Random pics from my Droid

Looking out the window, enjoying some fresh air...before the 90 degree weather.
The good 'ol trike, Ellie's and Alan's favorite toy. Calvin was having a blast in the fun contraption Daddy made.

Ellie passed out on our bed, with a 100+ fever. Poor thing.

Enjoying the Chicago Temple with friends.

Calvin peeing in the bathtub.

We like pizza with our ranch. ;0)

Yes, this my friends was my kidney stone, I birthed that bad boy. No wonder it took me a month to pass that darn thing. It was nice to say farewell.

Breakfast.....

Nemo never looked so cute.

Hope you enjoyed.

Ah Summer

Ellie walkin down the allie...she's so cute.Some beautiful flowers at the side of our house, that I only just noticed today.

Today was another great day, there is something about summer that makes me want to eat Ramon noodles and watch Matlock, as I did most everyday of summer during H.S.

We spent most of the day outside in the 90+ degree weather and humidity of about 70%...yuck. The kids played in the water and sandbox getting as dirty as they possibly could while I soaked up some rays. Later, while Calvin was napping away a bad mood, Ellie and I washed the car. She loved sitting inside the A/C car, dancing to music and saying "hi" to me when I would spray the window. She looked too cute in her little red bikini, head banging to some random song, she is my little girl. It is times like these when I am able to be with either one of the children one on one, that I realize how much they love and need me. I realize how blessed I am to be a mother, to be their mother, being able to bare my own children and to see them grow healthy and strong. I am convinced there is no greater job or call than a parent and even more so, a mother.

Here is another reason why I love summer time and playing outside....it takes it out of you and your children. Can anyone say early bed time. :)

Alan went out and picked up some chinese that I've been craving, while I vacuumed his car out and wiped it all down...oh man did it need it, and I felt that was an even trade, although I started sweating in places I'd rather not say....reminder I am over 8 mos pregnant vacuuming a car in said weather. ;0)

I am grateful for my life, my religion and my family. I thank Heavenly Father every day, several times a day for the gospel and for the opportunity I have to be sealed to my family in the Temple for time and ETERNITY. Truly there can be no greater blessing.

To find out more about my religion go here.

Calvy

I should start off by letting you all know that Calvin informed us that were not to call him Calvy anymore, his name is Calvin.
K: Ok Calvy what do you want for breakfast?
C: No, not Calvy...Calvin.

While at the mall shopping for those coveted pillows we are still trying to replace.....I can't remember if I mentioned it. We left our awesome contour pillows in our hotel in Chicago last weekend, we have bought 3 sets now trying to find the most comparable ones.

So while in JcPenney Calvy and Alan were playing a game about Tigers.

A: Go warn those good tigers that there are bad tigers out there.
C: but I don't have a sword.
A: it's ok, just tell them.
C: but I'm shye.

Love my boy!

Chocolate Chip....don't mind if I do.

At approximately 10:30pm, while reading Nie's blog and thinking of how I could enjoy life more, I decided that I needed a chocolate chip cookie...or two, "that will make me enjoy life more" I thought, and I just so happened to have some of that particular cookie dough in my fridge. So 10:31 cookies in the oven, 10:44 cookies cooling and I continue to read. 11:30 2 very warm, very gooey and oh so delicious cookies (with a glass of milk) in my tummy. I enjoyed these cookies with my best friend(Alan), who we, for the last hour or so have been reading in the same room 2 different articles and relaying to the other what sticks out in our minds. The messages that I am relaying are sweet and funny and often accompanied by tears, his are medical conditions he is trying to commit to memory for an exam tomorrow at 12 noon, your prayers would be appreciated, so as you can tell we are two perfect peas in a perfect little pod....well we hopefully will be in the next few minutes when I am done posting. ;0)

So now I am blogging while my kids are safe in their beds, sleeping, which is what we should be doing, but instead I am relaying my very bad prego habits to the rest of the world. Sleep tight everyone.

P.S. If you have a sweet tooth, there is no better time than the present to treat it. ;) BTW my friend Nicole has the BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe, you should hit her up for it...she has it committed to memory, tell her her totally awesome friend K-Diggs sent you.

