spree for myself was the fact that I forked over more money (although it was not very much money) for my shoes and necklace (each individually) than I paid for my dress AND shrug together. I had a hard time with that, but that is just me.

Dress: $8 + tax
Shrug: $10 + tax
Total for the two= $18 + tax NOT BAD AT ALL!

Shoes: just under $30 after tax and shipping
necklace: $25 + tax

That's just over $75 for the whole thing. I'm not sure you can even get a dress for that price any more?! I'm proud of my bargain of a deal on that dress and really the whole get-up. I love it when I get the most for my money! It's a good feeling.

There ya go Mom (and sisters and who ever has asked to see the dress) there it is, my bargain of a deal, my emerald beauty.

Her new "tricks"

Lou lou has learned some new tricks........

*She can finally crawl, finally! Real crawling not scooting. Yay! Her scooting was driving me crazy and though I did like my floor being swept every day I did not like her clothes to take the full damage of it.

*She knows where her nose is see.....

And she now knows how far a finger can go up it :)

*Here is a new face she loves to make a million times a day................

and I think it's hi-larious!

I'm sure I will be singing a different tune when this face is combined with sass and back talking but for now it's cute and funny. I just love how she looks so offended and she'll make this face to total strangers when they try and talk to her, I find it funny.

remember this picture?
(yes that's me)

I wonder where she gets it from?

I want a re-do

On days like today I wish I had that re-do or do-over button.

I wish I could rewind to the start of my day, just as I am crawling out of bed (having the knowledge I have of how the day could go) and then do it over but right. We don't have the luxury of that though, darn.

We all have days like today, right? Days where you feel like you are not a good Mother/Person, like you can't do anything right, like you just want to give up and just curl up in bed and let the day pass by doing nothing to change it and hope the next day is better? We all have days like this, right? Please tell me you do too.

Granted, I don't give up. But I just feel like maybe it might work to just throw in the towel ya know? Then my logical self kicks in and says "Yeah that would NOT work and it's not worth it. Get that silly thought out of your head get up and do something to change it and make it right."

This is usually when I hit my knees to the floor (hard) and don't get up until I feel peaceful and calm that I can (with help) change my attitude and change the day for the better. And that is just what I did today.

I woke up grumpy and so did my daughter. We did NOT mix well this morning. My fridge was weird last night and didn't really work so all the food was warm in it including the milk, so it was a "No Thank you" on cereal this morning and I had no other quick breakfast foods in the house. That was a bad combination, no food for two grumpy girls (E and Me). I snapped at her more times then I want to admit this morning and then sent her off to school feeling like I didn't love her. I feel terrible about it!

Her bus comes early enough that when it gets to school the bus driver has them wait on the bus for quite a while before they are let off to go into the classrooms. Her bus driver noticed she had been crying since shortly after getting on the bus so she had her come up to talk to her, to make sure nothing happened on the bus that she needed to know about. She could not get much out of her until she said to E "Do you want to call your Mommy and talk to her? Will that make you feel better? Will you tell her why you are crying?" Then E broke down sobbing said yes and told her bus driver that her mommy was mad at her this morning and that is why she was crying. She told her she wanted to call her mom to make sure she wasn't still mad at her.

When the bus driver told me this I cried. I felt awful, to say the least! I felt like "What kind of Mom am I?! I sent her on the bus feeling like I was still mad at her and that I didn't love her?"

I cried on the phone with her as I told her I was sorry for snapping so much at her. I told her I would never send her to school again feeling like this and that it wasn't fair to her the way I acted towards her. I told her I loved her so much and no matter what she does or doesn't do I will always love her. By this point we are both sobbing. So I ask her (to calm her down a bit) if me coming to lunch with her will help her have a better day and she said yes.

So that is what I will do. I know it won't "make up" for my wrong doing but I hope it will let her know that even though I was mad/frustrated this morning because of her attitude and her unwillingness to listen and obey me, that I still love her and I hope that she can forgive me for taking out my stress on her this morning.

