Lucas is here!

Lucas Benjamin Bryner joined our family on December 18 at 7:45 AM. He was 8 lbs. 7 oz., 20 1/4 inches long, and PERFECT! He is so adorable and is a great eater, sleeper, smiler (not gassy ones!), and we just adore him. Unfortunately everyone in the family is taking turns getting sick (everyone is on their 2nd cycle now except me!). I am so hoping that Lucas does not get sick! We are loving having a boy and he just fits right in! We've had a great Christmas and wish you all the same!

I love November

I love November mainly because October is over! That was a physically and emotionally draining month! I traveled to Kansas twice and Las Vegas once. I said goodbye to my mom (aka best friend in the world) and then went to Ben's brother's wedding (which was relaxing and fun to attend) and then came home to the news that my mom had passed away, which by this point was a relief because I knew she was finally not in pain anymore. I love her so much and miss her but I am surprised at how well I'm handling it. She must be sending me major comfort from the other side because although I really want to have a conversation with her, I still feel as if she's with me a lot. The funeral went well and I tried to help my dad get things at the house organized as much as possible. My mom hadn't been able to really do much there for weeks and my wonderful aunts did their best, but I tried to get it back to the way it was for him. He's lonely but he's busy with farming and hopefully getting by the best he can by keeping busy. I think that's helping me too. Back to the busy-ness of my life here with my kids. I am 40 days away from having my baby boy, Lucas, join the family and I can't wait! A little nervous and feeling unprepared to start the baby journey all over again but ready too! My great family in Kansas threw me a shower when I visited Kansas in early October and my great friends here threw me a shower last week, so I have SO much great stuff for this baby. I feel so blessed and so spoiled! Although the past 2 months have been really hard to get through, I think I have grown a lot and learned a lot through my trials. At least some good has come from the tragedy of losing my mom so young. I love you Mom. :)

Ok, also some good stuff happened. Halloween, Trick or Treat, Natalie's 3rd Birthday!!! Here are some cute pics.

Way too much

Well, way too much has happened in the six weeks since I last posted.

Most of you know my mom is dealing with breast cancer. Well, the past few months she's been having pain and problems and we almost lost her the week of her birthday (2nd week of September) due to hypercalcemia (cancer was causing the blood to leech out of her bones and into her blood). She was very fatigued and depressed and my dad took her to his great doctor. He tried to get the calcium problem fixed with a basic approach that usually works but it didn't. He had her come in to check her levels a week later and while entering the clinic, she barely stubbed her toe on the door threshold and broke her femur! Yeah her bones were in bad shape!!! She said it was the most painful thing ever and childbirth is nothing compared to the pain. So they took her to the ER and she was in surgery the next day to get a rod put in her leg. Turns out there was cancer in the bone but the part that had cancer in it is what shattered and was removed, so as far as I understand, she doesn't have it in any other bones as of now. After a couple of days her calcium levels were still rising and I was so worried but was told to not come by her and everybody. "Take care of your kids. We'll keep you updated." Yeah right. It was miserable. Two days after she broke her leg, I couldn't take it anymore and Mom was getting worse. So I found sitters for my kids for the next several days (thank you so much Ben, Kelli, Kim, and Natalie!) and raced up to Kansas to see my mom. She looked pretty bad when I got there. She was so tired and the doctors were amazed she wasn't in a coma yet from the calcium issue. She was kind of telling people she was ready to go (I can imagine why after all that pain and worry of the last year) and I really thought that was the last time I'd see my mom. The next morning everything had changed. Some time after I left that night, the dr came in to try what I think is the 4th medication to try to fix the calcium problem. It worked! I came in to see my mom sitting up in bed and smiling while she ate her breakfast. She had color in her face again and she said she had slept great that night. WHAT??? It was such a miracle. I know that she has had a ton of people fasting and praying for her (and many friends of mine were fasting and praying as well for her and me) and the miracle was amazing. She has continued to get better. Exactly a week from that scary day that I drove up there, she went home from the hospital! She's doing great walking with her walker or scooting around in her wheelchair. My dad put new carpet in the room (needed it anyway but it's nice and flat to make it easy to maneuver) and rented a hospital bed and things that will make it easier to recover. One of her sisters came to help take care of her all this month and I was able to come home to my family but it's been hard to not make sure she's ok every day. I have had such an emotional roller coaster in this past few weeks. I know she still has cancer and she's not going to live forever but I am SO grateful for the extra time we've been granted together. She has been so excited to meet her grandson in December and that's a possibility now!

