Lovely Mother's Day(s)

I just love these little critters of mine! Being their mom is the best job in the world and I couldn't ask for a better gig!

On Saturday I loved attending the preschool Mother's Day Brunch (for mom's only!) and eat yummy food and then watch the cutest DVD of the kids singing a song and then saying what the love about their mom. Caroline said that I take care of her when she is sick. I also got a small custom painted pot with a Vinca flower in it. Thanks Caroline - and awesome job on writing and drawing your own card!

Lindsay made me a heart book several pages of love notes, all in her best newly learned cursive. "You cuddle me. You love me. You read with me. You help me clean my room. You do my hair. You help me do my homework. You help me when I am sad. You let me go to my friend's house. You take care of me. You take me to the store." I love you too Lindsay - thanks for all the sweet notes!

I was asked to sing with a group of six women with the primary children. If you know me, you know I am not a singer but I could do it with these ladies...I hope it wasn't too bad! The part I sang...

"Child, I am here. Can you feel that heaven is near?
Sleep, sleep, a love watch I'll keep to protect you through the night."

I was kind of misty near the end as I listened and watched my girls sing their part and we then sang the parts combined. Really, my favorite part was walking up to the pulpit area with a big girl at each hand and then giving them each a hug after we were done and walking back to sit down with Kate and Daddy.

Breakfast for lunch in bed...we always do french toast for special occasions and since we have church sooooo early at 9am they decided to make lunch and we all piled on my bed to eat together.

We all agreed that french toast is our first favorite breakfast food. YUM! The girls made up a little song and dance about Mother's Day - it was adorable. Kate was asleep...it was after church, afterall!

I LOVE THESE GIRLS!

I love watching Lindsay's creativity blossom - this was when she was leading a neighborhood expedition - map in hand.

I loved helping Caroline learn to ride her two-wheeler this week. Such a big accomplishment! Off came the training wheels and off went Caroline!

I love giving this one baths and trying to dress her. OK, I don't love trying to dress her right now. She is kind of a monkey. But I do love her soft skin so I guess it is a win win when she won't get dressed...

And I love my new BlendTec Total Blender. Not only does it make smoothies (a favorite after school snack) but also will make soups (creates its own heat) ice cream frozen treats, and grinds wheat. (This is the part that made Steve say "so, is this what you want for Mother's Day?") A want...and a need (we have lots of wheat, no grinder) all in one awesome gift!

And, I love Steve who even when we got the BlendTec didn't complain when I went shopping Friday and bought a few new tops. I love you Steve. More than the BlendTec. I promise.

In honor of ALL our Mothers!

To honor all the moms in our lives, I asked members of my family about each of the special women below and what they loved about them, something they have learned, a favorite memory, or something that reminds us of the time we get to spend together. Here are some pictures and the responses from the family.

Grandma Nadene (Meredith's Grandma)

• She gives good hugs
• She always makes "the" ice cream when asked, whether a special occasion or not.
  
• She worked so hard to make her backyard beautiful for our wedding
• We totally appreciate that she seems to enjoy finishes the dishes (but sometimes we can get her to sit down.)
• Does everything she can to visit for special occasions like baby blessings
• Always attended events when I was a kid like soccer games and recitals
• Is very thoughtful and sends meaningful cards to everyone for holidays and birthdays
• Looks great in curlers
• If you gave her one of those "what's your real age" tests, she would be about 39.
• Always game for more games!

Grandma Nadene, we love and adore you with all our heart!! Thanks for making us always feel so special with the kind things you do for our entire family.

Grandma Shirley (Steve's Mom)

• Really nice
• Always has time to listen and share her thoughts on important subjects
• An excellent example of Christ-like service
• Plans fun activities when we come to visit
• Makes sure that Grandpa buys good treats for the kids
• helped us have fun vacations to cabins in the mountains
  
• Very thoughtful with sending lovely cards and notes for special occasions
• She is so loving to her grandchildren
• Her smile and laugh are so adorable and fantastic
• She always helps us to come on trips to visit
  

The example you set for us in word and deed is truly Christ-like. Thank you for loving and supporting our family in all the ways you do. We love you!

Aunt Shelly (Meredith's aunt, her mom's sister)

• She lets us walk up her legs (well, maybe some of us are too big now.)
• Makes an effort to visit for special occasions and "just because"
• Always brings fun treats like gummy worms
• Sends fun cards in the mail for birthdays
• Filling a lot of the role that my mom can't since she passed away
  
• Works hard so she can play hard
• She is a great help when a difficult decision needs to be made
  
• Calls daily or almost daily to "check in" and see how life is going with everyone
• She is funny
• She made a playroom for kids and built a pool in her Arizona vacation house.
  

Thank you, thank you, Aunt Shelly for always being there, for being one of the first people we want to call with news, good or bad, and for always making life more fun! We love you so much!

Clockwise from top left: Lori, Meghan, Molly, Dawn, Jeannie, and Barbara

And not to leave out some other very special aunts (and sister in laws), Aunt Lori, Aunt Molly, Aunt Meghan, Aunt Jeannie, Aunt Barbara, and Aunt Dawn!! We love every minute we get to spend with you and thank you for your guiding influence in our lives, whether we see you every week or once per year, you compassion and love for all of us is truly a great blessing.

As President Hinckley said in the quote on motherhood at the top of my sidebar,
"...no other can adequately take your place."
We love you and honor each of you this day.
Thank you for being our mother, grandmother, aunts, and sister in laws!!

And of course, our thoughts always turn to my mom, Sue, when we celebrate motherhood. We miss her and the experiences we are missing out on sharing with her but are thankful for her kind and loving example of motherhood, sisterhood, and friendship.

Baby Kate is a big girl now!!! Wowza! She is ONE!

Happy Birthday Zac and Kate!!!
(Molly has some of the best pics of Kate alone...she was quite the cooperative model...I will post them later.)

With the cousin twins Zac and Kate having birthdays 3 weeks apart, we decided a joint birthday party was in order. Plus, Grandma, Shelly, and Joe were in town (an they were cranking up the heat pump on their new pool) so a little pool party for the kiddos was in order! We had a small family party with, of course, our like family friends The Myers and Rogers. Seriously - I think our kids will grow up thinking they are cousins for real. And its fine with me. The more cousins, the merrier!
We didn't have a party theme per se but a color theme. Of course the babies clothes HAD to match so a quick trip to Children's Place defined our color palate of turquoise blue, green, orange, and pink. Molly made the fabulous lemon layer cake and I made the little polka dot cakes for the wee ones. (To see how we made the chalk board plate, click here! shameless plug...)


Kate got a Red Wagon as her gift from Mommy and Daddy. Don't get me started on how many co-pays for one Broken Arm this has cost me! But really, it has been a fantastic addition to the family wheels. I have always wanted one and this was as good of reason as any to buy one. Neighborhood family walks, big kid adventures, hauling gardening supplies to the back yard, etc. Kate LOVES it and squeals when she knows she gets to ride! Other great gifts included fun bath toys (a good thing because her favorite bath toy is the lid off an old bottle of shampoo), some cute clothes, and a fun retro Fisher Price Little People set!

LOVED her cake, by the way. Girl can eat. She knew what to do.

Seriously, Daddy is in love with this one.

A little dip - "I'm just gonna put her feeties in"...famous last words!

Kate LOVES hanging out in the pool!

A fabulous birthday party, yes indeed! (click to enlarge).

More to come, you know, to celebrate my cute Katers Potaters...after her one year check-up Friday. More on her feet, her size, (can you believe my once fatso baby is a tiny munchkin), and a one year retrospective in pictures. I have been working on it and will finish it friday.

But tonight, we celebrate with a birthday date planned by big sisters. A fun dinner out and a trip to Build a Bear!!!

If it's broke...

...then fix it!!!!

