Side by side, but worlds apart...

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!".....Jack had the toy hammer.

Right next to pounding Jack sits Annie in a make believe world of her own.

"Oh Dad, I'm sorry I ran away...I promise I won't do it again."

" It's OK sweetie".

Annie was acting out this drama with the toy screw driver(The Dad) and a small plastic screw. (The sweetie)

Cambell's new Spokes baby? and DRAMA!

So is "Mmmm, good." a sentence? If so, Jack said his first sentence yesterday :-)

In other news, Casie is having drama with a friend of hers. Not a day goes by that she doesn't come home and tell me something that bothered her. I told her to write the girl a letter, even if she never gave it to her, explaining how their friendship could be better. She ended up writing a huge long letter and said she felt better afterwards. Ellie, who watches with eager eyes to the workings of her older sister, apparently wanted in on the letter action. I found this letter in her room this morning.

Love Ellie (?)
If you be mean agen Ellies sis will tell you to not be mean to me so STOP IT HALYE!! Say somthng back to me. And im seeris. (serious) Im waching you at resses.

I shouldn't laugh, but I did. What was up with the creepy threat at the end? Oh the drama of having girls!

Why I love Sunday's

#1 We get to go to Church. Even though it takes some doin' to get everyone there, I always feel the Spirit and enjoy being with my ward.

#2 Ward Choir practice. I love to lead the choir! I didn't think I would enjoy this calling, but it has turned out to be one of my all time fav callings. I love choosing the music. I love hearing it come together and the members of the choir are so much fun to be around. It's like a little party every Sunday. :-)

#3 Sunday naps! I love 11:00 church for many reasons, but the best part is the window it provides for a nice long nap. We come home, we do choir practice, we put Jack down, turn on home videos for the girls, and Mike and I check out for about 2 hours. It is bliss.

#4 Family Game night. This is something we started a couple of months ago and it has turned out to be the best part of the week. I love Sunday game night partly because there's none of the pressure that comes from Monday night FHE..(Sit down, stay still, shut up and feel the Spirit!") Just good ol' family games. It's great. Tonight we played Scattagories, and a "fill in the blank" type game Casie learned at school. When the Bearden family plays a game like that you can be certain that poo will be talked about and laughed about in great proportions. And it was. (such potty mouths I'm raising!...and married to,...and am.) Tonight we also got a good laugh during Scattagories because Ellie thought Pickles would be a good name for a dog. We all found that to be hilarious. Mike even toyed with the idea of lifting his ban on pets, just so we could name one Pickles.

#5 Knowing that the next day is Monday. I know that Monday has a bad rap, but I love the beginning of a new week. It's my chance to do a little better than I did the week before. For some reason I get more done on Monday than I do on any other day of the week. Maybe if we had a Sunday every other day, the rest of the week would be just a productive. :-)

Quote of the week

Casie: (calling me and Mike while we were on a date) "Mom, Jack pooped."
Mom:" Well, I guess you'll have to change him."
Casie: "I did....it was horrifying."

Cooking with Jack

What's New

This evening our Home teachers came to visit. Not only did they bring some yummy sugar cookies, and captivate our children with a story about Heavenly Father helping them stand up to a bully, (we love our HT) but they also asked each of our kids what was new in their lives. Here are the "new" things our girls chose to share with our home teachers.





Casie:

* I got a new ipod!!! (Mom clears her throat...)

* I mean...WE got a new ipod. (Casie and I both went in on it, but she is having a hard time remembering that we both own it.)