On to better news... baby boy is growing and as of last Monday, he weighs an estimated 2 lb. 1 oz. and is still very much a boy. He's always moving and flipping and I'm starting to feel body parts now, which is cool. I'm still doing water aerobics 3 or 4 mornings a week and that's been fun. I've only gained 12 lbs so far and everyone says I look tiny (not to me!). I'm definitely carrying different this time though.

Jill started school! She really enjoys 1st grade, loves her teacher and their class parrot Murphy, and already has a boy that picks on her or bugs her every day (I'm guessing because he thinks she's cute). She is loving being back in school and Miranda is SO ready to join her next year!

I turned 32! I'm liking this age too. My parents came down to see me that weekend and although my mom was in obvious pain and couldn't do much with us, it was just so nice to see them. Luckily Mom isn't in pain anymore. Yay pain meds!!! The Young Women from church got me a cake for our regular Wednesday night activity and there was a ton left to bring home, so I didn't even have to bake my own birthday cake! Yay! I ended up going to a 1st Grade Parent Forum on my actual birthday. Yay? :)

Labor Day weekend was fun. We went to the zoo and just hung out and had fun. No traveling! On the Monday, we did some much needed yardwork and although we don't enjoy that at all, we appreciated the fruits of our hard labor. :)

Jill turned 7! We went to Dallas for the weekend of Jill's birthday and spent the time with grandparents and cousins. Ben was able to go to a live UFC event in Dallas with two of his old friends and he thoroughly enjoyed it. The girls were well behaved for the most part but I've never heard them say, "Are we there yet? How much longer?" more than they did on this trip and it's not even as long as our Kansas trips!

Miranda is doing karate at the YMCA and Jill does a KidzFit class there. Natalie loves the nursery there ("The Playroom") and it's nice for mom to get a break! :) Jill is also doing Daisy Girl Scouts and piano lessons. Things have been busy lately but I'm not sure what to cut out because it's all good stuff, right? Miranda & Natalie are playing really well together with Jill in school. They fought a lot more when there was 3 of them here but I guess if they want someone to play with them, they have to be nice to the one that's here with them! :)

So as of now, life really is good. I worry about my mom and about having another baby (PPD nightmares!) but we are healthy and happy and I am trying to appreciate the good in every day (and downplay the bad). :)

Better Late Than Never

I haven't been updating lately but a lot has happened. The most exciting news is we are having a BOY! We just found out this week and the girls are all excited, as well as Ben of course.

Second biggest news which is actually HUGE is that Natalie is finally potty trained!!! I thought this day might never come! Now I'm knocking on wood to not undue this wonderful change!

Quick update...

We went to Kansas for the 4th of July and had a great time with my parents. Spent most of July just going to the library and play group and field trips, etc.

Went to Kansas again the first week of August to visit my family and TO SEE WICKED THE MUSICAL WITH MY MOM!!! It was SO amazing and it was so much fun to just have a night out with my mom. We went to this quirky little deli and split an awesome sandwich with potato salad. Yummy! Then we walked to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. It wasn't too far to walk but I sure was tired by the time we got there!





We would love to see it again if we ever have the opportunity! That was my birthday gift from my mom. Isn't she awesome? My dad babysat my girls and put them to bed and everything! He's awesome too. :)

August seems like an avalanching snowball. Keeps going faster and faster but it's exciting because at the end of August is my birthday! And Jill starts 1st grade!