Peace out.

You 've all been asking....So here it is me with #3.

I love this one because Calvy's so cute, and Nixon must be included.
This is our Sabbath morning, hurrying to take a picture because it is the only time I wear a dress(sadly) and as you know dresses have to elastic, so there is no way to have a muffin top in one...there for Sunday is the day I chose to capture my prego belly for y'all. Although if you scroll down I will reveal much more, maybe more than I should be comfortable showing all of you. Who am I kidding, I don't care. ;0)
This is what we had for dinner last night, snacks. Oranges, crackers, cheese, roll sandwiches, peanuts(honey and dry roasted) and veggies and dip. Delicious, and oh so easy!
Alan decided to create a game of "eat Oreos off of mommy's belly" Calvy loved it, I didn't really care, but as you can imagine I had quite the black belly from it. Yuck.

I am glad we got these pictures, I think these are the first I have gotten with this pregnancy, sad. But I feel this baby might be coming sooner than we all anticipated. I had some major contractions last night that were actually pretty painful, I thought I might be going into labor, maybe it was that Oreo game, but alas I am still here and still pregnant, which is good, this baby needs a little more time to cook. But we'll see how long this one takes to be done.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed. Until next time.....

What luxury

My dear hubby has just left with the children, including Nixon, to a birthday party in the park. After a LONG day with the kids I brought it up to Alan that he might take the kids and I stay home. He of course, being as amazing as he is, granted my request and was happy to do it. "Have fun!" he said to me as they drove away.

So, here I am alone in the house sewing away while listening to "Pride and Prejudice" in the background, the A&E version, my favorite. Life doesn't get much better. I do love alone time, especially when I haven't had it in a while. I LOVE my children and I love them even more when I have had a chance to recoup from all the screaming, crying, fighting and whining. Ohh, it is so good.

Now back to finding out if dear Mr. Darcy still loves Eliza......

Happy Monday everyone, don't forget to have your F.H.E.

Keara

Totally Lametastic......

That's her...the one on the left.
Not her, she's super cute.


Calvy all ready for camping with Daddy.
K: hold still so I can get a picture of you!
C: No mom I wanna do my crazy eyes.

I have recently discovered that I am what you would call a total loser. No, nothing cool like "The Biggest Loser" more of like, hey I'm totally lame, or to quote a Classic "L7 Weeny". After looking at friends' blogs and seeing the fun things they do with each other, I realized that I am missing in all the cute pics. Tonight after sending my son and hubby off to Father's and Son's I called around to several different friends to see what they were doing, knowing they had just sent their loved ones off as well, only to find that 100% of the girls I called were all going to this same Birthday party....a party that I have never heard of, for a girl I don't recall. So....what does a person do in this circumstance? Normally I would come home to Alan and cry because nobody likes me and have a calorie fest, but alas he is gone(although a calorie fest is still an option)....but further more I see it as my own fault, what else could it be. So, I will not be eating worms tonight, in less they are made of some delicious High Fructose Corn Syrup, which in moderation is totally good for you ;),but instead I will endeavor to get myself "out there" and make new friends, and reacquaint myself with those friendships that for one reason or another have dwindled away.

So, until then, this is Iowas own L7 Weeny signing off.

P.S. On a brighter note, at the Chiro this morning they said that I take excellent X-rays, they even used the word "model". That one's going on my headstone.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Life

These are older pictures from our trip to the Chicago Temple. we will be making another trip to Chicago this weekend, but unfortunately will not be making it to the temple, it is a very quick trip to see a chiropractor. Then Calvy and Daddy have Father's and Sons campout. They are so excited, now I just need to come up with some fun girl stuff to do with Ellie.

Yesterday morning Calvin came into our bedroom while we were getting ready, he often tells us what happened last night...meaning his dreams, but to him it happened, this morning was no different.

C: Do you remember last night when I was afraid of the scary Halloween sings(things)?
K: You were scared? Was this your dream?
C: Yes, remember when I was scared of the skeleton in my room?
K: There was a skeleton?
C: Yah, and remember when I raised my eyebrows at him and he just looked at me like this(making a scowly face while looking up).
K: You raised your eyebrows at him?
C: Yah, like this....raises eyebrows.

