Dancing Momma

Life has been one crazy ride lately!

2012-01-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

So life seems to be catching up to me slowly...Through Christmas and my new enterprise as a paparazzi consultant-school activities and doctor visits, I feel like I have been going non-stop. And now that school has started back up again and my family is relatively healthy once more-things are starting to settle down a bit. I have also just come to the conclusion that I have to say no to things and live day by day as well. Brooke is no longer going to be doing physical therapy until we are all done with surgeries/casts on her feet. I think it has been a bit traumatic for her to be going in and out of doctor/specialists' offices so often that I decided she needed a break too. It was a nice plan to think I could get everything taken care of all at once-but sometimes it isn't always for the best. So I am slowing down the pace around my household and trying to get organized little by little. This year I am going to take my time and simplify as much as I know how/and can stand to. So what does the new year bring for you? What goals do you have and how are you going about putting them in motion?

What is paparazzi??

2011-11-22T20:56:00.000-08:00

Okay so I am sure a few of you are wondering exactly what is Paparazzi?? Okay so Paparazzi is the name of the accessories that I sell. I am an independent consultant for Paparazzi and I sell accessories for women of all ages-that's right girls too!!! There are necklace sets, earrings, bracelets, rings, hairclips, headbands and jewelry for kids too!! I started 2 1/2 weeks ago and love love love what I do. The pieces are so much fun to wear and super cute and fashionable. Here are some of the reasons why I love this:

1. Everything is $5 or less-I cannot tell you how many times I get a surprised reaction about how affordable the accessories are! "You're kidding-the necklace along with the earrings are $5 together for both?? WHat?? Love that!!

2. I love how Guilt Free ladies are at my parties-when they only spend $5-10 on jewelry that make them feel fabulous about themselves -and they didn't break their budget!

3. This stuff is so fantastically fabulous that it makes whoever wears it, feel beautiful. Building Confidence in Women is so much fun-and rewarding-I love to see them try on jewelry and see their spirits lifted and just feel amazing about themselves-knowing that they look great and it didn't cost a fortune!

4. There is no sales pitch-big demonstration or anything-I set up my accessory displays-everyone comes to shop and socialize and it's like shopping in your home or at your friend's house with no crazy retail associate hovering over your every move...so relaxing and so much fun!

5. Girls can join in too! This isn't just for the adults-Mommies can bring their daughters and all the kids jewelry is only $1. I don't mind counting the pennies either-it just reminds me of my own little girls and how they save their money for something special!! They don't feel left out or have to be sent out of the room to go play-they are included and have so much fun!!

Okay I could go on and on and on about additional things I love about Paparazzi! What a great business opportunity it is-and so easy too! If you want to host a party-let me know!! And if you want to become a consultant and join the partay-contact me and I will answer all your questions- arinlords@hotmail.com OR if you are one of those self motivating people like me...(I signed up online on my own) go HERE and click on "become a consultant" button and enter my sponsor #2672 to get started and join my team!! It's the most incredible opportunity that you will come across and you will love IT!!

This hair clip-has a broach pin on it so you can wear it on your shirt/dress/purse/wherever you want to!!!

2011-11-08T09:58:00.000-08:00

ARIN LORDS

Trevor's Glasses

2011-11-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

Trevor got his glasses today and I can tell you this boy did not want to wear them. This first shot is me-holding his hands to prevent him from taking them off.

The trick, which someone told me-was to keep his hands busy. Distraction is one of those essential tools that all moms have in their arsenal-so we went for a little walk outside-and then to the backyard to play some basketball! Eventually it got cold and we came inside and dinner had to get on the table-and spelling tests practiced for, among other household stuff...so off those glasses came at first opportunity. Oh well. At least he had them on 45 minutes tonight.We will shoot for an hour tomorrow and keep increasing until he's used to them and starts begging to wear them. I think he looks super adorable!!

These are Miraflex glasses in case you are wondering-pretty indestructible for little hands..now just to keep those lenses clean enough so he can actually see out of them.......not looking forward to meal times.

Methinks he looks like my dad/ uncle Earl in the one to the right, anyone else think so?

Trick or Treat!!

2011-10-31T20:54:00.000-07:00

Pirate Trevor, Witch Whitney, Ice Dragon Amber and Fairy Brooke!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

2011-10-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

Okay so tomorrow is my favorite holiday-Halloween! I just love the Autumn and we've had a wonderful fall day today-it's perfect. The kids are really excited to go Trick-or-Treating and get dressed up in their costumes and I'm even more excited because I finally have a working camera again! So here are some pictures we've taken lately:

On Monday we invited other families to do FHE with us. The missionaries gave our lesson
and afterwards we mod-podged pumpkins. This one is Whitney's!

Here's the line-up outside our house!!

Every Year we rake our neighbor's leaves-the girls love this!!

He is getting so big-and soon will be wearing glasses,

I wanted to take a picture of him before his transformation

into Clark Kent!..he he

Twilight -group costume

2011-10-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

Jakob Bella and Edward

Jack-Whitney-Sam

I think they look cute!

There is one more picture I want to add once I get it.

On the Medical side of things.....

2011-10-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

Wow-so October was our dr/dentist appointment month. All kids had their well visits/flu/immunization and dentist visits. During the dr. visit for Brooke we discussed how she walks and her flat feet and it was decided to get her fitted for inserts by a specialist-so that appt. was made. We found out Brooke will need surgery on both her feet since her talus bone is dislocated and her heel bone is vertical-just a deformity she was probably born with. Most children are diagnosed with this when they are newborns-because of the stiffness or non-flexibility of the feet. Brooke however has a lot of flexibility so this was not caught until the foot surgeon watched her walk and looked at her x-rays. So Nov 14 is her first surgery-they will move the bones in place and put in temp. pins to hold them there until they heal and they will make incisions up and down her achilles tendon to lengthen it as well. She will wear a splint to start with and when all swelling goes down will be fitted for a cast. Then when that foot heals-they will do the other one. On a side note-Brooke also gets to go see the Bowel clinic next week..oh joy! I cannot wait until she is accident free!
Trevor went to the eye dr and we now know that his right eye is nearsighted
(-9) and he will need glasses. Later the dr. wants to do some patching to strengthen that eye and she thinks his eyesight will improve a little bit as he grows older. So this week we also get to try to get him in to pick his glasses out. It has definitely been a crazy month so far and I hope there aren't too many more surprises around the corner. I feel exhausted already just thinking about it.

Other news: Last Saturday were the girls' last soccer games. They both did great! Whitney scored a goal and her team won finally for the first time 8-6 against a team they had previously lost to 6-1. She has worked so hard and it was so fun to watch the team work together. I was so excited for my team and so happy they won their last game! Amber has turned into a real aggressive player and has scored 3-4 goals this season!! Way to go Red!

Holy no posting batman.....catch-up

2011-10-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

Yikes it has been a long two months since I last posted. Life has been crazy. School started, soccer started, dr. appointments galore, surgery for Joe, etc. Well now things are starting to slow down just a bit. One more week of soccer and that is three evenings a week i will now have free!! Whitney's has been trying really hard to do well on her team-but it's such a mixture of attitudes that they have a hard time working together. It is hard when she is one of the best players on the team-and she is doing most of the assisting. I am looking into putting her into a more select/competitive league next year...guess i had better save up now. Amber scored two goals her last game and she is pretty aggressive about playing. It's good to see her running up and down the field without getting too winded-but she's more motivated this year. It really is fun to see them both progress in many ways. Whitney will be playing basketball in the winter and we haven't decided if Amber will too. Brooke started preschool last month-we do a co-op with her friends and she loves it. She went to see the foot/ankle surgeon yesterday and we discovered she will need to have surgery done on both of her feet. She has vertical talus-so will get one foot done at a time to correct that. She is off the charts on her height and i get comments asking me if she is two years older than she is. Trevor started walking in August and since then has had a few head bruises to show his fearless efforts at running. He likes to make noises and talk..he is looking like a toddler now. I wish i could post pictures of all that's been happening and how my kids are growing, but our camera died on us while on our oregon trip and we haven't yet replaced it. Besides being Whitney's soccer coach, I have been canning and trying to de-clutter the house a bit. Right now I am busy with getting Halloween costumes together-it's one of my favorite times of year!! I love the fall and sweater season-the crisp smell in the air and the glorious colorful leaves right before they fall. This is the best time of the year-Autumn. I even made some pumpkin pies on Wednesday to celebrate-and because Amber and Joe begged me to! A fun Halloween Share:

Our 10 year Anniversary Trip to the Oregon Coast!

2011-08-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

Okay so here's the story history behind our trip. Ten years ago today Joe and I were married in the Portland temple. On the way there, my brother and his family were in a car accident and lets just say we were kind of in a hurry to get back to see how they were doing . So we didn't ever do a honeymoon or anything. And since we haven't been back to the Portland temple since then...well I was determined that to celebrate surviving 10 years with each other-we ought to return and create new memories on a 2nd chance honeymoon trip!! This is the first trip we have gone on that was just the two of us since having kids (unless you count the overnighter in Spokane for a job interview 4 years ago). So Last Wednesday night we headed to my parents-where we dropped off our kiddos and then we were on our way. Here is part 1 of our trip-I still have to upload the rest of the pictures...But these are days 1 and 2. Day 3 will be in part 2 which I will add later this week-so check back. Some pictures weren't the best as our camera died on us after half way through day 2 and we had to use joe's ipad from work to take the rest...not the best quality photos..but at least we got to capture some memories!!

Create your own free picture slideshow

My girls at grandma's house-basking in the sunshine!

Trevor started walking last week too-I will post video of that too in the near future!

Massive Swag Share giveaway August 10th

2011-08-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

Cuckoo for Coupons is giving away tons of free stuff...i mean tons..but it's only one day-Wednesday, August 10th. So I hope you all are ready to be winning some fun things throughout the day. Head on over HERE to check out more details about this totally crazy and massive giveaway.

Losing weight and winning!!

2011-07-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

I have to apologize . I know i was going to be posting my weight loss journey on my blog and well

...it didn't happen. So to summarize it all, here is the break down in numbers:

April 2010

180-what I weighed when 9 months preggos with Trevor

June 2010

160- after I lost all my initial baby and water weight.

August 2010

145- 2 months of pushing myself pretty hard with exercise, drinking lots of water-eating high fiber and low fat.

March 18, 2011-started new diet-high protein, tons of veggies, no-low fat/sugars/carb/dairy.

May 29, 2011

130- 5 lbs closer to my goal!

