Girls in my Garden

Had a wonderful weekend!

2011-10-24T08:36:00.002-04:00

Friday started it off with eating lunch with Rachel at school. I signed up to give her teacher a lunch break, so I went in and watched her class so her teacher didn't have to. Got to meet some of the kids Rachel always talks about. Later that night was "Spike's Spooktacular." A little carnival at their school complete with games and rides. Got each kid 24 tickets each in advance, and Brandon ended up having to buy 12 extra while there. I ran the karaoke booth for an hour. Rachel won a goldfish, and she was really excited about that, but it ended up dying. :( We'll have to go get another fish.

Saturday, we went to the Skytop Orchard (apple orchard) with my dad, Sarah, and her kids. The kids played, we went on the hayless hay ride, Brandon and Rachel went off and picked a few apples, then we bought some apples, cider, and a little pumpkin for Michaela to take to school at their store.

Sunday we went on a drive up into the mountains and drove some of the Blueridge Parkway. We stopped a couple times and hiked some trails. Both the orchard and driving in the mountains to admire the fall leaves is a tradition our family does almost every year.

Brandon got a new calling this weekend as well. He is now 2nd counselor in the Stake Sunday School presidency. It's his first stake calling.

Sometime soon I'll have to come back and write about our other fun happenings from earlier this month. :)

We live in SC now

2011-09-05T15:03:00.002-04:00

Guess I've neglected my blog for a while now. Then, found it again recently. We moved from Raleigh last February and came to SC, and live near my parents. We've been trying to sell our house in Raleigh with no luck, and are living in an apartment while we wait.

With all the recent stress and frustrations in life, Brandon felt the girls and I needed a break from each other, so they are temporarily in public school this year. Rachel is in 4th grade, and Michaela is in 1st. They are at Brushy Creek, and I like this school soooo much better than Timber Drive in Garner, NC that Rachel went to in Kindergarten. They are educating at level and being challenged. So, if they must go, at least I'm happy with their school and teachers. :) Alyssa is home with me during the days, and we work on preschool level work together.

That's the quick update for now. I'm hoping I'll be posting more regularly in the future. :D

Been so tired!

2009-04-03T11:25:00.002-04:00

Once again it's been a while since I've posted anything. Been super busy, too busy actually, and just can't seem to keep up with it all. So, it's definitely wearing on me and I find myself tired a lot. I should get to bed sooner at night, but I just have so much to do!

Plus, not much new with us anyway; other than the Holy Ghost keeping the girls and I from being in a car accident that would have killed Alyssa and I for sure, and maybe the other two. That was March 6th, so about a month ago now. And no! The accident would not have happened because I was tired, more from not just one, but TWO other drivers running a red light when it was supposed to be my turn in the intersection. I was prompted to not go even though my light was green, then watched as a car speed right in front me going faster than the speed limit of the road it was on. I would have made it to that part of the intersection by the time the other car went through, which would have slammed right into me and Alyssa's doors. For a second, I was in shock that someone would do that and that I wasn't in the way, then looked at the light and saw it was still green, but still felt I should stay put. Four seconds or so later, another car came through the same way as the first. I became even more in shock, but after the second car, I felt it was now ok to proceed making my left turn, but did so very timidly looking to my left to make sure all cars were stopping! And no, the second car was not a cop chasing the first. (I've been asked that before.) I find myself thinking about that day quite a bit and thankful to still be here, and that my girls are still here. I can't imagine what it would have been like for Brandon (he was at work and not with us) if he had lost all four of his girls at once that day; or lost some of us and some of us be still alive but injured.

Yesterday I noticed at gymnastics that Rachel is learning new stuff and tricks. :) Not the same old routines anymore. The girls are excited about Easter coming. (Although today Michaela said that she wants snow and Christmas. Hmmm?) Oh, Rachel got to her goal of selling 200 boxes of Girl Scout cookies so that she could earn the plush pony. Earlier this week, I let Alyssa scribble on paper with a crayon for the first time. I think we may have another leftie! I guess time will tell for sure. Michaela is left handed. We're also looking forward to conference this weekend. :)

99 Things

2009-02-27T10:47:00.003-05:00

Saw this on Kory's blog, and thought I'd do it too. :)

Here are the rules:
Bold the things you’ve done and post on your blog!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars (As well as the rain! All while sleeping OVER an ant hill while on a pioneer trek as a teen. Interesting story there!)
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (Don't remember it much, I was 4. All I remember is getting on the train, and my brother being upset that he didn't get to go.)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping (Have too much self respect to do that one!)
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (Does a gondola at the Venician in Vegas count?)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (Bay cruise in San Fran, but not one of those long multi-day cruises.)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (Not sure, but could have)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (Does being on the news count?)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Does helping my daughter count?)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (I tried but they told me not to come back b/c my veins were too small)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Redwoods (We've even done a drive through tree!)
82. Bought a brand new car (Actually, Brandon bought it for me)
83. Walked in Jerusalem (I was 6 or 7 when my parents went, and they left me at home in Germany. Boo!)
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (I WATCHED a turkey being killed on the pioneer trek, but didn't kill it myself)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Richard G. Scott at Hill Cumorah Pageant)
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Who wants to play?

Alyssa is walking!

2009-02-27T07:21:00.004-05:00

Yes! She is finally a walker. This kid definitely does things on HER timetable. I guess it's been a couple weeks now since she started taking her first steps. Each day she'd take a few more steps before falling down. I'd say about last Wednesday or so, she's gotten really good. Although she's still slow and falls down every now and then. Crawls at times, but she does seem to prefer the walking. My kids have started to walk at ages: Rachel, 15 months; Michaela, 11-12 months; and Alyssa, 16 months.

WTG, Alyssa! We love you. :)

New background

2009-02-27T07:06:00.002-05:00

So, I put up a new background. :) I love changing things up for the seasons/holidays. And so many cute ones to choose from! I was originally going to put up the "Kiss me, I'm Irish" background, but when I tried it, all the little clovers in the middle made it hard to read the posts. I then settled for the one that is here now. And yes, I'm American, but since I have Irish ancestry . . . .I figured I could get away with somewhat being Irish in a way! ;)

January . . . .What a tough month it's been for Rachel

2009-01-30T18:25:00.006-05:00

So, if you have read the post right under this one, you'll know that poor Rachel started out the month sick with some kind of bug. She was fine that whole Saturday, then boom! Started getting sick Saturday night, and the next day was supposed to be her first day in CTR 7. Luckily, she quickly got over that one.

January 9th she had her crowns put in to cover her back teeth. (She was born with a condition that causes her to have no enamel for those that didn't know. That's why her teeth look yellow.) I took her to the hospital; Brandon took the day off to stay home with the other two. They were REALLY good with her! After registering, they took us back to a pre-op area where they made her feel comfortable, play games, watch cartoons, play on a computer, DRAW ON THE SHEETS WITH MARKERS (she really liked that one since she'll NEVER be able to do that at home). They had a dog puppet named Mr. Wrinkles that they used to demonstrate what was going to happen to her. She got to decorate her gas mask with stickers (which she got to take home). They gave her necklaces and a headband to make her feel like a princess and told her "when you wake up you'll have princess crowns on your teeth." She was really enjoying it and loving being there since it was "so much fun!"

Then the time came to put her to sleep and they took her away. I went back out to the waiting area and sat, read, and ate snacks for 2.5 hours while waiting. One of the nurses came out to me first when it was done and told me how it kinda went. She said that as they were trying to wake Rachel, the first thing out of her mouth was, "This is NOT fun!" lol Big change from before. Everything went great, and once I was able to go back there and be with her, I found a Rachel that was having a hard time waking up. I went and got the car alone and pulled up by the door to the hospital, and they wheeled her out in a wheelchair and helped her in the car. She really liked the wheelchair ride!

Angel Bear they gave her at the hospital after taking her to recovery.

Rachel with the balloon Daddy and her sisters got for her, and her gas mask from the hospital complete with stickers!

On January 16th I took her to the doctor because she had been complaining about her ear hurting. They said no infection in it, may have been a little red so they gave us ear drops with anti-biotics in them to put into her infected ear to clear it up. We did this for 7 days. She said her ear was feeling better while on these, and stopped hurting for a few days altogether when we were done doing the drops. So, I was thinking we were all good and clear at this point. They also tested her for strep, which came back negative.

