Baptism

Here are some pictures from Brenna's baptism a couple weekends ago. Nice shiny face Mommy... sweat much?

Fun with Grandpa.

Visions of many duets to come!

Too bad we weren't smart enough to get a picture of all 3 girls together... next time!

Weekend fun

Duane and I had a surprise birthday party to go to in Williston this weekend, so Grandma and Ali came to babysit and play. Looks like a great time was had by all!

Kinda look like twins, don't they?

Oh, so cute!

Thanks a billion for coming to help guys! Dani had a great time and is still talking about you both!

And we had a great time also. It's so nice to be out and have a good time knowing our precious gems are in good hands. We actually slept until 9:00!!! I haven't done that in about 4 years!

Daddy fun

Danica is so blessed to have such a great Daddy.

Dora tunnel

Emma tried to get away from the madness.

It didn't work.

Week of fun

We're back home! For those of you avid readers wondering where we've been - we were in Bottineau all week. Averie and Tate came to visit and we went to help take care of them while everyone was at work. It was a GREAT week. They were so well behaved and were so good with Danica. Averie especially was a wonderful little mother hen, and her help made it very easy for me to watch 3 kids.
I'm very upset however, because I forgot my camera... AGAIN!!!! Danica had the absolute best time of her life and I didn't get to capture any of it. Boo hiss Mommy!!!! I've never seen her so happy and active. I'm really glad we got to spend some time with them, and only wish we could see them more!
Here's hoping and praying that they have a safe trip back home tomorrow.

Joy

I was just getting Dani a glass of orange juice, and she put her hand on my leg, looked up at me and said, "I love my Mom."

Snoring

Dani was up on my bed today while I was vaccuuming. Because she said, "Mommy's scared!" When I got done vaccuuming I heard snoring and sure enough she was napping. If you turn up your sounds you can hear her snore.

Goofy girl

That's quite an outfit she put together today! She found her Dora pullups and decided she's got to have those on over her diaper today. So she's got a very bulky bum!!

Pigtail fun!

Just Tuesday

I've noticed a very pregnant lady at the gym every day and have been curious about her. Today she was at the machine beside me so I asked when she's due. Next Thursday was her answer. Then I looked at how much weight she was lifting with her legs... it was nearly double the weight I do on the same machine. Sigh... I told her she was an inspiration. She said it was either the gym or be at home shoving her face with food. I remember when I had a week to go in my pregnancy. I was NOT at the gym. I was barely even walking. It took a fork lift to get me from the couch to the kitchen to get another cookie.
Then I looked up and saw an 80 year old man wearing the very same sweatshirt I have - my favorite sweatshirt in fact.
It's gonna be that kind of day.

Bottineau

Danica just started putting on her shoes and said, "We're going to Bottineau! Get ready to go to Bottineau!!" Then started singing (to the tune of Frère Jacques), "Where is Bottineau, where is Bottineau, here I am! Here I am!" What a character.

Too smart

Yesterday Dani and I were listening to music while we were eating lunch. Jason Mraz came on and we were bopping our heads to it. It's the same song I have as my ring tone on my cell phone. A very cute conversation ensued:
Dani: Just like Mommy's phone!
Me: Yes it is! Are you so smart???
Dani: Yes!
Me: How come you're so smart?
Dani: Cuz I'm 2! (With 2 fingers up in the air).
Me: You're smart cuz you're 2?
Dani: Ya, I'm 2... How old are you? You're one.
Now, I'm not sure, but I think she may have been trying to tell me I'm stupid.

Dancing with THE Star

She's loving Dancing With the Stars. She gets those hands in position and dances the night away.

Huh?

This one she's trying desperately to think of something to say.

Draw you?

At the time I thought she was saying, "Draw a U." But she's actually saying, "Draw you." She calls herself you, so she was wanting to draw a picture of herself like I did.

Our week

Cleaning off Mommy's masterpiece.

Fun with bath colors.

During one of the many times I had to wash my bedding this week, Dani found herself a little cocoon of sheets and pillows.

@#%* $%&!!

I'm washing my nice clean bedding... AGAIN! And I mean ALL my bedding. It seems that a certain someone had diarhea, and as I walked into the bedroom to take care of the situation (the smell had wafted out into the living room, you see), that certain someone jumped and landed on her butt, squirting rank diarhea out the sides of her diaper and onto my NICE CLEAN BEDDING!!!! Somehow the squirt was powerful enough to get on the sheet, the fitted sheet, the quilt, the mattress pad, and all the pillow cases. How is that even possible????
The worst part is that the smell has taken over every inch of the house - there's no escaping it. Febreeze has no powers against this evil force, and unfortunately it's negative a million degrees outside so I can't open the windows.
Someone upstairs is messing with me and enjoying every second of it!
Ugh, I have a stink headache.

