Cousins

The girls had a great time playing with their St. Louis cousins this weekend. More on our whirlwind of a weekend later but I had to post this picture of them all holding hands on our nature walk - ADORABLE!

Our Diego Story

On our way home from our last soccer game of the season, we drove by Main street in Eudora. I noticed some roadkill on the side of the road - an opossum. At this stage in my life, I'm fairly desensitized by roadkill and accept it as part of life. However, somthing caught my eye. I saw something moving. It was a little opossum baby. My husband was driving and kept going through the intersection, not seeing what I saw. The kids were in the car so I didn't want to say anything that would upset them and spelling no longer works since Ava can read. I kept quiet for a minute but couldn't stop thinking about it. I even said a prayer in my mind to please bless that someone would stop and help them. Then it dawned on me that we were probably the ones that needed to stop and help them. I did my best to hint to Chris what I saw and what I wanted to do. Ava was onto me and kept demanding that I tell her. I didn't know what to do or if this little life had a chance to survive, but I knew I couldn't just leave it there to suffer.
I used my handy-dandy iphone to look up the number for Operation Wildlife and called to see if this baby was "saveable". The lady on the phone said that many times they do remarkably well and that this was how they got most of the opossums that they help.
We turned around and went back to the site. Without making eye contact with any of the cars driving by, with people probably wondering what the heck I was doing, I put on my vinyl gloves (thank you first-aid kit) and grabbed a box (thank you mom-van) and proceeded to scoop up the baby opossum. I checked to see if any of the other babies had made it - and I found one more that was still breathing so I got him too.
The lady on the phone said that if I was willing, I should check the mom's pouch for any other babies or just bring her body in and they would check. I then came back with yet another box (after I emptied the diapers out of it - thank you Costco trip night before) and shuttered as I pick up the dead mom by the tail and put her in the box. I grabbed the other babies that didn't make it too - a clean sweep I guess.
We got a bit of gas (light had just come on) and headed to the rescue center. The girls, having finally been briefed on what we were doing, drew comparison to Diego and his animal rescue adventures.
Luckily the center was only about 10 mintues away from where we were. We brought the babies in. One looked really good but the other looked injured and dehydrated they said. They sounded optimistic but said the first 24 hrs would tell a lot. We talked about how at the minimum they could keep them comfortable but that they have a good success rate with orphaned opposums and in fact, had about 3 other this size that they would put these two with.
She also checked the mom's pouch but there were no other babies.
After making a donation, we asked if we could call and check on them in a day or two and went on our way.
This experience definitely brought about some teaching moments. On the way home we talked about life and death, our bodies and our spirits and how we did the right thing to help the orphaned opossums. The girls wanted to say a prayer for them so we did right there in the car.
I don't know if these baby opossums will both be strong enough to make it, but at least they will know warmth and love and may not have to suffer as much as they would've had they been left there.

Spring Soccer

We've been playing soccer in Eudora for several seasons now. We've had some decent coaches and some that were just okay. I decided to try my hand at coaching this year. It was the last time Ava and Elise would be on the same team for a while so I figured why not. I've always enjoyed sports, and although I'm still quite out of shape, I thought it would be fun to try. I was even more excited when my friend Amanda agreed to be the assistant coach.
We definitely wanted to do a good job and be organized. Our goals were for the kids to have fun, learn soccer skills and get some exercise and fresh air.
I won't go into all the details of how we planned and organized each practice - but we definitely honed in on the skills of rebounding and defending the goal.
It was awesome to see the kids really learn something and progress! We started our season with 2 losses, which wasn't much fun but we learned from each game. We ended the season 3-3 which we'll call a winning season.
Our team name was the "Dragons" and our color was dark green. We had a few chants the kids helped create. Our favorite that we used was, "Dragons, Dragons, shoot your flame. Dragons, Dragons, win the game!". We'd do this chant when we brought our hands in before each game. Another funny one we didn't use was "Dragons, Dragons, fight, fight, fight! Dragons, dragons, bite, bite bite!!"
Our last game was great! The kids did an awesome job and we won 4-0. Amanda and I were quite proud. Here are some pics from today - our last game of the season.





cousins

Here we are telling the kids how proud we were of them for playing so hard.

