this and that

Yesterday was preschool for Lu. She had a fun time. While she was there I went to help in brother's class. It is such a treat to have the time to go without finding a baby-sitter or anything. I can't imagine what life will be like in a few short years when Lu goes off to school too.

Today I had to take J to the dentist. She had a filling pop out of her mouth. It was our third trip this week. On Monday S had a filling and H had a crown and a filling. Lu and brother go in a couple weeks then we are done (for now:) )

This afternoon I cut H's hair. Her bangs are growing out and they are driving me NUTS so I gave her some layers. Not the pro job that my brilliant haircutting daughter D~ who passed the state examination for her license today!!! would have done but good enough, and she can fix it at the end of June.

Tonight was activity day recognition night. H did a great job, she sang and conducted. It was very nice, I forgot my camera :(

soon to be Elder and Sister Arhets

finally are turning in their papers tonight. It took forever to get everything together and done. Wonder where they'll go? Can't wait to find out.

Twinkle Twinkle

practice field

We have soccer practice in our backyard twice a week.
This is very convenient for me. I feed brother dinner and put on his shoes then shoo him out the door.
Lu always runs out to play with the other kids who come.

Today we also had J and Emma swimming in the "it's warm now can we please swim" water.

After practice we had FHE. H taught and even though she had rough start during the prep time she did a nice job and we had a good evening.

first swim of the season

counting down....

A Taste of France

We had a typically busy weekend. Saturday was sports day. H had volleyball. She made it over the net several times, which was very exciting. Brother had soccer, he got some goals. DH and H had karate, I don't know what they did, broke a board or something :)
Saturday night we went on a date. We went to Olive Garden and then to Sams club.

Today we had some friends over for dinner. It turned out that Lu's baby wohbiks teacher is a member in another ward. Then she became Grandma's Silver Sneaker's teacher and they've become friends and she discovered the connection. Her husband served a mission in France. Mom thought it would be fun to have them come over for dinner and also our friends Nikko and fam since her husband also served in France. As it turned out they served in the exact same mission. Which is fun. So we picked tonight, and wah lah, a taste of France in our very own living room was enjoyed by all. The B family have two kids a girl who is 10 and who got along well with H and a boy who is 7 and he and brother and Nikko's boys all played well. Which was nice.

Dinner was yummy. We started with piroshki for an appetizer, which is Russian but that's what mom wanted and everyone liked them. Then we had potato/leak soup. Yumm. Followed by a delish salad. Then savory chicken crepes, a cheese course and finally dessert. We did it french style sitting at the table for well over an hour with courses.(which is practically fast food in Europe but longish for us) Mom also had a fun quiz before dinner about France.

The evening was very pleasant and a nice ending to the weekend.

How Can I Be

Our boy party

E wanted to have a mother and son party. A couple years ago H had a party for moms and girls at Valentines day. Then last year she had a daddy/daughter Chinese New Year so brother had been wanting one too. We did some planning. He got to pick a few of his favorite friends and planned all the activities for the evening. And today was the big day.
DH took the girls out. J was at a camp out for the 4th years going to camp this year and S was with Katherine. Her grandma died and the funeral was today. We made a cake and went to the service this afternoon between cleaning and partying. It was really nice. Sister Amon was the nicest little grandma and was so sweet and kind. It was a lovely funeral and I will miss her sweet smile and seeing her sitting on the front row smiling at all the babies and really everyone each week.

The boys arrived and we played bocce ball first while we waited for all to get there. After that the boys made a human pretzel and tried to get undone and then played charades. M was awesome at it. He guessed them all :). After that the boys ran around for a while as the dinner cooked. E picked hot dogs and chips for dinner and brownies and ice cream for dessert. We ate and then the boys went on a treasure hunt. (brother's favorite part) I had planted clues and the treasure earlier. The boys ran fast and read the clues and found the box. Then they divided their treasure. Just as they were finishing C arrived. I was happy to see the boys all immediately dump out their loot bags and divide it again so he got some. They are nice little guys.

We ended with a water balloon fight and then some Wii time. The party was a success and everyone had fun.

DH and Papa took the girls on a "Date" to the park

Happy Birthday Abba!

Today is Abba's birthday. Happy Birthday! We sort of combined our celebration last weekend (which means we brought his gift with us...so we wouldn't have to ship it; just kidding, we just wanted to give it to him in person but I digress)

Abba is a great dad and a great grandpa and a great father in law :) I remember the day I met him, it was actually the same day I met my DH. My friends and I had gotten to the restaurant early and we were at our table. Ellen was trying to decide where everyone should sit and Kim and I were chatting and in walked DH. HMMMmm, we said, he's cute. Then behind him came Abba. Ohh, we said, he brought a friend and he's also cute. Then it turned out to be his dad. We had a fun dinner and he was very nice. Who knew then he'd turn out to be my FIL?

While we were dating we used to argue about "who's dad was the greatest" both passionately certain that ours was. Turns out we were both right. Abba is kind and funny and smart. He's generous and so great with the kids. DH relies on him for good advice and for friendship and we all enjoy his company and his quick laugh and never ending patience.

Have a great day!

slow learner

I have 5 daughters. With all of them I have done their hair in ribbons and bows and braids and cute styles. Not every day but often. I have never made my own ribbons though.
The other day I found a website on how to make your own hair bows and it looked so easy so today during preschool Grandma and I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some ribbons and clips and dental floss (the secret ingredient) and went to town. These are our first three. We've made more.
They are so cute and easy/fun to make. I don't know why I waited so long.

Tonight is our Visiting Teaching Conference. I am making a pizza, not my recipe. It's the oddest thing I've ever made with a potato crust, goat cheese and veggies. I hope it tastes better than it looks!

update: the pizza was very yummy, oh me of little faith :) Not everyone at my table loved it but I thought it was good and I think most did.

celebrity, or the walk that was almost fun

Yesterday was brother's turn to bring the kindergarten snack. When it's his turn I always bring a book and a snack that match each other and the theme of the week. This week is "bugs" so I brought "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle and made these little bug crackers out of peanut butter and ritz. I also brought along plain crackers to supplement our edible friend for the starving. It was very fun to go, as always. When I got there the kids were at recess so I set up and waited at the door with the magic soap to let them in. The little line of kindergartners came up and when they saw me they started to clap. "Yea! We love it when you come!!" and brother beamed. It was great. You don't get to be the star of your kids lives for very long but oh how sweet those early years are when you are oh SO cool and fun and your very presence makes them happy. One thing I liked about teaching school is you are kind of like a celebrity. I'd walk across the playground and kids would wave and run up so excited to see me and if I ever ran into anyone out and about they were amazed and thrilled. It was cute :)
After snack I stayed to help, which is always also fun.

We've been trying to exercise more. DH has been doing karate for a while and he loves it and has lost some weight. I joined the Y and go from time to time. I also have been doing work out video's with S and some walking. Last night DH asked if I wanted to go for a walk. It was kind of late but Lu was still up since she had had a nap earlier in the day. S said she wanted to come as well. We started off, everyone in a good mood, talking and laughing. Sadly the conversation became controversial and DH got mad and started to lecture and the conversation stopped and we stormed home. Not very fun. Things like that happen from time to time and it's never fun. I guess that's part of life~ the good and the bad. Hopefully we learn from the not so fun times and improve.

FHE Fun

Last night was FHE. Like every Monday night. We almost always have it. Sometimes it's just a quick story from the friend and a bowl of ice cream after while we chat around the table after a long day of homework/soccer practice/whatevering.
Sometimes we have good lessons.
Often the children are rowdy or disinterested. Sometimes they are good and pay attention.
But we carry on, no matter what the circumstance or the obvious result. I am totally banking on the promise that if we do this (and several other things) our families will be protected and our children will be saved.


