The Forgotten

I know, I know. . . I never got around to posting pictures of the other two the other day. Nate's been a little under the weather, I've had a zillion things to do and I had to give a talk in Church. Every time I got on the computer, I kept feeling guilty, so I would end up researching my talk and I never got around to anything fun. So as promised. . .

Our trip in Iowa ended with a bang as Sadie decided to grow up over night. The last day we were there she decided to give up swaddling and being put to sleep by me. She also decided to start army crawling and sitting up. PLUS, she started on baby food. It was a lot for me to handle in just one week, but she didn't really give me a choice.

Here's my two thumb suckers this morning. While I was vacuuming, I noticed they were just sitting there looking so cute together. Of course the second I got out the camera, Nate decided to "love" Sadie a little too much and that was the end of the cuteness since Sadie does not like the smothering.

Nate is adjusting to having Ellie at school. he first couple of days he was really mad at her for leaving him and he would ignore her when she came home. Now he's decided that he likes the extra attention from me and follows me everywhere. For instance, he's sitting in my lap right now. I can't believe I got rid of his entertainment! What was I thinking? I've had a crash course in how to play trains and super heroes. Oh, and make sure you notice that he a long sleeve shirt on in the pictures. Even though it is 99 degrees outside, Nate still has to wear his train shirt.

This morning we vacuumed, folded laundry -- 3 weeks worth, I didn't know we had that many clothes, did puzzles and Sadie played Barbies. Now it's nap time, the bug guy came and I have to finish up my Visiting teaching this afternoon. I know what you're thinking -- STOP! The excitement is too much! Well, that's just my glamorous life. It's the flossy flossy.

And this is me writing really really small about Ellie since this post is really about Nate and Sadie. Today was her first day going to school without me. Tasha picked her up and took her to school. BOO HOO! It was definitely sad for me, but Tasha said she did great.

Take two

Thanks everyone for your sympathy and well wishes. I am happy to report that the 1st day of school was "AWESOME." Ellie had a great day although the first thing she told me when she came home was, "We didn't even learn anything." She was so disappointed.

She did come home with a full lunch bag though. I asked her if she ate anything and she told me there was only room for a few grapes and I packed her "too much stuff." What kid doesn't want cookies, yogurt and fruit snacks?? I also had to laugh at the names of the kids in her class. I can't tell if they're real or if she got them a little mixed up. One boy is named Marvin -- no wonder he was the first kid to pull a stick. If that we're my name, I would rebel too. And then there's Santiago and Mexica. If I didn't know Scout personally, I'd have questioned that name too.


Today Ellie was all smiles and happy as could be going to class. She blew me some kisses and walked off. RELIEF! Still not much progress on the lunch though. She ate a little bit of cake and 2 apple slices. I'm not even going to bother packing her a sandwich tomorrow.

And she learned things! We were sitting down reading Junie B tonight and she showed me the title page -- I was super impressed. She also learned the phonogram sounds for A and O. So all in all, this school thing may be bearable! I guess we'll see when the homework comes.

Coming later this week in the blog: My other children. Yes, I have a SON and a BABY!

The Sad Day

It's official -- my baby is in Kindergarten. Yesterday was sort of a surreal day for me as I got all of her stuff ready. I was putting Sadie down when I realized that I was entering a whole new phase of my life -- the school phase. No more sleeping in and having lazy mornings. What happened to my baby? It was a hard night for all of us. Ellie couldn't even eat dinner because of the butterflies in her stomach. We even tried to get her to eat ice cream and that didn't work. Dustin gave her a beautiful blessing and that calmed her down for a little bit, but the nerves were definitely setting in. She did manage to fall asleep before 9, luckily.

This morning I woke her up at 6:45 and she wouldn't even eat breakfast because she was so nervous. It just about broke my heart. She was brave all the way to school until we turned the corner to the Kindergarten line up and then she broke down crying. Her teacher was coming out right then, so her teacher ran over to hug her and tell her how much fun it was going to be, but even that didn't help.

We went and stood in line and I tried to get her to talk to some of the kids she knew, but that didn't help. She kept crying and telling me she wanted to go home with me. I was trying so hard to be brave for her, but I wanted to take her home too! Finally the lines started going in and hers was the last one, so the crowd had thinned out, but Ellie was still sobbing. Then a little girl from her class came over and gave her a hug and held her hand. he next thing I knew, Ellie was walking off to Kindergarten holding hands and not even looking back at me. And then I broke down bawling like a baby. In fact I'm crying right now thinking about it.



