Just when we were getting used to one missing...

Julia lost another tooth!
(Thursday night - when I didn't have a working camera...more to come on that.)

If you'll remember, when she lost her other top tooth, she pulled it out all by herself (with floss tied to it). She actually pulled this one out too...with her bare hands! We all couldn't even believe it! She decided to hold on to the tooth for a while. She's not ready to give it to the tooth fairy just yet.


{these are from Friday}

Still beautiful as ever!

Liliana's self-portrait

Me: "Wow Liliana, that's a very good picture you drew!"
Liliana: "That's me. And that's a people on my head, in my hair. (laughs)"

I just love that picture she drew, seriously. I think it's quite good. I love how she drew curly hair and even made a little chin dimple. Cute, cute!

Labeling's fun!

For those of you who don't know this, I like to have things labeled. Particularly toy bins and such, so as to make things easier to put away. Well, Julia has taken it upon herself to take labeling to a whole new level. I opened our "kids' cupboard" the other day and, much to my surprise, I found this...

{I like her spelling of "bowls." Speaking of spelling, when I was looking at her words, she was reading it next to me and said, "Oh, oops, I wrote 'plats' instead of "plates."} :)

I guess you're never too young to organize, or at least label!

Groovy!

Last week we got to go to one of our friend's birthday parties. She was born in the 60s, so that was the theme. It was so much fun! I think we should just continue having themed parties. Shall we take on the 70s next?

{my bell bottoms are authentic...they were my DAD'S! I got the shirt from a funky shop connected to a good will store. Fun! Nate's shirt was from there too, but everyone just thought he was dressed "normal." I guess it does look like a shirt he'd wear on any given day.}

Just for fun...

I saw this on a couple of my friends' blogs and just had to give it a try...what do you think?

You Are Basil

You are quite popular and loved by most people. You have a mild temperament, but your style is definitely distinctive. You are sweet, attractive, and you often smell good.

What Spice Are You?

Our handsome boy

Isn't he precious? I just LOVE this picture!
{impromptu shot by our friend James}

I can hardly believe he's 13 months old, as of today!

Some cute things he's doing:

*Whenever he goes near something he shouldn't, he wags his finger and says "ah-ah-ah."
*He also giggles with excitement when he heads toward something I don't want him going near, in anticipation of me saying, "no," scooping him up and taking him elsewhere.
*He'll snuggle up to me when I hold him, laying his head on my shoulder and rubbing my back with his hands (opening & closing his hands in one spot).
*When I ask him if he's hungry, he'll sign hungry (hand rub down chest) if he wants to eat and rub my chest if he wants to nurse! :)
*He loves to follow his sisters around. He's enamored with them!
*He LOVES being outside. He just thinks that's the best thing ever!
*He watches things very intently. I think he's trying to figure out how things work.
*He loves playing with cars.
*He'll put the phone (or remote) up to his ear and say, "Hi." (pronounced more like "Hah.")
*He's still afraid of the vacuum (even when it's off), but wants to follow Nate around when he's mowing the lawn (NOT afraid of the mower one bit)!
*His favorite word is still "Moh." (more)

Those are just some of the things we enjoy, and knew you would too! We just love our boy to itty bitty, teeny tiny pieces!

"Soccer Mom"

We've all probably seen it scrawled across bumper stickers, attached to minivans and SUV's around the country. "Soccer Mom." That faithful Mom of a soccer player, who's always there, taking her kids to practice, games, camps, tournaments, etc. I'm excited that Julia is totally in to soccer and loves to play it. Granted, we are in the very early stages of that whole "Soccer Mom" thing. I wouldn't even say we're technically there quite yet. It's more like just being the mom of a six-year-old, period.

But, what's this? Maybe I can be a "Soccer Mom" in a whole other way...

{pictures taken by a friend...thank you! Sorry, my camera is not exactly a "high speed" kind of camera.}

Yep, that's me, getting in on the action of an indoor soccer team a friend from church put together. We played last week and it was so much FUN! There are twelve of us and there are only five on the field at a time (including the goalie). So, we had some good rotation going for the two 20-minute halves. That definitely worked in our favor! We (the "Red Hots") won 8-0! I didn't score any this time, but I was able to assist on a few! :) It was such a BLAST!

We play at 9:15 at night, so it works out with kids and everything. We practiced the morning before and just brought kids if we had to (which means I had all three of mine, but they did fine). It's so fun to play again (I haven't played much since I was a kid). One would think that with all the running, biking, swimming I have been doing I wouldn't be sore from playing soccer, right? WRONG! I was a bit sore after practice and definitely sore after the game (my quads and knees and ankle were anyway). :) I'm hoping my body will get used to it though.