Ava and Elise had fun and all this year but really aren't all that excited by soccer anymore so I think we'll try something different in the fall...like dance. Oh well, it was fun to have this experience of coaching their soccer team - even if only once.

Yearly Interview

I've been wanting to do a yearly interview with each of my children. Here are the questions and answers.

Yearly Interview: Ava

Age: 5 3/4

Favorite Things:

• Color - pink


• Food - spaghetti, tomatoes


• Cereal - Lucky Charms


• Fruit - strawberries


• Vegetable - green beans


• Drink - lemonade


• Dessert - cake


• Toy - doll


• TV Show - Wild Kratts


• Movie - Elf


• Game - Zingo


• Book - Dr. Seuss


• Restaurant - McDonalds


• Holiday - Birthday


• Animal - Butterfly


• Clothes - Dress


• Song - "ABCD"


• Flower - Sunflower


• What do you like best about yourself? hands


• What are some things you like to do? playing outside


• What sports do you like to play? gymnastics


• What is your favorite subject at school? art


• What are your best friends? Lilly, Katerine, Elise


• What makes you happy? Elise


• What makes you sad? yelling


• What makes you scared? dark


• What are some of your favorite places to go? Monkey Bizness, Grandma's House


• What do you like to do around the house? play downstairs


• What would you like more of? make music


• What do you want to be when you grow up? vet


• What is something you'd like to be good at or learn to do? drawing


• If you could change your names, what would you change it to? Melissa


• What do you love about each person in your family? Mommy - beautiful, Elise - great, Daddy - Smile, Jake - ? (need to ask her! Daddy did this interview while I did Elise's)


• Where would you like to go on vacation? Oklahoma


• What are some of your wishes this year? goldfish

Yearly Interview: Elise Age: 3 (2 wks before 4th bday) Favorite Things:

• Color - green & yellow


• Food - pasta & banana, pb, & honey sandwiches


• Cereal - Lucky Charms


• Fruit - strawberries, bananas, apples & oranges


• Vegetable - green beans


• Drink - lemonade, milk, water


• Dessert - cake & cookies


• Toy - Toothless, Derby, Choco-Choco


• TV Show - the new My Little Pony


• Movie - How to Train Your Dragon


• Game - Candyland


• Book - Little Critter


• Restaurant - McDonalds (fries, chicken nuggets & apple juice)


• Holiday - Christmas


• Animal - Quartz & Maya Clothes - dragon pjs, poodle shrt & green pants


• Song - Jesus is Real to Me


• Flower - daisy


• What do you like best about yourself? sharing, I like myself because when I grow up I'm going to be an artist.


• What are some things you like to do? play games and watch movies, playing on someone's phone (i-phone apps)


• What sports do you like? gymnastics


• What is your favorite subject at school? craft time/art


• Who are your best friends? Ava & Jake, and Kate


• What makes you happy? by saying YES and letting me do stuff, sharing & caring


• What makes you sad? by taking a toy away from me. That makes me sad.


• What makes you scared? ghosts, bats


• What are some of your favorite places to go? McDonalds, Target, Walmart


• What do you like to do around the house? play games, and have fun and have parties


• What would you like more of? somebody sharing a toy, like being nice to each other


• What do you want to be when you grow up? an artist


• What is something you'd like to be good at or learn to do? paint a rainbow


• If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Daisy


• What do you love about each person in your family? Daddy: playing games, Mommy: saying sometimes no and yes, Ava: sharing and playing games with me and going to parties and swimming, Jacob: taking care of him


• Where would you like to go on vacation? to the beach


• What are some of your wishes for this year? my wish for a baby triceratops or baby stegasaurus but they're dead.

Temple Block Plaque Freebie

In honor of our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson's General Conference address this past Sunday on the importance of temples and how every young child should have a picture of a temple in his or her room, I'm sharing a project that I helped put together for a Super Saturday/Craft Day a couple of years ago. You can display it on an easel, attach a picture hook to the back or hot glue some ribbon on the back that you can tie at the top or just lean it on a bookshelf.



Enjoy!
Here is the Project Download: Temple Block Pics

Elise Turns 4!