I can't believe my little girl is gone all day. I miss her already. I keep finding myself looking at the clock wondering how long until she comes home. I started the count down at 6 hours. It's like a little piece of my heart walked out the door. I'm not ready for all the worry that comes with letting my little girl out into the big world without me.

Gratitude

Today we threw a shower for my girlfriend Jacque. As her mom was leaving, she kept thanking us and telling us what great friends Jacque had. I kept thinking how true it was -- I have the greatest girl friends. I've been really blessed in my life to have super amazing friends. I hope they all know how much I love each and every one of them. And of course all of you reading this. I love you all! You've each brought so much joy into my life. Thank you for being such great examples and always making me laugh. I have shared so much with each of you over the years and I am so blessed to know all of you. MWAH!

And with that, I have a little request. I have to speak in church in a few weeks (Jill you owe me big time for getting the Presidency off the hook) on Gratitude. So if you have any great insights, talks, scriptures, quotes. . . anything, even if it's just random thoughts or ideas. . .share them with me. Either here or via e-mail. I just want to hear your ideas about gratitude! Thanks!

We're back -- Picture overload

We've been on vacation for the last 9 days, so hopefully that explains the lack of posting. I'm happy to say that we are home safe and sound.

We left last week for our stay in D's hometown of Fairfield Iowa. Four of the five boys and their families all came along too, so we needed a bigger house to fit us all. We stayed at this enormous house bought by some members as a vacation home for when they came to visit Nauvoo. I think someone said it was 10,000 square feet -- indoor and outdoor pool, bowling alley, 7 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, two laundry rooms, two offices. . . basically we all had plenty of space. This could be a little scary at times, though, because we never knew where Nate was. We just knew if the house was quiet too long, he and his buddy Wyatt were up to trouble.

So you're probably wondering what we did for 9 days in a small town in Iowa! Well, here goes:
*Crunch Cones -- For all the talk, I thought they were over rated, but the kids loved them. Basically they're soft served ice cream cones with some sort of crunch concotion sprinkled all over the top. I think we went on a Crunch Cone run almost every day we were there.
*Swimming -- not only at the house pool, but also at the public pool which had a rockin' water slide.

*Pool Relays -- the source of a heated debated.
*Parks -- For a small town, Fairfield has a zillion parks. We visited quite a few. Nate and Ellie even got to go down a slide that was still there from when D was a kid.

* Bowling

*Hide and Go Seek -- in a house that big, Hide and Go Seek was definitely one of my favorite games we played all week.
*Ooga Booga -- so I can't tell you what it is since it's a secret initiation, but I can post some pictures and tell you the kids thought it was hysterical.


*Ratatouille -- super cute movie.
*Cars, Barbies, movies, crafts, Wii, pool, playing with cousins . . .


*Fireworks -- Poor Nate was injured by a sparkler and is now paranoid of heat even more.


*Books -- I finished TWO this vacation, plus two trashy magazines, and the end of my Sudoku book.
*Matching shirts

*Running and walking -- One of the few times D and I got to work out together.
*Too much food
*Barack Obama -- I'm not even kidding. He was in Fairfield for a speech on the 3rd of July, so my sister-in-law and I went down to the square to listen. I guess it pays to be in Iowa during election season. It was pretty cool to see him in person and he was a very dynamic speaker. (PS not my picture below -- he was much more "cas" when we saw him).

* Art Walk and Street Dance -- small towns are happening on a weekend
*Fishing -- Oh yeah, the house was on acreage with a fishing lake.
*Fire fly catching
*Growing up -- While we were in Iowa, Sadie decided to grow up. She started on sweet potatoes, she starting sitting up better, starting sleeping without being swaddled, started putting herself to sleep, started scooting large distances. . . it was a sad week for growing up.

*Getting into trouble -- Remember early when I said we knew the boys were up to no good when it was quiet? Usually they headed straight for a bedroom since there was a room full of mirrored closets that they loved to run in and out of, so one morning we realized how quiet it was and set off to our bedroom. They had crawled into Sadie's Port-a-crib (and woken her up the stinkers) and were loving all over her.

*Late night games -- Chris always has the best games and I stayed up too late too many nights.
*Sheer exhaustion -- the kids worn out and we're looking forward to trying to relax today.


The whole way to the airport (a 4 hour drive), Ellie cried that she didn't want to leave Iowa, so it was definitely a successful trip!

