Pictures

It's been a long process and it still isn't fixed, but here are a few pictures from Hattie's blessing.

Here is what else has been going on:
Tuesday: I'm getting old...I can't remember. Oh yeah..Brian's mom watched the girls in the afternoon so I could rest and try to shake this sinus thing that keeps dragging on. That day it felt like my head was in a vice. That is not so bad anymore, but I still don't feel 100%.

Wednesday: Preschool. Mutual.

Thursday: Trying to get my girls to get along. Ugh. Libby was on one today. We made a trip to Costco and 31 flavors where I bought my friend Rachel an ice cream cake for her birthday. Tonight I went to a Cookie Lee party for one of my young women and her mom. I bought a little necklace for the girls and I bought a necklace with a crystal-lined circle. I don't think that was a very good description, but it's pretty.

Tomorrow: It's Father's and Sons. Most moms love this campout. Ugh! Not me--not when you have FOUR daughters. So that means Dad leaves and I'm here with all the girls. Wish it were a daddy/daughter campout. :)

Bad Blogger

It's been a while that is for sure. So it's time for a quick run down of what's been going on.

Thursday--had a camp leader meeting. Felt sick...sore throat, congestion.
Friday--still stick...body ached, too; girls had runny noses. Eliza didn't go to preschool. No date night either--I didn't feel up to it. Brian took Eliza, Libby and Ellie up to his parents' cabin up near Mund's Park. They were so excited and had a really good time. I was able to get a lot of work done, so that was nice.
Saturday--Hattie didn't sleep that great and decided she needed to be held at 4 AM. So that is when I got up. I got ready and by 7:20 I dropped her off at my sister-in-law's house. She watched her while I went out to the temple with the young women. After getting back home at about 1:30 and getting Hattie, I came home, made dinner for a friend who just had a baby, fed Hattie and held her all afternoon...she was soooooo fussy....more than she has ever been. It was weird. Brian and the girls got home around 4, then Brian got the babysitter and we were off to deliver dinner, then I took pictures at a family party of one of my parents' friends. ...feeling a little better at this point
Sunday--Ward Council meeting at 7 AM, church at 9. Brian brought all the girls to meet me there. He did pretty well. We'll have to get Eliza not wanting to do her own hair. It was a bit interesting. I convinced her to let me help her with it before she went to primary. I started feeling worse during church--more stuffy, coughing attacks, etc. I ended up leaving before Young Women's started. Unfortunately, I was supposed to teach, so I was bummed about not doing that. But luckily another leader let my class come in and join them. She saved me! I even got a nap that afternoon which was heavenly. That night we went to Brian's parents' house for dinner. It was a fun time. Brian had to leave early to go to a meeting, but Eliza and Libby were well behaved so that made it easier. It was a little busy with Hattie and Ellie, but I survived with a little help from others.
Today--Eliza and Libby were a little rambunctious this morning. Eliza had preschool. Stopped at Target for a couple of birthday gifts. Family Home Evening. Still feeling crummy. It's like I get teased...feel better, then bam...feel yucky again. Oh well. I'll keep plugging along! Now I have quite a bit of work to get done. Unfortunately Hattie will need to eat soon and she doesn't think she can sleep unless she is being held. Today I let her "cry it out" for over an hour. I did go in once, but she NEVER gave up. Ugh. Anyone have any suggestions!?!!?!

OK--I'll try to be better. I still can't access the pictures from the other computer so I wonder if anyone is still reading this if there aren't pictures! ha ha! Happy Week.

