Our Little Bitty Life

Time flies when...

2011-09-11T18:31:00.005-05:00

...you have a baby! I think just about every spare moment I have is either spent washing bottles or folding laundry or trying to fit some time in with my girls. And any other sparest of spare moments find me lying on the couch trying to catch a few winks! Tyson will be 8 weeks old tomorrow, oh my! Here are a few highlights from the past 2 months....

School started! Here is my beautiful 1st grader all ready to go!

Mallory was sad to see Syd go BUT I think she really loves having the rule of the house again! ;)

Took a few pics for Tyson's birth announcement, this one was my favorite. I know it's not great, I'm certainly not a fantastic photographer, but I just think he looks so sweet!

We had lots of family in town last weekend for Tyson's baby blessing at Church. It was so amazing to see our Dads and most of our brothers surround him to bless him...definitely a choice moment in my life!

Our little bitty family!

Our big huge family! My cousin and his family came over from Mesquite and then we had family up from Austin and here from Utah and of course the far reaches of Keller and Watauga! Thank you so much, everyone, for being part of T's special day!

All the boys!!!

All the girls!! The way we were holding Tyson is a long story, you'd have to see wedding pics from all of the Breinholt family weddings! ;)

Ha ha, notice the spit-up all over Baca's shoulder...awesome! Tyson got him good! ;)

We went to the Stockyard's with everyone...it was a perfect day! The weather was beautiful! These Utah folk really lucked out, it was about the only below 100 degree day we had seen in months!

Sydney and Baca did the maze...they got lost a few times but had fun anyway!

We sure love when Grandma is here! She is always so good at cuddling! (and keeping us warm when we are in a really cold restaurant!)

I'm very accustomed to my girls adoring my sister, they always love Auntie! But this trip they attached themselves to Aunt Kiss and would not leave her alone! She only thought she was going to have a kid-free weekend! ;)

Baca & Grandma and Aunt Kiss & Uncle Kent were sad to go back to Utah after their visit. Wish it could have been longer...thank you for coming!!! (and for bringing the awesome weather with you!!!)

Welcome Tyson!

2011-07-27T11:16:00.004-05:00

Our main man is finally here! We welcomed Tyson into our family last Monday, the 18th, at 10:59a.m. He is a big boy - he was 8 pds 7 oz! A whole pound heavier than both the girls! My first impression of him was how much he reminded me of Mallory but as the days have gone on, I see a lot of Sydney in him too so I think he is just a good little mix of the girls. Up to this point he's been a really good baby; had kindof a rough day yesterday but hopefully that was just a fluke! ;) I can't tell you how grateful I am that he is here finally and that he is healthy and beautiful and perfect. It's been a long journey to get him here and I'm so thankful that he is! We love you Tyson!!!

The girls watching him get cleaned up in the nursery. One of the nurses came to our room later and was joking how she thought that Sydney was about to try and jump right through that window to get to him! He has two adoring big sisters!!!

Sydney could not wait to hold him. When they came back in the afternoon she quickly said hi to me and then requested I hand over her little brother! She has been so excited for this moment!

Most of my family - my brother was at home sick so we were sad he wasn't there but so grateful my sister and parents were here to help with the girls. They both had a great time having slumber parties and playing lots! They got spoiled a LOT last week!

Me and my kids! I have three now...so weird!

My angel. We waited a long time for you precious baby, so glad you are here now!

All ready to go home! His shirt says "Beary Cute" and has a little teddy bear on it. ;)

Ha ha, this has been one of my favorite moments since we came home. Sydney was holding the baby and Mallory went to cuddle up by them and fell asleep. Few minutes down the road we hear Syd say something super grown up like "Um, a little help here! The kids are sleeping!" Couldn't resist the Kodak moment, so cute!

Mallory loves to hold him too and help with feeding him. Every time he fusses she panics and runs to get Ben or I so we know he's crying - since we likely didn't hear it! ;) Love this picture of her, she's just so darn cute!

And here is my awake boy! This was the other morning while everyone was at Church, we were just chillin and he was staring out the window at the sunshine. What a little cutie pie! Feeling so blessed!!!!

It's the final countdown...

2011-07-13T13:08:00.004-05:00

Got that song stuck in your head now, don't you?! You're welcome! ;) I've been singing it all day if that makes you feel any better!

We are down to just a few days before little man makes his grand entrance into this world! By Monday afternoon I will be holding my baby instead of wearing him! ;) To say I am excited would be the understatement of the day. There is a light at the end of the tunnel finally; I feel like I've been waiting for this for SO long. As silly as it sounds, I really am almost looking forward to the exhaustion and craziness that is having a newborn because at least I can start feeling better and I am SO ready for that!

I have done a lot of reflecting during this pregnancy because of the physical toll it has taken on me. Honestly I don't have many fond memories of this time. A lot of women are lucky and can say that they love being pregnant and how great they feel; I am most certainly not one of them! However, I have been so wrapped in arms of love that I am grateful to have gone through this - again. Going through this after I had Sydney was the epitome of misery (or so I thought) and I don't know that this past 9 or 10 months has been much better or worse than that, I've kindof blocked it out! But we have received so many kind words and favors and help that I can't help but be grateful for the blessing to have such amazing people around me. We have had friends and neighbors bring dinner by just to help out, not because anyone asked them to. People have come over to mow our yard when I haven't been able to and because Ben can't. I have people call me almost every day just to check on me and see how my day is going. Friends have helped watch my kids during some of my Dr's appointments. Sweet friends and neighbors helped take and pick up Sydney from school when I couldn't walk hardly. The list goes on and on and I am so grateful to live where we do and be surrounded by the friends and family we have here, they are all irreplaceable and priceless. Thank you, all of you, for the help you have been to us.

During these times when I feel so desperate for relief and there really isn't anything or anyone who can help me are the times when I am at my most humble. I think we're probably all like that. Ben hates it, he wants to fix it and can't. I know our families feel the same. But we went into this knowing that it was likely that I would flare (didn't know it would be as bad as it has been!) but that I would be okay. Truly the Lord has seen me through. There were so many days that I wondered how I would make it to bedtime but the Lord gave me strength. Knowing that He has felt all my pain brings me to a different place. He knows what we need, when we need it. Have you ever read that poem "Footprints"? This was another time in my life where I can look back and only see one set of footprints in the sand, because the Lord was carrying me when my load was too hard to carry by myself.

So now I find myself near the end of a long, long road and about to start a new adventure and I'm so excited at all the possibilities. Excited to hold this little guy that I have gone through so much to carry. Excited that Ben won't be quite so outnumbered at this house anymore! ;) Excited to see him with a baby, he is the sweetest Daddy ever. Excited to watch my girls cuddle and love their little brother, they can hardly wait! Excited for all the possibilities....there are so many!

Here are a couple pictures of his room. It's not done yet but here's what we have so far:

Hate that horse but it sure makes for a cute prop in a cowboy room!

Changing table / dresser...

This is the unfinished wall. Waiting on the vinyl lettering for his name and then I'll be hanging up those three potholder-looking things in the crib up on the wall around it.

Next post will have pictures of the babe, but I don't guarantee how quickly they will be put up here! ;)

CHAMPIONS!!!!

2011-06-12T22:36:00.001-05:00

BIG night for our MAVS! WAHOO!!!!! My family came over tonight for a watching party because we just knew there was going to be reason to celebrate today - and there was! So proud of our guys and I'm so super excited that Dirk finally got his trophy!!!! GO MAVS!

Story of my life...

2011-06-10T11:59:00.003-05:00

Can I just say how excited we continue to be about our MAVS!!!!! If we can just pull off a win in Miami on Sunday....crossing my fingers! ;)

Sydney is all done with school for the summer and we are having a good time. Her and Mallory play so well, I am a lucky Mom. Don't you love this picture she drew for me a few weeks ago? It's so my life right now! Not as much now I guess now that school is out...but I still do LOVE nap time! ;)
I ended up going to my Rheumatologist earlier this week, my back has been absolutely unbearable. I get to the point where I almost can't breathe because my back hurts so bad when I inhale, cough, sneeze, move, anything really! She is trying me on a low-dose steroid to help with the flare but it doesn't appear to be doing anything so it sounds like the next step is just putting me back on my Enbrel. Neither she nor my OB seem particularly worried about it because I am about 34 weeks along now and the baby is just growing for the most part so that makes me feel better. So I am almost eager to get back on my meds; at least I know they would help and I could get to feeling somewhat normal again. I would love to sleep and function without such awful pain, it's been really rough the past couple weeks especially. So we will see, hopefully there is relief in my near future....

Off to let the girls play at the Jump Zone! Have a great weekend and GO MAVS!

Mavs Mania!!!!

2011-05-26T22:06:00.005-05:00

It's that time of year again...the NBA Playoffs. A time when our evenings and weekends suddenly revolve around the Mavericks playoff schedule. We have always loved the Mavs and every year we get super excited when they go to the Playoffs. Only, every time we get excited, we seem to get our hopes shattered and we walk away from the post-season with our heads hanging down. This year, however, has been AMAZING! A crazy series with the Blazers - which, incidentally was even more sweet because my Uncle lives in Portland and is a Blazers fan so we got bragging rights this year! Sweeping the Lakers right out of the Playoffs was probably the sweetest victory; there is nothing I love to see more than Kobe getting frustrated because he and his team are playing like crap and we are wiping the floor with them! ;) The series with the Thunder was awesome; two come-back wins to close out the series, never thought it would happen, this is a new and different team this year and I love it! And once again, the Mavs are the Western Conference Champions and will be going to the Finals - YAY!!! I'm not at all excited about going up against the Heat but it would be so sweet to take them down and close out our past history with them. So, here is a little team spirit for our boys in blue - GO MAVS!!!!!

I cannot tell you the amount of time I spent on the internet and telephone trying to find this shirt for Crysta! She is so tiny and NBA shirts are so huge! BUT, I finally found it and now she can root for her boy J.J. in style!!!! I would like to point out that it's pretty appropriate that I wear the huge 7-footer and she wears the short guy! ;) It's very...us!

Plugging along...

2011-05-19T22:15:00.004-05:00

We are down to about 9 weeks! I'm in the single digits! I realize that's still two more months, but putting it in weeks makes it sound closer! ;) I have still been having a lot of pain pretty frequently and am feeling huge and tired, etc etc so I am definitely counting down the days to feeling more like myself again! We still haven't settled on a name, in case you are wondering!

The girls are growing up every day. Sydney only has about two weeks of school left, I am glad. And so is she! She is tired and ready to be out for the summer. We will sure miss her teacher and her classmates next year when she is in a new class. I really think we have been spoiled this year.

This is the girls' newest favorite thing to do after we put them in bed. One night we were out watching the Mavs game and about half hour after we'd put the girls to bed, we heard very quiet giggling. Muted the TV and realized that Sydney was reading something to Mallory and they were both cracking up. We peeked in and Malla had climbed up in Sydney's bed with a couple books and a flashlight and they were enjoying some sweet sister time together! It made me smile, they are so cute! So this is their new bedtime routine!

Sydney learned to ride her bike without training wheels a couple months back and her bike has been too small for her the whole time, we were just waiting until she could ride it before getting her a new one. So a couple weekends ago we headed to the store and found her a bigger bike. Mallory had been wanting a helmet in the worst way because the rest of the kids we play with after school all have helmets! So we found her a cute helmet and then Ben put the training wheels back on Syd's old bike and Mallory can actually work the thing! Go figure! It's still too big for her but pretty cute when she gives it a try!

Tell me that isn't the darn cutest 3-year-old!!!!

The proud owner of a new bike!

She was SO proud of herself!!!! And so excited to have a big girl bike to ride now too!

My big girls! I can't believe they are growing up so fast!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T14:21:00.003-05:00

Feeling blessed today to be the mommy of my beautiful girls (and half a boy!)! Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing ladies in my life, especially my Mom and Grandma and Grammy and Ben's Mom, they are all such blessings in my life. And so grateful for all the other Moms who impact our family - friends, aunts, neighbors, cousins, etc - some of you don't even have your own kids yet but you are mothers nonetheless. You help me with my kids and love them and mean the world to them. They say it takes a village, and it does! Thank you to all of you who do so much for our family and who love my girls with a Mother's love!!!

Just another bump in the road....

2011-04-12T18:21:00.004-05:00

I had my monthly baby appt this morning and when the Dr. was measuring me he asked his nurse to go ahead and order a sonogram. That's generally not a good thing when you know you only 'get' one sono and now he is ordering another! He said he was worried about my size, I was measuring three weeks ahead of where I should be. I was a little over at my last appt, only by a centimeter though and this time I was 3 cm bigger than I should be. I should have just left it at that and gone for the sono but instead I made the mistake of asking WHY? I, of all people, know not to ask a Dr. why unless you REALLY want to know! So he said he just wanted to rule out this possible birth defect and that possible birth defect and didn't want to let it go another month because he would need to send me to someone down town if it was one of these problems...oh ya, and it could very well be nothing too, just ruling things out!

I was kindof panicked when I left - I think you hear "birth defect" and your mind starts going crazy. Luckily Crysta got me calmed down, said this happens to her sister with every pregnancy and she just for some reason makes extra fluid and the babies are fine, they just come a couple weeks early and all is well. That made me feel a little better...then I started thinking again!

Anyway, had the sonogram, she was very thorough and very nice. I didn't think she would give us much info about what she was looking at but I told her what the Dr. was worried about and she walked us through each of his concerns on a broad basis, nothing super specific but enough to calm my fears. What we came away with is that the baby is for sure still a boy!, he is measuring a week bigger than he 'should' be, and my amniotic fluid level is higher than normal but would be even higher probably if there was a major problem. She basically said that I am measuring big BUT the baby looked good so she felt like we could rule out any of the major problems my Dr. was worried about hopefully. He will get the full report tomorrow and call me but I think things are probably okay. Maybe I just have a big boy! Or he had a growth spurt and will even out next month. Who knows...

It was fun to see him more. The last sono was super fast and this was a lot more in-depth. We got to see his face for a bit, saw him yawn and swallow and move and wave. And then he showed us his little baby guns...
You can see his face on the right, he is looking at us, and his arm is up at the top so he could show us his big boy muscles!!! ;) We got a good laugh out of it! It made him seems more real to watch him move around. The big yawn was right before he did this muscle picture so we were laughing pretty good...he was just done with the whole thing I guess! ;) Today was a long day but it sounds like hopefully everything is okay, I just may not have to wait quite so long for this little one to get here if he keeps growing like this!

Mallory's Roundup

2011-04-09T21:17:00.006-05:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet Mallory! She is 3 years old, I can hardly believe it! She wanted a "Jessie" party this year so we did our best to accommodate...it's hard to find Toy Story stuff with just Jessie on it so we had some Buzz and Woody too and it turned out super cute and super fun! Here are some pictures!

We let her open her gifts from Ben's parents this morning and they found her a Jessie nightgown - perfect! Exactly what she asked for! She ran around in this all morning until we made her get dressed! ;)

We wanted to take her to do something fun so we headed over to Chuck E. Cheese after lunch to play for a little while. Both girls had a blast!

Sorry picture is so blurry, but thought it was so fun! They were doing a little Dance game...

Mallory wanted to dress up like Jessie so this is what we came up with. Not really Jessie, but cowgirl just the same and it was so cute!

Ha ha, if you know Malla well, you know that she LOVES gum! It's the first thing she digs for when my sister comes to lunch so of course she got lots of gum for her birthday! ;)

We found her this Jessie doll at the Disney Store a few weeks ago - you pull her string and she says a few of Jessie's classic phrases. So fun, she was carrying her around all evening!

This is what we ended up with for her cake. I let her pick it out so it was chocolate and she wanted purple frosting...I did my best but it looked more pink I think. Oh well. My Grammy made those cute cookies - boots, Jessie hats, and #3! YUM!

Pippin came in her western wear too and looked great! I think this picture is so great!

Grandpa loves squeezes from the birthday girl...they are his favorite!

Uncle Pooh and Aunt JaeLyn came in their hats too!

We had a pretty fun day! Both girls went right to sleep tonight so I think we wore them out! Happy birthday, Malla! We love you and are so grateful you are part of our little bitty family!!!!

Time flies when you're...

2011-04-02T22:10:00.006-05:00

I would say "having fun" like the saying actually goes, but that's not really my excuse for not blogging! I just haven't done it! I would say laziness is likely the best reason! I even had other things I was going to do tonight and then got to checking blogs that I haven't been on in over a month and well, here I am! I guess I didn't realize that it had been so long.

We haven't really been up to much of anything significant, just the usual. We've been doing a LOT of cleaning out and throwing out, which is good. My nesting tendencies have coupled nicely with Spring Cleaning and we are getting stuff done! There is still lots to do but at least we've made a dent. Ben, Chris, and my brother put together a shed in the back yard to house a lot of the stuff taking up so much room in the garage. The girls thought it was a great play house before it was a Man Cave! I emailed this picture to Ben and apologized for the letting the girls defile his man space with their tea party! ;)

Now it's full of stuff and we spent last Saturday cleaning out the garage and making space so we can get both our cars in there again - yay! Well, I guess technically that won't actually happen until tomorrow night when the HUGE pile of trash has been taken to the curb for bulk trash day!

