Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Best of Intentions

I like to think I'm a pretty easy going gal.  However, there are times when the best of intentions go sour and it just unnerves me.  This week has had a few of those moments.

Ellie didn't have any school on Monday and I had the best of intentions--I wanted to play games with the girls, have a play-date with cousins, go shopping with my sister, organize my closet with spring clothes etc.  Then however happened starting at 6am when our tenants called to tell us the water heater busted, next I got a migraine I could not shake all day no matter what I did Aleve, ice-pack, rest, caffiene so the day was a bust.  I hit my low when I told Ellie I just needed a break when really all I wanted to do was curl up and read a book with her or play a game.  We did make it an evening gym class where both of the girls got to show Daddy there skills which they had been wanting to do for a while.

Well this evening was another moment of best intentions.  Steve found out yesterday that his home teaching partner made appointments for this evening at 6 and 6:30.  Wednesday evenings are a little crazy because Steve usually picks Ellie up from her sports class that ends at 6pm and then we have a quick dinner and he heads off to scouts which starts at 7pm.  He explained this to his partner who understood and said they would make it work.  I decided I would just hang out at the gym for an hour while Ellie had class so that Steve could head home grab a bite to eat and be ready to go home teaching at 6.  The however this time was that the van wouldn't start at the end of class and by the time we were all loaded and I tried starting the van all of the other parents had already left.  So I called Steve who once again came to our rescue missing his first home teaching appointment--he would have been better off to just pick Ellie up himself.  I did make cookies that his home teaching partner got to deliver.  Side note: when the girls realized what was going on--the van wouldn't start--Ellie almost started crying and I had to explain it was no big deal.  Lila said, "Well, I guess we'll walk home, but Mommy you'll have to carry me because my foot hurts." :)

These moments can be a bit unnerving and very frustrating for me.  I try not to let them get the best of me by learning to enjoy the good moments and appreciate all the days I do have good health and can enjoy activities with my family.
















Well, I was getting the girls in the bath as I worked on this post and they both just started coughing, nasty barking coughs--probably why Lila didn't sleep well at all last night.  Hopefully it won't linger for long. :) Thus is life.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

It's Not Easy Catching Green

We tried once again to catch a Leprechaun to find their pot of gold . . .













We tried to lure them with clover cups of Lucky Charms and when they went to pour the milk the lid would shut trapping them in.

































Ellie wanted to name the restaurant Lucky Leprechauns Eats, but there wasn't room at the bottom of the sign so it read Eats Lucky Leprechauns--pretty ironic.  She also made sure to decorate the restaurant with her art work--pictures hung all around.  :)  Can you see the leprechauns tracks, they snuck out a small whole we didn't see on the top of the box.  They also left footprints on a Leprechaun story Ellie brought home from school yesterday--maybe some recon work to see how much we know about them.  :)

Eating the Lucky Charms left behind by the Leprechauns.  Aren't there matching shirts great--Mimi made all of the granddaughters one.

Well the only other Irish thing we have going on today is the kale in our delicious Zuppa Toscona unless bowling has some Irish roots I'm unaware of as we may meet up with our cousins for a round this afternoon.  Wish you all the luck of the Irish!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Steve's New Wheels

Steve's Honda Accord has slowly being dieing for a long time.  It's 22 year's old and Steve has owned it since he returned from his mission.  It has been graffiti-ed outside our apart in Provo, stolen in Tucson and returned after 2 weeks, broken into and had the stereo stolen, the transmission went out in Phoenix while we were driving home from Christmas in Idaho while I was pregnant with Ellie, the radiator blew up once, and the AC died twice, and last fall it started making some funny noises while turning and we just prayed it got us through graduation and a move.  A few weeks ago while changing the oil Steve noticed it has a cracked joint which is making the noise when you turn and then almost the very next day a radiator hose sprung a really bad leak that caused me to drive him to work.  So I hopped online and started looking for a car that met his criteria--he wanted something a little sporty with a manual transmission--what can I say he thinks he's a race car driver.  :)  I found an Audi in Salt Lake that met his criteria for a reasonable price so I rearranged our date for the next day to go test drive cars (a big THANKS to Lindsay for taking our girls in the morning on short notice).  We made an offer and waited to hear back.  Well we finally heard back yesterday.  So this morning Steve road the UTA Trax down to Sandy and purchased himself a "new" set of wheels.  Let's just say he has had a hard time wanting to work since he got home--too many new things to try.


