Strawberries

McKayla and I are going to plant strawberries today. 25 beautiful little plants! I will post pictures later.

Where Are You Blogging Buddies?

I think that I was gone for so long that my blogging buddies forgot about me. Oh well, I am back now. I wanted to clarify something real quick. When listing gifts or thing that I do, often I am not all exclusive. I randomly write down what pops into my head. I hope that no one is offended if I didn't list everything that my kids received as gifts. It was not intentional at all. I am so grateful for how much my kids are spoiled. I appreciate all the gifts, cards, phone calls, and text messages on their behalf. Again, please forgive me if I offended you.

A Funny Story

Last night was family night for us. Even though Chad cannot do it because of his busy schedule, I try to take the time every week to teach our girls about my faith. Last night I was trying to focus on the joy of reading scriptures. I was trying to explain how the scriptures tells stories and have the word of God in them for us to learn from. My oldest said she loved the scriptures because if she learned them, then she got money for the jar. I was a bit confused until I remembered that at church our primary children are memorizing scriptures. For every scripture they learn they get to have a penny to drop into a jar for "pennies by the inch". McKayla is trying to learn her scriptures, but I didn't think she really understood what was going on until last night. I am grateful for this amazing girl.

My Entertainment

People wonder how I can survive with no TV. We have a TV (3 in fact), but they don't get channels. We watch movies on them. Personally I love not seeing all the crap on TV. However, I would like to justify that I don't need TV when I have my kids. Check out McKayla. (You might have to turn your speakers up)

In case you couldn't hear, she said "Welcome to the gun show". Thanks Uncle Jayme.

Aoril 25

Yesterday was McKayla's 4th birthday. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. We decorated the house for her with bolons, streamers, and flowers. McKayla opened her presents first thing in the morning, then we prepared for party. We had all kinds of games. We had an archery contest (with squirt guns), pin the heart on the crown, the kids were knighted, they played bingo, I Spy, charades, and there was a dragon pinata to slay. The kids had a great time and so did Chad and I.

Chad and I were going to go to Second Chance Prom, but Ariana would only allow us to have dinner. Maybe we will go next year!

Sorry I've Been Gone

Well, I think I'm back. I haven't written for over a week. Last Thursday night, the family drove to Boise. Chad had to take some classes, so the kids and I stayed and hung out with my brother Jayme. We went to a park and enjoyed the sunshine down there. On Saturday we took the kids fishing. It was windy and cold, but McKayla still talks about it. My brother got her a fishing pole for her birthday. It's name is "The Pink Lady". McKayla loves it. Now I need someone to take her fishing. Saturday night Ariana had a temperature of 103. We took her to the ER and they told us double ear infection. I was very surprised because she had her 1 year shots on Wednesday and there was no ear infection then. They gave us antibiotics and sent us on our way. On Tuesday she still had a very high fervor. I took her to our Dr. here and they said no ear infection. They drew her blood and she was dehydrated. The Dr., sent her to the hospital for a chest x-ray. Then we had to get an IV to battle the dehydration. It took them 5 tried to get the IV in. Then, we went back to the Dr and they put in a catheter to get a urine sample. 6 hours later we were back at home. On Wednesday they took her IV out and said that the cause of her fervor was a virus. Today she has less of a fervor, but is demanding to be held all of the time. I am tying to prepare for McKayla's birthday party on Saturday, but doing things one handed is really hard. I am grateful that McKayla has been so very understanding of her sister needing extra attention.

Ariana Turns 1

I know that some people wanted pictures posted earlier, but the computer and I were fighting. I'm not sure if we've made up yet, but I hope so. (I spend 5 hours trying to download some pictures to Sam's). Anyway, yesterday my little girl turned 1. I am still in awe that I have had her for a year. I am so grateful for this little girl. we opened presents when she woke up. I didn't really wrap anything because wrapping always frustrated McKayla. I should have known that Ariana would have been different. She had a wrapped gift from Grandma and Grandpa Porter, so she enjoyed that. They gave her a cute outfit, a book, a blanket for her babies, and a cute pink bear. My parents gave her a banana chair to watch tv on. Right now the girls have more fun playing on them than sitting on them. We gave her a new outfit and a swing for outside. At 12:00 we went to Blast Off and let the girls play. Ariana loves the balls. McKayla fell and hit her lip, and she was very sad because she thought that we had to go home because she was hurt. Then we had Aunt Sherri and cousins come over for cake and ice cream. I tried to do a flower/spring theme for her party. The cake was the flower basket and I used rice krisspie treats as the flowers and butterflies. I also used the flowers I made about a month ago in the decor. I think Ariana had a great birthday.

A Good Helping of Guilt

Warning: The following blog contains sensitive material that I am ranting about. The general male population may not want to read this.

