Utah Kids Club Highlights

We've done so many things this year with the Utah Kids Club that I had to go back through my calendar to find our favorites. There's the Kangaroo Zoo of course. This year we went to something new called Foam Days. The firefighters bring their big trucks and hoses and then spray foam on all the kids. My kids had a blast playing in the foam and then running under the big hose to get sprayed with water to clean it all off. We'll be making that a tradition for sure! Then there was the Utah Lake Festival that was totally fun and my kids walked away with so many prizes and free things you would have thought it was Christmas. But I'd have to say that my most favorite memory of the year was at the Hutchings Museum. They were doing a lot of crafts and such for pioneer days and I had invited my sister in-law and her 3 boys to join us for the festivites. They had fun making rope, playing tug-of-war, going on a few train rides, coloring paper snakes and paper dolls, buying marbles and playing outside. But the highlight of that day for me was the cricket race! On the paper it said Cricket races from 1-2pm. So I assumed that meant real live crickets racing. I thought it would be fun to watch. So we headed over there and saw that all these kids had little antennas on and then I figured it out. The kids were racing as the crickets. I signed the girls up, they were on the green team. I learned a little later that part of the race included eating real crickets. "They were baked and flavored and taste like sunflower seeds" they told us. I knew that Emma (4 at the time) would never go for it if she knew they were real so I lied and told the girls that they were candy crickets that they had to eat and swallow. I told them if they ate the crickets I would take them out for a milkshake. They were all for it. Emma was in the little kids group and they ran first. She stood there with this little cricket in her hand waiting for the go ahead and I looked down at it and I knew there was no way she was going to eat that. She looked up at me and asked if it was real. I said no, it's pretend it just looks real. She just stood there and looked at it. They said GO! She put it up to her mouth and then started to cry. I took the cricket from her and picked her up. I totally didn't blame her, they looked real and I don't think I could have eaten it. Maddie (7) got lined up. I gave her Emma's uneaten cricket. One of the legs had fallen off and Maddie stood there and looked at it...asked me if it was real...I told her no...she got the GO! and shoved it in her mouth and chewed fast. They had to show that they had swallowed it before they could start "hopping" like a cricket. Well, little did I know that there were TWO more stops they had to make along the way to get ANOTHER cricket to eat. She was such a trooper and ate every last one and hopped all the way to the finish line. When she was done she came and opened her mouth for me and there were still tiny bits of cricket on her tongue...almost made me gag! I gave her a big hug and told her I was so proud of her...and then I told her the truth. She hadn't eaten candy bugs but REAL crickets!! She grabbed her throat and said "uuggghhh!!! I just ate real crickets!! That's so AWESOME!!" She was so proud of herself and kept talking about it all day long. I asked her what they tasted like. She replied, "Bacon!" I followed through on my promise and got her a milkshake. Kristy and I took the kids over and Emma could only get a cone because she didn't eat the crickets but she still enjoyed it. She told me "Mom, maybe next time I will eat the crickets. When I'm a little bit older like Maddie. I tasted the leg and I didn't like it. But maybe next time I will and then I can get a shake." "You tasted the leg?" I asked her. "Well, no. I touched it to my lips but then I got scared." She admitted. "That's ok," I assured her, "Mommy probably would get scared to eat crickets too." I love being a part of the Utah Kids Club. There's always a TON of things to do and not enough time to do them all. My husband and I have even gone Laser Tagging and had a blast...I beat him one game :) I have yet to join in on the fun of Ladies Night because I always have something else going on that night...but next year I'm keeping my schedule wide open! Go to www.utahkidsclub.com and see what's going on and sign-up!