On January 28th she started to complain about her ear again that night, and the next morning it was really bothering her. She woke up on the 29th to find that puss had oozed out of her ear that night. So, I took her back in. This time is WAS an actual ear infection. Also checked for strep again because the doctor suspected it, and she had strep as well. So, she was given amoxacillin for 10 days to clear those up. Not sure why the ear infection and strep didn't show up on the 16th, unless she was just starting to get it at that point, and wasn't strong enough for the doctors to detect yet?

So, it's been a tough month for Rachel, and mommy and daddy! Hoping that February will be happy and healthy. :)

First day of Sunbeams!

2009-01-30T18:06:00.004-05:00

January 4th was Michaela's first day in Sunbeams and primary. What a big girl! *sniff, sniff* Can't you tell she was oh so excited from the pic? I didn't get to be there, so I was really sad to miss seeing her go into her first day of primary, but Brandon got some pics. Rachel was throwing up the night before, so I stayed home with her and Alyssa. Brandon and Michaela went to church that day.

Another tooth is gone!

2009-01-06T23:10:00.003-05:00

This time, thanks goes to little sister Michaela. . . again . . . for kicking it out! She's kicked out a tooth once before as they played. The only difference this time was that this tooth wasn't AS loose as the first kicked out tooth. It was loose, but no where near ready to come out. :( There was lots of blood involved, and Rachel said it hurt pretty bad. I'm thinking they need to stop tickling each other when they're playing. . . that causes legs to go kicking other people!

Michaela's first hair cut and Thanksgiving 2008

2009-01-02T11:09:00.004-05:00

This year we had Thanksgiving with our friends the Hammon family. They have three adorable little boys. :) Before we headed over there, I gave Michaela her first hair cut! I also cut Rachel's hair, but this wasn't her first cut. So, I'm going to include pics from both events together in one post. I never did get an "after" pic of Michaela after I cut her hair, so a pic of her at the Hammon's will have to do for that. Thank you Hammon family for having us over! We had a great time. :)

Michaela's "before" hair cut pic:

Rachel and Michaela at the table they sat at.
A good "after" pic for Michaela's hair cut!

Pic of all the kids and me:

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T09:39:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year everybody! I love this new background. :) Fireworks are always exciting. I hope the new year brings lots of happiness and blessings to all of my friends and family.

Still need to catch up on past happenings. . . .but just wanted to at least wish everyone a Happy New Year!

We're crawling! (November 6, 2008)

2008-12-18T11:35:00.004-05:00

Alyssa finally decided to start crawling at almost 13 months old on November 6. She had been doing some kind of scooching before this, but that was the day she just up and decided to be an actual crawler and get around faster! Started just slightly sooner than Rachel did! Rachel was close, but was AFTER her 13 month mark by a few days. Alyssa started a few days before her 13 month mark.

Ack! How did I let so much time slip away since my last post?!

2008-12-17T23:26:00.009-05:00

Easy. . . very busy and very sick! I had bronchitis for about four to five weeks, and didn't realize it until the last week. Four weeks into it, I went to the doc, and then after seeing him, took another week to really get better. Needless to say, I have some catching up to do. Both on the blog, and just "stuff."

Here's the late Halloween update:

FOR ALEESHA! You were asking about Alyssa's hair color at the baby shower. Most of the other pics I've posted below, her hair looks red like the other girls, but it's not really like that, so not sure why it shows up in pics that way. This is a truer representation of her hair if you were around her in person. It's a light brown with blond streaks. Maybe has a tinge of red, but it really doesn't scream RED! Here she had just finished enjoying some leftover Halloween pudding. :)

This is the Church trunk or treat party they had. Michaela won best homemade costume! The battery ended up dying on the camera, so this is the only pic I got!

I made their costumes this year. Rachel wanted to be a spider, so I bought a black shirt, and then sewed extra arms to the sides with black fabric. I tacked them together so they would come up when they raised their arms. Between her own two arms and legs, and the four extra, she had her 8 legs! Michaela's costume was an idea inspired by Brandon, and then created by me. They like to play "what animal am I" at night as a family. One time, Brandon got a flashlight, picked up Alyssa, and flew her around flashing the light from her bum. She was a firefly! Keeping with the "bug theme" I thought it would be cute to make Kayla a firefly. . . .IF I could find a light she could wear and flash on its own. We were in luck, and Brandon found one at Home Depot. I did the same for her. . .black shirt and sewed on extra legs to give her 6, since that's how many fireflies have. She also got antennae made of black pipe cleaner, and homemade wings made of cardboard slipped into fabric cut and sewn from the extra leg material. That's what the white yarn is around her neck. . . .holding on her wings!

FHE - Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-30T10:52:00.010-04:00

So, last Monday we carved our pumpkin that Aunt Judy gave us for FHE and had our annual Halloween treat. . . Ghosts in the Graveyard. It's a family favorite. We've made it every year since Rachel was very little.

Our pumpkin before surgery!

Cleaning it out

Daddy drawing on the face Rachel designed while Michaela looks on.

All done!

Yumminess!

The kids anxiously awaiting the treat:

Michaela with Jack and Graveyard treat:

1st Birthday pictures!

2008-10-30T08:05:00.015-04:00

Ok, so I have soooooo much to catch up on. Been WAY too busy. . .and of course that means LOTS to talk about, and little time to do so. Here's some pics from Alyssa's birthday.

What's a birthday without presents!?
Thank you to Grandparents Turpin, Grandparents Doyal, and Great-Grandparents Avery
and Mommy and Daddy

Checking out a new high chair toy:

October Birthday Girl and her Halloweenish cake

Yay! Everyone just sang a song about me, so it MUST be a reason to clap!

Balloons are fun!

Eating cake

My two favorite "after eating cake" pics:

Trying out some of her new toys for her swing.

We sign our kids up for the Baskin Robins Birthday Club before their first birthdays.
Here's Alyssa eating her first free BR birthday ice cream!

All Done!

Happy Birthday to my baby!

2008-10-09T20:29:00.002-04:00

Today was Alyssa's first birthday! We actually celebrated with cake/ice cream and presents last night since tonight was gymnastics, and I didn't want her celebration to be rushed after getting back before bed. I haven't downloaded the pics yet, so I'll have to share those later.

Happy Birthday sweet girl! I can't believe you're a year old already. :(

My dad is going to Baghdad

2008-10-07T23:37:00.002-04:00

For 3 months and I'm so scared! He leaves on the 13th. He's had military training (I'm an Army brat); but he's a 55 year old man now and it's scary over there. He's going there for a construction project his company is working on, not the war, so at least he's not fighting, but it's still scary over there and he'll stick out like a sore thumb as an American. I can't stop crying. Why do they have to send my dad there? Why are they doing a project there? When I first heard of the possibility, I thought it was going to be a one or two week thing. (Like when he went to Haiti for a week.) Now, it's for sure and 3 months now.

My lil bookworms

2008-09-17T07:16:00.002-04:00

I thought this pic was adorable. This past Monday, I picked up some $1 Halloween board books from Target. The girls decided to sit down and look at them that evening. Alyssa even wanted one too!

The past couple weekends. . .part 1

2008-09-16T11:30:00.011-04:00

TWO weekends ago on September 6, we got lots of rain from TS Hanna overnight and in the morning, and then in the afternoon we went to a Fisher Price party that Alyssa was invited to. She got some free toys for attending. She actually got two free toys instead of one since a lot of the people that were going to come, didn't. :)

The bucket was empty before the rain came:

Alyssa playing with her new, free toys! She was just too cute, so I'm posting a bunch. While I was taking several shots, she just kept laughing and smiling up a storm, so I got lots of good shots. I'm actually leaving quite a few good ones out, but here's some of my faves:

The past couple weekends. . .part 2

2008-09-16T11:11:00.009-04:00

This past Saturday, September 13, we went to the baby reunion my RE office, Carolina Conceptions, was holding. Man! I've never seen so many sets of triplets and twins in one place in my life! There must have been about 8 sets of triplets, and the sets of twins was about double that or so. The ratio of singleton babies to multiples had to have been about 50/50. I guess that's to be expected though when you attend a baby reunion among folks who need fertility help. Kinda made me start thinking about Alyssa's twin that vanished. :( Although, her twin happened naturally, not the effect of fertility drugs since I need help to STAY pg, not GET pg. It was the first baby reunion they've held.

They had a train for the older kids to ride on, and a bouncy thing. Food, face/hand painting, door prizes. It was a good time. It was really hot though! Some pics:

Rachel and her art:

Kayla getting painted:

Kayla's ladybug:

Getting ready to go on the train:

The train in motion:

Alyssa playing with the music display there:

Gymnastics is a big hit! And tooth number SIX is gone!

2008-09-11T22:28:00.008-04:00

The girls LOVE gymnastics! Today was their second class. They enjoy it more than dance. When it's time to go, they both talk about how much fun it is, and how they don't want to leave. Rachel can't wait for next Thursday! Dance classes never got that response, although they enjoyed that too.

Today, Rachel lost tooth number six about one minute before her class started. She was sitting there with the other girls in their designated area. She was rolling around and her knee bumped her already really loose tooth, and it was out! We cleaned it up and while we were waiting for the bleeding to stop, the other girls were doing their warm up. So, she missed warm up today.

Here's some pics of them ready to go this evening before heading out:

This kid either never smiles, or gives a cheesy grin!

Both of them, Michaela is actually smiling nicely in this one!

Sister love!

Rachel's new mouth :)

Going to try something new!

2008-08-27T16:03:00.002-04:00

So, the last year and a half the girls took dance. This year we're going to try gymnastics, for two reasons. First, the dance place didn't have classes for both the girls at the same time this year. I had originally signed them up for the homeschool class they could take together on Thursday afternoons, but it didn't fill up enough, so they canceled it. Second, when asking Rachel if she'd rather keep doing dance, or try gymnastics this year, she said gymnastics.

I found a place that looks good nearby, so we're going to check it out next Thursday. If we decide to go with it, they'll both be able to take a class on Thursday nights from 6-7. Michaela in the preschool class, and Rachel in the Beginner 5-7 yo class. Rachel is really excited. Michaela is indifferent. When I ask her, she says, "Ok, I'll try e-as-ties," in a very not so convinced tone of voice. Then, when I showed her the pictures on the web site of the place, and asked her if she wanted to do that. . . .she got SOOOO excited! So, hopefully this'll be good! Michaela sometimes wouldn't participate well in dance, maybe she'll like this better. :)

As far as other extracurriculars go, Rachel will continue in Girl Scouts and will be a Brownie this year! We're also *thinking* of getting an electric piano with weighted keys so Rachel can start piano lessons as well. We'll see. . . .

Alyssa ~ Various things

2008-08-26T07:27:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, Alyssa had a doc appointment. The doctor was pleased with her improvement and her weight is now 14 lbs 3 oz. I think she's finally just catching up from March and part of April when she was refusing to eat from a spoon when we were trying to introduce that. Plus, our kids are just smaller than average to begin with from their daddy's side. For their family, being 15-18 lbs on the first birthday is normal. I think Alyssa will safely be in that range on her first birthday. Rachel and Michaela were 18 lbs on their first birthday's. The dr said she has acid reflux, and that's why she is constantly having food come up. Usually, she swallows it back down, only about 1-2 bites worth actually gets lost from coming out of the mouth, if that. She gave her an Rx for Prevacid. I hope it helps! If it doesn't, well, I just feel sorry for Alyssa and just want something to help her, so I'll be sad if it doesn't help.

She can pretty much sit on her own better now. She'll topple over after 5-10 minutes vs. only a few seconds. She's rolling around the room to get somewhere, and seems to be trying to figure out how to crawl. Also, trying to talk. She tries so hard to repeat mama and 'I love you,' but isn't quite there yet. She's also figured out how to jump in the jumper.

Then, at mealtime prayers. . .before we start, Alyssa likes to sit there and whine impatiently wanting her food to be given to her NOW. As soon as someone (usually me) announces that it's time to say the prayer, she'll all of a sudden get quiet and stay quiet until the end of the prayer. lol It's as if she knows somehow. And half the time she'll fold her hands like Michaela does. I think she watches her and copies what she does.

Fizzy dinosaur egg

2008-08-21T10:05:00.002-04:00

So, giving the two oldest girls a bath this morning, Rachel asks if we can do one of those eggs that fizz when you put them into the water. It's been a while since we've done one, but we've done them before. Both girls were getting all excited for it. I put it in, and they were scared of the thing! I couldn't believe it. For as excited as they were to have it, I never expected them to be scared of it. They were both crowding on the other side of the tub trying to get away from the fizzing lump, and screaming like a couple of little girls. lol It was truly a hysterical sight! Michaela was concerned mostly of the fact that the water was now turning purple. She wanted me to take her out in order to "save her," but I made her stay in and learn that it was ok. When it was all done, neither of them wanted to pick up the little baby dinosaur that was now reveled. So, mommy to the rescue had to do it! After they saw me holding it, and what it was, they weren't afraid to touch it. Rachel is now doing her reading assignment with the baby dino by her side. . . .go figure!

It's my birthday!

2008-08-19T08:57:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! :) . . . . . . 31 today!

Brandon took me out Saturday night, got a babysitter and all. That was nice. :) Chose Olive Garden again. . . . Rachel drew me a Happy Birthday picture this morning. And of course, there will be no school today because today is a holiday! ;) I think I'll take the girls to the library later, and do some fun stuff.

Americans got gold and silver on the beam today in the Olympics. . . .finally didn't get ripped off! Guess my birthday brought them some good luck. . . . :) lol

There's one with teeth coming out, and one with teeth coming IN. . . :)

2008-08-18T17:09:00.002-04:00

So, yesterday. . . . . a week after Rachel lost her 5th tooth, I noticed that Alyssa is getting her FIRST tooth! :) It's about time! Ten months old, and finally gettin' a toofer. It's still barely visible. . . .just breaking the skin. So, we're loosing teeth and getting teeth here at our house. :) And it looks as though. . . . . .

WE HAVE ENAMEL!

That's a big deal around here since Rachel doesn't have enamel, and her dentist said that it *could* happen again since it's genetic, VERY rare, but genetic. I've been nervous about having another kid with this problem. So, I've been waiting on pins and needles for her teeth to come in so I can see if they're white or yellow. It's looking white so far! Not sure how Rachel ended up with the problem since Brandon and I both have wonderful teeth that never have many problems. I've never had a cavity EVER, and Brandon got his first cavities a couple years ago, none up until then.

Still needing to get a pic up of Rachel and her missing teeth. Our card reader isn't working properly, so I always have to get Brandon to upload them to the computer, and I keep forgetting to ask when he's around. He has some other way about getting them on without the card reader that I haven't figured out yet. :(

On her way to sitting!

2008-08-10T18:02:00.003-04:00

Alyssa has been getting better at sitting up! I think the longest she's sat now is 30 seconds before falling over. She turned 10 months old yesterday. . .getting so big! Pretty soon she won't be my baby anymore! Well, for another year or so, then she won't be a baby anymore. . . .Still I wish they could stay babies longer! I'm sure the last year of being a baby will fly. . . . :(

She gets to go to a Fisher Price party in September. Someone from Cisco won a party to try out new toys that haven't been released yet. They look like fun toys! For coming, we'll get some coupons, and she'll get a free toy. . .small toy. . .not a big one like the ones they'll be trying out. But, hey! It's something! :) We're excited. It should be fun. :)

Missing tooth number FIVE!

2008-08-10T17:56:00.003-04:00

Rachel lost tooth number five today! She's been complaining for a few days now about it, and not liking to eat. Around lunch, it was pretty much just laying sideways, and Brandon just had to barely touch it, and it came out. At least now we won't be hearing complaints at mealtimes. . . until the next one! One of her top teeth have been barely loose for a while now. . .not sure when it'll get really loose. That one seems to be taking it's time.

Memory Lane

2008-08-04T22:00:00.000-04:00

A little game for the bloggers:
M E M O R Y L A N E

How to play:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Rules: Anything funny, strange, cool, embarrassing, or awful you remember about me. This could be interesting. . .

Can't believe I forgot to post!

2008-07-10T23:28:00.003-04:00

It was Rachel's 6th birthday last Monday, July 7th! Happy Birthday big girl! We remembered to celebrate and have cake. . . just didn't get on here with as busy as our lives are! She chose some crazy, squiggly candles for her cake, and she picked out a "Happy Birthday Princess!" balloon at the grocery store. She chose pizza for dinner. :)

Here's Brandon and Rachel eating their free Birthday ice cream at Baskin Robbins, July 5th:

Her b/day cake with curly candles she picked out:

Alyssa after having some of Rachel's cake!

