Our Mother's Day celebration

My last post I wanted to be all about Dave and I's moms. They are OUR reason for the day. But, we had a great day with the kids and I am definately so blessed that I get to be THEIR reason for the day.

We have church at 9:00, so we didn't have time for anything extra special. Just getting ready for church. But, Easton, Paisley, and Dave all were very sweet in wishing me a Happy Mother's Day.

Easton had brought home a cute little flower in a Halloween mug for me.



He gave it to me Friday, he was too excited to wait. ;)

Paisley also gave me part of her gift Friday. She painted this little bug statue and gave me a card.



On Sunday, she had a little flower for me. She had also compiled a box full of miscellaneous things for me.




There were her 100's of Hannah Montana stickers (I told her she should keep them for herself), there was several pages she had colored for me, and just random things from her room. It was very sweet. She really wanted to make sure that she spoiled me! :)

Dave bought me just what I wanted, a George Foreman grill. ;)



I have been wanting one for a while so that I can try to make healthy things quickly for myself for lunch. So, this should be fun. Thanks, honey!

Church was great. We had some funny speakers. The kids sang a couple of Mother's Day songs. I love when they get the chance to sing to us.

That evening we had a BBQ at our house. We had my parents, grandparents, and my aunt and uncle and their 5 kids. My uncle is not much older than me, six years, and so they have kids our kids' ages. That works out perfect. They play so well together. Dave and I grilled tri-tip steak. It is always a hit. And, we had lots of other great food. It was a really fun night.

I really enjoy Mother's Day! I love to honor our mothers and grandmothers. They are so important to me. I also love to be on the receiving end and watch the fun that my kids have in celebrating the day. They have been so excited for Mother's Day. They kept asking when it was going to be here. I am so grateful that I am blessed with 3 beautiful children who call me "mom". They truly are the greatest blessings in my life. I love them each more than they will ever know!

Happy Mother's Day!

Just wanted to give a big HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to the two special women that made Dave and I the people that we are today!!

Happy Mother's Day, mom!



I know you aren't a big blog reader, but I do hope you see this post. You are the most wonderful mom. I am so grateful for the way that you raised me and set such a great example to me in my life. You have taught me so much. I am thankful that you have always been there for me when I have needed you. I am especially grateful for the friendship that we share and the good and fun memories we have made together. I love you so much, mom! I hope you have a great day!



Happy Mother's Day, Shirley!



You have been like a second mom to me. You really have helped me in so many ways and I am so grateful for you. You are always there for me. I appreciate the good friend to me that you have become in the last few years. We have had some fun times! I am eternally grateful for the special man that you raised that I was lucky enough to marry. He is such a wonderful husband and father and I owe a big part of that to you! I am sad I won't be able to see you in person today. But, I am thinking of you and hoping your day is wonderful!

Both of these women are such great grandmothers to my children. I am glad Easton, Paisley, and Avery have examples like this of wonderful women in their lives. We all love you guys!

A big project...

Can you tell that we are super excited about our new garden? It seems that it is all I have blogged about lately. It is definitely taking up a lot of our time! Dave took Thursday and Friday off at work. After 10 weeks of training his class with LONG hours, it was great to spend a couple of days together.

Thursday we went out shopping for something to put around our garden to separate it from the yard. We thought about cinder blocks, stacked 2 blocks high. But, we didn't know how to get them to our house, and began to realize just how much work it would be. So, we went and got some 4x4 treated pieces of wood and stacked them 3 pieces high. Here was the beginning stages:




Dave staggered them and screwed them together to make them sturdy.
Avery was the only one home for a while while Easton and Paisley were at school. She sure wanted to help us the whole time. It was very cute.





While we were working the girls got to have a picnic outside. It was a little chilly still, but they thought that was a lot of fun!



It turned out looking so nice. It is just exactly what we wanted/needed.



It should last us a long time. I am really proud of Dave's handy work. I think he was proud of himself, too!

On Friday we went to a nursery and bought fertilizer for our garden and some plants. We bought 3 four-packs of tomatoes, so 12 in all! I think that will be too many, we might not plant all of them. But, we wanted to have a few different varieties. We bought Roma, Early Girl, and Super Fantastics. We also bought a 4 pack of different kinds of peppers and a 4 pack of green peppers. I hope we are able to keep them long enough to plant them! :)



After we finished building the surround, Dave mowed the lawn for the first time this year.