A Fun Filled Week

This week is Lehi's City Celebration Week. The Hutchins Museum has been doing fun free stuff all week. On Tuesday they did a fun dinosaur themed day. So, my sister in-law Kristy came with her three boys and we went over to Greenwood Elementary for their free lunch that they do at the school and then headed out to the museum. I stopped by to pick up a few extra kids. My friend just had twins two weeks ago and so I picked up her two girls ages 4 and almost 3 and brought them along with us. They have great exhibits there. The kids found a place where you could buy all sorts of neat rocks and so of course we had to buy a few. Afterwards there was a dinosaur puppet show outside. A little bit on the stupid side for me, but the kids really enjoyed it. Especially when they chucked candy at the kids. It was just about time to go home after that. The cousins were going to a movie with their little boy cousin for his birthday and so the kids and I went home and played baseball with daddy while I made dinner. Wednesday was a hustle and bustle day! First I taught piano and then we piled in the car and I took Nate to library for his little mommy and me class while the girls played at the park near by. Then we hopped back in the car and picked up the two little girls from yesterday AND another little girl that I watch a day or two during the week. We headed back over to the museum for the snake and reptile show. I had 7 kids that day with me!!! PHEW! They had all sorts of snakes, lizards and turtles at the show and the kids really enjoyed it. Maddie especially liked the part with the turtles because she has some as pets. Afterwards we were roasting so I took the kids to Arctic Circle for a little ice cream cone. Then we raced back home so I could drop two of the extra children back home and then drop the rest of the kids off at the library for their class. Nate and I went home and made some quick PB&J sandwiches for everyone and then headed back to the library to pick up the girls. By this time I'm just down to 5 kids. We were going to go to a magic show, but at the library Maddie went through the slip and slide and got completely soaked. Emma and Avery wanted to do the slip and slide as well so we decided to forgo the magic show and go home and run through the sprinklers. But, I needed to head to the store real fast first so we did that and then went home. They cooled off for about an hour and then it was time to get ready for dance. So we piled up in the car again, I took Emma and Avery to dance, headed back home because I forgot something and then went back to pick Emma and Avery up and drop Maddie off for her class. On the way home a friend of Emma's wanted to come and play and so I dropped Emma off at home to change and wait for her friend while I took Avery home. On the way their Avery wanted to stay and play with Emma and the new friend so I took her home to ask...and then brought her back to my house to play. While making dinner the girls walked through the kitchen to go outside to play and Avery said "Oh my gosh it smells so good. I'm going to call my mom and tell her I'm having dinner here." So then of course the other friend wanted to stay for dinner and Emma just thought that was a great idea. So, we had two extra kids for dinner who ended up staying even longer to watch a Strawberry Shortcake movie. Good times! It really was fun. Thursday I taught piano and then we headed back to the museum for some pioneer games and fun. The two little girls that normally went with us were sick that morning so it was just me and my 4 and my sister in-law with her boys. They had fun making rope, playing tug-of-war, going a few train rides, coloring paper snakes and paper dolls, buying marbles and playing outside. But the highlight of that day for me was the cricket race! On the paper it said Cricket races from 1-2pm. So I assumed that meant real live crickets racing. I thought it would be fun to watch. So we headed over there and saw that all these kids had little antennas on and then I figured it out. The kids were racing as the crickets. I signed the girls up, they were on the green team. I learned a little later that part of the race included eating real crickets. "They were baked and flavored and taste like sunflower seeds" they told us. I knew that Emma would never go for it if she knew they were real so I lied and told the girls that they were candy crickets that they had to eat and swallow. I told them if they ate the crickets I would take them out for a milkshake. They were all for it. Emma was in the little kids group and they ran first. She stood there with this little cricket in her hand waiting for the go ahead and I looked down at it and I knew there was no way she was going to eat that. She looked up at me and asked if it was real. I said no, it's pretend it just looks real. She just stood there and looked at it. They said GO! She put it up to her mouth and then started to cry. I took the cricket from her and picked her up. I totally didn't blame her, they looked real and I don't think I could have eaten it. Maddie got lined up. I gave her Emma's uneaten cricket. One of the legs had fallen off and Maddie stood there and looked at it...asked me if it was real...I told her no...she got the GO! and shoved it in her mouth and chewed fast. They had to show that they had swallowed it before they could start "hopping" like a cricket. Well, little did I know that there were TWO more stops they had to make along the way to get ANOTHER cricket to eat. She was such a trooper and ate every last one and hopped all the way to the finish line. When she was done she came and opened her mouth for me and there still tiny bits of cricket on her tongue...almost made me gag! I gave her a big hug and told her I was so proud of her...and then I told her the truth. She hadn't eaten candy bugs but REAL crickets!! She grabbed her throat and said "uuggghhh!!! I just ate real crickets!! That's so AWESOME!!" She was so proud of herself and kept talking about it all day long. I asked her what they tasted like. She replied, "Bacon!" I followed through on my promise and got her a milkshake. Kristy and I took the kids over and Emma could only get a cone because she didn't eat the crickets but she still enjoyed it. She told me "Mom, maybe next time I will eat the crickets. When I'm a little bit older like Maddie. I tasted the leg and I didn't like it. But maybe next time I will and then I can get a shake." "You tasted the leg?" I asked her. "Well, no. I touched it to my lips but then I got scared." She admitted. "That's ok," I assured her, "Mommy probably would get scared to eat crickets too." We packed up in the car, went to the store to get a few items for a picnic dinner to take to dad's softball game. Headed out to Sandy to watch daddy play softball and eat dinner. I realized when I got there that I had forgotten to bring the diaperbag with me. I took it into the house to replenish it and make the sandwiches for the picnic and didn't grab it again. Olivia of course had a total blowout at the game and I had to run over to my mom's to change her. I brought Nathan with me and left the girls to play with the other kids. Nate had his glove and ball with him and wanted grandpa to play catch. They played in the front room while I changed Livvy and my dad threw the ball and hit Nate in the face. Nate said, "oh! Poka da eye!" He threw it back to my dad. They tossed a few more times and then Nate hit my dad in the face. Nate said, "you ok? Ok gampa?" When we left to go back to the game Nate commented about Grandpa hitting him in the eye. When we got back to the game it was over. Ended early because they had finished up the innings. Nathan told his dad right away that he played catch with grandpa and got "poka da eye. I ok." Then he proceeded to pick up his bat, swing, and "run the bases." We headed home (by now it's after 9pm) and collapsed into bed. I'm so mad because my camera is broken and I just haven't had a chance (or the dollars) to get a new one. My sister in-law took a few pics and I'm waiting for those so you can see all the good times we are having! Friday will be a "catch up on the house work because of all the fun we've had" day and then Saturday we start again with a parade, water fun and BBQ. PHEW! Entertaining kids takes a lot outta me...and I wouldn't trade a single minute!

Summer Begins!

I'm always on the look out for some free summer fun and last weekend we had a blast! We went to the Utah Lake Festival at the Utah Lake State Park. I've never been there before but I will definitely be returning soon. Friday was "Free Fish Day" and they offered free fishing in the lake without a license. We brought our fishing pole but did not fish...the line was waaayyy too long. It's ok though because there was plenty to do. They had these little passport books that you had to get stamped from the different booths and then turn it in for a t-shirt. The girls have worn their t-shirts almost every day since. There was free hotdogs, popcorn, cotton candy and apples that we had for lunch. The kids made fish hats, rainbow fish and sand art. They had a little prize fishing pond and ducky races where you squirted your duck with a squirt gun to see who could get to the finish line first. There was a lot of other things to do that we didn't get to but it was fun...hot!...but fun. My camera has not been working very well lately, but I did manage to take a picture of the kids with their crafts. I'll try and retrieve it from my camera and post it here. After the festival we headed out to Sandy to watch Jason play a softball game. His company has a team and they had to do a make-up game because of the weather. Nathan loves to watch his dad play and gets really upset when he doesn't get to go out there and play with him. He brought his little "car bat" (a Lightning McQueen bat) and his ball so he could hit and run the bases like his dad. I have to say though...I think Nathan runs the bases faster than his dad! ;) So, I spent the game pitching to Nathan and sitting on a blanket with Livvy under a tree. We went home and had some pizza for dinner and then the girls and I snuggled in bed while watching the old favorite "Rainbow Brite." We had a pretty fun day and Jason and I decided that we are going to take the kids fishing at least once or twice a month...more if we can find the time. I even have my own fishing pole that I need to get out and dust off. I love making these kind of memories with my kids...and I have a whole summer to do it!

Blackberry Pork Chops

First off, I got this out of the Taste of Home magazine that came this month...so I can't take all the credit. 1/2 C seedless blackberry spreadable fruit (i didn't have this so I just put some fresh blackberries in my food processor and pureed them) 1 TBSP Lemon juice 1 TBSP soy sauce Dash ground cinnamon (go easy on this...I think I used to much and the cinnamon is overpowering!) 4 boneless pork chops 2 tsp steak seasoning (I used montreal but use what you have) 2 tsp olive oil ( I used canola but use what you want) 1 C fresh blackberries In a small saucepan, combine the spreadable fruit (or pureed fruit in my case), lemon juice, soy sauce and cinnamon. Cook and stir over low heat until spreadable fruit is melted. Remove from the heat; set aside. Sprinkle both sides of pork chops with steak seasoning. In a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook chops in oil over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes on each side. Serve with sauce and blackberries. Now, like I said, I wanted to grill these so you would use a paper towel drizzled with the oil to coat your grill. I also like grilled onions and I felt it added a new flavor and balanced well with the tangy flavor of the blackberries. I caramelized them in the sauce pan with my pork chops this time since my grill was out of order. Some cheesy mashers would be great with this...but I was out of those too! Enjoy! If you make them let me know what you think! (picture will be coming soon)

2 Mos

Olivia is two months old!!!! Man how time flies when you're really busy! She had her appointment yesterday and weighed in at a healthy 12.4. She's doing great and happy...well except for yesterday when she had to have shots. She didn't like those very much. One of her legs got a little infected and she cried for an hour straight until we could get some medicine in her. Of course we were out of the tylenol and I had to send Jason to get some. In fact, yesterday was quite the day!

It started out with me waking up with a sore throat again. Well, let me back a day or two. So, last week I was diagnosed with Strep throat and given the antibiotics. They are blue capsules. I took one at night before I went to bed. I went to lay Olivia down in her bed and all of a sudden I feel this burst in my throat, a burning and then a powder poofed out my nose. I ran to the bathroom and started spitting out this white stuff that tasted horrible and burned coming up. It finally dawned on me that the capsule must have burst prematurely and come back up. So, I freaked out and tried to throw up everything so that I didn't get poisoned. I don't know if that would have happened, but you can never be to careful! Anyway, long story short--I decided that I wasn't going to take the capsules anymore. So I missed a full day of treatment and then my sore throat came back.

The day that I didn't take the treatment my head started to hurt. The left side of my forehead felt bruised and a little "tight." I was in the car driving and looked in my rear view mirror and noticed a brown area on my forehead and I thought "Oh, I must not have blended my make-up in very well." So I started to rub it and noticed that it really hurt when I did that. So I took a closer look and saw that it was actually a discoloration and that the area was a little swollen. I thought back and I couldn't remember anytime that I had hit my head except two weeks ago and it was on the right side and not the left. Anyway, the fact that it hurt and was swelling kind of made me nervous. So, it's a good thing that my sore throat came back because that forced me to go into the doctor right away and have it all checked out.

So yesterday I had an appointment for my throat and my head. This time she gave me a prescription for a liquid antibiotic. Let me tell you...that is NASTY stuff! I should have had them flavor it for me because it is gross! She also did a couple of tests in the office and couldn't think of why my head would be swollen and discolored and have headaches, so she ordered an x-ray to start off with. If that comes back negative for anything and the swelling and that doesn't go away then I'll most likely have to do a CAT scan. Right after my appointment I had to run Olivia over to her appointment. She had her shots and then right after her appointment I took the kids to Kangaroo Zoo. Well, my throat started to hurt really bad and the body aches came back and my head was just killing me. So we came home.

I could barely walk or talk or move and Olivia was screaming and I was trying to hold her with my aching arms and Jason left to go get medicine and it was just not a good day! But we lived to tell the tale! I should find out the results of the x-ray on Monday so hopefully it's good news.

Olivia is just growing and happy as can be...when her legs aren't hurting. She has a really cheery disposition and I know that part of that is from her namesake. She's sleeping really well at night. She's up to about 6 or 7 hours! I'm still trying to get used to the new schedules and life but we're making it and doing the best we can.

I love this picture of her. It was taken with my cell phone so the quality is not the best but her smile is just so darn cute. The outfit is from my Aunt Melanne. I finally broke down and bought a new camera and I can't wait to use it this sunday when the kids are all in their easter garb again. When you see a smile like this doesn't it just make you want to smile too?

Olivia's Blessing

On Sunday we had Olivia's blessing. It was a beautiful day, with a beautiful baby girl in a beautiful dress, who was given a beautiful blessing by her dad. We had our family and friends there to make the day even more beautiful! It was the perfect ending to a crazy week at my house. The girls wore their Easter dresses, but changed out of them before we could snap a picture. So that will have to be shown next week for Easter Sunday. Thanks to the many family members and friends who came and helped with the food. Thanks to my dad and brother and Jason's dad and brother and Justin for assisting him with the blessing. Here are a few pics from that day.

Yep, more pictures!

On saturday we went on the great adventure known as "Family Pictures." We went to the Provo Library which has some great spots for pics and then headed over to the BYU Campus for a waterfall picture...but it was turned off for the winter. Still, that it is a great spot for pictures too. Nate was unbelievable. He would not cooperate at all. I think it's because we were outside (his favorite place to be) and he wanted to run and play. Then ducks came over and so of course he wanted to watch the ducks. The photographer said she is not happy with her work on our group shots, but I think they turned out pretty cute. There is one of the kids all looking up at the camera--I love those shots! Anyway, she offered to reshoot for free if I wanted but I'm wondering if that is worth the hassle of chasing Nathan again. So, do me a favor and look at the slideshow and tell me what you would do. Go to www.lambournephotography.com click on galleries. Scroll down until you see our pic and click on slideshow. When it asks for the password it's Cara. Don't forget the capital! Oh and one more thing, be honest now, doesn't my hair and head shape look a little off in some of these pictures?

Olivia's Debut

The other day I took Olivia to get her pictures in her blessing dress done. The lady that took the pictures, Alysha Lambourne, did a fabulous job and I am so pleased with them. She also took some newborn pictures. The ones on the scale with angel wings are so precious. The white blanket we used for that picture was given to me by my Relief Society President and I wanted them in her blessing photos...but she peed on it while we were doing those pictures so we had to use a different blanket! Anyway, check them out at this link. Choose to look at the slideshow, it's easier to view the photos that way. If it asks for a password it's Childs and you need to make sure that you capitalize the C. I'm having a hard time choosing a blessing photo to put in the frame and the other pictures to order. What are your favorites? Enjoy! http://www.lambournephotography.com/-/lambournephotography/galleryindex.asp?c=13707

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time there was a little boy whose name was Nathan. He loved to get into mischief! One afternoon, while his mother was feeding his baby sister in the other room, he decided to wander through the house and see what kind of mischief he could find today. Pretty soon, his mother heard "ssslllrrrrppp...aaahh. sssllllrrrrppp...aaahhh." So, she decided to get up and find out what her little trouble maker was up to today.

"Hey!" she said, "somebody's been eating my porridge!"

"It wasn't me!" exclaimed the little boy Nathan...

...or was it?

And so, the Mother chuckled and grabbed her innocent, milk face, cherrio breath son and gave him kisses all over. Then she whipped out her magic wand and magically cleaned up the mess and they all lived happily ever after.

(what? it's a fairytale. they all have happy endings. even though we all know that there is no such thing as magic wands and that while messes just "magically" appear they DON'T "magically" DISappear!)

Cheese!

This is the picture of Little Miss that I took with my phone. I caught her mid smile. She is wearing the new outfit that her Grandma Childs gave her.

Childs' Children...they keep growing and growing....

Today Olivia is two weeks old!!!! I just can't believe how fast the time has gone by. It seems like only yesterday I was complaining about her not being here and now she's here and there's nothing to complain about because she is a perfect baby! She eats well, sleeps well, smiles a lot, and is just the cutest darn thing alive! I took a really cute picture of her smiling with my phone, but I don't have the right "plan" to send it to my e-mail and print it out. So, I sent it to my sister in-law to do that for me and as soon as I get it I will post it. She had her two week check-up today and weighs a whole pound more than when she was born. She weighs 8lbs 4oz and they measured her at 21 inches...but does that sound right? Can a baby grow 3 inches in just two weeks?!?! Everything looks good with her so that makes me happy. My little Nathan is also growing. He had his 18 month check-up today, as well, and he weighs 22lbs 2oz and is 32.5 inches! "He's tall and slender" the doctor said, "it's a genetic thing that he probably got from a family member," he said, smiling at me. Man I love this doctor! At Emma's two month check-up the doctor told me she had gained so much weight that I must be feeding her whales milk...needless to say we never saw that doctor again. You don't mention the word "whale" to someone who's just had a baby!!!!! Anyway, Nate was so good during his shots. He just whimpered a little and that was it. He's such a good boy. He sat still and let the doctor do everything he needed to do. I have truly been blessed with the most beautiful, smart and just all around perfect little babies. The two older ones on the other hand....well, they were once like that too. But then again, I guess we all were right?

Look what Cupid brought...

She's finally here!! I'd like to thank my dear, sweet hubby for the previous post. He did that all by himself and he did a great job! So, you know me, I can't post without a big ol long story. So here are a few of the details of the arrival of our newest addition. So, as most of you read in the previous posts, I had an appt. on monday that left me with high hopes of having her that day...obviously she didn't. I went to bed a monster! I was ornery all day and short with my kids and husband and just didn't want anybody to look at me or talk to me. Throughout the night I felt a little crampy, but just ignored that becuase I had been feeling like that for a week now. Then at about 6:30 a.m. I decided to go get in the tub and see if there was any action. My contractions got a little more intense, but they were only in the front. I was having any back labor. Already being at a 5 though I decided to call the midwife on call and see what she would advise me to do. She told me to come in to the hospital and if I had progressed to a 6 she said, "let's break your water and get that baby going." So, I called Jason home from work (he leaves around 6ish to be there by 7, he had no idea he would get "the call" this morning). While I waited for him I got Maddie off to school, Emma off to school and Nate ready to go spend the day with his cousins. It seemed so foreign to me that I was going to be having a baby that day and not in immense pain. Jason and I arrived at the hospital at about 10:30 maybe closer to 11. They checked, I was at a 6, called the midwife. At 12:15 she broke my water. 20 minutes later I was still not doing much. So I told her I wanted to go for a walk and get things moving. That did the trick! My mom got there about 1:30 and she was asking how I was doing. I said, I'm in labor but the contractions are still not consistent. Two contractions later they were starting to get consistent...a little too consistent! They checked I was at almost an 8...contraction after contraction...9 1/2...more contractions and then at 2:17pm she was born...without drugs might I add! Yes, I accomplished another natural birth, which throughout I kept saying "remind me that I don't like this part and I don't want to do this naturally ever again!"...we'll see. She was a little blue because the cord had been wrapped around once, but she had a good set of lungs on her and she was perfect. I was so excited about all the hair she had. I kept telling my husband,"she better have a lot of hair with all this heartburn she's been giving me!" She weighed in at 7lbs and 4oz...which I didn't believe. She seemed so much smaller than that. Again, I asked the heavens above, why couldn't you have sent me the bigger kids when I had an epideural?!? Oh well. She did not like being messed with and just cried and cried. But once she was all toasty warm in her blanket and in her mother's arms, she was content. She nursed really well right from the beginning which made me happy. Our first night in the hospital wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst either. She was just constantly wanting to nurse and couldn't quite figure out the binkie. When they came to take her to weigh her I told them to keep her for a minute and see if the nursery nurses could work some magic and get her to take the binkie. She came back well educated in that matter and I am so thankful...gave me a rest for a minute! The next night was much better. She slept and seemed to get enough to eat. Fortunately she hasn't had any problems with jaundice. I hate having to bring them back and see their yellow faces. Our first night home was fabulous! She only woke up once. She ate and went to bed at 1, woke-up at about 4:30 to eat again and then didn't wake up until 9:15. Every night has pretty much been like that. Except sometimes she likes to be awake after her 5am feeding. But that's ok. She's a smiley baby and just so much fun to have around. Maddie has missed out a little because of school, but she is a great helper and loves to hold and cuddle her. Emma just wanted to see her toes. All morning before I went to the hospital she kept saying, "I can't wait to see Cinderella Olivia's cute little piggies." The only word Maddie found to describe her was "adorable." when she first saw her in the hospital she kept saying that word about everything! Nate's voice was the first voice I heard when they came to the hospital, "baby!" Then he caught a glimpse of my chocolate cake from dinner and that was all he could think about. "Do you want to hold the baby?" "No. bite." The following day, I made sure that my lunch was hidden when they came and he was much more interested in her. He made this cute little "Ohhh" sound and played with her hair and gave her a million kisses...and he's been doing that ever since. He's even beeped her nose a few times. He's learning to be soft and gets really concerned when she cries. He loves her and I don't think I have anything to worry about with him. He is struggling a little bit with me not being able to hold him or spend a lot of time with him. But this too shall pass. I want to thank my family and Jason's family for all of the help and support they have given us. Thanks to all of our neighbors and friends who have brought meals and gifts. But most importantly, I want to thank my sweet kids and the best husband in the world!! The kids have been so helpful and mostly well behaved and tried to help their dad get things done. My husband is just too good to be true! He's been on top of things and never complained about all the little things he has to do. He's spent hours playing games with Emma and helping Maddie with her homework and getting valentines ready. He's had to take care of Nathan 24/7 and change all the diapers and prepare all the meals. Everybody asks me, "So, how is it with 4 kids?" I reply with "Great! So far I've only had to really take care of one of them because my husband is so great!" I dread the day he has to go back to work, when I'll really have to prove my worth as a mother, but I want him to know how much I love him and what this little baby means to me! I couldn't do it without you Babe! You are the best! Thanks for making it fun! Love you!!!!!!