We joined the YMCA last week and have been going every day. It's been fun. Jill is doing her KidzFit class, Miranda is doing Karate, Natalie LOVES the play room, I'm doing water aerobics almost every day and Ben is playing racquetball or basketball or just doing the cardio machines. It's been good for all of us and I'm glad we did it. I hope I can keep it up 'til the end of the pregnancy and then get back to it quickly.

Things are good here and now you're caught up. :) I'll post pictures later...

Another Update: Daddy's Work Party

I forgot about this really fun work party of Ben's. We went to the zoo and had a behind the scenes tour and saw some cool animals up close (some of the tour was boring even for our animal lover). There was a bounce house, a petting zoo, a place to make "green" grocery bags, games, food, and I even got to play "Who Wants To Be A Negotiator" with the cops. Very fun! :) Here are some pics of the day.

Best News of All

And to catch up the best news of all... I've been sick and tired a lot lately. We are expecting Baby #4 in December! Feel free to pray for me. I have a lot of anxiety about the baby stuff and the depression that is sure to follow after the birth but we are thrilled to be having another baby. Miranda knows it's a boy ("It IS going to be a BOY!") and Jill is really hoping for another baby sister (I think kindergarten has taught her that boys are annoying and icky - ha ha!). Either would be fine with me!

Catch Up Time: Birthday, Graduation, Playing at the Park

Miranda turned 4 and we had a fabulous celebration that I videotaped but I took only a couple pics of her eating cake, so it looks like I have no record of it! Oh well. :) She is a beautiful, hilarious, and very entertaining 4 year old. My parents and a niece and nephew were in town and we enjoyed their visit so much!

Jill had her kindergarten graduation a few days later. I left the little girls with a friend and Ben couldn't get away at work, so it was just me and it was great! No running around after kids or trying to keep them quiet. :) Unfortunately Jill didn't see me in the packed house, so she was a bit moody-looking until she KNEW I was there. Of course I would be there! Her teacher kept telling her, "I'm sure she's here Jill. She's at everything!" :) Ha ha. A good reputation to have, I guess. She did a fabulous job on her kindergarten program and sang and danced her heart out!

We like to get out to a park at least once a week with our church playgroup and I included a couple of pictures of Natalie at a park recently. She's cute too and deserves some pictures of just her in this post! :)

Catch Up Time: Field Trips

Yes, school is out but we went on another field trip. A friend of mine at church had a great idea to plan outings with the kids this summer and we had our first one on Monday. We went to Buffalo Gap Historic Village and it was a lot of fun. A nice hot day, of course, but the kids enjoyed seeing all the old-time stuff and got to rope animals, play on an old-time merry-go-round, and do a scavenger hunt for items in most of the buildings we toured. Here are some cute pics of our day.

Update

Jill has her piano recital tonight and is a little nervous. She's had her piece memorized for months and I think she'll do great if she doesn't get stage fright. :) I'm so proud of her. She's done girl scouts and piano this year and been excited for all of it. I think she's ready for a little break though! Yay summer time!

Miranda is really wanting to read, so I've been working with her some on it. Today in the car, she was holding something and wanted to know what it said. She said, "Mom, what does M - A - blah, blah, blah, L - L - C spell?" I had to laugh. I said, "You can't say blah, blah, blah, and expect me to figure out the word!"

Natalie is speaking much more clearly these days and saying new words all the time. We were talking about Christmas the other day and she got all excited like she knew what that meant and said, "CHRISTMAS!!!" perfectly. So cute. Then when I tried to get her to repeat it for Ben, it was like, "Kwissmus." Try again. "Plisba." Yeah, nice. Make me look dumb in front of Dad! Oh well! :)

Ben got his Lasik surgery done last week and everything has gone well. He said he's never seen this clearly even with contacts or glasses. Yay for Lasik!

Young Women's is always busy and I feel so behind but we're getting ready to camp this weekend for a little practice run before Girl's Camp next month. Wish me luck!!!

