Second Tooth = Trama

BEFORE: Here is sweet M with one tooth missing and one extremely loose tooth. She has been complaining that it is hard to eat so we decided it was time to attempt to pull out the second tooth! (Isn't her dress cute?!)




































DURING: Here daddy is trying to pull M's tooth out. She kept biting down while he tried to take the tooth out. After about twenty minutes of crying and one extremely loose tooth, mommy gave it a pull and got it out!







AFTER: What, are those tear stained checks?? Why yes they are. M was totally traumatized by this tooth pulling. The first tooth popped out with one try. This tooth was much looser but took way longer to come out. I think mommy and daddy were pretty traumatized as well. From now on, we'll let mother nature or M take her own course and get the tooth out without help from us. Poor little M! Hopefully the tooth fairy will be good to her tonight!

Burned

Today we had a picnic at R's work and I went with B while M was at school. We had a fun time, although the weather was humid, it was at least cloudy to keep us somewhat cool. I didn't really think to put sun screen on since it was cloudy...duh!

There is something about getting sunburned that makes me feel really guilty. I mean, getting a bit of sun here and there is fine, but when I get really red, I feel a ton of GUILT. Come on, I know that sunburns can lead to cancer...and is having a great tan really worth it? NO!


I know I like a good tan and anyone who knows me knows I LOVE tan feet! (through in tan lines and it makes it that much better!) I am just educated enough to know that being burnt is not good! Next time I'll do better. Besides, being bright red is somewhat embarrassing as everyone has to comment and how red you are for the next couple of days! O well, life goes one. (I hope I at least get some color from all this pain!!

Wordless Wednesday

Kindergarten Concert

So, M's kindergarten concert was on May 13th, but I guess it's never too late to report on it!!

The kindergartners were split into two groups since there was too many of them to perform together. M was front and center since her and the other little girl next to her were the shortest kids out of both classes. (Was was excited to wear her Sunday shoes because they did make her a bit taller!)




The songs were really cute and M did a really good job when she had some solo parts!












M with a few of her friends in her class. It always makes me laugh a bit when I see her with these girls because she is so short compared to most of them. She sometimes gets upset because she gets called little and she thinks that means young. I try to tell her she is just not as tall as some kids and that is ok! I guess I always wanted to be tall when I was little so I guess I can understand!

B and M wore matching dresses which were really cute. M got flowers after her performance which she was really excited about!

This is M's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. D. M loves her and we think she is great. She is such a great teacher and I am so glad the first teacher we have dealt with in public schools has been so great!

My Girlas

Here are a few pictures of my crazy girls!! The other day our neighbor P watched them so I could go to our stake women's conference. He ended up taking them to McDonald's for lunch and had to buy them socks there so they could play on the playground. (they were wearing sandals...and since we are fashion conscious they didn't have socks on with their sandals!!)

B insisted on wearing them the whole day!! I think they look a little ghee-toe, but if you're two I guess you can pull off that look!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Memorial Day!

We had a great memorial day! R had to work but the girls and I made the most of it. The weather was great and M had friends to play with all day long!(At one point there were three friends over which was pretty fun for M!)

This afternoon M, B, and M from next door went out to run through the sprinklers. They all had fun!

M actually ran through the sprinklers but got cold pretty quickly!

B didn't brave taking a direct hit from the sprinklers but loved getting wet on the outskirts!

By the end both girls were cold and ended up jumping on the trampoline a bit to try and warm up!

We had a bar-b-que with our two sets of neighbors when R got home for work. I was also able to get the toy room completely organized today which was nice.

Happy girls, a clean house, good friends...I'd say we had a great Memorial day!!

Baby Teeth!

Tonight R was putting the girls to bed when I heard M (who was already tucked in) yelling for something. R went back in and I continued doing what I was doing. Within minutes I hear M screaming like she is really upset/hurt. I run up the stairs and realize she isn't even in bed...oh no, she is in major trouble. I run to our bathroom and see her sitting on the counter crying with R holding her tooth and blood dripping out of her mouth. (M had called daddy back to her room to show him how loose her tooth was. Daddy then decided to give it a couple turns and yank it out!)

After the initial shock M got really excited to have lost her first tooth! (She is one of the last kids left in her class to lose a tooth!) She wanted to call grandma and Aunt A and let them know she lost her first tooth! She also helped write a note to the tooth fairy asking her if she could keep her tooth!

We'll update on it the tooth fairy was kind to her in the morning!

(On a side note...I did get a bit teary eyed thinking about my baby growing up. I guess there is no way to stop it, oh well, I'll just have to embrace it!)

Gas...not that kind!

Okay, seven years ago when R and I made the trek out to the East from the BYU, we stopped at a small gas station in an even smaller town, somewhere in the mid west. I looked at the sign and couldn't believe how much gas was. Who, in their right mind would pay over two dollars a gallon for gas...even if it was ultra premium?! I was so shocked I forced R to go stand by the sign so we could document this craziness for our posterity. "Look grandchildren, some silly people used to pay this much for gas."

