Newly Re-Finished Furniture...

We have a couple dressers that have been an eye sore for several years and I finally took the time to refinish them. They turned out very cute.

The first one is for Maddie...it started out a mess and ended up cute as a bug!

BEFORE...

AFTER...

The second one was my dresser that I bought right after high school...I have wanted to paint it for years, but I am not much of a painter, so I didn't take it on. Finally I decided that if I don't do it now it will never get done (13 years later...lol)

BEFORE...

AFTER...

I am tickled with the way they turned out. They are cuter than I thought they would be as I was painting them. ;D

Happy Harvest!

Man! This has been a busy busy year. I haven’t even had a minute to update out blog! Here are some of our recent highlights…

I took the girls to a fun homeschooling activity where they got to make puppets and have a puppet show…Maddie’s is a frog, and Leesie’s is a ladybug. They were so cute, telling jokes for their puppet show.


We also went to the pumpkin patch/corn maze for a field trip with the homeschool group. We had so much fun. There was a petting zoo, corn maze, straw maze, fun jumps, hay rides, and we got to pick pumpkins straight from the pumpkin patch to carve.

The next day we went to a pumpkin carving party and carved the pumpkins with our friends…It was so much fun. We also fried some turkeys and had a nice harvest meal (Turkey is really good fried by the way, very moist, not dry…gotta love it). It was so much fun.


I think this pumpkin was bigger than these two kids...I was hoping Maddie wouldn't fall in...luckily she didn't...but she did get pretty messy from all the insides of the pumkins. She had so much fun cleaning them out tho, who could stop her? LOL

Maddie has a little friend that she plays with all the time. His name is Treyton…we are going to have to keep our eye on them as they get older I think. They just love each other so much. Can you tell? Haha

Maddie and Treyton kissing...lol so cute...(we won't say that in 10 years).

This week we are getting ready for Halloween…will post pictures and fun from that when we get a chance.

I made these cute little handy chore charts for the girls to keep up with their school work and chores. They love putting stickers on their charts when they complete a task. I think it boosts their self esteem to have a visual reminder of what they have accomplished every day. They get so excited to do all their stuff so they can see more stickers on their charts.

Summer Fun

I haven't blogged in a while because I started to a month or so ago and it wouldn't post so I just got mad and said "baggit". But I thought I would try again today, hopefully it goes thru ok.

Priceless picture!!! Grandpa helping Maddie across the parking lot/sidewalk.

My parents came over to visit and while they were here we decided to take the kids to do fun stuff. We went to the state capitol building but it was closed for renovation. So we then went to the science discovery center where we had a load of fun and education at the same time.

This was a picture rotating device that made pictures go into action like cartoons. It was pretty cool.

They had sound scales and all kinds of things to tell you how tall you are by the sound waves above your head. And balancing science too. Really cool.

A pretend grocery store...it was hard to get Maddie out of there. She had so much fun shopping! haa Must take after her mama...LOL. She got really mad when I took her apples away from her at closing time and we had to leave. She tried to eat them (they were not real, but she just couldn't get that.)

This was a swing with air brakes...I feel like I need to explain that the seat belt was not really in her neck...haha It is just the angle of the picture that makes it look that way. haha Maddie sure had fun on there.

Lewis and Clark statues by the capitol building...um...my legs are the same color as my white socks. The joy of being a redhead. ha

The kids found some awesome leaves to put on their heads. Great fun.

Memorial Weekend...

We started off hanging out with my family in Idaho Falls. Then we took off to Yellowstone. It was so much fun. My parents came to Yellowstone with us and we caravaned until we had to turn different directions. It was good to have them there to hang out with in the park. The nice thing was it wasn't too hot that day, or too cold. Perfect weather.

Old faithful and buffalo from Yellowstone.

Then we headed to Darby, Montana where Nick's friends have a bed & breakfast cabin resort for the rest of the weekend. What a blast! The kids loved it, and so did the big kids...hahaha The big girls had a little 4wheeler fun, we raced...and I won. Ok, probably Terrah won, but it's cuz she cheats! hahaha

This is the main house that Nick's friends own. It was aweseome!! There are 2 fishing ponds and a hot tub down on the river and lots of 4wheeling trails. We even set up a little badmitten (sp?) for the big kids to play. I really suck at sports, except on the wii....hahaha

Here I am taking the little girls on a 4wheeling ride. We kept them entertained for a while anyway. ha

Maddie and Treyton got into a little mud...just a LITTLE...HAHAHA
Leesie on the left, and Treyton and Maddie in her barbie car. They sure had fun in that thing!
Leesie is driving the 2nd 4wheeler. She did really well riding around those hills.

What a fun Memorial Weekend! I love getting out into the mountains and having some fun.