My cute girls

JILL: Mom, I just saw {Ben's co-worker} on Strawberry Shortcake!
MOM (quite befuddled): He was on Strawberry Shortcake?
JILL: His name was in the credits. It's {First Name} {Last Name}.
MOM: How did you know his last name?
JILL: I just know. I do my research, you know.
***
Natalie was waving at a baby over my shoulder in church.
NATALIE: Mommy! Baby!
MOM: Oh she's so cute, isn't she? Should mommy have a baby like that?
NATALIE (scowling): NO. I'M your baby!
***
My girls are keeping me laughing and having fun lately. We're also in the middle of potty-training (yes, again) with Natalie. She's actually done great today but it's all been her decision. Argh! I hope she decides to be totally trained soon! :) I've had her in panties for the last two days and she really is improving, so I shouldn't complain. I'm aiming for a goal date of 5/1 since she'll officially be 2 1/2 that day! :) Yeah right, like she'll stick to MY timeline!

I'm having a good time in my YW calling at church and love getting to know the girls. It is a VERY busy calling but I hope they will get something out of all of my effort and planning on their behalf!

Ben is scheduled to get Lasik surgery next month and I am so excited for him. He has had problems with his glasses and contacts since his last eye exam and it's just such a pain to deal with, so hopefully he'll be 20/20 this time next month!

Jill is BORED of school and wakes up every morning asking if it's the last day. She loves her friends and teacher but is tired of the kindergarten routine evidently. She is jealous that her sisters get to stay home with me all day. Lucky girls! :)

One of the favorite activities at home is coloring. Jill is making a book about animals. I print out an animal for each alphabet letter. She colors it with markers and then writes a sentence or two about each animal. (Strangely, she complains about all the boring coloring she has to do at school.) Miranda is making a princess book and is phenomenal at coloring. Great fine motor skills there! She gets really upset with herself if she gets out of the lines. Poor OCD child! She rarely gets any marker on her anymore! Natalie is actually REALLY good at leaving the markers alone! I have some Color Wonder paper and markers for her but mainly she uses crayons and colors right next to her sisters who are using markers. I'm proud of her for her restraint! :)

We are all looking forward to the summer. We'll have Miranda's birthday next month, YW Girls Camp in June (and Grandma is babysitting), Youth Conference in July, and school starts again in August! I hope we'll have time to spend a week or so in Kansas too. It actually hit 98 today and I'm wondering where Spring went???

Spring's evil twin

Well, Spring's evil twin has arrived at our house too. ALLERGIES! A doctor told me last year when we moved to Abilene that pretty much everyone in this town is on allergy meds. Grrrreat! :( My poor little girls have problems year round and are on meds for that. Jill & I are usually only affected in the Springtime and we got hit full force this week. I just loaded up on meds at Walgreen's and the cashier asked if I had an army of sick kids at home. :) Hopefully what I bought lasts us a long time!

We had a great weekend in Dallas with Ben's family. We watched General Conference and just hung out with cousins. On Monday, Jill & I went on her class field trip to a farm and we were very excited. Too bad it decided to be 40 degrees and hurricane windy that day! A lot of the kids had these thin jackets on and one little girl asked if I could please warm her up. Luckily Jill & I were bundled in big coats and gloves (this is April in TEXAS remember) and we weren't too frozen. Jill got to hold a bunny and a baby goat (so cute!) and fed horses, donkeys, goats, and sheep. She got to play fetch with a really awesome dog named Bliss and it made me wish I could get her a pet. But I'm just not willing to take care of a dog at this point in my life! Do any of you know of a kind of dog that is extremely clean, good with kids, and won't bark constantly??? Let me know, if so. :)

Tomorrow Jill has another field trip and the teacher asked if I would go again. This time I get to bring the little girls. We're going to Western Heritage Days at the university here. Supposed to see sheep shearing, quilting, roping, weaving, chuck wagon cooking, roping, storytelling, and strolling musicians. Should be a blast! It's supposed to be 80 of course. What is UP with this weather???

Spring is coming...

