Princess and the Frog

Katie quoted this the other day, I laughed so hard. :-) Had to share: It's quiet, so turn up your volume.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3uEbBX8F1U

Gingervitis

The other night, I was checking Liza's teeth, making sure that she was brushing well around those braces. She was not getting between the brackets and the gums very well. The most important place to get!! So I was showing her how to get her brush up there on her gums, and her gums bled when we brushed them. I said "Oh no Liza, that is not good that is a sign of the beginnings of Gingivitis." I told her that she has to take care of her gums, and how important it is. (we've had this talk before, but in one ear and out the other I guess) I think seeing her gums bleed tho, was a little scary for her. The next morning I checked the History on my computer. (she was up before me) She had googled "gingervitis". This is what she found : a disease held by a kid who has orange hair, pale skin and freckles on his face. Don't confuse them with kids with orange hair but without the skin and freckles........The horrible disease that infects every single red haired person. Symptoms include: red hair, freckles, the lack of one's soul, and the feeling that you just don't belong in society. Gingervitis can be passed on to other people with the harmful bite, this bite can spread the disease to any person, so be careful around ginger kids........An incredibly serious disease in children. Symptoms are Red hair, white skin, and freckles.

LOL!!!! I pulled up a page on Gingivitis when she got home and showed her what she was looking for... pictures of teeth/ gums with gingivitis. I asked her if she went all day thinking that she was going to get red hair and freckles from not brushing properly. She assured me that she figured she'd not looked up the right thing. Kind of funny tho. SO BRUSH AND FLOSS YOUR TEETH AND GUMS MY FRIENDS....... EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE BRACES !

Ooops

So, I've been riding my cousin to blog and then I realize that my own blog has been sleepily laying out here in the web world at the same time.

I went to Time Out For Women, in Memphis, last weekend. It was So great! We left on Friday at noon. The 3 big kids were at school and my sweet friend "Sister Brasher" took my Katie bug 'till Brent got off work. It all worked out great. The drive down was an adventure in and of itself. We started off with much teasing of the driver and her skills. She, being determined to show us what bad driving really looked like, made the bulk of the car ready to toss our cookies. :-) We learned to shut up and just ride in peace. LOL!! The most exciting part of the drive there was when the handy little gas gage that actually tells you how many miles you have left in the tank read 4 and the GPS milage to the next Gas Station read 3. That my friends was scary. Luckily tho, my dear friend Ryan offered the solution that she had brought her "tennies" so she would be getting gas for us. ;-)

We arrived at the Hotel just in time to check in and turn around to get over to the conference for the Friday Evening portions. We had a few TOFW first timers with us, so it was fun to be with them as they experienced it. Friday night we heard from Sis. Dew, who was actually not really there, but sent a Video of her talk. (This was the second time that I was told she would be at TOFW and she didn't show up) Luckily I'm not one of those "Sherrie Dew followers" So I wasn't terribly disappointed, but I do think that it doesn't shed a very good light on her. Saturday is always my favorite part, so I really looked forward to that. After the event on friday, we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale Street. Unbeknownst to me Beale Street is like Hollywood Bld. DUR..... I am telling everyone it's on Beale street, thinking that's just some street, turns out.. it's THE place to be on a Friday night in Memphis. It's blocks of bars, and the like, with people all over the place. Blocked off from traffic, the whole 9 yards. Anyway... there were 10 of us that were all trying to get a Cab over to Beale street for dinner, the first Minivan/cab that we got, we all piled in and the thing started on Fire! I'm not kidding you. This should have been a sign to go up and order pizza to the hotel room.

Unfortunately we misinterpreted the sign, we thought it was a sign to the cabbie who was trying to rip us off on the price of a cab to drive 1 mile!