We have a yearly tradition of going to see Disney on Ice when it comes to town and this year was "Toy Story 3." It was super cute, always is! I actually took Mallory this year too. It used to be a Sydney/Mommy thing but Malla is obsessed with Jessie and the rest of the Toy Story crew. Both of the girls loved it! We had a great time!

Ha ha, Crysta put on the Buzz Lightyear cotton candy topper thing and it made me laugh so hard...isn't she lovely! ;)

This was at the very end, kinda far away but here are the main characters...

Malla and Sydney had to have the Jessie snowcones - I won't even say how much they were because you would never believe that I, the cheapest of el cheapos, would ever spend that much on a silly plastic cup full of ice and sugar - but I did! My kids are spoiled...and they have been drinking out of these cups ever since so it was worth it...it's about the memories, right!

Sydney had a great time bee-boppin' to all the music and seeing all the characters. Mallory loved seeing her Jessie! They are so funny, we had a lot of fun! I'm so grateful that we are blessed enough to have a little extra so we can go do fun stuff like this with the girls every now and again.

My joints seem to have taken a turn for the better finally, after a couple months of entirely too much pain! The past week has actually not been too terribly bad. I still have pain but it's bearable. I walked Sydney home from school again this week for the first time in months...little victories! I feel very overwhelmed by all the acts of kindness we have been the recipient of during these months. Friends helping get Sydney to school and home from school to save me the trouble when I was hurting so much and phone calls of support and love. Random meals for no reason other than someone thinking of us and trying to lighten our burden. I am surrounded by some pretty amazing women and so thankful for their sunshine during my cloudy days! Thanks ladies, you guys are terrific!

Toothless and ready to ride!

2011-02-26T16:36:00.004-06:00

This has been a big week for my biggest girl! A couple weeks ago I noticed that Sydney had a permanent tooth growing in behind her bottom teeth...but the baby tooth wasn't hardly loose at all! Dentist said to give it a week or two but it didn't budge so we took her in on Tuesday and had it pulled...as well as the one next to it that was doing the same thing! I'm glad we didn't wait any longer though, he said that wasn't going anywhere without some help! She was super excited about her first visit from the Tooth Fairy! They let her bring home the little nose thing from the Nitrous Oxide because it smells like bubble gum! She's so silly!

And then today Ben decided it was time for her to work on riding her bike without training wheels. We have been trying to talk her into it for a long time but she has always been scared. Grayce was going out today too so we thought we'd join them and maybe some positive peer pressure would be helpful...and it was! The two girls are now able to ride their bikes with no training wheels, yay!

Here is my Toothless Big Girl in action! And yes, we noticed she was sitting kindof sideways, her seat was crooked!

It's a BOY!

2011-02-23T10:55:00.003-06:00

We just found out on Saturday that our little one is a boy! We are all excited, especially Ben I'm sure! Although, he said it was pretty anti-climactic because he has known all along that it was a boy! The girls are excited to be getting a brother, especially Sydney. I don't know that Mallory really gets what is going on yet, and that is okay. We are working on finding names, we have a few that we like but I'm sure it will change as the time gets closer! This is the hard part for us, we very rarely agree on names! But we'll figure it out, we always do! I bought the cutest set of cowboy bedding yesterday for his room so I'm excited to get it. We will wait to get the room going for a long time though, that is the girls' play room right now and they will not take kindly to us getting rid of things to make room so I'm putting that off as long as I can! Here is one of the sono pictures, of his profile, and he looks like his sisters from what I can tell! I think I have this same picture for both of them! ;) He is looking up, head is on the right of the picture.
As far as my joints, I am still flaring badly. I have been in a lot of pain, the steroid injection took some of the edge off but I have days that I can barely walk. It's been frustrating but not much else I can do. My other option is getting on Prednisone and from what I have read about it, I'm just not willing to go there. I absolutely love my family Dr, I used to work for them in high school and college, and so I called him the other day to see what his suggestion was about the Prednisone, I trust his opinion more than anyone else's. He went over a few scenarios with me and we discussed it for awhile but his overall suggestion was that if it were him treating me, he would not have me do that because it is risky for the baby. That was all I needed to hear to make my final decision so that basically exhausted my medical options. I am trying a nutritional supplement that an arthritic friend suggested to me, I don't really have anything to lose at this point. And we are just praying hard for some relief! The Lord helped me last time when I was pregnant with Mallory and flared, I know it can happen again. And it is happening already, my flare is less than it was enough so that I can function most days. It's the super painful days that are the hardest but I have been bombarded by friends and family coming to our aide and it's been fantastic. These are the times I am reminded how much people care and how amazing they are. So I am grateful; I am being strengthened in my time of trial by those around me and by my faith so it will be okay, it's all about the end result and getting this little guy here safely and in good health! Will keep you updated...thank you for all your prayers for our family, they mean a lot to us!

Baby, it's STILL cold outside!

2011-02-09T14:03:00.002-06:00

This is the craziest winter ever! We are home for Snow Day #5 in two weeks, can you believe that! So weird...very un-Texas like. It's been great timing for me though because over the past few days my joints have started the Big Flare and it's been nice to have Sydney here to help me out a little bit while I'm in painful misery! ;) This happened when I was pregnant with Malla so I knew it would likely happen again and no matter how much I thought I was 'ready' to deal with it, I can never fully prepare for the pain that takes my breath away. I went in yesterday to see my Rheumatologist and she gave me a steroid shot into the super swollen joint and once that kicks in I should feel lots better. She said I was flared up enough that it could take up to a week but I'm praying it won't take that long! So, I guess it's good that it's cold and icy outside since I can't really get out and walk around much anyway! ;) This makes me greatly appreciate my girls who are so well-behaved through all this, and my husband who absolutely hates seeing me like this but does his best to put on a brave face and help me out, and my family who carts me around to Dr's appointments and such! Thanks guys, I love you all so much.

Ode to Sydney...and Baby, it's cold outside!

2011-02-03T21:33:00.005-06:00

Holy cow, I cannot believe how cold and nasty it is here. One of the perks of being in Texas is not having to deal with zero degree wind chills and icy roads that last for days - however, we are on Day 4 of this and I'm about done!!! Warm weather, please come home, we miss you... :( However, one fun thing is we have been at the Rappleyes every day and having a blast; well, I'm sure we are driving them crazy, but all I can say is thank goodness for besties who live right up the street because they keep us sane on icy days when we can't drive anywhere!

Here are some new pictures - mostly of Sydney. January was kindof her month. It's was her birthday, she turned 6! She also got to do some fun things with friends and well, let's be honest, it's all about my kids most of the time anyway, even when it's not their birthday! So here are a few pictures:

We found these cute shirts for Sydney and Audrey for Christmas - they got to exchange gifts late because the Mathis's had the flu over Christmas so this was more of a New Year gift! ;) These two are so funny, little giggle-monsters!

Sydney has been busy labeling our house! All of our doors have been labeled and I have post-it notes all over my living room. I think she did this because her class room at school is labeled but Ben just wanted to know why our house had been Crysta-fied while he was at work! Her house is like that too, but that's just because she's a teacher! ;)

Sydney's birthday was a couple weeks ago so she got to wear the birthday hat all day in class - which she was SO excited about - and we made cupcakes the night before that she got to pass out to her class. That's super important when you're 6, you know!

And this is probably my most favorite moment in a long time. So for Christmas, we got the girls a game for the Wii called "Just Dance - Kids." They LOVE it! You dance along with the kids on the screen but it's all kids songs so it's on their level. Well, Sydney found "Celebrate" on there and that's a song she knows my Dad likes so she told him he needed to do the Celebrate song with her. My Dad, not knowing what he was getting himself into, agreed and never thought any more about it. Until he came over for Syd's birthday - ha ha, this was a priceless moment! It was pretty funny to see Sydney and Grandpa busting a move together. My Dad is such a good sport...thx Dad, that meant the world to Sydney! You made her day! (I love that he is cracking up in the picture too, it was pretty hilarious!)

Sydney requested strawberry shortcake for her birthday cake this year...and "Tangled" was the party theme. I thought we may have our first non-Princess party this year, but no, "Tangled" came out just in time! ;)

She finally got a new scooter and I can barely get her off the silly thing!

And to end the month on a high note - this is Sydney and a friend from her class at school. Her birthday is the day before Sydney's so we thought it would be fun to take them out to celebrate. We had a girls day and went to see "Tangled" and had a great time! Happy Birthday girls!

Behind on life!

2011-01-12T20:52:00.006-06:00

I have at least a million other things I should be doing right now...but, here I am! I have not blogged in so long and I have been wanting to put up a few Christmas pictures. My holdup is...drum roll please...we are expecting Baby #3! ;) Probably all of you who read this know that already, but just thought I'd throw that out there. We found out right before our trip to Utah at Thanksgiving and it seems like any spare time I have had, I just have felt too icky to sit at the computer and blog. Instead, I choose to sleep! So I am pretty much behind on life in general and someday I will catch back up.

We had a terrific Christmas. I always feel so blessed to live near family but it's especially so during the Holidays. I love that when my Grandmas are here that I can see them as much as I want. I love that we can play games and have a blast just being together, it's the best. We probably drove my family nuts because we were down there every day with all our noise and giggling and such, but it was so fun! So, here are a few pictures:

We go to Casa Manana every year to see their Christmas play and this year it was obviously 'Rudolph.' The girls loved it, it was really cute! And they are still wearing their noses around the house singing the Rudolph song...Christmas never ends here! ;) P.S. Don't you love that neither of them are actually looking at the camera!

One of my very MOST favorite Christmas traditions is our Christmas Eve with the Aunts and Uncles. This started lots of years ago when Heath & Adrienne were the only ones here with us and it has since blossomed to include the J's and my brother and sister. It's always super fun and a great way to spend Christmas Eve...This is the J's and Halla & Xhaxhi with the girls.

Halla is always good at sugaring up the girls! I would like it to be known that the fun dip was gone by the next day...and it made a lovely sticky mess on my kitchen table and floor! ;)

Ben's parents used to have their six kids make a pyramid every Christmas Eve and we thought we would carry on the tradition. The most hilarious part of this is JaeLyn though...do you see her? When I was taking this picture I didn't even notice her but then when I loaded the picture I got a good laugh out of it!!!!

I have about a million pics of the girls opening up gifts but here is a funny one - they got pillow pets on Christmas morning and so about half hour after they woke up they were camped out on the floor with their loot again, lounging around enjoying their cozy pillows!

If you know me, you know that I LOVE popcorn! Adrienne makes the BEST popcorn in the world and every time we are in Austin I drive her nuts asking her to make me more! They had us for Christmas this year, so guess what my favorite gift was!!!! I can have Halla popcorn any time I want now...hers is still better tho because it's made with Halla love!!! ;)

This beautiful thing was my VERY most favorite gift that I have gotten in a long time. So much so that it made me cry when I saw it! A couple years ago I was telling Ben how much I loved his Mom's hand-carved Nativity set; not only because it's beautiful but because it was made for their family by one of their Uncles and it makes it mean so much to them, it's a treasure. So Ben asked Heath if he thought that was something he could do. So two Christmases ago, Heath carved me the Baby Jesus and His manger. Last year he made me Joseph. And this year I honestly didn't think the guys would remember to do another piece because Heath gets to busy with school. This year he carved Mary and this amazing stable. I think if you click on the picture it will make it bigger and you can see the detail. The roof is made of little bundles of twine that he cut up and thatched together. I don't even want to know how much time he spent making this...it's amazing. Thank you Heath, you will never know how much I treasure this!!!! You are amazing!

Probably one of my favorite parts of this Christmas was seeing all the time my girls got to spend with their Great Grandmas. This is my Grammy and Grandma with the girls.

The girls LOVED seeing the Grandmas every time we headed down to my parents house. Grammy had them giggling so hard one night, I really thought Malla was going to take a tumble off her chair. They were blowing napkins off their faces and thought it was absolutely hilarious. It was a very sweet moment for me!

This is four generations! I love this picture. Both of my Grandmas, my Mom, my sister and I, and my girls. Super special....

We were so blessed this Christmas and hope you were too. May 2011 be a great year for all of you!!!!

Drivin' to a Winter Wonderland

2010-12-07T13:24:00.009-06:00

This is a super late post and will likely not be very long but surely I get an A for effort when it's just so darn busy right now, right! ;) We drove to Utah to see some of Ben's family for Thanksgiving so here are a few pictures from our journey. I have to say that I was absolutely NOT excited for the drive, thinking that my kids would be crying and screaming and so would my joints. However, I stand corrected...neither of those happened, thankfully! The girls were amazing, tired of the car, but did great nonetheless. And my joints were surprisingly cooperative so I was super thankful. We had a nice trip - it was a lot of driving for not so many days but it turned out all right! Long enough to enjoy everyone but not drive them crazy hopefully! We had some intense winter weather, it came in the night we got there. Definitely something we are not used to here!

Hitting the road! The Rappleyes lent us their portable DVD players so the girls could watch movies and they were life-savers. It kept the girls happy and quiet!

This is what Sydney looked like for four days of Thanksgiving break! ;)

This is what we woke up to the morning after we got there! SO glad we got in the night before and weren't trying to drive in this!!!

Of course the girls wanted to go out first thing so they bundled up and headed outside with Baca, who was working on clearing off the driveway. Sydney LOVED all the snow!

Mallory...not so much! Can you believe how deep it was! When they were working on the snow man, Kami made a little hole for Malla to stand in because she couldn't even walk in it, it was too deep!

Kami and the girls built a snow man - no, it's not snowing still. The neighbor was snow-blowing the sidewalk and so I got the spray in the picture....thought it turned out funny!

Poor little Malla was not a huge fan of the cold, she is definitely her father's child! So, Ben and his Mom had to keep her warm!!!

Baca pulled out his fire pit and despite the cold, had some enthusiastic little girls asking to roast marshmallows! Where was I during all this fun, you ask? INSIDE! Enjoying the heat! I came out every now and again to take pictures but that was it!

Mallory and Breanne were little BFF's while we were there...they followed each other around all day, every day! If we couldn't find them, this is where they were always perched...downstairs watching "Dora"! Malla found her soul mate! ;) Someone who would watch Dora with her!

Kandace took the kids sledding and Sydney wanted in on the action, she's never been sledding before. She had SO much fun and still talks about it! Thanks, Aunt Kiss!

Baca and two of his little girls...they found some of Ron-Dude's hats! Little stinkers!

One of my favorite things about Utah this time of year is going to Temple Square - they have it all lit up and it's amazingly beautiful. We did this the last night we were there and it was frigidly cold but still so fun! I thought this picture was pretty awesome, kinda looks like a post card!

They have a really cool Nativity set up on one of the lawns...

This is everyone except me and Baca, we were taking pictures! Brrr....makes me cold just looking at everyone all bundled up!

All the cousins being silly! Landon, Syd, Kaleb, Braidon, Malla, and Breanne. These guys had way too much fun playing together!

Thanks for the good times Utah-ites! It was a real slice! ;)

Sydney the High Flyer

2010-11-19T08:40:00.007-06:00

Sydney got a High Flyer award today at school and we are so super proud of her! Every week at the school assembly one grade level gets to pick two High Flyers from each class. These are kids who are friendly, helpful, studious, encouraging, etc to their peers and their teacher. I was so excited to get a note home earlier this week that Sydney was chosen by her teacher to get that award today. I was even more excited because this is the first round for the K's so she is the first in her class to be chosen - then the news got even better and we found out that one of her best friends, Andrew, who is also in her class, got the other one! Great job guys!!!! You are both High Flyers in my book too!!!!

Here is what Mrs. Smith said about Sydney - this was read by the Principal while Syd was up on stage with her teacher. I tried to load the video but it's taking too long so this will have to do! ;) If you click on the picture I think it makes it bigger so you can actually read what is says...

Mrs. Smith with Andrew and Sydney

My super cute High Flyer! She was SO excited!!!!

Mrs. Smith and her High Flyers. Great job Sydney and Andrew!!!

Best nap ever!

2010-11-12T13:19:00.004-06:00

Mallory has recently taken a liking to Sydney's Princess blanket, which is problem because this blanket is VERY well loved! It is faded and worn and Sydney sleeps with it every night and it comes out of her room with her in the morning and she cuddles up on the couch with it. You get the picture - it's already busy being cuddled with! So Mallory uses Sydney's blanket during the day when it's owner is away at Kindergarten...I don't think Syd minds but nonetheless I thought it would be fun to get Mallory her own blanket so she could leave Sydney's alone. And we are in cold weather season - well, most of you are, we aren't here really - but it will eventually get cold so we found a blanket today at the store for Malla. You will never guess what she picked out! DORA! I know, it's shocking! ;) I tried to remind her that our house is 78 degrees and she would probably get really hot with her blanket on but she would have none of it - she was ready for her best nap ever with her new blankie, she was grinning from ear to ear when I left her room! Cute little snuggle bunny! Have a great weekend everyone! (and yes, I know the "L"s are crooked, the other pins fell and I haven't fixed them yet!)

Halloween...belated!

2010-11-04T13:22:00.011-05:00

I've been meaning to post Halloween pics but just have kindof had one of THOSE weeks! Lots to do + not much sleep = no blogging for me! Because when I can go to bed, I want to! ;) So, here are some fun ones! Hope everyone had a fun weekend!

