Happy Birthday Grandma B!

                                          

I think Leila thought you were in the camera. Pretty cool if that would work. You can feel young today. Leila asked how old you were and then asked if you were 5 and a half. Have a great day! We love you!

Mia with the Kitchen Set

I love it when I catch the girls totally engrossed in what they are doing. It's like I can see their gears spinning. I love you Mia!

                                              

Leila and Mia's Sunflower.

Their first sunflower opened up on Friday. It is amazing that this beautiful flower grew from one seed. Good work girls.

The Water Heater and Backyard Camping

On Friday Morning about 10 minutes after Sam left for work I was in the laundry room when Mia came in to tell me that she had gone pee pee on the floor. I thought it was a bit strange since I was pretty sure she had a diaper on. So, I asked her to show me where. I looked and noticed that there was a lot of pee and was a bit confused and then all of a sudden my entire foot was soaked. Well, that was not Mia's pee, it was a broken water heater leaking 40 gallons of water on our floor. Luckily my neighbor is very handy, so I called Lynda and she was over so quickly and with her tools. She drilled open the door and turned the water off so that all 40 gallons didn't quite get on the floor and then within about 1/2 hour there were 4 men from our church that showed up along with Lynda and her two sons to help remove the water heater and help with the clean up. After all of the excitement I thought to myself, "what an amazing thing, what if I had not belonged to this amazing church. What would I have done?" Sam then got a new water heater and it is installed, but the carpet is so stinky. Like a wet dog and a latrine mixed together. Luckily we have had abnormally high temperatures here- in the 100s. Yesterday it was 103. So, the carpet has dried mostly but definitely needs to be pulled out and replaced.

Another lucky thing is that our new tent arrived on the same day. The temperatures get nice and cool in the evening. So we  got out of our hot, stinky house and slept outside in our backyard on Friday and Saturday night. We all sleep really well in the tent, Lucy even sleeps through the night out there. The tent is a 7 man tent, so plenty of room and even a swinging door that makes it easier for the kids to get in and out of. Sam and I also have cots and we all have mats. I made fun of Sam for wanting cots and mats, but after waking up the first morning I thought, "wow, that was nice, I don't know if I could ever go back to sleeping on the ground." I love the new tent. It is like seeping in an outdoor bedroom with big windows and nice breeze. If you take the rain fly off then it is all netting on the roof, so you could see the stars. I am waiting for a nice clear night. Well, hopefully next week there will be some news on the replacement of the carpet in the hallway. Sam and I are both in agreement that although carpet might be cushy, it is also pretty nasty.






 

Mother's Day - Sunday May 11, 2008

Mother's Day was great. I woke up and Sam had made breakfast and had some presents set out at my place setting. Leila had made me a wooden necklace to wear to church and had made some drawings for me. Sam got me a beginner harmonica set (this is something that I have been wanting, so it is not that random, if that is what you are thinking). Then to church we went. The Primary kids sang a song during Sacrament Meeting and I will admit I was one of those moms that was crying before they even starting singing. Leila had been so excited about singing me a song in Sacrament. It was wonderful to see her go up there. She is getting so big, so quickly. Then after church the missionaries asked what time they would be over. "what?" I asked as they repeated themselves three different times. Then Sam finally stepped in. I guess I had signed up for dinner on Mother's Day. I had no idea it was Mother's Day when I had signed up, no wonder it was available on the missionary calendar. So, poor Sam had to change his cooking plans to include two hungry elders. It was a great dinner. A little plug for Sam- for a few months now he has cooked dinner every Sunday night. He is a really great cook. He even made a delicious blackberry pie (homemade crust and everything). I am thankful for the three little girls that have been planted in our family. They are all great company and a lot of fun and full of energy. I am thankful for a mother that has been and continues to be a great example to me, as is my mother-in-law. I am also thankful for my grandma that also had decided to be a mom and gave birth to my wonderful mom. 

Our First Camping Trip of the Season

We went camping this weekend at Sand Flats (I think) in El Dorado County. We are definitely hard core campers because we were there the first night that the campground had opened for the season (although we found that out after). Sam stopped shaving before the trip and said he was not going to shave until we went camping. We all had an enjoyable time and are excited about our next trip.

On our hike Leila enjoyed looking at everything with the binoculars.

This was about the best $9.95 that I have ever spent on this mini soccer set that came with two mini goals and a mini soccer ball. It is a lot more challenging and entertaining than you would expect. 

Leila taking a break after the soccer game.

Lucy enjoyed being in the outdoors, as did I.

One of Mia's funny faces to keep us laughing.

Cozy.

Nice set up! We used some of our tax refund money for some nice camping equipment that will last us a long time. We have come to terms with our having three kids and so we now like to camp in comfort. It was a lot more fun to not have to rough it as much. Although all 5 of us slept in a 3 man tent and there still weren't flush toilets (which that doesn't seem to bother any of us. Leila took a look down the latrine hole and told me to hold on to her because "falling in there would be worse than falling in a swimming pool" I have to agree with her on that one. I can't think of too much else that would be worse than falling in a hole filled with, well you  know what.

The A's Game

Sam had some work to do in Oakland and so he took advantage of that and took Leila with him, met his friend Adam (who lives in Berkeley now and is Sam's friend from High School and college) and his daughter Ellie and went to a ball game or went to see "the basketball team" as Leila kept calling the baseball game. And of course a trip with Dad has to include the play McDonalds. I've long surrendered that a lot of times moms keep the kids healthy while the Dads make sure that the kids know somewhat about cultural things like play McDonalds, Slurpees and Cotton Candy. It's a good balance.

Dance Along

Leila decided that she no longer wants to go to gymnastics and wants to go to Dance Along instead. My friend Vanessa teaches it as a community service. We went for the first time since I was about 3 months pregnant with Lucy. The girls had a great time. This past week we drove to the same area where Leila did gymnastics to go to a sports equipment store. We asked Leila if she was sure that she did not want to do gymnastics anymore. Leila said that she was sure, but asked if we could still sometimes go to "the bagel place" (Panera Bread) next door (both Grandmas have taken her there when visiting). I laughed and said sure and was also ensured that she really is not interested in doing gymnastics right now.