We eventually, after much waiting got to the Hard Rock Cafe, only to find that they charged us a "Cover fee" to get in, and then once inside the live band was SO loud that we couldn't even talk to each other. We left! I forgot that Hard Rock Cafe is only a nice place to eat during the week. ;-( We finally found a place that wasn't a bar, where we could eat AND talk. Then we had to get a Cab home. The lovely people in the Restaurant helped us get back to our hotel. Once we got back, the pedicures and games and chatter and general merriment continued on till the wee wee hours of the morning. Sleep was minimal in that room, but that was to be expected. It was SOOOO fun tho.

Saturday was a spiritual feast! I LOVE LOVE LOVE listening to speakers and musical presentations. It was FANTASTIC! I will have to blog notes later on, but we all left so full we could pop. My 'cup' was so full that I joked that I would sit in the corner, with my hand over the top and shoo away my children so that they couldn't dip from my cup. I was so happy to finally get full. The theme this year is "hope" and the talks were great. Hilary Weeks was the music for Saturday and WOW was that great. My new favorite song is "if I only had Today." It's so fabulous!

We headed home late that afternoon, a happy little truckload of ladies. When we got home, Michelle and I weren't done having a vacation, so the two of us headed off to the movies. We stayed out and chatted again till the wee hours of the morning. I paid for my weekend for the next 2 or 3 days, but it was SO worth it! I love the gospel, and I love girl time. Combine the two and it's a sure winner in my book.

For anyone who is interested we are talking 'bout doing it again on October 22 and 23, going to Atlanta, GA. There will be a few repeats in speakers, but for the most part, we'll hear new voices and have new good times! It's like EFY for the women. It's awesome!

Testimony of the Book of Mormon

Neither your heart nor your faith will fail you. I join in Elder Holland in testifying to all that I know that The Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ! We have a living prophet on this earth today, he leads and guides Gods church, just as all the the prophets before him have done.

Happy Easter 2010

We kicked off our Easter Fun w/ a primary activity. Here is the 3 legged race at the party. Alex is in the brown shirt linked up w/ a girl in pink stripes. Tori is a little further back, she looks like she is doing the splits and her partner (Hayden) is wearing a pink shirt and denim capris.

Katie all chocolaty cuz that's what it's really all about right?
Katie on the HUNT! I love the determination in her face and the colored eggs all nestled in the grass. She has clearly honed in on an egg and doesn't even see the ones she is about to step on. :-)
We invited our neighbors to come to the hunt with us. They have a son Alex's age and a daughter Tori's age... PERFECT. They are great kids, we love to have them over to play. The 4 get along wonderfully. I foresee a lovely summer w/ our pals. This is Tori and Hayden.
Tori, a little chocolaty too. :-) Yumm
The next item on the list of things to do.... DIE EGGS for FHE.
It amazes me every year how much the kids LOVE this activity. I am such a craft scrooge, which is so weird, cuz I really pushed art when I taught preschool. I was the queen of messy sensory art. Now, I don't want to clean up one more mess then I have to ! Terrible mommy, I know, but I try to let loose every so often and let them paint or color eggs. :-)

Katie, SO proud of her eggs. One of them looked like a sunset. All orange and pink... it was lovely.

Tori is our little artist. She loves to draw and color. I should scan in some of her drawings. She is a sweet girl, and she sure wanted to make a really pretty egg that everyone would oggle over like we did over Katie's. She did make some beautiful eggs.
Alex's goal... a 1/2 and 1/2 egg. Uh, required much patience, but he achieved it!
And Liza, still not too old to have fun dying eggs. :-) She is a good sport.

Then came Conference and Easter Sunday.
Alex during Conference. Notice the pictures of prophets and apostles on the papers on the floor. He spent the bulk of his time trying to master the skill of catching a piece of popcorn in his mouth. He was getting pretty good by the end of the 8th hour.
On Saturday, we played our buzz word game again, and the kids did such a good job listening. But come Sunday, when they had baskets full of treats, the little bowls of snacks didn't motivate any further. We colored pictures and played a bit of conference bingo instead. It didn't go as smoothly, but they made it through. I am shocked that no one threw up from eating too much garbage in a 24 hour period! UH, yuck, it makes me sick to even think about how much they ate from Sat at 11 am to Sunday noon. BLECK!