Carving pumpkins - the girls thought this was so fun! They would grab a huge handful of goop and show it to the Aunts and Uncles and giggle so hard! We missed having Heath & Adrienne around for this...this started some years ago as a Ben & Mer / Heath & Adrienne tradition and we've been doing it ever since.

Did you know that it takes LOTS of concentration to pop the pieces out of a pumpkin! ;)

The finished products. My sister did one, the J's did one, and we did one. My brother...well...he played on his iphone! (and yes, he is cuddling on Jeremy! He decided to balance JaeLyn out!)

Here are the girls's costumes for this year. Sydney was another princess, shocking, I know! Belle, as you can see! And such a 'beauty' she is! Mallory was, of course, Dora! Why do my kids have to be so darn cute?!?!? ;)

The famous Dora wig...she was SO done with this by the end of the night!

My sister is famous for her funny costumes every year - she and her roommates always do something fun. They've been The Incredibles, T.M.N.T, and all kinds of other hilarious things. This year it's just her and Amy so, much to my joy, they were Glinda and Elphaba! Perfect, the blond and the brunette! And appropriate since this was the year of "Wicked"!!! Isn't that the funniest thing ever! I love it!

Our Church did a Trunk-or-Treat and our friend, Melissa, was a perfect 'Snow White' so of course Sydney wanted her picture taken with her fellow Princess!

Ha ha, this is Sydney and her friend Andrew. He came over to say hi to Syd and my first thought was "hmmm, Princess and her Knight in almost-shining armor"! Had to take a picture, it was so cute!

Well that's about it, folks. Hope you're having a great week!

Vegas, Baby!

2010-10-27T11:44:00.005-05:00

I have had so much fun on my trip to Vegas! I'm actually still here but all my pics are on Mel's computer and I have a couple minutes so figured I may as well post a few! The thing I love about getting together with Melissa is that it's like no time has passed since our last visit, it's always a blast and we have such a great time! She and Dan just had their first kiddo earlier this year so it has been so fun to meet Mitchell...he's been my little buddy these past few days!

I didn't take this picture but tell me he isn't such a cutie-patooty! He is all smiles and giggles and so so precious! You should be jealous that you didn't get to play with him too these last few days...so fun!

Melissa took me to see Cirque du Soleil's "Mystere" on Monday night at Treasure Island and it was way cool. Very amazing!

Her friend Melanie came with us...and can I just point out how gorgeous Mel looks in this picture!

A view of the Strip from the parking garage...pretty amazing!

Then we went down to the Bellagio because I wanted to see the 'dancing water' and they had this really cool Fall display. Isn't this pretty!

Ha ha, if you know me, you know that I love the "Anne" series and that's always kindof been Mel's and my favorite books. So if you've seen the movie you will get why this was so funny to both of us! (You hear it in your head, don't you!!!!)

Thought my girls would like this HUGE scarecrow!

I found the Eiffel Tower for JaeLyn!

And of course we had to get ice cream! I would also like to say that we made Oreo blizzards last night and they were SO good...I think I've made some more fans of my blizzards!

The Bellagio fountain was amazing! I took video and if I can figure out how to make the file small enough I will post it after I get home...so awesome!

We went up to Red Rock and took a little hike, it was actually really pretty! And we saw wild Burrows...

Takin' a hike! Mitchell wasn't quite sure why we were smiling at the camera!

It's been such a fun trip, one for the memory books! Thx for the great time, Mel!!!! And thanks to Ben for taking these days off work so I could come and have fun. And Dan too, for watching Mitchell so Mel could play with me! M&M ride again!!!!

Cutest girls ever...part 2

2010-10-22T14:39:00.010-05:00

I have been very lucky, and, within my circle of friends have had budding photographers who have wanted to 'practice' on my girls. Amy did this for me a couple years ago and to this day I treasure the sweet pictures she got of my girls. Now they are a little bigger and my friend Clarissa got an awesome camera and wanted some new subjects besides her own beautiful kids. So once again, I got lucky and came away with some super cute pics of my girls! Thanks Clarissa, these are so fun! We are truly going to miss you and your sweet family. Best wishes and thanks for capturing my beauties so well!

I love this one of Sydney - it's so HER! If you know her at all, you know she is always giggling about something!

I think of all the shots this one is probably my favorite, and it wasn't even staged! Mallory and Alli saw this huge fuzzy caterpillar on the grass and sat and watched it for a little bit as it inched closer and closer to them. Alli bailed once Clarissa got her camera out but I think Malla was so interested in the little critter that she just stayed put!

My boot babes! These are their favorite shoes so I thought they would be a great addition to their photo wardrobes!

Thanks again, Clarissa! These pictures turned out so cute!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-20T12:47:00.006-05:00

We love to go to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch every year, it's become a fun tradition for our family. So we packed up the kids and headed to the Patch after school yesterday with the Rappleye's and had a nice little trip. Wasn't very crowded so that was nice and the weather was perfect. Here are a few highlights!

Heading out of the hay maze...this is always a favorite!

We got to go on a hay ride! Lots of squeals and giggles!

We ran into our Nielsen friends there too so all the kids jumped together for awhile!

Some of my favorite kids - Syd, Malla, "Graycie Lou," and our Bubby!

Ha ha - Ben always makes fun of me because I love old people so much! The first time we ever watched "Up" I cried like a baby, poor little old man. So when we saw this cutout Ben sighed and told me to go ahead and give him a hug! ;) That is my pouty face, feeling sad for our little old man!

Of course we have to stop by "Grandpa's Train" for a picture!

My favorite twins! Alex is in the pumpkin and Andi is sitting on the ground...love them!

Ha ha, do you see the legs at the bottom of the pumpkin? It totally matches Alex's shirt and looks like she is standing up in the pumpkin! ;)

Mallory and her favorite thing EVER - Dora!

The girls were filthy by the time we left but they sure had a great time! Happy Halloween!

Busy days....

2010-10-16T21:24:00.005-05:00

Wow, I'm pooped! We have been crazy busy the last couple weeks and it all came to a head this weekend. Last night we had a surprise Graduation party for my Mom with some of her friends. She was actually surprised (yes, Andersons pulled off ANOTHER surprise, we are getting pretty good at this!!!) and she loved seeing some of her friends. She hasn't had time for much of a social life these past few years of school so it was fun to see her smile and enjoy herself again!

Then today, we got to go to the circus! It was so fun. It's been years since I have been to a circus, like before we ever moved here so it's been well over 15 years, probably closer to 20. JaeLyn got tickets from her work and so we went and had a great time! Malla even rode the elephant with the J's - we tried to get Sydney to go but she panicked and decided it was more of a spectator sport! Her BFF, Audrey, ended up coming with us because my brother got sick and couldn't come and those girls had so much fun! Thx for the good time J's, it was great!!!!!

Bring in the clowns....they were signing autographs before the show started.

Ha ha, Malla was a little worried about going up to this clown and I told her not to worry, it was just pretend, a big balloon. Then after I took this picture I saw it shuffle a couple steps...there was someone inside! I'm sure he/she got a good laugh at all of us who told our kids that it was just a balloon! ;)

All ready for the circus to start!

Someone was tired today... :(

Going on an elephant ride! Malla talked about this the rest of the day, she loved it!

Cutest girls ever...

2010-10-13T21:42:00.011-05:00

So I haven't gotten the girls' pictures taken together in a REALLY long time, like probably about two years. I found these cute "big sister" "little sister" shirts and had to get pictures done in them. So, here are a few...there were some better ones but they are sideways and I can't figure out how to get them right side up! ;) Don't be too jealous, I know my girls are so cute! ;)

Can I just say how BEAUTIFUL Sydney is!

And I love this shot of Mallory...little angel! (don't let that smile fool ya!)

They said to bring Halloween costumes and normally I wouldn't have but this year is so fun because of Malla's costume! Is that the funniest thing you've ever seen! ;) My little Dora and Belle...what beauties!

Taking a "Time Out"...

2010-10-10T16:27:00.006-05:00

I had the amazingly fun opportunity this weekend to go with my Mom, my sister, and my sister's roommate, Amy, to a women's conference called "Time Out For Women." We got to hear presenters and musicians share their messages of Hope and it was AMAZING. I came home feeling refreshed, grateful, and happy.

I think the most tremendous message of hope was given by a lady named Mariama who is from the war-torn country of Sierra Leone. She shared a small part of her story with us and all I could think was that if this lady has lived through what she did and still has reason for hope and joy, surely the rest of us can too! I also loved the closing speaker who presented his message of hope in relation to the saving power of Christ and how He has completely paid the price for all of us...what greater hope can there be than that? The Gospel, the good news, is the greatest hope and source of joy for us. I loved it. And one of the singers, Michael McLean (who does "The Forgotten Carols," one of my favorite things!!!) is HILARIOUS! He had us laughing pretty good most of Friday night! It was all amazing, these were just a couple of the highlights for me.

However, I think the thing I loved most was being with a few of my favorite ladies. Friday night we stayed in a hotel and Amy got a big kick out of my sister and I who are able to endlessly quote movies for hours. So we did and it was so fun, we all giggled a LOT!!! And I loved having my Mom back...now that she is done with school she is herself again and we got to talk about fun and important things like we used to without the heavy burden of school weighing on her mind, it was great. I was in rare form this weekend and had a couple blunders that gave belly-laughs to the rest of my girls - glad I could be there for their entertainment and amusement! ;) It was a great weekend, I feel really blessed that I was able to be there.

We wanted to get a picture of the four of us but all these huge posters were by the windows and there was a bad glare...so my Mom took matters into her own hands and just picked it up and moved it! We might have gotten a few strange looks from passers-by!!!! ;)

Amy, Bandaid, me and my Mom...

My sister and I have this 'fishy lips' picture that we have always done together everywhere we go for YEARS...it's just become a funny tradition...why stop now!

Thanks for the great weekend, ladies! And thank you, Ben, for sending me along my way and taking care of the girls while I was gone. You're the best!!!

The Graduate

2010-10-05T12:49:00.004-05:00

My Mom is done with school!!!! She has been working on getting her Bachelor's degree the past few years and she just turned in her last paper this weekend. Hooray! This has been a long, hard road for her - she also works full-time - and I know she is super glad to be done and have her life back! We are so proud of you Mom, congrats! What a great achievement!!!!

The Graduate....Yay for Mom!

My family - not sure what's up with the dog's eyes but I tried to fix it and it just made it worse!

This is a little more true to form for my family - we're all a little crazy! ;)

And lastly...this is one of the MOST hilarious things ever! There are a few things in life that make me belly laugh just thinking about them, I don't even have to actually see them, and the Carlton dance is one of them. If you ever watched 'The Fresh Prince' growing up then you know the Carlton dance! It's a true talent to be able to do that dance though, and luckily, my brother has that talent! It has been comic relief in our family for a lot of years and I finally got it on film! It's not his best, but still pretty dang hilarious! If you have never seen the Carlton dance, search for it on YouTube and you'll get all kinds of hits. Grab a tissue because you WILL be crying from laughing so hard. Oh my word...so hilarious! Without further adieu, I give you...Cody!

No Room in the Inn....

2010-09-29T20:37:00.004-05:00

I think this fall weather we had - notice I said "had," not "have," because it was hot again today! - has confused my system. I think my brain thinks it's spring because I've got cleaning fever. Actually throwing out fever would be a better word. I have been changing the girls' clothes out and cleaning out closets and all sorts of other things and I'm just done with all the junk! So, I made a trip to Goodwill this morning and got rid of some stuff. We have so much random stuff in our house and every closet or extra space is literally just packed in and full to the brim. My joke around the house is "no, of course we can't get that, where would we put it?" There really is no room in the inn! So, since I can't make my house bigger and create more space, I'm clearing out the space I have! The girls' closet looks much better and I got rid of two trash bags full of their old clothes that they have outgrown. I hang on to a lot so that I can pass it down to Malla, but we still get things for her and my Grammy is always sending cute stuff so we end up with a TON of clothes for her normally. Anyway...I had a couple stops to make before Goodwill this morning and I was just itching to get there and once they had taken the stuff out of my car, I felt awesome! Is that weird?!?!? I guess I needed some de-cluttering to help me breathe better! Tomorrow's task....72-hour kits. It's probably been almost a year since I went through them so it's well over-due! Then I will be done with my chores for this week. Hmmm....what will next week bring?!?!? So many possibilities! Happy Spring/Fall cleaning! ;)

Oh the weather outside is....delightful!

2010-09-26T20:27:00.007-05:00

Yes, the weather is delightful...not frightful...can you believe it! We got a cool front in and it is a lovely taste of Fall. It has still been so hot here, even though we are almost into October, and I am soaking in the cool! I think it was probably only about 75 today and my windows are open to a nice breeze...perfect! The girls decided to capitalize on the nice day and we played outside for a long time this evening. Have I ever mentioned how much I love this 'park' (as my girls call it) in our back yard! Seriously, the best $250 we ever spent! We bot it from a friend when they were moving and I sanded and stained it and it was like new. The girls love it, we have gotten a lot of use out of it. It's a pain in the rear to mow around but well worth the time that the girls get to spend playing on it!

My cute girls! Sydney had Shirley Temple hair today! ;) They love to go down the slide together like this - Mallory calls it her roller coaster!

At some point Sydney decided it would be fun to be a bridge for Malla to go under...they giggled and giggled!

And of course Malla had to try it too, only she is much smaller than Sydney so it was pretty funny trying to get Syd all the way under the bridge without it toppling over! Mallory also discovered that she could see me if she bent all the way over and looked under her legs! Silly kid....

HAPPY FALL, Y'ALL!!!! Let's hope it sticks around!

Is it really that easy?

2010-09-22T13:06:00.005-05:00

This time last week (Thursday, actually, but close enough!) my sister and I were sitting at the kitchen table eating our PB&J's and enjoying our conversation. At some point I realized that I hadn't seen Mallory in a couple minutes and it was very quiet. My past experience with this situation is NEVER good when it involves her, she is my kid that's always into everything! So I got a little nervous and called out "Malla, where are you?" I hear this sweet little voice from a distance saying "I just need to go potty." WHAT?!?!? So I head to the the girls' bathroom and there she sits, doing her business. She had walked in there, put the training seat up on the toilet, shed her shorts and diaper and took her seat on the throne, all by her wee bitty self!

I thought it was likely just a fluke but she has been dry ever since. Can you believe that?!?! She has only had one accident, when she was outside playing and waited too long. But we've used the restroom at the store and at friends' houses and all sorts of places, no accidents! We had a problem with #2 in the toilet the first few days but I bribed her with candy and she's been perfect the past couple days. I have been letting her wear panties since she's been so dry and just putting her in Pull-Ups when she's sleeping or we are going somewhere and she is doing great.

This is so different that when we did this with Sydney. We haven't even been potty training with her at all because it was such a struggle with Syd and so we just decided to wait with her until it was her idea and hopefully have it be a shorter process. I remember my friend, Brandi, telling me this similar story about her 2nd girl and thinking to myself that there was no way that kids really did that, Miranda just must be super-toddler or something. But now I have that kid too and it's so great!!!!! This is my kind of potty training! Maybe there is something to be said about being the 2nd sister, you have a big girl to look up to. I don't know....whatever it is, I keep waiting for this to go away and her be back in diapers and it all to have been a phase but so far she is right on! Way to go, girl! So proud of you!!!!

Cute things...

2010-09-15T20:48:00.007-05:00

Here are two quick, but super cute, things! Sydney got to do her very first book report tonight! We read a book called "Redwoods," which I loved because I spent the first half of my life in the Seattle area around all kinds of amazing trees and plants! She had to draw a picture and put some kind of statement about the book - her favorite part or something she related to, etc. She was to use her own spelling and grammar so here is what we ended up with:

A closer look: (thu tres ar vere tol = the trees are very tall)

I'm so proud of her! She drew the branches up high like we read about and even added the roots because she remembered that part in the book, as well as all the plant life that lives in and around the Redwoods. Way to go Babe, you did awesome! I'm a proud Mommy tonight! ;)

Here is my other cute kid! We have this Teddy Bear rhyming book and there is one part that says....well...I won't ruin it for you but just know that it should rhyme but does not because she changed it (and just for the record, I did not tell her to do this - this is how she reads it when we have the book out!)

Weekend Getaways - Part 2

2010-09-11T15:41:00.003-05:00

Alright here are our pictures from Austin...we've had a lot of fun lately, can you tell! ;)

We went shopping at my favorite place - the Round Rock Outlets (there are always treasures to be found there!!!) and while Adrienne and I were shopping and finding great deals the boys were keeping the girls entertained! Right before I took this, Heath had the girls laughing so hard that I really thought Malla was going to gag...seriously hilarious! I love that Malla is looking up at Heath with that look in her eyes still, she was ready to laugh more!

Sunday was our low-key day and Sydney decided that she and Malla were UT cheerleaders so they played with these pom poms for the longest time.

And then came the BEST part of the weekend. If you know Sydney, you know that she LOVES to do hair and makeup; which is all fine and good except that you look like you belong in the 80's on a street corner somewhere by the time she's done! BUT...Adrienne needed to be a cheer leader too so she got her hair and makeup done...this is during the makeover.