I found this graphic on an awesome blog and it sums up my attitude exactly. The trees in my front yard are blooming and today I'm taking the girls to the nursery to pick out flowers for our flower beds. In the morning, there's a nice crisp chill in the air while we walk to the bus stop and then it's perfect park weather later on. I LOVE Spring!

This morning I had a memorable conversation with Jill. She was telling me how sometimes she lets her friends borrow her jacket for PE which is first thing in the morning when it's still a little cool. She said, "It's ok because I'm not cold at all!" Then she said, "Well, actually it's a little cold but I don't want my friends to be cold. I'm trying to live by the Golden Rule." I just love that kid! Can I take credit for her? :) Yes, the Golden Rule is a big thing around here but she understands it and is applying it in her life. It made me happy to hear her being so selfless. Today I told her to pack an extra jacket (just in case) for a friend so she could still wear one too. She thought that was a great idea! :)

Still Here

Yes, we are still alive. That was quite a long break from blogging. This is what we've been doing.

I was called to be the Young Women's President at church. Yikes! Overwhelming and I really think I'm better at supporting than leading but we'll see how it goes. I miss our previous president but she had to up and move to South Dakota! What in the world??? :)

We went to the Winter Carnival at Jill's school, which was a lot of fun. The girls got corn dogs, cheetos, and root beer and thought they were so lucky! :) We played putt-putt, cake walk, ring toss, etc., and really had a fun time.

I took the YW and one of the YM to a dance in nearby Sweetwater and it was fun to watch the kids be all crazy. Our youth are really fun and the life of the party everywhere they go. They are always the ones dancing in the middle of the floor, doing the line dances, or singing the lyrics at the top of their lungs! :) Fun kids! The building was tiny and easy to miss, so we had to turn around twice. I'll do better next time! :)

Miranda gave her first talk in Primary. It was about how God's creations bless us. I printed out some pictures of some of His creations and she colored them and we were all ready to go and she came up to the front of the room about 3 minutes before she was supposed to and just stood there which was adorable. She was so excited! She climbed up on the step and repeated the first line I whispered in her ear but she was a little quiet, so I asked her to say it again and she went shy and wouldn't say another word. I think she was excited to speak into the microphone but they don't have it plugged in unfortunately and then she was too shy to speak loudly enough to be heard. So she held up the pictures that I passed her while I gave her talk. It was still cute. :)

I was offered a job to work for the Census Bureau as an enumerator -- someone who walks around and asks you who lives in your house. It was a part-time temporary job that I thought I could do with the kiddos but it turned out they wanted me to work 30 hr/wk, not 20 like was previously said, and they wanted me to cover rural areas in the county next to ours! I was thinking I'd be in this city, at least! So, I turned down the job, which made me sad since I had FINALLY found a way to help pay the bills while still taking care of my kids. But I have realized my job is really more than a full-time job and I need to focus on it in that way, rather than worry about bringing in more money. I take care of the kids and the house and the finances and I have my new calling to work on, so I will try to do each job better and forget about finding ANOTHER job for a while.

Ben's garage door has been acting crazy for months but recently stopped working altogether, so I thought I'd be sweet and surprise him with a new garage door opener. I researched, I went to the store and bought one on sale, they were going to call for the installation time... I left to get my haircut one evening (the only time all week practically that I wasn't by our home phone) and they called to set up installation while Ben was home and he said, "I didn't know we bought a garage door opener!" They said, "Well, this is the name and address on the work order," and he said, "Well, I guess we did!" Dang! I was so annoyed when I got home and he said, "Were you trying to surprise me?" with this knowing smile on his face. I immediately knew what had happened and was pretty miffed. I can NEVER surprise this man! But they came the next day and put it up in less than an hour and it is quiet and works wonderfully. And he is grateful. :)

Stake Conference came and Ben was asked to speak on temples. I helped him get some info together and he wrote the talk the night before. The morning of Conference I woke up feeling awful. I had a stomach flu or something, so I missed hearing his talk (I heard he did great) and missed all of Conference the next day too! Luckily it was only a 48 hr thing and I was fine by Monday.