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-04T20:25:00.003-04:00

Happy 4th of July, and Happy Birthday to my Dad!

We started off the day going to our Ward pancake breakfast at a park. The girls had lots of fun playing. Pretty much took the rest of the day easy, and took turns playing Wii Fit. Had veggie burgers and veggie hot dogs for dinner, then did fireworks outside on our driveway. Michaela had a little accident. :( They were doing sparklers, and after hers had burnt all out, she went and touched the hot stick. (Even after telling her to never touch up there.) Luckily I saw her do it, so I knew what happened and was able to take care of it right away. Had I not seen it and she just start crying, we would have had to take time to figure out what was wrong before treating it. It happened so quickly that I didn't have a chance to stop her before it happened. By the time I realized, she had already touched it and was about to cry. I grabbed her and ran her over to the water spigot on the side of the house and put her finger under the water. Everyone else was clueless and was wondering what was going on. Luckily, it's not too terribly bad of a burn, but still so sad to see my baby hurting. :( Hopefully taking care of it right away, and putting ice and medicine on it after we did the initial water will help it heal faster.

Finally!

2008-07-04T20:21:00.002-04:00

We found a Wii Fit! Brandon found one yesterday. He was coming home from work early, and decided to stop off at Best Buy just to see since he had some time. There were four just sitting there with nobody rushing to get them! *shock* So, he purchased one and brought it home. :) It's a great game. My muscles are soooooo sore now! This is MUCH better motivation to exercise!

Happy Birthday, Brandon!

2008-07-01T22:26:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday, Hon! Brandon is 37 today! Few more days and it'll be Rachel's turn. . . . .

Garden update

2008-06-30T23:29:00.004-04:00

So, we get back from our trip, and our garden has majorly grown! I even had the weeds under control before leaving, and in 10 days we're back to having a serious weed problem. I spent today getting a lot of them pulled out, but still have lots to do. I thought the squash plants I got from Kmart and transplanted weren't going to make it since they were looking pathetic. But, to my surprise, they are thriving! Came back to big, healthy squash plants! :) Everything is doing well, I'm happy to report. Except maybe a couple of the cantaloupe plants that look the same size as they were before we headed out of town. The tomatoes and cucumbers are starting to get flowers. :) Need to plant the pumpkin seeds soon!

Here's a current pic of the garden:

It's my anniversary!

2008-06-09T22:36:00.004-04:00

So, today was me and Brandon's anniversary! :) 8 whole years that have flown by! Last Friday we got a babysitter and went out to eat together, just us. :) Went to Olive Garden. . .again. . . I love OG! Did a little shopping and then got Chick-fil-A shakes before heading home.

Today, Brandon got to work from home. So, I didn't get to have the computer ALL DAY today! We went out to Cracker Barrel for dinner tonight as a family.

Bridging Ceremony from Daisys to Brownies :)

2008-06-01T22:42:00.011-04:00

This weekend, Rachel bridged from Daisy Girl Scouts to Brownies! She is WAY excited to be a Brownie now! Michaela looks forward to being old enough for Girl Scouts someday. . . .2 more years and she'll be Daisy age! There was also a picnic afterwards, and lots of fun and playing was had. :) Her troop leader choose the sash for them over the vest for their uniform. . .I'm excited she chose that because I think it looks nicer. The other troop they bridged with choose the vest. She even already has a Brownie Try-It on her sash! At their last Daisy meeting, they got together with a Brownie troop to learn about what it's like to be a Brownie, and earned the Sharing and Caring Try-It.

Pictures from the event:

Group story with actions:

Rachel bridging from Daisy's to Brownies:

Rachel and her friend, H, from a couple houses down.

My Garden!

2008-06-01T22:32:00.019-04:00

A week after the project had been started, they came back again and finished up on May 24th. That Saturday was spent transferring some of the grass around the area to make my garden larger than was originally there and then transplanting in the grass-less circle where the previous owners put their swimming pool. They also got a tiller and tilled up the ground, Brandon made some rows for me, and I got two of them planted that Saturday afternoon. Monday, Memorial Day, I finished planting everything else but the pumpkin seeds. . . .too early for those! Don't want pumpkins in late August/early September. . . . Last Friday I started to see some of my plants coming up! Only from the two rows I planted on Saturday. None of the Monday plantings have sprouted, but I'm sure within a few days now. . . .

Here's some before/during/after pics of our back yard garden project!

Before:

After:

During pics:

Other updates

2008-05-19T15:04:00.003-04:00

Last Friday, my juicer came! Woo-hoo! Can't wait to make some carrot juice! :)

And on Saturday, Brandon and two men in our ward came over who are starting a landscaping business, and started getting to work on getting the area ready that will become my garden! :) Most of the day was grinding the tree stumps from the pine trees we cut down in 2006, and removing all the rocks the previous owners had placed around the trees. WHY anyone would put a bunch of rocks in the middle of the yard is beyond me! Can't exactly grow my garden in all those rocks! We figured that was the best place to have the garden since we didn't want to tear up nice grass. That area is already grass-less and ugly, so might as well put it to good use! I'm sure the rocks looked nice at first when first put down, but they start to look awful as the years go by, plus it makes it hard to plant grass or other things there. Next time we buy a house. . .we'll be skipping houses with rocks in the yard. Unless the owners trying to sell have them removed at their own expense because we will not be dealing with rock removal EVER again! Moving rocks is a huge nightmare. . . .we've even had to remove rocks from the flower bed area in the front. That's even odder than the middle of the back yard! In a flower bed? How do you expect to grow flowers if you put a bunch of rocks there? The people here before us did NOT have my tastes at all! Including all the ugly stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, silver colored light fixtures throughout the house, along with matching doorknobs! Ugh! Silver looks so cold looking. . . Go gold color! . . . Anyway, I'll post before, during and after pics of the back yard later when the job is all done!

Potty Training!

2008-05-19T11:20:00.002-04:00

At 3 years and 1 month old, I think Michaela is finally starting to get it! I tried again today, and she's had 6 successes, and one accident so far! Hopefully it continues to go well. . . . I put her in a dress with no panties or diaper, and she went a couple times. Then, we put on panties, and she usually keeps them dry. She's on her 2nd pair today since she wet the first during her accident. . .but on the whole keeping dry!

It's reminding me of training Rachel. Although Rachel was overall easier, today with Michaela reminds me of the day Rach finally got it. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-10T22:50:00.005-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

Rachel's class had a Mother's Day celebration on Friday. It was a lot of fun. I would have taken her out earlier, but she REALLY wanted to be there for that and for me to come. So, we waited until then. The class sang a bunch of songs to the moms, gave a story to their moms they had written for them, and a "breakfast in bed" thing. Soooo, cute! There was also cake, punch, and some other finger foods. Brandon worked from home yesterday so that he could be here to watch the other two, and I attend her thing at school. Yesterday was her last day. :)

Here's the story she wrote for me: (exact spelling and all!)
"My Mommy is 30 yeer's old. She macke's potata salid it is my favrit dinr. She wochis me woch TV and mom too. I love Mommy!"

Not sure why she said she likes potato salad. . .???. . . She HATES it! lol

Here's the "breakfast in bed" bag:

There was a honey bun inside the bag. The scrap of wallpaper is supposed to be the blanket with me in bed (head sticking out). Cute!

This evening we went to Olive Garden for dinner as a family for our Mother's Day eat out. They quoted us 65 minutes, but our buzzer went off in 30-35. :) That was nice! We talked to the girls before going in about behaving in the restaurant. To our surprise they behaved VERY well! WOW! Even Alyssa!

My big gift this year is a juicer! We ordered it a week ago, but looks like it won't be here until the 16th. It's part Christmas (from some of my grandparent money), part Mother's Day from Brandon and the kids, and part my birthday coming up this summer! I'm VERY excited. . .wanted one for a couple years now!

Carolina Conceptions called

2008-05-05T22:09:00.003-04:00

Got a call from my fertility Dr office shortly before noon. It was a courtesy call, and they wanted to know how the delivery went and if I had a boy or girl. I thought that was nice of them to do a follow up and see how all went. They also said that they'll be inviting our family to a little get together of past patients and their families at some park in the fall. I thought that was, um, interesting. . . I guess it'll be fun, nice idea. Maybe they want to meet all the miracle babies?! :)

Dentist and Dancefest!

