Flash back...Sunday?

Looking at old pictuers.....
Found this one...
Laughed....
Posted.....

Are we dorks?...Don't answer that!

Well, I know that I am not a direct dork, (not smart enough) but I support my husbands dorky behavior and thoughts by punching things into the calculator.

Our past Dorkyisms:
We estimated how long it would take to count to a million. We included potty breaks, eating, and sleeping. I can't remember how long it was though...shoot..now we are going to have to do it again!

Mike always gives me story problems when we are traveling. He makes me figure out things like..." If we are traveling at 75 miles an hour and we need to travel 50 miles, how long will it take us to get there?" Now I know you dorky dorks out there are saying "well...duh..the answer is clearly...blah blahdidy blah blah..." But for me, I need some major fasting and praying to come up with the answer. Mike is determined to help me be better at math, but I think it's bordering on spousal abuse. :-)

Our Currant Dorkyism:
We calculated ( "we" meaning Mike told me what to punch into the calculator) how many unique licence plates the State of Utah could come up with. (using the standard three letters and three numbers combination...none of this RULDS2 business.) It was a simple equation, but for a no-brain like me, I couldn't even come up with HOW to figure it out...let alone actually figure it out! It got me curious and made me want to do my first BLOG GIVE AWAY!! I will send a special "dorky" prize to the first person who comments with the correct answer! May your brain work swiftly and not catch on fire. lol

Spring Fever!!!

I had a hard time posting over Jack's cute little face. Those little eyes seemed to say.."No, Mommy,... I'm too cute...don't do it!" Sorry Jack..I just gotsta, gotsta, say...I LOVED the weather today!! We set up our tramp, scooped dog poop, and hung out outside. It's just a little taste of spring and I'm hungry for more! I want to know what everyone is planning on doing when the weather gets nice. The top of my list is..BIKE RIDING with my family! How about y'all?

Four Months Old!

My friend Jill is an armature photographer who is toying with the idea of going pro. I think she has an amazing talent! Look at these photo's! ( I will take some of the credit for creating such an adorable baby,...and making him smile...but the rest was all her!) I was more than happy to let her "practice" on baby Jack. She is totally reasonably priced (like ridiculously so..) and is looking for some more clients to "practice" on. Let me know in your comments if you want her contact info and I'll email it to you.

Valentines Day

Because Mike was out of town for Kevyns' funeral, he decided to leave us a little surprise for Valentines Day. This is what we woke up to Friday morning. He's such a good and sweet guy! The girls were overjoyed with the breakfast of Marshmallow Maties and pop-tarts AND strawberry milk! He was sweet and rented me two chick flicks!.....(he's smooth..he gets major brownie points for being thoughtful, AND gets out of watching chick movies with me!) My favorite things were the cards. He took time to write something sweet in each of them. I don't want to brag..but I'm pretty sure I have the best husband in the world.

My singing group Voices traveled around on Friday and did "singing Valentines" We made a stop at the girls school and sang them "lollipop". They didn't seem TOO embarrassed. :-)

Kevyns Luthy

Our good friends John and Valerie Luthy lost their son Kevyns last week. I copied his obituary because I thought it was a great description of this amazing kid. At times like this I am so grateful for the plan of Salvation. I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who made it possible for families to reunite after death. We love you John and Valerie. Know our prayers and thoughts are with you.

Kevyns passed away Monday, February 9, 2009, while courageously fighting to overcome the last in a series of setbacks following a successful heart transplant in November of 2007. Kevyns was born in Langon, Bordeaux, France. He moved to Utah at the age of five, and to Camden, South Carolina, in 2006 at the age of fifteen. Kevyns' unique medical challenges caused him to think deeply about life and things, leaving him with a mature and guileless spirit. He had a love for simple things: being in the outdoors and nature; fishing and shooting; telling fun stories; Louis L'Amour books; playing with Legos; and spending time with his family. At age twelve, Kevyns represented Utah as its ambassador to the Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Kids' Summit. Even with his health challenges, he remained active in the Boy Scouts, ending one merit badge shy of the rank of Life Scout. As a student at Camden High School and ATEC, Kevyns won the love of his classmates and school administrators. He was named as a Class Representative and Student of the Month in the health sciences program. Kevyns was also a friend and favorite of many at MUSC Children's Hospital where he spent much of the last two years of his life. He loved his doctors and nurses and felt safe there, and walked bravely with his surgeon into his heart transplant operation. There he also participated in multiple fundraisers to help other children with health needs, never asking for aid for himself. During his last year, Kevyns became a citizen of the United States of America. He was proud to be and become an American, and even while in intensive care, he thoughtfully exercised his right to vote. Kevyns was a member and honorable Aaronic Priesthood holder in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a seminary class student he became a Master Scriptorian. Finally, Kevyns was the loving, trusting son of Corinne Valérie Luthy and John David Luthy, and big brother to Élodie. His simple faith in his family and in a loving Heavenly Father never failed. Sign the online register at http://www.powersfuneralhome.net/.

