Mother's Log January 2016

Jan 5
We sent Adam home today. So sad. We had so much fun while he was here.  We certainly kept him busy.  Sledding, piggy backs, reading hank the cow dog,  singing karaoke at the top of our lings, learning to play the guitar, running around the planetarium...  memories made!  Miss him already!

Jan 6
1/6/16...
We are having new fireplaces installed today.  They had to do some drilling.   Kassi went to the stairs and yelled "Hey you boys!  Not so loud!!"

Jan 16
Shaun and Penny and Taylor went home today. They had planned to come for a wedding that had to be postponed so instead they came and played with me for three days. It was so nice having them. I wish they lived closer.  Taylor is such a cutie!   She loved Lily and played well with Kassi... when Kassi would play well with her.  She wasn't a huge fan of Bell but most kids aren't at first given that Bell is such a huge puppy.  :)  Seriously, they need to live closer.

I threw away almost 40 shoes tonight that had either been chewed up or were the mates to shoes that been chewed up by my overgrown puppy.  That dog makes me cranky sometimes.

Jan 17
Sami gave her first talk in Sacrament Meeting today.  I'm so proud of that girl. She was so, so nervous but she got up and delivered a very profound and thought out talk. She spoke clearly and even looked up from her paper often.  She brought the Spirit. Jeremy and I were in tears. It was a milestone for her and us.  Our baby is growing up.

Jan 24
I started a new way of doing laundry this month.  Before I would spend endless hours folding laundry.  I would place the folded laundry in individual baskets for the girls and then they were in charge of putting the clothes away.  Almost always, before the clothes got put away they would get dug through, thrown about, and unfolded.  So this month I had a break-through.  I have no idea why I hadn't thought of this before!  I no longer fold the girls laundry!!  I sort it directly from the dryer into their baskets and the girls fold it when they put it away!!  I have so much more time to take care of my own clothes and the baby clothes now.  Hurray!!

Jan 28
Kassi got to celebrate her half birthday at preschool today.  She was so proud to show off her pictures and favorite book and baby sister!  I was thrilled to see how many little friends she has made at school.  She's getting so big so fast...

Mother's Log December 2015

Dec 2
Emmy makes the most adorable angel! (She was in the Ward Christmas pageant)

Dec 6
I've decided that a lot of a child's  personality comes through in how they write stories.  Sami has always been very organized in her story writing.  She's very creative but tidy when she writes.   Ally, on the other hand, has such an active imagination that she is constantly writing one story after another.  She scribbles as fast as she can with pencil/pen and paper or sneaks off with my laptop to fill its memory. Always writing but I don't think she's entirely completed one.  There are papers full of half written stories all over her bed.  Almost every night before bed, I have to remind her that she is supposed to be reading not writing.  Genius?  Perhaps.  Cluttered?  Absolutely. 

Dec 8
A conversation I just had with the 3-year-old after giving her some hot chocolate:

Her:  This is DISGUSTING!!
Me:  What?
Her:  You put water in it.  It tastes TERRIBLE!!
Me:  (taking a sip) oh... that could use more chocolate.
Her:  SEE!  I told you so.

Dec 9

Emmy's lost her sixth tooth!  Now she needs FOUR front teeth for Christmas!  Ally also lost a tooth.  Only hers had to be pulled.  She got a giant puss pocket on her gums above one of her two-year-molars.  We took her into the dentist today and found out she had an infection in her tooth's root due to a very deep cavity that had been previously filled.  Since she would lose the tooth sometime in the next year anyway, they just pulled it. Poor girl.  That was not how she planned to spend her afternoon. 

Dec 10
My baby has her very first cold.  Wahh!  For both of us.  she's miserable and I've lost my perfect sleeper!   She was up a ton last night, coughing, poor baby.  Tears being shed all around here.  On a happy note, though, she is THREE months now!!  Wait a second... she's growing up too fast!   Waaaaaa!

Dec 13
Sami got her first calling today!  If you are LDS, you know this is a big deal.  She's so excited to be the new First Counselor in the Beehives!!

