Happy 5th Birthday Caitlin and Courtney!

Random picture of Rachel doing the dishes that night!  Yeah!

We took Caitlin and Courtney out to dinner for their birthday.  They picked Panera Bread, which happens to be my favorite restaurant.  Afterwards, they had their cakes and opened their presents.  It was a happy day!  I can't believe they're already 5 years old!  It seems like just yesterday I was carrying them both around the house as newborns.  I love the age that they are right now.  They are adorable, imaginative and fun. 

Kind of like the zoo, except for the dead part. . .

Cabelas
Oh, deer!

Lions, tigers and bears, oh my!

We took our little kids to the D.C. Area last weekend. Rachel spent a couple of days at Great Wolf Lodge with her friend Lauren. It seemed strange not having her with us. Paul's brother, John, was in Virginia for meetings and since we don't get to see him very often (he lives in England), we decided to meet him and our niece and nephew, Camille and Aaron, (who live in Baltimore) and also visit the temple. We had dinner together and then visited while the kids swam in the hotel pool.

The highlight of our trip for the kids was our stop on a whim at Cabela's on the way down. We have never been there before. They loved seeing the fish and animals. I was impressed by all the taxidermied (is that a word?) animals and the scenes they created with them. It kind of reminded me of the Bean Museum at BYU. The kids really liked walking through the aquarium as well. Spencer begged us to get a wooden gun that made a popping noise and I relented. We did make him pay for it himself. Seriously, this is a big deal for me. . . allowing a toy gun in my house. Of course, there were all kinds of accompanying rules with said gun possession being threatened. He has managed to comply with the rules so far. But on to the good news. . . it broke today while he and a friend were playing! It was a pretty sturdy toy but somehow the barrel broke when it was accidentally dropped on the ground by his friend. Now I don't have to worry about having a toy gun in the house. Unfortunately, now Spencer will once again begin his relentless pestering for me to get him a Nerf gun since he no longer has his irritating popping rifle anymore.

Paul and I loved having a chance to go to the temple, thanks to John who watched the kids for us while we were there. I am so grateful we can attend the temple and enter a haven where our challenges seem far away and the God's spirit dwells. Afterwards, we said goodbye to John and took the kids to the temple visitor's center. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and the hyacinths and daffodils were in bloom, making everything look and smell beautiful.

Gotta love the sun in your eyes, eh?

The sun was a bit bright!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a wonderful St. Patty's Day with some of my girlfriends who took me out for a birthday treat.  Missing is my friend, Tammy, who had to leave early.  We had a great time telling stories & listening to Sven jokes.  I am so lucky to have such amazing friends!

What do we do in the wintertime when all the world is white?

And, this just in. . . the winter continues on and on! Today I see some patches of grass here and there and that gives me hope that someday the world will be green again. It's been a while since I last posted, so I'm sharing random pictures from the last couple of weeks which tell our story.


During last week's snowstorm, Caitlin, Rachel and Courtney dressed up as ladybugs and put on a play for me. It was so cute. They wrote a script, rehearsed their lines and performed it.

I finally surpassed the 50 lb. mark in my weight loss. The last couple of months have been slower than I would like. I'm still working on it, but I've made significant progress.

Rachel's been playing a lot of basketball. It keeps her VERY busy because she also got a part in the spring musical, takes piano and violin lessons and has tons of young women activities now. In a recent game, her team was way behind, came back and tied the game with a few seconds left. Her teammate passed her the ball and Rachel swished it in for the win! It was amazing! I'm so glad she had that moment of glory, making the clutch shot. In the past, she hasn't played much but because they lost one of their players to an injury, she's had a lot more playing time the last two games. It's been fun to watch her game improving as she gets more experience.

We had another big snow storm Thursday and Friday of last week. For some reason, shoveling was more difficult for me this time. I normally don't mind but there were some very high drifts I had to shovel (3 feet in some places.) I just kept thinking of "Finding Nemo" where Dori says, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming" and substituted "Just keep shoveling, just keep shoveling." I also repeatedly reminded myself to "endure to the end."

