Soccer anybody????

So, Bella and Carter will be playing soccer this year. The President of the soccer club also happens to be the primary president of our ward and has six children of our own. She called tonight to tell us that there are not enough coaches and wondered if either Rick or I would like to coach. My immediate response was, "heck no!" followed by how busy I am followed by the fact that I know nothing about coaching a soccer game. So, why am I even considering it? I don't know, but I am. I looked online and there are all kinds of guides to coaching soccer. The lady stressed that it is mostly fun at this age. It's a shorter season and there's only one practice per week. I think I could do it. Do I want to? Not particularly, but I really want Bella to play. I probably won't ever be able to coach the boys because, let's be honest folks. This is Clovis, the sports fanatic capital of California. There are some intense parents out there. Hmmmm....I'm still thinking about this. I have no more excuses of babies, since Malia's 3 now. I also don't have the excuse of not having a husband around, because he is. I'VE RUN OUT OF EXCUSES!!!!!

Random thoughts...

So, this was the first full week of school for us. IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE FABULOUS. I am not afraid to let it be known that I think public school is the most fabulous thing ever. Also, Malia got to start her little co-op preschool. She was so excited. Allow me to point out a couple things in the picture...her shoes are Bella's. They're way too big, but they have high heels like she wanted for the first day of school. Also, she has her blankie stuffed in her backpack along with some pistaccios which she insisted she needed for school. When we got to her teacher's house, she did not want me to walk her to the door. Since I don't know this lady too well, I decided to follow Malia to the door anyway. She was not happy about it. She definitely didn't want me to come in...so I didn't! I went home and cleaned my house for 3 hours in absolute peace and quiet. It was so quiet that I turned on the radio to add some noise!

Yesterday, Abe found a new home. The boys didn't want to take care of him any more so we sold him to somebody who is so excited to have him. It was kind of sad to see him go, but the boys quickly got over it when the lady handed them $180. Since it was their present, they got to keep the money. They are currently scheming on what to spend it on.

And, last, but not least...ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL??????? Monday is the UCLA game and we are PUMPED. We got our fill this weekend, although we were disappointed we didn't get to watch BYU play. It wasn't televised. Our friends are avid Fresno State fans and they have a game tomorrow as well. Should be a fabulous day!

Sorry for the overload of photos. I can't stop myself!

Yes, I'm officially a nerd magic parent. I took an inane number of pictures of Elizabeth after her first bath at home last week. These will of course be kept in the file for blackmail with respect to future dates but in the meantime, why not post them on the internet for her fans far and wide to see?

Turns out my baby hates the bath! Could she really be mine if she hates water? I'm a bit perturbed. I'm hoping its just a phase.

She felt much better once we put her in her pretty dress and got a bow in her (lack of) hair.

It's amazing. These pics are only a few days old but her little face has already changed so much! Don't be alarmed, by the way. The scratches all over her face were just from her tantrum while she was splishing and splashing. They went away just a few minutes later. It was a pretty impressive tantrum. Perhaps that's the proof that she's my baby. It's karma I suppose because mom wished me one just like me!

Nana, come back!

So for just over 2 weeks, I had the splendid blessing of having mom out here with me. She was so great to have around that last week when Elizabeth decided not to come. Here's Nana and I the night we went to the hospital to be induced. Nana was trying to coax baby Ellie out...but to no avail.

Here's where Nana spent that whole night and all the next day while we waited and waited and waited for Ellie to come.

Needless to say, I may have panicked a bit when they kept monkeying with my meds and sticking an oxygen mask on me but there was Nana to calm me right down and explain everything in small words. Here we are just moments before our little girl FINALLY decided to make her debut!

Here's Nana and Ellie upon their first introductions. Nana was kind enough to tell me my baby was beautiful even when she was a bit cone headed and slimey.

This is Nana after staying up all night with my baby. Ellie hadn't eaten in like 6 hours and she was still totally content to just hang out with her Nana. It was adorable how she did whatever Nana said.

So we toasted her efforts with some pure chocolate. Mmmmm. Whipped cream...

But, as with all good things, this had to come to an end. We put Nana on her plane yesterday and off she went back home to the rest of you. I don't know what I would have done with out Nana for this whole experience. Quite frankly, I don't know how any girl goes through this with out her mom and ours is a registered nurse who is trained to do this.

