A Day at the Zoo

Back in the day, I had some fabulous friends, and lucky me, I've kept them for the last hmmmm 14 years!  Before Angie and her brood of boys move to Neverland, Hollie and her little Sadie came to visit for a few days!  We spent the first day at the kids favorite hangout - the zoo!!!

Angie with her new squishy toy, Asher.

This is one of our favorite spots to animal watch - birds, fish and tiny moneys - something for everone to love!

Mitchell was so glad to be out of his stroller!!!

The climbing wall that Jense nad nEmily have spent the last two years practicing on - it has now been mastered!!

The obligatory group picture!

Jensen, Hollie, Miles, Emily, Sadie, Me, Mitchell, Angie, and Asher

Random Cuteness and New Talents

Our little guy LOVES the bathtub!  And rolling around on the floor.  And sitting up by himself.  And rocking back and forth and back and forth...

One day we were playing outside.  Ben kept teasing the girls, so I sent him inside to go to his room.  A few minutes later, I went inside to check on him, only to find him making us all egg sandwiches for dinner!  I couldn't get mad at him for serving our family, although I did remind him that it would be better to make the choice to come inside before he teased so much next time!  He's my little chef!!!  (And they were fantastic sandwiches!!!

Yes, I made all three of these dresses...with lots of help from my dear friend!  She's amazing!!!  One morning and half of an afternoon to put these babies together!  I've been walking past the fabric at Walmart for months, thinking that it couldn't be too hard to make.  It wasn't, but I'm sure glad that I had guidance!!!  And, yes, my seems even matched for the red lines around the girls!!!  Thanks, Marianne, for all of your help and encouragement; I feel so accomplished as a Mom!!!

Mother Goose's Goose is Loose

Annie's class did a little play and then recited all the poems they have learned throughout the year.

Mitchell charmed the audience and cause many a parent to say, "Oh shoot!" as their camera was not ready!  Sorry; he's just a cute little guy!

Annie and Kiara reciting their poem.  It was a great little program!  Loved this Kindergarten class!!!

5 Weeks and 3 Days

Waiting in the Dr office to get Annie's cast off!!!

Our little tag-along.  This is one of the last times I've brought heim around in his car seat because he is a solid kiddo!!!  And such a happy guy to just hangout wherever we are!

The beginning of the saw!!!!  Annie did terrific - didn't flinch at all!

She was a tiny bit nervous on this part, but quickly gave me smiles when she noticed I was watching.

It's coming off....

This little girl - she's so brave!

We were surprised to find a sunflower seed beneath all the wrappings....hmmm - don't even know the last time we had them!  After x-rays, we found her arm was about 90% healed.  Therefore, she was still on restricted gym classes, no softball and still no bike-riding.  She also isn't supposed to run around, swing, wrestle, etc...  She did great with all of her restrictions for the first day and a half...  She's as busy little girl!  We go back next week to get another set of x-rays and complete freedom!

So Yummy for the Tummy!

Each Monday (or Sunday) night we have Family Home Evening.  This consists of singing songs, a short lesson from the scriptures or just basic society rules/values, and a treat.  It was Ben's turn to make a treat, but we didn't have all of the ingredients so we moved dessert to the next night.  He had spent a good 30 minutes pouring over some of my Pampered Chef recipes books in order to choose.

 Ben's Masterpiece - Mint Chocolate Silk Torte - and it was FABULOUS!!!  The only part he didn't help with was taking the pans out of the oven.  He kindly also took some to his teacher at school, as he was apparently so excited to make this dessert (it honestly took all afternoon), that he told her all of the yummy ingredients.  It was delicious!!!!  Way to go, Ben!

So tired....

One night around 9, Andy and I were watching a movie for our date.  Annie wandered down, ignored us, used the bathroom and didn't come back out.  Emily wandered down a few minutes later.  Andy followed her into our bathroom and check on Annie in the process.

 Annie was cold and could only find my shirt for warmth.

 Emily didn't have anything readily accessible, so Andy covered her with pillows.

Such cute little girls.  They walk the entire length of the house twice to get to our room and can still fall right back asleep!

Friday Evening - and hard at Work!

I tell you - the men in this house can WORK!  In our efforts to get the garden spots ready, we trimmed a few trees and split some of the wood we already had to make it more user-friendly.  After several days and many hours of labor, we have our garden in (and are very thanful for the four missionaries in our ward who gave many many hours of service to help!!!)

