Leprechauns? Seriously???

This is Mia, wishing you all a Happy St. Patty's!

I did her hair today! We had green french toast to celebrate the holiday.This is one of Ella's favorite breakfasts!
Lovely green finger.

Ella's hair masterpiece for the day!

Okay, so Ella came home yesterday all stoked about the Leprechauns that the Kindergarten class set traps for. I’m not impressed. I told her “Ella, there’s no such thing as Leprechauns.” To which she replied “Teacher says they’re real… They’re not real? We can’t catch them? They don’t bring you chocolate?” ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEE???

SO! I told her I’d need to ask Daddy “Because Daddy knows everything, huh, Mommy?”. “Yes, Ella, most things.” ---I didn’t wanna give him everything.

Lance made a quickie run to Lee’s and got a little bag o’ chocolate coins. She’d made a “trap” with her little friend Preston earlier in the day, so I found some green decorating sugar that I sprinkled on her trap (outside the front door). This way she’d know he’d been there, but escaped.

Freakin’ Leprechauns. Where does the lying to kids stop??? I’m no innocent when it comes to telling a minor whopper here or there to keep peace (or keep my chocolate to myself), but seriously!

My Mom was very adamant that we were to never believe in Santa Claus. She didn’t want us questioning whether she’d been lying about God too -plus she was pretty keen on getting the Christmas credit herself (don’t blame her - you wanna coordinate Christmas for 6 kids from Panguitch, Utah and give someone else a pat on the back???)! Lance’s family does the whole Santa bit. I’m okay with it, because I’m not passionate about not having Santa, so that’s what we do. …The Easter Bunny has found his way in, and now we have another totally mythical creature infiltrating our lives where we perpetuate a lie and create some “magic” for a very innocent child. Does this hurt them?

I don’t know, because I wasn’t ever lied to like this. I feel ambushed by the school and am not so happy about that one… I wish I were a whole lot easier-going about these things… That I were that mom who created “fairy tea parties” for her little ladies, and encouraged wishes and princess dreams; I’m not. I’m no where near her, and to fake being her for these little things feels foreign to me. I believe in hard work, in making your own dreams come true, and more importantly, in GOD: which to me, is NOT a lie.

Lots of analysis. Too much for a Tuesday night. Happy St. Patty’s, my friends.

today...

Today I put some blue in my eye-makeup. What do you think? Hello, 80's? :D

Tonight -on the fly- I called my dear friend Betsy-Babes. I talked her into some Papa Murph-leys pizza and an evening of kids running wild. She was game. :)
Here are Mia and her little girl Teagan in the wagon. We went to the school playground and turned the kiddos loose.

Sabrina enjoyed the stroller!

Ella found pine cones!

She REALLY liked the pine cones!

Great group shot, eh?

*Thanks for the fun Betsy!!!

33

Yes, that's a bit of a ghetto candel siz-nich-u-ation for my darling Lance's 33rd birthday, however, it does the job. Yes, that's my sad hand looking very un-girly. *Meant to do my nails. Probably time for fakies again. I can't seem to keep up.

REGARDLESS, Happy Birthday Lance! Don't you love how it all becomes about ME so quickly?! Hey, it's my blog!

We went to his parent's house last night and had a wonderful dinner (seafood cocktail, and home-cooked ribs -mmmmm). Here's Lance and me.

*I have NOT mastered the closed-mouth smile. These braces are freakin' killing me. I'm gonna look scary in pictures from now on, just as a warning.

Sabrina-babes is just the happiest ray of sunshine you'd ever meet. She's awesome at pictures!
For his birthday, Lance got some fun stuff -here he's holding a golfing punch card from his parents! 20 rounds of golf for the lucky birthday boy.

Lance and Bri.

Mia, mid-chocolate-cake-ecstasy.

It's a funny story... This pic was taken too late, but apparently just before that, she'd set her fork down gently, taken a deep breath, and leaned back with her eyes closed -a VERY smug and satisfied smile on her face. It was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen (I just caught the smile, not the whole production). She's SUCH a character!

BTW- that shirt is sitting in a bowl of hot water/ OxiClean as I type.

Here's our boy Chaedon. His teeth are already looking SO good, I'm impressed with good ole Dr. H!!! Chaedon has been an absolute doll to have this weekend. Ella was too busy sliding on the floor and playing with Tootsie (the dog), and be-boppin' all over Grandma and Papa's that there are no pix of her to post!

I am the self-proclaimed cookie-whisperer, and as such, Lance requested a batch to take into work to share for his (and a boss-chick's) birthdays. Issue: THOUGHT I bought 2 bags of butterscotch chippies, but the 2nd was in the wrong place, so I have a random bag of peanutbutter/milk chocolate chippies. USELESS!!! Didn't make 2 batches, so no cookies left around here, man. They all went to work. Hopefully Lance comes back with many more satisfactory compliments for my ego.

:)

Sometimes when I write, it comes out the same way I speak. It's not the easiest thing to read, but hopefully you get the gist of how truly sarcastic I really am. My ego actually isn't out of check, I just dive into my alter-realtity from time to time and pretend I'm an amazingly confident cookie-maker (among other things!). Above, dough.

Peek into the tupperware o' looooove.

