Ding, The light bulb came on

Josh, Holly and I were watching one of my old mission videos. At the end you see my friends and family waiting for me to get off the plane. Josh says, "Mom, are Oma and Opa your mom and dad?" I told him yes. He said, "Well what will you be when I am a dad?....Will you be an Oma or a grandma?" I told him yep. "Then what will I be after I'm a grandpa what happens when it is all over?". We talked about eternal life and how we can live with Heavenly Father again. It's nice when you can share your testimony and your son finally understands the family structure.

The jewelery box

For Holly's birthday she got alot of jewelery so I told her we would make her a jewelery box. We used a shoe box some scrapbook paper (she chose the colors) and a little help with my Criket machine and this is what we got. She was excited. She picked the shapes and where to put them and she put the letters down (I did help with the first letters of the word's to get the spot right, I can't let go all the way!) She loves it. Oh how simple life can be when your young.

The best way to remember is teach someone else

I over heard Josh reading a book to Holly the other day. He was reading and when he got to the end of the sentence he said, "That's a period. It means that it is a statement". Any guess what they learned last week at school.

Ballerina Girl

Our friends little girl, Mabel, is taking ballet classes. Every now and then they can bring a friend and they invited Holly. I don't know who was more excited me or Holly. We dressed her up in a pink leotard (thanks to cousin hand-me-downs, when do you guys get back?) and pulled her hair back into a ponytail and we were set to go.

The place had a one way mirror all the parents could watch through. It was so cute watching them do little ballet steps and twirl and spin. It brought back memories of my childhood. I did ballet and tap for a time. Though I hated my ballet teacher (I have terrible posture and my turn out is not that good). Wait, back to Holly. She was really getting into it and seemed to try to stay by the teacher, until the last 7 minutes when they were going over the dance the class is learning. She got all mad and just stood there with her face in her hands.
When I asked her later what was wrong she said that they didn't do enough ballet twirls and she didn't know what they were doing. I am not sure what changed from following the teacher from the rest of the class until then. But it was still extremely cute to watch. Thanks Mabel for the invite.

Mabel and Holly

I'm an awful mom

This week Josh was walked to the car by his teacher. My first thought was, oh great he did something wrong today. When she got to the car she explained that when he was on the playground he was playing tag with someone else and ran into a pole. Then I thought, great he chipped a tooth. It turned out his gums bleed a little and she hugged him until he stopped crying, by the end of recess he was fine. It wasn't until she was done that I finally thought, oh Josh I'm sorry!

Side story this pic was taken when we went to Dollywood this summer, everything ended up closing due to lighting being in the area. We kept promising different things to the kids, when we got to the water area and it was closed too, Josh started to whine about there being no water to play in. I being the awesome mom, opened my water bottle and threw water in his face. Yep, I'm an awful mom.

Happy Birthday to me!

I think that this is the one day that I get messages on my facebook. I felt really special with all the greetings. I tried to get as many meals for free and eating out on my birthday. Breakfast was a hard one. If you think that you can get free doughnuts from Krispy Kremes because a site on the Internet says you can it's not true! I did get a sub from Firehouse Subs, free ice cream from 31 flavors and some free stuff at Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I still have coupons for Famous Daves and Red Robin that I need to use. I was really excited about my presents. Don and the kids got me a fun game Banana Grams, my parents got my a collection of Elisabeth Gaskell movies. I got more too but I don't need to tell you everything. Don bought me a whole cheesecake for my birthday cake. I LOVE CHEESECAKE!!! Especially chocolate.

So now that I turned 35 I was thinking what's next. I did the childhood chapter of my life, teenager, missionary, single, get married, have kids chapter. Now what? I know that I am still a wife and a mother and I do not down these precious things. I love being a mom and having a family. I just feel like I need to more to better the world. I was trying to think of hobbies I like to do, read, garden, eat (opps that really isn't a hobby, but I do enjoy it). I don't know how to turn these things into helping the world. I do plan to volunteer at Josh's school next year when Holly will be there too, but I should have a plan for now. I want to better myself and do something for my neighbors and city. I just am not sure what direction to go into. I am still pondering. If I figure it out I will let you know.

Not to be a downer. My birthday was great, the lady at the restaurant even gave us an extra helping of free ice cream with four spoons. I love free.

Fancy shoes AKA cha-cha shoes

Holly got these shoes a while back when they were way too big for her feet. We got them as hand-me-downs and she has loved them. I call them her cha-cha shoes, she calls them her fancy shoes. They are definitely the go to shoes for dressing like a princess. They have a little heel and they have sparkly hearts, with open toe that shows off your nail polish, plus a strap to keep them on! Does it get any better?



So the other day Holly says, "Mommy there is something wrong with my shoes!", I ask her what, she tells me, "My toes are hanging over." I stifle a laugh and tell her that she is getting older and bigger and that means her shoes will get to small. This caused much distress. She loves those shoes, so if you have any cha-cha, I mean fancy shoes that you no longer use send them our way.

