Miriam and I had a great time with my parents this weekend. We all threw away lots of junk (the purpose of my trip was to clean out a back room that held all our high school stuff), had some great sister/mother discussions, and enjoyed each others company. Grandma gave Miriam her very first ever hair cut. I didn't save any hair because she is three not 3 months, but I did take pictures of the occasion. We only took off like an inch and a half.
Curses to McDonalds!! Evil marketing geniuses. They are giving out Madame Alexander Wizard of Oz dolls in Happy Meals (Bevan....that email you sent was the death of me, I couldn't rest until Miriam had one). I, of course want them all for Miriam...I want 2 sets one she can play with and one to keep forever. I have been coveting the real Madame Alexander Wiz of O dolls ever since Miriam fell in love with Dorothy. Here is my theory on what happened. I think Happy Meal sales were slipping because mothers don't want their kids eating hormone infested, mass produced beef and chicken, trans fat laden artery destroying french fries, and type 2 diabetes creating pop so MD decided to target the mothers with a toy they can not resist. I know, I know, you can choose milk and apples with caramel sauce or like carrots. Miriam will take chocolate milk but there is no way she is going to eat apples when she is surrounded by people eating french fries. She knows the whole purpose of fast food is the french fry. I am trying to resist going to collect them all, but they really are just as cute as they look. If anyone just happens to love Happy Meals but not care for the toys feel free to send them my way.
Andrea with her cutie kids
Madison, Marcus, Josh and Ali - Miriam's entertainment for the weekend.
pearl earrings to wear and told me I could always be as pure and white as they are if I would use repentance in my life. I wore these earrings to the temple before my mission, and then again when I was married to Darin. Over my lifetime, I have been given a ring, three necklaces (all different) and have bought myself an everyday pair of earrings (not real). I wore pearls to all of my graduations, I wear them to most weddings I attend and almost every Sunday to Church. I like the way I look in pearls but I wonder if thats because I I feel loved when I wear them?
Miriam and I dyed egg shells earlier in the week so the kids could make shell mosaics also from Family Fun. We have some left over so I have plans to make mosaic eggs for Easter. I hope the shells are easy to peel even with all the glue, I don't want to waste the eggs, I am already starting to crave deviled eggs.
Anyone who has talked to me about Miriam's princess fixation knows my beef with Barbie and the Disney Princess movies - Where are the African American Princesses??? I love Mulan, and Pocahontas, Jasmin is great but the void has been obvious. Thank Heavens Disney is working on a new animated movie...HAND animated not computer which is even more exciting! You can read the article here, and New Orleans fans will be excited because it's set there. All little girls should be able to identify with a princess and since Disney and Barbie are saturating the media, I hold them responsible to provide those princesses. I guess Disney wins the race! I can't wait to take Miriam, this may be our first trip to the theater, and by theater I mean dollar movie so it will be awhile.
What a surprise. I haven't talked to my cousin Kristi in....years. I call her on the phone last Thursday, and the next day gifts from her show up in my mail! She sent the baby this super soft and cuddly blue blanket (it is a pretty blue, the picture is just crazy) with 'Miriam's Little Brother' embroidered on it. It was so thoughtful because Miriam was just as excited about it as she was for her own gifts. Kristi sent Miriam a cute Spring dress with her initials embroidered on it and a bo
ok about babies. I LOVE getting surprises in the mail, but more than that I LOVE when Miriam gets surprises in the mail. Thank You Kristi, it's fun to get something now, just as the excitement of the pregnancy is getting old (two months left). This bumps up the anticipation which makes me less annoyed when baby R does things like.... freestyle swim exercises at 4:00 am that won't quit until I get up and eat something. I love to eat, but eating at 4:00 am alone in a cold kitchen is not even fun, what a waste of calories.
Miriam was kind of funny about the whole Leprechaun thing. She was excited to leave a box out for him to hide chocolate coins but she was adamant that he NOT enter her room, or even come upstairs. She placed the box outside the front door so he could walk in, hide it and leave.
The Leprechaun messed up the living room and kitchen, which Miriam found amusing, but she quickly flushed the green toilet water away. I am not sure if she was disgusted or what?? Funny side note: since I was awake that morning at 4:00 am, I used that bathroom, so I added the food coloring again, but in my sleepless haze I added blue. I had to hurry and fix it while she looked for her treasure.
M, eating her green eggs. We didn't eat all green food all day, but I did make corned beef, potatoes and cabbage for dinner. I made it in the slow cooker (family fun recipe). For the first time, the corned beef turned out really well (I have always made it in the oven before), but we didn't like the cabbage as well as when I make it on the stove...too water logged, same goes for the potatoes. Next year it will be perfect, mark my words! While I am on the subject of recipes I tried Michelle's Pasta with Carrot/Shallot Sauce and it was SO GOOD. I am trying to make more vegetarian meals for our family (obviously, not today) and this one is a keeper, we all loved it. Michelle's recipes can be a bit difficult (she's got skills) but this one was easy, I didn't mess it up, and I usually mess up the first try.