So the last two months i haven't pushed myself to diet at all...so guess what-I am going to hit it again with hopes of shedding those last 5 lbs. In June I saw a cousin of mine and she was thrilled at how great I was looking and told me i needed to post bragging pictures. I am not really the type to do that kind of thing..but I did promise my sisters that I'd post pictures of 2 Shabby Apple dresses I won. I ordered smaller sizes on purpose-that was my motivation to keep on going with my diet. I wanted to fit into these dresses so badly. Here they are:

Now that I have been released from Young Womens and called to Nursery-
these dresses won't be seeing much church time,
but I will find other occasions to wear them!!

What we've been up to lately:

2011-07-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures from the last two weeks

Idaho Falls Visit-fed geese with the cousins!

Went to the Zoo for Whitney's B-day..she got to bring 2 friends.

yep it was just me and these 6 little monsters!

Waiting to watch fireworks!!

And Last but not least: We adopted this black lab named Tessa

The kids love her!

Summer is here...

2011-06-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

Joe finally got a job about three weeks ago and so I have finally been able to get a schedule going again. It is really nice because he comes home for lunch and so i still get to see him during the daytime. I was just getting used to the new change-when the stomach flu hit our house and cycled back to hit Brooke twice. Whenever my family is sick-it just puts everything on hold and laundry is the first thing to get backed up. I am so glad that it's finally over and we are all doing better.

The girls finished with Spring soccer and both did fabulous-Whitney scored an amazing shot! Amber's last day for school was last Wednesday and Whitney doesn't get out until this Friday. They will both have summer chores and summer school with mom to do before they get to play for the rest of their day-I think i will let them have one week break before I get started..and also give me a little extra time to prepare. I have so many goals this summer for my family:

Finish losing the rest of my unwanted weight
Get Amber 2nd grade ready
Teach Amber to ride her bike without training wheels
Teach both of the older girls to swim
Have a second chance honeymoon in Oregon with my hubby for our 10yr anniversary
Potty Train Brooke-we are making headway already and I am so excited!!
Trevor walking
Visit temple as often as we can (before it closes for work being done on it).

At the girls' last soccer games...Trevor just loved sitting in and playing with this box !

Another Home Cleaning Tip.

2011-05-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

Okay so have you ever run out of dryer sheets and had a load just sitting in the wash waiting to go in the dryer?? I have to say that has happened to me quite a few times. This occurred to me yesterday-Sunday and ofcourse I wasn't able to go to the store so i set about finding an alternative. Ofcourse i googled and here is what i found out that other people use to eliminate static and soften their laundry:

1. Throw in Tennis balls (newones-not ones that have been used outside or as a pet toy-obviously)
2. Just throw in 1/4 -1/2 cup white distilled vinegar in the last rinse cycle in the washer. Some women put it in those downy balls-so they don't have to wait around for that cycle to come up.
3. Dilute fabric softener in some water -soak a clean sponge in it, wring it out and throw in dryer.
4. Put 2-3 balls of aluminum foil in dryer with laundry.

I did #2 because it was the most convenient thing i had on hand..and it really did well. Except on our whites-everything was soft but still some static. All in all still a good way to keep laundry going.

I've heard somewhere that dryer sheets are made of animal fat-if you are into animal rights-then please use the above ideas!! The Vinegar is also a great way to help remove any soap residue lingering on your clothes.

Who does he really look most like ??

2011-05-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

Okay so my take on Trevor is that he looks like both my husband and me. Most people think he looks most like Joe-because, well he does look similar to Joe and he is a boy..so naturally I think that is the conclusion they come to. So I thought I'd let you all see Trevor next to me and Joe as babies and let you guys decide based on the pictures. (I don't have a scanner so our "old" pictures may seem a bit grainy as I had to take a picture of them with my camera. )

Trevor

Joe

Happy Birthday to T-Man

2011-04-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

Trevor turned one yesterday-I cannot believe how quick the last year went. Trevor's birthday was super fun. We had family visiting and cousins were everywhere. We took the kids to Bounce inbewtween General Conference sessions, which btw, was amazing-I came away so spiritually touched by each Speaker. It was announce that a new Temple will be built here!!! So neat. Plus I won two giveaways (see I told you his birthday was fun-it was almost like it as my birthday!) It rained a little and there was some sunshine-all in all a perfect weekend-except for the fact that Whitney woke up puking last night. Will someone tell her to stop gettin sick already?? Anyway-Here are just some of the highlights:

Eating Birthday Cake

His hands got a little involved with is forehead on this one.

Presents!!Grandma bought him these stacking toys an the puzzles an keys were from his cousins!!

First Haircut and MOOsical!

2011-03-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

Trevor's First official Haircut

Amber's 1st grade music progam-she is the piggie on the right!

Check her out work'n that broom!

March Madness

2011-03-14T22:09:00.001-07:00

So usually with a post title like that I am talking basketball-OH YEAH!! But actually i just feel that Spring is finally coming and with it is the crazy weather we Idahoans have become used to. Rain, Snow, Sun, Wind and hail all in one day. (yes this really does happen here) But above this I have this overwhelming feeling to start my spring cleaning and get everything in order. With 4 kids-it's rather difficult to keep things organized. My husband says i like "piles". Because usually I will sort out everything in piles and then have no where to put these piles...that's really the problem. So I have compiled my wishlist of organization tools to help me out with my future endeavors...then maybe I will get to relax and actually enjoy the REAL MARCH MADNESS INTENSITY and AWESOMENESS!

Paper clutter: I love this idea from Chic on a shoestring... using a decorative basket for a filing system:

And for the Bathroom-makeup or odds and ends-This one is a space saver!

Ooh and for books --they are all over the place all of the time. I like the idea of putting the books together by theme into bins like on the right.And ofcourse my two best friend in this process will be these guys:

Wish Me LUCK!!

2011-02-27T14:57:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a crazy three weeks starting off with Whitney getting Strep-she had a fever/sore throat/vommitting-I took her straight in to get antibiotics...which helped her fight the infection but also a week later gave her a bunch of these:

Pathetic girl was itching like crazy-that was a lot of hystamine to knock out her system and it took another week before it cleared up completely. By the time that happened the 24 hour stomach bug hit Brooke-then Trevor the next day and later, unfortunately for her, Whitney again-and Me and Joe. Fast forward a few days and Trevor caught some kind of nasty cold and has been congested/puking some too. Surpisingly enough the one child that we have to remind to wash hands constantly did not come down with anything. Amber has been healthier than all of us. Amazingly enough we had 3 different sets of family visiting inbetween all this mad sickness going around and our dryer broke down on us. I am ready for things to settle down.

Amber's heart hair from Valentines Day!

Whitney playing basketball-she made three baskets at her game on Saturday!

Happy Valentines Day !!!!

2011-02-14T00:49:00.000-08:00

Here's cupid in action!!

Bloggity blah blah blah

2011-02-07T17:00:00.000-08:00

I'm not certain if it's the limited time I find myself on the computer or lack of something to report but I have been neglecting my blog for quite sometime and it has been bothering me something fierce lately. So here is my best attempt at playing catch up and by no means does it include a promise to do better in the future-cuz let's face it, none of us are perfect.

So I should probably just start where I left off from my last post. Okay so potty training is on a huge hold right now-Brooke just isn't showing any readiness signals and she still wakes up in the morning with a wet diaper (no she doesn't have a sippy cup to bed with her) so I am reluctantly waiting a bit longer, though I pray everyday that she is ready soon.

Amber is continually surprising me with what she knows. She has really started enjoying reading and has read 40 books this year (at her level). I love to hear her read books on her own without any help from me-it really is a great accomplishment. She has found and really loves Pokeman and will come home from the library toting whatever movie they have from the series.

Whitney is playing basketball through the YMCA here and she is doing really great. She is pretty good with dribbling and will switch from her left to right and back pretty often. She almost dribbles better than me...I hate dribbling left handed. She has strep throat right now and the first day she was doing pretty bad-not keeping anything down-chills, fever, sore throat...just a train wreck poor thing. She is on antibiotics and was given a steroid to shrink her throat inflammation and is doing much better.

Trevor now has 2 teeth on his lower gumline and i am in the process of weaning him from me. He has learned to clap his hands. He still isn't crawling yet at ten months-He likes to circle on his belly and roll alot. At times he will lift his belly and i think by the end of the month he will be on all fours. I am content for now that he's not too mobile. He is such a sweetheart. As for me, teaching two dance classes a week, volunteering at the school and ofcourse young womens-keeps me busy enough. If I am lucky I do modern and Ballet with a bunch of other women on Mon/Fri mornings and get my dance on for just me. I cannot wait for nicer weather and the opportunity to take the younger kids on walks. I am so done with Winter.

It finally came to pass...

2011-01-20T19:17:00.001-08:00

After sitting for 2 hours straight...Brooke finally went on the potty chair!! Yep it was a double wammy, going both #1 and #2. Some of you may think this just plain idle chatter but at our house it was cause for a celebration!! When Brooke turned 2 I had introduced her to the "potty" chair with not much interest and alot of fighting afterwards. So this has been a non-forced issue but the option was there and offered quite frequently. So we are going to go the no diaper route (except when we leave the house or during sleeping). My biggest worry is that she isn't able yet to feel the urge to go- when she went today, she wasn't really aware that she was going. I was sitting next to her and she too engrossed in her vtech game to notice-I kind of had to point it out to her because I heard her go. For those of you who have followed my blog for a while-you will remember that Brooke had low muscle tone in her lower body. I am wondering now if this could also mean her bladder muscles too might be weaker as well. Anyone else have issues similar to this that caused toilet training delays??

A new year

2011-01-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

With a new year comes new goals..or old ones still unfinished.
Here are just a few of mine so far..

1. Potty train Brooke-she just turned 3, yet she is fighting me on this one.
2. Move Trevor into his own room and hopefully get him to sleep through the night.
3. Get Amber independently reading on her own...this one may be the hardest goal of the year.
4. Lose my baby weight-I was hoping by this time I would have got to my goal but alas-I think once again, I will have to quit nursing altogether before my body decides to shed any more unwanted fat.
5. After goal #4 is completed-I want to downsize my closet-get rid of all clothes that don't fit or that i don't wear anymore.
6. Dejunk the toys that I didn't get to before Christmas.
7. Try to get my housecleaning routine back in the schedule.
8. If #2 happens, I'd like to go to bed by 10:30 every night-i'm a night owl, so this one will be tough.
9. Schedule more playdates for Brooke.
10. Take kids to the park more during the summertime-we didn't go much last year.
11. Go to the Portland Temple for my 10 year wedding anniversary.
12. Visit Home(my parents) at least once.
13. Try to be more understanding and kind about everything.

Like I said before-so far, I am sure I will add to this list.

Movies for the New Year- SuperHero Fans will be thrilled

2010-12-22T00:30:00.000-08:00

January
From Prada to Nada -twist on sense and sensibility-looks so cute!
Season of the Witch-Nicolas Cage is a knight sent to deliver a witch to her execution- interesting for sure.