Annie:

*I sold one of my art pieces

*I would like to sell more of my art pieces

*Here are some of my art pieces for you to look at



Ellie:

*I started taking tumbling and hip-hop classes

*I like hip-hop more than tumbling

* My tumbling teacher is mean

*I get to wear baggy clothes for hip-hop and tight clothes for tumbling

*My tumbling leotard gives me marvins

Because Jack both lacks the vocabulary and was too busy toddling around getting sugar cookie goo all over the couch, he wasn't able to tell our home teachers what is new in his life, so allow me:

*He started nursery and loves it! (In the mean time his parents who anxiously counted down to this event, spend most of their class time peeking through the nursery window. He's fine, but we get such a kick out of watching our baby (our tinsy, tiny BABY) sitting in a big boy chair doing wheels on the bus and dipping gold fish crackers in water.) (At one point we grabbed Annie, who was walking by with her class, and told her to look at how cute he was. We all laughed.)

* He's also been teething for the last month (at least I keep telling myself that that is why he hasn't been sleeping very well.) He went from having four teeth to 10 in four weeks. Wouldn't that wake ME up?? I think it would. (yet bringing him into my bed somehow magically makes the teething pain go away...hmmm)

* He is starting to talk a lot.

* He LOVES going outside. He's so lucky to have AWESOME sisters whom are always willing to take their baby brother out for a swing or slide.

This was my attempt to get back at Mike for all the faces he's pulled in our past photo's. Ya, I know...probably should have kept the nostril flaring and eye bulging to myself. But on the bright side, I was happy to see that cute little Jack made it into our photo shoot. Do you see him in the mirror on top of my head?

Mike and I are doing great. Nothing new like marvins or drawings or ipods, (wait..I think I do have an ipod, but I haven't listened to it yet..:), but we are happy. We are in love and we love our family. And seriously, I think he is a babe. I am thinking about asking him to go with me.

I am very blessed and am grateful for everything that I have.

The first Cheese Dogs of Spring

What is it about the smell of fire, the taste of hot dogs and the sticky fingers from smores that binds a family together?

Jack loved the fire. He kept pointing and whispering.."hot...hot...hot"

The BEST part about having a cook out in our back yard is that we all showered and went to sleep in our own beds after it was over!

the kitchen needs a moppin'.

I've got to do some shoppin'

The laundry needs a foldin'

(at least that's what I'm toldin')...."Mom!" I don't have anything to wear!!"

My bed it needs a makin'

Some dinner needs a bakin'

The toilets need some scrubin'

The husband needs some lovin'

The children start to wonderin'

Where is their mother dear???

But heck...

They could be sick or sleepin'

They could be down right bleedin'

But since I picked up this here book

all I've done is readin'........ and readin' and readin'

Ah...I love a good book.

Going once...going twice....

Come on people...you know you want to pay some big money for these Annie originals!!

This Elephant was Annie's first time using Charcoal as a medium.

Mike named this picture, "Girl who just broke up with her boyfriend." Maximize the picture and look at her face. She does look a bit distraught. While you have it zoomed in, take a look at all the details! The shadowing, the knuckles, the swing of the pants. Annie the Amazing strikes again. :-) (The flower clip in the girls hair was not in the original that Annie was looking at. She added that herself. That's my girl. :-)

Annie told me that while she was drawing the lady walking, she got very frustrated. She was having a hard time getting the hair just right. She explained how she felt her throat getting really tight and she had to walk away from her work for a little while. Then she calmed down and decided to start in a different place. (the feet) What a sweet girl. And what a good lesson for her to learn.

Let me hear a woot woot....

Yes, the prodigal camera has returned. There was much rejoicing, and merriment. We even slayed the fatted pig. It was fun up until the blender stormed off claiming, "I've been the good guy!"

So let me start off this post by giving a huge shout out to all the friends and family who supported Mike this weekend. Thirty five people came to see him suck his thumb and snuggle a blue blanket as he lisped his way through Your a Good Man Charlie Brown. (...he was Linus..duh) He did such a great job! EVERY conversation I have had with the director has been FILLED with accolades for Mike. She loved working with him and went on and on about his talent...(tell me something I don't know. hee hee) So, THANKS family and friends for coming to see the show.

Mindy and Kyles family were among the show goers this week. They stayed with us that night and all the next day. My kids LOVE it when their cousins come. We even checked Casie out of school early so she could spend more time with them. They had a blast.

