gaga for goggles

We've been swimming a bunch lately, and decided to get goggles for the kids! The second they came out of the package the other night, these two wanted to get in the bath to try them out...

action pose

poser girl

trying out her standing/climbing skills in high places

Showing all 4 teeth at once!

playing dolls

As I was feeding Annika in her highchair the other day, Morgan brought out her doll, highchair, and dolly dishes. Drew snapped this shot of us feeding our babies.

Then, Morgan asked me if I'd watch her doll for her while she ran to her room.

Annika immediately reached over to grab her....

and tried out her bottle. It just wasn't the same.

Then she reached over for the rest of the goods...



Morgan came back and saw her kidnapped doll and decided that her sissy needed her own doll. So she ran and grabbed Annika's baby doll and the bottle with "macaroni juice" in it! It really does look like that sauce that sits in the Mac 'n Cheese pan. And all were happy.

And I treasured this first dollie playdate with my girls!

5 things...

5 things I was doing 5 years ago

* We moved into our new home in April of '04.
* I was pregnant with Morgan!
* I was mothering a very challenging 3 year old Drew.
* Life back in the Valley was all new after 9 years of living away, and I was building friendships and was happy to be back. Having my sister and family back here too was SO fun!
*I was attending MOPS for the first time and loving the camaraderie I found there.

5 things on my to do list for today (It's the end of the day... but how bout 5 things I did today?)

* Worked it at Cycling class this morning
* Jeremy and the kids met me to go for a swim
* fell asleep for 10 min. on the couch sitting up (I was a bit wasted after the combo of cycling and lap swimming)
* watched "Bolt" as a family and treasured watching my kids double over in laughter! (well, us too)
* spent some time petting and snuggling our last pup Butterball

5 things I would do with a million dollars

* Open our home and hearts to children who need us (fund adoptions)
* Build a larger home and a large chunk of land(see above)
* Travel outside our bubble with our family and see the world beyond
* give our missionaries mondo bonuses
* furnish the above home with lots of bunk beds, couches, barstools, one loooong table, and beanbag chairs


5 places I have lived

Spanaway, WA
Anchorage, AK
here!
in a motorhome for a while until we found a home in AK
in a dorm with crazy drunk neighbors banging on my door asking for help from their R.A. (me)

5 jobs I have held

Pizza Hut hostess (age 16)
Subway (age 17-18)
The Little Gym instructor
Nordstrom (3 summers)
UAA (all over campus)


5 things I want to be doing in 5 years

* be even more active with my kids
* Teaching my kindergartner, Annika! Along with a 7th, 6th, and 3rd grader. GULP
* Continue to be gloriously happy with Jeremy
* impacting the world in one way or another
* freelance writing regularly

5 people I am tagging

how bout J's this time?
* Jen H.
* Jessica C.
* Jessica D.
* Julie P.
* Janeen (ya know you wanna do it)

Daily time usage calculator - CNN.com

Just now, before bed, I was checking the news online and came across this... "How Busy Are You?" compare yourself to other Moms. Interesting... Nothing new under the sun, but interesting. One highlight was to "Get an idea of how much free time you have."

Uh huh.

Daily time usage calculator - CNN.com

This is so, by the way, not how I look around my house. Nor do I attempt to vacuum and stir. But the baby looks familiar and the phone ringing seems right. She looks way too cute doing housework. And way to go, having dinner in the oven. I'm proud of you. Peppy ponytail, cute shoes, and eye makeup... lookin' good cartoon woman. tee hee

I am so thankful that my little pie chart looked like it did. Hooray for mostly orange and purple. Sleep and kids. But unfortunately there wasn't a husband pie. I'll take a large slice of that, please. Oh, and a shopping pie, oh, and a haircut pie, oh, and an exercise pie. I could go on.

March Memories

Aaron and Abie came for a visit! We greatly enjoyed the two days we were able to see them...

There wasn't exactly time to get to know each other and hang out during the wedding festivities in October, so we were more than excited when we heard about their quick trip this month! We love and miss you guys!

This is officially the most people that have ever been in the girl's room at one time. We kind of just ended up this way for a bit... 11 people, not bad! Oh, and one doggie Jasper!

These last two pics are from my budding photographer, Gavin. He loves taking pictures and I let him regularly. I thought these two were pretty artistic for a 6 year old!

Annika has been testing her legs with climbing latetly! She's SO proud of herself!

Watching a Mama and baby moose that hang around our neighborhood. I love how Morgan lovingly has her hand on Annika's head.

My girly girls.

The kids got a kick out of Annika this morning.

The mystery solved.

This is Annabelle's "husband" as the kids call him. Jeremy had said he saw a yellow lab around Annabelle when she got pregnant this winter... and he's back. Our neighbor's son owns him and he brings him over when he visits his parents. He even has the same white patches on his "shoulders" like the two yellow pups. We had a really hard time believing it was the mutt brown dog we saw around too. They just look like Labs!

Enjoying Little House on the Prairie together.

another first!

This morning I opened a long awaited email from MomSense magazine put out by MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and they want to publish one of my articles!!!

I submitted this particular article when I was in Tennessee last October and hadn't heard and hadn't heard within the 10-12 week timeline they gave so I figured it got lost in the process and wasn't going to worry about it. I had already received a rejection from them about an article I submitted in December, so I knew they were actively responding to submissions. And I knew the competition was tough since there are a lot of wanna-be-writers like myself out there that are submitting articles to them. So I didn't expect to be published. At all. BOY, was I surprised to get their response this morning!

They said "We have read your article with interest and will seriously consider it in an upcoming issue of the magazine." They had no other details to offer me, and said they'd contact me when the details became available! It has been a dream of mine to be published in MomSense since MOPS has meant so much to me these past 5 years. Thank you, God for this opportunity!!!

My TV Twin

Have you ever been told you have a "twin" somewhere in the world? I've been told that many times. I must have a common face or something. But today a woman at MOPS asked me if I've ever been told at I looked like someone on TV. I was really curious so I went home and looked the TV show up that she said my twin was on... and I have to admit, there are similarities! And the funny thing is that someone has told me I look like her before! She was in the movie Ever After, and it wasn't as flattering of a comparison. She was the chubby sister who was always eating! :)

So who do people tell you that you look like???

too funny for words