February
The Eagle Roman Legion captain"s son travels to Breton to find out what happened to his father.
Waiting for Forever-this movie looks like it could be bittersweet.
Just go with it- Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler-need I say more??

March-Full of suspense, romance and drama
RedRiding Hood-a bit on the erie side..hmm not sure if I will see this one or not.
Jane Eyre I know i posted this before-but now you can watch the trailer!! HERE
The Adjustment Bureau - Matt Damon fights his fate while holding on to love.
Beastly-modern day take on beauty and the beast
Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2
April
Water for elephants-not sure what this one will be rating wise-but looks good!
Robert Pattinson/Reese Witherspoon
May-Adventure Month
Thor
Pirates of the Carribean
Kung Fu Panda 2
Men in Black 3 -man it's been a long time ..hope it's better than the second.

June
Green Lantern
XMen-First Class
Cars 2

July
Transformers-Dark of the Moon
Winnie the Pooh
The Smurfs-I really hope this one is not dissapointing.
Harry Potter-The deathly Hollows pt. 2
Captain America: The First Avenger
August-
Spy Kids 4
Conan the barbarian..This version supposed to be more accurate than Arnolds.

The Avengers (2012)-great cast full of superheros (Iron man, green lantern, incred. hulk, thor..etc)

Okay so all the guys who loved comic books/cartoons growing up are going to love 2011/12

I've read 21 of them..what about you??

2010-12-11T00:51:00.000-08:00

My reading list for the future:
Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

• Bold those books you've read in their entirety.
• Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read only an excerpt.
Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - On my bookshelf for someday.
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma -Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis (shhh...don't tell anyone)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas On my bookshelf for someday.
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Haircut

2010-12-10T17:59:00.000-08:00

Whitney has been begging me to cut her hair-so tonight I finally did.

Cut about 4 inches off.

Tis the Season....to be busy

2010-12-09T18:35:00.000-08:00

That is one reason why it's taking me forever to get posts up. Well here is what I have been up to lately:

Brooke turned 3!!!

Decorated for Christmas-our nativity stockings!

Made ornaments!! My tree has a Nutcracker Theme!

Enjoyed this cutie!!

Creative Movement and Ballroom Classes

2010-11-15T11:49:00.001-08:00

I will be teacing dance starting this week at Solace Wellness and Fitness Cetner

Creative Movement Class (age 3-5) starts THIS Thursday 1-1:45 Preballet and creative movement with a fun Thanksgiving theme!!!

Couple Ballroom Class starts Friday 7-9 includes 1 hour class instruction with 1 hour dancing to follow. I will be on hand to do some individaul coaching and answer questions while you enjoy dancing!! This week we will be doing Swing!

Cost is $10 a person and are drop-in classes. You can purchase a card of pre-paid classes at a discount ($4 a lesson)!!

Visit a time long ago...

2010-11-13T12:23:00.000-08:00

Okay so I love historical fiction and have decided to list my favorite Period tv mini series, etc with their links so you can watch them if available.

Okay so here are a few of my favorite TV miniseries that I have enjoyed:

Lark Rise to Candleford- BBC miniseries about a small town Candlefor and it's neighboring country village LarkRise.
Cranford - a rural English town where etiquette rules, undergirded by a healthy amount of gossip. The move forward to a modern time has many residents questioning their traditional living. (based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskill)
North and South-Also based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskill, this is the story of one family's move to an industrial town where they are caught up in the drama of newfound money and fair rights to workers.
Downton Abbey-set before the Great War. This is the story of Lord Granthams' family and their struggle to keep the estate in the family while take care of the futures of their three daughters. Servants have their own aspirations and drama abounds and costuming, in my opinion is gorgeous.

Chirstmas Giveaway 2010 Starts today!!

2010-11-08T00:56:00.001-08:00

Christmas is just around the corner-so ofcourse-gotta checkout the giveaways!!

B-Ball

2010-11-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

Trevor loves basketball!

I think this would make both of his grandpas smile!

Halloween Pictures!

2010-10-31T22:30:00.000-07:00

My kiddos in their costumes:

Lobster

Megan and My little Pony- Unicorn Pegasus

Bullseye/Jesse (from Toy Story) and Veterinarian Whitney

The Whole Gang

Happenings

2010-10-15T14:55:00.001-07:00

Wow I cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted...and how little I have taken any pictures this last month. I am going to try to do better at both in the future so hopefully you will all get to have more frequent updates on our family.

First off the girls are doing so good at soccer and tomorrow they will have their last games. They have both really enjoyed working with their teams and coaches and have had an amazing time. Whitney has grown so much-she went from not really liking soccer that much at first to now really loving it..I think it has to do with the 2 goals she has scored. Amber is getting better at focusing in on the ball and she does so well as goalie. Here are some pictures of them in their uniforms.

Brooke is really growing up and learning alot-still not potty trained..but when she's ready. She knows alot of the letters of the alphabet and loves to play on this computer that works with shapes, numbers and letters. We went to a pumpkin patch this week and she loved the hayride the best.

Trevor is getting to be a big boy..six months and he is already 21 pounds. He is a whopper but he is so cuddly too. He is now just giggling at everything now -It is so much fun to watch him explore his surroundings. He has rolled over and is now eating solids. He is at the stage where everything in his hand goes straight to his mouth-I am sure he's teething. He is still waking up in the middle of the night-and he takes maybe 2-20 minute naps a day (sometimes when I am lucky they are longer)

Last Few weeks..playing catch up

2010-09-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

First Day of School

The girls started school three weeks ago and here are pictures of their first day of class. Whitney actually got through the waiting list we had her on for an art magnet school here and will be switching schools next Monday. So now the girls will be going to two different schools until next year when Amber automatically can transfer there. I really like Amber's teacher so far so it's okay that she wasn't able to get into the new school as well.

Soccer

Last week was the girl's first soccer games-unfortunately they didn't have their uniforms by that time yet. Fortunately Amber made 7 saves as goalie and Whitney got to play both midfield and defense. She was really aggressive too and stole the ball a few times as well. I loved that Amber made this pose without even thinking about it...i had to laugh and pull out the camera to catch it.

At Home

During lunchtime I get to sit across from this cutie and her duck family!

I also finally started to feed Trevor solids-here is a picture-he kept giving me these deer in the headlight looks each time I tried to capture him smiling. It was funny.

Movie Series and other great films coming out soon!

2010-09-01T08:13:00.001-07:00

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows
Chronicles of Narnia-Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides-we finally get to see a continuation of this popular Jack Sparrow Series!!
You Again-fun girl comedy starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristen Bell, Sigourney Weaver and Betty White.
Ramona and Beezus-based on Beverly Cleary loved childrens book Ramona
Disney has done it again With Tangled-their new rendition of Rapunzel-looks so fun!!!
Charlie St. Cloud-Zac Efron demonstrates an amazing acting performance in this new drama.
Morning Glory-Comedy starring Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton and Rachel McAdams
How do you know-Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, and Owen Wilson romantic comedy
Jane Eyre-Mia Wasikowska (alice in wonderland) plays governess Jane in this Bronte classic-oooh cannot wait for this one!

I'm doing it-for my own good.

2010-08-20T22:31:00.000-07:00

Okay so I fell off my healthy kick this week-horribly. Not once have I done zumba or lifted weights-(except carrying around my 19 lb son) and I have indulged in eating a bunch of stuff I really shouldn't have-it's birthday season at my house right now..and I have been just plain busy or too tired to do much exercise to counterbalance any of consequences. aaah. I had been doing so good-even got down to yes I am going to say it 145 lbs! I was 180 when Trevor was born and have lost 35 of it in the last 4 months. That sounds really good when I say it that way..but the reality is that 9 lbs of it was baby...at least another 10 was fluid (this I lost right away) and another 10 was probably water retention that I lost a month later. SO really I can only claim to have lost 10 on my own. I still am proud-considering that after the initial "right after birth" loss-I never lose any more until I am finished nursing. So this time around-since I gained so much, I had decided to kick myself into eating healthier -tons of fiber, low sugar, low fat diet (since I cannot really do much about limiting my calorie intake since I am nursing..I am also doing cardio for 25 minutes 5 times a week. Thus far it hasn't been bad-but this week hit and I haven't yet recovered. So I am going to periodically post about my journey to a fitter me ( i don't really like the word diet). Hopefully it will make me more accountable and motivated and one day I can look back and see my progress and feel wonderful about my accomplishment! Sorry if you read this and are like..bleh bleh bleh..I just needed to record it for my own sake. Mind you I do not expect to be twig thin like before my first child-so don't hyperventilate and tell me how wrong I am for wanting to lose weight and that I am okay the way I am...seriously i know my body and at 145-I am heavy for me. Consider I was at least 30 lbs lighter when I was married...and I have a small frame and I have serious back pain and plantar fasciitis-among other issues. For my own HEALTH and not Vanity reasons is why I am so determined to put less stress on my body. I am tired of the pain I feel from it...oh and guess what ?? I was this same weight when I was 9 months pregnant with Amber (she was 8lbs) and I remember just how miserable i was. SO please please please encourage me to be healthy and not to continue down a path of validating how it's okay to just let things go.

Birthday, Anniversary and Playing in the summer Sun!!

2010-08-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

Amber Now 6 years old!!

She's into princesses and Dinosaurs!!

Last Saturday we went to Eagle Island state park

Trevor got to test out his shades!!

Girls betta watch out!!

Joe and I have been married for 9 years now-this was my present:

I love it!! Thanks babe!!

2010-07-31T16:37:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of Trevor next to Amber as a baby-they definately look similar except their coloring ofcourse
.

The Boy and His Grandpa

2010-07-31T10:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of The Boy with his grandpa. I don't know why I like to call him that...maybe because he's our only one and it's kind of fun to say? Anyway enjoy..I totally love the face he's making in this one...so funny

It's been so long

2010-07-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

since I posted at all but forever since I posted anything on SYTYCD-Like I had said earlier. I said Kent, Robert, Lauren and Ashley would make it pretty far and it's proving to be so except that Ashley got hurt. Well anyway..I still like my choices and here are just a few of my favorite dances this season: Seriously could watch these over and over and over again..love them.

Kent and Adicheke Contemporary
Robert and Alison Lyrical
Lauren and Mark Tahitian
Lauren and Billy Jazz
Kent and Lauren Contemp
Alex and Twitch Hip Hop
Ashley and Neil Contemporary
Ashley and Mark Jazz/Contemp.
Courtney and Mark
Alex and Alison Contemp
Billy and katherine's Contemporary

Have you ever wondered about ZUMBA???

2010-07-06T13:56:00.001-07:00

Here are some videos that my sister posted of her Zumba class. You can follow along and see how you like it. She is awesome and makes it so much fun!!

