Fun at the Park

Today we went to the park for lunch and to ride bikes. It was a pretty day, but pretty windy, so we didn't stay too long because John David didn't seem to like the wind too much.



Since I am a mean mom, I made the girls eat their lunch first, so they were chomping at he bit to get on their bikes. Oh, and I'm also a bad mom because I let Katie skip school again today to spend time with Grandma and Grandaddy. =)



And they're off!







The wind made it kinda chilly outside, at least under the pavilion, but it was nice to be able to get out and enjoy the sunshine!

Final Four Bound!

GO HEELS!

We're All Stars

But today Katie was the star at her 'High School Musical' birthday party. She had lots of friends to come and help her celebrate. Unfortunately, I didn't get as many pictures as I wish I had. When her guest arrived, we made some 'fabulous' necklaces while jamming to the catchy HSM tunes. Then we played the HSM games that she had gotten the night before, and of course they played outside on the trampoline, even though it was pretty chilly outside.



Then everyone came inside when the 'school bell' rang for lunch. We had sandwiches, fruit and veggies, and juice boxes. A healthy school lunch, right?



Then we had some yummy cake.



Look at our beautiful birthday girl! She calls this outfit her 'Gabriella' outfit and says she looks like her when she wears it. So of course she had to wear it for her HSM party.



Hope you had a fun day sweetie!

Celebrating Katie

This morning after I got Katie off to school, Sarah and I made these cute ice cream cone cupcakes (idea and recipe from Laura--thanks Laura!--they were a big hit) to take to Katie's class at school. Sarah loved helping...................



.........and tasting......................



.........but mostly tasting.



Tonight we went out to eat at one of Katie's favorite restaurants, Hong Kong, or as she and Sarah say, Honk Honk. The funny thing is that she doesn't eat the Chinese food, she loves to go eat there for the corn fritters and the boiled shrimp. Strange, but true. Afterwards we came home and had cookie cake with Maw Maw and Paw Paw and Grandma and Grandaddy.



And presents too.



Such a cutie pie!



We gave her these HSM games. She was perfectly happy with them, and thought that was all she was getting.



Maw Maw and Paw Paw gave her scriptures and a carrying case.



At some point Aaron slipped outside and brought Katie's main present inside. No one even realized what he'd done.............until Katie went into the kitchen. This was her reaction.



I think she was a little surprised.........and excited. We couldn't tell to begin with if she was laughing or crying.



I think she likes it!

Some fun things about Katie at age 8:

*favorite color-pink
*favorite food-pizza
*favorite dessert-ice cream
*she wants to be a teacher when she grows up
*she loves all things outdoors, such as bike riding, camping, fishing (although not so much on the boat), four wheelin', and going to the lease with her dad and shooting her rifle.
*she loves to do puzzles
*she loves to sing and has a beautiful voice
*she is a wonderful sister and a big help to me
*she is a very happy girl and lots of fun to be around

We love you so much Katie and feel so blessed to have you in our family!

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

We love you!

Devastated

Yes, that's me. Completely. It all began last Thursday night when I got home from enrichment and John David screamed for 2 hours straight. He also refused to eat. He finally calmed down and went to sleep and slept well that night. When he woke up the next day, he seemed to be fine. But since he had cried so much the night before and didn't want to eat either--very unlike him on both counts--I decided to call and talk to a nurse about it. She said we should probably have him checked out just to make sure nothing was going on. So I took him in and sure enough, he had a terrible ear infection. Bless his little heart. So we got him on an antibiotic and assumed he would be back to normal in at least a couple of days. Nope. He has cried for about 2 hours every night since then. So I called and made another appointment for him today assuming that the antibiotic was not working. I was very surprised to hear the doctor say that his ears look great. What? Well, why is my normally calm and happy baby still screaming every night for 2 hours! Is he teething? There has to be some explanation. And then it happened. The doctor said the "C" word. Yes, he said he may have COLIC. NO! Please tell me something else it wrong. Not the dreaded "C" word. I know it could be worse, but right now I can't think of what that would be. He gave us a prescription but it does nothing. Absolutely nothing. The only thing that does help is a bath. He loves his bath and is happy while he's in the water. I know it won't last forever and that "this too shall pass." Just hopefully sooner than later. Until then, I'm considering giving him a 2 hour bath every night until he's six months old!

Meeting Grandma and Grandaddy

John David got to meet Grandma and Grandaddy for the first time when we picked them up at the airport today. While we were waiting for them, I fed John David. So when they finally arrived, he was all set to see them. He just snuggled right in with Grandma and she didn't want to give him up. So we just hung out at the airport for a little bit. It has always amazed me how my kids just seem to immediately have a special connection with their grandparents, even though they don't see them very often. There's just something special about them, and they can obviously feel the overwhelming unconditional love immediately.



The happy Grandparents.



Making up for lost time.



After I snapped a couple of shots of them with John David, Sarah took over my camera and did a little photo shoot herself.



This one and the one above are just two of the 40+ pictures that she took. Funny girl!