3 weeks and counting

So I decided the whole uniform thing might not be such a bad thing. On Tuesday my girlfriend and I got a babysitter and finished the rest of our school shopping. Children's Place had the cutest skirts and the sweetest little sweater. So I stocked up on the few items I was missing, and now we're good to go! When I came home, Ellie was so excited to see what I got that she had to try everything on right then (see how Sadie is still in her car seat). After dinner she even did a fashion show for Dustin of all her clothes. I'm happy to report she likes what I bought -- even if it isn't pink and doesn't have flowers or butterflies. Plus I think she looks so stinking cute and so darn grown up.

Results!

If I had to chose one word for the last few days it would be productive. I've had way too much energy. I got all my laundry done, cleaned my house (twice!), baked bread, made flashcards for Ellie and even laminated them so she can practice writing on them, made Jacque's shower invitations plus stamped and addresses all the envelopes, and (don't hate me) I even started on my Christmas cards. I designed and printed the message part and I just need to go get me some green paper and we're good to go.


Saturday we hauled the big slide out for the first time this year and had a bunch of friends over for a BBQ. Dustin made the most delicious gourmet hamburgers. One of my friends made the kids' desserts out of Twinkies (they looked like fire crackers -- super cute). So Ellie gets her fire cracker and takes a bite. "OH MY GOSH! There's CREAM on the inside. WOW!" Uh yeah, honey, it's a Twinkie, of course there's cream on the inside. "WOW! I've never had cake with cream on the inside. This is the most delicious thing ever." On and on she goes and I suddenly realize, my 5 year old has never had a Twinkie before! Her amazement was worth the years and years of deprivation right there.

Today we've been taking it easy after my weekend of domesticity. We went to the gym and then had Tasha's kids over. We've been swapping kids on Mondays since the neighborhood decided to take the summer off from our Mom Day Out. I only get every other Monday off, but it has been so easy because our kids get along so well. I seriously didn't even see them for 3 hours.

Tasha's another person I've known since I was a baby (just like Meredith in the post below), and we also live about a mile apart. I seriously had no clue how close we would all be when we built this house. Even stranger is that we're all in 3 different wards (that's Arizona for you, I guess, the Ward boundaries are small) and all in the Primary Presidencies (Mer and I are Presidents and Tasha is the 1st Counselor). It makes planning Sharing Time and Quarterly Activities so much easier when you have people to share ideas with! I am super lucky to have moved close to such a great friends and even luckier that our kids get along so well.

Summer Lovin!

I can't believe that summer is half way over, it has been flying by. I've been taking a self-imposed break from the computer the last week or so. I'll get on to check e-mail, but we've just had so much fun being lazy and doing fun things that I've enjoyed not being tied to anything. So forgive my poor blogging, I've been enjoying my kids!
We've been swimming a lot, summer movies, playing with friends, play group, baking (gasp, I've been sticking with my goals), going to the gym, going out to lunch, shopping. . . The other day we had Mer's kids over to play. I've known Meredith since I was born, so it's neat that 20 plus years later we live less than a mile apart and our girls are good friends and going to the same school. Little girls can be such divas! I caught them all in the guest room bossing poor Nate around.

We started Sadie on rice cereal this week. She's not quite sure that she likes it. Ellie couldn't get enough of the stuff when she started, but Sadie sort of looks like she's going to cry. I can't believe she is growing up so fast. She's started schooching herself across the floor and she stopped napping in the swing. She's also really started going for her thumb.










Dustin is off in California, so Ellie and I had a sleep over last night. Ellie was actually the best little helper when I was getting Sadie ready for bed. She got me a drink and turned off the lights. . . I told her that Dustin usually rubs my feet and she went and got lotion even. I love that girl :) After I got Sadie down, we put on face masks and put cucumbers on our eyes (Ellie saw it on a TV show one time and has been obsessed with the idea since we got cucumbers last week). Then we stayed up and watched cartoons until 10:30.







And here's Nate. My mom says he never gets enough face time, but it's usually because he's running around too much. Last night the kids were out playing and when we finally got ready for bed, I found a bunch of toys from the neighbors on our lawn. Casey -- I think this is Brady's truck and Jill, we have Brody's new sword. I'm holding them hostage for cookies ;p




Oh -- and here is Nate's great hair-do, courtesy of Ellie.