 This night it started to pour just as they were finishing up, so we all hung out in the garage for awhile.

 The kids watched the water from the gutter before braving the FREEZING cold rain!

 I LOVE clean little kid feet.

 Love how Emily is holding onto Ben for security...such sweet moments!

Reasons Why I Haven't Blogged in a LONG Time

Baseball games...

Soccer games...

Cute little girls who (for a rare moment) kick the ball - instead of running up and down the field waving hello...

Mother's Day flowers...

Teaching a cute little guy to eat...while he is very distracted with the things around him...

Helping little ones out of tight spots...

"Little Yellow Tokens of Love"

My friend Emily once wrote a poem.  She posted it on her blog, and it's been in my thoughts for the last week or so.  My little ones LOVE flowers.  They also love to pick flowers.  However, that gets them in trouble - EXCEPT for picking these 'little yellow tokens of love' that they delight in bringing to me.

 Emily and Jensen had another sunny afternoon playdate, and all I could think about was this poem.

 DANDELION

those little yellow tokens of love are just weeds,

to the ignorant.

but in the eyes of a child,

they are priceless, gifts from God

for a loving mother.

-by Emily Haws (April 30, 1995)

Here comes my special bouquet - something Emily can bring as a gift and know I will absolutely love it.  Such purpose and focus in creating these little gifts.  I wish I could capture a picture of each group of yellow bunches - as well as the bright eyes of the giver.



An Overheard Conversation

Setting: Annie did something Emily didn't like (which isn't hard to do)

Emily: I'm not inviting you to my birthday party!
Annie: You have too.  Family gets to come.  Besides I'm your best friend FOREVER.
Emily: No, you're not.
Annie:  Yes, I am.  Mom says that we will be each other's best friend, so you have to invite me to your birthday party because you always invite your best friend to your birthday party.
Emily: Okay; you can come.

*So glad that at least something I'm teaching them is sinking in!!!*

Things...in a list

1. Andy is done with his 2nd year of law school - we are all thrilled and spent this entire day playing.  We just hope he passed all of his classes as two might be tight!
2. I spent a fabulous 3 1/2 days in Utah while watching my niece perform as Belle in Beauty and the Beast - more on this later.
3. While I was gone, Annie got a package from Nonie that was a frilly, girly PURPLE dress that she absolutely loves because it matches her cast.  I will take a picture tomorrow.
4. I went to a Women's Conference today and learned two things in a class: First, my thoughts are not fact.  Second, too much daydreaming is not mentally healthy because looking to the future gets you anxious and looking in the past makes you depressed.  It's all about enjoying the present.
5. Mitchell was the absolute BEST traveler and most flexible baby EVER as I shifted his schedule about 5 hours.  I am paying for that now.  He's become bored with life and reallllllllllly wants to crawl around.  As he is not yet 6 months old, I'm not okay with this.  He has also started to whine in the last few days - not the best.
6. Mitchell doesn't love food yet.  I need to remember he is still not yet 6 months old (next week!), but he just doesn't really enjoy it.  He won't open his mouth for it, yet won't shut his mouth any other time as he's always chewing on toys, toes, or just making noise.
7. Kids are so fabulous right now.  Everyone is being so kind and gracious, with quick apologies and helping hands.  They are excited about Mother's Day tomorrow.
8. I love talking to friendly, helpful people.
9. I'm ready for a road trip - good thing we have 3 of them planned for the summer!!!  (Palmyra, Niagara Falls *US side,* Washington D.C., Dallas, and hopefully Chicago again!  I also want to do an over-nighter in Pittsburgh, but I haven't cleared that one with the boss yet!  I'm trying to figure out how to get us to Boston and Philadelphia...(I really want to retrace steps from National Treasure), but that might have to wait a few months.
10. I'm really tired, so I'm heading to bed.  Good night!

Annie and her Cast...when it was still new and exciting...

So, Annie went on a little bike ride.  She was going too fast, lost control and fell off her bike.  She came in crying.  Andy sat with her on the couch while I got ice.  Being the stellar mother that I am, I just figured we'd put some ice on it and she'd be fine in the morning!  Andy kept giving me funny looks.  I finally said, "What?!?  If you have something to tell me, just say it!  I can't read your funny looks!!!"  He thought it was broken and that we needed to take her to the ER.  We called our resident ER doctor who lives 70 seconds away.  He wasn't home but said it's always better to take kids in for x-rays because they hide pain much better than adults do.  We called another 70 second neighbor over to help Andy give Annie a Priesthood blessing.  Afterwards, we all were much more at peace, and Annie had calmed down quite a bit!  She wanted Dad to take her to the hospital. 