Little Animals

We took the girls to a little kid expo recently. They had lots of fun rides and activities for kids which was a pleasant surprise for us and the girls. There were lots of bouncing toys and a petting zoo, and even pony rides. We had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of the girls having fun...
Maddie riding her pony. She cried and cried when she had to get off.

The girls petting the turtle. Oh how they loved the turtles!!! They wanted to bring them home. hahaha (Like that'll ever happen!)

In the fun house bouncy boo.

Leesie with a llama and Maddie with a yak. Is that a yak? I am thinking so???

Maddie tried to take home the little baby pigmy goats. They were so cute. She was a little to small to carry them around but she sure tried. haha

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Girls bring so much funshine into a home...with dress-up and all the fun things the imagine up. We have had some sleepovers at our house lately that have been such a blast! It's fun to watch Maddie with the older girls just getting in there and playing he big girl games. She is growing way too fast.
Pictured below are Leesie, friend Tesa, and Maddie playing cheerleaders with a cheer dvd.
And they also created their own nails...Leesie should be a designer of some sort when she grows up. She is such an artist.

Leesie and Tesa...both have great nail creations...

Leesie and Maddie got ahold of all the hair bows we own and loaded them in each others' hair this morning. I just had to share it because it's so funny!!!

Maddie looks like a doll with ribbon hair...LOL

Ahhhh, the fun we do have!

Girls Are So Funny!

Kids crack me up daily. They come up with things that you just can't help but laugh at. My girls are quite creative and funny. Some of my favorites...

Maddie keeps randomly walking up to me and saying in a robot voice, "I not-a ro-bot mom-my." In her little two-year old pixie voice...and acting so serious...how can one not laugh at that? I have begun making her do it on command now...it's just too cute.

I have so much fun just watching her play sometimes too. She will grab a guitar or climb onto the piano and just go to town, especially if she doesn't know I'm paying any attention...she gets so dramatic as she belts out a song and strums the guitar strings or pounds the keys on the piano. She also likes to drum....on everything in sight! Her favorite is to bang measuring spoons against my metal wire basket and sing along. She has really good rhythm even if it drives mommy batty from all the noise. haha She is quite the little songbaby. I think she is going to take after her Grandma Jardine!

My little sis Jessie has always kept us in stitches with the way she sees things. Once when we were at my nephew Paul's baptizm (I believe Jessie was about 3 then) they were passing out the sacrament and when the bread came around all torn in pieces (she wasn't familiar with church routines) she shouted (really loudly), "Oh, are we going to go feed the ducks now?" Priceless!

Jess also recently (now 10 years old) said something that was hilarious. My mom was driving her home from a play that she was in. They live about 20 miles from town, so the road that takes them there tends to "get old", especially if they are traveling it daily. My mom commented that the road was "so long" implying that she was tired of driving to town so much for rehearsals and performances and such....Jessie quickly responded, "Well why don't they just make it shorter then?" Like...ya! That's the solution...if the road is too long, why not make it shorter? That makes perfect sense! hahaha

Leesie used to make up names for body parts if she didn't know what to call them...One day she was running around the coffee table and smacked into the corner with her ribs/side. She came running to me, holding her side, crying, "Mommy, I just hurt my THLING AND MY THLONG!" What in the world is that? hahaha How do you hold in a laugh when you are trying to console a hurt child but they are so funny?

I love when kids are just learning how to talk and you are trying to figure out what they are saying...Leesie's favorite movie when she was about 2 was The Wizard of Oz. We wore out 2 VHS videos and a DVD from over playing of that movie. It took me forever to figure out when she was asking to watch that movie because she called it, "The Fizz and the Fozz" ....HAVE YOU EVER PLAYED THE GAME MAD GAB? LOL This is the same as trying to understand a child who is just learning the language. hahaha And Blue's Clues was "Thlues Thlues". A mom learns to understand what her children want eventually tho, right? haha

My kids have tried to send me to my room when I attempt to make them eat their dinner. "Do you want to go to your room, mommy? Don't make me eat my dinner then!" Where is the logic in that? I am trying to keep them healthy. I am just so mean sometimes!...Geesh!

Leesie is getting to an age where everything is a trick and she is sooooooo silly! She loves tricking all of us and then gets a huge kick when we fall for something she does. She also makes up knock knock jokes that make no sense at all...cracks me up! She will say, "Knock knock" ...who's there... "rock" ...rock who?... "rock on the side of the road! Right there! Do you see it?" Ya...um...not really a knock knock joke at all. hahaha All of her knock knock jokes are like that and she leaves people wondering what in the world??? hahaha

The things kids do...ha They bring so much joy and laughter into a home! Gotta love it!

