Caught One!!

Sam loves to go fishing -- usually never catches anything.  Last night he took the girls out after he got home from work ( I stayed home with Jackson who has a cold).  While they were gone Sam sent me an email with this picture attached.  They caught one and I wasn't there. :( Oh well. Sam said Gwen wanted to hold the fish soooooo bad.  So here she is........

Deja Vu

Thrush has struck Jackson again.  It is more of a pain than anything else.  The treatment - or "purple stuff"  gets everywhere, stains everything and we have to go into the docs office 3  times to get it reapplied - every other day.  Plus I have to boil everything that goes in his mouth, paci's, bottles, spoons, etc.....  It also infects me which is another bummer because it hurts.  But he is 10 months now, so nursing will be ending soon enough and if he gets it again, at least I wont hurt.  

Jackson at 2 months old - thrush..............

Jackson at 10 months old, again with the thrush......
still cute even with a purple face.......

Surprise Gwenny!!

The invitations.......

Her arrival........................at first - terror, but turned into happiness quickly :)
the decor (besides requesting a surprise party - she also requested it to be a princess theme)
the cake................................
her lovely new Hannah Montana hair from Aunt Misty (doesn't it make her look so different??)
the reaction...............(I wish I could make it bigger so you could see it better - it is pretty funny - poor girl)

cookie who???

I ATTEMPTED to make some Cookie Monster cupcakes for Gwenny's preschool class birthday snack.   The ones I found on the internet where much better.  These looked more like blue frogs with cookies shoved in their mouths.  Gwen's teacher - Ms. Amy had her kids with her at school that day and her son even said "cute frogs" when I brought them in.  Oh well.  I tried

Gwenny at preschool with her "birthday prize cake" -- Ms. Amy has them blow out the candles after we sing "happy birthday" and then they take the top off and get to pick a few presents
Gwenny picking her prizes... very exciting!!

told you so

So Jackson is a bit of a drama king when it comes to eating.  He cannot handle anything with texture to it.  I got him those baby puffs that are supposed to dissolve easy in their mouths.  Jackson hates them.  But I keep trying to re-introduce them to him hoping someday he will be okay with it.  

So the other day Sam came home from school and I told him that I tried to give Jackson a puff earlier that day and he threw up - not spit up but full on threw up. I told him it made a big mess all over Jackson and the carpet.  Sam thought this was a funny story.  So what does Sam do?? He immediately grabs a puff and throws it into Jackson's mouth.  And what does Jackson do?? He immediately throws up.  But the difference between this time and earlier was that this time I had just fed him prunes (deep purple), carrots (bright orange) and peas (green).  This is the mess that Jackson threw up all over himself and my light grey carpet.  Sam got to clean up that one!!

*** click on the picture to enlarge for the full effect :)

whirlwind Utah trip

Since we were in Utah we had to make a trip down to Provo to see my family.  My dad's dad lives there, my dad's brother's family lives there and now my dad's mom lives there with her new husband.  My grandma actually had her second reception while we were there -- so it was nice that we were able to go to that too.  It was a very busy weekend.  We arrived in Logan late Thursday night.  All Friday was the Jeffery Family wedding.  Sat. morning we spent time with the Jeffery's again.  Then drove from Logan to Provo to my Grandpa Bill and Grandma Marva's house.  We got ready there to go to my Grandma Hanne's wedding reception ( sorry no pics ).  Went back to my Grandpa Bill's house and stayed the night.  Sunday morning we ate breakfast --where my Grandma Marva gave the kids cute little easter baskets.  Went to church then packed up and drove to my Uncle Bryan and Aunt Missy's house.  We got to play there for a little bit and ate a great dinner and then the kids got to have a little Easter hunt. Then we said goodbye to Utah and drove to Boise and stayed the night in a hotel there.  We got there around midnight and I felt so bad for the kids because the whole time they wanted to swim but ran out of time -- so we went in the hot tub at the hotel at midnight.  Monday morning we woke up and drove home.  Home sweet home. It seemed like we were gone longer than we were because we jammed so much stuff into such a short amount of time.  It was a little crazy -- but lots of fun. And over all the kids did pretty great with all the traveling.  

the kids with my dad and my grandpa Bill.......

me with my cousins, aunt and uncle and grandparents.......
cousin Sinjin playing with Gwen -- those boys were so sweet and patient with my girls.....
Addie finding eggs and candy.......
gwenny on the hunt........

took long enough.......