Follow the Leader

Samba

So click and have fun with it!!

Baptism, Blessing and 4th of July

2010-07-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

This was a crazy weekend. Saturday Whitney was baptized and comfirmed a member of our church and on Sunday Trevor was blessed. Combine that with the 4th of July fireworks plus 20 family visitor it makes for quite the weekend. There were a few things that went awry-like the stomach flu hit our house and Saturday morning at the park Whitney got ran into by a kid on a bike-which really hurt-hit her so hard she fell backward into the iron table behind her and tore her swimsuit she was wearing. Poor girl. Well we were so happy that most of our families were there in attendance and the kids had fun playing with all of their cousins. Other things occurred which I want to thank my family for being so understanding about-I love you all for the support! Here are pictures of the big events:

The whole family after the baptismGrandma and Grandpa StokerFather and SonThanks mom for making Trevors blessing outfit!

What we've been up to the last two weeks.

2010-06-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

Parade #2 of the summerThe 2nd half is a water fight! Parade #3
Whitney got to invite a friend!

Whitney's Birthday!

She picked out this horse cake-that some little fingers

got into as soon as the horses got put on.

Whitney in her new dress and liahona necklace.

The liahona is supposed to represent the Holy Ghost.

She is getting baptised on 4th of July weekend!

She is growing up fast!

Grandma with Trevor *We got to see gamma & papa that weekend*Fatty Boy in the Bathtub-So cute!

Can you believe this is the 1st time I was able

to get pictures of him taking a bath?The last two mutual nights I've brought Trevor along

because we were to be gone for almost 4 hours each time.

This is him hangin out with us at our Waterslide activity last night!Looks like fun, no?

Remembering When...

2010-06-13T19:59:00.001-07:00

Remember when Disney played movies every Saturday or maybe it was Friday evenings. Anyway here are some of my favorite oldy but goody Disney Flicks:

The Parent Trap
The Gnome Mobile
The Moon Spinners
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Amber's fave)
Summer Magic
LT. Robin Crusoe
Mary Poppins (Brooke's Fav)
In search of the Castaways
Swiss FamilyRobinson
Follow Me BOys
That Darn Cay
The Happiest Millionaire
Babes in Toyland
Savage Sam
Apple Dumpling Gang
Hot Lead and Cold Feet
Condorman
Flight of the Navigator
White Fang
The Mighty Ducks
Iron Will

Any of these would be great for a family movie night!!

Kindergarten Graduation and School Awards!!

2010-06-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

Amber graduated from Kindergarten last Friday and the program was jungle themed and quite fun. Here is my favorite song-you can hear Amber singing out above everyone else it is so hilarious-and cute ofcourse!

Plus on Tuesday was the 4th quarter awards assembly and Amber and Whitney both received awards for citizenship and Whitney received a Student of the Year award. She will get her name engraven on one of the plaques in the schools hallway. This is the second time she has won this award. I am proud of both of my girls for the hard work they put in this year and it was so nice to see them both be rewarded for their efforts! I love you girls!!

On a side note: Trevors weighs 14 lbs. 12 oz and is 24 1/2 in long-Big Boy!

California

2010-06-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

My family with my Grandmother
My grandfather passed away a few months ago and my family decided to hold a memorial service for him on Memorial Day weekend so down to California we went. This is my mother's side and I haven't seen some of them for a good long while-not since Jr. high and some longer than that. It was so nice to see everybody again and catch up. I was a little apprehensive about my large family (4 kids is large if you aren't LDS). But all in all they did okay. The trip down took a bit longer than we had anticipated as we wanted to schedule bathroom breaks around the time we'd feed the baby-but Whitney thought she needed to go every hour for the first half of the trip...and she soon realized that there wasn't rest areas that frequent along the way. My brother flew in from Germany and my sister Ashley flew in from Arizona and I hadn't seen either in two years so it was nice to see them and meet Ash's daughter Carly for the first time. She treated me with a Pedicure Friday night-the first one I ever had done. Thanks sis!!Saturday was the Memorial Service and it ws very nice. My favorite was the slideshow my cousin put together of my grandpa. Later we had a nice dinner in my Aunts backyard and visited with family. My grandfather was an amazing person and will be missed. I didn't get much sleep at all on this trip -waking up to feed baby plus Saturday night Brooke came down with a nasty stomach bug and was throwing up all night. Needless to say I went to the nearest laundromat and washed as much as I could so we didn't have to smell puke all the way home. Sunday we spent in quarantine at the hotel-hopefull that no one else would get whatever Brooke had. . Monday we packed up and spent about an hour or two saying our goodbyes and taking pictures-knowing that it will probably be a good while before we will see each other again.

Grandma liked to hold Trevor alot!My parents and siblings +niece CarlyMy siblings (Me, April,Ashley,Arica, Austin)

At the hotel

Brooke slept alot..poor thing.

My parents with grandmaA picture of everyone taking pictures.he he

Wonderful News!!

2010-05-26T22:09:00.001-07:00

So Trevor had an MRI Tuesday and this morning the Dr. called with the results to say that everything looks good. I had noticed Trevors eyes shift back and forth involuntarily at times and was concerned. I took him into the dr and she said it looked like it could be Nystagmus or even Opsoclonus and that we should do an MRI to make certain that there weren't any brain tumors or anything wrong with the optic nerves as well. Our kids have a 50% chance of inheriting Gorlins syndrome-Joe has it-and children can develop brain tumors. So with the factors we felt it was necessary to check and make sure about the tumors. She also prepared me for the fact that because he wasn't tracking objects-he could have severe vision impairments. This was disheartening to hear and I went home to tell Joe. Definitely I went through scenarios in my head of what life would be like if Trevor couldn't see and how it would affect his life. It was hard not to.

So we got the MRI scheduled and on Friday saw a Pediatric Opthamologist. The PO said that his eyes looked good-so far-and wanted to watch them a bit longer to see how they developed as the Nystagmus is usally more continuous and that Trevor might just grow out of what we've been seeing plus he should start to track objects in the next few months as well. So we left feeling more hopful about a scary situation. The MRI was done yesterday and the Dr. called me this morning with the news that everything looks great- no tumors or any abnormalities that might affect his vision. So we are so relieved but will still follow up with the Ped. Opth. every few months to be safe.

Just another small miracle in my life and I am so very thankful that the Lord knows how strong I can be and gives me the faith to know that with His help I can handle the trials ahead.
But I did want to say thankyou for all the prayers and concern from family members and close friends. It really was strengthening to hear your words of encouragement and know you were thinking of little Trevor and our family. Although-I'm not certain i should call Trevor little-he's 7 1/2 weeks and weighs 13 1/2 pounds. He's quite the happy healthy little boy!!

2010-05-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

We kicked off Parade season with the first parade last Saturday!!

One down...at least three more to go. Deep in thought or sleep?Amber is going to teach Trevor all about Dinosaurs

-whether he likes it or not.

Check out the double chin on this guy

Area Festivals for the next two months!!

2010-05-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of events and festivals in our area for the next month or two-looks like there is something fun to do every week!!
Click on the highlighted underlined words for more infor about the activity

May 10-15th Payette's Apple Blossom Festival

May 16-22nd Boise Bike Week

May 14-16th Snake River Birds of Prey Festival
Click HERE for schedule of events
Registration Family is $5, individual $3, children free.

May 21-23 Eagle Island Experience Festival

July 10th Star Mule Days (Usually it's first week in June-but they changed it this year)

June 5th 9am-3pm Celebration of Flight Air Show

June 9-11th Eagle Fun days and Rodeo

June 17-19th Meridian Dairy Days

June 26th Wag'n Walk and Pet Friendly Family Festival Free-fun contests for your pets and family fun

June 26-27 Boise RecFest learn more HERE

Trevor's first month-for gramma

2010-05-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

Trevor at 1 week old--with Mom

2 weeks

1 month old"There's no crying...there's no crying in baseball"

Save and EARN money by using coupons!!

2010-04-29T16:23:00.001-07:00

I joined Inbox Dollars about a year ago. It is a site that pays you a few cents for viewing e-mail messages they send to you. You can also earn cash others ways such as taking surveys..but my favorite one.....is COUPONS!! Okay so most people know that I am a big couponer and I use coupons.com for most of my internet printable coupons. Well if you sign up for inbox dollars-you can print coupons from coupons.com directly from their website and for every 10 coupons you print and use they will pay you $1. I am so excited about this because now not only will I save money by using coupons, as I always have...I will also get paid to use them as well. So visit Inbox Dollars and get signed up and pretty soon you will be earning some extra cash doing the things you do anyway.

ZOO trip

2010-04-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

Since the weather was nice this last Saturday we decided to take the kids to the Zoo. It was quite different with Brooke walking now and an extra child (trevor slept the entire time in the stroller). Ofcourse Brooke wanted to ride the carousel and since that wasn't going to happen-she's not tall enough anyway, we had to find many ways to distract her. You would think the animals would be enough. But every time we walked by the carousel it was meltdown maintenance. It is so smart of the zoo to place it where you have to walk by it at least three times if you want to see all the animals...I mean seriously. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?? After the third tantrum we were so ready to be done with the day and our two year old. The giraffes are new to the zoo since the last time we visited.

At least they have this cool giraffe slide.

Who's bright idea was this anyway???

2010-04-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

So there is a reason why you don't put carpet in bathrooms. I just spent the better half of my morning extacting water from my bathroom floor. When we bought the house, one of the things I had wanted to do first was replace the flooring in the master bathroom. Picture this..beneath the toilet there is vinyl...then the area around the sink and leading to the walkincloset is carpet..then there is a tiled step area in front of the bathtub. So we are talking three different types of flooring in this room. Well the reason for my flooding issue began last night. The faucet to one of our sinks broke-so that it was difficult to shut the water completely off-unless you wiggled it a certain way-plus the drain was really slow. So Joe and I decided we would use the other sink (there is two in each bathroom-something I do love about the house) until we could fix the other faucet and clear out the drain. Well I think I should have told the children to not use mommy and daddys bathroom because when I got home from dropping the kids off at school-I heard some dripping and investigated. Sure enough-the sink was overflowing and water was running off the counter and onto the carpeted floor below. Needless to say my morning hasn't been fun-and I still haven't had breakfast yet.

The problem with babies is...

2010-04-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

They are just so adorable and sweet and warm and cozy that they make you forget all about the terrible 9 months of uncomfortable morning sickness, back aches, swelling, emotional days, and everything else that goes with being pregnant. Just holding this new little one makes me want to have another one-I know I am CRAZY. It tends to run in my family....

First week of life

2010-04-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

Our little glow worm (on the bili blanket)All siblingsTuckered out from dr. visitsFound his thumb already-hope this isn't a permanent like.Big sis feeding baby bro.

