Tornado

We had a tornado this morning. It actually touched down and destroyed some homes about 20 to 30 miles away from us. We barely woke up for it. Hence, I have learned a couple of things about this experience.

1. We can't hear the alarm at our house. Not a good thing.
2. We are not on the calling list for emergency situations. (I have since resolved this!)
3. We do not have a plan in place of where to go, how to get the kids, clothes and shoes.
4. We are not ready for a disaster.

So this afternoon I went downstairs and took inventory of our storage room. We actually have a lot of food down there, but there is no way to open them. I have since moved all of our emergency essentials to that room. I am also putting a change of clothes for each of us and a pair of shoes as well. The bean bag and a bunch of blankets have also been placed down there.

I guess the tornado was a good thing. It forced me to start getting prepared, which we need to be. The weather forecasters have predicted that we are in for a lot of them!

BTW...Apparently we were not the only ones that didn't wake up. A bunch of our friends slept through it as well!

Elder Morriss

This is Elder Morriss (yes, there are two "s" at the end of his name. It is a great family history story!) He has been here pretty much as long as we have but he finally gets to leave. He started out as a greenie and it has been so great watching him mature into a wonderful, strong missionary. He has brought the spirit into our home on so many different occasions. He has a wonderful testimony and will be a blessing to so many people out there. He will be greatly missed!

Anna's Note

Here's Anna's note to the Tooth Fairy. It has a picture of her mouth with a space where her tooth used to be. Below that it says, "I lost my tooth at school."
The Tooth Fairy was kind and did give her $1. She wasn't too excited until she found out she could trade her dollar for 100 pennies.

And it's out!

This afternoon I went to pick up Anna from school. She came running out and showed me that she had a gap in her smile. After weeks of trying to convince her to let me get her tooth out she decided to do it herself. Here's what happened.
They were reading a book in circle time today about jobs. They got to "D" which is for Dentist. Anna decided to pull out her tooth. All the kids thought it was so great. She was the first one to loose a tooth at her school. So, they carefully placed the tooth in a holder and continued on with the story.
As Anna was running out to show me her tooth, it fell out of the holder and became lost. She was devastated. We couldn't find it. So she wrote a note to the tooth fairy and explained what happened. She then placed the note in her tooth fairy pillow. Hopefully the tooth fairy will be a little understanding of what happened.
So here she is. So proud and so excited! I can't believe my little girl has lost her first tooth. She is growing up way to fast!

More Flat Stanley

We wrapped up Flat Stanley's visit with a tour of our city, La Grange. We first took him to see the Ohio River. I was a little surprised that the docks we stood on just this last summer are completely gone. Kind of sad.
We then headed to downtown La Grange. Our town is one of two or three cities that has a train run through it. It actually comes through about three or four times a day. It's pretty neat if you're not in a hurry to get to the other side.

We came back and took one final picture, Stanley by our house. Thanks for coming to visit, Stanley. We had a great time!

Flat Stanley

My sweet niece, Katie, asked us to take care of her Flat Stanley for her. Yesterday we decided to show him around Louisville.
You can't come to Louisville without visiting Churchill Downs. It was our first stop.We took him inside to see some of the exhibits. Here is Stanley and Anna in front of the Jersey worn by the winning Jockey at the 2010 Kentucky Derby.
Near the finish line, or a miniature replica of the one on the track.
Anna wanted to take Stanley to her favorite place to eat, The Steak 'N Shake. He even fit into one of their toy cars.
Next stop was the bat museum to see the giant bat. As Anna was posing with Stanley a kid came outside and said, "Look Mom! It's Flat Stanley!" Bet he didn't know he was so famous!
Tomorrow we are planning on taking him to see the Ohio River and downtown La Grange and then he is heading back to Utah. We have enjoyed his visit and are sad to see him go. In fact, I know two little girls and a mom that would like to climb into that envelope to Utah with him!

Check Ups

Anna and Sara were both due for their yearly check ups. Anna weighs 40 pounds and is in the 50th percentile for her weight and height. Sara weighs 35 pounds and is in the 90th percentile for her weight and height. There is only five pounds difference between the two. Crazy! Anna had her Kindergarten check up so she had her hearing tested as well. She passed with flying colors. They also had to prick her finger. She was fine with that. She started freaking out as soon as she had to get undressed. Really?! That is what you are going to scream about?!
Sara on the other hand loved getting into the gown. She kept twirling around and calling it her pretty dress. She was a little upset that her dress was broken in the back. That was pretty funny.
Both girls had to get shots. Not fun. I wasn't prepared for that. You would have thought we were killing Anna. She screamed for about ten minutes. Sara looked at me and said, "Ow Mommy. You hurt me." Then she was fine. Amazing how different both girls are.

Place Your Order When You are Ready!

When I picked Anna up from school today, this is what she looked like. This month they are learning about people in the community that help others. Today they learned about servers. She had the apron, the hat and the name badge. Her teacher is so creative! And being a past fast food worker, I love that they are learning to respect all the jobs out there.

Valentine's Dinner

Valentines Day started out with a sick kid. Anna was up all night so none of us got much sleep. By around 4:00 she was doing a lot better and actually had an appetite. So, I set out to make us a Valentine dinner. We had shrimp scampi, noodles, french bread, Cesar salad, sparkling grape juice and chocolate dipped strawberries. I broke out the china, goblets and candles. The girls thought it was so fun to eat fancy.
Sara was pretty excited. She was a little rough with the china, though, so I was on edge the entire meal.
Anna felt better but was still really tired. They loved drinking the sparkling grape juice out of the goblets.
My cute family! Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

Loose tooth!

Anna has her first loose tooth. It has been quite exciting in our house! It is so loose that we are worried that she is going to swallow it in her sleep. So we have been trying to get it out before she does. We tried having her bite an apple. She refused to use her front tooth.
So then Daddy told her how Dobber used to lose teeth by biting on a rope. So, she tried a dish towel. But when Rob went to pull on it, she freaked out and wouldn't bite it anymore.
Sara did, though!
Then we resorted to just trying to pull it out. She freaked out even more!
So, the tooth is still there. Hopefully we can get it out soon!

One of those days....

My three little angels have been on my mind a lot lately. I really can't figure out why. Usually there is a special date that triggers it; their birthday, due date, etc...nothing of which is happening right now. I just ache to hold them in my arms and tell them I love them. I want to see them interact with Anna and Sara. All of our friends here have children (boys) that they would be able to play with. It stings a little every time I hear that the boys don't want to come and play because there is no one for them to play with. There should be! I guess the fact is I just miss them.
Today at church in Sunday School the lesson was on the miracles that Christ performed while he was on the earth. It focused a lot about the faith that those who were healed must of had. I always get upset in these lessons. I had the faith that my babies would be born healthy and strong and live a full life. I have faith in Christ. Where was my miracle? Does He not trust me enough?
In the back of my mind I know that there is an eternal reason for my loss. I know that He loves me and wants what is best for me. It does dull the pain...A little. But today it was just a little bit of a slap in the face.
I would think that after almost eight years that it wouldn't be so hard. Most days it isn't. But today it is.

Creativity = Messiness!

Why is it that the really fun crafts are always the messiest? I got a really cute idea for the Grandparents for Valentines Day and it ended up being such a mess. But, the girls had a great time. Guess I need to learn to be the fun mom that allows messes sometimes!

Valentine Project

My friend and I found this cute wreath on a blog that I frequent (the idea room) and decided to make it. Turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself!