Hands & Kisses

Yesterday I gave the Bug a kiss before leaving for work. She called me back in for a sec....

Bug: *takes my hand, kisses the palm & folds my finger over*
Me: Oh, thank you! *I kiss her palm*
Bug: Now you can open it later & you'll be able to feel me....
Me: *Heart melting & tearing up a little* I love you soooo much!

Off to work with a lovely feeling of being adored.

Oooohhhh, that Pooh Bear!!

Yesterday morning was tough. The weekend had been very busy with lots of family and trips all over the place. I heard the alarm, got up & decided to give the Bug a quick nudge before showering. She mumbled and rolled over, I told her she needed to be ready to get up when I was done.


About 10 minutes later I reminded her it was time to get up, she wasn't so excited.

Another 5 minutes had passed and she still wasn't moving....



Me: Bug, you need to get up for school and to see your grandparents.

Bug: But I'm tired.....

Me: I know, but you don't want to be late. (she absolutely can't stand missing the chance to walk to school)

Bug: Momma, I'm trying but Pooh Bear won't let me get up!!

Ooohhh, that little Pooh Bear, trying to get the Bug in Trouble..... So I had to go over, give him kisses to wake up and then they were off to get dressed.

Here he is dressed and ready for the day....

That Pooh Bear, somedays he tries so hard to have the Bug take the day off.

The "real" animals at KZ

Friday was a little to hot for playing outside and some neighbors decided we would head to Kangaroo Zoo for some a/c'd play time for the kids.

After playing for a while, Mari came to me and asked, "So when do we get to see the REAL animals?"

Nothing like going to the ZOO and not seeing what you were expecting!

Dr. Mari, pt 2

To continue with my cute little Dr...

*Ring, ring* goes the phone.

Mari: Hi, Mama! What'cha doing?

Me: Finishing up so I can come home. How are you and Daddy?

Mari: We're good. You want to come home & see what happened to me?

Me: *awful visions of cuts, wrecked bikes, etc, going through my head*. Sure, but what happened?

Mari: I have a broken arm!! *in the happiest, sweetest voice*

Me: You do?! *trying to smother a gasp, but also thinking if it were serious I REALLY would have gotten a call before now*

Mari: Yep!

Me: Did you wrap it?

Mari: Sure did, and Daddy made me a sling! Are you coming home?

Me: *sighing in relief* I will be home as soon as I can so you can show me your "broken" arm.

Now I have to wonder if I've got a budding medical genius or a consumate actress on my hands.

Dr. Mari

Lately I've had some complaints from Mari about wanting me home....

Yesterday was quite the busy day for us. We had prep for church, frantic hustle to church (which was not a success), singing in Sacrament meeting, singing in Primary, singing for Choir practice. Home for a quick dinner, then gather stuff for choir practice for the Days of 47 Sunrise Service. While I was getting ready to leave, I had cute Dr. Mari come to me.

Mari: Please sit down.

Me: What's up?

Mari: You've got a broken arm. I need to wrap it.

Me: Are you sure (with a little bit of eye-rolling).

Mari: Yes! *silence while she takes an ace bandage to my left arm* There, you're all done. Wait!!! You have a broken leg too, let me wrap it.

Me: Ok, if you're sure... (all while trying to make plans with a cousin over the phone for our family reunion).

Mari: You'll be ok.

Me: Alright, I've got to go, now.

Mari: No!! You can't leave for practice, your arm & leg are broken!

Think she's trying to tell me something???

Two Quick Things....

I promised to put this up right away... so here goes:

Banana Bread
1/2 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 mashed bananas
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 c flour


Mix together, pour into pan & bake @350 for 1 hour. Mine oven tends to take a little longer so I have to let it cook for an extra 15 mins, usually.
Today I added about 1/3 bag of chocolate chips & it was just right!


The other thing I mentioned is a new blog my girlfriend Joey found for crockpot recipes...www.365daysofcrockpot.blogspot.com

See?!?!?!?!?? I promised.

