funny Natalie...

Natalie has been insisting on sleeping at the bottom of Kaydee's trundle bed for a while now, apparently she thinks she is too big for her crib. Well tonight Greg went in to pull out the trundle and Natalie blocked it with her hand and said, "No....can't do it..... its dangerous." Sounds like someone didn't want to go to bed.



Natalie is also loving doing things on her own... especially getting dressed. I couldn't resist getting the bum shot, sorry.


I am so enjoying getting to know her personality.

Carmen Sandiego and other sixth grade memories...

Tuesday was the 6th grade vs teacher softball game at Nicole's school. Just watching all of the cute 6th graders made me laugh, they did great but it got me thinking... I thought I was so grown up when I was their age. I vividly remember so much from that year. For your reading enjoyment, here are some of the highlights:

1. I started wearing make-up--I matched my eye-shadow with my outfit
   
2. First boyfriend--he gave me roses, teddy bears, chocolates but we rarely spoke to each other.
   
3. Carmen Sandiego and Square One (see movie clips below)
4. Mrs. Powell--the only teacher that I have somewhat disliked in my 16 years of schooling. She wasn't that bad, but oh the stories I can tell about her.
   
5. First pair of Girbaud jeans, Esprit bag, and ENUF sweatshirt--man I was stylin'
6. I was a brat. a snob. --I lost a lot of my true friends because I chose new, not so good friends. Ugh!
7. The three-way calling slam--such a mean girl thing to do.... I am so embarrassed to admit that I actually did this.
   
8. Year around school--not as bad as I thought it would be.
9. Young Womens
10. First public performance with my clarinet
11. California and Disneyland--first family vacation that we went on. I thought it was funny to watch people in their cars slow down to count how many people were in my family (there were 9 of us)

Sixth grade. Ahhhh....those were the days.

I LOVEd "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego." I so wanted to be a contestant on it. Does anyone else remember this show? In sixth grade, my teacher Mrs. Powell used to have us watch it for Geography. And then for math she would let us watch Square One. Seriously.

To be fair to Mrs. Powell--we did do other things for geography and math...but she had us watch this nearly every day. What 6th grader wouldn't love to spend an hour of school watching t.v.?

Let the games begin...

We got our game on with the Nortons today and
what a BLAST!!

What's better than stuffing ourselves with BBQ and other scrumptious food on Memorial Day? Following it up with hours of wii entertainment, of course. We had so much fun with our great friends the Norton's today. Here are just a few highlights ...

• getting my kids psyched up with face paint and comfy sports gear
  
• teaching my kids the proper forms of taunting and growling (grrrr....)
  
• delicious BBQ ribs and hamburgers
• Jessica's potato salad (I so need the recipe for this)
  
• thunderstorm enabling us to stay indoors and not having to do yard work (or retaining walls)
  
• rings with bubble blowing ability
  
• ice cream cones
• Wii Olympics and Mario Kart... what a work out!!
• lots of laughter
  

Thanks for the great day!!

Memorial Day...

Happy Memorial Day! I love this day... no its not because its a day off from work and school but for me it represents family and friends and more importantly freedom. I am soooo grateful for all the brave soldiers that have fought throughout history to ensure freedom in this wonderful country. We are truly blessed. So to all those that have sacrificed their time and especially their lives to serve the U.S. I say thank you.

Five crowns...

I have a love/hate relationship with the game five crowns. I love it because you don't have to think too hard to play. No thinking=great conversation. BUT I have the worst luck when I play this game. Seriously, every time I play Five Crowns I lose and not just by a little bit. -ugh- I was trying to explain this phenomenon at game night the other night and no one believed me--until we started playing...

ya, I lost again.

oral report....

Nicole did her first official oral report in school and she did a GREAT job!

(the inspiration for her report....our poison dart frogs)
We didn't bring the mom and dad frogs because their terrarium is so stinkin' heavy with all of the live plants and the waterfall, however we did bring the aquarium with the four baby frogs. The class was so excited, especially when Greg fed the frogs some fruit flies.

I am so proud of all of the hard work and studying she did to prepare for the big day. You wouldn't think a report would make me so sentimental but I can remember doing MY reports in elementary and all I could think of is my little girl is growing up. Wow how time flies.

Watermelon...

I love watermelon!

We bought our first watermelon of the season the other day... I walked around Costco for a good half of an hour debating whether or not a watermelon this early in the season would be juicy enough, sweet enough, for the $5 I was paying for it. (seriously, $5!) We were not disappointed.

I've been tagged (again)...

How To Play This Game of Tag: Post these rules on you blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

JOYS:
1. Spending time with my kids and my wonderful husband, laughing and having fun.

2. Alone time. Especially when Greg takes the girls for a couple of hours and I have the house to myself. ;) *and yes, I know this pretty much contradicts the joy that I stated above.

3. When my kids tell the truth even if they might get in trouble.

FEARS:
1. That my family won't have any clean underwear because I haven't done laundry for over a week...

2. Stairs. I HATE it when kids play around stairs, it gets me so nervous!

3. Not being prepared.

GOALS:
1. Finish reading the Book of Mormon w/ Nicole by August 2, 2008.

2. Lose a ba-gillion pounds by August 23rd... (ten year high school reunion-YIKES!)

3. Be more patient and understanding with my kids and hubby.

CURRENT OBSESSIONS/ COLLECTIONS
1. Maggie Moos' Mango Sorbet w/ Strawberries...you so need to try this!

2. Pixel Junk Monsters a.k.a. the PS3 game that Greg and I will sacrifice way too much sleep for just so we can successfully move on to the next level.

3. Jane Austen movies-I really should read her books....

RANDOM FACTS
1. I sing with my "crazy" voice on the top of my lungs when I am driving alone in my car...kind of embarrassing if I forget to roll up my window though.

2. I've decided that I am going to learn Dutch. I don't know when but I figure that I should probably learn how to say my last name correctly sometime before I die :)

3. I like talk radio......more than music stations usually. I am sure that my kids are going to groan at me about it just like I used to groan to my dad about it when I was a teenager.

WHO I'M TAGGING:
1. Heather
2. Caron
3. Mandy

My five year old . . .

It's official, Kaydee turned five yesterday. I have mixed feelings about this-- five is the age that kids go to kindergarten, five is the age where the whole independent thinking really takes off, five is the first step in growing up. Ahhh! I kept asking her if it was okay if she stayed four for at least another year.... she didn't like the idea... go figure.

A little about Kaydee .... she is full of spunk and surprises and she definitely keeps us on our toes. She loves 1 on 1 attention and she has such a sense of humor! (just take a peek over to the side column). Kaydee is also very creative in her thinking, in her art and especially in what she chooses to wear :) She loves doing "grown up" things like getting the mail and vacuuming the floors and "babysitting" Natalie when I'm cleaning the house. She thinks of others often and can be such a peacemaker at times!

Kaydee's favorites . . .
food: ice cream, cake and pizza
color: all of them, except black because black doesn't show up on black paper :P
movie: Robin Hood and all of the Barbie movies
date w/ mom: ice skating
date w/ dad: going to the movies
book: the Scriptures (and no I didn't prompt her on this one) and Up Up Down by Robert Munsch
sport: riding her bike
toy: Barbies and little pet shop diary

Kaydee's b-day cake, the girl that is always wearing skirts wanted a race track cake . . .

I sure love ya, Kaydee!

John Pinette...

I love this guy. I was first introduced to him in Vegas while visiting Greg's brother (Scott) and sister-in-law (Dana). He is HILARIOUS!