Elise is growing up! She turned 4 this year. In the top left picture, Elise is chatting with her Aunt Gina right before she opens family presents. I decided to get her a Playmobil toy to see how she and Ava would like it - I'm leaning towards starting to invest in toys like Playmobil that are a little nicer and longer-lasting in both quality and play age. Ava was very excited to pick out the items for Elise's cake. She chose a double-chocolate cake, sprinkles and yellow (Elise's current favorite color)frosting for the writing. It wasn't the prettiest cake I've ever made but the girls didn't care at all.

Here is a copy of the front and back of Elise's birthday invitations this year. If you've been around Elise much this year, you know that she LOVES the movie How to Train your Dragon. She has a plush Toothless dragon (the main dragon from the movie) and even pretends that she is baby girl Toothless. She's seen the movie dozens of times and knew she wanted to have a Dragon Party! When Elise saw the invitation I whipped together one afternoon, she asked me if I could change the clothes on there too...too many online Barbie dress up games I guess.

Elise invited many of her church and preschool friends. When they arrived we had the movie playing. They decorated shields (paper plates), put on viking hats (styrofoam bowls with card stock horns and crepe paper hair for the girls), and were issued a sword (kind of dagger-ish) made of cardboard. It was now time for them to do Viking Training. One little girl said quite seriously that she didn't know how to fight dragons - she had never learned that before. ;) I told her not to worry because we'd teach her everything she needed to know. Elise's Aunt Kelly was in charge of taking the kids thru an obstacle course that included jumping on rocks (beanbags) in a lava pit, going through the thick fog (crepe paper streamers), crawling through tunnels, etc.

Just as the vikings finished their training, we had a visit from a real live DRAGON! He came out and was shooting mini marshmallows. The kids put up their shields to block the incoming mallows and then I let them charge the dragon. The dragon was about to die when we showed mercy and let him live. One of the kids told his mom in a whisper that he knew the dragon was actually Elise's dad...I guess we can't fool him! One funny side note: After Chris had finished vacuuming after the party, I asked him if he had vacuumed up any marshmallows. Nope. I guess the kids went around and picked them ALL up off of the floor and ate them. Makes me laugh - I'd have done the same thing at their age of course.

Instead of doing a theme cake, we opted to purchase cupcakes and I made little cupcake toppers from clip art online and some photoshop magic. I ran them through my Xyron and then adhered them to fun foam, then cut them out and taped toothpicks onto the backs - worked really well for any other moms who like to do that kind of stuff. Elise had a GREAT time. Before the party had even started, she was running around our basement saying this was that "best birthday party EVER!!!"
Special thanks to all my family who helped - honorable mention to my SIL Liz's boyfriend Shawn for cutting out 13 cardboard swords.

Spring Portrait Sessions!

After way too long of a winter, I'm happy to announce that I'm back in the business of taking pictures! Now scheduling Spring Portrait Sessions! Check out my website for more info.

Erin's

Today after a Dr's appt. I told Elise (my newly 4 yr old) that we had to run some errands. I tried really hard to pronounce all of the sounds because I know from experience that this word can be confusing.
Soon she asked, "when are we going to Erin's?". I explained again that we weren't going to "Erin's" but had to run some "errands" which meant that we had a few places to go to for some quick things. She still kept saying "Erin's" so I tried harder and said we had to run "erran-Duhs" "Duh, Duh, Duh" with a D at the end I said. She seemed to get it...
Until after our first stop, when she says, "Where are we going now? To Darren's?" All I could do was laugh at that point. I may have to put away the word "errands" for a long while.

Updating Photography Blog!

Hey Y'all. Just wanted to let you know that I've been updating my photography blog (finally!), in case you're interested in checking it out.
www.lorigeorgephotography.blogspot.com

Jake

Power of Suggestion

This girl cracks me up. At parent-teacher conferences, Ava's teacher said that Ava has "a lot of interesting things to say". I wasn't sure exactly what she meant but I know I have an idea about it. (Please note that Ava's teacher also had a lot of other positive things to say about her - which we already knew. ;) )

The other morning Ava had just put her shoes on and asks,
AVA: Mommy, are your pant legs every too long for your shoes?
MOMMY: Sometimes
AVA: Well, then you need style snaps.
MOMMY: *raises eyebrows*
AVA: Really! No sewing, no glueing, nothing! They just hold in place!
MOMMY: *laughs* maybe so

