Dentists, Goats, & Parks

So I spent yesterday morning looking over our dental insurance and discovered that if we stop seeing our "Pediatric Specialist" dentist and start going to a "General Dentist" we will save about $300 on the kids extractions and spacers. What? Hello? Yes, $300. So I cancelled the appointments we were supposed to go to yesterday and found a new dentist. I hope he's good, 'cause we have been to some bad ones.


Nyah had her Liberty Girls club yesterday afternoon, and it was at a house that has goats, chickens, dogs, horses, rabbits, etc. so we all spent some time looking, especially at the one week old goat kids.

Baby Goats-

Austin

Nyah
Olivia

And later in the afternoon we had soccer practices. I'm getting tired of going to the parks so much-- well, I'm tired of lugging Jolie around and she's tired of being lugged around too, but I'm also tired of pulling wood chips, rocks, plastic bottle lids, old sucker sticks, etc. out of her mouth mostly because she reveals her superhero power of the "jaws of terror" when I try.

Nyah with her team- she's at the far right in shorts and her marine hat.

One thing I found amusing and confusing at the park yesterday was about another mom and her kids. The kids were going down the slide and screaming, and the mom kept telling them to stop screaming or they were going to leave. Exactly when is it a good time to scream if you can't do it when your outside, at the playground, going down the big slide?

Big sister moment: Someone better warn Nyah I caught her being NICE to Olivia!!

Weekend

On Saturday I went to Nyah's soccer game with the little girls. It was cold, windy, and stormy, so we set up chairs and everything in time for us all to freeze and head back to the car. Luckily we can park right by the playing field and are able to watch from there. Oivia has mastered cheering- "Go Nyah! Go Nyah! Go Nyah!" (or Austin as needed). In the pictures, Nyah is the gal with the pink hoodie on under her jersey. Before the game was over, Kurt and Austin came over from Austin's game (where I am told he stole the ball about midfield, dribbled all the way to the goal and shot, only to have it blocked by the goalie!!). Kurt stayed for the end of Nyah's game and I took everyone else home.

We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out, going to church, watching America's Funniest Videos, and that is about it!

Friday!

We started our day by dashing off to the dentist at 8 a.m. Time for check ups- no new cavities, but the dentist unfortunately found failing root canals in Austin and Nyah- say good-bye to $500 (extractions and spacers). Double, Triple, Quadruple YUCK!!

Once we were home they all declared themselves to be hungry, and Olivia wanted waffles. So we made some, even though we did have breakfast before we left. Olivia helped by dumping in the almost empty jug of milk- a little too much milk, but she was pretty adamant about helping in her own way. My ways of her helping (measuring cup?) were obviously not good enough. The kids started some school work and played with their dentist toys while I cooked.
I always forget about the last batch, and this one cooked for at least 20 minutes, if not longer.

At the park the kids played Lord of the Rings with their friends- this stump is "Treebeard." Can you see the resemblance? Do you think he would be upset to know he is being played by a dead tree?

Swinging!!

This video is from a few days ago- Jolie is upset because I won't let her unplug my ipod from the computer so she can play with the cord. My mom is always saying Jolie is soooo happy and most of the time she is, but here's some proof that she has her moments just like the rest of us.

More pictures & Kids reading

Hanging out with her Daddy

Being Austin :)
Nyah playing soccer for fun

Jolie checking out the wood chips- yuck

Olivia freaks out and yells "PLAY!" every time we pass a playground.

Olivia likes to "share" Jolie's food, here she has even pulled up a chair for easy access

Jolie watching the landscape guys through the window
Nyah reading this morning

Austin reading this morning.

What have we been up to?

Boy, its been a busy week, and I'm stealing a few minuites this morning to blog for all my faithful readers out there :)

We went for a family walk- I imagine its like trying to herd cows- kids running in all directions but the one you were intending on heading for. This is our landscaper's dog Ruby, who is the sweetest, most well-behaved, beautiful doberman dog I have ever met. She's huge, but so sweet and gentle that the kids love her. Olivia asks me all day long "Where's Ruby?"
We've been at the park a few times

Austin's soccer practiceThis is our backyard yesterday morning- it was full of weeds, rocks, and very uneven, but a couple days with a big tractor have sorted things out (because of the big tractor I have spent my afternoons outside watching kids and thats why I haven't been blogging). We are putting in a sandbox around these big boulders for the kids.