Easter Morning... the Bunny was good again. Yummy treats, and little prizes.
And a hunt around the house for 'foil eggs' It took them until Tuesday at dinner time to find them all... and you know there still may be one out there somewhere. They did find the majority on Sunday,

but Alex, being a determined young man, who enjoys a good treasure hunt and also enjoys chocolate more then pretty much anything in life, set out on Tuesday to pursue the final 5 eggs that we told him we could still see.
I was sad today when he questioned me on the existence of said bunny. He found some jelly beans "THE EXACT SAME ONES AS THE ONES IN OUR BASKETS!" he accused. I told him that Easter candy goes on clearance after easter and, so what if I happen to enjoy those kinds of jelly beans! I think he kind of bought it... but not fully. I think we are nearing the end of his believing phase. :-( Too early if you ask me. He also asked me how Dad and I knew where all the eggs were. I told him that I've been hunting eggs since I was a little girl, so I'm good!

Tori was SOOO excited for Easter that apparently they were up pretty late chatting up in anticipation. Then Tori was up at 5 am!!! Tooo excited to wait. She woke Alex and Katie! By the time we were doing the "hunt" Katie was too tired. She looked for a few, but really, she was too sleepy. She crashed while the kids ran around her collecting eggs. I felt sad for her. She was okay tho, and her brother and sisters shared a lot of their eggs with her. She got her share of candy.
Sunday evening I made the kids get all gussied up and took them out to take some pictures. I have individual ones that I will post when I get to them, but for now, here is the whole tribe.

I am sad to say that Liza no longer matches the little girls. :-( Boo hoo... so I hid her behind them so you'd never know. :-) HE HE.
And a welcome to spring. Oh it was such a beautiful evening and the light was glorious. Awesome
And I LOVE this one of Liza. I think the light is so pretty. And the girl 'aint 1/2 bad if I do say so myself. Course I could be biased.
All in all, we had a lovely Easter Holiday.. did all the "stuff" and enjoyed some time together.

Where's Katie?

EVERY TIME I get Katie out of the Car, she covers her eyes and "Hides". I can't believe that she STILL thinks i can't see her! I have to say "Uh Oh, Where is Katie? Did I leave her at .... (where ever we just were) ...?" Then I HAVE to say how it's okay... "Oh well, She'll be fine... she loves.. the gym (or where ever we've been)." Even if we don't get out of the car.. we have to run through the act. Sometimes, when I am in the bathroom, Katie will come into the other part of the bathroom and "hide" under Brents hanging towel. So picture it, her body smashed up against the wall, between it and the towel, little legs sticking out of the bottom. I have to talk to myself about where Katie may have gone.. to get her to come out from behind the towel. All of these scenarios end w/ Katie popping out, or peeking from behind her hands and saying "BOO".

Some times a toe sticks out.... :-)
The other day the kids were playing hide and seek... all 4 of them. Katie found a good spot.....
Can you see her little toes sticking out from under that blanket and pillow? The kids couldn't find her for nothing! It took them SOOOO long. They looked everywhere... all 3 of them. She stayed hidden FOREVER!!!! It was so cute to see her be victorious over the big kids. I love that she is still very sure that she is hidden so long as she can't see you. I am going to miss this part of being a mommy to little ones.

Chinook and Brent

My two pals are not the best of pals. This is a very unique situation. I am home... and Chinook has curled up with Brent! I had to take a picture. Brent tolerates Chinook at the best of times. Chinook is generally afraid of Brent. If Brent reaches for anything, chinook flinches. He is sure he must be coming for him. Brent has very little patience for dog talk for "someone is passing by our house". Also VERY little patience for the fact that Chinook just can't seem to figure out that the Table is NOT for him. Once Brent actually literally scared the poop out of Chinook. Most times I come home.... after Brent has been home for a while and this is what I find.......
LOL!!! I love how his face is smashed up into the door of the crate!!! LOL!! I love my husband, I love my dog, I wish they loved each other, but they just don't. I was tickled to see the two of them sit together twice this week. :-)

RUBY FALLS!!!!!!!

