Is there hope for this boy???

While he was doing his morning exploring, Jack slipped and bumped his head slightly and started to cry. Within SECONDS all three girls and I were were surrounding him. Ellie gave him his Binky, Annie held him and tried to make him laugh, and Casie and I were patting his head saying, "Poor baby".

I am beginning to doubt that this family is capable of raising a "Manley Man."

..and in this corner...weighing an even 101 pounds..

Emergency Vet visit?---$75.00

Anesthesia?---$155.00

Stitches?----$105.00

Ear drops?---$15.00

Anti-biotic?---$32.00

Knowing your dog will recover after losing a fight with a visiting dog?-----TOO FREAKING EXPENSIVE!!! ..you didn't really think I would say priceless did you?









Dear future ancestors,

Great Great Great Grandma Jill would like you to know that the word "freaking" is just one of those words that Mormons sometimes use to express the pain of spending large amounts of money on something they wish they didn't have to. It's not a nice word, nor is it a pretty lady like word. I used it very little throughout my life and I do not think you should should try to work it into your daily vocabulary. Please reserve it for special and necessary circumstances. That is all.

Mike's new ride

THIS is what my husband is cruising around Miami in! I guess it was the ONLY car available. He's also staying in a FOUR STAR hotel.....Excuse me while I get my book out of my beat up Chevy van and throw the laundry off my bed so I can turn in for the night.

What would YOU do??

What would you do if you came into the bathroom and saw your husband standing there, bare chested, with shaving cream streaked across his chest and one arm pit?

Would you...


A. Assume he wanted to be as smooth as a babies bum?


B. Wonder if you really knew this man you've been married to for 13 years?


C. Realize that he accidentally grabbed the shaving cream instead of his AXE body spray...and laugh and laugh and laugh.

How....

I just checked "To Kill a Mocking Bird" out from the library. Casie looked at the title and said, "Shouldn't there be a HOW at the beginning?" Maybe she thought I was getting an instructional book. ha ha....Although, I would NEVER kill a mocking bird..it's a sin. :-)

A house divided...

Annie says that the reason her room is ALWAYS messy is because of Ellie.

Ellie says that the reason her room is ALWAYS messy is because of Annie.

So I did what every mother in my situation would do....I pulled out a sheet and some tacks and split the room (including the bed) in half. The child with the cleanest room at the end of two weeks gets a prize!

The girls felt so grown up...you know...having their own room and all. Annie set to work immediately organizing and situating things "just so" in her room.... (those of us who know and love Annie most know that her "organizing" is her making the junk look artistic.) Ellie turned on some music and enjoyed dancing in her own little room. They were cute trying to knock on the sheet before entering each other's areas. They made such a big deal about loving their own rooms that I started feeling bad that I couldn't actually give them a real room to themselves. My heart melted when I came in to find this that night.........

It's not a great picture, but I loved that Annie still had her head in Ellie's "room", even though she had plenty of room in hers.

No More Naked!

It's hard to feel the spirit in Sacrament meeting when I see the Barbies Ellie brought from home dancing on top of the hymnals...in their birthday suits. It's really not modest for Barbie to go on a date with Ken...when neither of them are wearing a lick of clothes. And no, it's definitely not ok for two naked barbies to go out proselyting together to a naked Barbie investigator. Point being....I am sick of Barbies with no clothes on lying around the house!!!

Solution????? Pull out old baby clothes. Find the ones with stains. Grab a pair of scissors and some hot glue, then...Poof! You've got beautiful and tactfully modest clothes for these naked wanderers! It was actually really fun. My girls thought I was a genius clothing designer and now they play with the barbies a lot more.

Library Day

I love when the kids use their imaginations.











Two cute librarians

Scanning books with this lazar light. (BTW, this book wasn't published when I first visited the library, so I put it on "hold".

You know when you set up something fun like a library and you want it to be extra special?...well, Annie thought that each person who visited the library ought to receive a scoop of FLOUR for coming....Ya, I ended that promotion before it began.

AND THE CUTEST THING OF ALL?????????????????????????????????????????????????

"Bring your Baby to the Library Day!" I had to register him first. Ellie typed all our information in on her pink library lap top. So cute.

Oh, they also got the cell phones involved in their little game. They would call me when my books were due. I thought I got my books in on time, but for some reason, I still ended up paying a few late fees. :-) This was a fun day.

Art lessons

So as many of you know, Annie is CRAZY about drawing! We have been seeing signs around advertising art lessons. Today we attended an open house the art teacher invited us to. I had decided that if the teacher wasn't "creepy" I would sign Annie up. As we walked into the studio, the teacher greeted us. I was surprised to see that it was my Stake President! He is an AMAZING artist and Annie can't wait to begin! If anyone is interested in these art classes, you can visit the website at www.aslsl.com The open house is today and tomorrow from 10-5. The picture above is just a sample of some of his amazing work!

Personal Trainer

My new personal trainer is quite the slave driver. She's only six years old, but man can she push me to work out! After arriving at the jogging trail, we started jogging, then we walked, then we jogged again, then more walking, ( I guess she was going for the circuit training method) then she had me give her a piggy back for four blocks up-hill! After her little rest, she made me skip all the way back to the car. I am SO taking Ellie with me every time I work out!