He is very particular about our lawn. Last year, I mowed it all year. I would rather that than him have to take up most of our Saturday doing it. But, he did it Friday. It took a long time because the grass was getting so long. Then he has to edge and weed eat. Then he has to get our the blower and blow all the extra blades of grass that are on the sidewalk and driveway out into the street. So, this becomes a very long process. But when he was finished it really looked nice. When he finally came in to shower for the first time that day it was 7 p.m.! He worked so hard and got so much accomplished! Thank you, honey!

(Just so there isn't confusion...I did help him. And, I cleaned the house that day. So, I wasn't just being lazy the whole time!) :)

It seems like I am always able to end a post with a funny Avery story...

Dave and I took a break and went and got us each a fountain drink. Dave got a big Mountain Dew. We had them sitting on the kitchen table. While we were in the backyard working, Avery went inside. I had Winnie the Pooh playing on the DVD player for her, so I figured she was watching that. When she had been inside for a while I figured I had better go check on her. This is what I found...



Sitting in her chair with Dave's big soda in her lap, chugging away! What is better then watching Pooh with a Dew???? Answer me that people!

Post #101!!

I just noticed that my last post was number 100!! Wow! That is a lot of posts! It is fun looking back at the last few months on my blog. I am so thankful that I started to blog. I am finally "journaling". I use to write in my journal a lot when I was younger. But, I haven't journaled much at all since I have been out of high school or married. I hate that there have been so many activities and things that have happened in our life that I have forgotten about. I don't want that to happen anymore. I am glad I have an easy and fun way to record what goes on in our little family.

Last night we got a big dump truck full of dirt delivered onto the road behind our house. Dave took out a section of our fence so that we could easily access the dirt.(I hope our grass recovers!)



A guy in our ward was nice enough to bring his tractor over at 6:30 this morning and bring it all in to our garden for us. Dave did a few trips with the wheelbarrow last night, but it would have taken him FOREVER if he would have done it all that way. Now our garden is built up quite a bit and that much closer to planting. We hope to start planting this week.



On Tuesday I took Avery in to have her hearing checked. She didn't pass the test in either ear. She does have a cold and stuffy nose. They are hoping that a lot of the hearing loss was temporary due to the cold. They want us to bring her back in a couple weeks once she is all better and check again. I am not sure what they will do for her if the hearing doesn't improve. They didn't really get into that on this appointment. But, this could all explain her difficulty talking.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us. My sister-in-law, Erin, and I are throwing a small baby shower for our sister-in-law, Josie, tomorrow morning. It should be fun. Josie is due in the beginning of June. She is one of those really cute pregnant women! We can't wait to meet their baby girl!


Josie and her "baby", Tyrone! :) (And Josie, if you are reading this, YES, I totally stole the picture off your facebook! I hope you don't mind! I didn't have any of you, sadly enough!) :)

Right after the shower I will meet Dave over at the soccer field for Paisley's soccer game. Her asthma has been pretty bad the last few days and so I hope she is able to play...

Right after that we are going to go to my parents' house for a BBQ. My brother, Andrew, is headed to Florida for the summer to install security systems.


Andrew and his wife, Stephanie, in Mexico during our cruise.

He leaves this week and so we are having one last get together before he leaves. I sure will miss him. But, he is going to have a BLAST in Florida!

In the evening after the BBQ we are going to my Uncle Chad's house for some Wolfen fun. Wolfen is a great group game that I have posted about before. We love getting together as a family to play and eat! I am really looking forward to that!

So, our Saturday is jam packed full of fun activities. After lots of days of staying home, I am excited to have a day full of things to do! Such is the life of a stay-at-home mom!

One last thing...just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister-in-law, Erin!!! She is such a sweet person and has become a really good friend of mine. We are both "lonely" stay-at-home moms and so when we get the chance to talk on the phone, we can talk FOREVER! I love it! Thanks for everything, Erin! I hope you have a great birthday!!! (I totally wanted to post a picture, but I don't have one. So sad! I even tried to steal one off YOUR facebook, too, but you don't have any on there, or in your blog! You need to post some of yourself!!) :) :)

More gardening, soccer, and snow!!!!

We had a fun weekend. Dave's mom is in town for the week. She came to town Friday afternoon. So, we went and had dinner with her and some of Dave's family Friday night. It was good to see her. The kids are always excited to see grandma. Avery went right to her and Shirley held her a lot that night.

Saturday, our good friend, Nathan, helped Dave with the garden. We decided to cap off the sprinkler heads that are in the garden and we will water with hoses. That way we can control it a bit more. So, Nathan helped Dave cap off the heads and then add a spicket right into the garden.



