Dan's Birthday

So yesterday was the big 39 for Dan, and I just had a few friends over for cake and coffee.  Thought I'd save up all my big party ideas for next year when he turns 40 ---- ahh youth, so fleeting.  Anyway, we had fun, Auntie Bethie drove out, Kat & Chet our neighbors came, Denny and Rebecca, and the Stimer clan.  It was fun, and most importantly I am currently typing out this blog on our new computer which was Dan's birthday present.  The screen is massive.  I don't really get why, but hey Dan's happy with it, and I probably won't see him much for the next few weeks because he'll be fiddling around with this thing.  Meanwhile, I think I'm going to eat some carrot cake for breakfast, turns out a lot of people don't like carrot cake, so it looks like we'll have leftovers for days... 

Wonder Woman

You may assume that the title of this post is Wonder Woman because Lorelei went to a Super Hero themed birthday party this weekend. But no the title is actually self-congratulatory for coming up with the outfit itself. When we got the invite, Lorelei was puzzled because in our house full of girls, we only have princess costumes and tiaras to dress up in, she didn't even know what a super hero was really. But thanks to the internet, I was able to upload a picture of Linda Carter in her super awesome Wonder Woman costume & Lorelei was quickly sold on the idea. However, then arose the problem of creating the costume itself. I used to say that I would never be one of those moms that centers their lives around their children, but who was I kidding? I spent a ridiculous amount of time searching the web for a red leotard, scouring Michaels for shiny gold ribbon, and then searching every kid's store imaginable for a bathing suit bottom that was navy blue with stars on it, can you believe I found one? I still can't. So was it all worth it, umm look at the picture people! Linda Carter step aside, there's a new blue-eyed brunette in town that wants your job, and when she finds out that an invisible airplane is one of the perks, they'll be no stopping her.

Back to Blogging....

So I took a little hiatus from my blog. My goal had been to update it weekly, but took a little trip to Visalia last weekend and somehow the days got away from me. Anyway, we went to see my parents for their birthdays and so that mom could buy me stuff at Target (Thanks Mom)! Plus like the scavenger that I am, I raided my parents' pantry and stole all the good junk food that they have, that I would never actually buy. Seriously, they had a box of Cookie Crisp in their cupboards, how cool are my parents? Anyway, life rolls on here, got a visit from my friend Jen, she not only brought her cute kid and hero husband (deploying to Iraq again this month), but she brought me cupcakes from some fancy-shmancy cupcake place called Sprinkles. Basically, all I have to say is this cupcakes, cookie crisp, and today I downed about 30 chocolate Hershey's kisses, man, life is good.............Check out my brother and my dad above. Ladies, Michael will be a transfer student at Masters next year, he's not only cute, but oddly enough, he can do the moonwalk.

Sumo Baby Takes a Stand

So Morgan's 9mos. today, and officially doing the stand up thing now. So I'm like, Dan, time to lower the crib mattress, Morgan's standing up now, and I don't want her to dive head first out of the crib (reasonable enough), and he's like okay. Then he walked away, and I'm like um, aren't you going to do it now? And he's like, no, we don't have to do it right this minute. So I pulled, the old, that's fine, I'll just do it myself thing, and then I started rummaging through his tools and pulling out random pliers and wrenches. Needless to say, he shook his head and then he went and did it himself, leaving me happy and satisfied that my sumo baby was safe in her bed, and so grateful that he humored me, that I didn't even complain when he watched a bunch of boring March Madness games this weekend.

Resurrection Sunday...

So here it is Easter Sunday, and I'm trying to figure out how to post a slide show of our pix from today (yeah right). We had a beautiful day today, and our resurrection rolls actually sort of worked in toddler church so that was fun. (The resurrection rolls are crescent rolls wrapped around a giant marshmallow which evaporates when it's cooked, thus creating a hollow roll, which symbolizes the empty tomb). So church was good, we had our traditional Easter breakfast pot luck. Afterwards, I did give the kids some pagan plastic eggs filled with candy mostly because I really wanted the candy, and seriously who can resist Target's holiday aisles? They're marketing geniuses over there, and you all know it.
Besides that, the 1st week of Spring Break flew by. We did have an unexpected visit from the Binky Fairy. I basically got fed up with the twins' binky addiction, so instead of waiting until they turned 3 (as I did with Lorelei) I told them the Binky Fairy was coming to take away their binkies and if they left them all out on our porch for her to pick up, there would be a big girl Barbie doll (like their sisters) awaiting them in the morning. Needless to say, I was shopping for brunette Barbies at Target at 9:30 Thursday night. I went in for barbies, and walked out with barbies, a random assortment of groceries, and placemats. Did I mention that their marketing geniuses over there already or what? Seriously, Target's my happy place.
Enjoy the pix.

Spring Break!

First of all, Heidi update: She's doing pretty well, baby Judah is hanging in there and as we continue to pray, hopefully she'll get stronger and stronger each day! Thanks for your prayers and support!

Meanwhile, Spring Break has arrived. I have a break from the 3 classes I usually teach Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and so yippee we're going to catch up on all things; sort the closets, take the kids to get their pictures done, haircuts, dye eggs, birthday parties for Auntie Bethie, squeeze in some playdates, St.Patrick's Day green 7 up, Toddler church Resurrection bread recipes, visit Mimi and Papa, catch up on scrapbooking, plant a vegetable garden, and ...... well you get the point.
In gist, I can't wait till classes start again, it's only Monday morning, and I'm already exhausted at the mere possibilities of the next 2 weeks, and to top it all off, Regis and Kelly are all reruns.

Heidi

So you know how sometimes, someone you haven't talked to in a while pops back in to your life seemingly out of nowhere? Well, my former college roommate, Heidi, and I recently got back in touch. Now that she's doing the mom thing, she calls more (people mistakenly think I know stuff about raising kids since I have 4). She has a 16mo. old girl named Navy.
So first lemme tell you this about Heidi. As former TMC alumni could attest to, she stuck out like crazy on our conservative little campus, big wallet chains hanging from her belt, baggy, saggy pants and combat boots, and she bears an eerie resemblance to Angelina Jolie. She had a terrible old car that she had spray painted black with the #54 on it, and she drove me to Visalia, and the brakes went out on the grapevine in the snow, she remained calm.
But really, my favorite memory was this: She would always borrow my stuff, and so one day when the annual finals week gift basket arrived at our door, I swore I would not share one thing in it with her. (The school would have parents buy these baskets and send them to their kids during finals to cheer them up, and they were full of crackers and chips and chocolate and stuff). And true to my selfish little word, I remained. I ate everything from my basket in front of her, and refused to let her have any of it, on principle you know. Later in the week our phone rang, Heidi was out. It was her mom, and she wanted to know if Heidi had received the basket SHE had sent to HER. I had just assumed the basket was from my parents because they had sent them to me in the past. Any of you ever heard of eating humble pie, and begging for forgiveness? Well that's what I had to do, but what was so great, was the fact that when I told Heidi that the basket had actually been for her, she just laughed hysterically for like an hour.
So what's my point? Well, Heidi texted me on Friday morning that she was in labor, and to please pray. She was only 26 weeks pregnant, and despite efforts, Judah Lee, another baby girl was born to Heidi 3mos. early at 3pm Friday afternoon. She weighs 1lb. 30z and she's fighting for her life. If she makes it through the next few weeks, Heidi can expect around 4mos. in the NICU. Please take a moment this week to pray for her and the baby, and for little Navy and her husband at home. As moms, we all know how difficult this must be.