Happy first day of Spring!!

Yes, happy first day of Spring. Nebraska has had an incredibly mild winter, but she's not ending it that way. This is only our 3rd real snowstorm of the whole year, so I can't really complain. It started snowing Sunday night and hasn't really stopped yet! Monday, Whitney stood at the door a lot of the day checking it all out. She gave the door a good cleaning by licking it too. Hey, gotta start those chores at an early age right? State Farm sent everyone home early yesterday andMatt doesn't have to go in today until 10 am, so he took the kiddos sledding over at the elementary school hill yesterday, and I bundled up Whitney to take some pictures outside. It is a really pretty snow, the snow is pretty heavy so it makes for great snowballs and snowmen, and not so bad driving. One thing I do love about the snow is that we all hunker down and play games and snuggle up inside. We've made cookies and even went out to deliver them to the new neighbor that shoveled everyones sidewalks last night. So I guess we'll stay in (the car has an awful lot of snow), and enjoy the Spring season. Here's to tulip wishes and baby bunny dreams.

Sign me up for Summer School

I need help. I need to sign up for Summer School (with Chainsaw and Dave. . ."Please take your seats. . .Where shall we take 'em?" and say it with me Lisa, "I'm Chainsaw, and I'm Dave and we'll see you, at the movies. . .) I felt like I was losing my mind for a second during sacrament meeting this morning. No, it wasn't an embarassing testimony meeting, my oldest asked me for some help writing cursive. She's at the age that she thinks writing cursive is so cool. So she asked me to help her write a letter to her teacher. She wanted to say I like you. I swear I had a total brain lapse and could not for the life of me rememeber how to make a cursive Capital "I". Seriously. What was wrong with my brain? It was not working correctly. It took me several doodles on the page before I remembered. Oh my goodness, Mrs. Claussen would be so upset. I can see in my head the border above the chalkboard with the scripted letters. . .the horror of learning the cursive letters was all coming back. I guess it's been quite a while since I've used my penmanship skills. I tested my knowledge and grabbed a paper from her bag and tried out all the letters. I had the most trouble with I, Q, and Z. It took Matt and I together to remember the Z. Matt got it right. Has my brain gone to so much mush that I can't even remember my basic writing skills? So, I'm signing up for remedial penmanship. Anyone join me? Here, click this and sharpen up your favorite #2 pencil to get started.

Calling all Chocoholics. . .

The best $2.29 you can spend. . .or $4.58, or $6.87, or $9.16. . .

Whitney takes the cake!

We celebrated sweet Whitney's birthday on Sunday with Matt's family! Like everyone says, that went fast! Cliche, I know, but it's so true. It seemed like the first 6 months were so long, but the next 6 flew by! Here are the classic 1st birthday pictures. . . Hmm. . .this looks interesting. . .
Smells good too. . .maybe I'll just eat the bottom part

I'm coming to get you. . .ah. .ah. . ahAll done!
Oh wait, not until I do my hair. . .

Happy birthday babe!!

The feral child

Whitney must be getting ready to walk. She's opted to forget the actual bi-ped walking and go for the quad-ped (is that even a word?) walk. We've taken to calling this her "Mowgli" walk. Maybe she's secretly sneaking out at night to be raised by wolves?? Or maybe her knees are just rebelling against our hardwood floors??

Holy Nastiness Batman!

Ever been awakened by the dreaded. . ."mom, mom, mom, MOM!!"? Matt's been on his vacation since Tuesday (I can't complain, I'm the one that sent him). It has gone swimmingly well. The girls have been realatively happy, healthy and obedient (kind of.) I knew I had one more night to go until he was home Saturday afternoon. Since things had gone so well we headed to rent some movies and I even made Oreo shakes once Whitney was snoozing. I think that's where things went wrong but I'm still not sure what the evil was. From here on out, it ain't pretty, so read at your own risk, or your gag-reflexes own risk.

