April 30, 2013

  This day last year this was happening:

This year, this is happening:

In case you're wondering, the white bowl is the "throw up bowl."  To quote Pepe Le Pew, "Le sigh."

April 29, 2013

  I came upon these items arranged this way in my kitchen today.  I'm sure Bailey is the creator.  But now that I think about it, I have other kids who like to organize random things.  For instance, here's Sydney when she was three.  She had lined up all the doll house people and furniture for no particular reason.

April 28, 2013

  After I set the table and started to dish out the food, Bailey excitedly came to me yelling, "I did it!  I did it!"  I wasn't sure what she was talking about until I came back to the table and noticed all the extra plastic cups.  She got them out of the cabinet herself and placed them by everyone's seat.  She even got the colors right (we have certain colors assigned to each kid so I don't end up washing every cup in the house every day.)  This was definitely my favorite thing today.

April 27, 2013

  Not much survived the freeze.  I'm experimenting with the dusty miller in the front and the few marigolds that looked like they might have a little life left in them.  We'll see if I can bring them all back to health.  I like this arrangement much better anyway.  No hard feelings.

April 26, 2013

It's like living with the Partridge Family.  Today they were perfecting their Hot Cross Buns.

April 25, 2013

Suppose your 5-year-old asks you at 7:30 at night if you'll play a game with him.  Then suppose he suggests "Twister."  Would you agree?  Me either.  That's why Jeff is so much nicer than me.  He didn't even bat an eye at Ryan's request.

April 24, 2013

  Jeff has declared me an official Amarilloan because today I finally saw Palo Duro canyon.  We took a short morning trip there with Kat today.  It's about 40 minutes south of where we live.  It boasts being the second largest canyon in the U.S.  Now, I'm not a real outdoorsy kind of person, so I just never had the occasion to go to the canyon.  But it's good to have this checked off my list.  It was still a bit cold and we didn't have a lot of time to spend, so we didn't actually go on any of the trails.  But it's worth seeing.

 

April 23, 2013

 Look who's in my family room!  Jeff's sister Kat was in Austin for a race and took a detour through Amarillo on her way back to Philadelphia.  We haven't seen her for nearly seven years.  The kids were so excited to see/meet her.  As you can tell, Ryan was especially happy to have someone to entertain with his block robots and "Batman Wipeout."

April 22, 2013

  Let's just call these my practice flowers.  I planted these last Saturday, when the weather was a lovely 80 degrees.  Well, tonight  it's going to freeze.  The 40 mile-per-hour wind gusts made it impossible to cover them.  So, so long flowers.  I wasn't totally sold on the placement, so I guess I'll get another shot at it.

April 21, 2013

  Today was a family sick day.  Not one of us was well enough to go to church.  I spent about 75% of my day in bed, watching random cooking shows.  No shower, no makeup, no cooking.  Not bad for a sick day.  

   Here's a jolly picture of Sydney in our backyard in Michigan.  She was strumming this badminton racket, singing her favorite made-up song, "Playing My Banjo."

April 20, 2013

A very solemn, pensive snack time on the front porch.

April 19, 2013

  The girls each got a fish today.  The first pets ever in our household. Yep, that's pretty much the whole story.  Not much else to say about it.

April 18, 2013

Sydney's 6th Birthday

Evidence of why Syd has earned the nickname "Sass-ma-frass."

April 17, 2013

  Notice anything different?  I'm positively giddy about our new chandeliers.  Actually, they're not exactly new.  We've had them in our garage for a couple of months.  Yesterday and today we finally had someone come out and hang them.  They do so much to bring the tall ceiling down a bit; our room is instantly cozier.  Yay!

April 16, 2013

  This poor guy has been home sick with a fever and cough for two days, and going on a third day.  He doesn't do much, just eats a few bites here and there, drinks water when Dad makes him, and generally mopes around.  Those sad, brown eyes earned him a smoothie for dinner and Jeff's iPad all afternoon.  

April 15, 2013

  Sometimes I forget what a nice, little round baby Erik was.  Next time these three cousins are together, I want to take a picture of them in the same positions, but as 6 and 7 year olds.

April 14, 2013

This fabulous little girl has discovered the dress-up bin.  When we lived in New Jersey, Shelbi and Sydney's fairy godmother gave them several Disney princess dresses, shoes, and accessories.  Needless to say, they've gotten plenty of use over the years.  Must be time to sew up the torn hems and seams.

