Happy Birthday Rockstar!!

Today is a day worthy of BIG celebrations! 37 years ago, the world was blessed with the birth of a wonderful human being....

My Best Friend, Brad! Happy Birthday Babe!

Brad shares his birthday with his mom. His Facebook status made me

cry this morning, but I think it says it all...

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM. Sure do miss you and wish you were here to blow out candles together again.

You will be missed and loved and thought of all day, just like every other day. Love you Mom."

She is missed terribly and thought of always. Happy Birthday to Elizabeth also!

I hope they throw a big party for you in heaven!

Brad and his mom on his 1st Birthday

Brad in Kindergarten - what an adorable kid!

Brad in a sword shop in Toledo, Spain on his mission.

Yes, he did bring a sword home from his mission. Very cool.

Brad the ROCKSTAR!

I Love You Brad!

I'm so glad you were born!

You are my life, my love, my everything.

Olivia-isms

Olivia: "Mom, I'm going to move to another house. I'm going to get in my car and drive next door. You can come visit me there."

Me: "Why are you moving, Olivia?"

Olivia: "Because you're being silly Mom and I don't like silly nilly."

"Mom, I decided we need to go bowling today. So, if you decide you want to, the bowling store is by the french fry playing store.... otay?"

Recently while playing "Duck, Duck, Goose" for FHE, Olivia was exasperated with only the four of us playing. She turned to Brad and I and said, "We need more duckers!"

Olivia told me there are different kinds of birds. I asked what kinds there were and she told me... "There are wire birds, tree birds, ground birds, flying birds and big birds." I guess it all depends on where they are when she sees them.

"Dad, I'm going to the Hundred Naked Wood to make new friends with Winnie the Pooh."

Brad: "Olivia, what do you think we should name this baby girl?"

Olivia: "I think we should name her Chloe.... or Taylor Swift."

Olivia told Brad a story one night, then asked him what he thought of it. "Great story," he told her. "Well, it was a boring one because I know you only like boring stories, Daddy." I guess Brad has hit the BORING old fuddy duddy stage already.

One morning, I let the girls sleep in until 9:30. When Olivia finally made her way upstairs, she was pretty upset with me. She said, "Mom! You let me sleep WAY TOO LONG! I got TOO MUCH SLEEP! Why didn't you come wake me up?" Somehow, I don't think she'll have this same reaction as a teenager......

We recently sold Brad's Jeep that he has owned for almost 12 years. It was Olivia's favorite thing to ride in. The day after he sold it, she asked where it was. He explained that someone else owns it now. She said, "Well, maybe we can go to their house and they will let us borrow it and then we can go for a drive in it again." I think they are both going to miss it equally.

One night while taking Olivia to the bathroom (at midnight) she was sitting on the toilet and asked me, "Mom, would it be crazy if someone fell asleep on the toilet?" I told her, "yes, it would be crazy." She smiled and said, "Ya, I thought so too." Then she finished her business and went back to bed. I'm not sure she was really awake during the whole process.

A couple of my Christmas Projects

This year for Christmas I had the idea to sew each of my daughters a blanket. I would say it was a bright idea.... but I'm not really a seamstress or domesticated enough to do it on my own. I took the girls to Sew and Save in Clearfield in the early summer and let them pick out what colors they wanted for their blankets. I was hoping if I did it early enough, they would forget about them by the time Christmas came around. Then I called my mom and begged her to teach me how to make them. My mom is an expert seamstress/quilter/quilt maker. She can make anything out of a bolt of material. She's amazing. So, she came down and helped me cut out the pieces and showed me how to sew them together. I got both tops done in a day and a half. Then I once again asked her for help. She tied them and bound them for me so I could give a finished product to Olivia and Tagen. Here they are....

Tagen's Blanket

Olivia's Blanket

Side by Side...

They are basically crib size... a little bit bigger actually. They are a great size for each girl to carry around and they cover them nicely. They are really warm and soft and fuzzy and nice to cuddle up with. I'm really grateful to my mom for her help and for her patience in teaching me how to sew them together. A sewer I am not, but I'm trying to convince myself to become one.

(When we found out we were having another girl, I stopped and bought more material to make a blanket in the same pattern for Gracie. I haven't started on that one yet, and it might be a while before I get to it, but it is in the works for all three girls to have matching blankets. But, I do think I'll have to call mom again and beg her to come help me cut out the pieces again.)

Lucky #7...

Happy Anniversary, Brad!

I LOVE YOU!

Brad and I celebrated seven years of joy and happiness today! I have loved every year of being married to Brad, but I definitely think 2010 was our best year yet! We were finally able to be sealed to each other. Something we've waited a long time for. They say there is a 7 year itch with most couples, but I'm telling you... NOT here. I look at what we have together and I think it's pretty amazing. Why would I look anywhere else?

Santa Stopped by....

On Christmas Eve, we had a surprise visitor before the kids went to bed. The kids were surprised to see Santa Claus walk in our front door, ringing his bells and saying, "Ho Ho Ho!" Olivia LOVED it, Tagen wasn't so sure. As you can see from the following pictures, their reactions are VERY different.

Olivia rushing to the door when she heard the bells...

Greeting Santa partway. She had nothing but HUGE smiles for him.

Tagen saw him and stood in that spot for the first 5 minutes he was here.

She didn't utter a word or make a sound the whole time.

Still wary and checking him out.

See her wringing her hands? Her poor palms were so sweaty

when I held her hand to calm her down.

She eventually left her other post to hide under the counter and behind Brad.

I guess she figured he's a safe barrier between her and this big guy in red.

I did eventually get Tagen to walk over to Santa to give him his Jingle Bells,

but she wouldn't let go of my hand, and wouldn't get closer than a foot from him.

As you can tell... there was no fear for Olivia.

She sat on Santa's lap and gave him lots of love and hugs.

Santa asked her if she knew why we celebrate Christmas.

I was so happy to hear her tell him,

"It's Jesus' birthday!"

Santa saying one last Good bye from the door, to which Tagen yelled, "BYE!" and waved.

I guess she figured he was safe once he was on his way out.

It was a great surprise and I love that Santa took the time to come visit our house before his big nightly present delivery began. It's a great memory for our girls too!

Cast Away....

Tagen was able to FINALLY get her cast off yesterday. It's so nice to have her hand and arm free of that thing. She was funny when it was finally off... She rotated her wrist, made a couple fists with her hand and then right back to the position that her arm had been in for the last 4 weeks. She kept it in that position (and actually elevated a little) for the rest of the day not really willing to use her hand. But... Today, it's like she never had a cast on. She's using it just as much as before the fracture and seems thoroughly happy. The best was bath time last night. Even though her cast was waterproof, she cried whenever it got wet, so we kept it wrapped in a baggie during her baths. She LOVED not having to do that anymore!

Olivia's Preschool Christmas Concert

Olivia attends a wonderful preschool with an amazing teacher. Mrs. Wing has taught preschool for over 30 years and she still LOVES little kids. Each year, she has the classes perform at a care center. She teaches them each a different little instrument and they sing lots of Christmas songs complete with actions. Olivia LOVES it. She learned to "play" the triangle. I have a video of her performance, but can't figure out how to get it to upload to blogger. Trust me... it's completely adorable. So, instead of an amazingly adorable video, I'm going to post this picture of her not even smiling to remember the event by.