I am still alive

I just got told by Amy that my blog has died, since there haven't been any new posts in a while. Ok, ok, QUITE a while.

I'm going to work on correcting that, starting with this.

I have a bunch of picture to download and stories to tell. I'm planning on staying home & sleeping (a bunch) this weekend, all by myself. And I'll do my best to get some new and exciting stuff up.

Heather

Pushover @&#*!!!!

So, tonite, I'm trying to get Mari down for bed... and the battle begins. She falls asleep watching a movie with me (at 7:30pm), so I take her up, get her into pajamas, and she wakes up! I let her come back down to finish her movie (I know, first mistake), Loren gives her sugar for a bedtime snack (mistake #2 I'm sure, but I don't tell her to get something else), and she then doesn't settle down. We finish the movie, I take her back upstairs and tell her it's time for bed. She starts to cry. I make her go get Pooh Bear (to which she crys even more - she says "because I told her she couldn't get off the bed") and try to get her to say goodnight to her dad. Still crying, I have her get into bed, which sets off even more crying.


**Side note, I created a very bad habit of laying down with her in the evening from before we moved. Mostly because I wouldn't get home until after 8:00pm, so my cuddle time was at time to go to bed - which was still closer to 10:00pm.... so most of this is my fault.


She wants to sleep in MY bed, which I tell her isn't going to happen and that she can sleep in her own bed. Of course, that leads to "I want you to lay down with me...." (in a slight wail) - see above - to which I say that I would (we're probably to #s 3, 4, 5 & 6 at this point). I get her to lay down, Pooh Bear in hand, and cuddle next to me. She looks at me, wraps her arm around my neck and plays with my hair, buries her nose in my neck & falls asleep.


Now, I know that I probably should have laid down the law, given her some kind of punishment for not going to bed & closed her door. But, my sweet little baby wanted me to love her & I couldn't say no. Besides, now she'll have the memory of me holding her & telling her how much I love her as she falls asleep instead. Does this make me the biggest kind of pushover around?

Family Pt 2

Here are a few more pictures of our adventures in Iowa and Illinois. We had a blast with everyone.

The well-worked out crew after canoeing on Monday. Just a little muddy, but a beautiful trip down the river. We were able to see a bunch of golden eagles and the bugs were non-existant.

Some of the Sistah's after our yummy lunch from Jimmy John's

The Bug with her cousins - Jessica, Brandon & Brittney

Some of the Oyler crew in front of the Nauvoo Temple

My little poser, for her future modeling career.... ;)
Loren, Jaden & Brandon - Seeing who can jump the farthest off the swings
Miss M with her Grandma & Grandpa OylerPorter, chillin' and swingin', swingin' and chillin' (about the only time we could get him to stay still....)

Hmmmm, is this thing loaded??

Checking out one of the guns inside the Browning House

Not quite all the cousins, but a few!

Weddings, family & the Midwest

Now that I've managed to get this thing up and running (I hope).... I wanted to give you an idea of some of the fun things we've been doing lately. First, my sister, Holly, got married to a wonderful man, Ed. The wedding was beautiful and, most importantly, a great party! The family got together (all 18 of us) for the first time in probably 10 years. We stayed at a beautiful B&B in Ames, IA that brought a little bit of Mexico to the middle of a cornfield. Since Loren has family living down St. Louis way, we took a day (and a bit) to meet them in Nauvoo for a quick visit also. A very busy and fulfilling trip!

The cousins chillin' before the big party.... (the moms call this "Downtime", much needed downtime)

Let's get this party started!! Doing a little hokey-pokey & Simon Says

They DO have frogs in Iowa!

Miss Mari & her aunt Holly

Joanna, getting some loving from Tamar

Dad & Holly

Dad & Holly, part 2

Our own field of dreams, with ball players and all!

Me and Ape, with Sierra (aka Naked Baby, Runaway Baby, Troublemaker Baby, etc. :-)