Spring...

Why do I love spring? It's not what you think...the beautiful flowers and everything in bloom...all the cleaning that gets done, blah blah blah. What I love about spring is the fact that my children rediscover the backyard. It is indeed a fabulous time a year. They swing on the swings, they jump on the trampoline, they get in their swimsuits and squirt each other with the hose...it's just a great time of year. And bonus...it stays lighter longer so they can stay outside til bedtime. Sure, they complain that it's still light outside when they're tucked in their beds and they won't be able to sleep. So, I lovingly tell them to close their eyes and it'll be dark...Ahhhh, spring. It is my favorite time of year!

Myth debunked...

The myth is that if you don't have a computer, you won't waste so much time. WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!! We haven't had our laptop due to the hard drive failing for almost a week now. You can't imagine how overjoyed I was to be reunited with it today. While it was gone, I couldn't print my coupons, I coudn't do my cubscout stuff, I couldn't print my recipes, I couldn't search for fabulous deals on whatever it was I needed, I couldn't keep the blog updated and I was going CRAZY! Oh how happy I am that it is back...Yes, laptop, you are a beautiful thing...

Come here Raisin Bran, I'll help you.

Look Michelle, I made you a birthday cake! It's even your favorite kind...all frosting.


I'm sure it will take me days to actually get to tell you "happy birthday" in person, what with all the phone calls from your fan club. In the meantime, I hope it's a splendiferous one, complete with a birthday cake full of frosting that you can get in your eyebrows.

I have the best memeories of crawling into michelle's bed at night as a kid when I had a bad dream and can you believe that back then, she actually tolerated it? Ah, how I loved chasing her around trying to make her hug me or sitting around for hours sipping vanilla coke at the Saugus Cafe. I loved being next door neighborly neighbors at BYU when we could go running and eat dinner together after. Remember how you would come crash my pad because you couldn't stand your weirdo roommates. (Kelsi, anyone?) And once you got married, I was all excited every time somebody new came to your Branbury pad so I could watch you give the "grand tour" over and over. It was quite the impressive tour. How about when we were driving with teeny baby Jake in the car and he actually stopped crying for one second and we were absolutely stunned? It was O-mazing. But probably my favorite memory was when we got to hang out while we were waiting for little Bella. As long as I live, I'll never forget that.

So here's to Michelle. Our favorite oldest sister. I swear, there is no better person to have on your team than Michelle. She is a die hard ally and I've needed that so many times. I don't know what we'd do without your hilarity or advice about how to pretend you don't hear it when your baby won't stop crying. I could go on and on... but I'll let the rest of the fam have a shot. Fire away, kiddos.

Uncle Paul needs us..

Howdy guys...it sounds like Uncle Paul is in need of some serious help...his cancer has come back in his legs and from what I understand, he is allergic to the chemo drugs (all of them) and they've radiated him to his maximum allowable...So, they have to decide what to do now. Kay and Paul have asked us to join them in fasting and prayers so they can figure out what steps to take next. I miss the jolly teddy bear Paul was before Cancer hit him like a brick wall. I hope there's some way he can live a full and happy life because there isn't anybody more lovable and dedicated to his family. So, what do you say? Are you in? Let's pull together and see what we can do. Miracles do happen, we've all seen it. Why don't we pray for one for Uncle Paul...

4th Grade Field Trip

Yesterday, we boarded the buses at 6:15 AM to go to Sacramento for an all day field trip. The first "jaunt" was a couple hours and then we stopped at a rest stop. That was the LONGEST ride of my life. I was sitting in front of an obnoxious child who kept holding onto my seat and leaning forward. Nine times out of ten when she did so, she grabbed my head or hit me in the face as she leaned forward. After about 10 times, I asked her to please stop hitting me in the face. She didn't even apologize when she KEPT DOING IT! Did she not feel my head under her hands or WHAT? You people know I am NOT a morning person. This was not my idea of a good time at 6:00 in the morning (not to mention I had been up since 4:00 AM) Anyhow, I switched seats with Jake (hee hee) for the next leg and she didn't hit him in the face. She just put her head in between mine and Jake's seats. Every time I turned my head, there was this FACE right there. Annoying.

