Finally...

So, I went on a little trial run this morning to see how my ankle feels when I run and I was very happy when it didn't hurt at all! Hooray! I sure was out of breath from that really short run. I haven't gone running for almost a month and I've missed doing it.

New Books

My parents gave Kate these two really cute books for her birthday. I don't remember ever reading them before. I thought I'd share them because I love children's books! So, thanks Mom for the cute new books!

Visit with Grandma, Grandpa and Emmy

My parents and little sis, Emmy, spent Thursday through Saturday with us while Emmalee had her Spring Break.

We went to the visitor center at Temple Square for a few minutes after picking Grandma up from the Family History Library. Here are a few pics.


Jack learned really quickly to ask for money to throw in the fountain. Too bad I only had two coins since Jack is the one that always goes through my purse and loses my change.


On Friday we went to the zoo. It was a little chilly, but it was still fun.

Watching the elephant reach up to eat.

In the new tiger area.

Jack loved seeing the meerkats. He squealed everytime he saw one. There's one in the picture that's running away.

And, as always the highlight of any trip to the zoo -- riding the train!

Jack said "too, too" during the whole train ride. I think he's finally getting into trains. He loves his Geotrax and the new train table. Lots of fun!

It was fun having my family visit. Jack kept Grandma and Grandpa busy playing basketball in his room. Kate and Emmy did lots of story-reading and dressing up. And of course we ate some good food. Thanks for coming Mom and Dad and Emmy!

Kate's Birthday Fun and a lot of cake!

Kate with her presents. I think next year we'll cut back on the gift-giving. I went a little overboard this year. On Tuesday Kate and I went to the toy store and she picked out her double doll stroller and bought it with Grandma and Grandpa Judi's gift/money.

We went to the U and had lunch with Dave. Kate insisted on bringing her babies in their stroller. We were quite the parade walking through campus. We went to McDonald's for dinner. Kate's choice!

Kate helped me decorate her princess cake. I'm not a very patient cake decorator and I thought I'd save money by buying disposable cake decorating tips and just using a ziploc bag with it. That didn't work so well! Frosting was everywhere. Kate kept saying that the cake looked beautiful. It was pretty enough for her.

Blowing out candles.

The night before Kate's birthday we made some cupcakes to take to playgroup at the church.

Grandma Judi made Kate a birthday cake over the weekend. The kids found it.


Enjoying cake and/or peach pie (my favorite). Jack isn't eating cake. He just took a big bite of Kate's candle.

Kate: From Then to Now

One day old

First Birthday


2nd Birthday


3rd Birthday


4th Birthday (never mind her frosting-face)

More pictures to come of her big "#4" day!

Simple Pleasures Tag

Anne Marie started this fun simple pleasures tag. I'm supposed to post at least of 5 of my favorite things. Here they are:

My Kitchenaid Immersion Blender

Or course, I have to include some food. I love Whole Grain Rice a Roni.

And, I love Skippy Natural Peanut Butter (no partially hydrogenated anything in it)
Clorox Disinfecting Wipes -- since Jack loves to pee in the potty!

Camelbak water bottle

OxiClean spray

These are my simple pleasures. What are yours? I tag ALL OF YOU!

Our New Coffee Table

Do you like our new coffee table? The kids sure do! Dave's advisor gave us his son's train table tonight (since he no longer thinks Thomas is cool). The kids love it. Who knows where we'll put it. Maybe we'll just leave it there and really use it like a coffee table. It adds a little color to our room.

Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry

I just finished this book, Mitten Strings for God, Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry by Katrina Kenison and I thought it was blog-worthy. Since most of us die-hard bloggers are mothers I thought I'd share a little about this book with you. It has made me realize how I can be a better mother by taking time to enjoy childhood with my kids, by being there with them and helping make their days fun and even magical.

Here's a little excerpt from the book that I read this afternoon that I love, "We tend to be so focused on efficiency and convenience that we forget to invite our children to share in life's messy or inconvenient pleasures: finger paints, late-night fireworks, mud puddles, the sunrise, baking a cake. The pure joy of a moment fully lived is more precious than clean hands, an hour of lost sleep, dry shoes, or a perfect dessert."

I highly recommend this book to all mothers. I really enjoyed it and will probably need to read it again to remind myself of what my role of a mother is.

Kate

Here are a few things that Kate said to me this morning that I wanted to write down.

Me: Kate don't pick your nose.
Kate: Fine, I'll go hide somewhere else and do it.

I braided a little section of Kate's hair this morning and this is what she thought about it.
Kate: Mom, you're a genius. You should do this on Sundays.
Wow! I'm a genius! Who knows how long Kate will keep thinking that about me?

Really Fun Day!

Tonight Kate and I were talking about all the fun things that we got to do today and we decided that it had been a really fun day. We started out this morning bright and early by Kate going to the dentist. She hadn't been for a year, but she had a really great experience. We went to a really fun pediatric dentist office that had a great kid waiting area, tvs on the ceilings, great decorations, and a really nice dentist. She is a no cavity kid and she was "really brave". Kate told me that when I go to the dentist that I need to be really brave too.


Then we met Dave and Grandma J for lunch at Hires Big H and had some yummy hamburgers, fries, and root beer. I really better exercise tomorrow. Too bad I can't go running since my ankle is still hurting and swollen. It started hurting two weeks ago while I was running and I haven't been able to go running since then. I don't know what's going on. The podiatrist couldn't see anything bad on the x-ray. Anyway...

Tonight we had some great friends, Brent and Elise, who were visiting from NM over for dinner. The kids all had so much fun playing together. There was lots of dressing up and playing basketball too. We've missed them and are glad that they stopped by to see us on their vacation. We took this picture last year while Ashley, Kate and Annika were playing.

This morning Dave and I got up at 5:00. That's our new goal to get up early so Dave can be more productive on his dissertation. It was so nice! I exercised, showered, actually did my hair, and mopped the bathroom and kitchen floors before the kids woke up. It was great! It wasn't even that hard to get up that early. Once I actually get out of bed it's not too bad. We'll see what I think tomorrow at 5 am though.