What's cuter than????

What's cuter than three little girls writing on Valentines for their class?

What's cuter than Daddy helping the kindergartner seal her envelopes with a red heart sticker?

What's cuter than a 2nd grader choosing out a special Valentine for her best friend?

What's cuter than a 5th grader feeling too old for store bought Valentines and opting to do suckers with little tags instead?

Annie is 8!!

My sweet Annie turned eight yesterday!.....

THE FUN PARTS:

* letting all the kids stay home from school

* watching Annie share all her precious new art supplies with her sisters

* seeing how excited Casie and Ellie were for Annie to open her presents

* a fun birthday party at Grandma's house

* Eating lunch at Red Robin

THE NOT SO FUN PART:

* Waiting and waiting at Claires for Annie to decide if she wanted her ears pierced

* Annie really WANTING her ears pierced, but too scared to go through with it

* Watching the sweet birthday girl cry because she didn't get her ears pierced

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE:

* Annie found peace in deciding that she would get her ears pierced the day after Ellie's birthday.

We love Annie and are so glad she's in our family. Happy Birthday Annie!!!

Favorite Office lines from lastnight....

"What kind of cake do you want imbecile?"


"If you're trying to hurt my feelings you have succeeded, but luckily my feeling regenerate 3x faster than the average man"... (something like that)


"It is your birthday."

Would you like a spot of tea?...UPDATE!

Sorry, of course everyone would like to know if we are bringing the kids. We decided not to bring them this time. We are even leaving Jack behind...:-( Mike and I both agreed that he would enjoy staying with his doting aunt Mindy, (aka babysitter extraordinaire) more than he would enjoy being dragged around Europe. I am having some anxiety about it, but I keep reminding myself that Mindy is a better/funner/nicer Mom than me. :-) (Just wait, the kids will cry when we come to pick them up) Another thing I didn't mention is that because Mike and I really wanted to seal our position as favorite children, we invited our parents along. Mike's Mom and Dave (her "special friend") and my Mom and Kent are coming along. (Dad and Pam, we will get you in on our next trip :-) All of them are seasoned travelers and we look forward to spending time with them.

We are still in the early planning stages of our trip, but I definitely want to go see Wicked. ( I couldn't get tickets to see it in SLC so I HAVE to go to London!) We will be leaving in about two months from now! Of course I will put plenty of pictures when the time comes. :-)

Would you like a spot of tea?

Mike and I just booked a trip to England! Anyone ever been there? Any suggestions on what we should do? We are both stoked! I am practicing my English Accident..(as Annie would call it. :-)

Born to eat!!

I decided to give Jack some Rice cereal today. He has been wanting to eat constantly and has seemed really interested in the food we have been eating.

Because I have three other children, I know that the first feeding doesn't always go well. I was prepared for a big display of gagging, spitting and coaxing him to try and swallow just a little. From the first bite to the last, this little guy ate like a pro!! He eagerly opened his mouth and begged for more. He acted like he'd been eating solids his whole life! I didn't even have to do the whole, "scrape the chin and re-serve" method. I think I 'm going to start stocking up on food for when he's a teenager. :-)

Funny Video

Hey, Richard Mcallister sent us this link to a hilarious video. After a week of stress dealing with RSV in baby Jack (more on that later), it felt good to laugh until I cried! It's pretty long, but totally worth it. I love uncontrolled laughing!!!
http://videos.komando.com/2008/06/04/mans-surprising-laugh/

Huntin'

