THE JUNIORS!!

A word on juniors: Up until Christmas 2006 I was the only sibling with a child at all. Little Ella had all the attention :) . Rachael and Seuao announced a pregnancy that started a chain of additions no family can truly prepare for!

Lily Alaimalo Niusulu (Rach & Wow's baby) was born in June.

Noah John Nolan (Dave & Lexie's baby) was born in September.

Amelia Renée Sortor (MINE) was born in November.

Benjamin Allen Cox (Mary & Allen's baby) was born in February.

4 babies in 8 months. Fourple the love.

Gardner Village

I had earlier mentioned a fabulous trip to SLC to visit family (when I was "busted" by Ella about driving around the road closed sign). It was a gathering of my siblings and our awesome kids just hanging out. We had a fantastic lunch, and later took a trip to Gardner Village. I wanted to get some fun pictures up so you can see all the juniors!

Ugly Frog

So I get home yesterday and dear Lance has purchased the ugliest frog for my non-princess daughter I have ever seen. It is like one of those nasty cheap stress balls with little balls inside (that tend to explode) -all gummy and poorly made with huge eyes that roll in it's head. It's awful -the balls inside are bigger, and Ella calls them eggs. Eeeeew. So I head out for Sam's club with the girls and ugly frog. I ask Ella to leave ugly frog in the car -and I got tears and a quick slam back down in the carseat in response. So in go the girls, ugly frog and myself. We head down the 1st long aisle toward the bakery (after a brief stop by the jewelry counter to oogle) and once there order Ella's birthday cake for next weekend. Does she want a princess cake? No. A bumble bee cake? No. Even a "Dora The Explorer" cake? No. Ella wants dinosaurs. *Thank you, "Land Before Time" friends. So we're walking away from the bakery and Ella hits panic mode. UGLY FROG IS MISSING. There's a small smirk crossing my face as I see the end of my struggle with ugly frog. Well, Ella isn't going to let that go very easily, she has to look for it. We retrace our steps and after me explaining how she should have left it in the car, we pass the display boat in the middle of the aisle. There sits ugly frog on the seat (what was she thinking?). So we've looped around, I've paid for my stuff, and ugly frog has taken a ride down the black belt to the checkout chick and we leave. Yes, we go get a pretzel. We're walking out, and down come the tears. UGLY FROG IS MISSING AGAIN!!! More tears, more jumping up and down, more "where's my froggy?" Oh man. I go into the previously mentioned lecture on how bad an idea it is to bring toys into stores, and we see a worker walking by us holding ugly frog. She's holding it with some disgust --suprise. I told her that was our ugly frog and she gladly gave it up. On the drive home I was talking to my sister Rachael on the cell phone who asks the froggie's name. I turned and asked Ella, who looked sadly at me and held up one of the eyes of ugly frog. Now he's 'one-eyed ugly frog', and he's still in my house!

To Do Today

So there are a million thoughts running around in my head, and I can't seem to make enough lists. I'm SUCH a list person, and it's nice to know what I need -and have a "plan b" so to speak, for not forgetting. This is often not effective. Although my brain is coming back from the pregnancy (the "placenta-suck" as it has been referred to) I still have scattered thoughts and moments that make me a bit on the less-reliable side. So, today I will snag up the girls and head out to Sams, where I'll pick up the pictures I had taken of the girls and sent for 1-hour printing (over a month ago), pick up some bread, some butter, and will probably be talked into getting a pretzel. Next, we'll head to Michaels where I have some fun Mother's day ideas that we'll attempt to complete this weekend. Finally, we MIGHT hit Walmart for a few odds and ends. Yes, this sounds like a LOT to do in one day --especially on the day for the BEST tv shows (go Office!!!), however, it's better to do it now than have to try to get it done on the weekend. That's when you do stuff you want to do, right? These errands are all pending the potential melt-down of either little girl, which could leave me in a state of hurried frenzy to get back to my safe home where if someone drops to the floor in tears you can walk away without feeling like the worst mom ever to take her children out in public. ...That's a long sentence.

Ella

Miss Elizabeth is a very observant little girl! Apparently today she ratted me out. Ok, here's the story: This last weekend the girls and I headed out for SLC to spend some quality time with the fam-dam-bly. So I veered off the beaten path at the MAV in Farr West in order to get some "cheap" gas. Well, I hit a road closed sign, and a mess where I couldn't figure out if I was supposed to be able to go through or not, so I went around the sign and pulled in. I got my gas, left, had a fabulous weekend, no biggie. Today Lance called me and told me I was SO BUSTED! I guess Ella was taking notes when I did this, because she told daddy all about how "Salt Lake was closed, but mommy just went around the sign" -and later said "lucky the police didn't see her, she'd be in jail!" WOW!!! Kids rock.

Mia

Amelia is our little angel. The pictures above were taken when she was only 5 days old. The last is in her daddy's arms. *These were the small days. Our little chunk is now a whopping 20+ lbs and only 4 month's old. We love her bubbly and smiley personality. She is so chill and calm. Eating is different -it's kind of funny to watch her shake until she gets her bottle. :) What a doll.

Getting Started

I have now succumbed to the ever-pressureful world of online-dom! Here's my first blog attempt. Someday my kids need a record of how cool I am, so this is as good of a way as any... That, and my hand starts to cramp when I write anything anymore, so typing is the way to go!