A Pleasant Surprise

I LOVE surprises.  LOVE THEM!  The thing that is the hardest for me however is actually being surprised.  I just always know when something is up.  Moroni has tried many times to surprise me with some gift or a getaway and I always ruin it for myself because I have to figure it out.  There have been a few times in my life that I have been truly surprised.  One, for my 20th birthday my friends and Moroni threw me a huge surprise party.  I had NO IDEA.  There were lies, a fake surprise birthday party, and kidnapping involved.  It was one of my favorite memories of my whole life.  Two, when Moroni proposed with the perfect ring and setting.  It was magical and just how I dreamed it would be.  Three, the day Ellie was born.  We thought for sure she was a boy.  Then surprise...a girl!!  It was one of the best surprises.  Four, my 28th birthday where I got spoiled with four days of birthday.  Including a surprise kidnapping from three of my dearest friends in the world..  I get teary just thinking about it.  I was so touched and I felt so loved. 

So you can see why I would be surprised when a sweet friend of mine showed up on my doorstep two days ago with one of my favorite indulgences...a Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake. 

It truly is one of the sweet pleasures of life.  The thing that was so touching was that this friend(and you know who you are), remembered how much I loved this cheesecake and just picked a slice up for me while she was in Madison.  Just because.  I was more touched than I could express.  Yes, it really is as good as it looks!!

Most people who know me would not be surprised that I loved to shop.  I however was shocked when I strolled into Children's Place this week and all of their $40 Easter dresses were marked down to $4.99!  That's right $4.99!!!!  So not surprisingly I had to buy a few.

I got one of these in each of the girls sizes.  It's a tradition to buy them each a fun 4th of July dress.

There really is something magical about surprises.  I hope each day I can be surprised with new moments and even more favorite memories.

Cute Story...

Today we had to take our sweet Savannah into the doctor to see if her strep throat was finally gone. She has had 4 or 5(I have lost count) strep throats since January 18th. I want our sweet girl to finally kick this and get well. She did great and earned herself a Popsicle when we got home. The cutest part however was when we went to leave and the doctor asked her "Savannah where did you get that cute striped sweater you're wearing?" Savannah's had a slight pause and then stated "From my closet." The doctor could not stop laughing and I looked at her and realized she is one cute kid!

Savannah and the sweater in question

Savannah also finished up an Art class she had been taking for a few weeks.  She was so great and she is such a talented little artist.  I'm so proud of her!!  Thank you to my dear friend Amy for watching Madelyn so  I could be a part of Savannah's class.  We are so blessed with great family and friends!!

Here she is getting ready to paint with cars...that's right...cars!!

Sweet Savannah with her scary monster.  She did that whole thing.  She sculpted it with clay, painted it and attached the many eyes.  Six to be exact.  What a joy you are Vannie!

Sometimes you feel like a thumb...sometimes you don't!

Confession...I sucked my thumb until I was in third grade.  I truly did.  I then went through YEARS of orthodonic work trying to fix what I spent years breaking.  I am grateful for parents who spent the money and time to make my teeth better. 

Here I am with my straight teeth and new hair cut.  I like the teeth and I'm pretty sure I like the cut?

Now we have the next generation and our sweet Savannah loves her thumb just like her Mom did.  She truly is my mini-me.  Savannah however had a little friend over a few weeks ago and this friend was getting "gifts" if she stopped sucking her fingers.  Savannah decided that if this friend can get something that she should too.  So it all began, when Savannah stopped sucking her thumb.  We have gone over a week now with Savannah only sucking her thumb in bed.  We are so proud of her.

Here she is smiling and NO THUMB in her mouth.

Savannah just got so tired on our walk today.  She simply laid down in someones yard.

Still resting

Madelyn is so happy for Savannah too.  Or she just loves a good walk?

So here is to all of us who have loved and had to lose their thumb.  I am so happy for our Vannie and we are so proud of her.  Anyone else have a hard time losing some child comfort?

Savannah's getting a baby brother!!

Today at church I was approached by Savannah's sunbeam teacher.  She told me that Savannah told everyone in class "I'm getting a new baby brother soon."  This of course surprised the teacher because she knew I wasn't expecting.  Savannah however was convinced that she had a baby brother coming.  Well, I will make it clear to the world and to this teacher that NO, there is no new baby coming to this house.  We are all stocked up for a while.  I thought it was funny that she forgot all about the baby sister she already has at home.  :-)

GIRL times 40!!

