Misc.& More Strawberries.

I just love this dress on Eva. I hope she doesn't outgrow it too fast!

Pretty uneventful week or so for us, a little bit of stomach flu for Sarah, Eva, and now Emily. We are thinking about what we want to do this summer as the school year is winding down to it's final weeks.

I haven't done any more painting since the dining room two weeks ago. My next room will be the kitchen and the pancake room (Emily gave it that name a few years ago because that's where we eat our pancakes on Saturday morning, I think it was originally called the nook).

Sunday seems to be strawberry gettin' day for me. I think I'm obsessed with these pretty little berries. Emily asked me "Mommy, why did you take a picture of the strawberries?" I guess the answer must be so I could write more and post another picture of them here! I promise I'll try to stop it now, but aren't they beautiful?

Two for the Price of One!

Two for one special on new bike riders at my house!

Look at him go!

Woo hoo! That's my boy!

Not to be outdone, on her second day of bike ridership, she shines!

And this one just for fun...she tried to be serious, I made her laugh and got a good one!

Bye Bye Training Wheels!

Last night was notable for a few reasons. First, you could say Sarah officially learned to ride a bike. Tony ran up and down our street with her for almost an hour. She was doing really well until our neighbors drove up and congratulated her. Her concentration was lost to her newly found adulation, similar to her norm which is princess adulation. Big moment...we are very happy for her!

Second, we were in Strawberry heaven! They didn't come from a store, but from the strawberry stand on the side of the road. Delicious and beautiful as you can plainly see, although the lot was almost half eaten by the time I was inspired to photograph them! No reason for the bread, I just thought it was a pretty little loaf.

I took video of Sarah's bike riding triumph and didn't get a photo...next time.

The latest news: So far everyone is still healthy, I'm thanking God right now for that.

How I'm Doing...

It's been a rough week for me. I came down with something on Monday night, extreme sore throat, fever, body aches, no other major symptoms. Tuesday evening I went in for a strep test, the nurse swabbed my throat and the next morning I received the results. I was negative for strep throat. By Thursday morning I was nowhere near better and after barely any sleep for three nights I called and insisted on seeing a doctor. I saw the man, he was dismissive and insensitive, (his body language told me that I was totally wasting his time) said I should go home, gargle with salt water 5 to 10 times a day and wait out my virus...then reluctantly repeated the strep test. His technique with the swabbing was 10 times more abrasive (thank goodness, I guess) than the original one. Anyhow, Friday morning they told me that I was positive for strep throat. Right away I started the antibiotics and I am feeling much better today.

The moral of the story is follow your instincts and be persistant with the medical people, even if you don't have the strength. I have no idea who I could have picked it up from. I didn't have very good instincts on this one, maybe because I only had it once before when I was 19 or 20. It is so PAINFUL, I'm glad it's over! But it's not really over because now I get to wait and see if anyone else in my family has unfortunately picked it up. I will be so upset if any of my babies gets this, I tried to keep my face away from everyone, but you never know.

Spring Break...My Back!

Tony had last week off... and so did the children! {Insert your laughter here}

We spent the last 9 days all together! Just imagine that! Tony worked in the house the first part of the week and he finished nailing the baseboards back onto the walls. Now I get to caulk them and paint them in my spare time.

On Thursday we took the kids to the zoo, Fairytale Land, and IKEA all in one day. They get so excited about IKEA! Everything from the kids play arena, to the overwhelming expanse of the store with so many doo dads, and of course the restaurant...thrills them.

Friday and Saturday I painted the dining room while Tony kept all the little people occupied.

So there you go...not much to tell, not much computer time obviously, just bouncin' around with the kiddos.

Here are my favorite pictures of each one of my kids from zoo day...I had to limit myself here because I just took way too many!


Wyatt thinks he's winking at me!

My Celebrity Look-alikes

Have you seen this?

Hilarious! I think the closest match has got to be Hans Dietrich, am I right?

I don't know who Maggie Cheung is, but apparently we are 71% look-alikes. I do see a teeny resemblance in some but I don't see it in Paz or Calista. Maybe it's the head tilt or the hairstyle.

What is puzzling though; the most common celebrity BY FAR I am compared to is Celine Dion, followed by Laura Dern, and once at Save Mart I got a Helen Hunt. I guess I don't mind Helen or Laura, but when someone says I look like Celine it makes me crazy. I don't really know why, I don't have anything against her...after all she's amazing. This just happened to me a few weeks ago in the middle of a meeting and I just squenched up my nose a bit {spellcheck tells me that squenched is not a word but I don't care}!

I think I'll try a different photo another time and see if I can get Celine, Laura, or Helen. This was fun! Now I'm going to do Tony's picture! If you go to MyHeritage.com and have your own face scanned for look a-likes, make sure you click on the link to email it to me!

Separation Anxiety?

Wyatt has been going to preschool 2 mornings a week since early January. My big girls never attended preschool, so this is new territory for me. It's been great for him. He is always anxious to get to school and is happy to be there and happy to come home too.

When we arrived, I noticed another boy telling his exiting mother from across the room "I love you Mom."

I told my son, "OK Wyatt I'll see you in a little while, you have a good morning." He then looked at me and whispered something very softly that I could not hear. I stepped closer to him and asked him to tell me again. This is what he said in the softest sweetest voice you've ever heard:

Go away.

Talk about your non-existent separation anxiety! I then said "OK honey see ya' later" and I scooped up my 18 month sweetie and left the building.

I laughed all the way home!

Strawberry Bummer

Yesterday I bought a 4LB clamshell of Strawberries at Costco, something I have done pretty regularly for months now. I'm so bummed, they're bland...not sweet at all. Darn it! What do I do now? I have a boatload of these things!

On the bright side:

Baby is eating them just fine...perhaps her immature taste buds?

I'm thinking they will be okay for strawberry lemonade, my sister Renee gave me the idea a few days ago before the bummer and lemonade is supposed to be tart right?

You know I am going to force myself to eat them anyway...somehow.

Sarah's Smile

Friday night Sarah did a tap dance recital with her dance class. The song was "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" and they were all dressed like little orphans. Of course it was adorable!

Saturday morning we all went to the park for the "Special man & me fun run". (In a perfect world, I guess we would call it "My Dad & me fun run", oh well that's not what I want to write about.)

They ran twice around the park-2 miles. Actually Emily ran, Sarah ran a bit then walked with Tony just once around the park. Emily and her friend Lauren were the first girls across the finish line. Everyone got a medal. They also gave out "Girls Rock" pedometers before the run and prizes for the people that guessed how many steps they would take around the park. We have really great GS leadership and they go out of their way for the girls.

I painted most of the hallway and the biggest half of the entryway on Friday and once again it came out great. New paint just changes everything!

Unfortunately, Sarah's not smiling much today. Along with a pretty bad flare up of her skin, she's had a nagging cough for a few days and last night she started to run a fever that continues this morning. Aaaagh! I hope she kicks it quick.