Anyway, the night I left, when I was saying goodnight to the kids, Liliana gave me a goodnight kiss and said, "Bye soccer Mom." So, I certainly consider myself a "Soccer Mom" these days, and I'm loving it! Julia thinks it's so cool that we both play soccer! She has scored two goals per game in each of her last three games, so maybe I can get to be as good as she is!

I just had to put this up again because I noticed people got cut off in the collage (man, I really should check that better, shouldn't I)? Plus, with it being larger, you can see the score in the background. ;)

The kids' garden

When we lived in Utah, we had a large planter box in the back yard that held a very big crabapple tree. Once we had the tree removed, we were left with the planter box. We turned it into a "kids' garden." Julia absolutely loved it! (Liliana was too young, then, to really care).

We've been wanting to make another kids' garden here in Texas for quite some time. Last week for family home evening (our weekly family night), we finally worked together to get it started! We had so much fun! We removed the bricks we'd placed there a while back to try to kill the grass, dug out the grass, put in the brick border, added dirt and planted seeds! Of course, it was fun to see the earth worms and other creepy crawlies along the way. Julia discovered clay she could mold into volcanoes and such (Liliana discovered that when she rolled the same clay into a "log" shape, that it looked rather a lot like something else).

Simon had fun too. He played in the dirt, in the car, on the trampoline, etc. I love the picture where he has that "Mom! Pick me up!" look on his face.

We thought it'd was a good object lesson for PATIENCE. Who doesn't need more of that?! :) So, we're all waiting (patiently) to see our plants grow! We'll keep you updated.

Visiting with family

As I mentioned previously, we had the great fortune of having my brother and mom come to visit during her Spring Break. It was so great to see them and have them here with us!

We had a great week and definitely stayed busy!

They drove in on Saturday afternoon and we were hoppin' from that point on.


First things first...yes, Grandma brought gifts for the kids. She always brings them books (which they love with all their hearts). And it's usually something unique that's signed by the author. Cool! Grandma has connections! :)

Of course the M&M dispenser was pretty neat too! And the dancing dog. But, most of all, hugs & kisses all around were enjoyed by all! :)
Sunday, we watched our church's general conference on TV that morning, then went to our friends' house with some other families for a potluck-style lunch. We ended up staying and watching the second session of conference there. The weather was gorgeous! We could even watch sitting outside on the patio. It was great! The kids had a blast playing together in the playhouse & on the jungle gym and the adults enjoyed great conversation, company, and, of course, conference. Simon ended up falling asleep and stayed that way for pretty much the whole time we were watching.

You already know how we celebrated Monday and Tuesday (Nate's birthday festivities). :)

A big highlight for us was getting to see my Aunt Laura (Mom's sister) on Wednesday. She lives about an hour & a half away. We took Julia to school (and arranged for her to be at a friend's house until Nate got home from work) and drove down. It was great to see her. She's doing well and is happy.

Her home has a little bird atrium you can sit & visit in front of...the kids loved that!

They also celebrated the April birthdays while we were there. So, Laura and Liliana enjoyed some cake!

It was fun seeing her. I'd like to be able to go see her more often.

The next day, we went to see my mom's Aunt Myrtle. I made similar arrangements for Julia as the day before, then we made the 45 minute drive to see her. On the way to her house, we stopped by "Myrtle's Burgers" and got lunch for all of us. (She used to run it, but passed it on to one of her daughters, who runs it with her husband). Let me tell you...YUM-MY! Check out those "ribbon fries!" Deliciousness!

We would not have been able to go, had it not been for such helpful friends! Thank you to our friends for picking Julia up from school, watching her, feeding her & taking care of her until we got home! I appreciate it so much!


For our last night together, we just wanted to do something low-key and mellow. Nate cooked steak & chicken on the BGE and we had fajitas. It was good eatin' as usual! We had our friends (the Andrews) over to share all the food with us. Xela even made her very yummy chocolate chip cookies! It was a delightful evening.

The next day, we had breakfast together and all got ready to go. We pulled out of the driveway at the same time (us to go to Julia's soccer game & them to head home). The girls were cute. Julia said, "I missed them the minute they left." Liliana said, "I miss them. I love them." So sweet!

