{Happy Birthday Dad!}

This was last Father's Day ... w/ the girls. What's up w/ Katie's pose?

I'm thinking I should save this picture for your anniversary in a few months. :) But, I couldn't find any good pics of Dad on this drive!

Anyways, hope it was a good one! We enjoyed dinner tonight with you guys (thanks for letting us invite ourselves)! Have fun w/ that Uno game. :) And don't eat all the chocolates at once ... it might make you ::too:: sweet. We don't want that to happen, right? {chuckling}

{Surprise!!}

Quick! Go outside and find out if pigs are flying?!

I ask this because Saturday the girls *actually* listened and OBEYED all day long! I know something is up... and figured when pigs fly is the day my girls listen and obey what I tell them. It was a day of cleaning for the three of us Saturday morning, and I told them "OK, Madison, empty the dishwasher and Katie, vacuum the rooms". They said very sweetly "OK!" I had to do a double look at them as they walk out of my room. WHAT? Sadly, that only lasted a few hours, but I will look back at this day fondly and remember the feeling of what it was like to have my children actually listen to me. What a feeling!

Mike and I went to my parents house for a "staycation" for the weekend. Mom and Dad needed help on their house, and so we went over to help them out .... Mom and I worked in the kitchen, making granola (two batches, one for her and one for me!), making quite a bit of stuff to eat on over the weekend. My mom is like a tornado in the kitchen. I can literally stand in one place, and she's running all over the place doing three dishes at the same time. I'm just in her way, so Mom... if you don't see me in the kitchen, it's because I'm in the way. ;P

We watched movies: P.S. I Love You (what a sweet, yet sad movie!), August Rush... parts of Hairspray. We just had a great relaxing weekend, except for Dad & Mike, who worked their butts off.

{Kill.Me.Now}

Madison's favorite movie is the Phantom of the Opera... no kidding! She watches it several times a week. Again, no kidding! I was shocked (as well as Mike) when she puts the DVD in the slot and the opening music starts. Mike had to laugh b/c while he took a bath one night, Maddie comes in our room and starts up the movie. Next thing he hears is the opening music: bahhhhhh bah bah bah bah bahhhhhh (trying to recreate the song, but it's kind of hard to do that on a blog). He just rolls his eyes and laughs. Course, Maddie knows that means Daddy is getting ready for bed, so she's got her movie ready. I think Mike's been subjected to watching more chick flicks than a normal daddy would. She loves to cuddle with Daddy at night ~ always has since she was born.




Anyways, I say this now because we have the girls' friends over and they're ALL singing on the top of their lungs.... to the music of this movie. KILL.ME.NOW!! Oh, I do have hearing aids, so I could just turn them off, right? But, they are so cute singing and watching this movie. Glad to know I'm instilling a love of fine art (*ahem*) in their minds.


A big shout out to Papa Nelson for the date night on Friday night. We had a BLAST! We loved dinner and our movie! Maddie even came home to Daddy and told him it was the best movie, and she loved it. As long as she had enough candy and treats to last her through the movie, I think she'll like anything. Ha ha!

{What a Sweetheart}

Yesterday I took lunch to Katie and ate with her. I had a coupon for Mr Goodcents, buy a whole sub get another half for free. Good thing I used that because when I sat down to eat with her, one of her friends didn't have anything to eat. I asked her why wasn't she eating lunch, and Katie whispered to me "Mom, she doesn't have any money and she forgot her lunch". I felt so horrible, so I gave her some of our lunch for her to eat (not that Katie and I could eat a whole sub plus half of a sub... wait a minute, Katie probably could eat a whole one by herself, she's growing... that stinker). After school I asked Katie about this friend, and she basically said "well, she never buys lunch, and she's always starving to death before lunch, so whatever she does bring, she usually ends up eating part of it", then she went on to say "and by lunch all she has is a sandwich and a drink, and I feel so bad for her when I have so much food to eat, that I share my lunch with her". Sniff Sniff

So proud of my little girl being aware of other people and their needs, even if they don't say anything about their needs. I think learning about the homeless people in her previous school touched a nerve as she is ALWAYS aware of people's needs now.

And on a happy note....

Welcome to the world Emily Lauren!!

This is grandchild #6 for Mom & Dad Nelson, and the 4th little girl to enter in the cousin world. Congrats Tiff & Dan! She was born yesterday, weighing 6 lbs 15 oz. :) Can't wait to see her and smooch her to death!

{yummmmm}

Does it count as a fruit serving, if you eat chocolate covered cranberries??? If so, I ate a lot of fruit today. If not, I think I have a lot of exercising to do.

{A Potpourri of pictures & Mother's Day}

A few weeks ago Mom Nelson treated Marcie, Madison, Presley & I to a trip to Missouri Town! Missouri Town is basically a piece of ground, with houses and buildings from the 1800's placed around this ground to look like a little town, so we can get a feel for what the 1800's might have been like. We truly thought this was actually the real houses left over, but it wasn't. These buildings have been disassembled & moved to Lake Jacomo and one can walk through. It is quite a neat thing to see, and definitely a picturesque place to go for great pictures! I've been here several times growing up, and it was a treat to be there with Madison. Here are some pictures of our day there.

