Happy Birthday Grammy

Tonight we celebrated "Grammy's" birthday (my mom). We had fajita's, yummy salsa, a lots of desserts. We had fun while the kids ran around and we visited. Grammy also got a few presents. Some presents are useful, some are just fun date nights, some sentimental and all very wonderful, but the one that topped the list was..... Ashlyn and Hannah's gifts. (ok so maybe not, but they did have the most creative). The girls wanted to "make grammy gifts". They spent time making cards and drawing pictures. Hannah made her a card that told her how everyday of the year she is loved by everybody in our family. With cute drawings of her with Grammy. Ashlyn had to one up her sister and gave her 5 cards each with writings (that are letters that don't spell anything) and pictures. They then on their own got into the gift bags and tissue paper and "wrapped" their gifts. Nobody knew until she was opening it. At the bottom of the bag past the wonderful cards were Ashlyn's thoughtful gifts. She gave her the flower food from the flowers we gave Grammy the other day we forgot to give it to her and the flowers are now dead. Ashlyn also gave her an almost empty bottle of hotel lotion, her used chapstick and her compact. We couldn't stop laughing it was so cute. Definately the most loved gift. Sorry no pictures I forgot again.

9 Years....

Tim and I celebrated our 9th anniversary this week. I can't believe how the time has passed. I have a wonderful husband and am the luckiest girl around. Here are 9 things I love about my husband (in no particular order):

1. He shows his family such unconditional love all the time.

2. He is my best friend and confidant.

3. He truly is a wonderful father.

4. He shares in the household duties including diapers, meal prep and cleaning.

5. He is such a hard worker and works hard to provide for our family.

6. No matter how tired he may be he still doesn't complain when I ask for help with one more thing.

7. He is still so snuggly.

8. He makes me feel special and beautiful even when I don't feel like I am.

9. He is still SO HOT!

This weekend we were able to get away to the Pointe for what should have been a bonding time for us to reconnect. We had a fabulous weekend, but we both missed our kids (see number 3) so we had the kids with us for half of the weekend. My lovely sister, Jessica helped us out bringing them back and forth and watched them, so we could have the best of both worlds.

We enjoyed our weekend and had a chance to reflect on the important things in our lives. Marriage isn't easy, in fact sometimes it is hard and takes work. We too have had our share of stress and problems, but we continue to work through them. Happy Anniversary Honey, I love you so much. One picture is of us this year at the Pointe. The other is our 5th anniversary we spent in Maui. The oldest picture I could find of us together on on the computer.

Hannah is "Trustworthy"

Each month at Hannah's school they award 1 child from each class that has demonstrated a particular "Character Building Block." The nominations come from the teachers and staff. Hannah was awarded the Trustworthy award. She was very excited to get her award in her assembly. She received a bronze metal, certificate and a pencil. Her teacher said, "She can always count on her for being honest and making good choices, and if ever their is a conflict she can count on Hannah to tell the truth about the situation." Congratulations Banana we are so proud of the beautiful little girl that you are.

Marissa's Dance Competition

Last Saturday Marissa had another dance competition. She participates in 2-3 local competitions and 1 National competition each year. This competition had some very talented dancers and great competitors. Marissa's Senior Troupe competed 8 dances. They took Top 1st for 2 of their dances and 1st for the other 6. (the scoring goes Elite Top, Top 1st, 1st, etc.)They did great as a group despite not receiving any overall awards. (They strive to be in the top 10 awards for their overall acheivments.) The mini's did receive a "Judge's Favorite" for their overall acheivement and it was their first time competing. Great job girls! (I was a slacking mom and didn't take any pictures. Not that their wasn't time at the 12 hour competion just didn't think about it. So until next time....)

Memorial Weekend Fun...

What happens to all the time when you add a day to your weekend? .........Well I feel like it came and went so fast and now it is time to get ready for work tomorrow. We spent our weekend going to the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium. The kids LOVED it. We got to pet the stingrays and touch starfish. We tried to feed the giraffes, but the only one interested was the baby and she couldn't reach our food very easily. We fed the birds apples. Ashlyn was nervous at first, but warmed up very quickly. Hannah was a pro and ended up with a red bird that kept trying to peck at her pockets and buttons. Aidan just kept trying to eat the apples we were feeding them and tried to fight a bird for the apple by squeezing him. We also went into the petting zoo. Ashlyn and Hannah loved it. Ashlyn thought it would be great to pose next to each animal she could get next to. A deer kept trying to eat her shirt. Hannah conserved her food to feed them so she kept getting jumped on by all of the animals. Aidan did not like the animals. He kept screaming when they would get close and he wouldn't let me put him down. The final straw was when he was licked by a deer! DISGUSTING!!

We then went to a friends, son's family graduation party on Sunday night. The kids had a great time and were warn out and slept in a little. (unheard of in our house.)

Monday we spent the day with Uncle Aaron, Aunt Jess and soon to be Uncle Corey,and Grammy and Papa poolside. It was a great day. Hannah my little fish had fun diving for things while Ashlyn got brave enough to jump off the diving board and swim to the side! Aidan was a little unsure at first then thought he was also big enough to jump off the diving board. We put a stop to that.

Earth Day...

Yes I know Earth Day came and went last month and many of you probably didn't even know it unless you have school aged children. Earth Day becomes a holiday. We had to come up with as many ways as possible to "save the earth" and we did outdoor activities. This gave me a chance to do some much needed weeding and we planted some beautiful flowers. Ashlyn chose flowers to plant in her pots and insisted SHE would water her flowers. Here are some pictures of Earth Day and some pictures of our same flowers now. Poor flowers got too much water at first and are now thirsty for water.

Babies Update...

My last post was regarding a couple of families with babies that I have been thinking about lately. Each with their own unique circumstance. Joshua (my cousin Rach's baby) was finally able to come home and join his family. The doctors feel like he will not suffer any long term effects from his pnuemonia, menengitis, strep B and jaundice. What a miracle.

Another baby on my last post was Averi. (My friend's niece). Averi has been in ICU for 6 of her 7 weeks of life. She passed away last night in her mother's arms. (Nobody has been able to hold her for 6 weeks.) She has now returned home to her Heavenly Father and is no longer suffering. Although I do not know Averi's family directly they will truly miss this little miracle they got to know for only a short time here on earth, and I know they are looking forward to seeing her again in Heaven. Please keep her family in your prayers.