Lamby - a love story

Miss A's lovey a little lamb, (a congratulations gift from Evanston Hospital). And now, well she just has to have her lamb! After traveling to and from Utah, her little lamb had seen cleaner days. We put him in the wash and Miss A spent a rather sleepless night with out her lamb. K called the hospital to see if they might possibly have an extra lamb so that we could have a standby - no luck. When Miss A was born, they just happened to find an extra box of lambs (that were the gift from two - three years ago) and there were a lucky few who got the lamb as a take home gift. I was at a loss as to what to do for Miss A. Then a thought entered my mind to call my friend who had recently had a baby, but more importantly had a baby at the time when the lambs were originally given away (that baby now is almost 3 years old). And sure enough LUCK was on our side - she still had his lamb and was willing to give it to us - and luck was still on our side - she had TWO lambs... and the good friend that she is, she gave them both to us! Thank you Carrie, you are truly a life savor! And I know that Miss A loves you too for her new lambs!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Happy Birthday Stacy Dear, happy days will come to you all year, if I had one wish then it would be a Happy Happy birthday to you from me!!! Hope you have a WONDERFUL day and great year!!!

1. she's a great friend
2. she's a great mommy
3. she's is like a little Martha Stewart - but with her own flare!
4. she is great at shopping the sales, good deals, Craig's list, and the spring clean up in Winnetka
   
5. she has a bunch of great recipes
   
6. she also knows how to cook those recipes really well
7. she is super fun to be around
8. she has been mistaken as my double - or me as her double
9. she is always up for spontaneous things (wish I was more like that!)
10. she has a wealth of knowledge - and if she doesn't know, she finds out then gets back to you

I am SO SO glad that she has moved back to the Chicagoland area!

Happy Birthday Friend!

Quote of the week

Keep setting new goals
Little ones
Big Ones
CRAZY ONES!
You'll be amazed how far they will take you

past quotes
here
and
here

Can't get enough of...

As K and I are working hard on uncluttering (is that a word) our home and fixing up areas, adding a craft desk in our sun room/closet. It came to my attention that there are a few things that I apparently can not get enough of....

• Crayons! - I admit, I LOVE a new box of crayons! Seriously, I have to avoid the crayon, paper, pen supplies isles at Target or any other store...
  

• Socks - Love 'em, have a ton of 'em

• Paper, ie. note books, cards, plain paper, patterned paper, sticky pads, note pads, computer paper, scrap book paper even scrap paper...
  

• Pens - this I have known for awhile - I use to collect them so I still have a pretty big collection (hey I worked at a pharmacy and the Drug Reps were always bringing me fun pens!)

• Little boxes - picture boxes, jewelry boxes, trinket boxes, keep sake boxes, storage boxes (like clear bins - shoe box size) other kinds of storage boxes - mostly for scrap booking items...

• Bubbles - especially in the spring/summer time, and I like all the bubble makers that come with them tooThis is my favorite brand - they make the best bubbles! Gazillion

• Aprons - I seem to have a lot of those too, and for all sorts of different seasons - love em!
  

(we won't get into the things I have in storage, like Tupperware, Plates, Christmas decorations, Halloween decorations, pictures, Cd's, games - oh and lets not forget the Easter Eggs...)

When did I become such a collector of things OK junk? It's official,
I am a pack rat!

So tell me, what do you have a lot of?

How Can I Be

K found this on You tube -

Tag Your It!

(This is one of our engagement pictures)

So weeks ago my friend tagged me - and I really do love being tagged but truth be told I forgot and then I was reading someone else's blog about being tagged which then reminded me...

so here goes

What is his name? Keenan Kamae
How long have we been married? 8 years on December 30
How long did we date? about a year
How old is he? 32
Who eats more? he does well maybe...
Who said I love you first? He did
Who is taller? K is unless I wear my red high heels
Who sings better? we both love to sing - but he will sing in public I just dream about singing in public, I think we sing pretty good together - he really is the better singer...
Who is smarter? I think both - he is better at figuring things out and way better at math!
Whose temper is worse? I would say his - if you can believe that ; )
Who pays the bills? It's a joint effort
Who does the laundry? Again that is a joint effort - I use to love doing it, now I dread bumping into my neighbor so I am not as quick doing it as I use to be...
Who cooks dinner? We both do - dinner is more my thing - but he is great at breakfast!
Who drives when together? We take turns - bad weather he drives, but if he is tired, I drive
Who is more stubborn? He is by far!
Who is the first to admit when wrong? you know, I don't know...
Who wears the pants in the family? never really thought about that, he may be the head of the family, but I am the neck, the neck that turns the head - isn't that from My Big Fat Greek Wedding loved that quote!
Who mows the lawn? K does, he loves yard work!!
Who kissed who first? He did
Who asked who out first? He did
Who proposed? K did - In Hawaii!
What is my favorite thing about him? I love to sing with him - that's my favorite thing!