Needless to say, I have been humbled. When we first got our little corolla, we paid fifteen dollars for one tank of gas, which lasted us a month! I remember getting gas in SoCal (yes, I hate when people call it that!) for 95 cents a gallon in the summer of 99. Crazy how times change. I just paid $4.07 to fill up our mini van (wishing for corolla right now!). CRAZY! I'm not one who focuses too much on money. I figure the money fairies just keep filling up the bank so I just keep spending! Lately though, those money fairies have been slacking so I need to think a bit more about how often I go out, due to the crazy price of gas! Oh, to pay $2.11 again!

Wordless Wednesday

JUMP

We got a new trampoline about two weeks ago and needless to say, the girls love it! The whole neighborhood loves it as well! This is all I have time for now...I'm sure the pictures explain everything!!!

Happy Birthday R!

Thirty Two Reasons I love my Husband!

1 He always makes me laugh

2 He takes care of the girls and loves playing with them

3 He always helps me around the house before he sits down to watch t.v. or play games

4 He puts up with all my crazy moods!

5 He takes care of his church calling without complaint

6 He knows all kinds of old classic rock songs

7 He is athletic and I enjoy watching him play sports

8 He always encourages me in whatever I want to do

9 He provides for his family

10 He wants to go on a mission with me when we are older

11 He loves my cooking

12 He brags about me

13 He agreed to marry me on a Friday the Thirteenth

14 He does laundry, folds it, and puts it away

15 He always surprises me with thoughtful things when we have been away from each other

16 He has the best green eyes and long eye lashes!

17 He knows how to have fun and be funny without putting people down

18 He loves my family and thinks my sisters and I are somewhat crazy when we are together!

19 He lets me shop when I just need to feel better sometimes!

20 He will always wake up at night if I am cold and go get me a blanket

21 He still opens doors for me and tells me he loves me everyday

22 He reads scriptures with me everyday

23 He holds me at night when I have a bad dream

24 He asked me out when there were plenty of other girls for him to pick from!

25 He gives me back massages whenever I ask

26 He lets me take breaks from the kids and I usually come home to a cleaner house!

27 He always says sorry first

28 He takes the girls to the library and likes it!

29 He calls my dad sir!

30 He loves going on dates with me

31 He is organized and doesn't keep junk around the house

32 He loves me!

I won't tell you how old he is but there are at least thirty two reasons I love him! Happy Birthday R!

I Love You

Tonight the girls had a cute conversation as they went up the stairs.

B: Hey M

M: What?

B: I love you.

M: I love you too.

B: I know.

Isn't it nice to know you are loved?!

Itchy

So, this is little B this morning. I was just getting ready to leave and thought I would throw her hair in a pony tail quickly before we headed out the door. When I pulled her hair up I saw something that looked like a squished bug on her neck. I was about to wipe it off and then the dreaded word popped into my head...TICK!

I have never before seen a tick so I quickly called R to come look at the gross thing on B's neck. He quickly concluded it was a tick embedded in her neck. After consulting with the nurse at the B's
doctor's office we went ahead and tried pulling
the tick out with tweezers. I thought it would be straight forward...you know, squeeze tick, pull with gentle pressure, tick comes out. Oh no, not so simple. Said little tick grips on to Brie's neck for dear life if comes out in three or four pieces. Meanwhile, B is patiently sprawled across my lap while R performs "surgery" on her tick neck. We weren't able to get the head out so the doctor wanted us to bring her into the office.

To make a long story a little less long, the doctor got a bit more of the head out but not all of it. He prescribed antibiotics and had the tick sent to a lab to test for Lyme disease. B laid on the doctors exam table perfectly still while he tried to get the remains of the tick out. He was pretty amazed at how still she was, as was I!

This afternoon the doctor called and said the lab mixed up two different ticks and didn't know whose tick was whose. Ends up, B will have to have her blood drawn in six to eight weeks. Hopefully she will hold perfectly still for that too, although my instincts tell me that will not be the case!

B is such a little trooper and I am so glad R was here to do all the yucky stuff. I have always feared ticks and now, I have lived through that fear! (I guess technically it wasn't on me and I did do a bit of dry heaving, but I think I have been tested and will never have to see a tick again!) Minus a bit of itching, life has gotten back to normal after our fun filled morning! (To look on the positive side of things, I did get a trip to Target out of the whole thing...to get medicine of course!)

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Shoes

I'm back...my second try!

So, I guess I win the worst blogger award! I will gladly accept and apologize to all my loyal fans (all two of you) for leaving you empty handed when visiting the past week. I do, however, have a good reason for blogging. In the past week I have read four books (1,800 pages plus a few!)

What, you ask, has been so good, well let me explain!

While on vacation my sister in law A, asked if I had read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I said no and she immediately ran to get the first book for me.
I didn't want to hurt her feelings and turn down reading the book since she was s
enthusiastic about it. Little did she know that I have been secretly mocking the book for the past year of so. I mean really, I read real literature, not teenage vampire romance novels...as if people! (Even when my sister A, who is working toward a PhD in English literature recommended the books, I have to question her judgement for a bit!)