Add to this the many other times in her five years that she has thoughtfully suggested other products she has seen for sale on commercials. Things like: Perfect Brownie Pan (even took a picture of the tv screen with my phone for this one), Touch and Brush, Bump-It (oh yes, she wanted bump-it hair, Bendaroos, etc. The other day I told her she'd need to go through her papers we've been collecting from school and decide which ones she really wants to keep. She then said, "I need Wonder-file". Then she hopefully added, "it even has room for a lap-top!" I laughed and said that we probably wouldn't be getting her a laptop anytime soon but that was a nice idea.

What a funny girl!

Lovely Day

Today was such an awesome day. 75 degrees in February! We took advantage of the nice weather and hit up playgroup at South Park. We stayed for over an hour and a half. Elise had a great time playing and Jake seems to really enjoy just being outside.
Jake got to take his first ever ride in a swing. At first he didn't make any expression but then smiled a bit and even starting laughing at points. His big sister Elise learned a lot about how to gently push a baby, 1.) so the baby is happy and safe, and 2.) so the big sister doesn't get popped in the mouth. Luckily Elise is the toughest little girl I know so she wasn't too phased by it all.
After Ava got home from school she was begging to go on a walk. I had some friends coming over for a few minutes so she had to wait. As soon as Daddy got home we all set out for a nice walk, the doggies included. Ava walked Maya, who always has to stand by me and meanders this way and that, tangling her leash and getting in every one's way. I walked Quartz because she's getting old and is very afraid of things (can't hear or see too great anymore). She also become quite heavy and doesn't have much endurance. Elise rode her big wheel and Daddy pushed Jake in the stroller.
It felt great to get out and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. I even gave my toenails some fresh polish for their inaugural stroll in the ole flips flops.
Lovely.

Jake's Twin

I'll bet you didn't know that I had twins. Or is that Jake's "girlfriend" (as his sisters like to say)? The first time he saw what we lovingly call "Giant Baby", Jake just laughed and laughed and was so excited to touch the baby. He thought it was great when I made the baby move around, talk, and wave to him. We like to put Giant Baby in the bumbo or in the exersaucer but she ends up just about anywhere. My heart has skipped a beat one too many times though when I see the giant baby face down or in the corner or somewhere unsafe and my mind registers the baby as Jake - but then I realize it's not him and all is well.

All Wrapped Up

Every baby needs some cute after-bath pictures. Here are some of our cute little guy. Almost 8 months old!

Snow Captions and Anecdotes

We've had a lot of snow this year! Much more than I can remember in a long time (excluding last Christmas but that is another story). We made the best of it, playing when it wasn't too cold, making a snowman and just having fun. This snow (below) wasn't particularly wet so making a snowman proved challenging and the girls were quite frustrated so they pleasantly asked me for help (demanded it with tears of frustration), so I obliged, but only if they'd pose for a pic. Jake was a trooper and sat in his carseat watching his sisters play for a little bit.

The girls somehow think hot chocolate after playing in the snow is a must. I apologize for the Michigan State sweatshirt - it was a gift from someone who worked in a t-shirt shop as it was leftover.

Remember the Blizzard of 2011?? Chris went in to work that day they were forecasting over a foot of snow, quickly developing. I mentioned that he should probably come home early but didn't head home until after 2pm when a lot of the snow was already accumulating. He called and told me he was on his way. I realized that there was going to be no way he could get into our driveway (already had 6-8 inches of drifting snow). I put Jake in his high chair (above) with a few snacks to keep him busy and appointed Ava to "be in charge" (she loves hearing those words - think Candace Flynn). Please note he has more than "a few" snacks by the time I come in. ;) It was so cold and windy that one of my eyebrows was accumulating snow and freezing every time I turned to shovel a bit more. I was able to shovel enough (halfway up) for Chris, with his momentum, to get up our driveway (most of the way). He still had to push it a little with me in the driver's seat to get it into the garage -but we made it!
Chris thought it would be cool for the girls to experience a "blizzard" so they went out for about 20 minutes.
Once there was a snowman...In the sun he melted...Here are the girls on a warmer day checking up on their snowman. After this picture was taken Ava proceeded to karate chop the rest of it down.

