Welcome to our World

Once in a while there are those days you feel like you're a great mom. I feel like that when Lisa is around. She does such a great job it is easy to just follow her lead and go with the greatness. And her son, Ethan, is such a good little guy that Kaelah seemed to do the same thing... just followed his lead & had a great old time. On May 24th we felt like super moms for taking our children to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science for the morning & lunch and then next door to the Zoo for the afternoon. We had a terrific day! Astro Tots! The boys measuring up to a dinosaur. Being a penguin in a cave. My, my the kangaroos were a hoppin'! I love how little ones point their fingers at the zoo. I am going to miss this girl being 14-months-old. (Have you noticed the musical stroller game going on?) I liked her reflection in this photo. I spy with my little eye a baby orangutang! Before leaving Lisa gave them an idea to have a dance party to the music playing at...

We weren't going to make a big deal out of Mother's Day this year b/c it fell during the same week as my parents' birthdays. But my mom had bought new outfits for the children to wear to church & I just had to get a good photo. Being the insanely optimistic person that I am at times, I decided to take my little ones to JC Penny for pictures to then give to my mom, mother-in-law, & Dan's grandma for Mother's Day presents. Here are the 3 digital photos we bought followed by the scan of the free 8x10. All I have to say is, I will seriously re-think ever trying that again. Nothing wrong with JC Penny, they just are not our friend, Valerie R. (; Poor Danny woke up sick that day but I didn't cancel. What a nice boy to still try to smile for us! Michelle decided to play peek-a-boo, which enabled us to take the sibling photo we had given up on earlier. I was delighted when Kaelah came home from church with a Mother's Day card her Sunbeam teacher helpe...

Here's the web album Dan made from the pictures taken on our camera from the ward Young Women Camp fundraiser on May 14. (Just click on that picture of Kaelah drinking lemonade at the potluck dinner.) You can credit Maddy B. as photographer for most of them. The Young Women did great, the food was good, & people really enjoyed the items & service they won at the silent auction. I have to say, I'm very grateful we only have to do this once a year... and that Margaret S. took the lead on this one! I love being able to work with the teenage girls in our congregation but at times I seriously wonder why the bishop put me in as the president! P.S. Our Danny cracked a lot of people up by continually walking to the 5 gal. Igloo cooler & refilling his lemonade cup. He thinks he's so grown up.

There's a reason why I love looking at pictures. You don't usually take pictures of the bad stuff. For instance, I don't have any photos of when my children are in time out or when Kaelah broke her collar bone in April. I don't have any photos of me praying for forgiveness after loosing my patience with Kaelah or telling my husband I just want to give up. But I do have pictures like this: Dan took Danny on a date to go slot car racing & came home with an RC pick-up truck. This is what he looks like when he plays with it (usually when all the children are asleep). Here's a picture of my girls when Danny was taking a nap. They love their girl time to be sisters! And look at how proud I am in this one! If I am near her & Kaelah & Danny are not, Michelle will tell me she has to "poop" & goes pee or poop in the little potty. I was so shocked! The last couple of days Danny goes pee in the potty every morning after breakfast but then isn...

It was cloudy and a bit cold for our annual backyard Easter egg hunt. Little did I know pretty much the entire spring would be like that this year! Between what my mother & I prepared for Easter eggs my children actually got tired of finding the eggs. I guess next year we don't need Kaelah to put candy in eggs for us. (; After you find an egg, put it in your basket, Danny. This was Michelle's first time hunting since she was only a couple weeks old last year. Of course Kaelah & Danny were much more entertaining, but I'm sure by next year she'll be a pro as well. Please notice my husband wearing his apron. If it wasn't for him Easter dinner would have been a bust! Thanks, hon! See, Grandma? Separately I love Kaelah's hat & raincoat, but together.... On the move! Can you tell she ate some chocolate while still outside? I'm sure the wrapper went right down the hatch with it. Eating the winnings! I can always count on Michelle to like th...

At 5am I couldn't sleep after taking care of Michelle, Meigo, & Danny, so decided to go through photos to get ready to create blog posts. (Blast that dog!) Imagine my surprise when I came across a bunch of zoo pictures... and I had forgotten Dan & I took the children to the zoo on April 2nd! Totally forgot. Reminds me of all the times lately when people have to repeat what they are saying for me to understand them. I'm convinced I'm going deaf & losing my mind at age 30. Can we please just blame this on interrupted sleep? Because if I'm this bad now & it is only going downhill from here, I'm going to be quite the interesting lady by the time my children graduate from high school. Kaelah was thrilled the train was fixed! We had a great time riding it. I think this is one reason why they give zoo members discounts on the rides: it makes us feel like it can be a tradition instead of a "just on birthdays" thing. We were mega excited fo...