Four eyes

It's silly what you can do with googly eyes.

First day of preschool and memories

Getting Holly to stand still for these pictures was no easy task, she was way excited to go to school.

Doesn't she look like a sumo wrestler?

When I was little and went to grade school I would brown bag it. My mom would write my name like this and do little doodles all over it. It was like taking a hug to school. My moms were much prettier, but I thought for this preschool year I would continue the tradition.

Growing up

The other day on the way to church we were in the car when Josh says, "Mom, my hair on my arm is getting taller, I'm almost a dad." Josh associates being older as being a dad, even though I have told him you don't have to be a dad to be older. And I guess he associates having arm hair with being older too. Interesting.

Taking the road less traveled

Okay so the road we took isn't less traveled, but we travel it less. On one of our walks we decided to go on the long adventure to the other park. Holly thinks this is the only way to have an adventure. The path we go through has a jungle feel to it and it is always exciting to go to a different park.

Holly and Zoe flying. Holly and Zoe on the slide, not sliding. Holly swinging.

Preschool

Ladies and Gentlemen, Holly's preschool class of 2011. Starting on our left: P.J., Cruze, Zoe, Mabel, Brylee, Holly, and Benson. Oh yeah, it is going to be a fun year!

Holly's 4th Birthday

We start the day off with a little girl watching t.v. and blowing out her candles in her breakfast of choice, Monkey Bread and Milk.

Then we proceed to opening presents from grandparents and great-grandparents. She was thrilled with all she got. Jewelery was a big hit!

Next we proceed to getting our ears pierced after an unexpected detour of eating a McDonald's lunch. (Don't ask, lets just say that mom had a melt down at Wal-Mart and the little old lady at the jewelery counter went home saying she had another crazy customer today).
We ended up at Claire's. I love the fact that Holly has her legs crossed as the lady tells her what is going to happen. This clerk was awesome. She was caring and very informational (is that a word). She did an awesome job. I guess there are no crying pictures. To answer any question, yes she did cry, but not as bad or as long as I thought she would. The picture of her with the sucker she was still in the chair and I had just finished cleaning her ears. She got pink flower ear rings. Not the butterflies we intended to get at Wal-mart, but that will be the next pair.

The most pathetic cake I have made yet. I am sad I have been looking forward to making this cake since she was born. But my excuse is that I have been sick and have no energy. Not to mention the fact that I should have made more rounds or smaller rounds so it would have been higher. No matter she loved it, it was strawberry cake, with strawberry filling and a pink butter cream frosting. Decorated with, what else, princesses!

Opening Josh, Mom's & Dad's presents and I forgot to mention pizza for dinner. All in all I think it was a good birthday!

I thought it was cute. Josh was excited for Holly to open the gift from him. Even though he didn't know what it was or purchase it. I just randomly picked a bag and said this is from Josh, but he was so excited and proud.

Play date

The day before Holly's birthday we had a play date with a few of her friends. They dressed up in princess dresses and we painted their nails, made homemade tortilla pizzas and played Hullabaloo. Good times. Her friends included:


Mabel Zoe Katelyn

Booms Day!

Last Sunday evening we went to Booms Day. I am not even sure what Booms day is, but they do a huge firework display, so we decided to go downtown and see it. We met some friends on top of this parking garage (ours is the gold car, good luck figuring out which it is). We decided to by pass all the vendors and craziness and went to go inside the sun sphere. I have never been there. Here's us.

Then we headed over to one of the parks, this one is by the water park.

Everyone had a great time, and when I say everyone I mean everyone. This turny thingy was really fun. The other husband, Heath was totally spinning kids off of it. I thought I had to give it a try. (it's harder to hold onto than it looks).

Don spinning the kids in a cage. Doesn't that sound awful!

Don and I in front of the sun sphere and the water park. Our friends kids went in and as we were watching Don kept saying I bet I could run through there and not get wet. Well I guess he thought it would be more fun to throw me in. Luckily I am very squirmy and he knows me enough to know when I am serious. Hey it was cool out and jeans don't dry that fast. I know I'm no fun.

Finally fire works. Holly watched them from the hood of our car and on Dons shoulders.

It was one of the best shows I'd seen in along time. We had a great time!

I want to get married!

Holly is obsessed with getting married. She likes to tell me, "Mommy you and daddy our married and that is why you kiss, or sleep in the same bed." She has even started to talk to strangers and asking if they are married and if they kiss. She has decided of late that she is Ariel and she is going to marry Eric. When Katarina was here they dressed up often to go get married. Katarina looked super cute in these purple shoes that were twice the side of her feet. In this first picture Holly was saying, "Mommy, please can I pretend to get married, PLLLEEEAASSEE!!!". Yeah, I can't wait until dating time comes around. Whoopee.