Virginia

Before I ramble about my life, I thought I would pay respect to those who died in the Virginia Tech massacre. That is just awful. I remember when Columbine happened, I was outside my classroom waiting for my professor to come to class. When she came and after she let us in the room, she told us what had happened. It was a solemn day. This week has been solemn too for what happened. It is just so unfortunate that they lost their lives at the hands of such a sick person. It makes me nervous since I'll be sending Eliza to kindergarten in a few months. What are things coming too? I heard on Oprah I think that some teachers are afraid to give students an "F" for fear of the aftermath. That is just too bad. When I taught high school and even at the community college, I didn't worry about that. Luckily I had pretty good students. Who would have thought teaching would be a high-risk profession? In an e-mail from a friend today, she mentioned that one day it might be home-school for us. We decided if that happened, I could teach English and reading, she could do science and we'd find others for the other subjects. Actually doing it that way wouldn't be too bad.

I pray that Friday proves to be uneventful in light of past events.

In other news, today was a techie day for me. I finally got my iPod back!! I got one for Mother's Day last year and somehow Brian decided he would like one and somehow it became his. It's all a blur!! But we had quite a few World Points on a credit card, so we redeemed them for another iPod. I can't wait to get my music on there and get going!

In addition to an iPod, I got a new phone today. My phone met an untimely death on Saturday when Ellie put it under running water. It didn't like that! I had been wanting a new phone, but I wasn't going to be getting one this soon. Brian was able to get me the one I really wanted and he got a great deal on it. It's the LG enV. I love it so far. It is a "bar" phone but then opens up to a keyboard. It is great for texting and it has a great camera. I am excited. And sorry if you've tried to reach me on my cell phone--I haven't been ignoring you! Now I'm back in service except my contact info isn't on my new phone.

The week is half over! Here's to a great rest of the week.

Tuesday

Happy Tuesday. How is everyone's week so far? Let's see...yesterday was a bit of a busy day. While Eliza was at preschool, I took Ellie to the doctor. She has had a runny nose for quite a while. I felt it was allergies since none of us got sick during that time, but I wanted to get it checked out. Mothers know best: Allergies. The doctor prescribed Zyrtec and we started that this morning with her. I hope it helps! We saw another doctor at Pediatrix and I really liked him, too. I am very happy having switched over to this practice. After Brian got home, we ate dinner and had home evening taught by Eliza. She had made a little booklet of pictures she had drawn (Jesus' birth, Him teaching people, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.) It was very cute and a cute lesson. Speaking of cute and Eliza...we were driving yesterday and she said, "Mom--you know that scrapbooking song?" I was trying to think what that was, then realized it was "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield. (It talks about writing your own story, etc). She was complaining we hadn't heard that song in a while. But it was cute that she called it a scrapbooking song. Later last night, Eliza and I went to visit my friend Rachel who just had a baby. She was so darling!

Today is a pretty laid-back day...no preschool and no where to be at a certain time. Now it's time to get ready! Sorry about not having any photos to post. We haven't had a chance to fix the network issues.

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Blessing Day and More

Today was Hattie's blessing day. It always makes me nervous since everyone comes for it. But it was a good day. Hattie cooperated and it worked out that she ate at about 8, so with church at 9, she wasn't fussy or hungry. She looked so darling in her blessing dress that both Libby and Ellie wore. Brian gave her a very sweet blessing. He is always so good about their blessing days. A few days or so before all the girls' blessings, he always spends lots of time with each one and thinks about what he is going to say. I love that. But it went well and Sacrament was actually relaxing. Eliza sat with her cousin and Libby was entertained coloring. Brian had Ellie and my mom held Hattie. I could actually listen!! But Hattie is so special--we are glad she is in our family. I will post pictures when we get our network fixed...it is giving us issues. :(