Another story I want to remember about this winter...
We have an elderly neighbor a few houses down. On the day after the first snowstorm of the season, the girls wanted play outside in the snow so I took them out while I did some shoveling. I noticed one of my retired neighbors out. He had shoveled his own drive and sidewalk and was now working on the elderly man's drive and sidewalk. When he was done with that, he came over and helped me. I knew he must've been tired. Fast forward a week or two when we got another several inches of snow dumped on us...School was canceled but we still had playgroup that day (tour of Papa Murphy's - quite fun btw). After we got home I told the girls they could play for a few minutes while lunch was cooking (Papa Murphy's pizza of course). Jake was napping. Chris had already shoveled our drive the night before but I looked over and saw the elderly man's driveway untouched. I kept trying to think of how I could help so that the retired man across the street wouldn't have to shovel the elderly man's drive again. I couldn't figure out how I could go over and shovel with two kids playing, lunch in the oven and a sleeping baby.
Deep in thought, I look up and who do I see walking by in their suits and ties?? The Missionaries! The missionaries for our church are living with a couple in our neighborhood. I saw the two young men, waved, and asked what they were doing out (there was at least 5-6 inches of snow on the sidewalks and everything was closed really). I asked, "just looking for something to do?". One of the elders replied that they were looking to see if maybe they could help someone shovel snow or something. (DING! An answer to my prayer). So of course I offered up a suggestion and said, "Actually, there is an elderly man down the street who could use some help." I took them over to the man's house (3 doors down) and introduced myself and the elders and asked if they could shovel his drive. When we walked up he had been hunched over trying to use his leaf blower, without much success. So the elders started shoveling away (in their suits and ties mind you - and also no coats...but I guess I'm not their mom. ;)) I did send Ava and Elise down with extra gloves for them.
I knew they would be coming back to my house to return the extra gloves when they were done so I got some hot chocolate ready to give to them along with some foil-wrapped slices of Papa Murphy's (stuffed crust mind you), pizza. They were quite happy to receive said things when they returned.
What a great thing. I do believe the Lord answered my prayer to help the elderly man. His prayer was also answered. I'm thankful that the missionaries were in tune that day to know which way to go - where help was needed. No coincidence in my mind.

I just need to blog

I don't know what exactly lead to the demise of my blogging practice - but I realize I just need to blog - but without constraints. No promises to blog every week or make some goal that I know I'm not going to keep. Not going to pretend my life is perfect, that my house is always clean and perfect looking or that I'm always my best self. Nope - let's be real. No pressure to get everything "updated" - not sure that will ever happen. But I know blogging makes me happy so that is what I want to do!
Anyway, I'll start with some recent pictures of each my kids.

Above is Ava all dressed up for a tea party playdate she was invited to.

Here's Elise making faces for the camera and asking to see the picture each time I take one.

Here's Jake, 7 1/2 months old, enjoying playtime in his exersaucer and laughing at Elise making faces (above).

I'm ready for some sunshine. This fall and winter has been a bit mediocre at best. ;) Since November Jake has been dealing with either sinus issues or ear infections. He's finally healthy (knock on wood) and we hope he stays that way - at least for a while. My great sleeper turned into a baby who awakes 2 or more times a night! I don't know if it's habit (from waking due to pain from ear infections) or if he's just hungry! I've been a bit of a zombie but am on the mend (hopefully). All in all though, things are good. I'm thankful for my sweet little children and caring husband!

Our Little Guy is Growing!

My little boy is getting bigger! These pics were taken when he was about 3 1/2 months old (so about a month ago). We love Jake's personality. He's pretty easy going and tolerates his sisters fairly well. I love the gurgling, cooing, talking noises he makes. He likes to look you in the eye for a long time and really check you out. He definitely has eyes for his mama and can find me very quickly in a room. Jake is a great sleeper. I make sure he is dry, fed, and burped, then I wrap him up like a burrito, lay him down and give him his binky. To la-la land. Jake loves to practice standing and likes to be in an upright position. Although he does enjoy trying to grab his feet when lying down. One of his new favorite things is his exersaucer. He can play with all of his toys (he likes to lick them - it's pretty cute to see his little tongue sticking out as he reaches to get a toy), and can even turn himself around.He has a great sense of humor and a nice laugh. Whenever I change his clothes and strip him down to his diaper, he must think it is tickle time because when I touch his tummy he just starts laughing like crazy. He also likes it when I nuzzle him by his neck - get a laugh just about every time. We love having Jake around!