I asked Alan if he has heard his dream.

A: Did you have a scary dream?
C: Yah, and remember when you turned into school?
A: Looks like I'm the source of knowledge(turning the conversation to me...he thinks he's so funny)
C: Yah, and remember when there was a tall white bookshelf in my room?
A: You had a tall bookshelf in your room?
C: No, no a white tall bookshelf.

I often wonder what his dreams mean. What does a tall white bookshelf signify, and Alan turning into a school? He has such an imagination during the day and NEVER stops talking, even now he is watching IMAX Under the Sea and every time they say female he laughs. He's so smart and so funny, I just love having him around and I LOVE that I am his mother.

I feel bad sometimes that I don't have such interesting things to say about my little Ellie, but she is just as funny. She's so fun to have around, she is never interested in what's on TV, she'd rather be in the bathroom with me getting ready. She LOVES the bathroom, and there is not a day that goes by that she does not get hurt in there. It is usually her hitting her head on the sink from her trying to stand on the stepping stool. Before we eat any meal we will ask her if she wants to say prayer, and she always says "yah" and pushes her plate/bowl away from her and clasps her hands and proceeds to "say" the prayer. It usually sounds like someone trying to talk with a mouth full of food and only through her nose, I've watched her and her mouth rarely opens, it's all nasal. Then she ends with "Maymem." I think Heavenly Father likes those prayers the best.

Yesterday the kids brought their little chairs into the front room, Calvy sat in the chair and said "ok doctor, check me" Ellie stood behind him and moved her hands up and down his back, sometimes throwing in a little hit or pinch, followed by a scream from Calvy. Then they would start over again. Ellie thoroughly enjoyed it, I think she liked having an excuse to be "mean," I could see it in the mischievous look on her face. Little stinker.

Alan is moving ahead in school, learning a TON. Every time I help him study I am amazed at how much they expect him to remember, and then even more amazed that he actually does. He is an amazing husband and father, finding equal time for all of us, I don't know how he does it, but he does and I am so thankful.

Life is good here in Iowa.

Mother's Day!!!

My sweet sweet hubby woke up at 6am to start breakfast because of our early church. It was, as you can see, very delicious! Waffles, bacon, sausage, donuts, and hashbrowns!!!! My favorite breakfast.

This is us in the morning! Beautiful...aren't we. ;0)
I'd have to say that my children are very beautiful in the morning, I take a little more work. :)

Helping Daddy finish up breakfast.

Calvy helped by arranging the donuts on the plate. Very sweet boy.

Slaving away in the kitchen. We had to de-grease everything in the kitchen including the floor. But I'm sure NONE of that grease got in our food. wink wink.
Alan took me out to dinner on Friday night to my new favorite restaurant, Granite City, they have the best Mediterranean chicken EVER, oh so delicious. We even got dessert, a very special splurge. We got an apple crisp, SOOOO wonderful. Unfortunately Alan put off searching for a gift to the very last minute, so Saturday I told him to come home after studying instead of searching for a gift and help me hang some things around the house as my gift. As it turns out we couldn't get everything to hang said objects, so my "gift" is postponed till further notice.

Mother's Day is a special day, we get to honor those women who gave us life. I love my mommy! She is the best example of what a mother should be, kind, patient, unselfish and full of love. While talking to her today on HER day she just wanted to hear about my day and how my husband treated me for Mother's Day. She wanted to know how the kids were and expressed how sad she is that she can't be around us more. I must confess I felt very sad and a little guilty not being able to be with my mom today. I love you Mommy!!!!! Happy Mother's Day!
I hope all Mothers and those who wish to be mothers some day had a wonderful day today.

Our morning

Up at the table for more...after having 3 bowls of cereal already.