Jack especially loves Aunt Mindy. She is so good with babies and they all seem to love her too. Here they are after reading a book before bed. Jack got a little curious about the ball on Mindy's necklace. (sigh....we won't mention the crying he did when we put him in bed after this picture was taken....that's a whole different post.)

These next two photo's are just me having fun with photoshop. :-)

But while we have this picture up...look at my gorgeous niece! It's so amazing how much she looks like Mindy. (Casie you are gorgeous too...)

This was the FIRST picture I took with my newly restored camera. Even though it looks like we are in a psychedelic 4th dimension,... we are actually in the parking lot of Best Buy.

I couldn't WAIT to start snapping pictures of little J. Just so you know, I am in LOVE with this little guy!!!!! Even though lately he wakes up almost a million times a night, I still scoop him up in the morning and love every minute of him!!! I mean, come on...look at those eyes and little chip monk teeth. IRRESISTIBLE!!!

When you sleep with frogs...

Annie has a monstrous wart on her right index finger. Through an email from my Mother-in-law, (you know, the one's her sons delete without even reading) we learned that banana peels can get rid of warts. So last night I used electrician tape (don't judge) to wrap Annie's wart with a banana peel. This is the witty conversation that followed:

Me: OK Annie, you now have a nice big bandaid on your finger.

Annie: (without missing a beat) Actually Mom, it's a Banandaid.

We both laughed.

I don't have a picture of the wart, the electrician tape, or the Banandaid because my camera is STILL not back. But rest assured the wart is big, the tape was silly, and Annie is adorable. :-)

Last group photo....

A couple of months ago when I was posting about our trip to SC with Voice Male, I saw this picture and thought I looked goofy in it... I decided not to put it on my blog. While looking through some pictures last night I found it again. We didn't know at the time that this would be our last "family" picture with Phil in it. Now I love this picture and am grateful to have it.

Although the Willson's didn't make the final crop...they actually were in the picture too.

Maybe having my camera back would help.....

My camera is still in the hospital. :-( Maybe that's the reason I haven't posted for a while.

A borrowed post

This was a funny post I had to steal from my clever sister Mindy. I thought it was cute.

Dear wooden spoon,
I miss you desperately. Over the past 14 years you have stirred my fudges, rice puddings and kool-aids. You've helped to form a soft ball, hard ball and balls that crack when you put them in cold water.You have even assisted in child rearing with your swats on the bum (or at least the threatenings of them). Why did you have to leave? I last remember seeing you during the holidays. Amidst the hustle and bustle you left me, unnoticed. I hope you find it in your tiny wooden heart to come back. Are you lost upstairs in the bottom of the toy box? Are you sitting in some church house drawer cold and alone? Were you spoon napped during a potluck? There were just so many toddlers opening and closing things. How could I have known? I hope you weren't listening when Kyle said he didn't even know you existed. It was always you and me, you and me.
With all my love,Mindy

One of Heidi's friends made a list of tributes to Phil and put them on her blog. I really enjoyed reading all the wonderful thoughts and feelings that were shared.


http://banterblogging.blogspot.com/2010/02/drawing-on-others-words.html

Phil Kesler 1968~2010

"Sing, of good things not bad....Sing of Happy not sad"

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"I've got two good friends on my left and my right...."

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"I know deep in my heart, it's never to late for love to start...oh I love you so..never gonna let you go."







Now when we remember spring, all the joy that love can bring....
We will be remembering, the shadow of your smile.



We'll miss you, Phil

Tonight at dinner Mike asked us what country we would like to visit. Here are our answers:

Dad: New Zealand
Mom: Greece
Casie: France
Annie: St. George
Ellie: England...(but then she changed her mind to St. George after Annie said it.)

While we're on the subject of Ellie...

Tonight while we were trying to memorize the third Article of Faith, I found out,.from Ellie that...

"We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all KIND men may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel."

She is always making us laugh.