Spring Break came and went too quickly. We all went to Kansas to see my family and had a great time. We went bowling, went to a neat place in Wichita called Exploration Place, ate out WAY too much, and just had a lot of fun with family. We came home to some rainy days that we DESPERATELY needed. As we were bringing things in the house and unpacking, Ben went out to get the mail (which he NEVER does--I do that every day) and he opened a package to find 2 brand new CDs that I bought him to SURPRISE him. See a pattern here? He's wanted these certain CDs for months but he never buys anything for himself. I thought he deserved a special treat and then he went and spoiled the surprise! I was so upset again that I took them and hid them. I told them I will give them to him eventually when I think he'll really be surprised. Ha ha. :)

We came home from Spring Break and got visitors a couple of days later. Ben's brother and his family visited from Dallas. It was their first time to see Abilene and our house. We had fun playing games, going to the zoo, eating out even more, reminiscing about the good ol' days, and discussing our travel plans for a younger brother's wedding this Fall. The cousins played non-stop and it was great.

This week the weather is HEAVENLY (although I'm hoping heaven doesn't have as much wind as Abilene) and we've been to the park every day this week. The sunshine is doing me good. I've been a little overwhelmed and frustrated lately and the gray, cool days were not helping my attitude. Yay for the sun!

The girls got dressed up in green yesterday for St. Patrick's. I didn't get a picture of Jill with her "The Leprechauns Made Me Do It" shirt but here are the other two girls. I forgot to tell Ben, so he got a few pinches and then colored his thumb green! :)

So that's what we've been up to in the last month. Well, a lot more than that but that was the exciting stuff. Pictures will be posted soon!

Fuzzy headed, yet romantic

I had a nice weekend trip to Nauvoo, Illinois to witness my brother being sealed for eternity to his wife. It was a beautiful experience and I'm glad that I could be there for it. I flew to Dallas, flew to St. Louis, drove 3 hrs to Nauvoo, and then did the reverse two days later! The trip was fun and although it snowed a lot the night I got there, it was melted enough to be safe to drive on by the time I left. Perfect! However, I had a bit of a cold before I went and I still have it along with a killer sinus headache. So although I am back with my family whom I missed so much, I'm not much fun for them at present. I am so fuzzy headed and exhausted. I guess travel really takes it out of me.


On the upside, I got to read the whole book "Pride & Prejudice" by Jane Austen on this trip. What a great book to read over Valentine's weekend! I had never read it before but my friend loaned it to me and it was FANTASTIC! I love the flowery writing and the very reserved love story. Imagine a handsome, rich man offering a proposal of marriage after just talking with you for a few weeks. What a lovely idea! It's too bad that today romance is so perverted and people are shacking up before even declaring love or any kind of commitment! Anyone who hasn't read it, I suggest it highly and I'm now looking forward to watching the 6 hr movie version of it starring Colin Firth. Woo hoo! :) My wonderful in-laws visited over the weekend and helped Ben take care of the girls and I am so appreciative! They all had a great time too.


We received wonderful news yesterday that my brother-in-law popped the question to his girlfriend over the weekend (it's about time! hee hee) and they'll be getting married in the Fall. Yay! Welcome to the family!!!

I hope to feel better and get back in the swing of things soon! I hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Shadows, Fashion, and Tantrums

Well, as you can tell from Miranda's choice of attire today, she was really hoping that Punxsutawney Phil would NOT see his shadow today. I am very sad to learn that he declared six more weeks of winter. But since he's just a big rodent, I don't think I'm going to take his predictions too seriously. I did not let Miranda out of the house in that outfit (it was 35 degrees outside), but she took a lot of cajoling to get her to put pants on. And then she wanted to wear the shorts on TOP of the pants. I said, "Sure!" It was a bit of a struggle, so she gave up thankfully. :)

Miranda has always been the little diva in our family in more ways than one. But the main way she's shown this is in her desire to pick her own clothes. She comes up with some very interesting outfits but most of them are quite fashionable. Jill has never been one to care what she's wearing. If I give her a choice, sure, she has a preference. But every morning I pick out some clothes and she puts them on and goes to school with nary a comment about the clothing I picked. I doubt that will last forever but I will enjoy it while it lasts. Natalie is following in Miranda's footsteps by shrieking if I pick the pink striped shirt, when she wanted the yellow one with flowers. Oh yay.