Don't-a-make'a-me-repeat-it....just beet it..

I steamed some beets from our garden today for lunch. Then I cut them up, buttered them, salted and peppered them, and added a little apple cider vinager to them...irresistible right? I could NOT get Mike to try them. Here is our conversation after me practically begging him to taste just one.....

Me: Mike, I feel like you're Laman, and I am a Lehi. I am beckoning you to eat from the tree of life, and you won't!

Mike: Well, I feel like Adam and you're Eve trying to tempt me to eat the fruit.

Me: (ok now..here comes witt I'll be telling my grandchildren about..) Yes, but remember...Adam fell that men might beet....

Then we both laugh, but Mike still won't eat the beet.


Beet eating ranks...
#1 Jack Bearden. He ate beets for 20 min straight. They were tiny little squares, but he never tired of them....purple poop, here we come!
#2 Casie Bearden. She ate two full bowls and loved every morsel!
#3 Annie Bearden. She quietly gunked down the beets she was given, but did not return for seconds.
#4 Ellie Bearden. She took one bite then silently slipped into the bathroom and spit it in the toilet.
#5 Mike Bearden who wandered into strange and mysterious paths and eventually ended up in a great and spacious building and pointed and laughed at me as I feasted on beets.
#6 Stuck my purple tounge out at Mike and added 5 years to my life because of righteous eating.

Today while I was folding laundry, Ellie and Annie secretly straightened the downstairs for me.
After I gushed about how happy it made me, the following conversation took place.

Annie: "Mom, Ellie told me that she had a warm feeling in her heart"
Ellie: "Ya, I did."
Mom: "That was the Spirit helping you feel good about giving service"
Annie: "Ya, that's what I told her."

Just dive right into it....

On her first swimming lesson of the summer, my sweet Casie was brought to tears because she was the only one in her class that couldn't dive. She tried her hardest, but ended up belly flopping or nearly hitting the board with her feet. On the way home she was determined that she would NOT be attending another lesson. What is a mother to do? I was so tempted to let her drop. I didn't want to her to be humiliated in front of her friends, but I also knew that if she did learn to dive she would feel so proud of herself for accomplishing something hard. Well, the very next lesson, THIS is what she did!!!


And yes, she was very proud of herself...so was I!!! Good job Casie!!!!!!!

This is where the HECK I've been!.....

....Doing a musical! We had a great time doing Joseph this year. We made tons of friends, spent tons of money on babysitting, wore tons of make up, wondered tons of times if we were too old to be "make believing", learned tons of dances, had tons of fun, and lost...a little weight. :-) Here are a few (a VERY few..because I don't have a gagillion hours to spend here loading them!) photos to document our Biblical experience.

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Who raised this kid???

Mom: (talking to Casie, Annie and Ellie) So girls, on the last day of school my Mom would always make us some Cinnamon rolls to celebrate. Is there a special treat you would like me to make you? Maybe cookies, or milk shakes, or root beer floats..or I could even try to make Cinnamon rolls.

Annie: Ummm...I would like a veggie tray.

Brace Face

Casie got her Bracies, and she's looking pretty cute.

She alternated pink and black and likes the ones she choosed.

She's also very happy to have such a shiny smile,

I hope her sisters do not mind not eating for a while...(you know,..cause braces are expensive...)

Ok, so I know that didn't really rhyme, but I only had a second to sit and post about Casie's new braces. :-) Something amazing and poetic will come to me later....or not. :-) She was so excited to get her braces on. It was seriously like Christmas. She giggled all the way home and couldn't wait to go back to school. I'm pretty sure braces are some sort of a status symbol at school. :-) She will have these braces...(aka: stage one) for about a year, then she'll get the full set after all her baby teeth fall out. She also will have the privilege of wearing a head gear at night.

Poor, poor, Jillseph what'cha gonna do???

Bones?...tired
Muscles?...sore
Brain?....fried
House?....Messy
Children?....neglected
Joseph?.....Opening in a week and a half!

Tickets for Joseph

If anyone is interested in discount tickets for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dream coat...(you know, the one my family is in this summer) you can visit sjtheatre.org I think you have to purchase your tickets before June 1, (Saturday..tomorrow) to get the discount. ( you also have to buy them in budles of ten. It's is going to be a great show. Come and see it!!

Ellie is sixteen...I mean Six

This picture is endearing to me because Ellie did her own hair. She used lots of hairspray in her bangs

After about six months of a daily count down, Ellie finally had her sixth birthday! Here are six things I love about Ellie:

1. So happy all the time

2. Loves to be with her friends. I loved seeing her so giddy at her birthday party.

3. Is very self sufficient. Mike thinks she is almost ready for her own apartment.

4. Will work for Candy

5. She is such a cute little dancer.

6. She is so loving and sweet. I love her "air hugs" she gives me right before she gets on the bus for school.

I love you Ellie! You make life so fun. I know you will always be a ray of sunlight in our home.

Jack MAY be getting a little spoiled

Jack MAY be getting a little sick of this camera in his face.

Jack MAY be the most curious baby I know!!!!!