Amber and Samantha

Samantha is pretty excited about the little potty... not that she has gone potty in it yet but she continually gets naked and then sits on the potty and says she is going potty. She will also take her baby dolls and other stuffed animals to the potty to have them go potty too. 

A few days ago I tried to get Samantha to go potty, and she sat there but didn't do anything.  She got off still having no diaper on and she went into the kitchen.  I left her for a bit without a diaper thinking I would try her again in a few minutes to see if she would go for me.

I guess I waited too long.  Samantha said, "uh-oh, mess" which I knew meant she went potty on the floor.  Luckily it was on the tile.  I cleaned it up.  Amber heard me talking to Samantha about going potty on the floor. 

A bit later I had gotten a glass of ice water and some of the ice fell onto the floor which I picked up, or thought I picked it all up.  Amber stepped in some of the melted ice on the floor.  She let out a big grumbly angry sigh and turned to Samantha, "did you just go potty on my leg Sam?" 

Samantha looked at Amber and did her famous, "uhhuh."

I corrected them both and told her it must have been my ice. 

Mowing the lawn and thinking

This last weekend we went to our old house to mow the lawn.  I thought the kids could play with friends or in the backyard as we mowed the lawn.  That way I could help Robert and he didn't have to do it all.  It turned out the lawn mower lost a wheel and the gas hose was all cracked and leaking.  We called it quits after the front lawn and almost half of the back was done, which is when the wheel fell off.  I told Robert I could go back on Monday since it was early release with the kids and they could watch the little girls while I finished (and fixed the hose and the wheel). 

On Monday I was mowing the lawn and just thinking...  it brought back so many memories of that house and living there.  I recalled birthdays in the back yard, summers spend with kids in the pool and where I would set up my chair to watch them.  I pictured the girls jumping on the tramp and sometimes even having the sprinkler under it while jumping on it.  We had a few croquet games in the back yard... the endless hours of me pushing the girls on the swings out there...  the snakes we would chase.  I remembered what the yard looked like in the back by the apple trees when we first moved in and were just renting.  It was all tall orchard type pasture grass.  It took lots of work and time taking all that out and seeding grass.  Robert even lost his cell phone out there when he was dragging the dirt getting ready to plant seed.  It was a miracle we even found it. 

As I mowed the grass I remembered the different places we had the garden, and how I would change things again to make better use of the large yard.  I mowed past the different mulch piles we had.  I mowed over rocks that the irrigation water brought in, I mowed down the small hill the kids would sometimes roll down.  I mowed the areas that we had a tent set up to camp out in the back yard.

I spent several hours mowing the lawn and just thinking of all the things that happened in this house...  all the birthdays, Christmas', new babies that we brought home to this house.  We had lots of game nights playing "Don't eat Pete" which was a favorite, but also played many other games too.  I remembered when Robert was going to school on the weekends, so every Friday night was movie night.  The girls and I would rent a movie, pop popcorn and sometimes have some sugary treats while we watched a movie. 

It was both happy and sad for all of these memories to flood my mind.  It made me grateful for the memories we have made, the traditions we have started in our family and some that we have carried on from our childhood.  I am grateful that I have healthy happy kids to have all these memories and that I am able to be home with them. 

It made me realize how coming to this house makes me feel like I am coming home... even though it isn't our house really anymore and we have a new place somewhere else.  I still feel like this house is my home.  I feel like this is where my friends are, this is where I belong, this is where I would like to be, where my life is.  I pull up to the house or drive down the street and I am recognized and greeted by those around.  Those that I love are here.  I miss each of them.  We lived there for over 8 years so of course it feels like home... and since we have been at our new place just a little over a year it doesn't really feel like home yet.  I know it will come one day and I will feel like I am home and my new place is where I belong. 

It kind of made me sad that Amber didn't remember our old house... she didn't remember it had a swing in the back or what it looked like inside, she does still remember her best friend Jacob.  I knew Samantha wouldn't remember anything at all.  The girls looked at the house and commented on how small our old house was.  Which is precisely why we moved.  My older girls will remember the house, the friends, the memories that all belong to our old house.  I will still probably hear them say, "I wish we never moved" for some time to come.  I hope one day they will feel like our new house is where they belong too.  I am glad that they have those memories of our old house and all the wonderful things that were a part of our lives there.  I hope those memories never fade for my girls. 

Another Wedding

I was able to go to Washington (all by myself) for another wedding.  Tristah my neice was getting married to an amazing young man, Travis.  The wedding was gorgeous, Tristah was more beautiful than ever (although that is hard to believe, she is such a pretty girl) and Travis was stunning in a manly way too. 