There are moments when having a house full of girls is stressful, busy, and too much to handle(sorry Moroni).  For exanple Sunday mornings are very busy in our house.  We have slips, dresses, shrugs, tights, shoes, and of course HAIR...and I haven't even done the girls yet!  But then you have moments like today when the girls and I have some classic Mommy time.  Doing hair, playing with Barbies and to finish it off painting our toe nails.

Here are the 40 cutest toes you have ever seen!

This is Madelyn's first experience in nail polish land.  She was so well behaved.

When we were pregnant with Ellie we never thought that we would have girls. We thought we would have lots of boys and maybe we might get one girl.  Never did I dream that we would have three BEAUTIFUL princesses in our family.  It gets more fun everyday with our girls and I wouldn't trade it for all the nail polish in the world.

Reading Heads and Purple Tongues

Question: Why are children so cute? Answer: So they live long enough to become adults! Our girls are so cute and they say the funniest things. Ellie came home from school yesterday insisting that she "read her teachers head." I was un-clear on what she meant. I asked her to tell me the whole story and she said how her art teacher was giving directions and she followed the directions before they were even given. Her teacher said "I read her head." I started to laugh and couldn't stop. Finally I said "Ellie, do you mean that you read her mind?" "Yes Mommy, I read her brain."


This same afternoon, I was driving along with Savannah and she is working really hard at not sucking her thumb. Well, I had to run in and drop Ellie off at piano and when I came back I had the feeling that Savannah had succumb to temptation. I asked her "Savannah did you suck your thumb?" She said "no." Then for reasons I still do not understand I stated "You know Savannah, if you lie then your tongue turns purple." I then repeated my question she repeated her answer, stuck her tongue out and said "Mommy, is my tongue purple?" Again it’s a good thing our kids are so cute!

Crying, playing and chicken nuggets

This morning I had a doctors appt that I have been waiting for, for longer than I care to admit.  To prepare fot it I made sure I went grocery shopping, cleaned up the house and had all toys ready to.  My dear sweet friend Heidi offered to watch my kids so that I could go stress-free to this appt.  As I am leaving, I hear crying, I see playing and I have to make sure I tell her about the chicken nuggets.  The biggest thing I forgot was to tell her THANK YOU!  So Heidi, THANK YOU for driving over 40 minutes round trip.  Dealing with a simi-happy Madelyn, a playful Savannah and on top of it baking me muffin cupcakes! 

I love ya...my dear sweet friend!!

So the next time you want to remember the most important thing...write down that there are chicken nuggets in the freezer:-).

Remembering...

This past week has brought to my attention how much we need to remember certain things in life.  I remember going to the zoo when I was little and I loved seeing the elephants.  Now there are no more elephants at our zoo.  But, I REMEMBER!

Here is Savannah in front of what use to be the elephant area.

I remember when I was a kid my Dad telling me all about Polar bears.  I remember LOVING them.  I would look forward to seeing them everytime we went.  It's fun now that our kids like them so much too.  Ever since they were little they always wanted to take pictures in the polar bear cut out.

Here is Ellie with her annual polar bear picture.

Here are some fun times on a cool park.  I remember LOVING a great park!

I remember always LOVING the water.  I loved to swim.  Our girls got to swim over this past week on our getaway to Chicago.  I will always remember the times that we stayed in a hotel so we could swim. 

Here is Savannah all ready and willing to get in the water

Here is Daddy and Madelyn.  She was neither ready or willing to go into the water.  It turns out Madelyn still hates the water.  I wonder if she will remember one day how much she SCREAMED when we tried to take her in?  It reminds me of funny storys of my awesome brother Doug and his fear of the water.

I remember always loving hide and go seek.  Even when it was dark out I loved to see if I could get the best hiding place and where would it be?  Would they find me first?  Last?  I loved the thrill of it all.

Here is Ellie finding in my opinion, one of the best hiding places I have ever seen.  We could not find her.  It really was so creative.  I hope she remembers the feeling of finding this amazing hiding place.

I remember when I was 12 and I got to go to the Chicago Temple for the first time.  It was wonderful.  What I remembered most however was the AMAZING fountain that sat out front.  As an adult I still love and cherish this fountain.  It has been there for a lot of great mile stones in my life.  Seeing it again this weekend brought back a lot of great memories.

It really is beautiful!

Moroni and I in front of OUR fountain and Temple

Most of all Easter reminds me to REMEMBER what is really important! 

Just us five on Easter Sunday

So I will strive to remember even though it seems everyday I forget even more than the day before.