That was most recently..but this week has been busy. Yesterday was Brian's company picnic. Part of it was like Friday the 13th a day late. It was out in Tempe and it took us probably an hour and a half to get there. Everywhere we went, there was construction and detours. Once we got there, Hattie had dirtied a diaper, which had leaked all over her onesie. So we had to take care of that. The rest wasn't too bad, but it started a little harried! They played a softball game that Brian was supposed to play in but as it was getting ready to start, Hattie needed to eat and there was no way Brian could leave me alone with Ellie as I was feeding Hattie. Such is life, I suppose. Last night we got a babysitter for a little bit while we picked up Rubios for dinner and did a little shopping. I’ve succumb to the fact that I need some new clothes. Before the picnic I tried on 4 pairs of shorts and none of them fit. It was depressing. So last night we headed to the mall and I checked out Buckle. I had heard a lot about their jeans, so I wanted to check them out. So this leads me to my Ode to Buying Jeans...I haven’t bought new jeans in a while, and usually when I do I buy like a "size" like 6, 8, 10, etc. Here they are labeled by the waist size. I had no idea what my waist was, so I help up a pair to kind of gauge to see. That's when the employee comes up and asks me, "Have you bought jeans here before?" Hmm...how could she tell. Maybe it was my elastic waist capris with the salsa stain on it or my t-shirt with either a spit up or snot stain on it. Good thing she couldn't see into the dressing room and she could see my nursing pad 1/2 hanging out. Nice. I felt like a train wreck, but I guess that is my story every day! Anyway...so I get trying on pants that the employee thought I would look good in. She kind of sized me up and then decided on a few pairs. I started trying them on and some fit, some didn't. I found a couple that I liked, but the jeans there are more than I've probably ever spent on jeans...except maybe my Guess jeans I got 15 or so years ago. Before I bought any I checked out another store but didn't like the fit of them. So I went back and splurged on a pair of jeans. I decided on the Big Star Casey jeans. Definitely a splurge for my thrifty self, but I do like them. Yesterday my brother Brian and his wife Kamille also had their third baby. He was 7 lbs. 11 oz. and they named him Luke Thomas. We went and saw him after church today and he a cutie.

On Friday, Kamille had her baby shower, so after that I guess she (and the baby) decided she was ready!

Let’s see…what else…it seems like we are just doing the regular stuff here…preschool runs three days/week, mutual on Wednesday, a trip to Costco, etc. Oh yeah…on Tuesday I had a baby shower here for my good friend Rachel. She is going in tomorrow to have her 4th baby. It was a fun shower and fun to hang out and chat.

Have a great week.

Easter

Our Easter weekend turned out nice. On Saturday morning, Eliza and Libby were up, dressed and ready by 6:20. They were excited to go to the Easter party at my parents' house. I was, too, but not enough to be up and ready by then! Needless to say, I got up and ready, too. After everyone got to their house, we ate the yummy BBQ lunch and the kids played charades. They had fun guessing what each person acted out. Then they went outside for the Easter egg hunt. (Sorry the outside pictures are so bad! That's what happens when I forget to change my camera off the AV mode when the aperture is set at 2.8. Oops!) Once the eggs were collected, the kids enjoyed singing "Tootie-Ta", led by my brother, Brian. They all get such a kick out of that song. After laughing and singing, my brother Dan and his wife, Chris, had the kids decorate little cakes shaped like eggs. They came up with some creative creations! Then it was inside to do the annual "fish pond" that my parents do. Each kid gets to go "fishing" and they catch some really great things: chocolate bunnies, an outfit, McDonald's gift card and an Easter dress. All the kids had a great time. Eliza and Libby fell asleep on the way home, they were so worn out. Too bad they woke up when we got home!










Sunday morning was an early day, too. I was sitting in the rocking chair in our room, feeding Hattie and dozing off when Eliza came in at about 6 and said, "He came!!" The Easter bunny had eaten the snacks they left out the night before (a Kit Kat and a bunny-shaped candy). Then she ran back out and found the baskets, of course. She came running back in with her two gifts in her hands and was so thrilled and excited. She proceeded to bring in and show me what the other girls got, too. Libby got up soon after and got to see her basket, too. Eliza got a Junie B. book and the new Charlotte's Web movie. Libby got a Curious George book and the game Connect 4 and Ellie got some new shorts. Thankfully they didn't notice that Hattie didn't get anything. It was a little hectic and busy getting everyone ready, but we made it to church on time. That was another crazy adventure. I am glad my parents came to help me out. Ellie is just at that hard stage to have in Sacrament meeting. She wants to be up and moving around all the time. Sacrament was really nice though with all the music and talks about Christ and the resurrection and atonement. In YW, I taught the Laurels and I focused on Jesus' last days, like what happened the week before he was crucified. I really enjoyed preparing the lesson and learning about what that week was like. It was really humbling to learn about that and compare it to what I was doing this past week. ...doesn't even compare! Each girl got a paper bag Easter basket filled with 8 empty eggs. When I talked about each day before the Crucifixion, they each got an item to put in the corresponding egg to remind them about that day and how they can apply it to their lives.