2008-05-05T22:06:00.004-04:00

Early this morning, Rachel had a dentist appointment. 8:20 all the way in Cary! Ugh! The lady I talked to when I made the appointment had to pull some strings just to get us in. It was either that, or wait until end of July! She said that if we waited that long, she couldn't guarantee us a spot in the hospital this year. So, Rachel was so disappointed to learn that she'd miss "Dancefest" at school because of the appointment. That started at 9:30, so we worked something out where Brandon came with us, and when they were done needing Rachel physically there, I took her back to school and left Brandon there to talk with the dentist. That enabled us to get her to school on time.

So, then she did her two little dances with her class. Some Cha-Cha Slide thing and a Pink Panther dance. They were up first. During her second dance, she tripped and fell. I felt so bad for her. She ran over to her teacher and they put a band aid on it. Had band aids sitting right there as if they expected someone to need one! After she performed, I was out of there! I was not waiting around for the 1st through 5th grades to do theirs. Plus, Alyssa was getting hungry and fussy, and I didn't want to have to fight trying to get out of there when ALL the other parents were trying to get out. Of course, I forgot the camera again! Later, we were in the car that evening, had the radio on and Flo Rida's "Low" song came on, and I went to change it, and Rachel made some comment about how the 4th and 5th graders did a dance to that song. . .I'm thinking. . .Nice. *inset sarcasm* That was Brandon's comment too. NOT appropriate for Elementary school if they really did dance to that! I left early, so not sure. . .just going by what Rachel said.

Brandon came home in the evening and discussed the plan to fix Rachel's teeth. Looks like we'll be getting some teeth done this year, and then some next when her 6 year old molars have come in. He showed the quotes to some co workers when he got in after his talk with the Dr. and he said there was a lot of jaw dropping. Yeah, it's a lot of money, unfortunately! But, our child can't live a life with no enamel on her teeth either. . . . I told Brandon that if Alyssa's teeth have Rachel's problem (Michaela has enamel), then definitely NO more kids! ha! Still don't know since Alyssa still is a gummy grin girl!

Tooth #4 for Rachel and an Alyssa scare!

2008-05-04T22:24:00.002-04:00

So, Rach lost her 4th tooth today! First top tooth. She talks funny now. . . . It really wasn't ready to come out yet. It got "helped" along by little sister! It was loose, just not loose enough to come on it's own. Everyone was taking Sunday nappy naps (or supposed to be taking a nap!), then all of a sudden Brandon and I hear this frantic screaming upstairs. It was the "something is definitely not right" kind of screams. I was expecting to go up and see a child with broken bones, seriously hurt or something. Rachel is standing there on her bed (top bunk of a bunk bed), holding her tooth with one hand and the other hand cupped under her mouth trying to catch all the blood. I was actually impressed. . .NO blood on her bedding! That's my girl! :) She did get some on her clothes, but we got it out. Poor thing couldn't get down to get to us or the bathroom, and was screaming for help. Ended up finding out that Michaela climbed up to her bed, started playing with her, and kicked her in the mouth by accident! The loose tooth got the blow and became loose enough that Rachel could pull it the rest of the way out with ease by herself. (Daddy pulled out the last two when they were ready) She said it hurt REALLY bad this time coming out with a kick. :(

(I'll come back and edit this to add a picture of her "new smile" later, once I take one!)

Before that, on the way to church this morning, I was turning left onto Timber Dr. and all of a sudden heard a loud "ker-thump!" behind me. I'm like, "What the heck was that?" Rachel said, all calmly and matter of fact like, "It was the baby." I'm thinking, "The baby!? She's strapped into her chair! What can the baby do to make a noise like that?" I looked back when I could while driving to see the bottom of the base to her car seat pointing up at me, meaning Alyssa was upside-down facing the floor! Usually I follow Brandon to church, but today I felt like being first for some reason. Glad I was first! I pulled over when I could safely, and since he was behind me, was able to follow. He was confused as to what I was doing, but decided to stay with me and see what was the matter. He helped me strap her base back in. Ended up, one of the girls undid the seat belt holding the base down and I didn't know. I assumed that it would stay strapped! So, now we check every time we put her in that the base is still strapped. I'm sharing this story so those with a baby and older kids might be aware that this could happen, and not to just assume their baby's car seat base will always stay strapped down after you strap it. Our girls got a good talking to about not undoing Alyssa's base, that they put her in danger. Luckily, we found out it wasn't strapped anymore in a "not as" dangerous situation. She was a little shook up, but no scratches or bruises or injured from flipping over her chair and onto the floor. I shudder to think what could have happened to Alyssa if we had been in a bad accident before realizing this.

"Now I know what's in beans. . . ."

2008-05-03T10:51:00.002-04:00

"Potatoes!" Silly Rachel. . .lol. Last night we had some cheesy chili at dinner, and she saw a pinto bean that was cut or bitten in half, and saw the inside. She thought there were potatoes inside. lol

May Day!

2008-05-01T11:57:00.004-04:00

Happy May Day! :) Can't believe it's May!

I was just thinking. . . .there's some things last month I didn't get around to posting about.

Alyssa update:
She FINALLY started eating solid foods! April 17th, she started swallowing the food I was feeding her instead of spitting it out. :) She is a MUCH happier baby since then, back to smiling, and is holding her head up again. I feel bad that she's been hungry all this time since breast milk started to not be enough, but what could I do if she wouldn't swallow the food or take a bottle as supplement? I tried! I tried a soft sippy cup since she started 'eating'. . .she likes that much better than her juice/water mixture being put into a bottle. Which is fine. . .6 months old and using a sippy already. :) She's rolled over a couple times, probably by accident since she hasn't done it since. She's still small and wearing 0-3 month clothes (at least we're getting use out of the summer clothes sizes 0-3 we had for our July and April babies! lol), and 3-6 being slightly big on her. People in stores still think she's 3 months old. All of them have been on the smaller side, but I think she's been the smallest so far. She's liking her jumper and exersaucer more now, and doesn't slouch in them anymore. Still won't grab toys. Still hates tummy time with a passion, just like her sisters did! I think that's about it on her.

Michaela:
April 21st, I took Kayla to Baskin Robbins for her free birthday scoop of ice cream. Here's some pics of that. We went to the Fuquay BR since it's nicer than the "ghetto BR" we used to go to. Both are about the same distance. . .so, go to the nicer one! They had a little kiddie table, and she wanted to sit at that! She got strawberry!

Last day of ballet!

2008-04-29T23:15:00.001-04:00

Today was the girls' last day of ballet for this season. I thought there'd be a couple more classes in May, but they're doing it differently this year. We don't do the end of year performance since it's been on a Sunday both years. Last year, they still had a couple classes in May before the performance. This year, they aren't. . .just picture taking in costumes and dress rehearsals. I really wish they could be part of it. . .the dances are sooo cute! I feel bad, but we're not doing it since they have to have the program on Sunday. :( Rachel's teacher was disappointed that she wouldn't be in it since she's one of the better dancers in the class. We were supposed to be charged half tuition for May, but I went and asked about it since they're not doing anything in May since they're not in the program, and they said they wouldn't charge us! :)

Still awaiting the schedule for the fall classes. Rachel wants to stop tap/ballet and do clogging instead. She also wants to do violin or piano. Don't have either of those! We'll have to start looking into that. Not sure where we'd put a piano in our house! Maybe in the loft? I think we need a bigger house! Maybe violin would be better right now. . .if I could find a violin teacher!

Oh, and Daisy's will be wrapping up here in about a month or so. She'll be bridging to Brownie's in June, I believe it is. Then, Brownie meetings will begin in September.

Mamas and Pajamas

2008-04-26T23:21:00.007-04:00

Tonight Rachel had a mother/daughter activity with Girl Scouts that we went to. Our first! :) It was called Mamas and Pajamas since everyone had to wear their PJ's. Each of the girls got a water bottle to decorate, and magnetic picture frame to decorate, they took our picture together, painted each others nails, had karaoke, some dancing, 3 troops did skits, refreshments. We had lots of fun! Rachel said this one was more fun than the cowboy/cowgirl father/daughter dance she had a couple months ago! :) She liked going in PJ's. She also got a patch for the event to put on her tunic. Oh, there was also door prizes being handed out. . . .she didn't get anything. . . can anyone guess how she reacted after yesterday's post? lol She really needs to work on handling disappointment.
Edited to add the Daddy/Daughter pic from January. . .I was thinking that since I had mentioned it, but never actually posted about it at the time, I'd at least share the pic from then. This was January 26, and Rachel decorated her cowgirl hat we got at Michaels.