For the last couple of weeks, Sarah has at random times just said, "I miss Grandma and Grandaddy." So needless to say, she has really been looking forward to their arrival. This morning when she woke up, the first thing she said was, "Is today the day that we go pick them up from the airport?" When I told her yes, she said, "I am just so excited!" So cute. She even wanted to sleep with them instead of her own bed. She's making the most of every second.



Grandma playing lite brite with the girls. We're looking forward to making lots more fun memories with Grandma and Grandaddy! Stay tuned.

Three Mamas

I'm thinking John David is going to grow up thinking that he has three mamas.

Mama #1
The main food source.



Mama #2
The mama that helps out mama #1 when she needs to get stuff done. She is always willing to help out.



Mama #3
The mama that "rescues" John David whether he knows he needs it or not. If he makes the tiniest noise, she wants to pick him up and hold him.



Three times the love and attention--what a lucky boy!

LSU 70 UNC 84

WAHOO!



Sweet Sixteen...........here we come!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Unwelcome Visitors

When I went to get into the shower this morning, this is what I found.



Then I picked up a washcloth lying on the bottom of the bathtub and found this.



Neither one of them are real. They are both Sarah's "pet" snakes that she got from Mr. Gatti's. She was trying to scare me, and it worked.



It's easy to tell that this one is plastic, but that little black one creeps me out. He looks real, especially when she leaves him on the wall like that. Whoever would have thought that my sweet little Sarah would like plastic snakes?

Time Out

This past weekend Kent sent Johnice, Amy, Jenny, Debbie (Amy's mother-in-law), and me to Time Out. No, not that kind of time out. He sent us all to Time Out For Women (TOFW), which was in Houston. I have wanted to go for so long, and finally made it to my first one. It was a blast! Not only did we get spiritually uplifted by some amazing speakers and musical performers, but I got to hang out with these great women that I love!



We left Friday around noon and made it to Houston in time to shop a little at a mall near the hotel where TOFW was. We then went to grab some dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which was absolutely delish. We didn't have time to eat cheesecake though, so we all got some to go so we could have a treat after TOFW. It started with Sheri Dew as the first (and my favorite) speaker. I just love her. I have read several of her books and am always so uplifted and inspired by her. She is amazing. Jenny Jordon Frogley, Kenneth Cope, and Abe Mills all performed musical numbers. They were all great, but we really enjoyed Jenny. Her music was inspiring and fun. Wendy Watson Nelson then spoke, which I missed most of because John David was a little fussy. After one of the musical numbers, this lady, who was walking by our table, looked at us and said, "So, are you guys the next number?" We just looked at her and said, "No." And then Johnice then started staring at her, and finally asked, "Are you Mary Ellen Edmunds?" The lady just looks at her and says nothing. So Johnice again asks, "Are you Mary Ellen Edmunds?" She's getting very excited and then the lady replies, "I don't know. Am I?" Johnice then says, "I think you are! You're Mary Ellen Edmunds!" She then jumps up and gives her a big hug and we're all just sitting there laughing at how cute and completely 'star struck' Johnice was. It was seriously so funny and one of the highlights of the weekend.



She sat with us for the entire break and just visited. She was a hoot! So funny and so friendly. I remember hearing her speak several times while I was in the MTC. She is amazing!



Saturday was filled with more great speakers and more music from Kenneth Cope. However, although I do love his music, he was putting us to sleep during the afternoon hours, which was probably due to the little sleep that we were running on and not entirely his fault. Anyway, it was a fantastic weekend and I came home feeling so uplifted and energized spiritually. So a huge thanks to Kent for a wonderful weekend! I'm nominating him for Father-in-Law of the year!

John David's Birth Announcement

One Month Already

John David is one month old today. He is such a sweet little boy and content most of the time, as long as his belly is full. I am having a hard time filling him up though, so we are supplementing, which the girls love because it gives them the chance to help out with feeding. Here are some random, cute pictures of our first month with our little guy. Oh, yeah.....did I mention that he's not that little? When I took him to the doctor last Thursday, he weighed 10 lbs. 15.5 ozs, so I am sure he is well over 11 lbs. by now. This was the outfit he wore to church today, which is supposed to be a 9 month outfit. But in his defense, it is the same size as one of his 3 month outfits. One of them is obviously marked wrong.



He is so handsome I have a hard time not just sitting and staring at him all day.



How did I ever make it without him?



The proud Papa Bear.



Papa Bear settling down for a long winter's nap with his three baby bears.



I love this picture of Katie with John David, except that her mouth is all blue from the ring pop that she had just eaten. She loves her brother so much. She misses him while she's at school and comes straight in to find him when she gets home so she can hold him and catch up on her loves for the day.



This picture was taken the day that we came home from the hospital. Sarah kept disappearing, and when we would go find her, she would be standing beside the bassinet singing to John David. So sweet.



Maw Maw Mire and John David.



My sweet peas.



Sweet little feet. I LOVE baby feet!



It is obviously very tiring being so cute!



I love how he sleeps with his arms up by his head.



His first real bath. His sisters loved helping.



He was a little fussy when we first put him in, but he calmed down and really enjoyed bath time.



We love you sweet boy!