Goofing Around

Charley is looking forward to swimming lessons this summer. My brother Steve and his wife Vicki told me that getting goggles for their son Josh really helped him enjoy his lessons more. I was at Target the other day and decided to pick up a pair. Charley has been begging me to let her wear them. I acquiesced and, as a result, was lucky enough to catch my girls in some goofy moments! Here they are in Charley's "water goggles":

No goggles here, but I can't even stand how cute Maddie is in this picture!!

The field is multi-colored . . .

all ready to harvest!

Here are a few pictures from our Easter egg hunt on the Saturday before Easter.

Maddie and Charley in their Easter best.

Colorful Language

I don't claim to be a perfect mother. Sometimes I cuss in moments of frustration and sometimes little ears happen to be around. Sometimes it backfires.

Charely is sitting at the table and her bird and whale are having a conversation. Bird did something to make whale angry and I hear a little voice say, "S@%*!"

I say, "Excuse me?"

Charley, "I just said 'S***'".

"We don't say that word Charley. It's naughty. I' m sorry if you heard it from me. It was naughty of me to say it."

Charley says to her whale, "Don't say s***!"

"Charley that means that you shouldn't say it either."

"OK Mom. I was just telling whale not to say s***, and I won't say s*** either."

I couldn't help it - I giggled and hoped that she got the message. I certainly did!

Shopping sans children

I went shopping today for clothes.

Alone.

It was a whole new experience.

I might just do it again.

No more home phone

FYI: Ameri and I are trying to save some money and cut costs so as of this coming Monday, we will not have a home telepone. We rarely use it and there's no real point in us having it right now.Our cell phones are still up and running though!

Charley's Fourth Birthday

I LOVE this kid. Charley is one of a kind! She has boundless energy, the flare of a diva and has the most sensitive little spirit. She loves to be the center of attention (I have no idea where she got that trait from . . . ), she loves to give hugs and loves to be hugged. Charley constantly tells me that I am her best friend (when Hadley is not around of course), and she sleeps like a rock at night - which is more than I can say for Maddie! She says it like it is and I am so blessed to be Charley Michele's mom.

Charley is obsessed with Tinker Bell. That being said, it was only fitting that her birthday party have a Tinker Bell theme. As we were inviting boys to the party too, we decided to do a Neverland theme instead. All sorts of pirates and fairies showed up - we even had one Peter Pan. We topped it off with a treasure hunt for Captain Hook's booty. It was a lot of work, but it was great to see all of the pieces come together and the kids had a blast! It will be a while before I do a theme birthday party again though! :)

Tink's cupcakes

The beginning. A little cake with the frosting . . .

The finished product.

Pirates and fairies! Where's Pan? Oh my!

Hadley's older brother Sam. He had the best "ARRGH!" of the day!

"Yeah, it's real. Don't tick me off."

Neverland. Oh, and by-the-way, pirates play soccer.

Maddie joins the fun.

Fairies do fly!

Offer candy and you can get their rapt attention!

They're off!

They're . . . confused.

The booty.

That what relief looks like.

Emily the fairy.

Josh - "Back off land-lubbers or I'll get ye with me saber!"

My mom and I both love this picture. Josh is a lady's man! Look at those faces!

Isn't being a kid great?

Spring!

So, by now most of you know how much we love going to the Arboretum. It is such a quiet place and it gives my girls a great chance to run around and just have fun. It's not quite the Montana I grew up in, but it'll do for now! Besides, Montana didn't have peacocks! :)

As I haven't blogged with pics for a few weeks, I thought I'd just put in a ton of them! I'm going to use the excuse that they're for Ameri's family. Though I know the rest of you will enjoy them too!

Here are a few from the first really beautiful day we've had this Spring. We met my friend Laura H. and her daughter Hadley. The moms were both worn out/sick so we just sat under a big shady tree and let them run around by the fountain. Hadley and Charley loved climbing the tree too. The Canadian geese were a little feisty that day . . . mating season!

This picture just captures Maddie's little spirit!

I don't know what Hadley was saying to Charley, but it must have been important!

Yep. They're cute!

Charley was naughty and got a time-out. Hadley would have none of it. She gave me a fierce glare and then went over and gave Charley a big hug.

My cousin Johnny's wife Laura came down to visit her mom and so we were fortunate enought to see her and her kids Sydney and Cash. The Arboretum was the perfect place to go of course!