In an effort to maintain my relationship with my sister in law, I decided to attempt reading the book. I started reading on vacation and thought the first book was okay, just nothing great in the beginning. By the end of vacation I decided to borrow her copy of the book so I could at least

finish is and decide if I wanted to read the other two books. In all honesty I liked it but it wasn't my favorite book out there. I decided it would be worth reading the other books though just to see what happens.

I then go to the library to find the second book. I have to go to the young adult section to pick up the book. I have somewhat embarrassed since it was in the corner of the library and there was a neon sign that announced to the world you were entering the young adult section. (The neon sign kind of gave it a bad feel, if you know what I mean!)

I read the second book in about six hours and am totally hooked. I go to church Sunday and am somewhat reluctant to stay for a meeting I had because I want to get through the third book and see how the story ends. (I did go to my meeting though!)

So, I have to eat my pride and say I have read the teenage vampire romance novels and I misjudged them. I am quite excited for the fourth book of the series to come out. Not my favorite books of all time, but definitely a fun read and something out of the ordinary for me!




The fourth book I read was totally different than the first three I read. Left To Tell, is the biography of a woman who survived the Rwandan holocaust in the nineties. It is a great read that I would recommend to all. I read it today, while also having time to totally clean the house. It was a quick read, but was a great reminder of what true faith can be.

Sorry for my absence from the blogging world, it was worth my four books though!

I'm Back!!

So, we had a great time on vacation and made it back! More on that to come! In an effort to procrastinate going through all my pictures from vacation I will tell you about what I have been loving lately...this peanut butter!

I have really been into peanut butter lately. I can eat a peanut butter sandwich for lunch and feel full for the rest of the afternoon. I figured it worked so well for lunch, why not give breakfast a try. I have always wanted to try fancy peanut butter but have always shyed away from the price. Let me tell you, this yummy peanut butter was well worth the extra dollar or two I spent on it!

It's all natural and have such a great flavor. I love that the peanut butter has some texture to it and the cinnamon and raisins add an extra little bonus. I have also tried the dark chocolate peanut butter, good, but this one is still my favorite. Just spread it on a good piece of whole wheat bread or a bagel and you have yourself a great breakfast! Go to www.ilovepeanutbutter.com to see all their yummy products! Hope your grocery store carries it! And maybe next time I'm in NYC I'll try out their sandwich shop!

I'm Leaving...on a Jet Plane!!

Okay, it's not quite a jet plane, a minivan to be exact, and we're not headed for the sunny California beaches but we are going on vacation!! M's spring break is this next week so we are going to Pennsylvania to visit friends and then to D.C. to visit my brother and his family! I'm looking forward to spring weather and relaxing with R and the girls!

Wordless Wednesday Happy Birthday Grandma!!

Favorite Cookies!

For those of you who don't know I am a cookie lover. I don't eat just any cookie though. Buy those mass made store bought cookies and I will pass over them anytime in the cupboard. On the other had, let me make cookies, especially with my favorite little helpers, and I will be happy! Baking with my little girls is one of my favorite things to do with them. I was recently inspired by a post from Mrs. Dub to share my favorite cookie recipe. I couldn't come up with one...so here are my top three! Enjoy!

Chocolate Crinkles (My favorite as a child!)

2 cups sugar
½ cup oil (I use canola)
2 tsp vanilla
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled a bit
4 large eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup powdered sugar

Mix oil, sugar, vanilla and chocolate. Mix in eggs one at a time. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate 3 hours (or put in the freezer for one hour if you’re in a hurry for yummy cookies!)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet. Drop balls of dough in powdered sugar and roll around to coat. Bake 10-12 minutes. Do not over bake! I take them out when they still look a little underdone! Enjoy. (We sometimes call these flour cookies because my daughter used to think they were rolled in flour, so the name stuck!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have made many chocolate chip cookies in my lifetime but none compare to this recipe a friend gave to us when we got married!

1 ¼ cups butter flavored Crisco
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 ½ cups brown sugar
2 scant tsp salt
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp vanilla

Mix/ cream above ingredients. Then add

4 ¼ cups flour
1 bag of milk chocolate chips (Ghirardelli work best!)

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Do not over bake! Take out just when turning brown!

Banana Drop Cookies (This is a family recipe that might sound different but is so good!)

¾ cup shortening
¾ cup brown sugar
Cream these two together then add the following:

1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
2 ripe bananas mashed (bananas that are too brown to eat)
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp soda
chopped walnuts (optional, but really good!)

The batter will be somewhat sticky and that’s OK! Drop cookie dough onto cookie sheets with a spoon. Cook at 375 degrees for 8-12 minutes. Do not overcook!

Frost with brown sugar frosting:

6 Tbsp brown sugar
4 Tbsp canned milk (are whatever milk or cream you have on hand)
4 Tbsp real butter
Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add 1 tsp vanilla. Add powdered sugar to spreading consistency. If icing gets thick before finishing cookies, just warm up in the microwave for a few seconds or add a bit of milk! I almost always double this recipe of cookies because it is so good!