Update

Hi! I haven't blogged for a little bit so I thought I'd do a quick update. Yes, I am resorting to bullet-points.

* Last Saturday (not 2 days ago, but the one before that) was a crazy day. It was the Spring Festival at the kids' school and I was busy busy! I'll post more about that later.

* This last week stuff happened. What stuff? Can't remember. But, stuff definitely happened. Will post more later, once I retrieve the pics off my camera and am reminded what happened.

* Scott gets home this Saturday or Sunday (just depending on when he is able to leave, weather, etc.). Yea, verily, yea!! I am SO ready for him to be home. We've all been missing him like crazy, and I am emotionally worn-out! I don't know how single moms do it!

* This Thursday my Mom flies in from Dallas, and Friday my sister, Chaia, drives down from Utah. Woo hoo! I haven't seen my mom in almost 2 years, and it's been about 3 since I've seen my sister, so it will be nice to spend a few days with them. They are coming to attend my Uncle Herb's memorial service on Sunday.

* The kids are on Spring Break this week, which is both a blessing and a curse. Blessing...don't have to take them to and from school or deal with homework, plus they'll have more time to spend with my Mom & sis while they're in town. Curse...3 kiddos bouncing off the walls and making messes while I'm trying to get the house ready for our guests.

*We went on a hike this morning. We were going to go with some friends from school, but there was a location mix-up, so we ended up just going by ourselves. The "mountains" here in Phoenix aren't as tall as the ones in, say, Utah, but it's still a nice view and gives you some good exercise.

* Since I started watching what I eat and exercising more a little over a month ago, I've lost between 10-15 pounds! I still need to step up the amount of exercising I do, 'cause I'm lucky if I do it twice a week, but I'm still proud of the progress I've made. I'm about halfway to my goal, so that's pretty sweet!

That's all I can think of for now. I need to get to bed so I can get up and get things done tomorrow morning. The kids still get up early in the morn, no matter what time I get to bed. And I have no time to waste tomorrow. Much to do and less time to do it in! Good night!

Love Life

I saw this neat little book on Young House Love called "Love Life". It is a cute little book full of great quotes like these two. 

"I have found that if you love life, life will love you right back" 

- Arthur Rubinstein

and

"Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with them."

- Unknown

Interviews

This week Scott will be interviewing with the residency program he is doing a clerkship at right now. Apparently he has THREE interviews this week, and during one of the interviews they will really grill him and make him answer a lot of technical questions. SO, any prayers you have lying around would be really handy to toss our way. Thanks!! :)

Lunch Faces

At lunch one day the kids decided to make faces with their lunches, then asked me to take a picture of their creations.

Michael started the trend.

Katelynn's "face"??

Emma's face. Love the eyelashes!

By the way...at our house the dark blue Ikea plates are a coveted item, for some odd reason. Michael and Katelynn insist on having a dark blue plate. And it's not just blue...DARK blue. I have no idea why, but it's very important. ;) But, Emma always wants pink. Pink, pink, pink!

It's Still Up in the Air

Sometimes on the way to school we are able watch hot air balloons flying not too far from the kids' school. Here is a picture I snapped of them the other morning. The quality is kinda bad, but I was trying to quickly take a picture while stopped at a light. Ha ha ha!

I'm linking to:

After Katelynn's Nephrology appointment on Wednesday (everything looks fine, by the way), the kids wanted me to take a picture of them on the bridge between the parking garage and the building. They love to look down at the cars and people going by below them.

At the Park

Just wanted to share a couple of pictures from the park on Wednesday.

I love the look on Katelynn's face. I got out the camera because she was singing while she was swinging. Lately both Katelynn & Emma have been singing a lot of original songs. It's really sweet to listen to.

This boy is so cute.

“Women who make a house a home make a far greater contribution to society than those who command large armies or stand at the head of impressive corporations.” 

- Gordon B. Hinckley

Out and About

Tuesday after school we were out and about. First, we met a friend at the mall play area.

On the way out we stopped in the Lego Store. If Michael was mildly obsessed with Legos before, he is even more obsessed now! He really wants to get a "little Lego guy".

We also stopped to see the Hermit Hut with the hermit crabs.

After the mall we went to Fry's (woo hoo for the Kid's Corner!), then Wal-Mart. The kids were very excited about picking out seeds to start a garden. I have a black thumb, so we might have to wait until Scott's back before we tackle trying to grow any veggies.

Michael is talking on the phone to Scott, telling him all about the Legos. We realized Michael uses the word 'anyway' a lot, especially when he's talking on the phone. Anyway...

NOT Lip Gloss!!

Today, Emma put NAIL POLISH on her LIPS!!

Child, that is NOT lip gloss!!

At least it was a pinkish color and not dark blue or something...

Note: Mug shot taken while standing in time out.

I'm Possible!

image courtesy of Good Girl Gone Glad

Don't you just love Audrey Hepburn?! Such a classy lady! 

Welcome to the Jungle

My friend, Kim, is hosting a linky party on her blog once a week. Every week there is a different theme. It can be a photo taken during the past week, or one taken previously. I thought it would be fun to link up!

This week's theme is "Welcome to the Jungle". This picture was taken on a camping trip last August. The kids were pretending to be lions in the tall grass. Enjoy!