And now a word about Annie.

Grandma Madsen is coming over tomorrow to take Annie out on a special "Grandma Shopping trip" for her birthday. Annie has been close to the emotion of AGONY waiting for this blessed day to arrive. Now that it's only 15 hours away, she has a plan. And I quote:
"Mom..in the morning, try to keep me asleep. I don't want a lot of loud talking and moving around. If I sleep until 10:55 then it will only be 5 more minutes until Grandma comes!"
She keeps mentioning that she really really really wants to sleep so those last few hours can speed by. My prediction is that her excitement will wake her up abnormally early and she won't be able to go back to sleep. :-) We shall see.

And now a word about Casie.

Casie is seriously amazing! She is such a great helper and sister. She's been babysitting quite a bit for us lately and doing a wonderful job. (She's also earning a small fortune) I love that I can totally depend on her. She also has a gift for knowing where things are. I don't think she EVER says, "...oh, I saw it somewhere, but I can't remember where"..If she has seen it, she can find it. It's great! (I won't mention that Annie and Ellie can take their shoes off..leave them on the floor...and not be able to find them again in 5 min..) Casie is so smart and level headed too. Our family is so blessed with her agreeable attitude. I also LOVE the way she treats Jack. She is so sweet with him and appreciates his cuteness as much as I do. He always reaches for her and goes to her as eagerly as he does Mike and I. They have a special relationship. He really brings out the best in her.

And now a word about Jack.

I don't think I have EVER met a more content baby. He just wanders around all day in search of new and exciting things...(today he found a whisk and a plunger) He will come to me every so often and say,(while doing the sign) "nack nack". Then I give him a "nack" (snack) and he's off again. (PS I love that he knows some sign language! I truly think that contributes to his happy disposition. He can usually communicate his needs to us without crying. It's great!) He will also snuggle with me! If he gets hurt, or if he's tired, or sometimes, if I'm lucky, he will snuggle for no reason! He loves his blanket and carries it with him everywhere. He really brings so much joy into our home. We all ADORE him!

Omnipotent

Ellie: " Mom, if two people say a prayer at the SAME time, how does Heavenly Father hear both of them?"

Mom: (I gave a short answer because this question came in the middle of my Sunday nap)..."Because He can do everything."

Ellie: (without a moment of hesitation..and with a bit of a challenge in her voice).."Well, can he jump up and do the splits in the air?"

Thanks Grandma!

Apparently Grandma Madsen has forgiven us for the Christmas Morning Throw Down, because not only did she take the girls to see The Princess and the Frog, but she invited us out to her house to make the Beignets that were featured in the movie. She and her friend Dave took a trip to New Orleans last year where they had "real" Beignets. After seeing the movie, (which was set in New Orleans) she wanted the girls to taste the yummy treat as well. They were a hit! Ellie was especially pleased that they were dipped in powdered sugar. :-) I am grateful to have a Mother-in-law that takes the time and effort to create memories for my children.

This is when Jack should have been taking a nap....he doesn't look tired at ALL does he?

Here is the recipe my Mother-in-law emailed me! How nice is she??? Now you can all feel like you can make a special "New Ah-lins" treat!

Ingredients:1 envelope active dry yeast 1 1/2 cups warm water (approx. 105°) 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs, beaten 1 cup evaporated milk 7 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup shortening, softened oil for deep frying powdered sugar

Preparation:In large bowl, sprinkle yeast over the warm water; stir to dissolve and let stand for 5 minutes. Add sugar, salt, beaten eggs, and evaporated milk. Whisk or use electric mixer to blend thoroughly. Add 4 cups of the flour; beat until smooth. Add shortening; gradually blend in remaining flour. Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours or overnight. Roll out on floured board to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into 2 1/2 to 3-inch squares. Deep fry at 360° for 2 to 3 minutes until lightly browned on both sides. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle generously with powdered sugar. Serve hot with coffee. Dough can cut and frozen, separated in container with waxed paper.