And then it was my turn...normally I don't get to be part of the club when an Aunt is around but she took pity on me this time and said I should be a cheerleader too. SO, here is the finished product - ravishing, aren't we!?!?! ;) Do you like my pigtails? You want them, don't you!

Then Sydney let us have our turn. She has never let us do her hair or makeup before so we were really surprised...then we realized this was our turn to get her back a little! Except it didn't really phase her like we were hoping, she thought she looked great! ;) Don't you wish all cheerleaders looked like this!

And this is my favorite picture...isn't she a beauty! Don't you love her blue eyebrows! Funny note...when I was cleaning off her face later, I took the stickers off her cheeks and the blush was so caked on around the sticker that there was a white longhorn on each cheek! Pretty funny!

Thanks for the fun weekend, Xhaxhi and Halla...we had a blast!

Weekend Getaways - Part 1

2010-09-07T13:01:00.013-05:00

We just had an awesome weekend in Austin with Heath and Adrienne and I have some totally cute (and way hilarious) pictures to post but I just realized that I never put up our pictures from our weekend visit from Ben's parents a couple weeks ago. They came down for the weekend at the last minute and we had a blast, even though we wish it could have been longer! Heath and Adrienne came up from Austin to see them and they stayed at our house which was a fun treat for the girls! Here are the highlights:

Saturday morning cartoons with Halla!

Sydney and Heath have this funny computer relationship - they could play for hours with all the funny apps on the macbook...they are so silly! ;)

Of course with H&A in town, we had to do Chuck E. Cheese - it's tradition! So we all headed over there - all 8 adults and only 2 kids!!!! I'm sure we looked funny walking in with all of us 'big kids' and only two little ones! This is Ben and his brother; and I would like it be known that Ben and I spent some time shooting these hoops and I whaled on him...poor guy! Just sayin'... ;)

Sydney was SO proud of how well she did on this. I was honestly surprised, she was good. She must have gotten the Anderson hoop-shooting gene, I was impressed! Dad, you should see the video I took of her playing this, it would bring a proud-Grandpa tear to your eye! ;)

The girls always love playing in the maze!

Malla found this game where you pop bubbles on the screen and LOVED it - I think she must have played it 10 times! I'm sure Ben's dad was tired from holding her up for so long!

We had to get a picture with Chuck E. Cheese, of course. And I would say that Adrienne was just there with Malla so that she wasn't scared but let's be honest, we all know how much Halla LOVES her some Chuck E. and I think she probably just wanted to be in the picture too! ;)

Sunday we hung out at Jeremy & JaeLyn's house all day. After Church, Ben and my brother started playing games on their iphones and my sister thought she'd see what all the fuss was about...except she doesn't have an iphone! It made for some good laughs, though! ;)

Tell me this isn't the sweetest picture ever of a girl and her Grandma!!! I love it!

The girls with Baca and Grandma before they had to go home on Sunday night. It was such a fun weekend, wish we would have had more time!

Next up...our trip to Austin.... Have a great week!

Worst Mom EVER!

2010-09-01T21:09:00.002-05:00

So I had one of those "I'm the worst Mom EVER!" moments the other day. Sydney and I were talking after school and she said, with absolutely no sadness at all, that lots of the other kids get 'I Love You' notes in their lunch boxes and would I please put one in hers? She wasn't at all upset that I hadn't stuck a note in her lunch box, just was asking if I could do that sometime. Seriously, made me feel like poo! What kind of Mom am I? The kind that has thought about doing that every single day and for one reason or another just hasn't done it! I felt so bad...worst Mom ever! ;) So I sent that requested note, on the pink heart post-it that was specifically asked for, the next day in her lunch. When she got home she informed me that I didn't do it right!!!! REALLY? How do you mess up a love note to your kid?!?!? Apparently the cool way to do a note in a lunch box when you are in Kindergarten is to use a big marker to write "I (heart) U" on a napkin and stick it in there...well, pardon me, my dear, didn't know I was doing it wrong! So now I'm the worst Mom ever who sends notes only when her kid asks for it and even then it is wrong...BUMMER! ;)

Big Girls Don't Cry

2010-08-24T10:22:00.010-05:00

Today was Sydney's first day of school and she was SO excited! She was on her way out of her room this morning when I went to wake her up, go figure! She was skipping and smiling and kicked us out the door! No tears from her!!! I did good too, until I got home and realized she wasn't here and then I lost it...but only for a minute, now I'm good! Here are some picture of my big girl....
All ready to go in her 'sparkly' outfit that she picked out - shocking, I know! Sydney picked out clothes that are sparkly...go figure! ;)

Mallory is missing her big sister something fierce today, this is going to be the biggest change for her I think...she doesn't get why Sydney isn't here to play with her. :(

Walking out the door with smiles on our faces...

Sydney's "locker" where she keeps her backpack and such...

Sydney got super lucky and her friend Andrew is in her class...these two are such cute little friends, I'm glad she has someone in her class that she knows!

At her desk with fun stuff to do already! Lucky girl! Her teacher seems great and I know she's going to have a SUPER time at school....I sure miss her but I know she is loving it!

The Final Countdown

2010-08-16T09:29:00.004-05:00

Well we are just about a week away from school starting and I am finding myself in panic mode almost. Sydney is so ready and excited for Kindergarten but I have realized that I am most certainly NOT! I keep having all these thoughts about her being sad or lonely or homesick. This picture of her keeps running through my head and it makes me so sad - she is standing by herself on the playground during recess and doesn't have anyone to play with because she doesn't know the other kids - and if you know Sydney, you know that she is a social butterfly and LOVES to play with other kids, this situation would be so hard for her. Or I keep thinking what if there is some other little girl that she for some reason attaches herself to and that girl ends up being the 'mean girl' and at some point Sydney is the little kid who gets picked on or made fun of. I've been the one to be picked on, and I'm sad to say that I've also been the one to do the picking, and neither of them are any fun. Maybe that is where my insecurities come from...who knows. It breaks my heart thinking of her getting her feelings hurt, it happens so easily too, she's my sensitive soul. Either way I find this school thing constantly at the back of my mind and when it all comes down to it, I am sure going to miss having her home during the day. I realize that kids have to grow up and learn their independence, but I guess I was hoping that my kids were exempt from that! ;)

Another one bites the dust....

2010-08-15T13:19:00.002-05:00

Here is the latest family member to fall victim to Sydney's antics! This is Super Pooh (or Poo, as the case may be!) We all got a kick out of the fact that Sydney brought him a brown robe....just sayin'! ;)
We had a fun dinner last night with everyone so we could enjoy Grandma before she heads back to Nebraska. Ben always grills such yummy stuff, BBQ chicken was last night's treat. All of my family plus the J's were there and also my sister's roommate and of course the guest of honor, Grandmama! I miss her so much when she is not here but I know she's doing a lot of good at my Uncle's house and I sure wouldn't want to keep her from that. But we had a great time while she was here and I'll be looking forward to Christmas when she is back again. I love you Grandma!

'Aunt'ics, the Sequel

2010-08-08T20:47:00.007-05:00

I have a post from not too long ago about the funny things that our parents and grandparents and brothers and sisters do for our girls in the name of keeping a smile on their little faces. Well, had another moment on Saturday, a really good one!
May I introduce you to (from left to right): The Queen of Shamrocks (a.k.a. Auntie) and her loyal subjects (various and sundry stuffed animals), the King of Squares (a.k.a. Uncle Cody) and his loyal subjects, and the King of Pooh (a.k.a. Grandpa). My Dad was obviously my favorite, who can resist the King of Pooh, I mean really! ;) His royal highness is sporting a Pooh Bear cape (bed sheet) and you can see Pooh on his shoulder. Well anyway, if you know me, you know I love funny poo jokes and other inappropriate such things so I got a good laugh out of this!
The Queen of Shamrocks even got her hair done and I personally think it is very fetching, don't you! ;)

On another note, we got bunkbeds for the girls and it's coming together some. I haven't decorated the walls yet so they look rather blah but I'll get to it eventually! In the meantime, I think it's cute...what do you think?!?!?
I found these cute pastel comforters and a matching curtain set, got them online and they are perfect. Not too heavy and still pastel and cute to go with the colors I already have. My mom and I found some heavy curtain lining at the fabric store that I made a black-out set of curtains with to go behind the cute ones and voila, ready for going to bed early once school starts and it's still light outside! Anyway, I think it's cute...gotta get their stuff back up on the walls but I'll get to it eventually! Have a great week!

Benny Boo's Birthday

2010-08-04T14:36:00.006-05:00

Ben's birthday was this past Saturday and we had such a fun day! Heath & Adrienne were in town so we went swimming with them in the morning. A couple weeks ago, Ben's brother emailed me to see if they could set up an afternoon out for us for his birthday. Knowing that the J's are the King and Queen of fun dates, I of course was quick to answer in the affirmative. So they put together this scavenger hunt thing that took us all afternoon to complete and was so fun! At this point a fun date for me sounds like dinner and a long nap! So it was fun to get out and do something that is totally out of the ordinary for us. They sent us to some funny places that brought back fun memories - the tree that Ben ran over coming home from work at Braum's one night in high school (completely totaled the tree but didn't hurt his old beat-up Mustang a bit!), tennis courts at Keller H.S. where Ben spent many hours each day, the Church that we went to EVERY single morning for Seminary at some way-too-early hour, and all sorts of fun places. Jeremy called me ahead and time and told me to pack Ben's swim trunks and my camera...wouldn't answer any questions but that piqued my interest! After the tennis courts the clue was to head to Adrienne's parents' house...which is right next door to their neighborhood pool! The J's dropped off a clue to Heath & Adrienne and they were to drop it in the pool for Ben to go get...thus the swim trunks. As soon as Heath saw us drive up, he looked right at Ben and dropped that plastic bag into the water with a smile on his face! But alas, Ben had already showered twice that day so he found a way around taking a swim:
He scooted the bag over to the side and then a little girl that was there went down and got it for him...cheater! ;) He got his dues a little though, this is what the next clue looked like when he finally got it out:
Then we ran a few more places, had probably the worst Olive Garden dinner ever, met the J's and the girls (who spent the afternoon placing all the clues and having a blast!) at Braum's for ice cream and headed home. We were all exhausted by the day's end...it was a scorcher that day.
The funny part is that the girls had so much fun that we could hardly get them home...they love the J's SO much. In fact, I think Malla spent the bulk of her evening doing this:
Because by the time we all went home her entire face was covered in whisker burn! ;) It's so fun to have all these guys around, and even extra special that we got to see Heath & Adrienne too...it was the icing on the cake, well, you know, if Ben ate cake it would have been the icing! ;)

Sunday we all got together for fajita dinner with my Grandma before the Austin-Breinholts headed home and it was so cool to have so many of us together. Then Monday the Rappleye's invited us over for FHE/dinner and so we had a fun little post-bday party then too! We are super lucky to have so many people around that love us! Happy Birthday Ben!

While You Were Sleeping...

2010-07-28T13:48:00.010-05:00

Just for the record, that is one of the BEST movies ever, I never get tired of it! And if you know me well, you know that I am forever pulling out one of my many 'While You Were Sleeping' quotes! Love it! Anyway, that's not what this post is about...we had such a fun time with Audrey and Drew on Monday, the kids had a blast. I know Carebear is used to being with her kids all day long and so I took pictures so she knew what we did all day! So Carebear, here is what we did while you were sleeping...and wishing you could sleep...and having a baby...and being sick...and all those other fun things that you were on Monday! ;)

We read some books...on the Elmo chair of course, because it's the BEST!

And we got super wet at the splash park and had SO much fun playing in the water!

And of course we had to swing, because that's what 2-year-olds do!

Four cute kids have so much fun in the sun!

This is where the little kids spent a bulk of their time!

Our air mattress has a slow leak so the kids thought it was so funny to help roll the air out of it after Drew woke up from his nap... ;)

And of course there was Dress-Up going on...while they were coloring beautiful Princess pictures! They are so talented!

Now if only I had taken a picture of how they all looked when they fell asleep that night (finally!), it was super cute! Congrats again Mathis family, we're so excited for your new addition!

Congrats...

2010-07-26T21:29:00.004-05:00

to our dear Mathis friends on the birth of their newest addition....Hannah! And isn't she a cutie patooty! I have had Drew and Audrey all day today and we took them up to the hospital tonight to meet their new sister (who they LOVED!!!) and let me just say what a sweet little thing Hannah is; well, little being relative, she was 8 pounds 10 ounces! Carebear's next baby is going to be like 12 pounds or something! ;) Anyway, Hannah makes those cute little sleeping noises that some babies make and I LOVE it! I could have cuddled her forever, but alas, had to give her back! I have four other kids that needed to get home and to bed...and now I can go to bed! Well, after some laundry is folded anyway....congrats y'all, she is beautiful and we are so happy for you!!!

'Aunt'ics

2010-07-16T14:28:00.021-05:00

So over the past couple years I've laughed so many times about the things that our brothers and sisters and parents will do for their nieces/grandkids - truly it's an amazing thing what a grown person is willing to do just to please a little kid whom they love! They are all such good sports! I had another of those moments today when Mallory wanted to dance to 'Auntie's song' while my sister was here for lunch but she had to have her dress-up dancing gloves on. Except those 'gloves' are really just socks but hey, it's all about imagination, right! ;) Anyway I was doing something in the kitchen and I look into the living room and my sister is standing there bustin' a move with Mallory and she was wearing dress-up gloves too! Anyway, here are a few funny pictures to give you a giggle!

Yay for dress-up dancing gloves!!!!

My sister in the not-so-distant past wearing Sydney's tights because she was Sydney's 'crunchy' for the day (Syd made that up) and that's what she wanted Auntie to do! Notice they are both completely covered in stickers! Also Sydney's idea!

Ha ha, this makes me laugh every time! This is my Grammy and we always have to go to Red Lobster when she is here from Montana because it's her FAVORITE! Sydney decided that she would look good with straws in her hair! And she let her do it...it was so funny! ;)

I have about a million dress-up-with-Auntie pictures but this is probably the most full-on dress-up one they've done...Sydney was in heaven!

Playing with the kids on Christmas one year...Sydney, my cousin Whitney, Bandaid, Savanna and Braden (my cousin's kids).

Sydney got this princess tent for her bday one year and wanted Halla to play in it with her - who can say no to that! ;) I have one that's even better than this of my Dad sitting in it (rather uncomfortably, I might add!) but I couldn't find it!

Stair races with Auntie at my parents house - this is a tradition to this day, apparently it never gets old! ;)

Sydney used to dance to the Leap Frog ABC song all the time and recruited my sister and Ben's sister and even Grandpa, but I couldn't find a picture of that one, I think I only have video. So cute!

Ron riding his imaginary horse with Sydney, they were racing! ;)

Pooh Xhaxhi, I think he got his nose picked!!!

When it snowed this past year, everyone was at our house and the girls REALLY wanted Uncle Pooh to go outside, regardless of the fact that he was in shorts!

Not that this is funny but I think it's so adorably cute - my Dad and Sydney playing by the reflection pool at Temple Square!

I have so many more pictures but didn't have time to look through all of them. I feel like we are so super lucky to have so many people around us who love our girls so much. I wish I had pictures of the TeaParty with the J's from a couple weekends ago - talk about taking one for the team! Even Pooh dressed up in his suit and was a waiter! JaeLyn texted us a picture and she was all gussied up in puffed sleeves - awesome! Anyway, have a great weekend!!!!

A bunch of nothing...

2010-07-14T22:44:00.003-05:00

We have been busy every day but not with anything super great to blog about! Just trying to keep cool in the Texas heat! Actually, now that I say that, for about two weeks we had tons of rain so it cooled us down a lot...BUT not to worry, the heat is back and we are sweating again! We have been doing lots of swimming and playing with friends, trying to keep the girls busy so they don't get bored! I've been doing a Mer-version of the P90X program the past couple months with Ben and my knees are feeling great. Well, not today really, they hurt right now - but normally they feel great! I have been pleasantly surprised how many of the workouts I can actually do if I just do it to my comfort level for my joints; it's kindof opened a whole new world of working out to me that I didn't know I could do - I like it! ;) I learned that I love yoga! It's so stinkin' hard and some of the things are uncomfortable for my knees but I think it's helping them so much. Anyway, that is a new development for me, my joints haven't felt this healthy since I was diagnosed 5 1/2 years ago! YAY!

On a sad note, a dear friend passed away last week and the Memorial was last night. She was such an amazing woman, I can't even begin to tell you everything that made her special, the list would go on forever! I think it was summed up well by her daughter who said that she didn't just possess the gift of giving love but that she WAS love; well said. I spent a lot of time with her kids while I was in college and have stayed in touch with them and absolutely adore this special family. I've always been lucky to have 'adopted' families in my life - the Metges, the Breinholts, and this sweet Taylor family (among others) - they have all made a significant impact on my life and I'm so grateful. Please keep the Taylors in your prayers, it is a sad loss for their family BUT they know, and I know, that they will see Charlene again so that is something to look forward to. We miss you Charlene, thank you for your unconditional love...you left quite the legacy!

4th Festivities....

