First night home

Brooklynn is sooooooo excited to be a big sister. Our first night home, Brooklynn woke up both times the baby cried. She helped change her diapers and put her back to sleep by snuggling with her. I thought this was such a sweet picture of sister bonding. She is definitely a great helper.

Our New Arrival!

Madelynn Malia

May 23, 2008

7:56 a.m.

7 lbs. 9 oz.

19 inches long

Cousin Rachel comes to town

My cousin Rachel, and her husband, Derrik, made a trip to our state and were able to swing by for the night! So fun to see family! Highlights-

1. Derrik plalying the piano for us while the Jeffrey and Brooklynn danced. Our piano has never sounded so fantastic!

2. Rachel and I in the kitchen together again! How long has it been? Since college. And the waffles and fruit salad tasted splendid- as usual (mainly because Rachel is an excellent cook!)

3. Staying up chatting until the weee hours of the morning:) Just like the good 'ol days.

Beating the Heat

It's been hot, hot, hot! We've made the most of it by going down to the river at our favorite park...



finding fish,





walking against the current,


and collecting rocks...

Chef Jeff

Jeffrey has been enjoying making pancakes for breakfast the last few weeks: peach, pear, chocolate chip, or bananna. Bananna is the favorite.

Our Unexpected Company

Yesterday morning the kids came running inside the house and took me to the garden to "see something." It turns out they had spotted a pair of mourning doves building nest in our neighbor's tree just on the other side of our fence.





The three of us sat at the edge of the garden for about an hour watching one fly down within a few feet of us and look for twigs and then soft grasses to take back to the nest. The other bird was busy at the work of nest building. Jeffrey decided that we were going to "help the world" by cutting bits of string (which the kids spread throughout the garden) for the bird to take back to his nest.

I was amazed at how long these birds held their undivided attention. Last week we had read a book, A Nest Full of Eggs, so Jeffrey and Brooklynn felt they were experts on birds in the spring!

By the way, the pictures are compliments of flikr.com :)

Your Help is Needed!

HELP! We have no official name for this baby. We had been thinking of Natalie Anne- but we're just not sure anymore. We've also been thinking of Malea (Malia, or Maleah) which means calm and peaceful in Hawaiian. Let's see other names:

1. Madelynn

2. Ester- only Jeffrey likes this name (Jeffrey thinks that because he was named after a good guy, Jeffrey R Holland, that the baby needs to be named after a good woman and Ester in the Bible is his favorite)

3. Hannah

Please leave a comment and give suggestions. We are open to all responses. Thanks!!

This Year's Top 5 List

Here are some of our favorite school things for the year:

1. "Equate" it's like scrabble but with equations. (We like the junior tile set- no fractions yet please!). It gets you thinking algebraically. You have an answer and a number and need to come up with one more number to get the answer you're looking for.



2. Another math game- roll the dice and either add, subtract, multiply or divide to get a number from 1-10. The first one with all of their numbers flipped up wins.



3. Brooklyknn's top choice- this craft book has ideas for hours of no cost fun. All you need is construction paper, fabric scraps, paints, glitter, etc and you can turn egg cartons, toilet paper tubes and Popsicle sticks into works of art.



4. This is a Lego's product from their educational division. Follow the simple pictures (no reading required) and you can build windmills, race cars, cranes, egg beaters, etc. Jeffrey and Brooklynn have spent countless hours following the instructions and/or creating their own inventions.




5. We really enjoy reading about science. This series (you can find it at the library) "Let's read and find out about science" is great. There are books in a variety of subjects: human body, animals, plants, outer space, etc. Each book has a simple experiment that goes along with the topic of the book!




6. We can't leave out the "Little House on the Prairie" series.



7. Or Jeffrey's favorite chess, backgammon, and checkers 3-1 set.



8. Or "Settler's of Catan" an early settlers trading, settling, and strategy game (another one of Jeffrey's favorites)



Okay, so it's the top 8 list!