April 13, 2013

Oh, how I love going to the nursery when it's time to plant in the Spring.  Rows and rows of possibilities.  

April 12, 2013

   The aptly name "Happy Meal."  What is it about the square box with golden arches handle that is so much better than the same food in a paper bag?  Bailey cheered when she saw this come out of the drive-thru window.  Yes, my two-year-old recognizes a happy meal.  I'm not proud of that.

April 11, 2013

The highlight of every morning: the garbage truck emptying the dumpster in the alley behind our house.

April 10, 2013

  Shelbi's at that magical age when she thinks it's really fun to help with dinner.  She very proudly made tonight's salad all by herself.

April 9, 2013

   I'm pretty sure the lights in this house are defective.  At least one of the lightbulbs in our recessed lights goes out each week.  These ones in the kitchen just require a step ladder (and Jeff) to replace, but the ones in the family room, with 18 foot ceiling, are a little more of a pain to change.

April 8, 2013

  Jeff and I (well, mostly Jeff) spent the whole day outside reworking a flower bed.  We took out three ugly bushes, pulled up 30 feet by 3 feet of grass, and moved/added sprinkler heads.  I'll post a picture of it when we're done, but for now here's a shot of my first sunburn of the season:

  The back of my legs, arms, and neck are all this nice pink, which only took about a half hour in the sun before I remembered sunblock.

April 7, 2013

General Conference pies

  This picture isn't the best representation of the day.  But today was utterly typical of any General Conference sunday.  We lounged on the couches, we ate hot beef sandwiches and pie, we did another puzzle and the house was a complete mess.  An all around success.

April 6, 2013

This year's General Conference puzzle.  Jeff may or may not have stayed up until two in the morning trying to finish it.

April 5, 2013

  Tonight the kids were torturing each other with the smell of the Vicks Vapor Rub.  Yep, things are super exciting around here today.

April 4, 2013

  I'm not sure how the boys can stand to sleep in these big slippers. But they insisted on finding them before bed.

April 3, 2013

  Don't tell Erik, but I took a picture of his diary today.  Curiosity got the best of me.  We were in the middle of a hot game of Ocean Bingo, when he stopped, ran over, and meticulously wrote something.  The last line says, "I like Biego." 

April 2, 2013

  When we first moved to Michigan, we didn't have a house yet.  We lived in an apartment for the first three months.  I'm sorry to say that this is the only picture I have of us at the apartment.  Here the girls are enjoying popsicles on the balcony.  
  Things I remember about the apartment:
1.  The guy below us playing really loud music every time Jeff had to sleep during the day from working all night.  It was like he had Jeff's work schedule and did it just to annoy him.
2.  Being nearly the only ones to ever use the swimming pool.  It was awesome and we used it any day that was warm enough.
3.  Carrying dang groceries up the dang stairs while being seven dang months pregnant.
4.  Walking forever to the bus stop for Shelbi's preschool.
5.  Feeling really rich because we were finally getting a pay check and our monthly rent was less than in New Jersey.  I felt especially spoiled because we could now afford ice cream sandwiches and already-grated cheese.

April 1, 2013

  I'm sorry if you're a big fan of the month of March, but to it I must say, "Good riddance!"  March is a cursed month.  Nearly all the times in my life that have been particularly trying or sad have happened during this month.  So every year I am glad to see April 1st. 

March 31, 2013

 Easter cuties

March 30, 2013

  My memories of the Easter egg hunt when I was growing up include the little kids gathering candy scattered all over the living room floor while the older kids lounged on the couch in their pajamas, somewhat annoyed to be awake so early on a saturday. I can hope that my kids stay excited about the Easter bunny for a long time, but I know it won't last forever.  At least we still had this year. 

March 29, 2013

*Note to self: fewer eggs next year

 

  I originally planned to hard-boil 6 dozen eggs, but then figured that I was sure to break a few and that left us with less than a dozen apiece.  Knowing my kids' history of coloring eggs, I thought I'd need more.  So I added a few dozen.  Total overkill.  As this picture shows, Jeff and I were left to finish the dying after the kids got bored and went outside to play. 

March 28, 2013

 Most of the time it's a good thing that Bailey will play independently.  But when she disappears upstairs for a long period of time, I get worried.  Jeff and I were watching t.v. when she came downstairs, calling my name.  She had proudly smeared Sydney's play makeup all over her face.

At least she knew she was in trouble this time.