(Eating the Cookie Bouquet Aunt Jamie sent!)

I got a call a few hours later saying her arm was broken.  The person making the diagnosis: Dad.  They hadn't seen the doctor yet, but he saw the x-ray and it was very obvious.  (I would have put the x-ray on here since I got a copy of the cd, but I forgot to get it back from the orthopedic pediatric that we saw!).  We spent the next 2 days cuddling and watching tv...and doing laundry!!!

I took Annie in Wednesday morning to get her cast.  We were a little surprised that it was to go up so high, but she has been such an incredible trooper through this whole process!  We have 5 weeks in the cast (May 18th).  It is waterproof and she's been swimming once, but it takes a long time to dry.  We had to pull her from both softball and soccer.  She's getting very tired of having to go and watch both Ben and Emily have practices while she doesn't get to go, but I keep reminding her that next year she can do them and all will be okay!  Surprisingly, the cast hasn't slowed her down, much to my dismay!!!

Wednesday is another one of Andy's late nights.  I called and told him about her cast and reminded him that he needed to bring her something home to show that he loved her and was proud of her for handling everything so well.  He stopped at Borders and got a coloring activity that has provided many hours of enjoyment!  (Many thanks for Borders for being open so late!)  After he came home, I thought he would come downstairs to talk with me, but I couldn't hear his footsteps, so I went to investigate (and see what treats he was sneaking...and demand equal bites!).  I found him watching Annie sleep...

Gross!!!! But they love it!

Wormy the worm

We had a beautiful beautiful beautiful day.  Emily had her best buddy over to play (and we played outside for 3 hours!).  Mitchell joined us for part of the time.  I read.  It was the most fantastic day of the last several months!

Sweet baby got tired of being outside.  Mitchell might not have been born in Texas, but he does know how to hook those horns!!!  And yes, this is how I find him in his crib most nights.

Jensen is moving...next month...Emily and Jensen play so wonderfully together.  They are 10 days apart; neither are oldest children; they both love to play outside...and dig for worms!  It just about breaks my heart, so, yes, these pictures are PRICELESS and beautiful.  It was a marvelous afternoon...

Outside Adventures

We finalllllly had some decent weather while Grandma and Grandpa Maas were here!  We took advantage and played outside.  Yes, I know Annie is stepping with the incorrect foot; we WERE working on that!

 Big boys playing baseball...

 Ben convinced Grandpa to play "Trains" with us.  Love this new game of ours!!!  The best part is that Ben will hear something about one of the cities and remember which train routes he had to build to get there!  (He's learning geography AND math, right?!?)

 Grandma spent most of her time inside sitting on the floor doing puzzles with Annie and Emily...hour after hour after hour...

 Friday night, Gma and Gpa bought dinner, fed the kids and put them to bed and sent Andy and I out on a date!  FABULOUS!  I can't even tell you the last time we had 3 hours uninterrupted by phone, computer, tv, children, places to be, etc...was amazing!  AND the restaurant we went to gives free dessert to first time customers; then we went furniture shopping and FINALLY choose our new sofa sectional that will fit down our narrow stairwell - only 3 1/2 more weeks until it arrives!!!

 More boys playing ball...

 Ben has been dying to use the fishing poles he and Andy got for Christmas.  So, we took a little time and went fishing at the local park.  Ben was so excited.  I learned that I need to become more proficient at untangling fishing thread!

 We had great dinner plans, but Andy was called away - giving us detailed instructions for grilling our chicken breasts.  Mike and I worked together to get a yummy Sunday dinner on the table!

 Where did Andy go?  He was the chosen parent to take Annie to the Emergency Room.  Poor little one was going to fast on her bike, lost control and fell off.  Yep!  Two broken bones!!!  Cast pictures to follow...

We also spent an afternoon swimming at the hotel!  Mitchell had his first swim!!!  (This was pre-accident!)

Thanks, Maases, for the visit!  We hope you enjoyed Ohio, and we loved the sunshine you brought for a few hours!!!