2010-07-06T21:32:00.008-05:00

We had such a fun weekend! Thursday night my Mom and sister and I went to see "Eclipse" (LOVED it by the way!) and then Friday night Ben and I and my brother went to the Temple. Thanks Mom, for watching the girls. Saturday we hung out with the J's and I spent lots of time grocery shopping and getting things ready for Sunday and Monday. Sunday we celebrated the 4th at my parents' house and it was fun! We had a nice dinner with family and the Mathis's (our adopted family!). The J's had the girls sleep over on Sunday night so Ben and I had the night off and most of Monday, it was so weird! We had fun though, went out for breakfast and to a movie, did a little window shopping, good times! Anyway we also had a low-key family dinner with my Dad since he had to work on Sunday. All in all, a fab 4th! Here are a few pictures:

The girls before Church on Sunday all dressed up in their Red, White, and Blue.

Then off to my Parents' house for dinner and fun! Malla, Audrey, Syd and Drew had a blast doing poppers and confetti stuff...

This has become their silly little tradition with the confetti....
Here is how it started three years ago! ;) Super cute!!!

Tell me they aren't the cutest little BFF's EVER!!!!

Ben decided to show the kids how to play freeze tag and he froze Malla so it was Drew's job to un-freeze her since he was the other small kid - but still a little too tall when he didn't get down on the ground all the way. He kept knocking Malla over and they were both laughing SO hard, it was hilarious! They finally got it though...Malla is just helping! ;)

Hope you all had a great 4th and many, many thanks to all of the people past and present who have done so much, even give their lives, for the sake of freedom. We are so grateful.

One of my favorite things...

2010-06-27T20:29:00.008-05:00

Every night before the girls go to bed we tell each other our 'favorite things' - stuff we did that day or just whenever that we loved or had fun with. I'm going to go to bed soon so I will tell you that this is one of my VERY favorite things:
My Dad gets tickets to this every year because his work is one of the sponsors and I love, Love, LOVE it!!!! And he always requests the John Williams night and it's my favorite! I am such a huge John Williams fan, always have been, so it's always a treat to hear his amazing music (along with one or two other songs by different composers)! They play a little "Superman," "Jurassic Park," "Harry Potter," "Hook," "Indiana Jones," "E.T.," etc. Then the second half of the show is a "Star Wars" tribute and they have a laser light show that goes on at the same time and fireworks on the last song. It's amazingly awesome, I love it every year! Well, when it doesn't get rained out, that is! We have had storms the past two years so one got canceled entirely and then last year the wind was so bad that they just used pre-recorded music because the orchestra couldn't keep the music on their stands! ;) So naturally when I saw that last Friday was supposed to be stormy, you can imagine my annoyance! And if you live here you know how little rain we've had...and yet, we got rain! Go figure! But it was ok, the show must go on!!!
This year my Dad, Sydney, and I all showed up in green - we probably looked like little leprechauns walking in together! ;) I promise it wasn't on purpose!
I took a video of the Star Wars stuff with the laser show but it's taking forever to load so never mind...use your imagination! ;) Have a great week!

2nd Time's a Charm....

2010-06-25T14:42:00.003-05:00

That's right, I got to go see 'Wicked' again last night - I know...you're jealous! ;) Happy Birthday, Crysta!!!! And yes, I got my hair cut...!

Happy Birthday to another special friend!

2010-06-23T14:00:00.004-05:00

Today is my Amy's birthday! We have known each other for about 11 years I think, maybe more, probably not doing the math right. We've been through so many special times together and so many hard times too, I think that's why we'll always be friends. Because friends come and go but when you have been there with someone through so much, your hearts are always tied together, even though you may not see each other as much as you once did. Amy is irreplaceable, she is so special and unique in so many ways...her smile and laugh is infectious like no one else I've ever met and she can ALWAYS make me giggle! We have so many years of funny inside jokes and silly girl-hood craziness. I could go on forever but I won't! I have tons of pictures but this is a blast from the past, a cute little scrapbook page that she made a LONG time ago and I love it, so cute! Happy Birthday Amesco, I love ya girl!

Happy Birthday!

2010-06-21T13:08:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday to one special gal - Crysta is turning the BIG 3-0 today!!!! Happy birthday friend, you are one in a million!!!

Brasil is in the HOWSE!!!!

2010-06-15T22:06:00.005-05:00

This is what happens at my house every four years during World Cup time....and soccer is not my favorite thing! (pardon me, futbol....) Ben turns back into a Portuguese-speaking Brazilian and spends hours watching soccer and yelling 'GOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLL' - anyone wanna come over? It's really fun!!!! ;)

A 'Wicked' good time

2010-06-06T18:34:00.004-05:00

We went to see 'Wicked' yesterday and really all I can say about it is that it was AMAZING! I posted on my fb page that I wished I could have just stayed in my seat and waited for the next show to start so I could have watched it all over again! I'm so intrigued by the people that have such imagination and talent to come up with these things...it is a book and then was put to music and stage show and I'm just in awe that people think of these things! I guess I'm not really the 'creative' type, even musically, and it's so cool! I can play music, but to arrange my own piece, let alone an entire score and show, is so outside of my head! Anyway, I love Love LOVE musicals and this one is really nothing short of amazing, it was awesome! Thanks Mom and Bandaid for taking me, it was a blast!!!!

A whole lotta nothin'....

2010-06-03T22:07:00.002-05:00

We haven't really been up to much lately, just keeping busy with...I don't even know, just stuff! We have been going to the park and the splash park, running errands, playing with friends, swimming, etc. Summer has hit us hard this year and earlier than normal it seems, so the name of the game now is keeping cool in this nasty heat - yuck! Heath & Adrienne are in town for the weekend so we went over to Gramnette's and Gramp's house tonight for swimming and family fun! I am going to see 'Wicked' on Saturday with my mom and sister and I can hardly wait! I've been counting down the days! Yay!!! I imagine my next post will be a report on how it was...in the mean time, stay cool!

My little graduate...

2010-05-28T15:31:00.006-05:00

I think next week is the end of school but the two things that Sydney has participated in this year ended this week so we have had lots of celebrations and pre-Kindergarten graduations! Yesterday was the last day of Joy School so we all went to the park for a picnic and to let the kids play in the water...they had a great time, of course! I think the rest of us were a little too warm so we were only there for a couple hours! Then today she had her "celebration" for moving on from the ' Parents As Teachers' program (we do this through our school district) to Kindergarten in the Fall. This is a hard one for us because we ADORE our Parent Educator, Ms. Deanne! She has been seeing Sydney since she was a baby, literally. Luckily she will still come see Mallory so we are glad of that, but Sydney will miss her visits. Deanne is one of those people who go way above and beyond their job description if it is something that will help you out in any way, she's amazing. It's such a cool program, I'm so glad we've gotten to do it these past 5 years! Anyway here are a few pictures....

Sydney and her fellow Joy School Graduates! She had so much fun doing this!

She had been playing in the water so her certificate got a little wet! ;)

Here is Sydney with Ms. Deanne today at the Parents As Teachers celebration! She got a certificate, a t-shirt, and a new book to read - yay!

Then we had these cute little cupcakes afterward...ladybugs were the theme of the day!

Here are the girls with Deanne at our last home visit for the year... :(

Sea World

2010-05-23T18:31:00.016-05:00

Wow we just had an amazing weekend in San Antonio! We spent the last two days down at Sea World and had a BLAST! The animals were so fun, the girls were entranced by them, the shows were amazing, the hotel was awesome (thanks to our friend, Rachel, and her being a Hyatt employee, we were able to stay at a seriously awesome resort for super cheap - thanks Rachel!!!) - the only down side was that we didn't have enough time to do everything we wanted to...oh well, I guess that just gives us an excuse to go back! Here are a few of my favorite pictures, I will spare you the rest!

When we got there, the Shamu show had just started so we thought we'd try to catch it because there was only one more that day (Friday) but it was standing room only - not sure how I ended up with Sydney but let me tell ya, she is heavy after having her on my shoulders for 25 minutes!

Sydney's first roller coaster. We got online ahead of time and found this cute Shamu Express that she was tall enough to go on and she talked about it for days before we even got there! Xhaxhi was the lucky one to get to ride with her!

Heath & Adrienne went down with us, we stopped by Austin on our way down and then they drove to SA with us the next morning. The fun thing about Aunts and Uncles is that they are putty in the girls' hands! They don't look at price tags like Moms and Dads do and consequently, the girls come home with cute souvenir dolls like these! ;) Malla LOVED the dolphin show so this is her dolphin 'Dolly' that she picked out and Sydney loved the Shamu show so that's what she chose...Thanks Xhaxhi and Halla!

This was a cute show but we only saw the first few minutes of it - the animals weren't cooperating at all! It was pretty funny!

We went back to see the Shamu show again on Saturday and got there early because Syd wanted to sit in the Splash Zone, which I was not excited about! Here we are before the show!

Yes, we were in the Splash Zone! But it all worked out and neither me nor my camera got wet! The cool thing is how close we were sitting, just a couple rows back, it was amazing to see the show that close-up...wow!

Doing some tricks! The show we saw on Saturday was way better than the Friday one - they had all 6 (one of them is a cute little baby whale) of the whales out there at one point doing tricks and it was more than you could even watch because they were doing stuff all over the tank, it was so cool!

Strikin' a pose! It's amazing what they can teach these whales to do...

All of us after the Shamu show...much less wet than I was planning on being just then - yay! ;)

The girls got to feed the dolphins, pretty cool...

We went to the water park at the end of the day and it was a little chilly after the sun went down - well not for me but for the girls it was! I was just glad to not be sweating for a few minutes!!!

This was what Malla looked like when I got into the car as we were leaving the park... :)

And this is what two long days at Sea World will do to ya! Don't you love the stuffed animals all tucked in like they belong there too...way cute!

We had such a fun trip! It was so nice to get away for a few days and do something fun. We were so glad that Heath & Adrienne could come with us - we had been planning on doing this trip with them for at least 2-3 years and we just never did it...and then they moved. :( But at least we finally did it and it was the best! The best birthday weekend ever!!!

Science Museum...

2010-05-20T13:59:00.010-05:00

We took a little field trip today for Joy School and had a great time at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. There was a pronounced favorite for most of the kids I think - a little area designated just for smaller kids and they LOVED it! There was pretend everything so they could go grocery shopping (carts, fake food, registers, and all), pretend Doctor stuff complete with plastic syringes and baby dolls!, and all sorts of other cool stuff. The kids had a great time! Thanks for the great morning, Becky, we all had a blast!

Building blocks, one of Malla's favorite things to do!

Working the register at the Grocery store!

Doin' some shopping - too bad it's not this easy when I take her to a real grocery store!

The girls building some masterpieces!

Bricking up the house...

Doctor Sydney and Doctor Mallory making a house call!

Sydney said this baby doll was 18 pounds...we might have to work on weight a little bit! ;)

All the kids - we had such a fun time! It was a great start to a great weekend!!!! Have a fun one!

Happy Birthday!

2010-05-19T09:42:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday Daddy-O! Thanks for being the best Dad, Grandpa, and everything else that you are! I love you!!!!

Lovin' the weather

2010-05-14T11:14:00.009-05:00

A friend posted some pictures on her blog of this pretty little spot back behind the Fidelity building and we had to go check it out last weekend when the weather was nice. We took some bread and fed the turtles and fish, had a nice little picnic, enjoyed the scenery and beautiful weather and just had a fun day. It was a much-needed change of pace from the previous weekends and it was nice to kick back and do something relaxing! The girls had a great time! Here are some pictures...

Feeding the fish and turtles...

Sydney ended up with about 9 or 10 turtles and bunches of fish headed her way by the end...then we ran out of bread :(

Beautiful day! Who says Texas isn't pretty! I can assure you that it doesn't ALL look like this, but we do have some very pretty scenery!

Having our lunch...all I have to say is that I would love working at Fidelity! I'd love to be out by this pond every day for lunch! They have tables out there and it would be great to be outside on the nice days!

The cutest girls ever! ;) Aren't they sweet sisters!

I tried to get a picture with both of them sitting in this little window thing but Mallory wouldn't hold still AT ALL! So this is what I got instead and I think she looks beautiful!

This is what I could get Mallory to do though - she was more than willing to stand still and make a funny face! ;)

Sydney-ism of the day

2010-05-11T13:59:00.002-05:00

If you know Sydney, you know that she says some pretty profound things for a 5-year-old as well as some pretty silly things. She keeps us laughing! Here is a good one from Saturday. Just to set the scene - Ben wanted to get me a new set of workout clothes for Mother's Day so we ran to J.C.Penney and I think I tried on about a million different things and was pretty done with shopping. We were hungry so ran over to Jason's Deli for some dinner....yummy! This conversation followed:
Ben: Alright well should we finish up so we can walk over to Dress Barn and find Mommy a dress for Mother's Day?
Me: No, I'm way done with shopping, let's go see Bandaid and call it a day...
Ben: We're going shopping, come on, you haven't bought a dress in so long.
Sydney: DAD we just have to listen to Mom, it's for Mother's Day and so we have to do what she wants!
Ben: You're right but that only applies when Mommy makes the right decision!
Sydney thinks for just a split second and compiles her come-back...
Sydney (in her best loud, I'm-so-annoyed-with-you voice): DAD, YOU JUST GOT MARRIED TO MOMMY AND SO NOW YOU JUST HAVE TO DO WHAT SHE SAYS!

Way to go Syd, at least she knows how it works! ;) It was seriously belly-bustin' laughter when we were at the restaurant and I'm positive that if anyone was within earshot range that they got a good laugh out of it too! Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day!

More visitors and a few fun things...

2010-05-06T15:55:00.018-05:00

We were lucky enough to have visitors again last month and it was SO FUN! Kami (Ben's sister that got married last October) and her hubby, Chapan decided to road trip it down to Texas between their semester ending and summer jobs starting up. Ron-Dude decided to come along for the ride so we got to see him again and it was lovely! We had a great time with them, although I'm sure they were so bored! We got boring at some point during the past ten years...sorry guys! ;) Here are some pictures.... (this was right after I got my new camera so just humor me and look at all my pictures!!!!)

We all went and wandered around Southlake Town Square and of course had to hit up Jamba Juice (or 'the drinking place' as Sydney calls it!).

Can I say that I giggle every time I see this picture! The boys are so weird! L-R - Chapan (Kami's hubby), Ron (Ben's bro), Cody (my bro), Jeremy (Ben's bro), and Ben

The girls' turn to get silly, with our Jambas of course! L-R - Kami (Ben's sister), me, Bandaid (my sister), Sydney, Mallory, and JaeLyn (Jeremy's wife)

Saturday morning we all went to the Temple and it was amazing and definitely one of my most memorable trips. This is me and my brother and sister - and no that is not a polka dot man-bag, it's my sister's! ;)

Lots of Andersons and Breinholts....so stinkin' cool!

That Saturday night, Carebear and I took the girls to see "Cinderella" at Casa Manana. We went to dinner before the play and had a great night out...well, except for the fact that it was POURING outside and so we had to carry the girls through rain and puddles, and Carebear is pretty pregnant, it was awesome! ;)

Syd and Audrey...two little princesses. They are such cute little BFF's, so fun!

I cut Sydney's hair...it's pretty short now! But she asked me to so it's ok, right!

This is random but hilarious - Ben fell asleep after he got home from work and so the girls piled every blanket and pillow we had out on top of him and he slept through it all...is that crazy or what! He's got some sleepin' skilz!

We had to take Chapan (or 'Chipin' as Malla called him the entire time) to "Babe's" in order for him to get the most out of his first trip to Texas - those of us who know what to expect were ready - well at least Pooh and Ben were! ;)

We went to the Fort Worth Stockyards one morning. I LOVE this picture...like Ben put Chapan in jail for marrying his sister or something, so funny!

My cowgirls...

Kami getting a spit shine! ;) Ron-Dude is wearing Malla's hat by the way, he really doesn't own one that is THAT small!

And lastly, I just need you to know that this one takes after her mother in the ways of fine dining! That's what I look like after a good ice cream cone too!

Mallory's Birthday

2010-04-27T15:08:00.010-05:00

I'm so behind on blogging...and facebook...and well, everything really! We've been crazy busy, what a month. I love looking at my mostly-free May calendar and knowing that hopefully it won't be quite so bad as April! ;) Anyway, earlier this month our little Malla turned 2! We had a nice, quiet party for her and it was wonderful! She's such a funny little thing, we feel so blessed to have her in our life!
The birthday girl all gussied up and ready to party!

She might like 'Dora' a little bit! ;)

Gettin' down to the good stuff!

About to eat some cake - wahoo! That makes me smile too! ;)

The bubbles were a bit hit with Malla and Bubby - thanks Uncle Pooh & Aunt JaeLyn!

She got lots of 'Dora' stuff - this lovely thing is a book and a little kid ipod thing that plays music. Thanks a bunch, Auntie - we totally needed more things that make noise in this house! ;) Luckily this one has a volume button - THANK GOODNESS!

Can you believe this cute card that JaeLyn made for Malla? It really stands up, it's like an accordion if that helps you see it better. Anyway, super cute! It's on Malla's dresser now!