Wolf Walk

2008-04-25T17:25:00.003-04:00

Rachel's school had a "Wolf Walk" today. Raising money for technology equipment for the school. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera! All of us went since Brandon wasn't feeling too great and took some PTO today. I had originally planned to just go by myself with the other girls. They walked around the bus loop, then got free snow cones, and handed out prizes to those who helped raise the most money. We gave $10, and didn't ask anyone for any money for this since we had already sold Chick-fil-A calendars and Girl Scout Cookies! So, Rachel didn't raise much, and didn't get a prize with our measly $10. lol Poor thing was so upset that she didn't get a prize. There was a pizza party awarded to the 3 classes in the school that earned the most as a class. Rachel's class was one of them! :) So, Brandon and I tried to console her and remind her that at least she'll be getting pizza with her class. . . . .

She also got her class picture and spring pictures back today. The class picture turned out really good! All the kids look nice, and ALL of them are in it! Her spring pics look nice too. We have to decide to either pay for them, or send them back. Not sure what we're doing yet with those. $45 for the 5 sheets they offer. Or, pick and choose any number of sheets you want for $12 a sheet, send the unwanted ones back. If you pick 4 sheets and send one back. . .it's $48. . .lol. May as well at that point just keep them all and pay $3 less! Who's going to actually only keep four sheets?

"It doesn't pop when I blow!"

2008-04-24T16:53:00.002-04:00

Rachel brought home a blow pop today. I let her have it. It's her first one. She opens it, blows on it, then says, "It doesn't pop when I blow!" She had a VERY disappointed tone! I think she was excited to see it pop after blowing on it. I told her that it isn't going to pop, it's a lollipop. So, she asked, "Why is it called a blow pop then?" lol She didn't realize there was gum inside it!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Michaela!

2008-04-20T22:38:00.006-04:00

My little girl turned 3 on Saturday! We went up to Williamsburg and celebrated at Busch Gardens and with G & G Avery. We bought her a Spongebob cake, and it was an ABSOLUTE hit! Both of the older girls loved it. :)

The big birthday girl!

Spongebob Cake!

Blow out the candles!

Happy Half Birthday to. . . . .

2008-04-09T12:41:00.003-04:00

Alyssa! I can't believe my baby is . . . . . .

6 MONTHS OLD!

The time has flown. She's so small. . .a lady at IHOP this morning said she looked more like 3 or 4 months old, and still had that newborn cry. lol I don't know about the newborn cry since I can tell it's changed some, but she is quite small! Still wearing 0-3 month clothes, and starting to get into the 3-6's! Hasn't reached any of the milestones yet. She can skooch around on her back, but won't hold herself up, doesn't really roll over, hates tummy time, doesn't play with toys/won't hold things, is no where near being able to sit on her own or propped up (she'll tip over if we do), won't eat solid foods. . . .she ACTS like a newborn. . .lazy kid! She IS 6 months old. . . . .promise! She's content with the way things are I guess even though we try to get her to strengthen her muscles to do the things babies her age typically do.

Oh, also today. . . .8 years ago today. . . .Brandon proposed to me! :) I love you, Hon!

He's off!

2008-04-09T12:27:00.002-04:00

So, I took Brandon to the airport this morning. . . . He was originally supposed to leave at 6 am, and we'd leave home at 4. Blah! American decided to ground some planes and some flights were canceled, including his first one. So, he was given a new flight on Delta that left at 10:30 instead, so we got to sleep in! He said to just keep Rachel home today, so I did. We left home around the time she'd be heading out to the bus stop. After dropping him off at the airport, I took the girls to IHOP. :) They liked that. He'll arrive back home on Monday night. We'll miss you, Daddy!

Brandon's Grandma died :(

2008-04-06T18:06:00.002-04:00

April 3rd, his maternal grandma passed away. He's been looking for the best deal on plane tickets to go to the funeral, which will be in Idaho. It'll be this Thursday. I'm gonna miss him, but feel it's important for him to be there. He'll be going alone since it's so much $$$$. He wants to leave Wednesday, and will come back Sunday or Monday. Lots of nights alone in the house with my kids. . .scary! Hopefully Heavenly Father will watch out for us!

Twinner cousins? lol

2008-03-21T12:17:00.005-04:00

So, my sister had Mackenzie on March 14th. Of course they have their own look, but doesn't she look a lot like Michaela!? Michaela looks like Mackenzie more than her own sisters!

Michaela:

vs.

Mackenzie:

I think it's funny how their mouths are the same in those! lol When I saw that above pic of Mackenzie, I thought, "I know I have a pic somewhere of one of my kids that looks like that." But, couldn't think of what pic I was thinking of or what kid! So, I went on a photo hunt! ha!

Michaela:

vs.

Mackenzie:

Another tooth!

2008-03-11T20:57:00.005-04:00

Today Rachel lost her 3rd tooth! It's been one every other month since November. I'll have to take a picture of her mouth and come back and add it to this post sometime when I get a chance. The three she has lost are right together, so she has one permanent tooth part way up, and then blank spaces to either side. When they're really loose, she complains about not being able to eat with it, so it's nice when they come out, but now, she's not going to have anything to bite with at this rate!

A day with Daddy around

2008-03-10T22:33:00.003-04:00

So, Brandon took today off of work to work on the yard. Having him around really changes the dynamics of the day! Nothing bad, just different. It was nice to see him though since normally, we don't get to see much of him. :( He worked on digging up the sand the previous owners had put down under their pool. Not sure WHY they put sand there, but we've since gotten rid of the pool since it broke, and we want to plant grass there and we found out last year that grass doesn't grow well in the sand. So, he had to dig it out. He didn't think he'd finish today, but he did! He even got the deck power washed in preparation to paint it wood color. He's going to try and get it painted while we're out of town with my parents. He feels like it was a productive day. :) He's very sore tonight! It was productive for me as well. Yay!

Other than that, same ol' same ol'. Did some school with Rachel, cleaned, had FHE tonight, etc. . . . I'm excited about getting a break from here and seeing my parents! Not crazy about my upcoming drive alone, but we'll manage. My mom has some fun stuff planned for the girls. We leave Wednesday morning. Part of FHE tonight was setting up the Easter tree. I'll have to take and post a pic of it sometime. . . . .We have it sitting on our kitchen table.

Oh, in case I don't post before Friday, I'm gonna be an auntie on Friday! My sister will be having a C-section that day since Mackenzie is breech and refuses to turn. :( I hope all goes well for her! This is my first niece (or nephew) that's actually related to me, so I'm really excited. We all know it's different when it's YOUR niece or nephew coming into the world vs. a niece or nephew by marriage. Although, they're exciting and loved too! Just different. I actually feel like a soon-to-be-auntie!

Rained today :)

2008-03-07T22:59:00.002-05:00

We've been blessed with lots of rain this week! It poured or was at least steady most of the day today. There were a few times it let up. Rachel said they had to have their egg hunt indoors today, but oh well! The rain was very welcome, and at least they got to have a hunt even if inside. Unfortunately, I had to drive to Brandon's work today because he forgot his wallet when he left this morning. That was pretty scary, especially when I was driving near home both leaving and coming back. . .seemed to be pouring here, but was more like a sprinkle the closer I got to his work.

Brandon took yesterday off and worked around in the yard to help get our house ready to sell. He was supposed to take today off too, but with rain in the forecast, he asked his boss if he could switch it to Monday so that he could work outside when it's not raining. She was fine with that, so he switched it out. So, I have him home on Monday to look forward to. I've been working on getting the painting jobs I've started finished, and cleaning up the clutter around here.

Been waiting for Alyssa's birth certificates to come in the mail. It's been over two months now since I mailed in the form requesting them. Brandon looked up our checking account this evening, and they cashed our check on January 17th, but never mailed the darn things! They're getting a complaint call from me on Monday! In CA, we just went somewhere and picked them up. . .none of this mailing and hope you get it crap! Makes me not want to have another baby in NC. . .lol. I don't want to have to go through paying for birth certificates we don't get again.

I'm tired and have had a headache this evening from all the little surprises in my day today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. . . . .