Look what the Easter Bunny brought us!!

2010-04-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

Trevor Watson

Born April 2

8 lb 15 oz

20 in long The Story: Early Friday morning around 2 am my water broke-or more truthfully-it slowly started to leak. Having had my water break with my first two-and this one being significantly more subtle-I wasn't sure myself if I was in labor-especially since by noon (10 hours later) I wasn't feeling any contractions. I called my Dr and he said to go on down to Labor and Delivery at the Hospital just to make sure. So we got to the hospital at 12:30ish and soon find out that yep-my water had broken and I was taken away to get hooked up to some Pitocin. 2 hours later finally started to feel some contractions and by 4 pm they were increasing. By 7:30 I decided to get my epidural-which didn't work right and the anesthesiologist after several attempts to get it to work better put in another one around 9:15. 9:45 finally feel my epidural kick in-but guess what ?? 15 minutes later time to push. 10:15 Joe caught our little or shall I say big bundle of boyness. 2 weeks early and this lad weighed in at 1 oz shy of 9 lbs. Good thing he decided to come when he did right??

The Pictures:First BornHis WeightCould this Father Grin any Bigger??Eyes openVisitors (Grandma and Grandpa with sisters)

Family at the hospital

Today he's home don't you love the dimple??

Girls new dresser=more space for all !!

2010-03-31T17:03:00.000-07:00

So Amber and Whitney have been sharing this small 4 drawer dresser since Amber was born and as they've gotten older-it has been more difficult to fit all of their clothes in it. As sad as it sounds-Brooke's dresser is a small rubbermaid 4 drawer stackable storage unit. So with the baby soon on it's way it was time to upgrade everyone. Move Brooke and baby's clothes into the 4 drawer dresser and find something more spacious for the bigger girls.

Here was our craigslist find:

A bigger 5 drawer dresser

Here is the dresser after sanding and paint-Thanks Joe!!

Living Room changes

2010-03-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

So here is what our living room looked like before any upgrading: Then we painted almost 2 years ago.....

and this week look what else got upgraded....

New carpet!!!

Not exactly the color we would have chosen -

but it was so inexpensive that we couldn't pass up the opportunity.

The carpet before was original to the house-15 yrs old... white berber-yuck.

We were able to do the living room, hallway and the guest bedroom.

Next week the girls bedroom. Then we are on hold for the master and bonus rooms.

Oh well-can't complain about getting 1/2 the house done.

Next thing to do in the Living room-retile the fireplace

(wonder how long before we start that project)

Meanwhile Joe has been working on this: I'll post pictures when it's done.

My basketball and my baby

2010-03-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

Well my NCAA tournament bracket got smashed to pieces in the 2nd round-but I promised to post a picture of "my basketball" and my new haircut..so here it is:

Here is Brooke with an icecream face--I love her expression!

She definitely is getting to be big girl.

Amber Update

2010-03-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

I know a few of you have been as anxious as I about what the Neuropsychologist had to say about Amber's diagnosis. Today my big question was answered-but not really.

Here is the summary-it's pretty long-but really I did condense as much as I could while still explaining everything.

So he started off by saying that he had the most difficult time diagnosing her because she is a unique case. She has a few symptoms that fall under the Autism spectrum-PDD-NOS, which she would be considered very high funtioning-at the same time she demonstrates abilities that Autistic children do not have. She shows some ADHD combined type symptoms as well-but not enough to place her under that category.
The clear answer for sure is that for her language and speech delay Amber has
Mixed Expressive/ Receptive Language Disorder and Phonological Disorder.

Temporarily her diagnosis is PDD-NOS /ADHD-NOS under the Autism Spectrum-primarily because she isn't strongly anything at the moment and hopefully in the next year or two-another more precise diagnosis will be found. PDD-NOS is Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified.

The good news is that whatever she is...she has a high probability of Resolving it.
Her language once developed to the same level of her peers will ofcourse help her in all areas across the board and with this-as it's the language part of concepts that Amber scored low on. The Dr. told me that most likely by age 10-12 Amber will pretty much be a normal functioning child with very few developmental differences compared to others her age. So this was a good thing to hear-obviously any parent would want to hear news like this. Her brain receives information correctly-it's more how she responses to use that information that is her problem right now.

So from here-we continue with Speech Therapy both in and out of school and we start meeting with an occupational therapist to help Amber with her sensory processing.

The funny thing I learned today was that they had Amber tested on her Right/Left hand skill level.....so we all think she's left handed because she writes with her left..but to my surprise, Amber is highly funtioning with both on a high average and scored higher with her right? CRAZY..so pretty much she's ambidextrous, which I kind of figured-but I didn't know she was stronger with her right-weird. And her Visual Motor skills are actually really advanced for her age.

March Madness and New Poll

2010-03-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

Okay so every year Joe and I compete against each other to see who does better on our NCAA March Madness Championships brackets. This is always a fun month and who knows..maybe I will be in the hospital watching the championship game. Anyway I always list my final four for everyone to see so that you all know who my top picks are...so here they are: Kentucky, Villanova, Kansas and Gonzaga...yes I always root for Gonzaga and Villinova every year so no one should be surprised by those picks. Anyway..in honor of March Madness I decided I will take a picture of my own basketball and post it as well as my new hair cut. I chopped 10 inches off on Saturday and so the next time I am feeling cute you will see pictures of that and my growing belly!! Til then, you can vote on my newest poll-how big will baby be??

Just a few movies I am excited about:

2010-03-12T16:09:00.000-08:00

click on each one to view the trailers
The Karate Kid
Eclipse
RobinHood
The Bounty Hunter

Most anticipated movie: TRUE GRIT starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon being filmed now and as a HUGE John Wayne western fan-I really hope this wont dissapoint.
Does anyone else see a pattern of remakes here??

Amber's Speech

2010-03-12T10:09:00.000-08:00

Next week I get the whole diagnosis report for Amber's learning delays. But this week, her new speech therapist, Janie, went over her test results with me on her language skills and I have to say I was a little excited. Amber is only 1 year behind the other kids her age in speech. When she was in preschool last year, most had a difficult time understanding her and she was 4 -speaking with the range of a 2 1/2 year old. Now at 5 1/2 she is speaking as a 4 1/2 year old. That just blows my mind how quickly she is developing her language and alot of it I feel is the choice we made to not wait a year before putting her in Kindergarten. Being around the other children her age, I'm know has helped her in so many ways. Most of her language delays now are grammar and a few pronunciation that Janie (the speech path) thinks might be because of how her lower jaw makes her have an underbite. She also said that Amber will probably end up testing out of having speech help at school because she is just over the % mark for those that qualify for it through the district. She thinks that Amber has the great quality of self correcting herself when she is wrong-she strongly thinks that this will make Amber's progresss go faster than most children. I am so glad that Amber is starting this new program to get the help I know she needs.
And you want to hear more exciting things that happened last night?? Big Sister Whitney was writing a letter to the toothfairy (she got two teeth pulled at the Denstist yesterday) and Amber sat down to write her own letter. Ofcourse she mostly wrote her name a few times and then some odd letters-but this is a child who I've had the most difficult time in getting her to practice letters and sound recognition, let alone reading. She is now understanding why she needs to learn these and last night as we went through her letter recognition worksheet-she only missed 8 out of 100!! I am so proud of her!

Fun spa night!

2010-03-09T10:03:00.000-08:00

I hosted a girls' night out this last month and we did a spa themed night. We exfoliated our hands with a sugar scrub, then we used a pumpkin and honey moisturizing mask -after washing that off we did our nails. Also I introduced the ladies to a lip scrub that will keep your puckers nice and soft. Here are the recipes for what we used:

Sugar and Oatmeal Body scrub
1 cup coarse raw sugar or brown sugar
1 cup oatmeal (blended)
1 cup extra virgin olive oil (you can use mineral oil, grapeseed oil, almond oil instead)

*If you don't blend your oatmeal, I will warn you that this may lead to a clogged drain.
Mix together and rub all over your body then hop in the shower and rinse off.

Pumpkin moisturizing Mask
1 can pumpkin puree (the large can)
1/4 cup honey

Mix together and immerse hands in mixture for 10 minutes then rinse. I have to warn you-this was not a favorite among the women as the texture feels a bit, well slimy.

Lip Scrub-definitely a winner and so easy
make a paste out of petroleum jelly and white sugar. Apply to lips and scrub with a toothbrush. Then use a washcloth to rinse off.

So fun, so easy and most of you have these ingredients hanging out in your cupboards!!

Sad News..

2010-03-08T08:40:00.000-08:00

My grandfather passed away yesterday and it has had me a little on the teary side today. I found out late last night and my wonderful husband game me a priesthood blessing. This was a great comfort to me. He has known how hard it has been for me because I wasn't able to visit my grandparents in california because of our circumstances the last few years. I had hoped to visit them this summer and as I had warning that he might pass soon-I kept hoping that I'd get to see my grandfather one last time before he went home. I know that it was my Heavenly Fathers' will that he is now at peace and no longer struggling with his health. I truly hope my Grandmother finds the comfort and strength she needs. She is a miraculous woman and has always been hardworking while still remaining a lady. I am so very thankful my mom was able to fly down yesterday and spend the afternoon with him before he passed. What a wonderful gift time is sometimes. I hope that we all take the time that is needed to make sure our loved ones know they are loved by us. Sorry for this post being a little on sad side-I'm not much of a facebook teller myself so I opt for my blog to relieve my built up feelings.

This weeks poll...

2010-03-03T07:43:00.000-08:00

This one is a little more fun-Who will baby look more like: ME or JOE???

I know-pretty tough isn't it?? This is one of our pictures from our engagement-you know our younger skinnier selves. We haven't taken a couple's picture since then so that's all I had.

Sunshine and getting closer to Answers..

2010-03-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

Today is so nice- outside the sun has been shining all day and the birds are out singing. It finally feels like spring here. I just hope it continues throughout the rest of the week. Today Amber finally got her evaluation testing done to narrow down exactly what she is having difficulties with and why. I meet with the team of Occ. therapists, neurophyscologist, and speech pathologist to discuss what she has (SPD, ADD, Austism,etc????). It will be so nice to finally get her the help she needs and hopefully with the best diagnosis. I have been trying to get this done since last fall-so I am excited. She starts speech therapy with the same center on Wednesday and I can only imagine that her progression will only speed up. The Neurophyscologist said this about Amber when her 4 hour long testing was done, "She is funny, that one definitely dances to the beat of her own drum." Which is so true-she is always keeping us laughing at the things she does. I would not be suprised if she becomes the "class clown" at school because of her personality. It's one of the things I love about my Big Red.