I've sort of satisfied my spring gardening urges by planting flowers in containers, but I WANT TO DO MORE!!

Kids having a picnic lunch outside yesterday.

Jolie being here usual cute, adorable self. She is no longer content to sit in my arms or on the blanket or in the swing at the park. She's on the GO all the time! Shortly after this video she flopped off the end of the slide onto the same eye she's hit in the past! A bit of a bruise and a scratch! Will her eye ever be injury free?

Austin is the kid in the blue shirt running!

I'll try to post some more pictures and videos from this week later! Love you all!!

Hanging with Olivia and Jolie

Some of you may be wondering what's happened to my other kids, well, they just aren't hanging around me as much as Olivia and Jolie. Yesterday Nyah spent most of the day car shopping with her dad, and Austin spent all that time outside playing with friends.


I was watching a quirky movie (The Price of Milk), and there was a bathtub scene, which in turn caused Olivia to want a bath and Jolie is always happy to get in the bath, and I figured we'd make it fun by digging out their swimsuits. They had a great time!

Jolie loves the water so much she thought she'd climb into Nyah's shower later on. She has done this multiple times, and usually we are more diligent in preventing her from getting into that bathroom by barricading the door.

I stopped at a few yard sales yesterday and found a little tykes desk and chair. I picked it up thinking it would be good for Olivia to use while we are doing school. I should have known it would mean all the kids are going to be fighting over it for days to come, starting with last night.

Playing at the Park

I feel like we are living at parks these days. With soccer practices and games, and our home school group park days, I am spending a huge amount of time pushing my sweet girls in the swings. Why do kids love swings? I'm sure I did when I was younger, but these days I get nauseous every time! Thankfully Olivia also loves to slide so I get a break sometimes.

Home school park day:

Austin and Nyah with their good friend Laura, another Star Wars lover.
Look- its ME!!

From Austin's soccer game today:

Olivia loves to play so we took a break from the game to go to the playground for a bit.

Kurt and I were going to evenly divide the kids between us, but when it was time to go (A & N both started their games at 8am) we realized the car seats are in one car, and they are too complicated to move around. And with Jolie still nursing I ended up with them both, which is okay, but makes it hard to watch the soccer game.

Jolie sticks out her tongue when she is working hard.

Austin is the goalie, and unfortunately, none of my close-up shots turned out.

There were a lot of army helicopters out this morning, and Olivia thought they were too noisy. The background noise in the video with both girls swinging is a helicopter flying by.

Jolie loves to swing!!

A couple favorites from General Conference

April 2009 Conference-- Audio Files


I have been listening to the conference talks and wanted to share some of my favorites:


The WHOLE Young Women's meeting!! There is a new value for those who didn't know: Virtue- and the talks are wonderful.


Becoming Provident Providers ... by Robert D. Hales- ". . . addiction is the craving of the natural man, and it can never be satisfied. It is an insatiable appetite." He applies this to improving our spending habits, overcoming debt and addictive behaviors, but I've been applying it to my own "addictions" of aimlessly surfing the internet, reading books, etc.. I've really been spending too much time on these things!!


Finding Strength in Challenging Times by Elder Allan F. Packer- I love what he says about testimonies! He quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Testimony is to know and to feel, conversion is to do and to become.”


Also, the new Easter video with Jeffrey R. Holland is wonderful too!!

May the Force be with You

Nothing like a family lightsaber duel to work up an appetite for dinner.
"Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?" -Yoda

Jolie demands sustenance.

Dinner last night was lasagna, and my favorite

quote from the dinnner table was by Austin:

"I didn't even feel like I was going to throw up,

like the last time I ate lasagna"

Yes, thank you for sharing. He has a selective dislike of hamburger, and sometimes he eats it without a problem as in last night, and sometimes he decides to be picky as in the last time I served lasagna when there was plenty of tears, refusals, and gagging.