We were with family this weekend celebrating Darin's big
brother's birthday. We had a great dinner and wonderful cake thanks to Mom and "Bad Byron" Dad. Vanessa needs to post about the quilt she made for Regan. It was a strip quilt out of plaid fabric with that really silky soft fur-like stuff they are making baby blankets out of these days, for the back. It was fun to be with family and especially fun to see Lisa and Alicia (since they live so far away). Alicia's eyes are freakishly sensitive to our camera so Darin took a million pictures of them to see if she could keep her eyes open. It was worth it because he got this darling picture of the two of them.
Good Times! I hope the summer reunion works out!
Miriam had a dentist appointment Monday, here she is showcasing her prizes, a Dora toothbrush, and Fariytopia stickers. WooHoo! she received a clean bill of health, not even any plaque or tartar. I hope she has the good teeth genes and not the bad...my family has both. I love Miriam's pediatric dentist. She wears grape flavored gloves, and tons of jewelry to mesmerize little kids. She also gives like 12 flavors of fluoride to choose from. Darin and I are in the process of breaking up with our current dentist to find a new one (hate those awkward break-ups but he is just not very good), I wish we could just go to Miriam's.
Our green feast. As expected the jello was a hit, while the peas were snubbed.
The clues to our scavenger hunt. Can you decipher from my artwork where the clues were hidden? The girls had no problem. They were also so cute while searching. They waited for everyone to get to where each clue was and then gave each other a turn picking up the clue. So cooperative, and not competitive.
The TREASURE!
One of the most laid back, refreshingly honest, intelligent, hilarious women I know started a blog! This is my hometown buddy Nanci. I was so lucky to have great friends through Jr. High and High school. People make fun of the small town we were raised in (and school we attended) but I wouldn't have it any other way. I realize looking back that my good experience is mostly due to the wonderful people I was surrounded by. You big city snobs out there (not that everyone from a big city is a snob, but I have heard "ewe how was it to grow up there?" said with distaste more than I would care to) will never know how great it is to be raised in a smallish town. Yes, it does take more creativity to have fun but when that creativity gets flowing, water soaked tampons fly, power is turned off at eating establishments just to hear the screams, and illegal fireworks are let off with gusto....and we were the "good LDS kids".
We had a fun Activity Day activity last night I wanted to share since I am ALWAYS trying to come up with fun activities for our girls (I have ages 9 & 10). Our Primary president asked us to make puzzles for a little boy in the ward who has autism. Each girl picked out a picture that we mod podged to a piece of plywood. The Primary president's husband is going to cut it into puzzle pieces. I am not sure how, I guess he has some sort of saw and possibly an outline to follow. The little boy we m
ade these for has such a high form of autism he has his own primary teachers who will use these to help with his lessons. If there wasn't a need like that in a ward I am sure the nursery would like them, or maybe the girls could make them for their own families.
We also handed out our very late valentines for the girls. I took Stacy's "You Rock" idea and put a low budget spin on it (we have a very small budget). Last month we passed off one of the requirements by reading a recent conference talk by President Hickley on being kind and accepting of others. We had a discussion on being kind and then had the girls secretly write one nice thing about all the other girls in the class. I then took the kind words, wrote them on the rocks, and bagged them just like Stacey did, only my bags were plastic and the tags not quite so cute. A little candy to make it extra sweet and the girls were thrilled.
This scar on my heel is all that is left from my auto/pedestrian accident last August. This is where my heel was pinned between the curb and the tire, this is where the doctor painfully scrubbed out the road with a brush. It is still numb in this area, but the feeling is coming back slowly. It's a reminder of what a miracle the human body is. Back in December I thought my heel would always be numb but my body is slowly slowly healing itself.
I haven't actually read this book (although I have heard great things about it), but Virginia Pearce came to speak at our Stake Relief Society meeting yesterday. Although Darin had a million things to do for school and work, I was able to go to hear her. I hadn't realized she was President Hinckley's daughter. She told a few cute stories about her mother and father that were heartwarming. She mentioned that President Hinckley, although very tired, has been blessed with such heath he has said "What is it going to take to kill me?" which is so like him. I am sure most of what she talked about is written in the book but one part that struck me was this:
Fun books and cute cards from Grandparents. Miriam loves all of them, her favorite Valentine book is now The Day It Rained Hearts but I am so glad we got a copy of Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch. Her favorite ballet story is Swan Lake followed by Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker. Mine is Coppelia, I have never heard that story before, Giselle is quite errie.
