Another one bites the dust

Ah...second class down. I think I should get a gold star... As long as I get full credit on my final research paper (10 pages of ramblings that I am notorious for) then I will keep my 94.79% grade. What bugs me is it is SO close to an A. Am I so anal that I don't think an A- is good enough? I did get an A- in my first class too. And I have been out of school for over 10 years so it is probably okay that I have those grades. Well I get to enjoy the weekend with no homework, til the next class starts on Tuesday. History of Modern Europe, oh goodie I get the wars. I love the wars. :) Chad gets Communications, ugh. Not a fan of that class so I don't think I will be able to help him out with homework too much. Might not be able to ramble coherent posts for that one, but maybe.

Happy 7th Birthday Savannah

I can't believe Savannah is already seven years old. One more year and she will get baptized. Wow. Oh and she can get her ears pierced and have gum. (I know I am a mean mom not to have ever let her have gum, but she is good and always gives it to me) Since it became May she was counting down the days until her birthday. She was so excited when she woke up yesterday morning. She had even picked out her dress to wear to church the night before so we wouldn't be late. She got to pick a candy bar out in Primary.

When we got home from church, sadly she had to do a few chores she didn't do before. Like make her bed and pick up her room. After that was done she was antsy to when we would be able to open presents. I let her pick out what she wanted for dinner and she picked pizza, grapes, carrots and Sprite. Since it was Sunday we did ho memade pizza and she could pick the toppings.



About a week ago I asked her what type of cake she wanted for her birthday. She told me a horse cake. I was thinking more like chocolate, white, carrot. She said, "Oh (very disappointed), I'll have a chocolate cake". Well as I was out and about on Friday I came across a horse cake mold, so she got her wish. (So if anyone needs a horse cake, I got a pan) Daddy baked it for me Friday night and I got to decorate it. Other than the black frosting tasting weird it was all good.

I made sure the kids got the pieces with the black frosting

On the odd years we just do small family birthdays, or one extra family. We invited over cousin Michelle & Peter, and the Warmoth family. She enjoyed getting some horses from grandma and MONEY. (she was so excited about the money and was adamant that Dad does not put it in the bank), some of the beads that you melt together to create stuff (can't remember the name), silly erasers, scrapebook kit, kit to make little critters, slippers, horse calendar & nail polish. She has a few more on their way, but mom was too slow to get them here. She'll get some Roper boots and a Pascal bag from Rapunzel. So the birthday fun will last a bit longer. :)

It was a great day. She enjoyed playing with her new stuff. Thanks to those that came to make it special for her.

Girl Scouts Bridging to Brownies

I cannot believe Savannah has been in Girl Scouts for a year already. She had so much fun being a daisy and now she has officially bridged to a Brownie. Who knew girl scouts would be so much fun? She loves being a part of it.

We met at the new Skunk Creek Flats to do the ceremony. They said the pledge of allegiance, the girl scout oath and pledge. Then they went around the circle stating what they loved most about being a Daisy this past year and what they are looking forward to in Brownies. I had the recorder all ready for Savannah to say what she liked and she spoke so softly I couldn't hear. I will have to update this later with what she said.

Then it was the officially walking over the bridge. All the girls got to come over the bridge one by one. They got their bridging patch, did the girl scout three finger salute thingy (I should really learn what that is called), and got a handshake from their troop leader. The girls got to sing a few brownie songs and then got what else...brownies. One mom also brought some amazing cupcakes that were made from thin mints, lemon cookies, and tagalongs.

Savannah and Gallatin

After, we all hung out to play. Ordered some hot dogs, the kids played and Chad even got a game of horseshoes in. Charlotte had a few melt downs since she wanted to play horseshoes too. It was a beautiful night out and I think everyone had a great time.

♫ Just keep swimming ♪ Just keep swimming ♫

Charlotte finished off her first week of swimming lessons for the year. The weather was a little crazy and went from 71 on the first few days to 98 on the last day. She told me after getting out of the pool one day that she was "Shaking like a leaf". She cracks me up. She did a great job, and even started to learn how to dive from the side of the pool. She loves to jump off the diving board and is getting better about actually come up for air.








I had a friend ask me if I knew how to do the beach braid hair-do that they do in Mexico. So I tried it out on Charlotte. It was great for swimming lessons. I could wash her hair with the braids in and it kept it out of her eyes.








I do have a couple really cute videos of her swimming but I can never get blogger to upload them so I guess I will have to put them on Facebook.





She always had a smile on her face. She would jump in with a huge smile, and when she popped up for air there was her cheeser again. She loves the water and is a little fish.











Chad kept calling her 'Rasta' while her hair was like this. She liked the little beads I had in there too.

Who knew?

So I was tinkering around with all the tabs on my dashboard and clicked on the 'Stats' one. Wow, it tells you all sorts of stuff about when people view your blog, how long they are on, etc.. One thing I thought was interesting is it says what country the viewers are from. Who knew people from other parts of the world are looking at my blog. Not sure what they are finding interesting, or maybe I am just a link to another blog I have on my blogroll. Regardless these are the countries who have popped up to say hello.