(this is a picture from our first date - on the North Shore in Hawaii)

I tag - Lynsey, Rachael, Khania, Karissa, Hillary, and Lindsay

6 Month Update

Miss A 6 months old - April 2008

Here are Miss A's 6 month stats... and I have compared them with Miss M's 6 month stats


Miss A's weight 17 lbs. 6 oz (75%)
Miss M was 14 lbs 14 oz (25%)

Miss A's height 26 1/2 inches (75%)
Miss M was 25 3/4 inches (75%)

Miss A's head circumference 16 3/4 (50%)
Miss M's was 16 3/8 (25%)

Miss M about 6 months old - November 2004

Miss M and Miss A -April 22, 2008

6 months old!

Where has the time gone!?!?!?! My baby is 6 months old! I was able to take a few shots of her at my friends house while I was watching her little boy (thanks Stacy for having the "studio" all set up to use!) And here are some fun facts about Miss A

• Miss A enjoys eating anything she can put in her mouth - she just LOVES food!

• she rolls over - WHEN she feels like it

• she laughs SO much especially at her sister and for some reason when Miss M says - "you're a slippery baby - slip-per-y ba-by" (why she says that I don't know - but you should HEAR the way Miss A laughs at it!!)

• she LOVES her johnny jumper

• Loves the swings at the park

• going for walks, being outside in general

• she likes sitting and is really good at holding herself up - every once in a while she falls and bumps her head - I think she gets more upset that she is not sitting, then she does that she bumped her head.

• she is still good at going to sleep - and only gets up once during the night either at 1 am or 4 am depending on the time she has gone to bed
  

• she loves music and loves to rock to it

• she has started doing this move that we call the caterpillar - she lays on her back and scoots herself by moving her shoulders, hips pretty cute, unless you are trying to change her diaper - then she adds a kick in there and scoots right off of that diaper

• her lamby is the most important thing - good thing my good friend happened to have 2 of them! So Miss A now has three of them - she cuddles with ALL of them at night it is pretty cute

We love this little baby more and more every second!

32 and Counting

It's official, I am NOW 32 years old... I had a GREAT birthday!! I started the day by attending the morning session of General Conference IN THE CONFERENCE CENTER!! I was so so excited to be there for my birthday!
We had lunch at Cafe Rio - which I LOVED - so yumm-o!
Looked at bridal things with my sister, walked around the mall, and then hurried back to my mom's so K could go to the priesthood session of conference. I am SO glad he did because he ran into our good friend. After conference we met up with him and his wife. We ate at the Mayan with them and my family. It was great to catch up with them. We were also entertained by the divers at the Mayan - Miss M loved that! Just a note - if you eat there I would NOT recommend the mashed potatoes - they put cucumbers in them and it is not very appetizing at all! But they have this Mango pie dessert that is SO good!
Mostly it was just the great company, my family and friends that made my day so special!

Here are a few things that I have not liked about being 32 - and maybe it has nothing to do with 32 - but it seems like it to me...

• I have wrinkles - crows feet around my eyes
• I have had more zits/pimples/blemishes since I have turned 32 then I have had in my whole 32 years - its terrible and I am sorry if I sound snobbish about this, but I have always been proud of my nice blemish free skin and every once in a while when I would "break out" it would be one or two maybe three, (and the end of the world) but never more. Right now as I am typing this I have 23 on my face - I mean really WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME!?!?!
• I feel more stressed (again don't know if that has anything to do with being 32, but it seems to have happened after I turned 32
• I have grey hair! not just the one or two that would sneak up, but its starting to appear in my root line and my side burn area - so much (to me) that I told K, I was ready to get highlights...
  
• I have less tolerance for people- yet I feel as though I am so much more calm with my children
• and I just feel older - I haven't felt this with other birthdays, but this one, I do

SO tell me, what do you do to have nice skin?

Do you have grey hair? Have you had an age that you just can't get into?

Utah - Church Museum

One of the fun things we did on our walks down to Temple Square ( my mom lives blocks away) was visit the Church Museum. We didn't see all the things there - our goal was to visit the display for the children - the I am a child of God exhibit. It was so sweet! Miss M and A had a great time as did my mom and me. Miss M's favorite thing to do was hang out in the nursery part of the exhibit. She loved playing with the dolls, washing them, dressing them and rocking them. They had a Tree of Life display, CTR rubbings of all different languages, dress up for a nativity and lots of other fun things. We spent two hours there, every minute wonderful. If you happen to be in the area, I recommend going!

Miss A standing by the Nativity -were you could dress up to be a shepherd, angel, or wise-man

Miss M doing a CTR rubbing

rocking the new baby

Miss A thought she would take a turn too - she was pretty cute in the rocking chair with a baby not much smaller than herself!

The Tree of Life display

Quotes of the Week

These all struck me at different times last week and so I saved them to share - then I thought, why not do them all at once, maybe one of these is what you need to hear today...

We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.

~Dallin H. Oaks

This was great to read after my week of being sick and having a sick baby and a husband out of town...