I'm not proud of myself when I do silly stupid things like this. I beat myself up over it for too long after. The hardest part about days or situations like this, is that she will forgive me in an instant but I can't forgive myself for a while after.

I am stressed for who knows why? But it's no excuse for taking it out on my daughter by snapping at her a million times before school. I feel like everyday is a day to do better, to be a better person so when I have days like today where I do the opposite of that, I feel discouraged. I feel like it's hard to pick myself up and change my attitude and get back on the right track.

BUT I must do it. I must get up and start over and remember that I'm not perfect but I can always try to change and be better.

I sure I hope tomorrow is a better day.

Thanks for letting me vent :)

Avocados and Asparagus

She loves Avocados can you tell?

We found out last night that she also loves asparagus, who would-a-thought?

She is my eater for sure. She'll try most anything and likes a lot of what she tries.

We love this little lady!

My Siblings, through the eyes of my children

I grew up in what would now be considered a large family, back then it was close to an average sized family (okay in the Mormon community it was average :). I have five sisters and one brother. I'll do the math for ya that is 7 kids in my family total. In today's standards as far as families go that is LARGE, even in the Mormon world :) I have to say I love that I have a large family, it makes for some fun/crazy/interesting/wild/fun fun family get-togethers.

Once a year (During the Holidays/Christmas) we get together as a family and that is when my kids get to be with all their Aunties and Uncle. The kids love being at my folks house when everyone is there. They beg for weeks and even months (J boy is still asking to go to G-ma and papa's house) after Christmas to go back to my Parents house.

They love it there so much because they have been the only grand kids (for now) there. So of course you can imagine how much attention they would get not only from G-Ma and Papa but from my 6 other siblings (and now recently two uncles, my bro-in-laws). That is TEN people to entertain them! TEN! (excluding C and I because we're their parents and we're lame, when everyone else is around :)

Over the years of my two oldest kids, E and J boy, I have realized the interesting roles my sisters and brother play in my kids' lives. I've noticed they have certain definitions and rolls they give to each of my siblings and my siblings unconsciously fulfill their rolls with out knowing that it is their role or even how my kids define them (Except for Angela, she knows dang well what her roll is and how to fulfill it :).

I was having a discussion with E not long after Christmas break as she was missing my family, we were talking about what she liked about each of my siblings and Grandma and Papa. It was funny to realize that she had a different relationship with each of them and she can pretty much pin point what it is she loves about each individual and I've realized J boy feels the same way too.

So here it is.......
My siblings as defined by my Children.....

they are crazy! Why wouldn't my kids love these guys?

crazy!

(I'll go in age order, oldest to youngest)

Older sisters:

Wendy- She fulfills her role well as the eldest, not only sibling but Auntie. E and J have a noticeable respect for her, almost like a second mother in that way. She is defined in their minds as The Crafty Aunt. She is always making them fun things, doing crafts and projects with them. At Christmas she helped whip up a puppet show stage, (which we never fully enjoyed ops) snow flakes, yarn dolls, finger painting and I'm sure there was more fun crafty projects she helped them with. She has most years made my kids gifts and they always love them. When E thinks of a craft she'll instantly find Wendy to help her with it. She is a school teacher which plays a part in why my kids go to her to learn in fun ways.

Angela- Well, for some reason Angela got the coveted role of Favorite Auntie. We are not sure how exactly she came to take on that role. Maybe it is because she lived with us for three months, or maybe because she tries hard to maintain that role by spoiling them rotten going against anything I would do for them or let them do, yep that will win you the role of Favorite Auntie. In all Honesty though, if any of you know Angela she is probably the funnest person you know. Everyone wants to be Angela's friend, so its no wonder my kids can sense that and deemed her Favorite Auntie.

Younger siblings:

Kim (And Tyler, her husband)-I think this role is very fitting and maybe it's because she is the first Auntie they had that was married and so they have gladly stepped into the role of The Cool Aunt and Uncle. They don't have to do much to claim that title (lucky them), they are just that....Cool. I think it's because they are such a good looking, trendy young couple that my kids just admire. It's probably how we looked before we had kids, j/k we were never that cool ;) Uh oh what are Kim and Tyler going to be once they have this baby, we shall see :)Why wouldn't they think this couple is cool? Don't all married couples dress alike?

hmm after going through all my pictures of Kim and Tyler I'm starting to wonder how my children came to deem them as so cool??