New Poll

2010-02-23T11:32:00.000-08:00

My sisters Arica, April and IMy sister Ashley
My 3 girls

Okay here is probably the one that I am most excited to find out about!! What color will baby's hair be?? If you don't know my family very well-so far I have 1 brunette, 1 redhead, and 1 blondie. And ofcourse it's rather fun for me because I have three sisters each with the same color of hair as my kids (though not the same shade) but it reminds me of them alot. So will there be a tie breaker or will we yet again see a new color this time around?? Black maybe??

New addition...

2010-02-21T23:20:00.000-08:00

Yippee..we again have two vehicles!! Last year around this time we sold our sienna (toyota mini-van). Since expecting number 4 and Joe having hours cut back once again I wondered how it would all work-being able to find a reliable vehicle that fit our expanding family. After deciding on what we wanted to spend and test driving quite a few vehicles, we decided to buy a Chevy Venture. Our new van seats 8 so it can accomodate my family plus two more if needed-and the seats in the second row individually come out-which is really nice. I am really pleased with it-it's not brand new-always prefer used as we seem to get the best for our buck. But it has alot of the same features our Sienna had including the power sliding door and automatic lights-both were things that I really like to have. Plus it has a button to lock the rear lights-so the kids can't turn them on and off in the back unless I let them. It's great to not have the girls packed tight next to each other anymore. And it'll be so nice not to have to coordinate schedules for one car any longer. Joe teases me that our neighbors probably assume we like white vehicles since this is the third white vehicle we've owned. Maybe it's our family's lucky color? So far I feel lucky-or rather Really Blessed at the moment for how things just work out when you need them to. Again-I experience the Lord's tender mercies in my life. (The picture above isn't our exact van-but that's what it looks like)

Household Hint: Cutting Board Care

2010-02-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

Okay so here are a few helpful hints that I learned about caring for cutting boards:
This is how to make your wooden cutting boards last you for years:

1. Sanitize cutting boards with a solution of peroxide and water-you can use a solution of bleach and water-but you need to make sure you make it up fresh because bleach solution will lose 50% of it's strength after about 2 hours. (I didn't know that one). After you sanitize-rinse and let dry completety
2. Never soak or put cutting boards in dishwasher.
3. Use both sides of your cutting board-using just one side only can cause it to warp.
4. Oiling a cutting board is essential because detergents and soaps used for cleaning tend to dry out the wood, causing splits and an overall shorter useful lifespan. Mineral oil, beeswax, cocount or almond oil all can be used. Apply with clean cloth over the dry board and set up to dry a few hours-you can apply more if needed. Do about once a month. You can use olive oil too-but it can get a kind of rancid smell to it-so whatever you choose.
5. To remove stains and odors from a cutting board-cut a lemon in half and scrub the cutting board with it.

Just a little hint: Use your plastic cutting boards for vegitables/fruits only-As the cut marks on plastic cutting boards are harder to manually clean-and you may not be able to completely clean all bacteria out of these nicks- on a wooden cutting board-even if you don't get the cut grooves completely clean-after the wood dries-bacteria evidently doesn't multiply and will gradually die. So if you plan on using your plastic cutting boards for everything-make sure you wash them in a dishwasher or even nuking them in the microwave will help kill off any remaining baceteria.

Before or After Baby Shower

2010-02-15T12:22:00.000-08:00

Okay so here is yet another subject I want to question you all about. My very dear friend is throwing me a baby shower and I asked her to wait until after the baby is born to hold it. My reasons are ofcourse that if it is a boy i will be in need of clothing for him and also if it's a girl-I will definitely turn it into a diaper/needs shower. I know that I could do a neutral shower beforehand-but I am thinking if it is a girl-I wouldn't want people to waste money to buy me clothes-when I have tons already and would much prefer them to get me things that will be more useful to me and new baby. With that said-I have to admit that even knowing what all three of my girls were before they were born, my baby showers for each of them were after they were born. I am not one to closet myself away with baby for a good month before going out in public-so it was nice to bring baby with me so everyone could hold her while I enjoyed the fun company and opened gifts. I am curious what you all prefer-would you rather have baby shower before or after the baby was born and what are your reasons??

Another Poll

2010-02-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

Okay so my last poll brought a 60/40 split with majority voting I'd have another girl. I haven't posted for a while-so I thought I'd put up a new poll. Here is the next guessing game. I know I have told you all that my Dr. doesn't want me to go all the way to my due date for fear that this baby will be bigger than my last-which is the pattern with me. So he will most likely try to start me early-probably around April 5th (10 days before my due date) -not totally induce me-just try to strip my membranes and see if this baby will come on it's own. Last time I did this, I had no success. Whitney was overdue-Amber was a week early and Brooke came 1 day shy of her due date. So my next poll will be when you think the baby will be born-obviously it won't be overdue-as the doc will induce me before that happens. So vote on the poll at the left and we'll see what you predict. Won't it be fun to go through and compare the polls with the actual results? Oh and just to make things interesting-we asked doc to induce us with Amber the day before she actually came-and he said she was too high and my body wasn't ready yet-so he wouldn't. (my water broke that night and she dropped in position) Anyway I was wondering if any of you had wanted to be induced with your babies-but dr. said he couldn't because of baby's positioning or your body not ready. I am trying to figure out what dr will do if again faced with this challenge...hmm.

Questions answered..

2010-01-31T21:14:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning I wasn't feeling too well-a bit dizzy and faint and told Joe about it. I have to admit I felt something was wrong and went to lay down. Well later that day I found out why:
I recieved a letter stating that my glucose test went fine this week-no gest. diabetes here. On the other hand-my iron levels are low. So the dr. wants me to start taking an iron supplement. I will do it, but I am not looking forward to it as whenever I take iron-my nausea gets worse. On the otherhand-I don't want to become anemic before baby is born-so it's one of those sacrifices I again get to make. I am crossing my fingers that my levels go back up to normal and that I don't get too sick again. At least I only have two more months. I am starting to get really excited that the end is nearing and soon well see our little surprise!!

Baby Talk-what are your thoughts?

2010-01-29T12:27:00.000-08:00

Okay so this has bothered me alot lately and I am really hoping that I don't become like this now that I am nearing having my last and final child. There is a huge trend in babying your "baby" or your youngest. I mean I don't think we let whitney get away with as much as the younger ones and it seems to get easier to slip into this with each kid. I understand we do this because time goes by so fast and soon our babies are in kindergarten and growing so super fast. It's our natural reaction to try to slow it all down. But as mothers does any of us wonder what we do to our kids by doing this?? The long-term affects it may have on them as they get older and face life's dissapointments.

My biggest pet peeve is "baby talk."

As a mother of a child with a speech delay-it made myself look at how I was talking to my children and if that was in any way affecting how they decided to respond. Now I admit that I didn't baby talk to my kids all that much-I'm not saying i didn't ever do it once. But it somehow felt immature of me to do so -for some reason it made me feel stupid, so I just didn't do it. I am not against it in the 1st year of a childs life. But am I wrong in thinking-it's just not something you should do after your children reach a certain age-I mean c'mon a 3 year old is not a baby..even if they are still your "baby."

I guess it just bothers me when I hear a mom speak to her 4-5 year old this way-it's just plain unnerving to me. I know I am venting -but can someone explain to me why they feel it necessary to continue it when their children are totally capable of understanding and speaking "adult" language?? Aren't they a little curious as to how this affects them in developing language skills or if it mentally makes them believe they are younger than they are?? Or if other kids make fun of how "they talk." Who would willingly put their child through this?? I know what it's like to watch kids make fun of my child because she cannot keep up with them conversationally and it's hurtful for both of us. SO please when you child turns 2...please please speak to them on their level.

Now there are so many other things that you can do to baby your older children and I was wondering what are the big ones that bother you??

And just to step off my soap box for a bit-I do admit to helping Amber get her "tough" shoes on when she's having a hard time of it. So really I am not trying to be judgemental- this is one of the pet peeves that I have yet to get over -sorry.

Day of Basketball and very warm PJ's

2010-01-25T11:16:00.000-08:00

Saturday was Whitney's first Basketball game. She did okay considering this was the first time she ever played. She did better defensively than offensively. So we definitely know what we need to work on. Then Later that night we went to our local college girls basketball game-we were able to get in for free. The girls had alot of fun and Whitney got to watch how the "Big Girls" play ball. Amber danced during the breaks and was actually caught on camera and got to display her moves on the big screen-she was so excited about that. I have to admit we were a little nervous about how this outing would go-but the girls really did well and between the game, the band, dancers and cheerleaders-it provided enough distraction that we only had to buy 1 bucket of popcorn to help us through the event.

Brooke saw a guy cheering like this-so she decided to mimic him.

Joe, Brooke and Whitney watching the game.

I wish I had gotten a picture of Amber getting her groove on but this picture tells another story completely. A few nights ago-I went in to check the girls as they were sleeping and found Amber all bundled up like this...then noticed Whitney dressed similarly. When I asked the girls about it the next morning Whitney said they were scared that someone was going to break into the house so they got ready to leave if it happened. Too funny. The wind was pretty fierce that night so I don't blame them too much for feeling a little spooked. It sure made me chuckle. Don't you just love kids!!

Strange Coincidence?? Belly Picture!!

2010-01-18T10:59:00.000-08:00

Okay so just oddly enough while blog hopping to a friend's blog I found another blogging mommy and guess what??? Not only does she share the same last name as me, the same faith, the same passion for dance-she teaches too (crazy i know)-lives in the same area, but here is the big hair raising moment-we are both pregnant and due on the same day. Well she was brave enough last week to post her belly picture so I thought I would finally let the blogging world see my protruding stomach as well..are you all prepared?? With 12 weeks and 2 days to go here I am in all my glory:

How do you clean?

2010-01-13T20:39:00.000-08:00

So while I was doing some of my regular house cleaning-I started to wonder if I am a bit old fashioned in how I clean my home. This train of thought came to me as I was cleaning my bathroom-I usually use comet or ajax to clean about everything but the mirror (which I use ammonia on-I usually do all mirrors and windows a different day than the day I clean the bathrooms because of the bleach in comet/ajax). And I was wondering if anyone else does the same or is everyone using the "new" cleaners out there-like lysol disinfecting wipes or those toilet bowl brushes that are one time use-then you flush it down the toilet. I have to admit I was thinking similar thoughts when mopping my tile in my kitchen/dining rooms the other day as well-I use Mr. Clean and a regular mop-but I was also pondering if those swiffer wet mops work well on tile -or are they too costly to continue buying all the refills-etc. So now that you know some of the ways I clean my house-what are the ways you clean your house and what have you found cleans best or is easiest or less time consuming??? Please share-with a new baby coming-I really would be interested in other options.