Firsts

I think I deserve some kind of award. Last week I made dinner EVERY single night and this week. . . I baked bread. TWICE! Yes, two loaves of delicious home goodness were made by ME! And that's not even the exciting news. Sadie started to roll over onto her tummy today. WOO HOO! After a few months of doing nothing new, we finally have something Sadie-licious to celebrate.

I was at a meeting when the whole thing happened. Everyone was excited to tell me when I came home, but I was so bummed that I missed it that I almost started crying. Luckily, after I fed her and got down to change her diaper, she showed me her new trick. And then after I rolled her over, she did again. And again. And again. In fact, she wouldn't stop doing it. The bad part is, she can only roll one way and after a few minutes on her belly, she starts fussing. So I roll her onto her back . . . and then she does it again. It is actually no longer a fun new trick, but kind of annoying. So tomorrow, we're going to have to practice rolling the *other* way.

Weekend Update

I like summer -- for about the first 2 hours. Hopefully this summer will be better since Ellie starts school again in 7 weeks. The first weekend of summer was actually fun. We went swimming at my friend Rickie's and then I watched Molly's kids for the afternoon. Thank heavens for the slip n slide. That night Dustin had "man plans" so I had some girlfriends come over. We watch Music and Lyrics (loved it), ate cookies and even scrapped a little (I know, I cheated on my MAS girls -- forgive me?). Saturday I went crazy and de-junked the Master Bedroom closet. I now have a pile of boxes and bags in the garage ready for DI. I love getting rid of stuff. It's such a great feeling to rid yourself of all the excess baggae in life. It is seriously my way of de-cluttering my life and re-simplifying. I feel much more in charge now that all that junk is out of my house.

The best part of the summer -- sheer exhaustion. Today the kids went to Tasha's for the morning (love my Monday lunch date with my husband) and then we went swimming at Michelle's for a few hours. The kids were so tired. Nate fell asleep in the middle of family home evening and Ellie was in bed before the sun had set. Now I get to enjoy the quiet! If only there was some good junky tv to watch. I deserve a break after taking 3 kids swimming all week. Seriously, though, what am I going to watch? I hate summer TV.

While Nate was at Tasha's, he fell in love with her little boy's Better Batter Baseball toy. It was all he could talk about when I picked him up and the entire car ride to Michelle's he kept saying, "Better Batte Baseall is fun." Over and over again -- wonder where he got his obsessive personality from ;p. At Michelle's we played trains, doctor, played in the kiddie pool, sprinkler, painted, blew bubbles, ate snacks and then went swimming in the big pool. 3 hours later, we get in the car to go home and I ask the kids if they had fun. Nate response: "Better Batter Baseball is fun."

And a quick Sadie picture share because I love it. Sadie is wearing my mom's dress from when she was a baby. It is all completey hand-sewn. I'm just in awe of all the hours and love that went into it. I just love that my Grandma can still be a part of my kids' lives even though we can't see her.

Summer Goals

Every year the summer seems to drag out forever and I accomplish very little other than spending endless days by the pool, increasing my risk of skin cancer. So this year, I'm setting a few goals to achieve -- and I encourage everyone to do the same.

1. I *will* cook dinner once a week. Actually, after a nice round of "Maddy doesn't cook dinner" mockery, I've been cooking dinner all week. Who doesn't love scrambled eggs and toast for dinner?

2. Bake more with the kids. Ellie was over at my girl friend's one day baking cookies and Ellie told Jen, "I do this all the time with my mom." Jen was a little surprised and asked Ellie what kind of cookies we make. Ellie snitched, "The kind that come in a bag and you put the little squares on the pan." I've been ratted out. So I plan on baking at least twice with the kids this summer. This is a lofty goal for me.

3. Potty train Nate. Oh yeah, it's happening. Whether he wants it to or not.

4. Finish my thank you cards for Sadie's birth and Ellie's birthday. yeah. . .that's embarrassing.

5. Christmas cards. You know you're all jealous that I get mine done in July.

I'm sure there are more things I *want* and *should* do, but if I add any more, I won't accomplish anything at all. So we're setting the bar low!

What's Shakin'

Well it's that time of year. . . we've just been busy with all the end of year stuff. Ellie is officially done with Pre School. WOO HOO! And today was our last little Joy School party. Tomorrow is the official start of the summer -- Summer Movies.

We had a great long weekend, ending with swimming and a BBQ at our friend's house. It was so much fun and a little chaotic since there were 15 small children running around the house, but still relaxing. Please note the massive amount of children in the picture. I was pretty sure we were never going to get them all fed and happy at the same time.

