2011 Easter Edition

Happy Easter (a few weeks late). We had a fun Easter season with FHE lessons and egg hunts and coloring eggs, etc. We started the week earlier with our FHE Easter Egg Hunt. There were 11 eggs and each corresponded with a picture and part of the story of the real meaning of Easter. The eggs contained different things like white cloth, rocks, nail, 30 pieces of silver, etc to help share the story, but the 11th egg was empty - I wish I could download Tori's face when she opened the egg. It was a neat experience to explain the empty egg representing the empty tomb. After my little testimony about the resurrection and the Savior, I asked Tori what song she would like to sing. She looked at me, kinda sad, and just signed and said "more." "Tori, more what? Do you want to learn more about the story?" I don't think she even knew what she wanted more of, but I think she felt the Spirit and wanted more of that. My most favorite part of being a mom is to see their testimonies of the Savior start to grow. I am grateful for the empty tomb, grateful for the Savior's sacrifice through the Atonement, so that all of us might be saved. He IS risen, just as He said he would be!

The Saturday before Easter, we went to Kim's house for an Easter Egg Hunt and you can see below the number of eggs "hidden" for the littlest kids. Laeni would walk past 10 to find the one she wanted...she didn't quite get it this year :). Tori was picking up more than her share :)

Then...playing single mom, I decided we still had to dye eggs, so I got the girls "dressed" for the occasion and I think they did a fabulous job. Here are some pictures of their creativity.

Easter morning, Tori came into my bed with me and I asked her if the Easter Bunny had come in the night...she had forgotten all about it. I heard her walking down the hall and probably looking all over for her Easter basket full of goodies, when all of a sudden I heard her little shriek of excitement and "mama, he did come, he did come, the easter bunny brought me a lot of treats and a book."

Here they are enjoying some of their treats - not sure why the Easter bunny brings Peeps, but he used to bring them to me too when I was a kid and I've never liked them. Apparently, my girls do like them!

My disclaimer about the Blog photo: church starts at 9 am and playing single mom is tough when there is so much to be done by 8:45. I didn't get a picture of the girls when their hair looked cute before church, but I managed this one after church (or maybe even after their naps). They don't always look homeless :)

You say it's your birthday....

du na du na du na....well, it's Tori's birthday too - at least the party anyway.

We celebrated Tori's 3rd birthday today - and it was fun. Tori had a couple of friends/neighbors over and they decorated crowns and magic wands, opened presents and ate cake and ice cream. I think it was as fun for Tori as it was for me :) When I was tucking her in for her nap (with her new treasures - dance clothes on, bunny, "Tangled" doll, and her new quilt), I asked her if she had a good time. She replied in the affirmative. When asked about her favorite part - "my cake." Yep, pretty much - it melted my heart! Good answer Tori! :)

Tori has been wanting a "doll" cake since "hers" sold at the Blue & Gold dinner. Although Bryan didn't really say it, he's still trying to figure out why the dress is so big and round.

One of Tori's favorite presents was her dry erase board from Gracie. I didn't get a picture of that, but I thought the way she was holding Gracie's picture was cute. Lucy, Tori's friend was sitting down watching Tori open presents and Tori kept trying to tell her, "thank you Gracie!" I guess the dark curly hair confused her.

I did get a couple of videos of her opening up some of her other favorite presents - the videos are at the end of this post.

Tori's friends sat like this the whole time Tori was opening presents - it was so cute. "Gracie" is the one with dark hair on the right :) Julie and Jill are her other friends - and of course Laeni, in the left corner, trying to be helpful. Having just finished decorating their crowns, they begin on their magic wands. Thanks to our lovely birthday assistant Shelby!!

There were a few tears shed...

But overall, I think the princesses had a ball!

Happy birthday Tori. We love you! We love you for lots of things:

your spark for life

the way you spread out your pink blanket on your pillow before you can go to sleep (not one piece of blanket awry)

the way you sing to Laeni when she's sad

your excitement when you see President Eyring in Conference

your constant singing and dancing

the way you can remember every detail of all you take in

we love you for a million other things, but most of all Tori, we love you because you are Tori!

Happy Birthday Tori Deedle-doo!

...and we're back...

So, after a long lull in blogging, I am back to try it again. About a month ago, I was posting something and my computer went on the fritz and basically stopped working when on-line...turns out I have had several viruses that were prompted to attack my computer only when connected to the internet...we bought an anti-virus and voila' we are in business again...

I have so much to catch up on though - so I'll just share cute pics of the girls :) and start with the most recent.

Bry just ran a 1/2 marathon on Saturday. Darren, J and our friend Brian Benett also ran the race in Riverton. The weather held out for us, although it was pretty cold and very windy for the runners. Here is Tori giving the congratulatory kiss :)

Tori is a HAM. She sees the camera and this is what she does these days!

Little Laeni girl is growing up so fast - this was after church one Sunday, and I couldn't help but get a picture of this cute little girl. Laeni's hair is getting longer and longer, but we don't always make it super cute - here is a rare occasion when she actually gets to have "girl hair." Makes me think that's why she's giving me a thumbs up. Looks like we have another birder! Tori and Laeni like to stand on the couch and look for birds outside our front window. Laeni is really good at picking them out on the tree.

The eccentric artist in her paint shirt- crazy hair and all. Tori has been into art lately. She loves to paint, color, write her name, etc. We should probably be better at letting her be creative. For Valentine's Day, she sent all of her cousins a valentine, which her mom made her sign each one (legible or not :) Tori is actually really good and writing her name. It helps that she has easier letters in her name and there are only 4, but still, I'm a little proud of her accomplishment at 2 years old!

Tori and Laeni both received aprons from Santa Claus - and although they both wear them, only Tori really get's to use hers - I'm still a bit nervous about Laeni standing on a chair to help me at the counter (especially when a jealous sister will be standing on the same chair or one very very close :) Here Tori is making orange rolls. She's a really good helper in the kitchen. I'll let her put ingredients into the bowl, here she is rolling the dough, and if I mark a sheet of parchment paper, she can help me tray up cookies because she knows exaclty where to put them. She's going to be a fine baker!

P.S. The header photo is of the girls in dresses that used to be mine when I was little. Laeni seems to look kinda like me in my old clothes because she fills them out like I used to - it's fun to see them in the old clothes my grandma made for me!

The video was taken when Grandma and Grandpa Shirley came for dinner. Grandma does a little thing called, "little mice" and the girls are so funny doing it. I think it will be fun for them to watch when they are older - but here it is for you to smile about today :) Enjoy.

More of my lil' cuties...since Christmas

JUST FOUND MY DRAFT FROM A MONTH AGO...sorry for the repeats

Tori got a new apron and baking supplies for Christmas - and LOVES to use them. She's making orange rolls with mom!

Sledding

Snow Canyon in St. George. We went down so I could teach a class in Feb. It was 70 degrees!!

2 peas in a pod (or basket)

Tori learned this from Pollyanna...go figure!

Opening Valentine's from Grandma Shirley

They LOVE olives on their fingers!

I love my girls...

Enough said.

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We had a very busy Christmas season. Amidst all the work, treat deliveries, and preparations, we had lots of family fun. Notice Laeni hiding in her dad's legs - as soon as Santa entered the Weaver party. She screams her head off sitting on his lap, then settles down with her dad holding her.

We then traveled to Washington to spend time with the Francis family. Here we are in Leavenworth. It was Laeni's 1st plane ride.



Bryan playing games with Brian and Mark - the guys were laughing so hard at Bryan's "mermaid" charades. We stayed up LATE every night playing games - it wasn't the games that was so much fun - it was being with family.












Anne playing with Gracie and Tori








Tia playing new Christmas games with Dylan, Gracie and Tori.
Tori and Laeni loved playing with Anne and Tia's jewelry!!






Uncle Mark let the kids sit in his state trooper car.

We hopped on a ferry one day and as soon as we got to the back of the boat, Tori pulled out her binoculars to look at the gulls- must be a Shirley.

Then back to Utah, just in time for New Year's!
Eating the gingerbread house! YUM.

Opening the rest of Christmas, from Grandma and Grandpa Shirley.

They didn't all quite make it 'til midnight.

Happy New Year - it was definately a Happy Christmas!

Thanksgiving for Laeni and Christmas Preparations

T'was the night before Thankgiving and all through the house...poor little Laeni girl was as sick as a mouse. Not eating all day nor drinking enough, she she gave us a fright and we left in a huff.