Couple of side stories--yes that is Ellie still in her pajamas.  She stayed home sick today.  She didn't sleep well because she had a plugged nose that prevented breathing.  There was no fever, but strep throat is going around so I decided to keep her home while her immune system fights this.

Second story, the Saturday we went to test drive the car we knew Jake was in Salt Lake so after we were done test driving we called him.  I asked him where he was and he said heading South on State street looking for a place to eat lunch.  Ironically we were heading North on State street from the Sandy area so we decided to meet up for lunch at the Olive Garden in the Fashion Place Mall.  Ironically Jake had met up with Venessa earlier at the Gateway in a similar coincidence.  :)

Sunday, March 4, 2012

What a Week

Well it all started on Monday, when my Uncle Kirk and Aunt Brenda dropped my Mom off for the day since they were heading to Murray for a doctor's appointment.  Mimi got here just in time to run the girls to school and then go pick-up Izzy so Nessa could go to the doctor.  We stopped and got some material to add sleeves to Ellie's Easter dress and then we came home and permed Lila's hair.












She was such a trooper eating her lollipop watching a movie while we pulled and rolled and squirted on the stinky perm.  It turned out cute--it adds a lot of body to her straight as a board hair and it is so nice just to wet her hair and go.  She loves to comb and comb through it so occasionally it is frizzed out.  After the perm, we had lunch and made a run to Hobby Lobby before she headed home with my Uncle and Aunt.

First thing Tuesday morning I received a phone call informing me that my cousin that lives down the street, Matt and Lindsay, had their baby.  So we picked up their kindergartener for school and told them we would bring over dinner for their family.  I also volunteer in Ellie's classroom on Tuesdays while Lila plays at a friend's house.  Ellie has a gym class in the afternoon and Lila and I usually do the necessary shopping at this time.  I had loaded my car with stuff my Mom brought down for Nessa so she could meet me in town and get it.  Unfortunately, I locked my keys in the van--seriously . . . thankfully Steve works close and was nice enough to swing by and be our hero. We quickly picked Ellie up and hurried home to finish dinner for the O's.

Then on Wednesday we watch Lila's friend so his Mom can volunteer in the classroom.  I went visiting teaching in the afternoon.  Then Ellie has a sports class that we drop her off at and Steve brings her home on his way home from work.  Usually I go home and start dinner, but this Wednesday evening got a little busy because I had to run to the store to get supplies for all of our company coming and Steve now has EYO scouts on Wednesday evenings.  

Thursday Lila has gym class right after we drop the girls off at school and then we came straight home to fix lunch for Steve's sister Melanie and her family of 9.  We were excited to see them and grateful they stopped by on their way to Manti for a wedding. We had a nice visit and enjoyed lunch together.  The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins.  

I also received a call from my Grandpa and Grandma Olenslager who said they were going to Las Vegas to visit my Grandpa's brother and they wanted to stop here and visit with all of their grandkids since there are four of us here with our families.  So I called around and got a little party set up for 4pm Friday.  Unfortunately, my Grandpa got really sick and they could not make the trip so we hope to be able to have a get together with them another time.  However, Friday meant I still had a Girls' Activity Day to prepare for and my parents were coming into town that evening to celebrate Jake's birthday.  I was trying to squeeze in a workout on the treadmill while Lila rode her bike around in the basement.  She went up to get her coat and next thing I heard made my heart sink as it was the sounds of thuds and cries.  I jumped off the treadmill to find Lila in tears at the bottom of the stairs.  Of course she would have to fall down the non-carpeted stairs.  Her little face had a bruise and scratch from her nose up to the middle of her forehead.  I felt so bad.  I'm so grateful Nessa and Izzy could come down and stay with my girls while I went to Activity Days.  My parents arrived we had dinner and visited for a minute before everyone headed off to bed.

Saturday, I got up early and took my Dad to pick-up our Bountiful Basket and then I cooked breakfast after which we decided to head up to Nessa's house and do a little sledding in their backyard.  When we told Ellie we were going sledding she got so excited which I thought was interesting since she has never done it before.  We bought a sled and away we went.










As you can tell from the pictures, we had a blast!  It was a really small hill, but was perfect for our fist adventure with the girls.  Ellie quickly learned you stay off the sledding trail and would hike down the hill to carry up the sled for everyone.  It was so fun to watch her--she has grown-up so much and it makes me smile to see what a wonderful little girl she is.  She stayed out long after everyone else went inside and was going down on her stomach or backwards just having a ball.  We told her we would try and take her to a big sledding hill and she lit up with excitement.

We had hot cocoa, a fruit platter with dip, and a 7-layer dip to enjoy while Izzy took a nap.  Jakey showed the girls how to use Robin Egg candies to make blue lipstick.




We then went out to a late lunch for Jake's birthday at Texas Roadhouse.  Where we had an interesting family discussion.  After which we came home to finish baking sugar cookies, one of Jake's favorites, instead of a cake for Jake's birthday.






My parents and Jake headed out that night for their homes so we bathed the girls and put them in bed in preparation for Sunday which would be an early day since Steve's sister Stephanie, who lives in Salt Lake, had invited us down for her baby, Sam's blessing at 9am.  It is also her birthday and earlier in the week I had thought about making her a Miami Beach birthday cake which is a Moore family tradition.  I forgot until that evening so at 10pm I sent Steve to Walmart to get whipping cream and I began baking.  A couple of times while I was baking Lila cried and I would have to console her.  I tried to go to bed around 11 pm, but Lila did not sleep well Saturday night.  I don't know what was bothering her, but she was up every 20 minutes screaming I continued to try and console her without much luck.  So she and I did not get much sleep.  On Sunday we got up early, ate breakfast, packed up our stuff and headed to Salt Lake for the baby blessing.  I was not for sure how Lila's mood would be without getting much sleep the night before, but she was a trooper. As we were getting out at the church Ellie said, "I really can't tell Gabe and Oliver apart.  I just always say Gabe and Oliver." :) We enjoyed their sacrament meeting and then went to their new home for lunch.  We enjoyed visiting with them and Doug's family who came down from Logan for the event.  It was a very nice Sunday.  Lila keeps talking about baby Sam and how she got to hold him. 





The week was very eventful--we enjoyed everything and love seeing family, but it all seemed to come at once.  I'm hoping to enjoy a more normal routine this upcoming week.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Picture Overload

So the memory on Ellie's camera got full a few months ago so I put in an SD card and let her keep taking pictures instead of trying to download them during the transition of moving.  A few days ago the girls were frustrated because the camera memory was full again.  So Steve downloaded all of the pictures off of the internal drive and the SD card and we are having a good time looking at them.  She is a very systematic photographer, she walked around our home in Tucson and took pictures of all of the door handles, light switches, vents, etc.  She will lay out her toys and take very methodical pictures of them.  She even captured a trip down to the CVS Pharmacy we had on the corner.  Let's join the girls on a picture adventure.































Gotta love the Ellie provide background music while Lila dances. :)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Love is in the Air

We have been celebrating all month.  Starting with a surprise date I planned.  My parents were flying back in from Cancun on the 4th so I asked them to stay and watch the girls so Steve and I could get a couples massage and go out to dinner.  It was a nice relaxing evening.  Ellie has been making Valentine's on post-it paper and leaving them everywhere.  Steve bought me a treadmill on Friday and we have been using it everyday.  It is so nice to not have to go out in the cold to jog and now hopefully Steve won't kill himself running a half-marathon in April.  There were lots of surprises this morning along with heart shaped pancakes and a card tucked into Steve's lunch with his favorite holiday shaped Reese's.
Notes from Ellie left on the foot of our bed.

Steve left a bottle of Martinelli's on the treadmill with a sweet note for me to find.
 























The girls surprised me with flowers they bought with Dad and hid in their closets to bring down for me.
 
The girls got books on CD, a Sequence game, and notebooks.

Our 'Monkey' giving Daddy her specially made monkey valentine.

Ellie made a butterfly valentine for Daddy.


We are all looking forward to our traditional Valentine's fondue dinner tonight!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Tidbits

Let's start with the toilet humor.  You know when you are potty training there is a lot more talk about bodily functions than you really enjoy.  Well our toilet upstairs makes this whistling noise after it is flushed and Lila said, "Oh my it was hungry for poopies." Now every time one of the girls uses that toilet there is always some joke about the toilet being hungry.  Kids!

This conversation happened earlier this week: Ellie, "Mom what are those little green people called that we try to catch?"  Me, "Leprechauns."  Ellie, "Oh yeah, I can't wait to make our trap again."  Me, "Well it is in a month so we can start thinking of ideas."  