Once we got to Sacramento, we went to a train museum. The kids zoomed through the museum so they could go to Old Town...where they bought nothing but CANDY. Like we need a bunch of sugared up kids for the rest of the day. Anyway, that was my favorite part because Matty, Lisa, and Sara came down to join us for a little while. The visit was way too short (like 20 minutes or something) but it was so fun to see them. Sara is as cute as ever and showed us all kinds of new tricks she has.

After we boarded the bus again, we went to Sutter's Fort and had lunch. It was very relaxing. It was a beautiful day. We got a self-guided tour of the fort after that which was interesting. There were other school kids wandering around dressed as pioneers doing tasks from that period in history like churning butter, baking bread, making candles, etc.

Since my group was all boys, they like the "good stuff." AKA Weapons! They found this line up of rifles and thought they were in heaven. One group told our kids they had seen blood splattered on the wall somewhere so we had to run right over and check that out.

All in all, it was a very long day, but the kids, were so well-behaved (with the exception of the seat hitter girl). Luckily, we got bumped out of our seat after the initial two legs and had to move. As luck would have it, our friend Rob (the principal) had the pleasure of riding in front of that girl ALL THE WAY HOME! The kids were definitely sugared up, but I was generally impressed with how nice they were to each other. They shared their loot and chatted all the way home. There was no sleeping on that bus...unfortunately. I enjoyed watching Jake interact with his friends and his teacher. He is definitely a different kid in his own environment. He is very chatty. He has friends that are boys and girls and he seems to generally enjoy himself. It is nice that he is still in the phase where he likes me to be with him. He also had fun with our camera taking pictures of whatever he wanted to remember from the day. By the time we got home, I was exhausted and so was he. No complaints when I put them to bed and then headed for bed myself. Oh, and one final note...Thank heaven for iPods! They seriously rock! I listened to an entire book yesterday!

Happy birthday Rick!

Today is Rick's birthday. To celebrate, he requested some ghiradelli brownies and vanilla ice cream. How fabulous is that? simple and yummy. There are so many ways that Rick makes my life fabulous. He is very easy to please. He pitches in and helps with the kids all the time, but especially when he can tell I'm about to lose it. He makes an effort to be at the things that are important to the kids whether it's an assembly or a sports event. He has taught himself to do so many awesome things...his current project is our entertainment center which is going to be so awesome. Oh, and he's reflooring the entry way, hallway, bathroom, and kitchen right now while he does the entertainment center. He does such good work. I wish he could do it for a profession because his work is beautiful. He is sensitive to my feelings and puts me and the kids first. We are a lucky bunch at the Edwardson house! So, happy birthday Rick! Now you're as old as I am (for 6 days, any way).

Lame Target worker...

Today Bella woke up with an earache (again). So, she's home from school. I took her to the doctor and she had not one, but two ear infections. Grand. The doctor gave us a prescription so I decided to take it to Target because I knew you got a $10 gift card with a new prescription. So, I drop off the prescription, tell them I don't have the coupon, but could I get the deal any way? She looks at me and says, "Ma'am, we don't have any extras." I said, "okay." Then she said, if you'd like to go home and get it and come back later, that's fine. Um, home is 5 miles from Target and I don't want to drive all the way home, dig through the recycling trash and find the dumb Target ad just so I can get $10, thank you very much. Whatever lady. So, as I'm wondering around Target waiting for the prescription, it occurs to me, there are probably extra ads somewhere. I walked up to guest services, ask if they have extra ads, and she says "sure, here you go." HA. Why didn't the pharmacy worker just say that? Would it have been so difficult, really? It's not like I was asking for $10 out of her pocket...You'd think with all the competition for pharmacies, they'd be NICE so you'd come back....but NO. The $8 an hour Target workers are too good for coupons...

What, you don't have carpet on your patio?

This lovely pile of carpet and padding is on our back patio. Nice isn't it? It looks almost as good as the cement that goes from our doorway to the eating area. The good news is that the kids can color on the floor, ride their roller blades, and do whatever else they want. Shortly, the entry way, hallway, eating are and kitchen will be sporting some fabulous travertine. In order to do this project, the kids and I are are going to so. Cal so rick can get it done. He's going to be pulling out the applicances and everything making the kitchen area extremely unusable. Lucky for us, nana doesn't mind if we crash with them for awhile. Should be fun! Til then, I just get funny looks when I open the door and people notice there's cement instead of carpet or tile or something...