Allie-She's not going to like this one, but she is deemed The Silly Auntie, which in years will turn into Crazy Aunt Allie. Everyone has a crazy Aunt, Allie you're it! If my kids are in a silly mood they know who will join right in and will find their silly Auntie Allie. If you know Allison you know this is so fitting for her personality, she is just that: A lot silly and a little crazy, or maybe it's the other way around? What kid doesn't want a silly/crazy Auntie?

she's crazy!

more crazy

okay here's a serious one, aww so sweet!

David- He's lucky he's the only uncle they have in my family and he can fulfill his role pretty easily by being the Cool and Fun Uncle. He's not too loud or wild (as he is drowned out by his many many sisters) but he's not so shy that he won't go out and have fun with the kiddos and they love that about him. He's just Uncle David! He plays the guitar and the piano, he sings, he bounces them high on the trampoline, he's their uncle!

Whitney (and her husband Joey)-With Joey recently joining the family I'm not sure how they define him but I do know how they define Whitney so Joey's role will probably be similar. Whitney is deemed The Fun Auntie. Fun because for E at least, it has almost been like having a cool older sister who is fun to be around. When ever we go to my Folks house Whitney was always there because she was still living at home going to High School and so it was always fun to pull up to Grandma and Papa's house and know they had an Auntie ready and willing to play with them. She would always take them with her when she went babysitting and my kids always thought that was so fun to do with Auntie Whitney. She's just so FUN and I can see Joey being that way with them too.

Yeah, I'd say they look like a pretty fun couple!

There it is, my siblings the way my kids see them.

Now, before any of my siblings gets offended, I'm not saying that Allie can't be crafty or fun and that she is only crazy. OR I'm not saying that Whitney can't be cool or crazy and that she is only fun :) All I'm saying is that when the kids try to define what they love about each of you, this is what we have come up with. They are all good things in the kids' eyes, they just love to be around all of you.

I will say though, that Ange has pretty much claimed rights to Favorite, sorry. She spoils them so rotten that it is irreversible. She is and will forever be the Favorite, BUT that doesn't mean they don't love you all so much.

I LOVE that my kids are so close to all my siblings, I love it!

The worst spring break ever!

This maybe a some what boring and depressing post but I have to put it on here so I can remember how awful it was and be grateful for future Spring Breaks that will hopefully be much better than this one.

********Read at your own risk**********

Friday E had no school. For some reason they start spring break here on the Friday before the actual week of spring break, weird?! It was a good day. No one was sick, although I did feel a bit of a scratchy throat starting in the mornings but nothing to worry about (or so I thought), kids were happy and helpful and C and I had Date night. How much better can it get?

Saturday was fine, nothing terribly exciting happened. I felt like my throat was a bit more soar but again, no big deal. I was blaming the scratchy feeling I had on allergies or something.

Sunday, again nothing unusual went on. We did the same 'ol church routine. I felt slightly more tired and the soar/scratchy throat lingered but did not get worse......until Monday.

Monday it hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt crappy in the morning but pushed through it. Letting the kids get out of the house a bit, even though it was pretty chilly outside. After we came in, I could not sit up straight. My body felt heavy and achy all over, all of a sudden too. Poor C came home to me lying on the living room floor next to the baby and who knows what the other two kids were doing. The house was a mess, no dinner was made or even thought of. I felt bad for my hubby but my body felt so awful, I couldn't do anything about it.

I thought I had the flu because I had that achy flu like feel but my throat also hurt and felt as if it were getting worse. I went to bed early that night hoping it would go away in the morning.

It didn't!

Tuesday was the worst! I felt terrible, worse than Monday. C had to go to school, he had patients he could not cancel on. I was left alone with my kids while I felt as if I was hit by a Semi-Truck.

My day would have been survivable if my kids would have happily sat in front of the T.V. all day, but no, no that cannot happen on a day like that day. They fought with each other all.day.long! I could hardly do a thing about it because I could hardly move or sit up with out feeling weak and like I was going to pass out. I was miserable to say the least!

By the time C came home around 5-ish I was in tears, okay I was sobbing! I had just got done "yelling" (I could not yell but I did the best I could to let them know I was TICKED) at my kids telling them how terribly sick I was (for some reason they had not noticed at all) and that all I wanted for today was to feel better and that having children that would play nice and love each other would have helped me a ton. Yes, I laid on the guilt!!! They deserved it. Daddy walked in just after this conversation saw how awful I looked and heard about how awful they had been that day and then he began to make them feel guilty as well, like I said, they deserved it.

Tuesday night I begged C to give me a Priesthood Blessing because there was NO WAY I could do another day like Tuesday by myself! After his sweet blessing I felt peace that I would be okay the next day with out my Husband, who could not take that day off either (he would have stayed home if he could, but end of 4th year is brutal).

Wednesday I woke up and I felt better in my body, I had a lot less achy-ness and some strength had come back but my throat was KILLING me. I peaked in my throat to see what I could see in there. All I could see was cottage cheese like stuff all over my tonsils. I finally came to the conclusion that it had to be Strep throat and NOT the flu like I originally thought.

My sweet neighbor took my two older children while I headed off with the baby to the Walgreen's Clinic. I was in and out of there in no time. They took one look at my throat and new I had strep as well.

All the while of me being sick, going to the clinic with baby in tow, it was not only cold outside but it was snowing! I'm not talking about flurries. I'm talking about wintry snow storm, coming down outside!

Talk about the lamest Spring Break ever!

After I got the Antibiotics and had a couple of doses of them in me I started to feel slightly better. I was up and moving a lot better by Wednesday evening and what a relief that was. It is NOT easy being a Mother and being sick, because not only does no one really take care of you but you still have to take care of every one else. Well, C did take care of me when he was home, of course but during the day I was on my own.

Thrusday I was feeling a lot better and wanted to get my kids out but I felt guilty knowing I was still considered contagious. I love my neighborhood and the friends I have here, because with out hardly asking they took my kids out on bike rides, to the park, to climb the tree etc. They were great. And even though I was feeling better it was nice to have that break, to get caught up on my house which looked like.....well, it looked like I had been sick for three days :)


Friday I was feeling like me again. So in the afternoon I took my kids to the Children's Museum. Even though they were not the best kids ever I felt awful that E's spring break was spent at home with a sick Mommy. I had to get her out of the house to do some thing!

So there it is, The worst and lamest Spring Break ever! BUT we survived and all is well with the kids back in school and Mommy back to full health again. AND (counting my blessing here) no one else got strep throat! Now that is a miracle!

This post is just......because

This post is because..............

Because it was nice out today and I took lots of pictures

Because the Grandparents don't see their grand kids any other way

And Because my kids are so dang cute

And Because she has a tooth
(if you click on the picture mom you'll see it, it's there)

And because I did her hair in tiny piggy tails (the tiniest pig tails ever) and they were adorable and I wanted to show everyone she is getting hair, even if it is very little, it's there see...

And because I want to warn any little boys who will some day soon be teenage boys who will then want to date this girl..... Yes, she is beautiful (wind blown hair and all) BUT She is never available, okay? Okay! :)

(man it was windy today)

And because I wanted to show you what a nerd this kid can be some times!

And how cute he can be just a moment later

And because I Love these little kiddos of mine. How can I love them so much even at the same moment they are driving me nuts?! I don't know how it works but, I do, I love 'em regardless of how crazy they drive me.

**************************

Quick "J boy said" story

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch and he was talking to me and then stopped mid-sentence, looked at the way I was sitting and said "Mom how do you get your legs to do that?" As he tried but failed to cross his legs like I was doing. The best part was C's response through our laughter, he said "Well buddy, it helps if you have hips." Silly boys.

Okay I'm done with my random Because post.