Love you, little guy!

Ava & Soccer

An exciting thing happened Saturday at Ava and Elise's soccer game. Ava scored her first and second ever goals!!
Ava hasn't ever really shown much interest in running as fast as she could or being super aggressive. We were ok with that and figured it was good exercise and that she'd either eventually pick it up and enjoy it a lot or would lose interest. Before the game before this one, I talked to Ava about how to run faster. We've told her lots of times that she's bigger than a lot of the kids and has longer legs and therefore could run faster. Finally, I told her that if she moved her arms faster and said, "ZOOM!", that she'd run faster. I was half-kidding but she tried it anyway. After the game she told me that she tried saying, "ZOOM!" but that it didn't do much but that when she moved her arms faster...."all of the sudden I was passing all these kids!"
Fast forward to yesterday's game and now that she can run past a lot of the kids, she has a tendency to get the ball more often. She was even more aggressive in getting the ball and took it to the goal several times and finally scored 2 goals! I was so proud of her. Amidst my cheering and clapping for her, I admit I teared up a little. GO AVA!!!

Church BBQ Contest

Back in July, our church held the 3rd? annual BBQ Contest. Anyone who wants to can enter a rib and/or chicken contest. The people who do the smoking spend a large chunk of the day at the park tending to their food. Then, the rest of us get to bring a side and enjoy. It was a VERY hot day, in fact there was a heat advisory, but we went anyway. Who can turn down free smoked meat, I mean, really?




The church leaders finally figured out how to get Chris more involved - by eating lots of smoked meat. They asked him to be a judge this year. Who would say no to that?

The Judges Table



Elise was having lots of fun. We didn't stay super long because of the heat but it was just about right.


Here's Jake hanging out. He was about 2 months old in this picture. He didn't seem to mind the heat and stayed very calm. He loved it when I let him drink water out of my cup and didn't seem to care that he dribbled it all over himself.



This was one of those evenings with a newborn where even though it was a little bit of a hastle getting everyone ready to go and be where they needed to be, it was nice to get out of the house for a bit of family time outdoors. The girls were having so much fun playing at the park with friends. There was a big group of kids planted in the sand of the volleyball pit. After the bbq, we went to DQ for some cold refreshment and then home for baths!

Things the Girls Say

If I'm going to make good on my goal to write twice a week I better get going. I just have to remember that I don't have to have pictures in order to post.

The girls have some things that they say that I want to remember.
Each of my girls has had a saying that they've used to express how much they love us. Ava would say, "I'll keep you forever". Elise says, "You're in my heart." Very sweet.

Lately when Elise is sad (like from me saying no, she can't have cookies for breakfast), she'll say, "Mommy, you make my heart sad." yeah...

Today, after Elise pooped in the toiled (we're working on that), she asked if she could have a tootsie roll. I said yes, but got distracted taking care of Jake. Both girls came in while I was changing his diaper and said I forgot to get them a tootsie roll.
Elise says, "Mommy, you make my mouth sad."
Then Ava (who we usually give a treat to too), says, "My teeth are crying!"
I rolled my eyes and laughed at the same time.

In related news, the other day Elise comes out of the bathroom and says, "Mommy, Daddy I pooped in the toilet!" We started to get excited and then she quickly said, "It's invisibile." So now when she really does go she makes sure to say that she went "for real".

Also today, I asked Ava to get me a onesie for Jake because the one he had on was wet from all of his teething drool. I joked, "bring me a onesie - but not a twosie...or a threesie." Ava comes running back to my room with a onesie in one hand and a pair of pants in the other. She holds out the onesie and says seriously, "Is this a twosie or a onesie?"

Other quick things. Elise says mumember for remember, noonicorn for unicorn, calls oranges womens (lemons), banama for banana and furfect for perfect. We've tried to correct her on all of these things but they seem to be unchangeable at the moment and we're kind of ok with that.