Last night we had a lesson on the parable of the 10 virgins. A repeat of a lesson we had several

years ago. H and I made a quick poster of an oil lamp and 5 girls going up a stair case with small lamps lit to a door that opened up with the Savior's picture behind it and 5 with empty lamps crying on the bottom. She also made cardboard oil drops. We told the story and handed out the drops. Everyone wrote on them things they could do to keep their spiritual lamps lit. Then we took turns sharing and dropping it in the slit on the lamp. It actually went pretty well even though this is what they looked like during. See the reverent attentive faces?

For a treat I made blueberry/coconut cake with a lemon glaze. Yumm!

photo updates

The prom was last weekend. S went and I was sad to miss seeing her go but luckily Rachel took this cute photo :) They had a good time.
S, Sam, Denise, Mariah, Megan, Garret and Anthony. They stopped at Krispe Kreme on the way for a pre dance snack (thus the hats & the smiles )
Last week when we rode the train I was out of batteries, again thank you Rachel, she took some cute pics. Here is Lu and Haylee making "funny faces". They were so cute together.

Wicked Birthday Trip

We're back and we had SO.MUCH.FUN. Seriously, it was so fun.

The night before we left the weather was terrible. It stormed and threatened and ruined my shopping plans and made me worry about J flying to CA. However they made it safely and I found something to pack so all was well.

Friday morning we dropped the kids off at school and then headed for the airport. Our flight was a little turbulent, which you know how I love that, but we landed safely. Phew!

Mom and Dad were there to pick us up and we drove into Chicago. It is a beautiful city. I love the skyscrapers and the busy city feel. It really was windy and kind of cool and I don't think I'd like to live there but it was fun to visit.

The first thing we did was go to Navy Pier. We walked around, looked at the lake, saw the Stained Glass Museum and enjoyed the scenery.

After that we went to our hotel. It was Gorgeous! Our room was on the 23rd floor and was so nice. I felt like a princess with a big bed, robes in the room and a concierge on our floor.

We had complementary hor'dourves, breakfast, midnight buffet and water bottles. Lu-Key!

The first night we went out to dinner at La Trattoria #10 which I thought was owned by Mario Batali (but I was wrong) however it was still very nice. DH & Nana both had the yummiest butternut squash ravioli and I had a delish shrimp dish. Abba's appetizer was possibly the best mushrooms I have ever tasted. The restaurant was fun and yummy.

Saturday we went to the Shedd Aquarium, which was very nice. My favorites were the baby beluga whales, which were so cute and you could get up and personal. We saw a presentation by the seal and owl and the dolphins who were in the tank behind them were hysterical. They must have wanted in on the action because they were dancing on their tails, swimming loops, and doing jumps the whole time :)

We walked every where we went, which I really enjoyed. I think we did about 4 miles on Saturday. Which almost made up for the Chicago style pizza and the ice cream we ate :)


Saturday night was the big event. We went to see Wicked at the Oriental Theater. It was wonderful!!
The theater was stunning, the music spectacular and the whole experience awesome!

I loved it!

Today we had breakfast and flew home. J landed about a half hour after we did so it worked out great.
When we got home mom had a birthday dinner ready for us and we had pie, very nice :)

After dinner we went on a nice walk around our Texas size block and enjoyed the quiet night air, the smell of horses in the neighborhood and the country road. "there's no place like home". One of the great things about leaving is coming back ready to enjoy it all again.

J's trip to CA. FUn fUN fUn!!

W is also for wild wild west!

Today our theme was Wild, Wild, West. Last night we went to the library and I got several books about cowboys and wagon trains. Also yesterday I went to the dollar tree and got these cute stick horses for a dollar each! Such a deal :)

This morning the kids came and we did our usual calendar/prayer/songs/gathering stuff. Then we read a few stories and talked about the west. We went to the table and the kids glued their "cowboy ropes" onto letter "W". We made our cowboy hats and then we were ready to ride the range. They rode their horse around in circles and around "barrels". The fed them and curried them and caught run away calves and branded their herds. We had a snack of trail mix and capri sun and they had a great time!