While in Chattanooga we got to go and see RUBY FALLS! Although man has intervened in a HUGE way, the walk back to the Falls was amazing. You take an elevator WAAAAYYY down and get to walk through this....

And when you arrive at the falls.. it is all dark, and you can hear the sound of this beautiful falls. Then they flip on the lights and this is what you see.....

Of course the light was terrible, so a family pic was not the best. And Katie was not in the mood for photos.

We loved the falls, and again to all who may want to visit you have 1 year till the membership expires. :-)

KIDS SAY.....

So I've been collecting some "kid Quotes" and wanted to share them all in one blog... so here they go...

Tori's sheet's from school where she is writing sentences:

"I HoP that the Estr Bun wil BrEEg me A PoNey."

"I wot A hos For Estr So I CAN riD it AND Dekus they are cot."

"I like Hoses bcus tau are cyot."

*huked on pahohnics wurked fur me!" I LOVE IT!

Katie "Is daddy here?"

Me "No, he's at work."

Katie, pointing at the lump of pillows in the bed "there's a big bump, he's here."

Alex raging over school..

"Why do we go to school anyway? All I do is learn stuff one day and then go the next day and they teach me something new and I forget what I learned the day before!"

Alex on school again...

"How much does it cost to stay home from school? Do I have enough money?"

Alex on spelling:

"Why was spelling even invented!!!!!" (he was dead serious folks... he wanted answers!)

Katie as she walked past the neighbors dog who's name is "Captain"

"Oh, excuse me Pirate."

Katie on Peter Cotton Tail:

"Mommy, why did peter the bunny cut his tail?"

Katie sitting at the dinner table, totally out of the blue:

"Oh yeah, I'm almost 4, I can get my own drink." Gets down and goes into the kitchen.

I love recording the things the kids say.. it's SO funny to me. I wish I wrote it all down. Alex is SO dramatic. Katie is at that fun learning, figuring out the world stage. So fun!

Much Needed

Last night I went on a much needed girls night! It was SO fun! The night began w/ me having the opportunity of teaching a parenting class @ the church. I seriously consider this an opportunity. I love parenting programs and books, and love that I get to justify spending some time every week preparing to teach some of the things that I've learned. There is no better way to study something then teaching it. However, I fear that everyone around me must not need a parenting class, cuz only one family came. :-) That's okay, I'll do the whole course for just the one family, because it is just that worth it to me! I learned so much from teaching it last night.

About a month or so ago, I read Nicholas Sparks book "Last Song", in preparation for the movie release that took place yesterday. Some girls from church and I headed to the theaters last night for the 9:20 showing! Oh it was SOO Good. A total chick flick. I laughed and I cried, and for me... that's all it takes to be a good film. I'm not too tough of a critic. Unfortunately Niki was the only one, amongst the 6 of us who brought 3 tissues. She rationed them out, and we all made full use of our tiny pieces. :-) It was so funny afterwards to talk about all the blubbering that was going on, and all the so funny parts. I'll be the first to admit that Mylie Cirus is no oscar winning actress, but the little brother...... what a performance! After the movie, we stood out in front of the theater and talked and talked and talked. We shared life experiences that moved us to tears once again, we shared love and advice. We laughed so hard that I am sure a few of us peed. We schemed up some revenge against a prankster in the ward and laughed and laughed at the prospects. We consented to join in a fast for one of our pals and just really had a wonderful chat. How long do you suppose a group of women could stand in front of the theater and talk? Lets see... the movie started at 9:20, I will guess it was over at 11:30. Somewhere around 2 am.... someone looked at their phone and gasped... "It's 2:00!!" We laughed again, and then parted ways. What a fabulous night. It is amazing to me how much better I feel after spending some time chatting with and getting to know other women. I needed that girls night last night, more then I even knew! I feel so GOOD today, and I only had about 3 hours of sleep. :0D..... it'll catch me tonight or tomorrow.