~Appreciate the preciousness of the present moment

(I found this on this blog here)



This is EXACTLY what I needed after my day with my "wonderful" neighbor

(I found this on this blog here)

Past Quotes Here

This is my ANGRY face part two

do you remember that post I did back in January - the one where I wanted to say so much about my upstairs neighbor but didn't... (HERE is the post) WELL, now multiply that by 10 and that is about how K and I feel about her today. (and now imagine me ranting and raving on and on about her...........GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR......................AHHHHHHHHHH.....................................) thanks for listening I feel so much better!

Do you or have you had a neighbor that was less than neighborly??
Please tell me a neighbor story so I can feel Better!

Utah cont. day 2

Day two we woke up to snow snow snow! K had to catch a flight back home for jury duty. But we made it to the airport - and I made it home (my mom's place) even if I was "white knuckling" my mom's steering wheel the whole way back*.
I had not packed any snow clothes or heavy jackets. Not wanting to be completely "snowed" in for the day I borrowed my mom's boots layered the girls up and we made our way to Temple Square. Miss M loved looking at all the snow covered flowers, the water, taking pictures. We found a place for lunch (McDonald's - phew!) Then continued enjoying our walk. By this time all the snow was melting and we were taking off our many layers. Spring weather in Utah - who knew it was so unpredictable! Miss M and I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon back at Grandma's house playing.
Miss M and A had most of my undivided attention through this whole week because I didn't have a cell phone, internet, cable tv or a car to drive. It was refreshing for all of us I think!

*I have driven in snow lots of times but there is something different about driving in a blizzard, no plowed roads and using your mom's new car

Come Thou Fount - Reflections of Christ

As I sit home another day (blast this cough!)- and today being Sunday it was especially nice to receive an uplifting e-mail from a friend. In the e-mail was a link to a beautiful slide show. The slide show is titled "Reflections of Christ" and it is set to my favorite hymn, Come Thou Fount - this was the perfect pick me up for my soul today. Click HERE to see the slide show (well worth the 5 minutes!) You can go HERE to see the entire website. Enjoy!

*The picture of the statue of Christ I took on our recent trip to Utah. This statue is in the visitors center at Temple Square. Miss M loves to go and see it every time we are there.

Aloha Friday

I took my girls to the park!!! It was BEAUTIFUL -the weather, the temperature, the girls...
We played for almost 2 hours.

Miss M was in Heaven!

We took pictures by the daffodils, we fed the ducks, we played on the swings, and the sand.

Miss A loves the sand - and I only had to stop her from trying to eat it ONCE.

Utah Posts Delays

SO, I was hoping to blog more about our Utah trip - but all my pictures are on my lap top, and K takes that to work with him...and well it just throws off my groove a bit. Someday I will post more about our trip - here is a little sneak peek...(I took these from my sisters FACE BOOK account that is why I have these pictures...)
While we were in Utah, my little sister Sarah had her bridal pictures taken...here are just a few of the many. Her photographer was great! You can check out Jessie Lynn's photo blog here.
And her flowers were gorgeous!

Isn't Wedding planning fun?

My Little Reader

Miss M just LOVES books.

She is getting better at reading everyday! She is a super speller too. (I really think it's because K works with her so much.) And I believe it is so important to read to your children daily. I am a HUGE reader and have been looking forward to the day when Miss M and I can read chapter books. My good friend sent me some classics all little girls should have when Miss M was a baby (plus a beautiful blanket she can snuggle up with while reading them). We haven't cracked open those books yet, hopefully soon - but we have read Charlotte's Webb and are reading Trumpet of the Swan*, not to mention she loves it when I read the chapter books to the Girls** after school. We have enjoyed the Spiderwick Series, Junie B Jones,and many others... but last Monday, library day, K and Miss M found Prince Caspian. Miss M is very excited about the upcoming Narnia movie and so they borrowed the book. We have been reading it faithfully every night (except tonight I left it at the girls house - Miss M was super*** sad!)

The best part is, Miss M is a little reader like her Mommy and we enjoy book time together!

I guess I should point out that I DO MOST OF THE READING in the big chapter books, she
is just finally interested in more than just picture books - but I am amazed at the words
that she is able to point out to me while we are reading...

*That is until we started reading Prince Caspian
**I watch two girls in the afternoon
***I think SUPER is my new favorite word to use, it keeps popping up in everything I say or write!

Do You Have a Favorite Child Hood Classic?
Or Just ANY favorite book?



(thanks Kelly for the ** idea! -
and RH for the questions at the end idea - I've seen it in other blogs, and I'm glad
you are doing it!)

My New Project...

BEE PREPARED

I've been working on a new blog for our ward's emergency preparedness. (It's kind of been slipped into my calling of the co-enrichment leader longer story but I wanted to help out!) I have to say so far it's been easy because our church's website already has most of the work done!! This is more to give weekly/monthly tips (depending on my ambition) and the items of the month that will be available for purchase to add to our emergency home supply; for example we have had candles and masks so far... click HERE to check out the blog.... and ( thanks to this friend for the idea!!)

Do You have any emergency preparedness tips, food supply, or 72 hour kit tips???