For Lance-

Happy Birthday hunny. Sorry I didn't even shower today, but the bummin' was nice! Hope you liked your fluffy waffles this morning and cookies tonight. 33 and goin' strong!

Love you.

hair

My sister Sarah recently went BLONDE. I'm kinda jealous. I don't think I could pull it off, but it's interesting to consider. Next time I visit Lori (my hair genius) I'm going with at least blonde highlights. What do you think?

Whacha been up to?

Here's some cool random stuff!
This is Mom and Mia -we went to a fun little church dance and the kids got some wiggles out. ...It's a good thing.

Here's Dad and Sabrina!

We made banana bread. ...Did I mention that I'm listing lots of pertinent stuff? :) Funny, the girls look rough here, but I didn't really notice while we cooked!

Mia got her nails painted! *This little girl looks like she was meant to have red nails her whole life.

That's the look of beautification satisfaction.

Grandma and Papa took us to lunch!

I love this picture of Donny. He looks so handsome! :)

Sabrina ate her blanket.

Sabrina has developed a love for the saucer. *Mom's best friend.

Had to throw in this darling profile pic of Mia. She seriously has the most beautiful hair -even when it's messy!

Mom took Ella and Sabrina to church so I got a pic of my baby all dressed up! Look at that smile!

In contrast, Ella got my camera and took this picture of the baby -this is a look only a sister can give another sister. Heh heh.

20,000

20,000 Blog Hits Today! :D It's crazy to me that I publicly allow people insight into my mind- but there's something about it that makes me happy.

I love that there is a raw honesty and dialogue that crosses between myself and this world -I've had hits from countries that I can't pronounce... They may have just been searching for an "ugly frog" and happened upon me, however.

Regardless, the chapters unfold, and my life story, with its ups and downs, exists. ...And someone reads about it. :)

Yes, Lance and I stayed at the Anniversary Inn last night. Celebrating Tuesday, I suppose! ...Nah, we really didn't do anything for our anniversary (Jan 3) and Lance's birthday is coming up -I'm sure he'll be working. He never did tell me what kind of cake he'd like... Guess it's carrot! *MY fav*


BTW: HUGE THANK YOU TO MY MOM WHO WATCHED ALL THREE GIRLZ OVER-NIGHT. Get-aways like this are next-to impossible with little ones, so my gratitude is so sincere -thank you, Mom.

*...and thanks for an absolutely wonderful night, Lance. I love you.

A night in paradise?

This is where I'll be sleeping tonight...

Becha wish you were meeeee... :)

Stinkin' INTERNET!!!

Without my knowledge, Lance decided to make the huge life-change of swapping the tv and internet providers. We are now sport proud satellites and should have some stinkin' dsl tomorrowish... This is why, my faithful readers, it looks like I have been slacking even more so than my recent slacker-tirade.

So!

Everyone is on the mend. All machinery for Sabrina has been sent back to CV Oxygen. Wheezing seems to be gone for the most part, and all that's left is ME- still coughing up a lung. ...I'd rather it be me than the girlz though. :)

Confirmed

I KNEW I was sick! My doctor told me that I have an "impressive" ear infection.

Hey, go big or go home, right?

Happy Birthday Benny slash Happy V Day!

Saturday was a LONG LONG LONG day (ended around 5:30 AM the next in the ER), but the first part of it was simply fabulous! We journeyed to Layton to Dave and Lexie's house for Benny's 2nd Birthday! Mary totally out-did herself with a super-fun party complete with crafts and yummy taco soup!

We made some fun shirts. I'm on the left, then there's Sarah, then Granny.

Here's the birthday boy painting away!

Bri-Bri was chillin' inbetween Dad's shoes, and you can see the sickness on her even there... *Here she was losing her appetite and getting a fever.

Gift chaos. Poor Benny had MANY helpers for gift opening.

Full house.

OK, OK, OKAY! Here's a picture of me with my braces. :(

Yes, I got them, and they're a story. I have been in a LOT of pain- having braces as an adult is so much worse than as a kid. You don't notice how much you smile at total strangers until you don't... This will be worth it in the end. This will be worth it in the end. This will be worth it in the end...

That's me making Mia's tee-shirt. It says "Girly-Girl", hee hee.

Here's my Mia-babes mid-craftie.

I LOVED the way Rach's girlz tee's turned out. The picture is even better, with a super-happy Mary busting in from the rear. :D
My La-La girl Valentine. ...When she was clean.

We got Ben some tub toys. He's such a sweet little man. I'm SO grateful that he's a part of our little group. He's the numero-uno-sippy-snatcher, but those gorgeous blue eyes make it too hard to even snatch it back! We love him so much!

I had to put a nod in for Nanny's lovely Valentine gift of super-cute pillow cases for the girls. Aren't these fun?!

Before leaving, Sabrina landed on Dave and Lex's bed and started fading quickly. The decision to hit the ER came pretty quick during the drive home from Layton after talking to my sis-in-law Candace, who told me that their little man, Maxim, officially had RSV. I knew it was coming.

Since then, we have been dealing with a very very sick baby. She is home now, but I'm wondering if we jumped the gun -girlfriend really is VERY sick.

I have been sick during this time too, but there has been too much going on to notice. Today something happened to my left ear, and now I'm feeling the real pain. Hopefully this all passes and we can just move on with our lives.

...She's crying right now, so I must publish and dash.