Friday, September 26, 2008

Farm Girl?

Mark asked me when we started dating if I was a "farm girl." I told him I wasn't, my dad isn't a farmer. But I think I need to rethink that...As I was driving on the washboard gravel road to the county fair, I got very homesick! Does that make me a farm girl?We went with Brooke and her two cute kids, Molly and Adam. They all got a kick out of the bunnies. So cute.
The cow behind us was making Brooke pretty nervous. It was eyeing the kids, it definitely didn't look like it liked having the kids close. I also ran the stroller through a pile of cow manure that I didn't see. I don't know if the cows were our favorites.
But the Merry-Go-Round was definitely a hit...

Queen for the Day

Thank goodness for great Kindergarten teachers!!! Kasidee came home so excited yesturday, she was crowned queen for the day in her class. She got to pick out her favorite color crown, and all the kids in her class drew a picture of her and the teacher put it together in a cute book.
This was one of the cute classmate pictures...
This was Kasidee's narrative about what she likes. I know it is hard to see, but if you look up at the top left corner the kLI is her "I like," there is an "o" on top of an "M" kind of in the middle and that is her "mom." There is also a "dad" in the bottom right corner. I was so amazed at how much she has progressed in the short amount of time she has been in school. I was worried about sending them, but I feel like we did the right thing. They are having fun and learning so much! Kasidee is definitely a queen in my book!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Love/Hate Relationship



I have a love/hate relationship with Costco. It seems like every time I go I can't leave without spending at least $100, I have gotten lost trying to find Costco (we are talking over an hour in the car each way), I have had ladies scold me for being a bad mother in Costco (I let one of my kids ride in the big part of the cart), I have forgotten my pin number and they won't take credit cards so I have left a whole basket of food and walked out in Costco, I have had my membership expire and had to stand in line with screaming kids to get a stinkin' picture taken again in Costco...The list goes on and on, and yet...I LOVE COSTCO!!! I can't stay away for more than a month. We make a day trip out of going. My kids can't leave without a hotdog or a slice of pizza, it is tradition. And I refuse to sell out and go to the much closer Sam's Club, sorry if anyone out there is a Sam's fan. We went today, and I love putting away all my fun finds. They have great Christmas kids toys FYI. Fun times.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

No Training Wheels

Parker's friend brought over his bike a couple days ago, and he didn't have training wheels on his bike. That sure put a fire under Parker to learn...he caught on really quick. He loves riding his bike again, it is a whole new toy now.

At the end of the video, Mark shows the fence that is now no longer there, the pile of 3 trees that were blown over in our cul-de-sac, and our missing tree in our yard.

For the benefit of Grandma and Grandpa

My mom is dying to see the kids. So here is video of their latest accomplishments...

Parker has been asking me to teach him to play the piano for a long time...we finally are starting. This is the first song in the book and he was so proud of himself. Kasidee is singing a duet in the primary program with another little girl. She is so excited!

We are terrible

This is Mark boarding up the windows. He wanted it to look like he was being blown away by the wind. (:
This is all of our lawn stuff piled into the side of our garage. We still had to fit 2 cars in here. I didn't think it would fit, but Mark is amazing.
Here are all the trees and branches that are piled up everywhere on the sides of the roads. I couldn't believe how many trees came down.

My neighbor took pictures of the tree that came down on our house. When she emails them to me I will add them.
I thought that we took pictures of everything. But when I uploaded the pictures from by camera, I didn't take hardly any. What I was thinking, I don't know. But there are good pictures at this website...


Wednesday, September 17, 2008

We survived!

What a crazy crazy time! I am just writing a quick note to say that we are ok and that we have some crazy pictures coming. Thanks for all your prayers.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Hurricane Ike

That is the hurricane that is coming to Houston tomorrow. They are predicting 100-120 mph winds. We have our food storage, water, batteries, cars full of fuel, boards ready for our windows, and our garage is packed full of all our lawn toys. We have not been told to evacuate, and I hope we are ready for whatever comes. It is so strange to see stores empty and gas stations who have run out of gas. It makes the prophet's call to have food storage hit home! Hopefully we won't have any scary storm pictures to post on Saturday or Sunday!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Mark's latest project

This is the inside of our food pantry in our kitchen. We had a leak somewhere, and Mark took it upon himself to find out where it was coming from.
Now all the food in the pantry is relocated on our counter. I am going crazy! I can't stand to not be able to clean up the kitchen. I know, I am a little OCD.

Luckily, Mark has realized that this project is a little over his head and we have hired someone to come help later this week. I love you Mark, but we still have a dozen other projects that need to be finished around our house.

Addison found the camera...





I know the last 2 posts have been about Addison, but she is cracking me up lately. She found the camera and figured out how to turn the camera around and take pictures of herself. That has been her theme lately, "I do it myself!"
The other night she was saying the prayer at dinner, and I was trying to help her. This is what it went like...
Mom: "Dear Heavenly Father,"
Addison: "No help me, I do it myself. Dear Heavenly Father. What mom?"
Mom: "Thankful for the food,"
Addison: "No help me, I do it myself. Thankful for the food. What mom?"
We continued like this for the whole prayer. She wants to be so independent, she just doesn't know how yet. Wow, I am having flashes of our future, it is going to be interesting, but we are definitely going to laugh a lot!!!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

"Don't leave me mom, I get my backpack!"



Addison won't get in the car to take the kids to school unless she has her backpack too. This morning she had to run upstairs and get it out of Kasidee's room. She went tearing up the stairs yelling behind her, "Don't leave me mom, I get my backpack!" It makes me laugh every morning.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Photo-Op

My mom wanted a picture of all 4 kids together, hence the Sunday photo-op.
Our girlie's...
Kasidee kept saying, "Mom, can you take her please, I'm all done." She is not a big fan of holding her little sister.
Kasidee is singing a duet in the upcoming Primary program. She likes to sing it to anyone that will listen, she has already called both grandmas and great grandma.

Parker has been my little cuddler lately. I think Kindergarten has really taken it out of him. He won't admit it, but he is missing me. He comes and sits on my lap or randomly gives me hugs. I love that he needs his mom again.

We finally started potty training Addison. The first day I thought I was going to shoot myself. But once she caught on, she has been doing GREAT! She is getting SO big!

Bailey has grown so fast. She is getting so close to laughing, I can't wait to hear her giggle! She is spoiled rotten. She wants to be held every second that she isn't sleeping, which is most of the day (she isn't the greatest nap taker).