It was nice to get together with my family and hang out even if we were running from place to place. I wasn't nearly as busy as others were in preparing everything.  All of us girls (excpet my mom and sister Becky) went on a "road trip" as we called it although it was really just going to a rental place for chocolate fountains, Costco, Walmart, and Texaco.  The fun is in the company you are with, not the destination. Although we kind of made my sister Brenda (the mom of the bride) mad because while she was on the phone the 3 of us in the back were goofing around and being too noisy for her.  Ooops!  She kind of yelled at us, good thing that was near the end of our road trip. 

I was able to see one of my favorite friends and her little familiy.  She has twin 2 year olds, they are just a month older than Samantha.  They were fun to hang out with, but wish I could have seen her again.  (That's the bad thing about a short trip.)  I also was able to see my sister Becky which lots of times I don't get to see her when I am in WA.  I stopped by her house and stayed for about an hour and a half.  I also got to visit with her two daughters who I don't see as often. 

The weekend was fun for me.  I think Robert having the kids may not have had the same fun weekend.  (He did have his mom and sometimes his dad here to help him.)  There were a few problems while I was gone and I felt helpless being so far away when I would hear about them.  I was sad when I couldn't be there to comfort my girls when they needed it. 

It was really weird being alone while in Washington.  I always kept feeling like I should be doing something...  making food for someone, cleaning up, dressing little girls, putting kids to bed... all those daily things which I do everyday but didn't do for the whole weekend.  It was strange but in a nice way.  I really needed the getaway...  I left Thrusday evening and got back home Monday night.

Although almost each day I did something out of my character...  I bought cigarettes one day for my sister-in-law that didn't have her ID with her, the next day on our "road trip" I purchased some beer in a group purchase I paid for, and then on Sunday the shoes I had were too big and there was no way I could help out at the wedding with such sloppy shoes, so I bought shoes on a Sunday.  It was rather funny when I was carded for the beer... I (jokingly) got all annoyed...."I don't think I have ever been carded in my whole life, are you serious?  You need my ID?"    Of course I have never been carded... I don't buy alcohol or tobacco products normally. 

Now I am plotting to plan a wedding for one of my other neices or nephews or perhaps my sister who isn't married or my brother who is still single...  I am thinking a nice fall wedding would be good, maybe October again or November would work too.  I am game for it!  If only I could find someone for them to marry.  I will have to work on that one.

It was great to spend the weekend with my parents and my brothers and sisters... which I miss each time I leave to come back home... if only Utah and Washington weren't so far away from each other.  I miss my family!

Words by Lindsey

As we are in the drive thru at Artic Circle for a healthy fast dinner, Lindsey looks at the menu as I am telling them they are getting the $.60 corndogs (on coupon) and Lindsey says, "Hail-BUT who would ever want to eat a Hail-BUT hamburger?  That's gross, Hail-BUT!"

I laughed and told her it was HAL-I-BUT and it was fish.

Lindsey said, "Oh...." as she laughed.  "What if it was HAIR-but, that would be gross too!  I want a Hair-but sandwhich, make that two!"

I don't know that I will look at that word the same again now.  lol

Conversation with Amber

Amber: What do cows give us?
Me: Milk
Amber: What do chickens give us?
Me: eggs
Amber: What do sheep give us?
Me: wool for clothes
Amber: What do horses give us?
Me: They give us a ride.
Amber: What does Jesus give us?
Me: Everything!!
Amber: Yah, I know....  What do I give you?
Me: Happiness!
Amber: Yah, I give you everything too!

The mind of a 3 yr old

The girls and I met Robert for dinner at Wingers last night before we did a bit of shopping at Costco.  Samantha is trying so hard to be a big girl... just like Amber.  Samantha didn't want to sit in a high chair, she wanted her own "chair" like Amber's booster seat.  I switched hers out and to my suprise she was great with it. 

Samantha is also such a mamma's girl right now.  I took Amber to the bathroom and Samantha just screamed when I left, I had to take Samantha too.  When we leave the kids with a babysitter I sneak out if I can or Samantha will cry and make me feel so bad for leaving her.  If I have my shoes on she goes and gets her boots on in fear that I am going and she will be left behind. 

Back to dinner last night...  we are sitting there and I am on the edge sitting by Samantha in her booster and then Amber is next to her in Amber's booster.  A group came sat in the booth next to ours and they had a adorable little girl probably around 9-12 months old.  She was just a cutie!  Big dark, bright eyes, dark hair.  She had a cute little outfit on and then a headband with a flower on it.  Samantha noticed the "baby" as she calls any little child her age or younger.  The little girl waved at Samantha and Amber.  We were talking about the little girl and I was pointing out her pretty eyes and hair, shoes, flower, and other details of the little girl.

Then Amber said, "I wish we had a cute baby like that.  Maybe we could get rid of Sam and then we could have that cute baby and they could have Sam." Then Amber turned to Samantha and said something like, "You okay with that Sam!"

It cracked me up, but at the same time I know Amber would really miss Samantha.  They play together all day long chasing each other and sharing for the most part.  Although they do have their moments of enemy like relations but my older girls do that too. 