I'm so glad we got to see them for a week! We all miss them already. I feel so fortunate to have such an awesome family (both the one I was born into and the one I married into). Family is what truly matters in this life! Thank you Mom and Andrew for making the long haul to see us, and for all your generosity (read "spoiling all of us")! I love you all the numbers! I'm already looking forward to when we'll see you again!

Nate's birthday

Nate had his 32nd birthday on the 8th! I think it was a fun birthday week. As I mentioned before, we got to have my mom & brother here for a visit. So, the day before Nate's birthday, we all went shopping. My mom got him a gift card from Sun Ski and Sport and I got him some compression shorts for running. It's funny because he called me later and said he was leaving work early that day. He thought it'd be fun if we all went to the mall so he could check out Sun Ski and Sport and maybe buy something with his birthday money. I said, "Oh, okay, maybe you should wait until tomorrow...your birthday." Anyway, we did end up going to the mall together and mom and I gave him his presents a day early. We didn't have to though, because he actually didn't buy anything that day. Oh well. We went out to eat at Rain Forest Cafe (always fun) after window shopping a bit. It was a fun night!

The next day was "the big day."

The kids gave Nate some new spices to use when he's grilling. He quite liked that!

He got to leave work a little early again (well, early for him anyway) and we all went to Shogun (a hibachi place). It was so delicous!The kids loved watching our chef cook right in front of us. The big fire scared Simon a little.

They even sang to him (while banging a gong) and brought him a dessert. He shared with all of us. I think it was a pretty fun way to celebrate our Nate the Great! Happy birthday sweetheart!

My husband, the genius

We had a recent mishap with our Kitchen Aid. You see, Nate was mixing up some frosting, and he lifted the bowl to make sure it all mixed in. Well, the bowl got stuck in between the spinning arm and it sounded as if the motor burned out.

"Oh no!" Kitchen Aids don't come cheap, you know! Anyway, Nate did some research and found out what he thought might be the problem. He took the mixer apart and we had to look at it like this for a few days...

...until the part he ordered came in. I bring all this up because I just had to brag on him. He totally FIXED IT! It is now looking completely normal again (and working great, I might add). Way to go, my handy hubby! You're the best!

Julia's school carnival

Last weekend, we got to go to the carnival at Julia's school. It was very well-done, and a lot of fun! The kids enjoyed eating cotton candy and playing all the games. I think their two favorite spots were the petting zoo and the craft table. They got to make bracelets and decorate tiles. They loved it! What a fun night!

{I just realized my head was cut off in one of the pictures...oh well, collages can be tricky that way sometimes}

A new experience

Recently, Julia and Liliana got to try their hand, er, foot at rollerskating. At first we thought roller skates would be easiest, then we heard roller blades would be easier. We finally settled on skates for Lil and blades for Jules. They were pretty good for their first time! Of course, they fell a time or two, but it didn't stop them from continuing to try! I stayed and walked with Lili and even had her wheels tightened a bit. Julia was "Little Miss Independent" and didn't want me to help at all! It was fun, and definitely a throw-back to when I was a kid! Yes, they even played the "hokey-pokey."

As you can see from the ice cream pictures. We were there for a friend's birthday party. The place was hopping, as at least six other girls were also having a birthday party there at the same time! Whoa!

Checking in...

I know, I know...it's terrible! I haven't blogged in over a week and a half! What have I been doing? Well, my Mom and brother were in town visiting last week and we stayed busy! I will be updating soon though, really soon. I'm so far behind! AAAAHHHH!

A move for Simon

This past Thursday, my awesome visiting teachers/friends came to visit me with an offer of help. Nate and I have been wanting to move Simon up to his room (previously dubbed "the guest room") from our room, but hadn't done it yet. My visiting teachers said they wanted to help. So, they came over and the three of us moved his crib and changing table upstairs! Nate wasn't home, so it was a happy surprise for him when he got home. The bed was already in there, they just moved it over to the wall. Wasn't that a sweet thing to do?! Thank you Lori and Kim!

{Just finishing up}

{Julia made this sign for his door, in anticipation of him moving in there, a few weeks ago}

Here it is! I think it looks great!
(We got that quilt at Christmas time, the same time we got the ones for the girls. We think it's so cute!)

Now, if we can just get him to sleep through the night, all will be well!

Actually, he did for the first time Monday night! We were so proud of him! He usually will sleep for six hours straight, but then he wants his mama! But, on Monday he slept from 9:00 pm 'til 7:00 am (with only one five-minute fussy spell at midnight - he wasn't crying, just "complaining" a little). Way to go Simon! I know he'll get it!