I'm linking to:

More Drawrings

This scene was drawn by Michael. Can you believe that horse & rider?! Wow! He just looked at the picture in the book and drew it!

This one is by Emma. I think it is so sweet!

Goofy Kids

Emma dressed as a Superhero

Emma & Michael trying to put a tutu on Daisy

What a goof! She was snapping when I took this.

When I saw the horse like this I asked the kids if the horse had be attacked by Spiderman. They said, "No, the horse is dressed up in a costume so he can be Spiderman's horse. His name is Spiderman Horse." 

Lol, okay...

Playing at the Park

On Friday we decided to go to the park. It was a beautiful day to be at the park, and the kids had a good time. I also ran into a girl who used to be in my ward and we chatted for a little while, which was nice.

Whenever we go to the park, Michael always finds a 'pack' of boys to run around with.

Playing in the sand.

On the "climber thing".

Talking to someone through the tubes? What are those things called?! I don't know...

Getting ready to send his jet down the slide.

After the park we went home for our Pizza & Leprechaun Movie Night.

Food for Thought

I was reading a post on my old Bishop's blog, and part of the post really leaped out at me. He said,

"How often do we grow frustrated about the slowness of the journey, when the Lord has already put us in the right place and it's time for us to move on our own instead of waiting for something or someone else to move us? "

I thought it was really neat. I know that I get frustrated at my own progress and the pace of the journey from time to time. This really put it into perspective for me. If the quote doesn't totally make sense reading it out-of-context, go HERE to read the whole blog post.

Pizza & Movie Night with Darby

As I mentioned in this post, the kids have been obsessed with leprechauns lately. I told them that on Friday night we could have a pizza & movie night and watch a movie about leprechauns. Boy, were they excited!! They thought the movie was a little scary at the end, but all in all they enjoyed it. We've actually seen it before. I guess the kids just forgot. It's been a long time since we'd seen it, though.

So, if you want to watch a movie about leprechauns with a young, hunky Sean Connery in it, then Darby O'Gill and the Little People is your best bet! 

Tricky Kids

Lately the kids have liked playing 'tricks' on me to make me laugh. They will put random things in random places. For example, the other day I opened the fridge to find a noisemaker in there!

Another day I found toilet paper rolls in the fridge and freezer! When they saw me discover their trick, they all started laughing hysterically and saying, "Did we trick you Mom?! We made you laugh, huh?"

Yes, it *does* make me laugh! It's funny to see what is funny to a five-year-old.

Not Alone

Tonight Katelynn told me she was going to put her doll in my bed for me to sleep with, so I wouldn't be all alone. I expected her to just throw the doll on the bed, but when I walked into my room to get ready for bed, this is what I found.

I didn't expect to find a doll all tucked in and everything! Oh, and the cat has decided that she wants to sleep in my bed every night with me. I don't mind it while Scott is gone, though.


Side note: Half the time when I hear the phrase "Not Alone", I think of this song. Ha ha! The one from the musical is great, too, but I couldn't figure out which act it was from to link up to it.

"That's alright. I make lamb."

The other night I made a yummy lamb recipe and posted it on our cooking blog. Check it out HERE, especially if you like curry powder. :)

Leprechaun Hotel

The other day in Katelynn's class they talked about St. Patrick's Day and leprechauns. She was *so* excited, and told Emma & Michael all about leprechauns after school. She got really, really excited about needing to make a leprechaun hotel for them to sleep in., and got the other two on board with the project. A few things about the project:

* leprechauns love green and yellow, because they love gold. 

* Katelynn told me the rooms are going to be "fantastic".

* Michael was working on drawing some landscaping, including a bush, a cactus and "some other plant".

* Katelynn made a little bed, pillow, sheet and blanket. The leprechauns are going to sleep in the hotel for the night, then while they are gone during the day looking for more gold she is going to surprise them by making their beds for them.

The whole thing makes me laugh. It's funny to hear the way they think about things and all their ideas. At first I was hesitant to let them use a bunch of my craft supplies, but then I decided that what better way to use the supplies than by the kids using their imaginations and working diligently on a project they are so excited about?!

Once the hotel is finished I will have to give you a grand tour here on the blog. Here are some shots of the kids working on it.

They really, really wanted to learn more about leprechauns, so I suggested we have a pizza & movie night Friday and watch "Darby O'Gill and the Little People". They are so excited about it, and they kept pestering me about the date so much, that I had to write it on the calendar so they could see how many days away the 'party' is. 

So Buff

"Mommy, look at me pick up Emma! Will you take a picture of us?"

Okey dokey.

Drawrings

I've showcased Michael's art on the blog before, but I just have to showcase more of it!

For this assignment he had to compose a sentence using the word "we". This is what he came up with. Holy Cow! If I tried to draw an elephant it wouldn't look *near* this good! And I love that the people are sitting on colorful, designed saddles.

We have this book called I Can Draw People. It gives you step-by-step instructions to draw basic people of different kinds, like a person running or a construction worker, or a pirate. The kids all love it. Michael used that book to help him with this scene. I love all the little details, like the little menacing pirate on the ship, and the anchor, and the scuba diver. So cute!