Yesterday was play group. We met at the park to ride the train, only it was just Grandma, Lu and I. While we were on the train we saw Kathy and her kids and she said she would walk down and meet us at the playground. What we didn't know was the whole park is closed off as they prepare for the MayFest so we never got to meet her. We did meet Rachel and Robin and Haylee at the popcorn stand and H and R rode the train back and then we all drove to the Botanical Gardens for a picnic. We had a very pleasant afternoon. The girls ran around and balanced on logs and peeked under leaves and looked at the kid displays on the nature trail, they were soooo cute. Sadly my camera was out of batteries :( Rachel took some pictures so I am looking forward to sharing hers later. We had a fun time visiting.

W is for Whale

Our theme today was whales. A very fun theme that has lots of activities to go with it :) Sadly some of our friends weren't here. Christie's great uncle died and she is out of town at his funeral. Other G is sick and Landon wasn't here, I am not sure why but he doesn't always come so I guess this was one of his days.

We played play-doh while everyone was arriving. Then did our calendar/pledge and prayer. We read a story then talked about the letter W. Next we talked about whales. What were they like, how did they have babies and breathe and what did they eat. We had three projects to make. One was a gray whale that we colored, cut up, glued on to paper and then glued a big "W" next to. Next was a little beluga whale puzzle that each child got to make. Lastly we made whales out of paper bags. It's hard to tell in the picture but they turned our really cute. We stuffed the bags and then tied off the end. The kids glued on a fluke, fins and eyes and we put pipe cleaner spouts on top. We danced with our whales to "Baby Beluga." We also had a whale snack. Which was a graham cracker Ocean, with waves and water (frosting and sprinkles) on it and little whales swimming around. They liked frosting and eating :)

of course there was time to play and to dance.

alert

J has posted, go check out her blog

weekend recap

Friday night J went to her friend's birthday party. They had a great time. S was at life guard training all weekend. She finishes tonight. Yesterday she had her tests and she did great. She was fast and strong and will be an "awesome" lifeguard. She enjoyed the training and I am excited for her to work this summer. I love being around the water and doing warm weather fun stuff, however I am not a strong swimmer. This has always bothered me and one of the things I wanted to do for my kids was to make sure they were all good swimmers. Everyone went to swim lessons despite any amount of crying, throwing up, clinging on, etc. They have all learned (so far) and are fish!

Saturday J went to youth conference. E had a soccer game and H a volleyball game. H got the ball over the net on a serve for the first time ! We were very excited. Her team is playing better and better and it was a fun game to watch. DH and H also had karate.

We rented "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and watched it together. It's cute and silly.

Sunday we got a new RS presidency. I am excited. The old presidency was terrific. They did a really good job. They've been serving for a long time though so I am sure they are ready for a rest and the new sisters that they've called are some of my favorites, I know they will be terrific as well and I am excited to see them serve together.

J had a project this weekend. She had to build a one foot tall, 3-D model of a virus. Luckily we have DH who figured out how to fold a 20 sided cube for the top.
Brother has a big project as well, his isn't due until Friday so we are still working on it. It's a farm report.

This week is preschool at our house. Today Lu and I are getting ready. Here she is walking some of her babies, she's following me around as I pick up and straighten and plan.

after the party

we survived

We survived another storm filled night. The weather radio went off a good 7 or 8 times and we turned on the news at least twice to check the radar but in the morning the house was standing and the sun was up and we were glad.
I think tonight is supposed to be quiet so hopefully we'll sleep well.

One unfortunate casualty of the storm was my Internet...out all day. ARGH! But tonight it's back, phew!