My only consolation is that she'll be coming back in 3 weeks. The rest of you are all welcome. We'll take you all house hunting...er...on a tour of the neighborhood. wink wink. :) Adam, Ellie and I can't wait to see you again Nana. We love you!

At long last...

Bella absolutely loves the camera. She was strikiing a pose for her first day of school. She chose this outfit when we were back-to-school shopping.

Jake was actually excited about going this year. He has friends in his class so he's not nervous about going.

I wanted to get all the kids together, but Jake elbowed Carter after this picture so he was down for the count and I couldn't get all of them in one shot. Right then I remembered how excited I was for them to go!

The kids normally take a bus, but I wanted to drive Bella to her first day of kindergarden. So, the boys and I walked Bella to her class where we were met by lots of other new kindergardners and their parents. We had to wait in line for awhile because the kids were let in one by one so they could get their name tags etc. Jake was waiting with me to walk her in, but Carter and his buddy Sammy ditched us immediately. Bella went in with no trouble. She introduced herself to the teacher and told me goodbye like she was hoping I'd leave sooner rather than later. After that, I walked Jake to his class. I saw Carter along the way, but he just kind of waved and went on talking to his friends. It was such a great drop-off! So much different than last year when the boys were at a new school where they knew very few kids. It's funny to me how much more independent my girls are than my boys...Carter normally likes me to hang around so he can give me hugs until I pry him off me. He took care of that before we left for school. The only thing that could've been better thant that is the next day when Malia went to preschool too! I'll post about that later when i have a picture to go with it.

Ode to summer...and the happy dance

Oh summer...how I love the lazy days and sunshine, sleeping in, lack of responsibility, freedom, family time, bonding... Wait...I'm dreaming again. Let's back up to what an Edwardson summer really is...being woken up at the crack of dawn by one of the four children who "needs" cartoons turned on or is "starving"; surviving the 100 plus degree days by taking advantage of kind invitations to swim; listening to the children fight over who's turn it is to play in the Wii; Malia watching "Mickey's christmas" several times a day and asking when our Christmas is or Malia watching Barbie Nutcracker and prancing around all day in a prom dress insisting her name is Clara; Bella doing her latest version of a song she has made up which consists of repeating one line over and over again at different octives; cleaning the house only to walk outside, come back in and find it completely destroyed; neglecting any deep cleaning because attempting such would be futile and certainly more trouble than it's worth; hearing one of the boys say "I'm bored," for the tenth time in five minutes since their friends have gone home; listening to the complaints of the kiddies when asked to read for their daily 20 minutes; resorting to bribery in the form of CANDY so the kids will do their math facts; and not being able to steop foot outside because out neighbor's wasp nests has overtaken our front and backyards from the hours of 11 to about 5 every day.

Yes, I love summer. It is fabulous...because it comes to an end. And end it has!!!!! Monday, the kiddies return to school and this year, three out of four of the kiddies will be off to school. They're excited about their teachers and their friends who are in their classes. They don't even mind getting up early...because "early" is no different than their normal wake-up time. They're excited that Bella gets to ride the bus with them and that the bus stop is now only a couple doors down. Yes, things are definitely looking up around here. If anyone would like something to video, come to Reagan Elementary School at 8:30 when the bell rings and I kiss my darlings goodbye, because I will be doing the "happy dance." And folks, it will be something to behold.

By Popular Demand...

More pictures of Baby Braun! Here she is with her bright eyes after I got her all dressed up and ready to bust loose of the hospital.



I handed her to Daddy for one last shot before we left the hospital so he could show off her adorable pink outfit and her super soft white blankey from Aunt Yetty. Then Daddy ran downstairs to pull the car around while we waited for a call from our room.



But she got tired of waiting and assumed her now trademark position of sleeping with her pouty shaped mouth wide open.



At long last, Daddy put her in her car seat and strapped her in tight and we were off on our journey home. And here we are at the end of a tumultous three days and the beginning of a bunch of good times together, just Mommy, Daddy and Baby Elizabeth Rose (but her very closest of friends call her Ellie).

Your sneak peek!

Hey you guys! First, I wanted to say thank you so much for all of your kindness, well wishes and prayers on our behalf. For some reason, we haven't gotten around to taking many pictures of her post delivery and I decided I'd spare you guys (and her) any gratuitous nudity. I did get this one this afternoon of her during her nap and so I thought I'd give you guys a sneak peek of the little nameless beauty. We just can't stop staring at her.