Olivia Mae

We welcomed Olivia Mae to the world today!!! She was born Feb 9th at 2:17 pm. She weighed 7 lb 4 oz. She was 18.25 inches long. She's got a lot of hair and a pretty pink bow courtesy of Emma. This girls were excited as could be. Emma just loved her little feet. Maddie just kept saying how adorable she is. Nate was only interested in eating his mom's food. Pictures will be coming soon.

The Home Stretch

Ok, one more week left...can I make it? I went to my appointment this morning and she checked me and gave me the shock of my life. She said that I was already dilated to a 4.5 and could possibly even be a 5! Seriously, you don't know what this means to me. When I was in active labor with my other kids I was only at a 2. I'm at a 5 when I finally go to the hospital and am in real pain. I'm also about 70-75% effaced and at a zero station, which means her head is really low. But no activity!!!!!! What the heck is going on down there. Is she stuck? Is she just teasing me? I hope they spank her when she comes out! So, yes it could be any day, but it could be a week before she decides to do anything. I guess I just sit and wait. Nothing else to do. Laundry is done, house was clean-not anymore but that's the way it is with 3 other kids, nursery is as done as it's going to be right now-not much to really do there, bag is packed...just need the dang baby! So, I guess we wait.

Jazz Daddy Dance

This is the best that we could do. Unfortunately you get the backside of him, but when you really think about it that is his best side! But his facial expressions are so hilarious! He is the one in the back and has the blue shorts on. This should bring a smile to your face and a chuckle to your cheeks.

P52 #5

This past Saturday was Jason's 31st birthday!! Jason had prearranged for his mom to take ALL the kids (did you catch that dad? ALL the kids) friday night for a sleepover so we could have one more night to ourselves before the new baby comes. So we went to Wingers because he had a free birthday meal from them. It was really good. Then we went and did a little birthday shopping and found some killer deals! After that we did a little grocery shopping and rented a really bad movie from Redbox. I think it was called Duplicity...we didn't even finish it. We turned it off because we just couldn't get into it. It was really hard to follow because they kept doing all these flashbacks. Anyway, not a good movie. So, we turned it in early. The next morning his mom invited us over for breakfast so we went and had some eggs and toast. The kids had a blast at grandma's and were just as wild as could be. Nate did great for his first time away from mom and dad for the night. I'm really glad he made it easy for grandma Liz. Jason chose to work that day. His company was doing inventory that day so he left to be there at 11am and didn't come home until around 7pm. I made him a special dinner of Spicy Asian Chicken and homemade Ham Fried Rice. He seemed to enjoy it. The girls were just adamant that daddy have a "themed" birthday party and blow out candles. They chose a basketball theme for him. Jason doesn't really like cake so I usually make him his favorite Banana Cream Pie, but you can't really put candles in a pie. So, I thought that I would be really clever and make him a cake and frost it like a basketball. I don't know what my problem is, but everytime I make two round cakes they fall apart!!!!!!!! I tried to piece it together and frost over it anyway but it looked like crap and wasn't even picture worthy...one of those memories I'd like to forget! So, that didn't work out but it was ok because he still blew out the candle and the cake was more for me and the kids anyway. On Sunday we invited my family and his family over for pie. Well, actually, at the last minute I called my mother in-law to see if we could do it at her house. I spent the whole day Saturday cleaning and by the end of the day it didn't even look like I had lifted a finger. I used up all my energy on that whole day and knew that I wouldn't be able to clean on Sunday, so she saved me once again. Anyway, my sister Kayla has her birthday on the 27th of January so she brought a chocolate cake so we could sing to her and she could blow out her candles. She turned 20 this year! Makes me feel really old. Jason is not a fan of chocolate and as soon as Kay walked in the house with this nice chocolate cake with chocolate frosting Maddie said "Oh, we don't like chocolate!"

So, we sang to the birthday kids and started slicing up the pies and cake. Guess what Maddie had...the chocolate cake. And then a piece of pie. All in all I think it was a pretty low key, but happy birthday, which is just the way he likes it. So, here's J's Birthday:

I decided that I had time for another page so I scrapped Christmas Morning. I think I've already told you the story about when the girls came up stairs that morning to see what Santa brought them, but I'll tell it really quick. They wanted art and craft things so we found these really great easels for them. They run up stairs and then suddenly stop. They don't know what the easels are!! Em turns her attention to the presents under the tree. I'd show you the video, but it's mostly just them standing around trying to figure out what the heck Santa brought them. They didn't even notice any of the other things he brought. It was just too funny. Once I explained what they were and showed them all the craft things they were excited. Nathan got a basketball hoop with a basketball as his present from Santa. He just wanted to "shoo" all morning. It's a little tall for him so Jason had to hold him up, but he sure loved trying to do it all morning. He also loves to color and found his way into the girls box that had their crayons in it and started coloring in a magazine. It was a pretty mellow Christmas morning but the kids enjoyed the things they received. We got a Wii game for the family to play, a Barbie Wii game for the girls to play and a few princess card games and board games to play. Emma has inherited her mother's love to play games so I try to find new ones for her to play. She is just now getting into "Go Fish" and "Old Maid" and games like that. Anyway, sorry about all the rambling. May I present: Christmas Morning

2 Weeks and counting...

I had another appointment today and it turns out that I also have yet another yeast infection. Gross! I know. This is actually my 5th or 6th one in the last few months. I've done every treatment known to man (or should I say woman?) and it takes care of it for like a week and then it comes back. So, now on to more treatments. The problem is that it is not safe to have a natural birth when you have an infection because the baby is at risk of getting the infection as well. I've read some accounts where the baby ends up blind because of a yeast infection in their eyes. So, they said that if it doesn't go away by my next appointment they may have to do a C-Section. Which I don't want, but want to do what's best for my baby. So, pray that all goes well. The other concern they have is that while I am having constant, hard braxton hicks, I am not progressing. They are worried that it's because of the infections. So, that's the other reason why I might have a cesaerean as well. This child is causing problems before she's even here!! Anyway, that's the update and while I am very depressed about it all (I even got a little teary-eyed when they told me I hadn't progressed at all) I am totally resigned to the fact that this baby will not be coming anytime soon. In the meantime, I'm off to scrub my kitchen floor and clean out the playroom. Something to do while I twiddle my thumbs and drum my fingers waiting for this child to make her grand entrance into the world!

A Friendly Wager

It's that time of year again...SUPERBOWL! Next Sunday is the Superbowl and even though my favorite team didn't make it (the Patriots) I've found a way to still make it enjoyable for me to watch...make a bet with my dad. We've done this for the past few years and it makes the game exciting for me. Last year I won!! The bet was if my dad won then I'd have to grow my hair out for the year. If I won, he had to pay for my next haircut and he couldn't make a single negative comment about my hair all year. I have to admit that he's done an excellent job. Only a few more days dad and then you can make all the comments you want! So, this year he's rooting for the Colts and I'm rooting for the Saints. Even if he hadn't chosen the Colts first I still would have picked the Saints. I love Austin Collie...but I'm still upset about the Colts beating the Patriots for the Superbowl a few years back. And I love the underdog anyway. So, I gave him the option for one more year of me growing my hair out. I figure his chances are pretty good this year to win. But if I win he has to have my kids over for a sleepover...all three of them. Now, he says that he'll only take those who are potty trained but I say if I have to grow my hair out for a whole year then he should be able to handle a little diaper changing right? Besides, I didn't say when the sleepover had to be...who knows? Nate could be a genius at this potty training thing and be trained in a month! So, what do you think? Potty trained or hair is fair? Should he have to take Nathan for a sleepover even if he's not potty trained or should I cut him some slack?

P52 #4

This first page is one that I am not completely satisfied, but nevertheless, it's done and it will have to do for now until I can conjure up something better. That's the downside to scrapping so late at night...crappy pages. Anyway, a few Sunday's ago we were at my parent's house and the guys all had on their Chicago Bears shirts. Nathan, of course, never leaves the house without his on! I love this picture! I found a football frame at Target for a buck and this picture is in it ready to go in Nathan's room. So here's: The Bears Boys

The next few pages are from my nephew Macin's birthday party. We went bowling and this was actually the first time that the girls have ever gone "real" bowling. When we told the kids we were going bowling, Emma thought it meant that we were going to bowl on the Wii. They were so excited! Maddie did a pretty good job and even beat Grandma Newby! You can make all the excuses you want mom...you were beat by a 6 year old who's never been bowling before! Emma just loved hitting the pins down. Both girls would send the ball down granny style and it would go so slow down the lane that sometimes I wondered if it would even make it all the way to the end. But they were enjoying it and so that made me happy. Jason was great and helped the girls. He even sacrificed his score and let Nathan bowl one. Nate was just going crazy. He wanted so badly to get down and go bowling. He'd go over to where they kept the balls and try to get one out. So the first two pages are of their bowling shoes, you can't miss out on a photo-op like that. And Jason bowling. I couldn't bowl of course so I tried to occupy Nathan. I took him down to the arcade and we found a racing game. He just loved sitting and pretending to drive the car. I put in a few quarters and let him play a game. A few of the teenage boys that were working there gave him a few balloons and that occupied him the rest of the time...that and the chocolate birthday cake. The last two pages are of the girls bowling. Maddie's pictures were all perfectly in succession that I decided to do a "steps to bowling" page. I like how it turned out. Em, was just cute. So, may I present to you: "bowling"

3 weeks and counting...

Well, after an eventful day of contraction after contraction, I finally got everything resolved. I had an appointment today and they assured me that I'm good for at least one more week. The baby is head down and very low. I'm only at a 1 (which is not surprising considering I don't dilate very quickly) and 60% effaced. But the midwife said that she really couldn't tell how dilated I am because the baby's head was right in front of my cervix. Those of you who have had babies know that this could mean several weeks before the baby actually comes, but with the activity that I've been having, they think I could go really fast this time. The baby is a little sideways, but Maddie was like that too, so I'm not worried. They are very concerned because of all the contractions and infections I've had in the last few weeks, so they told me that if I don't want this baby coming this week then I have to pretty much be off my feet doing nothing. She measured the baby and said that she is not very big which was a sigh of relief from me because I thought for sure she'd be 10 pounds with all the sugar and fatty foods I've had lately! They are hoping that I'll go for at least one more appointment before I have the baby. Some of you have asked why on earth I'd want to wait one more week. Well, this week we already have two birthdays, one of which is Jason's, and I'd rather have her in February. So, if I can just hang on until Monday that would be great! After that, she can come whenever she wants. However, this has made anxious to get things done that I was waiting to do until next week. Which means that if I'm not supposed to be doing too much this week, how am I going to get things done? Have my husband and kids help? HAHAHAHAHAHAH-stop, all this laughing will put me into labor! Ya, that is not going to happen. Not even in a blue moon or snow in August or when Hell freezes over, because all this has already happened! Anyway, mom's always figure out a way to get things done don't we?!?! Sp. there you have it. I'm still here but being careful which is weird for me. Normally I'm doing everything I can to get the baby out, but this time I'd rather the baby take her sweet time...just not any longer than my due date!

P52 #3

Another week has gone by. I finally downloaded my Christmas pics and so I've started scrapping those. The first one is from Christmas Morning at Grandma Liz's house. We had quite the morning! I'll just explain it a little so you don't have to try and read the journaling. I don't know if Liz had had enough of our family or what, but she was trying to pick my children off one by one! First, Nathan pulled the Christmas tree down on top of him while trying to get an ornament off. This tree is tall and huge! About 10 minutes after that he smacked his head on her fireplace and got a big ol' purple goose egg on his forehead. THEN about 10-20 minutes after that Emma was drinking her juice from one of those miniature Coke glasses. You know the ones I'm talking about right? The old fashioned green ones? Anyway, as she's drinking it breaks right in her mouth cutting her inside her mouth and on her lip. You can't get stitches in those places but she sure could have used one or two! It cut her pretty badly. Maddie didn't want to be left out so she had this "mysterious gimpy leg" that seemed to switch from one leg to the other and then both. She was hobbling around one minute, but then running and jumping the next. Not sure what happened there. Suffice it to say we left that afternoon for my Grandma's house...safer ground. Normally I don't go to my Grandma's house because we spend so much time with my family over the Christmas holidays...but in this case I felt it was the only way to keep my children alive! Of course, this isn't really how it happened. The accidents did occur, but I know that it wasn't my mother in-law trying to kill us! My kids just find trouble wherever they are and if there isn't any to be found-they make it! So, the first page I did is called "ouch" in my scrapbook.