After going to bed after midnight, studying for hubs practical today, Calvy walked in at 6:30 to notify us that he wanted to watch a movie, in which our raspy reply was "go back to bed". 7:00 we were up and after our prayers I was getting the kids breakfast while hubs showered. While telling Calvy to finish eating and trying to get Ellie to stop eating, I was filling out paperwork for our insurance because of Ellie's fall off of the changing table. Ugh! Money.
After getting the kids down I played patient while Alan practiced on me one more time before class. Ellie made it really fun as she insisted on being in the way for EVERYTHING. ;) Calvy happily watched cartoons.
Now we are daddyless for 6 hours and we're just hanging out. Calvy asking me to "cock" his gun so he can shoot it, and Ellie pointing at her belliy button saying "beep beep beep beep".

C: Can you cock my gun for me so I can shoot it?
K: holding out my hand for the gun, while holding it against my body I cock the gun, putting a little pressure on my rather large belly.
C: Oh, be careful, you have a baby in your tummy.
K: Oh, your right, thank you.
Repeat for the next 30 mins.

Life is good.

While I'm here...

Today was a great day, after watching that video on youtube, I felt like I wanted to do better, and that I actually could do better. I was able to slow my anxiety a little, to try and just be happy and not try to keep things "perfect". So when Calvy and Ellie decided to scatter their toys all over the clean house I didn't freak out and tell them to clean up, I watched as they pushed their cars through the dining room to the kitchen. I didn't snap at Nixon for trying to eat table scraps that fell while we ate dinner, or that he had licked Ellie in the face for like the fortieth time after I had already gotten after him for it; when my sweet husband came up behind me and kissed my neck while I was writing an email, I embraced it rather than shrugging him off because I was "busy". And tonight after the kids were in bed and I was cleaning up the cars and balls out from under the table, I was happy and grateful that I have such a life, that I have a beautiful home with a beautiful eternal family living in it with me. I am so thankful for life and for family and love.

Thoughts....

I know, I am a total binge blogger, I post ike 4 times in one day then don't blog for at least a month....sorry.

I was thinking tonight though, thinking about mylife and how I can make it that much better. I have always enjoyed writing, I do not profess to be a good writer or even a writer, but I do enjoy it and Hubs says that he enjoys and is sure others enjoy reading what I write, so I will keep doing it. But anyway, I have put it into my head ever since my sweet dad sad that I should be a writer, after reading one of my letters that I wrote to my mom. It made me think about how much I really do love to write and how therapeutic it is to get all my thoughts down on paper....or computer. While we were eating our very delicious and very healthy chicken, bacon, artichoke pizza I turned to Alan and said in a Mexican accent "I wanna be a great writer" ( putting my spin on a quote from Nacho Libre). I love my hubby because he never fails to push me, it's almost like he can see my potential that I can see only once someone else points it out to me. He wants to me to make the most of me and to be successful and happy. I love him.
So, I have to decide, do I go into interior design or writing??? Answer: ?????
I know that I LOVE interior design and I would love to know how to do it better, but I love writing. So, my answer to both of these is, make writing a hobby and take a few courses, and get my degree in interior design, because then I can spend others money and still make something beautiful. Ha, see blogging is so therapeutic.

My New Life

My New Life
click on the link and watch the video, it will change your life.

I want to be like her in every way. I have always been grateful for my health and for feeling pretty, which I attribute to great parents who instilled a beauty which is not only surface deep. I have had the thought a few times throughout my life of what it would be like to lose that sense of beauty, to be burned or to have some horrible accident that would change my life forever. I hope that if I was faced with such a trial that I would take it as she did. I look up to her a lot, and want to be like her in every way.
I am so grateful for my families health and for our opportunity to live a very normal life, with very few trials, in comparison to others. I am thankful for each trial given, because I know it only makes me stronger. I hope I can always look at the world and it's trials through such rose colored glasses.
I love this gospel and I am deeply grateful for a Father in Heaven who always picks me up when I am down. I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior, they have given me the greatest gift, which in turn has given me so many other gifts that I can not count. I love this life, I will make the most of it today.