I have to say that this experience has been completely surreal. I was super spoiled in that I had the best coaching team in the world during labor. Nana was amazing...just a machine. She was so encouraging and she answered every question I had. Adam was calm, encouraging and patient every step of the way (and believe me, there were many) and was kind enough not to pass out during my epidural. I don't know what I would have done without both of them. Here is Adam getting ready to cut the cord and he wasn't even grossed out!



And here's Nana in her position of authority...right next to the warmer to make sure all was set up for beautiful Baby Braun's debut.



We promise to do a better job of taking pictures of her tomorrow when they send us home so, like it or not, we're gonna bombard you all more shots of Baby Braun. Hopefully she'll be awake and in her usual alert state. And they'll make us pick her name before we leave tomorrow so look for that big reveal as well. I can't believe we're parents but we're seriously unduly enamored with her. She's been a lot of fun so far and I can't wait till she gets to meet all of you.

Malia...again.

I just caught Malia trying to drink Ranch dressing. I have never been more repulsed in my life. You all know how I feel about mayo and anything with mayo in it...SICK!!!!!!

Baby Blessing

Allegra's baby blessing will be on September 14th. We wanted everyone to know, but we realize not everyone will be able to attend. Please don't feel obligated or pressured to be here. We recognize that their are many factors which prevent people from being able to travel right now (pregnancy, jobs, finances, school, and more) and we are totally fine with that. We love you guys a lot and are announcing it so no one (hopefully) just didn't know it was happening.

We would also like to take this opportunity to apologize to both the Braun and Lisonbee family. We will be unable to travel down for the baby blessing or for Emma's baptism. Carrie and I went back and forth on different options, trying to find a way to make it work. We feel very badly and we really wanted to be there for both occasions. Our hearts are with you and we hope that everything goes perfectly. Carrie and I do plan on making a trip to Texas with the girls at a later date. We know they want to spend some time with their cousins.

Miss us?

Since moving to Dallas it seems I am busier than ever. I think I like that, it gives me less time to worry about unimportant things. I do miss days of blogging and scrapbooking. It is hard to sit down and clean out my email inbox or post new photos, one of the kids always wants my attention for something. This is one of my favorites I've taken recently.


And one of the highlights of moving here is that we see a lot more of the Lisonbees, particularly our cousins! Emma got Sorry for her birthday, and I'm pretty sure we've played it every day since. Even Dale plays, he got in on a game with the kids on Saturday! The kids love when Brandon, Brooke, and Brittany come over. They play together for hours with no complaints.

Did she just say that?

Of course I'm talking about my little fireball Malia. (After church, she was playing nursery leader and I was the kid). First, she helped me say a blessing on the treat. I dutifully repeated everything she said (even though it had nothing to do with blessing treats or even nursery, for that matter). Then, she decided to get out all kinds of pots and pans and put them on the couch so she could make me my nusery treat. She was very involved in stirring and putting in various dolls, cars, etc. to eat. Lunch was almost ready so Rick told her to put the pots and pans away. After some discussion, she said, "you're a jerk daddy." (I was in the kitchen with my back turned, but I started laughing...she gets that word "jerk" pronounced "jork" from her brother Jake.) Then after some more discussion, she said to Rick. "Stop acting like a baby daddy. I hate you." Wow. That is just beautiful. I can't wait to see what phrases she learns next...

Three Degrees of Art

We've been wanting to add some artwork to our home, and we finally have a couple nice items to put up on the walls. What we've got here is 3 degrees of art: (1) our beautiful girls. Really, could they be more lovely? (2) Judy's photography, which as you all know is exceptional. (3) My handcrafted picture frames, made of curly maple (see the ribbony/rumply satiny quality to the wood?) surrounded by African Mahogany. We have pics of the boys as well, for which I'll be making different frames of African Mahogany and Maple.

And here's a pic of another frame I have been working on for a while, again featuring Judy's photography. This one is made of Purpleheart, a naturally purple wood (I didn't stain it this color) with maple inlays.

Yay for Babies!!!

For those of you who so rudely did not come to my baby shower (as if living in another state is any excuse :)...) I thought I'd post some pictures.



Here's the diaper cake our hostess made for me. Isn't it incredible? Made entirely of diapers (and a good kind of diapers, too!) I can't imagine how long it took her to assemble it but I'll be thanking her forever for it. Who knew I'd ever be so excited for diapers?