Lindsay wore her purple splint for 3 days like we were told. We took it off Tuesday night for a couple hours; she was still in a lot of pain and was again holding it quite still and favoring it. So, I called the orthopedic doc today to get her in. And since it is the same doc we go to for Kate's feet AND she had her next follow-up scheduled for next week, I asked them to combine and make back to back appointments for me asap. Awesome. They got them both in today.

So we go in with our awesome x-rays from Urgent Care (the ones with the "inconclusive" evidence of a break). Dr. Hrasky was not in this week but the PA's, Nina and Sarah, are awesome. Super fantastic, actually. They put the x-rays on the light board and said "Did they tell you that you broke your arm?" Turns out that 1.5" long vertical line IS a break after all!! So they immediately start to cast it and talk colors - oh, if the orange was a pretty orange...so she got purple...with sparkles! Sarah started the cast and I had to juggle really quick while I had Kate in my lap and Nina was examining her feet to grab my camera - "Mama's got to blog this stuff!" I said. Nina and Sarah laughed. But doh! No memory card. So I grabbed a couple of quickie phone shots.

The good patient in her sling (sling just for a week) carrying her x-rays.

Afterward we went straight to Office Max to get a silver sharpie because Nina suggested that would be so cool for signing on the purple sparkly cast. Of course! Why didn't I think of that? And then out to lunch...she picked Wendy's. Funny thing - we were making the phone calls to grandma's and grandpa's to tell them about the broken arm and cool sparkle purple cast. So the funny thing was that a mom was there with her son who had a broken hand and was making the same kind of phone calls! But she was incredibly unhappy with the doc they saw and was talking about needing a second opinion because he may need surgery - seriously, his cast looked one step better than the fake casts the girls make with paper towels and tape. Luckily, I have been working on organizing our medical records for the girls, a la Katrina's advice, and had extra business cards in my pcoket and could give her one! I was able to give her a double awesome referral since I have two patients seen there!

Bottom line: Cast for 4 weeks. Sling for 1 week. No PE for 6 weeks. No gymnastics for 8 weeks! I got a note that will hopefully get our tuition back for this session...

Oh, and I will blog more about Kate in another post but the quick answer is that they are thrilled with the progress of her feet correction thus far and since she is starting to pull up on her feet, we are going to wearing the splints only at night and daytime she can go barefoot! Yeah!

...

A little plug...for a great cause!

My friend Shawni has written and photographed this book with her mother, Linda Eyre. You may know this family from their countless books on family and relationships, the creative force behind Joy School, frequent speakers at LDS Education Week, appearances on countless TV shows, etc. Shawni has written on her blog about their youngest daugther Lucy, who is pictured on the cover of the book. She has a rare genetic disorder Bardet-Biedl which will eventually cause her to lose her sight, along with a long list of developmental challenges. Shawni, her mom Linda, and husband Dave have decided to give a portion of proceeds of this book to the Foundation for the Blind.

Pick up a copy of the book (a great Mother's Day gift, I am sure!) and one for yourself and get some reviews on Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. The more positive reviews, the more they stock the book, the more they sell, the more they donate to this foundation.

If any of you have been to my house or have admired several of the lovely black and white photo shoots (OK - a bunch are not hung right now...I am working on re-hanging stuff!) you have seen her work. It is gorgeous. I admire her and her dedication to motherhood and womanhood. She is truly an example of making the best experiences with your family.

AND...if you are in my ward, she will be our guest speaker at our May HFPE night next Thursday!!! I mentioned it in passing when I saw her last fall at an event and she emailed me after Christmas and said she would love to do it. I am not sure That the HFPE speaking circuit is her gig so I feel especially thrilled to have her come!

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden

The Prophet said to plant a garden, so that's what we'll do
For God has given rich brown soil, the rain and sunshine too
And if we plant the seeds just right and tend them carefully
Before we know good things will grow to feed our family.