Maddie and Cash sharing quality time.

Beatiful 'Lo and baby Cash.

A peacock in all his splendor. Notice the ugly bird behind him to the right. That's who he was trying to impress. She doesn't look like the other peahens so I'm not sure if she was a peahen or not. Anybody know for sure?

Wiped out from a great day!

An Easter Message.

This was my favorite talk this last General Conference. I hope you enjoy the message too.

Hug your local fireman!

SOOOOOO, my last post was about the craziest week ever. Well, the birthday party went swimmingly and I made up a super treasure hunt for them. We were exhausted afterward, but Charley was happy and life was good.

TODAY stated out wonderfully with the girls and I loved listening to General Conference - especially Elder Holland's talk! Between sessions we were getting ready to go down to Orange County to see my sister. Ameri was cleaning up in the kitchen and all of a sudden we hear a leaking noise. More like GUSHING rather. He wonders what it is and I look under the kitchen sink . . .






AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!







The hot water pipe busted and water was POURING out, GUSHING out and SPURTING out EVERYWHERE!! We went to turn off the valve only to realize that the valve was not working at all. We had no idea where the emergency shut-off valve was (now we do!) and so we had Niagra Falls under our kitchen sink. Charley thought it was fabulous, but it was hot water so Ameri couldn't get in there properly and his glasses were fogging up so he couldn't see!!

Meanwhile - I'm braless and my hair is a mess because we were just chillin' listening to Conference in our PJs. There is no rhyme or reason in a crisis. The first thing that I thought was, "I can't let anyone see me like this!"

Hmmm. Anyway, Ameri is being boiled alive under the sink and I'm running from door to door in our complex looking for a neighbor that knows where the emergency shut-off valve is. Of course, NO ONE IS HOME. I hear Ameri screaming and cursing at the water and see Charley looking at us like we're crazy. I call my landlady to see if she knows anything. She doesn't speak english so her daughter has to translate to her and then back and forth etectera! I'm trying to get help from her and help Ameri at the same time - I get a face full of water in the face and yell, S*#@! into the phone. I quickly apologize and then yell at her that I'm hanging up and calling the fire department. I call 911 and get transfered to the fire department and am told the calvary is on it's way!!!

Meanwhile (again) - Charley is still loving it, Ameri's moving rugs and electrical stuff, Maddie is sleeping peacefully and I'm still worried about not having a bra on and trying not to slip (our whole apartment is tile - a blessing) as I round the corner to throw on a sweatshirt. I'm watching for the firemen, berating the fact that I slept on wet hair and wondering why I didn't get everyone dressed earlier . . .

The firemen show up and I run carefully (remember - no bra) to open the gate for them. Of course, half of them are young and gorgeous and I look like Harry Potter with my glasses and my fly away hair (braces and no make-up to boot!) Ten guys come to the rescue and an extra engine shows up because they were in the neighborhood. I was dying a little the whole time I was enjoying looking at them! Ah, women.

Anyway, Ameri is soaked through, his hand are chapped and red and small blisters have formed on some of his fingers from the hot water. I had helped him manage to open the u-bend under the sink so that he could re-direct the broken pipe down it. The men in blue came in and took charge. By this time Maddie has woken up and she and Charley get points from the guys for cuteness!

Hottie #1 asks for my keys so that he can turn off the emergency valve. Hotties 2-9 come in and start moving furniture and vacuuming up water because they have the stuff to do it! Wow. It was like watching a well-oiled machine. They were awesome. We just stayed out of their way and #10 comes up to me and says, "Brigham Young University eh?" ( that was the sweat-shirt I grabbed)

He then proceeds to say mormonisms like, "Enjoying Conference?", "Charley are you listening to President Monson?", "Did you meet your husband at the 'Y'?", "My kids are in Rexburg . . . oh, you graduated from Ricks? Have you been there since the temple was built?"

He then says, "Were you normally supposed to be a church at this time?"

"YES!"

He just smiled knowingly and said, "Now there's a blessing for you!"

Thank goodness for broken pipes on Conference Sunday!!

They cleaned us up, got our water shut off for a while and were our heros for the day. Go hug your local fireman!

I'm gonna hug my husband too. He was the biggest hero of the day!

Well, the pipe is almost fixed (the plumber has to come again tomorrow) and we don't have to pay for it! (Sometimes renting can be a good thing) No one was electrocuted and our beautiful living room rug was saved without even a drop of water on it! Charley even got a fire dept. sticker.

