More Spring Fun

The day before the first official day of spring, Kate found a nest in the grass of the backyard. The nest must have fallen out of a tree with the wind. No, she didn't wash her hands after handling it.
One perfect spring day (the 24th of March), things turned from silly to sillier when tutus lead to "I do's".

Here Kate and Sam are talking about what it takes to be a flower girl - Kate will be an honorary flower girl this June for her Aunt Jill and she is so excited.
Sam was really playing along well.
Kate was teaching Sam her best moves.

We don't have any daffodils left even though we had over 30 blooms this spring. But we enjoyed everyone of them to the fullest.
Ballet dancing practice - as you can see they will both be Primas soon.
More flower girl practice.
Always striking a pose.
Here is Kate playing with some friends later on. They were bored and I had dishes to do so I let them destroy the nearly spoiled lemons with toothpicks. They loved it. Their creations reminded me so much of the book A Porcupine Named Fluffy by Helen Lester. So, we read that after the "craft". I love Weston's glare on his pants in this picture.
I gave them raisins to put on the toothpicks but somehow that just wasn't as fun for them. They were all bummed when we ran out of toothpicks.

More Birthday Celebrations

We've been doing lots of partying here.

This is Kate ready for Preschool, March 11th, the day we took treats for her birthday to her preschool class.

I can't believe Kate is 4 today! She is such a treasure to have in the family and I can't imagine life without her in it.

On March 6th, Kate and I had a joint birthday party with my family.

Here's Scott lighting the cake.
Here's Kate waiting for her chance to blow out the candles while everyone sings "Happy Birthday Julie and Kate."
"Make a Wish"
And Presents!

It feels like a birthday month for her over here. Everyday has lead up to today. At 7:00 am Kate woke up and since Scott hadn't left for work yet, we let her open her presents from Scott and I.

Then, Grandma B came to watch Kate while I went to my Presidency meeting and she gave Kate a couple more presents.

Just now, we went to Dairy Queen with Grandma M and had a birthday lunch.

Next, March 21st, we will have a party with Scott's family and celebrate Kate's birthday along with the other March birthdays in the family (Me, Kristi, and Cherish).

So, Fun! March is my favorite!

Bienvenida a la Primavera!

For those who are like me and can't stand the winter blahs. This is for you! Today we saw that our Daffodils are in full bloom! All over my yard I see signs that winter is giving way to spring and my soul is in full rejoice mode!This is our first sign of all the beauty that is awaiting us in the coming months.

Attn: Winter

Re: Eviction Notice

As of: March 14th, 2010

I know I agreed for you to lease until March 21st but due to extenuating circumstances, I need to ask you to terminate your residence effective immediately. I have a new tenant ready to occupy the space. I apologize for any inconvenience. You are welcome to come again later this year once I kick out Summer, who is worse of a nuisance than you will ever be. I am always reluctant to dismiss Fall but the two of you can share the space for a little while anyway so it's not too much of a problem. Please forgive.

Sincerely, Julie

Goodbye Winter!

Dear Spring,

You are cordially invited to attend a celebration at my house. I have your space ready to occupy until June 20th but you are welcome to stay longer. I can always send a memo to Summer that you need an extra week or so. I'm sure she won't mind. I can't wait to see you again. It's been much too long. You'll find all the things you need are ready. I put the extra mulch on last year as you requested and I planted you some extra bulbs to nurture so it should be even more exciting than last year. Who knows, maybe you'll finally get that stubborn lilac to bloom this year for the first time. You are my favorite tenant and yes I did evict winter early just for you so there is plenty of room for your things - hurry over.

Yours Truly, Julie

Welcome Spring!

"Orange" You Glad It's Washable?

Gotta love washable, kid's craft supplies! I love to let Kate loose with this stuff.

Scott's Adventure Last Night

So it's Sunday night, about 9:00 pm and Scott just returned from a fireside. He reaches for a glass to get a drink of water and take his vitamin when the glass starts to slip. He tries to brace it to save it from falling to the tile floor but ends up crushing it between his hand and the edge of the counter top. After pulling a shard of glass out of his hand and seeing his tendon make an appearance, he hollers for me to come help. He tries to move his feet towards the sink to stop dripping blood on the floor but the floor is covered in glass. He hollers out again.

Downstairs, I am typing a story about my childhood and I hear something fall so when he hollers to call to me, I think he is just wanting to chuckle how clumsy we are today because earlier I broke to bits my crystal pitcher we received as a wedding present. When Scott he keeps hollering, I think for sure he wants me to help clean up the glass or that he wants to show me how far the glass traveled from the point of impact.

After a few hollers, I travel up the stairs and find him with his hands in the air, dripping slow, big drops of blood. His stocking feet are precariously straddling the glass so I begin to sweep right off to clear a path for him to the sink. I put a band-aid on the wound and then keep sweeping and cleaning up the quarter-sized blood droplets scattered on the floor-at least five of them, not too bad. I ask him what he wants to do. He decides that seeing his tendon wasn't a pretty sight and that he wants to get stitches. I ask him if I should wake up Kate or if he wants to go alone when the phone rings.

I answer the phone, it's my Dad. Without even asking why he called I tell him what happened and he heads right over. Within 10 minutes he's at the house. He takes Scott to Insta Care but they close at 9:00 pm and it's 15 minutes too late. So to the ER the go.

At the ER, they do a few X-Rays to make sure no shards of glass remain in the wound. They give him multiple shots right in the gaping wound to deaden the pain-ironic don't you think? They give him four stitches and a tetanus shot and send him home by 11:00 ish pm.

I'm really impressed that he knew he needed stitches. I am surprised that I didn't have to convince him to go. He is covered in battle scars of owies of long past that should've been stitched up. Has he grown up? Is he learning? Maybe.

I think his mother would be proud of her boy.

A Very Happy Birthday - 30

Jill (left), Jeni (top), Julie (right), Sami (bottom)

I way take for granted the blessing of having sisters. I'm hard on them. I don't treat them like I should. Yesterday, they reminded me how wonderful it is to have sisters.

When Jeni came to pick up Sami, she brought Jill with her and they kidnapped me for a pedicure to celebrate my 30th birthday, which is TODAY! Thank you Scott for watching Kate and James so we could have a fun girl time!

Then this morning, my dad called from Denmark at 6:15 am! He didn't want to miss me with the time zone and all. Before Scott left for work, around 7:00 am, Scott and Kate gave me presents and then my mother-in-law and two nieces called to sing "Happy Birthday". My Mom and Jeni dropped by with a pineapple (thank you for not bringing doughnuts!) I had so many friends and neighbors call, drop by, or send me an email. It was a really great morning.

Scott even bought flowers and brought them to me on his lunch break!

My sister-in-law and all of her kids called to sing "Happy Birthday" after they got off school and she even babysat this evening while Scott and I went to dinner. Thank you, Kristi!

The only black eye to the day was taking time out of my celebration to take my Grandma to insta-care. She did some damage to her big toe falling out of bed this morning in her assisted living center and with her being on a blood thinner for her heart, she just bleeds a lot. The nurses called me in a panic as if she was going to die over a little bloody toe. I'm sure she would've been just fine if a nurse over there could have bandaged her up real tight but since the facility doesn't have a nurse to speak of, and the only skill they have are a bunch of CNA's who aren't allowed to dress a wound (what's up with that-it's just first aid people-honestly!) I had to drive her a few blocks from the facility to the insta-care to have a doctor bandage her owie. Even Grandma thought it was ridiculous.

But Grandma got a tetanus shot out of the deal and a nice big shot of antibiotics on her buttox! So now she has a sore arm, rump, and toe.

Grandma didn't even know it was my birthday. Sami was my saving grace and played with Kate in the lobby while I helped Grandma. I followed up the 2-hour-ordeal with Dairy Queen treats for Sam and Kate for being so patient with the day's detour.

I'm glad I was able to help. I think the staff at the facility way-over dramatized Grandma's injury but I'm glad her injury was treated correctly and I'm mostly glad that the day ended so well.

Thanks to my peeps for a great day!

Stuffed Friends

So, I don't know how we can misplace kitty, but misplace her we did. We haven't seen Katie's white Kitty-Kitty since before Valentine's Day. We tried looking for her but we just don't know where to look. I thought I saw her at Jeni's house when I dropped Kate off to play with her cousins and one of her cousins (Taylor, 10) even remembered seeing Kitty there but we just can't find her anywhere. While Kate and I were waiting for Grandma to finish her appointment for a pedicure on Monday in the Lakeview hospital lobby, I told Kate we could look through the gift shop and I found the most perfect kitty to replace Kitty-Kitty. The most important feature was the long tail, which Kate always loved about Puppy-Puppy and Kitty-Kitty. We talked it over and decided this new silver, soft WEBKINZ would do nicely.

We had so much fun online getting "Sleeping Beauty" (the kitty's new name) set up and adopted online. Everyday we go online and go gem hunting, spin the wheel of wow, take her kitty to school, and dress her kitty. What a clever invention. We've really enjoyed doing this fun thing together.
On the 28th, before the Webkinz came, Kate was trying to do something nice for her other friend, Fuzzy. Now he (or is it a she?) is great and she likes him but he's more of a pillow-type of pall. Not really the comforter than Kitty and Puppy were. You know, bears don't have tails for chewing on. Plus, Fuzzy isn't quite as portable as her Kitty. But, she still loves him and Sunday when she was playing with Play-dough, she decided to make him a cake. She even put the candles in and got everything ready and just needed me to light them so she could sing to him. She sang the "you look like a pickle, and you smell like one too" version that she learned in preschool. Happy Birthday, Fuzzy!