I had just fallen asleep when Molly appears in the hallway saying the words I so did not want to hear in the tone of voice I didn't want to hear. After I can focus my eyes, she's standing kind of funny with a tissue in her hand. As a mom I think I've trained myself to go from 0-60 pretty fast so I start the barrage of questioning. "Are you ok?" Yeah. "Are you going to throw up?" No. "Did you have an accident?" Yes. Ok, this hasn't happened in forever but ok. As I get out of bed the smell hits me over the head. WOW! What happened and what the heck is that smell? Oh, no, that is not good. As I lift her dainty nightgown something has indeed gone wrong. That's right kids. . ."When you're sliding into first and you feel a sudden burst. .. " That's right, your enemy and mine. . .Dia-flippin-rrhea! I stood there not even knowing what to do or where to start. Ok, into the tub to contain the beast. I managed to get the nightgown off with only a little of it being slimed. The nastiness has gone all the way down her legs. Poor thing, she is shaking and cold and still half asleep and just as stunned as I am. I toss the underwear, no chance of those Barbie puppy underwear being saved, Molly is sad. It's ok, I would pay $1000 not to have to clean those suckers out. I figure all of the mess can go right down the drain for all I care so I grab the cup and clean everything off without having to touch it. Next, the Lysol disinfecting wipes. I think I used the whole container, and a whole bottle of Purell anti bacterial. Ok, Molly, supermom is figuring this out. Out of the tub and stand here while I douse it with Clorox cleaner. Tub is now clean, you get back in and enjoy a nice warm bath. By the way, PLEASE make sure and jump out if this is going to happen again. Amazingly she says she and her tummy feel fine. Ok, wait, this happened in bed? Did you get any on your bed? "I don't know Mom."

I step around the corner and cannot help but laugh. There are little turd puddles all the way from her bed to the bathroom. Nice. No chance on saving this carpet right now. I grab the wipes and scrub away at all the puddles. The sheets have mostly avoided being tainted. I decided I can proably wash them and not toss them ( I was more than prepared to.) Her adorable bedspread has also managed to only catch a little of the mess and I grab it and the sheets and head downstairs to a boiling hot (ok, just regular hot) washing machine. I ran them through twice last night and again this morning. While doing that I thought of an idea, does anyone make an antibacterial detergent? Well, I'm here to say, they SHOULD!!

So, after work this morning, I'm spending the day rewashing the sheets, and praying there is some product out there to help my poor, poor carpet. Matt, I think I've got a job for you, hurry home!!

p.s. since you're already reading about this gross stuff, head over to Tales from the Crib and read my buddy Kage's latest post. Good times.

Just a reminder. . .

My mom forwarded this link to me this morning. Usually I watch these and delete, but this one is one that tugged at my heart a little. The background music, "Homeward Bound" is provided by a BYU group. I think in my everyday going-ons I've been forgetting about those families that have military service members and the ache and fear that they have everyday. No matter how you feel about what is happening halfway across the world, I hope we are all grateful to the service and sacrifice that they give. So to all of those families and their loved ones, Thank you and I hope all are homeward bound soon.

Please click here, then click the "Until we meet again" link. (I couldn't get the direct link to work)

So, a mormon girl walks into a bar. . .

Ok, no, I haven't gone off the deep end. Matt is out of town for a few days but it's not driving me to the corner bar (yet. . .) But I think you and I have missed out on something. It's not the drunken stupor of not knowing what you were doing or why you're standing in some strange place in the middle of the night (parenthood has brought me enough of that). You know what you may have missed out on? Your "bar name". One of the other faculty members at the Dental College was out at some bars for Mardi Gras. Anyway, as part of her story she was telling, she casually said that her friend gave this guy her "bar name, Rachel." I said "what?" She explained, you know the name you'd give if you're not really sure you like this guy or want him to know your actual name. So, let's have a little fun. Here's some bar names I came up with for me. . .

Meg
Liz
Milani
Jade
Jacinda

So. . .what's your bar name?