Lu is sick. I feel so badly. This morning she was coughing, as she had been all week, and a little wheezy so I called Debi since preschool was at her house and asked her what she thought. She said bring her over. Lu went and had a great time, felt fine. I picked her up and she was playing and didn't want to come home. We stopped on the way home to mail Greg's birthday present and she said her stomach hurt. We got home and I got her lunch and she said she wasn't hungry. Then I picked her up and she was a little warm. I actually took her temp this morning before I called Debi and it was normal or I would never have taken her. I took it again and now it was 101. Darn it. I had to wait until 1pm for the doctor's office to be done with their lunch and by that time she was a sweaty crying mess. So with a little difficulty that was pleasantly resolved I made an appointment for this afternoon. By the time we got there she had thrown up, had a fever, was coughing and crying. They looked at her and said, yep I am sure she's got it too. Now the strep test actually came out negative but her throat looks bad and with two sisters currently taking antibiotics for the same thing they had no doubts and prescribed Lu some too. I asked for penicillin shots all around but they just laughed at me. I wasn't actually joking but I laughed too, so they'd think I was. Now I feel really badly to have exposed everyone else. I really thought she was just still with the cough/cold that we've been dragging around for weeks.

I hate when the kids are sick.

I hope hope hope no one else gets it. I especially hope DH and I don't since we are hoping to travel next weekend, provided airplanes are flying then. Crossing my fingers.

One last quick thing, or three.

Mom and Dad are getting ready to go on their mission, it's been interesting to see the behind the scenes. There is a lot of paper work and appointments and teeth cleaning and stuff to do. Well dad got some lab results that were not that great. The doctor thinks he might have hepatitis. What? Where would he get that and what that means I have no idea. I hope it's not that~ so say a little prayer. He had more labs done today and now we wait.

Dani and Greg are coming to Ohio for Grandpa Thackers 90th birthday ! Yeah! and now she or possibly they might meet us in FL too! Double Yeah! I am so excited!!

S is doing her lifeguard training this week. It's a lot but I think she's enjoying it. I worry about her driving home late at night and am glad that the weather at least is cooperating tonight.

Anna and Ama and Zoe sent me a Wicked CD for my birthday, which was so nice! Now I have a dilemma, do I listen before I go or see it with a clean slate in my head...and what should I wear? and will it be warm, and will American be flying. These are the things I am pondering tonight.

AND lastly, I loved Elder Nelson's talk on Saturday. He gave such awesome parenting advice. I am so going to try and implement everything he talked about.

kids sports

Here is brother making one of his goals this past weekend. He loves soccer. :) This year we have a ringer on our team, E's friend Ryan. We win a lot. R scores a lot. Brother scores too. Everyone is happy.
H is making such improvements. It's been a hard first season. She's playing with girls who have mostly played before at least one season, some two or three. However she's hanging in there and getting better. We expect she'll get it over the net on a serve soon and she can bump the ball sometimes now. We've talked a lot with her about how even when something is hard you keep trying, and you don't have to be the best to contribute. She likes volleyball and thinks she wants to play in the fall again, which will be great. In the meantime we have several more games and she is doing better each time! Awesome!

Tornado weather is my least favorite thing about living in TX. We have been having stormy weather lately. Last night I woke up to a strong wind, which is unusual, and then saw my weather alarm was going off (the volume was off), so I switched it on and then DH woke up and we both went to look at the hail falling, wind gusting and storm blowing around the house. We checked the kids and switched on the TV to see what was coming toward us. Sadly we had a bad night and are expecting two more. Every time a storm passes us by I feel lucky. We have seen some damage from tornadoes and never want to be directly hit by one. I remember the first really close call we had while living here. It was a Wednesday night and we were at the church early to set up. The storm started blowing, the air around us literally turned green and the hail started falling so thick that we could not see the cars in the parking lot from the foyer. The Bishop told everyone to get into the women's bathroom so we all packed in and sat around feeling scared. Luckily I had a pan of brownies for the treat that night and we ate those while keeping each other company. It ended up tearing down fences and trees and damaging some roofs in our town but pretty much swept by us and struck down town where it did a lot of damage to several of the big sky scrapers. It was lucky that the work day was pretty much winding down because most people had left by then. Still scary stuff. After the storm passed we went home. J was very freaked out. She was small then, about 7, and the storm was scary and very real. When we got home she ran upstairs to her room. I was putting stuff away and checking the house and watching the weather and getting ready to put the kids to sleep when she came down and said "don't worry mom it's going to be fine. I was praying and I heard a voice tell me it would be okay." She wasn't afraid anymore. And we were okay. And her little testimony of prayer grew that day.

