I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

Baptism Day.
Beautiful.

After so much Anxiety and so much Excitement the day finally came.
Z. is so very happy(her words) to finally join the church!
She can go around singing "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints", in truth.

New Niece

Baby Mei Mei is a wonder.
She is dark and intelligent(yes, I can tell).
She loves to explore around her but mostly only if she is laying on the floor.
She is social, just like my other wonderful niece.
She loves me(yes, once again, I can tell).

Being the provider gives you gray hair and a scowl, sometimes

D. has been torturing himself for the last 5 years, providing for the 6 of us and somehow studying toward a degree or two.
He has a lot more gray hair and a lot more wisdom because of it.
Recently he drove to an interview for a job he really wanted.
Can you just guess what his face looked like, in a tie, in a hot van, with 4 noisy kids, wondering if he could show off his impressive skills enough to be considered for the job?
You dont have to guess, I took a picture.
Lots of eyebrow wrinkles.
Now, can you guess the outcome, from another picture taken later on?

Now our lives change.
Clean, Sell the house, Move.
New Job, New Life.
What a Relief.
Does this mean the gray hairs will turn back to brown?

12,000 bouncy balls

Someone decided the college football stadium parking lot would be a great place to break a World Record.
The kids heard about it at their elementary school and decided that anything including a helicopter and bouncy balls would be well worth their time to attend.
We took the mile walk up hill and stood patiently outside the yellow caution tape.
The hope was to come home with a hundred bouncy balls a piece, or at the least, a handful.

In the end standing slightly uphill was a bad idea and all of the balls ended up in other peoples hands.
The balls we did get were given to us out of pity by those that were "downhillers".
I found out a great thing about kids, something I know I need to learn.

When a group of college students saw our balls they asked for 1each as a souvenir.
This happened over and over until the kids were down to just 1or 2 themselves.
Over protective mom jumped in and told the kids to hide what was left in their pockets before another Aggie strolled by.
The kids laughed at me and shrugged off my suggestion.
One of the kids told me " They are just rubber".
True.
Why keep a small piece of rubber that someone else genuinely wants?

The real souvenir was the memory of a really close helicopter dropping Thousands of brightly colored balls and watching them bounce crazily in a parking lot filled with screaming "fans".
What else would we need?

Big and Banned

When you are a little puppy and you are annoying and bite and havent figured out potty training all the way and chew on shoes you can get away with it, because you are so cute.


When you are Giant and Strong and have all of those same puppy traits you are Awful and Disliked.





On a recent trip Harley showed off all of her worst behavior.
Plus, not only did she pee on the carpet(more than once) she threw up a sock (one of the many) she had eaten on that same carpet!
Also she terrorized my brothers new, darling, perfectly behaved, super cute lab puppy.
And his girlfriends sweet, gentle, tolerant dog .


She ended up basically banished to the deck as often as we could get her there.
Maybe she will get used to sitting in the snow.
Even better would be to get used to being a dog, instead of a puppy!
If I didn't love her so much she would be GONE.
I have faith though, that at some point she will chill out enough for everyone to enjoy.

Delicious Science Fair

If you know Z. you know she LOVES gum.
Any kind of gum.
When she found out there was going to be a school science fair she jumped at the idea of an experiment including Gum.
She asked mom to take pictures and otherwise document which flavors created the biggest bubble.
Tasty.


She created the entire project and even took pictures of herself with her project.
Science sure can be fun and creative and tasty!

Last but not least of the Springtime Birthdays

S. turned 3!!!
How do babies turn 3?

I haven't figured it out yet actually, how babies grow up so quick.
Wasn't it just yesterday that I was in the hospital watching her sputter her first breaths?
It may not have been yesterday, but I can't get the idea that it was 3 whole years ago to really sink in.
She had a fun little party with the Grandparents and cousins.
It wasn't her actual Birthday day, but while we were with family it seemed like the best idea.
She needs some practice with the blowing part but somehow got the candles out.
She certainly knows a good gift when she sees one.
Money$
A doll.
Bouncy Ball.
Sandtoys.

On the actual day she had a family dinner, trip to the squishy toys at the mall and bedtime stories by Daddy.

Happy Birthday Babes!