The Naming Game

2010-01-07T08:12:00.000-08:00

As I am entering my third tri-mester, time seems to be flying and I am starting to think of baby names. Right now Joe and I are finding it difficult to agree on names-as usual. Obviously with the girls' names-I like traditional names that aren't outdated but also that have normal spellings. So I am open for suggestions for both boy and girl names. I am also curious what you think I will have Girl or Boy? So I have added a poll on the left of my blog-so if you want to guess, have fun! Ofcourse I may be adding more polls later like hair color, eye color etc-it will be exciting for sure to finally see what this little one is and what he/she will look like. 14 more weeks!!

Snow Day!!

2009-12-30T13:17:00.000-08:00

We woke up to about 3 inches of the white stuff!! While Brooke went down for a nap, I let the older girls go outside and play in it. *I heard we were to have some rain later-so knew this might be their only chance.* Afterwards they came in all wet and enjoyed some hot chocolate followed by a nice warm bath. Loving today!

Christmas

2009-12-29T09:13:00.000-08:00

Making the Cookies for Santa

I thought I'd put a picture of me in here-for once.

All Santa's Loot

All smiles-she knew I had the camera ofcourse and hammed it up as usual!If she could jump for Joy-she does!

My favorite gift to give out this year was Whitneys-she has been pleading with me all year to sign her up for basketball. We haven't been able to fit extras like this in the budget for quite some time but through a little christmas miracle-we were able to sign her up for winter basketball. So we bought her a basketball and some shorts that she we found on clearance and wrapped them up with the registration form on it.

She was so excited when she found out-can't you tell??

Gingerbread Girls and Boys

2009-12-23T17:14:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season is to make cookies. Since Sunday we have been making Gingerbread boys and girls. This was my first time making these fun cookies and since I didn't have a cookie cutter I used a stencil and hand cut them all. I think they turned out pretty cute! Luckily for our tummies, none of them have run away yet. Tomorrow night we will be doing the traditional sugar cookies for Santa!

Wow I just noticed that this is my 300th post...crazy.

Today I feel so blessed

2009-12-21T09:35:00.000-08:00

From my blogworld I have learned recently of a tragedy that has happened to someone I don't even know. But learning of it has made me even more deeply appreciate how much I have in my life. This friend of a blogger friend lost her husband and two children to a house fire-she was able to get out with her step daughter but the rest of her family did not survive. I can only imagine the heartbreak if that was to happen to me and have been teary eyed all morning thinking about this dear woman and the challenges that face her. You can read more about the story Here.

I feel everything happens for a reason and sometimes we are blessed to know the reasons and sometimes we don't ever know. I have seen many small miracles in my life and as I sat this morning holding my youngest (she isn't feeling well today) and rocking her I couldn't help but feel that being a mother is one of the greatest miracles I experience everyday. Too bad it takes sweet moments like when our children fall asleep on our laps or the laughter we hear from them and sadly, the loss of someone to help us remember that.

Everyone has new years resolutions-lose weight, do more acts of service, save up money for a vacation, etc. But my goal -and hopefully it is something that will stay as a habit with me, is to always remember the blessings that are mine and to do as Elder Bednar encouraged us in the last Oct conference ;"Express love and show it."

I never want to question whether my children and husband know how much I love them and how proud I am of them. They are so special to me and I hope that I will be able to show them that more than I do now-and also to find many ways to express it as well.

Say Cheese!

2009-12-18T13:15:00.000-08:00

Can you tell this girl loves the Camera?? What a Ham!

Stretch Marks and Stuff

2009-12-18T08:54:00.000-08:00

I am really excited about the changes to report so far-no more excessive saliva, sensitivity to smells have decreased (not totally gone-but way better than before), and my stomach isn't churning at all times of the day anymore. Almost 6 months along and I feel that I have made it over the hill and am on my way down. I am one that gains all baby weight up front in my stomach-not anywhere else. Most women have the lower tailbone pain that feels like your hips are being split in two. With each of my previous pregnancies I have ribs that slipped out of place in my middle back as well. Mostly due to hormones making everything more flexible to make room for baby-added to the months of being sick and laying in bed-no exercise, they just slide out and it's really painful -as my stomach is getting larger, there isn't much I can do to put them back in place. I do physical therapy exercises to help me lesson that.

Rigtht now-I have one out of place and it's affecting my right hip-which i think is out of place as well. I am going to try to get into a chiropracter to get adjusted as best as I can before it gets worse. My hip went out with Brooke and I remember after she was born it was still out (probably because she got stuck and the dr. literally twisted and yanked to get her shoulders out) Say OUCH. I remember at times I would put weight on my right leg-it would give out on me -which scared me knowing I was carrying an infant most the time. I always made sure I had something to lean on for support. It was horrible. I really don't want to deal with that again.

My dr will induce me early with this one-no matter how much I don't want to. My kids have jumped 1 1/2 pounds with each one and that would make this baby roughly 11 1/2 lbs-no thanks, I'll pass. For those of you who wonder if it's because I gain alot during my pregnancies, this is what I have gained with each of my pregnancies and how big each of the babies were:
Whitney gained 17 lbs she weighed 6 lb 14 oz (lost 20 to begin with gained that back +the 17)
Amber gained 17 lbs she weighed 8 lbs 1 oz (lost 10 " ")
Brooke gained 26 lbs she weighed 9lbs 9 oz. (lost 8 to begin with, gained it back + the 26)
Baby 4 so far 15 lbs gained (none lost-i'm scared already)

My sisters used to say that I was lucky to get morning sickness because I didn't ever gain much and didn't get any stretchmarks like them. Well I can now brag that I have my very first stretchmark ever on my stomach-right above my belly button. Not something any pregnant woman would boast of-but for me I feel with my last pregnancy it's nice to say that I have had at least one- I am sure I will get more, since I have 3 more months of stomach stretching that will occur-so sisters beware-you might get sick with your next babies...ha ha. Just kidding. I would never wish this on anyone.

My Opinion SYTYCD

2009-12-16T11:19:00.000-08:00

The routines from my favorite to least favorite:
1. Jakob and Kathryn's contemporary piece-loved this -My favorite for the season-I couldn't wait until these two got to dance together and I was totally left satisfied and in awe afterward. These two should get married and have kids-don't you think??? ha ha.
2. Ashleigh and Ryan's contemp.-I was so moved by them dancing as a married couple and I don't agreee with Nigel at all about Ashleigh having more chemistry with her former partner than her own husband-this was just so special to watch-I was close to tears.
3. Ryan and Kathryn's Samba-brave for Ryan to go shoeless with Kathryn in those heels-this is one my favorite sambas on this show ever -that ending was crazy awesome!
3. Ashleigh and Russels' lyrical jazz-so many beautiful parts in the choreography-loved the story.

4. Jakob and Ashleighs Foxtrot-so fun and lively-loved seeing these guys back together.
5. Jakob and Ellenore's broadway-both fantastic in this-both so technically on.
6. Russel and Kathryn's krump/hip hop routine-it was okay-I am not a big krump fan..sorry.
6. Ellinore and Ryans wierd jazz routine-i thought both did a great job and I liked it-felt it showed ryan's growth alot.
6. Ellenore and Russels Paso doble-Finally ellenore came alive to me as an audienc in this.

If Jakob doesn't win-Kathryn should. I would be disappointed in Elinore or Russell won and just a bit shocked if Ashleigh or Ryan did..

Oranges

2009-12-15T11:57:00.000-08:00

Because I don't really get to eat too many acidic things when I'm sick to my stomach during pregnancy-it is really awesome when I am able to eat an orange or drink orange juice. Even when I can't eat them-just smelling a fresh orange brings joy. And lately-since I have been able to eat an orange here and there, it has me thinking "tis the season"!!! Yeah-I've been eating at least 2 a day since I am feeling much better.

What is it about oranges that makes me think of Christmas??

1. The Christmas Oranges Story

2. The fun decorations

3. Orange Slice Candy

4. Traditional orange at the bottom of my stocking

5. Orange Rolls Baking

6. Hot Wassail

Whenever I smell an orange-it's got me thinking Christmas.

Laundry Soap on the Cheap

2009-12-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

Arm and Hammar 2x concentrated Laundry soap is on sale at Walgreens for $2.49 they have three kinds 26-32 loads (w/bleach, original, sensitive skin). This is the brand I usually use and it's around $4.50 usually at Walmart so this is a really good deal-I am stocking up!! There is a coupon at ArmandHammer.com save $1 on 2..you can print two of these-just click your browser back button. SO you can get these for $2 each.

Recent Family Activities

2009-12-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

So we have had a few busy weeks. Amber had a Thanksgiving Feast for Kindergarten before the Break and Whitney had her Thanksgiving Program.

For Thanksgiving we headed out of town to visit Joe's brother and his family. It was nice to visit-we hadn't seen them for a while and the cousins were so excited to see eachother! Well for the most part anyway-Brooke like to say "no" alot and scared her cousin of the same age quite frequently with the use of it. Oh well. It was a nice break for all of us. The girls loved playing with this baby and it's bathtub-especially Brooke.

Next it was Brooke's 2 year Birthday-this last Monday-we just did something small as a family-cake and presents. It was so funny watching her try to blow out the candles-she was kind of scared and when we put the candles closer to her she would shut her eyes and blow. We finally had to help her extinguish them.Two Ponies she got from Dad.A baby doll and bottle that makes Miss Brooke feel like Mommy.

And we got our Christmas tree this week and have been decorating it the last two days. I will post pictures when it's all done.

SYTYCD

2009-12-09T15:18:00.000-08:00

As usual here is my take on the routines of last night-I've listed them in order of favorite to least favorite:
1. Ryan and Kathryns' cha cha (executed perfectly)
2. Molee and Jakobs Broadway (loved this for so many reasons)
3. Molee and Jakob's V. Waltz (Just wonderful to watch-so fluid through-out)
4. Ryan and kathryn's Disco ( Very fun and would have liked Ryan in a lighter-colored shirt)
5. Russel's Baliwood routine (He is doing so great with every style given him!!)
6. Ellenore and Legacy's contemporary (I think I didn't like the musicality in the beginning)
7. Russel's Hip Hop (I would have really enjoyed seeing Ashleigh in this routine but liked it)
8. Ellenore and Legacy's hip hop (There were some good moments in here that I thought were cool-but Ellenore for some reason-just kind of felt to me that she was trying to keep up with Legacy and was getting left behind)

Based on Last nights' performances I think Legacy is the guy to go home and a toss up between Ellenore and Ashleigh-only because I think her injury may limit her in the finale.

You would expect this from a four year old.....

