Happy Father's Day Daddy

Last year was the 1st annual Father's Day Video and this year we made another one for daddy. It turned out ok, but definately not as emotional as last year (maybe because I wasn't pregnant while making this year's edition :) Either way, I think this video turned out fun too.

Happy Father's Day Bryan and THANK you for all you do for our little family - all of your girls are sad when you're not here...We love you and want to thank you for all you do to make life easier on us. It's just wouldn't be the same without you ...you make everything a whole lot easier and fun! THANK YOU!

After 3 failed attempts, apparently the video isn't going to load...sorry.

Happy Mother's Day to me

For months I have been telling Bry that I was going to make or buy a shelf for the giant wall we have going downstairs. He told me to wait and he'd make one. We have been focusing all of our creative energy on finishing the downstairs and so the aesthetics of the main floor have been at a stand-still. I was going to work on my own shelf, but my lovely hubby made one for me for mother's day. The shelf idea was to hang the girl's pictures on and if you notice the larger fram at the end of the hall - that was part of the stair/wall fix up. Ideally, the picture will be of our family, but we didn't have a photo big enough landscape...we had this cute one of Laeni, so there you have it.

On top of the shelf will look nothing like you see in the photo, Bryan wanted to put something up there, so he gathered what he could find. I am in the process of making blocks that spell out Family. Photo to eventually come...

In addition, we painted an accent wall the same color as the shelf and so that meant I needed to white wash the mirror frame that was there. I'm happy about the "re-model" of the family room.

Here are my little cuties sleeping - the pride of my motherhood :) I LOVE these little dolls and feel so grateful that they are growing with us! Every night I want to get a picture of them sleeping cause they are so stinkin' cute, but here is just one of each of them. Tori as she's in bed for the night and Laeni taking a nap.

We went to the aquarium last week and got a few pics of the adventure. It was fun.

It's SO FUNNNNNNNN being a mom. Hard, yes, but mostly fun and silly and rewarding and happy and giggly and tickley and all the other good stuff in between. Only hard to correct bad behaviors that crop up.

Happy Mother's Day to me because it is "HAPPY-NESS!"

Tori's 2nd Shindig..and the basement

For those of you that couldn't come to Tori's birthday Elmo Party, I am giving you a play by play so you can feel like you were there :) When my mom asked me how the party way, I said, "It was AWESOME!!" Then she asked how Tori liked it :) I had been looking forward to it for some time...but I think Tori liked it too :)

The invitation was on red paper and had a photo of Elmo with presents on the front...on the inside it said:

It's a Party!!

Tori's turning 2 and she's inviting YOU!

What: An Elmo Party

When: Saturday

Time: 2:00-2:45-ish

Where: Tori's house (and address)

We hope you can come and hav some cake, come at 2:00 and don't be late!

Don't worry about gifts, your presence is best, come on Saturday for an Elmo-fest!

We started out coloring an Elmo coloring sheet (thanks to sesamestreet.org) and we were going to use that same sheet to pin the nose on Elmo after everyone was ready. Tori's new little table in the corner of the photo actually came in very handy...I'm just not sure if she realizes it was for her birthday too...
Pin the nose on Elmo. The older kids were blindfolded...the wee ones just tried to pin the nose in the right place! We did this downstairs in the playroom...the kids also were able to play in the playhouse.

Then it was back upstairs for Elmo cake, ice cream and Elmo juice. The cake didn't turn out exactly as I had imagined, but the photo looks alright...

Make a wish! Actually, it was more like...blow out the candles Tori...blow...like this....whhhhhh...Tori, blow out the candles...blow...blow...(I finally just blew them out)

YUM! Chocolate cake with fresh strawberries (Tori's fav) and whipped cream. And Elmo juice.

Then it was off to presents, although I mentioned not to worry about bringing anything, she received LOADS of fun stuff.

After presents, the kids decorated Elmo cupcakes, took an Elmo balloon (not pictured) and an Elmo coloring sheet and went home. It was a BLAST!

Tori in her new Elmo jammies...boy jammies yes, but none of us care since Elmo in on the front! :)


Photos of the downstairs...

This is the outside of the playhouse. The shutters turned out great thanks to Bryan! It was fun to have it finished by Tori's party cause the kids were able to play inside!

The view of the basement looking into the playroom...we're hoping Kristen will be willing to paint nursery rhymes on the wall). The rock wall and hearth were accomplished due to Bryan's hard work. I helped with the grout because of my super piping skills. The woodburning stove is still in the garage, but it will go in the open space :) I think a piece of fuzz is floating by the mantle! If you look close at the carpet in front of the wooden door, you'll notice the carpet changes color....apparently our carpet was the end of the roll and the color faded really good...too bad it wasn't under the archway...the carpet guys are coming again in a week or so to rip up this carpet and put the new stuff down (hopefully one color). As you look at the photos and wonder why we haven't decorated...mostly it's because of the upcoming removal, but also because since Friday, when it was installed, we haven't had a lot of time. We're just happy that it's finally done...well, almost.

