When Stars Align

Most summer days when you are a mommy stuck inside the house because it's REALLY REALLY hot outside...you ask your kids to do their jobs in the morning. You want your kids to be responsible and learn to work and clean up their own messes at least. And even though they do them every single day (cept Sunday), they still whine and protest. You may have a son that even yells out "NO!" with mucho gusto everyday. You wonder why they aren't sensing a pattern and if you are doing something wrong.

Then for some unknown reason, a magical day comes right along. Just as you step out of bed your oldest daughter says "Can we surprise dad today by cleaning the whole house, making his favorite dinner and making him cards?" You think you could still be dreaming but wholeheartedly agree anyway because hey, why mess up a great dream? Then your other children all latch onto the idea. They begin singing as they clean. You get in the shower still slightly dazed, but while using your "Cherry Blossom" body wash, this same daughter pops her head in the bathroom and says, "After our regular jobs can we all clean the toy room?" And later in the day even the arguing sounds like- "Fine! But after I'm done peeling the potatoes I get the broom back!"

But, even the most magical of days cannot compare to watching your unsuspecting husband come home to this:

and this: (Surprise!) and taken on a fun little scavenger hunt...
...to find made-with-love cards expressing how much they love and appreciate him working so hard each day for us. Happy special "regular" day honey!
I caught some video after this had been going on for awhile so it was winding down a bit, but still gives you the idea. I was surprised that she kept going even after she saw me!

Not sure what I would do without this girl. Love you sweet-pea!

12 YEAR Celebration

A couple weeks ago I woke up in the morning, rolled over to Dana, and quietly said, "Happy Anniversary." After which, there was a pause, an intake of breath and a laughing "Happy Anniversary" back.
Luckily, (for him:) I was fine with the fact that he had forgotten because, unlike most years, I knew we had fun upcoming plans. And this last weekend was it! One of the greatest ever for sure. I HIGHLY recommend the show. It was a lot of fun to watch. I started to get wedding-day cheek soreness from all the smiling I was doing during the show. Very apropos for an anniversary.
At our delicious dinner-
Thanks to my BIL who agreed to stay with the kids since Amy and kids are all in Utah for most of the month. We got a night away at Best Western of Tempe which is right near Gammage. $29 employee rate. I'm growing quite fond of that little perk!

Amazing how a little time away can be just what you need. To top it off, the next day one of my dearest friends that's going to Massage Therapy School, came over with her friend/fellow classmate to get some "practice." Thank you again Christine. You can tell your teacher you're already the world's greatest masseuse and can be done with school :)

One Little "Pizzas"

I did not think it possible to be more girly than Holly, but Sadie is definetly rivaling her. She loves to put her hair in the water and be a "nermaid" and gets excited when she finds out it's a church day so she can get all dressed up pretty. Best of all, she LOVES our dress-up dresses. She puts one on (or more) daily and walks around the house with a big smile, batting her eyes, saying "I pizzas!" It's pretty darn cute. Here are some recent princess shots-

The back views are often times even better than the front!

I took her in to the doctor today because she was complaining about her ear hurting. She had an ear infection which is sad, but the cool thing is they weighed her and she was 24 lbs! So exciting! oh also....anyone have any great ideas on stopping thumb sucking? Please let me know!
cute now- not so cute later :)

I'm the 4 yr old in this picture with my sister's Amy and Sally. And this lasted for me until 8. That's why I'm trying to stop Sadie now- or soonish.

Summer: Not for the Faint Hearted

cue the Jaws music-
bleh. Will be unbelieveably worse next month. And excuse me SRP if I'm not in a "SHARING" mood.
lovely!
time to get some fingerpaints perhaps. Which require about the same amount of clean-up.

Just In Case...

I ever forget what I once did with 4 little ones home during the summer when it's too hot to really do anything outside...besides go to a pool...which we did yesterday. So here's a random order list of things I accomplished today. (forewarning: This is an exceptionally productive day and really not completely typical for me)

breakfast for kids and kitty
5 loads of laundry- folded with piles divied out
changed litterbox
swept laundry room
did multipication flashcards with Emma (super excited that I think she's getting close!)
read 5 stories from big Disney book
changed 3 poopies
got a shower (hurray!)
watered the peach tree and prayed it can survive these crazy temps.
cleaned up 2 liquid spills and 3 sippy leaks
lunch
swept and mopped kitchen
swept and mopped hallway
dinner
clean-up
dishwasher
helped Eli with a puzzle
enjoyed a melting hug from Dana when he got home
went to Amy's to get mail and feed cat
returned to Amy's with kids and Pepper for a kitty playdate (this mainly involoved sniffing)
caught crickets for geckos, found a black widow, Dana sprayed it with bugspray, at which point Pepper ran over there and ate it. I began picturing her dying from either the venom or poison. I got her milk, she acted normal, she seems fine. Please let her be okay!
whew! Time for bed.