And the second verse is all about planting enough to fill our needs and sharing our extra with friends. I don't think our little garden experiment will yield THAT much but we are at least hopeful that a few things will sprout from seed and the transplants will stay healthy! We got a bit of a late start for spring gardening around here but are still within acceptable planting range on a few things. I have had some plans for raised garden beds that I want to build and each year we don't do it - something gets in the way! And this year there is talk about a possible move so I don't want to invest in beds for a yard we may be leaving. (I will let you know when it is more than a possibility...it would only be to a larger home in the area, nothing drastic.) So, we went with a small container garden with a few favorites: 2 blueberry shrubs (hot weather friendly variety...) tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, carrots, beans, zucchini and cucumber, and assorted herbs, and of course, some flowers out front. We need to work out a watering system - gardening here requires so much water and TLC!!!

Oh, and by the way...Saturday afternoon Lindsay went to get her arm checked out - on Thursday she had fallen while pulling Caroline in the wagon and landed on her left hand. After two days of favoring it and being in pain, we took her to Urgent Care Saturday afternoon. For sure we have a damaged tendon and less sure a break. Doc thought for sure there was a break but the x-ray was maybe yes/maybe no. So, after a few days of the rockin' purple splint (you can see it in the post before this one) we will remove it and check pain/mobility/etc. If it is still a problem, off to the orthopedist we go. They referred me to Kate's foot doc so we already know him. Lindsay was of course bummed she didn't get a "real cast like Ellie" right off the bat but the purple wrap helps with the cool factor!

You're invited...

I LOVE when the girls get their imagination going...and I especially love when someone tells me that they are taking care of Sunday Dinner!

Lindsay and Caroline presented us with our invitation after lunchtime on Sunday afternoon. Exactly as worded on the invite:

"We will be having dinner at 6:00, outside. When we are done with dinner we will go on a family walk. Then we will come back and have dessert."

Derections: Dress like you are going to a ball for dinner.

Thank you!

Oo la la!!

The Refreshments Spread (They kept calling it refreshments...) pizza, sunflower seeds, water, crystal light, fruit leather and granola bars, mac n' cheese, ice, rice cakes, and applesauce with cinnamon.

The fancy table.

All day long they worked on the preparations. I kept wondering what they would plan for dinner. They set the small table outside with a table cloth, the fancy pink and green dishes, stemware, and a centerpiece. (Really, we have had this same small patio table since we lived in an apartment a gazillion years ago and have never upgraded patio furniture. It has seen better days...) They brought their tea party table outside to hold all the "refreshments." They kept wanting to fix the food but we kept reminding them that a frozen pizza and macaroni and cheese are better prepared right before they are eaten so they got out things like rice cakes and granola bars and sunflower seeds, mixed some Crystal Light - you know, the things you can prepare ahead of time. :)




The girls chose fancy dresses for themselves to wear and picked a dress for me, jewelry and shoes for me. (A dress I bought to wear on a cruise 4 years ago...) Steve looked handsome in a dark suit, of course!

We came outside to the table and an announcement was made: "After dinner we will have dancing. "

We dined and laughed together and had the best time! Once Steve augmented his dinner with a hot dog, everyone was satisfied.

Kate joined us after a while - she was still asleep when the party began - it was supposed to be a 6:00pm party but the girls were so excited it got moved up to 5:30. We had pulled up the car so Kate could drink her milk.

Steve went inside and grabbed the kitchen radio/iPod speaker doc thing and played some tunes. We danced and played ring around the rosie and Lindsay showed us her disco skills! We just channel surfed for music, whatever sounded good at the time.

Then, before it got too dark, we went for a neighborhood walk with the new wagon Kate got for her birthday. (We celebrated a little early when Shelly, Joe, and Grandma were in town - a joint cousin Zac and Kate party - will post on that later.)

Afterward we sat on a blanket under the stars eating ice cream sandwiches and helped Lindsay work on her poem recitation that was due for school Monday. Really, it was a dreamy night.

I love this little family of ours - we should party more often!