Mother's Day was a great day ~ it was the most perfect day, in my opinion. The girls and I didn't fight that morning before church (we fight ALL the time before church, hmm... wonder why?), we got CHOCOLATES for our little Mother's Day gift at church (how perfect is that?!), I got roses the night before from Mike, little cards from the girls, and Katie's Activity Girls group chose pendants and the backgrounds of the pendants for our Mother's Day gift (a lady in our ward makes them for a living/hobby). I've always wanted a pendant like this, and it has my initials in it. You can see the pendant on me when I'm holding my nephew Joshua. LOVE IT!

For Mother's Day, we went to my brother's home. Dad made steaks for everyone, and I made homemade ice cream for dessert. Kasey (my cousin) brought her boyfriend, Tyler, whom Katie has outspoken and said "man, he's cute!". I have a picture of me with my nephew Joshua, who is the cutest little spud. I put my sunglasses on him, and for 5 minutes he didn't do a thing. Then he started grabbing them to pull them off. I have a picture of Dad sitting at the table... patiently waiting for everyone to come and eat. Ha ha... too funny Dad! Mom and Dad gave me a beautiful cutting board that matches my kitchen. Rachel & Mike gave me a picture of Joshua in a CUTE frame!

Mike & Joshua

Dad is patiently waiting for everyone to come to the table...

Kasey's boyfriend... Tyler

The picture of the family is at Fiana T.'s baptism. We love this family to death... great friends of ours. Course, I was sad I didn't get my own lei of candy. :( Bummer....











Then, onto the gifts I made for Mother's Day... I made appliques for aprons! I can finally post the pictures now that everyone has received their gifts!! It was remarkably easy, once I figured out what I was doing.

There are three designs of material I used, I can't find my third design. Oh well...

And just a cute picture of Katie...

{Katie made dinner}

Katie made dinner for us Wednesday night, as part of her Faith in God program. She planned it all out: sloppy joes, onion rings, green beans, kool aid and then no bake cookies for dessert. ha ha The onion rings were just something I had in the freezer, but she did a great job. Course, she made a mess, but I was right behind her telling her secrets to doing it better or faster, and of course cleaning up her messes. She was very proud of her accomplishments.

Thanks to my new friend Jenni... I've really been able to get up every morning early and jog (OK, attempt to jog). She was jogging already when we moved here, so it was pretty easy to have some help to get started. I love my walks in the morning. Albeit, I take the same route, but it's so peaceful and quiet, and the houses are incredibly beautiful to look at. I see tons of bunny rabbits every morning. Oh, and tons of worms too. It's been raining so much lately, that every morning after a big rain, it's "welcome to Wormapolooza!". I am always cringing when I walk b/c if I step on a worm, it's gonna be a slippery slide! (ick!). So, I'm careful to watch where I step. (hope none of you are PETA supporters for worms *giggling*).

But, I have managed to run nonstop over a half a mile so far, but it has to be on a straight run... no hills, no nothing. Ha ha! I just can't seem to run, and it bugs me to death. I quit so easily! The minute something hurts in my body, I seem to protect myself and stop and just walk. There's no such thing in my mind as "breathe through the pain". That only applies to childbirth for me. One good thing to come out of all of this... I am dropping inches, but only a few pounds. Still doing my Jazzy Jazzercise, which I LOVE!! I have a favorite instructor: Candy. She's so fun and so hip hoppity cool.

Katie's foot finally healed up. She's on a field trip today to see the Arabia Steamboat. Maddie also has a field trip... to the lunchroom today. *snort* I get to eat lunch with her as she learns what it is like to eat lunch at school. Poor kid has more experience that her friends when it comes to all day school.

Oh, and for my sister in law who is reading this (Marcie!!)... finished all three Twilight books. Have you seen the trailer?? OH MY!! Can't wait to see this movie! Started rereading the series again. *giggling* Can't get enough of Edward & Bella.

I finished my mother's day projects... I'll post a picture after this weekend, so no one knows what they're getting yet, thus why I have to delay the pictures. :)

PoOr KaTiE!!!

Poor Katie... and I mean POOR KATIE! Yesterday Madison took a small container of toothpicks to their bedroom. I told her to put it back. Did I follow up to make SURE she put it back? Nah, I trusted her because I'm so gullible in thinking my children actually listen to me! Well, last night, Katie gets into bed. I'm watching the end of American Idol, and here comes Katie hopping on one foot, crying her head off and in sheer agony. She has a TOOTHPICK in her foot! I don't know the "how, where, and why" aspect. All she could tell me was that when she pulled the covers up, it jammed right into her foot... a full INCH inside her foot. So, had to get Mike out of bed, while I held her down and he yanked. Poor kid, she has a puncture wound and can barely walk. I did make sure all the rest of the toothpicks were out of the bed (only found one), and had to retalk w/ Maddie how toothpicks are NOT for doing anything other than picking food out of a person's teeth!

But in all honesty, let's recap all of Katie's accidents/wounds. Let's see... broke her arm while 4 wheeling in the backyard, flipping the Barbie car and trapping both her and Madison underneath. Lacerated her liver last spring while turning and falling ON her handlebars... spent a few days in the hospital because of that. Kidney stones galore, sprained fingers (thanks Papa Rod for yanking her finger, she's able to finally move it now pretty freely). I know she has more battle wounds than any person I know that's her age.