I thought about getting pictures for the blog, but I think they might have questioned my sanity, having already noted my disheveled state . . .

I don't think Ameri and I can handle another week like this for a while!


P.S. Boobs are now tucked where they should be!

What a week!

I have had the CRAZIEST week. Seriously. I think I plan well, but I guess I'm still learning. Many of the days were good crazy, but today . . . not so much! Here's a run-down:

Monday: Original plan - a little bit of work, take Charley to preschool and work on treasure hunt for Charley's birthday this Saturday.
What happened - Did usual morning routine and then watched my friend Laura's kids for 8 hours (there was a PERK to this - I'll get to it). Needless to say - treasure hunt wasn't even looked at!

Tuesday: Original plan - morning off, take Madeleine to the doctor, visit my friend Pam Nickerson who was in town, watch Laura's kids while her family goes to watch Tim's (Laura's husband) cousin Chelsea Hightower at a taping of "Dancing With the Stars". She's dancing with Ty Murray.
What happened - Laura called Monday and said that they had tickets for both Monday and Tuesday so if I could swap days and babysit on Monday for them I could go with Laura to a live taping on Tuesday. Got that? ANYWAY, it was a blast and it was worth the babysitting on Monday! Thanks again Laura and Tim. I also have to thank Ameri - he helped me so much that day!! I'll post pictures soon :)
Still no treasure hunt planned.

Wednesday: Let's just say the original plan was thwarted! I had a crazy morning and then went to visit my friend Carlene in Sherman Oaks who was visiting her sister. I got home just in time to go to my 6pm training appointment. No treasure hunt.

Thursday: Started work at 5:30am, picked up babysitter and went to work. Fed kids at noon and spent the afternoon running errands. I found out that they wanted $75 for the short time we were going to be at the park for Charley's birthday on Saturday. SOOOOO, I'm broke and I didn't want to pay that! As I was running around getting last minute things for the party, I was also trying to find a new place to have it! I re-located to another park, but I have no reservation so I'm throwing caution to the wind!
To top it all off, I had been calling in for jury duty all week and I thought I was homefree by Thursday night. NOPE. I got called in for jury duty with no babysitter planned.
I ended up baking cupcakes Thursday night for Charley's class on Friday and baking the cake for Charley's party on Saturday. I missed the "ER" finale - good thing I have internet!
You guessed it - NO TREASURE HUNT.

Friday: Original plan - have a nice morning walk with my friend Yuka at the Arboretum after I dropped off Charley and then have the rest of the afternoon to finish up party plans.
What happened - we were up at 6am so that the whole family could drive to downtown L.A. so that I could report for jury duty at 7:45am. Luckily, we missed most of the downtown traffic. Ameri waited while I went up serveral floors with the girls to see if I could get excused from jury duty. I was, of course, sent to another building where I had to be interviewed about why I want an excuse. It should have been obvious - I was toting them with me!! When I sat down to be interviewed the guy told me that my self-employment kept me from being excused. I told him I only work 6 hours a week, my husband watches our girls for half of those hours and I am the primary caregiver for them the rest of the time. Didn't phase the dude. He once agian pointed at my self-employment, I explained that I couldn't afford to pay a babysitter for the time I spent in jury duty because my husband couldn't get off work, etc. What did he want me to do? Lie? The best I got was to be re-located to my home city and now I have to call in for just one full-day on May 26th. It was such a joke. I believe that we should all do our civic duty, but sometimes it's just not physically possible. What a morning!!
Now I get to decorate the cake, oh and plan the treasure hunt! What a week! Pray for me :)

Adventures in Foam Rollers.

I don't know how many of you out there wore foam rollers to bed when you were little, but I did.

I thought that Charley might enjoy wearing them too. Unfortunately for her I
1. have a bad memory
2. had no idea what I was doing
and
3. convinced her it would be fun.

For those of you with trained eyes you can pick out my first mistake(s).

Blissfully ignorant!

Looks like a really bad 80's do!

She's still adorable though isn't she?

What I ended up doing with her hair that day!!!

She had a horrible night's sleep because she couldn't get comfortable, whined because her beautiful curls were put in a ponytail and was totally grumpy all day long. I'd like to say that I won't put them in her hair again, but I will. My sisters and I all wore them to bed on Saturday nights. Maybe I'll get better . . .

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This one's for my sister Katie: