Balletdrama

From March- Lily told me she was going to put on a ballet. She even drew me a program. This is a sample of her original production ...which was repeated (with variations) to various audiences over the course of several days.

I thought you all might get a kick out of it too. -- I especially like Lily's original song lyrics, and how in the second part every time she rounds the chair and ottoman her voice gets higher, and her lyrics more hilarious. This is why I'm calling it 'Balletdrama.' Enjoy our little entertainer!

Some of her lyrics as I understood them (from the height of the second part):

"...and the flower goes by, and da da da, and the song that goes by, and the scary goes by, and the scary makes me nervous, and the night and the night and the day, and make-me - walk - away - to the sand, and ti ti and the sand and the...and the sands got ghosts....and the sands got birds...and the sands got spider---webs!"

 Love my "ballet-er" :)

March Madness

March this year definitely brought some madness into our life, but we had a lot of fun memories mixed up in there as well. Just some of the good times in random order...

Lily and Audrey rocking out. 

Little kids playing the piano are always cute!

Baking pink cupcakes with Dad.

Super excited!

 Pinkalicious

Making Dad's Famous chocolate chip cookies.

So good.

The shamrock cookies we made for Lily's preschool class. We did a lot of baking this month! Don't worry - I didn't go overboard. I've lost 7 pounds - did I tell you!? Yes, I know I already did, just a little bit excited about it -- though I still have a long way to go :)

Lily and her cousins on St. Patrick's Day

-with her idol Evie.

And here's cute little Aujinay.

Reading 'the funnies' with Grandpa - she loves to do this lately. Grandpa always says there aren't a lot of funny ones anymore. Sad, but true.

Lily's latest lunch spot. Our kitchen step stool. Had to take a picture because I know it won't be long before she can't fit in there anymore.

Gardening with Dad. Got it all cleared, but still need to get planting.

Airing out the Halloween costume at Evie's school book fair. It was 50's themed - a car show/art auction. Lily won a $5 gift certificate to the book fair in the costume contest. She looks like a hula hoop pro in these photos, but really she can't keep it up any better than I can. Yet, I should say: It shouldn't be difficult for her to surpass me - I never could master the hula hoop.

 Miss Evie was going for 4 at once, around the neck, and all kinds of crazy techniques.

Even little Audrey got in on the fun.

Milkshakes at Red Robin after the book fair.

Chocolate Lover - see the crazy/happy gleam in her eye!

An almost perfect peanut butter and jelly cartoon smile!

More later!

Marching Backward

So I haven't had a lot of time to blog lately, mostly because I just haven't been able to stay up late to work on things lately. I guess I've needed the sleep more! But I have a bunch of cute pictures and things to share from March (even though it was kind of crazy) - so expect some back tracking.

Another way I am marching backward -- I've lost almost 7 lbs now! I am still keeping a food journal and I am exercising for at least a half hour usually 5 days a week. That is huge for me. Most of the time once I get going I just push myself a little more to try and burn more calories - so most days when I get on the stationery bike I've been averaging about 10 miles. Some days I try to do something else as well, like walk with Lily or dance in our living room with her. She needs to get up and move more too -- though hopefully she will add some pounds of muscle rather than lose weight. I kind of wish I was losing faster, but at least I am making good changes! I've lost a couple of inches too, so that is motivating. I've even made more changes in how I eat than I originally thought I would. I'm trying to incorporate more vegetables into our daily diet. I was inspired by a friend on facebook who is eating nutritarian. I LOVE this Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchilada Recipe she shared. It's so nice to try new things - we were getting pretty bored of our old standbys. I will share some good recipes as I collect them, though not all are low calorie at least they are made up of good for you food. It is hard work to lose weight! I've never wanted to go on diets so I am considering these changes my new lifestyle and not rushing them. I keep repeating to myself something my friend Heidi said: "Make exercise a priority." For some reason that simple call to action has stuck in my head. It's important to me to take good care of my body and help set a good example for my children to be healthy as well. Sometimes I just have to let other activities go (like blogging), as much as I love them. :)

Welcome Spring!!