In other news. . . Ellie's teeth. Ellie was involved in a little accident at the play area of the gym where her two front teeth were popped up into her gums. The picture is after she visited our Dentist (who was sweet enough to stay open after hours so Ellie could come in). She was super brave and let him pop her teeth back in socket. poor thing was so bloddy and swollen. We're hoping the teeth aren't dead, but it's not looking too good. It's been 4 days and they are still loose. She's on an all liquid diet (since she can't bite) and it is killing her. The other day she saw me brushing my teeth and started crying. "I wish I could brush my teeth." "I wish I could eat carrots." Things you never think you'll hear form your 5 year old.

I'm also unsuccessfully potty training Nate. I thought it would be easier since it's summer and we have more opportunities to be home all day, but that kid can hold his bladder like none other. He'll sit on the potty, run around in underwear, but when it's time to pee, he insists on putting on a diaper. So I think we're going to put that on the back burner for awhile.

Sadie is as sweet as ever. No huge new things there. Still a horrible napper, but I've gotten over it. She'll figure it out someday -- I hope. She's found her feet and loves to shriek -- so I always know when she's awake because she'll be jabbering away to herself. In the picture she has her beautiful knit blanket from my mom. She enjoys chewing on it -- thanks mom!

Speaking of jabbering -- I hear her now.

Freaking Out

A few weeks ago, Nate had a birthday party to attend. Dustin wanted to take Ellie to the gym during the party, so he asked if I would take Sadie to the party with me. I said yes, as it was *suppose* to work perfectly with Sadie's schedule. Of course the kids woke her up an hour early and suddenly everything wasn't working out as perfectly as I had it planned in my head. In the middle of my spazz mode, Dustin tells me that I should always have a plan B in mind, so I don't get so stressed when everything doesn't work according to *MY* inital plans. I told him that I always have a plan B: Freaking Out.

I am slightly obsessive and organized and I like everything to fit into my little mold of the world. I'm sure all of you are sitting there laughing as you think about the tight schedule I keep poor little Sadie on (and Michelle's attempts to sabatoge that schedule). So yesterday was one of those days when nothing was working out like it should -- and then I couldn't find my driver's licence. I reached full freak out mode after about 30 minutes of looking for it. Dustin walks out of the office to find me surrounded by piles of laundry and bags on the floor of the laundry room. . .sobbing.

"Is this *just* about your licence?" he asks. Why yes! Yes it is! Seriously, why am I so obseesive that I can't let these little things slide? I need some help people. The good thing is -- you can order a duplicate on-line so I don't actually have to go the DMV. And Dustin found his lost wedding ring while looking for my licence. I can't figure out why I let such small things get to me. Am I the only one? Is there a 12 step program I can join? I need help!

The bright spot in the day -- the guest bathroom is now officially apple green.

It's been awhile

So it's been over a week. My sunburn is gone (although I'm peeling from it), Susan had her baby (8 lbs 9 oz and they named him Porter) and two of my great friends had birthdays (Happy Birthday Michelle and Shanna). So I've been busy celebrating all these important events in my friend's lives. I've just had too much fun decorating yards and holding a brand new baby boy.

This week, my sister and I also figured out how to video chat and it has been so much fun. Probably more fun for my sister and parents who got to watch the kids run around and be crazy, but my kids love to put on a show. My kids will probably sit at dinner one night and ask incredulously, "But what did you do before video chat?" One night my parents called and I asked who wanted to talk to Grandma and Papa. Nate ran to the computer. When I told him they were on the phone, he looked disgusted. Like how ghetto was I for thinking he would be happy with just the phone. And Ellie asked me yesterday, "When are we going to video chat with Lola today?" So glad "video chat" is aprt of you every day vocabulary now!

Another joy I've discovered this week -- school shopping. Ellie's school has a uniform policy -- meant to stifle creativity I'm sure, but I have slowly discovered the joy of finding clothing that fits the uniform code AND is cute at the same time. I found Ellie two pairs of adorable bermuda shorts, on sale, and I haven't stopped talking about them since. I even made her try them on for my family in video chat!

Then to top an already fun week off, we went to the splash park with all our friends yesterday, then I got to scrap with some of my funniest friends last night, and tonight is our Stake Fair. I get to face paint. WOO HOO! And to top all of your weeks off -- some adorable pictures of my kiddos, because I know that's what you're here for anyway! Oh yeah, I'm also painting the kids' bathroom -- apple green! I love it.