Because we have been reading where the Red Fern Grows, we decided to see if Brandon (our lazy, lovable, 120 pound Golden Retriever) could be a coon hound. Since we didn't have any coons laying around, we got our pet hamster, Peaches. We held Brandon while we let Peaches scurry around leaving a trail for him to follow. ( this was after Annie tried dragging Peaches along, rubbing her fur on the carpet. We found it much easier for girl and Hamster if we just let Peaches make her own trail.) In the end, Ellie, fearing for Peaches life if Brandon did find her,put Peaches up on the couch. The girls giggled with delight as we released Brandon. Just like Little Ann and Old Dan, Brandon started sniffing about and seemed eager for the hunt. Eventually he found Peaches on the couch...(not really because he followed her scent, but more because she was out in plain sight). As soon as Brandon ran over to Peaches, Casie yelled..." He couched her!".
Of coarse putting a twist on a familiar phrase from our book where the hounds treed the coons. What a cute clever little thing she is. :-)

misunderstood

Annie was singing a song from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dream coat the other day. It was the Jamaican type song about Benjamin. One line goes like this..." No ifs..No Buts, Benjamin is honest as coconuts". Annie was walking around singing her misunderstood version that went like this...."No Hips...No Butts..." I laughed really hard. Annie growled at me and swatted the air. (she doesn't love to mess up on things, and REALLY doesn't like to be laughed at....she ended up laughing too. ) hee hee

Matchy, Matchy

I couldn't let our coordinating Sunday go un-photographed. I actually didn't try to do this. In fact I didn't noticed we all matched until we were leaving church....sorta wished I noticed before..we would have looked more "fresh". Oh, well. (Mike was holding sleeping Jack on the Lazy Boy and couldn't get up. I still had him take the picture so the angle is a little strange.) Oh, and Casie wasn't happy that she couldn't change out of her dress the MILLISECOND we walked through the door so her smile(or lack thereof) is letting you know her dismay.

Big (little) boy

Jack is starting to hold his head up during tummy time. The girls are so proud of every accomplishment he makes. They adore that little guy! I love how little he is compared to his adoring sisters. :-)

Girls night out...mini edition

Caise and her friend Camille came up with a brilliant idea! Why should the Mom's have all the fun? They decided to have a girls night out...Mini Edition..(this was the title they came up with) I must have been in a really good mood when they asked me about it, because I said yes. In 3.2 seconds these two girls had invitations made, sealed and delivered! (the rush was probably to get things set in stone before I changed my mind.) It was actually really cute how they planned the party down to a tee. The girls made their own pizzas, played the penny in the flour, danced, and had their own version of American Idol. ...(oh and lots, and Lots, and LOTS of screaming and laughing...at one point Mike wanted me to get him some cotton balls for his ears.) I am proud of what a good girl Casie is. It was fun to see her cute little personality in front of her friends. Everyone had a great time and one of the Mom's even suggested we have a GNO mini-edition every month! :-)

Erin was the fortunate one who got to pull the penny out with her teeth! I am sure she was sneezing dough for days after. :-) What a good sport!

The rest of the girls thought it looked fun to stick your face in flour. They all ended up taking a dip....strange, strange children. :-)

Now why didn't I think of this earlier?

This week we started a wonderful new bed time ritual. Usually bedtime is a challenge for me. Lately I barely have enough patience to pray with the kids and kiss them good night. I knew I was missing precious quality time opportunities, but all my body could say was, "Please! Plop me down in front of the TV and give me sweet, sweet, brainless activity!" Well, thanks to Mike and his New Years Resolution chart...(more on that later) This week my goal was to spend more time with the girls at bed time. My first intention was to obey their every bedtime command. I was gearing up and sharpening my nails for hours of back tickling, singing and creative story telling. Then I remembered a favorite bed time ritual from my childhood. My Mom would read to us. I have done lots of picture book reading with my kids, but we had never done a chapter book together. I decided to give it a try. We love it! Every night this week we have read at least two chapters from Where the Red Fern Grows. It's such a wonderful way to unwind at the end of the day. I love seeing my kids sprawled out on my bed listening to me read. I love the far off looks in their eyes as they are conger up images of Billy Colman scouring the Ozark Mountains, searching for "Mr. Ringtail". It's music to my ears when I hear the girls beg, "just one more chapter....please mom?" It's also great because Ellie usually falls asleep during our reading time. (She is usually the one that initiates "night games" after I leave the room.) I am slightly concerned about my kids reaction to the sad ending. I remember my fifth grade teacher crying as she read it to us. Then a little later, reading it to myself (under our ping pong table) I remember crying like a baby. I hope I can get through it this time around. I guess there's nothing wrong with a few tears over some good coon huntin' dogs. I do know that I plan on continuing this ritual as long as the girls enjoy it. Does anyone have any suggestions for our next book?

Girl Scout Cookies!!

Hear ye, Hear ye.....Annie is selling Girl Scout Cookies for the next two weeks. Let me know if you want some!! yummy yummy!!

Oh, and I just have to say, that I think the Girl Scouts would do better for themselves if they sold their delicious, calorie packed, irresistible cookies BEFORE we all made our weight loss resolutions..Oh, well..I'm still gonna down me some thin mints. :-)