Last day of school

Friday is the last day of school! Today we met with out homeschool supervisor and I gave her our report for this past month and turned in a few supplies. It's such a relief. One more thing marked off of my to do list before the baby comes:) Just a little bit more to do for primary and I'm good to go! I'm sure the next few days will be alot more relaxed on the homeschool front. Maybe a few art/nature days:)

Baby update

Yesterday and this morning I didn't feel the baby moving as much or as strong. I called the doctor and went into the office. Was hooked up on a machine for 20 minutes and she wasn't moving. So, they gave me something to drink. Still not moving. They called the labor and delivery department at the hospital and off I went.

I was told that if she did not shape up and start moving, we'd have the baby today. Said a prayer because do not like the OB on call today. Would rather stick to my plan. Baby started moving like crazy and I was sent home. Yes! Still don't feel her moving much, but atleast I know she's alright. So, we'll stick to the plan and post some pictures next week:)

Double Take

Here are pictures of me and Brooklynn at 4 years old. Definitely some family resemblance!

The Importance of the Semicolon

I never paid much attention to this little guy ";" just another punctuation mark. That little oversight has caused me much frustration this past week. You see, I have been attempting to customize this blog and change some of the HTML.

After several hours of saying to myself, "Why is this not working? What am I doing wrong?" After reading and re-reading the instructions, almost giving up, and deciding that I AM totally computer illiterate, I finally noticed that it was the ";" . It was missing. If you give no heed to this ";" nothing seems to work. Then you want to pull out your hair, bang the keyboard, kick the hard drive, etc.

Sorry ";" , from now on I'll remember you.

One Hopper Rabbit...One Happy Girl

- One Dutch Bunny.................. $29.99

- One pre-fab rabbit cage....... $89.00

- Water bottle............................ $5.99

- Feeding Dish ...........................$4.99

- Monthly maintenance (food, hay, bedding,...) $15.00x 18 months= .............$270

- New hutch supplies after he has gnawed and broken the pre-fab cage .........$62.00 + Dad and Grandpa's time.

- Cost to have him neutered (seriously considering because I'm tired of him spraying EVERYTHING this spring) ................$65

Total cost to maintain a $30 rabbit...... too much!

Highlights of the week

1. We made gumdrop cookie arrangements and took them to grandma and a few of the kids' friends (similar to these http://www.kckpl.lib.ks.us/YS/COOKING/COOKPOP.HTM we used wooden skewers and the entire mint leaf)
2. I found 4 garbage bags worth of things to donate in the kids' rooms. And, I actually made it to Good Will to drop it all off.
3. I finished planning the Mother's Day sharing time- which the men are incharge of because all of the women will be in Relief Society.
4. I finished making arrangements for primary from May 25-Father's Day. I'll be gone and my counselors will be gone for a few of those weeks as well.
5. We (meaning Mark) moved my brother and his family into a new house. Jeffrey is excited because it's closer to us!
6. We went to the local feed store to look for a new hutch for Brooklynn's rabbit, Hopper. They no longer carry them. But we had fun looking at all the baby ducks and chickens. Brooklynn now has her heart set on having a baby duck. Good Luck to her.
7. Watching "Journey of Faith". Great show!
8. After months of searching our local used book store, I finally found Elmer and the Dragon and The Dragons of Blueland. Yeah! They are sequals to My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stilles Gannett. Jeffrey and Brooklynn LOVE it. We've read it several times over the last year. It's a cute imaginative story about a boy and his adventures trying to rescue a dragon from slavery.

The underwear monster and other tales

We have a few items in the house that are continually disappearing: underwear and dishtowels. Where do they end up?

Jeffrey's theory: an underwear monster is eating his underwear

My theories: a.) he is throwing them away or b.) he is hiding them instead of putting them in his drawer after I have folded them. I bought him several pair 2 weeks ago because his supply was low. And yesterday, I bought more because not a single pair could be found.

Maybe it is a monster. Who knows. The dishtowels are also disappearing. Come to think of it, Jeffrey's other job is putting away kitchen towels....hummmmmmmm.

Baby Doctor

Wednesday I went to the OB. I gained 3 lbs in 3 weeks. Ooops. More than the doctor ordered. But hey, it's been hot and I'm swelling. The good news is that I am measuring 3 cm smaller than I was with Jeffrey and Brooklynn at this point. So, hopefully, that translates into a smaller baby. Maybe I'll have a 9 pounder after all!

Warm Spring Weather

The first swim of spring! Brooklynn and Jeffrey had a great time in the backyard pool!