Update from Tuesday

2008-03-06T13:56:00.002-05:00

So, we ended up getting a pretty good thunder storm Tuesday night. :) Brandon likes to watch the rain, so he was in and out to go stand on the porch and watch it come down. Normally, I join him, but I think I was busy with something this time. We even lost power, twice. Once in the afternoon when it was just raining, and once near midnight during the thunder and all. With the power out, Brandon didn't think to turn the lights off that had been on before power going out when he went to sleep. So, in the middle of the night when the power came back, I got woken up by the lights coming on in the family room. lol

Tried out the vacuum, and it works again! Thanks, hun! :) Brandon also liked the daffodils in the kitchen. His comment was, "Smells like spring in here."

Bringing the outdoors in!

2008-03-04T11:39:00.005-05:00

So, we're supposed to get some storms this afternoon. I sure hope so! But, anyway, I know how storms have been in the past to my flowers, so I cut all the daffodils growing in the back yard and put them in a vase so they can be enjoyed longer. Actually, just plain enjoyed! They're so far away back there, it's hard to enjoy them from the window if they're outside. So, even without the storm coming, I had been thinking about bringing them in and putting in a vase. But, the impending storm that hopefully comes, just helped to get me out there and get the job done! I don't want to chance them getting blown to bits! When I went out there, no storm yet, but it was getting pretty windy already. I really like having them in here. Makes the kitchen cheery looking! :) Looking forward to my tulips blooming in a couple months!

Sweetness!

2008-03-04T09:57:00.003-05:00

Thought I'd say a little about the sweet things my girls do. :)

Rachel: This past weekend, she decided to put little gifts under me and Brandon's pillows. :) She drew a picture of her hand, colored it, cut it out. . . .bent down the middle and ring fingers and tacked them down with a little heart sticker so the other fingers were up to say, "I love you." She put one under my pillow and a second one under Brandon's pillow as a surprise for us to find. :) She said someone at school taught her how to make that. Then, she wanted Brandon and I to put something under her pillow in return! lol

Michaela: Kayla loves to mother her bear! She puts Bear into Alyssa's swing, and then turns it on along with the music for it. Alyssa doesn't sleep in the bassinet anymore, but we still have it out in our room. She takes Bear and puts it in there, takes 'blankie' (her beloved blanket that a coworker of Brandon's from CA made for her when she was born. . .she doesn't share it with anyone but Bear and Alyssa!) and covers Bear with it. Tells Bear to go night-night and starts to sing to it! Then, she'll tell me to be quiet because Bear is sleeping! Bear gets 'hurt' sometimes and she'll doctor him up. lol Bear also gets breastfed by Kayla. . . .something Rachel used to do when Kayla was the baby! Some reason my kids think they need to nurse a doll or stuffed animal when they see me nursing the new baby in the family. Michaela also loves to kiss Alyssa's head. From day one, we told her she could kiss the baby's head because we didn't want her getting in the baby's face. So, whenever she sees Alyssa, will ask, "Can I kiss head?" She really loves her baby sister!

Alyssa: I just love getting Alyssa out of her crib in the mornings! As soon as she sees me, her eyes will get big, and she kicks her legs and flaps her arms and gets all excited and coos! I also love her big smiles and cute little dimple. That's about all I'm getting from her these days. . . .but can't expect too much from an almost 5 month old! ha! :)

Brandon: Guess I should say something about my man too! Last night he helped me fold clothes and emptied the diaper champ. :) I have been complaining about my vacuum these past few weeks too. . .it won't suck everything up anymore, and sometimes has a funny smell when running. This morning I found out that after I went to sleep, he took a look at it and said there was a bunch of hair and string stuck around the brush that turns around. So, he cleaned that out for me. We're hoping that does the trick. I still have yet to try it out and see if it works again now. . .will do so later today.

Almost track out!

2008-03-03T12:29:00.002-05:00

One more week of school! Yippie! Rachel's last day is March 7, then she has 3 weeks off. She took in 24 plastic eggs with a piece of candy today for the egg hunt at school this Friday. She's excited about that. She thinks that this Friday is actually Easter. . . .lol. They use the eggs afterwards for math somehow.

Speaking of Easter. . . so, I bought a cute little "Baby's First Easter" outfit for Alyssa. Seeing as how she'll be 5 months old on the 9th, I bought a 3-6 month one. I just put it on her, and she's SWIMMING in it! Should have gotten the 0-3. . .wasn't thinking logically, or maybe I was, just not realistically. . .something! It'll be "Baby's First Easter" still this fall. . . .lol. I'm sure it'll fit then if she's anything like her sisters that wore 0-3 till they were 9 months old, and 3-6 until they were somewhere between 12 and 18 months.

The other two are currently in: Rachel who will be 6 on July 7, is in 4T and starting to wear 5T (she's actually starting to grow out of things, and I need to go shopping for her!) she was still in 3T at the beginning of the cold season; and Michaela will be 3 on April 19 and in 24 month, 2T and 3T. . .she's our "big" child. . . . she was fitting into 18 month at the beginning of the cold weather season, but grew out of those by the end of December! Some of the 3T shirts that started out on Rachel's side of the closet in October, ended up on Michaela's side. 3T jeans are finally fitting Rachel around the middle, but they're too short in length now. 4T jeans are long enough, but again, fall off and bother her. I found some 5T slim at Target. . . .WONDERFUL! Long enough without showing the panties. . .thanks Target! :) I think 4 slim would fit her too, but decided on the 5 so they'll last a couple years. :) Now to find some jeans that won't fall off mommy's bum too! ;) I HATE shopping for jeans for myself. . .it's so freakin hard!

Teacher Conference

2008-02-26T09:16:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we had the 3rd quarter teacher conference with Rachel's teacher. She's doing really well! She got a 4 in writing again, a 3* in reading again, and a 3 in everything else. Not really sure why she didn't get a 4 in math. . .guess her teacher doesn't know her adding abilities! She understands above the material they're covering. . .whatever! She got the 3* in reading because she has passed the benchmark for getting a 3 in reading for 3rd quarter, and is currently working on the benchmark to get a 4, but hasn't passed that level yet so couldn't quite get the 4. She's now working on a first grade reading level. :) I think we're going to work on reading more during track out so by the end of 4th quarter she can get the 4 in reading! :) She has a long way to go to catch up with daddy! Daddy was on a 5th grade level in first or second grade, can't remember which. Mrs. Fry also said that she's very mature for her age, has a good working pace, but is still very chatty! That's my girl. . . .chatty, chatty, chatty! lol Can't ever shut her up! The one thing she says she needs to work on is writing her last name. She's leaving out the u in it when spelling. I think that's about it. The teacher said our conference went fast since she didn't have anything bad to say about Rach.

Been a while!

2008-02-22T18:33:00.003-05:00

Since the newest was born, I guess I just stopped coming to post anything! But, that's not surprising since I've been doing this active/inactivity cycle for years now on message boards and online journals. . .why would it be different on a blog? ha!

So, yes, she was born on October 9th as scheduled! Wasn't bumped after all! She was 7 lbs 14 oz, 20 inches long, and came at 6:22 pm. We named her Alyssa Avery. Looks like her sisters! She has brown hair though and dimples. :) Two parents both with dimples, and no dimples until the 3rd child! My induction took longer this time since the Dr didn't completely break my water. He didn't realize it until later. We were past the time frame that the other two had been out by, and we were wondering what was going on. We said a prayer that things would start happening finally because we didn't know what was going on, and I was getting scared. Five minutes after the prayer. . .the Dr came in to check me and said that I had a 2nd membrane of water that didn't break for some reason, and that was holding things back from progressing like my other labors. So, he broke it, I went from about 5-6 cm to complete and I was pushing in about 30 minutes. :) Amazing how the bag of water can delay labor like that. . .

Here are my three girls! This was taken at the hospital on October 10. The hospital gave her that pink hat. I got to pick from so many cute ones! I liked the little flower on this one, so I chose it.

I'm pretty sure I'm done having kids! Brandon wants to try again in the future in hopes of a boy, but having a baby just throws me off for a year and a half, and the existing kids suffer, and that's not fair to them. So, I'm keeping the option open, but I'm not sold on the idea of another. Maybe when Alyssa is 4-6 years old, I'll consider it!

My funny five year old!