For Easter dinner, my brother Brian and his family came over along with my parents and my Grandpa and his wife Dovetta. We had a great ham dinner with potatoes, rolls, veggies, fruit and cake and pie for dessert. It was a great Easter despite the face that Brian wasn't with us. He got home a little before 9 last night. Fortunately everyone was sleeping (except Hattie) so we could talk about the trip and catch up on the weekend. I am so glad he is home!

Today was preschool and playing outside this afternoon. It's getting so hot! Ugh. I wish it was still cool outside. Tonight before Family Home Evening, we went to McDonald's so the girls could spend their gift cards they got from the fish pond.

OK--off to do some work and to get the house ready for a baby shower tomorrow night.

Girls Weekend

Brian left last night and headed to Flagstaff with his brother Jared and sister Laura. They drove the rest of the way today with his parents, other brother and sister (not all in one car though). There was a viewing tonight and another viewing and the funeral tomorrow. The girls and I are surviving fine so far. Today we colored quite a bit. Eliza had preschool and I did a Target run. This afternoon I had a presidency meeting. And this evening the girls and I ate pizza. After Ellie went to bed, we colored Easter eggs and filled plastic eggs with candy for the Easter party at my parents' tomorrow. Then it was off to bed for them.

On Wednesday, Eliza had a field trip to the fire station. My dad was nice enough to take Eliza and Libby on the field trip. They had a great time, especially trying out the fire hose!

That night, I had mutual and we did our cooking certification with the girls for camp. The camp directors did a great job planning and organizing it. It went so smoothly and the girls seemed to enjoy it.

Last night I went to a Stake Leadership Training. I really learned a lot that will help me in my young women's calling. One training was based on this talk. I really want to apply the suggestions in the talk. I started with the first suggestion in our presidency meeting by focusing on each girl and her needs.

All right--here's to a good night and a fun Easter-y day tomorrow.

Birthday Boy

Yesterday was Brian's 28th birthday! It didn't start out so great as he got news that his grandpa Trimble up in Utah passed away. I guess he didn't ever want Brian to forget the date! So that was sad, but he is definitely happier and having more fun there since now he can run around and see much better. Several years ago his grandpa was hit by an out of control truck and it resulted in having one of his legs amputated at about the knee. He wasn't expected to make it then, but he did and has enjoyed many years of farming with one leg! His eyesight was also failing, so now he can see and run and walk. He also had a couple of brothers who passed away as babies, so I am sure that was a happy reunion to meet them.

The rest of the day was pretty normal. For his gift, he got tickets to the Rush concert in July. The tickets went on sale at 10, but there were some special presales over the weekend. By the time he could buy tickets yesterday morning all the 100 level seats were taken!! He was bummed but is excited to go anyway. I also got him an i-Tunes gift card. My parents got him this book that should be here any day and a gift card to Albertsons. Sounds funny, but it's right by his office and he likes to go there and get lunch sometimes, so it will be perfect!

Last night we enjoyed cake and ice cream to celebrate!

Yesterday I also bought tickets to this. Brian, Eliza and I will go. I am excited and excited to take Eliza to a little cultural/fine arts event.

Today was Hattie's one-month well check. She is 9 lbs. 9 oz and 22" long. She sure is growing!! But the doctor says she looks great! She also had one shot and didn't like it at all. Poor girl.

I'd better go...I have tons to do this week.