Dec 14
A monster snow storm has hit and today ended up being an optional snow day for the county.  My kids JUST HAD to go though.  Emmy was chosen in her class as a child that excels at giving SERVICE and today was the day for lunch with the principal!  She and her principal have a very close relationship.  She was extatic!  How could I not send her? 

Dec 15
10 days until Christmas and it's looking like it will be a white one!  Hurray! 
Kassi is dying to go play in it and I'm dying with the stomach flu.  I told her to wait for her sisters to get home but she wouldn't hear it.  So I laid on the couch and just watched as she put her boots on without socks and pulled a coat on without mittens.  She then walked to the door and she and Bell went to play.  I had a hunch they wouldn't last long and, sure enough, she was back inside within five minutes saying she was cold.  So that took care of that. 
I like to look at snow more than I like to play in it so it takes a lot of planning, excitement, and perfect health to get me out there.  I'll go play soon. But certainly not today.

Lily's Blessing Dress Pictures

It took me a while (six weeks from the actual Blessing Day), but I finally got them done! 

 HEY!  she's in my picture!

 

A Thousand Words November 2015

(Lily at 7 weeks to 11 weeks)

 

 Fall Yard Work

 Sitting and SMILING!

Sami's Science Fair Project on Mold took third place!

Lily had her first taste of something new when she got backed up and needed a couple bites of prunes to get going again...

Someone found my swimsuit fillers:

"Look!  I'm a Mommy!"  

All she wants for Christmas!

what a helper!

she's a knuckle sucker

Mother's Log November 2015

Nov 11
It's Veteran's Day.  That means it's been a whole year since I directed The Berlin Candy Bomber.  Time truly is a funny thing. It can seem so long at tines but when looking back, it always feels so short.  That whole experience--making the script a musical, directing elementary kids for the first time, getting involved and truly falling in love with the kids and the school, and then meeting Gail Halvorsen himself! and seeing the look on his face when he heard the kids sing--is one I will cherish forever. 

Nov 12
Last night, Sami had her first Young Women in Excellence.  Sami actually had things she had accomplished already.   The one she shared was for Divine Nature. Sami decided it was time to reconnect  with one of her sisters.  It has really blessed their relationship. 
They did little skits on all the different values.  Sami's was on Choice and Accountability.  She played the neglectful camper.  She was pretty cute!
At the end, they sang Faith in Every Footstep.  It was beautiful and I just couldn't believe that I had a daughter up there growing and changing into one of these amazing young women.  I'm so proud of that girl!

Nov 14
Yesterday was Bell's 1st birthday!  We completely spaced it... but we remembered today so we made her a little cake out of hotdogs and stuck a candle in the top. Then we decided to wait for Jeremy to get home so we could sing to her.  I set the "cake" on the counter and put the girls to work doing the dishes.  I left to get some other things done.   When I came back, the plate on the counter was empty.  Bell had snuck into the kitchen and somehow eaten every hot dog without the girls noticing!  I found the candle on her bed...  it was for her so I didn't get upset but she's not supposed to take things for herself.  They have to be offered. And she is never supposed to eat off the counter.  Which makes me wonder if she had help...  hmm... Kassi perhaps.  Anyway, I wasn't about to make her another one so the disappointed girls will just have to wait another year to sing to Bell.  Thus is life with a puppy... and a toddler!

Nov 18
Kassi is convinced she's all grown up now.  We went to tour the Sweets Candy Factory and she was so mature in the way she interacted with her peers and the other moms.  Then we stopped for lunch on the way home and
Then she found some form pads I use for my swimsuits, stuck them up her shirt, and announced she was the 'new mommy.'

Nov 27
Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we had a very nice time with Jeremy's parents.  Last year on Thanksgiving, we laid around all day with the stomach flu, watching Harry Potter.  We decided to make it a tradition (not the flu part, the movie marathon part) so today we spent the whole day in our pj's, eating our favorite foods,  and watching a "The Love Bug" movie marathon.  So fun!

Lily's Blessing Day

 Jeremy's mom made Lily's dress.  She did a beautiful job.  She even knitted her matching booties.

 The blanket was a gift from Jeremy's grandparents

 

  It was a great day!  And a very long day...