Now, I don't want you thinking that mother in-law is all bad. So I did another page of the day before when life was good. Christmas Eve has always been spent at Grandma and Grandpa Newbold's since I was born. When Jason and I got married I told him that I wanted to keep it that way. So we spend Christmas Eve with my parents and Christmas Day with his. Well, unfortunately the rest of his family spends Christmas Eve with his parents and some of them spend Christmas day with their in-laws. This year, Liz invited just our family over for a wonderful Christmas Brunch. She went all out and had omelets (of course that's what Jason asked for) and had nice plates and glasses and menus for everyone to custom order what they wanted. The girls thought it was so fun to fill out their own little menu. It was delicious. After breakfast, of course, came the presents. She always spoils the kids and wanted them to have a few things to open on Christmas eve, not to mention the stacks she sent home with us to open on Christmas morning. This year she did books and puzzles for the kids and they loved them! Maddie loves to do puzzles and she is quite good at them. Em has started to get into them as well and loves to sit and try to figure them out. Grandma Liz also has these wooden paper dolls that are kind of magnetic with all of the little clothes and shoes and what not and the girls love to play with them when we go over. So, grandma gave them each their own doll and they have played with those every day since. Emma and her little friend Avery love to make a mess with them! Nathan also got a puzzle...but he was way to preoccupied with the THREE little Chicago Bears footballs that he got. He was just so overwhelmed trying to figure out how to carry all three of them around. He calls them "buballs" and he was in 7th heaven! He'd throw them each at a time and then try and gather them all up and do it again. Now that he's home he plays with his puzzle every morning and squeals in delight when he sees it. He sleeps with his "buballs!" So, in order to redeem my mother in-law's honor I present to you: Puzzles and Buball

P52 #2

Well, so far so good. I've got two weeks completed on my Project 52. This week I scrapped Nathan sitting on his potty reading Sports Illustrated. He loves that magazine. It's so odd to me that a little boy that young can be totally interested in something like that...and understand what it is. He doesn't like to sit on his potty unless he has something to read--just like his dad! So, I put this in the journaling on the page but I'll just elaborate a little more. At about 14 or 15 mos. Nathan was really interested in the potty every time I would go. He had to be in there with me watching what I was doing. So, I decided to just get the potty out and see what he did with it. I really had no intentions of potty training him yet. He is after all a boy, and not even two yet. Both of my girls were trained at 18 months and were fully trained before they were two...but that's girls. I've heard that boys are even harder to train and take longer. So, this was really just for fun and to see what he would do. Well, he loves it and he knew exactly what to do. He sat on that thing forever thinking he was the Shiz! It didn't take him long to start asking for his "buball" and pointing to where the Sports Illustrated were kept. He'd make me hold it for him and turn all the pages. He'd point out all the balls and make little comments on each page. He even likes to smell the cologne samples and look at the ads with the cars. Such a funny little guy. He has gone potty several times, but I know that he is no where near to being trained. But we do it every day three or four times and just have fun with it. I'm just glad he'll at least sit on it and not be afraid to try.

And so, I present to you my little guy in all his glory in my P52 #2 page:

Makeover Monday

This week is still from the girls' room. Way back when, I made a rag quilt for Maddie when we put up her new bed. I don't have any pictures of it but it's a princess quilt. I love making rag quilts because then it doesn't matter if my edges look good. So, I have the fabric for Emma's quilt, but I can't remember how I did Maddie's. I need my friend to help me again that helped me with the first one. I did, however, have enough fabric to make pillows for their beds and had cut those way back when I did Maddie's. I had my Aunt Vickie embroider their names on them. At Ikea they had these little blue pillows for 99 cents that I bought. Then I stitched the fabric together. But, on the bottom, instead of hand stitching the seam closed I left it open and put velcro there so that when I wanted to wash them all I had to do was undo the velcro and slip off the cover. Voila!

Project 52

Another new feature for my blog. There are lots of different scrapbooking challenges out there right now. The latest craze is project 52. I'm adapting it to fit my needs. I love to take pictures, but then I never get them scrapped. The last page in Maddie's baby book that is scrapped is Memorial Day the year she was born. She was born on Easter, so that tells you how behind I am. I haven't scrapped hardly anything of Emma and Nathan has one page printed and a few done on the computer. I'm horrible at this!! It's funny because, for the last two years I've done a calendar for my mom, mother in-law and husband that I've created myself with scrap pages and I do those in about a month. 24 pages for each calendar that get done in a fury and I can't even get my family's memories scrapped! So, my Project 52 is to scrap at least one "event" a week. Not just a page, but an entire event. And, to spice it up a bit for myself, I'm also challenging myself to use one whole kit that I've downloaded. I've downloaded a ton of stuff and then don't use it. I told myself that I can't download anymore stuff until I've used what I already have at least once. I'm making it my goal to post these pages on Fridays so that I have the whole week to do them. And I'm starting now and working my way back. Christmas being the last major event I decided to start with that. Then I realized that I haven't transfered all of my christmas pictures yet. Another thing I need to work on-transfering my pictures. But I did have a few transfered and so I started with that. Christmas Ornaments, is a tradition that my parents started back when they were first married. Their first Christmas they were so poor that they had to borrow an aluminum tree and ornaments. My father decided then and there that every year they would buy an ornament for each of their children so that when we got married and were poor, we may have to borrow a tree, but at least we'll have ornaments to put on it. And so, the tradition was born with me. It's silly, I know, to look forward to getting married and receiving your box of ornaments. Growing up we all looked forward to the FHE when we would go out and pick the ornament we wanted. When we got older my parents let us choose every other year and then they would surprise us with their pick on the other years. As you look through my ornaments you see different "themes" of my life. There's of course a music period that lasted quite a few years where every ornament had something to do with music. There's a Winnie the Pooh period where I had a few of those. A snowman period where there are a few years of snowmen and so on and so forth. Then, when we would put up the tree and decorate it, we had a sort of ritual. Oldest to youngest in chronological order, went up the ornaments. Such great memories! So, now that I'm married and I have my beloved and treasured box of ornaments, the tradition still lives strong. My kids get their own ornaments each year and we put them up oldest to youngest in chronological order. This means, of course, that mom goes first! Yep, I still put up my ornaments and the girls love to help me and see all the different ones I have. Needless to say, our tree is getting a little crowded. I mean, just myself alone there is about 25 or so ornaments, and now the girls have collected quite a few as well. I have to admit that I do miss me selecting my own ornament each year...but I'm slowly getting over it. It brings me such joy to watch my own children get excited about choosing their ornaments and we walk through each one to make sure that we pick out the perfect ornament. Poor Jason doesn't have a single ornament on the tree that belongs to him. Every year I think I'm going to surprise him with one and every year goes by and he still doesn't have one. So, we let him put the tree topper on. That's his special job. And now, without further Ado, I present to you the first pages of my Project 52 goal- Christmas Ornaments:

Makeover Monday

Ok, well today is not Monday, but this is the start of something I hope to keep up. Not every monday mind you, but most. I've caught this bug that I've rather enjoyed. I love to go to yard sales and buy things for really cheap and then fix them up the way I want. I save a ton of money and feel that satisfied feeling to know that you created that! So, I've wanted to get the girls room all put together before the baby comes. We're kind of doing a princess flowery theme. When we first moved here we bought white bunkbeds for the girls. We set up Maddies and left it as a twin because Em was just barely moving into the toddler bed. Now that Emma is 4 we decided we should put her in the other bed. She still looks small in her bed, but that's ok. We were going to leave them apart because I'm a paranoid mom and worried about them falling off the top bunk or the two beds collapsing together or them jumping off...you know, the sort of things moms worry about. But, in the end we liked the idea of space in their room for them to play. So we put them together and the girls were so excited. Jason said, "what do we need to buy toys for Christmas for? They think this is just as exciting." It's true. So, one thing down, now to organize and clean their room. Not my favorite. Their dresser we bought last summer and painted it white and let them paint their own knobs. When we were first married I also bought an ugly brown bookshelf at a yard sale for like 5 bucks that we painted white when we moved here. I modge podged princess papers on the shelves and we decorated it with princess stickers. I wanted a lamp for their room or a night light so that when Maddie needed to get up in the night she didn't fall down the ladder. At Hobby Lobby (which is one of my favorite stores) they had a really fun lamp that had a dark pink shade with sparkles on it and jewels hanging from the rim. It was $15 on sale. Not a bad price, but looking at it I thought "I can probably make that." So, whenever we went to yard sales I looked for lamps. I found one that was absolutely perfect for only $2! It was already white so I didn't have to paint it and the shade was just the right size. We went to the fabric store and I let the girls pick out fabric and ribbons (everything was on sale or I had a coupon for) and this is what we came up with.

BEFORE AFTER CLOSE-UP OF THE SHADE

In case you can't tell, the shade has jewels and "dancing" princesses hanging from it. Now, in real life it's not that good looking. This being my first time at covering a lamp shade, I didn't measure the fabric correctly and so I had to piece it together giving me two seams instead of one. But, it still looks pretty good and it serves it's purpose. At this same yard sale I found a lamp that was perfect for Nathan's room for $2 and a large old fashioned traveling trunk for $3. The trunk I have in the girls room full of their dress-ups. I didn't take a picture of it, but I will if you really want me to. Anyway, we still have a long ways to go, but some things are coming together. Don't you just love the base of that lamp? There are so many different things you can do with a lamp shade. I had no idea! It was fun for me to do it and I have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself because, for those of you who know me, I love the ideas of crafts...I'm just not very good at the execution of those ideas! But this one turned out pretty well, even if I do say so myself!

2010!!

Ok, well, as you can see, I'm not the best blogger in the world anymore. I can't believe how busy life got in the past few months. Having this calling in the Relief Society Presidency, teaching preschool, teaching piano, and getting ready for a new baby seems to have sucked the life out of...well my life. But, here I am and so let's get started. Since I left off with halloween, let's just pick up right where we left off. Thanksgiving was marvelous. We spent it with Jason's family and had good eatin and lots of fun. Christmas was the usual fun and success. I won't go into detail all that occurred that month, but let's just say that it was busy. This month has had a rough start. I'm sick, Jason's been sick, the kids are doing ok but not 100%. Jason and the kids went sledding with his mom and the cousins. They had a blast. I had to stay behind. Not because I'm pregnant, but because I had a RS meeting that lasted four hours!!! We start the early morning church this year. I told the presidency to just expect me to be inactive this year. I'm not a big morning person and to get a newborn, myself and three other children ready will just about do me in. Jason is wonderful at helping me get the kids ready. In fact, he got both of us up at 6:30am this last sunday to get ready. After we had showered and I was exhausted from that and laying on the bed I said, "remind me again why we had to get up at 6:30?" He replied "because I have a meeting at 7." I smiled at him and said, "it's fast sunday. you don't have a meeting this morning." And then I rolled over and went back to bed. No, I got ready and it was a smooth morning for church. It is nice to be done early, it's just starting early that I hate. I've got six weeks left in the pregnancy. I finally have my heartburn under control and all the other infections I had. Now, I've got a blasted cold that I can't take a darn thing for. I am ready for this baby to come! Not because I'm done with being pregnant, but because it sure will be nice to be able to take some drugs when I get sick. Wait...I'll be nursing...so never mind. Oh well, the joys of modern medicine! I hope to be better at blogging and scrapping this year. I am making no promises but I will try to be better at it. I love blogging more than I love facebook so I hope to keep it up. One resolution our family has for the year 2010 is the "10 second rule." If it takes 10 seconds or less to do it, then do it now! Like, hanging up your coat, putting your shoes away, that sort of thing. I'm so sick of my house being a disaster!!! It's gotten way out of hand and I just don't have the energy to stay on top of it. So, for FHE this week we timed each other on little things around the house. I think the girls understand the rule. Except that Emma says "it only takes 10 minutes to do," but then she also refers to yesterday as "last year" so I know she understands what she's supposed to do. Well, hubby is waiting for me to go and eat dinner. We had the most disgusting pizza tonight. It was from Buca di Beppo. They had this promotion going on, order a meatball pizza and get the movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" for free. So we decided to do it. Long story short...should have used my $3 off coupon and saved myself the urge to purge after eating the pizza and bought the movie at Walmart. Oh well, live and learn I guess. So, I guess I better go and eat with him and do our nightly routine of watching MASH. Thanks again Justin and Nicole for giving that to us for Christmas! Until next time...whenever that may be!