In other random news Brother had his friend Blaine come play after school. It was wet outside but the boys didn't care. The ran around, threw baseballs at each other, made up a game called roll-ball~ which meant they rolled the baseball down the porch to one another and swung a bat at it like a golf club and tried to get the ball to go up the rain gutter. We made chocolate chip cookies and they had a grand time.

J went to the doctor today, now she's also on an antibiotic. I'll be happy when the weather clears up and the sniffles leave the house.

Lastly I am reading another Fannie Flagg book and it is just a delight. It's called "Standing in the Rainbow". I think what I like about her is her down home style and the way she makes the characters in her books come to life. Small town life, and people living side by side trying to do the right thing, what's not to love about that?
For example: one of my favorite paragraphs
If a stranger walked down the street past the barbershop in Elmwood Springs on Saturday afternoon and glance in, he would see a group of middle-aged, gray-haired men sitting around chewing the fat. But if you were one of the men inside you would see six friends you had grown up with, not old men. Doc didn't see the wrinkles on Glenn Warren's face or notice that his neck had turned red and sagged with age or the wide girth straining his suspenders to the breaking point. He saw a skinny boy of seven with lively eyes. They were fixed in one another's eyes as the boys they used to be. When Doc looked at sixty-eight-year-old Merle he saw the blond boy of ten he used to go swimming with. And to all of them, the balding man in the short sleeves with the little potbelly was still the boy who scored the winning touchdown that won the county championship. There wasn't a secret among them. They knew one another's families as well as they knew one another. Their wives, now plump gray matrons in comfortable shoes, they still saw as the pretty dimpled girls of eight or twelve that they had once had crushes on. Since they'd all grown up together, they'd never had to wonder who they were; it was clearly reflected in each other's eyes. They never questioned friendship; it was just there, like it had been when they were children. They had all been at one another's weddings. They'd shared in all the sadness and happiness of one another's lives. It would never occur to them to be lonely. They would never know what it was like to be without friends. They would never have to wander from town to town, looking for a place to be; they had always had a place to come home to, a place where they belonged and where they were welcome. None of these men would ever be rich but they would never be cold or go hungry or be without a friend. They knew if one died the others would quietly step in and their children would be raised and their wives would be cared for; it was unspoken. They had a bong. Small-town people usually take these things for granted. As a certain young man named Bobby Smith was to find out for himself that year.
How sweet to be swept away to a life most of us don't live anymore, but that maybe a part of us longs for.

what to do?

Last night Grandma, H and I went to see J's drill team spring show. Tori and Emma came with us too. It was so fun. We had good seats, right in the front, sadly right behind the smokestack family so we suffered from lack of fresh air for the whole three hours, but other than that we had good view. J's JVteam did great. Their number was crisp and precise and cute. All the team numbers were awesome and I was so impressed with their beautiful sets and fun music.

Today I got everyone off to school and was getting Lu ready for preschool when I noticed that she had given herself another hair cut. I am not sure when, I don't think it was like that yesterday but who knows. Now she has bangs on about a third of the front of her head. Argh. I have really liked having no bangs on her, now I have a big dilemma. Cut her hair into bangs and have it even or let it grow out and suffer through not only her having a little fountain on top from her last hair cut but now having a bit of bang on the right side and no other. Darn it.

funny kid saying

E: talking to Lu, "you're so cute when you're thinking" They were working on multiplication together. Which meant he was saying some random numbers and she was repeating them.

S: after being asked to pick up the living room and after I checked and pointed out some things she missed, and after she cleaned again and after I went back to check again and found a plastic army guy on the carpet. "mom, they're army men, they are supposed to blend in!" in an exasperated voice.

J: when being assigned her chore of the day, "that's not fair, when I grow up I am going to be a lawyer and sue over such injustice" (the mess she was asked to clean she did NOT make)

Lu: every time she goes potty "ou so happy mom?"

H: "mom, I watch what not to wear and you should let me pick out your clothes" ...she might be right :)

Conference Weekend

DH had last Friday off. Papa was painting and he was organizing things in our computer room. Sadly the paint I picked was Hideous and the room looks awful. Hopefully we will get it fixed this week, although, for the record this is in spite of their efforts not because of them.
We took a trip to the library and also tried out a Brazilian/Portuguese grill for lunch that DH liked a lot and I thought was just okay.
We went to a late movie after the kids were in bed and J was done with piano lessons. Juno at the dollar show. I liked it. It was funny and poignant and I was glad she placed the baby for adoption.

Saturday was the beginning of conference. I was really looking forward to this conference and hearing President Monson speak. Of course I have heard him lots of times but never as the prophet and I was wondering what he would say.

Our day was busy with volleyball and soccer and what not so we caught bits and pieces of the conference. Luckily we have the DVR, which will allow us to catch up over the next weeks evenings.

Nikko had her "soup thing", which I love. The kids look forward to it and so do I. Her soups are yummy and it's always so fun to hang out with friends and let the kids play on the boys awesome play fort. We've had sniffly coughers and Lu actually had a fever on and off so I wasn't sure if we would go. We finally decided it was just a cold that was going around, however the kids were ready to leave much earlier than usual so I guess they weren't really up to par.

Sunday I was able to watch both sessions. Mom and I worked on quilts for the YMCA service project during both of them. We didn't go to the pot luck at church between sessions because H actually was feeling very poorly and DH and Papa ended up taking her to urgent care after the first session. She has strep again. :( Brother and Lu are both coughing but I don't think it's the same thing and sent E to school. I have had itchy ears and sneezing and runny nose for weeks, allergies. It's just a gunk in the air time of year I guess.

I love how my friend "good life" makes notes about each speaker, I need to get mine down too. An action item for each talk, something to remember, or a highlight.

After conference we played outside in the warm sunshine, ate soup and home made bread for dinner and then watched "the Best Two Years" upstairs. It was a good day.

Dani and Greg got to go to the conference center for the morning session. I have never done that but would like to. She said there were a million people there and they were on top so it was hard to actually see anyone but I think they enjoyed it.

Lucy was two last year. I was blogging then and so we have every day of her life documented :) She has been the sweetest addition to our family. She's loving and bright and a joy to have around :)
Two is one of my favorite ages. They are cute and little and loving and inquisitive and a teeny bit independent. It's awesome :)

Flash forward to the year 2001 and the era of digital photography. I didn't even notice until just now that I haven't taken as many portraits of the younger three but we have millions more pictures.
Anyway, now H is 2. We had moved from the land of earthquakes to tornado alley and she certainly was our little tx tornado. She was into everything and very impish and cute. She liked to talk and sing and read and play with the kids. She loved her daddy and her sisters and always wanted to be in the middle of everything. We lived on Babbling Brook and enjoyed being kind of close to several friends in our ward. We'd often walk the few blocks over to visit with the Butterfields or the Blacks and H loved to look at the Blacks chickens. We lived around the corner from a playground that we liked to visit and H liked to go to story time at the library and to play group with her mom.
Brother turned two in 2004. We lived in our present home and he has always enjoyed all the space we have around us. Throwing balls was and is a favorite past time of his. He loved to play with big boys, whether they were friends like Jake and C or his cousins who he has spent parts of his summers with several times. E loved to ride on the lawn mower when DH mowed the lawn, although he hated loud noises and so would always were headphones to block some of the sound. He loved to be read to, to watch Clifford and to play play play.