Bitter-Sweet

14 months (I'm not sure why I thought this outfit fit) ........1 yr, 3 mos later

Sweet- It's really hard to express the amount of relief this photo of side-by-side Sadie's would have given me about 2 and a half years ago. Mom's are really good at worrying about their kids and I'm definetly not an exception. This picture fills me with gratitude! She's a growing girl :) :)

Bitter- I still call her "baby" but this picture kinda proves she's really not. Where'd those cheeks go? 2 and a half already?

Independance Day 2009

We are blessed to be able to go to such a beautiful place each year for the 4th. Dana's parents and 1 of his brothers (and family) live in a small town called Mt. Pleasant. His parents live on a quarter acre and our kids LOVE to roam and play. And we all love to get out of the desert heat for a little while. They always make it really special for us and put a lot of work into it.

I got LOTS of pictures again and almost had as much fun taking pictures in all the green as I did at the beach. We were there for 4 nights and fit a lot of fun into that time.

Feeding some nearby horses.

Eli spent about half his time on this tree swing. Luckily there were lots of adults and teenagers around to give him "world record" pushes.

Gi-normous dandelions

And one of the best things- the parade! Anyone can be in it which makes for some creative- sometimes odd "floats". The kids actually were in it a couple years ago throwing candy out the back of mom and dad Kleven's Tundra.

Waiting patiently for the parade to begin.

Kids scrambling for candy.

Emma and her cousin Laci. She's so grateful to have a cousin her age on both sides of the family. Mom Kleven made these cute shorts for all the girls.

Keena was soooo sweet with Holly and Sadie. I was seriously considering kidnapping her and smuggling her back to AZ until school starts. By far Eli's favorite "float". It was pretty much a show stealer.

Lots of queens and princesses from all the nearby towns.

True Mountain Men- and women.

Me and my girl:)

We put as many cousins as we could fit in the back on the way home from the parade. About a 2 block drive.
Dana and his brothers (red, white, and blue)

And last but not least- finding our little kitten! I don't think this is Pepper's favorite pose but it was so cute, I had to take a picture. Hakuna Matata!
These girls played with her the whole time pretty much.

Thanks again! We love you :)

"Pep-oh"

This is what Sadie calls our tiny new addition. As much fun as the kids had in Mt. Pleasant at Grandma and Grandpa Kleven's house (which was a TON), I'm pretty sure their most favorite thing was FINALLY getting a pet! We found this sweet little homeless kitten in the barn. Emma named her "Pepper" within the first hour of finding her and then the begging from all 3 kids "PLEASE can we keep her?" began. There are so many stray cats up there that we weren't sure she would find a home. Anyway, we all fell in love with her and it just seemed meant to be. She needed a home and our kids have been wanting a pet for forever- ever since Emma could ask for one.

At first she was scared and kind of wild and didn't want to come out. However she was very thin and hungry- which is why she was meowing non-stop. So Emma lured her out with some milk. (I've heard milk isn't good for cats so we give her water now).
She was very skittish, but did seem to want to be held and loved.
She warmed up to the kids so quickly and is so sweet.
True love :)
Emma wanted her in every picture since she is now part of our family :)
We were really nervous about the 11 hour drive home but she slept like 90% of the time. It kind of reminded me of the way little babies will shut down when they are over-stimulated. But whatever the reason- it was awesome! Dana and I did feel a little bad bringing her from her beautiful green yard to the 110 degree desert, but Dana reminded me that she will enjoy our winters much more- don't we all.
Emma said we should get a white cat and name her "Salt", but I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon. I have a lot more to post about soon- after I unpack. By the way, they don't really have a working internet there so I've really enjoyed catching up on everyone's blogs after almost a week. Hope you all had a grand old 4th of July!