Spencer lost his other front tooth so now he's missing his two front teeth! Yesterday, he had his tonsils and adenoids removed. He did surprisingly well and was up and moving at home making lego creations and playing on the computer the same day! Last night went okay. He refused to take the pain medication because it tasted so nasty so I don't think he was feeling that great. My cousin told me that the third day was the worst one for her kids so we'll see how it goes. It's going to be a long week since he'll be home from school. Keeping him entertained may prove to be a challenge.

Our kids spent much of the snow days in their pjs chillin'.

Snuggling in blankets while watching the olympics has kept the

kids happy the last couple of weeks.

The kids love to take pictures of themselves. This picture and the next are from their own Sunday afternoon photo shoot.

Rachel's such a poser!

By the way, the snow was very beautiful!

Winter Fun

Spencer's friend celebrated his birthday at our house with a yummy cake.

All the kids made cards for him

Rachel ventured out into the snow for a photo op.

The girls love to draw and paint and spend hours doing it during the winter.

This week has been interesting. The kids were home most of the week because of the snow. Our snowblower broke so I got some exercise shoveling but the the kids enjoyed playing in it. Rachel went skiing and said it was different skiing with that much snow because there were huge bumps everywhere where snow was pushed into piles. She's learning how to do jumps and tricks now during her lessons. Pretty soon, she'll be better than me! Spencer made a snow fort and the girls made a little snowman (girl, actually) with a pink scarf and hat. I'm sure Spencer won't claim he had anything to do with it because it's so girly.

I had the opportunity to substitute teach seminary for the home study seminary class last week. It was a lot of fun. We were covering Alma 31-38. I had a difficult time trying to figure out how to cover all those chapters in one week because every single one of them is so good and full of great doctrine but I think the class went well.

Tonight is Young Women New Beginnings so I get to play the piano for the girls. They are doing a musical presentation. Tomorrow, I have to give a presentation on "building a celestial family" at RS Enrichment mtg. I think it's hilarious that I have this assignment--I can only use my parents as examples because I'm still trying to figure out how to raise my kids as it is. But I'm glad to have the opportunity to talk about the proclamation on the family. It is so inspired.

Creating the setting for imaginative play

Spencer, Caitlin and Courtney love to create scenery for their imaginative play. They use all kinds of props: plants, blankets, candlesticks and many other things to add to the decor. I thought I'd post a few of them.

My friend, Katherine, posted this on her blog. Spencer and his friend, E., set up this area while playing bionicles at our house.
Caitlin and Courtney prepared a tea party just for me. They served green beans and Wasa crackers because they knew it was okay with my diet! I thought the food choices were hilarious!


These candlesticks have been making the rounds lately with the kids. Spencer uses them all the time when he's playing (see picture #1) and so do the girls. They think they're beautiful even without candles in them.
Notice the dolls that joined our tea party (on the music stand)
I thought I'd share this morning's gorgeous sunrise.

Now this is the kind of scenery I prefer!

Winter Blahs. . .

A picture of the river near our house taken on my recent bike ride.

Every year about this time, I start feeling a little dreary. Bitter cold weather and sick kids make me feel like winter is never going to end and the walls of our house are closing in on me. I normally love being at home and am generally a homebody but right now I just want to fly away somewhere warm and feel the sun on my face. The last week has been holding sick kids, sleepless nights and too many visits to the pharmacy. Tomorrow I take Courtney for a re-check which will take me to a grand total of four visits to the pediatrician in the last week. My three little ones have had strep throat and respiratory problems. . . nothing that strong antibiotics, steroids and inhalers won't resolve, thank goodness.

When I feel this way, I have to find ways to combat the blues. I take walks, ride my bike or treat myself to something fun. So today while folding laundry I began watching the new Masterpiece Theater version of Emma which I had DVR'd (so far, so good!) I also want yummy food so I make cookies. However, in lieu of the diet, I made whole wheat bread instead (twice.) It was delicious and the kids loved it . . . .turns out my sister's recipe is foolproof, thank goodness! Finally, I convinced Paul to take me on a date Saturday night. We put the kids to bed and left them with Rachel and went to see "When in Rome." It was a nice evening together.

Okay, so I could go on and on about the never ending winter but the laundry doesn't do itself! So. . .adios for now!