This week
Belgium - 2
Russia - 1

This month
Belgium - 5
Russia - 3
Mexico - 2
Germany - 1
Ukraine - 1

From 2009-present
Belgium - 31
Austria - 26
Canada - 18
UK - 18
Norway - 14
Russia - 12
South Africa - 7
Belize - 4
Germany - 3
Ukraine - 1

Now, I could look at this as creepy. People from other parts of the world, reading about my life, seeing pictures of my kids. But I think it is fun. Like a pen pal from other parts of the world. So to all my international readers, I say Willkommen, добро пожаловать, Welkom, Bienvenida, Mottakelse, and Welcome. Please leave a comment next time you stop by. :)

Reading

I love that my girls love reading. I also LOVE that Savannah likes to read to Charlotte. One of their favorite places to go is Barnes and Noble. They will sit and read for hours. I happened to have my camera and wanted to sneak a few pictures.

Sesame Street Live

Thanks to Macaroni Kid - N. Phx, I won 4 tickets to see Sesame Street Live. I figured Savannah is a little old for it (although she said she wanted to go), so I invited one of Charlotte's BFFs Kennedy to come along too. We had fantastic seats on the 16th row. The kids all had fun dancing around and doing the cheers with the gang. They learned how to keep their body healthy from the Fabulous Five. It was fun to have a little outing and one on one time with Charlotte.

Keeping a lookout for Kennedy to come.

Loved that Cookie Monster was doing River Dance.
Charlotte, Kennedy & Cohen

Munchin on some Popcorn. Thanks Debbie!

If you haven't signed up for Macaroni Kid you are really missing out. It is free and has all sorts of great tips and places to go for families. They are all over the country so check out your local one.

Easter

Well the Easter Bunny found our house once again this year, although he didn't carry as much candy as years past. He did find some great things (at fantastically clearanced prices) to add and put to use instead.


The girls had a great time hunting for their baskets, on top of the hutch cabinet in the playroom (that bunny can jump) and under the sink in the bathroom.



They also had a blast hunting for all the eggs they colored with the Warmoths in the backyard. I forgot my camera so no pictures of the actual dying of eggs.



Again I neglected to take a picture of their adorably cute dresses that Grandma sent, but that's okay.

Easter has always been a holiday I have loved. As a kid we would always head down to St. George and stay with the Cieslewicz's. Between their 7 kids, our 4 kids and the occasional friend someone brought down it was a house full. But it made it so much fun. The part that I loved (and still do) the most is dying the eggs. We would usually end up dying quite a few flats of eggs and the number was usually around 250 at a minimum. With all these eggs they of course needed to be hidden. Paul, the dad, would hide all of them. He would even take into account if Maggie, the dalmatian had gotten any. He even hid some on the roof one year. Even when I was in high school he still hid the eggs. It was a lot of fun. Mymom the Easter Bunny thought I loved to hunt for my basket and I was always the last to find mine.

I also love the real meaning behind Easter. The past few years the sacrifices He has made for me and my family have really hit home. I know the Atonement is real and I have used it in my life. I have seen it truly at work, as a loved one was lost, found, forgiven and brought back to the fold. I am so thankful for our Savior and am grateful for his atoning sacrifice He made for all of us.

School..School and more School.

I think I am about done with school. I have a love hate relationship with Savannah being gone. She loves going (most of the time) and I love having her away (said in the most loving way), but we both hate getting up in the morning for it. Then I seem to be constantly helping Chad with his homework or nagging him to do it. Shesh, I shouldn't have to remind a 35 year old to do his homework, but then I realize he is a man and you have to remind them to do everything. Then comes MY homework. Wow being out of school for 10 years sure does make you second guess things. When I was in college before I just rambled off some gibberish at the last minute and still got a good grade. Now, I am busting my rear trying to research all this information and site correctly, so I can manage a good grade. I did get an A- in my first class and after 2 weeks in my upper division history class I am at an A- as well. So I guess all in all its not too bad. These classes are a bit intense and after the current one I am going to petition to take 2 at a time. Bring on the History. Hopefully I can plow through and be done by New Years with my Bachelors and Chad with his Associates. Hopefully....unless I go crazy by then.

Phoenix Temple

I was so excited to hear that work is starting on the Phx temple, seeing the picture of all the dirt being moved around made me do a little happy dance inside, until I read through the article and read the posts that followed on azcentral. I am appalled at the rude and hurtful things that people are saying. I guess I have never had such opposition in my face before, and it's not like they are in front of me saying it. I cannot believe the things people are writing and how much hate is behind their words against those that belong to the LDS church. I have tears streaming down my face and honestly feel like I want to vomit. How can people be so cruel? They bring up all these negative things that a few members have done. What about the Baseline Killer what was his religion or the guy who shot a kid not too long ago, huh? When is never a mention of what their faith was? Why do you not take their religion and run it through the gutter. There are people of every faith that sometimes do wild, weird, crazy and sometimes scary things. Everyone still has their agency to make choices on how to live their life. Does knowing their faith make the crimes more heinous? No, I don't think so.

We are a faith who has endured so much and turn the other cheek. We seem to be always be under constant fire of opposition, why? (Although deep down I do know why) I have no idea why this is hitting me so hard today. Having a temple only a few short miles from my home will bring countless blessings to not only my home and family but all those surrounding it. I cannot wait until that day! I look forward to the open house where I can bring my daughters in and also my non-member friends so they can experience its beauty and to know a little about what we do inside making them so sacred. It will be a beacon of beauty to this area.

I am proud to stand and say, that yes I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know this makes me a little peculiar in the eyes of the world and I'm okay with this. I know that as the opposition is trying to pull us down and drag us in the mud, it will only make me stronger.