I Would Like More Pink With That...

We had a very eventful weekend. I can not believe how much work goes into planning a 6yr old's b-day party, and it was still really low key. Hannah had a wonderful time. The little girls showed up in princess dresses...we made crowns and played pin the lips on the frog. We ate strawberry "flower" sandwiches, pasta salad, berry rice crispy squares, strawberries, pink marshmallows, and pink lemonade. I made a strawberry mousse Tinkerbell cake. We opened presents ("she" or should I say "we" got lots of little Pet Shop toys...yay) and then they played outside for 10 minutes and then everyone went home. An hour and half is the perfect amount of time for a b-day party. Audrey was a really big help, Wes had to work and she was perfect for the job. She made sure all the girls had everything they needed and helped me serve and clean.

(side note - I can not believe how picky kids are when it comes to food. I can put anything in front of my girls and they will eat it...if they don't eat it they don't eat...two out of the 4 girls did not like fruit/vegetables of any kind and since everything was laced with strawberries or vegetables they did not have much to eat.)

When Audrey and Hannah had their 4th and 2nd birthday party in Tooele (that is Utah for those of you who do not know) I tried my hardest to make bows out of crape paper...to no avail, I could not. Cristine (Hi!!:) made them for me and they were wonderful. Well I would like to report that I have accomplished the impossiable...I made the perfect square bows out of pink crape paper for Hannah's party. I can now offically say I have grown as a person.

We went to the drive-in Saturday night and saw Hancock, (that was actually a really good movie, a little crass at times but an orginal superhero movie) Clone Wars (Retire George!!!!) and the Dark Knight (we had already seen that so we did not stay...but just so you know if you have not seen Batman, it is a great movie, not for children).

Can I have My Cart Back Ma'am

I was grocery shopping on Friday and was preoccupied looking for pink candy for Hannah's party. I went and started pushing what I thought was my cart. All of a sudden I heard "I will trade you carts" and I was thinking, "Why would I want to do that?" I looked down and realized I had taken someone else's cart. I turned around and this really, really cute guy was standing there with my cart. Now this situation would not have been so embarrassing if it would have been a woman or the guy was not so cute. Why me?

- Disclaimer - Wes is much much, cuter than the guy at the grocery store!!!! Love you bunny:)

Tomato Watch 2008

The tomatoes are turning red by the bushel these last few days. Happiness!!!! We have about 40 more tomatoes that still need to turn, but I am not worried anymore.
On a secret note...Wes is almost done with the roof for the dollhouse. It is amazing (that is an understatement). We will soon get to start decorating. We will be getting the internet back soon and I will be able to post many many pics for all the summer blogs. I can not wait!!!

Joe Biden???? I need to write a blog but this will do for now...I don't know if this helps me want to vote for Obama or not!!! Do you think McCain will pick Hillary...I know I have a greater chance winning the lottery (I do not play) but wouldn't that stir things up a bit?

Tag Your It!!!

I have been tagged several times so I hope that I will be able to put down 6 facts that you all have not already read.

1 - For the first 3 months I lived in Korea, I did not have a toilet in my bathroom. There was only a drain in the corner of the room. I also did not have a bathtub or shower. I bathed myself in a large brown tub or went to the Base to take a shower.

2 - I can type 120 wpm.

3 -Wes and I have 3 Wedding Anniversaries. Wes and I eloped February 18, 2000 (we do not celebrate that one), then we were married in Grandma's backyard with the family on September 9, 2000 (this is the one we celebrate), and then we were sealed in the temple November 29, 2002. So, in a couple of weeks we will celebrate 8 yrs of marriage.

4 - I have seen the movie Dirty Dancing 250+ times. I can sometimes watch it 2 or 3 times in a row.

5 - After I was pregnant with Audrey (and her brother) I did not have a belly button. They stretched me out so much (not mention they broke my pelvis) that I lost it. When Hannah was born she gave me back my belly button and it is perfect.

(that is something many of you may not know....Audrey had a twin named John who died at the end of the second trimester...Audrey still talks in a weird language from time to time and we are sure that is her twin speak)

6 - 2 years in a row Wes and I gave each other the same card for Valentines.