When you get 'Dora' PJ's and a 'Dora' bouncy ball for your birthday this is what happens - well, at least when Auntie is around! ;)

Our Easter miracle...

2010-04-14T22:48:00.009-05:00

It's been so long since I've blogged! I've been meaning to put pictures up here of our excursion to Disney on Ice for a couple weeks but just haven't taken the time to do it...better late than never right!

So I bought tickets for Disney on Ice probably at least two months ago - my mom and I took Sydney last year and she has been talking about it ever since. So I bought these tickets and she wanted to have some friends along for the fun this year so a small group of us took our kids. Sydney had been counting down the days to this ice show for literally weeks and every day would ask me how much longer until Disney on Ice. Finally the big day rolled around, we had our day all planned out...and lo and behold, she got sick. Can ya believe it? She hasn't been sick in forever and the ONE day she had been looking forward to for so long she starts running a fever.

By lunch time she was shivery and cold and had a high fever, she was steadily going down hill as the day went on. The entire day all I could think was "I've got to find a way to get her to that show tonight....Lord, PLEASE make this work somehow...!" She just cried and cried when she realized that she was sick and might not be able to go - if you know her, you know that her world revolves around Princesses and all things Disney. I told her as long as it was just a fever, and I could get it down with medicine, that I'd still take her and just keep her away from her friends. We said a prayer that she would feel enough better to go and I was praying ALL day! Well what do you know, about 2:30pm or so she tossed her cookies...dangit! My heart was truly broken for my little girl because I didn't see how we'd ever get there and how could I take her in good conscience?

And yet this meant the world to her... I called Crysta to see what she thought and she actually encouraged me to still bring her as long as she was up for it...really? Ben started leaning that route too....really? I had been thinking that all day but had talked myself out of it. She still had a fever and could hardly get off the couch but insisted that she was 'just fine' and could not miss it. I tried calling Ticketmaster to see if I could switch our tickets but no luck there. Finally I just said a little prayer and felt like it would be ok...the other moms might hate me for bringing her, but how could I make her miss this one special day?

So I got her dressed and in the car and wouldn't you know it, the second we got on the road she just talked my ear off and was smiling and happy. She walked herself into the show and back out (after not being able to get off the couch all day!), didn't run a fever the entire time we were there, and sung and danced to all the music. You'd never have known this was the same kid! When we got back in the car she was tired but on Cloud 9 in her little 5-year-old Disney-lovin' mind...it was truly a miracle - our miracle. We were talking on the way home (and all weekend, really!) about how special it was that the Lord answered our prayers - and more specifically, Sydney's prayer. It was such a great learning moment for both us and an awesome reminder that nothing is too small for the Lord - if it's important to us, it's important to Him. Heavenly Father loves us and He especially loves these little kids and even though Disney on Ice doesn't seem that important to most of us, it was life-shattering to Sydney that day and He made it alright. Amazing...I went to bed that night with a smile on my face and a heart full of gratitude - it still brings a joyful tear to my eye as I'm writing this, I'm truly grateful. That's how we started out Easter weekend, it was pretty awesome. Miracles still happen and Sydney saw that first-hand! I know that the Lord was watching out for her that day and that He smiled when He saw her joy that evening. Miracles.

We took 'the bucket' in the car, just in case, but never needed it thank goodness! ;)

When we were standing in line to get into the Convention Center, Syd just had to hold her own ticket and she was seriously shaking with excitement...at one point she kissed her ticket! Silly goose!

Me, Syd, and my mom before the show started...my mom bought her that cute Belle doll she is holding - it's currently, to this day, her prize possession!

Me, Syd, and Auntie Bandaid...what would a fun evening be without Auntie, I mean really! ;)

Last year there weren't really many princesses at Disney on Ice but this year they had 'em ALL! I think since Tiana has just come out, the princesses are more popular right now so they had them this year...she was mesmerized! You know this was her favorite part! All the princesses in one place - doesn't get any better than that for Sydney! It was pretty darn cool!

Sydney and Audrey - these two are just two peas in a pod. I let her sit by Audrey for just a few minutes and they had a ball! And yes, I made sure to give Audrey some hand sanitizer once Syd came back down to me! ;)

Alli, Sydney, Grayce, Audrey, and Gracie - lovin' some Disney on Ice!

Spring Cleaning

2010-03-27T14:39:00.004-05:00

Have you ever heard that children's song called "Spring Cleaning?" It's kinda funny and I have it stuck in my head because we've been cleaning all day today. I have to say that I love and hate this time of year. I love the great weather and being able to have every single window in my house open to drink in the fresh air but it makes me want to clean and I really don't enjoy cleaning. I love the end-result but not the process I guess you could say. So we are in cleaning mode; well I guess I am in cleaning mode and everyone else gets sucked into it! ;) Today was window day - they are squeeky clean inside and out now! I have quite the list and we never really get all the way through it but that's ok, we have high ambitions! The other fun thing we did was take the front of Malla's crib off so now she has a big-girl bed! She was so excited, it was pretty fun! She'll be two in less than two weeks, crazy...so she is down for a nap now and the tricky part will be getting her into her bed to stay! She's already come out once because well, she can! Bedtime tonight ought to be fun! Wish us luck!
On her big-girl bed...goofy kid! ;) She gets that from Ben!

She's king of the world! Please pardon the grainy-ness of the pictures...I still haven't replaced my camera so these are from Ben's iphone...

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2010-03-17T10:46:00.004-05:00

I told Sydney this morning that she had to wear green today in honor of St. Patrick's Day or else Auntie, the little Leprechaun's elf, would come to our house at lunch and pinch her 'til she giggled! This is my sister's favorite holiday...she's so silly! So, in honor of Bandaid and our Irish heritage, happy St. Patty's Day! (These cute little shirts were ones that my mom and sister brought back for the girls last year when they went to Ireland...pretty cool!)

Fun in the Texas....rain?

2010-03-15T15:09:00.010-05:00

As promised, here are some pictures of when Ben's parents and Ron were here. Unfortunately the weather wasn't super great so we really didn't do much that was 'fun' and I know Ron was so bored! But it was fun to see the three of them. Ron is the youngest of the brothers and just got home from his mission so it's been a long time since we've seen him and we were super excited to have him back in TX for a few days!
Sydney loves to get her hair done - at least when I'm not doing it!

During the course of the trip, this is where you could ALWAYS find Malla. Snuggled up next to her "Dude." When Sydney was little she couldn't say "Ronald" and it came out sounding like "Ron-Dude" and so he's been Ron-Dude ever since. However, Malla couldn't even say that so he was just "Dude" when he was here and did she ever love him! She was born a couple months after Ron left so she's never even met him before, but it didn't take her long at all...all she wanted was to be by Ron! And to have him read to her! He probably doesn't want to see another kids' book for a very long time!
And if Malla wasn't sitting by "Dude" she was giving him kisses! :) Is that the sweetest thing you've ever seen!

When Ben's parents lived here, we started this weird/funny tradition of going to Cabela's on Thursday...I honestly don't even remember why we did but it kinda became a joke so we had to go to Cabela's on Thursday and watch the fish get fed... (and of course Malla had to be carried around by "Dude"!)

Thursday afternoon after Cabela's, the Utah Breinholts headed down to Austin to see Heath & Adrienne. We went down Saturday morning and spent the weekend down there. Anytime we are with H&A, we always have to play Rock Band...another fun tradition! And Sydney always just wants to play the drums...she's quite the rocker!

Taking a little Rock Band break with Grandma! Notice the drum sticks are still in hand!

Malla loves Adrienne - always has! She walked around the house the whole weekend singing some song about "Halla and Xhaxhi" and it was pretty funny!

However, probably the funniest part of the whole weekend was Heath's interview with Sydney! At some point he pulled out his laptop and started recording voice things on it. So he played like he was the interviewer and asked Sydney all these funny, cute little questions. But knowing she was being recorded, she got kinda quiet and in return we ended up with some very cute and HILARIOUS Sydney moments! She and her Xhaxhi always have lots of fun playing with computer gadgets! Right before they moved, I found them upstairs at the Barnette's playing with some music composition software making a Sydney Song! They are so cute together!

After we all got back from Austin, we got together with the J's on Monday evening and then the 3 Musketeers headed home on Tuesday morning. That afternoon, after having driven both of our cars around in the mud and rain for the previous week, we decided to head outside and wash them. I'm sure there are child labor laws about this but they don't apply at my house! :)

We had so much fun with Ben's parents and Ron-Dude! Thanks for coming y'all and welcome home Ron! And thx Heath & Adrienne for letting all of us crash your new house (which is awesome, by the way!), we had so much fun! Love all of you...wish you lived closer!

Miss Tara's Dance Recital

2010-03-10T14:00:00.023-06:00

Well another dance class has gone by and once again, Sydney had a BLAST! She got to have her class this time in a real dance studio, which was way cool! And it was with three of her favorite people - her Auntie was the teacher and her sweet friends Audrey and Gracie were in class with her. They did an awesome job! I video'd both of their dances and also my sister's that she did. It's pretty cute. I wish I would have had the room on my camera to video all of the dances, they were great. Bandaid does such an awesome job with the girls, they love it! So here are a few pictures and also the video from the recital. Way to go y'all, it was great! :)

Sydney and Audrey being silly before the recital. Cute little BFF's!!!!

Syd and Gracie after the recital - these two are so silly together. Gracie calls Sydney "Sara the tiger" - long story, way funny!

Sydney and her favorite person in the world! Who loves Auntie - SYDNEY DOES!!! :) (well for the record, I do too, and she doesn't even have to kiss me on the cheek for it!)

The girls and all their pretty flowers!

All of Miss Tara's girls...they did AWESOME!!!!

Sydney's first dance "Carwash"

2nd dance - "Ten Minutes Ago"

Bandaid's dance and the Finale

Up next....pictures from having Ben's parents and Ron-Dude here for a few days. We had so much fun! That will be my next post!!! Baby Mitchell update - they were able to bring him home from the hospital on Sunday but I just heard from Melissa yesterday and they are back in the NICU, he has another SVT episode. So, please continue to keep this little guy and his parents in your prayers...

Oh Baby....

2010-03-05T14:12:00.003-06:00

Most of you have met (or have heard me talk about) my bestest bud Melissa. We have known each other since we were in Kindergarten or 1st grade...either way it's been awhile! :) She just had her first baby and they have had quite the roller coaster ride with this little one. He is almost 2 weeks old and has been in the NICU since birth. He can't go home yet because he keeps having SVT episodes - it's something to do with his heart. But they aren't sure why it's happening because he seems to be perfectly healthy. So, please keep this cute little guy in your prayers and also his Mommy and Daddy. Welcome, Mitchell, hope you can go home soon little man and Congrats, Mel! He is adorable!

Lessons learned...

2010-02-24T22:05:00.002-06:00

Ha ha, so we had a classic Ben & Mer moment yesterday in the kitchen. Before I relate the following story, please be advised that neither Ben or I have much sense in matters of taking things apart, putting them back together, fixing things that are even slightly complicated, etc. We really have no business doing any home gadget anythings basically! And we know this, we've experienced it on several occasions. That's why we call Heath or Jeremy when our sink smells and/or is clogged with pinto beans - because likely if we pulled the pipes apart on our own they would get put back together in the wrong order and our house would flood! With that in mind, learn from the following mistake and don't do it yourself. So we made something last week that spilled over in the oven bad enough that the couple times I've used the oven since, it smoked so much that it was all in the house and I had to open windows to keep the alarms from going off. So I decided I should just clean the oven - we've lived here over 7 years and I've never done it. I know, gross. So I go to the store to get oven cleaner - no I do not have a self-cleaning oven as every single person I have related this story to has asked (I must be the only one!) - and on the label it says not to get the cleaner on lights, plugs, the heating element, etc. Well how the heck am I supposed to get the baked-on nastiness of 7 years off my oven if I have to work around the heating element? I can't...so we decided we'll just pull the thing out. The thought briefly crossed our mind to call Jeremy just to double check that it does indeed come out but we thought better of it and moved along. Ben got it unscrewed and yanked it out and...got the heck shocked out of him and there were sparks flying and a small little burst of fire. It was not great. It totally singed off the back of the heating element. Guess what? You're supposed to turn the breaker off before you pull the element out - makes sense to most but I guess not to us! So after getting our whits back and knowing this is gonna be costly, we call Jeremy, he has a good laugh I'm sure, we figure out we're supposed to cut the power - and then Ben tries to pull it out again, without cutting the power. I know, REALLY! Another spark, another shock...luckily spark #2 didn't singe off the other tong on the element but as it stands we have to replace the whole thing anyway. So $170 and two days later, we should have our oven up and running by this time tomorrow! Seriously...oh well, at least my oven will be clean. The element is out now so I cleaned it tonight, it looks much better! Apparently that isn't something you're only supposed to do every 7 years!!! Moral of the story - call one of your brothers-in-law to help you out! Oh ya, and make sure you flip the breaker before you pull out your oven's heating element. Actually you all probably have self-cleaning ovens....lucky! On that note, I'm out my friends!!!!

Everyone has a twin...

2010-02-19T10:42:00.003-06:00

They say everyone has a twin somewhere in the world and I found mine - well not my true twin, just my Olympic twin! :) The other day I was watching the Olympics and kindof giggled to myself and thought "self, if you had a crazy hair day and actually wore it curly like it can be and didn't wear any makeup, you'd look like that!" Introducing, my male counterpart:
That's right my friends - this is what I look like when I wake up in the morning! :) OK not completely but it's kinda funny. Now you know why I wear my hair up all the time!

On to other Olympic-size fun - I'm so stoked at all the medals we are winning. Our athletes are amazing! I'm so excited for Lindsey Vonn and her victory in the downhill, I can't imagine having so much pain and just ignoring it and turning in the run of your life. Amazing! And my twin, well we all know he is the best - he even one-upped himself on his 2nd finals ride and didn't have to, he already had the gold! And Evan Lysacek winning the gold last night in Men's figure skating, A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! So excited that he won and made it even more awesome that he beat Plushenko, that dude is WAY too cocky for his own good, to the point of annoying. And just for the record, it's not about one stupid jump. Scotty Wotty said it best, "it's not about the ONE thing, it's about EVERYthing!" I like it, well said you awesome little man! This has been an awesome Olympics so far, I'm excited to hopefully see Apolo win some more this weekend and well, I'm loving all of it. It's a sports fan's dream for two straight weeks! Have a great weekend - go Team USA!

Babee-ee-ee...

2010-02-13T09:12:00.008-06:00

Wow did we get some snow! Here are a few pictures....we had fun playing in it but we didn't last out there as long as I thought we would, it's way too cold! :) I prefer the inside of my heated house! I've decided playing in the snow is more of a spectator sport for me! Speaking of sports - so excited for the Olympics! The opening ceremonies were awesome, way to go B.C.! Seeing all the beautiful scenery reminded me how much I miss the Washington landscape...it's amazing up there, hope I can go back again some day.

Our back yard under almost 9 inches of snow!

Front of our house...it was so hard to walk through this snow because it was SO deep! I walked dinner down to Crysta on Thursday evening and I'm sure it was pretty funny-looking! :) Luckily I didn't fall like I figured I would so it's all good!

Mallory is my Texas girl. Sydney loved playing in the snow but this one just whined the entire time we were out in it! She'd rather be in the heat I think!

We made a silly lookin' snowman! Her arms are solar lights so Sydney kept checking out the back window last night to see if they were lit up and I had to remind her that there was no sun yesterday to charge the lights! :)

When you don't have a snow shovel, this works fine....until you get tired of pushing it around the driveway! :)

OK so this video is the title of my blog. One of my favorite CD's to listen to is Taylor Swift's 'Fearless' and the girls LOVE it! They sing along and dance and we always listen to the same songs over and over and over again! They love the 'princess' song ("Love Story") and also the 'babee-ee-ee' song and Mallory sings along and it is so precious! It makes me smile every time so I thought I'd catch it on video. This isn't the best representation because she was tired but she still performed enough so it'll do! :)

Have a great weekend! :)

I'm Down with You

2010-02-10T14:20:00.005-06:00

So this is really cool and I had to post about it. Remember a few months ago I put a post on here about my Uncle Randy and cousin Whitney and how they made the newspaper for their participation in Team Shine and all sorts of other awesome things? Well shortly after that my Uncle emailed us a couple really cool links about a book coming out called "I'm Down with You." He just sent us a beautiful picture of he and Whitney that was taken for the book and it was purely perfect. I wish you could all see it, it is the epitome of the love and sweetness that these two share, it's amazing. This book is about people with Down Syndrome and how absolutely special they are. I can't wait for it to come out; I think sometime in April is what they are shooting for. At any rate, it's going to be amazing. My Uncle sends us these articles and pictures and other things that show what he and Whit do together. He has made sure that she has the best childhood any kid could have - she runs and plays ball and swims and participates in Special Olympics and she's a cheerleader on a squad that is just for other kids and adults with special needs and the list goes on! I'm sure these two are always in the car running from one place to another! My Uncle does so much with different organizations to make sure that Whit and her friends have the best that this world has to offer...it's truly inspiring. I honestly believe that God puts these kids' care in the VERY best hands and my Uncle is one of those people. They are two peas in a pod and it's just awesome, I can't even describe it, you just have to see them. Anyway, here is the website for the book and a short youtube video, check it out...awesome!