Today we were at Home Goods and found some clover mini-cupcake holders and Ellie insisted that we get them for our trap so stay tuned . . . maybe we'll get those little green people this year. :)

One morning during our family scripture study I decided to do a quick recap of who the people were, what had happened, and what we were reading.  I won't give you the whole recap, but here is the part I wanted to share:  We reviewed that Lehi was a prophet who was told to leave Jerusalem because it would be destroyed and that he and his family lived in the wilderness which was hard and they had to hunt for food.   Lila chimed in, "Yeah and the bow broke."  And I smiled and thought oh my goodness she IS getting something out of our scripture study and family home evening lessons.  You wouldn't know it by how easily distracted she gets, but it was a great moment of encouragement for me to keep going.

Here are some recent pictures:



Steve found them sharing the stool and grooming before bedtime. I can only imagine what the teenage years will bring. :)

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sweet Moments

Tonight we had rocky road brownies for dessert.  The girls went upstairs and were playing nicely after dinner so Lila did not come down right away for dessert.  By the time she came down we were all finished so she sat at the table and happily ate her brownie by herself.  When she was finished she said, "Hey, you guys didn't put your bowls in the washing thing.  I'll put mine in, Mommy can you help me with my bowl."  So cute--it truly is the thought that counts and when she is big enough to do it on her own she will remember to. :)

On Thursday the girls helped me make 12 dozen cookies so we could deliver them to people who helped us move and my new visiting teachees.  Ellie made the cute Thank You cards that we delivered.  Also that day we put her new bedspread and sheets on her bed and decorated a little, she was so excited and in love with the bright colors and butterflies.  While I took a little nap she made me the following card:




















 "Thank you for all of the stuf[f] you guf [give] me." (The picture is of me having good dreams.)

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Beautiful Scorpions

Okay--I don't really think scorpions are beautiful, but one the words applies to a story about one of my daughters.

Last night was one of the few nights we were not awakened by Lila at 2am.  Instead Ellie entered our room in tears stating she had had a bad dream.  Steve took her back to bed and when he returned I asked how she was.  He smiled and said he asked her what her bad dream was about and she said scorpions (the girl has lived most of her life in the Arizona desert).  Steve explained that scorpions cannot live in this cold weather.  Ellie then said so only in the summer and Steve explained that even in the summer here it does not get hot enough for the scorpions to live here so she went back to sleep peacefully.  If only all bad dreams could be explained so easily.

Lila loves to say the word beautiful.  She came to breakfast this morning and said, "Oh, Ellie you are beautiful." And when we are shopping together she points at items and says, "Oh Mom is that beautiful."  LOVE IT!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Weather Anchor Ellie

"Dad, I'm cold.  I know it gets cold for Christmas, but I think the day after Christmas it should be HOT."

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Ellie's 2nd, 1st Day of Kindergarten

Well we took Ellie to her first day of kindergarten at her new school.  It was kind of fun to celebrate it again as family since Steve was not here when she started in August.  Here are our morning adventures:
Daddy took Ellie to go get donuts which was determined last August would be a tradition for the 1st day of school.

Sharing the yumminess.

We decided to walk.  It was a nice 10 minute walk and the girls love the jogging stroller so this may be how we commute to and from school.

Ellie and her teacher, Mrs. Stanford.

Walking into school.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Celebrate and Decorate

Well on New Year's Eve I decided it was time to take a break from unpacking so I did some decorating with vinyl decals I had ordered.  Here are the results:




That evening we went down to the Olenslagers' home and had pizza, snacks, and played a Spot It game which was lots of fun.  The kids played and were sad to leave, but I'm sure we will have many more fun play times together.


On New Year's Day, we had dinner with Nate, Nessa, Izzy, Jakey and their dogs.  We also played a Toy Story 3 Operation game with the girls which was fun for all involved.

As a family we dedicated our new home and developed some new rules/goals for 2012.




Funny story regarding item #1.  Ellie came out of the playroom and was complaining that Lila wanted to play with Ellie's new car set that she had got for Christmas and that Ellie was trying to get Lila to play with the train set she got, but Lila was not doing it.  I said well remember that our first goal is to think of others, how do you think Lila would feel if you shared with her.  Ellie's response, "I am thinking of Lila.  I'm thinking she needs to play with her trains."  Yes, this will be a challenging goal for the year, but isn't that what goals do, challenge us to be better.  Let's hope we are up for the challenge. :)
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)