Laeni hadn't been feeling well since Monday (throwing up, etc). Wednesday I got home from work and Bryan said she barely ate or drank all day. She and I went to the store to get some Pedialite so she wouldn't get dehydrated. We got home and she wouldn't drink it, although she finally took a bottle. Right after she was finished drinking, she got down and played - first time all week. About 30 minutes later, she was getting fussy, so Bryan picked her up to take her to bed. All of a sudden I hear, "Ann-Marie, what's wrong with Laeni?" I walk over and she's totally unresponsive. Bryan thought she was choking on something. He told me to call 911. I did and gave the operator my address and when she asked for my phone number I looked over at Laeni and she looked like she was dying - eyes rolles back in her head and limp. I completely lost it - I couldn't even tell the operator my phone number. I couldn't remember it. I just screamed, "get here quick, I think my baby is dying." Bryan then told me to give the phone to him. He was able to reason and think through the situation and listen to the 911 operator who thought it sounded like a seizure. Bry followed directions and then the paramedics came. They too thought she was having a seizure. A febrile seizure. Who would have known? She came to and was a bit out of it as the paramedics were looking her over. The one thing I noticed was that her hands and feet that had been bluish/purple when I got home from work hours before, had the color back in them right after the incident. Sooooo strange.
The paramedics thought she seemed stable enough to take her in our own car to the ER, so we drove her down and the ambulance followed, just in case something happened on the way. We got right into a room, but had to wait for the busy ER doctor. As we waited, Bry thought it was good time to make a pit stop. Right after he left the room, she seized again in my arms and I hollared out, "someone, please help me!" Several nurses and the doctor ran in and helped her. I lost it again. I looked down at my little baby and her whole body was in tetany, shaking. Again her eyes rolled back and she was gone. The image of her tiny feet curled in shaking still brings tears to my eyes. It was the scariest night of my life. I honestly thought I might lose her that night. Looking back now, that seems silly, but it was very real then.

The nurses tried for what seems like an hour (more like 20 minutes or more) to get an IV into her, but she was so dehydrated that her veins kept popping and they'd have to try another spot. The poor lil' thing had poke marks all over her. Every time the door would open, she would scream. She was hoarse by the time we drove her home. A lady from the lab came down and found a vein and they started fluids and an antibiotic. She had had a chest x-ray that showed pneumonia (hence the antibiotic) and they tried to get a urine sample, but even the catheter yeilded only 2 small drops. Laeni was definately sick. Thinking back now, I can see many reasons for the seizures. Immunizations the week before that menioned seizures as a possible side effect, being sick, the pneumonia, being dehydrated, etc, etc, etc.
We were told that we should go back into the ER the next morning (Thanksgiving) and get another round of IV antibiotics. We were on a tight schedule of medications to keep any kind of fever down (every 2-4 hours) for 3 days. When we got to the ER on Thanksgiving, we waited for 3 hours and a major poop/soup emergency before they told us her port was closed and instead of poking her again, we could go home and start the oral antibiotics.
So far, we have not had another incident. But since she has had these 2, she is at higher risk of having others. Her hands and feet had been blue/purple because her body was shunting the blood to her major organs - I think her body was trying to tell us something long before anything happened.

Here she is right before we left for the ER Thanksgiving morning. See the bandage? That's to keep her from pulling out the IV port.
She seems much happier these days!

(And so do her parents)

Now we can look forward to Christmas. For some reason, Tori likes to crawl under the branches like a dog!?

Tori and Dad decorating the trees downstairs.

Working on the annual gingerbread house. Tori was so excited to help.
Notice the concentration on both of their faces (mouths open as they gingerly place the fireplace "rocks":)

It's no fun if Laeni can't help!

The final product including the well, gazibo, teeter-totter and mail box.

The next morning Tori was so upset that she didn't get to help us finish the gingerbread house, that we had to make her own little house.

So much to be grateful for. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

With recent events, I feel even more gratitude for my family, for my little very active girls, for being able to be a mom (although I have much to improve on), and for a devoted cutie I call Bry. He's good to us, although I try his patience at times, he's still smiling (I think).

He puts up with a LOT of emotion in this house, but we're all grateful to have eachother - to be on the same team!

Happy Holidays everyone.