Today I got up and actually showered early! I was all ready to go deposit a check at the bank and get groceries at my least favorite place with the cheapest prices by 9 a.m.! I was going to get a lot done before my kids were hungry, tired, cranky, etc. Yeah, right. We had a pretty uneventful shopping trip except that the girls took turns getting in and out of the cart (the 2 seat kind that are a mile long and impossible to push and turn, etc.) and Natalie finally broke down when I wouldn't let her grab, peel, and eat a banana right there! It was my last item on my list and it all went very downhill after that. She kicked, she screamed, I strapped her in, I did the best I could to get checked out and OUT of the store as soon as possible. Nat proceeded to kick my chair and SHRIEK the whole way home. I tried all of my usual tricks and finally resorted to the "drown her out" method. I cranked up the radio and Miranda and I sang and danced in our seats all the way home, while trying to ignore Nat's shrieking. "Sweet dreams are made of these..." Ha. Hardly. I know she's TWO but good grief. This is going to be a long year...

Also, Nat is doing EXCELLENT with the potty training but now she won't sleep at night. At least not in her bed. I refuse to let her in our bed anymore. She's a big girl, she's not sick or anything, and we need our sleep!!! Which we don't get when kiddos are in the bed too. So she usually gets the option of her bed or our floor. I'm tired................ ZZZZZ.... This too shall pass, right?

You'll notice in this picture that her shirt says, "Sweetie." I specifically put it on this morning to remind myself that she really is a sweetie. Hidden deep inside that tantrum-throwing kid that I have to live with these days. *Sigh*

NEW

Things are going well this month. It's been a great start to a NEW year so far. Other than Jill getting strep throat, we've been relatively healthy around here and Jill is the bounce back queen and was pretty much 100% improved 24 hours after the antibiotics. The sun is shining and the weather has been nice, if only a little too chilly for my preference. :) But as Ben reminds me... It's January!!!

I decided that Natalie seemed ready for something NEW... to be potty trained, so we started this week and she's been awesome! Very few accidents and is in panties all day except for naps. DORA panties, of course. I think that has been key in the process. :) We love our DORA! :) I hope she continues to do this well. *KNOCK ON WOOD* I haven't even had to clean up a mess because her accidents were on a towel or a chair that has a removable, washable cover. NICE! I am really hoping to be totally out of the diaper phase, unless we have a new baby and then I will gladly start all over again! :)

Some friends and I went to a NEW movie last night. It was a fun night to hang out with my friends but "Bride Wars" wasn't the best movie I ever saw. At all. Some cute moments but not a "must see," in my opinion. Has anyone seen something really good lately that is not crude, filled with innuendo, violence, or bad language? Let me know, if so. :)

I have volunteered A LOT lately and I've been running myself more ragged than I want to be. I have a NEW goal to not overschedule myself, so I was very proud of myself last week when a note came home asking for help with the school's winter carnival. I threw it away. Then I felt a little guilty but mainly ok. Then another note came home and I threw it away. Now I'm feeling a lot more guilty. And if they send another one, I will probably break down and help run the whole thing. Let's hope there isn't another note! :)

How do you all balance your many duties? I LOVE volunteering but then I have to dump my kiddos somewhere to fulfill what I've volunteered to do and that's hardly fair to the kids to do that very often. A couple of weeks ago my bishop just happened to call me in to his office when I was really frustrated with all of my many responsibilities. He helped me put things into a NEW perspective and I have been trying hard to put my family first again. He's so great. Sometimes you just have to hear that you're doing a great job and that you don't have to do everything!

