Our Newest Addition

We don't name cars, but if we did, she'd have a pretty name! She's used, or we couldn't have afforded anything her or any of her siblings, but we lucked out with really low mileage and we hope she'll serve us well and last us a long time.

Impaired

I'm drinking fountain impaired. I just can't get a real drink from one!
I'm diet impaired. (See pictures for evidence.)
I've had a growing suspicion, but last night confirmed another impairment. I am budget impaired. In fact, it's a problem that plagues the whole family! We have a horrible pattern that we get low on money, freak out, make changes, things get better, so we get comfy again. It's like the Nephite Pride Cycle. It just keeps going!

This week the check engine light came on three times. It's time for the new car. We're going to try and solve this problem today. We've been searching all week online to get an idea of prices of used reliable cars. We'll see how it goes today. Last night, we had the knock-down drag out, "how are we going to make a monthly car payment?" "discussion". Yes, let's call it a discussion! :) It wasn't pretty. We will have to make MAJOR changes. We made huge goals. The kinds of goals that are very scary if we don't follow through and aren't accountable to each other. I know we can do it but we will both have to be very good! This may seem silly but keep us in your prayers. Neither of us have had to struggle much and like I mentioned, as soon as we do, things get better and we get, well, lazy.

Schwee!!!!!

Our neighbors have a swing they hung from their tree. All through the Spring, I would have to fight the temptation to run over there and put M in it when they were at work because I knew M would LOVE it! So I got one for us. It was quite an ordeal of running from Home Depot to Toys R Us and through many a Target before I found an outdoor toddler swing. Of course, as soon as I found one, they were everywhere! Grrrr! I figured we could hang it from under the deck. It took us several months to finally do it but M LOVES her swing! She especially loves her Daddy to help her and when he gets home, she'll put on her shoes and run to the door begging for "out, out, schwee, schwee, schwee!!" It was totally worth the search!

Summer Movies

My list of summer movies that I want to see is growing, not shrinking! No shock since we are too stingy for babysitters but don't want to take Grandma's every friday night...besides the ridiculous movie ticket prices! Most of these will not be seen until they're on our little screen at home. Oh well....

No Reservations
Hairspray
The Nanny Diaries
The Bourne Ultimatum
Spider Man 3
Evan Almighty

My one movie for the summer? Harry Potter 5, of course! :)
Although, I'm embarrassed to admit, that through library movies, Will and I are progressively moving through the Star Trek series. It all started when I saw the original movie in the library and couldn't remember it (I grew up with a Trekkie Mom who has since reformed herself but I still have fond memories..."Die Klingon bass turds!" from my sweet little Mom's mouth!) Anyway, I took it home and convinced Will to join me and found out why I don't remember it. No one should! It is the most boring movie known to man!!!!!!! They spend twenty minutes just looking at the ship-I can get that in a funny movie like spaceballs! Anyway, I then had to convince Will that the rest of the movies were really better than that, so we requested 2 and 3. He agrees they're better but my favorites are still 4 with the whales and 6, the last one before the next generation movies. Anyway, that's all. I'll go hide now...

My No-Guilt Garden

I've talked about the beautiful job that my wonderful, amazing Mother did on my yard while she was here! The grass, well, there's no hope for it this summer, but hopefully next Spring we'll actually get rain! :) She told me our job was to lay some mulch to insulate the plants and this weekend we did! So, here's the finished product! Now, ALL I have to do is keep it alive! Ha! :)

Car recommendations??

We are tired of pouring money into our car!!! We have driven it for over 130K miles which is impressive, but it's paying the price now. Or rather, we are! So, all my closet readers! Tell us what cars you've had good and bad experiences with! We think we may need to be acting on this soon so any input is welcome!

We have been contemplating a mini-van but that seems extreme considering we're not even pregnant with our second kid yet. Besides the fact that the other car isn't far behind the Subaru in it's journey toward totaling! My Mom has recommended her Honda Accord and so far, it's winning in all the reviews on used/new family sedans but the Toyota Camry is up there too. We always thought we'd get another Subaru and maybe a Forester or Outback but the quick decline of our current Subaru is making us rethink that!

What do you think????

My Harry Potter Journey

When my Mom left last week, I felt full, after a wonderful week of TLC, fun, and good lovin' from my Mom and little sister and brother. But I also felt so empty and left alone as they drove away without me!

I feel the same today. It seems so silly that a book would do this to me, but it has. I cry over good books. I remember as a 12 year old, locking myself in the half bathroom in the Little Rock house, crying my eyes out over "Where the Red Fern Grows"... and I don't like dogs! I got my Harry Potter book 7 on the way to work on Saturday morning. I knew I couldn't stay up until midnight on Friday because of Saturday work, but I had to get it first thing! I walked into WalMart and got it and left and sat at work reading until I had to actually, you know, work! When I got home, I confessed to Will that I'd already gotten the book and he left me alone, taking M on his errand so I could just read and read and read. Last night at midnight, I had about 150 pages left, and I knew M would be up early, so I literally Forced myself to put it down and sleep but of course sleep did not come quickly!!! This morning, I sat in my pjs on the couch reading while M had breakfast, looking at me and singing sweet songs to me from her high chair as I sobbed so hard at parts that she would get worried! It was amazing!!!!

This book did not disappoint me! I have always thought Rowling was an amazing author, but I confess, I was worried that I wouldn't like how it ended or that questions I needed answering wouldn't be answered. It was perfect. Everything came full circle and even the things that made me cry made sense. So I feel full of this good sweet book and empty that it's over.

I came upon Harry after the 2nd book. I'm slightly older than those who "grew up with" Harry Potter and had graduated high school and read book one the summer after my freshman year. I immediately insisted that my family read it and we were all hooked by the time book two came out. I waited in anticipation for each book thereafter and have enjoyed each step in his tale. I can't wait until my kids are old enough to read it to them and let Harry cast his spell on their lives as well.

My Cherry Fetish

I love cherries! I got sucked in years ago when I fell in love with Mary Engelbreit.
When I got married, I decorated my kitchen in red, white, and blue with cherries all over. I love it! This spring, my Mom gave me a cherry purse but it's a "wintery" purse. I can't wait until next winter!

Then a few weeks ago, my dear friend Holly sent me this! She had told me about hers and knew I loved cherries too! Thank you, Holly!!!

Then yesterday, my mother-in-law, Jan, showed up at my house with this. I teased her that she was trying to make me jealous! So, that evening, she showed up with one for me too! She did not need to do that, but I will surely enjoy and have fun with my "apple" purse! (M thinks all red fruit are apples!)

Back to School?????

So, for the past week or so, I've been having dreams about high school. I'm not sure if it's because I'm still taking pain killers at night or what. It's when my incisions are the most sore so it helps me sleep without waking up with jabbing pains, but I may have to cut them off if the dreams don't stop. See, I did not enjoy high school. I got out as fast as I could and barely made it at that. I was the ultimate prideful overachiever. Translated, that means if I couldn't get an A, I gave up rather than admit I was lost or behind or needed help. Pitiful, I know. I would like to add in here that I made up for it in college. I have the diplomas to prove it!!! However, I have NEVER wanted to go back to high school. I survived high school because of choir. It was my saving grace and just about the only thing I liked about it. So, a week of dreams where I'm stuck in classes, at my current age, mind you, are not my idea of a good night's rest!!! One night, I was pregnant in high school. One night, I joined in the middle of the semester and they wouldn't help me catch up. Last night, I just never went to classes so I was half impassive because I didn't want to be there and half freaked out because I'd fail! I'm not into dream analysis but to me, high school dreams have always signified unfinished business. Like I have some big project that's hanging over my head or something. I can't think of anything right now but in the mean time, no more European History and Trig, pleeeeeease!!!!

funny moment

So M just found a paper clip in our office drawers. The drawers are a treasure trove of forbidden goodies that I am still figuring out how to control from her kleptomaniac fingers!! It's the kind of paper clip that has a black, plastic triangle and folding arms. I am blocking the name right now. anyway, it's too cute. She's trying to figure out what it is. So far, she has tried clipping my toenails with it, curling her eyelashes with it, and talking to it. Too cute! Now I better get it away before she figures out how to work it!!!

Fun Family Moments...

If i think too hard about their visit, I start crying. But all morning, I have been thinking of fun things from my Mom, Grace and Sam's trip here.

Mom's "this is not a guilt garden". She planted tons and tons of beautiful flowers and 1) didn't make me feel at all guilty about sitting there watching her and 2) paid for more than half of the flowers and 3) loved doing it for me and 4) kept reminding me that yes, some of them will die and No, it's not my fault

Frosted Shredded Wheat! I love the stuff but I only buy the target brand. I thought it tasted just as good. But Sam loves it just as much as I do so Mom buys him the strawberry, cinnamon, vanill and regular. Lucky for us, he couldn't finish them all so now I get to enjoy them as well because I was too cheap to try the new flavors! Thanks Sam!!!

Quiddler-the best card game ever! If you like cards, you'll love this game! We have passed on this game to my family and now they love it too. You make words out of the cards you get, but in our family, we also spend half the time, laughing hysterically at the crazy words we COULD make, if rule-stickler Will would let us! A few choice ones from this week? sexena (she must have amazing super powers!), ikxyu (said "I kix you"!) and wampy! So if you're feeling a bit wampy (much better conveyed with a fake British accent) don't worry, it will pass in time!