I'm Down with You (book's website)

Sydney's birthday

2010-01-31T21:38:00.005-06:00

She had a great one! And due to the fact that my camera is crappy and broken, I only have a couple pictures. The rest are on my sister's camera. So I will put one or two up here and that's all I got...sorry! We had a fun party in the morning for her and her friends who aren't in school - we went and played at Let's Jump and it was SO fun. We love that place, they throw a great party! She is so lucky to have great friends. Then that evening we did our traditional 'family' party with our families and some of our unofficial family! It was a fun day, all about Sydney, she loved it! Happy birthday baby girl, I can't believe your 5 already. You have been nothing but blessings in my life, I love you so much!

Enjoying her bday cupcake - complete with pink frosting! Actually she just enjoyed the frosting, the cupcake was still sitting there when we left! :)

They blow up this throne for the bday kid to open gifts! There is plenty of room there for the giver and givee to sit, it's really cute! The Princess finally got to sit on a throne - was that perfect or what! :)

Syd and her friends - with my crappy flash - this was like the 10th picture I had to take and it STILL didn't turn out....tax return where are you? I'm so getting a new camera....grrrr!

Bean Soup...

2010-01-26T15:29:00.002-06:00

Sunday I decided I was going to go to Choir Practice...Ben had to dial in to work because they switched up some stuff on Saturday and so he had to work for the afternoon to make sure things were up and running for Monday...so I went in the hopes that things would be quiet at my house while I was gone since Ben wasn't really able to watch the girls much. Mallory should have taken a nap so that would just leave Syd and she's easy; or so I thought! At some point she got out a 1/2 bag of raw pinto beans from the pantry to play with them (not really sure what she was doing with them) and apparently made a huge mess on the kitchen table. So Ben came out and asked her to clean them up. So she did...and didn't know what to do with them...so she put them down the garbage disposal...uncooked beans...a half a bag of them! I didn't know what had happened until I tried washing down a couple of messes from the girls' dinner plates and the disposal was acting weird and then it stopped working all together. I went and grabbed my wrench to spin it back open but all it did was grind, I was getting frustrated. Sydney saw me sitting on the floor messing with it and immediately knew what was wrong. "Mom I'm just so sorry, I put all my beans down there but I just didn't know what to do with them." You put what down the disposal?!?!?! I didn't know how many so I tried putting a little Drano down there, that just made it worse. It wouldn't budge and my sink was filling with lovely soupy mess as I kept trying to run a little water in hopes that it would clear. So I told Ben we were going to have to take the pipes apart once we got the girls in bed to hopefully clear this out. He called Jeremy to make sure that's what we needed to do - he and JaeLyn just came over to do it for us - he says they live for this sort of thing! On a Sunday night, really? So they came and we took the pipes apart and a soupy beany mixture of yumminess came literally oozing out of the pipes. It was so disgusting that we just cracked up. Those beans had made it pretty far down the pipes and had started soaking up all the water and drano and were swelling! Anway we had quite a lovely bucket full of what we ended up calling "Bean Soup" and it was pretty funny, and gross! So, if ever you see kids playing with dried beans, make sure they know not to put them down the drain! :) I'll post pictures of Syd's birthday once I get them all loaded to the computer....

I can't believe....

2010-01-24T18:44:00.002-06:00

that my little girl is going to be 5 tomorrow! Wow, time sure flies....

Wow, it's been awhile!

2010-01-17T16:21:00.002-06:00

I didn't realize until just a couple days ago how long it's been since I've updated my blog...or looked at anyone else's! December was CRAZY busy and I just literally didn't have time. It's slowed down now and things are getting back to normal except everyone was sick between Christmas and New Year's and so I picked up a book and haven't hardly put it down since! I've been wanting to read the "Twilight" series for awhile but my sister told me that once I picked them up, I wouldn't want to put them down. I just don't have time for that so I've never started reading them. But once everyone got sick and we were house-bound anyway, I thought 'what the heck' and started reading! I got through all four of the books in the series in about 2 or 2 1/2 weeks if that tells you how many hours I've spent reading recently! I will admit, I am a total 'Twilight' freak now! I took Bandaid out Friday night for her birthday and we went to see 'New Moon' and I loved it. I really loved the 3rd book though, so I'm super excited for 'Eclipse' to come out...whenever that will be! My house is a mess, my kids and husband haven't had much interaction with me, but it was SO fun to read a good book - well, good bookS! I can't tell you the last time that I did recreational reading, I just don't have/make time for it, and it was so nice. I love reading. I will try to get some pictures up of the Holidays but not today! P.S. just for the record...I'm totally Team Edward; however, you gotta feel bad for poor Jacob and his heartache up until the end when things all work themselves out anyway. Does anyone else wish they were a vampire now besides me!?!? :) Just kidding...but really, wouldn't it be so cool to be basically indestructible and be able to run fast and leap high and all the other cool things they can do!!!! :) Minus the drinking blood part, but you know, the perks would be cool! Have a great week!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2009-12-09T15:32:00.005-06:00

And that's why I haven't been on my blog in so long! My goodness we've been busy! The week after we got back from Austin, we were so glad to welcome Jeremy & JaeLyn to Texas! Kent came down with them and you know Ben was in HEAVEN! We had a great weekend - wish we didn't have to send Kent back home, but we thought his wife and kids might miss him if we didn't! :) But we're glad that the J's are here to stay, it's been fun to have them around. We don't see them tons, but enough to keep up with niece demand! We had a great Thanksgiving and then I had a marathon shopping day on Black Friday. I've never been out the day after Thanksgiving but it really wasn't too bad and I got a lot done, it was good! I would like to have it be known that I pulled off another surprise! Not as good as surprising my sister in Utah, but I surprised her with 'Riverdance' instead and it was GREAT! Riverdance is so her...it was amazing. I was feeling a bit like Chandler Bing in his thinking that it's kinda freaky how 'their legs flail about as if independent from their bodies'!!! Those people can seriously move, very impressive. What was more impressive to me was the music - I can't identify much with the dancers but I sure can with the musicians and the music was crazy fast, it was beyond amazing. So yes, it was a fun night - girls night with my mom and sister - and I even pulled off the surprise. Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Bandaid! Love you!!! Then this past weekend, Sydney and I went to see the Nutcracker ballet with my mom and sister. The highlight of my evening was when I took Syd to the restroom during intermission - I was asking her what her favorite part was so far and she said something (that I don't remember because the next part was so memorable) and then followed that with "But Mom, why wasn't that guy wearing any pants?" We were in the restroom and I laughed out loud and wondered how many other moms heard it. It was HILARIOUS! I tried to explain that he was wearing tights and that seemed to satisfy her but I can see why she thought that - those tights don't leave much to the imagination! Anyway, it was funny.
Last week we also go to put on our little Joy School play for a sweet friend of mine from Church. Her name is Marilyn and I love her dearly. I've gotten to know her a lot over the past couple of years and she LOVES kids. We were so glad to get to see her and I think she felt the same. It was really fun to bring a smile to her face. Here are the kids with Marilyn.
At some point we also got to watch Sydney do her dances that she has been learning over the past couple months in my sister's dance class. They did a cute job, we're looking forward to the next class that will start back up in January.
And lastly, tell me this isn't so stinkin' cute! My girls are so fun, I love them! This is their Christmas picture - Mallory and her 'cheese face' kinda complicate things but this is just her right now so it will be fun to look back on this!

Adventures in Austin...

2009-11-16T15:01:00.012-06:00

We had such a great weekend visiting with Heath & Adrienne! It was nice to get away from home for a couple days and enjoy the company of those we love and miss so much! The trip down really wasn't bad considering that we purposely traveled during Malla's nap time but she only slept the first 20 minutes! That's right, we weren't even out of Fort Worth yet when she woke up, nice! Sydney cried about the first hour of our trip home about how much she misses her Halla and Xhaxhi - we tried explaining to her that they only live 3 hours away so we can go back down again sometime and also that they will be up here for Thanksgiving next week - but alas, when you are 4, it seems as though the world is ending! Anyway, here are some pics from our weekend! Thx for a great time guys, we had a blast! (and hopefully we didn't drive you too nuts!!!)
Keeping the girls happy on the way down - we haven't driven anywhere further than the airport since we had Sydney so I didn't know what to expect with this trip. Luckily the girls were pretty good - but I brought popcorn just in case!!!

Look who we ran into once we got to Austin!!!! The Mathis's! OK, we didn't just 'run into' them, we knew they were there too! They were headed down to San Antonio for the weekend so they stopped in Austin and had dinner with all of us! It was so fun - as you can see, Sydney and Audrey had a blast!! :)

The girls' favorite place at the apartment is, and always has been, wherever Heath's guitars are. Friday night when we got home from eating, the girls had a little jam session with their Xhaxhi!!

Saturday mid-morning we headed downtown to see the UT campus where Heath goes to school. It was so fun! Of course Adrienne had to buy the girls a t-shirt so they'd fit in! Is this the perfect Sydney shirt or what! :)

Takin' a walk to the UT Tower. This is the girls with Heath & Adrienne, so cute!!!

The UT Tower...Adrienne assured us that it would be lit up burnt orange later that day because they were going to stomp Baylor, and they did!

Hook 'em Horns! Such a cute picture, my little Longhorn!

The UT crew...

Saturday night we took our traditional Breinholt trip to Chuck E. Cheese. Every time we've taken Sydney there, Heath & Adrienne have come with us so now it's just tradition that we go with them! They had given us a bunch of ticket vouchers from when they had gone a couple months ago and then we ended up with tons of tickets on this trip again - so Sydney made a haul! Here she is with her loot! So got a cool prize this time because we had 3800 tickets! :) So she picked this cool little Tinkerbell toy (that I now don't have to get her for Christmas, wahoo!) and of course Adrienne & I got cotton candy. She is so excited about this Tink thing, she's been playing with it non-stop since we walked in the door last night!

Thanks for so much fun guys, we had a blast! Can't wait to do it again!!!

Checking in....

2009-11-08T20:52:00.002-06:00

Not much going on here, just the usual rat race! :) We have been keeping busy with...well...all kinds of stuff and yet not much at all! We are heading down to Austin next weekend to see Heath & Adrienne and it's going to be a BLAST! Plus Jeremy & JaeLyn are moving down here in a couple weeks so we're super excited about that too...I would like to point out that their move will tip the balance in favor of the Texas Breinholts once again! We're back, baby!!!! There will be 3 in Texas, 2 in Utah (only 1 after the new year because Kami will head back up to Idaho), and 1 in Kentucky (until February). If we could just get Kent and his family down here we might have a shot at getting Mom & Dad B. back!!!! Well, maybe not, they love Utah and rightly so, all of their family is there - but TX would have all the grandkids...hmm, it would definitely be a close race I think! We miss them..... :( Alright well off to check everyone else's blogs. Have a GREAT week!

Fall Fun

2009-11-01T20:33:00.012-06:00

We've been busy beavers the past week or two...here are some pics to catch y'all up!

This was a couple weeks ago I think - tell me you don't wish you could have cleaned up this mess!!!! :) Note to self: don't give little ones tortilla soup and applesauce all at the same time, it makes a ROYAL mess!!!

Our Church had a Fall Festival last weekend (I think! Time is kindof running together for me!) and Sydney (and Malla too) had a blast on the bounce houses!!! She loves to jump!

Earlier this week Syd's Joy School class (and some smaller siblings) did a quick Halloween parade to show off their costumes! She had SO much fun!!! (Yes, she is TinkerBell)

Friday night we carved our pumpkins. We used to do this every year with Heath & Adrienne but sadly they are not here this year...they're down in Austin now. So we pulled in some new recruits! My Mom and my sister hard at work on the pumpkins!

The finished products (thanks to patterns that came with the cutting kits) and our traditional group picture, less my Mom (she had homework so went home before we were done). Our pumpkin was much cuter this year than in years past; however, I missed the Breinholt ears that Ben usually gives it! Normally he cuts out little half-circles on the sides and then flips them out to make ears and it's so cute...not this year :(

We didn't have Trunk-or-Treat this year at our Church so we just went up our street and back. Here is my pretty ballerina! This kid is a garbage gut! The whole time we were trick-or-treating she always had some piece of candy in her mouth trying to chew through the wrapper to get what goodie was on the inside! She succeeded on a Crunch bar and it was MESS! Little stinker!!!

Isn't she the cutest Tink ever! The best part was that we already had this dress-up outfit so her costume this year was FREE! Well, technically not free, we got it for her for her bday, but it was free at Halloween time. We went trick-or-treating with Crysta, Graycie Lou, and Bubby and Syd was in heaven! She and Grayce held hands the whole time and had a blast...thx for going with us y'all, it was way more fun than going on our own! Same time, same place next year!?!?!?

Every year I've taken the girls down to my parents' house after we get done trick-or-treating so they can impress Grandpa and Pippin with their costumes and get a little more candy! My sister was having a Halloween party there so we got to see her all dressed up too - every year she is something way cool (she's been a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, an Incredible, and all sorts of other lovely and creative things!) and she was Princess Leia this year. Don't you love her buns - even though you can't see them very well - she is so creative! (And no, I'm not talking about her buns buns, I'm talking about the ones in her hair!!!)

We had a fun night out but I'm glad it's over...all that much closer to my favorite time of year, Christmas!!! Happy Halloween y'all!!!

Blue Angels, baby!

2009-10-25T20:40:00.004-05:00

The Alliance Airshow was this weekend and we got Blue Angels this year! I look forward to this every Fall - we live just a mile or two from Alliance airport and so we get to watch these guys practice for almost a week before the show itself. We can see a good chunk of their show from our house but then on Saturday we go sit off this little side road by our neighborhood that has a perfectly clear view to see EVERYTHING! I love it! I just get chills when these jets fly over, there's something so cool and patriotic about it. They literally fly right over our house and they are so low that it rattles the windows - it's so fun! They put on a great show every year - well they switch off with the Thunderbirds - but whoever we get is always amazing and this weekend was no exception! Someday I want to actually go to the airport to see the entire Airshow but Sydney is afraid of the loud noises so it'll have to wait until my girls are a little older. In the meantime, I feel so lucky to get to see this every year from the comfort of my own home. It's AMAZING!!!! P.S. these are obviously not my pictures, they are so good! My Dad emailed them to us so I'm guessing they came from a buddy at his work but I'm not for sure...props to you, whoever took these, they are great! Isn't that crazy how close these four planes fly together?!?!?! Ben says they are 6 feet apart...can you imagine!

A week of fun and silliness!

2009-10-21T14:19:00.032-05:00

Alright so we just got back from Utah last night and I have about 200 totally hilarious pictures! I will spare you and just put up a few (relatively speaking!)...it was such a funny trip! Kami's wedding was BEAUTIFUL, and so was her reception. I think my favorite part of her wedding was when we were in the Temple. All of the brothers and sisters sat on the front row and there were exactly enough seats for us - I looked down the row and there was ALL of us except Ron (who is in Kentucky on his mission), it was really cool. The reception was perfect, it was fun to see old TX friends who now live in Utah. So now we are home (and didn't have an 11 hour plane trip like last time, thank you very much!) and just doing the post-Utah detox thing....it's not my favorite but it's worth the fun trip! :) Here we go!!!!

The day after we got there we went to pick Bandaid up in Provo and everyone came! It was Kandace's first time to the Creamery...and yes, all 3 of us finished off those big ol' yummy double dip cones! Notice how Bandaid is eyeing mine - my scoops were bigger than hers! :)

Speaking of yummy ice cream - this is the King Kong Kone from Macy's grocery store! That's right, my friends, grocery store. If I lived in Utah I would be 40 pounds heavier because I would ALWAYS shop at Macy's and have this ice cream while I was there!!!! YUM!

This is Syd and her favorite cousin, Kaleb! They are just a couple months apart and always have so much fun together; aren't they sweet!!!

Yes, you are seeing this correctly....we went to the boys' soccer games one evening and there was a park there - so who wouldn't want to play on the toys! This is Pooh Bear, Ben, and Bandaid hanging upside down from the bars...it was WAY funny! There might have been a few people staring at them! :)

These were Mallory's two favorite people during this trip - she LOVED her some Uncle Pooh and Aunt JaeLyn...she even helped them make their famous salsa!

This is our traditional kissy-lips picture; I think I probably have about 20 of these pictures of Bandaid and I over the years!

Me and most of my favorite gals....before Kami came out of the Temple. JaeLyn, Bandaid, me, Kandace, and Adrienne.

Kami and Chapan - congrats y'all! Aren't they so cute together!!!!

Me and my sisters! Kandace, Adrienne, Kami, me, Bandaid, and JaeLyn. Love ya ladies!!!!

The original Breinholts and their new addition....

I have a really cute picture from my wedding of my Dad with Kami and Bandaid under his arms like this while he was trying to keep them warm - it was an equally cold and windy day!!!

And this was THE funniest moment of the day. Kami was showing off her pink shoes and one of the boys jokingly pulled up his pant legs to show off his shoes too! Then it all took off from there. Oh my word, we laughed so hard as you can imagine!!! These boys are so fun, what a hoot!