That way we can have the hoses in the garden and not have to drag them across the yard all summer. It took them a few hours, but the finished product was great and I am thankful for their hard work.

Paisley and Avery and I went Saturday morning to our Earth Day celebration in town. I wasn't sure that I wanted to go, but it ended up being a lot of fun, especially for Paisley. We met my sister-in-law, Jackie, and her 2 little boys and my parents there. We just walked around and looked at the booths and Paisley got to plant a few things in little cups. We also got a free syringa bush.


(See those little sticks sticking up among the bark...that's the bush!!) :)

It looks like sticks now, but it should grown into a really pretty bush.


(I believe it is going to look like this someday! Nice, huh?)

I was excited to get a free plant! :) After that we went to lunch with them. That is always fun.

Saturday afternoon Paisley had soccer. It was her first official game. But, at this age, they aren't "real" games. After about 45 minutes of practice, they play for 20 minutes on a tiny field with 3 players from each team playing at a time. It is pretty funny to watch! They have no idea what goal they are going to and they really don't know the rules. There are no goalies, they just all kick it wherever whenever they get a chance! It is cute! Paisley had a lot of fun.

That evening we went to dinner with 3 of Dave's siblings and their families. I counted that there were 19 of us, with 10 of them being kids. It is pretty crazy! But, we always have a fun time. The kids were pretty good. Avery needed constant entertainment, but was pretty good and happy. I really enjoy being with Dave's family!

Sunday we woke up to big snowflakes. By the time we got out of church there was quite a bit of snow covering the ground. But, luckily, by afternoon it was gone. Crazy weather! We stayed home all day, which was very enjoyable. Our hometeachers came, we always enjoy their visits. Then we had family home evening.

Our family home evening lesson/activity was making chore charts for Easton and Paisley. We haven't ever really given them chores or allowance up til now. They do clean their rooms, their playroom, and the yard. But, now that they are 7 and 5 we figured they were plenty old enough to earn some allowance and help out a bit. They are really excited about getting allowance! They contributed a lot of good ideas about what chores there should be and how much money they would earn.

So, today I made up their chore charts.



I showed Paisley's to her this morning when she got home from preschool. She was so excited that she went right then to clean her room and make her bed. Easton did the exact same thing when he saw his after school. They couldn't wait to do all the chores so that they could fill in all the boxes with stickers. I hope this excitement lasts!

Avery had her first speech therapy session today. The speech therapist suggested that I go get her hearing checked. I have always thought her hearing was fine. But, the lady thinks that she could have fluid in her ear and it is making her hearing muffled. That might be why she isn't pronouncing words very clearly. That would make sense to me. The speech therapist said multiple times during the session how smart she is. So, she is very surprised that her speech isn't better. So, I made an appointment to go in and get her hearing checked tomorrow. There is a chance that if that is the case, she will have to get tubes in her ears. We will see what happens tomorrow...

One funny thing about Avery. She has this little toy that has balls and you turn it on and air blows the balls out, etc. This is the second time that I have gone in to get her up from her nap and she has been busy doing this...



She pulls her little chair over to her dresser and gets a bunch of socks out. She unfolds them and then shoves each one down into where the balls go. She stuffs them tight and gets as many in there as she can. She loves to put things in there. She has also stuffed multiple toys in there, pacifiers, and a whole box of raisins. Silly girl!

Great weekend...long post...that's all for tonight!

Finally...NICE weather...(for now, anyway!)

We have had some BEAUTIFUL days the last several days. It has been like 76 degrees some of the days. The kids and I have loved EVERY minute!

About 4 years ago, when we lived in our old house, my mom and dad bought our kids a swing set. They loved playing on it. Then, we sold the house and lived with Dave's parents for about 3 weeks before ours was done. We took the swingset to Dave's parents and meant to bring it with us to our new house with the moving van. We forgot. And since then our little swing set has been over at his parents' house. It has still gotten a lot of use from all the grandkids, but our kids have missed it. Finally, on Sunday night, Dave's brother was nice enough to load it in his pickup and bring it over here.



The kids have played with it a ton since then. They are so happy to have it back. Avery has loved going down the slide and swinging. Yea for one more thing to keep them busy outside!! :)

Last night was Easton's first soccer game. He was supposed to have one last Tuesday, but due to the SNOW it was canceled. Last night was so nice and warm and perfect for a soccer game! We got to the field a little early and so I let the kids play on the toys for a bit.




Easton had a lot of fun playing his game.



Before the game, I told him to not be afraid to go after the ball. He told me, "I'm never afraid to go after the ball!" Which is true for the most part. Easton is pretty aggressive, always has been, and it is to his advantage in sports. He got several good kicks in last night and did a great job.



The last 10 minutes of the game he got to be the goalie. He really enjoyed that!!



It is so much fun to watch our kids participate in sports. Easton is quite a good little athlete and tries hard in every sport he has played. I look forward to many more years of being a mom in the stands! ;)

I am a coupon saver now!!

I had my first really good "coupon" experience. For those who don't know, because my husband did not, couponing is getting to be a really big phenomenon. Especially, it seems to me, among blogging stay-at-home moms! :) But, there are so many websites and things that the thought of becoming a full fledged "couponer" really overwhelms me. However, on Friday I saw a deal on a website that seemed easy enough and I took advantage!

I was making hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner and I needed buns. So, I had to go to Albertsons, anyway. We were also out of instant oatmeal which my kids LOVE for breakfast. So, on this website it said they were having a sale at Albertsons on Taco Bell refried beans for $1 a can, normally $1.39/each. But, when you bought 4, a coupon printed out for $3 off your next purchase. So, I bought 16 cans for food storage. (They don't expire until November 2011, so they will last.) Here is how it went:

First transaction: 4 cans refried beans: $4.24 and I got a $3 off coupon.

Next transaction: 4 cans of beans + $3 off coupon = $1.24

Next 2 transactions: same - 4/$1.24 with the last transaction giving me $3 off coupon again.

Then, I did my last transaction. I bought the buns, oatmeal, and spaghetti and spaghetti sauce. (Easton had gone on a field trip to Albertsons a while back and they gave the kids coupons for a free pasta and free sauce).)

So, my last transaction was: hot dog buns, hamburger buns, oatmeal, spaghetti sauce, and spaghetti. With the $3 off coupon from my last refried beans transaction and my free spaghetti coupons, the total for all that was $2.38!!

Bottom line:

All of this:



For $10.34!! Total savings off regular prices: $25.34

Granted, doing all those transactions with my 3 kids there was a bit crazy. I was in the self-serve, Avery kept grabbing everything. Easton and Paisley were walking all over looking at stuff. So, I put them in charge of making sure Avery didn't grab anything, but that just made Avery mad, so she would scream. It was lots of fun! But, worth the great savings and added food storage.

It made me kind of excited about saving more money!

And, this weekend we went to Home Depot and bought all of these:



Gardening: here we come! We still need tomato plants, pepper plants, onions, and whatever else. Dave and I are pretty excited about the garden. However, since Dave worked on pulling all the sod out last weekend, his back has been KILLING him. He has muscle relaxers and pain killers from a previous back issue and so he has been taking those at night. Then during the day he has been using my 800 mg Ibruprofen that I got for my back. So, it has been tolerable, but not fun. He swears his body is getting so old! He is ONLY 31! :) Poor guy! So, we haven't got much else done on the garden this week. But, soon we will be doing rocks and getting more dirt, etc. Hopefully we can plant in a few weeks. Yea!

Oh, one last cute picture. One night I was busy doing stuff and I heard Easton and Paisley in the kitchen and the water running. I heard Paisley say, "I love helping mom!" and Easton say, "Me, too!". So, I figured I had better go see what they were helping me with.



They were both up at the sink doing the dishes. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these moments where they are so sweet and willing to help me out. Good kids!

Her heart is well...and other news

We took Avery in to the pediatric cardiologist today. About a month ago our pediatrician heard a heart murmur and wanted to have it checked further. She had to have an EKG. That was normal and her blood pressure was normal. The doctor listened to her heart for quite a while. Then she told us that one of her arteries has a noise, they call it a click. She said inside the arteries they are divided into 3. One of Avery's arteries is only divided into 2. (Please forgive my explanation...I am still pretty clueless about this.) Anyway, the bad things that could happen are that it could narrow and start to leak. She doesn't hear any leaking or anything right now.

I guess 1 in 100 kids are born with this defect. It is the most common birth defect. Most of the time they lead totally normal lives. We just have to keep an eye on it. There are things they can do if it starts to change or not "grow with her." The doctor wants us to come see her once a year just to make sure it is still okay.

So, that is a relief. Nothing to worry about, really. I wasn't too worried, I mean she is my healthiest child. She has energy that doesn't stop. But, as a mother, I couldn't get rid of all the worry. I am glad it is okay.

One fun thing happened today. Paisley started reading! She has been there for a while now. She can sound out words really well. When we spell a simple word or write it, she can figure out what it is. Last night I took the kids to the library. I checked out a Dick and Jane book. That is what Easton first started reading in. They are simple and repetitive. So, today she picked that book up and took off!! She read like 70 pages in it and then I finally talked her into taking a break. She was so so proud of herself. It was really cute.