This cake was made by my great friend Becky who insisted EVERY treat at the shower be gluten free. She did such an awesome job. This is a double layer gluten free cake and the top is completely drenched in white chocolate. Talk about decadence!



Can you believe this?!? My friend Crystal made this and I just didn't even want to touch it because it was so cute! What a darling little baby buggy out of a watermelon! Where do we find people who are so creative? And everything tasted just as good as it looked.



I was going to post a bunch of pics of the people who were there but since you guys don't know most of them, I thought I'd post this (marginally humiliating) photo of me instead. One of the games at the shower was that you couldn't get caught saying the words "cute" or "baby" or else you lost one of your paperclips on your paperclip necklace. As the person opening the gifts, I assure you it's impossible to do and this picture captures the moment when I finally lost the last of my paper clips. See the girl next to me laughing at my blunder? Anyway, now you're up to date. See? It's almost like you were there, isn't it?

Voila!

Since I was last to whine about the hot weather and how impossible it was to cook, I thought I'd share what I came up with: An asian chicken salad that was easy as pie. It was so fast and easy to put together and Adam said he'd eat it every day for the rest of our lives. So, in an effort to help those of you who are also sick of the kitchen and can't tolerate the same old same old for one more day, here's what I did (obviously not rocket science but I thought it was a fun change of pace so if you hate it, I'm not offended):

In my crock pot, cooked 2 chicken breasts in a bit of soy sauce and freshly chopped garlic on high for 2 hours (no heating the oven/ stove/ kitchen up...woohoo!)

Chopped lettuce, sliced cucumbers, diced tomatoes, whatever fruits you like (I used mandarin oranges, pineapples and red grapes). For dressing, I made a glaze like topping with soy sauce, fresh minced garlic and pineapple juice. Toss, eat, and repeat. It was sweet, cool and DEE-LISH! Happy eating!

I need back up.

It's officially the dog days of summer (we're registring at about 107 degrees where I am) and I just can't make myself cook dinner. However, I've also been unsuccessful in trying to convince myself it's ok to serve my already rotund self ice-cream for my evening meal. What are you guys making for dinner without passing out from the heat?

Happy Birthday Carter!

Yesterday was Carter's birthday...but somehow after hosting a Wii party, doing some billing for Elise, and packing to go to Valencia, I didn't get a post up. Carter had a great day. He got a couple of wii games from grandparents and then had the ultimate in Carter fantasies...an all "wii" parter complete with two wii systems and 8 controllers. What could be better? I'll tell you what...chips on the table and nachoes for lunch. It was literally Carter heaven. Carter and his friends played wii tournaments and tried out some new games. My favorite was one that Jacob and Sammy had brought from home...it was a bike race. You got to pick what you looked like and what your bike looked like. Jake's character was dressed up as a chicken and Logan was riding a girl's bike. The best part about it was that every time they crashed, the characters went head first with flailing limbs into walls, lakes, columns, brick walls, etc. It was hillarious. Then they had some contests to see who could have the best style falling off these bikes. Seriously funny stuff. Carter's cake was a four layer wii controller. He had a great day!

Carter is such a great kid. True, he makes me absolutely crazy sometimes, but what other kid gives me entertainment like he does? A while ago when he was sitting on my lap one day, I asked him if he would still sit on my lap when he's in high school and he said, "yes." I get so much entertainment out of watching him compete in sports. He's not as coordinated or naturally talented as Jake is, but the kid has some serious guts and determination. The look on his face when he's about to tackle somebody (on a flag football team, no less) is absolutely priceless. I went to his basketball practice this week and he has that same determination when he competes in games and drills there. He has improved in school so much this year. He is a much more confident student and he has learned that he is great at math. Who knew! Perhaps my memory of Carter's past year will be his Nanny McPhee teeth. Those babies were classic. His teacher told him one day not to come back to school until that tooth had fallen out because it was grossing her out. And it was nasty. But it was only a precursor for his worst tooth...the one next to his big teeth in front. His big teeth were coming in and they were pushing the baby tooth out perpendicular to his other teeth. It literally stuck out his lip when his mouth was closed. Thankfully, Carter was being his usual crazy self one day and knocked it on the bottom of the pool and it came out. He was very concerned it was going to clog the drain so he went down looking for it, but never found it. I was so relieved to see that horrible thing OUT. And, best of all, my kids aren't too into the tooth fairy so the tooth fairy didn't even lose any money on that one!

So, happy birthday Carter! You make our lives exciting...