The girls all ready for the Reception and cheesing it up for the camera! Sydney, Mallory, and Breanne.

Kami and her neices and nephews - (on the left: Mallory & Breanne, Kaleb & Landon), (on the right: Braidon and Sydney)

Brotherly love for Kami! Don't you love the cardboard cutout of Ron!!!!

Kami being watched over by her big, bad, brothers!!!!

All the brothers holding up the Bride - Ben's mom has this picture from every single wedding but it's always been the boys holding up their newest sister. This time it was all of them (plus Chapan and his brother) holding up their own sister!

We did a sisters-holding-up-Ron picture! :)

Someone farted!!!! :) Just kidding! Adrienne said something and made me laugh and well, my laugh is pretty contagious so it just took off!!!

We miss our Ron-Dude! Sydney LOVES him and I can't wait for Mallory to meet him!

The girls with their Auntie...aren't they all beautiful!!!!

My pretty Sydney...these were Bandaid's flowers but Syd had them most of the night!

We tried to do one last picture of all the little girls with Kami before the Reception started and they were SO DONE! I love this...both babies are crying, Sydney could care less about the picture because she was looking at pretty flowers, and Kaylynn (Chapan's neice) was just chillin'!

Bandaid dancing with the girls at the Reception....

One fun thing about the reception was seeing some friends who used to live in TX but now live in Utah. Here is one of my favorite people ever....my Balissa!!!! It was so fun to see you!!!

As you can see, we had a terrific time, it was such a blast (and I left so many things out)! We miss our Utah family so much and always have such a good time when we're up there. Love y'all and thanks for the good times! Congrats Kami & Chapan, we're so happy for you!!!

And the fun begins....

2009-10-14T17:58:00.003-05:00

Well we made it to Utah - Sydney only asked 'if we're just almost to Salt Lake yet' about 400 times so you know, it's still ringing in my ears! I can't imagine doing the car drive here...oh my, that would be a LONG two days! Malla did pretty well, she was restless and oh-so-tired from being up late last night and then up early this morning. We had a couple near meltdowns but it was Kettle Korn to the rescue! Great idea Ben!!!! Anyway, now we are here and having fun with Ben's family and it only gets better from here! Saturday is Kami's wedding! I'll post pictures when we get home! Peace out....

An update...of sorts....

2009-10-07T14:39:00.003-05:00

Not too much to report here - I've got a bit of a head cold so I'm trying to get over it and not pass it along to my kids. I'm feeling better today than I was last night so that is great news. I just had a small moment of panic this morning about flying to Utah next week for Kami's wedding. All the people you keep hearing about on the news that die from the flu - they are people like me with 'other health complications'! Only they are probably much worse than me with my compromised immune system...but when I hear them say that I hear my name in my head! I will admit that I've turned into a bit of a germ-a-phobe over the years that I've been on Enbrel and I'm ok with that...flying kinda oogs me out anyway and flying during flu season just complicates it that much more. I had an appt with my Rheumatologist this morning and mentioned my fear to her and she said to just have my stock of Purell and sani-wipes handy and do my best! I know it will be fine, just makes me nervous. The last time we flew home from Utah was the huge swine flu outbreak earlier this year...we need to start traveling in the summer! :)

Crysta's girls are up and down. One will have a bad day, then be good; all the while the other is good and then flops to bad. It's REALLY hard on Crysta and I wish I could fix it for her. As a mom, I can't even begin to imagine. All I can do is continue to pray for the babies and for her well-being and give her a big hug when I'm lucky enough to catch her home. Please keep their family in your prayers.

I'll end this with a funny story sure to make you smile...today after I had sat in the waiting room for over an hour, then had my appt, then waited some more so I could have my bloodwork done, I was finally done and on my way out. This sweet little old man tapped me on the shoulder and said "Um, Ma'am, you have a gummy bear stuck to your behind." I have a what stuck to my what!!! So I check one side and he politely said "nope, it's on the other side!" I feel my other cheek and lo and behold, two mushy, chewed up, RED fruit snacks! LOVELY! So I'm peeling them off amid the giggles from all the other old people sitting there witnessing my plight - its always kindof funny to be a 30-year-old hanging out with the 80-year-olds but I love old people so it's ok - good times! There's nothing like having a bunch of people (especially when most of them are the age of your Grandmas) staring at you as you peel huge red fruit snacks off you butt and wondering how long you've been wearing them! It happened during one of the waiting room times, that was when Mallory was working on her pack of fruit snacks, so I'm going to hope it was the 2nd time around! :) Makes you want to come with me next time, doesn't it!

Baked potato soup for dinner today....yummy!

Only me....

2009-09-30T21:23:00.004-05:00

I am the queen of crazy sunburns! Can you believe that it is just about October and we were at the park for no more than two hours today (most of which was very overcast) and I got a sunburn!!! Only I can go all summer with barely a burn and then pull one out right now...my sister laughed at me when she came over this afternoon. I'm tellin' ya, this one hurts! It's my face, chest, neck, back of my neck, and arms. It reminds me of when I went back to Seattle one summer to see Mel and the first day up there I got really burned...REALLY burned! All I heard from people that entire trip was "You live in Texas and came to Seattle to get a sunburn!" Seriously! The only sunny day my whole trip and I got burned...this is my life! Well laugh it up all you tanners; at least my skin won't be leather when I'm old! I may end up with skin cancer because of these lovely sun burns but at least I'll be soft and smooth! :) Can I just say that it sucks to be pasty! (and also, please disregard the freaky look on my face as well as the huge nose...some angles are better than others for us Andersons!!!!)

Crysta's Baby Shower

2009-09-29T14:13:00.007-05:00

This Saturday was pretty crazy but super fun! We got to head up to the hospital on Saturday morning and celebrate with Crysta! It was awesome to be there and spoil her a little; especially after how hard the past few weeks have been. Congrats again on your beautiful girls, they are precious! And thanks to everyone for helping out, it was only a hit because of all of you! We had all Crysta-friendly food so it was a bit of a hodge podge - I knew my list of Crysta foods would come in handy one day! But it did put my theory to rest that if it tastes good she can't eat it - it was all edible Crysta food and it was all super yummy! Good food, good friends, good times....and good gifts, she got lots of way cute baby stuff!

Welcome cute little twins!!! We're glad you are safely here.....

Silly Crysta! I love the balloons on her wheel chair!!!

This is her cake. She is allergic to most yummy things - cake included - so I made her a gluten free Boston Cream Pie (the square cake in the middle) and the rest of us had cute little pink cupcakes! Thx for the polka dot (chocolate chips) idea, Christi, they turned out way cute!

About to dig in to her first bite of cake in YEARS!!!! And no, she didn't eat the whole thing - I sent most of it home with Chris to put in the freezer for future consumption!!!

Moms and daughters - Chris' mom, me, Crysta, my mom. And can I just point out how amazing Crysta looks! You'd never know she had been on bed rest and just had babies....you look beautiful dear friend!!!! Thanks for partying with us, it was a fun way to end your hospital stay I think! :)

'Miracles'

2009-09-25T20:21:00.004-05:00

I have recently had a 'tender mercy' in my life - well, more than one, but this one is super special to me! A few weeks back I got a call from a lady in the Stake asking me if I'd put together a trio to sing for the special musical presentation that will be going on before the General Relief Society Broadcast tomorrow night. Those of you who know me well know that I love to sing, I'm just not great at it. I'm more of a choir singer rather than a solo, duet, or trio singer! It's way out of my comfort zone. So I kindly asked her if I could get three OTHER people together, I'm good at organizing things! But no, she said they felt inclined to ask me and would like for me to sing. Well ok...the more we kept talking she mentioned that it didn't have to be someone from my ward...so my sister popped into my head, she's a great singer and in another ward in my Stake! So we hung up. The second we did the thought crossed my mind that it would be fun if my mom sung with us too...that's three...a trio...and she's not in our Stake but oh well. I asked if that would be ok and she said that was perfectly fine!

The next trick was to convince my mom that she had time to learn a new song with school going on in full force...no trick needed, she was excited! So we chose a song, one that I had already found in the last week and loved (that's another story!) so I even had a pianist already for it. Anyway, I could have been asked to do any number of musical things but they wanted a trio...for my mom, my sister, and me. I had the song...about Miracles and helping people feel the love of Christ in their lives. I was hoping we'd all go to this Conference together since my sister is home now, it would be cool to have them both there - now they have to! :)

I have been surrounded by miracles lately - this whole thing is a miracle to me. It's been over 10 years since the three of us sung together and it's such a joy for me to do that with my mom and sister. Then just the other night/early morning when I was talking to Crysta about her babies being born in a few hours I was struck by what a miracle it was that she sounded ok about it when she's had so much fear and anxiety. Now those babies are here and doing so well...another miracle. My girls are miracles. My health is a miracle. The list can go on....

The lyrics to this song are awesome. When we face trials that seem too heavy to bear, Christ is the only One who can heal us. Through our service and love, we can help others feel His love and have their hurts healed. This might be weird to post my own singing but I have a few people I know will want to hear this that won't be there tomorrow so this one's for y'all (since I would normally NEVER submit y'all to my singing, let alone put it on my blog!!!!)....

'Miracles' (by Sally DeFord)
Amid the countless blessings the Lord has given me
The light of truth and goodness; the Holy Spirit's peace
I see the many sorrows that his children must endure
So much hurt I long to heal. How can I change the world?

Chorus:
There are hands I cannot hold
Hearts I cannot comfort
Tears that only miracles can stay
So let me love and serve and teach
Those who come within my reach
For miracles begin that way

The Savior walked in Galilee, unknown in many lands
Yet touching every nation by the labors of his hands
Giving light to all the world by teaching but the few
He is my example in the work that I must do

(Repeat chorus)

I will bear the burden of my neighbor in his need
I will share my Savior's love in every kindly deed
He will magnify my efforts, and I'll understand at last
That by these small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

(Repeat chorus)

The babies are here!

2009-09-23T10:08:00.002-05:00

My life the past three weeks has all but revolved around my sweet friend Crysta and her little twin girls. She started laboring awhile back and it gave the Dr's cause for concern. So she's been on bed rest up at the hospital this whole time and it's been such a struggle both physically and emotionally for her and her family. It has been tough to watch. As a friend you just want to make everything better, you don't like to see those that you love suffer. She has had ups and downs and this morning her babies finally got their way and were born! One baby is 2 pounds 11 ounces and the other is 2 pounds 13 ounces and Chris said they are beautiful. Crysta, I'm so happy that you can rest now. I know your mind won't rest until they are bigger but hopefully your body can and you will be able to function again! Congrats to my dear friends, I'm so happy for y'all and the babies will continue to be in our prayers as you face the road ahead....welcome Alex and Andi!

My silly girls....

2009-09-13T20:43:00.004-05:00

I am working on getting a cute video of Mallory dancing to the Elmo Song....every time she is busting a move (baby style) my camera is nowhere to be found! Then once I do track it down, she is done....grrrr. One day I'll get it, it's super cute! In the meantime, here are two pictures of my silly girls.

This is Mallory's new favorite place to be...yup, the bathroom sink! She gets up on the toilet and then scales the counter and climbs right in! We try really hard to keep doors closed because she likes to play in the toilet water (I know, gross....Ben's mom says he used to do that when he was little so I blame Ben!) but sometimes we forget and this is ALWAYS the result! At least once a day I hear "MOM...MALLA'S IN THE SINK AGAIN!" I go in and she's just hangin' out like it's no biggy to be sitting in the sink! Weirdo!!!

This is my fashion queen! She would dress like this every day if I let her....she doesn't have much sense of whether things match or not. That's not the funny thing though. Check out her 'skirt.' No, those are not pockets hanging out on the sides, they are SLEEVES! She put on two shirts yesterday! I guess she thought that particular top looked better as a skirt! Ben said that is the upside to being the same size on top and bottom - you can make more outfits...if you're willing to wear two shirts, that is! I might have been busting a gut when I realized she had on two shirts. Then I felt bad because she thought I was laughing at her in a mean way and I had to try to dig my way out of that hole. It was just so cute! Anyway, she is my little sunshine, she keeps me smiling! What a doll!!!

My new obsession...

2009-09-11T14:46:00.003-05:00

I don't normally have time to get super attached to things that are time-consuming...as you've seen that I am sometimes really good about posting on my blog and other times not so much! A couple months ago Ben got an iPhone and I was a little less than happy about how much the silly thing cost. In an effort to appease me he showed me how to make ringtones since he knew I would love it. He got me hooked - I made ringtones for his phone for everyone I knew well enough to do one for! It was music and therefore was my thing...I have a song for every occasion! AND it was a challenge to try and find the perfect ringtone for a certain person. I was up until midnight the first couple nights working on these silly little 15-30 second blips of music and I just kindof went crazy with it. My mom, dad, sister, and I just got new phones this week and guess what...I can do ringtones on mine now too since I know how!!!! So guess what I've been doing???? Finding the perfect ringtone for those who routinely call my cell phone. I know, crazy that it's so fun for me, but I love it!

For Amy - a little 'Bailamos' since it makes her low, for Carebear - 'Rescue Aid Society' because it one of the first things we had in common when we were getting to know each other (I know, weird!), for Melissa - 'Pachelbel Canon' because we used to always do piano/flute duets of that song, for Crysta - 'In My Daughter's Eyes' because she has so much to look forward to when her two sweet girls arrive, for Bandaid - 'Everywhere I am There You'll Be' because well it's a long story, for my Mom - the 'Spinning Song' because she used to play that all the time on the piano growing up and now plays it for my girls, for my Dad - 'LowRider' because we listened to it 400 times on a roadtrip to FL one year, for Ben - 'Wimbledon' theme song of course, for my brother - 'Chuck' because he loves that show, for Ben's mom - 'Bewitched' because she always says "witches honor" and twitches her nose because she's silly and well the list goes on.....see, so much fun! And everyone else that I don't have years of inside jokes with yet gets 'Anne of Green Gables' because it's my favorite! :)

Ringtones are fun!!!! Don't you want to do them for your phone now, they're so cool! Call me! :)

Baby Blues

2009-09-04T20:24:00.002-05:00

I am sitting here at Crysta's house for the night to give her and Chris a little time together that they haven't had for a few days now. I went to see her this morning in the hospital and she said how much she was missing Chris; I hope this will at least give them a few hours of time to catch up and not have to worry about taking care of anything for a bit. The kids are sleeping, the house is quiet (I was just going to watch TV but I may as well blog a little since Chris offered the laptop that was running!), and I am sitting here wondering how I would handle this situation. I think it would be the hardest thing ever...it's amazing what parents do for their children. 6 or 8 or 10 or however many weeks of hospital bed rest must seem like a daunting span of time. And yet when it's all over life will go on, the twins will be here safe and sound, Grayce & Spencer will barely remember it, and all will be well. I got my mom a quilt one time that says "A Mother's Love is Everlasting..." That quote keeps coming to my mind. But really it's a mother's and father's and brother's and sister's love that is in play right now. We're praying for our friends and hope that this time will pass quickly. Love you guys!

Running Away...

2009-08-27T14:22:00.004-05:00

This happened last week but I kindof forgot about it until I just saw the suitcase sitting out - cute little Sydney story, she's such a goof ball!

Set stage: I was cleaning last week for the pest control guys to come. The carry-on suitcase I took to Utah last month or whenever that was is still sitting out....(hint hint Ben!). Sydney picked it up and took it in her room. She came back out about 15 minutes later and we all got a good laugh:

Sydney: (pushing the suitcase across the floor) 'Dad can you help me zip this up?'
Ben: 'Sure, what's in it?'
Sydney: 'Just my things...I'm just going to see my Grandma' (she said this so matter of fact that it totally caught me off guard!)
Ben: 'You are? Why?'
Sydney: 'Because I'm just so tired of Malla's whining all the time, so I'm just going to see my Grandma and Baca.'
Ben (trying not to smile!): 'Well how are you going to get there?'
Syd: 'Well Auntie can take me'
Ben: 'But Auntie doesn't know the way....remember, she had to have Grandpa come to Utah and drive home with her so she wouldn't get lost.'
Syd: 'Oh, well then Grandpa and Auntie can take me'
Ben: 'Well I think Grandpa has to work....'
Syd: 'Well then I'll just fly like we always do'
Ben: 'But I will miss you...how will you fly up without a ticket for the airplane?'
Syd: 'We can just buy one' (in a DUH DAD! tone of voice)
Ben: 'They're lots of money though...maybe we should just wait until Aunt Kami's wedding'
Syd: 'Ah Dad, I will just call Baca, he will buy me a ticket!'
Ben: (knowing this would make his Dad's day) 'OK, let's call him!'

So Sydney calls Baca and it continued to be the cutest and funniest conversation ever...she had this all planned out, sweet little thing! Her suitcase was packed with toys and books, but no clothes or anything else. At one point during her conversation with Baca she realized she forgot her clothes and was very concerned! It was cute. Ben had to remind his Dad that we really weren't calling so he could buy her a ticket, I think he was about to get online and book it - he's a puddle of Grandpa mush where his grandkids are concerned! Anyway, when it was all done, we convinced her that we would just miss her too much if she left and promised that we would all go up for Aunt Kami's wedding...she finally decided that was ok, and we're so glad! :)