So my friend Christie broke my heart and moved away when I was 15.  We were inseparable until she upped and moved.  We kept in touch over the years but the last time I saw her was at my brother Keith's wedding - 9 years ago.  Since then - she has had 3 boys and I have had my 3 kids.  Over Easter weekend - her little brother Dan got married.  My parents were planning on going so I decided to go with them with the kids so I could see my Christie again.  It was so much fun to see Christie again and meet her boys.  It was also so much fun to see the rest of her family -- they seem like my family too.  It was a great trip -- short - but great. our little families...........
the girls waiting outside the Logan Temple......
they obviously spent WAY too much time in the car on the way to Utah.. they were VERY happy to be out of the car..............

sisters

I love my girls so much.  I love to be a part of their special little friendship and bond they share.  I love to just sit and listen to them sing and make up songs together or little skits.  They love to be together and play together and it makes me so happy.  They watch out for one another.  They DO argue... but they get over it quickly.  They are extremely loyal to each other.  They both have at one time or another cried for the other -- if it may be because one is in trouble or one didn't get a turn to be called on for a game in primary.  I love being their mom and am so grateful for my beautiful girls. 

Geo-Cache

Have you heard of this??  When Desirae came to visit - she introduced us to geo-caching.  You get online and it gives you coordinates and clues to these little geo-caches that are hidden everywhere in your town.  Some are tiny and some are a little bigger.  The bigger ones have little "prizes" in them -- sometimes they are cool like a little HelloKitty bracelet that Addie found and some are not cool -- like a piece of rope or a sharp metal hook.  We brought our own little "prizes" to exchange in case we like what was inside the cache and wanted to take it and leave ours behind.  The tiny caches however only have a tiny rolled up piece of paper inside for you to write your name on.  Those ones are harder to find and not as rewarding - especially for the kids.  But it was really fun and free.  It might be our new Sunday afternoon activity. :)

This was was our fist find.... it was under some rocks next to the fire hydrant in an old chew can...don't worry -- I kept the sanitizer with me at all times

Addie's bracelet find.... perfect thing for her to find for her first time going geo-caching :)
Gwenny got a car..... :(
Doesn't Sam have a guilty look to him?? 

grandma, grandpa and des come to visit

Grandpa Gordon, Grandma RaeDell and Aunt Desirae came to visit.  They actually went up to spend time with Rich and Marci and the kids up in Washington for their spring break -- but we got them on the weekends on their way up and back.  We are happy we are a pit-stop for Washington.  It's fun to have visitors. The kids had so much fun and love their grandparents and aunt Des.  This was Jackson's first time meeting Grandpa Gordon and it was his first time actually being awake around RaeDell and Des (they came up for his blessing and all he did back then was sleep)  It was fun to see Jackson with them -- he was very comfortable with them and as RaeDell said - he looked at them like he knew them already.  He was particularly fond of staring and pointing at Des.  It was cute - they got along very well.  

Jackson's future......??????????????????  
The girls with Grandma and their (well Gwen's) new hair -- it was Gwenny's birthday gift from Grandma and Papa..
Lucky lady.....RaeDell won this blanket for Jackson in a raffle at a carnival at Gwen's preschool... she was (in her words) "tickled pink" :)
Jackson LOVED his Aunt Desirae -- and loved the swing - he was cracking up
Gwenny with Des........
Addie and Des..............