It's a Good Thing

I was in Barnes and Noble and was browsing the Godiva counter (my all-time FAVORITE chocolate) and I saw a Twilight Godiva bar. Whoever came up with the marketing was brilliant. My favorite chocolate, in my favorite bookstore, about one of my favorite books. I just love Good Things!!!!

Audrey and Hannah just received their class assignments for this up-coming year. There are seven 3rd grade teachers and Audrey got the one that she wished for...Yay!!! Mrs. Kringer's class gets to do the shcool paly and has a real emphasis on music and reading. I am so stoked that Audrey got her as a teacher.
Hannah got Ms. Buso for Pre-1st, she has taught Pre-1st through third so she will really be able to help academically while Hannah is catching up emotionally. I heard that she is very nurturing and sweet.

We went and saw Wes's sister Barb and family while they were camping in the area. I could not believe how fat baby Aiden (my nephew who was born on my b-day) has got. He was sitting up and rolling. They grow up way too fast. We celebrated my nephews' b-days and the girls' b-days, it was so peaceful and lowkey....no drama!!! Audrey got the Little Pet Shop Monopoly game, she was very happy to receive it, but not as happy as I was...we have 160 little pet shop toys and rising. Now that is what I call a Good Thing!!!!

To Cuddles Or Not To Cuddles

(Cuddles is a beige bear that Wes gave to me after I had one of my surgeries and Audrey hijacked Cuddles and has slept with her ever since).

Wes and I are downstairs enjoying an evening together (very rare, because he is always at work), he is reading a book and I am talking on the phone with my sister...I know, you can just feel the togetherness.

All of a sudden I hear Audrey crying and Wes goes upstairs to see what's the matter, I follow him and then I hear both the girls crying (very rare). The whole story goes something like this -

Hannah - " I never get to sleep with Cuddles" and starts crying.
Audrey - " Don't be sad I will give you Cuddles" and gives her Cuddles.
Audrey then starts to cry because she is so sad that her sister is sad.

Hannah and Audrey sobbed for a good 5 minutes while Wes tried to make sense of the of the whole situation and make them feel better and I sat there and laughed. I don't think we are going to make it through the teenage years:P

The Secret of Zucchini....

FYI...squeeze the juice out of your Zucchini before baking with it. Your cooking time will be less and your bread or whatever your making will come out of the pan easier.

Can You Con The Tooth Fairy???

So, we were putting Hannah to bed and Wes was fixing her sheet. He lifted up her pillow and, low and behold, she had an empty plastic baggy (the same kind we use to put Audrey's teeth in) under her pillow. Wes and I look at her and asked what she was doing? Hannah told us she was waiting to see if the Tooth Fairy would leave her money without a tooth. We asked if she really thought she could pull one over on the Tooth Fairy. Hannah was pretty sure that she would fall for the trick. It was so hard not to break into a hysterical fit of laughter or for Wes not to start picking on me. Hannah must think she is pretty smart...but I think the Tooth Fairy is smarter, or at least wiser.

*Hannah has not lost any teeth yet.

House Elf

I have officially become a House Elf. Whenever I don't want to do the laundry, dishes, clean the blinds, etc...I always ask for a House Elf, you know, like Dobby from Harry Potter. They do all the housework. By the way, I do promote ethical treatment and fair rights for all House Elves.

I got a job cleaning houses Mon-Thurs from 9-12 and the pay is way above excellent for 3 hrs of work. This job is perfect for me because I am OCD when it comes to cleaning, the hours are perfect, I get to see Wes, and I will be home to send and get the girls from school. It is everything I needed in a job. So just call me if you need a House Elf!!!

Speaking of cleaning...Have you tried Palmolive Tropical Blossom!!!???? I love this dish soap, it smells so good!!!

Wes got a VERY GOOD promotion last week. I am so proud of him and thankful he works so hard to provide for us.

The Great Gerbil Escape...

The setting -

I have been watching Alias w/Jennifer Garner for the last two weeks. For those of you who have never watched the show it is all about spies, murder and intrigue. I had just watched 4 episodes, so I am already nervous (hey, you never know when Russian spies are going to infiltrate your home), it is 12:30 a.m., Wes is still at work.

Everyone remember I am rattled from watching Alias!

I go upstairs to go to bed and start my routine. I plug the cell phone into the cord by the bed and I hear something move...I tell myself that my mind is just playing tricks on me. I go and turn off the light and I hear something move under the bed...again I tell myself that some of my storage (we keep boxes and what-not under the bed) just settled. I lay down in bed and I hear something run from the head of the bed to the the foot. I was out of my bed and into the hallway faster than the speed of light. First I thought bomb (Alias...I know, irrational) than I came to my senses and thought snake. For those of you who know my fear of snakes you know I would rather have a bomb under my bed. That did not make sense either because I heard scampering...so I thought mouse. Just so you all know, I am sometimes not the sharpest knife in the drawer. The gerbils' cage is right beside me in the hallway. I look to my left and I only see Indiana Jones. I go over their cage and shake it a bit and start calling Mocha and low and behold, NO MOCHA!!!! She did it, all the exercising and plotting finally paid off...she escaped. Don't ask me how she did it or if she had an accomplice (Hannah) but she achieved her maniacal plan.

I am going to tell you a secret...you can not call a gerbil like you call a dog. For a good 5 minutes I was using my call your dog voice, and then she finally appeared (when I stopped) from underneath the bed and stared right at me as if to say HA, HA, HA...I am now going to take over the world!!! I threatened to go and get the vacuum if she did not back in her cage.
Well I guess I was being much louder than I thought I was because Audrey comes down the hall to see what I was doing (1:00 in the morning) and I tell her we need to get Mocha back where she belongs before Daddy gets home. So for the next 30+ minutes Audrey and I are trying to wrangle the gerbil from underneath the bed. I finally cornered her and trapped her in her ball, and kept her there until I could examine the cage for her escape route...who knows maybe she dug a tunnel. I sent Audrey back to bed thankful that I was not alone in my paranoia and gave Mocha Joe a stern lecture. I don't think she was listening to me because she had that glazed look in her eyes like the words were going in one ear and out the other. Lets just hope that this is the last of Mocha Joe's adventures.

(After using the interrogation skills I learned from watching Alias I finally got Mocha Joe's accomplice to crack. Steven the 8 yr old we have been babysitting for the summer, gave the gerbils something to chew on and did not make sure the door was closed, case closed. I wonder how much Mocha paid him?)

My Spectacled Girl

Audrey went to the Optomertrist today and we confirmed what we knew was only the inevitable, Audrey needs glasses. She is near-sighted and has a small astigmatism. She only has to wear them when looking at the chalk board or watching T.V., it is nice that she is not going to have to wear them all the time.

Audrey is very happy to be getting glasses, she thinks it is cool that she is going to have glasses like me....I am glad she has such a great attitude. I was hoping that she was going to have Wes's perfect eyesight. At least she has really nice frames (small wired and blue, (her favorite color) she looks really good in them...they make her look really smart).

I could not help flashing back to when I was her age and Mom took me to go and get a new pair of glasses (I have been wearing glasses since I was 4). My prescription was so high tht I had to have really thick lenses and they would only fit into certain frames. To top it off, Mom did not have a lot of money to spend so I ended up with these HUGE coke bottle frames (they looked more like a six pack) that pretty much covered my entire face...they were so big that the boys in school called me 8 eyes. Thank goodness for advances in eyewear!!!

What A Puzzle?...

The other night Wes thought it might be fun and relaxing if we put a puzzle together as a family. It was a 100 piece puzzle of a cute little grey cat in a pink flower bed. Just looking at the box was relaxing...good idea right? NOT!!! Honestly, I was more relaxed when I took my SATS...Audrey just could not wrap her mind around the idea of putting a puzzle together for fun. The girl was calmer at her last Dental appointment. We were about half way through the puzzle when I told her (jokingly) if she did not calm down and relax that I was going to tape her mouth shut and slap her (of course I would never do such a thing, but it was really good comic relief) Audrey laughed and she calmed down and she got a couple more pieces of the puzzle and we were all enjoying our family activity. That fuzzy mement was not meant to last because Audrey started FREAKING OUT again and all of a sudden Hannah screams "Slap her, Slap her!!!!" it was hilarious. Thank goodness we don't have gladiators anymore because I have a feeling we would be dragging Hannah out of the Coliseum by her ear.