2007-09-28T16:48:00.000-04:00

Rachel has been soooo concerned about finding a "good man to marry" when she grows up. lol Since I've gotten pg, she started asking questions about having a baby someday herself. We tell her that when she's an adult, she can find a nice, good man to marry in the Temple, and then she can have babies. . .blah blah blah. So, then she'd start bringing up, "how do I find a good man?" or "what if I don't find a good man?" This past July at my cousins wedding, she stood in the crowd of women trying to catch the bouquet, and of course didn't catch it. So, she was literally in tears thinking that because she didn't catch it, she was NEVER going to get married when she's an adult. I had to tell her that mommy never caught any bouquets at any weddings, and yet I still got married. . . .

So, this subject was never brought up again until this past Sunday. On the way home from church, she's telling us that in class they talked about how when they get baptized they'll wear a white dress, and when they grow up and get married in the Temple they'll wear a white dress. Oh, man, then it came again. . . . "I hope I find a good man to marry" and "How do I find a good man to marry," etc.

I can see it all now when she's older. . . .all the drama. . . .ugh! lol We do hope that all our girls will end up with good, kind men. We just find it funny that Rachel seems so concerned about it at FIVE! She even has names picked out for her kids. . . . .mainly it's the names of her little friends at school. lol

Rachel's first day pic in her classroom. . . . .

2007-09-21T12:21:00.001-04:00

Rachel's first day of school

2007-09-21T12:02:00.001-04:00

So, I'm working a little backwards here. . .lol. Since I just began this, as I think of something noteworthy to put in, I'll put it in randomly I guess! Here's Rachel's first day of Kindergarten, which was July 16th. For the first two weeks, the stupid bus NEVER CAME! We'd wait, and then I'd have to drive her to school. Ugh! She'd come home on the bus fine, but her normal driver was on vacation, so she had a different sub driver for the am and pm. The pm sub knew about her, but the am one didn't realize a child waited at that stop. She's the only one who gets on at her stop in the am. One pic is in front of our house, and the other is in her classroom. I didn't know if her teacher would want me taking a pic of her or not, so that's why there's like half of her there! Ok, well evidently you can only add ONE picture in one post or it doesn't put the pic where you want it and looks dumb! So, I'll have to make a new post with just the other pic I'm trying to add. . . . .

The girls' first day of ballet this season!

2007-09-20T14:23:00.001-04:00

Here they are on their first day, September 4! Rachel loves her dance classes! Michaela is still warming up to the idea. I wish she'd go to class without thinking I have to stay in the room too! She also has problems going to nursery at Church too.

My Family

2007-09-20T07:49:00.000-04:00

I'm Elizabeth, wife to the most wonderful man I've ever met, and mother to three beautiful, sweet little girls. We still have yet to meet the third girl, but I'm assuming she'll be just as sweet and beautiful as her sisters! So far, we have lived in San Jose, CA for most of our married life (we were there 6 long years), and have now been in North Carolina for a year and a half. I am loving living here, and love being able to afford and live in a house again!

My sweetie, Brandon: We met my senior year of college (at BYU). My first memory of him was at a ward prayer where I caught him (and two other guys) looking at me. I thought that he was the cutest out of the three of them. :) Later I found out that he was going to ask me out on his own, but that plan got beat out by someone setting us up first before he got the chance. One of my roommates and one of his roommates were engaged, and they thought it would be fun to set us up and go out on a double date together. (This other couple also are the parents of 3 girls at the moment. . .how ironic is that? lol) So, we had our first date on September 11, 1999 with our engaged roommates. The four of us got some Mexican food for dinner to go, and went Jeeping into the mountains, stopped and built a campfire and ate our food and talked until we left to go home. Sitting around the campfire, my jeans would get too hot and start burning my legs since I was sitting too close to it. So, when that happened, I'd stand up and walk away to let my legs cool off a bit, and then sit back down. I found out later after we were married that he had tried to put his arm around me several times, and just so happened that he timed it just as I needed to get up and walk away before my legs got unbearably hot. I had no clue he had tried to put his arm around me, and he had no clue what the real reason was for all my getting up. He was assuming that I was trying to get away from him, and wasn't interested! ha, ha! It was 3 am on the drive home, and I wanted to fall asleep in my chair sooooo badly, but then I thought it would be rude of me to do that when he had to stay awake and drive. So, I stayed up and talked to him. He told me, during the same discussion when I found out about him trying to put his arm around me, that had I fallen asleep, he wouldn't have asked me out again thinking I wasn't interested in him. He said me staying awake showed him that I was interested despite all my "walking away," and gave him courage to ask me out again. :) He also commented that after having been married to me and knowing that it's hard for me to stay up past midnight, that that must have been REALLY hard for me to do, and thanked me for staying up and talking to him. :)

So, we dated from there on out. He took me up to Idaho quite a few times, and I got to know his family pretty well during those times. I went home for Christmas as usual, so he flew out to Dallas also to spend Christmas with me and meet my family. He proposed to me on April 9, 2000. . .a few weeks before I graduated; and we got married on June 9, 2000. I actually wanted a fall wedding, but my brother was leaving on a mission in July, and I wanted him to be there, so we got married sooner before he could leave. The morning of our wedding day, we decided to accept the job he had been offered at Cisco in California. So, after getting married, we lived in UT for about a month, and then moved to CA in July. I taught 5th grade the first year we lived there.

Rachel Elizabeth: Our first daughter was born July 7, 2002 in Mt. View, CA. I like her birthday: 7-7 like the wonderful year of '77. . .lol. I got to pick it since I was induced. She was 8 lbs. 10 oz and 21 inches. . . .born on her due date. She is 5 now, and is in a year round public school for this year going to kindergarten. I'm hoping to go back to homeschooling after this year. So much wasted time at school, plus what they're doing. . . .she could do when she was 3! I supplement her learning with stuff more on her level when she is at home. It's so hard to do since I now have limited time with her at school. It's easier when she's at home. She also misses out on the homeschool group getting together every Friday morning and the enriching experiences she could be having with them. I've started teaching her basic sewing lessons since we tracked out on September 7, in addition to her usual homeschool work I give her to work on so she doesn't fall behind where she has already gotten. She tracks back in on October 1, and I'm not looking forward to it. :( She's taking ballet/tap again this year, and is now a Daisy Girl Scout! This year they are going to let Daisy's sell cookies!. . . .if her troop gets a cookie mom volunteer. Not sure I want to be that mom with a newborn as well! Hopefully someone else will volunteer. Rachel is extremely outgoing, loves being with people, playing with her sister, and loves to learn.

Michaela Addie: Our second daughter was born April 19, 2005 in the same hospital as Rachel. I like her birthday too! Both her and I are A. 19th birthdays! I'm in August, and she's in April. She was born 5 days before her due date and was 7 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches. I was scheduled to be induced with her on the 18th, but got bumped when 15 women went into labor naturally at a hospital that only has 10 delivery rooms, so there was no room for me to go in that day. We got to go in the next day, the 19th. I didn't get to even pick the 18th, or any day with her like I did with Rachel. Rachel, he let me pick from 3 days; Michaela, he chose the 18th. Michaela is now almost 2.5 years old and has her terrible 2 moments, but is usually a sweet girl. She loves to copy everything Rachel does. I've started homeschooling her going over shapes, colors, letters, numbers, etc. She has the shapes and colors down pretty good, and getting better at letters/numbers. Michaela is in a 2.5 yo ballet class that meets at the same time as Rachel's class. She was hesitant about it at first, but seems to be warming up to it. She is a lot more shy than Rachel was/is. If things don't work out, I may take her out and not waste money on it. I'm going to give her a few more weeks and see how it goes. This past Tuesday she participated really well, so I'm thinking it may work. . . . .

Alyssa Avery: Our 3rd daughter in waiting. . . . the current tum-tum love. She is SCHEDULED to be born on October 9th. Hopefully I'm not bumped again! I'll like that birthday too if we get it. Her half b/day will be the day Brandon proposed to me. :) She'll be our first born in NC. If born that day, she'll be 8 days early as far as the doc is concerned, or 11 days early as far as her actual age is as I know it, so I'm hoping she'll be somewhat smaller than Michaela! (The doc dated the pregnancy based on LMP and not actual O-day.) She spends her days sleeping, hiccuping, sticking her bum in my ribs, kicking me everywhere, and wishing she could meet her sisters. Alyssa had a twin that vanished very early in the pregnancy. On August 16, I had a lot of painful contractions, and was sent to the hospital to be monitored. After being monitored a while, they deemed it pre-term labor and stopped it. Things have been fairly ok since. Still get way too many contractions, but nothing like that one day. I just want her OUT now! And be comfortable again.