M's new words in honor of their visit: "bobba" for Grandma, "mam" for Sam, "more" for well, more (she has signed this for well over six months, but has always just said mmmmm for a vocalization and now says "moah" like a good East coast girl (yeah, not sure where she got that!) nana, chicken, whee, swing, chair. It was a talkative week!!!!

Our weekend with Edward and Bella. If you don't know what I'm talking about you NEED to read Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. I told Grace about them and she arrived, engrossed in the final chapters of Twilight, while I, ironically, had just gotten the sequel from the library! So we had to purchase a second copy so Grace and I didn't have to fight over the library one, and our rambunctious Saturday night was spent with Grace and I chasing each other to the end of New Moon while Mom got wrapped up in Twilight. Now all of us are waiting in anticipation of Eclipse, the third installment!

Mom's raspberries-My Mom doesn't wash raspberries! What??? My clean, spic-n-span Mom who serves healthy yummy food? I walk into the kitchen and she has a carton of yummy raspberries open, so I ask her if she's cleaned them yet and she says "I don't clean them-I just hope the picker's hands were clean" well, you keep on hopin, Mom!!!

Going it alone!

Well, we went to Harry Potter 5 opening night Tuesday night. Loved it!

and I had my surgery on Wednesday. Didn't love it but I'm doing okay. (silly, you thought there'd be pictures??? :)

Mom, Sam and Grace came for a week to take care of us. Loved that!!!!!

Mom reorganized and cleaned up and beautified my garden! LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!

They went home this morning with many tears and a sad goodbye, including Megan who thought she was going to go. I love that she wanted to go and loved having them here but I hate having them leave. Today's my first day taking care of Megan alone so hopefully I'll be alive when Will gets home this afternoon.

Shoes!

M loves shoes! She always has. Her doctor was amazed that I could get her to wear sandals at her last appointment. I laughed because she brings them to me and begs to have them put on even when we're not going anywhere! shoes, shoes!!! At Grandma's yesterday, she went through a huge pile of shoes, carting them around the house, trying to get all of us to put shoes on and of course trying them on herself! Right now, she's discovering she can put Daddy's and Mommy's shoes on and next she'll be walking around in them! :)

Midnight Movie

We're going to do it!!! The movie DOES open at midnight on Tuesday! My surgery is Wednesday so it would be a while til we can see it, so we're going!!! Not like I'd be sleeping well anyway! :) M is going to Grandma's and we're going to the movies! How early do you think we need to be? We're not the dressing up kind although my family is ashamed of my lack of daring. Oh well! But I'm soooooooooooo excited!

Put Me To Bed!!!

We call her Miss Hyde. Her counterpart is Megan Jekyll. She's giggly and happy and then exhausted and screaming. Such fun! But oh, we love her!!!

During dinner, she's screaming like a banshee because we're not giving her what she wants, but when we give her cherries, she was smiley and sweet! grrrrr!

After dinner we took her to the bedroom to get ready for bed. She started giggling and being so happy and when I laid out her jammies, she sat down in the middle of them. It couldn't have been plainer if she was holding a sign above her head saying "I'm exhausted! Please put me to bed!!" During prayers, she even pointed at her crib, like, let's get a move on, folks!!!

Happy 4th for One of Us...

Well, at least one of us enjoyed the day! M passed on her lovely virus to both her parents to enjoy their day off together, in misery, running back and forth to the bathroom! True love, I tell ya!


So we called in reinforcements at 7am who promptly rescued M to have a fun day with grandma and grandpa Holman. She was so glad to get away from the sickies that she even blew us kisses and waved bye !

Ew again!

I shouldn't share any more vomit stories. I really shouldn't.

Middle of dinner, all over her highchair, clothes, floor. Needless to say dinner was over.

And I might not drink milk for a while....

Ew Ew Ew!!!

Sometime during the night something awful happened!

We woke up this morning to M squirming and whimpering in her bed. W went to get her only to call, uh, sweetie? help!!!

Vomit everywhere! And I'm talking everywhere! Luckily it was contained to her bed but she had thrown up sometime during the night, and rolled around in it through out the night. EW!!!!!! Her hair, jammies, sheets, blankets, stuffed animal, bumper, everything smelled. Her room still smells!!!!!

I love my baby and I'm always shocked at how well I'm able to handle bodily spills when it belongs to my dear ones but this just about pushed me to the limit! Her room reeks and we had to give her another bath this morning and wash her hair twice to get rid of the smell.

She stayed home with Dad this morning while I went to church. We didn't want to risk dealing with church vomit. She seems fine but is definitely not interested in eating.