Catching Up

Wow!! Time has flown since last time I posted! It has been BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!
Our holidays went great! We had a blast! The weather was for the eskimos but we stayed inside mostly. haha
Traveling for the holidays was cold and scary. We went to my brother Jason's house for Christmas dinner and gift exchange party on Christmas day. The snow and wind were out of this world. Thank goodness Nick was there with us or we would have just stayed home and missed seeing the family on Christmas day.

Then a couple days after Christmas we drove to Boise to spend the week after Christmas with Nick's familiy. The roads were terrible, and it took us 11 hours to get from Rexburg to Boise. YIKES!!! And Miss Jodi already doesn't like bad roads. We made it fine tho, no troubles so that is good.

The next morning after we got here we were scheduled to do Christmas with Nick's family and Maddie's knee swelled all up and she developed a weird rash of purple spots on her legs, so we took her in to the doctor and they sent us straight to the hospital. That was scary. They ran all kinds of tests. The docs thought it might be spinal menengitus (I have no idea how to spell that) but the test results came back negative (THANK GOD!!!!). So they kept running tests and concluded that she had some weird thing I can't pronounce or even begin to spell but in a nutshell it was an allergic reaction from her immune system to a virus she was exposed to at some point. She never had anything that had manifest. So we are still not sure where it came from?? It usually follows strep throat or an ear infection. So we were in the hospital for a few days taking care of that, and now after a few weeks she seems to be back to normal. We have to watch for it to come back within the next 4 months, but so long as she doesn't get an ear infection or strep throat she should be fine according to the doctor. So we just have to keep a close watch on her. She is doing really well now tho, back to her normal self, full of mischief and giggles. haha

So we are still in Boise. We have decided we like the weather so much better here we are staying. LOL There is a little patch of snow out in the back yard that doesn't get direct sunlight, and the rest is grass. There are even some spring flowers coming up in the front yard! Wow!!! And back in Rexburg there is still like 8 feet of snow. Not missing that at all!!!

Holidays

It's the most wonderful time of the year...ding...dong...ding...dong...ok, so that's me singing in blog format...hahaha
I LOVE the holidays between the yumma treats and shopping for myloved ones, and wrapping presents....WAIT!!! Dunno if I like wrapping...ok, I enjoy all of it but the back problems it causes from sitting there wrapping endlessly for hours. I like the way they look when they are all wrapped and under the tree tho...hahaha And I love the excitement in the kids' eyes when they are thinking about what they want and Santa and all that fun stuff.
Leesie is asking a lot of questions this year...I think this will be her last year with Santa. She's about that age when you "find out" the truth.

Maybe I'm the meanest mom in the whole world, but this year I decided instead of the kids making ginormous lists for Santa this year and becoming demanding and expecting too much, I had them make lists of what they want to GIVE to other people for Christmas. I think that will be more effective in their holiday spirit than the usual me me me attitude. Perhaps I'm stealing a little of their childhood Christmas fun, but I just want them to be more thankful for what others do for them and I guess the way to do that is to have them give to others.

We are making almost everything homemade this year. We have gone shopping a few times, but most of our gifts this year are straight from the heart...that's my favorite kind anyway. I love to get homemade stuff because I know how much time and effort goes into those things.
So we had some girlz pictures done a few weeks ago. Maddie would not hold still for the pictures...she kept running off and doing crazy wild things...she is a HANDFULL!!! But she is also so much fun!

I hope the holidays are bringing you all much fun and joy and happiness. I hope you will all have a chance to spend time with those you love thru the holidays!

The Big "D" Word

Life has its seasons and change seems to be the only consistant thing in this world. I always hate to see a season end, but sometimes you can't help but to do what you know is right, no matter how difficult it is.

Robert and I were together for 11 years and married for 10. We had a lot of fun together and got along great usually. We were separated for almost 2 years so after a lot of thinking and evaluating I decided it was just time to let go. The past two years have been a roller coaster for us. We had a brand new baby when all hell broke loose at home and tho it has been difficult to adjust to being a single parent, I do my best to help the girls have a lot of fun, and try not to let life get us down when the rocks hit us in the face and knock us over. Robert has been really good to continue helping us out financially and he has consisantly visited the kids as well.

The divorce wasn't anything nasty or horrible...bittersweet as we discussed all of the details of the divorce and reminisced about the good times. But it is for the best that we ended things and hopefully we will both be able to move on and be happy in our separate lives.

It's really tough to let go of someone you have invested your entire life into and were once so madly in love with, especially after a whole decade and a year of engagement before that. We still get along great, just couldn't be together anymore. I still care about him and hope the best for him. I still love his family dearly and hope to be able to maintain friendships with all of them forever.

So it's officially final now and I just thought I would post a little message to tribute the past decade of our lives together. We have had many good times together, and brought two adorable, precious little girls into this world together. So much for happily ever after, but we will get through it no doubt! We gave it our best shot! There are way too many pictures to post, but here are a few family pictures over the years.