2009-12-04T08:06:00.001-08:00

I am really one that loves surprises-mostly because the good ones come around fairly rarely. Today I got one of the other surprises that sometimes takes place when you have daughters. It has finally happened to me, at least worse than it has before. Whitney cut the front portion of her bangs close to her head on the left side. At least when amber cut hers it was chin length and I could salvage it well. My first reaction was-"why?" I mean she's 7 1/2 years old-you would think she would know better right? Well Whitney has hair that tangles massively. And she was brushing her hair last night and couldn't get a tangle out so she decided to cut it out. Brilliant -attack the problem head on (nice choice of words huh?) and go with the easy fix. Unfortunately I had to explain to her that because she cut it so short, it's going to be a long time before it grows out and now she won't be able to do her own hair anymore. And if she ever cuts her hair again-i threatened to cut it short like a boys. OH the consequences. So with some hair gel and using the comb over technique-i had her sporting a side part style to school, that hopefully will hide her spikeys enough that will eliminate any teasing. Kids can be cruel and I only hope that her hair grows faster than I think it will.

All about Dance!!

2009-12-02T10:25:00.001-08:00

So here is what I thought about the routines:

Nathan and Kathryn I liked their broadway routine-so sweet and who doesn't love White Christmas. IT was really sweet but I think Kathryn outperformed Nathan and maybe that is why Nigel didn't see the chemistry between the two. Their Rumba was okay-I think Kathryn again did a wonderful job but Nathan just is fading out. He wasn't very strong in this.

Legacy and Ashleigh Their contemporary was so good. I loved the mirroring sequence and also when legacy jumped off of Ashleighs leg-the the energy was there through the entire strenuous routine. I was really afraid of this pairing when I found out they were together and my feelings were justified in their second routine. The hip hop was so boring...arhh. No substance whatsoever.

Russel and Mollee Their first routine,by Mandi Moore was wonderful. The beginning lift was amazing as well as the link of arm throw that Nigel mentioned-it was so awesome. Loved It tremendously!!! And their last routine- the Jive was so fun to watch...love these two together.

Jakob and Ellinore Their quickstep was fun-i liked the part they came apart and kept their frame. All in all-it looked effortless.
Their contemporary peice had Sonja written all over it. It was so weird and funky and showcased both dancers' technique. I was intrigued enough by it because of how odd it was the movement-Jakobs flexibility and strength is amazing. He deifinitely is the best dancer on this show hands down. Ellinore showcases her partner really well and I am always drawn away from her because of it. I want her to stand out just a bit more. This is one power team.

Ryan and Noelle hip hop-didn't necessarily love this one. I think it was because the desk hid Ryan alot and maybe his inability to do more. Would have liked to see more side by side work with them. Noelle was just workin it and Ryan played the character well.
I really loved their Waltz-so captivating and soft and romantic. The only thing I would have changed was to pulle Noelle's hair back in some fashion.

Who I think will go based on the performances: Nathan or Legacy for the men and Noelle or Ashleigh -though I really hate to see any of the girls go-they are really all very close.

Who I would like to see go first: Nathan and Mollee

It's SYTYCD time

2009-11-25T10:24:00.000-08:00

Alrighty it is becoming more difficult each week to predict who will be eliminated from this competition.
Okay so here is how i ranked the couples after last night:

1. Ryan and Ellenore -These two are so charismatic-they play their parts and perform whatever they are given to their best abilities and it works so well!! Loved their Lindy and Broadway!!

1. Jakob and Ashleigh-Finallly Ashleigh was given Lyrical -so she got to show that she can do both ballroom and also a style that should have been more difficult for her. I still think they choreographed it rather safely still for her-no big jumps/turns for her to do. Still both routines were so Phenomenol!!

2. Legacy and Kathryn-I loved their Jazz routine and the waltz was so beautiful. Only one thing i was dissapointed in was that Legacy's waltz showed his weaknesses and comparing that to the other men dancers-I feel that he is going to be going home sooner than some others.

3. Noell and Russel-Loved their Contemporary-it was the best of the night for me. Just loved this routine so much-so wonderful-I wish it had been longer-i could have watched it forever. Their other routine however the samba-i agreed with the judges..just too airy and not grounded enough.

4. Mollee and Nathan-I actually thought mollee did a great job with the hip hop compared to what the judges thought. Her movement was overall good-just a few places that seemed a bit sloppy. Their can can was amazingly cute and they did a great job keeping me entertained throughout.

5. Karen and Victor-Liked their tango-again she gets' to play the sultry part..blah blah blah. I was expecting it to be just a bit sharper though. Hated their hip hop-i think they weren't together on lots of parts and could have done without the lifts because they didn't flow with the peice.

I think that Mollee and Karen are the two I would put in danger-but again, really comes down to what America thought and how they voted. I am really hoping to not see any of the others go though. For the men..Victor's time is up. He still hasn't drawn me in as an audience to his personality like the others have. While the rest shine on their own-he kind of is in the background. I cannot wait for next week and the change in partners..ooohh the change in dynamics is going to be something to look forward to. Here is who I hope get paired together:

Jakob and Noelle
Ryan and Kathryn
Nathan and Ashleigh
Legacy and Ellinore
Russel and Mollee

These partnerships would really match up well...at least that's if Karen and Victor are gone.

Ultrasound!!.

2009-11-24T15:23:00.000-08:00

So lately I have been a little bummed because I haven't felt the baby move much. The Ultrasound tech had asked me if i felt baby move alot and I told her no, not really. It has been something that i've been a little concerned about because with the girls I could feel them move constantly by this point. She said she expected as much because of the location of my placenta is providing extra cushion-so it's normal. I was so relieved by that. One of the things I was looking forward to seeing on the ultrasound was the baby move. And baby didn't dissapoint-in fact when the tech went to it's feet-it decided to give me a little kick. I think it's so cute:

So although-we didn't find out what gender the baby is-it was so much fun to see that he/she is healthy. I will have to do another ultrasound next week because we couldn't get a good picture of the baby's heart-so next time I can let you know 100% that baby is as perfect as we think. And no-going in and looking at baby a second time around won't tempt me to find out what he/she is. Sorry. I told Joe before hand that he needed to be very observant on his own if he wanted to know what it was...luckily baby wasn't forthcoming with any information. Already knows to mind his/her mommy.

Happy Birthday JOE!!!

2009-11-21T14:42:00.001-08:00

My hubby turns a year older today!!! Because he didn't get what he wanted for his birthday(If I could have gotten it for him-I would have)- I still hope that he knows how much we love him and that His Birthday Rocks anyway. He is a wonderful husband and father. I appreciate him so much and how he puts me and the kids before himself entirely. Just to let you know how awesome he is-this is his birthday so far today: Got up early and went to work to do inventory. Came home and raked our yard and both of our next door neighbors yard. Yeah on his birthday-can you believe this man?? Anyway-he doesn't expect any grand party and is happy with little things for gifts-am I lucky or what? I know I am. Just another reason why I love this man and I wish that he Has the Best Birthday ever!!! The rest of his day will be a little more fun-we're taking him out to eat with the Kids. Texas Roadhouse-here we come!!

SYTYCD-This weeks review ..a little bit of sunshine gone.

2009-11-18T20:50:00.000-08:00

To be honest I loved all but one routine-kevin and Karens. The entire night as i was watching I kept thinking oh..this is going to be my number 1 pick and then each couple just started to rock their routines. All except for Karen and Kevin's Broadway-this dance should have been so much more exaggerated and bigger and it was way too bland. I just couldn't wait for it to be over.

Loved Jacob and Ashleighs soft hip hop-hit hard and flowed soft and right on-fabulous.
Loved Noelle and Russells Foxtrot-lucky to get it a second time-but she was so gorgeous and they looked like they were having fun and it was so smooth.
Loved Legacy and Katherine's Paso Doble-Stunning-so intense and powerful-YEAH for them!
Loved Channing and Victor's Jazz. -i loved the weird quirkiness of this and the beat so different-i was captured initially by this moving piece of art.
Loved Mollee and Nathan's Pop Jazz-so much fun and hip-totally meant for this young couple to dance.
Loved Ryan and Ellinore's Contemporary-left me breathless-wonderful to see how well these two are doing.

With that said I really was happy to see Kevin go but mixed about Channing getting the boot. I like her more than Karen but Karen has been more consistent-so I am thinking that is why they chose her over Channing. Still, having really loved Channing's solo and her routine from Wednesday night-makes me feel like she went home too early. Karen was getting rather boring with her sultry style all over the place all the time. Channing was just more refreshing. I have to say next week Karen has got to step up because i can't imagine the other girls going home before her...and to pick a guy for next week...really it's going to be hard-but I would say Victor has to step up-or he'll lose the votes.

Thanksgiving Deals at Walmart

2009-11-17T10:44:00.000-08:00

Frozen Whole Turkey $.40/lb limit 2
Green Giant Canned Vegitables $.50
Ocean Spray Whole Cranberries $.88
Sweet Potatoes $.25/lb
Stovetop twin pack stuffing $1.50
Great Value Brown and Serve Rolls $.75
Campbells cream soups (mush&chick) $.58 use $1/2 or $1/4 IP $.08-.33
Heinz Gravy 12 oz $.75 use IP $1/3 $.42 each
Swanson chicken Broth 14 oz $.45 use $.25/4 11/08 SS $.39 each
Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers 12 oz. $1.50 use $.40/1 10/04 GM or IP $.50/1 $1.10 each
Pillsbury crescent or sweet rolls $1.50 $.50/2 or $.40/2 IP $1.25-1.35 each
Reddi Whip 7 0z $1.88 use $.50/1 11/15 SS or IP $1.38 each
Philadelphia cream cheese 8 oz $1.18 use $1/3 11/15 RP $.85 each
Great Value Butter 16 oz $1.50

Crisco Vegitable Oil $2 use $1/1 11/08 RP $1 each

coupon shopping at Walgreens

2009-11-16T12:40:00.000-08:00

bought 2 Ricola mixed berry cough drop packages on sale $1.
used 2 $ .50/1 from the walgreens healthy coupon booklet
$.50 each + got $1 RR

Welches sparkling grape juice 2/7
used the $2/5 in ad store coupon + $2/1 coupon from coupons.com
= $.50 each

4 Aussie Mega Products on sale $2.99
used 4 $1/1 coupon from 10/11 P&G insert
=$1.99 each +got $2 RR

total spent $11.10 including tax received $10 in RR from Aussie Mega and Ricola items
Like spending $1.10 for everything.

Sparkling Grape Juice for the Holidays

2009-11-13T14:39:00.000-08:00

Sparking Grape Juice $.50 at Walgreens next week $2.50
Print a coupon here (IE) or here (FF) for $2/1 Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice
Get 'em while you can.

Free Kashi All Natural Granola Bar

2009-11-13T08:26:00.000-08:00

Go HERE to sign up and receive a free kashi granola bar sample in the mail.