A look at the top of Laeni's head and the windowsill. Bryan did a fabulous job on the pine piece above the 1/4 log sill. You'll have to come to our house to get a good look!

Here is a video at Tori's birthday party. This is mostly for Grandma Francis. I tried to get a video of Tori for Grandma Shirley, but Bryan took her tiger music maker away just as I was filming...sorry.

Spring Fun

What a cute girl with a sporty mohawk!

Dying Easter Eggs...Tori even sampled the vinegar.

Easter Egg hunt at Kim's house...each kidlet got 40 eggs!!!! (We are counting them to be sure we didn't go over our quota!)

Before the hunt...we had gone to one earlier in Payson, but the other kids' parents were OUT of control...swiping as many eggs as they could get their hands on. Let the kids have a lil fun! Kim's house was much more calm...plus this time we dressed Tori a LOT warmer (notice the snow pants - it was blizzard the following day!)

Trying to go potty...she likes to sit and try to push something out, but the best we've had was a toot.

Tori sporting her Easter dress, the week before Easter, when it was actually sunny!

Dad and the girls

Tori sampling daddy's salad "Cami's special salad"

Marathon

Just back from Japan where all 3 of us completed the Tokyo Marathon. It was pretty awesome. There were 35,000+ runners and they estimated about 1 million spectators. There were so many cheering us on that after hearing "GANBATTE!!" 1 million times even Darren could understand (it means hang in there or don't give up). It was about 35 degrees and raining for the first half or so, then it cleared up and was blue skies by the time we finished. Speaking of time, Darren finished with a personal best at 4 hrs 19 min. J and I both finished under 5 hrs so we were pretty excited.

I have spent the week doing pretty much nothing - it has been 1 week and my legs still hurt, but I am about ready to start running again. Will I ever do another marathon? For sure. Even though my legs hurt worse than I could have imagined and I could barely walk for a week, it was all a way cool experience and the pain wasn't as strong as the great feeling of having done it!

Tokyo Marathon

Bryan and his brothers (Darren & J)have been training for the Tokyo Marathon and it's just around the corner. With Bryan's training has also come Tori's preparations...

Wear Comfortable running shoes

Weight training on the non-running "off" days (follow a strict schedule for marathon training!)

...and ALWAYS stretch!
Good luck at the Marathon Shirley Boys!

Catching up...

Before you begin reading this post, can you tell me what famous person this looks like? I'll give you a hint - it's a man! Now on to the regular news...

The girls are asleep and I should be working since I stayed home to take care of the two little sickies (the second photo above is not from this week, but the first one is). Tori has "RSV-like" symptoms. I took her into the InstaCare on Saturday night and they checked her O2 which was low and took x-rays of her lungs then gave her a nubulizer treatment. We are now doing the treatments at home. Monday, I called our regular doc to see if I should do anything to keep Laeni safe and they asked if she was coughing and throwing up - yes to both..."bring her in". Good news is that she has clear lungs...bad news is that she has an ear infection. After we got home from the doctor and waiting an hour at Walgreens (they had a few problems mixing Laeni's meds) I noticed Tori had big green boogies in her right eye...GGGRrrrrr. So, this morning I called the doc straighaway and so far we don't have to make another trip to the doc...as long as the eye stays clear. It glued itself shut this morning, but hasn't been full of gunk since. Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer for us that these little cuties are done getting sick for awhile.

Usually I'm a mom that doesn't allow much TV besides an occasional sign language video or Disney show...but not the last couple of days. Tori asks for Elmo and we watch Elmo videos on-line. She wants to watch a "ruff-ruff" and I pop in Disney dog movie (one of the two we own :) She has been so sick that she just crys and lays down, or wants to be held, or wants "Elmo." So...she gets exactly what she wants. I have even let her have her bink all day long a couple of days. All of this video watching has been helpful so I can hold the nebulizer up to her mouth. (They gave us a fish face to put over her mouth that she can breathe the meds through, but she refuses, so we do what we can).

On the 31st of January, our lil' Elaenia was blessed. We had the blessing in our home since we still haven't taken her out much...turns out she got sick anyway! Bummer. She was a little doll. Didn't even cry until the very last. Bry did a great job and now she's official! My mom flew in from Seattle and suprised us...well, Bry knew, but us girls didn't. My uncle Vern drove her down and were sitting on the couch when I came upstairs. Very fun. There were about 30 people here to share this special day with Laeni and the rest of the fam. Thank you all for coming all this way to see us. The main photo above is from that same day. Everyone looks great except I look like I have a helmet on. Not the best hair day I guess for me. Oh well..Enjoy the pics...