And with it Conference! This is one of my favorite times of the year. I love tuning in to listen to the wisdom of our prophets. I love feeling the spirit enter our home with such strength and power, and feeling part of something that members all around the world are participating in. Watching conference and then rushing around to do errands between sessions on Saturday, taking walks and spending time with family around listening to the sessions on Sunday. A flood of inspiring words and music. With all that's going on in the world and the recent stresses in our life I look forward to it more than ever. My spirit is in need of rejuvenation and I know Conference will bring that to me! I'm so glad for beautiful weather and grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Survival Mode

Blogging hasn't been on the top of my priority list for a little while. A lot of things that are usually at the top kind of dropped off as well. It's funny how when something goes wrong you find it so much easier to let a lot of things go! You just do the basics. I call it Survival Mode. --Not that I usually over-schedule myself, or really feel like I accomplish all that much in a usual day... I like to think that's a good thing. Sometimes I think we try to do too much. I have to share this quote I just love:

"Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home.

Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world's goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying.

These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord's kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power." ~Julie B. Beck, "Mothers Who Know"

Not that I'm an all knowing mother or always make the most of my time with Lily, but at least I'm not allowing too many extra distractions into our life. Though some definitely make us a happier family :)

Life is getting back to normal again, and it's kind of a funny story so I thought I'd record it here.

Mike went into the emergency room in extreme pain because of a kidney stone. He was there most of the day because they told him it was too big to pass on it's own. When the urologist finally showed up 'to give us options' he said Mike could pass it and sent him home with some pain medicine and an order to drink water. Well, if you know anything about kidney stones the pain is comparable to labor -- and that's what it looked like! Mike was laboring that baby out, and we didn't think it was going to come out on it's own. The pain medicine they originally gave him made him feel even worse. He could hardly eat, and because of the medicine what he did eat wasn't coming back out again - if you know what I'm talking about..  It was difficult for him to down the water because he felt so full. He was in a lot of pain, he was lightheaded and dizzy. He couldn't work in that condition, and we didn't know how long it was going to last, how we would afford treatment, or how long we could afford or Mike could bear not treating it! After a week an x-ray did not show much progress. The urologist told him a story about a guy who lived with a stone for 15 years, and didn't want to see him back again for a month, and Mike felt like it was stuck. On top of that add the stress about money. I was feeling pretty sick about that too. Mike felt a lot better after he stopped taking the narcotics and was bearing the pain with Tylenol and ibuprofen. We were waiting it out, trying every home remedy we could come up with (that didn't make Mike gag), and contemplating a trip to Mexico (maybe they could treat him for a more reasonable price). 

Enter bees. Mike discovered a bee in the bathroom, killed it, and came out to find about ten more buzzing around our living room, and about ten more in the kitchen. What the heck!? Where were they coming from!? And in my stressed out state I couldn't help thinking: "Why me? What next? Are we being plagued for goodness sake!?" Lily was just waking up from a nap so I rushed her outside, as Mike leaped around the house in his robe, adrenalin pumping, fighting off bees with an old fly swatter. Bees were coming in through our fireplace, hundreds were swarming around the chimney outside! Mike and I blocked off their entry with a garbage bag and duct tape, and the situation was under control. Mike thought after all that exertion he actually felt better. And the next time he peed -- out came a pretty large stone! So far the bees haven't been back... and I'm thinking maybe, instead of a plague, they were a blessing in disguise. If they do come back at least we know a good bee guy :)

Whether his battle with the bees shook it out or one of the other things we tried finally worked - we are so grateful!!! It's such a relief not to have to pay crazy amounts of money to get it out! (On top of the crazy amount of money they are charging just for the diagnosis!) Mike is out of pain and will hopefully never get another stone again! He's certainly got the motivation not to... and the next time we have some out-of-the-blue emergency we plan to be prepared and have insurance!