Easton has gotten to be a good little reader, also. The problem is that he does not enjoy it at all. He still throws a fit just about every time it is time to read. So, I am really excited that Paisley has this love and hunger for reading. It is very different than the way Easton was, so I am looking forward to it.

One last item...yesterday, Easton had a spring singing program at school. They sang some patriotic songs. He did a great job and I really enjoyed the program. None of my pictures turned out that well...but here are the best...




Poor Easton, he was supposed to have his first soccer game last night. But, unfortunately because of the rain/snow/cold, it was canceled. He was so bummed! Tonight was supposed to be a practice, but again, it will probably be canceled! I don't think they should start soccer in Idaho until June!!!


****Just an update: Paisley is doing so good! She basically read from 2:00 until 8:00 this afternoon. Not the WHOLE time, she did play a bit and eat dinner. But, she read the better part of those hours. I can't believe this little smarty pants!! She is reading so well...why didn't I get a book for her sooner??? ****

Strawberries, Garden, and Easter Bunny...Oh My!

Friday night my sister-in-law called and told me that they were selling strawberries for $8 a flat. That is better than you can almost ever get in a store. Plus, they are fresh and sooo good. So, she bought us each a flat and Saturday afternoon we made jam. We made about 5 batches of jam and ended up with about 45 jars full.



It turned out so good. We made some toast when we got done to try it out and it was yummy yummy! So, my first canning experience of the year is complete!

Dave had a big project for Saturday. Two years ago when we laid our sod, I tried to talk Dave into leaving room for a garden. He really didn't want to. Well, two years later, we decided to do a garden! So, now, we are having to pull up our sod, and pay to have our sprinkler system refigured in that area so that we can have a garden! :) Dave went and rented a sod cutter on Saturday and cut the area. It is going to be a 20 by 20 foot garden. That ought to do it! :) I hope it isn't too much. The sodcutter wouldn't get the area right by the house or the fence and so after he returned it, he had to do all that with a shovel. That took him all afternoon.



Most of the sod cutting is done now. Our next project is getting all the rocks out, and then putting wood around the outside to build it up a bit. Then we will bring in a bunch of good dirt. Dave and I have NO idea of what to do with a garden. This will definately be a learning experience, and I am so excited for it.


Saturday night we went out on a date. We have a babysitter in our ward that we really like come babysit. She is always good about playing with the kids and getting them to bed on time and making sure the house is clean. :) All important in my book! When we got home she told us that the kids wouldn't go to bed until she wrote notes for the Easter Bunny and hung them up. So, they dictated notes and she wrote them out. They also left carrots and water for him. They wanted to leave milk, but our babysitter convinced them that Easter Bunnies don't drink milk. So, this is what they left our for him...





Cute! They asked questions and so we answered them. They had even left out a pen so that the Easter Bunny would be able to write. They wanted to know funny things. I love their innocence!

Easter morning was a bit chaotic. Just getting through the excitement of the baskets and candy and trying not to get them to eat any before church and breakfast. And then getting us all ready to leave for church by 8:45. Kinda crazy. I am really mad at myself. I had TOTALLY forgotten that last year we started a new tradition...that obviously we didn't follow through with...but we did the baskets/candy, etc on Saturday. I know several people do that and I love the idea. That way, you can totally enjoy the Easter Bunny part, let the kids eat candy, lounge around, etc and then on Sunday it will be all about the Savior and the true meaning of Easter. I loved doing that last year. And, for some reason, I totally forgot this year. So, next year, we will go back to the Saturday thing.

Anyway, the kids loved their baskets and candy. They each also got a new movie and a Sunday outfit. They looked so nice for church.






I was so excited about the girls' matching dresses. I love it when they match.



After church we let them go out and find the eggs that they had colored that the Easter Bunny had hid for them. They really enjoyed that. I definately made sure that we found all the eggs and didn't leave any out to rot and find later! That would be fun! :)





We went to my grandparents' house for Easter dinner. It was really good and so fun. Pretty crazy. There were 12 little kids running around. My grandparents live in a condo and they basically have no backyard. It is a hottub, patio area with no grass. But, all the kids liked playing out there. Or, they would be inside running around the 14 adults. I could tell by the look on my grandparents' faces at the end that they were exhausted and kind of glad that everyone was leaving! But, it was great to be able to visit.

All in all it was a really nice (and busy) weekend.