Just as Funny as Ever

My awesome Mother came into town and we had a blast. My hubby was gone for that week so it was a perfect girls week. We shopped till we dropped and the kids were amazing! We re-did my bedroom, it is not finished in this picture our headboard is a work in progress, but I will post more pics when we get everything finished and hung. My mom is amazing, she can turn the most ordinary thing into something extraordinary. She truly spoiled us, I feel so bad for all the money she spent on us, but we had a BLAST! the hubs said we'll look into flying her in for the next conference he goes to. YAY!!!!!!

We also made some fun new pillows for our front room. We had this couch in our basement for over a year before I could convince the hubs to bring them upstairs. I LOVE it! It is not the most comfortable thing ever, and it needs some ironing, but I do love that it is neutral and I can put whatever cool pillows I want. My next step in this room is to recover the ottoman, YAY! I love creating and decorating and moving furniture around, that is my favorite thing to do....especially when I'm expecting, possibly a nesting fetish I have.

At the park feeding/torturing the ducks.


Calvy, he is such a little character, I know I haven't blogged about him in a while, heck I haven't really blogged in a while, but he is still funny, I just stink at getting it all down.
So, his new thing, he loves to be "Daddy" and often says to me:

C: Hey hey, I'm Daddy.
M: ok, hi Daddy.
C:Hey Keara, can you get me something?
M: Uh....
C: I'm Alan.

I have found him with two of his friends who happen to be girls, on two separate occasions in my bed playing "mommy and daddy".....nothing happened, apparently that's what mommy and daddy's do though, they just lay in bed. ;0)
His latest has been the funniest, I think. It happened tonight, Calvy was Daddy and Elle was Mommy, I was Ellie and Daddy was Calvy. Yuh got that? Ok, so as we are making and eating dinner we were constantly reminded of who we really were. Well about half way through dinner Elle(Mommy) decides to pass some rather long,rather loud gas, and Calvy or "Daddy" laughs very loud and exclaims even louder "Mommy tooted!!!!". This might not seem very funny to most, but let me go on, because it is such beautiful weather right now we keep all of our windows open. We have two in our dining room, and we are not the only ones who like to enjoy the beautiful weather, our neighbors, who are in very close proximity to us, like to keep theirs open as well, and they just happened to be standing right next to them when all this took place. I didn't know what to say, I wanted to yell over there what was really happening, but I figured that would seem weird, so....I laughed.
Calvy even gets to pick out his clothes, it is something that he really enjoys. So lately as he has been having more and more accidents or wet pants, his consequence to that is I get to pick out his clothes and his jammies. This is actually a really great consequence, because I purposely pick out clothes he does not like. If it isn't orange or it doesn't have a dinosaur on it, he does not like it, so it's really easy to pick out an outfit he doesn't like.
The other day he picked out his shorts and put them on, then we went to his closet to pick out a shirt, he picked out a shirt that really did not match so I told him he had to pick a shirt that matched his shorts. I showed him some shirts that would match. Later that day after he had am accident we were picking out some new clothes, when I showed him some new shorts he said "no, that doesn't match my shirt, just my gray shorts match my pterodactyl shirt." Maybe I should contact TLC's "What Not To Wear" and let them know I have Clinton's replacement when when he decides to retire.
Ellie, oh man what can I say about her. Seriously what she does best is annoy her older brother and scratch and pinch. The other day I was putting laundry away when I heard Calvy screaming from the play room, not unusual, so I walked by to see what was going on, I couldn't see exactly what happened because of the couch blocking my view, but I figured she threw a toy at him and it hit his foot. Well Calvy yells out, "Owe! That hurts, don't do that" and procedes to throw a ball at Ellies head. It bounced off her head and she yelled something, it sounded like, "hey" and then moved on. It's funny how different their personalities are. After the ball bounced off Calvy said, "that hurt Ellie, we don't do that". I had visions of that "That hurt Charlie" video on Youtube, "Owe Charlie...charlie bit me....that hurt Charlie....and it's still hurting". It was actually so funny to me that I had to run out of the room because I was laughing so hard, which is actually something funny in itself seeing as how I pee my pants when I sneeze, so you can imagine what it was like when I was running and laughing....at 8 mos pregnant. Just some food for thought.
Well, thanks for stopping by, not much else to say, enjoy the pics.