I decided to wean my little one. She is turning 1 tomorrow, so I figured it was time. She was only nursing at nap time and bed time and if she needed comfort. She would want to nurse before bed rather than eat food, thus she would wake up in the night hungry. I thought that a year was pretty good. Anyway, I was not prepared for the pain that comes from weaning. Ouch! So I got on the Internet and tried to find ways to alleviate my pain. What I found instead was a large helping of guilt. The articles that I read said that all weaning should be child directed and by forcing weaning, I am sending the message that I am rejecting my child. She will feel rejected and angry. The article went on to say that it is perfectly normal to nurse until a child is 2 or 3 years old. I am not weaning for selfish reasons. Really. I got thought that she would do better without. I have continued the weaning process, but in addition to pain, I am dealing with guilt. I'm so glad that those articles are so helpful. We all need something else to beat ourselves up about.

Easter Weekend

Well, the celebration of Easter brought spring weather finally. We had such a wonderful day yesterday and today has been fun as well. We dyed eggs on Friday. We had so much fun. Saturday we got up and had a mini hunt in our house and the girls got their Easter baskets. They loved it. Ariana loved playing with her little basket. Then we went to our Church Easter Breakfast and egg hunt. Mckyala had such a great time. Ariana fell asleep, so she missed it. Then when we came home my parents had hid eggs in the back yard for the girls. The weather was so nice. After all of the festivities I was able to a large amount of yard work. I still have more to do, but I love that first day when you can really get outside and prepare the yard for growing things. Here are some pictures for the girls during our activities. The last 2 are the girls in their Easter dresses.

Slide Show

I wanted to post a slide show of my trip to SLC, but I'm not smart enough. So, instead I will put a few pictures on.

I'm Back

Hello to all of you! I'm back from my trip to SLC to see my brother Jake and his wife Jen. First, before I get into those days of fun, I want to talk about something I found. I love taking pictures. I usually wait and print them off about once per month. Normally I do it to Walmart. you can download them and have them delivered for about the same price as picking them up in 1 hour photo. However, you have to be very patient. It takes about 2 weeks to get your pictures. My neighbor across the street told me that she likes Sam's Club better. It is the same deal. However, Sam's is about 2 cents cheaper per picture and the quality is better. Also, I got the pictures back in less than a week. I am so glad I discovered this and I wanted to pass it along. I developed 113 pictures and had them delivered to my house for less than $12.00.

Okay back to SLC. My brother has a pool in his little community so we swam 5 times I think. We also found a great scrapbook store called Heartland Paper (It rocks! Thanks Karen!). We went to a place call Jump On It. It is filled with trampolines and fun things to play with. The kids were free, so I only had to pay for my self. I was a lot of fun. What a workout, I am so sore. We also ate at Goodwood's (I love BBQ). We had a great time. I am glad we were able to visit with family and try new things.

Next week are are heading to Boise for a class that Chad has to take. While he is being a student, I am going to visit my other 2 brothers. I'm not sure what they have planned, but I am excited. I love to travel places and try new things. However, I am longing for the weather to be nice so that I can play outside!

5 Things

I was tagged by my friend Sami, so here it goes!

5 things I was doing five years ago:
Completing my bachelor's degree
Doing Judo
Reading a lot of history books
Preparing to present a paper at a historians conference

5 things on my to do list tomorrow:
Cook with McKayla
Vacuum the house
Run for 30 minutes
Scrapbook
Read books to my kids

5 thing that I would do with a million dollars:
Give 10% to the Lord
Pay off all our debt
Put it in investments
Work on the house
Give some to family

5 places I have lived: (I've only lived in 3 places)
Arco, ID
Pocatello, ID
Idaho Falls, ID

5 Jobs I have had:
Classroom tech at Human Development Center
Developmental therapist at ALA
IBI therapist at ALA
Service Coordinator at ALA
A mom

5 Things I want to be doing in 5 years:
Getting my Master's
Improving myself be focusing on my talents
Be better at photography
Helping at my kid's school
Traveling more

5 people I'm tagging:
Sherri
Natalie
Sarah

How Embarrassing

I remember when McKayla went through a stage where she loved putting on our cloths. She loved putting on Chad's shirts and walking around. I have some great pictures from this time. Ariana is now at that stage, however her choice of clothing is really embarrassing. She loves to pull all my underclothing out of the drawer and drag it around the house. It could end up in the kitchen or on the stairs. This is not okay! I try to keep her out of my drawers. I tell her no, but she still does it. Chad thinks it is because the fabric is soft or something. I am so afraid that someone will come over and she will have displayed my unmentionables around the house. Chad thinks it's funny, and i might, if I weren't so paranoid.