I have a working computer again!

Now that I have a computer that is working again and I can actrually get online I have posted what seems like a hundred posts!  I am still having problems with my camera hook up but I got it to work okay today. 

I felt so handicapped without a computer to get on.  Sometimes we could access the internet and sometimes we couldn't.  Somedays I could get email sometimes I couldn't.  I am glad that everything seems to be working good now. 

During that time of trouble we got our Free Disney Tickets from the Give a Day Get a Disney Day Program.  I couldn't get the page to load so I could print them.  Finally by some miracle I got them to load one day but when I printed them the last two tickets came out all funny because our printer was low on ink.  I tried to send them to Robert to have him print them from his work.....   what a nighmare!  We did finally get them to print okay and we have them now.  What a relief. 

Now that I have a computer again, I hope to keep more updated on things here better. 

April Fools

The girls were really into April Fools day this year.  They were joking around and trying to play pranks.  I am not really too big into it, I don't ever do anything for it, other than try to think of something good to get Rob on, but this year I didn't even do that.

I had thought about doing a fake meal or something like that but couldn't think of anything good.  Then I saw this idea of a meatloaf cooked in a cake pan and then frosted with mashed potatoes.  That sounded good enough for me.

I told the girls it was carrot cake and since it was a special day we could have dessert for dinner.  They thought that was pretty good.  Amber wanted to lick the icing knife...  she said, "mmm that's good, but I don't want anymore."

This is what it looked like on the plate.  Pretty good huh!

Robert came home late, he had a soccer game.  The girls had put up some plastic wrap on the way up the stairs for Robert to run into.  Of course he saw it when he came home and asked who I was trying to get.  I told him it was for him.  He asked if the girls were watching...  I went upstairs to have the girls hide while they could see the bottom of the stairs.  Then I called for Robert to come upstairs.  He ran right into the plastic and fell to the ground.  The girls laughed and laughed.  Then of course they wanted him to have a piece of cake. 

I cut him a piece of "carrot cake" which he was a little worried about and took a bite.  He immediately spit it out.  The girls again rolled with laughter.  I heated it up for him and he did eat it after that.  I was wondering why I never made meatloaf before, and as I served him the plate of meatloaf "cake" he said, "I don't really care for meatloaf."  The rest of the fake carrot cake went into the garbage.  What a WASTE!

Zoo

One time when we went to the zoo we decided to get a Zoo pass for the year.  It is kind of nice because what we paid to get in the zoo that day they took off our annual pass.  For our family, two trips to the zoo pays for an annual pass for our family.  We have since taken advantage of the zoo pass and try to go often.

The weather was great!  The zoo was quiet and and not too many visitors.

In the summer you have to wait and wait to take a picture like this... we didn't wait at all.

The carousel wasn't crowded either, I think there were 2 other people on it when we rode.

Amber and Samantha like to ride the peacock.  Lauren rode a tiger but I couldn't get a picture of her.

Amber wasn't interested in this elephant, and Samantha cried when Emily put her up there.

We played at the playground for a long time too.

The girls had a problem with the crocidile.

Amber was too busy to be with the rest of the girls.

The girls got pretty close to the peacock that was eating crumbs.

Here is Lauren.  Lindsey and Lindsey's pictures were sideways and I couldn't get them turned.  Sorry girls!

Amber's normal pose.

Samantha didn't want to pose at all.  She is such a momma's girl, she doesn't like to be more that a few inches away from me sometimes.  If she hears me say the word go, she freaks out and clings to me.

We had a fun time at the zoo, and I bet we will be going back soon.  We took off on a Monday since it is early out for us.  Emily gets out at 2:30 but I forgot the stroller so we had to go back home... we were leaving the house a few minutes before 3pm and we got home at about 7:30 that night.  We brought a bag of snacks and sandwhiches with us and drinks.  We will probably repeat that again in the near future.

Emily's Birthday Sleepover

For Emily's birthday she wanted a sleepover.  I was not really thrilled with it, but I thought, I will give it a try.  She wanted 8 girls at first, and I told her 4.  Then it ended up being 5 invited but one couldn't make it and then another girl was skiing in the morning so she didn't stay the night.  The 4 girls (Emily included) were SO good! 

I was thinking that the girls would gang up on one or another or single someone out, and I didn't see any of that.  It seemed they all got along great.  Maybe it wasn't such a success and maybe I just didn't see it, but it seemed to me that there was no problems and that all the girls got along fantastic. 

They played the Wii, they dressed up in dress up clothes in the basement which was mostly just hats, jewelry, and sunglasses.  They were so funny, they would come up from the basement and singing a barbie song.  They were cracking me up.  They ran around pretty noisy and energized until about 9:30 when they all settled down, watched a movie and that was it. 

The next morning we had breakfast and the girls continued to play until it was time to go home.  I would do it again... maybe I would have to have the same girls come again.  All the girls were great girls!