Jennifer

Everyone knows that my name is Jenny and not Jennifer. I can not stand it when I am called Jennifer...it drives me CRAZY!!!! I am surrounded by so many Jens and Jennifer's that we need to keep a chart to keep everyone straight, they are my closest and dearest friends and now I am going to get one for a sister-in-law, Hi Jen!!!!

So anywho - I come home from running errands and Hannah looks up from the kitchen table and says that she is going to name her daughter Jennifer after me...but I am not a Jennifer. Wes startes laughing and shoots me a look of HA, HA!!! Hannah has proclaimed that she loves the name and it will definitely be used. I guess I can look on the bright side, she does not want to name her baby Apple (Gwenyth Paltrow) or Cocoa (Courtney Cox).

As Time Goes By...

The summer seems to be flying by. Wes and I are trying to jam as much as we can into what little free time we have as a family. When school starts (Sept 3rd) Wes will only see the girls for an hour on the weekdays (Wes works the night shift for those of you who do not know) and weekend hours vary. This is a sacrifice that we are willing to pay for the job that Wes has at Welch Allyn (amazing company) but we have put limit to this craziness...we are on the 5yr plan. We will not keep this schedule for more than 5 years and we are 2 years in. The girls need their Father just as much as they need me. Wes also needs the girls, he gets really grumpy without them...lol:P
In a couple of weeks I am off to look for a job. The girls will be in school full time and I just can't see myself staying home and only taking care of the house. I need to find a part time job a few days a week only for a few hours a day. This way I will still get to see Wes and be home in time for the girls to get home from school. I am excited that I am already to this point in my life. Time has flown by.

There has been a lot of changes these past few weeks and it seems like anything can happen (I will elaborate more when I can; don't worry it is not my health). Honestly it has knocked me off my feet a little but you just have to pick yourself back up.

One of the good changes was that our first tomato turned red. Yay...one down, 60+ to go. Everyone think RED!!!

One of the bad changes this weeks was the Mummy 3, what were they thinking!!! The Mummy movies are some of my favorites and they thought they could replace Rachel Wietz (Evie) with another actress. It did not work. Why try to fix something that is not broken? Though on the bright side we went to the drive-in and we got to see three movies for the price of one (we were $7 a piece and the girls were only $2, a really good deal). So I am happy we did not go see it in a regular theater and waste our greenbacks.

The Midas Rip Off

We have been in desperate need of new front breaks. Midas quoted me $360 for pads, rotors and labor. Our neighbor's father is a diesel mechanic. He took me to the parts store, we got the pads and rotors for $86 with his discount, and he changed them. THANK YOU DAN!!!! He also rotated our tires and fixed the trunk so that it stopped hitting me on the head every time I opened it. He did a fabulous job, cleaned and lubed everything and gave me a detailed list of what we needed to do to the car so that it will be good for the winter (there I go, I said the "W" word). I would have paid 3 times as much at Midas for substandard service and no perks. Its good to have friends in high places.

So Sad...But So Happy!!!

Warning: this blog contains spoilers...if you are reading Breaking Dawn or have not read the Twilight series and plan on doing so, please do not read this blog.

Good news, I will not have to picket at Barnes and Noble!!! I am sad that it is the end.

I really hope that she takes some of the foundation she built for a new series with Jacob and Nessie (I did not see that one coming until it was right in front of my face). I was little surprised that she wrapped up that story line so neatly, though she did leave room for a new series of books.

What can I say, I loved Breaking Dawn, I whipped through it. I was also pleasantly surprised by the changes in plot. There was not as much whining in this book as in the others, it was jam packed and I loved that. The ending was the only part of the book that I wish was different, I really wanted the Voltari to get their butts kicked and it was no big surprise that Alice showed up and saved the day...but that is alright; I am a happy and satisfied reader.