Our kids ROCK!!!

Jake and Carter (along with their friends Emma, Maddie, Jacob, Sammy, and Elder) have been preparing for a competition called Destination Imagination. It's apparently a statewide program but I had never heard of it before. It's very involved but basically the kids have to be creative and use their imaginations and present an impromptu skit type thing using a bunch of required elements. Got that? Yeah, me neither. Anyway, they competed against 11 other elementary teams in their category and won 2nd place! They got those fabulous medals that they're wearing in the picture and they get to go to San Jose and compete at a state level! Who knew? They are all very excited and we are some proud parents! Congrats guys! Oh, and kudos to our good friend Kari who was their coach and spent countless hours trying to herd cats...I mean direct these kids in their competition.

Bella...again.

Bella: (Yelling) Ammon, don't drink that because that's my cup and I'm sick.
Ammon: You're not sick.
Bella: Yes I am, I had a fever.
Ammon: What's a fever?
Bella: You don't know what a fever is? Wow (extremely sarcastically)
Ammon: Why did you go to school then?
Bella: Because my mom is lame.

Ha ha. Seriously they're killing me. The best part is they don't know that I can hear them...

Overheard...

Scene: Three five-year-olds eating cookies that they just made.

Lizzy: Bella, did you know brown is poop?
Bella: What?
Lizzy: Brown is poop.
Bella: No it isn't. Your hair is brown and it isn't poop.
Lizzy: stunned silence.

Ha ha...kids are so funny!

I am a freaking genius!!!

I know, you arleady know that...but guess what I did this morning? I fixed my laptop all by myself! It wouldn't turn on. So, I got online, got some tips, checked the battery, removed the memory protector, reset the memory and voila! It's working now. People, be excited. My entire Sunday lesson is on there!!!!

Although I usually attempt to refrain from spamming you all with photos of my baby, I promised Nana I'd post this video of Elizabeth giggling.

Ok ok, I'll admit that I think it's pretty cute too. Thanks again for taking this video, Kate.

Malia and her "old blankey"

I have no idea why I'm posting this...I just love that smack in the middle of Bella's birthday relay, Malia was wandering around with her blanket on her head sucking her thumb...maybe she was tuning out the chaos...I don't know.

Bella's birthday...

Bella turned six last weekend! You know what that means! No more car seat for Bella!!! Oh, and we did have a fabulous party too! It was a "chef" themed party. I made an apron for each friend she invited in preparation for the event. Then the kids, adorned with their chosen apron separated into three groups to do the baking activities...The first one was the cooking table. I made several batches of plain cookie dough and the kids mixed in their chosen toppings. We had chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, coconut, m & m's, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, sprinkles, etc. They made some seriously disgusting crations...but they had fun doing it...

Nana manned the pizza making table. I made pizza dough and we gave each child a ball of dough to roll out and top with their favorite pizza toppings. This was definitely a hit. I have never seen such small pizzas piled with such huge piles of cheese and toppings. This picture was taken before the first group started. You should've seen it when they were done!

The last one was a placemat table where they decorated "foamie placemats" with stickers, rub ons, and markers. This station took the longest. You should've seen some of their creations!

While the pizzas were cooking, we had a food relay. There was a table across the backyard that the kids had to run to, put a napkin on their lap and then eat one saltine cracker, one big marshmallow, and one blueberry and then run back and tag the next person on the team. It was boys vs. girls.

The girls were winning, so jake, in an attempt to slow the victory, tackled poor Emma. Luckily, she held her own and the girls still won!

Later, we sang Bella happy birthday. Elizabeth made this fabulous cake for Bella...all pink, what more could a girl want? It was TASTY! She absolutely lit up when they sang to her! What's not to love about 24 kids singing happy birthday to you?

Bella had a great party....It was only two hours, so thanks to Nana, Judy, Rick, Tracy, and our fabulous friend Meghan, it went off very smoothly. A good time was had by all!