Today some of my wonderful friends came over to make and have lunch together. One friend brought a recipe, so we could learn something NEW. We had homemade tomato basil soup and stromboli. YUM! It's so nice to have a weekly "Girls Gathering" at my house. All of the kids play and we just hang out, learn new things from each other, or help with projects. We've made baby shower invitations, learned new things to cook, learned crochet, painted a bedroom, and just had a lot of fun!

So far 2009 has been great for us and I hope it's going well for anyone that reads this too! :)

Recent Conversations, Medical Updates & Family Fun

[Miranda saying something nobody knew that she already knew.]
JILL: How did she KNOW that?
MOM: She's really smart and remembers everything lately.
MIRANDA (with a proud smirk on her face): Yep, I know things!

MOM: What would you like for lunch?
MIRANDA: I don't want anything.
MOM: Really? I'm hungry. Let's go eat.
MIRANDA: I don't want ANY FOOD!
MOM: How about a yogurt drink?
MIRANDA: That's JUST what I was thinking! I want a yogurt drink!
MOM (shaking my head and laughing at how silly she is): Miranda, you make me smile.
MIRANDA (very excitedly): Mom, YOU make ME smile TOO!!! :) But not Natalie, she's not smiling.

MIRANDA: Mom, I want some chocolate pudding.
MOM: Sure, after you finish a healthy lunch.
MIRANDA: I just want pudding.
MOM: Let's have some applesauce.
MIRANDA: I'm NOT HUNGRY!
MOM: Then why do you want pudding? Pudding is food too.
[Miranda gives up and walks away without finishing lunch... again.]

MIRANDA (whispering): Mommy?
MOM (whispering back because she's usually just put a baby doll to sleep when she whispers): Yes?
MIRANDA: Can I play a game with you?
MOM: Sure. (looking around for a baby doll) Why are we whispering?
MIRANDA (still whispering): I don't know!

[Jillian getting frustrated with something.]
JILLIAN: Oh, this is so vexing!
MOM: Where in the world did you hear that word?
JILLIAN: On my Nintendo DS. One of the girls on "My Sims" said that. It means frustrating or annoying.
*I guess I have my very own Word Girl! I'm so proud that my daughter is learning from her video games. Hee hee.*

My kids certainly keep me entertained and amazed. We are all finally feeling well and it makes a HUGE difference in the home atmosphere. :) Miranda & Natalie had both had a bad cough and fever during the New Year's trip we took to Kansas. They were basically over it but we went to the dr yesterday anyway for Nat's 2 year checkup. I scheduled it a bit late and she was 2 for over 2 months before they could fit her in. She has grown 3 inches and gained 4 lbs since her last visit to the dr in April. My kids grow fast! She had to get her last immunization until kindergarten (one small Hep A shot) and she didn't cry or flinch or act like she noticed a needle was in her leg. I just sat her up and pulled up her pants and she was ready to go get her sticker and mosey on out of there. She walks by kind of hopping up and down when she's excited. Almost a skip. Totally adorable. I need to get it on video.

After Natalie got checked out, I asked the dr to just check Miranda's ears because she had cried from ear pain a few times in the last two days. He said she had a beautiful ear infection going in one of her ears, so she's on antibiotics but seems to be feeling great now. So as soon as that's done, we'll be on the probiotics to build up her immune system again. We want to not be sick again for a REALLY long time.

The rest of us are all better too. Hooray!

We had a great trip to Kansas and the girls did great in the van both ways. I think I had a harder time. I was so ready to get out of that van! I'm enjoying being home. :) I am so glad I got to spend a few days with my parents, my brother & his family, my aunts & uncles, and my grandma. I even got to talk to my best friend since kindergarten for half an hour at her jewelry store. We both had sick kids, so we didn't get them together this trip. I was so blessed to have so much family and so many great friends when I was growing up. My kids don't have the family close, which is kind of sad, but hopefully our church family and our great friends will make up for that a little.

So that's the update. I'll get pictures on here soon of some of our adventures. Unfortunately, I didn't even get my camera out during most of the holidays. HAPPY NEW YEAR!