Perspective

I get daily inspiriations on my facebook page and I thought today's was very good. It's a little long, but read all the way through. It's so true:

Everything is amazing & nobody is happy.
I recently saw a comedian (Louis CK) on Conan O’Brien. He went off on a bit about how everything’s amazing and nobody is happy. You can find it on YouTube…Louis CK talks about how funny it is how we get impatient when our cell phone calls don’t go through automatically – because it gets sent TO SPACE and we won’t even give it a second. He pokes fun at how we used to be frustrated with a rotary telephone when someone’s phone number had a zero in it…and it took far too long to turn…
He then mentions how horrible people’s flying stories are. “It was the worst day of my life. First of all we didn’t board for 20 minutes! And then they made us sit there! On the runway! For 40 minutes we had to sit there!”Louis CK says, “So what happened next? Did you fly, through the air, incredibly? Like a bird, did you take part in the miracle of human flight? Everybody on every plane should just be going “OH MY GOSH! WOW!” You’re sitting in a chair – in the SKY.”I like that perspective.
How amazing are things like cell phones or airplanes? Geez, do we take most of the things in our life for granted.And take a look – take a serious look around. We have more at our fingertips than any other generation has ever had…ever. We don’t use things like encyclopedias anymore – we just google. If we want to get somewhere 1,000 miles away, it doesn’t take 5 years – it takes 3 hours. Heck, I even have a remote control sitting next to me – back in the day somebody had to walk up to the tv to change the channel – and I can’t imagine that horror…
God himself has gifted us with intelligence and resources beyond belief, and we let it complicate our lives. We are so spoiled. I recently led a trip of high school students out to Bozeman, MT to do some skiing & snowboarding. One of the kids had lived in Fargo his whole life – and up until a month before the trip had never even been to Minneapolis. I watched his eyes light up as he gazed out of the bus window and took in the Rocky Mountains for the first time. The Rocky Mountains are amazing – and he took notice. His innocence inspired me to take in God’s majesty with new, unspoiled eyes.
Everything is amazing. Technology & advancements – family – friends – education – science – mountains – sunsets – love – pets – church – entertainment – microwaves – and so much more. It’s all wickedly amazing.If everything’s amazing, then why aren’t we happy? Maybe we need to recognize the root of what deserves our glory…Give glory to God for all His incredible doings. In Psalm 138:5 we read, “May they sing the ways of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord is GREAT.”
See this world through innocent, new eyes today. Everything really is amazing, and I want to be happy.
Erik Hatch

Yum yum!

We went today to visit Grandma Doris in the hospital. She had surgery yesterday for an intestinal obstuction, but is doing well now and on her way to recovery. While we were there it started to snow and storm (which was odd because it was warm as spring today). So on our way home we decided (Duane decided) to stop at the Dairy Queen because that's where you stop when it's blizzarding outside and you're on a diet, which we are. Oh the guilt!! The oddest part was that there was a line of about 5 cars waiting at the drive thru. Only in North Dakota!!

Cuteness

Interesting outfit she put together.

Grammy showed her how to paint!

Such a good little artist.

Cheese!

Oh, hugs. She's been such a good Mommy lately. Her baby gets fed often, gets walked around in her stroller all day, gets her diaper changed and gets lots of hugs and kisses.

HOLY SMOKE! What's cuter than this??

Kisses!

More kisses.

Even more kisses.

Dani had lots of fun with Grammy spending the night last night. We had lots of tri-generational giggles. Thanks for visiting Grammy!!

Thundercats go!

Operation Wean From the Blankie has begun. Phase one is a go.
We left her best friend, Blankie, home today when we went to the gym. There were a few tears, but it was quickly forgotten, and she already seemed like more of a big girl. I was surprised to find that upon getting home she didn't run to look for it immediately either... a good sign maybe?
After phase one is completed and there are no more tears when we leave without dear Blankie, we'll start phase two. Blankie will only rear it's yellow head at naptime and bedtime. It will be an in-the-crib-only friend. There may be a couple exeptions when boo-boos happen... I'll keep you posted.

We've been having fun looking at houses. Danica especially loves it. I have to chase her down any time we're going to leave a house. I think that's a sign she's ready to get out of this place. Our realtor's name is Julie, so anytime we look at a house Dani says, "Go to Julie's house?" She must think Julie has a LOT of houses!!

Skip-a-dee-doo-dah

Danica was singing and playing ring around the rosie in the living room. All out of breath she says, "Dis time, let's skip! Skip around the rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down!"
HUH?? How does she even know what skipping is?

Phone calls

Duane called me yesterday evening when I was doing dishes. I answered and he was asking in a very hurried and worried voice if I was okay. Well, of course I was okay, was my answer. Apparently he called my cell phone and Dani answered. Here's how it all went down:
Duane: hello?
(no answer)
Duane: hello?
(no answer)
(click, she hung up the phone)
So he tried calling back again:
Dani: Hello?
Duane: Hi sweetpea! How's my girl?
Dani: Good.
Duane: (thinking I'm right there telling her what to say) What are you doing?
Dani: Nothing.
Duane: (not hearing me whisper to her, he wonders) Where's Mommy?
(no answer)
Duane: Danica, where's Mommy?
(click)
So Duane was thinking I was lying dead on the floor or something and was about to rush home. Turns out I can't hear my cell phone when I'm doing dishes.
I guess we'll have to teach Dani to bring me the phone when she answers it!

Fun with markers

What a sweet girl.

We played with our new markers today!

This is what I get for doing dishes while she colors in the other room.